OK! So, I'm now updating every other week, because I'm reaching the point where I haven't written any more to this story. I'm still going to finish this story, but with finals and graduation coming up, I won't have as much time to write this amazing story.

Review Corner~

SinOfDisaster: I chuckled at the last part of your review, but I'm still deciding if there should be a pairing or not… I will leave lots and lots of hints for possible pairings, but even I'm not sure what it will end up being.

To the Guest Reviewer who left the degrading remark about my story: My story, dumbass. Seeing as you're probably just going down the list of newly updated stories and leaving degrading remarks, such as the one you tried to post about mine, let me just be clear on this. I won't take bullshit from people like you, comprende? I'm all for people criticizing my work, or giving me ideas on how to make my writing style better, but it's people like you that leave me wanting to punch someone. Hard.

To the rest of my lovely fans and followers, I love you all dearly and you can completely disregard the above statement~

Now, On with the story~

Christmas day came bright and early for Naruko, who had been finishing up wrapping gifts for everyone at Hogwarts. She had wrapped Severus', Minerva's, Hagrid's, and Albus', and was finishing wrapping up Harry's, at the moment. Picking up the crimson wrapped square, Naruko wrapped a wide gold ribbon around it and tied it into a large gold bow on top. Smiling down at her handy work, she called on one of the Hogwarts house elves.

A subtle pop showed the arrival of a house elf into her private chambers.

"How can Tipsy help youse?"

Naruko smiled down at the small elf, "Good morning, Tipsy. Could you be a dear and drop these four gifts off to their owners, please? I'm delivering the crimson and gold one myself, so you can leave that to me."

Tipsy bowed, "Of courses, Professor."

The elf popped away again, taking the other Professors gifts with her, leaving Naruko alone with Harry's. Checking the time, Naruko nodded to herself.

"Might as well give the kid his gift now, before he gets distracted by his other gifts."

Standing up from where she had been wrapping gifts on her bed, Naruko went to her closet to find something to change into, only to scowl.

"Albus! You god damned, twinkled eyed bastard! What the hell did you do to my clothes?!"

In her wardrobe, where she normally kept her jeans and shirts, were now filled to the brim with frilly red or green dresses, all of which had bells and/or fur trimming. Running over to her normal teaching clothes, which were kept in the trunk at the foot of her bed, she gasped in horror when she found them switched with an elf costume, ears and hat included. Slamming the trunk lid shut, she growled deep in her throat.

"This is almost as bad as the time when Gai forced me into wearing one of his spandex suits and leg warmers…"

She shivered violently at the memory before looking over at the wardrobe. A light bulb flashed on in her mind after a few minutes of staring, and she calmly walked over to her night stand, where she pulled out a pair of scissors, a needle, and some black thread.

"If that's the game you want to play, Albus, fine! But I'm not going to let you win at this game! No one pranks Uzumaki Naruko and gets away with it!"

It took her another 30 minutes, with the help of her shadow clones, to tear apart and put together an outfit she found to be more acceptable to be found wearing in public, especially around the students. Standing in front of the floor length mirror in her room, she stared at her creation with a hint of pride.

It was a knee length dress, since none of the outfits that Albus snuck in had pants and were all dresses, and dyed a dark green color (red would clash with her red hair, obviously). She had ripped all of the fur trimmings and lace from the outfit, but left the tool underneath the dress, allowing the skirt to puff out. The long sleeves, of the same color green, fit snuggly against her arms and up her neck, where it ended as a high collared dress. Black buttons down the front held the entire dress closed, but she tied a white ribbon, cut from another dress, around her middle and tied it in the back as an extra precautionary.

Twirling once in the mirror, Naruko nodded her head in satisfaction and picked up Harry's gift before heading out of her chambers, only to nearly topple into Minerva.

"Oh, Minerva! Sorry, I didn't see you there! What are you doing here?"

Minerva smiled and held out her wrist, which had a beautiful red crystal and gold diamond bracelet on it, "I wanted to thank you for the gift you gave me, Naruko. It's very beautiful, I love it, but where did you get this? It looks as if it would cost a fortune!"

Naruko laughed and rubbed her neck, "Ah, well, I helped rescue a guy back in my village who owns a crystal jewelry business, and I called in a favor to him. It's not a big deal, Minerva, really! I saw it and I knew you'd love it, so I went and got it for you."

Minerva smiled again and hugged Naruko, "Well thank you anyways, Naruko. It was very thoughtful of you. I left your gift in your seat in the Great Hall, since I wasn't sure if I'd see you before breakfast."

Naruko nodded and smiled, "Alright, I was going to head there in a moment. Actually, Minerva? What's the password for Gryffindor Tower today? I need to go give Harry his gift."

Naruko lifted the square to show Minerva, who looked thoughtful for a moment before remembering what it was.

"It's 'Lion's Pride' for the rest of the break, Naruko. I guess I'll see you at breakfast, then?"

Naruko nodded and thanked Minerva before the two departed. The red head kunoichi Professor made her way down the festive hallways towards the Gryffindor Tower, greeting the occasional student who she passed on her way. By the time she made it to the red and gold tower, it was about 7 in the morning.

Naruko warmly greeted the Fat Lady as she approached the painting.

"Good morning, ma'am."

The Fat Lady blinked in surprise, "Oh, good morning. You're too old to be one of my Gryffindors."

Naruko laughed, "Oh, no. I'm not a student. I'm actually a Professor here."

The Fat Lady blinked again before giving a small smile, "Oh, you're the new Professor all of the other paintings have been talking about. Did you wish to enter the tower? I'm sorry, but even if you're a Professor, I'll need the password in order to let you in."

" 'Lion's Pride', ma'am, and I hope you have a very merry Christmas."

The Fat Lady nodded her head, "And the same to you, Professor."

The portrait swung open, allowing Naruko entry to the gold and crimson trimmed room. Looking around, she didn't notice Harry in the common room, but she did notice another first year sitting in one of the armchairs reading a book. Walking over to him, she cleared her throat, causing him to look up startled.

"Uzumaki Sensei? What are you doing in here?"

Naruko smiled, "Milligan, correct?"

The boy, Milligan, nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

"Do you know if Mister Potter is here?"

Milligan nodded again, "Uh, yeah, I think so. He should be up in his room with Weasley still… Did you need him?"

Naruko nodded her head, "Actually, yes, I do. Could you get him for me?"

"Sure."

Milligan put down his book and stuffed it between the arm and the cushion of the chair, before scampering up the boys' stairwell. Naruko waited around for a few minutes, staring at various things around the common room, before she heard the telltale sign of boys coming down the stairs. Turning around, Naruko saw Milligan and Harry followed by Ron, Fred, and George as they all tromped down the stairs.

Harry came up to her with a confused smile, "Good morning, Sensei. What are you doing here?"

Naruko smiled at the green eyed boy, "Good morning, Mister Potter. Now, you remember the promise I made you a few months back when we first met? Hopefully you do, because I decided that today would be the perfect day to give it to you."

Naruko pulled the wrapped gift out from behind her back and held it out for him, "Merry
Christmas, Mister Potter."

Harry stared with wide eyes at the wrapped present in front of him before staring up at Naruko.

"Y-you really did it, Sensei?"

Naruko smiled wryly at Harry and motioned for him to take the package, "You'd best believe it, Mister Potter. Now, if I were you, I'd take the gift and unwrap it before you make me think that you don't want it."

Hesitantly, Harry nodded and took the gift from her hands. Moving over to one of the couches, he sat down and started to unpeel the wrapping paper off of it. The Weasleys gathered around Harry, and Naruko stood off to the side of the couch, as the paper gave way to reveal a dark, hard leather cover. It was plain, with not a single crack or nick on the cover, which made Naruko speak up.

"If you want something on the cover, you merely have to ask me and I can get it engraved. I wasn't sure what you would want on it, so I left it blank just in case."

Harry nodded and ran his hands over the cover, like he had seen Hermione do with old tomes she sometimes read, before opening the front cover with a creak of the hard leather. He had to hold back a gasp at the first picture, which took up the whole page. It was of his father and mother on their wedding day. He watched his father, with his messy black hair, twirl his mother, with her startling green eyes, before they stopped and smiled at the camera. He looked at that one picture for the longest time before he put the album to the side and stood up. He slowly shuffled over to Naruko, who gave him a small smile as he made his way over, before he wrapped his arms around her middle, his face pressed into her stomach.

"Thank you, thank you so much, Sensei. You don't know how much this means to me."

Naruko hugged the boy tightly to her, "What I would have given to have someone do this for me, when I was your age… I would have given the entire world to see a single picture of my parents, to even know their names, or if I had any family left."

She pulled him away, and kept him at arm's length as she crouched down to look at him, "I found many photos of your parents, but all of the ones in there are personal pictures from people who knew your parents and were friends with them. I made a list in the back of the book that lists each and every person who contributed a photo in the album. Now I want you to promise me something, Harry."

Harry nodded his head, "Anything, Sensei."

"I want you to personally thank each and every person on that list. No letters, okay? I want you to tell them thank you, no matter who they are. I'm sure you'll meet everyone on the list eventually, and if you don't, then I'll help you get in contact with them, alright? Can you promise me that, Harry?"

He nodded his head again, and Naruko smiled before pulling him into another hug. When she released him again, she shooed him back towards the couch.

"Now go ahead and look through the album some more. I have to go give Albus an earful for getting rid of my wardrobe in the middle of the night."

Harry and the Weasleys laughed and bid her a Merry Christmas as she left the Gryffindor common room. Stalking down the empty corridor, Naruko let out a low pitched whistle.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are, ya lemon drop loving bastard…"