Emily hugged her aunt enthusiastically when Petunia met her and Diana at King's Cross. Diana then gave her mother a bear hug while Emily was being greeted by the Grangers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alex being met by a couple that was most likely his father and Aunt Alecto and a somewhat elderly man that must have been his grandfather. All three adults had furious expressions that did not bode well for Alex. Emily hoped that he would be all right, but reminded herself that he was a tough person and would survive whatever punishment his family dealt out to him.

Ron and the twins were then greeted by Aunt Petunia and the Grangers and the group headed home. Since Aunt Petunia's car couldn't fit six people, Fred and George rode with the Grangers. When they arrived at the Evans's home, Emily discovered that she was sharing Diana's room and Ron would be staying in her room. Fred and George would be occupying the guest room. After everyone was settled, they went downstairs for supper.

Partway through, Aunt Petunia announced, "I'm taking you five to Diagon Alley tomorrow to buy dress robes. A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Macmillian sent an invitation to a party she is holding on Christmas Eve. All the families of the ones in your 'Hogwarts Gang' have been invited. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley obviously can't attend, as they're in Romania, but I'm taking the three of you Weasleys. Mrs. Macmillian said she was sending us a Portkey, since we don't have access to the Floo Network."

When the matter of paying for the dress robes came up, Aunt Petunia informed Ron and the twins that she was paying for them and overrode their objections by saying that it would be a Christmas present. After dinner, Emily and Diana helped wash and dry the dishes and then they and Ron went to the living room with the notebooks Alex had given them. After the girls did their best to explain the telly, VCR, and a couple of other Muggle things to Ron, they opened their notebooks.

"Alex wrote to us!" exclaimed Diana. "Oh no, he's got terrible news. Why does he have such a horrible family?"

Emily and Ron made faces as they read, "Alex here. Guys, please don't send your Christmas presents to me. Just give me them when we got back to Hogwarts. Amycus (I refuse to acknowledge him as my father), said that I was to have no communication with my friends, and all mail to me would be intercepted. Any presents from those he felt were unsuitable friends for me (which is everyone except Daphne, Tracey, Blaise, Ernie, and Susan) would likely be burned. So just write to me via the notebooks. I'm locked up in my room until further notice and either Adelly or Farra will bring me my meals. There's no leaving except to use the bathroom, and since one is connected to my room, that doesn't count. Alecto (I'm not acknowledging her as my aunt either), gave me my first lesson on proper behavior, which was really more of a punishment, right after I got home. I won't go into details. Amycus and his father then dealt out a punishment/lesson and after, Farra brought my dinner. He's sorry about what's going and wishes he could help, but I'm not going to have him do something that'll get him in trouble with the family if he's caught. And if he's not caught, he'll still have to punish himself for disobeying orders, and I doubt I could talk him into only doing extra chores and not inflicting self-harm. The same goes for Adelly. Well, Farra's back to take the dirty dishes away and he said that Amycus is going to be up soon to give me another punishment before he goes to bed, so I'll stop writing now. I don't want him finding out about my notebook and confiscating it. He'd probably burn it. You can write back, but I won't be able to read anything for at least an hour. Good-night."

"That's not good," said Ron, face so pale that his freckles were very noticeable. "I shudder at what punishments his so-called family dealt out. And did you notice that Alex's handwriting was shaky? I hope the punishments weren't anything terrible."

Emily blinked, for Ron wasn't exactly the most observant person in the world. She took a second look just as the writing was starting to fade and saw that it was indeed rather shaky, as if he had written with his right hand (he was left-handed) or had suffered some great pain or scare that made it hard to write.

After awhile, Ling's handwriting appeared. "Guys (except Alex), Ling here. I just read what Alex wrote, and reading between the lines, I think things aren't going well for him. And did you notice that his handwriting was shaky? Something definitely is up."

Diana was about to write a reply when Justin started writing. "I agree, guys. (Except Alex) This is Justin, by the way. I wish there were something we could do."

Next was Hermione's writing. "Guys (except Alex), calm down a bit. I'm worried about Alex, too, but he's a brave and tough person, and can deal with things. He wouldn't thank us for interfering unless he specially asked us to. The best thing we can do is offer our moral support."

"(Do not send to Alex) Mia's right," wrote Diana. "We need to be there for Alex, but we can't do anything that'll get him in further trouble or make him annoyed with us."

Blaise was the last one to write that evening. "(Exclude Alex from this message) We'll figure something out. And nothing too bad can really happen to Alex. The Carrows will get in trouble if they do, and there aren't so many pureblood children around that parents will really harm them."

The next day dress robes were bought for the party and the afternoon was spent at the Grangers' home. Fred and George asked several questions about Muggle appliances and they all watched a couple of videos.

(Alex's POV)

It was the night before Christmas Eve and Alex was in his bed, doing his best not to cry. Nothing that his family did to him would induce him to act like a prejudiced pureblood, not even the Cruciatus Curse (which his aunt had subjected him to three times yesterday). However, he couldn't help being plagued with the doubt that he could be broken and tamely do whatever his family said. Remembering the boggart didn't help matters at all.

Alex wished Em, Di, and Mia were there in person to offer their moral support. All the stuff the rest of the Hogwarts Gang had written to him through the notebooks helped him get through whatever 'lessons' and punishments he was dealt out in silence and comforted him, but he wanted something more than writing.

After glancing at the clock, he saw that it was eleven. The rest of the family would be asleep. Alex sat up and summoned Adelly and Farra. "I don't want to be like this, but I really need the support of my friends in person. So could you two please pop over to the Evans' home and bring Em, Di, and Ron here? Then go to the Granger's home and bring Mia. And could you bring Nev, I mean Neville Longbottom, here also? Be careful about how you wake them up. And if you must punish yourself for this, just do an extra chore, Adelly and Farra."

Five minutes later, the five were in Alex's bedroom. Ron still looked rather sleepy, but he managed an expression of concern for his friend. Diana wrapped Alex in a hug. "What's the matter, Alex?" she asked quietly, a note of alarm in her voice.

"I just need your presence and support," answered Alex, trying to blink back his tears. It didn't really work, and with his friends there, he suddenly started weeping silently, not caring that males normally didn't show emotion like this. Neville, Emily, and Hermione quickly gathered around him. Ron looked a little uncomfortable with this display of emotion, but after a moment of hesitation, joined them and akwardly patted Alex on the shoulder.

"What has happened to you, Alex?" whispered Hermione, concern evident in her voice. "What did your so-called family do to you?"

"First, promise that you won't tell the others," said Alex, wiping his eyes. "The five of you are the closest to me, since I've known you the longest. I'll the others when I'm ready."

"We promise," said Emily, glancing at the others, who nodded. "Now, please tell us what's been going on."

"Between lectures on 'proper' behavior, I've been getting punishments," responded Alex. "Alecto decided that perhaps the Cruciatus Curse would get through to me and has done it on me at least once a day. And Amycus has caned me every day since I've been home."

Neville looked white. "Your aunt has actually used a Unforgiveable Curse on you? And one like that?"

"She's not my aunt," snapped Alex. "She's a foul person and the only reason I'm not calling her the word that rhymes with witch is because it'd be an insult to all female dogs. And yes, she did use the Cruciatus Curse on me. I only kept from screaming with a great force of will and remembering what my friends wrote to me."

Neville flinched and looked whiter. Hermione patted him on the arm, for last month he'd told the Hogwarts Gang the reason why he lived with his grandmother. "That's horrible!" exclaimed Neville, sitting down on the bed.

"Keep your voice down, Nev!" hissed Ron. "You don't want to be heard by the Carrows and get Alex in trouble."

"How can your family be so horrible?" Emily blazed in a lowered voice. "They all deserve to be shot for their treatment of you."

"Well, you can't do anything without making things worse," said Alex, shuddering. "The point is, what if they manage to break me? That's what I'm worried about."

"No wonder you're crying!" Diana hugged him again and continued, "You're tough, Alex, and a rebel. And you have nineteen wonderful friends who are there for you and will do anything to help you get through this. Remember all those pranks you played on your family that you told us about? You got punished for them, but it didn't stop you from continuing to do them. I know that you're not going to give in to your family and start acting like them."

Alex wiped his eyes and finally stopped crying. "You're right, Di. I'm being silly." He now started feeling somewhat embarrassed over his display of emotion.

"You're not being silly, Alex," said Ron firmly. "If I were in your place, I'd be the same. There's nothing wrong with being scared or worried sometimes. Most of the time you're brave, anyway, showing that you truly belong in Gryffindor."

After a few more minutes of more comforting words, Alex thanked his friends for their support and asked Adelly and Farra to take them home.

The Macmillian Christmas Eve party was wonderful. Emily wore dress robes of a light green. The Portkey (a length of rope), arrived ten minutes before the party was due to start. Ernie greeted his friends and then introduced his parents.

Several minutes later, Alex turned up, wearing dress robes of dark green and silver. "The rest of the Carrows are at the party the Malfoys are hosting," he explained. "Normally I would have gone too, but as I'm in disgrace, I can't. The fireplace in my room is connected to the Floo, so I'm here."

The Hogwarts Gang (except for Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise, who were attending the Malfoy party) crowded around Alex and asked if he was all right. He said he was, but none of them believed him, especially when he grimaced as he sat down. Padma hesitantly asked, "Has your father, I mean Mr. Carrow, been hitting you?"

"That is none of your business, Padma," replied Alex. "I don't want to discuss what's going on at home. I just want to enjoy the party."

This only served to tell the others (besides Em, Di, Neville, Mia, and Ron, who already knew) that the answer to Padma's question was 'yes' and they exchanged horrified looks. However, out of respect to Alex's desire, they didn't press the matter and the subject changed to the Philosopher's Stone.

Dinner was served at seven-thirty. After that, the Hogwarts Gang talked of miscellaneous matters and played Exploding Snap and wizard's chess. Neither Emily or Hermione were good at chess, but Diana was very good and could win against anyone except Ron (who was better at strategy than her).

At eleven, Alex left, as his father would be back from the Malfoy party at twelve and he wanted to be home just in case Amycus decided to be a little early. Not long after that, the other guests started leaving as well, including the Hogwarts Gang and their families.

The next day was Christmas and Emily couldn't help blinking at the large pile of presents she had. Then again, she did have nineteen friends. After working her way through the ones from her friends and family, (mostly books, sweets, and clothes, plus a scarf from Ginny) there were three presents remaining. One was from Hagrid, which contained a wooden flute that he had obviously carved himself. Another was from Mrs. Weasley, which contained an emerald green jumper and a box of fudge. Ron explained that his mother made jumpers every year at Christmas and this year included the Hogwarts Gang on the list. He added that his jumper was always maroon. The third present was an Invisibilty Cloak. The note accompanying it said that it had been left in the giver's possession before Emily's father had died and that it was now time it was returned to her, ending with a wish for a merry Christmas. There was no signature.

Ron and the twins looked awed by the Cloak, while Emily wondered over who had given it to her and the fact that it belonged to her father. Aunt Petunia reminded Emily not to cause trouble with the Cloak and then went to the kitchen to make breakfast. The kids tried out the Cloak and after, Emily locked it up in her trunk. The Hogwarts Gang had been practicing the Disillusionment Charm, but it looked as if she didn't need to do the spell now that she had her father's Invisibility Cloak.