Again, a new chapter!

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As usual, I own nothing of the Harry Potter world.

Chapter 10: Rockin' around the Christmas tree let the Christmas spirit ring!

The term passed quickly and soon Lyanna sat on the Hogwarts Express back to London. She sat with the other Gryffindor girls. All of them were going home for Christmas, but they all agreed that they would spend Christmas at Hogwarts at least one time before they graduate.

The train went across the countryside, slithering forward like a scarlet snake amongst the snowy landscape.

Lyanna stared out of the window, humming a Christmas song softly. Lily was reading a book. Mary was sprawled over a whole seat, where she was laying and stroking her cat Juno's spotted fur. Desideria and Tanya were playing chess. Wizards chess was almost like normal chess, except that the pieces were moving and sometimes they could shout out own advice to Desideria and Tanya.

Lyanna had offered them some of the trouble cookies Samuel had made that was left. Now, they were waiting for the woman who drove the candy-trolley to come. The clock was only around one, but it was still a bit dark outside. The date was the 20th December and Lyanna thought that tomorrow, she would turn twelve. She didn't feel much different.

"How do you usually celebrate Christmas?" Mary randomly asked and yawned.

"With the family", Desideria answered immediately. "And on New Year's Eve there's always some pureblood family who holds a party and invites basically every pureblood family there is just to show off."

"Interesting. Who's the host this year?" Lyanna asked.

"Is the Belbys' turn, is it not?" Mary said. "They have a son in Ravencalw, a couple of years older than us and a daughter in Slytherin. She's in the year above us."

"I think so", Tanya said and her brows were furrowed in concentration as she moved a particularly difficult pawn.

"So, all purebloods basically know each other?" Lily said and looked up from her book.

"No, we just know who they are", Mary explained, "we don't know them good at all. Some are more likable than others."

"Well, I don't envy you", Lily told the three girls with at least one pureblood parent. "You will have to spend New Year with Potter, Black and Pettigrew."

"How will you two spend your holiday than?" asked Tanya and looked up from the chess board.

"I will spend it with Doc", Lyanna said. "I might see Anne, a muggle friend of mine, on my birthday."

"Your birthday? You haven't said anything about it."

"It's tomorrow, no big deal. I thought we decided we wouldn't buy birthday presents or Christmas gift. I quote: 'Not until we know each other better and actually have the money for it'."

"Well, that doesn't mean we can't wish you a happy birthday."

"You do that, if you want to."

"How will you celebrate, Lily?"

"With my family", was her answer and she put the book away in her trunk. "I bet they would all want to hear about Hogwarts. At least my parents will. Petunia. . . . I don't know. They're the only ones in the family who actually knows I'm a witch."

"Yeah, Doc is the only one who knows I'm a witch", Lyanna said, knowing how Lily felt. "It's great that he knows, but I don't think he will ever really understand."

Lily smiled, an understanding passing between them. They sat in a comfortable silence even after the lady with the candy-trolley had passed by their compartment.

. . . .

The train had barely stopped before Lyanna was off onto the platform. She looked around for Doc amongst all the parents. It was people dressed in robes and people dressed in muggle clothes.

"I see my parents", Desideria said and waved at a woman with an expensive looking coat and a man that looked a lot like Desideria.

"We won't hold you up", Lily said while looking after her own parents.

The girls gave Desideria a hug each and wished her a merry Christmas and she was off towards her parents, waving to the others over her shoulder.

Tanya was the next to go, meeting with her parents and two younger siblings.

"Since your families are muggles, they're probably waiting on the muggle platform", guessed Mary before giving Lyanna and Lily a hug and walking to her parents with her brother. "Merry Christmas and have a good birthday, Lyanna."

They saw her disappearing amongst the winter clad crowd. The two girls looked at each other.

"She could be right", offered Lyanna and pushed the cart with her trunk and Shakespeare's cage on forward.

Lily followed her and together they walked out from platform nine and three quarters. After spending such a long time surrounded by magic and fantastical things, the muggle world looked dull in comparison. Like a painting with a lesser fascinating motive and shadier colors.

"There's my parents and Petunia."

Lily sounded pleasantly surprised that her older sister was there. The two sisters didn't look much alike. Lily had auburn hair, while Petunia was blonde. Petunia was taller than Lily and was more thinly built than Lily. Lyanna thought she had never seen a more mismatched couple of siblings.

"Want me to wait?" Lily asked Lyanna when she had waved at her parents.

"No, I see Doc now", she answered and her face split into a huge smile.

Lily smiled too. Both girls hugged and promised to write. Lily went off to her family and Lyanna started to run towards the old man. Shakespeare hooted and fluttered indignantly with his wings. He attracted many stares and the adults muttered about 'animal abuse' and 'kids these days, no upbringing at all'. Lyanna didn't care; she just tried not to drive into to many people and if she did she shouted an excuse. She slowed down just before stopping right in front of Samuel. He smiled at her and holds his arms out and she immediately hugged him.

"Hello, my little riddle", he whispers in her ear and Lyanna comes to think of how much she missed him. "Welcome home."

. . . .

The orphanage hadn't changed except for that the Christmas decorations were up. Samuel had dropped her of there after she had left her things at his house. Even Marion had been somewhat happy to see her again. Lyanna was happy to be home again in London. This was her city, her castle.

She told Samuel a lot about Hogwarts, He had read all her letters and he was curious about the castle, the lessons and her friends. Lyanna told him everything she could think of and when she tried to ask him a question, he answered shortly and egged her on to keep talking.

"Lyanna!"

Anne came running out from the orphanage before Lyanna had closed the car door. Her smile was bright and her curly hair was collected in a bun with a red hairband. She looked prepared for Christmas.

"Anne!" yelled Lyanna happily and ran to hug her friend. "How have you been? You got my letters alright? I got yours."

"Yes, I got them", Anne answered, smiling. "It seems like a wonderful school and the teachers seem different. You must tell me everything."

"I want to hear everything about what you have been doing too", insisted Lyanna and pushed back some strands of her hair back from her face.

She said a temporarily 'goodbye' to Samuel who promised to pick her and Anne up the next day, so all three of them could spend Lyanna's birthday together. It was something like a tradition.

The other children at the orphanage greeted her as though she hadn't been gone for a long time at all. It was still the same: Aiden told his bad jokes, the big quiet thirteen year old boy Lester was offering cookies he had made, sweet Beth and her friends made Christmas decorations of colorful paper and Mrs Drummel allowed Gareth to play Christmas songs on the piano even though he did it totally off-key. It was as it always was. And Lyanna treasured these moments.

. . . .

The following day, Lyanna got a lot of 'happy birthday' greetings. All the children got cake to eat, as they always got when someone had a birthday, but Lyanna got no presents and she wasn't expecting any from the staff and children. They simply couldn't afford it.

Samuel came to pick up them after two o'clock. Lyanna got to decide what they would do. That was her birthday present. She thought carefully and debated with herself.

"I want to go ice skating", she declared.

So that was what they did. The weather was clear, there was no other way to describe it. The sun was high on the sky, its rays making the snow glitter like tiny diamonds. Lyanna thought the day was like a clear glass with no faults. Though the weather was fine, it was still very cold.

When they were done ice skating, Lyanna and Anne's cheeks were blossom red and their feet and hands were cold. Samuel hadn't been ice skating, but even his thin, wrinkled cheeks were red from the cold.

"What do you say girls?" he asked them as they were seated in the car, trying to gain some heat. "Should we go to my place and have some hot chocolate and cake? They don't expect you back for about two hours."

"Yes please", Anne begged and rubbed her hands together.

"Yes, drive home", Lyanna agreed and smiled sweetly at Samuel.

On the way home to Samuel they all sang Christmas songs that were playing on the old car radio.

". . . . voices singing lets be jolly, deck the halls with boughs of holly. Rockin' around the Christmas tree, have a happy holiday. . . ."

. . . .

When Lyanna lay in bed that evening, she thought of how good the day had been. She had spent it with her two favorite persons in the whole world, she had eaten cake and Shakespeare had arrived with birthday wishes from her friends.

Dear Lyanna,

I hope you've had a nice birthday and I hope your Christmas will be as great.

Best wishes,

Mary

Happy Birthday!

I hope you are well and that you have a continuing good holiday.

Merry Christmas,

Desideria

Lyanna,

I do hope your birthday has been great and that your Christmas will be so too.

Your friend,

Tanya

Dear Lyanna,

Happy birthday! I hope you'll get this in time. I'm going to wish you a merry Christmas now too and a happy New Year.

Love,

Lily

Lyanna had replied to each and every one of them. She felt warm that they actually cared enough to write. Shakespeare must have flied around and looked if they had something they wanted to send. Even her owl cared and she felt very content with her choice.

She looked out through her window. It snowed outside and London was like a big Christmas tree, full of colors and people moving around. She closed her eyes and smiled. Somewhere outside, a clock struck ten.

. . . .

The rest of the holiday was as splendid as the first days. Well, Anne had left the 23rd to spend Christmas with her aunt and her grandparents. Lyanna didn't know if they would see each other before she would go back to Hogwarts, but Anne said they might. They gave each other their gifts.

Lyanna had gotten Anne a new notebook and pencils. She wanted to design clothes when she got older, so paper and pencils were always appreciated. On the first page, Lyanna had drawn her own sketch of her and Anne when they were sitting at their favorite spot on the orphanages roof. She had then written: 'Together in freedom, best days of our lives so far!' on top of the page. Anne smile was very wide and her eyes suspiciously blank.

Anne gave Lyanna a black little music box. When you opened it, there was a tiny couple in fake gold that was dancing to a sweet little melody. Anne knew how Lyanna liked to listen to music.

"I thought the melody reminded me of you", Anne explained.

Lyanna stared as though enchanted. Her eyes were also blank. Both girls looked at each other.

"Thank you!" they cried together and hugged each other as tight as their skinny arms could.

Samuel came over on Christmas day and stayed over lunch. He had presents for all the children and Mrs Drummel was all flustered and thankful that she didn't knew what to say. All the children loved Samuel for that. They got new toys and money for more clothes and other important things.

During this celebration they all felt like a big, happy family. Samuel and Mrs Drummel acted as parents and they were around fifteen children from the age eight to thirteen. They ate and danced around the Christmas tree, played games and sung songs.

Lyanna got a book from Samuel. It was a book called The Wizard of Oz and Lyanna laughed at the title. She had never read it before, only heard of it.

"Perhaps you'll learn something from it", he suggested and chuckled merrily at her happy face and mischievous eyes.

Lyanna gave Doc a box of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans.

"They really mean every flavor", she staged whispered and he laughed at her.

It was in moments like this when Lyanna really, truly felt like she did have a family. And it was a feeling she loved very much and would try to keep forever.

"Merry Christmas, Doc", she said and held out her arms for a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Lyanna", he answered and accepted her hug.

Christmas...

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