I am so sorry about the wait, but other things took up my time. The trip went fine, and I actually learned how to waterskii. I tried many times before, but I couldn't do it. But when I got back, I just could not come up with a start for the chapter. Really, the idea with the siblings just came up only thirty minutes ago. It was supposed to be Luna (the owl flying away) and Harry (under an invisibility cloak who ran into the sister) telling each other everything was ready.

I would have started writing once I got back, but at my trip I got all ten books of Fruits Basket and just had to finish reading them. They are really good and I can't wait for the next one to come out… Once I finished that I should have started writing then but my sister came down with the flu so I was taking care of her. Only now am I given time to write as she is asleep.

Don't worry, the next chapter will be up soon, I am already done with a fourth of it. So look out for it. This will be finished by the time sixth book comes out, with a few days to spare.

An Early Present

Christmas cheer broke out over the castle as the finals came to an end. Nothing could break the happy spell, not even the thought of the results coming out just after Christmas break. Most were ready to leave Hogwarts to spend their time with family in such a dark time. The ones staying behind would be set for a pleasant surprise…

The morning the last train back to Platform Nine and Three Quarters in London, First Year Hufflepuff Jayson Runingon was sprinting down the halls. He had forgotten his favorite cloak, one his mother had sewn for him and would be late for the departing carriages. Just beyond the Great Hall he would come upon the entry hall, only a minute early. It would not do to be late on such a day, and being simply on time would be unheard of for the hard working Hufflepuff.

"So everything is ready? All will be put into place?"

He did not recognize the voice, probably because he was only a first year and half a year was far not enough time to learn everyone.

"If only they do what we told them to."

A somehow familiar male voice answered the female one. It was slightly suspicious to be hearing, so he crept back to the supposedly abandoned classroom. He had heard so much about the Sirius Black fiasco and Triwizard Tournament problem from his older sister, Jasmine, who was a fourth year Ravenclaw. Any strange conversations should be reported at once!

"Good, good. Once they come, make sure the others are on their way. We don't want to mess this up this time."

"I'm on it!"

That's it: he just had to know what was happening in that room! A fluttering noise filled his senses as he finally brought up the courage to enter the room (come on, he wasn't a Gryffindor or anything) only to find it empty. Other than a few falling owl feathers, the room was completely empty. There was no sign of the mysterious speakers, though there was an owl flying in the general direction of the Whomping Willow…

"Jayson? Jayson where did you go? Ow!"

The young Hufflepuff was forced to leave the classroom as he heard his sister's call. Her yelling in pain only made him speed up the process. "Jasmine! What happened?"

Jasmine Runingon just sat there for a while trying to figure out what happened for herself. All she could remember was trying to find her brother and then running into something solid, though there was nothing in front of her. But there simply wasn't enough time to argue about it then. "I'll tell you on the carriage, we are going to be late!"

"Oh yeah!"

The siblings made it to the last carriage just before it was leaving. The only problem was that they were forced to sit with two seventh year Slytherins who glared at them the whole time. They were unable to swap their individual stories until the train, but by then they forgot due to the excitement that surrounded them. But Jasmine could not sleep soundly on the train though Jayson snored like a baby, as the incident came to her mind again. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that the thing she had ran into was a person, as she had heard an outtake of breath as she fell down…

Back at Hogwarts, the staff and remaining students were readying themselves for their approaching guests. For the first time since the first reign of terror Voldemort imposed on Britain, St. Mungos allowed its patients to leave before their treatment was finished. They were to spend Christmas Eve dinner and the night at Hogwarts as both the hospital's and school's gift to them as they would probably not get anything else that year.

"When are they supposed to get here, Professor?" Ginny asked the Deputy Headmistress as she entered the Great Hall. The six others she had grown to be quite close to, yes even the Slytherin, stopped their own chatting to hear the Gryffindor Head of House's response.

"Right at this moment, as it were." And like clock work, the telltale sounds of thestrals were heard from outside. They ran to join them and were greeted with much enthusiasm.

"Harry!" Sirius could not calm down enough as he ran out of the carriage and threw his godson up into his arms. "Could you believe it? I'm actually here for Christmas, and it will be a much better one than last year, I can assure you."

"Don't worry, it already is."

"Why don't we depart to the Great Hall," Dumbledore suggested, though anything he would suggest could be considered a demand. "I believe the house elves have been besides themselves with glee to prepare this years holiday feast."

Hermione made a point of it to express her objection to having house elves slaving over the meal, but Ron just rolled his eyes and dragged her to the Hall anyways. And Dumbledore was correct in his prediction on the meal. The house elves outdid themselves with the high piles of Christmas chicken and turkey and stuffing. 1 Even better was the figgy pudding which was the talk of the table, shortened so everyone could be on one. Everyone was forced to forget about the battles that were sure to come in the coming months by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It was a day to celebrate, not one to think about the hardships that would come.

"So Harry, what do you think about old Snape nowadays," Sirius asked coolly before stuffing his mouth full of chocolate covered strawberries. "I mean, you have to feel something by now with all that has happened. I hear that you even tried to save the greasy git when you saw a vision."

"Don't call him that," Harry demanded, eyes growing cold. "I don't care about what happened in the past, now he is my father, and you said you were not mad over it."

Sirius immediately threw up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, Harry, it'll just take me awhile to get used to it. Old habits, you know? Though I assume you'll be wanting to be called Sanisoni, or what ever the name is, now?"

"Sansone," he automatically corrected. He didn't really think about the name change. Really, everyone knew he was Harry Potter, and they were expecting such. Would the public opinion be changed if they were to call him Sansone Snape? "I don't know yet."

"Don't worry, I'll come to you. Your grandparents offered me to change my last name to Potter if I wanted, but I felt that it would just be better for me to remain the way I was. But your decision might be different, I don't know. Just think about it, okay?"

Harry nodded his head in time to see the Headmaster rise from his seat.

"I would like to conclude this feast for the night to allow us all to depart to our rooms."

"One minute, Headmaster," Hermione said stately, rising from her seat, "We could only imagine how it is to enter a world where you know no one. By spending time with you and asking questions we have found the one thing that will make your Christmas the best ever."

"You have given us life," the youngest, an eighteen year old – or at least he was when he fell through the veil – male, spoke out, "you have given us everything." The others agreed whole-heartedly, many of them adding their own thanks. "It is us who owe you."

"We insist," Luna spoke, "but if you must, just think of it as a continuation of that as it is related."

That did not sway their minds though and they continued to honorably decline.

"You're just keeping them waiting," Neville added, "and they are probably just as confused as you are."

"We just ask that you follow us," continued Hermione. And with that, she and the rest of the teenaged heroes left the room. It wasn't long before the rest followed their example and left the Great Hall and onto the castle's front steps. They were met by a group of confused people just stepping out of thestral drawn carriages – or at least to those who had seen a death occur.

"I welcome you to Hogwarts and thank you for coming. Could you all just form one group? Thank you. Now, could one person bring up the card you were sent? Just one, please."

After a short pause of silence a little girl, no older than six, ran up to Hermione as she asked and gave her the card her family (who were close behind) let her have. One of the rescued people gave a gasp and walked out of the group disbelievingly. The silence was deafening.

"Thomas Managan," she read softly, not wanting to ruin the moment, "I want to present your family."

A woman ran out and jumped into Thomas' arms. A joyous reunion followed with the rest of his family, until the little girl asked a question which caused silence to fall again. "Who's that?"

The woman picked up the little girl with a smile. "Ana, you know how I said your Daddy went on vacation? Well he came back. See?"

"Daddy!"

The reunion continued and the process was continued for the rest of the rescued. Samantha Sinral burst into tears as she was hugged by her two brothers and three cousins that survived to that day. Once she broke out of the dogpile she was enclosed in, she attached herself to Neville, the closest of her rescuers, and brought him into the group. All were happy with their family… Except one…

"I know there won't be anything for me," the youngest said, "I hope you didn't go to too much trouble for me."

Gregory Truman was not only the youngest, but he as also the longest one in the Veil, fifty-three years. He said he was waiting for his young fiancée as they were to wed only a week before he fell through during an investigation mission. But there was no quest Hermione could not finish if her mind was set to it.

"That is true," Harry said as gently as possible. The rest of the people paused in their merriment as they noticed that one of their own was not able to join them. "And I am so sorry to say that your fiancée, Abigail White, passed away only five years ago. She passed on due to old age as she was seventy-two but she did leave behind many letters that were never sent."

Ginny took out a stack worth of letters, yellowing with age, and handed them to the heartbroken Gregory. But Gregory did not cry, did not break down, just nodded solemnly. He took out the first one and read aloud:

"My dearest Greg,

I write to you, not because I know you will read them soon, for the workers tell me that you will not be coming back. But I feel in my heart of hearts that you will return to our world though I won't be right beside you. I need you to know that I love you with all my being, and will continue to love you forever, even after I die. Though I hope that I will be there once you return, I will not, as the Sight has told me.

Continue on your life dear Gregory, if only for my sake. I will not want to watch you from the heavens ruining your life for me. I want you to prosper in every way you can as you promised me. Though I did not, and will not, marry any other, I do not want you to feel as bounded as I did. There is someone out there for you, somewhere, as I was here. Please do not ruin the chances you were given…"

It was then that he choked, and big time. The letter remained tightly clenched in his hands as he dropped to his knees, hands brought up to his face. He just could not continue reading the letter, especially in front of everyone else.

"We are sorry for causing you so much pain," Luna said, trying to comfort the sobbing man, "but it was her wish for you to read it."

Gregory shook his head, still sobbing, but tried to make out, "No, no, whatever she wanted, she would get. Thank you so much for bringing these to me. With every ounce of myself, I thank you."

"There's one thing that just isn't coming to me," Ron said suddenly, "How did she know that you would be coming back?"

"She was a Seer."

He looked as if he was going to continue on whatever he was saying, but cut short, staring just behind the others. Everyone else looked to the place he looked at only to see a bright light. If one looked closely they were able to see that the light was in the form of a woman, dressed as witches dressed fifty years ago. She was waving at him happily before slowly disappearing.

"No! Wait!" Gregory yelled out, tripping over his shoes, only stopping when the light completely disappeared. Yet, he sighed softly when hearing on the wind:

"Live your own life in happiness…"

Hopefully my little sis will get better so that I won't feel bad that she is in pain, so I can finish writing the next chapter. Just Chapter 39 and then number 40 as an epilogue!

Wytil: Sorry, the exciting part is over with, now it is just dying down… and you don't really find out what really happens with Severus' and Sirius' meeting. But if you want, I could try to fit it in the next one, okay? How you say to that?

Makalani Astral: I wasn't intending to continue with Samantha, she was supposed to just be some random person who just happened to be rescued in the veil as well. I thought it would be too clichéd for just Sirius to wake up first, and guys couldn't be the only strong ones to wake up first, so Samantha was born. But I did add that little part between Thomas Managan and Gregory Truman just for you.

KrazeyForever: OH, MY GOODNESS! How did you survive! But I shouldn't really talk, I gave up fanfiction for a month! Willingly! My mom said that I was too addicted to the stuff (which I kind of am) so I tested myself. At least I had access to the internet so I could at least wander around aimlessly online…

Water Angel1: Yes, the quizzes actually ask for questions that would actually decide what house you would be in. I couldn't believe that Warner Bros. had a quiz that asked what your favorite color was. I absolutely hate questions that you could obviously look at and tell which house or character you would be getting. Really, I think that so many people aren't really in the house they get. It's only because they want to answer the questions to get a certain house. I actually proved it by IMing my boyfriend, best friend, and sister the questions (without giving answers) and they all got houses they would never dream of getting (my sister is convinced she's a Slytherin but she got Gryffindor).