Disclaimer: Everything you recognize from Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling. The characters Professor Enyami, Professor June, Raven, Lex, and any other characters you don't recognize are mine.

Chapter 14 - Christmas Holiday

"Start," commanded Snape, dryly. It was the first Monday of the holiday, and Harry was starting a potion for his lessons with Snape. Is this ever going to end? he thought.

Two hours later, an almost perfect potion sat cooling in his cauldron. Harry bottled it, handed it to Snape, then prepared to leave.

"Wait, Harry," Snape said. Harry turned around. Snape had an old book in his hand. Surprisingly, he handed it to Harry. "It is that Advanced Potions book that you asked to go through before. For your assignment, you will write an essay on the changes made to the first potion in the book, explaining what the changes were, why they were made, and whether you can think of any improvements. Make it as long as you need to finish it." Harry nodded, took the book and left.

It was really confusing when Snape called Harry by his first name. He did it all the time, unless he was irritated or mad at Harry, but he still couldn't get used to it. What did it mean?

Harry made his way to the common room. It was weird being there with no other Gryffindors. It was really quiet. It was surprisingly easy to concentrate, though, without the usual buzzing that seemed to be natural during the term.

Deciding to get his newest assignment out of the way, Harry sat down at one of the tables and took out the potions book. It was the one that he had trouble reading awhile ago. He looked at the first potion and groaned. He was getting used to tweaking potions in one way or another for assignments, but he never had to examine another person's "improvements" before.

An hour and a half later, Harry was finished, and he made his way to the Great Hall for lunch, a potions theory book under his arm. He knew he was going early, but he didn't want to end up sitting next to Enyami again. Somehow, it happened every meal, and Harry was determine to not let it happen again.

Harry was the first one to the Great Hall, but McGonagall wasn't far behind. Harry sat down at the table and opened his book. He had two more chapters to read before tomorrow for the small exam Snape was giving him. This made Harry slightly angry. We just finished end of term exams! It was common for Snape to give him several exams in a week, though. "Just to made sure you are keeping up", was his excuse.

Unfortunately, the next person to enter the hall was Enyami, and of course, she sat down next to Harry. Why is she doing this? he asked silently, annoyed. No matter what, she sat next to him. He was saved from talking to her by the rest of the students and teachers arriving.

Harry ate quickly, wanting to get out of there as soon as he could. He finished the food on his plate, skipping his pumpkin juice, and moved to get up.

"Harry, pudding is coming up soon. Please stay," said Dumbledore in a tone that implied he wasn't asking. Harry sat back down. He looked at everyone else at the table, and no one was near being finished. So, until his fellow students and professors finished, Harry started at the food in the center of the table as if it were his worst enemy.

Snape watched Harry out of the corner of his eye during lunch. For some reason, he ate quickly, and was now staring at the food angrily since the headmaster wouldn't let him leave. He took notice that Enyami was sitting next to the boy again, and he gave her a look. He never liked her, but could never figure out why. She has been placing herself next to Harry for the last two meals, and Snape could tell it was making the boy nervous.

Snape excused himself when pudding arrived and headed toward the dungeons. Harry had defense right after lunch, and he wanted to make sure that the room was set up. He was planning on teaching Harry several offensive curses, ones that he would be able to use in a duel in the need arose, and the defense section of the classroom needed to be blocked off from the rest of the room to ensure nothing would be destroyed.

Harry entered twenty minutes later, bag over his shoulder, and a roll of parchment in the other.

"I finished my potions essay, sir," he said, handing the roll over. Snape gave the boy a surprised look. During this last term, the boy had become very diligent when it came to his school work. He wasn't expecting the essay this soon, but he took it, and nodded.

"We will be working on offensive curses today. Take out your wand." Harry produced his wand, seemingly, out of nowhere. Snape was used to this now; the boy kept his wand on him at all times, and Snape suspected he even slept with it on. Snape walked into the partitioned part of the room, and Harry followed. "The first curse is type of blasting curse, but it has more power behind it than your basic blasting curses. The incantation is 'schlima'." The rest of the lesson followed the same direction, where Snape would show Harry how the curse was done, then Harry throwing these newly learned curses at a transfigured dummy.

"That's good," Snape said, ending the lesson. "We will work on dueling next time." Before Snape could say goodbye, the boy was gone. Snape sighed. Am I ever going to get through to that boy? he asked himself. He had really hoped that he would be able to get close enough to Harry before Christmas, so he could hand the boy his present, but at this rate, he would have to settle for having a house elf deliver it, like most presents were.

The rest of the break before Christmas went pretty quickly. If he wasn't in lessons, doing homework, or eating, Harry took to exploring the castle. It was tiring, but it kept his mind off other things, like the Dark Mark, or the Voice, which came back every few days or so. He learned to ignore it, for the most part, but he couldn't help but think what the Voice said was true.

While exploring, he checked all rooms that the map had on it, and he also looked for any passage or room that was not labeled. With the Hogwarts' castle, you never knew when a new room was going to appear. As it were, in the weeks that he explored the castle, he found about a dozen rooms and several passages that led to various places around the castle. He made sure he marked them down on a copy he made of the map, one that had no charms on it.

In addition to exploring the castle, Harry spent time looking up way to make a map like the Marauders' map. Nearing Christmas, and still no way of making one, Harry was thinking about contacting Moony and asking for references.

Enyami still, somehow, ended up sitting next to Harry every meal. It annoyed Harry so much that for a few days, he skipped meals in the Great Hall and just snuck to the kitchen. Unfortunately, McGonagall became worried and personally made sure that he came to eat with the rest of the school. What was weird about sitting next to Enyami was that Snape seemed to notice Harry's discomfort and seemed to try to help Harry out. He wasn't sure, but that was what it seemed like.

"Tanya, come forward," Harry said to one of his followers. The masked woman did so. "How close are you to completing your task?" Tanya lowered herself to one knee.

"I have been able to sneak the potion into his food more than once, my Lord, but he seems to sense something is wrong with the food, because he will not eat the food I added it to. As for the curse, he doesn't seem to be responding."

"So, in conclusion, you have gotten nowhere." Tanya paused before answering.

"You, of course, of correct, my Lord."

"Tanya Enyami, my dear, I expected more of you. Crucio," he said, almost lazily. When he finished, he spoke to her again. "Stand up." She did so. "Take off your mask." After another pause, she did this, also. Harry got into her memories with ease. The memories were familiar; eating in the Great Hall, only from Enyami's perspective. "Try harder. Crucio," he said, harshly.

Harry woke up screaming. Oddly, someone else was in the room, too, trying to calm him.

"Sh, Harry," comforted Snape after somehow getting a cruciatus pain potion down his throat. This didn't calm him down, though, it only seemed to make it worse. After a few minutes, his words started to become coherent.

"She's a Death Eater, she's a Death Eater," he kept repeating. He was up and out of the dorm before Snape could ask who 'she' was. As soon as it registered that the boy was gone, he got up quickly and made to follow him.

Snape followed Harry to the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office, the boy still hysterical. Unable to speak the password, he started hitting and kicking it. Snape quickly said the password so Harry wouldn't hurt himself, and the boy ran (or rather, crawled) up the moving stairs.

Not quite surprising, the headmaster was still in his office, going through last term's paperwork, when a very disturbed Harry Potter came bursting through the door, followed by a seemingly calm Severus Snape.

"She's a Death Eater!" hissed Harry before collapsing on the floor, unconscious. After checking to make sure the boy was still alive, Dumbledore turned to Snape.

"What happened?"

"I am not sure. I was checking on him . . ." Snape started, and got a questioning look from the old man, "because tonight is the usual night for Death Eater meetings, and Harry often sees these meetings," Snape continued. Dumbledore knew how the meetings affected the boy, and about the phantom Dark Mark that haunted Harry. "I was able to leave when he started screaming. I'm assuming the Cruciatus curse. I woke him up, and shoved a pain potion down his throat. He mumbled a bunch of incoherent things before he said, 'She's a Death Eater', over and over again. Then he ran here, and I followed him." The two men looked at the boy who collapsed.

"He's gone through so much, and he is still only a boy. So, I'm assuming that the Occumency and Legilimancy are not going so well?"

"Harry has gotten quite good at Occlumency. He is still studying the theory behind Legilimancy, and he has a few more chapters in the book to go before I will allow him to actually practice it." For some reason, a chuckle came from the older man. "And what is so funny?"

"I never noticed until now that you have been calling the young boy Harry. Since when have you been doing that?" Snape glared at Dumbledore, but then thought about it. He really didn't know.

"I don't know. It is probably because I have been spending so much time with the boy."

"And you have realized he is not his father." Snape glared at the headmaster once again, thinking of the irony of that.

"I suppose. Now, do you have any idea who this 'she' is that Harry was babbling about?"

"No. I suppose we should wake him and find out. Would you mind bringing a calming potion? I fear we might need it."

"No need," Snape said, pulling a potions bottle out of his robes. "I always bring a few potions with me, just in case."

"Of course," answered Dumbledore, walking over to Harry.

"Harry," he said, gently shaking the boy. "Harry, wake up." Slowly, he did wake up, nearly attacking the headmaster when he could move again. Finally, he woke up enough to realize where he was.

"Sorry, Headmaster. I thought you were someone else." Dumbledore chuckled again.

"That's quite alright, my boy. Now, would you please take this? It is a calming potion." Harry did so willingly, then looked at the headmaster. "Who is this 'she' you were talking about in 'she's a Death Eater'?" Harry seemed confused for a few seconds before he remembered his vision.

"Enyami!" he hissed, and Dumbledore nearly dropped the potion bottle.

"Are you sure?" he whispered.

"Yes! I saw her face and he called her by her name. Tanya Enyami," he spat, as if it were a curse in itself. Dumbledore seemed to grow smaller at this.

"We will check it out, Harry. Do you know if she has the Dark Mark?"

"N. . ." Harry started, then stopped. The name Tanya sounded familiar. He heard it before, he knew. But where? Then it came to him. "Yes! She was marked closer to the beginning of the term!"

"Okay. We might not be able to get to her immediately, Harry, so please don't tell anyone this. She will be taken care of."

"Alright, sir. Um. . ."

"What is it?"

"They were talking about something. Enyami had a 'task' that she needed to get done, but she didn't get it done yet. I think they were talking about me. She said something about putting something in my food. And something else about a curse, and how it doesn't seem to be affecting me. You don't think that has anything to do with the Voice that has been bugging me, do you?" The headmaster thought about this for a minute.

"It could be. We'll make sure her chambers are gone through. I should report this to the aurors in the Order so they can do something. Now, since tomorrow is Christmas Eve and there will be a small celebration, I am sure you want your sleep. I am also sure Professor Snape would be willing to escort you to Gryffindor tower."

"Of course," Snape said flatly. "Come along, Harry," he told the boy. He had the strangest urge to find Enyami at this moment and strangle her with his bare hands. In fact, he meant to do so if he came across her before the aurors got to her. Without realizing it, he guided Harry gently out of the headmaster's office.

They made their way to the tower in silence. At the portrait, Snape gave the password and guided the boy into the common room. He was about to guide him up to his dorm room when Harry turned around and gave Snape a funny look.

"What were you doing in Gryffindor tower?" he asked hesitantly. Snape almost smiled. He really didn't know how to answer that question, so he opted for the truth.

"I have been checking up on you on Mondays because of your visions." This seemed to stun the boy, because he just stared at his . . . the man.

"Why?" Snape paused at this question. Why did he do it?

"You're my son," he whispered, realizing how true that was as he said it. Harry gave him a calculating look. They were both silent, both in their own worlds, until Harry finally spoke up.

"I'm tired. Good night, Professor," was all Harry said. Snape sighed.

"Good night, Harry," Snape answered, then left the tower, not wanting to push anything. Perhaps we made some progress today, he thought to himself.

The next morning at breakfast, Enyami wasn't there. Everyone but Snape, Dumbledore, and Harry questioned where she was, but they didn't get an answer. It wasn't like her to miss a meal.

That morning, Harry sat across from Snape. He thought about Snape's answer last night; about why he checked up on Harry. It felt weird; no one had ever bothered to 'check up' on him before. He was usually left to handle things on his own. Did that mean that Snape really did want him as a son? That he wanted Harry as part of his family?

Harry planned on asking Snape after breakfast, but he didn't get the chance to. Dumbledore asked to speak with him, and the two wizards left the hall. Harry sighed. Later, he told himself, but he didn't know if he would have the courage to later. It took the entire time before breakfast to work on the courage to decide to talk to the man.

Harry didn't see Snape for the rest of the day, and at ten at night, Harry plopped onto his bed, exhausted from all the research he'd been doing.

Dumbledore had called Harry to his office that afternoon to inform Harry that Enyami did confess and was now in Azkaban awaiting her trail. Apparently, she did more than just spy on Dumbledore; she was involved in many of the raids that the Death Eaters held over the past month. Occluding his mind, Harry fell asleep quickly.

The next morning, Harry awoke with a start, not realizing why. He did understand as soon as he got out of bed, though. A pile of presents lay at the foot of his four poster bed, waiting to be opened. It was Christmas. Harry grinned widely, temporarily forgetting his problems.

The first present was from Hermione; a book, of course, on the history of Dark Arts. The second was from Ron; quidditch gloves. Neville gave him some odd plant that only was in bloom in the sunlight, and Ginny gave him a book on quidditch techniques. He got the usual jumper from Mrs. Weasley, and a bunch of other gifts from other members of the D.A., saying sorry for how they acted after the ball.

The last gift had no label of who it was from. Suspicious, Harry prodded it. His last unlabeled gift was from Sirius, but there was no way that was possible now. After checking to see if there were any curses on it, which there weren't, Harry picked it up, slowly ripping off the paper. Under the paper was a plain, black wooden box. Taped to the box was a note that was labeled "Harry Potter". He took it and unfolded the letter.

This was originally your Grandfather's. It has been passed down through several generations, but no one knows for sure who started it. I do believe you will have better luck with these than you seem to with others.

Harry just started at the unsigned letter. His grandfather? Did that mean it was from Snape? Or was it another gift from Dumbledore? Harry sighed. It can't be from Dumbledore, he thought rationally to himself. He already told you he didn't have anything else of James'.

So it had to have been Snape. Harry knew that he needed to talk to Snape . . . his father. No. He wouldn't call him that until he knew for sure Snape wanted him.

Realizing he didn't open the gift yet, Harry opened the box. Inside was a rather beautiful chess board. Lifting the board out of the box, Harry saw that the pieces were stored neatly below. The board and the pieces were made out of some type of black stone that Harry didn't recognize. He realized with a start that this was a very expensive set.

A set that has been in the family for a very long time, Harry thought. Checking the time, Harry put away the chess set neatly and made his way toward the dungeons before breakfast, not caring if Snape was up yet. They needed to talk.