It was December 13th, 2021, and Alicia Spinet was just returning home from the hospital.
Alicia had been hospitalized with a severe case of COVID-19 but had managed to get through it.
Alicia quietly let herself into her home.
She wasn't married, so it was just her who lived there.
When Alicia entered her living room, she spotted, in the corner, something that had definitely not been there when she had gone into the hospital.
It was an artificial Christmas tree, fully decorated with lights and ornaments, though the lights needed to be plugged in to light up.
Carefully approaching this tree, Alicia took a close look at what kind of ornaments were on it.
it had the typical kinds of ornaments: Christmas balls of assorted colors, snowmen, reindeer, trees, candy canes, Santas, packages, bows etc.
But, mixed in with the Christmassy ornaments were several ornaments that would never have appeared on a Christmas tree in the muggle world.
These ornaments represented things related to Quidditch: Bludgers, Golden Snitches, Quidditch hoops, racing brooms, and multiple Quaffles.
Alicia grinned at the Quaffles. She loved Quidditch and had been an elite Chaser for Gryffindor in her Hogwarts years. She was now an elite Chaser for the BallyCstle bats.
"SURPRISE!" yelled a familiar voice from Alicia's hallway.
Alicia turned around to see a very familiar looking tall African American girl standing in her hallway.
'ANGELINIA!" yelled Alicia, "It's wonderful to see you again."
"It's wonderful to see you too, " smiled Angelina, "I'm so grateful that you made it through okay. "
"My case could easily have gone the other way; I easily could have died. I'm lucky to alive."
"Like my tree?" grinned Angelina.
"It was you? choked up Alicia, a few tears come down her cheeks, "You bought and decorated a Christmas tree for me while I was still in the hospital?"
"I did," said Angelina humbly, "After what you went through, I wanted to give you some cheer to come home too. The tree is an artifical tree so it can be kept and reused in future years."
"Sweet," piped up Alicia, "But don't feel sorry for me. Millions of people have died from COVID-19. I'm one of the lucky ones since I was able to survive a severe case."
"Perspective was never lost on you, Alicia, " said Angelina respectfully, "I remember one time at Hogwarts when Harry was pissed at himself for losing to Hufflepuff and you didn't give a damn about loss, first because you thought we'd lost Harry and later because you were so relived he was still alive that you knew that the result of the match was pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things."
"Harry had fallen FIFTY feet from an airborne broomstick," remembered Alicia, shuddering as she did so, "it was so scary."
"That was a dark day," said Angelina sadly.
"No, it wasn't, ' Alicia corrected her, "It had the POTENTIAL to be a very dark day, but Harry made it in the end, just like I did now."
"At any rate, " continued Angelina, "Let's bring some light into the room."
Angelina went and plugged the tree in.
It lit up with a set of Christmas lights that alternated between scarlet and gold.
"Gryffindor colors!" smiled Alicia in a satisfied voice, "What a beautiful touch. Adding the Quidditch ornaments along with the usual Christmas ornaments was a nice touch too."
"I'm glad you like it," said Angelina warmly.
"Angelina, " said Alicia sincerely, "Thank you. Thank you so for much for preparing this wonderful surprise for me. This act of kindness on your fact has added light, warmth, and cheer to my return home. As has your presence of course. I assume you can in via the Floo?"
"Yes," confirmed Angelina simply.
Angelina and Alicia both looked at the tree for a bit, quietly taking it in.
Angelina preparing the tree for Alicia had been a beautiful gesture of friendship.
Suddenly, Angelina and Alicia just looked at each other and both burst into song:
"We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"