CHAPTER 12 - IT'S ALL IN THE PRESENT


Harry awoke suddenly on Christmas morning. He sat up suddenly trying to figure out what woke him, he looked over at Ron who had already opened a few of his presents.
"Morning Harry, I just threw your present on to your bed. I opened yours and remembered. Merry Christmas and thanks for the new chess set!" Ron said brightly
Harry sat up, rubbed his eyes and out his glasses on. He saw a decent sized pile of presents at the end of his bed and begun eagerly opening them. The first present he opened was from the Dursley's. It was a blank diary.
'How odd' thought Harry. He felt his way through the pile until he found his present from Mr and Mrs Weasley. His hand knitted jumper this year was a plain grey one with the words 'Thank You' stitched onto the hem on the left side in black thread. The present also held a numerous amount of potion, food and drinks supplies for Harry's satchel. Harry noticed Ron had gone terribly quiet. Harry looked up to see what was wrong.
"Are you alright over there Ron?"
"What, oh yeah, I'm fine." Ron said quietly. Harry noticed a slight red tinge in Ron's cheeks.
"Whose present did you just open?" Harry asked, although he had a sneaking suspicion
"Hermione's."
Harry's suspicion's were right.
"What did she give you?" Harry asked innocently. There was silence for a short while. Harry got the impression that Ron was deciding whether or not to tell Harry the truth.
"She gave me a framed photo of herself, a hand written book called 'The stupid things girls do around guys they like.' And and, yea."
Harry shuffled through his presents until he found soft rectangular parcel from Hermione and opened it.
"Ha, I got the survival guide too. Hey, you never know, it might come in handy!"
Ron was still very quiet
"What else did she give you Ron?"
"A, a note telling me that my birthday present will be even better. Anyway, ahh, mum and dads present. Ohh its maroon again, oh well, mmmm, fruit tarts, yum." Ron said taking a bite out of one.
"Thanks for the 'Updated Book of Quidditch' Ron, it looks great." Harry thanked Ron.
Ron uttered a reply, but Harry was unable to understand him due to the fact his mouth was full of fruit tart.

Harry and Ron finished opening their presents, put their new jumpers on and made their way down for breakfast. The kitchen table was already full of people; Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, George, Neville, his grandmother Augusta, Luna, Ginny and Hermione. Harry noticed that Fleur was wearing a Weasley jumper this year.
"Merry Christmas everyone!" Harry and Ron greeted them
Dobby and Winky appeared at there side, took their hands, sat them down at the table and passed them each a hot cup of tea.
"Hmm good service, thanks you 2." Ron said
"Hey Harry, I haven't seen your relatives since I've been here." Neville said
"Ha, be glad you haven't, they don't like magic. They are probably upstairs watching my cousin unwrap his 50 presents." Harry told them all
"He sounds quite spoilt. Is he large?" Luna asked dreamily, displaying her knack for uncomfortable truths. Ron laughed just as he took a sip of tea, and it all came out his nose. Dobby came over, cleaned it up and gave him fresh tea. Ron thanked Dobby.
"Yea, he is spoilt and is, well, large. That's a nice way of putting it!" Harry said
After everyone else had come down for breakfast, except the Dursley's, Fleur told everyone to come up to the forest. They all stood outside the door.
"Zees iz my present to all of you. Merry Chrestmas." Fleur said as she opened the door. Everyone stood frozen to there spot in amazment. Fleur had charmed the room to triple in size so it did actually look like a forest. The ceiling had been enchanted to act like the sky outside and it was snowing heavily in there.
"Fleur this is amazing. Thank you." Mrs Weasley told her
"Tsank you. I felt sorry about ze trouble wiz your houze and zis houze has no outside, so I emproved zee outside we had." Fleur said brightly
"Fleur, that's really good magic, thank you!" Hermione said. Harry looked at her, this was the first nice thing Hermione had said about Fleur out loud
"What? It is." Hermione said defensively to Harry's questioning look

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Luna, Fred, George and Charlie played in the snow all morning until there fingers were frozen and they could not feel their nose's any longer. Before they had started playing Hermione had created a fire just outside the door, so when they all left the forest they were greeted by a warm flame.
"Ah, I wonder when Christmas dinner will be ready I'm starving." Ron said, and right on cue his stomach gave a loud rumble in agreement.
"I'm just going to change my top, the sleeves are soaked." Harry told the others and went downstairs to the bedroom him and Ron still shared. As he was leaning over his trunk in search of a new sweater he was over come by excruciating pain. He felt his knees hit the floor and he closed his eyes. When Harry opened them again he was looking out of Voldemort's and into Bellatrix Lestrange's.
"What is this?" Voldemort spat
"A present your Lord." Bellatrix replied
"Yes, I know it is a present, do not play me for the fool. What is it?"
"If you open it, you will know."
"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed and Bellatrix dropped to the floor and twitched, withered and screamed
"Do not test my patience any longer." Voldemort hissed as he removed the curse
"It is Christmas sir, and so I bought you a present." Bellatrix said "It is simply a large bottle of Felix Felicis." She quickly added as she saw Voldemort slowly start to raise his wand again.
"And why would I need liquid luck?" he asked, keeping his wand raised
"My Lord, I do not mean it as an insult, just as a... precautionary." Bellatrix said and she bowed herself out of the room.
Voldemort did nothing for a minute, then Harry could feel the alarm rushing through him. He felt his own hand lift up and rub the back of his head, then all of a sudden Harry was pushed back across the room. Upon opening his eyes, Harry saw he was back in his room. He quickly changed his top and made his way upstairs to the living room.

Ron and Hermione were sitting close to the mistletoe watching Luna and Neville play chess, Luna was winning. Fred and George were entertaining Ginny with new products. Neville looked up from the game when Harry walked into the room.
"Are you alright Harry? You look really white." he asked
"Yeah, I'm fine, it must be from the snow." Harry answered quickly and walked over to Ron and Hermione. Sitting between them he said quietly
"It happened again, I'll explain properly tonight."
Hermione and Ron nodded. CRACK! Winky appeared in the middle of the room
"Could everyone please come down to the kitchen. Your meal is ready!" She said excitedly in her high pitched voice. CRACK! Winky disappeared again. They all stood up and made their way down to the kitchen. Dobby was greeting people and showing them to there seats and Winky was putting the last platters on the table. Harry looked around and saw that Kreacher was frozen in the corner. As Dobby took Harry's hand and led him to his seat next to Ginny Harry asked Dobby
"What happened to Kreacher?"
"We are sorry Harry Potter sirs, Kreacher was making more trouble then help, so I used my own magic and froze him and put him in the corner until we had finished. I hopes I did nothing wrong sirs."
Harry just laughed
"That is perfectly fine Dobby. Dinner looks excellent thank you."
Everybody had seated and had started eating the spectacular feast Dobby and Winky had prepared. The Dursley's were sitting together at one end of the table. Dudley still looked sour. Last night he had had a tantrum because Aunt Petunia had told him that they wouldn't be going back to Privet Drive and would be living at Grimmauld Place until it was safe to go back home. Winky had also screamed with fright when she had seen Dudley, she even asked him what he was. Aunt Petunia and Augusta Longbottom were talking about something Harry could not hear. Fleur was taking great interest in what Luna and her father had to say about Heliopaths. Bill, Charlie, Mr Weasley and Ginny were talking about the next quidditch world cup which was to take place in Spain next year. Fred and George were telling Mrs Weasley about a new line of cosmetics for the new age witch. Ron and Hermione weren't talking to any one, but Harry could see Ron's hand on Hermione's thigh. Harry started talking to Neville
"Are you and your Grandma going to visit your parents today?"
"Yup, we are going after the meal. Dobby said he would prepare some food for them so they don't miss out." Neville replied. Harry could tell he felt a lot more comfortable talking about his parents. Dobby walked past with an empty jug of Pumpkin juice.
"Dobby. Why don't you and Winky join us?" Harry suggested
Dobby dropped the empty jug causing everyone at the table to stop what they were talking about and looked around.
"You are such a kind person Harry Potter. No one has ever asked Dobby or Winky to sit and eat with them. You are an honourable person Harry Potter." Dobby said with tears in his eyes. Charlie conjured up 2 extra plates in mid air and placed them on the table in between himself and Harry. He also conjured up 2 extra chairs. Harry picked up Dobby and Winky and sat them down at the table and with Charlie's help filled up their plates with food. Dobby and Winky both sat there with tears in their eyes, but didn't start eating. Eventually Harry said
"I order you both to eat, enjoy yourselves and be happy."
"Thank you Harry Potter sirs." They replied in unison and their faces lit up and begun eating. The table conversation began as normal.

After dinner Neville and his Grandmother went to St. Mungos to visit Neville mum and dad. Ron and Hermione mysteriously disappeared. Harry didn't really feel like been with anyone so he wandered off by himself. He ended up in Sirius' room and was overcome with emotion. Harry felt tired, he was liking not been inside Voldemort's thoughts but now its happening all over again. He felt saddened by the fact that he was living back in Grimmauld Place, the place Sirius hated and despised. He missed Hogwarts and the strange happenings that went on. He sorely missed his dead headmaster Albus Dumbledore and knew that Hogwarts would never have the same warm feeling again.
'McGonagall is an excellent teacher and is probably just as good a headmistress, but she is so much more strict and stern then Dumbledore.' he thought to himself.
Harry had made sure nothing was changed about Sirius room, he occasionally liked to come up here to think, it usually involved the prophecy, or his feelings for Ginny. He really liked her, he had never liked some one as much as he liked Ginny, but he didn't want to see her get hurt. Harry was sure that Rowena Ravenclaw's flute was a horocrux, Hermione said she felt stranger then usual outside that portrait and Ron's watch had started spinning faster. Harry knew the only way to get to it was to ask Ginny, but still, Harry didn't want to see her get hurt. He interrupted his own thoughts and wiped away his tears. Harry picked up Sirius photo album and slowly looked through it. Sirius looked so happy, especially when he was with Lupin and Harry's dad. Near the back of the album were photos of Harry; Harry as a baby with his parents, Harry as a baby with Sirius, Harry during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Sirius must have asked someone to take photos of him. Someone knocked lightly on the closed bedroom door. Harry quickly wiped his face again as Ginny and Luna walked in.
"Ah Harry, lets go down stairs and try and find a living room with a fire on." Ginny said
"OK." Harry replied and led the girls out of the room.

They found a spare living room on the 4th floor. Harry had never used it before, but it looked the same as every other living room in the house. Green carpet, green curtains, a snake chandelier and was very gloomy. As Luna lit the fire and Harry cleaned the dark couches and arm chairs Ginny said
"Ha, we just walked in on Ron and Hermione snogging under the mistletoe. Ron went red and told us to 'Piss off'. Poor Hermione, but she has wanted to be with him since you guys were in 3rd year."
Harry laughed along with them, then sat there silently only vaguely listening to Ginny and Luna talk
"Hey Harry." Neville greeted him
"Hey Neville. How was the visit?" Harry said attempting to sound cheerful
"Oh yeah, the same as usual." Neville replied trying to sound as calm as possible
Harry was saved from answering when a very happy Ron and Hermione walked in
"Ah, so this is where you guys are hiding out." Hermione said sitting down next to Ginny, Ron sat down next to Harry and looked at him
"Right mate, its about time you told us all what was wrong."
Everyone in the room looked at Harry. Harry looked at his knees. He waited a few minutes before opening his mouth to talk.
"OK, Neville. Luna. Voldemort was using Occlumency against me so I couldn't see inside his head any more, but a week before Christmas he was really angry and I was napping. I was inside his head. Someone is resisting a curse which Malfoy is controlling and they have had to subdue this someone with a potion that Snape made. Before when I was changing my jumper I had another vision. Bellatrix was trying to give Voldemort a Christmas present but he did not want it. It turns out the present is Felix Felicis. When Bellatrix left the room Voldemort realised I was in his head and used Occlumency against me and I was thrown across the room."
Hermione gasped and Neville looked very white.
"And there is one more thing which Ron, Hermione and I need to let you 3 know," Harry began as Ron and Hermione shot Harry a questioning look which Harry ignored
"You know the Grey Lady ghost, that's Rowena Ravenclaw's sister, Finola. I'm not meant to be telling you this but I think it is important that you know." Harry told them
"I knew that, I often sit and talk with her at night. She is very interesting." Luna said vaguely, Harry looked at her with surprise
"Well anyway, she is Ravenclaw's sister and she helped us find the only remaining artefact of Rowena Ravenclaw. Its in a trick room behind the painting on the 6th floor. Ron, Hermione and I need it for something which we cant really tell you about yet. But, we need your help. You can only get in through the painting if you are a teacher or student of Hogwarts. Since we haven't been at school all year I suppose we aren't students any more. It'll be dangerous, but we need your help." Harry explained
Ginny looked excited and Luna didn't look so vague anymore. Neville looked kind of sweaty, but replied all the same
"Of course Harry. We'll help. So, how do we get through the painting?"