Chapter 21:

Christmas Cards

By Jelsemium

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, alas.

The only thing that was better than knowing that his OWLs were finally behind him, was knowing that his birthday was just before him.

He woke up early and almost drove Madam Pomfrey mad with his pacing.

Finally, the guests began to arrive.

Hermione came with the Weasleys. At least, such Weasley children as still lived at The Burrow.

"Hi, Harry!" Ginny said. She gave him a quick hug. "Mum and Dad will be along in a bit."

"They had some errands to run," Hermione explained.

"They were off to threaten the twins with dire consequences if they injured you or ruined your birthday," Ron elaborated. He looked around. "Any snacks?"

Dobby, of course, was thrilled to wait on them.

"Dobby is glad to see friends of Harry Potter again," the house elf said. "Would Harry Potter's friends like something to eat?"

"We'll have some tea, Dobby," Harry said, just a trifle worried that Hermione would turn him down.

Dobby vanished and returned very quickly with a plate of appetizers and a pot of tea.

Harry recounted his experiences with the OWLs for the entertainment of the others.

"Wow, that was a lot of broken glass," Ron said. To Dobby, he added. "Did you have a lot of problems cleaning that mess up?"

Dobby shook his head. "Dobby has no idea who cleaned the mess up," he said scowling. "It was all finished when we got there."

Harry wondered if the House Elves were territorial or just bored.

The bored theory seemed to be born out because several house elves popped in and out offering a variety of edibles. They also brought cushions for the chairs, footstools, ice cubes, straws, extra napkins and anything else that was required.

Harry suspected that they'd have produced their firstborn, if they'd been asked.

"It must be very dull for the Hogwarts' elves during the summer," Ginny observed.

"Don't they get time off?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"They don't want time off, dear," Mrs Weasley explained. "They like to work."

Hermione frowned, but before she could speak, Ron interrupted.

"They're a lot like you that way," he said.

Hermione turned her frown at him.

Ron shrugged. "Well, how many of your essays have you finished this summer?" he asked.

"All of them," Hermione huffed. Then she laughed. "All right. I admit that House Elves like to work. Maybe that's why I feel sympathy for them."

Pleased at having headed off yet another rant about House Elves, Ron decided to consolidate his position by changing the subject.

"Well, what do we do until the party starts?" Ron asked. "I can't wait until Harry sees his presents!"

"We could play cards," Ginny suggested.

"No card games!" Madam Pomfrey. "I don't want any explosions in the Hospital Wing!"

"Speaking of cards," Hermione said, deciding it was her turn to change the subject. "Did you ever look at those Christmas cards in your mum's trunk?"

"Christmas cards?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "You mean in that trunk?" she indicated the trunk that was at the foot of Harry's bed.

"Yeah," Harry said. "My mum left it with my aunt when she and my dad were…" he hesitated while he tried to think of how to describe what his parents were doing."When they were moving around a lot," he finished.

"I see," Madam Pomfrey looked like she was going to say something else, but then obviously changed her mind.

Ron opened the trunk and fished out one of the cards. "Harry's mum was a lot like Hermione," he said. "She believed in starting projects early." He pulled out an unsigned card. "See?"

Madam Pomfrey took the card. "Very nice," she said a trifle sadly. The picture was of Lily and Baby Harry standing in front of a Christmas tree. Lily was smiling and waving, but Baby Harry was definitely pouting at the viewer.

"Apparently she'd started on her Christmas cards before…" Hermione trailed off.

"Before she and my father were killed," Harry said.

"I was wondering if any of them were still deliverable," Hermione said. She looked at Harry a bit nervously. "If you don't mind," she added.

Harry hesitated. "Well, we might as well get them out of the way, if we can," he said. "Some of them are tricky, because my mum didn't write down their full names."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and handed the card back to Harry. "I see. Well, I shall be in my office if you need me help. I have probably treated most of your parents' friends at some point; I might be able to identify the people for you."

"Thank you," Harry said.

She waved her wand and a bed tray floated over to Harry. Then she went back to her office and the quizzes in the stack of magazines that were waiting for her there.

Ron opened the trunk and pulled the stack of cards out. "We should divide them into categories," he asked, placing the cards on the bed tray. "You know, people we know, people we don't know."

Hermione nodded in approval.

The other three drew their chairs up to Harry's bed so they could see.

Harry took the stack of addressed cards out of the trunk. "Let's see, there's one for Prof. A. Dumbledore." he picked it up "Doesn't feel like there's anything in it."

"Aw," Ginny said.

"Maybe she hadn't finished it?" Hermione suggested.

Harry leafed through the other envelopes. "I think she changed her mind about how to address him. Look, here's one addressed to Albus D.,

"Your parents were on first name basis with Dumbledore?" Ron was impressed.

"Guess so," Harry said absently, still reading. "Mara H., Berenice S."

Hermione said. "The second one is Professor Sinistra."

"Yeah, Prof. Sinistra once said that she knew my mum when they were in school," Harry replied. "Prof. Sinistra was a few years ahead of my mum and she was in Ravenclaw. But they had a few things in common. Mostly a desire to give my dad a kick in the… shin."

"Why is that?" Ginny asked.

"He was a prankster like Fred and George," Ron said.

"Oh." Ginny said.

Harry flipped through a few cards without reading them because he didn't recognize the names. He paused. "Peter P."

"We should put that under 'People We Don't Like'," Ginny said.

Harry put that at the bottom of the stack.

"Here's one for Sirius," he said, setting it aside.

Ginny looked at the stack. "Anybody else in there that I would know?" she asked.

"Erm, Minerva M., Filius F., Vertumnus and Pomona S.," Harry read.

"That would be Professor Sprout and her husband," Ginny said.

"Professor Sprout is married?" Ron asked, incredulously.

"Ron! You make it sound so unlikely!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Who'd want to marry her?" Ron demanded.

Hermione scowled. "Somebody who loved her, idiot."

"What?" Ron said.

Harry remained silent on the topic, though he had a hard time seeing Professor Sprout as being the object of anybody's lust. He continued reading. "Frank and Alice L."

The Weasleys looked grave.

"That might be Frank and Alice Longbottom," Ron said. "Neville's parents."

"Oh," Harry felt awkward. "I guess I should give this to Neville," he said.

"You might want to talk to Dumbledore first," Ginny said. "It's not like Frank and Alice are uncommon names."

Harry nodded and tucked the card into the same place as the card for Peter P.

"Stop trying to think of a way to blame yourself," Ron said.

Harry made a wry face.

Harry picked up another card and read the name to change the subject. "Bella F. That might be Arabella Figg, the witch who's been living as a Muggle in my neighborhood most of my life. She used to be my babysitter."

"Wow, she must be pretty devoted to do that!" Ron said. "Living like a Muggle." He shuddered.

"And what's wrong with living like a Muggle?" Hermione demanded coldly.

Harry quickly read the next names to head off an argument. "Ah, Remus L., looks like you're not the only one to send Remus a Christmas card, Hermione."

Ginny opened her mouth, and then shut it again. She wondered why Harry and Ron hadn't sent Christmas cards to Lupin, but decided it wasn't any of her business.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Who's next," Ginny said after a few minutes.

"Irma P."

"Hermione can tell you who that is," Ron smirked.

"I'm surprised that you recognized the librarian's name," Hermione sniped.

"Alastor M.," Harry read doggedly.

"Do you suppose there's any point in giving a card to Mad-eye Moody?" Ginny asked. "He'd probably just destroy it in case it was a dinglehopper in disguise or something."

"You've been hanging around Loony Luna too long," Ron said.

"Don't insult Luna Lovegood," Ginny said. "She was my only friend after the Chamber of Secrets incident."

Ron opened his mouth.

Harry and Hermione glared.

Ron shut his mouth.

"We all should recognize Poppy P," Ginny said, reading the next envelope upside down. She snatched it up and trotted over to Madam Pomfrey's office.

Ron raised an eyebrow at her when she came back and she blushed. "Sorry," she muttered. "I guess I should have asked first."

"That's all right," Harry said. "But I wouldn't have asked you to walk over there." He gave Ron a significant glare.

Ron's answering gesture drew squeals of indignation from the girls.

Harry grinned as he picked up the next card and read. "Argus F." He snorted. "Nice to know Filch didn't hate both of my parents. Next… Russ S." He looked at Hermione.

Hermione shrugged.

Harry put that in the pile to ask Dumbledore about. He flipped through the cards again. "That looks like all of them," he said with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked.

"I wonder why there isn't one for Hagrid." Harry said. "If she wrote one for Filch, there should be one for Hagrid, too."

"Maybe she didn't get to it," Ron said. "Or maybe it's still in the trunk." He looked inside the trunk. "Oh, here's a few more in here." He picked up a card and promptly fell off his chair, howling.

"What?" Harry demanded.

Still laughing too hard to speak, Ron handed the card to Harry.

Harry's eyes went wide with shock when he read the name. "No! How could she!" he cried. "Hand me my barf pail, I think I'm going to hurl."

"What?" Hermione demanded. "Who is that for?"

Harry held up the card so Hermione and Ginny could read the name.

"Gilderoy L?" Ginny laughed so hard she almost fell off the bed.

"He must have just been starting on his career," Hermione said with a thoughtful frown. "Your mum might have actually known him, rather than being a fan."

Harry wasn't sure what was worse; his mother being a fan of Lockhart's or his mother being a friend of Lockhart's. "Why didn't he say anything if he knew her?" he wondered. "I can't see him missing the chance to drop names like that."

"Probably because you wouldn't stand still long enough," Hermione said.

"Or else one of those feats of derring-do that he wrote about was actually something your mother had done," Ron guessed. "He didn't want anybody examining his relation with your Mum too closely."

"Great," Harry sighed. "But that doesn't explain where Hagrid's card is." He was feeling nauseated. If Filch and Lockhart rated cards, then Hagrid should have rated one, too!

He rummaged through the trunk. "Here's a card," he said. "But it's about twice as big as the others."

"Must be Hagrid's, then," Ron said wisely.

"It is," Harry said with relief. "What are those other cards?"

Ron looked them over. "They're all blank," he said. "Guess Hagrid's is the last of them." He thumbed through the cards. "You know who you should give one of these blank ones to?" he asked.

"Huh?" Harry said perplexedly. "Why would anyone want a picture of me as a baby?"

"Mum would love one of these," Ginny said. She picked up one of the cards and looked at it closely. Lily Potter had been very pretty. Ginny wondered what she would have thought of the Weasley clan.

"Ginny would like one, too," Ron teased.

"Maybe Hermione would like one of you," Ginny returned.

"Sure your Mum can have one," Harry said hurriedly, before yet another prank war could break out.

Hermione was apparently gearing up for a fire-starting glare of extreme huffiness, but she was distracted by the arrival of the twins.

It was one of the few times that Ron was glad to see them.