A/N: Wow, it's been like forever… anyway, shout out to my friends Elise and Kathy who, aside from being in my two Holes stories, are featured in this chapter! Go Christmas! (one month, four days, and counting!)

"Link, how does this skirt look?" Zelda asked a while later.

"Fine," he replied, not glancing up from the book he was reading.

Rolling her eyes, she pulled on a brown coat and walked over to stand behind his chair. "Link, what the devil is that you're reading?"

He looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow. "Did you just say 'what the devil?'"

"Yes."

"What is THAT supposed to mean?"

"Oh, it was in the British/Old English section of that dictionary Santa gave us," Zelda said. "But that's beside the point. What're you reading?"

With a shrug, Link dog-eared the page and closed the book, showing the title to Zelda. "It's called 'A Christmas Carol.' I found it in that closet with all the games."

"Is it any good?"

"I dunno, haven't really gotten too far into it." After an odd pause, Link glanced at the digital clock on the mantel piece. "Okay, well, we should probably be eating something right about now."

"Oh, I took care of it," Zelda said brightly.

He stood up. "What do you mean?"

"There was this bag of popcorn in the kitchen and it had instructions on it as to how to use a microwave, so I threw it in there!"

"Hm." Link sniffed the air and furrowed his brow. "…do you smell something burning, or is it just me?"

Almost in perfect unison, the two elves ran directly into the kitchen, where the popcorn bag was completely spazzing out in the microwave.

"WHAT IS IT DOING!"

"IT'S FRYING OUR FOOD! IT'S KILLING IT!" Link rushed forward to try and halt the disaster, when Zelda heard her cellphone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey girl, it's Malon! What is UP?"

"Um… Link and I are trying to eat something before we—"

Kaboom.

There was silence on the line for a moment. "What was that?" Malon asked.

"Uh, we put some popcorn in the, the uh… microwave, but it totally malfunctioned and I think it's destroyed the food."

"How?"

"It was like… heating it up."

"The microwave was?"

"Yes."

Again, silence. "Zelda, that's what microwaves are supposed to do."

"It is?"

"DUH!"

"Oh, I guess I should probably see what happened to Link," Zelda said. She turned around and glanced back into the kitchen. Her companion was brushing a bunch of blackened kernels back into the bag, then aiming to throw them in the garbage. He appeared to have something like soot all over his face.

"How's the damage?"

"Em… pretty bad," Zelda muttered into the phone. "He's cleaning up the mess in the kitchen right now."

"Hey, I've got a great idea!" Malon said.

"And what is that?" Zelda asked.

"You could go in there and help him! Wouldn't that be so nice and romantic of you, Zellie?"

"Yes. Really nice. Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'll pass. Bye, Malon."

"Oh, bye," Malon pouted.

Zelda shut her phone and headed back to the kitchen. Link straightened up. "Thanks for your help," he said, looking a little ticked.

"I was on the phone, in case you didn't notice," she replied coolly.

"Well Kringle forbid you should've told Malon to stuff and help me!"

"Stop being so immature."

"No, YOU stop!"

"YOU stop! AND GET INTO SOMETHING MORE FORMAL!"

Glaring at her, Link stalked into his room. Honestly, such a kid! Zelda consoled herself, sitting down in a chair. She leapt up a second later though, because a knock had sounded at the door. Smoothing out her skirt a little, Zelda stood up and went to answer it.

"Hey, Roy!" she said brightly, stepping aside so he could come.

"Hello," he greeted her, looking a tad bit pink. "Ready to go?"

"I am, but Link is going to take another moment or two, I think," she responded. The two of them stood there in awkward silence for a moment, Roy shuffling his feet a little, until Zelda spoke up again. "Thanks a lot for taking us with you tonight. It's really, er… .nice of you."

"Oh, no problem," he said quickly. "My pleasure, really. So it's really your first Broadway show, huh?"

"Yep. I've never even been to New York before."

"Really? Well…" He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I must've missed it, but where did you say you were from, again?"

"Oh, uh—"

She was saved from having to answer when Link strode back into the room. He was wearing a black cashmere sweater with khaki pants and, Zelda couldn't help thinking, looking like Christmas in July (which, where they come from, was a very complimentary comment). He pulled on a pair of dark gloves and looked Roy in the eyes.

"Thanks for taking us along, man," he said, remembering how the term "man" had been described in Santa's all-knowing dictionary. "Real nice of you."

"Oh, n-no problem," Roy stammered. "Well, I thought we'd just take a cab down to the Square and walk to the theater from there. Sound good?"

"Sure," Zelda and Link agreed.

"Great! Well…let's get going then."

In the cab, Roy had been pushed all the way to the left side. He'd been hoping to at least get in the middle, but it was apparent that Link had wanted that seat, and Roy was too intimidated by him to want an argument.

"So you guys have seen 'The Wizard of Oz,' right?" he asked casually.

Once again, Link and Zelda exchanged glances, wondering what they were getting themselves into. "Erm…no."

"NO?" Roy asked incredulously, looking genuinely shocked. "You're joking, right? You're joking!"

"Not joking," Link said.

"Wow…I thought everybody had seen 'The Wizard of Oz!'" he said, still looking deeply astounded. "I mean, haven't you ever wondered where phrases like, 'lions and tigers and bears—oh my!' or 'If I only had a brain,' or—or 'there's no place like home' came from?"

"The Wizard of Oz, I'm assuming?" Zelda said.

"I should probably explain the plot to you, then, because if you don't know it, you won't be able to appreciate Wicked as much."

And so, rather to Link's chagrin, the rest of the cab ride was spent describing what happened to a little Kansas girl when her house got taken to La-La Land during a tornado and how all she wanted was to go home.

"Sounds very interesting," Link said, though he didn't think Roy caught the sarcasm in his voice.

"It does," Zelda said sincerely, as their cab came to a stop. When they got out, Roy paid the driver and they began walking down the street. As they neared Gerswhin Theater (where the best play in the history of the world was playing), Roy was heralded by a group of young adults standing outside a café.

"Yo, my boy Roy!" called out a girl decked in black.

"Heyy, it's the red-headed rookie!" another girl said, and they skipped up to him.

"Hey guys," he said, grinning a little sheepishly. "Elise, Kathy. These are my er, friends, Link and Zelda."

"Hi," Link grunted.

"Hello!" Zelda said enthusiastically, shaking their hands in turn. "Nice to meet the two of you!"

"Likewise," said Elise, who was eyeing Link with some interest. "You guys seeing Wicked?"

"Yeah," Roy answered.

"Best show EVER," Kathy said, grinning and giving them the thumbs-up. "Anyway, Elise and I here were just discussing Harry Potter."

"Oh, really?" Roy asked. "What aspect where you talking about, precisely?"

"The love plots," Elise replied. "Particularly Harry and Ginny."

Kathy groaned. "Those two should NOT be together! I mean, really! Ginny is way too young for him!"

"She's only a year younger," Elise argued. "Besides, who'd be left for Harry?"

"Hermione," Kathy answered as if this was completely obvious.

"Hermione?" Roy cried. "Are you nuts? She is destined to be with Ron!"

"Yeah!" Elise seconded. "Who would be left for Ron if Hermione was busy being with Harry?"

"Lavender Brown," Kathy retorted. "DUH."

"Kathy, EW!" Elise moaned. "Lavender was so annoying! Harry and Ginny are the only way to go, here!"

"What about Cho?"

"CHO?" Roy asked, as if Kathy had completely lost it. "Are you kidding me? She was like, a complete mess! 'Oh, I thought you'd understand, you and Cedric and all—"

"Oh, shut up," Kathy sighed. "What do you guys think?"

As you can imagine, Zelda and Link had been staring at the trio for the past few minutes as if they'd been speaking Norwegian. Wondering if they were supposed to know so many mutual friends of Roy's, Elise's and Kathy's, all Link and Zelda could do was stare at them.

"You…do read Harry Potter, right?" Elise asked slowly.

"Um—"

"Good land, look at the time!" Roy gasped, looking at his watch. "Nice to see you guys, catch you later!"

"Bye, Roy!" the girls giggled. "Bye Zelda, Link."

"Yeah, bye…"

Roughly ten minutes later, the three of them were sitting down in their seats at the theater, center of the mezzanine.

"Whoa, cool dragon!" Roy said, staring in awe at the stage decorations. "This is going to be so good!"

"Hey, Roy, who's Harry Potter?" Zelda asked.

"And Ginny, Cho, Ron, Hermione, Cedric and Lavender?" Link added.

Roy laughed. "Haven't you guys even heard of Harry Potter?"

"No…"

He laughed again. "Where are you guys from, the North Pole? Ha, ha!"

They immediately joined in his laughter, albeit a little late and forced, but Zelda quickly recovered and said, "But seriously."

"Oh, it's just this series of books about a boy wizard whose parents are murdered by an evil guy and he goes to a school for witches and wizards even though he was brought up by his Muggle aunt and uncle—muggle meaning a non-magic person, of course—and anyway in this latest book he realizes he has feelings for his best friend Ron's younger sister Ginny and this has caused major debate among fans." He said this without pausing for a single breath.

"Huh," Zelda said. "Sounds…unique."

"Would you like to borrow the books sometime?" Roy asked eagerly. "I've got the whole set, all six of them!"

"Oh, sure!" Zelda said, being one who enjoyed reading.

Just then, a grumpy-looking old man who bore a strong resemblance to Michael Caine sat down next to Link.

"Good evening, sir!" Zelda said cheerily.

"Bah, humbug!" the man snorted. "You young hooligans are always ruining everything! Global warming, tigers becoming endangered, Catherine Zeta-Jones winning the Oscar, everything is your fault!"

"Excuse me sir, not only are you making no sense, but I think that was very out of line to say to this girl who was only trying to be polite," Link growled. "Apologize."

"No," he said resolutely, folding his arms.

Zelda put a hand on Link's arm to stop him from retorting, and muttered, "Let me handle this." Then, looking over Link at the elderly man she said, "Sir, are you feeling all right this evening?"

"Fine, just fine!" he said loudly.

"Oh, you'll never get anywhere with that attitude!" Zelda laughed. In a sing-song voice she added, "No one likes a frowny face, change it for a smile! … oh no, I forgot the rest of the words…"

Link and Roy stared at her. So did the old man, who looked as if he had never smiled in his entire life.

"You better not pout, you better not cry, you better not pout I'm telling you why," she said softly. "Santa Claus is coming to town."

Still no reaction.

"He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice, Santa Claus is coming to town!"

Link caught on and joined her for the next part.

"He sees you when you're sleeping! He knows when you're awake!"

Grinning with amusement, Roy also joined them for, "He knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake!"

A few people around them also caught on to the trend, and soon the entire mezzanine had begun singing. By the time the song had reached the people rehearsing in the orchestra pit, the old man was laughing so hard he looked as if he might bust. When it seemed the song was finally over, for the first time in Broadway history, the whole audience was clapping before the show had even started.

"Wow, they must be really pumped," Michelle Federer said backstage.

"Thank you, Miss!" the old guy chuckled. "I haven't smiled like this in years!"

"It shows," Link said, before getting elbowed by Zelda who muttered, "Don't be rude to him!"

"Just happy to spread the Christmas joy!" she said happily. "Try and do the same, won't you?"

"Sure, sure!" he said, still grinning broadly.

"I guess it's a good thing we finally learned that song yesterday," Link said out of the corner of his mouth. "I know Mrs. Claus learned it, but…"

"I know," Zelda giggled. "I never knew the words until the grocery store thing…"

"What happened at the grocery store?" Roy asked.

"Well there was a really long line to buy our stuff," Zelda said, "and there was some kind of problem with the… the music, I don't know, and it kept repeating that song over and over again, so we heard it about six times in a row."

Roy's laughter was drowned out by the loud beginning of the overture and dragon special effects. And so it was that they saw Wicked.

&-

A/N: And there we go. Not much to this chapter, but it's all I could do! Don't hurt me! I'd like to thankRyu the Dragon Demon for allowing me to use the microwave thing! Totally not my own, original idea! Last but most certainly not least, if you love me, you will read this important notice: please tell me your favorite pairing in the Harry Potter series! I am really interested! It could be something totally messed up, like McGonagall and Voldemort, I don't care! I want to know! (my favorite is obviously Harry and Ginny!)