InsaneJournal

WHO: Hermione Granger and open to Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and other friendly wizarding types
WHAT: Decorating for the holidays should never be done alone.
WHERE: Her flat
WHEN: Early evening, tonight
RATINGS/STATUS: PG most likely, narrative/open/incomplete


Getting the tree home wasn't the hardest part. For a witch, anyway, levitating it out of the way and Apparating into the flat was relatively easy. Getting it properly settled into the stand was a bit tricky, and Hermione did wish for a moment that she'd had John there to help. Or Sherlock to reach up with his absurdly long arms and make sure the tree wasn't crooked.

No, the hardest part was deciding what to put on the tree. At home her parents had had keepsake ornaments and golden glass balls and red garlands that went on. At Hogwarts there were so many trees and so many ways of decorating them that she couldn't even begin to remember. The Weasleys had a tree that was always slightly leaning to one side and crowded with ornaments from friends and family and made by all the children over many years. Last year in her flat she'd had a tiny tree with just some Muggle lights blinking on and off. She hadn't spent Christmas there, but it had been nice to have the tree around reminding her of the season when she came home.

Now, however, she was sharing a flat. And she really couldn't think of what would suit her current living arrangements. Freezing Charms and enlarged snowflakes? Too girly. Too much magic overall didn't seem right, but it seemed silly to go buy several boxes' worth of ornaments and lights when she could produce whatever she wanted from the end of her wand. But she wasn't sure how John and Sherlock would feel about a tree covered in spells. All right, perhaps she'd already put a charm on to keep the needles from dropping and turning brown, but that hardly counted.

For the moment, she stood in the middle of the living room, tapping her wand absently against her palm. Crookshanks sat directly in front of the tree, eyeing it balefully as if he expected something to come out of it. There wasn't supposed to be any wildlife in a Christmas tree one bought, but stranger things had happened here. And who knew where these trees came from - the lands outside the city? Was that possible? Did pine trees even grow here? Had someone gone beyond the city and cut the trees or had they simply been supplied by whatever brought them here?

Too many questions for what was supposed to be a simple process. Hermione sighed and sent a shimmering wave of silver icicles out to hang on the branches. Well, it was a start, and it didn't look too bad.