An Ally

Chapter 19

It was finally Christmas day and Harry was practically bouncing out of his seat in nervousness at breakfast. Tom, it seemed, wasn't big on dashing to the tree the first thing in the morning and insisted they have some food in them first. Harry did notice that the man ate quicker than usual.

They walked to the library and sat down on the floor by the huge pile of gifts under the tree Harry insisted they have. They all seemed to be mixed in with each other and Harry found that he rather liked it that way instead of the individual piles Hogwarts did. They each picked up a gift and Harry read the tag in wonder.

"Why would Yaxley get me anything?" Tom laughed.

"Harry, they have two lords now. Did you think they would neglect buying you anything? Most of it will likely be generic gifts as they don't know you as well as I, but I imagine some of the more perceptive ones will have gotten you things you're bound to like."

"Oh. That's nice of them. I wish I had thought to do the same."

"Harry, they all got their usual gifts from me and I had all the tags signed from the both of us. As far as they are concerned, it is taken care of." Harry felt a blush creeping up his cheeks and nodded before they opened their gifts from Yaxley.

Tom got a bottle of fine scotch and Harry got a bottle of wine from Italy. He rolled his eyes, knowing that he wouldn't get any use from alcohol since he was underage and passed it to Tom.

"Suddenly I have a feeling most of what they got me will have to do with being of age." They both laughed.

"I'm sorry Harry. For every bottle of alcoholic drink they get you, I'll be sure to get you a bottle of butterbeer to make up for it." Harry thanked him and they continued on.

Bellatrix had gotten him the most surprising gift of all the death eaters. It was a book on some rather lewd things you could do in the bedroom, ranging from completely vanilla to some pretty hardcore things. Harry set the book aside, blushing from head to toe at some of the things he had seen on the few pages he flipped to. Lucius, ever the observer, got him a bottle of the best butterbeer money could buy and a large selection of incredible fruits imported from Japan. He had never seen grapes so large and was eager to try the huge variety of delicious looking food. Severus had gotten him a new broom maintenance kit, a stylish pair of dragonhide boots and a set of matching gloves, scarf and hat for the bitter cold. He couldn't help but notice that the set was clearly meant for someone of the Slytherin house.

He got the traditional candy from the Weasley boys, new products from the twins as well as a thank you letter for the money to start up their shop, a Weasley sweater-this year in gold with a green H on the front-and a miniature quidditch pitch with magical figures that flew around on brooms to play the game. It had clearly been for the world cup they had gone to, but Ron had apparently taken the effort to spell the uniforms different colors so it looked more like Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

Hermione had sent him sugar free muggle candy and a book on quidditch tactics. Neville sent him a book on dark creatures that he thought Harry would find interesting and Luna had sent a rather pretty pressed daisy in a picture frame. It was then that Harry realized it was time to give Tom his gift.

Tom wasn't sure if he should be worried about the sudden look of nervousness on Harry's face or if he should just ignore it. But the moment of hesitation was gone then, and he was presented with a present that he hadn't seen yet.

It was a box that was roughly the size of the boxes Olivander had for his wands, although this was a bit bigger than that. It was wrapped in baby blue paper and tied up in silver ribbons.