Chapter 31: Presents

(General POV)

 Hogwarts castle was very lively as children pulled their trunks along behind them towards the carriages that would take them to Hogsmeade. It was time to go home for the Winter holidays and everyone was excited.

"My mum said it was okay if you wanted to come to my house during the holidays, so just call me when you want to come over, okay?" Hannah said to Helga and Rowena, who were both seeing her and the others off. "You guys can come too." She said to Godric, Salazar, Harry, and Neville, all of whom nodded in understanding.

"Hey, before you all go, we need to take a picture." Helga said quickly as she withdrew a camera from her bag. "But we already took one last year." Salazar said, not interested in taking more pictures. He had had his fill of pictures from helping out Collin Creevey when he not so accidentally destroyed the poor boy's camera.

"Stuff it Salazar! You'll get your picture taken, and you'll like it too!" Helga stated as she leaned in real close to Salazar, then in a whisper she added, "If you don't, I'll tell Godric who has been making his clothes disappear."

 Salazar had no idea how she knew, but the subtle glance to the ring on his left hand was all the proof he needed to know that she in fact had figured it out. "Fine." Salazar agreed with a forced smile on his face.

Gathering everyone in their group, they all got into the same positions as last year in pretty much the same exact spot where Godric once more raised up the back row so no one was hidden from view of the camera.

Hermione stood in front of Harry, who was looking quite a bit different from the year before. For one thing, he filled his clothes better, and he was a fair bit taller too. Before he had only been an inch or two taller than Hermione, but now he was easily three or four inches taller than her.

 "Alright, on three, repeat after me!" Godric said as he prepared the camera.

""""""NO!"""""" The girls all cried together, fearing Godric would get them to repeat what they had said the previous year.

"Oh come on. I promise it will be tasteful." Godric said, but no one was hearing any of it. "We'll shout Hogwarts on three, understand?" Helga instructed everyone, then rested her gaze on Godric. The picture was taken without incident, much to the relief of everyone who actually gave a crap, then everyone heading home boarded the carriages.

 "So, any of you want to join me for a drink? I got a few bottles of fire-whiskey." Godric said to Salazar, Rowena, and Helga after the carriages were out of sight. "You know what, Godric. I could use a drink right now." Salazar agreed, surprising not only Godric, but the others as well.

Lately he had been off doing who knew what where nobody could find him, and had opted out of joining them for anything unless it was to go eat. Salazar couldn't tell them that he was being tormented by a ghost, mostly because he wasn't sure if it was all just in his head.

He was scared to show Godric the picture he had gotten from Collin's camera because he wasn't sure if this was all some elaborate prank or if he was just losing his mind. He had been fighting the urge to begin questioning the students to see if they knew who she was, and honestly, he was tired to a point that a drink sounded like exactly what he needed.

"I could use a drink." Rowena said, all for drowning her problems with a bottle. It had been a whole other life since she had drank herself silly, and after everything she had gone through with Helena and then the imminent death from Savrin, cutting loose sounded like it could be fun. "I'll just have a small one." Helga said as she held up her thumb and index finger a few inches apart.

 The four friends wandered off into the school, none of them caring that they were all far too young to be drinking. That would be pounded into their minds the next morning by McGonagall, but that was a problem for later.

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 (Harry POV)

 The train ride back to London ended too quickly in Harry's opinion. Sure he wanted to spend Christmas with Sirius and Arcturus, but Draco Malfoy was another story altogether. They weren't friends by any means, hell they were the furthest thing from it. Harry would rather spend Christmas with the Dursleys than with Malfoy, but he figured that option was no longer on the table.

"It'll be alright, Harry. You can come to my house during the holidays if you want. I'm sure my mum and dad wouldn't mind." Hermione said in the hopes of cheering Harry up. It was clear to anyone who saw him that he wasn't looking forward to going home, or at least being stuck with Malfoy for two whole weeks.

 "I'll take you up on that. I'll call you when I feel as though Sirius will let me escape." Harry said, taking whatever freedom he could get. "You could come over to my house too, Harry. My Gran wouldn't mind at all." Neville said, giving Harry another option. "Thanks Neville. You guys don't know what this means to me." Harry said, thankful to have friends who were willing to shelter him from the worst person ever.

 As he departed the train he ran into Malfoy, whose frown had only increased upon seeing Harry. Even though they walked through the crowd of people together, neither of them said a word to one another.

"Draco! Harry! Over here!" Sirius called out to them from where he was standing near the fireplaces connected to the Floo network. "Where's Grandfather?" Harry asked, quite used to addressing Arcturus as such by now. "He's back at Grimmauld Place with our guests." Sirius answered simply before he reached down and grabbed the trunks from both Harry and Malfoy.

"Guests? What guests?" Harry asked curiously. In all the time he had been with Sirius and Arcturus, neither of them ever had guests, except for the Headmaster, but Sirius was implying there was more than one person back home, so it probably wasn't the Headmaster.

 "Well… I could tell you, but why ruin the surprise." Sirius said, then ushered the two of them towards the fireplace. They each grabbed a handful of floo powder from a pouch on his hip, and in a blink they were at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Unlike last time, Harry smoothly stepped into the room instead of falling flat on his face, showing just how accustomed he was to travelling by Floo. Malfoy arrived only a split second after him, and Sirius was not long after.

Kreacher appeared and took Malfoy's trunk, and Dobby appeared and took Harry's, though not before he welcomed him home for a good half a minute, praising him all the while, and telling him what an honor it was to be his house elf. It was weird being praised by the little elf, especially since he hardly knew the little creature.

"Thanks Dobby. Could you please take my trunk to my Room? I would be very grateful." Harry asked Dobby, whose eyes widened more than Harry would have thought. "Harry Potter is truly a kind and great wizard! Dobby would be honored to take your trunk!" The little elf said as he fought back tears.

"Get going you little traitor!" Draco growled as he raised his hand to hit the little elf, but Harry quickly shouldered Malfoy in the side and sent him crashing into the wall before he fell to the floor.

"If you ever try to hurt him again I'll shove my foot so far up your arse that I'll be able to polish my shoe with your tongue!" Harry threatened as he stood between Dobby and Malfoy with his wand drawn and pointed at the latter.

 "Now, now, let's all calm down." Sirius said as he moved to step between Harry and Draco while gesturing for Harry to lower his wand. "Draco, Dobby serves House Potter. He was set free by your mother before she died before he decided to do so, therefore he is no traitor. To attack him is the same as attacking Harry, so I would advise against that." Sirius told Malfoy before he turned his gaze to Harry.

"And you, I don't know who taught you to threaten people, but you might want to try something actually possible." Sirius finished with a small chuckle as he helped Malfoy to his feet, then ushered them into the other room.

Harry wanted to tell Sirius that what he threatened was entirely possible, but he didn't think it would help his case. He also didn't think it would show Godric in a good light, seeing as how he was the one who had shown Harry the spell.

 The boys were led into the parlor room where Arcturus was sitting in the same chair he always sat in near the fire, and like Sirius had told Harry, there were guests. Four of them in fact. Two men who looked to be in their late thirties, a woman who also looked to be in her early thirties, if Harry had gauged it correctly, and finally a young woman who looked to be maybe sixteen or twenty, Harry wasn't sure. The pink hair really threw him off.

"So you're Harry Potter… You look just like I thought you would." The pink-haired girl said as she strode over to greet him. "Harry." Sirius said as he gestured towards the girl. "This is Nymphadora Tonks. She's-" Sirius was interrupted as a finger poked him hard in the chest, then the pink-haired girl growled out, "Do not call me that! I'm warning you Sirius!" She threatened angrily.

"*Cough!* Right then. What I said before is her given name, but for health and safety reasons, you'd best stick to Dora or Tonks." Sirius said, looking slightly perplexed by the girl.

 "Now, now Nymphadora. I don't see what is so terrible about your name. I for one think it's beautiful." The older woman said as she moved to step beside the younger girl. "UGH! Mum!" Nymphadora cried out as she stomped her foot like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Calm down, dear. Your mother is just teasing." One of the guys that Harry didn't know spoke. He was a fair-haired, big-bellied man who gave off an air of calmness that Harry somewhat appreciated. Harry watched the man with a critical eye as he strode over and extended a hand out towards him.

"The name is Edward Tonks, but please, just call me Ted. As for this lovely lady here, this is my wife, Andromeda." Ted said cheerfully as he shook Harry's hand firmly. Looking past him, Ted spotted Draco by the door and was about to move to shake his hand as well, but Draco wasn't having any of it.

"Not so fast! I know who you are! I know who all of you are! You're the blood-traitor, the mud-blood, and the filthy spawn they sired!" Draco said, referring to Andromeda, Ted, and Dora respectively.

 Harry wanted so badly to punch Draco right square in the nose, but he held himself back. In this house, Arcturus decided if someone needed to be punished, so Harry would leave it up to him. At least that's how it should have been, however someone else had something to say on the matter.

Andromeda moved so quickly that Harry barely registered her passing him by, but he whipped his head around towards Draco when he heard the cries of pain. Harry didn't know what to say when he saw Malfoy's ear being twisted and pulled by the tall woman who only a few seconds before seemed so kind to Harry.

"As different as our views may be, your mother would never have allowed you to speak to someone like this, especially to her sister. You best learn how to treat others with respect, elsewise it may very well cost you your life." The woman stated even as she twisted more on Malfoy's ear, which Harry thought was going to tear off any second.

 "Go to your room, Draco. We'll talk about this later." Arcturus ordered, then at once Andromeda released Malfoy's ear and he scurried away towards his room. "That boy…" Sirius mumbled under his breath with his eyes closed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry. My name is Remus Lupin. I was friends with your parents." The final person Harry had yet to hear from spoke as he moved and extended a hand out to him. Harry shook his hand, though his mind was only partially there due to the fact that he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Harry" Sirius said to draw his attention. "Andromeda is my cousin. Draco's mother was her sister. She was disowned from the family by my mother when she married Ted, but Gramps said my mother was never the head of the family and never had that right. He said he was getting the family back together, hence their presence. I also really wanted to see her. She is my favorite relative, aside from you of course." Sirius finished with a wink towards him, even as Andromeda playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"As for Moony here" Sirius said as he slapped a hand on Remus' shoulder. "Him, your dad, and I were all inseparable throughout our time at Hogwarts. I invited him here with us for Christmas so you would get to meet him and I would get to spend time with an old friend." Sirius finished with a smile so warm that Harry figured whoever this Remus/ Moony was, he was exactly what Sirius needed if he could make him smile like that.

 "Andromeda is here for more than to rejoin the family." Arcturus said, surprising not only Harry, but Sirius as well. Apparently Arcturus hadn't told him of anything else, so this would be his first time learning about it as well.

"She has agreed to teach both Harry and Draco proper manners, etiquette, dancing, and everything else they will need to know for when they turn into men. She will also see to it that they don't fall behind in their education, for I feel as though I'm going to have my hands full with you, Sirius." Arcturus finished, looking pointedly at his grandson, who by all accounts, looked horrified.

Unsure of what all of this meant, Harry surveyed the room to get everyone's reactions, looking first at the pink-haired Dora. When he looked at her, he found that she was staring at him with eyes filled with pity, and he couldn't help but think he saw her mouth the word, "Run" at him. Looking at Ted, Harry saw the man had an uncomfortable smile that looked way too forced to be genuine, further distressing his mind.

 Remus didn't look as though he had anything he wanted to say on the matter, but looking at Sirius he could tell that his Godfather knew something he didn't. As for the woman in question, when Harry looked at her he saw she was smiling that same warm smile at him, only this time instead of wanting to be around her more, he felt a chill run down his spine.

'Is she going to kill me?' He thought to himself, feeling an air of dread around him. "Come on, Gramps. Andy is far too busy to want that kind of responsibility. I'm sure she has far better things to do at her own house." Sirius said, trying to get rid of the woman before she had a chance to teach Harry anything, and mentally Harry was cheering for his Godfather.

"It's no problem, Sirius. Grandfather has agreed to pay me for my time, and my house is always immaculate. Dobby or Kreacher can prepare an extra meal for Ted and I. As for Nymphadora, she is in Auror training, so I have lots of free time on my hands." Andromeda explained, her words at once causing Sirius' expression to darken as he turned to face him.

"You should have stayed at school." Was all he said, finally pushing Harry into full blown panic.

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 (December 21, 1992)

 (Savrin POV)

 In the early hours of the morning, Savrin was atop the astronomy tower of Hogwarts with three rune circles drawn all around a larger rune circle that were glowing in the dim morning light. It took only a minute, but the rune circles around the side of the larger one began to glow.

The first circle had a locket in it, the second had the diadem, and the third had a pile of ashes that was once a diary. After only a few seconds, the larger circle in the center lit up and a holographic image of a golden cup with two finely-wrought handles with a badger engraved on the side of it appeared hovering a few feet off the ground.

'First it was Salazar's locket, then Rowena's diadem, now it's Helga's cup. I wouldn't be surprised if the next thing had something to do with Godric.' Savrin thought, unimpressed with Voldemort's horcruxes. It took a few more seconds and Savrin touched the hologram before the location of the object appeared in his mind, or at least the general location of it.

 'What a fucking idiot. He chose to hide pieces of his soul in places frequented by others or places with close ties to him. Giving one to one of his underlings was idiotic too. Now there's one in Gringotts of all places. I wouldn't be surprised if another one was in a childhood home or something similar.' Savrin thought, wondering why anyone ever feared Voldemort. As far as he was concerned, the guy was a moron who didn't know shit about magic.

 With the ritual completed, Savrin packed up the horcruxes and headed inside to think about how best to get the cup from Gringotts. The following morning after breakfast found the four founders in the headmaster's office, all of them looking rather perplexed at the floating illusion before them.

"That fucking little- … etc" Helga swore for a full minute, using curses that none of them knew the little blonde had known. She was rather livid upon learning that her beloved cup, which was enchanted far beyond its limits, was now a container holding a piece of Voldemort's soul.

"I'm going to shove my wand so far down his throat, he'll be shitting spells for a year!" Helga finished, huffing slightly as she tried to calm herself down a bit. Ignoring the blonde, Savrin looked at Godric before he asked, "Is there anything of yours from the past that is super famous today? Something that people would want."

 Thinking about it, Godric came to only two conclusions. "There were only two things of mine from back then that are still around today, and both of them are here in this office." Godric said as he strode to the shelf where the sorting hat was placed.

Picking it up, Godric reached inside of it before he withdrew a sword made of Goblin silver. Its golden hilt was set with egg-sized rubies, and the blade was engraved with the name "Godric Gryffindor" just beneath it. Whipping the hat on his head, Godric held the sword up into the air.

"I can assure you, neither of my treasures were ever cursed by some moronic idiot pretending to be a dark lord." Godric stated, looking somewhat proud of the fact that his greatest treasures were safe and sound.

"I knew I hadn't seen the last of that damned sword." Salazar said, looking somewhat miffed at the sight of it. "Hmm… if not something of yours, then I wonder what else he used?" Savrin said to no one as he pondered some other famous witch or wizard that might have possessed something worth cursing.

 "Forget about that, what about my cup?! Where is it?!" Helga asked quickly, almost forcefully as she leaned over the table. Quirking an eyebrow at her, Savrin pointed his right index finger at her before a blast of magic sent her flying into the wall opposite her.

"You seem to be under the impression that I answer to you. News flash, I don't. The next time you ask something from me, you better watch your tone, and I expect to be shown the proper respect." Savrin warned, getting quick nods of understanding from the three of them still standing. Helga did eventually agree a few minutes later when she managed to get to her feet and heal herself to the point where she was able to stand. 

 "Anyway, I see all of you learned from last year." Savrin said, taking notice of their bodies and the abundance of magic inside of them. It appeared that each of them had done their research and had performed their own rituals through the night, each of them gaining their own benefits.

Salazar, Rowena, and Helga all had an increase in their magical power, though it wasn't so much that it would be the deciding factor in a fight, but if they kept doing it every year for the next few years, it would show, and they would be able to dominate most people.

Godric on the other hand, did not have an increase in magic, however his body was far more refined than it had been. His muscles were more dense, his bones were stronger, and his skin looked smoother. The improvements were far more than he should have been able to obtain from the ritual alone.

"Tell me, Godric. How did you improve your body so much?" Savrin asked curiously. "Well, after reading through those rituals in that book you gave us, I found one that improved the body. I also remembered some potions that strengthened one's body as well, so in preparation for tonight I made a few potions and took them during the ritual. The effects were apparently magnified." Godric answered proudly as he tensed the muscles in his shoulders.

 "Do to the potions effects not increasing after each use, I doubt you would be able to achieve the same result again next year, but it's still impressive you managed to accomplish what you did. Your body would already have had to be quite durable to survive the ritual like that, which goes to show just how much your physical training is paying off. I daresay your body might be resistant to some spells at this point, which is even more impressive." Savrin complemented, which was no small thing.

"Is the body strengthening better than the magic strengthening?" Rowena asked curiously.

"In the long run, yes. Eventually your bodies will reach a point where if you try to fill them anymore with magic they will burst, that is unless you strengthen yourselves to be able to contain that magic. Most witches and wizards don't train their bodies like Godric does, hell, most mages where I'm from didn't either, and there is only so far that rituals and potions will get you. I honestly didn't recommend that ritual because I didn't think you could handle it." Savrin explained, giving the three of them a bit more to think about. Especially Salazar.

 Salazar had been training his magic and skills to finally get stronger than Godric, yet here Godric was doing something out of the ordinary that gave him more of an edge in a fight. 'It doesn't matter if I can attack first if he can tank two or even three attacks from me. I need to start body training.' Salazar told himself, deciding right then and there to wake up with Godric in the mornings.

 "Now, back to the cup. It's in Gringotts, most likely in the vault of one of Voldemort's inner circle members. I was going to just go in there and get it, but then I had a grand idea. You four are going to do it. You'll have to figure out whose vault it is, where it is, and then how to go in and get it. I'll give you until the end of this summer to do it." Savrin said, earning wide eyes from everyone, only Godric also had a smile, showing just how excited he was to get started on this.

"Are we allowed to rob more than the cup from the vault? And does it only have to be from the vaults? Can we say… I don't know, rob the goblins?" Godric asked, sounding far too hopeful.

"I don't care what you steal, who you steal it from, or how much you steal. You just can't get caught." Savrin answered, causing Godric to almost vibrate in excitement. He had a vendetta against the goblins, and he had every intention of getting even with them on this job.

 Savrin left them at that, dismissing them from the room. He was done peopling for the day and wanted to be alone. That however didn't seem like it would be the case because as soon as the door shut behind Rowena, Elysia stepped out of the wall wearing nothing but a collar around her neck.

"I know you said to leave you alone for today, but hear me out." She said, then quickly moved to bend over his desk. It didn't seem as though he was going to get to be alone today after all. The spirit had a thousand years of kinks to workout, and she needed Savrin's help to do it. 

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 (December 25, 1992)

 (Harry POV)

 It had been a few days since he had left school and began learning from Andromeda, but unlike how Sirius and the others made it out to be, Harry found he didn't hate it at all. Sure Andromeda was hard on both him and Draco, but he wasn't a stranger to hard work.

Draco on the other hand was a different story. The way he looked each day, Harry swore Draco was about to die, and they didn't even do very much. Sure, they had to act and speak in certain ways, but nothing about that was hard.

Even the way she critiqued his writing and spell work wasn't as bad as Draco was making it out to be, mostly because Hermione was harder on him than Andromeda ever was. Harry wouldn't say it, but it felt as though he had a mother for the first time. The way she complimented him, taught him, it all made him feel warm inside.

 Remus was fun to be around, at least when he was there. He would tell Harry embarrassing stories about Sirius and his dad, and even some about his mother too. Apparently his mother had disliked his father for the first five years of school, and it had been a miracle when she had finally agreed to go out with his father, who had cried himself silly the day she said yes.

Sirius had taken Remus out with him early in the mornings and didn't return until a little past noon. Apparently he just wanted to escape Arcturus, but Harry didn't see what was so bad about it.

 Currently it was Christmas morning and everyone was gathered around opening up presents. Harry had gotten a number of presents from his friends, all of which were rather thoughtful. He had tried being thoughtful with his gifts to them, but some of them were rather difficult to shop for.

The easiest one had actually been Salazar. Harry had gotten him a large quantity of every variety of cinnamon candy he could find, something which Harry knew Salazar would appreciate. As stern and angry as he seemed, once Salazar was given his cinnamon candy he was actually rather kind. It was a shame Godric went out of his way to make sure he never got any, but that was just how they were. One was always trying to ruin the other's day.

 For Hermione, Harry had searched through the Black family library and had found a number of exceedingly rare books that you probably couldn't find anywhere else and had gifted them to her for Christmas.

According to Sirius he was overdoing it, but he didn't feel it was enough. Hermione was always there for him, and would go out of her way to help in any way she could. Granted that was how most of his friends were, but Hermione made a little more effort for him than the others.

For Godric, Harry had given him some movies and comic books he thought he might enjoy. Rowena and Helga were given new gloves and boots, though Harry wasn't sure if they even needed them. Neville got some rare plant seeds Harry had found in Diagon Alley, though he wasn't sure if Neville would even be allowed to grow some of them given the climate they required to survive.

Susan, Sally, and Hannah were all given an assortment of their favorite candy, mostly because Harry had no idea what kind of things they wanted or needed, and Sirius was very unhelpful in suggesting he get them jewelry. He had no idea what kind of jewelry they would have wanted, plus it wasn't as though he liked them in that sort of way, something which Remus pointed out.

 Judging by the gifts he was given by his friends, he found they were all similar to the ones he got them. At least in the candy department. Salazar had sent him three galleons in an envelope with his name on it, which he guessed was alright. It wasn't like his gift was any more thought out.

Looking at the gift Godric had gotten him, Harry had to wonder just how Godric found the time to do everything he did. It was a book with the cover of "101 Pranks to Use on Malfoy". Flipping it open, Harry saw how the pranks went into great detail, and they even described what would happen in the end and he could only wonder how these were pranks when all of them would result in Malfoy's death.

 Harry had only gotten to page five when the book was plucked from his fingers by Sirius, who was frowning as he read the cover. Said frown deepened when Sirius flipped the book open and began to read from it, and Harry wondered if he was somehow going to be in trouble because of this.

'It would be just like Godric to get me a present that gets me in trouble.' Harry thought, wondering if Godric had planned this. "Who gave you this?" Sirius questioned. "It's not what it seems, Sirius. Though it might say those things, Godric writes codes in his work all the time!" Harry said quickly, then froze.

Sure he had only said that as an excuse, but now that he thought about it, what he said was entirely correct. Godric did write codes, and both he and Hermione had been trying to find books about those codes for weeks now with no luck.

'What if this is his way of helping me out?' Harry thought to himself, thinking the book held more meaning than he had originally suspected. "Now, Harry. I know you don't like Draco, but killing him is too much." Sirius said, bringing the room up short as everyone looked at the book in question. Especially Draco.

 "I promise, Sirius! Godric does write codes! It's so if people try to mess with his notes then they get… well I don't know what happens to them, but it probably wouldn't be pleasant." Harry said, hoping to get the book of codes back.

"Remus and I will look through it for codes. If it does turn out to be a code book then you can have it back. If not, I'm afraid I'll have to keep it and talk to your friend at school." Sirius said, not quite sure he believed Harry about the book, though he would at least look into it.

Sighing at how Godric was always getting into trouble or causing trouble, Harry suddenly remembered something he had been meaning to ask for awhile now. Turning to look at Sirius, Harry asked, "What is a safe word, and why would someone need to have one if they are going to be alone with someone else?"

Sirius had been chewing a cookie when Harry asked his question, but now he was coughing and wheezing as he tried not to choke on the delicious treat. Tonks' hair turned scarlet red to match her face, and Andromeda was staring a hole through Sirius' head.

Remus and Ted both looked uncomfortable, while Draco looked just as confused as Harry did. As for Arcturus, he was smiling faintly as he thought back to what his own safe word had been when he and his wife had gotten a little adventurous in the bedroom.

'Ha! Now that I think about it, maybe "Harder" wasn't the smartest choice for a safe word. Was fun though.' He thought, remembering back to good times.