Arthur woke up early at around 5 AM.
He took off the heavy blankets and started to call Cedric but stopped himself when he realized that he was back home.
The bedroom was pitch-black and freezing, but the heavy blankets provided him all the warmth he could ask for.
Looking out the window all he could see was white snow covering the whole neighborhood.
It was Christmas.
For a few seconds, Arthur lay completely still, listening to the intense silence of the house.
The silence was louder due to the outside being frozen, buried under a quiet blanket of snow.
He got off the bed making sure to avoid waking up Sir Newton, who was sleeping in a warm bed his mom had knitted as a Christmas present.
The weird bird was probably tired from delivering all the packages in the snow the day before.
Speaking of presents Arthur quietly opened the door to his room and checked to see if his parents were awake.
The doors to their bedroom was closed leading him to believe that they weren’t.
He slowly and carefully tiptoed downstairs.
Stepping into the living room, the first thing that hit Arthur was the scent—a rich, heavy mixture of fresh pine needles, dried cinnamon, and the faint, sweet trace of gingerbread from the night before.
The darkness of the house gave way to a soft, multicolored hum.
The Christmas tree stood in the corner, its branches heavy with tinsel that caught the shifting glows of red, green, and warm gold lights.
Beneath it, the landscape of the room was exactly the same as last night, a chaotic, towering mountain of glossy paper, oversized bows, and mysterious cardboard boxes.
Arthur hurried to the pile of boxes and picked out the ones that had his name on it.
It was time to open his presents.
He opened the one his parents had given him first.
He tore open the cover to see that he had gotten a Gameboy.
He sighed in relief.
They had actually bought one for him.
He didn’t think he would be getting one if his mother knew about his detentions and fights in school.
Apparently Professor McGonagall, who his mom had started to write to almost daily, didn’t tattle on him.
She had earned his respect forever.
He didn’t take the device out of the pack though.
Everyone didn’t get a second chance at life and he planned to spend his, collecting things and keeping them in mint condition.
He planned to make a huge cabinet in the future to keep all his collectibles and just enjoy the envy of all the nerds out there.
It was the best kind of envy.
He set aside his Gameboy and started to open the gifts his friends had sent him.
First, Lucian had sent him a wand holster, the ones you put on your wrist.
He put it on and the strap adjusted to fit his hand perfectly.
He tried jerking his hand like the guide said and the wand slipped right out.
The guide had also mentioned that he could bind his wand to an automatic summoning charm which would have been very useful in his duel.
It required a spell action with so it would be the first thing he would do on the train.
Teddy had given him a box of wand cleaning supplies leading Arthur to think that these two had clearly planned this out.
He did remember seeing the local branch of the Ollivanders wand shop at Hogsmeade.
Sensible decision, and smart considering that this was a very useful present.
Patricia had given him a knitted handkerchief.
She had clearly given up on making the scarf, but it was the thought that counted.
Flora had packed a jar of cookies.
He couldn’t resist taking a bite of it.
It was clearly a smart decision because the inside was filled with chocolate.
Not wanting to waste the handmade delicacy he went to the kitchen, warmed up some milk and sat back down, now with something warm in his arms.
Arthur opened Anna’s gift next.
He ripped open the gift wrap to reveal a small framed photograph.
The photo was of some broom being chased by a dragon.
It was clearly magical as both the broom and the dragon were moving.
The dragon was chasing the broom all over the scenery.
Arthur smiled when he saw the broom abruptly stop causing the dragon to overshoot and crash into the ground.
He had found his new bedside picture.
It would go right beside his family photo.
Turning to Cedric’s package, he opened it to see a book titled ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’.
Yeah, not gonna happen.
Seeing a person get hit in the face with a bludger was enough to extinguish any interest he had in the sport.
Watching the teeth grow back made sure the interest would never grow back again.
If previously, he had thought that he was scared of dentists he now knew for sure, it wasn’t dentists.
He much preferred to fly unrestrained.
Maybe he could even organize some races around school.
He had to consult with Professor Sprout on that.
The Weasley twins had given him a knitted sweater with his initial on it.
They had also included a letter that mentioned that their mom, Mrs. Molly Weasley had made it especially for him.
He put the sweaters on and found that they fit perfectly.
Satisfied with what he was going to wear around the school for the rest of the winter he turned to look at the final present from Tonks.
She had given him a Sneakoscope.
A Sneakoscope was a type of Dark Detector that looked like a glass spinning top.
It lit up, spun, and whistled if someone was doing something untrustworthy nearby.
He had mentioned wanting to own one during training to avoid being ambushed.
Arthur was glad that she had remembered.
…
Arthur wasn’t just receiving presents.
By adding some money his Mom had given him and some he had earned from working in the greenhouse he had managed to buy presents too.
For Lucian he had bought a collection of cool looking quidditch posters.
He’d noticed the boy showing interest in the sport and figured that the posters would give him something to talk about.
Long story short, he didn’t.
The book was practically untouched.
Arthur gave Patricia the plushiest doll he could find because she always sat around the common room hugging cushions.
She’d have a nice blue penguin to hold now.
Flora got a magical cookbook from him.
He knew for a fact that she also got different cookbooks from the other guys.
They had all bought different ones from Tomes and Scrolls, a specialist bookshop in Hogsmeade.
They’d also all agreed to buy her different cookware for next year.
To Anna, his most adventurous friend, he got a collection of Indiana Jones movies.
Any interest was worth pursuing, especially if it was a viable career in the magical world.
There was a reason History books were all thick.
Knowing Tonks and her tendency to hurt herself Arthur just got her the prettiest helmet he could find.
Percival Wenlock, their head boy got a box of muggle chocolates.
That was also what he gave to all his Professors, even Snape.
Everyone deserved a sweet Christmas.
Hopefully, Snape would take the bribe and ease up on him.
For Fred Weasley he got a muggle prank book and for George he got a basic science kit containing lessons in physics and chemistry.
They seemed interested in making fun things, maybe they’d like the present.
Now that he thought about it, maybe he should get their Mother a present too since she had made the sweater for him.
He’d see what he could do later in the day when Sir Newton felt like flying.
He felt like he should considering he even gave the house elf Blinky a set of sewing equipment.
Finally for Cedric he had managed to find his best present yet.
It was a bunch of Penny Sleeves and Toploaders, essential equipment for any card collector.
He would have gotten him an even more specialized card holding equipment but Pokémon cards were not a concept yet and he was eagerly waiting those.
…
Arthur smiled at the presents around him and started to clean up the mess.
His smile got wiped off his face when he saw his mother standing at the base of the stairs watching him.
Taking a gulp he timidly called out, “Good morning Mom. What are you doing up so early?”
“We’re having beef for dinner tonight.” Helen said angrily crossing her arms.
“But I don’t like how it smells.” Arthur argued trying to bring some tears in his eyes.
“Well your father and I like it.” Helen said even more angrily, “So deal with it.”
“But it’s Christmas.” Arthur said as his face melted from pity into surprise.
He had actually managed to bring a tear out.
He almost jumped at the achievement when he remembered his situation.
He looked at his mother timidly only to find that she was already moving to go back upstairs.
Sighing he got up to clean the mess of gift wrappers.
He already felt his chances of eating some juicy barbeque chicken melting away.
He could only hope for a Christmas miracle now… wait a minute, was Santa a wizard too?