The Knight Before Christmas

By ROTFLMFAO

Chapter One: The Angel of Cheer

Sir Cadogan held his hands over his ears as the caroling ghosts passed his painting for the umpteenth time that evening. He hated Christmas.

He'd tried to get those stupid Christmas Songs out of his head in many ways. He'd even tried singing 'It's a Small World' like he'd heard some first-years doing one spring in order to annoy a teacher. Nothing seemed to work.

Sir Cadogan was possibly going to be the next Ebenezer Scrooge if he wasn't careful. But he didn't care. He'd "bah-humbug" any and every person he saw enjoying the holidays on his corridor if he wanted.

Eventually, all the students and teachers and caroling ghosts went away and night crept in upon the castle. Sir Cadogan scratched another tally on his frame for another day passed before Christmas.

"Only seven days to go. Oh the horror!" Thought the poor little knight. But then he heard a noise. There were voices coming from the other end of the hall.

The voices just happened to belong to Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, and they were headed for Sir Cadogan's painting.

"I'll be sad to see him go," sighed Professor Dumbledore. "Though he may have been a bit, well, noisy, I'd always liked the little fellow."

"Yes, but I fear that it is for the best. The students have been complaining about his noisiness and name-calling." Replied Professor McGonagall.

They stopped in front of the painting and looked at Sir Cadogan.

"Merry Christmas, Sir Cadogan." they said.

"I don't like Christmas, but if you insist... Merry Christmas to you, too. There! Happy now?" growled the little knight.

"Well, now, Sir Cadogan, I am afraid we have rather unfortunate news." Said Professor McGonagall.

"What could possibly dampen my spirits any more than the fact that Christmas comes in one week?" Sir Cadogan wondered aloud.

"Well, we're putting your picture away for a while." Professor McGonagall said.

"What's that? I thought you just said I'm going to be put away for a while. You must be joking, yes?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Said Professor Dumbledore. "It seems that you have been causing a bit of trouble recently, and we feel that you need a vacation."

"We'll have Mr. Filch down to take you to the vault tomorrow morning." Professor McGonagall said.

Then they left.

"Well, it can't be that bad, can it?" Sir Cadogan wondered to himself several times that night. His picture was going to the vault.

"The dark, cold, scary vault in Gringott's Bank. Yes, it would be... nice... to go away for a while."He thought.

Sir Cadogan couldn't stand it any longer. He whipped out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly.

"I'm going to miss all of those kids!" he wailed. "All those annoying little braggarts... The prissy, self-centered girls, and the loud, obnoxious boys." He cried into his hankie for a few minutes.

It was then that the Angel of Christmas Cheer heard him. It was then that the adventure began.

A loud cheering noise filled the room and Sir Cadogan stopped his crying and looked up. There, he saw an angel. But it was no ordinary angel. She was--

"A cheerleader?" he blurted.

"Yep!" said the angel. "Gimme a C!"

"C...?"

"Gimme an H!"

"H..."'

"Gimme and E!"

"E."

"And another E!"

"E!"

"Now gimme an R!"

"R!"

"What's that spell?"

"I dunno, lady. I failed English Class..."

The cheerleader fell on her face, anime-style. "Well, that's no fun! It spells CHEER!"

"Oh!" Sir Cadogan was amazed. He had never seen a cheerleader who was also an angel... Or was he just dreaming?

"I am the Angel of Cheer. That's obviously why I'm a cheerleader," she said. "I heard you were in trouble. You're gonna get your painting taken away if I don't help you out!"

"So, the news has gotten out about my little problem, eh?" Sir Cadogan said bitterly.

"Yep! But there's no need to worry, pal. Like I said before, I'm gonna help you out!" the Cheerleading Angel said, a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Okay, what exactly do you plan on doing?" asked Sir Cadogan. He hoped that he'd wake up sooner or later and maybe he'd even have dreamt up the part about his painting getting taken away...

"...and then we're gonna--Are you listening to me?"

"Uh... no?"

"GRRR! Listen to me! I'm trying to help you out and you keep daydreaming!"

"Sorry."

"What I'm gonna do for you is give you until 12:00 midnight on Christmas to turn yourself around. THEN we'll see if I can pull some strings to keep you out of that creepy vault in Gringott's Bank. Okay?"

"That seems easy enough."

"I'm not finished! There's a catch!"

"A catch?"

"Yep, a catch."

"What's the catch?"

"Well, you see, I made a deal with the goblins over at Gringott's..."

"And?"

"Well, if you screw this one up, they're gonna sell your solid gold frame for new abacuses!"

"WHAT!"

"Yeah, that's right! You've got one full week to straighten up and fly right. Otherwise, you'll be another dumb painting at some muggle auction in London."

"Wait a minute! How am I supposed to change if I'm stuck here in this painting? I can't move anywhere without getting kicked out of the other paintings' frames!"

"Gee, Sir Cadogan! I thought you'd never ask!"

Sir Cadogan's brain--or at least what was left of it--had begun to hurt. He was most certain that this was no dream. He never got migraines from dreams. And besides, he'd probably have woken up in a vault in Gringott's by now if it weren't real. "There's more?" he asked her wearily.

"Yeah! Did ya think I was gonna leave you hanging? (No pun intended.)" she joked casually.

"Oh, okay. Then what else is there?" Sir Cadogan inquired.

"I'm sending you off to school!" exclaimed the Angel.

"School? I don't even know how to spell that, and you want me to go to school?" Sir Cadogan shouted, "By the way," he added, "what school exactly?"

"Duh! This one! You seriously think I would send you somewhere else, when the perfect school is right in front of you? You paintings really aren't all that bright." the Angel remarked.

"Okay, so how do you intend to send a painting of a knight in full armor to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Sir Cadogan challenged.

The angle checked her watch impatiently. "Listen, if I don't get you to understand this concept in less that five minutes, I'll miss my date with the Angel of Athletics."

"Okay, I'll do my best to understand--knight's honor!" said Sir Cadogan with his right hand in the air.

"Good! Now, here's the deal: I'm going to turn you into a human, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, you'll no longer be Sir Cadogan the annoying knight--You will be Calvin the exchange student from uh..." she paused, since she had not figured out a made up school name for her subject. "Uh... Err..."

"How about Camelot School of Scholars?" asked Sir Cadogan, trying to lend a hand.

"Hmm! It could work. Where'd ya think that one up?" asked the Angel.

"Well, I used to go there when I was a squire. Back then, you had to become a knight before becoming a 'scholar' as we would call the witches and wizards."

"So it's basically your alma-mater?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Just go to sleep. Tomorrow you'll wake up in the Gryffindor Common Room..."

End of Chapter One