Chapter 9:

Christmas Day and New Year's Day seemed to fly by for Christine and Harry as they spent their favorite holidays together at the Davet house. Christine had a smile on her face all through the season and she couldn't remember laughing harder. Her family loved Harry and as far as she could tell, Harry loved being with her family.

The trip soon ended and it was time for Christine and Harry to return to Hogwarts for the final term. Christine's family took the pair back to King's Cross Station and bid them goodbye from the platform.

"Thank you very much Mrs. Davet. This is the best Christmas I've ever had," Harry smiled gratefully.

"You're very welcome Harry. It was nice having you with us. I hope you'll come back with Christine over summer," she answered as she gave him a hug.

"Thank you, goodbye." Harry walked up and into the train as Christine finished saying her goodbyes.

They found a compartment near the back of the train and were shortly met by Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville. The group was lively on the journey as they all talked and laughed about what they had done over Christmas.

"Mum and Dad took me skiing for Christmas and surprised me by bringing Ron up with us," Hermione said with a dreamy far off look in her eyes. "It was so much fun."

"Yeah, it was fun all right. I think I prefer brooms to the way muggles fly," Ron explained to the group. "There were a couple of times I thought I was going down."

"Ron, do you mean to tell me that you flew on a plane? Oh, I would have paid good money to see that," Harry joked. Everyone laughed, even Ron, but the fun was cut short as the whistle of the Hogwarts Express sounded through Hogsmeade station.

"I can't believe how cold it has been this year. I don't think it's stopped snowing since Halloween," Christine shivered as they made their way towards the carriages. The Gryffindors soon found themselves marching up to their tower and were greeted by the smell of gingerbread and peppermint. The tables were full of leftover cookies from Christmas, and the fires were blazing in the grates.

"Home sweet home," Harry whispered into Christine's ear with a smile. She just sighed and walked up the stairs to her room to unpack. She was back downstairs with a book and in her favorite armchair by the time the rest of the group had left the common room.

"Christine!" called Parvati from the portrait hole as she lugged her trunk behind her.

"Hey, do you want some help?" Christine asked as she got up to help her friend.

"That would be great thanks. So how was your holiday?"

"Oh it was fun,my parents got on well with Harry and the ball was awesome," Christine explained as she helped Parvati bring her things up to the girls dormitory.

"Ball? What ball are you talking about?" Parvati asked with a mischievious glint in her eye. Christine explained about the ball and it's tradition, while Parvati's eyes got bigger and bigger and her mouth began to water.

"How was yours?" Chrstine asked when she had finished.

"It was ok. We had one little problem though," Parvati continued.

"Problem? What do you mean?"

"Well, we found out that one of my uncle's co-workers is a Death Eater and he showed up to our Christmas celebrations. Nobody was hurt, but he sure scared all of us. He yelled something about "rivers curled and snow unwhirled" before he Apparated. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No, no why?" Christine questioned hesitantly.

"I don't know. I thought since Harry has to fight You-Know-Who, it might be of some help to him."

"It doesn't mean anything to me, but thanks Parvati, I'll let him know."

Hermione and Christine headed down to dinner before the boys had finished unpacking and were talking about what Parvati had said when Ron came into the hall alone.

"Christine, Harry wants to talk to you for a second. He's waiting outside the hall." Christine exchanged a look with Hermione and slowly made her way out of the Great Hall. At first she couldn't find him, but as she explored the entryway a little more she found him lingering behind a statue.

"Harry, what are you doing?" she asked him with a curious tone. It wasn't like Harry to hide behind statues when there was nothing to hide from.

"Um, Parvati told me about the Death Eater at her Christmas celebrations," he paused for a minute before continuing. "I went and talked to Twopenny just now. I didn't tell him about whatParvati said, but he said that whatever Voldemort is trying to do, it's getting close. He wants you, Hermione, Ron and me to find a place where we can go if Death Eaters get into the castle."

"Is that even a possibility?"

"He thinks so. But I was thinking we could take them to the place where I asked you out."

"But why would he want us to find a hiding spot? It seems kind of, well, like the castle isn't safe anymore," she explained.

"I don't know, but Twopenny thinks that we need to have a place to go if something did happen."

"It's hidden fairly well and I have a feeling not too many people know about it."

"Ok that's where we're going then. Now, on a much happier note," he said as he pulled her closer to him, "Let's go eat." Christine laughed as she let him lead her into the Great Hall. "Oh, don't tell them anything yet," Harry muttered under his breath as they sat down.

Dinner was fairly quiet, the conversation was fairly boring and the four friends decided to go back to the tower early. They sat in silence around the fire and Christine and Harry cuddled for a while before sleep finally overcame Christine.

"I'm going to bed," Christine yawned as she got up and stretched. "Night all."

"Goodnight," three other voices replied in the same drowsy tone. She gave Harry a kiss goodnight and vanished up the stairs.

Lessons began again the next day and the usual wishes and whining for the holidays to be back was heard throughout the castle. During one of their free periods, the friends returned to Gryffindor Tower to relax. Well, for the boys to relax and the girls to start their homework.

"Ronald! Wake up!" Hermione was yelling in the slumbering red head's ear. He stirred only slightly from his sleep before turning over away from Hermione.

"Honestly!" she sighed in exasperation.

Harry, who slept very lightly these days, was up as soon as Christine muttered his name.

"Harry, it's time for Potions, come on we have to go," Christine stated as she gathered her supplies.

"Potions always messes up everything. I was having such a good dream," Harry whined as he ran his fingers through his hair and over his eyes. Christine chose to ignore the statement and urged him to grab his supplies as well.

"Hurry up! We're going to be late, again!" Hermione shouted from the other side of the portrait hole. Ron, whose hair was rumpled and shirt half untucked, scrambled to get his things together and out of the portrait hole.

Potions was horrible. Snape was in a particularly nasty mood, and as Harry was in his class, it justwasn't a good mixture. Even though he was on time, Harry was still docked points for entering the class too loudly and disrupting the students who were already there, as Snape put it. By the end of the class, Harry was fuming.

"He has got to be the biggest gi – "

"Harry! Watch it, you're not that far away from the class," Christine warned as she gave him a reproaching look.

"Well he is. He was just looking for a reason to take points from us. We were the only house keeping Slytherin from taking the House Cup," Ron chimed in.

"Even so, we don't want more points taken away from us for name calling," Hermione reasoned. And that was the end of the conversation, as at that moment Professor Twopenny rushed up tothe students.

"You four, follow me," he said sternly. The students shared a curious look with each other before running to catch up with their professor. Once inside his office, there was silence. Nobody said anything or even dared to breathe louder than normal. Finally, after a few more moments of tension, Twopenny spoke up.

"Something's gone wrong," Twopenny started as he crossed to the window and gazed out. "We were tracking some of the Death Eaters and found out which day the secret was to be launched. That day has come and gone, and there is still no sign of the two members who discovered the information. Dumbledore wanted you to know, because he thinks that the more you know about what Voldemort is planning now, the better prepared you will be for it later."

"Prepared for what exactly Professor?" Hermione asked fearing the answer.

Twopenny continued to blankly stare out of the frost bitten window. Slowly, he turned back around as if to keep the truth from them as long as possible.

"The invasion of Hogwarts," he replied mystically. Christine was taken aback and glanced at the other three to see their reactions. As she had expected, their mouths were hanging open in disbelief. How was this possible? Hogwarts had always been the safest place to be while Voldemort was around, how could it all of a sudden be the vulnerable target for an invasion? Twopenny went back to staring out the window.

"Harry maybe you should tell him about what Parvati told us," Christine suggested under her breath. Harry nodded before turning his attention back to his teacher.

"Professor, um, Parvati Patil said that a Death Eater showed up to her Christmas and said something about "rivers curled and snow unwhirled" before that have something to do with this invasion?" he asked.

"Probably, it would fit the description of their hidden meeting place," Twopenny explained. "But that's not for sure. Harry have you come up with your meeting spot?" Harry nodded. "Good, then I expect you to be there when the invasion comes. You'll know in plenty of time to get there, I'll make sure of that," Twopenny assured them. "Now, go back to your dormitories, I don't want you guys to be wandering the halls too long."

They trudged back to the common room depressed and scared. They silently sat back down to do the rest of their homework, but this time there was no glint of happiness in any of their faces. Reality hadn't sunk in yet and they still refused to believe that the castle wasn't safe anymore. The hours ticked by slowly and, uncharacteristically, there was absolutely no conversation among the friends.

The next week brought nothing new or exciting for the four sixth year Gryffindors. Christmas was over along with all the holiday hustle and bustle and everything had died down a bit. Harry and Christine had told Ron and Hermione about the meeting spot and all agreed on it. School days seemed to slowly creep by while the lessons began to become routine, Quidditch was over and final exams were about six weeks away. Defense Against the Dark Arts was no longer as enjoyable as it once had been; it became the constant reminder of the upcoming invasion. Hermione had all of them in the library studying for finals already but seemed a bit distracted. If she was having a tough time staying focused, there was no hope for the rest of them. Christine couldn't pay attention to anything, she was so worried. She kept thinking about what would happen if Harry had to battle Voldemort sooner than he was expecting. She was awoken from her private thoughts at the sound of a deep voice.

"Hermione, how long does this essay have to be again?" Ron whined as the four friends worked on their potions essays in the library.

"Two rolls of parchment," she replied automatically without looking up from her work.

"Oh yeah."

Silence fell upon the group again as they worked to finish their homework. The girls were almost done with all of their homework, while the boys were just barely finishing their homework for one class. As their quills scratched the parchment, Ginny came in to the library.

"Hi guys," she said brightly. Christine envied the younger girl's ignorance.

"Hi," came the monotone reply from four mouths that seemed to be concentrated on other things.

"Christine, here's a letter for you. This owl was buzzing around the common room waiting for you," Ginny explained.

"Thanks," Christine forced a smile, but she was puzzled as to why she would be getting an owl this late.

Christine hesitantly opened the letter and began to read. The letter went from bad to worse in less than five seconds. Her face fell and her heart stopped. She couldn't believe this was happening to her, now.

"Oh no," she choked.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked and as she said this, she caught Harry and Ron's attention. Christine remained silent and stared blankly at the letter. Tears started to form in her eyes as she thought about what the letter said. She got up and left the library, ignoring the pleas of her friends to tell them what was wrong.

"Christine! Christine wait!" yelled Harry from the door of the library as he ran after her. She quickened her pace, again ignoring what Harry was shouting. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm. He spun her around only to find that her face was now covered with streaks from the trails the tears from her eyes had left.

"What's wrong?" he asked again this time more worried for what was going on.

"Harry, please, just let me go," Christine gulped as she struggled to get away from him.

"Christine, tell me what's wrong!" Harry demanded again as he tried to comfort her.

"There's nothing you can do Harry!" she screamed in total frustration. She began sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm sorry. Just let me go, please."

He let go of her arm and she ran all the way back to Gryffindor Tower.

As she ran through the portrait hole the normal chattering of the common room died, and the curious, prying eyes of her classmates followed her up the stairs which led to the girls dormitories. She wrenched the door open and slammed it just as fast as she had opened it. She collapsed on her bed and lost herself in the tears that didn't seem to stop. A while later, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Christine?" Hermione's voice came from outside the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Christine answered as she gazed out the window next to her bed. Hermione walked in and sat next to her on the bed.

"I'm sorry," Christine started as she sat up and looked her best friend in the eye. "I'm sorry for running out like that."

"I know I've already asked you this but what happened?" Hermione asked again. Christine paused for a moment before she grabbed the letter that caused her so much pain and showed it to Hermione.

"Read it, it should explain everything," Christine explained.

As Hermione read the letter, her hand covered her mouth and she gasped.

"Oh no.You're moving, andto Australia of all places!"

"Yeah, and I have to go. We talked about this, before I even started first year. My parents said that I could attend Hogwarts as long I understood that if Dad got transferred I had to move with the family. They say that until I come of age, I have to live with the family." Christine was on the verge of tears again.

"You have to tell Harry. I think you really hurt him."

"That's the last thing I wanted to do. But I can't tell him, not yet,I'm not ready."

"Whether you are or not, you have to. He's wants to know how you are," Hermione explained.

"Where is he?" Christine asked.

"In the common room."