Chapter 12
The gifts started appearing in the winter of Cho’s second year at Hogwarts. Three pressed daisies, tied with a silver ribbon. A plump conker, polished until it shone. A slightly squashed Ice Mouse. The gifts appeared every Tuesday throughout December, briefly admired by the aspiring Ravenclaw Seeker and swiftly forgotten about.
Cho’s third year saw the Tuesday December gifts return, although her roommates insisted that she give them a more romantic name.
“How about Diggory’s Donations?” Marietta suggested, seconds before Cho attempted to pummel her to death with a pillow.
They eventually decided just to call them “The Gifts”, as a piece of artfully twisted copper wire, a slice of carrot cake and a sprig of holly didn’t exactly scream romance.
By her fourth year Cho knew that The Gifts must come from a Ravenclaw, sadly crossing Cedric off her lists of suspects. Judging by how much the quality of The Gifts had improved, the giver was probably also a third year who’d been finally let loose on Hogsmeade.
A pair of shoelaces that flashed when they were in danger of coming untied, a peacock feather quill, a bag of exploding bonbons. Cho began to look forward to Tuesdays, racing to be the first back to the dormitories after lunch.
The gift giver really upped their game during Cho’s fifth year at Hogwarts, possibly in reaction to how much time she’d been spending with Cedric. A new pair of heart-shaped Quidditch goggles were the first gift, appearing on Cho’s pillow as the first snow fell.
Deciding not to tell Cedric about The Gifts, Cho wore the goggles to every practice. Seeing a group of students watching from the stands, Cho felt a small thrill at the idea that the gift giver might be watching her show off the goggles.
Next was a wooden Liondragon, painted in the Ravenclaw colours and charmed to blow puffs of smoke whenever Cho was running late. There was also a note, ‘i’s dotted with miniature daisies.
“Sorry,” the note said. “She was supposed to fly but I’m rubbish at charms.”
Cho kept the note in her wand holster, occasionally pulling it out to smooth the rapidly curling paper. She’d seen those daisies dotted ‘i’s before, on the 6ft long essays and discarded ingredients lists strewn around the Ravenclaw common room.
December flew by and all thoughts of identifying the person behind The Gifts disappeared the moment Cedric entered the Triwizard Tournament Maze.
The condolence card was signed by the whole house, but only one person’s signature included a daisy. Closing the card and forcing herself not to throw it in the nearest bin, Cho decided not to think about Padma Patil right now. Maybe next year.
It was during Cho’s sixth year that The Gifts stopped appearing, and it took her until the first Friday of the month to even notice. A brief pang of disappointment was quickly pushed aside as she trained with Dumbledore’s Army.
The Patil twins were part of the group as well, laughing together as they practised shield charms. They looked like they were having fun and Cho thought about wandering over to say “hello”, but then a shimmering swan erupted from the end of her wand and she forgot about it.
Cho’s last year at Hogwarts saw The Gifts return. They were practical, designed to help her with her NEWTS and showing none of the whimsy or playfulness of previous years. An obscure book on the Goblin Wars, a roll of fresh parchment.
If Cho didn’t notice when Padma stopped leaving her gifts, she definitely noticed when they stopped being fun. As parents pulled their children out of the school and the professors upped their patrols to four, five, six times a night, Cho found herself digging out the flashing shoelaces.
She wore them to breakfast the next day, glancing out from under her fringe to see if Padma had notice. Dark winged eyebrows drew together in confusion, as Padma stared at Cho’s feet and tipped a spoonful of hot porridge into her own lap.
Deciding not to give it too much thought, Cho wore the heart-shaped goggled to practice that afternoon. Soon a small figure appeared on the pitch, standing hands on hips as Cho circled in the air above.
Padma was gone by the time Cho landed, but that night a gingerbread swan was sitting on Cho’s bedside table. It was still hot, sticky and sweet on Cho’s tongue as she pulled out the peacock feather quill and began making a list of all the things that she knew Padma liked.