"Mum wants you to write her back soon about what you want for Christmas."
Harry turned around in surprise. At the table behind him in the library there was a Ravenclaw first year being talked to by a Hufflepuff Prefect. They were so close to him that he'd at first thought the Prefect was talking him.
The younger boy sighed, "I know, I just don't know what I want. They always only want us to tell them five things, but there's so much!"
Harry turned away from the bickering siblings and sighed to himself. Christmas was a month away and, as usual, it only served to make him sad. He'd never had a real present. Oh sure, one year he had gotten a dirty sock. Last year he got a screw.
His holidays were spent in his Aunt Petunia's room arduously wrapping hundreds of gifts. Not just for Dudley either, though the boy did get the majority of them, there was also a long list of other people gifts had to be sent to. Making connections or something like that. It was enough to depress anyone.
He started to cheer up though at the sudden thought that he didn't have to go home this year and wrap all those presents. He couldn't help but feel a slightly sadistic glee at the thought of Aunt Petunia wrapping all those presents on her own. She must be miserable!
With that thought he turned back to his Charms work only to find that he'd accidentally marked down part of the usual Dursley gift list. He was about to grab a new piece of parchment when it occurred to him.
He could give gifts this year.
He'd always doodled out a Christmas card for the librarians who let him hide in the library year-round but this year he could send more than that.
He had a whole room of gold! He remembered the room that went too far back for him to see filled with stacks taller than Hagrid. He smiled what was likely the biggest smile of his life thus far and flipped the ruined piece of parchment over, intent to start his very own Potter gift list.
The librarian of course, Madam Pince was harsh but always made sure there was a quiet comfortable area to work and relax in.
Professor McGonagall was fantastically helpful in class and a calming presence many evenings in the Common Room. Three, sometimes four times a week she would sit at a desk in the Common Room, back to a wall, facing the entire room and would mark papers, offering her assistance with homework or personal problems. If she happened to mark your paper while she was there she would call you over and discuss it, then give it to you after marking your grade in her grade book.
Hermione, Neville, Theo, Cedric and Ron were givens of course.
Perhaps the twins, they always made sure to give people something to laugh at, even if it was themselves.
He chewed the back of his quill, wondering if he should give the rest of the staff something. They worked hard all year long, surly they deserved some kind of acknowledgement for that.
Right, he nodded his head as he decided that he was definitely giving the staff presents. Headmaster Dumbledore. Professor Flitwick. Professor Sprout. His quill faltered but he decided to add him anyways. Perhaps if he got a present he'd be nicer. He determinedly wrote out Professor Snape. Hagrid. Professor Quirrel. Madam Pomfrey. Goodness knew she patched him up often enough.
His quill faltered again. How did one get a gift for a ghost? He frowned but scribbled out Professor Binns? Filch was also added to the list tentatively. He didn't like him, but he did a lot for the school. Madam Hooch of course, who had helpfully continued to train him in flying, even after he'd gotten on the house Quidditch team.
Oliver Wood. Angelina Johnson. Katie Bell. Alicia Spinnet.
He hummed thoughtfully then moved back to the Professors. Professor Sinistra. He knew there were more Professors, he just wasn't sure what their names were. Surly they deserved recognition too, even if they didn't teach him just yet. He decided to hunt down their names and look into it. And who cooked the food for the school?
Perhaps the prefects as well. They were important and helpful. He went hunting for the list he knew the library had and was pleased to find it quickly with Madam Pince's help.
Professor Vector. Professor Trelawny. Professor Kettleburn. Professor Burbage. Percy Weasley. Sylvia Smyth. John Ryan. Alexandra Wopsle. Arkie Bode. Penelope Clearwater. Ragmar Stroud. Tiffany Stroulger. Andros Summers. Courtney Evans. Lewis Wimborne. Agnes Lapaine. Hugo Blane. Kathrine Harkiss. Raymond Barnacle. Maggie Sapworthy. Mohammed Levskit. Jasmine Wiggleswade. Gideon Malfoy. Nymphadora Tonks. Argus Brunt. Serena Dudgeon. Myron Buckley. Malva Portchester.
Harry sat back and stared at the list. It was long to be sure, but he still wanted to do it. Hogwarts was so important to him, so fantastic, and each of these people helped ensure that it stayed that way. Perhaps he could restrict the Prefects to simple cards and maybe a piece of candy. That would certainly cut back costs a little bit. And wrapping time.
He shivered a little bit at the thought and went about marking a double C next to each of their names, with a little reminder at the bottom of what that meant. Now the Professors. That stumped him, particularly because he didn't know where to get anything from. He sighed and set the list aside, he still had homework to do after all.
Harry was pleased to see that Professor McGonagall was still in the Common Room when he got back from the library. He carefully placed his Transfiguration essay into her first-year homework basket then patiently waited for her attention, smiling back at her when she shot him a smile in acknowledgment.
Finally, she set the eagle owl quill she was using down and directed her attention to him, "How may I help you Mister Potter?"
Harry smiled back, "Well you see, I was hoping to get some people Christmas Presents this year but I don't know how to do it when I'm in the castle."
She leaned back and studied him. She was no fool, she may not have as much time to stay with her house as the other Heads of Houses but she always made an effort. And she had noticed that Mr. Potter was, without a doubt, abused. It pained her deeply because the Headmaster had explicitly forbidden her from doing anything about it, but she helped him how she could. She could see his logic behind Christmas presents immediately and had no doubt he would likely go overboard. But she was also pleased at the idea, the more he sent out the more friends he was likely to have. And goodness knows that the Potter family could certainly afford it.
"Many stores have catalogues that can be used to have things owled to others or yourself, I'm sure I could gather several up for you. Do you have your Gringotts key?"
Harry blinked in surprise, recalling Hagrid taking it back from the teller. He shook his head, "No, but I can get it back I think."
She nodded in approval, "Be sure you don't forget anyone on your Christmas list dear, I'll get those to you tomorrow."
Harry nodded, "Thanks so much Professor!"
He dashed off, pulling a piece of parchment out of his bag and running over it already. She shook her head with a pleased smile on her face before turning to the next student waiting for her attention. She bit back a sigh at the needy girl next in line, "Yes Miss. Smyth?"
Harry had ended up deciding to add anyone who would be staying at Hogwarts for the holidays, his dorm mates, and the heads of all the noble families. And now he was just debating what to get. He'd already picked out a pack of cards for the prefects and he was getting a box of a hundred chocolate frogs that he was going to give one or more of to each person.
Flipping through a gift catalogue he found a moderately priced wine, cheese, and cracker gift set that he thought might do nicely for the Professors that he didn't have and Madam Pomfrey (the Torturer). He then got a similar gift set, but more expensive for the heads of the noble houses. He got Madam Hooch, the Quidditch team, and Cedric each some warm Winter Quidditch gloves and a broom shining kit, and got himself a set of each as well.
Flipping through a book catalogue he found 2,500 of the Most Dangerous Magical Creatures Known to Wizard Kind which he thought would do nicely for Hagrid.
He gave Madam Pince the same gift set he got for the Professors he didn't have, along with a 25 Galleon gift card to Boada's Quill which was a high-end book store.
Professor Quirrel got The Handbook of Emotional Sorcery.
He got Hermione Mystical Castles of The Northwest and 100 Tricks to Transfiguration.
He got Ron a silver chest set, since he was always complaining that his was an old set of Percy's.
He got Theo A Beginner Charms Theory Overview by Alecia Ogden.
Fred and George each got a 10 Galleon gift card to a store called The Slight of Hand, along with its catalogue.
He'd noticed that Professor McGonagall always used different ink for each parchment type she graded, sometimes switching colors mid parchment so he got her a gift basket of various different kinds of ink, which also came with five specialty quills.
After some deliberation he got both Professor Flitwick and Dean Thomas, one of his roommates, a similar gift basket, though not quite the same one.
He was delighted to find a gift basket that sent people three packets of seeds, booklets on care of said seeds, and a monthly newsletter. The basket was sent out once a month and the seeds were different each month. He couldn't help but imagine both Professor Sprout's and Neville Longbottom's delight at such a basket. Apparently since it was Christmas there were five seeds this month instead!
He wasn't quite sure what to get Seamus Finnegan so he simply got him a basket of sweets from the Wonka store. He got a larger basket for the Headmaster as it was rumored that he had a sweet tooth to rival anyone else in the school.
He found a broom which also doubled as a mop that could self-apply cleaning supplies for Filch. The rumor was that he's a squib and so Harry had made sure that even squibs could use it.
All that left was Professor Snape and anyone who decided to stay over for the holidays. It took quite a bit of deliberation but he eventually made the decision to order anyone who stayed for the holidays an even smaller basket of sweets from Wonka than he had Seamus. But that still left Professor Snape.
He wanted to get the man something he liked in the hopes that he might earn even a smidgen of leeway from the extreme hatred the man directed at him. The fact that he was the heir of a noble house made it all the more difficult. Should he get him something small? Go all out?
There was a subscription to a monthly potions journal, but would getting that make the man think that Harry thought that he didn't care enough about his job to already have such a thing?
Eventually he sprung for a very large potions supply basket. Rather than being held in a basket the whole set was held in a large platinum cauldron, which were rather expensive to begin with. So that there was no cross contamination of materials the cauldron was then lined with velvet and held a large mix of various kinds of stirrers, knives, and phials, all of which were also wrapped in velvet. It was the most expensive gift he'd picked out, but perhaps it would win him a small amount of leeway.
By the time he was done filling out each order form, dipping his key in ink and pressing the imprint onto the order form, and writing out the notes that would go with each gift basket he'd ordered Harry felt very certain that his hand would never feel the same. But at least now he had a job for Hedwig!
Harry had happily signed up for the Castle Christmas Decorating Committee, which was run by Professor McGonagall. Apparently, each other house had their own committee as well, but Professor McGonagall had declared that any Gryffindors who signed up for the Castle Committee were also going to work on the Common Room, which Harry thought to be fair enough.
Their first meeting was on the second Friday of December and they spent the afternoon learning and perfecting various spells. Harry got in the Tree group and spent the afternoon learning how to Transfigure things into ornaments and how to change a string of popcorn into a string of lights (which was a cool mixture of Transfiguration and Charms). The next day they met in the Great Hall after breakfast and Harry got to work on the trees Hagrid dragged in.
For lunch anyone in the decorating committee got honey ham and hot chocolate as part of their selection. Harry had a good laugh at Ron's fork just sliding right off the ham and getting stuck in the table. It took Hermione pointing out that it was getting stuck in the same place in the table regardless of where he started, and that he likely wasn't allowed to have any, for him to give up. He had sent mutinous glares at the ham for the rest of lunch.
After lunch he met back up with Professor McGonagall in the Common Room and set to work stringing up popcorn lights and hanging ornaments from the strings. Harry had found the work extremely enjoyable, everyone in the group was chatting and having fun and afterwards Professor McGonagall had given each of them a small baggy of gummy worms.
Those had provided their own delights as they had gone to battle on the table while he and Ron played chess after he was done. It had been hilarious seeing Harry's discarded chess pieces attempt to do battle with gummy worms. The chess pieces won most of the time, ending with the gummy worms being cut in half, thus ending the spell on them. In a surprise move six of the gummy worms had ganged up on the queen, wrapping around her tightly and forcing her to swing her sword towards any other pieces that came near them. The stalemate had ended when Harry and Ron had each taken a gummy worm, thus turning the tide in the favor of the chess pieces.
The night had ended with Harry and the rest of the Decorating Committee having gingerbread men appear directly onto their plates when it was time for desserts. They each sang a small song and then hopped into his hand, which had resulted in a small armful of the little cookies. Harry was left smiling happily and thinking that this was the best Christmas he'd ever had.
Albus stared down at the duplicates of the purchase requests from dear Harry's vault. He'd long ago approved the list, it was all Christmas presents that Harry wanted to give out. He sighed heavily because unfortunately the list brought to mind that Albus had yet to ensure he had training in finances, politics or anything of the sort. It had been hard enough to get the Dursleys to agree to take the dear boy, but they had expressly forbidden any magic from taking place on their property and were the only ones in charge of how the boy was to be raised before Hogwarts. It had been a difficult, but necessary, agreement.
His eyes were drawn to a book he hadn't touched since that dreadful week. Perhaps it was time, he thought, to introduce Harry to the world he was born into more fully. He got up and carefully grabbed the thick book before heading up to the hidden room on the sixth floor.
"Zalby."
The small houself that had been with him since he had been a child appeared before him with a beaming smile. "Albie calls Zalby?"
Albus smiled happily at the little being and crouched down so that they were at equal eyelevel. "Yes, I do Zalby. How are you doing these days?"
The little houself waved a hand, "Oh Zalby is old but strong, just as Albie." He leveled the man with a glare, "But Zalby takes care of Zalby, while Albie sits in that stuffy office and stuffs his face full of candy."
Albus laughed, Zalby was the only one who ever scolded him anymore and he found it more refreshing than a glass of water on a hot day.
"I'll keep that in mind Zalby. Are you busy or could you do this old man a favor?"
Zalby shrugged, "Zalby is always happy to help silly Albie."
Albus passed the elf the book in his hands, then gestured to the room behind Zalby which was a disorganized mess of envelopes and packages causing Zalby to fall over in shock then quickly turn to Albus in anger.
"What has Albie been doing in this room!? Army of elves but no one to watch over this room!?"
Albus paled a little, "I may have hidden this room from their prevue, they are much too busy to worry about this."
Zalby glared at the man and turned back, ready to set to work, when Albus put his hand on the little being's shoulder.
"Zalby, this room contains all of the mail that has arrived for Harry Potter. This book describes when the mail was received, who it was received from and what any packages contain. Over the next few weeks I'd like you to go through this room and first sort out anything designed to harm Harry; magically, mentally, or physically. Please record the information from the book into a letter, set it aside with the letter in question. We will forward these to the MDoD, they are expecting it. The wards already filter out anything too dangerous so you will be fine to sort through it, though if anything particularly bad slipped through please notify me and I will take care of it.
"Next I want you to go through and pick out anything that is supposed to be for Christmas time and put that in the room next door to the right, which I've already placed protections on. Whatever is left in this room please sort between Birthday wishes, official correspondence, any other holiday wishes, and general mail. General mail can go into the room to the left, which is also already protected.
"While I can wait on the rest of the sorting I would like the Christmas wishes and presents to be done a few days before Christmas please. When Harry and I have sorted through the Christmas letters and presents then the official correspondence may go into the room to the right, along with any other holiday wishes, though I would like there to be an obvious divide between the two. Can you do this for me Zalby, or shall I call an extra houself in?"
Zalby shot him a glare and sniffed, "Zalby did say he is caring for Albie. Zalby is more than capable, Albie. It shall be done before Christmas."
Albus smiled in thanks, "I knew I could count on you, please let me know when you're done.