Seasonal Distractions

The rush for Winter holidays took over Harry's and Dudley's lives, as well as basically every student in the entire school. It didn't matter if they were staying over break or not. The tests to make sure that the students had learned when getting into the Christmas frenzy made sure that they also in a frenzy over homework. It didn't matter if they were book nerds like a typical Ravenclaw, Hermione, or Draco; or if they were those that had to be active to think like either Potter or Ron. One last game of Quidditch was completed, Draco and Harry had another couple of Occlumency lessons, and basically they just rushed around trying to cram as much in their heads as they wanted/needed. Those that were finishing up with the DADA lessons had those on their plate as well, but they were helped by the teacher in the room with them as at least one of them stumbled a little over the lesson and had to ask for help.

Then the rush was over. Hermione handed out strips of parchment for everyone researching the laws of re-inheritance and the family curses around it. They each had their own places of research, even if for Ron Weasley it could easily be by word of mouth for his family. Hermione was pretty sure that there was someplace in Hogwarts that had to do with the Slytherin family, since that is who Lord Voldemort claimed to be from. She didn't find it though before winter holidays "if there are any", as most of the boys had mumbled at one point during the last two weeks when she went off on a rant about it.

The evening before they left, there had been a big surprise. Professor Snape, of all people, had apologized. It was surreal, especially to the Gryffindors. Poor Neville had collapsed in shock, and many students had gone slack jawed. The Head Boy and Head Girl had accepted the apology on the behalf of the student body. However, that was not the opinion of many people behind closed doors, for one strong idea was to not trust the apology. None of the teachers, when they heard it, discounted that, for they would have thought it unlikely that the students would accept and believe it. Professor Snape would have to prove himself, though he had firmly gotten half of the Hufflepuffs on his side, as well as half the Gryffindors. Bravery and loyalty were seen as two aspects that he had to use in order to do this at all, so he had their loyalty for being a good example of what their house stood for in doing what was the right thing to do, but not everybody.

Sirius Black was one of the people that didn't think that Severus Snape could ever sincerely apologize, never mind finally listen to his conscience, if he had one. He wrote a letter saying so to Harry, telling him to not believe it was real. Harry started wondering if his new Head of House would ever get along with his godfather, but he had a sinking feeling that it was most likely not. Snape's changing attitude towards him was enough.

On another topic that Harry had written him about, he and Dudley were able to go visit Grimmauld Place, maybe even stay there, for the winter holidays. Between Kreacher and the two Potter elves taking turns helping, there had been a great deal of clean up done at the old house. Some of the walls had even been repainted, giving the place a lighter feel. When Harry had mentioned requiring some really old books for going against Voldemort, he was willing to not go through them so that they have a better chance of finding the family curses from way back when. Since both Slytherin and Potter families had at one occasion or another been friendly with the Blacks, there may be a chance that some books had been put in the library. Even so, he was quite sure that most of those were most likely in the vault or in the manor.

So they went over and searched quite a bit. Hermione had decided to visit at times with the Weasleys, and she took one look at the library and figured out the organization method. Then she had to teach it to everyone else and guide them through it. Harry and Dudley went to the bank, and found some books there that looked to be on the family history, and took them back them. They also asked the elves to check the Manor for books, and they brought some to the farm house for them as they couldn't leave family property.

The holiday ended up being fairly busy, with the research, holiday papers, and holiday traditions. They celebrated Christmas at the Burrow, despite the crowding, as it was cheery and felt warm. Both Sirius and Molly really didn't feel that Grimmauld Place had the right atmosphere to be celebratory. None of the rest really minded.