Disclaimer: Hermione Granger is a figment of J.K. Rowling's wonderful imagination.

Chapter 10.

Silent Night, Holy Night

Hermione loved Christmas music. She collected Christmas music CDs. She had classical music CDs, rock music CDs, instrumental CDs, vocal CDs, new age CDs, country CDs, rap CDs, secular CDs, sacred CDs, contemporary CDs and traditional CDs. All of which were Christmas music. She also played the piano and had sheet music for every kind of Christmas music. Whenever there was a family gathering where there was a piano around the holidays they always asked Hermione to bring some music and play for carol singing. That is why she had the next bundle of ornaments. Inside were four tiny music books, each was a different Christmas carol. Not just the music, but the history of the song was included. Again she justified it by the new "all of one kind rule" that she made for the crèches.

She removed the tissue paper from each book and read the title. After reading she opened the tiny book and read the history.

"'Away in a Manger'is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. The two most-common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James R. Murray (1887)."* The words have been wrongly attributed to Martin Luther.

Hermione walked to the tree singing the familiar carol. When she finished she picked an ornament hanger from the dish of hangers, slipped it through the loop of the ribbon and hung it on the tree.

She stepped back to check where she would be hanging the next. Going back to the small bundle of books she unwrapped the second. "Adeste fideles," she read.

"'Adeste fideles' is a Christmas carol which has been attributed to various authors, including John Frances Wade (1711 – 1786), with the earliest copies of the hymn all bearing his signature, John Reading (1645 – 1692) and King John IV of Portugal (1604 – 1656).

The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages. The English translation of 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' by the English Catholic priest Frederick Oakeley, written in 1841, is widespread in most English speaking countries."*

In her clear soprano voice she sang the first verse in both English and the original Latin as she moved to the tree. She picked a couple of ornament hangers from the dish, slipped one through the loop of ribbon on the miniature book and hung it on the tree. It was on the opposite side from the first and slightly lower.

When Hermione returned to her seat she studied the tableau. Carefully she unwrapped the third book and smiled for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" was one of her favorites.

"'O come, O come, Emmanuel' is a Christian hymn for the Advent. While it is most commonly known by that English title, it is in fact a translation of the original Latin, 'Veni, Veni, Emmanuel'; translations into other modern languages (particularly German) are also in widespread use. The 1861 translation from 'Hymns Ancient and Modern' is the most prominent by far in the English-speaking world, but other English translations also exist.

The hymn is a metrical paraphrase of the 'O Antiphons', a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas." *

Again Hermione sang the Latin and English versions of the first verse of the song before slipping the ornament hanger through the ribbon loop and hanging it on the tree.

The last volume she unwrapped was so beautiful. Like the others the single colored illustrations that accompanied the text and the music were carefully printed from old wood block prints. Hermione read the words written inside.

"'Silent Night, Holy Night' There is a legend associated with the carol that says, Fr. Mohr wanted the carol to be sung by the children of the village at the midnight Christmas Eve service, as a surprise for their parents. But in the middle of practising, the organ broke and not a note would come from it! So the children had to learn the carol only accompanied by a guitar. They learnt the carol so well that they could sing it on its own without accompaniment.

It was translated into English in 1863 by John Freeman Young. The carol was sung during the Christmas Truce in the First World War in December 1914 as it was a song that soldiers on both sides knew!" *

The story of the joint singing of the carol had been a comforting thought when she had been with Harry in Godric's Hollow on Christmas Eve in 1997. It had been so peaceful walking through the cemetery looking for his parent's grave. The sounds of the hymns rang clear as a bell from the little church. It was too bad that the peaceful night had been so rudely interrupted by the visit to Bathilda Bagshot, or Voldemort's snake as so it seems.

She sang all verses of the familiar carol in both English and German before hanging it on the tree near the just below the "crèche egg". She stood back to admire the effect for a moment before turning to go to her room. Hermione had work and a cocktail party at Malfoy's to dress for.

Advent Calendar Day 10 prompt: Silent Night

Also dialogue including the history of the carol.

*Wikipedia