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The most important gift 	An unexpected gift from a secret Santa arrived at the Morison’s house early in the morning, when no one except Asha, the youngest daughter of the family, was awake. Asha was a nine year, three months and six days old redhead witch and was still struggling learning all the spells and using them accordingly to each situation. However, she somehow managed this time to pick up the nicely wrapped box and carefully unwrap it with nothing but her wand and a lot of focus.&nbsp;	As soon as she opened up the present, she noticed a card on which said “To Asha with the hope this will help her in her next adventure.” Then she started taking a closer look at the present itself. It was an old, slightly rusted, red lantern, but it didn’t have any candle in it at all, which made Asha wonder. Asha had never seen anything similar in her whole life and was at that point filled with all sorts of questions: Who sent the package? Why had they sent the package? What next adventure were they referring to on their card? Why would she need a lantern with no candle or a lantern at all? There was only one place she could think of that could possibly give her the answers she wanted or at least a little hint - the ensemble library of wizard craft and wizardry of Cologne. But she couldn’t leave yet, since the library wouldn’t even be open that early.&nbsp;	And, that brings us to a couple of minutes later, when Asha is all set to go with her broomstick in her hand, the lantern and note in her green backpack and her big purple round sunglasses, which she always wears when flying.&nbsp; She is ready. She kicks the ground and is up in the air when her little brother Norman comes up to her all curious and asks her where she is going. She is hesitant and doesn’t want anyone to know about the unexpected gift. She has a feeling that it is something she has to figure out on her own. On the other hand, she also has the feeling of her brother annoyingly bothering her and not letting off of her. That being so, she decides to tell him all about the strange present and what she is up to. After listening carefully to his big sister, Norman decides he wants to go with her. They are both on their Christmas holidays, so neither of them had anything to do and Asha knows that if she leaves him behind, he will tell their parents all about her plans. She simply has to take him with her now and hopes it will not be that bad and that he might even prove himself to be helpful.&nbsp;	After a long flight, from their house in Essen to Cologne, they are finally there, at the ensemble library of wizard craft and wizardry of Cologne, the largest wizards library in Germany and one of the most significant worldwide. You see, it is famous not only for the books it is home to and the important documents that are held there but it is also renowned for its unique architecture and long history. While Asha herself had only been there a couple of times, her little brother hadn’t ever been there and as they stand in front of the majestic building they both felt so intimidated but still, full of curiosity. They quickly pick up their brooms and hesitantly enter the gigantic building.	At the reception there is a really tall wooden desk, behind which sits an old woman with long grey hair with a few blue highlights and a pair of really wide blue glasses on her nose. She slowly stands up to see the two children standing on the other side of the desk and asks them what they were looking for. Asha picks up the courage and asks where they keep the books about lanterns if there are any. The old woman, surprised by the little girl's answer, tells the two siblings to follow her and leads them to a big hallway filled with all kinds of books. In the middle of the hallway there is a long wooden desk with a wooden bench on each side. The old woman tells them that all books in that hallway are about lanterns, however she doesn’t believe two children of that age will find that amusing and suggests showing them the children's section. However, Norman reassures her that books about lanterns are just what they were looking for.&nbsp;	Immediately, the two kids start reading books one after the other while also paying attention to the pictures to see if any of the lanterns on the books match the one Asha received. Exhausted from searching and reading for hours they decide to stop and return home. But, as they are to leave the aisle, Asha notices a picture on a book a young man is reading, which shows a lantern same as hers. Consequently, she goes up to the man and asks him if he could lie her the book for a few minutes. Although the young wizard found it extremely odd that two children wanted to take a look at a book entitled “Magic lanterns of all sorts”, he also found it nice that children were interested in actually reading a book, so he happily let Asha have the book and left.&nbsp;&nbsp;	Glad that they found the book that could actually help them, Asha and Norman start reading, eager to get some answers. It seems like lanterns have so many different uses in the Wizards and Witches’ World. They can help you chase stars, find something lost, transfer from one place to another in only a few seconds, put out fire, change the colour of different objects and the list goes on. So, now they just have to figure out which spell has been cast on theirs and what they can do with it. They both start spinning it and pointing at it with their wands, holding it, rubbing it, dipping it in water, writing on it, talking to it, staring at it and many more, but nothing happens and they are back where they were an hour ago.&nbsp;	It is nearly noon now, so they decide to return home, so as not to be late for lunch. They pick up their brooms, kick the ground and are in the air and start their way home, or so they think. About half an hour passed by and they still couldn't see their home. Asha starts casting spells with the hope that one of them is going to show them the right path. So, she says” Bling tin tin tin blong, show us the way to go home!” Unfortunately, that and the other approximately 80 spells did not work. At that point, they were both really tired and hungry, in the middle of a dark forest without any food or water.	Finally, Norman takes the lantern and a little candle he happened to have in his pocket since “Martinstag” and lights it with his wand and leaves, determined to find some food. Asha follows him although she doesn’t have much hope and doesn’t believe they will find something. Fortunately, after walking around for a while and exploring the dark forest with the lantern as their only source of light, they find some berries! They were mostly blueberries, some cranberries and only a few blackberries. No strawberries whatsoever. Asha suggests sitting down to eat and think how they would return home. To her surprise Norman agreed. It is rather unusual that the two siblings come to an agreement. Since they were littles they had been fighting, although there isn’t much of an age difference. Maybe that’s the issue? On the other hand, since the whole trip and the lantern mystery started, they were getting a lot better along.&nbsp;	As the two kids sit down, Asha freaks out inside her and thinks of the possibility that they might not manage to find their way home that night and might need to stay there even for days! However, she tries to act as a responsible and calm big sister in front of Norman, when out of the blue she notices something rather strange, the light coming out of the lantern is particularly strong at one point and it looks as if there is a line there. Asha isn’t really sure what she is trying to do, but she gets up, hops on her broom and flyers just a couple of meters higher, holding the lantern with her one hand. At that point she is confident that the light coming out of their beautiful red lantern can show them their way home.&nbsp;	Although Norman is a bit reluctant to his sister’s idea at first, he later on is convinced by her and flyers on her side, while following the string of light from the candle. It takes a while and many turns, but finally after a few hours, they have made it! They are home! There they find their parents waiting for them in the kitchen drinking tea. As soon as they open the door and enter the house, their parents run up to them and ask them how their day has been so far. Asha and Norman are quite surprised their parents didn’t punish them or yell at them, yet, since they had been gone for the whole day without letting them know. On the contrary, their parents ask them how they handled the whole lantern thing and how their day had been.	The two siblings are now in total shock. How could their parents know about the existence of the lantern? Could they be the ones who sent that package to their kids? But, why would they do that? Finally, Norman decides to ask them and to both his and his sister’s surprise, they admit right away that they were their secret Santa. It turns out they sent the package because they were sure that such a mysterious adventure like this one could really help the siblings bond and work together as a team.&nbsp;	Asha and Norman look at each other with a strange look, but they soon realize that their parents were right! Their relationship had evolved tremendously that day and they could finally see each other and have fun together. As long as for the adventure the card of the present referred to, was the adventure the two kids were about to begin.Although Asha and Norman were waiting for a more unique explanation to their lantern mystery, they realized that their secret Santa had really given them the greatest gift of them all and exactly what they needed, an opportunity to get to know each other better. After all, Santa always knows what we truly desire and need.&nbsp;	Sometimes, the journey is more important than the destination, and this Christmas, Asha and Norman had received the most important gift of all: each other.

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The most important gift

NicoleStoltidou

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The most important gift

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Nikoleta Stolti

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