Belle and the rest of the team and I then went to the kitchen, where Lumière and the others were, to tell them so, but Cogsworth's response was:

"Absolutely not!"

"Why not?" A group of wine glasses, er, well, whined.

"Out of the question, not a chance," Cogsworth continued as he walked along the counter he and the others were on. "Dream on, an impossibility, forget it."

"*Aww*, come on." The wine glasses whined again.

Actually it was pretty hard for most of the team and I to keep a straight face at that visual pun. The rest of the team just rolled their eyes.

"Suck in that gut!" Cogsworth ordered to a stein that was relaxing a little too well for his taste.

"Mon ami get with the spirit." Lumière said before jabbing Cogsworth in the back in a friendly way. "Unwind."

"Oh dear." Cogsworth muttered since the jab caused Cogsworth's clock hands to spin out of control.

"Come on love, have a heart." Mrs. Potts added as she was being cleaned.

"Yeah come on." The wine glasses whined.

"No, no," Cogsworth said as he stopped his clock hands by holding his nose with a finger. "And…let me think…."

Lumière, the wine glasses, Ron W, Hermione and the team and I looked at him hopefully….

"No!" Cogsworth snapped, causing us to look disappointed. "This is where I put my foot down."

And he did…in a container of a glue-like substance. A dish brush decided to slide it under Cogsworth as a prank.

"Wait…get outta…go…." Cogsworth grumbled as he tried to free his foot.

"You know, I've heard of dogwood but never crab-wood." Numbuh 274 joked.

"See here…." Cogsworth was about to retort.

"Yeah, say Cogsworth, were you carved from a stick-in-the-mud?" I teased.

The combination my insult along with Numbuh 274's caused practically all of us to crack up, especially Lumière.

"NOW CUT THAT OUT!" Cogsworth snapped, cutting off our laughter. "As I was about to explain, the master has forbidden Christmas." Cogsworth said after calming down.

He also was trying to kick the glue container off his foot, but that only resulted in him falling down.

"Oh dear me." He muttered as Lumière, the wine glasses and most of the rest of us chuckled.

"Forbid Christmas?" Belle repeated as she was wiping down a pan. "No one can forbid Christmas."

"Yeah," I agreed. "That'd be like trying to move the Earth with just a stick."

As an example, I conjured up a stick and tried to move the ground. I only succeeded in breaking the stick in half.

"See?" I shrugged.

"Exactly." Rip agreed. "It's stupid."

"The master doesn't wished to be reminded of his past and Christmas is a most painful reminder of it." Cogsworth explained.

"What does Harry say?" James asked.

"Nothing, he rarely says anything around this time of year, but I'm sure that he too doesn't want to be reminded of the past." Cogsworth said. "I, for one, do not wish to torture them."

"I, for one, think a little Christmas cheer will do them some good." Belle replied.

"Make that 'for two'." I agreed.

"Yeah." The glasses agreed.

"The girls are right," Lumière agreed. "It is up to us to do something."

"Gosh!" Cogsworth gasped, almost losing his balance along the edge of the counter, before he argued: "It's not our place to get involved! No, no, no, no! We just can't mind our own beeswax can we? Just have to stick our wick where it doesn't belong."

Speaking of doing that, Lumière set Cogsworth's butt on fire. Cogsworth leapt into the air with a scream and landed in a pot of soapy water where some dishes were getting clean. Lumière and the glasses looked down and laughed. Most of my friends and I chuckled too.

"Oh, humiliating." Cogsworth muttered, slumping over the edge of the pot.

Well, at least it got the glue container off his foot.

"Pish-posh." Mrs. Potts scoffed. "I think it's a wonderful idea."

"But the masters don't want it." Cogsworth argued as he climbed out of the pot. "Their castle, their rules."

"It's not fair." Chip whined.

"He's right, it's not fair." The wine glasses whined.

"Don't whine glasses." Cogsworth sighed exasperatedly.

"Sorry." The wine glasses whined.

I fell over laughing, I couldn't hold it in any longer. Most of the team either rolled their eyes in amusement or facepalmed, though a few laughed too. Especially Numbuh Two.

"I can't stand it I can't stand it!" I cracked up.

After a few minutes I managed to calm down enough to get back to the problem at hand.

"Cogsworth, you are a real tight-wound." I frowned. "As for me I'm celebrating Christmas no matter what."

"Sure, and offend the masters." Cogsworth frowned back.

"Look at us," Mrs. Potts sighed sadly. "Squabbling and bickering. Breaks my heart to see it, it does. And we used to be at our very best at Christmas. Why we used to prepare a feast for the entire castle."

"Ah, you could have some stuffed turkey." Lumière smiled, apparently getting an idea on getting Cogsworth to give in.

"Cranberry sauce." Belle added.

"Shortbread cookies." Chip added.

"Mince pies." Lumière added.

"Potatoes." Mrs. Potts added. "Gravy."

"And Christmas pudding!" Lumière finished.

"Uh, pudding?" Cogsworth repeated, suddenly interested. "With, with custard?"

"What do you think we are, barbarians?" Lumière scoffed as the whine glasses gasped. "Of course with custard! And raisins, and brandy, and all those things you like."

Cogsworth, meanwhile, was panting and slurping. When Lumière finished Cogsworth had to try very hard not to give in…but he couldn't resist.

"All right." Cogsworth said reluctantly.

"Yes!" Chip cheered.

The rest of us cheered too, and a few of us pumped a fist.

"But if the masters find out about this they will be furious!" Cogsworth pointed out. "So everybody keep quiet."

"Come on! What are we waiting for, Christmas?" Lumière said excitedly.

"Good heavens we don't have much time, it's Christmas Eve!" Cogsworth realized.

"I'll see to the dinner." Mrs. Potts said.

"I'll get some mistletoe." Lumière said as he practiced with an herb leaf and a whine glass.

"We need to brighten this place up." Belle said.

"Belle, I know someone who will help." Lumière said as he hopped off the counter.

"Now, now, wait for me." Cogsworth said. "I'm in charge here, I'm in charge…."

We all had already left.

"Wait for me!" Cogsworth cried, running after us.