"How the hell am I meant to go to Pharaphax without my god damn sunglasses!?" He roared.
"So he really didn't know anything about it?" Harry asked in surprise.
"No, nothing." Hermione replied through bursts of laughter. They had been talking for about half an hour now, about all sorts of things, ranging from homework, to practical jokes (Harry talked, Hermione listened). However they stopped talking when they began to hear footsteps coming down the path. At first Harry worried that it would be a couple who had drunk to much butter beer, But as the sound dre closer it became it was just one person.
"I thought I would find you out here." Blaise said as she stepped under the circle of torch light.
"You did?" Harry asked as he looked down at his watch. Sure enough it had been about forty minutes.
"Well I did see you walk out, so it wasn't an amazing insight on my part." She admitted. Hermione slid along the bench further away from Harry.
"You had better be going back to the dance Harry. You did come with Blaise after al, and you don't want to appear impolite."
"Yeah I guess your right Hermione." Harry said as he got up form the bench causing his knees to click from sitting still for to long. Blaise rolled her eyes.
"No need to be enthusiastic you know."
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that Blaise. I am looking forward to it." Harry said whilst wondering if that was true or not. He quite enjoyed the actual dancing part. Once he had been told how to do it. Admittedly he was doing a lousy job, but it made him feel rather knowledgeable and sporty.
"You sure you don't mind me just walking off?" Harry checked. Hermione shook her head.
"I'm sure Harry, Ginny is probably looking for me anyway, and my legs are frozen out here."
The three of them returned to the dance which carried on just as before, in a series of dances and food and discussion and general merriment. Forgotten was the world of Voldemort. No one there at any point, was going home and expecting to be killed, or loose their parents. It just wasn't something that was expected. Its what made it all that much harder for people.
A few hours later the dance came to an end, with one last slow song that everyone could dance to.
"I suppose considering you're a stupid pig boy, and stupid and selfish, this evening hasn't been entirely bad." Blaise said as they danced.
"Yeah. And since you're a violent un-lady like and thoroughly rude girl, I think you did ok." Harry said with a smile. Blaise took this opportunity to give Harry a gentle kick in the leg, just to remind him where they stood. Enemies, and loving it.
Harry went to bed as soon as he got up to his dormitory. He was more exhausted than he thought. Perhaps dancing and coat making took more energy than he thought. Either way he didn't awake until late the next morning, with Neville shaking him awake.
"Come on Harry, your going to miss the train if you don't hurry." He said, before dashing off after Trevor the toad, who was trying to climb behind a wardrobe.
Harry rubbed his eyes as he sat up in bed and put his glasses on. He glanced down at his watch and realised it was half nine. Cripes! He only had half an hour before he had to be on the train. "Where's Ron?" Harry asked as he glanced round the dormitory and realised it was empty except for the two boys. Usually with Ron and Harry the rule was that when one woke up, we woke up the other.
"Ron? Oh, he tried to wake you but you didn't seem in the mood…He went for breakfast." Neville panted as he heaved the enormous wardrobe aside a few inches.
Harry quickly got washed and dressed in his usual tatty muggle clothes, before showing his things in his trunk, and dashing down towards the breakfast hall. By this point he only had ten minutes until the train would leave so he grabbed to pieces of plain buttered toast, put them in his mouth, and dashed out of the hall, luggage in arm and bits threatening to fall off at every step.
As he emerged into the clear yet cold morning, He saw Ron Hermione and Ginny waiting by one of the last Thestral drawn carriages.
"Honestly Harry what took you so long?" Ginny complained as he drew closer. " We have been waiting for ages. Mum would be dead angry if we were late. She is cooking dinner and everything!" He paused for a minute as he ran this through his mind.
"She's already cooking dinner." He asked in disbelief.
"It's going to be a large group." She explained.
Harry didn't press them on the subject anymore as his arms were aching from carrying his luggage. He threw his cases up into the carriage, and stepped in after Ron and Hermione.
The carriage started to roll down the hill, drawn by the skeletal creature. Everyone sat in silence for a minute. Harry wondered if Ron and Ginny would be quite all the way home, because undoubtedly the Christmas with the family, would remind them that their family was no longer as large as it once was.
This turned out not to be the case, as once they were on the train, and Harry had purchased a large amount of sweets, Ron eagerly ran through the train trying to collect all the latest additions to the magic wizard cards found in Chocolate frogs. Ginny went into great detail about how her evening at the dance had been, whilst Hermione nodded and listened. All in all it would be fair to say that life carried on as it always did, and the journey went smoothly, unlike last time.
As the morning wore on the sun rose higher, though it certainly didn't feel summery. The mountains surrounding the landscape around Hogwarts disappeared, to be replaced by forests and meadows. Harry had a short sleep in the afternoon. Which caused Hermione to try and give him a long lecture on why he was so tired, and why he shouldn't try and create such large objects. He probably should have thanked her really, because if anything it helped his fall asleep.
He awoke an hour or so later, to see that the clear sky was quickly turning cloudy. If he stuck his face up against the glass he could see that in the distance it looked so dark it was almost as if they were driving into night time itself. (Also, if he stuck his face up against the glass he could obtain pig like features which made him look remarkably like Dudley.
"Wow I hope it isn't raining when we stop." Hermione commented as a crack of thunder went through the air. Ron however seemed to be thinking something slightly different.
"You know what would be funny?" He asked rhetorically as he rubbed his chin in a manner that suggested wisdom beyond what he possessed. "If when the train was coming into stop, if we all got attacked by Dementors." There was a long silence that followed this statement in which the only sound that broke it was Ron's laughing.
"That wouldn't be at all funny!" Hermione said sternly. Causing Ron to shut up rather quickly. Cho nearly died in the last attack, not to mention Dumbledore isn't around to help out like last time. Harry looked between Ron and Hermione, to see if they were going to break out in fight. Although he didn't want them to it would be good entertainment if they did.
"Yeah I guess your right… I'm sorry Harry for being insensitive, about Cho and stuff." He said quietly.
"That's ok Ron. It would probably be funny if you said it later, but right now it just could happen, and that makes it more worrying than funny." Harry said with a laugh. Deep down he knew though that they wouldn't be attacked by Dementors. No dark lord would stoop as low as to try the same plan twice. It just wasn't proper!
"So how is Cho anyway?" Ron asked after moments silence fell between the group.
"I will tell you later. Now isn't the right sort of place." Harry said, with suspicion of his surroundings great enough to make Mad Eye Moody proud. Later on a few of their friends dropped in and gave out some Christmas cards, and in the girls cases, some presents. The boys didn't get any presents from their friends, but boys and girls both have different mentalities, and most boys would rather spend their own money on a present for themselves, and save the risk of getting something they didn't like.
Before to long the train came to a halt, and they all piled out of the train, and onto platform nine and three quarters where where a large number of parents were waiting to greet their children. Including Mr. and misses Weasley.
"Was the train journey all right?" Molly asked as she drew Ron into an embarrassingly large hug. Hermione and Ginny quickly joined In and began to tell stories about all the things that had happened at school. Harry meanwhile, struggled with his luggage. Eventually he managed to get trunk down onto the platform, though Hedwig looked rather disgruntled over the whole affair.
Blaise was just waiting for the crowd of people to thin outside. Only idiots would leave straight away she thought to herself. There was a wizard slowly letting out the children and parents back into the muggle world, so as not to raise suspicions. Why would anyone want to wait out in the cold when they could sit inside in the warm for an extra five minutes?
Of course Blaises opinion might have been a little different if there was anyone to actually pick her up. It wasn't that Blaise didn't have parents. She did. It was just that they were rather busy, and she only lived a short walk away. Many Christmases she had stayed at Hogwarts, except this year she had decided to come home. After all her mother still missed her. Even if her father didn't. She cast a glance out of the window to judge whether or not it was time to go yet. In the end she decided it was, so she put away her copy of "Grimlock the Great" and walked out onto the platform with her luggage.
"Oh buggar." She thought to herself as she spotted the person just down from herself. It was Harry Potter. Great! Just the person she wanted to see before Christmas.
"Hey Blaise." He said as he struggled to get everything balanced. His broom was falling out from under his arm and a bundle of parchment that had been wrapped with a leather belt was blowing in the wind.
"Not keen to go home?" Harry asked as he saw that the platform had largely emptied except for the Weasley family and a few others.
"Where's Harry?" Misses Weasely asked as she looked round for him, before spotting him talking to blaise.
"Or he's just over there. Said Ron who had an immaculate sense of finding Harry without even looking. "Shall I go and get him?"
"No, don't do that, he will be over in a minute anyway." Said misses Weasley who had read a wizarding celebrity magazine that morning (some things interested wizards and muggles alike.)
"What?" Blaise asked angrily as she wasted her time standing talking to Harry Potter rather than getting started on her walk home.
"I was just saying, most people are eager to see their parents. Are yours not here?" Harry asked as he craned his neck round expecting to see two angry looking people. "It's not your business." She said as she walked past him without looking.
"The Weasley's would probably drive you home if your like. I'm sure they wouldn't mind." He volunteered
"It's only a short walk." Blaise lied. Harry considered for a minute. Even though they had been to the dance together they weren't exactly friends or anything.
"Ok if your sure."
"I am."
"Merry Christmas!" He called after her. She stopped for a minute.
"Yeah, whatever…" And with that she tightened her coat, and walked off into muggle London whilst wiping the tears out of her eyes.
The Weasley's were just as Harry had remembered them. Arthur was still as obsessed with muggle things as ever, whilst Molly was still trying to turn him into a half respectable person. Alastor Moody was still the same.
"We will go via Scotland to loose any death eaters." He said as he continued with his abysmal driving.
"No we just came from there, lets just go vie the country side root." Remus told him as they argued over the most effective way to drive.
For some reason miss Weasley kept acting slightly strangely to Harry. He wasn't sure what it was , but everyone now and then she said something slightly odd.
"So your school term ended well then did it Harry?" She asked him as they bounced round in the car as far as their many seatbelts would allow.
"Not particularly." He replied truthfully. She shook her head as if she had heard it all a thousand times before.
"Come now Harry no need to be shy, I'm pleased for you."
"Well I suppose Snape has been nicer during potions this year." Harry said as he racked his brain for why anything would be any different.
"But isn't it the greatest thing in the world Harry?" Molly Weasley said dreamily as she placed a hand on her heart.
"What potions?" he asked, totally bewildered by what she was on about. If he didn't know better he would think she had been smoking some of the more curious ingredients from Snape's cupboard.
"No!" said misses Weasley, as though she had been personally offended. "I'm talking about love Harry." She said, as though he were very simple. A bolt of panic went through Harry as he realised a mother type figure was about to broach a mildly taboo topic. It was going to be horrific. A lot like when Arthur tried to explain sex the year before.
"Sorry you lost me." Harry said as he tried to edge his way away form her. The others seemed to be a little confused as well. Or at least the children were.
"I'm talking about you and Blaise Harry. You don't need to be shy. We know." She said as she reached over and patted hi knee. Harry panicked. What did they mean. Him. Blaise. Love?
"What do you know?" He asked suspiciously. When people claimed to know things that didn't exist it worried him slightly.
"We know about how you and that nice girl from the train we saw you with, Blaise, are dating."
"Well you know a damn site more than I do. Last time I checked we most certainly weren't going out. In fact we are practically enemies. You only need to ask Hermione that.
Everyone seemed to round on Hermione, who after a minute under everyone intense gaze, gave a shrug and went back to looking out of the window.
"Why would you think that?" Harry asked misses Weasley, who looked rather taken back.
"Forgive me if I'm wrong but I'm not the only one that thought so. Remus and Nymphadora…"
"Tonks." Snapped Tonks.
"Remus etc thought it as well." Miss Weasley explained. "You see it was in Wizard Weekly.
Molly fumbled in her handbag for a minute, as it was rather difficult to retrieve anything when the car you were in was bouncing through the street, ricocheting of buildings.
Eventually she found what she was looking for, and passed a magazine to Harry, which showed Him and Blaise dancing together, and looking rather couple like. There was a big long side article discussing a fictitious secret love life which Harry apparently led. It even went into detail at one point how he had been caught in a broom closet in a state of semi-undress.
"That's a load of rubbish." Harry said as he threw the magazine at the floor. As they went over a speed bump, or a dog, the car lurched up and the magazine slapped back in Harry's face much to his annoyance. "I went to the dance with her because she didn't have anyone to go to and because she didn't want to look unpopular going on her own. But you know what. This is great." Harry said sarcastically through gritted teeth. The beginning of the Christmas holidays and everyone thinks I'm going out with a psychopath Slytherin girl.
As Harry said this, Moody, who had been keeping at least one eye one the road (and the other on the car floor), slammed on the breaks. The car came screeching to a halt after flipping over several times. He swivelled round in his chair. And stared at Harry with a venomous look. In fact he was so close to Harry that his wooden looking nose was poking Harry in the nose. "Are you trying to tell me, that people out there, normal stupid magic people, think that you are going out with some GIRL!" He asked as his eye vibrated wildly on the floor.
"It would seem that way." Harry said as he rolled his eyes, partly in annoyance, and partly to make a point to moody, who couldn't (At least not at the moment).
"I see… interesting." Said Moody gruffly as he turned back to his seat and started driving again.
"What's interesting about that?" Harry asked, knowing he may not enjoy the answer.
"And you say you aren't courting this girl." He asked thoughtfully.
"No." Harry replied indignantly.
"No plans to elope or anything?" Harry didn't respond to this, so Moodt took it as a no. "So you wouldn't mind if she died then?" He asked seriously.
"What?" Harry asked as he almost choked in shock.
"Well Harry, maybe I'm just getting paranoid, but if I were a dark wizard, and I believed you were emotionally attached to this girl, then I would kidnap her for blackmail or something. Or maybe I would just kill her straight out to get to you. To push you one more step along the path to insanity." Moddy said licking his lips. Harry gulped as he realised he had jeopardised her life. "Of course I could be wrong. I'm just saying what I think." Moody said with a small laugh. "Hat hat hat."
The rest of the journey went by in silence. Which Harry supposed was a good thing. After all everything that had been said so far was bad. It wasn't as if he was friends with Blaise, but he would feel guilty if she died or something happened to her because of him. He supposed in some distant part of his heart he would also feel bad if Malfoy died because of him. It was tougher to imagine, but he could still believe it.
Eventually they arrived back at Harry house. It seemed strange to think he owed a house. Even though it was his house it still wasn't his home though. Spending a few weeks there a year didn't earn the building such a title. Plus as he went uptp his room to unpack it bought back painful memories of Sirius, though he was both worried and relieved to find that it didn't hurt as much now as it had done. At first he was worried because it felt like he was betraying Sirius' memory by forgetting about it.
But then as he thought more about it, he decided he hadn't forgotten anything. The only thing that had changed was that he had become used to the situation, and accepted it, and so after that he didn't feel guilty about not worrying about it as much as he used to. Besides, it was a Christmas holiday. The Weasley's would probably be gloomy enough without bill. Harry didn't need to join them.
The remaining few days past before Christmas, and before Harry knew it he was tucked up in his bed, anxiously waiting to fall asleep. So far he had yet to be told anything more about the mission that would take place in two days time, but Dumbledore said he would tell Harry all he needed to know on Christmas evening, when he stopped round for dinner (and probably to pick up presents from people).
Harry was anxious to know more about Pharaphax, but he had a feeling that perhaps Dumbledore was leaving it so late, because it wasn't going to be good things that would be said, and Dumbledore didn't want to spoil Harry's Christmas.
He awoke early the next morning to Mr Weasley's round beaming face.
"Its Christmas." He said in an excited whisper. Harry looked around him for a confused minute as he got his bearings.
"Is that so?" He asked as he put on his glasses and sat up.
"Yes it really is." Arthur continued like an excited school boy. "The others are stilol asleep but I thought we might go downstairs and grope the presents a bit! Try and guess what we have got. What do you say Harry?"
"Um. Are you sure you want to ruin the surprise?" Harry asked as an excuse to not have to get up yet. It was only half past seven.
"Are you kidding Harry?" Asked Arthur as he shook his head and went to open Harry's curtain. "Molly gets me rubbish presents half the time so I need to find out what it is, and I can practice my pleasant surprise face. She thinks she can get me just any old muggle thing and it will be exciting. She just doesn't understand me sometimes. You know what I'm saying?"
"Yeah I guess I know what you mean.2 Harry said slowly as he remembered some of the boring stuff Hermione had gotten for him, compared to some of the cool things Ron had given. Arthur's theory proved to be correct.
"Yeah I think your right. Women can't choose presents." Harry said as he jumped out of bed. As his children had learned, Arthur Weasley's behaviour was contagious, as well as his way of thinking.
"Yes! But you see the problem is Harry they insist on buying so many things!" They spend perfectly good money on rubbish. I mean what would you rather have for Christmas, the latest racing broom or some nice new clothes?"
"Well my current ones still fit." Harry said worriedly. He wouldn't mind a Weasley sweater. They were nice and warm, but if it meant sacrificing a decent present in exchange.
"Every year I ask for a racing broom…" Arthur complained as Harry drew on some socks and a dressing gown over his pyjarmas. "But she seems to think I can't have one because it would turn me into a boy racer. I have never been a boy racer, and if I go much longer I wont get the chance be a boy racer at all. I will just be a middle aged man with saggy joints trying to look young and hip."
The conversation with Arthur carried on like this for a moment, until Harry was ready. They made their way quietly down the stairs, across the hallway, and towards the living room.
"We need to be quiet, because I think Molly is getting suspicious of me. Hang on a second let me practice my excited surprise act." He cleared his throat. "Ooooh my that looks…interesting. Its what I have wanted all my life. It really is…Really?"
Harry nodded that it was ok (miss Weasley wasn't the swiftest fox in the pack.).
They pushed the door open, ready to check the presents before sneaking back to bed, but unfortunately for them Molly was already there, standing in front of the Christmas tree.
"Oooh so its like that is it!" She asked angrily as she marched forwards towards Arthur.
"Molly, dear, what are you doing up so early? You should be in bed. Eager to open your presents were you?" He asked as he shot a warning look to Harry, telling him to keep back and keep quiet.
"Well you see it's like this Arthur. When I'm lying in bed, and I hear my husband, very slowly, very quietly, and rather sneakily, sliding out of bed, before tip toeing to Harry's room to try and corrupt his mind into sabotaging Christmas, I find myself in a situation where I have to stop him. What would you say to that?" She asked as she placed her hands on her hips and stared at him expectantly.
"I love you?" He ventured.
It was the wrong answer.
Over the next half hour there was a lot of shouting from misses Weasley, which woke everyone up, and as a result began Christmas. There were a lot of people around, and Harry doubted that they would have been able to afford all the presents without Arthur's promotion. Remus and Tonks Both happily exchanged gifts, although they didn't look entirely relaxed, as they would be setting off into the Veil Of Darkness in under a day now.
Harry got many more presents than he expected, which he was happily surprised about, and despite what Arthur had said, most of them were useful. Hermione had even surprised him (and scared him a little) by buying him a great big hunting knife.
"I know you often end up having to fight for your life Harry." She said as he stared at it in shock. "And often you don't have your wand. Remus helped me pick it out and I still have the receipt if you want to exchange it. It's always tough to buy presents for you." She confided as Harry turned it over and examined it. If nothing else at least it could annoy pesky muggles who didn't appreciate how dangerous twelve inches of wood could be.
After they had finished unwrapping presents Tonks and Molly began work on breakfast, whilst everyone sat round discussing their presents, or playing with them. Harry played a particularly addictive board game that Charlie had gotten. There was a player on each side of the board, and by pressing a series of buttons little magical dragons would battle it out in front of them. Charlie won most of the games, as Harry had very little experience in non muggle games. He just couldn't remember that egging on your dragon would actually help.
After breakfast Remus insisted that Harry go and pack his things, even though there was plenty of time later. He also advised Harry to pack the knife, which was slightly worrying. After that Harry returned downstairs where he found Ron and Hermione cooking marshmallows by the fire, much to misses Weasley's annoyance.
"I'm cooking dinner and you stuff yourselves with those things. You won't be able to eat it all you know." She said, as Ron looked at her as if she was crayzee (an extreme form of craziness that only a few people such as Moody had ever been able to achieve.)
"Just let them eat what they want." Moody said as he sat in a large brown dusty chair in the corner of the room. "They should make the most of life. After all a hundred death eaters could burst in and kill us all here and now!" He said causing everyone to go silent.
"Aren't you the spirit of Christmas." Tonks eventually said as she went back to blowing bubbles in her chocolate milkshake.
Lunch was superb, but then that was to be expected. It was easily on par with the Hogwarts cuisine, and maybe even above. Plus it had the added bonus that Hermione didn't mention elf exploitation at all. Moody made gave every mouthful a series of sniffs to make sure it wasn't poisoned, which greatly aggravated Molly.
"Why on earth would I try to poison you Alastor?" She snapped after a few minutes of this.
"Dunno. Perhaps you would do it as a favour, keep me on my toes kind of thing, so I don't get careless in my old age." He said before munching on some turkey out of the side of his mouth.
Tonks kicked up a big fuss when she saw that some of her gravy had lumps in. Eventually Remus managed to convince her to eat it after explaining that it wasn't alive, it wasn't going to try and eat them all, and that it tasted exactly the same.
Shortly after lunch was finished Albus Dumbledore dropped round, bearing presents of gold frankincense and myrrh, or at least that's what Ginny thought.
The afternoon wore on in much the same manner, with to much food, fun and friendly banter. There was one particularly interesting point of the day that Harry hadn't been expecting. Hermione had been spending the last few hours in a saggy sofa by a pile of books, which she kept checking, and cross referencing with others. Finally, after a long period of this, in which she had scribbled down some notes. She closed one of the books. Got up, and walked over to Harry.
"Can I speak to you in private?" She asked, before quickly walking off before anyone realised they had said anything.
Harry wondered what it was that couldn't be said with everyone around, so after a minute he got up and walked upstairs. He saw Hermione sitting on the bed in his room at the end of the corridor. And made his way towards her.
"What is it Hermione?" He asked curiously as he put his hands in his pockets and sat down on a plain wooden chair by the desk. "Anything interesting?" Hermione sat in silence for a moment, with a smile on her face which told Harry she was dying to share whatever it was that she knew.
"Well I think its interesting and I'm pretty sure you will find it interesting. I finally figured out what it means!" She said triumphantly. Harry stared at her questioningly. "Magike o ti Deorc Aetas" She said with wide eyes. Harry just continued staring back at her, completely lost as to what she was talking about. After a moment she rolled her eyes. "I mean that book you got out from the restricted section. The one written in ancient runic symbols. I figured out what the book says, or at least part of it. It seems it had water damage so only the first chapter was readable."
Harry got off from the chair and scooted over closer to Hermione, so he could hear exactly what she had found out better.
"Well Harry, you sure picked an interesting book, I didn't know any of the stuff in it. I hadn't been able to work much on it at school, and also we aren't taught about runic symbols that old. It was only just now when I saw an old dictionary on the book case that I managed to figure out what it said."
"And what did it say?" He asked impatiently
"OK." Hermione said as she took a breath. "It is a history book, that describes the origins of magic itself."
"The origins of magic?" Harry asked in disbelief. "You mean there was a time without magic?" Hermione shushed him.
"This is my story, and there is a bit to tell, so if you don't keep quiet I will just take my knowledge and tell you nothing."
"I''m sorry Hermione." He apologised. "Please tell me."
"Well ok then, she said excitedly, as she unravelled the bit of parchment she had, and glanced down at her notes."
"Well lets begin with the title Magike o ti Deorc Aetas. Now that is a form of Latin, which means magic of the dark ages. Now originally there was no magic what so ever. However, around four thousand years ago that changed."
"Now, here's the bit your going to love." Hermione said as she quickly glanced at Harry to make sure he was listening. "The thing that happened four thousand years ago, was the Veil of Darkness opened." She explained
