She awoke on Christmas day feeling happier then she had in a long time. She pulled the curtains away from around her bed and slipped her feet into the slippers her mum had made her the year before. She ran to the window, and to her relief she saw that it had stopped snowing. The previous two days the snow had been falling fast and with all the students out there playing in it she had not had a chance to go skating. Doing a little hop of joy, she ran down the stairs to the common room to unwrap her presents.
Christmas day was the only day in the whole year that the other girls in her dormitory actually got up before it was necessary and although she wasn’t particularly friendly with them, she smiled as she moved towards her pile of presents.
She grabbed the top one off the pile and pulled off the wrapping paper to discover a thick Weasley jumper in a pale blue with Ginny on it. After pulling the jumper on, she began to un-wrap the rest.
Her present collection she decided after she had finished the un-wrapping had been very satisfactory this year:
Mum – Knitted jumper, scarf, gloves and socks, all in pale blue.
Dad – Pale blue cloak from Madam Malkin’s in Diagon Alley to go with the other presents.
Mum and Dad – New charm for her bracelet.
Ron – Chudley Cannon Chocolates.
Fred and George – Box of Latest Tricks.
Percy – Book on Wizarding Facts of the Twenty First Century.
Charlie – Dragon hide gloves in a silvery pale blue.
Bill – Silver necklace with pale blue stone.
Harry and Hermione – Her own set of wizard’s chess pieces.
Luna – The latest ‘Quizillia Witch’ book.
Still gasping over how much her family was prepared to spend on her (and how her mum and dad were going to get food in the year to come), she reached over for the last present. It was wrapped in forest green paper with a silver trim and did not look like any paper she had ever seen before. Shrugging off the thought that it might be something dangerous, she carefully peeled the wrapping paper off, revealing a white box with Italian writing on it. She carefully turned the box over and tried to decipher the heading:
Apparecchiatura pattinare del ghiaccio pił fine del Sig. Bonsveneys.
And underneath:
I caricamenti del sistema bianchi del ghiaccio, graduano 5 e una metą secondo la misura.
By now she was incredibly puzzled. She turned the box over again, but there was nothing but a barcode on the back. Frowning slightly she came to the conclusion that it was bought from a Muggle shop – this confused her even more. Rubbing her nose slightly she racked her brains as to whom could have given her this obviously extremely expensive Italian made gift directly from an Italian Muggle shop. Coming up with no answer, she carefully placed the box under one arm and scooping up all her other presents she ran up the stairs towards her dormitory.
Dumping all her belongings in a pile at the foot of her four poster, she clambered under her duvets and placing the white box on her knee she drew the curtains around her bed. Then ever so slowly she began to peel off the Muggle version of Spellotape that was holding the box together.
Moving the tape to one side she slowly lifted the lid… She gasped and froze solid and a cold rush came over her as tears filled her deep brown eyes. She didn’t even bother to move the long lock of red hair from where it had fallen over her eyes. She felt sick and giddy all at the same time and tried to take deep breaths so as to come to grips with the amazing surprise that had met her as she had opened the box.
Then ever so slowly she lifted her hand to stroke the pristine white leather of a most amazing pair of custom made…ice skates.
Christmas day was the only day in the whole year that the other girls in her dormitory actually got up before it was necessary and although she wasn’t particularly friendly with them, she smiled as she moved towards her pile of presents.
She grabbed the top one off the pile and pulled off the wrapping paper to discover a thick Weasley jumper in a pale blue with Ginny on it. After pulling the jumper on, she began to un-wrap the rest.
Her present collection she decided after she had finished the un-wrapping had been very satisfactory this year:
Mum – Knitted jumper, scarf, gloves and socks, all in pale blue.
Dad – Pale blue cloak from Madam Malkin’s in Diagon Alley to go with the other presents.
Mum and Dad – New charm for her bracelet.
Ron – Chudley Cannon Chocolates.
Fred and George – Box of Latest Tricks.
Percy – Book on Wizarding Facts of the Twenty First Century.
Charlie – Dragon hide gloves in a silvery pale blue.
Bill – Silver necklace with pale blue stone.
Harry and Hermione – Her own set of wizard’s chess pieces.
Luna – The latest ‘Quizillia Witch’ book.
Still gasping over how much her family was prepared to spend on her (and how her mum and dad were going to get food in the year to come), she reached over for the last present. It was wrapped in forest green paper with a silver trim and did not look like any paper she had ever seen before. Shrugging off the thought that it might be something dangerous, she carefully peeled the wrapping paper off, revealing a white box with Italian writing on it. She carefully turned the box over and tried to decipher the heading:
Apparecchiatura pattinare del ghiaccio pił fine del Sig. Bonsveneys.
And underneath:
I caricamenti del sistema bianchi del ghiaccio, graduano 5 e una metą secondo la misura.
By now she was incredibly puzzled. She turned the box over again, but there was nothing but a barcode on the back. Frowning slightly she came to the conclusion that it was bought from a Muggle shop – this confused her even more. Rubbing her nose slightly she racked her brains as to whom could have given her this obviously extremely expensive Italian made gift directly from an Italian Muggle shop. Coming up with no answer, she carefully placed the box under one arm and scooping up all her other presents she ran up the stairs towards her dormitory.
Dumping all her belongings in a pile at the foot of her four poster, she clambered under her duvets and placing the white box on her knee she drew the curtains around her bed. Then ever so slowly she began to peel off the Muggle version of Spellotape that was holding the box together.
Moving the tape to one side she slowly lifted the lid… She gasped and froze solid and a cold rush came over her as tears filled her deep brown eyes. She didn’t even bother to move the long lock of red hair from where it had fallen over her eyes. She felt sick and giddy all at the same time and tried to take deep breaths so as to come to grips with the amazing surprise that had met her as she had opened the box.
Then ever so slowly she lifted her hand to stroke the pristine white leather of a most amazing pair of custom made…ice skates.
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