Chapter-77: Christmas

When Ronan first saw the name of Peter Pettigrew on the map, he thought that it might be a third year, sharing the same name as the victim of Sirius. But when he sent Pancy to enquire from people about Peter, she came back with nothing. No one had heard about Peter. But he didnt believe her at first, considering that someone from another house might have lied to her, after all, Slytherins are not a beloved group of people.

So he asked Fred and George in a casual conversation, during the club activities. And after their negative response, he finally started believing that there was a chance that Peter Pettigrew on the map might be a ghost or a pet.

After getting confirmation from the Bloody Baron that there was no ghost Peter Pettigrew in Hogwarts, he realized that there was a chance that he might be a dealing Animagus, a wizard able to tranfigure themselves into an animal. And the Peter Pettigrew in the map is in the form of an animal, which is why he asked Harry to get him the pets of his friends.

He believed that he had truly fooled Harry, which meant that soon he would get his hands on those pets. But now he faced another dilemma, what was he supposed to do with the pets…

That particular day, after attending his share of classes, he was sitting in the great hall, waiting for his friends to arrive.

If I were to unravel the mystery of Peter being alive in front of the world, then I would get a reward… Maybe… And Sirius would be reinstated, and that fucker would come into my life… And I dont want that. While on the other hand, if I were to kill Sirius.. Harry would be happy. But I might make Dumbledore wary of me. And might lose the little bond that I have made with him.

It was too hard for him to come up with a possible solution to his problem. Because a part of him was leaning towards killing Sirius, for the bounty money, as well as for fame. But if he were to save that man, then that would mean that he would officially get a guardian. And he might lose his freedom.

Also, what truly happened during the time? Peter is living in such a condition, so it is safe to assume that he is the culprit. Then that would mean that Sirius was a good man… But how the hell did Sirius find out that Peter was hiding in Hogwarts while in Azkaban?

It was then Blaise slammed his bag on the table, breaking his line of thought. For some reason, Blaise looked rather pissed. "What happened to you?" he asked.

Daphne who sat by him giggled, "Nothing. He is getting punished for being a stellar student,"

Ronan looked rather confused, but it was then Pancy chimed in, "Remember the essay on Werewolves that helped him right?"

"Yup."

Then Blaise angrily said, "Apparently Professor Lupin thought that an essay on such a topic would be an overkill. So he rescinded the homework,"

"That is great," he exclaimed.

"No." Blaise said firmly, "No it is not. I have already completed the homework."

"What?" he exclaimed, "No scratch that… Why? I have never seen you complete homework early. Is everything alright?"

It was then Pancy spoke, "The reason for his competency is a certain Ravenclaw.."

He was surprised to hear that. Most Slytherins dont really fraternize with other houses. But he was not surprised at all, after all, they are coming of an age where these things tend to happen, "Wait is that the reason you gave me the book when I was in the infirmary?"

Blaise sighed, "Yeah." He said, "I really wanted to impress her with my knowledge. That is why I made you read the whole book on Werewolves."

"That book?" Daphne was surprised, "It was so big and fat,"

Ronan shrugged, "Well I was getting bored sitting idly there. So the book in reality did help a little bit,"

"Wait, so you completed the whole book? In two days?" Pancy asked.

"It was an interesting book," Ronan said. His powers had grown stronger. And he doesn't really have headaches anymore when he reads books that long, so he was happy to help.

"You are weird," Pancy said, "Also.. Guess what happened to the…." And thus she continued telling them about a new gossip that she overheard that other day…

***

As the days passed by, the end of the term drew closer, Ronan started having doubts about Harry. He didnt know whether the boy has the ability to pull off the pet heist or not. Whenever he would come across him, he would ask about the progress, and every time Harry would make up some excuse.

One time Harry even got pissed off, and said, "It is a very difficult decision for me. So please, leave me alone. I am trying my best over here."

Ronan couldnt understand, what was so difficult about the situation. If he were in his shoes, he would have pulled off the heist by now and would have just gotten it over with. To him getting revenge would be at the top of his to-do list. He couldnt understand what Harry was trying to do…

It was the last weekend before the end of the term. Christmas was just around the corner, and Ronan was in the club room. Before him was the 130th attempt in making the bangle on which he could cast the Deming-away Charm. And it felt like, this attempt could be the one.

As he carved the last Runic Symbol, he couldnt help but stand up and yell in celebration. Not wasting any time, he quickly wore the bangle and got Donatello out of his habitat. He was about to cast the charm when someone knocked on the door of his clubroom.

"Who is it?" he yelled.

"It's me. Harry." Immediately he swiped his wand and the door swung open.

Harry frantically came in. In his hand was a cage, with a normal house mouse, and tucked in his upper right pocket was a frog, "Here they are. Scabbers and Trevor,"

"Leave them be. Go now," he said.

"Ronan," Harry said, "They won't be hurt… right?"

"I will try my best," he said with a smile. And then asked, "Did anyone see you coming in?"

Harry shook his head. Then Ronan spoke, "Good… Now off you go. I have a lot of things to do before we can think about an ambush… Dont worry about anything, and just go,"

"When would the ambush take place?" he asked.

"After the Christmas holiday,."

"But Ronan," Harry exclaimed, "Sirius could get caught out there in that time. What would we do then"

"That is a risk that we would have to take my friend. We dont have any other options." And it was indeed the truth.

Harry looked dejected, the thought of betraying his friends was eating from inside. Ronan could see it. But ultimately he resigned to his situation and just went away…

***

Harry woke up that day with a pillow on his head.

"Wake up Harry!" Ron yelled, "It's Christmas."

Harry reached for his glasses and put them on, squinting through the semi-darkness to the foot of his bed, where a small heap of parcels had appeared. Ron and Neville were already ripping the paper off their own presents.

"Another sweater from Mum … maroon again … see if you've got one." He heard Ron mumble.

"I got a sweater as well," Neville said.

Mrs. Weasley had sent him a scarlet sweater with the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front, also a dozen home-baked mince pies, some Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle. As he moved all these things aside, he saw two long, thin packages lying underneath.

"What are those?" said Ron.

"I dont know," he said and started ripping out the paper.

Harry along with Ron and Nevile gasped as two brand-new gleaming broomsticks rolled out of the parcels. One of the brooms was the one that they were all too familiar with. It was a Nimbus 2001, and it had Ronan's handwritten card attached to it.

While the other broom was a Firebolt. Its handle glittered as he picked it up. He could feel it vibrating and let go; it hung in midair, unsupported, at exactly the right height for him to mount it. His eyes moved from the golden registration number at the top of the handle, right down to the perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail.

"Who sent it to you?" said Ron in a hushed voice. All the boys had their eyes observing every inch and corner of the Firebolt. While Ronan's Nimbus 2001 lay on the floor, untouched.

"I bet it was Dumbledore," said Neville, now walking around and around the Firebolt, taking in every glorious inch. "He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously. …"

"That was my dad's, though," said Harry. "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on me. He can't go giving students stuff like this…"

"Oh… I can only imagine the face of that git Malfoy now.. He would be fuming if he saw this," Ron said.

"I can't believe this," Harry muttered, "Who would send me this?"

"I know," said Ron, controlling himself, "I know who it could've been — Lupin!"

"Professor Lupin?" Harry said with a smile on his face.

"No… I dont think so," Neville said. "If Lupin had that much gold, he would have been able to afford a good pair of robes for himself."

"Morning boys!" Hermione came in, carrying Crookshanks, who was looking very grumpy, with a string of tinsel tied around his neck.

"Hey get that filthy thing out of here," Ron yelled. Ever since Ronan had taken Scabbers, Ron is under the imppression that Hermione's cat had eaten his rat. Which is why he had been pissed at her and the cat for the past week.

Hermione ignored him, and went to Harry, ""Oh, Harry! Who sent you that?"

 "No idea," said Harry. "There wasn't a card or anything with it." To his great surprise, Hermione did not appear either excited or intrigued by the news. On the contrary, her face fell, and she bit her lip.

"What's the matter with you?" Neville asked.

"I don't know," said Hermione slowly, "but it's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?"

Ron sighed exasperatedly. "It's the best broom there is, Hermione," he said.

"So it must've been really expensive. …" she mumbled.

"Probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together," said Ron happily.

"Well … who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?" said Hermione.

"Who cares?" said Ron impatiently. "Listen, Harry, can I have a go on it? Can I?" Neville on the other hand stayed away from the broom. The memory of his first-year accident was still fresh in his mind…

At lunchtime they went down to the Great Hall, to find that the House tables had been moved against the walls again and that a single table, set for twelve, stood in the middle of the room. Professors McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch, the caretaker.

They were all pretty surprised that Professor Dumbledore didnt join them on the feast. But in the end, they didnt think much of it and enjoyed their feast. They all ate their food in a hurry because he and his friends were very excited to test out the new brooms.

Except for Hermione.

They quickly ate their food and returned to the dorms. But when they came back, they saw Professor McGonagall standing in the middle of the Common room with Hermione.

"So that's it, is it?" said Professor McGonagall beadily, walking over to the fireside and staring at the Firebolt. "Miss Granger has just informed me that you have been sent a broomstick, Potter." He and Ron stared at her with anger, while she only lowered her head.

"May I?" said Professor McGonagall, but she didn't wait for an answer before pulling the Firebolt and Nimbus out of their hands. She examined both carefully from handle to twig-ends. "Hmm. And there was no note at all with this one, Potter? No card? No message of any kind?"

"No," said Harry blankly.

"I see … ," said Professor McGonagall. "Well, I'm afraid I will have to take both of them, Potter."

"W... what?" said Harry, scrambling to his feet. "Why?"

"It will need to be checked for jinxes," said Professor McGonagall. "Of course, I'm no expert, but I daresay Madam Hooch and Professor Flitwick will strip it down —"

"Strip it down?" repeated Ron, as though Professor McGonagall was mad.

"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks for this one," said Professor McGonagall while pointing at Firebolt. "As far as this one is concerned, after confirming that it is really Johanson who brought this for you, it will be returned to you as soon as possible."

Professor McGonagall didnt hear any of the pleas, and left with both the brooms. After she left, Ron yelled at Hermione, "Why did you go running to McGonagall?"

She was still pink in the face but stood up and faced Ron defiantly. "Because I thought.. and Professor McGonagall agrees with me.. that… Firebolt broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!"