Chapter [X] A Gift
"Are you sure you're staying, Jamieson? I mean... y-you could come and stay with me and grandma for Christmas?" Leonidas asked, quite worried at the fact that his black-haired friend wanted to stay at Hogwarts alone, since both he and Frona were going back to their respective homes for a week to celebrate Christmas.
"Leo, for the last time, yes," Jamieson groaned, rolling his eyes at his overly-worried friend, a bit annoyed at the fact that he'd been asked about the same thing over 10 times that day. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him. You will take good care of yourself here, right?" Frona frowned as she emerged from the tower entrance, wondering what had taken Leonidas so long.
"I will," Jamieson groaned once again, "And promise me you won't go looking for the chamber while we're gone," Frona sternly warned, both arms on her waist as she glanced at a rather panicky Leonidas, who had suddenly tried to find ways to stay, looking obviously worried for leaving Jamieson alone at Hogwarts.
"Yes," Jamieson hissed, "Now can you take care of Leonidas?" He asked, gesturing towards the boy who let out a sad whimper behind him. "C'mon Leo, the horse carriages are gonna leave soon," Frona called out, waltzing over to the blond boy and grabbing his wrist after, forcefully dragging him out of the common room.
"We'll send you gifts!" Leonidas managed to speak before both of them disappeared out of the room, leaving Jamieson alone in the tower. Alone in a sense, since there were still a few other students who had chosen to stay behind.
"Hot coco?" A warm voice spoke softly next to Jamieson, snapping him out of his silent trance as he had been staring at the fireplace in the middle of the common room, sitting on the couch silently.
"Huh?" He squeaked, turning to his right, he sees a fellow roommate of his who had chosen to stay behind as well. An average height, filled-cheek, black-haired boy with a slightly crooked nose, Jamieson thought there weren't too much about the boy that stood out, other than the fact that in almost all of their classes he struggled to keep up.
"Thank you," Jamieson smiled warmly, taking the cup of cocoa from George's hand, sipping on it and letting the sweet-yet-slightly-bitter taste of lightly diluted chocolate drink, the perfect substance to counter the freezing coldness of the snowy outside.
"Where did you get this? It's amazing," Jamieson grinned, sipping more of the chocolate gooey goodness he'd been given. "Oh, I went down to the kitchen. The elves here are nice," George smiled shyly, sinking deeper into his seat, glad to not have to deal with classes for a week.
"Hey George, mind if I ask something?" Jamieson piped up, breaking the silence between the two boy, with the crackles of the fireplace being the only source of sound. "S-Sure," George answered nervously.
"How come you're not going home for Christmas?" Jamieson wonders, letting down a soft whimper upon realizing he'd finished his cup of hot cocoa already. "Oh... I... I-I prefer to stay at Hogwarts," The shorter boy answered simply, though Jamieson felt there was something more behind that, he decided not to prod at it... for now.
The conversation between the two eventually escalated, going from total silence to sharing stupid jokes which George found to be hilarious, to Jamieson eventually offering to help George with Charms, since the subject in particular happened to be Jamieson's strongest and George's weakest. Walking back to their dorms, Jamieson pulled out the rather long chest he and Leonidas used to store their brooms in, instructing George to practice a simple charm on it, "Try the Unlocking Charm. We'll start there," The boy grinned, locking his chest manually.
'Allohammora' George chanted, causing Jamieson to immediately lift a brow upon detecting the horrendously obvious mistake in his chant, the boy braced himself for whatever possible way the spell backfired, watching the chest jump instead of getting unlocked.
"G-George, it's Alohamora, not Allohammora," Jamieson nervously corrected him, asking the confused boy to repeat after him for over 10 times, all the while correcting his wand movement until the boy finally managed to get it right. 'Alohamora' George chanted, finally getting it right, along with his wand movement after about 1 hours of tutoring, Jamieson letting out a soft sigh of relief upon seeing the chest unlock itself instead of leaping or tap dancing around the room.
"O-Okay... Next, let's go with..." Jamieson paused for a bit, 'Colloportus' he eventually chanted, deciding to tutor the counter-charm for Alohamora, which locked things instead of unlocking them. 'Collioprotus' George chanted, completely wrecking his chant and wand movement. The chest stayed silent for a bit, eventually breaking out into a full opera at all the wrong keys. "Oooh boy," Jamieson frowned, realizing the trouble he had gotten himself into, he began to regret offering to help the boy.
Another 3 hours went by and somehow they only managed to practice three simple charms that day, the third being the all-too-simple levitating charm, "It's leviosa not leviOHsa," Jamieson corrected at one point, realizing the boy had butchered the the pronunciation enough to cause his chest to cry instead of levitate.
"H-How about w-we call it there for today? I think it's gonna be dinner time soon," Jamieson gulped, realizing how battered his chest had been after their practices and noticing how it had gone noticeably darker. Peeking out the window, he noticed how much the snow had piled up on the castle grounds, the Whomping Willow was now 1/5 covered in snow, the tree itself angrily shaking its branches to get rid of the snow accumulating on it.
The two boys freshened up before going down for dinner, realizing there were only about 30 other students there, he wondered what could possibly be the reason for them staying behind. Eating dinner was particularly lonely that night with Jamieson being wrong thinking he and George could hang, only to find the boy with his two other classmates, leaving the poor boy eating alone at where he would usually sit with Frona and Leonidas.
Letting out a small sigh, Jamieson looked around the rather dingy looking Great Hall, hoping they'd decorate it with Christmas only 4 days away. Deciding he had had enough of dinner, the rather lonely boy got up and made his way down the halls, wishing he could explore the castle during these dark wintry days, only to remember one of the many rules laid down by Professor McDuffel, one of them being, "...Students are not allowed to roam the halls after sunset, as it is far more dangerous with less students around, should you decide to stay for Christmas..."
Seeing how he had nowhere else to go, Jamieson let out a long sigh and made his journey back to the Gryffindor Tower. Even though he was bored to death, he'd rather be here than returning to the Dursleys where he'd be tortured, even more now that he was a wizard, remembering how the Dursley hated anything to do with magic, refusing to believe it was real.
Deciding he didn't want to sleep alone in his dorm since George had decided to bunk with his Hufflepuff friends, Jamieson picked up his rather thin blanket, making his way to the common room where he'd rather have the crackling fireplace as his company.
Drifting off to sleep, he had expected another unmemorable dream, but oh was he wrong.
"Huh...?" Jamieson wondered, opening his eyes, he saw nothing but pitch-black darkness around him. 'Am I... dreaming...?' Jamieson wondered, he realized he was hovering in the middle of nowhere, evident with the absence of footing for the boy. "Hello?" Jamieson called out, his voice echoing through the void, he began to swim around the emptiness, sensing movement but also feeling as if he wasn't getting anywhere.
"...you sure there's no other way? Please..." He hears a faint female voice from somewhere, yet, it also sounded like it was coming from everywhere. "We... have to do this," Another voice replied, only this time, it was a male voice. Both voices felt familiar to the boy, it felt... warm. "H-Hello?! Is anyone there?!" He yelled, hoping the sources of the voice would find him, he began swimming erratically, hoping to get somewhere.
"...W-What about y-you four..." The same female voice called out, with Jamieson still struggling to break free from whatever void he was trapped in. "...ready for Azkaban, we are..." "...live as regular wizards... as if none of this ever happened..." Two new voices replied, one was a rather deep male voice, the other was a soft female one. Jamieson, however, was starting to panic too much to comprehend what he was hearing. He'd never been scared of the darkness, but floating in pitch black instilled something in him.
"Avada Kedavra!" A voice came from far after a long period of silence, the pitch black void surrounding him suddenly flashed into a blindingly bright green light. "Ah!" With a loud scream, the boy jumped out of his sleeping position, finding himself being hugged tight by Graham. "W-what... Where am I...?" He looked around frantically, finding himself back in the common room, an extremely worried Graham looking at him.
"Jamieson, you'd been flailing around for 10 minutes now," Graham breathed out, remembering how he'd panic the second he entered the common room after his nightly patrol, seeing the boy twitch and let out horrified whimpers until he broke out into full-on sleep talking and twitching.
"I..." Jamieson began, telling what he had dreamed about to Graham, whose attention was fleeting due to how sleepy he was getting. "I... I honestly have no idea what it could all mean," Graham breathed out, his eyes now blinking out of sync. "Uh... I think it'd be better if we talked about this tomorrow," Jamieson suggested, seeing how doozy the boy was getting.
"Mm..." The older boy hummed in response, falling asleep within a few seconds, snoring lightly. With a small sigh, Jamieson climbed up the stairs and snatched Leonidas' school-issued blanket, covering Graham with it before climbing back to where he sat before, trying his best to fall asleep, though the nightmare he had a few moments earlier haunting his head was enough to stop him from sleeping.
"I can't do this," Jamieson huffed, standing off and trotting towards the exit, leaving the common room and immediately bumping into the school caretaker, Mrs. Goosander. "Why are you out of bed?" She asked, looking down at the boy sternly with her pitch-black cat in her hands. "I-I couldn't sleep Mrs. Goosander. I-I was hoping to get down to the kitchen for hot cocoa," Jamieson stuttered, remembering how he'd heard about how unpleasant she was.
After getting a short and silent scowl-stare the school caretaker, Ms. Goosander let out a grunt, "Fine. You're excused, only because it's Christmas week," She hissed, continuing her patrol, only to once again be interrupted by the nervous boy. "M-Mrs. Goosander, I-I don't actually know t-the way to the Kitchen," Jamieson blurted out, realizing George never actually told him how to get there.
"Figures," She hissed, letting her cat fall down onto the floor, who did so with a soft plop as the cat landed on her four soft paws. "Ms. Mittens, please take this boy to the kitchen. I'll be patrolling the east wings now," She sighed, turning around and continuing her work, the little black cat began trotting down the opposite direction, Jamieson quickly following along.
Jamieson started to regret not bringing his blanket, though it was thin, it still provided a bit of cold protection, especially during the wintry weeks. Shivering quite badly, the boy picked up his pace as they went down a bunch of staircases, eventually ending up at the near the school's entrance, which now had a sort of invisible barrier, evident by the snow piling up and forming a white wall. Jamieson tried to stick as close to the torches as he could, with it being the only source of heat amongst the cold walls of the hall as they continued down another set of stairs, eventually stopping in front of a painting of a bowl of fruits. The cat leapt up to Jamieson's left shoulder, who let out a startled squeak, caught off guard by the cat's sudden jump.
Watching the cat reach out towards the painting, Jamieson crept ever so closer, watching the cat paw the pear, he began poking at the specific fruit. Bewildered, the boy watched with a small smile as the pear let out a laugh. Never in his entire life did he ever think he'd see a fruit laugh.
But then again, it's Hogwarts. Almost anything could happen in the world of magic.
"Thank you, Ms. Mittens," Jamieson breathed out as the fruit turned into a green door handle, the cat then leapt off his shoulder, trotting away. Jamieson stepped into a gigantic hall hidden behind the painting, slightly bigger than the Great Hall. Looking around, Jamieson noticed how there were four long tables, taking only a short time to figure out the food teleports from the tables down here to the Great Hall. "Wow..." He breathed out, noticing all the busy house-elves running around from one end of the hall with almost every cooking equipment magically manning themselves, to the other end which looked like where they stored all of the ingredients and such.
"Mr. Potter-Diggory, what can we's do for you's?" A house elf ran up to him, noticing him standing awkwardly at the entrance as the door creaked shut behind him. "Oh I uh..." Looking around, he didn't even question how the house-elf knew his name, he just wanted to stick in the Kitchen for a while seeing how warm and lively it was as opposed to how quiet and cold his tower was.
"Can I stick around? It's super cold upstairs," Jamieson nervously smiled, hoping the house elves wouldn't chase him out of the room. "Surely Mr. Potter-Diggory can stay. The kitchen is always welcome for company of students," The house elf continued to scurry towards the of the hall with all the cooking equipment, Jamieson making his way towards where he'd usually sit on the Gryffindor's table, hopping and evading all the other house-elves, who seemed to be in a rush the entire time.
Jamieson spent possibly an hour or more simply watching the house elves hard at work, reminding him of himself back when he was at the Dursleys, he couldn't even begin to imagine how insane he'd get if he were to try to keep the castle clean.
His mind had wandered off, one second watching the house elves scurry around, the other he'd began daydreaming about random things. He wasn't sure about what he'd been daydreaming off, completely losing both himself and the track of time, only returning to his senses after a house elf called his name repeatedly, "Mr. Potter-Diggory, hullo," The house elf excitedly waved his hand in front of the boy, startling him out of his daydreaming trance.
"Y-Yes?" Jamieson replied, sitting upright, blinking a few times at the house elf. "Would Mr. Potter-Diggory like a cup of hot cocoa?" The house elf excitedly asked. Looking around, Jamieson noticed the sky was turning dark blue from one of the windows of the hall, he decided it was time to get back.
"Can I get two mugs of it?" Jamieson asked with a small smile, deciding to bring back another for Graham, assuming the older boy had woken up. "Absolutely, Mr. Potter-Diggory. Please wait here while Doozy goes to make Mr. Potter-Diggory two cups of cocoa!" The house elf excitedly squeaks, leaping away.
Jamieson wondered why these house-elf looked so excited almost all of the time, something he'd notice after being here for quite some time. 'These house-elves must love their jobs' Jamieson thought, watching them work diligently and happily.
"Here you's go Mr. Potter-Diggory! Hope you's enjoy the hot cocoa Doozy makes!" The house elf came running with a purple-glinting wooden mug, enough to tell Jamieson the mug was enchanted. 'That must be why the cocoa doesn't get cold...' Jamieson thought, noticing how the cocoa was still warm when George brought it to him in their common-room, which was a long way back, Jamieson then hoped he remembered the way back.
A few more stairs and corridors later, Jamieson managed to make his way back to the Gryffindor Tower, waltzing into the common room with two mugs of hot cocoa in his hand. "Graham, wake up," He gently prodded the older boy, hearing grunts and groans as he tossed to the other side, pulling his blanket up. "Graham, it's morning," Jamieson grunted, poking the boy's shoulder with his pinky a few more times, noting how broad his shoulders were.
"Huh...?" Graham finally hummed, blinking a few times as he tried to remember where he was, or even who he was. "I... Oh, right..." He yawned, stretching his hands with a gaping mouth, Jamieson patiently waiting beside him.
"Morning," Graham smiled warmly at the boy, his morning voice being apparently low and somewhat nasally. "I brought hot chocolate from the kitchen," Jamieson grinned, passing Graham's enchanted mug, the older boy evidently thrilled to be greeted by a mug of coco the first thing in the morning. "Ooh, thank you," Graham grinned widely, letting out a soft moan of satisfaction as the heavenly taste of melted chocolate hit his tongue, warming up his insides as it battled the cold winter day.
"Did you... Not sleep at all, since last night?" Graham asked with a frown, breaking the comfortable silence between them, his concern growing after seeing the younger boy nod silently.
"Jamieson, look," He paused as the boy turned towards him with an anxious bearing, "I... I don't know what to say, alright? It could just be a dream, but at the same time, it... Might be a memory. Do these things always happen to you?" Graham asked, his curiosity soon turned into horror upon hearing what the boy had seen and experienced before.
"I... I usually only tell Frona and Leo about these things," Jamieson admitted, a rather awkward silence falling upon them afterwards.
"Why... W-Why did you tell me everything, then?" Graham stuttered, rather curious as to why the boy had suddenly shared everything with him. "I'll be honest, Graham. I... I kind of see you and Samuel as my older brothers. I-I've always wanted elder siblings," Jamieson admitted sheepishly, looking away with pink cheeks.
A stupid smile fought its way onto Graham's face, realizing he finally had the younger brother he'd somewhat dreamt off, his hand flew and patted the boy's hair gently a few times. "Well then, little brother," He mischievously smiled, watching in satisfaction as Jamieson's blush spread from his cheeks to his ears, "I'm glad you told me everything, alright? I... Would you mind if I shared this with Sammy?" He asked, seeing Jamieson nod slowly, the boy leapt up and ran down the corridors, straight to the dungeons as fast as he could.
"I can't let you in," The portrait snarled, "Prefect inspection, unscheduled," Graham simply answered, the portrait letting out an annoyed growl after the boy whispered the correct password. Graham ran as silently as he could down the stairs towards Samuel's dorm, already familiarizing himself with the layout of Slytherin's dungeon.
"Sam, Sammy, Samuel," He hurriedly called out, gently shaking the boy awake. "Mmm, Graham, it's too early," Samuel growled, finally waking up with an irritated huff after being poked over 100 times. "You are lucky I love you. Otherwise I'd have killed you," Samuel growled, stretching and yawning his sleepiness away. "Get changed, it's urgent," Graham sternly said, Samuel's grogginess immediately disappearing upon noticing how serious the boy looked.
He knew Graham wasn't one to be serious unless he's on Prefects duty, and seeing how it's only an hour after sunrise, Samuel knew something had happened for the boy to be this stern early in the morning.
"Can you at least tell me what's happening?" Samuel huffed as they sprinted down the halls towards Gryffindor towers, both boys grateful for the lack of students around the castle. "Pig's blood," Graham simply answered, rather impatient as they both climbed past the portrait to where Jamieson was, sitting beside the fireplace with three mugs of hot cocoa.
"Oh no, don't tell me," Samuel frowned, waltzing towards the goofy-smiling, younger boy at the couch. Squishing both cheeks, Samuel looked straight into his dual coloured eyes, "Did something happen? W-What, what did you do?" Samuel squeaked in panic, thinking something horrendous might've happened if it was enough to send Graham into such a state while fetching him.
"Hot cocoa?" Jamieson tried to muster a grin despite his cheeks being squished, handing a mug to Samuel. "Did you... get down to the kitchen while I went to get Sammy?" Graham lifted a brow, partially happy to have another mug of the heavenly hot cocoa, another part of him being surprised at how fast the boy managed to get more hot cocoa.
"Sammy, calm down. Have a drink while he explains," Graham placed an arm on the Slytherin boy's shoulder, gently tugging him backwards. Once Samuel had finally settled down and began sipping on his hot chocolate, letting the heavenly taste accompanied by the much-needed warmth flow down his throat, soothing his frazzled mind, Jamieson began explaining what he had gone through.
"Have you... told anyone about this? Other than me, Graham and your two friends?" Samuel asked in a rather calm voice, Jamieson responded by shaking his head, "I wanna keep it that way. I don't want to turn this into a huge thing," He added with a small smile.
"Well... The only thing we can do right now is wait for more of your visions, or even dreams. So far I can't connect how any of it's supposed to come together," Graham suggested, Jamieson nodding along, remembering the same thing coming from Frona just a while ago.
The rest of the early morning was spent with Graham and Samuel sharing even more random stories about their misadventures in Hogwarts, doing their best to distract the boy out of his thoughts for a little while, hoping he'd forget about the visions, voices and his dream.
Eventually they had to leave the poor boy alone since they both had Prefect duty that day, leaving Jamieson to his own entertainment yet again.
"Ah, Jamieson. Not going home fer' Christmas, are ya'?" Grawp came up to him, startling the boy who hadn't even realized he had wondered into the Clock Tower Courtyard, which was completely covered in snow.
"Mm, no. I'd rather be here," He simply answered, seeing Grawp carry a giant Fir tree on his shoulder, setting it within the non-snowy corridors of the Clock Tower. "D'ya need help?" Jamieson asked, a bit entertained by the fact that he's able to see his breath as a white mist now.
"Sure, ya' helped great with the pumpkins before. C'mon," Grawp grinned widely, leading Jamieson down the wooden bridge, Jamieson freezing in his steps in awe, seeing how beautiful the scenery in-front of him was. Instead of the usual green landscape, everything was now covered in a trick layer of beautiful white snow, except for the areas around Grawp's hut, which had magical balls of fire floating around, creating a large patch of green in the middle of a huge canvas of white.
Even the mini-Quidditch pitch they made was now covered in snow.
"Right behind ere', jus' chopped them yesterday," The half-giant led a freezing Jamieson to the back of his hut, where there were large stacks of various types of Fir trees laying where his vegetables used to grow.
"O-O-Okay," Jamieson stuttered, wanting to get it over with, he trudged over to the trees, watching Grawp pick one up and sling it over his shoulder. Jamieson wondered how he'd do it, knowing full well his spell would backfire from him shivering and stuttering because of how cold it was.
"Ah, sorry. Forgot ye' lots can't handle cold too well," Grawp laughed, whipping out his wand and tapping a nearby ball of fire, bringing it closer to Jamieson, who immediately huddled around it for warmth.
Taking a deep breath, Jamieson whipped out his wand, 'Wingardium Leviosa' he chanted, waving it over all of the logs, grinning in satisfaction once he managed to lift all of the remaining trees, though this time, his wand felt somewhat heavier compared to when he did the pumpkins.
"Ah, so that's how ya' did it," He hears Grawp behind him, the giant man's voice hinting impressed, bringing joy to the freezing heart of the boy.
"How's Hogwarts been for ye' so far? I know it's a huge difference compared ta' yer' muggle life," Grawp asked as they walked side by side, the giant man lifting a giant tree by his left shoulder, his right arm bringing along a floating fireball with his wand. "It's amazing honestly, I wouldn't trade it for the world," Jamieson excitedly answered, both of them sinking into cheerful chatters as they trudged their way up the snowy steps, the snowy winds growing ever stronger though the fireball seemed to be unaffected by it.
"Right, thanks for teh' help Jamieson. Tas' all I'll be needin' ye' for, not sure if ye' could help any more with the growing winds," Grawp sighed as Jamieson laid down the trees with the rest, near the entrance of the Clock Tower Courtyard.
"Right. See ya' at the Christmas Feast Grawp!" Jamieon waved back as he made his way back down the halls, letting out a sad sigh once the smiling half-giant had disappeared from sight, Jamieson returned to his dorm to fetch another set of clothes, wanting to continue wandering around the castle in warmer clothes.
"Ah, Mr. Potter-Diggory," Jamieson let out another squeak, startled out of his wandering trance yet again. "What've you been up to around these parts?" Professor McDuffel asked, hands behind his back, his eyes twinkling with curiosity. "P-Professor McDuffel," Jamieson smiled, realizing it was his first time seeing the elder professor outside of his office.
He wasn't even sure he knew what subject Professor McDuffel taught.
"I was just helping Grawp with the trees," Jamieson answered, seeing a small smile form over the professor's face, "Ah. I was wondering how he'd get those trees up so quickly. Very brave of you for fighting the strong snowy winds," The professor stated, Jamieson glancing out the large window pane beside them to see that the winds were so strong now, he could barely see past it.
"I'd say that's worthy of another 15 points for Gryffindor," The professor winked, a big smile forming over the boy's face, who had realized it was getting harder to earn points lately. He was sure he still hadn't recovered the 200+ points he'd lost during his first Flying class.
"Now, if you weren't doing anything else, I'd like for you to follow me, Mr. Potter-Diggory," The headmaster instructed, Jamieson quickly trotting over and following the tall man down a bunch of halls, ending up in front of a gargoyle statue at the third floor. Jamieson had always wondered what the statue was for, considering it was the only gargoyle statue on the third floor, most of the others being near the rooftop or the ground floor.
Watching the headmaster whisper the password, Jamieson's mouth gaped in awe as the gargoyle statue turned to reveal a set of spiraling staircases, leading up to Professor McDuffel's office. Making his way up the stairs slowly, Jamieson emerged into a large circular room, half of the room's walls lined up with shelves, holding many different types of books and artefacts. The other half that didn't have shelves instead housed many different types of knickerdoodles and machineries, some letting out rainbow puff of smokes, some creating many different shapes of bubbles, some simply stood idly, intriguing Jamieson.
He thought Professor Ancum's office was otherwordly, stepping into Professor McDuffel's office proved him wrong. "Is that... a phoenix?" Jamieson gasped, pointing at a large fire-coloured bird perching on top of a bird stand perching high above the professor's table, recognizing the bird from one of the random magical creatures book he had read.
"Yes, loyal birds, they are. I had found an egg resting just beside a mountain base during one of my travels," Professor McDuffel explained as they neared his table, the bird letting out a squawk, spreading its wings wide to send out flaming sparks downwards, displaying it's majestic traits.
"I believe your wand has a Phoenix Feather core, correct?" Professor McDuffel asked as he sat down behind his desk, Jamieson nodding along, remembering the small note he saw in his box during their 'Wand Unboxing Ceremony' as he'd call it.
"May I take a look at your wand then, Mr. Potter-Diggory?" The headmaster asked, curiosity once again evident in his eyes, gently taking the tri-coloured wand from Jamieson, inspecting every inch of it. Pointing it upwards, he chantlessly cast a charms spell, conjuring a great light-blue moose from Jamieson's wand, which trudged around gracefully before disappearing.
"Now, I'm sure you've heard this before, many times in fact... But your wand is the very first wand in the entire history of wizards to be made of three wood bases," Professor McDuffel pointed out, Jamieson once again nodding in silence, realizing he'd heard the same sentence many times. "Another fact I'd like to share with you, is that the Phoenix Feather used to create your wand..." The headmaster trailed off, chucking the boy's wand high up in the air, both eyes trailing it.
The phoenix immediately flew off of its perch, grabbing the wand in its beak, soaring through the room, its feathers glowed a bright red-orange-yellow light, mimicking an actual flames. The wand core, responding to the phoenix's magic, glowed the same coloured light.
"Wow..." Jamieson breathed out as the bird soared around for a few more seconds before swooping down and perching on the headmaster's extended hand, dropping the wand into his empty hand. "Like I was saying, the feather came from this specific phoenix. It's very rare to see a phoenix, even more so for it to shed a feather, as the feathers usually turn into ash the same way it dies, unless it willingly sheds it. I immediately handed it over to Ollivander afterwards, knowing full well he'd make an amazing wand, though I was quite surprised the wand turned out to be this amazing," The professor smiled warmly, examining Jamieson's curious wand one last time before handing it back to him.
"Oh..." Jamieson breathed out, suddenly seeing his wand in a different light. With a small smile, he tucked it back into his robe, underneath his second set of clothes. "I wanted to hand this over to you personally, Mr. Potter-Diggory," The headmaster pulled out a box, neatly wrapped in black and gold present wrapping with a white ribbon, "An early Christmas Gift, if you will," The professor grinned, Jamieson trying his best not to jump into space.
His first ever proper Christmas gift came from the headmaster.
"T-Thank you, professor McDuffel," Jamieson managed to muster, gently grabbing the box, his mind racing trying to think of what could possibly be in the box, "Now, if you ever need to see me, you'll know where to find me, Mr. Potter-Diggory," The professor smiled warmly, "T-Thank you," Jamieson stutters yet again, sheepishly making his way back down the spiral staircase, turning into a full on sprint back into his dorm.
With a goofy smile, Jamieson unwrapped the box hurriedly, revealing a black cloak underneath with a small note. 'Dear Jamieson, Merry Christmas. I was tasked by your parents to pass this family heirloom, which I'll leave to you to figure out the use of it. Use it well,' The note simply wrote.
Chucking it aside, Jamieson wondered what the headmaster had meant with 'use it well,' which became insanely obvious the moment he wore it around his shoulders. Thinking it was an ordinary cloak, which proved it's initial use of retaining heat, Jamieson realized it made half of him invisible one he had walked towards a tall mirror nearby.
"Whoah..." Jamieson gasped, realizing anything hidden underneath the cloak immediately turned invisible, a million mischievous idea popped into his head, only to be squashed by the headmaster's note, repeating in his head many times, 'Use it well... use it well... USE IT WELL...' prompting him to hide it in the chest where he and Leonidas' brooms rested.
"Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever," He exclaimed with a grin, tucking the cloak in the chest, laying on his bed and wondering how the rest of his Christmas week could get better. Not only was he spending his first Christmas away from the Dursleys, he even got his first ever present from the headmaster of his new school. 'This couldn't get any better,' Jamieson thought.