HP 6 - A different Half-Blood...

Christmas at the Burrow

"Harry!" yelled Mrs. Weasley.

All four of them came down into the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head at the sight of them and said, "I call one of you down and the rest of you follow.... Well, do you want them to be here or not?"

"Yeah, it's alright, I think I have enough secrets to keep track of," Harry said, lamely.

"Fine, I went to the bank to get some money the other day and..." she started.

Harry had forgotten all about the money Sirius had left him and the Weasleys.

"...and it seemed to be... well... full. It took me almost an hour just to find out what happened," she said, slightly irritated.

Everyone was staring at Harry, who was staring resolvedly at the frost-covered windows.

"The paper says you signed the money over," she finished, drawing in a long breath.

"Is that all it said?" he asked, slightly surprised, ignoring Ron and Ginny's shocked faces.

"Well, no, it was originally from... Sirius's vault, but Harry, we can't take it. It isn't right. I'm going to tell them to put it back into your vault," she declared firmly, but Harry stood up immediately.

"You can't. I told them not to allow anyone to put money into my vault. Not without my permission, anyway, and the goblins won't ignore my request," he said determinately, looking right at her.

Mrs. Weasley looked shocked, as did Ron, whose mouth was open.

"Harry, we can't keep it, it's yours. I'm not like Fred and George. I just won't..." Mrs. Weasley started.

"It isn't mine! It was Sirius's!" Harry said, irritably.

"Yes, Harry, dear, but he wanted you to have it. He designated you as his heir," she said, softly.

"Really? I'll be right back," he said, suddenly.

He turned on his heel and marched from the room, went upstairs, looked through his trunk and found the water-stained parchment of Sirius's will. He burst into the kitchen at full speed, which made Ron, Hermione and Ginny jump. He opened the will and slammed it down on the table.

"Look!" he said angrily.

She picked it up and read it silently. He waited a second for her to finish, but cut in before she could say anything.

"Sirius wanted it split 50/50. Half for me. Half for you. It's right there in his will!" Harry said, perhaps more loudly than he meant to. Mrs. Weasley read it carefully again, and looked at him.

"That doesn't mean..." she started.

"Look, I didn't give it to you. He did! I decided to honor my godfather's wishes, and I think that you should respect his decision, too," he said, finishing softly.

"Harry..." Mrs. Weasley tried to speak over him again, but he did not let her.

"Mrs. Weasley!" Harry half-shouted. "I do not need that money! I don't even want that money! I have enough money, which I got when my parents died! You think I like the fact that the reason I have money is because my parents and Sirius died and left me it for me! You guys are like family to me! You have feed me, cared for me, and took me in. If I could, I would have stayed here every summer. You try to protect me from danger and make sure I stay out of trouble. You are the closest thing I have ever had to a mother. The least I could do is sign a paper that executes my godfather's last wishes... please... just take it..." he pleaded, while maintaining his composure and staring directly into her eyes, which were filled with tears.

She rounded the table, and pulled him into a hug.

"Ok, Harry, I will," she whispered into his ear.

Charlie and Percy entered the room, to see what the commotion was, and Harry and Mrs. Weasley separated.

"Alright, I better get dinner ready. Percy, why are you home already, dear?" she asked, wiping away her tears quickly.

"Finished early," he mumbled.

"Why?" she asked.

"Fudge didn't need me," he said tonelessly and silently left the room.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head and started mumbling under her breath. Harry took it as a sign he could leave. The others followed him back into his room. He laid face-up on his bed. Ron had eventually closed his mouth, but the dumbstruck-look still remained. Ginny was not as bad, but was still speechless. Hermione just stared at Harry. He suspected that she thought that he had purposely kept another secret from them. However, it was Ron, who regained the power of speech first.

"Did she say full?" he said, suppressing a laugh of disbelief.

Harry nodded and Ron smiled in awe.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Hermione said, confirming Harry's speculation.

"I just forgot. Look, after what happened at Gringotts after I signed that paper, I just forgot about it," Harry said honestly.

"Why did Sirius leave us money?" Ginny asked, looking slightly gloomy.

"Well, you guys are my friends and he did notice... you are blood-related, too. Besides, the Black fortune has been in the hands of self-righteous purebloods forever. Who better to get it than a half-blood and some blood traitors?" Harry said, and Ron and Ginny both grinned at that, but he then looked at Hermione. "Hermione, I don't know why, he...."

"Harry, I'm perfectly able to take care of myself. My parents can more than pay for my education. They have a successful business, and I can get a good job after we leave school with my grades," she said, as though it were a matter of fact. "Besides if I ever needed money, I can just ask you guys!" Hermione said, smiling.

"Who said I was going to give you any money?" said Ron, sarcastically.

"Ron, the money is for the family, and if it is split into sections, Hermione can have some of my share," said Ginny, smiling.

They went to bed early, because the next morning was Christmas. Amazingly, Harry did not have a nightmare. Ron had even woken up before him. Harry noticed this fact when a pillow came crashing down on his head a few times, which got Pig all wound up and he began hooting wildly around the room. He did not wake up in a good mood, and threatened not to give Ron his present. Ron stopped, but convinced Ginny and Hermione to come wake him up. Before they even got to his bed, he sat up.

"Ok! Ok! I'm up," he mumbled and rolled out of bed.

He threw on some warmer clothes and headed downstairs. Everybody was already down in the den and his presents were in a pile waiting for him. He sat down and Ginny brought him a cup of tea, which he gratefully thanked her for it. Bill and Charlie were talking and standing by the door already in their jumpers, which everyone got, including Crookshanks, who was already trying to claw it off. Harry had gotten another green one and Hermione was enjoying a nice purple one for the first time.

Not surprisingly, everyone, except Percy, got stuff from Fred and George's joke shop. Harry had a feeling that Fred and George had not quite forgiven Percy for his behavior last year. Hermione thanked Harry for her new book called, Careers in Ministry Politics. Harry gave Ron two detailed books on Quidditch tactics. Ron's eyes opened wide, as he was resisting the urge to leave right now and read them. He was so entranced that he did not even notice an envelope slip from between the books and fell to the floor. Before Harry could point it out, Hermione, who was hovering over his shoulder, saw it and pointed it out first. Harry just sat and watched as he opened it.

"Agrippa! It's the card I been looking for... Harry, where did you find..." Ron knew the answer before he finished. "Harry, I can't...."

"There were two of them, I only need one. Consider it a present from my mum," Harry said, quietly.

Ron did not know what to say at first. He hesitated, but nodded. Harry got an assortment of candies and games, and a book on Seeker training from Ron, a box of treacle fudge from Hagrid and a bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion from Hermione. He looked at it trying to figure out why she got it for him.

"Well, there is supposed to be a ball, sooner or later. And if it can make my hair straight, it can make yours lie flat," she said, glancing up at his hair with a grin.

Harry was not sure he wanted this present, but it was definitely better than last year's schedule books, which he and Ron burned without telling her. He did notice she did not as many presents as usual, which did not make much sense, because Fred and George gave her some skiving Snack boxes this year (even though they knew she'd never use them).

He looked over at Percy, who only got a present from his parents. He was pulling over his Weasley sweater, to get warmer, when he knocked his glasses to the floor. He could not see where they went and no one else was paying attention. Harry maneuvered through the others, picked up Percy's horn-rimmed glasses, and handed them to him, which he took them and put them on.

"Thanks, Harry," he said, slightly depressed.

"Don't worry about all that stuff that happened last year. It is in the past. Everyone believed the Ministry," Harry said suddenly only to him, trying to cheer him up.

"And my parents?" he said, almost sickened with regret.

Harry only then realized that Percy felt worse about how he treated his mother and father than about him. Harry thought about it for second before responding.

"You know, I think they are just glad you are back. They were so... unhappy that you were at ends with them. They just wanted their son back before anything happened," Harry said, quietly, making sure no one else heard them.

Percy looked at him and then at his parents, who were having a deep discussion with Fred and George about the choices of their presents.

"Thanks, Harry, I appreciate it," Percy said.

Harry nodded. Mrs. Weasley set breakfast in the kitchen. They had to put their presents aside to eat a large Christmas morning breakfast. Afterward, they took their presents upstairs. Harry placed them in his trunk, it was not an as big of a haul as last year. One present was missing. He thought immediately of Sirius. He went over to the window. He was looking for an owl, but all he could see was snow. Ron watched him, but before Harry noticed that he was, Ron had figured it out.

"You alright?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, just stupid thinking," Harry admitted.

"Hey, it's not stupid..." Ron started.

"Yeah," he said gloomy, but then Fred and George popped into the room, making Ron and Harry jump.

"Sorry!" Fred said, smiling. "Charlie said he'd play!"

"And Ginny already said yes, too, you two want to?" George asked.

Ron looked to Harry, who said, "Yeah, we'll come!"

They got fully dressed and headed back downstairs. Mrs. Weasley was fussing over them and Hermione just stared in disbelief.

"I want you all back in an hour, you hear me!" Mrs. Weasley yelled after them as they tore toward the padlock. There was certainly no objection to her request.

Charlie, Fred and Ginny were on one team and Harry, Ron and George were on the other. Harry noticed every one of them tried to take up their usual positions. Ron tried to block goals, Charlie and Harry were Seekers and not as use to handling the Quaffle, but were fast, and Fred and George used more than extra force. Ginny, however, was in her regular position and outscored everyone else put together, and needless to say, her team won. They were almost finished when Fred elbowed him in the nose by accident.

"Sorry Harry, force of habit! Are you alright?" Fred asked, slightly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Let's go back inside. I'm getting cold, anyway," Harry said, through a bloody nose.

His nose was bleeding freely, but he rejected Fred and George's offer to make it stop. He got it to stop by himself by the time they got to the door. Harry, Ron and Ginny went into the den and found Hermione, who was sitting down and reading her new book, and shook her head at the sight of them.

"Who won?" she asked, looking over her book and sighing.

"Ginny," Ron and Harry answered simultaneously, as they, both crashed on the couch by the fire.

"Really, you were on your own team?" she asked Ginny, who was beaming.

"Hey, yeah, next time, you are going to be on your own team," Harry said, shrugging out of his jumper.

"Well, I least I know you are practicing," Ron chimed in.

"Whatever Ron! You know, it kinda bugs me that my Quidditch captain lives in my house," she said, smiling.

"You didn't have to come home," Ron joked.

Harry smiled, but noticed Hedwig was outside the window. He knew he did not send any letters out, but he crossed the room and opened the window. He took the envelope from her. She nipped him affectionately and flew off to her cage to warm up. He opened it and it was from Dudley. He sent a picture of him, with his arms up, in a ring. Harry flipped it over, and it said 'Happy Christmas' and that he only had two more matches to win. He had smiled and put the photo with his other ones. Ron and Hermione said nothing, but grinned still in shock.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. They spent most of their day examining their Christmas presents, but it was almost bedtime and Harry found himself alone. Ron and Hermione had disappeared. He headed down to the den and found Ginny reading the book he had given her.

"Hey, Harry. Thanks for the book, it has some good moves in it," she said.

"I figured you'd like it," Harry said.

"Can't wait till we get back to Hogwarts to try them out," Ginny said.

"Yeah, where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Oh... they're..." Ginny started, but just then, Ron came down the stairs a little red.

"Harry... er... where have you been?" Ron said, suspiciously.

"In your room. Where were you?" Harry asked, curiously.

"Just went up to see if Hermione wanted to play some cards, but she said no," Ron said quickly, avoiding their eyes.

Harry shrugged it off and suggested they go to bed, which Ron and Ginny agreed. Harry went up and crawled in bed exhaustedly. No present from Sirius, he thought, drearily. He rolled over and unintentionally fell into a deep sleep.

"Do you believe in Christmas? I never really did, but I enjoy the present I got. It seems somebody thought I deserved it. Thank you, Bella, you have repaid for part of your failure at the Department of Mysteries, and our newest member has proven himself faithful by locating him. Perhaps I have found a prince to follow under me," Harry said, looking at her.

He then turned to stare at the quivering mass on the floor in front of him. Harry recognized him and was appalled at the sight of him. However, he was thoroughly enjoying this moment. He felt his jaw moving again, without his urging.

"Did you really think that you could hide from me? Though I do commend you for hiding this long," Harry said, gloating over his captive's predicament.

"Master... please... I..." a fearful voice whimpered.

"Be silent, Igor! I do not want to hear your excuses! There will be a time for begging, but it will do you no good. You have betrayed me and sent loyal Death Eaters to prison. Death Eaters that could have went looking for me. You betrayed our calling to save yourself. This cannot be forgiven," he said, mercilessly.

"Master, I thought you were gone... I..." he pleaded in supplication.

"Gone! You should have known! You must pay for your fifteen years of freedom. And you will pay for it with your life!" Harry shouted, angrily.

"No, please... I can explain..." the man stuttered.

"Perhaps, I can wait. Death is too merciful. You deserve worse..." Harry snarled.

"Master... don't..." he begged.

"A dose of pain should silent your treacherous tongue!" Harry pulled out his wand with his long fingers and pointed at the impotent figure at the hem of his robes.

"Crucio!" he shouted.

The man started convulsing in pain and screaming, but he was not the only one. Harry's head split, literally. He found himself out of body. He had stumbled backwards and found himself staring at the person in front of him, who was standing exactly where he was just standing. The blindness from pain of his scar had caused him to fall. He shook it off and his senses began to return to him.

The figure in front of him had also recovered from the blow. He had lifted the spell from Karkaroff in shock. He was holding his head and he, as well as Harry, figured out what was happening.

"Bella..." the man said.

She was looking concerned for her master, who had faltered in his attack, but he took no heed.

"...it seems we have a guest..." he said.

Bella drew out her wand and looked wildly around.

"No Bella, you cannot see him... but I can..." he said, maliciously, and he turned around to look directly at Harry.

Voldemort was as vicious-looking as he did the last time they met. As his scarlet cat eyes met Harry's, Harry felt a stab of pain across his scar. Voldemort, who also faltered slightly, carried on.

"Harry Potter... I must be losing control for you to be here," he said, looking disparagingly at him.

Harry did not say anything, but he thought heard some voices. He looked around the dimly lit room for where the voices were coming from. He saw nothing in the way of people, besides Bella, who looked confused and deadly, but he saw a door, a table and chairs. Behind him and he saw a full-size mirror. It had words inscribed at the top that Harry read, but did not know:

Hae portas sunt

Dice transique ad aliud latus

He looked back at Voldemort and then glanced down at his feet. Igor Karkaroff was shaking on the ground. He looked very thin and his hair was long and unkept. Voldemort also glanced down to the wreck of a man at his feet, but his gaze found its way back to Harry, who again heard voices coming from nowhere.

"They are calling to you Harry. You cannot wake up," he said, twisting his deformed face into something that was once a might have been called a smile.

He let out a high-pitched laugh that caused a chill to go down his spine and a white-hot knife pierced his scar. He held his head in pain as Voldemort watched with pleasure.

"I feel your pain and I like it. Soon, Potter, very soon. I am coming for you. I will hear that prophecy. You cannot stop me," Voldemort threatened said, but Harry stared defiantly at him. Voldemort laughed again, "How is your sleeping? I enjoy watching you suffer... and perhaps I should show you what lies in store for you... yes, a little Christmas greeting," Voldemort said, his scarlet eyes flashed dangerously.

He turned and looked down at Karkaroff, who knew what was coming.

"No Master! I will do anything you ask! Please..." he screamed in terror.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort said, with absolute malice in his heart, and a flash of green light came out of his wand.

Harry meant to look away or even shield his eyes, but he was frozen on the spot. His head exploded with pain and immense hatred filled his heart. The last thing he saw was a surge of air soaring toward Karkaroff, before the pain blinded him. He fell out of his bed and woke up. He heard voices again, but the pain scrambled any distinction. As the pain lessened, he regained his vision and through his watery eyes, he saw Ron and Mr. Weasley hovering over him. Mrs. Weasley was behind them.

"Harry! Are you alright? Can you hear me?" said Mr. Weasley, his voice sounding very scared.

Harry felt a tight grip around his throat and he was breathing hard. He could not talk, so he just nodded. He was still shaking and resisting the urge to vomit. Mrs. Weasley moved to the door and grabbed a glass of water from Ginny and Hermione, who had just come in. Mrs. Weasley handed it to Harry, who almost let it slip, because he lost his grip. With two hands, he forced some liquid down.

"Harry! We couldn't get you to wake up! Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley said, frantically.

Harry nodded, trying to regain control of his breathing and his muscles. He looked at Ron and Hermione, who were standing by each other now, and looking very worried. He took another drink and found his voice.

"Karkaroff... he's... d-dead," he said, with difficulty. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked at each other.

"Karkaroff? We've been looking for him. To protect him..." Mr. Weasley said.

"Well, you can stop looking," Harry said, slowly.

"Did you see anything else?" Mr. Weasley asked, nervously.

"No," Harry lied. He wanted to rest. His head was still throbbing with pain.

"Why didn't you wake up? Did you hear us?" asked Ron.

Harry figured he must have woken up Ron when Voldemort used the Cruciatus Curse on Karkaroff.

"I don't know," he lied, again. He knew perfectly well that Voldemort kept him there.

"Look, can we talk about this in the morning? I want to lie down," he said, massaging his forehead.

"Of course, all of you back to bed. Now!" Mrs. Weasley said, dangerously.

Hermione and Ginny gave one last concerned look for Harry, and left. Bill and Charlie glanced in, but went downstairs, probably to go alert the Order. Mrs. Weasley helped Harry up and into bed, and then made sure Ron was in bed and told him to go to sleep. Mrs. Weasley kissed both of them on the forehead tenderly, turned the light off and shut the door. However, Ron was still anxious to hear more and to check if his best friend was all right.

"Are you sure you are ok?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. And to answer your other question correctly, he kept me there... see you in the morning," he said, feeling that he did not want to keep any more lies from Ron.

Ron did not say anything else. Harry had trouble falling asleep, but he eventually did and dreamt that Voldemort found out the prophecy and killed him. He woke up when Ron started moving around. His head felt better, but it still ached. When they all woke up, Harry told Ron, Ginny, and Hermione everything Voldemort had said, except about the prophecy.

Besides this new threat on Harry's life, the thing they agreed was most relevant was that Voldemort had recruited another empathizing, pureblood maniac, but that did not surprise Harry at all. Harry was trying to figure out what happened after Voldemort tortured Karkaroff. It seemed like they split in half. They were one and separated. It did not make much sense to him, and the others did not understand any better.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley also questioned him about everything he saw, which was not much, and asked him if he had had any other dreams, which he said no. The Order, they informed him, had been looking for Karkaroff since he ran off, but never found him. However, Harry was not sure they were telling him everything.

After that, the rest of the vacation did not seem as fun. Ron and Hermione tried to make sure Harry was all right and that he was not going to stop talking to them, again. They stayed with him all the time, until he finally yelled at them to stop and that he was not going to do any such thing. Voldemort was not going to make him suffer.

There was two days left until they had to go back to King's Cross. Hermione forced Harry to do his Potions homework, and Ron decided it was better not to say anything and just read the new Quidditch training books he got. Ginny had to do more schoolwork than all of them combined, and Fred and George were not helping. They would Apparate into her room randomly and scare the wits out of her. They only stopped when Mrs. Weasley threatened to put an Anti-Apparation Jinx on the house. While they were studying, Mrs. Weasley came into Ron's room and they looked up.

"When you guys are ready, clean out your trunks and get all the laundry out. I doubt any of you have cleaned it out in a long time," she said, criticizing the look of Ron and Harry's overstuffed trunks.

Cleaning out their trunks was more difficult than imaged. Ron had to make two trips to take his laundry down to Mrs. Weasley. While he was gone, Harry reached the bottom of his trunk. He stopped when he picked up the shirt. Sirius's mirror was lying on the bottom. He had thrown it into his trunk last June. He picked it up and glass shrouds fell back into his trunk. He decided when they went back to school, he would repair it. He again put it back down in the bottom of his trunk and covered it with books, and then took the rest of his laundry down. He did not want to think about it anymore and he played a quiet game of chess with Ron, while Hermione helped Ginny finish her homework.

The last day was a quiet one. Mrs. Weasley had tried to force fifth helpings on him at breakfast, convinced that he was not eating enough at Hogwarts. Bill and Charlie said an early farewell, as they had to return to work. Though Charlie said he would probably see them sooner than they thought. Harry and Ron exchanged terrified looks at each other, for Hagrid did promise to teach them about dragons.

They all had packed, and Mrs. Weasley informed them that they would be taking a Ministry car again. When they asked her why they had Ministry cars, she said Percy made the arrangements. Ron or Ginny had not said anything to Percy or about him since they got back. Harry knew all too well how Ron accepts forgiveness. But Ginny? He did not really understand why she would act like that. Maybe, Ron was rubbing off on her, he figured.

Mrs. Weasley told them to bring their trunks down, when the time got closer. Harry definitely liked it better when the trunks magically got up to Gryffindor Tower. He carried it down and the extra weight caused his leg to hurt again, but he did not dare show any pain in front of Mrs. Weasley, who would have demanded to know what had happened.

The Ministry car pulled up and the same driver from last time greeted them. There was less snow, but still quite cold. He loaded the car and got back in to wait for them to say their good-byes. Mr. Weasley and Percy had to go to work and would not be there to show them off. Mr. Weasley shook Harry's hand and told him to be careful, and then hugged his children. Ron, Ginny and Hermione just mumbled good-bye to Percy, whom Mrs. Weasley had forced to wait before going to work to see them off. Harry said good-bye to him, at least more than Ron and Ginny. They got into the car and took off to King's Cross.