December 7 - Movie Night
"What is this?" Draco held up a plastic box with a drawing of a green creature in a red suit on the cover. "Is this where I learn about what a Grinch is?"
"Of course," Harry replied.
"How does it work? I opened the box and another plastic box came out but I couldn't open it."
"You're not supposed to."
"This is clearly a Muggle thing, so how does it work?"
Harry chuckled, "Sorry, I don't mean to laugh but honestly though I know what it is and how to make it work I don't actually know all of the background on how it works."
"Which means what exactly?"
"It means I can tell you the basics but not go in depth. It's like I can tell you what happens when you combine certain ingredients for a potion, but I can't necessarily tell you why it works that way. I don't understand why certain ingredients react the way they do with each other. Or maybe I can tell you that if you do a certain wand movement for a spell it will work, but I can't tell you why it has to be that movement."
"That makes sense. So, tell me."
Harry shook his head, "Not right now. Just hold on to that and we'll get to it later today. First, I want to stop the kids from eating the candy that came out of their calendars today."
"You didn't spell it not to open like we did the calendars."
"No, I didn't think to."
"You'd better hurry then or they won't be eating breakfast and they'll be running around like loons hopped up on sugar, then they'll crash and we won't get them to do any work today."
Harry nodded and took off down the stairs.
It wasn't until lunch that any of the children asked about the special thing for the day.
"We're not doing anything special until after dinner. So you'll just have to wait and see."
"Is that why we had to wait to eat our candy?" Michael wanted to know.
"Yes, and that's all I'm going to say about that."
Draco looked at the other man. "I'm guessing it also has to do with my special present this morning."
"Yes, and that's all I'm going to say about that."
"I thought so."
Both men ignored and redirected the children several times throughout the day though Draco's own curiosity increased as the day went on.
At dinner that evening Harry was peppered by question after question he sidestepped each one. As the last dish was cleared from the table he clapped his hands for attention.
"We are going to start watching Christmas movies a few evenings a week."
"You've mentioned movies before," Draco said. "They require electricity which you said doesn't work around magic so where are we going for this because we can't do it here?"
"That would be a part of the surprise,'' Harry replied with a wink. "Everyone follow me."
He stood and led the way up the stairs down the hall and into the drawing room with the children following behind like little ducklings and the other man being up the rear.
"Umm," Draco interjected. "Did you get rid of magic in this room? That would be a problem for the Floo and we need it."
"No," Harry answered, "be patient for just a second longer." He crossed the room to the large cabinet that stood against the inside wall. Reaching up he pressed something on the wall and the cabinet swung out into the room.
"Here we go," he gestured to an open doorway that had been hidden behind the cabinet. "This is our entrance into number 11."
"You bought it," Draco stated, shaking his head. "You bought the house next door. Of course, you did. It's so totally you to do a thing like that."
"Well yes. How else did you expect us to be able to do anything Muggle? We have to have a whole separate house for that or go to someone else's house like Hermione's parents. We're not traipsing over there all twelve of us. They wouldn't complain. Her mother would probably love it, just like Molly loves when we come to visit, but that's simply too much. I haven't done much with the rest of the house yet. I actually bought the place two years ago, but this room I worked on in just the past few weeks to get it ready for tonight."
Everyone crossed through the open doorway into the room on the other side. There they found a large screen on one wall and several rows of seats. Each row sat just a touch higher than the one before it. The chairs were all black velvet cushioned, double wide, and could recline.
"We now have our own personal movie theater," Harry said. "Draco, please say you brought the cassette I gave you.
"That thing from this morning?"
"Yes."
Draco held it up and passed it to Harry.
"This is a VHS tape. It's one way to watch movies. There are others. If you go to an actual movie theater I think they use a reel and now there's a thing called a DVD player but they aren't very common yet so it was easier to get all of the movies I wanted to watch on VHS. Normally you'd watch on a television and I will get one to keep here in this house, but for movies that we all want to watch, I thought we needed a bigger screen so I bought that. There is a projector attached to our VCR, don't ask how it all works I don't know. I had help from the bloke at the electronics store. He came and set it all up for me and showed me how to work it. I've tested it so I know it works."
"All of you will get a video in your calendar, each on a different day. On that day, we'll watch it. We're starting with Draco's. It's called 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.' It's an animated show rather than a full movie. If you will all sit down and I'll explain."
While the children found seats Harry stepped back into number 12, waved his wand, and brought all of the children's candy boxes from their calendars flying into the room to land in a stack on the sideboard next to the open door. He picked them up and began passing them through the door to each child.
"Today we're going to have candy. On other days we might have popcorn, especially when we watch a long movie. In the Muggle world, there aren't just actors and actresses who perform stories on a stage like in the wizarding world or perform them for the radio, the wireless, like we do in the wizarding world. You've heard some of those. Muggles also record those actors and actresses and their performances on a special camera."
"You've seen pictures, magical pictures and you know that people move in them. I showed you our Christmas card picture and everyone moves a little bit. When we take a picture in the magical world and develop it just right it shows a small moment in time, a few seconds. Muggle pictures are static. They don't move. It's like you froze a moment in time rather than a few seconds. Movie cameras record all of the movements for a much longer time. Some shows and movies are animated. It's like the books you have with pictures that move to match the page, except these pictures move to tell the whole story and there is talking and music. Ok, I think that's enough talking."
Harry took the videocassette from Draco and placed it in the VCR. He then turned down the lights and sat in his seat at the top of the room across the small aisle from the other man.
"Have you seen this before?" Draco asked.
"Yes," Harry whispered. "Hermione showed it to Ron and me a few years ago at her parents place. Now, sh."
The room lit up as the colorful characters of Who-ville filled the screen singing and dancing and playing with toys. The Grinch grumbled and moaned and complained. As the show continued Harry found himself humming along with the Grinch song and looking over the children who were sticking their tongues out at the screen or frowning. He also shot a glance over to Draco to see the man staring intently, then went back to watching the children clap and cheer as the Grinch saved the sled full of toys and went flying back down into the center of Who-ville. When the show ended Harry turned up the lights and discovered most of the children had not even touched their candy they'd been so involved in the show.
"Okay," he asked. "Do we like movies? Would we like to see more?"
His answer was a chorus of yeses. He smiled and sent the children back into number 12 with the promise that it wouldn't be long before they watched another show.
"It was just like you said," Draco observed. "It was like children's book illustrations come to life, but they continued on and on and they talked and they sang."
"Does that mean you liked it?"
"It was interesting," Draco replied, "I'd like to see more, I'd like to see one with actual people."
"I have a few of those that will watch."
"Good. I do see the similarities you mentioned between the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge. It's almost like it was the same story but for children instead."
"Similar with the grouchy person who hates Christmas changing their mind by the end of the story, but not the same," Harry said. "That cartoon has been around for a long time. A full-length movie version with real people in costumes is out now. I haven't seen that one yet."
"Did you buy it so we can watch it?"
"Not yet, do you think I should?"
"I think we should have both so that we can compare them and decide which we like better."
Harry chuckled, "Okay then I'll see if I can find it when I go shopping. The kids may not be able to sit still through the whole thing in one sitting. It's over an hour long."
"Then maybe we should watch it just the two of us."
"We could do that."
"You're going shopping tomorrow, right?
"Yes. Ginny will be here to help you with the children."
"I think Theo might be coming over as well. We'd better head over there and make sure the children are getting ready for bed."
Harry nodded in agreement. When they'd stepped through the door back into Number Twelve Grimmauld Place Harry slid the cabinet back in place.
"You made sure they can't reach that button?"
"Absolutely, I don't want them wandering the house over there by themselves. Would you like me to show you where it is so you can go over if you need to or want to for any reason?"
"I watched you. I think I could get it, but I'm not worried about it right now. We only need to be there together."
"That works, because I think I'm going to hide their presents over there in one of the rooms."
"That's a good idea. If you want to tell me what room you're using I could use a different one."
"I'll do that after I get back tomorrow, and I'll make sure that I mark one of the doors so you know it's one not to go into."
"If it matches the setup of this house, I mean if that house has the same layout this one does just mirrored," Draco suggested, "you could simply use the room that is your room and I could use the one that's mine."
"Good idea. Let's do that."
"Done."