Chapter 11: Merry Christmas Harry

In the middle of December, Harry and I woke up to a white world. Overnight, several feet of snow had fallen on the castle and the grounds. The lake had frozen solid enough to skate on. The twins had been punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around and hit him on the back of his head.

As the holidays approached, I had received a letter from Mum.

Dear Ron,

We are just letting you and your brothers know that your father, Ginny, and I are visiting Charlie in Romania over the holidays. We would have brought you four along, but we simply couldn't afford it.

Also, I've decided to send your friend Harry something for Christmas. Your letters about him and his home life with those insufferable muggles broke my heart. I would appreciate it off you didn't let him know, dear. A bit of a surprise if you will.

I hope you're well. I'm glad to hear that you, Harry, and the Hermione girl are friends now. Remember I told you that it would happen?

Don't worry about passing this message along. I've already written your brothers.

Love,

Mum.

I really didn't know how to feel about the letter. On the one hand, I really missed Charlie, and would have loved to have been able to visit him. On the other hand, I knew that Harry wasn't going home for the holidays since he had the option to stay. I didn't blame him. If I had those horrid people to look forward to, I wouldn't go home either.

One day, while leaving that bloody Potions class of ours, we ran into Hagrid, carrying a very large fir tree, blocking traffic.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" I asked, sticking my head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm alright, thanks, Ron." said Hagrid, thankfully.

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold and annoying whine from behind us. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

I felt my blood boil. I was so sick of the git taking jabs at me for being poor. I seen yes, and lunged at his aas, ready to give him a right pretty shiner.

"WEASLEY!" yelled Snape who had just walked up on the scene.

I let go of the front of Malfoy's robes. Saved by his equally annoying best mate of a teacher, the greasy prat.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape." said Hagrid, standing up for me as I smoothed my robes out. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid." said Snape smugly. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed their ways through the tree with triumphant smirks plastered on their ugly mugs.

"I'll get him." I declared, grinding my teeth, still ready to fight. "One of these days, I'll get him!"

"I hate them both," said Harry, patting me on the back. "Malfoy and Snape."

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas." said Hagrid, trying to improve our moods. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

We shrugged and followed Hagrid and his tree into the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree. Put it in the far corner, would you?" asked Flitwick.

The hall looked totally wicked. Holly and mistletoe hung all around on the walls, there twelve huge and beautifully decorated Christmas trees standing all around the room, some of which had tiny icicles that glistened like diamonds, others had hundreds of flickering candles on them. All in all, the Great Hall looked even more magical than it usually did.

Hermione was passing by and saw us on the hall, so she came in and joined us.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one." said Hermione. "And that reminds me. Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right." I said as I looked away from Flitwick decorating the tree. Was it bad that I somewhat wanted to see if he would get lost in it by falling in?

"The library?" said Hagrid as he followed us out the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working." Harry said, his tone mischievous and bright. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel, we've been trying to find out who he is."

"You what ?" Hagrid with a shocked look on his face. "Listen here, I've told yeh to drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'!"

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all." said Hermione, sweetly.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" asked Harry, smiling. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere. Just give us a hint. I know I've read his name somewhere."

"I'm sayin' nothin', said Hagrid stubbornly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then." I said with a nonchalant shrug as we turned and left Hagrid behind.

Ever since Hagrid had let it slip, we had made it out mission to find out who this Flamel bloke was. How else were we going to find out what Snape was trying to steal since Hagrid wouldn't say anything else about it? Problem was, we had no idea what book he would be in, and we had already looked through Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, Notable Magical Names of Our Time, Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry.

Hermione gave a list of subjects and titles she thought would help. I walked up and down the rows of books, pulling them off the shelves at random. Harry made his way over to the Restricted Section. He figured that maybe he could be mentioned in a book from there. Only problem with what was you needed written permission from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and we knew we wouldn't get that. There were a lot of books on Dark Magic in there, and only the older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts could read those.

"What are you looking for, boy?" asked Madam Pince as she crept up on Harry.

"Nothing." said Harry, pretending to be occupied with a shelf behind him.

"You'd better get out, then. Go on, out!" she harped, waving a feather duster at him.

He took both mine and Hermione's ("But we aren't finished yet." she said) arms and rushed out of the library. Neither of us had found anything. We had been looking for the past two weeks with no avail.

Harry walked ahead of us to lunch, discussing a quidditch strategy with Wood as he seen him pass by.

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione, walking beside me. "And send me an owl if you find anything."

"You could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is." I said. "It'd be safe to ask them."

"Very safe, as they're both dentists." said Hermione.

"Then again, they probably wouldn't know much about it then, would they? Being muggles and all?" I asked.

"Well, I have heard some of the names of famous witches and wizards in our world, only nothing magical is referenced to them." explained Hermione.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay at school with us for the holidays?" I asked her. It was mind boggling how not only had Hermione made her way into the best mate box, but I would actually miss her being around for these couple of weeks.

"Mum and Dad are expecting me." said Hermione. "Plus, Christmas is always done big in my family. So I will have to be there."

"Is a muggle Christmas different from a wizard Christmas?"

"I don't think so. From the looks of Hogwarts, it seems like they are both similar. We decorate the house, we get a tree, we cook a lot of food, and there's presents. Same as here."

"I guess you get a ton of gifts since you're an only child." I said as we walked down the stairs.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I mean yes, I may get my fair share, but a lot are books and clothes. I did get a bicycle last year."

I had seen a bicycle before. Dad had one in his shed where he kept all his muggle things. It looked like an accident waiting to happen, so I never touched it.

"Just make sure you and Harry keep up the search for Flamel, okay"

I grinned. "Of course Hermione, this is us we're talking about. Always on task, we are."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Once the holidays had started, the last thing on our minds was Flamel. We had the dorm to ourselves, so going to sleep without Neville and Dean snoring as loud as a nundu roars. The common room was mostly empty, so we were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. We would sit for hours eating anything could put on a roasting stick and roast. We would have the wildest conversations from helping the twins with pranks, to things we could do to get Malfoy expelled.

I also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess, only that the pieces moved as if they were alive, so you felt like a general commanding your troops. My granddad had passed his set to Bill, and he passed it to me when he taught me how to play. I had full control over them. They trusted me and I treated them very well.

Harry played with chess pieces that Seamus had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He already wasn't all that good, so the pieces kept shouting tips to him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."

Eventually, Harry had gotten better, but he still couldn't beat me. No one but Bill could beat me in chess.

On Christmas Day, I was woke up to Harry yelling wow loudly.

"Merry Christmas." I said sleepily as Harry leaped out of bed to put on his robe and check to see if his presents were real.

"You, too!" said Harry, happily. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" I said laughing as I looked at my own pile.

Harry picked up the package on the top. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a handmade wooden flute that Hagrid had whittled it himself. Harry blew it. It sounded a bit like a screech owl and it made us laugh.

His second package was really small and had a note attached to it.

We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

Taped to the note was some sort of weird Knut that Harry called a fifty-pence piece.

"That's friendly," said Harry, rolling his eyes.

"Can I see?" I asked. Harry nodded and passed the odd coin to me. It was funny seeing a person's head on it.

"Weird!" I said, "What a shape! This is money ?"

"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at my fascination. "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle - so who sent these?"

"I think I know who that one's from." I said, pointing to a very lumpy package. "My mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and-oh, no. She's made you a Weasley sweater."

Harry had torn open the package to find a hand-knitted sweater in green and a large box of homemade fudge. Mum's sweaters were warm and Harry's looked alright. But of course, I already knew which one mine would look like.

"Every year she makes us a sweater." I said., unwrapping my own. I made a face. "And mine's always maroon."

I didn't know why Mum always chose this color. I positively hated maroon. The color clashed horribly with my hair. But it was very warm and made me feel like I was home.

"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which I knew had to be good to him as he chewed it with his eyes closed and a satisfied grin on his face.

His next present was from Hermione. She had gotten him a large box of Chocolate Frogs.

I unwrapped my other gifts. Bill had sent me some new trainers (which I was very thankful to have. I had never gotten new shoes of my own before), Charlie had sent me a necklace with a dragon tooth as the charm, and my Auntie Muriel had sent me a book on male etiquette. I would not be reading it.

Harry unwrapped his last present and something silvery gray fell out and landed on the floor, shimmering.

I couldn't believe my eyes! "I've heard of those. If that's what I think it is, they're really rare, and really valuable." I said in an awestruck voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. The girl was brilliant, but I felt bad that I wasn't able to get her anything.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It felt weird to touch and almost looked like water flowing.

"It's an invisibility cloak!" I said, staring at it. "I'm sure it is. Try it on!"

Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and all I could see was his head.

"It is! Look down!" I said excitedly as I pointed to him.

Harry looked down and was shocked to his his body had completely disappeared. He spent the next couple of minutes pulling the cloak up and down and watching his legs disappear and reappear.

"There's a note!" I said, pointing to a piece of paper on the floor that had fallen from the cloak. "A note fell out of it!"

Harry took the cloak off and picked up the letter.

Your father left this in my possession before he died.

It is time it was returned to you.

Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. I kept staring at the cloak. I had always heard of these things, but I had never seen one in real life.

"I'd give anything for one of these. Anything."

I looked at he expression on Harry's face. "Alright there, mate?"

"Nothing," said Harry. I didn't believe him. Harry had a habit of wearing his thoughts on his face sometimes. I had a feeling that he was trying to think of his dad as a result of the note

Before I could ask, the dorm door was flew open and Fred and George walked in. Harry stuffed the cloak under his blanket.

"Merry Christmas!" they said.

"Hey, look, Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!" said Fred, pointing to the sweater on Harry's bed.

Fred and George already had theirs on. They were a very nice blue and one had a yellow F on it, the other a G.

Why couldn't I have the nice blue?

"Harry's is better than ours, though." said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" asked George. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon." I said, but I put it on anyways.

"You haven't got a letter on yours." said George. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid, we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"What's all this noise?"came a voice from outside the door

Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking stuff as usual. He too has a Weasley sweater, which he was carrying. Fred snatched it off of his hand.

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one."

"I - don't - want - " said Percy as the twins forced the sweater over Percy's head.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either." said George. "Christmas is a time for family."

They then marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater. Harry and I laughed at the forced fun that Fred and George had given Percy.

Percy wasn't really one for holidays, especially when they got in the way of school. He used to not be that way. Before his third year, he seemed more cheerful during the holidays from what I remembered. I often wondered what had brought on such a change.

Christmas dinner was bloody brilliant! There were a hundred fat, roasted turkeys, tons of roast and boiled potatoes, chipolatas, buttered peas, with silver boats of thick and creamy gravy and cranberry sauce and wizard crackers along the tables.

I loved wizard crackers along the table. They were brilliant with colored smoke, confetti, trinkets, and all other manner of things came busting out of them when you pulled then open. Harry's had in it an admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Dumbledore had one that gave him a flowered bonnet, which he put on as he laughed at something Flitwick had just read him.

I really liked the old coot.

Christmas pudding came after the meal, and with it, more surprises. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle that was in in his slice. Harry and I watched as Hagrid, drunk off wine, kissed Professor McGonagall on the cheek. She actually giggled and blushed like she was our age. The teachers really got loose when they were drunk.

After that, Harry, my brothers, and I spent a fun filled afternoon having a snowball fight on the grounds. Then, after we had almost froze off out bollocks, we went back to the Gryffindor common room and warmed up by the fire, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing to me. He probably wouldn't have lost as badly as he did, if it wasn't for Percy trying to help him so much. Percy was the worst out of all of us at chess, having no real interest in the game.

After we ate some more, Harry and I sat back stuffed and laughing as we watched Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.

It had been the best Christmas I had ever spent away from home. And I was certain it was the best Christmas Harry ever had. We both climbed into bed. Exhausted off the food and excitement of the day, I was sleep before my head hit the pillow.