-CHAPTER FOURTEEN-
The Gift
The Gryffindor common room was always much more quiet during Christmas break, and this year was no exception. The snow grew heavier, the lake froze over and the traditional rides across by horse drawn sleds began. But to everyone's surprise the snow kept falling in its thick blankets and soon outdoors activities were cancelled.
It seemed anyone who might have changed their mind about staying at Hogwarts over break would not be able to leave.
Usually during break the students could spend their days playing about in the snow, skating on the ice and generally lounging about the school carefree. Regrettably, that year many of their standard activities had been cancelled thanks to the Dark Mark in the sky. Security had been increased. Students could not leave the castle unless they had a written note from their head of house.
Few owls could make their way through the harsh wind to deliver the post. The owlery was almost completely bare, and the floors had been cleaned. An enchanted fire had even been set up so that the owls might stay warm.
The only thing the not affected by the threat was surprisingly, the number of students who stayed during the break.
Ron and Hermoine has decided to stay, and while they would never admit it they all knew it was because they did not want Harry to be alone at Hogwarts especially since it was Christmas. But even if they had both gone home for the break he would not have been alone. Amy had explained to him weeks ago that she would not be leaving for the holidays.
"When you've got no home to go to, where you are becomes your home," She said speaking frankly one day while they sat in the Common Room. Harry knew the feeling. Hogwarts was more of a home than Privet Drive had ever been and it was relieving in a sort of way, to know he was not the only one. In fact, he had much more in common with Amy than he had once thought and one day as they sat quietly by the fire she spoke at length about her family.
"I lived at an orphanage when I was really young. All I knew about my family was that shortly after I was born my mum died. My dad couldn't take care of me all on his own because he was busy with business. So he brought me to the orphanage and promised to come get me when the time was right.
"I don't remember much about my time there. I was barely a year old the orphanage got word he had died. Muggle child protection service took me from the orphanage as placed me with a horrible family, they were Muggles of course. They treated all of the foster kids the same, like-like we were their house elves or something!
"And then when I was seven finally ran away from them. I got as far as the next town, Haggishtown or something. I don't really remember the name anymore, which is weird I guess. I don't know, I was so focused on getting away I don't really remember a lot. They found me in this old abandoned house and took me back to Muggle's house,
"They were livid with me. I got beat around more than my fair share of the time, and it seemed that whatever I did only made them angrier. I didn't understand why, and then it started to happen. Little things, but weird things just the same. I remember, I got in so much trouble one time when we were washing windows. We had spent the entire day washing the windows and then when 'they' came to inspect them they shattered everywhere,
"I thought it was bloody funny. Mostly because I had been imagining what would happen if the windows did actually all break, and then all of a sudden-poof! I didn't know it was my magic, I didn't even know magic existed. After that the parents started to figure out it was my magic that was causing so many disturbances, or rather it was me. They sent me back to the orphanage saying I was Satin's spawn and so on. If you ask me, they were the satins,"
"I lived at the orphanage until I got my letter. It's not like I didn't-"
Amy stopped, and following her gaze Harry saw why. Skye had come through the portrait passage and was standing, watching them with the keenest glimmer in her eyes. Catching his gaze she gave her cocky, knowing smile and strutted up the stairs and off to the dormitories. Unfortunately for Harry, both Skye and Malfoy had decided to stay over Christmas break as well. Harry had tried several times to put it out of his mind but whenever he did actually achieve his goal; Malfoy would appear totting her around like a new broomstick.
Christmas morning dawned, a beautiful blanket of white and 'bloody well freezing cold'. Harry was awoken at a snail's pace by the several pillows Ron threw at his sleeping head.
"Oy! Harry! Presents!"
Harry mechanically reached over grabbing his glasses and putting them on and began the traditional squinting in the dimly light dorm room. He noted the small pile of wrapped parcels that seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere were now stacked prominently near the foot of his bed. "It's about bloody time!" Said Alexa's excited voice in the dimness.
"Wha-Alexa?" Harry reached for his wand and spoke faintly. "Lumos. Hermoine? Amy? You're not supposed to be in here,"
"We're rebels," Replied Amy with an impish grin.
"This has got to be the best Christmas present ever," Said Seamus grinning. "I was expecting Christmas pies and socks, not a handful of lasses,"
Ron let out a snort of a laugh while Hermoine's face turned a peculiar shade of crimson, which was still noticeable in the weakly light room. "Merry Christmas Harry," Amy sat down on the edge of his bed and handed him a small parcel wrapped in green and gold.
It was Harry's turn to flush colourfully as he leaned under his bed and retrieved her present. He felt oddly self-conscious looking at his hand wrapped job in red paper, luckily for him the sun was just beginning to rise and he silently prayed she would not notice the dreadfully wrapped gift.
"Another maroon jumper…." Said Ron woefully, holding up the jumper for everyone to see. "I'm going to go mad some day. They'll put me in St. Mungo's because of these,"
Harry chuckled along with the others as he opened his presents. Mrs. Weasley had sent him a burgundy jumper with 'H P' knitted on the front, and a snitch on the backl, half a dozen home-baked mincemeat pies, an entire Christmas cake and a small box of peanut brittle. From Hagrid he received an enormous tin of treacle fudge, which Harry knew from past experiences to thaw out by the fire before attempting to eat. An invitation to his hut for the next day was included. Apparently he had business in Hogsmeade on Christmas… Sirius sent a waxing kit for 'the removal of dents and buffering of Lightning Strikes' including a manual. With it was a note attached that simply said;
To tide you over until your birthday. Merry Christmas Harry.
Sirius
Ron had given him a Parasepcia. "It's a sort've like a muggles compass. Well, that's what Hermoine said." He had attempted to explain. "See these arrows? They'll point you in the direction of the nearest secret passage. But err… You might want to put it away for now. You'll just get it confused if you carry it around the castle."
Hermoine's gift was a heavy, home made text with an enchanted cover entitled, "Complete list of First to Fifth Year Potions; by Hermoine Granger". Alexa had given him a parchment explaining he was now a recipient of "Quidditch Monthly", a Muggle type publication about Quidditch published every month.
Dobby had appeared at the doorway, but when Alexa answered he took off back down the hallway. Harry had nearly chased him around the entire Gryffindor tower before he would agree to calm down. And so, from Dobby he received a woolly pair of maroon and gold socks that probably would have fit Hagrid better than Harry. Harry had in turn giving him the pair of multicolour toe socks he had bought in Hogsmeade. Dobby had ended up using them to wipe all of his tears off of his face. "This is the best gift Dobby has ever received sir," The small house elf wailed gleefully.
When Dobby did leave Harry noticed the emerald green wrapping with gold trim and without delay felt the guilt wash over him. He had completely forgotten about Amy's present. He sat back down and hastily unwrapped the parcel. Inside was an old, thin, script book with a magically repaired cover which read "Hamlet; by William Shakespeare," Harry smiled gratefully. "Thanks,"
"It's nothing fancy or anything but… I figured you might enjoy it," Amy replied fretfully. "If you don't like it I can-"
"No!" Said Harry. "I err… I really like it,"
"Flippin' Hell!" Said Ron excitedly. "The entire collection!" Harry turned; sitting at the foot of Ron's bed, unwrapped in gleaming azure paper was a pyramid of Chocolate Frogs. Harry blinked, Quidditch Edition Chocolate Frogs.
"Cor!" Added Seamus, staring in awe, admiring the pile. "Who are those from Ron?"
"I don't know I-" Ron rummaged through the papers and pulled out the note which had, at some point before Ron's pillaging been attached. Harry watched his mouth drop and face pale. "I don't believe it," Ron breathed.
"Well? Who's it from?" Asked Neville.
"It's from…. Skye,"
"Your kidding!"
Harry began to feel the familiar numbing in his fingertips. Still in a state of shock he looked around the room. Neville, Seamus, Dean and Alexa were examining the mountain of Chocolate Frogs. Hermoine sat in a chair trying to appear uninterested. And Amy had a rather nervous look about her. "Did you know about this?"
"Harry, don't be mad. She bought them before-"
"Bullocks. I can't believe you knew about this." His face flushed with anger and slowly he began to feel the numbing spread
itself through his body. His fists kept on clenching themselves so tightly his fingernails dug into the palms of his hands.
"Harry!" Amy protested. "You don't understand-"
"I understand perfectly. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier. You've chosen her over us. All the time you were just
pretending to like… us! You'd rather be friends with that conniving tart than us. Why don't you just run off to her and
Malfoy. I'm sure they'll both be bloody beaming to see you."
"Harry!" Hermoine stepped in. "It's just a gift. You know I don't like Skye, and you know I like Malfoy even less. But it's
a present, not a bomb."
"Stay out of this Hermoine!" Harry shouted furiously and then returned his glare to the brunette who still sat on the foot of his
bed. "What did you do Amy? Pretend to be our friend just so you could tell them about everything we do?"
"That's rubbish and you know it," She replied calmly. The quiet tone of her voice was unnerving, and forced him to realize
just how loud he was being. Harry blinked, observing her. Regardless of his yelling and accusations she seemed entirely
tranquil. As if nothing he had said even affected her. She simply sat on the unmade bed, cross-legged watching him
intently. Taking the verbal beating he lashed out, without becoming angry herself.
Suddenly, as if his memory had just cleared after a great fog he heard her voice repeat something she had once told him.
"You learn to sit down and shut up, other wise you were just in more trouble. The better you were at just taking the thrashing, the easier it was to pretend like you were invisible. If you were invisible, they couldn't hit you."
The words were like a sharp slap to his face as his horrified eyes widened faintly. He brought his hand forward to run through his hair and he saw her entire body flinch and move away from him. 'She's afraid you'll hit her' said the nasty little voice in his mind. 'Just like her foster parents did.'
Harry opened his mouth to apologize, but what came out was something entirely different. "Get out,"
"What?" Hermoine asked astounded. "Harry! Be reasonable about this-"
"You too Hermoine." He hung his head, wishing he could just disappear. Hiding behind his long mangy bangs he tried to put up a barrier between himself and the others in the room. When that did not work, he stormed out.
Harry sat quietly in the vacant common room with his face resting on his head staring torpidly into the fire. His mind felt as though he was going to explode if he even gave so much as a wandering thought to his outburst earlier in the morning. He had wandered the school's empty halls, desperately wishing he had some one to speak to.
Usually he could turn to Ron or Hermoine, but this time it was different. Not only had he raged at Amy, but he had snapped at Hermoine aswell. She had tried her best to keep a stiff upper lip, but it was now obvious she was quite hurt by what he had said. Ron was off somewhere… probably with Alexa, Harry realized. Harry felt a brief anger towards Ron for not comforting Hermoine but quickly reminded himself he was not one to throw stones.
Hagrid was off grounds, and Harry had half a mind to suspect he was off in a cave with his giantess mum. Maybe he had taken Madame Maxine with him…
And Sirius was… In all brutal honesty, Harry had no clue where Sirius might be hiding. Maybe he had returned to Professor Lupin's. Or maybe he was in Hogsmeade. Regardless of Sirius's whereabouts, or anyone else's for that matter Harry felt dismally overwhelmed sitting alone in the common room.
"What's with the sulking Potter?"
Her voice was smooth with sarcasm, but the tone sounded as if she actually… cared. Harry let his eyes dart to the stairwell leading down from the dormitories, catching a glance of Skye with her Lightning Strike hefted over her shoulder and red and gold scarf wrapped securely around her neck. The colours that had once seemed very becoming on her were now almost painful to look at. The gold seemed tainted, and the red was altogether too dark. It looked more like blood than anything else.
"Shove off Skye,"
"Oh, but that wouldn't be any fun. Now would it?" A small self-assured smile crawled over her lips as she meandered her way idly over to him. She sat herself down in the chair across from with him with a small sigh. Cocking her head to one side she raised an eyebrow. "Come on Potter. Share the misery."
Harry gazed at her trying his best to appear unfeeling, but try as he might; he was intrigued by her sudden compassion. Or was it more of a mock kindness? He was not quite sure. She may talk like Malfoy, and smile like Malfoy but there was still something enormous separating the two. Malfoy never pretended to care, but Skye had, even to the point where Harry wished he could have believed her.
And then with a civility that surprised even him, Harry replied. "I saw your gift you gave to Ron."
"Oh," Said Skye airily amused with herself. "So that's what all that hollering was about."
With no reply Harry simply glared at her, noticing how the flames from the fire casted menacing shadows to her face that he had never seen before. "Well?" She asked. "Did he enjoy my gift?"
"I wouldn't know." Harry answered, not even missing a beat.
A slanted grin danced on her lips and her eyes seemed to suddenly sparkle with their knowing glow he had once respected. "I know."
Harry could not help but scowl. "Then why'd you ask?"
"Why do I do anything? To make a complete bullocks out of your life. For my own amusement." She supplied. "Well that's what you think anyways. So that must be right. Right?"
When Harry said nothing she shrugged her eyebrows and shoulders simultaneously, almost challengingly and continued. "Because Merlin forbid I actually be concerned about you or anyone that doesn't include myself right?"
"I never said that."
"But that's what you think."
"What I think is none of your business." He retorted, the sharpness of his tone surprising himself. She said nothing. Her dark eyes seemed to simply stare at him vacantly, but in apparent concentration. It was unnerving for him to see her watching him so intently.
"What?"
She opened her mouth, and then closed it shut. "It's those eyes of yours Potter. They could drive a girl mad,"
"Stop that,"
"Stop what?"
"Stop the flattery."
"You never used to hate it when I flattered you before. You used to get all cute and blush. What's the matter Potter? Don't I get you all hot and bothered anymore?"
Harry felt his face flush involuntarily and he hated himself for being embarrassed by her. "Sod off Skye,"
"Oh but I haven't done what I came here for," She replied, but rose from her chair none the less.
"And what was that?" Asked Harry feigning no interest.
"To give you your Christmas gift," She answered simply.
"Whatever it is, I don't want it." He turned his head to the side, and glared back into the fire.
"Well that's too bad for you. Not that I don't enjoy watching you brood all by your lonesome, but I've held onto this for so bloody long that it's time you had it. Whether you want it or not."
Harry pushed away his interest, and concentrated keeping his gaze on the flickering flames. He heard her give a small sigh of resignation and glanced over as she pulled something out of the robe of her pockets. "You're insufferable Potter, you know that?" She held out a small package wrapped in a stunning shade of emerald but he did not move. He did not even so much glance in her direction until after she had placed the present on the arm of the chair and left through the portrait hole.
Harry sat silently, his eyes darting back and forth between the flames and the present. It was thin, no larger than his hand and he imagined it must be equally light to hold. His mind urged him over and over to toss it into the blaze and be done with it. But for some reason he could not bring himself to do so. The inner disagreement was so intense he did not even take notice of the footsteps as they came down the stairwell.
He suddenly became conscious of the eyes watching him inquisitively and he looked up. Amy's entire body flinched as his eyes met hers and she moved her way through the room quickly. It was not until she reached the portrait hole that he summoned up the courage to call after her.
"Amy," She turned swiftly, as if she had been caught doing something wrong. The expression on her face was oddly indecipherable, somewhere in-between pain, fear and anger. "I-err-I wanted to apologize."
Amy blinked.
"For what I said this morning… I didn't mean it. I was just being…"
"A sodding prat?" She offered with a scowl. The words were abnormally sharp coming from her, but then again he realized, she had every right to be angry.
"Not my own choice of words, but yeah."
She stepped forward with a sigh, and the thought occurred momentarily how much she sounded like Skye in that instant. He literally shook his head to rid himself of that thought and ran his hand through his hair. A very uncommon trait for him, probably something he had picked up from Ron in the older years.
"I wasn't angry with you, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"Bloody right you shouldn't have." She retorted frankly. "I told you things Harry. Things I never told anyone. Not even Alexa or Skye! And they're my best mates! I let you into my life! That's not a very easy thing for me to do! But I did it anyways. Because you were my friend, because I…." Her voice trailed off as she stared off into the fire. The flames gave the impression to reflect off of the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
"Amy," He spoke much softer than intended. It seemed his words had a mind of their own today.
"I've liked you seen our first year Harry. You never saw me, but I was fine with that. I had no problem being the girl no one ever saw. I never had a difficulty with just watching people. It was easier that way-not getting involved I mean. I could just watch how things played out. But then-then things started to change.
"We became mates. I talked with you more often in four months than I did with people for my first three years here. But…. She was always there. I watched the two of you; bonding, laughing becoming mates and then… whatever you were before the Celebrational." She gave a small vague shrug. "I tried to fight it, but I couldn't… I hated what I saw. It wasn't fair that she should get every bloody thing she wanted.
"And then finally, it happened. You found out about Malfoy. I thought you would just get angry and leave her be. But you didn't. Every minute we were together you thought of her, or of that prat Malfoy. I can't-no I will not compete with that Harry."
Harry stared at her in a cross between amazement and awe, but said nothing.
"I won't have you bending my ear about her any longer. I don't know how anyone could stand it. You can chose to be miserable for the rest of your life because of something someone else did, or you can get your arse in gear and get back to living."
"Amy-"
"No, let me finish. Because I know that I'm never going to get another chance to be this honest again. And I…." She looked up at him as he stepped closer to her. Harry took a moment to grasp the fact that even though he may be one of the shortest boys in their year, he was still taller than a lot of the girls. This pleased him, and in a weird sense gave him a sudden burst of courage he had never felt before. Using that courage he felt his hand lift her chin, and tilted her face up to his. He felt quite odd as he did so, as if he was watching himself as a different person. The situation was altogether different from what he might imagine his first would be. He slowly brought his mouth to hers, for once was the least bit nervous. Or perhaps he was actually so nervous he did not even realize it. Her lips were soft and had a warm moistness to them that he had not expected.
Slowly she pulled away, her face was flushed and she smiled faintly. "Wow,"
It was Harry's turn to blush reverently, and pushing up his glasses he added, "Yeah."
"Well I… er… I better go… I was supposed to…. Err… I'll see you later then!" She waved quickly and then darted out through the portrait hole reminded Harry strangely of Ginny. She nearly knocked Ron and Hermoine over as they came into the room followed by Alexa. While Hermoine's expression was unreadable, Ron would not stop wiggling his eyebrows and smiling.
"What was that about?" Asked Ron curiously.
"Err… Nothing." Harry replied absently.
"Right." Said Ron, his tone dripped with sarcasm. He seemed particularly excited about something, but it was Hermoine who spoke next.
"Harry, we've been thinking. Well actually, Alexa and I were thinking. Ron was just stuffing his face with sweets."
"Hey! I helped!" Ron protested. Hermoine simply rolled her eyes and continued. "Anyways, remember when I told you I saw…" She paused, as if not quite knowing the correct way of wording what she was about to say. "When I saw Malfoy and Skye?"
His mouth was suddenly much drier, but he managed a nod.
"I was in the library when I saw them. Well, actually, it was just Malfoy at first. He was wandering around like he was looking for a book in the History of Magic section. And that got me wondering, why on earth would someone be in that section? Especially Malfoy. So I watched him, but he disappeared behind one of the bigger shelves and by the time I got there… He was gone. It was like he had apparated or something. I went back to my spot and started reading again.
"And after a while Skye showed up looking rather odd. I didn't think about it at the time but when she went to the exact same section, as Malfoy had been I got suspicious. She said something to the far wall. I was watching through the shelves from an aisle down but I wasn't close enough to hear her. The shelf swung around and then she was gone! Just like Malfoy.
"Now I've figured out they both were using one of the secret passage ways but I couldn't figure out where it led to. In a couple of hours they came back out together, and I caught a shufti of what was on the other side. And from what Ron has told me I'm one hundred percent sure that-Harry… It was the Slytherin Common room. There's a secret passage into the Slytherin Common Room."
"Are you sure?" Harry blurted incredulously. "Wouldn't it show up on the…" He glanced over to Alexa.
She smiled with the slightest nod. "It's alright Harry. They told me about the map." Harry could not help but blink in shock. Had Ron shared over four years of their lives together with her? Had he told her everything? He would have to ask Ron later, and then he returned his attention to Hermoine.
"Wouldn't it should up on the Marauder's Map?"
"Not necessarily." Said Hermoine taking on her matter-of-a-fact-tone. "The map was made by your dad, Sirius, Professor Lupin and Pettigrew. None of them where in Slytherin, so why would they know about it?"
Harry nodded acknowledging she was right. "And what's so important about this? To point out we could have just snuck into their common room three years ago?"
"Blimey Harry!" Said Ron exasperated. His patience had clearly worn off and it was obvious he was itching to tell Harry what they knew. "If we can figure out what Skye said to open the door, we can take the invisibility cloak and find out what those gits of Slytherins know about the heir of evil."
The idea was alluring Harry had to admit. In his mind he contemplated the opportunity. They could find out who the heir was and stop them before anyone got seriously hurt. "Ah," said the nasty voice in his mind. "But that's not the only reason you want to go there. And what do you think Amy will see if she finds out. You can try lying to yourself but you can't lie to her."
"Hermoine, when did you see them in the secret passage way?" He asked pushing away the voice.
Hermoine blinked her brown eyes looking at him curiously, as if trying to catch onto his train of thought. There was also a hint of shame. "In October… why?"
"Then the Slytherins have known since then about Skye and Malfoy. If he's brought her into their common room than they must've seen them together. They must be bloody good at keeping secrets to hold their tongues for over two months. They would've used it against us way before now unless it was really important. They could all very well know who Voldemort's heir is." Harry babbled. While he would never let on, in all honesty he was still trying to cope with the fact he was thinking about the incident with the Slytherins on the stairwell at Halloween.
And then, from the back of his mind came a memory from that very month, along with a realization he had never even pieced together before that very instant…
"What happened?" Asked Amy rushing over to them. "I was in the library when we were told to come here,"
Harry pointed up to the enchanted ceiling, which still portrayed the Dark Mark that remained in the night sky.
"Oh my God," Amy gasped, her eyes wide in shock.
"This can't be happening," Said Alexa, her face almost as pale as the ghost Nearly Headless Nick who passed by them. "This just can't be happening,"
"Harry!" Someone called his name from the crowd. Harry looked around, and then spotted Skye, her curls pulled back in a ponytail, her face flushed with colour from crying. "Ron! Hermoine! Are you lot all right? Albus told me what happened!"
Looking back on it Harry became conscious to the fact he had assumed Skye's face had been flushed from crying, and realized that the shade of pink that had adorned her face could have very well come from being outside. Ron and Hermoine's faces had begun to loose their flush from after being outside, and he knew his own was too. Could she have been outside during the time of the attack? Harry wondered. "No." He reasoned in his mind. "No one in their right mind would go out there unless…"
"I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner." Said Harry astonished. "What if… What if Skye's the Heir?"
Chapter 15: Escape of the Aitruses
