Magical Hogwarts

 

November 27th.

"Ow! Will you stop struggling?" Perdita grunted as she placed her hands snugly back over Torrence's eyes, pressing her chest to his back as she stood on her tiptoes to peer over his shoulder in order to guide them, lest they tumble sideways into the snow. Torrence turned thirty today. It was a massive birthday and she'd never really planned an actual "surprise" before.

She'd been stressed for weeks over what to buy him. Perdita had cycled through all sorts of ideas from the traditional dinner in a nice restaurant to a full blown party with all of his relatives. The latter seemed the most logical, apart from the fact that she really didn't want to meet his mother or try to explain to her what their strange sort of relationship was. Plus, he hated parties. He could be a grump at times.  

And thus, she'd apparated to his flat and given him ten minutes to get himself a coat and finish his complaining before she'd grabbed his arm and yanked him outside. If he'd caught a whiff that she was planning something, he'd decide he would hate it, so she gave him no time to protest. She'd packed a bag for him, full of soft cashmere jumpers in his usual uniform of blacks and greys, some jeans and some new boots in hopes he might eventually decide to part with the pair that he'd worn the entire time she'd known him. She'd been in his closet previously and the Irishman had nothing suitable for apres-ski.

"I thought you liked blindfolds?" Perdy tutted but there was a hint of a smile in her voice. "Step up," she instructed him. "Careful. Wait there," she instructed, knowing full well he couldn't follow orders.

It was a quick getaway. Months ago, Torrence seemed hard-pressed that he didn't know her family had an apartment in Paris, so his head might explode to know that he was now outside of their https://www.pinterest.co.uk/literarydouble/chalet-chardon/' rel='nofollow noopener' target='_blank'>chalet. She didn't know what present to give him. Everything seemed too much or too little. She wanted something meaningful but not too romantic. Something that said I value you instead of I really like you because perish the thought. Everything was too lovey-dovey or just too casual. It was infuriating. Nothing was quite right, though, she had an envelope she hoped he would like, tucked safely into her leather holdall.

With one hand covering both of his eyes, she waved her left and the door unlocked in front of him. "Tah-dah!" Perdita announced, letting him go so she could dash around him to stand in the doorway, a wide grin on her face and her eyes sparkling with girlish excitement. "Happy Birthday," she fizzled, her excitement palpable as she stood back to allow him to entire the plush hall.


@Torrence Regan
 

 "Will you just hurry up," Torr retorted just as quickly, being as uncooperative as he wanted mostly because he hated surprises and ever since she had showed up unannounced at his place and told him they were going away for the weekend, he had been determined to be as difficult as possible. It wasn't hard, but he was wondering why it wasn't riling her more. Maybe she was too used to him or had just been expecting this reaction from him and neither sat well with him.

"Why can't you just tell me what all this is about," Torr complained for what must have been the hundreth time. For some reason, his usual tactics had not persuaded her to spill the details. Not even when he had kissed her behind the ear in that spot she liked and sucked on it. She had still held out so he had crossed his arms and glared at her the rest of the time. He really didn't like surprises. Why didn't she know that.

Perdy was bossy and yet joking with him in a way that he wanted to give into, but he couldn't let himself. Not until he knew what she was up to. He shifted restlessly on his feet as she told him to 'wait there,' grumbling under his breath before he told her "Not this kind of blindfold" followed quickly by a "hurry up, Red."

It wasn't long before she dropped her hands and gave a big tah-dah. For a moment, he was more distracted by her wide grin and that sparkle in her eyes that was just for him, but then he glanced around. His brows raised before he slid his gaze back to her. "Is this your chalet?" he asked, a lopsided smile growing on his face, mostly from the satisfaction that this is where she chose to go. They had had an ongoing little tiff about all of her family homes and how she didn't want to show him any others after what they had done in Mykonos together. He wondered if she still blushed at that memory, but he was very eager to make her other family places a little more... messy.

He took another step closer to her, his cobalt blue eyes on her, as he said, "I'll pass on the birthday sentiments." Torr took another step closer, smirking. "Why'd you pick the chalet, Red?" he asked as he reached up to squeeze her shoulder before his hand moved down her arm. He had a few ideas but he wanted to hear it from her.  

 "Yes," she answered him, brushing her hair back from her eyes. "No," she frowned, suddenly flustered. "Technically, it belongs to my grandparents and mummy and daddy hardly use it so," Perdita shrugged, hoping that was reason enough that it was basically hers. Sebastian couldn't ski very well and Ella and Roger only seemed to get drunk on various alpine cocktails. Perdita shrugged off her coat once she'd dropped their bags and hung it up, the warmth of the chalet rushing up to meet her. Soon, the enthusiasm she'd had ebbed and her smile diminished.

"But you can't!" She insisted, her bright eyes wide in shock and horror. "It's your birthday," she repeated, as though Torrence had forgotten. "Your thirtieth birthday, no less," she pouted, her shoulders sagging, upset at how he wasn't impressed by her pizazz. "Don't be such a spoilsport," she huffed, blowing at a lock of her hair, only for it to fall back into place over her left eye. "C'mon," Perdy pleaded. "Please at least try to pretend you're having a nice time?" She cooed, batting her long eyelashes.

Torrence drew closer and Perdita held her ground, hands on her hips as she looked up at him, annoyed that her feminine wiles weren't working this time. She tried her best to ignore the tingles that the hand on her shoulder sent down her arm but she softened, her pout switching to a slow smile.

"Because you keep complaining that you don't see my holiday homes," came the prim response and a casual shrug. "And I think you were insistent on visiting one day," Perdita went on, recalling a conversation seemingly a long time ago. "And you hate fuss so this is low key. No one's here," she placed her hands on his hips, eyebrows arched as she drew closer still. "The fridge is full, there is scotch in the cupboard and there's a hot tub," she concluded. "Not to mention three bedrooms and I've seemingly forgotten to pack a bikini, oops," she grinned before she took a step back.

"I've gotten you some gifts and yeah yeah," she rolled her eyes, flapping her hands through the air. "You hate presents, they're stupid, you don't want them, tough shit but you'll like these," Perdita promised, leaning up on to her tiptoes to kiss him quickly and escaped before he could complain, coming back with a silver envelope.

"This one first," she insisted, holding it out to him with a cheeky grin. It was a joke present, really. The envelope was stuffed with coupons that she'd made herself that could be exchanged for various things;  her cooking him dinner, him picking her out an outfit, a coupon for a tattoo, all the way up to unmentionable things she could do to him on the plush chalet sofa. "See? Birthdays are fun," she grinned again. "I have one more present, too, but do you want a drink first?"