The Time For Parting Come
Fandom: Diana Wynne Jones - Chronicles of Chrestomanci
Written for: Tari in the Yuletide 2007 Challenge
by athousandwinds
"Christopher?"
No reply from the other side of the door.
"Christopher!"
Silence. It was an expressive silence, however, which made Millie scowl and start hammering on the door again.
"How old are you? Are you just going to stay in there and sulk all day?"
Silence again, which this time could conceivably be interpreted as shifty.
"Well, I'm not standing for it! If you don't come out, I won't write to you at all this term."
Millie liked to imagine that this particular silence was shocked. More realistically, Christopher would be offended by the idea that anyone could go so long without the pleasure of his company-by-proxy.
"Honestly," she said, resting her head against the cool wood of Christopher's bedroom door. "We have this every time I go back to school. Aren't you used to it by now?"
She heard a thud, probably Christopher banging his head against the wall.
"Come down for dinner, if you're coming," she said finally. "We're having pineapple upside-down cake for pudding."
She walked away from the door, making sure to stomp, and then hid round the corner. It took a few moments, but then she heard the click of the lock and the creak of the door as Christopher peered round it, like a mole emerging from its hill into the bright sun. Millie, very carefully, did not leap round and shout, "Aha!" It would only make him retreat again and for reasons that surely even the best psychologists could not fathom, she wanted him at her goodbye party.
Instead, she enjoyed her victory quietly but smugly, much gratified when Christopher sulked into the dining room just as the gong went for the evening meal.
"I'm sure I don't know who this stranger is," Gabriel said, at his very driest. Christopher shot him a venomous glare, but it fell far short of his best attempts and he was forced to abandon it when Gabriel merely smiled.
"I thought you might like this," he continued to Millie. "As a going-away present."
"This" was a paperweight of smoky quartz and Millie oohed and aahed over it obligingly. It was pretty. This prompted a flurry of gifts (some, Millie thought, rather hurriedly conjured). Miss Rosalie gave her a Parker fountain pen, Mordecai Roberts a new blotter; they'd obviously consulted. Flavian provided her with a turquoise bracelet.
"It's beautiful!" she said, rather startled.
"I'm glad you like it," Flavian said, clearly pleased by her reaction.
"It's all right," Christopher said, his mouth turned down, but no one was listening to him.
After dinner, he caught up with her in the hallway. "I'll give you mine, now."
"Why didn't you just give it to me at dinner?"
"One saves the best until last, of course." Christopher's expression was not as collected as he might have liked it to be.
"The best" turned out to be a string of freshwater pearls, which Christopher could never have afforded on his own. Or perhaps he could; he was getting a salary from Gabriel these days. Millie stared at them, running them through her fingers and noting the gritty feel.
"Do you like it?" Christopher was rocking back and forth on his heels. "Is it better than Flavian's?"
Millie blinked at him, and then said: "Silly. Haven't you ever heard that it's the giver that matters, not the gift?"
"No, and you haven't, either; you got it out of one of those books." Capitals were unnecessary, Millie knew exactly which one he was talking about. Millie's Christmas, where the heroine couldn't go home for the holidays because of measles and ended up befriending some of the poor scholarship girls who couldn't go home either - which reminded her, she had yet to pack her books.
"It's a lovely present," she told him.
"Good," said Christopher smugly. "But better than Flavian's?"
"It's wonderful," Millie said, just to annoy him, and before he could get up a proper scowl, she hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
He was suspiciously quiet after that, and much easier to throw out of her room. Millie didn't speculate why. It was just as well he hadn't given her a diamond ring, which she'd suspected he might, just to outdo all the others. The necklace was much prettier and much more useful besides, one could wear it in public without a lot of odious talk.
She was already beginning to compose a letter to Christopher in her head, to write on the train. He'd like to get a letter the day after she left. It'd make him feel important, which might not be such a good idea. But it would make him happy.
Millie was still debating it as she fell asleep.
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