The Headmaster's Only Mistake

Yule Tidings

A/N: yay! shitty chapter fuelled by late night inspiration and writers block time!

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Hagrid turned very red before turning around and stalking off, muttering about sneaky Slytherins.

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Sometimes, Harry found it hard to differentiate his eleven year old friends to his eighteen year old friends from his first timeline. For example, when Pansy throws a particularly harsh glare at a girl who was making Blaise uncomfortable, it is difficult to suppress a shiver and not feel thirteen again after his first Care of Magical Creatures class; or when Draco makes a biting comment about how Weasley looked today, it is hard for Harry to remember that his best friend is Draco, not Ron; or when Susan stands firmly for her beliefs on anything, it takes Harry a few moments to remember that this girl is eleven, and not the woman he had become close friends with while training together in the auror department.

At times, the lines become so blurred, they disappear. It makes Harry's head hurt and his heart ache. Yes, these children are his friends and have become his family, but they did not fight the war with him, they did not spend seven years of magical schooling with him, and they don't know him the way that he knows them.

He's seen them crack under pressure; he's seen them crumble in fear. He's watched them fight, and cry, and scream, and be in pain. 

And yes, he's seen them all like this in this timeline, but he's seen them at war, covered in blood and dragging the dead and injured through battlefields.

Every time he is reminded that the Neville that seems so excited for getting points in Herbology isn't the Neville who cut of Nagini's head and is now studying happily under Professor Sprout, he feels like the stake that seems permanently lodged in his heart is pushed in just a little deeper and twisted just a little harsher.

Especially now, that the Weasley twins were in detention for bewitching snowballs to hit Voldemort through Quirrell's turban and Ron had just been given detention by Snape for lunging at Draco and the scene was quite literally exactly the same as he remembered it, except he was standing with Draco and the rest of their friends, laughing at Ron. 

Harry gulped away the guilt, turning to his friends with a smile.

"Come on, I've heard the Great Hall looks lovely during Yule." Harry informed them.

The hall didn't look lovely.

It looked bloody spectacular. 

Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.

Harry felt the sense of nostalgia fill him as a peaceful sigh escaped his lips.

Small arms made their way around his waist. Harry looked down, not surprised to see Luna smiling up at him warmly.

"Hello, Little Moon." he greeted, running a hand through her hair.

"Hello, Hazza." she hummed back. "I'm sorry."

Harry raised his eyebrows at her, "Sorry for what?"

"For not being able to help without making it worse." Luna gave him a knowing look nuzzled herself deeper into Harry's side. Harry sighed and hugged her back. 

Things were so much easier with Luna around. The girl might not know everything about him, but she could read him like a book. She could see what was troubling him and she could always find a way to fix it.