Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

By: Krystal Lily Potter

Chapter Twenty Three: Christmas Blood

Rating: PG-13 (more on the AA side)

Couples: HP/HG, PP/SF, LL/NL, DT/GW, LB/RW
Summary: As Harry and his friends enter their sixth year at Hogwarts they don't enter the cheerful world they left behind. They enter a world covered in a thick blanket of fear. It only hits Harry how important he really is when people start seeing him as the light that allows them to see under this blanket. Along with his friend he must battle the horrors of the past, present, and possible the future to begin the end of the war, hopefully before it hits Hogwarts. What happens when people start disappearing from under Dumbledore's protection, and one of the famous 'trio' disappears? It's up to the last two, plus some more friends, to find a way to save all the people that disappeared because they can't fight this war on their own...

Warning: Dark themes will be mentioned a lot and if worst comes to worst I'll rate this R because of that. There's swearing, mentions of suicide, murder, rape, gore/bloody scenes, and other dark things like that...honestly though it's not as dark as I make it sound...

Note: This chapter is going to be much shorter then any of the other ones because it's not really that important, it's just to get back into the darker thought of things.

IMPORANT: There is a major note about the identity of the Half Blood Prince at the bottom but please read the story before looking at that.

Shirt...$15,

Pair of shoes...$20,

Seeing Harry tell off that bitch Cho Chang...Priceless!

Softball202

Lavender fell backwards onto the floor roughly but laughed all together. She was having too good a time to care right now if her dress go dirty or not. Her hair was messy from all the moving she had been doing. Lavender Brown was extremely proud of herself too, she managed to do the impossible: get Ronald Weasley to dance.

Speaking of which, Ron, who was also laughing, leaned over and grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet again.

Everyone around them at that moment seemed to forget about the dangers around them at the moment. For a few hours in time all of Hogwarts forgot about Voldemort and the disappearances in the school.

Well the dangerous disappearances that is. Ron and Lavender were curious about another one that wasn't linked in any way to the danger beyond their protective walls.

"Where'd Harry and Hermione go?" she asked her date while looking around curiously.

"Did you two see?" Ginny asked as she walked over with her arm link with Dean's. Ron shot the other boy a glare before turning to his sister and saying, "No."

"What happened?" Lavender asked excitedly. She would always love gossip. That was something that would never change.

"Oh it was brilliant," Ginny said with her eyes shining happily. "Cho went over and asked Harry to dance with her. Harry said no and Cho called Hermione a Mu—well you know. Hermione ran off and Harry told Cho right off then ran after her. I never saw them come back yet."

"Aww," Lavender said. "That's so sweet. Him running after Hermione that is."

"Yeah I know," Ginny said with a sigh. Ron and Dean shared a look and rolled their eyes.

Hermione let out a scream, but it wasn't a terrified one, it was one that was filled to the brim with laughter. Harry had just stuffed a snowball down the back of her dress.

"Harry! That's not funny!" she yelled and spun around quickly, trying to get the snow to fall out of the bottom of her dress.

Harry smiled and laughed at her good naturedly. He gasped as a large ball of snow slammed into his face and much of it went into his open mouth.

Hermione laughed and ducked back behind a snow mound. She snuck around it and saw a confused looking Harry looking around for her. She ran quickly up behind him and tackled him to the ground, causing yet another round of laughter. "Harry! Hermione!" Lavender's voice yelled out from the door. "Yeah?" Hermione yelled back.

"The teachers said if we're not in the common room within 15 minutes then we're in trouble!" she yelled back. Neither she nor Ron could see them but they knew the two were outside somewhere. "The ball's over."

"Coming," Harry called and helped Hermione to her feet. Afterwards they headed back towards the castle but neither let go of the other's hand.

When Lavender and Ron saw this both smiled widely but didn't say anything, the four just headed back towards the Gryffindor tower as slowly as possible, just so there would be less people in the common room. One thing Harry didn't want was questions about him and Hermione or his little fight with Cho.

When they got there though the common room was empty, and they saw why. The ball had ended at 12:00, and it was already 2:00! They spend two hours just coming up to the common room! But they concluded that it was because they took the long way around, plus they continually stopped because Lavender and Hermione's feet hurt from their shoes and they stopped in the Prefects bathroom for a little break. Lavender wanted to see what it looked like since the other three already knew.

Instead of going up to bed the four sat down and chatted on like it had been the four of them doing that forever, not three and then another one came along.

Harry didn't think about the war at all that night, and he didn't have a single nightmare he or any of his dorm mates could recall. Dean, Neville, Seamus and Ron always heard him wake up but didn't do anything about it, knowing they couldn't make a difference.

Hermione's dark brown eyes slowly opened as the dim sunlight shone in on her face from the window beside her bed. She closed her eyes again, only to have them shoot open a minute later.

"My bed's not beside the window," she muttered and rolled over, noticing briefly that she still had her dress and her robes on. Rolling over she saw Harry next to her, sleeping peacefully. She had to giggle at him; his robes were in the messiest state possibly, showing he rolled around a lot at night.

He suddenly rolled over yet again but this time he ended up on the floor. His eyes shot open as he knocked his bedside table and everything that was on it onto the floor with a loud crash.

Hermione tried to stifle her laughs as to not wake anybody else in the room but it didn't do her any good. She was in hysterics and everyone else had already woken up.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron muttered and rolled over groggily. Beside him Lavender sat up and looked around.

"How did I get here?" she asked curiously. "You and Hermione fell asleep," Ron explained in a tired voice. "Harry and I couldn't get up to the girl's dormitories so we had to take you up here. Hope you don't mind."

Hermione shook her head no, her eyes were still shining with laughter and Lavender flopped back on Ron's bed.

Harry stood up and rubbed his head. He took out his wand and with a quick flick his bed table was up right again with everything else on it neatly again. He stared out the window for a minute before a large smile appeared on his face. "It's Christmas!"

That seemed to wake Ron up more as a smile that rivalled Harry's appeared on his face. He attempted to get up to check his pile of presents but Lavender said, "Not in your good robes! Get changed!"

Harry chuckled at this and went around grabbing his own cloths so Hermione wouldn't have to growl him any about messing up his good cloths.

"Come on Lav, lets go get our presents," Hermione said as she got up off of Harry's bed.

"Yeah," Lavender replied in an excited tone and jumped over Ron, who was lying down again. Without another word to the boys they walked out of their dormitory, talking animatedly.

Harry threw on a t-shirt and a pair of pants then went to his pile of presents, which was a little larger then usual. He didn't know how that was possible though, he hadn't met any new people lately. Around him Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus were doing the same.

Picking up the first one he saw it was from Mrs. Weasley. He opened it to find a sweater like normal, but this time it was plain black.

"You're mum still peeved at me for some reason?" Harry asked Ron.

"Yeah but she won't say why," Ron said with a shrug. "And it's no about...you know..."

"Yeah," Harry replied, knowing he was speaking about Percy. He placed the sweater to the side and picked up a round package. He opened it and found a box of candy from Tonks. He was amazed because they weren't wizarding candy, they were Muggle candy. Ron and Neville were positively amazed with them!

"Wonder what's going to happen today," Ron said over to Harry.

"What?" Harry asked and looked over at his friend with a frown on his face. "It just seems that on Christmas something always happens. In first year it was...your 'big' present, in second year it was our 'little mission', in third year you got your firebolt, in fourth year it was the Yule ball, in fifth year my dad was attacked and you saw it happen and now there's this year," Ron said. He had edited his words carefully, not wanting to give out any information that other people didn't need to know.

"You said the Yule Ball was the big thing in fourth year," Dean said as he pulled out a pair of socks from a package and shamelessly threw the boxers that had come with it over on the side of his bed. "So it's probably the same thing this year."

"Probably," Harry agreed and went back to his presents. Ron seemed happy with that answer as well.

Going through his presents Harry found out where most of the extra gifts had come from. They were presents with notes from people saying they believed Harry all along and all that nice stuff. He would laugh at some of the presents but was thankful for them all the same.

Harry picked up a parcel and noticed the rough chicken scratch that belonged to Mad-Eye on it. Opening it excitedly he saw it was a wand holder that fastened around a person's waste. He read the letter that came with it out loud.

Potter,

Tonks reminded me of Christmas this year ("He forgets Christmas?" Ron asked with a look of sheer horror on his face.) so I decided it would be good to get ya one of these. That way you won't put your wand in your pocket anymore and there's no danger of you blowing your buttocks off like I warned you. Remember CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

Moody

PS. Mad-Eye doesn't know I wrote this but you better use that wand holder, wouldn't want your cute little butt to blow off would we? Tonks!

Harry didn't read that last part out loud but blushed heavily and stuffed it into his pocket. He then reached down at grabbed Remus' present to him. It was a large book that resembled one of the ones at Grimmauld Place. You asked to see your family and it not only showed you the tree but it showed you their history too! Ron got him a Cannon's shirt and said, "I'll keep it in plastic forever, just to remember." Ron seemed thrilled at the idea of keeping collectors items but Harry just couldn't imagine himself wearing it, he could barely look at it without wincing from the bright orange!

Opening his present from Hermione he had to gasp. It was like a memory book from their first year to last year, there was also room for this year and next year. Flipping through it quickly he found it amazing to watch himself, Ron and Hermione grow up.

Setting it lightly to his side between Remus and Ron's presents he turned back to find one last parcel. The second he touched it the hair at the back of his neck stood on end and warning bells went off in his mind. He removed his hand and stared at it oddly. "Ron, touch that for a minute."

Ron shot him an odd look but got up and picked it up. Looking at Harry he said, "What now?"

"Never mind," Harry said with a sigh, assuming it was just his imagination. He took it from Ron and got the same sensation in him.

Harry opened one side of it a little and saw it was a jar with red liquid inside it. His eyes also spotted a note and he grabbed it before unwrapping it any farther.

"What's wrong mate?" Ron asked, seeing Harry's face go as pale as the snow outside.

Harry's hand was shaking heavily and Neville said, "Are you feeling sick or something?"

"No," Harry said slowly. "This letter...listen to what it says...

One...two...there goes you...

Three...four...I'll take some more...

Five...six...you'll never guess this...

Seven...eight...I'll make you wait...

Nine...ten...it's not the end..."

Neville's face went extremely pale, Seamus' freckles suddenly stood out more then normal and Dean's eyes had widened greatly.

"What?" Ron asked clueless.

"That's right, you weren't here on Halloween," Neville said slowly. "That's what the ghost that attacked everyone sang."

Harry nodded and said, "But there's more here. This is a jar with some blood from...every student that I've taken captive. It should clue you into what you've forgotten, if you're strong enough to remember."

Harry's hands were shaking so much now you could actually see them moving. He heard the fifth years in the dorm next door break out laughing and he jumped, knocking the present to the floor and sending the jar rolling out of its wrappings and across the floor.

Putting on a pair of socks, shoes and his zip-up sweater before picking up the jar and saying, "If Hermione shows up tell her I've gone to Dumbledore's office." He wrapped the jar roughly in its dull brown paper, stuffed the note into his pocket and quickly ran out the door and down the stairs receiving odd looks from people in the common room.

Albus Dumbledore sat pleasantly in his office sucking on a particularly large lemon drop happily and reading through one of the books that had been given to him.

Suddenly there was a knock on his office door but before he could say anything the door flew open revealing an alarmed looking Harry Potter.

"Sir," Harry said nervously. "Sorry for barging in but I thought you should see this." He threw the brown paper onto the floor and placed the tall jar full of blood on Dumbledore's desk.

The old man pushed his half-moon spectacles up close to his eyes and said, "What is this?"

Harry handed over a note to Dumbledore and he read it before a slight smile appeared on his face and he said, "I do not believe that this is a wand holder Harry."

His face suddenly went deep red, realizing he had given Dumbledore the wrong letter! He hastily took it back and gave the old Headmaster the correct one.

Dumbledore's pale blue eyes trailed slowly across the letter, as if taking every aspect in it. The twinkle that had been extremely clear this morning had dimmed with every line he read until it finally disappeared.

His eyes looked towards the jar and he said, "This is the blood of the students that have been taken. It means two things. They are alive and they're being tortured."

"This jar could be months old," Harry said. "They could all be long dead now."

"No," Albus said as if he had been slapped in the face with inspiration. "If they were dead the bodies would be thrown around here somewhere. No I believe whoever this is has something in mind. What though even I cannot know." His eyes snapped at Harry for a minute and he said slowly, "Is there anything you'd like to tell me Harry?"

Harry's eyes met his for a minute and he thought, 'Sure, that we've started a club again behind your back. I like you as much as I like Dumbledore. I've been having dreams of those two ghosts. I've got a cut on my arm that says Half Blood Prince and the prophecy is really starting to drive me insane...' "No sir, I don't have anything to say," he said aloud.

Dumbledore tried to get into his mind but much to his shock he hit a mental wall. Harry's green eyes suddenly turned a forest green alarmingly fast. He had seen Harry's eyes change color from strong emotions before but never that fast.

Harry stood up quickly, a dangerous look flashing across his face. "You can keep the jar." He turned around and left the office as fast as he had came in.

Albus stared in surprise as the young man stormed away and he knew at that moment that Harry Potter was anything then happy with him.

"James, Lily, Sirius," he muttered to himself. "I cannot help Harry very much anymore, please watch over him and help him reach his destiny, whatever that might be."

Many people looked around in alarm as a very pissed of Harry stormed through the door.

"Harry?" Hermione asked timidly after a moment.

"Damnit all to hell!" Harry growled out of nowhere, startling anyone that was near him. People stared at him for less then a second before moving farther away from him.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked after a minute, leaning her head onto his tense shoulder. He seemed to relax a little at her touch.

"Dumbledore tried to read my mind," he replied crossly. "He asked me if there's anything I wanted to tell him and I replied no. I guess he didn't like that answer and thought 'let's go take a fun little field-trip into Harry's mind without his permission', great Headmaster we've got huh?"

"I can't believe he'd do that!" she replied with a shocked tone.

"Don't sound so shocked," Harry said dryly taking her hand into his. "He's been doing it since I got here; I just never realized it before."

She said nothing but had a thoughtful frown on her face. She played with a silver bracelet and Harry smiled.

Looking up at him she saw what he was looking at and said, "I like it a lot, thank you."

"Your welcome, I liked the book too," Harry replied. "It's amazing how we've all grown up."

"More amazing then we realize," Hermione agreed with him glad she had calmed down.

Richie and Rose burst out laughing as Nicola tackled Mark into a huge snow bank then got up and ran behind her two laughing friends.

The Knight cousins burst out laughing again as Mark got up and looked around wildly, not sure what had happened. Soon he realized it though and the four of them started a huge snowball fight.

It had been along time since anybody had seen four children, one from each different house in Hogwarts, get along as much as they did. The innocents that radiated off of them made some of the older students that went by them smile.

Suddenly a tall shadow came across their vision and they all looked up quickly.

"Oh, Professor Evelyn! You scared us," Rose said while taking in deep breaths.

"Sorry about that," she said happily. "I was just heading to Hogsmead and decided to stop and say Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too Professor," all four said as their Defence teacher walked off.

"She's in a really good mood," Richie noted. "I know, she has been for a little while," Mark said. "It's kinda creepy at times," Nicola stated.

"Yeah," Rose agreed.

Suddenly a window on the fifth floor of the castle shattered, causing them to look up. Something extremely dark and extremely fast go out the window and run into the forest.

Mark ran over in the direction where it had been on instinct and gasped at what he saw. There was a trail like something had been drug across the ground with a lot of blood on it.

"Dear sweet Merlin," Richie said.

"Nikky, Rose, go back to the castle and...get somebody!" Mark said and the two girls obediently ran back to the front doors, searching for someone to help them.

Harry stared out of the window in the Gryffindor common room at the scene on the ground below him. His eyes were still a dark forest green as he stared at the bloody trail heading off into the forbidden forest.

"What do you think is doing this?" Hermione whispered as she walked over and stood beside him.

"A raving lunatic?" Ron suggested as he walked over and stood on Harry's other side.

"Sure," Harry said. "I've got this feeling that Voldemort is behind this, but he's not the one doing this or operating it."

"Like he's providing the funds and someone else is actually doing the dirty work," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Harry looked over at Mark. The young boy found something twice when there was an attack. Many people would find that suspicious if they knew it but Harry felt sorry for the boy and didn't suspect him in the least, it was a curse being a friend of Harry Potter, let alone a family member.

"I'm going to check out the fifth floor," he said and headed towards the door.

"Hey," Ron said and went after him. "I'm coming too." "So am I," Hermione agreed and the three of them walked through the portrait hole and towards the 'crime scene'.

When they got there the three of them fanned out, trying to find anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly Harry heard a cough from behind the closet door he was standing by.

Without thinking he threw the door open and a young boy fell out of it. He had many cuts on him and was coughing heavily.

"Sweet Merlin!" Harry said then turned to Ron and said, "Get me a blanket or something for him. I can carry him up to the hospital wing. Hermione go ahead and tell Madam Pomfrey we're coming."

Both of his friends followed his instructions without an argument. Ron got a green blanket, which Harry wrapped around the young boy then picked him up and they started running to the hospital wing.

"What's your name?" Harry asked him. "J-J-James T-a-aylor," the young boy said though heavy gasps for air. "What year and house are you from James?" Ron asked. Harry had gone silent the second he heard the first name. He knew this young boy was dying and it just reminded him strongly of his dead father.

"Second year," James said as if in great pain. "Slytherin."

This declaration meant more to Harry then anyone else would understand. This meant that every house, including Slytherin now, had someone from it attacked.

Running into the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey ushered them to an open bed.

"James," Harry said. "Answer me; did you see what attacked you?" Madam Pomfrey was about to tell Harry to go away and leave her patient alone but Harry shot her a look that could probably make alcohol freeze in less then a second.

"It looked like...a devil wolf," James said.

"A devil wolf?" Hermione repeated with shock.

"One made out of shadows," James whispered, his voice getting softer and softer. "It didn't want me because...I'm a..." He didn't get a chance to finish, instead his eyes closed and his breathing stopped.

Everyone stared at him sadly and Madam Pomfrey put the white sheet over his head softly, a tear falling down her cheek onto it. She checked really fast and said, "He died from the lose of blood and all the poison that was put inside of him somehow..."

Harry stared at the floor and then back up at the ceiling and said, "A devil wolf made of shadows...it didn't want him for some reason..."

Look back down at the boy of the young boy he said, "Don't worry James, we'll find out who did this and get revenge. I promise you."

Author's Note

OK I break in! You all win! I'll tell you who the Half Blood Price is...well sorta...

(Takes a deep breath) the Half Blood Prince is...an original character I created that you've never met before.

Yes I know many of you must be mad or crushed that I put you for that much torture trying to figure out who the HBP was when nobody but me knows him. But remember this is just MY fanfic, you never know what JK Rowling might do!

I'm not using a beta anymore, Jess and I decided that I should just post them as they are. PLEASE DO NOT growl at me over spelling and grammar. I also decided I want to be able to COMPARE how I get better over the year so yeah...

Well I guess it's time to reply to the reviews! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and who read this but didn't review!

Aqua Mage – Well you're right about it definantly being a boy...

Holimontski – Don't worry, my school work comes before everything else! I don't mind being reminded

Drake Smythe – I made your girlfriend cry? Wow...

John Relkin – I don't see how it was a cliffehanger, but I love to torture my readers! LOL!

Mosleyn001 – Yeah you probably did read about Lily's eyes in another fic...

Punksaxplayer – No but that would be a cool idea...I didn't even think of it

Destined Enchantress – Thank you for the compliments! Yup I had to leave a cliff!

LJstagflower4e – LOL well if I got to rant out then I'd be happy too!

TanAlike – Don't you mean from Goblet of Fire? Oh well, I understood what you meant.

Amity-Star – Wow...you're both insane! LOL! What do you mean I finished too early?

Colorbabeguard23 – Well I know how this is going to end and how the next fic is supposed to go so...I'll probably make a sequel, it depends on how much time and interest I've got.

Idiot with reason – Wow, you're scary you know that? LOL! Yeah...speaking of spelling...LOL!

Hpfanchrissy1502 – Glad you liked the chapter but the part about Harry and the song isn't relevant...at least not in this story...

Softball202 – Slowly there will be more H/Hr but it's going to go slow so I have something to write about later on...

Ashley – lol nope! That wouldn't work anyways, Draco's a pureblood

Hermionestwin1990 – I'm actually not gonna finish that fic, but I might put a different version of it up later on

Harry-Potter-Rule – Was there any sarcasm in that? Only 22 chapters... (laughs)

SlytherinHeart – I liked writing Harry's little rant

Carn – I know I made Cho out to be a total bitch! It was so much fun!

Lady Nicole Potter – Yup your VERY twisted! But so is my sense of humour so it's all good! Love that sign!

Kirkalicious – I'm planning on making a sequel

Schnuff – No I won't start that, I'm bigger on adventure then Romance...

ElaraMLFY – You bet I'll keep continuing

Darkblackfaery13 – Thank you and I've got a sequel planned, depends whether I'm interested in writing it or not later on

Desolation Lily – Back to school? I've been back to school for along time now! I wish I had been on holidays

Fusionx – No that's ok, I don't really want a beta now. Glad you like this fic!

- lol I didn't know what to write because there was no name there! Thanks for reviewing!

GothicBlackRose – Sorry but I don't want a beta right now. You don't sound like a bitch! I do!

Shawn Pickett – The ball was on Christmas so they're all at Hogwarts!

Becus – lol thank you

Star in a daze – I know I'm really cruel, especially in this chapter (chapter 12)

Gorav1 – Gonna kill me for leading ya on bout the HBP? I can't have him messing up everything no can I though?

Quicksilver420 – You know it does seem more realistic, especially if you look at where I'm from!

CastusAlbusCor – Half Blood Prince...nobody's ever met him! I don't really like writing fluff...it's kinda like my movie choice...I prefer horror, action and gory over chick-flicks...

Shana – Yup, only 15. I have a flair for writing eh? Thank you!

TheNash – The song's 'Looking Through Your Eyes' by Leanne Rimes. It'd off of Quest for Camelot. I know that's sad but it's one of my fav cartoon movies!

Missy – Oh well...this is fanfiction so I can make it whoever I want I guess. Ginny? Er...I don't know...

Phoenixfeather6988 – LOL! You're mean! JK! I do that all the time to my friends too...

Drtfluvr – Glad you liked this so far!

GatomonandKarifan – You know...your name reminds me about how I used to write Digimon fics...along time ago...on a different profile...lol...

Krystal Lily Potter