Notes: CHRISTMAS CHAPTER BOO-YEAH! Since I'm going to Utah for Christmas, I'm not going to be able to upload on the 25th. And since my birthday is tomorrow, I'm going to be a brat and upload it today and bask in the glows of hypothetical reviews tomorrow. What?

Part X

"Give it to me, Gregorovitch."

Arthur was dreaming again, but not of the little girl.

He was inside a dimly-lit room watching a tall, hooded figure interrogate an old man bound by magic. Dangling upside-down from the ceiling, the bound man gave the look of an eerie trussed-up Father Christmas.

All along the walls of the room were boxes and boxes of wands. Arthur walked over to the hallway, not wanting to be seen by the dream-people. Yet was this all but a dream? Surely it must be reality somewhere else, because the tall, hooded man was none other than Lord Voldemort.

A shiver ran up and down Arthur's spine. He bit his lower lip, wishing that he wasn't looking at the loathsome man who had destroyed so many of his people, damaged so much of his land, and deferred his dreams of happiness right when they seemed about to come true.

"I have it not, I have it no more!" Gregorovitch pleaded, eyes widened with fear.

Voldemort hissed. "Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Gregorovitch," he growled, looking spitefully into the wandmaker's fearful eyes. "He knows... he always knows..."

And by some virtue of the dream, Arthur felt himself falling forward, almost plunging into the blackness of the wandmaker's pupils. He and Voldemort were entering the depths of Gregorovitch's mind, forcefully penetrating his memories.

The blackness became a long tunnel, lit by Gregorovitch's lantern. The man was rushing, eventually bursting into a room that seemed to be a workshop.

A young man was perched on the windowsill of Gregorovitch's workshop, a lopsided grin on his face that reminded Arthur of Alfred's own crooked smile. He seemed delighted with what he had, golden hair shining in the lantern's glow. Shooting a Stunning Spell at Gregorovitch, the thief bounded from the windowsill.

"Who was the thief?" Voldemort's cold voice demanded, his voice diverting Arthur back to the dim room.

"I do not know, I never knew," Gregorovitch replied. "It was a young man, I knew not of his name – no – please – PLEASE!"

And suddenly there came green light, cutting short Gregorovitch's scream –

"Kiku, are you all right?" Francis asked as the Japanese blearily padded into the breakfast room in his yukata.

"You haven't been yourself for so long..." Madeline added.

Kiku's left eye twitched slightly. "I am perfectly fine," he replied quietly, calmly. It had been months. Autumn was settling in, but it still felt like summer in the the Mediterranean climate of Nice. The only indication of any change in season was the sudden increase in rainfall; sure enough, it was pouring outside.

"Say, we're scheduled to do guest appearances on Potterwatch!" Alfred pitched in over his French toast. "We'll have to get code names and everything!"

"What are we supposed to talk about?" Kiku asked, staring out at the rain.

"Something hopeful," Alfred replied with a shrug. "I dunno what, really. Just make it up, I suppose?"

Something hopeful, Kiku contemplated.

For him, coming up with something hopeful to say on the radio would be just as difficult as catching the Giant Squid and turning it into giant sushi.

Arthur was finally going to take a bath. It had been an entire season and a half now, and he was starting to smell rather seasoned by then.

Nataliya was standing guard outside the lavatory as Arthur submerged himself in the hot water, grinning from ear to ear. For a few blissful moments he could forget that he was in the Death Eater headquarters, that his very life was on the line every day (not that that mattered much since he could come back), and that Harry Potter was hunting Horcruxes somewhere in Britain with a ten-thousand Galleon price on his head.

A silvery-white stork came flying into the room, perching on the chair next to the tub. It opened its mouth and spoke with Nataliya's voice.

"How's the water?"

Arthur nearly jumped out of the tub in surprise. "Nataliya? You can cast a Patronus now?"

"I've been practising in secret," the stork replied, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Alfred told me that Dumbledore trained the members of the Order of the Phoenix how to do interactive Patronuses, so I tried to learn how to do them as well. Did I succeed?"

"Admirably," Arthur gasped, sinking back down into the tub and covering himself with bubbles. "Nearly frightened me out of the tub."

The stork cackled. Arthur pouted.

"To business," Nataliya's Patronus said after a moment. "Dirk Cresswell, a Ministry worker convicted of family tree fraud, has just escaped Azkaban."

"Family tree fraud?" Arthur echoed. "He pretended to be pureblood?"

The stork seemed to roll its eyes. "No, he was pretending to be Muggle-born," she deadpanned.

"Okay, okay! I just wanted to clarify," Arthur snapped. "Who else is avoiding the Muggle-Born Registration Committee?"

"Ted Tonks, Muggle-born father of the pink-haired Auror and relative of the lovely people who own this lovely place."

"Bet that went down well with the Malfoys," Arthur muttered as he washed his hair.

Christmas at Bonnefois Manor meant a giant Christmas tree in the entryway and garlands of mistletoe all over the house.

"Surprise!" Francis cackled as Kiku stared up at horror at the mistletoe hung right above his bed.

"Don't you dare get any closer," the Japanese growled, pointing his wand at the Frenchman.

All throughout the house the smells and sounds of Christmas filled the air as the four friends prepared to celebrate.

"We're going on Potterwatch tonight," Francis exclaimed at lunch. "They're hosting the broadcast session at the Burrow."

So nightfall found them Apparating to the Burrow and entering to general welcome. The Weasley's house was decorated for Christmas as well – a tree, lavishly decorated, stood in the corner while aromas drifted in from the kitchen.

"Alfred! Madeline! How have you been?" Fred Weasley cheered, bouncing up from the couch in the living room to greet them.

"Great! Or as great as it can get being a hero in exile," Alfred exclaimed, hugging Fred and then the other twin, George. "Heard anything about Mattie?"

"Who?" George asked, tilting his head slightly.

"My Hufflepuff brother!"

The twins looked at each other. "Haven't heard of him," they chorused.

Ginny Weasley came running in, her red hair blazing like flames. She engulfed each of them in a hug. "I've missed all of you! Have you heard anything about Harry? Is he all right?"

"No, we haven't heard from Harry at all, and all we've heard about him are things from the Ministry," Madeline replied sadly. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Loads," the red-haired girl said sadly, and when she looked at Kiku she seemed to be conveying a sense of empathy.

They were in the same boat now.

"Hello? Anyone else in here?" a new voice broke through the dark silence of the cellar. Arthur couldn't believe his ears.

"Luna? Is that you?" he asked.

"Arthur? Oh, so you've been here all along?" Luna Lovegood's footsteps approached. "Can you tell me how to get out of my binds? The Wargnoffles in the ropes are starting to bite at my wrists."

Arthur knew now was not the time to question Luna about Wargnoffles, so he scrabbled for the floor around him for the old nail that Ollivander had used to cut his own bonds months ago. Finally finding it by stabbing his thumb on the tip, Arthur cursed and reached out in the darkness for Luna.

After finally managing to extricate Luna from Wargnoffle-infested ropes, Arthur went back to leaning against the wall. "What's been happening?" he asked. "At Hogwarts, I mean. What's going on?"

"Well, Ginny, Neville, and I started up Dumbledore's Army again."

"Welcome back, listeners, to another airing of Potterwatch!" Lee Jordan, codename River, exclaimed into the microphone. "For the pre-Christmas session we have with us three special guests along with our two regular contributors. Give a warm welcome to Rose, Raptor, and Reimei!"

"Reimei?" Alfred, codename Raptor, asked Kiku, who was obviously Reimei.

"It means dawn," Kiku retorted. "Hopeful enough for you?"

"Japonais, I believe?" Francis, codename Rose, pitched in.

"That's quite enough, boys," a third voice interrupted. It was Kingsley.

"Hello, Royal!" Lee exclaimed. "And Romulus? How have you been?"

"Quite excellent, River," Remus said wearily. "Shall we continue?"

"Yes, yes. Royal, do give us our regular update on how this new Wizarding regime is affecting the Muggle world."

"Dreams are powerful things, you know," Luna said quietly in the dark to Arthur. They were leaning against the wall, side by side.

Arthur nodded, but that was a waste of expression. "Yeah, so I've heard. And this dream of mine... well, I don't even know why I'm telling you this... but the dream somehow felt quite real."

"Maybe it was some form of reality," the Ravenclaw girl said dreamily. "Recount, please?"

"I saw You-Know-Who kill an old wandmaker named Gregorovitch. But before he did, he read Gregorovitch's mind and saw a thief... someone who stole something that You-Know-Who wants."

"The Elder Wand," Ollivander cut in from the other side of the room. "Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand."

"But who stole it from him?" Arthur whispered.

"I don't know."

Arthur had a hunch anyways.

"Now, since these holidays are a time of hope and happiness, we therefore look to our three guest speakers to say something hopeful to all of us!" Lee exclaimed, and Kiku paled.

"Let's all keep looking forward," Alfred said suddenly, looking hesitant. "Sorry, that just... totally came out of my mouth at random! But really, I mean it! We're all heroes here, we all need to keep our hopes up! We'll win this fight eventually, because as long as there are heroes like me and you, You-Know-Who will never triumph!"

"Excellent, excellent, Raptor!" Lee said with a grin, and Alfred responded with a grin. "Rose?"

"Aah... um... well, long ago, there was a Roman named Horace who said these very words: Nil desperandum. It's Latin, and it means never despair. We won't give up; we won't give in to the Dark Lord."

"Quite sophisticated of you, Rose, but I expected nothing less." Lee turned to Kiku. "What about you, Reimei?"

Kiku paled an even paler shade of pale. "Er..." he stammered. "D-dawn! My name means dawn, because dawn symbolises hope. The other day I came across an engraving in a cemetery that said... that said..."

He paused to remember the words.

"It said... Look to the land of dawn... for... for hope oft chases away the darkness with the rising of the sun." He blushed slightly, glad that it was just radio. "It's rather... rather mysterious, right? But I think it just means that we shouldn't despair, that we should look forward - everything Rose and Raptor said before me. Dawn... dawn has always been a symbol of hope. Harry has been our symbol of hope. Harry is the dawn, look to him."

"That was very well stated!" Lee exclaimed as Kiku finally gave him the microphone, looking mortified. "Thank you very much for your inspiring statements, Raptor, Rose, and Reimei. Now, listeners, this brings us to the end of another Potterwatch. We're not too sure when we'll be back, but we will be back. So keep twiddling the dials, and the next password is 'Albus'. Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night."

Kiku smiled a real smile for the first time in months.