Well, it seems that I am one a winner with this story! Thanks to everyone who took the time to review. I got a few good names for Mother Christmas and have chosen one from that list. Thanks to everyone who took the time to make suggestions, but a special thanks to rmiser1994, Kinsfire, Dragonsrule18, Kieran, eyann85, Enelya Fefalas and "Guest" for giving me the perfect name! That said, a couple of other suggestions have been taken to name other characters in the story.

Anyway, on with the show!

Harry Potter: Father Christmas's Apprentice

Chapter 3: Christmas Morning

A little girl sat on her bed, wrapped in her favourite blanket, watching out of the large, circular window for the moment that she was waiting for. Next to her, curled up on the bed was one of their two pet cats. This one was all white and fluffy while the other was striped with black and brown fur, with a white underside, and had short hair. The second cat was currently asleep at the foot of the other bed in the room, which was unoccupied.

On the floor of the room there were three husky dogs, just a few of the admittedly rather large collection of huskies that the family owned. The three huskies were in a ring surrounding the large and beautifully decorated Christmas tree which stood in the centre of the room.

The room was mostly made of wood. The walls were made of thick and sturdy logs, the floor was made out of solid planks of hardwood, the beds were wooden and the window frame was wooden.

In fact, other than the glass in the window, the only structural feature in the room not made of wood was the stone hearth and chimney that stood off to one side, inside which there stood a wood burner, with a fire that was crackling away merrily and providing the room with a feeling of warmth and a soothing glow.

In addition to the big Christmas tree there were many other decorations around the room, from tinsel and home-made paper chains to snow globes and big red stockings which hung from the mantel piece.

Belle was the name of the girl who was still awake, and she was eagerly awaiting the return of her father, who had been off travelling far and wide as a part of his work.

She had been waiting eagerly for a long time now, and she was about to be rewarded. The sky was just beginning to turn from black to purple, signifying the imminent arrival of the sun, when she saw it – a faint, but distinct glimmer of a red light.

"That's Rudolph's nose!" she exclaimed before jumping down from the bed and running towards the door, shouting loudly "He's home! Mama, Daddy's home!"

The reindeer banked to the left and made towards the ground. As they made to land in the snow, some of the faster huskies were already there to greet them.

Rudolph was the first to touch down, followed by the rest who landed in their pairs, and finally the sleigh landed with a soft thud that shook Harry awake.

The reindeer slowed to a stop and Harry looked around. Snow covered almost everything around them in a thick blanket. There were stables, and what looked like a large workshop, and a large house made all out of logs.

Lights were on in the house and could be seen through the windows.

Harry got quite a surprise when one of the huskies jumped straight into the sleigh and greeted Father Christmas excitedly. Father Christmas greeted the dog enthusiastically and introduced it to Harry, telling him its name was Buster, which Harry thought was a nice name for a dog.

Harry reached up to scratch the dog behind the ear, which it seemed to like. There were a lot of huskies now, all running around and jumping excitedly. The reindeer didn't seem to mind them.

"You have a lot of dogs," Harry observed.

"Yes," replied Father Christmas "there are twelve in total. They do come in useful, and my wife is a bit of a fan of this particular breed."

"Daddy!"

Harry turned in his seat to see that the door to the house had opened up and a little girl was running as fast as she could through the thick snow in order to get to them.

Father Christmas got out of the sleigh and scooped the first little girl up into his arms, causing her to giggle happily.

"And what are you up at this hour, my little Belle?" he asked them.

"Waiting for you, of course." replied the girl.

Father Christmas turned around so that he was once again facing Harry, who was still sitting in the sleigh.

"Harry, I would like you to my daughter, Belle. Belle this is Harry."

"Hello," said the girl brightly.

"Hi," replied Harry, suddenly feeling nervous. He hadn't realised that Father Christmas already had a child of his own.

"He's so small," observed Belle, somewhat tactlessly "I thought you said that he was the same age as me."

Father Christmas chuckled and replied "He is the same age as you, Belle. He's just a little small for his age because his old family didn't feel him enough."

"Oh," said Belle "Well, I hope you gave them what they deserved."

"Oh, I certainly did," replied the bearded man "Harry, why don't you follow us inside?"

Harry nodded and slid down from the sleigh before following Father Christmas and his auburn-haired daughter towards the house.

Somewhere to the south, the Dursley residence was a clamour of noise.

"He's been!" shouted Dudley as he burst excitedly into his parents' bedroom. He got up onto the bed and began jumping up and down, waking his parents "He's been! Mum! Dad! Wake up! Father Christmas has been!"

Petunia Dursley sat up and grabbed a hold of her over excited son and pulled him in for a hug and a kiss "Merry Christmas Dudley!"

"Merry Christmas Mum!" the boy replied enthusiastically before bouncing over to his father "Merry Christmas, Dad!"

Vernon Dursley chuckled and ruffled his son's hair affectionately "Merry Christmas, you little tyke. Now, how about we go downstairs and see what Father Christmas brought you for Christmas, shall we?"

Dudley sprang off the bed and dashed madly out through the bedroom door.

Christmas morning always saw him running about faster than he ever did all throughout the rest of the year.

Vernon and Petunia got out of bed, pulled on their dressing gowns and followed their son downstairs.

Dudley raced through the sitting room and tore his Christmas stocking away from the mantelpiece. His parents arrived just in time to see him tip the stocking upside down and sent coal and soot everywhere.

Petunia nearly fainted at the sight of so much coal and soot covering her nice, clean, beige carpet as Dudley burst into tears.

Vernon, meanwhile, had gone very red in the face. He stomped over to the fireplace and pulled his own Christmas stocking from the mantel. He reached inside and pulled out a handful of coal. Petunia's was also full of the stuff.

Now a shade of purple that would make a plum jealous, Vernon grabbed the nearest present from under the tree and tore open the wrapping paper. According to the box beneath, this should have been the new VHS video player that they had purchased for Dudley to have in his bedroom. He ripped open one edge of the box and yet more coal and soot fell to the floor.

Petunia collapsed into a chair, hyperventilating. Ignoring her and his wailing son, Vernon threw the box to the floor as his mind tried to decide what could possibly be behind this. There was only one conclusion that his mind would come to.

"FREAK!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs and stomped off towards the hallway, ignoring his wife's gasp as he trod some of the soot into the carpet and left a trail of footprints in his wake.

The bolt of the door to the cupboard under the stairs was locked securely, but that was not going to stop Vernon Dursley when he was in a rage!

He grasped the door handle with a meaty fist and pulled backwards. The lock broke and the hinges bent. He threw back the door and went to lunge for his nephew, only to find that the boy wasn't there.

Not only that, the boy's school bag was gone as well, and all of his clothes. In fact, all that remained to suggest that there had ever been anyone living in the cupboard under the stairs was a tatty old mattress that should have been thrown out years before.

On top of that tatty old mattress there was a Christmas wreath. And in the centre of that wreath was a letter. In fact, it was a copy of the letter that Harry had sent to Father Christmas.

At the bottom, in green ink, there was a short note that had been added later. It simply read "Someone has been naughty!"

Vernon Dursley made a strange choking sound, followed by a loud gurgle.

Then he fell to the floor.

Twenty minutes later, the residents of every other house on Privet Drive were out on the street watching an event that was likely to keep the local rumour mill working well into the New Year – two paramedics loading a very pale-looking Vernon Dursley into the back of an ambulance whilst the man's wife screamed at them for not getting there quicker and the Dursley boy threw a temper-tantrum on the driveway.

Fortunately for the Dursley family, it turned out o not have been a heart attack, but what medical people liked to refer to as a "heart attack like event." Quite how that was supposed to make anyone feel any better only made sense to medical people, but there you go.

Fortunately for the readers of this story, once Vernon Dursley was out of hospital, he gave up his job at Gunning's due to it being too stressful, the family sold their home on Privet Drive and moved to small, rural village on the coast of Wales and never again celebrated the Christmas holiday. They did not even exchange presents, which means that they will play no further part in this otherwise happy story.

Back at the North Pole, Harry stepped over the threshold of the house and looked around.

It looked wonderful, all tastefully decorated for Christmas season.

Harry glanced back over his shoulder to get one last look at the reindeer, and saw that they were being led away by a group of small people who had long, pointy ears and were dressed all in green.

Christmas Elves.

A door off to the side opened up and a woman entered the room. She had auburn hair which was tied up in a bun with a red bow. On her nose there sat a pair of glasses made of a thin black frame, and behind them Harry saw the kindest pair of brown eyes that he had ever seen.

She was wearing a red dress that came down past her knees, over which she was wearing a white pinafore which was ruffled about each shoulder.

Before her she was carrying a large tray, upon which there sat four steaming mugs.

"Harry," said Father Christmas "this is my wife, Noelle."

"Um, hello," said Harry nervously.

"Hello to you, Harry," she replied with a warm smile "You must be cold after your long trip. Would you like some hot chocolate?"

Harry had heard of hot chocolate before, but he had never been allowed to try some, until he had sampled some on the sleigh ride. Mother Christmas held out the tray to him and he took one of the mugs.

It tasted like heaven, far better than that which had come out of the flask on the sleigh.

"It's good," commented Harry in a small voice.

Father Christmas chuckled and said to his daughter "Belle, why don't you show Harry upstairs? I'm sure that he would like to get in a few hours' sleep before breakfast."

"Ok, Daddy" said Belle, before grabbing Harry by his free hand and leading him away, her own mug of hot chocolate held firmly in her other hand.

"He's got Lily's eyes," observed Noelle as they watched their daughter lead the new addition to their family upstairs.

"And James's hair," added Father Christmas with a chuckle.

"So, you think he has what it takes to follow in your shoes?"

"I know he has."

"And what of Belle?"

"I'm sure that everything will work out for the best. They will be a good match."

"I hope you're right."

Upstairs, Harry was being shown around by a very excited girl who seemed to be keen to tell him everything there was to know about her bedroom, be it toy or furniture.

"Harry, this is Tiger," said Belle, holding up the stripy cat "we called him that because of his stripes."

"And that is Snowy," she added, gesturing to the other cat in the room, who was sitting on a bed, grooming its white and fluffy fur "you can probably guess why she's called that."

"You have lots of animals here," Harry observed.

"Yep," said Belle "twelve Husky dogs, two cats and over thirty reindeer."

"Thirty?" asked Harry "There were only nine pulling the sleigh."

"There are lots more out in the stables," said Belle "We have a whole herd."

"Oh," said Harry, before deciding to change the subject "You're mummy seems nice."

"Yeah, she is," replied Belle, happily "I'm in training so I can learn to take over from her one day. I'll be the new Mother Christmas."

"Oh yeah?" asked Harry "Well, your dad said he was going to teach me to me the new Father Christmas."

Belle nodded her head and replied "He said that's why they were going to adopt you. Everyone who has ever been Father Christmas has been in my family, my dad, my granddad, my great granddad… but after I was born, mama couldn't have any more children, and they needed a boy so he could take over as Father Christmas when my dad retires."

"So, if Father Christmas brings the presents, what does Mother Christmas do?" asked Harry.

"Oh, all sorts of things," said Belle, "She's in charge of the elves who do all the making of treats, like sweets, chocolates and cookies, and she's in charge of the elves who make clothes, like jumpers and hats and socks. Daddy, on the other hand, is in charge of the elves that make toys, like trains, dolls and teddy bears, and the elves that make musical instruments, like drums and trumpets."

"Who looks after the reindeer?" asked Harry.

"My Auntie Carol," replied Belle "She's my dad's sister and she looks after the Huskies as well. She really likes animals and she has elves that help her as well."

"Is she married?" asked Harry.

Belle shook her head and said "No. Because we live up here where it's secret she hasn't met anyone. She could leave to find someone, but she likes her job too much."

The pair kept on taking until well after the sun had come up. Eventually Noelle came upstairs to call them for breakfast.

"Didn't you two get any more sleep?" she asked.

"No, mama," replied Belle "we were talking about all the things that happen here."

"Well, that's very nice dear, but now it is time for breakfast."

Belle shot to her feet "Come on Harry! Mama makes lovely breakfasts.

As he got to his feet, Harry thought 'well, if Mother Christmas is as good at making breakfast as she is at making hot chocolate, then this might just be the best breakfast ever!'

Sorry for the delay, but I just could not get this chapter to work. Originally there were going to be three daughters here but that made things too cluttered so I cut them. Then Auntie Carol appeared out of nowhere, even after I said I wasn't going to use the obvious name of Carol Christmas. Oh well! I think I can make some use out of the character, if the story progresses that far.

Oh and in case you are wondering, Harry being trained to become Father Christmas and Belle being trained to become Mother Christmas does imply exactly what you are thinking it does. They just don't realise it yet!