The Musician

Harry awoke to the wards attempting to crush his skull, once again. A quick flash of annoyance and a small exertion of will swiftly remedied that problem. Harry smiled and dressed as fast as he could. It was his first day back at Hogwarts, and he would not miss this breakfast for anything.

Seriously. Not for anything.

Harry's face was set in tight lines, seemingly etched in stone as he walked down the staircase to the doors of the Great Hall. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and reached out to the handles-

"Mr. Potter... So our resident renegade is once again back inside the castle," Severus Snape practically purred. "Done gallivanting across the countryside?" He silkily asked the younger professor. "Or have you only returned for the women?"

Harry, for his part, merely smiled at the snide professor. "Severus, its good to see you again."

Harry extended his hand, which Severus grudgingly shook.

"Shall we, Severus?" He asked, gesturing to the giant double doors of the Great Hall. Severus looked at him oddly.

"I think not, Potter. Lunch does not begin for another few hours."

Now Harry turned an odd look to him. "Lunch? Breakfast-"

"Ended an hour ago," Snape broke in, sighing tiredly at his former student. "I swear, you couldn't keep time if we strapped a- Never-mind. You have a class to teach in," He glanced at the giant clock about the entrance, "Four minutes and thirty-two seconds. I suggest you hurry."

Harry swore and bid his goodbyes to his old Potions professor, taking off down the halls at a run. He took the stairs three at a time as he ascended to the third floor, panting heavily by the time he reached his classroom.

As small burst of Occlumency calmed his nerves and evened out his breathing, and a freshening charm took care of the sweat he had accumulated during his nice little jog through the castle.

"Hello students! Welcome to Charms!" He announced as he walked inside the room, turning to look around the door he saw-

Nothing. The classroom was empty. He looked at the clock. Breakfast had ended three minutes ago.

"SNAAAAAPE!" He screamed.

In another part of the castle, Severus Snape laughed. Which, incidentally, scared the entire student body.

In yet another part of the castle, Minerva McGonagall felt a headache brewing.


Far, far away from Hogwarts Castle, and yet still so very near to it, a man was stooped over a concrete floor in an abandoned warehouse. He was mumbling to himself softly as he scribbled unique and strangely beautiful lines in chalk onto the unforgiving floor. The lines spread in a wide circle, arcing back and forth, to and fro, here and there, and back again. As one looked closer, one would notice that the lines look strangely foreign. Like they were wrong. They appeared to be eating away at the concrete, no... the space that they were drawn in, consuming every atom that it touched.

Suddenly, the man stopped drawing and stood. He shrugged off his loose cloak to reveal his naked body to the empty warehouse. The man was old, far too old. He seemed to be falling apart while he stood, bones and fingers unnaturally long and thin. His silvery-pale skin seemed to be falling off of his insides, the muscle that bound the skin to the bone long since gone.

The man walked around the circle he had painstakingly drawn twice, mumbling the whole way. He stopped at the spot where he had began, and a knife appeared silently in his hand.

The man shouted something indistinguishable, his jaw having fallen off its hinges, and now hung limply, the skin beginning to slowly tear as gravity took hold of it.

But in the most powerful magics, the words are not the important part of the spell. Its all about the intent.

There was a deep rumbling. A bitter, fiery cold swept through the building, the smell of ozone and permafrost close behind. The man appeared unfazed by the change in atmosphere, even as the earth inside the circle crumbled away to reveal a dark, fiery pit. And then, the angry red arm of a giant reached out of the pit, grabbing at the edges of the circle to pull itself up.

The man watched calmly as the thing he had summoned brought itself up from the pit from whence it came. He waited until it was head-and-shoulders above the opening before he spoke.

The man called over to the beast in words no human could understand, and over the deafening roar of the magic keeping the demon contained withing the circle.

"Who are you that dares to command Us?" The thing asked, its voice everywhere at once, and nowhere at all. "Who are you, who does not call Our name, mortal?"

The man spoke again, speaking his impossible words that only the demon could understand. The demon poked experimentally at the barrier, and it flashed white in protest. The demon pulled back as if stung.

"We see. But We do not accept your dominion over Us, mortal," The demon called in its own impossible voice, "We do not accept subjugation without Our name, and a sacrifice, which you of all mortals should know very well."

The man nodded sharply, evidently displeased with this turn of events. He turned away from the demon for a moment to rummage through his discarded cloak. He emerged with a victorious noise and turned back to the beast with a wand, white as snow, in hand. He pressed the wand to his throat.

An unimaginable word burst from the man's throat, along with a torrent of blood that left him hacking. But the word had been spoken, a deep, guttural, growling noise, light as a feather to your ears, and yet so heavy to your soul.

The beast screamed in pleasure.


Harry's head snapped to the west. He stared, eyes unseeing, for a long moment, uninterrupted.

"Professor?" A young, squirrelly looking little girl of the Hufflepuff House asked. "Are you alright?"

"Mm," His attention shifted, he shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Just haven't had enough sleep today, Florine, that's all. Now, what was your question again?" He continued to help his struggling students for the next few hours, and then sent them on their way with some extra reading assigned.

He looked back to the west and stared for a while. He frowned and shook his head, as if to clear the cobwebs.

"Must be my imagination," He cracked a smile and left the room, locking it behind him as he went down to the Great Hall for some much needed dinner.


Kilometres away, in a small village in Wales, a woman's head also snapped to the direction of the demon. Her reaction was vastly different from Harry's.

She broke into a smile too wide to fit into a human face. The skin on her face ripped in places, revealing something writhing, alive, just beneath the surface. Something foreign.

"This should be fun, shouldn't it my little prince?" She spoke, her voice too deep to be natural.

And, at Hogwarts, Harry sneezed and wondered at who was talking about him.


Interlude: A Very Merry Christmas to You, Mr. Potter!

"His m-master just died! That's why h-he was so m-moody last year! S-so... I don't see... I don't see why we have to get him a present now!" The third-year Charity Bones complained.

"Charity! Don't say that! He still must be hurting, and I want to make him feel better," Third-year Feline McCannon said firmly, "And that's final!" She added when she saw Charity move to complain more.

Charity huffed. "Fine! But if McGonogall won't tell us anything, then we give up, deal?"

Feline crossed her fingers. "Deal."

They had reached the Headmistress' office, now, so the time for arguing was over. Feline leaned in to whisper to the Gargoyle that guarded the entrance.

"We're here to see the Headmistress about something that concerns Professor Potter." She whispered softly, not wanting anyone to overhear her talking about it.

The passageway opened almost immediately and McGonagall was halfway down the stairs to meet them. She was speaking in hurried, urgent whispers.

"What is it girls? What has he done? Did he... Did he touch you?" Both girls flushed red in indignation and embarrassment, and vehemently denied this.

"What is it then?" McGonagall asked, once she had calmed down and ushered them into her office. "What about Harry prompted you to come to me?"

"Well, Headmistress, we heard from the other professors that this is a question best asked of you-" Feline started.

"Yeah, but they said they weren't comfortable answering, and that you knew him best anyway." Charity piped in.

"So we came to ask you..." Feline began again.

"What should we get Professor Potter for Christmas?" They asked together, blushing and looking down toward the floor.

McGonagall sat, dumbfounded for a moment. Slowly, a smile slid onto her face, which turned into a grin, which turned into a snicker, which eventually devolved into full-blown laughter.

The two teenage witches were slightly alarmed. They had never heard the Headmistress laugh before. But they were smiling, too.

"What to get him for Christmas, eh? That's a tough one."

"Well, what did Mr. Dumbledore like?" Charity asked innocently. Feline could have smacked her.

McGonagall smiled sadly. "I don't know if Albus'... eccentric tastes really apply to Harry. Though, the first year that those two returned, I distinctly remember Harry being rather displeased with the present he got. Something along the lines of 'Too many books, not enough heart.' So, my advice would be to get him something from the heart." She stated, looking over her glasses at the two girls. "And I mean it when I say heart. If I hear about either of you two... propositioning Mr. Potter, I will be most displeased." The innuendo was obvious, and, being hormonal teenage girls, they blushed deep red.


"Think girls!" Feline said, standing on a table in the Hufflepuff common room. "What can we get him 'from our hearts?'" Indistinct murmurs are all that answered her question. She sighed in frustration. Christmas was so close! They had to get him a present soon.

"Think harder, come on! I know you guys can do it!" Huh, she thought to herself, maybe I should be a motivational speaker.

A small girl in the back raised her hand slowly.

Nearly shaking with relief, Feline pointed to the girl.

"Hi, my name is Audrey Lovegood... Um... I think we should get him..." She looked at all of the girls now staring at her and blushed. "Promise you won't laugh!" She said, scooting away a bit.

"We promise, Audrey." Feline reassured her, hopping down off the table and ushering Audrey up onto it.

"Well, I think we should get him socks." Audrey said, biting her lip nervously.

There was silence for a moment.

And then, as one, the class yelled "Socks?"

"They were the only thing Albus wanted for Christmas! And he never got them except from Harry!" Audrey defended, backing away from the crowd, and looking close to tears.

"Leave her alone, you guys! Her idea has merit!" Feline stated, standing in front of Audrey.

"Seriously?" Charity said disgustedly. "Well, you too go ahead and get him socks, then. We'll get him a real present."

Anger took hold of Feline for a moment and she snapped back. "Fine, we will! But, if he likes it, don't come crawling back!"

"Like we would!" She heard Charity yell at her back as she left the Hufflepuff common room. Audrey and Feline were both Ravenclaws, but Charity was Feline's (ex)bestfriend, so she (used to) spent most of her time there. She had dragged Audrey with.

"I'm sorry, Audrey," Feline sobbed, sliding down the wall and sitting with her head in her arms.

"Shhh... Don't cry Feline," Audrey sat down with her and just hugged her as she mourned the loss of her first best friend.


Feline and Audrey both got Professor Potter a separate pair of wool socks. Audrey's pair had revolving stars magically stitched around the toes, and were a deep blue in colour. Feline's socks were bright yellow, with little elephants running around and frolicking in the fabric.

The other girls all chipped in together and got the professor a wand-polishing kit.

It was time to see who was right.

They knocked.

There was a small tap on the other side of the door, and a voice called out. "One minute!"

A minute later, the door creaked open, and Professor Potter appeared. "Yes, girls? What is it that you require from me?" he asked with eyebrows raised.

Feline and Audrey stepped forward, but were shoved roughly out of the way by the other girls. They both looked up at their Professor and saw a flash of anger in his eye, though it was gone so quickly they thought they might have imagined it.

As Charity stepped forward and gave him his gift, his only reply was a curt "Thank you for the generous gift." And he shooed them away.

We stepped up to give him his present after the others had left. He held up his hand.

"I will only accept this gift if you two eat dinner with me. Its been very lonely in this castle for me there last couple months. I'd like some company on today of all days, if you don't mind." He waited with a patient smile as we looked at each other and smiled, nodding eagerly to his offer.

A couple of hours later, the girls left, tired and full of Christmas food. And Harry sent them on their merry way with presents of their own.


McGonagall waited until the girls had left to knock on the door that had just closed. She knocked, and a few seconds later, Harry answered.

"Yes, Headmistress?" He asked with a smile.

"Its Minerva, Harry." She graced him with a rare, wide smile.

"Minerva it is, then." He opened the door wider, to allow her to enter. "Would you like a cuppa?"

"That would be lovely, Harry, thank you." She pulled a gift wrapped in proper purple paper from withing her robes, and set it under the great tree near the fireplace. "Happy Christmas, Harry!"

"Happy Christmas, Minerva!" He said laughing as he handed her a cup of hot tea.

"I set your present under the tree."

"I set your present under the tree in your office." He grinned slyly.

"Harry, there isn't a tree in my office." She said, though she would have liked one.

"There is now."

She didn't quite believe him, but decided to let it go.

They spent the next few hours drinking tea (and eventually some very strong eggnog), and talking about days gone by. They talked a lot about Albus, and both of them knew that they needed it.

When Harry opened his present, he laughed. He laughed hard.

And then he hugged her.

And with tears in her eyes, she hugged him back.

When Minerva got back to her office later that night, the first thing she noticed was the giant tree in the corner, decorated to the nines. A great surge of excitement flooded through her veins, and she felt like an eight year old again, as she grabbed that present from Harry and ripped it open.

She stared at the open package for a moment, bewildered.

And then she laughed, and understood why Harry laughed.

They had both bought wool socks for each other, to remind them of Albus.

"A very merry Christmas to you, Mr. Potter!" She called out to the empty office, a huge smile upon her face.


AN: Yep, my own little slice of Christmas Cheer, right there. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Aaaand, just so you guys know, I may go back and rewrite these because, tired as I am, I see that there are quite a few mistakes, and places where I didn't add enough detail, etc.

The demon part was my favourite part of this chapter. And keep a lookout for the man-who-is-falling-apart, and the not-quite-woman! They are pretty big characters. You get points if you can guess who they are. Give you a hint, they are canon characters, and neither of them is big ol' Voldy.

As always,

PLEASE REVIEW.

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REVIEW.

-Brandon.