Eight Days 'til Christmas – A Harry Potter Fanfic

Chapter 1 – Four

A/N: It's eight days until Christmas! Bringing you a little holiday cheer… well, not really. :D This fic is sort of like a countdown to Christmas, with one chapter for each day about one of Harry's Christmases, with eight chapters in total. I was about to do seven, but it wouldn't fit. Enjoy!


This was Harry's eleventh Christmas, but the only festive one. He was sure that the Christmas he had spent with his parents was happy, but he couldn't remember. The first holiday that he could actually remember was when he was four. And it was miserable.

December at Privet Drive. Number four was, like its neighbours, glowing with thick ropes of lights, and a wreath was placed on just the right spot on the door. The piled of presents were crowded around the Christmas tree, big and small, wrapped in bright, shiny paper. No inch of floor within a two-foot radius of the tree was not covered by gifts. And none of them were for Harry.

On Christmas Eve, Aunt Petunia busied herself all day preparing Christmas dinner. Five-year-old Dudley and four-year-old Harry were in the living room. Normally, Harry would have known better than to stay in the same room alone with Dudley, but that day, his cousin who was even then quite sizeable, was plopped on the couch, his entire attention devoted to the television. During the commercial break, he turned his piggy little eyes onto the pile of presents.

"I'm opening one," Dudley announced suddenly, and crawled over the miniature mountain.

Harry decided not to argue. He had learned a long time ago that arguing with Dudley was pointless and would only get him punched, pinched, or kicked. The pudgy little fingers on Dudley's hands weren't made for untying ribbons and opening tape – he had mummy to do that for him. In a bout of frustration, he wrenched at the package. The wrapping came apart with a loud tearing sound. Harry looked over sullenly. Underneath the wrapping was a picture book. Large letters on the brightly illustrated cover proclaimed it to be "Little Red Riding Hood".

"A book," Dudley wailed, chucking it at the wall, "It's a book!"

"Is something wrong, Dinky Diddydum?" called Aunt Petunia from the kitchen. Dudley decided to vent his anger on Harry.

"Mummy," he howled, running out of the room as fast as his short chubby legs could carry him, "Harry opened my presents!"

Moments later, Aunt Petunia appeared in the doorway. Both of her arms, up to the elbows, were covered with flour, and the pronounced scowl on her face told Harry that she was definitely not pleased.

"Cupboard. Now."


Personally, not very pleased with this chapter. It's a bit too choppy. Next one will be better, I promise. Please review!