On Christmas day, there was a celebratory game of Capture the Flag. Hermione and Ron stood to the side with Chiron and watched the game unfold. The centaur clopped forward and announced, "For tonight's game… Hermes is the blue team and has formed an alliance with Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite and Dionysus! On the other side, Apollo is allying with Demeter, Hephaestus and Ares."

Hermione piped up next to Chiron, "Five against four? Isn't that a little lop-sided? Ron! Stop staring at the children of Aphrodite!"

Chiron chuckled, "Under any other circumstances, you would be correct. However, the Aphrodite cabin don't generally participate as a whole cabin. Only a handful of them like Silena, are interested in fighting. Additionally, the Artemis Cabin only has Harry and Katie. So the teams even out a little."

He clopped forward again "Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

Everyone armoured up, including Harry. Luke then began directing everyone, assigning Katie with the other archers. Harry and Annabeth were on the advance guard. Annabeth was particularly delighted when Harry showed her his Invisibility Cloak. She signalled that he would head right, while she went left. With that, she put on her Yankees cap and turned invisible. Harry also covered himself with his cloak and snuck away towards the right.

He eventually reached the creek and carefully stepped over a few rocks jutting out of the water. There was a hairy moment when he almost bumped into Castor from the Dionysus Cabin, on border patrol.

After 10 minutes of sneaking, he finally reached the Apollo fort. Admittedly, he very nearly fell into some traps, courtesy the Hephaestus children. Fortunately, he caught himself just in time, though he came away with a few burns.

The flag was still there, guarded by two Ares campers. He sneaked over and carefully unhooked the flag, bringing it under the Cloak. Harry was halfway to the creek when he heard the cries of shock behind him. He promptly took off the Cloak and hastily folded it. Then, he broke into a sprint, ducking a few arrows and javelins. He was almost to the creek when his side exploded in pain. He glanced down and noticed that a javelin had just grazed him. Gritting his teeth, he poured on more speed, dodged the Dionysus twins and finally crossed the creek and back to friendly territory.

No sooner had he done that, Chiron blew his conch. He announced, "The blue team wins!"

In response, the blue team cheered, and many of them swept up Harry, carrying him on their shoulders to the medical tent, where Michael Yew was waiting to patch him up. Eventually, the three other Hogwarts students caught up to him after the celebration. Ron beamed, "Bloody hell, Harry! This thing looks like a lot of fun. Except for the whole weapons and maiming, of course. You reckon you could convince Dumbledore to host our own version of Capture the Flag?"

Three heads turned to him in surprise. Hermione raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "Explain!"

He flushed at the attention on him, "Think of it this way, in Quidditch, there are only seven students per team. If we introduced this game, the whole house can participate. I'm thinking that the main rule is that everyone sticks to stunners, full-body binds and the incarceration spell."

Katie had a broad grin on her face, "That… sounds like a lot of fun! Also, all students earn 10 points for every successful hit regardless of which house gets the flag. Points deducted for any illegal spells, and getting the flag is worth a 100 points."

Hermione's eyes shone and she bolted for the Hermes Cabin. She hollered as she ran, "I need to write this down!"

A couple of days after Christmas, Sirius Portkeyed all four students back to Hogwarts. He managed to convince them that being at Hogwarts for the New Year was a heck of an experience. Also, Ron would deny it later, but he was starting to miss his brothers.

The first thing the quartet did was pitch the idea of Capture the Flag to Professor Dumbledore. When he heard the idea, he looked like someone had gifted him a life-time supply of Lemon Drops. He even called in the heads of house and explained the idea to them. It took some convincing, but soon everyone was sold on the idea. Professor Flitwick was practically bouncing on his heels when Dumbledore laid out the plan. Eventually, with the approval of Madam Hooch, they decided that Capture the Flag and Quidditch would be held on alternate weekends.

Three days after the New Year's celebration, which included a grand feast, Harry was busy exploring the near-empty castle. There was some drama yesterday when Hermione and Ron accidentally wandered into the Third Floor Corridor. Something evidently spooked them and they fled back to Gryffindor Tower.

At that time, it was only the three of them in the room. The twins were off pranking somewhere, Katie was sleeping in, and Percy was on patrol. Judging from Ron's frightened murmurs, there was a Cerberus in one of the rooms. Hermione noticed some other details, like a trap door under one of its paws. So, she holed herself up and an unwilling Ron in the library for some research.

That led him to where he was right now, well past curfew, so he was under his Invisibility Cloak. Harry had to dodge Caretaker Filch a few times, as well as Mrs. Norris. Then, he found himself ducking into a non-descript room.

At first glance, nothing seemed off about the room, it looked like a regular classroom. Then he spotted it, it was a large mirror, running from the ground, almost to the ceiling. As he observed its ornate gold frame, he noted that the Aphrodite children would have been all over it. Then, he spotted an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Harry stepped in front of it, and suddenly gasped. The first thing he noticed was that he was not the only one shown. There were two other figures in the mirror, standing a step or two behind him. Quickly whipping his head around, he saw that the room was empty. However, when he turned back, the two figures were still there.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they looked awfully familiar. Then it clicked, they were his mortal parents! Then, another familiar figure strolled into view, Mother Artemis. More and more people showed up, Zoe, Phoebe, Celyn, his other sisters, Sirius, Remus, Annabeth, Luke, Silena, Lee, Beckendorf, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and so many others. All of his family and friends. He edged closer and closer, putting a hand to the glass. As if he wanted nothing more than to reach over and be with them. Harry sat there for what felt like hours, but he gradually tore himself away and. Sneaked back into Gryffindor Tower.

As he settled down to sleep, he contemplated telling Ron and Hermione. Eventually, he elected against it, as it seemed a little too personal. The next night, he was back in front of the mirror, and this carried on for a couple more nights. One night, he looked at the inscription, 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'.

His mind whirred and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. He whispered in shock, "I show not your face, but your heart's desire!"

The gravity of the situation hit him, this thing, whatever it was, was dangerous. He forced his legs away muttering, "I must never come back here! This thing is addictive."

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a feminine voice sounded, "Hello, Harry!"

Harry looked up and saw a stunningly gorgeous woman, "Lady Aphrodite! Wh-what brings you here?"

She tittered, "Just keeping an eye on my champion. That mirror was my test for you. Could you overcome its power of showing you your desires? After all… There is a difference between merely seeing your heart's desire and working to fulfil it. After this, I can proudly say, you have passed, and are truly worthy of being my champion. Walk with me back to your Tower?"

As they walked, she continued speaking, "That mirror was the work of Nemesis and myself, to punish Narcissus." She gave a long-suffering sigh, "That silly boy had so many things going for him. He was smart, handsome, and so many women swooned over him."

Aphrodite then leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, "I was personally rooting for him to finally get together with that nymph, Echo."

The goddess winked at him and Harry blushed. She continued, "Anyway, Hecate requested me to bring the mirror here for something. I don't know, she was rather tight-lipped about it. According to her, its job was not done yet. Now that you know what this mirror is capable of, I trust that you won't look for it again?"

She fixed him with a pointed look and he shook his head vigorously. The goddess smiled and pecked him on the cheek, "Good! Now run along, and I'm still waiting for you to get a girlfriend! That Hermione girl looks cute, there are also a few other witches who I can't wait to match with you."

He sputtered, "B-b-but I'm only eleven! And Hermione's my friend! It'll be weird between us!"

She waved off his protests and sing-songed, "Don't knock it till you try it, sweetie!"

Before anyone knew it, the Christmas holidays were over and the castle was full with bustling students once again. Ron revealed that he managed to coax a useful titbit from Hagrid. To be precise, Hagrid scolded him and Hermione for finding out about Fluffy and that he was guarding something for Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel, before clamping his mouth shut. Come to think of it, it explained Hermione's mad rush to the library.

Unfortunately, he could not join them in that venture, because Oliver had ramped up the Quidditch practice sessions. This time around, they were facing Hufflepuff. As a result, Oliver warned that this time he had to focus on the Snitch. The Hufflepuff Seeker was Fourth-Year student Cedric Diggory. In the words of Oliver, he was an alright bloke, but was pretty ace on the field. Fred even admitted that in a few years, Harry himself could rival Diggory, but Diggory had two years of experience over him.

Wood insisted that whatever happened, he needed to ensure that he got to the Snitch first. Once again, he would wait until the Chasers had a healthy lead before hunting for the snitch. Before the game, Harry told both of his friends to keep an eye out for Malfoy. He explained that during the Slytherin game, someone tried to jinx his broom. Fortunately, Sirius and Remus had place Anti-Jinx charms based on their own experience. Ron growled, "Don't worry mate, we'll make sure none of those slimy snakes sabotage you. We all know that if Gryffindor win, they go on top of the table."

Harry shot him a look, "Ron... My beef's with Malfoy. As far as I know, the rest of the Slytherin's have pretty much left me alone. Its just Malfoy and his clique of Crabbe, Goyle, Snyde and Murk. The others have mostly left me alone, though Vole and Greengrass offered to teach me some customs about being a scion of a House."

Ron paused and then it dawned on him, "Oh right! I forgot that your dad was a pureblood, so he must have had Lordship duties."

Harry nodded, "Sirius too. In my last letter to him, he mentioned something about making me his heir. Apparently his stint in Azkaban was so bad that he was rendered sterile. So he plans to go to Gringotts sometime next year and start the process. According to him, my grandmother was a Black, so I qualify for the position of heir."

Ron grimaced, "I don't envy you, mate."

As the Hufflepuff match drew closer, Oliver Wood really put everyone through the wringer. The night before the game, Angelina Johnson was just about ready to curse him into oblivion. Wood also got into a massive argument with Katie about whether he was trying to kill them. On the day of the game, it was raining heavily, with some crackles of thunder. Oliver gave his usual pre-game speech and went over team tactics one last time. Just then, Fred peered out, "Boy! Its' really tipping out there! I think there's a bit of thunder and lightning as well. Hey look! the Headmaster's also here to watch the game!"

The others also crowded around, and sure enough, there he was in all his bearded glory. Both teams gathered and the captains shook hands. This time around, the atmosphere was a lot more friendly and easy-going. It was a stark contrast to the Slytherin game which was like a powder keg waiting to blow up.

As soon as the whistle blew, they were off. Katie's Hunter training was clearly paying off, because her movements were a lot sharper and she was more agile. Additionally, most of her shots were on target, forcing saves from the opposing keeper. As she grabbed the Quaffle to line up another attack, Angelina flew next to her, "Damn girl! Where the heck did you get this good?"

She shrugged, "Took some archery lessons during the Christmas holiday. I was a fast learner."

Angelina intercepted the pass and dodged a Bludger, "Well… I'm not complaining. I might do the same when school lets out. I'll rope in Ally as well."

A few metres up above them, Harry carried out his lazy flying tactic. Like in the Slytherin game, his keen eyes picked out the Snitch already and was just tracing its patterns. Brief glances behind him showed that Cedric was not-so subtly trying to tail him. Harry noted that this game was a lot harder than the Slytherin game. For one, the Chasers were a bit more competent, and the Keeper could give Wood a run for his Galleons.

After 15 minutes of a pretty close game, Alicia scored to make the score 90-60, and that was when Harry took off. Right on cue, Diggory also took off after him. Both players dodged and weaved through their teammates and rivals, while still pursuing the Snitch.

Just then, one of the Hufflepuff Beaters smashed a Bludger straight at Harry's face. He waited until the last second to roll under his broom, letting the Bludger sail past where his body used to be, and almost give a startled Diggory his first kiss. Instead, it smacked his shoulder and sent him veering off course. Harry righted himself and continued chasing the Snitch. The rain was making it harder to see, but Harry was able to make out the Snitch in front of him. He lunged and somehow swiped it out of the air.

As soon as he did so, Lee Jordan's excited screams filled the air. Once again, Harry found himself as the meat in a seven-layer Gryffindor sandwich. Oliver was bawling his eyes out, "One more and we finally have the trophy!"

Back in the Common Room, the party was epic. Even when McGonagall came in to warn everyone about curfew, she didn't have the heart to stop everyone.