I usually try to avoid author's notes but I just wanted to clarify the grading system real quick. I do not live in the UK and so had to trust internet research to find what grading system they use. From what I learned, they used to have a letter system from A* to G, using every letter, and so it wasn't immediately comparable to the American system of ABCDF, and that in the last couple of years they switched over to a number system of 9-1, with 9 being the highest, if I understood. It only pops up as a small reference within this chapter, but I was trying to stay authentic to system Harry grew up in, which is why I stuck with the previous letter system.
But, like I said, not a UK native, so I could be completely wrong. In which case, it's all just creative liberties, right?
Before Harry knew it, the castle grounds were buried under a thick layer of fluffy, white snow that transformed Hogwarts into a winter wonderland right out of one of Hallmark's holiday movies. The castle came alive as the professors tag teamed to decorate. More pine and fir trees than Harry had ever seen, bedecked from top to bottom with baubles, tinsel and garland, and even fairies. The halls turned green with evergreen boughs and holly branches. The Weasley twins had charmed the suits of armor to catching passing students unaware with mistletoe, somehow trapping them in place until some manner of kiss was delivered to the unwitting victim.
Needless to say, those who avoided the prank thought it hilarious. The professors, not so much. In fact, Professor McGonagall's dressing down would go down in Hogwarts history after the red-headed devils had taken the opportunity to each peck one of her cheeks when she got just outside her classroom. All of Gryffindor had probably thrown them a party for such daring nerve, uncaring off the point loss.
He thought he would be more stressed at this point, but the Hufflepuff cete made for easy studying, aiding by a rotating of third and fourth years. End of term exams were a breeze. Harry felt confident that he had achieved exceeds expectations for every class but history (and potions depending on Snape's excessively black mood). He would never compete with Hermione's marks, except for DADA, but Harry was honestly pleased that he was performing well.
It was amazing how good of a student he was when he didn't have the threat of underperforming compared to Dudley, or else be locked up without food hanging over his head.
The Dursley's wouldn't even recognize the grading system or that EE was equivalent to a 'B' or 'C.' They'd likely see the double 'e' and think Harry had monumentally failed, if they cared to look at his grades at all, which Harry knew they wouldn't because he was their unwanted magical nephew that they were forced to care for.
Professor Sprout had posted a list on the common room bulletin board, and those wishing to stay in the castle during the winter break were meant to write their names down. Harry was the only first-year Hufflepuff on the list, which he didn't mind at all. Christmas alone at Hogwarts would be a dream compared to returning the Dursleys. He'd have the dormitory all to himself and wouldn't have to watch through the grate on his cupboard door as his aunt and uncle lavished present after present on Dudley, most of which would be broken, tossed aside, and/or forgotten about before the new year started.
He couldn't quite shake the feeling of loss he felt though, knowing he couldn't wake up to one of Molly Weasley's hand knitted sweaters at the end of his bed. Not because he wanted to be receiving presents, but for the connection it represented—the kind-hearted woman who accepted Harry into her family simply because he was Ron's friend.
He had also really hoped to have freed Sirius and start building the family dynamic godfather and godson never had the chance to.
Harry reminded himself he needed to look on the bright side. The Weasley kids were also remaining at Hogwarts for the break, so this could be his opportunity to strike up the friendship he desperately craved, or even catch Peter Pettigrew unaware.
So, knowing his self-imposed isolation, imagine his surprise to find a small pile of brightly wrapped presents when he woke. Cedric, Sprout, Dumbledore, and Hagrid. Harry idly wondered if he should be more embarrassed that three-quarters of his gifts came from adults he had hardly talked to or that he hadn't thought of getting anything for Cedric when the other boy had gone out of his way to get to know Harry and help him settle in.
Harry had owl-ordered the rest of his cete a selection of Honeyduke's candy. Generic, safe, and friendly without being personal. He would have to get Cedric something in return. Hopefully, he could pretend he wanted to give it in person and not look like he rushed to get something as an obligation. A pair of quidditch gloves, or maybe a training snitch.
If he wasn't going to join the team—Harry had little interest in playing a position other than seeker and did not want to steal Cedric's spot on the team—Harry wanted to see Hufflepuff do its best.
Hagrid had gifted him a carved wooden flute and a photo album. Harry played a few off-key notes—he never claimed to have any kind of musical talent, before setting it aside in favor of gazing at the memories of his mother and father and trying to commit each photo to memory.
Harry marveled at each one. His parents' twirling during their wedding. Them embracing with baby Harry cradled in Lily's arms. Even one of him on a toy broom chasing a black cat. A few dated back to their Hogwarts years, showing the pair of them as Head Boy and Girl, or what looked like a quidditch celebration party.
It took great effort to set the collection of his parents' images aside so he could unwrap the rest of his presents. Professor Sprout had gifted him an enchanted tea set. It was self-boiling and self-stirring, and the cups kept the drink at the same temperature no matter how long it sat.
From Cedric, he received another dream journal, likely having noticed that Harry was filling the pages of his first one rather quickly. Filling the book had been rather easy, after all, he had several years' worth of memories and dreams and moments that he didn't want to forget, and with every day that passed, they were getting harder and harder to recall. So, he stuck to the main points, what he could remember about Voldemort and how to defeat him most predominant amongst them. Harry kept it cryptic and vague enough that only he could understand what he meant, only referring to the horcruxes by the number in which he encountered them and never by name or description. The second journal could contain all the new dreams he was having, like when Harry dreamt of Hannah's hair catching fire in potions class.
And then there was his father's invisibility cloak, returned to him by Dumbledore. Of course, the headmaster hadn't signed a card or anything, but Harry already knew it was from him. He slid his fingers across the familiar fabric, silver and silky, fluid and rippling like the surface of the lake, patterned with golden stars, crescent moons, and other geometric shapes.
Hagrid's gift would always be his favorite, but the cloak was definitely the most useful gift Harry would ever receive.
It had been frustrating beyond reason having to wait for Christmas morning, unknowing if his family's invisibility cloak would be returned to him or wind up like the troll on Halloween and go off script from his dreams.
All of Harry's plans hinged on the invisibility cloak.
Sneaking into the library at night, and perhaps venturing into the restricted section, in search of tracking spells and ways to both force an animagus transformation and prevent it as well? Made so much easier when he could sneak in undetected and slip out with the books and hide them in his trunk.
Gaining access to Gryffindor tower, Pettigrew's most frequent haunt? He had done it all the time in his dreams, slipping past unsuspecting house mates as they traversed the Fat Lady's portrait so she wouldn't be suspicious of opening for a student she couldn't see.
Hiding Pettigrew's presence until he knew how to leverage him for Sirius' freedom? The cloak protected against a lot of common detection methods, and as long as Harry silenced the rat first, it wasn't like any of his dormmates would be searching for a rat amongst his stuff.
Harry had truly feared that the changes he had already experienced might spell bad news for his plans. Not that he thought Dumbledore was the kind of person to buy into house prejudice and see The-Boy-Who-Lived in yellow and black and decide he wasn't brave enough for the war to come and that the headmaster would be better off keeping Death's Cloak in his possession. He just worried, given his astronomical luck, that something, anything, could have changed. The invisibility cloak was so important that Harry couldn't help but hyper-focus on it and try to make backup plans just in case he didn't get it.
Harry did his best to not act so antsy during breakfast and had to keep dragging his gaze away from the four red-heads at the Gryffindor table, which was kind of hard to do when Percy was trying to fight off his twin brothers' and escape the sweater they had him pinned in. Percy went for his wand the moment he broke free, and Fred and George promptly announced a free for all snowball fight, sprinting out of the hall with their bookish brother right behind.
For once, Harry gave into the ache. He wanted to participate in a snowball fight, so he did. It was cold and exhilarating and invigorating. Harry was great at dodging but had real terrible aim. One of his snowballs had gone wide and hit Hagrid. In response, the half-giant had scooped up a handful of snow to make his own snowball, only Hagrid's snowball turned out to be larger than a basketball.
Hagrid threw it at Harry with a cry of "try this on fer size!" and Harry had to duck behind a snow mound to avoid getting hit head on. As it was, both the snowball and his defensive wall exploded into snow powder.
It was the most fun Harry had in ages. He trooped inside, wet and shivering, grateful that he didn't have to climb seven flights of stairs to reach his common room and take a hot shower. The library was his next destination, of course. He had no time to waste.
From beneath his cloak, Harry wandered the tower isles of books. He was a regular face with Madam Pince's domain, but the old vulture cared not for how often a student visited. Everyone was treated to eagle-eyed suspicion for they might try to ruin her precious books. Honestly, it was a wonder anyone willingly spent time in the library when you couldn't even breathe without Madam Pince looming up behind you to snap that you were breathing on her books wrong and kick you out.
She was also the most likely culprit for the warning inside every library book that read: If you rip, tear, shred, bend, fold, deface, disfigure, smear, smudge, throw, drop, or in any other manner damage, mistreat, or show lack of respect towards this book, the consequences will be as awful as it is within my power to make them.
He certainly wasn't going to ask her for help with something as important as Sirius' freedom.
It was hard to find anything in the library, though. The books were shelved in related sections, Transfiguration, Magical Creatures, Astrology and Astronomy, etc., but after that all sense of organization vanished. He couldn't narrow down a sub-category once he located the Charms section. It wasn't arranged alphabetically by author name like muggles did, or by book title either. Achievements in Charming sat next to Quintessence: A Quest. So, he had to rely on the book title to tell him whether said book might contain the information he was looking for, and as proved by Quintessence: A Quest, not all books had a direct and logical title on the spine.
He slipped Extreme Incantations, Advanced Charm Casting, Charms of Defence and Deterrence, and the Book of Charms & Spells into his bag and then headed for the Transfiguration section for A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration and Transformation through the Ages.
Three days of sneaking book after book out of the library resulted in almost nothing. The silencing charm was easily found and desperately practiced while he still had an empty dorm. His Avifors would be most impressive by the time Professor McGonagall got around to it, but his Silencing Charm was still a work in progress. It also caused Harry to realize rendering an animal mute didn't negate that sounds it made as it moved about. Luckily, he already knew about Stupefy and the Full-Body Bind curse.
However, he couldn't find the animagus reversal spell or any other kind of spell, curse, hex, jinx, or charm that would prove an animal to be a transformed wizard.
His plan for his godfather's freedom was unraveling far too quickly.
At this point, Harry was ready to stun the rat, steal a broom, fly all the way to London, storm the Ministry, and make a big nuisance of himself until someone humored him.
Harry shoved the books aside and grabbed his invisibility cloak once more. This was the kind of crazy and reckless plan Hermione always scolded him for, but he had a gut feeling that this one was going to work.