|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 20, 2007 12:33:08 GMT -5
He handed over the little box and she smiled at the wrapping as she carefully turned it over in her hands and inspected it. It was like an explosion of ribbon, but it was really pretty.
"Nice work on the wrapping," she grinned at him. While she didn't think he was the one to wrap the box, as most boys didn't wrap their own presents, she loved the way it looked. It was just so pretty.
Finding a spot to start with the unwrapping of the gift, careful not to tear at the wrapping, she slit it open little by little, anticipation building as her curiosity grew. Finally getting the wrapper off, she opened the box that held the gift, her eyes a little curious about what he'd chosen.
Lifting the globe up, she turned it around, looking at design of the base before letting her eyes fall to the scene inside. The snow still fell from when she'd turned it upside down, and she loved it. Winter was her favourite season, but when she was about to put it down to give her thanks, something caught her eye. There was movement.
Putting her gift up close to her nose, she peered at what was going on. It wasn't a normal globe. Her smile growing wider by the nanosecond, she squealed a little before wrapping her arms around the boy's neck.
"I love it, I love it, I love it!" she exclaimed excitedly in his ear. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Giving him a swift kiss on the cheek, she watched the globe from behind him, her arms still wrapped around the boy's neck. Leaning closer to his ear, she smiled. "I'll give you proper thank you when we get out of here, promise."
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 20, 2007 23:51:07 GMT -5
"Allegra wrapped it for me," Drew admitted with out shame. He had wanted the present to look as great on the outside as he hoped it was inside and knew he wouldn't have been able to do it justice.
She peeled the paper back carefully and it just made him more nervous, fighting hard not to just rip it apart and get the anticipation over with. When she saw the actual globe and he saw her reaction, his face broke out in a grin which only grew wider at the promise of a proper thank you later. "See... now you can have winter everyday!" he said excitedly, pleased she liked it.
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 21, 2007 0:08:21 GMT -5
"I love it!" she exclaimed again. It was the cutest thing ever, well maybe not ever, but at that moment. The scene was so cute, she loved that they were snowboarding, skating and whatnots. And the fact it was all a winter scene really set her off with love of the gift. The snow would've been enough, but the scene being played out was wonderfu.
Finally backing away from him, she pulled his birthday gift out from behind her with a nervous smile. She hoped he liked it as much as she did, or at least even a little. It'd taken a long time to get together, and she had to have some help from some people, and a lot of it from Celina, but it came out really well.
In the thin package, wrapping paper royal blue again with a golden ribbon, closest she could get to bronze, was the next gift for him. Really, it was the first.
After opening it, he would find a black photoframe. In that frame was four pictures, of he and Allegra. In one photo, a colourful picture of the two interacting, beside it one of the same in black and white, a still frame. Below the moving coloured one, was a black and white one in the same movement. Beside that one was a still of colour.
The next frame was brass. In that frame were multiple photos of the friends she's managed to capture in moving pictures. To name just a few: Hiro and Charlie (who Celina had pointed out to Felicity), Nic and Arianna, Celina, and many others.
The frame below was made of cherry wood. In this frame were two pictures. One was colourful, stand-still, of the two of them in the office. It was something one of the people in the office had taken and given to her because it was there. Next to that one was a black and white stand-still, her favourite type, of the two of them outside by the very tree he'd helped her out of when she'd been chasing Sammy for the first time.
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 21, 2007 0:45:48 GMT -5
Drew really wanted to relish in the glory of a fabulous present given for a while longer, but when Felicity handed over his next gift, he couldn't resist opening it. With a quick crooked smile, he gave a short laugh. "This is my birthday present? You know you didn't have to, right?"
He took his time to unwrap it, carefully peeling the blue paper off. When he saaw the pictures in the frames, he looked at them curiously, finding the composition eyecatching. "Wow, Felicity... this is really neat..." he said with a touch of awe in his voice as he looked back and forth between the frames which he had spread out across his lap. "You put this all together? How'd you get these pictures?"
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 21, 2007 1:33:13 GMT -5
"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to," she smiled shyly at him. Turning seventeen in the wizarding world was a huge thing, unlike in the muggle world. And she'd put a lot of thought into it, and giving dinner to him wasn't going to cut it, at least not well. So when the idea popped into her mind, she set people out to help her immediately, which wasn't hard. The poeple she'd asked had offered photos as well as their service to take some for her. And it hadn't been hard to distract him long enough at times in order to get what she wanted for a photo.
Smiling, as the boy seemed to like his gift, she bit her lip lightly, in anticipation to hear what he had to say. And hearing the tone behind his voice, she grinned even more and leaned against him slightly to gaze at the photos as well.
Nodding, her grin grew as she looked over all of the pictures. It'd taken time, right up until she'd left the week before to go home, but she'd gotten everything gathered thanks to those who'd helped. "A lot of people helped me," she admitted. "Celina helped point out a few people to me you've mentioned that I didn't know and we got photos of them for this one," she pointed at the middle frame. "The one with Allegra I collected one of the photos from someone and the others one's Celina and I took when we saw you guys together talking in the corridor a few times. I have a few other's I'll give you, because it's not like we were stalking you guys or anything, we just wanted to get the photos and took the opportunities when offered."
"The one of you and me in the office was taken by mistake when someone was testing out on of the camera's we have, but I saw it and really liked it. And the other one, I got Celina to take on purpose. I told her where to be one day and I got you to go outside with me and she took it." Of course, it all did sound kind of stalkerish, but it was what had to happen in order to get the photographs.
Holding her breath a little, she hoped he didn't think it'd been wasted time because so much had gone into it in order to get it all together. Of course, her mum and Lindsay had seen it as well, as they'd helped her to put everything in the frames, but she really hoped he liked it as much as he sounded as though he had.
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 23, 2007 19:03:23 GMT -5
"Sneaky!" Drew told her, with a crooked grin, appreciating the work that went into it all the more. He looked carefully at the photo of the two of them under the tree and tried to remeber the specific day. Thank Merlin Celina hadn't caught them kissing.
"This is really amazing," he told her, looking back up at her soft brown eyes, wishing her parents weren't in the house so he could kiss her properly.
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 24, 2007 3:18:21 GMT -5
"I had to be," she defended herself and her accomplices. "You weren't to know about it, and so we had to sneak the pictures. And we didn't tell Allegra about it either because we thought the photos would come out nicer if they weren't anticipated." Celina trusted Allegra and had asked about actually letting her in on it, but Felicity refused, not because she didn't trust his sister, but because she wanted everything in the photos to look natural, and those ones had come out really well.
The one's of his friends were a mix, some of them had been taken without their notice and others had been taken with permission, but she'd chosen the most natural looking ones, those that looked as though everyone were having the time of their life, even the one's who hadn't seemed to be in high spirits. For the two pictures of themselves, both were completely natural. Felicity hadn't known when Celina was going to be snapping photos while they were outside, but she knew the girl had taken a whole roll of film to them when Felicity had begged him to go outside with her because she insisted she needed some fresh air. It hadn't been hard to get him to agree.
Smiling happily, she wanted to grab his hand, but she wasn't sure when her parents would be walking in, deciding they'd had enough time alone and it was time to introduce her family to him. Instead, she pulled away from him and made to stand, figuring it'd be best to get it done and over with so they didn't lose any more time at the Festival.
"If you're ready, I'll get them so they can meet you," she said, gesturing toward the kitchen door. "And I can put your presents up in my room so you won't have to carry them with you, if you'd like," she added as a suggestion. "And then we might be able to get out of here."
The latter was a hint to what she'd promised him. And it was also a hint to show she wanted to get out of the watchful eye of her parents.
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 24, 2007 23:37:05 GMT -5
Drew took a deep breath, letting it out long, but smiled and nodded. The first half had been tough, but the intermission had been nice. Now that they seemed to be heading into the final stretch, Drew wasn't sure what to expect. It could go either way at this point.
"So what am I in for?" he asked softly as he got to his feet, hoping to get at least a little bit of a heads up. "More questions, or just a parade of Hjorts?"
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 25, 2007 3:14:29 GMT -5
"Parade," she answered quietly. "Mostly just so those that are here can meet you and appraise you, and have something to tell me later on after we get back and you leave. It really shouldn't be more than that. I mean, dad'll probably have a few more words to say and remind me of curfew and whatnot." Shooting him an apologetic look, she shrugged. What else could she really do? It was the way her family was.
"And technically, they're not all Hjorts. I mean, they are, but they aren't. There'll be Slocum's and Danielson's included as well. My aunt's family and then my sister's. But at least you don't have to meet everyone," she continued. If that were the case, she was sure it'd be much more than either he or she could handle, it was bad enough as it was. "You should be glad of that one. There'd be way too many people if that were it, as it is there are more than a handful here at the moment."
Taking hold of the gifts, she clutched them to her chest, wishing she dared give him a reassuring hug. It couldn't be too bad, her dad and mum had already said she could go, so really there wasn't much point in it, but she figured since she liked Drew she'd be best to do what her dad wanted. Otherwise, consequences might follow, one of which being she couldn't see the blue-eyed boy again.
"Stay here and I'll go get them and run our stuff up and I'm sure we can go after that." Sighing a bit heavily, she turned toward the stairs and wondered momentarily if this was how her sister's had felt when they had to parade people around. Then again, they didn't have as many to parade, it was basically whoever was visiting.
Climbing the stairs, she hurried to her room, looking barely touched. Her mum had kept it up, neat and tidy while she was gone, but without her being present for such a time, it hadn't settled well with the room itself. Everything was the same, but different at the same time. Shrugging it off, she quickly hid his gifts, making sure to place her globe on her nightstand where she'd be sure to see it before going to sleep and see it when she woke in the morning.
Leaving and heading down the stairs the back way, she entered the kitchen and noticed those in presence seemed a bit too interested in what they were doing. Most likely they'd been listening closely to anything they could hear. She wished she was of age and could've just preformed a spell or two to make it a bit more private, not that anything had actually been said.
"We're done...and he's ready to meet you guys," she explained calmly. "Please let's get through this quickly?" she nearly begged her dad. "He's been here close to an hour and that's an hour lost from the time I'm supposed to have to go to the Festival with him." She wasn't asking for more time with him, but she was requesting to make the process move swiftly.
Leading the way back into the living area, she was followed by those that were at the home and lived there. Only two were missing, and that was because they were working. Twelve people of all ages walked behind the blonde, all looking at the Ravenclaw. It was mortifying for her, she couldn't even begin to imagine what he was feeling.
Turning to them, she gave an exasperated look, one, once more, requesting that her plea be granted. "This is Andrew Thornton," she gestured to the tall boy, at which point Freddy backed up a little into Jacob who continued his glare as though Drew hadn't left his eye sight for a bit of time. "Drew, this is part of my family."
And part it really was, her three sisters were absent, Raquel who lived with them having had to work, many of her nieces and nephews absent, at their own homes with their parents. Her uncle whom her parents had adopted lived only a short way down the street, but had opted to steer clear of the main Hjort home for the day, though his youngest daughter had decided the opposite.
"You've already met my mum, dad, Jacob, and Freddy," she barely pointed at the four with her hand as she moved along. The two elder Hjort's both raised eyebrows at her but didn't say a word. Red-headed Jacob didn't let his stare lighten in the least as he grunted what he deemed a worthy enough greeting.
Moving her hand toward her Aunt she could see the disbelieving smile of her that Felicity was actually going through this. "My aunt Abagail," with this the red-headed woman stepped forward, offering her hand in polite gesture with a "pleasure to meet you".
"My nephews, Winthrop," she pointed at a nine year old, freckled boy. "Winston," another that was a small carbon copy of the first, though they were only a year apart, the latter of the two was still small for his age. "Matthew," a bespeckaled boy with blonde hair and green eyes. "And Jeremy," a tall boy with strawberry blonde hair and the sweetest smile. All four boys tried their best to put on good airs and each held out their hand as she called them, hoping to impress their aunt with their good behaviour.
"My niece Lisa," she motioned toward a shy-looking, plump girl with the same strawberry blonde hair as her brother. At the sound of her name, she blushed profoundly and hid her face in Abagail's skirt, not even daring to look at the boy, let alone offer her hand.
"And my cousins Lindsay and Cherry," she ended. Respectively, a brunette who looked overly-satisfied with her cousin's choice and red-head with green eyes who looked ready to push Felicity out of the way. As their turns came, they each giggled silly-like and batted their eyelashes, causing Felicity to warn them with a look and roll her eyes.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, slightly surprised when she heard the pattering of feet. From the kitchen entered a large, German Shephard, who promptly took a seat in front of Freddy, as though he'd merely been late to an important meeting. "And this is Pahndah, obviously our dog."
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 25, 2007 22:55:35 GMT -5
To say that it was all a little intimidating would have been the understatement of the century. Felicity wasn't even officially his girlfriend and he was already meeting aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews. And then they all got to appraise him and give Felicity thier review? ...shouldn't be more than that... be glad it's not everyone... Yeah, like that made it easier.
"Eye on the prize.. eye on the prize..." he murmured to himself, bouncing on his toes nervously as Felicity ran upstairs. She seemed to be taking a long time getting back and Drew started to chew on his bottom lip, wondering if this was yet another test. The parade came through from the kitchen and Drew forced himself to stand still as he tried to remeber everyone's names. His smile was a bit on the sheepish side, but he offered his hand out to anyone who would take it, greeting most with a "Nice too meet you" when they were introduced.
"I have an Aunt Abigail too," Drew told Felicity's aunt, finding it interesting, but not really sure if she would. "My cousin's name is Jeremy..." He really didn't expect them to care about his family, but he knew voicing the connection would at least help him remember those few names.
He offered a grin and a handshake to each of the three young girls, finding their behaviour a little flattering and when the last member of the family trooped in, he offered his hand to him too. "Pleased to meet you Pahndah," he greeted the dog seriously.
It was a lot of eyes on him and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say or do at this point, so he just stood there and smiled, feeling a little stupid.
"Nice to meet all of you," he finally said, deciding that it hadn't been all that bad.
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 26, 2007 9:20:37 GMT -5
Felicity's aunt smiled pleasantly, acknowledging what he was most likely doing. She knew it was a rather inimidating moment, and whatever helped the boy to remember their names was welcomed. Jeremy on the other hand merely smiled, not quite sure if he was supposed to say something or not and instead chose to nod.
Lisa continued cowering in Abagail's skirt, refusing to take his hand; on the other hand sixteen year old Lindsay gratefully acccepted his hand, backing down slightly from the look she'd been given; Cherry, young and boy crazy as she was, did not stop with the grinning and eyelash batting, but she didn't do more than that.
Freddy, Lisa, Winthrop, and Winston all let loose giggles when Drew offered his hand in greeting to their pet, finding it funny he was treating him as a member of the family. Many people just brushed him off, but they decided the giant was all right, especially since he hadn't stepped on or ate any of them, yet.
There was a course of "nice to meet you"'s issued from around the group, except from Ib and Jacob, the latter who continued scowling.
Felicity turned back to Drew to give another apologetic smile before turning back to her dad. "All right, so...can we go now?" she inquired, biting her lip softly. His piercing blue eyes stared back at her before he gave a small nod and the group dispersed, save Meadow, Freddy, and Jacob. The two older girls quickly vanished upstairs, both going into another fit of giggles as they took a few backwards glances at the Ravenclaw before completely leaving sight.
Moving toward the stairs to grab her sweater, she whispered a "thank you" to her dad as she passed. Pulling on the light blue and brown patterned top, she grabbed Freddy's hand to get him ready to go as well before her mum stepped forward and shook her head taking the boy's other hand. "I thought you wanted to go without him?"
Giving her mum a funny look, she wasn't sure if the older woman was joking. Of course she wanted to go without him, but she'd gotten out of taking him with Lucas, she didn't think she'd have that chance again. "You mean...you mean I can just go?"
With a nod of confirmation, Felicity squealed and threw her arms around her mum's neck before doing the same to her dad. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said rushed, extremely happy that they were willing to let her go alone with him.
"Eight o'clock, not a second later, Felicity. Andrew, I expect her to be over that thresh hold at precisely eight, any later and you will not be allowed to see my daughter again." Turning toward the kitchen, apparently not pleased about her going by herself with this young man, he left the small gathering.
Eight o'clock was still a bother to her, but it was only closing in near three, which meant they'd have close to five hours at the Festival. Noticing the small bit of disappointment on her face, Meadow ushered the two boys out of the room before turning to the other two. "I know eight is rather early, but my husband and I don't care to have Felicity out past that particular time," she addressed the Ravenclaw. "However, if you'd like and you are able to, you may visit with Felicity here until eleven. We'll do our best to make sure everyone stays out of the way. You can have this room or the porch outside."
The fact that her mum trusted the boy to have her back right on the dot was nice, and Felicity gave her a brilliant smile, thanking her for it.
"All right, so eight o'clock," she repeated once more, showing she understood the time she was to be home by. Hugging her mum again, she made her way to the area where outerwear was kept and picked up her new winter cloak her sister had given her mum the money to make. It was a powder blue with a good lining that would do well to keep her warm, and it didn't look that out of place outside either. Not many people had turned and stared at her when she'd worn it before. Grabbing her scarf, gloves, and hat, she waited for Drew to be ready before pulling open the door and calling a good bye to her mum.
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 26, 2007 22:12:14 GMT -5
"Eight o'clock. Yes, sir," Drew answered Felicity's father and he was determined to have the Gryffindor through the door by 7:55 even if he had to Apparate her there. Drew hadn't expected such an early curfew, actually planning for 10, but he could work with eight. Eight was better than five.
He smiled as Mrs. Hjort invited him to come in after they got back, glad that at least Felicity's mom seemed to like him. "Thank you. I told my sister I'd be back home around ten," he said, wanting to let the woman know he didn't plan on keeping Felicity up as late as that even.
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 26, 2007 22:32:14 GMT -5
"Come on," she told Drew softly, tugging on the sleeve of his sweater to hurry. It wasn't every day she was allowed to actually go somewhere with him. Well, somewhere meaning outside of Hogwarts, in fact, she hadn't actually ever been somewhere with him outside of Hogwarts, unless you wanted to include the first time she'd met him. Of course, she neglected to mention that this was the same boy that had shown her his boxers, and yes, she had told her mum about that particular incident.
"Bye mum!" she called out while she waited for Drew to be ready for the crisp air outside. The handle of the door was already in her hand, twisted, waiting to be pulled open fully. Felicity wasn't going to chance any second of lingering if she could help it.
|
|
Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
|
Post by Drew Thornton on Jul 26, 2007 22:40:30 GMT -5
"Thank you, Mrs. Hjort," Drew said as he was led to the door and given a chance to pull on his coat. He hurriedly pulled on his gloves and scarf and dug his hat out of his pocket before putting that on as well. "Eight o'clock. I promise," he assured the woman before turning to grin at Felicity. Were they actually going to make it out of the house?
|
|
|
Post by Felicity Hjort on Jul 26, 2007 23:12:18 GMT -5
Pulling the door open, she quickly ushered the Eagle out of it, onto the porch and quickly down the steps to the sidewalk without so much as a backwards glance. This was it, and if she had to run to make it a clear way, she would. Fortunately, she didn't have to as no one opened the door after she'd shut it. Not taking any chances still, she slid her hand into his and pulled him down the walk, and around a corner, only a couple of blocks from Diagon itself.
Stopping, she let his hand go to pull on her own hat, the white and blue stripes blending well with her cloak, the baubles hanging freely to her shoulders, meeting their ends at the ends of her newly cut hair.
"Thank you so much for putting up with that," she quickly told him while taking a moment to wrap her arms around his neck. It was all right with her if she missed a few more moments at the Festival as she'd already been, and she was sure he'd been as well. Besides, it wasn't as though she were really missing anything, he was there with her, so another moment of being absent from the Festival was hardly anything at all.
|
|