The next person to arrive at Samantha's new magical property for Christmas Vacation was James.

James was wearing a wide smile upon his glowing face, and he was clearly in a very good mood.

"Hi, Samantha," piped up James joyously, "I'm quite delighted to be here in Arizona for Christmas Vacation."

"I'm delighted to have you all here," reciprocated Samantha, "You may take a seat."

"I'll choose red since I'm a bold wizard and red is a bolder color than green," cooed James.

The J Club girls introduced themselves to James and then James boasted, "I'm a very bold and very talented wizard and it won't take long for you all to see that."

"Well," smirked Jennifer, "Devon did tell us that you were the person in the now Circle of Twenty Three most like to praise himself or herself apart from Samantha."

"Self-confidence is A Very Good Thing," beamed James, "Samantha, there's something I want to show you."

"Oh yes," remembered Samantha, "You said you wanted to create something for me when you arrived here using a Conjuring Spell."

"Yes," bragged James, "I'm not only the best in Transfiguration in my year, but I'm also easily the best at Transfiguration of any Hogwarts student within three years of me on either side, be it the years just above me or the years just below me."

"You are arguably the best at Transfiguration in our entire circle," Samantha told James with a tent of respect in her voice, "Only Ainsley has an argument to possibly be better than you at Transfiguration amongst people in our circle."

"It would be cool if James and Ainsley had a Transfiguration competition against each other," suggested Devon.

"OOH!" realized Samantha suddenly, "James and Ainsley could have a competition with each other to see who can conjure better Christmas ornaments? I still have some room on my Christmas tree for six more decorations. James vs Ainsley in a Conjuring Christmas Ornaments Competition with the both getting their ornaments hung on my tree so long as they are of sufficient quality regardless of who wins?"

"I'm game if Ainsley is," declared James.

"I'm game if James is," exclaimed Ainsley.

"Regardless of the outcome of this competition," Samantha assured James, "I will still allow you to conjure whatever it is you originally wanted to conjure for me."

"You'll be glad you did," smiled James confidently.

"Samantha, you are the judge, right?" inquired Rachel.

"Yes," confirmed Samantha a nanosecond later, "James and Ainsley, show me what you've got! Good you to both of you and may the best transfigurer win! You have three minutes and three nanoseconds to make three Christmas ornaments each!"

One thing ALL of the best Transfiguration prodigies and masters had in common was that they ALWAYS used nonverbal spells in their work.

Another thing that was universal amongst the most talented in the discipline of Transfiguration was that they all had individual secrets regarding their craft that they did not share with anyone else. Transfiguration was in many ways a very personalized discipline.\

Everyone present was quite for the next three minutes and three nanoseconds as James and Ainsley worked.

When it was all said and done, James had produced a white Christmas ball with an engraved snowflake, a red Christmas ball with an engraved Santa Claus, and a green Christmas ball with an engraved Christmas tree. Ainsley, meanwhile, had made a white Christmas ball with an engraved snowman, a silver Christmas ball with an engraved reindeer, and a gold Christmas Ball with an engraved stocking.

Samantha looked over all six of the Christmas balls and said, "I literally do not see any imperfections in any of these six Christmas balls whatsoever. It's therefore down to my personal choice to select the winner. I suspect that James went for red and green due to red and green being the primary Christmas colors and that Ainsley went for silver and gold guessing that I might already have enough red and green decorations and that silver and gold ornaments would accent what I already had well. I assume both of you included white because of the combination of it being a Christmas color in its own right and spending Christmas Vacation at the property of an albino and being judged by said albino, me."

Both James and Ainsley nodded their heads.

"I was right on all counts then?" said Samantha smugly.

"Yes," chorused James and Ainsley.

"So," said Samantha matter of factly, "I like Santa Claus and reindeer about equally. I prefer snowmen over snowflakes. I prefer Christmas trees over stockings. White is the same color as white. So, at this point, it's a tie. I prefer red and green over silver and gold for Christmas. Therefore, I, Samantha Sarah Saver, hereby declare James Sirius Potter the winner of the Conjuring Christmas Ornament Competition!"

"YES!" yelled an elated James, "I'm the champion of the Conjuring Christmas Ornaments Competition! YOU LIKE THAT! YOU LIKE THAT!"

"Hey, James, that's my pet line," grinned Samantha.

James grinned and giggled.

"In all seriousness," said Samantha, "James and Ainsley, you both did a wonderful job, and you should both be very proud of yourselves. I'm not surprised though. There's a reason you are both consistent O+ students in Transfiguration. The outcome of this contest literally came down to my personal preference for red and green over silver and gold. It was a razor thin margin of victory for James because of that factor."

"Thank you, Samantha," replied James sincerely, "So, that means both my Christmas ornaments and Aisnley's will hang on your tree?"

"Yes," said Samantha glowingly.

"Excellent," beamed James and Ainsley together

"The real beauty in all of this," interjected Devon, "Is that James's Christmas ornaments and Ainsley's Christmas Ornaments actually complement each other extremely well. It's really awesome that all six of the Christmas ornaments in front of us right now will hang on the tree here."

"I'm going to have them taken inside now," said Samantha, "SETTER!"

The house elf suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Mistress Samantha called?" cooed Setter.

"Yes," said Samantha briskly, "Setter, could you please take the six Christmas ornaments that James and Ainsley are holding and go set them on the couch in the living room? I'll hang them on the Christmas Tree later.

"Yes, Mistress Samantha," responded Setter, "Setter will take the Christmas ornaments inside and set them on the couch in the living room until such time as Mistress Samantha is ready and able to put them on the tree."

"Very well," replied Samantha.

"Now," piped up James, "Samantha, this is for you."

James got to work on a Conjuring spell that produced what looked like a pure white candy cane.

Tossing this to Samantha, who now felt that it had the texture and consistency of a marshmallow, James explained, "This pure white candy cane is actually vanilla flavored."

"Excellent," beamed Samantha, "I prefer vanilla to mint, though mint is perfectly fine."

"Exactly," said James warmly, "A pure white candy cane for the albino girl. I made it soft so that it will be easier on your teeth. And well, I know you're a big vanilla fan. Get going and dig in!"

Samantha took her first bite and said, 'Wow, James, you've really mastered the flavor on this. It's delicious."

"It's my pleasure to make my host happy," cooed James glowingly.

"James, Ainsley, that was super cool Christmas Ornament Conjuring on both of your parts," called Hugo's voice.

Hugo had arrived in the middle of James's and Ainsley's Christmas Ornament Conjuring Competition and had watched silently from afar on the lawn.

"Thanks, Hugo!" chorused James and Ainsley together

"Due to a combination of lack of natural ability in the discipline and having a very short wand, I'm never going to be great at Transfiguration of any kind and Conjuring Spells least of all. But it was super enjoyable to stand silently and watch two masters of the craft compete against each other at the highest level."

"Samantha," asked Ainsley, "I don't think you saw Hugo arrive?"

"I didn't," admitted Samantha, "Hugo, welcome to Arizona and you may take a seat."

"Hey, Samantha," smiled Hugo, "As I'm a redhead, I think I'll take a red chair over a green one."

Hugo took a seat in one of the red chairs and Samantha told him kindly, "Hugo, I've noticed that you've been in a very good mood recently."

"So," piped up Hugo, "Since there weren't as many Fridays being spent at Hogwarts in December, our 2021 November interhouse teams carried over into December. I really liked my team this go around. Gina Giant was on my team. It was really cool hanging around with the tallest student at Hogwarts."

"I had Debbie Dwarf on my team," grinned Samantha, "I had a lot of fun ribbing and razing her about not only being a midget but being the midget of midgets at Hogwarts. I mean, Lily is definitely a midget and Debbie actually makes her look tall by comparison."

"I love the friendship between those two," cooed Hugo, "I mean, it's like the coolest thing ever that the tallest student at Hogwarts is BFFs with the shortest student at Hogwarts."

"I've enjoyed their company whenever I've talked to or worked with them in class," said Samantha kindly, "For as much as I give Debbie a hard time about being a midget, I actually really like her as a person, and I also really like Gina as a person. They're both kindly enough in their ways and I admire their ambition."

"Having a goal of wanting to visit EVERY country in the world is about as ambitious of a goal as a person can set for himself or herself," piped up Hugo.

"I legitimately believe they will do it barring a tragically young death," said Samantha admiringly, "They are very goal oriented and have clearly put their minds to this. Apparently, their game plan, or maybe business plan would be more accurate, is to go to a continent at a time and check off every country on that continent. "

"Very ambitious people do tend to a form a plan and attack that plan," called out the voice of Albus, who had just arrived.

"Good to see you Albus," welcomed Samantha warmly.

"The same to you, Samantha," reciprocated Albus, "Are we staying here for the entirety of Christmas Vacation?"

"Yes," said Samantha happily, "All of the members of the Circle of Twenty Three want to and all of the parents are okay with that as long as they also get to be a part of it. I think everyone, both the members of the Circle of Twenty Three and the parents are taking the attitude of wanting to get the most out of this opportunity."

"I agree," agreed Albus as he took a red chair, "If we didn't take the full time here, I think many of us would come to regret it later."

"My goal," said Samantha matter of factly, "Is for everyone who comes to my new magical property in Arizona to leave here at the end of Christmas Vacation saying,
"Wow, these weeks were some of the best days of my life."

Hugo and Albus introduced themselves to the J Club girls, and Jennifer, Julia, and Jessica returned the favor.

But there wasn't much time to think about that as two more people had just arrived.

A shout out to the following members who have added Lily Luna Potter and the New Era of Hogwarts to their favorites and/or follows lists since the last update:

Luiz4200

Much love from Arizona for all the support. Love you all-Michael. :)