Gemma B.E. Higgs (herisson) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-12-20 20:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: gemma higgs, character: regulus black, location: godric's hollow |
WHO: Regulus Black and Gemma Higgs
WHEN: Afternoon - Tuesday, December 20th
WHERE: Gemma's House
WHAT: Decorating Christmas trees!
RATING: fluff. so fluffy.
STATUS: Completed in Docs
In preparation for a day, or at least for the afternoon or however long it took, of decorating her Christmas tree Gemma had made some gingerbread and had gotten preparations made for hot chocolate. The latter choice had been made because she preferred having a slightly more boozy egg nog which really wouldn't work very well with decorating the tree; besides which she knew Regulus didn't drink alcohol and wanted to accommodate his tastes. Gemma was happily humming Christmas carols to herself as she searched for and brought out the last box of decorations she had for the tree when she heard a knock at the door. With a grin she grabbed a sprig of the fake mistletoe off of the coffee table and went to answer the door. "Hi there," she greeted cheerfully, holding the sprig behind her back for the time being. Gemma knew she probably made a bit of a sight in her casual clothes and the santa hat atop her head. Though a stranger sight would probably have been Butterscotch if she had been able to keep the reindeer antlers on. "Thanks for coming over to help. I usually manage by myself but I thought it'd be something nice to do together." -- The Blacks had always had plenty of Christmas decorations, tasteful and classy, but of course the kids had never been allowed to put them up; that wasn’t Done. Even now Regulus let Kreacher do all the decorating, because at least that way it happened instead of being put off until Christmas Eve because of his work schedule. Therefore he was quite gratified when Gemma invited him over to help with her tree. It was a sort of domesticity he’d never really experienced before, and it meant a lot to him. “Hello,” he said with a smile. She looked awfully gorgeous in that Santa hat; it made him blush for no real reason that he could name. “I’m quite excited, I think it will be fun...what have you got behind your back?” His keen eyes could hardly help but notice her little secret, though of course he couldn’t tell what it was. * The grin on Gemma's face at Regulus' question could only be described as cheeky as she brought her hand from behind her back and held the sprig of mistletoe as high as she could manage, which wasn't quite above Regulus' head. "I couldn't resist when I saw it sitting in one of the boxes of decorations," she replied. Gemma hoped that Regulus didn't mind her little trick. Although he was comfortable with kissing her now she didn't want him to feel at all pressured into doing so. "I'm sure you're aware of the tradition with mistletoe?" -- Kissing was perfectly fine - better than fine, honestly! The mistletoe did make his heart beat a little quicker, but not because he felt pressured. His Christmas plans included going a little farther than they had to date, and this was a small reminder of that. “Why, yes, I am,” he said with a grin, and leaned in to give her a sweet kiss, a little deeper than his usual greetings. “Happy Christmas, Gemma.” * Gemma smiled against his lips as she returned the kiss. "Happy Christmas, Regulus." Once they'd moved from the doorway Gemma closed the door behind them and directed Regulus further into the living area where she had set the tree up. Gemma hadn't managed to get a tree up during the first Christmas she'd had in her place but the following, and subsequent years, she'd found the perfect spot for it. Which was a spot against one of the supporting posts, it allowed the tree to be seen as soon as you walked into the house but still see it from the kitchen diner. "I thought we could decorate the tree for a bit before taking a break," she said. "I've made some gingerbread, though if you're not a fan of gingerbread I've got other biscuits. Plus there's hot chocolate, or there will be once I've made it. I figured it was the safer christmassy option, since I tend to have or make egg nog that's kind of boozy." -- “I like gingerbread,” Regulus assured her. “And hot chocolate.” He gave her another quick, impulsive kiss at that, grateful for her understanding. Most people who drank didn’t understand why he didn’t; he got a lot more “just try it, why don’t you?” sort of reactions than he did people who were willing to compromise. Surveying the tree, he said, “This is really beautiful - it suits your place to have it here.” He eyed the boxes of decorations. There seemed to be quite a few of them. “I haven’t really done this before.” * Although most people seemed to like gingerbread and hot chocolate she knew there were still those that didn't and she was glad that Regulus was one of the former - particularly since she didn't really know what else would be particularly festive fare. Well, aside from some shortbread maybe. "Excellent, I'm glad," she responded with a smile. "Thank you. The first year I could put a tree up I had it over by the staircase but it never felt quite right until it got moved to this spot the year after," she explained. Gemma noticed Regulus eyeing the boxes and smiled, she knew there were quite a few boxes for a relatively small tree. There were only so many because she tended to not throw out decorations unless they'd become completely unusable but she only tended to use as many as she thought the tree needed. She enjoyed decorating but never wanted to make it seem as if the decorations had just exploded onto the tree. "That's alright," she said reassuringly, gifting him with a smile. "I thought that might be the case and… well, I thought you just might like to help me decorate mine. Though don't worry I never end up using all the decorations in the boxes." -- “I’m very pleased that you asked me,” Regulus assured her. “I think it’s going to be fun.” It was somewhat of a relief to learn that not everything in the boxes had to be put out - that might be quite a task. “So...what do we start with?” Regulus wasn’t a particularly confident person to begin with, except in certain specialised areas like charms, but when it came to basic household chores like tree decoration, he was practically helpless. * "I usually start with the tinsel, otherwise it gets a bit tricky trying to put it up after the ornaments" she answered, gesturing to the box closest to Regulus which held all the tinsel. Thankfully it was all grouped together by colour rather than just all dumped in the box. "And then if I did it that way probably wouldn't end up seeing as many of the ornaments either." Gemma leaned over and peered into the box for a moment trying to decide which colour to go with this year. "I think maybe the gold this year will do," she said as started pulling the gold tinsel out of the box. "Now to find one of the ends of it, and then we'll start from the bottom of the tree and work upwards." -- “That’s true,” Regulus agreed. “One tends to find tinsel everywhere as soon as the tree comes down. Even house elves can’t quite control it.” Quite delicately, as if he was afraid it would either break somehow or get all over him, Regulus helped her to sort through the tinsel in search of an end, finally coming up with one. “Aha. Not too badly knotted, either.” * "Exactly. It's also why I decided to go with a fake tree rather than a real one," she added. "Less messy that way and much less cleaning up afterwards, even if that part is kind of easy with magic." "I try and put it back neatly each year, yet somehow I still have trouble trying to find the end of it," she chuckled. Not that it ever took her very long to find but she never did manage to the end of the tinsel first thing out of the box. "Did you want to start putting that up while I get some of the ornaments out?" -- “It looks quite realistic,” Regulus assured her. Not entirely realistic, but pretty damn good, nevertheless. “And I can charm it to smell like pine, if you like.” He laughed at that. “I think these things are partially alive,” he confided, “and quite deliberately cause this sort of fuss.” He disentangled the tinsel and carefully started to wind it around the tree, probably over-cautious not to rip anything. * "Thanks. Though I think if it started smelling like pine it might be a little too enticing to Butterscotch," she pointed out. Gemma didn't fancy having to clean up after Butterscotch because she decided the fake Christmas tree was a good place to do 'business'. She already had to put a mild repelling charm against pets on the tree to deter her from trying to play with the ornaments and tinsel. Having the tree smell like actual pine might just make her determined enough to get past the spell. Gemma chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the case." Gemma started sorting through the other boxes for ornaments that would go with the gold tinsel. She kept a partial eye on Regulus and smiled at how careful he was being with the tinsel. "Looks like you're a natural," she said with a smile, having walked over with a few of the ornaments nestled in her arm. "I'm glad you're being mindful to not rip it but you don't really need to be quite so careful with the tinsel." -- “Why do you think she’d be so alarmed?” he asked, a bit clueless. “I’ve never seen a dog attack a pine tree, I don’t see why it would be any different if it were inside the house.” “Thank you,” Regulus said with a grin. “Well, I don’t want it to get all over the house, you know. And it’s yours. I wouldn’t want to ruin something that belonged to you.” He glanced over at the ornaments. “Those are really quite lovely. Which ones are your favourites?” * Gemma tried very hard not to chuckle but ultimately she failed at that. "She wouldn't want to attack the tree itself no - the ornaments though she might want to play with," she answered. "Though what I meant was she might be enticed to mark the tree or at least do her business there." "Unless you plan on running around the house with the tinsel I think there's little chance of that happening," she teased. "I don't know about favourites but I do like the few clear glass baubles that have ribbons of colour around them. My actual favourite ornament is one from when I was growing up but it's at my parents." "Did you ever have a favourite ornament?" she asked, as she carefully started some of the smaller ornaments. The glass baubles she spoke of were still bubble-wrapped in their foam insulated box and only ever got put up one bauble at a time. -- “Oh,” Regulus said, and then repeated, darkly, “Oh.” He did not like any mention of such bodily functions, or the reminder that dogs could not be trusted to remain housebroken in strange and stressful situations. “That sounds beautiful,” he said, picturing the ornaments in his mind. “Do they still put that one on their tree, at least? Are you going over there for Christmas Day?” Obviously, he no longer had parents; he and his siblings traded off whose house they opened presents at. Nodding, Regulus said, “We had a series of icicles - just enough to hang all around the bottom of the tree. I always thought they were beautiful. When I was twelve I learned a charm to make them glow different colours.” * "Don't worry, she can't actually get at the tree," she said reassuringly, knowing well enough how Regulus felt. "Well, she won't be able to after I put the mild repelling spell on the tree after we've finished decorating," she added. "I didn't want to put it up to start with because I wasn't sure it wouldn't interfere with putting the decorations up." "They still were as of last year. I usually try to spend at least part of the day with them," she replied. "I don't really have any other plans yet." The latter had been said with a slight hinting look at Regulus. Gemma didn't want to straight out ask if Regulus wanted to make plans since she didn't know what he did for Christmas and she didn't want to make him feel as if he was obligated to spend the holiday with her. "They sound beautiful, and I'm not surprised you were clever enough to do such spellwork," she said with a smile. "I bet it made them look even more amazing." -- “Good,” Regulus said. “Though I will refrain from the pine charm if you really think it might be so dangerous.” It was just about the most dangerous thing he could think of, really, apart from actual violence. Glancing at her, Regulus took in the way she said that. If she didn’t spend the entire day with her family, then... “Would you like to get dinner, then?” he asked shyly. “Or breakfast! Whichever interferes the least with spending time with your family." He shrugged, smiling at her. “I thought they were pretty great,” he said. “I’m not sure my parents ever noticed, but...I didn’t do it for them. It made my sister laugh.” * "I don't think dangerous is quite the right word. Though it's probably a good idea not to charm the tree to smell like pine," she reaffirmed. "That said, if you'd like to, you could try that charm you used to make the icicles glow on the glass baubles once they're up?" "Dinner would work perfectly," she replied smiling brightly. Gemma usually always spent Christmas morning with her parents and brother that it had become a tradition even after she and Higgs had grown up. "I really wouldn't mind spending some of the holiday with you. I just didn't want to be pushy about it in case you had plans for the day." Gemma smiled in return. "Well, I think it's nice that you'd do something like that for your sister during the holidays." After a few minutes Regulus had finished with the tinsel and had started helping her with the ornaments. Several minutes later, but before getting to the baubles and the other slightly bigger ornaments, she suggested that they could take a break for now and finish the last of the decorating afterwards. When Regulus had agreed to the idea Gemma went to the kitchen to get started on the hot chocolate. -- “It’s definitely the right word,” he said firmly. There was, like, bacteria and stuff. And it was horrifying and repulsive. That too. “You would let me do that?” He was utterly charmed by the offer. They were her favourite ornaments, and trusting him to make them even more beautiful was something special in his view. “I meet with my siblings, of course, but apart from that it’s just a quiet day in,” he said. Even Unspeakables weren’t allowed to work on Christmas. “I would love to spend time with you, very much.” Regulus was having a lovely time, but a break would be quite pleasant; he finished what he was doing and followed her to the kitchen, settling at the table. “Thank you for inviting me today,” he said. “It means a lot.” * "Alright then, if you say so," she gently said. Not for a minute believing it was really all that dangerous. "Of course," she replied with a smile. Of course she'd already invited him over to help decorate but Gemma wanted Regulus to feel more included than that. Plus it saved a possible awkward situation if he had answered no to her question of whether he had an ornament he'd like to put on the tree. "I want you to feel included even if you're not here everyday to see the tree and… well, after what you said I kind of thought it would just make the tree look even more magical. I know you'll be careful with them." Gemma smiled happily at his answer. The holidays were a time to spend with loved ones and although she might not yet be able to say those words aloud but she could at least show it in wanting to spend time with Regulus. "I'd really like it too. Did you want to have dinner at your place or here at mine?" she asked. Not that Gemma was at all fussed where they had dinner since either way they'd still be together for it. "You're welcome, and I'm glad you came," she said, before turning to take the pot of milk, that had been heating up, off the stove and pouring it into a milk jug that was sitting on a service tray along with the gingerbread. "I thought that maybe it wasn't something you'd really done before that you might like to do and…" Gemma paused to chuckle. "Well, you know I like spending time with you, so it also made for a nice excuse at getting to spend time with you." Gemma added a teapot that had hot water in it and a smaller milk jug with cold milk to the tray before taking it over and setting it on the table between them. "Uh, don't mind all the jugs and cups. I wasn't sure how you liked to have your hot chocolate," she said with a sheepish smile. "So I wanted to be sure you had the option to choose. Anyway, there's warm milk or there's hot water and some cold milk, whichever you prefer." -- “Either would be good,” Regulus said. “Perhaps my place would be better. Kreacher will cook - that way neither of us is at all put out on Christmas.” He would hate for her to go to any extra trouble to please him; he would have suggested just going out on a date, but he didn’t even like to put out the workers who were forced to work through the holiday. Smiling, he said, “I like spending time with you, too.” More time now that the Quidditch season was over, of course. He quickly fixed a mug with warm milk and took a piece of gingerbread, settling in at the table. “Thank you, that’s very thoughtful of you,” he said, taking a bite of the gingerbread. “This is delicious. So, er...I assume we will be doing the gift exchange on Christmas Day, then?” It only made sense, now that they officially had plans. * "That sounds like a good plan," she agreed. She couldn't deny that it would be wonderful to not have to go to any great effort at organising a meal. Not that she minded doing so for people she cared about but it would be nice to just relax on the day. "Thank you, I'm glad you like it," she said smiling brightly at the praise. There weren't too many things she could bake but biscuits and gingerbread were at least two things she could cook well. "That is the tradition after all. Unless you wanted to exchange gifts at a different time?" -- “No, no, Christmas will be quite lovely,” Regulus assured her with a smile. “I can’t wait, but I think it’s far better to do so, since we’re getting together anyway.” Apart from the physical gifts he’d bought her, he had...plans. Well, thoughts, anyway. A concept. Somehow it felt a little more daunting to do things on Christmas, but it also made it more special, didn’t it? * "I don't want to wait either but I think you're right and it will be better to wait," she agreed. Gemma quietly sipped at her hot chocolate and ate some of her gingerbread. "Plus it's only a few more days to go - so it's not a particularly long wait." Gemma wasn't sure she could patiently wait quite so long but she would try to; though she foresaw that she'd probably end up doing a few runs and such to keep herself distracted from waiting. As soon as they'd finished off their hot chocolate Gemma had suggested they could go back to finishing off the decorating. They'd just finished hanging her favoured glass baubles on the tree when she'd turned around to grab the last ornament that needed to go up. "When you've done the charm on the baubles I've one last favour to ask, if that's alright," she said. -- “Another favour?” Regulus asked with a smile. Any favour she had to ask of him would no doubt be all right. Gemma had always been respectful of his eccentricities and boundaries. Raising his wand, he carefully charmed each of the glass baubles to glow a colour that complemented the hues already present in the glass - it would be boring if they glowed exactly the same as that, after all. “Do you like that?” he asked a bit anxiously. * Gemma watched fascinated as Regulus worked the charm on each of the baubles. It really made for a lovely effect that she was almost considering not even bothering with the Christmas lights for fear of ruining the picture it made. "I love it," she replied, shifting slightly so she could lean up and kiss his cheek. "It looks wonderful." "It's not a very big favour," she said reassuringly. Then she brought her hands around with the star-shaped tree topper laying across her palms. "Normally I just use magic to get it up there but I thought since you're here… well, I was wondering if you could put the tree topper up top for me?" -- Regulus beamed, pleased she was so happy with the charms. “Oh, yes, of course,” he said. He was just tall enough to reach if he stretched a bit, and it did seem more festive somehow to do it physically rather than magically. He took the tree topper from her carefully, to make sure it wouldn’t somehow break apart in his hands, and then turned to the tree, standing on tiptoe to ease it onto the very top branch. “There,” he said, satisfied it wouldn’t tilt off or something, and stepped back to admire their handiwork. “This is an excellent tree, if I do say so myself.” * Once he'd finished putting the ornament atop the tree, and had stepped back, Gemma snaked an arm around his waist and leaned against him as she admired the tree. "I'd have to agree. Though I think it looks better than last year's thanks to your help," she told him, with a kiss to his cheek once again. "So I guess thank you again for coming over to help me with it." -- “You’re welcome,” Regulus said, slipping his arm around her in return. He was a surprisingly affectionate person, once he got past his own insecurities and neuroses; he leaned his head against hers cozily. “Thank you for inviting me. I had a really lovely time.” |