Door 24

Father Christmas looked down at the two sleeping children on the couch.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked when Samuel's eyes opened slowly. Samuel sat up immediately and stared at him.

"Are you the real one?"

Father Christmas laughed and ran his hand through his beard.

"I should hope so." He replied, his eyes twinkling.

"So, why aren't you in bed Samuel?"

"I wanted to thank you!" Samuel said and beamed up at Father Christmas. The old man nodded slowly.

"So you like your present?"

"Oh yes! I couldn't have wished for better parents!"

Father Christmas laughed good-heartily and nodded again.

"Now go back to sleep."

Samuel nodded and laid his head back onto the armrest of the couch. As soon as his head touched it he was fast asleep again.

Father Christmas watched the siblings a bit longer before he turned to face the door to the living room. He walked to Angelina and Montague who were standing there together.

"I have something for you." Father Christmas said and reached into his bag.

"It took quite some time to find it!" he said while he looked at Montague. Montague looked confused until Father Christmas pulled an old-looking broom out of his bag.

"This is the fastest broom ever made. It has been made in 1146 and it's a single copy. So take good care of it, you won't get another one."

Montague stared down at the broom in his hands, then he looked back at Father Christmas.

"I… Thank you." He finally said. Father Christmas smiled at him and pulled the letter Montague had written him as a child out of his pocket. The letter turned into some glittery powder in Father Christmas' hand. Then he pulled out another envelope and looked at Angelina.

"I understand." She smiled at him. She knew the letter in his hand very well. She had written it herself when she was eleven. Just in the year before she had come to Hogwarts. She had thought that the wish had just been an impossible one and thus the perfect one to do as a last Christmas wish as a child.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to see my name written all over it although you brought it to me only months after that Christmas."

Father Christmas laughed again.

"Are you really sure you want to keep this one? Because now is the last chance to get a replacement."

Angelina shook her head and snuggled closer to Montague.

"I'll keep that one. Thank you very much."

Father Christmas nodded at her and winked before the envelope in his hand turned into the glittery powder as well.

"Good night then. And Merry Christmas!" And with that he walked to the fireplace and disappeared through it.

"What did you wish for?" Montague asked her.

Angelina bit her lip and smiled as she turned to look into his eyes.

"I wished for the perfect man." She whispered. Montague grinned broadly when he put his arms around her waist.

"I could have told you that I'm perfect. It really took you a long time to figure that out!"

Angelina rolled her eyes at him and shook her head.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you're not perfect. And I didn't ask for any perfect man. I asked for the perfect man for me!"

He smiled tenderly at her and ran his thumb over her cheek.

"Merry Christmas" Angelina whispered and brought her arms around his neck, pulling his head closer to her.

"Merry Christmas Angel." He murmured against her lips before they sank into a kiss that told them just how perfect everything was going to be from now on.

So, and here ends our story. And I see, it is also time for you to go, for you surely want to be home in time for the festivities. Come, I'll bring you to the door. Oh, it is snowing again. So we really have a white Christmas, that's good.

Yes, well, there's not much left for me to do. Actually, there's only one thing left for me to do and that is to wish you all Merry Christmas. And so I'll do just that:

Merry Christmas

Joyeux Noël

Frohe Weihnachten

Feliz Navidad

Gledileg Jol

Hyvaa Joulua

Linksmu Kaledu

Mele Kalikimaka

God Jul