Harry snore peacefully in his bed, the only one left in his dormitory. His dorm mates had all gone home for the holidays, so Harry took it upon himself to enjoy this moment of silence for the first time in months ever since coming to Hogwarts. He couldn't help but dig his head deeper into his white pillows, pulling the blanket that was warming his body closer and closer. He loved sleeping in a bed that fit his size for once after spending years sleeping on a mattress. And his dormmates weren't exactly the quiet type, there were a few conversations here and there, but most of them led to him ignoring them.

This is too perfect…. Harry thought to himself. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the window, which showed countless of white spots falling down. Juts knowing the idea of it snowing, cold outside, just made the fact that he was all warm inside made everything a thousand times better. This might actually be the first Christmas where Harry felt peaceful. No Uncle Vernon shouting at him to shovel snow out of the driveway. No Aunt Petunia ordering him to make better shaped cookies. And no Dudley whining and complaining about not getting more presents. It was all them and never Harry, as if they were going to spend their precious money on presents to give them a child who they barely cared for.

The thought of getting presents seemed interesting to Harry. But he gave that feeling up years ago, when Uncle Vernon had yelled at Harry for sitting down on the living room sofa. It was clear to him by then that they didn't want him in their sights their precious Duddlykins was busy ripping apart present wrappings. But that was all a long time ago. Now, he just wanted to be comfortable, and snuggle as much as he can in his warm, soft-

*BAM*

"Wake up Harry it's Christmas!" Ginny yelled the moment she slammed open the door. Suddenly, all the comfort and warmth seemed to have been drained from his body, now replaced with pain.

Ginny and Ron were staying for Christmas. That was the letter that Ginny hid from Harry weeks ago. Apparently, their parents were going to visit their older brother Charlie in Romania, who works with dragons. Harry of course, was quite glad at first, he wouldn't be alone during a holiday where you're not supposed to be alone, but he slowly having second thoughts when Ginny walked over and shook his body.

"Harry wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas!" Ginny nudged as Harry groaned. He looked at his best friend with narrowed eyes.

"I need to sleep," he mumbled as he pulled his blanket over his head. Ginny pouted.

"Fine, if that's how you want it, you asked for it," she said as she rolled up her sleeves. Harry felt two hands grabbing the ends of his blanket, and before he could argue, the blanket was forcefully pulled away, revealing Harry's T-shirt and long pants, his arms and legs close together, snuggling the now imaginary blanket.

"Ginny get- OW!"

Ginny had showed no mercy as she jumped up and plopped right on to Harry's body, knocking the wind out of him, Harry losing his comfortable position.

"Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up…." Ginny continued on and on as she poked Harry's face. A vein popped at his forehead.

"Alright alright I'm up! Get off of me!" Harry shouted as Ginny giggled at her work. Mission Accomplished.

Ginny moved her legs and got off of his body, sitting down at the end of the bed as Harry reached for his nightstand and grabbed his glasses, putting them on as his vision got clearer. Ginny sat on the bed with her legs spread out and her hands on the sheets.

"Merry Christmas," Ginny said with a big smile on her face.

"Merry Christmas," Harry replied. It felt weird. It was the first time he actually said Merry Christmas to someone who wasn't yelling at him, and he greeted with sincere. Anytime he greeted the Dursleys, it was a voice with pure venom, as if he immediately regretted greeting them afterwards, but life at Hogwarts was different. Ginny happily moved her body, shaking the bed with her.

"C'mon you slowpoke!" she said as she got off the bed, grabbing Harry's arm.

"It's Christmas! There are presents waiting for us!" she said as Harry's mind processed what she just said.

"Wait, presents for us?" he asked with a dumbfounded look.

"Yes you prat! Us! As in you, me, and the others! C'mon let's go already," Ginny said as she tugged harder.

Harry couldn't believe it. He actually got presents for Christmas for once. The idea of getting gifts never seemed to bother him that much, but that was in Privet Drive, this was Hogwarts. And for the first time, Harry put on a jacket with so much excitement as he ran out the door with Ginny pulling his arm along.

Bounded Souls

Chapter 7 - Joyful Christmas

"Merry Christmas Harry," Ron greeted as Harry and Ginny walked down the stairs to the common room. Harry's eyes lit up at the sight, a small Christmas tree was set up in the room with a few presents laying underneath the tree. Harry looked around the common room, there were Christmas lights set up everywhere and a few bells floating above them. There weren't many students in the room as most of them went home for the holidays.

"Merry Christmas," he said as he sat down on the sofa, Ginny sitting down next to him as the fire crackled around. The scene was vaguely familiar. He remembered how he first comforted Ginny after their last day if detention weeks ago, when she first saw blood, the thing that freaks her out the most.

He hadn't forgotten it, how they stumbled upon Snape and Quirrel arguing. To Harry, it was as if Snape was itching to get his hands on the stone, even going as far as sneaking past a so called beast that lays at where the stone lies. He wondered. Why would Snape want the Phillosopher's Stone? Was he sick or something? Why would he want an elixir that could grant the drinker immortal life? Unless….

It's not for him. But if even if he had it, who would he give it to? He asked himself, but yet, a name suddenly appeared in his head, a name that belong to someone feared throughout the Wizarding World.

"Merry…"

"Christmas!" Fred and George said in unison as they appeared in the common room.

Harry mentally slapped himself. Now wasn't the time to think about something like this. It's Christmas, it's the time to be sharing presents, stuffing cookies and milk into our bellies, the time to be spent with your friends, not the time to spend wondering whether or not if your potions teacher is after a stone that could possibly resurrect the Darkest Wizard ever.

"Where's my present!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly as she scanned all the boxes that sat by the Christmas tree. Harry couldn't help but smile a bit. Her smile right now, it contrasted so much to how she acted when Harry found out about her fear of blood. Harry knew by then how much she feared it, days after the incident Harry noticed that Ginny acted a bit, off, to say the least. She wouldn't laugh as much as she usually does, she would freeze up every time she sees the color red, whether if it was a red ink that the professors use, or it was the ketchup that Ron would often put on his meals. It all scared her, Harry was just glad that it eventually died down and within a few days.

"Calm down Ginny…"

"These presents aren't going anywhere…."

"Unless it would be a shame…."

"If they grew legs…"

As if on cue, they gasped as some of the boxes literally grew legs and started running around the common room, scaring other students who were occupying the room.

"My presents!" a first year yelled as he chased a box out of the common room.

"When did you guys even, actually never mind," Ron said as she waved his hand. His eyes darted to the numerous boxes under the tree until he finally saw one box with his name on it.

"It's from Mum," Ginny said as she took a box with her name, so did Fred and George. Percy was about to reach for his gift when his box started to grow legs as well.

"Seriously? Even my gifts?" Percy cried out as he started to dash after the box, which jumped out of the portrait and out of the common room.

"Git gets what he deserves…"

"After snitching on us the other day, McGonagall had to confiscate out Freak-Out Face Masks,"

Harry ignored their comments as he watched Ron and Ginny tear apart the wrappings. It must've felt nice, getting presents from your own parents. Harry had to shoot his eyes away before Ginny or Ron notice, later asking why he was staring at them opening their presents as if they were something weird. Ron's face filled with disgust as he pulled out a maroon-colored sweater.

"Seriously this color again?" Ron said as he stuck out his tongue. The sweater was handknit and as much to Ron's disgust, it was all maroon colored with a large golden R stitched to the front. Fred, George and Ginny all pulled out their ow respective hand knit sweaters from their own gifts, a bright red color for the twins with a large F and G, and a pink one for Ginny.

"Oh well, but it is the Weasley tradition," Fred said as they all put on their sweater while Harry watched them.

It was no point. He told himself. He's just a child without any parents, any hopes or dreams of getting presents from a parent just vanished from his head.

"Here you go Baby Sister, our present!"

"But be sure to keep it well hidden," Fred and George snickered as they handed Ginny a relatively small box.

"Well hidden? What is this?" Ginny asked as she opened the lid. She slowly reached inside, and to Harry's shock, pulled out a black handgun.

"What is this?" Ginny asked as she moved the gun around, clearly not knowing how dangerous the object she was holding. Harry looked around and saw a few students staring at the gun in shock but looked away the moment Harry turned his head.

"From what he learned from Dad, that's called a Gun that the muggle protectors use…"

"Called please men I think, but anyway you use it like this," Fred said as he took the gun from Ginny's hands. Harry watched as Fred held and pointed the gun normally at the wall, with his finger on the trigger.

"You aim, then you pull this thing," he said as he pulled the trigger. For a split second, Harry forgot to cover his ears, he never witnessed a gun being fired but he learned of it once when he overheard the one of the movies that Uncle Vernon banned Dudley from watching, but it was no need. Instead of a bullet, a small black stone was shot out of the gun into the wall. It wasn't all that powerful, but it could still hurt judging from the sound of impact. Ginny had stars in her eyes as she jumped up and down.

"Let me try!" she exclaimed as jumped up to reach for the gun in Fred's hands, snatching it. Ginny stuck her tongue out in enthusiasm, pulling the trigger as the same thing happened.

"This is fun!" she said as Fred snatched it out from her hands, "Hey!"

"Now now Baby sister…" Fred started.

"You have to be careful, use it wisely dear sister,"

"If not…"

"Dad will have our heads" George said as they both pretended to shudder as Ginny laughed. Harry and Ron stared dumfounded at the clearly illegal object that they were gifting an 11-year-old.

"How in the world of Merlin did you both even get your hands on that thing?" Ron asked.

"Well, I'm glad you asked Baby brother," George said.

"Dad brought it home once! Said it was broken, found it during one of his raids, so we took it, put in a little bit of our own mischief," Fred started.

"And decided to gift it to our dear favourite sister," George finished.

"Raids?" Harry found himself saying it outloud by accident.

"Dad words for the Minnistry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, he loves muggles," Ginny said. "He wants to learn as much as he can from them, he always says that they're special just like us, even without any magic," Ginny said.

"And that's why we're called Blood Traitors!" Percy called out as he finally entered the room, hearing their conversation from the portrait hall. Harry noticed he was panting, clearly from chasing his running Christmas Box around.

"Don't blame Dad on that!" Ron called out angrily.

"Why else does everyone hate our family even though we're Pureblood, his obsession with Muggles is the reason why we're so poor," Percy argued back as Harry clenched his fists. He didn't understand the situation, but hearing a son pinning a stupid blame on his own father, did he not appreciate the fact that he was raised by someone who loved him? His own flash and blood?

Ginny looked up at Fred and George, they both nodded. All of them, including Ron had a look of anger plastered on their face. Ginny took aim at Percy.

"Huh? What's that?"

Ginny didn't say anything as she pulled the trigger, hitting Percy's hand.

"OW! What is that thing?" Percy shouted as he realized he dropped the present. His face grew pale as the legs on the present grew once more, running out of the portrait hole. "Not again!" he yelled as he ran out of the room, chasing after the present.

"I love this gift," Ginny said as she hugged Fred and George.

"Remember Gin, only, and I mean really only, for…

"Emergencies, only emergencies," they emphasized as Ginny nodded.

"Hey where's my present?" Ron pouted.

"Fear not Baby brother!"

"We have your gift right here," George said as he handed Ron a wrapped present.

"And why so quiet Harry?" Fred called out, as he handed Harry his own present.

"You guys gave me a present?" Harry asked.

Fred and George's face changed.

"Well actually, it wasn't us…"

"But a mysterious present giver instead…"

"What?" Harry moved the box around. The gifter's name wasn't on the tag, just a 'To Harry Potter' tag.

"I think you got one more," Ron said as he handed Harry a smaller present from the tree. It was so small that Harry held it with one hand, it was just a long, rectangular box while the other present was in a normal box. Harry scanned the smaller present around, hopeful that there was a name. A name that belonged to someone who cared enough for Harry to send him his first ever Christmas presents, but to his disappointed, he only found another 'To Harry Potter' tag. Ginny noticed the look on Harry's face, running to the sofa and plopped down next to him.

"C'mon Harry let's open your presents," Ginny said with a smile on her face. Harry shook away his unwavering thoughts, the sender wasn't important, although he was curious. He looked down at his 2 presents, wondering what's inside. But Ron interrupted him as he opened his present from Fred and George.

"Huh? What is this thing?" Ron said as he reached into his gift and pulled a small, rectangular object. It was mostly glass with a transparent liquid inside and a silver cap and a black button; a lighter. How did Fred and George get their hands on dangerous objects?

"Oh no," Harry muttered as Ginny stared in curiosity.

"It's a Muggle Fire starter…" Fred started.

"But we put in our own little twist!" George said.

"Twist? What twist?" Ron asked as Fred pointed at the silver cap.

"Press the black button o dear Ronald,"

"And what the magic that happens,"

Ron did what he was told, bringing his thumb down on the button. Harry had expected what a normal lighter would do, a fire staring at the opening, but instead, nothing happened. Ron pressed it again, nothing happened. Everyone was quiet, all Harry could hear for a few seconds was the cackling flames.

"Does something suppose to happen?" Ron asked. Harry looked up at Fred and George, only to see a look of worry on their faces.

"Uhh…Fred, you said you tested it already," George said as he gulped.

"I-I did, it worked fine yesterday," Fred stuttered.

"Wow, a broken present, thanks guys," Ron pouted the lighter on the floor next to his legs. He was about to stand up when Harry noticed a light flickered at the lighter. Fred noticed it as well.

"Wait look it's working!" she exclaimed.

But before anyone could say anything, a small stream of fire was shot out of the lighter into a shape of a sword. Harry would admit that the sword shaped fire looked cool, but what wasn't cool was the fact that the lighter was right next to to Ron's pants.

"THIS IS NOT WORKING!" Ron yelled in fear as the foot of his pants got caught on fire. Ron screamed as he ran around the common room, Fred and George running after him.

"Wait calm down Ron we can fix this!" George puffed as he nearly tripped over a carpet.

"I got this!" Fred said as he took out his wand. "I don't exactly know how it works but I seen Mom use this spell before when Bill tried making meatloaf once," he said as he pointed his wand at Ron. "Stand still!" he shouted.

Harry watched as George finally got a hold on Ron, lifting him up carefully to avoid the flames from reaching his own clothes.

"Aguamenti!" Fred chanted.

Nothing happened. Ron was about to scream when suddenly Fred's wand shook.

"Uh oh," he said. Harry immediately grabbed Ginny's hands and brought her and himself down at the side of the sofa, shielding them from whatever is about to happen. His eyes widened when suddenly a jet stream of water emerged from the end with a strong pressure, extinguishing the flames, but it didn't stop there. The pressure was so strong that Fred's wand shook out of his hand and started twirling, sending a jet stream of water in every direction.

"Fred so something!" Ginny shouted as she narrowly avoided the water.

"Fred what if we-! " His words were cut short as the water splashed onto his face and down to his clothes.

"What did you say Ge-"The same thing happened to Fred as his mouth was suddenly filled with water. Harry could almost find the situation funny as he peeked out to see the water show, but instead the water splashed to his face.

"That's it," he said as he pointed his wand. "Expelliarmus!". A red light shot out of Harry's wand and hit Fred's. The water stopped shooting as the wand fell, making them all sigh in relief. Harry and Ginny stood up to see Fred, George and Ron were all wet, dripping from head to toe while only Harry's hair got wet, his eyes full of anger at Fred and George.

"Oopsie," Fred said as he gave a goofy smile.

"Ginny I can dry them myself," Harry said as Ginny kept drying his hair with a towel.

"I'm almost done, hold still will you" she said as she rubbed the sides of Harry's hair.

It was just both of them in the Common Room now. Because the flames got on Ron's pants, his legs suffered minor burns, so he went to Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall was wondering where the shouting was coming from and arrived at the Common Room to see the wet mess in it. So, one thing led to another, Fred and George were sent to his office to get a scolding on dangerous presents and Ron to the hospital wing. The twins' face fell the moment McGonagall mentioned that their mother was definitely going to learn about this.

"There!" Ginny said as she put down the towel. Harry's hair was even messier but at least it was dry, he wanted to protest, saying how he was more than capable at drying his own hair, but Ginny was being stubborn as usual, saying how she wanted to dry his hair instead.

"Thanks," he bluntly said as he looked over to his presents. Ginny's eyes perked up.

"Ooh! Open them now! Even I'm curious," she said as she went over and took the two presents, handing them to Harry.

Initially he was excited, the thought of having real presents for the first time ever. But yet, he was also nervous. His hands shook as he slowly teared apart the wrapping, revealing a box with a lid on it. Ginny's eyes were glued to the box as Harry lifted the lid, revealing a black cloth. His eyebrows burrowed as he lifted the cloth, but it was actually a long black cloak.

"Who would send me a.." his words trailed off as there was a small note in the box. He reluctantly handed the cloak to Ginny as he took the small note and read it.

"Once belonged to your father, now, it belongs to you," Harry read out.

"Harry!" Ginny called out, "Look!"

Harry looked up to see Ginny, but it was only her head. Harry rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. Her head was floating around, her body was completely gone.

"What the," Ginny spread out her arms, revealing that she was wearing the black cloak.

"It's an Invisibility Cloak!" she exclaimed as she took off the cloak and handed it back to Harry. He stood up and wrapped the cloak around himself. He almost gasped as his body was gone. He wriggled his toes, but yet he still saw nothing. He opened the cloak to see his body back but disappeared as he closed it back. Ginny read the note.

"So, this belonged to your dad?" Ginny asked but Harry couldn't say anything.

The cloak belonged to his father. So, the very thing he was using to cover himself, was once used to cover his father. A possession that was passed down from Father to Son.

"Dad…" he muttered. Ginny watched as his eyes were getting watery, but didn't say anything to tease him about, instead, she gave a warm smile. Harry took off the cloak and laid it on the sofa, he was going to take really good care of it. Harry's eyes wandered over to the smaller present. He reached down and teared away the wrapping easily. He opened the lid, and his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Ginny said as she suddenly gasps as Harry took out a black dagger.

"Fred and George didn't give me any presents, did they?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so," Ginny said as Harry sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted was fire to suddenly shoot out of the small weapon. But Harry examined the dagger carefully. The handle was wrapped in black leather strings and the blade, despite it being black as well, it still shone and reflected light. The length of the blade was around a third of his wand length.

"Snyde and Malfoy better watch their backs," Ginny joked.

Harry noticed there were more. A small sheath for the dagger, with something imprinted on it. It was a gray paw print in a circle.

"It looks almost like it came from a dog's paw," Ginny said.

There was note as well in the box. Harry picked it up. "Prongs Junior," he read. "Who's Prongs? Is this really for me?" Harry held the dagger in his hands. It felt so comfortable, as if it was made specially for him. He gripped it tighter, the leather squeezed perfectly in his palms.

"I think you should probably keep that hidden first," Ginny advised as Harry agreed. He put the dagger back in its sheath. An 11-year-old holding a really dangerous dagger doesn't really look nice. Harry plopped down onto the sofa. His cloak and dagger laid next to him.

It felt nice to him, to actually open presents that were gifted to him, although it would've been nice to know who he had gotten the presents from anyway. But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Ginny jumped down next to him, forcefully shoving a present into his hands.

"Here's mine!" she exclaimed.

That's when it hit him. All day he had been opening presents for him, but never gave any presents, nor got any to give in the first place. He was about to speak up when Ginny beat him to it once she saw his face.

"It's fine, there's no need to apologize," she said.

"Huh? Wait you knew?"

"I understand that Christmas wasn't always a fun holiday considering how you grew up, so I knew you probably weren't used to getting presents or giving any presents in the first place," she laughed.

Harry was too stunned to say anything. Since when was she ever this sharp?

"But that's why I wanted you to be here, at least for the first time, you can enjoy a really joyful Christmas," she smiled. "So here! I made it myself!" she said as she pushed the box into Harry's hands.

"C'mon open it!" she said impatiently.

"Alright alright," he said as he opened it. His eyes widened as what laid inside, was a necklace. The string was a black cord, puling it out, there was something dangling from the cord. It was a silver crescent, looked like it was handmade, engraved on the crescent, was a large H.

"Look!" Ginny said as she reached into her shirt and pulled out necklace similar to Harry's, but instead of a moon crescent, it was a sun with the engraving G on it.

"Watch!" she said as she took the crescent out of Harry's hands, he watched as she put the crescent and sun together, somehow locking them together.

"It's a best friend necklace I made!" she said as she pulled them apart and gave it to Harry. He stared at the present in shock.

A best friend necklace. Something he never thought he would actually get in his lifetime. Something that served as a reminder for the close friendship with Ginny that he cherished so much.

"D-Do you like it?" Ginny asked when suddenly, Harry pulled her in for a hug.

"I love it," he said as he hugged tighter. Ginny's face turned red for a second, normally it was her that would start on hugs, but this was something very unexpected.

It was then Harry pulled back, realizing what he just done, the two of them stared awkwardly at each other for a second, before they burst out laughing. Harry looked at his gifts, his first real gifts. He looked down at the necklace and put it over his head, wearing it. It fit well, the crescent was laying right at the top part of his chest, it wasn't too long or too short. It was perfect.

This really was a joyful Christmas.

"Hooo boy," a man said as he looked around. It was a mess of a jail cell. The stone walls were cold everywhere his feet touched; it wasn't helping that the fact that it was snowing hard as well. He watched out of the window as countless white snowflakes were slowly falling down from the dark sky, the water surrounding the island he was on was starting to freeze up.

"Hey!" a man's voice shouted from outside his cell. He looked over; his large bushy hair was messy. Understandable, considering he hasn't cleaned it in almost a few months. That was just the one of the brutal punishments he had to endure, only once every few months could he clean himself up. His moustache even felt itchy above his lips as he scratched it.

"Have a rotten Christmas you scumbag," the man coldly said as he walked away.

"Christmas?" he muttered to himself. That's right, it was that time of the year. He laughed at himself. The last time he was able to properly celebrate this holiday was little over 11 years ago. He could still envision it, sharing presents with 2 of his best friends, sitting by the warm fire in his home, laughing around, arguing who had the better present.

Ahh the warm fire, he really missed it. But it wasn't anything new that he had to endure the cold, after all, he had to deal with this for 11 years already. He took a deep breath and breathed out, his breath turned into a white vapour, caused by the winter season.

"Merry Christmas…" he muttered silent, "Prongs, Moony, Lily," he said, "and Harry…. hope you like my gift,"