Door 20
The next morning was spent very silently in the house. It was the 23rd December and everyone knew that this meant that this was their last day spent together. Tomorrow morning the children would have to leave and be brought back to the orphanage.
Now, at the afternoon, while Emily and Samuel were again spending an hour alone in their room doing something 'secret', Angelina was sitting in front of the Christmas tree in the living room.
She hated to think that the tree and the rest of the decoration would be gone by the same time the next day. She was sure it would be the first thing Montague would do when he came home: take off everything they had put there. Her heart ached at the thought.
She arose slowly from her seat on the floor and went to the fireplace. There were three fir branches on the fireplace. Each one decorated with red and green Christmas symbols. Stars, angels, bells, a miniature Father Christmas…
She took the three branches in her hands and sighed. At least this way the children would have something to remind them of their time together.
She went out of the living room to go into her room to put the branches away, so she wouldn't forget about them the next morning.
"Are you redecorating?" She jumped slightly when she heard Montague's voice while she made her way through the hall.
"No." she said and turned around to see him descending the stairs.
"I wanted to give Emmy and Sam something to remind them of this… I thought the decoration was too beautiful to just let it be completely destroyed. I figured you wouldn't care whether or not I'd give part of it away, seeing as you'll take it down tomorrow anyway. And since we didn't manage to find a family for them and we don't have a present and they most likely won't get something nice from that head of the orphanage…" She said in one breath like a child that had been caught with the hand in the biscuit box.
Montague raised his eyebrows but didn't comment on her behaviour. He looked at the branches in her hands and frowned.
"Last time I checked there are only two children in the house."
"Well I… I wanted something to remind me of the children, too." Angelina said almost in a whisper.
"Actually…" Montague stopped her as she was about to make her way to her room.
"About the 'no presents'…" Instead of finishing the sentence he told her to follow him. They went into the library. Angelina looked asking at Montague when he took out two books from the shelves.
"I thought since you like to do everything Christmas-related without magic so much, you'd like to wrap them up yourself. I don't have any Christmas paper, so you'll probably still have to use magic for that…"
Angelina looked down at the two books in her hands. She knew both of them very well. One of them had been the very first book her mother had used to read to her from. It was also the book she had used to read to Emily: It was 'The magical fairytales'.
The other book she knew probably even better than the first one. She couldn't remember how often she had held the book in her hands and read it. She looked up at Montague who was watching her reaction closely.
"If that head of the orphanage really thinks to keep telling the boy that Quidditch is nonsense he might one day believe it himself!" he said and pushed his hands in his pockets. Angelina smiled down at the copy of 'Quidditch through the ages' in her hands.
"He will love it." She whispered. Montague nodded once and cleared his throat.
"You better bring them in your room before they see it. Would ruin the surprise."
No it was Angelina's turn to nod and she turned around and went into her room, not sure if her heart felt lighter or heavier.