Mikolay and Julia live in the same neighbourhood and go to the same school every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Every other weekend they attend the Magical Weekend School for children of magical creatures. Julia really likes school, and she is one of the best students.

But Mikolay wouldn’t mind if there weren’t as many Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He doesn’t mind the weekend school because he can do lots of magic, which he really likes and is very good at. 

When Mikolay and Julia aren’t at school, they usually go exploring and adventuring, which Mikolay is also very good at.

Mikolay’s and Julia’s mommies are witches and oversee a department that fixes things. The kids don’t know what their mums’ do when they are at work. But it must be important because both mommies don’t spend much time at home, which gives Mikolay and Julia loads of opportunities to adventure and explore the world around them.

Just like most children, Mikolay and Julia love Christmas. Not only do they receive fantastic presents from Father Christmas, but they also take part in the Fun Magic Ceremony at the Magical Weekend School. The Ceremony helps witches and wizards between the ages of nine and thirteen progress into more advanced magic and learn how to use powerful spells. After turning thirteen, each young witch and wizard can focus on learning what they are interested in the most. 

• “Do you think the Fun Magic Ceremony is going to be like last year?” – Mikolay wondered while sitting on a very high chair, making his legs disappear and reappear a second later.

• “I’ve read that each FMC is different.” – Julia reassured him.  

• “How different do you think?” – Mikolay asked. Since he already got bored making his legs disappear, he moved on to examining a thin velvet curtain that showed up out of the blue on one of the oval walls.

• “Mrs Aderson says that each time …” – Julia stopped halfway through her sentence as Mikolay disappeared right in front of her eyes.

• “Mikolay! Mikolay! Stop hiding! If we miss the FMC, we won’t be able to do many new spells!” –  Julia shouted at the top of her voice. She didn’t like missing crucial events in school.

When Mikolay didn’t come out from behind the velvet curtain, Julia turned towards the drape. But the moment she touched the velvet fabric, she was magically transported to a very old and cold house. She quickly scanned the room and noticed Mikolay taking cover behind a large armchair.

• “We have to go back right now!” – Julia ordered Mikolay before grabbing his hand. But he didn’t move even one inch.

• “I think the magical curtain brought us here to help this family,” – said Mikolay – “Just look how rundown this house is.” 

Julia looked around the house and realized that there was no fire in the fireplace; the windows were covered with rags and newspapers; the roof was leaking, and the whole place looked very grey and sad. But the most heart-breaking was to see five small children sitting around an empty table, waiting to share the little food their mum was preparing for them.

• “At least, can you tell me where we are?” – Julia wanted to know. Knowing where they were always made her feel less anxious and allowed her brain to plan for emergencies, which was the only way she knew how to deal with her anxiety.

• “Hmm, I don’t quite know. But I do know it is before Christmas. The mum and dad spoke about Christmas shopping and how much food they could afford to buy. And that they cannot buy a Christmas tree or heat the house because that is all too expensive,“ – finished Mikolay with tears in his eyes.

To the outside world, Mikolay always looked tough. But in reality, he was a compassionate young boy, and only Julia knew that side of him. He became the youngest member of the neighbourhood community that distributed food parcels every week to those who needed food the most when he was only seven; he always helps the bullied kids and tries hard to be friends with the kids who struggle at school the most.

• “But how can we help?” – Julia asked.

• “I think we could ask Farina to help with…” – before Mikolay finished his sentence, Farina was already flying in front of Mikolay and Julia.

• “Farina!” – Julia gasped.

• “What can I do for you, my dear friends?” – Farina, a little forest fairy, asked curiously in her beautiful singing voice. It was very unusual for the young wizards to ask her for help.

• “We would like to help this family have a Merry Christmas. And we wondered if perhaps you could share with them your firewood and some forest berries,” – asked Mikolay while working hard on holding back his tears.

Farina quickly looked around the cold house with the broken windows.

• “I’ll get everything I can.” – Farina promised before disappearing.

• “I could share my books and toys with the children,” – declared Julia and walked back to the velvet curtain. – “I’ll be back in no time at all,” – she whispered to herself and disappeared.

While Farina and Julia were gathering food, toys, wood, and books, Mikolay searched the house and the farm. For some reason, he could feel in his bones that some invisible dark energy was at work in this household. He carefully investigated every dark and unpleasant corner for clues. 

Back at her house, Julia pointed her wand towards a massive pile of books and toys and repeated three times: “Lacoste lico”. The books and toys instantly began following her around.

In the Fairy Forest, Farina and other fairies were busy gathering winter berries and wood for the fireplace while also preparing materials needed to fix the broken windows and leaky rooftop.

It was already dark outside when Julia, followed by Farina and her fairies, returned to the house, which they could only find because Mikolay was still inside the house. 

As a Christmas gift Farina also brought a lovely Christmas tree, which she decorated before arriving back in the house and placed right in the middle of the garden. Julia put all the toys and books, together with the forest gifts, underneath the Christmas tree, before returning to the old house and looking for Mikolay. 

• “When you were gone…” – Mikolay said to Julia and Farina “, I discovered that someone has put a very powerful hex on this family.”

• “Ahh…that would explain the curtain!” – Julia exclaimed.

• “What curtain?” – Farina asked curiously.

• “While waiting for our Fun Magic Ceremony, a velvet curtain showed up on one of the oval walls in the waiting room. When I touched it, I was brought to this house,” – explained Mikolay.

• “Maybe no one was supposed to see the curtain, and it was meant to keep the hex hidden?” – Julia wondered out loud.

• “If I could only find a house fairy to talk to.” – Farina said before vanishing into the dark nooks of the house. 

• “Why do you think we even saw the curtain? “ – Mikolay asked.

• “I don’t know. Perhaps we can still see some things grown-ups can’t. Or possibly the hex was lifted, and we were the only ones to see it.”

• “I wonder if one of the wizards from our order put the hex on this family.” – Mikolay pondered.

• “Mums always tell us that not all wizards are good,” – replied Julia.

• “We’ll have to tell mommies about the hex. We have no other choice.” – Mikolay said, the very one thing Julia knew they had to do but was already dreading a lot.

• “I know. We’ll be in a lot of trouble again,” – she moaned. 

Not even five minutes had passed when Farina returned with the house fairy. The house fairy didn’t have wings and was slightly smaller than Farina but she still had a beautiful singing voice while talking.

• “Tell Mikolay and Julia what you’ve just told me, my dear,” – urged Farina.

• “My family and I…” the house fairy began her story – “have been protecting this family for centuries. Humans have always been nice and kind to us and treated us as equals. This family has owned a treasure called The Future Seeing Cup, which is passed down from generation to generation. Of course, they knew nothing about the treasure and its foreseeing ability. We’ve always known what that was and made protecting the Cup our priority in case of any immediate danger. Then one day, a wizard approached my family with an offer to buy the Cup. Since the family didn’t agree to sell it, the wizard put a horrible hex on them. At first, all the animals died one by one. After that, the fields stop growing grains and fruits,” – the fairy finished with tears in her eyes. 

• “Please don’t cry. We will help you.” – Julia tried to comfort the house fairy.

• “This wizard also put the invisibility spell on us,” – the fairy carried on through her tears – “I’ve tried lifting it, but my magic isn’t strong enough.”  

• “That’s why we saw the velvet curtain,” – cried Julia. -“We could do the same and try to lift the hex for a fraction of a second to make the order aware.” – Julia proposed.

• “The bad wizard will come after you. He is mighty and cruel,” – said the house fairy with terror in her voice while wiping away gigantic tears with her sleeves. 

• “But we must try. By the time he comes after us, the Order may already know about the hex,” – replied Mikolay – “If we leave this place without helping the family, we will never find this house again,” – he finished.

The child’s determination and generosity moved the house fairy deeply.

• “Mikolay and I will lift the invisibility spell for as long as we can. Farina, you and the rest of your fairies must protect the family just in case. When the Order sees what is happening, they should be here in a heartbeat,” – announced Julia before getting her wand and the crystal ball the ready.

-“Mikolay, after the spell is lifted, you must grab my hand so the crystal ball can take us home.” 

Mikolay got his wand out. Farina and the fairies surrounded the house as a protective shield.

Alas, before Mikolay and Julia could do anything, the horrible wizard appeared in front of them. He was just about to reach for their wands when… Julia managed to seize Mikolay’s hand and transported them back home.

When they came back home, it was already too late to take part in the Fun Magic Ceremony. Julia wasn’t at all upset about not using more advanced spells for the next year. She was, however, very upset that she couldn’t help that poor family. 

Luckily, later that day, Mikolay and Julia’s mommies told them that the Order suspected Lester – the evil wizard – was using his powers to take advantage of people and other less skilled wizards. That is why they followed him to the house. Unfortunately, Lester managed to escape once again.

When the mommies got to the house, they lifted the hex and apologised sincerely to the family, offering them loads of gifts. They have also told the family about the magical powers of the Future Seeing Cup and taught them how to protect it from other wizards like Lester. 

Fortunately, Mikolay and Julia didn’t get in trouble and still enjoyed their Christmas festivities, including all the Christmas gifts they received from Father Christmas. 

THE END