Capítulo 1548: 10
Chapter 10: ChristmasNotes:
Good morning everyone, here's the latest chapter.
Got a bit longer than usual, but I'm sure none of you mind that. But be advised, I just got all my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday and only finished the chapter afterwards so be lenient with me if I made any stupid mistakes.
Anyway, have fun reading.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was around two weeks before the end of term when Minerva McGonagall started taking the names of those students who would stay in the castle during the Christmas holidays, like always. This time she was genuinely surprised to see the names of all Weasley kids on the list. Usually Molly Weasley insisted on all her children attending the celebration at the Burrow. Maybe she had given that up with her oldest two being out of the country or it was a plan by Dumbledore. Little did he know though that Harry was going home - or at least leaving Hogwarts. The Grangers had reached out to her as his guardian and informed her of their invitation. Not that she'd tell that to the old man.
Oh yes, by now Minerva had lost not only all trust, but also all respect for him and in private didn't even refer to him as "headmaster" for she thought he was not worthy of that title anymore. Secretly she hoped to succeed him at some point when the Dark Lord was defeated and they wouldn't need to follow the old timeline anymore. Then she would destroy his reputation once and for all, already working on a dossier that would get him into Azkaban without any doubt. Or even better, into Nurmengard with his old lover Grindelwald.
That had truly surprised her, his relationship with Grindelwald. Not Albus' sexual orientation, to her that didn't matter despite the prevalent prejudice in the wizarding world, but the fact that he had used his teenage years to create plans for world domination with someone who later became the first dark lord in over a century. There was so much she had never known about the man who once was her mentor.
Shortly before the term ended, the Gryffindor students had to endure Ronald Weasley's stories about how his parents were visiting his brother, the dragon handler Charlie, over Christmas. Harry did have his doubts because he was able to recall conversations with Molly stating that she'd wish to be able to visit him once in Romania. Probably all just a pretence to stay at Hogwarts with Harry.
Little did Ronald know that Harry was invited by the Grangers to stay at theirs for the holidays. And so Harry just kept quiet, studying for the first round of exams this year and training with Oli Wood (rather getting tortured, Oli was a tough captain and trainer). The latter got even worse once Hogwarts was again covered in several feet of snow, but not even a blizzard would have stopped the Gryffindor quidditch captain from training.
Hermione was actually split between thinking that was good and bad, now she knew that wizards tended to ignore physical fitness way too much, relying on magic all the time. At least the quidditch players were fit, from which Harry could benefit in battles or if they needed to go on the run again (yes, that was unlikely, but Hermione just loved to overthink everything). She even thought about starting with something herself, probably running, once the winter was over.
Well, but on the other hand she feared that Harry would get ill, since the weather truly was horrible. Once she had voiced her concerns he agreed and promised to take it slower if possible. But he made it clear that he had every intention of winning the cup this year. Last time around they lost because he was in the hospital wing after the stone-incident during the Ravenclaw - Gryffindor match. Not gonna happen this year. Both house and quidditch cup would be Gryffindor's, especially because he wouldn't let the whole Norbert-incident happen and both he and Hermione were excelling at class.
The end of term and the train ride back to London came all so fast, it had barely felt that long. But here they were, boarding the Hogwarts Express for Christmas. A first for Harry. The only time he left the castle during the winter holidays was in fifth year when Arthur got attacked, but that wasn't via train.
Once the two kids got back to London they parted from Neville and Daphne, who still seemed to be deep in conversation, and went looking for either of Mione's parents. It didn't take them long to find Dan, standing there with his bright smile. And once she had spotted him, his daughter ran at him and gave him a classy bone-crushing hug like only she could. Harry walked towards the two Grangers and greeted Dan as well, getting a hug too. Mione's father took the opportunity and thanked Harry quietly, because he has kept his promise to send regular letters to him sounding a little less "fairy-tale" than Mione's.
Before going home though both Harry and Hermione insisted on making a stop at Diagon Alley to get some presents for friends and family. Most of their other yearmates would get cards, like the Patil twins or Dean and Seamus, maybe with some chocolates or something similar attached, but at least Neville and Daphne would get a real present. Not to forget, the Granger parents, Augusta, Minerva and maybe even Snape. Oh, and last but not least obviously they would have to buy something for each other.
Dan dropped the kids off at the Leaky Cauldron and told them when he'd be back from some shopping so they would have enough time to do the Christmas shopping. And that was exactly what they did.
The alley was anything but empty, it appeared like half of wizarding Britain was doing their shopping on the last day before Christmas. Harry and Hermione ran into the occasional Hogwarts student, though none of their close circle of friends. That was good, because then they were able to buy their presents.
For Neville Harry bought a set of advanced herbology tools and Hermione a book about Botany. Daphne on the other hand was way more difficult. Harry as the Heir Potter (at least that's what everyone thought) got her a quill from a peacock feather while Hermione decided to buy something muggle for their pureblood friend. An idea Harry supported, but since he didn't want to make any blunder in regards to pureblood traditions he stuck to something magical.
After they got some small boxes of sweets from Diagon Alley's Honeydukes branch the two of them left the alley through the Leaky Cauldron and Mione led Harry to the next bookstore where she bought a muggle history book for their Syltherin friend before they went back to the pub and waited for Dan.
Once they all got back to the Granger residence they reunited with Emma and despite the fact that Harry had thought the reunion of Mione and Dan was quite emotional, the reunion of mother and daughter was even more energetic and emotional. But Hermione wasn't the only one greeted dearly, Harry too. Having read letters from both of them and seeing them now together reassured the parents that both kids were managing school quite well, not only intellectually but socially as well. Something their daughter had always struggled with.
Dinner that evening was a very lively event, celebrating the first term and return of the kids. It obviously was no big dinner like on Christmas Eve but the mood was fantastic. For hours they told tales about their adventures, be it quidditch or sneaking out and running into Fluffy (the consensus was that Ronald was an idiot, but they were still reckless). At some point they did decide though, that it was way too late now and the Grangers sent the kids into bed.
At Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore came down to dinner as well, fully expecting to see Harry Potter, basically forced to sit with the Weasleys. He had confunded all of the kids so they thought that their parents were visiting Charlie in Romania, even though that was not the case, simply to make the kids stay at the castle. He needed them to get close to Potter. But the problem was that he wasn't there.
"Minerva, where's young Harry? I fully expected him to be here at his house table."
The witch smiled while Severus started to eavesdrop on the conversation that was about to happen.
"Oh, he didn't put his name down on the list of people who'd stay here over Christmas. I guess he's going home or got invited by a classmate. I don't know to be honest."
Albus was furious, but again hiding it. He deemed it beyond unlikely that Harry Potter voluntarily went back to the Dursleys for Christmas so the most reasonable explanation might either be Lady Longbottom or the damn Grangers. Now he had to write some letters and find out the truth.
Minne did instantly realise that she had given away more than she had wanted to, but now it was too late. Well, to be precise she didn't give anything away, but her statement made the headmaster think. Now she had to inform the young Mr Potter about that as soon as possible.
On the morning of the 24th both kids stayed in bed longer than usual, but, once they had gotten up, helped Emma in the kitchen preparing Dinner. Apparently Christmas at the Grangers was a very big thing, Harry realised. While they were busy with the food, Dan was finalising the decorations in the house, raising the Christmas spirit even more.
Even though Harry had always felt like a part of the Weasley family, this dynamic here was so much more to him. He lacked words to describe the difference, but now he had a family. The only times he had felt such a feeling, or at least that strong, was with Moony and Padfoot. Which reminded him of something.
The next time he found the opportunity to talk to Mione alone and in secret he told her of his plan to write letters to both of them, disguised in a marauder-worthy style. Christmas cards, he knew, sometimes got into Azkaban.
Less than an hour later and thanks to Harry no longer being prohibited to use magic outside of school thanks to his emancipation, Hedwig took off with a bunch of cards, some others they sent to Minnie via Potter-houselves so she could send them. Harry's owl was after all unmistakable and it would raise questions if he were to write Sirius.
At the end of the day Harry was absolutely tired but filled with joy. They had laughed and joked the entire evening or either of the Granger parents had told some tales out of their lives. Dinner had been incredible, rivalling some of Hogwarts' feasts. But now neither he nor Mione could wait until Christmas day, even though they were mentally adults, deep down they were children as well. And after death, war and terror they did need some joy.
Mione was happy. Her parents had all but outright adopted Harry within those months since Diagon Alley, despite the fact that they've been at school for months now. The young witch scolded herself quietly that they had never done anything like that during the last timeline, maybe she would have realised what kind of feelings she had for him.
Yes, they did say that the whole soulmate thing could wait and that was the right decision, but she wouldn't deny her feelings. Never.
On Christmas day a lot of interesting things happened to quite a variety of people:
A while after he had left the pack in southern Latvia, Remus Lupin had reached the polish-german border. It had been a full moon on Saturday the 21st and it had been a rough one. No chance of getting wolfsbane anywhere and so he endured the pain, locked away by himself. It had delayed his plans, he had planned to meet up with a pack leader in northern Germany around Christmas, but sometimes the pain of the transformations were simply horrible. Nothing really unusual, that happened around once a year. Still, Dumbledore wouldn't be too happy, since he wanted to get as many reports as possible. Why, the werewolf didn't know, but who was he to question the Leader of the Light.
His travels were rough, either via muggle cargo trains or on foot. Thus, Remus was very exhausted most of the time. But that was simply the life of a werewolf. No proper job, no money and no home. At least Dumbledore sent him some Galleons every few months, that's why he followed him. And because he had no one and nothing else. James and Peter were dead, Sirius in Azkaban (he couldn't imagine why he had betrayed James but there was obviously no doubt since he was the secret keeper) and Dumbledore hiding Harry, keeping him safe. Remus never liked the arrangement, but again - who was he to argue with that. He had tried and failed, over and over again. He might never see Prongslet again.
But then something very unexpected happened, like a little Christmas miracle for Remus. An owl came for him and obviously not one of Albus. He always worked with hidden drop-offs. Maybe it was Andi or her daughter Dora again, they had tried contacting him a few times. But no, once he opened the letter, it was just an empty piece of paper. Unless…it wasn't.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
It was just a crazy thought, no one knowing that code phrase would or could send him a letter. He knew it wouldn't do anything, it was just for old times sake that he said it, but then he saw something.
"You've got to be kidding! Who…?"
Words started to form and after just a few seconds he held a letter in his hand, the writing itself looked both familiar and unfamiliar. He recognised some of those loops that James' writing had had, just like his father's before him, some other letters were more edgy than round, like reminding him of Lily's scribbled notes. Always more focussed on an efficient writing instead of a beautiful one. Oh yes, handwriting was definitely hereditary. But it couldn't be from him.
Dear Uncle Moony,
First of all, Merry Christmas to you. I hope you are doing well, because, as you might wanna know, I am. At least now.
I know you're still working for Dumbledore (don't ask how I know that), but believe me, stop that right away. The old man sealed mum's and dad's wills and brought me to Petunia. I think that is self-explanatory, you can guess how badly they treated me. Once I got my letter, Hagrid!!!! gave me the introduction to the wizarding world (if you can call that an introduction, I like the guy but seriously? Even Snape would have done that better). Luckily Minnie - Professor McGonagall - ran into us in the Alley and took over, where she started to realise how much the old man had manipulated us. Never bothered to look once, never cared that I got hit and starved. There was a list of people in the will, one of them should have been my guardian. I have a copy attached, you'll find it once you "mischief managed" the letter. Minnie brought me to Gringotts to my account manager, we read the wills and she became my guardian (despite getting emancipated too). We visited the Manor and I found all of Mum's and Dad's stuff, including his map and diaries.
Currently I'm living with a friend from school, approved by Minnie, but I won't tell you more details yet. Just know that I'm safe and soon Dumbledore will pay for all what he has done. Distance yourself and come back into the country, we can meet during the summer holidays. I want to get to know you.
I assume you still know where the Manor (the main one) is, you're still recognised as a friend by the wards. Stay there and lay low. If you don't find your way there on your own, contact Minnie discreetly. I hope I have your Marauder's promise you won't tell old Dumbles.
Oh gosh, I nearly forgot to put that into the letter, Hermi my friend reminded me to tell you that Padfoot is innocent and Wormtail, the rat, was the true secret keeper. And don't forget, it was old Dumbles himself casting the Fidelius. He knew. It's his fault I wasn't raised by Padfoot and you. Hagrid basically stole me out of his arms before he went crazy and hunted the rat, which is alive by the way. I bet that was a compulsion by the old man.
Anyway, I shouldn't tell you all of that via letter, that's why I'm using the nicknames too. Please come and visit me, Uncle Moony. Merry Christmas!
Love,
Lord Prongslet
It took Remus Lupin certainly longer than five minutes to recover from that letter, he lost all sense of time and just stared at the paper for who knows how long. After that he summoned the will just like little Harry had told him, and there it was. He was right and Dumbledore was a liar.
Now Moony started to realise why he did get those assignments. As far away from Harry as possible, potentially deadly and keeping him from interfering.
The wolf inside Remus Lupin awoke now, motivating him, forcing him to return to Britain. He hadn't been there since he got his Defence Mastery in the US four years back. Probably even longer. Remus couldn't recall when he last sat foot on British soil, if you exclude Gibraltar in '88. But, as he reminded himself, that didn't matter. There were more important things at hand now. He had to return.
What a Christmas present.
Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape had met on the 24th, coincidentally at the same time as the house-elf came with the letters. That Snape now knew Harry was Lord Potter was not a problem for Minnie, by now all three of them trusted him. He basically knew everything.
Yes, once the transfiguration professor looked at the recipients of the letters, she was surprised, and so was Snape.
"Lupin and Black? I mean the werewolf I do understand, but why that stupid Black? He betrayed Lily to the Dark Lord."
Minnie shook her head and decided to bring up Severus' death eater past.
"Come on Severus, do you really think Riddle wouldn't have bragged about marking all the Blacks. Well, at least the heir, I'm pretty sure good old Arcturus stayed out of that until the end. He had Regulus and Bellatrix. Andromeda was kicked out of the family and Narcissa is basically a death eater, marked or not. Sirius was never evil and never betrayed James. Come on, guess what happened."
And again, Snape, the Sherlock Holmes fan that he was, thought through what Minerva had said. Under the presumption that Black was innocent, who was the traitor and who wanted to keep Black in prison? Lupin couldn't have been the traitor, he despised Greyback too much to work together with him under the Dark Lord. He couldn't have faked that.
But wait, Dumbledore was the one who had casted the Fidelius and said Black was the secret keeper afterwards. And with Black in Azkaban, Albus could take Harry into his custody and seal the wills as Chief Warlock.
"He wanted to gain custody. Dumbledore, I mean. Black had political power and would be next in line for Lord, no matter what his crazy mother said. Arcturus was the Lord and I'm pretty sure he didn't kick him out. Surely he was a witness to the wills and knew the contents of those, sealing wouldn't have done anything. For god's sake, he probably had his own copy. But what I don't get is who the secret keeper was. It was more or less common knowledge and he even admitted it was his fault after he blew up…"
Now it clicked. Snape understood what the old man had done and he had to admit, that was one hell of a plan.
"Pettigrew was the secret keeper and that stupid Black insisted on being a distraction. He was the obvious choice, so they didn't take him. That is why Black went after him, why he thought it was his fault. The distraction idea sounds like one of his pranks, for sure. And the old man used that opportunity. Smart. Pettigrew was a death eater."
He grinned, having reached a plausible conclusion, but that grin disappeared after seconds. Lily's death still hit too hard. But then he saw Minerva shake her head.
"Not completely. Pettigrew played Sirius, blew everything up himself, cut off his finger and transformed. You know they were animagi. He's still out there, but we're still waiting for the right moment. Don't want to shake things up too much."
Snape was caught between understanding and shock. Pettigrew, a loyal death eater, alive and well, Black innocent and imprisoned and the two kids wanting to not disturb the timeline too much.
"Don't answer me, but I think the kids want something to happen. During the troll incident they went mad when I said Dumbledore can feel polyjuice and portkeys inside and said something about a resurrection and Crouch Jr. I suspect he's out there, using those two things to kidnap Potter for Voldemort's resurrection. There's only one ritual for that and Riddle has no greater enemy than Potter in his eyes. They want to kill him then. So don't change too much. Smart."
And with that statement their conversation was over and once again he left. He just didn't want to know too much, should Riddle return soon he would have to offer his mind to him and Dumbles had looked through there a few times himself too. Not too pleasant.
Albus Dumbledore smiled. He had used the fact that only the young Mr Weasley was currently sleeping in the Gryffindor dorms to plant the cloak on Harry's bed. It wasn't ideal that the boy was absent for the time being, but at least he would discover the present once he returned. For his plans to work he needed to make Harry see the mirror, so he had added some compulsions to his tracking and eavesdropping charms. Those should work, no one was strong enough to resist his magic, and especially not Potter with all the bindings on his core. That had been a wise decision.
In a dark and tiny cell, somewhere in the middle of the North Sea, Sirius Black was having another horrible Christmas. He only knew that since the guards couldn't stop complaining about having this shift instead of being with their families.
Family.
That was something he truly missed, and by that he meant James, Lily, Moony and little Harry, his godson. The only bit of family he got during his stay at Azkaban was Bella three cells down the corridor, and that was something he could truly go without. Her occasional mad laughter was truly horrifying.
Sirius Black felt forgotten and mistreated. Why, he hadn't understood for years. Dumbledore had cast the Fidelius charm and knew the truth, so he purposefully wanted him out of the picture, probably so the old meddler could control Harry. Damn prophecy. He didn't know the whole one, but James told him what Albus had told them. A danger for Voldemort, a vanquisher. That was, what Harry was apparently destined to be. And good old Dumbledore wanted to shape the future after his wishes. What a bas…
Before he could finish the insult, he got interrupted by a guard, rattling at his cell door.
"Black! A letter for you. Looks like your lucky day."
Sirius was truly surprised, because whether letters reached a prisoner or not was always a bit of a gamble and depending on the mood of the guards. And on Christmas of all days, where everyone was usually in a bad mood. Maybe they just felt sorry for him, since it was his first letter since his incarceration.
With shaking fingers he unrolled the parchment and stared at it once letters started to form. And even though he hadn't read or even seen letters and words in a decade, it was no difficulty for him. Lucky him, because that letter was definitely worth reading.
Uncle Padfoot,
I'm just writing a short note with not so many important infos on it so it won't fall into the wrong hands at Azkaban.
Merry Christmas!
I know what the old man has done to you, I know that Wormtail is still out there. An associate of mine (you know and like her) helps me against him, but we need to be careful. We're gonna try getting a visit to Azkaban this summer and talk to you.
We're gonna take the old man down, Moony is informed too. Don't worry about me, I'm fine now.
Love,
Lord Prongslet
Sirius burst out laughing. Harry was doing well and working on the downfall of Dumbledore with apparently powerful friends. Otherwise getting a visit would be impossible. And it seemed like he took the ring of Lord Potter. That certainly wouldn't go well with Dumbledore's plans.
Now Sirius felt way better, and that despite the dementors. He had already started to make plans for his escape with help from Padfoot, but that was not necessary anymore. Now he could wait for Harry.
On Christmas morning, Harry was actually the first one up, but just after he left the bathroom freshly showered, he ran into Mione. The two of them hugged and wished each other a Merry Christmas.
Once Hermione was done as well, both kids went downstairs to unpack the presents, but before that they set the table for breakfast. That must have been quite an hilarious sight, because despite their best efforts, they still wanted to get it done and thus hurried. Once they decided that this had to be enough, they went into the living room and started to look through the presents. Some that had arrived via owl post had been put under the tree as well. It was more than Harry had ever gotten in his life on any Christmas, including the previous timeline.
They started with the presents by their closer friends, beginning with Neville's. For Harry he sent a leather coat, the family crests of both Longbottom and Potter engraved on its silver buttons. The included card told him that it was a traditional garment and sign of their houses' friendship.
For Mione he sent an old book - apparently everyone thought that would be an ideal present for her - about house-elves, but one that was long prohibited by Britain's bigots. The author's take on the bond between master and elf was less about servitude but rather symbiosis. Something that Mione definitely wanted to read.
Daphne had also sent a book, but it was something quite different, it was the Tales of Beedle the Bard. It seemed like the Heiress Greengrass wanted to educate Mione on wizarding traditions, something that muggleborns definitely lacked.
Harry's present from her was something much more personal, assembled with the help of her mother. Just like Professor Flitwick had told, both their mothers had been part of the same study group and so Aurelia Greengrass had assembled some of their old stuff like notes and pictures in an album. Apparently mother and daughter had conversed via letters about that for some weeks now.
Aside from some minor gifts that Mione got from family members and some chocolates and letters from schoolmates, there were Hagrid's flute, some new pieces of muggle clothing for both from Dan and Emma, advanced transfiguration books from Minnie, there were only small presents from Snape and each others. The potions professor had sent Harry a short letter combined with some muggle and magical pictures from him and Lily, some even pre-Hogwarts. Mione got a small book, which was a summary of the most essential potions basics. Something that she would have appreciated during her first time around.
Now, Dan and Emma were already watching the kids quietly, they only had each other's presents left. They grinned at each other and started opening it simultaneously. Harry had his box opened first, looking stunned at the elegant quill in a small case. Up until now he had written with the quill bought in Diagon Alley with Hagrid, nothing too nice but at least functional. But that one was incredible, he realised it once he held it. Harry looked at Mione, smiling, while she still unpacked her present. For her he had bought a periwinkle blue scarf and a silver hair clip, both she absolutely loved as he could see. Mione jumped up and hugged the boy while her parents watched the adorable scene.
This Christmas was truly an incredible one.
The only person who didn't really have an incredible Christmas was Ronald Bilius Weasley. Nothing up until this point had worked out like his mother and Dumbledore had promised him. Potter was a completely different person that promised and he didn't even stay at Hogwarts during the holidays. Now he was alone in this dorm, and nearly alone at school with mainly his older siblings in attendance.
He got up and walked towards the window, looking out on the grounds of Hogwarts. It was snowy and seemed cold outside. He hated this holiday. With the amount of money - or lack thereof - his family had it was always depressing, barely food and just those stupid sweaters for Christmas. Nothing was good in his life.
But then, out of nowhere, it all changed. He didn't know where the impulse of snooping came from, but he looked across the room and something on top of Potter's bed caught his eye. Yes, it was stupid, but he still went towards it and grabbed it, ignoring the note laying there.
"You've got to be kidding me. An invisibility cloak. No chance he's gonna ever receive that."
Ronald Weasley grinned. It now seemed like things would get better for him now and with this cloak… It held so many possibilities.
Notes:
So, that was it, hope you liked it. As always I'm looking forward to your opinions in the comments.
See ya all next week
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