G. Lippert - James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

Time crept by surprisingly slowly as Christmas approached. James, Rose, and Albus spent the time playing Winkles and Augers in each other's common rooms, exploring the snow-covered grounds, and visiting Hagrid in his hut. Meals were taken in the company of the few remaining students and teachers, among whom were Fiera Hutchins, Hugo Paulson, and, to James' surprise, Josephina Bartlett, whose vertigo was only slightly better. She could manage sitting on a bench at the Ravenclaw table, although if she happened to drop a bread crust or a fork, she was completely unable to bend over to retrieve it. James felt a little sorry for her, but then he saw her yelling tersely at one of the house-elves to retrieve a new fork for her and determined that her arrogance and general insufferability had not been greatly affected by her predicament.

On Christmas morning, James was rather shocked to be awakened by the smell of fresh kippers and a deep, bullfrog voice.

"A merry Christmas to you, Master James," the voice said. "Lays there like a stone, he does, like his breakfast will stay hot by pure and simple magic until he decides he's ready to eat it, which it will, of course, but only because Kreacher works so hard day and night to hone the best Warming Charms for it…"

"Kreacher?" James asked blearily, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. A tray of immaculately prepared breakfast had been laid over his legs. A black rose and a candy cane protruded from a tiny alabaster vase in the corner of the tray. "What are you doing here?"

"Sent by your dear mum, Master James," Kreacher said, bowing low. He was standing at the end of James' bed, dressed only in his tea towel despite the cold of the room. "Already served Christmas breakfasts to Master Albus and Mistress Rose. Your presents await you below."

"James!" Albus called from the common room stairs. "Come on! Kreacher won't let us unwrap anything until we're all together! Orders from Mum, of course. So chow down already!"

James bolted a few bites of the kippers and drank his pumpkin juice, thanked Kreacher, then flung himself out of bed. Rose and Albus were seated by the fire below, drinking tea and wearing green hats with jingle bells on the tips. Rose grinned and shook her head, ringing the tassels.

"Festive, eh? They came from my mum. She knew we'd not have decorated or anything. Put yours on!"

She tossed one of the hats to James. He smiled and jammed it onto his head. Kreacher came slowly down the stairs. He had also donned one of the hats, although he wore it like it weighed a hundred pounds. The hat covered his eyes. He pushed it up with a thumb, peering at James, Rose, and Albus with one eye. "All present and accounted for," he said to himself. "Merry Christmas, Masters and Mistress."

He snapped his fingers. There was a change in the light of the room and James sensed that a sort of protective field had been removed from the stack of presents. Albus whooped and leapt off the couch, attacking the biggest one with his name on it. James grinned happily and joined in.

Kreacher remained with the three until all the presents were unwrapped, then, dutifully, he collected all the cast-off wrapping paper and ribbons. He rolled the debris up, compressing it into a remarkably dense, colorful ball, and then, strangely, stuffed it inside his green tasseled hat. He put the hat back on his head while Rose struggled not to giggle at the silliness of it.

"Kreacher has been asked to inform you that your parents will speak to you tonight via Floo Network," the elf warbled. "Kreacher takes his leave of you now, Masters and Mistress. Do have a pleasant holiday."

"You too, Kreacher," Rose said around a mouthful of gingerbread witch.

"Indeed," Kreacher replied. He raised a spindly arm and snapped his fingers. The elf vanished in a puff of greenish smoke.

"Always liked that elf," Albus proclaimed. "Knows how to keep it businesslike, he does. No beating about the bush."

Rose said, "I feel a little sorry for him. What does he get for Christmas?"

"Oh Rose, you're as bad as your mum," James replied. "Two Christmases ago, Mum and Dad tried to give Kreacher a Christmas present. It was just a little basket with a pillow in it for him to sleep on. They bought it at a Muggle pet store, because the little brute refuses to sleep in a regular bed. He didn't want to accept it though, and when they insisted he keep it, he wouldn't even use it like he was supposed to. He's been using it ever since as a basket for carrying around the laundry!"

"Honestly, Rose," Albus agreed, "Kreacher isn't made to be happy. We try. We really do. Especially Dad. Kreacher and him have a sort of history."

"I know," Rose said. "He just seems so miserable."

"Hah!" James exclaimed. "This is ecstatic by Kreacher's standards. I've heard about what he was like when Dad first inherited him. Kreacher sent him a box of maggots for a Christmas present."

"He didn't!" Rose gasped, covering her mouth.

Albus pulled a homemade green and silver scarf out of one of his unwrapped boxes. He threw it around his neck. "Trust us, Rosie. This is Kreacher happy. Otherwise, we'd have gotten leeches for breakfast instead of kippers."

That afternoon, Albus took James and Rose down to the cellars and showed them the Slytherin's spell-casting range. Just as Albus had described, the room was long and low with clockwork dummies installed against the far wall. Albus illustrated how the range worked by whipping out his wand and shooting a Stinging Hex at one of the dummies. It lifted its wooden arms and shook them in a parody of pain, as if it were being peppered with bee stings. Albus repeated the spell, laughing. James laughed as well, but a little nervously. Rose didn't laugh at all. She looked distastefully at Albus and crossed her arms.

Christmas dinner in the Great Hall was as resplendent as any dinner James had ever attended despite the fact that the room was only a fifth full. Professors Knossus Shert and Lucia Heretofore, the new Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin House, were seated at the table on the dais. Hagrid sat between them, talking loudly and looking like what he was: a half-giant between two rather slight people. Heretofore looked obviously disgusted by Hagrid, although she masked it behind a thin smile. To James' surprise, Petra Morganstern was seated in the middle of the Gryffindor table, smiling slightly as Hagrid attempted to lead his fellow professors in a round of Christmas carols.

"I didn't know you were here for Christmas," James said, sitting down at the table across from Petra.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, "where've you been?"

"I went down to Hogsmeade for a few days," Petra answered. "Did a little shopping. No point in moping around here all holiday."

"Why didn't you go home for Christmas?" Rose asked.

Petra shrugged, still smiling up at the dais. "No point, really. I already got my present, didn't I?"

James raised his eyebrows. "You mean that box that came by Ministry owl last month? We were all wondering about that. It came from your dad?"

Petra nodded and sipped her Butterbeer. "Madam Rosmerta had this shipped from the Three Broomsticks for tonight. Did you know that? I talked to her yesterday."

"So what did you get for Christmas?" Albus asked. "I got a new scarf, a box of sweets, and a Remembrall. Honestly, Mum should've given the Remembrall to James so he could keep track of Quidditch try-outs." He grinned at James.

Petra looked at Albus, still smiling. "It was just some stuff. It wouldn't mean much to anyone but me."

"So that's why you ran off to open it by yourself," Albus commented. Rose kicked him under the table.