The Alter Attractionem Saga - Secretive Love

Winter Surprise

         Harry and I went back to our changing rooms, and got changed. I accompanied Harry to meet Hagrid, Ron and Hermione. And there, we went and had hard black tea. Hagrid was soon escorting us to the castle. On his way back Harry told everything about the course of events. He told his suspicions on Severus regarding the event with the broom.But, Hagrid had none of it.
        "Nonsense! Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?"boomed Hagrid.Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, wondering 
what to tell him. Harry decided on the truth.
        "Who knows? Why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween? "he replied, as Hagrid turned towards us in shock.
        "Who told you about Fluffy? "he asked.
        "Fluffy?"said Ron.
        "That thing has a name? "said Hermione.
        "Well, of course, he's got a name! He's mine! I bought him off an Irish feller I met down at the pub last year. Then I lent 'im to Dumbledore to guard the... "he went on when he realised he'd blabbed out too much, so he stopped himself immediately.
        "Yes?"said Harry, giving him a go on, we're all ears look, when Hagrid decided to be mum.
        "I shouldn't have said that."he muttered to himself."No more questions! Don't ask anymore questions! That's top-secret, that is. "he said.
        "But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it!"argued Harry.
        "Blimey Harry! Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher!"I exclaimed in shock.
        "Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one! I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking! "argued Hermione.  I decided to be mum, she clearly didn't have all the knowledge, no wonder she was not sorted into Ravenclaw.
        "Exactly. "said Harry supporting her.
        "Now, you listen to me, all three of ya. You're meddlin' in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's dangerous! What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel. "boomed Hagrid.
        "Nicholas Flamel?"said Harry, making Hagrid realise as if he'd committed a blunder by saying too much. Hagrid became angry with himself, as he went on muttering I shouldn't have said that to himself. Well done brother, well done."Nicholas Flamel? Who is Nicholas Flamel!" Lookies to me, bro has got himself a mission at hand.

        Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.None of us could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the draughty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape’s classes down in the dungeons, where our breath rose in a mist before us and we kept as close as possible to our hot cauldrons. 
        "I do feel so sorry,"said Malfoy,in  one of the Potions classes, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they’re not wanted at home."he said as I glared at him. Oliver was going back to Scotland, to his cottage, and Minerva was taking me, to her manor in Scotland. Yippee. I simply rolled my eyes at Malfoy. He was particularly looking at brother, as he said this. Harry smiled at me, as he ignore Malfoy and gang, quietly measuring his spine of lion fish. Seeing that he was not being payed attention to, Malfoy,we went back to taunting my brother on not having any proper family.That was when I whacked the back of his head, as he strangely looked at me in this crazy dreamy way, rubbing the back of his head. Weird, and he says we are unwanted. That idiotic buffoon. That...........dragon..........ugh.....................
        Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess, as Hermione brought in her trunk, and Minerva had told we'd go right on new year's eve. I was exhilarated with the news. I was even beginning to pack my bags. I sat reading my copy of History of Potions as Herminoe came towards us. Ron was easily winning, as Harry lost miserably and his pawns and knights suggested him with instructions.
        "Knight to E-5."said Harry, and a the knight moved across the board. Ron began to think, as he smirked. Brother must have given him an easy slaughter.
        "Queen to E-5."said Ron.The queen walked to the said space, and clinked the knight away. See what I told you, Ron would so lose against me.
        "That's totally barbaric! "exclaimed Hermione.
        "That's wizard's chess. "said Ron proudly, when he noticed her trunk. "I see you've packed. "he said.
        "I see you haven't."she countered back.
        "Change of plans. My parents have decided to go to Romania, to visit my brother Charlie. He's studying dragons there. "he said with pride. 
        "Good. You can help Harry, then. He's going to go and look in the library for information on Nicholas Flamel."said Hermione in her bossy manner. Talk of Hermione going oh the mother way. Ron simply groaned. If only they asked my help. I mentally chuckled.
        "We've looked a hundred times!"Ron whined. He is right. We had indeed been searching books for Flamel’s name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were we going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard for the three to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. You see they wouldn't ask my help, and as for Flamel. He wasn’t in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical 
Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows. That was  when Hermione leaned over the desk and lowered her tone, whispering to us.
        "Not in the Restricted Section. "she said as she went back to standing straight."Happy Christmas"she greeted as she left the Great Hall. Ron looked at Harry and me with wonder.
        "I think we've had a bad influence on her."he said.
        Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, as I was in my private room, till I left with Minerva. So we were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. We sat by the hour eating anything we could spear on a toasting fork – bread, crumpets, marshmallows – and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn’t work. 
        Ron and I also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made 
it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron’s set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family – in this case, his grandfather. I was always there to put a repairing charm, repairing his broken pieces. However, old chessmen weren’t a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted. 
        Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him and they didn’t trust him at all. He wasn’t a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing: ‘Don’t send me there, can’t you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him.’ 
On Christmas Eve, we went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun. When I woke early next morning, the first thing I saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of my bed. 
        "Happy Christmas," said Ron and Harry sleepily as they scrambled into the common room in their sleepwear.I received a Weasley jumper and bakery, Fred and George's pranking snacks, chocolate frogs from Ron, a book on Researches conducted in Magic, by Hermione, and a dress from Minerva along with a new Quidditch gear set from Albus. Oliver gave me new Quidditch goggles, as Cedric sent me apple muffins from his home, Seamus sent me a picture of me shooting the quaffel through the goalposts in my first quidditch match, Pomona gave me a book on Herbs and plants for basic healing, Poppy gifted me a basic safety box, and Severus gifted me a book on basic healing Potions. Harry gifted me a snitch bracelet. And strangely there was a box by the tree for Harry.
        ""Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.""he read out loud.
        "What is it? "asked Ron.
        "Some kind of... cloak. "replied Harry.
        "Well, let's see then! Put it on! Whoa!"said Ron withe excitement.
        "My body's gone! "said Harry with shock, while I mentally palmed my face.
        "I know what that is! That's an Invisibility Cloak!"gasped Ron.
        "I'm invisible?"said Harry.
        "Nae shit Merlin!"I exclaimed sarcastically.
        "They're really rare. I wonder who gave it to you"said Ron.
        "There was no name. It just said, "Use it well.""said Harry."Hey there's a gift here for you sis."he said handing me a gift wrapped in purple, and onyx studded green ribbon. Strange. There was no name on it too. I unwrapped it to reveal a journal with Hogwarts crest on it . I took it and flapped through it when a note fell out.

        Saw you love writing, and your head is always buried in that journal of yours. Thought you'll need one since new year, and what better gift that a journal with the school's crest, to pour your thought into. Have a happy christmas.

                                                                                                                                                                                           From Your Secret Admirer.

        Whoa! I thought. Whoa! That day, I had a bath and got ready, and went downstairs. Today was Harry's and Ron's first christmas at Hogwarts, so they were excited. This was my first christmas with my brother, so I was excited as well. We never had such a good time ever.There were a hundred fat, roasted turkeys, mountains of roasted and boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy, cranberry sauce and stacks of wizard crackers along the table.We were merrily joking with the teachers.Albus swapped his pointed wizard’s hat for a flowered bonnet and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him. 
        Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver Sickle embedded in his slice. We watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Minerva on the cheek, eww who, to my shock, giggled and blushed, her top hat lop-sided.We spent a happy afternoon in a snow ball fight, as the Weasley twins were chased by a frustrated Percy, since they'd stolen his prefect's badge. At tea, we had turkey sandwiches,crumpets, trifles, and christmas cake.
        That night, I was sleeping peacefully, when I felt a tug on my arm. I woke up to my shock, to see Harry, since my private room was near his dorm. Way to take away my dreams Harry.
        "What?"I asked in my sleepy tone.
        "Come on! Come! Come look! It's our parents! "he said excitedly. Mum and dad? I ran along with him as he took me inside a classroom, where stood a mirror, with the words Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi written on top of it. I peered into the mirror to see a girl who looked like me, but older, like seventeen, as I was surrounded by mum and dad, along with Albus and Minerva and Harry on one side, and surprisingly, the blonde Malfoy family, with a boy with platinum blonde hair, who looked like an older version of Draco Lucius Dragon Bullying Menace Malfoy, as the older Draco, snaked his arms around the older me, kissing my temple, as they looked back at me, and smiled. What? Albus had told me, this mirror shows our innermost desires of our hearts. I understand, me wanting my parents, godparents and my brother, all standing together with me, but........................Draco and his family as well? Wait did I just call that dragon his first name? No bloody way? I gasped.
        "What do you see?"asked Harry.
        "Mum and dad, with Minnie, Albus and you."I said, omitting the part of the Malfoys altogether.