Harry has a different reaction to his near death experience at age nearly seven and become a right little Machiavellian Prince and, as his relatives tell everyone he's a hooligan, he starts bringing their falsehoods to life.
I don't own or derive any material benefit out of Harry Potter or Stargate. This story is not a crossover, though it will feature a certain general from Texas.
Not being American, I know nothing about San Antonio and may get things wrong, a lot. The school is real; the events portrayed are not. Harry has his own views about religion. He's 7, so may not be correct. That doesn't mean he'll change his views. He is rather stubborn.
Harry Potter felt on top of the world. As much as he could as an 8 year old boy. His classes were going just great. He had friends in the USA. He had friends. He remembered what it was like having none and the lengths cousin Dudley would go to ensure he remained friendless. Best of all he had a family that loved him and had adopted him. He was now and had been for some time, James Hammond, son of Fred and Claudette Hammond. They were working out some difficulties following the revelation of Fred's affair. There had been a couple of deaths associated with that, but everything had blown over. At least Harry hoped so.
Hermione Granger, his best friend over in England would have received her birthday gift – he hoped she'd like the book he'd bought her – and would be looking into Missy's history. She was a succubus who appeared to be 14 and was now being educated at Potter Inc's expense. Harry was proud of having got his company back.
Harry learned magic from books his parents had left him. He was using their wands. He learnt of the first Potter, Linfred of Linchcombe. He'd been a potioneer and had invented many useful potions. Harry was not pleased to learn that Skele gro was being produced by one Rubens Winikus and Company Inc. In order to investigate them further, he'd bought 20 bottles of the stuff. It would regrow bones. Somehow the man had acquired exclusive rights to the potion and sold it the world over. Make that the Magical World over. Harry even made some as part of his potions development. He'd instructed his lawyers to have Potter Inc sue for patent infringement and recovery. The Directors liked that action and assumed that Fred Hammond was the one who had instigated the whole thing.
Harry was making slow progress on the fertility treatment for his parents. He had narrowed down one promising area of investigation. He was sure it was based on the love potion Amortentia. There were plants, roses infact that Harry was sure would be needed. He learned that there was a muggle, he still hadn't got used to calling those without magic, No-maj, book on the subject. So, the second weekend in October 1988, Harry went to purchase the book. He cast a quick locator spell on the book, in case he mislaid it. He was on his way back from the shop to join Fred for lunch. He never made it.
The 5 bullies from year/grade 8 attacked him and worked him over and left him for dead. They stole his money and the book. Harry awoke some hours later in hospital. He stayed there for two weeks, slowly getting better. Then he had to leave. His hospital bill had reached $300000 and the hospital worked out that his medical insurance didn't cover the treatment he'd had.
Harry still couldn't walk and was transferred to Fred's car with difficulty. He was put in bed and allowed to sleep. Sleep came, anyway. Another fortnight, during which time Harry could have sworn he heard the name Sirius Black several times. That, of course, was impossible. Sirius was a department head in the Ministry back in Magical Britain.
Then came the day, Harry came round. Sirius Black was indeed there.
"Hello Sirius," Harry croaked out.
"Hello James," Sirius said with tears in his eyes.
"Sirius, you have to vanish all my bones. I've 25 bottles of Skele gro in my wardrobe."
Sirius gathered 5 bottles and then vanished all of Harry's bones. He then poured the contents of those bottles down Harry's throat.
"Tastes foul," Harry croaked and passed out. 5 days later he awoke, fully healed. Sirius was by his bed.
"Which bottles did you use? The ones with labels or the ones without?"
"The ones without."
"Those are the ones I made myself," Harry said. "They worked." Harry said that with a slight note of surprise.
"That they did, James. Your hospital bill was paid by your company. The police say they have no leads."
"No leads?" Harry spat. "They were the five bullies from the final year of grade school who attacked me in broad daylight, in front of plenty of witnesses, who stole my money and a book I had just bought. You can copy my memories and then visit the scene. You're trained in crime scene investigation, aren't you?"
"I am," Sirius said. "It's many years since I used those skills."
"It's like riding a bicycle," Harry said, cheerfully.
"Like what," Sirius said, confused.
"It's a muggle thing," Harry responded.
Sirius shrugged. He copied Harry's memories about the incident and then examined them. James' memories were pretty good, Sirius thought. He then left the house to visit the crime scene. It was as James had remembered. Sirius brought it into sharp focus. 20 witnesses, 5 perpetrators. In the case of the witnesses, it was just finding where they worked and where they lived. The perpetrators had parents and they had to be tracked down, too. Their places of work and home addresses, as well.
Sirius returned that evening to find law officers from MACUSA quizzing James.
"What do you intend to do, James Hammond? You may not use magic against them."
"They attacked me, in broad daylight and witnesses fail to come forward. They've either been bought off or are too terrified to testify."
"You've been watching too many bad movies and TV shows."
"Not much else to do, whilst I recover." Harry knew what he wanted to do, but he'd already used the break every bone in their bodies on Dudley and his gang and burnt the other 4 houses down. He couldn't do that here, because some officer in the USA might notice the similarities, if he did and work out that he was the common denominator. That wouldn't do, now would it?
"What do you intend to do?" Harry was asked again.
"I shall have justice and prevent those five from ever attacking anyone again." The MACUSA officials departed, when Sirius Black entered the room.
"There were 20 witnesses and I've the addresses for the 5 perpetrators. Their parents all own businesses. Nothing combined on the scale even of Potter Inc and Black Industries Inc is even bigger. We can go both civil and criminal."
"I'm screwed. It's nearly Christmas. Oh, that's it. A Christmas Carol. Scrooge was haunted. I'll haunt the 20 until they give statements that will set the criminal process in motion. They don't know I survived."
"You've a week before you go back to school. Anything you need?"
"A baseball bat. I have to make the five keep away from me and I'm going to get in their faces. I'll need several rolls of duct tape."
"A prank the Marauders would be proud of."
Harry had no real idea about the Marauders and their antics. He knew what his mother had thought about them. Immature had been the politest thing she had said. Harry hadn't forgotten about Missy or the Watcher.
Sirius was actively tracking down leads or some people were on his behalf. Sirius almost fell off his chair, when Harry mentioned the Watcher. Sirius had thought that they were a myth. He tracked this Watcher down, only to be told, by the Watcher, that the Watcher was being re-assigned and that Sirius should drop the Missy matter. This just made Sirius more determined than ever to get to the bottom of who Missy was. It didn't occur to Sirius to wonder what a Watcher was doing watching James. He did have other things to think about and deal with. He apparated to Black Industries Inc HQ that was located in Salt Lake City. He explained what had occurred to a friend and ally of House Black and told the corporate lawyers to squeeze the companies owned by the parents of the five perpetrators.
Sirius spent a week checking the story of Missy Champlain. He found an old faded newspaper cutting from 1929 of a 13 year old orphan who was also named Missy Champlain, who had become an orphan following the suicide of her parents during the Wall Street Crash. Sirius could find no other family or relatives. The likeness between the old photo and the Missy Champlain being educated by Potter Inc was uncanny. Sirius could find no records about the family in MACUSA's fairly extensive archives. Sirius returned to give the bad news to James. James took it well. He wrote a letter to Missy saying efforts to track her relatives had proved unsuccessful. He'd wanted to reassure them that Missy was getting the right education and hadn't been kidnapped. He reassured Missy that she had him now. Missy was pleased to receive the letter and more pleased to know that Harry was standing with her.
Harry grinned as he told Sirius the fun he'd had 'haunting' the 20 witnesses. They had all signed statements describing the attack. Harry thought that a week well spent. He returned to school with duct tape in his bag and baseball bat in hand. It was Monday 28th November and Harry had missed 6 weeks of school.
Legal teams met with the local police and discovered that all 20 had withdrawn their statements after receiving an exorcism. Copies of the filings were provided to both teams. The parents of the five were presented with written demands both sets of legal teams thought was fair: the repayment of the $300000 in hospital fees (Fred had made sure his medical insurance now covered all of them for what had happened to James), the payment of $1m from each of their companies in damages, the return of the $100 stolen from James Hammond and the return of the book. There was also a demand that each of the five receive therapy to deal with their anti-social behaviour.
For the five, Harry's return to school was a shock. He stood facing them at morning break, hefting his baseball bat. Predictably the five went looking for James at lunchtime. They found the entire year waiting for them, duct tape in hand. They weren't found until the caretaker did his rounds after school had closed for the day.
Harry had six weeks schoolwork to catch up on. Peter and Paul helped him. Harry had to explain that the use of magic had been ruled out against the five. They had both pouted at that. They both wondered why James' accidental magic hadn't defended him. Harry wondered that, too. He had been engrossed by the book he'd just bought. After the legal teams briefed the family, Harry said he wanted the 20 charged with complicity. Harry was fuming on learning that the Catholic Church was involved.
The following morning, Harry, Fred and Claudette found themselves in the elementary headmaster's study. The school hadn't expelled the five because the attack hadn't happened on school property. Fred had been incredulous. Harry had laughed when the headmaster claimed there was no evidence the five were bullies. He wasn't giving up either his bat nor duct tape. Harry laughed off claims that he'd provoked the five. He'd gone to see Peter, a friend and he'd been asked for duct tape by his year mates. The Headmaster could not make Harry give up his defences. He did make Harry see a Counselor. Harry pulled out his catch up work and said,
"If you're going to try to make me accept a permanent victim status, you can forget it. I've far too much catch up work to do." That was that. That was also the only meeting Harry attended. Fred really laid into the school for arranging that without getting his permission.
The families of the five rejected the terms they were offered. By the end of the week, the 20 witnesses decided testifying was preferable to being sued into bankruptcy. Criminal charges were filed and arrests made that weekend. That made Harry very happy. The family had a steak to celebrate. Harry saw that Fred and Claudette were happy together, again. He wanted to get on with his fertility potion. He did make replacement skele gro for the bottles he had drunk.
Both Harry's birthparents had completed second year Auror training. They hadn't done the advanced combat training. There was a special Battle mage section. The scrawled note by it in his father's training manual read, 'Not even Mad-Eye Moody tried this'. Harry thought being able to fight all day was 'cool'. They had bought third year Auror training manuals, but had gone into hiding and never qualified. The books had no notes in the margins. Harry knew they had been betrayed and set up by Dumbledore. That didn't excuse the Dark Lord, Pettigrew and Snape, of course, a new name was now added to those who must die for Harry to secure justice for his birth family. This was the first time Harry acknowledged that Dumbledore would have to die along with the others.
Harry had a chance to talk with Sirius about James and Lily Potter. He asked about their hair colour, eye colour, shape of their face, how they wore their hair. Which hand they used and what they were like. Sirius talked for hours about them and about all the things little Harry had done. These were memories that had been suppressed for Harry. He learnt that he had been left handed before the night that changed everything.
Harry asked about that night. Sirius blocked him saying it was too painful for him to remember. Harry asked how Aurors recorded crime scenes, Sirius told him about the spells and how evidence collected was placed under Auror Seal. Harry suggested Sirius go to the house and processed it as a crime scene, placing the evidence collected under the Auror Seal and then forget that he had done any of it.
Monday, Sirius went back to the house in Godric's Hollow that James and Lily had made their home. He recorded the action as it happened, just as he'd been trained to do. He saw the approach of Voldemort and James attempting to resist without his wand. He saw Lily beg for Harry's life. She didn't have a wand either. He saw Pettigrew enter and pick up his Master's cloak and wand and that he'd been about to kill Harry with it, when Dumbledore appeared out from under James' Invisibility Cloak. He heard Dumbledore tell Peter how to frame Sirius and to go spend time as a rat with the Weasleys as they'd be too stupid to realise he wasn't a real rat. He saw Snape walk through the lower part of the house. He saw Hagrid arrive and for Dumbledore to give him his instructions. He saw the conversation he and Hagrid had and Dumbledore cast Imperius on him, Sirius. Sirius had completed the Auror procedure of evidence collection and placed it into the Auror seal ball, similar to what the Unspeakables used to store prophecies. Sirius then forgot that he had done these things and went back to tell his grandfather what had happened to James. He then went to work, catching up on International Co-operation. As usual, there was precious little of that. Sirius chatted with Bagman and they worked out the position Magical Britain should take on key issues. Magical Scotland wanted the return of the Stone of Scone. Magical Ireland claimed the Stone was theirs in the first place. The Exiled government of Magical Wales wanted the restoration of independence to Magical Wales. Magical Britain wasn't giving up either the Stone of Scone or Wales. Magical Britain wanted the 50 wizards and witches of the Welsh Exiles returned to it from Magical Scotland, which predictably wasn't having any of it.
Whilst most of the ICW troubles were in lands formerly part of the muggle British Empire, Magical Britain had never been big on the Empire, always referring to its colonies as 'that lot over there'. Sirius had a Book of Slights that those magical governments always put forward against Magical Britain. Sirius realised that most of these Slights could be resolved through investment that Black Industries and Potter Inc could provide.
Harry was having troubles of a different kind. Monday afternoon and Harry was bundled into a big black limousine and driven to a location Harry had never been before. Harry had a bag over his eyes, so he couldn't see where he was. When the bag was removed, Harry saw Father Gillespie and two thugs and all of them were in cassocks.
Harry was in the architecturally splendid office of the Catholic Archbishopric of San Antonio. Father Gillespie announced that James was receiving a special audience with the Archbishop himself, Patrick Fernández Flores. The assistant to the Archbishop introduced him as His Excellency the Most Reverend Archbishop. Harry decided against doing anything magical. The Catholic Church probably had its own wizards and witches who knew full well what he was.
Harry allowed himself to gape at his surroundings. When he did, he was less than amused to see the five bullies and their families. The Archbishop was pointing out how distressed he was that Catholics were in disagreement with each other. Harry realised that the five families and the Archbishop were all Hispanics. Harry did have his baseball bat. He couldn't exactly go and beat the five bullies up, as much as he wanted to. The Archbishop said that he was delighted that the families had agreed to his arbitration and wished that the matter could be resolved.
Harry responded by saying that he had been abducted and brought here against his will. He was pleased that the families were now prepared to settle on the terms proposed. That would deal with the civil case as he understood it and he probably didn't as he was only 8. The criminal case would continue. He, Harry, had been attacked in broad daylight and left for dead. He hadn't been conscious to be distressed. The families weren't surrendering.
The Archbishop had stressed how important it was for James to learn to forgive. It was his Christian duty. Harry responded by saying that the five were bullies and it was their duty to stop being bullies.
The Archbishop then accused James of being a racist. Harry didn't understand what a racist was. Harry was a barbarian. There were those he liked and then there was everyone else.
"Let me get this straight," Harry said. "The five attacked me because I'm not Hispanic."
The Archbishop explained that wasn't why he had been attacked and that he should listen to what the families had to propose. Harry responded by saying that he wanted to be taken home, immediately. The Archbishop had sighed and signalled that Harry be taken home.
Fred and Claudette had been worried sick about what had happened to their James. Harry was touched. Their worry turned to anger as Harry explained what had happened. Lawyers from Black Industries and Potter Inc soon arrived and took his statement. They took him to the main police station where Harry gave his statement. He read the same statement to members of the Press.
The story that broke the following morning carried the headline 'Catholic Church abducts 8 year old'. At school, Harry with baseball bat in one hand and a letter for Father Gillespie in the other, Harry marched into the staff room and handed Father Gillespie the letter. The Father took it.
"Consider yourself served," Harry said, as he'd been instructed. Then he'd wheeled about and marched out and went off to classes. Harry noticed 5 wizards whose presence he'd sensed at the Archbishopric's office. They weren't off the menu, Harry thought. The question was whether he wanted to tip off the Vatican as to his power. He did send off a missive to MACUSA that either those wizards ceased following him around or he'd incinerate them. He specifically asked Fred about buying a flamethrower. He didn't want MACUSA getting any idea about his power level, either.
The story that had broken pushed the Catholic Church into its standard 'we know nothing, nothing to see' and the 'child is deluded' defence. The company legal team for Black Industries produced evidence that James was not deluded about being abducted.
Harry had lots of presents and cards to buy this year and he enjoyed the unusual experience; Sirius would come back over and took the presents back with him to distribute in England. He also had something to say to the Catholic wizards harassing James. MACUSA passed their request to the Catholic Church in America to stop harassing an 8 year old boy. Agents were deployed, when the Church took no notice. MACUSA took stronger action and placed the wizards on trial. MACUSA said the wizards had a higher duty to Magic; the wizards countered that they had a higher duty to God. MACUSA sentenced them to death and executed them.
The Catholic Church ended the case against it by donating £15000 to a church charity. The Church charity was changed to an organisation that had nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Naturally, Father Gillespie gave Harry hard stares at school. Harry pretended not to notice. He was on his best behaviour.
Harry did have to testify at the trial of the five bullies. The lead counsel for the families was grilling James aka Harry.
"Now, Master Hammond, you claim you were attacked by these five, but can't say what each of them did to you. Isn't that the case?"
"I saw the five's faces. That's all that counts." Harry wasn't letting himself get frustrated.
"We have 20 witnesses who claim to have seen your face. How do you account for that?"
"I think it very understandable. If I'd seen someone being beaten almost to death, I'd see that person's face in my nightmares."
"What did you think as you were being beaten?"
"I wanted to kill the five. I think that thought kept me alive." Harry said to shock in the courtroom.
"You should have forgiven them."
"You ever been beaten near to death?"
"No."
"You're hardly qualified to say what I should feel, are you?" This time the courtroom erupted in laughter at the counsel.
"You may have noticed that the five are all still alive. Their families were offered a fair deal. That's still all I'm looking from them, but these five might not leave their next victim living. That has to stop and that has to be what this Court is about."
The Counsel had no more questions. Harry was able to leave the courtroom. The Counsel said to the families that he'd have James back on the stand in the morning. The families didn't think that was a very good idea. In fact, they didn't want the counsel recalling James Hammond to the stand ever again. The trial would continue into 1989.
Harry got on with catching up and had before the round of Christmas parties. Harry had great fun attending them. Harry was sad that Grandpa George would not be coming home for Christmas. Jacob's adult children Mark and Samantha would be spending Christmas with them. Harry thought Samantha was in the Air Force and doing Physics and Maths as her degree, majoring in Engineering but she didn't wear her uniform. He'd ask why. Mark was doing English and would become a teacher, if Harry remembered correctly from last year.
Harry practiced his magic, read his parents text books, especially the potion ones. Lily had made notes with answers she'd received from Professor Horace Slugthorn in her textbooks. She also had suggestions noted from Severus Snape. They'd been friends, once. Snape had turned around and betrayed her. His life was forfeit. Harry had recently learnt 'forfeit' and was using it as often as he could, much to the consternation of his English teacher.
Harry found reading the History of Magic hard. It wasn't the language. It was what was missing. There was very little History outside of Magical Britain included. If you didn't already know, you wouldn't know the International Confederation of Wizards existed. For a family as influential as the Potters, there was precious little information. Hogwarts: A History was much the same. Harry worked out that every year that had no mention of either a Head Boy or Head Girl the post was held by a Potter. The 13th Edition of a History of Magic that its author had personally given Harry was much more like Harry expected a History book to be. It actually covered the History of Magic worldwide. Magical Britain's History wasn't only an endless series of Wars against the Goblins, until 1692, but other wars fought against other magic users, too and against other magical creatures: the House-elves and Centaurs. The wars against the Vampires and Werewolves lasted centuries. Hogwarts provided a colony of Merman sanctuary after the Veela destroyed their homes by boiling off their waters. The Great Squid was another creature afforded sanctuary. The Great War or WW1 killed thousands of wizards and witches, but Albus Dumbledore didn't fight. He'd been a conscientious objector. That fact was omitted from editions of the History of Magic after the unpublished 13th Edition.
The 13th Edition carried a MACUSA report of Lord Charlus Potter's day long fight with Grindelwald. The rest of the International Legion fought against Grindelwald's Knights of Walpurgis. The author claimed that it was only because both the No-Maj and Wizard wars were coming to a victorious conclusion for the allies in 1945 that Albus Dumbledore had gotten off his fat backside to join the fight. Very few Knights of Walpurgis survived to face trial after the war. There were a couple of unconfirmed reports that Dumbledore had stunned both Potter and Grindelwald and made off with the Dark Lord's body. Lord Potter's son, also Charlus, had been killed near the end of the war, earning a VC in the process. Lord Potter had been so overcome with grief about his son that he failed to take action soon enough against Albus Dumbledore, who spun his victory into total power in the Wizarding world. The author suggested checking the Wall of Life in the Ministry, since Gellert Grindelwald had spent time in Magical Britain and would still show up, if alive. Dumbledore allowed everyone to think that he was dead. Naturally, thought Harry, the report and suggestion failed to make it in the 14th and subsequent Editions. Obviously, nobody bothered to check the Wall of Life or they'd know Harry Potter still lived.
Harry knew that Grindelwald was dead, because he'd killed him. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had intended his blood adoption to merely allow Dumbledore to track his vital signs. Harry had read the letter Dumbledore had left with the Dursleys. He still had it. In that letter, Dumbledore explained that Harry's blood protected them so long as he stayed at their home. It hadn't protected him from them, however. Harry thought that blood protection should work because of the blood and not because of someone's presence. He had no way to test that theory. He hadn't asked Sirius about Blood Adoptions nor Fertility Potions. Harry knew he wanted to base the Fertility Potion on the Amortentia potion. That was the strongest love potion known to Wizards and Witches. He knew he'd have to brew the potion successfully - until he could do it in his sleep.
Harry went to the airbase to drop off some cards for people he knew, even if he couldn't remember their names. Harry was too embarrassed to ask. He was also there to steal some C4 to blow up the facilities donated by the families of the bullies. He was intercepted by George's friend. Harry knew he was something to do with Intelligence, whatever his on-base title was.
"Hello James. You wouldn't be here to steal explosives, would you?" The man asked.
Harry went red. He'd never make a good operative.
"Why don't you come to my office? I've a good cup of tea with your name on it."
Harry followed the man to his office and a good cup of tea. It was one thing he missed.
"I'll come straight to the point. People I answer to are not pleased with your companies' actions against the firms owned by the parents of your bullies. They offer good well-paid jobs to Hispanics. Jobs that other non-Hispanic companies do not offer. If they are put out of work, they'll riot. The US Army won't allow National Guard units to put those riots down. There are too many Hispanics in the Armed Forces to allow them to brutally suppress them. We'd rather not have our peaceful cities turned into battlegrounds."
"I get attacked and left for dead and you're bothered about having cities go up in flames. You'd see my rights trampled into the dirt. Your cities are your problem. Those parents will pay up or they will be put out of business. Their choice. Responsible community leaders don't try to hold the US hostage."
"I told them that would be your response," the officer said, chuckling. "Imagine the headline, fate of the US rests on the shoulders of an 8 year old."
"Perhaps there is something you can do," Harry said. "Mark and Samantha Carter will be spending Christmas with us. I count that a minor miracle. Sam won't be in her uniform, though. Do you know why?"
"Mark doesn't hold with the military. Doesn't believe in guns, either."
"Who's he expecting to defend himself?" Harry asked.
"Says nobody will attack the US," the officer said.
"History would disagree with him," Harry said. The officer laughed.
"Sam's at Airforce Academy, isn't she?"
"You asking me, if Sam's an officer in the USAF?"
"Yeah, I am." Harry tried to sound defiant. The officer laughed.
"She's a serving officer. A lieutenant. She does attend a civilian school, too for her degree, but she does serve the country. She has the right to wear her uniform. She shouldn't feel she can't for fear of what her brother will say."
"I've another fear. She is very intelligent and far more so than some well-connected males at the Academy who may think the posting she's in line for is theirs and take action against her. George and her father are otherwise engaged. You know, defending this country. That won't matter to those others. I know first hand what happens, when people think they won't be held to account for their actions. Sam needs protecting."
"You think my connections are better?"
"Yes, I do. Anything people want on this base, you can get. I think you can protect Sam."
"I could pop down and bring a girl who thinks I'm her uncle up to speed on how her dad is doing. They're both safe and well. The mission is going far better than anyone dared hope. That doesn't leave this office."
"Good. Thanks," Harry smiled. Max smiled, too. He'd heard things about James. Nothing more than hearsay and rumour. He believed quite a lot of what he'd heard. There might come a time, when he needed James' help. He'd better get those favours built up quickly. He had a nine year old he wouldn't let travel on his own. Here was James doing just that, even after what he had suffered. That spoke of a high confidence in his own ability to defend himself. That could be foolhardy. He'd let George know. The two had a bond. He still didn't know how George had managed to land after being struck instrument blind at 15000', but he was sure the kid had had something to do with it. He'd looked like he was ready to go up, again. George had been tight lipped about the incident.
Harry returned home to find a card and letter from Hermione waiting for him. She was going to her French relatives for Christmas. Harry was happy for her. She said she'd look into Missy. Harry was pleased. She'd rope in those well-connected French relatives to help. She said that Sirius would bring his Christmas present over with him, when he visited in the New Year. She thanked him for his gift. She wrote in such a mature way. Harry mused that being 9 was so much mature than being 8.