PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

thirty-eight

"Clary," an impatient voice rang out, pulling Clary from a deep sleep. "Clary, wake up,"

Clary's eyes opened hesitantly to the feeling of her shoulder being hit by a pillow, a groan emitting from the redhead as she buried her face further into her own pillow in an attempt to block it out, and potentially achieve a few more minutes of beauty sleep.

"Clary, wake up," Vasantha urged, and Clary felt the pillow hit her shoulder again. "Come on, it's Christmas morning, everyone's waiting."

"Five more minutes," Clary pleaded, her voice muffled through the pillow. While Clary was a big fan of the Christmas holidays, and knew that both she and her friends had waited long enough for this day to arrive, she figured a few more minutes wouldn't hurt any of them.

"Clarissa Cedrella, get your ass out of bed," Vasantha said, frustrated, though it seemed to be to no avail, and the Scamander girl sighed, setting the pillow back down on her own bed. "There's hot chocolate." she said simply, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for her friend.

"I'm awake!" Clary exclaimed, sitting up quickly, her fiery red hair strewn over her face as she ran a few fingers through the tangled strands, attempting to get them under control.

Clary climbed out of bed, the strong scents of pine and berries from the Christmas trees down in the common room wafting up into the dormitory and hitting her nose, and she inhaled deeply as she stretched, a sleepy smile spreading across her face. She pulled her hair into its braid, throwing on the jumper her mother had knitted her the Christmas before overtop the black tank top she'd worn to bed and pulling her slippers on before following Vasantha out of their room and down the steps to the Gryffindor Common Room.

To Clary's surprise, everyone had been impatiently waiting her arrival. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny occupied one of the couches near the fireplace, and Fred and George sat in another, all of them watching the two newcomers with expectant expressions. Newt and Cedric had even been smuggled in to join them, and the Hufflepuff boys occupied a third couch, leaving two seats open on it for the girls to join them. Cedric held a mug of hot chocolate in each hand, one of which he passed to the tired redhead as she plopped down next to him on the couch.

"Merry Christmas, sleepyhead," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Merry Christmas," she mumbled back, taking a sip out of the mug, and the instant the sugary drink touched her lips, she began to feel more awake.

"Alright, Mum's presents are up first." Fred announced, beginning to pass out various packages holding a similar size and shape to everyone in their group. "Could never guess what these could be, anyone? Any guesses?"

"And look, Pretty Boy Diggory got one this year too!" George exclaimed, passing Cedric a package wrapped in parchment paper, and Cedric took the package, a smile gracing his face.

"I told you your mum liked me," Cedric boasted to Clary, a satisfied smirk beginning to form on his lips as he set his mug of hot chocolate down on the coffee table in front of them, freeing his hands up to open the present.

Clary took her package from George's outstretched hand and began to tear it open, revealing the knitted jumper she knew would be hiding underneath. As, throughout the years, her jumpers had ranged in various shades of red, this year it was a deep maroon, though the color her mother had used for the C emblazoned on the front was the same shade of golden that made up Cedric's jumper, while the initial knitted onto the center of his was of the same maroon hue. Next up were individual gifts from friends and siblings, including a new broom polishing kit from Vasantha and Newt, a new pack of Hiccough Sweets from Fred and George since they had used the last of them on Cedric a couple months prior, and a few Sugar Quills from Ginny, one of which Clary had already eaten before her friends had finished opening the rest of their gifts.

"Alright, you lot," Vasantha announced as soon as all the presents were opened. "You know the drill. Go get changed into your jumpers, and we'll meet back here in ten minutes to go get breakfast."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," George saluted, and the group began to shuffle out of the common room, Newt following the boys up to get changed in their dormitory rather than the two Hufflepuff boys having to run all the way to the basements to their own room, but Cedric threw an arm around Clary's shoulders, preventing her from going any further.

"Wait a second," Cedric said, looking around to make sure the others were gone before turning back to Clary, and picking a small box up from the table. "Before we go join them, I figure this is as good a time as any to give you your present from me, while we don't have an audience." He handed her the box, a nervous smile lighting up his features. "Here you go," 

Clary took the box in her hands, removing the yellow bow adorning the top and pulling it open. Inside lay a necklace, a simple silver chain with a small sun pendant dangling from the bottom. She lifted the necklace from the box, studying the way the silver glinted in the light streaming in from the common room windows before looking back up at Cedric with a smile on her face.

"It's beautiful," Clary said in awe, holding out the necklace to him as she turned around, holding her hair out of the way with her free hand. "Thank you. Would you..?"

Cedric took the necklace from her with a nod, unclasping it and placing it around her neck before refastening it back into place. Clary looked down at where the tiny sun hung briefly before walking back to the Christmas tree, and picking up a lone present that still sat under the branches before passing it to him.

"It's not much," she admitted, "but I figure, since you're really one of us now, it's time you learn the tricks of the trade."

Cedric unwrapped the package, opening the box inside to reveal an assortment of products from Zonko's, including Dungbombs, Frog Spawn Soap, a Nose-Biting Teacup, and his very own package of Hiccough Sweets.

"So, my gift to you this Christmas is a pranking lesson with the Queen of the Pranksters herself, Clarissa Weasley." she explained with a smug smile. "All victims are up to you, no questions asked, rookie."

"This is great," he said, chuckling, though all too careful not to let the teacup get too close to bite him. "Thank you. Merry Christmas, Clary." 

"Merry Christmas, Cedric," she said as the first sounds of footsteps were beginning to sound from their friends making their way back downstairs in their new jumpers, and Clary quickly picked hers up from where she'd draped it over the back of the couch. "Now come on, let's go get changed before Vas yells at us for being late."