Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)!

Assignment #12

Cybersecurity Threats

Task #1: Phishing attacks: Write about someone pretending to be something/someone they are not

Word Count: 1,818

Trigger Warning: Teensy tiny bit of swearing. Non-canon character deaths. Eh, bare-faced lies if it counts as a TW. Characters are OOC. Some will be explained, some not. So, just go with the flow?

Beta(s): CoppersMama

"What do you want for Christmas, sweetie?" Ron asked his daughter, Rose. Rose had Hermione's brown, curly (through, much more tameable) hair and Ron's sapphire blue eyes.

Rose was the only thing he had left of Hermione, who had died in the Indian terrorist attack when Rose was two years old. Ron and Harry had been numb to the world for weeks. The only thing which made him keep going was his Rose. His daughter. Harry decided to cope with it by going on even more dangerous missions overseas, which wasn't hard because he was a very renowned Hit-wizard. They were different from the Aurors. The Aurors were like the muggle policemen but the Hit-wizards were like the muggle assassins. . .who kill rapists, murderers, and the likes.

So, now, Ron lived alone with Rose in an apartment in New York with Harry visiting at least twice a week because he was Rose's godfather and wanted to get out of everyone giving him a ton of marriage contracts literally every other week. Being a single, bachelor hero will do that to you.

"Why do I have to tell you, Daddy? Santa will give me my gift." Rose frowned adorably, as if she were figuring out the answer to some difficult problem. Another thing she had gotten from Hermione was her intelligence. She had always doubted that 'Santa' really gave her the gifts and she was just seven!

"Because, there is an unwritten, unspoken rule. You can't directly go and tell Santa what you want. The parents do that. Once they know what they want, they will go to Santa's place in the North Pole and tell him what their child wants. If the child is on the nice list, then they'll get the present and if they're not, then they'll get a big lump of coal," Ron explained, reciting all the things that his mother had told them when they'd asked the same question when they were young.

"Oh-kay. What I want for Christmas is to. . .see Santa!" Rose exclaimed and Ron's heart sank.

"But, sweetie, Santa gives you presents. And you should be asleep when Santa comes. That is another unwritten, unspoken rule," Ron tried to explain.

"But I wanna see Santa for my Christmas present! You told me I could get anything I want but just not things which are out of control! I wanna see Santa!" Before Rose could throw a full on temper-tantrum - and those were nasty - Ron hastily said, "Okay, Rosie. You can see Santa. Happy?"

"Yay! You're the best, Daddy!" Rose shouted happily as she hugged him and then ran out of the room upon hearing the 'ping' of the fireplace which indicated that Harry was coming over, leaving Ron to think that it was a really, really bad idea.

Harry agreed with Ron whole-heartedly. Ron asked if there was any way Harry could help him and he went quiet. He didn't say anything, knowing that Harry was thinking deeply and would be annoyed if he were to be disturbed. The last time someone had annoyed him was when they questioned his authority. The others didn't even find the bodies.

But that didn't mean that Harry had turned all cruel either. It was just that he was closed-off and harsh to people who disrupted his private space, except Ron, Draco (who had grown to be Harry's casual lover. They were not really dating but they had no reservations on fucking each other), Ginny (who he'd adopted as a little sister and she'd been fine with that since she'd gotten over the school-girl crush) and Rose (who he'd come to love as his own daughter). Draco and Ginny were also Hit-wizards.

"Why don't you. . .is Rosie asleep?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, 'course. She is sleeping," Ron said.

"Okay then. Why don't you glamour yourself to be Santa? I mean, we all know what Santa is supposed to look like and you could buy some Santa clothes from the nearby market. We could also make a convincing enough story so that Rose doesn't doubt it," Harry said.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" Ron exclaimed.

"Because you didn't consider it as a possibility since you were sure that Rosie could detect your fabrication. But, not to worry my friend, for I'm here!" Harry said, mimicking Draco's posh voice to perfection.

Ron snorted and said, "Draco's been rubbing off on you, mate."

"In all the right ways," Harry promptly replied back, causing Ron to mimic gagging sounds as his face turned a bit green.

"Please, please no. I could live without that," Ron said, his sapphire blue eyes wide in fear.

Harry simply chuckled a bit and sipped the scotch.

Ron thought for the millionth time that maybe he shouldn't be lying to his daughter. But he couldn't dash her feelings either, right? So, as Harry casted an extremely complicated glamour which he assured would last for the whole day and did something to his voice so that Rose would not be able to recognize him, he decided that he was doing the right thing.

"Oh, and I almost forgot," Harry said as he took out a neat green-and-silver present, "This is from me and Drake to Rosie. Tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't see her today, 'kay? We got a lead on one of the murderers. And," he pulled out another present - this time in red with gold linings, "this is from Gin-Gin." Ginny hated whenever anyone called her 'Gin-Gin' so, of course, Harry always called her that.

Ron knew about the presents of course. Harry and Draco had given her a really expensive book found only in the Nabadwip town of Nadia district, West Bengal, India(1). Ginny had given her a swiss army knife with handwritten instructions on how to use it without harming yourself - even if you are a seven-year-old.

Ron himself had gotten her some of the sweets, which he had absolutely forbidden her to eat but, it was Christmas, so he figured he could allow her some freedom.

Ron took a deep breath and said, "Here goes nothing."

Ron Apparated to the room where he was sure Rose would be in - the library. Sure enough, he was greeted with the sight of Rose trying to solve a simple arithmetic equation. As far as he could see, she was doing it wrong. But, the fact that she was trying to do it while being only seven was something he could be proud of.

"What ho!" he exclaimed, making Rose jump and almost scream 'Help!' before she noticed who he was.

"Santa Claus?" she asked in wonder.

His mouth split open in a wide smile as he said, "And you must be the young girl your father told me about. You wanted to see me personally?"

Rose nodded enthusiastically and said, "Yes, yes! Thank you so much for coming! Daddy told me that you gave presents when we were asleep but I wanted to see you for myself. Thank you for fulfilling my gift! Though, isn't it a bit early for Christmas?"

"Young lass, I give presents on Christmas Eve. Today is Christmas Eve. So you get your present today!"

"Can we-can we spend the day together? I mean, daddy's not here - he's out for some important work - and I really wanted to see you. . .so, please? If you don't have other duties, that is," Rose added the last part hurriedly.

"Of course, lass. I wouldn't have come so early if it weren't the case. You have been an especially good girl this year so I decided to spend some time with you," Ron - aka Santa - said.

The day was spent spending time with Rose. She mellowed out to him soon enough. He told her about his great (make-believe) adventures. About Rudolph and his herd of reindeers. About getting gifts to people all over the world. How the parents go over to his cottage and inform him what their children want for Christmas and he would decide if he/she was worth it depending upon the goodness they had done over the months. She told him about her father, godfather, Uncle Draco and Aunt Ginny.

She spoke of her deceased mother with sadness and longing and her dad with wonder, as if he personally hung the moon and the stars. According to her, her godfather was a brilliant wizard who would play with her and tell her various stories from his adventures. She spoke of how uncle Draco would act all high and mighty and teach her to do the same, but he was a really big softie and would let her get away with stealing his hair gel, and how aunt Ginny would teach her about beating up men and would spend time with her.

They cooked and played and laughed and watched Star Wars. He didn't like it, but it was better than watching Titanic - he had been given a choice between them by Rose, who sure as heck wasn't watching Titanic until she was out of Ilvermorny (or Hogwarts, wherever she went).

Finally, when it was Rose's time to go to sleep, Rose said, "Thank you again for spending time with me, Santa. I will never forget this day. Thank you so much!"

Ron chuckled and said, "Thank you kindly, Ms Rose. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go and distribute gifts to all the other children."

"Bye Santa!" she said in a sweet voice.

"Bye, Rose. Stay sharp!"

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!" Rose said, shaking Ron who woke up with a groan. Even after all these years, he didn't like being woken up early if it wasn't a life-or-death situation.

"What is it, Rosie?" Ron asked, his voice rough from sleep.

"Look! Santa Claus has given me so many gifts! And all of the gifts I wanted, even the book and the sweets, Daddy!" Rose said happily as she held up her presents.

"Has he? Well, he must know that you have done very good deeds this year, so he has given you extra gifts. Continue to be good, and I have no doubt that you will get more and more gifts. Now, how did you enjoy your day with Santa Claus?" Ron asked, propping himself on his elbows.

And then, Rose happily started blabbering away, talking about every minuscule bit she could remember. Ron looked fondly at his daughter and Accio'ed both of their breakfasts - he had made it last night just before he'd gone to bed and given Rosie her presents.

Maybe lying wasn't the most logical thing to do, but it was harmless. She would come to understand on her own that Santa Claus didn't exist. All children did before they went to Hogwarts. But for now, he wanted to see his daughter happy and excited. What was wrong with a little bit of harmless lying, if you could make your loved one happy?

A/N- Oh-kay. So, I decided to go into Christmas festive mood. I've already written the story which I will be posting on the 25th of December. So, wait for that.

1) My grandparents' house is in Nabadwip. And, I have a personal head-canon that the rules in India about Dark Magic doesn't exist so much less books and studies are banned. I just decided to add this useless bit of information.

Please read&review. Hope you have a good day/night.