Hello everyone! Finals are over, and I'm on winter break now. That means that I'll try an update a little more frequently, but I'll be working on some original content since I've mostly put that on hold since summer. Also the results of the poll are now in, and with 21 votes the official pairing for the story is Harry Potter and Hannah Abbot. (This has nothing to do with the threats of attack ninjas that I may or may not have mentioned- Pixel) This chapter will be a little shorter than the rest, because it's the Christmas chapter! Outside of that nothing special should be going on, there are a few answers to questions I received at the end, but for now the show goes on.

Thetford, Norfolk

23 December 1987

Thetford

High Street

The cadets had gotten their second activity for the Christmas holidays and were currently broken up into two groups of ten and were allowed to explore Thetford, and they got to get lunch at a place of the groups choosing. Harry and Cedric had done their Christmas shopping, mostly using Cedric's money but Harry had promised to compensate him at a later date. They'd mostly gotten smaller gifts or assorted sweets for their friends, but they'd gotten Ariel a copy of the Little Mermaid as a joke, and because she loved Disney movies. Harry had also gotten Hannah a historical fiction book, about the ancient crusades and the Knights Templar. Other than that the two lads simply wandered from place to place with their group, marveling at places, people, and ruins. The group settled down at an Indian restaurant close to the Academy and sat for lunch. Harry had some sort of lamb dish that he couldn't pronounce the name of and after he finished the first bite it felt like he could breathe fire. Cedric had laughed at how red his face had gone and proffered another glass of water to him. Despite its heat Harry loved it and almost asked for seconds. After lunch they strolled around Thetford for another few hours, walking from the outskirts of the city inward. They met up with the second group while they were on their way back to the Academy, with Harry and Cedric hiding their recently bought presents from Ariel and for Cedric's other friends. The other students were all bearing gifts and leftover boxes from their lunch at a fish n chips shop down the road. The group made a collective stop at the post office and mailed whatever packages they could, but most people kept them for after break was over. When they arrived back at the Academy it was like walking into a different world. The whole place was covered in fairy lights and wreaths, trees stood tall under the weight of decorations, and twenty medium sized gift boxes were nestled under the tree in the Mess Hall. The staff welcomed them back with hot cocoa and some small cookies and sweets, and getting them settled in before the history teacher stood and gathered their attention.

"You may have all noticed that we have decorated for the upcoming Yuletide, and there are gifts for all of you under that tree already. Now I know most of you have already done your shopping, so we have rolled out some assorted gift wrapping implements in your dorms, and you can place your gifts under the tree at any time you wish." The teacher paused, looking at the students. "Now I'm sure you all want to know what's under the tree already, and it is… A surprise, but you can open them at eight o'clock tomorrow." The teacher winked at them before exiting out the side door to the staff room. From there speculation was rampant amongst the students as to what could be in those boxes, but the consensus was that it was the same gift for all of them.

Harry finished his wrapping and wrote the recipients names on the gifts, for the Carrow twins he had gotten a Ying and Yang amulet that split into two halves so they could each have one, for Walter and Zoe he had gotten a new CD of their favorite bands, and for Cedric he and Ariel had gotten him a Chelsea F.C. scarf. Once he was done Harry walked down to the Mess Hall and placed Cedric's gift under the tree, taking care not to upset the rather bad packaging job he'd done with the scarf. With that particular job finished Harry went back up towards his dormitories, intending to get some rest for the next day. Unfortunately when he arrived he found Ariel and Cedric waiting for him.

"Hey Harry." Cedric greeted him as he entered the room.

"Hey Ced, what are you guy's doing here?" Harry asked, moving towards his bunk.

"Well, we heard that some of the older students are setting up a couple of movies down in the rec hall, and we figured you might want to come." Ariel said, grinning from ear to ear. Harry wasn't sure if he would be able to stay awake for one movie, let alone a few. However he nodded to his two older friends and grabbed his pillow and a hoodie, motioning for them to lead the way.

"We figured you'd be up to it, there's supposed to be some junk food that some of the guy's smuggled in from the village. Supposed to be a few Christmas movies and I think my mate Craig said something about a few James Bond movies." Cedric said as they walked through the dorms, Cedric continuing on to talk about his favorite Bond and leading Ariel and he to almost have a fight over who was better between Sean Connery and Rodger Moore. Harry smiled at his friend's antics as they continued towards the rec hall.

Thetford, Norfolk

24 December 1987

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Mess Hall

The students were not feeling great. Three hours of movies, soda, overly salted popcorn, and assorted candy would do that. Despite how they felt the twenty cadets that were still at the Academy were all sitting in the Mess Hall, having breakfast and watching the clock. Late last night one of the students had suggested that the history teacher had only said that they had to wait until eight o'clock to open their presents, but the teacher hadn't specified night or morning. So promptly at eight o'clock the students rushed over to the tree and began sorting out the boxes, and as one they began to tear apart the wrapping paper. Inside they found a set of books, spell books to be exact. They were for the most part similar, all students received: "1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi", "An Introduction to Defensive Magiks", and "An Introduction to Potion Brewing". Depending on the age of the student, as well as any magic based classes they had taken, a student got different, "Standard Book of Spells" with the least experienced student receiving Grade 1 and the most experienced receiving Grade 5.

"I see you all chose to forgo patience this morning?" It was a statement framed as a question, but there was no ire behind it, as the students turned to find their history teacher standing at the doors. "Indeed I wish you all an early Merry Christmas and I hope you all enjoy your new books." With that the teacher turned around and walked towards the staff room.

For the rest of the day before Christmas the students were either eating, in the rec hall, or reading their newly acquired spell books. Harry spent most of his day reading in his dorm with Cedric and/or Ariel for company, he was so completely immersed in his new books that he completely missed lunch. As he lay down for bed that night, he decided that even if the next day was utterly horrible, that this was going to be one of the best holidays in his life. His last thought, the one that occupied his mind before sleep claiming lordship over him, was how much he missed Hannah and he wondered what it was that she would be doing with her family. He'd never had a family, so he wasn't sure what one was, but Hannah seemed to like hers a lot.

"Maybe" he thought drowsily, "Hannah can be my family"

So this is where I end the chapter, I wish you all a happy holidays and ask you all to stay safe. I answered a few questions down below, and other than that all I have to say is thank you to the wonderful beta, Pixel and Stephanie Forever. (I know… I do such a good job doing beta work that I managed to find the time to beta the Star Wars script – Pixel)

A quick preemptive answer to the question I know will be asked, why did they all get the same books sans the standard book of spells if there are some more advanced? My idea is that the more advanced students got different books the previous year, or were already expected to have them.

So some answers to questions that were asked in the reviews: Why are any of the cadets leaving the academy since the premise was that they weren't wanted at home? The premise as I wrote it was that, for the most part, the cadet's guardians either didn't like magic, or were unaware of it. Now that is not to say that there aren't other reasons, such as the Carrow's being imprisoned, but the daughters going to their aunt's home for the holidays. Since there are more than a few students that have relatives or parents or guardians that do not care about their magic or are unaware of it, they go there for the holidays and invite friends. Also if the guardian is unaware of the child's magic, then they just think that they're going to a military school.

Next question: Why is Cedric and other older students attending the first year's classes? So the Academy works a little odd, and since I've neither attended a military academy, nor a boarding school, I'm not sure if it's freakishly abnormal. Art in my mind is an elective, because in America for the most part it is, and electives at this level of schooling take place in the early morning hours or the late afternoon. So by my reasoning Cedric was either taking the Art class, or had nothing better to do during that period and decided to attend the class. In terms of other classes, think of it as remedial work or taking it for the first time. In the fact of Harry's squad my idea is that Harry, Hannah, Walter, and Zoe entered at roughly the same time and were either working to catch up, or were following along until the class got to a point they hadn't covered.