Pansy Parkinson looked around the small flat that she’d just bought in Hogsmeade. Ever since she was a student up at the tall castle of Hogwarts, she’d loved visiting this village. It had always been one of the places she could go to be herself. No matter how bad life had gotten Hogsmeade always seemed to be the same to her.
So, when Draco had broken up with her to start dating Astoria Greengrass, she knew that staying in the flat that she’d lived in when they were dating would be too painful. There had been too many memories of Christmas and other holidays spent in that flat. Many happy ones and many not so happy ones. The bad had seemed to outweigh the good most of the time. Which inevitably brought about her dislike of the whole holiday season.
The tolling of bells from a nearby church that had been built when one of the more Christian wizarding families moved into Hogsmeade sounded. She wished that they wouldn’t sound them at all. Those tolling bells could only mean one thing and she refused to listen to that one thing at all.
“On the first day of Christmas….”
She flicked her wand and a rather loud rock song came one drowning out the young voice of the singer that was in the town square. In truth, the boy had a very nice sounding voice. He wasn’t the problem. The song he chose to start out with was the problem.
A gentle very nearly audible knock was heard over the music. Pansy wondered who could be coming to visit her now. Perhaps it was Mrs. Nosybusybody from next door coming to tell her to turn down the music.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Nosybusybody,” Pansy called, moving towards the door of her flat. “I didn’t mean to have the music up so….”
She opened the door to find the most surprising of people standing on her doorstep. The tall willowy blonde girl standing there looked nothing like her sister. Of course, Daphne Greengrass was an enigma all to herself.
“Daphne,” Pansy said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. She moved aside so that the grey-eyed girl could enter the flat. “Come in.”
Daphne strode past Pansy and looked around the small entryway of the flat. She seemed to be very confused about something but also seemed to have shrugged it off.
“Can I take your coat?” Pansy asked, trying her best to sound reasonably hospitable to her guest. She’d always been taught that one acted the part of gracious host no matter what. Even if one didn’t find oneself wanting the company to begin with. “Would you like a spot of tea or something while we talk?”
“I would love that,” Daphne said, taking off her coat and handing it over to Pansy. “Thank you.”
Pansy hung up the coat in the coat closet that was situated near the door. Luckily enough she’d put the kettle on a few minutes ago to boil. She usually put more water in than she could use so all she had to do was pull down another teacup and saucer for Daphne.
“Aren’t you going to put up some Christmas decorations?” Daphne asked, looking around Pansy’s threadbare living room. “It looks downright drab and unChristmasy in here. I remember that you used to love this holiday the most when we were in Hogwarts. You’d talk about it nonstop until the day we left for the holiday break.”
“Um….uh….I….” Pansy stuttered as searched her mind for something to say. How did one say that someone’s sister ruined everything that you once believed to be true without coming out mean?
“I’m just not in the spirit of this year,” Pansy said, settling on something that wasn’t so offensive yet also close to the truth of things. “I’m just not feeling the Christmas spirit this year like I’ve felt in other years.”
Daphne shook her head sadly. “I know what will help you out,” she said, smiling. “We’ll have our spot of tea and then go and do a bit of shopping. Alright?”
Pansy sighed. In truth, she just wanted to stay at home and not do anything. She had only allowed Daphne in, in order to be polite. She didn’t need another owl from her mother telling her that her behavior was dreadful and that she needed to learn to respect people.
“You need to get your mind out of the past, Pansy,” Daphne said, putting on a pleading face that usually got her whatever she wanted.
The teapot began to boil drowning out both Daphne’s words, and Pansy’s rage at them. As long as she had something she could focus on the memories of Christmases past would stay down and forgotten. That’s all that Pansy wanted.
But, of course, as soon as they’d finished their tea and snack cakes that Pansy had insisted upon serving, Daphne once more brought up going out into the town. Pansy had only complied to go to get Daphne to stop asking about it. But as they walked down the garland decked streets of Hogsmeade towards the shopping district, Pansy was regretting her decision hard.
“You know what, Daphne, I think I need to go back home,” Pansy said, trying to keep the music and joyfulness from bringing the tears free-flowing. “I’m not feeling so good.”
“Oh,” Daphne said, face showing a great concern no had ever shown for Pansy before. “Do you want me to walk back with you?”
“No,” Pansy said, shaking her head. “I think I can manage to find my own way home, thank you.”
“Are you sure you want to be alone right now?”
“I’m really sure,” Pansy said, wishing that Daphne would just let her go home so she could cry in peace in her living room.
“I hope you feel better,” Daphne called towards Pansy’s retreating back.
“Was that Pansy Parkinson I saw you with a moment ago, Daph?” Astoria asked, giving her sister a hug.
Daphne had almost forgotten that she’d invited her sister to go Christmas shopping with her today. It was probably a good thing that Pansy had decided to go home. Not that she didn’t want to spend more time with Pansy. She thought it would be rather awkward for both Pansy and Astoria to be in the same area together.
“It was,” Daphne said, thinking about all the changes she’d seen in Pansy Parkinson in the short time she’d spent with the woman. “I think that she’s really rather lonely. She needs some form of companionship.”
“Daph, if I’d have known that Draco was seeing someone then I wouldn’t have started seeing him myself,” Astoria said, looking extremely upset.
“I didn’t say it to upset you,” Daphne said, feeling like she couldn’t even speak about the subject without making either Astoria or Pansy feel bad. “I really didn’t mean to make you upset. I just think that maybe….”
The idea struck her like a speeding witch on a broom. She would try her hardest to bring back Pansy’s Christmas spirit. But how could she do that?
“What scatterbrained idea is going through your head, Daphne?” Astoria asked, sounding like the very idea of one of Daphne’s ideas scared her more than anything.
“I’m going to get Pansy Parkinson back into the holiday spirit,” Daphne exclaimed happily, clapping her hands in both glee and an attempt to warm them. “I just don’t know how to do that properly yet. I was hoping that maybe you’d have an idea.”
Astoria smiled. The smile that she usually had when she had the perfect idea for a plan. Her grey-blue eyes were gleeful and she looked more than happy to help Daphne.
“I think that I’ve got the perfect idea,” Astoria said, motioning her sister towards her. “Have you heard that old Muggle song called the 12 Days Christmas?”
Daphne had heard people singing that on the street earlier. She didn’t truly understand why anyone would want as much stuff as the song said it’s singer was giving to his true love. But if that was what it took to make Pansy happy, she’d do it.
“I’ve heard it around,” she said, smiling. “But do think that singing is going to help?”
“That’s not the idea,” Astoria said, giggling. “You aren’t going to sin her the song.”
“That’s good. She really wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway. She turned on this horridly loud rock song when the town singer started singing in the town square.” She giggled at the memory of the loud music coming from the plant doored flat. “But if I’m not going to sing, what am I going to be doing?”
“Come on,” Astoria said, taking hold of Daphne’s arm and pulling her towards a store. “We have to go buy your first gift.”
“Gift?”
“Yes,” Astoria said, a smile coming through on her voice. “A gift. A gift befitting the 12 Days of Christmas.”
“What’s the first one then?”
“A partridge in a pear tree,” Astoria said, sounding sage about the Muggle tradition of the song.
“But one really can’t have a pear tree in a flat, can one?”
“Then we’ll get the next best thing.” Astoria pointed towards the cage of grey birds with red bills and legs.
“A partridge?”
Astoria nodded, pulling Daphne towards the shop that usually sold owls and other such pets. The sounds of children asking their parents to buy one of the strange gray birds in the cage for them as a pet.
“Do you think she will like one?”
“I’m sure she will.”
The sisters went inside and talked to the manager about purchasing one of the birds in the cage. He said that it was a Christmas tradition to give a partridge to someone care a lot about during the holiday season.
When the sisters were finished they left the store with not only a partridge but some food for it. Also, some food for Draco’s new barn owl which had been one of the purchases that Astoria had said she needed to make when they’d agreed to go shopping. Daphne couldn’t wait to see the expression on Pansy’s face when she saw the partridge.
“You could send him anonymously,” Astoria said, smiling and getting into the spirit of the holiday and the activity of the moment. “You could attach a letter to the cage with Christmas greetings and see if she knows that it’s you.”
Daphne smiled. “That’s great, Storia,” she said, trying to think of what message she could put on the note. It would have to be something special. Something that would bring across the Christmas spirit and all that.
As the sisters went their separate ways, the message Daphne wanted to send popped into her mind. But would Pansy be willing to accept her message and what it could mean for both of them? Or would she make as big a fuss as granny Greengrass had?
The morning light flittered in through the curtains and the tolling of the bells made Pansy curse as she covered her head with a pillow. She couldn’t wait until this horrible season was over and done with. Just as she was about to get up and close her window a knock sounded on the door.
Scrambling out of bed and pulling her silky purple robe around her shoulders, she raced down the stairs. She was in trouble for sure about the music from yesterday. This was surely Mrs. Nosybusybody coming to tell her she had x amount of time to find a new flat. She opened the door of the flat an apology at the ready and ready to grovel to be allowed to stay.
“Mrs. Nosybusybody, I’m sor….”
Only to find that there was absolutely no one in front of her door. She looked up and down the hall making sure that there was truly no one in sight. That’s when she heard the cooing of a bird at her feet.
Looking down she a gilded cage of silver and black settings. Inside the cage was the most beautiful bird that Pansy had ever seen in her entire life. Its gray plumage was almost white in the light of the corridor. It’s red beak and legs gleamed like rubies.
“Where on earth did you come from?” she asked, bending down to examine the cage. She saw the note that was stuck to the bars instantly. “What’s this?”
She plucked the note from the bars of the cage. The thick parchment was heavy in her hand. It was like the parchment that one of her pureblood friends would use for their homework back in their Hogwarts year. The parchment looked very familiar. She just could place where she knew it from.
The bird cooed again and looked up at her expectantly.
“You want me to open it?” Pansy asked the bird, knowing she probably looked stupid standing in the hallway talking to a bird.
The bird cooed once more and looked for all the world like it was nodding its head in agreement with her statement. But that was silly, wasn’t it? Birds didn’t understand a thing that people said to them. They only seemed like they did.
“Alright then,” she said, opening the envelope and pulling out a note from inside. She quickly scanned the page and could feel something she hadn’t felt in a while. Her heart beating rapidly like it had when she and Draco had started dating.
Pansy,
It’s the first day of Christmas and I’m hoping that maybe by day twelve I can win your heart. So, without further ado, your first gift of Christmas from your hopefully true love is a partridge. I’m sorry they were all out of pear trees to put him in.
Your Secret Admirer
Pansy read and reread the note over and over again trying to figure out who it could possibly be. Whoever it was had nice writing. Although the writing did look a bit familiar to her. She couldn’t place where she knew it.
“Let’s get you inside, shall we?” Pansy said picking up the cage and bringing the new arrival into the house. Not noticing the smiling witch who peered around the corner to see how her present had been received.