Hpz26: Interesting? Is that bad or good?
Kimmy: Yay, whatcha want? Cockroach clusters? Blood pops? I got 'em all! I SO happy he's free too! As for what happens next. . .well. . .this chapter is just Harry doing something sweet for everyone who helped him. . .next chapter it's coming. . .Hehehe. . .
Laterose: ::Smiles:: Once again, happy times have returned! As for the purple light, well, I guess it's kinda my fault for not making it as clear as it could've been. I was a little excited and wanted to get feed back ASAP so I kinda skipped the rewriting part of it. . .sorry! But to answer your question, it was dying. Harry defeated it but it was still in his body, it had to come out and as you'll see, he had to get to a safe distance from his friends. Also, the times were synchronized. Notice how he told himself to think good thoughts then a break with the song, then he said it back in the real world. . .again, sorry for confusing you!
Amy: Oooooo, sorry, can't say. . .would ruin it for everyone. . .'sides, you might loose interest if you know what is going to happen. . .sorry to say, you're just gonna have to wait it out like everyone else! See ya at the end of the chapter!
Callas-and-ivy: Yay! Another reviewer joins the band wagon! Thanks! And trust me, I know what you're talking about, detailed reviews are difficult to do. . .unless you haven't updated in a while. . .or you're incredibly bored. . .oh well. . .looking forward to the next review!
Angelis:. . .You're given me a scare here. Ain't never gotten a review like this before. Is it a flame? Hmmm. . .you don't like it?. . .then. . .if that's true. . .ugh, I'm sooooooooooooo confused. . .
Leaf: Thanks! I went through about five different songs before I finally decided on that one. Great, isn't it? I think it probably fits the best out of all of them. Thanks again and see you at the end of the chapter!
Ashes: ::Blushing:: Gosh, this is probably one of the nicest reviews I got in a while. Actually, my dream is to become a writer. . .at the moment, though, all my originals have been put on hold 'cuz I'm kinda zoned in on Harry Potter fics. . .but. . .I'll get back to them eventually!
NSW: Is it really a book? Haven't heard of it. . .hmm, guess you learn something new everyday. As for the song, awesome isn't it? It's sooooooooooooo pretty! Thanks for your reviews!
Wanted: Love
Ch23: Er. . .Tis the Season. . .
"Thank you." he whispered then turned back to the rest of his friends and laughed, "All of you! I'm free; finally, I'm free again!"
They all looked at him with tears in their eyes as well.
"Harry? Is it really you?" asked Tali quietly.
Harry smirked, "No, I just kissed Hermione because deep down, I, Voldemort, have a crush on her."
His friends all broke out into happy laughter and ran up to him, hugging and crying. Harry couldn't remember the last time he felt that good. His face felt as though it might crack from suddenly being forced back into the exercise of smiling and laughing after such a long break. All in all, though, it was worth it.
For several hours they stayed out in crisp morning air until the adults finally ushered them to bed where, undoubtedly, they would lay listlessly for several hours before going right back to where they had been before. Harry was secretly thankful for this, though. He stayed in his room for about an hour until he decided that he had better get started and headed downstairs. Thankfully, no one was up and he was able to get on with it in peace.
Hermione glanced at the clock and smiled. Seven-thirty, she could get up finally. Tossing her covers off, she threw her pillow at Lavender in the next bed who shot up, looked from the pillow to Hermione and then gave a smile and threw her pillow back.
"What is it, Hermione?"
"You planning on staying in bed all day? Come on, it's seven-thirty already!" said Hermione as she pulled on her slippers.
Lavender was right behind her, "You think Ron's got Harry up already?"
Hermione laughed as they walked to the door, "If Harry's back to normal then there's a good chance that it's the other way around."
The two crept across the hallway and into the room opposing theirs, luckily left open. Ron was sitting on his bed with his eyes closed as he sucked on a sugar quill. Quietly, they snuck up behind him. Lavender counted to three with her fingers and on three they jumped on him.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" he shouted as he was buried under the weight of two girls. Laughing, they rolled off him. Ron sat up again and looked at his sugar quill which had broken in two.
He pursed his lips and turned his attention to them, "Couldn't have spared the candy, could you?"
Lavender giggled and tossed herself at him, knocking him down for a second time. Ron started laughing, too, and pushed himself up.
"What're you two doing in here, anyway?" he asked.
"It's Christmas, genius. Come on, time to party!" Lavender exclaimed.
"Don't you think we should get Harry first?" asked Hermione causally.
Lavender and Ron smirked evilly at each other and Hermione hit them with a pillow. Ron was knocked off the bed but not before he grabbed onto Lavender and pulled her down with him. Hermione crawled over to the edge of the bed and rolled her eyes as she saw them snogging.
"Oh please, get a room." she said as she got up and headed back to the door. The two were quickly off the floor and hurried over to Hermione. They walked to the last room at the end of the hallway and peered in the room and were shocked to see that no one was in it.
"Harry?" Ron asked but no one answered.
After looking around the rather large room and still not finding him, they went to all the other rooms, consequentially waking everyone up, but to no avail. Everyone headed down the stairs, a little panicked, and stopped dead in their tracks. What appeared to be snow was floating slowly down from the ceiling and landing on the floor, though it didn't melt. The unmistakable scent of pine was floating around and upon entering the living room, the dinky little tree that had barely been decorated, due to Harry's predicament, had been replaced by a huge tree that was decorated very elegantly. Stockings hung from the fireplace, one for every person staying for the holiday. The names were sewn on the stockings and they were all filled with amazing stuffers. Despite their shocked state, none forgot that Harry was still missing. Moving into the kitchen, a large banquet table had replaced the family sized table and it was piled high with delicious looking foods.
"Do you think Harry did this?" asked Ginny.
"There's a good chance. . .but where is he?" asked Remus.
As if in reply to the question, they heard someone outside.
"No! I don't care about tradition. What if you get stuck? Wouldn't that make a lovely little piece in the Daily Prophet? Just do it like I told you!"
The group moved to the open door, which had until then remained unnoticed, and saw Harry shouting at someone or something.
"Oh, and thanks again." he said to whatever it was.
"Harry?" asked Sirius. Harry jumped but smiled when he saw who it was. Quickly he hurried over to them and ushered them back in the house.
"What're you all doing up so early?" he asked.
"Oh, come on, you actually expected us to sleep after last night?" asked Ron.
Harry smirked and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, well, it's good to be back."
"Harry, did you do all this?" asked Molly.
Smirk breaking into an all out smile, he laughed, "Yeah, sorry. Didn't expect you to be up so soon, though. I didn't get a chance to finish. . .exactly. . ."
As he said this he cast a gaze back outside. This didn't go unnoticed.
"Who were you talking to out there anyway, Harry?" asked Fred.
Harry blushed, "Oh. . .that. . um. . .you know, this food is getting all cold. Since we're all here, why don't we eat?"
He moved to the table and took a seat. The rest of the people in the room looked at him awkwardly but left the subject matter alone and moved to take their seats as well.
"Where did you get this tree, Harry?" asked Hermione after breakfast as they all sat around in the living room, opening their stockings.
"Transfigured the old one." Harry said simply.
Tali laughed, "Lucky you did, too. The other one was beginning to get me a bit depressed."
Harry shrugged and leaned back against the couch with a yawn.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" asked Sirius.
He was about to reply when the sound of something hitting the roof reached them. Harry shot up then put his head in his hand as he shook it and mutter, "I thought I told him not to do that. I can't believe he's doing this."
"What was that?" asked Arthur.
"Sounds like someone's on the roof." said Sirius as he glared at it.
"Hehehe, no one's up there. . .it was probably just. . .the wind." Harry said, trying to cover it up.
"The wind, Harry?" asked Lavender with a raised eyebrow.
Harry shrugged and Sirius stood up, "Maybe I should go check it out."
"No!" shouted Harry, standing up and blocking Sirius from leaving the room, "I mean. . .um. . .it's okay. Listen. Whatever it was it's gone now."
It just happened that then the sound chose to make its appearance again and Harry rolled his eyes as everyone looked from the ceiling to him, "Okay, so it's till there. You don't have to go anywhere!"
"Is there something you want to tell us, Harry?" asked Hermione.
Harry shook his head readily, "No, 'course not."
"Potter!" came a voice from the fireplace.
Harry raced over to it and stuck his head up, "Oh no. I thought I told you not to go this way!"
"I tried to stop him, but did he listen, no. Pulled me in right after him. Just get me out of here!"
"Oh, do lighten up. Authenticity is key. I do expect it must have happened to the real one before." came a different voice.
"Please don't tell me you still believe in him?" asked the first one.
"Would you two just be quiet while I figure this out? I'll be right back." Harry said as he got out of the fireplace to find everyone staring at him, "What?"
"Harry, are there *people* in the chimney?" Sirius asked.
"Er. . .does it *look* like there are people in the chimney?" they all nodded and Harry sweat-dropped, "Um. . .I'll get back to you on that. Okay, think."
Harry started pacing around the living room, eyes following him the entire time.
"Potter! What are you doing out there!?"
"Calm down, I'm sure Harry will have us out in no time."
"Got it!" Harry exclaimed as he hurried over to the fireplace and pulled out his wand.
"I'd step back if I were you." Harry said to his friends as he did so himself, "Banitaro!"
A great cloud of soot exploded from the fireplace followed by two distinct, "Oomph" 's.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, waving his wand, causing the soot to disappear.
Simultaneously, everyone in the room cracked up. Standing in front of them were none other than Dumbledore and Snape. Dumbledore was decked out in a Santa suit and looked rather pleased with himself. Snape on the other hand was looking rather foul, dressed in a green elf outfit. The outfit included red and green stripped tights, elf ears, pointy shoes with bells on them, and a green hat with a bell on the end of it. Snape scowled at everyone as if daring them to say anything. Of course, everyone did.
"Lookin' good Snape." laughed Tali.
"I see you finally got that second job you were talking about." snickered Sirius.
"Now, now, everyone, Severus and I are just doing young Harry a favor. It is Christmas. We should all enjoy ourselves." said Dumbledore, "Come Alair, we have much yet to do."
Fred and George looked at each other and broke out into laughter again.
"Alair, Professor?" asked Hermione, suppressing her giggles.
"Alas, today, Hermione, I am Santa. And Severus is my helper elf, Alair. It means cheerful or merry." Dumbledore said happily. Everyone thought this was quite ironic, actually, for Snape. . .or Alair, looked anything but cheerful, and definitely not merry.
"Headmaster---" Dumbledore gave him a look and Snape rolled his eyes, "Santa, could you remind me *why* I'm doing this?"
"I dare say, Alair, you've never given Mr. Potter a Happy Christmas even once. Consider this six years of making up for that." Dumbledore said.
Snape scowled again and Dumbledore took out his wand, "Now, onto business. Would you all mind sitting around me?"
Looking at Harry, who put on an innocent face and shrugged, they all obeyed.
"Okay, time for the gifts. Harry has asked me to deliver his gifts for him as he was exceedingly busy this morning." said Dumbledore as he conjured a large red sack.
"Is that it!?" fumed Snape, "Why did I have to come, then!?"
"Come, come, Alair. Santa can't go anywhere without his favorite little helper. Besides, I'm sure you're going to make someone's day." said Dumbledore.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" asked Snape warily.
"Well, what say a neighbor comes over to borrow a cup of sugar and they are having a bad day? Why, what better to cheer them up then Santa and Alair?" asked Dumbledore.
Snape rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Oh for pity's sake. . .Let's just get on with it then."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement and opened his bag, "Let us see what we have in here. Ah, Miss Brown. Would you come over here for a moment?"
Lavender stood up and walked over to her headmaster, holding back her giggles at seeing him in such a get-up. Dumbledore handed her a small box and Lavender went back to her seat before opening the gift. Immediately she let out an excited little shriek and threw herself at Harry, knocking him quite unexpectedly off his chair. On the ground she proceeded to squeeze the air out of him while repeating thank you over and over again. Ron eventually was able to pull her off and Harry sat up with his eyes wide and breathing heavily.
"I take it you like it?" he asked her with a small laugh.
"Oh my god, Harry, yes! Thank you! That's the most expensive store in Hogsmeade and it just opened last week!" Lavender exclaimed.
"What the hell you get her, Harry?" asked Ron, grabbing the box out his girlfriend's hands and rolled his eyes, "A certificate to Kismet's? Harry, now she's going to predicting the future every second of the day!"
Kismet's was a newly opened store that only sold fortune telling items. Harry shrugged, "At least I'm not the one who'll have to put up with her love predictions."
Lavender gave them a small glare then sat back down looking dignified as Dumbledore called over Fred and George. Harry had gotten them a lot in Diagon Alley for them to open their joke shop. After thanking him profusely, it was Tali and Sirius's turn and they received a weekend at the Saga Resort, a very prestigious and well respected vacation spot for couples. After receiving many naughty glances from the others in the room, due to the fact that most couples who went there came back pregnant, they sat back down.
Remus was next and received a new tawny owl, so he could keep in contact with people when Sirius and Tali went away, Harry explained. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley received a large amount of money to put towards rebuilding their house which at first they had refused to take. However, after a few minutes of arguing with Harry, who pretended to cry, they were subdued into taking it. Ginny got a door alarm for her room when the new house was finished that would turn any would-be intruder into weasel for an hour.
"Oh dear, this is a big one." said Dumbledore as he pulled out Ron's gift.
Everyone looked on, intrigued, as Ron opened the large, thin box to reveal. . .
"A Firebolt!?" Ron shouted, eyes bulging out of his head.
Harry smiled, "I figured you could use something to play Keeper on."
Only the night before had Harry discovered that Ron had been chosen as the new Keeper. And after having his old Cleansweep destroyed in the fire, Harry couldn't think of a better gift to give his friend.
"Hell yeah! Malfoy better watch his back! He's still on that Nimbus 2001!" Ron said, eyes gleaming somewhat evilly.
"Hermione, you're up." said Dumbledore, pulling out the smallest gift out of any of them.
Hermione, who had been lying against Harry with his arm over her, looked over at him. Harry smiled knowingly at her and she smiled back before taking the box out of Dumbledore's hand. She took her time opening, much to the annoyance of Snape and Ron. Inside was a beautiful pure gold locket with the words 'Harry Loves Hermione' inscribed on the front. Hermione turned to Harry who mouthed for her to open it and when she did was a picture of the two of them sitting contentedly on the couch in the Gryffindor's common room. Harry was gently stroking her hair with his eyes closed as she read a book to him. Hermione looked up from the locket with tears in her eyes and before anything else was said or done, they were hugging. Harry kissed the top of her head and Snape tapped his foot impatiently.
"There. We're done now, can we go?" he asked.
"Not yet, Alair. There are still two more left. Who do they belong to, Harry?" asked Dumbledore.
Harry and Hermione broke apart and Harry smiled and nodded at them, "You two."
Dumbledore looked delighted as he opened his and found a bottomless bag of lemon drops and a pair of socks (which gained a few curious stares). He opened the candy immediately and popped a few in his mouth. Snape, however, looked suspiciously at the package and then to Harry who smiled innocently. Thinking that he should know better, Snape opened the package.
"What is this supposed to be?" asked Snape bitterly, holding up a postcard from the North Pole with little elves playing ring-around-the-rosy. Harry smiled as everyone else broke out into laughter again.
"Thought you might want it to remind you of your friends." Harry said as he ducked to the side to avoid a pillow being chucked at him.
"Where are Fred and George?" asked Ginny suddenly. Everyone looked around the room and noticed that, indeed, they were missing.
"Right here, Gin!" said Fred, appearing back in the room with George.
"What have you two been up to now?" asked Molly.
"Nothing, mum. Fred and I just thought that we should try to preserve the memory." said George.
"What memory?" asked Tali.
"Oh, nothing. . .smile Professors!" George said suddenly pulling a camera out from behind his back. Dumbledore smiled and held up his socks but Snape got out of the way just in time.
"Oh come on, Professor Snape! 'Tis the season!" exclaimed Fred as he and George chased the elf out of the room, camera flashing every six seconds.
Once they were gone, everyone turned their attention back to the group.
"Have any of you seen Hedwig? I've been looking for her all morning." said Harry.
"She and Fawkes flew off a little while after we got you back here yesterday." said Dumbledore unworriedly.
"She and Fawkes?" asked Harry as Dumbledore nodded and Harry laughed, "Who would have thought it?"
"Come on, Harry. Tali, Remus, and I still have to give you our gift." said Sirius, standing up.
"You got me something?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Of course! Come on! We've been working on it for weeks now!" said Tali, pulling him to his feet.
The three led the rest outside and over to the barn that Harry had seen Sirius coming out of the night before. Harry looked at Sirius who smiled.
"Couldn't let you know I was finishing you gift, could I?" he asked.
The doors were opened and Harry was surprised to find that the inside was brightly lit. In the center of the barn was a familiar looking black cauldron. He looked cautiously at the three who urged him forward.
"This isn't. . .mine. . .is it?" Harry asked a bit nervously.
"Of course it's---oh! No, no, of course not! Dumbledore had that destroyed." Remus informed him.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and looked into the cauldron filled with Pensieve, "Then whose is it?"
"Many people's." said Tali calmly and Harry looked at her, not understanding.
"Look." said Sirius, taking his wand and swirling the Pensieve around.
A scene came to the surface. James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Tali were all standing around Hogsmeade with cups of butterbeer in their hands, laughing. Another swirl with the wand, James and Lily were dancing around at what appeared to be a ball at Hogwarts. Another swirl, Lily was lying in a hospital room squeezing James' hand.
'James! Get it OUT!' she screamed at him.
'The doctors are going as fast as they can, Lils. Hold on just a little longer!' James replied.
Harry looked up from the Pensieve with a huge smile on his face, "My parents."
"Damn straight. All your parents' old friends have graciously donated some of their memories." said Sirius, mocking a bow.
Harry breathed a laugh and hugged all three of them at the same time, "Thank you."
"Professor! It's just a little picture for memento!" George shouted as he and Fred chased Snape past the barn.
"Get that damn thing away from me!" Snape called out over his shoulder.
Those in the barn hurried to the exit and saw the three run around the yard. Snape eventually tripped and fell head first into the snow. He sat up with a pile of snow on his head and before he could do anything else. . .*click*
Fred high-fived George as Snape cursed under his breath. By now everyone had caught up to them and Dumbledore smiled.
"I'm glad to see you finally decided to have a little Christmas spirit, Alair."
Author's Note: Yay! Hehehe, amusing to picture Snape in an elf outfit, isn't it? Lol. . .sorry it's so short. I promise the next chapter will be longer! I tried to give you a bit of a humor after so much seriousness. Whatcha think? Yes! So happy, next chapter I've been waiting to write for a while. Ain't gonna tell you anything other than this: Malfoy best what his back if he know what's good for him. See you at the end of the next chapter!
Kimmy: Yay, whatcha want? Cockroach clusters? Blood pops? I got 'em all! I SO happy he's free too! As for what happens next. . .well. . .this chapter is just Harry doing something sweet for everyone who helped him. . .next chapter it's coming. . .Hehehe. . .
Laterose: ::Smiles:: Once again, happy times have returned! As for the purple light, well, I guess it's kinda my fault for not making it as clear as it could've been. I was a little excited and wanted to get feed back ASAP so I kinda skipped the rewriting part of it. . .sorry! But to answer your question, it was dying. Harry defeated it but it was still in his body, it had to come out and as you'll see, he had to get to a safe distance from his friends. Also, the times were synchronized. Notice how he told himself to think good thoughts then a break with the song, then he said it back in the real world. . .again, sorry for confusing you!
Amy: Oooooo, sorry, can't say. . .would ruin it for everyone. . .'sides, you might loose interest if you know what is going to happen. . .sorry to say, you're just gonna have to wait it out like everyone else! See ya at the end of the chapter!
Callas-and-ivy: Yay! Another reviewer joins the band wagon! Thanks! And trust me, I know what you're talking about, detailed reviews are difficult to do. . .unless you haven't updated in a while. . .or you're incredibly bored. . .oh well. . .looking forward to the next review!
Angelis:. . .You're given me a scare here. Ain't never gotten a review like this before. Is it a flame? Hmmm. . .you don't like it?. . .then. . .if that's true. . .ugh, I'm sooooooooooooo confused. . .
Leaf: Thanks! I went through about five different songs before I finally decided on that one. Great, isn't it? I think it probably fits the best out of all of them. Thanks again and see you at the end of the chapter!
Ashes: ::Blushing:: Gosh, this is probably one of the nicest reviews I got in a while. Actually, my dream is to become a writer. . .at the moment, though, all my originals have been put on hold 'cuz I'm kinda zoned in on Harry Potter fics. . .but. . .I'll get back to them eventually!
NSW: Is it really a book? Haven't heard of it. . .hmm, guess you learn something new everyday. As for the song, awesome isn't it? It's sooooooooooooo pretty! Thanks for your reviews!
Wanted: Love
Ch23: Er. . .Tis the Season. . .
"Thank you." he whispered then turned back to the rest of his friends and laughed, "All of you! I'm free; finally, I'm free again!"
They all looked at him with tears in their eyes as well.
"Harry? Is it really you?" asked Tali quietly.
Harry smirked, "No, I just kissed Hermione because deep down, I, Voldemort, have a crush on her."
His friends all broke out into happy laughter and ran up to him, hugging and crying. Harry couldn't remember the last time he felt that good. His face felt as though it might crack from suddenly being forced back into the exercise of smiling and laughing after such a long break. All in all, though, it was worth it.
For several hours they stayed out in crisp morning air until the adults finally ushered them to bed where, undoubtedly, they would lay listlessly for several hours before going right back to where they had been before. Harry was secretly thankful for this, though. He stayed in his room for about an hour until he decided that he had better get started and headed downstairs. Thankfully, no one was up and he was able to get on with it in peace.
Hermione glanced at the clock and smiled. Seven-thirty, she could get up finally. Tossing her covers off, she threw her pillow at Lavender in the next bed who shot up, looked from the pillow to Hermione and then gave a smile and threw her pillow back.
"What is it, Hermione?"
"You planning on staying in bed all day? Come on, it's seven-thirty already!" said Hermione as she pulled on her slippers.
Lavender was right behind her, "You think Ron's got Harry up already?"
Hermione laughed as they walked to the door, "If Harry's back to normal then there's a good chance that it's the other way around."
The two crept across the hallway and into the room opposing theirs, luckily left open. Ron was sitting on his bed with his eyes closed as he sucked on a sugar quill. Quietly, they snuck up behind him. Lavender counted to three with her fingers and on three they jumped on him.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" he shouted as he was buried under the weight of two girls. Laughing, they rolled off him. Ron sat up again and looked at his sugar quill which had broken in two.
He pursed his lips and turned his attention to them, "Couldn't have spared the candy, could you?"
Lavender giggled and tossed herself at him, knocking him down for a second time. Ron started laughing, too, and pushed himself up.
"What're you two doing in here, anyway?" he asked.
"It's Christmas, genius. Come on, time to party!" Lavender exclaimed.
"Don't you think we should get Harry first?" asked Hermione causally.
Lavender and Ron smirked evilly at each other and Hermione hit them with a pillow. Ron was knocked off the bed but not before he grabbed onto Lavender and pulled her down with him. Hermione crawled over to the edge of the bed and rolled her eyes as she saw them snogging.
"Oh please, get a room." she said as she got up and headed back to the door. The two were quickly off the floor and hurried over to Hermione. They walked to the last room at the end of the hallway and peered in the room and were shocked to see that no one was in it.
"Harry?" Ron asked but no one answered.
After looking around the rather large room and still not finding him, they went to all the other rooms, consequentially waking everyone up, but to no avail. Everyone headed down the stairs, a little panicked, and stopped dead in their tracks. What appeared to be snow was floating slowly down from the ceiling and landing on the floor, though it didn't melt. The unmistakable scent of pine was floating around and upon entering the living room, the dinky little tree that had barely been decorated, due to Harry's predicament, had been replaced by a huge tree that was decorated very elegantly. Stockings hung from the fireplace, one for every person staying for the holiday. The names were sewn on the stockings and they were all filled with amazing stuffers. Despite their shocked state, none forgot that Harry was still missing. Moving into the kitchen, a large banquet table had replaced the family sized table and it was piled high with delicious looking foods.
"Do you think Harry did this?" asked Ginny.
"There's a good chance. . .but where is he?" asked Remus.
As if in reply to the question, they heard someone outside.
"No! I don't care about tradition. What if you get stuck? Wouldn't that make a lovely little piece in the Daily Prophet? Just do it like I told you!"
The group moved to the open door, which had until then remained unnoticed, and saw Harry shouting at someone or something.
"Oh, and thanks again." he said to whatever it was.
"Harry?" asked Sirius. Harry jumped but smiled when he saw who it was. Quickly he hurried over to them and ushered them back in the house.
"What're you all doing up so early?" he asked.
"Oh, come on, you actually expected us to sleep after last night?" asked Ron.
Harry smirked and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, well, it's good to be back."
"Harry, did you do all this?" asked Molly.
Smirk breaking into an all out smile, he laughed, "Yeah, sorry. Didn't expect you to be up so soon, though. I didn't get a chance to finish. . .exactly. . ."
As he said this he cast a gaze back outside. This didn't go unnoticed.
"Who were you talking to out there anyway, Harry?" asked Fred.
Harry blushed, "Oh. . .that. . um. . .you know, this food is getting all cold. Since we're all here, why don't we eat?"
He moved to the table and took a seat. The rest of the people in the room looked at him awkwardly but left the subject matter alone and moved to take their seats as well.
"Where did you get this tree, Harry?" asked Hermione after breakfast as they all sat around in the living room, opening their stockings.
"Transfigured the old one." Harry said simply.
Tali laughed, "Lucky you did, too. The other one was beginning to get me a bit depressed."
Harry shrugged and leaned back against the couch with a yawn.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" asked Sirius.
He was about to reply when the sound of something hitting the roof reached them. Harry shot up then put his head in his hand as he shook it and mutter, "I thought I told him not to do that. I can't believe he's doing this."
"What was that?" asked Arthur.
"Sounds like someone's on the roof." said Sirius as he glared at it.
"Hehehe, no one's up there. . .it was probably just. . .the wind." Harry said, trying to cover it up.
"The wind, Harry?" asked Lavender with a raised eyebrow.
Harry shrugged and Sirius stood up, "Maybe I should go check it out."
"No!" shouted Harry, standing up and blocking Sirius from leaving the room, "I mean. . .um. . .it's okay. Listen. Whatever it was it's gone now."
It just happened that then the sound chose to make its appearance again and Harry rolled his eyes as everyone looked from the ceiling to him, "Okay, so it's till there. You don't have to go anywhere!"
"Is there something you want to tell us, Harry?" asked Hermione.
Harry shook his head readily, "No, 'course not."
"Potter!" came a voice from the fireplace.
Harry raced over to it and stuck his head up, "Oh no. I thought I told you not to go this way!"
"I tried to stop him, but did he listen, no. Pulled me in right after him. Just get me out of here!"
"Oh, do lighten up. Authenticity is key. I do expect it must have happened to the real one before." came a different voice.
"Please don't tell me you still believe in him?" asked the first one.
"Would you two just be quiet while I figure this out? I'll be right back." Harry said as he got out of the fireplace to find everyone staring at him, "What?"
"Harry, are there *people* in the chimney?" Sirius asked.
"Er. . .does it *look* like there are people in the chimney?" they all nodded and Harry sweat-dropped, "Um. . .I'll get back to you on that. Okay, think."
Harry started pacing around the living room, eyes following him the entire time.
"Potter! What are you doing out there!?"
"Calm down, I'm sure Harry will have us out in no time."
"Got it!" Harry exclaimed as he hurried over to the fireplace and pulled out his wand.
"I'd step back if I were you." Harry said to his friends as he did so himself, "Banitaro!"
A great cloud of soot exploded from the fireplace followed by two distinct, "Oomph" 's.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, waving his wand, causing the soot to disappear.
Simultaneously, everyone in the room cracked up. Standing in front of them were none other than Dumbledore and Snape. Dumbledore was decked out in a Santa suit and looked rather pleased with himself. Snape on the other hand was looking rather foul, dressed in a green elf outfit. The outfit included red and green stripped tights, elf ears, pointy shoes with bells on them, and a green hat with a bell on the end of it. Snape scowled at everyone as if daring them to say anything. Of course, everyone did.
"Lookin' good Snape." laughed Tali.
"I see you finally got that second job you were talking about." snickered Sirius.
"Now, now, everyone, Severus and I are just doing young Harry a favor. It is Christmas. We should all enjoy ourselves." said Dumbledore, "Come Alair, we have much yet to do."
Fred and George looked at each other and broke out into laughter again.
"Alair, Professor?" asked Hermione, suppressing her giggles.
"Alas, today, Hermione, I am Santa. And Severus is my helper elf, Alair. It means cheerful or merry." Dumbledore said happily. Everyone thought this was quite ironic, actually, for Snape. . .or Alair, looked anything but cheerful, and definitely not merry.
"Headmaster---" Dumbledore gave him a look and Snape rolled his eyes, "Santa, could you remind me *why* I'm doing this?"
"I dare say, Alair, you've never given Mr. Potter a Happy Christmas even once. Consider this six years of making up for that." Dumbledore said.
Snape scowled again and Dumbledore took out his wand, "Now, onto business. Would you all mind sitting around me?"
Looking at Harry, who put on an innocent face and shrugged, they all obeyed.
"Okay, time for the gifts. Harry has asked me to deliver his gifts for him as he was exceedingly busy this morning." said Dumbledore as he conjured a large red sack.
"Is that it!?" fumed Snape, "Why did I have to come, then!?"
"Come, come, Alair. Santa can't go anywhere without his favorite little helper. Besides, I'm sure you're going to make someone's day." said Dumbledore.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" asked Snape warily.
"Well, what say a neighbor comes over to borrow a cup of sugar and they are having a bad day? Why, what better to cheer them up then Santa and Alair?" asked Dumbledore.
Snape rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Oh for pity's sake. . .Let's just get on with it then."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement and opened his bag, "Let us see what we have in here. Ah, Miss Brown. Would you come over here for a moment?"
Lavender stood up and walked over to her headmaster, holding back her giggles at seeing him in such a get-up. Dumbledore handed her a small box and Lavender went back to her seat before opening the gift. Immediately she let out an excited little shriek and threw herself at Harry, knocking him quite unexpectedly off his chair. On the ground she proceeded to squeeze the air out of him while repeating thank you over and over again. Ron eventually was able to pull her off and Harry sat up with his eyes wide and breathing heavily.
"I take it you like it?" he asked her with a small laugh.
"Oh my god, Harry, yes! Thank you! That's the most expensive store in Hogsmeade and it just opened last week!" Lavender exclaimed.
"What the hell you get her, Harry?" asked Ron, grabbing the box out his girlfriend's hands and rolled his eyes, "A certificate to Kismet's? Harry, now she's going to predicting the future every second of the day!"
Kismet's was a newly opened store that only sold fortune telling items. Harry shrugged, "At least I'm not the one who'll have to put up with her love predictions."
Lavender gave them a small glare then sat back down looking dignified as Dumbledore called over Fred and George. Harry had gotten them a lot in Diagon Alley for them to open their joke shop. After thanking him profusely, it was Tali and Sirius's turn and they received a weekend at the Saga Resort, a very prestigious and well respected vacation spot for couples. After receiving many naughty glances from the others in the room, due to the fact that most couples who went there came back pregnant, they sat back down.
Remus was next and received a new tawny owl, so he could keep in contact with people when Sirius and Tali went away, Harry explained. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley received a large amount of money to put towards rebuilding their house which at first they had refused to take. However, after a few minutes of arguing with Harry, who pretended to cry, they were subdued into taking it. Ginny got a door alarm for her room when the new house was finished that would turn any would-be intruder into weasel for an hour.
"Oh dear, this is a big one." said Dumbledore as he pulled out Ron's gift.
Everyone looked on, intrigued, as Ron opened the large, thin box to reveal. . .
"A Firebolt!?" Ron shouted, eyes bulging out of his head.
Harry smiled, "I figured you could use something to play Keeper on."
Only the night before had Harry discovered that Ron had been chosen as the new Keeper. And after having his old Cleansweep destroyed in the fire, Harry couldn't think of a better gift to give his friend.
"Hell yeah! Malfoy better watch his back! He's still on that Nimbus 2001!" Ron said, eyes gleaming somewhat evilly.
"Hermione, you're up." said Dumbledore, pulling out the smallest gift out of any of them.
Hermione, who had been lying against Harry with his arm over her, looked over at him. Harry smiled knowingly at her and she smiled back before taking the box out of Dumbledore's hand. She took her time opening, much to the annoyance of Snape and Ron. Inside was a beautiful pure gold locket with the words 'Harry Loves Hermione' inscribed on the front. Hermione turned to Harry who mouthed for her to open it and when she did was a picture of the two of them sitting contentedly on the couch in the Gryffindor's common room. Harry was gently stroking her hair with his eyes closed as she read a book to him. Hermione looked up from the locket with tears in her eyes and before anything else was said or done, they were hugging. Harry kissed the top of her head and Snape tapped his foot impatiently.
"There. We're done now, can we go?" he asked.
"Not yet, Alair. There are still two more left. Who do they belong to, Harry?" asked Dumbledore.
Harry and Hermione broke apart and Harry smiled and nodded at them, "You two."
Dumbledore looked delighted as he opened his and found a bottomless bag of lemon drops and a pair of socks (which gained a few curious stares). He opened the candy immediately and popped a few in his mouth. Snape, however, looked suspiciously at the package and then to Harry who smiled innocently. Thinking that he should know better, Snape opened the package.
"What is this supposed to be?" asked Snape bitterly, holding up a postcard from the North Pole with little elves playing ring-around-the-rosy. Harry smiled as everyone else broke out into laughter again.
"Thought you might want it to remind you of your friends." Harry said as he ducked to the side to avoid a pillow being chucked at him.
"Where are Fred and George?" asked Ginny suddenly. Everyone looked around the room and noticed that, indeed, they were missing.
"Right here, Gin!" said Fred, appearing back in the room with George.
"What have you two been up to now?" asked Molly.
"Nothing, mum. Fred and I just thought that we should try to preserve the memory." said George.
"What memory?" asked Tali.
"Oh, nothing. . .smile Professors!" George said suddenly pulling a camera out from behind his back. Dumbledore smiled and held up his socks but Snape got out of the way just in time.
"Oh come on, Professor Snape! 'Tis the season!" exclaimed Fred as he and George chased the elf out of the room, camera flashing every six seconds.
Once they were gone, everyone turned their attention back to the group.
"Have any of you seen Hedwig? I've been looking for her all morning." said Harry.
"She and Fawkes flew off a little while after we got you back here yesterday." said Dumbledore unworriedly.
"She and Fawkes?" asked Harry as Dumbledore nodded and Harry laughed, "Who would have thought it?"
"Come on, Harry. Tali, Remus, and I still have to give you our gift." said Sirius, standing up.
"You got me something?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Of course! Come on! We've been working on it for weeks now!" said Tali, pulling him to his feet.
The three led the rest outside and over to the barn that Harry had seen Sirius coming out of the night before. Harry looked at Sirius who smiled.
"Couldn't let you know I was finishing you gift, could I?" he asked.
The doors were opened and Harry was surprised to find that the inside was brightly lit. In the center of the barn was a familiar looking black cauldron. He looked cautiously at the three who urged him forward.
"This isn't. . .mine. . .is it?" Harry asked a bit nervously.
"Of course it's---oh! No, no, of course not! Dumbledore had that destroyed." Remus informed him.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and looked into the cauldron filled with Pensieve, "Then whose is it?"
"Many people's." said Tali calmly and Harry looked at her, not understanding.
"Look." said Sirius, taking his wand and swirling the Pensieve around.
A scene came to the surface. James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Tali were all standing around Hogsmeade with cups of butterbeer in their hands, laughing. Another swirl with the wand, James and Lily were dancing around at what appeared to be a ball at Hogwarts. Another swirl, Lily was lying in a hospital room squeezing James' hand.
'James! Get it OUT!' she screamed at him.
'The doctors are going as fast as they can, Lils. Hold on just a little longer!' James replied.
Harry looked up from the Pensieve with a huge smile on his face, "My parents."
"Damn straight. All your parents' old friends have graciously donated some of their memories." said Sirius, mocking a bow.
Harry breathed a laugh and hugged all three of them at the same time, "Thank you."
"Professor! It's just a little picture for memento!" George shouted as he and Fred chased Snape past the barn.
"Get that damn thing away from me!" Snape called out over his shoulder.
Those in the barn hurried to the exit and saw the three run around the yard. Snape eventually tripped and fell head first into the snow. He sat up with a pile of snow on his head and before he could do anything else. . .*click*
Fred high-fived George as Snape cursed under his breath. By now everyone had caught up to them and Dumbledore smiled.
"I'm glad to see you finally decided to have a little Christmas spirit, Alair."
Author's Note: Yay! Hehehe, amusing to picture Snape in an elf outfit, isn't it? Lol. . .sorry it's so short. I promise the next chapter will be longer! I tried to give you a bit of a humor after so much seriousness. Whatcha think? Yes! So happy, next chapter I've been waiting to write for a while. Ain't gonna tell you anything other than this: Malfoy best what his back if he know what's good for him. See you at the end of the next chapter!