Chapter 11

December beauty

...

Waking up on Christmas morning, Harry yawned softly then his eyes snapped open and he let a grin form on his face. Today was Christmas, his first Christmas at Hogwarts since his sixth year. Getting up, he saw that Ron and Hermione were just starting to wake up. Sitting up in bed, he stretched then looked at the tree they had placed in their room.

"Merry Christmas, you two," he said brightly, making them smile.

"Merry Christmas, Harry," Hermione said with a yawn.

"Merry Christmas, mate," Ron said, stretching. "Presents time!" Ron shouted, finally realizing what he had said only seconds ago. This of course made both Hermione and Harry laugh.

"Dobby!" Harry shouted and with a pop the house elf appeared, bouncing up and down.

"What can Dobby do for Master Harry Potter sir?" Dobby asked brightly.

"Can you get us a bowl of fruit each, please, then come back I need to tell you something," he said.

"Of course, Master Harry Potter sir," Dobby said brightly then disappeared.

"We should eat at least a little something before we open gifts," he explained and by the growling of Ron's stomach, he knew he had had the right idea.

"OK, my stomach agrees and I won't argue with it," Ron said with a blush.

Only a few seconds later, Dobby appeared with three big bowls of fruit. Placing his on the bed, Harry pulled out a package and handed it to Dobby, who looked at him with big eyes.

"Well, Dobby, don't just stand there, open it," he said, laughing softly.

"Thank you, great and wonderful Master Harry Potter sir!" Dobby said excitedly. Tearing the paper off, he squealed when he found a necklace with the Potter crest on it.

"I was finally able to get it made for you, Dobby, the crest only ever goes on a Potter house elf, you have the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ones since those weren't hard to make so why not finish it of with the Potter crest," he told the house elf who bounced up and down, showing off his Ravenclaw and Gryffindor crest as well.

"Thank you!" he shouted, making Harry laugh.

"You can go now, Dobby," he said, smiling, then with a bow the elf was gone, leaving three smiling twelve-year-olds.

"You know he is just like he was back in the no longer future," Ron said with a grin.

"I know," Harry said with a laugh.

After eating their fruit, they went to the sofa and started to open their gifts.

Harry smiled as he unwrapped his parents' gift. What he found was a sketch pad and drawing pencils. Smiling, he put those aside then went to Sirius' gift. As he opened it, he felt his heart strings tug as he spotted the gift. It was a pendant, the exact replica of Padfoot. He then found a note attached to it.

Pup,

I hope your doing well and that you like the gift, it's me, by the way, so I will always be with you, it is also like a Lord ring. It is a portkey that will bring you to me at all times. So when ever you want to get away, come to me.

Your godfather,

Padfoot.

Smiling at the pendant, he put it around his neck and continued. From Mia he got a a book entitled "The way of Parceltongue." How she got it, he didn't know but he loved his sister. Rose got him some chocolate and Demeter got him a sword belt. Smiling brightly, he looked at it and found that it matched his sword perfectly. The entire thing was made of white leather and had a silver and gold design to it with a gold buckle. Looking at the design, Harry recognized it as a grim that surrounded the entire belt. Placing it aside, he continued. Next was Remus' gift, he grinned once he saw the book, it had been one of the only books he hadn't been able to find as of yet. "The world's of light and darkness: what are their differences."It was a very interesting book by a muggle and really hard to find. Putting it aside, he started on his friend's gifts. Hermione had gotten him a pair of leather fingerless gloves, while Ron had gotten him a muggle book that made him grin. His mother wouldn't be seeing that book until he was about fifteen. Next was Draco who had gotten him a small charm with a note attached to it.

Potter, this comes from the Malfoy family vault, the thing is, it has Ravenclaw's crest on it, so it belongs to you. It is known to be her memory charm, apparently an heir can extract the memories placed into it and watch them through a pensieve. All you have to get is a pensieve.

Draco

"Damn that Draco," he whispered with a shake of his head. Looking at the charm, Harry admired it. It was made of different things, there were three feathers attached by a gold clasp that itself was attached to a purple gem that was attached to a gold chain. Putting it down, he continued. Neville got him a bunch of chocolates along with Luna's package of chocolate frogs, Harry swore there was over two hundred of them. Then there was Susan who had gotten him a book on laws, smirking at it, he continued to find one last package, Ginny's. Picking it up, he opened it to find a picture, it was of him and Ginny magically aged to look like they had once been. It had been taken during the summer when everybody had gone to an amusement park. It was a black and white picture, Ginny was dressed in an old frilly dress. He himself was wearing a suit with a mafia hat with the card even sticking out. The frame itself was made of black metal and very nice.

"I remember that day, we had lots of fun being magically aged," Hermione said, giggling.

"Yeah, it was fun," Ron said. "We were grounded for a week after that, but hey, we had fun," Ron said with a shrug while Hermione and Harry laughed. They luckily hadn't been grounded because of their splitting abilities and Ron hadn't wanted only his sister and brothers to get in trouble so he didn't split. Suddenly he spotted a single flask on the ground with a note. Taking it, he started to read.

Harry,

I have decided to give you this, when you tell everybody about you guys coming back, give this to Dumbledore, it's his own other self. I couldn't send him back then or now but I could do this.

Merry Christmas, Yuri!

"Well guys, where should we hide this?" Harry asked.

"Eh, your trunk is the best choice," Ron said.

Agreeing, they put everything they got away, Harry placed his photo on his nightstand and the flask in his trunk in a compartment that would hold it in place. They then got dressed and left for the Great Hall. When they arrived, Harry greeted everybody he knew then gave Ginny a kiss earning himself a disapproving look from the Headmaster.

"Merry Christmas, love, you like your gift?" he asked, grinning.

"Loved it, thank you," Ginny said brightly while looking down at the new necklace around her neck. It was on a white gold chain and had a single gold feather attached to it with protective charms, so that it wouldn't break or dent.

"So anybody up for a snow fight outside after breakfast?" Ron asked, making the group grin.

"You guys are so on!" Fred shouted.

"We're going to kick your butt!" George shouted.

"Are adults allowed?" A male voice asked, making them turn around to see Sirius and Remus standing there.

"Of course!" Ginny said brightly, making them laugh.

"Well it is Christmas," Minerva said, making Harry gape at her. "I think I shall join you," she finished, grinning like her cat animagus. This of course made most of the staff members look at her in shock, but she didn't seem to acknowledge them.

"Why not, to make it fair. Harry, Hermione and Ron come with us three and you lot are a team, then after a full battle, it's all for one and one for all," Remus said, grinning.

"Like the idea, Mr. Lupin!" Susan said brightly.

Before long all the kids were done eating and left to get ready, leaving the adults to shake their heads. When they all arrived outside, there was a ten minute waiting period so that they could make their forts. Running to their side, Harry gave Hermione a grin and they clasped hands then aimed their other hands in front of them. All of a sudden a curved wall formed in front of them making Sirius, Remus and Minerva blink.

"Perhaps it isn't so fair," Remus said, making the trio laugh.

"It probably isn't," Hermione said with a grin.

Suddenly a snowball hit their wall.

As a team, Hermione and Ron formed a snow wolf and sent him towards the others. Screams were heard as they looked out and found the wolf had exploded on the group of students. The sight, of course, made the teachers and Elementals laugh. Unclasping their hands, they started to throw normal snowballs . They played for an hour like that then went in separate directions, it was time for the separate battle. An hour later they all returned to the school, laughing. During that one hour everybody had been taken down by snowballs, Harry because of his wind and water elemental was able to combine his powers and make small snowball monsters that attacked the others. Now cold, wet, yet very happy, the group walked through the Entrance Hall where they were welcomed by the elder Potters, the Headmaster and the three Elemental teachers.

"Have fun?" Professor White asked, getting a white towel and handing it to Harry who thanked her. Professors Snoof and Nightfall did the same with Hermione and Ron, who accepted the towels.

"Lots of it," Harry said, drying his hair and smiling brightly at the Professor.

"Harry, you sneak, you combined your water and wind elemental to make snow monsters," Hermione said with a pout.

"Like them?" Harry said with a glint in his eyes.

"Oh you!" Hermione said, slapping his shoulder lightly and making him laugh.

"Alright you three, hurry up to your rooms and get dry," Professor Nightfall said with a smile on his face.

"Yes, sir!" they said with a salute then ran of to their room to get changed and warmed up.

Arriving in their room, they hurried to their bathrooms and took showers, after that they got dressed. Harry put on a pair of grey sweatpants with a black t-shirt and an emerald green hoody. Ron got dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants with a red t-shirt and a white hoody. Hermione got dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants that lay low on her hips with a blue t-shirt and a black sweatshirt. Finally they all left their bathrooms and sat on their sofa to relax in front of the fire burning in their fireplace.

"I don't think I have had that much fun during the winter in a long time," Harry said, relaxing.

"I completely agree, I've never seen Professor McGonagall act like that," Hermione said, giggling.

"I know it was so weird but really fun," Ron said with a shake of his head. "Have you ever heard of McGonagall taking part in a snowball fight?"

"Never. I remember in our first years at Hogwarts, she said that they were for those with childish attitudes," Harry said with a smile.

Knock! Knock!

Looking at the door, Harry got to his feet and went over. Opening the door, he found Sirius standing there with Remus. Smiling at them, he let them in, of course when they walked in they were quite shocked. They had never been in the room before and the sight was amazing.

"Bloody hell," Sirius said, looking around then grinned. "I guess nobody knows you guys sleep in the same room?" he asked, looking at them.

"Since we've become roommates, Sirius, we are friends and we trust each other. The Headmistress of Nature Academy saw our room over there as well, she trusts us and so we decided to keep it like this here. If the Headmaster of Hogwarts wants to say something about this then he will consult our Headmistress," Hermione said stubbornly.

"I really do like you," he said, looking at Hermione with a grin.

"So what brings you to our lovely dormitory?" Ron asked brightly.

"Oh we just wanted to see how you guys were doing after that snowball fight," Remus said.

"We're doing good, Mr. Lupin," Hermione said with a soft smile.

"Great to hear it, so you three are quite good with those elemental powers," Sirius said, sitting down. "But the question is can you actually defend yourselves and duel with those powers?" he asked, making the trio blink and Remus roll his eyes.

"Sirius!" he scolded. "They're children."

"Oh my dear uncles, we can duel alright." Harry said with a smirk.

"What do you think Nature teaches; how to make the wind blow?" Ron asked with a grin.

"No, we learn how to use our powers in duels, depending on what you're best suited for you can either be taught defence , offence or even in both if you are suited for that," Harry told them, taking his seat again. "Certain types of Elementals are designed for defence just like others are suited for offence. Still you can do both depending on your mind set. Those with wizarding powers are normally suited for both though and so most of the defence and offensive learners are Wizarding and Elemental users," Harry explained.

"You three, what are you best suited for?" Remus asked.

"Well now that's for us to know and for you to find out," Ron said with a smirk on his face.

...

When Christmas dinner came, the trio made sure to dress appropriately . Entering the Great Hall the trio were amazed. It looked just as beautiful and magnificent as they remembered it. Flitwick had done an amazing job on the entire place.

"Ah you have finally arrived, please sit," the Headmaster said joyfully.

Sitting down, Harry looked around the table. He was slightly shocked to see his parents there and noticed that they had not looked up at him and were concentrating on Demeter who looked quite uncomfortable. Mia looked at them with slight disgust before standing and coming over and Harry noticed that they hadn't even noticed. Shaking his head, he gave his sister a smile when she sat down in front of him.

"Demeter seems uncomfortable," he told her.

"He is," Mia said with a shake of her head. "They keep fawning over him as if he was the one that killed the Basilisk. He is completely annoyed but you know him, he won't speak up against them."

"That's my brother, too shy to speak up for himself," he said with a shake of his head. "But he will find out that sometimes you do have to speak up for yourself," he said then started to eat his food.

"I think he can't wait for them to leave I mean even Rose is being so annoying," Mia said with a shake of her head.

"Really, I hid in the room all day," he said, making her giggle.

"I'm done, anybody want to go for a walk?" Mia asked, looking at them hopefully, she clearly wanted to get away from everybody.

"Merlin, yes," Harry said wiping his mouth and standing. Mia soon followed and without their parents' even noticing they left the Great Hall for a nice walk on the grounds.

Walking over the grounds of Hogwarts, the siblings looked up at the sky then Harry turned to her, noticing that she was shivering. Taking his cloak, he put it around her shoulders, making her look up at him with a smile.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, little sister, you know there is one place I want to go to, but it's over a two hour walk," he said with a sigh then he grinned. "It's a short ride in one of my animagus forms though," he said, looking at her. "Want to come?" he asked, making her blink in shock.

"Really?" she asked excitedly, to have her brother bring her somewhere that he so wanted to see was very exciting, after all Harry knew the grounds of Hogwarts better than most, probably even better than the marauders.

"Yeah, just don't talk about my form to anybody or where I'm going to take you," he said.

"Sure," Mia agreed excitedly.

Looking around, Harry made sure nobody was looking then started to transform. His Grim animagus form wouldn't do for a fast race or even to carry Mia for that long, but his second magical form would be perfect for it. As he turned he heard, his sister gasped then when he finished he looked up at her. Of course the shock on her face was normal, because in front of her was an amazing creature. In front of her was a large creature with two large white wings and two slightly smaller white wings attached to a white body, golden feathers also adorned the tips of the wings and the tail feathers, while its beak was large and gold. He crouched down, showing her that he wanted her to get on. When she did she jumped in shock as two string like things grew out of him as if he was meant to be ridden. Taking them in her hands she gasped when they wrapped around her arms until they met and knotted behind her back.

"Relax, little sister, and hold on tight," the unmistakable voice of her brother said making her gasp.

"You can talk to me!" she shrieked, making the bird laugh.

"Yes, I can, now hold on!" he shouted, making her squeak then with one bat of his four wings he lifted into the air and flew high into the sky. "You must be wondering what kind of creature I am," he said, making her blink, after all the feeling of flying on top of a creature's back was amazing.

"Yes, actually, I am wondering," she answered him.

"I am an Rutiluspenna," he told her. "I can carry a rider and I also have the ability to fight, my claws can be razor sharp and I can make huge gusts of wind that could send somebody off their feet. The Rutiluspenna's have not been seen in over a hundred years, but we are very powerful. This isn't even my fully-grown form," he finished with a laugh.

"That is so amazing," she whispered, but suddenly they started to sink towards the ground again.

When they landed, the golden ropes left her body and she jumped off, letting Harry turn back into his human form. Looking around, she found that they were in what seemed to be the remains of an old castle, a very small one though . The castle was still standing but some walls had come down which she assumed was caused by either weather or attacks. The castle had vines going up the dark stone walls and seemed to have covered a very large wall. Walking into the small castle, Mia was shocked at what she found. The flour was made of white marble while the walls were a light blue with gold drapes covering all the windows and stopping the light from seeping in. A gorgeous gold chandelier hung from a beautiful ceiling that had plenty of molding all over it. Then she noticed four portraits hanging on the wall opposite the doors. Each portrait had different colour drapes on each side. Some of the drapes were covering half of the portrait but still it was beautiful. Under dark purple drapes was a painting of a beautiful woman wearing a dark purple gown. Her black hair was around her face and a diadem was around her forehead. In between blood red drapes was a man with long fiery red hair, wearing old armour and a red cape. In his hands was a sword. Then under a set of emerald green drapes that were the only ones that were damaged, there was a man with long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. He wore emerald green and silver robes and around his neck was a silver pendant. Finally behind golden yellow drapes was another woman. She was short and plump and had a motherly look to her. Her blond hair was pulled up into a bun on the top of her head and she wore a long yellow gown that fit her perfectly, in one of her hands was a golden goblet.

"Who are they?" Mia asked her older brother.

"They are the four founders of Hogwarts, this was their personal get-away that was lost in time. Only a handful of people know about it, those people being the Grim Reapers and now you," he said. "We don't know if those paintings are magical or even if they could make moving paintings back then, but Hermione was researching them back then," he told her, making her gasp. "Come, the courtyard is still standing, although a little overgrown," he said, leading her away from the paintings and through the halls. Suddenly they arrived in a medium sized yet very overgrown courtyard. There was a fountain and to her shock it was still working and water fell from the top. Harry lead her over and they sat down. "So what do you think?" he asked her.

"It's a beautiful place, Harry, really," she said, looking at him.

"I proposed to Ginny here the first time. It was originally a Ravenclaw property and it still is to this day," he said.

"How do you know that?" she asked shocked.

"I'm the Lord of Ravenclaw family," he said, raising his ring hand and letting a ring appear, the Ravenclaw crest clearly visible on it.

"Oh my god!" she whispered shocked.

"I wanted to have this place fixed up back then and I think I will have it done," he said, smiling softly. "There is a library here that holds very old and some very dark books, but they are very interesting. There is even a ball room, well there was. It's the only room that has a caved in wall and roof," he told her, laughing softly.

"Do mom and dad known about this place?" Mia asked.

"No, they don't even know we are related to Ravenclaw, they know we are related to Gryffindor, but I suppose they didn't bother looking for Ravenclaw," he said then frowned. "Come to think of it, have you ever seen a family tree in the Potter mansion?" he asked her.

"Apparently the room was sealed and nobody can get into it," she said, shaking her head.

"Well that's stupid, oh well," he said shrugging his shoulders. "We should be getting back," he said, transforming into the bird creature.

Getting onto his back, Mia held on tight to the gold strings and then they took off flying through the sky. When they landed, Harry turned back immediately and they walked around the grounds where Sirius soon found them.

"Bloody hell, you both worry me to death," he said, panting. "Remus and I have been looking for you for about an hour now."

"Sorry, Sirius, I suppose we stayed out to long," Harry said, grinning.

"You got that right, come on in before you guys catch a cold," he said, rolling his eyes. "Damn I sound like your mother," he said, making Harry laugh.

Walking back into the castle, they were welcomed by Remus who smiled when he say them. Then they returned to the Great Hall where they re-joined their friends then looked over at their parents.

"It's as if they didn't even realize we were gone," Mia said with a sigh.

"They didn't," Harry said, averting his eyes to Ginny who smiled up at him sadly. Wrapping his right arm around her, he bent over and kissed her, making her smile.

"Merry Christmas, love," she said softly.

"Merry Christmas to you, my beautiful and only love," he said, making her smile up at him with eyes full of love.