Until Christmas Pitch It to Me, a harry potter fanfic

A/N:

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Title: Until Christmas

Chapter 2: Pitch it to Me

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 9, 1997

This may have been the first day in a long time that Harry actually jumped out of bed to get ready for his school day to begin, and even more eager to get down to breakfast to receive his next envelope. Though he was fully expecting not being able to open it until the same time as yesterday, it didn't make the adventure any less fun.

Snatching up his robes for the day quickly made his way into the bathroom to wash his face, he was too anxious to take a shower right now and figured that he was would just take one later tonight as a means to relax. Harry smiled and greeted Neville before he wiped the steam from the mirror above the sinks, "Good morning!"

The other boy returned his smile, adding in a nod as he finished toweling off his hair, "Morning, Harry. Still excited over that present from yesterday?"

Harry shook his head, turning the tap on and splashing his face with some cold water. Smoothing his sleep-shocked hair back by carding his wet fingers through the strands, "Yes and no. I'm actually suppose to be getting one every single day until Christmas. The second one is going to be delivered today and I've only got one class right after lunch."

"Really? But what if you don't find it before Astronomy class tonight?"

Oh, that's right. Harry thought to himself while drying off his face and hair. I would have to try and rush to find it today. Mione can't help me after Divination because she has Ancient Runes, and Neville helps Professor Sprout today, too. I'm pretty much on my own.

"Harry?" Neville asked timidly, tapping the other boy's shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh! Sorry, Neville, I spaced out." The teen quickly changed into his school robes, "I think I can do okay on my own today. Besides, I'm going to end up doing most of the riddle solving once the break starts, anyways; since almost the entire Gryffindor house will be gone."

"I'll be here, but most of my time will be helping with the green-houses. I will help you if you need it though, Harry." The chubbier boy smiled and stepped over to the bathroom door, opening it for the two to exit. "Plants are finicky; but if they can survive on their own in nature, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a few spared minutes for you."

"Thanks, mate!" Harry patted Neville on the back as they walked past the beds of their still sleeping dorm-mates.

Both teens jumped in fright when Seamus suddenly sat straight up in his bed. They released heavy sighs of relief when the other boy waved his hand slightly in greeting, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands and muttering out what sounded like a 'Good morning'.

"Morning, Seamus. Sorry if we woke you," Harry whispered, afraid that he would wake the other sleeping boys if his voice was too loud.

"N-no, i-it's o-okay, Harry. Seamus always wakes up like th-that," Neville said shakily, making his way quickly out of the room and down the stairs towards the common-room.

As the other teen disappeared, Harry chuckled to himself and made to follow after him. "See you at breakfast, mate."

The waking teen yawned and nodded, "C'ya, 'arry."

Neville heard Harry sigh for the eighth time since the two had taken their seats at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He watched as his friend pushed some eggs around his plate before taking a small bite, making Neville want to pile more food onto his plate.

"Hare, don't worry. The mail should be coming any minute now," Hermione said quietly will patting his hand. She had actually been down at the table reading a book when the two boys had arrived, Harry eagerly sharing the fact that he was getting another letter today. The girl had frowned in confusion at first, but saw how excited her friend was over being sent on another 'adventure', as he called it, and quickly changed her mood.

The green-eyed boy nodded, feeling less anxious on the prospect of the letter not coming and ate more of what was put onto his plate; making the group of friends seated around him smile.

Harry took quick glances at his friends and watched as they ate, chatted, or read a book. Looking at how calm they were now, he wouldn't have been able to guess that these were the same people that had been all over him the night before about the envelope and the present that he brought in.

Flashback:

As soon as the green-eyed boy stepped through the portrait-hole to the common-rooms, he felt a change in the air, there was a thickness to the atmosphere that he couldn't quite name... until he stepped around the corner and into the room.

Seated on the large red couches around the only coffee table in the room, as if the reaper himself had descended upon them, were all of Harry's closes friends. What he found weird about the whole situation was that none of them were even pretending to do something else as he walked toward them. "Um, what happened?"

Suddenly, he found himself being picked up by the upper parts of his arms and maneuvered over to one of the high-backed sitting chairs.

"Okay, Potter! Spill it!"

"What did that envelope lead you to?"

"Why so frightened? Scared to share something with you best mate?"

"Hey, I don't think this is the right way to go about this."

All eyes turned to Neville, who immediately sunk back into the chair that he had been sitting in and averted his gaze to another part of the room. Just as the others turned back to continue with their interrogation, another person decided to interrupt.

"What do you think you're doing to my Hare-bear?"

The teens gather around Harry all scattered away from him, nearly tripping over each other in a race to get on the other side of the table. The all made sure that they had something between them and the bushy-haired girl that came stomping over to the chair their victim had been sat in.

Hermione took a quick glance at her friend and smiled when he rolled his eyes at her, "Did you really have to call me 'Hare-bear'?"

"No, but I thought it would add a little more stress to the situation," she responded shrugging her shoulders before taking a seat on the nearest couch. But the she wasn't done with the boys that had taken their joking too far, some of which (the ones that didn't know her well enough) were relaxing after the fright she had given them.

"Now, the lot of you better explain what you were doing."

Ron, after taking a quick glance at the faces around him, took the initiative and spoke first, "We were just—"

"Being muppets."

"Mione!" Harry gasped, holding back his laughter just enough to cover it up with a choked cough.

"What? It's true. If it had been anyone else but them, or had you not known it was them taking you, they wouldn't be standing here looking all cheery!" Hermione stated matter-of-factly as she made herself comfortable on the couch, knowing that she was correct in her assessment. Her point got across the group of boys rather quickly when they all nodded in agreement; they had been lucky to have had Harry see them before they grabbed him.

"Sorry, mate. We just wanted to know if you found anything from that riddle," Dean muttered with his head ducked slightly and a small apologetic smile on his face, the other teens all nodding in agreement.

Band-wagon bobble-heads, Harry thought to himself, a smile spreading across his face. "You could have just asked nicely. It's not like I was going to keep it a secret from you!"

Reaching into his inner robe pocket, the green-eyed teen pulled out the envelope that he had received this morning as well as the miniaturized red box that it had lead him to. He scooted to the edge of his seat and placed the envelope on the table before holding out the gift in his hand.

"It's shrunken right now, and it wasn't exactly easy to find," Harry carefully thought about how to phrase his next words so that he wouldn't end up hurting Neville's or Hermione's feelings. "I found it in the Magical Creature's section of the library after accidently figuring out what the 'spine' part of the riddle stood for, and the 'view' part was talking about it being at the window."

"So it wasn't with Hagrid?" The bushy-haired girl asked, eye-brows drawn together in confusion, as she leaned in to take a look at the tiny red box along with a the other teens in the common-room.

"Nope. When we were first looking at the riddle we had skipped over the 'view' and 'spine' part, so it seemed like the answer that we had come up with was right. I hadn't even realized that we had skipped over that part until Malfoy had said something about book spines." Harry stated, skillfully skirting around saying that it had been all of their faults, and not pinning it on one person.

"Malfoy? You talked to Malfoy?" Ron asked, confused and angry that his friend had talked to his enemy about the letter and not him.

"No, he said something to me about book spines in class and it had reminded me of the riddle," shrugging the teen picked the envelope back up from the table, placing both it and his present into the inner pocket within his robe.

"We done? Because Mione here has to help me with my potions' essay."

End Flashback

Just as Harry came out of his musings he heard the tale-tell signs of hooting owls and jumped excitedly; pushing his plate away from himself, giving Hedwig a place to land, while grabbing up a few pieces of bacon. The snow owl swooped down, passing over the green-eyed boy once before circling back and landing in the spot that had been made for her. Dropping the letter onto the table, she immediately went for the bacon strips held out for her to take.

Harry laughed and petted the feathers on her chest lightly, "Thanks, girl. You made my day."

With a hoot and a flap of her wings she signaled her leave, following the other owls as they exited the Great Hall. But Harry didn't even take a second glance at her departure, all his attention was on the envelope sitting innocently in front of him. Not bothering to share any looks with his friends, he picked up the folded parchment with both hands and lightly traced the edges before finally reading the familiar ornate hand-writing.

Open at 12:00

The same words in the same writing with, Harry flipped the envelope over, the same wax-seal. Yup, I was right.

Harry didn't even bother to wait to open the letter. He would have waited on normal circumstances, but there had been an accident in Herbology class causing all the students to stay after class to help clean up the mess. The green-eyed boy didn't mind so much because it just meant that he was preoccupied enough to where he wasn't casting a time charm every few minutes. But now it was nearly ten after the time he was allowed to open the envelope and he really felt he couldn't wait any longer.

Rushing out of the green-house, the teen quickly shuffled over to a nearby bench and cast his bag off his shoulder. Dropping onto the cement seat with the letter already in hand and he slid a single finger underneath the flap, pulling the paper within out. Biting his lip anxiously, he barely kept his excitement in as his green-eyes easily followed the curved and perfect hand-writing:

To: Harry Potter

From when red finds yellow, to be its lover;

Comes the shade of this gift's cover.

Leave this box alone too long;

The chance of being picked up is strong.

Merry cheers make the air rich;

But songs have nothing to do with this pitch.

From:

"You're leaving me without a name again," Harry frowned at the lack of signature, letting his eyes drift back over the riddle he was left with. "Red and yellow becoming one is orange. So it's an orange box left in a public place. That could practically be anywhere in the castle!"

Drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly in a sigh, he looked over the last two lines once more, "'Merry cheers', as in holiday spirits? That could mean singing, but they say 'songs' and nothing to do with it. But why did they use 'air' and 'pitch'?" Harry groaned slightly and went back to gnawing at his bottom lip; he would have probably stayed like that until he'd figured it out. That was till his stomach gave a loud protest to being ignored.

Taking a few glances around, the teen blushed and stood up; slipping the envelope and riddle back into his pocket before grabbing his bag off the ground. "Better hurry before Ron and Seamus eat all the good stuff."

Hermione took a quick glance at the note that was just slipped into her book, then at the boy who had put it there and was not surprised when he pretended to be looking into the crystal ball on their table. It was a wonder how Harry had passed the Divination part of the N.E.W.T. exams and even more of why he had actually decided to take the class. She herself had passed the D.A.D.A part but had decided against taking the course because she was more interested in the two subjects that both Harry and Ron wouldn't go near, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Besides all that, he didn't even like Divination.

She could only sigh though. More than likely Harry had been forced to take the class over something he didn't like more than this class; Ron had done it, taken the N.E.W.T. Potions class over Divination, but it was a miracle that he'd even passed both parts with A's.

But how did he even get into Potions with only an A? Hermione had to brush those thoughts out of her head quickly though, she stole a look at Professor Trelawney before flipping the note over so that she could read it. Barely holding in a gasp, she was surprised to find that Harry had slipped her a new riddle that she suppose came from the envelope he'd been twitching about this morning.

When she looked up at Harry he carefully mouthed a question to her, -What are the different meanings to 'pitch'?-

The bushy-haired girl waited until the teacher passed by her before answering, -They could mean voice.-

-But it says 'songs' have nothing to do with it.- He countered quickly before looking down at his book, flipping a page as if he was looking for something; only to look back at Hermione when Trelawney turned away from them to interact with a Ravenclaw.

-'Pitch' does not just stand for singing. It could also be for talking, or even something not involved with the voice. Like 'pitching' a tent, or 'pitching' a ball.- She watched as the look on Harry's face changed, the wrinkles that showed up on his forehead when he was deep in thought appeared.

'Pitching' a ball. If they had meant it in that sense they could be talking about a quaffle. Then again, it is called a Quidditch 'Pitch'; and during a game it does get pretty loud with 'cheers'. 'Merry' ones if you're winning. Harry gasped and looked at Hermione. "I figured it out."

Her eyes widened and glancing over at where Trelawney was standing, noticing that she hadn't heard the boy speak aloud. The teen girl leaned towards her friend, "Tell me."

"It's going to be at the Quidditch Pitch," Harry smiled and rubbed elbows with Hermione. "I was just thinking of how it feels to be flying around while our team is winning, and how nice the air feels when our house cheering us on. It fits perfectly with the riddle and makes sense!"

"What makes sense Mr. Potter?"

The boy jumped back from where he was leaning close to his friend, gulping in the nervousness as he was stared down by large magnified eyes. "It makes sense that, um, that..."

"That what? What did you see within the crystal ball that makes so much sense?"

"Th-that the last Quidditch game of the term is going to be cancelled due to a snow storm and the train out of Hogsmeade will be delayed a few hours." Harry watched as the professor looked down at him before turning her eyes to the ball situated in the middle of their table.

"Ah, I see."

Hermione shared a look with the still shocked boy and shook her head, mouthing out a -Wow.-

-I know.-

Harry shouted in frustration as he lay out onto one of the benches in the fourth Quidditch tower, he'd searched a little more than half of the spectator stands and still had not found hide-nor-hair of present. Sighing, the teen admitted to himself that he needed a break. He'd been searching almost non-stop since he'd gotten out of classes, by now the entire school had been released from all their Tuesday classes and a small portion only had Astronomy left.

The sun was still another two or three hours from setting, so Harry believed he had time to find the box. If it was in the stands, that is. But Harry was beginning to think that it wasn't even at the Pitch anymore.

Whining at the unfairness of the world, he rolled off the bench and onto his feet; briefly catching something green flying around in the corner of his eye. Turning his attention to the field Harry caught sight of the Slytherin Quidditch team, Must be their practice day... Oh, bugger! Gryffindor practice is tomorrow! What am I going to do about the present?

He let out another whine while leaning heavily against the wooden railing, watching as the green-robed players flew every which way in practice. Harry recognized a few play patterns from previous game experience, as well as a new one that involved all the chasers to dive down close to the ground.

That's when Harry saw it. Right in the middle of the circled green of the Quidditch field was an orange box, completely out of place and calling him like a neon sign in the dead of night. Why did I not think of looking down on the field?

The green-eyed boy laughed aloud before his gaze catches a familiar figure flying overhead at a fast rate, The seeker and the snitch. Harry had an idea pop into his head and he mulled over it for a few minutes before shrugging, he wasn't exactly losing anything by carrying it out. So he figured it would be a good way of not having to go climb down all those stairs and onto the field with the possibility of getting berated by the whole Slytherin Quidditch team. Besides, it might get Harry a few points with Malfoy and maybe have the other boy off his back a little more.

"Malfoy! Oi! Malfoy! Over here!" The teen shouted as loud as he could, almost afraid he didn't catch his attention when the boy he'd been calling flew over to one of the beaters who just so happened to point over towards Harry. He smiled as the blond looked in his direction and green-eyed teen waved him over. A few words were exchanged between the two Slytherins before Malfoy actually flew over to where Harry was situated.

"What do you want, Potter?" The disdain in the blond's voice was dry, so it made him sound more annoyed than disgusted.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something." Harry nearly laughed at the dumb-struck look that Malfoy gave him before his mask was back securely in place.

"Have you gone mental? Why would I ever help you with something, Gryffindork?" Just as the blond was about to fly off the dark-haired teen shouted something that caught his attention.

"You help me with this and I'll let you in on a little secret about the snitch that could considerably improve your game." The Gryffindor leaned onto the ledge, resting his chin on his folded arms with a small smile spreading across his lips when the Slytherin flew closer to him.

"Are you lying?"

Harry gasped and a mock look of appall came across his face, "Malfoy, I'm insulted! I don't lie! Skirt around the true, yes; but I don't lie!"

The blond narrowed his steel-grey eyes at his rival, studying him and searching for any sign of trickery before nodding, "What exactly do you want, Potter?"

He smiled and jumped up, pointing to the middle of the field, "That orange box over there."

The young Malfoy followed the other boy's finger and spotted the orange box, looking like a smudge on the green surroundings. He left the boy's side quickly and headed towards the middle of the field, noticing how the Quidditch trunk where the balls were kept was not too far off. The blond picked up, what he now recognized as a present, the metallic orange box without getting off his broom before flying back over to Potter, who was looking overly excited.

"Thanks, Malfoy!" Harry held back happy dance once the present had been passed over to him. It wasn't anywhere as big as the present he had received yesterday, but it didn't stop him from feeling the immense joy of having something to open on Christmas.

"Welcome," the blond felt slightly out-of-place by saying that to his sworn enemy, so he coughed lightly and made sure that his façade hadn't moved. "The secret, Potter. What's the secret?"

"Oh! Okay, when you are going after the snitch, be it game or practice, if you try and attack it from the left it will always dive down, and if you attack it from the right it will always swerve left before shooting back to the right." Harry pulled off the envelope that had been attached to the bow before tucking it into his inner-robe pocket with the one from this morning, before pulling out his wand and tapping the top of the box while whispering a shrinking charm. The brunette smile at Malfoy as he slid both the tiny box and his want into the same pocket where the envelopes were.

"Always?"

"Yup, always. It's how sometimes I look like I'm one step ahead of the snitch. Even though it doesn't fly in any particular pattern, it dodges in nothing but patterns." Harry smiled and watched as Malfoy's face turned slightly thoughtful before he turned his back to the Gryffindor.

"Thanks," the blond looked over his shoulder and bowed his head slightly to the other boy, "Potter."

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 presents!" Harry rolled his eyes at his friend, leaning back further into his seat and stretching his arms comfortably, knowing he'd won this round. He raised an eyebrow at the taller teen before smirking, "Besides, do you honestly want to find out if the same charm that was on the envelope from yesterday is on these presents?"

This caused Ron to freeze and scoot away from the down miniaturizes boxes set on the table between the two teens, "You think they would do that?"

The green-eyed boy laughed lightly, shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know them well enough to say that they wouldn't; but they did put it on the envelope, and that only lead to where the present was. Theses," Harry waved to the two small boxes on the table, "are the presents. There could be practically be anything on them."

"You're right, Harry!" Ron leaned forward and looked straight into the other boy's eyes, "But doesn't that also mean that anything could be inside them! Harry! You don't even know who these are coming from!"

This caused the other teen to stop all other thoughts. Ron is right. The person that's sending me these isn't even signing their name. Could they really be sending my cursed items? But why would they plan to send so many? Who exactly is sending me these 'presents'? And what was with the letter that came with the present today?

A/N:

All very valid questions Harry! Why must you leave us with such suspense?

TeeHee

Now, onto the fun-stuff!

Blooper:

But how did he even get into Potions with only an A?

"Hey, I want to know that, too!"

"Harry, you're not supposed to be able to hear internal monologues."

"But I'm curious," Harry said turning around to look towards the producer off set. "How exactly did Ron get into the N.E.W.T. Potions class when Snape only lets in those who got O's on the Potions part of the exams?"

"Really? We're going to do this now?" The producer sighed heavily while rubbing his temples.

"Rather now, then later."

"Alright! The only reason he's in N.E.W.T. Potions is because he is required to have at least six classes, Divination and Potions are the only two exams he passed compared to the other exam classes like Charms, Transfiguration, and History of Magic." There were a few laughs from the seated students before the producer continued, "Are satisfied? Good! Start the scene over again!"

Next Time On: Until Christmas

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." Harry whined and stared longingly at the innocently glittering gold wrappings of his next present.

"Me neither." Hermione said simply.

"I don't want to do this!" The boy let out another whine as they both moved slightly closer to their destination.

"Well, if you want it you're going to have to." The bushy-haired girl shrugged, silently worrying over her friend as he fidgeted back and forth.

"I want it," Harry said jabbing his finger toward the flattish box before waving his arm across the whole scene of -where- the box had been settled, "but not this."

"All or nothing, Hare-bear."

"Could you not call me that?" The green-eyed teen pouted, while carding both of his hands through his messy hair.

"You're the one acting like a child."

"I'm sorry that I don't want to act like an adult when the present that it suppose to be my hands, is under the Whomping Willow!"

WEEEEEE

All finished for today! I'll see you all next time!

—UrGayLuvr