It would be a little silly to say that an eighteen-year-old girl wouldn’t sort of expect a gift for her birthday from her boyfriend.  It would also be extremely silly for someone to think that they wouldn’t expect maybe something a little bit special from their boyfriend who didn’t go to school anymore.  So, when he’d sent her the package, she had to admit she was more than a little bit excited to open it up.  It didn’t even have to be anything spectacular, just the fact that he did it was more than enough.

Her parents certainly hadn’t put in the effort, they’d jotted a note and sent it in the post and that was that.  An actual, wrapped gift?  Jordyn was beside herself.  She wanted to wait until the right time to open it, however, so she’d stowed the box in her trunk until Monday night (sure, a day late – but she’d already written the note to him that she was saving it) and got ready for bed before even taking her present out from her trunk. 

Staring at the wrapping, she was so excited to open it, but she didn’t want to do it alone, and more than that, she wanted to share it with Neely (who had been tasked with bringing the cocoa).  As much as it was still early in the fall, it was always cold in the castle, and being bundled up in one of the cardigans that Jai had let her take to school was only a little bit of relief.  She briefly thought about putting on socks, but settled on just shoving her feet under her throw blanket instead. 

The wrapping paper on the gift was really tempting.  “Neely,” she whined, “c’monnnn…” though, wining to herself was probably not useful. 

Neely had made of spectacle of dressing up and still remaining her pajamas. She might be seen, she had to look the part. Getting cocoa was an event— and everyone knew Neely was now a seventh year and BEST WITCHES FOREVER with the Head Girl. So it wasn’t as if she really cared what anyone thought of her— she was too good for that. But she still needed to look good.

Taking her time to admire tiny slippers on the staircase that lead up to the girl’s dormitory, Neely changed pace and quite suddenly burst through the door, in a dramatic sweep of silk and faux fur and messy-casual-perfect bed hair. “You would not believe the line to get the elves. There was some second year who thought he could just ask them for biscuits whenever he wants.” A whole person, and preteened at that. The nerve. “Then someone wasted my time telling me how much they loved my slippers.” Neely looked down at said slippers and smiled fondly. Her head shot back up and her lips parted in a brighter grin. “They had gingerbread and it’s only September. For me, not that little monster.”

Duh.

And even if the gingerbread had produced itself unseasonably at a twelve-year-old’s request, Neely was allowed to benefit. She was a legal witch and everyone knew that cocoa and gingerbread were always in style.

Neely’s eyes caught the paper under Jordyn’s fingertips, and the smile disappeared. “Jordyn.” She rushed forward, a sweep of robe and scandal. “You’re not opening that without me, are you?! I can’t help what the traffic was like.” Neely shoved the little tray of biscuits onto the nightstand, held out one cocoa expectantly, and then flopped on to the bed before reaching across to grab her own from the table. Her smile was now the giggling, secretive sort. “Hurry up! Let’s see if he has good taste.”

It was always nice to see that Neely’s dramatic flair would never diminish.  She was perhaps one of the only people who got to see all of the truest sides of Jordyn.  So, she laughed freely when she announced that there was a line at the kitchens and shook her head.  “Don’t worry,” she soothed her friend and moved her feet and blanket out of the way so that Neely could join her. 

“But,” she grinned, “your slippers are adorable – and you’ve made it!” Plus, from what Jordyn could see she hadn’t just gotten cocoa.  That was so very promising.  When she announced that it was gingerbread, Jordyn’s hands clapped in front of her face with a tiny squeak.  She loved gingerbread.  “They must have known it’s my birthday!” she added with a grin and grabbed one of the cookies. 

There was no need to be shy around Neely and she nibbled on the cookie.  When she swallowed her bite, she gasped at Neely, accusing her of opening the present without her.  “No!” she gasped, trying not to let the corners of her lips curl into a smile.  “I would never – especially because I invited you for the opening!” She teased and took the cocoa from Neely as it was offered.

The gift was small, but that didn’t mean anything.  Wizarding boxes were designed to hold a lot and be light, so she never really knew what could be inside and she took a little sip of her drink, giggling into the cup as Neely said to see if he had good taste.  “He picked me, didn’t he?” she wrinkled her nose at her friend and bumped her shoulder against hers before she took one more sip of cocoa before she could put it down on the nightstand closest to her. 

The cookie followed suit after another nibble and then she took the gift into her lap.  “Here goes nothing,” she grinned and pulled at the ribbon that kept it closed and ripped into the paper (a little less elegantly than she would have if anyone else was watching).  “Is it weird to so nervous?” she grinned through opening the box and pulled out the first thing on top – a silly, owl pillow which she hugged and giggled.  “Oh Godric, what is this?”

Even if compliments could be a burden, Neely loved them. “I know, right?” She managed one more glance down— Narcissus in the pool wished— and offered a lift of her foot, as if she were about to start dancing.

“Of course they did. You’re the Head Girl. It’s a perk. Plus, we’re generous enough to visit them all of the time so they’re definitely for you. Don’t let entitled second years tell you otherwise.” There were a lot of younger years that seemed entitled lately. Namely, all of the ones below Neely. Didn’t they know gingerbread biscuits were part of an apparator’s club only? It was the seventh years’ world. They were just living in it.

Neely knew Jordyn would wait for her. They had that kind of friendship. And so the small blonde felt her excitement mounting as she curled up to see the mystery box’s contents. So far, so good. The wrapping paper was promising, an attractive kind of shininess. And Neely had agree— even if Jai’s taste in gifts turned out to be awful, his taste in girlfriends was flawless, and Jordyn trumped a giftbox. (But Neely still loved presents— even other people’s.) She bumped shoulders back with a giggle but the dire grip on her cocoa demonstrated Neely’s eagerness. “He owes you a lifetime of presents for dating him.”

Which was to say nothing bad of Jai. Simply that he was preposterously lucky to land Jordyn.

Neely seemed to shake her head and nod at the same time, laughing. “No, it’s like an exam.” Neely always felt the jitters when Julian gave her a gift— especially if she knew it was coming. (She rarely let him forget until she was opening it.)

Neely’s mouth was a perfect o as the first gift surfaced. “A pillow,” she said, stating the obvious. But there was approval in her tone. “So you have something to hug when he’s not here. So cute. So far, he’s passing. Can you accidentally tell Julian about those?” They didn’t come with the same stigma as childhood dolls. “What else is in there?” She added, taking a well earned sip draw a cocoa.

If this had happened last year, Jordyn was fairly certain that Neely would not have been smiling or joking, but she still would have brought the cocoa.  It was no secret that Neely had never been the biggest hufflepuff fan, and Jordyn hadn’t cared much either way (though found she’d always associated with other slytherins and ravenclaws before anyone else).  So, the fact that Neely could talk about Jai in a positive way was a giant win for her. 

So, opening the present with her was as much for Jordyn to have someone to gush over, but also for Neely to see what a good boyfriend he was.  Sure, she saw the little star necklace he’d bought for her and other little tokens he’d brought, but she didn’t get to see him at her house, obviously, and the things he said to her.  Or the way he handled Jordyn being a complete disaster.  Those were much harder things to convey to Neely. 

They were best witches for life and it was important that Neely liked Jai and accepted him.  So the fact that he passed the first bit of the test, that was important.  Giggling, Jordyn hugged the pillow to her chest for a moment before putting it down behind her – it would obviously be joining her every evening.  “I’ll be sure to slip it to him,” she wrinkled her nose at her and looked back to the box, “Oh! There’s more!” she exclaimed and reached in.

The pillow had provided a cushion for boxes… Lifting each, Jordyn grinned. “Butterfly wings,” a candy she loved, “exploding bonbons!” Jordyn and Neely had always loved sharing these.  And it was such a long time until Hogsmeade weekend – this was fantastic.  “A box of sweets,” she grinned over the yellow box, adding it to the spread in front of her, and finally a pink box with a heart on it and the French word for love… Pursing her lips, she didn’t know what it was going to be until she opened it up and with a wide mouth held it open to show to Neely, “Macarons!”

There was already a sizable treasure built up around her and Jordyn peeked into the box. “And there’s more!”

Neely was seriously beginning to think that Julian should up his boyfriend game. Only then, she wouldn’t be able to proclaim him the world’s best boyfriend (fact), and so having Jordyn throw hints on her behalf was good enough.

But today had little to do with the Neelyverse and more to do with making sure Jordyn was treated like the HEAD-GIRL-BADGE-WEARING PRINCESS she was. Jai had to pass the Neely test.

Which he was doing. Technically for the second time, since she’d decided he didn’t deserve to be thrown to the vampires when she’d learned of the couple.

With friendly jealousy in her eyes, Neely took in the delights. Merlin, it was true: Julian had his work cut out for him. Adulthood had been good to Jai, had swathed him in an heir of mature mystery and turned him into a financier of smart gifts. Neely had half the mind to request he owl them contraband. A little something to pour in the cocoa in her hands.

The M word.

“Ummm, we might have to trade boyfriends for a day,” she laugh-scoffed, scrunching ever closer. Luckily, Neely was adept at cocoa-hovering charms. “Can you loan me a macaron, Jordy? I’m a lowly seventeen-year-old and my stash is depleted.” Mummy really needed to get back to Paris.

More? “Godric, he probably managed to fit a unicorn in there. What is it?” She demanded, but in a high, girlish tone reserved for fake sisters. (The best kind.)

“I’ve already dated Julian,” Jordyn teased, finally comfortable enough with the situation to be able to joke about it.  It had been an unfortunate piece of their time at school and something that could have ruined their friendship forever if not for the fact that Jordyn had absolutely no interest in Julian and it was short lived.  She was just lucky Neely had forgiven her because of Julian’s ridiculous assertion about their relationship status. 

That was, thankfully over, however.  “I think,” she ended the thought on, “I’ll stick with Jai,” and stuck out her tongue with a giggle.  She would definitely stick with Jai for as long as he was going to keep her.  She hadn’t really realized how good of a boyfriend he was until she had almost colossally ruined things. 

But, it hadn’t destroyed her relationship, and as a result, Jordyn was sitting here opening the container of macarons and laughing brightly as she handed one over to Neely: the box said it was a French vanilla lavender one.  That was bound to be delicious!  “To be paid back at a later date,” she winked and turned her attention back to the box.

There wasn’t much left in there, but she needed to finish it off.  There was a small box of stationary and a pen: “So sweet,” she looked to Neely with a smile before setting it off to the side.  That would be for later.  Of course,there was a much more interesting thing… a grey fabric thing… wrapped around something?  Lifting it out of the box, she realized very quickly the grey was something to wear and her fingers closed around something hard and box shaped in the middle. 

Widened eyes were a symptom of curiosity and she was very curious.  A strap fell from the grey thing and Jordyn just had to unravel it – revealing a pair of pajamas.  She laughed, immediately, because of the owl and knew she would be wearing them during Christmas break.  Probably a lot before then too.  Then, of course, there was the last box and Jordyn opened it to reveal the necklace.  Jai was very fond of giving her jewelry it seemed.

There was a little pink on her cheeks, as though she was embarrassed.  It was more like she was shy of the attention though.  It was considerably easier because Jai was not here.  “What did I do to deserve this?” she looked at her mini-hoard.  Seriously, what did she do?!

“Ugh, my gothic period,” Neely lamented. By which she meant she’d listened to marginally sad music, read love triangle novels, and bought Cashmere a matching 90s inspired collar. Retail therapy had taken a dark and twisted path into the land of bondagey triangle bras and heavy eyeliner.

“But,” she continued, sitting up now. “There is nothing wrong with Julian!”

She might have wanted to be the only girl he wanted, and she might not have wanted her BFF to want him, but she wanted Julian to be wanted.

She would settle for a macaron. She supposed having a boyfriend with impeccable taste in macarons was enough to make up for not wanting Neely’s own boyfriend— which Neely really didn’t want to happen, anyway. Pink tongue slipped from behind her lips as Neely took on the aroma of lavender. “As long as I get some of your boyfriend’s food, we don’t have to trade.”

But really, the old wise young adult man who was Jai could help a brother out. Not that Julian wasn’t good at giving gifts. Homemade jewelry was the magnifique.

Neely could use some pyjamas to go with it, though!

She drew in a breath, watching them unravel. “Seriously, so spoiled,” she said approvingly. And the necklace was adorable, too. “But don’t question it. Never question it.”

What hadn’t she done to deserve it? Jai was still earning her, Neely knew. “He knows how lucky he is, so just put those on and party, Jordy. Refills on cocoa?” She added, raising her cup. It was going to be a long night of enjoying macarons and not doing anything school related.