CHAPTER 10: EIGHT REINDEER
"I think she's actually going to wet herself," said Ron, smirking.
"Nah, but she is going to get hexed in a second," said Harry, confidently.
"Oh will you two shut up!" said Hermione in exasperation as the three of them watched Julia dance manically around Hagrid as he attempted to carry the Christmas tree into the Great Hall.
Christmas was rapidly approaching - but apparently it wasn't approaching fast enough for Julia. In the last week of lessons she'd been practically unmanageable, and Harry was privately dreading their last lesson of term with Professor McGonagall and an over-excited Julia hyped on Christmas-spirit.
However, even Harry couldn't deny he felt slightly giddy about Christmas at Hogwarts. It had never exactly been fun at the Dursley's, but even though he was as unlikely to get presents this year as he had been last year, the atmosphere in Hogwarts alone was enough for him. He walked round the school drinking everything he could in; the halls had been festooned with holly and mistletoe and corridors seemed to be even louder than usual with excited chatter. Professor Flitwick had actually given up teaching the class in their first lesson that morning and released them twenty minutes early with a tired and rueful "Merry Christmas!"
"Y'know, she'd kind of like a gremlin. If we just set her loose in Transfiguration -" continued Ron.
Hermione shot him a look.
"Don't be stupid, Ron. She's not that bad-"
"Oh," said Harry, watching as Julia linked arms with Seamus Finnegan ahead of them and burst into a merry, Muggle rendition of I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. "She is."
"Good luck with that, mate," said Ron, slapping him on the shoulder as they entered Transfiguration.
Harry approached his and Julia's desk hesitantly. She was sat down, getting her books out - she seemed fine. Harry gingerly sat down next to her and he looked at her unpacking her bag like one would watch an inert - but live - land-mine.
"Where did you go?" Julia accused him, looking up. "You missed my beautiful singing!"
"Trust me, I didn't. I was right behind you."
She frowned, but lightened up as she pulled a Sugar Quill out of her bag - which Hermione quickly plucked from her hand from her usual position at the desk behind them.
"Hey!" Julia snapped.
"Keep it down," Harry said, warily, watching as their strict Head of House swept in from a side-door and threw a disapproving look at Julia due to her outburst. "McGonagall looks like she wants to kill you."
"She always looks like that," Julia grumbled, at the same time as Hermione whispered, "I really don't think you need any more sugar, Julia."
She pouted, and all three of them turned to face the front. The previous lesson everyone had finally progressed onto turning a matchstick into a needle and then back again - even Neville - and so the general expectation was that the new topic - transfiguration of a teapot - would be introduced.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "It has been brought to my attention from Professor Flitwick this morning that the Gryffindor - Huffelpuff Charms lesson was practically ungovernable." The Gryffindor's in the class shifted in their seats and looked at one another guiltily. "I should be very clear that good behaviour is expected from all of you no matter what time of year it may be. Now, as it is out last lesson and we finished our first module on Friday last week, there is obviously no point in starting a new topic today, especially when you are so...over-excitable." (Here, her gaze very clearly fell on Julia and Seamus - making it abundantly clear she had heard their racket out in the corridor.) Julia, however, seemed impervious to McGonagall for once, looking as if she was hardly daring to believe her ears. "As such," Professor McGonagall continued. "I've decided not to move on to the next module...and give you all a surprise quiz."
"I...I think I just died a little inside," Julia whispered, visibly deflating.
Harry just looked grimly at the test paper McGonagall was placing in front of them.
"But Professor it's Christmas," cried out Ron, from across the room.
"No, Mr Weasley, if you consulted a calendar you would know that December twenty-fifth is in eleven days," Professor McGonagall said, crisply. "You have 45 minutes," she announced to the class. "You may begin."
Resignedly, Julia looked down at the first question, only to frown in confusion.
(1) In what year was the Muggle tradition of Christmas adopted by the Wizarding World?
(2) According to Muggle folklore, what are the names of the eight reindeer that lead the fictional character 'Santa's' sleigh?
"Er, Professor?" Julia looked up. "I don't think this is covered on our syllabus."
Professor McGonagall gave her a thin smile, looking pleased with herself. "This is a Christmas-themed quiz, Miss Pearce. There will be house-points awarded to the student who gets the most correct answers. I thought we'd have a bit of fun in our last lesson."
"Right," said Harry, hollowly, flipping through the pages of fifty-five questions. "Fun."
Predictably, Hermione came out top of the class - as did most of the other muggle-born students. Pure-blood students faired the worst; as Ron and Julia walked out of the lesson, they were having a heated debate over whether McGonagall had made up the word 'Santa' or not.
"For someone who loves Christmas so much, you don't know a lot about it," noted Hermione, looking at the grade on Julia's paper over her shoulder (an abysmal 15/55).
"Well, it was pretty unfair considering most of it was about Muggle stuff," Ron snapped, trying to hide his 8/55 from Hermione. "On what planet was that fun?"
"I think it was fun," said Hermione, offended, and then her voice turned dark as she watched Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot pass them - both pure-bloods. "And it proved a point. Wizards really should know more about the muggle-world and it's traditions."
"Hermione, surely this Santa bloke's a wizard, though - otherwise how does he get the presents to all the children?"
Harry and Hermione valiantly attempted to keep straight faces as they both attempted to explain to Ron and Julia that Father Christmas was just a story for small children.
They decided to spend lunch at Hagrid's cabin and braved the thick snow outside to trek down to his hut.