Krum only knew why she’d opted to come home for the holidays.
As they always did whenever the opportunity was there, Desislava’s parents had immediately began to shower her with questions about her misty future. They were insistent that she follow in their footsteps, get into the family business, and become a renowned Healer that they could be proud of. But, of course, she wanted none of that, and with every question asked, her stomach lurched. She’d had to feign a bit of interest and evade answering directly to extricate herself from the conversation. It annoyed her to pretend that she was even considering going down the healing path, but any denial would result in a large tiring fight. She didn’t have the energy for that.
The day went on, and eventually her parents let her be, much to her relief. By now, she just wanted to leave, to go some place that was preferably far away from here. She laid on the bed, arms spread widely, and her hair splayed around her face. Slowly, she rolled onto her side, and her eyes rested on two neatly wrapped boxes, which were peeking from a corner in the room. Just a little bit of shimmer returned to her expression at the sight of the gifts. She had honestly forgotten all about them. The girl sat up, and made one swift decision: she was going to pay her friend a visit.
She’d gone through the trouble of getting him a bottle of vodka, disguised by a box that was decorated with the logo of the local Quidditch team, as well as some undeniably tacky wrapping paper she’d discovered in the depths of her closet. Not believing it to be enough, Desislava had also bought him a few books since, unlike her, he was into the whole reading thing. She had stacked them on top of each other and placed them in a box, hoping the shape would fool him, or at least decrease the level of obviousness. And, as was their tradition, she’d also gotten him a gag gift — pretty pink lingerie that she’d had to hide from her over-protective parents. It rested in a rather boring bag.
With a spell, Desislava shrunk the boxes and carefully placed them in the bag, which she then shrunk as well. Satisfied, she tucked the minuscule items and her wand into her pocket, then made her way to the living room of the house and stood before the fireplace. A loud quick yell informed her parents that she was leaving, and before they could protest, she took some Floo Powder, stepped into the fire, and said her friend’s address in a loud, clear voice.
Once she’d landed in his fireplace, she cleared her throat and took a step into his home. She felt a little impolite, just wandering in like this, unannounced, but it wouldn’t have been fun any other way. Ready to call out her friend’s name, unconcerned about disturbing the other inhabitants of this house and obviously forgetting the earlier feelings of rudeness, Desislava was startled to find a familiar pair of eyes already looking at her.
“Vlad!” she exclaimed. The smile on her face proved that she was happy to see him, and she moved forward to pull him into a hug. “I missed you.” She released him from her grasp, still smiling, then remembered the tiny presents in her pocket and pulled out the little bag. “I got some stuff for you,” she told him, “but you have to guess what they are before I show you.”
