Chapter 8: Winter Break.

As Harry and friends were in the Hogwarts express for the winter break, the teachers were having their end of fall term meeting.

First the teachers talked about the first years, and that Natalie Fairbourne was the top of her year, Dumbledore praised Ginny Weasley for befriending Luna Lovegood and some Slytherin girls, noting how she was making an effort to unify the houses.

"Now is time to discuss the second years, let's start with Gryffindor." Dumbledore moderated, "Minerva, you have the word."

"The results of our second years are pretty interesting. The top student in Gryffindor is still Miss Granger, the second placed student is Mr. Ron Weasley and third place is Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter went down from second to third and the opposite happened. That is not the interesting part, the interesting part is that Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley now are doing better compared with their results last year and are better placed in the overall ranking of their year, last year they were 15th and 16th now they are 10th and 9th."

"No, now Potter's ego is going to be more inflated." Snape complained.

"Severus, your grudge against the boy's father is clouding your judgement, he is more like his mother than his father." Albus said sternly.

"My judgement isn't being clouded, I know what I see. He is corrupting my Slytherins."

"What I saw was Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley befriending a student from your house because she was bullied by her housemates, and students from your house realizing that they are hated by their actions and not their sorting." Minerva commented.

"You don't see how Potter is mocking me? He set that bludger on Mr. Malfoy and two weeks later, his sidekick set that snake on him. They should be expelled!"

"Lucius Malfoy himself went to my office to tell me that it was his own elf the one that set the bludger on him, that Draco wanted to look like a hero and show everyone that he wasn't bad with a broom and that his place in the quidditch team was deserved. " Dumbledore clarified.

"And about the snake, I've heard that it was you the one that suggested Draco to summon it, because you wanted to taunt Mr. Potter, but because Mr. Potter wasn't there, you decided to attack Mr. Weasley in his place." McGonagall commented.

"Potter needed a lesson in humility, and he'll get it trust me, he is just like his father."

"Severus, Enough!" Albus roared.

Snape went quiet and sat in his corner.

"Minerva, continue." Albus requested.

"The most interesting part about Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley's performances, is that they aren't friends with Miss Granger anymore, so their improvement can't be chalked up to Miss Granger's influence. I also noticed that Mr. Longbottom also improved in his studies, but I also noticed that he became friendly with Miss Granger as well."

Flitwick made an observation, "Something I've noticed from both Potter and Weasley, is that they are both more social now, with them establishing a friendship with not just Miss Davis from Slytherin, but also interacting with Miss Farley and with the first year Slytherins."

Albus beamed, "I'm glad that Harry is starting to break out of his shell, and how he is starting to break the barrier with the students from Slytherin."

Minerva then continued, "Potter and the younger Weasleys aren't the only ones breaking house barriers, Mr. Percy Weasley and his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater came to me one day about forming a debate and current history club. I noticed that the club has many students from both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

Dumbledore commented, "I'm glad the students took initiative on this, the ministry and the board of governors have been very obstructive about history, without a good grasp on history, we'll have another Voldemort."

Sirius was waiting for Harry at King's Cross station. After Harry parted from his friends and Harry and Sirius went to the muggle part of the station. Sirius told Harry, "We aren't going to the Tonks residence or Grimmauld Place, we are going to a place you didn't get to know during the last timeline." Then he touched Harry and apparated him to a big farmhouse that was surrounded by a forest.

"Harry, this is 'The Kiln', the ancestral Potter family home, the house where your father grew up. You didn't get the opportunity of knowing this house, because it was seized when the goblins asked for reparations after you stole from my dear cousin's vault."

Harry looked at the house with nostalgia and wonder, he felt closer to his father.

"Harry, feel free to explore, is your house."

"Is our house" Harry said decisively.

"The room at the end of the hallway was the master bedroom the one used by your grandparents. The room besides it, was your father's bedroom. I think you want to take one of those rooms for yourself."

Harry was always curious about his parents and has never thought about his grandparents, he stopped to reflect and decided that he wanted to know more about them, so he took his grandparents' room. He checked all the shelves and drawers and found many investigation papers from his grandfather's potions research. Harry found out that the potion Hermione used for the Yule ball in the other timeline was an invention from his grandfather. Another thing that frustrated Harry, the fact that everyone just assumed that he knew about his family or about how the wizarding world worked.

Harry the laid on his bed thinking about what he had learned recently, until he was woken up from his trance by Sirius.

"Harry, we have a plan for this holiday. Nymphadora informed me that there were rumours at the ministry that Fudge is going to attend a formal ball hosted by the Malfoys in their manor. What did Draco do in the previous timeline? I only have full knowledge of things after my death."

"He stayed at Hogwarts, he was interested in what the heir of Slytherin was doing."

"So, there was probably a ball that Christmas as well. Damn it, that ball was probably the start of Lucius Malfoy's influence over the minister and we lost the opportunity to try to sway him to our side. In two days we are hosting a party ourselves, I asked Dora to send invitations to every ministry employee that wasn't in Malfoy's sphere of influence, plus Dumbledore and some friends, I have an idea for a business and I think we should do some networking. I invited a certain family of redheads as well." Sirius said that last part teasingly.

The day of the Christmas party came, Sirius hired a catering company so they could have food for all their guests. The party was designed to be less formal than the Malfoy Yule ball, and that was an important thing. There were three main goals of the party. The first one was to show that Harry Potter wasn't a spoiled arrogant pampered prince, so in case there was a smear campaign against him, it was less effective. The second goal was a way for Sirius to find allies in the ministry in case turned awry. The third goal was about making possible his duelling dojo idea reality.

The first guests to arrive were the Tonkses, followed by Remus and the O'Donnell sisters.

The next guests to arrive was an entourage all coming from Ottery st. Catchpole, the Weasleys, the Diggorys and the Lovegoods. Arthur greeted them politely, Molly was wary of Sirius and Andromeda, Percy looked like didn't want to be here, Ginny ran to hug Harry while the Twins were snickering and Ron was making a grossed out face. Cedric approached Harry and presented himself, "Nice to meet you, Harry. I'm the new seeker of the Hufflepuff quidditch team. I hope the best wins in the upcoming match."

Amos Diggory then said, "Of course you'll win, Cedric."

Cedric replied, "Harry here is one of the few that can play as an aggressive seeker, don't underestimate him."

Harry said, "Cedric, we need someone for a three vs three, you in?"

"Of course!"

Harry, Cedric and the four younger Weasleys ran to the quidditch pitch, while Percy stayed with the adults, Luna went to watch the quidditch players.

More guests arrived, the last one being Albus Dumbledore.

"Sirius, nice of you to invite me to this get-together. I want to apologize for not inquiring more about your case after you were arrested."

"Don't worry about that, Albus. I blame Crouch and Bagnold."

"If there is anything I can do for you, you must only ask."

"There is something, we want to make a training dojo for magical duelling, and maybe use it as an opportunity for Hogwarts students to be able to use magic during the summers. If there is a way to make it legal to open a business of those characteristics."

"I'll see what can I do. I'd speak with Gawain Robards and Kingsley Shacklebolt, they are here in this party as well. I think the auror department would be happy to sponsor something like this." Dumbledore noticed another worry in Sirius' eyes, "What else do you need?"

"I think we should cut the financing to the death eaters, I know that you think that Voldemort is alive somewhere. I want to know if there is a way for someone to claim Bellatrix's personal vault for themselves."

"You are the head of her birth family, for some reason you weren't totally dishinherited, you should own your birth home as well, that should give you the possibility of entering that vault for the simple reason that she is in prison right now. Other people can ask for reparations if they were a victim or a relative of a victim of a crime she was convicted of, on this case, the Longbottoms should be able to ask for reparations, I tried to convice Augusta Longbottom of asking reparations but she didn't want the money."

"Thank you, Albus."

On the other side of the house, the six quidditch players were having a match with two teams with two chasers and one keeper, one team had Harry and Ginny as chasers and Ron as keeper, the other team had Fred and George as chasers and Cedric as keeper.

The match was a battle about seeing which pair had the better teamwork. Fred and George as twins they had intimate knowledge of each other, so they had excellent teamwork, which was useful in their role as beaters, but they were surprised by the teamwork and agility Harry and Ginny had. In 30 minutes, the match ended 320-160 for Harry and Ginny's team.

After the match a muscular young woman approached the group that was playing, "Excellent game. So, you are the Harry Potter, is a shame you aren't a girl or I'd have you in my team, I'm sure the rest of the league will be competing to sign you if you decide to go the professional path." Then she looked at Ginny, "You, little redhead, I think you are going straight to my team."

Ginny saw the woman and squealed, "You're Gwenog Jones! I have a poster of you in my room. What are you doing here?"

Gwenog laughed, "A fan, if you keep going as you are doing you'll be my peer. I'm here because my aunt Hestia was invited to this party, I was curious, so I decided to tag along, my sister Megan is at Hogwarts, she said that Harry was an arrogant jerk, but I see that she is wrong."

Harry sighed, "People tend to assume a lot from me. I'm focusing of quidditch because is the best way I've seen of killing the 'boy-who-lived'."

"Interesting, I have an information that may be interesting for all of you. The quidditch league is organizing a junior quidditch camp during the summer, it would give the possibility of having special training during the school year, so you get a reputation before you go pro."

As the quidditch players were talking to Gwenog, Percy was surprised that someone else was a guest.

"Penny, what are you doing here?"

Penny giggled, "Someone told me you needed some company and invited me here."

"Harry knows about us?"

"It looks like that. How? I don't know. I've heard rumours that he has means to know everything that happens in the castle. I wouldn't worry about that much. It looks like he wants our happiness."

"You should know that I'm still wary of him. I defended him in the beginning of the year because I know that him being a rising dark lord is a stupid assumption, but I think he is an arrogant attention seeker, he is just laying low, trust me, Granger cut her friendship with him for a reason."

Penny narrowed her eyes, "Trust me, Harry is laying low because he wants to lay low, I saw that he wasn't in Lockhart's fiasco of duelling club and he went and did that weird playstyle in the Gryffindor vs Slytherin quidditch match. I assume that he wants to dissociate himself from the 'boy-who-lived'."

"But why? The boy-who-lived will give him a lot of opportunities, it already gave him the opportunity of being in a house quidditch team in first year."

"Look! What does the boy-who-lived mean to Harry? That he lost his parents. I also looks like his aunt and uncle didn't treat him well. I remember that during his first year he didn't wear clothes that fit, now he does, remember that your brothers went to rescue him from his relatives. Granger stopped being friends with Harry because she can't stand girls her age, and Harry befriended your sister. I know that some people like two say they are dating, but they are too young to think of that, they are just good friends. I think in a year they'll start dating though."

Percy and Penny kept talking until Percy spotted Dumbledore, "Penny, Professor Dumbledore is here, we should ask him for ideas for our next debate in the debate club." Percy and Penny ran to talk to Dumbledore.

Sirius was talking with Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Gawain Robards about his proposal.

"I think this idea has merit, I'll talk to my direct boss Rufus Scrimgeour. I think the auror academy will want to sponsor some self defence classes for the civilians. I know that your proposal was mostly for sport duelling, but self defence is seriously important considering how Hogwarts haven't been able to retain a defence professor for more than one year since the late 60's." said Robards.

"Madam Bones is going to be interested on this. She lost a lot of family during the war against you-know-who, she'll want people to defend themselves. I think the department of magical law enforcement is going to be really interested on this. I think the noise caused by my muggle protection act will allow your proposal to pass." said Arthur.

"And that will piss Malfoy off." Sirius commented.

"I've never bought the imperius excuse. I curse Crouch and Bagnold because they didn't do any serious investigation after the war." said Kingsley.

"Sirius, I see that you are interested in working for the sports industry. You should write Ludo Bagman." Arthur suggested.

"I have some issues with him. But I think my godson is doing some networking in that area. I just saw Gwenog Jones throwing bludgers to my godson and his friends." Sirius commented laughing.

"How did she get here? She doesn't work in the ministry." Arthur asked.

"Her aunt does, she probably brought her here." Kingsley replied.

"Sirius. You should do another party for Easter, I enjoyed this one. I think you'll have some more guests, so be prepared." Said Robards.

With what Robards said, Sirius knew that his rushed christmas party was a success and he was sure to be able to continue this job on Easter.