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“Did you sign up for the gift exchange?” Percy asked Oliver, raising a brow and glancing up over his transfiguration textbook at the other boy as he took a seat across from him at their usual table in the library.
Did Percy honestly think that Oliver would be one to sign up for some silly gift exchange ? He had more important things to think about, like Quidditch, revising, and just… literally anything else…
Oliver shook his head, letting out a huff that would answer the question before his words ever did. “Absolutely not. Can’t be arsed to go Christmas shopping for some random sod,” he said, pulling out class notes from his bag that needed another once over before an upcoming quiz.
Percy’s lips pulled into a thoughtful line and he eyed the boy across from him, almost disbelieving. “I could have sworn I saw you dropping a slip into the box in the Great Hall. Perhaps I was mistaken?”
“Oh, that you did. Wasn’t my name, though,” Oliver admitted, stifling a snicker with his hand. He didn’t care to elaborate just yet, giving Percy room for the lecture he knew was imminent.
Percy groaned at Oliver’s admission, his forehead hitting his palm as his elbow moved to rest on the table. “You wrote someone else's name down? You know that isn’t allowed,” he said with a sigh. “Now, what if this person – who might not have planned on participating – doesn’t follow through with getting a gift for who they’re assigned? You’re going to ruin someone’s Christmas.”
“Oh Merlin . As though the professors would let anyone go without a gift after having signed up. It’ll work out just fine, just you watch,” Oliver assured him, appearing unbothered and still quite smug about what he’d done, and while also thoroughly amused with Percy’s dramatic take on what was little more than a silly little prank.
“Who’s name did you even put down?” Percy wondered, staring across the table at Oliver, not even trying to hide the judgment on his face.
“Flint’s,” Oliver said, a boyish giggle escaping his lips, one that made him glance over his shoulder to make sure he hadn’t caught the attention of the librarian.
Percy gaped at Oliver, staring at him disapprovingly over the rim of his glasses as they slipped down the bridge of his nose. “Did you really need to add fuel to the fire?” He asked, adjusting his glasses back into place before closing his textbook. “Why would you do that?”
“He’ll never know it’s me, for one, and for two, it’s all just strategy,” Oliver said, tapping a finger to his temple and smirking at Percy, before continuing on explaining his thoroughly devised plan.
“Picture it, he’ll get a letter with the name of the person he's assigned to get a gift for, and he’ll be so confused – because let's face it – there was no way he was going to sign up to participate. Maybe he’ll stress about it, try to tell Snape there was a mistake or something, that he didn’t actually sign up, but by then it’ll be too late. He’ll be on the hook because he won’t want to look like more of an arsehole than he already does. He’ll be distracted, and the less he’s thinking about quidditch, the better it is for me. For Gryffindor.”
Percy had to admit, Oliver was great at planning, and as it were, scheming. Percy’s eyes narrowed the slightest bit as he tried to hide the grin threatening to split his face, but he cleared his throat and regained his composure. “That isn’t funny, Oliver.”
“Whatever you say, Perce. I just feel sorry for the poor soul who has to buy something for him,” Oliver said, quite pleased with himself for managing to make Percy crack a bit with his antics.
~~~
“This is all your fault!” Percy said harshly, sliding onto the bench beside Oliver in the Great Hall for lunch one afternoon, a week before Christmas holiday. There was a slip of parchment clutched in his hand, which he slammed on the table in front of Oliver, making the other boy’s teacup clink against its saucer.
“What are you on about?” Oliver asked, looking to Percy then to the paper he’d been so aggressively presented with. Oliver nearly choked on his bread when he saw Flint’s name scrawled on the parchment in his very own handwriting, along with the very short and made-up list of gift ideas for the Slytherin that he’d come up with. “Oh… Well, that is… Hmm. I didn’t think you’d–”
“No, you didn’t think, did you? Now I have to get him a gift. I’m making you shop with me, you bloody nitwit,” Percy spat, his face flushed both from annoyance and some other feeling that he couldn’t quite place.
“I didn’t know you’d even signed up,” Oliver said, as though this would help. He watched as Percy stabbed at a piece of meat on the serving platter and brought it to his plate and he couldn’t help but wonder if Percy had been picturing stabbing something else just then. “I’ll shop with you.”
“Of course I signed up, I’m Head Boy . I wanted to set a good example for the prefects – to get participation up across all of the houses,” he scolded, then dug into his lunch, keeping his eyes on his plate for fear that his eyes would reveal a bit too much of what he was thinking – that he wasn’t actually upset with who he’d gotten assigned to.
“I just can’t believe out of everyone, you got assigned to him,” Oliver muttered. “I wonder who he got.”
Percy wondered too.
~~~
Percy hadn’t paid much mind to Marcus before this week… Sure, he was familiar enough with the Slytherin, he’d often hear Oliver ranting about the other boy, especially post quidditch matches. And yes, Percy had seen him fly and had thought about that a good deal. But appreciating one’s form while flying was hardly the same as sitting and wondering about one’s inner workings, likes, and dislikes.
But because of his dorm mate, now Percy was forced to think about the other boy much more than he’d wanted to. How do you pick a Christmas gift for someone who’s family is so wealthy and could already buy him whatever he wanted, especially when there wasn’t a relationship there to draw personal or sentimental ideas from? Hell, there wasn’t a friendship there at all , which was making this whole thing feel awkward and weird .
But perhaps the most awkward and weird thing was currently happening inside of Percy’s own head. He truly wanted to get the other boy a gift he’d enjoy, he wanted to see Marcus smile while opening the gift. He wanted to be the reason behind it.
Weird, weird, weird.
Percy meandered around Hogsmeade with Oliver, who begrudgingly came along for the shopping trip, a mixture of being true to his word and feeling absolutely guilty for Percy inadvertently becoming the butt of this little prank.
“Do you think he’d want quidditch things?” Percy wondered, stopping to window shop outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies.
“I don’t care if he would or not, you’re not getting him anything that could put him at an advantage in the matches,” Oliver warned, shooting a glare at the taller boy. The audacity of even suggesting such a thing. For someone so brilliant, Percy could really be stupid at times, Oliver thought to himself.
“You could get him a beautification potion. See if it does anything for those gnashers of his,” Oliver suggested with a smirk as they resumed walking the cobbled streets together.
Percy scrunched his nose at the idea, failing to find it amusing. He’d never admit it, but generally speaking, he found prominent facial features attractive and quite endearing. GENERALLY SPEAKING. He absolutely didn’t find Marcus or his teeth attractive in any way. What a silly fleeting thought. He shook his head, as though it would manually remove the idea from his brain.
“I wonder what his favorite sweets are?” Percy wondered out loud, not dignifying Oliver’s previous comment with a remark. He led the way towards Honeydukes and grabbed a small shopping basket as he passed through the doors.
“Bloody hell mate, you’re picking out a Secret Santa gift for Marcus Flint of all people. Not a gift for someone you actually fancy. Just grab something. Could be anything,” Oliver advised and grabbed a basket of his own. He wouldn’t pass up the chance to grab some chocolate frogs and jelly slugs for stocking stuffers for his family, planning to bring them back home with him over Christmas hols.
Perusing the shop's aisles, Percy added a few things to his basket – a variety of chocolates and candies – hoping that at least something would hit the mark for Marcus. He didn’t want to spend too much of the recommended budget on sweets, though, that was too easy of an out, he thought.
The boys checked out of Honeydukes with their goodies, and after far too much mulling around the village, Percy finally decided on some Self Correcting Ink – something he found quite useful for quick yet accurate note taking in his classes – and a pair of dueling gloves, in addition to the sweets, to gift to Marcus. These were all things he’d thought Marcus would both use and enjoy. Without personal knowledge of the other boy’s likes and hobbies (besides quidditch, of course) Percy defaulted to practical gifts. Things he’d use, himself.
~~~
Participants in the gift exchange met in the Great Hall following dinner the evening before students were permitted to head back home for the holidays. The head table was littered with wrapped gifts of all sizes, and the heads of houses were gathered round to pass out gifts to their recipients.
Percy sat with the other Gryffindors as one by one, the gifts were handed out, keeping a close eye on packages that were carried to the Slytherin table, not wanting to miss Marcus opening what he’d got him.
Percy was pleasantly surprised, actually, to see that Marcus seemed to be in good spirits as he waited to receive his gift. He was chatting with a girl beside him who’s name Percy didn’t know, and watching with everyone else as various other classmates of theirs opened their gifts.
It wasn’t too long before Percy watched Snape pick up Marcus’ gift and carry it over to him. Percy had wrapped the package with plain brown paper and finished it off with a green bow. Why was he so anxious seeing Marcus tug loose the ribbon? It wasn’t often that his stomach felt fluttery yet here he was, his insides squirming as he watched from across the room Marcus ripping the paper from the box and pawing through the sweets inside.
Marcus was smiling, and it looked good on him. The Slytherin read the label on the Self Correcting Ink bottle and gave a subtle nod, then showed the bottle to the girl beside him. Unsurprisingly, he looked most pleased when he pulled the dueling gloves from the box. He tried them on right away and splayed his fingers in the leather before closing his fist. The action made Percy shiver, and he learned something about himself just then.
Percy immediately looked away when Marcus looked up and started scanning the Great Hall, clearly trying to catch eyes with whoever had bought him the gifts. He knew he’d have to approach the other boy once all of the gifts had been opened, but for now, his stomach was far too fluttery to look at him.
Percy was so lost in thought that he almost didn't notice when his own gift was placed down in front of him on the table. His gift was neatly wrapped in red paper and was quite weighty. It was a book, he knew as soon as he picked it up, and tearing back the wrapping paper would only prove him right. It was a hardback copy of a muggle fiction novel that Percy had read many times, but this one was nicer than the copy the library had, the copy that he was used to. The cover had golden inlaying and smelled of real leather. Who the hell was this from?
Percy looked up, scanning the room and tuning out the chatter of his classmates around him, who were busy opening their own gifts and speculating with their friends. He first checked the Ravenclaw table, catching eyes with Penelope Clearwater, who only shook her head and shrugged when Percy gave her questioning brows.
He glanced next at Marcus, mostly just to check that he was still enjoying his presents and caught the boy sinking his teeth into a chocolate frog. They made eye contact and Marcus smiled again , this time definitely at Percy. Weird.
Percy sat quietly with his book until finally all of the gifts in the exchange had been opened, and it was time to reveal himself to Marcus. His stomach still felt lighter than the rest of his insides, and this was doing odd things to his heartbeat. Why was Marcus coming over here? Percy was supposed to be going towards him.
“Like it?” Marcus asked, standing beside where Percy sat, one hand on his hip, and his gift box tucked under his other arm. He had a smug grin on his face that said he knew he’d done well.
“This is from you?” Percy asked, looking up at the other boy before finally getting to his feet. Sitting down while Marcus was standing just felt funny. Percy wasn't used to feeling small.
“It was. So?” Marcus asked again, now having to look up at Percy.
“I love it. How’d you know?”
Marcus let out a proud little huff. “Asked Pince what your most checked out book was. Figured you’d need your own copy. You’re too easy to buy for.”
Percy was completely shocked with this information, and he could feel his cheeks going red. Had it really been that simple? Oliver would be upset to hear that signing Marcus up for the gift exchange hadn't been a distraction for him after all, it would seem.
“Thats– I mean–” Percy shook his head. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Marcus said. The Slytherin looked around, noticing that no one else had approached the pair, leading him to the conclusion that Percy must have been his secret Santa as well. He raised his brow at Percy expectantly.
“Oh, yeah. Yours are from me, too, actually,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what to get you, I hope you like everything?”
“I do, you did good, Weasley, I’m impressed,” Marcus said, the faintest blush gracing his cheeks as he glanced at the box tucked under his arm. He looked Percy over, seeming to be sizing him up. “Happy Christmas, Percy.”
Hearing his first name on Marcus’ lips did something funny to Percy’s stomach, which was already unsettled as it was. And the boys blush? Bloody hell. He was done for. This whole gift exchange thing had gone even better than he’d expected.
“Happy Christmas, Marcus.”