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[ philosopher's stone ]
ONCE THE HOLIDAYS HAD STARTED, RON AND HARRY WERE HAVING TOO GOOD A TIME TO THINK MUCH ABOUT FLAMEL. They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork ━━ bread, English muffins, marshmallows ━━ and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.
On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, and especially the presents from Remus and Sirius. When he woke early in the morning, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.
"Merry Christmas," Ron said sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.
"You, too," said Harry. "They've even sent presents while I'm here!"
"What did you expect, turnips?" Ron, turning to his own pile, said, which was a lot bigger than Harry's. Harry, who had spent one Christmas with Ron, knew that despite them being less fortunate, the Weasleys were known to be a big family so it was no surprise.
However, Harry only had Remus and Sirius.
Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it ━━ it sounded a bit like an owl.
As Harry placed down the presents, he saw that there was still a few. "Hagrid and Remus and Sirius ━━ so who sent these?"
"I think I know who that one's from," Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel, said. "My mum ━━ oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."
Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge. He hadn't spent a Christmas with the Weasleys, but he knew about the sweaters and was excited to finally be able to own one.
"Every year she makes us a sweater," Ron, unwrapping his own, said, "and mine's always maroon."
"That's really nice of her," Harry said, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.
His next present also contained sweets ━━ a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione. He saw that Maya had also gifted him one and when he opened it, inside was a detailed drawing of Hedwig, and he wondered when had he seen the girl drawing.
