A/N: - So, here is the next chapter – again I'm sorry it takes me so long to update each time but I'm preparing a story which starts on 11th November in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles category to mark my one year anniversary on ! Tee hee, I hope you like this chapter and review at the bottom to let me know what you think…

Chapter 12 – Christmas Attacks

Christmas Day dawned and Harry awoke to see a pile of presents at the foot of his bed. He jumped up and began opening them excitedly. From Ron he had a box of twenty-four chocolate frogs. From Hermione he received a leather-bound book on Occlumency and its advantages. He chuckled to himself as he opened it – this was one present he was seriously going to need! From Fred and George there was a hamper of tricks and other such things from their shop. From Mr. and Mrs. Weasley there was a knitted sweater, navy blue with a white thunderbolt. He put it on over his pyjamas t-shirt and began to walk downstairs. He got to the kitchen and found everyone sat round the tree except for Dumbledore, Hagrid, Snape, McGonagall and Lupin, who'd all left for Hogwarts, leaving their presents at Grimmauld Place to open when they returned. Harry assumed this meant they would make it back but he was cut short by a rather disheveled Hagrid appearing in the fireplace.

"Sorry, ev'ryone, but we just won't be makin' it back tonight. Dumbledore said could yeh send the gifts though?"

"Certainly, Hagrid," Mr. Weasley smiled. Hagrid thanked him and waved to them before disappearing again.

"Looks like one of us has to go to Hogwarts and hand out the gifts then," Mrs. Weasley sighed.

"I'll do it, Molly," Mr. Weasley stood up and let his wife pass the presents for those at Hogwarts to him. He gave them a final wave, donned a Santa cap, and left the house.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Mr. Weasley stepped into Hagrid's hut.

"Thank Merlin you're here, Arthur," Lupin panted as he ran up to Mr. Weasley, looking as if he'd been dragged through about a thousand hedges backwards.

"What's happened?" Mr. Weasley asked, putting down the bag of presents.

"It seems that Hogsmeade has been attacked again, just as people had started to rebuild their lives there. Everyone there was killed…and they attacked the Shrieking Shack to try and get to Hogwarts via the tunnel onto the grounds."

"But – that means ----"

"We lost more than half the werewolves. Seventeen are dead, three are in St. Mungo's and nine have been forced to switch sides – we have only eleven left," Lupin looked, and sounded, beaten. He seemed about ready to give up. Arthur bit his lip,

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You won't be able to go back to Grimmauld Place if you stay here – you'll be busy all day."

"It's ok – I know Molly will understand."

"Molly, dear?" Arthur Weasley's head popped into the fireplace, looking round, and Lupin's head appeared a second later. Everyone jumped up and ran to kneel in front of the fireplace.

"What is it, Arthur?"

"I have to stay here and help, Molly – Hogsmeade was attacked again. We need anyone you can spare to help look for survivors and dig out the dead." Mr. Weasley explained. Suddenly, Lupin cursed and his head vanished.

"Arthur, hurry up! I can't hold the door – they're going to get in!" Lupin's startled voice could be heard.

"I have to go," Mr. Weasley smiled warmly at everyone, "see you all tomorrow!"

"Arthur, be careful!" Mrs. Weasley called into the fireplace as her husbands head disappeared and the flames roared up again.

"Where were they?" Harry asked, concern showing on his face.

"Hagrid's hut by the looks of it."

"Everyone apart from Mundungus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny and myself must go and help at Hogwarts. Yes, that includes you, Bill." Mrs. Weasley ushered them all out of the doorway and once outside they all flagged down the Knight Bus and were off, zooming towards Hogwarts.

Five hours later, Mrs. Weasley was practically having a panic attack. They hadn't been contacted since Mr. Weasley and Lupin had called for back-up.

"I hope Arthur and Bill are alright," she half sobbed into Ginny's shoulder.

"When do you think they'll contact us to let us know they're ok?"

"As soon as the attacks are over," replied Mrs. Weasley. Harry, Ron and Hermione shared a worried look and walked upstairs to the room shared by Harry and Ron.

"I hope none of the Order has been killed…" Hermione gulped.

"They would've let us know by now if Dad or Bill was dead," said Ron, trying to sound optimistic. But deep down he knew it would be difficult to get in touch until the attack was over – and there were others in the Order that could've died.

"CHILDREN, COME DOWN HERE!" Mrs. Weasley's excited voice bellowed up the stairs. The three friends grinned at each other and sloped down the stairs to where Mrs. Weasley was stood beaming.

"We've heard from the Order!" Harry exclaimed in relief.

"Yes, we have. They drove off Voldemort's forces and are on their way back right now."

"Is anyone dead or injured? Who did you speak to? When will they be back? Can we listen when they tell you what happened?" the questions poured from Ron's mouth like blood from a wound.

"No-one's dead or hospitalized but some are suffering minor injuries – nothing that can't be treated easily though. I spoke to Alastor Moody and they will be back in the next ten minutes. Yes, you can listen to what happened as you were just as worried about them as I was and you have a right to know why they didn't contact us sooner."

"We're back!" Tonks called from the hallway.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Mrs. Weasley ran out and hugged her husband and son.

"Sorry if we had you worried, Mum, but we were too busy fighting to get to a fireplace at any point."

"Come through and tell everyone what happened…we've all been worried sick!"

"Shouldn't worry about us – well, maybe you should worry about Severus," Lupin smiled.

"Why?" inquired Mrs. Weasley.

"Because he almost had a heart attack when one of the werewolves saved his life," Lupin grinned broadly at Snape, receiving a withering glare in return from the pale-faced man, a splash of red appearing in his pallid cheeks.

"Yes, Severus is now in debt of one of the lycanthropes," said Dumbledore, "or he would be if said werewolf was still alive. We lost him and one more and now only nine remain."

"Things aren't going as smoothly as we'd hoped they would," sighed Moody.

"These things never do, Alastor," Dumbledore's face was unreadable but his eyes had temporarily lost their usual sparkle, "these things never do…"

Christmas remained a gloomy affair that night as no-one quite knew what to do next. The Order's members were each lost in their own individual thoughts and none of them felt like talking about the day they'd had. Nobody dared to speak, in fear of breaking the reflective silence. Eventually, Harry wandered up to bed when he could take no more of the silence, closely followed by Ron.

"That wasn't very cheerful, considering it's Christmas." He stated bluntly.

"We're losing before the final battle has even started. Voldemort has too many supporters and he's scared too many people into not taking sides."

"I want some action around here," Ron slammed his fist down on the bedside table.

"Wish granted," Harry grimaced as they heard an argument flaring up between Snape and Lupin.

"FINE! I'LL MAKE THE DAMN POTION! BUT YOU OWE ME BIG TIME, LUPIN!"

"Why does Snape always pick on Lupin?" asked Ron as they ventured downstairs to watch the commotion. Snape had walked out of the house, slamming the door as he went and leaving a shocked scene behind him.

"Because Lupin's a werewolf," answered Harry grimly. No doubt Snape wouldn't be in the best of moods if Lupin had won another argument with him. Harry and Ron walked into the kitchen and found the Order sat in silence once more, glancing awkwardly at each other.

"Um, what was that about?" questioned Ron.

"Never you mind," his mother replied briskly, "who's on patrol tonight?"

"I am," Lupin stood up wearily, "I'm supposed to be on patrol with Severus and Mundungus."

"Mundungus is still suffering from an extremely bad hangover!" Mrs. Weasley frowned disapprovingly, "and I do not think it is a good idea for you to be on patrol with Severus tonight."

"I'll take Lupin's shift tonight and he can have mine tomorrow," Moody growled, getting up and leaving before anyone could disagree – not that there would be any reason for anyone to disagree.

"Wha's goin' on?" Mundungus slurred as he thumped down the stairs and entered the kitchen drowsily, "it's meant to be me on patrol t'night."

"Moody's taken the places of you and Lupin." Tonks explained.

"Wha's up with Lupin?"

"Argument with Severus," Lupin answered simply, causing Mundungus to jump suddenly.

"Nothing new then," Mundungus flopped into a soft chair as Dumbledore excused himself, saying he should probably be getting back to Hogwarts.

"I think I should be coming with you, Dumbledore. I can at least make myself useful as Hogwarts that way," Lupin sighed.

"You are going nowhere, Remus - I insist you stay here and rest like the rest of the Order are doing" Mrs. Weasley blocked his path, hands on hips.

"Thanks but no thanks, Molly. I have a lot of marking that needs doing before the next full moon and Hogwarts will certainly need cleaning up." Lupin gently pushed past her and followed Dumbledore out of the room and the two of them left the house.

"When will these people learn not to over-tax themselves?" Hermione sighed as several more of the Order followed Lupin and Dumbledore's example and left on various errands and personal jobs.

"It's their job to work against you-know-who nonstop, Hermione," said Ron, "and if they choose to have extra jobs on top of that then it's their choice."

"But they never seem to take time out."

"I have to agree with her on this one, Ron," said Harry, putting a hand on Ron's shoulder, "they're all exhausted and some of them have even gone beyond that!"

"You three should be resting too, you know," Mrs. Weasley said, ushering Mundungus out of the room and up the stairs before returning to plump up the cushions of the chair he'd been lounging in.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione obeyed immediately, following Ginny upstairs to the room they shared. Harry and Ron sighed, knowing that an argument would do no good, and trudged reluctantly up the stairs to bed.

The next morning, the two boys awoke to a piercing shriek.

"What is it, Mum?!" Ron gasped as he sprinted into the kitchen.

"Ronald Weasley!" she screeched, "I have found your missing school jumper…IN THE OVEN!"

"I didn't put it there," Ron protested weakly.

"Then who ----? FRED! GEORGE!" bellowed a now red faced Mrs. Weasley. The twins strolled casually into the room regarding their mother with curiosity as if nothing was wrong.

"What's happened, Mum?" asked George.

"How did Ron's jumper get in the oven?"

"Oh, that's not Ron's jumper – it's my old one," laughed Fred, "and it's in the oven because we're trying to develop a way to set clothes on fire without actually damaging them – you know, for getting your enemies into trouble. You can say they----"

"Well, it's clearly been a great success, don't you think?" Mrs. Weasley cut in icily, struggling to keep her voice at a reasonable level. Huffing, she bustled off, carrying the rock solid jumper and dropping it in the bin as she went – not a successful move as George just fished it out again as soon as she'd gone.

"We need it for research," Fred explained, seeing Harry and Ron looking puzzled, "so we can identify what went wrong and correct it."

The holidays were drawing to a close and Harry was now looking forward to going back to Hogwarts. They were due to go back on January the 5th which was a Tuesday. It was currently January the 3rd. New Year's day had been and gone and hadn't been anything special as none of the Order had shown up – they were all on patrol to keep the peace at hotspots for New Year's Eve in case Voldemort attacked. They were all due to meet on the 4th and Harry was ready to say his goodbyes to those he wouldn't be seeing at Hogwarts.

"Bye, Harry," Tonks called as Harry boarded the train for Hogwarts with the other students on Monday evening.

"Bye Tonks – see you in the summer, if I don't see you before," he winked back. The entire Order had shown up to bid them farewell as they left – they were on their way back to Hogwarts at last.

Dinner that night was a jolly affair and the whole school seemed in high spirits as they sat down to a feast in the Great Hall. All the teachers were sat at the staff table and it was one of those rare times when Harry felt that no-one was missing.

"So, do you think we'll be able to throw off Voldemort and win this war?" Ron asked.

"Ron, I don't really want to talk about Voldemort on one of the rare nights where we're not being attacked or feeling generally unsafe." Harry said darkly.

"Sorry, mate – I was just curious, that's all."

"I know, but just think of how many times we'll be attacked in the near and far off future and think about how many times we're going to have where we feel safe and high-spirited. Not many, I'll bet. Stuff about Voldemort should only be said in Order meetings,"

"Which we shouldn't be mentioning out loud," hissed Hermione harshly in Harry's ear.

"Sorry, Hermione," apologised Ron.

"That's perfectly alright, Ron."

"Guys, Dumbledore's waiting to speak!"

"What a jolly affair this has been," Dumbledore said as he smiled at the school, eyes twinkling, "and I hope there will be many more times like it. Follow your Head of House back to the dormitories and get some rest. School starts tomorrow and we want everyone enthusiastic and ready to work," he sat down again and each house followed their corresponding teacher back to the dormitories.

When Harry got into bed that night, something felt wrong. There was something about to happen that he knew would not be able to control; something involving him.

"Ron," he whispered, wanting to talk to his friend, but all he got in reply was a sleepy grunt as Ron rolled over and pulled his pillow over his ears. Sighing, Harry rolled over and allowed his eyes to close. He would mention it to one of the teachers in the Order in the morning. But never was there to be a night so long ever again in Harry's lifetime.

A/N: - There ya go! Hope you liked it – and I'll look forward to reading your reviews wink, wink, nudge, nudge!