December 26th, 1991

Harry and Neville were both sitting by the trees along the black lake. Neville was telling him how he celebrated Christmas with his grandmother and other relatives. He was telling a funny story about his uncle Algie. The story had Harry rolling on the ground from laughter. Once Harry had stopped laughing, Neville brought out something from his coat pocket and then enlarged it. Harry saw it was wrapped in gift wrap. Neville then handed it to Harry and said, "I know its late, but this is your Christmas gift. I wanted to give it to you when I came back. Here, open it."

Harry took the gift and gently removed the gift wrap. When he removed it, he saw a photo album. He opened it and saw on the first page a huge group photo. There were 7 people in it. On the left most side was a man. His face was pale and had lots of marks, his hair was brown and he looked tired. Besides him was a woman, with black hair and her arm around the arm of a man with long hair, also black in colour. But it was his eyes that stood out to Harry, for his eyes were grey. Beside this man was another man, with hair very similar to Harry's own. Even his face looked like a carbon copy of his own. Beside him was a woman, who had red hair. Again, it was the eyes which stood out to Harry. Emerald green, just like his own. Beside her was another woman. Her face looked very similar to Neville's. Beside her was a short man, with mousy brown hair. He also had a pointed nose and was chubby.

After looking at the picture for a while, Harry pointed at the man and woman standing in the middle of the picture and said, "Are they my parents?" Neville nodded and said, "They are your parents Harry. James Potter and Lily Evans." Harry just looked at them. The way they were standing next to each other, holding each other hand, with huge smiles on their faces. Pointing to the woman standing next to his mother, he asked, "Is that your mother?" Harry detected slight tremble that came in Neville's voice as he said, "Alice Prewitt. My dad was their senior. He was in auror training when this photo was taken." Harry then asked, "And these people?" Neville said, "They were their best friends." Neville then told Harry about them. He told him about Remus, Marlene, Sirius and Peter. After that, he showed Harry other pictures that were in the photo album. Photos where his parents and their friends were younger. Photos where his parents were getting married, where his mother was pregnant with him or sitting with Alice, who also looked pregnant. Then photos of his parents with a young him, or him in arms of Sirius or Remus or Marlene. Or sitting alongside Neville, with Lily and Alice in the background. There were several photos. For some photos, Neville told some stories, for some he and Harry just looked at them. Harry wanted ask Neville about his parents, but the way Neville's voice had broken when he was speaking about his own mother, Harry thought it would be better if he asked about them later.

Harry then closed the album and said to Neville, "This is the best gift anyone has ever given me Neville. I had never seen my parents before this. It's because of you that I saw them for the first time. I can never thank you enough for this." Neville said, "That's what best friends are for Harry." He then changed the topic before things could get more emotional by saying, "Want to fly for a while here?" Harry nodded and Neville went to ask Madam Pomfrey for the brooms, leaving Harry alone for a while. Harry just looked at the album. Yesterday, he had gotten something that belonged to his father. And now, in his hands was an album full of photos of them. In these two days, he had got to know his parents more than the past 10 years of his life. For the first time, he felt a bit close to them. All because of Neville, his first and best friend.

At the Burrow

Christmas at Burrow was a huge event for the Weasleys. It was the one holiday where Molly wanted everyone at home. Even Bill and Charlie, who were in Egypt and Romania, came to Burrow to celebrate Christmas. The morning of Christmas started late, with everyone slowly waking and coming to the living room, where a small Christmas tree would be there, under which were the gifts. After opening them, Molly and Ginny would go into the kitchen to cook lunch. Molly would the prep and cooking while Ginny would either help Molly or would be baking a small cake. After the food was cooked and ready, it was the boy's job to set a table outside near the orchards and then get the food on the table. After that, the family would eat the feast prepared by Molly and Ginny and enjoy. After the lunch, the boys would get on their brooms and play the annual Weasley Quidditch match. The teams were fixed. Arthur, Bill and George on one team while Charlie, Fred and Ron would be on the other team. Percy was the one who kept the scores. Ginny wasn't allowed to play, since Molly deemed it to be too dangerous for her. But ginny also had a small suspicion that Molly thought it to be too unladylike. Her mother was very traditional and believed that women should take care of family and all. Ginny also felt that was the reason why Molly always tried to teach her cooking, knitting and other household related things, to make her into a traditional stay-at-home witch. But Ginny was not going to be that. Because for Ginny, her dream was to get into the Holyhead Harpies team.

Which is why, unknown to them all, she used to fly alone in the night. She snuck into the broom closet and grabbed Bill's or Charlie's broom. She then went towards the orchards and flew there, protecting herself from her mother's gaze if she did end up waking and looking outside. She also used to steal her mother's wand and use a notice-me-not charm on her bedroom door. She had once heard her father explain to her mother how the rules around trace had changed and learnt that the trace only tracked where magic had been done, not who was doing it.

After the match would be played and done, everyone would get back into the living room, where Molly would have already arranged some tea and biscuits for everyone. After that, everyone would go back to their own rooms to rest. And that was how Christmas was always celebrated at the Burrow and this year was the same.

Ginny was sitting in her own room, looking through a quidditch magazine. She then threw it to the side and got up. She was getting bored and decided to ask Ron to tell her what was going at Hogwarts. She walked up to Ron's room. She knocked his door, but heard no sounds from behind the door. After she got no response after knocking again, she slowly tried opening his door, which to her surprise was unlocked. Ron always locked his door, since he was the test subject of the prank's twins were testing. So, his door not being locked was a surprise for her.

She went inside and saw her brother sleeping. No wonder he didn't respond. Once asleep, nothing could wake him up. But seeing him asleep gave Ginny a good idea. She slowly went towards his ear and shouted, "RON! CHUDLEY CANNONS WON THE QUIDDITCH CUP!" Ron at once woke up screaming. He backed up towards the wall and then saw his sister standing in front of her, trying to control her laughter said, "Bloody hell Ginny. That was mean. You are as bad as Fred and George." Ginny couldn't control anymore and started laughing. Ginny said, "It's your own fault. Who told you to not lock your doors with the twins around?" Ron said, "I was hoping that they would be too busy plotting some new pranks. Man can't even get some sleep in his own house. Now if you woke me up just to mess with me, I am going back to sleep." Ginny finally controlled her laughter and said, "I am bored. Tell me some stories about Hogwarts."

Ron wiped the sleep from his eyes and said, "What do you want to know?" Ginny said, "Tell me about the classes." Ron then told her about the various classes, the professors teaching them, some funny stories about them, things like that. He then told her about various places in Hogwarts, the Black Lake, Great Hall, Clock tower, Gryffindor tower and then the quidditch stadium. He told her about the first match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, which Gryffindor won by 170 points, the final score being 210-40 to Gryffindor. He then told her about the troll incident. After that, Ginny said, "How is your friendship with Hermione?" Ron said, "She is smartest in our year. She outperforms all. You should see the way Malfoy and other purebloods become red seeing her. She helps me a lot with homework and all." Ginny then said, "And Neville?"

Hearing Neville's name, the smile from Ron's face went away, which worried Ginny. Ron' voice was curt when he said, "Neville and I are no longer friends Ginny." Ginny, shock visible in her voice, asked, "Why? What happened? I thought you were good friends." Ron said, "Neville is friends with Harry Potter Ginny. He is friends with that snake." Ginny slowly said, "And that made you break your friendship with him?" Anger was now clearly visible in Ron's face and voice. "Harry Potter is a bloody Slytherin Ginny. Slytherin, who believe they are better than others, who believe only purebloods deserve magic, who practice dark arts and magic. And Harry Potter is one of them." Ginny asked, "Harry Potter defeated you-know-who as a baby Ron. Would he truly be like them?"

This question made Ron stop his angry outburst for a while. He then said, "If he is different, then why is he in Slytherin and not in any other house? Why is he in the same house as Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson? Why is he in the house whose founder believed in blood supremacy?" Ginny had no answer to these questions. Seeing her say nothing, Ron said, "Ginny, all Slytherins are the same. You will see that next year, when you come to Hogwarts and become a Gryffindor. Then you will realize what I am saying." Ron then turned around. Ginny knew that her brother would not talk anymore and left.

Her mind was full of questions. Was what Ron saying correct? Was Harry truly like the other Slytherins? Like Draco Malfoy? If he was like them, then why was Neville friends with him? That should mean Harry was different. But again, if Harry was truly unlike the rest of the Slytherins, why was he in Slytherin? What made the sorting hat sort him in Slytherin? All these questions were running in her mind as she went back to her room.