A Witch Awakens

by Professor Skrewt

Holiday Magic

By the first week of December the holiday season was in full swing. The shops were all decorated for Christmas, enticing crowds of people to come inside and purchase gifts for their family and friends. Hermione enjoyed Christmas shopping, except for being jostled by other shoppers and having to wait in line at the most popular places. She liked seeing all the decorations and listening to the joyful music of the season.

It was more fun to take in all the sights and sounds with a friend, of course, so Hermione made arrangements with Susie to go shopping on the second Saturday in December. The two girls met at the edge of the shopping district in their town that morning and began walking together along the main street in the area, pausing to look into each window they passed.

The animated displays in a few shop windows held a special fascination for the two girls. The window of Hermione's favorite clothing store, Madam Mozell's, had figures of a boy and a girl waving at the people passing by outside.

"Let's go into Schindler's Department Store," suggested Susie. "Their toy section always has really neat stuffed animals and the most beautiful dolls."

"And they always have a fantastic model train layout," added Hermione.

The two friends made their way to Schindler's and into its toy department. In the center of the department was a large model train layout, covered with realistic trees, roads, factories, houses, and other buildings. There was a mountain through which a tunnel had been made for the railroad tracks. As the girls watched, a passenger train sped past a freight train that was waiting on a siding until the main line was clear for it to resume its slow journey.

"I wonder why boys are more interested in trains than girls are," mused Susie.

"I guess it depends on what boy or girl you're talking about," suggested Hermione, for she had long been fascinated by miniature trains.

The two girls continued their walk through the toy store, pausing to look at the stuffed animals and the dolls.

"I need to get my dad something today," Hermione informed Susie, as Susie examined a pretty little doll with blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a Ukrainian folk costume.

"Me, too," replied Susie, picking up another doll to admire. "Do you have any idea what he would like?"

"I've been thinking he would like a Belgian Waffle maker," Hermione said. "He really likes to make crepes but he has all the equipment he needs for that."

"That's a great idea!" Susie said approvingly. "I don't know what my dad would like. He's interested in loads of different things."

"Maybe you should ask your mum for suggestions," responded Hermione.

"Yeah, maybe I will. Shall we go looking for that Belgian Waffle maker, then?"

"Sure," Hermione answered.

The girls found the store's directory just outside the toy section, located the small appliances department, and walked in its direction, pausing frequently to admire the displays of clothing, jewelry, and candy. It did not take Hermione long to find and buy a nice electric Belgian Waffle maker. She hoped that it would be a big hit with her father.

After another hour of wandering around Schindler's and a number of other stores, the two pals decided to split up and head for home. The waffle maker was beginning to feel quite heavy to Hermione, so she was glad to find a seat on the crowded bus that would take her back to her own neighborhood.

That night Hermione began to wonder whether any of the shops in Diagon Alley had enchanted their decorations to move about. She imagined a shop window with snow gently falling onto the figures of a boy and a girl at play. The snow, in her vision, would disappear moments after it had landed on the two children. She had learned in Magical Theory that magic interfered with electrical apparatus, so she guessed that electric trains were not among the toys of wizard boys and girls. Perhaps those children had trains that moved on their own, without electricity. She imagined tiny people boarding passenger trains at stations and containers of various sorts being loaded onto freight trains at miniature depots, all without electrical or human assistance.

"Maybe I can transfigure some of our Christmas decorations to move," thought Hermione. "Nothing too elaborate or too obvious." She thumbed through A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration, looking for a simple animating spell. At last she found one that looked suitable. Minitotum Locomotor was supposedly good for making tiny objects move. It was often used to animate small figures, like statues of sports stars and toy animals. Hermione tried it on one of her stuffed animals, but the lion was apparently too big, because it just lay on her bed and quivered slightly. She found a miniscule replica of Twiggy, the model-turned-actress, and managed to get it to show off its wardrobe in her hand.

With that success under her belt, Hermione went looking for some of her family's unused Christmas decorations. She found a manger scene with a few sheep, some shepherds, the Three Wise Men, the baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The paint on the figures was chipped in places and one of the shepherds was missing a hand. Hermione touched each figure carefully with her wand and murmured "Reparo". Soon the little figures were as good as new.

"Now for the hard part," she said to herself, as she touched one of the Wise Men and said, "Minitotum Locomotor". The little figure knelt beside the baby Jesus in his manger, bowed his head, and presented his gift to the infant. Hermione tried the same spell on the other figures, which made similarly appropriate movements. The sheep wandered around the stable, the shepherds knelt and bowed, and the other Wise Men followed the first Wise Man's example. The baby Jesus waved his arms, his mother Mary stroked his cheek gently, and Joseph bent over Mary and the child.

"It's a wonderful display!" Hermione exclaimed. "So much nicer than the large displays with their jerky, mechanical movements. And it's so peaceful."

Hermione ran into the living room, where her parents were reading in their favorite chairs. "Come see what I've done with our old creche!" she said excitedly.

Harriet and Alfred followed Hermione into her room, where they saw the restored creche and the tiny figures in their peaceful pantomime of worship and love.

"Amazing!" said Alfred. "How'd you do it?"

"It's beautiful, Hermione!" exclaimed Harriet. "I'm just sad that we will not be able to share it with our friends."

"Oh," Hermione said quietly, "I hadn't though about that. I guess you're right. Letting non-magical people see it would reveal our secret, wouldn't it?"

"It's not just that, I'm afraid," said her father. "Some people, even some of our friends, would view what you have done as blasphemous, an insult to their most cherished beliefs."

"But why?" asked Hermione, her brow wrinkled in confusion and concern.

"Because they think magic is Satanic," answered her mother.

"But I don't worship Satan!" Hermione said defensively. "I didn't even know I could do magic until three months ago. It just sort of bubbled up out of me. Now I'm beginning to think of magic as just another ability that some people have and some people don't. Magic is beginning to seem natural to me, at least natural for me."

"That makes sense," Harriet said. "Do you agree, Alfred?"

"Yes, I do," said Alfred. "And something else just occurred to me. Opposing magic on principle is a strange attitude, since many religious traditions feature miracles, including ones that Jesus and the Apostles performed."

"I think that what matters most is how a person uses her gifts, whether magical or not," said Harriet to her daughter. "I'm sure that you restored and animated the creche innocently, that you associated it with the peace and love that we all talk about at Christmas. Still, we had better keep this miracle to ourselves."

"OK," said Hermione sadly, "but can we keep it out when we're the only ones in the house?"

"Sure," said Alfred.

"Yes, I'd like that," agreed Harriet.

So, for the next few weeks the Granger manger stayed on private display, and the tiny figures bowed their heads and presented their gifts in a continuing representation of the season's message of peace on earth and good will toward men.

On Christmas morning Hermione woke up earlier than usual, eager to open her presents. She got out of bed and put on her robe and slippers. It was just an ordinary Muggle robe, of course, since she did not yet have any witch robes. She wandered into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, since it would be a while before she ate breakfast.

"Hermione, are you up?" called her mother.

"Yes, Mum. I was just brushing my teeth," Hermione replied. "Are you and Dad ready to open presents?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Harriet sighed. "Give us a few minutes to get organized. You can go into the living room, but don't open any packages."

Hermione reluctantly agreed to her mother's request and walked into the living room. She turned on the Christmas tree lights and then checked that the tiny figures in the creche were still moving. They had not stopped bowing their heads and presenting their gifts for almost ten days. Hermione wondered whether the spell would ever wear off.

There was a large package next to the Christmas tree that had not been there when she had gone to bed the night before. What could the pretty gold wrapping paper be hiding, she wondered. Her parents had asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she had mentioned several items, including a science encyclopedia and a telescope. Either of those could be in that package, she thought.

Hermione's eyes then fell on the presents that she had put under the tree for her parents. Her mother was bound to like the Icelandic sweater that she and Susie had found on sale during their shopping expedition a couple of weeks earlier. She hoped that her dad would like his present so much that he would cook Belgian waffles for their Christmas breakfast.

In a few minutes her parents came into the living room, yawning and stretching, dressed in robes and slippers like Hermione.

"Merry Christmas, Hermione!" Alfred said to his daughter. "I see your animated Nativity scene is still functioning."

"Yes, it's doing better than I thought it would," she said.

"I've really enjoyed looking at it, Hermione," said Harriet. "You made it as good as new — better, in fact."

"Which present would you like to open first?" her father asked her.

"The one you and Mum gave me, of course!" exclaimed Hermione. "I'm dying to know what it is."

"Right, then," Alfred said, handing her the large wrapped box. "It feels pretty heavy. Can you manage it?"

"Of course, Dad — I am eleven, you know!" she reminded him.

Hermione eagerly tore the white ribbon and gold paper from the present and found — a telescope. Not just any telescope, either. It was a beautiful Celestron C5.

"Wow! This is great!" said Hermione, running to hug her parents. "My school has a few Celestron C8 telescopes, and they're awesome! They're a little heavy to move around, though. The C5 is just the right size for me. I can't wait until tonight to try it out! Mars is only about four weeks past its closest approach to Earth, so I should get a good view of it. Maybe Susie can come over tonight and we can try it out!"

"That's the same compact scope that the American space shuttle crews use while in orbit," her father informed her.

"We're very glad you like your present so much," her mother said. "We thought it would be something you could use in either the magical or the non-magical world."

"Or both!" exclaimed Hermione. "That's one more thing I can cross off my Hogwarts list. Now, why don't one of you open a present?"

"Harriet, here's a present for you from — I can't quite read the tiny writing — from, uh, Hermioninny. Oh, check that — from Hermione!", said Alfred, laughing, as Hermione looked on in exasperation.

"Give it here, then, Alfred, and quit making your little jokes," chided Harriet. She took the box, which Hermione had wrapped in red foil paper and tied with silver ribbon. Some small silver bells were also attached, and they tinkled merrily as Harriet turned the package over and slid her hand under the overlapping layer of paper. Soon she had the box open and was marveling at the beautiful wool sweater that Hermione had given her.

"What a lovely gift!" Harriet said to her daughter. "You have such good taste. I'll put in on right after breakfast this morning," she promised.

"Speaking of breakfast, when are we going to eat? I'm starving!" Alfred said with mock urgency.

"Why don't you at least open this one present, then?" Hermione said to her father, offering him the present she had picked out for him.

"Oh, all right, Hermioninny, if you insist," said Alfred, taking the package. "What's inside, I wonder? It's pretty heavy. Not a set of Grunnings drills, I hope! The last Grunnings drill I got was too dull to bore holes for the oak table I was making. Boring and dull — that's Grunnings."

"No, not drills, Dad!" said Hermione impatiently. "Go on, open it!"

Alfred carefully removed the green wrapping paper and put it aside. Then he broke into a wide grin and said, "Why, it's a device for pressing new treads into worn-out tires! Just what I've always wanted!"

"Dad!" Hermione burst out, "No teasing! It's Christmas!" Then she added, a worried look creeping over her face, "Don't you like it? Should I take it back?"

"No, honey, I was just teasing. Sorry!" her father apologized. "I really do like it. I love Belgian waffles, and now I can make them whenever I want."

"Like this morning?" asked Harriet.

"Sure thing," said Alfred.

"Whew!" Hermione added, her frown replaced by a toothy grin. "Let's go into the kitchen and watch Dad try out his new waffle maker."

That's exactly what they did.