Hello all! The new chapter is finally here after what seems like a million years! Sorry to everybody for the wait, it's been an incredibly exhausting time for me. Recently I did a contiki tour around central Europe for 25 nights, partying pretty much every night, drinking and in the appropriate cities, gambling and doing acceptable drugs. Not to sound irresponsible of course, it was just to try it since i've never done two of those things. Wild time anyway, saw lots of countries and sights. And for the last month I've been travelling all over the UK, so if anybody lives up in Kent or in London, let me know, we'll have an FF writer's get together :)

Anyway, my apologies for the lengthy wait, so here it is, your new chapter!

This chapter is brought to you by the following sponsors... oh wait, we don't have any sponsors... I KNEW i was forgetting something!

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville were walking towards Hogsmeade two weeks before Christmas, quite ready to look around and enjoy the holiday festivities. Harry was also hoping to get his Christmas shopping finished, as he still had a few things left on his list to get. First stop as always, Honeydukes, which was crowded with students as always. Ron seemed to be spending a good amount of his funds on sweets already, while Neville and Hermione were picking out a few things too. Harry was making a good selection of some sweets for himself, as well as a few things for his friends for Christmas. He knew that he would be getting a few more things for people this year. He had even run into Luna a few days ago and had begun a new friendship with the strange, yet sweet third year. Harry walked over to the counter, where the owner greeted him with a smile.

"Hello there Mr Potter, how can I help you today," he asked, making Harry smile. The portly man was cheery and polite, and he seemed to exude an aura of warmth.

"I was wondering how much it would be for these sweets and what my friends are getting," Harry said, pointing out Ron, Neville and Hermione and handing the bag of sweets to the man.

"Well, judging from the amount you and those two have," he said, inclining his head towards Neville and Hermione "I'd say that's about 9 Galleons, plus the amount that your other friend is carrying, all up it would probably be about 15 Galleons Mr Potter." Harry pulled out his money pouch and extracted a handful of Galleons.

"Here's 20 Galleons sir, keep the change," he said, smiling at him, causing the man's eyes to widen.

"Mr Potter, that's very kind of you, but I can't accept such a generous tip," he said, not wanting to rip off a student and the Boy Who Lived no less!

"If they get any more then that should cover it, but whatever is left over is yours sir," Harry said, with an air of finality. "Honeydukes is an important part of this community, and I'd like to do my part in supporting it," he said, smiling at the man, who smiled back and handed him his bag of sweets.

"You're too nice a kid for your own good," said the man, smiling at Harry, before handing him a package. "Our newest Honeydukes chocolate, not on the shelves yet. And no use trying to refuse, it's the least I can do son," said the man, standing back as Harry attempted to argue.

"Anybody ever tell you you're too nice for your own good sir?" asked Harry cheekily, making the owner laugh. The four Gryffindor's left Honeydukes shortly after, with Hermione hugging Harry in appreciation.

"Oh, thank you so much Harry, that was so thoughtful of you," squealed Hermione, hugging him tightly.

"Yeah, thanks heap Harry," said Neville, smiling gratefully at his friend.

"Fanks Hawwy," said Ron through a mouthful of chocolate, which was also smeared around his lips. Hermione gave him a disgusted look, while Neville and Harry just looked away.

"So, Three Broomsticks then?" asked Ron, having managed to swallow the enormous amount of chocolate he had stuffed in his mouth.

"Err, sorry Ron, I have some Christmas shopping to do and I asked Hermione to give me a hand," said Harry.

"Me too Ron," said Neville, though after seeing the last display, Neville wasn't too sure if he really was all that sorry.

"Fine, ditch me, I'm going to go have a Butterbeer," said Ron angrily, stalking away.

"Is it just me, or is he getting steadily worse?" asked Neville. Harry sighed. He knew that the friendship would never last, but it seemed it was breaking down even faster this time. Ron had always been over jealous of lots of aspects of Harry's life, but when Harry had taken Hermione's side in their arguments after they were married, Ron had blown up, screaming at Harry to never talk to him again. Even afterwards when the Order of the Snake rose and Harry and Hermione went to fight them, Ron refused to, believing that he shouldn't have to, since he helped save the world last time. Harry knew that it boiled down to Jealousy with Ron, and right now, it was starting to boil over.

Harry, Hermione and Neville were searching through a magical clothes shop for things for Christmas, when they started talking about the Yule Ball.

"So Hermione, are you going to tell us who you're going with?" asked Harry, certain that Krum had asked her by now.

"Actually, I'm not going with anybody yet," said Hermione, surprising Harry. "What about you two? Have you got dates yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, Harry helped me ask out somebody, a third year named Madison," said Neville, smiling as he picked out a few articles of clothing he needed. Hermione raised her eyebrow at Harry.

"Really? You're setting people up now Harry?" she asked, her lips twitching in amusement.

"I like to think I'm a good matchmaker," announced Harry, making Hermione and Neville laugh. "And I have a date too, though I think I'll keep that a secret for the night, though I'm hoping you'll save a dance for me as well," said Harry, smiling at her as he sorted through some socks.

"Of course Harry, but why are you looking through socks?" asked Hermione, looking slightly confused.

"I'm getting a present for Dobby," said Harry, causing Hermione to smile at him. The trio took a bit longer in the shop, before looking around to the east of town. Truthfully, Harry had never been to this part of town, so he had no idea there were so many other types of shops here. Stopping off in a magical plants shop, Harry made sure Neville was distracted, before he started whispering something to the manager.

The trio of students finally arrived back at Hogwarts, having just gotten back from a drink in the Three Broomsticks. Ron, it seemed, had not waited for them, though they did get to meet up with the twins, Alicia, Angelina, Katie and surprisingly, Madison and Luna at a separate table, talking with a bunch of other third years. Harry, Neville and Hermione had joined them for awhile, while Madison and Neville talked, having realised that they had many similar interests, while Hermione was introduced to Luna who, though bewildering was quite fun to talk to. Harry eventually spotted Ron at dinner, looking moody as he shovelled impressive amounts of steak and kidney pie into his mouth, eliciting small looks of disgust on the faces of close by students. Harry and Neville attempted to invite Hermione to the dance lessons that Alicia had set up, but she was preoccupied by studying in the library it seemed. So, with their dance shoes heavy in their hands, and somewhat of a sense of dread heavy in their hearts, Harry and Neville made their way up to the sixth floor to the classroom where Alicia was putting on her dance classes.

"Good to see you Harry, Neville," said Alicia, greeting them as they came in.

"Thanks for inviting us Alicia, though I'm pretty sure you just want to see me make a fool of myself," said Harry jokingly, doing an impression of somebody falling over, while Neville nodded.

"Yeah, sounds about right, and I'll be stepping on everybody's feet," said Neville, while Alicia laughed.

"Suck it up princesses," she said, dragging them both into the room as they let out sounds of mock horror and cries for mercy. It seemed as though half of the girls in Gryffindor had come, along with a handful of boys from Gryffindor and a few from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Harry spent most of the evening being forced to dance with various women from the three present houses, mostly from his own year, but also a few from higher years. The class lasted for about an hour and a half before it was called quits. Harry was among the last to leave, with Neville and Madison leaving shortly before he was. Harry looked back at the room and saw that only Alicia and the other two Gryffindor Chasers were left. Walking back into the room, Harry approached Alicia and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Alicia, can I talk to you in private?" asked Harry, causing Alicia to glance at the other two girls, both of whom also looked somewhat nervous.

"I know what you want to talk about Harry, and I think Angelina and Katie should also be here," she answered finally, shuffling her feet a little, while Katie and Angelina looked on.

"A while ago, when Malfoy got pranked, you called me your little brother," began Harry carefully, seeing the embarrassed looks on the three girl's faces. "What exactly did you mean by it?" he asked. Angelina was the one who stepped forward this time.

"Well, you see Harry, the Gryffindor Quidditch team has been kind of like a family for a long time now, what with Wood and his mothering ways, and the twins acting like a pair of cheeky uncles, and..." Angelina trailed off.

"Ever since you joined the team, us three of always sort of thought of you as our little brother," said Katie softly, shocking Harry.

"None of us have ever had a younger sibling before, but when you came along, it felt like we did," said Alicia, resting her hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry for the most part was shocked, but happy. He had never found familial acceptance with the Dursleys, nor had he gotten the chance to start his own family in the end. The Weasley's were there, but he felt more like just another person there mostly. But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too late to have a family, to have older sisters who cared for him. Harry looked up at the girls, who were startled to see tears in his eyes, though they were only visible for a moment as he hugged Alicia tightly, burying his face in her neck.

"Can I be your little brother?" Harry asked his voice quiet and muffled. Alicia smiled and hugged him closer, while Angelina and Katie hugged him from either side.

"Of course you can, little brother," whispered Alicia, hugging him tightly. The embrace held for a while before they separated, noticing that Harry had a few tears still.

"Harry, will you please tell us what's wrong? We've seen you fall from your broom, get your arm broken by a Bludger and get attacked by Dementors, but we've never seen you cry before," said Katie gently, holding onto his shoulders, while the other two were thinking the same thing. Harry was quiet for a minute, before giving his answer.

"I've never had a family before," he said sadly, mourning his parents briefly.

"Where did you live before Hogwarts, and where do you go during the summer?" asked Angelina quietly.

"If you like, I can show you, but it's not pretty picture," said Harry.

"Of course, anything so we can understand our brother better," said Alicia at once while the other two girls agreed. Harry took them up to the seventh floor, to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, shocking the trio when a door appeared out of nowhere.

"Harry, where are we?" asked Alicia curiously, wondering if Fred and George knew about this place.

"This is the Room of Requirement," explained Harry, taking one of Alicia's hands and one of Katie's, as he led them into the room. "It becomes whatever you require at the time." Harry showed them into a small room, decorated very much like the interior of the Gryffindor Common Room, with the exception of a stone basin in the centre of the room.

"What I'm about to show you is a very compressed version of my life before Hogwarts," said Harry, his face showing a grimace, as he pulled the memories of the Dursleys to the forefront of his mind, before throwing the silvery strands of memories into the Pensieve. With that, Harry pulled the three girls into the stone basin with him, slipping through the surface as though it were made of water, though they remained dry. Memories flashed before the eyes of the four teens, Angelina looking furious at the treatment by his relatives, Katie already in tears and Alicia stony faced, her knuckles clenched to the point they had turned white. When the flash of memories was over, Katie immediately hugged him tightly, while Angelina hugged them both. Alicia put her hand on Harry's shoulder gently, causing him to look up at his new older sister.

"Harry, I promise... We promise, no matter what it takes, you won't go back to those people ever again," she said seriously. "You can stay with any of us, or all of us, every summer until you finish Hogwarts if you like, and beyond even, we'll make sure you never have to see them again," she said, hugging him gently. Harry allowed a few tears to fall, as he finally had what he had wanted in both his lives.

A family.

After all the drama had ended, Harry and the three Chasers walked back to the Common Room in companionable silence. After reaching the Common Room, before they headed off to bed, the girls asked Harry if there was anything they could do to help him with the Second Task, to which Harry asked if they knew of ways to breathe underwater. The girls promised they would help him find a way, and left for their dormitories, chatting excitedly. Harry left for bed, a happy smile never leaving his face. Harry woke early the next morning, just less than two weeks before Christmas and the Yule Ball. He was having another meeting with his fellow champions this morning, this time to discuss a strategy to deal with the remaining Horcruxes and to defeat Voldemort. Harry left early for the Great Hall, where he would be meeting the others, bumping into Cedric along the way. The two Hogwarts champions talked about the holidays together, as they walked into the Great Hall, greatly surprising many other students, who assumed that the two rivals would be hostile towards each other. The student body was even more surprised when they sat down next to the champions of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The four champions had breakfast together, which was very enjoyable, as they could simply be themselves, and enjoyed making fun of each other throughout the meal. They all had an especially good laugh when Fleur was scolding Harry for throwing a bit of bacon at Cedric for a comment he'd made, when suddenly Fleur gave a loud burp, which she tried to cover with her hand. Fleur glared at the three boys, as they fell off their chairs laughing. Even the usually stoic Durmstrang champion was rolling on the ground laughing.

"Oh, very mature boys, now ze ole school are thinking you ave gone mad," said Fleur nonchalantly.

"Oh no, how did they find out," said Harry dramatically, causing Fleur to giggle and the other two to smirk, as they picked themselves up off the floor. As they were leaving, Professor McGonagall called out to them.

"Mr Potter and Mr Diggory!" she shouted as they were leaving.

"That's us," they called in unison. McGonagall smiled.

"50 points each to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, for demonstrating exactly what this tournament is about; international cooperation," she said proudly. Harry and Cedric grinned back at her, and sent her the thumbs up, before leaving with Fleur and Krum. They made their way back to the Room of Requirement, which made it resemble the Gryffindor Common Room once more.

"So, we all know that Voldemort is going to come back at the end of the year, unless we do something about it, so what do we think we should do?" started Cedric, shuddering a little as he said Voldemort's name, though it was a small one, and he hadn't stuttered with the name either.

"I think we need to let him revive, so we can take him down then and there," answered Harry, while the others nodded their assent.

"Do you haff any idea's to defeat him?" asked Krum, his arms crossed as he thought about ways to help.

"The only thing I know for sure is that we need to destroy his Horcruxes before we can destroy his real body, otherwise it would be pointless," said Harry, leaning back, as Fleur wrapped her arms around him, drawing him against her chest.

"Vait! I haff an idea!" exclaimed Krum, snapping his fingers.

"What is it Viktor?" asked Cedric, leaning forward in anticipation.

"In Durmstrang, ve learn about foul Horcrux magic's in class, but I remember Arithmancy teacher, Professor Rasputin explained something called Chain Destruction Magic, vich is magic that can link an object to similar objects and destroy the other objects but leave chained object intact. The magic requires ritual, but if ve can use magic on Voldemort..." Krum explained, as the other's eyes widened.

"We could hit Voldemort with it and destroy the other Horcruxes by using Voldemort's remaining soul fragment as a medium, then work together to take out a mortal Voldemort," breathed Harry. Fleur tightened her grip on Harry however.

"Zis magic, it will destroy ze Orcruxes, but what about ze one in Arry's scar?" asked Fleur quietly.

"The magic will only destroy the pieces of Voldemort's soul, it will not harm Harry," explained Viktor. The plan was quickly agreed on, and the four champions immediately went to planning, as well as practicing new spells.

Harry awoke early on Christmas Eve, the loud snores emitting from Ron interrupting his dreams of a certain Veela. Cursing and resisting the urge to curse his roommate, Harry tiptoed down the staircase, dressed for a jog and to train for the upcoming Tasks. Harry was disturbed from his train of thoughts, however, by Hermione, who was also surprisingly up early.

"Morning Hermione, what are you doing up so early?" greeted Harry, causing his friend to jump at the unexpected voice, her book falling to the floor with a dull thump.

"Harry! You're up early," exclaimed Hermione, picking up her book and sitting back down in the armchair.

"Yeah, hard to sleep through Ron snoring, so I thought I'd go for a jog and get some training done for the next task," explained Harry.

"Oh, so you know what it is then?" said Hermione, clearly impressed. "Well, can I come down as well? I'd like to see some of your spells, since I've confirmed that you've been hiding your talent now," asked Hermione.

"Sure, I'd be happy for you to come down," said Harry, smiling at her.

"Great! I'll be down in a few minutes," said Hermione excitedly, rushing up to the girl's dormitories. Harry chuckled and headed downstairs, heading towards the Quidditch pitch.

Harry had been practicing Kido and battle-based Alchemy, when Hermione arrived.

"Can you show me how to use Alchemy Harry?" she asked excitedly, as she drew closer.

"Sure, for you it will be easy to learn," said Harry, smiling at his now blushing friend. Harry grabbed a stick and drew a transmutation circle in the snow in front of him, before putting one hand on the circle and concentrating his magic on it, causing light to fill the circle, as the ice beneath him reformed in his hand as an ice lance.

"This is battle-based Alchemy, it can be used in duels and is quite handy, though this is of course, the slow way of doing it," explained Harry, gaining a confused look from his friend.

"What do you mean the slow way?" asked Hermione, as Harry reached into his bag. Harry pulled out a pair of black leather gloves, the back of which were emblazoned with red transmutation circles.

"People who practice alchemy for battle purposes use items that can be worn or used as an accessory which have premade circles on them, in order to speed up their alchemy," explained Harry, slamming his hands down onto bare patches of snow. The same light rose from the ground, and snow from the ground formed into a pair of ice katana in Harry's hands. "By using premade circles, an alchemist doesn't need to draw a circle in mid combat, and some alchemists even have them tattooed on their bodies, or use circles to use alchemy on themselves. There are records in a book in the Restricted Section called 'The Records of Amestris' which detail when alchemists were very common, and they were given titles that suited their particular alchemy. One alchemist was called the 'Iron Blood Alchemist' because his specialty was using alchemic gauntlets that could transmute the iron in his blood into weapons. Another, the 'Hydro Alchemist' used transmutation circles tattooed on his hands to boil or freeze the water in an opponent's body, just by touching them," explained Harry, causing Hermione to shiver, both at Harry's explanation and at the cold.

"I'd still like to learn it, even if I don't end up liking it, I think it would be really helpful in spell creating," said Hermione.

"Of course, but maybe we should go inside to learn this, we'll catch colds out here," replied Harry, wrapping his jumped around Hermione, before leading them both inside. Harry led Hermione up to the seventh floor, much to her confusion, until a door formed out of nowhere, causing her jaw to drop. Harry gave a bark of laughter, reminiscent of his godfather, before pulling her into a comfortable study, a roaring fire close to a large desk, and a bookshelf stacked to the brim with books of Alchemy.

"Now, Alchemy has a lot of rules that must be followed, which is why you could learn this, but Ron never could," explained Harry, drawing another confused look from his friend.

"But I thought Alchemy was all about experimenting," said Hermione, still looking confused.

"Alchemy has principles that must be followed at all times during experimentation," Harry explained. "The most important of which is called equivalent exchange, which is the founding principle of Alchemy. 'To obtain, something of equal value must be lost," recited Harry, pulling a book off the shelf closest to him.

"What is that?" asked Hermione curiously, craning her neck, reading the title 'The Tale of the Brothers Elric'.

"This book describes a story made to promote the dangers of Alchemy, and the most taboo of all Alchemy," explained Harry, flipping open the book.

"You mean creating gold from lead right?" answered Hermione straight away.

"No, that is a rule in Alchemy, but there is something even more taboo," said Harry, grimacing as he came to the start of the story. It had always given him chills, ever since he first read it. "Human Transmutation, which I will explain to you with this story," explained Harry, though the words themselves gave Hermione a bad feeling indeed.

Edward and Alphonse Elric lived in the village of Resembool their whole lives, growing up raised by their mother Trisha. The boy's father was an alchemist who left many years ago, something which the boy's resented him for. From an early age, both Ed and Al showed great interest in the science of Alchemy, something which both proved to have great talent in. They studied and practiced their Alchemy as they grew up, until one day, their mother was taken ill. Despite their best efforts, the boy's failed to find a cure for their mother, who they both loved more than anything else in the world. Soon, the sickness took her, and she died. Despite the danger, both boys delved into the forbidden art of Human Alchemy, a type of Alchemy that transmuted human souls. It was believed this type of Alchemy could bring people back to life. After a year of training, the boys were ready to try bringing their mother back to life. After gathering the materials that made up the human body, both boy's cut their fingers, believing that the blood their mother gave them would make for fair trade, in exchange for their mother's new life. In the end, both boys died in the attempt, their life force drained from their bodies. Such is the curse that is Human Alchemy.

Harry finished the book, closing it to see Hermione looking on in shock.

"How horrible! Why would somebody write that?" she said, thoroughly disturbed by the book's contents.

"That book lied," said Harry quietly. "The Elric brothers didn't die in that attempt; the author of the book just didn't want to expose the truth of what really happened.

"You mean... that story... it really happened?!" said Hermione, her eyes widening in shock. Harry pulled a small black journal from the bookcase, opening it, revealing yellowing pages filled with alchemic circles and designs.

"My brother and I knew the laws of science, of equivalent exchange," Harry read. "The gain required sacrifice. But we thought there was nothing more we could lose. We were wrong." Harry closed the book, already knowing what had happened.

"The Elric's didn't die in that attempt. They suffered much worse. Human Alchemy is forbidden because of the adverse effects on the user's body. In the case of Alphonse, his whole body was taken to the other side. Edward had his left leg taken, and he cut off his right arm in order to anchor his brother's soul to a suit of armour, so that Alphonse wouldn't die," said Harry, as Hermione listened in horror. "They travelled the world afterwards, hoping to find a way to have their bodies returned to normal. In the end, Alphonse was returned to normal by Ed, but with his memories of his brother wiped away, while Ed left for parts unknown. To this day, nobody knows what happened to Edward Elric, just that he existed," finished Harry, hugging Hermione gently as she sniffled, shedding tears for the brothers. Harry cleaned his friend's tears, before going over some alchemy with her, stopping eventually to go to breakfast, though Harry found that his mind wandered to the Elric's, silently sending a prayer to his great, great grandfather, Edward Elric, who had lost his family like him, but had eventually died a happy old man, surrounded by a loving family.

Harry returned back to the castle later that night, having gotten back from sneaking into Hogsmeade for last minute Christmas shopping. He made it all the way up to the Gryffindor Common Room, before being caught by Hermione.

"What are you doing up this late Harry?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows raised in suspicion.

"Actually I had some things to take care of, but I was just about get my telescope out and see the stars, since it's just before midnight, care to join me?" said Harry all at once, sweating bullets at being caught out.

"No thanks Harry, but I would like to know what you're hiding behind your back," said Hermione sweetly, though Harry could tell he was screwed. Giving up, Harry showed her the wrapped presents behind his back. Hermione's eyes softened, and she instinctively hugged him tightly.

"Oh Harry, you're always so good to your friends," she cooed.

"They're mostly for Alicia, Angelina and Katie, but I saw something else, so here," admitted Harry, handing a neatly wrapped parcel to Hermione, obviously a book. Harry smiled warmly at him, just as the clock ticked over to midnight.

"Happy Christmas Harry," said Hermione, hugging him, which he reciprocated.

"Happy Christmas Mione," replied Harry, smiling at his friend, before motioning to open the present, but Hermione shook her head.

"Sorry Harry, but I always leave yours for last, since I know it will be special," she said, smiling at him, before she bade him goodnight and left for bed. Harry smiled to himself, remembering in the future when he and Hermione had admitted to each other their familial feelings for each other. Hermione had even made a big event out of it, and had invited Harry out with just her and her family, to introduce them to her new brother. Smiling still, Harry left for bed.

And there we go, another chapter down! The next chapter is actually almost finished, just my main problem is finding wi-fi connections, since my cousin's internet won't work and the nearest wi-fi is a 3 mile walk. So, once i get back to London, maybe i'll have another chapter to upload, so that will be in about a week or two, depending on if I can make it to Cornwall too. Until then people, look forward to it.

Also polls have closed, Harry/Fleur wins by a landslide, sorry Harry/Fleur/Hermione fans. If i get time, i'll mke an alternate ending for you all, but thats all i can do really. Again i apologise for my inconvenient and irregular updates, but i hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Moonlight Ace, signing out