Sigh... Do I need a disclaimer still? I don't own anything recognisable.
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy Solstice!
And any other variation of what you may or may not celebrate.
For the purposes of our boys at Hogwarts, this is Christmas.
This may also be the last update for about a week, apologies in advance if this is the case.
And one final note - whoever it is that reviews me with smiley faces - thank you?
-YDHP-
Waking up on Christmas morning, or more specifically being woken up by Phantom licking his ear, Harry blinked sleep out of his eyes to see the snow-covered window. Pushing on his glasses, Harry was surprised to see a pile of gifts at the end of his bed. Vlad wasn't yet awake, so Harry climbed out of bed to feed the anxious furball and head to the bathroom. Phantom clearly decided now was the time Vlad should be awake as Harry returned, swatting at the pale boy with a paw until he yawned and sat up. "Happy Christmas Harry." "Happy Christmas Vlad!" Vlad clambered away from the excited familiar to head to the bathroom, returning a few minutes later looking slightly more alert. "Vlad! I've got presents!" "It's Christmas, what did you expect? Eggs?" Harry realised Vlad knew very little of his home life, but even the thoughts of the Dursleys couldn't mute his excitement. Vlad had a couple of presents wrapped very carefully in black and red, a couple of which he pushed to the side. "They are off my father, I need to check he hasn't sent me something inappropriate before I actually open them." Raising an eyebrow at the odd statement, Harry was about to tear into his gifts when there was a knock at the door. The boys shared a confused glance before Harry got up to open it.
The Weasley twins entered, physically frogmarching Percy between them and each was wearing a thick woolen jumper over their pyjamas. "Why do I get the feeling that you guys swap jumpers periodically if they have your initials on?" The twins grinned at Vlad, shouting festive greetings. "We thought we'd come join you guys, since you're the only other boys staying. How's your hand Vladdo?" "Oh you know, I get bitten by dragons all the time... oh bats. Forget I said that." The Weasley boys eyes widened in sync, the effect almost comical if the situation weren't dire. "Dragon? Seriously? That's awesome! Percy, no turning them in, call it a Christmas gift and we won't put itching powder in your jumper." One of the twins, wearing an F on his jumper but that was a dubious way to tell them apart, stated. "Our brother Charlie works with dragons in Romania!" Vlad and Harry shared a look. Vlad nodded to Harry's questioning face. "Do you think he would come pick one up to help out a friend?" The twin wearing a G nodded. "Sure, I'll write to him after breakfast! Remember Percy, itching powder and Christmas." Percy looked more than a little unhappy, his Prefect badge pinned to his jumper.
"Vlad, does your pet have Christmas gifts?" Percy was pointing at a small pile of wrapped items on the table in their dorm, which Phantom had decided looked exceptionally interesting. "They must be from the headmaster, he's particularly fond of this irritating bundle of fluff. Isn't that right Phantom?" Phantom mewled in response, swatting at the pile. "Come on you guys, open your gifts so we can go eat!" The Weasley brothers sat down on the unoccupied beds, waiting for the first years to tear into their gifts. Well, Harry tore, Vlad opened his with significantly more decorum. The bulkiest package turned out to be his very own jumper, a golden H on dark green wool. Vlad's jumper was black, a large blue V knitted into it. "Our mom knits us a jumper every year, when we mentioned you two were staying she must have decided you guys might get cold!" The boys pulled the jumpers over their heads, and Vlad practically purred at the warm feeling. "Wow these are comfortable, I can see why you put them on straight away!" Harry returned to his gifts, finding a new chess set from Vlad, home made mince pies that practically melted in his mouth from the Weasleys and chocolate from Hermione. Dean had drawn him a picture of Hedwig, which Harry hung up on his wall immediately. Draco had sent him a jar of broomstick polish and Neville had sent him a box of candy in the shape of snitches. There was a small card with a 50p piece taped on, which turned out to be from the Dursleys. There were two gifts left, one being a box of owl treats from Seamus and a large, fluid feeling package with no tags on.
Vlad had received a book each from his sister and his tutor, though one looked far more practical than the other - Ingrid had sent him a book that had "How to not be a geek" emblazoned on the front. "Trust me, that's Ingrid's way of saying she cares." He had similar gifts from the other boys in their dorm and Hermione, though his picture from Dean was of Phantom and his sweets from Neville were cat shaped. The treats seemed immensely popular with Phantom, who dived on the pale boy and started mewling at the package. Draco had sent him yet another book, one on rare dark creatures as they'd all seen Vlad study books on them intently. "I hope Hermione and Draco like the quills I sent them, I just sent the other boys candy. Plus it took hours to convince a school owl to drop off my order forms!" Harry promised to send Vlad's thank you note to the Weasleys with Hedwig, owls were uncommonly skittish around the quiet boy. Harry grinned when Vlad opened the gift from him, a pumpkin that squeaked when squeezed and a flask he'd gotten from the house elves. "If you squeak the pumpkin next to the flask, it'll fill with pumpkin juice. Just don't rot your teeth!"
Harry forgot about the untagged gift as the Weasley brothers shoved them into the bathroom to dress, then dragged them off for breakfast, and ignored the suspicious looks Percy sent Vlad's injured hand as they walked down. There was only one small table, half the staff not staying at Hogwarts themselves and only a handful of students. Gryffindor was by far the highest number, seven students staying behind. Ron was the only Slytherin other than Ingrid, and he scowled when Vlad hugged his sister. Harry would love to see the red haired boy try it on with Ingrid, her cutting tongue already legendary thanks to Vlad's stories. That didn't stop the Weasley twins prostrating themselves in front of her, suddenly wearing Santa hats and making crude jokes about special gifts until she slapped them both. Ingrid eyed up their matching jumpers with distaste, but Vlad was smiling happily and pointed out she was wearing the necklace he'd got her. The jewelry was simple, a black velvet rope with a pendant shaped like a bat. "Ingrid's a lot more in touch with our history than I am, I knew she'd like it." Ingrid sat down gracefully next to her brother and ruffled his hair in an affectionate manner, the look on Vlad's face saying that was the best gift she could give him. It was clear Vlad adored his sister, but Harry knew Ingrid was not quite as warm and friendly as Vlad so he supposed it made sense for Vlad to be so happy.
The breakfast was ridiculously plentiful, and Harry felt stuffed before it was half way through. The jumpers and knowledge of drying charms came in handy when the Weasley twins coerced them outside for a rabid snowball fight, and Harry and Vlad both fell about laughing as the twins charmed snowballs to follow Professor Quirrell around to bounce off the back of his turban. Vlad headed up when he remembered he needed to be in the hospital wing, and Harry gently reminded the twins to write to their brother. They traipsed up to the owlery together, Hedwig hooting in greeting and taking the owl treat he offered happily. The twins scrawled a note to Charlie and promised to let Harry know when they got a reply, and Harry sent thank you notes to the Weasley home with his snowy owl. By the time Harry made it down to the hospital wing, Vlad's hand was finally healed up thanks to a cocktail of potions and a few powerful healing spells. He relayed the message from the twins back to Vlad, and they decided to check on Hagrid tomorrow and spend the rest of the day getting warm after the chilly snowball fight.
The Christmas lunch was still an hour or so away when they made it back to the common room, Vlad joking they'd both be super fit after seven years of all this exercise. Dropping back into their dorm, Vlad went to scan the gifts his father had sent and Harry remembered the strange, squashy gift. Pulling open the wrapping carefully, a strange liquid-like fabric slid down off his lap. Pulling it up, the material was like nothing Harry had ever felt, the differing light hitting it in strange patterns. Looking down, he found a note in elegant curling letters with no name. "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well." "What's that you've got Harry?" Vlad was looking closely at the strange fabric in Harry's hands. "I think it's a kind of cloak?" "Well, let's see then, put it on?" Harry managed to find what he thought was the hooded top part, swinging the fabric around his shoulders. Vlad's eyes suddenly grew to twice their size, pure shock written across his pale face. "Harry, your body is gone!" Looking down, Vlad was right. "If it helps, I can still feel it." Harry pulled the cloak off, and his body reappeared. "Try again, put the hood up?" Harry complied, and Vlad jumped up to look closer. "Wow Harry, you have a cloak that makes you invisible. I'll have to look it up in the library!" Harry shrugged off the fabric, which folded up surprisingly small and tucked it into a spare pillowcase. "Let's not tell anyone else about it just yet, I don't know who sent it." Vlad nodded, and Harry smiled at the way they could almost naturally trust each other with secrets.
"So, library after lunch and then Hagrid's tomorrow?" Harry nodded in answer, and insisted Vlad try on the cloak. Vlad felt more than a little uncomfortable looking in the mirror to see no reflection, handing it off to Harry almost immediately. Phantom grabbed their attention then, demanding to know what was in her pile of gifts with her beady, intelligent eyes. Vlad and Harry each took turns opening them, finding an assortment of treats and toys. Vlad scribbled down a note, tying it to Phantom's collar like Ingrid had often done. "Phantom, go take that to the Headmaster?" Harry looked on in amusement as Vlad ordered his familiar around like an owl. Said familiar quickly darted off, and Vlad set about hiding the 'gifts' his father had sent until he could next see Bertrand without arousing suspicion. He was fairly certain it was his fathers way of expressing displeasure Vlad had been too injured to go home, sending him bottled human blood as a Christmas present. The book Ingrid had gotten him was actually incredibly interesting, an old tome on the topic of vampire magic that she'd disguised with a cheesy cover so his bunk mates wouldn't see it. She'd even thanked him for his gift to her, and that itself was an amazing present. Bertrand had sent him a very boring looking book on Ancient Vampire Law, which Vlad knew would actually come in handy even if it was dry reading.
He had many suspicions about Harry's home life being less than great, but it was hardly fair to bring it up when Vlad couldn't answer honestly back. "Oh yes, my father is Count Dracula." That would go down splendidly, not to mention he wasn't supposed to let anyone know he was a vampire. Harry indicated it was time to head down for lunch, though Vlad was more excited about the library trip to study Harry's cloak than he was the food, though Hogwarts cooking was still exemplary. Vlad was still wearing his 'Weasley' jumper, feeling a strange sense of comfort from someone sitting down to hand make him a gift personally. Looking down at his recently healed hand, Vlad flexed his fingers. He had a lot of homework to catch up on, but Harry had argued that today and tomorrow should be relaxing, he could catch up over the new years time. There was far more food than needed for all of twenty-something people, even if two of those people were the Weasley twins, their gangly frames belying their vast appetites. Ron simply scowled quietly and shoveled food in, Ingrid sneering in distaste at his lack of table manners. Neither he or his sister had perfect manners, but they certainly knew how to eat politely and without making disgusting grunting noises. Vlad barely waited long enough for Harry to finish his three pieces of treacle tart (he'd had one small portion of christmas cake himself) before demanding they go to the library. The room was deserted apart from Bertrand, which Vlad thought odd for him to be up in the middle of the day.
Sending Harry to check in another section, Vlad crept over to Bertrand and checked for anyone around. "My father sent me a gift I think you'd be more likely to appreciate, can you get into the dormitories without an invitation now?" His tutor nodded down at him, keen eyes and thick curls looking almost strange in the magically-filtered sunlight. "There's two black boxes on my bed, just get them out before Harry notices I still haven't opened them?" Bertrand nodded at him again, Vlad whispering the password to his tutor before he disappeared and pretending to be looking closely for books on invisibility. Harry appeared with a couple, asking if Vlad had noticed his tutor was there a moment ago. "Yeah, I was just thanking him for my new book, then he said he had to get back to work. I'm not entirely sure what he does when he's not drilling me or my sister with old books and training." Harry chuckled at him, speculating that Bertrand must spend at least half of his time styling his thick curly hair. Vlad didn't answer, it would be too much of a giveaway if he said Bertrand had no reflection.
Finding what looked like an aged book on Invisibility magic, Vlad pulled it down and joined Harry at a table. There was merely the sound of flipping pages for a while, Vlad occasionally scratching down spells he wanted to try and learn. Harry discarded his first book quickly, saying there was nothing in it about cloaks. He was infinitely thankful for his non-existent vampire instincts at this age when Harry sliced his finger on the corner of his next book, watching the other boy suck at the cut and continue flicking through the book. Forcing his eyes back to his own book, Vlad managed to find a chapter on invisibility cloaks. "It says here they are either standard cloaks with special charms on, or woven from Demiguise hair. It also says they eventually wear out, didn't the note say your father used to own the one you got?" Harry nodded, and Vlad couldn't see any reason the cloak wouldn't have begun to wear out at least a little after a minimum of ten or eleven years. "I don't know, I guess I'll check out this one and see if theres more on them further in the book." Harry nudged Vlad's shoulder as they left, telling him he "reads too much". Vlad joked back that it meant Harry always had help with his homework, which soon quieted him down. They spent the rest of the afternoon sat outside, Vlad having learnt to conjure Hermione's bluebell flames (made heat but didn't burn to the touch) and it made Vlad's whole Christmas when Ingrid joined them. Even if it was to complain her hands were cold, to tell Vlad he was about as appealing as garlic flavoured maggots and to dump snow down his shirt. It didn't matter, he knew drying charms and Ingrid voluntarily interacting with him was wonderful.
He could see Harry watching the Dracula siblings in amusement as Vlad chased Ingrid with a snowball, trading minor jinxes and hexes and falling over in the snow. He appreciated Harry letting them have their moment more than anything else, finally admitting defeat when Ingrid turned the snow beneath his feet to ice and he slipped over into a face full of snow. It stung his already chilled cheeks, soaking through his clothes and making him shiver even after Harry helped dry him off and guided him over to the flames. It also made him smile so wide his cheeks hurt, clutching his sister in a tight hug and wishing her merry christmas as she left for her own common room and probably some dry clothes. "By the way, Ingrid said she'd have your guts for an Alice band if you ever tell anyone she was engaged in such frivolities as a snow fight with me." Harry's eyes widened at the implication, then creased into laughter. "Maybe we should tell her Ron saw her, she could deal with him for us!" Vlad didn't understand why the red haired boy behaved the way he did, he knew from Ingrid that nobody was outright picking on the boy so Ron's behaviour was all entirely his choice at this point - he could have made friends with other students easily but instead opted to hang around with the brutish Crabbe and Goyle.
They caught Professor Flitwick on his way back from dinner, which they hadn't felt hungry enough to bother with, and Harry asked if he knew any warming charms before Vlad froze to death. Vlad was about to answer that he couldn't, but he didn't want to explain why to Harry. The tiny man nodded, waving his wand over Vlad and he felt the heat wash over his skin. Harry and Vlad both repeated the charm 'calidum aerem' until the man nodded, and Vlad was very careful not to try and push the magic through his hands in case he accidentally set something alight. Thanking the professor, they continued on to their dormitory. "So, Hagrid's tomorrow yeah? Before or after lunch?" Vlad thought on that for a moment. "After, if we're lucky the other Weasley brother will have managed to write back and we can explain to Hagrid that dear Norbert needs to go be with his own kind. Preferably before he bites anyone else, Madam Pomfrey was certainly suspicious of my hand." The small lizard, who was now the size of a large dog and would likely be as long as Hagrid's cabin before new years, had already chased out Fang and now ate dead rats by the crate. Vlad didn't want to know where Hagrid got them all. Already mentally planning out how to catch up with all his homework, Vlad felt happy in spite of the worries about Norbert after the first truly enjoyable Christmas he'd ever had.
-YDHP-
For reference calidum aerem is apparently Latin for hot air/warm air, figured it was close enough.
For those of you who are Young Dracula fans, you may notice the joking parallel of the Weasley twins and the Branagh twins, though I don't intend to turn them into drooling creeps like Ian and Paul are.
If this is the last update for a week, I again apologise. Hope you enjoy the Christmas chapter!