Little Harry Potter was a strange child, a fact that he knew very well as it was the kindest thing anybody he had ever met had said about him. At seven, he has heard many things spoken about him. It made him feel so very alone in a world where it felt as if everyone was tearing him down. The teachers ignored his injuries, Dudley and his gang were free to chase and beat him without punishment, and how he was treated within the Dursley household was no better. The scars covering his body proved that. The only respite that he had was when Petunia locked him out of the house. It didn't matter what time of the year it was, she left him outside whenever the mood struck or when the weather was horrid enough to count as punishment. Yet it was this punishment that little Harry desired above the others, not that he would ever clue the Dursleys in on that small fact.
There were some woods at the edge of Surrey, and it was there that he could find peace and solace. No one to beat him, to rip him apart with their words, none to ignore him all but begging for help. So he wandered the woods, he learned the vegetation, what helped to heal the new wounds he received. He found what he could eat and found a creek that had fish. Swiping a small knife from the Dursleys proved all too easy giving him a valuable tool. Finding a cave though was what he considered his greatest achievement. Now he had a home base where he could be himself. Tossed books from the school and library found their way to the back where the chance of getting wet was minimal. Loosely woven plants formed mats and baskets that held other supplies. The hardest part for him though was hiding the fire whenever he lit one, and that skill took a lot of trial and error to learn.
The little cave became his home away from home. He especially loves being in the woods during autumn, something about the time of year just comforts him like little else can. When night falls, the voices come out and tell him stories and help him with more survival advice. He enjoys the tales from the one who calls themselves Raverne the best. This only happens during autumn so Harry always does his best to spend that time in the woods when he can.
Then he turns 11 and things get strange. It isn't until Hagrid breaks down the door that those weird letters are explained. Hogwarts, a school of magic. He could belong there so when Hagrid says to follow, Harry doesn't look back at his relatives. Hagrid takes him to Diagon Alley where he has a, unique, experience. He hated being crowded at the Leaky Cauldron and Hagrid did nothing to help. Harry desperately hoped that this would not be normal for his time in the magical world. The highlight of the day for him was not getting his wand, which happened to be the brother wand to his parents' murderer and that just rubbed him wrong, but being gifted a gorgeous snowy owl. He didn't name her right away as it had to be perfect for her and she deserved the best in his eyes.
When Hagrid dropped Harry off back at his relatives' house, the Dursleys still had not returned so he wrote a simple note that read
To the Dursleys, I have no more desire to be in this house than you do to keep me. I shall find my way until the day before Hagrid said he would take me to school on September 1st. So I shall return the evening before and we will have nothing to do with each other until the end of the school year. Harry Potter
Leaving the note on the kitchen counter, Harry left the house with his trunk and a few things he grabbed from his cupboard, and left for his little haven in the woods. The owl proved herself to be very smart and Harry found her eating a mouse perched near his cave.
"Let's get inside girl, the night is falling quickly and I have yet to eat."
With a hoot, she flew into the cave and found a place for herself by the fire pit. Harry smiled at this and brought out the to-go meal he was able to buy from the Leaky Cauldron before Hagrid dragged him out. A nice warm meat pie, cornbread, and mixed veg awaited him. As he ate by a warm fire with the stars beginning to shine in the sky, Harry went through his many books and called out names for his owl to choose from. It wasn't until he grabbed one of his new history books that Harry came across a name she liked.
"Hedwig, that's what you want to be called?" He asked the owl.
She hooted back in what could only be an affirmative.
"Okay then, Hedwig it is. Let's get some rest for tomorrow, we have some work and studying to do."
To preserve as much of the potions supplies as possible, Harry spent the morning and early afternoon foraging what he could, which was a surprising amount but still not enough to sustain him long term.
"We're going to have to eventually return to Diagon Alley sometime before school Hedwig. Our supplies wont last otherwise." Contemplated Harry. Though he really didn't want to be surrounded by all the weird people again, so he would need a disguise at least. Not to mention getting to the alley. While a problem, its not an immediate issue so there was time to figure everything out. One day at a time.
So that was how the last month of summer passed and as promised, Harry returned to his relatives the day before school. Aunt Petunia looked like she swallowed a lemon as she let him in and Harry stayed in his cramped cupboard for the last time until he returned to his relatives. It was to his great frustration that Hagrid left him in the middle of Kings Cross Station with no directions about how to get to the train. Once he reached platforms 9 and 10, he stood aside and observed. Thankfully it wasn't for long as a loud group of red heads practically screaming about Hogwarts, muggles, and platform 9 , getting plenty of strange looks from everyone around them. Calming Hedwig as she was getting agitated in her cage, Harry followed the family through the wall and came to see a brilliant black and red steam train declaring itself the Hogwarts Express. Finding a compartment, Harry settled in for the ride.
As Harry was watching the scenery pass by out the window, the door was suddenly thrown open and the youngest boy from that loud family stood there looking at him.
"Do you mind, everywhere else is full." He half asked as he walked in and put his trunk in the storage area before Harry could even respond. Rude.
"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley. Who are you?" the boy asked.
"Harry." He responded after a few moment.
"No way!" Ron exclaimed in excitement, "Harry Potter, do you have the scar?"
"That is quite rude to ask." Responded Harry cooly.
"Oh come on, everyone knows you received a scar from You-Know-Who the night you defeated him. Why won't you show it?" Ron almost whined.
"Because it is nothing more than a reminder that my parents were murdered for me."
That shut him up quite nicely and the rest of the ride was spent in silence.
Ron stayed by his side as they disembarked from the train all the way to the Great Hall, which was amazing as he looked up at the ceiling. Then his name was called for his sorting.
"Well well, look who we have here. A little lost child." Said a dusty voice in his head.
"Say anything you see to anyone and I'll toss you into a fire after I rip you apart at the seams." Harry thought back at what could only be the sorting hat.
"Calm yourself child, I have no intention of telling anyone of our conversation. My only interest lies in placing you into the proper house for your time here at school."
Harry calmed somewhat but stayed on guard. Everyone in the hall sat on the edge of their seats in anticipation, waiting to see where the Boy-Who-Lived would be sorted. Within his mind the sorting hat was pushing for Slytherin but Harry was stubbornly refusing, saying that many of the children who would wish him dead were in that house, he would never have any rest there. Harry pushed for any of the other three houses.
"Fine then you stubborn child, for your time at Hogwarts you will be Gryffindor!"
As the hat called out the house, the red and gold table burst out in thunderous cheers. It was so loud that many others, including Harry, were covering their ears.
By the stars, what did I just get myself into? Thought Harry taking his seat.
What had he gotten into indeed. The next few days made it painfully clear that to the majority of his house at least he was seen as an object. They bragged to the rest of the school how they got Potter, the hero of their world, in their house. It was subtle at first, but Harry noticed, he had to learn to notice these things, he saw the resentment blooming in the other houses eyes, their displeasure taking seed. Gryffindor was going to be the death of him. Maybe he should have let the hat put him Slytherin after all.
Ron wasn't helping matters at all either, bragging to anyone who would listen how he was Harry Potter's best friend while simultaneously driving everyone else away. He had only come into the wizarding world recently, but they already had a mold he had to fit from what he could see. So keeping his head down and attend his classes would be his best option for now.
Yet not even that was enough. The teachers had their own expectations of him as well. Snape was the worst of them all, Harry didn't know what his problem was but it was going to be difficult with that man breathing down his neck ready at a moments notice to berate him for even the slightest mistake. It was as if all the teacher's expected him to already know everything but his knowledge was limited only to what was in the books Hagrid had bought for him. He never got the chance to return to the alley, nor did he have the funds to. To rectify this, Harry spent as much time as he could reading in the library. Yet even then, he had no peace. Hermione Granger, a first year like him noticed him in the library often and decided he was her new study partner keeping him from discovering what the books could tell him about his family or allowing him to discover some aspects of magic outside of the classwork on his own. This is all before Ron would forcibly come in and drag him out to play chess. And he is still trying to figure out how on the world he became a seeker. Why, why was his life like this.
The night became his solace. Wandering the halls and exploring forgotten rooms, feeling the sentient magic of the castle and listening to the voices. He could hear them talking about how much of a disappointment Hogwarts was turning out to be. Maleanor was very creative in her curses about the students and staff. Night is where he belonged, even with the threat of being caught by Filch and his cat. But if there was one thing the woods had taught him, it was how to move unnoticed, silent. The night offered him his sanctuary that the day stripped away. Silence, invisibility, they offered a valuable protection for him but the people of Hogwarts seemed intent on tearing it all away. To survive, he must adapt, but what will offer the best protection is the answer he desperately needs. Should he fit the mold of what people expect him to be or try something else, he had to decide quickly though otherwise the choice could be taken from him.
When he was able to steal a quiet moment in the back of the library at September's end, he found a tower of old books that appeared to not have been touched for a very long time. Probably before his parents attended was when these books were last held. So with care he went through each and every one. These books were of old magic. Wild magic, moon magic, runes, divination, rituals, and the old holidays. Much of the books he didn't understand but he would in time. These books were a treasure trove for Harry. At nights, he would slowly bring the books out of the library and to one of the castle towers. It faced both the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake, giving him an incredible view surrounding the school. He came across the tower one night as he was wandering. Walking down the hall he heard Filch shuffling his way in Harry's direction. This just so happened to be a hallway with no classrooms, broom closets, or anything to hide behind. Only tapestries. And the hallway was too long to be able to escape Filch's notice.
It was a flutter of a tapestry before him that grabbed Harry's attention. The tapestry depicted an old battle against a great black dragon and a single knight in a field of thorns. As he went to grab the edge, his hand phased right through. Not giving it much thought and needing to hide, Harry walked through. He didn't know what to expect but another hallway lit by small and dim Lumos at even intervals was not it. He hesitated a moment, staying as still as possible for Filch to pass by, and the caretaker did without a second glance to the tapestry.
With the itch to wander more still pushing him, Harry drifted down this new hall, following the lights. Walking up a set of stairs at the end brought him to a dusty chamber with furniture that was falling apart. About half the wall space was filled with bookshelves and the other half were windows. One portion of the wall space held a fire place that was almost comically large, a person could easily stand within. Before the fireplace was a couch and two armchairs making a U shape with end tables filling in the corners and ends surrounding a coffee table. Closer to the windows was a desk and chair that would be perfect to do homework at with the incredible views. There was a door that led out to a fairly wide balcony that was perfect for watching the world go by. It was to this tower that Harry secreted away the books that had become his refuge. After Flitwick taught them the reparo charm, this tower and all its broken furniture became the perfect place to practice the spell. Once everything was repaired, it became Harry's favorite place to be in the school.
As Halloween was creeping closer, the students all started getting in his face and thanking him for freeing them from You-Know-Who. There was no peace so he had taken refuge in his tower as much as possible but people sought him out often during the month. It was all rubbing him the wrong way. Those few moments he could escape from the crowd though were bliss and allowed him to pull himself together. Without them, he would have snapped long ago.
Those nights reading in his tower with Hedwig allowed him to explore magic as he wanted. He had gathered himself a nice little library by spiriting away old tomes from dusty, old corners of the school library, sometimes finding a book or old scroll in unused classrooms. It allowed him to see magic in a way that the people of the castle were trying to hide from him. He couldn't practice much as his core was still to undeveloped for roughly another year or two, but he could learn runes and the old scripts. Practice what spells he could and study others. He could practice the old ways that felt so comforting, almost like regaining a lost piece himself.
This brought him to Halloween, and the feast for the students. No doubt everyone will try to keep him in their sights for the day and suffocate him even more. All he wanted was a quiet night to mourn the parents he never knew and never will know. He read of a small ritual that he could do that was exactly what he wanted and allow him to feel his parents spirits. Hopefully he could escape to his tower after the school's feast. He did try to be excused from the feast but Professor McGonagall said that his presence was mandatory. She had no sympathy that she was forcing him to celebrate the day his parents were killed. Heartless bitch.
The entire day was hell. Why did people think that they could invade his personal space like they did? Patting his head, hugging him out of nowhere, one of the older girls let her hands drift a little too low for his comfort and he got himself out of there as fast as he could. Not even scrubbing his skin raw will remove the feeling of being grabbed like that by everyone. He really was seen as nothing more than an object by the rest of the school. No telling how the rest of their community will treat him, but if the one trip to Diagon told him anything, it would be to expect the worst. All he wanted now was to return to his woods with his little horde of books and Hedwig, and that was too much to ask for of the people here.
Too lost in his melancholic thoughts, Harry nearly walked right into an argument between Ron and Hermione. He was saying that she should butt out and stop interfering in everything, while she was arguing back that he would never get anywhere without studying and that he couldn't hog all of his time. Harry had a good idea that it was him and his time they were arguing about. Once they noticed Harry, the two turned to him to find out who was right. Stars he wanted to be anywhere but here.
Then Ron made things worse with his comment, "At least I have friends unlike you, you bossy know it all!"
"Your'e wrong, I have a friend. It's Harry. We are friends, aren't we Harry?" she said, turning to him with tears forming in her eyes.
He must have taken too long to answer to her satisfaction as her face fell then ran away.
"You tell her Harry, we don't need anybody else other than each other." Exclaimed a proud Ron not even realizing how rude he was being.
"Shove off Ron, you didn't need to treat her like that." He stated tiredly.
"She totally deserved it though. Sheesh Harry, enjoy a moment why don't ya. We have a massive feast waiting for us tonight!" Ron exclaimed excitedly.
Sighing, Harry just continued on to their next class just wanting to get the day over with.
The moment the feast started, Harry grabbed some food that would easily keep, wrapped it in a napkin and shoved it in his pocket to use for the ritual later that night. Then he started filling his plate with food and not the copious amounts of sweets that littered the table. Glancing around as he ate, avoiding the food flying around Ron, Harry noticed Hermione wasn't at the feast. Overhearing Lavender and Parvarti told him that she was in a lavatory bawling her eyes out over what happened earlier. He did feel a little bad for her but it was a situation that she created.
Then the night went from tolerable, to bad. Quirrell burst through the Hall doors running as if his life depended on it screaming "TROLL!! Troll in the dungeon!" Then promptly fainted on his face before the head table. Pandemonium erupted in the hall following that bombshell of a statement. Before Ron was swept away from the crowd, Harry grabbed his arm tightly.
"Hermione isn't here, we have to let someone know so they can go find her."
Ron gave him a weird look before he said, "Why do you care?"
"Because we are the reason she is not here and doesn't know about the danger roaming the halls right now. If she gets hurt it will be our fault she was in that situation to begin with." Harry stated heatedly.
Ron seemed to be debating something for a moment then broke into a large smile that gave Harry an uneasy feeling.
"Alright then," said Ron, "Let's go find her."
"What!" exclaimed Harry, "No, we have to tell a teacher or a prefect, we're only first years and don't know any spells that can take on a troll!"
"Well, they're gone now so there is no one to tell. We have to get her ourselves."
Looking around at the now empty hall, Harry groaned because Ron was right. Everyone left as they were arguing.
"Fine, let's get this over with. I heard she was holed up in a bathroom on the third floor."
With that, the two set off to find Hermione. Harry had herd that she was near one of the classrooms but didn't know which one so they searched every bathroom near the classes once they reached the third floor.
It was taking too long, how many bathrooms had they searched? How many more were there on this floor? They had already searched near all their classrooms so did she move? Was she safe and they were just putting themselves at risk? Was she in a different bathroom? Was she near the forbidden corridor Dumbledore mentioned? All these thoughts were racing through Harry's head as they combed through the third floor. They had to move fast and find Hermione then return to their common room while hopefully going unnoticed.
Then Harry heard it. Slow lumbering steps. The smell followed soon after. It was foul, like a pile of rotting corpses that emptied their bowels baking under the sun. It stung his eyes and halted Harry and Ron in their tracks. They could hardly breathe the stench was choking them. Then they saw it coming up the stairs. A great lumbering thing with stumps for legs thumping with each step. Dead, thoughtless eyes staring ahead. Sickly grey skin both stretched thinly across the body and hanging loose around the belly and arms flapping around as it walked. The troll had left the dungeon.
Quickly dragging Ron behind one of the suits of armor Harry did his best to control his breathing, praying that it would pass them by. The troll didn't come down their corridor but instead opened a door, and they heard a scream.
Ron the idiot, bolted toward the troll as it started smashing the room and began using some of the rubble as a makeshift club. He didn't want any injuries to weigh on his mind just because he wouldn't help, so Harry raced after Ron. Hermione was cowering in the far corner of the bathroom, Ron was trying to get the troll's attention by throwing debris at it. To help Ron, he started casting stunners, trying to get the troll away from Hermione.
The troll swung it's club again destroying the last bit of shelter Hermione had. She cried out in terror as she tried to make herself as small as possible in the corner.
Harry remembered a spell he had recently found, he didn't have a chance to practice it yet but hopefully it could help. Pointing his wand at the troll he cried out "Perforans Sagitta!" A ray of magic, more substancial than the stunner shot out like an arrow and was able to nick the troll's shoulder. The troll shifted it's focus from Hermione to Harry and raised it's club at him.
"Hey, pea brain!" Taunted Ron as he tossed another piece of debris. He lucked out this time as the troll turned it's attention to him.
"Hermione over here!" Harry called.
Hermione only looked up, still huddled in the corner, petrified in fear. Ron would soon be backed into a corner himself if they didn't get moving. So he ran toward Hermione to get her moving. He grabbed her arm and started shoving her toward the door.
"Hermione, we have to move NOW!" He ordered the girl.
This snapped her attention back to reality and she bolted. Once she was out of the bathroom she hid behind a nearby pillar, not wanting to abandon the boys who saved her.
Ron was now backed into a corner himself, fear consuming him slowly.
Harry shot another stunner at the troll diverting it's attention once again but to him.
"Ron, get out of here. Get to Hermione." Harry called to Ron.
He also ran out and joined Hermione, now the two were worried about Harry, trapped in the bathroom with the troll. They didn't know what to do, nothing Ron or Harry did affected the creature in any way.
Thinking fast, Harry knew he had to do something drastic to get out of here. He saw a larger jagged piece of stone and slipped it into his robe pocket. Slipping underneath it's arm on a downward swing, Harry was at the troll's back, which now had Harry at the far wall from the door with troll in between. Launching off a toilet, Harry started to climb the troll's back as it was waving around wildly, trying to dislodge him. Hooking his legs around the stiff trolls neck, Harry grabbed the stone from his pocket, raised it high above his head using much of his strength to stay in place, he brought the stone down upon the troll's head. He did this again, and again, and again. He kept hitting the troll until it fell forward onto the ground, dislodging him upon impact.
Hearing the crash, Ron and Hermione returned to see what had happened. The sight that they came upon horrified them. A fallen troll with a mangled head and Harry covered in blood splatter and a stone covered on gore laying fallen on the floor near by.
"We have to go, now." Said Harry.
"Why?" Questioned Hermione.
"Unless you want to explain all this to the teachers who are surly on their way here after all that racket, we need to get moving."
With that, the trio were on the move running down the hallway. Paying no attention to where they were, they came upon a locked door at the end of a dusty hall. Hermione made her way forward and cast an unlocking spell allowing them entry. Once on the other side they let out a breath of relief, thinking they were safe. Until they heard a low growling in the darkness. In the low light of a single torch near the door, a three headed dog prowled forward, growling the whole while. The attention of all three heads fixated upon them.
It was only a glance, but Harry thought he saw a door under one of it's front paws. Screaming burst forth from Ron and Hermione as they left the room, snapping dog on their heels and they struggled to close the door behind them but eventually succeeded. Down a different hall they ran. They ran until they reached familiar halls and is an out of the way staircase the trio took refuge in one of the hidden alcoves.
Shaking and exhausted, the three just stared at each other in silence, shock, and a little bit of fear that was aimed at Harry, dressed in blood covered robes as he was.
"What just happened?" whispered Hermione.
"We just beat a troll, ran for our lives just incase it wasn't dead or we get caught by teachers. Then met a Cerberus standing over a trapped door then ran for our lives again until we ended up here." Said Harry dully.
"You killed it, the troll." Said Ron shakily.
"Not sure if I did. It's head was harder than you think. Knocked it out, yes. Killed it, I don't know." His voice still dull, while staring at his red stained hands.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, worried.
"There's a bathroom nearby where you can clean up. We'll meet you back at the common room." Whispered Hermione.
With that, the two left Harry on his own. He sat in that little alcove for a good while, staying hidden in the shadows that were so very comforting . Eventually he got moving, needing to clean up. Finding the bathroom, he put his outer robe in the sink and let the water run over it and fill the basin to soak. His white shirt might be a loss if he couldn't find a spell to clean it. Looking into the mirror, dull green eyes stared back.
Did he kill that troll, or did it still live? Why was that dog standing on a trap door and what was it guarding? He lifted his blood covered hand and wondered what was going on in this crazy world.
Then he caught a scent, it was a sweet and delicious smell mixed with something foul. It was on his hand so he took a closer look. Near the base of his palm was a wet spot of blood, different than what was on the rest of his hand. It was a beautiful red, and the smell was oh so tempting. He couldn't help himself but lick it. An explosion of flavors he couldn't describe danced across his tongue, he felt some energy return to him, and memories not his own danced across his mind, too fast to catch.
Once the memories ran its course, Harry reeled back, scared of what just happened. He had just enjoyed some blood. It wasn't the trolls as that smelled foul, so where did it come from? A thought came to him then, Hermione had a cut on the back of her hand and he grabbed her there trying to get her to move. But why did he like the blood. Washing his hands, he tried to push everything aside Harry cleaned up best he could and snuck back into the common room.
Thankfully there weren't many about so he slipped up to his room and went to bed. It was a very confusing Halloween and tomorrow didn't bode well from the actions of that night. One day at a time he thought falling into a restless sleep.
Harry was cornered by Ron and Hermione late the next day and they started talking about the mentioned trap door and that the Cerberus was standing guard over and that they had to find out what was going on in the school. Ron then brought out an old newspaper that was talking about a break in at Gringotts earlier in the year and said that it might be connected. Harry remembered this article, he thought it odd because the targeted vault was one that Hagrid had brought him to and retrieved the single object inside the day before while supply shopping and he mentioned this to his two companions. This sent them into a tizzy spitting out theories of what it could be.
While they were spinning their theories in the crowded hallway they were walking through, really it's not that smart to be talking about this stuff where just anybody could hear them, Harry was overhearing conversations about the troll. How the teachers discovered it alive but wounded in one of the girls bathrooms. That it was a powerful blasting curse that had taken it down. While Harry was glad he didn't kill it, it also rubbed him wrong that he had left an opponent who had threatened him alive that could come back at a later time. What was going on with him? First the blood, and now these foreign feelings, he didn't know what was going on but everything was getting flipped around since finding out about magic.
While doing some research about what the mystery could be with some homework mixed in at the library, Ron got up to go find another book leaving Harry with a nervous Hermione. She was worrying her lip looking like she desperately wanted to talk about something. So he closed his book while pushing it aside, sat straighter and looked right at her, waiting for Hermione to make the first move. Seeing his actions, she also sat up and gathered her thoughts.
"Why did you come for me last night? Earlier you said that we weren't even friends."
"One, you did't know about a loose troll so needed to be warned if only just so you could find a safer spot to be alone. And two, don't go putting words in my mouth that I didn't say. If you don't remember, I did not respond to your ambush of a question. I had only just walked up to the two of you so only knew the bare minimum of what you and Ron were arguing about. To answer your question though, I will have to say I don't know."
"What!?" startled Hermione with wide eyes.
"I've never had a friend before besides Hedwig so I can't say if we are or not. I can say the same thing with Ron as well."
Hermione just looked at him for a long time after that. Even when Harry went back to his homework and when Ron brought back the needed books with a thump on the table startling her. Quietly they continue until the library closes for the night. He returns back to the common room with them and waits for everyone to fall asleep before he slips out to wander and go to his tower.
The following days and weeks blurred together and Harry wouldn't be able to tell the difference if asked. It was all classes, home work and finding clues for the Cerberus and that came with a chocolate frog card of all things. They were now searching for Nicolas Flamel and what he would want guarded. The night as always, belonged to Harry who searched his own collection of books to try and find out what was happening to him. Not much has happened so far but they were some jarring changes that were worrying to him.
With every spare moment he had, he combed through the lineage books he had to see if they had any information about his family. He had originally sought out these books to see what was said about his parents, but then he learned that the Potter family had a long history. This lead to him finding books that told him of the family branches, past allied families, cousin, Aunts, and Uncles he could have had but were all wiped out in the wars of Grindelwald and Voldemort. It was all whittled down until only he was left. This was quite the sobering information to find while searching his lineage. It just showed him how alone he was.
Stopping at an open window, Harry stared at the falling snow. Christmas and Yule was almost upon them and majority of the castle residents will leave letting quiet take the halls once more. What were his families traditions this time of year he wondered.
"Harry, there you are. We have been looking for you." Called Hermione as she pulled Ron with her.
He smiled a little bit at his maybe friends. They had their faults and were pushy like no other, but they also accepted him as he was after the troll incident. It felt heartwarming, having them around.
"What did you need?" he asked the pair.
"I was wondering what your Christmas plans were. My parents and I are going to France to visit mum's side of the family." Said Hermione.
"Mum and Dad are going to Romania to visit my brother Charlie, those of us still in Hogwarts are staying for break." Was Ron's response.
"I'm staying as well, don't have anyone to celebrate the holidays with." Harry remarked.
The two gave him a look of pity at this that irritated him, but Harry was able to keep them from knowing. He was getting better at controlling his expressions, and it was getting all to easy to show everyone a mask of what they wanted to see.
"Then I'll just bring back a lot of souvenirs for the two of you. Don't forget to go through the library again for anything on Flamel." Reminded Hermione.
"All that is left for us to search is the restricted section, there is no way for us to get in there. And its boring doing all this reading and research. The holidays are meant for us to have fun, not study." Whined Ron.
The two continued to banter at each other all the way to and through lunch. It was quite amusing to watch Hermione go off about the virtues of studying while Ron was defending the need of fun. This argument was kept up even as Hermione was boarding the train for break, now everyone in school was placing bets if it would continue after break and for how long or if it would fizzle out over the next two weeks. So far many were betting that it would continue, just for how long was the question.
The snow kept falling into great drifts around the castle during break, even Hagrid was having some trouble traversing the grounds. Many of those who remained just stayed inside the walls and walk quickly through the chilly corridors. Yet it made for a beautiful Christmas morning as Ron called Harry down saying he had presents. Wonder was a constant expression he wore as Harry opened his first true Christmas presents. When he saw the Weasley sweater he put it on nearly right away and took great joy in the warmth it carried. Then came the mystery present. It was an invisibility cloak according to Ron. He was definitely keeping this safe if what the note said was true and it once belonged to his father.
As night fell, Harry donned the cloak and wandered new halls. Catching Snape and Quirrell in a heated argument, he slipped unnoticed into an old room. Looking around the room was empty except for an ornately decorated mirror. At the top was an inscription that read 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.' Curiosity calling for him to look into the mirror, Harry Potter looked straight into a pair of red slitted eyes.