AN: The next chapter is the last in the Christmas Break section. Unfortunately, work and the incoming holiday season has left me slow to keep up with my writing. I still want to stay ahead of myself, so after next week there will be a brief hiatus. In all though, I plan to have Year 1 finished by the end of January.

Christmas Break Part VI: Revelations Both Magical and Muggle

Friday, December 27th, two hours after Peter Pettigrew was revealed

"Those three are going to break their necks!" Hermione hissed at Neville as she looked back to the pots they were setting up.

"Why do you think I'm not up there. Keep me on the ground, thanks." Neville laughed as he looked over the things Harry and Hermione had received for their greenhouses. They had sent him a list, but had neglected to mention just how much there was for a first time greenhouse.

"He'll be down soon Hermione. Give them a chance to get everything off their minds for a while. Particularly Harry and Ronald." Petunia gently chided as she began reading about the automatic irrigation system she'd ordered from a gardening center that Angela's family ran.

"Some of these are a little gross Hermione." Parvati commented as she looked at some of the saplings, "This one has ooze or something on the leaves…"

"That one is supposed to Parv." Her sister said from where she was making and organizing labels, "You jar the leaves in the ooze and they keep a long time."

"EW!" the Gryffindor twin shrieked as she backed away from the offending plant.

There was a clearing behind the greenhouse they were setting up first, and that was where the other adults, as well as Tina, were watching those in the air. After Remus had explained what had been learned about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew the friends had decided to go flying to help Ron and Harry calm down. Those who didn't like to fly had offered to help Neville and Hermione with getting the planting started.

"Petunia recorded a few dozen snippets on those omnioculars that I've watched dozens of times," Vernon explained to Timothy and Angela as they marveled at Harry's skill, "but to see him actually flying that thing is something else."

"It's alright sweetie," Angela whispered into Tina's ear when she squeaked in fear at one of Harry's steeper dives, "Madam Longbottom and Mrs. Smith will catch him if he falls."

Tina's trepidation at Harry's aerial acrobatics meant no one was paying attention to Ron as he descended to hover beside them, "Tina? Do you wanna try flying?" He asked as he touched down, "You could hop on behind me if your parents say it's okay."

Tina only thought about it for a moment before looking up to her parents with resolve. She knew that Hermione hated flying, so this was something she could learn to be better than her at. With askance clear in his daughter's eyes, Timothy caved quickly, "Alright, but none of those crazy stunts like you were pulling with Harry young man."

"Yes sir." Ron answered as he moved forward on his broom so that Tina could hop on behind him, "Hang on tight." He said as he kicked off.

At first, Tina thought she would lose her breakfast as her stomach dropped when Ron began ascending. But once he had leveled off and asked if she was alright she finally opened her eyes. The sun was still hanging fairly high in the sky, which meant that she could see far in all directions. The ocean extended off into the distance on one side, and on the other she could see the mainland but no discernable towns, just forests and hills along the coast. Overall, it was probably the most beautiful thing the young girl had ever seen. More magical than Diagon Alley, even.

"I'm great." She answered. As she gripped Ron tighter, she felt him relax a little under her and realized he'd been worried about her until now, "I'm fine now, promise. It's beautiful up here."

Ron sighed in relief as he began making a relatively leisurely circuit over the island while the girl behind him pointed out various interesting things below, including a flock of owls that took flight when they passed and a small herd of deer that looked up when they were near but didn't run. He had noticed how she still shivered every now and then when they were on the ground, and was worried that she was pretending to be alright for everyone else. Ginny was the same way, she didn't want her brothers to think she was scared, but they always knew. Tina seemed like a strong girl, she did calm down pretty fast after he got her away from Scab-Pettigrew… but that didn't mean she didn't need something fun to replace the bad.

Seeing Ron lifting off the ground with Tina on his broom gave Dudley the idea to do something similar, and his mum was all too happy to try flying with him. Not to be left out, Harry descended as well and offered to see if maybe they could beat Hermione's fear of flying some more if she wasn't having to worry about her magic going out of control while she's trying to stay on the broom.

"No thank you, Harry." She huffed in answer, "After all those crazy stunts you were pulling? No way!"

"Can I go?" Parvati asked, "I'm not really a dirt and plants person."

"Sure," Harry shrugged after a final look a Hermione, "hop on."

Once they were in the air Harry asked, "You aren't going to ask me to go slow and not mess up your hair or something are you?"

"Nope," She grinned behind him, "but I might ask you to do one of those dives Hermione was complaining about before we go back."

Hermione looked up again when she heard her friend scream from the back of Harry's broomstick. She frowned when she saw the two of them pulling out of a dive that had her parents running and yelling at him not to be so reckless. Hermione wasn't sure where the vindication she felt was coming from. She knew that Harry shouldn't be doing that, but she also knew that he was totally in control. Strangely though, it was Parvati she felt vindicated against.

"Next time I'll say yes." She muttered under her breath as Harry descended to join them in setting up the greenhouses. Padma heard her and silently chuckled.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

When Sirius Black next awoke he found himself magically stuck to a bed. He couldn't move any part of his body besides his head, so he slowly surveyed the room to find out what delusion he'd found himself in. The last thing he remembered was an auror polyjuiced as Moony talking about Harry and Wormtail…

"I know you're awake," a soft, familiar voice came from near the foot of the bed, "I remember your tricks."

"Andi?" His voice croaked out, "Is this real?"

At his cousin's nod he continued, "Moony? He was really there?"

"Yes Sirius, he's telling Harry about the healers' orders for you before he comes back."

"Harry?" Sirius' became agitated as he fought against the sticking charms, "Please let me see Harry, he needs to know!"

Andromeda activated the ward that summoned a healer as she moved closer to Sirius to keep him still, "He's fine Sirius. Harry is spending time with his friends for Christmas. Calm down, cousin."

"He has to know! It was Wormtail!"

"We know. We caught him Sirius. Harry and Remus caught him." Andromeda felt tears building up as she tried to soothe the wreck that her favorite cousin had become. Sirius was once a prankster full of life, now he looked like a man three times his age and haunted by enough ghosts for a dozen lifetimes.

"Harry?" The worry Sirius clearly felt gave him a moment of lucidity, but his breathing was becoming even more irregular as he hungrily absorbed any information he could about his godson.

"Harry's familiar found the rat, Pettigrew. Remus subdued him. He can't hurt Harry now, Sirius. I promise."

The healers made it into the room as Andromeda began to panic. Sirius was sobbing uncontrollably as he repeatedly begged an absent Harry, James, and Lily Potter for forgiveness. The nurse on staff politely escorted the shaken woman from the room as the healers lowered Sirius into a deep sleep. Never had Andromeda Tonks been more sure of her decision not to go into mind healing than that moment.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Saturday, December 28th

"Thank you again Ronald." Petunia's voice drew him out of the daze he'd fallen into looking at his new wand after he'd stopped practicing spells with it.

"Thank you ma'am." He replied, holding up his new willow and unicorn hair wand as he followed her eyes over to where Tina was still looking for her own wand, "This wand is amazing."

"Yes, well. I had already arranged this as your Christmas gift from Harry and Dudley." Ron wasn't sure what to say to that, his parents hadn't let on at all, and she continued, "So, before your family left the country I asked your father if we could get you something else for saving Christina. I was thinking we could get you a new pet while we were here if you wanted? Maybe an owl? Dudley told me that your family uses an owl that is awfully old, and would appreciate a break. We have some other things to take care of in the Alley anyways, in particular there is a nursery owner that Harry needs to thank, so you could pick something out while we do that."

Ron thought about it for a moment before he got a shiver up his spine again. Yesterday, after having time to think critically, he'd remembered that Ginny yelled at him a lot last summer for leaving Scabbers in the bathroom whenever he showered ahead of her, except he didn't remember leaving the rat there because he didn't take Scabbers into the bathroom with him… That had made the adults as furious as anything Pettigrew had confessed to, "Thanks ma'am, that's really awesome but… Would you mind letting me wait until later? Maybe after the summer? I don't think I could-"

"Say no more, I understand." She interrupted, "Whenever you are ready. Or if there is something else you would like instead, just to show how thankful we all are. It isn't just me. Her parents would be here telling you this as well if Mister Olivander would just find Tina's wand already."

"My girl, this is most vexing." Garrick Ollivander announced as he put yet another wand away and turned to look for more candidates. The wandmaker had pulled out what would become Ron's wand the moment the group had walked through the door, but that was now forty-five minutes ago and Tina was still searching for a wand that didn't blow something up the first time she waved it. If nothing else it was at least impressive that every single failed match had elicited roughly the same reaction.

"Hmm." Ollivander mused as he examined the disgusted look the young witch in front of him expressed at the minor destruction she'd caused, "Perhaps something unorthodox? My girl, how often do you have bouts of accidental magic? Particularly in the last six months."

"I haven't, I don't think. Uncle Moony has been teaching me wandless magic, and I didn't really do weird stuff before then. Did I mum?"

"Not for a long time dear. Not since you were three or four." Her mother answered, wondering why it mattered.

"Astounding, most astounding." Ollivander stated, "Such little accidental magic is rare for muggleborn unless there are extenuating circumstances like with Misters Dursley and Potter. Wandless ability even more so. Perhaps you will surprise me like they did."

He went to a corner of his work space and returned with several new boxes, "Try these, they are of a less common wood."

Tina picked them up one by one, and on the second to last she gasped when her hands clasped the handle. As she lifted the wand, the windows and doors rattled loudly.

"This one." She announced happily as she pointed with it, "Lumos."

The wand emimited a gentle light, as expected. But the people around her gasped in shock. The light was green!

Ollivander clapped lightly as he explained the wand, "Eleven and three-quarters elm wood, with a core of unicorn hair from a rather stubborn mare that refused to give more than a single stand. Such is usually only the case for stallions, and even then it is rather rare, so I was shocked when a female exhibited that behaviour."

Tina looked at the rich brown wand in her hands with a sense of trepidation. She had heard Harry and the others talking about their wands like extensions of their arms, but… this wasn't what she expected at all. When she had cast the light spell through her wand it felt really strange. Rather than simply making her magic act, the wand had stepped into the middle and interfered. Yes the light was green for the first time, and she would try to figure out how the wand did that, but she didn't like that the wand did that.

"Malfoy's father's wand is elm." Ron said, drawing confused looks from his friends, "Uh, I only say that 'cause Malfoy thinks elm can only be used by super purebloods or something and brags about it if people's wands ever come up. I just thought it was interesting since Tina is muggleborn."

"Elm is a most dextrous and artistic wood that lends itself to impressive and evolved spellcasting. It is the kind of wood that usually needs pre-existing skill, which is the source of the myth that only purebloods are chosen by elm," Ollivander continued explaining the merits of the wand, "and the stubbornness of the unicorn to only donate the single hair implies trust that I would not waste it. If you return the trust the wand has shown in you, you both will be exceptional. I believe this wand will be an instrument for spreading your energy. You saw how the whole building was affected, rather than small objects like with failed bonds?"

Tina looked at the length of wood with a new hope after he was finished. She had seen the others casting wandless magic recently, and she was faster and more precise than them. But no matter how hard she tried she hadn't been able to affect more than one thing at a time with wandless magic once she'd gotten good at using it. When it was still mostly accidental she had been capable; unfortunately with control had come limitation. Mister Ollivander was saying that the wand could help her overcome that, but was it worth the feeling that it wasn't her?

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Tuesday, December 31st

"How can this 'Harrods' place possibly be more amazing than all the shops at the mall?" Parvati asked as she got off the underground muggle train with Hermione and her family. Padma was behind her reading a little 'print-out' about the place.

"It's the largest store in the world." Hermione answered, "All the stores in a mall are different, and have different kinds of things. But Harrods has everything all together, and the best brands of everything as well."

"The building is seven floors!" Padma announced, shocked as she came to that factoid in her reading. There were several tall buildings in Muggle London, but she was under the impression that most of them had multiple businesses or offices of some sort in them, "All for one store! There's even a whole floor pretty much dedicated to technology! That's so exciting!"

Padma had been absolutely amazed at what could be done with technology. After returning to the Grangers home from Potter Isle, she quizzed her friend and host about all of the strange devices she found. Light bulbs she was familiar with, but to learn that the same "electricity" that makes those work also powered things as diverse as phones, televisions, and internal temperature control was mind blowing. It was as amazing as magic, and as far as Padma knew there was no magical analogue to "batteries" at all.

But her heart had been officially stolen when Hermione's father showed them the computer he had gotten recently. He revealed that the Grangers' dental practice was almost done copying their records onto computers for ease of access, and he was loving it. Mister Granger further explained that soon there would be a "network" of computers that would let him access research in his field from home and Padma was sold. She would give up a lot of magic in her life to have an entire library of new, relevant content sitting on her desk every day!

If muggles were able to access information this easily it was no wonder that Hermione was so smart, Padma thought to herself.

Parvati, on the other hand, had walked through every clothing store in the shopping mall they visited on Saturday with eyes wide open. Now, two days later, she was preparing to look at every article of clothing in this "Harrods" next. Hermione had gotten her a subscription to a muggle fashion magazine for Christmas and she was instantly in love. She had already picked a couple outfits from it that she was going to get her daddy to order, but she had also found some things in the stores. That being said, there could only be so much variety without magic to assist… could there? After all, Hermione had told her that there was more than one mall within driving distance; and the one they had visited was larger than the main stretch of Diagon Alley!

As it turned out, there could be that much variety. The Harrods superstore had a larger space dedicated to just muggle swimwear than any of the stores they had seen at the mall had floor area, period. Less than five minutes into the store, Padma was forced to pull her aside and get her to control her breathing, lest she release accidental magic.

"There were just so many interesting things!" She had retorted to her more responsible twin. In addition to a greater variety of clothing, muggles accessorized in more interesting ways than magicals did. Until now Parvati had only known a smallish selection of muggle clothes that she now realized were rather simple. This was a whole new world of fashion!

With these kinds of awesome styles being common it's no wonder that Hermione thinks most magical people look rediculous when they go into the muggle world, Parvati mused.

After Padma and Hermione both began to show frustration at Parvati's increasingly large pile of "maybe's," Emma offered to hold what the two had chosen for themselves and stay with her while Hermione and Padma went with Daniel to the technology department, which was most of a floor. They would meet on the level with the bookstore, as there was a restaurant there.

Padma had to constantly remind herself to blink and breathe as she walked with Hermione and goggled at the interesting and exotic machines on display. More than once she wished that she'd been allowed to bring her wand with her; it would have been helpful to know which of these things would work around magic and which wouldn't. As it was, she settled for a "look but do not touch" approach. Anything she actually tried out for herself she was sure she would end up purchasing so she fought to remove the temptation while still satisfying her curiosity, though she still ended up with a few "gadgets" like a wand-sized flameless torch that was brighter than any Lumos she could cast.

The bookstore was a different story. Padma had absolutely loved the mystery novels that Hermione had lent her at school, and she took this opportunity to follow her friend's suggestions into other series and genres. The magical world didn't have much in the way of fiction for any age group except young children, so the world of young adult fiction was brand new to her.

When the trio made their way to the restaurant laden with a staggering weight of books, they found Parvati sitting with Emma Granger suspiciously absent any bags to show for all the clothes that had been taken into the changing room. Hermione and Padma were worried, but it was up to Daniel to voice what they were all wondering.

"I would have expected a mountain of bags over here with you two." He said, not-quite-asking whether they were going to have to make a stop on the way down.

"Oh don't worry," Emma replied with a conspiratorial smile, "We can pick up our bags on the ground floor when we are done."

Daniel paled. That was something that he'd heard was an available service… but you had to buy quite a bit of clothing for that to be on offer. Did this girl buy a new wardrobe or something? The twins father had given them about seven thousand pounds each as "spending money," so it was possible.

"Parvati, this is too much even for you!" Padma admonished her twin when the valet brought out a rolling trolley with dozens of bags.

"It's not all for me," Parvati shot back, "I got you some stuff too!"

"She also helped me pick some things out for myself and Hermione." Emma added before turning to her husband with a joking grin on her face, "Can we keep her?"

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Wednesday, January 1st

"This muggle watering system is amazing Mrs. Dursley." Neville said as he observed the series of tubes and hoses that watered the entire greenhouse, or only sections of it if required, all from one location. "If this works as well as it looks then I might need to get one for back home. My family's house elves aren't exactly fond of my greenhouses because some of the plants don't like them."

"Oh dear." Petunia answered, bemused, as she wondered what kind of plants that could 'not like' people he was referring to, "And thank you. Angela's family owns a small nursery as well as a gardening center. It came from there."

"I'm still impressed that we got everything that needs to be potted and planted." Hermione offered, "I was as excited as Harry to start this and hopefully brew some potions with our own, home grown ingredients this summer. But seeing all those crates on Christmas day was still a shock."

"I'll bring you guys some stuff from my own greenhouse at some point." Neville offered, "I have some fanged geraniums that I think are used in potions."

"They are," Harry confirmed, "they go in potions that you rub on that work under the skin like muscle relaxers, and that would be awesome. Uncle Moony said they are hard to buy around here."

"Yeah," the brown haired boy nodded, "there's a Ministry ban on selling sentient or semi-sentient plants in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade anymore cause apparently muggleborn were taking them home and risking the Statute of Secrecy."

Petunia frowned as she listened, that didn't sound like the kind of mistake a parent would let their child make… but she had to admit that there are certainly some less-than-stellar parents out there.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

"Why didn't you come to me about this sooner Hagrid?" The Headmaster pinched his nose as he tried to think of what he could do with this information.

"M'sorry sir," the large man's face was low as he answered, "thought I should find what was wrong a'fore I got ya."

"You say the centaurs had been hiding this?"

"Well, not s'much. They don' like when wizards use unicorn parts 'cept the hairs." Hagrid answered, quick to defend his friends in the forest, "They jus' keepin' the bodies from being abused more. I only knew sommat was wrong in the Fores' cause I kep' seein' unicorn blood on the trails."

"So, only now that you stumble upon one of the bodies before they remove it, the centaurs informed you that there is something in the Forbidden Forest that is hunting unicorns for their blood?" Dumbledore was exceptionally practiced at keeping his emotions in check, likely the only reason he wasn't yelling at his groundskeeper.

"S'right. Firenze said it's been there for a couple months. 'Evil stalks these woods' he said."

"Those are the exact words he used?" Albus locked Hagrid's eyes, demanding a truth that he got when the giant man solemnly nodded his head.

They both knew the gravity of Firenze choosing that word to describe the entity in the Forest. The centaur language didn't have words for "good" or "evil," they were not the type to use such labels. For a centaur to call a being "evil" meant that it was fundamentally outside the natural order.

While Hagrid wondered what the entity could be as he left the headmaster's office, Dumbledore was left to contemplate just how powerful Voldemort had become via the effects of the unicorn blood. Especially if he had been doing this for months. Albus shuddered to imagine what that would ultimately do to the soul of whoever Voldemort was currently possessing to exact his will on the world.

At first, he had been loathe to lay blame at one of the staff but he wasn't so sure anymore, Quirinus was beginning to act especially suspect. First though, Albus would ensure there wasn't a new transient staying in Hogsmeade who had taken a recent and unexplained downturn (upturn?) in his or her health. After all, Albus' suspicions of Quirinus likely stemmed from his relative isolation in the castle, and determining the truth without alerting the professor to his suspicions would take time. No, he needed to widen his search first, eliminate the more likely possibilities.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Thursday, January 2nd

"Movies" and "Television" were Ronald Weasley's absolute favorite things about the muggle world. While the Dursleys home was too small to accommodate three extra boys sleeping (Justin Finch-Fletchley had joined them on Monday), they still spent time there during the week when they were too tired to fly or explore the forest at Potter Isle. During those times, Harry and Dudley had introduced Ron and Neville to some of their favorite shows. Neither of them had been present for Dudley's description of television shows during the opening feast, so the final understanding that muggles had invented a way to record what amounted to entire plays and send them into people's homes was staggering!

When Ron and Neville had drawn the comparison to live theatre, Petunia expressed her own wish to go to a play herself. The men in her family weren't big on theatre that didn't include large screens and special effects, but they had to begrudgingly agree that showing their friends a non magical play would be a good experience… but only if the girls had to suffer too. Hermione and the Patils were all too excited for the opportunity, shattering Harry and Dudley's hope that they could get out of it, and after coordinating with the others' parents the event had been planned for the night before they returned to Hogwarts.

On this particular evening the cousins were making good on their promise to Ron to explain who "Crocodile Dundee" is, and he couldn't agree more with their assessment of Charlie. They watched both "Crocodile Dundee" as well as its sequel, while Ron went from amazed that a muggle could remind him so much of his brother to stupefied at the realization that the main character's foolish bumbling around in "society" was an awful lot like the way his father behaved around muggles… That was not a pleasant thought, basically everyone in the story that didn't already know him thought Dundee was a boob. If it weren't for his special skills he sort of would be, and that was way to close an analogue to magic for Ron's sensibilities.

One thing was for sure, Ronald Weasley wasn't going to be reading any more Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle comics. Muggles were anything but mad, they were brilliant!

"I see what you mean," Ron had said in the intermission between the two films, "but I kinda think he's more of a muggle Hagrid than Charlie. At least Charlie still thinks dragons are dangerous."

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Harry gazed longingly at his uncle's automobile as the group made their way from Number 4 to the Polkiss's home, which they were using as a landing point for their Potter Isle portkey, after they finished their movie night.

"The healers have said good things." Petunia whispered in his ear to get him to keep moving, "They think he'll be stable enough to try a visit on Saturday."

Harry had been itching to visit Sirius since Moony had confirmed that the man was safely recovering in St. Mungos, but the healers had been worried that Harry would trigger a hysterical reaction if he were to visit. When Sirius had first been committed just the mention of Harry's name had been enough for the man to hyperventilate and suffer vertigo and blackouts. Aunt Andi had explained that Sirius spending the last ten years thinking of just about nothing other than seeing Harry again had damaged his mind slightly. Thankfully, there was a silver lining in the form of Sirius' animagus ability, which he had miraculously kept hidden from the guards during his stint in the prison. While his body was, without question, weakened tremendously by his stay in Azkaban; the Dementors had not destroyed his mind as thoroughly as a decade among them normally would have, but he still had a long road to recovery. At least he was able to answer questions when asked without losing his composure, as long as his godson wasn't brought up.

"I hope he gets better soon." Harry responded quietly before he hurried to catch up with the others.