The Art of New Beginnings

Chapter Twelve: Christmas and Jealousy Go Hand-in-Hand

On Christmas morning, Erica was woken by Pansy jumping on her bed.

"Erica!" She whined, jumping up and down some more before collapsing back onto her bed and rolling around. "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!"

"Get off!" Erica grunted, shoving her to the side with a huff, laughing a little when she heard Pansy's resounding 'oomph' when she landed on the floor with a small bang. "It's too early in the morning for this."

"You say that every morning but this morning is Christmas morning and you are GETTING UP!" She yelled those last two words as her head popped back up, not even flinching when Erica shoved both of her pillows in her face before rolling back over in bed.

"No, call me when it's dinner time."

"Erica," she whined, making sure to drag out every syllable in her name in the way that she knew Erica hated. "It's Christmas, you're supposed to be full of holiday cheer! We're young and carefree and stupid and have presents to open, so please get up."

"No," she repeated, pulling her covers over her head and burrowing back down into the warmth, beginning to regret throwing her pillows at Pansy as she bunched her covers in her firsts and folded her arms, resting her head on them instead.

"I'll get Adrian to jump on you and coerce Draco and Harry into wrapping you up and forcibly carrying you down into the common room whilst Blaise takes photographs for evidence that you're a massive killjoy," she threatened. "We'll post them all around school and send them to the Daily Prophet for further proof that you're evil and the next Dark Lady in the making, for being such a troll on Christmas."

"Don't care," she grumbled, groaning when Pansy tugged the covers off of her bed, leaving her shivering in the sudden rush of cold air as she rolled back over and pouted up at her.

"You will get up," Pansy insisted, though it sounded more like a threat. "And you will act like you are having a good time and you will be the very definition of delightful because it is Christmas and you will not ruin it for everyone."

"You're very mean this morning," but she sighed and sat up, tugging on her slippers and her dressing gown as Pansy bundled up her covers and shoved them back on the bed, finally grinning. "I only wanted to sleep a little longer."

"Don't care," she said in a sing-song voice, laughing as she launched herself onto Erica's bed, pillows still in her hands as she whacked them straight into her face.

"Evil," Erica groaned, grabbing the pillows and whacking her back before setting them back against the headboard.

"Present time?" Pansy raised an eyebrow hopefully.

"Present time," Erica nodded, not even bothering with the sigh this time as she dragged herself back up into a sitting position. "Your enthusiasm so early in the morning truly astounds me, Pansy."

"I am a pretty astounding person," she laughed, dumping the pile of her presents onto her bed. "Now come on, before the others come to find us. We have to decorate the tree."

Pansy had already started on her own presents, and it didn't take long for Erica to catch up, even if she was still bleary-eyed and tired.

Her mother had sent her some more muggle fiction books, a promise to re-decorate her room over the summer, and a letter detailing her trip to Germany. Draco, Blaise and Pansy had tagged together to get her a ticket to the Quidditch World Tournament, which was to have the final match take place in Britain this year, and Harry, Ron and Hermione bought her the customary charms for her bracelet, this year being a tiny crystalline wand which was supposed to aid in support spells, and a whole bunch of Honeydukes chocolate in various flavours. Neville had bought her a small potted plant with delicate white flowers that shone in the dark, and she made a mental note to thank him profusely as she set it on her bedside table, especially when she read the tag and found that it only had to be watered around once every fortnight.