Chapter 8 – The Enchanted Tree


The weather outside was snowing now, and the Hogwarts grounds were covered in a beautiful white tapestry. There were only three days left before Christmas and the castle was now very empty as many of its students had gone home. Ron and Hermione had both stayed, as had Ginny and Dean, but most of the other Gryffindors had chosen to spend the holidays with their families.

Harry lay in bed pondering the question that had been on his mind for the last week; what would be the perfect Christmas gift for Cho? Hermione had told him to make something himself because an expensive present would be inappropriate, but she didn't know that when it came to arts and crafts Harry had two left hands. He needed something that was both highly personal and thoughtful, something that would show the effort he put into it, and yet something that was not too expensive. He let out a deep sigh; the more he thought about it the more his mind suffocated. Concentrate!

Something that would bring her comfort; something that would remind her of him; and something he had made himself. Now I just need to put it all together he groaned.

A necklace … If he could enchant a necklace somehow, that would work.

 'Morning, you thinking about the same thing I am?' Ron sighed at him.

'Yeah, but I may have an idea.' Harry said thoughtfully

'What is it?'

'Hey, come up with your own ideas!'

'Thanks buddy.'

'What are friends for? Now I'm going down to the library to research something.'

'Fine, but there's a big snowball fight planned for later on, so you'd better be there! I owe you at least a face full of snow for holding out on me.'

'Sure, I'll be there' he grinned.

When he arrived at the library he began searching the shelves for anything of interest, but frustration soon set in as shelf after shelf contained nothing relevant. After half an hour of browsing he came across a title that peaked his curiosity; Enchanting Magical Objects With Auras by Rojas Ravenwolf.

He took the book out and scrolled through the index and found the chapter he was looking for; 'Embedding a part of yourself into an object.'

That's it! He sat down on the ground and began skimming over the instructions, but soon became very disappointed. This was hardly his area of expertise, and he realized the instructions were far beyond his skill level. There was no way he could finish it within three days if the enchantment involved advanced charm and potion work; he needed help, and he knew exactly who would be able to help him. He bookmarked the page and ran back to the Gryffindor room with the book under his arm.

'Ginny!'

'Morning Harry, fancy a game of chess?'

'No, I need you to get Hermione for me right away!'

'Sure, no problem, Ginny do this and Ginny do that' she grumbled.

'Please? It's urgent, and you know I can't go into the girl's side of the tower.'

'Fine, hold your horses, I'll go get her.'

A minute later they came down together and he pulled Hermione aside to tell her his idea.

'Oh that's a great idea, and I thought you men would never come up with anything thoughtful.'

'Occasionally we get lucky I guess' and he grinned at her. He was rather pleased for thinking of it all by himself.

'I've been hinting at Ron all week for what I want, but I doubt he's picked up on it. I'll probably end up getting a book or something' and she rolled her eyes at the thought of it.

'Well if you help me with this, maybe I can tell him what he should get you. That way you get what you want and he'll never have to know it was you who told me.'

'Deal' she grinned, 'now show me the instructions.'

As she read the pages pertaining to the particular enchantment he wanted her face kept changing from 'oooh' and 'aaaah' to 'oh dear' and 'that's not good.'

'So what's the verdict?' he asked gloomily, 'can we do it?'

'I think so, but there are some things that are going to be hard. First of all we need a certain type of necklace, it has to be made of silver, and it must have a hollow pendant to put your blood in –'

'My blood? I didn't see that part!'

'It's only a few drops, don't be such a wimp'

'But isn't that dark magic? Using people's blood?'

'Oh no, not at all; this is actually defensive magic, and it can only work if the blood is given willingly.'

'Alright, what else?'

'There are some ingredients that are very hard to get too; we'd have to get them from Diagon Alley.'

'Not a problem, I'll ask Fred and George to send them to me.'

'And finally we need a teardrop from Cho. The enchantment is particular to one person you see? So mixing your blood with her tears will mean the necklace embodies your bravery to overcome her fear.'

'A teardrop from Cho? You're asking the impossible there' he said sarcastically.

'She's still crying a lot is she?' Hermione asked with an expression of sympathy.

'Nah, it's not so bad these days; but occasionally I still bring up the wrong thing.'

'Well after you give her this, I'm sure she'll feel a lot better! I'm envious you know, Ron would never come up with an idea like this on his own; he's such a guy.' She paused for a moment, 'but then that's why I like him' she grinned in a deciding sort of way.

'Uh yeah, whatever' Harry grinned back, 'let's get to work'

'Ok you get the silver necklace, make sure it has a small hollow pendant, just big enough to store about two drops of liquid. I'll get all the other things we need and prepare the enchantment. Don't get the teardrop and blood yet, those are the last two things we need to add. We'll do that tomorrow when we have everything else. Ok?'

'Let's do it – and thanks Hermione. I owe you one'

'Don't mention it, this is actually really interesting. It will be fun to learn this – hey I saw that! Don't roll your eyes at me or I won't help you!'

'See you later!' He grinned as she tried to punch his arm, 'I'm going to sneak off to Hogsmeade.'

He had found exactly the thing he was looking for; a thin silver necklace with a small pendant in the shape of a swan, just like her patronus animal. The swan couldn't have been bigger than the tip of his pinkie, but it was hollowed out and could store the few drops of liquid he needed it to. He stored the necklace in his trunk and went outside for the planned snowball fight.

He walked through the thick snow, as high as his ankles in the places where people hadn't walked, and made his way to the quidditch field. Had he just seen something moving behind that bush? He crept closer, trying to mask the sound of his footsteps, until he could get close enough to see what it was.

There, behind a bush where they thought no one could see them were Ginny and Dean, engaged in some after-class activities. Harry smiled; this was too good to pass up. He owed Ginny one for being such an inquisitive brat, and quietly he pressed together some snow and took aim.

*splat*

'Harry!' Dean blurted out

'You really should find a more private spot you know' he grinned at them

'I - am - going - to - kill - you Harry' and Ginny started making a snowball to throw back.

'See you at the field lovebirds' and he ran off with Ginny chasing him.

It was a complete free for all, it seemed everyone had some built up tension and acting like kids helped release it. He was about to throw a snowball at an unsuspecting third year when he saw McGonagall and Dumbledore walking by.

Mcgonagall looked extremely annoyed as she approached; a look of disapproval on her face.

'I would have expected more appropriate behavior from sixth and seventh years' she snapped,  'you should be setting an examples for the younger – oh Albus I - cannot - believe - you!'

But Dumbledore paid no attention as he took the snowball he had made and threw it at a terrified first year. McGonagall's head looked like was giving off steam but the headmaster seemed oblivious and was sporting a big grin and the trademark twinkle in his eye as he made himself another snowball.

While the other students may have been reluctant to throw back at their headmaster, Harry wasted no time in aiming at Dumbledore.

As Harry and Dumbledore threw snowballs at each other it gave the other students a new sense of bravery and they quickly joined in. Dumbledore seemed to realize he was outnumbered and he took out his wand and waved it, making dozens of snowballs roll themselves and start flying at people all around him.

'Cool sir!' Ron yelled.

'Hey no fair!' Harry grinned.

'Albus that's enough, we have to go!'

The headmaster reluctantly stopped the spell and walked off with Professor McGonagall leaving the students to finish the battle.

'We've got the coolest headmaster in the world' Ron said

Everyone seemed to agree with this, although the first year who had been hit by Dumbledore's first snowball was still in shock.

He was about to throw another snowball at Ron when he heard Cho's voice behind him

'Oh Harrry …'

He turned around only to be greeted by a handful of snow in his face.

'What was that for?'

'You were supposed to meet me fifteen minutes ago, so I'd say you deserved that one.'

'Oh right' he grinned, 'sorry.'

'You're forgiven, now let's go.'

He followed her and started brushing the snow off his robes to try and look at least halfway respectable.

'So what are we doing?' he asked

'Well if I tell you it won't be a surprise.'

She grabbed his hand and led him to the edge of the forbidden forest, and then walked over to a particularly large oak tree. When they went around the back of it he saw that it was carved full of initials.

'So what do you think?'

'Wow, I never even knew about this.'

'They say it's been here for over a hundred years, enchanted to preserve the initials people carve in them.'

He started searching the tree for a pair of initials from around twenty years ago, could it be there?

'What are you looking for?'

There it was.

'This' he pointed to where someone had carved 'J.P. ♥ L.E. 1978'

'My parents; James Potter and Lily Evans' he said while still examining the markings

'Oh Harry, I'm so sorry …' and she started crying now 'I didn't mean to remind …'

'What? Oh, no, I'm glad you showed me. Err, really, you don't have to cry.'

'But that's an awful thing to be reminded off, how could I be so thoughtless?'

'Well I'm not upset about it at all, but could you do me favor?'

'Of course' she said with a puzzled look

'Ok this may seem really weird, but could I have one of your teardrops?'

he took out the small glass tube he had stashed in his robes just in case an opportunity presented itself.

'You want one of my tears? What on earth for?'

'Do you trust me?' he grinned at her, 'It's for a surprise.'

She still had a confused look on her face but took the tube and let a tear fall in it before wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

'Thanks, now are you ready to carve?'

They carved their initials right below his parents, and now the log would forever say

'J.P. ♥ L.E. 1978'

'H.P. ♥ C.C 1996'