A Christmas to Remember
By Forbidden Light
"Professor? What do you see when you look into the mirror?" The young boy with unruly black hair asked.
Dumbledore chuckled merrily to himself for a moment and then replied, "I see myself opening a gift and finding a large pair of woollen socks, most people buy me books you see? No one has ever thought to buy me some nice socks…" He noticed that the young boy seemed confused, Dumbledore smiled at that moment, Harry would understand one day.
Albus Dumbledore sunk into the seat in his office with a grateful sigh, he didn't have the energy he had 150 years ago. With the Dark Lord Voldemort vanquished by Harry Potter just two weeks ago the castle had been a flurry of activity as all the students started rejoicing, it was Christmas Eve though, so Dumbledore decided to let the students enjoy themselves for the moment.
Struck by a sudden inspiration Dumbledore opened a drawer in his desk and started fishing around, after a he minutes he let out a triumphant 'aha' and a bag of sherbet lemons was now lying on his desk, popping one into his mouth he stood and walked into his private chambers, not bothering to change and simply slipping into bed.
The next morning Albus awoke and climbed out of bed, the first thing he noticed was a large pile of gifts at the end of his bed. Sighing he realized that most of the packages were big and bulky, it looked like there would be no socks this year either, not that he'd expected any, he'd given up on that thought almost a century ago.
During his musings one of the gifts had started to float in front of his face, Dumbledore looked at it warily before snatching it and opening it, when he looked inside he saw only a card, he grabbed it and ripped off the envelope before starting to read.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,
When looking back on my life I remembered an event in my first year in which you told me your greatest desire, now that you have read this you should be able to see my gift.
HJP
And true to the letter's word sitting in the remnants of the snitch covered wrapping paper was a pair of vivid green socks. And for the first time in many years, Albus Dumbledore threw back his head and laughed out loud, filling the room with hearty, full-bodied merriment.
Albus put the socks aside, and reached for the next cylindrical gift. This one was wrapped in orange Cannons wrapping paper. "Mr. Ronald Weasley, no doubt." He muttered. Opening the wrapping Albus found that this, too, held woollen socks. These seemed to be hand knit, with the letters 'A' and 'D' on each one. Albus suspected Molly Weasley had had something to do with this, as Ronald Weasley had no knowledge of knitting. These socks were maroon. This one also contained a note which simply said 'Your Hearts Desire'.
The third pair of woollen socks and the fourth were also hand knitted. The third was from Ginny Weasley and the fourth was from Hermione Granger. Albus knew she'd done the knitting herself, having seen the wonderful job she'd done on the hats she'd left for the house elves and Ginny Weasley had helped her mother with the Weasley jumpers when she was younger.
All
in all, Albus had received no fewer than eighteen pairs of thick
woollen socks, in as many different colours and patterns. The
tartan pair had come from Minerva McGonagall. One pair of horrible,
knobbly orange-brown ones came from Hagrid. Others came
from Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George, (Albus had checked carefully to
ensure that those had been nothing more than socks.), Neville
Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, (Who included a note certifying they were
free of Nargle infestation.) Professors Flitwick, Sinastra,
Trelawney, Sprout, Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey. Even
Professor Snape sent a pair. Those ones were black and
bore the Slytherin crest, but were warm, for all of
that.
The
last package came from Dobby. Inside were a pair of
mismatched socks. One was red with gold stripes, the
other, a deep blue covered with silver squares.
Chuckling, Dumbledore sorted his new socks into his bureau drawer, and returned to his desk and his morning tea. Opening the rest of his gifts, he reflected that in his more than incredibly long life, this was his best Christmas yet.
AN:
Okay so I was incredibly bored and decided to write something. Here is the result. As always R&R. I've hit some writers block on TBWD, if Loskie decides to read this thanks for all those emails detailing weddings. I'm still pondering over whether to make muggle and wizarding weddings similar or just have them completely different.
Thanks for Reading,
FL.