Ophelia was slightly ashamed with herself over how excited she had gotten over the concept of Christmas this year. Rather than insomnia preventing her from a good night sleep, it was anticipation for the day ahead. Almost every hour she found herself gingerly peaking out the small castle window to see if it was an acceptable time to wake. Everywhere seemed silent though, so Ophelia wrapped herself up in the duvet once more and attempted to count sheep for the thousandth time that night.
Some time passed and a door latch opening caused Ophelia to sit up straight. Turning to her door she saw Minnie, her hair fell down in to its usual nightly plait matched with a deep velour dressing gown. In one hand she held a lantern and the other remained held out straight, almost like it was guiding something. Floating above Minnie's head were two mugs.
"Merry Christmas dear."
"Merry Christmas Minnie."
"I've had the elves make us hot chocolate." Minnie flicked her hand forward and one of the mugs floated gently over to Ophelia's bedside.
"Thank you." Ophelia looked over to the hot chocolate and spotted something that made her even cheerier. "Cream and marshmallows, Minnie you're going to make me cry." She mocked wiping a tear away.
"I can't decide whether this wit is natural or if it's influenced by those cheeky marauders." Minerva took a seat at the end of the bed
"Both I believe. Fun fact, I'm sure you know, but they literally named themselves the Marauders because you kept calling them that." Ophelia was currently stuffing a marshmallow into her mouth, not very elegantly, as she spoke.
"Ophelia close your mouth dear." Minnie's Scottish accent making the reprimanding sound harsher than it was.
"Sorry I'm just a little too excited."
"I can see."
"So what happens today, do we go to breakfast like normal?"
"Normally yes, however I thought you would like to share Christmas morning just the two of us. So I also had the elves bring us breakfast, if that is ok with you?"
"More than ok!"
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"Merry Christmas son."
"Merry Christmas Dad."
Remus was currently sat in armchair with a mug of black tea in his hand. It was Christmas, he should be cheery, but all he felt was exhausted. The full moon had spread over two nights making his post transformation even tougher. Every so often he would wince in pain from the slightest of movements and all he really wanted to do was stay in bed for the rest of the day. But he couldn't do that, he couldn't bare the thought of being a burden or a misery on such a happy day. A day that is meant to be filled with family, joy and hope.
"Breakfast is served boys!" Remus' mother shouted from the kitchen.
"Need some help son?" Lyall noticed his son struggling to stand straight.
"Please."
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Ophelia was sat on the floor in front of the open fire after breakfast, her feet tapping on the floor impatiently whilst Minnie opened her gift.
"Ophelia you really did not to have to buy me a gift." Minerva had her glasses resting on the top of her nose, looking down to the clearly excited girl on the floor.
"Tough, I can't return it." Ophelia shrugged. "Come on please open it!" With a sigh, Minerva began to untie the deep red ribbon placed on top of the box. Lifting up the box lid slowly, an envelope and a neatly wrapped gift. "Start with the envelope."
Curious, Minerva picked up the envelope, it was a large size and felt thick like a book was inside. Rather than using her wand to open the envelope, she used her hands and delicately tore the envelope open. Tipping it slightly upward, two items fell out of it. Two tickets and a book with the title: "The Phantom of the Opera".
"So, in case it makes no sense or that you hate it I probably should explain." Ophelia had become nervous, she just wanted Minnie to like the gift or understand. The lady had done so much for her and she just wanted to show her appreciation. "You've shown me so much of your world and I really want to share my previous world with you. This musical is incredible and I know you'll love it, or I hope you will. I want to take you at some point, these tickets are for decoration, really we can go whenever you want there is no set date. The book is the book the musical is based from if you wanted to read it prior. You don't have to but, yeh it's there if you want." Scared to look up and see Minnie's reaction, Ophelia kept her hands tightly in her lap and her eyes remained glued to them. A kiss on the cheek pulled her out of trance.
"That is unbelievably thoughtful, I can not wait to go. I've always wanted to visit a muggle theatre but I would have had no idea where to start." Minerva smiled softly at the girl. "Can I open the second gift?"
"Yes go for it!" Confidence had returned to Ophelia and she was eager to see the reaction to the next gift. "It's kinda related to the first gift, but you can use it whenever!"
Inside the gift was a Gryffindor red coloured evening purse, with a gilt trim and chain around it.
"That is beautiful, I shall certainly wear it on our evening out." Minerva ran her fingers across the buttery soft faux leather material.
"There's something inside too."
"Oh." Unclasping the bag revealed a cream silk and a pair of binoculars. However they weren't just any binoculars they were - "Opera Glasses, oh how I've always wanted to own a muggle pair!" A large smile filled Minnie's face, a smile that Ophelia hadn't seen before and it filled Ophelia with so much happiness too.
"They're Mother of Pearl, actually from the Victorian era I wanted to make sure I got hold of a true example."
"Ophelia you have truly spoiled me."
"It's nothing in comparison to what you have given me over the last seven months. Merry Christmas Minnie." Ophelia headed to where Minnie had returned to and engulfed the lady in a hug. "I love you."
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Sirius loved spending the holidays at the Potter household, he even loved how James insisted on being awake before five in the morning to prepare for a big breakfast feast. So the usual feeling of James landing on his stomach was not a surprise in the slightest for Sirius on Christmas Day.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS SIRIUS!"
"Merry Christmas James." Sirius let out a snort, or at least as much as he could manage underneath James weight. "Is it the usual plan for today then?"
"Actually I've been wanting to open Fi's present since the moment it turned midnight." James looked like a toddler, pouting as if asking for permission without words.
"Go on then." Sirius nudged an elbow in an attempt to knock James off but it didn't matter because James was already in the air and darting across the room to where some of the gifts laid. After toppling over a few times due to mess on the floor, James successfully made the journey.
"Can't see for shit up here, do you think the ministry will hunt us down if we use magic to light up the room?"
"I don't trust the Ministry one bit and I'm sure mother and father dearest would love to see my wand snapped so I'm not risking it. Sorry James." Sirius was usually a rule breaker, he was renowned for it. But the ministry wasn't to be trusted currently, Sirius had heard all the whispers between Professors and even the Potters.
"Fair enough, right we will have to go downstairs then to open them. Last one there gets the rotten dragon egg!"
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"I can't believe these are all for me?" Ophelia muttered to herself. Of course she'd had presents before, from companies to industry friends, but these were different. These were presents gifted to her for no ulterior motive, they were gifts because she was accepted.
Ophelia couldn't decide which to open first, so settled with opening the gift from Peter because she was still shocked to even receive a gift from the boy. Chuckling at the way the present was wrapped once more, Ophelia unwrapped the present to reveal a pile of Honeyduke sweets tied together with a bit of string. Sweets may have seemed expected, but the idea that Peter had even thought of Ophelia was a gift in itself.
Next were the gifts that the girls had given her. Dorcas had gifted Ophelia a book called 'Charms for the Perfect Hair', Alice had gifted her a pink hand knitted scarf with her initials on either side in a deep red and Marlene had gifted her a red liquid lipstick that was charmed to change to a deeper red the more attracted you were to someone who was in close proximity. Ophelia had mentally decided that she couldn't ever wear that lipstick in public out of pure embarrassment but also couldn't help but laugh at the thought either.
Lily's gift was last, it was wrapped impeccably and Ophelia was pleased to see the use of muggle sellotape. After tearing away the sellotape, Ophelia unwrapped the gift to reveal a Gryffindor red journal. Opening to the first page there was a quote stuck to the left and a note written to the right.
After reading the quote, Ophelia turned her attention to the note.
Ophelia was lost for words, this gift was beyond anything she expected from the girls and she wasn't used to getting such thoughtful gifts. One part of Ophelia wanted to cry but another wanted her to scream with joy. Clearly the journal understood this as the name 'Fi McGonagall' had turned a bright yellow for the mood of 'euphoric'.
"I hope my gift makes you smile like that." Minnie's words pulled Ophelia out of the happy gaze she didn't realise she was in.
"Gift?"
"Good Godric! You did not think I would not get you a gift did you?"
"To be honest, I hoped you hadn't because everything you've done for me is like a big gift I'll never be able to repay." For some reason talking about her feelings was easy with Minnie, the lady just always gave Ophelia a safe feeling.
"Nonsense, you shall never need to repay me. But if you insist on not having a gift, you can see this as an investment instead."
This intrigued Ophelia, so she pushed herself from the ground and clambered over the items on the floor until she was in a seat at the table with Minnie. With the usual graceful flick of a wand, Minnie summoned the gift and it landed in front of Ophelia. It was a rectangular box shape, the wrapping paper covered in stars that twinkled sporadically. Ophelia opened it carefully, deciding that a cutting of this wrapping paper would certainly be the first entry of her positivity journal.
Beneath the wrapping paper revealed a box, more specifically a mahogany document box engraved with magical creatures. There was a small golden clasp holding it shut, Ophelia delicately opened it, inside was a pile of parchments covered in sketches. Sketches of magical creatures, surrounded with detailed annotations describing even the smallest details about the creature. Sketches drawn by none other than -
"Newt Scamander." The words passed through Ophelia's lips in amazement. "D-did you get copies of his personal work for me?" Ophelia turned her gaze, with a struggle, from the multiple sketches in her hands to Minnie.
"Not copies no. I had him draw these specifically for you." Minerva kept her lips pursed, she wanted so dearly for Ophelia to like the gift and was waiting for some final reassurance. Not many things made Minerva nervous, but choosing a gift for Ophelia had for reasons she couldn't truly place her finger on.
"I-I can't believe this." Still switching between looking at the parchment and then back to Minnie, Ophelia failed to notice a single tear fall down her cheek.
"Well, I could quite clearly see your love for the creatures and I shall never forget how mesmerised you were whilst reading Scamander's work. I can see creatures being a very important part of your wizarding life."
"Minnie, thank you so much." Ophelia hadn't fully registered the words Minnie was saying which Minerva spotted and it made those pursed lips turn to a smile.
"You're very welcome. Merry Christmas dear."
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Almost as soon as James and Sirius' bottoms had touched the carpet, beside the fire charmed never to burn out, they had began to tear into their gifts.
Sirius yelled first out of excitement then pain when a scrunched up ball of parchment quite literally flew from the opening of the gift and hit him square in the head. It didn't take long for the same thing to happen to James. Both boys looked at each other, then the scrunched parchment, with confusion until they noticed it begin to unravel on the floor to reveal a note.
"You go first Sirius." James didn't want to admit it, but he was slightly scared it was going to be one of Ophelia's sneaky pranks.
"Fine." Sirius shrugged, he knew James' tactic but certainly wouldn't make himself look like a coward. Picking the parchment up from the floor, he opened it cautiously only to reveal a note. "It's a note."
"Read it to me then!" James visibly relaxed and rested his chin on his hand with interested.
"Right, ok then. "Merry Christmas Sirius! I guessed you and James would rip into the present so I charmed the note to fly at you, hope it didn't hurt too much! Anyway, I know we don't speak much about it but I understand the feeling of-"" Sirius stopped himself as he caught a glimpse of what else had been written deciding that was a little too personal to share with James in that moment. Before James had chance to question anything, Sirius continued to open his gift and inside was a small book with a sketch of a star sign on the cover. Not just any star though, the Sirius star. Unsure as to what it was entirely, Sirius opened the book to reveal the title.
'15 Awesome Facts About The Sirius Star'
"Wait is that the Sirius star, that's such a cool idea." James looked interested in what Sirius had but definitely was more excited by the prospect of his gift.
"Yeh, it's facts about the star."
"Does she know you suck at reading?" James teased.
"Shut it. It's bullet points for starters and it's basically about me so why wouldn't I read it."
"Cool, cool. Can I open mine now?" James had the gift on his lap, sneakily tearing away at the paper whilst talking to Sirius. Sirius nodded his head and in an instant James had ripped the paper off and had the object.
"You're not going to read the note?"
"Nope, WOW." James held up the box to Sirius, showing exactly what it was.
'Limited Edition Zonko's Booming Box'
"This is insane, look at all the explosions we can do! Wait what did the note say?" James scrambled to find the note amidst the ripped wrapping paper. "Ahah! Ok so she wrote Merry Christmas, bla bla bla, 'maybe this will make your pranks more inventive'. Oh that cheeky bitch!" Sirius let out a barking laugh at James' shocked expression to the reason behind the gift. "I'm letting her off though meaning it's such a good gift. Right I'm hungry, do you want brownies before mum appears?"
"Yeh, sounds good you go ahead I just need the loo." James didn't need telling twice, he jumped up with the box underneath his arm and headed towards the kitchen. Meanwhile Sirius remained in place, he didn't need the loo, he just wanted to reread the note Ophelia had attached.
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Quick Authors Note
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I LOVE Christmas and I kind of got carried away writing this whoops!
Just wanted to mention that the idea of the notebook gift was entirely inspired by LionWitch22. It's a gift Eloise receives from George in her incredible post war ff - if you haven't read it you must go read it!
Also thank you to my Wattpad bestie SlytherinSilverRose for helping me with my last minute panic over gifts! Rose has so many incredible ff's as well so check her work out too!
Anyway whilst I'm here feel free to comment anything you'd like to see, how you find the ff is going and even just tell me how you're doing ❤️
Love you all! X