54: A Family Holiday

Harry's relationship with the twins had been intricate ever since they had returned from St Mungo's. They had spent most of their time together brainstorming ideas that could have driven Umbridge up to the walls, but that was about it. There was no friendly teasings from the twins, and occasionally Harry could detect a sharp sarcasm under their comments. It wasn't until two days later when Ginny had had enough, called the twins into Harry and Ron's room, lectured them about Harry's vision, and threatened to hex them. Naturally, they came back to their usual cheerful selves soon afterwards. The Grangers arrived the day before Christmas eve after their skiing trip, and Percy on Christmas morning wearing his new Weasley jumper. It seemed that the combined effort from Hermione, Percy and Mrs Weasley had paid off as all of them were allowed in Grimmauld Place for Christmas, though Harry and Ron suspected that Hermione did most of the persuasion.

Christmas presents this year was a highlight. Kreacher had baked him a box of biscuits while Dobby painted him a picture. Harry laughed with the twins' comments thinking he had given all three elves - Winky included - a sincere thank-you note. Hermione had bought him and Ron each a homework diary again, which Harry deemed to use for doodling in Umbridge's class. Ron, for some reason, packed him two flasks, one filled with Essence of Dittany and the other with Murtlap solution. Harry chucked a pillow in his direction as he unpacked the package. Ginny had made an album of the two of them, sometimes also with Ron and Hermione and occasionally others; all photos were credited to Colin. Sirius and Remus put together another album for him, this time consisting of photographs from the original Order and the events described underneath with Remus' neat handwriting. Tonks, on behalf of Kingsley, Mad-Eye and herself, bestowed Harry her own copy of the Training Pack, with a note that said, For DA. There were then numerous sweets from members of DA, which reminded Harry of the enchanted digital camera and video camera he had sent the Creevey brothers. They were bound to become helpful soon. Ginny rushed into his room when he was opening Mrs Weasley's package, looking both excited and slightly embarrassed. The twins fled at the sight of their sister, while Hermione dragged Ron down to give Kreacher his present.

"You don't have to give me your Nimbus," said Ginny once the door closed.

"But I'd like to. You love that broom," said Harry, "Besides, I'm just happy you finally found one that really suits you."

"But - I mean, I don't have a problem with you giving me this," said Ginny, "I just don't know what Mum and Dad'll say. We're still 'just friends' and it's too expensive for friends."

"Are you sure they aren't secretly betting on us?" asked Harry playfully, Ginny let out a short laugh.

"It makes me happy," said Harry sincerely, "Knowing you had finally found your ideal model. I'd known you didn't click with the Firebolt, or any of the Cleansweeps."

"Well, thanks to you for not destroying it then," said Ginny, "Should we tell them? They're bound to find out one day."

"Not now, maybe later," said Harry, dropping a kiss on Ginny's cheek before taking her hand, "C'mon, time to visit your Dad."


The family set off to St Mungo's after Mrs Weasley's hearty christmas breakfast, leaving only Sirius and the Grangers behind. Percy, forewarned by Ron and Ginny, had not defended the Ministry once since his arrival, thus earning back some respect from the twins. In fact, they had even gone so far as to tease him about his jumper behind Mrs Weasley's back, only to have Percy yell at them for being 'inconsiderate of Mum's efforts'. Harry and Ron showed up in time to stop the twins' potentially rude retort.

The children jumped up for tea when Mrs Weasley started lecturing Arthur on his experiment of stitches, only the four youngest stopped on the fourth floor to greet Lockhart. Not that they wanted to talk to the narcissist, but it would be wonderful to meet Neville here.

The Healer had let them in to visit Lockhart properly before giving out Christmas presents. Harry, however, paid no attention to her talking and was hoping Neville wouldn't find it as offensive.

"- Broderick, you've been sent a pot plant -" Hermione gasped loudly beside him, but the Healer was too far away to hear it, "- Mrs Longbottom, are you leaving already?"

Harry spun around both at the name and Hermione's reaction. With a suddenly rush of understanding, Harry realised what would happen if they didn't pick up that one particular detail. But Ron had already called out, "Neville!"

Neville jumped and cowered before relaxing at the sight of the four of them. Harry could see him shaking his head helplessly and pleadingly. Harry tried to reassure him it would be okay, yet Neville wouldn't catch his eyes.

"Uh - They're all right, Neville -" said Harry finally, desperately wanting him to understand.

"Friend of yours, Neville, dear?" said Mrs Longbottom graciously, finally turning to see the group standing in front of her, "Ah, yes. Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks the most highly of you."

"Er - thanks," said Harry, taking Mrs Longbottom's outstretching hand. No matter how many times he had been greeted like this, he had never known how to respond properly. Besides her, Neville looked like he was ready to flee at the first possible second.

"And you two are clearly Weasleys," Mrs Longbottom continued, shaking Ron and Ginny's hands respectively, "Yes, I know your parents - not well, of course - but fine people, fine people… And your must be Hermione Granger?"

Hermione, who was staring at Bode's new plant as if it would start biting any second, whipped her head around at Mrs Longbottom's greeting. Her eyes were unfocused as she shook her hand, and was eyeing the plant venomously at Mrs Longbottom's speech on how helpful she had been to Neville.

"Neville," she whispered when Mrs Longbottom had finally finished, pointing at the plant, "Does that pot plant look like -"

"Devil's Snare," gasped Neville, "Healer Strout! Miriam!"

"Yes, dear?" said the Healer, emerging from behind a curtain.

"That pot plant," said Neville, eyes wide, "I think it's Devil's Snare."

The Healer hissed before hurrying over to Mr Bode's bedside, examining the plant. It, however, was no fool and immediately reached out to strangle her. Though its reaction had taken Harry by surprise, it wasn't completely unexpected either. Before the Healer had a chance to panic, he had already raised his wand, and yelled, "Incendio!"

He wasn't the only one to react. Beside him, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all shouted the same spell along with him. Four jets of fire shot out of the wands, and, with startling accuracy, hit the plant at its base. The plant immediately started cringing away from the Healer and curling up as if enduring unbearable pain. The four casters, however, made no move to reduce the fire and watched the plant impassively. The Healer, finally realising she was set free, jumped back before the flames could reach her.

"You alright?" asked Ginny, still focusing on burning the plant, "That was close."

"Yeah, yeah," panted the Healer, "Just took me by surprise, that's all… Thank you..."

"Harry, are you trying to burn it out?" said Neville, still processing what had happened, "And we aren't in school!"

"That was life-threatening," mumbled Harry, "And it has to be dealt with right now. It has a mind of its own."

"How -"

"If it's a normal Devil's Snare, it would have attacked Healer Strout when she first approached it, but it didn't," explained Hermione, canceling her own fire, "Wingardium Leviosa," she directed the plant, as well as the three wands focusing on it, onto the floor where nothing would have been lit on fire, it immediately started expanding, "It waited till we found out what it was to attack. Incendio."

"Which means it's probably a weapon," continued Ron, relieved to see the plant cringed back when Hermione's fire hit again, "Healer Strout, is there a note or anything?"

The little colour that had returned to the Healer's face drained out again as the realisation dawned. "No, there wasn't a note," she whispered, "What was I thinking -"

"Nobody would have suspected anything," said Harry, "But now we know someone wants to kill him, it would be a good idea to keep an eye out."

The Healer nodded before joining their force in burning the plant out. Neville and his grandmother, too, had followed her. It took them a whole five minutes to make sure that it had died. Finally removing the flames, Harry dropped down into a nearby chair, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Bloody bugger," muttered Ron. No one, however, was in the mood of admonishing him.

Finally, the Longbottoms stood up to leave when Alice Longbottom emerged from behind the curtains, holding something in her hand.

"What is this, Alice?" asked Mrs Longbottom, "Very well, Alice, dear. Very well, Neville,take it. Whatever it is."

"Is that - your Mum, Neville?" whispered Ginny, eyes glittering, "Alice Longbottom? I heard she used to be a brilliant Auror!"

"And your Dad, Frank, wasn't he?" added Ron, the embarrassment from Neville's face was finally gone, but he was clearly not comfortable, "Remus told us they were very good friends with Harry's parents."

Neville grinned humbly at Harry, who grinned back sheepishly.

"They - uh -" Neville glanced at his grandmother, who seemed to have decided not to interfere yet, "Harry, I - Can you -"

"My son and his wife," supplied Mrs Longbottom haughtily, "were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."

"Damn you, Riddle!" cursed Ron loudly, punching his own palm. Hermione rolled her eyes, but Ginny and Neville seemed to find it funny enough and smiled.

"I think they would be proud of you," said Hermione sincerely, "You know, Defence and all."

Harry felt Hermione winking, which made Neville blush. He looked, however, much happier than they had first met him today, and walked out of the ward with his back straight beside his grandmother. Harry smiled fondly at his back.


Christmas dinner was rather explosive with three families, several Order members, and a festive mood. Mrs Weasley and Mrs Granger had put on a superb dinner for everyone, using both Muggle and magical techniques. Hermione had proposed buying some fizzy drinks, but the Grangers, being dentists, strongly opposed the idea. Harry and Ron had to appreciate their decision, because as soon as they mentioned the drinks, Fred and George started asking their flavours and ingredients, and they were not particularly keen to mix their pumpkin juice with cola just because.

"How's DA going, Harry?" asked Kingsley from the end of the table. Suddenly, Harry felt like the whole table had quieted down.

"Er - okay, I guess," said Harry, "How -"

"Only the Hogwarts Edition of The Quibbler is password-activated," chuckled Sirius, "And here I thought it was your idea."

"That's not what I meant," said Harry, "I mean, how did you know it was us? We didn't tell anyone -"

"Not good, laddie," grunted Mad-Eye, "You don't admit it like that!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at the ex-Auror before explaining, "You went to Hog's Head with fifty others, I'd say that by itself was fishy enough. Then a week later there's this Rita Skeeter article on Hogwarts Houses, and one written by the DA, then anonymous, on Defence tips. Your Godfather's not a dolt, you know?"

"Good to know," said Harry cheekily. Ron snorted.

"Yeah, Harrikins, how can't we put it together?" said Fred.

"When you basically write a weekly column on an illegal Defence group," said George.

"Especially when it looks like Umbridge will never find out,"

"Oh, George, but she will now,"

"With the Ministry loving prefect Percy over there," finished Fred with a teasing look at Percy.

Percy rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Seriously, when can you two grow up? It's not like I'm running to report the information anytime soon!"

The twins went on with their teasing, but Mr Granger, who sat on Harry's left, gasped in shock at their revelation, "Did they just say something illegal? Are you doing anything illegal? Hermione," he turned to her daughter, "If you're doing anything -"

"Relax, Dad," said Hermione pleasantly, "We have really good reasons."

"And what, young lady," admonished Mr Granger, drawing Mrs Granger and Mrs Weasley's attention, "Are your reasons?"

"Well, first, we are having a bit of a political problem at Hogwarts," said Hermione carefully, not meeting her parents' eyes, Ron snorted again, "And the Ministry had sent one of its employees to teach Defence Against Dark Arts -"

"Which is a really important subject," supplied Ginny, "And deserves to be taught right."

"Thanks Ginny," Hermione smiled at her, "And this teacher, Umbridge, won't teach us anything. We need to be able to defend ourselves, though, so we started this club to teach ourselves."

"And the illegal part?" pressed Mr Granger.

"That is not the children's fault, Paul," said Sirius, "The Ministry deemed their club illegal because it doesn't want students to learn real Defence."

Ron coughed loudly. On his right, Ginny whispered, "We just never registered with that Toad," which made Harry choke on his pumpkin juice. Again, he was grateful it wasn't mixed with anything else.

"But why don't they want you to learn?" asked Mrs Granger, "Shouldn't your education be their priorities?"

"Like I said, Mum, Dad," said Hermione, looking at Harry for help, "We are having a bit of a Political situation here..."

"It may not be the best analogy, but I'll try my best," said Harry politely, Hermione looked relieved, "Let's see… There is a rebel force out there waiting to make trouble, but the Ministry is too scared to admit their existence. Our Headmaster, who believes a civil war of some sort is unavoidable because of this force, has been trying to convince the public the truth, only the Ministry thinks he wants to take over the Ministry."

"So they attempt to control us first," said Hermione, nodding and approving at Harry's composed, carefully decorated explanation, "And we fight back. It's as simple as that."

"Hang on there, Hermione," said Mrs Granger, "Did this young man here just say a civil war?"

The harshness in Mrs Granger's voice even shushed Sirius, Remus and Kingsley, who appeared to have been discussing an article on the Prophet. Once again, the entire table fell into an awkward silence. Nobody dared to make a sound until Kingsley spoke in his calming, booming voice.

"That, Mrs Granger, is unfortunately right. But rest assured that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, will be able to keep children safe in their school. The terrorist leader, Tom Riddle, fears no one but him."

"But I don't care!" shouted Mrs Granger, standing up "My daughter should not even be involved in this world, yet here she is, participating an illegal club and ready to fight! What are you? This is my daughter sitting across the table there, you can't just - just train her like a soldier - I didn't raise my daughter to be a soldier!"

To everyone's surprise, it was Mrs Weasley who grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into her seat. She was shushing her, murmuring things that Harry could not hear, but he was sure some phrases included "- didn't expect my sons and daughter -" and "- they've chosen -".

"They would still find me," whispered Hermione, "Even if I'd never attended Hogwarts, they would still find me, and I wouldn't be able to defend myself because I'd have never learned how -"

"That is enough," said Mr Granger sternly, "Hermione, your safety is our primary concern, and we will reconsider your education as we see fit."

"But - but do you want them to find me two years later and kill me just because I can't defend myself?" asked Hermione, she was really desperate now, and Harry saw tears emerging from her eyes. Ron and Percy had to both hold her down in her seat, "Don't you understand? I won't stand a chance if you pull me out now! They already know who I am, a Muggleborn and best friends with Harry Potter, and they'll definitely target me whether you allow it or not! And Harry's been fighting against his will since first year! It just doesn't seem avoidable no matter what we try, and I can't - we can't - let him fight this alone! And - You know what? Forget it! Obliv-"

"She doesn't mean it," Ron's voice rang in the kitchen rigidly, "I'm sorry, Mr Granger. She's just upset. But what she said was true," he stared at Mr Granger in the eye, and Harry found himself admiring Ron's calm and courage, "We are all targets here, and the best way to protect ourselves is to let us learn: that's why we started the club."

Hermione's logic seemed to have her own father defeated. Though still not satisfied with her action, Mr Granger resigned back to eating. The conversations again buzzed around the table uncomfortably. Even the twins took a second to recover before planning new products with Remus and Sirius.

It was well after ten when Mrs Weasley stood up again, with a much calmer Mrs and Mr Granger, and ushered everyone to bed. Harry told Ron not to wait for him, kissed Ginny goodnight outside her room and headed towards Sirius' room. He stood by the threshold, took a deep breath, and knocked softly.

"Who's - Harry?" Sirius opened the door, looking both bemused and alarmed, "Everything all right?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "Just - Can we talk?"

"Finally remembered you've got a Godfather, eh?" grinned Sirius before he moved aside, "Come in."

"So, what brings you here?" asked Sirius as he sat down in his chair. Harry had already settled on the edge of his bed.

"I - uh - I just want to let - let you know -" stammered Harry. He had never done anything like this before. It was one thing to admit feelings to Ron, Hermione and Ginny, but another to do it with Sirius. It was much more difficult.

Finally, he took another deep breath, and mumbled, "IthinkIcantry."

Sirius scrunched up his face into a frown. It was obvious that he understood Harry's words, but not the meaning behind them. Harry decided it was better to explain before he asked.

"You - er - Last summer, we talked," he said, licking his lip, "And I said - I said I wasn't ready. And now - I think I can try - you know - to let you in."

He let out another long breath as realisation dawned on Sirius' face.

"Okay," he said, still frowning, but there was something else on his face this time. Was it disappointment?

"Okay?" breathed Harry. What was that supposed to mean?

"Okay," repeated Sirius. Slowly but clearly, he went on, "If you're ready, then tell me. What had happened in your other timeline that made you so - prepared?"

Harry scowled at him. He hadn't been anticipating this. He had pictured this talk to be something easy, like over a nightmare or something, and maybe a hug, and then they'd be fine. He hadn't expected such a complicated question. What was he supposed to tell him?

As if reading his mind, Sirius spoke again, "If you don't know where to start - Tell me about Cedric first. You never respond well to that name."

Harry cringed. He had thought that saving Cedric this time would help to put his mind off the graveyard, but it wasn't the case at all. Sirius looked at him intensely, and Harry wanted to answer; except something was blocking the words in his throat. Finally, after a painful struggle, Harry choked out, "He died."

The understanding in Sirius' eyes told him there was no need to elaborate. As if talking to himself, he whispered, "That's why you were almost catatonic in Dumbledore's office."

Harry nodded, letting Sirius to get on with his thoughts, "Merlin… I'd never thought… And the summer mustn't have been much better… And that was the start, wasn't it?"

He nodded again.

"Tell me about that summer," demanded Sirius.

So they talked. And it wasn't as hard once they'd started. Sirius pressed Harry to tell everything he could think of from his original fourth year to right now. In exchange, he had told him a handful of Marauder stories, some of them Harry had never heard before. It wasn't until midnight did Sirius insist that he went to bed.

"I have a question," whispered Harry as Sirius hugged him goodnight, "Why the Firebolt?"

Sirius let out a bark of laugh. "And here I thought you were serious - don't even think about that joke -" Harry grinned, "I couldn't figure out what you'd like. I saw you fly and figured something Quidditch related would be well-received, but then I didn't know what you needed. It took me a while to look through the ads before I decided on the Firebolt, then there were some problems with the goblins. So I'm sorry if it's late."

"Don't worry," said Harry, covering up a yawn that disrupted his grin, "It's the best you could've ever given me - in both timelines."


A/N: Sorry about updating a bit late today... I hope most of you haven't fallen asleep yet! I went to visit a friend in Duncan today and the afternoon got a bit crammed. Also on a side note, if any of you are planning a trip on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, DO NOT MISS THE FERRY RIDES! The Ferry between Vancouver (Tsawwassen Bay, Delta) and Victoria (Swartz Bay, which is at the north of Peninsula) is standard, but the one between Brentwood Bay and Mill Bay (both on Vancouver Island, with Brentwood Bay on Victoria Penisula) is short but SPECTACULAR! It's just awesome, especially when it's sunrise and sunset! And it's a cheap ride, too. Not even 8 dollars for a one-way ticket.

Mari Wollsch: I think I've said this before, but I normally update every Tue, Thur, Sat and Sun, normally before 9pm EDT. However, since I'm currently going through a busy trip, there might be pauses at the beginning/middle of sixth year, but I should pick up some speed soon!

bookowl26: Lol. I'm Chinese, but I think in my mind I'm more Canadian now. I love Chinese literature, only I can't understand even the most superficial of it. I hope you like my stuff, though, and I hope Jo's story doesn't offend you much...

drgraves129: I guess mixing Muggle and Wizards didn't go very well in this chapter... I'm keen to hear what you think of it, though. And I can guarantee you that I'm going to finish this story! I've already had an ending for it, I just need to get there, you know?

SharpRaptor: (I'm writing this at the end of my ferry ride, forgive me for being hasty) Well you did catch Neville today, just not as you expected, I guess? I will mark down the part you said was confusing and edit it later, but I don't know when I'll get my hands on it. Thanks for liking it! And I hope you like this one, too, as we're back to the conflict/emotion squad!

Ok... So... I'm getting off the ferry soon... But folks, REVIEW, please? One thing that would make my day even better would be at least five reviews by the end of the day!

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