by
Catherine King
He walked into her office, which had a mini-Christmas tree in it. “Now, this year, Harry, Dumbledore has decided to put up Christmas trees in the common rooms, and I’m in charge of decorating them. For Gryffindor, I think that shimmering ribbons and golden stars do very nicely, don’t you agree?” Harry nodded in agreement. The cocoa was delicious. He swallowed. Then he asked her, “Did you know my mother?”
She was silent for a few moments. Then she said, very quietly, “Yes, I knew Lily. We were close friends. I wished I could do Charms as well as her, and she asked me, ‘Why are you so good at Defense Against the Dark Arts?’ But we had our fair share of mischief. For instance, we would finish our homework immediately and try to coax the Fat Lady into changing the password without anyone else knowing.” She paused to chuckle. “We were all in Gryffindor, of course, but Lily told me that the Sorting Hat nearly put her in Ravenclaw. I, personally, am glad she wasn’t. It also wasn’t a secret that we had boys after us. We were both very pretty.” She paused. “But anyway, I also knew James, Sirius, Remus and Romulus, the twins, and Peter. When Remus told me that Peter had joined He-Who-Mustn’t-Be-Named, I was shocked. Peter never was the evil type, but then again, he always liked a high rank. Never got one, either. Minerva McGonagall, who was a seventh year when we were first years, always called him ‘poor boy.’ It always made him upset. Used to make Severus Snape laugh. He was one of the few boys in our year who didn’t have an instant crush on me or on Lily.”
“But,” Harry asked, “wasn’t he once caught kissing Anna Somebody from Hufflepuff?”
Professor Gradison first looked shocked, then laughed. “Yes, I caught him in the act. Ha! The whole gang got a laugh from that. And Snape, of course, found out, and he never did forgive me…” Her voice trailed off. “Anyway, were there any questions you wanted to ask?” “Oh, yes,” said Harry without thinking. “What was my mum like? What was my dad like?”
“Well, if you wanted that info, why didn’t you tell me? Alright, I’ll tell you. Now, your father was brave, and wasn’t afraid of much, except maybe Dumbledore. He really was the example of a true Gryffindor. He had a ton of nerve, and chivalry was an everyday thing to him. However, he knew when he had to back off. Your mother, well, she had a bazillion tons of wit, but her last moments portrayed the best bravery I’ll ever see… besides your dad. She was very honest and I admired her for the way she took the teasings. Just reply with a witty, short sentence, and if your ‘opponent’ is a smart alec, throw him a clever sentence like, ‘I dunno, it seems like you’d rather be making smart remarks,’ that simply knocks him out. A great woman named Nellie Bly taught that the wit is mightier than the punch. Or maybe that was your mum. Anyway, take that advice next time that Draco Malfoy character teases you again. How do I know, you ask? Simple. I have All-Seeing eyes. BWA HA HA HA HA! Ah ha ha ha… Okay, so it isn’t funny anymore.”
Harry left Professor Gradison’s office happier than he’d felt in days. Many questions about his parents had been answered, and he now knew more about them than he’d ever imagined. His joy to the ‘question-answering’ victory leapt to its death as a strange voice came booming out of nowhere; it was the voice that Harry had heard so long ago. “Gryffindor! You do not even know who you are, and once I have you out of the way I will gain more power than ever and I will totally wipe out Dumbledore and eventually take over the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
* * * * *
Harry went down to the common room the next day, surprised to find it nearly empty except for Ron, his sister, Ginny, Colin Creevey and his brother Dennis. Along with Neville, Christina Jordan and the Quidditch team. There was also a large Christmas tree, which had no decorations on it whatsoever. A note at the bottom of the tree read:
I thought each House should design its own Christmas tree. Instructions for each decoration are on the back.. See you around. Professor Gradison
Harry asked them, “Why didn’t you decorate it? Where is everyone else?”
Helen said, “To answer the second question, it’s the start of the holidays and I love it.” Ron said, “To answer the first, we decided to wait for you.”
The remaining Gryffindors had a blast, putting up snowflakes, red ribbons, peppermint sticks (Helen and Whitney got that), a garland of crystal beads, and finally topping it all with a delicate, fairy-like star.
Harry and Ron decided to visit Hedwig around 9 a.m. Helen and Whitney were reciting some favorite Christmas poems and stories. When Harry and Ron went down to the Owlery, they saw that Pig and Hedwig had about a dozen postcards; Christmas greetings, mainly, but a couple of order forms for Witch Weekly.
They soon walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
“Password?” she asked them. “Raisin pudding,” they replied. Once inside the common room, Harry and Ron decided to see who the letters were from.
Harry’s: Hermione, Sirius, the Dursleys, and Cho (J).
Ron’s: Bill, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and Fleur Delacour (a…friend of his - hee hee).
Helen started a story called ‘The Christmas Miracle’ with Whitney for the sound effects (She did a pretty good job, too, because she was using her wand).
The Sippi brothers suggested a snowball fight. They agreed. The teams were:
Team #1: Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Colin.
Team #2: the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Scorekeeper: Dennis. Commentator: Christina Jordan.
Sample of Commentary: “Good morning, folks! It’s a beautiful day, low humidity, 6 feet-deep drifts of snow, and let’s see, Ron throws a perfectly molded snowball at 90 mph, with a slight top spin, knocking Whitney down…”
On their way back to the common room to make s’mores, Harry and Ron ran into Peeves the poltergeist, who was playing ping-pong against the painting of Billy the Bored. Unfortunately for Peeves, the painting seemed to be winning.
