Disclaimer: I don't own the Giver or Harry Potter, just Breena (and other various O.C's)

Breena packed more snow onto her snowman. She had discovered two things: One; snow and their traditional ways for playing with it were really fun, and two; she really hated the cold. Breena shivered a little and heard a voice saying,

"What are those?" Saida eyed her creations clearly thinking, "That girl's got no talent."

"Hello, Owl." She greeted, not really caring

"My name's not Owl." he clenched his fist

Breena (not on purpose) ignored this.

"I'm making a snowman of a person from each house. I have Thomas Green, Reichelle, and (she smoothed newly packed snow on the one she was currently working on) I just finished yours." She put her hands on her hips admiring her work and started wondering who she could use from Hufflepuff.

She didn't really know any.

"That thing is supposed to be me?" Saida interrupted scoffing "It's terrible."

"I thought it turned out pretty good." Breena murmered

"Are you blind? It looks nothing like me!"

"Well, seeing as how this is my first time with snow I'd be an incredibly remarkable person if I could create an exact copy of everyone, right?" Breena said as though that was obvious

Saida just gritted his teeth.

"Destroy it." he hissed

Breena looked straight at him

"No, I worked hard on these."

He shook his head haughtily.

"I'm not telling you to destroy all of them, just the one of me."

"Why?" Breena quirked her eyebrow

"Because it's hideous! If people see it I'll be humiliated." Saida pointed at the snow version of himself accusingly

"But just a moment ago you said that it looked nothing like you." Breena reminded him

Before Saida could snap at her again they were interrupted by Reichelle.

"Wow, that's pretty creative Breena. Not bad for your first time. My first time I barely made a lump of snow and it ended up not even looking like a ball."

Breena felt pleased with the older girl's praise. Then she thought of a question she had

"Hey Reichelle,"

Reichelle indicated that Breena had her attention

"I've been hearing people mention some sort of holiday called Christmas and I've been wondering what that is." If it was anything like Halloween then minus the collosal stomach ache that still haunted her nightmares she'd probably enjoy it.

"You've never heard of Christmas?" Reichelle looked like she wanted to give Breena a long, comforting hug.

"Figures." Saida muttered

Then Reichelle brightened as she thought of something

"Would you like to spend it with me and my family? Christmas is my favorite holiday and I know that once you celebrate it it will be yours, too."

Breena was about to agree when Reichelle continued,

"We'll both be missing the Christmas ball, though."

"So what? Breena isn't meant for balls and things. She'd probably waltz in wearing tasteless muggle clothing and drenched in snow." Saida sneered

"So?" Breena shrugged nonchalantly before Reichelle could jump to her defense. "Yes, I agree to spend Christmas with you and your family."

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Breena sat in front of the fire sipping a wonderful drink known as hot cocoa and looking at the beautifully lit tree that she, Reichelle, and Reichelle's two younger non magical brothers had decorated. (A/N: Apart from her grandmother, Reichelle comes from a muggle family.) Bringing in the strange tree to decorate seemed like a ridiculous, and therefore great, tradition. Reichelle had taught Breena how to braid her hair and it now hung in two loose braids at the bottom of her head.

Reichelle came into the room carrying a bunch of Christmas movies which consisted of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Miracle on 31st Street, White Christmas, Muppet Christmas Carol, and Elf. She set them down and popped one into the D.V.D player.

"Okay, let the marathon begin! I'll go get the popcorn." Reichelle announced as she pushed play and left for a moment to get the popcorn

It was really fun to watch them. Reichelle had explained the legend of Santa Clause to Breena before playing Miracle of 31st Street so she wouldn't be completely lost. It was interesting to watch Rudolph. As Breena watched Rudolph become hurt at the other reindeers' cruel teasing she wondered if it was possible that she had felt that way and had never realized it. Reichelle's brothers had been wandering in and out of the room much to the annoyance of their older sister, but stayed for Elf. Which turned out to be one of their favorite movies. It was really funny and in several parts Breena considered laughing as loud and light-heartedly as the people around her.

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Breena was shaken awake by Jeb, Reichelle's youngest brother, who was barely six.

"Come on, wake up! We gotta go open presents up!" He squealed about to jump on her

Breena followed him as he bounced joyously down the stairs.

In the family room Reichelle and ten-year-old Corvin were waiting for them. Their parents were sitting groggily on the couch, obvious victims of Jeb's pestering. Reichelle kept looking at them apologetically since she was the one who had woken the two boys up in the first place.

"Okay, you've all already dug into your stockings. Er sorry, Breena. but you comming was a bit of a surprise so we didn't have a stocking for you. We did manage to get you this, though." Reichelle's dad rubbed the back of his head nervously

as his wife handed over a rather large candy cane.

"Don't worry about it." Breena told him, taking it and thanking her

She had never had a present in her life and wasn't quite sure what they were. Not that she saw a reason to mention this.

"Acctually, I got her present while I was in Hogsmeade." Reichelle said happily handing Breena a small box in lavender colored wrapping paper with tiny green Christmas trees peppered across it.

Breena opened it up and saw several packets of instant butterbeer mix. Thomas Green had given her a taste of some he'd brought back from Hogsmeade once and she had loved it. Reichelle was obviously delighted that Breena was very pleased with the gift.

Then they went around, each waiting their turn to open their presents one at a time. Jeb could barely manage to contain himself and only because Reichelle kept a stern eye on him.

"Oh, yeah. A delivery owl came this morning with a present for Breena. It's right there." Corvin remembered, pointing at the back of the tree

Breena ducked behind the tree to get it and opened up the plain card board box that had several holes in it. Out popped a miniature greyish-white owl that easily fit into the palm of her hand.

"Who's it from?" Reichelle asked

"Didn't say." Corvin shrugged uncaringly

Christmas had been a fantastic experience and as they watched the mini owl fly around only to land on Breena's head and nip at her hair she wondered if Reichelle really had known how much she'd like the holiday. There was something else there, too. It was a strange and confusing sensation that Breena found her self growing really fond of and she hoped the others felt it too.

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It was after the Christmas holidays and Saida was about to take a bite of his food when he noticed Breena hovering over him.

"What do you want?" He asked rudely

"I wanted to thank you for Gaishta." Breena said the name she'd made up for the mini owl "Here, you can have this." she handed over her candy cane, but he didn't bother to take it

"First off, Gaishta is a stupid name. Second, there's no way I'd ever give you something." Saida narrowed his eyes, obviously annoyed at Breena for bothering him

She just walked away with a knowing smile. Saida nervously lowered his eyes to the corner wondering how she'd figured it out.