I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Holidays
Alex stared at the two small, skin-colored hearing aids Fred and George had given him. "I said like hearing aids, not actual hearing aids."
"Do you know how hard it is to find something that fits in the ear but is discreet?" Fred asked.
"Besides, we've added a Disillusionment Charm to it," George said. "Once they're in, no one will be able to see it without getting right up next to your ear. It'll deactivate once you take it out, but it'll activate again once it's back in. We're adding the same thing to the thing you're going to give Malfoy, as well as a charm that lets it pass through clothes, so that all you have to do is pat him on the back."
"Excellent," Alex said, putting one of the hearing aids in and turning to a mirror.
True to the twins' word, he couldn't see it, it just looked like an empty ear. He could feel it, but it seemed completely invisible. He nodded approvingly.
"You tested them, right?" Alex checked.
"Of course!" Fred said. "You think we'd give our best business partner rubbish products?"
"For a good laugh, yes," Alex said. "But I trust you on this one. And just in time, too."
"Why?" George asked.
"Holidays," Alex lied, turning and heading to the window to smoke, pulling the hearing aid out of his ear and slipping both into his pocket.
In truth, the cycle would be starting again by the time he woke up in the morning. Thanks to this, he'd be able to talk to Luna without needing to be next to her.
"What's the range?" Alex asked as he lit his cigarette.
"The far side of the castle to Hogsmeade," George said. "Works from the dungeon too. tricky charm to work, though."
"I bet," Alex said. "You did amazingly. You could make a legitimate non-joke building if you patent these. Your mum and dad would actually be proud of you, and you'd make loads of money."
Both of them stared at each other, their eyes widening slowly. Then, they grinned widely.
"You're a genius!" both said excitedly.
"I'm writing Mum!" Fred said, glancing at Alex.
He smiled and whistled and Mouse flew down from the dormitory, landing on a small table by the fire. It would have to be the last delivery he did for the year, as it was getting cold quickly, but he could make it. Fred wrote out a letter quickly, then put it in an envelope, rolled it up, and stuck it in Mouse's pouch. Mouse took off out the window instantly, flying low to avoid the colder air at higher altitudes. Once Alex had finished his cigarette, he headed to bed for the night. At breakfast the next morning, he gave Luna her hearing aid, explaining what it did before letting her know the cycle was starting. She thanked him, then walked back to her table.
"Can you hear me?" Alex asked quietly once she'd sat down, her face lighting up instantly.
"Yes!" she squealed, getting several confused looks. "It's great!"
"Yup," Alex said. "I finally get to talk to the voice in my head."
Luna laughed and several students slid away from her subtly, though she didn't seem to notice.
"Those things are great," Ron said.
"Ron approves of our new toys," Alex said, Luna smiling brightly.
Alex payed for his sweets just as harry stepped out of a door behind the counter and instantly ducked down behind it, moved to the end, then stood behind a group of students, no one else casting him a sideways glance. Alex's face split into a grin and he dangled the plastic shopping bag the woman running the cash register had given him over his left shoulder, wrapping his right arm around Harry's shoulders and steering him to a section of candies where there were less people.
"How?" Alex asked.
"Secret passage," Harry said. "Fred and George showed me. I'll explain the rest later."
Alex nodded in understanding. "If you get caught, I had no idea you were here."
He turned, walking out of the shop into the blizzard raging outside and over to the joke shop. Fred and George had asked for some more dungbombs for their projects, and a set of Filibuster Fireworks. He bought both, then walked back outside, heading back to the sweets shop to find Ron and Hermione, only to find them outside with Harry. They all showed him what they could see of the stores they passed before going to the Three Broomsticks pub. It was packed, noisy, and no one spared them even a passing glance.
"How's Hogsmeade?" Luna's voice suddenly asked. "Is it cold there? I'm inside the castle and I'm cold just from stepping out of the shower."
Alex stopped in his tracks, eyes closed and struggling to fight off his own mind. "Luna."
"Sorry," Luna said. "It's just so easy to talk to you I don't think about it some times."
Alex sighed heavily before continuing to walk, joining the others at a table. "It's alright. Just try not to say things like that."
The table was near the back, nestled between a Christmas tree and a window, and it took several minutes for Ron to return from the bar, where he was almost as busy ogling the barmaid as he was trying to get them four hot butterbeers. Finally, he returned, grinning widely and passing them out.
"Merry Christmas!" Ron grinned, raising his tankard, the others doing the same before taking a drink.
However, just as they did, a cold breeze hit them as the door opened and Harry choked, staring in horror. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall had just entered, and were followed closely by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Alex shoved Harry under the table instantly as Hermione used a charm to move the tree in front of their table, hiding them from view while the three in question were at the bar. After a few moments, they walked over to a table opposite the tree from Alex and the others, the three above the table sharing knowing, slightly worried looks, though Harry remained motionless under the table, and was hidden partially by Ron and Hermione's legs.
"A small gillywater," the barmaid asked as she brought over the group's drinks, which were crammed onto the tray.
"Mine," Professor McGonagall said.
"Four pints of mulled mead?" she asked.
"Ta, Rosemerta," Hagrid smiled.
"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and an umbrella?" Rosemerta asked.
"Mmm," Professor Flitwick hummed, smacking his lips.
"So you'll be a red currant rum, Minister," Rosemerta smiled, setting his drink down.
"Thank you, Rosemerta, m'dear," Fudge said. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us."
"Well, thank you very much, Minister," Rosemerta smiled, marching off to get a drink, then returning. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?"
Fudge hesitated, or maybe looked around for eavesdroppers, before speaking. "What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I dare say you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween."
"I did hear a rumor," Rosemerta admitted.
"What's going on?" Luna asked. "You're awfully quiet."
"Not now," Alex hissed, barely able to hear his own voice.
"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" McGonagall asked, exasperated.
"Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" Rosemerta asked.
"I'm sure of it," Fudge said.
"You know that the dementors have searched the whole village twice?" Rosemerta asked. "Scared all my customers away. It's bad for business, Minister."
"Rosemerta, dear, I don't like them any more than you do," Fudge said uncomfortably. "Necessary precaution. Unfortunate, but there you are. I've just met some of them. They're in a fury against Dumbledore. He won't let them inside the castle grounds."
"I should think not!" McGonagall said sharply. "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?"
"Hear, hear!" Flitwick squeaked.
"All the same," Fudge said. "They are here to protect you all from something much worse. We all know what Black's capable of."
"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," Rosemerta said. "Of all the people to go over to the dark side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought. I mean, I remember him when he was still a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd have told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you've had too much mead."
"You don't know the half of it, Rosemerta," Fudge said gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known."
"The worst?" Rosemerta asked. "Worse than murdering all those pour people, you mean?"
"I certainly do," Fudge said.
"I can't believe that," Rosemerta said. "What could possibly be worse?"
"You say you remember him in Hogwarts, Rosemerta," McGonagall said. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"
"Naturally," Rosemerta said. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here, ooh, they made me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter."
There was a loud clung from under Alex and the others' table as Harry dropped his tankard and Ron kicked him.
"Precisely," McGonagall said. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Bot very bright, of course. Exceptionally bright, in fact. But I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers."
"I dunno," Hagrid chuckled. "Fred and George could give 'em a run fer their money."
"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers," Flitwick chimed in. "Inseparable!"
"Of course they were," Fudge said. "Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed after they left school. Black was the best man when Potter married Lily. Then they named him Godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him."
"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Rosemerta whispered.
"Worse even than that, m'dear," Fudge said. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off and he alerted Lily and James at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."
"How does that work?" Rosemerta asked.
Flitwick cleared his throat. "An immensely complex spell involving the concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information was hidden inside the chosen person, or secret-keeper, and is hence forth, unable to find. Unless, of course, the secret-keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the secret-keeper refused to speak, Voldemort could search the village where they stayed for many years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed to their sitting room window."
"So, Black was the Potters' secret-keeper?" Rosemerta asked.
"Naturally," McGonagall said. "Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself. And yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' secret keeper himself."
"He suspected Black?" Rosemerta asked.
"He suspected someone close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements," McGonagall said. "Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."
"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"
"He did," Fudge said heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed..."
"Black betrayed them?" Rosemerta asked, voice barely above a whisper.
"He did indeed," Fudge nodded. "Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned for this moment of the Potters' death. But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment that he, Black, had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it."
"Filthy, Stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said so loudly half the bar went quiet.
"Sshh!" McGonagall hissed.
I met him!" Hagrid growled. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me that rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead...an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily and James's secret-keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!"
"Hagrid, please!" McGonagall pleaded. "Keep your voice down!"
"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him.' Ha! But I'd had me orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. 'I won't need it anymore,' he says.
"I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it anymore? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' secret-keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him.
"But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh? I bet he'd've pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His bes' friends' son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there's nothin' and no one that matters to em anymore."
After a long silence, Rosemerta spoke. "But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him the next day!"
"If only we had," Fudge said bitterly. "Alas, it was not we who found him. It was Peter Pettigrew, another of Potter's friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters' secret-keeper, he went after Black himself."
"Pettigrew...that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" Rosemerta asked.
"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter," McGonagall said. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I...how I regret that now." She suddenly sounded like her nose was stuffed up.
"There now, Minerva," Fudge said. "Pettigrew died a hero's death. Eyewitnesses-Muggles, of course, we wiped their memories later-told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They said he was sobbing, 'Lili and James, Sirius! How could you?' Then he went for his wand. Well, of course, Black as quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens."
Professor McGonagall blew her nose. "Stupid boy. Foolish boy. He was always hopeless at dueling. He should have left it to the ministry."
"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't've messed around with wands. I'd rip him limb from limb."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Hagrid," Fudge said. "Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was the first one on the scene after he murdered all those people. I...I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the street so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere, Muggles screaming, and Black just standing there laughing with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him. A heap of blood-stained robes and a few...a few fragments."
He stopped, and suddenly, Alex heard five noses blowing together.
"Well, there you have it, Rosemerta," Fudge said. "Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since."
Rosemerta let out a long sigh. "Is it true he's mad, Minister?"
"I wish I could say that he was," Fudge said. "I certainly believe that his master's defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered ad desperate man. Cruel. Pointless. But I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most prisoners are sitting there, muttering to themselves in the dark; there's no sense to them. But I was shocked by how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored. Asked had I finished my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the Dementors seemed to be having on him, and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night."
"But what do you think he's broken out to do?" Rosemerta asked. "Good gracious, Minister, he isn't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who is he?"
"I daresay that is his...er...eventual plan," Fudge said evasively. "But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing, but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again."
"You know, Cornelius," McGonagall finally spoke up. "If you're dining with the Headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle."
The five of them left their table, Rosemerta returning to work and the teachers and Minister all leaving. Harry climbed back into his seat and they sat in silence for a few minutes before leaving. Harry and Alex headed to the sweet shop, Alex causing a distraction for Harry by setting off an exploding bonbon from a distance with magic. Then, he left, finding Ron and Hermione just outside the door, all of them heading back up to the castle together. Once they were inside the castle, they began to head to their dormitory.
"We're back," Alex said. "I'll meet you in the library in about forty minutes."
"Okay!" Luna said so brightly he could clearly imagine her beaming smile.
"How're things going with your own house?" Alex asked. "Are they still picking on you?"
"Avoiding is more accurate," Luna said. "They don't want to talk to the girl who's talking to voices in her head, but I much prefer this over not being able to talk to you but being able to talk to them. Besides, they don't really pick on me anymore. Not since they heard that Malfoy was caught running around in his underwear when he wanted to pay me back for the porridge."
"I figured as much," Alex said. "Are you staying for the holidays?"
"Mhm," Luna hummed. "You?"
"Yeah," Alex said. "There's no way I'd be able to get to home and back in time for classes while still having time to spend with my family."
Luna nodded. "I suppose not. Well, at least the cycle should be over by then, right?"
"True," Alex said.
He paused his conversation as Hermione convinced Sir Cadogan, a knight portrait who spent more time challenging Gryffindors to duels than allowing them into the common room, and who changed the password about twice a day, all of them ridiculous, to open and let them in. He climbed through the hole and dropped the Weasley twins' candy and dungbombs off with them before dropping the rest off in his room and grabbing his cigarettes and Mouse off his bed, heading down to the window downstairs, lighting his cigarette. He sat on the window sill, stroking Mouse's feathers with his left index finger, Mouse lying on his left leg on his back, wings spread out to the sides and legs sticking up in the air like he was dead. As he exhaled through the window, he found that he actually wasn't feeling stressed. Not as much as normal, anyway.
"Did you get me a Christmas Present?" Luna asked.
"What, my company's not enough for you?" Alex faked a scoff. "Some friend you are."
Luna giggled and Alex's smile widened.
"Of course I got you a present, Luna," Alex said. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"
"You could always give her a kiss," Fred grinned.
"Shut it Weasley!" Alex said. "Don't make me walk around a corner and find you in your bloomers too."
Several people laughed.
"What did he say?" Luna asked.
"He was just being Fred Weasley," Alex said, taking another pull from his cigarette. "You know, I'm smoking because I want to right now, not because I have to."
"Really?" Luna asked.
"Yeah," Alex said. "I don't know if that's ever happened before."
"That's great!" Luna cheered, probably earning a lot of very strange looks on her end. "How do you feel?"
"Surprisingly calm," Alex said, lowering his voice so the twins wouldn't hear him, though Ginny, who sat down just as he spoke, definitely did. "It helps a lot to be able to hear your voice. Even if it is during the cycle." He could practically sense Luna's smile.
"Well, if you like hearing my voice, would you like me to sing?" Luna asked.
"You sing?" Alex asked, arching an eyebrow out the window and taking a pull from his cigarette.
"Some," Luna said. "I'm not as good as I'm sure you are, but you refuse to sing, so if you'd prefer, I can do it instead."
Alex smiled. "Alright. Sure."
She began to sing a relatively simple and soft tune, and Alex smiled, tilting his head back and his eyes closed, his half-burned cigarette completely forgotten as Luna's voice washed through him, making him feel light and warm. He wasn't sure if it was all because of his cycle, like the images swimming behind his closed eyes were, but her voice was lovely and calming.
"You're an amazing singer," Alex said once she'd finished.
"Thank you," Luna smiled.
"Tell your girlfriend I say hello," Ginny smiled.
Alex flipped her off, but passed the message, then passed Luna's back. They chatted for a little while, Alex passing messages back and forth, before all heading down to dinner. Harry was still in a state of shock over what they'd found out, and Ron and Hermione were worried, but Luna, despite obviously wanting to, refrained from asking, as did Ginny, despite being more worried than either of the others. Once dinner was finished, they headed back to their common room and Alex sat by the fire with Mouse, talking to Luna and Ginny for a few hours, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all going to bed early. Finally, he said goodnight to both girls, then headed up to bed, storing his hearing aid in his bedside table before going to sleep, Mouse curled up on the pillow beside him.
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