Disclaimer: I own nothing of the 'Harry Potter' universe. I make no money writing any of this stuff.
A/N: Wow… for the first time ever I've received more reviews from FFdotNet than from my home at Portkey. Hmmm… curious… Ah, well… this chapter has the aftermath of Harry's marginally successful trip to give Hermione her Christmas present. After this chapter, there'll be a big jump in time, so you'll get to see some of what Harry is learning from the Book. As always, sit back and enjoy! (Word Count: 3809)
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Chapter 11: Harry's First Christmas
Sunday, December 25th, 1988 8:52 AM
"I understand, Ray. Really, I do."
"I just feel badly about leaving you on your own like this. I know that you planned to come here in a few months, but this place isn't quite ready to be lived in yet."
"Well, we don't have much of a choice, now do we?" said Jaana resignedly, "At least now I'll be here all the time, so I'll be able finish it that much quicker… as long as our money holds out."
"Don't worry about the money, I've put a bit extra in your account over in Keflavik, and the rest of the materials should be arriving from Portugal by floo by the week's end. Oh, and the Evergrow will be in the city tomorrow morning, along with the boundary stakes."
When Jaana opened her mouth to complain about his giving them even more money, he just raised his hands and said, "Don't even think about it! I have more Galleons than I know what to do with, and I can't think of a better way to spend it than to help you and Harry. Now, I've got to get back to England and deal with the mess that I'm sure is waiting there for me."
"I'm really sorry I got you dragged into this… if you didn't let us stay…"
"Say no more, Jaana. Having 'Harry Potter' living under my roof is something I can tell my grandkids about…" said Cooley with a laugh in his voice, "when I get around to having kids of my own, that is."
Harry opened his eyes just in time to see Jaana giving Cooley a kiss on the cheek before she said, "You're already like a father to me."
"Hey, now! I'm only thirty-six!" complained Cooley in an affronted voice, "Don't be saying things like that, woman… you'll give me a complex!"
"Still, thank you for everything you've done for us," said Jaana gratefully.
"It has been my pleasure. I'll send an owl as soon as it's safe to do so. Remember, don't send a thing to anyone back there until you hear from me. Now make sure you give the boy those potions as soon as he awakens. I'm sure he's going to have quite the headache when he comes around."
"I will… thanks again."
Cooley left the room and a few moments later, a sharp crack was heard as he Apparated away. Jaana turned around and was surprised to find that Harry was propped up on one elbow and looking curiously around the small, sparsely-furnished and completely unfamiliar room from his bed.
Jaana quickly made her way to Harry's side, picked up one of the three potion vials on the nightstand and asked, "How are you feeling, Harry?"
Harry's eyes slowly focused on Jaana. He pulled his covers more securely around himself as he answered, "I'm okay… I feel a bit cold, though."
He saw Jaana looking back at him in surprise. She put the potion back on the nightstand and gently placed a hand on his forehead as she asked, "You're okay? Are you sure?"
Harry thought about that. He recalled the pain that he was in before he fell asleep, but realized that he actually did feel fine, except for a weird, deep-seated chill that seemed to sit within his chest. He then wondered if he had been asleep for months again, just like after the beating he got from his uncle. His eyes landed on the nearby window where he saw that there was a light frost glazing the glass and traces of snow lining each pane. It was still winter, so he couldn't have been sleeping that long.
Still, Harry was a child, so naturally his first and foremost concern was voiced immediately. He worriedly looked back to Jaana and asked, "Did I miss Christmas?"
Jaana seemed to sigh in relief as a smile crossed her face, "No, Harry, you didn't miss Christmas…"
Harry couldn't stop the broad grin from lighting up his face. Jaana, upon seeing his youthful exuberance, matched Harry's grin with one of her own, but her smile disappeared just as quickly as it came as she continued, "but we do have some things to talk about before we get to presents and such… like why you left The Gables and why you tried to Apparate back? We told you about the anti-Apparition ward last week… and the Ministry tracked your under-aged and unlicensed Apparition back to the Gables, you know. We were nearly caught… and it's a wonder that you didn't splinch yourself!"
When Jaana mentioned the Ministry, he suddenly remembered seeing the two men appear in the pasture… and he remembered the little creature that helped him. He casually glanced around the room while trying to look contrite, hoping to catch a glimpse of the tiny being. He felt a little disappointed when he didn't readily detect any misty presence in the warm room. He would have liked to thank the little creature who prevented him from being seen by the Ministry.
Harry glanced at Jaana, and then sighed as he averted his eyes again. He just couldn't lie to the girl who was taking such good care of him.
"I… I took a present that I bought to Hermione Granger," confessed Harry ruefully.
"You… you what?" asked Jaana incredulously, "How did you even know where she is? How did you get there? Wait… a present? What present are you talking about? Harry, that was an incredibly foolish thing to do!"
"I had to try," mumbled Harry morosely, "She's supposed to be my friend, so I thought if I gave her some presents, she might start to like me sooner so that I'd have a friend sooner…"
"Presents?" asked Jaana with narrowed eyes, "As in the plural sense… more than one? Is that where you had disappeared to back in September?"
Harry had a pained look on his face as he nodded, "I gave her the copy of Hogwarts: A History that you bought for me for her birthday, and I bought a music box for her for Christmas… when we were in Diagon Alley last month while you were getting the potions supplies. While you were busy with the witch behind the counter I went next door and bought the music box in the window with some of the allowance I've been saving. I just felt that I had to try something… I've been kinda lonely…" Harry raised his head and quickly amended, "Not that I don't like being with you, you understand… it's just… it feels like you're my family, not my friend… there are just some things that you can talk about with a friend that you can't talk about with your family… at least I think that's the way it's supposed to be… I've seen other kids with friends, but I've never really had one myself, and I just wanted to have one that I can trust… well, that I think I can trust… and there's no one else to talk to about anything…"
Jaana listened as Harry rambled on, feeling the tightness building in her throat and a wetness seeping behind her eyelids. That was the first time Harry had referred to her as his family.
"Do you really feel that way?" asked Jaana as she took one of Harry's hands.
"Well, I suppose I don't actually need a friend, knowing the trouble that I'm in with the government… I just thought it would be nice to have someone my own age that I could…"
"No," interrupted Jaana, "I mean about me being your family?"
Harry thought for a moment before he carefully said, "You're the way that I always thought a mother or a big sister would be. The only family I ever knew was when I was with my aunt and uncle, but I knew it wasn't right because I'd hear other kids talking about their families and how they treated them. I always dreamed that there was someone else in my family that would show up one day and take me away. When you took me in, I was afraid at first that it was only a dream, but after a while, It felt like I really was in a proper family. You hug me when I need it, scold me when I deserve it… and you never hit me or make me feel like I'm worthless…" A strange look washed over Harry's face as he hesitantly asked, "Is… is that love?"
A realization suddenly struck Jaana. Now that she had thought about it, she had never really told Harry that she loved him. She knew that she did… they had become so close during the past year that she had a hard time remembering what her life was like before she became the unofficial guardian of 'The Boy Who Lived,' even though she didn't really see him as such anymore… to her, he was just Harry Potter, the boy who needed someone to help him out of a dangerous environment… someone who needed her…
Jaana squeezed his hand and said, "Yes, love is that, and much, much more. It's a very hard feeling to describe, but I do know one thing… I know that I love you, and I'm sure that there's nothing in this world that could change that."
Jaana was shocked when she saw Harry's face fall into what looked like a sad frown. She wondered why he was reacting like that until Harry tossed the covers from over himself, sprang from the bed and threw his arms around the older witch. An instant later, he was sobbing heavily into her nightshirt and tightly gripping onto her as if his life was depending upon it. Of course, her anger over what he had done was long gone.
"I love you, too," said Harry between hiccups.
Jaana hugged Harry in return, unable to hold her own tears in check. She gently patted his back for a moment, but as soon as she felt the icy chill that was seeping through the back of his pajamas, she stiffened slightly and a small gasp escaped her.
"Harry! You are cold! Back into bed! Now!"
Harry couldn't help but to smile tearfully as he climbed back onto the mattress and pulled the covers over himself.
"Now you stay right there and I'll go fix us a pot of tea…" said Jaana as she hurried towards the door while muttering to herself, "that is, if I can find the teapot… and the mugs… and the tea… and Merlin knows if there's any sugar in this ruddy place…"
As soon as the door had closed, Harry laid back on the bed. He was trying to contain the sporadic sniffle that escaped him when he suddenly took a deep, involuntary breath that felt almost painful. The breath was forcefully expelled, and with it came a faint, wispy vapor that hung before his face for only a moment before it quickly glided towards the window next to his bed and affixed itself to one of the cold glass panes. An instant later, the entire pane was coated with a thick layer of frost, and Harry could have sworn he heard a faint, high-pitched sigh of relief.
At the same moment that the mist had left his lungs, the icy cold that had been gripping his chest disappeared almost completely, with just a slight, chilly feeling left behind.
After shaking off the initial shock, Harry leaned towards the window and hesitantly asked, "Are you okay?"
"What did you say, Harry?" came Jaana's voice from just outside the room.
"Oh… nothing," Harry called out before turning back to the window and asking in a whisper, "You were inside me?"
A faint pair of white, pupil-less eyes appeared in the frost as a tinkling, yet tired sounding voice answered softly, "Yes, inside… was too warm… I lost myself…"
Harry really didn't understand the statement. He glanced back at the door, then turned around and quietly asked, "What are you?"
"I am Wynmae."
"What's a 'Wynmae?' asked Harry curiously. He had never heard of anything called a 'Wynmae' in any of his books on magical creatures.
There was a slight pause before the answer came, "Wynmae is Wynmae… what are you?"
Harry had to pause himself as he thought about that answer. He remembered how the creature wasn't very adept at the English language, although he did realize that he could still understand her strange tongue.
"Is Wynmae your name?"
"Name…?" asked the creature affixed to the window, "Yes, name… I am Wynmae… you are…?"
"Harry," he whispered to the frosted glass.
"Harry… Yes, now Harry is Wynmae, Wynmae is Harry. Wynmae had to leave Wynmae in Harry… We are now one… bonded?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry in surprise.
Harry was startled by the voice that came from behind him. "What do I mean about what?" asked Jaana as she stepped into the room levitating a tray which held a teapot, two cups, and a plate that was laden with chocolate chip biscuits.
"Oh, umm… I was just thinking aloud," said Harry with a guilty look on his face.
Jaana paused a moment and gave him a critical look before she stepped up to his bed and wordlessly placed the tray upon the nearby nightstand next to the potion bottles that Cooley had left. She poured tea into each of the cups and handed one to Harry before picking up her own cup and sat upon a chair that was set near the bed
"Okay," began Jaana, "Why didn't you tell me where you were going and what you were doing?"
There was a long pause before Harry meekly answered, "I was afraid that you wouldn't let me go… that you'd think I was being silly."
"Well, popping off on your own with no one to protect you isn't silly, it's dangerous. If you would have told me what you were doing, I would have come along to help keep you out of trouble. I know that I'm strict with you, but that's only because I care about you… and don't think that don't understand how you feel… I get lonely sometimes, too. I mean, you know that I don't have much of a social life."
When she saw Harry nod gloomily, she quickly amended, "It's not just because of you, so don't go blaming yourself. I had a pretty bad break-up in my last relationship, and I've been a bit hesitant to climb back on that particular broomstick, if you know what I mean… but that's a story for another day, if ever. So what happened when you went to give her the present?"
Harry explained how he found Hermione's address by using a muggle telephone directory. He knew from what his older self had written that her parents were dentists and had a practice in the town of Maidstone, and the medical section in the directory listed the dental surgeries and the proprietors' names. Since there were only two Grangers listed in Maidstone, and only one of those matched the dentists' names, he figured that must be her house. He went on to describe what happened inside of the house, how he planned to just leave the gift under the tree, but was surprised by Hermione who was sleeping on the sofa, and how he was so panicked about being discovered that he couldn't calm himself enough to Shift away.
"So you tried to Apparate?" questioned Jaana while shaking her head in disbelief.
"It was the only thing I could think of…" defended Harry, "she was yelling out 'burglar!' and I heard her father running down the stairs… I… I was scared… and embarrassed… now she not only thinks I'm prone to playing pranks on her, she also thinks I'm a criminal!" then Harry added with a resigned sigh, "She'll never like me now."
"You played a prank on her?" asked Jaana in surprise.
"No, but she thought I was going to when I gave her the book. I was watching her from outside the wall of her school after I gave it to her," he then added dejectedly, "I thought that I saw her toss it in the rubbish without even opening it."
The reason for Harry's depressed mood all through October now became clear to her. No wonder he was so down after he returned. Jaana kindly patted his shoulder and handed him another biscuit as she said, "Don't worry too much about it right now. She's still young, and you never know… maybe she still needs a few more years to become the same person that your older self had met when you start school in a few years. Maybe it's not such a good idea to rush it. Maybe we'll make some new friends here before we go back to England."
Harry's head spun around to look out the window at the snowy landscape, and once again noticed the one heavily frosted pane of glass. He looked away quickly as to not draw attention to the odd pane and asked, "We're not in England? Where are we?"
Jaana smiled and simply said, "Iceland."
"Iceland?"
"The Figg family has owned this plot of property west of Reykjavík here for generations, back when it was a territory of Denmark. None of us ever built anything here, so this place is listed as undeveloped. Ray and I have been secretly constructing this place for months, and we're pretty sure that nobody in Britain knows anything about it… besides my Auntie Arabella, but I doubt she even remembers that we own this property. All of the materials for this house have been brought in from Greenland, and the magical fixtures are from Portugal, so there isn't a 'paper trail' for anyone to follow, if they were so inclined. For all intents and purposes, we've just disappeared from the British map… and since the magical community here is totally independent, there's no ministry to contend with…"
Jaana gave Harry a knowing smile as she drew her wand and summoned a colourfully wrapped package from the next room. She deftly caught the small package in one hand and held it out to him as she continued, "hence, there's no provisions for underage magic here, although it still must be kept secret from the muggles."
Harry took the package and ripped open the wrapping paper. Inside was a long, thin wooden box. Harry slowly lifted the lid and discovered, resting within the velvet-lined interior, a pale, intricately carved wand.
"Happy Christmas, Harry," said Jaana with a grin, "It's apple wood with a Dragon Heartstring core. I know that it's not perfectly suited to you, but it should be good enough to start training you in real magic and not just the theory."
"When do we start?" asked Harry excitedly.
Jaana thought for a moment before saying, "I was going to begin with the spells from the first year's book that Hogwarts requires, but now I think we should concentrate on one subject at a time. Hogwarts has a tendency to overload students with multiple subjects because they have to cram in all aspects of magic in only seven years. Do you have any preference on which subject you want to start with? As you know, Charms is the easiest…"
"Transfiguration," said Harry firmly, "My book says it's the thing I'm best at."
"Are you sure? Transfiguration is the most difficult sphere to learn, and it takes the longest to really get the hang of. It's also rather dangerous, so there'll be no fooling around if you decide that that's what you want. Are you sure that you don't want to start with Charms?"
Harry remembered reading ahead in his book about the variations of standard transfiguration spells and was very anxious to try them out. Charms, while very useful, and even necessary to some of the more advanced variations of spells listed in his book, just seemed somewhat boring to him. The training in Transfiguration would also make Charms that much easier to learn once they got around to it.
"I'd really like to start with Transfiguration," said Harry with finality.
"Alright, then," said Jaana with a smile, "TransFig it is. I have to go into Reykjavík tomorrow to pick up a few things to make the property a bit more comfortable for us, so we'll start your training after Boxing Day."
Harry could hardly believe it. He was actually going to do magic… real magic! He was already going over everything he could remember from his book in his mind. He must have had a distant look on his face because he barely heard Jaana clear her throat to get his attention.
Jaana wore a serious expression as she said, "I know you're excited about the prospect of doing magic, but there's something much more important that you have to take care of right now and it cannot possibly wait a moment longer."
Harry's smile dropped into an unsure frown. He was wondering what he possibly had to do when he saw her stand up while drawing her wand.
"Accio sack!" said Jaana, and a moment later a large cloth bag zoomed in through the open doorway and into Jaana's free hand.
"You haven't forgotten already, have you?" asked Jaana in a rather stern voice.
Harry was looking at her worriedly as she opened the sack and waved her wand over the opening.
"Happy Christmas!" giggled Jaana as a steady stream of brightly wrapped packages flew out from inside of the bag. Each gift magically expanded to their original size before they landed all around Harry on his bed.
Harry looked up at Jaana with a surprised grin. For a minute, he had indeed forgotten that it was Christmas. When the last gift landed at the foot of his bed, he clambered over the massive pile of gifts and pulled Jaana into a fierce hug.
"Happy Christmas!" he returned, "I love you."
Jaana returned the hug whole-heartedly, "I love you, too."
A long moment later, Harry squirmed out of her embrace and began tearing into the stacks of gifts strewn all over his bed. He couldn't help but to think of how jealous his cousin would be if he could see the stack of presents that was easily double of what Dudley usually received. This was certainly Harry's best Christmas ever.