On the morning of December twenty-fifth, Christmas, Jade was awakened
at five o clock A.M. by Alana's invigorated scream of, "PRESENTS!"

Hannah fell out of bed and onto the floor. "What's going on? Where's the fire?"

Jade laughed and rubbed her eyes. "No fire, Hannah, just Alana being overexcited as always. Merry Christmas!"
She
turned her attention to the pile of presents at the foot of her bed. A
huge one from her parents, medium-sized from Alana and West and Hannah
and Mallory, a little one she could only assume was from Draco, and a
few that must have been from relatives and forwarded via owl post.

The
dormitory door creaked open and in came West, all red pajamas and
bedhead and a pile of gifts in her arms. She dropped onto the floor
across from her friends and let the gifts scatter around her. "Morning!"

Jade
opened her first gift, one from her parents wrapped in silver paper.
Inside was a little phoenix plush toy and a box of fudge, which she
cracked open and ate a piece of. There was also a letter telling her how
her parents missed her and loved her, and how her brother Gideon was
showing signs of magical potential.

"My brother Gideon is showing potential!" Jade exclaimed to the room at large, grinning. "That means a lot."

"How old is he?" Mallory looked up from her own mountain of wrapping papered gifts.

"Only
six! Mom says that he made a little dead flower grow again, and he's
shooting sparks and he moved the fridge by accident when he got angry
last weekend."

Alana clapped. "That's incredible! I didn't
manifest until I was nine- and my family's been magical for
generations." She reached for the package Jade had given her. "Quidditch
Exhibition tickets? You didn't! I've been wanting these for ages." She
hugged Jade around the neck and squealed. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Jade laughed and hugged Alana back. "Glad you like it."
Jade turned to her own gift from Alana. It was a medium-sized package, and inside was a few pieces of sheet music. Each note and letter was formed in Alana's bubbly, rounded handwriting. She scanned it- it was a song about a mer-maiden searching for lost love. It began tragically and rose to a crescendo before falling into a delicately happy ending. Jade had never heard of the song before, but it looked beautiful.

"Did you translate this?" She looked up from the gift at Alana, who was smiling shyly.

"Yeah. I thought it looked cool, and it seemed like the type of thing you'd want. I can throw it away if you don't like it-" Alana was cut off when Jade smothered her with a massive hug.

"I love it so much! It's beautiful- I'll have to try singing it." Jade cleared her throat and began the first note. West laughed, and opened her arms for her gift.

Jade handed over the wrapped Butterfly Bush. West tore it open and stared at it in confusion. "What is this thing?"

"It's a Muggle plant, made to attract butterflies to it. If you put it in your window, there will be a million colorful butterflies all over it every morning. I got my mom to buy it at a Muggle greenhouse. I hope you like it."

West grinned and ran a hand through her hair. "It's awesome." She tapped the plant with her finger and large, sweet-smelling purple blossoms exploded into being. "And now it's cooler!"

Jade laughed as West presented her with her own gift- a tiny paper packet. Inside- six beans, glowing ever so faintly golden. She looked up. "Magic beans?"

West nodded enthusiastically and giggled. "They're really helpful. If something ever goes wrong, just throw one to the ground and say, 'Bean, I ask for magic'. It'll help you out. It's not always useful, but it is cool."

Jade beamed and pulled one out. "Okay, let's test it."

"Not inside!" West called, but the warning came too late.

Jade dropped the bean on the carpet and shouted, "Bean, I ask for magic!" Slowly, and then faster and faster, the bean began to shake. Tendrils of solid green began to spread from it, twining into a thin stalk which grew thicker and thicker every second. It was spreading across the ceiling, the vines grasping the stone-

"DIFFINDO!" Alana's scream cut through the noise of rustling leaves, and her wand made a slashing motion that sliced the beanstalk cleanly in half. Gobs of gooey aloe and tangy-smelling yellow pollen fell through the air, making everyone sneeze simultaneously.

"Maybe don't do that in a space with a roof," West said between breaths. Jade laughed and picked a leaf out of her hair.

"Merry Christmas?" Alana said, chewing a piece of Jade's fudge.