It was still too early when Harry woke up, he wasn't expecting any gifts or anything like that. But he couldn't get back to sleep, so he decided to wake Ron up.
"It's time to get up!" Harry yelled and pulled the blanket off the boy.
"Harry... It's too early," Weasley groaned into the pillow, curling up into a ball.
"Come on, it's Christmas, I want to give you a present."
"Oh, Merlin…" the boy pushed himself up from the bed and stared at his friend slightly annoyed, "this can't wait?"
"Don't act like you're not interested." Harry leaned across the bed to his suitcase and took out two small packages. "Here's this one for you."
"Thanks," Ron muttered softly as he unwrapped the present, "Is this really..?"
"I managed to get the last one," Harry smiled when he noticed his friend's surprised face.
"It costs a fortune... A limited edition set of cards with the best Quidditch players and even autographed ones..."
"In any case, you are for me ..." Potter did not have time to finish when Ron pounced on him with hugs.
"Thank you." This time he said it quite quietly, but the strength of his hug spoke for itself.
"Nothing likes that," the scarred boy smiled.
"Now I feel embarrassed," Ron lightly tapped his friend on the shoulder.
"I'd love a gift from you anyway, better than a paperclip, a holey sock, or a coin," Potter winced at the memory of the Dursleys.
"Here."
Harry slowly unwrapped the package and his face lit up again. The package included Flying with the Cannons, which he wanted to buy from the first day he saw it.
"Incredible."
"That's my favorite," Weasley smiled.
"That's amazing, Ron. The best gift in the world," friends hugged again.
Suddenly someone knocked and a sleepy Hermione slipped into the room. Still in pajamas. She had two small gifts in her hands.
"Why so early?" she asked, stretching, "you woke me up."
"Harry's not sleeping," Ron muttered.
"Hey," the boy poked his friend on the shoulder, which started a mock fight and the two rolled to the floor with a crash.
"You are too noisy," the girl fell on the vacant bed, "This is for you."
"Wow, that's beautiful," Harry pulled out a luxurious eagle feather from the bundle.
"It's enchanted. Does not leave a blot on paper and fills with ink itself."
Ron silently examined his gift. A small red silk chess bag, his old one was no good at all. It seemed a little more and chess would just fall out of him.
"Do you like it?" the girl asked timidly.
"Very," Weasley ran his fingers over the gold embroidery.
""Familiae Primum", what does it mean? Harry read with a slight accent."
"Harry, you should brush up on your Latin," Hermione chided him.
"Family above all," Ron smiled softly, "how did you know?"
"I read it."
"You know all that," the boy tilted his head to hide embarrassment and joy behind his hair. Hermione didn't answer, only pulled her friend into a tight hug, "Thank you."
"Hey, what's going on here anyway?" Harry intervened. He didn't like that he didn't understand.
"This," Ron pointed to the fox embroidered on the pouch, "is the coat of arms of the Weasley family and its motto."
"Whoa, why didn't you say anything?"
"You didn't ask," the boy waved him off, handing his gift to Hermione.
The boys gave Hermione a book each. "All About Magical Creatures" by Harry and "Little Fox of the Mountain of Fire" by Ron.
"It's a book about…" Ron broke off mid-sentence when an owl knocked on their window.
"It's Hermes and Errol. What are they doing here?"
"What do you think?" The Weasleys opened the window, filling the room with cold air, causing the other two to flinch. Percy's wife landed delicately on the windowsill with a heavy package, and Errol practically fell down, unable to bear the weight of Mrs. Weasley's gifts.
"Three sweaters and sweets from mom and dad," Ron passed the packages to his friends, "and this is from the brothers. Experimental products from the twins, sweets from Percy and Ginny. And the most interesting..."
The boy got presents from Charlie and Bill. The package contained a letter:
Dear Ron, Harry and Hermione,
I'm glad to tell you that Norbert is all right. He is growing beautiful and healthy. I posted some photos. Oh, and one more thing, Mom told me about your past adventures, so I put a little something in for your luck.
Your dear brother Charlie.
"These are the claws of a dragon," Hermione took out from the envelope photographs of a pleased Charlie with little Norbert and another with a young dragon.
"Charlie told me that dragon claws are said to bring good luck."
The claws were small, but hard as steel. Charlie attached chains to them so that he could always carry with him. The front side was engraved with a rune of luck.
"This is from Bill."
Inside the parcel were three small figurines of different dragons carved from wood. As soon as the children took them in their hands, the figures were sewn up as if alive.
"Wow!" Harry couldn't contain his delight; these are not Dudley's broken soldiers.
"My brother used to cut these out for us all the time when we were kids," Ron lifted the figurine into the air; it shone in the sun and soared into the sky, describing a circle around the room and returning to its place.
"Amazing, it's advanced enchanting, your brother is good at spells." Hermione never held back when it came to magic. Ron smiled at her childlike delight; it was rare to see her like this.
"Yeah, all my brothers are amazing," Ron looked at Errol, who still held the battered letter in his beak, "Hmm? A letter for Mr. Lucius Malfoy?" he read slowly.
"Why would Mr. Weasley send a letter to Malfoy?"
"I'm curious myself, they were in the same year when they studied at Hogwarts, but I didn't know that they communicated," the younger Weasley took the envelope from the weakly resisting owl.
"Reading other people's letters is not good."
"I didn't mean to," the boy shrugged his shoulders, "I just wanted to make sure that I was not mistaken and..."
Before Ron could finish, Draco stormed into the room. He was still in his pajamas, coupled with disheveled hair; you could say that he had just woken up.
"What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here, I'm tired of waiting for you."
The trio couldn't get a word out before Draco pushed them out the door into the living room. The room looked even more beautiful than yesterday. The whole house seemed to flow with magic. From the kitchen came the incredible aroma of freshly baked meat and potatoes. The fire crackled faintly in the fireplace. Snape was sitting in an armchair with a cup of coffee in his hands and chatting with Lucius and Narcissa about something, he seemed so relaxed. The biggest surprise was the Christmas tree with a whole mountain of gifts. She shone and shimmered, small figures moved in New Year's balls, playing different scenes from fairy tales.
"Finally, we already thought that you would not make us happy with your visit," Lucius smiled like a cat, for which he received a slight push in the shoulder from his wife.
"Good morning, sir, ma'am," the children froze in the aisle, not quite understanding what they wanted from them.
"Can we open presents now?" Draco seemed very flustered and couldn't sit still for even a second.
"Yes, now, dear," the young aristocrat did not have to repeat twice.
And the trio remained standing in the aisle while Draco ripped open the wrapping paper.
"So what, are you in steel? Or do you need a special invitation?" Snape quipped, looking intently at the bewildered sophomores.
"Sir?"
"The gifts on the right side are yours."
Harry couldn't believe his ears. Present? For him, Ron and Hermione? Is this even possible? Not decisively, Potter and his friends approached the Christmas tree. And the truth is, all the gifts on the right side were signed with the names of friends.
Harry reached for the middle bag with his name on it. Inside was an expensive-looking gold watch with a crest that Potter had never seen before. Calligraphic letter "P" surrounded by golden roses. In the other box was a beautiful woven bracelet with a large green stone in the middle, masterfully engraved with runes that Harry had never seen before. Even knowing nothing about jewelry, he could safely say that the bracelet was worth quite a few galleons. There was another gift, judging by the packaging from the Malfoys. A set of expensive chocolates, a couple of magic books and
Hermione was presented with a whole stack of rare books on magic, potions, and the history of the wizarding world. She couldn't even lift them all by herself. She was delighted that's for sure. In another box, there was the same bracelet that Harry had been given, only the stone was red like a pomegranate, there were also sweets, mostly with strawberries and raspberries. It's amazing that Snape remembered what she liked best.
Ron opened Snape's gift first, the same bracelet, only the stone was blue. And a lot of candy, too much for Snape. The Malfoys' gift was strangely long, like...
"Hm?" Ron sighed softly in surprise and stared inside the box for a minute, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was the magic wand he was talking about at Ollivander's shop yesterday.
"Harry, pinch me..." Weasley whispered, completely lost.
"Phh," Harry couldn't help but laugh. Hermione was quieter, but a snort escaped her too, thankfully no one else heard his nervous plea.
"What do you say, Mr. Weasley?" Lucius turned to him. Based on the packaging, it was their gift. Which is quite strange, given the strained relations between the families for many years.
"Is it true, is it my wand now?" Ron looked at Malfoy incredulously. Draco sat next to him, fiddling with his gifts, answering instead of his father.
"Who else could she be, you dumbass? Your name is on the tags, which means that the wand is now yours. Your old wand is just awful." The young aristocrat was rude, but Harry could call it a friendly tone, well, to some extent.
"Don't be rude Draco. But he's right, it's your wand now."
"Thank you very much, but how did you know?"
"Some things must be kept secret, Mr. Weasley." Again, that smile, so light and carefree. Not at all what Harry could have imagined.
"Since the presents are already unwrapped, it's time for breakfast," Draco announced. Then Potter realized that he wouldn't refuse food either.
The elves set the table. Harry would never have thought that he would ever be so happy about Christmas. The food was beyond praise. Chicken in honey sauce, steak with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and salads. For dessert, a wonderful creamy cake with wild berries and tea.
"Mr. Malfoy," Ron said to the man after everyone had finished breakfast and gone about their business. "It must be yours." The boy gave him a letter from his father. Lucius didn't even raise an eyebrow, just nodded and quickly slipped the letter into his pocket.
"Harry and you are Miss Granger, just a moment," Snape called to them on the stairs as they were about to go up to their room to feed Kai, "and you are Mr. Weasley." Ron was just walking up to them to ask what happened.
"What happened professor?"
"It won't take long," they went up to the guest room where Snape temporarily lived, "as far as the bracelets are concerned."
"What are these bracelets?" Hermione couldn't contain her curiosity, she had never heard of such things before. Even the runes were strange.
"Given your fondness for dangerous trouble, these bracelets will help me find you in case of emergency. You just need to cast a spell and I will know where you are. So please don't take them off. Especially you, Harry."
Snape looked so serious and even... Worried as he clasped the bracelet on the hand of the boy who survived. The stone glowed softly and went out.
"And one more thing, if you break a stone, the port key will work and you will be transferred to me."
"Thank you professor." The trio thanked the man, still thinking about the meaning of those bracelets.
"Harry, there's something else I want to talk to you about."
"Then we'll go, thanks again, professor."
When Ron and Hermione left, Harry took out the watch that was in the box from his pocket.
"Would you like to talk about it, sir?"
"You are surprisingly smart. This is my grandfather's watch, the only thing left of my family's inheritance," the man's voice was even, almost indifferent, "since you are my temporary ward, I want to give it to you. Open them."
Harry did as he was told and nearly dropped them when he saw the photo on the inside of the lid. He recognized her out of a thousand, even at such a young age. The photo was of my mother.
"Where?" Harry tightened his grip on the watch in his hand, afraid that his fingers would still let him down.
"We were childhood friends. I knew her before we entered Hogwarts," the man replied, still detached. Then a strange thought entered the boy's head.
"Did he love my mother?" but Potter quickly pushed it away. Can someone like Snape even love someone?
"Let it stay with you. And…" The man sighed as Harry bumped into him.
"Thank you, thank you..."
"Nothing." Snape was confused, not knowing what to do, so he awkwardly patted the boy on the head.
"Is that all, professor?"
"Wait a second," Severus pulled a simple envelope from his pocket.
"Who is this? Remus Lupine?"
"He was a close friend of your father, read the letter and you will understand everything."
"Father's friend?" – Harry's face became brighter than before, he was almost jumping up and down with impatience.
"Okay, you can go. Just don't run around the house," the man sighed heavily.
"Thank you for everything Professor!" the boy almost ran out of the potion master's room and went upstairs.
"These kids are driving me crazy… I hope I made the right choice…"