“On a Firebolt covered in snow,” she continued, her wrist twisting in fluid motions as she decorated her empty dormitory. Her roommates had deserted Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the Christmas break, leaving Luna alone in the sixth-year girls’ dormitory. Oddly enough, Luna preferred a quiet Christmas, opposed to what her roommates made the holidays out to be. Needless to say, Luna didn’t exactly fit in with her fellow Ravenclaws.
“Through the air I fly,” she sang as her voice began to gain volume. Her wand pointed upward as an illusion of snow began to fall. She couldn’t help but laugh as she watched the mess of flurries disappear right before landing on the carpeted floor.
“Singing as I go!”
As her carol drew to a close, the Ravenclaw began to feel the effects of the large Christmas feast she had eaten only hours before. It was half an hour later that she passed out on her bed, with a wreath as a pillow and a Christmas wall decoration as a blanket.
“On the count of three!” shouted Jack Sloper over the chorus of animal sounds that echoed mockingly at the bottom of the staircase. The chicken calls quickly changed to a chaotic countdown to from ten, despite Jack’s previous order.
When his friends bellowed, “Go!” Jack released his death grip on the banister and slid down the railing with whoops of happiness.
“That was awesome!” Jack exclaimed, as he lay sprawled on the Gryffindor common room floor. Laughter echoed across the room, the fourth-year boys unable to control themselves.
By the time the clock tower chimed twelve, the mischievous group of boys had found their way to their dormitories. All except for Jack Sloper, who laid half-on, half-off one of the Gryffindor’s numerous sofas.
“Come on, Ernie! Aren’t you going to count down to Christmas with us?” shouted Susan Bones impatiently from the bottom of the Hufflepuff stairs.
“I feel “” But Ernie Macmillan’s statement was quickly cut off by the thundering sound of his feet as he made a mad dash towards the toilets. He could feel his stomach’s contents from the Hogwarts feast disagreeing with him and knew that this, quite possibly, could be one of the worst Christmas holidays he had ever experienced.
“Don’t worry, Graham. Christmas won’t be all that bad. I mean at least you have Charlie, right?” Graham Pritchard questioned himself sarcastically as he sat on the Slytherin couch at in the peak of all his boredom. His best mate, Malcolm Baddock, sat sleeping beside him, offering him no escape from the miserable holiday.
Tucked in his hands was his parents’ hastily written letter. At that particular moment, his parents were off celebrating the holidays in the Caribbean, most likely basking in the heat, while he was stuck here in the frigid dungeons with nobody to keep him company except his sleeping best mate.
This is going to be the best holiday ever, Graham thought sarcastically.
Graham-
How’s your holiday break? The Caribbean seems lonely without you. Have a good holiday.
-Your Father
Graham “ who was used to letters that had to be translated from blunt statements “ quickly recognised the true meaning behind the words.
Graham-
You better be studying right now. Merlin knows your grades need this extra time. Please explain to your mum that you’re perfectly fine at school. She simply won’t stop bothering me about it. The Caribbean is great. Too bad we wanted to stay for a month; otherwise you probably could have come.
-Your Father
Much earlier than Graham would have preferred on such a holiday, he retired to his dormitory in search of some much needed sleep.
Red robes swirled through the school as its occupants hung in a frozen stupor. Nicholas looked around the vacant corridors. Immediately, he spotted the all too familiar Peeves down the corridor, and a grin quickly appeared on Nicholas' young looking profile.
“Sorry, old friend,” he whispered softly as he appeared in front of Peeves. “I can’t stay and chat tonight.” Rapidly, he slipped a carefully wrapped gift into Peeves’ Christmas cloak. “Have fun.”
Without hesitating, Nicholas continued on his journey. Each year, the numbers of the believers diminished, but the Saint still enjoyed his yearly adventures. As long as there were people like Peeves in this world, he would continue bringing the miracles.
With a knowledge of the school that only comes from previous experience, Nicholas slipped into the Ravenclaw tower first, entering a nearly empty room. He knew exactly what this school needed.
Nicholas placed a small blue box on a nearby stool. Just as quickly as he slipped in, he exited the dormitory and headed towards the Hufflepuff house.
In the Hufflepuff house, Nicholas quickly ascended the boy’s stairs before entering one of the dormitories. Without hesitation, he held his breath from the stench. He placed an unwrapped surprise on the stool, a smile framing his lips before he returned to Hogwarts’ corridors.
His next stop was Gryffindor, where he hid two surprised underneath a dropped cloak.
The Slytherin dungeons were his next destination, where he dropped a thin silver rectangle in a cloak pocket. Nicholas lived for Christmas holidays like this.
The Saint disappeared from the school, not to return for at least another year. The school returned to its limited motion, considering it was the dead of night. But in the morning, chaos would take its reign.
Graham woke with a childish excitement. A horrible holiday or not, Christmas was Christmas. It didn’t take him long to devour the stack of presents that waited by his bedside. With a quick glance around the room, he noticed Charlie had never come up to the dormitory.
After all boxes had been thoroughly investigated, his stomach began to growl. With a sigh, he slipped on some old jeans and a shirt and pulled his cloak over his outfit. It was then that a foreign object weighted him down.
Swiftly, his hand felt through the fabric. When he pulled the smooth item from his cloak, he was looking at a non-magic photograph in a simple metal frame.
There were two things Graham was sure of: that the photograph wasn’t his, and that it belonged to someone in Hufflepuff. In the photograph, there were two people, a boy clad in Hufflepuff attire and a girl in normal clothes.
Graham shrugged as he dropped the frame into his cloak. Quietly he slipped out of the dormitory and towards the Great Hall.
Luna woke with an excited squeal, her bare feet immediately touching the carpet. Her eyes surveyed the room at a quick glance and noticed a small package on the windowsill. After unwrapping the gift, she found pages that belonged to a carefully written letter and three upcoming issues of a magazine that brandished the name ‘Quibbler.’
Excited with her find, she sat down on her bed to read her father’s gift before she sighted a small blue box on a nearby stool. Cautiously “ thinking it to be a silly prank by one of her housemates “ she walked towards the package and released it from its coating of gift-wrap.
There, beneath a small piece of blue fabric, was a golden locket. Carefully inscribed on the jewellery’s surface were the letters ‘EP.’
“Eeep?” questioned Luna slowly, letting the heart charm fall to the end of the chain. “Must have been delivered to the wrong room.”
Gently, she hung the necklace around her neck (so she could find its true owner later) and headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
Jack hurried up the stairs in a mad rush. When he entered his vacant dormitory, he hurriedly grabbed his cloak and made to exit the room. However, his plan faltered when a bundle of blue and silver caught his eye.
Jack slowly retraced his steps as he headed towards the bundle of yarn. Sighing, he wondered how Ravenclaws had entered the Gryffindor house last night. When holiday breaks were involved, Jack learned not to question anything that might have seemed odd on any given day. Anything was possible when classes were out.
He scooped the hat and scarf into his grasp as he descended the stairs, heading towards the Great Hall for a large breakfast. Last night’s antics had left him starved.
“Ernie, what are you doing now?” questioned Susan in a condescending voice. It was obvious from the way she had been treating him that she believed his previous sickness had been a fraud. However, his brief encounter with what he was now calling the flu had left him too tired to try to explain.
“I found a Gryffindor Beater’s bat,” he claimed, holding the simple bat that had red and gold streamers hanging from it.
“Where?”
Ernie shrugged. “It was just in my room.”
Susan snorted as if this was the most preposterous answer she had ever heard, but Ernie was already heading towards the Gryffindor table. Clearly inscribed on the Beater’s bat were two words: Jack Sloper.
“Jack?” Ernie called out, the Gryffindor table relatively empty compared to its normal numbers. “Jack Sloper?” Ernie scanned the table for any sign of recognition, and luckily, someone responded.
“I’m Ernie,” he said, introducing himself briefly before he revealed the bat. Beforehand, he hadn’t even considered what the act might seem like. What would have kept Jack from believing him to have stolen his bat?
“Whoa …” Jack’s eyes grew intense, his jaw relaxing slightly. “This thing has been lost for … years! It was the first one I ever had, you know. But … I lost it before I came to Hogwarts … Where’d you find it?”
Ernie shrugged awkwardly. “It was just in my dormitory.”
“You’re joking!” Jack seemed to regroup his thoughts quickly as he grabbed at a bundle of silver and blue fabric. “I’m guessing it’s a Ravenclaw’s. I mean, my friends sometimes sneak people in; it could be one of theirs. But … isn’t that odd?”
“Defiantly eerie.” Ernie had grown used to ‘odd’ things happening at Hogwarts. People becoming petrified, midnight adventures, and mysteries “ literally “ behind every door, to name a few.
“Wait.” Ernie held out a hand, signalling Jack to freeze. “I know that scarf.” Hell, everyone knew that scarf. He rapidly snatched the material from Jack and looped it around his neck. As soon as the fabric settled, it magically began shouting the phrase, “Go Gryffindor!”
“It’s Luna Lovegood’s,” he said simply.
“Luna whose good?”
“She’s a sixth-year Ravenclaw; I’ll introduce you.”
Jack nodded gratefully as he followed Ernie towards the Ravenclaw table. There, sitting alone with a frizzy mess of dirty blonde hair and large blue eyes, was Luna.
“’Allo, Luna,” greeted Ernie. He felt it would only be polite to sit down.
“You stuck here for the holidays too?”
“Yep,” he replied simply, offering no further explanation. “Luna, this is Jack Sloper. Jack, this is Luna Lovegood.”
“I think this is yours,” Jack said rapidly, shoving the scarf and hat towards the Ravenclaw.
Luna’s eyes grew wider. “Why, I thought I left it at home! I’ve been owling father for weeks, but he’s investigating an important lead in Romania for the Quibbler.”
“It just … showed up. Like it was some miracle. You haven’t found anything odd lying around your room, have you?” prodded Jack curiously.
“It would probably be a Slytherin’s,” stated Ernie, making a connection between the houses.
“Well … I think someone’s owl delivered it to the wrong room, but I did find this locket.” She carefully unhooked the chain and pulled it from her neck to show the boys.
“EP?” questioned Jack.
Luna shrugged, putting the chain in a careful pile on the table. The three students glanced towards the Slytherin table “ which was practically empty “ trying to figure out who the missing link could be.
Malcolm hadn’t woken up yet, so Graham sat alone at breakfast. Remembering the photo in his pocket, he glanced towards the Hufflepuff table, matching each guy with the one in his photo. But there were no matches.
He wasn’t sure why the photograph bothered him so much, but on the other hand, he really didn’t want to have to throw it out. When his roommates returned, however, he would have to do something. Slytherin was known for its pure blood, so they would ask countless questions if they knew he had a Muggle photograph. The little reputation he had “ which was that he was a sarcastic prat that fit perfectly into Slytherin “ would be ruined.
Graham stood from his seat, making his way over towards the Hufflepuff table. However, when he caught a glance of an isolated trio at the Ravenclaw table, he knew exactly whose the photograph was. Without seeming overly eager, he walked towards the Hufflepuff.
“This yours?” he questioned, forcing a cold edge in his voice. The photograph slid a few inches as he threw it on the table.
Ernie picked it up carefully, a blush coming to his face. Quickly, before the others could ask about the girl in the photograph, he slipped it into his cloak pocket.
“Thanks,” Ernie said as he motioned for the boy to sit down.
The trio introduced themselves promptly. Absent-mindedly Luna began twirling the locket between her fingers. It can’t be his, she thought, completely intertwined with their mystery.
“I’m Graham.”
“Do you know anyone with the initials EP?” questioned Ernie as Jack began to speak.
“In Slytherin house,” added Luna.
“Why?” prodded Graham, feeling slightly awkward sitting at the Ravenclaw table.
“We each found one of the other’s items in our rooms, and we figured the fourth person would have been a girl … but obviously not,” provided Luna.
Grahams look forced them to continue.
“Luna found a locket,” Jack said. “With the initials EP.”
“And you think this locket belongs to me?” Graham asked.
“Well, we thought “” but Ernie was quickly cut off.
“Eleanor Pritchard,” he said slowly, the words unspoken for so many years.
“Who’s “” Ernie was cut off once more.
“My sister.”
Luna placed the locket gently in front of Graham, where he made no move to take it.
Silence devoured the group.
“So how did we end up with each other’s things?” Ernie looked around the group, eyes searching for a practical answer.
“Why, I’m sure the goblins did it,” promptly responded Luna.
The three boys looked at her oddly, but didn’t counter her with anything.
Though they each got the things they had lost or forgotten back, they didn’t question how the miracle occurred. A Beater’s bat from six years past. A scarf and hat forgotten at home. A photograph that had been lost in the rain. A locket of a lost sister.
Four houses “ each formed the equal sides of a square. No point was higher than another; no point was more isolated.
The miracle of Christmas wasn’t in the lost items, but in the school unity that these four students received.