Quote:
Originally Posted by
feeheeheeny 
Sophie might have almost even been more excited for Toby to open the present than he was. There was a big ol' grin plastered upon her face the whole time he dug through the box, and she kept looking from the contents in his hands to his face, eager for his reaction. "Really. D'you know what they are? S'not just a mirror, of course - I have a matching one. It's a two-way, so we can... well, y'know, always keep in touch, even from opposite sides of the castle or world or whatever." They were hugging, then, and Sophie gave him a happy embrace, but then untangled herself from him because she had more explaining to do. Hehe.
"Y'know what the vial is, then? Culloden... he gave me a vial of it as a present, which is a secret, by the way, 'cause apparently... I've made him really proud and feel lucky to be teaching us and stuff, and honestly I have no idea what I'll use my half for, but... I knew I didn't need the whole vial for myself, so I knew I wanted to share it with you. Thought some day you might need some luck. Could save your life or something, even." She gave a one-armed shrug, a bit uncharacteristically bashful, then she nodded down at the fireworks in the box. "And if anyone asks, you didn't get those from me." HEHE.
"I can make a pretty good guess," Toby interjected, before Sophie gave her explanation. He'd heard of two-way mirrors from his grandparents. When they were at school, his grandfather was a couple of years older, and they'd procured a set of two-way mirrors to ease the time apart once his grandfather had graduated. They'd become lost when the two were married and no longer had much use for them, but Toby had heard all about them. And unless Soph had been trying to cheekily hint things about his possible vanity by giving him a regular mirror (which was, admittedly, also very likely), Toby has assumed that this was one of those special mirrors.
Once they'd stopped hugging, Toby reached into the box and pulled out the vial to inspect it closer.
"Wow," he said in obvious awe, tipping the stoppered vial slightly so he could examine the colour of the liquid and the way it shone in the light.
"I've read about this a while ago. Never thought I'd ever be able to try it."
Toby placed it ever-so-gently back into the box and grinned at all the gifts. He then placed the lid carefully back onto the box and turned to face Sophie a little better.
"They're wonderful. It's all brilliant," he said with a huge grin, as he reached for her hand and laced his fingers between hers.
"This is the best birthday ever, Soph. Thank you." Could they hug again? COULD THEY? 'Cause otherwise she might see him cry from happiness at all the amazing gifts.
And, of course, he'd never spill about the fireworks. Ehehe.