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I'm trying to do a 'Twelve Days of Christmas' one-shot series. I'm already a day behind! So here's Day 12. "On the Twelfth day of Christmas, I gave to dear Harry..."

"Twelve Mutants Gifting!"

"CHRISTMAS!" was the cry that awoke numerous members of Xavier's School for the Gifted on said morning, resulting in quite a few people, both students and teachers, to either sit up straight in bed in surprise, or to actually fall out of it.

Those who were already awake, and either in the main room with the tree or heading in that direction, smiled as they recognized the voice as their youngest mutant, named Naga. His real name was Harry, but due to his mutation, he was given the moniker Naga, which he seemed to love. He was their youngest, at only 6 years old, having been found and taken in not long after his 5th birthday.

An angry bellow followed what was now recognized as a battle-cry, revealing whom it was that the little boy had chosen to awaken first, no doubt by jumping on him. Harry had a small group of favorites within the manor, with the top three being Wolverine, Gambit, and Nightcrawler. To him, while Logan was intimidating and gruff, he was also protective and careful, leading the little boy to think of him almost as his hero. Gambit and Nightcrawler were his friends, teaching him tricks and other languages, which he loved and soaked up like a sponge. He wasn't fluent by any means, but he could say a few phrases in both French and German, something that never failed to please either him or his two self-appointed teachers. Remy taught him card tricks, while Kurt focused on acrobatics, including teleporting the little one around the house if needed.

Unfortunately, they knew it was needed more than a little often, due to Harry's mutation. He was found after having been abandoned in London by his uncle, thankfully before too much time had passed. Professor Xavier had been lucky to have been working with Cerebro when Harry's mutation became active, and so was able to direct them to where the little boy was cowering and hoping to survive the night. The most Naga would say about the incident was that he had wanted to go to school like his cousin, but his asking had upset his uncle, who had punished him. Not that anyone in the school believed it was anything less than outright abuse. In any event, his mutation had reacted, leaving him in a halfway serpentine state. His legs had fused together, resulting in a long, scaled tail. He had patches of matching shimmering black scales over his body above his tail, and slit eyes and venomous fangs to complete the package. Not to mention his enhanced sense of smell, almost a combination of smell and taste, and his ability to speak to other snakes.

But part of his mutation meant that, not only could he never leave the school due to his appearance, but he was also influenced strongly by the weather. Because he couldn't leave the school, others often brought him small trinkets, and told him stories and showed him pictures of the outside world they hoped he could one day visit, when mutants were accepted by the normals who currently held the power in the world.

Christmas last year had been especially painful.

Not because the little one had done anything wrong, quite the opposite. It was painful because Harry didn't seem to understand why he was being given gifts, why anyone would want to be kind to him. He had only been living with them for about 4 months, and still had quite a lot of psychological damage from his earlier years, but that was why he attended therapy with one of the older mutants and occasionally the professor, and he had gotten better since then, thankfully. But that first year, he had cried over every simple gift and trinket he had received, including a paper mache snake one of the teens had made in arts class, which he treated as if it was made from spun glass and molten gold.

In fact, any item given to him was treated as a precious object, to be treated with love and care and properly appreciated for the kindness it represented to him.

Christmas was especially important to him, since his being serpentine in nature meant he was strongly affected by the temperatures surrounding him. The cold made him sluggish and tired, and desperate to warm up, meaning he clung to anyone around him, often while wearing a long sleeved shirt and a blanket. Last year, the week after Christmas had been spent almost in a hibernation like state, where he curled up under his blankets and slept non-stop. It had actually worried them enough to not only get Hank to look at the little boy to make sure he was alright, but also to contact a herpetologist for answers. Since then, his room had it's own little space heater, and during the colder weather he could be found, curled up in there in front of it and basking in the warmth.

So it was no surprise to anyone when the combination of lethargy and the irritation that came from his scales rubbing against the carpet as he slithered through the manor led to him being either teleported or carried everywhere, as was currently occurring. Logan entered with the six year old on one shoulder, clinging to him and giggling as he listened to Kurt and Remy argue playfully over who had gotten him the better gift.

Pretty much everyone had given Harry a gift, much to the little boy's delight and dismay. He was upset because he had been unable to give them anything back except for pictures he'd colored for them that Dr. McCoy had printed out for him. Simple things, like pictures of playing cards for Remy, a circus for Kurt, and a wolverine for, well, Logan. Obviously. He was only six, after all. His choices were simple and made perfect sense to him.

Harry was permitted to unwrap the first present of the morning, Wolverine placing him in Remy's lap as soon as the Cajun sat down, and handing over the gifts until there was a veritable mountain surrounding the small child.

It was heartwarming to the staff of the school, including Xavier, how the teens were more eager to see Harry open their gifts than to open their own. Sure, many of them had their little piles surrounding them from friends, but they all paused and looked over at the little boy when he cried out the name of the person who had given him the present he was currently unwrapping. He began to weep a little again, only a few tears sliding down his cheeks, clutching one of his gifts of a crocheted snake in green and black, even as the pile shrank around him. From Remy, a little toy staff like the magical people of Louisiana used, carved out of wood with a little wooden snake slithering up it. Kurt had given him some books in German and a phrasebook and dictionary, so Harry could practice even when Kurt wasn't around to practice with him. From Logan, it was a cell phone with the numbers to everyone in the school, including the school's main line and emergency line. This was so that if he needed anything and couldn't get anyone's attention, such as being unable to leave his room for the cold weather, then he could call them and talk to them, and even ask for help. He knew better than to admit how he got the money to pay for such an item, or how he intended to pay for the plan the little one was now on. Scott would no doubt kick up a fuss, and that would just ruin the Christmas spirit that everyone had going on this morning, in his opinion. No, best to keep quiet.

Rogue, Bobby, and John had given him toys they had bought, plushies of a wolf, stag, and dog. He had mentioned a dream with the three animals in it (as well as another with a flying motorcycle, but much to their dismay Scott had shot that idea down instantly), and during his next therapy lesson he was placed under hypnosis to try and bring his older memories into clarity. They learned two things from that session. One, his father was able to shift, too, into a deer, and his friends into a dog and wolf, meaning Harry wasn't the first mutant in his family and would one day be able to go between a human form and a fully animal one. And two, they had learned he had seen his parents' murder. The nightmares he had after that had been horrific for them to wake up to, and so no further delving was done in that area. Sadly, he apparently only knew his parents' friends' nicknames, Moony and Padfoot, and neither helped the professor in finding either man.

Logan had asked about the memory hypnosis therapy as well, but Xavier had explained that, unlike Logan, Harry's memories weren't buried or blocked, only too young to be fully remembered. It wasn't about forcing his memories to return, only to make them clearer. Then he'd further explained that hypnosis didn't work on everyone, and that he didn't believe it would work for Logan, unfortunately.

Scott, in a move that would've surprised many, went back to his childhood lessons from when he was living with his family, and ended up carving a trio of wooden figurines. He was by no means an artist, and neither was Jean, who had painted them the appropriate colors, but when their gift was unwrapped the little boy still wept a little and thanked them profusely.

Hank had given him some coloring books the man had printed out, as well as few new boxes of crayons, which had Harry absolutely delighted and promising to color another picture for the large blue doctor. This had made everyone laugh, including Kitty, who was in the process of giving over her gift of a kids' book of myths and legends from around the world.

From Storm and many of the other students, Harry received clothing. Be it an extra-long scarf knitted by two of the students in a style reminiscent of a British show they had seen, or a t-shirt, or in Ororo's case, a few pairs of trousers and shorts which they had then cut and resewn to have only one 'leg' for him to wear with his tail (since otherwise he was forced to wear skirts or a cloth tied around his waist, even though there was nothing to see, he just didn't like being exposed).

Harry loved every item given to him, and only moved from Gambit's lap to hug people in thanks, though when he opened Xavier's gift, he was immediately in the man's lap, hugging him and thanking him between small, light sobs. The professor, using his memory of the time inside Harry's mind, had worked with a sketch artist to recreate an image of Harry's parents and their friends. Then he'd contacted a painter, and had it created appropriately. In all honesty, he had only received it a week prior, and was very glad for it, since he didn't have to try and keep it a secret for too long.

Finally, little Naga wiped away his tears and smiled brightly at everyone, thanking them again. Almost as if this was a switch, everyone began to tear into their own presents, Harry moving back to curl up against Wolverine's side by the fireplace, Pyro tossing his wrapping paper into the fire as little mini fireballs for Harry's amusement.

Even though it meant he'd be sleeping for the next week at least, Harry was absolutely certain that his sixth Christmas was the best one that there could ever be.

Merry Christmas!