December had pulled round, bringing with it freezing weather that made the warm castle seem like a warm haven compared to the frosty grounds.
"Just one more week until break," Fred said happily one evening in the common room as he finished a star chart.
"About time," said Alexandra, who was beginning to notice a definite change in the workload from the previous year.
Alanna said nothing, and Alexandra instantly felt awful about what she had just said. Alanna most likely would not be going home for the holidays; her family was not fully adjusted to her being a witch yet, and it had resulted in rocky situations amongst them. Alexandra would've invited her to come home with her, but her father had written earlier that week to inform her grandmother would be spending a good part of the break with them while her house was being fumigated.
"Too bad about that Christmas party tomorrow night, though," Alexandra said, changing the subject.
"Don't remind me," Fred moaned.
"It wasn't too bad last year," Alanna pointed out. "Food was good, at least, and some pretty interesting people came."
"Yeah, good news is that this year Slughorn will be so distracted with James here that he won't have time for anybody else," Fred said.
"Poor James," Alexandra said.
…
"Hello, welcome!" Slughorn boomed the next evening as Alexandra, Fred, Alanna, James and Louis arrived down in one of the dungeons for Slughorn's Christmas party. "Come, come, I've just laid out some pheasant and turkey, courtesy of the Hogwarts kitchens. Please, help yourselves to anything to eat."
The five started towards the buffet table, but Slughorn grabbed James's arm. "Hold on there, Mr. Potter," he said, grinning broadly. "I want to introduce you to an old comrade of mine. Walter! Over here, this is Harry Potter's boy, you know?"
"Let's get out of here before we're next," Fred said, grabbing himself a plate.
Unfortunately, James managed to get away from Slughorn by saying he had to use the bathroom. Seeing that Teddy and the rest of the Weasley's were engaged in conversations, Slughorn headed towards Alexandra, Alanna, Fred and Louis.
"Well, I happened to see your Quidditch game last week," he said to Fred and Alanna. "Now, obviously, I was a bit disappointed that my house lost, but I'll give credit where credit is due; you two played very well."
"Thank you, sir," Fred said.
"Yes, I happen to know quite a few brilliant fliers. Derik More from the Dover Dodgers was a past student, and of course we can't forget your Aunt, Ginny, now can we? Of course, James told me she retired a couple years back, writes reports of the game for the Prophet, correct?"
"Yup," Louis nodded.
"Shame she was never able to get me tickets to see her; always sold out, but no matter, I- Oh!"
One of the waiters who had been going around to the guests serving drinks had tripped and sent many glasses spilling all over Slughorn's pearl white robes, leaving a large, red stain on the front.
"Oh, yes, yes it's fine," Slughorn said to the apologetic waiter. "Oh, looks like this stain will set."
"Can't you just magic the stain out?" Louis asked.
"No, these robes are made from the finest Egyptian cotton; magic has no effect on them," he sighed. "Although…I hate to ask you to leave, but I have a bottle of potion on my desk that I save for emergencies like this…Do you think-"
"We'll get it," Fred volunteered quickly.
"Brilliant! Well, no need for all four of you to go. Louis, my boy, come let me introduce you to Mr. Wittle…"
"Yes! We've escaped!" Fred cheered once him, Alanna and Alexandra had left the dungeon and were starting towards Slughorn's office.
"We've got to go back, or Slughorn will be suspicious," Alanna reminded him.
"Oh, right."
The three tried to take as long as possible walking to Slughorn's office. Once they arrived, they found the bottle of potion sitting right on his desk as he said.
"Look at this," Fred said in disgust, looking at the many photographs that crammed the mantle. "It's like he's a…collector."
"Here's some that must not have made the cut," Alanna said, spotting a box of framed photos off to the side. She began rummaging through them. "Guys," she said suddenly. "Is this-Is this Wretermoust's mother? It looks like the woman in the book you showed us last year, Alexandra."
"Yes, that's her," Alexandra nodded. "I remember seeing this photo here last year, but I didn't know who it was."
"She went to Hogwarts?" Fred asked.
"I don't think so," Alexandra said, trying to remember what she read in the book. "I suppose Slughorn met her somewhere else, and that's how he knows her."
"Boy, first Voldemort and then her," Fred said. "Man really isn't a great judge of character if you ask me."
"We need to get back to the party," Alanna said, looking at her watch. "We've been gone nearly fifteen minutes."
"Fine," Fred sighed. "But if Slughorn starts one of his long conversations, I'm faking stomach pains to get out of there!"
Fred and Alanna turned to head out of the office. Alexandra turned to look at the photo one last time. Something didn't seem quite right…
"Alexandra, come on!"
Shaking the image out of her head, she hurriedly turned and headed after her friends.
…..
"Check mate," Albus said, taking his father's last knight. "That's the third game in a row I beat you in, dad!"
"Yes, but it took you longer," Harry pointed out, grinning at his son. "I must be getting better."
"Daddy, fly with me now!" Lily said, looking out the window longingly.
"Lil, it's pouring out there!"
"So? When I'm Seeker for England I'll have to play out in the rain!"
"Yes, well, until then, just stick to tamer weather, okay?"
"Okay," she sighed. "When's Hugo coming over?"
Right on cue, the flames in the Potter's fireplace began to glow green, and a second later, Hermione and her son appeared.
"Morning," Hermione said as Hugo and Lily ran upstairs to Lily's room. "Where's Ginny?"
"Her and Molly went shopping."
Hermione nodded. "Albus, Rosie wanted to know if you could come over to our house for a bit. She just got some new Gobstones."
"Can I dad?" Albus questioned.
"Sure. While you're over there, have a go with Ron at chess; if I can't beat him, maybe you will."
"I can't believe he'll be starting Hogwarts next year," Hermione said as green flames consumed the young boy. "Rosie as well. When's James getting home?"
"Day after tomorrow. Said Slughorn just had his Christmas party."
"I imagine Slughorn barely left his side?"
"Only when he got away into the bathroom."
"The man never lets up," Hermione sighed. "Um, Harry. I just got back from the Ministry. Kingsley finished recovering all the destroyed files. He's gone home now, but he said that whenever you get a chance, you're free to go over them. But," she added. "He says he wants you to take some time with your family before you do anything. Said you've been working too hard lately."
"I'll go in day after James gets back for a bit, then," he said.
"And I talked to Roberta from the Department of Mysteries," she continued. "About-About how the wizards could've gotten Sirius's wand. And she said that it's impossible to survive going through the arc."
"But then how did-"
"She also said," Hermione cut him off. "That they have ways of checking if anyone is down there. Without actually going through the veil."
"How?" Harry asked urgently.
"A variety of complex spells and charms," Hermione replied. "They haven't checked in years, though, not since before Sirius…" a few tears formed in the corners of her eyes, but she cleared her throat can continued. "They'll be checking now, though. It will take a few days, but they'll see if anybody else besides Sirius's body is there."
Harry nodded, but said nothing.
"Harry," Hermione went on gently. "I told Roberta that Sirius was your godfather, and she told me that once they figured out if more than one body is down there, they'd be able to remove Sirius's body."
Harry looked up. "What?"
"It would take awhile; it would be very difficult to remove his body without sending anyone down, but she knows that they can-"
"So I could give him a funeral?" Harry asked slowly.
Hermione nodded. "Yes."