3rd Year – Christmas Eve
Canon - One Shot – Set in Prisoner of Azkaban, 3rd Year - What I like to imagine as an 'extended edition' view of how Ron, Harry and Hermione might spend their Christmas Eve together. For Context: Sirius is still on the loose and viewed as a threat, and Buckbeak's trial is still pending.
- Luka Stilheere
Winter snowfall had suddenly set upon Hogwarts with a decisive 'Whump', and was continuing to beat at the windows. Ron, Harry and Hermione had spent the first few days of their holidays indoors, searching for any information that could help Hagrid's case to save Buckbeak, but they had turned up with nothing so far. Since their disheartening visit with Hagrid a few days ago, Harry had at least set aside his fury of Sirius Black's betrayal, but he still wore an expression of smoldering frustration as they worked.
They were carrying yet another armload of books from the library through the cold, creaking halls on their way back to the common room. The wind was pressing against the windows, leaving small snowdrifts on the sill, which glowed orange from the setting sun. As they walked, they heard a scraping noise ahead and came around the corner to see a large drift of snow inside the main entrance hall where a window had blown open. Hagrid was chiseling away and scooping the snow into an aged wooden wheelbarrow.
He stopped and turned to the trio. "Hullo you lot!", leaning his shovel against the wall, pointing his chin to the loose window that was letting all the snow in the hall. "Broken latch, see - best get this cleared up now before it melts and someone slips eh? Mind you tho…" He winked "if I leave it be, this could be a rare chance to see Professor Snape dance eh?"
Hagrid smiled and whipped his arms up, chuckling as the three of them laughed at the image of Snape windmilling his arms and swinging his legs on the slippery floor."
Hagrid straightened his face and clapped his hands "Shouldn't joke bout tha… I hope you're not wasting your holidays on account of me are ye?" pointing to the stacks of books in their hands. "It's Christmas Eve! You should be warming your feet at the fire, not reading old court documents."
Hermione peered around her stack. "You know we're not letting this go Hagrid, Buckbeak's innocent! There has to be something we can find to help him."
To that, Hagrid's face crinkled up a notch, and he smiled down at them "Bless you lot. S'pose there's no sense askin you to change your mind now, is there?" He chuckled, turning his head to wipe his eye. Hermione just smiled and hid her face behind the stack of books again.
Hagrid grunted and flicked his hands dismissively. "Off with ye then". Picking up his shovel. "Your arms will be getting tired standing there". The three of them hefted their stacks of books higher in their hands and started back towards the common room.
"And ye make sure you stop by for tea tomorrow" shouted Hagrid over his shoulder to them. "I'll be keepin Buckbeak company for Christmas, come on down for a drink and we can do presents an all."
Back at the common room, they settled down in the shadows behind the new stacks of books they had brought up, ready for an evening of eye numbing searches through old texts. They had not thought of getting Hagrid a present yet, but felt sure he'd understand.
"Oh, here's one" said Hermione "it says in 1843 a Hippogriff forced a coal yard shuttle train to stop in its tracks, and because trains can't bow, the Hippogriff took offence and ripped a steam line off, thereby burning the conductor. The men were able to contain it by throwing chains over the hippogriff and - oh no" she turned the page, "I don't think the men knew what they were looking at, they must have panicked." She continued.
"The beast was consequently taken by the ministry of magic and posthumously convicted for breach of international statute of secrecy, and breach of peace, causing bodily harm."
Ron raised his eyebrows. "They convicted it after it was already dead?" He exhaled and pouted his bottom lip. "And I thought we were having a tough time making a defense."
And so they continued until the table was a mess of scattered books and their eyes were getting itchy. Ron leaned back on the sofa, gazing blankly at the fire for several minutes before Harry followed his example and closed his book to join Ron's resigned state.
"I'm calling it too, we're not getting anywhere tonight" said Harry, crumpling some notes he made, and tossing them in the fire.
"That thing's dead meat" said Ron, examining his hand after wiping it on his sweater. "How old do you reckon this dirt is? I mean, look at that mountain of old drivel," pointing to the books, "Buckbeak doesn't exactly have history on his side, does he?"
Hermione sat at the table and burned a disappointed glare in the back of their heads, but not wanting to upset the mood on Christmas Eve, she resigned to marking her spot in her book and joining them on the sofa.
"We've got some time yet, I suppose." agreed Hermione, "I just wish we had a little good news for tomorrow, you know, something to brighten up Christmas for Hagrid" said Hermione.
The three of them sat silent and exhausted, resting their eyes, each wondering how long they could remain still before someone had to get up to throw more wood on the fire.
After the last flames flickered out, and the cold began to creep in the room, Ron opened his eyes to see a glowing blue light from the table.
"Oi you lot, what's that?" said Ron, pointing to a book buried in a stack, emitting a dull blue glow in a slow pulse. Hermione uncrossed her arms and opened her eyes to follow Harry and Ron to the table where Ron was pulling away books to reveal the glowing cover of a small leather book with the simple title of 'Discover Ye Wilde Beasts"
"Careful - " said Hermione, gritting her teeth, remembering the diary from last year, but not making any real effort to stop Harry when he took the book from Ron and opened the cover. Written on the inside of the cover was a message in glowing blue ink. He read aloud:
"Good tiding on this fine Yule eve,
and blessings for love of creatures strange and wilde.
May you find you are not alone on this night,
and for our shared passion, there is a gift to bestow,
which only character of good charm can reveal…
"Well, no shortage of charm here" said Ron, grinning with hands on hip, nudging Harry in the ribs, his smile falling flat when no one laughed.
"Hang on Harry, set it on the table for a moment" said Hermione, glowering at Ron's grin. "I just don't want any nasty surprises."
"Specialis revelio." pointing her wand at the book. Which had little effect, except to make the letters grow brighter, and a trail of blue wisps emitting to reveal where the creator must have stood when the charmed message was cast, the wisps drifting towards the hallway outside the dorm.
"It seems safe enough, just a message", said Hermione, stepping back, her gaze following the trail of smoky wisps.
Harry continued the rest:
A creature of heights lay fallow in the depths,
A beast of vault'd beauty, lie b'neath the sill.
From dust to jewel, wrought from the clefts,
It's love, unrebound'd, it's gift never will'd.
"So, some lonely bloke left a message for other lonely blokes on Christmas? He must be long gone now" said Ron, examining the worn leather cover in Harry's hands.
Hermione pursed her lips and looked intently at the book. "I think it's a timed spell, only revealing itself once a year. Whoever wrote this must not have had anywhere to go for Christmas holiday, and wanted to share with anyone who liked magical creatures as much as they did - "
Harry shifted his weight from one leg to the next, and Hermione stopped talking, almost forgetting that Harry didn't have a real home to return to for Christmas either.
Harry stared at the book and examined the writing further. "It's an old book. I mean, what are the chances anyone would be reading the book this late on Christmas Eve? We might even be the first people to see this message. It could have glowed blue every year without anyone noticing in the library."
"Wha - , you think this 'gift' is still there then?" said Ron excitedly
Harry paced a few steps. "Character of charm…..and I don't think a smile will cut it Ron."
"Worked for Lockhart didn't it?" smirked Ron, causing Hermione's cheeks to blush a couple shades redder.
Harry looked at the note and said "Maybe they mean someone who is good at charms, we already know they're good enough to keep these letters glowing right on time for centuries, that's pretty precise work."
"So, Hermione then" said Ron.
"She sneered back at him.
"Wha!?" exclaimed Ron. "That's a compliment that was, why the nasty look?"
"Because if you did your own homework, and practiced more, you could be just as good at charms as me, that's why." scolded Hermione.
"She waved him off and said "I think whatever this present is, it's still there. The book is charmed to only show the message on Christmas Eve for people who love creatures enough to still be reading this exact book at this exact hour. That's a pretty slim margin of people to even read the message, let alone find the gift it's talking about."
"Let's go find it then" said Harry.
She inhaled, about to warn against the danger of wandering around after dark with Sirius Black still loose, but seeing Ron roll his eyes towards Harry's enthusiasm, she though better of it. "Alright then, if this person is so good at charms, then I say we try the charms classroom" said Hermione.
"I'll get the cloak and map." said Harry, running up to the dormitory.
Before leaving, they checked the map, but saw no one in the halls, and set off with the cloak in hand, just in case. The halls were cold, and the fires reduced to coals. The hallway was decorated with branches of holly and wound fir wreathes that reflected the weather outside, weighed down with a charmed dusting of snow. They puffed along like a trio of steam engines in the cold, leaving a little trail of clouds hanging where they walked.
The charms classroom lay silent in a beam of moonlight filtered though the snowy windows, illuminating one bank of oak seats, and the remainder of the room cast in darkness. The floorboards cracked and popped as they crossed the room.
"Look!" cried Hermione, quickly covering her mouth after her voice echoed around the room.
Across the room was the same pulsing blue light that emitted from the book. A stone block in the fireplace behind the teacher's desk was glowing at the seams, and the book was pulsing in return. Without the glowing seams, the stone would simply appear to be part of the fireplace.
They began moving across the room, flinching at the popping floorboards. Hermione leaned over to check the map in Harry's hands again. Harry shrugged, lighting the map, and showed Hermione that there was nobody in the halls nearby. They had the floor to themselves for the time being.
Once at the fireplace, Harry nudged Ron, pointing to a spell that appeared beside his name on the map. Harry pointed his wand at the glowing stone and said "Dunamis"
The glowing stone flashed bright and shifted away from the wall a few inches, giving them the opportunity to pull it out and set it on floor, revealing an open space. Harry shone his wand within, reached in and pulled out a small burlap wrapped object, and a tiny bag, all tied together with twined cloth and a parchment note.
Hermione recalled the poem:
"A creature of heights lay fallow in the depths,"
"A beast of vault'd beauty, lie b'neath the sill."
"Did they mean the fireplace where they hid this? What creature are they talking about?"
"No time - Filch!" cried Ron, pointing to the map.
"The door!" squeeked Hermione, starting across the room to close it, but quickly doing an about-face when the floorboards popped loudly in protest, and they realized it was too late to reach the door in time.
"Nox" said Harry, and they all crept under the invisibility cloak behind the teacher's desk. As Filch's steps came nearer, they could hear each other's hearts beating the in the cold silence. Each of them trying not to shiver too loudly. Looking back at the stone laying on the floor, they hoped Filch would not see it.
Filch leaned in the room, grumbling disdainfully as he beamed the lantern around the room. He snuffed loudly and shone the light where a floorboard popped across the room, then after a tense moment he called to Mrs. Norris to come along, and closed the door behind him. They could hear Filch shuffle away with a rhythmic slide to his feet, humming a tune that wasn't unlike the sound of pouring gravel into porridge.
Not a moment too soon either. Hermione's shivering was beginning to shake the candle sticks on the desk above. They removed the cloak and Ron lifted his arm towards her, then lowered it quickly, looking away. He instead reached over the desk to steady the candlesticks. They moved back from the desk and made sure the halls were clear on the map.
"Come on" said Ron "it's clear now, let's get back to the common room. I don't fancy spending Christmas Eve watching Filch teach his cat to waltz."
Once back to the safety of the common room, they sat at the sofa and pulled on the twine to reveal their prize. What came out was a small lizard like creature, except, looking closer they realized it was actually a model of a dragon, but not one they recognized. It had hooves instead of claws, and a shorter snout. The scales running along its back were what interested them the most though. The fire light revealed transparent coloured scales of vivid colours spanned along the length of the dragon model, descending to a spiked tail.
Also included was a tiny burlap sack with a rough glass marble. Against the firelight they could see it was a clear pale pink, streaked with yellow, and chipped on one side.
When Harry picked up the model dragon for a closer look, it almost seemed to melt in his hand, receptive to the heat. The tiny dragon melded to his fingers, kicked its feet, then opened its eyes and gazed at all three of them, blinking a few times before resting its head against Harry's thumb and exhaling a relaxed sigh.
"Is it alive?" said Ron, looking closer and poking it with his finger.
"No Ron, it's only charmed" placated Hemione, leaning in closer. "It's just a model of the real thing, only, I've never heard of this dragon before. It's not in any of the texts, I've never seen a dragon with hooves instead of claws."
"So how did this guy know what it looked like then?" said Ron quizzically. "Charlie's told me about all the dragons, and he's never mentioned something like this."
Hermione unrolled the parchment note and read quickly, then rushed across the room to flip through a book while Ron and Harry, peered at the dragon resting in Harry's palm.
"It could be a Franconian Speculocultis," called Hermione, "but there's almost no information on it, only a few lines claiming it was a highly decorative species, noted for its brightly coloured scales, and its habitat is in the rocky regions of the Alps. None are known to survive today." She said, closing the book. "That's why Charlie would never have seen one."
"Ok," retorted Ron, "but he still knows his history, and he's never mentioned anything that looks like this."
"I agree, it's wrong, the picture is all wrong" she frowned, walking back to the sofa, sitting between Ron and Harry. She drew Harry's hand closer and looked at the small model in his hand. "Look at the light shining though the scales, and look at it's feet. It seems pretty gentle, not like the illustration in the book with fangs and claws. I think whoever wrote that text never saw one in real life."
"And the bloke who made this model met a real one?" exclaimed Ron "how would he know?"
"Hang on, let's read the note that came with it" said Hermione as she pushed away from the sofa again. She grabbed the parchment across the room and flopped down on the sofa once more, reading aloud:
"On summer travel by way of Western Habsburg, I encounter'd a beast of marvel and delight to the eyes. Its horn, tail and scale familiar on sight, the jewelled colours a prize found only at the finest of markets, of which beautiful ornaments were once made. The origin of such rare scales were unknown to the vendor. I now believe the origin of such treasures is of the Franconian Speculocultis species of dragon, believe'd to be long deceased. I may stand alone in the knowledge that they remain alive, although few in number. Their scarcity the consequence of poaching its jewelled scales."
The small model, now warm, was curious to its new surroundings and peered at the three of them, yawning as it stood up and stretched. When it moved around, the small scales tinkled like a tiny music box. It occupied itself by snuffling around the dusty folds of Harry's sleeve, and promptly shot out a jet of flames, lighting Harry's arm on fire.
"SHH…YAHH!" cried Harry, quickly setting the creature on the table, patting out the flames and walking towards the window. Ron made a makeshift fence with some books to contain it.
"It's a dragon alright!" laughed Ron, looking to Harry.
"I'm OK" said Harry, holding his hand to the cool window. "Of course, fire…dragon" he shrugged "what else does it say?"
Hermione unknitted her eyebrows, swatted Ron, and continued:
"A remarkable phenomenon of the Franconian Speculocultis is the male mating ritual, by which they present gifts of glass beads to the prospective female. The male will root for minerals and metallic rocks in order to grind to dust with their cleft hooves. Once the appropriate measure is set, the dust is blast'd a'light and a bead of coloured glass formed a'round with their hoof. The bead is then carried in their mouth upon presentation to the female for judgement."
"Several colours may be forg'd, although deepest of red most highly priz'd to indicate the element of gold. The chip'd bead, of which you now hold, was not of sufficient quality, much to the dismay of he who abandoned it to me. He was a most dejected, but patient friend to me in my study."
"Thanks Hermione" said Harry, checking the red blister on his hand. "Maybe next time I'll read the instructions before playing with new toys."
"This is astounding you guys!" exclaimed Hermione, rolling the chipped glass bead in her hand. "We have the next best thing to actual proof of a wholly undiscovered dragon species. We have to make sure someone hears about this." she said, continuing to read through the parchment note, recalling part of the poem again:
"From dust to jewel, wrought from the clefts,"
"It's love, unrebounded, it's gift never willed."
"Of course! Its cleft hooves are used to wrought glass from dust, and this bead wasn't good enough, so it gave its rejected gift to the student who wrote this. He actually spent time with these dragons!"
"Ron smiled and busied himself with herding the model around the table, patting out the little fires it lit to the corners of books and papers while it continued to try to melt the dust on the table.
"Look, there's more – " continued Hermione, "they might even still be alive today …"
"What!?" said Ron, moving over to read along with Hermione.
Upon observation of this remarkable beast, I soon learn'd they are of gentle disposition, and quick to trust a human hand. It is clear now how their numbers are so few in their naivety. I am bless'd to have observ'd such beauty and have found much joy as witness to their process of 'courtship by craftsmanship' as I shall name it.
It is clear now where men of olde found inspiration for cathedrals and castles on high. For the scales running along this beast's back greatly resemble the stain'd glass we worship today. The effect greatest at dawn and dusk, painting the rocky cliffs a moving symphony of colour.
I am fearful their days are few, and their scales to be poach'd once more. During my time of observation, I mapp'd the border of their territory, and have construct'd a charm of secret, kep't within the bounds of this very parchment for the worthy observer as yourself. Read a'loud these very words, and may this gift be shar'd to you, and our friends be protect'd anew.
"Veteris Mirantibus"
"That means they could still be there!" exclaimed Ron, standing up and pacing the room. "Look at the bottom, that's a password to get past the protections and see these things!" running his hands through his hair, "I've got to tell Charlie, he'll be mad to know more. Maybe he could even take us in the summer to see them!"
"We'll definitely have to contact your brother Ron, they can make sure the protections are still in place, and the teachers will be delighted…." said Hermione excitedly to Ron and Harry, but Harry wasn't listening. He had cleared the fog on a window pane and was gazing into the courtyard below. There was a deep channel carved out of the snow where Hagrid had worked his way back to the hut. The wind already beginning to fill in his footsteps near the castle entrance.
"I'll bet Hagrid would love this, wouldn't he?" said Harry.
The other two stopped talking and walked over to join Harry at the window, where they could see the snowy grounds split in half by Hagrid's march home through the drifts.
"I want to give this to Hagrid tomorrow, he should see it first" said Harry defiantly "he'll have something to smile about for Christmas then."
Ron and Hermione stood behind Harry at the window, and the three of them gazed silently, watching the hazy warm light of Hagrid's hut dance across the grounds as he moved around within. Their backs becoming warmer from the growing flames of an armchair behind, set alight by their new friend.
- Luka Stilheere