Chapter Twenty Seven - Presents

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. Me, I'm just a PR professional. I don't profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world. However, its her sandbox and she's left the gate unlatched so we can go in and play a bit. Which, I've done.

Chapter Twenty Seven - Presents

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They arrived in a clutter on the floor in the Entry Hall of Greengrass Estate. That is, Harry landed and immediately fell flat on his bum, while the Greengrasses and Sirius lightly touched down in a slight crouch.

Cygnus looked at Harry with a grin, while Harry climbed to his feet muttering, "I hate magical travel."

"Because of the spin, you need to touch down in the direction of the spin and as if you're running forward," said Cygnus. "You landed backwards and almost stiff legged. That's why you fell back onto your bum."

"Just like Floo travel, Harry," said Isabel. "You just need to practice."

"I'll take the trunks upstairs," he said. "At least I can do that without looking like a twit."

Using featherweight charms Harry first placed one on top of the other before levitating both. While holding them both up he grasped the handle of the bottom one and pulled it with him. He was so focussed on what he was doing, he didn't see the looks of shock on either Cygnus's or Isabel's face.

After Harry left up the stairs, pulling the trunks behind him. Cygnus motioned the rest toward to the parlour.

Once in there, Cygnus turned to Daphne and asked, "How long has he been able to do that?" he asked.

Knowing why her father was so surprised, she said, "Almost from the start. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall keep loaning him advanced Charms and Transfiguration texts and he practically devours them.

"Once he's read them he practices each and every spell. And, once he has both wand movement and incantation correct, he never has to worry about it again; it's learned."

"But he shouldn't have the power..." started Cygnus before he heard Harry coming back down the stairs.

Harry entered and saw Daphne smiling at him while Cygnus, Isabel and Sirius were looking at him a little strangely.

Harry didn't know what was going on.

Daphne reached out and took his hand as he approached and sat beside her.

"Harry, I think we need to show my parents and your godfather that little trick you showed me on Halloween," she said.

"Alright," said Harry. "No secrets from family. Do you want to do it?"

Replying only with a grin in return she turned to her parents and said, "Watch this."

With barely a pause or even loss of eye focus, she began to draw magic into herself. It took only a few moments before Harry literally felt the palpable energy roiling about her. It was making those few small loose items about the room start dancing a little upon what and where they sat.

And, of course, her eyes began to glow a little.

Cygnus, Isabel, Sirius and even little Tori were looking back in awe and not a little fear.

"Oh, wow!" said Tori, first to speak and not understanding what it looked like to her parents. "That's amazing!"

Daphne let her magic ease back down before calmly saying to Tori, "Thank you, Tori."

The three adults were still sitting there quite stunned.

"Ummm.." said Cygnus, before he cleared his throat. "I - did not realise just how powerful you are, Daphne."

Daphne grinned and said, "Wait until you see Harry." Turning to her betrothed, she said, "Alright, Harry; your turn."

Harry grinned and stood up. Then he quickly started pulling ambient magic into himself. Very quickly the air about him began to swirl. His hair began to rustle a little with it.

Everything become much brighter for him. He felt he could almost see magic moving through the room.

He pulled even more in letting it flow through him and overflow in great gushing waves of it.

The area of affect was so wide he could see the hair of all three adults moving about where they sat apart from he and Daphne.

Looking down at his betrothed he watched as her hair moved about, even standing up a little with the charged particles of air.

All the while, Daphne just sat there, quite calmly. But, she was also used to it.

Harry then let it flow back out of him and he let his magic back down to it's normal resting state, and calmly sat down again.

"Sweet Merlin!" exclaimed Sirius. "You - daaaaaaamn!"

"How in Merlin's name do you do that?" asked Cygnus.

Harry calmly told them how he had guessed it could be done while he was in hospital after reading Magical Theory. He told them how he felt it was a reverse of pushing your magic, and was actually pulling magic in to yourself.

He told them of his belief of how drawing magic in allowed him to cast stronger spells for longer. And how it meant he didn't have to wait anywhere near as long for his magic to 'recharge' if he was approaching magical exhaustion.

He also said it left him tired after he did it for quite some time. And he told them how it had to be kept secret so others did not know they were actually normal on the power scale. It was mainly all for show to make others think they were much more powerful than they really were.

"So, in the same way as you folks probably originally thought we must be the reincarnation of Merlin and Morgana Le Fay, it comes in handy when you want to scare the bejeezus out of a person or people who think of attacking you," said Harry. "It looks impressive as Hell, and it's fun to watch people's reactions to it when we do it, like yours. But, I don't know how useful it will be, or if it's a hindrance, in an actual battle."

"And you can teach this?" asked Isabel, shocked.

Nodding, Harry said, "Yeah. I taught Daphne within a few minutes. Then, a few days later, I taught Neville, Tracey, Susan, Hannah and Hermione. It didn't take me all that long."

Daphne said, "Since then we've all practiced it in private and improved in leaps and bounds. With Harry's help we've all also been practicing doing it while spell casting. As he said, it appears to have improved our abilities to cast. It makes our spells stronger. And we don't tire as easily."

"Again," said Sirius. "Daaaaamn!"

"If you like," said Harry, with a grin. "I'll teach you while we're here on break. It won't take long."

He received four answering grins. 'Oh, Tori wants to learn, too, does she?' he thought. 'I'll have to run that past her parents, first.'

"Alright," said Isabel, first to snap out of it. "What do you want to do first?"

"Christmas shopping," said Harry. "If we can get it out of the way this afternoon then we're likely to miss the mad rush that will be tomorrow in that place."

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Floo'ing to The Leaky Cauldron and heading directly into the Alley, Harry, Sirius and the Greengrasses realised Harry was right to beg to do their final Christmas shopping the day the Express arrived. The Alley was packed. It would be even worse the next day, Christmas Eve.

The party weaved their way down to Gringotts first. They were only picking up some extra Galleons, this time. There'd be more than enough time to carry out the rest of his business with the goblins after Christmas, when they weren't so rushed. Besides, his time limit with Dumbledore for the return of property belonging to House Potter expired on Christmas Day. He'd still have to go after Christmas to sic the goblins onto him.

After quickly collecting some gold, the group left Gringotts. They immediately split up with Harry going with Sirius and Astoria while Daphne was with her parents.

As soon as they separated, Harry turned to little Astoria and said, "Now, my fair maiden; I need to buy a gift or two for your sister. I'm placing a lot of trust in you that you will not use the opportunity to tease your sister about the gifts I purchase for her. Are we agreed?"

The youngest Greengrass, who had immediately latched onto Harry's hand when it was decided on the split of the group for shopping, pouted and mock-whined, "Awww, Harry! I was looking forward to that."

"Well, I want your promise you won't," he said. "Otherwise, the gift I purchase for you will be - less. Alright?"

"Alright, Harry," she mumbled.

"Thank you," he said. "Besides, I was hoping you could help me pick out a gift for her and your parents."

That earned him a big grin. "I'll be good; I promise!" she sweetly said.

Looking at his godfather, Harry said, "Jewellers, first; then Ollivander's, I think."

With a smile, Sirius said, "Then lead the way."

After purchasing what he wanted at the Jewellers, and with Sirius's help distracting Astoria while he also purchased something for her, they headed for Ollivander's.

It took some sweet talking of the peculiar old man but Harry was able to purchase what he wanted.

From there it was over to the Owl Emporium to pick up supplies for the owls, and visits to a couple of other places.

They soon met with the others at Fortescues before changing groups.

Harry was with Cygnus and Isabel, while Daphne went with Sirius and Astoria.

This time, the shopping was a lot quicker as he was only needing to purchase something for Sirius. However, he knew Daphne and her group were going to take a little longer.

Harry led his two to Scribbulus Everchanging Inks and the other stationery store, and he had a quick walkthrough memorising the bookshelves in Flourish & Blotts.

Just as many of the shops were closing, they returned to Fortescue's. This time, they were the first to arrive. Sirius brought the two girls a few minutes later.

"Ready to head home, are we?" asked Cygnus.

"Merlin, yes!" sighed Sirius. "I hate to see what it's going to be like here tomorrow."

Harry just smiled. He said, "We can always come and a have a look, if you like."

"No, no!" said Sirius, raising both hands in surrender. "I'm good!"

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As soon as they were back at Greengrass Estate, Harry took his purchases up to his room. He'd wrap them later. He needed to get back downstairs as it was planned they'd have an early but leisurely dinner.

Talk around the table had Astoria trying to wheedle out of both Harry and Daphne what they bought her, unsuccessfully. And chit-chat about what the adults and Astoria had been up to while the two older pre-teens were at Hogwarts.

Now that he had his health back, Sirius was working hard to clean up his family London home. He'd also reconnected with his old school friend, Remus 'Moony' Lupin.

"My parents' old home is a mess," he said to Harry. "Their house elf, Kreacher, is possibly insane. He's done nothing to clean the place since Merlin knows when. So, I spend half my time there trying to get him to do his job, and the other half actually doing his job for him."

"I would have thought the Blacks had a Manor out in the country somewhere," said Harry.

"They had one," replied Sirius. "However, old Abraxas Malfoy demanded it as dowry for cousin Cissy. I don't know what Grandfather Arcturus was thinking when he agreed to it. But, speaking with Great Aunt Cassiopeia, he told her the place held too many sad memories for him. Plus, he was pushed into it by my uncle Cygnus, Cissy's father.

"He moved into a smaller place and, on his death and as per his wishes, that place was sold with the monies going into the family vaults. It's a pity he passed only a few months before I was released from Azkaban. I might have been able to convince him to keep it.

"Until I saw the family home in London I would have thought he'd move in there. Even if old 'Warhorse' Walburga, my mother, was still living there. However, as soon as I saw it, I realised why he didn't; and why he never sold it. It would have cost more to clean it up than it was worth. And my mother wasn't the nicest of people to be around."

"So, you've been busy cleaning out the London home all this time?" asked Harry.

"Oh, no," replied Sirius. "I've also been spending quite a bit of time getting the Black finances back into order; learning what I need to be a proper Lord, now that I'm on the Wizengamot; getting back in contact with old friends, at least those who still don't think I'm guilty; and otherwise trying to recover my life."

"I remember your letter of a month or two ago telling me you'd moved back into the family home," said Harry. "Is that the London one?"

"Yes," replied Sirius. "Moony and I have managed to get enough of the house cleaned to make parts of it habitable. But, it's far from done. It's still a dangerous place to be if you don't know what you're doing."

"Then I hope you're being careful," said Harry with concern.

With an answering smile, he replied, "Don't worry, pup. Moony and I know what we're doing."

Isabel then told how she was quite pleased with her research into muggleborn birth rates. And how she was also looking into how and why the parents of many muggleborns were choosing not to allow their children to develop their magical potential.

She happily talked about her developing friendship with the Grangers, especially Monica.

"It's a very good thing you did making friends with that young muggleborn witch, Hermione, you two," she said to Harry and Daphne. "Did you know she's named after a character from a Shakespearean play?"

"I did," replied Harry. "She's a character out of 'The Winter's Tale'. I asked her once about it and it was a play her parents went to see the night they believed she was conceived."

"I didn't know that," said Daphne, a little surprised.

"Mmm," said Harry with a verbal nod. "It kind of embarrasses her."

"Well, the records from that British Registrar's Office Monica is able to get for me are heaven-sent," said Isabel. "It's making things a lot easier for me to get my report finalised way ahead of my original schedule."

"About Hermione," said Harry. "I was worried about how she was being treated by some of the other students at Hogwarts. There was this one incident -. it does not matter. However, I decided to offer her the opportunity to fall under the protection of House Potter."

"We heard," said Cygnus with a knowing smile. "It was a very Slytherin thing to do, Harry."

Seeing the look on Harry's face of surprised mixed with confusion, Isabel said, "Hermione wrote her parents about it. And Monica asked me what it meant. They're just a little confused as to why you did it."

"Oh," said Harry. "Well, I could see the writing on the wall, so to speak. Many, especially in Slytherin, know they cannot attack me directly. Whether it's about our betrothal, or that I'm supposedly the one that defeated their master, I know they're not happy with me.

"I could see they were starting to figure out the way to hurt me was through my friends. Neville, Tracey, Susan and Hannah are all from Ancient Houses with their own protections; such as House alliances. Hermione, however, was only protected through the bonds of friendship. And that she's a muggleborn was another risk.

"I looked into whether an alliance could be offered to her through her parents, or directly with her. But, as she doesn't belong to a recognised wizarding House, that option was not open to us.

"And that's when I found I could offer her protection directly through the Protection ritual. I'm just glad she accepted.

"For her, the benefits include she's now seen as having all the rights of a pureblood member of an Ancient House; the sign she's a protectee is plain to see on her robes; she can now consider herself to being a lot closer to our social equals in our circle of friends; and it reduces the slurs and verbal attacks she's had to go through until then.

"For me, I get to thumb my nose at the bigots; a close friend of mine is now better protected within our society, especially within Hogwarts, which make me breathe easier; and, more importantly, my friend cannot be treated like chattel or scum by those who'd try to take advantage of her.

"What I don't understand, as none of the books I've read about it are clear on the matter, is what this does regarding her magical guardianship. Nothing was mentioned what happens when the Protectee is an unemancipated minor.

"And, about her magical guardian, all I could find is that her Head of House, Professor McGonagall, should be hers. But I know the Professor has seen the protectee crest and hasn't said anything to either of us about it. Which doesn't make much sense."

"You won't need to worry about that Harry," said Cygnus with a wide grin. "I thought it was such a brilliant idea, for all the reasons you covered, that I'll be offering the protection of House Greengrass to her parents on Boxing Day. And, we'll also be offering to be your friend's magical guardians.

"After all," he said. "I can't let you be the only one who gets to thumb their nose at the bigots."

Harry sat there in shock. That was not something he expected.

Sirius, with a wide grin of his own, leaned over and ruffled Harry's hair. "Brilliant, like your mother; and a great prank on the bigoted gits, which would make your father proud!"

With a slight scowl Harry firmly said, "I didn't do it as a prank, Sirius."

"I know," he simply said. "The great pranks often aren't done as a prank. But they are, nevertheless."

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The only Christmas Day Harry had really experienced was while a five month old infant. From then on, until this day, Christmas Day was a day of sadness for him. All he got to do was watch Dudley open his presents and have fun; and he had to act like it was such a great day so Dudley wouldn't be upset there was someone sad near him.

But today - today he was part of a real family. Today he truly got to enjoy.

Having woken early, he lay in bed wondering what he would enjoy more. Would he enjoy opening his own presents more than watching others open presents he bought them? Or, vice versa? Or, would it be more the feeling of being part of something, a family, as everyone enjoyed the day? He didn't know but he was looking forward to finding out.

The night they arrived back on the Hogwarts Express, Harry carefully wrapped the gifts he'd purchased for his family and friends. Hedwig, knowing she would soon by delivering some of them, was watching him carefully from her perch.

At the right moments she was hooting and barking as Harry worked. And, in response, Harry was talking with her.

"So, who first, do you think, Hed?" he asked her. "Shall it be shortest path to each heading out? Or, should I give you one gift at a time to deliver?

She huffed and snuffled in response.

"How about I have you deliver two at a time? That way, it's only a few trips."

Harry pulled out a map of the island he'd purchased from Flourish & Blotts and laid it on the floor.

He carefully mapped the towns where he knew his friends lived. And looked at how Hedwig was likely to fly to each.

"Hmmm.." he said. "Tracey's coming over later in the day; so no need to deliver hers. I could hold off on sending Hermione's as she'll be here on Boxing Day. That leaves Neville, Susan and Hannah."

"How about a single trip with three stops, girl?" he asked.

Hedwig barked and bobbed her head.

With a grin back, he said, "Excellent idea! We shall do that."

Harry then pulled out the gifts for the three and took them over to his desk next to Hedwig's owl perch.

"Okay, Neville at Longbottom Hall under your left wing; Susan at the Ossuary under the right wing; and Hannah at the Refectory on your right ankle," he mused.

He quickly wrapped each gift in a sheet of parchment, wrote the name of the recipient on it in large letters, and shrank it down.

Hedwig hopped down onto the desk and Harry quickly and securely tied the packages to her harness and ankle. He walked over to the window and opened it right up for her.

"'Operation: Ho Ho Ho' is a go, girl!" he grinned.

Hedwig gave three quick hoots and took off out the window.

After watching her fly off for a few moments, Harry quickly closed the window with a grin.

As he was about to turn around, from the direction of the door, he heard Daphne say, "Just how in tune with one another you and Hedwig are, still amazes me."

When he turned to look at the door with the same grin on his face he saw his betrothed leaning against the frame with her arms and legs both crossed. A small smile on her face.

He crossed the room, took her in his arms and gave her a peck on her cheek. "You're lucky you didn't come in here an hour ago when I was still wrapping gifts," he said.

"Oh?" she asked, sinking into his arms.

"Yes. I would have spanked your bottom for you, for attempting to find out what your present is," he gleefully said.

"You wouldn't!" she gasped pushing him away.

"I would!" he returned. Then he grinned mischievously. "Maybe I should give you a taste of what to expect?"

Daphne took one look at his expression, adopted one of mock horror and took off towards the stairs with a very un-Daphne squeal.

Harry took off in pursuit, trying to laugh maniacally.

But, that was two days ago. Now lying in bed, Harry was wondering when he should get up. He didn't want to seem too eager by getting downstairs too soon; but he also didn't want to be the cause of everyone waiting for him to rise so they could get to the gift-giving part.

He was just about to get up when the bedroom door flew open and a small, brunette haired human missile came hurtling in and leapt up onto Harry's bed with a cry of "Haaaarrrry!" and onto him.

"Ooof!" he cried, when one of her knees landed in a tender spot.

As Harry was lying on his back, the brunette missile, otherwise known as Astoria, decided to sit astraddle his stomach, grab him by the shoulders, and shake him. "Come on!" she cried. "Get up! Get up! Get uuuuuppp!"

"Help!" he cried out turning his head towards the open door. "I'm being attacked by a harpy!"

Tori grabbed his chin in her hand and spun his head to look back at her. "Get out of bed, Mister Potter!" see demanded, glaring at him before grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him again. "I want to open preeesssseeeeents!"

"Alright!" he cried back.

With a final glare at him, Tori used his stomach as a springboard to climb back off him before then bouncing off the bed to land on her feet beside it.

Harry groaned for a moment and tried to curl into a ball from the abuse to his stomach muscles before he suddenly found the blankets reefed off him.

"Hey!" he cried.

"Get up!" Tori stamped her foot.

"Alright, already!" he grumble-yelled, swinging his feet off the side of the bed.

Tori stood just aways from the bed glaring impatiently at him.

"As soon as I've had my morning shower, I'll..." he tried.

"No!" she stamped her foot. "Now!"

She spun away and went to his wardrobe, bringing out a normal working robe. She threw it at him and said, "Just pull that on over your pyjamas!"

"I can still take the gift I bought you back to the shop and get my money back, you know!" he half-snarled back, pulling the robe over his head.

With a gasp she said, "You wouldn't dare!"

"Don't push me, young lady!" he said, settling the robes around himself. Mumbling he said, "Now, footwear."

Before he had a chance to do anything, Tori grabbed him by the left hand and literally dragged him out of his room at a near-run towards the stairs. "No time!" she called over her shoulder.

"Tori!" tried Harry.

She ignored him and dragged him down the stairs into the parlour where the tree with presents under it were found. Everyone else had already gathered there.

"He's up!" she happily exclaimed to the laughing adults and Daphne.

With a groan, Harry staggered over and collapsed into a loveseat next to Daphne while everyone else was still laughing.

Tori almost bounced across the room and into an armchair, clapping her hands in excitement.

Staring daggers at the clearly excited younger girl, he snarled, "I find myself pitying your future husband."

Tori just poked her tongue out at him with a happy smile on her face.

The adults in the room had clearly been laughing for a while. Harry was even sure he'd heard them while Tori was abusing him earlier.

Chuckling herself, Daphne put her arm around him and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm sorry no one warned you; but, no one gets to sleep in on Christmas day in this family. Tori makes sure of that."

"I was thinking of getting up, anyway," he grumbled. "Just not so - enthusiastically."

Still grinning, Cygnus said, "Now, shall we start with oldest first or..."

"Youngest!" Tori cried out.

"Youngest, it is," replied Cygnus with a grin.

A quick rustle through wrapped presents under the tree and Cygnus handed her the first gift. Harry noticed he didn't even look at the name tag, so he was expecting hers to be first.

He was amused to watch her near-shred the wrapping paper to get to the gift within.

Another reach into the mass of presents and one was passed around to - Harry.

Harry was surprised to find he was receiving a gift so quickly; a set of good quality fine-point quills.

Daphne's was a gift of the same.

Sirius received Harry's first gift to others; a male necklace with three pewter charms hanging from it; a lily flower between a stag and a wolf. By the look on his face, Harry knew he chose right.

As the gifts were passed around for the first round, when he was being passed his second gift he asked Cygnus to pass to Daphne a particular gift. It was a small wrapped box hidden just inside the lower branches of the tree.

Passing it around to Daphne everyone carefully watched; even excited Tori.

Carefully unwrapping it, Daphne found a small, flat, polished wooden box. She opened it and her eyes went wide and her hands shook a little. She sat there staring at the contents.

Harry hopped out of his seat, walked around behind Daphne and reached over her shoulder to the largest item inside the box.

Carefully, drawing it out he held it by it's chain and turned it around so everyone else could see it. It was a beautiful and delicate silver chain with an ornamental sapphire surrounded in silver filigree.

"Oh, wow!" said Tori. The only one to make a sound.

Harry carefully undid the clasp, drew it around Daphne's throat and reaffixed the clasp at the base of her neck.

Leaning forward he planted a kiss on the top of her head before walking back around the seat and sitting back down. "Do you want to show them what else is in there?" he asked her.

Daphne turned the case around and held it up so everyone else could see. It held a pair of matching sapphire earrings to the necklace.

"They're beautiful, Daphne," said Isabel.

Daphne just nodded in response.

She turned the case back around, closed it, and placed it on her lap; before turning to Harry, cupping his cheek in her palm and gently placing a kiss on his lips. She stared into his eyes while hers were watering a little.

"Everything that's in my vaults will be yours, some day," said Harry, loud enough for the rest to hear. "Therefore, giving you a gift from the vaults didn't seem right. So, this marks the first piece from the Lady Daphne Potter collection."

Clearing his throat, Cygnus reached into the stack and pulled out one for Sirius. A selection of joke products from Tori.

"To help you find the prankster in you, again," she said.

Sirius laughed and said, "An excellent idea, Tori!"

Harry's gift to Tori was a necklace with tiny diamond pendant, which made her squeal in delight. She then demanded Harry put it on for her - which he was happy to do.

He gifted a sterling silver desk set to Cygnus, and a choker with a centered emerald to Isabel.

Sirius and Daphne also received from Harry charmed wand holsters similar to those used by aurors. Both made of dragon hide and charmed to be invisible at will.

Harry was surprised to find Sirius and the Greengrasses had gifted him a Nimbus 2000 broom, together with a good quality broom servicing kit for it, among other things.

"We had ten years of Christmas and birthday gifts to make up for, Pup," said Sirius, when Harry looked at him and the others in awe and gratitude.

"And, if you make the Quidditch team for Ravenclaw next year," said Cygnus, "we'll be providing you with the armour you're going to need."

After the gifting ended Harry was able to carry his horde upstairs to his room and get in a quick shower and other ablutions before he had to race down for breakfast.

He was told he wasn't allowed to try out the broom until after the morning meal.

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