The next afternoon marked the departure of the Hogwarts Express for the holidays. Except for Harry and Romilda, whose parents would be picking her up in Hogsmeade the next day, Gryffindor Tower was empty. A few Ravenclaws stayed, including Draco. The Order had made the decision to keep Harry and Draco at school over the holidays for the sake of safety. Though the Death Eaters seemed to be leaving Harry for Voldemort himself, it was unlikely that they would have any reservations about attacking Draco on the train or at the station.

With so few students staying Professor McGonagall was happy to give Draco permission to move temporarily into Harry's dormitory. He settled happily into Ron's bed.

The sun was streaming through the window when Harry woke up on Christmas day. He looked eagerly at the end of his bed, where a stack of gifts was waiting for him.

Harry had opened a pair of hand-knitted socks from Dobby, a used toothbrush from the Dursleys, and was just biting into Mrs. Weasley's nut brittle when Draco woke up. He glanced groggily at Harry before shuffling to the end of his bed and grasping a lumpy package.

"What is this?" Harry paused, a pair of mittens from Hermione still half-wrapped in his hands. Draco was holding up a deep blue knitted sweater with a grey letter D across the front.

"That's from Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered with a smile. He held up a lumpy package that he assumed was his own. "She makes them for all of her kids."

Draco traced his fingers along the letter knitted into the sweater, and then pulled it over his head. He turned back towards the pile of presents at his feet, but not before Harry saw him brush a tear away from his cheek.

Harry pulled open the rest of his presents. He received a large Chudley Cannons poster from Ron, a box full of pranks from Fred and George (so new they weren't available at the store yet!), a large amount of candy from Draco, and some chocolates from Lupin.

Draco looked content as he surveyed the presents around him. He had also received a pair of mittens from Hermione, as well as chocolate from Lupin. Harry had given him a book of interviews with famous Seekers, and Ron had sent him some candy. Fred and George had sent him a box full of Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougats, accompanied by a note saying 'For escaping boring classes and annoying Dark Lords.' He had laughed at that.

Most interesting was a small gift that did not come with a note. It was wrapped in plain brown paper, with no marking to tell where it had come from. Draco frowned and shook it.

"I don't know if I should open this," he muttered. "What if it's some kind of trick?"

Harry nodded in agreement. "It does seem suspicious. Maybe we should take it to Professor McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall wasn't in her office so Draco took the suspicious box to lunch, where they found her sitting at the staff table.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy," she called as they entered the room. "It is nice for you to make an appearance today. I noticed that you missed breakfast." Despite her words a hint of a smile played on her lips.

"Professor, could we speak to you for a moment?" Harry asked.

"Of course." Professor McGonagall followed them into the empty entrance hall. "What is it, boys?"

Draco held the box out to her. "This came with my Christmas gifts. It isn't labelled. I thought it would be best to make sure that it isn't anything dangerous before opening it."

"A very prudent choice." She took the box from him and shook it gently before pulling out her wand. She muttered several spells before handing the box back. "As far as I can tell there are no concealed charms, hexes, or curses on this. In the interest of safety you should open it here."

Draco carefully pulled off the wrapping and opened the box. A pair of cufflinks glittered inside.

Harry gasped. "Who could have sent you cufflinks?" Draco didn't answer. Harry looked at his face and was surprised to see that he was blinking back tears. "Draco? Are you alright?"

Professor Mcgonagall pointed her wand at the open box and repeated some of her spells. Finally she withdrew it.

"They are quite safe, Draco," she said gently. "It would seem that they were truly sent to you as a gift."

Draco gently pulled the cufflinks out of the box. He examined them as he twisted them in his hands. "My mother," he said softly. "She always gives me cufflinks for Christmas."

Suddenly Harry understood the expression on his face. "Why don't you change into something you can wear them with?" He gestured at Mrs. Weasley's sweater.

Draco looked up as he dropped the cufflinks back into their box. He shook his head. "No. I like the sweater. Maybe for dinner." He smiled, a real smile that lit up his face, and rubbed his hands down the sweater. "I've never had anything personal like this before. I can barely believe it's real."

For Christmas dinner that night the house tables were moved away and replaced by one smaller table. The students and professors remaining at Hogwarts celebrated well into the night.

Hermione returned to school already prepared with timetables for revision. She forced one onto Harry and was pleasantly surprised when Draco readily accepted one. She did not give one to Ron. They had barely spoken since the night that he had snogged Lavender in the common room.

After their first Apparition lesson Harry pulled his friends into an empty classroom to tell them the results of his latest lesson with Dumbledore. Hermione stood as far as she could from Ron, clearly unhappy to be forced into the same room as him. Draco pursed his lips as Harry explained the need to get an unaltered version of one of Professor Slughorn's memories.

"I've heard of Horcruxes before," he said. "There was a book about them in the Manor library. They're really dark magic. My father was furious when he found out I'd read it."

"What are they?" Harry asked.

"A horcrux is when a wizard splits his soul and hides a piece of it in something else."

Hermione gasped. "What do you have to do to split your soul?"

Draco frowned. "Kill someone. There's some incantation too, my father caught me before I could get that far. They're almost impossible to destroy, but if a wizard has one he can't be killed, not unless his horcrux is destroyed too."

"That must be how Voldemort survived!" Ron blurted out. "He must have a Horcrux somewhere!"

"Of course he does," Hermione said irritably. "But I'm sure Dumbledore already knows that. The real question is, what else was in Slughorn's memory that you need to know?"

"I guess I'll have to find out," Harry answered. "But if even Dumbledore couldn't get it from him, how am I supposed to?"
"You could ask him after class," Ron suggested. "You're his favourite. Use the Half-Blood Prince to do something really great, then ask about Horcruxes and see what he says."

Draco glared contemptuously at Ron. "That's the most stupid, Gryffindor thing I've ever heard!"

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Ron challenged.

Draco shook his head. "You're going to need to be cunning for this, Harry. I might be in Ravenclaw now but I still have all the Slytherin traits. We'll figure something out. Just don't be stupid and ask him straight out, that'll put him on his guard."

Hermione scowled. "Speaking of the Half-Blood Prince, I found something in the library. Harry, you said the book was published 50 years ago? Well, I looked back through the old school records, and there was a woman named Eileen Prince here about that time."

"We've been over this, Hermione," Ron said. "A woman wouldn't bother calling herself prince."

Hermione glared at him angrily. "Shut up Ronald!" she exclaimed, taking a step towards him. "What I was getting to is that there's more! I found a mention in the newspaper, that she married a muggle, and later another one that mentioned her having a baby." She relaxed a little as she faced Harry, blocking Ron out of her view. "I didn't find her married name, but the book could have belonged to her child."

Harry nodded. "You're right, it could have. See? There's nothing unusual about that!"

Hermione shook her head forcefully. "You have no idea what kind of person he was! I still don't think you should be using that book!"

Draco stepped in between them. "Look Hermione, Harry likes that book, and it definitely seems to be helping him. Obviously this Prince was very good at Potions, better than whoever wrote the textbook at least! And maybe you're right and not everything in it is safe. I'm sure Harry will be smart and not use anything that looks dangerous or too much different than the original recipe. Right Harry?"

Harry nodded again. "He's right Hermione. I'm not going to do anything stupid, I promise."

Hermione sighed. "Fine. Just be careful, okay? I still don't trust that book."