Disclaimer: Anything recognisable belongs to J.K. Rowling.
. o O o 50 o O o .
j...k... L ...m...n
That night Harry retreated to the barn after dinner, happy to go to sleep early. It had been a long day. The living space above the barn had been painted since last time, something he hadn't noticed earlier. There was still a lingering smell of fresh paint too, so he reckoned that the light blue coating had only been done recently. He looked at the room more closely and noted that there were several improvements over the last time he'd been here: the window was clean, there was a different heater, and looking down, he saw that he was standing on a rug.
All in all, it made the room quite homely and comfortable. He changed into his pyjamas and slipped into bed, glad he had turned the heater on earlier.
LLLLLLL
The next morning Harry was up early helping Niall do things around the farm.
He was happy to find that he was still nearly as strong as he'd been when he'd left the farm last time, and the work wasn't nearly as draining as it had been in the first few weeks of the July holidays.
Harry was enjoying the work and fresh air, and it seemed that hardly any time had passed before Niall waved him over and they went back to the truck to head back for lunch.
The rumbled their way through the field and onto a track, and were shortly parked in the yard again.
Harry jumped out of the truck, just as a shadow crossed the sun. He looked up and was sure he saw the tail end of an owl go through the window into the barn.
"I'll be back," he told Niall, and hurried into the barn, forgetting to take off his boots and leaving clumps of mud all the way up the stairs and on the rug. He pulled his wand out and cleaned it up quickly before turning to see who had arrived.
Errol had already joined Hedwig, and both were asleep with their heads tucked under their wings. He gently untied the parcel that Errol had brought, so as not to wake the old bird. He felt a bit guilty for making the bird travel all that way; he should have reminded Ron how far away he was going to be.
He was just about to leave when yet another owl soared through the window. He hoped Aislinn and her parents weren't growing suspicious about the inordinate number of birds that were visiting him.
This one was a large, handsome one with a well-groomed look about him. He was carrying a small package, and as soon as Harry untied it, the owl soared away before Harry could even offer it water or Owl Treats. He added what he assumed was a gift to the pile on the bench and then left the barn.
At some stage during the morning Niall had brought a healthy looking lamb into a small paddock near the house and Harry saw it when he rounded the corner towards the house. He walked over to the fence lining the paddock and called softly to the lamb. To his surprise, it looked up from the grass it was chewing on and took a step closer.
Smiling, Harry kneeled down, plucked some grass out of the dirt, stuck his arm through the wire and waited patiently. The lamb trotted back and forth a bit before sidling closer and tugging at the grass he was holding. The small thing blinked its big eyes happily at him as it quickly devoured the food.
"You're a cute little thing, aren't you," Harry told it. "Do you have a name?"
It butted its head against his hand, looking for more grass.
Niall noticed him patting the lamb. "Don't get too attached to that one," he called as he swung some tools into the back of the truck, which was parked nearby.
Harry looked up. "Why?"
"He's for the slaughter. Christmas dinner."
Harry's mouth dropped open and he looked back at the little animal.
Niall chuckled. "Where did you think lamb chops came from son?"
Harry gave the lamb another pat. "Bad luck, little guy. I guess I'll see you Christmas Day." he jumped up and went to help Niall lift a few things into the truck, and then they headed into the house for lunch, a bit later than usual.
This time Harry remembered to take off his boots before he went inside, leaving them at the door.
He entered the warm kitchen, followed by Niall, who spoke. "Might be that we have to go without meat this Christmas, Ana." He continued when she looked up, frowning. "Harry's gone soft on the lambs."
"I have not!" he defended, his cheeks brightening. "I just thought it was cute."
Aislinn giggled. "I didn't know boys said 'cute.'"
"I'll come out Christmas morn and find the gates left open, all the livestock freed," said Niall, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Harry scowled and Ana flicked Aislinn with a tea towel. "Hush, both of you. And you two sit down and have something warm to drink while I finish lunch."
Harry sat in his usual seat next to Aislinn and squeezed her hand under the table.
"Dad, does Harry have to help you with anything after lunch?" She looked hopefully at Niall. "He is here as our guest this time, remember?"
"Oh well, I guess Harry's earned himself a break. A hard worker, this one."
Aislinn smiled triumphantly and as soon as everyone had finished eating she dragged him up to her room.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Aislinn was in his arms. He happily wrapped his around her and pulled her up, pressing his lips softly against hers. They spent a good part of the afternoon up there, doing little else, though as Aislinn warned him, if her parents asked, they'd been playing scrabble, which she'd won hands down.
LLLLLLL
The next day was the day before Christmas Eve and Niall and Ana were going into the nearest town for a bit of last minute Christmas shopping, and Aislinn had insisted on going along to meet up with some friends. She invited Harry along but he declined, saying he had some school work he should start.
As soon as they'd gone, Harry apparated to Galway. The wizarding alley was the busiest he'd seen it; the other times he'd been there it had been almost dead. He supposed there were a lot of people like him doing Christmas shopping.
He had no idea what he was going to get Aislinn, but he wanted it to be something nice. The only girls he'd really bought gifts for were Hermione, who would never get anything better than a book and Ginny, who had always seemed to like anything that amused her, which pretty much included anything from Zonko's.
Apparently Aislinn did quite well in her classes, but she seemed more the outdoorsy type to him, and he definitely couldn't get her anything from Zonko's.
He walked past an apothecary, a robe shop, a hat shop and a broom shop. Perhaps he would have to go into muggle Galway to get her something, though he liked the idea of getting her something to do with magic.
He looked across to the row of shops on the other side and saw a wand shop, a pet shop, the Owlery and a Gringott's branch.
He sighed and kept walking; none of those were any good. Like Diagon Alley there were many side streets to explore, but he hardly had the time. He was beginning to think he would have to however, that or go into muggle Galway, because he was nearing the end of the Alley and still hadn't seen any shops that sold anything remotely muggle.
He was about to turn around and head back the other way when a small doorway caught his eye. It was squeezed between a shop and the one next to it, and the sign on the door read 'Illesfier Gold.'
Intrigued, Harry turned the knob and pulled on the door, revealing a narrow wooden staircase leading downwards. A soft golden glow came from the bottom, flickering slightly.
The door closed and all sound from the street was blocked. He hadn't realised how loud it had been out there, but the silence in the shop was extremely peaceful. He looked around and found that it was a jewellery shop.
His footsteps seemed too loud on the stairs, but as soon as they hit the carpet at the bottom they were muted and there was once again no sound.
Illesfier Gold was a jewellery shop. Display cases ran all around the room, and there were others in the middle of the floor as well. The shop seemed to be lit by candlelight only, and that reflecting off of the jewellery bathed the room in an unreal glow.
He didn't think he'd seen Aislinn wearing any jewellery except the time he'd visited her at school. Then, she'd been wearing a chain with a cross on it, but he hadn't caught sight of it since she'd been back on the farm.
He wondered if she didn't like jewellery or if she just didn't wear any because she spent a lot of time helping her father around the farm.
He stepped over to a case in the middle of the room, passing the cash register. "Everything in here is goblin-made and of the finest quality," said the attendant softly. "Quite expensive."
Harry nodded. He knew he could afford it, but he wondered if it would be weird to get Aislinn anything too expensive.
Girls supposedly liked jewellery though, and she didn't need to know how much he spent.
Most of the jewellery was very much like muggle jeweller except for some that had glowing stones or pieces that moved, like the Pendant.
There were a lot of nice pieces, but he didn't see anything that really caught his eye until he'd been looking for quite some time.
"Can I get a look at that one," he asked, pointing at the one he wanted. The attendant silently opened the glass cabinet and removed the bracelet, handing it to him reluctantly.
It looked like a solid band, but when he held it, it kept its shape for a second before it almost seemed to melt, and moved smoothly like a fine chain. A beautiful, intricate design was engraved into it. He turned the bracelet over in his hands. As it moved, the design seemed to glow brighter than the band itself, and he wondered if it was a trick of the light or something to do with magic in it.
It was a beautiful, fine bracelet, and he imagined it would look lovely on Aislinn's wrist. The only problem was that, although it looked like it would fit around her wrist, he couldn't see any way she could possibly push it over her hand. Perhaps it was a child's bracelet? He scowled slightly and looked up at the attendant. "Do you have this in a larger design?"
The attendant pursed his lips and held out his hand for it. Harry dropped it into his palm. "Hold out your arm," ordered the attendant, and Harry did so.
To Harry's surprise, the attendant simply pulled the band apart, then wrapped it around Harry's wrist, letting the two ends meet. The gold fused together, and when Harry looked closer, he saw no gap or fracture in the gold. All of a sudden, the band solidified, the design flashing brighter for a second. It now sat, perfectly moulded around the shape of his wrist, no longer moving like a chain. It was quite a snug fit, but Aislinn's wrist was skinnier than his, and it would fit her easily.
It was perhaps not quite a 'muggle' as he would have liked, but perhaps he could explain by saying it was magnetic or something. He had a feeling gold wasn't magnetic, but maybe Aislinn wouldn't know that?
Now that he'd seen it however, he simply couldn't imagine anyone else but her wearing it, and he knew he had to get it. He pulled it off, and it once again became chain like until the attendant placed it back on its stand in the display case.
"I'll be back shortly," said Harry, and the attendant rolled his eyes, as if saying 'I've heard that before.'
Leaving the shop, Harry hurried back to the Gringotts branch, hoping he'd be able to get money from there even though his vault was in London.
The bank was far smaller than the one in London, but it was quite busy and he had to wait a while before he could get some service.
Like the London branch, it was run by goblins. He approached the counter. "Er... my name's Harry Potter. I need to get some money out, but my vault i-"
"Key?" cut in the goblin, not even glancing up from the paperwork he was filling in.
Harry pulled his key from around his neck and handed it over to the goblin, who finally looked up to inspect it.
"Drakrog will take you to your vault," he said eventually, summoning another goblin and handing him the key.
Drakrog walked briskly away without a word and Harry followed, easily keeping up with the shorter man.
To Harry's surprise, he was led to a cart which looked exactly like the ones used in London. As soon as Drakrog had climbed in, the cart started to move and Harry jogged and jumped in before it could get too fast.
They turned a corner as their speed started to accelerate and Harry's eyes widened; they were approaching a wall of fire that stretched across two rows of tracks. Harry's eyes widened as they hurtled towards it, but he wasn't particularly scared, just a bit nervous perhaps. The fire was emerald green, and Harry supposed it must be some permanent Floo link to London.
They continued to accelerate and by the time they passed through the flame, they were absolutely hurtling through the close-walled corridor.
He closed his eyes as they passed through the flame, feeling the gentle heat from it. When he opened his eyes again they were still in the same rock-walled type passage way, only this one had passageways leading off of each side. They took a couple of turns, and Harry supposed he must have been on this track before, though it didn't look familiar.
After a few more minutes they drew to a stop outside Harry's vault, and twenty minutes after that he was back in Illesfier's Gold, much to the surprise of the attendant.
He paid for the bracelet and stowed it safely in the bottom of a deep pocket. He was walking along, thinking about getting something to eat before he went back, when it suddenly occurred to him that he should probably get something for Niall and Ana as well. He had no idea what to get them though, but in the end he settled for a moderately priced bottle of wine. He banished the label, which branded it as elf made wine, and hoped that they liked the taste. He himself had never had elf made wine, but he'd heard it was good.
With everything he needed, he apparated straight back into the loft, and was met by Salazar's soft voice.
"Harryyy, I'm sssoooo cold," hissed Salz. Harry placed a hand on the coiled snake, and pulled back, surprised. He felt very cold, even for a reptile.
"You sshhould have told meee ssssooner Salazzzar!" He picked Salz up and moved him in front of the heater and then rushed down the stairs and outside, scouting the ground for a rock. He found a reasonable sized one and carried it upstairs, then pulled out his wand and enlarged it a bit. He cast a warming charm on it and placed it next to the heater, then placed Salz on it.
Salazar gave a hiss of pleasure. "That'ssss nicccce and cossssy."
Harry turned the heater on, noticing the cold. He couldn't believe he'd gone and left the snake with no way to get warm.
"I'm sssorryyy Sssalazar. I ssshhhouldn't have left you here."
"It'ssss alright, Haryyyy. Niccce and warm now."
"No it isssn't. I ssshhhould take better care of you than that."
He pulled a chair over to the bench where the heater sat, and gazed at the snake for a moment. "You're getting sssooo big," he told Salz, who hissed with pleasure. "If you keep growing at thisss rate, you'll be asss big asss the basssilisssk sssoon."
He knew Salazar would never be anywhere near that big, but Salz liked to hear it nonetheless. He gave another happy hiss.
LLLLLLL
He was closing the lid of his trunk after changing into his pyjamas when 'Charms, Chants and More Cheese, Please' caught his eye. On a whim he pulled it out and took it to his bed.
By the light of the lantern he began to read. Snape hadn't marked any particular point in the book, so he started with the introduction, his interest spiking when he read the bit about chants.
'Chants are used for more complex or difficult magic where the result cannot (easily or at all) be obtained by one single spell, but by a group of spells woven together. Many old rituals involve the use of chants, but in modern magic they have greatly fallen out of use but for in a few select fields.
Healing is a notable area of magic where chants are still common place, given the complex nature of the field.
Most anything that can be achieved with a simple spell can be achieved with a chant, though for most purposes, a simple spell is powerful enough. Many spells that are used today were once done with chants, mostly before the advent of wands or other focuses of power.
Chants are more difficult to perform than typical spells, as the wand movements must flow together, as must the words spoken. If there is a break in the words of the flow of the wand movement, the chant can be broken.
Once mastered however, a chant is exceedingly more powerful than a normal spell.'
He wondered if it might be good to use a chant for his charms project. He had a good list of possible ideas for spells, but he hadn't considered combining them at all. Voldemort was powerful, so it was likely that a one word spell wouldn't be strong enough to remove the Mark.
He crawled to the end of his bed and leaned down, pulling out the parchment on which he had written possible spell words. He could use several of these now; all he would have to do is match them with wand movements that flowed together.
Suddenly exited, he pulled out his rune dictionary and opened it to the 'B' section. Running his finger down the page, he sought out the rune for banishment.
LLLLLLL
"Happy Chrissstmassss Salzzz," hissed Harry, stretching in his bed. It was almost too comfortable to get up and open his presents.
Salz replied by slithering off his rock and onto the bed, flickering his tongue against Harry's neck and continuing on to curl up on the suspicious, book-shaped present from Hermione. "Presssentsss...." Harry grinned at Salazar's enthusiasm. "Alright, alright," he grumbled, pushing himself up and reaching for the pile, holding out his arm for Salazar to climb up. The snake settled himself around Harry's neck, waiting expectantly for Harry to open something.
He opened the letter from Ron first and read it out loud for Salz's benefit.
To Harry,
Merry Christmas mate. I got you some polish, because you said you needed some, so I hope you didn't go and buy your own before you opened this.
Harry rolled his eyes and grinned. "Ssshhhould have opened the presssent firssst, Salzzz."
Hope your holidays going well. It's all been good here at Hogwarts, except we've been asked a couple of times if we know where you are. It's a bit annoying to be honest. You'd think after the first few times they'd realise we either don't know or aren't going to tell them.
Anyway, apart from that it's been quiet here. Malfoy's still here though, and they make us all sit at the same table for dinner, so I have to look at him while I eat.
Harry snorted. Somehow he didn't think that would put Ron off his food.
Charlie came to visit yesterday, before he went to the Burrow. He was really interested in hearing about those dragons that have been flying around. He wanted a detailed account, and I spent about an hour telling him about it. I think he wanted to try and identify them by a description, and what I realised when I was telling him about them was that the green one might not have been a dragon at all! I know it looked like one, and Hermione tells me I must have just missed them, but I reckon it didn't have any arms. The thing is, is that all dragons have arms, and if they don't then they're not a dragon at all, and the only animal that's similar is a wyvern.
Harry grinned and looked sideways at Salazar. "Uh, oh. I've been found out." He was surprised that Ron had noticed that when it seemed no one else had, but he was also pleased. Ron was doing well in Care of Magical Creatures, and it seemed like he knew his stuff.
He went back to the letter.
I promised Charlie I'd keep an eye out for him. It'd be cool to see them again anyway.
It's pretty good having the castle to ourselves, but Hermione's not into Quidditch, so hurry up and get back so we can play!
From Ron.
Harry grinned and put the letter aside, reaching for the gifts the Weasleys had sent him. He'd got the usual joke things from Fred and George, jumper and mince pies from Mrs. Weasley, and some Honeydukes products from Ginny. Ron had gotten him more polish for his broomstick, which was good because he was running low.
He'd given Ron a huge bag of Honeydukes products, which was pretty much the most thoughtful gift you could give Ron, and a new cage for Pigwidgeon, since Seamus had sat on the old one and broken it.
He turned to Hermione's letter.
Dear Harry,
Merry Christmas!
I do hope you're being careful and looking after yourself, as the Professors seem quite concerned. I'm sure you can look after yourself though, and that's exactly what I told them when they asked.
I suppose Ron probably told you what's got him and Charlie so excited – he's hardly stopped talking about it. They're both quite taken with the idea that it might be a wyvern, but I personally find it difficult to believe. After all, there hasn't ever been a confirmed sighting of one – they're really just myth.
I suppose Charlie's right that if it is a wyvern we shouldn't mention it to people. Imagine the excitement if we did.
In one way I think everyone deserves to know, but realistically there would be those who would want to catch it and chain it up somewhere or even kill it, wouldn't there?
Harry shivered at the thought. He certainly wasn't keen on the idea that people might want to collect him for study or potions ingredients.
It's given me a bit of research to do over the holidays however, since I've no homework left and was feeling rather bored. Not that it isn't good to spend some time alone with Ron, but you know him, all he wants to do is play Quidditch.
Lately he's taken to dragging me down to Hagrid's to look at whatever monster Hagrid has chained in his yard. Blast Ended Skrewts don't bother him anymore. It's a pity his enthusiasm doesn't stretch to his other subjects.
Thank you for the gift.I haven't opened it yet of course, but I know I'll love it. Enjoy the rest of your holidays.
Love, Hermione.
He unwrapped the present and found a book about Quidditch strategy, and he remember that he'd been browsing through it one Hogsmeade weekend.
He opened a bag of rock cakes from Hagrid and a letter from Remus before grabbing the last gift, the unmarked one that had been delivered by the owl he hadn't recognised. It gave no indication of who had sent it after he unwrapped it either.
A wand holster tumbled out of the plain brown paper. There was a tag on it that indicated it was made of genuine leather, dragon skin to be precise. The tag also said that the holster was self adjusting, allowing it to be worn by 'wizards of all shapes and sizes.'
He slipped it on, letting it hang around his wrist. It instantly shrunk to fit snugly. He pushed it further up his arm, and the band lengthened to accommodate the extra bulk.
It would be perfect for his animagus transformations; now he could take his wand with him when he transformed.
He realised with a start that the holster could have been from Malfoy, probably was in fact. He hadn't even considered getting something for the Slytherin, and wondered now if he should have.
Pondering whether it was too late to get something now, or not, he pushed the holster up under his sleeve and stuck the wand into it. He finally got out of bed and dressed, wished Hedwig a happy Christmas and filled her bowl of Owl Treats extra full, then took the bracelet and bottle of wine and left the barn.
oOo
I know not much happened in this chapter, but who does work on the holidays? Certainly not me... next chapter will have some interesting stuff happening though.
Posted a bit later than I thought I would, but I'm sooooo busy with uni. Will do my best to update by this time next week.
Big clap for the 800th reviewer oceanlover14 yay!! Big Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: ching965, Slytherin66, DarkWill0w, HPMiller, ams71080, zoey_zink, fhippogriff, BadGirlgoesworse, nxkris, cyiusblack, call015, -Yuna's Reincarnation- 1, GryphonWonder14, AnnF, La Mariane, Makurayami Ookami, christoh13, Basil to Blithe, tanith-4486, black-heart-green-eyes, oceanlover14, Sweet Heavens, Stygian Styx and
QuannanHade: Well, the way I imagined it was that the Headmasters office has always been the headmasters office, and it didn't occur to me that there wouldn't have been a headmaster in the beginning. Just a little mistake : ) And you're right, it wouldn't be the Pendant of Slytherin if he didn't get it back : ) Thanks for reviewing, hope you get your computer fixed!
