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"You, too," said Harry. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!" |
"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which |
was a lot bigger than Harry's. |
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. |
A second, very small parcel contained a note. |
We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle |
Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece. |
"That's friendly," said Harry. |
Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence. |
"Weird!" he said, 'NMat a shape! This is money?" |
"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid |
and my aunt and uncle -- so who sent these?" |
"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and |
pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect |
any presents and -- 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. |
"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and |
mine's always maroon." |
"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which was |
very tasty. |
His next present also contained candy -- a large box of Chocolate Frogs |
from Hermione. |
This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very |
light. He unwrapped it. |
Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it |
lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped. |
"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of |
Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it |
is -- they're really rare, and really valuable." |
"What is it?" |
Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to |
the touch, like water woven into material. |
"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm |
sure it is -- try it on." |
Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell. |
"It is! Look down!" |
Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the |
mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head |
suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak |
over his head and his reflection vanished completely. |
"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!" |
Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, |
loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words: Your |
father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was |
returned to you. Use it well. |
A Very Merry Christmas to you. |
There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. Ron was admiring the |
cloak. |
"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the |
matter?" |
"Nothing," said Harry. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had |
it really once belonged to his father? |
Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung |
open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak |
quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else |
yet. |
"Merry Christmas!" |
"Hey, look -- Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!" |
Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on |
it, the other a G. |
"Harry's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's |
sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family." |
"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it |
on, they're lovely and warm." |
"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head. |
"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she |
thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid -- we know we're |
called Gred and Forge." |
"What's all th is noise. |
Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He |
had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, |
carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which |
Fred seized. |
"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even |
Harry got one." |
"I -- don't -- want said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater |
over his head, knocking his glasses askew. |
"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said |
George. "Christmas is a time for family." |
They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by |
his sweater. |
Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred |
fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of |
chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy |
and cranberry sauce -- and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet |
along the table. These fantastic party favors were nothing like the |
feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little |
plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Harry pulled a wizard |
cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like |
a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the |
inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at |
the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a |
flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick |
had just read him. |
Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his |
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