Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. Let's leave it at that.

Now, I know this will be controversial but I honestly don't care. I believe it and I know some of you do too. So, I wrote this. Enjoy!

Christmas in the Castle

Snow was falling outside in a thick blanket that covered the castle grounds in white that glistened in the moonlight. Inside warm fires blazed to ward off the cold. And two people wandered the castle. One was a young redhead, away from her family for the first Christmas she could remember. Another was a boy, on the verge of manhood, who had narrowly escaped going to the place he hated to call home for a holiday he disliked more than most.

Both wandered, aimless on the cold winter's night. One was full of hope and praise for it was the eve of Christmas Day. The other wished nothing more than for it to be over with. Two completely opposite of each other in almost every way, but on this night love could change them both. The love that was inspired but such a night, the night so long ago that a baby was born, was strong in the girl that wandered the halls.

On a fifth floor corridor the boy gazed out a window upon the winter landscape with a frown upon his face. Never having known the love such as the girl knew, he disliked the holiday. But what was just another day to him would soon change his life. He paid no mind to the steps approaching him as the girl came upon him for he was lost inside himself.

The girl could feel the sadness and pain in the boy and was drawn to him despite their differences. And so they stood, side by side in the silence of that fifth floor corridor, gazing out upon the snowy grounds in the moonlight. The boy did not send her away, but he did not care for her presence. And so the girl spoke, filling the silence with a tale that had been told and retold by many, a story that had more truth than most.

The story was of a sinful world, turned from their God, and lost to darkness. And how God send his own son to the world to save them, for he loved them so. The girl told the boy of a virgin that found herself with child and a man who accepted her anyway. She told him of that baby, the child who would save them all, who was born in a stable. She told him of the child grown up, becoming the prophet that taught his people the ways of his Father. And of that same man, who never once did sin, giving himself to be hung on a cross so that his people could be free of their own. And how the man, Jesus, Son of God, had been laid dead in a tomb only to rise from it three days later for not even death could conquer him.

The young redhead, with tears in her eyes, told the anguished boy the story that was no story to her. It was what gave her hope and love. For she knew that God loved her so much that he had come to Earth and died for her, so she may live forever by his side. She knew the boy may not believe her, for it seemed many did not anymore, but she told him anyway for God had died for him too.

And as she walked away, a whispered Happy Christmas lingering in the air, the boy thought about her story. And not for the first time in is life, he felt the weight of his sin, of all the horrible things he'd done. He wanted to belief the girl and everything she'd said. Could he really be freed of his sin? Was there really a God who loved him? Was he worth of that love?

The answer was yes, he could be free. Yes, there was a God that loved him so much that he died for him. He wasn't worthy of that love, for nobody was. But that was the joy of it, the entire reason that Jesus had given himself upon the cross. In accepting that Jesus was the Son of God, God himself, had died for him and that he was truly God, he would be wiped clean of his sin.

But would he accept it?

I don't care if you don't like it, but I hope you do.

If you have nothing nice to say, don't stay anything at all. Okay?

Merry Christmas everyone! Remember the reason for the season!