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english | russian

Amina was lying on the floor in her childhood bedroom, propped up on her elbows and her socked feet crossed over her bottom. It was Christmas and the Bulgarian had come home for a family party. So had her loud and annoying brothers. Just now, they discussed loudly the latest games from the NHL and roared over each other with their prognosis. Her father was certainly sitting next to them and had put on this typical torn facial expression. On the one hand thrilled that his children were so interested in sports, on the other disappointed that it wasn't quidditch. Their mother would giggle and put endless snacks on the table, hoping it would stuff her brothers' mouths.
Normally, Amina liked to be in the middle of the action - though of course there was nothing better than quidditch, she had passively and then eventually actively developed some knowledge of ice hockey and followed the sport on at least a regular basis.
Still full of coffee and cake, she had decided to finally make her Christmas greetings and send them off. Then maybe they would arrive in time. As always, she had waited until the last second. But now, full from eating and tired after a persistent snowball fight, the right and last possible moment seemed to have come.

Scattered around her on the floor were a bunch of colorful Christmas cards, some of them already with personalized messages, some without and Amina's fingers were already blue from the ink. She chewed thoughtfully on one of her red strands and turned the quill back and forth in her hand. She was a person of deeds and not of big words. All the cards so far had gone easily from her hand.
With a sigh, she put the card aside and took another. With her tongue between her teeth and a grin, she began to scribble.

Val,

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful time and get loads of presents. The silver bracelet has small snowflakes on it, but not in a girly way, do you see them? You have to look very closely. Also, I hope the white hat I picked for you is comfy. I thought it was super fluffy. Remind me to pick your team when we play hide and seek - no chance I will ever sport you in the snow, white rabbit. It’s my honor to be on your team and your friend!

Love,
Amina

She enthusiastically underlined the last sentence, blew once on the parchment and then pushed it to the small package for her best friend. With a grin, she turned to the next sheet.

Slava,

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great day with presents and glitter and all of that crap. I found something that you might like. It’s from a muggle shop and called “glitter gun”. If there is not enough glitter yet, shoot. For me. Please!

Smoochies,
Amina

She paused for a second and giggled at the image of Slava unloading a pack of glitter on his family. You could never get that stuff out of the house. She knew that, because of course she had tried it first downstairs in the living room. Not that she gave her friend any nonsense. To make sure that he could pull the trigger frequently, she had added ten refill packs. In red, of course. Durmstrang Pride!

Two down of the horde! Next one. This was fun. Part of her wished that she had a chance to spend some time with her friends, but Amina always went home for the big breaks. Family was important and after all she also loved her dumb brothers, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
The next one would also be easy.

Yeffy,

Merry Christmas to the best dragon ride in the world. I hope you have a big party and great fun today! Thank you for putting me on your team. Don’t worry that the box is shaking a bit that this note is attached to. Given the context I got you a mini dragon figure. You can use them as a night light, he will fly around your head. And if you need to light a candle. Hope you like it!

Big hugs,
Amina

She flicked against the hand-sized packet from which it was smoking suspiciously. Hopefully he would not burn it.
Her eyes fell on the other package. Normally she wasn’t good at picking presents since she didn’t care much but this year she had been inspired. Hopefully her friends liked all the stuff. The next one was also easy.

Johannes,

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great time. I don’t know if you know that tool, but it’s called chocolate fondue. You can melt your choco in it and dip fruit in it. Invite me when you try it.

Snuggos!
Amina

Muggles really were creative. Thanks to her mum Amina had been in touch with all the non magical stuff although her sport was 100% magic. She briefly put the quill aside and stretched her fingers. so much writing was really exhausting. But now it was almost ready. When she looked at the next package, the grin returned to her face. Time for a message to her favorite rival.

Romeo,

Merry Christmas! I hope you and your family have a great celebration. I hope you find the new leather gloves useful. You can also throw them on the ground to request a proper duel. If I am not first! BEWARE.

Warm regards!
Amina

With a giggle, she also tucks this note into the small package. Then she bit her lower lip and pulled the card back to her, which she had placed on the side before.
The only thing that belongs to it is a small patch that you could put on bags or leather jackets. It was a little devil smiley face with the words: smile, you can't kill them all. The strand was immediately back in her mouth and for some annoying reason her cheeks got hot.
Frustrated, she grabbed the quill. This was ridiculous.

Felix,

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great time at home. I hope you like the small present - I saw it and thought of you. Although I detected a small smile last time on the ball with you, so maybe you are already living the topic. I had fun. Maybe at the next ball we can go together?

Best,
Amina

The girl looked at the note for a while, unable to store it with the other presents. Her heart was suddenly beating faster. Something felt off. She probably shouldn’t send that.
With a sight she crumpled it up and threw it over her shoulder. In the end, he would get the idea that she liked him. The grouch. As if he was her type. Pff. No way.

Just as she dared to try again, the door was yanked open with a flourish.
Amina turned around and jumped to her feet in the same movement. Nikolai stood in her doorway, grinning broadly. "Ever heard of knocking, you moron?"
Nikolai was the next in line and not much older than her, but at least five inches taller. And he had a wide smirk on his face. “I just wanted to get you. Mum needs our help with the dang tree. Hey, what’s this?”
He had dived down in a flash and grabbed the paper she had thrown away earlier.
"Give me that!" Amina jumped forward, but he turned around and shielded her with his broad back, against which she threw herself with all her weight. Typical hockey player, this tackle left him cold. He smoothed out the note with a gleeful grin and followed it with raised eyebrows. "Oh, Mimi. Are you in love? How sweet."
"Shut up! I'm not. Mind your own business!"
He laughed and threw the paper back at her. "How cute. I'll let you get back to writing lovey-dovey."
“Get OUT!” She had grabbed her slipper and hurled it directly at Nikolai. He ducked away, chuckling, and slammed the door behind him.
Amina stood there breathing heavily, her cheeks as red as her hair. In love, my ass. What an idiot. As if she would fall in love with Felix. He had put on a dress! Ridiculous!
Upset, she grabbed a piece of rough parchment and began to scribble furiously.

Felix,

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great time at home. Don’t put dresses on. They don’t suit you. See you next year.

Bye bye,
Amina

Mentions | Valentin @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | Slava (@Ruby Cazares | @Pièrre Marchonné | Johannes (@Astrea Soleil Neptune) | Yeffy | Felix (@Winnie Harper)

Two days before receiving Amina’s owl while laying in the ashes of his father’s immolated tower, Valentin had sent a gift of his own along with a note. A pitch black Ural owl appeared without warning in Amina’s room like a small ninja on Christmas Eve and began to bounce excitedly on a nearby desk. While normal birds may have been easily intercepted by others, most of Valentin’s purpose-bred race owls were trained to deliver only to the addressee. When Amina felt like opening her mail was, however, up to her.

December 22nd, 2022

Dear Amina,

I’m not sure if your family celebrates Christmas, but I wanted to send you something anyway because I found something I thought belonged with you. In the village near where I live outside of Kazan, Russia, an old man runs a shop of miniatures – magical toy trains, village scenes, you name it. While I was there I saw this snow globe that depicts Durmstrang and its quidditch team training in a blizzard. If you look closely you can see the tiny figures flying around inside. I’ve always appreciated the dedication you’ve shown to the team and I knew you had to have this.

I hope that the winter break is a pleasant one for you and that you can enjoy whatever holiday you may celebrate to the fullest.

With love,

Valentin