"To stating timidly

A timid similarity

We shall boast anyway:

Like love I say.

Like love we don't know where or why,

Like love we can't compel or fly,

Like love we often weep,

Like love we seldom keep."

-WH Auden from "Like Law and Love"

Christmas Eve crept like a spy, jumping on Harry from behind. Things were not, in a word, better but they were different. His parents, instead of grilling him as often as they drew breath, avoided any seemingly "touchy" topics of conversation. They stuck to Christmas related talk which pleased Harry, despite himself. Abby was as happy as a clam to have her big brother back and only mentioned once in fleeting the episode of his flight. Harry found that, if he avoided the subject, the rest of his family followed suit. He kept Sirius's gift in his room, buried under his untouched school books. There wasn't enough room under the massive tree anyway.

Decorating said tree was a rather involved affair ending in Harry carrying a extremely asleep Abby upstairs before covering his sleeping parents with a blanket. The tree was huge, the angel tickling the shiny panels on the ceiling. They had had to go out and buy new lights and ornaments just to keep the thing from looking bare. The end result was quite magnificent though, Harry conceded, as he lugged himself upstairs to bed.

Christmas Eve was busy as they had last minute shopping to do as always. Tom insisisted that he must be forgetting a couple dozen people on his list just to use as an excuse to go to Harrods. Harrison and Abby were only too happy to go along and Harry, by default, was reigned into the plan. Of course, he had tried to feign illness and want of homework time but, then more than ever, he was not to be left to his own devices.

"Harry, come on, let's go to the toy store!" Abby exclaimed, pulling his arm in earnest. He gave a glance to his parents who only smiled and shrugged.

"Just be back to the food court by noon," Harrison called after them. Harry allowed himself to be pulled into the huge toy store. He was shown the latest dolls and automated pets by Abby who spoke of them with unflinching childlike exuberance.

After Abby finally grew tired of the toy store, and had coaxed Harry into buying a three foot tall teddy bear as a pre-Christmas present, they walked on to the bookstore. Harry was forced into reading about some princess to Abby and Monsieur Monsieur (the bear). By then it was a quarter till noon and Harry pulled Abby toward the food court. Harrison and Tom were already standing at a counter ordering lunch when they came up. "What's that?" Harrison asked, gesturing at the two being on Harry's back.

"Your rather greedy daughter," Harry answered.

"Oh, really? What's the other thing?"

"Come on Harry, really, they know who I am. This," Abby said, gesturing at the bear, "is Monsieur Monsieur." Tom nodded, his eyebrows raised.

"And what would Ms. Princess like for lunch?" he asked as Harry let Abby and Monsieur Monsieur from his back. She answered and Harry was asked a matching question. He shrugged and was ordered something he couldn't pronounce.

Laden with packages, the family sat down in the park and unwrapped the edibles. Harry pushed around his plate of God know what apathetically. "Anything wrong Harry?" Harrison asked.

"Oh no, nothing. I'm just not that hungry right now." Truth be told, Harry was way too busy worrying about Voldemort and such to think about food.

"Really? You've been "not that hungry" for the last three days," Tom observed. Harry shrugged.

"So, Abby, are you looking foreword to tonight?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, did I tell you that I get real wings?" Harry shook his head and let her describe them in all their feathery splendor. It was an easy way to tune out without anyone noticing. Abby had been given the role of Gabriel in the Christmas pageant. It struck no one as odd that a girl was playing a boy's part because Joseph was also a boy, as were two of the three wise men. It seemed that there was an extreme lack of male enthusiasm when it came to pageants. So, Abby had been given the loudest, only speaking part in the whole nativity. It seemed rather fitting to Harry who had played a shepherd the whole of childhood.

As they made their way to the car with their packages after finishing their shopping trip, Harrison sidled up to Harry, letting Tom and Abby zoom on ahead. "Is anything bothering you Harry?" he asked softly, hefting a bag a bit at his side. Harry shook his head vehemently and shot his dad a smile. "Are you sure? Because, you know, you can tell me anything." A gnawing guilt tore at Harry's insides. The words circled around in his head. If only he could tell Dad anything.

Harry deposited his parcels on his bed. The room was neat, almost cryptically. It looked like a museum piece. "Look Mommy, is that what a kid's room really looked like?" He changed into suitable church attire and was about to exit the room when he caught sight of a letter on his desk. He walked over and picked it up. A searing pain shot through his forehead and he let out a little yelp.

"Is there anything wrong Harry?" Tom called up from the Master Bedroom.

"No, everything's fine, I just dropped a book on my foot!" Harry called back. He opened the letter slowly. It was written in blood red ink, sprawling, spidery cursive.

Harry,

I know where you are and I'll be coming for you. Don't think you've heard the last of Lord Voldemort.

A jolt of fear spread through him. Was Voldemort just bluffing? How could he know? Countless protections had been put around his family and he hadn't done anything to attract attention. He shrugged off the message, or, at least, he attempted to shrug off the message. He shredded it with vigor between his fingers and tossed the remnants into the trashcan. Quickly, he changed into his coal gray suite, green shirt and green tie. Pulling on his shoes as he walked out of the room.

Harry felt his arm for the third time during the car ride, each time coming to the same conclusion: his wand was in there. The car zoomed along the street toward the small church. Abby was bouncing up and down in her seat and muttering "And unto you a child is born." The letter had shaken Harry's nerves. Before he had thought that if he could just keep the whole big thing a secret from his parents it would all be okay. Lord knows keeping it a secret was burden enough. Now a crippling fear overtook him, washing over him, wave after wave till he grew tired.

Tom turned back to them. "You okay Harry? You look a little pale," he observed worriedly. Harry could only nod. It was obvious that no one was buying it. He bit his lip to keep from screaming and turned his eyes to the floor. "Abby, are you ready sweet?"

"Yes, I'm ready Papa," she nodded resolutely, her curls bouncing. "What were you in the pageant Harry?" she asked, nudging him a bit.

"Uh, uh, I was a shepard," he stuttered. "Every year, never got the part of Joseph."

"That's right," Harrison said in a reflective tone. "That nosy little preacher's kid, Allan Reddock, always got the part. You deserved it every time mind you." Abby grinned.

"I bet Allan Reddock was a terrible Joseph." They pulled up the church and stepped out of the car. Abby ran inside without so much as a wave goodbye, leaving Harry alone with his parents. It hadn't happened since the morning he got back and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. They both closed in on either side him as if they were afraid he make a run for it.

They got a seat on the second row in the middle, a key spot for the coming of the angel. Harry checked his arm again, terrified that his wand had fallen out. "Why do you keep checking your arm Harry?" Tom asked in a whisper.

"Nothing, it just twinges a bit. I hit it on the door of my room," Harry lied. Tom nodded in such a way as to make it clear he didn't believe a word Harry was saying. Mrs. Taylor ambled up to their row just in time.

"Harry! How are you? We haven't seen you in ages. How's that school of yours?"

"Fine," Harry answered.

"He's doing incredibly well. He's the top of his class. Unfortunately, he's been doing a lot of homework over the holiday. How's Matt Mrs. Taylor?" Harrison fibbed quickly.

"Oh he's doing just wonderfully. All the teachers just love him-" Just as she was about to jump into a huge discussion about how wonderful her Matty was, Pastor Amory got up on the platform. "Oh dear, it looks like the program is about to start." Harrison and Tom nodded goodbye and she walked back to her seat at the back of the hall.

"Thank God she's gone," Tom muttered. Harry laughed weakly. The pageant was the same as it always was. The lambs somehow got lost on their way up to the front, a shepard hit Mary over the head with his cane, one of the cherubs started crying (Gregory Taylor) and his mother had to hurry up and take him back to her (Mrs. Taylor's) seat. Abby was stupendous…..ly loud. That put a smile on Harry's face for once. Yes, everything went on normally until the last verse of Hark the Herald Angels sing. Something exploded, shattering the stained glass windows on the left side of the sanctuary sending children and parents both scrambling to the floor.

The cherubs let out a scream of such a high frequency that all else melted away. They rushed out into the crowd, grabbing hold of any hand that would have them. Parents shouted out the names of their children. "Jesus Christ," someone exclaimed and, for once, no one turned to say anything. Harry's heart sunk into his stomach. Somehow, somehow he knew that it hadn't been a bomb, it had been a wand. He craned his neck in the direction of the explosion. To his horror, there stood Lord Voldemort with his red eyes gleaming in the still dimly lit sanctuary. Harry could feel his eyes boring into him with such intensity that it was all he could do to keep standing.

Vaguely, he heard "Tom, take Harry and get outside, I'll get Abby." He felt a tug at his arm and almost let himself be dragged away.

"Harry, come on, we have to get out of here," Tom said in a deadly whisper. Harry shook his head vigorously and ripped his arm from Tom's grasp. "Harry! This is not a game. I'm prepared to use force if I have to." Harry whirled around. His face was contorted in rage.

"This has to do with me and me alone. I want you to get Dad and Abby out now."

"Harry, I don't really know what's been wrong with you lately but this is ridiculous. Not everything is your problem alright. You don't have to be a hero all of the time and now is the time in which you will not be a hero. Do you hear me? I'm your father and you will do what I say." Harry turned away from him and pulled his wand from his sleeve.

"EVERYBODY OUT OF THE CHURCH NOW!" he bellowed in a voice more powerful then he would ever have thought possible. He walked foreword with a powerful urgency he had not had before. "THIS IS NOT A JOKE. OUT NOW!" He was slowly advancing on Voldemort who had turned away from the poor muggle family he had been tormenting to face his teenage nemesis.

"So Harry, we meet again? How good of you to join me," he hissed.

"This is between you and me Tom," Harry said, his voice fatally low.

"HARRY! OUTSIDE NOW!" he heard Harrison roar from behind him. He didn't even turn, his eyes not leaving Voldemort's smiling face. Harrison bounded foreword, grabbing hold of Harry's shoulder. He gave it an almighty wrench. "Harry, I swear to-" but Harry shot a freezing charm at him and he fell to the floor with a hollow thud.

"Get Abby out now Papa," he yelled. He then turned all of his attention on Voldemort. "This ends here," Harry said.

"Come now Harry, you know you're no match for me, especially now that I have your blood rushing through my veins. You're dear, deceased mother is protecting me now too."

To Be Continued.