Chapter 25
Christmas
Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.
For the following few weeks, Hermione's parents hardly gone to work, due to the fact that they didn't have much appointments.
Harry and Hermione had gone out of the house for a little walk every day, except for the days of bad weather, and they no longer go out only when no one else is at home since Hermione's parents had agreed that they could do something for themselves.
Dan had managed to purchase the table tennis supplies, and he set it up in the living room. They frequently played table tennis when they had nothing to do.
As Christmas approached, Dan and Emma put up the Christmas tree, and situated it in the living room. They had their Dental Practice closed until after New Year's holiday.
Sirius, on the other hand, had taken days off from Christmas day, and he would be going back to work on the tenth of January.
Harry frequently saw Sirius and Hermione's parents discussing what they would be doing for Christmas, and he wondered if he should help out with the cooking.
However, as soon as he told Sirius about his thoughts on this matter in the evening, Sirius shook his head.
"You really don't need to do that, Harry," he said.
Harry nodded.
"There will be loads of great dishes on the evening of Christmas Day," Sirius said. "We will celebrate Christmas together."
A moment later, Hermione arrived.
"Can you please come with me for a moment, Harry?" she asked.
Harry beamed, and he nodded.
He followed Hermione to her room, and they sat down.
"Harry, you know that when I first arrived here, I had no idea how my life is going to be like, and I had no idea if I was going to be shunned by others when we entered our new school," Hermione said.
"Hang on a second Hermione," Harry said. "Were you friendless before you arrived at Hogwarts?"
Hermione nodded.
"Being friendless is not a new thing to me," Harry said. "You are brilliant, you are caring, you are kind, and you are sweet."
"And now things are different, we spent more time together, and we also become closer to one another," Hermione said. "You are the most important person to me, Harry."
"Hermione, I had to say this then, I really hated my fame, mentioning it makes me remember my parents' deaths, and you never had interest in me because of my fame, you see me just as who I am," Harry said. "Because of this, I really don't think there's anyone else I want to live the rest of my life with."
Hermione smiled.
"Now you've mentioned it," she said.
"Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" Harry asked. "I promise you that I will be by your side whenever I can."
"I'd love to," Hermione said. "I don't see any other people who would be fitting to spend the rest of my life with."
She slowly stood up, and hugged Harry, and she felt optimistic about her future.
/Scene Break/
Harry was so excited, now Hermione was his fiancée, and they would be spending their life together.
Hermione, meanwhile, was thinking about Apparition test.
She knew that she is already seventeen, and she decided to start learning Apparition, and she hoped that Harry wouldn't object.
As soon as she brought up this subject to Harry, Harry smiled.
"We will think about this after Christmas," he said.
"Right," Hermione said.
She brushed her hair with her hand while she gazed at Harry.
For the next few days, Sirius, Dan and Emma took turns playing Table Tennis, and they often gave opportunity for Harry and Hermione to join in.
Harry struggled with it at first, but after several days of practising, he managed it.
On Christmas day, Harry woke up, and he went down to the Christmas tree.
He saw a thin package that had his name on it, from Emma, and he guessed that it was a CD.
And his guessed right, it was indeed a CD.
He searched further, and he found another package with his name on it.
He opened it up, and discovered that it was a box of sweets from Sirius.
A moment later, Hermione came over, and she started to unwrap her presents.
After she had unwrapped her presents, Sirius, Dan and Emma arrived.
"Do you like your presents?" Emma asked.
"Yes," Hermione said.
"Yes, I like mine too," Harry said.
"I am going to cook breakfast," Dan said. "We will have a feast tonight."
After breakfast, Harry and Hermione sat down on the sofa, they were looking forward to the evening.
/Scene Break/
The Christmas dinner was very ample, dishes and dishes of food were placed on the table, and Harry and Hermione, as well as Sirius, Dan and Emma had sat down to eat.
After eating, Harry and Hermione went into Hermione's bedroom.
They cuddled each other for a moment on the bed.
This was an even better Christmas for Harry than the previous one.
They talked about what their clones could possibly be up to, and Hermione didn't understand why Harry's parents had not given either Harry or her any news about them.
"Maybe nothing special had happened to them yet," Harry said.
"Or maybe they just think that some of the things that had happened to our clones were not important to us," Hermione said.
"My parents would at least be proud of me that you are my girlfriend now," Harry said.
Hermione laughed.
"I suppose so," she said.
A moment later, they walked into the living room, and they only saw Sirius.
"Your parents are both in the kitchen, Hermione," Sirius said.
"We'll sit down for now," Hermione said, and then she and Harry sat down.
They waited for some time, and then Dan and Emma arrived and sat down.
There was a moment of silence, and then Dan mentioned that they had leftovers for boxing day.
"Which means we don't have to cook much tomorrow," Emma said.
/Scene Break/
After breakfast on the following day, Joshua and his parents arrived at Harry and Hermione's house.
"I never expected you guys to turn up here today," Harry said.
"How's your Christmas?" asked Joshua.
"Good," Harry said.
Joshua and his parents made their way into the living room, and they sat down.
Then he saw Harry and Hermione holding each other's hand, and he realised that something must have happened between them.
"How was your Christmas, Joshua?" Harry asked.
"It was quite fun, we went to John Lemus's house for dinner," Joshua said.
"What's John Lemus doing right now?" Harry asked.
"He will be looking for a job in the Wizarding world after New Year's holiday," Joshua replied.
Harry decided to make no further discussion on this, so he decided to change the subject.
"Did you pass your Ordinary Wizarding Level?" he asked.
"Most of them are Exceeds Expectations," Joshua replied, nodding.
"How's Joyce?" Harry asked.
"She's okay," Joshua answered. "She's having barbecue with her parents today."
Dan and Emma talked to Joshua's parents for a little while, and from their conversations they knew them better.
"My husband, Oscar had joked about travelling to this house by Floo powder," Allie said.
"Muggle houses are not supposed to be connected to Floo network," Harry said at once, he knew this from Arthur Weasley's description before he had been collected from the Dursleys before his fourth year at Hogwarts.
"Only I told him that if we are going to do so, we don't know what would happen," Joshua said. "Since I have already been to this house once before, I knew it is a Muggle house."
Oscar felt slightly embarrassed, while Allie patted him on the back.
"Oscar got used to travelling by Floo powder when he was young," Allie explained.
"But I believe that you can apparate," Harry said.
Oscar and Allie both nodded.
"What about you two?" Oscar asked.
"None of us had taken our apparition lessons yet," Harry admitted. "I am not seventeen yet, by the way."
"We will take our lesson during the school holidays in our sixth year," Hermione said.
"Your school will provide apparition lesson, I believe," Oscar said.
"We passed our apparition test while we are in school," Allie said.
Hermione shook her head.
"Saint Acute Wizarding Academy used to give apparition lessons to those who are seventeen or will be seventeen in less than twelve months, but they don't do that anymore," she said.
Oscar and Allie looked at each other for a little while.
"We studied in Nesassino Wizarding Academy," Oscar said. "One of my friend's child had been taking apparition test in that school."
"Saint Acute Wizarding Academy is the youngest Wizarding school in this country," Hermione said.
"We first heard of Saint Acute Wizarding Academy when Joshua was five years old," Allie said.
"We debated of whether we should send him to Saint Acute or Nesassino since there's no such difference between the two schools. When Joshua was nine years old, we heard that Saint Acute Wizarding Academy had opened a uniform shop, so we decided to send him there for the sake of convenience," Oscar said. "We had interviewed the teachers in Saint Acute, and acknowledged that the staff in Saint Acute takes the education and discipline of every student seriously, and they also had good experience of teaching."
"Before I was in my third year in Saint Acute, I received a notification that textbooks would be issued to the students at the first week of the start of the term," Joshua went on. "I don't know whether Nesassino had decided to do this or not as of now."
Harry and Hermione glanced at each other for a moment, then they turned their attention to Joshua.
"Don't know why Saint Acute only have six years of study instead of seven," Hermione said.
"Nesassino have only six years of magical education which are compulsory, there are three additional years which are optional, but it will be part time training classes, and it will mostly be practical classes which you can retake if you fail the tests," Allie said. "Training courses may be compulsory if you want to teach in that school."
"Hogwarts has seven years of study though," Harry said.
"Every Wizarding schools are different, and they differ depends on countries as well," Joshua said.
/Scene Break/
On the following day, Harry received their letters from Saint Acute about the term dates.
The school will start on the sixth of January, a feast will be held in the hall at 5.30 pm.
Note: the school will open at half past three, students are to arrive at the school at least half an hour before the feast starts.
Term Dates in 1997
Term One: 6th January to 28th March
Term Two: 15th April to 25th July
Term Three: 10th August to 7th November
Note: Students will need to buy parchments and quills.
To get to Saint Acute, hold the screw provided in the envelope, and say 'Final'.
Harry knew that his sixth year will be a very important year, because he would be sitting their UWS tests.
Apart from UWS, he knew that he will also be taking his Apparition lessons and test.
Harry had too much in his mind than to think about what his clone was up to.
He placed all the parchments back into the envelope, then he placed the envelope on the desk of his room.
After he showed Sirius about the letter from Saint Acute, Sirius smiled.
"Right," he said. "I hope that you will study harder than before, and keep yourself out of trouble."
Harry nodded.
There was a moment of silence.
"What are we going to do for New Year?" asked Sirius.
"Maybe we should invite someone to come to our house," Harry said.
"Who do you suggest?" Sirius asked.
"I'll see if Herbert Weaver have time," Harry said. "I'll write a letter and ask him."
/Scene Break/
Harry received Herbert's reply on the following morning.
Dear Harry
To be honest with you, we don't have any plans for New Year, so coming to your house for dinner would be awesome, and my parents had agreed to accompany me and my brother to come, please reply back with your address.
John Lemus and his parents doesn't have any plans for New Year either, it would be good if you let him come to your house on that day too.
Regards
Herbert Weaver
Harry quickly wrote his reply, saying that John Lemus and his family will also be welcome to attend, and them he send the letter away.
Then he informed Sirius about the fact that Herbert would be coming to have dinner with them.
At least this will be fun, Harry thought.
He and Hermione went into the nearest jewellery shop, which was only a bit over three minutes away from their home, and bought an engagement ring for Hermione.
After they got home, Hermione opened the package of the engagement ring, and put the ring on her ring finger.
The day passed with excitement, and Sirius was happy for Harry and Hermione that they had finally become engaged, Dan and Emma were grinning at their engagement.
They talked Sirius into putting Harry and Hermione's bed into one room, and Sirius agreed that he would help them to do so, the only thing is that they would make sure there is a certain distance between their beds since they didn't need to sleep together yet.
/Scene Break/
Herbert's family and John's family arrived at four in the afternoon, and Dan and Emma graciously invited them in.
"Hi Harry," Herbert said.
"Hi Herbert," Harry said.
Herbert's father, Walter, and Herbert's mother, Tiffany, walked up to Dan and introduced themselves, whereas John's father walked directly to Harry.
"Hi Harry, I am Jesse, and this is my wife Lucille," John's father said.
"Nice to meet you guys," Harry said.
There was a short silence, and Hermione felt that John was thinking of something, and Herbert's brother, Emmitt was staring in the kitchen.
Hermione invited John, Herbert, and Emmitt into her bedroom, and Harry followed them in.
"So how are you two doing?" John asked. "Did you pass your OWLs?"
Harry and Hermione nodded.
"All Outstanding," Hermione said.
"How about your UWS, John?" Harry asked.
"I passed mostly with Exceeds Expectations, two Outstandings in Potions and Herbology," John responded.
"Do you know what you are going to do yet?" Harry asked.
"I have been thinking about this, but I am not too sure yet," John replied.
Emmitt couldn't hold back his excitement of starting school this year, right after he had asked Herbert about Saint Acute.
"By the way, Harry, this is my brother Emmitt, he is going to start school this year," Herbert said.
"How do you feel about this, Emmitt?" asked Harry.
"Excited," Emmitt replied. "What will the school be like?"
Harry and Hermione both frowned, since they had never attended Saint Acute from scratch, they didn't have any idea about what the school would be like for the first years.
John, on the other hand, started to giggle, and Emmitt was curious why he wanted to giggle, until Herbert patted him on the back.
"Now, now, Emmitt, let me remind you that these two didn't start their magical education here," he said. "It would not be a wise idea to ask transferring students about this, because they wouldn't have much of a clue about this."
Emmitt turned to look at his brother, and then he looked down on the ground.
"If you ask us about what fifth year classes are like, we can provide you some information about it," Harry said.
At this point, Emmitt felt a surge of embarrassment about the question he had asked Harry.
/Scene Break/
By six o'clock, the dinner was ready.
John had helped himself with a boiled potato, while Harry helped himself with a few pieces of ham, and soon enough, everyone was eating quietly.
"Herbert mentioned you quite a few times during the school holidays, Harry," Walter said.
"Emmitt had desperately wanted to meet you, Harry," Tiffany said. "He couldn't wait to start his first day in Saint Acute."
Sirius beamed as they were speaking, and he could only nod at the topic they were on about.
The fact that he had met some new people was a rather great thing for him, and he decided to get to know them a little bit more after dinner.
After Harry and Hermione had eaten as much as they could, they departed the dining table, and John followed them into Harry's room.
"So Harry, have you started dating anyone yet?" he asked.
"Me and Hermione are engaged already," Harry answered.
"Congratulations Harry," John said. "I dated a few people but I hadn't found anyone yet, hopefully I will find someone soon."
He glanced around, and saw the picture frame hanging on the wall.
"The frame looks nice," he said.
"Indeed," Harry agreed. "I got it on my birthday."
A moment later, Herbert and Emmitt entered.
"Herbert, Emmitt, come in," Harry said.
"We just explored the other room for a few moment," Herbert said.
Harry sighed.
"Did you find anything interesting?" Hermione asked.
"Not much," Emmitt admitted. "I didn't want to mess up that room anyway, so we didn't explore much there. My parents had reminded me to try and not touch anything without the owner's permission."
/Scene Break/
Walter and Tiffany were fascinated with the Table Tennis Table that Dan and Emma had bought, and they hoped to buy one later for themselves.
"We are both half bloods, by the way, so we do have some Muggle background before us," Walter said.
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"My parents were both Muggleborns," Tiffany said. "Walter's mother was a Pureblood, and his father was a Muggle."
"I did play Table Tennis when I was a kid," Walter said. "I wanted to get our own Table Tennis table a long time ago, but we kept on forgetting about it."
Tiffany nodded, and she knew that Herbert and Emmitt can both play Table Tennis as well.
"Dan, you must have been busy, I guess," Tiffany said.
Dan nodded.
Jesse and Lucille listened as they talked, and decided to not interrupt them.
As soon as Sirius had mentioned that he would not go back to work until the tenth of January, Jesse had something to say.
"You have longer holiday period than we do, we have to go back to work on the fifth of January," he said.
Sirius didn't say anything at this point.
"The food was great, by the way," Jesse said.
"Were you busy at work, Jesse?" Sirius asked.
"Indeed," Jesse said. "We are both working in the Ministry of Magic as Hit Wizards."
"What about your son?" Sirius asked.
"Pity that my son did not pass his Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL, or else he would have already considered this path. Currently he is considering to become a Newspaper reporter in the Wizarding world," Jesse replied. "Otherwise he may have to consider a teaching position if he failed to acquire the job of being a Newspaper reporter."
A/N: Here you go, another chapter done.