The Last Riddle

37. A Christmas to remember

Christmas mornings at Hogwarts are undoubtedly the most magical of all the mornings at Hogwarts, there is an atmosphere that is just different to all of the other days here. Thanks to us being so far into the Scottish Highlands it snows every Christmas without fail which of course only adds to the wonderful feeling.

As I wake up on Christmas morning this year, I am once again alone in the girls Slytherin Dormitory, a house elf has lit a hearty fire in the corner fireplace and there is a very small pile of presents at the foot of my bed. No matter how many years it has been since I have been attending Hogwarts it still feels slightly surreal to even be receiving presents from people after so many years of neglect from the Dursley's. Feeling extremely cosy I sit up in my bed and reach towards my presents, the first is a very small one wrapped in parchment and string. I open it carefully and out falls a small box of crystallised pineapple and another tube of salt water taffy, on the inside of the parchment a small note is written in a familiar messy scrawl.

"To Angie. Merry Christmas from Harry."

I smile slightly as I place the sweets on my bedside table, I imagine that Harry must have asked either Ron or Hermione to visit Hogsmeade on behalf of him seeing as he still hasn't been allowed to go yet.

Next I find myself reaching for a beautifully wrapped gift which has a tag on the front saying;

"Dear Angelica. Merry Christmas love from Poppy and Ginny."

Confused as to why my two friends have chosen to get me a joint present I open the wrapping paper up, a thick leather bound album falls heavily into my lap. The leather is a beautiful dark blue cover which has engraved spirals etched into it, the book has a thin strip of leather wrapped twice around it holding it closed. With gentle hands I unwrap the leather rope as the book falls open onto the first page, on the right hand side there is a superbly realistic pencil drawing of my face and neck which has obviously been drawn by Poppy. On the left hand side in ink is a short message written in a mixture of both Poppy and Ginny's writing.

"Angelica, we struggled with what to get you for a Christmas present this year so we teamed up to get you something we believe you will cherish for many years.

In all of the time we have known you one things has always been apparent to us, which is that you are going to go on and do incredible things with your life. You are going to be a tremendous witch, a wonderful friend and a keen explorer. There is a whole world out there waiting for you and we made this gift in the hope that along your travels and adventures you will look back on these memories fondly.

We love you a lot,

From Ginny and Poppy x"

My eyes begin to water as I turn the page which has four moving photographs inside, one is of Ginny, Poppy and I all waving at the camera which I remember had a very unhappy Blaise behind it after Poppy begged him to take a photo for us. The next is of me and Harry during the Christmas feast this time last year smiling at each other as Ron takes the picture. More and more photographs of me and Blaise, me and Poppy, me and Harry all fill the book until I get to the middle of the book where the photographs begin to grow far more candid.

It is clear that Ginny and Poppy took these at the beginning of this year at moments where I didn't even notice the camera, my favourite is one of Cedric and I standing in Hogsmeade looking at each other and laughing widely, Cedric has his hand reached out to me and I am reaching out to him yet out fingers are not yet touching. The picture moves between us reaching for each other and laughing to us walking happily side by side looking at the scenery around us. More photographs of Cedric and I together whether it be on school grounds, at dinner or even at the Quidditch match when I was running towards him to hug him. It is clear that Poppy and Ginny both put a lot of effort into my present.