*snip*“I did invite him, Trude, but he declined,” Reg said, interrupting. “He claims that he wants to spend it with Bedivere and his phoenix, eating shepherd’s pie and Christmas sweets.”Aye, that would be our Albus - can't go having TOO much pleasure like visiting friends and being merry! *snerk*

LOL! Glad you enjoyed that bit! He is a tad retiring in this story, and also comfortable with his own company, and that of his avian friends!

*snip*Three minutes later, Reg burst into the room. “That was fantastic, Dumbledore! Just . . . amazing! I’ve heard of such things, but . . . words fail me! How does it work?”Albus laughed and showed Reginald how to activate his mirror to speak to his wife, then he explained, “Both of your mirrors are connected with each other and with the large mirror, so if Gertrude is at home and she doesn’t have her mirror with her, you can speak to her through this mirror, wherever you decide to place it. If you leave the doors open between rooms, she should at least be able to hear you call her while she is in an adjacent room. Or, of course, if she is away from home and you are here, she can speak with you in the same manner.”Magical IPhones!

Yes, very much magical iPhones! LOL! (And you may have noticed -- or not! -- their reappearance in LVS. )

*snip*“And this one is from me, Albus,” Gertrude said, Levitating another gift from beneath the tree, this one wrapped in plain red paper, a gold ribbon tied neatly around it. She lowered it gently into his lap. “I saw it and immediately thought of you,” she said shyly. “I hope you like it.”Albus unwrapped this gift with equal care, and a slight smile reached his lips as his efforts revealed a dark wooden box inlaid with lighter woods in patterns of climbing ivy vines. “Lift the lid, Albus,” she instructed.He did so, and a beautiful instrumental rendition of “The Holly and the Ivy” issued from the box. Albus smiled in delight.Oh HO! Gertie is already calculating Albus' destiny with Minerva? How very intrigueing!

She didn't, but it was a very happy coincidence, or as Sadie Pengaree might say, synchronicity! :D

*snip*Dinner was perfect, and afterward as they ate their pudding, Albus drew a box of Christmas crackers from his basket and insisted that they pull them. In the end, they pulled six crackers, the final one letting off a flurry of indoor-safe fireworks, terrifying poor Bedivere, who hid beneath Albus’s beard and couldn’t be coaxed out with anything.*snorts* AHAHAHAHA!

Glad you like little Bedivere in Albus's beard! lol!

Pretty nice wedding present, isn't it? ;-)

You're very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Of course, LOL, Albus is not a "confirmed bachelor" in the traditional double-meaning of the term -- not this Albus, anyway! Haha! Just settled into his fairly solitairy existence as a scholar. Glad you liked the Capricorn goat gathering -- I have a little story about Aberforth that might make its way into RaM at some point, or into some other story, depending. . .  .

I'm very glad you liked Gertrude here as a very young woman, happy in her marriage to her dream man. But I'm especially glad you loved Bedivere. I always wanted to give Albus that little owl, but Bedivere just didn't fit into RaM, so I was very happy to be able to use him here. 

Thank you very much for reviewing! 

I had to pop back on and beg--just a little<g>--to share your Aberforth story at some point! I've gotten quite attached to Aberforth since we learned more about him in DH. LOL, I didn't even think about the double-meaning. No, our dear Albus does not truly fit the term by any definition, ha!

Well, you do beg very prettily! *grin* It's been floating around in my mind for some time, so it may eventually come out -- as long as I ocntinue to write fanfic, of course. RaM had been in my head as an almost full-blown idea for a few months before I started to write it, and some of the ideas in it had been around longer than that, but I never thought I'd write any fanfic. Finally, though, I almost had to write RaM. And it's been a lovely distraction from RL, but it will be good to be finished with it and remember what I used to do with my free time before! I used to read fanfic, I remember . . .

Anyway, I will see if I can't slip in my little Aberforth tale, at least a brief version of it, at some point in RaM. I do have ideas for other one-shots, but I don't know if I will write them or not. We'll see! (I'd like to do a Malcolm/Tru one-shot, but people don't tend to read OC fics, and they don't really review them much, either, so that's likely a story that will die on the vine.)

Thanks for letting me know you would like to hear Aberforth's little story. I will do my best to work it in somewhere for you!

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

It's great you knew who Bedivere was and why Albus named his little owl after him. I've always wanted to have Albus have this little owl, but he just never fit anywhere, so I was glad to be able to have him here.

Thank you very much for the review! 

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

Thank you very much! I'm very glad you enjoyed it. Albus gives good gifts! Wish I were on his Christmas list! LOL

I hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas, as well!