Until Christmas Chapter 1: The Envelope, a harry potter fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other characters belonging to said series. I do not even think it would be considered fanfiction if I did own it, which I do not.

Title: Until Christmas

Chapter 1: The Envelope

Summary: Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

Rating: T

Warnings: May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, and maybe M/M relations (later and still in debate).

December 8, 1997

It seemed to be an odd Monday for Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He'd woken up from a dreamless sleep actually early enough to take a shower before heading down to breakfast with Ron and Dean, who both grumbled about being woken up five minutes too early. Seamus and Neville had apparently already left before Harry had even woken up. But that didn't really surprise the other boys too much; those two had always been more morning compatible compared to their other dorm-mates.

By the time they had arrived to breakfast, Harry and Dean had gotten in a few laughs at the expense of Ron who had already tripped on his way out of the portrait hole, "stepped" onto the missing step on the stairs, and caught with his wand drawn towards his two friends (who were laughing at him) by Snape. But despite the small mishaps that morning, the group of boys joined their friends at Gryffindor house table in bright spirits; none of them seeing the point in being upset so close to Christmas break.

Harry smiled as he grabbed the seat between Hermione and Neville, exchanging greetings with everyone in their group; glaring half-heartedly as his friends all added their additions to his plate when he only grabbed two pieces of toast and some jam.

"E't mo'," Ron muttered around the bites of food that he had already shoved into his mouth, shirting five pieces of bacon onto Harry's over-flowing plate. And his plate was over-flowing; not in the sense that the green-eyed boy's friends had piled too many things on, but had completely covered the two pieces of toast that he had been planning to eat.

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, flabbergasted at the complete lack of table manners in his chewing of food and leaning over the table.

The red-haired teen looked confusedly between his friends' faces, "Wha'"

"For the love of that is Merlin! Ron stop!" Harry's bushy-haired friend curled her lip in disgust before turning away from the scene of half chewed sausage and eggs.

"Thanks, mate, for the bacon and, uh... show." The green-eyed teen chuckled slightly before tapping his lips with a finger, moving onto eating his own breakfast while Ron quickly caught on to his friend's meaning. The group was quiet for a few more minutes before it was interrupted by Ron's lack of manners again.

"I real ant leave Umble'ore 's retting 's ot-" the red-head stopped suddenly causing the rest of the group to laugh when they noticed the look Hermione was sending the boy's way, which he had caught sight of and was now trying to finish off the food in his mouth quickly, having to down his entire glass of pumpkin juice to do it. Ron cleared his throat and looked down at the table after his small choking fit, "Sorry."

Hermione sniffed lightly before pushing her finished plate away from her, setting a Charms book in its place, which she immediately opened and flipped to an already marked page, "Apology accepted."

Ron smiled and nodded to Harry, leaning forward towards the other boy, "Like I was saying, I still can't believe Dumbledore is letting us out for Christmas break an entire five weeks!"

"I heard his original plan was to let break be from the fifteenth to the fifteenth, but he didn't want to start the new term on a Thursday. So he just gave us the rest of the week," Seamus said jumping from his conversation with Dean to the one that was going to end up more interesting; the other boy only nodding along with his friend, attention in the earlier conversation lost.

"Why doesn't he make it the thirteenth through the thirteenth? Then the new term would be starting on a Tuesday," Harry shrugged before finding Dean's hand covering his mouth and shh's coming from many of his friends.

"Harry! If it gets us more time on break and away from Snape, then Dumbledore can lose his mind more often!" Dean practically hissed at him. Harry glared at the boy and gabbing at his wrist with the fork he'd been using to eat his eggs with, the dark-skinned boy winced and withdrew his hand. "What was that for?"

"For nearly knocking Neville out of his seat to cover my mouth," Harry snapped, nodding to the boy seated next to him while cleaning off his fork so that he could continue eating his breakfast. A few familiar hooting sounds was heard overhead, causing everyone in the dining hall to look up and see owls flying circles around the rafters before heading down to the tables below.

"Monday morning mail," Dean snickered as he pushed his plate away when he noticed an owl making their way towards him.

"Nearly knocking Neville," Harry shot back, noticing Hedwig among the owls hovering above the Gryffindor table. He picked up a few pieces of bacon and held out his arm from her to land on; she hooted upon landing, dropping the envelope she'd brought onto the table and snapped at the strips. Once his owl was finished, he let her fly off after petting the feathers on her chest lightly; Harry was left staring at the sealed envelope before him. Taking a quick glance at his friends, Harry picked it up and read the ornate, curved writing across the front:

Open at 12:00

The green-eyed teen blinked and stared at the writing as if not understanding, flipping the envelope over only to be met with the wax-sealing of a swirling, knotted design. Harry sighed and shook his head before turning to poke Hermione in her shoulder. "What's the big idea?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The bushy-haired girl asked looking confused, but Harry wasn't fooled.

He rolled his eyes and held up the envelope, "Why did you send this to me?"

The girl in question stared right into his eyes and blinked in confusion before turning her eyes to the piece of mail in his hand. Hermione stared at it for a few seconds before shaking her head, returning her gaze to meet Harry's, "I didn't send that to you."

This caught the teen off guard. Turning back to face forward in his seat Harry stared at the writing once more, tracing the loops and curves with his eyes; searching silently for an answer to the rising number of questions in his mind. Shifting his green eyes towards his other friends he found them looking between him and the envelope in his hand, but none of them acknowledged that it came from them by showing genuine curiosity in his delivery. "If it isn't from any of you, who is it from?"

Unfortunately, Harry would have to wait for that answer to come when the group noticed bunches of students standing from their places at their house tables and making their way out of the Great Hall, heading to their first class of the day.

Hermione patted her friend on the shoulder before standing up, "Come on, Harry. You know how Professor Snape gets if we show up late for class."

"Yeah, I know; and I'd rather not end up scrubbing cauldrons over the break."

Oh, Merlin! Whoever sent me this letter seriously means to torture me! I don't think I can stand it much longer!

Double Potions was usually a grueling class to deal with, especially since Gryffindor had always been paired with Slytherin to take the course. Harry considered himself lucky today, though. He would usually get paired up with Ron or Neville to make the potion that counted for a third of their grade; but oddly enough, Snape had actually paired him up with Hermione.

This is probably one of the only thoughts that were taking his attention away from the envelope he had safely tucked in the inner pocket of his school robes. Harry changed his thoughts back to the letter that he wasn't able to open until the given time; well he guessed it was a letter, it had to be because he couldn't exactly think of anything else that it could be. But then why would the person that sent the letter and say that it shouldn't be opened until 12:00. It didn't really make any since to the green-eyed boy.

Then there was also the fact that it couldn't be opened until that time. It's not that Harry himself had gotten so curious that he tried to open it, even though he was; Ron had actually took the envelope from him and attempted to open it, but had received a shock... literally.

The tall boy himself was situated at a table with Seamus, both looked practically miserable as they tried to follow the instructions to the potion the two had picked from the book as their potion. But poor Ron was getting laughed at by the Slytherins that were in front of and behind the two; his hair had suffered from the shock and was still standing on end, going every which way. Even Snape's sneer seemed to flatten out every time he passed their table.

Thinking of how his best mate had tried to open the envelope brought Harry's thoughts back to the folded parchment at present. Who could have possibly sent it to him? And whoever it was had used Hedwig, so that could only mean that the person was someone that was at Hogwarts, be it a student or a professor.

"Harry!" A voice hissed close to where the one being called was standing.

The boy blinked and turned his head towards Hermione, who stood with one hand on her hip while the other held the stirring stick. He blushed and ducked his head slightly, eyes being brought to the cutting board in front of him where he noticed the vanilla beans that he had yet to slice. "Oh, bollocks."

"Exactly! Now hurry and slice them length wise before the potion turns orange!" Hermione turned back to the potion and watched it closely, stirring it twice before letting it sit once more. The girl sighed and stole a quick glance at her friend, "Honestly, Hare, it's no wonder that you don't make good marks in potions! You haven't the attention for it!"

Harry grinned, "Sorry, Mione. Ever since I got that letter I haven't been able to take my mind off it; and I haven't even read it yet!" He saw a smile spread across the girl's face before she stole a glance at his work and frowned.

"Length wise, Hare, you're suppose to slice them length wise." She paused and watched him adjust his cutting, nodding to indicate that he was doing it correctly before turning back to the cauldron. "Okay, get ready to put those in."

Picking up the strips with his cutting knife, Harry placed them onto a small dish that he handed to Hermione to put in; he would have done it himself but he hadn't read how they needed to be put in, so he just left it up to his more capable partner. Taking a peek at the potion he noticed that it turned from orange to yellow before the girl could add the bean, which she went ahead and slid into the potion anyways. "Mione! The vanilla was—!"

"Suppose to be put in when the potion turns yellow," Hermione cut him off before he could finish his sentence, causing him to give her a confused look. "I told you to have them cut before the orange stage because the yellow doesn't last very long." She smiled at him before stirring the potion eight times clockwise and stepped away.

"We're done, Hare."

"Merlin, you can be real cheeky when you want to be," Harry muttered under his breath as Hermione stuck her tongue out at him before collecting a few potion bottles and began filling them. Just as Harry finished corking them Snape drifted by and took a look at their potion, sneering slightly and turned his nose up.

"Be sure to include," their professor paused and turned his glare onto Harry, "all the details in the assigned observation essay."

As Snape moved away from them, Harry flinched in scolding, "I should have paid more close attention."

"Don't worry, Hare. It won't be due until next class, so I'll be able to help you with it," Hermione smiled and leaned closer to the boy, "Slightly."

"Only slightly?" Harry asked hopefully, in which he received a curt nod from his partner that drew out a large sigh from his lips, "That's what I was afraid of."

When Potions had finally been released, Harry nearly ran down a few Slytherins in his rushed to get out of the class and to the Great Hall. He threw an apology over his shoulder that shocked the small group long enough that they had not gotten the chance to draw their wands at the boy, but still managed to leave a question hanging in the front of their minds, "Had Harry Potter actually apologized to Slytherins?"

Racing into the dining hall and over to the Gryffindor table, Harry found a quick seat and began piling things onto his plate. Whispering a time charm he settled down disappointedly when he noticed that he had a whole seven more minutes before he could open the envelope. Someone tapped the green-eyed boy's shoulder before sitting down on the opposite side of him. Harry took a small glance at the person and grinned, "Hey, Ginny. Ready for the break?"

The girl smiled back and nodded before filling up her own plate, "Just about! I've got two more tests to study majorly for but otherwise I'm set to go home. Mum's been writing loads lately! I think she's anxious to have us all home."

Harry nodded at his best mate's sister, half listening while taking a bite of his food after pushing it around a few times. He whispered another time charm before smirking, Three more minutes. "I heard there's going to be a family reunion at the Burrow this year."

"Mmmhmm, mum's gone completely mental. At least that's what the twins have said," she giggled slightly to herself about something, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice and continued on, only taking slight notice to the people settling in around them. "Apparently, she comes by the shop every day just to tell them not to forget to pick up a few things for her, that she ends up getting herself, and slipping in the fact that there will be some girls for them to meet at some point. She's bloody bent on getting grandchildren!"

He chuckled around the food in his mouth, swallowing it with only a little bit of difficulty before repeating the same charm again, jumping slightly when he noticed that it was 12:01. Harry dropped his fork and reached into his inner robe pocket, pulling out the envelope that had been on his mind since early morning. Gulping back the sudden and unexplainable nervousness, he slipped his finger under flap and winced, fully expecting to be shocked like Ron. Luckily, the only thing that happened was the wax-seal peeling away from the rest of the envelope.

Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, Harry flipped the flap back and revealed a cream colored piece of stationary with the same curved hand-writing peeking out from within the envelope. Not taking notice to anyone around him, the green-eyed boy slipped the paper out and began to read it excitedly.

To: Harry Potter

At least now he knew the letter had been meant for him to read in the first place.

A large red box, is what you seek,

Whose wrappings are anything but meek.

Found at the place where students expand their minds,

A view by the creatures kept in spines.

From:

"Huh?"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Cryptic isn't it?"

"It's addressed to you like a gift, Hare."

"They didn't even sign a name! What's the point in putting 'From' if you're not going to say who?"

"I expect someone's messing with you, Harry."

Harry blinked and looked over his shoulder, jumping when he saw how many of his friends had gathered so close behind him. "Bloody hell! What do you think you're doing?"

"Satisfying our curiosity for the letter you got this morning that gave Ron here such a shock!" Dean said with a smirk, patting Ron on the back rough enough to send the biscuit in his mouth flying out onto the table.

"Oi! Watch it!" The red-head quickly spun on the dark-skinned boy and shoved his shoulders, nearly sending him and Neville into the group of Ravenclaws walking up the aisle.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the lot, taking a seat next to her defeated looking friend, "I believe it's a gift."

"Hmm?" Harry turned his eyes towards the bushy-haired girl next to him and tilted his head in confusion. "Why do you say that?"

She smiled and shook her head, sending the hair that had fallen over her shoulder back into the mass resting against her back. Hermione pointed her finger at the letter, tapping the stationary lightly, "Look at the way that it is addressed to you and then signed, or suppose to be signed. It's like they were marking a present to you."

"Huh, well look at that. You're right, Mione." The boy noticed out of the corner of his eye how his friend sat up straighter and how her smiled brightened, Hermione did always like to be right and liked it even more when someone called her out on it. "But why would the person that sent me this do that?"

"Probably a clue," Neville cut in timidly. Apparently he had had enough of being pushed around for one day and escaped to the other side of the Gryffindor table, unnoticed by the rough-housing teen boys behind Harry and Hermione. "The person addressed the letter to you like a present to maybe highlight the 'red box' and 'wrappings' within the riddle. It may be a Christmas present for you, Harry."

The green-eyed teen carded his free hand through his unruly locks while staring down at the writing, "So it's a present that I 'seek'? I'm supposed to look for it? Or does it come to me?"

"I think you're supposed to look for it, Hare. I mean, look at the last two lines: Found at the place where students expand their minds, a view by the creatures kept in spines. I'm sure that's a clue to where the present is going to be," said Hermione as she took a biscuit from one of the baskets in the middle of the table and took a small bite.

"'Where students expand their minds', could mean that it's going to be found here at the school." The boy sitting across from the girl added while placing a few things onto his own plate, taking a few bites before pouring some juice into his own cup.

Harry frowned and looked down at the writing once more, reading it over again before shaking his head, "You may be right, but I think that that is too broad. What about the 'creatures' part, why not just say animals?"

"Maybe they meant just that, though. They aren't animals but creatures, magical creatures. That could mean the forest or even Hagrid," Hermione leaned in closer, starting to get excited over the chance to unravel the riddle.

"Yeah, that would make sense! 'Students can expand their minds' about 'creatures' in Care of Magical Creatures class! That means Hagrid is the one who has your present!" Neville smiled and nodded at Hermione who copied the move, turning to Harry and giving his hand a squeeze.

The green-eyed boy returned a small grin and nodded, disappointed that the mystery was over but still slightly bothered by something about the 'answer' not being right. "I suppose I could go down there after class."

Harry found himself sighing again. He couldn't figure out why but something about the answer that his friends had help him come up with still seemed wrong, even though it did sound reasonable and he didn't exactly want to call his friends out for being wrong. Especially, since they both helped him without even needing to be asked; and slightly out of fear of having to tell Hermione that she may-sort-of-possibly-could-maybe be (just a smidge) wrong. But only slightly.

It was the last class of the day and Harry still couldn't get the riddle out of his mind. He had even memorized it with how many times he'd looked at the paper during his classes after lunch. Something was missing, and Harry couldn't put his finger on what it was. He'd dazed out many times during his classes to try and figure out what he could possibly be looking over, or if he could have misinterpreted some words. But he couldn't come up with anything. The more that he thought about it, the sounder his friends' answer became.

When Professor Binns' suddenly stopped talking was when Harry was finally brought out of his musings, "Class dismissed."

The teen stretched and closed the two texts in front of him. For a reason unbeknownst to him and most of the class, their ghost of a professor had decided that they would get out their History of Magic book as well as chronology book of the most recent goblin rebellion.

Harry stifled a yawn as he shoved his history text into his bag before following a few Slytherins over to the bookshelf to return the other book they were forced to have open. He stretched once more before shoving the book onto a random shelf and turning heal to exit the classroom, Why did he even bother with books today? All his classes are lectures anyways.

"Oi, Potter!"

The green-eyed boy froze and turned to meet the glare of steel-grey eyes, Harry still couldn't understand why git in front of him had come to hate him so much. It could have something to do with him not taking his hand in friendship during their first year, but just because he didn't take his hand didn't mean that he wouldn't take his friendship. Prat. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Make sure you put books away with the spine facing outward, Potter. -Some- people like to know what kind of book their picking up." The blond sneered at the boy in front of him and made his way to brush past Harry.

"What?"

"Basically, you're an idiot, Potter." The Slytherins left in the classroom all snickered and waited around, hopefully to caught a fight in action and possibly see Harry hexed a few times.

"No, what did you just say?" Harry asked, taking a step towards the blond and completely ignored the fact that he had been insulted. He had something more important on his mind at this moment than having to deal with petty quarrels with a certain greasy-haired git.

Malfoy released a sigh, "Geez, Potter. You don't listen. I said, 'Make sure you put books away with the spine facing outward. Some people—"

Harry waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, yeah, I heard the rest. But the first part," he trailed off and turned his gaze off to the side, leaving the Slytherins in the room to share looks saying: Harry Potter has lost his mind.

'Found at the place where students expand their minds, a view by the creatures kept in spines.' 'Spines', could mean spines of books. Books can be found all over the school though. 'Expand their minds', that could mean classrooms with books or the... Library! Oh, Merlin! Those two lines were talking about the Magical Creature section in the library! Harry smile wide and nodded at Malfoy, "You're a genius, Malfoy! Thank you!"

Leaving the now shocked-silent Slytherins, Harry ran out of the class room and down the hall towards the stairs; completely missing the small discussion that was left for the students from the rival house to have about his bazaar behavior.

"Did that just happen?" Draco asked to no one in particular as he started at the spot Potter had been standing at not a few seconds ago.

"I saw it, but I can't believe it," Pansy whispered back while linking the blond's arm with her own, a way that she could tell that what just occurred was real and not a figment of imagination; much better than pinching her perfect skin. "Did you hear that he actually apologized and helped up some Slytherins he had knocked down this morning?"

"I heard Potter had actually flirted with one of them as he helped clean something that spilled onto their robes," Blaise interjected from the opposite side of Draco than Pansy, both turning to him with a raised brow. "Alright, alright. No way could that be true; but still, I like to have my fun."

"If Potter did ever flirt with a Slytherin, I would seriously have to consider what this world is coming to," Shaking his head, Draco proceeded to lead his fellow Slytherins out of the room and towards the dungeons.

Harry stopped to catch his breath just outside of the library before going in and rushing past the main desk, back towards the rows of bookshelves. A few students were found among the stacks and at small desks spread out between the shelves, but none of them concerned the green-eyed teen. He hurried to the back, taking a sharp left when he reached the section he needed to. But he froze, all he could see were neutral covered books, no red that popped out at him.

Going down the aisle, Harry peeked behind some books that were left on a desk and even stood on one of the chairs to see if there was anything on the higher shelves. When he finally made it down to the end of the section, Harry shook his head and let his unkempt bangs hang in his eyes before he plopped down into the chair right next to the window.

He sighed heavily, laying his head onto the sill in defeat, "Maybe Neville and Hermione were right, maybe Hagrid does have the present." Huffing he buried his head in the crook of his arm, cursing the feeling he had on his friends being wrong. Harry sat back up and rubbed his face with his hands, he suddenly spied something glittering out of the corner of his eye; when his gaze flickered over to it he gasped.

There, situated in the corner of the window sill was a tiny red box with a note attached to it that was written in the same hand-writing as the letter from this morning. Harry picked up the box and smirked, "'Large' my arse."

He shrugged it off and read the note quickly before understanding the meaning of the 'large red box'. Harry took out his wand, setting the box onto the desktop and tapping it with his wand. "Engorgio."

The teen had to step back suddenly when the box grew just as long as he himself was tall and the width two times the length of his wand. He smiled and stared at the present, understanding what the person meant by the 'wrappings' not being 'meek'; the paper its self was Gryffindor red with depictions of golden quittage players flying all around the box, and the ribbon was the same gold as the players. Harry noticed an envelope tucked away under the top part of the bow, which he eagerly slipped out but there was nothing written on the top of the envelope so the teen figured he could go ahead and open it. When he slipped the letter out he was surprised at what he found.

To: Harry Potter

First one down, Sixteen to go;

This process repeats, just so you know.

With each day, there will be one more;

I hope to make your Christmas, less of a bore.

There is a meaning, with each gift;

In which your spirits, I wish to uplift.

Christmas day, upon the set of the sun;

All will be said and done.

From:

"Again with no name, who do you think you are?" Harry sighed and stared at the hand-writing, reading over the small poem before shaking his head. "Seriously, every day until Christmas you plan to do this? And why seventeen presents? What are these meanings you're talking about?" The green-eyed teen gritted his teeth, "I'm going mental! I'm asking questions out loud to no one; as if they're going to get answered!"

A/N:

Yes mental indeed, Harry. But you have left our readers off with some very good questions! None of which will be answered in the next chapter!... Except maybe the one about 'a present a day'. Anyways, tell me what you think... Even though this will be updated later today, and I promise it will be!

Make sure to answer my questions about the update... and anything else I asked! OH! And I would LOVE to hear who you think is the mystery person is! Your answer may ever change over time!

Now, for some funny stuff that I decided to add at that last minute!

Blooper:

Thinking of how his best mate had tried to open the envelope brought Harry's thoughts back—

BANG!

A loud explosion drew Harry's attention to the billowing smoke coming from the back of the classroom where Slytherin and Gryffindor students came rushing out and away from the black cloud. The person to step away from disaster was covered in clomps of black goo and grease, their hair standing on end and a small patch of it on fire (which was quickly put out).

"Neville! You weren't supposed to be making a potion in this scene!"

"Sorry! But it was your decision to put me into the N.E.W.T. potions class!"

Next Time On: Until Christmas

Harry shook his head at the red-head sitting on the couch opposite of him, "No, Ron. I'm not going to let you do that to me!"

"Aw! Come one, mate! I won't hurt at all!" He grinned and leaned toward the smaller teen, placing his hand on the table suggestively, "Just a little, a peek is all I want!"

"No!" The green-eyed boy slouched into his seat, crossing his arms across his chest in childish defiance; even stomping his foot down on the ground to add emphasis.

"Why not?" The taller of the two whined and pouted, extremely disappointed in not getting what he wanted.

"Because Ron! I actually want to do the unthinkable and wait until Christmas to open my Christmas present!"

TeeHee! That was fun! Tell me what you think and if I should continue with the Bloppers and Next Time stuff!

Thank you!

—UrGayLuvr