"Wake up!" A loud drawl next to Greyson's ear sent him further into his warm blankets but then the shaking started.
"Stop..." he groaned out before the comforter was ripped from the bed and cold air surrounded him. He sat up reluctantly and glared at the red headed fiends before him. "I'm going to haunt you jackasses when I die."
"It's Christmas!" Fred yelled excitedly and Greyson grunted as the twins put his arms around their shoulders and carried him out to the main area of the common room.
"Greyson!" Harry grinned sleepily upon spotting his brother. Utterly relaxed and hair sleep mussed, the sight warmed Greyson's heart. His brother was doing better here than he could have ever guessed. Greyson pulled away from the twins and moved to drape himself across Harry.
"Don't move," Greyson drowsed, laying his head in Harry's lap.
"Since when did you become the tired one?" Harry laughed, beginning to run his fingers through Greyson's hair just as he used to when they were children and needed comfort.
"Don't stop," Greyson ordered. He sounded like a demanding child even to his own ears, but he felt truly content for the first time since coming to Hogwarts and he didn't want it to end but Harry moved away, forcing Greyson to sit up. He gave Harry his best mock glare but Harry just smiled indulgently and seemed to be waiting for him to do something. He had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. How did Christmas work now that they were somewhere new? "I'm here... now what?"
"We open our presents," Ron chirped, already kneeling before the brightly wrapped gifts with an excited sparkle in his eye. "Have you never experienced Christmas?"
"Here," Harry said, handing Greyson a stack of presents and purposefully ignoring Ron's question.
"Why are there so many?" Greyson asked as he took them hesitantly. He looked them over and saw about eight presents... normally he had two. One from Harry and one from Mrs. Figg. Were they all for him? There must have been a mistake.
"Oh, I told Mum that you two weren't expecting any," Ron said as he spotted the lumpy package. "Oh no, I think she made you a Weasley sweater."
Greyson started with the bag and saw his penny candies were in there and would munch on those later, along with his traditional cabbage smelling candy bar. Mrs. Figg had still gotten him a Christmas present. His chest was almost uncomfortably warm but it wasn't a bad feeling. He opened the lumpy package next to see a hand knit emerald green sweater with a giant silver G on it. What was Ron talking about? It looked so cozy and the colors were so pretty! He had never gotten anything that was personalized for him either. The warm feeling had turned into a fire and he couldn't stop his face from splitting into a large wobbly grin. "This is brilliant. I'm going to have to write your mum a letter."
"For what?" Fred asked distractedly as he tore into his own presents.
"For making us these sweaters," Greyson told him, ignoring the way his voice wavered slightly. "It must have taken her forever to make even one of these."
"Don't forget the fudge," George piped up from his area, picking up a box with a red ribbon around it. "She makes these for us every year. You might as well accept it, you're a Weasley now."
"Next she'll be wetting her thumb and rubbing dirt off your nose," Fred laughed, miming the gesture and following it up with a grossed out expression. Greyson laughed despite himself, and George seemed shocked for a second. He collected himself quickly and joined in soon enough.
"Just like little inkle, Ronny-kins," George teased after they all calmed down.
"Oh, shove off," Ron chuckled. Greyson just shook his head at their antics and began opening up the gift from Ron, which was a chocolate frog. Hermione got him a book on the history of the Hogwarts founders and Hagrid made him a rough figurine of Fluffy, Coal, and Rascal that he had carved out of wood and would definitely go on his bedside table for the rest of time. The twins had gotten him some fizzing whizzbees, which could make you levitate while eating them, and black pepper imps that let you breathe fire according to the packaging.
"Sorry I wasn't able to get you gifts," Greyson murmured, looking at each of them in turn. "I didn't think I'd be getting anything more than I usually do..."
"It's alright," Fred grinned reassuringly. "You already gave us a great one last night."
"Experience of a lifetime," George agreed.
"You can just get me a chocolate frog later," Ron chirped.
"Deal," Greyson laughed. He found a 20p coin from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. He tucked that away for Harry's birthday next year and saw Harry had given Ron his coin to Ron's amazement.
Greyson frowned at the last package he had that was unmarked, except for his name on it. The hand writing was similar to what was on his mystery birthday present left on his bed. He unwrapped it to find a book on dragons, the binding even seemed to be made of dragon scales that were so dark they seemed to reflect every color of the rainbow when the light hit them. "Wow," his awed whisper attracted everyone's attention as he brushed his hand over the scales reverently. Whoever this mystery book giver was, they were certainly good at picking out books for him.
"Is that made out of Dragon skin?" Fred was practically leaning at a 45 degree angle to get a better look.
"It has to be bloody expensive," George said in wonder. "Bill got some boots and they cost him a couple galleons."
"Well, guess I have a book I need to take care of more than usual then," he said, unable to keep the smile from his face. His face was starting to hurt at this point, but he couldn't find himself annoyed with such a beautiful book in his lap. Whoever this mystery book giver is, Greyson would be eternally grateful… and start figuring out exactly who they are now that his interest has thoroughly been peaked.
"You missed one," Ron pointed out, grabbing a neatly wrapped brown paper package with a note attached to it. Greyson and Harry both went to grab it from him.
Greyson pulled and read the note aloud, "'Your father left it in my care before he died. I believe it is time that this was returned to the both of you.' I wonder who had this..." he said as Harry unwrapped it to reveal a silvery shimmery fabric.
"It's a cloak," Harry informed him as he swung it around his shoulders, gasps filling the room as it made his body seemingly disappear, leaving only Harry's floating head.
"It's an invisibility cloak," Ron blurted, his mouth stuck open wide. "They're incredibly rare."
"And bloody expensive," Fred whispered, reaching out to touch it.
"But that thing has to be extremely old to be that effective," George said as he looked at it. "They are usually enchanted and start to fade after a few years. This one has to be extremely powerful." Now that truly piqued Greyson's interest.
"Really?" Greyson wondered and rubbed his hand over his mouth in thought.
"Yeah, we've read loads about them," Fred said. "Been trying to find one, but haven't been able to. Either can't find 'em or can't afford them."
Greyson nodded to show he'd heard. Whoever this mystery cloak giver was, had to be an honest person if they were willing to give up such a valuable item to two boys who had no idea of their past or their inheritance. This stranger could have kept it to themselves.
Harry grinned as an idea came to him. "I can use this to go see the forbidden section in the library."
"I'm coming with you then," Greyson demanded.
"Could we borrow it sometime?" Fred and George inquired in unison.
"Absolutely not," he told them.
"What? Why not?" George squawked, putting his hand over his heart and striking a dramatically betrayed pose. "Think of all the things we could do with it! We thought you were our new partner in crime!"
"And that's exactly why I'm putting a firm no down," Greyson wagged his finger at them. "I don't need that going in Filch's office dungeon. Or have Mrs. Norris use it as a scratching post."
"I thought you'd be more fun," Fred huffed. "Especially after last night."
"What did you three do last night?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Visited Rascal, Coal, and Fluffy," Greyson replied. "Otherwise these two were going to destroy the Slytherin common rooms with their snooping."
"You two went to Slytherin?" Ron asked. "Don't like being in Gryffindor?"
"We like Gryffindor tower just fine," Fred said.
"Just had to know where all those pig nosed Slytherins stay, present company excluded," George teased, giving Greyson a wink.
"Honestly, Percy would fit right in with them," Greyson huffed. "Him and Malfoy could be twins. Except instead of 'My father' he goes, 'Headmaster'."
"Don't think yourself so high and mighty, Slytherin," Percy's shrill voice rang from the staircase. Oh yeah. Percy's room was right at the top of the stairs.
"I don't," Greyson yelled back. "But you do." Tension was palpable in the room as no one moved, watching this finally come to a head. "You've been on my case since day one all because I'm in Slytherin. 'You can't mess with the first years because you're a Slytherin.' 'How dare a Slytherin ask me, a Gryffindor for help.' Honestly, all you've done is treat me like shite since I've gotten here when I haven't even done a bloody thing to you or to cause you to look at me wrong. But because I'm a Slytherin, you watch me like a bloody hawk waiting for me to do something wrong when I have no intention of doing that when I just wanted to spend time with my brother for Christmas. But I swear, you have your head buried so deep in whoever's arse you've been sniffing, that you don't even know how to learn about a person. Honestly, with all your power hungry butt-kissing, you should have been the bloody Slytherin with how you act."
Percy's footsteps faded as he finished running down the stairs to stand red-faced in front of everyone. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. Finally he managed to find his words and weakly utters, "Just wait until McGonagall hears about this."
"Great, let me know when you plan on telling her because I would love to hear you explain your bigotry towards me for doing nothing towards you or any other Gryffindors," Greyson replied. "Because I don't think calling a fool out on his actions is a reason to be punished."
"Bigot?! You… you act the way you do just to get attention! I'm just the only one who will call you out on it. You're in Slytherin for a reason! You wouldn't be one if you were a good person! No one cares about you and no one will remember you cause-cause… Everyone only cares about Harry! As they sh-should!" As his shrill voice lost steam at the end of his rant, the twins looked to Percy in wide eyed shock and anger while Ron seemed to be shrinking in on himself. Harry was rigid and glassy-eyed.
Greyson told himself his words held no weight, but they stung nonetheless. They cut deep and had Greyson holding back tears. He refused to cry in front of Percy and give him the satisfaction of knowing that those words got to him, of seeing him cry. He stood up and brushed himself off. "I think I'll take a walk," he said, keeping his tone monotonous and face turned away from everyone. On that note, he turned on his heel and left to go wandering about the castle. His mind felt muted, like it was stuffed with cotton, and his eyes still burned traitorously. He told himself nothing Percy said was true even if, deep down, he knew the reason the words hurt so much was because he believed them.