3 Chapter 17: Christmas Holiday

Ron and Hermione had not approved of Alexis and Harry's pack to kill Sirius Black. Alexis had a feeling Cedric and Draco wouldn't either but they weren't at Hogwarts to ask. In fact, only six students had stayed at Hogwarts for the Christmas Holiday: Alexis, Harry, Hermione, Ron and ironically the same Hufflepuff and Slytherin Peeves had captured under the mistletoe Alexis's first year. When Ron noticed this, he made a comment about Alexis and Harry's first kiss, earning him a blushing Harry and a harsh jab in the gut from Alexis. He earned another jab when Hermione demanded an explanation.

Harry, who had been extremely angry at Hagrid for never mentioning Sirius Black was his godfather and his parents' friend, had forgiven Hagrid when news about Buckbeak's trial reached them. Alexis had been the closest to tears Harry had ever seen her when she had learned Hippogriffs almost unstoppable fate.

The four friends had stayed up most of Christmas Eve night looking up court cases where a Hippogriff was not executed to no avail. Just before midnight Ron spoke.

"I'm going to bed," he said rubbing his tired eyes. "There's nothing here that will help us help Hagrid."

"You're giving up?" asked Alexis. "Tails!"

"I'm not giving up!" snapped Ron harshly. He quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. It's just, the books aren't helping, if anything they're just going to give us nightmare about what might happen to Buckbeak."

Ron was right. All the books had told them were the unfortunate deaths of magical creatures brought to court. Some where, especially the ones about Hippogriffs, were rather gruesome.

"I'm sorry to," mumbled Alexis closing her book. "Don't forget to check on Scabbers. Spending a month hiding in your trunk hasn't done him any good."

Hermione made a huffing noise. She was still angry that Ron had accused her cat of killing Scabbers when he had in fact been hiding.

Ron said goodnight and shortly afterwards Hermione followed. Then it was just Alexis and Harry, who had both long since put away the court books they were reading and taken a seat on the couch together.

"It's so quiet," said Harry as Alexis leaned on his arm.

"No Weasley twins to cause chaos so of course it is," teased Alexis. She let out a sigh before speaking the thought that had been running through her mind all day. "Do you think he knows who I am?"

"Black?" asked Harry. "I know he knows of you, he's attacked you twice, but I don't know if he knows you're his... you know?"

"Draco said the whole Slytherin House already knew. How could they know something like that without, you know, proof?"

Harry leaned his head on Alexis's, sighing softly through his nose as he did.

"You really do look alike Alexis," he said. "Minus the beard and the brown eyes."

Closing her eyes, Alexis combined all the information she had on Sirius Black before thinking aloud.

"Fudge said we're related," she started, "and by how much we look alike, he's probably a close relative, most likely my dad seeing that's who Fudge fears most out of my parentage. He was on the Knight Bus with us so he thinks my name is Trix and that the Lestranges raised me. He finds it funny that I'm a Gryffindor but he didn't kill me when he had the chance. What are we missing?"

"I don't know, Hex," said Harry. Alexis buried her head deeper into his shoulder. "What did you learn from Snape?"

"Nothing helpful," Alexis said. Snape had confused her more than anything and now the Potions Master down right avoided her.

"Hmm," said Harry, yawning.

Alexis couldn't help but to yawn with him. It was only a matter of minutes before the two were fast asleep- or they were- until Ron woke them up.

"Oi! Presents!" shouted Ron, pegging his two friends with a pillow.

Alexis jumped to her feet only to fall over Harry's outstretched leg. Harry moved to help her up but Alexis, with a devilish grin, grabbed his arm and pulled him down with her. The two wrestled a bit before adding Ron to the ruckus. Laughter filled the Common Room as the three playfully fought each other only to stop with a loud snapping noise.

"Merry Christmas!" said Hermione. Her bushy hair was as wild as ever and she was wearing a pair of light blue pajamas. In her hand was a camera that had recently gone off.

"Merry Christmas, Moony!" the three remaining Gryffindors cried.

"Whatcha got there?"

Hermione blushed humbly.

"My parents sent me a camera so I can show them all the fun times we have at Hogwarts," she said. "I think that will make an excellent first photo, all my friends fighting on Christmas."

"Ron started it!" cried Alexis.

"No, Harry did!" defended Ron.

"It was Hex's faulted!" huffed Harry.

Soon all four friends were laughing as they began digging into their presents. Like the last two years, Alexis and Harry had far less presents than the rest of their friends but neither of them noticed. They were happy with just having time to spend with their friends.

Mrs. Weasley had sent Alexis and Harry matching sweaters again only this year Harry's was scarlet with a golden lion on it while Alexis's was scarlet with a golden Chimera. Alexis had also received the next addition to the Monster Manual, which she was currently feeding fudge to, when Harry stumbled across two similar long packages, one for himself and one for Alexis.

"What are those?" said Ron, looking over, a freshly unwrapped pair of maroon socks in his hand.

"Dunno..."

Alexis and Harry ripped the packages open and gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out in front of each of them. Ron dropped his socks and rushed over for a closer look.

Alexis picked her broomstick up in awe. It was a Firebolt, the broom she and Harry had admired every day while they were staying in the Leaky Cauldron. Harry held an identical one in his hand.

"Who sent you two those?" said Ron in a hushed voice.

"Look and see if there's a card," said Harry.

Ron ripped apart both Alexis and Harry's wrappings.

"Nothing! Blimey, who'd spend that much on you two?"

"Well," said Harry, feeling stunned, "I'm betting it wasn't the Dursleys."

"And it wasn't Mad-Eye," breathed Alexis. "Holy shit."

"Language," Harry said but only halfheartedly.

"I bet it was Dumbledore," said Ron. "He protects you from the Ministry and he sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously..."

"That was my dad's, though," said Harry. "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on me. He can't go giving students stuff like this -"

"That's why he wouldn't say it was from him!" said Ron. "In case some git like Malfoy said it was favoritism."

"That git is my friend, Tails," snapped Alexis but she also did it half heartedly. "But Dumbledore would never spend this much money on one student, let alone two."

"I know," said Ron, "I know who it could've been - Lupin!"

"What?" said Harry, now starting to laugh himself "Lupin? Listen, if he had this much gold, he'd be able to buy himself some new robes."

"Yeah, but he likes you two," said Ron. "And he was away when your brooms got smashed and went missing, and he might've heard about it and decided to visit Diagon Alley and get this for -"

"What d'you mean, he was away?" said Harry. "He was ill when I was playing in that match."

"Well, he wasn't in the hospital wing," said Ron. "I was there, cleaning out the bedpans on that detention from Snape, remember?"

Alexis looked over both her friends, forgetting her new broomstick for a moment. She had to find away to distract them off of Remus.

"Let's go ride them!"

"Ride what?" asked Hermione. She had gone upstairs to retrieve Crookshanks. When her eyes caught sight of the two Firebolts they widened to the size of saucers. "Who sent you two those?"

"Lucius?" said Alexis unsurely. "We don't really know."

Hermione did not appear either excited or intrigued by the news. On the contrary, her face fell, and she bit her lip.

"What's the matter with you?" said Ron.

"I don't know," said Hermione slowly, "but it's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?"

Ron sighed exasperatedly.

"It's the best broom there is, Hermione," he said.

"So it must've been really expensive..."

"Just one probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together," said Ron happily.

"But listen," said Hermione. "Who would spend so much money on you two?"

Alexis had the strangest feeling that she should listen to Hermione and think this through but she ignored it. She and Harry had been using Hogwarts' brooms for the last few practices and they had been utterly terrible. Now with a Firebolt, they were going to smoke the competition.

"Outside!" Alexis shouted, rushing towards the portrait with her broomstick. She didn't have to look back to know Harry and Ron were following her. Hermione hesitated slightly, seeing that she was only in her pajamas, but quickly followed after them.

Cold air hit Alexis's face as she walked out of the castle, causing her to shutter slightly. She was only wearing her sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a pair of Muggle trousers like Harry seeing that the two had fallen asleep before changing for bed. None the less, Alexis and Harry took off on there new brooms without a moment of hesitation.

The second Alexis's feet left the ground, she couldn't help but to remember her first flying lesson two years ago. It hadn't been as cold then but Alexis remembered the feeling of absolute freedom she felt as she first took off into the sky.

It was nothing compared to the freedom she felt while flying the Firebolt.

Not only was the Firebolt beautiful and appealing to look at, it was also unbelievably fast. Everything around Alexis was a blur as she zipped and zigzagged through the air. The Firebolt moved gracefully underneath her as if it were apart of her, and by the look on Harry's face when they landed, Harry felt the same way.

"Awesome," breathed Alexis, falling back to her American slang. Harry couldn't agree more.

.

"You really should of had a teacher check them before you rode them," huffed Hermione as they made their way to dinner that night. "What if Sirius Black had sent them?"

"Yeah, you're right Moony," said Alexis sarcastically. "Sirius Black, an escaped convict, found a way to buy not one but two of the most expensive brooms in the world and sent them as Christmas presents to me and Prongs. If he had wanted to jinx us or curse us with a Christmas present he could have just sent us a Nimbus Two-Thousand or something. It would have saved him money and we still would have taken it."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but stopped walking instead. Alexis, Harry, and Ron did too.

"Are they... Are those two students kissing?" she asked pointing down the hall towards the kitchen entrance.

Sure enough, the same Hufflepuff and Slytherin from first year were in fact kissing.

"Peeves got them again?" snickered Ron.

Alexis squinted her eyes before letting them grow as big as saucers. A small grin slowly grew on her face.

"Peeves isn't there, Tails," she said, ending Ron's snickers. "And neither is a mistletoe."

"Lovely," said Harry, his ears turning red as the two girls grinned knowingly. "Let's go the long way."

"Yeah," said Ron awkwardly. "Let's leave them alone."

It took an extra ten minutes to reach the Great Hall and Alexis wasn't surprised to see the Hufflepuff and Slytherin nowhere insight. In the Great Hall, the House tables had been moved against the walls again, and a single table, set for twelve, stood in the middle of the room. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch, the caretaker.

"Merry Christmas!" said Dumbledore as Alexis, Harry, Hermione, and Ron approached the table. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables...Sit down, sit down!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down side by side at the end of the table just as the Hufflepuff and Slytherin walked in.

"Crackers!" said Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering the end of a large silver noisemaker to Snape, who took it reluctantly and tugged. With a bang like a gunshot, the cracker flew apart to reveal a large, pointed witches hat topped with a stuffed vulture.

Harry and Ron fought to stifle their snickers at the sight of the hat, no doubt thinking back to the Boggart Snape earlier that year. Alexis didn't even try to stop her laughter, earning her an unpleasant look from Snape and a twinkle eye from Dumbledore who swapped the new hat for his wizard's hat at once.

"Dig in!" he advised the table, beaming around.

Alexis didn't need to be told twice. The feast was very delicious, and only got better as it continued. McGonagall and Trelawney, who had joined them only minutes later, had gotten into an argument over Divnination, Sprout had jokingly made a comment about Patricia Stimpson and Adrian Pucey, the Hufflepuff and Slytherin students, relationship causing the two to blush (and Snape to scowl), and Dumbledore along with Flitwick had broken out into song on several occasions. Even Filch seemed to be having a good time, though he did narrow his eyes at Alexis when Mrs. Norris sat on her lap for a bit.

When the feast drew to an end, Alexis and Harry both grinned at each other. As the rest of the students and staff hurried off to spend the rest of their Christmas as they saw fit, Alexis and Harry approached Dumbledore.

"And what can I do for you two?" Dumbledore asked in his usual jolly way.

"Nothing," said Alexis. "We thought you might like these."

Simultaneously, Alexis and Harry removed the small gift they had hidden in their robes. Opening them wordlessly, Dumbledore smiled up at his two students very pleased.

"Ah!" he said pleasantly, lifting his gifts in the air. "Socks! Wonderful! You remembered!"

Alexis had never seen a more joyful smile on a man Dumbledore's age, what ever that was, nor did she expect to. Her and Harry had been planing to get him socks ever since their first year when he had told them it was all he wanted. These particular pairs were purple with stars on them and blue with the moon.

"Thank you very much, Alexis and Harry," said Dumbledore. "Have a very wonderful Christmas."

"You too sir," said Harry.

"And don't think we don't pay attention," added Alexis teasingly. She could still see the smile on Dumbledore's face as they made their way to the boathouse.

"Merry Christmas, Grim!" said Harry as the massive dog knocked him to the ground. "Did you miss us?"

"Stupid question, Prongs," teased Alexis as Grim licked Harry's face clean. "I don't know how Grim would survive without us."

Grim barked in unison before tackling the already sitting Alexis. He preceded to greet her in a similar manner to how he had greeted Harry.

"Down boy," laughed Alexis. "Prongs, give him some food."

Harry did as he was told slowly, laughing at Alexis as he did. When Grim was finally distracted enough by the food, Harry sat down by Alexis.

"Do you think we should let him out, Padfoot?" he said. "Grim is rather big and I don't think he has much room in this boathouse."

"Grim leaves all the time, Harry," said Alexis. "Why do you think there is no shit in here?"

Grim lifted his head from the food he was devouring and cocked it towards Alexis making Harry laugh.

"See, even Grim doesn't like it when you cuss!"

"Everybody is a critic," Alexis mumbled but smiled at Harry.

A few hours later, the duo returned to the Common Room, tired and weary.

"Best Christmas?" asked Harry.

Alexis nodded her head.

"Definitely."

And it was - until the portrait swung open revealing Ron and Hermione shouting at each other. Alexis didn't need to hear what the we arguing about. In Ron's hand was his bed sheet, a small pool of blood on it and very noticeable cat claw marks.

"Scabbers."

So I know a lot of people are like, 'Oh, Hex got a Firebolt too? How unoriginal.' Well, I thought long and hard on it and I just couldn't see Sirius only buying Harry one. He clearly cares about both of them equally so I had to make sure he treated them both equally.

I finally gave names to the faces of my Hufflepuff and Slytherin from first year, both of which are real characters with only three or four lines about them in the real HP series. And yes, I had to get Dumbledore those socks! I always thought Harry would have in the series but he never did so I made him and Alexis do so.

'Grim' is getting absolutely spoiled with all the time he gets to spend with Alexis and Harry but what's Christmas without your favorite 'dog'?

Anyways, please review! I don't know when I'll be able to post again but it will probably be next weekend!

Whoa it's fandoms: like I said, thank you! I'm honored to know that!

Kuroi-Akuma-no-Okami: short or not, thanks for the review! Hope you like this chapter too!

RANDOM COOKIE NINJA: Here's that update! Please review and tell me what you think!

mwinter: your welcome, hope you enjoy!

pheonixfelicis07: So you've discovered the secret of Swine, have you? Good job! Though there is more to it but only a little. Alexis doesn't know who her mom is but she strongly, though she isn't hundred percent sure, thinks Sirius is her dad. You're right about the father thing, I'm not going to make it easy ;) I mean, I have four more books to cover! I can't give that away too soon or it ruins the point in reading it! And yeah, I did make Sirius have a rough time in the last chapter but it was to be expected. Just wait until the truths are revealed then it's gonna get real

NeverBeyondRedemption: Yeah, Hex is almost positive Sirius is her dad and he does fit the job well. I mean, he looks like her, she acts like him, they were both the Potter's best friend, both are Padfoot, Sirius is seen as Voldie's #1 and Alexis knows her father is the one Fudge is afraid of etc. etc... the list goes on and on. As for Grim's reaction, it's rather self-explanatory. Sad. Very, very sad Grim. Tell me what you think about this chapter!

Luna the HP fan: Your first guess was correct! And yes, yes it will. Hex is totally guessing dad but isn't one hundred percent sure yet. Please review again!

ZabuzaGirl: As you wish! Please review again!

Thanks again, and remember to REVIEW!

DCF