Chapter 41: A Magical Christmas
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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25 December 1991, Hogwarts
The Potter scion turned and left the room doing his best to not burst into laughter. When he was finally in the comfort of his common room, Harry broke down and laughed harder than he ever had before at Dumbledore's panicked expression when he talked about the cloak's curse.
On Christmas day, Harry woke up smiling at the silence that met him. For all he had missed his friends, sleeping in an empty dormitory, especially without Crabbe and Goyle's constant snoring, was a very good feeling.
Like he did every morning, Harry took a warm shower, changed his clothes and prepared to leave the dormitories, ready to get some breakfast. It wasn't until he reached the common room that he realized that it was Christmas, or Yule as the traditionalists liked to call it.
Harry noticed that the Christmas tree that was installed by the beginning of December, had a small pile of presents underneath it. Huh, so it was Christmas already? Time really does go fast when you're having fun.
Harry looked around to see if any of the piles belonged to him, and yes, there was a small pile on the left with his name on it. Harry smiled before making his way to unwrap them. The pile was by far the smallest in the bunch, but this was his first time getting a Christmas present in this life, and he was excited to see what his friends got him. The idea was so foreign that he had forgotten that Christmas was even a thing. Harry had to say that he was surprised with the concept of exchanging gifts was still done in Yule. It was a muggle tradition, not a wizarding one.
There were rituals involved in Yule, of course, but they weren't as important as Samhain. Harry wasn't invited to any of them, which wasn't really a surprise since there were barely any students in the house. Still, receiving gifts was more than enough for him to be happy.
He had almost forgotten about the holiday until he heard Weasley say some comment about Slytherins not deserving Christmas gifts or something. Harry didn't even care about the offensive comment but widened his eyes when he realized that he almost forgot to shop for his friends. Lucky for him, owl orders were a thing, and Hedwig ended up having quite the workout for a weekend, going from one shop to another, hoping to find any suitable presents for his friends.
Shops advertised their products in magazines, with the prices. Witch Weekly had an entire section just for beauty products, but there were a few magazines for Quidditch and other interests. Marketing in the wizarding world really was lacking all things considered. You needed to constantly market your products to get any owl orders, and you needed to be selective with what you wanted to buy. Often, the shop will end up sending a letter back to you to deal with it. It was quite time-consuming, but aside from opening a very eye-catching shop in Diagon Alley, it was the only way to get new customers.
Harry didn't want to go too far with the presents. Harry decided to just be basic and send a new pair of Quidditch Chaser gloves to Tracy since she expressed her enthusiasm in joining the team the following year. For Blaise, Harry had found a small shop that made animated engravings of any designs. Harry simply asked for a silver cloak pin shaped like an eagle's head. It cost a pretty penny, but Harry was rich now, and he was allowed to splurge a little.
As for Daphne, Harry contacted a Herbologist that specialized in breeding miniature magical plants. The Potter scion was able to purchase an enchanted bonsai tree that also functioned as a lamp with a tap of a wand, releasing small floating lights that could illuminate an entire room. He really hoped that Daphne, whose love of Herbology surpassed even Longbottom's, would like it.
Harry picked up the first present, which happened to be a wizard's chess set from Blaise, with a note telling him to stop playing with his own set. Chess happened to be Blaise's favourite pastime, that is until Harry kept destroying him one game after another. He had to admit that Blaise wasn't that bad for an eleven-year-old, and Harry's experience in chess from his past life was an unfair advantage. Still, it seemed to motivate the Italian boy to improve himself, which was a plus in Harry's book.
Smiling, the Potter scion put aside his new chess set – which he knew was quite expensive – and picked up Tracy's present which happened to be a large box of Chocolate Frogs. Harry smiled, knowing that she was practically buying for herself. Harry wasn't really fond of sweet food, and Tracy was probably planning on eating the chocolate herself when she comes back, knowing that Harry wouldn't touch them.
Finally, Daphne's present happened to be a book and a fairly old one at that. Its title was 'Customs of Wizarding Nobility in Magical Britain after the Statute of Secrecy by Anthony Greengrass'.
It was a family tome that was practically priceless. Harry integrated himself into the magical world with the help of fiction books that were made there. Literature was a very good way of understanding how societies think, but those books were not written by members of former noble families, just struggling authors from normal families. Daphne must have noticed that Harry didn't really have the education of someone from an old pureblood family and gave him a book to compensate for these gaps. Honestly, not a lot of people cared about these traditions and Harry didn't really notice anyone acting any differently or judging him. Still, it was a very thoughtful gift, especially considering how scandalous it is to give someone a family book.
The letter cleared that up easily enough, where Daphne insisted that the book wasn't a gift, but that he would need to return it after the holidays. Still, with Harry's copy spell, it didn't really make an issue out of that stipulation. Harry was somewhat excited to see the contents of the book.
Although Harry was surprised to see two more presents by the tree. He held up the one on the top which felt like a book. Harry was proven right when after unwrapping it, turned out to be a book on duelling. A letter fell out and Harry stiffened when he realized it was sent to him by Hermione. It said the following: 'I'm sorry, Harry, about what happened. I talked to my parents, and they told me how horribly I treated you. I know we'll probably be friends again, but I felt like I just needed to apologize properly. You mentioned that you were planning on joining the Dueling Club, and I thought that I would help you get a head start. Merry Christmas. Hermine J. Granger.'
Harry let out a bitter smile at the letter. It was too late. Hermione was friends with Neville and Weasley who saw him as an enemy because of his house. Still, some closure isn't a bad thing, and while he was initially slightly hurt, Harry had moved on quickly enough after Hermione's betrayal, this was the final nail in the coffin that was any form of friendship or rivalry they might have had.
The Potter scion didn't want to think about this further and chose to focus on the last gift. Above it was a small note with no name: '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.'
Harry burst into laughter. Dumbledore really had taken the bait, which was hilarious. Oh, Harry wasn't lying about the curse. There was a curse that could be activated with a certain ritual that would act like a locator spell and had the potential of killing off an entire bloodline. But Harry couldn't really activate it. The crest had shown him the ritual to do it, and he needed the crest itself to accept him fully because he would need the crest itself as an anchor to activate the curse. Harry didn't even lie once when he told Dumbledore about the curse, and if the man had used Legilimency, he would have confirmed this. Harry was able to trick Dumbledore into sending him the cloak that the headmaster had tried to swindle. All that was left was to see if it was the real thing and not a cheap replacement.
Back to the package, just to make sure, Harry decided to unwrap the present, which revealed a shining silverly piece of cloth. Harry knew immediately that this was his father's cloak.
The Potter scion didn't dare touch it directly, fearing Dumbledore having spelled it somehow. He activated his Arcane Hearing to see if there were any spells or curses on his family heirloom and gasped at what he heard. There were obviously a couple of layers on the foundation of the piece of cloth, which was hidden somehow. Each layer was made by a different person, with different intentions.
The first was cautious and distrustful. The charms' melodies reminded Harry of tracking charms slightly, with a slight tint of a trigger ward. It was obviously Dumbledore's work. It certainly sounded like his magic. Old, inflexible, with a tint of arrogance and pride in it. It was classical, orderly, and with a clear rhythm. Harry made sure to keep his Arcane hearing activated after seeing the mirror of Erised.
He knew now that this was Dumbledore sizing him up. Harry was drawn by the classroom with the mirror, probably because of a compulsion charm. He didn't instinctively hear it because it wasn't exactly malicious in nature. The headmaster had unknowingly been able to bypass his own magical instincts without even trying, just because the man didn't actively wish him harm when casting the spell.
Harry swore that he will now focus on the mind arts to prevent something like this from happening once more. He will also try to keep his Arcane Hearing up for as long as possible. He was quickly overwhelmed by the frankly absurd amount of magic in the castle, but he was going to live there for seven years, and ignoring his greatest strength was frankly absurd.
Learning Occlumency now became critically important. He had discreetly tried to see anything on the mind arts in the library but found nothing. It was probably in the restricted section. He'll either need to sneak into it, or maybe try to see if the room of requirements had anything to offer in that regard.
Harry groaned; he was just finished with his Elder Futhark runes and planned a small break for the holidays to just relax, but Dumbledore had to make him learn the mind arts even sooner than he had planned.
Back to his present, Harry pointed his wand at it and listened to the layer of magic that Dumbledore cast. He moulded his magic to its inverse entirely and cast, "Finite!"
A white burst of magic impacted the cloak, and while nothing looked different from the outside, the entire layer of magic fractured and dissolved into nothing. Harry grinned to himself and looked at the second layer. It was infinitely more complex than Dumbledore's spells. Harry couldn't really make heads and tails of it, only that it wasn't cast with a wand, and that it was cast with protection in mind and restricted the cloak. Harry didn't even know how he could cast something like this, but his family crest burned providing him with the solution. Without really thinking about it, Harry used his wand to make a small cut on his hand and held it above the cloak.
Drops of blood started to fall on the cloak and Harry spoke up, "I, Harry James Potter, the last of the line of Ignotus Peverell, unbind this cloak. May it serve me and my descendants and frighten my enemies, let it remind all those who had forgotten the might of the Peverell family."
With that done, and the seventh drop of blood touched the cloak, the layer of magic dissipated. Physically, the cloak transformed. It didn't look like a mere piece of cloth anymore but of some kind of flowing silverly liquid. Harry touched it and while he was able to grab it, it felt like he was holding a cool molten silver, not an invisibility cloak. The most surprising thing was that when Harry tried to activate his Arcane Hearing, he heard nothing from the cloak. Absolute silence. It was as if there was nothing there. Even normal objects had a spark of magic, no matter how small, but when the Potter scion looked at the artefact that his ancestors possessed, he couldn't help but wonder if this was the true power of a Deathly Hallow.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.