A/N: Just a short one this, although longer than my original plan, which was basically a letter detailing the second scene. Still, not quite long enough to qualify as a proper chapter in my view. Hopefully you'll all enjoy it though.

Interlude: A Fluffy Christmas

Privet Drive, Christmas Holidays

"So, you've had a pretty eventful term all in all then?" Dudley and Harry were sitting in Dudley's room at Privet Drive, catching up on what they had really been doing over the last few months, having already heard each others 'official' versions for Petunia and Vernon. Needless to say, Harry's tale was rather more exciting, including as it did sinister staff members, troll attacks, vampiric mirrors and invisibility cloaks, and Dudley had expressed appropriate levels of shock and awe.

That said, Dudley seemed to have been having a great time at Smeltings, and it had been a shock for Harry to see him in uniform, Hogwarts beginning the term earlier than his cousins school. The rather strange uniform had drawn a fair amount of mockery from Harry, until his cousin pointed out that his uniform essentially consisted of a kind of dress, and that Harry was not allowed to use magic outside school, whereas he, Dudley, was perfectly at liberty to use his Smeltings stick as he pleased. Strangely, this had brought the mockery to a swift conclusion.

"Eventful covers it pretty well I think. It's certainly a bit more than I was expecting. I mean, other than the subject matter, Hogwarts is basically a normal school."

"With ghosts, hidden passages, living portraits and suits of armour, in addition to God knows what else?"

"Well, ok, but you get my drift. It's all a little different isn't it?"

"That's certainly true. Now quit stalling Harry, let's have a look at this Cloak of yours!" Harry grinned. The Cloak had become his favourite possession, almost over night, as he wandered around the school in complete security. Mrs Norris seemed to be able to smell him, but that was fine, since Filch couldn't see him if he did show up. While he hadn't returned to the Mirror since he and Hermione had met Dumbledore there, he had been round quite a bit of the school in the weeks since acquiring the Cloak. Now, after checking that the door was locked, he whipped the Cloak out of his pocket, and hung it over his shoulders, disappearing totally. Dudley let out an admiring whistle. "Oh wow! That's brilliant Harry! Come on, let me have a go!"

Harry handed over the Cloak, and watched his cousin disappear under the silvery fabric. There was a rustle, and Dudley's head appeared in mid-air, looking down at where his body should have been. "This is so weird… How does it work?"

"Haven't a clue. Even Dumbledore said he couldn't work it out, so I think I'll leave it for now certainly. So long as it carries on working, I'll be ok with it."

"I guess. How'd the others take it?"

"Neville loved it, kept wanting to come with me, slipped it on whenever he could, just to watch himself disappear in the mirror. The twins were practically begging me to lend it to them for pranks, which obviously I would never agree to... Hermione - "

"Hermione?"

"You know, I told you about her, Muggleborn girl, very bright, the one I went up against a troll with. Anyway, she was desperate to get it in a quiet corner to study it, but again, I pointed out Dumbledore hadn't been able to find out anything, so she didn't have a chance. She didn't much like me running around the castle with it though…

"And Ron?" Harry slumped back.

"You know what Ron's like. He clearly loved it, but he was just as clearly jealous. Refuses to use it, says he doesn't want to damage it. He's got worse since we started, he hates the way that everyone stares at me – not that I'm too fond of it myself – and, well, he's never been the brightest…"

"Not a lot you can do about it is there? Don't worry about it Harry, he always calms down eventually." Harry nodded.

"I guess. So," he said, clapping his hands together, "What did you get me for Christmas?" Dudley rolled his eyes.

"Like I'm going to tell you, you greedy git. Anyway, you didn't tell me about Flamel. Who is he?"

"Dunno. I'm sure I've seen his name somewhere, but we couldn't find anything in the library. Neville and Ron were sticking around over Christmas though, they said they'd let me know if they found anything. Although I highly doubt they'll really want to go anywhere near the library over the holidays…"

s/b

As a matter of fact, by Christmas Ron and Neville were spending a great deal of time in the Library, attempting to research the mysterious Flamel. It was true that they would rather have been doing other things, but without Harry and Hermione, they had something of a problem; namely, Fred and George. The twin pranksters were in their element in the run up to Christmas, and of course, it being the holidays, there were far fewer targets for their practical jokes. Ron and Neville didn't especially mind this, and were more than ready to retaliate, but neither of them had the imagination or knowledge to appropriately combat two pranksters whose magic was barely under control under the best of circumstances. Hermione was a wealth of information regarding useful spells, and Harry's imagination, combined with his talent for transfiguration, had proved a marvellous deterrent. In their absence however, the library had become a kind of refuge for them.

Of course, this was not a wholly satisfactory way of spending their holiday, especially since there seemed to be absolutely nothing about Flamel in any of the seemingly limitless quantity of the books, and their research sessions frequently dissolved into quiet discussions about Quidditch, before they almost willingly returned to the twin's mayhem, simply for something more interesting to do. However, there had been one hugely interesting incident, in Ron's eyes at least.

Severus Snape had been injured.

To Ron's disappointment, they hadn't actually seen this happen. However, returning to the Common Room after some intense research into Flamel, they had – as still occasionally happened in the vast castle – wandered off their intended path and ended up at the Staff Room. While this would normally have been nothing more than a minor annoyance, as they were walking down the corridor to the Grand Staircase, there had come from inside the staff room a loud cry of pain. Creeping back to the door, which was fortuitously slightly ajar, they had been treated to a rather shocking sight.

Snape had been standing in the middle of the room, with his left leg up on the table, his robes parted to reveal his leg, which was pallid and skinny. Ron had later put forward the opinion that this would have been enough to traumatise any right thinking person, but worse even than the sight of Snape's naked leg was the vicious wound in his calf. It looked as if someone, or more likely given the size of the wound, something, had picked Snape up by the leg in its jaws, before shaking him around. There was a terrible amount of blood. Filch was cleaning the wound, and had obviously just pressed down too hard, causing Snape to cry out.

"Blast it Filch, be a little more careful dammit!"

"Sorry sir, sorry, but it's goin' to hurt whatever I do; it's a vicious brute sir."

"Really? How very perspicacious of you! I had in fact spotted that for myself Filch. It was the way it nearly bit my leg off that really confirmed it for me. Any other pearls of wisdom?" Filch frowned at this.

"No need to be rude sir, just explaining things, just doing my job."

"Yes yes, I know; just get on with it. Merlin… I must be a fool to keep trying to get past that beast Filch, there must be someone better suited to the task; I'm a potions master, not a thief! This had better be worth all the hassle. And Fluffy… honestly, if ever proof were needed that Hagrid's not all there, calling a Cerberus 'Fluffy'!"

"I'm sure it will be worth it sir. Must be important if the Headmaster wants that much protection around it. And Hagrid… well, he's not like most folk is he sir?" Snape grunted. Taking his eyes off the wound, as if it disgusted him, he looked towards the door.

"WEASLEY! GET OUT OF HERE BOY!" Ron gasped, and ran as if Fluffy itself was after him, his footsteps echoing down the corridor. Neville, who had been obscured behind the door frame, left a little more discreetly, but just as quickly. This was definite progress.

s/b

"… So you see Harry, I was right! Snape really is an evil little git! Even you've got to admit it now.

Hope you're having a great Christmas

Ron (and Neville says hi as well)

Harry rolled up the letter thoughtfully. It did seem as if Ron was right; he had seen Snape outside the third floor corridor himself, and here was actual evidence that he had at some point over Christmas tried to get past the unaccountably named Fluffy. On the other hand, Dumbledore trusted him completely by all accounts, which had to count for something.

Maybe that was misleading though; Dumbledore's trust in Snape was based on him no longer being a Death Eater, or involved in similar activities. However, the Death Eaters hadn't been particularly noted for theft; not many of them needed to steal, the Death Eaters having been made up largely of rich Purebloods. Maybe Dumbledore had never bothered to check up on whether Snape might be tempted towards theft if given the opportunity and a decent prize for the effort, and whatever the Stone was, it must be very important to merit a Cerberus and other barriers.

It would be helpful if they knew more about the object being guarded, but only knowing that it was considered a stone was not all that helpful; there were thousands of famous stones in magical history, so narrowing it down to one stone connected to one wizard – and to do this in secret during their spare time – was nigh on impossible on the information they had.

Harry frowned. Away from Hogwarts, with the air of secrecy that seemed to be as much a part of the castle as the stone it was made from, the sense of urgency to discover the truth was waning; he just wanted to relax in the company of his family. Maybe when he returned to Hogwarts so would the compulsion to discover the truth, but it had really been an intellectual exercise; could they find out what was being hidden, and maybe find out who the potential thief was? He had never really been that worried about it, given the level of protection around it – and it had been nearly two months since he heard Snape complain about Dumbledore not having put up his protection, so surely the stone was even safer now; he had his suspicions about the presence of the Mirror of Erised, which must surely have been there for a reason. The fact that Snape seemed the most likely candidate for the thief was a little worrisome – not to say surprising – but again, given the level of protection, still hardly cause for alarm.

Considering this for a while, Harry eventually scribbled a quick reply to his two friends, expressing interest and concern, but also telling them to just take it easy and enjoy their holidays. Having sent this off with Hedwig, he hurried back downstairs to his family.

A/N: Reviews are, as always, welcome! Not much more to go either; five chapters at most, so that should all be done fairly soon hopefully.