Hi! So, I know I haven't updated anything in centuries, but I'm getting there. I should have the next Animum chapter up by New Year's. And this is a little tradition I'm starting. Essentially, this fic will always be updated on Christmas every year. It will be set on the Polar Express and will contain at least one Harry Potter character and possibly another crossover character. See if you can spot the crossover in this chappie!
On a sadder note, I once again missed my deadline. Of course this time it was only by one hour...maybe that means I'll make it next year...
I don't own anything!
The Polar Express, mark 2 (in the past)
A girl with wispy reddish-blonde hair lay in bed staring at the ceiling. It was Christmas Eve, but this young lady had never had much of a Christmas. After the third time she blew up all the presents from excitement her mother had begun having a separate Christmas with her after her brothers went back to school. Despite the late hour the girl was quite wide awake. She hummed absently as she continued to direct her empty stare at the ceiling.
As she lay there a curious thing began to happen. Her room was bare of trinkets and toys, but the glass of water always by her bedside began rattling in its coaster. The girl blinked. The whole house seemed to be shaking, and she presently heard a quick THUD-thud-thud-thud-THUD-thud-thud-thud that seemed to vibrate in her very bones. The girl sat up, curious.
The noise was slowing down as lights flashed past her window. She followed the moving lights with her eyes, staring open-mouthed at the strange sight. The girl scrambled out of bed; pulling on the wool over-robe she put on the few times her mother or Abe took her outside. She pushed at the door of her bedroom. It creaked open slowly, and she snuck out, glancing around worriedly. Her mother would not be happy if she was caught…
She made her way slowly to the front door of their little house. The shaking and loud thudding noise was still present, and soon her curiosity overpowered her fear of the unknown. The fragile girl pulled open the door and her jaw dropped again.
There was an enormous thing right outside her front door. 'Train,' her mind supplied from a dim memory of accompanying her oldest brother to his first year at school. This train was black, though, instead of the eye-searing red of the Hogwarts Express. It was trimmed in dark red and glimmering silver. Behind the engine and a dark compartment were two brightly lit cars in which she could see children running and playing. She could just make out the words Polar Express emblazoned on the side.
The girl stood gazing wide-eyed at the locomotive. She heard a shout. "All Abooooaaaard!"
A man was emerging from the mist, coming from near the front of the train. He was stooped with age and had bushy white sideburns that rather reminded her of the red ones she could dimly remember her father sporting, and he wore a blue uniform with the word Conductor on his blue hat.
"All Abooooaaaard!" he shouted again, coming to a halt by the entrance to the brightly lit car at the end of the train. The girl slowly approached the conductor, coming to a halt a safe distance away and twisting her hair nervously around her fingers.
The man's eyes seemed to rest on her form with surprise. He stood looking at her for a few minutes, but then shook himself and asked, "Well? Are you coming?"
She took a step backwards, staring at him with wide frightened eyes. "Coming?"
"Yes," he said, gentling his previously strident tone. "If you like, you can come on a trip. We'd have you back by morning, of course."
"A trip?" the girl parroted again. "Where?"
The conductor smiled gently at her. "To the North Pole of course, my dear. This is the Polar Express!" he exclaimed, lifting his arms as if to encompass the entire train.
The man lowered his hands and smiled at the girl again. "So do you want to come? This is an once-in-a-lifetime trip."
The girl bit her lip uncertainly, a slight breeze sending a chill through her body as she stood in front of the strange man. 'What would be the harm?' she reasoned to herself. 'I wouldn't be surprised if this is all another hallucination, but so what if it is? I've been locked at home my whole life; I deserve an adventure for once.' Her resolve firm, she nodded to the conductor. He smiled, leading her to the doors of the train.
"Welcome aboard, miss," he said, giving her a courtly bow. "Watch your step," he added as the girl grasped the hand the conductor was offering her to help her aboard the rearmost train car. He hopped up after her and bowed her through the second set of doors that led into the compartment.
The brightly lit compartment was lined on both sides with red seats and a narrow path wet down the center. There were children of all ages in the car, and of all nationalities and skin colors too, but the girl noticed self-consciously that she was clearly the oldest child there. Of the ones she could see there didn't seem to be anyone older than ten or eleven. Some of the children were quietly staring out the windows while others jumped around, chatting and playing. There was a small group singing a song about the Polar Express.
She sat down cautiously on a bench at the back of the compartment. None of the other children looked hostile, and they were all smaller than her as well, but she was still wary. She hadn't been around other children besides her older brothers since before.
"Hi there!"
Her head jerked back, bumping against the back of the red seat. The exuberant voice belonged to a cheerful looking Asian boy with gravity-defying dark brown hair who was peering over the back of his seat at her.
"I'm Yoshimune. What's your name?"
The girl's mouth worked wordlessly, her eyes impossibly wide. Yoshimune deflated a bit. "Aah~ sorry if I startled you. My mother always says I'm too excitable," he said with a chagrined expression.
"It's okay," she said in an almost inaudible voice.
Yoshimune's wide grin returned. "So you can talk! Can you tell me your name?"
She nodded timidly. "I…I'm Ariana Dumbledore," the girl said shyly.
Yoshimune laughed. "Wow! That's almost more of a mouthful than my name!" Ariana grinned shyly at him.
"Isn't this great, though? I mean; a magic train!" Yoshimune exclaimed.
Ariana, growing a bit more confident in the younger child's irrepressible enthusiasm, nodded happily. "It's beautiful," she said. "And this time I'm actually on the magic train," she said with feeling. It had been horrible, watching Al and then Abe go off to school and knowing that she wouldn't be able to follow them. Following the outburst Ariana had after seeing Abe off to his first year, their mother had decided to stop bringing Ariana to the train station. The family preferred to keep their only daughter as calm as possible.
Yoshimune looked curious. "You've seen a magic train before?" he asked.
Ariana nodded. "My brothers are wizards. They attend a magical school up north somewhere, and they have to ride a train to get there."
"Are you not a wizard, then?" Yoshimune asked, fascinated.
Ariana giggled in spite of the pang his innocent question brought. "It would be witch, thank-you very much. I am a witch, but my magic is…broken."
"Broken?"
She nodded, keeping her eyes on her hands. "Something bad happened when I was little. I don't remember it, and nobody will tell me what happened, but now my magic is…strange. It breaks things and hurts things any time it comes out. I don't really like my magic anymore." Ariana felt horribly sad as she explained in a quiet voice.
Yoshimune was slack-jawed. "That's awful." He then shook himself a bit like the neighbor's dogs did to rid themselves of water. "Enough of gloomy stuff. It's Christmas! Let's talk about something happy." He then began chattering about how his big sister (who worked in Italy) was home for Christmas, and how she had promised to teach him to shoot with "a real, live gun!" Ariana was only required to nod and smile and make little comments whenever Yoshimune paused for breath. She found that she rather liked the strange boy.
The train continued chugging along, making a few more stops to pick up children. Every time the train would stop all the children would crowd the windows and try to see if they had reached their destination yet. So far they had all been disappointed, and Ariana was starting to wonder just how long this train ride was going to be.
The highlight so far had been passing a muggle toy store. Ariana had stared out the window fascinated by all the strange muggle inventions. Some, like toy trains and dolls, she recognized, but some of the other toys were new and strange to her. Yoshimune liked the store too.
"This is the place my big sister buys gifts for me from! They make the best toys!"
Ariana smiled shyly again. "I don't get many toys. I kept melting them or blowing them up when I was little so Mama stopped buying them. Now she just gives me sweets and flowers for my birthday and other holidays."
Yoshimune seemed vaguely uncomfortable. "Well, that's nice."
Ariana nodded. "Yes. I'm a bit too old for toys now anyway, so I didn't mind when she stopped giving them to me."
Yoshimune looked affronted. "You're never too old for toys!" he protested. The Asiatic boy paused. "How old are you, anyway?"
"I just turned fourteen," Ariana told him with a smile.
The little boy next to Yoshimune, who had been not-so-subtly listening in on the pair's conversation, was flabbergasted. "You're fourteen?" he demanded. "I thought you were just tall. Aren't you too old to do this? Most big kids don't believe in Santa anymore."
Ariana huffed a bit. "I know. My older brother Albus keeps going on about how Father Christmas is just a child's tale. As for my age…" she gave the two boys a bitter smile. "Let's just say that whatever happened when I was little didn't just damage my magic."
The stunned and abashed silence that followed her statement was broken by the conductor's brisk voice. "Tickets!" he called out. The man was clicking a hole-puncher. "Tickets, please. Tickets!" The conductor stopped in front of Ariana after punching Yoshimune's and that of the boy next to him. "Ticket, please," he said in a quieter tone.
Ariana frowned. "I don't have a ticket," she said confusedly.
"I would suggest checking your pocket," the conductor told her in a business-like tone.
The girl reached into her over-robe pocket and her hand brushed paper. Startled, she grasped the foreign object and pulled it out. The magic was clearly visible as it came into existence as the golden ticket left her pocket. It was quite large, and had the words Polar Express—Round Trip on the front with a picture of the train on the back.
Ariana stared at it in awe for a moment before handing it to the conductor, who gave her a "Thank you, miss" as he took it from the pale girl. The conductor held the ticket up and brandished his hole-puncher. He attacked the ticket with a vengeance, littering small round holes of paper all over the teen as the man mutilated her ticket.
"Thank you, miss," the conductor repeated as he handed the ticket back to Ariana. The man then jumped in alarm and raced to the front of the car, shouting, "That is an alarm to alert the engineers to trouble. Do not touch that!"
Ariana giggled a bit as he left and then inspected her ticket. The conductor had punched the holes in the shape of two letters, each at either end of her ticket: a L at one end and an E at the other.
"That conductor fellow is really talented with that hole-punch of his," Yoshimune said with a grin. "Look at what he punched in my ticket." Instead of letters the boy had a Japanese character at one end of the card. "I wonder if he'll finish the word later," he said curiously.
Ariana shrugged, grinning. She had no idea what her word could be.
The conductor interrupted the children for a second time. "Would everyone," he said sharply, staring down the rows of chairs at the dozens of children "take your seats, please!"
"Thank you," he rumbled out when they all complied. After a moment, the train began speeding up again, and the conductor picked up a bull horn from the ground.
"Your attention, please," he said, his voice distorted and amplified by the horn. "Are there any Polar Express passengers in need of refreshment?"
Every hand in the car went up. "Me! Me! I want some!" the children called out. Yoshimune was particularly vocal in his pleas, but Ariana just raised her hand and waited patiently.
The conductor nodded. "I thought so." He stepped to the side and slid the door open, making way for eight smartly dressed waiters who were—tap dancing?
The next several moments were a blur of activity and music as the waiters slid the children's seats around so that they were facing one another. Each waiter pulled off his spotless white apron, which turned into a table between every pair of seats.
Ariana and the others stared open-mouthed as the waiters danced around passing out cups and saucers into which was poured a steaming brew of the most delicious hot chocolate they had ever tasted. She was grinning along with the other children at the infectious atmosphere created by the sight of singing, acrobat waiters and chefs. The conductor even sang along in a cheerful bass from his spot at the front of the train. The man was a much better singer than Albus, Ariana thought.
The children finished their hot chocolate and chocolate-chip biscuits happily while watching the show the waiters and cooks were putting on. Ariana was convinced that the cooks in their tall white hats couldn't possibly be human. Nobody was that flexible, and their hats hadn't even fallen off either. The waiters and chefs left in a flurry of activity — righting chairs and removing their apron-tables as they exited to the front of the car, followed closely by the conductor, who slid the compartment door shut behind him.
Silence reigned for a moment in the car, and then quiet babble filled the car again. "That," Yoshimune said with feeling, "was the best hot chocolate I've ever had." Ariana nodded happily in agreement. She had been a bit skeptical and apprehensive of the trip at first, but it was turning out to be more than wonderful. This trip was the best experience of her life, and Ariana was becoming very excited for what else would be in store for her and her new (first!) friend.
Yoshimune was chattering again, and Ariana smiled and nodded happily, nearly bouncing in her seat as the cheerful and effervescent personality that a group of muggle boys had nearly killed when she was six began to resurface once more. The girl almost didn't recognize herself, and happiness welled in her like a balloon.
Then she felt something else begin to rise and she froze. The bubble of happiness popped. Her eyes went wide and she began to shake. 'Hold it in…hold it in…' she told herself frantically, her fear rising. Ariana had seen what her outbursts did to magical objects—they were the reason her family didn't have a Floo, and why she wasn't allowed into Al or Abe's bedrooms. Her rages could even erode wards; the girl definitely didn't want to see what an outburst would do to an enchanted train with a possibly magical crew.
"Ariana?" Yoshimune asked uncertainly, breaking through her panicked haze.
""My magic…" she managed to grit out.
The boy's eyes widened. "Why don't we go outside? My mother always said that fresh air helps calm everything down." Ariana barely managed a nod, but Yoshimune didn't wait for an answer, jumping out of his seat instantly and helping the once again fragile-looking girl out onto the platform at the rear of their car.
She gripped the cold metal rail tightly, feeling the magic swirl and rise around her, trying to detect any threats to her well-being. The girl heard a tentative voice from behind her. "Ar-Ariana?" Her magic welled protectively, trying to defend its host from the perceived threat.
"Ariana?" he asked again.
"G-get away from me!" she shouted out, suddenly furious at everything. Her magic rose even fiercer with her anger, and Ariana was suddenly afraid that her magic—her horrible, awful, cursed witchcraft—would kill her very first friend. Her magic exploded and strong arms engulfed her.
"You need to calm down, sweetheart," a grating voice said. Ariana's magic was visible in the air, forming a light show that was beautiful, yet still felt deadly, but it didn't attack. It didn't destroy.
Ariana raised her eyes to see an unkempt man in grungy clothes holding her tightly. "Unhand me, poltergeist," she commanded, her voice and understanding enhanced by magic.
"No can do little lady. Not until you calm down," he told her.
The girl's magic surged repeatedly, but they did no harm and each was weaker than the last. After several tense moments her form went limp and the magic in the air vanished completely. She stumbled a bit, but the train hopped caught her. Ariana looked up at him with wide eyes, clutching his grimy coat in one hand. She then buried her face in his chest as she began to cry.
"Is she alright now?" Yoshimune asked in a small voice. He had retreated to the car door when Ariana had begun acting strangely angry and violent, but had been unwilling to abandon his friend.
"She'll be fine," the poltergeist wheezed. Ariana let out a sob.
"They're getting worse and worse," she whimpered.
The vagabond patted her head. "That was pretty strong. Your friend's lucky to be alive."
Yoshimune's jaw dropped. "What?"
"Oh, yeah. You're lucky her magic didn't blast you straight off the train—or stop your heart where you stood. It saw you as a threat, see, and if there's one thing magic is good at, it's protecting from threats."
Ariana sniffled. "But every rage is worse and worse. My rages have given me magical exhaustion before. What if they use all my energy up?"
"Magic doesn't usually kill its wielder," the poltergeist countered.
Ariana stared down at her hands still clutching his coat. "But it does sometimes. When I'm all filled up with magic I see things, sometimes. My family has Seer blood. My brothers aren't that good at predictions themselves — Abe isn't really powerful, and Al can only confirm the accuracy of something he hears instead of predicting himself, but I think if my magic wasn't broken I could probably be a decent Seer."
She raised her head to look at the man. "I won't be alive next Christmas," she whispered. "What could cause it if not my magic?"
Yoshimune was horrified. "You're going to die?" he shouted. Ariana nodded solemnly. She had resigned herself to it several weeks prior after another rage (in which she destroyed her bed…again) had made her see a vision of her own funeral — at age fourteen.
"That's why I came on the train," she said. "I don't care about seeing Father Christmas, not really. I've been locked up and hidden away my whole life to keep me from being put in a madhouse. I just wanted to do something real before I die."
The hobo man was looking at Ariana with a strange sort of respect in his eyes. "Well I think that deserves a treat," he said softly.
Ariana and Yoshimune both frowned, confused. "What?" Yoshimune asked.
"How would you two," the vagabond said just as softly, "like to see the engine? They won't be upset; they're used to strange things happening on this old rattler."
Yoshimune looked astonished, but Ariana smiled. She had wanted an adventure. "I'd love to," she said.
POLAR-EXPRESS
The climb upwards was perilous, but filled Ariana with a strange sort of thrill. Yoshimune climbed up above her, the vagabond down below in case she slipped. The wind and snow was whirling in her face, and when she reached the train roof she had to wade through knee-deep snow that had settled on top of the train compartments. She noticed that the strange man/ghost was gone.
"Where…where did he go?" Yoshimune asked. Ariana shook her head, sinking down into the snow. She was shivering and wishing that she had brought a cloak instead of just her over-robe.
The poltergeist materialized again in front of the two children, suddenly sporting a pair of skis.
"Come on, kids!" he shouted over the howling wind. "There's no sitting down atop the Polar Express!" he shouted. "We gotta jump them knuckles." He maneuvered himself until his back was to the boy and girl and he gestured to the two of them. "Flip my shoulders, now. Come on. Here, grab my lily." He held out a hand.
Ariana grasped it and he swung her over his head and onto the skis in front of him without any problems. "Now you, kid," he said, grasping Yoshimune's hand and pulling the boy up onto his shoulders. "We gotta hightail it to the hog, pronto."
"To the hog?" the Japanese boy yelled back, confused.
"The engine. The engine, you tenderfoot," he replied testily as he began to walk forward with Yoshimune up on his head. The boy muttered in annoyance about strange American slang. The vagabond smiled in amusement, but explained "We gotta make the engine before we hit Flat Top Tunnel."
"Why is that?" Ariana shouted back from her position on his feet.
The man rolled his eyes. "There is but one inch of clearance between the roof of this rattler and the roof of Flat Top Tunnel. Savvy?"
He looked back down. "Let's get on our way, kids. Ready for the ride of your life, girlie?" Ariana grinned, but suddenly they were sliding backwards. Yoshimune flew off the man's shoulders, barely catching the top rail of the ladder at the back of the car.
"Get back on, kid. Hurry! Here—grab my muck stick!" the vagabond shouted. Yoshimune did as instructed. Just as suddenly as before, he was flying through the air, only this time, he landed on the skis in front of Ariana and the man.
They were sliding forward this time, jumping the skips in the train cars as they skied along the top of the locomotive. As they neared the front, the man said, "There's only one trick to this, kids. When I say "jump" you—JUMP!" The vagrant's voice trailed off as he disappeared, vanishing into the snowy night. Ariana hesitated for a moment, but Yoshimune didn't, and so the girl jumped after her friend. They tumbled downward, sliding through the shifting lumps of coal into the engine room.
The engineers looked up in surprise at the children gazing wide-eyed at them. One of the men was short and fat while the other was tall and thin and vaguely resembled Ariana's older brother. "What're you kids doing here?" the portly man asked.
Ariana blinked. "Your train's ghost said we could visit."
The two engineers looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay," the portly man said. "Did you want to try driving it, or something?"
"You'd let us drive the train?" Yoshimune asked eagerly.
Ariana intervened before the laid-back engineer could answer. "He probably ought to demonstrate first."
"Aww, it's not that hard. Even a kindigard'ner could do it," the taller man said calmly. "Here. This liddle lever here's the break, and that's the throttle…" He went through every part of the engine, finishing with, "And that dangly thing there is the whistle."
"The whistle?" Ariana said amusedly. She felt as though he'd left that one for last, as—
"Sure is. Wanna try it out?"
Yoshimune was practically bouncing in place. "Oh, can I?" When the engineer nodded he pulled down hard on the lever. The piercing train whistle sang out and the boy giggled. "I've wanted to do that my whole life!" he exclaimed, pulling it again.
"Now, now, give yer lady friend a turn…" the thin engineer began, but the other interrupted him.
"Trouble up ahead, bud!" he shouted. The fat man narrowed his eyes, trying to make out what he was seeing through the fog. When he recognized it his eyes widened. "Caribou! Stop the train!"
The other engineer pointed to the break. "Better pull it fast," he said, grinning a yellow-toothed smile at Ariana. She pulled the break and the train instantly began to stop. The two children fell to the floor and the engineers fell against the controls. Ariana heard the conductor dash into the engine room. "There can be no Christmas without the Polar Express arriving on time!" he shouted agitatedly. "Am I the only one who understands that?"
"But it's a caribou crossing," the fat engineer protested.
The conductor dashed to the window. "I don't see any caribou!" he exclaimed.
"Well, I saw 'em," the engineer answered firmly. "Mayhaps we should go to the front and check."
The conductor nodded slowly. "Maybe we should," he said.
POLAR-EXPRESS
The group of five looked with dismay at the hundreds and hundreds of caribou milling around over the tracks. "I make this herd to be at least a 100,000, maybe even a million. It's 'gon be hours before they clear this track!" the portly engineer said.
"A tough nut to crack!" the other engineer agreed.
"Aren't there any wizards on the train? Surely there's some sort of spell or something that can make them move?"
Three sets of eyes fixated on Ariana after her reasonable suggestion. "That," the conductor said, "is a very good idea." He turned to the engineers. "You two head back and tell Jonas to cast some sort of animal-repellant spell on the train. Maybe that will make them leave. We'll stay here to let you know when they've all gone."
The engineers agreed, and left swiftly. In no time at all they were moving again. The next part of the Polar Express's journey was the most amazing experience of Ariana's short life. Even when the train had gone out of control, she wasn't afraid—not really. Glacier Gulch was terrifying, but in an adrenaline-charged manner. It was wild and fantastic. She only became rather worried when the train began sliding over the frozen tracks, but the poltergeist had appeared and saved Yoshimune with a wink and a sly grin, and Ariana had given the man she was quickly beginning to suspect was the Polar Express's guardian spirit a little wave.
As the train reached safe tracks again, Ariana gazed back at the now un-frozen lake. It was beautiful in the moonlight, and she smiled. The train continued its upward climb as the two children followed the conductor down the roof of the locomotive back to their compartment. They arrived back just in time to see the Northern Lights light up the sky.
Both Yoshimune and Ariana were awed, and the rest of the children began babbling excitedly at the first glance of Santa's city atop the North Pole. Others began singing the Polar Express song again.
As the train slowed the conductor explained the whole purpose of bringing a group of children to the North Pole. The First Gift of Christmas… Ariana wondered what she could possibly ask for if she was chosen. It wasn't as if Father Christmas could fix her magic or free her father from prison, and she wouldn't ever think to ask for toys or trinkets. They had no value to her with the knowledge of her approaching death. She leaned over to Yoshimune. "I hope you are the one chosen," Ariana whispered.
The boy turned to her, surprised. "You don't want it?" he asked her.
Ariana shook her head. "Why would I? I don't need any toys or presents. The only things I want not even Santa can give me. I want you to get it because you're brave and happy and you would enjoy a present like I couldn't." As she exited the train she didn't see Yoshimune stare after her in blank astonishment.
The children were lead to the town square amidst a crowd of chattering excited elves. There were strange furry creatures that the conductor said were yetis wandering around as well. The reindeer were led out to the sleigh to exuberant applause, and when the massive bag of presents was settled down on Santa's sleigh it elicited a hearty cheer from everyone present, and then — and then the bells were brought out.
It was the most beautiful sound Ariana had ever heard: like a million wind chimes mixed with phoenix song and the sound of fairy wings. All of the children were standing open-mouthed and bright-eyed, drinking in the sound as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered.
The spell was only broken when Father Christmas himself arrived. The children couldn't see him at first, but he made his way slowly and majestically down to them. The man was everything they had ever imagined him to be and more. He wore a red coat trimmed with not white, but dark fur. On his head was a square-ish cap of the same dark fur. His hair and beard were pure white, but his eyebrows were bushy and dark grey. His blue eyes were very kind.
"Greetings, children!" he shouted, throwing his arms wide. Some of the bolder ones (Yoshimune among them) sent back timid hello's. "Greetings, one and all, and let me be the first to say Merry Christmas!" This last shout elicited another cheer.
Santa spoke to one or two of the other children, and then stopped before Ariana. "The tragic child," he said, and a hush fell over the crowd. "Vould dat I could take your suffering from you, my dear."
Ariana smiled at him gently, because the man truly seemed heartbroken that he could do nothing for her. "I don't mind," she said. "This night has been the best of my life, sir. I have no regrets for my sad life."
"The ability to live vith no regrets is a great gift indeed," Father Christmas said solemnly. "And speaking of Gifts!" he said, shouting again. His hand came to rest on Yoshimune's shoulder. "Let's have dis young man here."
The children all gaped, disappointed, as the elves cheered and Ariana smiled serenely. The conductor nodded to Yoshimune with an approving smile on his face, and the Japanese boy followed Santa to the enormous sleigh. The old man effortlessly placed Yoshimune on his lap.
"Now," he said calmly. "Vat vould you like for Christmas?"
Yoshimune frowned, thinking very hard. He then whispered into the old man's ear. Santa sat up, visibly surprised "Yes. Indeed," he murmured. "Yes, indeed." Santa stood, guiding the boy to his feet as well.
"I must say," Father Christmas began, "That dis is de most selfless request that I have ever been given. Dis young man asked for a vay to always remember his good friend Ariana, even after she is gone. He did not ask for toys or trinkets, but instead dat a remarkable child would never be forgotten." He looked down at Yoshimune. "You vill find your Gift tomorrow morning. Guard it vell." Yoshimune nodded soberly, glancing over at the group of children. Ariana was gazing back, her eyes filled with tears.
Santa finished his speech with an almighty yell. "Dis is de First Gift of Christmaaaaaas!"
Above them, church bells began ringing out. Santa shook Yoshimune's hand. "Happy Christmas," he said, smiling down at him. The Japanese boy turned to see the conductor behind him. The conductor helped him down out of the sleigh and led Yoshimune back to the others. He stood with Ariana as Santa rallied his reindeer.
The man conjured a magical rainbow whip, cracking it above the reindeers' heads. "On Dasher! On Donner!" he cried, cajoling the reindeer trying desperately to pull the laden sleigh off the ground until finally, they did it! They flew a lap around the square, and Santa lit up the tree like a candle with a crack of his conjured whip before vanishing to begin his long night of gift-giving.
The scene around them devolved into a wild party as the conductor herded the twenty-or-so children back onto the train. Yetis and elves danced and jumped around. A group of elves sang wild renditions of Christmas carols as the yetis tried to keep order by regulating the music.
The conductor punched each child's ticket again as they reentered the train. "Ticket, please?" he asked Yoshimune. He handed it back to the boy with another Japanese character now punched in it.
Yoshimune smiled. "It says peace," he said.
"And goodwill to all," the conductor added. "Peace be to you, grandson of Vongola Primo."
The boy gaped a bit. "Uwha?"
The conductor laughed. "Don't worry. You will have peace in your life, at least." Yoshimune smiled timidly, not quite sure what the man was talking about, but he continued on and boarded the train. Ariana came up behind him.
The conductor's eyes softened. "And how has you Christmas been, miss?"
Ariana gave him a brilliant smile. "Fantastic." She handed him her ticket. Unlike the others, the conductor hid Ariana's behind his back, punching it without looking. He handed it back to the girl. The word "LIVE" was punched into it. "It says—" she began.
"Don't!" the man said sharply, before his face softened into a warm smile. "I'm not the one who needs to hear it." Ariana felt a smile grow on her face, and she nodded.
The ride home was a stark contrast to the action-packed journey she had already had, and Ariana was sad to find that Yoshimune was one of the first drop-offs in her compartment.
"I'll write you," she said tearfully. "As often as I can."
He looked confused. "How will you send me letters? And how will we read them? You can't read Japanese any more than I can read English."
Ariana gave him a sly grin. "My big brother's a genius. I'll trick him into doing a translation charm on two quills. He thinks I'm useless because I'm broken, so he doesn't notice when I get him to do things for me. I'll have one charmed to convert English writing to Japanese, and I'll send you the one spelled to do the opposite. That way we can write without having to worry about language barriers. The train and the North Pole are probably enchanted already, or we wouldn't be talking either."
Yoshimune nodded, "I figured." He looked at her for one long moment. "Well," he said hesitantly. "This is goodbye, I guess." He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Ariana cried out. Yoshimune turned back to her and the girl smiled sheepishly. "I forgot to ask your name."
The boy laughed. "I'm Yoshimune Sawada," he told her, "only grandson of the first Boss of the Vongola Famigila in Italy." And then he was gone.
Ariana's own arrival home was uneventful, and she collapsed into bed, not even remembering to remove her over-robe.
On Christmas evening Abe told her that there had been an unexpected present. "It's a portrait of you," he said. "Mum doesn't know where it came from. She didn't order it."
Ariana laughed. "Well I don't know," she said. That was true, though she did have a suspicion…
Her trick on Albus went as expected and soon she and Yoshimune were writing every time Ariana could sneak her mother's owl out of the house. He received a letter from his English friend at least once a week. He told her that his Gift from Father Christmas had been a portrait of her, confirming Ariana's suspicions about the gift to her family. In early spring her letter was laden with panic and guilty grief—one of her magical outbursts had killed her mother, and the overprotective sods that masqueraded as her brothers wouldn't even let her go to the funeral.
The letters decreased for a time after that, but by mid-summer they picked up again. And then they stopped.
It was a normal day like any other. Yoshimune had grown accustomed to Ariana's portrait, which he had hung in his study to avoid awkward questions—well, more than those he received Christmas Day, anyway. He had glanced at the portrait briefly as he entered the room, and then stopped dead. The boy stared unblinkingly into two blue eyes which had just blinked! The portrait of Ariana smiled.
"Hello, Yoshimune. Long time no see."
Roughly a century in the future
Harry Potter was sitting at breakfast during his first full day at Hogwarts. The sorting the previous night had been nerve-wracking, but he was sure he had made the right choice getting Gryffindor over Slytherin. One of his new dorm-mates sat down next to him. Harry blinked in surprise. It was Dean Thomas.
"Hey, Dean?" he asked casually.
"Yeah, Harry?"
Harry grinned. "You wouldn't happen to have a sister named Olivia, would you?"
Dean frowned. "Yeah…I…do, actually." His eyes narrowed at the other boy. "How…?"
Harry's grin widened. "We've been pen pals for over a year now. She was the first person I sent a letter to with the owl Hagrid bought me. I told her all about getting a letter for Hogwarts and she said that her older brother had too."
Dean was beyond startled. "Wow," he said in disbelief.
I know," Harry said. "Small world, right?"
*Three years later*
"Hey, Dean?" Harry asked.
The other boy had grown a bit closer to Harry since the other Gryffindor wrote regularly to his sister (who was oddly not upset at all that she had no magic like him), and so was not all that surprised at being consulted for something. "Yeah?" he replied absently.
"Well, I've been thinking."
"Uh-huh?"
Harry grinned a tad nervously. "Since I was entered into this tournament I decided to do everything I can to piss of the pureblood bigots that are running this show, so I decided to ask your sister to the Yule Ball. Do you mind? Olivia thought it would be a laugh."
"You WHAT?"
And that's it! In case you didn't get the reference, Yoshimune was the grandson of Giotto/Ieyasu Sawada, the Primo boss of the Mafia family of Vongola, and is going to be the great-grandfather of Tsuna Sawada, the main character of Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, which I have started watching this year and I love.
Merry Christmas!