Harry
The endless stream of falling white snow outside was enchanting, especially set against the mosaic of ice crystals that had formed overnight on his bedroom window. The view from his bed was mesmerizing and he was finding it rather difficult to gather the energy to get out of bed, which normally was never a problem on Christmas morning.
He didn't seem to be the only one finding it difficult to wake up that morning though. Hedwig was still snoring over on her perch and had not moved a feather from the position she had fallen asleep in last night.
"Ugghhh!" he groaned out into his room as he forced himself to sit up in his bed. His history of magic books and notes were still all scattered around his bed and it appeared he had fallen asleep mid chapter in the book titled Werewolf rebellions of the Iron Age.
Last night had been another late night of reading and research, a routine that had become more the norm than anything over the past month. Even if the school called the Holiday break a break there certainly was not enough time in the year for him to actually take a break from his work. Not only did he have seven classes worth of readings and research to keep up with but he also had seven classes worth of end of year projects to work on, and in two of those classes he still had not even come up with an idea for a project yet.
He wasn't the only one pulling late nights and working overtime though. He knew for a fact based on the countless streams of letters from Hermione and Marik since the break had started that they both were working equally as hard. The entire trio had kicked themselves into the next gear at the start of December as the first signs of the end of the school year felt like they were creeping closer.
Even though there was still much to be done today no school work, spell, practice, potion brewing, or research would be happening. Today was Christmas, and today was the one day both he and Hermione were allowing themselves to take a day off. And needless to say Harry was very excited about that.
As per tradition the morning would be spent with his parents, exchanging gifts and just spending some time together. He could already even smell his mother's famous Christmas morning breakfast being made downstairs. After some quality time with the family the Black family and Remus would all be coming over for lunch as they always did and more gift exchanging and family time would take place like usual for the rest of the day.
This Christmas day tradition is what over the years had made Christmas his favorite Holiday. Nothing made him happier than getting time to spend with the family and friends and the Holiday spirit only elevated things. Sure holidays like Halloween were fun and all but nothing compared to the excitement and joy he got out of Christmas. And today he was even more excited than usual.
After a little bit of begging and a constant barraging of letter writing he and Hermione had been able to convince both of their parents to let Hermione and her family come over today. The plan was for the Grangers to portkey over a little before dinner time and then they everyone was going to go to Diagon Alley to watch the Christmas day festival.
It had only been a little over a week since he had last seen Hermione and Marik at Hogwarts, but even in just that short amount of time he had already grown home-sick. He had grown used to the routine of eating all of his meals with them and spending practically his entire day with them. He didn't like the quiet sound of his room and the lonely feeling he got staying up late alone.
As sad as that sounded he didn't care. He was beyond thrilled that he was going to get to see Hermione today. And to add to that this would be the both of their first times ever seeing the Christmas day festival at Diagon Alley. So you could say that his anticipation for today was very high.
"Ughhh!" he groaned out again as he forced himself to get off of his bed. He stretched out the kinks and cobwebs that had formed overnight and made his way across the room over to Hedwig's cage. "Good morning girl." He sprinkled some of Hedwig's food into the cage and grinned as the owl quickly woke up only long enough to scarf down the food before returning back to sleep. Guess she was taking a break from work today too.
He quickly threw on a pair of jeans and one of his favorite sweaters before heading down stairs. The aroma of his mother's cooking grew stronger as he made his way down the stairs, making it difficult to not drool.
"Well goodmorning their Harry. We thought you might sleep in all day," his mother greeted him with a kiss on the forehead as he entered the kitchen. He couldn't help but smile as he saw his mother was still continuing the tradition of wearing the World's best mother apron on Christmas morning that he had made for her for Christmas when he was three.
"Good morning mother, morning father. Sorry I was up late reading again." He returned the greeting and made a straight line for the tea.
"What were we up late reading this night?" his father asked him, his mouth already full with French toast.
"Stuff for my history of magic end of year project on the history of werewolves. It is the most simple out of all my projects so far so I'm trying to get as much of it done now as I can," he answered. He poured himself a large cup of tea and grabbed his usual chair next to his father.
"How is your progress going on it? Here," his mother asked him and set a plate down in front of him. As per the usual the plate was piled high with French toast, eggs, bacon and fruit. No matter how good the food at Hogwarts was it still couldn't compete with his mother's breakfast.
"It's going good. The books Remus leant me are helping out a lot. After last night I think I'm about halfway through my project now. Did you know that the last Minister of Magic in Belgium was a werewolf? He was in power for eight years before anyone found out," he replied, stuffing a large piece of bacon into his mouth after dipping it into some nearby syrup.
"I didn't know that no. Well don't work yourself too hard, Harry dear, you still have plenty of time to get all of your work done. I don't think I ever finished a project before April at least during my time at Hogwarts," his mother said as she sat down next to her and started digging into her own plate.
"I won't I promise. I'm taking today off anyways," he replied.
"Well I would certainly hope so," his father said, laughing a little. "Sometimes I wonder if we took the wrong kid home from the hospital. I don't think I started on any of my end of year projects until at least May, and I certainly would not have done any work over the breaks."
"You're such a good influence, James," his mother said. A smile on her face as she sarcastically rolled her eyes.
"Well Harry needs someone to show him what not to do. Right Harry?" his father joked.
"Right father," he replied half-heartedly.
"So you excited to open presents?" his mother asked.
"I am. I'm more excited about going to the festival tonight though," he answered honestly.
"You're just excited because your girlfriend is coming over," his father added. Thankfully Harry wasn't drinking any of his tea at that moment or he would've for sure done a spit take.
"She is not my girlfriend! She is just my friend!" he shouted his argument back.
"Whatever you say Harry!" his father said, a wide grin on his face.
"I'm excited to meet her. From what you have told us she sounds like quite the witch," his mother added.
"She really is. She told me last night in her letter that she was starting research on advanced spell creation theory which isn't even taught until second year!" Harry explained. He returned back to the last pieces of French toast on his plate and failed to take note of the smile exchanged between his parents.
"Well it's five after ten already so what do you say we get this show on the road?" his father asked him, looking at his watch.
Harry quickly finished the last of his breakfast and topped off his tea before bolting to the living room where he grabbed the closest seat next to the fireplace. His parents both joined him around the tree and took their usual spots on the floor next to him.
"Alright why don't you start us off, Harry? Hmm. . . This is a good one," his mother said, handing him a small present that was from his mother. He tore the wrapping off of the paper revealing a small about a foot long. As he opened the box he could see three elaborate looking quills inside.
"They are spell-checking quills. Normal ones can only hold an enchantment for about ten-thousand words or so but these ones should hold you for at least a hundred-thousand words each," his mother explained as he looked the quills over.
"I didn't even know these existed! Thanks mother, this is great. I will have to rewrite my history of magic project with these now, Merlin knows my spelling is awful," he replied, looking the quills over one more time before setting the box down beside him. "Here mother, this one is from me." He grabbed one of the presents he had gifted for his parents. He watched on as his mother opened the present, his fingers crossed that she would like it.
"Ooh this is fancy, Harry, thank you," his mother said as she took the enchanted leather briefcase he had bought from Gladrags Wizardwear out of the box.
"Father told me the strap on your old one broke so I thought maybe it was time of a new one. This one has the same storage enchantment on it like your old one did and an anti-open lock enchantment on it so that only you should be able to open it." Harry was hopeful his mother actually did like it, shopping for his mother was always tough.
"I love it, Harry. So this is why you wouldn't let me buy a new bag, James," his mother said to his father, still looking the bag over.
"I had to pull her out of the store three different times, Harry," his father said laughing. "Here Harry." Harry took the next gift from his father and started opening it up. It was easy to tell from the size and weight of the package that it was probably a book and Harry was excited to see what book it was. The book was thick and titled Transformation Through the Ages.
"I've heard about this one. Is this the one you and Sirius were telling me about a while back?" Harry asked his father.
"Yeah, that's the one. It's actually a pretty tough book to find but it's definitely a have-to-read for any aspiring transfiguration student. It's about the evolution of Transfiguration magic. Should help go into detail about a lot areas that most books kind of skim over," his father explained.
"This is awesome! I just about have burned through every transfiguration book I have right now so this is perfect. Thank you." It took all the willpower in him to not open the book then and there to start reading.
"You're welcome son. Hmm. . .which one next." His father went over to the tree and pulled out another box for Harry.
All together this Christmas was already turning out to be a great one. His mother loved the briefcase he had gifted her and had already started transferring her work materials over to it. His father, who was always fairly easy to shop for, loved the new work boots and jacket that he and his mother had bought for him as well. Harry had made out quite well too in the gift department; leaving with a few new books, spell-checking quills, a few shirts and jeans, and a large supply of accessories and treats for Hedwig.
"So are you happy with all of your presents this year, Harry?" his mother asked him as she banished away all of the wrapping paper.
"I am, mother, thank you again. I'm struggling to decide which book I want to read first though." He was currently skimming through A Guide to Medieval Sorcery.
"Well you have plenty of time to decide later, if you could go get all of our gifts for the Blacks and Remus out of our room now and put them under the tree that would be a big help. They should be flooing in any minute now," his mother said and headed into the kitchen.
Harry took all of his presents upstairs to his room and grabbed the large pile of boxes in his parents' room to bring downstairs. He could hear the loud rush of fire echo throughout the house from the fireplace, letting him know that everyone was starting to arrive. Loud conversation filled the air as he made his way back into the living room and he could see that all of the Blacks were here and Remus was with them.
"Merry Christmas Remus!" he said, greeting his 'uncle.'
"Merry Christmas Harry! It's good to see you. How was this year's haul?" Remus asked him as he embraced Harry in a hug.
"I made out pretty well this year. And father loved the pair of boots you told me he would like, so thanks for helping me with those."
"Well I'm glad he did. Here add this to your pile." Remus handed him a box.
"Thank you Remus. Here, this one is for you," he replied, handing Remus the present that he had bought for him.
Harry opened up the package Remus had gifted him excited to see what it was. Remus always gave really good gifts that Harry could always use. The gift was about ten medium sized scrolls, all of which had detailed pictures, graphs, and calculations drawn all over. Harry had no clue what any of the writings or markings were of.
"Thank you for the gift galleons to The Hog's Head, Harry. Do you have any idea what that is?" Remus asked Harry as he looked over the scrolls.
"No, I have no clue what I am looking at here," Harry answered honestly, trying to look the scrolls over and make some sense of them.
"It is a moon chart. I did a lot of work standardizing them and researching them when I was an assistant at the ministry. Your mother told me about the astronomy end of year project you are working on and I figured it might help or be something you could add in," Remus explained.
"This is amazing, Remus! I never thought about doing something like that. I actually just finished the orbital cycle of our solar system last week. I could add a moon chart like this into the viewer so that the moon followed its proper cycle during projections too. Maybe I could even add details about the moon phases' effects into it," Harry replied, unable to hide his excitement at the gift. Hundreds of new ideas were coming to mind already. This moon chart would certainly help out with his project and make his idea even better.
"I'm glad you like it, Harry," Remus said with a smile.
"There you are, Harry! Come give your favorite uncle a hug!" Sirius shouted from the other side of the living room.
"I just did though," Harry shouted back, earning some laughs from Remus and his father. Harry made his way across the room to where Sirius and Hemera were standing and gave both of them a hug.
"This is from Hemera and me, we hope you like it," Sirius said with a smile, handing him a gift.
"Thank you both," Harry replied, handing Hemera the gift he and he had bought for her and Sirius.
"Is this a spell dummy?" Harry asked as he opened the gift and looked the present over. Inside the box was a small wooden doll holding a wand outwards.
"It is. We got Daphne one too for her birthday and she said it helped her out a lot so we figured you might get some use out of one too," Sirius answered.
"You can use practically any spell on it and it will repair itself. Just stay away from fire spells and you should be good," Hemera added with a smile.
"Thank you both! A boy in my dorm actually has one of these and I've always wanted to try it out," Harry replied, excited to get back to school and test it out.
"Merry Christmas Harry!" Alina, his cousin and Daphne's younger sister greeted him.
"Merry Christmas Alina. Here this is for you! And Merry Christmas Daphne, this one is for you." He took the gifts he bought for Alina and Daphne off the pile and handed them to his cousins.
"This one is for you. It's from me and Daphne," Alina replied, handing him a gift in exchange. Harry had a hard time imagining Daphne buying him a present for him and imagined that Alina had probably done most the work getting the gift.
"Alright I'm so hungry I could eat a Hippogriff let's get this lunch started!" Sirius shouted after all the gifts and pleasantries had been exchanged.
His father and Remus transfigured the table in the kitchen to grow four times in length and his mother with the help of Hemera conjured a bunch of extra chairs for everyone. Slowly everyone filled into the kitchen and grabbed a seat around the table. Harry just sat back and enjoyed the show during lunch. It was always entertaining whenever the marauders were in the same room and during holidays, especially when a little bit of firewhiskey had been added to their eggnog.
"Lily, remind me, how did the story of you and James third year Christmas start off again?" Sirius asked, stealing the bottle of firewhiskey from Harry's father.
"That was the year James blew up her cauldron in the lab when he was trying to do work on that spell creation enchantment remember," Remus interjected.
"I didn't blow up her cauldron! I blew up the desk, don't make me sound worse than I was!" his father tried to defend herself.
"Yeah, and the cauldron blew up when it fell to the ground due to the lack of desk! I ended up getting second in potions that year because I had to start all over again!" his mother added, rolling her eyes at his father.
"That was the year I got first in potions," Hemera joked across the table with a grin.
"Harry, your mother was so mad at your father that she transfigured him into a Christmas cap and levitated him to the top of the tree in the Great Hall," Sirius said, laughing through the entire story.
"He ended up stuck there for a whole day before Dumbledore heard him singing Christmas carols up there at dinner," Remus added, joining in on the laughter. Harry couldn't help but join in too their stories were always too much.
"I have a hard time believing mother would do a prank like that," Harry said.
"Your mother was the queen of pranks, Harry. Where do you think we learned everything from?" Sirius joked.
"Man that was a bad Christmas. You will never understand how uncomfortable sitting on top of a tree for fifteen hours is," his father said, looking in pain at the memory.
The rest of lunch was filled with even more stories and laughter. Harry counted three different times where his sides had started to hurt from laughter. He stuffed himself with as much food as he possibly could until he reached his limit.
After helping his mother with the dishes he made his way to back to the living room, where he could spend the next few hours stuck in a chair reading. Painfully full he quickly made his way up to his room to grab the book he had been reading last night and grabbed a seat in his favorite recliner by the fire.
"What are you reading?" someone asked him after a few minutes of silent reading. Harry looked up to see that Daphne had made her way into the living room and was laying down on the couch near him, a book open on her lap.
"Werewolf rebellions of the Iron Age. How about you?" Harry asked, surprised that Daphne was talking to him. Daphne and he were close enough to make small talk because of their family relationship and what not, but over the years Daphne had tended to only really talk to him out of obligation or when forced to.
"Advanced Potion-Making. Why are you reading a book on werewolf rebellions?" Daphne asked him.
"That's what I'm doing my history of magic end of year project on. I'm presenting a paper on the timeline of werewolves in wizarding history," Harry answered, somewhat curious to get Daphne's opinion on his project.
"Interesting. Is Remus helping you at all?" Daphne asked, not sounding like she thought it was interesting at all.
"Yeah, he has been a big help so far."
"That was a good idea for a project. I'm still struggling on coming up with a history of magic project," Daphne replied, and returned her nose back into her book.
"Yeah, I was struggling for a while with it too. Hey Daphne, can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't want too," Harry asked.
"Sure," Daphne answered, her attention still on her book.
"Are you brewing a polyjuice potion?" he asked her, getting straight to the point. Marik had written to Harry two days back telling him all about everything he had seen in the restricted section of the library. Harry was just as curious as Marik had been to find out if and why Daphne was looking into the advanced potion.
"How did you?" Daphne shouted, sitting up quickly on the couch and shooting him an icy glare.
"Marik saw you in the restricted section two days ago looking up the potion. I didn't know you were staying at the castle for part of the holiday break either," he answered, prepared for her at any moment to hit him based off the way she was glaring.
"Yeah, I stayed there for a while longer to get some extra work done before I came home. I didn't see Marik in the restricted section when I was there! What was he doing there?" Daphne asked, her gaze still a scary one.
"He was under a delusionment charm so it would have been tough to see him," Harry lied. "And from what he told me he was there looking at a book too," Harry answered. He actually wasn't entirely sure what book Marik was looking for in the restricted section.
"That freaking idiot," Daphne said, not making any effort to hide the obvious venom in her voice directed at Marik.
"Well?" Harry asked, wanting to get an answer to his question.
"You are not allowed to tell anyone else. Marik either! I don't want people copying my end of year project. Got it?" Daphne answered, and added some intimidation to her glare.
"We won't tell anyone, don't worry. That's a tough potion from what it sounded like. Have you actually started brewing it yet?" He asked, interested to know her progress.
"No I haven't yet. I'm waiting until after the break. It takes constant attention and there are steps every day of the process. I'll hex you and Marik by the way if either one of you guys tries to copy my project idea," Daphne answered. Harry fully believed that she was telling was the truth about hexing them.
"Don't worry we won't copy you. I doubt me and Marik could even brew a potion like that at this point anyways," Harry replied truthfully.
"Potion like what?" Alina asked as she made her way into the living room, a large piece of bread still in her hands. She pushed her sister's feet on the couch and opened up a book of her own as she sat down.
"Nothing," Daphne said bluntly, signaling that their conversation was over.
"You're no fun, Daphne. So Harry your dad was telling me that you came in second place at the dueling tournament back in October. Is that true? I know how he stretches the details sometimes," Alina asked him. Harry couldn't agree with her more about his father. Everything he said you had to think about for an extra second to make sure it was actually true.
"Yeah, I did," he answered her.
"That's amazing! I heard Daphne got creamed even before the semi-finals," Alina said smugly, putting emphasis on her words to poke at Daphne.
"Shut up Alina!" Daphne shouted angrily, obviously annoyed.
"She didn't get creamed, Alina. She actually had the most dominant first round out of everyone in our year. She casted a confundus spell so powerful that her opponent cast an expelliarmus spell on himself," Harry replied honestly. Daphne's first round really had been extremely dominant.
"A confundus spell. . . What is that one? I haven't heard of it before," Alina asked them.
"It's a confusion charm. It confuses your opponent when hit," Daphne answered before he could.
"Woah! I didn't know you could cast that spell, Daphne!" Alina said, looking impressed at her sister.
"Hmpf," was all Daphne replied with.
"So who beat her?" Alina asked, looking curious to know more.
"Alina stop!" Daphne groaned out, again sounding annoyed.
"My friend named Marik did, and to be fair I don't think even many second years could have beat him in that duel. I would have lost before."
"Is this Marik person that good?" Alina asked curiously.
"He is pretty good yeah. But he used a spell that isn't even taught in first or second year to beat Daphne. So it would have been nearly impossible to prepare for it or defend against it," Harry explained.
"What spell is that?" Alina asked again.
"Incarcerous, it's a rope spell that shoots ropes out of the caster's wand and binds their opponent," Daphne answered again before he could.
"Wow that sounds impressive. I've never heard of that spell either," Alina admitted.
"That's because you aren't even a first year, Alina," Daphne responded bluntly.
"So! I will be soon! Did he beat you too with the incarcerous spell, Harry?" Alina asked him.
"No he didn't use it in my duel. He beat me with a lumos maxima combined with a stupefy. I was blinded by his first spell so couldn't see the stunner coming at me," he answered, feeling a tinge bit of annoyance now too at the feeling of losing.
"That sounds so cool! I wish I could have come to see the tournament," Alina said looking said that she had missed it.
"Next year you will get to be in it," he replied, giving her a smile.
The rest of the afternoon went by quick enough thankfully. Harry made good progress through his book only having to stop to watch a quick match of wizarding chess between his father and Sirius and make small talk with Alina and Daphne a few times. He found himself constantly watching the clock towards the latter half of the afternoon, anxious for it to be time for Hermione and her family to show up. Thankfully as his impatience level began to reach its peak the loud sound of floo in the fireplace echoed throughout the house.
"Merry Christm. . ." was all he managed to get out before he found himself engulfed in a sea of brown hair.
"Hermione, you are going to suffocate the poor boy if you hug him like that," a woman, who Harry could assume was Hermione's mother said, laughing behind them.
"Sorry Harry. I just missed you! Merry Christmas!" Hermione apologized, her voice filled with excitement.
"Merry Christmas Hermione. I missed you too!" Harry replied honestly.
"Harry dear, don't be rude, introduce us," his mother said, shaking her head at him with a smile.
"Oh right sorry. I am Harry, that is my mother Lily and my father James," he started, pointing at his parents. "That is my uncle Sirius, that is my aunt Hemera, over there on the couch are my cousins Daphne and Alina," he continued, pointing at the Blacks. "And last not but not least is my other uncle Remus. Everyone this is Hermione Granger and. . ." Harry started but realized he didn't actually know the names of Hermione's parents.
"Red and Amelia Granger." Hermione's father saved him and extended his hand out to Harry. Harry took the man's hand in his own and tried his best to give a firm handshake.
"Pleasure to finally get to meet you Harry. Hermione has told us quite the many stories about you," Amelia said as she shook his hand.
"She has?" he started to ask.
"MOM!" Hermione shouted, interrupting him.
"Well come in and get settled. How was your first time flooing? I remember my first time I almost got stuck in my parent's chimney," his father asked Hermione's parents as he ushered them further into the house. The parents all immediately fell into conversation on the other side of the room.
"Here Harry. It's not much but I hope you like it," Hermione said, handing him a small package. Harry took his time to carefully unwrap the present, making sure not to rip the fancy bow Hermione had tied around the box. Inside the box was a crimson and gold scarf, the colors of Gryffindor. At one end of the scarf his name had been embroidered into the material.
"Well?" Hermione asked him after a few moments, she looked nervous as she watched him look it over.
"Did you make this?" he asked her as he continued to look the scarf over.
"Yeah I did. I know its ba. . ." Hermione started.
"It's amazing, Hermione. I can tell you put a lot of time into it. I can feel some magic in it too, did you enchant it?" he asked her, and wrapped the scarf around his neck. It really was a great gift and he really could tell Hermione had put a lot of time and effort into it. He never even knew she knew how to knit.
"Yeah, I added a warming enchantment to it, and thanks, Harry. I'm happy you like it," Hermione replied, a warm smile returning to her face.
"I love it, Hermione. And here, this is for you." He went over to the tree and grabbed the box under it and gave it to Hermione.
"You didn't have to get me anything, Harry," Hermione said as he handed her the box.
"Yes I did. Open it!" he replied, anxious to see what Hermione thought of the gift he had bought for her. Hermione had been the hardest person out of everyone to shop for. He had spent countless hours scouring newspaper advertisements and holiday catalogs from shops in Diagon Alley trying to find something for her. He waited nervously as she slowly opened the box.
"A Luma Lantern. I don't know if I have ever heard of this before," Hermione said as she looked the lantern over.
"I never had before either. They're designed specifically to be used for reading though. The lantern is made with spells and enchantments that are supposed to prevent your eyes from straining and getting headaches. And after you attune yourself to it with your wand it will automatically adjust its light level depending on your energy level, the brightness of the room, and mood of the book. I figured as much as you read it might come in handy," Harry explained, hopeful that it would come in handy for her.
"Harry, this is amazing! This must have cost you a fortune! I feel bad now," Hermione replied, as guilty as her words sounded Harry was happy that her eyes were still glued to the lantern and her face was filled with excitement.
"Don't feel bad. I'm just glad you like it."
"It's incredible. I want to test it out already!" Hermione said, and he was sure if she had brought a book along with her she probably would have settled down on a couch to start reading.
"So Harry, is this your girlfriend?" Alina asked him as soon as he and Hermione sat down on the couch next to her.
"What? NO!" Harry said, his words stuttering out.
"Mhmm. I'm Alina by the way, Daphne's younger sister. Nice to meet you," Alina introduced herself to Hermione.
"Nice to meet you, Alina. I didn't even know Daphne had a younger sister. Is Daphne here?" Hermione asked, her face bright red.
"Yeah, she is. She went upstairs to take a nap a while ago. I should actually probably go get her, looks like we might be leaving soon," Alina said and left them to go upstairs.
"You excited for tonight?" he asked Hermione.
"I'm so excited! I can't even imagine what a wizarding festival is like," Hermione answered.
"From what my parents say it's a lot of food, fireworks, and activities. I really have no idea either though."
"So did you get to ask Daphne about the polyjuice potion at all?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I did and she is brewing it for her end of year project for potions. She and I aren't that close but I highly doubt she has any alternative reasons for brewing the potion. Knowing her she just flipped through a book until she found the toughest one."
"Well that puts a lot more pressure on our potion then. I tried to do some more research on the polyjuice potion but I couldn't find much info on it either. I may have to get Marik to show me where the book was in the restricted section so I can see it for myself," Hermione said.
"I doubt it's tougher than the animareavelo potion and although Daphne is pretty good at brewing potions I still don't think she comes close to your brewing," Harry replied honestly. Daphne was probably the best potions brewer in his class out of the Gryffindors and Slytherins but Hermione was Hermione.
"Thanks Harry," Hermione said.
"You two ready to get going?" his mother asked from behind the couch.
"Yeah!" he and Hermione said in unison.
The both of them made their way into the kitchen where everyone else was already gathered around a large bicycle tire on the table.
"So all you're going to do is hold on to the tire and let go when I shout let go. It's a pretty intense feeling so be prepared. When the spinning slows down just focus on your feet and you be able to stick the landing pretty well," Remus was explaining to the Grangers how portkey transportation worked.
"Alright everyone grab hold," Sirius ordered and everyone in the room crammed in to get a hold on the tire. Harry cursed himself for the blush that came to his cheeks as Hermione's hands touched his on the tire.
"Three, two, one!" Remus counted down and as soon as he hit one the world starting spinning.
Harry's world went into a blur as the familiar feeling of the portkey overcame him. He did his best to focus on the landing as the spinning slowed down. Hermione's parents were both apparently as quick of learners as Hermione was and both stuck the landing perfectly. Alina was the only one out of the group who failed to land smoothly and slid into Daphne's feet as she arrived.
"Woah," he found himself saying as his eyes adjusted and he took note of Diagon Alley.
The entire alley looked like a completely different place than what he was used too. Thousands of lights streamed across the street and along the sides lighting the shops in an array of different brilliant colors. Christmas decorations seemed to be in place at every corner and in every shop window and there had to be at least a hundred decorated Christmas trees lining the street.
At the end of the alley in front of Gringotts was an enormous tree, stretching even higher than the bank itself. The tree was covered in decorations and lights of all shapes and sizes and even had an enchanted train and track wrapped around it like tinsel.
Diagon Alley itself was more crowded than he had ever seen it before. Hundreds of witches and wizards were making their way to the different shops and stalls. Many of the people were wearing Santa hats instead of their normal pointed hats and quite a few had even decorated their robes for the holidays.
"This looks amazing!" Hermione whispered out beside him, apparently in as much awe as he was.
"Alright everyone stick together please. Let's head over to park area and see if we can get some good seats before the light show gets started," his mother said and her and his father led their large group down the crowded path of Diagon Alley.
"Do you see anyone here from school?" he asked Hermione as they walked.
"There are too many people here. I can barely see anything at all," Hermione replied.
The walk to the end of the alley was a slow one between having to cram through the many people and keep someone in their party stopping at a shop's window to look at something on display.
"Father, do you think I could have a little money so that I can get me and Hermione some chocolate dragon eggs from that stall over there for the show?" Harry whispered to his father as he noticed the stall a few feet ahead of them.
"Sure Harry, but make it quick," his father answered and handed him some coins from his pocket.
"Hermione come on!" he shouted, and grabbed her by the hand to pull her with him towards the sweets stall.
"Where are we going, Harry?" Hermione asked from behind him as they made their way.
"To get some sweets for the show," he answered as they arrived in the short line for the stall.
"Chocolate dragon eggs? I've never had one before," Hermione said as she craned her neck to look at the stall.
"They're pretty good. They are made by the same people who make chocolate frogs I'm pretty sure."
"Well well well, even the famous Harry Potter likes the same sweets us non-famous people like I see," a voice said from behind him. Harry turned around to see Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin boy standing in line behind he and Hermione.
"Oh it's Draco. Hermione, this is Draco Malfoy a Slytherin, Draco, this is Hermione Granger, a Ravenclaw," Harry introduced them.
"I know who he is," Hermione said coldly, turning back around to face the front of the line as she did.
"Oh, you to know each other already then?" he asked. He barely even knew Draco. They both shared a lot of their classes together but had never really interacted much before, especially now that Harry only worked with Marik in their classes.
"I dueled him in the tournament remember," Hermione said, her tone full of annoyance.
"Oh that's right I forgot," Harry said, remembering the duel in which Hermione had very easily defeated Draco.
"You got lucky, Granger. I expected a mudblood like you to know her place; I didn't expect you to. . ." Draco started to say.
"Call her that ever again, Draco, I dare you!" Harry said angrily, ready to almost pounce on Draco in a moment's notice.
"Getting a little defensive over your pet aren't we, Potter? I'm just telling it like it is, I should have expected a blood-traitor like you would come to someone, like her's defense," Draco said, sneering.
"Shut up Draco!" Harry shouted.
"Harry, leave him be. He isn't worth it. Look we are at the front of the line," Hermione said, tugging his shirt forward. Harry still angry handed the man behind the stall the payment and collected the bag of chocolates from him.
"See you in school." he heard Draco say from behind them as they left the stall and made their way back to their group.
"Ughh if we were in school I would have blasted him then and there," he said, venting.
"Just ignore him, he is a drama starter. Besides I already blasted him good enough remember?" Hermione said with a grin.
"Yeah you did. Next time use something stronger than an expelliarmus though for me please," Harry said, trying to let his annoyance and anger go.
"I promise I will," Hermione said with a smile.
Once they made it back to their family the walk to the nearby park was a fairly short one. All over the grass families and couples were sitting on blankets waiting for the light show to start. Their group searched and found an open spot on the lawn and set up their blankets.
"Give me one of those chocolates!" Hermione ordered as they sat down on their own blanket. He handed her the bag and watched as she tried them.
"Good?" he asked, hoping that she liked them.
"Very good, thank you for getting them," Hermione answered.
"You two sure you aren't a couple? You look like a couple to me," Alina asked, sitting down on a blanket with Daphne next to them.
"Alina, stop pestering them you are being rude," Daphne said, giving her sister an annoyed look. Harry was happy Daphne had interjected in there. He had been caught off guard by Alina's question and was currently doing his best to hide a blush.
"I was just asking! Fine! I wonder if the show will be longer than last year's," Alina said, pouting a little that she wasn't going to get an answer.
"You've seen it before?" Hermione asked Alina.
"Yup sure have. Dad and mom brought me and Daphne here four years ago and we have made it a tradition ever since," Alina answered.
"That's sweet. I can't wait to see it," Hermione replied, an excited smile lit on her face.
"Well I'm sure they will st. . ." Harry started to say but was interrupted by two streaming bolts of red and green light up into the sky.
All eyes in the park and he was sure back in Diagon Alley were glued to the two streams of light, watching them soar up into the clouds. A loud pop and bang echoed around them as the two lights exploded in the sky, filling the clouds and night sky full of bright beautiful colors.
One after another thousands of lights flew into the sky and erupted into a beautiful display of colors. There were some streams of light that exploded into hundreds of smaller exploding lights of all colors. There were others that exploded into crazy designs and shapes and even one extra-large explosion at the end that formed into a large dragon that whipped itself around the sky.
The show was beautiful. And Harry found it hard not to think this moment would not go down as one of the best moments of his life. With each explosion of color in the sky he could see the smiles of everyone there with him grow. His parents looked like newlyweds on their blanket, embraced in an endless hug as they watched the show take place.
Hemera and Sirius looked just like Harry imagined they did in all the stories he had heard of them back at Hogwarts. Both of them were giggling and laughing to a joke only they knew and seemed to be having the time of their lives. Even Daphne didn't look as cold as normal, as if the explosions had melted away some of that solid icy exterior off of her.
And then there was Hermione. . . With each pop in the sky Hermione's smile seemed to grow bigger and prettier. He couldn't help but wonder looking at her if the small dimple on her left cheek was hurting from all the smiling. She looked like this was the greatest thing she had ever seen before and the sight of her so happy and enjoying the moment so much made him feel. . . something.
"Do you like it?" Hermione asked him in between a few loud pops of light in the sky, interrupting him from his daze and thoughts.
"I'm sorry?" he said, having been too distracted to have made out what she had said.
"Do you like it?" Hermione asked him about the show again before looking up back into the sky.
"No I don't like it. . . I think I love it," he replied as a loud red pop of magic burst over their heads, filling the sky with a beautiful mosaic of magic.
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