Thicknesse was very displeased the following week to see the essay that Professor Longbottom had fabricated. James suspected that he really wanted to punish Bella the moment she left the Hospital Wing. Thicknesse then bitterly took ten points off of Gryffindor for seemingly no reason at all. Jackson Lestrange once again had to earn the points back by impressing Thicknesse with his work.

"For your homework, I want you all to write an essay concerning the advantages and disadvantages of animal transfiguration" Thicknesse called out as everyone was packing their bags to leave. "That includes Gorren, and I won't be lenient with her just because she's sick."

"I can't wait for the Christmas holidays" groaned James, as he walked up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"Doesn't really make much difference to me" Darren muttered. "I have to catch up with everyone in two weeks; I'm hardly going to be having a relaxing time."

"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia" answered James.

"Truly revolting things" the Fat Lady responded in an uptight voice. "What Professor Longbottom sees in those…"

"Just open up" Darren demanded impatiently.

"How rude" the Fat Lady snorted, though she opened up regardless.

James and Darren entered the Gryffindor Common Room, and to James' shock and delight; Bella was sitting in her favourite armchair by the fire.

"Bella" James yelled. "You're feeling better."

"Yeah" Bella replied steadily. "Madame Pomfrey told me that the last of that Cockroach Dagger has processed through my system. I feel as good as I've ever been."

"That's great" James declared.

"Thicknesse has set us all homework" Darren muttered. "If you don't do your homework…"

"Oh screw Thicknesse and his homework" Bella spat. "I just can't wait for a proper curry tonight."

"Bella…" Jackson Lestrange said cautiously from behind.

"What is it Jackson?" Bella asked suspiciously.

"I had a word with Hagrid yesterday" Jackson began. "We both thought it would be nice to get you a get well present. I still don't quite know what makes a great wizarding present, so I got you something that I really liked growing up."

He gave Bella a small box with the word Lego on the front, and a picture of a helicopter on all sides.

"What's this?" asked Bella.

"It's called Lego" replied Jackson. "Basically you need to build that helicopter using the pieces inside the box."

As Jackson was explaining how the Lego worked, a few sixth year students including Sebastian Gorren came through the portrait hole. James thought that he would be happy to see his cousin out of hospital, but instead he looked furious, and marched angrily towards them.

"How dare you go anywhere near her, you vile creature" he screamed.

Before James could understand what Sebastian was on about, he drew out his wand, and aimed it directly at Jackson's neck.

"Not this again" Jackson muttered.

"I told you I didn't want to see you anywhere near her" Sebastian roared.

"Well considering we're in both the same year and house, that's a little difficult to do" Jackson argued back.

"Don't you dare talk back to a proper Gryffindor" Sebastian barked back.

"Sebastian, enough" ordered Victoire Weasley. "As a prefect, I am demanding you to get away from Jackson."

"It's fine" Jackson muttered. "If lunatics don't want to be near me, I'm doing something right."

Sebastian was visibly fighting back every urge to curse Jackson after receiving the insult. Jackson left the Common Room, presumably to go and see Hagrid.

"Five points from Gryffindor" Victoire told everyone.

"Good, it's what he deserves" Sebastian said triumphantly. "How dare that Slytherin scum insult me of all people like that."

"Actually…" Darren began, before James kicked him.

James didn't want to listen to another shouting match with Sebastian. He could tell by Victoire rolling her eyes, that the points deduction wasn't due to Jackson's quip at all.

"He didn't hurt you again did he Bella?" Sebastian asked in a more calm voice.

"No" replied Bella.

"Good" grinned Sebastian. "What's that you've got there?"

"It's a muggle toy that Darren got her" replied James.

Darren tried to correct him, but, James secretly kicked his ankle. He thought it was best that Sebastian didn't know where the Lego box came from.

"Oh, I've heard of Lego" Sebastian said enthusiastically. "Professor Lee gave us some in Muggle Studies. It's great fun; brilliant present, I'm so jealous. Just remember it's quiditch practice tomorrow, I want us all to continue are brilliant run of form."

Quiditch practise went surprisingly well over the next few weeks. James was starting to get more used to his Nimbus Three Thousand, and was beginning to lap the pitch several seconds quicker than he did previously.

"Don't get too cocky" warned Patricia. "Silverstone McLaren's broomstick is an absolute beast."

"Not the one she'll be flying when we play her" grinned Tulip.

"What do you mean?" Patricia demanded.

"I overheard Dexter talk about it" explained Tulip. "McLaren reckons that she can save even more time off her flying by sending her broom to be serviced. It won't be finished until her last game against Hufflepuff."

"She's riding a broom so fast, that the best seekers in the world can't fly it" gasped Corner. "And she wants it to go even faster?"

"Who cares about that" Sebastian shrugged the concerns off. "That's Ravenclaw's problem, not ours. If the best broom is out of commission against us, we need to strike while the iron's hot."

Most of the team including James cheered in agreement, with the exception of Benedict. Whilst everyone else were relieved to hear that they won't be facing McLaren's latest Firebolt model, Benedict looked concerned. James was going to ask him what was up, but before he had the chance, Sebastian restarted the practise, and everyone was ordered by Patricia to get on their brooms.

James was exhausted when he returned to the Common Room that evening. He found Bella and Darren on the floor with the Lego. Bella trying to assemble the helicopter together, and Darren telling her where she was going wrong.

"This is so hard" complained Bella. "I could put it together in a second if I used Repairo on it."

"That's not the spirit of the thing" Darren scolded her.

"We can enchant it later" Victoire Weasley told her. "Grandad taught me a lot of fun spells that can be used on muggle toys. By the way James, Professor Longbottom had asked me to give this to you."

Victoire handed James a letter, addressed to him with his mother's handwriting. He guessed that it was delivered during quiditch practise, so Professor Longbottom had to keep hold of it for safe keeping.

Dear James

Congratulations on your win against Hufflepuff. Dad is claiming all the credit for buying you such a good broom, but everyone else here knows it's your ability that made the difference.

I'm writing to you now, because me and your father believe that this year isn't a good year to return home for the holidays. As Dad said in a previous letter, Pansy Parkinson has been kidnapped, and he's been assigned to find her. He's unfortunately no closer to finding her, and he's been putting so much energy into trying, that we're not in a position to provide a good Christmas for you.

Albus and Lily are staying at the Burrow over Christmas, and you are of course welcome to join them; however we have also heard from Professor Longbottom that your friend is staying over for Christmas too, so he can catch up on his schoolwork. It would be nice if you can stay with him, and give him some support.

Hope you have a hardworking end to the term.

Love from Mum.

"Looks like I'm staying over with you for Christmas Darren" James said cheerfully.

"Mum and Dad don't want you?" asked Darren.

"Their busy with work" James explained. "I could go with Al and Lily for Christmas at Granny and Grandad's, but why would I want to spend Christmas with them over you."

"Younger siblings are annoying" Darren smirked.

"You have some too?" James asked.

"I have a younger brother" Darren replied. "A really annoying one at that. Mum and Dad always side with him over me."

"That's younger brothers for you" James joked.

He was about to help out with Bella's Lego, when he saw Benedict Falcon sitting in an armchair nearby. He was drinking a cup of hot chocolate, but he looked as disturbed as he did in practise.

"You look pretty down" he said to him.

"Sorry" Benedict gasped, before realising James had walked up to him. "Oh, forgive me James. I was just thinking about things is all."

"You looked like this during practise" James pointed out. "What's on your mind?"

"I don't like how lightly the whole team is taking the Ravenclaw match" he replied. "I've seen all teams play now, and I conclude that in terms of competitiveness; the Ravenclaw team is quite average."

"They thrashed Slytherin" James argued.

"That's because Bletchley threw the game for them" retorted Benedict. "Their beaters were good, but the keeper was untested, the chasers' shots weren't all that great, and I believe us and the Hufflepuffs would have been able to intercept their passes. The other key to their victory was Silverstone McLaren's broom."

"Which she is sending away to be serviced" James filled in the blank. "We're not going to be playing against her on that broom."

"Which is exactly why I'm worried" Benedict said darkly.

"What do you mean?" asked James.

"Silverstone's a bright girl; she would have made the exact same observations as me" explained Benedict. "Yet against a tougher team, she chose not to use her greatest asset."

"Maybe she's just overconfident" suggested James. "Or maybe she's betting on losing to us, but then making a comeback against Hufflepuff."

"That doesn't make much sense" replied Benedict. "Our last opponent is Slytherin, who regretfully is by far the weakest of all the teams. I believe the far more likely explanation is that she has something up her sleeve."

"What makes you think that?" asked James.

"Bletchley has gotten a lot of anger directed at him for throwing his first match, but he must have had a reason for doing it in the first place."

"You think McLaren persuaded him to do it?"

Benedict nodded.

"I believe that if she is so willingly giving away her broom, then she must be confident in beating us" he concluded.

"You look way too down Falcon" a passing Patricia noticed. "You're only supposed to be looking down during practise, not after it."

"My apologies" muttered Benedict.

"You're not still worried about the Traitor of Gryffindor are you?" asked Patricia.

"No, not really" replied Benedict. "Especially since I know who they are."

James and Patricia stared wide eyed at him. Everyone else nearby who happened to have overheard the conversation, also stared at him in disbelief.

"You know who the Traitor of Gryffindor is?" Patricia squeaked.

"Rather, I suspect I know who it is" Benedict corrected himself.

"Don't just sit there like a lemon, who is it?" Sebastian demanded.

"My hypothesis has no evidence to back it up" Benedict replied. "If I was to oust who it was now, and I happen to be wrong, then whoever I accused would suffer undeserved treatment."

Most of the students groaned at Benedict's explanation, but James could understand it. If Jackson Lestrange was tormented because of his surname, then whoever the Traitor of Gryffindor will get it even worse.

Even though Benedict was feeling more comfortable from knowing who the Traitor of Gryffindor was; it was not shared amongst the rest of Gryffindor, especially since the latest threat that was made hasn't yet been fulfilled.

"This is the last day before the Christmas holidays, and nothing has happened yet" noted Aoiffe, during their last History of Magic class.

"Maybe Benedict has scared them off" suggested Bella, as Professor Binns began talking about the House Elf Ownership and Slavery Act of 1103.

"Don't bet on it" remarked Jackson. "If Professor Longbottom and Professor McGonagall didn't scare them off, I doubt Benedict would."

Transfiguration ended with Professor Thicknesse handing out the largest amount of homework James had ever seen a teacher give out.

"You all have two weeks off" he pointed out. "If you give three hours a day to the work, you should be able to complete it."

Most of the Gryffindors groaned all the way to Gryffindor Tower. Most of them were looking forward to being able to relax, but Thicknesse's three hours a day homework put a wrench in their plans.

"I don't know how I'm going to get all this work done" muttered James, as he walked into the Common Room.

"I do" replied Darren.

He got his exercise book out of his bag, and threw it into the fireplace. The paper instantly started to blacken from the fire.

"What are you doing?" gasped James. "He'll give you detention for that."

"Thicknesse already gives me detentions for being crap at magic" Darren retorted. "What difference does burning the book make?"

Dranzebar Lang upon listening to Darren, decided to follow suit.

"I ain't spending Christmas doing all that" he remarked.

Most of the first year Gryffindors then agreed that none of them would do the homework that Thicknesse had set; the only exception being Jackson Lestrange.

"I'm going back to my orphanage for Christmas" he explained. "And apart from Hagrid's present, I'm not getting anything."

Sebastian looked like he was on the verge of insulting him, but Victoire and Patricia were doing everything they could to hold him back.

"Not many people going home this Christmas" Benedict noted. "Only myself and you I believe."

"Can you really work out who the Traitor of Gryffindor is whilst you're away?" asked Cameron Corner.

"I can give it a good go" replied Benedict.

After the end of term feast, he and Jackson left along with the rest of the students who were going home for Christmas. Bella didn't return home due to finding Christmas rather dull at her house.

"Dad doesn't believe in fun" she explained. "When I was eight, I didn't have any presents due to him forgetting it was even Christmas."

James spent the last few days leading up to Christmas day either practising quiditch, doing homework for a teacher other than Thicknesse, or helped Bella on her Lego project. The helicopter was finished on Christmas Eve, and as Victoire had promised, she casted a spell on the completed model, making it fly around the Common Room as if it was a real helicopter.

"That's so cool" Bella declared.

"Glad to see Grandad tinkering away with muggle artefacts was useful for something" Janes agreed.

"It's days like these that makes Christmas so special" Sebastian beamed. "Fun magic bridging the gap between wizards and muggles, and not a single Slytherin in sight."

"Have you got your broomstick Potter?" demanded Patricia.

"It's in my dormitory" replied James. "Why?"

"Bring it down" she ordered. "I want to examine it."

Bemused at Patricia's request, James went upstairs and retrieved his Nimbus Three Thousand anyway.

"Here you go" he said, handing over his broom to Patricia.

"Looks like it's already sustained heavy wear" she commented.

"I'm not surprised, considering how often we had to practise" James replied.

"Don't you send it in for servicing" Sebastian commanded. "The Nimbus Three Thousand will be better than whatever replacement broom McLaren uses."

"I wasn't going to send it in for servicing, I was just about to suggest that James refurbishes it himself" Patricia snapped back.

"Fine" James argued. "I'll work on it after Christmas."

The night of Christmas Eve was surprisingly easier for James to sleep. Without Jackson Lestrange's snoring, he wasn't waking up during the middle of the night. Instead he was woken up at six thirty with a sudden cold water thrown onto his face.

"What the hell" he shouted, before he could even realise who was responsible.

"I was right" Aoiffe Donnelly declared smugly. "Now Bella owes me a galleon."

"Aoiffe, what are you doing in the boys' dormitory?" groaned Dranzebar.

"Me and Bella had a bet on whether or not James would scream like a baby if we woke him up with a cold water charm" Aoiffe explained. "Bella was so convinced that you'd just shrug it off."

"Well you better go" James ordered. "Because I'm getting dressed so I can take her present back before she gets downstairs."

Aoiffe waved goodbye to everyone, but not before blushing after seeing Darren Crawford's half naked body as he began to get dressed, not caring there was a girl in the room with them. Once James was dressed, he dashed downstairs to find all the first year girls already opening their presents.

"Thanks for the chocolate James" thanked Bella. "Belby's is such an expensive brand, how much did it cost?"

"More than the one galleon you lost on that bet" muttered James.

"And what happened to your presents?" Bella asked Darren. "I haven't seen any here from you."

"I don't have any money" replied Darren. "I don't have enough cash for myself, never mind getting you anything."

James could see that Darren's pile of presents was much smaller than his own, consisting of only three presents; one of which looked suspiciously like a pair of socks.

James began opening his presents, and was immediately pleased to see that Bella had gotten him a Famous Witches and Wizards card of his father, when he was still a baby.

"Good lord" Nigel gasped. "The Harry Potter card from the eighties is the most expensive card on the collector's market.

"Where did you get this?" James asked in disbelief.

"My dad got lucky when he was a boy" Bella explained. "He gave to me when I got into the cards; but I thought you would appreciate this more."

"Thanks a lot Bella" grinned James.

James then opened a book about Defence Against The Dark Arts by his father, a box of ice cold lemon drops from his mother, a premium prankster's kit from Uncle Ron, and humorously enough, a broomstick self-servicing kit from Patricia.

"So that's why she wanted me to work on that broom over Christmas" James chuckled.

He was worried that Aunt Hermione would send him to help with his studies, but it was in fact a set of wizard's chess with pieces that gives the players world class advice.

"Why would anyone give you a chess set for Christmas?" asked a bewildered Darren, whilst James was looking back on times he threw a tantrum due to losing badly to Uncle Ron.

As James continued opening his own presents, he took the time to lift his head up and see what everyone else was getting. Bella was mainly getting confectionary and cosmetics, whilst Darren only received a pair of socks from his grandparents, a practise broom to help young children fly brooms from James, and a book titled Getting Your Child's Magic Under Control, sent by Bella.

"Thanks a lot" Darren said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry if I insulted you" replied James. "But that broom is very good at getting beginners up to speed with flying."

"And you could really do with reading that book" argued Bella.

"Just because I'm a bit behind" snapped Darren.

"I was writing about you in a letter to Dad" Bella explained. "He said that you have the magical talent of a toddler."

"A toddler" Darren screamed.

"How's your catching up lessons been going on with Professor Longbottom?" asked James.

"Lumos" Darren replied.

The end of his wand gave off a very dim light; though it was the only occasion where James actually saw Darren perform a spell of any description.

"See, I'm progressing" said Darren.

"Yeah, but Lumos is one of the easiest spells to perform though" Bella replied. "I performed it by accident when I was five with Mum's wand."

"I get the point" Darren muttered. "So much for having any fun this Christmas. At least I can try out my new socks."

He dumped the rest of his presents, and stormed back upstairs to his dormitory.

"You two really suck at picking presents" Aoiffe pointed out.

"We were only trying to be nice" defended James.

"But on Christmas Day, you want to feel happy" said Aoiffe. "I don't want to spend Christmas thinking I'm terrible at everything."

"Now that you say it out loud…" muttered James.

"I think I'll return the book, and get something he'll like more instead" suggested Bella.

James silently decided on doing the same. As he returned to his pile of presents, he saw that he only had three left. One was a cuboid shape, whilst the remaining two were thin and cylindrical. He decided to open the cuboid one first.

"Merry Christmas James, love from McLaren" James read the label.

"Wait, McLaren actually sent you something?" gasped Bella.

James opened the present up, and saw that he was sent a muggle book about the history of Formula One.

"That was kind of her" James stuttered, trying to keep the feeling inside his stomach under control.

"You should be lucky that you got anything at all from her" Aoiffe pointed out. "Boys way older than you wish they got attention from McLaren."

Aoiffe's comment made the stomach feeling feel even more powerful. James quickly turned his attention to the final presents. He read the label on the first one, and the feeling inside his stomach was replaced with a more alert one.

Merry Christmas Potter. I don't know about you, but I was devastated when I heard that poor Silverstone McLaren was forced to return her broom for it to be serviced. It seems horribly unfair that she has to ride a much slower broomstick than usual, when you get to keep your ridiculously fast one. I thought it was best to level the playing field, so both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are on equal footing.

Happy New Year.

The Traitor of Gryffindor.

James anxiously opened up the present, horrified on what he suspected it was. His suspicion turned correct as the first sign of wood began to show.

"No" he screamed loudly. "No."

Fully unwrapped, he was now holding the first half of his Nimbus Three Thousand. James didn't need to guess what was inside the second present.