A/N: Chap 11 Review Responses are available in my forums. Thank you for reading.

sp

Chapter Twelve: Happy Christmas

Things in the dorm were different when Seamus returned. That's not to say that their schedules changed or how they organized their beds. The change was more subtle than that, but profound nonetheless. Seamus was no longer their leader.

Nothing was said outright, of course, that's not how eleven and twelve year old boys work (Seamus's birthday was in October). However, the day he returned to the room, he apologized to all of them, even though he also admitted he didn't remember any of what actually happened. He did, however, remember Harry blasting him into the ceiling, and then hurting him very badly.

"I'm the one who's sorry, Seamus," Harry said. "I thought that book was one of a kind—my mum wrote it, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a picture of her."

"Really?" Neville asked. "I mean, …well, Gran has a copy of it in our library. It's a pretty famous book."

"Well, yeah, I know that now," Harry said with a dry laugh.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry, you know," Seamus continued.

"Thanks," Harry said.

With the ritual of atonement thus completed, the boys settled back into their routine, only of course with a difference. Seamus no longer decided all the games they played in the evening like he did before. Instead, he deferred to Harry or the others, who were happy to try any of the various games the House had in the common room. He was surprised at just how many Muggle games the house had. His favourite game was RISK, while Ron favoured Stratego or Wizarding Chess. Neville, at first confused by it, came to love Wizard's MONOPOLY.

The last Quidditch game before the holidays was Slytherin against Ravenclaw, and the upper years already had a healthy betting pool. Of course, the Gryffindor Quidditch team watched the game together in the middle of their housemates and cheered the 'Claws while booing the Snakes.

While the Slytherin team played just as dirty as before, the Ravenclaws not only handled it better, but seemed to expect it. The Slytherin team tried its hardest to foul the 'Claws, but somehow the Ravens were able to stay just out of reach of the worst attempts. Unfortunately, though, even the attempts had an impact on the game. The foul attempts interfered with the Ravenclaw plays and lowered their accuracy.

The Ravenclaw team's Keeper also had more of a problem escaping the foul attempts, given her limited field of play, and at the close of the first play, Flint managed to foul her, which left her unprepared for the Bludger that got her in the back of her head and sent her falling towards the floor of the pitch, where Hooch was able to catch her with a levitation charm just before she hit.

Ravenclaw caught the Snitch after two hours of play, but it was too little and too late for the House of the Wise to win.

"Well, that's it for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw this round," Wood said. "Even if we beat Ravenclaw, we're out of the running."

"Which means," the twins said, "that we have nothing to lose!"

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

Harry was alone for the holidays in his dorm room. After the better part of four months sleeping in a room with three other boys, it felt odd to be so completely, utterly alone. However, because most of the other students went home for the hols, the restrictions were lifted, meaning he could stay in the Common Room as long as he wanted, and even walk about the castle as long as another male student was willing to go with him.

He found that willing accomplice in the form of Lee Jordan, the twins' friend and Angelina's replacement. Lee was a black boy of thirteen, soon to be fourteen, and a good foot taller than Harry. He already knew that Wood was planning on putting him back on the reserve team, and Lee seemed happy with the development. "I want Gryffindor to win, and Angelina's better," he told the team with an easy shrug.

Through Harry's acquaintance with Lee (he hesitated to say friendship, since the two boys had little in common) Harry had his first true opportunity to actually explore the castle.

"Yeah, they don't really ease up on you until Third Year," Lee confided with the world-weary tone of a soon-to-be teenager while the two walked through the many floors and corridors that crisscrossed the ancient structure. "Third year's when you get to get your first electives, and when they don't herd you around by yourself so much. I mean, you still want to stick with your mates or the other boys, of course. Those older girls are like dragons, trust me. They see a young wizard by himself, they'll swoop down without hesitation. Shag you silly in a heartbeat if you're not careful."

Harry stared, wide-eyed, as the two walked out of the castle into the knee-high snow that coated the grounds. "Really? But…but…really?"

Lee laughed. "Well, not all of them. Not most, I guess. But some of them, yeah. Fred and George got caught by themselves in October by a group of Slytherin sixth-years, and one actually offered to go down on Fred in a classroom nearby."

Harry had no idea what that meant, but from Lee's tone it sounded naughty. "What happened?"

"George said her brother would do it for ten galleons! The girls looked like Georgina'd just slapped them. Funniest thing, really. But then one of them said alright and handed over the money."

Harry stopped. "You're joking. Wouldn't that make him…er…bond?"

Lee shrugged. "Thing about twins, Harry, is that they're already bonded. Once a bond exists, you can't have involuntary bonds happen again. Georgie is like Fred's shield. And let me tell you, that Slytherin was not happy when she realized she'd just given it up to a Third-Year Weasley with no chance of bonding with him."

"What'd she do?"

"Nothing, not really. She was the one in the wrong, but I heard her screaming all the way back to the Dungeons."

Harry scratched at his ear. "So does that mean…well, that Fred had sex?"

Lee peered oddly at Harry. "Don't you know anything?"

"I guess not," Harry said, suddenly red-faced.

That night, Harry had his first unofficial sex education by way of Lee Jordan's collection of girly magazines. Harry stared down at the pictures with a bright flush to his cheeks and eyes as wide as his eyeglass frames, while Lee lectured him on what the couples in the photos were doing.

"This is what it means when a girl goes down on a boy," Lee said, pointing his quill as if discussing an interesting charm. He turned the page. "This is what happens when a boy goes down on a girl."

"What if they need to pee, though?" Harry asked. "Wouldn't you be afraid of getting peed on?"

"Well, hopefully she'd hold it," Lee said with a shrug.

"What about the other way?"

"Can't pee when you're hard."

Harry blinked, having never heard that. "You can't?"

"No, you nit, you can't."

"Why?"

"What do I look like, a healer? I don't know! You just can't."

"Where'd you get these?" Harry finally asked.

"My dad was a Muggle," Lee said, though his face dropped a bit. "Received no small bit of shite for it too. A witch demeaning herself to marry a Muggle and all."

"Like Kevin Entwhistle," Harry said. "He was in the Orientation class. His Mum ran away, and the Professors said she probably did it to protect his Da."

Lee nodded. "Yeah, Mum ran away from us during the worst of the war too, but came back after…well, you, I guess. Caused a bit of a row, but they made up. Still, she can't really show her face in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade 'cause she married a Muggle. Had a veil done permanent and her magic bound and everything. Only reason more people don't give me shite is because of the twins. The Weasleys are a big deal, Harry. Wizards with lots of kids are important. Mr Weasley's a department head at the Ministry now, 'cause he fathered so many kids, and four of them boys. His wife got booted up to the Dame of their coven, and he's an Elder on the Wizengamot now too. That's the only family in the past century to have so many boys. If Georgina ever made a play for me, I'd accept just because it would erase the sin of my birth."

"Do you love her?" Harry asked.

Lee Jordan shrugged. "She's a friend, better than a lot of blokes get. Look at Wood, poor bugger. And I know she won't trick me into anything. That bond she shares with Fred works both ways, you know? Speaking of, this is what happens when a man buggers a woman."

Harry stared down at the picture, and then grimaced in disgust. "What happens if she needs to…you know…go poopy?"

Lee sighed.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

On Christmas morning, Harry woke up to a handful of colourful packages at the foot of his bed. He stared at them for the longest time until comprehension dawned. "I have presents," he said in a voice filled with awe. "I have presents!" he said again, shouting this time.

They were not large or expensive—nothing like Dudley's Christmases back home, but Harry didn't care. They were gifts from his friends, and they were his. He'd bought them gifts too from the little commissary the castle had, but for some reason he never dared allow himself to think he might get a gift in return.

Ron got him Chocolate frogs that came with collector cards of famous witches and wizards. Seamus got him some candy quills, but it was Neville's gift that touched Harry the most. It was not a toy or a candy, but an aged Daily Prophet newspaper. At first, Harry didn't understand why until he saw the article on the front page: "Interview with a Prodigy: Lily Potter neé Evans, bestselling author while still in her teens!"

The pictures did not move like in some of the other books, at least not much. Evidently the charms used in newspapers did not last quite as long, so in many ways it looked just like a Muggle paper, with Lily smiling shyly from the picture. She was sitting on a rock by what looked like the lake at Hogwarts.

The article was fluffy, talking about what it was like to be a famous writer while still so young, and about what school was like. She said her favourite professors were a Horace Slughorn, who Harry did not know, and Professor Flitwick.

As he kept reading, though, he was surprised when the tone of the article became more critical of her marriage and bonding with James Hadrian Potter.

"Several suitable witches have written to the Daily Prophet to state that you were not allowing Mr Potter to take a second spouse. There has even been talk among the covens to force the issue in the Sabbat. What do you say to your detractors?"

"I would say that I have the full support of my Dame, Delia Griffin," Lily said. "They understand that our circumstances are unusual with my being an Aether. I can assure you that I am not the only Aether to want to wait to find their man a second wife, given that I would have to be a part of the bonding as well. Still, James and I have decided to have a child first before we begin entertaining offers for a second wife. After that, it depends on the offers. If the right girl came along, I would consider it now."

"And what about rumours last year of you fomenting insurrection among your classmates at Hogwarts?"

"Insurrection? I don't know where you heard that. It is true that I was critical of many things when I was younger. As a Muggleborn I had a certain mind-set regarding how government should work. However, even before I bonded with James, Dame Delia took me aside and we had a long, informative discussion. I promise I would not have her support if I was still a vocal critic of the Covens."

Harry was eleven years old. Words like insurrection did not mean much to him, really. No, what his brain latched onto was his mother's seemingly calm discussion of finding his father a second wife. Then a naughty part of his brain thought back to the dirty pictures Lee showed him. He knew that's how people made babies—he was not that naïve. But that meant this beautiful, exquisite creature who was his mother had done those things with his father.

It made his cheeks flame with a sense of shame. After all, right there in the paper she as much as admitted she was having sex with her husband! Oh, the shame. Still, Harry decided the rest of the article made up for the naughty bits, and found himself immensely grateful to Neville for the sheer thoughtfulness of the gift.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

Edwin and Calliope Granger stumbled when they saw their daughter emerge from the magical barrier at King's Cross on the first day of the winter holiday. Since they did not have their magical children with them, they could not enter to the platform itself and had to wait outside.

Around them, the other Muggle parents shuffled in surprise as well, with Ms Thomas actually gasping when she saw her daughter Deanna.

The children all looked completely normal. The odd backlit effect to their eyes, and the slightly pale complexion to their skins, was replaced by perfectly normal looking eyes and skin. It was a parent of an older student who laughed. "Yeah, bloody-well shocked me out of my wits, first time I saw my girl with her Veil on."

Calliope looked at the man, then at her husband, and finally to her approaching daughter as realization sank in. It was an illusion—a mask to wear when she was in the normal world. Still, the mask looked just like Hermione in every other way, especially in the way her face lit up in a smile when she saw her parents for the first time and ran to greet them, her trunk bouncing behind her.

Goodbyes and season's greetings were made all around before the Grangers left the crowded station to the nearest underground, which would take them to where they parked since there was almost no parking at all at King's Cross.

It wasn't until they were in the safety of the car and driving toward their home that they dared ask Hermione about the term. "Oh mum, it's so incredible!" Hermione gushed. "I mean, the Veil is rather bothersome, but everything else is wonderful. The food is incredible—they have lavish feasts every night, and our Witch's Health professor told us that we should eat all we want because our magic requires more calories than Muggles. And I'll still be able to take my GCSEs! Isn't that wonderful? Professor Burbage is the Muggle Studies professor, and Muggle Studies takes up half of each day because we're taking things like chemistry, history, science and literature. And she gave us all a potion that helps us read faster and understand things better, so we're flying through the coursework. We'll take our GCSEs on our fourth year, and I learned there are magic-friendly Sixth Forms I could go to get my A-levels over the summers!"

As always, the words came out in a torrent so fast it became a blur in Edwin's ears, while Calliope frowned a tad in concentration. When their daughter finished to take a breath, Calliope asked, "And did you get to see your friend, Harry? We noticed he wasn't in many of your letters after your first week."

Hermione pouted and crossed her arms "No, I haven't seen him hardly at all. The only class that was co-ed was Flying, and he passed out of it on the first day! And now he's the on the Quidditch Team, the youngest seeker in a century. Oh, we got trounced so badly our first game. I thought Harry was going to die when that Bludger hit him right in the face. It hit him like a cannon ball and knocked him off his broom. But Professor Snape caught him with a spell before he hit the ground. I asked Professor McGonagall how he could survive since the Bludger really is a big iron ball that they hit each other with, and she said that our magic protects us from blunt trauma like that, though Harry was in the hospital for a while. But did you know? I heard that Harry and Seamus got in a fight! Parvati said that Elfaba had said that Ron told Percy that Seamus ripped up a really important book that Harry's mum wrote, and that Harry's accidental magic was so strong it blew Seamus into the ceiling and kept him there, and then Harry punched him so hard he had to go to the hospital for ten days! Can you believe it? And no punishment at all—no detentions or points lost. Lavender said it was because Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived and got special treatment, but my friend, Justine from Hufflepuff, thinks it was because it was all accidental magic, and that something else even worse was happening. And you should have seen Harry after, he looked so sad, like a lost puppy. I just wanted to go and hug him until he felt better, but of course they won't let us girls anywhere near them, especially not Harry, not after Angelina Johnson tried to poach him, the cow."

"Hermione, language!" Calliope said. "And what's this about Ang…what's her name?"

"Angelina Johnson. She's a third year on the Quidditch Team, and Parvati said before the first game she tried to bond with Harry. I mean, she grabbed his arm and pushed it against her boobs and looked into his eyes, but I guess he was nervous or something because he threw up all over her. She deserved it. Professor McGonagall kicked her off the team for one game because of it. But…"

She faltered again and looked down at her lap while her parents digested what it was she was saying. "Hermione, what exactly does it mean to try and bond with someone?" Calliope finally asked.

Hermione scratched her ear, a sure sign of nervousness. "Mum, things are little different than what you and dad are used to, you know? Think about it, thirteen boys, and twenty-seven girls. There's a… Well, they call it 'poaching'. Lavender Brown's sister is a sixth year and told us about it. The older girls like to try and…bond with younger boys before they know what they're doing. The captain of our Quidditch team was poached his fifth year, and now he has to marry a girl who's already left school. The only reason he got to continue school is because their mothers agreed. There are so few boys, and all these older, pretty girls come in and steal the boys in our year, so that when we're older and looking for a boy, we have to do the same thing and steal from the younger years. It's really quite mercenary. They talk about how wonderful it is to marry for love, but I don't think it happens very often. And for Muggleborns like me it's really hard to find a good man. Angelina is Muggleborn, and Lavender said she was willing to do almost anything to find a wizard. I hope I'm not like that. I'll probably end up a spinster witch, but as long as I have plenty of books and magic that will be okay. There are a lot of spinsters and widows in the magic world."

"Why can't you just marry a normal man, like that boy Kevin's Mum did?" Edwin said, fighting down a sense of resentment at what he was hearing, or that he was actively encouraging his twelve-year-old daughter to consider marriage in any capacity.

Hermione shook her head. "Dad, you remember that movie we watched on the telly last year? Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? It would be like that, only worse. Witches who marry Muggles have to give up their magic. They can't show their faces in public without being treated very poorly, and their children are often treated badly as well. It's not right, not at all, but I'm not sure I wouldn't rather be single and magical. And Merlin, this Veil feels awful, like worms crawling under my skin. I would hate to have to wear it all the time!"

"Maybe you get used to it," Calliope said hopefully.

"Elfaba, the Head Girl, she warned us that it doesn't really get any better." Hermione bit her lip. "I was silly thinking it would all be perfect, wasn't I? We're only learning a little magic this year, mostly because our own magic is still too unstable for things like Defence Against the Dark Arts or Potions. And I don't like flying a broom at all. I get terribly dizzy, although one time I fell twenty feet and didn't even get a bruise. But magic just feels so wonderful! I just don't think I could give it up."

Finally the chatter died down and they reached their house. Hermione lugged Crookshanks inside, leaving her trunk for her father. The Kneazle had grown a great deal and now took up most of Hermione's lap when she sat in their living room in front of the blank television.

She seemed subdued when they ate that evening, though she did eat a healthy portion. She ate a nice serving of pudding for afters, before settling down in front of the television, which was still off. Suddenly she blinked hard, as if trying to clear her eyes, and changed.

It was not as shocking a change as what McGonagall did the first time, but it was still so startling to see their little girl go from looking the way they had always, deep in their hearts, wanted her to look to seeing her revert to her true form. She smiled up at them, though there was a hint of sadness in the expression, as if she could see into their minds and knew that as much as they loved her, a part of them desperately wanted her not to be a witch.

Edwin covered his hesitation by walking casually to the couch and sitting next to his only child. "So, do you have any homework to do over the hols?" Edwin asked in as normal a tone as he could manage.

He stifled a yelp when she snuggled into him like she did as a child, resulting in a painful shock much like touching a live wire. He ground his teeth though, and in seconds the shock turned into a deeply soothing pleasant warmth as she laid her head and hand on his chest and the slight rise of his ever-expanding stomach.

"I missed this," she whispered. Her lips tickled his stomach as she spoke.

Calliope came and saw on the other side of their daughter. "Missed what, darling?"

"Touch means so much more to us," Hermione said, still speaking absently, as if her mind were a million miles away. "I've never seen magicals shake hands, do you know? Casual touch doesn't happen very much because of magic, and yet I just crave touch so much. I miss this."

Calliope braved the brief discomfort and began gently rubbing Hermione's back, while staring intently at her husband with a worried, loving smile. In an astoundingly short time, they realized their twelve-year-old daughter was sound asleep on Edwin's chest.

It always astonished him how light she was when he lifted her in his arms. She was a perfectly normal-sized girl for her age, and always had been, and on a scale she seemed a normal weight. But even Calliope could still carry her with ease, as if somehow her magic made her lighter for those who loved her.

Regardless, the two parents carried their little girl up the stairs to her room, and later repaired to the ground floor for a much-needed glass of wine. They were still on their first bottle when their telephone rang.

Placing it on speaker, Edwin said, "Granger residence."

"Edwin?" a tremulous voice said, "It's Leah Thomas. It's not a bad time, is it?"

"Not for a friend," Calliope said. "Is Deanna alright?"

"Did Hermione tell you about what that Johnson girl did?"

"Oh yes," Calliope said, taking over the conversation Mum to Mum. Edwin took the opportunity to open a second bottle.

"Dee asked me about…." The other woman broke down for a moment before she said, "She asked me how to perform fellatio so she could get a man when the time came. How am I supposed to answer that? She's only twelve! What is going on in that school?"

"We wish to God we knew," Calliope said.

"I'm not sure I want her going back," Leah Thomas said.

"Leah," Edwin said, "I'm not sure we have a choice. Remember what the Ministry woman said? If you try to stop her, they may take her away from you, completely."

The woman on the other side sobbed. "Cally, Edwin, I'm not sure I can take this."

The two dentists shared a long look before they said, "Leah, why don't you and Dee come over tomorrow. We have the numbers for the Fletchleys and the Boots. Maybe we should all get together, just to compare notes. We might even be able to recruit parents from some of the older Muggleborn students to help us figure out what to do."

On the other side of the phone, they could hear Leah Thomas surreptitiously wiping her nose. "Really?" she asked, hopefully.

"I think it would be a good idea," Edwin said. "Hermione's letters said those girls went into separate houses, so they may have heard other things. Maybe if we approach this thing together, it will prepare all of us better."

"That would be great!" Leah gushed. "Oh, thank you. Lunch, maybe?"

"I think that will work. Even if we can't get the others, it would be good to compare notes."

"What about that Entwhistle boy?" Leah asked.

Calliope shook her head. "I did not get a good feeling from him or his father, to be honest."

Over the speaker, Leah said, "I didn't either. I'm glad we agree, then. See you tomorrow! Thank you both for being there!"

The line clicked dead. "If our daughter asks you how to suck a man off…"

"She'd look it up herself and we'd never know," Calliope finished.

"Yeah." Edwin slouched in defeat. "Happy Christmas, love."

sp

sp

Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading.