A/N: hope you guys r enjoying this. Lol. Umm...ive got everything pretty much figured out, its just amatter of putting it all down on paper! As always, if anyone had any comments or advice...email me or im me or whatever!!! Thanks...

Song to download: dashboard confessional- vindicated!!

CHAPTER 8: Happy Christmas Surprises

Christmas morning came and Ron and Harry awoke to find a nice pile of presents at the end of their beds.

"Happy Christmas Harry!" Ron greeted as the two boys sat up tiredly.

"Happy Christmas to you, too," Harry replied with a cheerful grin spread across his face. He reached onto his bed-side table to get his glasses. Then he turned to the mass of gifts at the end of his bed.

Harry unwrapped the usual sweater from Mrs. Weasley. This year Harry's was crimson with a lion the front, like the one he had gotten in his first year. The sweater was accompanied by Mrs. Weasley's homemade treacle fudge and some peanut brittle.

Lupin sent him a box that contained a palm sized glass orb. Harry picked it up gently and eyed it closely. There was a note inside the box so Harry picked it up and read it.

Harry,

I found this at a shop in Diagon Alley. It's sort of like a sneak-o-scope. It will light up with different colors depending on if someone is going to surprise you, play a joke on you, lie to you, or do something untrustworthy. There is a list attached to this note to tell you what exactly each color means. Happy Christmas!

Remus Lupin

P.S. I hope Renee liked her gift.

Harry read the note and then noticed the other piece of parchment next to it. It was like a color chart, but beside each color was the description of what each color represents

Red-someone is mad at you

Orange- someone is trying to play a joke on you

Yellow- someone is going to surprise you

Green- someone is jealous of you

Blue- someone likes you

Purple- someone is doing something untrustworthy

Black- someone is about to die

White - someone loves you

When Harry was done reading what all the colors meant, he put it aside carefully and went to the next package. It was from Ron. Harry unwrapped the red paper that was covering it and saw a silvery thing. As Harry looked closer he noticed that it was a Captain's badge. In clear, capital letters, it read: Harry Potter Gryffindor Captain. Harry looked up at Ron with an expression of sheer gratitude. Harry knew that Ron didn't have a lot of money, so anything his best friend gave him was going to mean a lot to him.

"What's this for?" Harry pretended not to know.

"Your captain's badge, Captain!" Ron laughed.

"I feel bad for not getting you one," Harry replied.

"Well, I got that for you because I want you to be captain, not me," Ron admitted sheepishly.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive," Ron determined. After making sure that Ron was sure, he started on another present. This one was from Hermione. It's probably another book, Harry thought. But it wasn't. Harry reached into the bag and pulled out a portable CD player. Harry had seen Dudley get one for Christmas once, but he never used it, he never really used any of his things. With Hermione's parents being muggles, it probably wasn't any problem for her to get him one. Inside the same bag was a CD. The cover read "Weirdest Yet" by the Weird Sisters. I didn't know wizards used CDs, Harry thought. The picture on the front had the Weird Sisters playing at a concert, it seemed like. The picture moved, but didn't give off any sound. Harry put it back in the bag and moved on to the next present. It was a bag of Chocolate Frogs from Dumbledore. There was a letter attached to it, so Harry opened it and read it.

Harry,

When you get a chance, please come to my office. I found a chocolate frog with a Dumbledore card, apparently they didn't take me off of them. Happy Christmas!

Albus Dumbledore

Harry smirked at Dumbledore's odd sense of humor then moved on to the next present. It was a small package wrapped in brown parchment. There was no name on the package so Harry opened it. Inside there was a note.

This used to be your father's before he gave it to me. I believe it used to be your great grandfather's. I thought you might put it to use better than I.

There was no name or signature at the bottom. The hand-writing looked quite familiar, almost like Sirius' had. He's dead, he told himself, you just think it looks like his. Harry scrambled through the package to find a pocket watch. Not exactly a pocket watch, but a wizard's watch. It reminded him of the Weasley's clock in their kitchen, except for this one had a various number of planets moving around on it. Harry couldn't quite explain it, but it looked very old and expensive.

"Hey, Ron," Harry called.

"Yes, mate?" Ron answered while opening a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"Have you ever seen one of these before?" Harry asked showing Ron the watch.

"No, can't say I have," he answered looking rather confused.

"No one signed their name to the note in here," Harry told him holding up the small piece of parchment. "But, they knew my father. See?"

"It was probably Dumbledore," Ron concluded, "He sent you the invisibility cloak in first year, and he knew your dad."

"But--" he started but he decided not to finish. He was just being paranoid. Somebody just forgot to sign their name. That's all.

Christmas holiday passed in no time at all. Renee was back sooner than anyone expected. She told them all about the hilarious moments she and Patty had had. Although, there was no mention of her parents at all.

"Patty took me to the mall in London and while we were there we visited Buckingham Palace," she laughed. "We were trying to make the Bobbie's laugh, but they wouldn't!" she cried in amazement as well as hilarity.

"They do keep rather straight faces, don't they?" Harry said as if suddenly realizing this for the first time.

"Forget about that, Harry. Did you find out anything about the Queen?" Hermione said now facing Renee in a serious manner.

"Well, Patty told me that all of regular London thinks that it was a muggle. Only the wizards think that it was Voldemort," Ron and Hermione flinched uncomfortably, "I mean, the muggles don't know about him or anything, but I'm just saying," she trailed off. She hadn't even seemed to notice that she had the 'Voldemort'.

"You mean, the wizards know it's you-know-who. Well, of course they do, but the muggles don't know a thing?" Hermione questioned. Suddenly Harry remembered that he hadn't told anyone about Firenze and the prophecy.

"Yea," Renee said positively.

"Umm, sorry to interrupt, but there's something I've been meaning to tell you something," he said nervously. Harry spilled everything, from the moment Firenze had told him, to the time when Harry had left Dumbledore's office. Harry purposely left out the part about how he had become really emotional in Dumbledore's office. Then everything became abruptly silent.

"That's a lot to take in," Renee said with a blank look in her intensely green eyes.

"Harry, maybe it's for the best," Hermione said in a would-be positive voice if she hadn't sounded so terribly upset. Ron didn't say anything, he just looked at Harry with a pitiful gaze and then looked away.

"I don't need any one's pity," Harry spat angrily.

"No one's pitying you," Renee retorted looking considerably hurt.

"We're just trying to be here for you, is all," Hermione explained.

"When have we ever pitied you?" Ron said with a pleading smirk. Harry relaxed at this. He, being Harry Potter, had always been pitied for losing his parents and for being the target of all Voldemort's plans. His friends, though, knew him much better than to feel sorry for him. Whether he believed it or not, his friends loved him.

"Yea," Harry admitted.

Ok...hmmm...stay tuned for the next chapters...