I think I might have made my deadline! Woo-hoo! 11.55 = five minutes til midnight!
Do not own anything
Try and see if you can spot my guest this time! :)
The Polar Express, mark 3 (in the future)
It was a quiet night, but not a happy one, for all that it was Christmas Eve. Harrison scowled into his pillow, wishing (for the first time ever) that they hadn't come to Granny and Grandpa Harry's house for Christmas. He held up the sparkling silver bell in his hand and shook it gently. The beautiful sound soothed the scowl away and brought a small smile to his face. Then his grip tightened on the bell as he remembered the argument from earlier.
"That's just stupid, Harry. Santa doesn't exist. Granny and Grandpa Harry's stories are just that: stories. The Polar Express — honestly, can't you tell when someone's pulling your leg? You're almost twelve! When are you going to stop believing in fairy tales?"
Harrison returned to scowling into his pillow. "It is real. Orry's the stupid one." He sniffled and tried not to look around at his empty room. Even though the twins were nearly teenagers they still slept in the same room while not at Hogwarts — except when they were having a disagreement. He knew that Orchid was bunking up with their cousins Molly and Giselle, but he was all alone. It was Orry's new friends in Slytherin, Harrison knew, that had started her thinking this way. His older twin had always been more outgoing and take-charge, but since being sorted into Slytherin the previous September Orry had become more suspicious, wanting to prove everything before she would believe anything. Harrison scowled a bit more into his pillow, his fingers fiddling with the faded red leather straps at the end of the bell.
Suddenly, Harrison noticed that the lamp on his nightstand was shaking a bit. As it started to rock more and more things in the room began to shake as well. Harrison bolted upright. The spare set of glasses Orry had left next to her bed clattered right off the nightstand. The boy winced and thanked their mother silently for insisting on unbreakable charms for Orchid's glasses. One of her delicate porcelain figurines was about to follow the glasses off the nightstand, but Harrison darted out of bed and grabbed it just before the china hippogriff shattered on the hardwood floor.
He nearly dropped it again as the indecipherable roar evened out into the THUD-thud-thud-thud-THUD-thud-thud-thud of a train over railroad tracks. Harrison dashed over to the windows, setting the hippogriff gently on Orchid's bed as he passed it. His grip on the silver bell tightened as yellow lights flashed across his window. Harrison was fairly certain his mouth was hanging open. Could it be...?
He dashed out his bedroom door and nearly smacked faces with his sister, who was wearing a fuzzy pink robe and bed-slippers.
"Is this your idea of a joke?" Orry demanded furiously, tossing her pale blonde hair and flashing her bright green eyes furiously. "What did you do; enchant the windows? You're lucky no one else woke up! Poor Giselle only just got to sleep."
Harrison shook his head frantically. "No, no, this isn't me! I swear!" Orchid gave him a disbelieving look and opened her mouth to argue. Both preteens froze when they heard the unmistakable sound of a train whistle. The twins stared at one another, wide-eyed, and then turned in tandem and raced down the stairs past an old grandfather clock that said five minutes to midnight — and wasn't moving.
Orry flung the front door open and Harrison's mouth dropped open again. Coming to a stop outside their grandparents' townhouse was a large black train. Orchid shut her eyes. "It's not real, it's not real." She rounded on her brother. "You did this, didn't you?"
Harrison gaped at her. "How could I do...that?" he waved his arms at the now stationary train with Polar Express emblazoned on the side in silver letters. Orry huffed, but was interrupted this time by a shout.
"All Abooooaaaard!"
A man was emerging from the mist, coming from near the front of the train. He was tall with a neatly trimmed pure-white moustache and he wore a blue uniform with the word Conductor on his blue hat. Harrison grasped his twin by the hand and, in a strange reversal (as she was the one usually doing the dragging), dragged her forward.
"All Abooooaaaard!" the old man shouted again, coming to a halt by the entrance to the brightly lit car at the end of the train. He looked even older than their grandparents, or even Great-Grandpa Snuffles! The two children slowly approached the conductor, coming to a halt some distance away because Orry had begun to drag her heels.
The man gazed at them both with an odd sort of nostalgia. He asked sharply, "Well? You coming?"
Orry's eyes narrowed. "Where?" she snapped right back.
"Why, the North Pole of course!" the old conductor proclaimed grandly. "This is the Polar Express!"
The girl's eyes were practically slits now behind her glasses. "Oh, and what's your gig?" she asked scornfully. "Kidnapping? Ransom?"
The old man's mouth flickered in a wan smile. "Well, I'd be a rather poor kidnapper, seeing as I'm giving you a choice and your grandparents are watching us right there." He pointed back at the house, and the two children were astonished to see Granny and Grandpa Harry wave from their bedroom window.
"BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT!" their grandpa shouted. The twins blinked at the same time, bewildered. Orry in particular was astonished, but before she could begin dissembling again, the conductor interrupted by handing his lantern to Harrison.
"Hold this, please," he said, with a "Thank you" when the eleven-year-old took the lantern from him. The conductor retrieved a brown clipboard from the train. "Is this you?" he asked, holding the clipboard out where the twins could see the list of names. Sure enough, right by his finger the two children's names were written next to their ages.
"It says here," the conductor declared, "that Orchid refused to participate in the family tradition of writing letters to Santa. Openly disdains the existence of Santa Clause at school and you two had an argument about Santa today." The conductor pulled the clipboard back, leaned down to gaze into Orchid's eyes. "It sounds to me like this is your crucial year. If I were you, I would think about climbing on board."
Orchid was wide-eyed and open-mouthed, her back stiff with indignation. Her brother grasped her by the elbow before she could start talking. "C'mon, Orry, let's just get on the train. Granny and Grandpa did say it was okay." He passed the lantern back to the conductor and stepped up onto the train.
The conductor steadied Harrison as he climbed up with a murmured "Watch your step." When the old man tried to help Orchid up she sniffed and tossed her hair again. Harrison opened the door to the brightly lit car, not waiting for the conductor to usher him in as he walked inside, Orry on his heels.
The brightly lit car was lined to either side with bright red seats, a narrow path splitting the car in two from one end to the other. There were children of all ages and nationalities running about or sitting and gazing curiously out the windows. One group of children that didn't look much older than six bounced in their seats singing a song about the Polar Express. Two children at the very back of the car poured over a book fascinatedly. Harrison glanced over their shoulders to see "The Night Before Christmas". He grinned.
Up near the front of the car one little girl was sitting all by herself, he noticed curiously. She looked pretty young, with long black hair and cute pink pajamas. She was watching the others with a curious and wistful expression, but made no move to join them. Harrison bounded right up to her.
"Hi!" he said brightly.
The little Asian girl blinked at him a few times, and Harrison couldn't help but think that there was something...odd about the way she blinked.
"...Hello," she said softly after a few long minutes. She looked confused.
"What are you sitting here all by yourself for?" he asked. The girl shrugged, and Orry behind him muttered something uncomplimentary about Hufflepuffs. "I'm Harrison, by the way. Mistress Sourpuss behind me is my twin sister Orchid."
The little girl blinked oddly at him again, and then said softly. "My name is Yui. It's nice to meet you."
Harrison grinned. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked. Yui shook her head. "This is so cool," the boy said exuberantly. "I hear stories about the Polar Express from my grandparents. They went on here once, when they were kids."
That caught Yui's interest. "They did?" she said curiously. "What was it like?" So Harrison launched into the story of little Harry Potter learning to believe. There were several more pick-ups as he did so, and Orry had perched on the edge of Harrison and Yui's booth. As he finished his tale the boy held up the silver bell that was still in his hand for Yui to see.
She took it gently with a pale, perfect hand and shook it near her ear. An expression of pure delight and amazement crossed her face. "That's incredible!" she exclaimed. "It's like no sound I have recorded. And so pretty..." She shook it again happily as Harrison tried to puzzle out exactly what was odd about what Yui had just said. Orchid beside him shot the little girl a sharp, confused look as well, so he knew she had caught it.
Then, the conductor came by. "Tickets, please," he said pleasantly. His eyes fell on the bell and he blinked. The old man held out his hand with a "...May I?" He held the bell up to the light. "My," he said, "I remember this. Little raggedy boy with green eyes."
Harrison nodded brightly. "That was my grandfather!"
The conductor eyed him thoughtfully. "Hmm." He handed the bell back. "Tickets, please."
The boy grinned, remembering this part of his grandpa's story. He stuck his fingers in the only pocket on his person — the buttoned breast pocket on his pajama shirt. His fingers grasped paper and he pulled out a large golden ticket and held it out to the conductor.
Once Orchid and Yui had both gotten their tickets punched as well they compared them. Harrison had "TAKE" punched into one end of his ticket. Orry had a "T" punched into either end of her ticket, and Yui had a Japanese character that apparently was only part of a word, though as Yui said: "There are nearly fifty different possibilities for what word could begin with this kanji."
Having put their tickets back away, Yui claimed the bell again. After several minutes of Yui playing with the bell Orry loudly declared that she was bored. Harrison rolled his eyes. "So what do you want to do?" he asked his sister.
"Go exploring," she answered promptly. "It's a big train. I want to see more than just this car."
Harrison rolled his eyes again. "Sure, whatever. Where were you thinking of exploring?"
Orry gestured to the back of the compartment. "I thought we could start back there. That whole car behind us looked empty from outside. Let's check it out."
"That sounds okay," Harrison said. He turned to Yui. "You can join us if you'd like." Yui nodded eagerly.
"Mm-hmm."
The three children walked casually to the back of the car. They paused at the door to ensure that the conductor was nowhere nearby, and then the trio casually slipped out the door. Harrison grasped the door frame as they were blasted by the wind and noise of the rushing train. Yui clung to his pajamas, but Orchid confidently leaped across the thick metal braces holding the two cars together and turned to watch her brother.
"Come on," Harrison shouted to a frightened Yui. "Let's go together. Well be alright." He swung the little girl up into his arms and took a running jump. Orchid caught them both and the three children then went through the door to the other car.
The adventurers let out an audible sigh of relief as the door slammed behind them and they were free of the wind and noise.
"That had to be...the third scariest thing I've ever done!" Yui panted. Harrison's brow creased as the trio straightened up and looked around, but he didn't mention Yui's comment. "Well," Harrison said instead, "This is different." And so it was.
The car was older and more worn than its neighbor, with green and white seats instead of red ones. Even the carpet had more wear, and the windows were dirty and fogged over behind their paper blinds.
"I wonder what this car was for," Harrison said.
"Perhaps they used to carry more children," Yui replied. "They likely have a different sized group every year, based on whatever criteria allow them to select who is offered a ride on them train. It's simple statistics."
The twins looked at her askance. "O-kay," Orchid said. "Sure. That sounds reasonable." Her brother's head jerked around to stare at her in disbelief, and she tilted her own head at Yui. The little girl herself was ignorant of this by play.
"Let's...let's check out the back," Orry said hastily, lacking any better ideas. She strode confidently to the back of the car and opened the door. "Well come on, slow pokes," she said. Harrison and Yui rushed to follow.
There was a sudden intake of breath as they stepped out onto an observation deck at the end of the train. Landscape flew by at impossible speeds. Currently, they were going through somewhere very brown and dry-looking. "Look!" Yui exclaimed, pointing over the side of the train. Harrison and Orchid caught sight of a gopher darting back into its hole before the train had passed the area by.
The train began slowing down in front of yet another house, this one a large stereotypical American farmhouse. The three children could faintly hear the conductor's "Why, to the North Pole, of course. This is the Polar Express!"
"I wonder how many kids they plan to pick up. There were at least fifteen in the car already including us," Harrison wondered aloud. Orchid shrugged. The train began moving again, and the three children remained at the back, pointing out interesting sights and watching the speed of the train in awe. After a while, though, it grew quite cold. Harrison's cheeks were beginning to turn numb and Orry's teeth had started to chatter. Oddly again, Yui didn't seem nearly as affected by the cold, only shivering faintly in her thin pajamas.
"W-we should go back in," Orchid suggested. Harrison nodded and Yui gave an affirmative, so the trio went back inside the old worn-out car. While they were thawing out Harrison glanced through to the other car. "You two wanna head back?" he asked. Yui nodded, but Orry seemed disappointed. She didn't protest, though, so the three children found themselves once again at the front of the compartment jumping to the next car.
Only moments after they had returned to their original seats the conductor entered the room, clearly counting children with his eyes before picking up an old-fashioned microphone and demanding that all the children take their seats, please.
"Thank you," he growled crisply into the microphone. "Now," he continued, "are any of you Polar Express passengers in need of refreshment?"
The children began jumping up and down, lifting their hands and crying "Me! Me!" Harrison was one of these. His sister Orry rolled her eyes in disgust at his childish behavior, but Yui smiled brightly and joined in.
"I thought so," the conductor said. He slid the door next to him open to reveal a whole crew of tap dancing waiters. The children stared open-mouthed at the incredibly acrobatic and singing waiters, but were quickly distracted with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Yui was drinking hers so quickly and enthusiastically that Harrison was surprised she hadn't burnt her mouth. It was amazing hot chocolate, though, he thought to himself. Soon the whirlwind of waiters with their now-empty cups and re-tied aprons had left again, leaving behind a train car of very satisfied children. One girl whined for another cup, but everyone ignored her.
Orry, on the other hand, was staring at the door the conductor and the waiters had come through with inquisitive eyes. "Anyone up for more exploring?" she asked casually. "Cause I fancy a look at the employee car."
The three children snuck out just as casually as before, only this time they were confronted with a dark, creepy room instead of an open car-end. There were broken and worn-out toys lying everywhere, and there was no light except from the lit compartment behind them and the windows that were nearly hidden by a forest of hanging string puppets. The compartment was spookily quiet after the warmth and noise of the children's car.
"What are all these toys doing here?" Harrison whispered solemnly.
Orchid giggled. "It's a tooy graaveyard~" she said in a hollow sort of tone, moving one of the puppets as if it were speaking. Yui squeaked in fear and hid behind Harrison. Orry laughed rather meanly. "What, are you scared, kid?"
Her brother glared at her. "Leave Yui alone!" Orchid was brought up short, stunned by her normally easy-going brother's vehemence. "Where do you get off scaring a little kid like Yui?" he demanded. "What would Momma say?" The girl in question peeked out from behind the blond boy, gazing up at him in surprise.
Orchid muttered an insincere "sorry" and then huffed and flounced away with a flip of her hair, pushing her glasses up her nose as she waded through the woebegone toys. Harrison directed a scowl at her back, but reluctantly followed anyway.
They came to the other end of the toy room (Yui clinging to Harrison the whole time) and opened anther door, stepping confidently through. That confidence seeped away into a minor bout of panic when they saw that this car had people in it. Well...if they could really be called people. There was a tall pooka, a hummingbird-like woman, a rotund yellow man that seemed to be made entirely of brightly colored sand, and a pale teenager in frost-coated clothes.
The teenager grinned when he saw the three standing uncertainly by the door. "Well, hello there!" he said cheerfully.
"Hi," Harrison said breathlessly. Orchid turned to him with a frown.
"Who are you talking to?" she demanded.
Harrison frowned. "Him." he gestured. His sister stamped her foot.
"There's no one in here, Harry. Stop joking around."
"But I'm not -" he started to protest, when the pooka interrupted.
"Don't bother, mate," it (he?) said in a strong Australian accent. Harrison frowned in confusion. "If she can't see us then she's an unbeliever. I doubt you could convince her of anything if she's having that much unbelief while on a magic train," the pooka said dryly.
Yui tugged on the bottom of Harrison's shirt. "Are they real?" she whispered. "What are they?"
The pooka smiled softly at the little girl. "I, little lady, am the Easter Bunny." Yui's head tilted curiously.
"The Easter Bunny?" she asked. The pooka nodded.
"The little man is Sand Man, that prankster there is Jack Frost, and the lovely fairy is the Tooth Fairy."
Harrison only heard the bit about the prankster. "You do pranks?" he asked the pale teen.
White-haired Jack Frost grinned. "Do I ever? Snow is all about fun, you know. Here, I'll show you."
Harrison and Yui watched in amazement as Jack Frost formed a pretty little bird out of snowflakes and icicles. The bird flapped its wings experimentally and flew about their heads. "Wow," Yui whispered. "It's beautiful."
Orchid had been watching all of this with a bewildered frown, but the bird really spooked her. "Is there someone invisible here, or something? WHy can't I hear anything if they're talking?" she demanded furiously (and rather fearfully).
Harrison threw her an apologetic look. "They said since you don't believe, you can't see them."
"Don't believe in what?" Orry pressed.
"The Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Sand Man, and Jack Frost," Yui answered promptly. Orry scoffed under her breath and Harrison threw her a sharp look.
"That's what they mean," he said pointedly. "You can't see or hear anything 'cause you don't believe. It was Jack Frost who made that bird, just now."
Orchid scowled, and the spirit in question threw the girl's brother a sly look. He snuck up behind Orry and blew on the top of her head. Icicles formed, her whole head frosting over. The eleven-year-old girl shrieked and jumped about, rubbing her hands through her now frozen hair. "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh what was that!?" she exclaimed. Orchid squinted a bit when her gaze passed over Jack's increasingly visible figure.
"Jack," Bunny said warningly.
Jack laughed. "Oh, come on, Bunny, it was just a joke! Besides," he added, "I think she can see me now." Orchid's eyes were as round as saucers as the other figures slowly began to fuzz into existence.
"Harry..."
Her brother was no help. "I told you they were all real," he said unrepentantly.
"Well, anyway!" Tooth said, changing the subject brightly, "What were you kids doing wandering around anyway?"
Harrison shrugged. "Exploring. Orry got bored."
The bird/fairy "ooh-ed" and her wings fluttered, lifting her off the ground a little bit.
"What about you?" Yui asked curiously. She looked as if she was itching to either run her hands through Bunny's fur or over Tooth's wings, and Harrison wasn't sure which.
The fairy shrugged. "We've started coming up for the party every year. After North gets back to the city we have our own little Christmas gift exchange."
"North?" Harrison asked.
Sand Man formed a yellow silhouette of Santa Clause and Tooth laughed. "That's Santa to you." Harrison thought it was cool that they had their own name for their friend. It was kind of like how he was only Harry for his sister. He was Harrison to everyone else so people didn't mix him with his grandpa in conversation.
"Uh-oh," Jack said abruptly. At some point in the conversation he had drifted over to a window. He was now half hanging out it. "Guys? We're almost to Glacier Gulch."
Bunny stood. "That can't be right," he protested. "We're going much too fast to be approaching Glacier Gulch."
"I know," Jack said. "That's why I said something. If we go down that cliff now, we'll be so fast that the train will be uncontrollable."
The Easter Bunny was now hanging out a window as well. He abruptly pulled himself back in and hauled Jack in by the scruff of his neck. "Everybody hold on to something!" he said. "This is gonna be a wild ride."
The children obediently sat down and little Sand Man formed a seat belt out of his yellow sand that held them fast. The train seem to stop for one deceptive moment, but then it was moving again, and it was moving down. The children yelled with mingled delight and panic, Jack whooping happily. Bunny simply looked green. The downward fall seemed to last forever, until the children were trying to look out the windows and see if the train had really lost control. It was while looking at the window that you saw something truly frightening.
"The tracks are iced over," she cried out. The Polar Express with hurtling down a cliff towards a frozen lake. Disaster seemed inevitable. Then, at the last second, the whole train seemed to freeze midair for an instant — only it stayed in the air.
The old steam locomotive flew over the ice, coming down to land on the tracks at the other side. Jack collapsed bonelessly into his seat. "North actually used my idea," he giggled in astonishment.
"Why don't we just fly the whole way there?" Harrison asked.
Jack shrugged. "Not enough power. This is only an early version after all. I heard a rumor up at the Pole that North was thinking of replacing the train completely. It is almost two hundred years old. I said he should replace it with a spaceship."
Yui giggled. Jack leaned over her and sparked a snowflake off the end of his finger. It landed on the tip of her nose and the little girl squealed. Then, the conductor burst into the room.
"Blasted old train," he grumbled. "You four all right?" Then the wizened old man blinked in surprise. "What are you kids doing in here?" he grumbled. "Spend my life chasing after you little monsters... You two are as bad as your grandparents..."
"Oh, it's alright," Tooth said gently. "We didn't mind."
"Well I do," the old man groused. "Come on you three; back to the other kids."
They followed the old conductor back through the room of dead toys (apparently it was a toy-recycle project that had been going on since their grandparents' trip) and he muttered under his breath all the while. None of it was mean, but Harrison gathered that the old conductor was planning to retire soon, and he felt it was a well deserved retirement indeed. The man ushered the three children back into their car and they were seated just in time to see the Northern Lights show.
The rest of the trip to the North Pole passed in a delightful blur. Every instance they could see more and more of Santa's territory. It was amazing and the yetis were just like Grandpa Harry had described. The elves, of course, reminded him of home and of their family house elves. Everything was glittering and glowing and Christmasy and beautiful. Harrison wish this night would never end. And then they were filing off the train and into the North Pole itself.
The very thought of the First Gift of Christmas filled Harrison with both hope and trepidation. He wondered which of the twenty-odd children would receive it. Would it be him, or Yui even? He rather meanly hoped that Orchid didn't get the First Gift, just because she had been so horrible to him this year. His grandpa's Gift was still clutched in his hand. He wondered, did he really need the First Gift? Harrison didn't think so. He had his family, and he didn't need anything else. Except maybe the old version of his sister back. That was why he'd been sorted into Hufflepuff, after all. Family was what really mattered to him. Everything else was just bonus.
The children were led to the town square amidst a crowd of chattering excited elves. Yetis lumbered past them and into the square as well, though they lingered well towards the back so that the smaller crowds could have a clear view of the door. Harrison caught sight of Jack Frost and his group of spirit friends speaking animatedly with one yeti over by the Christmas Tree.
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 amazing thing ever. Sure, Harrison had grown up listening to his grandpa's bell, but this was hundreds of beautiful magical bells all ringing at the same time. Yui let out an odd sob-like noise. "I wish I could cry," he heard her murmur. Harrison hugged her tightly. 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. Even Orchid looked a bit teary, listening in awe to the magnificent sound.
The spell was only broken when Santa (North, Harrison reminded himself with a mental snicker) 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 and seemed to rest on each child as if they were his own.
"Greetings, children!" he shouted, throwing his arms wide. Some of the bolder ones sent back timid hello's. Harrison just stared. "Greetings, everyone, and let me be de first to say Merry Christmas!" This last shout elicited another cheer from the elves.
Santa spoke to one or two of the children as he walked through the crowd, but he didn't speak to everyone, so it was entirely unexpected when the man came to a halt in front of the twins.
"The doubter and the faithful one," he mused. "Vhat a strange family." Santa leaned down with a twinkle in his blue eyes. "Give my regards to your grandfader, children. And always remember, young tvins, dat having someone who knows you so vell and still loves you is a marvellous gift." He straightened. "And speaking ov Gifts -" the man paused and all the children collectively held their breaths —
"Let's have dis little lady right here." His enormous hand came to rest on Yui's shoulder.
Santa led the little girl to his sleigh and sat down, pulling her into his lap. "Now," he said gently, "Vhat vould you like for Christmas?"
Yui stared at him unblinkingly. "Could you..." she gulped. "Could you make me real like Momma and Poppa?"
The large man's face softened. "Dere is no need," he proclaimed. "You are already quite real, my dear."
The girl burst out, "But I'm a robot! I'm made of metal and rubber and Poppa had to specially create a working digestive system just so I could eat like a normal person and I can't cry and I think like a computer and I'm only growing because I get upgraded every month!"
The crowd of children stood in stunned silence, Harrison and Orchid most of all. Sure, she had seemed a little odd, but...Yui was a robot?
"And vhat of dat prevents you from being a real person?" Santa asked just as softly as before. "You have hopes, don't you, and dreams? You have fun, you love, you vonder. You," he said intensely, "are just as real as I am, Miss Kirigaya. Now, vhat vould you like for Christmas?"
Yui stared open-mouthed for several long minutes, but then she closed her mouth and thought very hard. "I want...I want something magical," she said finally. "To remind me about all that you said."
Santa nodded solemnly. "Indeed," he said. He leaned over and whispered to an elf, who vanished with a pop and reappeared moments later, this time with something in its hands. Santa took it gently and held it out to Yui.
"Dis," he said, "is a Golden Snidget. It is a magical bird, and is very delicate. Take care." Yui's small hands closed around the tiny yellow bird, which lay quite docilely in the warmth of her synthetic palms.
"De First Gift of CHRISTMAAAS!" Santa roared. Tumultuous applause came from all over the square, but Yui didn't notice a thing as she stepped down off his sleigh, too intent on stroking the soft feathers, wondering at all the sensations that the millions of sensors (that substituted as nerves in her fingers) were currently recording.
Santa rallied his reindeer, conjuring 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 wild band of yetis played instruments while elves sang. Jack Frost flew about the clearing, making shapes with snow flurries and causing yetis to slip on ice into deep snowdrifts.
The conductor punched each child's ticket again as they reentered the train. "Ticket, please?" he asked handed it back to the girl and she frowned a bit at the complete word now punched into her ticket.
It says "TRUST"," she said.
"Do you suppose you can trust this train to bring you home safely?" the conductor asked.
Orchid blinked up at him, and then looked down. "Yes, sir," she said.
The conductor smiled and gestured her on, taking Harrison's ticket. After a flurry of punch-holes the boy received it back. He flipped it over and over. The message changed every time, from TAKE CHARGE, to TAKE ACTION, and even TAKE CONTROL. The old conductor merely smiled. "More confidence will always be a good thing for you," he said. "Next!"
Harrison lingered by the car door as the conductor punched another few Japanese characters into Yui's ticket. "It says -" she began.
"Stop!" the conductor said commandingly. "That's not a message I need to hear." As Yui turned and began to walk towards Harrison the conductor called her back.
"'Being a person isn't just about what you're made of, you know," he said. "A real girl opens her mind to all the possibilities and remembers to wonder...just as you have done tonight. Never forget that."
Yui smiled and nodded. "Mm-hmm." She darted over to Harrison and followed him up the steps and into the compartment.
"What did you ticket say?" he couldn't help but ask.
Large silvery eyes gazed at him solemnly. "It said IMAGINE," she said softly.
A group of children crowded around them. "Show us the Gift," they all exclaimed. "Show it to us!"
Yui reached carefully into her pocket and pulled the little golden bird out. Up close, Harrison could see a delicate collar on it that practically sang with magic. The bird itself was bright gold in color, with jewel-like red eyes. Yui released it and the bird flitted about her head, leaving an almost invisible trail of gold dust that was produced with every beat of its wings. The children "ooh-ed" and "aah-ed" at the pretty sight. The bird perched docilely on Yui's head, rearranging her hair with its long hummingbird-like beak.
The other children threw glances at the little bird for the rest of the train ride home, and most were disappointed that Yui was one of the first to leave. Harrison lingered in the doorway of the car with her.
"Could I...could I write you?" he asked awkwardly.
Yui nodded happily, the Snidget chirping in annoyance at being dislodged and resting instead on her shoulder. "I'd like that. I can speak and write English, so you don't have to worry about language barriers. My full name is Yui Kirigaya, and...here, I'll write down my address. You do yours."
They exchanged bits of paper (lent by the conductor) and Harrison waved as the little Japanese girl stepped down off the train. "Bye, Yui!" he called out.
She waved back. "Bye!"
Harrison stood watching as the train began to pull away from her house, staying there until it had faded away entirely.
—Number 12 Grimmauld Place— The conductor announced hours later into his microphone. —Number 12 Grimmauld Place—
Harrison shook Orchid away. "Awha?" she yawned.
"We're home, Orry," he whispered. "Time to go." Orry just hummed and let him pull her upright. Harrison walked them both back up to the house, waving at the conductor with the hand still holding his grandpa's bell.
"And a Happy New Year!" he called back to the old man's Merry Christmas. Harrison managed to get in the house and walked his sister up the stairs, where they were met by their grandparents.
"Did you have fun?" Grandpa Harry asked, his green eyes keen. Harrison just nodded.
"Here's your bell back," he said tiredly. "Santa and the conductor say hello. I didn't see the ghost, though I did meet Jack Frost."
"Really?" Granny asked, entranced. "You'll have to tell us all about it tomorrow morning when you're not dead on you feet. You two get to bed now." She wandered back to her room, dragging her husband with her.
Orry and Harry were left standing alone between their bedroom doors. "Well...goodnight sis," Harrison said awkwardly.
Orchid huffed an rolled her eyes, pulling her twin into a hug. "Idiot," she muttered. "I'm sorry about earlier. And about this year. I'll just tell everyone when we get back to Hogwarts that if they don't like me having a Hufflepuff brother they can go suck a toad." She pulled back. "Now come on," she said bossily. "I'm tired, and your room has a better bed."
She paused by her bed, putting the hippogriff figurine back in its spot on the nightstand. "Merry Christmas, Harry."
Harry smiled into his pillow. "Merry Christmas, Orry."