10/01/22

A few hours later Jack was slightly rudely woken up by the means of a pillow being thrown at him and Ron calling "Wake up! Presents!"

"10 more minutes," Jack replied throwing the pillow back, and rolling over in his bed.

"Come on Jack," Harry said from his bed "Don't you want to see what you got this year?"

"Yeah, and I will, after a bit more sleep." Jack replied trying to ignore Ron's complaints about his maroon hand-knitted jumper "Some families wait until AFTER lunch before they open presents you know."

"What?!" Ron asked surprised at this "How can anyone wait that long to open Christmas presents?"

"Well remember before I came here I never got any real presents at all," Harry said making Ron shut up.

Well until he saw the long thin package among Harry's things.

"What's that?" he asked.

Groaning – seeing he wouldn't be getting back to sleep, Jack sat up, rubbed at his face a little and looked over to where the other boys were looking.

"Dunno..." Harry said picking it up.

"Bet its a new broomstick," Jack said getting up and coming over.

"But I haven't ordered one yet," Harry said as he ripped the paper off to reveal that it was indeed a broomstick – but not just any broomstick – it was a Firebolt, complete with certificate of authenticity stating the registration number as: 1094, which was repeated in golden letters on the side of the handle.

With wide eyes Harry gently picked it up and feeling it vibrate let go, where it hung in mid-air at just the right for Harry to mount it.

"Who sent it to you?" Ron asked in a hushed voice.

"Check to see if there was a card." said Harry.

Ron ripped apart the Firebolt's wrapping, throwing a piece in Jack's direction which he saw had a dog's paw print on it.

"Nothing, blimey who'd spend that much on you?" said Ron.

"Well I'm betting it wasn't the Dursley's" Harry said.

"That's a suckers bet," Jack said picking up the bit of paper with the paw print "I think... it was his dog-father."

"My what?" Harry asked.

"Your dog-father, everyone has one, there people who look out for you if something happens to your parents, but they take the form of dogs not people," Jack said explaining quickly "That's why if you see stray dogs on the streets they're more friendly to some people more than others."

"Dog-fathers aren't a thing," Ron said rolling his eyes "I bet it was Dumbledore." he said walking around the broomstick admiring it from all angles "He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously..."

"But that was my dad's," said Harry "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me."

'Not that he should have had it in the first place.' Jack thought to himself thinking on what Sirius had told him.

"He wouldn't spend hundreds of gallons on me – people will think its favouritism."

"Harry... Have you not been here the last two years?" Jack asked crossing his arms and giving him a look. "He already favours you. But you're right he wouldn't do it, I still think it's his dog-father."

"Dog-Father's are not a thing!" Ron said trying to get his point across to Jack, before going off saying he couldn't wait to see Malfoy's face when he saw Harry had a Firebolt. "Hey I know who it might have been – Lupin!"

"Lupin?" Harry asked laughing a little "Listen if he had this much money he'd do something about his clothes, no it couldn't have been him."

"Yeah, but he likes you," said Ron trying to argue "And he was away when your Nimbus got smashed, and he might have heard about it and decided to visit Diagon Alley and get this for you."

"What do you mean he was away?" asked Harry confused "He was ill when we were playing in that match."

"And yet we didn't see him in the Hospital Wing when we wake up there after we encountered the Dementors..." Jack said going back to his presents seeing he had a multi-box of wizard sweets from Elisa (and Annie).

"Either way, I can't see Lupin affording something like this," said Harry reaching out and gently stroking the handle.

"Dog-father..." Jack said in a sing-song voice whisper.

Just before Ron could yell at Jack again for this, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Harry called out.

"Learnt from last year did you?" Jack asked smirking at a glaring Hermione.

"Shut-up Jack," she said avoiding his eyes hugging Crookshanks – who was looking grumpy with his tinsel collar - a bit tighter.

"Don't bring that thing in here!" Ron yelled looking for his rat and stuffing him in his pocket for safety.

Which was a good thing, because Hermione wasn't listening. She dropped Crookshanks onto a spare bed and stared, open-mouthed, at the Firebolt.

"Oh Harry! Who sent you that?"

"No idea," Harry said shrugging.

Seeing Hermione go quiet and bite her lip Jack asked:

"What's the matter with you?"

"Well, it's a bit odd isn't it?" she said in reply "I mean this is supposed to be a quite a good broom, isn't it?"

"It's the best broom in the world Hermione..." Ron said rolling his eyes.

"So it must have been really expensive..."

"Not if the person who sent it stole it from wherever they got it from," Jack said getting dressed for the day behind the changing screen the room had for those who liked their privacy a little more than others "Stolen stuff is always free."

"It probably costs more than all the Slytherin's broom put together," Ron said ignoring Jack's words.

"Well... then who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?" asked Hermione trying to make the boys understand her unease feelings.

"Who cares who sent it!" Ron said loudly before Jack could say anything about 'dog-fathers' again "Hey Harry, can I have a go on it? Please!"

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!" said Hermione shrilly.

Harry and Ron stared at her, as Jack came back out, in his blue hoodie.

"Brownie-Locks, as much as I admire you for trying to keep Lightning-Head and Freckles safe," he said getting two 'Hey's!' to the new nicknames he used for the boys "Out of all the things, they have, will, and likely will do, flying that broom will be on the lower end of the 'It will get them killed' scale."

"Oh? And how would you know Jack Frost?" Hermione said hands on hips wanting an answer.

"Just believe me, ok."

"Besides, what d'you think Harry would do with it – sweep the floor?" said Ron.

"Well that, or enchant it to go fetch water for him, cut it up, and then cause the castle to flood." Jack said smiling as he put on his... shoes, to go down for breakfast.

"Why would you cut up a Firebolt!" Ron asked not understanding the reference where as Harry and Hermione just rolled their eyes.

Before anyone could explain, Crookshanks leapt from the bed he was on, right at Ron's chest where the rat was hiding.

"GET – HIM – OUT – OF – HERE!" Ron bellowed trying to shake Crookshanks off him, as his claws ripped at the boy's pyjamas and split a seam on the chest pocket making the sickly looking rat fall.

Quickly Ron caught him, and aimed a misjudged kick at Crookshanks, kicking Harry's trunk which lived at the end of his bed instead, knocking it over and causing Ron to hop on the spot, howling in pain.

Just then there was a loud whistling that made Crookshanks' fur stand up as he hissed, and made Jack cover his ears.

"Gah! What is that?" he asked looking for the sauce, finding a mini glowing, spinning, glass spinning-top.

"It's a pocket Sneak-o-Scope," Harry said picking it up "Ron sent it to me for my birthday, but we think it's broken. It's only meant to light up when someone untrustworthy is near, isn't it?" he asked Ron who nodded while nursing his foot.

"Didn't make that horrible noise when we were at my place," Jack said, hands still over his ears "Can you shut it off, or something?" he asked.

Harry stuffed it back among the mustard coloured socks at the bottom of the trunk and closed the lid.

"Better?" he asked in an innocent/mocking voice.

Hermione had already picked up Crookshanks and left.

"What was that about?" Ron asked once his foot was feeling well enough to stand on again.

"What?" Jack asked trying to be dumb.

"Who you acted when the Sneak-o-Scope came out... duh." Ron said annoyed.

"I have this... condition*, that make whistling like that affect me," Jack said leaving it at that "Now come on, I'm hungry." he said quickly leaving before Ron could ask more questions.

AN: * The 'condition' is the face that he's a Spirit