p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"A week after the four friends discovered the Mirror of Erised, it was Christmas. Niki woke up extremely early, even by her standards. It was only four o'clock when she was awake, and she had woken up the rest of the girls in her dormitory, and they were opening presents./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow, Hermione, thanks!" Niki said, opening her present of a potions kit. "This is so cool!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Thank you, Niki!" Hermione said, holding up her present of a large package of books. "I've been wanting to read these for ages!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, thanks Niki!" Parvati said, opening her present from Niki, a beautiful locket. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow, Harry!" Niki muttered under her breath, staring down into the wrappings. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry had obviously put a lot of time and effort into his present. It was a Harry Potter lego set of Hogwarts, the grounds, and Hagrid's Hut, but it was hand-carved (or magic-carved, probably a teacher helped.) from real stone, wood, all that stuff. There were even real leaves for the trees! There were miniature versions of the creatures in the forest, and of every person inside the castle, grounds, or Hagrid's Hut, and new ones created whenever someone new entered. It was basically a 3-D version of the Marauder's Map, that you put together yourself! /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay, I've got to go find him!" Niki exclaimed, leaping from her bed and rushing down the stairs, and then back up stairs to the boy's dorms. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry!" Niki exclaimed as she entered the room. Surprisingly, all the boys were up, although by this time it was five thirty. "Your present was the best I've ever recieved! How on Earth did you make it?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""McGonagall." Harry said. "She did most of the spell-work. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, it's the most amazing thing ever!" Niki squealed, hugging her brother. "My present is so lame compared to it!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""No it's not!" Harry said. "I loved it!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"As Harry was Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Niki had bought him a Broomstick Servicing Kit. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I think it's lame now." Niki said. "I didn't even go out to find it! It was owl-order." she pouted./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, come on Niki." Harry said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It's a wonderful present. I love it. I would love it if it was a Potions kit, and you know I hate Potions."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hermione gave me a potions kit." Niki said thoughtfully. "I could help you get better if you'd like."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Uh, sure!" Harry said. "We can do that later today."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay!" Niki said. "Now, I'm gonna go open the rest of my presents." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"As she left, Niki heard Seamus mutter to Harry./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Your sister is adorable." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I can hear you!" Niki called over her shoulder, and closed the door on loud peals of laughter from the other boys. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki skipped back into her own dormitory and hovered over Hermione's shoulder, until she finally turned around./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"What?"/em she asked/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Do you want to help me put together my model of Hogwarts?" Niki said. "It'll show you every secret of the castle. It even has a Room of Requirement, which Dadfoot told us about,and the door only appears when somebody's opening it!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, I'll help!" said Hermione excitedly. "Come on, let's get to work!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"And the two girls spent the majority of the day putting it together like a puzzle, and went to sleep that night smiling./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Severus wandered into his office that evening in a terrible mood. Christmas was a very noisy affair, even with so little students in the castle, and he was glad it was over. He was very surprised when he saw a small parcel on the table./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What?" he muttered to himself. Picking it up and studying it, he noticed a note./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"To: Severus/strong/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"From: Niki/strong/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Curiously, Severus opened it, and saw it was a collection of potion ingredients and and bottles. He carefully put it in a cupboard that held a collection of lilies, and went to his chambers, thinking hard./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow, Hermione, thanks!" Niki said, opening her present of a potions kit. "This is so cool!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Thank you, Niki!" Hermione said, holding up her present of a large package of books. "I've been wanting to read these for ages!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, thanks Niki!" Parvati said, opening her present from Niki, a beautiful locket. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow, Harry!" Niki muttered under her breath, staring down into the wrappings. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry had obviously put a lot of time and effort into his present. It was a Harry Potter lego set of Hogwarts, the grounds, and Hagrid's Hut, but it was hand-carved (or magic-carved, probably a teacher helped.) from real stone, wood, all that stuff. There were even real leaves for the trees! There were miniature versions of the creatures in the forest, and of every person inside the castle, grounds, or Hagrid's Hut, and new ones created whenever someone new entered. It was basically a 3-D version of the Marauder's Map, that you put together yourself! /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay, I've got to go find him!" Niki exclaimed, leaping from her bed and rushing down the stairs, and then back up stairs to the boy's dorms. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry!" Niki exclaimed as she entered the room. Surprisingly, all the boys were up, although by this time it was five thirty. "Your present was the best I've ever recieved! How on Earth did you make it?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""McGonagall." Harry said. "She did most of the spell-work. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, it's the most amazing thing ever!" Niki squealed, hugging her brother. "My present is so lame compared to it!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""No it's not!" Harry said. "I loved it!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"As Harry was Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Niki had bought him a Broomstick Servicing Kit. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I think it's lame now." Niki said. "I didn't even go out to find it! It was owl-order." she pouted./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, come on Niki." Harry said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It's a wonderful present. I love it. I would love it if it was a Potions kit, and you know I hate Potions."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hermione gave me a potions kit." Niki said thoughtfully. "I could help you get better if you'd like."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Uh, sure!" Harry said. "We can do that later today."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay!" Niki said. "Now, I'm gonna go open the rest of my presents." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"As she left, Niki heard Seamus mutter to Harry./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Your sister is adorable." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I can hear you!" Niki called over her shoulder, and closed the door on loud peals of laughter from the other boys. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki skipped back into her own dormitory and hovered over Hermione's shoulder, until she finally turned around./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"What?"/em she asked/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Do you want to help me put together my model of Hogwarts?" Niki said. "It'll show you every secret of the castle. It even has a Room of Requirement, which Dadfoot told us about,and the door only appears when somebody's opening it!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, I'll help!" said Hermione excitedly. "Come on, let's get to work!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"And the two girls spent the majority of the day putting it together like a puzzle, and went to sleep that night smiling./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Severus wandered into his office that evening in a terrible mood. Christmas was a very noisy affair, even with so little students in the castle, and he was glad it was over. He was very surprised when he saw a small parcel on the table./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What?" he muttered to himself. Picking it up and studying it, he noticed a note./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"To: Severus/strong/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"From: Niki/strong/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Curiously, Severus opened it, and saw it was a collection of potion ingredients and and bottles. He carefully put it in a cupboard that held a collection of lilies, and went to his chambers, thinking hard./p