Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake had frozen solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around and bounced off the back of his turban. The few owls that had managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
Haiden couldn't wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy, and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. The worst (at least in Haiden's opinion) were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons where their breaths rose in a mist before them, and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
"I can't wait to show you and your brother around the mansion." Malfoy said one Potions class before giving him a look of mock shock. "Oops, I forgot. You won't be there. No one wanted to spend their Christmas with you, not even your own brother wants to stay here with you. What do you think that has to say about you that your brother chose me over you?" Haiden, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ground his teeth together while forcing himself to not turn and deck the smirking prat in the mouth.
Malfoy had become even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match and had begun to stick even closer to Harry. It was clear to everyone (or just Haiden) that Malfoy was pissed off that Gryffindor had won the Quidditch match as was using Harry to get back at Haiden for catching the Snitch and winning the game. And though it was annoying (and hurtful) that Harry was falling for Malfoy's tricks, Haiden vowed not to let Malfoy know that he was getting to him.
However, what Malfoy said wasn't a lie. Harry had chosen to spend all of Winter Holiday with Malfoy and his family, while Haiden would be left at Hogwarts. Yes, Ron would be staying at Hogwarts because his family was going to Romania to visit Charlie, and Ron was the only one who chose to stay, not wanting Haiden to be alone. Though his friend would be with him, Haiden had hoped that he would be able to get to spend Christmas with Harry. The twins had never spent Christmas apart.
When Haiden left the dungeons at the end of Potions, nearly getting run over by Malfoy (more than likely on his way to Harry), everyone found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was on the other side of the tree.
"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.
"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron." Hagrid huffed out.
"Would you mind moving out of the way, some of us have places to be." Malfoy drawled out impatiently, before turning to smirk at Ron. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts? I suppose that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to." Ron launched at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!" Snape roared and Ron instantly let go of Malfoy's robes.
"'E was provoked, Professor Snape." Hagrid said, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insulting 'is family."
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid." Snape said silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Now move along, all of you." Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering the needles everywhere and smirked.
"I'll get him," Ron said through gritted teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him–"
"I hate them both," Haiden said, "Malfoy and Snape."
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas." Hagrid said. "Tell yeh what, come with meh and see the Great 'All, looks a treat." So, Haiden, Ron, and Hermione followed Hagrid and his tree to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put it in the far corner, would you?" Flitwick asked. The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.
"'Ow many days you got left until yur 'olidays?" Hagrid asked.
"Just one." Hermione said. "And that reminds me – Haiden, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."
"The library?" Hagrid asked, following them out of the hall. "Just before the 'olidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"
"Oh, we're not working." Haiden told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel, we've been trying to find out who he is."
"Yeh what?" Hagrid asked looking shocked. "Listen 'ere – I've told yeh – drop it. It's nothing to yeh what that dog's guarding."
"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all." Hermione said innocently.
"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble." Haiden added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already, and we can't find him anywhere – just give us a hint – Hermione's sure she's read his name somewhere."
"I'm saying nothin'." Hagrid said flatly.
"Just have to find out for ourselves, then." Ron said before they turned as one and left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library. They had indeed been searching books for Nicolas Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal.
The trouble was, without Harry's help (and they had tried multiple times to get his help, only to have him shake his head and walk away while telling them that Hermione already knew where to look), it was hard to know where to even begin to look. Not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself in a book was annoying. And Hermione had no idea what Harry meant when he said that she knew where to look.
Flamel wasn't in the Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, nor Notable Magical Names of Our Time. He was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and a Study of Recent Development in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books, thousands of shelves, hundreds of narrow rows. How Harry had been able to memorize where every single book was, Haiden would never know.
Once the trio had got to the library, Hermione pulled out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Haiden wondered over to the Restricted Section. He was beginning to wonder if Nicolas Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, if Haiden wanted into the Restricted Section, he needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers, and he knew he'd never get one.
Apparently, the books in the Restricted Section contained powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advance Defense Against the Dark Arts… Or Harry. Because, if Hermione was correct, Harry had somehow been able to get permission from Professor Flitwick to look at any of the books in the Restricted Section at any time he wanted. Which was another reason that Haiden had wanted Harry to stay at the castle, he wanted to try to convince Harry to get them into the Restricted Section.
"What are you looking for, boy?" Madam Pince, the librarian asked him, glaring at him suspiciously.
"Nothing." Haiden automatically said. Madam Pince brandished a feather duster at him.
"You'd better get out, then. Go on – out!" Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Haiden was forced to leave the library. Him, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed that it would be best to not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure that she'd help them, however, they couldn't risk Snape hearing about what they were up to. That was another reason that Haiden wanted Harry to stay at Hogwarts over the Winter Holiday, he was the only person that could help them. But of course, Harry (being as naïve as he was) believed Malfoy's web of lies. Haiden was positive that Malfoy was the only reason that Harry had even dared to defend that bastard Snape.
Haiden waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything on Flamel, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for weeks since they had learned the name, but as they only had off moments between lessons (and with Harry refusing to help them), it wasn't surprising that they'd found nothing. What they really needed (since they didn't have Harry's help) was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.
Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione joined them, shaking their heads. They then went off to lunch.
"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" Hermione asked. "And send me an owl if you find anything."
"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is." Ron said. "It'd be safe to ask them."
"Very safe, they're both dentists." Hermione said.
~Forget Me Not~
Once the holidays started, Ron and Haiden were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. They had the dormitory to themselves, and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork – bread, English muffins, marshmallow – and plotting ways to get Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.
Ron also started teaching Haiden wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family – in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a draw back at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.
Haiden played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."
On Christmas Eve, Haiden went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When he woke early in the morning, however, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed. "Merry Christmas." Ron said sleepily as Haiden scrambled out of his bed and pulled on his bathrobe.
"You too." Haiden said quickly. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"
"What did you expect, turnips?" Ron asked, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Haiden's. Haiden picked up the top parcel, it was wrapped in a beautiful Silvery-blue foil and written on a note attached to it was: 'To Haiden, From Harry. Merry Christmas. Sorry that I'm not there to celebrate Christmas with you. I made this in hopes that it will help you in your search. It's not real, by the way.' Haiden opened the parcel, and inside it was a small wooden box that had a strange symbol: A circle that had a triangle in the center of it, a square was inside the triangle and a smaller circle that had the infinity symbol in it was inside the square; above the square was what looked to be an eye, on the right side of the triangle was a small circle with a single large dot in it, under the triangle was a another small circle that held a plus sign, and on the left side of the triangle was the third and final small circle that held a crescent moon. Inside the box was a beautiful blood red jewel. Haiden pulled the jewel out and looked at it, it looked familiar, but he wasn't sure how a stone could help them.
Shrugging, Haiden dropped the stone back into the box before tossing it aside, going to his next present, never even noticing that his gift from Harry had fallen to the ground and bounced under his bed. Haiden picked up a parcel from Hagrid, opening it to find a roughly cut wooden flute. It was obvious that Hagrid had whittled it himself. Haiden blew it – it sounded a bit like an owl.
A second, very small parcel, contained a note: 'We received your message and enclosed your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.' Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.
"That's friendly." Haiden said dryly. Ron was fascinated by the fifty-pence, so Haiden gave it to him.
"You can keep it." Haiden said, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid, my aunt and uncle – who sent these?"
"I think I know who that one's from," Ron said, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel, "my mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and – oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater." Haiden had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge. "Every year she makes us a sweater," Ron moaned, unwrapping his own, "and mine is always maroon."
"That's really nice of her." Haiden said, trying the fudge, which was very tasty. His next present also contained candy – a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione. This only left one parcel. Haiden picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it. Something fluid and silvery grey went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.
"I've heard of those." He said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is – they're really rare, and really valuable."
"What is it?" Haiden asked picking the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
"It's an invisibility cloak." Ron said, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is – try it on." Haiden threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell. "It is! Look down!" Haiden looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed over to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him. Just his head suspended in mid-air, his body was completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely. "There's a note!" Ron said suddenly. "A note fell out of it."
Haiden pulled off the cloak and snatched the letter out of Ron's hand. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words: 'Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very Merry Christmas to you.' There was no signature. Haiden stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak.
"I'd give anything for one of those. Anything." Ron breathed out. "What's the matter."
"Nothing." Haiden said. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father? Would it help him sneak into the Restricted Section?