Kailor: I love all the questions I've gotten. Everyone is asking if the story is going to go a certain way. And they're all wrong. Mwahahahahahahahahaha. I admit, I pride myself on having twists and turns that no one ever sees coming.
"There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the brunette girl and the foreign girl."
"Wearing the glasses?"
"Did you see his face?"
"Did you see his scar?"
Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory. Hermione and Padma fell into step on either side of him, keeping the questions at bay. Neville and Ron joined them on the way to breakfast. Penny and Ven were waiting in the entrance hall. When they entered, Harry's brothers and the Weasley twins were seated at the Ravenclaw table, leaving space for everyone else.
Harry sat between his brothers, nervously flattening his bangs over his forehead. Madam Pomfrey had treated his scar, but it would take a few days to fade. People at other tables were standing up to get a better look at him. He put his head down and tried to eat. All he managed to do was push his food around on his plate. "What classes do we have today?" He asked Padma, trying to distract himself from the group of Hufflepuff girls that were giggling nearby.
"It's Sunday," Padma said, her eyebrow lifting. "You can have any classes you want. I'm going to relax on my day off!"
Harry forced himself to laugh and turned back to his breakfast. Around him, the rest of the Pack chatted about school and rumors they'd heard.
XXXXXXX
Ven watched her twin poke the same piece of waffle he'd been poking at for the last few minutes. Anytime one of their friends spoke to Harry it was in a hushed voice and they were careful to make sure they avoided the topic of the stone and Quirrel. It seemed they had noticed he wasn't in the mood today.
She glanced up at the ceiling. As expected of Scotland, it rained more than it shined and today was no exception.
It was time to put her plan into action. She gave Llyr and Albion a quick signal.
XXXXXXX
Harry jumped as a hand slapped the table in front of him.
"Still sulking?" Ven said, crossing her arms.
He frowned. "I'll sulk all I want."
"Well," she said. "Your sulking is pissing me off."
"Ven!" Penny admonished. But the Gryffindor ignored her. She grabbed a handful of blueberries from her plate and began pelting Harry with them.
"What are you doing?" Harry snapped, dodging as many berries as he could. One hit his face, leaving a purple mark behind. "Stop it! Would you just leave me alone?"
"Oh, leave you alone? Is that what you want?" Ven then lifted her entire plate and tossed the contents at him. Syrupy pancakes slapped into his chest, sliding down into his lap.
He leapt up, sputtering with rage.
Ven was suddenly on her feet too.
The eyes of the hall had quickly riveted on the two of them, expecting drama. They were not disappointed when she grabbed up her pumpkin juice and flung it into her brother's face. "Still sulking?" she growled.
Harry blinked juice from his eyes, his stomach filling with heat. Why couldn't Ven see he didn't want to be friendly today? He just wanted to eat his breakfast in peace! But when he saw the smirk on her face, he lost it. "You!"
Like an arrow, Ven took off. She was out the door before Harry could clamber over the bench and pursue her. He barely registered his brothers on his heels, or the rest of their friends following them.
The hall was barely filled this early in the morning, but the remaining students were soon lining up at the door, wanting to see the drama unfold. Professor McGonagall was calling for everyone to return to their seats. When they blatantly ignored her, she stood and followed them out into the entrance hall. Professor Flitwick and Snape joined her.
Harry caught up to Ven on the front steps of the castle.
She had kicked off her shoes and dropped her robes on the steps. He skidded to a halt as she turned to the growing crowd behind them and saluted, calling out, "Those who are about to die salute you!" Before anyone could reply, she was gone. She hit the lawn running, her pants legs immediately soaked. Llyr was right behind her, leaping into the rain with a whoop of joy, his first sound since arriving. Albion didn't take long to join them.
Harry's anger quickly disappeared when he saw the rain falling. So this was her plan. Back at Castle Stalker, they had often spent evenings playing in storms. They had always come home covered in mud and laughing like maniacs. He smiled, shaking his head. Ven would still pay for the pancakes and pumpkin juice later, but that could wait. He kicked off his shoes.
XXXXXXX
The crowd watched in amazement as the Lachlans moved. Like the children they were, they jumped into puddles, kicked water at each other, and danced to music no one else could hear. Water drops were thrown from spinning bodies. Hair stuck to their faces. Their clothes grew heavy, but they didn't notice.
As the storm poured down on them, Ven turned her hands and face to the sky, catching the freezing drops on her healed scar and cupped palms.
Albion lifted Llyr on his shoulder and spun him around, howling.
Harry flung his hands out, throwing raindrops at his sister. And they were all laughing, the sound floating back to the students watching from the doorway.
Penny felt eyes turning to her. Was she going to call them back in? Dock points? Go and get a teacher?
Percy appeared at Penny's side. "Get back in here! This is entirely inappropriate! Ten points from-"
"Percy?" Penny interrupted him.
He glanced at her, his eyes widening as her robes hit the ground. "What are you-"
"Lighten up." And Penny jumped down the stairs. Her bare feet kicked up water as she joined the first years.
Seeing this as permission, Fred and George were immediately racing after her. Percy couldn't believe his eyes when shy Neville Longbottom was the next one out the door. He attempted to grab Ron's arm as his brother shot past him, but he missed and the younger redhead threw himself into the rain, howling happily. Before Percy could do anything else, a wave of students were crashing around him, out into the downpour. The Gryffindor Prefect found himself standing on the steps alone. He turned back to the doors. A group of students from all houses were still standing there, though they were all smiling and laughing at their friends in the rain. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were with them. Percy turned to his head of house for help. "Professor! I tried to stop them! Penelope is not in her right mind, I assure you. She would never be so reckless!"
Before Professor McGonagall could speak, Professor Flitwick laughed, his squeaky voice rising around the pounding rain. "I believe a little recklessness is needed. Try it sometime, Mr. Weasley." And the tiny professor hurried past him, down the steps, and into the storm.
Percy turned a disbelieving look to Professor McGonagall. She did not accompany her fellow professor onto the lawn, but the corners of her lips were curled up just a bit. Professor Snape turned and left, like he'd seen nothing. So Percy just stood on the steps, unable to do anything but watch.
Penny found Ven on the edge of the wild crowd. Her face was upturned still, her eyes closed. "What was all that about earlier?" Penny yelled over the storm and the singing voices around them.
Ven lowered her head, blinking the water out of her eyes. She pointed through the dancing bodies.
Harry was on Fred and George's shoulders, his laughter mingling with their singing of the Hogwarts school song. Penny could see him wiping his eyes occasionally, but this was a completely different boy than the one that had sat down to breakfast with them.
"He needed to cry. And nobody will see him do it out here. And he's not shut away in his dorm alone." Ven's statement was punctuated by rolling thunder. "Harry's issue is that he tends to blame himself for everything. He overthinks problems. He can spend so much time over-analyzing the situation, trying to put the pieces back together. Justifying what could have or would have happened if he'd done something different. He needs to learn to leave the pieces on the floor and move on. Things happen, that's that. I have a feeling that's something he'll need to do throughout his life." She reached out and grabbed Penny's hand, shaking it with a sudden crooked grin. "And we all needed to feel a bit cleaner, yeah?"
Penny shook her head, a smile taking hold of her lips. "You really love your brother, don't you?"
Ven shrugged, bouncing happily on the balls of her feet. "Well, I've got to. He's my twin. The other half to my whole."
Penny laughed. She reached out and ran her finger over the younger girl's scar. "Awww, you're such a softie."
"I'll deny it if you ever tell."
About that time Harry appeared, tackling his sister to the ground. Mud flew everywhere as the two of them pounced on each other like puppies.
XXXXXXX
Since so many students took part in the random rain dance, the teachers did not take points or give out detentions. Madam Pomfrey did, however, sweep the lot of them, carrying a cauldron of Pepper-Up Potion. It warmed them up quickly, but left them all steaming at the ears for a while after. Professor McGonagall stopped by Harry and Ven to ask if they were okay. Since their return to the castle, the stares and whispers had dropped to a minimum. Apparently seeing Harry acting like a little kid out in the rain had put a stop the the rumor mill for a while.
Harry threw his arm around his twin's shoulders. "I'm better now, Professor."
This put a smile on Ven's face that refused to leave.
XXXXXXX
Christmas morning Harry woke to Anthony Goldstein shouting, "Presents, boys! Wake up!"
Harry sat up, blinking and yawning. He had just put his glasses on when the door opened and Roger bounced in. "Harry, my boy! I love them!"
He had gotten Roger, who was on the Ravenclaw team, a new pair of Quidditch gloves. Roger was wearing them, despite how much they clashed with his pajamas. And on his face was a pair of glasses with a nose attached that continually changed to different shapes with different mustaches sprouting from underneath. "Let me guess," Harry said, pointing to the odd accessory. "Ven get you those?"
"She did. Hilarious, they are." Roger clapped Harry on the shoulder. "Haven't opened your presents yet? Perfect! The girls wanted to see you open them anyways. Come on, pal." He scooped up an armful of the presents at the foot of Harry's bed. He was surprised to see how many there were.
Harry grabbed the rest, following the older boy down the stairs. Penny, Hermione, and Padma were in the common room, each holding their presents from him. "Morning," Hermione said. "We figured you'd enjoy opening your presents with us. And seeing us open yours."
"Well now I'm hoping what I got each of you is good enough," he joked, sitting between Hermione and Padma.
They set about opening their presents from each other. Penny was very happy with her bottle of nail polish that turned into blue and silver stripes as it was painted on. Padma got a huge box of chocolate frogs ("You know me so well, Harry!"). And Hermione was staring, speechless, at the book in her lap: Medea by Euripides. "Oh, Harry, this is gorgeous. It's so old! But so well taken care of."
"Well, I admit I went a little cheap on your gift. It's from our library back at Castle Stalker." Harry shrugged. "I thought you might like it."
"Oh, I do!" Hermione threw her arms around him. "But Harry, isn't this a muggle book? I thought wizarding families didn't associate much with the muggle world. Ron barely knows anything about the muggles."
Harry laughed. "Well, that's Ron for you. But we have a lot of muggle books. My sister's a muggle."
Padma's head suddenly snapped up, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Ah, the sound of Ven coming down here to murder you for calling her a muggle. What sweet morning noises."
"Not Ven," Harry chuckled. "Anwen. I have three little sisters. Anwen, Lee, and Aurelia. Anwen is a muggle."
"But your parents-"
"Adopted her. Albion, Llyr, and Anwen are adopted." Harry lifted his present from Hermione. "You'll meet them at some point, I'm sure. Let's see what I got, yeah?"
Hermione had gotten him a book called Quidditch Through The Ages. Padma's gift was a Ravenclaw scarf with a hidden snack pocket. Penny had gotten all of them leather bracelets that her mother made. Ron had sent him a box of pumpkin pasties. From his parents, he got a new winter cloak. Hagrid sent him a flute he had obviously carved himself, that sounded a lot like an owl. And from Ven, there was a pair of sweatpants with the Gryffindor crest on them. He shook his head as he opened this last present. He'd have to return the favor next year by getting her some Ravenclaw merchandise.
Harry laughed as Hermione and Padma got the same sweatpants from his twin. Padma swore she'd only wear them if Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw in the next game. Penny, however, got a thin charm bracelet. "See how much thought she put into my present now," Padma huffed playfully.
"Who's this from?" He said, lifting his last present.
Hermione, Padma, and even Penny had the same lumpy package left. Harry opened his first, catching the little card that fluttered out.
For being such good friends with our boys,
Love,
The Weasleys
"Oh, this is adorable!" Penny said, pulling out the sweater in her package. It was dark blue and had a large "P" embroidered on it. Padma's had the same letter and was a shade lighter. Hermione and Harry's matched, bottle green with a yellow "H" on the front.
Padma squealed when she saw them. "Oh, put them on! You'll look so cute together!"
Hermione blushed heavily, stuttering. Harry pulled his on, happy to find it very warm. Their presents also contained boxes of fudge.
The group disbanded to dress for breakfast. Since there were no classes during the Christmas holidays, they were allowed to forego their customary robes and dress how they wanted. Harry seriously debated just staying in his pajamas, but ended up putting on his school pants and the sweater Mrs. Weasley had knitted him. He met the others down in the common room. When he told Hermione she looked good in her sweater, she turned bright pink and hurried out of the door before him. He looked questioningly at Padma.
"Harry, my dear. One day, when you're older, we'll have a chat. Until then, Happy Christmas. Let's get downstairs."
XXXXXXX
When Harry walked into the Great Hall, he was greeted by a large shout of, "HAPPY CHRISTMAS!" The Ravenclaw table, which had become the unofficial table of the Pack, was pretty much empty besides their friends.
Ven was standing, her arms spread wide. On her head was a jauntily tilted, dark red flat cap. "Hey, I got one too!" She pointed to her sweater: blood red with a yellow "V" on the front. She had the sleeves rolled up to show off her leather bracelet from Penny.
All the Weasleys, of course, and Neville were also wearing their sweaters. Roger, Cedric, Albion, and Llyr were sweaterless, but they didn't say anything.
Ron, in his maroon sweater, was trying vainly to hide his bright red ears. "She's done this because Ven stayed with me down in that chamber. Really gone all out. She makes them every year."
"Well, I love mine!" Ven said. "I'm going to wear it forever! And Harry! The hat! I love it!" She tipped the flat cap at him.
"Thanks for the glasses," Roger told her. He was still wearing them. "They're brilliant."
"Ah, they're just so I don't have to look at your ugly mug anymore!"
Harry sat beside Hermione, feeling like this day couldn't have started off any better.
When Professor Snape paused beside them and said a quick and stiff, "Happy Christamas", he nearly laughed out loud. It was turning out to be quite the holiday.
Kailor: Okay, so no twists and turns here really. Just a bit of sweetness for a feel good chapter. But next chapter, there will be another twist! Prepare your minds. Reviews, as always, are appreciated!