Harry's heart sank when he read the letter. He really wanted Hermione to have a good time at the Yule Ball. She'd deserved it. He was also really irritated at the staff of Hogwarts for being so unreasonable.

"Winky," he called softly.

The little elf popped in, "little master?" She asked curiously

"I'm not little," he corrected but then asked, "Can you give Hermione a message for me?"

She nodded.

"Can you tell her, I'm safe in Nocturne, and the bindings are off. It worked. If she wants me to come over so she can have a friendly ear, and some company, I can. I'm more than happy to."

Winky repeated the message back to him and then popped away.

Harry let out a sigh of relief and went to work, finishing cleaning the kitchen.

He couldn't really focus on the task any more. He was tired now, ready to sleep for the day, but also anxious about Hermione. He didn't like seeing her so upset.

Eventually he put his cleaning supplies away, trudged quietly up to his room and warded it, before climbing down into his trunk. He felt safer behind two layers of wards and had an proximity-alert ward on the door. He didn't feel safe sleeping outside of heavy wards anymore. Not with a mad-man out to get him, and everyone else keen to cheer him on. Not in a new place with strange people.

Yawning, Harry headed over to have a shower, looking forward to the hot water on his aches.

He startled slightly when he stepped out of the bathroom and spotted gifts under the small tree.

Even after three years of Hogwarts Christmases, it still felt odd to participate in and to receive gifts. He was pretty tired but couldn't resist grabbing a couple to take over to his bed. He crawled under the blankets before he opened any.

Mrs Weasley had knitted him a green jumper with a dragon on it (possibly a Hungarian Horntail) and a large number of mince pies. He loved her mince pies. They were under a preserving charm, and were still hot, fresh out of the oven. He bit down into one and hummed as he enjoyed the spicy sweetness.

They wouldn't last very long.

Fred and George had given him a bulging bag of Dungbombs, that Harry was seriously considering putting in Dumbledores office, or coaxing Dobby to do for him. Or... maybe he could give them to Peeves...

Perhaps he could use the Dungbombs to bargain with Peeves to create chaos for Dumbledore and the Gryffindors... Now that was a thought, he hummed biting into another Mince Pie.

Hermione had sent him a Homework planner. Every time he opened a page it said things like 'do it today, or later you'll pay' and 'dotted your I's and crossed your T's now you can do whatever you please.' He grinned at it. It was a very Hermione gift. But it was also a handy one. It had space for his schedule and all his assignments and even had space for him to plan out his day in great detail. He was rather relieved to get it. He had been admiring her neatly organised planner for a while now. His own ratty notebook that he'd been using to schedule was both almost full and falling apart. This would be brilliant.

The last package he opened before he slept was from Dobby and Winky. Dobby seemed to have given him a pair of mismatched socks that appeared to be hand-knitted. One was red with broomsticks, and the other was green with Snitches. While the colours were a bit garish, he was touched that the elf had knitted them just for him. Winky had given him a nice matching pair of sensible black socks. He smiled. He was suddenly very glad he'd thought to make protection bracelets for both the house-elves.

He got up and hurried over to his desk and pulled out two wrapped packages, "Winky, Dobby?" He called softly.

"Thanks for the socks!" He said when they popped in.

He pulled one of Dobby's socks on and one of Winky's, causing Dobby's eyes to leak with happiness.

"It's really nice having my own socks you two! I really appreciate it," Winky's eyes welled too and Dobby said, "Dobby is pleased you is liking them, sir,"

Harry handed them both a package.

"I made these for you. I don't know if it will do strange things with your elf magic, but it shouldn't," Harry said, hoping they'd like them. He caught a teary but pleased expression on Winky's face before she popped away, embarrassed. Dobby burst into happy, hysterical tears and hugged Harry's knees.

Harry woke early the next evening and went for a run through the alley. Nocturne Alley was an endlessly fascinating place he thought as he ran down the main street, and a lot bigger than Harry had initially thought. It was made up of lots of little lanes and alleyways that all connected back to the bigger central alley.

This main street was called Nocturne Proper by the locals and broke off from Diagon and spiralled wide, then back into the centre of Nocturne. Despite being dark, creeping, old and gothic, as if it should be drab and dreary, it was full of life; the bustling heart of the Nocturne Alley district.

The main Alley seemed to house a lot of the main shops, cafe's and deli's, as well as being where many Pubs and Inns were. A lot of the shops had apartments on top of them, Harry noted, as he ran past. Though not all of them seemed to be used as apartments.

#7a Nocturne Proper was Markus Scarr's Skin-wear. They sold makeup, charms and glamours on the bottom floor of #7. In the apartment above it, #7b, however, was 'Inkredible Indelible Tattoos & Scarification.' Then in the attic of that same building, #7c was Little Kraken Piercing. Of course, not all shops had a second (or even third) shop above them, some were indeed just apartments that the shop owners lived in.

Nocturne Proper also had apartments, a small general healers office, a small hospital, the bank, a legal office and even a small school. The street spiralled around the outside of Greater Nocturne, before circling in to meet all the other alleys at the centre of the community. In the middle, where all the lanes met, was a park and a town square. Both seemed to be used as a meeting place, a monthly market, and where all the festivals were held.

Kids were running around the alley already, chasing each other, hitting each other with sticks, throwing things around and wrestling with each other. Some were playing a game of pickup quidditch with some engorgio-ed stones and rather old and wobbly looking brooms that Harry thought some of which might be made themselves. It was clear that some of the kids were street kids, and some had homes and parents living and working in the alley.

There were several more significant side alley's branching off Nocturne.

Reverse Alley was where many of the vampires lived. This was where many of the shops catering to vampires sat, such as, 'Broken Rose Bloodletting - buyers and sellers welcome' and 'Tortured Tornequet - Fang Cosmetics.' Harry had to avoid a lurking vampire who had tried to proposition him last time he'd run past. Most of the denizens of the alley still tried to make trouble for 'the newbie,' but could be dissuaded with either a well-paced threat (promise), a good hexing or if need be, his knife.

The first time, he'd used spells and the threat of his knife to get the vampire to leave him alone. The second time, he'd used his knife on the vampire. The third time, he sensed the vampire coming. He was ready, with the threat that the basilisk venom still flowing through Harry's veins would really not being very good for the vampire's constitution.

That had stopped the vampire cold. He gave Harry an appraising look, and Harry got the impression that he'd just passed a test. Word then spread though the Alley that Hadrian Lilyson, from the Hung Drawn 'n' Quarters was off-limits. He'd not had trouble in Reverse Alley since. Harry was coldly proud of that.

Horizontal Alley was the home to quite a large werewolf population. It had shops and markets explicitly catering to the werewolf culture. And somehow it surprised Harry that werewolves had a culture and community. Professor Lupin was the only werewolf he'd ever met, and he certainly had not given any indication that there was a werewolf culture.

Hermione would be fascinated, he thought! Most of the names in that alley, funnily enough, were somehow wolf-related. There was 'Romulus & Remus Tavern' for example, 'Foalin Flora & Forna' that sold pets and animal-friendly house plants as well as 'Canis Familiaris' which sold pets as well. Personally, Harry thought that the last one was a rather poor attempt to cross the word familiar with the Latin name for a dog.

Vertical Alley housed most of the goblins and branched off from Nocturne Proper next to Gringotts. Despite the Ministry prohibiting Goblins from owning land or living anywhere except Gringotts, which was considered sovereign Goblin territory, Vertical Alley housed a lot of goblins. Few Nocturne denizens seemed to care for many of the prejudiced Ministry laws. Or any of them really.

Snaggletooth Alley was much seedier than Nocturne Proper. The people were much poorer, Harry noted, with a sharp eye. And there were more street kids and homeless people living there than some of the others. Which would also mean that there was probably more thieves and unsavoury types lurking there as well.

So far every time he'd run down Snaggletooth, someone had either tried to pick his pocket, mug him or proposition him, in a completely different way from in Reverse Alley. That didn't mean he didn't like the place. He could look after himself, however, but it did keep him on his toes and kept his instincts sharp. It was hard to go down Snaggeltooth without being pickpocketed if you were not a local. All the denizens of the alley knew to ward their belongings or food and shop wears from light-fingered thieves.

Some of the shops in Snaggletooth, however, were definitely not legal even with their borderline legal shop fronts. 'Alchemy Black,' for example, actually did most of its business selling the less legal potions ingredients such as human blood, bones, hair and fingernails. They also sold not so legal creature parts from endangered species or species that were prohibited from being sold or bred in England.

And Creeping Corner Coffinry didn't actually sell coffins at all. While it displayed coffins, in the window and on the main shop floor, it actually sold things catering to the old ways, the Darke and ritual supplies out of the back room. All of which were illegal. Most of which Harry had slowly learnt from listening to the locals in Madam Morbids.

It was fascinating, really. Especially as a lot of the bars and nightclubs of Nocturne were housed on Snaggletooth and Harry would later realise that Snaggletooth Alley was where all the brothels and clubs of Nocturne were.

The Hung Drawn 'n' Quarters was at the end of Snaggletooth where it joined on to the end of Hookturn Alley.

Hookturn Alley housed the other creatures and ran through Vertical Alley, Horizontal Alley and Reverse Alley and bled into to Snaggletooth where it then joined the end of Nocturne Proper.

Hookturn made up a large part of Nocturne's creature district and housed a lot of hags, part creatures and had a strong creature culture. Like Horizontal, it housed creature specific food places, markets, shops and clubs. It was Hookturn Alley that ran the farmers craft market in the park on every second Sunday.

After showering in his trunk, Harry set about opening the rest of his Christmas presents before breakfast.

One of the first things Harry noticed was that Ron had not given him anything. Which was expected, but stark proof of the end of his first-ever friendship. And he was irritated that it still hurt.

Hagrid had given him a box of sweets with Bertie Botts, many Chocolate Frogs as well as Fizzing Whizbees, and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. Harry grinned at this. His friend knew how much he loved sweets, especially chocolate frogs.

His younger Slytherin study group had gotten together to give him a massive block of Honey Dukes Finest milk chocolate. It tasted divine. His study group with the Slytherin fourth years had put in together to provide a set of textbooks. The textbooks for the WEA subjects. They were useful books, and Harry had been eyeing them for a while. But they were hard to get if you weren't a pureblood. His mother's library also hadn't had them. She'd had notes on some of them, but not the textbooks themselves. Another sign of all the prejudice still rife in the wizarding world, he thought sadly.

Neville had gotten him a book on the 'Flora & Fauna of the UK Waterways.' He'd also added a note in the front cover saying that it was a really interesting read and would come in handy for their trip into the lake, and the 'you-know-what'. Harry snorted at his friends attempt at subtlety. The book even had a section on the Hogwarts lake and the history of the mer-colony down there. Neville was right, it would be useful for the second task.

Luna had given him a subscription to The Quibbler and an early copy of the December issue, which was packed with all sorts of brilliant cauldron stirring articles. Her card also told him that their Dragon article had been sold to be published in other publications: Beasts Quarterly, Dragons Monthly and two other dragon-related publications throughout Britain and Ireland as well as a Romanian Magazine called 'Dragons of Today.' Luna's father was very excited and had been hoping that would draw more International readers to The Quibbler.

The December issue had the somewhat sensationalist title of, "Death Eaters at the world cup - is You-Know-Who coming back?" It was splashed across the front cover in front of an artists impression of a Crumple Horned Snorkack. There was also a picture of Moaning Myrtle titled 'Trouble's Buried at Hogwarts!' as well as another dragon photo, this one with an adorably vicious-looking hatchling, as well as photo of a young Sirius Black captioned, 'Black Innocent!'

The Quibbler, as always, was an exciting read. The article Harry and Luna written about the Hogwart's houses (after Harry had been un-housed) was published and went into great detail on the animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor. It also looked at notable 'good,' and 'bad,' wizards from each house and went on to look at the rumours about Harry almost being a Slytherin.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, and Gryffindor had kicked him out, Harry had no regrets in giving Luna an interview about his sorting and why he ended up in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like the hat had wanted.

It turned out that he wasn't the only student that had asked not to go somewhere, or to go into a particular house. Luna had interviewed a range of past, and present students about their sorting. Some were housed straight away. Some, such as Professor McGonagall, was almost sorted into Ravenclaw. Professor Flitwick was also nearly a Slytherin; up until he'd started badgering the hat about the founders and how the hat had been made.

There was an article on the dragons from the first task, following up the previous issue's. Luna's father had been in contact with the Romanian reserve, where they'd come from. Despite the trauma of the first task, all four dragons and their hatchlings were going well. This article included lots of rather adorable photos of then hatchlings, and their proud mother's.

There was a second article on the dragons too, looking at the revolutionary way the Romanian reserve was testing out a new method of working with the dragons. Treating them like people, not beasts. It mentioned Harry doing some work with them using Parseltongue after the task. The dragons had asked to be spoken to, and not assumed to be mindless, stupid beasts.

Apparently, it was working quite well, though there were some hiccups, as no-one at the reserve currently spoke the dragon's language. The whole thing made Harry grin, especially when it showed the interview Charlie had done with Luna's father about how knowing the dragons could understand them, if not speak back, had made things run so much smoother when working with the wild animals.

The Quibbler then moved from Dragons to Centaurs. Harry has also helped Luna, with input from Elda Magorian and Firenze write up an article on the Forbidden Forest. They had put a piece together to try and lessen people's ignorance in regards to Centaurs and to try to keep people out of their forest. They'd explained a little of Centaur ways and customs, with the permission of Elda Magorian, and had compiled a list of 'do's and don'ts,' along with the why's behind each. It was an exceptional article that Harry hoped would lessen some of the prejudices and keep people out of the forest. It wasn't theirs, and they kept damaging it.

The Quibbler then moved on to an article discussing how to care for local woodlands. Again it featured a few of the centaurs Harry had introduced Luna too. The reticent beings had been remarkably forthcoming with Luna, who seemed to effortlessly understand and translate all their talk about stars into something the rest of the world could easily understand.

She had interviewed them at length for that month's edition, and Harry had helped her get their permission to publish it to try and get the centaurs better treatment. They really just wanted to be left alone, and have their forest left alone too. But in the end, they agreed that lessening human ignorance may be wise.

Luna's next artical looked at how safe Hogwarts really was. She had taken what Harry had told her about his years at Hogwarts and had then gone on to interview others. She had quotes from current students, as well as past students and staff. It described several more unsafe things and other incidents with DADA teachers before Harry's time. She'd even included an interview with 'Moaning,' Myrtle Warren the victim of the basilisk the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. The article was not very complimentary of Dumbledore, Harry was pleased to see, and would hopefully keep him busy enough that he wouldn't bother Harry.

Harry was really excited to see the article on Sirius Black and what had really happened that night. Luna had managed to coax some old photos off Professor Lupin and had interviewed Sirius himself, by owl. She had extracted photographs from a copy Sirius' memory, though how she'd done it, Harry wasn't too sure.

The article on Sirius poked a lot of fingers at both Dumbledore and the Ministry. Especially over the miscarriage of justice over Sirius being imprisoned without a trial. Harry was hoping that it would bring justice for Sirius. He may not be happy with the man at the moment, but he deserved justice. Even if Harry wasn't sure, he wanted to live with the man anymore.

No. Living with Sirius would just mean being under Dumbledore's thumb.

The article innocently implied that Dumbledore didn't act as he should as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. But not overtly. It was only there if you read between the lines, so it can be seen as an accident and harmless. Hopefully, it wouldn't get Harry in trouble with Dumbledore. Or Luna.

They had also published Harry's apology letter, explaining his lack of etiquette and manners. On one hand he was hesitant, as it could bring potential consequences, but then, he had already told McGonagall he was learning etiquette from a book, so it wasn't really revealing anything new.

His letter conveyed a sincere and very formal apology for his ignorance, as well as an apology to anyone that he may have unintentionally, snubbed, offended, or been rude to while he was ignorant.

He and Luna had then added in a persuasive piece about the need to bring in more support for muggleborn and raised children like him who had no introduction and no idea of the culture they didn't know they were ignorant of. It went on to suggest classes and a proper orientation short course before starting school.

While the article didn't outright say it, it implied, for those that looked, that Harry had had no introduction and had been purposefully left very ignorant. Hopeful that would create a bit of hot-water for the Dumbledore.

The last article was the cover featured, which Luna had helped her father with. It looked at the possible survival of Voldemort. The report looked first at all evidence that pointed towards Voldemort not really being dead. This ranged from accounts of that night, rumours of him being immortal, the statements given by Dumbledore after his defeat, and his reappearance at Hogwarts in Harry's first year and second year.

It also, in true Quibbler style, added in some truly bizarre-sounding pieces of evidence to throw people off. For example, there as an interview with Professor Trelawny, who had been seeing Grims in her tea leaves again and snake eye'd babies that were missing their noses. She'd been seeing death omens everywhere all year.

Though, having heard the prophecy last year, and having spoken to the centaurs, Harry wondered if maybe Trelawney was almost onto something. Most divination didn't make sense until afterwards anyway.

Harry brushed the thought aside and kept reading. The article then moved onto look at what Voldemort could be up to now. It started with Bertha Jorkins. Luna had passed on the information Harry had given her about Voldemort and Jorkins to her father, Xenophilius. He'd had done some digging into her travel route and had interviewed a few colleagues.

It didn't outright say that she'd been taken by Voldemort or killed, as Harry had no proof other than his vision, but it had alluded to it being a strong possibility. Especially as her last known location was also Voldemort's last known location: Albania.

And really it had stated, why wasn't anyone looking for her?

It then went and looked again at the Death Eaters and several other odd things occurring at the moment. Strange things such as; the dark mark at the world cup, the gradual budget cuts to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement over the last few years and Harry being entered in the Triwizard tournament. Jorkins would have known about the tournament. If she ran afoul of Voldemort, she could have told him, whether willingly or not. Was he behind Harry's forced entry? If so, what did he want? The report even looked at the rumour floating around about Death Eater sightings and the escape of Peter Pettigrew. Could it be that You-know-who was trying to make a comeback? Was Cornelius Fudge secretly working to bring the Dark Lord back?

Harry grinned and scribbled a quick, 'thank you that was brilliant,' letter to Luna, before making 2 copies of the article on Sirius.

One he would send to Sirius, and the other, after a moment's hesitation, he'd send to Lupin. Now he didn't have the mail ward up, it was possible Lupin would actually write back this time. Maybe that was why he didn't reply the first time, or ever write to him before? To be sure, Harry added a few defence-related questions and a note about how he'd been having issues with his mail and hadn't received his last reply. That should clear up whether Lupin had written back or not.

Harry's last gift was from Sirius. Sirius gave him a handy penknife that would unlock any lock and untie any knot. Harry looked at it appraisingly. That would definitely come in handy. It was a brilliant gift.

He looked a the ground feeling ashamed and guilty. He had, of course, sent Sirius something for Christmas. Back at Hogwarts, he'd persuaded the house-elves to let him make a plum pudding and had sent it to Sirius. Who knows what the man was eating while on the run?

But the fact that Sirius had given him something so handy, that he cared and had given Harry anything at all, made Harry feel enormously guilty for being unhappy with the man. No matter how justified Harry was in being unhappy with his betrayal, Harry now felt rather guilty. He sighed.

He wanted so badly for his godfather to be everything he needed and wanted. But Sirius wasn't. He was in Dumbledores pocket. Maybe one day. But this meant that perhaps Sirius wasn't a complete right-off...

He sighed and took out paper and quill to write proper thank you notes.