Alisaie was rather irritated with Harry at the moment. That wasn't anything new, like any couple, they had their spats. But today was irritating because he had interrupted her practice with this new type of magic to watch over Neville, while he had disappeared to gods only knew where. He had refused to tell her, or anyone for that matter.

The thing was, because Harry had apparently obliviously decided to settle into the role of a father figure to the boy, Alisaie had no idea what to do with him. Was she to mother the boy, or was a cooler relationship acceptable?

In the end, she ended up settling into the Gryffindor common room with him and playing Wizard's Chess with Ron Weasley while G'raha, Hermione and Neville talked about the upcoming holiday, which sounded and looked something like the Starlight Celebration. Trees bigger than Hagrid decked the Great Hall, and a relatively smaller one had been placed in the Gryffindor common room.

"I'm hoping to get pictures of you all before I leave," Hermione was saying, "so I can show what you look like to my mum and dad. Maybe Hagrid too."

'i'd be happy to do so," G'raha said.

"Y-yeah," Neville stuttered.

"I suppose," Alisaie said, slightly reluctantly.

"I wish I could show them magic," Hermione sighed, sitting in the deep chair, "It's so unfair that Wizarding families get to see magic all the time and Muggleborn don't."

"Muggleborns?" G'raha asked.

"Wizards and witches who are born to muggles, non magic folk. My parents sre dentists, they take care of people's teeth."

"Non… Magical folk?" G'raha asked again, politely confused, "I know some people don't have enough Aether to cast many spells, but I've never heard of someone outright incapable of casting magic."

"What?" Fred Weasley asked, "Seriously, where are you all from?"

"Don't worry about it," Alisaie said, shooting G'raha a look and one of her knights was smashed to pieces.

The portrait hole sung open, letting Harry walk in with a cheerful smile on his face. He walked over and pecked Alisaie on the cheek, causing her to squirm because his lips were ice cold.

"Whare were you?" She demanded.

"Hogsmead, had to get some presents commissioned. You'll see on Christmas," Harry said, "and stocking up on food and drink. If I had some glasses, I'd offer you all some Butterbeer, supposed to be good."

"Better warm," Fred threw out, blowing into a wood carved flute that sounded owl-like, "game of Triple Triad, Harry?"

"Sure," Harry said, sitting across from the redhead.

"Promise me you'll take over looking for Nicholas Flamel while I'm gone?" Hermione asked Neville and G'raha.

Hermione felt the Hogwarts Express rumble to a stop. Standing up, she pulled her trunk from the overhead carriage and began to drag it through the train until she got off and put it on a trolly, pushing it towards the gate and out into the Muggle world.

It was strange, to say the least, the loud hustle and bustle of muggles throughout King's Cross station, the sounds of cars honking in the street. Hogwarts wasn't this loud, ever, and she had become used to the castle's somewhat gloomy atmosphere, with ghosts floating through the brassier lit halls. The loud bangs and cracks of the Weasley Twins jokes and the foul stench when Harry or Neville lost at Gobstones. It was weird to think she wouldn't see, hear or smell any of that for two weeks.

But as she saw her parents, all those thoughts bled away. She rushed forwards, abandoning her trolly halfway through to throw herself around her dad, Robert's, middle. After they let go, she hugged her mother Julia as her dad took control of the trolly.

"Let's get in the car, then you can tell us everything. Last we heard, there was that incident with the Troll," which Hermione had played down to avoid mentioning her near death experience, or even the fact that she had been on the same floor as it, "and you were going to start a new type of magic."

Ah, yeah, that was another thing she was gonna miss. Harry amd G'raha had explicitly banned her from practicing Black Magic while she was at home.

They quickly reached the car, opening the boot and putting her trunk in before shutting it and getting in.

It took about an hour for Robert Granger to drive from King's Cross to 8 Heathgate, Hampstead Garden Suburbs. Which was about normal, and Hermione hadn't stopped talking about her leasons since they entered the car, "And then there's Defense Against The Dark Arts… It's not the best, honestly. Professor Querell is afraid of just about everything, talks with a terrible stutter. I've learned a lot more from self study in the library."

"I'm guessing you spent a lot of time in the library?" Robert asked with a laugh.

"The Scions, that's Harry, Alisaie and G'raha, basically took over a table in the library. And since I spend time with them, me and Neville are almost always in the library if we're not practicing!"

"They sound interesting," Julia said.

"I brought pictures, so I can show you them all," Hermione said as they got the trunk out of the boot. Robert carried it into the house up to Hermione's Room and placed it at the foot of her bed before returning to the living room and sitting next to Hermione, trapping her between her mother and him as she fished out a stack of five photos.

On the first one was a blonde haired boy about the same age as Hermione, face slightly pudgy and a nervous smile on his face as he waved. Fascinatingly, he was actually waving, hand moving back and forth on the polaroid, "This is Neville Longbottom, he's in the same year as me. He, uh, he really helped me out of a jam around Halloween and… Well, it's more than I deserve really. I was really rude to him until then and he still helped me."

"He sounds like a good kid," Robert said.

"He really is," Hermione agreed before moving the photo aside to show another. This one was of a giant of a man, face almost entirely covered in hair, and wearing a long brown coat with more pockets than Robert had ever seen on one piece of clothing, "This is Hagrid, Groundskeeper of Hogwarts, he invites us over for tea and desserts every once in a while, Harry, I'll show you him in a bit, and him get along because they both like animals. He's really friendly."

"It's good you have someone on the staff you can trust," Julia said.

The next photo was of a white haired, older teen who was repeatedly crossing and uncrossing her arms. Sharp, pointed ears stuck out of the side of her head and a rapier sat on her hip. Robert couldn't help but get the feeling she hadn't wanted to be in the photo, but had somehow beem pressured into it, "Is she human?"

"Elezen," Hermione shook her head, "This is Alisaie, she's not technically a student but lives on the grounds for now. I know she looks huffy in the picture but… Well, actually, she tends to be a bit huffy in real life too. She's Harry's girlfriend and they're… Well, if anyone can bring out each other's soft side, it's them."

She switched the photo again, to a tall man wearing a black long coat with a golden bandolier across his chest. Robert knew, immediately, this man had a hard life. It looked as if someone hadd attempted to slit his throat, there was a faded burnmark on the leftside of his neck, a light but fresh gash across his nose and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, "Is this Harry?"

"Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Only known survivor of the killing curse. He's the one teaching me a really advanced form of magic. I know he looks intimidating, but he's a really nice guy once you get him to open up."

"How'd he get so scarred up?" Julia asked, despite the polite smile on his face, it was undeniable that Harry Potter had a grim figure.

"I never asked," Hermione said, "I know the lightning bolt scar comes from the Killing Curse, but I don't know about the rest, though he's implied there's more on his body, I've never seen them."

She shifted photos again, showing a man with bright red hair, a cat tail, ears and slitted eyes.

"G'raha Tia," Hermione said, "He's a Miqo'te, and he's… Amazing. Incredibly knowledgeable about their types of magic, kind, handsome, and their equivalent of a doctorate too!"

Robert looked across at Julia as they saw the blush on Hermione's face. Someone, it appeared, had a crush.

As Christmas approached, Harry noticed Hogwarts become more and more festive, garland wrapping around each bannister and hanging from the walls. The castle was far emptier, with most of the students gone home for the holidays. Neville had stayed, as had the Weasleys, whose parents were apparently in Romania visiting one of their adult children. Fred and George were so busy trying to figure out how to translate Triple Triad to the Wizarding World they had almost forgot to prank people, while Ron challenged everyone he could to Wizard's Chess, which Harry inevitability, and unsurprisingly in his opinion, lost at. He was a far more "think on your feet" type person, honestly.

Harry entered the Owlery, finding Hedgwig sitting there with a large lump of a package and a smaller one that Harry slipped into his inner coat, glancing around just in case. He didn't want to ruin the surprise.

"I need you to deliver these to Hermione," Harry saif, tying the package to Hedgwig's feet. Returning to his room, he lit the fireplace with a pulse of Aether. A knock on the door let Harry know someone was there, before Alisaie came in unannounced in her pajamas.

"Ready for tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah," Harry said, mouth dry as she leaned against him and he wrapped a arm around her shoulders, "Presents are supposed to be up at Gryffindor dorms. Wonder if we'll get anything."

Oh, he knew the answer to that. There was definitely going to be a present waiting for Alisaie, he just hoped she liked it. He wouldn't know what to do if she didn't.

"From who?" She said, "nobody in this world knows us."

"Maybe G'raha got stuff?" Harry offered.

"Well," she said, pushing Harry back and laying her head on his chest, "let's get some sleep."

"Yeah," Harry said, "Yeah."

Alisaie led the way into the Gryffindor common room, looking at the pile of presents under the tree. Fred, George and Ron were all wearing sweaters with their initials on them, as was Percy, more reluctantly.

"Hello, Alisaie, Harry, G'raha," he said, offering a small smile, "There are presents for you under the tree, well, Harry and Alisaie at least."

"There's a present for me?" Alisaie said, blinking in confusion.

"Just one. Same with Harry. Neville, why don't you open yours first?"

Neville walked forwards, opening the package and revealing black clothes, "What?"

"Starter Reaper equipment," Harry said, "I said I would buy it for you and I meant it."

"Thanks, Harry," Neville said,, holding up the ragged robes that jingled with the sound of chainmail between the layers.

Harry picked up his package, opening it to reveal a silvery cloak and a piece of paper. Looking at the paper, Alisaie recognized Dumbledore's handwriting. Your Father left this with me before he died. I think it's time to give it back to you. Use it well.

"That's an invisibility cloak," Ron breathed, "try it on, Harry!"

Harry swept the cloak over himself, and they all watched as his body vanished, "Well, this will be convenient for sneaking around."

"It was your father's?" Alisaie said, reading the paoer.

"Never thought I'd get something from my Parents," Harry said, "uh, before Alisaie opens hers, I have something to give to Fred."

Harry fished out a box from a pocket, opening it to reveal a full set of Soul Crystals. To everyone's surprise, not one, but three began to release Aether, floating towards Fred, George and Ron.

"Bard, Ninja and Scholar," Harry said, "I had thought maybe one of them would pick one of you, but not all three."

Each of the Weasleys picked up their Soul Crystal, turning it over in their hands.

"Very interesting!" G'raha said, before shooting a look at Harry, "Now, shouldn't you give Alisaie her present?"

Harry reached under the tree, picking up a small box and swallowing, before opening it to reveal a simple, golden band, "I uh… I wanted to… Uh, it's… It's probably too soon for us to get married, but I wanted to…. I wanted to promise it would happen eventually, if you're ok with it, of course! I-

Alisaie cut him off with a deep kiss.