Observation, not old age, brings wisdom (Pixie)

It was another Hogsmeade weekend and while Perpetua needed neither sweets or joke items nor did she have a date with anyone, she had decided to improve her observation skills. Maybe, if she could perfect them, her mother would let her work for her during the summer. That would surely be fun!

She had found the perfect target for her mission, too. It was only fair that she’d observe what her future step brother was up to, right? Right, she thought to herself, nodding so eagerly that her glasses slipped down her nose and she had to push them up with her finger.

Perpetua was wearing a grey coat, the collar of which she had pulled up and a dark blue woollen hat under which she had hidden her dark blond hair. She had followed Arnold through the grounds and into the village. Now she was leaning against the wall of the building opposite Zonko’s, holding up an issue of the Daily Prophet in which she had cut a slit and observed how the Gryffindor was shopping there with friends. He probably bought some joke item that he could prank her with, she supposed, and wrinkled her nose which made her glasses move up against the hat.

However, if he was up to anything like that, she’d be prepared. That was another advantage of her spy practice, the girl thought to herself. She felt that she was completely inconspicuous. Nobody would take notice of her because, well, she was decently well concealed. She watched Zonko’s, wondering how long it would take Arnold to make his purchase. An invisibility cloak would be so handy, she thought and immediately wondered if her mother had one by now.

Having paid full attention to the shop windows and door of Zonko’s Perpetua had totally forgotten her immediate surroundings and squeaked when suddenly there was someone next to her.

@Pixie Clarke-Trickett

Hogsmeade was always exciting, but there was something even more special about it in the run-up to Christmas. Pixie had bought most of her presents weeks ago - Christmas was the one time of year she was always organised - and didn't really have any particular reason to be here today, but she couldn't resist the lure of Honeydukes. She still had a couple of galleons left and there was nothing wrong with treating herself and her dormmates in the final days of term, was there?

It turned out that the rest of her friends still had presents to buy though, and Pixie quickly tired of trailing around shops while they tried to decide on the perfect gift for their grandmothers, or uncles, or second-cousins-twice-removed in Bulgaria. When she was actually buying stuff shopping was fun, but when she was just following other people around it got dull pretty fast. Half an hour after arriving in Hogsmeade she had spent half her money on sweets, most of which were wrapped and stuffed in her pockets, apart from a small bar of Honeydukes chocolate and a bag of pepper imps. She had vague plans of seeing if she could actually melt snow with her fiery breath, but it would probably be sensible to wait until she was out of the main street before trying that.

No harm in eating her chocolate bar, though. She wandered down the street and leaned up against a wall, getting the chocolate out of her pocket as she did so. Realising she couldn't unwrap it with her thick gloves on she pulled them off with her teeth and stuffed them into the pocket the chocolate had just come from. She was just starting to unwrap the foil when the girl she'd been standing near to let out a squeal of surprise.

"Sorry!" Pixie said automatically. Probably the girl had been so busy reading her paper that she hadn't realised there was anyone there. The Gryffindor looked over and recognised a Ravenclaw who she'd previously been in the same year as, before she'd been kept back to retake her third year. "Want some chocolate?" she asked, breaking a bit off for herself, sliding closer as she leant against the wall and holding out the bar so the girl - Perpetua, she remembered - could take some as well. But almost immediately she noticed something weird. "What happened to your paper? Was there a money-off coupon in it or something?" she asked, curiously, seeing the neatly cut-out section.

Perpetua looked at Pixie and her lips formed a smile that didn’t yet reach her eyes. The other girl apologised, probably for startling her and Perpetua felt how she blushed. “It’s… okay,” she said, sounding ever so slightly confused. She let her newspaper down and pushed her glasses up her nose again. Why did they always slide down? She really had to get that sorted out. It was quite annoying.

“No, thanks,” Perpetua said before even really considering Pixie’s offer of chocolate. She was always quick to refuse such offers. On the one hand she was generally distrusting people and thought that they might want to prank her, on the other hand the girl wasn’t too much into sweets anyway.

Pixie seemed to have noticed that Perpetua’s Daily Prophet issue wasn’t in its original state and the Ravenclaw’s rosy cheeks now took on the colour of a lobster. It took her a brief moment to consider a possible response. In fact, Pixie’s question seemed to lead to a pretty good reply.

“You are a good observer,” Perpetua complimented the other witch, briefly considering to recruit her as a spy. “There was indeed something I wanted to cut out,” she admitted, hoping that this was enough to stop Pixie from inquiring further. She glanced at Zonko’s briefly again as the door swung open and some students came out - Arnold not being among them.

“You’ve been to Honeydukes?” the fifth year asked, not because she was interested in the obvious reply but to distract from her newspaper which she now folded once and then rolled it up to put it into the pocket of her coat.

She didn't want chocolate? Pixie did a double take. What sort of person said no to chocolate unless... oh, maybe she was allergic? That was sad. Pixie couldn't imagine how hard it would be to actually have to say no to something she wanted. On the other hand, it did mean that she got the whole bar to herself, so she wasn't going to feel too sorry for...

Well that was awkward. She knew the girl, but couldn't for the life of her think of her name just now. Which was weird in itself, because when she was talking to one other person she rarely needed to say their name anyway. It just made her feel a bit uncomfortable, as if she was being rude or something. She supposed she could introduce herself, but that also felt weird given that they'd been passing each other in corridors for the past four and a half years. So she just shrugged and said "okay" and rewrapped the bar, because she didn't really want to talk with her mouth full (not because of anything her mother had said, but because it was kind of gross to see someone doing that and besides, she wasn't that hungry).

Wait...the girl was blushing? What sort of ad had she cut out? Pixie immediately started thinking of all kinds of embarrassing things but dismissing them - it couldn't have been an advertisement for an acne potion, for example, because the girl's skin looked quiet clear. She got the feeling she wasn't going to find out unless she bought a copy of the paper and looked at that exact page...but while it might be fun, it wasn't really worth the effort just to satisfy her curiosity.

"Yeah, my friends are still in there. Buying last-minute Christmas presents, but I got mine already so I left them in there. Is that where your friends are? Are you waiting for them?" she asked, all on a single breath. If she had someone to wait with that would help pass the time nicely.

Pixie rewrapped her chocolate bar and Perpetua observed her curiously. While she wasn’t sure if she appreciated the other girl’s company very much, it was actually quite convenient to be standing here with someone else. She was likely looking much less suspicious to Arnold if she was chatting with another student.

Then again, they weren’t really chatting, were they?

Perpetua struggled to talk to people she didn’t know well and she definitely couldn’t say that she knew a lot about Pixie other than that she was a Gryffindor and apparently had a sweet tooth. That wasn’t exactly a good foundation for a friendship but she could at least pretend to be engaging in a conversation. It shouldn’t be too hard to talk to the other girl.

“Ah, I see,” Perpetua said, realising that she was not doing a good job at holding the conversation up.

Pixie asked about Perpetua’s friends and the Ravenclaw pushed her glasses up her nose again. “My friends…” she said, feeling unsure how to respond to that. “No, I’m not waiting for anyone in particular here. The shop was quite crowded, though, so I chose to wait outside for a bit before I’ll go in there to look around myself,” she explained. It wasn’t really the truth but it sounded reasonable enough or so she thought at least.

This situation felt a bit weird. Pixie had no problem chatting to most people, but then in her experience most people tended to chat back. She wasn't used to getting answered that felt like someone was - well, hiding something. She felt sure that the other girl wasn't just standing there because she didn't want to go into the same shop as her friends. Not alone, and not when she wasn't even reading her newspaper now.

"Sorry, but I don't think I know your name" she admitted, deciding that might be the thing that was making it feel awkward "I'm Pixie, I guess, we never had any classes together". They were in different years now, but if she hadn't been held back a year Pixie would have been a fifth year by now, so it made sense to her, even if she forgot that not everyone knew about her difficult time at Hogwarts. Anyway, now they knew each other a bit better maybe conversation would be easier.

Pixie could have just walked away of course, but it didn't seem polite to do that and besides, she wasn't sure where she would walk to. Wasn't she doing the exact same thing as this girl - just sort of hanging around outside, anyway? It felt a bit strange doing that in the first place so at least if she was with someone else it would look like they were chatting or something.

Except they weren't chatting. Pixie had a sudden feeling that perhaps this girl didn't actually have any friends and was lonely. That would be a shame - the thought made her feel quite sad, actually. Maybe she should do something about it? She leaned back against the wall and after a minute asked "Are you looking forward to the Christmas holidays?"

Pixie was an odd girl. Why didn’t she leave her alone? Perpetua glanced sideways at the Gryffindor and frowned a little. Usually people just gave up on conversing with her. Why did this girl stay and keep talking?

“Perpetua,” the Ravenclaw introduced herself warily. Of course, how should a Gryffindor know her name? How should anyone who wasn’t sharing the dormitory with her know her name? She wasn’t loud or popular. She was just… Perpetua Robbins, a quiet Ravenclaw, an outsider, someone who was often found alone.

The introduction seemed to have made Pixie more determined than ever to keep the conversation alive. Perpetua shook her head at her question and was tempted to leave it at that. However, Pixie was kind, she meant well. She deserved an actual response.

“Not particularly,” Perpetua said, with a renewed frown. “My mother has a new… partner. I’m not too eager to go there.” Now that was the most personal response Perpetua had given anyone in a long time. “Are you looking forward to going home?” she asked, thinking that it was much better if Pixie spoke and she could listen.

"Perpetua. That's a nice name" she said, though really Pixie thought it was quite a difficult name to live with. Anything that had more than a couple of syllables was just crying out to be turned into a nickname in her opinion, but the Gryffindor couldn't begin to imagine a suitable nickname for this girl. 'Perpy" would sound kind of silly and "Pet" was too short... really, what had her parents been thinking? "Yeah, but...Gerda..." came a rogue thought into her head. Ugh! 

Across the street, a group of boys emerged from the joke shop, laughing and peering into a large paper bag one of them was carrying. Pixie recognised a couple of them form her own house...indeed, her own year had she not been repeating her fourth year. "Wonder what they've got there..." she said, suddenly wanting to go into Zonkos herself but knowing that buying stuff for herself this close to Christmas just wasn't the done thing. She didn't continue that thought though, because Perpetua was replying, actually revealing a bit more about herself.

Oh. That made sense. And actually, Pixie could relate, kind of. "I get that. My stepsister's great, but she doesn't really get on with my Mum" she said, shrugging. "Could you stay at Hogwarts for Christmas?" she suggested, and then immediately cringed inwardly. "Sorry" she muttered, embarrassed. If the rest of a merged family were getting together Pixie definitely would have wanted to be there, if only to keep an eye on what was happening.

Talking about her own plans felt mean, now. Pixie always looked forward to Christmas. A huge family get-together, the fabled Secret Santa (nobody could afford to buy 40 presents so everyone just bought for their immediate family and one other person) and a party that literally went on for days - who wouldn't look forward to that? "I'm a Trickett. You can imagine how crazy our holidays are when we all get together" she said with a grin "Yeah, I always look forward to it. Besides, we get away from school for a couple of weeks - what's not to like there?"

Perpetua looked perplexed when Pixie pointed out that her name was nice. Her eyebrows shot upwards and her glasses travelled down her nose a little. Quickly she pushed them back up with her forefinger and smiled a little sheepishly. “Thank you…” she said slowly, before adding, “Pixie sounds very nice, too.”

While she had been almost relaxed, Perpetua’s whole body language revealed at once that she was feeling uncomfortable when a group of boys came out of the joke shop. She felt tense and looked around nervously. There was no place to hide anywhere near them. However, she realised belatedly, she didn’t have to hide. She was chatting with Pixie. She was not just standing here awkwardly observing Arnie.

She heard him laugh, saw how he ran his hand through his hair, messing it up and she felt how she was blushing. “Yeah…” she said, her voice icy, “I wonder, too. Probably wasted their money on something silly that they can use to prank others.”

Perpetua frowned. Could she stay at Hogwarts for Christmas and leave her mother to give presents to Arnold? Could she have her mother enjoy time with her new family while she was alone at school? It would suit her somehow, Perpetua felt. She’d be miserable at Christmas either way. If she stayed behind she could probably write to her mother that she chose to stay at the school so as to not spoil Christmas for her mother. She could make a point there, tell her that she did this because she was hardly going to enjoy the time with Arnold and his father. However, Charlotte would not allow her to stay at school. She felt certain it would just result in an argument which she’d lose.

“No,” she, therefore, said flatly.

Pixie pointed out that she was a Trickett and Perpetua looked at her. She had no idea what it really meant to have a big family, even one that spent a harmonious time together at Christmas. It sounded… intimidating. The girl didn’t want to celebrate with a huge family herself. She just wanted her mother to herself.

“I see,” she said, Pixie seemed to be looking forward to the break for many reasons, none of which she could relate to. “How many people are you at Christmas then?” she asked more to keep the conversation going than out of interest as Arnold and his friends walked past them now.

Suddenly this had become a nice, normal conversation, not the weird stilted thing it had felt like a few minutes earlier. Then, Pixie had felt as if she was pushing her attention onto the other girl, but now it felt more like talking to a friend. She didn't miss how Perpetua reacted to the boys coming out of Zonkos though, and of course looked across at them, wondering why her companion looked uncomfortable. Did she have a crush on one of them? Was that why she was blushing?

Maybe it was nothing to do with the boys though. They were talking about Christmas and that just wasn't a fun time for some people. Pixie always felt sorry for people who only had a small family to celebrate with, or anyone who'd actually lost a family member. She knew she was lucky, especially knowing how many people had suffered during the war which really wasn't so long ago. 

This clearly wasn't a subject to talk about. Pixie felt a bit weird talking about her own plans, but it was better than just dealing with one-word answers and then trying to think of something else to say. "There's about...forty of us for the big Christmas and New year parties" she said after a minute in which she'd mentally run through all her cousins and extended family members "That isn't everyone, but not everyone comes - some people only come to the Christmas party and some only come for New Year. We usually go to both, though" she said; 'we' meaning her parents and brother. Of course, for the rest of the break it was just her and Kai, though there were plenty of other Tricketts living in the same village. Pixie was never short of a friend, and she didn't really understand what it meant to be lonely, either.

"Do you know them?" she asked quietly as the boys passed, and then wished she hadn't, though she couldn't have said why. Perpetua didn't seem the sort of person who liked to gossip though, and she was probably going to go all quiet now. Maybe Pixie would go in there, just so she could get something else for Kai. He didn't seem to be in Hogsmeade today which was strange; surely it hadn't lost it's appeal already? Maybe he was coming down later - it was still pretty early after all. "Have you done all your Christmas shopping already?" she asked, and then cringed because she had a nasty feeling she'd already asked that question.

“Forty people?” Perpetua asked, for a moment entirely distracted from Arnold. “I don’t think forty people would even fit in our living room.” Well, they’d fit in the house for sure. The new house wasn’t that small, after all. However, the forty people would have to be divided into several rooms. Was that the point of that? She tilted her head and looked at Pixie thoughtfully.

“Do you have a room that’s big enough for forty people?” She couldn’t help but ask. It seemed like it had to be a really large room. Perpetua found herself counting the chairs and other seating places in their own house and realised that she didn’t know all the rooms very well yet. They had only moved in last summer and, since Arnold had been there, she had spent most of the time in her room and the kitchen.

“Know who?” Perpetua asked, perfectly aware who Pixie was referring to and realising that the question would only buy her so much time. “These boys, you mean?” she added and nervously pushed her glasses up her nose again.

“One of them is…” her voice trailed off, he wasn’t formally her step brother, not yet anyway. “He… umm” She shrugged. “Arnold is the son of the man my mother is dating and…” took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, “he moved in with us.”

Had she done all her Christmas shopping? Yes and no. Perpetua had no friends she had to give presents to and her family… well, she might get her sister a little something but her mother wasn’t going to get anything more than maybe a box of pralines. She was not going to put in an effort when her mother had disappointed her this much and ruined her life by allowing Arnold and his father to live with them.

“Mostly yes,” she said evasively. “You?”

Pixie sighed happily and nodded as she thought of the coming celebrations. Presents weren't as important as getting together with cousins and catching up on seeing people she hadn't seen for months - not since the previous Christmas in some cases. It was weird to be talking with someone who had such a small family, asking questions that the Gryffindor took for granted. "Oh! No, we don't, but my cousins do" she said a little vaguely, not thinking to mention which of her cousins she was referring to. It probably didn't matter of course, because Perpetua was unlikely to know any of the Trickett clan aside from those currently at Hogwarts. She was on the verge of explaining further when the conversation took a more serious turn.

Usually, Pixie felt comfortable in most situations. If she felt embarrassed it was only for a fleeting moment, and even those awful moments when she said something daft in a lesson usually only lasted for as long as it took for the first person to laugh; being the sort of person who didn't mind being the butt of a joke was very helpful in those circumstances. But here - she didn't know what to say. Finally the other girl's reticence, her one-word answers, made a horrible kind of sense.

"Oh."

Pixie wasn't sure what else to say. If she knew the girl well she might have tried making a joke of some kind, or suggesting they go and get hot chocolate to take her mind off things, but this was just awkward. There was nothing she could do or say to make it better and what actually made it worse was the realisation, for the first time, how her elder half-sister must have felt when their Dad had married Pixie and Kai's mother. Pixie opened her mouth to say something about it, and then closed it again.

"Yeah" she lied, thinking it would be mean to talk about all the people she was getting presents for "all except the Secret Santa...". She didn't elaborate on that, though, just continued to watch as the boys walked further down the street, wishing there was something she could do. Except maybe there was! It was an idea only Pixie could have, but she voiced it before she could think better of it.

"You want me to put slugs in his bed or anything?" she asked suddenly "I'm in Gryffindor too, and I know how to do stuff so I won't get caught..."

Perpetua had always found it interesting to see how one and the same thing provoked such different sentiments in people. Her thoughts on the upcoming holidays were dark, she felt even angry when she thought about the time she would have to spend at home. Pixie’s eyes lit up on the prospect of Christmas, though. The Gryffindor sighed happily and seemed to look back to pleasant holidays and seemingly expected the upcoming holidays to be just as good again

“Ah,” Perpetua said in response to Pixie stating that her cousins had enough room for the large family, not knowing what else she could say in response. It sounded like some Tricketts lived in a castle-like building to her.

Pixie offered another monosyllabic exclamation to the conversation as she reacted to Perpetua explaining a little about her family life. “Yeah,” the Ravenclaw said, giving a little insecure shrug.

“The Secret Santa…” Perpetua repeated, thinking how silly it would be to do that in her family. It wouldn’t be all that secret with so few people to participate.

With soft giggle Perpetua greeted Pixie’s suggestion of pranking Arnie. “You would do that?” she asked before shaking her head. She would not go down that route although… it was tempting for sure. “I mean, no, thanks, there’s no need for that.” She blushed and felt awkward having given Pixie the impression that she wanted to do Arnie harm of some kind.

“I’m sorry,” she hastily said, “it was nice talking to you but I have to go now.” She pushed her glasses up once again and turned to leave. “If we do not see each other before then - I hope you have a great time with your family,” she called over her shoulder as she hurried back towards the school.

[out]

The conversation had made Pixie think about what else she wanted to buy. She'd mentioned the Secret Santa, but she still had enough money to get something else for Melly and Kai - something they wouldn't be expecting. Talking with Perpetua had reminded her of how lucky she was, and she wanted to share that with her family even more than usual. Chocolates were the obvious choice, but there was other stuff they might like...

The conversation was a bit weird anyway, now. She felt like the other girl had a lot she wanted to say but just didn't have anyone to say it to. Pixie couldn't imagine how that felt, having always had someone she could talk to. It made her feel sad, and she made a mental note to keep an eye out for the other girl, just to be sure she wasn't going about on her own without any friends. Certainly she didn't have the sort of friends who tried to deal with the things that were upsetting them...

"Sure I would! Not anything mean of course, just something funny" she explained quickly, even though Perpetua quickly turned the offer down. Pixie couldn't help feeling a twinge of disappointment. It had been some time since she'd had cause for a really good prank - last April Fools' day in fact, when she'd snuck into her brother's dorm and turned all his shoes bright pink. But it felt like even offering a prank had been the wrong thing, or maybe the other girl so desperately wanted to say yes she decided to run away before she agreed.

"That's okay, it was nice talking to you, too" Pixie said with a grin, and then waved as Perpetua left, ignoring the awkward feeling that seemed to sweep over her. She stood there a few seconds longer then decided to spend the rest of her money on presents, like she'd planned. And maybe, she thought as she headed back towards the shops - she would get a chocolate frog or something for Perpetua and leave it outside the Ravenclaw common room. The girl looked like she deserved a Secret Santa, too.

[end]