XXXV

Cassiopeia groaned against her pillow when loud bangs on the door woke her up. The girl had spent the whole night talking to Tonks and had only fallen asleep maybe at four or five in the morning.

"Wake up," she heard outside. "It's Christmas!"

"It's also too early," she groaned. "Go away."

Instead of complying, the person only entered the room, and the witch instinctively kicked the direction when hands tickled her sides.

"Bloody hell, woman!" George cussed loudly, moaning in pain and the blonde sat up quickly, recognizing her boyfriend's face behind his hands. "I didn't know you had fighting skills!"

Cas stood up, reaching for his wrists.

"George! Merlin, are you okay?" she said, pulling his hands from his face, seeing his nose red and bleeding. "Don't sneak up on me like that! What were you doing?"

He groaned.

"I just wanted to surprise you!"

"You certainly did!" the teen pulled her wand from under her pillow, fixing his broken nose quickly and summoning the closest cloth to clean up the blood. "Don't do that again!"

The couple heard a chuckle and turned their heads to its direction, finding Tonks casually putting on a robe over her pajamas.

"Good morning, fighter. Happy Christmas."

Cassiopeia looked down at the foot of her bed and felt confused. She only expected George's gift to be waiting for her, but the pile clearly had six presents.

"Who are those for?" she questioned her boyfriend.

"Uh… I think they are for you. But it's just a guess."

Cassiopeia side-eyed him, and approached the pile with hesitance, ready for it to explode on her face.

On the very top, she could see George's name and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Go on," he gave her a shy smile. "Open it."

"It's not a Pygmy Puff, is it?" the blonde-eyed girl enquired without opening it. "George, we both know..."

"You don't have time to take care of a Pygmy Puff," he interrupted her. "And, let's be honest, I'm the only one who will get your cuddles."

She chuckled, finally opening the gift and smiling a bit when she recognized the pink magic fireworks.

"Well?" she glanced at him.

"We're gonna light that up later," he promised.

"Okay."

The following gift was Fred's, with a sappy Christmas' Card that made her smile, followed by a book from Granger and a pair of freshly knitted socks from Mrs. Weasley – which the girl imagine had come from her complaining to her boyfriend about always forgetting to get thicker socks.

The girl froze when she reached the second last gift.

"What is wrong?" George questioned.

"Uh… It's from the Tonks'. The whole family."

He made silence for a moment, and the two just stared at each other for a moment before the blonde opened said present. It was a bottle of perfume.

"It's nice," her boyfriend said when she sprayed it on her wrist. "Smells good."

"Yeah," Cas shifted on her place. "It's nice."

But he knew better than that.

"What is it?" George enquired.

"They got me a gift," she girl crossed her arms, rubbing her own skin and trying to comfort herself. "I mean, I've never seen two of the three in my life and they still got me a gift."

George walked to his girlfriend in response, putting his hands on the sides of her waist.

"Well, that means they want something with you," he affirmed. "Tonk's mum is your aunt, after all, and Tonks is your cousin. That's a bridge, right? They are trying to get close to you."

Cas nodded a bit.

"Still feels weird," she whispered.

George chuckled.

"You need to get used to people being nice to you," he pointed. "Affection isn't bad."

The blonde bit her lip in response, embarrassed, and he kissed her cheek not a second later.

"Just write them a letter," he suggested. "I'm sure they'll be happy to be hearing from you."

Cassiopeia nodded once again, and George leaned closer to give her rose lips a peck which reminded her of a single detail she seemed to have forgotten to do after getting up.

The girl covered her mouth with both her hands in a rush.

"I haven't brushed my teeth!"

In response, her boyfriend just laughed.

"Go on."

Cassiopeia almost jumped into the bathroom, making sure her mouth smelt fresh and herhair looked its best before getting back to her room, and George grabbed her hand before she could even put a second foot inside, kissing his girlfriend passionately while hugging her with a single arm.

When he stepped back, her blue eyes were open wide and she could feel her face burning deeply.

"Happy Christmas!" he smiled.

"Happy Christmas," she managed to say and looked behind her back at the door. "Let's go down to breakfast, I'm starving."

He was about to leave the room, but they both stopped when she held his elbow, noticing the last gift on the foot of the bed.

"There's one left," Cas pointed.

He stopped to wait for her, and the girl knelt down to lift the green large box with Sirius' name on top and unwrapped its paper gently. Inside, there was another green box, this time made of velvet, and that made the Slytherin frown.

Why would Sirius give her something that came in a velvet large box?

Cassiopeia opened it carefully after glancing at George and almost dropped it when she caught a glimpse of what was in front of her.

"Bloody Merlin!" she yelped.

Inside the box, there was a set of circlet and earrings made of Sapphires and studded diamonds.

That was definitely not something she was expecting out of a gift.

"I need to talk to Sirius."