Seven Ways the Holidays Would Be Better as a Wizard
No matter what you celebrate, you likely both love and dread the holiday season. Sure, for many it means enjoying time with friends and family, but it also means cleaning and decorating, cooking and shopping, and so on and so forth. It’s enough to make some people scream. Imagine how much easier it would be if these things could be done with a simple flick of the wand. In honor of the holiday season, here are seven ways the holidays would be so much easier as a wizard.
Stringing Up the Lights
In the Muggle world, the phrase “stringing up the lights” is equivalent to an Unforgivable Curse. It is an activity dreaded by many, second only to taking down the lights. In the wizarding community, surely someone has invented a spell. Wingardium Levisoa Lights, perhaps? At the very least, a Detangle Charm.
Cooking
Molly Weasley proved time and time again that wizards got the better deal when it comes to cooking. Imagine how much easier holiday baking would be if the food baked itself. You would not even have to worry about cleaning up afterward because the dishes would clean themselves! Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration may state that you cannot create food out of thin air, but a simple Doubling Charm would save you all those last-minute grocery store runs! Now sit back and relax as your house fills with the delicious aroma of the holidays.
Decorations
I don’t just mean helping to put decorations around the house. No, I’m talking about singing suits of armor and storytelling portraits, just like at Hogwarts. Muggles spend so much time creating interactive decorations from singing stuffed animals to tiny trains, only to be foiled when the batteries die. Not in the wizarding world! You could have gingerbread people that tell cheesy jokes or dreidels that spin of their own accord.
Picking a Tree
I doubt you could simply say “Accio good tree,” but the magical way has got to be much better. For starters, one unlucky family member will not have to be Hagrid and lug the tree around. Plus, a simple Incarcerous Spell, like what Severus Snape uses in the Shrieking Shack, will keep your tree from sliding off as you drive. Better yet, why drive? Just Disapparate!
Parties
J.K. Rowling has proved on several occasions that it is quite easy for witches and wizards to defy the laws of space and enlarge rooms. Hermione Granger does it to her beaded bag in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Harry Potter suspected that Professor Horace Slughorn used a similar spell in his office for his own holiday party. Imagine if Muggles could expand rooms. Never again would you have to do the awkward Holiday Shuffle as friends and family try to scoot around each other to get to the ice bucket or the snacks table. Furthermore, a simple Levitation Spell would greatly speed up the pre-party setup, moving tables across the room in the blink of an eye!
Controlling the Weather
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ron Weasley accidentally conjures large snowflakes while distractedly attempting to turn vinegar into wine. This weather modification spell was never named, but assuming it could be recreated, this charm would solve many children’s dream: having a movie-esque white winter, no matter where you live. If you could control the weather, you could always make sure there is enough snow for sledding. Not to mention how handy it would be for decorating!
Perfect Fires
Who doesn’t love to curl up next to a roaring fire with a Harry Potter novel? What if you could ensure the fire stays lit without worrying about wet firewood ever again? In the wizarding world, you could simply cast the Fire-Making Spell. If you would prefer to roast chestnuts on the open fire, you could simply cast the Bluebell Flames Spell, which provides blue, waterproof flames that heat only the object held directly above the flames.
Nevertheless, when all is said and done, magical or not, the holidays are an enchanting time. And who knows? Maybe you will finally get that wizard chess set you’ve been asking for!
