Chapter Thirty-Four

The Nightmare After Christmas

Harry spent nearly all of Thursday in his attic. He and William had returned to the Grant home after failing. He'd left a fuming William in Poseidon's hands before flooing home and firecalling Mary on her own fireplace. The middle MacDonald girl had not been happy and transferred quite a bit of that unhappiness onto Harry. As such, he pulled inside himself and spent Thursday doing homework. And he had a lot of homework. He'd never really noticed how much homework he had, but it took him a good six hours to complete. Was Christmas break homework supposed to be that lengthy?

Paradise stuck around in the attic for a few hours, but when Harry just retreated into his languages books, she left. Lils was working with Sal, so while Harry could practice some of his magic, he didn't have a supervisor to help with the control of the elf-magic. And controlling the elf-magic was making it so much easier to control the uncontrollable. Sal even estimated that in another two months, Harry might not need a rock wand at all.

It was discouraging. He wanted magic to work! He'd always been strong on the practical side of things. Sure, he'd gotten better at the theory, but without the practical aspect of magic, he was still just… bad. And he needed to be excellent. He needed to be able to stand up to people like Black and even, even… people like Voldemort. The bad guys that always managed to mess up his life. He'd seen some reincarnation of Voldemort both of his previous years. Where was he this year? Was he with Black? That would be typical. Just… typical.

Harry shook his head and went back to working on the map. He wouldn't have a real opportunity to approach those he was considering until back at school. There'd be too many people at his party, really. He'd tried to keep it just to people that he knew, but Mary insisted that he'd have to invite some of the homeschooled children of the noble elite and students who studied abroad, just because his party was turning into the social event of the season for children aged fifteen to eleven. Nearly all nomahs within that age range would be attending. It unnerved Harry. There were more nomahs outside Hogwarts than within. Harry pushed thoughts of the party and nobility from his mind. The map wasn't progressing. He needed to be back at school for that.

A bored and frustrated Harry threw the map papers back into his trunk and pulled out his harmonica. He hadn't really had time to practice, but he'd been awful at playing the lute. The harmonica was easier. After a few moments, Harry got bored and tossed the instrument back in his trunk. He hadn't unpacked. He'd never fully unpacked since attending Hogwarts.

Harry flopped back on his bed and stared at the slanted, unfinished ceiling above his head. Normally, during the summer vacations, the Dursley's kept him busy with chores and weeding and it was just best if he stayed quiet and out of their way. Without the chores and the jobs and the hard work… what was he supposed to do? He didn't want to bother with Aurora's impossible garden. It's not like the elves had anything for him to do. Lils and Sal were cooking. Aurora was at some Hogwarts' meeting, and Paradise was out playing with Taygete and Hedwig.

Paradise said she was trying to train Taygete to be more than a post owl. She'd offered to try and train Hedwig too, but the snowy had persistently refused. That didn't keep the Queen of Hogwarts Airspace from watching her little sister Tay learn "stupid" tricks and "pointless" behavior patterns. But still, with Hedwig outside, it meant that Harry didn't have anyone to talk to. He could floo Neville. Or perhaps write a letter to someone, but who? He knew too many people, and he didn't really want to talk to any of them.

Harry rolled over and groaned into his pillow. He was so bored!

o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry spent most of Christmas Eve curled into the couch. Aurora's brother, Eclipse and his wife, Sana Belle, had brought over Aria and their younger kids, Anthem and Symphony. Sana Belle took Paradise and her children outside, but Harry declined going. He curled into Aurora's couch with a book and watched the Yule Tide log burn in the fireplace. They hadn't put up a tree this year. None of them had wanted to. Well, Aurora had tried to convince the kids to put one up, but both of them had some pretty bad Christmas memories. Aurora and Eclipse were in the kitchen, talking.

After a few hours, Symphony came inside and plopped into the chair across from Harry. She was seven. She didn't sit still very well. "Whatcha reading?"

"A book on maps."

"Maps?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"'cause I can."

Symphony snickered. "That's weird. Why not about, like, dragons or something interesting?"

"Because I'm interested in this," Harry said, calmly.

The girl bit her nails. "But why?"

"Because mapmaking is a fascinating topic. It's full of history and mystery and precision and time. It takes time to makes maps. I'm trying to make one, and it's not going so well."

"Why not?"

"I'm not smart enough."

Symphony laughed. "You're in Gryffindor, with Aria. She talks about you a lot. Hasn't shut up, really."

"Yeah," Harry said. "It's been a problem. And not just with Aria." Harry returned to his book, and Symphony bit her nails or picked at the chair before getting bored and running into the kitchen to bug her father and Aurora.

Christmas Eve evening was much the same. He ate dinner with everyone else, but retreated into his books once they started discussing random, trivial things. It was easy, with the Dursleys, to stay in his room all day and not do anything, which sufficiently removed him from company. Here, what with Anthem staying in the attic, he needed a book to provide a barrier between him and other people. 'cause he really wasn't in the mood to be around other people. Books were good in that way. He found the appeal of the books getting stronger and stronger. Perhaps he should spend less time around Hermione…

Around seven, Aurora physically took his book away. They fought over it, but Aurora won. So Harry had to spend the rest of the evening watching the kids play board games while the three adults talked about the past years and shared experiences and other activities. Symphony tried to get him to play the game, but he had no interest in learning another new game. He had no interest in anything. He kept waiting for some sort of energy to invigorate him, but nothing did. Apathy actually meant something, again, just like it had for years before the dementor attack.

So Harry watched. He watched Aurora's family as they laughed and joked and enjoyed the season. Paradise was calling Aurora "Mum" consistently. It made Harry feel like an outsider. Aurora had taken Paradise in because that's what Harry had wanted. Paradise had consented because she trusted Harry. And now Paradise was the one with a Mum while Harry still had just a guardian. And he didn't want Aurora to end up as a real parent. And it made him kind of bitter.

Of all of the Sinistras, Symphony was the only one who really tried to engage Harry in conversation. She refused to give up. Which was kind of endearing. All of the elves had stayed out of the way, but Harry could see Symphony and Lils getting along just great. He'd have to make sure to never introduce the two of them.

Around nine, Sana Belle put Symphony to bed, so Harry excused himself and retreated to his attic. Anthem, the only Sinistra boy, would sleep on a cot in the room, but he probably wouldn't come up for another half hour. For that half hour, Harry lay on his bed, stared at the ceiling, and revealed in his apathy.

Christmas came.

Anthem and Aria complained about the lack of a tree. Paradise started trembling so severely that she nearly punched Aria in the nose. They fought.

Harry got overloaded with presents. He'd already arranged for Sal to send most of his presents up into the attic, but he still had more presents in the living room than any of the others. Symphony didn't understand that. Harry tried to explain it. She laughed it off and played with the toy he'd gotten her.

Christmas went.

The other side of the Sinistra family left after a late lunch. Harry retreated back into his attic and started writing thank you notes. It would take forever. He'd already thanked those they'd celebrated with for their presents. Aurora had gotten him an actual flute. During his nightly wanderings last year he'd gotten pretty good on the flute Hagrid gave him first year, but this was an actual flute. Paradise had gotten him a packet of hair supplies and a note: "don't be Malfoy – use it wisely." Eclipse and Sana Belle had given Harry a small wizarding wireless. He already had one, but he thanked them anyway. Aria had gotten him a knife. She told him afterwards that she'd lied and told her parents that it was a potion's knife when it really wasn't. Anthem and Symphony had, he assumed on Aurora's suggestion, gotten him a series of muggle books by an author named Madeleine L'Engle. He had promised to read them first chance he got.

The other gifts he'd already opened came from his other close friends. Hermione had owled him a packet of owl treats that most wizards would consider exotic but were perfectly normal for regular muggles. Taygete managed to weasel away two treats before Hedwig gobbled down the rest. Harry wrote to tell her that the treats were well loved.

Neville had sent him a book on ancient runes. Harry had heard of it too; it was referenced in footnotes in some of the books he'd read, but it was so rare and so old that the Hogwarts library didn't even have a copy. Inside the front cover was penned "Library of Longbottom." It meant a lot to Harry.

From Sarah, Harry received a three set of her artwork. The largest picture was of the five of them, with Sarah painting her own drawing into the picture as the group of five joked about in the Gryffindor common room. The other picture was an abstract charcoal of all the patroni that Sarah had met. The third picture was four, bubble-headed stick figures waving at Harry. Somehow, in height and in simplistic facial expression, Sarah had captured herself, Hermione, Neville and Able just perfectly.

Able got Harry a pair of socks. Or at least, Harry thought they were socks. His note said "I knitted them myself. Romilda might have tried to help." It made Harry laugh. It was great. Inside the socks were five perfectly round rocks. As Harry wrote his thank you note, he rolled the rocks between his fingers and appreciated the magical significance of the stones. They might be useful, in the future.

After he'd responded to those people Harry called Lils into the room and the two of them stared, with some dismay, at the heaps of presents that Sal had been collecting with the daily mail collection. There was a smaller pile – still large though – marked as Hogwarts acquaintances. Harry sighed. They'd be there awhile.

Lils picked up a present, flipped open the tag. "Colin Creevey." She tore open the wrapping paper and it began.

By the end of the day, Lils and Harry had worked their way through the Hogwarts-student pile. The stuff he kept, mostly books, photos, some school supplies, and a few random trinkets, were piled in one side of the room. Things to be donated were placed elsewhere. And a few things, Harry knew he'd throw out. But he still had made a commitment to writing thank you notes for every person that he knew.

It made him extremely grateful that Nora Carmichael and Tracey Davis had both seen fit to give him a dicta-quill.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry enjoyed the Longbottom Ball. He'd flooed to the Grants and met up with Adrian Pucey, who'd be escorting Persephone. The older boy was polite enough, even if he did say only five words to Harry about Quidditch. Pucey and Persephone left first, which allowed Harry to present Selene with her necklace gift. Her parents watched and Harry got the distinct impression that they approved. By the way Selene held herself, tense, unspeaking, Harry could tell that she was even more cold and distant around her parents that she was at school.

Harry offered her his arm and the two of them entered the floo. They landed in the bustling, chaotic Longbottom antechamber. Everyone was dressed to the nines. Harry even recognized a few of the woman's dress robes as clothes from Shaped Clay (oh geez, he was such a girl), but he also recognized that most of those clothes were on the slightly less noble collection. There had to be something like five hundred people at the dance. For the most part, the children would be kept in a side room with only a select few invited into the adult ball chambers. He knew most of the Hogwarts aged kids, but there were several younger sons and daughters who'd be coming to Hogwarts in a few years and a very wide selection of home schooled children.

Neville wasn't around. Harry and Selene jumped straight into the first dance. Afterwards, they drifted apart. Harry made rounds – taking to his fellow students, making them introduce him to their younger siblings, and approaching various home schooled students. He learned many names and most of them got pushed straight out of his head due to the sheer volume of people he met. Probably the most fascinating kid he met was CiCi Amerling.

The girl was short, skinny, and wearing a pale green dress that would never be termed as fashionable. She stood apart from the rest of the kids. She spoke with a heavy Scottish accent and didn't know who Harry was. From what Harry could learn, she'd be entering Hogwarts the following year but really hated being around people. About five minutes into their conversation, she shut down and refused to talk. Harry said goodbye and found Selene on the edge of the dance floor.

"Done making connections?" She asked.

"Mary is an excellent crash course instructor in how to work a room," Harry said.

Selene turned a snort into a half laugh. "It doesn't help that you have practically no faults."

Harry grimaced. "So not true. Hey, where is Mary? I haven't seen her."

She didn't scowl. Harry could tell that she wanted to. "As the only representative of the MacDonald family in attendance, Heir MacDonald thought it necessary to spend the evening with the adults."

Harry blinked. It took him a few minutes to connect the dots. "They really tossed Emma out?"

"Don't be so surprised," Selene ordered. "It was different for your dad. He was pretty much already Lord Potter. Besides, guys get more leniency." She folded her hands in the fabric of her silvery gown. They were both in silver with deep green accents. "And they didn't officially toss her out. They just officially transferred the title of MacDonald onto Mary's shoulders."

"Oh."

"Let's go," Selene said. "We've been standing too long."

They danced a little and then Harry danced with a few girls he knew a bit better than the rest. Then there was the dinner party. As the only official Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient house eating at the "children's" table, Harry sat at the host's right hand. Neville had a higher official ranking than most of the others, but he wasn't an official Lord yet. To Neville's left was CiCi Amerling, who said nothing throughout the entire dinner and only picked at her food. On Harry's right was a homeschooler who would have been a fifth year, and beyond him was Theodore Nott. Fae Daniels was next to Amerling. The head table held around twenty people and there was always at least three conversations going on.

Harry and Neville spent most of the time debating wand rights with Theo and the homeschooler, a kid named Jeremy Mirthan. Jeremy and Harry strongly supported allowing younger students to have wands while Theo and Neville were more conservative. Neville and Harry supported other races being allowed wands while Theo and Jeremy seemed openly scared of that idea. Harry learned a lot from that conversation.

Afterwards, Neville talked Harry into joining him as a guest of honor as they dismissed all five hundred sixty-eight of their guests.

Neville sagged a little as he and his grandmother escorted the second to last guests out of their hallway. He scratched at his eyes before feebly stomping back to Harry. "You heading home?"

Harry nodded. "Aurora said she'd still be up."

"The astronomy curse?"

"She does have a weird schedule."

"Boys," Madam Longbottom said. "Lord Potter, if you will—"

He flooed home.

Sal and Lils had long since retired for the night. Paradise wasn't making a sound. But…

Aurora's bedroom door was closed and her light wasn't on. She was asleep.

Harry didn't understand the twisting, half-guilty feeling of disappointment that shivered within his stomach.

o.o.o.o.o.o

He dreamed of Ron and Hermione again. He dreamed of the cold, empty halls of Hogwarts decorated for Christmas. He dreamed of not having Aurora anymore. He dreamed of a kidnapping.

Of Black.

Of Voldemort.

Of Vernon.

Of Snape.

He dreamed of dead bodies and empty ruins and of Hogwarts torn apart stone by stone. He dreamed that something dark inside of him snapped and he became like Voldemort. He dreamed… A frying pan spun out of a shapeless villain's hand, twisted and convalesced into something indescribable. The nightmare changed from the definable to the indefinable. He couldn't wake up. He wanted to wake up.

A spider.

A green light shooting at a spider.

He'd cast the Killing Curse.

Harry woke with a soft moan.