Despite the understandably depressing events that had occurred since his return to Hell, plus the reminder that he would not be able to help with I.M.P.'s Extermination Day vigil, Harry didn't allow any of that to ruin the heartwarming moment that was Christmas morning.

Of course given that this was a realm where the notions of charity and selflessness were openly mocked, at least in public, the holiday lacked the festive, and religious aspects that it possessed in the human plane.

But since it was a day that could easily be corrupted by the sins of Greed, Gluttony, and maybe Lust considering the holiday-themed outfits that could be found in certain clothing stores, it was no surprise that Lucifer allowed his domain to have something to mark the commonly mistaken birthday of his half brother.

Even if no one would ever dare voice this reason to his face.

But whatever the reason, it was a day for gifts.

And having spent his early childhood watching the Dursleys spoil his fat swine of a cousin with gifts that were either broken or forgotten by the following week, while he only got more hand-me-downs that wouldn't be replaced until their next display of 'generosity' Harry eagerly looked forward to this day.

Especially since he now had enough cash to get his family and friends the gifts that would have been quite out of his reach if he still had to rely on the salary Blitzo had initially been reluctant to give him.

His older housemate would be getting a book that detailed all the various ways one could take out an opponent without the use of magic.

Through a combination of bribery and blackmail, his grandfather would be getting the knife that had once belonged to Jim Bowie. While his grandmother would be getting a Naginata that had been forged in the 13th century.

It had cost him a little extra to ensure that both weapons could be wielded if the occasion needed it, but he was confident that even if they didn't use them for their intended purposes they would still enjoy having them.

His aunts and uncles had merely been given gift cards that could help them better prepare for the chaos that occurred both during and after the yearly Exterminations.

Blitzo had gotten a black Stetson cowboy hat and a matching pair of leather cowboy boots.

Loona had gotten a bottle of Fire Whiskey and front row tickets for Verosika Mayday's post-purge concert.

Octavia had gotten some cool hipster clothing, along with her own front-row tickets. Albeit for a different show.

For the rest of the Goetias, whose current situation ensured that Octavia would only be with one parent instead of both of them, he had to splurge a little more since gift cards and cool weaponry wasn't exactly their thing, plus the fact that he was hoping that an expensive/well thought out gift would lift their spirits.

But in the end, Stolas would be getting a chest filled with ancient Greek and Roman astrology scrolls, though he doubted that they would tell the Goetia anything new on the subject. While Stella would be getting the jewelry of some crazily sadistic Chinese Empress.

However, before he could recall if said necklace had belonged to the one that had become an Overlord, or the one that had fallen to an Exorcist's spearpoint, his mom's excited squealing instantly pulled him out of his musing.

"Oh Sweetie you shouldn't have! I mean don't get me wrong I love them, but you really shouldn't have spent so much."

Smiling as he found himself pulled into his mom's arms for a hug, Harry waved away her concerns with the same type of dismissive gesture he had seen countless times during his studies with the Goetias.

"It's fine Mom. I had more than enough money to not only buy it, but also add some alterations to it that should help you out."

Though still earning a concerned frown, for the last time they had seen it in stores it had cost nearly $800, his mom's expression quickly switched back into one of delight as she studied her gift.

At first glance, they appeared to be merely a set of rings that were bound together with a small chain. But as soon as they were put on, the rings were transformed into a set of gold-colored knuckle dusters.

With a few key features that Harry wasted no time in telling his grinning parent.

"In addition to having the spikes pop out when you flex with an open-handed gesture, I sprung for having them enchanted with some basic elemental spells. Won't really work for ranged attacks, but you do have the option of hitting your opponent with either a flaming, shocking or freezing fist."

Receiving another loving hug from his mother, who proceeded to try out her gift by shadow boxing, Harry turned his attention towards his dad, whose unwrapping skills were far neater, if slower, than that of his wife.

"Oh thank you Harry. This is very thoughtful."

Flashing his dad a grin, Harry wasted no time in offering another brief explanation of his gift.

"No problem Dad. I took the liberty of already filling the magazine with around 400 rounds. So you can use it whenever you want."

Earning an appreciative nod from the smiling Imp, who as expected had already pulled out the instruction manual for the enchanted Glock 17, Harry eagerly looked towards the remaining pile of presents.

Which coincidentally was a tad larger this year due to the fact that his social circle had been expanded thanks to his somewhat privileged enrollment in a magical high school.

Deciding to get these out of the way first so he could concentrate on the presents from his family and friends, the green-eyed eleven-year-old cast a small scanning spell over the pile to check for anything deadly before he selected a particularly neatly wrapped package.

His enthusiasm quickly dropped when he saw that it was from Granger. But since the 'Know It All' had taken the time to send him a gift, he would have to see what it was she got him before he decided on what he would have to do in order to reciprocate her generosity.

As soon as the wrapping was off, Harry's quickly released an amused sigh as his Mom finally stopped playing with her gift in order to read the title of his new book.

"'The Hogwarts Student Handbook. A guide to all the rules, regulations, and customs for attending students'. Well isn't that nice sweetie? She even took the time to leave some comments and markers for you."

Opening the book up to one of the random book markers, Harry made a silent promise to get even with the bushy-haired girl when he looked at the underlined title and her comments.

It was bad enough that the girl had seen fit to highlight the chapter dealing with 'Interhouse Relations', but the comments about how he should try and 'foster a spirit of cooperation with his rivals', not to mention the 'need to allow teachers to handle issues', made the whole thing more tedious than it should be.

Carefully placing the book aside since he knew his mom wouldn't be happy to see him chuck it into the fireplace, Harry felt a frown of confusion cross his face as he picked up not only his gift, but also a gift that had been hiding behind his slowly diminishing pile.

However said confused frown became one of mild disgust as his father quickly snatched it away with an expression that left little doubt of what it was.

"How…how did that get there? This one wasn't supposed to be…unwrapped until later."

Translating the word 'later' to mean when he was out of the house, or deep in a food coma, Harry deliberately ignored his now giggling mother as he tentatively unwrapped his own somewhat lumpy present.

Humming in interest as he pulled out the clearly homemade dark green sweater, which had been designed with a yellow-colored badger on the front, Harry picked up the card that had been included in the package.

'Greetings oh snarky one!

Fred and George here to wish you Happy Christmas during this fine holiday season.

It was troublesome to get this delivered to you.

Quite troublesome since your owl refused to deal with us until we fed her half her weight in bacon.

But since you are a friend of ours.

And a shining reminder that badgers can easily put certain serpents in their place.

We decided to include you in a Weasley family tradition by bestowing upon you this lovelly.

And incredibly comfortable.

Sweater made by our dear mother.

We eagerly look forward to hearing your thoughts for further chaos once our holiday festivities have concluded.

Sincerely.

Fred and George.'

"Well that was nice of them. Make sure you do something nice for them, ok Sweetie?"

Acknowledging his mother's with a nod, but deciding that he could afford to wait before he pondered what he would get the twin pranksters, Harry turned towards the package that he knew came from the only student at Hogwarts who he would publicly acknowledge as his friend.

The fact that it was merely a wand holster, albeit one that carried the same sort of protetive spells that she claimed only the most competent and skilled Aurors used, was greatly outweighed by the fact that it was something that could be used for other weapons than just his wand.

Which is why he only smirked at the friendly warning note she had included that he better not trade her gift for booze money.

Deciding to test it out later, for there was no point to having such a thing unless he knew which of his numerous weapons would best be paired with it, Harry turned towards his remaining presents.

From Loona, he had gotten a very cool set of black clothing and sunglasses that made him look like one of the characters portrayed by his canine friend's current favorite living actor. Which coincidentally had caused her adoptive father to try and find new and creative ways to assassinate someone with only a single pencil.

Blitzo of course had given him a gift that could either be taken as a warning or as a source of amusement. But since his mother would kill the former circus performer should he ever try to carry out one of the scenarios in the book, which was title the 50 ways to kill a horny teenager, Harry rationalized he had little to fear for the present.

Octavia had gotten him a book about some rather interesting curses and hexes that would definitely have earned him an extended prison sentence if he was stupid enough to bring the book with him to the human realm.

Stolas had seen fit to give him a book that his astrology teacher would undoubtedly beg him to borrow if she ever learned that he had it.

Stella, as was her way, had settled for giving him cash, and a note with some rather pointed suggestions on what and where he should spend it.

His grandparents had gotten him a pair of serrated bayonets that would have undeniably been in violation of several human arms treaties if they were ever used on the battlefield.

And from his parents, who had managed to successfully prevent their snooping son from spoiling the surprise, Harry had gotten a weapon that would have probably united both the militant Purebloods and those of Muggle descent in their dislike of him.

If only because nationalist pride tended to be one of the few things that could unite opposing factions.

Sadly however, while his parents had no problem in gifting him one of the most fearsome weapons ever produced by the nation that had been duped into supporting a one-balled art school dropout, they nevertheless had some conditions for using this excellent piece of German engineering.

"Now we know that you're fully capable of keeping this in working condition. And that you know how to properly use it so you don't hurt yourself. But it's your responsibility to keep it in ammo once you've burnt through the belts we've given you. Otherwise…you may just have to wait until your next birthday."

Quickly nodding his head to show that he would do his best to keep his new weapon in bullets, even if he had to use magic to help add to his ammo supply, Harry eagerly began to look over the deadly example of World War Two German engineering.

Partly because he wanted to see if he needed to apply some featherweight charms to make it easy to lug around.

But mostly because he wanted to test out his new toy as soon as possible since it would be pretty awesome to use an MG 42 machine gun on a bunch of racist magical supremacists.

Which he would have ample opportunity to do in the future thanks to Black's unlooked-for xmas gift.

He had no idea if Blitzo would honor the canine Sinner's offer of work, if only because his employer still went off on angry tangents about his ex, but nobody said that he couldn't take a job off the record.

It would be tough tracking down a Wizard that could turn into a rat, if only because Loona was needed back in Hell to help prepare for the yearly Extermination.

But he was confident that sooner or later, Pettigrew would die to either a stab wound, a hail of bullets, or some creative spell casting.

And then when was in Hell, he'd consider giving him to his dog father.

If only because he was sure that anything he could come up with paled in comparison to the creative tortures that only an imprisoned mind could dream up.

…..

Normally, he would be incredibly enthused by the festive sight that was currently happening in front of him.

For even if they had wings, horns, and red skin, there was no denying that Verosika and the female members of her crew were incredibly sexy. Especially when they were wearing rather skimpy versions of the outfits that were traditionally worn by the mythological figure that looked like a rounder version of Dumbledore.

But sadly, rather than give a whistle of appreciation, a silent one since it would be unprofessional to leer at the people he was supposed to bodyguard, all he could do was yawn since he didn't really have the energy to do anything else.

Which in turn caused his scantily dressed employer to stop going over the group's success from the previous evening in order to give him an unimpressed glare.

"I'm sorry, am I boring you Black?"

Doing his best to compose himself as quickly tried to think of an excuse that would hopefully placate his highly attractive boss, Sirius was saved from offering an explanation thanks to the tattooed Incbus.

"I don't think boredom's the problem here Boss. I think our little puppy here has finally managed to find a 'bitch' of his own."

Frowning a little at that terminology, even if Cherri and Angel had both used that particular term to describe the first lover he had had in over a decade, Sirius felt himself smirk as his fellow canine gave him the perfect excuse to brag about his thankfully still intact love making skills.

"Finally worked up the courage to ask her out? Respect man. How do you feel?"

"Like I only got an hour of sleep before I needed to go to work. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed pulling an all nighter, specially since it's been over a decade since I got the cha…"

"HOLD ON! You're saying that you managed to pull an all-nighter despite a decade's worth of abstinence?"

Smugly nodding his head at the shortest Succubus, the canine Sinner felt some of his good mood vanish as Verosika proceeded to dismiss his accomplishments.

"Don't be too surprised FAT NAME. In my experience, most male Sinners only have the stamina for one lengthy session before they become ten second cummers. I mean there are some exceptions, that asshole spider being one of them, but for the most part their sexual skills in Hell tend to be as disappointing as they were when they were human."

While he managed to keep himself from barring his fangs at the pink skinned bombshell, his temper still managed to get the better of him.

"Disappointing?! I'll have you know that before I went to prison, all of my lovers had nothing to complain about. Except perhaps that my stamina was greater than theirs, and maybe that they needed a few hours before they could walk without having their legs collapse under them. And now that I'm like this, I have to say that if it wasn't for the need to go to work, I'd probably still be having fun with back in her bedroom."

For a moment nothing was said as the assembled sex Demons, and the solitary Hellhound, stared in astonishment at the prideful looking Sinner.

But this was quickly broken by Verosika, who was currently wearing an angrier version of the expression she had once given to her ex when he had decided to challenge her for the right to his pathethic parking space.

"Everyone….take an hour break. I need to….discipline our puppy."

Keeping his attention focused on the glaring Succubus as the members of her oddly amused posse left the room, Sirius was shocked by what she did as soon as a chuckling Vortex locked the door behind him.

He had been expecting a barrage of insults.

Or a pair of exceptionally sharp siccors pointed in the direction of his 'lil Padfoot'.

Instead, the pink skinned bombshell merely undid the clasps that were keeping her tight Santa dress from falling off.

"Normally I'd fire anyone for showing me such disrespect, but since you're a halfway descent sack of shit, I'm gonna give you a chance to keep your job. So here's the deal. You fail to get me off during our hour together, and your back to being a stray. And if you cum before I do, I'm cutting your pay cheque in half Valentines Day."

Struggling to keep his eyes off of his employer's now naked chest, something that was rather hard to do considering that they were bigger, but not much perkier than Cherri's, Sirius felt his expression morph into a smirk as he allowed his natural cockiness to shine through.

"And what happens if I manage to get you off before I do? Not offering a lot of incentive to try my best here."

Instead of frowning at his challenge, Verosika merely smirked in cruel amusement.

"I doubt that you'll be able to. But I suppose that if you do accomplish that, or manage to get me off more than once during the next hour, I suppose I could give you a small raise, and an all expense paid weekend to one of the more luxurious resorts that exist in the Pride ring."

Accepting the offer with a nod, and steeling himself for what would probably be the most exhausting hour of his existence, Sirius wasted no time in proving to the blond haired Succubus that one didn't need to be a literal sex Demon to know how to please a sexual partner.

…..

Though the years had long since robbed him of the childlike enthusiasm he had once possessed towards the holiday season, in fact his last truly happy Christmas had occurred three months before those Muggles had traumatized his poor sister, Dumbledore nevertheless normally enjoyed this time of year.

Sadly however, while he had once planned to take steps to ease the suffering of a child he had thought was in need of pleasant holiday memories, such plans had been put on hold since said child was far different from what he had expected.

Having once gone over the things he could have done to help another student from stumbling down the wrong path, the aged Headmaster had planned to do what he could to ensure that Harry would not become a mirror image of the monster Tom had turned himself into.

Yes, it was encouraging that the last Potter had made friends with those that lacked the same outdated, and harmful viewpoints of those that had undoubtedly convinced his former pupil that he was right in viewing himself as superior to Muggles.

And yes the boy's ability to love was clear for all to see. Even if the boy was rather selective to those he opened up to.

But since Harry gave his love to people whose viewpoints were similar in execution, though not in nature, to those that had flocked to Tom's banner, Dumbledore was hesitant to bestow upon him something that would only increase the boy's willingness to practice such viewpoints.

James, while having grown into a noble and honorable man, would have probably matured at a faster rate, or at the very least not have been as malicious in his pranks, if he did not possess a tool to aid him in his trickster escapades.

However considering his education occurred during the years when it was clear that the Ministry was losing ground to the Death Eaters, despite Crouch's efforts to reverse such a state, said pranking might have merely been a way to strike back at those who wished to plunge their world into turmoil.

Even if it did have the unfortunate consequences of pushing many conflicted children into supporting Tom.

And since Harry had already demonstrated a willingness to use violence against children who had yet to truly understand the nature of their parent's ideology, giving him the ability to sneak about unseen would be unwise.

And yet, the Cloak was Harry's birthright.

One that could have been used to lessen the tragedy of that night if it hadn't been for his desire to better understand a legend that required only a stone to complete.

Though it pained him to prevent Harry from being united with his father's cloak, Dumbledore had decided that it would be prudent to wait until well after the Christmas holidays before making the final decision on whether or not the last Potter would be reunited with the garment of the youngest Pervell Brother.

By the time the school year ended, he would have formed a better idea of the Harry's true nature.

Which would then allow him to determine if giving him the cloak would be a method to anchor Harry in the light. Or would cause him to walk the same path into darkness Tom willingly took after he discovered that he was a wizard.

It wasn't an easy choice.

But then working for the greater good never was.

…..

ANNNNND I think this is a good place to end.

Apologises for the wait. That first segment took forever. But since I always enjoyed the Christmas scenes in the books, wanted to do something similar.

Anyways to briefly summarize what has happened.

1st segment is gift giving/receiving for Harry. The idea to give him a machine gun is similar in my mind to getting a pet, which should NEVER HAPPEN during a holiday season. Harry is given the weapon with the things to immediately use it, but in order to keep it running he has to use his own resources and time to do so. Showing that Moxxie and Millie are able to teach their son how to be responsible.

2nd segment of course happens after Sirius has had an exhausting night having sex with Cherri. Only to wind up having sex with Verosika. Considering what happened to him, both canon and in my story…felt this was a great way to reward him.

And as for the last….Dumbles reason for not giving Harry the cloak for Christmas.

Had been hoping to get this chapter out before the start of the second season, but oh well.

Just to reclarify some things though.

In this story…Stella is more sympathetic than what occurred in canon. HOWEVER…think its safe to keep the rest of the Goetia family more or less how they were orginally invisioned.

Stolas's father….who was voiced by the guy who did Jafar in Alladin, was hilarious.

Anyways, that's all for now.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Plz review. No flames.

Til next time.