Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J. K. Rowling, not me.
Dumbledore Answers Harry - Chapter 7 - Christmas Break
As Harry and Remus appeared inside Potter Manor, they received a shock. Sitting/laying on the navy blue sofa snogging each other senseless were what appeared to be Sirius and a brunette woman that Harry believed was Angela Harper, although he couldn't see their faces to know for sure. They didn't react to the new arrivals at all, so Moony signaled for Harry to be quiet as he conjured a gallon bucket of water. He tiptoed up to the couple while Harry kept his hands over his mouth to stop himself from laughing.
"WHAAA?" shouted Sirius and Angela at the same moment, as their faces and upper bodies were dripping with cold water. Remus was standing there with an empty bucket laughing his head off as Harry, whose face was red from holding back his laughter, finally started cracking up.
Angela glared at Remus until Sirius started laughing. "I guess we sort of lost track of time," Padfoot said. "Um, I wanted to introduce Angela properly to Harry. Er, Harry Potter, this is Angela Harper."
"Actually," said the smiling brunette, "I knew you as a baby, Harry, before you were famous. You were adorable. What happened?"
"I laughed after Moony poured water all over you," said Harry grinning, "That probably made me look ugly to you." He grinned evilly. "Either that or you need glasses, cause I'm still adorable."
"He's got two girlfriends at Hogwarts," said Sirius, winking at his godson, "so he must be."
Harry's face involuntarily smiled as embarrassment took away his power of speech. "They….are….not….my….girlfriends!"
"Only two girlfriends?" asked Angela, "I should think someone as famous as you would have at least five."
"Oh, I've seen other girls volunteering to join his entourage," said Lupin with a smirk, "But Harry seems content with only two."
"WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" the red-faced, raven-haired boy shouted as he started marching on the wood floor in the direction of his bedroom.
When he slammed the door behind him, the three adults started laughing until Remus said, "I think we should probably go apologize. He may stay in that room until the break is over otherwise."
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Harry went into his bedroom, slammed the door, and fell on his bed. Remembering he could do magic, he pointed his wand at the door and magically locked it. 'Sure,' he thought to himself, 'we've talked about dating, but I'm not dating either of them. I shouldn't have to put up with harassment if I don't get to kiss them! Besides, I still don't know which one I like better!'
Suddenly there was a small pop in his room. Harry turned and saw Dobby running at him with his arms open wide. "Harry Potter is home for Christmas!" the elf proclaimed as he hugged his master.
Harry smiled as he returned the hug. "It's good to see you Dobby!"
"Harry Potter is saying it is good to see Dobby," the elf cried, "Never before has a wizard said it is good seeing Dobby! Harry Potter is a great wizard!"
At that moment there was a knock outside Harry's door, and Sirius' voice called out. "We're sorry for harassing you, Harry. We didn't mean it."
"We're just happy that you have such close friends, and we wouldn't be at all surprised if you end up dating one or both of them," said Remus.
"Harry," said Angela's voice, "I'm sorry. We've just met and I had to join in harassing you. I hope we can be friends. I for one promise not to harass you about your friends for the rest of your Christmas break. Please come out. We'd like to hear about your term. I'd especially like to hear about the quidditch matches. I understand you're the Gryffindor Seeker. I heard your team slaughtered Slytherin."
He smiled at that memory, and released the door. They made their way downstairs talking about Hogwarts. Angela herself was on the Gryffindor quidditch team at the same time as James Potter. They were chasers together. She told a lot of stories about pranks James pulled on Slytherin quidditch players, which Harry very much enjoyed.
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Time passed very quickly until Harry was going to bed on December 23rd after a day of Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley with Remus, Sirius, and Angela. Harry hadn't gotten any Christmas presents for anyone before then. He hoped everyone, especially Hermione and Ginny, would like what he bought them. He drifted off to sleep and enjoyed happy dreams about quidditch. He was playing a game and looking for the snitch. He squinted, looking all over the pitch until he spotted it. As he started flying toward the snitch, he noticed another one next to it. The closer he got, he saw that each of the snitches had a face on it. One was Hermione, and the other was Ginny. He was staring at them both, trying to decide which one to catch, when his dream got interrupted and turned into the worst nightmare he'd ever had so far.
"So, Wormtail," hissed the voice Harry had heard coming from the back of Quirrel's head just six months before, "have you milked Nagini yet?"
"Y-Yes my lord," said a pitiful man Harry recognized as Peter Pettigrew as he bowed to the floor. "I've prepared everything you need tonight my master."
"Have you received word from my other servant?" hissed Voldemort as Harry watched from behind Voldemort's eyes, "Is he preparing the potion that will aid in his capturing of Harry Potter?"
"Y-Yes my lord," said Pettigrew, "But why do you need the boy? Apprehending him will be difficult, even with the potion. We could use another wizard's blo…"
"ANOTHER WIZARD?" shouted Riddle, "I will not use another! I want to be more powerful when I return! I want to be able to get past the protection within the boy!"
At that moment, a huge snake slithered into the room and hissed at its master. Harry understood it to say, "There is an old muggle standing outside this door watching, master."
Voldemort said, "Nagini tells me that someone is listening to our conversation. Wormtail, open the door and invite him inside."
"Y-yes my master," said Peter, as he walked over toward the door and opened it, revealing an old man.
Voldemort looked at him from the chair that was facing the door. His pointed his wand and said, "Avada Kadavra!"
-
Harry woke up screaming with his scar feeling as though it were on fire. Dobby immediately appeared with a wet cloth and said, "Thank goodness Harry Potter is awake! Dobby is hearing Harry Potter screaming in his sleep. Dobby is coming in Harry Potter's room and is seeing Harry Potter sweating as he is thrashing about in his sleep. Dobby is getting a cold cloth for Harry Potter's head. Here." He finally handed Harry the damp cloth, which Harry used to wipe the sweat off his face before rubbing it on his scar.
"Th-thanks Dobby," said Harry as his heart rate slowed down.
He soon heard knocking at his door. "Harry, are you alright?" said Sirius.
"I-I'm fine. You can come in." After Sirius had walked into the room, Harry said, "I just had a…I don't know. I was dreaming, but then the dream was interrupted. I was suddenly Voldemort, and I was talking with Wormtail, planning my abduction from Hogwarts. I woke up with my scar hurting terribly. It's getting better now though."
Sirius paled as his eyes flicked toward the lightning-shaped scar, which did appear a bit pink. "Tell me everything you remember about it."
-
After Harry had told the Voldemort dream to Sirius, leaving out his previous dream, his godfather had him write the whole thing down in a letter and let Dumbledore know about it. The next morning, they told Lupin about it as well. He suggested that, "The scar you received from Voldemort may somehow be a link between him and yourself. I hope not, because if that's true, Peter has found Voldemort, and is helping him, as well as planning to do you harm."
"Yes," said Sirius, "I highly doubt that Voldemort wants to kidnap you to have a cup of tea and talk about old times."
"It sounded like he wants my blood," said Harry.
"Well," said Sirius, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, "We'll just have to make sure he doesn't get it."
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The rest of the day flew by, waiting for a response from Albus. When it finally arrived very late, it promised extra security at Hogwarts, courtesy of Minister Amelia Bones. The headmaster only told her that he had reason to believe Voldemort was on the move and might be planning on attacking Harry. He told her nothing of Harry's dream.
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Harry woke up on Christmas morning and went hurriedly downstairs to open presents. He found a present from Sirius, Remus, Dobby, and Angela, who were already downstairs waiting for him. The Grangers, the Weasleys, and one of Sirius' cousins were coming over for lunch, and they were planning on exchanging gifts then. After wishing each other a Happy Christmas, Harry and the others started opening their presents. Dobby had given him a mismatched pair of socks. One was green and had small broomsticks on it; the other was red and had small snitches on it. Harry blushed slightly at this, remembering his dream. He looked up at Dobby and said, "Er, thanks!"
Dobby beamed at him. "Dobby is loving socks because Mistress Malfoy is giving Dobby socks when she is dismissing him. Dobby is hoping Harry Potter is liking socks so Dobby is hand knitting them for Harry Potter."
He smiled at Dobby, faking enthusiasm. "I love them Dobby," he said, putting them on his bare feet. Dobby gave the others socks suited to their personalities as well. Lupin gave Harry a miniature foe glass that would hopefully help him to know when someone was approaching him with ill intentions. Angela gave him a golden snitch signed by the English national team's Seeker.
"Thanks a lot, Angela!" said Harry smiling at her. He looked down. "My gift for you isn't all that special. I'm sor…"
"Don't say you're sorry, Harry," the brunette said with a smile, "Give me a hug instead." Harry complied. He had bought her some perfume that Sirius had informed him was her favorite.
When he opened the gift from Sirius, he was stunned. It was a long rectangular case that held a broomstick he'd never heard of, called the Firebolt, along with a manual. Sirius said, "It's the newest broom out there, even better than the Nimbus 2001s. It's not even at the stores yet. I've got a friend who works in management at the company that makes them who let me buy it early. I think they believe Harry Potter's endorsement will help their sales. They believe that it will become the international Quidditch standard broom before long. You'll be able to out-fly anybody at Hogwarts with this broom. I also bought a dozen cleansweeps and a Quidditch ball set for the pitch here. They're in a broom shed I had Dobby put near it. It's not so cold that a warming charm wouldn't let us be comfortable in a match, so I'm hoping to convince our lunch guests to play."
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Harry spent most of the morning reading the Firebolt's manual outside by the Quidditch pitch (with a warming charm), trying out every feature as he read about it. He'd put his signed snitch in the display case in his room because he didn't want to risk losing it and was practicing catching the snitch from the regular set of balls that he found in the shed along with the new brooms. He left his Firebolt in there when he was called in for lunch.
When he arrived, he was immediately tackled by Hermione, who hugged him tightly, saying, "I missed you."
He smiled at her. "I missed you too Hermione. Happy Christmas."
"Oh yeah," she said blushing, "Happy Christmas."
When she released him, he saw that Ginny, along with Ron, Fred, and George, was also there. The redheaded girl tackled Harry the same way Hermione did, saying, "Happy Christmas Harry! I missed you so much!"
"Me, too. Happy Christmas."
Harry saw the satisfied looks on Angela and the two Marauder's faces as they watched him hug both girls, and decided to change the topic. He looked around and saw a woman who appeared to be about twenty years old with blue eyes and pink hair. "Hello," Harry said to her, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Harry."
"Wotcher Harry, it's good to meet you. I'm Sirius' favorite cousin. You can call me Tonks," she said, shaking his hand, "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas, Tonks."
"Tonks is now half way through the three-year auror training program," said Sirius proudly.
-
After a splendid lunch, they exchanged gifts. Harry had made sure to spend the same amount on both of the girls. He bought Ginny a bottle of expensive perfume, along with a book on Quidditch Chaser strategies. He'd written, 'Ginny, you really are an excellent Chaser! I hope you try out for the team next year!' on the inside cover.
Ginny hugged him after reading that. "Thank you so much, Harry! That means a lot to me!" She then kissed his cheek.
Harry gave Hermione a bottle of the same perfume he gave Ginny, along with a book on magical healing. On the inside cover of that book, Harry had written, 'Hermione, you are brilliant and could do well studying anything. I just thought I'd make a suggestion that you become a healer because when I get hurt, I'd feel safer under your care than anyone else's, even Madam Pomfrey's. I think it would be a great way to help people, which I know you want to do.' Hermione hugged him and kissed him on the cheek (so she wasn't outdone by Ginny).
Each of the girls had provided Harry with a picture of them (Hermione's had a nicer frame, which Harry noted irritated Ginny) along with a pair of Quidditch gloves from Ginny and a book on Seeker moves from Hermione.
Harry bought Ron a memory-orb that displayed a half-hour of exciting professional Quidditch plays when you touched it and said the word, 'display,' which he absolutely loved, and gave some chocolate frogs to the twins. He gave Tonks a gift certificate to Flourish and Blotts, not knowing what kind of books she'd like.
-
After the girls had returned the books they'd borrowed from the Potter library (and Hermione borrowed fifteen more) they went outside and played a game of Quidditch, after letting everyone (even Hermione, who was scared once she saw how fast it was faked enthusiasm so Harry would see she was interested in his new broom) have a quick go on the Firebolt. At first Hermione didn't want to play, but when she saw Ginny immediately volunteer to be the other Seeker, Hermione decided that she had to at least play the game. Harry's team had him as Seeker, Hermione as Keeper, Fred as Beater, and Sirius and Angela as Chasers. Ginny's team had her as Seeker, Ron as Keeper, George as Beater, and Remus and Tonks as Chasers.
The teams were really well matched. Although Ron was a much better Keeper than Hermione, Angela was an incredible Chaser and would usually get past him when she got the Quaffle. The score was even when Harry spotted the snitch just above the hoops Hermione was guarding. He took off on his Firebolt, and noticed that Ginny was also flying at it from a completely different direction, and she was closer. He leaned into his broom, maximizing the acceleration. When he got to the right spot, he smiled as he saw the snitch halfway between Hermione and Ginny. He reached out his hand to grab the snitch, immediately feeling Ginny's hand slap his, with the snitch stuck in between their hands. He looked at Ginny and both of them started laughing while Hermione did her best to stop from scowling.
"Game's over! We've got the snitch!" he yelled out. "We grabbed it at the same time and it's between our hands."
"Wow," said Fred.
"That's the closest Harry's ever come to losing the Snitch!" said George.
"It's a good thing Ginny's in Gryffindor," said Fred.
"Otherwise we'd have to kill her so she couldn't play against Harry," said George.
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After Christmas day, Harry started working on his assignments every day, and before he knew it, he and Moony had portkeyed to the Shrieking Shack and made their way into Hogwarts Castle for another term.
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