“Merry Christmas, lassies! How’s school comin’, aye?”
Hagrid has invited the trio together with Harry and his friends for tea at his old hut near the Forbidden Forest. The trio understood why was it so ‘forbidden’; it was so gloomily dark even in broad daylight and it had the spookiest aura that made her recoil from it every time she tried to set foot on it.
“School’s pretty OK, Hagrid. Lots of homework, lots of practices, lots of Prof. Snape…” Jude bit back her words before she started getting all dreamy. Since that fateful incident, the nightly practices were one of her most favourite moments, after Potions class. She hoped no one paid attention to her—it would be embarrassing to let the other know about her crush with Prof. Snape.
“Aye, getting’ in trouble with ol’ Severus, ain’t ye, lass? Ye’ll git used to it sooner or later. ‘Av a rock cake now, aye?”
Harry and Ron wanted to warn the trio but, too late, they’ve already taken one. The rock cakes really were like rocks. The trio felt that if they take one more bite, their teeth will fall off.
“‘Av ye lassies got yer Christmas gifts?” Hagrid asked, sipping from his tea cup, which was as big as a soup bowl.
“Nope, not yet. Anyway, how on earth can they mail stuff here? There’s not a post office in sight!” Becka complained, quite dismayed for not getting a present.
“Ye ‘avn’t told ‘em lassies about the Owl Post, Harry?”
“Sorry, girls, I forgot to tell you,” Harry said apologetically. “In Hogwarts, everything here is done by owls. They mail our letters and packages to and fro for us, not normal postmen.”
“Oh, right. The magical world. How could we forget?” Rach lit up.
“Don’t ye fret, lassies. Ol’ Hagrid ‘ere has helped ye a bit. I sent yer folks ‘n owl last week an’ this came yesterday.”
Hagrid went to the back of the hut and rummaged a little. He took out three parcels wrapped in really beautiful present paper. Jude got a round parcel wrapped in silver and gold wrapping paper tied in a bronze bow, Rach got a rectangular parcel wrapped in silver blue and Becka got a square parcel wrapped in white wrapping paper with black polka-dots. They fingered their gifts with interest.
“Go on, lassies. Open yer gifts now. It’s Christmas! It won’t hurt ye if ye open ‘em presents.”
The trio opened their Christmas presents and gaped in awe. Rach got a book on spells, and not just any spells—they’re spells that are used for wizards and witches of high power and status. On the brown leathered book were golden bold words written in Old English Text: SPELLS OF THE ADVANCED.
Jude’s present was a lovely crystal ball that shone under the sun. It was really beautiful and sparkling clean, like it has never been used before.
“Wow! Crystal ball! Your dad is thinking of letting you take Divination or what?” Ron asked, fascinated.
“What’s that?” Jude asked the ever-knowing senior Hermione Granger.
“It’s an elective subject. You’ll learn it when you’re in the third year. Teaches you how to do palm-reading and all that crap. If you’re logical enough, you won’t take it.”
“Interesting! I’m taking it!” Jude exclaimed with glee, much to Hermione’s dismay. “What’s yours, Becka?”
Becka opened her present. She saw something transparent, like a piece of glass. When she held it up to see, she saw a transparent velvet cloak in the faded colour of pink. It was like actually holding up a piece of pink cloth made out of glass.
“The Invisible Cloak. The female version of the Invisible Cloak!” Harry exclaimed, his eyes gazing at it in wonder.
“Invisible Cloak? You mean if I wear this, I’ll become invisible?” Becka was astounded.
“Yes, yes, of course! So far only Harry has it!” Ron also joined in the excitement. Becka eyed at the cloak naughtily.
“I don’t like the looks of this,” Hermione said in dread. “I must say, a book on spells would be much more appropriate, although wasted on a person like Rachel Yearne.”
Rach ignored her. She didn’t mind criticism. She thought of Hermione as a sore loser anyway.
“There’ll be a Christmas dinner tonite’,” Hagrid said as he poured them more tea. “Then will be the present-givin’ ceremony. Aye, it’ll be lotsa fun, this ceremony. I can’t wait to sees what ev’ryone gits fer themselves.”
“Which reminds me!” Jude suddenly lit up. “I haven’t got presents for you guys! And Tony too! Oh, I am such a cad!”
“Yes! Oh, how mean we are! What are we gonna do?” Becka exclaimed. Rach nodded in agreement.
“I know a place where you can get your presents in a jiffy,” Ron said as he rushed out of the hut. The others followed suite. Ron stood in front of the Forbidden Forest and let out a loud whistle. Moments later, a rumble of a car was at a distance. The rumbling came closer and closer until the owner of the rumbling noise appeared. It was a blue Cadillac, quite worn away and old, but still in reasonable shape.
“Hey, it’s your dad’s old car!” Harry said in amazement, stroking the car.
“Yup, she’s still around. I wonder how she managed living in such a creepy place,” Ron said proudly.
“This…This car drives on its own!” Rach said, quite surprised.
“She has quite a mind of her own, mind you. But let’s cut the chase. I’m gonna use this car to take you to one of our best places to get your Christmas presents. Honeydukes!”
“Honeydukes?” Becka asked curiously.
“A wizardry sort of shopping spot,” Harry said to the trio. “You’ll love it, trust me.”
The next thing they knew, the trio was on Ron’s car, driving across the sky and through the clouds towards the direction of Honeydukes. Hermione refused to follow as she would not tolerate hanging around with her archenemy. They hollered joyously; it was their ultimate dream to be in close contact with the air instead of stuck up in airplane looking out of protective windows. They let out their hands to touch the clouds and enjoyed the wind blowing swiftly at their faces. They didn’t care if it messed up their hair; they were having fun. They hollered out loud for all they cared, “Wee~~!! Woah~~!!”
Finally, after quite a drive, they have reached Honeydukes. It was equally interesting as Diagon Alley, only that it was filled with more people than the former. Ron landed the car at an alley secluded from the wizards and witches’ eyes. Ron said that he didn’t want to alert anybody—no one in the wizarding world has exactly seen a real car before. As they got off the Cadillac, the trio oohed at the scenery before them.
“Alright, girls. Run along and knock yourselves out,” Harry said and checked to see if the trio has brought their money pouches along. “You won’t get lost so easily in here, don’t worry. We won’t be hanging out with you—don’t want to spoil the surprise. We’ll meet you at this shop.”
After looking at the sign of the bar house, the trio nodded and rushed off to their shopping. The trio was having the time of their lives. They went into book shops, magical boutiques, stationery shops, broomstick and magical items shops, and even junk food stores and a variety of gift shops. Each shop was crowded with people—it was like a stampede. The trio had to squeeze their way through and shove their way out of the massive crowd after having done their shopping, gasping for air.
“Man! They’re like total monsters!” Becka groaned. “They are so worse than Muggle shoppers!”
“Well, look at the bright side,” Rach said as she lifted her nicely wrapped gift parcels, “at least we’ve got presents for our friends in Hogwarts their gifts, including you guys, not that I’m telling you what I’ve got for you. And we got gifts for our folks. Have you got everything?”
“Totally!” Becka beamed as she showed Rach her gift parcels.
“What about you, Jude?”
“Harry…Ron…Tony…Hermione…” Jude mumbled as she pointed her gifts one by one. Then she lit up and said, “Oh yeah! I forgot! Could you guys wait a sec? I forgot one more gift.”
Rach and Becka nodded. No way were they going back with Jude together back into the mob of shoppers. They waited outside as they looked at Jude slipping into a robes shop. 5 minutes later, she came out with a box wrapped in solid black present paper with silver stars and moons on it.
“What did you get for whom?” Becka asked curiously.
“Not telling you,” Jude said and stacked it above her other parcels. Jude grinned back when Rach and Becka eyed at her suspiciously; she was determined not to let her girlfriends know who will be her mystery Christmas character.
The trio moved towards the bar house where they promised to meet Harry and the gang. On the way, they noticed that the passers-by were looking at them weirdly again.
“We got another row of people giving us the ‘eye’ again,” Rach said between clenched teeth.
“Just ignore them. It will go away,” Jude replied back the same way.
“You make them sound like they’re some sort of disease!” Becka giggled.
They quickened their pace and were glad when they saw the bar house sign. They walked in as fast as could and sighed in relief when they saw Ron and Harry waving at them at a distance. They sat with a plop on the chairs and placed their parcels under the table.
“You girls shopped up a storm,” Harry looked under the table and gazed in wonder at the amount of parcels they had.
“It’s a girl’s thing,” Becka said. “So what do they have here? I’m feeling like I’ve just ran across a desert out there!”
“Don’t worry, my sweets,” Ron announced proudly, “I’ve got you girls one of our best drinks in this stop. Here you go, butter beer in the house!”
“Butter beer?” Rach wrinkled her nose at the weird-looking yellowish-brown drink.
“Don’t worry, Rach,” Harry said. “It’s not entirely alcoholic. It taste more like bittersweet honey milk or some sort.”
“Not real beer?” Jude sounded disappointed and took a sip. “Yum, not bad! Too bad it’s not real beer.”
“Ignore her,” Becka said as she took a sip too. “She has a small obsession with alcohol. No biggie. This is good. Really good!”
All of a sudden, Rach felt an aura around her. It felt exactly like the way the people gave them the ‘eye’. She looked up and saw a boy about 14 years of age. He had steely blue hair with streaks of burgundy. One of his eyes was a different colour than the other. One was dark brown and the other was an abnormal shade of yellow. He was staring at them without even so much as blinked.
“Err…Harry, I think we’re being stared at,” Rach whispered. Harry looked up and saw the weird-looking boy too. The boy had no intention to stop staring at them.
“Uh-oh, warlock. Totally bad news,” Harry said as he got up. “Come, let’s get out of here.”
The trio gulped down their last bit of butter beer and gathered their parcels, making a dash for it. Before they were able to open the door to leave, the boy swoshed right in front of them, blocking their way. It took him less than a second to do so, much to the trio’s surprise. Harry and Ron were getting ready with their wands to strike when all of a sudden, the boy pinned his fore finger of each hands onto their chests and stared at the trio more intently. Harry and Ron struggled but, shockingly, they couldn’t move an inch.
“You are The Ones, right? I’m positively sure you are.”
“What? What do you mean by The Ones? We don’t know who you mean!” Becka said, frustrated.
“You can run away from me and the rest of the world, but you cannot run away from your destiny. Your destiny is with the Boy Who Lived. That is your destiny. That is your life for eternity.”
“Our destiny…? With Harry…?” Jude asked, confused. “What is all this crap?!”
The boy let Harry and Ron go and disappeared out of sight among the crowd outside the bar house, just as mysteriously as he appeared. Ron came up to Jude and Becka and asked if they were alright.
“What does he mean by us being with Harry?” Becka demanded.
“You knew about Harry being the Boy Who Lived?” Ron was surprised.
“Our parents told us a little about him,” Rach said. “Harry, do you know what he meant?”
Harry remained silent as he watched out to roads.
“Hey, kids!” Hagrid beamed as he came out of his hut at upon hearing Ron’s Cadillac. “‘Av a good time at Honeydukes, aye?”
“Yes! It was great!” Jude agreed, getting off the Cadillac. They watched as the car drove off into the Forbidden Forest by itself.
“Except that we came across a weirdo,” Becka huffed unhappily.
The trio told their quite disturbing encounter with the warlock. Hagrid rubbed his chin considerably.
“Now dat’s a serious demented lad. He must’ve been in a booze fer quite sometime. Don’t worry, lass. Things kin be pretty weird ‘ere, but ol’ Hagrid kin assure ye lassies, der ain’t nothin’ tuh be concerned about. Run along now, lassies. Christmas dinner is about tuh start. Ye lay yer present under the tree nice an’ good now.”
At the word ‘Christmas dinner’, the trio forgot about there unpleasant encounter with the warlock and dashed towards the castle. Hagrid lay a hand on Harry and said, “It’s best if those lassies ain’t knowin’ anythin’ yet, Harry.”
“I know, Hagrid. I know.”
Everyone has gathered at the Great Hall. Most of the Hogwarts students have gone home for the Christmas seasons—there weren’t so many students around. The trio put their presents under the beautifully candle-lit Christmas tree along with the other gifts. They giggled when they saw the empty knight suits sang out-of-tune carols and laughed out loud when Peeves sneaked into the knight suits and dubbed his own vulgar lyrics into the carols, resulting into a very angry Argus Filch chasing him around, trying to get him.
The Christmas tree was very beautiful indeed, with well-lit candles floating around the tree. It was decorated with snow and candy canes and all other lovely stuff you can think of. On top of the tree was a real shining star, rumoured by many that it was the Astrology teacher Prof. Sinistra who plucked it right out of the night sky. Of course, Harry said, it had to one of Prof. Dumbledore’s famous conjured up materials.
All the teachers were present in the Great Hall, including the cold statue Prof. Snape, much to Jude’s glee. Everyone sat together at the staff’s table, the students facing the teachers. Jude instinctively sat in front of Prof. Snape, earning a very sly look from her girlfriends. She couldn’t care less anymore. So what if they found out about her secret crush? Not that it’ll do them any good. Everyone present laughed joyfully as they ate, sharing stories to one another. Occasionally they made a toast, using the ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ spell to levitate their goblets and hit each other’s goblets. Jude tried to hit hers with Prof. Snape’s but she was still wobbly about the whole thing and all of the goblets looked so alike that she couldn’t find which one belongs to his, much to her disappointment.
After dinner, the prize-giving ceremony was on. Prof. Dumbledore went to the Christmas tree, chanted a sorting spell and the presents floated up from here to there before floating down slowly to its rightful receivers. Everyone got at least one Christmas gift. They hollered ‘Merry Christmas’ to the teachers before leaving hurriedly to their dorms to open up their gifts. Prof. Snape was surprised to see that he actually got a gift for this occasion. He unwrapped the present to reveal a black cloth. When he held it up, it ran down to become a genuinely black robe. He noticed a card inside and read what it said:
HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR NEW ROBES. YOUR OLD ONE WAS KIND OF BURNT. SORRY
Yours truly, Judith Light
Prof. Snape looked to find Jude. From afar he saw Jude smiling sheepishly at him before leaving the Great Hall, blushing from head to toe.
The trio has finished unwrapping their presents and thanking each other for the lovely thought. They were sitting on the stairs because they wanted to share this gift-opening occasion together. They opened their presents they got from their friends Harry and the gang and were surprised and interested by the outcome. The things the wizarding world can show them never failed to fascinate them. After fascinating themselves over all their gifts, the trio split up and went back to their dormitories. Needless to say, Becka—the ever-sweet Becka—hugged and thanked all her beloved seniors and Angelica for the lovely gift (being hugged by Becka definitely sent Ron into the heavens). The trio also got gifts from Darren, so Rach thanked him on her and her friends’ behalf.
Jude and Tony thanked each other for their Christmas presents. Too bad Tony didn’t get a hug from her. When Jude was about to retire to her bed, she saw Draco coming up to her with a small parcel behind his back.
“Here, Light, for you,” Draco said, handing the parcel to Jude.
“Why didn’t you just put it under the tree like everyone else?” Jude asked suspiciously.
“I want to give it to you personally. Go on, do take it. After all, it is Christmas.”
Jude hesitantly accepted the gift. She opened it and saw that it was a diamond-studded ring. It shone under the light of the fire of the common room. Jude felt awkward.
“Oh, please. I can’t. It’s too expensive…”
“Please, take it. It’s just one of my mother’s old rings. There is perfectly nothing to be awkward about.”
“But…I…”
“I have to insist, new kid. You don’t get this treatment from me any other day.”
So saying, Draco took out the ring and slipped it into Jude’s right ring finger. Jude was speechless. She didn’t know what else to say. It was true that she’ll never get this same treatment twice. She’d better treasure it while it lasts.
“Goodnight, Light. And Merry Christmas.”
Without warning, Draco leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek before rushing off to his side of the dorm. Tony, who saw all this behind a wall, glared venomously at Draco. Draco smirked, giving him an I-win-another-point look.
Jude went to bed with loads of mixed feelings in her heart.
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