Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the common rooms and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the draughty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worse of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
As Ron's parents were going to visit his brother Charlie in Romania, Aunt Lia had invited Ron, Fred, George, and Percy over for Christmas rather than spending it at Hogwarts. Ron and the twins had accepted, but Percy, who didn't know Harry or his siblings that well, politely declined.
The Hogwarts eleven spent most of their free time in the library, looking up Nicolas Flamel. While most of them were certain that they had come across the name somewhere, they couldn't think of where. It was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.
When they weren't in the library, the Hogwarts eleven were in the Room of Requirement, poring through all that was provided that would give clues of Nick's, Ariel's, and Valancy's parentages. They started with Nick, but the things they found were puzzling. First of all, they found a tiny announcement about a couple named Eva and David Goldberg, but as it was written in a foreign language, they couldn't read it. Hannah thought it was probably a marriage announcement, though.
Then they found a diary written by Eva Goldberg, but it also wasn't written in English. Ariel examined it, then shook her head. "If it were French, I might be able to translate some of it. Aunt Lia taught me. But this isn't French. It doesn't seem to be in German or Spanish, either. And this diary is old. See the year? It's 1940. And that marriage annoucement was from 1938."
Hermione took the diary and flipped through it. "Look at the entry dated April 2nd, 1941. This one is in English, through the grammer and spelling are a bit poor. 'My son, Nicolas, was born today. I have many love for him, but dangerous it is for him. We are Jews, and it is a probably that we will die. A witch I am, so magic I use to send him someplace safe. England is a good place. I will write note, and use magic to send Nicolas to orphanage in England. After my loved husband and I spend moth - I think it's supposed to be month - with Nicolas, we do magic to send Nicolas to safety."
Harry looked at Nick. "I suppose that's what happened. Your parents were Jewish wizard and witch in Poland or some other country occupied by Germany, and they did a spell to send you to safety in Great Britain. But I guess something went wrong with the spell and you got sent to the future as well."
Nick sighed. "That's probably what happened." He looked at the note that had been pinned to his blanket when he had been left at the steps of the orphanage. "The date of my birth is smudged. Only 'Apr 2, 19' is legible. And my mother did sign her name, but it's all smudged, too. All that can be made out is the 'E'. I wonder if my birth parents ever survived the Holocaust. It probably didn't happen, though. Six million Jews died. Though my parents were magic, so maybe they could have survived in hiding or did something to make the concentration camps more bearable."
After that, Neville said in a small voice, "You all know that I live with my grandmother, but I never told you guys why." He then proceeded to tell how his parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom, had been tortured to insanity by Death Eaters after Voldemort's demise. The Death Eaters had thought his parents, being Aurors, would have some idea as to Voldemort's whereabouts. Neville's parents were in a ward at St. Mungo's, and there seemed very little chance of them recovering.
Hermione put her arm around Neville. "I don't know if I could live with something like that. You're awfully brave to shoulder it, Neville. That must be why you were sorted into Gryffindor."
Neville sighed. "I guess. But the situation with Nick's parents is just as bad. They had to give their son up because the time period in which he was born in was too dangerous.
Nick shrugged. "Well, it's all in the past. I have a loving adopted mother figure, three wonderful foster siblings, and several great friends. And after we figure out Ariel's parentage, we can find out what happened to my biological parents."
The next day, they began searching for Ariel's and Valancy's parentage. Ariel plucked a book from the pile, which turned out to be a family tree. Flipping through it, she found out that the Kennedy family was indeed an old pureblood family, though there were a few instances of a Kennedy marrying a Muggle or a Muggleborn person. However, no mention of their children was made, whereas the Kennedys that had married purebloods had their children listed.
Toward the back, Ariel found her mother, Fiona Kennedy, listed. Fiona was the daughter of Arcturus Kennedy and Margerat Prewett. As Ron's mother had been a Prewett, it meant that Ariel was related to the Weasleys. She also found that she was related to the Potter, Longbottom, Greengrass, and Bones families, though distantly, and also to the Bulstrode, Parkinson, Nott, and Black families.
Ariel then glanced at the name next to her mother, with a line between them to show they were married. She stifled a gasp when she read "Justus Malfoy." "I'm related to Draco Malfoy?" she demanded, horrified. She picked up the other book that had just appeared and groaned when she discovered that Justus Malfoy was the brother of Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father. "Oh great. Draco and I are first cousins. Could this day get any worse?"
Daphne was perusing the diaries written by Fiona Kennedy. "Well, your mother was sorted into Ravenclaw, like the Sorting Hat said. And in the one written during your mother's last year at Hogwarts, an entry says that she's been told by her parents that she's to be married to Justus Malfoy. She doesn't sound too happy about the marriage, but she has no choice, since there's nobody she can elope with. Apparently she had a boyfriend, but they broke up a couple of months ago because they weren't that compatible and argued whenever they weren't snogging in the broom cupboard."
Ron held up a mask and a newspaper clipping. "It looks like this Justus Malfoy was a supporter of You-Know-Who. It says here that there was a raid and he was one of the Death Eaters killed."
Ernie came over and looked at the article. "That happened in September of 1981, a month and a half before You-Know-Who's downfall."
"Oh, can't you just say Voldemort?" demanded Nick. The others, except Harry and Ariel, flinched.
"It's just a stupid name," said Ariel, exasperated. "He's not going to appear just because you say his name. And fear of a name just increases the fear of the person itself. That's what Aunt Lia says."
Susan held up another diary. "I think your mother had to become a Death Eater, too, Ariel. Or at least be involved in their activities. That's what it says here, though she doesn't go into any detail."
Justin looked up from the diary he was reading. "Er, I think it's possible that your father wasn't Justus Malfoy, Ariel. It says here that You-Know-Who did a spell on Fiona Kennedy that allowed him to, er, sleep with her without actually touching. And six entries ago, it says that her husband left the day before for Death Eater duties and wouldn't be back for at least a month. And a week after You-Know-Who did that spell, Fiona reports that she's starting to get morning sickness. And she did a spell that says she is pregnant and is one week along."
Ariel grabbed the diary out of Justin's hands and skimmed through it. Then she tossed on the ground angrily. "I refuse to believe that my biological father could be Voldemort! That's even worse than being born a Malfoy!"
"Well, maybe something good could come out of all this," said Hannah hesitantly. "You-Know-Who might not have been killed the night he went after the Potters. Maybe when the killing curse rebounded off from Harry Potter, it just made him lose his powers and body. You could be needed to help defeat You-Know-Who if he does return to power. Being his daughter could help."
Ariel looked at the others. "Well, I hate this news! And I wouldn't blame you if you all turned your backs on me and stopped being my friend."
"Oh please, that's ridiculous," said Ron. "Just because your birth father might be You-Know-Who doesn't mean we'll dessert you. We-"
"It's desert, Ron," corrected Hermione.
"Whatever. Anyway, we know you, and you're our friend, no matter what, Ariel. Well, unless you become a Death Eater or betray us, but that's not going to happen." The others nodded emphatically.
Ariel sighed and flipped through the diaries again. She found out that Valancy was only her half-sister, as her father was Justus Malfoy. "I guess that explains her blonde hair," sighed Ariel. "Well, at least she isn't Voldemort's daughter, though she is Draco's first cousin."
Susan, who had picked up the book with the Kennedy family tree, said, "Actually, you are related to the Malfoys, though for you Draco would only be your fifth cousin or something. One of the Kennedys married a Malfoy a few generations ago."
Ariel made a face. "Well, all the pureblood families are related, so I guess I'll have to live with that."
Having found out her parentage, the search for Nicolas Flamel resumed, but they couldn't find anything. Ron, Neville, Hannah, and Ernie were pronounced proficent enough in Occlumency the next time Aunt Lia visited. Therefore, Harry revealed who he really was. Hermione wasn't all that surprised, since she had been thinking along those lines based on Harry's birthday, the stuff he had accidentally let slip once or twice, and things she had read about Harry Potter.
All swore to keep it secret once they had gotten over their surprise over who Harry really was. As they had seen him as a regular person, and not as someone famous for three and a half months, they had little trouble in not treating him any different.
Finally the Christmas holidays arrived and the Hogwarts eleven all left Hogwarts for the break. They promised to keep in touch, and the ones from magical families promised to see if they could visit via Floo.