Sixth Year: The Steps Toward The End

by scaryisntit

After losing Sirius, Harry resolves to himself to become stronger, revive the DA and create his own 'army'. In one of the most trying year of his life, Harry will need everything he and his friends can offer to overcome the trails and tribulations before him.

15. One Big Holiday

A/N: Song title comes from the US psychedelic rock band 'My Morning Jacket'. Their third and fourth albums 'It Still Moves' and 'Z' are fantastic, while the new one, 'Evil Urges', was pretty unsatisfying.

Thanks heaps to my beta chem prof for being the helpful, friendly guy he is.

Chapter 15: One Big Holiday

The days before Christmas Eve were some of the slowest and most peaceful of Harry's year to date. Harry had spent a lot of his time alone in his dormitory. His four roommates had all gone home for the holidays. It was a strange feeling to wake up in a room with five beds, usually filled with loud snoring or obnoxious discussions, or even the tense atmosphere that had laced the room for most of the term, to find himself alone. While Harry didn't mind the rest and relaxation he could gain from his temporary freedom from his roommates, there was always a sense of something missing in the dorm.

Hermione and Padma understood Harry's desire for alone time to some extent. The three of them still sat and talked together at mealtimes. Due to the war, most students were forced home by their parents – muggleborn, half-blood or pureblood, it didn't matter. Consequently, the house tables were done away with in favour of a single, long table for all students to sit at. Although this made all four houses sit at the same table, each house minus Harry, Hermione and Padma, sat, for the most part, separately. There were a few other students that had broken the unspoken rules and gained friends in other houses. Times like these were perfect to interact with members of other houses without appearing out of the ordinary. Appearances, though, were still everything, especially to Gryffindors and Slytherins, and the majority of the remaining students remained in their house groups.

The reason for Harry wanting time to himself was so he could think about the first term and the direction of his future. Introspection had almost been forced upon him in the aftermath with Ginny and her spells.

There was his personality.

Lying alone in those many hours at Privet Drive after the Department of Mysteries, sleepless night after sleepless night, Harry had come to many conclusions. The first and foremost was the need for things to change. He could no longer sit idly by and take what was thrown his way when it came. He needed to better himself, magically and as a person, to be able to withstand any further, and likely considerably worse, clashes with the Death Eaters and/or Voldemort. He couldn't allow himself to be so outmatched again. A considerable amount of luck had allowed him to survive that ordeal, and watching Dumbledore and Voldemort duel, he truly realized this time how outmatched he was. That had to change.

On that front, he was partially succeeding. Thanks to Dumbledore, Flitwick and McGonagall, Harry was a far more accomplished duellist than he was at the start of the year.

As a person, he wasn't so sure.

Maturity in part meant becoming an adult, throwing aside the immaturities of youth and accepting your responsibilities. On some aspects that had happened, others, not so much.

Ron and Ginny had changed somewhere along their paths, for whatever reason. Ron had done what he had thought he needed to do, and Ginny had done what she believed was alright to do. It did not redeem either of them, and perhaps nothing ever could or would.

There was more than one occasion where Harry felt like he should have done more in terms of punishment for Ginny. Then there were times when he was glad that the path that been chosen had in fact been chosen. What would have happened if he had pushed further? Would Ginny have been suspended, expelled, or perhaps even imprisoned? The latter was unlikely. Neither Harry nor Hermione fancied sitting in front of a crowd of outsiders, the majority of which had it out for Harry, to detail sections of their lives they'd rather keep to themselves. On the other hand, having her suspended or expelled was perhaps a valid option after all. But, in the end, Ginny was no longer capable of attempting anything further from her position, had she even the desire to.

Unsurprisingly, the gossip network of Hogwarts had immediately hooked onto Ginny's sudden removal from Gryffindor Tower. No one was quite certain where her new quarters were or the reasons. Rumours quickly spread, however, that she had cast an illegal spell, which was true. The spell itself was where they differed extremely. A few students had even hinted at the use of an Unforgivable. A lot of Ginny's friends in Gryffindor had become wary of her and had sat apart from her in the closing days of the term.

Looking around the silent, empty dormitory, Harry let his thoughts drift. Hermione was probably downstairs or up in her dorm either reading or contemplating her last term in a manner similar to his own. While only eleven Gryffindors had actually stayed at Hogwarts for the Christmas break, Hermione had the unfortunate situation of both Parvati and Lavender remaining at school, so she had no respite from her overzealous roommates.

Padma over the past three days had become gradually more and more subdued and quiet at mealtimes. Why, Harry didn't know for sure. It looked, from what he could tell, like it had something to do with her sister. They rarely spoke to each other. There were, though, a small number of moments where they did share conversation, except it was merely civil and seemed forced, and not close and friendly like Harry would have expected. Harry thought about raising his hand about it, but if Padma wanted to talk about it with him, he believed she would approach him.

Harry sat up in bed and leant down to grab a hold on his trunk, heaving it onto the bed, causing the mattress to bounce. He wanted to find something.

Clothes, muggle and wizard styles, took up a fair bit of the used up room inside. Beside them was his Invisibility Cloak, which he had taken to keeping on his person more often than not in case of an emergency, the Firebolt, various knick knacks that a person usually owned, and one other set of items of interest. That set of items was the silverware that Dung had stolen and Harry had retrieved from the thief. Amongst them was a golden locket that he did not know what to make of.

Harry withdrew the locket and leant back into his pillows, dangling it in front of his face by the chain. It was gold collared, surprisingly heavy and had an S carved into the outside of the locket. For several minutes, Harry stared at the locket, trying to determine its purpose. Was it an initial? Slytherin was the obvious name that came to mind. Was it Slytherin's or someone else's entirely? Why was it so different from all the other Black items, and if it really were someone else's, why did the Blacks have it? Although it looked as if it would be completely at home in the Dark house, there was something… off, more so than usual, and… unsettling about it.

Gathering the chain up into his hand, Harry laid the locket on his open palm. He'd seen this thing before, he was sure of it, but when? Dung stole it from Grimmauld Place so that meant it came from there. Had he seen it there during his summer?

The answer was yes. Harry remembered it several moments later, the locket that nobody could open when the lot of them cleaned out Grimmauld Place during his summer before fifth year. It had been discarded, bagged up and left in the attic. Why was Dung searching the attic where all the Dark items were kept? Some of that stuff was immensely dangerous. All the safe items were kept in the house where they were before, unless they were used for meals. That was unless someone had removed the item from the attic and kept it downstairs?

Harry felt himself getting paranoid again and tried to shake it off. Paranoia wasn't productive, nor was it relaxing. Harry reached for his wand and placed the locket before him on his bed covers. When he first had gotten the locket he'd tried to open it to no avail. He had no expectations that this time would be any different, but it was worth a shot. His curiosity left him unable to just walk away without attempting it at least once.

A simple Alohamora proved to be useless, not that anything of value could truly be kept safe if that first year spell could open up the area where the object was hidden. Robbing Gringotts would be surprisingly easy if that was the case.

But what else was there? Even though Harry had reread his school work books from the first year through to fifth, there were very few spells that opened locked doors or items.

Aperio, literally meaning 'open', didn't work either. What was keeping this thing closed was more advanced magic than Hogwarts seemed to provide, or that he'd discovered so far. That only made Harry more curious.

Staring intently at the locket, Harry pondered what other alternatives there could be. Spells designed to open or unlock doors were useless. He needed to know what kind of magic was keeping the jewellery shut and he could work from there.

He didn't know how to find that out though. Harry contemplated what he could do for several minutes, and in the end he chose to question Hermione about opening the locket. Sighing, Harry threw the locket back in his trunk with the silver utensils, goblets and other assorted items that Dung had stolen. A minute later, his trunk was back on the floor and Harry was out the door, keen to talk to Hermione, and Padma, to discuss the locket over lunch. It was only once Harry had arrived at the Great Hall that he realized that whatever mysteries the locket held would have to put on the backburner for the time being.

The single, hall length table was mostly empty, it being early for lunch time, though Harry, Hermione and Padma had designated a time to meet each day so they could eat together. Daphne had refused to sit with them as there were Slytherins present.

As Harry crossed the through the large doors between the Entrance and Great Halls, Harry saw that today was no different in that respect. What was different, though, was the tense atmosphere inside the Great Hall.

Padma and Hermione were already there, seated and waiting for him. Their attention, on this occasion, was elsewhere. He stopped walking and watched the two of them for a moment. Padma was alternating between staring at her food or staring somewhere up the other end of the table. Harry followed her gaze to find Parvati, seated beside Lavender, staring back distastefully. Lavender looked as bewildered as Harry felt. He glanced back to Hermione, who was looking between the two of them worriedly.

Just what did I miss?

Glancing quickly at the other nine that were in the Hall as well, Harry saw that their attentions were divided between their separate conversations and the twin sisters. Harry moved again and tentatively sat down next to Hermione, across from Padma.

"What's going on?" Harry whispered, startling Hermione.

Padma didn't react or reply. Hermione glanced between the twin sisters again before focusing on Harry. Leaning in close, she whispered, "We were coming back from the library – don't give me that look," she scolded seeing Harry's look of disbelief. It was nearly Christmas. You weren't meant to spend time in a library on Christmas Eve.

Hermione elaborated, seeing Harry wasn't quite ready to drop it. "We were researching detection spells for magic on us and magic around us."

Harry's mouth formed an 'o' as the implications set in. "Good idea," he conceded.

Hermione gave him a half-hearted withering look. "As I was saying, on the way back from the library we passed Parvati and Lavender. Padma tried to talk to Parvati…"

"But?" pressed Harry.

A troubled sigh followed. "Just summarizing what happened, Parvati gave the impression she wanted nothing to do with her sister anymore," Hermione elaborated in a rush.

Alarmed, Harry whirled around to look at Padma and then Parvati. Both twins were too absorbed in each other to respond to his silent examination.

"Why?"

Hermione bit her lip and glanced between the two sisters again. Harry followed suit. Padma leant her chin against her hand, her eyes on Harry. She sighed.

"Ginny and my sister became friendly around the time we think you were hit with that spell," Padma deadpanned. Harry tried to hide his surprise; he'd figured Padma wasn't listening to his conversation with Hermione.

"I hoped it was a coincidence," Padma admitted. She took another bite of a salad she didn't taste. "But her reaction isn't offering me comfort. What do you make of it?"

Harry and Hermione didn't immediately respond or even attempt to. Padma took a deep breath, still awaiting a response, and then swallowed and sighed. It took Harry several moments to understand that their lack of response had given her the confirmation she hadn't wanted.

A few months before, Harry had sat down with Padma and briefly talked about Parvati. It was back then that he had first taken interest in the Patil twins. Also, it was back then he realized that they had drifted apart. Padma still cared deeply for Parvati despite this. Presently, Padma did not want to lose what dregs of a relationship remained between them. Being separated by House, and unfavourable Houses at that – Ravenclaws usually had double classes with Hufflepuffs – meant they rarely saw each other, let alone sat down and bonded as sisters. Especially in these years, the years where you started to become who you would be, and underwent changes in the mental and physical states. These were the years where people could and would change from month to month, week to week, day to day.

For a moment, Harry considered telling Padma to let it go, to not confront her sister. But he understood that she would always remember her sister upon her actions here, like he with Ron. And also like he with the entire spell mess, she needed closure. The only way that was going to come to her was if she did confront Parvati.

"Getting closure is important," Harry said softly so only Padma and Hermione heard him. "Trust me; I have more experience than I'd like."

Padma nodded in acknowledgement.

"Can I-we do anything?" asked Harry, nodding to the almost forgotten Hermione beside him. He wasn't sure what he could do but he felt the need to do something. Padma had helped him when he needed it and, even if she weren't a friend, he owed her one.

"I don't know." Padma shook her head. She reached out and traced a strand of her hair from the top to the bottom and gently moved it out of her face and behind her ear. Harry had seen the movement before; it was something she did when she was in deep thought.

"I don't know what to do, what to say, when to do or say it," Padma sighed. "I apologize; Harry, Hermione, but you can't understand how difficult it is to hate a sibling, especially a twin. How do you even instigate a fight? Ugh, I hate this."

"I think you should just ask her directly," Hermione offered. Padma faced her, surprised and slightly ashamed to have neglected asking her input thus far.

"Walk up to her and ask?" she rhetorically asked. She shook her head again. "I don't know. I don't know how to deal with this."

Harry screened his mind in the hopes of finding something wise and useful to say and add to no avail. All his arguments just… happened.

"Let's talk to her after everyone leaves then," Harry said, laying his knife and fork to rest, uninterested in eating anymore. "If you want, we, or one of us, can be there. Don't know what use we'd be…"

"Harry," Padma said, slowly, surprised. "Thank you."

Harry shrugged off the appreciation. The three of them returned to a silence, not uncomfortable but not comfortable either.

Harry had to wonder why Parvati hadn't started something yet, and better yet her motives for, if she had, becoming involved with Ginny. More than three weeks had passed since the end of the spell mess and she, if she were involved, had done nothing about messing with him. He honestly knew nothing about Parvati being involved besides seeing her and Ginny together, a sight that he had seen only on occasion years prior. It wasn't much. But Padma seemed convinced.

"Harry," Padma said suddenly. Harry, who had been staring off into the distance for the past couple of minutes, snapped back to attention. Padma looked away, her usual confidence absent, and quietly said, "Out of everyone involved, you have the most right to know what happened. Parvati …" she paused, sighed and then stared deep into Harry's green eyes, her own brown ones revealing more about her than her words. They were troubled, fearful and … there was acceptance in there. "…was likely involved or knew what Ginny was doing. I don't doubt it anymore; it's one or the other. Could you… would you be there?"

"Of course," Harry replied immediately, a little surprised at being asked.

"And you, Hermione?"

"Of course," replied Hermione, the same for her.

Maybe Padma didn't believe she could do this alone. Maybe Padma didn't believe she would accept everything she was told if there wasn't someone else there to hear it as well. Maybe Padma didn't believe she would be able to go through with it if there wasn't someone there reminding her of what the stakes had been.

Whatever the reason, she had asked. But before anything more could be discussed on the subject, the second of two unexpected events that day began.

"Oi, Patil!" a voice called out, interrupting the near silence in the Great Hall.

Whatever chatter was present died down immediately. The entire hall turned to find the source of the voice. To everyone's surprise, especially Harry, Hermione and Padma, a dozen seats down was Daphne Greengrass staring back at them, a malicious smirk on her face. There were five other Slytherins seated around her, including Nott and Parkinson – Malfoy had disappeared for the holidays, to Harry's surprise and disappointment, as he had been hoping to corner him with the school less crowded and get answers.

Nott and Parkinson were watching the proceedings with intense interest.

Padma, Hermione and Harry were silent, confused. In such a public setting, they'd never exchanged any words. And it had been Daphne, the one who had warned the rest that she wanted no one to speak to her in public, to instigate.

"Trouble between the brains and fashion queen are there?" Daphne continued amusedly, leaning her chin on her hand, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe you should kiss and make up? Isn't that what twins do alone? Or is that what the problem is? Not getting enough, being separated at Hogwarts and all?"

A stunned silence followed before a series of near-inaudible murmurings filtered up and down the table. Padma was watching her verbal assailant with shock. She wasn't alone in it either. Harry was staring at Daphne, stunned.

"Daphne!" Hermione exclaimed. The whole Hall had quieted, watching the events unfold. "What –"

"– Shut it, Granger." Daphne cut across harshly. "If I was talking to you … no wait, I don't ever want to talk to you. Never mind." There were a few guffaws from the other two Slytherins that Harry wasn't familiar with, and smirks from the more familiar ones. Any pot-shot at Hermione was amusing to them, really.

Hermione clenched her hand on her fork. She, being the one that suggested Daphne's involvement, had put her faith in her. Seeing and hearing this, she was hurt, deeply hurt by Daphne's words, coming from someone she held faith in, and, frankly, her case that there were Slytherins out there worth knowing.

"What do you want Daphne?" Padma replied coldly, her eyes hard. Harry had never seen such coldness in Padma before.

"Oh nothing in particular," Daphne replied with a careless wave of her other hand. "Can't a person just talk?"

"They can when they are civilized," Padma shot back.

This isn't good. Harry thought hurriedly. Daphne picked a really bad time to pick a fight. This is going to get out of hand quickly if this doesn't end now.

"Civilized?" Daphne said, mock surprised. "Me, not civilized? It's you, Indians, that aren't civilized. You may be pureblood, but you're nothing better than a mud…"

"Quiet!" Harry bellowed, slamming his hands onto the table, his plates and glass clattering from the vibrations, and standing. He glared at Daphne with enough anger to rival even her infamous glares. For a moment, Harry swore he saw a flicker of apprehensiveness cross Daphne's eyes. It was that made him hesitate and gave Daphne the time to collect herself.

"Same with Granger, Potter," Daphne said far quieter, but no less unkind than before. "This doesn't concern you, no matter how cosy you two have been lately. Stay out of it."

"What's your problem, Daphne?" said Harry angrily. "What the hell did we – or Padma – ever do to you?"

Daphne sent Harry a condescending glower. Harry didn't back down, staring back just as intently. Her mouth opened, as if about to say something, then closed a moment later. Harry noticed and was only further confused by it.

Daphne licked her lips and tossed her hair aside in a careless gesture, choosing her words carefully before speaking. "It's more the fact you exist –" replied Daphne eventually.

"– Don't give me that." Harry cut across. He stepped over his bench, keeping his eyes on the blonde, and made his way past several wide-eyed students, who turned to keep them in their eyesight. But before he'd even gotten five steps he was interrupted.

"Mr. Potter!" a shrill voice called out. The entire Hall turned to face the table at the head of the room. Standing there was Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher, eyeing Harry closely. "That's enough. I let this continue in the hopes that you students could sort your own arguments. Clearly I can't count on you lot for some simple maturity."

She walked around the table, her every movement expressing disapproval, and made her way level to Harry. Up close, she was shorter than the still growing Boy-Who-Lived. "After what has happened to you and Ms. Granger, I expected better behaviour."

Harry had the fight the urge to snap back. He wasn't going to attack Daphne… at least he would only to it verbally.

Professor Burbage faced the rest of the students. "Finish your meals and be on your way. It's almost Christmas for Merlin's sake. Try and be cheery."

Burbage sent Harry one last warning glance before returning to the head table. A Professor always sat in on meals. After more than five years at Hogwarts, one could forget the presence of the Professor when in the Great Hall, especially one normally as quiet and withdrawn from common sight as Burbage was.

The anger felt had mostly dissipated with the interruption; Harry faced Daphne again to find her already getting up and leaving with the rest of the Slytherins.

He stood there, watching her leave without a second glance. What had just happened? It was true that they hadn't truly spoken since the last DA meeting he went to … so what had happened in the past month that caused this change?

Harry about-faced to look at Padma and Hermione to see if they had any answers. The two of them were just as surprised and shocked as he was. The only consolation was that he had missed nothing by being an absentee.

Harry slumped back into his seat beside Hermione and sat there in deep thought. His mind played out a dozen ideas, each more unlikely than the next and all stemming from Daphne betraying them. Again, he was missing something, something important that explained everything. He was really beginning to hate that feeling.

He couldn't get to her now, not with a half dozen Slytherin entourage. He'd find the right time later. Right now he had to deal with Padma and Parvati.

A few more people left the Great Hall. Parvati and Lavender finished and left too, passing by Harry, Hermione and Padma without some much as a glance.

"I want to deal with this now," Padma said softly once the other two had passed. Harry and Hermione nodded.

The three of them stood, extracted themselves from the benches and followed the two Gryffindors out. It took a minute to catch up.

"Parvati," Padma called out calmly, diplomatically. "A word, please."

Lavender stopped and glanced between the twins with confusion written all over her face. Parvati hadn't stopped, and Harry had to wonder what Parvati hoped to achieve by acting as such.

"Hermione, it might be best if you take Lavender with you," Padma suggested in a no nonsense voice, not taking her eyes off Parvati for a moment.

Hermione walked past Padma and gently directed Lavender away, whispering to her as she did. Harry watched the two leave, Lavender glancing between Parvati and Hermione, confusion and worry evident on her face.

Harry and Padma quickly followed Parvati and managed to catch up again soon enough. This time Parvati grudgingly stopped at being called out.

"What do you want to say, sis?" Parvati said darkly, turning and facing her.

They were on the second floor, alone. Parvati was standing a dozen or so meters away from Padma, and Harry a few steps behind her. He cast a privacy charm immediately.

Padma didn't reply for a moment. Harry watched as she collected herself, trying to brace herself for whatever the confrontation would bring.

"I want to know what your involvement was with Ginny and her spell on Harry," Padma answered once she felt herself ready.

"What makes you say that I was involved at all?" Parvati replied snappishly.

Harry was rather taken aback by the attitude Parvati was exuding. She was normally a lot like Lavender, giggly, completely girly, and attentive only for matters involving 'boys', clothes or Divination. Right now she was acting… Daphne like.

He chose to field Parvati's question. "Around about the time I found myself under the spell, you suddenly spent more time with Ginny. She's been here for four years and suddenly you become chummy at just that time? You have to admit that it's suspicious."

Parvati shifted on her feet, her hands on her hips, her left hip jutting outwards slightly. Her pose challenged him. "What about it?" she said, an eyebrow raised.

"I want to know what your involvement in all that was," Padma repeated shortly, her sister's attitude starting to get the better of her.

"My involvement?" replied Parvati, her eyebrow remaining cocked. "I had nothing to do with Ginny's obsession with Harry."

"You bloody well did," Padma deadpanned. Parvati lost her cold demeanour for a moment. She knew that Padma only swore when she was immensely ticked off.

"You're telling me that you have been sending Harry and me those contemptuous looks the last two months for absolutely no reason?" Padma asked harshly. She steeled herself and added, "Or are you simply daydreaming about him and hating me for our friendship?"

Parvati's skin appeared to colour. It was hard to tell from Harry's position. What more, he could tell this was about to become very emotional, very quickly.

But now that he was here, Harry had absolutely no idea how to help. He was a spectator, nothing more.

"Daydreaming about him?" Parvati repeated shrilly. "Why would I waste my time on someone who –"

"– Ignored you at the Yule Ball?" Padma interrupted her twin. "Instead spent his time watching Cho Chang until you were fed up and left with some Beauxbatons boys? You certainly 'wasted your time' on him then."

"That has nothing to do with this!" Parvati shouted, her face flaming red.

"Then what does?" Padma asked insistently, her hands tightening into fists in her frustration. "What's so important to you that it makes you help that girl force Harry into near slavery? For Morgana's sake, Parv, this is serious!"

Parvati took three steps forward, somehow making the gap between them shrink enormously. The two of them were only a couple meters apart now. They stared each other down.

"What makes you think you can understand?" Parvati said furiously, pointing at her twin. "What makes you think you can understand anything about love when all you do is 'study'?"

"As opposed to what?" Padma replied, her own hands gesturing wildly. "Discussing which boy is the cutest, ooh-ing at anything remotely cute or fawning over part-human Divination teachers? Yes, I can see how I am completely in the wrong here." Padma sighed and her tone lost her venom for a moment. "How do you expect to manage through life on your own like that?"

"At least I have fun," Parvati retorted angrily.

"Fun?" Padma scoffed. "You don't know what happens in my life anymore, Parv. I have a great many friends who I care about, and they me. My fun stems from being with them, not from prattling on about how 'hot' someone is or isn't."

"And whose fault is that?" questioned Parvati with a sour expression. "It's not like you come talk to me between classes anymore."

"We've been drifting for four years now," Padma replied in a calmer, more solemn voice. "We were fine our first couple of years. You know what changed, you just won't admit it."

Parvati was silent after that. Padma seemed to have drawn Parvati into a path she didn't want. Harry, on the other hand, had ceased to follow the exchange. This was new territory for him. What had happened four years ago?

"Did you have any involvement in Ginny's plot?" Padma asked again.

"She did everything on her own," Parvati answered curtly. She ran a hand through her long, black hair and settled her eyes on Harry for the first time since the fight had started. Padma noticed and inched a little closer. "I knew. That's all."

"Why didn't you tell me, or him? You had to know how wrong what she was doing was!"

"Why should I have?" she responded, and her uncaring tone surprised both Padma and Harry. What had he done to induce such a response to his wellbeing from her?

"You'd let what could have happened happen because he messed up your dream night?" asked Padma, her tone betraying how astounded she was. "This isn't like you. What happened?"

"Him," Parvati said quietly, her eyes flicking towards Harry and then back to Padma.

"Him?" Padma repeated coldly, her hair flailing everywhere as she faced Harry and then her sister once more. "His name is Harry."

The two of them turned to face Harry. He suddenly wished he could shrink into the ground.

"You don't understand, sis!" Parvati went on, taking several steps forward and stopping directly in front of her twin. They were the same height, almost identical in appearance. The most immediate difference Harry could determine was Parvati's hair was straighter and shinier, no doubt originating from many hours in front of the mirror. "You don't understand what I feel! What he did to me!"

"What then!" Padma shouted exasperatedly. "What could he have possibly done to you that deserved being forced into slavery by that minger?"

Parvati began to slowly walk towards Harry, Padma matching her movements. Harry watched Parvati level with him and begin to slowly pace up and down, not taking her eyes off him or Padma for a moment. Padma was motionless, watching her sister, though an eye was on Harry. They were close enough to touch if they wanted to.

"You, Harry, it's always you, isn't it?" Parvati said. "I accidentally stumbled upon Ginny casting the spell on you, the night after you two were caught snogging."

"We weren't snogging!" exclaimed Harry, frustrated. "The bloody gossipers in this school –"

Parvati cut across him. "– That doesn't matter!"

"Then what does?" Padma asked seriously, crossing in and out of Harry's vision. He really didn't like being the middle of these two witches. "Why do this? Why not say anything, why this attitude to us?

"The Yule Ball –"

"– Of course…" Harry interrupted sarcastically.

Parvati glared at Harry for a moment, who unwilling flinched. She was beyond furious and he could literally feel it.

"Pride," Padma surmised. Harry looked at Padma briefly and saw the understanding in her eyes. She had been right after all.

Parvati stopped pacing and stood stock still, staring between Harry and Padma before settling on the former only. "You hurt me," she deadpanned.

Harry faced Parvati, his face not betraying his emotions. He was sorry that he had hurt her, hurt her so much that she was pushed to this, but he didn't know why or how something so insignificant came to this. He prayed silently to himself that there was more to it.

"The Yule Ball was to be the biggest night of our lives back then," Parvati explained furiously. "A dress up ball with fancy dresses and dress robes, young, eligible males to be our dates with after parties around the school, it's what many teenage girls dream of for their celebrations, Harry. This was to be our night of firsts." She raised her hand and began ticking items off with her fingers as she went on, her voice softening as she drifted into her fantasies.

"Our first dance, our first dates, our first dress up ball, our first kisses!"

Padma scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Didn't you wonder why the apparent 'prettiest girls in school' weren't taken when you finally asked, Harry?" Parvati asked, ignoring her sister. She took a step forward and reached out to touch him. Padma intercepted the hand and pushed it aside, standing protectively in front of Harry.

Parvati glared at her sister vehemently, crossing her arms. "Sis here didn't even want to go," she said condescendingly.

Padma bristled. "Why would I have been interested in a night of dancing with boys expecting what they shouldn't? I was content to spend the night with Su thank you very much."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sis. I'll make sure to write you off the list of people to set up then."

Padma glowered at her twin. "You can be so much like her it amazes me."

Parvati was stunned into silence. Her arms fell to her side. Whatever Padma had meant was lost on Harry but not Parvati.

"Don't bring her into this; she isn't a part of this," Parvati threatened in a dark tone.

"You know everything changed when she appeared," Padma replied in a similar manner. She raised her hand and pointed at her twin and spoke accusingly. "You didn't notice it; you latched onto her as soon as she appeared. I did notice." Padma shook her head sadly. "You weren't the one on the outside."

Padma paused and her face softened. She reached out to touch Parvati, to try and form a connection with her and end the fighting, only to have her hand pushed aside.

"So, what, it was wrong of me to want someone?" demanded Parvati, and there were tears forming in her eyes. "No offence, sis, I can only stand a certain amount of reading until I'm ready to flip. I needed something you couldn't give me."

"And these last two years?" asked Padma airily, her voice quivering. "What about them? We'd grown up enough by then to not need her and you still spent every waking second tailing and admiring her. You didn't make any effort to talk to me."

"I'm not like you, Pad, I can't live without someone."

"You never had to," Padma said quietly. "You never even gave enough time to adjust. The second she was in picture, you were on her and never let her go."

"And you were okay," Parvati spat. "I can't believe how easy it was for you. It was like you didn't care."

Padma flinched at her sister's words. She clenched her eyes shut and Harry saw a tear trickle down her cheek.

"Of course I cared!" she shouted angrily. "She was –"

"– I needed someone," Parvati interrupted bluntly. Padma didn't open her eyes. "I don't understand how you couldn't." Parvati's face softened and a tear fell. "I used to admire you for being so strong…" Her face hardened slightly. "… but this was too much. I couldn't hate you. You're my twin, I can never hate you. But…." Parvati trailed off, but her thoughts were clear.

"I missed her and I needed her too." Padma whispered.

"You didn't act like it. You were like me and then," she clicked her fingers. "You were okay."

"Don't you remember the game we played when were young?" asked Padma sadly, quietly, while keeping her eyes shut. "We used to see how long we could last keeping a straight face. You'd try to make me laugh or smile."

"Oh..." whispered Parvati, an unwelcoming realization dawning on her. She shook her head twice quickly, disbelieving.

"I always won," Padma reminded her, opening her tear filled eyes. "I hated it when everyone would fuss over us, I hated when they thought we weren't listening they would pity us. I coped, Parvati. I coped the only way I could."

Harry sneezed.

Padma and Parvati whirled around, their hair flailing wildly as they did. Both were visibly shocked. They had forgotten he was present. He hadn't made much noise.

Parvati's resolve hardened again. Harry could see it in her features. They'd been making progress, though Harry was at a loss as to what towards and what this stemmed from. He wished he hadn't interrupted.

"That has nothing to do with this," Parvati repeated coldly. Padma let out another tear and half-heartedly wiped at her eyes with her robes sleeve.

"Of course it does," Padma countered fiercely. "This isn't about Harry. This is about you, me and her. You're just using him as an outlet."

But Parvati wasn't listening anymore.

"I was waiting, hoping you would ask me, Harry," Parvati whispered, and her voice was soft and wistful. Padma let out a frustrated groan and Harry could tell she was restraining herself from doing more. "When you did ask, you wouldn't believe how happy I was. My dreams were coming true." Parvati had a small reflective smile on her face for a second, before it disappeared, only to be replaced by a dark, solemn gaze.

"Then you ignored me all night," she said brusquely. "We danced, what, twice, at the start because we had to. Everything I hoped the night would be was crushed because of you."

"And that warrants you aiding Ginny to turn me into a mindless berk?" Harry asked exasperatedly.

"Come on, Parv, tell him everything," Padma goaded. Harry could tell she wasn't caring about what she said anymore. "You've said this much, you might as well tell him the last part."

Parvati's face darkened. "I was in love with you and you rejected me over that bint Cho Chang."

"How in the name of Merlin were you in love with me?" challenged Harry furiously. "What do you even know about me?" Harry took a threatening step forward, moving out of Padma's protective stance, frustrations from years of people presuming things about him spilling out. "I'm not the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived! I'm Harry, Harry Potter, and whatever you've fantasized about is not who I bloody well am!"

"Harry," said Padma quietly, trying to placate him. She placed her smallish hands on his chest, halting him. "It's okay Harry," she said softly. Padma maintained her focus on him, cocking an eyebrow when he didn't immediately stand down. Harry looked into the young woman's eyes and his own anger was drowned out by the cacophony of emotions in hers.

Content for the time being regarding Harry, Padma spun on the spot a second time to face her twin sister. Harry didn't interfere. Her eyes had been pleading, desperate.

"This stupid thing with the Yule Ball, Parvati, it isn't worth this," Padma implored to her, keeping between Parvati and Harry but moving closer to her twin slowly. "It isn't worth hating him for. We were fourteen! What could you have expected from a kid who has no experience with anything like this? He didn't grow up our way. Surely you knew that. We all talked about it first year, how he wasn't what we expected."

Parvati didn't respond, and Padma became even more distressed.

"Why, Parv," Padma begged, stepping forward and grasping her twin on the shoulders, shaking her to make sure of her attention. "Why didn't you just let it go?" she asked, trying to recapture her sisters' gaze.

Harry stepped forward, placed his own hands on Padma's shoulders and gently tried to pry her aside. Padma shrugged him off and shook Parvati roughly. Briefly, Harry saw the well of tears in the eyes of the both sisters, as well as the desperation.

"We're teenagers, sis," reminded Padma emotionally. "We all make mistakes and nothing is ever perfect. Talk to me about her, please. Let's focus on the real issue and not this act. Parvati..."

"She isn't all that bad, Pad," Parvati said quietly. "You don't know her like I do."

"That's because she has no interest in something as modern as a woman reading," Padma seethed. "She's content where she is."

Parvati pushed Padma off, her anger covering her features again. "I don't want to talk about this, and especially not in front of him."

Padma recoiled at the harsh tones, her entire posture screaming fear and desperation.

"Just leave me alone, Pad," Parvati said. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Your sister is trying to help," Harry spoke pleadingly. "Don't you understand how much this is hurting her?" He didn't know what this was all about anymore. All he truly understood was how much this was tearing up Padma. Anyone could.

"Don't, Harry," Parvati said tersely "You're not innocent in this either. You two," she looked between Harry and Padma, before shouting indignantly, "Getting all cosy together when you knew how I felt!"

"Not this again…" muttered Padma.

"We're friends and you have no right to interfere with that," Harry said furiously. "You said you loved me. What have you done to try and get to know me? Come on, this isn't about me, is it?"

This was another territory that Parvati didn't want to speak about, perhaps because her charade was exposed and she didn't want to admit it, perhaps another invisible reason. Instead, she let out an aggravated growl, turned and began walking away again.

"Parvati," Padma called after her. "Please Parvati!"

When no answer came, Padma raced after her twin, Harry a few steps behind her. Padma stepped in front of Parvati and placed her hands on her twin's chest, halting her movement.

"Please, Parvati, this isn't right," she pleaded. "We shouldn't be arguing about this. Can't we go back to how things were when Mum was –"

"– Mum's gone." Parvati replied harshly, yet her voice wavered with the weight of her words. With a quick movement, Padma's hands were knocked aside and Parvati walked off.

"Parvati!" Padma cried. She did not follow this time.

Without hesitating, Parvati reached the end of the hall and disappeared from sight.

Walking slowly towards Padma, Harry heard a small sob. He reached out and gently laid a hand on her shoulder again. At the contact, Padma let out a second, louder sob and quickly enveloped Harry in a fierce embrace. He reciprocated after recovering from the sudden impact.

This went on for a long time. As it did, Harry began to feel rather awkward standing in a hall with a crying female and began to imagine a series of scenarios that would occur if someone stumbled upon this situation. Quite quickly, Harry gently directed Padma to a room a short way ahead and set up the usual spells on the door, ensuring privacy.

The two sat together on the cold, harsh stone against the similarly cold, harsh wall. Padma continued to lean on Harry and he relaxed, lifting his left hand to stroke the dark hair of the equally dark skinned girl. Her hair was soft, silky almost, though not as well cared for as Parvati's appeared, and, considering her position near his chest, smelt strongly of something he knew, but couldn't place.

Before long, Padma began fully fledged crying. Harry patiently sat beside her, letting the girl expel all she could. While not one to cry, he understood the need for it sometimes.

Occasionally he made shushing sounds. Harry continued to run his hand through Padma's hair, hoping it was calming. It took several minutes but Padma started to calm down. She didn't release her grip on Harry in the least, however, and Harry continued to stroke her hair.

"She'll come around one day," Harry said quietly after a moment more silence. Padma shook her head into Harry's robes, unintentionally leaving a trail of wetness from her tears.

"I hoped I was wrong, that Parvati wasn't somehow involved," Padma said sadly. "I was lying to myself."

"You didn't want to lose your sister," Harry reminded her, continuing to stroke her hair softly. "From experience I can safely say that you'll always try to deny the unpleasant reality regardless of how obvious it is. It's probably human nature, to avoid and hide truths that hurt."

"We're teenagers, Harry," said Padma, shaking her head again. "We shouldn't have to deal with this. It's not right."

"When is the world right?" Harry asked rhetorically. "If the world was right there'd be no Dark Lords, Death Eaters or any crime whatsoever, let alone Ron, Ginny, and Parvati doing what they did."

Padma gently pushed herself upright and wiped her eyes. Harry extracted his hand from her hair and heard the girl whisper, "Sorry."

"It's okay," replied Harry honestly. He knew her apology went deeper than the damp spots of his robes. Instead he tried cheering her up by grinning slightly and saying, "If crying on me helped, then I suppose I'm okay with that."

Padma laughed softly. "Don't ever change, Harry."

Unsure what to say to that, he merely smiled in a hopefully reassuring way.

A more comfortable silence ensued.

"Can I ask a favour?" asked Padma seriously.

"We are friends, Padma," Harry said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "There's no need to ask."

Through her wet eyelashes, Harry saw her glance up at him with a small smile. "Just listen then."

The 'Claw shuffled on the bench and leant in close enough to lean on Harry's shoulder, mimicking their first real heart to heart conversation against the wall in Ravenclaw Tower. The only difference was their positions were reversed.

"During our second year here, our mother died," Padma opened. Harry visibly reacted to this. Although not one to listen to gossip, one would assume that big news like that would find its way to him one way or another. But perhaps neither twin had spoken about this to enough people for the news to spread.

"It was an accident overseas," Padma explained. "Magic can do a great many things but it has its limitations, and…, well, my mum didn't survive."

Harry nodded his understanding; his hand reaching over Padma's back to her opposite shoulder and put a little pressure on, drawing her closer.

"Since then, things have become… strained… at home." Padma shook her head into Harry's shoulder. "We went home for the holidays and we were all a mess. She was young; we hadn't expected her passing on to be so sudden, so random."

"I don't think it's supposed to be drawn out," Harry whispered, more to himself than to her, thinking about how quickly his own parents had passed on.

Padma simply nodded and continued. "Dad met and married a new woman within six months during our third year, and that only made the situation worse. Parvati and I initially couldn't stand the idea of someone taking her place. She wasn't our mother, she had no right to try and take her place. But Dad forced us to get along. Yet she held no interest in us and we her. We couldn't wait to return to Hogwarts and get away from her."

Padma sighed deeply.

"For a long time Dad and her were very into each other. You couldn't find one without the other. They went out every other night to some expensive restaurant and a show or a walk in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park – all the pretty places, and the other nights they would spend every moment either in their bedroom or out the back in our pool or our gardens – she has some fascination with gardens, plants, flowers, whatever – yet you wouldn't catch her tending to one in this or the next lifetime. That phase lasted until they got married and returned from their honeymoon. It was a few days after that, during the summer before fourth year, when our beloved stepmother started losing interest in Dad."

Padma shook her head into his shoulder a second time. "Initially she spent no time with Parvati and me – we were in the background to her, something to be known and ignored – and we were left to cope with Mom's passing and her inclusion to the family by ourselves. At some point Parvati had begun to like her. Perhaps it was because of her clothes – always the best for her – or some other reason entirely, but she did and she and I started moving apart."

"After the honeymoon, she took an interest in Parvati and her obsession with clothes and males – two things she knew very well," Padma said in a vile tone. "The two of them would speak at length about both, and she would offer pointers to Parvati on some things we shouldn't have even been thinking about at our age, let alone performing. I'm certain she had never dealt with children or early teenagers before and treated Parvati like one her… friends." Padma practically spat the last word.

Harry cast a curious glance. Padma seemed to sense it and elaborated. "Her friends all dress in expensive dresses, dress robes or, frankly, anything a common person wouldn't be able to afford. Each of them would wear amounts of jewellery that probably fed the store owner for a year. And that's each. Perfume was the same, and in suffocating amounts. And they're horrible people too, the worst personalities you'll experience in higher class society."

"They sound like it," Harry offered. He didn't know what else to say.

Padma nodded again and shuffled on the spot, effectively moulding herself further into Harry's embrace.

"I was left to the side," Padma said depressingly. "Dear stepmother believes that intelligence in a pureblood woman is unnecessary. We should strive to find a strong, wealthy, pureblood man to take care of us and not worry about simple, trivial matters such as self-respect." She sighed and added callously, "Life between Parvati and me has only gotten harder since then. I'm not certain Parvati won't turn out the same. And that disgusts and horrifies me at the same time."

"At home, I'm pretty much ignored now. Dad's still into our stepmother, she enjoys basking in our… wealthy lifestyle." Padma turned aside in embarrassment at the admission. "And Parvati and she seem to get along well now."

"That explains a lot," Harry said. "Why you want so much to be independent. You don't want to be anything like your stepmother. You want to live on your own feet."

"Absolutely," Padma admitted strongly. "I want to earn my way through the world, and not ride on the coattails of someone else. I think that's exactly what my stepmother is doing – her friends too – and I despise that. And that's probably why I try so hard to learn and know as much as I can."

She sighed again.

"This has been a long time coming," Padma went on, staring over at the opposite wall and the stained glass window. "Parvati and I, that is. She knows how I disapprove of her and their relationship. We've nearly fought half a dozen times or so before and… well, you heard us. We've changed a lot since Mum died."

"I'm sorry about you getting caught between us," Padma said sincerely. "Parvati has liked you – loved, I doubt – or at least the idea of you – for quite some time. I don't blame you for wanting to be with Cho more than her. It could have been anyone on your arm that you didn't truly care about that night."

Harry was about to protest but was cut short when he realized that she was right. He had only been interested in Cho at that point. Probably only Fleur would have driven Cho from his mind that night, and her by simple beauty and not by serious attraction. Even Hermione, as beautiful as she was that night, mightn't have been enough.

"You and I becoming friends, with our recent history…" began Padma before trailing off.

"…would have made her angrier at you and that only escalated what she already felt, resulting in what just happened," Harry finished for her in a rush of understanding. While in no way was that an improvement of the situation, it did feel good to not be directly responsible for destroying the relationship between Padma and Parvati. It still disturbed him how vengeful Parvati had become though.

"You'll reconcile with each other, I'm sure," Harry said confidently, rubbing his hand over her shoulder comfortingly.

"Since when were you the optimistic one, Harry?" asked Padma half-jokingly. She wiped at her eyes again.

"Since I'm not the one with a problem," he responded, smiling slightly.

Padma sat up by herself again and looked Harry in the eyes. Harry stared back, taking his arm off her shoulder. Padma's eyes were red from her earlier crying, but instead of the desperation he'd seen earlier, there was a small hint of happiness and hope in there.

"You're a really, really good friend," Padma said, reaching forward with a hand and brushing it against Harry's cheek.

Reacting on instinct and a dash of common sense, Harry leant forward and gently wrapped Padma in a hug, surprising the young woman. "I think I'm getting better at this cheering up thing."

Padma's heart was beating quickly; reacting to Morgana knew what emotions or hormones rampant inside of her. She kissed Harry on the cheek softly, before enveloping him in her own hug.

It was sometime later Padma felt herself composed enough to return to the world around her and Harry. She reluctantly stood up with Harry's help and the two exited the room in search of Hermione. She was waiting for them patiently in Gryffindor Tower, working on some sort of homework.

"Are you alright, Padma?" Hermione asked the moment she saw her. In an instant, her homework was forgotten, an odd enough occurrence, and gave her own embrace to Padma, who accepted the gesture as gracefully as Hagrid might have.

"Yeah," replied Padma in a surprised tone. "Thank Harry."

-x-x-x-x-x-

The remainder of Christmas Eve was spent together around Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione and Padma chattered mindlessly about everything and nothing, merely enjoying each other's company and avoiding the topic of Parvati Patil. Before long, the miniature feast that was always prepared for the night before Christmas was underway.

The first thing Harry noticed was the lack of tension compared with the morning. With Padma and Parvati no longer on the edge of a fight, the twins ignoring each other completely, those normally unfortunate enough to sit between them felt far more at ease.

For the most part, the meal was enjoyable, though Padma remained quiet but attentive. The only factor that disturbed the night's mood of general happiness was Daphne Greengrass. More than once Harry caught her glancing at him from her position between Nott and a fourth year Slytherin Harry did not know the name of.

Her attitude towards Padma, Hermione and himself earlier was characteristic of the normal Daphne, in public. On Daphne's insistence, the DA was not to act like they had ever exchanged words with her. Daphne was an outcast amongst her classmates and peers. Few ever communicated with her on a friendly basis, and never a Gryffindor.

She was a complex person. Harry didn't understand her and deemed her as such. Why would anyone willingly avoid friendship? Aside from learning magic, that was the thing that he wanted most when he arrived at Hogwarts, perhaps at times even more so. Her less than welcoming attitude didn't inspire people to get to know her either. So what was her agenda here?

The previous few years had seen the Slytherins become more and more dangerous. Crabbe and Goyle teaming up with a Death Eater to try and lure Harry away from Hogwarts was the most recent and dangerous of the lot. Slowly, the Slytherins were becoming more and more confident in their actions and Daphne was stuck in the middle of it.

She was forced to meet Harry in secret constantly. When she was in her common room, if she let slip anything about her involvement with Harry or anything about any of the rest, she would be in trouble for it.

So, Harry asked himself, what's happening? Had she been found out and was covering herself by acting coldly towards him and his friends? Harry would attempt to find out, but it seemed tonight was not the night for it, as Daphne left surrounded by an entourage of her housemates.

Padma, when Harry bade goodnight after the feast, was more cheerful than she had been several hours prior. The mood was too infectious to resist. But Harry knew she'd spend a lot of the night awake, thinking, contemplating, and searching for a way to bridge the suddenly massive gap between herself and her twin.

The common room was decorated beautifully as always. Harry stepped in, Hermione a few steps behind, and immediately was enveloped with the warmth of the fires, the ever-present smell of burning wood, and the sounds of the crackling fire and chit chatter of a his housemates.

Harry stepped around a few third years who were laughing together and spotted Parvati across the room. Parvati had looked up from her conversation with Lavender and had accidentally caught his gaze. For a long, uncomfortable moment, the two stared unmoving at each other before Parvati stood up and walked off in a huff. Lavender stared after her friend, speechless at the sudden, reasonless exit.

Hermione bit her lip worrying. She looked ready to say something; she instead chose to let the silence linger. The two bade each other goodnight and left for bed several minutes later.

As Harry lay in bed that night, thoughts swirling uncontrollably in his mind, he pondered the likelihood of Padma and Parvati ever reconciling. It hurt him a little that he had lied to Padma, even a white lie, about reconciliation with her sister, though it was what she probably needed to hear.

Still, one could always hope that life would turn out all right in the end.

Yeah, right, Harry scoffed to himself, and he rolled over. For the next hour he tried to shut his mind off and escape into the dream world where everything did work out all right.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Christmas morning dawned to an already awake Harry. Sleep had evaded him for much of the night. He only managed to drift in and out throughout much of it. There had been an unsettling feeling in his stomach numerous times in the night. Finally it had dissipated enough, for whatever sleep was on the table claimed him, only for him to wake a few hours later.

To his surprise, the largest pile of presents he'd ever seen was situated at the end of his bed. The pile rivalled Ron's own piles, even with his abnormally large family.

Excited and feeling like a child for the first time in a very long time, Harry threw the covers off his bed to the ground and crawled forwards on his bed to the end. He quickly counted twelve gifts, one considerably larger than the rest which Harry put aside for later.

The smallest of the group was neatly placed on top the rest. Harry picked that one up first, noticing how soft the item was, and examined it briefly before carefully discarding the red and green wrapping paper.

Inside was…

"Bloody hell!"

It didn't take long for the inner child to grow up. Inside the wrapping paper were two pairs of matching bras and underwear, one navy blue and one a dark purple. Guessing who had sent them was not a difficult task. When a card was found in within the undergarments, Harry's guess was confirmed.

Harry,

Hope you liked our gift! Be sure to keep them safe and out of sight from the other boys in your dorm. These are for your eyes only!

Have a wonderful Christmas and we'll see you in the New Year.

Susan and Hannah

Below the message was a postscript that caused Harry to do a double take.

PS: We expect you to give them back to us. They're for us to wear for you, not for you!

Immediately his mind went into overdrive, creating images of the regular blonde and strawberry blonde wearing the purple and blue undergarments respectively, while ignoring the remark about him wearing them.

Harry snapped back to attention a moment before the images went any further than kissing and mild groping. He was incredibly glad the dorm room was empty right about now. Harry put the card aside, picked up the undergarments, pausing slightly to examine them a little closer, before shaking his head in the hopes the conjured images of Susan and Hannah wearing nothing but the underwear he was holding would disappear, and buried the items in a deep corner in his trunk.

Yep, Harry thought wryly. Those two are definitely getting more sexual.

Perhaps strangely, perhaps not, but the thought of that didn't bother him in the least. It was probably his inner teenager giving him surrealistic fantasies. Well, they weren't hurting anybody, and they had to expect he'd imagine them in their underwear. Admiring their boldness was something he did for a moment, before turning to the next present.

The next gift turned out to be a simple wrist wand holster from Neville. Robes, as much as the wizarding world seemed to like them, were a pain to deal with when drawing a wand quickly. He put it on, testing it out. It seemed to work well enough, though as he was planning on wearing Muggle clothes once he was out of Hogwarts, it may not be as useful as it otherwise could have been.

Su gave him a wand care set, something he desperately needed. The first time he'd even thought of taking care of his wand was at the Weighing of the Wand ceremony two years previous. He had embarrassed himself trying to clean it belatedly with his robe, causing a minor shower of sparks. Examining his wand now, he couldn't say the condition had improved.

Katie gave him a set of Quidditch robes, as he'd grown several inches since the previous school year, and a new pair of goggles with automatic Impervious, De-Fogging and Anti-Glare Charms. Those would be very helpful for the upcoming matches that were usually performed in poor weather, and Harry figured Katie knew that and that's why he got them.

Ernie's gift turned out to be a notebook. On the outside there was nothing remarkable about it, however on the inside there was. Divided into sections were the subheadings of 'Sport', 'Homework', 'Appointments', 'Social Engagements' and, what Harry figured was an addition that Ernie made himself, 'DA'.

Giving it a test run, Harry wrote a number of spells he and Hermione intended to teach the DA over the remainder of the year with several corresponding falsified dates. He closed the notebook, waited a moment, spoke aloud one of the false dates and opened the book. The first page was marked as the date he'd specified, with the spell he'd written for the date written underneath the DA heading.

Next was Luna's gift. After unwrapping the present, he found a leather bound book with some sort of creature drawn on the front. It moved about, sniffing at his fingers on the cover. If he didn't know any better, Harry would have to say it was an animal book. Knowing Luna however, Harry figured it would be filled with the creatures she was familiar with rather than the usual Hippogriffs, Chimeras, Phoenixes and other assorted 'normal' magical animals.

Considering the third page included a picture of what a Crumbled Horned-Snorkack was supposed to look like, Harry considered himself correct.

The next gift was the largest of the lot and, to his surprise, came from the Weasley family. This was one gift he hadn't been expecting this year.

Warily, he opened the package to find the usual Weasley jumper and a dozen homemade pies inside. There was also a card stuck to the outside that Harry removed and opened.

Dear Harry,

From what I understand it has been a difficult term for you and my Ronald and Ginevra. I hope you can sort out your differences. You are still an honorary Weasley, Harry dear, do remember that.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mrs. Weasley.

Harry reread the card a second and third time. After what he'd seen in Hermione's memory, it wasn't easy to believe that she could have the audacity to say 'I hope you can sort out your differences'.

Pushing the Weasley items to the side for later thought, Harry moved onto the next present, which turned out to be Hermione's. The previous year's distaste for the homework diaries Hermione had given Ron and himself must've been noticeable as Hermione discarded the homework related items in favour of a new eagle quill and, amazingly, a new watch. The one that stopped working in the Second Task never did get replaced.

This watch did, incredibly, tell the time. On more than one occasion staying with the Weasley's, Harry had had the misfortune to look at the clock in Ron's room to see it say 'get to sleep already' and 'early morning'. God only knew why wizard clocks and mirrors had to have attitude or didn't just give you the bloody time. It was supposed to be their job, after all.

The watch, according to Hermione's card, would automatically tell you the time regardless of which time zone you were, would work underwater and the 'battery' would never run out. He donned it on and moved on to the next one.

Next was Remus' gift. While the two of them had not shared any correspondence since the will reading, Harry felt oddly connected to the werewolf. The gift would mean a lot, coming from the last person to truly know Lily and James Potter, regardless of what it was.

It was a shame that the two of them barely knew each other, despite having that connection to the dead. The Patronus lessons aside, they had rarely spent any time simply communicating with each other.

There was a note accompanying the package which Harry read first.

Harry,

I'm aware that Hagrid gave you a photo album in your first year. In the package is a number of photos of my own that I copied for you. I'm certain that Hagrid wasn't able to acquire all the photos last time. Here are some more to add.

The rest of your present is something less tangible than photographs. I hope we can spend a day together soon so I can show you the rest of your present.

Have a Merry Christmas, Harry.

Remus Lupin

Amongst the pictures were only three Harry had seen before. The pictures ranged from the Marauder's first year all the way up to their days outside of Hogwarts. Suspiciously there was no Wormtail in any of them. In the school photos Harry wondered where the rat was until he realized he didn't care and preferred it that way.

The rest of the present, Harry assumed, were memories, the 'less tangible than photographs' remark a giveaway. That meeting with Remus was something he already started looking forward to. The only memory of his parents he'd seen was Snape's experience after his OWLs and wanted to see some more likeable ones. He wanted to experience for himself the two people that were considered great people and not rely on the worst memories of Serverus Snape to formulate his opinion of his parents.

There were now three presents left, all roughly the same size. The first one Harry picked up turned out to be one from Daphne. He opened the gift to discover a card and a mirror.

To check appearances,

Daphne

After examining the mirror for several minutes and not finding anything remotely magical about it, Harry had a brainwave. Putting the note behind the mirror, Harry looked at the mirror.

At first there was nothing, and then the page suddenly faded into view with another few lines underneath her signature. Quickly Harry looked at the note again around the mirror to find the same four words he'd seen at first. Curious, Harry read the extra lines.

You'll have to tell me how long it took you to figure this out. This mirror is able to see through most glamour's and a variety of hiding spells. Your Cloak will be immune, but most else should be visible. Keep this safe, it will be of great use to you in the future.

Merry Christmas, Potter.

Harry quickly examined the rest of the card for any further messages with no result. He settled on rereading the message and wondering what she meant by it. He would need this in the future? What did she mean by that?

Nonetheless, the mirror could be quite useful given the right situation. Harry put it aside with the rest of the presents he'd received and moved onto the next.

Padma's was next. There was a large multi-photo picture frame inside. Although he had many pictures, mostly of his parents, he had no picture frames to put any of them in. His mind brushed over a number of images he could put inside before settling on an idea he thought would work best.

Since there was room for four pictures, Harry decided to dedicated one spot to the picture of his parents wedding with Sirius, Lily and James laughing happily, oblivious to their tragic future. The next spot would be reserved for a photo of the entire DA, his friends. The third would be a spot for him and Hermione, the one who'd stayed with him through everything. The last would be for him and Padma. It was her gift and, if anything could, the thought that her present would hold a photo of the two of them would definitely cheer her up.

It made sense in his head to do that. Even as friends, giving a picture frame with room for four photos and not having one with the present giver seemed like bad taste.

Harry stared at the last gift apprehensively. The only other person who he thought would send him something was Fleur, and, considering how they had left each other the last time, he didn't know what to expect.

At the thought of the French woman, his heart constricted. Again, a myriad of emotions flooded him and he had no clue as to how to sort them out.

What had happened was complex and yet not. They'd kissed. They'd done more than that in the end. That was straightforward. What was complex was she was engaged at the time.

She was a beautiful woman, who had showed the elegance, grace and beauty of the rich and wealth, which, when compounded with the Veela blood in her, amplified all this. Really, it was amazing she had shown interest in him at all. But she had, and shown enough interest to betray her fiancée and kiss him.

Things were left unresolved, and a few weeks later when they saw each other again, Fleur had broken his heart. It wasn't a surprise, but it was still a shock, and it still hurt.

Harry sighed, leant forward onto his knees and rubbed his eyes, accidentally knocking his glasses to the bedclothes.

He had been happy, surprisingly happy at the Delacour mansion, even when the two of them were nothing more than friends, nothing that had complicated matters so much. Afterwards was like a dream, perfection even. The happiest he'd ever been was when he was in the same bed as Fleur, just being held or holding her. And when they were kissing and he could feel her beneath his hands. What more could he say about how he had felt? Still did?

He'd left France with hope, foolish hope, but hope nonetheless. But she had come to Hogwarts and turned him down in favour of Bill. That was the end of it. He could not compete with someone Fleur was in love with. He was just scrawny, medium-height Harry Potter. So what if he got into danger a lot and managed to escape each time? Bill was a curse-breaker. He did the same every day and probably looked a lot cooler doing it. He couldn't compare.

Hesitating only a moment more, Harry replaced his glasses and picked up the gift. Slowly, carefully, he unwrapped the present. Inside was small box.

Curious, Harry opened the box to find a quill, ink and a pad inside. As with the other presents, a note came with it and Harry began to read it.

Harry,

The Veela have often tried to find alternative ways of communication than the wizards of every era. One of the modern results of this experimentation is the box before you. Once you have written your message on this pad, close the box and say my name. The message will be transported directly to mine. These are the only two my family owns. Take good care of it.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Fleur

Harry set down the note and glanced at the box again. Fleur said that this item was one of two her family owned. Did that mean she still would go to great lengths to help him like she had claimed before?

Even so, Harry was a little disappointed. Not in the gift, he thought it a brilliant idea, but in the lack of anything besides an explanation of what the box was. No substance to the message, no reason to reply except to say thanks. It explained the gift; it wished him a Merry Christmas. It was the standard fair. There was nothing more, nothing less. Considering how they had parted the last time, perhaps he shouldn't have expected more. But rationale did not equate to human reaction and his reaction was disappointment.

He had never gotten to express his feelings to Fleur when she was here – he had been blown away by her saying she had used him to satiate her curiosity about some Veela thing he didn't quite grasp. However, he couldn't honestly say he could express them even now. It didn't feel fair that he had not spoken his piece. Then again, she was already in love with Bill Weasley and his feelings wouldn't have mattered against that.

Harry sighed deeply and fell backwards onto his pillows, groaning, closing his eyes. It was rather unfair that life continued to deal him such low blows, even on Christmas.

Perhaps he should try and move on? With Bill in the picture, he didn't exactly have a lick of a chance. There were many females in his life now. Who knew if someone for him was staring him in the face but he didn't know it? Hermione, Padma, Susan, Hannah, Luna, Su and, God help him, Daphne, were all central in his life now. Fleur wasn't. It was as simple as that.

In their own respect, each was attractive. That was another fact that could not honestly be denied.

The gift – this random box that could communicate to the other of its kind – complicated matters. He could, if he wished, communicate with Fleur and try to start something again. But, realistically, Harry didn't believe that he had a chance. He had communicated well with her in person, not in writing. He'd be best off just moving on.

After several minutes solid thought, Harry was no closer to finding something worth saying. There were walls between them now. Boundaries had been crossed and because of that he'd been pushed back to the start. It was like trying to talk to the Fleur from the first time they met, the one that had called him a child.

In the end, as Harry's stomach began to complain rather nosily, Harry opened the box, lifted out the quill inside and wrote a simple 'thank you'. It was the best he could think of, though it felt horribly insufficient considering what he felt he could say. But perhaps it was best that he not write anything more.

He had lost, if he even had had a chance in the first place. It was foolish to continue to hope and pray that Fleur would come running to him. It was time to move on. Making certain he could fulfil the prophecy was more important now. If something happened, it happened, but he would not waste any more time wallowing in self-pity over it.

Fleur was out of his league anyway. He wasn't even her type; there were no similarities between himself and Bill. What hope could he honestly have had?

He dressed, glad he had made some sort of decision, and made his way down to the common room.

"Merry Christmas, Harry," Hermione said cheerfully the moment his foot touched the carpet at the bottom of the stairwell. A second later he was stuck in a hug from his, surprisingly, not-so-bushy-haired best friend.

"Same to you," Harry replied warmly, thankful she had decided to stay at Hogwarts. "Good haul? And what's with the straight-er hair?"

"Oh, Harry, thank you for 'Ministries and Their Policies'!" Hermione thanked brightly. "I've already read the first chapter and it's amazing how different the Ministries are around the world and –"

"– Hermione," Harry interrupted quickly, for once Hermione got started on how good a book was, he knew from experience she could talk for an hour. He remembered the 'Hogwarts: A History' talks far too well for his liking. "You're babbling already. It's too early in the day."

A red tinge appeared on Hermione's cheeks and she stopped talking immediately. "Thank you for the wonderful gift," she finished a moment later. "Oh – and the hair is something Padma gave me. It is much easier than the potion I used for the Yule Ball. You know how my hair was always bothering me? She found something! Lavender couldn't believe it when I came out of the bathroom." She huffed. "It still takes about a half hour to get it like this. I'll only save it for special days."

"You're welcome." Harry replied sincerely. "And it…" he trailed off, thinking of the right way to say that she looked… attractive… with her hair tamed. In the end, 'nice' was all he could come up with without sounding like he was trying to court her.

"Thanks," Hermione responded cheerily, a little bit of colour still on her cheeks.

"Thanks for the quill and watch too."

"You're very welcome."

"Shall we have breakfast then?"

"We shall," Hermione answered, already on the move to the portrait hole. Harry watched her walk ahead for a moment before moving after her. Whatever had her in such a good mood was helping him too.

Harry was thankful for the experience with Fleur. He truly was. It had taught him a lot about relationships and, as corny as it sounded, his feelings. If there was a next time, at least he had something to work from and he was glad for that.

Harry joined Hermione as she passed through the portrait hole, the Fat Lady grumbling about early mornings as they did. The pair began conversing about mundane matter with ease, and their bad memories were forgotten in each other's company.

-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: Well, Harry has convinced himself that his time with Fleur is over and that it was a brief, one time fling that wouldn't repeat itself, as he's sick of wishing after her. Some of the Christmas items will definitely resurface later in this and next year. That's why I wrote the scene as I did and didn't just mention Harry had received gifts. It also gave Harry the opportunity to decide to concentrate on moving on from Fleur instead of wallowing and moping about it. I might as well add that just because Harry has decided to move on doesn't mean Fleur's avenue is closed. There's more to come from them before either ending – together or not.