A/N: Not mine, the Harry Potter Universe as always belongs to J.K. Rowling

Chapter Twenty-Seven – Yule Time Greetings

On his way to lunch after Defense Against the Dark Arts class three weeks after the first task, Sirius sidled up next to his godson, a playful glint in his eyes. Harry glanced sideways at his godfather. "So, Harry, who you going to the ball with?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Not you too? What I suppose you want to ask me as well," Harry joked with a smirk on his face as he kept walking.

He'd been asked by no less than ten girls and one guy to the ball and Harry was starting to think that he'd actually have to say yes to one of them. There was one girl, Melisande, from Beauxbatons, who had been relentless in asking him since the ball had been announced. Harry was most certainly never going to say yes to her. She reminded him of Umbridge to an extent. All prim and proper and always turning her nose down at everyone not of pureblood. Which confused him as he wasn't pureblooded. She'd been following him around since Halloween. She was pretty enough, but there was just something about her that had Harry very much wanting to stay clear of her.

"Absolutely, I mean who wouldn't want to go to the ball with the 'Best Looking Bachelor at Hogwarts?" Sirius said while unrolling a copy of Witch Weekly that had Harry's face plastered on the cover.

Harry stopped and snatched the magazine from Sirius' hands. He glared at it. "All ready!" he exclaimed as Sirius looked at him oddly. "I mean, I'm only fourteen," Harry added on hastily.

Sirius ruffled his hair, laughing. "Doesn't look like they care, kiddo."

Harry scowled and smoothed back down his hair, rather unsuccessfully, as he started to walk again. Harry stuffed the magazine in his robes and sped up his pace as he passed a gaggle of giggling girls. He already had enough of them asking him to the damn ball, he didn't need that lot asking him as well.

"So?" Sirius asked after they had passed the girls.

"I think I might go alone," Harry said loftily.

"Hate to break it to you, but you might have a bit of a problem dancing the opening dance alone," Sirius said with amusement.

"Who says I can't just pick a random girl out of the lot. It's only the first dance after all, and then I can leave. No need to be there for the whole thing."

Sirius stopped in his tracks. "You seriously haven't asked anyone!"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't," Harry said with a smirk and then entered into the Great Hall, leaving Sirius staring after him incredulously.

"So, Harry, have you asked someone yet?" Ron asked as Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table. What did he have a sign on him saying 'ask me who I'm going to the ball with?' Harry thought.

"Actually, Ron, I have," Harry said quietly as he served himself.

Neville looked up from his meal with interest. This was the first sign of Neville taking an interest in anything related to Harry after the First Task. He'd been keeping his head down around Harry. He blamed himself and apologized almost every time they were alone together. Neville had thought that someone in the dorm might tamper with his broom, left out on his bed in plain view as it had been, so had locked it into Harry's wardrobe, thinking he was helping. Harry kept insisting that it was alright but Neville never seemed to hear him properly when he said it.

Ron looked at him expectantly. "Well…"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not telling, isn't it obvious by my utter lack of response?" Harry said with a smirk while helping himself to food.

"You spend way too much time with Snape, Mate," Ron said good-naturedly. "But really, who you going with?"

"I guess you'll just have to find out at the ball, because I'm not telling," Harry said evenly as Hermione joined them. Hermione quietly huffed at that.

"Still not telling, are you?" Hermione asked.

Ginny looked at Hermione disbelievingly as she sat. "You mean you haven't wheedled it out of him yet?"

"You've got a bet to see who I'm going with haven't you!" Harry exclaimed and several people at the Gryffindor table suddenly became really interested in their food. Harry stood up. "Alright!" Harry shouted. "Who else is in on this bet?" he asked the table.

Suddenly half the Hall including several staff members became very interested in other topics of conversations. Harry's mouth dropped open and he sat back down abruptly. He couldn't believe they were all betting on him!

He looked with narrowed eyes between Hermione and Ron to determine which one of them had set up this bet and then his head turned to the Weasley twins. He quickly ruled them all out though as he calmly got up and walked to the staff table, straight to Professor Severus Snape, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Who are the candidates?" he asked simply.

"What makes you presume that I have any idea what you're talking about?" Snape asked back.

Harry stared back at Snape. "Are you telling me that you are not the one who has instigated this apparent school wide bet, Professor?"

"No, I did," Snape said simply and took a sip of his tea. He put his teacup to the side. "That is not what you asked. You asked who the candidates are, I don't know what you're talking about. There are no candidates, the bet is simply how long it would take you to ask someone, and I hadn't intended it to be school wide."

"It may have been upgraded, Severus," Sirius said. Snape and Harry looked down the table at him. "Not by me," he added quickly, with their rather too alike glares leveled on him.

Harry raised an eyebrow and then looked at Remus. Remus calmly took a sip from his goblet and then got up from the table. "I do believe I'm done, and look at the time…" he trailed off as he started to move from the table.

"Hand over the list," Harry said simply before Remus could get too far. "Come on, I only want to see who's on it, make sure you're not all betting on me uselessly." Remus reluctantly handed a roll of parchment over to Harry. Harry chuckled as he unrolled the rather long scroll and looked down the list and then he smirked. "Not there," he said and handed back the list and then left the Hall, everyone staring after him in amazement. More than half the school was on that list.

--

Hermione ran up to Harry in the hall. It was a little less than a week until the Yule Ball and everyone had been relentless in trying to find out just who Harry Potter was taking to the Ball, it was even splashed all over the papers, luckily not by Skeeter who had so far remained fairly silent.

"I'm still not telling," Harry said in a singsong voice.

"I know you're not," Hermione sang right back. "I was wondering if you'd made any headway with that Egg."

Harry looked around himself conspiratorially. "Promise you won't tell, even Viktor," Harry whispered with a small smirk and Hermione blushed bright red.

"How did you – never mind, tell me, please, I won't tell anyone," Hermione practically begged with anticipation.

"The clue's the Black Lake. I just have to figure out how to hold my breath for at least an hour," Harry said, though he already planned on using Gillyweed again if he could get it from Snape.

"An hour? Well, we haven't learned it yet, but the Bubblehead charm should suffice, and I'm pretty sure I saw Cedric working on it in the Library, so he's probably using it as well…" Hermione trailed off in deep thought. "Yes, the Bubblehead charm will work very well. But of course because you're not a sea creature you'll have to watch out for the Grindylows. The merpeople have domesticated them, but as you're not a merman…" Hermione finished with a nervous laugh.

"I think I can handle it. But good idea, the Bubblehead charm, I'll think about using that," Harry said as he started again on his way to Snape's office. Hermione stared after him, confused for a moment and then ran to catch up with him.

"Well, what else would you use?" she asked, following his brisk pace.

"Actually, I'm trying to convince Severus to allow me to use Gillyweed," Harry said lightly.

"Gillyweed, of course, it will turn you into a sea creature so the Grindylows wouldn't likely attack you. But why would Professor Snape have any objections about you using it? He usually lets you use anything in his potions stores."

"Yes he does, in his open potion stores, but not his personal and the Gillyweed is in his personal stores. He doesn't have a lot of it and it took him months to get it through someone in Knockturn Alley," Harry explained heavily.

"Oh, and now he's not a very popular person there is he?" Hermione commented.

Harry nodded. "I feel bad that because of me, because I made him take an oath, that he's lost some of his connections to very rare potions ingredients. Some that only exist on the black markets now. Some of the ingredients he's collected over the years on the black market have led him to some remarkable potions discoveries…"

"Yes, but Harry, think about what he'd be doing right now. He'd be spying for Dumbledore, he'd be living a life of looking over his shoulder constantly. Hoping that he didn't make a mistake that would get someone killed, or even himself. You saved him from that and now he's like a father to you." Hermione laid a hand on Harry's arm and didn't miss his slight wince, she dropped her hand. "He would not be able to be that if he were still spying on You-Know-Who."

Harry nodded. "I know," he said quietly and continued to walk on.

"Harry?" Hermione called out to him hesitantly. Harry turned. "Are you alright?" she asked with concern.

Harry stared at his best friend, the mask he'd been wearing for weeks now slipping slightly and then he shook his head with a heavy sigh. "No," he said simply and walked away. Hermione stared after him with fear in her eyes.

--

The day of the Yule Ball approached quickly but Harry Potter was nowhere to be found. He wasn't in his bed when Ron and his other dorm mates woke Christmas morning and he wasn't at breakfast when they arrived there. This was of course brought quickly to the Headmaster's attention when Ron and Hermione approached Snape to ask where Harry was and their Potions professor had not a clue. So of course a hunt was now on for Harry Potter. The problem was, he wasn't on the map and the one place Severus Snape thought he might be; he couldn't go on his own without Harry. But when he sent Myrtle down to find him and she came back with the news that only the snake was there, Snape started to panic.

An hour had passed and a large group had formed in Dumbledore's office, the official news was that Harry was definitely not in the castle nor was he on the grounds.

"Where could he be?" Hermione fretted, sitting next to Ron.

Ron shook his head. "He was there when we went to sleep and none of us heard him leave."

"You said his wand was gone, but that was all?" Snape asked.

Ron nodded. "All his clothes are still there, not even his slippers are gone. Wherever he is, he's still in his pajamas and barefooted, Sir."

"Could he have been given a Portkey, Albus?" Snape asked Dumbledore.

"I thought Portkeys couldn't be used inside of Hogwarts – Sir," Hermione pointed out hesitantly before Dumbledore could answer.

"Normally you are correct, Miss Granger, however I can provide a Portkey which can go through the wards. Miss Weasley was given one at the World Cup. But I have not made another since," Dumbledore answered both Snape's and Hermione's inquiries.

Snape was about to speak again when the fire flared to life with green flames and a head came through. "Dumbledore, Hogsmead is under attack! Potter's there and has the Death Eaters distracted, we're going in now, but we could use the help of the Order to keep back the Dementors!"

"We're on our way!" Snape said before Dumbledore could respond to Kingsley Shacklebolt.

--

Harry was in the center of Hogsmead throwing every spell he could think of at the Death Eaters that had him and several other Witches and Wizards cornered. He had no idea how he had gotten there. Well that wasn't entirely true, but he didn't know why he was sent there. He was still in his pajamas, his feet bare on the wintered stone street of Hogsmead; his hair still tussled from a sleep he'd abruptly woken from only an hour ago by the crack of Apparation.

Though he was confused and not entirely sure that he wasn't dreaming at first, he'd immediately started fighting back, but there were simply too many of them and they had brought about ten Dementors that he was sure of. He really hoped someone had alerted the Aurors by now, he didn't want to use the power that was building up inside of him.

When Harry had started to fight back, others had as well, the last of them were in a line between the Death Eaters and several young children they had tried to get to the Three Broomsticks. Harry knew they wouldn't last much longer and the Dementors were closing in. He wouldn't be able to fight both the Dementors and the Death Eaters and he knew it wouldn't be long before Voldemort was alerted that he was there.

"Get behind me!" Harry suddenly yelled as the Death Eaters started to back off while the Dementors glided forward. Harry didn't hesitate as he brought forth a happy memory. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he shouted and Prongs leapt forward, scattering the Dementors, but they quickly re-converged.

Harry pulled Prongs back to him as he started to feel the effects through his Occlumency shields and the Dementors scattered again. Harry shook the screams of his past from his head and directed Prongs back towards the Dementors. Prongs suddenly disappeared as Harry was hit by the Cruciatus Curse from two sides and as his screams were ripped from his throat, screams from his past converged on him as his Occlumency shields collapsed and memories flooded his mind.

The spells weren't held on him for long, but the combined force was excruciating, the pain though was muted by the pain from his memories and then suddenly it was gone and Harry lay twitching on the ground as the world spun around him.

"Harry! Can you hear me?" Tonks? Harry forced open his eyes and looked up into the pink-haired Auror's eyes. "Harry, my name is Auror Tonks, can you move?"

Harry shakily nodded and pushed himself to his feet as he snatched his wand up from the ground angrily. He could taste blood in his mouth but he was pretty sure it was coming from his bit lip. He spat the blood out onto the ground. He wasn't sure who it was that had cast the curses on him, but he was almost certain he'd felt it before, which meant Azkaban had fallen. Aurors had poured into the Alley and had surrounded the Death Eaters and driven off the Dementors.

Harry forced his way angrily past Tonks and through the Aurors to the now kneeling Death Eaters who all had wands trained on them. "Accio masks," Harry growled and all of the masks were ripped off the Death Eaters faces, one in particular and Harry pointed his wand at her with a spark of fire in his eyes. "Bellatrix Lestrange!" Harry spit out. The Aurors gasped around him.

Bellatrix laughed her horrible high-pitched laugh. "Why if it isn't baby Potter, how is that mutt of a cousin of mine, by the way? Still alive?"

Harry's hands still shook from the Cruciatus Curse but it was more than steady when Harry shot the Killing Curse to land inches in front of her with a whispered "Avada Kedavra." The crowed stared stunned at Harry, who was breathing heavily from anger, an anger that held no foot hold in this time, but had in his past.

"Shut up you bitch!" Harry snarled as he took a step towards the deranged women. "Your master explained to you the past?" Harry nearly hissed, his eyes darkening.

Bellatrix looked at Harry and then laughed. "Sore are we?" She said bravely, and loudly. "Still not man enough to invoke your rights as –"

Harry didn't know what possessed him but he back handed the women hard across the face and sent her to the ground with a small scream. She looked back up to him with a bit of whimper and a split lip.

"Not at all," Harry hissed.

"My Lord will kill you, Potter," Lucius Malfoy growled and Harry turned on him, his eyes taking on a red tint from the fire that was fueling his rage.

"Not before I kill you," Harry said loudly and harshly and raised his wand again, this time at Lucius.

"Harry!" Dumbledore shouted.

Harry ignored him and was seconds from casting the Killing Curse on the Death Eater when a green light soared past him and hit Lucius in the chest. Malfoy fell backwards, his eyes staring sightlessly at the sky overhead.

Harry stumbled back and looked in the direction of the caster and was shocked to see Dumbledore with a grave expression on his face and his wand still pointed at Malfoy. Harry's rage was complete as a gold tinge sprung into his nearly red eyes and he launched himself at the old man. "You took my revenge!" he screamed.

He didn't make it to Dumbledore though as he suddenly stopped when he felt the Dark Lord slam into his mind and he stumbled back and clasped his hand to his scar that was literally splitting open and clenched his teeth against the pain of forcefully pushing Voldemort out of his mind.

"You may have strong Occlumency shields, Potter," Voldemort's voice suddenly boomed out over Hogsmead and there were gasps and screams of fear as everyone looked for the source. Harry tilted his head up and looked at the Dark Lord standing brazenly on the roof of the nearest building. "But I will break them. I made you what you are and I will break you. You are mine and mine alone to control, remember that, boy!" he shouted and then disappeared with an ear splitting crack, the kneeling Death Eaters with him.

Harry shakily sunk to his knees among the startled Aurors. Everyone was staring at him, but he did not care. Harry looked at the ground where his hands were planted and was startled when a blood stained tear landed on his hand and the pain in his head that had been building after forcing Voldemort from his mind, left him. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath and then he forced himself back to his feet. No one noticed the gold glow that briefly showed under Harry's palms.

Dumbledore was in front of him within seconds. "Harry, are you alright?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore. "No, I am not," he said candidly. "I'm not going to be so do not try and make me feel better with your wise words of wisdom. You took my revenge," Harry hissed angrily and then stalked away from the old headmaster, who stared after him with shock in his eyes.

A/N: Who knows what Harry did?

A/N2: Updated a couple stupid mistakes, sorry about that all, I'm really just trying to get this story out as fast as possible before I have to get back to real life again. Blah! I really can't believe I used Nocturne over Knockturn, I don't think I've ever made that mistake before. Fixed now, lol. Btw, I like alright over all right and they're both in my ms word dictionary. Anyways, back to editing more carefully, cheers!