Chapter 13: A Very Hogwarts Yule
After the game against Slytherin, and the ensuing party in the Gryffindor Common Room, time passed quickly. Never satisfied, Oliver Wood somehow managed to increase the amount of time the Gryffindor team spent practicing, even as the days grew colder and the nights longer. Along with that, it seemed that all of the professors had individually decided that the first-years were now acclimated enough to Hogwarts, and the homework load seemingly doubled overnight. Harry, Ron, and Hermione grew even closer, to the occasional exclusion of their yearmates, and before long were spending all their waking hours together except when Harry would go to Quidditch practice or to one of his frequent detentions with Snape.
Time passed so quickly that he was surprised one day at breakfast by Professor McGonagall asking him if he would be returning home for the holiday or staying at Hogwarts. With no desire to visit the Dursleys and be a distant second best to Dudley, Harry responded immediately that he would stay, and was gratified to find out that the Weasleys would also be staying, although he was disappointed when Hermione mentioned that she would be going home.
Before long the time came, and all of a sudden Harry and Ron found themselves almost completely alone in the normally bustling castle. Of the whole Gryffindor House, the Weasley twins and Percy were the only others who remained. Percy spent all his time in his room studying, or as Fred and George said, 'polishing his wand', and the twins were always out and about. Harry and Ron were very much left to their own devices, and took to wandering the corridors aimlessly. They went to visit Hagrid from time to time as well, but the friendly gamekeeper was much more cagey now that the dragon egg was showing signs of being near hatching, and the heat in Hagrid's hut was so sweltering that they rarely stayed long. Except at meals, the only other sign of life in the castle was Draco Malfoy, who Harry caught staring from time to time, but who never approached them, a distinct change from the first half of the term. All in all, they had a grand time, and Harry was pleased to encounter neither Professor Snape nor Professor Quirrell, and they even managed to avoid the grouchy Argus Filch.
Christmas morning arrived with a thud and a scream, as Ron threw himself onto the mattress of Harry's four-poster bed and yelled "Wake up! Presents!"
Harry groaned and rolled over, muttering "whatever." While the Dursleys typically gave him some second-hand trinket or an old toy or book of Dudley's, Harry was now fully out of sight and out of mind, and he doubted they would send anything at all. However, once he finally sat up and fished for his glasses, he was surprised to see a small pile of neatly wrapped presents at the foot of his bed. He smiled happily, and roused himself to investigate, pulling on his dressing gown as he did so. Ron's pile had already been decimated, with wrapping paper strewn around the base of his friend's bed, the other boy peering curiously now at Harry's small pile. Reverently, Harry picked up the present on top, neatly wrapped in paper covered in snowflakes. He gingerly pried it open, popping the sellotape away from the wrapping paper at the joins, and slid out a thin book. Ron groaned.
"She got you one too?" Ron grumbled. "She sure loves her homework, Hermione Granger does." Harry smiled gently. While Ron would surely complain, Harry recognized that Hermione's gift showed how much she valued their friendship, and he knew that deep down Ron realized it too. He placed the book to one side, then considered his remaining presents. Two more were neatly wrapped, one in brown paper, the other in silver, both bulky, and there was also a smaller gift, crudely wrapped in what appeared to be an old copy of the Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper. Harry went for the smallest one first, tearing into it when he could find no neater way to open it, the bulk of Spell-o-tape used to secure it preventing him from any simple strategy. Inside was a rough, hand-carved wooden flute, and a note from Mr. Hagrid wishing Harry a very merry Christmas. Harry gulped down a wave of tears threatening to spill over from the thoughtful gift, and showed it to Ron, who seemed curious but not overly impressed.
After resolving to visit Hagrid and thank him profusely for the gift, Harry selected the next gift in the pile, the bulky gift in the silver packaging. It was soft to the touch, and quite a sizable rectangular package. Slipping it open, he pulled out a huge sheet of soft, silvery fabric.
"What do you think this is?" He asked, holding it up to Ron.
"I dunno, mate," the ginger boy replied through a mouthful of Cauldron Cakes. Maybe it's a fancy cloak? Who sent it to you?"
Harry checked for a note. Discreetly secured to the package was a small parchment on which was written in flowing script 'Your father left this in my possession before he died. Use it well.' No signature was given. Harry held the note out to Ron, who took it and began to read, while Harry decided to try on his new cloak, pulling it tight around his shoulders. He wondered if he looked like his father, wearing it now. As he was about to walk towards a mirror to look at himself, he heard a strangled yelp from Ron, now behind him. When he turned to look, the other boy's eyes were wide, and he motioned for Harry to look down.
With shock, Harry noticed that his body was no longer visible. He shook off the cloak quickly and watched his body rematerialize, then raised an eyebrow at his friend. "That's an invisibility cloak," Ron whispered reverently. "I've heard of those. They're super rare, and really expensive. You can't tell anyone you've got one, especially not the twins. Or the professors," he added as an afterthought. "This was your dad's?"
"I guess so," Harry replied. "That's what the note says. I wonder who it's from?"
"Could be anyone, mate," Ron replied wisely, "I bet your dad knew a bunch of people, I know my dad does. He's got all kinds of people he knows at work and stuff. Anyway, I can't wait to try that cloak out! We should sneak around the school all night tonight," he said with a grin.
Harry grinned back, then quickly tucked the cloak away in his trunk. Not a moment too soon, as Fred and George Weasley burst in at that moment, wearing matching sweaters, bulky, woolen and blue, with large yellow initials on the front, an 'F' and a 'G'. "Merry Christmas, boys!" The twins yelled, as they marched towards Harry and their brother, intent on inspecting Ron's pile of gifts. "Ronniekins, why aren't you wearing your jumper?"
Not for the first time that morning, Ron groaned. "It's maroon," he whinged. "She always makes mine maroon, even though she knows I don't like it."
The twins affected looks of false sympathy for a moment before declaring that Ron really had little choice in the matter, and that unless he had suddenly grown a desire to be the butt of all of their pranks, he had probably best put on his jumper. One of the twins, George, if Harry was not mistaken, though he was wearing the letter 'F' jumper, explained to Harry sotto voce that the jumpers were a Weasley family tradition, handknitted by their mother, and that they got them every year. Harry grinned as they made Ron put on his jumper, though he felt a twinge of envy, not having family traditions of his own, nor anyone to share them with.
"Right then boys," one of the Weasley twins announced loudly, the moment Ron had his jumper on, "to breakfast, let us make haste!"
"Wait," said Ron hurriedly, "Harry's still got one present left!" At that, the twins turned to Harry and motioned urgently for him to unwrap it. He did so, and underneath the neat brown paper he discovered a packet of homemade fudge and his very own Weasley jumper, green with a golden snitch embroidered on the front. The twins whistled as tears sprang to Harry's eyes, and he resolved to write the nicest thank you letter of his life to Mrs. Weasley. "Wow," said Ron, "I reckon she likes you more than she likes us." With that, the three Weasleys and Harry headed down to breakfast.
Once in the Great Hall, the three Gryffindors ran into Percy, sans Weasley jumper, much to the dismay of Fred and George, who, once everyone had eaten their fill, chased the eldest Weasley back to his room to change, and once properly outfitted, they dragged Percy, Ron, and Harry out onto the grounds for 'family time'. This mainly comprised of being buried under mountains of snow and fleeing from vengeful snowballs hurled by the twins, but they had a great time laughing, panting, and joking together. Later on they retired to the Gryffindor common room, where Percy and Ron played wizard's chess by the fire, barking out orders to their animated pieces, as Harry lounged on one of the sofas with a pile of books, and the twins muttered quietly to each other by the stairs, occasionally darting up and down the stairs to secretively retrieve pouches and slips of parchment. Eventually Harry dozed off, and was only woken up just in time for dinner.
Dinner was a somewhat awkward affair. While the tables in the Great Hall were laden with delicious food, far superior in quality and quantity to what Harry received at the Dursleys', there were barely any students there to eat it. The decorations were just as magical as they had been at Halloween, with huge icicles hanging from the stonework and a soft, magical snowfall that dissipated just before landing on the tables or on the ground. The fire roared in the great stone fireplace, and the tables were laden with magical Christmas crackers containing all kinds of fantastic gifts. Harry even won his very own wizards' chess set from one, though his new pieces immediately looked at him with suspicion, as if they knew already how poor a player he was. Yet there was too little joy or mirth in the Hall. The Head Table was nearly as empty as the Gryffindor table, with Hagrid joined only by Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape, the latter of whom was certainly not in the Christmas spirit. Hufflepuff's table was somewhat more lively, but they still had a small contingent barely into double figures. Ravenclaw had by far the most students at dinner, yet they were mostly fifth and seventh years, and not one of them was talking, rather preferring the company of their books and scrolls. And Slytherin's table held only one occupant, and the platinum blond boy seemed unenthused by the quality of the meal, and even more so by the company.
Even Fred and George couldn't keep the conversation going forever, and by the time the main course vanished from the table to be replaced by dessert, Percy seemed ready to join the Ravenclaws, muttering about lost opportunities for studying under his breath. The twins had long since stopped paying attention to their brothers and Harry, and Harry was pretty sure he'd seen the flash of a Dungbomb changing hands when they thought nobody was looking. Ron had gotten bored pretty soon after they'd made their way through all of the Christmas crackers, and had even managed to eat enough to satiate his enormous appetite. Thus Harry was very grateful when the dessert appeared, and quickly shovelled a massive slice of treacle tart onto his plate, just to give himself something to do.
Beside him, Ron groaned. "More food? I can't believe it," he complained, "how can they give us more food now?" Of course, this gripe didn't stop the youngest redhead from loading up a plate with profiteroles, trifle, and sticky toffee pudding. "I wish there were more of those crackers," he mumbled through a mouthful of food, "they had some dead good stuff in them."
As Ron spoke, a thought came to Harry. "Well," he spoke cautiously, choosing his words, "there are more crackers, and we could go pull them, I think the person who has them at the moment is looking a little lonely and could use some cheering up."
"Well let's go cheer them up then," Ron exclaimed, pushing away the remnants of his dessert. "Who is it?"
Harry paused for a second. "Uh, it's Malfoy." Ron gaped at him.
"Malfoy? You want to go pull Christmas crackers with Malfoy? Have you gone mental?" Harry shrugged at his friend.
"Just a suggestion mate. He really does look like he could use cheering up," he said, and turned back to his treacle tart. He didn't know why, but for some reason he was disappointed at his friend's reaction. Certainly, Malfoy had spent most of the term being a prick, but he was no worse than Dudley, or even Fred and George at their worst, and in this moment he was lonely on Christmas Day, just as Harry had been many times. Ron groaned again, louder this time, shocking Harry out of his reverie.
"Fine," Ron said, "but if this goes badly I'm never letting you forget it." And so the two friends stood up and started walking towards the Slytherin table.
It would be impossible to know who in the Great Hall was most shocked when Harry Potter, Ron Weasley in tow, approached Draco Malfoy, and without a single insult, without wands being drawn, without harsh words or stony faces, picked up a Christmas cracker from the Slytherin table and held it out to the blond boy with a "Merry Christmas, Draco." Was it Percy Weasley, his attention dragged away from his dessert by his brothers? Was it Minerva McGonagall, looking down from the Head Table, or Severus Snape, seated next to her? Even a number of the Ravenclaw students, in their exam years, were intrigued enough to look away from their books. And yet even this shock paled in comparison to the sheer disbelief on all but two faces in the room when Draco Malfoy reached out his hand and closed it around the free end of the cracker, pulling firmly. Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore merely locked eyes for a moment.
BANG! Went the cracker and a paper crown shot out, which Harry snagged with his free hand, followed by a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, which landed directly in Ron's waiting arms. Harry laid down his end of the cracker and smoothed out the paper crown, before placing it on his head, and looking directly at Malfoy. At this point the hall was silent, everyone enraptured by the scene, waiting to see how it would play out. Tension lingered in the air for a moment, and then yet another moment, before Malfoy finally spoke. "Happy Christmas, Potter," he spoke quietly in a clipped tone, much unlike his usual confident drawl, "and you as well, I suppose, Weasley. You may keep those beans if you wish," he added, "I have plenty of my own." Ron gaped at him for a moment, uncertain whether to be touched or insulted, then shook his head quickly, as if to clear it, before picking up a cracker of his own and holding it out to Malfoy, who, once again took it, and this time it was Draco Malfoy who snagged the paper crown out of the air and placed it ever so gently onto his own perfectly coiffed hair.
At the Head Table, a tear rolled slowly down the cheek of Minerva McGonagall, and yet nobody in the whole hall noticed.
Unaware of the effect that their actions were having on the rest of the hall, the three first year boys suddenly raced up and down the Slytherin table, collecting and pulling all the remaining crackers, and stuffing their robe pockets with all the loot. Ron ended up wearing a paper crown as well, and by the time they were done, all the other tables had lost interest, and had re-engaged with their desserts. Harry and Ron plopped themselves down opposite Malfoy and Ron cracked open the box of Every Flavour Beans, handing one at random to both of the other boys. Within seconds, Harry was doubled over retching, complaining about mushrooms, while Malfoy sat serenely chewing on what he said was "Foie Gras". Ron took one for himself, delighting in the taste of lemonade. Once Harry recovered, they did it again, and again, and again until Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat to announce the end of the meal. As the two Gryffindors got up to leave, on impulse Draco stuck out his right hand towards them, and one after the other, Ron and Harry took it, and shook solemnly.
"I can't believe that really happened," Ron said to Harry as they entered their dormitory in Gryffindor tower.
"I know, mate, me neither," Harry replied. "He seems likeable enough though, doesn't he, without all the other Slytherins around and when he's not being insulting."
Ron nodded slowly. "He's still a bit insulting, but I don't think he meant it. And his face was hilarious when he got that chili pepper bean! He went so red, and he drank the entire pitcher of pumpkin juice." Both boys broke down laughing at the memory, then started to get ready for bed.
Having brushed his teeth and put on his pyjamas, Harry began to crawl into his four-poster bed when he remembered something. Lying at the foot of his bed, just inside his trunk, was his father's invisibility cloak. Stepping away from his hangings he went and opened the trunk, pulling out the silvery material, letting it flow through his hands, in awe of the delicate smoothness of the fabric. Turning around, he saw Ron at the door to the bathroom, looking at him. He grinned at his friend. "Hey, you want to go see what Filch is up to?" Ron grinned back, and the two boys huddled under the cloak and stepped quietly out of the room.
Harry and Ron wandered the halls for hours under the cloak, turning down unknown corridors and exploring all the staircases and corridors they could find. They saw the suspicious eyes of Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, on more than one occasion, but the cat could never seem to quite discover them under the cloak. Filch, the caretaker, came past a time or two, but seemed even more oblivious than his cat to the two students under the cloak. Eventually, the time came that the two boys could hardly keep their eyes open any longer, and they retired to Gryffindor Tower, waking the clearly intoxicated Fat Lady to give the password, and headed straight to bed. Harry tucked his father's cloak away carefully, put on his Weasley jumper, and crawled under the covers, letting sleep take him.
Author's Note: It has been a long time coming. It's hard to believe it's been nearly 4 months since the last chapter, and I apologize for that. I've been dealing with my mental health and other issues, and while I certainly have had the time to write, the time and the inclination have been struggling to coincide. However, it should be well under a month before the next update (hahahahahahahahahahahaha I hope).