Chapter 6
Christmas
Hogwarts during Christmas time, to Harry's amazement, was even more magical than the school normally was. Snow had fallen to blanket the vast grounds, giving that special wintery feel. Harry was almost jealous of the people who would be remaining at school during the holidays, mostly due to the famed, Christmas day feast that was put on. Not to mention the snowball fighting tournament that had been organised by Oliver Wood. For Harry, Neville, Hermione and Alicia, they left on an early chilly December morning to take the Hogwarts Express back to London.
The ride had been a pleasant one, lacking any kind of peace since Neville decided to open a pack of exploding snap cards and challenged Alicia. It was in the cosiness of their compartment that Harry and Hermione had finally been able to find time to talk about the three headed dog they encountered.
It wasn't as gripping a tale as the fight against the troll, which explained how the quartet were able to escape the wrath of the mighty mutt. In truth, they all screamed and ran in the other direction. It was Alicia's quick thinking that made her slam the door shut, and Harry's quick wand work that locked it tight again. After that, and because of the massive amount of rule breaking that had accidently occurred, the group decided to keep it a secret until they had left the confines of the school entirely.
"But why, why would they, in their right mind keep a 3 headed dog locked up in a school?" Harry had asked Hermione. The pair were close to the window and their knees almost touching while they discussed the matter.
"Hard to say." She mused. "It was clearly guarding something." She added, wisely. Hermione had gone into full research mode. A mode that almost matched Harry's obsession with things. She wanted to discover the origins of the dog itself, searching for the best way to stop it if it ever got loose.
"SNAP!" Alicia yelled, making Harry and Hermione jump.
"Guarding something?" Neville asked, coughing and wiping the smoke from the explosion out of his face.
"If any of you had been paying attention, you would have noticed it standing on the trap door." She said, as if it were so obvious. "Didn't any of you see it?"
"My dear," Alicia said, her tone only slightly patronising. "When a three headed dog tries to rip my face off, I tend to focus on the dog and nothing else."
"What's so important that they need to keep a monster like that in the castle?" Said Neville, shifting his seat and clearing the cards away.
"This is Hogwarts we're talking about." Harry told them. He reached down into his bag and pulled out a book entitled, "Hogwarts, A History," and showed it to Neville. "The school as all kinds of stories and myths about the treasures it has guarded."
"Anything on trapdoors guarded by murderous mutts?" Alicia enquired.
"Nope." Hermione and Harry said together. Harry looked at Hermione, who blushed shyly. He waved his hand inviting her to explain. "Well, I thought it would shed some light as well. I really don't that dog has always been there."
"Do you think that's how that Hufflepuff student lost their leg?" Neville suggested, wincing against the idea. "Oh, and how Severus got his limp!"
"Yeah!" Harry said, wondering why he'd not thought of that already. "Dog rips off leg, then Severus tries to what, get passed it to check on what it's guarding?"
"Anything is possible." Alicia said, shifting over to sit nearer to Harry. "I could always ask my aunt about it, she's one of the school's governesses. Though I doubt she'll tell me much, I can usually get a few things out of Ted if I'm cute enough about it."
"Good idea." Hermione agreed, smiling brightly. "I'll be going to Diagon Alley before going home. I'll see if there are any books that can help."
"And I shall stop Harry from going to far." Neville said, puffing his chest out bravely. "No promises though."
"And what exactly is that meant to mean?" Harry demanded, Making Alicia and Hermione giggle.
What Neville had meant was pretty straight forward. Harry had a habit of getting more than a touch obsessed if he couldn't work out a problem right away. Harry History dictated that if something were mysterious as a three headed dog, which was also guarding a trap door, in a school, would be far too much for Harry to resist. He'd already been thinking of the best way to corner Severus in an attempt to gain any if not all information that was available. Since Severus wasn't joining them for Christmas dinner, it was going to make it all the more difficult because Harry would have to wait two weeks to see him again. Harry also considered Remus and Peter. Remus had a healthy knowledge of magical beasts. Peter also had a talent for keeping his nose to the ground, and usually had some form of gossip or tale to share with Harry. Maybe he knew about the dog and the trap door.
It was a slightly sad moment when Harry had wished Alicia and Hermione a Merry Christmas before saying goodbye. He'd become so use to their presence of late that he was genuinely going to miss them. Then again, it didn't change the fact that when he saw Lily, he was so happy that he felt no shame in hugging her in front of the crowd of students. Not even when Ron Weasley passed by, giving Harry a kissy face as he went.
"Did you have a completely uneventful, boring and educational first term?" Lily eagerly asked him once they were on their way back to the house. "Judging by your letters not a lot happened."
"Oh." Harry had to remind himself that he hadn't mentioned any of the dangerous or reckless things he had done. He also didn't think all his showing off and sharing of his knowledge and skills would have been approved by Lily either. "Yeah, fairly straight forward. Classes, chess, met two new friends." He lied, keeping his tone very casual. "How was your holiday with Hestia?"
"Oh." Lily looked very awkward all of a sudden. Harry couldn't place where the blush had come from, but he got the feeling that she was keeping something from him. "Well, we just lay around the beach mostly, soaking up the sun."
"Must have got some really nice pictures, though." He said, glad that she was distracted from.
"Not really." Lily answered, a bit too quickly. "We erm, there was a storm and ended up spending more time in our hotel room. Not a lot of excitement happened."
"Stuck in a hotel room with Hestia?" Harry couldn't think of many things worse. "What did you two do for fun?" He said, chuckling at the idea of his mother being talked to death for two weeks.
Lily looked as though she was struggling for the answer to his question. "Oh, erm…Look we're almost home!" She finally said with great relief.
Christmas in the Potter's house was always a fun affair, and the traditions were practically set in stone. Neville would always stay the night on Christmas Eve while his gran slept in their house. Remus was never in the best shape because he was preparing for the full-moon. Dobby would be in great spirits, always over decorating the house and preparing snacks and meals even when people didn't ask for it. Lily would have her usual argument with Dobby about who would prepare Christmas dinner. This argument being postponed this year because, much to Harry's misery, Hestia had been invited to Christmas this year and would be sleeping on the couch. Peter would arrive in the morning, no doubt with too many presents and since everyone was happy to entertain themselves, it gave Harry a chance to get stuck into his investigation.
"Merry Christmas, Harry!" Neville announced on Christmas morning, entering Harry's bedroom with his arms laden full of presents, which he dropped on the bed and gave Nova a little scruff on the head. "And to you." He said, smiling as the kitten purred happily. "Harry?"
"Huh?" Harry muttered, only half paying attention to what was going on behind him. He was stood in the middle of his room staring up at his wall. "It's Christmas already?"
"You've been up all night?" Neville asked, in the rhetorical sense only. He knew it was fact that Harry had indeed stayed up all night because it was becoming a pattern lately.
"Must have, I guess." Replied Harry, pulling himself away from the wall to look at Neville and the presents. "Merry Christmas. Those for me?" He asked, forgetting about being tired the moment he saw the stack.
Neville nodded with a big smile. "Yeah, there's some from Hermione and Alicia as well." He confirmed, then looked over at the wall that once had lots of spells and charms written on it. "The wall of evidence?"
"Speaks for itself, I think." Harry explained, without really explaining now that he was opening presents, while sitting cross-legged on the bed.
And it really did speak for itself. The wall had been transformed into a far more complicated array of pictures of giant three headed dogs, information on where these types of creatures came from, how they were technically illegal to use in any capacity because of their ill tempered ways. Along with that was a sketch of a trapdoor, names of the teachers, possible items that would need protecting and at the very bottom, a news paper clipping with Hagrid's name next to it.
Break in at Gringotts!
Employees of Gringotts bank were baffled by a failed attempt to break into one of the most protected vaults they had. The failed heist took place at exactly 1PM on Christmas Eve. Goblins were astounding to find that the vault, 713, had been broken into by dark witches and wizards unknown. The vault itself had been emptied months ago, no comments have been given.
"I'd almost given up until Hermione sent that with her Christmas card." Harry said, once Neville was done reading the article out loud.
"why is Hagrid's name beside it?" Neville asked, looking and wondering how Harry managed to get a picture of the Keeper of keys.
"Because the day that we went to Diagon Alley, is the day that vault was emptied. I'm going to assume it is Hagrid because it would work nicely with something needing protected at the school."
"What makes you so sure?"
"That." Harry answered, pointing to a picture of Alicia wearing her blue dress and looking very cute. "She sent that letter a few hours ago."
Dear Harry.
Hermione just told me about the break in. I already knew because I overheard Andromeda and Ted talking about it last night. It's connected! I overhead Ted talking to Tonks about it, and he confirmed what you thought about Hagrid being involved. Both my aunt and uncle have been called away to a governor's meeting. This means the school is involved somehow. Bet you anything that what the dog is guarding is the thing Hagrid took from the vault.
Merry Christmas.
Alicia.
"I assume now you're going to ask the same thing I did." Harry said, having finished unwrapping his presents and settling back against the wall.
"What was the thing that Hagrid took from the vault?"
"I haven't got the first clue or even the last." Harry sighed. "I've tried looking in every book I have. There is nothing that would require an even higher level of security than Gringotts."
"Did you try asking-"
It was that exact moment that there was a knock at the door. Neville had panicked and ran towards the wall of evidence just as the door opened slowly. It was almost fate that it would be Hestia's face peering round the corner with a wide, teeth shining grin on her face. "Merry Christmas!" She sang. Then for a moment, just one moment, glanced at Neville. "Erm, Nev, why are you hugging that wall?"
"He's worried I'm going to turn it into a wall devoted to the Holyhead Harpies. " Harry told her, confidently. Neville knew this was a lie and so pulled away from the wall. He glanced at Hestia then at the wall, then over at Harry, who winked at Neville.
"You probably should do something with it, it's just so bland with nothing on it." She shook her head. "Anyway, her majesty, Queen Lil wishes you to join all of us for breakfast. Peter has arrived and Remus is getting grumpy."
"Oke doke!" Harry said, cheerfully. It was Christmas and Lily had asked him to try his best with Hestia. "We'll be down as soon as."
"That's my little man!" She beamed, "hope you like what I got for you!" She said, pointing to the book on Herbology. "Lily mentioned that you loved it."
"Oh, I certainly do!" Harry's sarcasm was such that Neville had to turn away to hide the laughter.
"That's my boy!" She giggled, dancing off and singing Christmas songs down the hall.
"She's reaching new heights of annoying this year." Neville said, keeping his voice low. "Why would your mum tell her that you liked Herbology?"
"No idea." Harry shrugged, throwing the book to Neville. "It's one you've not read and honestly, it's because of the way she is I doubt she even knows the break-in happened."
"Yup, I doubt if it's gossip she won't bother." Neville sighed. "It's a shame though, Gran once told me that Hestia used to be an Auror."
"Seriously?!" Asked Harry, surprised by this.
Neville. "Said that she moved on after the war was over and joined Gringotts for a quiet life."
"Strange." Harry frowned. He had met Aurors before and they had never been as, well, annoying as Hestia was. Aurors were usually cooler, more tough, less chatty. It didn't suit the personality that he saw in her. "Anyway," He said, not giving it much thought. "The dog is guarding what came out of the vault, I wonder who tried to break in, though."
"You sound like you're eager to catch this person." Neville joked. He laughed, then eventually stopped when he saw the curiosity on Harry's face.
"Merry Christmas, Boys!" Remus called out when Harry and Neville appeared. The kitchen was jam packed with bodies. Remus and Peter were sitting on the far, looking as though they had just been playing a game of chess. Hestia was sitting in Severus's usual seat, casually glancing up at Lily every so often while Lily prepared food. Augusta looked like she was on her third glass of wine, judging by the glow on her cheeks and Dobby was struggling with his usual Christmas day chore, enjoying a day off.
"Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas, Mum." Harry said, cheerfully going straight to her for a hug.
"Merry Christmas, Sweetheart." She told him. Returning the hug in kind. "Thank you for the scarf, I hope Augusta made you earn it." She said with a fond smile.
"Oh, I did!" August assured Lily, loudly and with a small hiccup at the end. "You remember the day he, came in with that bump on his head? My gutters never looked so clean after he was done."
While everyone laughed, Harry looked over at the seat Hestia was sitting in. "I wish Severus had come, I've not got a chance to see him except during class."
"He had to work, sadly." Lily told him. She too missed Severus at the dinner table for Christmas. It made make things jolly more of a challenge. "All that business with Gringotts."
"Scary times when someone can just walk passed security like that." Hestia said, her voice unusually serious.
"Goblins!" Augusta snapped, making Neville almost drop the book Harry gave him and Remus and Peter nearly topple their chessboard. "Can't trust those little monsters. They should be sacked, the lot of them for letting someone in!"
Harry had become used to hearing Augusta going on about how everyone else was bad at their job. He felt it was a bit rich coming from someone who had never worked a day in her whole life. She had spent her entire life living off the money that Neville's grandfather had left behind after he passed away. Noticing that Dobby had snuck off somewhere, he made an excuse to go and find the elf, knowing full well where Dobby would be.
"You shouldn't be working today." Harry said, creeping up behind Dobby who had been sneaking in some laundry while everyone was distracted.
"The work never stops, Master Harry." Said Dobby, smiling and humming a little tune while he organised the socks.
"It's Christmas, don't make me order you to take the day off." Harry said, jokingly. Dobby giggled knowing that Harry would never order him, even if it was to ask Dobby to relax a little. It didn't stop him from halting his duties to gaze up at Harry adoringly.
"Did Harry Potter like his presents this year?" Dobby asked, trying to act as though he wasn't curious about what Harry thought of the socks that Dobby had knitted for him.
"Yup." Harry said, smiling proudly as he pulled up his trouser legs to show off the bright yellow socks with a wand on them. "And I've got your present right here."
Despite the fact that it was just a trowel for the garden, because Dobby's main joy in life besides serving the Potter family was tending to the garden, Dobby treated this gift as if Harry had just presented him with a rare jewel. It was when Dobby started to sob with gratitude that Harry looked for a reason to return to the kitchen. He'd turned just in time to hear Peter saying- "Now, Neville. What was in that vault is strictly between Albus Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel!"
"Nicholas who?" Harry asked, a bit too eagerly. He was suddenly aware of the four adults, Lily, Hestia, Remus and Peter all staring at him awkwardly. Augusta had fallen asleep. He also noticed the way Lily glared at Peter, which might have meant he just lost the right to eat Christmas dinner.
"That is none of anyone's business." Said Lily, sternly. She dared anyone to ask any more questions.
"That's right." Hestia nodded. Her bright and chirpy tone returned, and she gazed wondrously at Harry. "an inquisitive mind is an amazing thing to have but don't get to curious, other wise you might find yourself in a world of trouble."
After that strange moment and the awkwardness had passed, the table was set, and everyone sat down to enjoy Christmas dinner. While they were prevented from talking about Gringotts or anything else that apparently had nothing to do with them, Harry was sure that he and Neville were wondering the same thing. And that was who exactly was Nicholas Flamel.
"So, Harry." Peter said, swallowing down a mouthful of turkey. "Sev tells me you're faring well in potions. Not thinking about taking his job are you?"
"No." Harry chuckled. "But I think my friend Alicia Malfoy might have her eye on it. She's amazing at potions."
"Poor lass, she'll have a hard time given the history." Augusta said, having finally woken up to eat. "Could be risky making friends with a girl who is connected to such an unlucky family."
"Augusta!" Lily chastised. "Andromeda and Ted have done wonders to raise that girl right. She's always polite when she comes to the Ministry and she's the spitting image of her mother."
"An absolute beauty." Hestia added, giving Lily a strange smile. "Narcissa always was the bell of the ball."
"Is that so?" Lily asked, giving Hestia a sour look.
Ignoring the strange conversation between Hestia and Lily, Harry thought that he'd spent a great deal of time telling Lily all about Alicia and Hermione. He'd filled her in on the first couple of months in Hogwarts, somehow forgetting to mention all the fighting with Ron Weasley, the Troll and discovering the three headed dog. The odd thing was that she had never mentioned meeting Alicia before now. What was more curious was that Harry had told Alicia all about his mother and Alicia had never once mentioned meeting Lily. He was starting to think that Alicia was hiding something from him. He would have worried about it had he not trusted that Alicia would share with him what it was in time.
Since the grown-ups weren't going to even discuss the events of Gringotts in case they said anything else they shouldn't have, neither Harry or Neville persuade any more answers until they had retreated back to Harry's room.
"How come Hestia couldn't see the stuff on the wall?" Neville had asked the second the door was closed. He was peering at the wall, looking for some kind of invisible cloth.
"Hm? Oh, I put a low level illusion charm on it. It's nothing fancy, it just makes you think you're looking at nothing." He was only half paying attention to Neville. A box, quite a big box was laying on his bed. Given the size it wasn't a missed present. "Is this from you?"
"No." Neville said, looking back for a moment then returning his interest to the wall. "I got you the duelling book. Maybe it's a present from Severus."
"No, he already gave me something." Harry reached out and took the folded piece of parchment to read what was written on it.
Your father left this in my possession before he died. I felt it best to send this to you in private, there are some who wouldn't approve of it being back in your family. I believe it is time it was returned to you. Use it well.
"Those who wouldn't approve of it being back in your family?" Harry jumped when Neville spoke. He had been so engrossed in the letter that he hadn't noticed his friend coming to take a look as well. "What is it?"
Harry wasted no time in opening the box. What was inside was a silvery long cloak that was almost twice the size of Harry himself. Neither boy knew what to make of it. It was very nice to look at and Harry was curious how it might look. So, he took a step back and pulled it around himself, making Neville gasp and point. "Your body's gone!"
"Boys, keep it down, we're trying to listen to the radio!" Lily called from downstairs, silencing the both of them. Neville ran to the door and click the lock.
Harry dashed over to the closet and opened it to see himself in the mirror. He was shocked to just see his head floating in mid-air the way it was. With a quick pull, he dragged the cloak from his body, reappearing immediately.
"Amazing!" Neville whispered his approval.
"An invisibility cloak?" Said Harry, examining the material of it closely. "They're really rare. When did my dad ever have one of these?"
"You'd think Remus or Peter would have mentioned that one." Said Neville, feeling let down by this lack of information. "No wonder whoever sent it didn't want someone else finding out about this. The someone else is probably your mum."
Harry knew that was probably the case. Already his brain was imagining the possibilities that being completely invisible could bring to his life. He felt now was the best time to let Neville in on another secret, one he'd been keeping since before they started Hogwarts. "All right, you've seen this, and I can trust you not to tell anyone, right?"
"If you give me a shot, then yes." Neville grinned. Harry should never have doubted Neville's loyalty.
Harry nodded and passed the cloak to Neville, who instantly wrapped it around himself and chuckled when his body disappeared. "Peter gave me something during the summer, before school started." Harry told him, going over to his trunk and opening it. There was a hidden compartment on the inside for all sorts of things, what he was looking for was a piece of ratty old parchment, which he found quickly and showed to Neville.
"His gifts are getting weaker." Neville commented, just as unimpressed with the parchment as Harry had been. "The jumper he gave me was nice but he's really losing his touch."
"No, idiot." Harry huffed, understanding how Peter must have felt when Harry had the same reaction. "This…this is something beyond spectacular. Even more so than that cloak."
"I'm having trouble believing you." Replied Neville, taking the cloak off, folding it gently and placing it neatly back in the box for safe keep. He then watched as Harry walked over to his desk and unfolded the parchment.
With his wand pointed at it, Harry said. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And then tapped the parchment.
"Merlin's beard!" Neville roared.
"BOYS DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" Lily shouted even louder than Neville.
Neville couldn't call back to apologise for his outburst because Harry had shoved his hand over Neville's mouth. They both watched as the parchment came to life, forming words, rooms, moving labels and created a full and complete, intricately detailed map of Hogwarts.
"It's called the Marauder's Map. It was made by my dad, Remus, Peter and some bloke named Padfoot. Peter as sketchy on the details about him." Harry said, frowning. "But they made this when the were in school. It shows every detail of the school plus everyone in it, no matter where they are. And I think I know how they managed to get it done now."
"They used the cloak to sneak about." Neville said knowingly. He stared at the map with great interest, his eyes instantly going to the third floor corridor, seeing one unusual name above the shape of a three headed dog. "Fluffy?"
"Yup, I was trying to figure out who that was for months and obviously got my answer the other night." Harry chuckled. He pointed to other names, they could see all the professors, including-
"Why is Dumbledore just going round in a circle?"
"He's pacing, he does that a lot."
"Harry, do you realise what having these things mean?"
"It means we can investigate this whole thing without ever worrying about getting caught." He grinned.
For the rest of that night, they both took turns hiding beneath the cloak, even practicing a sneaking mission by taking turns to go downstairs and see if they could sneak past Lily and the others. They would also take the time to study the movements of the teachers, noticing that all of them at some point would go to the 3rd floor corridor. Every so often they'd stop and stand still for a few seconds in front of fluffy, then as if by magic, literally, they would pass by without any concern. It was this that Harry would need to learn. How were they getting passed Fluffy without being attacked. The mystery was too good to ignore. There was someone after the thing that the dog was guarding and Harry was just as hungry as Fluffy to find out who it was.