A/N I HAVE MAJOR WRITER'S BLOCK. I know where this story is going, basically. But I'm having a lot of trouble with it right now, mainly because the story didn't start out very organized. I fully intend upon finishing this, but there may be a bit of a wait for the next chapter. Sorry that the end of this one is a bit of a cliffhanger. If it makes you feel better I have the last part of the next chapter already written, not just the beginning.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Midwinter day always came with a great deal of anticipation for the elves. It always marked the first day of snow around the capitol, and though it was never the first snow elsewhere, it snowed throughout the Elvin Realm on that morning, year after year, leaving perfect snow for playing in the afternoon. And, if only for seven hours, all of the elves "€ daughters of warriors, sons of blacksmiths, daughters of cooks, sons of nobles "€ in the realm are the same, playing in the freshly fallen snow, for once none of them worrying about money, appearances, or blood.
And so it was Midwinter day (or Christmas to the visiting humans) in Aquadira and throughout the Realm. The snow was falling softly, but steadily, promising the usual feet of soft white powder. Young elves were awake, jumping on their siblings and parents to awaken them. They drew pictures in the first of the season's frost on their windows. Older elves, too young to go into training or to have jobs, brought in firewood, leaving tokens in the rapidly increasing blanket of snow on the ground in respect to the trees.
The trees, towering high over many buildings, forming walls for some homes, were covered in a thin layer of snow, melting rapidly on the still hanging leaves. What seemed to be crystallized dew, made the leaves glitter in the sun. At the edge of the city, surrounded by a wall, in full glory, the royal palace was covered in the thin dusting of snow. Flakes fell peacefully, clinging to the sentries' hair as they patrolled. For the first time in a long while, their grips were slightly more relaxed on the weapons in their hands.
It was, however, in the castle where anything of real note was taking place. As snow fell outside the windows, maids, cooks, and other servants continued their work, knowing they would be done and gone by the time anyone of notable position awoke.
The Head Magician twitched in his sleep, his skin a shade paler than it had been a year ago. On makeshift beds at his own bed's side, his twin daughters simultaneously rolled over to face his bed, unconsciously snuggling even deeper into their covers. The Head Fighter stayed silent and still on her cot at the foot of her brother's bed.
Albus Dumbledore, less commonly knows as Albahino Anitan, was oblivious to the world around him, caught in his dreams.
The empty bottles with labels of a weaker brand of Elvish whisky sat on the table with decks of Exploding Snap. Three comfortable looking chairs were lines up and Melody lay across them. Her right hand hung over the edge of the chairs, fingers buried in the fur of Padfoot's shaggy black coat. On the large black leather couch a few yards behind the chair bed, Remus Lupin was sprawled on his back, one arm above his head, the other draping off of the sofa. Mayra (I've decided to call May Mayra because otherwise I just look like a lazy slacker) lay on top of him, their legs intertwined and her hands resting on his grey shirt.
Neville Longbottom's legs hung over a large blue chair in his "Common Room." His hair much resembled Harry's untidy mass in the early hour. Exhausted muscles from hours of harsh training won out his newly found habits of early rising. Luna Lovegood was curled at the foot of the chair, a white blanket draped over her.
In their own room, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger also slept. Their nude bodies laid pressed together amongst the tangle of sheets that was Hermione's bed. Clothes lay carelessly on the floor all around them. An open copy of An Animagi Life by Abigail Silverfur was covered in a partially dried pool of black liquid, a smashed ink bottle's shards lying across the pages and surrounding floor. Hermione's lips were curled in a small smile; her arms snaked around her boyfriend's torso. Ron also wore a contented look, one hand tangled in her hair, the other possessively on her arm.
Slowly, the door to the Prince's bedroom opened. Careful not to make a sound, Ginny Weasley slipped in, her light creamy silk bathrobe untied, revealing her pale blue silk night dress, so simple and yet so elegant. She gnawed on her lip as she quietly approached her boyfriend's bed. Ginny's movements paused as she took time to relish the fact she could openly call him that.
Among friends, she reminded herself firmly. Only with Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna. And the DA when we get back. Maybe. Bloody elves, making things so sodding hard!
Harry Potter, whose assorted aliases he was choosing to forget in one of his treasured moments of peaceful sleep, awoke slowly, keeping his eyes closed, well aware of a small figure slipping into his bed. But he knew that figure, had memorized it that first night she'd come in. Ginny did not know that Harry was aware of her nighttime habit. She often slipped in to his bed, leaving after about ten minutes.
But today was different. It was just barely Christmas morning, but Harry could sense the magic emitting from some of the presents at his feet and he could feel his people going about morning chores. As Ginny quietly snuggled against his side, Harry slipped his arm around her.
Ginny squeaked in surprise, looking up at Harry's face with wide eyes. Harry, however, still had his eyes closed. "Harry?" she whispered softly.
"You seem to have made a habit out of this," he replied softly. He chuckled, opening his eyes to see her reddening skin.
"How long have you known?" Ginny asked resentfully.
"Since you started it," Harry said nonchalantly. He casually propped up a bit, the blanket sliding down a bit, revealing his toned muscles from hours upon hours of fighting practice. Ginny herself had noticed that her arms were getting more shapely, as well as her stomach tightening in the slightest bit. Neville, however, was loosing weight at a subtle enough pace for those who saw him daily to hardly notice unless they thought about it or compared pictures of him from the day they arrived to now.
"You make it sound like I've been having a secret affair for years," Ginny said, wrinkling her nose. Harry laughed. "It's only been twice before, so you just behave." Harry grinned impishly and kissed her temple. Ginny wriggled up next to him and kissed him soundly.
Harry was well aware of Ginny's scantily clad body pressing against his, and all too aware of his reaction to it. Ginny, however, seemed oblivious, for which Harry was grateful. But it didn't last long as Ginny straddled his waist. And Harry's Chocolate Frog boxers did very little to mask where his blood had decided to rush.
She jumped in surprise, feeling his physical reaction to her. Harry groaned, going bright red. Biting her lip, Ginny tentatively kissed him again. As the kisses once again became more heated, Ginny's hands started to lightly dance on his stomach.
Suddenly, Harry grabbed her tiny wrists in his hand, pulling back from her lips. Ginny looked at him in confusion. Harry swallowed hard. "You really don't want to go there Ginny," Harry croaked. "Not right now." Ginny nodded slowly before planting one last kiss on him. She rolled off and skipped back to her room.
Harry sighed heavily and sank back into his pillows. His momentary relief was washed away when Ginny levitated a pile of presents into his room and to the foot of his bed.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"I'm going to bed." Ginny slipped back in next to him and snuggled down. After a moment of disbelief, Harry slid slowly down next to her, quite glad his blood had returned to the correct regions of his body.
Unconsciously as they slept, the two moved closer together. Harry spooned her small form against his slight and wiry muscled body. His arm draped around her stomach. Her hands were under her head, making her look like an innocent child. Her legs, tangled with Harry's, said otherwise.
It was two and a half hours later when they awoke again. Harry was the first of the two to return to the waking world. His lips curved into a smile as he felt Ginny's body heat, warming him up much more effectively than the blankets they were under. A look out of the window confirmed to Harry that it was about seven in the morning, Ka just beginning to come up. His smile widening, Harry looked at Ginny's sleeping form next to him and ran his fingers through her hair.
At this, Ginny stirred. "Go 'way Ron," she mumbled, shaking Harry's hand off of her shoulder, where he had been trying to hasten her journey from the pits of sleep. Harry laughed and Ginny blinked at him. "Harry!" She kissed him sweetly by way of a morning greeting. After pulling away, Ginny stretched, causing the blanket to slip down as Harry sat up as well.
"What?" asked Harry, going red as her eyes drifted over him. A coy smiled formed on her lips.
"I like your sleeping attire," Ginny teased, running her fingers lightly over Harry's chest, causing him to shudder.
"Don't start," Harry moaned, kissing her once again, very pleased when she allowed his tongue to enter her mouth. Tracing over now familiar territory, Harry felt himself relax in a way he hadn't for a long while. This was familiarity, this was constant, this was comfort.
After a few delicious moments, Harry pulled away from Ginny and reached over the side of his bed to pull on a white shirt.
"Presents!" Ginny cried. But Harry grabbed her waist to prevent her from getting to them.
"Sorry, Gin-Gin," Harry said, grinning evilly at her. She was giving him an overly dramatic pout. "We're all opening presents together this year, remember? We have to go open the portal for your family. Didn't you notice that your pile was remarkably small?" Ginny sighed heavily in resignation.
Harry laughed as they climbed out of his bed. "You go get dressed and go wait in my common room," Harry ordered. Ginny smiled again, kissing him good-bye and proceeding to skip out of the room to her own. Shaking his head at her childish antics, Harry pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans. Absently running his fingers through his hair, Harry exited his room to go get Luna and Neville up.
Reaching their door, Harry decided to test the spell he had had engraved in Dwarf Elvish along the bottom. Thinking the password, Harry walked through the door, delighted when he crossed the threshold undetected by the suite's occupants. Upon seeing the two of his friends in question, Harry couldn't resist smiling.
"Oy!" Harry yelled, glad that the castle walls were so thick. Luna jerked awake, blinking rapidly at him, a startled expression on her normally dreamy face. When she saw who it was, her face melted to its usual look.
"Morning, Prince Laohan," she said calmly, sitting up and stretching, her blanket falling off. Harry had taken it as a sign that whenever his friends called him by his Elvish name that they were either agitated with him or set on teasing him. He decided this was a situation with the latter reason behind his name.
"How do you fancy I wake Neville up?" asked Harry, his eyes twinkling merrily, in a Dumbledore-esque fashion, Luna noted with a mix of alarm and delight. Luna just blinked at him and Harry assumed she didn't really care. "Pail of water it is then." Motioning for Luna to move away, Harry conjured a large pail of water and hung it in the air above Neville. Then, he let it drop.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Neville jumped about three feet in the air as the cold liquid poured down on him. As soon as al the water had fallen, the pail dropped heavily onto his head. Pushing it up, water dripping down his face, Neville glared at the grinning Harry and giggling Luna. Luna smiled innocently at him in return to his scowl. "I'll get you for this, Potter. Watch your back."
"Such a change in character," Harry said with a frown. "After you get dressed, grab your presents and you can bring them into my common room. Ginny should be there. I've got to get everyone else up and the get the rest of the Weasleys." After the other two had nodded to him, Harry departed and made for Ron and Hermione's rooms.
Silently sliding through the door, testing their door's spell, Harry was pleased to find that it worked. Deciding to get Ron to help him scare Hermione awake, Harry went to Ron's room first. But no one was in there and the bed was made. Harry frowned, but came to the conclusion that Ron had probably gotten up to shower. Resigned to the fact that he'd have to scare Hermione al by his lonesome, Harry trooped over to her room and threw the door open with gusto.
"BLOODY HELL! My poor eyes!" Harry shrieked. Hermione and Ron woke with a start. Ron tumbled over and fell off of the bed, blinking bewilderedly at Harry. Luckily, Harry noted, the comforter had gone down with him, covering him relatively well. Hermione clutched the other sheets tightly to her, glowing as red as Ron's hair. "Bugger! I'm scarred for life!"
"We're already aware of Voldemort's token of love, Harry," snapped Hermione, still flushed with embarrassment. Harry's lips twitched into a grin.
"I'd ask if you two slept well, but I think the answer is rather obvious," Harry said, smirking first at Hermione and then at Ron. Ron, however, still seemed incapable of speech, staring wide-eyed at Harry. He sputtered at Harry's last comment.
Slowly, Harry entered the room and prowled around it, gently kicking their scattered clothes out of the way. He paused, seeing Hermione's precious autobiography of the famous animagus Abigail Silverfur, one of the few multi-form animagi. He sighed heavily and looked at Hermione as though she should be deeply ashamed.
"You realize that you've ruined not only a good bottle of ink but that you've stained all of your book's pages, right?" Harry was quite pleased when he received the reaction he had anticipated. Hermione shrieked and started to scramble off the bed, until she remembered the fact that she was wearing only a sheet.
"Just get the bloody hell out of here and let us change!" Hermione yelled. She flushed a deep red when Harry looked at her with mild surprise and Ron, who had shown signs of beginning to recover, lapsed back into absolute shock.
Holding his hands up for protection, Harry complied. But he paused at the door, a soft smile of deep affection crossing his lips. He turned to look back at his best friends. Hermione, arms crossed in anger, and Ron, lying baffled on the floor. "I'm really happy for you guys, just in case I haven't said it lately." Harry went to leave but stopped again. "And I love you both. A lot."
Harry shook his head and quickly went out into the hallway. Smiling slightly still, he headed out of the corridor that housed their rooms and turned left. After heading down another corridor he slipped behind a tapestry and used the hidden passage to reach his godfather's rooms.
In less than two minutes, Harry was pushing open the door. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the bottle labels that they had pulled off and strewn on the floor. But Harry's lips tugged up in a smile when he saw Remus on the couch, Mayra lying on top of him. He walked over and gently shook Remus awake.
The young werewolf jerked slightly and snapped his eyes open. Harry grinned at him and Remus smiled as well. His hand reached up to stroke Mayra's back. She shuddered and tried to snuggle under nonexistent covers. "Time to get up, Mayra," Remus whispered in her ear. She blinked and slowly opened her eyes.
Harry walked quietly over to his godparents. He could sense Remus and Mayra watching him, waiting to see what he would do. Grinning wickedly, Harry pulled out his wand and summoned one of the chairs his godmother was lying on. With a shriek, Melody crashed down to the floor, half lying on Padfoot. Padfoot jerked and jumped away, barking. He quickly transformed back into a human.
"Harry! That hurt!" he yelled, rubbing his back. Melody glared at him.
"Are you calling me fat, Sirius Black!" she accused. Sirius stared at her and stuttered.
"No!" he replied a full minute later. Melody sniffed and turned her head away.
"Smashing job, Siri," Remus muttered, patting his sympathetically on the shoulder.
"Stuff it," glowered Sirius.
"Anyways," Harry said loudly. "You lot had better get dressed. I'm going to get the rest awake and then open the portal for the Weasleys. Grab your presents and head over to my sitting room. Ginny'll be there for certain. Nev and Luna will be there soon, though Hermione and Ron may take a bit longer."
"Why?" asked Remus. Harry grinned, though he did turn a tad pink.
"Let's just say they were... together this morning when I went to get them. Completely together." Harry was definitely turning red. Sirius laughed loudly with Mayra. Remus was able to keep his face straight but his shoulders shook slightly none the less. Even Melody, in her offended mood, couldn't help but giggle.
"Right," Melody said briskly. "We'll change quickly. Sirius, Remus, if either of you intend upon taking a shower, do it right away."
"No! Bring your clothes with you; we're doing all of this in pajamas. I want to do this for real. Like we're all a normal family; the way things should have been!" Harry hadn't meant it to sound the way it had, but once he said it he realized it was too late. He winced and bit his lip, looking down.
But he had seen the anguished regret on Sirius's face, the sadness in Remus's eyes. Melody had looked ill and Mayra had just seemed a bit uncomfortable. Harry cursed himself a thousand times over in his head. But he couldn't change what he'd said now. It was done.
"I-I meant," Harry said quietly a few moments later. "We've never spent Christmas all together. The only time I was in the same building with any of you on this day for fifteen years, I never even saw Remus much less know who he was." Once again, Harry cursed himself. That had come out wrong too. Now Remus would feel guilty.
"Harry," Remus said softly, his voice choked. Harry felt a hesitant hand on his shoulder.
"Dammit! Remus, don't feel bad. That didn't' come out right either. I just... I want to just pretend, for a few hours, that there aren't two wars being waged with me in the middle of them both."
Remus's hand lightly trailed up and ran over the scar on Harry's forehead. Harry flinched. "Like you don't have that," Remus whispered. Harry saw a tear slide down the older man's cheek. Remus smiled a bit bitter sweetly. Gently, he ruffled the teenager's hair. "I know how you feel." As Remus drew back, Harry noticed his hand went to the left side of his stomach.
Sirius immediately moved forward and hugged Harry tightly. Harry was taken by surprise and stood stiffly for a moment before returning the sign of affection with ferocity. Hugging his godfather almost desperately, Harry was once again struck by how much Sirius meant to him. His father figure. Atonics could never have been like Sirius was, if only because Atonics had never known Harry's parents.
Harry felt Sirius's tears as one dropped onto his shoulder. Resolutely, Harry drew slightly away.
"Today," Harry declared, a bit too hoarsely for his liking, "is supposed to be happy. No more tears. Or at least not until you step on someone's toes at the ball tonight." Sirius laughed and Harry was pleased to see Remus chuckle as well. Melody was smiling crookedly and Mayra was grinning like mad.
Harry gave a quick bow and exited the room. When he was finally out in the corridor, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Rubbing his scar absently, he trekked through more secret passages to Atonics's rooms.
He smiled when he saw the twins on either side of him and his sister at his feet. 'If only they knew,' Harry thought ruefully. Shaking his head, Harry pulled out his wand and used the new alarm charm that Flitwick had taught them. Immediately Atonics and Kilala shot up, glaring darkly at Harry when they saw him. Kigali and Mitra sat up slower. They opted to tackle the young prince when they spotted him.
"Hey, get off, twirps," Harry said, shaking the twins off. "Come on, time to open the portal."
Harry separated himself from the four elves in the corridor where his grandfather was. He smiled at Sala as she walked past him. The Silver Liquid Healer had a way of knowing when to come by. With a small wave, she vanished around the corner, presents drifting slowly in front of her.
Quietly, Harry entered Albus Dumbledore's chambers. He was mildly surprised to find his grandfather sitting in an overly stuffed chair in front of the fire, sipping tea. "Grandfather?"
"Harry." He looked up and met the young man's eyes. "I was waiting for you."
"You miss Hogwarts," Harry said, hesitantly moving towards his estranged relative. "Well, I think you do... your eyes... they...." Dumbledore smiled at him with what Harry was surprised to see seemed like pride.
"You're right," Dumbledore said. He set his tea down and steepled his fingers. "I left this place behind me a long, long time ago. I'm no longer young."
"By elf standards you're in you're prime," Harry snorted.
"But you forget; I gave up my immortality. I knew I would outlive those I loved, but I didn't want to be left behind much longer after them. I have many people whom I love that are still here. But so many are gone. I will die young for an elf, old for a human." Harry shifted uncomfortably.
"Come on Grandfather. The rest are waiting. We're going to start running behind unless we go get the Weasleys. Don't forget that we have the dratted Midwinter Ball tonight." Dumbledore stood and let Harry lead him from the room.
After a dozen turns, the two were entering Harry's common room. It was fashioned much like the Gryffindor Common Room. The furniture was a deep scarlet as were the curtains on his windows. The carpeting was soft and rather fluffy, colored a darker cream. Tapestries of random patterns in scarlet, dark green, dark purple, and grey hung on the walls, hanging over a cream-colored Elvish stone. A large fireplace of black marble took up half of one wall.
Harry, followed by Dumbledore, walked into the room. Ginny was talking with Neville while Luna sat next to them, knitting silently. Ron and Hermione were sitting in a large armchair near the fire someone had started. The adults and the elves were talking quietly among themselves on the long, five-person couch that made up one side of the horseshoe of furniture. Kigali and Mitra were playing with Harry's wizard's chess set. Harry cleared his throat to get their attention. Silence fell over the room.
"I'm going to open the portal now," Harry announced. He pulled his necklace out and quickly performed the ritual, sending a small jet of lightning at the gem. The portal began to form, sending a light breeze through the room. Harry saw Hermione pull a shiny silver hair band off her wrist and put her hair into a pony-tail. Motions from Luna drew his gaze to her. She was insistently pushing her hair behind her ears, only to have it blown out again.
Suddenly, the breeze dropped off and Harry looked back at the gem. Only now it was in the top of a silver-framed mirror.
"That's different from the one that opened in the Great Hall," Hermione said. She stood up and moved hesitantly towards it. Her hand came forward and grazed the frame ever so slightly. "And from the one Atonics opened to bring us here. Come to think of it, that one was different as well. None have been the same."
Harry knew Hermione would comment sooner or later. "Very good observation, Miss Granger," came Hotoshi's familiar voice from the door. "Any ideas as to why it is so?" (Refer to chapter 21 for information on characters that are appearing.)
Harry, startled at his great-great uncle's appearance (with Biguri at his side), took a moment to realize that Hermione had not answered. He turned to her, eyebrows raised. Ron, Harry saw, was beginning to grin, shooting a look at Hotoshi that clearly said, 'You are my hero.' It vanished, however, when Hermione started to talk. And Harry wasn't the only one to catch the sneer she threw towards Ron.
"I have a theory..." Hotoshi looked at her in a way that was very reminiscent of his brother. Both of them, Harry noted. Hermione continued. "Harry's gem is an emerald. Atonics's was a sapphire. I'm not sure about who opened the one to the Great Hall, the one Migra came through, but I heard Migra tell Professor Dumbledore that she has a frinatep or something like that. My theory is that a different gem will open a differently framed portal."
"Very nice," Hotoshi said appraisingly. He studied her. "I thought Harry was exaggerating with his tales of you." Hermione, Harry decided, could turn a very interesting shade of red.
"But you're wrong," Biguri said. Hotoshi frowned at his apprentice.
"Biguri of Maitnu," he said, his voice gone from tinkling bells to iron. Biguri flinched and bowed his head. "Dust the scrolls." Biguri nodded. Hermione, as well as the rest of the room, elves included, looked confused. Hotoshi either did not notice or did not care to explain, because he turned to Hermione and explained.
"You were correct in that the gems do have something to do with it," Hotoshi said. "However, it is not the only the type of gem but the way it is cut and what else is inlaid with it. You must be personally selected by the prince, or the Head for the past few centuries, to possess a Portal Gem. They're used not only for transportation between the Realm of the Elves and Merlin's Realm, but for inter-realm transportation. During wars, Portal Gems are very useful. And during such times, anyone who has one and can operate it correctly has their blood fused with it, so that when they die, the gem is turned to ashes.
"Atonics's Portal Gem is indeed sapphire. In the form of the Celtic knot for destiny, ruby is threaded in the center. The cut is a simple circle diamond. His is actually one of the plainest of all Portal Gems. It is the only completely Merlin's Realm crafted. The frame reflects the inlaid pattern because the Celtic knot will form all along it.
"Migra also possesses a Portal Gem. Hers is made completely of things from the Elvin Realm and the center is threaded with tepri, a silver gem, in the form of Nakuri's symbol. Nakuri was one of the God's descendants, Master of the Serpent Rose. It's symbolized in roses and snakes on the portal.
"Harry's gem, however, is not emerald. The creator melted sapphire and carion, a yellow Elvish gem found in the Mountains of Jedudai. The result was what we call Eporah, or elf-made gem. There is emerald, ruby, tepri, and hijarikten threaded into the center in Anceint Elvish symbols."
Hermione's fingers traced over the silver wolf on the frame.
"This is Harry's first animagi form," she said softly. "Is that what the symbols are?"
"When my wife was alive," Atonics said. "She was Keeper of the Ring, as you know. Only the Keeper can read Ancient Elvish. We brought her ancient prophecies to decipher, but she was getting ill very quickly. And she refused to tell them to anyone but who she called the Rezetra, meaning, we discovered, the Protector of the Prophecy. But Ashizu did tell us one thing. She showed us the symbols in The Prophecy of the Wolf, the ones that stood for The Wolf, The Birds, and The Feline. Those are the symbols threaded into Harry's Portal Gem."
"Who made it?" asked Ron, peering closely at the teardrop-cut gem embedded in the portal frame.
"We don't know," Biguri said. "But Sala found it." The gazes moved to the Silver Healer.
"I was in the Mountains of Jedudai, during the war, healing those that I could. I found it lying in a pile of dust. No one was tied to it, or else it would have also been dust. We can only guess that the creator was turned to ashes, caught in the crossfire of our battle." Sala looked lost in her memories as she recounted the tale.
"You'll have to excuse me for interrupting," Dumbledore said, eyes dancing. "But I believe the Weasleys may get worried that something has happened. The portal has been opened for a while." Harry went scarlet and mumbled he'd be right back, ducking through the portal and into the Burrow.
When Harry came out the other side, he found himself in the kitchen of the Burrow. Fred and George were sitting on the table, arguing softly between themselves. A trunk was lying at their feet. Their pajamas were identical, and Harry saw with amusement that they each wore a hoop in one ear. Fred's hair was grazing his cheek while George had his pulled back partly into a pony-tail. Bill was sitting in a chair, feet propped on the opposite end of the table, talking to Charlie, who sat straddling his own chair. Bill kept glancing over at Fleur who was sending worried and annoyed expressions at the twins from her seat upon another trunk.
Mr. Weasley and Percy were nowhere in sight, but Mrs. Weasley stood talking to Penelope Clearwater at the stove, helping her close up boxes full of what Harry knew had to be food. This surprised him. He had told the Weasleys they could bring their 'significant others' and he had known that Penelope and Percy were back together, but he had not expected her to come. As far as he knew, things were still shaky between the two.
"Where are Mr. Weasley and Percy?" Harry asked, attracting everyone's attention. Their conversation must have gone on longer than he's thought. "Hello Penelope. It's been a while. I don't' think we were ever even properly introduced. I'm Harry." He stuck out his hand, eyes almost making contact with hers but not quite. But he did not miss Penelope's suppressed giggle. Nor did he miss Mrs. Weasley's hand going up to hide her smile.
"I'm Penelope," Penelope said, shaking his hand with a surprisingly firm grip. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope you don't mind me coming."
"Not at all," Harry said, blinking at her in bewilderment. "Why on Earth would I mind?" Penelope smiled a bit bashfully.
"Well, you're a prince and everything. I figured you must have a lot of people, er, elves, to entertain on Christmas...." Penelope was definitely blushing now. Harry grinned.
"Actually, until the ball tonight, even the highest of the elves on the Council celebrate Midwinter with their families. Most fortunately, that does not include me. But, anyways, we're sorry to have kept you waiting. Where did you say Mr. Weasley and Percy are?"
"Right here, Harry, right here," came Mr. Weasley's voice. Harry turned around to see the two come into the kitchen, a trunk between them. "Just had to get this. We're all set then. happy Christmas."
"Verdali Madinu," Harry said, smiling wide. "Happy Christmas."
A/N Sorry this one is short again, but I've got to go help Mags pack for Rochester. We leave tomorrow. I'm not happy. Not at all. But I'll get over it and be bored the whole time. Lots of love, and I'll work really hard on this, I swear. I've got an excellent idea!
Preview of Next Chappie:
Ginny glared at Ron, a slight blush on her cheeks. "I got a good sleep last night. How about you?" Ron's ears went red in seconds, and at hsi side Hermione's face began heating up. Harry shook his head, smiling widely. Ron sure was good at getting himself in tight spots. Mumbling somethign uner his breath, Ron clearly gave up. Sniffing angrily, Ginny sat in a huff next to Harry.
Harry felt very proud at this moment of his ability to hide his emotions. He had never in a million years expected this of Percy. But then again, the man had just given Harry an amazing present. Glancing around, he saw that the elves looked delighted, while the Weasleys stunned. Harry winced, seeing Sirius, Remus, Melody, and Mayra rushign over to a fainted Mrs. Weasley. And then, into the silence, Ginny began to laugh hysterically.