Oh my goodness...I'm sorry this chapter is a little short, I don't aim for them to be this way.

I don't own Harry Potter!


Harry got up early the day before Christmas and gathered up everything that he was going to give out for Christmas, took them downstairs and wrapped the presents in private. It wasn't that he didn't want the others to see what the others got, it was because he didn't want to wake them with his cursing that the paper wasn't doing what it was supposed to. He supposed that he could have used magic, but he didn't think it was right to cheat that way, wrapping presents by hand made him feel, closer to Officer McFinn...he hated to wrap presents as well.

It took him a good hour to get the tape out of his hair and make sure every square inch of the present was covered and once he was done wrapping the bought presents, Harry had to tend to the handmade ones.

He had made a batch of homemade truffles for Inspector Holmes and his wife. His wife adored chocolate and the Inspector had a weakness for it as well, but he tried to hide it. They were insanely easy to make and Harry had a lot of fun trying to put intricate designs on the truffles. He had filled each truffle with a different flavored chocolate cream, the first batch he made all had the same flavor, but Ron saw them hardening on a baking sheet and gobbled them down.

"Ron! Those were a present!" said Harry smacking Ron on the back of the head with a wooden spoon.

"Well, they were awesome! Were they for me?" he asked, his mouth thick with chocolate.

"No they weren't." said Harry. "Now if you want to eat something, here's some divinty...scarf that down."

Hagrid was getting a dozen, giant shortbread cookies in the shape of dragons. Each one decorated to look like the different dragons found in Europe, most of them were easy, but the Hungarian Horntail one scared him just making a cookie version of it.

"I hope to God that I don't ever meet one of these face to face." said Harry icing the lethal looking tail black. He tried to go for realism, especially since Hagrid's version of cute and his didn't match all that much. Harry thought that kneazels and nifflers were sort of cute, Hagrid however tried to talk him into thinking differently of manticores.

"Hagrid, the stinger and the fangs sort of puts me off." said Harry one day during a tea break in Hagrid's hut.

"Come on, at least there interestin', kneazels...you give 'em milk and see if they'll take it...what's so special 'bout that?" said Hagrid drinking from his tankard.

Harry set Hagrid's carefully in the largest box and then began to wrap the raspberry cookies carefully. These were going directly to Dumbledore and they had to be perfect, thanks to Mrs. McFinn, he knew how to bakery wrap candies and confections so that they looked nice. He had to take a deep breath and shake his head. He hated Christmas without her.

Now for the big debate, does he sign his name to Dumbledore's present? No...he didn't want to look like someone trying to suck up to a teacher...but then why was he doing it? That was easy, being accepted into the school allowed Harry an escape from the Dursleys, and the Headmaster wasn't such a bad guy. He was kind of cool, for someone that looked like he came out of the Dark Ages.

He leaned back on the stool in the kitchen and pulled out a picture that he kept in his pocket, especially this time of year. It was the last photo that he had of the McFinn's, Dr. Clark and himself. They had gone to the Amusement Park, and on a dare, Dr. Clark pulled them all into a photo-booth and they had all posed for a series of pictures. Officer McFinn and Dr. Clark sat on the bench, with Mrs. McFinn stretched across their laps and then Harry on hers.

That picture always made him smile, especially because it looked like they were all laughing and having a great time. Since Officer McFinn died, he would go and spend Christmas morning talking to his gravestone and would place a sprig of holly on the grave, now this was the first Christmas away from him. He would have gone to be with him, but that would mean going back to the Dursleys, and Officer McFinn wouldn't want that. Officer McFinn would want him to be somewhere where he would have a true Merry Christmas.

Mrs. McFinn would be spending Christmas with her mother, and Harry felt sorry for her. Inspector Holmes had sent along the Christmas card that she sent for him and even placed some money in it, not that he knew what he was going to do with that money. He could always put it in his account with Inspector Holmes he supposed.

Dr. Clark, he was still missing and that Private Eye was making little progress, he was getting a little irritated. He gave the man a massive amount of money and this guy couldn't find anything. Granted, the military couldn't find anything either, but with the two of them working different angles, they should have found out something by now!

Harry slipped the photo back into his pocket and finished wrapping the boxes of goodies. Now...he just had to send Hedwig out to deliver the stuff to Inspector Holmes, and some school owls for the rest.


Dumbledore awoke Christmas morning later than normal, choosing that to be his own personal present to himself. He came out to his office, still in his nightdress, and slippers, but with a robe thrown over it. One his desk, he saw a brightly wrapped parcel, with no tag attached to it.

"What is this?" asked Dumbledore. All of his other presents were under his personal tree in the corner, what was this one doing on the desk? It must have been from someone who had never sent him a present before...all the other owls know where to put it.

"Well, I'll inspect it later, these parcels came first." said Dumbledore sitting beside the lit fireplace and lifting each present one by one and opening them. As he sat down, he sent a spell over to the parcel, if the parcel was a clumsy attempt on his life, then the present would implode on itself within a matter of minutes.

The first one was from Nicolas, a handsome golden quill, and a rare copy of the Tales of Beedle the Bard.

"Ah...Nicolas...you really do know me." said Dumbledore thumbing through the book absently. Inside he was delighted to see it a signed rendition, and not just that, a little note inside where the Fountain of Fair Fortune story was.

Never again.

"You are so right, old friend." said Dumbledore with a smile. "Especially with teenage love so fleeting as it is."

Then he looked at another parcel, this one was from McGonagall. Inside was a formal card, and a copy of her latest published work on Transfiguration, Altering Your World. Dumbledore smiled fondly, he was so proud of his Deputy Headmistress, she never even tried, but she quickly became one of the most celebrated authorities on the art of Transfiguration. Unfortunately, she had refused to let the school have her books on the shelves.

"Albus,the last thing I need is the students catching wind that I have a written a book, go out and buy it and then try and get me to sign it. I can just imagine The Twins and Mr. Jordan trying to butter me up." said McGonagall, her face a faint pink.

Dumbledore had to smile at the modesty his Deputy Headmistress had. Then he reached down for another parcel, this time it was a large square box. "I wonder what this could be...ah! Filius, I can always count on you."

Inside was a large assortment of candy: chocolate frogs, cockroach clusters, ice mice, peppermint humbugs, licorice snaps, licorice wands, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and some special flavors of Honeyduke chocolate.

"Ah, Filius, I knew you wouldn't let me go through Christmas without a little treat or two." said Dumbledore. "If only Severus would be mindful...alas..." he opened Snape's present. "I suppose I should be lucky to receive a present from him at all. But really...a wrapped note of all his complaints about each student by name is a bit much." He meant to put the stack of papers down, but he saw one name on the top, and it took a whole page on it's own, and when he turned the page, the same name was on top.

Harry Potter.

Dumbledore sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Well, I suppose I'll read these later, some might be funny again this year. Ah...Hagrid, I needed a pick me up." he smiled as he opened the messily wrapped box and saw inside was a batch of fudge and carving of Fawks, it was even painted.

"It's lovely, I'll put this on the shelf beside my desk, and this fudge near the fireplace. Now...what's next...a card from Cornelius...that's nice, at least it doesn't have cats on it this year...Caroling Pointsettas from Pomona...Pepper-Up Potions from Poppy...no surprise with her being concerned over my health."

His eyes turned towards the package on the table, it was still intact, so that meant it was safe to open, he sighed. "Ah...the last package, I always dread opening the last one." he said with a smile.

He waved his wand over the package, further trying to detect anything harmful or dangerous, but nothing came to light. He opened the box carefully. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the dark brown cookies with the red centers sitting innocently inside.

"What are these?" said Dumbledore picking up a cookie and looking at it, then he saw a note, written in neatly printed letters.

Merry Christmas Dumbledore, I hope you enjoy these homemade chocolate raspberry cookies.

Dumbledore looked at the cookies curiously and then bit into it slowly. As the taste blossomed in his mouth he smiled, these were delicious! He brought them over to the fire and ate then slowly, whoever it was that sent him those, he hoped he be sent more of them.


Hagrid was handing Fang a giant bone with a large red bow attached to it when he heard a tapping on his window. He turned and saw one of the school owls resting on the sill, with a package attached to it's leg.

He allowed the bird inside and carefully took the package off the birds' leg. As he did, a few more owls came in and landed on the table, waiting impatiently for Hagrid to relieve them of their deliveries.

"All right, all right, yer ruddy feathered menaces, settle down." said Hagrid. He smiled as he read the tags from each of the parcels, they were from Harry, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and a few of the staff members.

Dumbledore's package was the first one he opened, he could always count on the Headmaster to send him something for Christmas, that and the staff, with the three extra packages, it was the most he had for a while. Dumbledore's package held a brand new kettle, he had accidentally dented it when he had grasped it too hard during his last tea time with Dumbledore. And knowing Dumbledore, he would have placed some protective and durable spells on it.

The staff's present was really nice as well, they had, almost, all chipped in and got him a new moleskin coat. That was nice of them, especially since his old coat was becoming thin in spots.

Saving Harry's for last, he opened Ron's and saw a large pair of hand-made socks, he had obviously sent an owl to his mother for a pair and also there was a box of homemade mince pies. He used to get a few things from Mrs. Weasley when Charlie was in school, but hadn't gotten anything since, he didn't blame her, she had a lot of kids to take care of...especially them twins.

Hermione sent him an assortment of sugar free candies and even charmed a trio of roses that wouldn't stop blooming and would change colors. She was a thumpin' good witch, especially for someone who didn't grow up in the magical world.

Then he came to Harry's gift, it was a large box and when he opened it, he couldn't help but laugh. Inside was a dozen or so large dragon shortbread cookies.

"Ah...Harry...I didn't figure you'd remember." said Hagrid proudly. He took a hold of the Ridgeback cookie and bit into it, it was pretty good! Hagrid smiled at the presents he had received and leaned back on in his chair. It was a nice Christmas when all your friends sends you well wishes during the holidays.

"Argh, Fang, I didn' need that!" said Hagrid sending Fang out the door, so he could tend to the present Fang left him.


That evening, Mrs. McFinn sat in the vast dining room, surrounded by a high class mob of her mother's friends. Her mother always wanted a grand party to celebrate the end of the year, and to outshine any other party any other person threw...that way hers would be "The Party of the Year".

Mrs. McFinn sat in silence, ever since she lost her husband and her little boy...she hated this time of year. She missed them both, and she felt guilty that she had left him to the unlikely mercies of the Dursleys, but hopefully Inspector Holmes would take Harry to his house for some yuletide cheer.

She slipped a photo out of her hidden pocket and caressed it tenderly. It was a small photo-booth picture, her husband and she were kissing while Sam and Harry were giving each other bunny ears. Each one of them had their own pictures, even her husband was buried with his copy, she didn't know it until after the funeral. He had kept the picture in his jacket pocket at all times, she couldn't even remember which one that was.

Sam also kept his picture on his person as well, but where he was...she didn't have a clue.

She put two fingers to her lips, and then placed them gently on the photo.

"Holly, dearest?" came her mother's voice.

Mrs. McFinn looked up and saw everyone staring at her.

"What are you doing, dear?" asked Ms. Lindor with a strained smile.

"Nothing, mother." said Mrs. McFinn.

"Well, if you're not doing anything, why don't you tell our guests about how you won your first beauty pageant, when you were just ten!" said the woman with a smile.

Mrs. McFinn sighed. She hated her mother's parties.

Thanks for reading! Please review!

Question of the Chapter! If you could make a craft or do a craft, what would you do? I've taken up...soap carving...it's kind of fun! I've already made a bunny, a dolphin, and a cat's head...though the cat looks like a gremlin...