A/N: Enjoy! :) Advice is always welcome!

Christmas

Christmas had finally come, and Harry was going to stay at Hogwarts with Hermione and Ron. Although Harry would love to go with Sirius, Sirius had said he was a bit busy.

And so, Harry woke up, feeling good and remembering that it was Christmas.

In the holidays, Harry had owned Ron and Seamus in chess, as he had played so often back in the… future/past. But they didn't know that.

He had also made his friendship with Draco and the other Slytherin's more secure. Sure, some of them still hated him, after all he WAS, Harry BLOODY Potter. Hermione had also made friends alongside Harry, as Draco hadn't called her Mudblood yet.

Harry had also introduced Hagrid to Hermione and Ron, as he had kind of forgotten about him, in all of the commotion. They were all good friends again.

Harry was going to introduce some Slytherin's to Hagrid as well, but he changed his mind quickly after imagining the results.

Harry rubbed his eyes as he got up. He saw a stack of presents.

"Happy Christmas, Ron." Harry said.

"Yeah same to you." Ron said, sleepily.

Harry looked at his pile, and saw that it was higher than it was last time.

"Hm… a flute thingy from Hagrid…" Harry said, chuckling to himself, as that was what he had gotten last time as well.

And the usual fifty pence piece from his uncle and aunt.

"Here Ron, this is Muggle money, you can keep it." Harry said smiling.

"This is money? Weird." Ron said, looking at it in amazement.

And underneath that, a neatly wrapped gift, with a note on it.

Potter,

Have a good Christmas.

Malfoy

Harry opened it to see some Chocolate Frog's, smiling.

And after, was Mrs. Weasley's gift to him. Harry opened it smiling, to see an emerald green Weasley jumper and home-made fudge.

"Oh no… that's from my mum. That's a Weasley jumper…" Ron said, groaning.

"It's nice of her!" Harry said, smiling.

And another package, obviously Hermione's was there, containing Chocolate Frog's.

And after some packages from a few Slytherin's, Ravenclaw's, Hufflepuff's and other Gryffindor's, (Harry had made quite a lot of friends) there was the Invisibility Cloak.

"That's an Invisibility Cloak!" Ron said in awe.

"Yeah, I know." Harry said, searching for a note.

And there it was.

Let what is yours be returned to you.

Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

Harry smiled, reading it. It was Dumbledore's writing for sure. Harry put it away, and the Weasley twins burst in. (A/N: Oh, how I love writing that. FRED IS ALIVE! YEAH BUDDY! LIKE BOSS! BOOYAH! :) My chest hurts thinking that JK Rowling made him DIE! Her one mistake…)

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey look- Harry's got a Weasley jumper too!"

Fred and George were wearing their Weasley jumpers- blue, one with a large yellow F, and one with a large yellow G.

"Harry's is better than ours, thought. She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family." Fred said, smirking as he held up Harry's jumper.

"Come on, Ron. Wear your jumper! They're lovely and warm!" George demanded.

"I hate maroon!" Ron moaned, putting his on.

"You don't have a letter on yours… I suppose mum thinks you two are smart enough to remember your name. But we're not stupid… we know we're called Gred and Forge." George said, laughing.

"What's with all the noise?" Percy Weasley said sticking his head through the door, with a jumper wrapped over his arm.

"Even Harry's got one. AHA! Mum thinks you're not smart enough to remember your name too! You've got a P on your jumper! Percy wear yours, we're all wearing ours!" Fred said, a grin on his face.

"I don't want-" Percy began, but was interrupted as the twins forced the jumper over his head.

"And you've got to sit with us too, Christmas is a time for family." George said, with an identical grin on his face.

And so they took Percy away, giving Harry a salute as they went.

And finally, the awaited Hogwarts Christmas dinner had come.

"Hello there, Harry. I really appreciated the socks." Professor Dumbledore said to him, winking.

Harry laughed. "No problem."

"Thanks for the chocolate, Harry!"

"The Every-Flavour Beans were good, thanks Harry!"

"Thanks for the Liquorice Wands, Harry!"

"The Cauldron Cakes were awesome, thanks Harry!"

Harry had given everyone in the school a little snack, other than the professors who got a something a little different.

"Hey, thanks for the Every-Flavour Beans, Harry." Draco said, passing by.

"Thanks for the Chocolate Frogs." Harry called back.

"Anything for a friend." Draco said glancing back at him.

Harry smiled, and Draco smiled back. A true smile.

"Merry Christmas, Draco!" Hermione said walking over, and giving Draco a little hug.

Draco just stood there, stiff as a board. It was clear that he wasn't used to it. But his body eased and he awkwardly patted her back.

"Thanks for the gift!" Hermione said, pulling back.

"No problem. Thanks for the gift as well." Draco said smiling again.

And so they all sat at their own house tables. But Harry decided to move.

"I'm going to the Slytherin table." Harry said, getting up, and walking to the Slytherin table.

"Mind if I sit here?" Harry asked.

"No, sit wherever you want." Blaise said.

And so, Harry sat down, with Hermione coming over to the Slytherin table as well, which caused everyone to get up and change tables.

It was like there were no houses at all, just friends.

Life was good.

Mysterious Happenings

"Professor Quirrel will not be here today. He is away on some business. And for that reason, I will be teaching you Defence Against the Dark Arts instead of him." Professor Dumbledore said in the Great Hall.

"I wonder why he's away." Harry said aloud.

The Christmas holidays were over, and the New Year had started.

"Who knows? Professor Quirrel is really mysterious like that." Hermione replied.

"True…" Harry said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Draco asked, coming up to sit with the Gryffindors.

"The weird fact that Professor Quirrel isn't here today." Hermione answered.

"Well it's probably just what Professor Dumbledore said it was. He's away on some business, something top secret." Blaise said, sitting beside Harry.

"Yeah… you're probably right. I'm just being unusually suspicious." Harry said, laughing.

"What I'M excited about is that Professor Dumbledore is going to teach us. I wonder what's going to happen!" Hermione said excitedly.

"Yeah! I wonder if Professor Dumbledore is a good teacher…" Draco said, wondering.

"He probably is. You know, because he taught here before he became headmaster and all…" Harry explained.

"I can't wait!" Blaise said happily.

"Yeah…" Hermione said trailing off. "Are you excited, Ron?" She asked, turning to the boy who had been sitting alone.

"Um… yeah… I guess…" Ron said, looking rather lonely, eating his food.

And so they went on with their conversation and finally, Defence Against the Dark Arts Class came.

"Hello everyone, as I said earlier in the Great Hall, I am replacing Professor Quirrel as he is away on some business." Professor Dumbledore said.

There was some whispering, and it all went silent as Professor Dumbledore put up his hand to silence them.

"Today we will be learning how to cast a simple spell. It is called Expelliarmus and it will disarm your opponent. It is very useful and can save your life." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Now take out your wands, everyone." Professor Dumbledore said.

Everyone took their wands out, smiling at each other. They were going to learn real magic.

"Now choose a partner and say 'expelliarmus' while waving your wand like this at them." Professor Dumbledore said, waving his wand to show them.

Harry was partnered up with Hermione. Everyone tried, although a few failed. Of course, Harry got it on his 'first' try.

"No, not like that! Like this!" Harry heard Professor Dumbledore saying to Neville, impatiently.

Everyone stared at Professor Dumbledore in surprise.

But out of all, Harry was the most dumbfounded. He had never seen Professor Dumbledore being so impatient. Patience is virtue.

"Um… I mean, you have to do it like this… be careful or you might hurt someone." Professor Dumbledore said nervously, looking around.

Professor Dumbledore… nervous? How was that possible?

There were whispers all around, and awkward glances at him. They had all thought that he was such an admirable person, but to discover that he had no patience? That was weird.

"And now we'll be learning how to cast a Patronus charm." Professor Dumbledore said distractedly.

There were cries of protest, as most people had not yet mastered the 'Expelliarmus.'

"Professor, only some very skilled people can cast a Corporeal Patronus. And we're only first years; you can not expect us to cast one!" Hermione cried.

"Oh, I'm sorry, just continue on with practicing your Disarming spell." Professor Dumbledore said waving it off with a hand.

Something was definitely wrong.

A/N: Hey people, hope you liked! :) Also, try and guess what's wrong, my awesome brother helped me make the story line. :P Hope you have an awesome day and don't forget to follow, favourite and review! :D

Pray for Boston.

Potter on,

-Soccerisawesome19