The next morning, the students who had not signed up to stay left for Christmas Holidays. Harry didn't have anyone to see off, but Matthew dragged him down (both still in their pajamas) so he could kiss Roger one last time before January. Roger grinned at Matthew and they shared a lingering close-mouthed kiss before he was ushered off to the train by Professor McGonagall.
Harry and Matthew, both smiling for different reasons, turned back into the Entrance Hall where it was significantly warmer and the smell of breakfast greeted them. Since barely anyone had decided to stay at the Castle over Christmas, a single table had been set up in the middle of the Great Hall for the time-being. Dumbledore beamed at them as they entered.
"I must say, Harry, your pajamas are quite festive," he twinkled, having noticed Harry's red pajama-pants with a snowman print. He remembered the group of giggling girls that had eyed his pants and snug white T-shirt approvingly before hurrying off to the Hogwarts Express, and wishing that he had at least grabbed a sweater as Matthew (who knew his password) dragged him out of his quarters. His chest gave a weird sort of lurch as he noticed Snape noticing too, and suddenly he didn't mind the lack of sweater.
Harry grinned and sat down, Matthew beside him. "It's nothing compared to Ron's."
Right on cue, Ron and Hermione came in through the doors from the Entrance Hall. Ron was wearing his traditional Christmas-season pajamas: entirely red with loud green and gold patterns and stripes all over them, which clashed magnificently with both his hair and Hermione's plain blue nightdress. He was smiling and had an arm around Hermione, who had given up on trying to get Ron new Christmas pajamas two years previously. Neville, Luna, and two Third Year girls tried to hide their amusement. Dumbledore was intrigued.
"Why, Mr. Weasley, I shall have to get a set of similar night clothes," he commented as they too took their seats. Snape, slightly out of place wearing his black robes in the midst of so many pajamas, looked mildly horrified at Ron's clothing.
"You know how he is about his Christmas pajamas," Hermione said wearily to Harry, Neville, and Luna. "He refused to wear anything else."
"You won't believe where I found them!" Ron said with the genuinely naïve smile he wore whenever he spoke of his Christmas PJs. "Shrunken and singed on the edges in the back corner of my trunk! I'm sure glad I put that flame-shielding spell on them, after the time Hermione accidentally dropped my first ones into the Granger's fireplace. Looked almost like someone had tried to burn these recently, but I fixed 'em up all right."
Hermione's eyes went wide and she quickly stuffed toast in her mouth.
Harry swiftly turned an escaped snort into a choked sort of cough. Ron patted him on the back with concern and said, "You all right, Harry?"
Harry simply nodded as he fought down a smile, and continued eating. A couple seats over, Neville snickered discreetly.
x
With the absence of nearly all the students came a bit more freedom for Harry. This meant being able to use the Quidditch Pitch without being followed and watched by a group of twenty-or-so of them.
He and Matthew stomped through the thick morning frost that covered the ground on the third day of Christmas holidays. Harry adjusted his scarf as they stepped onto the field, and handed his Firebolt to Matthew.
"You sure you don't want—" Matthew began, but was silenced by Harry's look that clearly said there would be no changing of his mind. With that, Matthew swung his leg over the side and soared off up into the air, clinging to the broom for dear life.
"Whoa!" Harry heard him say, before any other sounds of enjoyment were lost as Matthew went to circle around the field. Harry took off after him on the broom Ron had gotten as a Prefect, and had let him borrow.
"How do you do that?" Matthew's voice called as Harry zoomed past him, spinning upside down and right again over and over on his broom so fast that he looked like a black blur. Harry pulled out of it and stopped beside him, panting slightly.
"Sorry, just been wanting to do that for ages," he grinned breathlessly. "Haven't been able to come out here since summer."
Matthew stared at him. "You really are a good flier. I mean, the boys in my dormitory said something about—"
"Yes, yes," Harry said sarcastically. "Come on, we came out here to fly, did we not?"
And, smiling, he took off again with Matthew rushing to follow behind him.
Two hours later, when they were both very ready for lunch, they touched down onto the still-dewy field. They began the walk back to the Castle, until the comfortable silence was broken by Matthew's voice.
"It's Professor Snape, isn't it?"
Harry abruptly stopped walking and looked at Matthew. "What?"
Matthew stopped beside him. "The person you told me about."
Blushing and stuttering, Harry said, "Wha—I mean, why would you—don't know what you're—"
He dropped the act at Matthew's raised eyebrow.
"How did you know?" he asked feebly, a flush creeping over his face that had nothing to do with the cold.
Matthew continued walking and Harry did the same. "Well, there aren't that many people you've ever hated, are there?"
Harry began counting on his fingers. "Let's see—Dudley, Draco Malfoy, Voldemort, Peter Pe—"
"So there might be a few," Matthew stopped him. "But I remember when you were in school, neither of you were exactly . . . er . . . friendly to each other. And, well . . ."
"What?" Harry turned his head to look quizzically at him as they trudged along.
Matthew flushed a bit as well. "You sort of—I don't know. You're different when he's around."
Harry raised an eyebrow in an imitation of how Matthew had done a moment previously. "Different how?"
"I suppose you're more self-conscious, but you're also bolder at the same time. It's hard to explain," Matthew added at the look Harry was giving him.
"Am I really that obvious?" Harry sighed wearily.
"No, actually. It took me a while to figure it out, but there's something else . . ."
Harry's raised eyebrow returned with a vengeance.
"You blush a lot when you're around him."
Green eyes widened in horror. "What?"