Once Devon, James, Hugo, and Ainsley had all joined Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily in the common room, the conversation turned to Samantha's upcoming Christmas Album.
"So, Samantha?" asked Lily curiously, "What songs do you plan to include on your Christmas album?"
"Remember," answered Samantha, "That the title of my album will be Samantha Saver's Secular Christmas."
"Yes," smiled Lily, "As an atheist, I'm glad to see someone set out to produce an all secular Christmas album."
"I'm an atheist too," Samantha reminded them, "My very motivation for this project was wanting to put an all secular Christmas album on the market for atheists and non-religious people."
"So, then what songs will include?" prodded James.
"There are certain songs that seemingly endless versions of exist. I tried to lean towards songs that are popular but don't have quite as many versions of them out there. You won't hear I'll Be Home for Christmas or Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on my album-" began Samantha.
"But what WILL we hear?" inquired Devon impatiently.
"I'm definitely including Rocking Around the Christmas Tree," said Samantha eagerly.
"A very cheerful and upbeat the song," said Ainsley happily.
"Ainsley is showing again why she had a legitimate shot at Ravenclaw," smirked Samantha, "Yes, my album is not meant to be poignant or reflective. I want to focus on the happy, the cheerful, and the festive."
"Samantha, what kind of Christmas tree do the Savers usually have?" asked Lily eagerly.
"The Savers have always used artificial Christmas trees," explained Samantha, "We've had the Christmas tree we currently own since 2011. It came with the lights prestrung so it's mostly a matter of Samuel decorating it with ornaments every year. The lights are LED with a five color scheme of red, green, blue, orange, and yellow."
"Using an artificial tree is a great idea," said Hugo clearly, "You can reuse it for many years, and you don't have worry about it catching fire and burning your house down."
Stephanie shuddered involuntarily. As the pain of the loss of her lifelong home mere months ago was still raw in her heart, any reference to houses burning down hit her in the gut.
"Your family uses an artificial Christmas tree too, Hugo?" asked Samantha.
"Absolutely," replied Hugo instantly, "Mom would never have a real tree in our home."
"Neither would dad in ours," supplied Devon, "Mom has always wanted us to get a real live tree for Christmas. Dad, however, citing the fire hazards of real tress and the hassle having to a get new one every year, has always insisted that we stick to our artificial Christmas tree."
"Good for Dudley," chorused James and Lily approvingly.
"Mom would LOVE a real Christmas tree," explained Lily matter of factly, "But dad has always put his foot down and made sure that our family stuck with the faker but safer thing."
"Well," said Ainsley sadly, "My family can't have a Christmas tree. I'm an only child being raised by a single parent mother. Mom is usually too busy with work to put up a Christmas tree. "
The sadness in Ainsley's voice couldn't be more pronounced.
Ainsley continued in a low and uncomfortable voice, "And I can't do it myself. When school lets out, I often have to spend a fair amount of time with mom at work. Mom believes that no kid under fourteen should be left home alone so I wouldn't have the time to do it myself either."
Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie and especially Lily all now had sad looks of their own on their faces.
...
The first day of the Christmas holidays.
Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily had all just arrived at Cochlain Manor by Floo powder.
Samantha and Stephanie were carrying the artificial Christmas tree they had purchased that day. This tree happened to be remarkably similar to one owned by the Savers.
James and Lily were carrying Christmas balls and other ornaments that they had purchased for the tree and Devon was carrying a tree scarf he had bought to put under the tree.
Hugo was carrying two batches of Christmas cookies he had made that morning.
"Let's take the tree out of the box," said Samantha in a businesslike tone, "And be careful not to damage the box as it will be used to store the tree when Christmas is over."
With Stephanie's careful help, Samantha got the tree out of the box. The tree had prestrung lights so that was one task they didn't have to mess with.
"It's a three piece tree," Samantha told Stephanie, "Can you please put the tree together using the number system. The number system will indicate a top, middle, and bottom. Use the diagram that came in the box. I'm going to go find a good spot for the tree."
"Of course, Samantha, go find the right spot and I'll get the tree put together," replied Stephanie briskly
It didn't take Samantha long to identify the correct home for the tree. There was an unused plug in the corner of the living room. When she saw that Stephanie had the tree together, Samantha called her to the corner.
""Should I plug it in then?' asked Stephanie.
"Go for it, Steph," smiled Samantha.
Stephanie plugged the tree in, and the lights were functioning properly.
It was a five color scheme with clusters of five lights of one of each color: red, green, yellow, blue, and orange. These were LED lights.
The tree was slightly bigger and slightly taller than the Savers tree, but it would have been difficult for a person who had seen them both to tell them apart.
"So far, so good," said Stephanie in a relived voice.
"James and Lily," called Samantha, "We're ready for you."'
James and Lily sprang forward.
James carefully decorated the tree with various Santa, snowman, reindeer, and candy cane shaped and colored ornaments. James make the sure to distribute all of the ornaments across all parts of the tree evenly so that a sense of variety was present in all areas of the tree.
"Great job, baby bro!" said Lily admiringly as she looked at James's finished work.
"Thanks, big sis," smiled James, "You'll do a great job with the balls too."
The Christmas balls were silvery on the outside and all of them had switches on the bottom. They carefully crafted designs on the outside of trees, sleighs, snowmen, Santas, reindeer, houses, and wreaths,
Lily, like James, was careful to give the balls even distribution. And then, Lily turned on the switches,
At first the balls lit up in a silver color. But after a few seconds and a few nanoseconds, they changed to purple. And then yellow. And then orange. And blue, pink, and finally, red then green before starting the cycle all over again at silver.
"Lily threw a ninety five yard touchdown pass with these balls," said Samantha brightly.
"Devon, time for your part," called Stephanie.
Devon approached carrying the tree scarf he had bought. When he unfolded it, they saw that it was round and featured a snowman and tree with lights against a deep blue starry background and had a vivid red border. Devon set the tree scarf down on the floor under the tree.
"That's a really nice tree scarf you picked out, Devon, it's beautiful," said Lily cheerfully, "Ainsley will love it."
"It greatly enhances the appearance of the tree and that appearance was already great," smiled Samantha.
"Hey," Samantha, " called Devon, "Could you sing a Christmas song that you did NOT include on your album as a welcome for Amy and Ainsley when they arrive?"
"Of course!" smiled Samantha.
Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily all now went to the floo to await the arrival home of Amy and Ainsley.
When Amy and Ainsley stumbled into the floo, Samantha burst into song.
"
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
Dressed up like Eskimos
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight
They know that Santa's on his way
He's bringing lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety two
Although it's been said many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you
They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies
On his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
And so, I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety two
Although it's been said many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to you!"
"That was beautiful, Samantha," grinned Ainsley when Samantha had finished, "I hadn't heard you sing before. You have a genuine singing voice. But what are you d-"
Ainsley cut off when she and Amy saw the Christmas tree, all lit up with its ornaments and colorful Christmas balls accented by its pretty tree scarf.
"OHHHHHHH!" yelped Ainsley suddenly.
"What is it, Ainsley?" asked Amy.
"Mom," said Ainsley emotionally, "On the day that Samantha and Stephanie returned to Hogwarts after Halloween, we had a bunch of indiscriminate conversations. When the topic of Samantha recording her Christmas album came up, she mentioned that she was going to include the song Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. That started conversations about real vs artificial Christmas trees and what kinds of Christmas trees we had all had. I was honest and admitted that we couldn't have a Christmas tree because of our time constraints."
"And your friends took it upon themselves to give us a better Christmas," said a tearful Amy in an apperceive voice.
"I'm guessing they started having discussions amongst themselves that night," piped up Ainsley.
"That's true," said Hugo, "But the credit goes to Lily. It was Lily's idea that we get and decorate a Christmas tree for the Cochlains this year and she shared the idea with us that night. We've been planning to do this ever since."
"Everyone played a part," said Lily proudly, "Samantha and Stephanie bought the tree. Stephanie put the tree together. Samantha found the perfect spot for it. James bought the ornaments and I bought the Christmas balls. James decorated the tree with the ornaments, and I placed the balls."
"Lily, they're beautiful," said Ainsley sincerely, "That color changing thing is the coolest thing ever!"
"I knew you would like that, Ains," said Lily in a satisfied voice, "The tree scarf was Devon's contribution."
"It is beautiful and accents this tree perfectly," said Ainsley brightly.
"I hit a sixty yard field goal with that one," grinned Devon.
"And Hugo has one last surprise for you," added Lily.
Hugo presented Amy and Ainsley with one batch of Christmas cookie each.
They were baked into Christmas shapes such as snowflakes, bows, presents, trees, candy canes, and Santas. They were all topped with white vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles.
Amy and Ainsley each ate one of the tree shaped ones first.
"Vanilla frosting is the best!" grinned Amy, "And these cookies are delicious."
"Yum, yum, yum, '"agreed Ainsley, "And you know I love rainbow sprinkles."
"So, everyone did a part to help make this a better Christmas for us?" choked up Amy.
"Indeed," said Ainsley with misty eyes, "Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily. Thank you. Thank you for taking time out from your own schedules to help make this a more special Christmas season for me and mom. We can't even begin to tell you how much this means to us."
"I have no words," said Amy softly, "But Ainsley said it all for me."
As Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily, along with Amy and Ainsley all looked at the lit tree with it's beautiful light scheme and changing color Christmas balls, accented by it's beautiful tree scarf, they had felt their hearts radiate.
It filled the hearts of Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily to know what they had done for the Cochlains and to see what it meant to them. This was especially true for Lily, who got more warmth and satisfaction from helping other people than anything else.
Amy and Ainsley were so touched and so overjoyed not only to eat the yummy cookies and see the beautiful tree but to know how much Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily had cared and to know how they had gone out of their way to help Amy and Ainsley this Christmas season.
Ainsley didn't know what her future would hold when she transferred to the Ultimate University of Wizarding Healing next fall.
But Ainsley did know this; no matter what happened going forward, Devon, James, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily were incredibly special friends and her life was all the richer for having met them. They had proven that again in this special Christmas season.