Disclaimer:

I do not own Harry Potter. Obviously...

Summary:

Ever since first year, Harry's had a problem.. He's just to darn photogenic and no matter what he seems to do there's always a photo the next day in the newspaper calling him the next merlin.

This fic is slightly Au and will get increasing Au as the story progresses.

Chapter 4 Harry's Christmas Tree of Horror

Harry gave a great sigh of relief as he handed in his transfiguration midterm. As he walked out of the exam hall, he found Hermione sitting on a bench in an alcove outside the classroom. Her head was buried in her transfiguration book. She was almost certainly double checking that all her answers were correct, just as she had done after every midterm they had before. Harry having learnt quickly not to interrupt this process simply gave a great big stretch before sitting down next to her, content to wait for Ron.

As students finished and exited the classroom, they would often greet Harry or offer a smile. Harry would respond in kind, trying his best not to be rude. Harry still found his new popularity weird and not a bit uncomfortable. However, he did concede that it was nicer than his old muggle school where no one would talk to him out of fear of Dudley and his gang.

Finally, about fifteen minutes after exiting the classroom Hermione gave a relived sigh as her shoulders relaxed and she placed the book down. As she once more regained her senses, she looked around before noticing Harry's presence.

"Oh Harry? When did you get here?" she asked blinking owlishly at him.

Smirking Harry responded "Who me?

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's teasing.

"So how did you do Hermione" he asked making a vague gesture to her transfiguration book.

Hermione gave a wide proud smile and replied.

"Quite well, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if I get an O in each subject."

"Congrats" Harry replied Happy for his friend

"So how did you do?" she asked with a questioning look in her eye.

"Great" he said putting on a teasing smile he continued "Who knew doing your homework early and studying made school easier?"

It was true. Ever since his first quidditch game Harry often found himself in the library. At first it was because of their search for the mysterious figure Nicholas Flamel. Hagrid had accidently revealed that man was related to whatever was being hidden on the third floor.

However, what Harry also discovered was that the library made an excellent refuge form his newfound fans. After his momentous win in his first game and the subsequent articles in the magazines, he had been near constantly hounded outside of class. Some people wanted to make friends, some wanted tips or tricks on flying and others wanted autographs much to Harry's mortification. There were also even some students who started carrying around cameras! Apparently hoping they would be the photographer to catch a picture of Harry's next famous act. He wasn't sure if it was for the potential financial rewards or the attention it would bring, but either way Harry found it immensely frustrating.

What made the library so ideal was the protection offered by Madam Prince. The fierce old librarian was famously strict and quick to dole out punishment. She had long ago banned cameras and anytime a crowd or group of people tried to swarm Harry or got too loud she was quick to stomp it out.

Thus, whenever Harry wasn't in class or at quidditch practice he was to be found at the library. After the initial search for Nicholas Flamel had turned up empty, Hermione had taken the opportunity to impress the values of studying into Harry. Much to Harry's own surprise he discovered he actually enjoyed studying. Magic was just so fascinating and every time he learned something new there always seemed to be even more to learn. Often Hermione and Harry would find themselves reading and chatting about all the cool new things they learned right up until curfew.

While Harry didn't enjoy the rigid curriculum work as much, he did find great satisfaction in his rising grades and Hermione's praise when he finished homework early. Ron would often join them at first but once homework was done, he would leave early to go hangout with the other Gryffindor boys or play chess.

Something else that had been a welcome surprise was the study group. As it turned out Ravenclaw had a tradition of organized study groups for each year and would sometimes invite notable intellectual students from other grades to join these groups.

Shortly after the beginning of December and with midterms fast approaching a Ravenclaw student from their year, Lisa Turpin had come and invited them to join. She even hardly blushed or stuttered as she did so which Harry considered a bonus.

The study group proved useful and was held 2-3 times a week. It was nice being able to talk to fellow students again and it made studying so much easier. They even got to be on friendly terms with not just the 1st year Ravenclaws but even a couple Hufflepuffs and a duo of girls from Slytherin.

By the time midterms had come around the students had seemed to calm down again much to Harry's satisfaction. The combined boredom of following around a boy who was always reading in the library and the additional stress and focus on their own midterms had seemed to be the solution.

All considered Harry was happy how things were turning out. He had two great friends, rising grades and more interesting knowledge of the magical world, not to mention lots of friendly acquaintances from his study groups and quidditch.

Now with his midterms done for the year he could relax and enjoy the winter break.

As he finished the thought, Ron came out of the examination hall and made his way over to his friends before slouching down on the bench.

"It's finally over" he grunted obviously in immense relief.

"How did you do Ron?" Hermione eagerly asked.

"Okay I reckon" He responded. "Most of it made sense anyway except those parts about perception."

Ron quickly realized his mistake as he looked over to Hermione who seemed prepared to give Ron a lengthy lecture. Luckily for him Harry came to the rescue when he lightly pinched her arm. She turned to him confused but Harry gave her a look that seemed to communicate something, and Hermione gave an annoyed pout.

Harry smiled at her and Ron and asked "Hungry? I think it should be lunch soon?" sure enough Ron's stomach chose that moment to let out a small gurgle which made them all laugh.

The trio thus began making their way down the halls of Hogwarts admiring the many Christmas decorations the teachers and faculty had worked so hard to create.

As they entered the main atrium at the bottom of the stairs, they admired the largest Christmas tree any of them had ever seen. It was massive easily reaching the high atrium ceiling. It was covered from top to bottom in beautiful decorations, including a miniature model of the Hogwarts express.

Interestingly a line of students had formed up, taking turns getting their picture taken by an enterprising upperclassmen student. Hermione eyes lit up and she was about to suggest they get their photo taken when Harry noticed Hagrid talking to professor Quirrell. Hagrid looked exhausted, his beard seemed dirtier then usual, his large beady eyes had bags under them, and his large frame was slightly slouched. Concerned he pointed it out to his friends.

The trio was concerned for their friend and decided to approach so they could speak to him. As the two faculty members finished their conversation. Professor Quirrell acknowledged their presence with nod.

"I-I won't keep you any longer Hh-Hagrid" he stuttered nervously glancing around the room and before glancing at Harry "B-B-besides it seems you have C-company."

He then walked away with one last glance at the trio and the large tree behind them.

"Are you okay Hagrid" Harry asked.

"OH hello you lot." He responded tiredly "Yes, I'm fine, I've just been very busy caring for a new creature and had to rush to get all these trees in place."

"I'm sorry your so tired "Hermione politely replied

"What creature has been keeping you so busy?" Ron asked

Hagrid suddenly got nervous standing a little straighter with an odd look in his eye.

"Oh-er that well that's nothing for you lot to worry about" he said with a tinge of panic in his voice. He then changed the subject asking how their midterms went.

As Hermione began to speak Harry suddenly got a bad feeling in his gut and a painful twinge in his scar.

He began looking around, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first. Students were walking by to the great hall or were lined up along the outside of the atrium waiting their turn for a photo. Two Hufflepuff girls from first year were currently getting their picture taken when it happened.

A quiet crack rang out almost hidden behind the many jubilant voices of the students. The world almost seemed to slow around Harry as adrenaline pumped into his system and three things became instantly clear. First the Large Christmas tree was coming down even as he had this thought he could see as the tree began to slightly tilt towards him. The second thing he realized was that due the huge size of the tree it's top would come down right on top of him and his friends. Finally, the poor girls at the tree's base would surely be crushed by it's immense weight and they didn't seem to have fully realized that yet.

Acting so quickly he hardly even realized he was doing it he shoved Hermione and Ron as hard as he could. Startled and not expecting it at all they both lost their balance and fell out of danger. Harry though hadn't fully noticed because he was already running full tilt at the two girls at the base of the tree who only now seemed to realize what was happening.

Susan Bones was having a great day. Oh, sure the morning had been stressful doing last minute studying for their midterms but now that they were done, she felt immensely relieved. After she and her best friend Hannah Abbot had finished their midterms, they had heard an older student they knew was offering to take holiday pictures for a sickle.

Deciding it would make a great surprise gift for their families they had collected the money and went down to the atrium. After waiting in line for a short while the girls made there way to the beautiful Christmas tree. The student photographer had them pose and gave some suggestions. Just as they finished posing and the camera gave a flash, the girls heard a cracking sound. Turning to look at the sound Susan was shocked as the tree began to tilt towards them filling her whole vision with doom.

Hannah stumbled back before diving out of the way. Susan though barely comprehended this. Completely shocked and frozen to the spot her hands grasping at where Hannah had once stood, she suddenly felt something hit her side hard. Her vision of the tree went sprawling as she felt something wrap around her and tackle her away from the big tree. Susan instinctively tensed up her eyes closing expecting a hard hit but was pleasantly surprised when her fall was cushioned by something softer than the stone floor.

As Susan continued laying down in shock, she heard screaming and the loud crash of the tree. It's various ornaments were either crushed or sent flying across the hall shattering on impact.

As she took stock of her body and realized she wasn't dead or particularly hurt she opened her eyes. She regretted that as right when she opened her eyes another white flash temporarily blinded her. As she blinked her eyes, she heard what sounded like a boy groan beneath her.

Looking down she saw Hogwarts robes and a red tie that signified Gryffindor. As she continued looking up right into the face of her rescuer her eyes met with two deep green eyes that shone with concern for her. Shocked she couldn't help but glance up a this forward and confirm that yes, she was lying on top of the boy-who-lived.

'The boy who had also just saved her life!' She thought completely shocked. Before she could do anything else Harry spoke.

"Susan, right?" He asked obviously not entirely sure who she was. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay" she replied shyly unsure of what to do.

"That's great!" he said with a relieved face. "Than do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Anything!" the word slipped through her mouth before she even comprehended them

"Could you get off me? You're kind of crushing me" he replied with an embarrassed look.

Horrified by her embarrassing slip of the tongue and the realization she was laying on top of Harry she threw herself backwards trying to get up. Unfortunately, with the adrenaline still pumping through her system and her feet tangled in Harry legs that just made her trip backwards falling right on her back.

As she laid there starting to wish the tree really had finished her off Harry stood up in front of her. Another, more subtle flash caught her attention in the background as Harry reached down offering her a hand.

Unable or unwilling to refuse she took his hand as he pulled her up but her damn useless legs failed her again and she once again found herself pressed to Harry as she stumbled forward toward him.

As Harry held her there for a moment before gently pushing her away and turning to survey the carnage around them Susan knew one thing for sure. 'Hannah will never let me live this down' she thought with a doomed groan.

Shortly after the Christmas tree had fallen the teachers had swarmed in from the great hall. They quickly checked on all the students and sent those that had been hurt or needed a calming potion to the hospital wing and began investigating the cause of the destruction. The student photographer cradling his camera in his hands went unseen as he scurried away knowing that he had captured gold.

Harry found his friends and made sure they were okay. Hermine gave him a large hug thanking him profusely for pushing them out of the way of the falling tree. Ron also thanked him and was looking all over Harry for any injuries. Luckily besides a lightly bruised back he was fine. After things were calmed down and the teachers got the full story everyone was ushered into the great hall for lunch.

Later that evening As dinner came and the trio started to dig into their meal Harry felt relieved. It seems with all the commotion and the big tree taking up most of the people's attention no one besides Susan, Hannah and his friends knew of his little stunt. As the meal continued and Harry was happily informed that Ron plans had changed, and he was going to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas something changed. It started at the Hufflepuff table before spreading to the Ravenclaws and Slytherins.

Finally, it spread to the Gryffindor table and as Harry was just about to finish his desert Ron nudged his side. Looking up from his treacle tart and turning around on the bench Harry immediately noticed that a majority of the hall was staring at him.

As Harry's brain started to realize what was going on Susan Bones walked up to him at his table with Hannah Abbot glued to her side.

'Oh crap' Harry thought, immediately realizing his mistake of not thinking of swearing them to secrecy or even informing them of his preference not to tell the general populace of his antics.

"Harry" Hannah said with what could only be considered a shit eating grin. "Susan has something she needs to say to you."

Poor Susan looked terribly embarrassed her face was flushed and her eyes were darting anywhere but Harry.

Harry thought he understood. He hated being stared at to and with nearly the whole hall watching this must have been very hard for her. Why she chose to do it now of all times he would never understand.

Hannah had to poke and prod Susan before she finally looked at him her brown eyes locked onto Harry's own. Her eyes seemed very nervous but as she focused directly on his own, she seemed to steel her nerve.

"Th-Thank you for saving my life H-Harry" she slightly stuttered.

"Oh uh, it was no problem, Susan I'm glad your okay" Harry responded awkwardly.

Susan looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't, so she took a step back and did something awful.

She began to clap.

Quickly Hannah followed but not to be out done his house mates began to clap as well. Quickly Hufflepuff table began to applaud as well, followed by Ravenclaw. Even some Slytherins began to clap although not all and mostly politely.

The teachers looking down at the students confused were filled in by a Hufflepuff prefect and they too joined in clapping.

Finally, as the applause finished Susan's courage finally seemed to have failed her and she gave a quick nod before grabbing Hannah's arm and making a very quick exit out of the hall. As she finally left the stares of the great hall behind, Harry didn't have it so lucky as immediately he was swarmed by fellow students asking for more information.

'God damnit' Harry thought 'Well at least it can't get worse than this.'

'It was so much worse than that!' Harry thought as he rushed as fast as he could to the library with Ron and Hermione the next morning.

Held in each of there arms were news papers and magazines. As they dropped them on the table to review and see how bad the damage would be Harry gave a loud sigh.

He decided to start with the daily prophet, so he scooped it up and read the headline.

Harry Potter the Holiday Hero!

The main picture taking up most of the page started with Susan and Hannah posing for the camera. That quickly changed as both girls immediately looked behind them as the Christmas tree slowly began to tilt toward the frame. Hannah quickly stumbled out of the frame, but the shell-shocked Susan was still stood there staring up as the tree fell towards her. At what looked like the very last second before impact Harry appeared from the side of the frame, wrapping his arms around her as he tackled her out of the frame. Just as the tree collapsed where they stood the photo would begin it's loop anew.

'What is my luck?' Harry thought, amazed that this picture was taken at the exact right moment.

Looking at the subheadings he read:

Niece of the Head of the DMLE Saved!

Harry Potter Hero of Hogwarts and Heiress Susan Bone's Heart?

pg. 3- 5 More photos of Incident.

pg. 6 Description of the Full Incident as Given by Students.

pg. 7 Susan & Amelia Bones History and Story

"What's the DMLE?" Harry asked aloud

Ron gave him a confused look before realization came to him and he responded.

"Oh, THE DMLE stand for the Department of Magical Law enforcement." Ron said

Hermione looked up from the magazine she was looking at and asked.

"Susan is the niece of the Head of the countries law enforcement?"

"YuP" said Ron popping the P the end.

'Oh' thought Harry, he hoped that didn't mean this story would be bigger than it already was. But based on Hermione and Ron's facial expressions he thought that was probably a moot point.

Looking back at the description and trying not to blush or scoff about the stupid stolen heart comment he did notice something else.

"What's an heiress?" he asked not familiar with the term.

Hermione responded to that one saying, "An heiress is a woman or girl that is set to inherit a lot of money or titles."

"Oh so, she's like rich or something?" Harry asked confused not sure why that really mattered.

Ron answered that for him saying "Oh the Bones family are a rich pureblood family, but not Malfoy rich or like the really old family rich" He continued "I think it refers more to their family seat on the Wizgamont"

At Harrys blank stare he continued "Our government Harry, the ones who make the laws."

With that explained and grimly realizing that this probably would be an even bigger deal then what he hoped he flipped to the photo pages.

Harry immediately felt embarrassed looking at the picture. It was clearly taken shortly after he had tackled Susan to the ground. It started as Harry was flat on his back his head slightly raised looking down at Susan who was lying with her head on his upper chest. As the photo began, she opened her eyes blinking with clear shock. First staring at his tie then up to his face before her face clearly broke out into a shocked blush. Harry's mouth clearly moved asking her a question just as the picture would restart and begin again.

He flipped to the next page with a photo and this one was even worse some how. It started with Susan laid on her back with the Christmas tree in the background. Harry was standing proud and tall above her reaching his hand down to her. She looked up past the camera towards Harry before daintily accepting his hand. Harry pulled her up only for her to trip into his arms. Her hands were grasping his shoulders and his hand held her waist trying to steady her. She was clearly blushing and staring at him with their faces so close their noses nearly touched. Only then would the photo loop over again.

As he finished looking at the photos, he gave an embarrassed groan.

"If you think that's bad" said Ron "Then you probably don't want to read this" looking over at Ron he saw he was holding the now dreaded Witch Weekly.

Plastered on the front was the picture of Susan tripping into his arms. Except that photo and been altered to have a big pink sparkling heart surrounding them both.

Not even bothering to glance at whatever horrible words were printed over the front, Harry did the only thing he could think of doing at a time like this.

Harry let out another groan of despair as his head fell to the desk with a satisfyingly painful thump.

Hermione patted him on the head consolingly and reassured. "There, there, at least most of the students are going home for winter vacation tomorrow."

'Oh hurray for small mercies' Harry thought sarcastically.

Authors Note:

Sooo... About that not getting used to posts every two days thing... oops? Lol I couldn't help it. I was so excited to see that in just over a week or so we already have 83 followers and 44 favorites! The fact that so many people would take time out of there lives to not only read my story but to actually follow or even favorite it is magical! So thank you so much to everyone who followed or favorited this story. I hope Ii can keep pushing out content worthy of that. Another huge thank you to my reviewers! I have seen some suggestions and comments and I really appreciate them. Please keep leaving your reviews.

Speaking of here is my response to some of our reviews:

Yaw6113: Your wish is my command Bippity Boppity Boo it's posted. =P

Millie072: You asked who took the pictures. In the first chapter it was just a random student who had a camera. This fic is Au and I don't think it's odd a different student other then Collin might have their hands on one. I didn't bother creating an OC out of it because I felt that was unneeded baggage. The quidditch pictures were taken by a talent scout who ran down to the pitch when Harry's broom was cursed in case he fell. he didn't but that how I set him up to be in the perfect position to take the pictures later in the chapter. I hope that clears it up! =)

Thank you for your kind words but I would still appreciate getting a beta at some point.

Home of the Brave:

Yes I also think not cartoonishly evil Dumbledore is in short supply on this site.

Arnie1701: Ooohhhhh don't you worry I have a very big plan for our precious second year basilisk.

EIMarquis: Oh I already have an idea for Norbert but I appreciate the suggestion none the less. =)

And to every other review who left nice short comments.. Thank you!

Finally I'm still on the hunt for a Beta sooo pm me if your interested. pretty please...

Hope you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review. =)