After that, days and weeks flew by and before they knew it, Christmas break was upon them along with the beautiful coat of snow that covered the grounds.
Of course, Harry and Rose would go back home, now that they both had a loving home waiting for them they weren't about to pass up that opportunity.
It was one of the first time, in a very long time, that no students would be staying over for the holidays. Some weren't going back to their home but to a friend's, but with Voldemort on the rise, everyone wanted to go home when they could. Hermione, too, would go spend the break with her parents. Most teachers would go home too, enjoying a little break from teaching and watching over teenagers.
Harry had kept training his Occlumency but he still had the occasional pain in his scar and he had developed the ability to tell what it meant. He could tell when Voldemort was happy or angry and he always sent Hedwig with a note to Dumbledore to keep him informed.
That night, the one before they took the train to go back home for the holidays, Harry had a hard time falling asleep. The day had been long. He had had to listen to Ron and Hermione argue about who knows what and he was exhausted from all the work he had done, and he hadn't put his mental defenses up, not strong enough anyway.
The dream had started as a normal one, with Harry flying on his broom with Ginny by his side until it all changed and he found himself on the floor of a dark corridor, going slowly and silently towards a door. He could see from Nagini's point of view, the great snake was sliding quietly and eagerly, then, she passed the door and, to Harry's horror, he was face to face with an exhausted looking Arthur Weasley. He woke up just as the snake attacked his best friend's father, one of the kindest man he's ever met in his life.
He had screamed so loudly that everyone in his dormitory was up in seconds, wondering who was attacking them.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Neville asked him, concerned.
Harry's scream reminded him of the time Sirius Black had attacked Ron during their third year. Though this time, a quick inspection shoed that everything seemed fine, no stranger, no lacerations, nobody seemed hurt.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Dean asked.
"Something's happened. Ron, get your brothers and sister." Harry spoke as he took his mirror out and called Sirius, asking him to come and meet them with Dumbledore as soon as possible.
Ron was shaken, he didn't understand what was going on but he could tell that something bad had happened, and if Harry wanted him to get his siblings, then it had to do with his family. Half awake and completely shaken by this, Ron tried to rush to wake up his twin brothers, which wasn't easy because they both seemed deep asleep and it took ROn a few minutes before he managed to get them to open their eyes.
"Can't have a date with my Rosie." Fred muttered in his sleep.
George was alsready awake and Ron was now trying to wake Fred up.
"Fred, come on brother, it's an emergency!" Ron insisted, shaking his brother.
"Try this, Ron." George suggested before he went next to Fred and said in a loud voice:
"Rose is in danger!"
It worked, Fred immediately woke up. Not only did he wake up but he was standing up next to his bed in less than 10 seconds.
"Rose? What's wrong with Rose?" Fred asked, panicked.
"Nothing's wrong with Rose, at least not that I know of. Something's happened and Harry said to get the two of you. he was calling Sirius on his mirror when I left to get you two. I think it's serious." Ron explained and the twins immediately followed their younger brother down to the common room.
.
Once he had hung up, Harry sent his Patronus to wake up his sister, asking her to get Ginny to join them in the common room. Everyone arrived in the common room at about the same time though the Weasley looked barely awake and confused, wondering what was going on and why they had been awoken. As soon as he saw Rose, Fred went to check that she was truly fine, explaining how George had woken him up, making her chuckle.
"Harry, what's going on? "Albus asked, wondering why the Weasley siblings were all here.
"Arthur Weasley was attacked by Nagini while he protected the prophecy." Harry spoke quickly.
"How long ago was this?" Albus asked, speaking quickly as well.
"Just now, Nagini attacked less than 5 minutes ago. I forced myself out of the vision as soon as Nagini bite Mister Wealsey and immediately called Sirius/. I couldn't take the risk of it getting worst." Harry replied, understanding the need to get the information quickly.
"Sirius, take them all to my office, I need to act quickly, make sure he's found and have a good story prepared. Fudge doesn't know we're watching the prophecy and I don't want him to think I'm meddling in Ministry's business, that would make things difficult." Dumbledore spoke before he ran away at a surprisingly quick speed for a man his age.
In the back on his mind, Ron wondered, watching Dumbledore run away, if the old man exercised to still be able to move this way. How old was he really? What was his secret? Is there some sort of super strong vitality potion he drank each morning?
Nobody spoke on the way the the Headmaster's office. The Weasley siblings were worried for their father and none of them knew quite what to say yet. Serenity had joined them and was now sitting on Rose's shoulder.
When they arrived inside the office, Dumbledore was speaking to his portraits and his Phoenix was nowhere to be found. One of the windows of his office was left open, so the phoenix could come back to bring answers.
"Albus?" Sirius asked worriedly.
"He's been found and is on his way to the hospital. He's lost a lot of blood but he's alive and since we know the snake is venomous, they'll be able to heal him, even if it takes a while. Unfortunately Nagini was gone by the time they found Arthur. Well, gone or well hidden. We know what Nagini is, and even though it's hard to heal, we can heal it. I know someone who can make a cure, I'll contact him as soon as I can. I was also able to find a reason to explain Arthur's presence there." Albus spoke.
"Serenity is here Professor, in case you need help sending out messages. I figured Fawkes wouldn't be able to do it all on his own since time is of the essence..." Rose spoke and the older man smiled.
"Thank you Rose. I was just waiting on Fawkes to come back from the ministry to send another message, but if Serenity wants to help, I'll be grateful." He nodded with a smile and Serenity flew to him, offering her leg to carry the message.
"How did you know, Harry? I thought you did that thing Rose taught you to close your mind?" Ginny asked the one who was, finally, slowly become her boyfriend.
"I usually manage to do it, and all I get is hints of his emotions and not often, but tonight I was tired from all the homework and everything else, I had a headache that had nothing to do with the scar and I couldn't close my mind. I saw Nagini arrive. She immediately noticed Mister Weasley and attacked him. Mister Weasley looked exhausted and didn't stand a chance... I woke up right as Nagini bit him and called everyone. I figured we needed to act as quickly as possible. I could tell she was determined to hurt him as much as possible, I fought to get out of the vision to warn everyone. I don't think she noticed my presence." Harry explained.
"You did well, Harry. Also I notice that you've now closed your mind." Dumbledore nodded.
"I figured I couldn't take the chance of Voldemort finding out about this link. It's quite handy sometimes. I don't think it's closed as tightly as I usually do it but it's better than nothing. I closed it right before I asked Ron to get his siblings." Harry replied.
"You did well." Albus replied, looking out his window.
"Will dad really be alright?" Ron asked while Rose hugged Fred.
"Yes, don't worry. This second message is for someone who is able to make an antidote to the venom in the kind of snakes Nagini is. Unfortunately, we found out during the first war that phoenix tears doesn't heal this particular venom, it just soothes the pain. You see, Nagini isn't a normal snake, she's a Maledictus, she used to be human before the malediction, an ancient curse, took over. At first she could change into a snake whenever she wanted, then it happened more and more often and now, she's stuck in this form. She's really old." The Headmaster replied.
"What do we do now?" Sirius asked.
"I've send a message to Severus, he'll try to find out if Voldemort found out about this link or not as soon as he can. In the mean time, I know better than to ask you guys to go back to sleep, so why don't you sit here and wait until we have more news? I'll ask Dobby to get us some tea and cookies." Albus spoke kindly.
"Professor, are you sure I closed my mind right? I still have a headache..." Harry whispered.
"Don't worry Harry, your headache comes from the worry and probably also the stress of the situation, nothing to worry about. You did a good job, I assure you." Albus reassured him.
Harry went to sit with the others. He took a seat between Ron and Ginny and put his arm around Ginny's shoulder, mirroring the way Fred's arm was wrapped around Rose's shoulders. He felt good when Ginny placed her head on his shoulder, resting on him.
It was about an hour before Serenity came back with a note from Molly Weasley, saying that Arthur was out of the woods and would be fine given some more time. He wasn't fine, but his life wasn't in danger, though he did have a fever. The cure would arrive some time in the next few days if all went well and then he'd be fine. Rose told Serenity to go back to Misses Weasley until she didn't need her anymore, figuring the mother would need to use her.
The phoenix left, with Rose's note telling Misses Weasley to use her until she didn't need her anymore and, another hour later, Serenity dropped more news before she left once more.
Molly told them that Arthur's fever was down and that he had woken up long enough to reassure her before the potions put him back to sleep.
"She says that Charlie is coming back for the Holidays. He was supposed to stay in Romania but I guess he wants to be with us now that dad is injured. She probably used Serenity to send him a message." Fred spoke.
"That and with everything else going on, it's understandable that he'd want to be closer to you all." Sirius nodded.
"Do you think Percy will come and see him?" Ginny asked and her brothers shrugged their shoulders.
Percy had stayed away from his family. He was still on speaking terms with them, but he had decided to live on his own and to distance himself from his family because he feared they would bring him down in his programmed rise in the ranks of the ministry. He was now an assistant to the Minister of Magic and he feared that being too close to his father, who had never risen much, would bring him down and prevent him from rising. He barely spoke to his siblings either, didn't write to them, except for a letter congratulating Ron for being a prefect. Since Ron didn't reply, Percy decided not to write to his siblings, especially since they had never understood him.
The Weasley children were all angry at their brother and didn't understand his decision to leave the family. Their father had been promoted a couple of days before Percy got his job with Fudge, how could he have possibly pulled him down?
"Percy will get off his high horse sooner or later." Rose told them.
She had never met him, except for when Harry showed him to her in their shared dreams.
"Well, it's no big loss to us." George replied.
"We're just upset that it hurts mom and dad." Fred added.
"Your brother doesn't understand what's really important yet, your father does. Cornelius Fudge promoted your father at the head of a new department, not because he's close to me, but because he's competent, honest and discreet. Believe it or not, I was a lot like Percy when I was younger." Dumbledore spoke, bringing all eyes on him.
"Really? You?" Ginny asked, shocked, as they all were.
"I have a hard time believing that." Rose added.
"Yes, really. You can ask my brother when he comes for the dueling club. He'll tell you that I was an arrogant ass, obsessed with power, knowing important people, becoming someone important, power was more important to me than family. I wanted to make powerful friends... It's only later, after a tragedy struck my family, that I realised that what was truly important was family, and having people you love and who love you back around you. Percy will eventually learn his lesson, as I did. I just hope his lesson will be learned with less pain than mine was... Less loss..." Albus told them honestly and they could see in his eyes that speaking about this was bringing unpleasant memories back.
"Well, I've heard that he's already lost his girlfriend. Penelope Clearwater, she broke up with him. Her younger sister is in third year and she was saying how her sister broke up with her boyfriend because she thought he had his priorities all mixed up." Ginny informed them.
"Albus, the Minister just found out about Arthur's attack. He arrived at the Ministry, with their brother in tow. He isn't suspicious of anything, just angry that Voldemort's snake was able to come inside. He believes your excuse explaining Arthur's presence down there. And, to answer these children's worry, their brother seemed to pale a lot when he learned of what happened. It shook him so much that he took a few days off." One of the paintings spoke.
"Percy took a day off?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Almost the whole week, yes." the ancient headmaster nodded.
"Well, if it storms for Christmas, we'll know who is responsible for it." Fred joked, feeling a bit better.
"Now, I think your classmates will wake up soon, you should all get back to your dormitories and get ready. Remus will pick all of you up at the train station." Albus declared, looking at his watch.
"Will we go back home?" Ginny asked.
"No, I think it's best if we all spend Christmas at Grimmault Place, at least until your father is released from the hospital. I've sent Kreacher a message, asking him to prepare the place, which bedrooms to prepare for who... and your mother knows to join us there. It's perfectly clean now so we'll be able to be comfortable and be closer to the hospital." Sirius informed them.
After that, they all went back to Gryffindor tower to get ready to go home. Rose informed a worried Hermione about what had happened during the night and soon, they were all in the train, riding back home for two weeks of vacations away from school.
I hope you liked it
Next couple of chapters are Christmas
Lorelei Candice Black