The main walkways of the centre were crowded with people, all rushing about trying to finish their Christmas present buying. With only three shopping days remaining it was not surprising to find that many of the shoppers were men. Bright lights and decorations adorned the ceilings and windows and the central display, where Santa’s grotto had been erected, was heaving with small children, gazing in wonder at the array of robotic figures and fake snow!

    In fact everything was so well decorated that the normal centre piece of the shopping complex, the sprawling fountain area, looked quite drab and bare. Raised up slightly, it occupied a large space in the open area adjacent to the grotto, and was a meeting place for many people as you could sit on its surrounding walls. Inside these low walls the tiled recess was filled with water and several small fountains flowed sluggishly at regular intervals in the pond-like structure, but today nobody paid them any attention at all.

    Holly and Georgina paused for a while and sat down for a rest on an unoccupied section of wall. Charlie who, like all cats, hated water, sat down nearby in the middle of the floor. As he had said to Holly, nobody seemed to notice him yet people clearly went out of their way to avoid him. One little boy jumped right over the top without even looking!

    After a quick wash, Charlie looked up at Georgina and muttered some unheard words.

    Georgina suddenly gasped, “Oh my God! Charlie’s in here – look Hol!”
    Holly smiled. “I know, Georgie. He’s been with us all the time, he even came in the car with us! He said that it is better if he keeps an eye on things while Mr Slive is about!”

    Charlie yawned. “I thought it better if Georgina could see me, just in case she thought you had gone mad when you talked to me!”

    Holly grinned. “Only you and me can actually see him you know, Georgie!”

    Georgina looked on in amazement at the way everyone managed to avoid him without noticing!
    Holly turned her attention to the fountains behind her and frowned.

    “I’m sorry, but the people who run this place really could have made more of an effort with this bit. It looks so plain compared to the rest of the centre! I wonder if there’s anything I can do to brighten it up?”

     She reached into the rucksack and pulled out the wand and book, an idea forming in her head. As she sat the spell book on her lap, the cover opened by itself; as if it knew just what she had in mind. The pages fluttered to a stop and she stared with anticipation at what was revealed.


    Holly grasped the wand and read the words out loud. Nobody except Georgina paid her any attention.

    A sudden shrieking sound, which nobody else seemed to be able to hear apart from Holly, came whistling into the centre through the nearby automatic doors. The doors opened politely to let the sound in and then closed again! The noise wrapped itself around the fountains, circled madly for a few seconds and then dived into the dimly lit water with a splash. The area began to grow much brighter, matching the intensity of the Christmas lights elsewhere. The small fountain nearest to the girls started to glow a deep, rich green. Then it changed shape, rising up until Georgina suddenly exclaimed, “It’s a Christmas tree!”

     It was indeed a Christmas tree, made entirely from water, and once it had finished growing into shape it started to decorate itself, complete with tinsel and lights that twinkled and changed colour!

     A second tree grew up on the opposite side of the fountain area; it too had decorations and lights. Once it had finished, both the trees started to dance and sway as if to some unfelt musical breeze!
     Other people sitting on the wall began to take notice of what was happening, and before long everyone was staring and pointing in wonder. But this was not the end; the fountains in between started to change too. In just a few moments they became children, dressed in winter’s clothes; woolly hats with bobbles and thick scarves, all made from water which seemed to shimmer and glow in different colours. People started to cheer with delight, not quite believing that the normally tight centre owners had put on such an impossibly wonderful display on for them! As if in response to the cheers, the fountain children picked up water ‘snowballs’ and threw them at each other whilst they danced in time to the trees’ musical breeze!

     “Blimey, Hol,” whispered Georgina. “That’s just incredible, it’s a good job they don’t know it’s you doing it, or who knows what might happen!”

     Just at that moment, two security guards turned up to see what all the fuss was about. As they pushed their way through the throng of fascinated spectators they knocked into Holly, almost tipping her into the water. She dropped the wand and instantly the fountain area returned to normal, as if it had never altered.