Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Twelve Disasters of Christmas
Four Missing Gifts
3 reviewsHermione and the others aren't sure why, but the leadup to Christmas in Gryffindor Tower seems to be fraught with nothing but chaos, mistakes, and of course, Harry trying to be helpful.
5Funny
On the fourth day of Christmas, my best friend gave to me...
Four Missing Gifts
There was only an hour left until dinner, and Gryffindor Tower had so far remained almost unnaturally peaceful all day.
Currently, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Neville and Colin were sprawled on the floor in front of the fire. The five of them had been playing poker for coloured scraps of parchment since lunch, although sometime since then Dean and Neville had fallen asleep. The only sounds from their section of the Common Room were the placing of bets, the revealing of hands, the occasional triumphant exclamation or defeated groan, the cracking of the fire, and soft snoring.
Near the Christmas tree, Ginny and Lavender were perched on a couch, pointing at the wrapped gifts beneath the tree and guessing what could be in them. Above the gifts Desmond was placing her own guesses, while Henry shot down each and every assumption made. Bob appeared to be asleep. The two girls were also speculating as to the whereabouts of a few of Harry's gifts for people, and that of the boy in question himself.
Hermione and Blaise were reading on opposite ends of a couch closer to the fire, sometimes making comments on their respective texts and falling into short but involved conversations about them.
Nearby, Parvati and Theodore were playing chess with the Muggle chess set that Hermione had bought for Ron the year before. Both of them were terrible at the game, but were finding it amusing nonetheless.
Yes, it was a quiet, peaceful afternoon - at least it was up until the portrait flew open and Harry quite literally fell inside.
Nine pairs of eyes were immediately fixed upon him, and were joined by two more when Colin quickly shook Dean and Neville awake.
Harry, evidently feeling their gazes, looked up from the floor and gave them a weak grin. "Howdy."
They exchanged glances. Hermione sighed and turned back to him, intending to ask where he had been. She stopped suddenly when he stood up and she realised what he was wearing.
It was, without a doubt, a Santa suit. He was not sporting a beard, however, and his hat had fallen to the floor when he had, but it was definitely a Santa suit. And there was a large red sack on the ground in front of him, which he picked up once he was on his feet.
"Why Santa, you've changed," Theodore murmured, smirking.
Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to the tree, where he upended his sack. Four gifts fell onto the pile already there, wrapped in bright, shiny silver and red striped paper.
Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "You needed the suit to be able to put presents under the tree?"
"Of course not, Gin, don't be silly." He walked back to the entrance to the Common Room and retrieved the Santa hat, which he then put back on his head. "I needed the suit to be able to get them back. It was a disguise."
"'Get them back'?" Hermione repeated. "From where?"
Harry shook his head. "Not where, 'Mione. Who."
"Well, then?" Dean asked with a yawn. "Who had them? And why?"
"And why the suit?" Blaise added. "Also, just so you know, Creevey's been taking photos since you came in."
Harry shrugged and flopped onto the nearest couch, planting his booted feet firmly on the low table in front of it. "I figured as much; Colin's always taking photos."
They stared at him pointedly. Harry closed his eyes and didn't seem to notice. Theodore leaned over and smacked him across the back of the head. His eyes flew open and he gave the Slytherin boy a petulant glare. "What was that for?"
Hermione threw a scrunched up piece of parchment at him, and he shot her a teasing grin. "Whose gifts were they?" she asked him, wondering if the answer might give an indication as to who had stolen them - or at least prompt the rest of the explanation out of Harry.
"Mine." He received eleven glares and another slap to the head, which incited him to reconsider his answer. "Okay, okay. They were for Remus, Theodore, Luna and Hermione, but I don't think that they were the ones that the thief was after."
"Harry, who took the presents?" Lavender asked him. Her tone of voice was even, pleasant and gentle, which meant that she was seconds away from ensuring that there would be no continuation of the Potter line.
Sensing this, Harry gulped, took a deep breath and answered. "A giant fairy."
Lavender went for her wand. Harry yelped and raised his hands, attempting to placate her. "Wait, wait! See, I got back after lunch and noticed that they were gone, so I asked the Runespoor. Henry was absolutely no help, Bob had been asleep, and Desmond told me it was a giant fairy. Of course, this was absolutely no help to me until Bob mentioned that anyone using a potion to disguise themselves would appear, to a Runespoor, to be a fairy."
Blaise frowned. "So it was Draco? He does have an awfully large stock of disguising potions..."
Harry was shaking his head. "No, no. I never even considered Draco, actually. I immediately suspected our resident Potions Master."
Ron gaped at him. "Harry, why the hell would Snape be stealing presents from the Gryffindor Common Room?"
Harry snickered...
*
Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has just failed utterly in his mission. After all that effort, after tricking the Gryffindor password out of the Headmaster, after brewing a disguising potion, after everything - he had failed.
It was Potter's fault, he knew it. He didn't know how, but somehow the brat had caused him to grab the wrong gift. And -
Severus's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the fireplace in his chambers turned green. He looked up from the parcel on the table in front of him and found himself facing...
Santa Claus?
The person who had just stepped from the Floo stepped forwards, grabbed the gift, placed it in the sack that was slung over his shoulder, turned on his heel and raced out the door.
Severus stared after him in shock, and it wasn't until ten minutes had passed that he realised exactly who had just ran out into the dungeons.
"POTTER!"
*
"Wait, wait," Theodore interrupted. "Snape only had one gift?"
Harry nodded. "He had 'Mione's, but I think he wants to know what I bought Remus."
After digesting this (or repressing it, in a few cases) Neville brought everyone back to the main question. "So what about the others?"
"And why did Desmond only see Snape?" Ginny added.
"Well..."
*
Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration Professor, stared down at the gift in front of her in shock. Somehow, she had grabbed the wrong one. She had intended to retrieve the gift that Harry had wrapped for the Headmaster, and instead ended up with the present addressed to Theodore Nott.
She sighed. Cat eyesight wasn't all that great for reading things like labels on gifts.
The door to her chambers opened suddenly, and she looked up to see what could have been a teenage Santa walk sedately into the room, pick up the gift from in front of her and leave while placing it into a red sack.
Minerva blinked. Had that been...
"HARRY!"
*
"So she took it as a cat, and Desmond didn't realise that she wasn't supposed to be there or anything?" Colin asked.
Harry nodded. "Yep. And the next gift stealer..."
*
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, etc. etc., had been at a complete loss as to what he should buy Severus Snape for Christmas, and as such had decided to steal the gift that Harry had bought for the man for inspiration.
He had cast an invisibility charm upon himself, gone down to the Gryffindor Common Room, admired their Christmas tree, and stole what he had thought to be Severus's gift. Instead, he had picked up Luna Lovegood's.
Sitting in his office, he sucked on a sherbet lemon dejectedly and wondered how he was going to sneak the gift back into Gryffindor.
It ceased to be an issue moments later, when a red blur darted into his room, grabbed the gift and darted back out.
Albus stared after the blur and began assembling what he had seen in his mind.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"
*
The Gryffindors and Slytherins were snickering by now, partially in shock but mostly in amusement. Harry grinned at them as he launched into the tale of who had taken the gift for Remus.
*
Luna Lovegood had skipped lunch, walked up to Gryffindor Tower and then straight up to the sixth year boys' dorms. She dug Harry's Invisibility Cloak out of his trunk, put it on, retreated back to the Common Room, stole the first gift she came to from under the tree, and headed back to Ravenclaw Tower to wait.
Eventually, about an hour after lunch, the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room opened and Harry Potter stepped through, wearing a Santa costume sans beard and belly and carrying a red sack.
"Hello Santa-Harry."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey Luna. I have a question."
"Then you'd best ask it, lest it take over your mind and convince you that you are a leper."
"Good point, that. Okay. I get why the professors were stealing gifts - they're all unimaginative. But why you?"
She smiled at him, partly serene, partly devious. "I just wanted to see you in that costume, Harry dear."
Harry shrugged and took the gift she handed him, checking the label to make sure it was the right one. "Fair enough. See you later."
"Goodbye, Harry. Make sure to let Colin take plenty of photographs."
*
The others were still laughing, but Hermione was giving Harry a speculative look. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You haven't explained why you're wearing a Santa suit, and don't say it was just for a disguise."
Harry hung his head. "All right, to be honest I've decided to wear it for the rest of the holidays. It feels festive."
Hermione just groaned while the others continued to laugh and Harry began refuting Henry's apparent claims that the suit was tacky, cliché and looked completely ridiculous.
Four Missing Gifts
There was only an hour left until dinner, and Gryffindor Tower had so far remained almost unnaturally peaceful all day.
Currently, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Neville and Colin were sprawled on the floor in front of the fire. The five of them had been playing poker for coloured scraps of parchment since lunch, although sometime since then Dean and Neville had fallen asleep. The only sounds from their section of the Common Room were the placing of bets, the revealing of hands, the occasional triumphant exclamation or defeated groan, the cracking of the fire, and soft snoring.
Near the Christmas tree, Ginny and Lavender were perched on a couch, pointing at the wrapped gifts beneath the tree and guessing what could be in them. Above the gifts Desmond was placing her own guesses, while Henry shot down each and every assumption made. Bob appeared to be asleep. The two girls were also speculating as to the whereabouts of a few of Harry's gifts for people, and that of the boy in question himself.
Hermione and Blaise were reading on opposite ends of a couch closer to the fire, sometimes making comments on their respective texts and falling into short but involved conversations about them.
Nearby, Parvati and Theodore were playing chess with the Muggle chess set that Hermione had bought for Ron the year before. Both of them were terrible at the game, but were finding it amusing nonetheless.
Yes, it was a quiet, peaceful afternoon - at least it was up until the portrait flew open and Harry quite literally fell inside.
Nine pairs of eyes were immediately fixed upon him, and were joined by two more when Colin quickly shook Dean and Neville awake.
Harry, evidently feeling their gazes, looked up from the floor and gave them a weak grin. "Howdy."
They exchanged glances. Hermione sighed and turned back to him, intending to ask where he had been. She stopped suddenly when he stood up and she realised what he was wearing.
It was, without a doubt, a Santa suit. He was not sporting a beard, however, and his hat had fallen to the floor when he had, but it was definitely a Santa suit. And there was a large red sack on the ground in front of him, which he picked up once he was on his feet.
"Why Santa, you've changed," Theodore murmured, smirking.
Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to the tree, where he upended his sack. Four gifts fell onto the pile already there, wrapped in bright, shiny silver and red striped paper.
Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "You needed the suit to be able to put presents under the tree?"
"Of course not, Gin, don't be silly." He walked back to the entrance to the Common Room and retrieved the Santa hat, which he then put back on his head. "I needed the suit to be able to get them back. It was a disguise."
"'Get them back'?" Hermione repeated. "From where?"
Harry shook his head. "Not where, 'Mione. Who."
"Well, then?" Dean asked with a yawn. "Who had them? And why?"
"And why the suit?" Blaise added. "Also, just so you know, Creevey's been taking photos since you came in."
Harry shrugged and flopped onto the nearest couch, planting his booted feet firmly on the low table in front of it. "I figured as much; Colin's always taking photos."
They stared at him pointedly. Harry closed his eyes and didn't seem to notice. Theodore leaned over and smacked him across the back of the head. His eyes flew open and he gave the Slytherin boy a petulant glare. "What was that for?"
Hermione threw a scrunched up piece of parchment at him, and he shot her a teasing grin. "Whose gifts were they?" she asked him, wondering if the answer might give an indication as to who had stolen them - or at least prompt the rest of the explanation out of Harry.
"Mine." He received eleven glares and another slap to the head, which incited him to reconsider his answer. "Okay, okay. They were for Remus, Theodore, Luna and Hermione, but I don't think that they were the ones that the thief was after."
"Harry, who took the presents?" Lavender asked him. Her tone of voice was even, pleasant and gentle, which meant that she was seconds away from ensuring that there would be no continuation of the Potter line.
Sensing this, Harry gulped, took a deep breath and answered. "A giant fairy."
Lavender went for her wand. Harry yelped and raised his hands, attempting to placate her. "Wait, wait! See, I got back after lunch and noticed that they were gone, so I asked the Runespoor. Henry was absolutely no help, Bob had been asleep, and Desmond told me it was a giant fairy. Of course, this was absolutely no help to me until Bob mentioned that anyone using a potion to disguise themselves would appear, to a Runespoor, to be a fairy."
Blaise frowned. "So it was Draco? He does have an awfully large stock of disguising potions..."
Harry was shaking his head. "No, no. I never even considered Draco, actually. I immediately suspected our resident Potions Master."
Ron gaped at him. "Harry, why the hell would Snape be stealing presents from the Gryffindor Common Room?"
Harry snickered...
*
Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has just failed utterly in his mission. After all that effort, after tricking the Gryffindor password out of the Headmaster, after brewing a disguising potion, after everything - he had failed.
It was Potter's fault, he knew it. He didn't know how, but somehow the brat had caused him to grab the wrong gift. And -
Severus's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the fireplace in his chambers turned green. He looked up from the parcel on the table in front of him and found himself facing...
Santa Claus?
The person who had just stepped from the Floo stepped forwards, grabbed the gift, placed it in the sack that was slung over his shoulder, turned on his heel and raced out the door.
Severus stared after him in shock, and it wasn't until ten minutes had passed that he realised exactly who had just ran out into the dungeons.
"POTTER!"
*
"Wait, wait," Theodore interrupted. "Snape only had one gift?"
Harry nodded. "He had 'Mione's, but I think he wants to know what I bought Remus."
After digesting this (or repressing it, in a few cases) Neville brought everyone back to the main question. "So what about the others?"
"And why did Desmond only see Snape?" Ginny added.
"Well..."
*
Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration Professor, stared down at the gift in front of her in shock. Somehow, she had grabbed the wrong one. She had intended to retrieve the gift that Harry had wrapped for the Headmaster, and instead ended up with the present addressed to Theodore Nott.
She sighed. Cat eyesight wasn't all that great for reading things like labels on gifts.
The door to her chambers opened suddenly, and she looked up to see what could have been a teenage Santa walk sedately into the room, pick up the gift from in front of her and leave while placing it into a red sack.
Minerva blinked. Had that been...
"HARRY!"
*
"So she took it as a cat, and Desmond didn't realise that she wasn't supposed to be there or anything?" Colin asked.
Harry nodded. "Yep. And the next gift stealer..."
*
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, etc. etc., had been at a complete loss as to what he should buy Severus Snape for Christmas, and as such had decided to steal the gift that Harry had bought for the man for inspiration.
He had cast an invisibility charm upon himself, gone down to the Gryffindor Common Room, admired their Christmas tree, and stole what he had thought to be Severus's gift. Instead, he had picked up Luna Lovegood's.
Sitting in his office, he sucked on a sherbet lemon dejectedly and wondered how he was going to sneak the gift back into Gryffindor.
It ceased to be an issue moments later, when a red blur darted into his room, grabbed the gift and darted back out.
Albus stared after the blur and began assembling what he had seen in his mind.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"
*
The Gryffindors and Slytherins were snickering by now, partially in shock but mostly in amusement. Harry grinned at them as he launched into the tale of who had taken the gift for Remus.
*
Luna Lovegood had skipped lunch, walked up to Gryffindor Tower and then straight up to the sixth year boys' dorms. She dug Harry's Invisibility Cloak out of his trunk, put it on, retreated back to the Common Room, stole the first gift she came to from under the tree, and headed back to Ravenclaw Tower to wait.
Eventually, about an hour after lunch, the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room opened and Harry Potter stepped through, wearing a Santa costume sans beard and belly and carrying a red sack.
"Hello Santa-Harry."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey Luna. I have a question."
"Then you'd best ask it, lest it take over your mind and convince you that you are a leper."
"Good point, that. Okay. I get why the professors were stealing gifts - they're all unimaginative. But why you?"
She smiled at him, partly serene, partly devious. "I just wanted to see you in that costume, Harry dear."
Harry shrugged and took the gift she handed him, checking the label to make sure it was the right one. "Fair enough. See you later."
"Goodbye, Harry. Make sure to let Colin take plenty of photographs."
*
The others were still laughing, but Hermione was giving Harry a speculative look. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You haven't explained why you're wearing a Santa suit, and don't say it was just for a disguise."
Harry hung his head. "All right, to be honest I've decided to wear it for the rest of the holidays. It feels festive."
Hermione just groaned while the others continued to laugh and Harry began refuting Henry's apparent claims that the suit was tacky, cliché and looked completely ridiculous.
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