A/N: In case any of you got any ideas, the ending of last chap was a gag. You know, kind of like the time Sasuke and Naruto accidentally kissed? That kind of gag!
This is set during… ah, you guys can probably figure it out.
This is my (early) Christmas Episode and present to you guys. If you want to send gifts back, just give it a long review. You have no idea how much those warm my heart…
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Card Captor Harry
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Card 16, The Mist: Fires of Winter...
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.
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Harry Potter wasn't a naturally murderous person. Yet it is likely even the most timid individual would become enraged if they found out that their parents' murderer was their parents' own best friend. Throw in the fact said murderer was supposed to be after you as well, and one tended to loose ones better judgment.
Throw in the fact you happen to have access to power that was probably enough to do a modern retake of what happened to Atlantis, and one is likely to lose one's sense temporarily.
It was very lucky that Harry, Ron and Hermione visited Hagrid the day after Harry found out about Black, else he might have done something insane. Harry, not Hagrid. Harry had been seriously considering using the Clow Cards to hunt down and kill Black, something to which Keroberos was vehemently opposed. However, the need to help a friend overwrote Harry's slightly murderous state of mind, knocking sense into him in the way only a fundamentally good person can have sense knocked into…
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Harry was awoken on Christmas morning by Keroberos shaking him gently.
"Harry," the Sun Guardian whispered gently. "Wake up…"
Grumbling, Harry pulled himself out from under his blanket. "What?"
"Merry Christmas!" Kero said. "Come on and follow me. And bring the Clow Book."
"Can't it wait 'til later, Kero?" Harry mumbled.
"Not unless you want people to know you're the Card Captor," Kero said slyly.
Grumbling, Harry threw off his covers, rubbing sleep gunk out of his eyes. The sun was still below the horizon, and a look out his window told him dawn wouldn't be coming for a while. Stifling a yawn and thankful any noise he'd make wouldn't be heard over Ron's snores, Harry reached for his glasses, pulling the Clow Book out from under his pillow. Silently, he padded down the stairs, careful lest they creak.
Kero led Harry into the common room and out the portrait hole. Harry was thankful he'd thought to put on footwear. After a while, Kero entered an empty classroom.
"All right, what is this about?" Harry asked as he closed the door behind them.
Keroberos grinned. Somehow. "There are a few people who want to wish a Merry Christmas."
Plucking the Clow Book out of Harry's hands, he held it out to him. "Well? What are you waiting for? They really want to talk to you."
Harry's eyes widened as he realized what Kero was talking about. Reaching towards his neck, he plucked out the Clow Key and held it before him.
"Key of Power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it. Release!"
The Key rose from his hand, floating in midair in front of him. the symbol of Clow Reed appeared beneath his feet, turning slowly as wisps of magic surrounded the Key. It lengthened, growing wider and turning into a wand that had a head reminiscent of a beak.
Grabbing the Wand in midair, Harry twirled it a couple of times, reveling in the feel of it.
Kero, meanwhile, had opened the Clow Book. "Here," he said, handing him the whole deck of Cards.
Harry blinked as he took them in his hands. "All of them? Do I have enough power for that? I mean, I get tired calling them up three in a row. "
Kero waved his hand- paw?- dismissively. "That was months ago. You're a lot stronger now. Besides, you won't be summoning them the regular way, at full power and all that. No, you'll be using what Clow used to call 'party mode'."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"
Kero grinned, and told Harry what to do. Smirking, Harry raised the Wand above his head.
"Mass Release!"
A sense of power filled Harry. It built up inside, like a balloon slowly filling up, like a song rising. A phoenix flying towards the skies, the sense of power grew stronger and stronger, until, finally, it burst out of Harry, streaming towards the eighteen Cards Harry had tossed into the air a moment before. Each Card turned bright, glowing with magic and power as their outlines became blurred, stretching and molding, some into recognizable humanoid forms.
Windy appeared pure yellow, her two long tails of hair trailing behind her, her form disturbingly nude, without the features of a naked body, but also nothing to imply she was wearing anything. Her two vaguely insectile, leaf-like wings spread from her shoulders as she stretched, hovering above the ground, her indistinct, genie-esque tail grazing the floor
Shadow's magic turned black as it stretched, resolving into a tall, hooded shape. Although it's robes were purest black, darker than midnight, the area beneath its hood and through the frontal opening of its robe was much darker, enough to make what it wore seem white. It settled on the floor, the edges of it's wear seemingly fragile as dark mist.
All around Harry, the Clow Cards appeared in their sprite forms. The Rain looked like a little girl in an Arabian-styled jester's outfit, her two-tailed fools cap decorated with silver raindrops hanging along it's edges. Silver raindrops also hung from the tips of her burst-shaped collar. A blue raindrop-shaped stone rested on her forehead, and she wore big, puffy sleeves, baggy pants, and slippers with curling toes. Sword was just that, a sword that stood upright, surrounded by chains. Float, for some reason, looked like a hot-air balloon. Erase wore a more formfitting jester's outfit, her fools cap and the main body of her tight dress done in a black-and-white, kite-diamond-checkered pattern, a red stone resting at her collarbone, beneath a ruffled collar, a black kite-shaped tattoo decorating the spot beneath her left eye.
At the last, a gigantic mirror appeared in front of Harry, and in place of his reflection stood a girl. The girl smiled, stepping towards him eagerly, and passed through the surface of the mirror, becoming a copy of him in the process. Enthusiastically, Mirror jumped him and enfolded him in a hug.
"Merry Christmas, Master Harry!" she said cheerily in a definitely feminine version of his voice as she shook from side to side, causing the two of them to move that way.
That opened the floodgates. Harry was suddenly besieged on all sides by enthusiastic Clow Card sprites. Harry saw Mirror grin widely, giving him a quick kiss on the lips without her usual theatrics, before backing away. She was immediately replaced by Windy, who giggled as she stuck her tongue in his mouth, then by Flower, who rained kisses on his face. Shadow, Time, Sword, Float, Shot, and Thunder stood to the side, watching in amusement as their female 'siblings' besieged their master.
After Through had planted a chaste kiss on Harry's forehead (and coincidentally nearly forcing his face into her chest), Erase had thoroughly kissed Harry's neck, Rain had hung around said neck while trying to suck his brains out (seriously disturbing to be kissed like that by a being that looked like a little kid) and Kero had laughed himself nearly to death, all the Clow Cards had stepped back, and Mirror took center stage. She looked a trifle self-conscious, as if not sure what she should be doing, but the other Cards egged her on silently, grinning and nodding and shooing her forward. Clearing her throat, she smiled and faced Harry, who was a little out of it, as he hadn't been gang0kissed liked that in quite a while, and had forgotten how overwhelming it could be.
"Ahem, Master Harry, as it's Christmas and all, we'd like to give you a gift," Mirror said.
Harry blinked. "Gift?" he said, panicking slightly. He hadn't thought to get them anything!
Apparently, however, Mirror guessed what was in his head. "Oh, you don't need to bother getting us anything, Master," she said, then grinned mischievously. "Besides, it's gift enough you let us out and…" she paused bringing her fingers to her mouth suggestively, as Keroberos snickered and Harry blushed crimson again.
"Anyway," she continued, blushing slightly herself, ""we'd like to request you let us out for today so we can get you an adequate gift."
Harry started feeling a tad uncomfortable. "That's not really necessary-" he began.
"But we insist!" Mirror said, to much nodding of the other Clow sprites, and it's pretty hard for a sword to nod, but Sword managed it. "Please? You've been such a good master to us, and we really want to show you how much we love you, and-"
If anything, Harry went redder at the L word, raising his hand to stall Mirror. "Okay, you guys can take the day off!" he said. "My gift to you. Just, please, don't let yourselves be seen, okay?"
Mirror squealed in happiness, hugging Harry. "Don't worry, we won't," she said.
Not knowing what else to do, Harry nodded, and turned to leave the room.
"Hey, get me something to eat, will ya!" Kero yelled.
"Yeah, sure!" Harry said, closing the door behind him cutting off a rising wave of talk.
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Fei yawned, stretching, before lying back on her bed with a contented look on her face. All was right with the world. She had the House practically to herself. True, there was another person left, a fifth year, but he wasn't going to bother her, and she had no intention of bothering him, so that was that.
After a few minutes of bumming around, she sighed and laboriously pulled herself off the mattress. Her sister had suggested she come home for the holidays, but she'd refused, stating that she didn't want to miss out in case a Clow Card showed up. Her aunt and cousin had both agreed with her reasoning, although the latter wished she'd gone home to them anyway.
Eyeing the pile of presents at the foot of her bed, she was very tempted to just rip them open and make a huge mess, just like she used to when she was younger and like her sister still did, but she restrained herself, instead opting for a quick shower. A very quick shower. She might not be as excitable as her sister in public, but now she was all alone in the dorm, all inhibitions go out the window!
When she'd redressed, she sat down on the carpeted floor and began to go through her presents.
Opening her sister's gift, her eyes went wide, before a wide grin spread across her face and she started bouncing around the room, squealing with joy and clutching the half-opened package to her chest gleefully. She'd been afraid she'd have to wait until the summer holidays before she could have it, but her sister, bless her, her sweet twin sister had sent it to her, even though the last time they'd talked about it had been a year ago!
Restraining the urge to just open it and start reading on the spot, food, other presents and the Clow Cards be damned, she gently put down the hardcover copy of Knife of Dreams on her bed, and looked for something else to open. Grabbing her cousin's gift, she looked at the much smaller box slightly in disappointment, before shrugging and opening it with as much fervor as before. Inside was a plain white box, which her touch and senses told her had been subtly enchanted. She paused another moment, before opening the box. A black leather case fell out. Opening it, she grinned. Inside was what was informally known as a Swiss Auror Knife. It was much like Muggle Swiss Army Knives, except it had magic features as well. This looked like one of the over-featured models, again similar to the Muggle versions. After opening it a couple of times, she determined it had the functions of a Put-Outer, knife, Omniscope (similar to Omnioculars), can opener, blowtorch, corkscrew, microscope, screwdriver, GPS map, pliers, the standard undo-any-knot-open-any-door features, hammer, and grappling hook. Also in the case was a ruler that also had compass, thermometer and poison-tester features.
After a quick happy dance, Fei set the knife aside to keep herself from using it's features on anything she could get her hands on. Her cousin really knew her.
Her aunt had sent her, to her surprise, a box containing the latest volumes of the manga she'd been following, as well as American comic books, a hardbound sheaf of papers that she saw contained printouts of the fanfics she'd been following, and various sweets, chocolates and preserved fruits. This time she was careful to put the box on the bed before doing a happy dance.
When she reached the bottom of her pile, she blinked. There was a small box she hadn't been expecting. Picking it up, she looked at the card and immediately flushed red. It was from Winter.
Reverently, she read the card, which contained a short greeting, before she hesitantly opened the packaging, carefully pealing back the tape to keep from ripping the paper. Inside was a small box. Opening it, her eyes widened.
It was a locket pendant, with an imprint of a Sharingan on one side and a curse seal on the other. She opened it, and didn't know whether to smile or frown. Each half of the pendant held a picture, which was the source of her indecision. One side was a smiling, Muggle picture of Winter. And on the other side was a picture of Potter. Written on the upper edges of both haves and continuing into each other were the words "Harry, Fei and Winter: Friends Forever."
After a moment, she closed the locket with a snap. Oh well, it was still a present from Winter…
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Harry, too, had received such a pendant from Winter, and although his reaction was just as mixed, the end result was also the same: it was a gift from Winter.
When Harry, Ron and Hermione went downstairs for lunch, Harry had felt the Clow Cards had gone from the room he'd left them in. Taking a moment to wonder where they were and hope they weren't getting into trouble, Harry put them out of his mind.
When they opened the door to the Great Hall, there was an excited squeal, and silver suddenly filled Harry's vision, and strawberries filled his nose. A warmth suddenly enfolded Harry, and he heard his blood pounding in his ears.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS, HARRY!" Winter said, kissing him on both cheeks in rapid succession. Harry tried valiantly not to turn red, and mostly succeeded. He could tell that Ron and Hermione were snickering. He suddenly realized that nearly the whole current population of Hogwarts- that is, the Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout and Flitwick, Filch, two first years and a fifth year- were watching them. The Slytherin fifth-year was smirking, while the two firsts were blushing or disgusted at the public display of affection, it was hard to tell which.
Winter was still clamped on to his neck, and looked willing to stay there for a while- Harry didn't mind too much- when a voice behind them said, "Move, you're blocking traffic. And get a room you two, there are children watching."
A squeal exploded in Harry's left ear, causing him to lose his hearing in that organ temporarily as Winter unlatched herself and ran around him. Dazed, his sense of balance tampered with, Harry almost fell if Ron hadn't caught him.
Lee, meanwhile, was also getting the Winter treatment as she was tackled around the neck. She stiffened as Winter kissed her as well, turning red. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, LEE!"
When Winter finally let go of Lee, who was pretty red- from embarrassment or anger, it was assumed- she cheerfully dragged her and Harry, with Ron and Hermione- still smirking- trailing behind, over to the single table that had been set up. Somehow, Harry ended up sitting on one side of Winter, with Lee sitting in the other. Ron and Hermione were sitting beside him, trying to adapt innocent looks.
"Crackers!" said Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering one to Snape, which promptly turned into a witch's hat with a stuffed vulture. Those who remembered the Boggart grinned.
"Tuck in!" Dumbledore said after he'd exchanged the hat for his usual one.
After Professor Trelawney arrived, looking like an overgrown dragonfly in her green dress, things proceeded normally.
For the sake of the girl sitting between them, Harry and Lee somehow managed to converse politely, much to the astonishment of those around them, with the sole exception of Winter, who still didn't get it. Granted, they only talked in response to Winter's questions, but better than nothing.
Almost two hours later, Harry suddenly found himself walking out to the Entrance Hall with the two girls. Ron had excused himself, a mischievous smile on his face as he'd wished Harry a merry Christmas, citing in passing that there were a lot of mistletoe around. Hermione had stayed to talk to Professor McGonagall about something or other, but she'd had the same look on her face as well. The others all looked like they were wondering when the explosion would happen. Harry hated to have to disappoint them.
Winter apparently didn't want to have to go back to her dorm since she was the only one there, and Harry and Lee really couldn't bring her to their respective common rooms, so they pretty much just bummed around the castle, Winter talking up a storm and Harry and Lee tagging along in her wake…
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Somewhere in the castle, a sprig of mistletoe suddenly burst into flames…
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"Hey, look!" Winter said, pointing right above Harry and Lee. "Mistletoe!"
Harry and Lee jumped apart as if told the other was a soulsucking monster that could kill with a touch, both looking upwards, panicked. There was nothing there.
Winter, meanwhile, was cracking up, wiping tears from her eyes as the two leveled halfhearted glares at her. "Oh, you guys are so easy!"
Fei sighed, shaking her head. What was with this girl? "Moon, if you keep doing things like that, you'll be out of friends in no time," she said, annoyed.
She'd meant it as a joke, but the effect on Winter was startling. The girl stiffened, and a wide-eyed look came over her, as if she'd been told she only had fifteen seconds to live. She began to shake. "Oh. I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"
Fei blinked, unconsciously exchanging looks with Potter, who shrugged helplessly. "Moon? Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah!" she said, a little louder than was believable. "I'm fine! This is nothing!"
The two exchanged glances again as Winter wiped her face one last time with a lot more vigor than strictly necessary, moving a little ways off from them.
Finally, hesitantly, Harry said, "Winter? Winter, Lee didn't mean it like that." Delicately, he placed a hand on her shoulder and felt tremors travel through his hand.
"Yeah, Moon," Lee said, moving closer, and unconsciously standing side to side with Harry. "It was just a joke. Just that. A joke."
Winter trembled again. Suddenly, without warning, she wrapped her arms around the both of them, shaking silently as tears flowed slowly down her eyes. The now completely out of their depth, the two could only pat her on the back as she held them close. Finally, after a while, the shaking slowed, then stopped.
"I'm sorry," they heard her say, her words muffled by the fact her face was buried in their shoulders.
"Sorry for what?" Harry said quietly as he gently stroked her hair.
"For doing things like that," Winter answered, shaking again for a moment, before subsiding.
"Moon, it's alright," Fei said. "It was just a joke. We won't stop being your friends because of a little thing like that."
Winter finally pulled her face off their shoulders, her eyes glistening as she regarded them, reminding Harry of a child who wanted to know the boogey man wouldn't really come for her if she was naughty. "You won't?"
"Of course not," Harry said. "If friends broke up because of little things like that, Ron and Hermione wouldn't have anything to do with each other. And I can't imagine anyone, me especially, not being friends with you."
"Although could you kind of cut down on doing things like that?" Fei said. "I gets pretty repetitive after a while. I'd hate to think my friend doesn't have any originality."
"Same here," Harry said, and finally, Winter giggled, muttering something that sounded like 'thanks guys' into their shoulders.
For a long moment, the three of them just stood there, neither Harry or Fei caring that their persons were in physical contact, thinking only of the little girl between them that they both realized must be very lonely sometimes. It made them question how much they really knew about her.
Finally, Winter pulled her head from their shoulders one last time, smiling wanly at them. "Thanks guys."
Harry smiled. "No problem. What are friends for?"
Winter chuckled at that. "Hey, look," she said, pointing up. "Mistletoe."
The other two looked up. Yup, it was mistletoe, alright.
"Hmmm…" Harry said.
"Hmmm…" Fei echoed.
"This puts us in a very interesting dilemma," Winter commented as they just stood there. "There are three of us. Who kisses who?"
At this, the other two stiffened, blushing as the implications of Winter's statement sank in. "Um…"
Winter giggled, starting to sound like her usual self. "Tell you guys what. There are three ways to go. Let's just do all of them."
At this, the two blushed even more.
Winter's giggle got worse. She turned to Fei, smiling widely, a mischievous light dancing in her eye. "Ladies first…"
Fei didn't have time to protest- not that she would have- before she was suddenly lip to lip with a silver-haired Ravenclaw. Her eyes went wide, before clenching shut and she tilted her head subtly to one side…
Harry was in a very uncomfortable and confusing position most males his age and older would probably kill for. To sum it up, he was currently involved in a three-way hug with two girls, one of which was his crush and the other a not-bad-looking specimen of female puberty (although he'd rather die than admit that), watching from a scant twelve inches as the two said girls kissed, knowing fully well he was next…
Yup, he was currently uncomfortable. Although an older person would likely say it was in a good way.
Harry currently lacked the experience to make that distinction. Good for him.
When Winter finally pulled herself off of Fei, both Harry and the Slytherin girl were beet red, for very similar reasons. Both could vaguely tell another "We shall never talk about this ever again" brewing or already brewed.
Deep inside him, however, somewhere that rarely saw the light of day, in a place that looked like an excessively damp room where water dripped constantly, behind an enormous iron door with large yellow tape bearing the words "police line, do not cross", enormous warding ofuda, and guarded by two enormous buxom amazons with gunblades and whips, something dark stirred. It was a suspicion, born of a formless tickling at the back of his head and given life by the dazed look on Lee's face, a suspicion that was taking a slightly greenish-red hue…
"Your turn…" Winter said mischievously, with none of the breathlessness Lee was currently exhibiting, and the room and its contents were instantly forgotten.
Harry instinctively pulled his head back a teeny-tiny bit (to much protest from the rest of his body, resulting in a riot that got the motor cell doing the operating fired), but Winter would have none of it. It seemed that way, anyway. Her hand wrapped around his neck and grasped the back of his head, holding him in place. Oh, well, he really didn't want to escape any way…
They broke apart a few moments later- or maybe it was several minutes- a week, perhaps- or possibly several dozen years- Harry wasn't really sure. A white fog seemed to envelope his mind, and he really didn't feel like thinking. He head a giggle faintly in the distance, and thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
He didn't register what was said next.
"Okay, now you two kiss…"
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In a lonely stair landing somewhere in Hogwarts, a bit of carpet started to smolder…
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Harry woke up from his daze to find himself a corridor or two away from the Gryffindor common room. What happened after the kiss with Winter- and a few things regarding it, he was annoyed to find- were a big blur, although he remembered a feeling of supreme disgust shortly afterwards, followed by a highly perverted bliss and extremely loathing sense of pleasure.
Try as he might, he couldn't get the memory of what happened to the forefront of his mind, although he had a flash of memory involving mistletoe…
"Master Harry?" a voice behind him said timidly, and Harry jumped in surprise, wondering how the heck someone had managed to sneak up on him like that. He must have been in deeper thought than he realized.
Behind him, Mirror started as well, and Harry relaxed, smiling placatingly at the surprised Clow Card girl. "Sorry, Mirror, you kind of surprised me there. What is it?"
Mirror recovered quickly, and broke into a dazzling smile, one that once more made Harry wonder how she managed to do that with his face. She held up a small box beautifully wrapped in what looked like gold-colored foil covered in flame patterns. "Merry Christmas, Master Harry!"
Blinking, Harry took the package from the girl hesitantly, looking at it dumbly for a moment before shifting his gaze towards Mirror. "I-I don't know what to say…"
Mirror smiled. "As long as you're happy, Master Harry, then words aren't necessary," she said, hugging him. Pulling back, she reached into her copy of his robes, pulling out the other Cards. "We all got together and made it, although it was difficult since we weren't at full power. Earthy took the brunt of it, pulling up gold and silver from the ground the way she did."
Harry stared down at the present, realizing it wasn't gold-colored foil, but actually gold.
Harry suddenly felt lips pressing against his own as something was stuffed into an inner pocket of his robes, and he blinked as Mirror moaned at the back of her throat. Drawing back, she nuzzled the side of his neck before kissing him again as she dissolved back into a Card.
Plucking her Card out of the air by instinct, Harry thought to look up. Directly above his head was another sprig of mistletoe. Ron was right: the weeds were everywhere!
Realizing he still held the Cards' present in his hands, Harry began to open it gingerly, undoing the foil so it stayed in one piece and as unwrinkled as possible. Flattening it against the ground, he found himself looking at a beautiful flame carved piece. Turning towards the present itself, he stared in wonder, wondering just how far the Cards had gone to make him a present.
It was a gold and silver box, decorated with small rubies on all sides. A small key-like crank was sticking out the side, indicating it was a music box. Finding a hinge on the top, Harry opened it delicately. The scent of flowers met his nose, a pleasant, heady smell that reminded Harry of a garden. A soft glow emanated from inside, where four crystals- diamonds?- glowed in the corners of the box. In the center was a large, slightly convex, clear crystal. Hesitantly, Harry wound the crank.
A soft voice began to sing, one Harry recognized as The Wood's, and on top of the crystal, a ghostly apparition of her appeared, singing in a voice that brought to mind lush virgin forests untouched by man. The lights on the corners of the box pulsed and shifted, changing color with the tune, hinting of the forests themselves.
When her song finished some time later, a song seemingly without words that spoke of love, appreciation, loyalty, and a host of other things, the ghostly image faded away. Hesitantly, Harry turned the crank again.
This time it was it was Dash whose image appeared, singing a song that was truly wordlessly, yet spoke of steadfastness and wide open fields of dreams. The colors of the lights shifted as well, seeming to show Harry those fields, or at least a glimpse of them.
When the second song ended, Harry hesitantly closed the music box, tears coming to his eyes. He felt as if nothing could spoil his mood as he slowly made his way to the Gryffindor common room…
Unfortunately, something would.
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In the empty Teacher's Lounge, a flame suddenly appeared in the fireplace…
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The next day, Harry stalked around Hogwarts in something of a rage. If this sounds a little out of character, well, you would too if one of your friends managed to get one of your best Christmas presents taken away to be stripped down!
To make matters worse, that morning he'd finally been able to recall some of the things that had happened between meeting up with Mirror and kissing Winter (at this, he nearly stumbles, his face going red enough to do a traffic light proud). He'd dry retched in the bathroom, and was very tempted to use Scourgify on his mouth as if that would undo what had happened.
"Potter!"
Speak of the devil…
Composing his features, Harry turned and looked at Lee, who for once wasn't wearing her school uniform. Instead, she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a blue shirt, with a hitae-ate on her forehead. Harry would have gambled a hundred Galleons that there was an Uchiha fan on the back.
"Nice outfit," was all he said.
She raised an eyebrow, and seemed to think a moment before acknowledging his comment with a nod, before grimacing such that it was obvious it was not meant as a response to his statement. "You finally remember what happened yesterday?"
Harry made sure to keep his face very smooth. "Nothing happened yesterday that needs to be discussed. Ever."
There was a wry twist in Lee's mouth at that. "Agreed. Nothing happened."
"Absolutely nothing," Harry confirmed.
"Nothing at all."
"I wouldn't know what someone would mean if it came up."
"Because absolutely nothing happened yesterday."
"And it's not possible to discuss something that never happened."
The two nodded to each other, having come to a more-or-less official agreement.
"You realize that's the longest we've spoken civilly to each other without Winter anywhere near us," Harry said.
Lee blinked. "Really? Who would have thought."
There was a vaguely uncomfortable silence. A strange, shaky, unspoken truce seemed to have been declared, and Harry for one didn't want to be the one accused of breaking it. Harry suddenly became very conscious of the weight in his other pocket, the one where he wasn't carrying his Clow Cards. It seemed to burn there, as if reminding him…
"Hey, remember what happened that night after The Through Card?" Harry suddenly blurted out.
At this, Lee's eyes narrow. "What about it?" she said rather testily, and Harry could almost hear the truce starting to crack.
Deciding that as therapeutic as it would be, he really wasn't in the mood for a fight, Harry grit his teeth and decided not to bring it up any more than he already had, knowing it was something of a sore point between the two of them. "I'm sorry for tripping like that and… what happened next. It wasn't intentional. I'd just wanted to say 'thank you' and, well, that wasn't the way I wanted to do it, so I'm sorry."
Hmm, all that and not one choke, growl, look of disgust or insincere tone. Where was his Academy Award?
Lee looked at him strangely, and Harry, although a self-proclaimed expert at what she was usually thinking (she was his nemesis, after all, beating even Snape and Malfoy to the top spot, although if Voldemort ever became an active participant, she'd probably get bumped down to number two), was at a complete lost to interpret her facial expression. Her head being tilted to one side indicated she was studying him, but other than that…
Finally, she spoke. "I'm sorry too. I over-reacted to what was clearly an accident."
Not one choke, growl, look of disgust or insincere tone. Looks like he wasn't the only one who deserved an Academy Award.
Reaching into his pocket, Harry pulled out a box wrapped in plain white paper, tied with a simple red ribbon obviously knotted by a girl, going by the way it looked a bit too artistic. "Here. It's a belated 'thank you' and 'sorry'. Merry Christmas. Fate must be working on overdrive: it'll go with your outfit."
Blinking at this curious statement, Lee's eyes widened as she hesitantly accepted the gift. Truth be told, Harry had asked Winter's help with it, keeping the inquisitive girl in the dark about who it was for, but he didn't think he'd been too successful. The Ravenclaw had had a few too many knowing looks for comfort.
Undoing the ribbon, Lee carefully unwrapped the paper, watching him out of the corner of her eye for tricks. He really couldn't blame her.
Finally, the package was unwrapped, and Lee gingerly opened the box, as if expecting a curse to go off any moment. She stared at the contents, looking alternately between Harry and the gift.
"Are you sure you gave me the right box?" she said, sounding amazed.
Wordlessly, Harry nodded, biting his lip. Vaguely, a part of him whispered this was the first time he'd ever watched a girl open a present he'd given her. Somehow, it sounded like a milestone. Or a mark on his grave.
Lee unfolded the contents of the box, which turned out to be a pair of white, hose-shaped pieces of leather with blue belts at either end, unmistakably similar to the ones a certain Uchiha Sasuke wore. "How did you know I didn't have these?" she said, sounding indifferent, but Harry knew her too well, hearing the slight tremor that gave her away.
"I didn't," he said, "but I guessed it would be something you liked. You were accessories all the time, after all."
Frowning at him lopsidedly, still looking unsure, Lee hesitantly put them on, belting them at the wrist and elbow. He was right: it did go with her outfit. "It's great. Thanks," she said, and left it at that.
Harry shrugged. That had been more than he'd been expecting, really. "You're welcome," and left it at that as well.
The silence that followed was still uncomfortable, but comfortably so. It was the comfort of being in the same room as a dangerous animal, and knowing you wouldn't be attacked just yet.
"That Winter is crazy," Harry suddenly said out of the blue, and was suddenly afraid he'd breached the truce. Where had that come from?
Lee's eyes narrowed for a moment, gauging what he'd said. Apparently, it was passable. "Moon's Moon," Lee said casually, as if that explained it. And to a certain degree, it did. "Besides, she has good ideas sometimes," she added, a strangely wistful look on her face.
The formless tickling at the back of his head came back, and somehow made it out of his mouth. "Lee, do you like Winter?"
There was an uncomfortable silence as the animal bared it's fangs and licked it's teeth…
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In an empty corridor, empty even of paintings, a flame began to burn in the center of the stone floor. The flame began to grow, spreading across the width of the passage…
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Harry and Lee's heads snapped towards the same direction at the same instant, and Harry was never more glad for a Clow Card appearance. He was running before he knew it, Lee at his heels. His hand reached up to his neck as he released his wand.
The two passed a corridor, ran to the end of the hall and turned, and were instantly confronted by an inferno.
The entire corridor seemed to be on fire, the flames roaring like a living thing as it seemed to burn from out of nothing, spreading out to carpet the floor, causing the walls and ceiling to go black with soot. In the center of this conflagration stood what was obviously the Clow Card responsible. It was apparently naked, with orange-reddish skin with long, pointed ears. It had air like fire and wings that were flame itself. Like Windy, it didn't seem to have legs, merely more flame. Harry didn't need to be told who this was. It was obvious. The Firey Card. It looked at them arrogantly, its arms crossed, as if daring them to do anything.
Well, both were always up for a good dare…
"Expelliarmus! " Harry said, casting the bolt of magic at him, but the Clow Card dodged, and the flames grew higher, forcing the two of them back.
"Any more bright ideas, Potter?" Lee said scathingly, and Harry knew the truce was over.
"I could tie him up with wind-" Harry began.
"Do that and you'll just make the flames bigger," Lee interrupted. "Don't you know anything?"
Before he could retort, both felt something their way and dodged in opposite directions as well as they could in the narrow confines of the corridor. Harry was able to dodge his fireball. Lee didn't seem as lucky.
"SHIELD CARD!" he heard her yell.
But it looked like she was fine.
In fact, she looked more than fine. She was looking at the bubble she was in with a calculating look in her eyes. Said eyes darted towards the Clow Card. She started walking towards him, unmindful of the flames. Harry unconsciously held his breath.
She passed through the wall of fire, which parted before her bubble. Harry saw her face break into a feral grin before she ran deeper into the inferno, and Harry's view was blocked as the flames roared higher, forcing him to step back as well.
He dimly heard shouting inside of sea of orange, then there was a cry of "Stupefy!" followed by a pained cry, and then "Aguamenti!"
There was a loud hissing sound, followed by another cry and suddenly the flames were gone, leaving not even a hint of heat on the floor and walls, although soot remained. In what had been the center of the blaze, Lee was pointing her sword at The Firey Card, keeping him under a constant stream of water. She was still under her shield. Steam surrounded them as she kept the Card under. Said Card still seemed to be suffering from the effects of the Stunner, although he was semi-conscious.
"Filch isn't going to like this mess," Harry commented as he walked towards them.
"His problem," Lee snapped back. "Hurry up and Seal him already, Potter!"
Glaring at her, Harry raised the Sealing Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor and I order you to return to you true form! FIREY CARD!"
It trembled before dissolving into multiple streams of orange magic. Lee's stream of water stopped as the magic converged beneath the head of Harry's wand, turning into a Card.
Harry half-heartedly tried to reach for it, but missed, as he knew he would. The Card was plucked out of the air by Lee, who'd finally let the shield drop.
"I don't suppose you'll let me have that as a late Christmas gift, would you?" Harry said dryly.
Lee arched her eyebrow at him, but replied in the same tone. "In you dreams, Potter. Finders keepers."
Harry sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot."
Lee's lip twisted wryly, and looked about to retort when her eyes suddenly narrowed, her head tilted to one side as if listening. Blinking at the abruptness, Harry listened as well. There was a faint scratching sound, and it seemed to come from…
Extending his senses in that direction, a cold shiver went up and down Harry's spine as he felt a presence. Exchanging shocked looks with Lee, the two rushed back as silently and as quickly as they could to the corner they'd just turned a few minutes ago, Sealing Wand and sword in hand. Coming to it, they rounded the corner quickly and were greeted with a shocked exclamation, followed by a THUD. The two stared in shock at the sight before them.
Lying fallen on her rear around the corner, and suddenly looking like a deer caught in the headlights, a clipboard on the ground next to her and a pen in hand, was Winter.
Winter gulped. "There's a perfectly good explanation for this, I assure you..."
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- To be continued...
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A/N: Ooh! Winter's in trouble...
The return of Mass Release. It makes Clow Cards manifest physical forms, but not at full power, so that Clow, and now Harry, wouldn't be magic drained to death.
I'm a Wheel of Time fan, and now, so is Fei X3
Not everyone can be as Muggle-ignorant as British Wizards. And I like the features of the knife…
Many thanks to my reviewers! Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties on my end, I can't name you all. Sorry.
Please review, C&C welcome. The more reviews, the better. Please? As a Christmas present for me?
Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off. Merry Christmas, everyone!