Chapter Eight: Another Christmas in the Trenches
The next couple of months were rather quiet at the castle, reports of attacks on Muggles and non-sympathisers filtered in, but none of the attacks were on friends or family so Harry took them as a necessary evil.
Like the year before Harry, Jamie, Hermione, the Weasleys and most of their friends were planning to go to Gryphon's Eyrie for Christmas, and on the Tuesday before Christmas, Hermione asked Harry if her parents could possibly join them too. Harry thought about it, then after confirming with Civis that the Floo connection could be used by Muggles, agreed and dispatched Sandra Troy to their house to set things up.
On the 19th of December, Harry and his friends took the carriages down to Hogsmeade station with the rest of the students who were leaving for Christmas, which in Harry's opinion was at an all time high. All of Harry's Inner Circle, including the Boneses, Blaise, and Romulus somehow squeezed into a single carriage - Harry had a feeling that Civis cast a weak Enlarging Charm on the inside.
Thankfully, the journey passed off peacefully, and the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters exactly on schedule. There was a smaller group than usual waiting on the platform for Harry when he helped Jamie of the train: Remus, Tonks and Kingsley were missing, instead Sirius, Leona and Mrs Weasley were waiting for them. Blaise, Romulus, Neville and Luna split off from the rest, but promised they'd be up to the castle soon.
"Tonks and Kingsley couldn't get time off work," Sirius explained as they left the "And Dumbledore needed one of us for a job so Remus agreed to go. He'll be back in a couple of days."
The transportation this year was a couple of Ministry cars, similar to the ones that Fudge had laid on for Harry in his third year. The main difference one this occasion was that they were being driven by blue-and- silver robed Hit Wizards rather than the black-robed DMT drivers that had driven them before. They reached the Leaky Cauldron in record time and within an hour of leaving King's Cross, they were all back on the grounds of Gryphon's Eyrie.
After unpacking, Harry changed into his Muggle clothes and the dragonhide coat and headed out to the stables. As soon as he did, Ravlin greeted him with his usual exuberance. Harry chuckled and went over to him. "You missed him, didn't you, boy?" he asked, caressing the grey stallion's neck. "Well I missed you too. It's a pity we can't go out riding, but it's too cold and windy. I'll be home all summer, we'll be able to have lots of rides then."
The stallion didn't seem terribly satisfied by this line of reasoning, but eventually he consented to allow Harry to leave. Harry checked in with the house-elf in charge of stables - who confirmed that all was well - and then he hurried back to the castle. When he entered the main sitting room, he gasped in astonishment, as the display that greeted him was more impressive than anything he'd ever seen before, even at Hogwarts. Ginny, who'd been watching the two house-elves decorate from their favourite chair, got up and crossed to meet him. "I guess they just needed to practice a bit," she said, sliding her arms inside Harry's coat and around his middle.
"You're probably right," Harry agreed, and putting his arms around her, he guided her back to their chair and sat down with Ginny cradled on his lap. "This is lovely."
"I agree," said Ginny, tucking her head under Harry's chin. "Hermione put her stuff in Ron's room, so there'll be room for Luna in mine when she comes. Are you okay with that."
Harry shrugged. "None of my business really, Gin," he told her. "I'm interested to hear what your mum thinks though."
"Me too," said Ginny. "And I don't think we'll have to wait long to find out."
----
As it turned out, they didn't have long to wait at all, Mrs Weasley confronted the two of them at dinner an hour later.
"What do think you're doing?!" she asked, in a voice that Harry hadn't heard for quite a while - not since the early arguments over WWW in his fourth year - and would have been happy not hear for at least twice that length of time. "You're still only children!"
"Leave them alone, Molly," said Remus comfortably. "They're both legal, and anyway I'm sure they're sensible enough to be careful." At this he glanced at Ron and Hermione, and Harry could easily read his look, it said: You had better be.
Harry glanced at his friends, from their expressions he could tell that his friends hadn't been as careful as they could have been, and at the same time, they were going to be in the future.
Mrs Weasley scowled, but clearly realised that she wasn't going to win this argument so she turned her attention to Harry and Ginny. "How's school?"
"Fine," Harry told her. "We've pretty busy, with classes, Quidditch, the DA, the training sessions. but we're managing. Aren't we, love?" he replied, and turned to Ginny, who nodded. "It helps that there haven't been any security problems except the trouble in Hogsmeade at Halloween."
Mrs Weasley looked like she was about to say something again, but Harry was too quick. "How are you, then?"
"I'm fine, Harry," she told him with a smile. "We've been busy too, but it's a bit easier now the Ministry has organised itself."
"You might think so, Molly," Tonks told her. "You don't have to work there. Director Wright makes Mad-Eye look trusting. And he's got us doing all sorts of new training. I think I preferred the chaos."
Remus smiled at this, "Tonks, if you had been at school with us, you would have made a lovely Marauder."
Tonks went red at this. "Thanks Remus."
Harry smiled, he was fairly sure that blush hadn't been intentional. This could be. interesting, he thought. I'll have to keep an eye on those two. He turned and caught Ginny's eye, she grinned, the same thought had obviously crossed her mind too.
After dinner, Civis mentioned that Stewart Kylan's girlfriend, Jean Élans, had been up during the term and had delivered a chess set similar to the one on Professor McGonagall had created in the chambers protecting the Mirror of Erised. Ron immediately jumped at the chance of playing them again and rushed out, dragging Hermione behind him.
"You'd think after what happened last time, he'd want to stay away from them," Jamie commented.
Ginny grinned and shook her head. "Yeah, he got hurt, but he also got his first bit of fame too. And that's important to Ron. To all of us."
"You're right, Ginny," Harry agreed. "Ron's a lot of things, but he's not someone who forgets the good side of things."
By the time they arrived in the room where the chess set had been set up, the game was already in play. However, Harry could see two major differences in this game: one, Ron was playing an opponent, Jason Draper; and two, he was winning.
Ron's early advantage didn't see him through the game though, at one point Harry was sure he was going to lose, but he rallied in the end and managed to full off a thrilling end piece involving a rook, a pawn and a bishop.
When they emerged from the Chess Room Harry noticed that most of the adults were wrapped up and getting ready to head out. He frowned. "Is anything wrong?"
Sirius shook his head. "Mad-Eye called, he wants to beef up security in a couple of spots. Apparently Serina heard something on the grapevine. You'll be okay with just Civis, Troy and Menotti?"
"Of course we will, Sirius," Harry assured him. "We're safer here than at Hogwarts. They have no idea where we are, and we're impossible to locate too."
"I know that, Harry," Sirius assured. "I just can't help worrying."
"Go," Harry urged him. "We'll be fine. See if you can bag Malfoy, Dolohov or the Lestranges. I've still got some scores to settle with them."
"You're not the only one, Harry."
With that, Sirius turned and headed out the main door with Tonks, Leona, Mrs Weasley and most of the Guardians following behind him.
Harry waited until they had entered the gatehouse, and then turned and headed back to the castle, with his friends following his wake.
----
When Sirius and the others returned to Gryphon's Eyrie next morning they were clearly exhausted. Harry waited until they were seated at the breakfast table before asking the question that they all wanted to know. "Any luck?"
Sirius shrugged. "We managed to stop the attacks by the Death Eaters, and we even managed to capture a couple of small fry, Adrian Pucey and Carl Warrington. A large group of Vetuni escaped the guards though, and killed seven people & injured fourteen more, half of which are under observation in the Creature-Induced Injuries Ward at St. Mungo's and if we're lucky they'll die too."
Harry scowled, and clenched his fist. "I should be doing something!"
"You are, Harry," Remus reminded him. "You are preparing to take out Voldemort. Something that none of us can do. But there are other battles to be fought in the mean time, and the best thing you can do is let us fight those battles and keep yourself safe."
Harry considered this for a moment, and then nodded reluctantly. "You're right, it's just. frustrating."
"We understand, Harry," Sirius assured him. "And when the time comes, and I think that will be sooner than we would like, you'll do your bit. Just be patient."
"Patience isn't exactly one of my strong points, or yours."
"Very true," Sirius agreed with a smile. "You up for some duelling practice?"
"Yeah, I am," Harry admitted. "Can you spare the time?"
Sirius nodded. "I need to report in to Mad-Eye, but I can meet you the auditorium in about an hour if that's okay?"
"Sounds good."
----
As she had the year before, Jamie woke Harry on Christmas Day at about six am. "Jamie! What did you do that for?!" he exclaimed, jerking himself up and slipping his glasses on.
"I'm twelve, Harry," Jamie reminded him. "I'm allowed to be immature at Christmas."
"I suppose you are," Harry agreed. "Wait outside for a minute so I can get dressed."
"Okay," Jamie agreed and skipped out.
Harry smiled, even with the war on, it was hard to be morbid when his cousin was in one of her happy moods. He got out of bed and headed for his wardrobe to get his clothes.
Ten minutes later, he left his room, just in time to see Ginny let herself out the home she shared with Luna. "Morning Harry, Jamie," she yawned. "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas, love," Harry told her, wrapping his arm round her waist and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "Shall we go down?"
Ginny nodded and they headed down the main stair, Jamie following behind them.
Again, as with the year before, Harry found his presents very satisfactory, if a little dangerous in one or two cases, as in addition to a new pair of Quidditch gloves from Ginny, Jamie and Mark, a book on the history of the Aurors from Ron and Hermione, and the usual package from Mrs Weasley, he also received a full box of Imploding Inkwells from Angelina, Lee and the twins, a book called Advanced Duelling and Defensive Tactics from Tonks, and a pair of Fairbourne daggers made of Argentium steel from Sirius and Leona. Sirius was overjoyed when Harry presented him with his old motorcycle, which Harry had managed to retrieve from where Hagrid had left it and had modifyed with an Invisibility Shield and an internal reusable Portkey for long journeys.
"Just don't ask me where I got the work done," Harry cautioned his godfather, and bent to help Ginny unwrap her own present from Sirius, which turned out to be a Japanese katana forged of Argentium steel.
Once the presents had all been unwrapped and breakfast eaten, Ron and Draper announced they were playing another exhibition match in the Chess Room so most of the residents trouped up there to watch, although Remus retired to his room to read his gift from Harry, Hairy Snout, Human Heart.
----
Harry decided to try and get all his friends together on New Year's Eve so they could usher in the New Year together but had only limited success as Susan had been invited to a party at Justin Finch-Fletchley's house and had taken Anita with her, and Tonks and most of the Weasleys had guard duty for the Order. However with the arrival of Romulus, Blaise, Mark and Neville at the castle there were more than enough people to fill even Harry's large stateroom: Harry, Ginny and Jamie occupied Harry's bed while Hermione sat on Harry's desk chair with Ron perched on the desk; Remus, Sirius, Leona took the sofa and the others spread themselves out wherever else they could find a seat.
Harry persuaded Civis to not only bring up several cases of Butterbeer, but also a couple of large bottles of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey that had - according to the label - been in bottled in 1840, and were according to Civis of an excellent vintage. As a result, by the time most of his friends had left around one a.m., Harry was feeling pleasantly tipsy and stumbled out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. When Ginny came out to him a few minutes later, he was almost back to normal. "What is it, Ginny?"
"Time for bed, Harry," Ginny told him, smiling mischievously.
Harry nodded and followed Ginny back inside, as they walked, Ginny gradually unbuttoned Harry's shirt until it fell open. Harry paused. "Ginny. are you sure."
"Yes, Harry, I'm sure." Ginny confirmed lying back down on Harry's bed.
With a grin, Harry stripped off the rest of his clothes and joined her. Ginny's clothes were also quickly disposed of and the last thought Harry had before reason fled entirely from his mind was: New Year is definitely becoming my favourite holiday.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long folks, I've been busy re-editing the early chapters of Torch of Caelum and getting them posted on PhoenixSong.Net. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can manage it, and an extended version of this chapter (at least R possibly NC-17) will also be available soon. The chapter title is a quote from John Hughes' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. As always please review.
The next couple of months were rather quiet at the castle, reports of attacks on Muggles and non-sympathisers filtered in, but none of the attacks were on friends or family so Harry took them as a necessary evil.
Like the year before Harry, Jamie, Hermione, the Weasleys and most of their friends were planning to go to Gryphon's Eyrie for Christmas, and on the Tuesday before Christmas, Hermione asked Harry if her parents could possibly join them too. Harry thought about it, then after confirming with Civis that the Floo connection could be used by Muggles, agreed and dispatched Sandra Troy to their house to set things up.
On the 19th of December, Harry and his friends took the carriages down to Hogsmeade station with the rest of the students who were leaving for Christmas, which in Harry's opinion was at an all time high. All of Harry's Inner Circle, including the Boneses, Blaise, and Romulus somehow squeezed into a single carriage - Harry had a feeling that Civis cast a weak Enlarging Charm on the inside.
Thankfully, the journey passed off peacefully, and the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters exactly on schedule. There was a smaller group than usual waiting on the platform for Harry when he helped Jamie of the train: Remus, Tonks and Kingsley were missing, instead Sirius, Leona and Mrs Weasley were waiting for them. Blaise, Romulus, Neville and Luna split off from the rest, but promised they'd be up to the castle soon.
"Tonks and Kingsley couldn't get time off work," Sirius explained as they left the "And Dumbledore needed one of us for a job so Remus agreed to go. He'll be back in a couple of days."
The transportation this year was a couple of Ministry cars, similar to the ones that Fudge had laid on for Harry in his third year. The main difference one this occasion was that they were being driven by blue-and- silver robed Hit Wizards rather than the black-robed DMT drivers that had driven them before. They reached the Leaky Cauldron in record time and within an hour of leaving King's Cross, they were all back on the grounds of Gryphon's Eyrie.
After unpacking, Harry changed into his Muggle clothes and the dragonhide coat and headed out to the stables. As soon as he did, Ravlin greeted him with his usual exuberance. Harry chuckled and went over to him. "You missed him, didn't you, boy?" he asked, caressing the grey stallion's neck. "Well I missed you too. It's a pity we can't go out riding, but it's too cold and windy. I'll be home all summer, we'll be able to have lots of rides then."
The stallion didn't seem terribly satisfied by this line of reasoning, but eventually he consented to allow Harry to leave. Harry checked in with the house-elf in charge of stables - who confirmed that all was well - and then he hurried back to the castle. When he entered the main sitting room, he gasped in astonishment, as the display that greeted him was more impressive than anything he'd ever seen before, even at Hogwarts. Ginny, who'd been watching the two house-elves decorate from their favourite chair, got up and crossed to meet him. "I guess they just needed to practice a bit," she said, sliding her arms inside Harry's coat and around his middle.
"You're probably right," Harry agreed, and putting his arms around her, he guided her back to their chair and sat down with Ginny cradled on his lap. "This is lovely."
"I agree," said Ginny, tucking her head under Harry's chin. "Hermione put her stuff in Ron's room, so there'll be room for Luna in mine when she comes. Are you okay with that."
Harry shrugged. "None of my business really, Gin," he told her. "I'm interested to hear what your mum thinks though."
"Me too," said Ginny. "And I don't think we'll have to wait long to find out."
----
As it turned out, they didn't have long to wait at all, Mrs Weasley confronted the two of them at dinner an hour later.
"What do think you're doing?!" she asked, in a voice that Harry hadn't heard for quite a while - not since the early arguments over WWW in his fourth year - and would have been happy not hear for at least twice that length of time. "You're still only children!"
"Leave them alone, Molly," said Remus comfortably. "They're both legal, and anyway I'm sure they're sensible enough to be careful." At this he glanced at Ron and Hermione, and Harry could easily read his look, it said: You had better be.
Harry glanced at his friends, from their expressions he could tell that his friends hadn't been as careful as they could have been, and at the same time, they were going to be in the future.
Mrs Weasley scowled, but clearly realised that she wasn't going to win this argument so she turned her attention to Harry and Ginny. "How's school?"
"Fine," Harry told her. "We've pretty busy, with classes, Quidditch, the DA, the training sessions. but we're managing. Aren't we, love?" he replied, and turned to Ginny, who nodded. "It helps that there haven't been any security problems except the trouble in Hogsmeade at Halloween."
Mrs Weasley looked like she was about to say something again, but Harry was too quick. "How are you, then?"
"I'm fine, Harry," she told him with a smile. "We've been busy too, but it's a bit easier now the Ministry has organised itself."
"You might think so, Molly," Tonks told her. "You don't have to work there. Director Wright makes Mad-Eye look trusting. And he's got us doing all sorts of new training. I think I preferred the chaos."
Remus smiled at this, "Tonks, if you had been at school with us, you would have made a lovely Marauder."
Tonks went red at this. "Thanks Remus."
Harry smiled, he was fairly sure that blush hadn't been intentional. This could be. interesting, he thought. I'll have to keep an eye on those two. He turned and caught Ginny's eye, she grinned, the same thought had obviously crossed her mind too.
After dinner, Civis mentioned that Stewart Kylan's girlfriend, Jean Élans, had been up during the term and had delivered a chess set similar to the one on Professor McGonagall had created in the chambers protecting the Mirror of Erised. Ron immediately jumped at the chance of playing them again and rushed out, dragging Hermione behind him.
"You'd think after what happened last time, he'd want to stay away from them," Jamie commented.
Ginny grinned and shook her head. "Yeah, he got hurt, but he also got his first bit of fame too. And that's important to Ron. To all of us."
"You're right, Ginny," Harry agreed. "Ron's a lot of things, but he's not someone who forgets the good side of things."
By the time they arrived in the room where the chess set had been set up, the game was already in play. However, Harry could see two major differences in this game: one, Ron was playing an opponent, Jason Draper; and two, he was winning.
Ron's early advantage didn't see him through the game though, at one point Harry was sure he was going to lose, but he rallied in the end and managed to full off a thrilling end piece involving a rook, a pawn and a bishop.
When they emerged from the Chess Room Harry noticed that most of the adults were wrapped up and getting ready to head out. He frowned. "Is anything wrong?"
Sirius shook his head. "Mad-Eye called, he wants to beef up security in a couple of spots. Apparently Serina heard something on the grapevine. You'll be okay with just Civis, Troy and Menotti?"
"Of course we will, Sirius," Harry assured him. "We're safer here than at Hogwarts. They have no idea where we are, and we're impossible to locate too."
"I know that, Harry," Sirius assured. "I just can't help worrying."
"Go," Harry urged him. "We'll be fine. See if you can bag Malfoy, Dolohov or the Lestranges. I've still got some scores to settle with them."
"You're not the only one, Harry."
With that, Sirius turned and headed out the main door with Tonks, Leona, Mrs Weasley and most of the Guardians following behind him.
Harry waited until they had entered the gatehouse, and then turned and headed back to the castle, with his friends following his wake.
----
When Sirius and the others returned to Gryphon's Eyrie next morning they were clearly exhausted. Harry waited until they were seated at the breakfast table before asking the question that they all wanted to know. "Any luck?"
Sirius shrugged. "We managed to stop the attacks by the Death Eaters, and we even managed to capture a couple of small fry, Adrian Pucey and Carl Warrington. A large group of Vetuni escaped the guards though, and killed seven people & injured fourteen more, half of which are under observation in the Creature-Induced Injuries Ward at St. Mungo's and if we're lucky they'll die too."
Harry scowled, and clenched his fist. "I should be doing something!"
"You are, Harry," Remus reminded him. "You are preparing to take out Voldemort. Something that none of us can do. But there are other battles to be fought in the mean time, and the best thing you can do is let us fight those battles and keep yourself safe."
Harry considered this for a moment, and then nodded reluctantly. "You're right, it's just. frustrating."
"We understand, Harry," Sirius assured him. "And when the time comes, and I think that will be sooner than we would like, you'll do your bit. Just be patient."
"Patience isn't exactly one of my strong points, or yours."
"Very true," Sirius agreed with a smile. "You up for some duelling practice?"
"Yeah, I am," Harry admitted. "Can you spare the time?"
Sirius nodded. "I need to report in to Mad-Eye, but I can meet you the auditorium in about an hour if that's okay?"
"Sounds good."
----
As she had the year before, Jamie woke Harry on Christmas Day at about six am. "Jamie! What did you do that for?!" he exclaimed, jerking himself up and slipping his glasses on.
"I'm twelve, Harry," Jamie reminded him. "I'm allowed to be immature at Christmas."
"I suppose you are," Harry agreed. "Wait outside for a minute so I can get dressed."
"Okay," Jamie agreed and skipped out.
Harry smiled, even with the war on, it was hard to be morbid when his cousin was in one of her happy moods. He got out of bed and headed for his wardrobe to get his clothes.
Ten minutes later, he left his room, just in time to see Ginny let herself out the home she shared with Luna. "Morning Harry, Jamie," she yawned. "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas, love," Harry told her, wrapping his arm round her waist and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "Shall we go down?"
Ginny nodded and they headed down the main stair, Jamie following behind them.
Again, as with the year before, Harry found his presents very satisfactory, if a little dangerous in one or two cases, as in addition to a new pair of Quidditch gloves from Ginny, Jamie and Mark, a book on the history of the Aurors from Ron and Hermione, and the usual package from Mrs Weasley, he also received a full box of Imploding Inkwells from Angelina, Lee and the twins, a book called Advanced Duelling and Defensive Tactics from Tonks, and a pair of Fairbourne daggers made of Argentium steel from Sirius and Leona. Sirius was overjoyed when Harry presented him with his old motorcycle, which Harry had managed to retrieve from where Hagrid had left it and had modifyed with an Invisibility Shield and an internal reusable Portkey for long journeys.
"Just don't ask me where I got the work done," Harry cautioned his godfather, and bent to help Ginny unwrap her own present from Sirius, which turned out to be a Japanese katana forged of Argentium steel.
Once the presents had all been unwrapped and breakfast eaten, Ron and Draper announced they were playing another exhibition match in the Chess Room so most of the residents trouped up there to watch, although Remus retired to his room to read his gift from Harry, Hairy Snout, Human Heart.
----
Harry decided to try and get all his friends together on New Year's Eve so they could usher in the New Year together but had only limited success as Susan had been invited to a party at Justin Finch-Fletchley's house and had taken Anita with her, and Tonks and most of the Weasleys had guard duty for the Order. However with the arrival of Romulus, Blaise, Mark and Neville at the castle there were more than enough people to fill even Harry's large stateroom: Harry, Ginny and Jamie occupied Harry's bed while Hermione sat on Harry's desk chair with Ron perched on the desk; Remus, Sirius, Leona took the sofa and the others spread themselves out wherever else they could find a seat.
Harry persuaded Civis to not only bring up several cases of Butterbeer, but also a couple of large bottles of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey that had - according to the label - been in bottled in 1840, and were according to Civis of an excellent vintage. As a result, by the time most of his friends had left around one a.m., Harry was feeling pleasantly tipsy and stumbled out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. When Ginny came out to him a few minutes later, he was almost back to normal. "What is it, Ginny?"
"Time for bed, Harry," Ginny told him, smiling mischievously.
Harry nodded and followed Ginny back inside, as they walked, Ginny gradually unbuttoned Harry's shirt until it fell open. Harry paused. "Ginny. are you sure."
"Yes, Harry, I'm sure." Ginny confirmed lying back down on Harry's bed.
With a grin, Harry stripped off the rest of his clothes and joined her. Ginny's clothes were also quickly disposed of and the last thought Harry had before reason fled entirely from his mind was: New Year is definitely becoming my favourite holiday.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long folks, I've been busy re-editing the early chapters of Torch of Caelum and getting them posted on PhoenixSong.Net. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can manage it, and an extended version of this chapter (at least R possibly NC-17) will also be available soon. The chapter title is a quote from John Hughes' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. As always please review.