"Where were you two last night?"
Harry opened his eyes to a mass of brilliant orange hovering a few
inches above his face. It was Ron. The full morning sunlight tinged his
hair with a fiery glow. He grinned toothily into Harry's squinting face.
"Get up already, it's nearly eleven! You've missed breakfast. We
waited all morning for you, but we're not waiting any longer. Hermione's
in the Common Room right now."
As Harry got up and began to dress, Ron moved back toward the stairs.
"Hey!" Harry called hoarsely. "Where are you going?"
"Back down to the Common Room. I want to tell Hermione you're
coming. We're both dying to hear where you were all night."
"Don't go yet." Harry looked over at Neville, still sleeping soundly. "Wake him up too. He can go down with us."
Ron shrugged and walked over to Neville's bed. "Oy! Neville! Wake up,
it's almost lunchtime!"
Neville sat up in bed and looked around confusedly. "It is?"
"Yeah." Ron was laughing now.
"Neville," Harry called, "how about a game of chess before lunch?"
Neville really looked confused now. Not only had he just been woken up
out of a dead slumber, but he was being invited to join Harry, Ron, and
Hermione in the Common Room. He smiled.
"Oh. Alright then," he replied quietly.
They reached the foot of the stairs to fine Hermione standing there
waiting for them. "Well, where were you? I was really worried,
you know!"
Ron snorted. "Yeah, she thought Snape had finished you both off once
and for all--"
"No, Ron!" Hermione interrupted. "That was you. I thought
Neville might have been hurt really badly--"
"I told you he wasn't! Anyway," Ron said as he herded them all toward
four fluffy chairs in the corner of the room. "Let's hear it. What
happened?"
Harry glanced at Neville, uncertain whether he would want to tell them
about his parents. But Neville just grinned, and began to tell the story of
the previous night's events. When he told them how Professor Green had
hit Snape, Hermione gasped and Ron howled with laughter. When Neville
explained about his parents, and how he had seen Green's memories of
them, Ron and Hermione fell silent and listened attentively. Neville told
them everything, including the origins of the little box they had seen
Peeves smash, and where Dementors came from.
"Well, I knew that part," Ron said when he had finished.
"But you actually got to see a Summoning!" Hermione squeaked. "Oh,
tell me what it was like, Neville. I want details!"
"Tell her on the way to lunch, Neville," Ron advised. "I'm hungry." And
the four of them crossed the room and climbed through the portrait hole on
their way to the Great Hall.
As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Hermione was still listening
raptly as Neville thoroughly described each detail of the memories he had
seen the night before. Ron turned to Harry.
"Oh, I meant to tell you! Errol came this morning with a message from
Mum. She says I'm to come home for Christmas this year; Charlie and Bill
are going to be there. Percy and Penelope too."
"Oh," Harry replied, trying unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment.
"Yeah, I guess she's still worried about You-Know-Who being on the
loose and all. Probably wants to have a proper holiday with us before
something awful happens." Ron rolled his eyes. As he moved to hand over
a large bowl of green salad, he caught the look of dismay on Harry's face. "No, you nitwit! She wants you to come too!"
Harry perked up instantly. "Really?"
"Yeah. She also owled Hermione's parents and invited her, but they said
they want her home for the holidays. Something about her having been
away for four Christmases." He shrugged. "Oh, but Mum says you've got to
get Dumbledore's permission."
Harry glanced over at the staff table, where Dumbledore sat in
conversation with Professor McGonagall. He was certain Dumbledore
wouldn't begrudge him a nice Christmas with the Weasleys, but then he
had also forced Harry to return to the Dursleys' every summer, for reasons
Harry still didn't know. There was no telling what he would say.
But there was only one way to find out. After downing their lunches,
Harry and Ron made their way to the staff table. As he stood across the
table from Dumbledore, Harry suddenly realized that he had never
approached the table in the middle of a meal before. He hoped this wasn't
some sort of breach of etiquette. Professor McGonagall eyed them
curiously.
Dumbledore looked up from his tomato soup. "Yes, Harry. Ronald. May I
help you?"
"Professor," Harry began, "I needed to ask you something."
"Yes?"
"Well, I--Mrs. Weasley's just invited me to spend Christmas with her,
and I was wondering ... I mean, I would need your permission ..."
Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at each other. Dumbledore turned
back to Harry and Ron.
"Boys, I've just finished my lunch. Why don't we go for a walk and
discuss this?"
Dumbledore stood up, and Harry and Ron followed him out of the Great
Hall across the entrance hall to the large stone staircase. They expected
Dumbledore to say something to them, but he didn't speak a word until he
gave the stone gargoyle guarding his office the password ("treacle fudge")
and took them inside.
Ron had obviously never been inside Dumbledore's office before. He
whirled around to fully take in the large round room--the tall bookshelves
brimming over with volumes; the venerable portraits of past headmasters
and headmistresses, most of whom slept. As he caught sight of Fawkes
sitting on his perch near the door, he started. "Hullo, Fawkes," he said.
"Now then," Dumbledore began, sitting down behind his desk and
motioning for the two boys to sit in across from him, "I apologize for
bringing you boys all the way up here just to tell you this. I'm very sorry,
Harry, but I can't send you to the Weasleys' over the winter holiday this
year."
"But why not?" Ron cried impatiently. "The Muggles won't mind!"
Dumbledore smiled at him. "That's not the problem, Ronald. Harry, I
believe Mrs. Figg told you over the summer about the Fidelius Charm I
invoked when I first took you to live with your relatives?"
"Yeah," Harry said, remembering the conversation which had taken
place in Mrs. Figg's kitchen several months before.
"She may not have told you all the particulars. You might have been
wondering, for instance, why I did not allow you to return directly to the
Weasleys' last summer."
Harry thought for a moment. It took him a while to remember that the
Weasleys had invited him to stay with them last summer, and that
Dumbledore had insisted he return to the Dursleys'. With all that had
happened at the end of the last term, he had nearly forgotten.
"The way this particular charm works," Dumbledore explained, "you're
protected while you're with the Dursleys, and then for two months after
you leave them. When you're here at school, of course, you're safe anyway,
so the school year is not a problem. But if you left here now, you'd be
unprotected."
Harry winced. He had already received a letter from the Dursleys
informing him curtly that they were spending Christmas with Aunt Marge
and her vicious pit bull, Ripper, and that Harry was to stay at school for
the holiday. He wouldn't even be able to go to the Dursleys' briefly, and
then have Ron pick him up.
"But there's no danger, is there?" Ron asked impatiently. "I mean, if
he was with me and my parents, he'd be safe."
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid that would be too much of
a risk."
"But we haven't heard anything--"
"Especially because we haven't heard anything of Voldemort." Dumbledore crossed his hands on top of the desk. The matter was clearly
decided. "I'm sorry."
Someone knocked on the door behind them. They turned around just in
time to see the door open and a large black dog bound excitedly into the
room.
Sirius stopped next to Harry's chair and resumed his human form. Harry stood up to greet him, and Sirius put his arm around Harry's
shoulders. He looked into Harry's eyes concernedly.
"I didn't expect to find you two here," he said, noticing Ron. "Is
everything all right?"
"We've just been discussing our holiday plans," Dumbledore replied
warmly. "It's good to see you again, Sirius. Any news?"
Sirius looked slightly confused by Dumbledore's answer. Still, he
answered him quickly. "No, I'm afraid not. Remus wasn't able to find out
anything." He turned back to Harry and Ron. "Say, what did you mean,
holiday plans?"
"My Mum's invited Harry for Christmas," Ron answered, "but he can't
come because of that Fidelius thing."
Sirius smiled. "Well, that's alright, isn't it? We'll just have to spend
Christmas together at Hogwarts."
"Yes," Dumbledore mused. "Yes, I'm sure that could be arranged."
"I'm staying too," a voice called from behind them. Harry and Ron
whirled around; they hadn't noticed Professor Green standing there. She
must have been the one who let Sirius into the office in the first place. "My dad is going to spend the holidays with my stepmother's family, and
Penny's going to be with the Weasleys." She nodded at Ron. "So it works
out. I mean, it won't look odd for my dog to be here if I'm here, too."
Harry smiled. Now Ron was the one who looked disappointed. Dumbledore clasped his hands together enthusiastically. "It's settled
then! Harry, you will politely decline Mrs. Weasley's invitation and inform
her that you will spend your holiday here."
"Great," Ron muttered as they walked through the corridor toward the portrait of the Fat Lady. "You get to spend the holiday here with Sirius, Hagrid, and Green, and I get to spend it listening to Percy go on about quality control standards for imported wand cores."
***
The last couple of weeks before the Christmas holidays passed very
quickly, probably in part because Harry wasn't looking forward to saying
goodbye to Ron and Hermione. The end-of-term exams didn't seem to slow
things down, eitherr. Charms was particularly difficult, and even Care of
Magical Creatures was harder this year. Ever since Hagrid had got rid of
the Streeler, he had them studying Fawkes the Phoenix. Even though Harry
knew Fawkes, it turned out that Phoenixes had more magical properties
than even he was aware of.
The combined effect of studying constantly and anticipating missing
his friends was that, before Harry knew it, he was standing on the stone
steps of the castle, waving at Ron and Hermione as they walked to
Hogsmeade station in the snow with the rest of the students returning
home for the holidays.
Harry trudged back up to Gryffindor Tower and flopped onto his bed. No
Ron to play chess with, no Hermione to study with, no Neville to talk to. Even Crookshanks was gone. Harry couldn't stay in his room all day, he
would go crazy. He decided to go looking for Sirius.
He walked down to Professor Green's office and knocked on the door. No one answered. What if she was gone, but Sirius was still there? he
wondered.
He decided to call through the door. "It's me, Harry," he said
tentatively. "No one's with me." Suddenly the door creaked open. Sirius
was standing inside.
"Come in, Harry," Sirius greeted him. "I just came inside, but I think
Persephone's gone to take the students to the station. Hey, it's a bit cold
in here, could I borrow your wand?"
Harry pulled out his wand and handed it over. Sirius waved it at the
fireplace, producing a roaring fire. "That's better," he mused, handing
Harry his wand back. He looked pleased with himself. "Haven't had a wand
in twelve years, and I still remember that spell. Not too bad, eh?"
Harry and Sirius spent a very pleasant morning talking in front of the
fire. They discussed Harry's classes, the upcoming O.W.L.s, Quidditch--and
Harry told Sirius all about the night he and Neville had seen Professor
Green's memories of the Longbottoms. When he reached the part where
she hit Snape, Sirius laughed out loud. He was an even better audience
than Ron.
Outside the window, snow drifted lazily onto the grounds. They spent
the remainder of the morning and the entire afternoon in conversation. When the shadows outside lengthened to envelop the grounds completely,
Professor Green still hadn't returned. Harry noticed Sirius glancing
alternately at a clock on the wall, and then outside, while they talked.
At a quarter to six, Professor Green opened the door without knocking
and walked inside, dusted from head to foot with snow. She took off her
cloak and shook it out before she noticed Sirius and Harry sitting in two
chairs before the fire.
"Oh, hello. Hi there, Harry."
"Hi, Professor Green."
"Persephone," said Sirius, "where have you been? It's late. I started
to worry."
"Why?" she asked. She looked at him blankly.
"Well, it's snowing pretty hard, it must be very cold. I just wondered,
that's all--"
"I had errands to run in town," she responded shortly.
"I didn't know. You should have told me, I wouldn't have
worried--"
"No one asked you to worry about me." She returned his gaze coldly. There was an unmistakable note of resentment in her voice.
Sirius simply nodded and looked into the fire. Suddenly Harry felt very
uncomfortable; he tried to think of a good excuse to leave.
Professor Green rubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes. "I'm
sorry. Look, it's been a long day. I'm tired, I'm cold, and my feet hurt. I
guess I'm a little cranky." She smiled apologetically. "I had some last
minute Christmas shopping to do, that's all. Listen, why don't we all go
downstairs and have something to eat?"
Relieved, Harry stood up. Sirius smiled forgivingly. After he had taken
his canine form, they walked together down to the Great Hall and dinner.
It might have been the fact that the Yule Ball of the previous year had
kept many students from spending Christmas with their families, and they
were making up for it this year. Or it might have been that many families
feared, like the Weasleys, that dangerous times lay ahead, and they
wanted their children home as much as possible. Whatever the reason,
there were even fewer students at Hogwarts over the winter holiday than
usual. In fact, Harry found that he was the only Gryffindor. At Professor
Dumbledore's request, he sat at the Slytherin table, with the rest of the
staff and students. He looked around at the others. The only other
students seated at the table were a Hufflepuff second-year and three
Slytherins--Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.
They had taken seats at the end of the table, as far as possible from
Dumbledore, Green, Hagrid, and Harry. Harry wondered why the Malfoys
hadn't brought Draco home for the holidays--the only other time Draco had
spent Christmas at school was at his own request, and he didn't appear to
be here willingly now. Harry chuckled at the expression of intense
displeasure on Malfoy's face.
All through the meal Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle alternately whispered
amongst themselves and shot Harry malevolent looks. After everyone had
eaten, Professor Green pulled out her guitar and played Christmas carols. Dumbledore sang and clapped loudly, while the rest of the table grudgingly
mumbled along. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, however, abruptly left the
table right in the middle of the chorus of "Jingle Bells".
Secretly, Harry resolved to watch his back. Malfoy was unhappy and accompanied by two of the biggest fifth-years in the school. He might be tempted to entertain himself over the holiday by seeking out novel methods of torture and trying them out on Harry.
***
Each day of the Christmas holiday passed much like the first. Harry
took a little time to study for O.W.L.s, but he mostly spent his days talking
with Sirius and Hagrid. He and Hagrid had even participated in a couple of
snowball fights against Sirius and Professor Green. These weren't quite
fair fights, though, as Professor Green knew how to bewitch the snowballs
to follow their targets, so that they were impossible to evade.
Harry realized guiltily that he had been so busy with schoolwork that
he hadn't yet been to see Dobby. He made up for this, however, by visting a
few times before Christmas. Dobby still seemed to be enjoying life at
Hogwarts. He was continued to keep an eye out for Winky, who was
drinking less now, but still wore the same tattered blue blouse and skirt,
which were so dirty they were nearly indistinguishable from the other
House-Elves' old dishrags and pillowcases. Somehow, Harry suspected
that this was the exact look Winky was going for.
On Christmas morning Harry awoke to find a pile of presents heaped at
the foot of his bed. Excitedly, he leapt up and tore into it. He unwrapped a
set of three Practice Snitches from Ron ("For keeping top Seekers at the
top of their game!" screamed the package), an emerald-green knitted
sweater from Mrs. Weasley, fudge brownies from Hagrid, and a new
mokeskin wallet from Sirius. The Dursleys had also sent a present: a
half-used spool of orange thread.
At the bottom of the pile, Harry found a brand-new Transcription Quill
from Hermione. He fingered it suspiciously, remembering the Quick
Quotes Quill Rita Skeeter had used to twist his words into
unrecognizability last year. He reached into his bookbag and grabbed a
piece of parchment, which he set on his bed. Then he set the quill upon it. Very tentatively, he said, "Merry Christmas".
In an untidy scrawl--just like Harry's own handwriting--the quill
wrote, Merry Christmas.
"Cool!" Harry exclaimed, forgetting that the quill was still
transcribing his speech. Cool!, it wrote. He snatched it up happily
and placed it in his pocket.
Harry thought he would go downstairs and find Sirius before breakfast. He gathered up the tin of brownies and started down the staircase to the
Common Room. A pang of guilt struck him when he remembered the wallet
Sirius had given him. Aside from a handmade card, he didn't have any gifts
for Sirius; after all, what do you give someone who spends most of his
time as a dog? He wondered if Sirius might want to share the brownies
with him, but then suddenly remembered hearing that chocolate wasn't
good for dogs. He wondered if Animagi were different. Could Sirius eat
chocolate as a dog without any negative effects? If Sirius ate a brownie
in his human form, and then changed over, would the brownie hurt him if it
were still in his system?
Harry was lost in ruminations about the biology of Animagi as he
climbed out of the portrait hole. A cold voice called out from behind him,
pulling him out of his reverie.
"Merry Christmas, Potter."
Harry turned around. Draco Malfoy was leaning against the wall next to
the portrait hole, lazily passing his wand from hand to hand. Crabbe and
Goyle stood close by, but they looked tenser than Malfoy, as though they
expected something to happen.
This couldn't be good, Harry thought, but he decided to play along. "Merry Christmas. I'm just going downstairs to breakfast." It wasn't
strictly true, but it was plausible. "See you later."
"Not so fast. What've you got there?" Malfoy drawled, pointing his
wand at the brownies. "Accio tin."
The little tin of brownies flew out of Harry's hands, and Malfoy caught
them with ease. He opened it, looked inside, and wrinkled his nose. "They
look like charcoal. Who made them, that half-witted idiot Hagrid?"
Crabbe and Goyle, however, looked very interested in the brownies. Malfoy rolled his eyes and handed them the tin.
"Give it back, it's mine," Harry said, steeling himself for a fight. He
had been afraid of an ambush by these three, but now that they were face
to-face, all he felt was anger.
Malfoy laughed. "Make me."
Harry was furious. "You don't want to fight me," he heard himself
saying, "You were afraid to duel our first year, and you're afraid now."
Malfoy clenched his fists by his sides, an expression of rage reddening
his pale face. "I am not. I'll prove it!"
"Oh yeah?" Harry shouted. "You, Crabbe, and Goyle against me?" Harry
paused and appeared to consider this. "I guess that's fair. After all, you
could never beat me on your own."
If Malfoy had looked angry before, it was nothing to the pure loathing
Harry read on his face now. Harry nearly laughed out loud. Malfoy was so
easy to bait.
Upon hearing their names Crabbe and Goyle looked up from the
brownies. Their hands and mouths were already covered in crumbs. Inwardly, Harry marveled at his good luck--neither he nor Sirius would
have to eat Hagrid's cooking now.
"You don't think so?" Malfoy said icily as he pointed his wand at Harry. He turned to Crabbe and Goyle. "Go downstairs."
Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, bewildered. Goyle said, "But you
told us--"
"GO!" Malfoy shouted. Hurriedly, they shuffled off down the corridor,
taking the nearly empty brownie tin with them.
Malfoy turned back to Harry, who quickly drew his own wand. "It's just
you and me now, Potter." He snickered. "The great Harry Potter. Let's see
how great you really are. On three."
Harry pointed his wand at Malfoy and mentally prepared a hex. "Three,"
he called.
"Two," Malfoy hissed.
"ONE!" Harry shouted, but Malfoy had already begun muttering a curse. Harry had to abandon his own hex and managed to deflect the curse just in
time, sending a blue bolt screaming into the opposite wall. Chips of stone
flew off the wall in all directions.
"Arachnis!" Harry yelled, and a stream of spiders shot out of his
wand toward Malfoy. This time Malfoy was the one who deflected the hex,
sending the spiders tumbling harmlessly down the corridor.
While Harry was still trying to think of another curse, and before he
had a chance to say anything, Malfoy screamed, "Expelliarmus!" Harry's wand flew off down the corridor, in the same direction the spiders
had taken.
Malfoy's gray eyes glittered maliciously as he held his wand out
toward Harry. "The great Harry Potter! You don't look so great now, do
you, Wonder Boy?"
He chuckled, paused, and then articulated a curse slowly and
deliberately. "Deprivat--"
The distance between the two boys wasn't great, and Harry covered it
in the amount of time that Malfoy took to utter three of the curse's the
four syllables. Without thinking, he grabbed Malfoy's wand hand, placed
his right foot behind Malfoy's, and struck him open-handed in the chest. It
wasn't a hard blow, but the force of it was enough to knock the stunned
Malfoy onto his back on the cold stone.
"POTTER!" Professor McGonagall rushed up the corridor toward them. She was followed closely by Hagrid, holding the empty tin in one hand, and
both Crabbe and Goyle by their collars in the other.
"What on earth is going on here?"
Harry tried to explain. "Professor, he threatened me. He wanted to
duel--"
"To DUEL?!" Professor McGonagall screeched, her eyes as wide as
Galleons. "As you are both well aware, dueling is explicitly forbidden by
the Hogwarts Code of Conduct! Twenty-five points each from Gryffindor
and Slytherin, and detention for both of you!"
Harry thought about protesting this, but the look in Professor
McGonagall's eye deterred him. After all, he reasoned, he had been
dueling. Harry was just glad that it was over, and by the look on Malfoy's
face, so was he.
Malfoy didn't attempt to argue either; he simply looked up at Professor
McGonagall and winced in pain.
"Professor, I think my back's hurt. It's really painful." He let out a
pitiful moan. Harry rolled his eyes.
Thankfully, Professor McGonagall found this display as convincing as
Harry did. She strode over to Malfoy, reached down, and yanked him up by
his arm. "That will do, Mr. Malfoy! If you feel that you are so grievously
injured, you may spend Christmas in the hospital wing and forego the
holiday feast later today."
Malfoy stopped moaning and returned her gaze sulkily.
"That's what I thought. Now, you four can either come downstairs for
breakfast or return to your respective dormitories. I won't have you
roaming the corridors fighting all day." She glanced witheringly at Harry.
Harry realized that he was missing his wand. He didn't want to anger
her further, but he had to say something. "Professor, my wand," he said
quietly, pointing to a spot several yards away where it lay on the stone
floor, surrounded by scuttling black spiders. Professor McGonagall
retrieved it and handed the wand to Harry indignantly.
Hagrid finally let go of Crabbe and Goyle, and led the group back toward
the Great Hall. Clearly attempting to preserve some semblance of dignity,
Malfoy lifted his head and strode down the corridor. Harry followed. When
they reached the entrance hall, he was relieved to see Malfoy turn in the
direction of the Slytherins' dungeon Common Room, followed reluctantly
by the still-hungry Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry, Hagrid, and Professor McGonagall proceeded into the Great Hall, where Professors Green and Dumbledore were leading the mumbling staff in a rousing chorus of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen".
***
Author's Note: This is the revised version of this chapter (Harry got his
wand back!). The next part is taking me a really, really long time to write,
so I apologize in advance for the delay. I'm not going to post an ETA
because I would surely miss it. :)
