Summary of the last chapter:

As Harry is being given a wide berth by many students believing him to be the Heir of Slytherin, the friends resume their research, and Harry discovers why wizards don't use biros. They also find out that the Gaunts were impoverished, got in trouble with the law and were reported to be slightly mad.

A blizzard hits Hogwarts, and Herbology is cancelled. Harry tries to speak to Justin, but is told that he fled to his dorm room after breakfast. Upset that the other Hufflepuffs are so antagonizing, Harry marches off – and runs into a petrified Justin. Pandemonium ensues when Peeves arrives at the scene, and Harry is taken to the headmaster. Surprisingly, Dumbledore seems to believe Harry, but is disappointed that Harry can't give him any helpful information.

A/N: Sorry, this isn't quite the right time for a Christmas Chapter, but try to get into the mood even so! :) And for those of you who love to brainstorm a couple of questions: After Harry lost the Horcrux, was he still able to speak Parsel (because he automatically learned if over the years?) Is Nagini evil because she bonded to someone like Voldemort and did his bidding, or are snakes / animals beyond moral judgement ? How do you think Death Eaters would have reacted if Harry hadn't thwarted Tom Riddle by stabbing the diary and his 16-year old self had risen as a real person, claiming to be their new and old Lord?

Christmas Spirit

Students had never been so eager for the holidays to arrive as after Justin's petrification. Strangely, it was Headless Nick's fate that bothered the students the most. What kind of dark magic did it take to 'kill' a ghost? No one had ever heard of such a thing.

Except their DADA professor, of course. "Well, I have seen something just like this during my travels in Africa. Nasty business! Very dark curse indeed. But, without meaning to, our perpetrator has given us a clue as to who we are dealing with." He held up his fingers to indicate a very small amount. "I am this close to identifying Salazar's heir. As a matter of fact, I'm positive that everything will be resolved by the time you all return from your holidays – never fear!"

Strangely, nobody was set at ease by his assurances, and when the students hurried to the carriages that would take them to the station, it resembled an exodus.

Like last year, Harry had been among the first to put their name down to stay at Hogwarts. He'd been the only one for a long while – until Hermione had decided to stay as well.

"My parents want to go skiing, and while I can ski alright, I'm not overly fond of the sport," she explained. "We're out in the cold all day, and I hardly have any time for reading."

Harry was happy that his friend was going to be here for the holidays. He would have hated being alone at Hogwarts with so many students looking at him as if he was indeed a dark lord in the making and giving him a wide berth. Blaise was going home, too, which was a pity as Harry still enjoyed their nightly chess matches. Worse yet, Draco had, for unfathomable reasons, chosen to stay at Hogwarts, and given that he couldn't go anywhere without his minions, Gregory and Vincent were staying as well.

"Maybe his parents have travel plans that didn't include him," Hermione mused, when Harry voiced his puzzlement over 'wait until my father hears'-Malfoy not spending Christmas with his parents. It surely was suspicious.

"Or Malfoy Senior has instructed him to stay here and keep an eye on things," speculated Tom. "Unless he has a more active role than mere observation."

"You think he might be responsible for the petrifications, even though he's not the heir?" Harry asked, not finding this very likely.

"Maybe this is all just a ploy to create havoc and make life difficult for you and Dumbledore. Who knows what kind of dark spells Draco is taught at home."

Harry had to admit that it was a possibility and decided to keep a close eye on Draco.

Despite these circumstances, this year's Christmas was much more anticipated by Harry than last year's. Harry had discovered the joys of gift-giving – something he hadn't really been able to do last year. Now that he had the funds and the opportunity to mail order, he took great pleasure in picking gifts for Neville, Hermione, Hagrid and even Professor Snape. Harry made sure not to go overboard with the last – he didn't want to give the impression of sucking-up to his teacher. But he wanted to show his gratitude for the support his guardian had shown ever since Harry had come to Hogwarts. So he bought a huge box of chocolate pralinés from Honeydukes – the prank-free version – and hoped that the professor had a sweet tooth. He also had a present for Blaise this time, which he sent off with Hedwig two days before Christmas. Hopefully, it was enough time for her to make it to Italy by the 25th.

For the first time ever, Harry woke up on Christmas morning expecting gifts himself. It was an exhilarating feeling. And true enough – all those he had sent gifts to had sent him something as well, and Harry had a lot of fun opening presents. He did so in the privacy of his bed with the curtains drawn, not wanting Draco to witness the opening of a present from the Dursleys. And there it was – just like last year they had sent a letter. This time, they had grabbed a toothpick and hastily penned a note, telling him to find out if he could stay at Hogwarts for the summer as well.

"Charming as ever," commented Tom drily. "Not that I expected Aunt Petunia to get carried away by the Christmas spirit."

Harry decided to look at if with humour. "It's a bit funny if you think of it. I'm already curious what they will find next year."

"That's the beauty of low expectations and a healthy dose of pessimism," Tom mused philosophically, "you can't easily be disappointed."

They certainly weren't disappointed on entering the Great Hall. It was a magical winter wonderland, just like last year. Hermione gave him a hug and wished him 'Merry Christmas' – and presented him with another gift.

"But – you already gave me yours …" said Harry, confused, staring at the nicely wrapped gift in his hands.

"Yes, but this one is from my parents!"

"Oh!" Well, that was unexpected. And now Harry had once again overlooked people he should probably have sent a present to. Quite obviously, he wasn't very good at this whole gift-giving yet. Feeling contrite, he confessed his oversight to Hermione.

"No, Harry, that's not how it works! Kids don't have to buy presents for adults, certainly not for parents of their friends. My parents know that you are not getting presents from your own relatives – I'm afraid I told them last year – and they just wanted to do something kind for you. They like you, you know."

"That's really very nice of them. Thank you!"

"Aren't you going to open it?"

"Of course." Harry quickly undid the wrapping and found a beautiful cashmere sweater in emerald green. It was incredibly soft and looked just the perfect size. "It's beautiful, Hermione! I'll send Hedwig with a thank you note as soon as she returns from Italy."

*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Sharing the quiet of the Slytherin dorms last year with Blaise had been much nicer than with Draco and his goonies as his only companions. Harry tried to be elsewhere as much as possible. Not that they did anything – Greg and Vince never did much of anything, besides eat. But Draco got on his nerves. As the Malfoy heir couldn't rail at Hermione anymore after having outsmarted himself by proclaiming her a halfblood, he slandered Dumbledore instead. It wasn't as if Harry or Tom disagreed. They, too, found that his crisis management left something to be desired. But really, it got old after the fifth repetition, especially with so many 'wait until father hears!'s thrown into it.

"It's as if he constantly needs to hear his own voice," complained Tom to Harry. "Does he need to prove to himself that he truly exists? He has a solid body – why isn't that enough?"

Draco was also still searching for the right stance to take in all of this. He tried very hard to come off as someone in the know, while at the same time acting all mysterious. Sadly, it was very obvious that he had no clue as to what was going on, which was particularly sad because Harry knew for sure that his father knew. He almost pitied his dorm matefor the fact that the flow of information within his family obviously only went one way.

Harry suspected that - added to the trouble of not knowing how to approach him - Draco felt homesick. Since there was no fulfilling conversation to be had with the goonies, Draco clung to the only Slytherin present who had a brain (or rather two, though he didn't know that). Why he constantly tried to engage Harry in discussionswas a mystery though, as Draco never liked Harry's opinions. If the aim of talking nonstop was to gain proof of his existence, Greg and Vince should have served him well enough – they grunted in response, and you couldn't really argue with that.

Harry hung out with Hermione as much as possible, but no matter where they went, they were sooner or later accosted by Draco, who then promptly started a quarrel.

"You know what?" said Tom, who had analysed Draco's behaviour with the help of multiple child raising and teen managing books. "I think he just wants to be your friend. He'll even take Hermione if he has to."

"What?" Harry couldn't have been more perplexed by the result of Tom's ruminations.

"Seriously. His need is great. I think he only quarrels with you because that's better than getting no reaction from you at all. He hates being ignored. And he hates being lonely."

"Great. Now what shall I do with that surprising insight?"

"Invite him to play Labyrinth with you two."

"What? Are you insane? Draco will never touch a Muggle game. Who knows what would happen – his hands might fall off."

But still, the idea was fascinating in a scientific kind of way. Harry decided to do another experiment.

"Stop picking fights with us, Draco," he said to the blonde in a slightly bored voice when he accosted them on their way out of the Great Hall right after breakfast. "Hermione and I are going to play a game of Labyrinth. Wanna come and join in?"

Two faces gaped at him in shock. Harry could see Hermione's mouth form the silent words 'what the heck', while Draco took a long time processing Harry's question. He finally decided he needed a rerun.

"What?" he asked perplexed.

"It's a game. A pretty good one, actually. If you don't like it, we could play Cluedo instead, we have that, too. Though we'd probably have to go to the Ravenclaw common room. Madam Pince doesn't like us to play games in the library, and I'd rather not take Hermione to the Slytherin dorm – just in case, she's a Muggleborn after all. Who knows what kind of traps and enchantments the student-murdering founder of our house has set up for them. So – you're in?"

"Yes?" said Draco, though it seemed as if he was still in shock and not entirely sure what he was agreeing to. It was doubtful that he knew about Labyrinth and Cluedo.

"Great! Come on then, Hermione, let's go!"

Equally dazed, Hermione grabbed her books and followed Harry, Draco in tow.

"Ehm … are you sure about this, Harry?" she whispered when they fell in step with each other.

"Of course," Harry replied, deliberately misunderstanding what she was referring to as he far felt less confident about the true reason for her concern. "It's the holidays. You're the only Raven staying. We're not going to bother anyone. And honestly, I've always wondered what the other common rooms look like. What about you Draco? Have you ever been in any of the other houses?"

"Can't say that I have."

"Then let's check it out!"

To their surprise, Ravenclaw Tower didn't have a password. Instead, the bronze door knocker in form of a raven gave them a riddle.

"The more you take, the more you leave behind – what is it?"

Hermione pondered it for about three seconds, then her face brightened. "Footsteps!" she said, at which the door swung open. "That was an easy one."

"That was an easy one?" Draco and Harry both said with one voice, disbelieving.

"The knocker sometimes asks almost philosophical questions. Like "where do vanished objects go?"

"Well, where do they go?" asked Harry, intrigued. He hadn't ever thought about it.

"Into non-being, that is to say, everything."

"Wow, that's deep," said Tom, impressed. "And it totally makes sense. When you vanish an object, its essence is split up and divided among everything else in the universe, so essentially spread so thin that for all intents and purposes it no longer exists, while it still retains the ability to be reassembled."

"Atoms!" said Harry, having understood Tom's explanation. "They're split into their smallest parts and become one with the universe."

Draco looked totally lost and almost ready to baulk.

"I'm glad we only have to remember a new password every once in a while, right, Draco?" Harry quickly said. " What if you can't answer one of these riddles or rather complex questions? Will you have to stand outside in the corridor the entire night?"

"Of course not," said Hermione. "As long as you make sure not to be the last one to enter. It once took five of us to figure out the answer to a riddle."

The had reached the end of the big spiral staircase that lay behind the door and were now standing in a very airy, circular room that seemed to consist of mostly of arched windows. The first thing the two Slytherins noted was the view, which was spectacular. No matter in what direction they turned, they could see it all: the grounds, the greenhouses, the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch and the mountains in the background. Harry thought it must be even more awe-inspiring in summer, when everything was bursting with green, gold and blue, and not just the plain white of the snow.

The room itself was pretty impressive, too. Wherever a wall did not have a window, it had a bookcase. Blue chairs and sofas formed little islands all over the room and around the freestanding fireplace in the middle of it. The midnight blue carpet was covered with stars and planets, as was the domed ceiling. Bronze accents, cushions and curtains softened the overall blue and brought warmth to the room.

While Harry loved the Slytherin common room with its soft green glow and the patterns the light painted on floor and walls when it fell through the water, he had to admit that this common room was quite spectacular, too.

"Not bad, considering it's not Slytherin," said Draco a bit reluctantly. "If a bit bright for my taste."

"Yes, that's the effect of sunlight on snow. But days are short in winter, so mostly, this is really cosy with all the candles and lanterns. Choose a table, I'm going to get the games."

Though feeling a bit awkward, Harry and Draco tried their best to pretend that what they were doing wasn't the slightest bit unusual. They chose a table near the fireplace, the height and openness of the tower a bit too much for the dungeon-dwellers. Harry put another log into the fire, then slumped into a chair.

"Now I'm curious to see what the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff rooms look like. Neville might be able to sneak us into his tower, but I'm not close to any of the Badgers."

"Well, I guess you'd better not ask Justin," said Draco with a sneer. When Harry was about to tell him off, Tom held him back. "Don't, Harry. I think he actually meant to be funny. I'm not sure he's had a lot of practice."

And sure enough, when no reaction came, Draco's grin fell and he looked a bit insecure once more. Fortunately, Hermione returned with the games.

"Which one?" she asked, looking to Harry.

"Labyrinth, I guess. It's pretty straightforward and easier to explain."

And so Harry spent a most surreal, unexpected and yet surprisingly entertaining afternoon playing Muggle games with Hermione and Draco. The wizard had picked up on Labyrinth easily enough – for all of his faults, Draco was smart. It was always a close chase between the three of them. Harry had to tell Tom to shut up, as his input would have given him an unfair advantage. In their second game, he let Tom have a go and only pushed the maze according to his instructions. They had taken turns multiple times before when playing with Hermione and Neville, and Harry would say they were equally good at it. But it was Hermione who won that round.

Explaining Cluedo was more complex than expected. They had to explain the spanner and the revolver, which took a considerable while.

"You mean you point this thing at a person, push something and a bullet comes flying out faster than they can move away? But how can such a small bullet even do much harm?"

"Well, it sort of explodes in your body, depending on the weapon. The revolver is really small but there are guns that shoot like 500 or even more bullets in a minute."

"But surely, a spell shield would stop them all?"

"I don't know. The point is that if someone from very far away shoots a gun at you, you might not even see him and the danger you're in. And even if you do see him, you don't have time to even say a spell. The bullets are so fast they hit you almost instantly."

Draco seemed shocked. "And all Muggles have such guns?"

"No, of course not. They're highly regulated in most countries. Police – Aurors – have them. And, unfortunately, the bad guys. But as a normal Muggle, you don't usually come into contact with guns. I have no idea if there is any kind of magical protection that you can put on clothes to make them bullet-proof. Maybe Professor Snape knows."

Draco was too disturbed after learning about guns to really concentrate on the game. They probably should have stayed with Labyrinth. When it was time for dinner, they packed away the games and left Ravenclaw Tower. Back in the corridor, Draco shifted a bit uncomfortably, not looking them in the eyes.

"Look, this was … I'm not sure what it was. Interesting, I guess. Different. And definitely not as boring as most afternoons around here. But … let's jut keep it between us, okay? If father hears…"

"Don't worry, Draco," said Harry quickly. "He certainly won't hear anything from me. What happens in Ravenclaw Tower stays in Ravenclaw Tower, alright?"

Draco nodded.

"And you know where to find us if you get bored again," Hermione added. "It's more fun to play with three people than two, so … We all have to make do with whatever company is available over the holidays, don't we?"

"Right … Well, see you at dinner."

With that, Draco turned and moved away from them quickly.

"He's right. That was interesting. And weird. Why in heaven's name did you think it was a good idea to invite Draco Malfoy along, of all people?"

"Like you said – we don't have that many people to choose from. And when he kept bothering us all the time like an attention seeking toddler, the idea came to mind that maybe he was bored and only wanted company."

"Or he did exactly what 'father' told him to: Keep an eye on you. Maybe even ingratiate himself with you."

"A definite 'no' to the latter. Those were his instructions last year. He was clearly struggling with them. Draco has no idea how to ingratiate himself with anyone. He expects things to go the other way, and he's totally lost if they don't. He's always totally lost if people react in ways he doesn't expect them to. As he has really limited expectations, catching him off guard is a rather entertaining pastime."

"Yes, I guess I just saw what you mean. I just hope you don't expect us all to become best friends, though."

"No, certainly not anytime soon. Maybe one day. Who knows. I guess it will depend on how much Draco is really like his father. But … maybe we should give him a chance not to be him?"

"Allow me to remain sceptical. Not adverse, but sceptical."

A/N: Tom's musings about vanished objects going into non-being is stolen from Chaz Alexander who posted this answer on Quora. I don't even remember what the question was, but I liked the explanation for what Muggle would probably associate with atoms.

Draco really stayed in Hogwarts that year – it's canon. It made me wonder why, but I couldn't find a reasonable answer. Did Lucius want him there as his own pair of eyes? The good thing about it was that I really had fun writing Draco's interactions with Harry! Hope you liked them, too. Either way, it'd be wonderful to get some feedback, which would also motivate me to publish chapters here more regularly.