The semester came, and went. Emil and Leon easily snuck into Hogsmeade and bought their gifts, and shipped them just as easily. They had to summon Feicui to carry everything, but that wasn't that hard. She grumbled a bit, but was happy to help once bribed with various choice bits of meat.

The boys' gifts were delivered by Tino in a dramatic scene during dinner.

It was Christmas eve, of course, and all the students who went home over the holidays had been long gone. Leon and Emil had stayed at Hogwarts, and gladly kept Harry company while he tried to evade them and investigate the restricted section and wander the school at night. Harry decided that those two knew he was up to something and were sabotaging him on purpose.

He was right.

At Christmas Eve dinner, many people were preparing for a wonderful evening of partying and laughter and good food. Emil and Leon, however were wary of such a clear opportunity to cause a ruckus, they had taken advantage of such opportunities numerous times.

So, our nation's were uncharacteristically on edge. Leon was so disturbed that he didn't use 'like' excessively the entire night. Emil wasn't as anxious, but he kept his eyes on the fake sky to watch for viking-like disruptions.

Neither were prepared when a plump man dressed in red and white launched himself through the doors of the great hall and started singing various Finnish holiday folk tunes.

"Emil! Little Nephew! Merry Christmas! I have presents for you and Kaoru!" Toni cried, bustling over to them and placing various large boxes around them. Emil smiled genuinely, and the Nation of Hong Kong watched in befuddlement as the usually even paced and calm nation of Finland moved with a speed usually associated with his brothers.

"Now you can't open them until tomorrow, and I think you'll just love them all and-Oh! Is that salmiakki?!" He gushed, grabbing handfuls of the stuff and putting it in his pockets. The boys laughed and bid Emil's favorite uncle goodbye as he dashed out of the great hall, leaving Snow-footprints behind him. A sudden streak of light by the windows signalled his passing and he gave a whoop of holiday joy that lightened the hearts of everyone in the castle.

"Was...was that Santa Claus?" Harry asked dazedly. "No, like, that was Uncle Tino." Leon answered. Harry still looked confused, but accepted the vague answer as the only one he would get.

They finished their meal uninterrupted, the nations, no longer stressed, ate heartily.

They somehow managed to get all of their gifts into the common room in one trip. Lots of stacking and more than one charm was needed, along with a fair but of Asian balance and coordination.

Balancing on moving staircases was tricky too, but Emil's sturdy sea legs kept them both up. Once all the gifts had been put under a tree, Emil and Leon fell asleep together in Leon's bed. The whispered to each other and snuggled quietly, the curtains on the four poster drawn shut.

The next morning, there was a flurry of glee and wrapping paper as everyone still at Hogwarts for the holidays ripped open all their presents. Emil and Leon both got an enchanted phone that would work around magic, a joint gift from Yao and Lukas. It was also a bribe to stay in touch.

Tino and Berwald had gifted them with a specially designed and enchanted camping set so that it was like having their very own cottage in the middle of wherever they were. An attached note said that Arthur had enchanted the device, while Tino and Berwald had built all the furniture.

Matthias had given them alcohol, again. He said that if they waited to drink it until they were 21, it would be aged so beautifully that they would cry. It was a tradition of sorts.

The Asian family had gifted them with pieces of art to decorate their room with to make it more personable and calming, as some pieces were made for that specific purpose.

Their gifts to each other were cooridanted together. They had each gotten a set of decorative dog tags that had different sets of spells and tunes inscribed them for safety and health and the like, but each was clearly stamped with "PROPERTY OF EMIL STEILSSON" and "PROPERTY OF LEON KAORU WANG" on the mentioned person's partner's tag. I.e., Leon's said he was Emil's property, and so forth.

They had personalized the gifts seperatly, but the main phrase and purpose was coordinated. They had thought it was morbidly entertaining that their dead bodies, instead of being tagged with their identities, would be tagged with the identity of their lover.

The cashier at Hogsmeade had not thought the same.

And so, their holiday progressed. They played on their phones as they hadn't done since summer, listened to music they had craved for almost half a year, and lounged about.

Harry managed to get away from them long enough to get himself into trouble. He came back into the dormitory yelling about some mirror and his parents and Ron just had to come and see and oh why not those two too and come on!

Leon and Emil were less than pleased with this disruption, but followed along anyway so they were kept in the loop.

When they got to the closed off storage room, Emil immediately recognized the Mirror of Erised. His brother had spoken of its tricks many times. He stopped before he was caught in its view and turned to leave. When Leon tried to stop him, he said, "That mirror is cursed by the wishes and desires of dead men. Do not be fooled by its charm." and pulled Leon back to their warm bed.

Harry was still raving about the mirror the next morning, so Emil told him exactly what it did.

"That mirror shows you your deepest desire. Men and women whither away in front of it, marveling at their perfect world, instead of getting up and doing something to make that world a reality. Don't be tricked by a mirror, boy-who-lived." Emil snapped, before returning to his meal. Leon glanced between Harry's gaping mouth and Emil's frustrated and irritated glare, a small smile playing on his lips.

It was only a matter of time before the classes resumed and Hermione returned with an answer to who Nicolas Flamel was. Harry groaned a bit about having nearly died in his attempt to help. Hermione hushed him distractedly as she explained her findings.

"I, like, know Nicolas." Leon pointed out. The trio gaped at him. "Personally?" Leon nodded, "How?!" Hermione gasped, nearly jumping him from across the table. "He knows my brother, like, very well. They, like, grew up together."

"He just turned 600 and something, how could they have grown up together?!" Ron asked, bewildered. Leon sighed, "I've said this, like, before. We aren't human, and, like, neither are our families. We are, like, an extremely long lived species. In fact, like, my brother is nearly 4,000 years old."

Hermione was so stunned she stopped breathing. Harry looked skeptical, but Ron was downright argumentative. "That's not possible, and you know it! You're playing a trick, you must be!" he hollered Emil caught him with a cold glare. "We are by far the oldest creatures in this school. Do not test me, boy." he snarled. Ron quickly sat and became far too interested in his pancakes than a normal person should have been.

"Good morning, students of Hogwarts. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday and are ready to stuff your brains with even more things now!" Dumbledore greeted the great hall.

"Only one announcement this morning, and it is as follows: Professor Binns has taken a leave of absence so that he may further study the development of the goblin wars and other such things that he is fascinated with. And so, a replacement History of Magic teacher has been appointed. Please welcome Professor Beilschmidt!" and the hall erupted into clapping as a tall man with white hair and red eyes stood in front of the student body. He was dressed in a military uniform of navy blue and while Emil and Leon had no immediate attachment to the man, they knew exactly who Gilbert Beilschmidt, former nation of Prussia, was.

And now he was going to teach