“Harry, do you happen to know where my paper went?” asked Severus, distractedly.

“Cella put it on your desk, Professor.” replied Harry, pointing at said paper. “I told her just to leave it, so you could find it, but she insisted you’d lose it otherwise.”

Severus looked a bit put out. “I’ll have to have a word with her about constantly moving my things about. I’m losing things all the time because she moves them!” he ranted, picking up his paper before gracefully claiming the plush armchair by the fire.

“You have really weird house elves.” remarked Harry, popping a chocolate covered cherry into his mouth.

Severus eyed the boy curiously. “What are you eating?” he asked.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but accidentally spit out a chunk of chocolate instead.

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Chew, Harry, then speak.” he said dryly.

The teen rolled his eyes and grinned. Obediently, he chewed the rest of his candy and swallowed before speaking. “They’re called chocolate covered cherries. They’re awesome. You want one?” he asked, handing the box over to him. Severus politely refused.

“You can rot your teeth away all on your own, child, I’d rather keep my teeth intact.” Severus replied.

“Oh gee, thanks, dad.” he shot off unthinkingly. He’d been officially adopted for a little over a week now and he had called Severus ‘dad’ only a handful of times. Usually, he said the word in the privacy of his own room, just to see how it felt. It felt great, he had to admit, but it was always almost a shock when he actually called Severus dad. He was always apprehensive after the fact, hoping Severus wouldn’t think him too presumptuous or anything. But at a glance, he saw that Severus was lightly smiling at his remark.

“So, what are we going to do today?” he asked. It was still Christmas vacation, with Christmas only two days away. They had spent the majority of their first week together getting the massive house prepared for the Holiday. With Cella, Severus’ house elf, it hadn’t really been too difficult to decorate, but there were some things Harry had wanted to do without the aid of magic, such as decorating the tree and wrapping presents. He had insisted he and Severus go out and find the perfect tree and cut it down themselves. He’d always wanted to do that, and hoped it could be a new tradition of sorts for the two of them. Severus had been more than happy to oblige him, which Harry had found slightly surprising. He didn’t think the man would want to go out and actually cut down a tree with his own two hands.

Now, all the decorating had been done, and he was quite frankly left with nothing to really do.

“Have you done any of your homework?” asked Severus. Harry groaned.

“It’s Christmas vacation! I don’t want to be doing homework right now. We’re supposed to be doing fun stuff.” he moped.

Severus quietly turned to the next page of his paper, the rustling evident in the silence. “Would it not be better to get the unwanted aspect of your holiday out of the way, as you wouldn’t have to worry about it later, when school is back in session?” he asked, brow raised.

Harry frowned. He really didn’t want to do his homework, but he thought Severus did want him to complete it. Not wanting the ruffle any feathers he nodded.

“Yeah, sure.” he said, and quickly ran up the stairs and down the hallway to his bedroom. It was really rather odd to practically have his own wing of the castle. Shrugging off the heavy sweater he had been wearing, it was considerably cooler in the downstairs portion of the castle, he plopped down onto his large four-poster bed, bag in tow. He dragged any and all books or papers that he would need before tossing the bag onto the floor. He decided to get his potion’s essay out of the way first, since it would be the hardest and most difficult to do. With that in mind, he quickly got started on the long essay.

A loud bang finally brought him out of his working daze. He quickly glanced up and around his room. He wasn’t sure where the noise had come from. “Severus?” he called, wondering if the man wasn’t nearby. No response. “Cella?” he called. No response. “Okay, this is really odd.” he murmured, before grabbing his wand and jumping off his bed. He always felt like he was one of those idiots in the movies who went looking for the ‘freaky noise’ right before they were brutally murdered whenever he searched for some unknown noise or whatnot, as he was doing at the moment.

He silently crept into the hallway, making sure to keep his back to the wall. He glanced out the window as he passed it, and realized with a start that it was already dark. He must have been really into that essay. “Severus?” he called once more. He still received no response. “Damn.” he muttered to himself, a panicked sensation starting in his stomach. What if there were Death Eaters invading the castle, and here he was yelling out for his father. As quietly and stealthily as he could, he made his way down into the foyer, the last place he had seen his father. Severus was no longer there, but he did discover what had made the loud bang, presumably. Lying shattered on the floor were the remnants of what once was a tea set. It had been fresh, for the tea splattered all over the floor was still steaming.

Truly frightened now, he called out. “Severus? Where are you?” he yelled. No response. “Oh God.” moaned Harry, his panic beginning to take over. Where the hell was he? Was he hurt? Was he lying dead in one of the corridors, just waiting to be found by an unsuspecting Harry? He was completely letting his imagination get away with him, he knew, but was helpless to stop it. He knew he had to calm down if he had any hope of acting rationally.

“Get a grip, Potter!” he commanded himself, repeatedly, until he was finally able to think straight. “Okay, I’ve got to do something. I need help. Dumbledore…Dumbledore will know what to do.” he said out loud. He was beyond caring that he was talking to himself. He went to the fireplace, intent on fire-calling the headmaster, when a loud pop beside him nearly startled him out of his wits. He actually screamed and was about to hex the creature beside him before his brain caught up with his eyes. Cella. He practically hugged the creature, but didn’t want to alarm her. “Where’ve you been?” he asked, his voice raspy.

“I’s been in the laboratory, sir, with the master, sir. He asks me to check on you, sir.” she said quickly upon noticing his distress.

Harry could only stand there. “What?” he asked numbly. “But, didn’t he hear me yelling for him?” he asked, now a little bit annoyed.

Cella cringed. “Sorry sirs, he puts up a silencing spell.”

Harry nodded. “What’s with the mess?” he finally asked wearily, but still needing answers. It seemed as if all of his energy had just been drained from him. Irrationally thinking your father was dead could do that to a person, he though distractedly.

“You’s have to ask the master, sir. Sorry.” she mumbled before popping out once more.

He slapped his hand down on the table in frustration. He had wanted to ask more questions. He decided to wait here and see if his father ever showed up, considering he didn’t even know where the laboratory was. He waited in vain, as the man never went to his rooms, or at least he never came this way. He figured there might be a secret entrance into Snape’s rooms as well. After two hours of waiting, he finally gave up and decided to go to bed. He could only hope his father wasn’t hiding in the laboratory the next day as well. He quickly changed his clothes and slid into bed. His exhaustion overwhelmed him almost immediately and he was out cold.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Harry woke up early the next morning in the hopes that he would find Severus and get some answers. Dressing quickly into a long sleeved dark gray shirt and a pair of loose blue jeans, he went downstairs. He regretted not putting on a pair of socks as the floor was freezing against his bare feet. He entered the kitchen and went straight for the coffee that Cella had already made for him. He had requested it the first morning, and ever since it was waiting for him as soon as he entered the kitchen. He added three sugars to the black drink before turning to sit down at the table across the room.

He saw a presence at the table out of the corner of his eye. “Severus.” he started, assuming it was him. But it wasn’t. He stood staring, unable to comprehend what was going on. “What? What are you doing here?” he asked, confused.

The blonde slowly raised his head and Harry gasped in shock. “Holy crap.” he murmured before quickly walking to the other boy and dropping down in a seat across from him. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked.

“I had a disagreement with my father, actually.” the boy said quietly. “I’m sorry I just kind of showed up here, like this, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I swear, I don’t intend to screw up your Christmas or anything.”

Harry could tell Malfoy was near exhausted, and that someone had beaten him badly, as well. “Don’t worry about it…um, are you okay?” he asked uncertainly. “Do you need me to get Severus, or anything?”

The blonde only shook his head, wincing. “No, I’m okay.” he mumbled.

Harry wasn’t convinced. "When did you get here?" asked Harry, grabbing another coffee cup from the cupboard. "Last night." he replied. Harry realized then that Malfoy must have startled Severus when he'd arrived last night, hence the broken tea service. Now it all made sense. No wonder Severus never came back to bed, he must have been with the Slytherin most of the night. “Here.” he said, pouring Malfoy a cup of coffee and pushing it across the table to him. “Drink this. You look like you need it.”

“Thanks.” he rasped out, sipping the coffee.

Harry continued to regard the blonde boy stoically. He could tell the Slytherin had been healed somewhat, but many of his injuries remained. He still had a rather painful looking black eye, a split lip, and he was fairly certain he could see finger shaped bruises around his neck whenever his shirt slipped down.

“Must have been some fight.” he said.

Malfoy glanced up quickly. He eyed Harry for a while, as if deciding how much he should tell the younger boy, if anything at all. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Harry nodded. “You’re father must have been really mad.” he observed.

Draco snorted contemptuously. “That would be an understatement, Potter.” he spat.

“Look, I didn’t mean to make you mad or anything. You don’t have to talk about this, I was just curious. Sorry.” he rattled out hurriedly. He didn’t want Malfoy to feel as if he was trying to pry information out of him or anything. He knew what it was like to be beaten down. Sometimes, you just don’t want to talk about it. He could more than understand that.

Draco slowly placed his cup on the table before lacing his fingers together. “No, sorry I snapped.” he said softly.

Harry was actually surprised at the apology. He hadn’t expected that out of Malfoy, not at all. “Don’t worry about it.” he said just as softly. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, waving his hand around, emphasizing the Slytherins’ bruises.

Draco just shook his head. “No. You wouldn’t understand anyways.” he muttered.

“You might be surprised. Why don’t you try me?” Harry asked.

“Look Potter, I don’t need you or your Gryffindor sensibilities trying to help me. You don’t know what this feels like. I bet your relatives never even laid a hand on you. Stop trying to help me and mind your own damn business.” he yelled, throwing his coffee cup across the table.

Harry drew back, worried. “Whoa, Malfoy. You don’t understand,” he started, thinking he might just tell the blonde about his experiences with Jeb to show him he did understand. “I do know what it feels like. Just let me explain.”

Draco sneered derisively. “What, you think you’re little encounter with Professor Dillard makes you an expert?” he spat. “You have no idea, so just stay out of it!”

Harry could only stare at him, feeling as if what had happened to him was insignificant compared to Malfoy’s problems. “That wasn’t the first time.” he mumbled to himself. He felt as if he had to justify himself to the Slytherin somehow, but wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it.

It was Draco’s turn to stop and stare. “What?” he asked.

Harry felt himself start to clam up now that he had started something. “Nothing.” he said quickly, bending down and picking up the shattered pieces of Malfoy’s coffee cup.

“Oh no, Potter. What do you mean, that wasn’t the first time?” he asked. Harry could feel the older boy’s eyes boring holes into the back of his head.

He sighed tiredly and tossed the broken pieces into a nearby trashcan. “It means exactly what I said. It wasn’t the first time he…you know.” he said.

Draco nodded. “I actually figured as much.” he explained further at Harry’s confused look. “I knew him, or my father knew him is more like it. I just knew of him. Something happened between him, Severus, and my father. I’m not sure what, but he’s never forgiven them for it. He tried to push me around a few times at school, but I always managed to get away from him. I guess you weren’t so lucky.” he said softly.

“It seems my luck has been nearly non-existent lately.” he said.

“Mine too…I wouldn’t take the Dark Mark.” he said so suddenly that Harry gasped out loud. “That’s why he got so angry.” he hurried to explain.

Harry was at a loss for words. Out of everything he had imagined the ‘fight’ would be over, it hadn’t been that. “What a bastard.” he said lightly, not wanting Malfoy to hear, but what kind of father beat their son over not taking the Dark Mark? Who would actually want to enslave their own child in a life such as the Death Eaters lived. Of course, Lucius Malfoy was a devious, evil, bastard in his own right.

Noticing that the older boy had gone awfully still at the table, he glanced up at him uncomfortably, thinking he had heard his less than flattering term for his father.

“My sentiments exactly, Potter. Glad we agree on something.” he said, shocking Harry even more. His expression must have shown, for Malfoy explained further. “Look, I’ve known what my father was for a long while now, and I knew eventually, he’d want me to join their ranks. I never, ever, had any plans to follow in my father’s footsteps. I’d seen what he did to my father when he wasn’t pleased with results of some mission or another. I’d heard my father talking of what they had done to some Muggle one night when I was twelve. I had nightmares for a week. I decided then and there that I would never join them. I wouldn’t be able to do the things Voldemort made them do. The things my father was more than happy to do!” he spat, sickened by the mere thought.

Harry was glad Malfoy had come to these conclusions on his own long ago. He had grown used to the Slytherins’ quiet presence over the last few months. And this entirely explained the drastic change that had overcome the blonde. “I’m not too thrilled by what your father did to you, Malfoy, but I am glad you decided not to take the Mark.” he said, not sure how else to express his feelings on the subject.

Malfoy smirked, causing him to wince as the gesture pulled at his split lip. “Me too, Potter.” he said.

Harry finally retook his seat when he no longer feared Malfoy’s retribution for his earlier words. “Where’s Severus?” he asked suddenly. He was worried, despite himself. It was growing late into the morning, and he still hadn’t seen a sign of the Professor…his father.

Draco shrugged. “I think he’s still in the laboratory. He was making a potion for my bruises, since he didn’t have any on hand. He’ll probably be up soon, he was almost done last I’d checked.”

Harry nodded, finishing off the rest of his coffee. He got up from his seat and lightly placed his cup on the counter. He busied himself with wiping down the counter and anything else that happened to be in his reach. A silence had descended upon the room, and Harry was clueless as to how to break it.

“Want to go swimming?” asked Draco, suddenly.

Harry looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What?” he asked, mindlessly wiping down a clean cup. “We can’t go swimming, we’d freeze to death.” he said, pointing out the window directly behind him. Snow was falling gently beyond the glass and a layer had already stuck to the window ledge.

Draco merely raised his brow. “I take it this is the first time you’ve been here?” he asked. At Harry’s nod, he continued. “I assumed as much. Come, I’ll show you what I mean.” he said, and walked out of the kitchen. Harry wondered what the hell Draco was thinking.

……………………………….

Dressed in his swimming trunks with an extremely heavy robe cinched tight at the waist, Harry followed a similarly dressed Draco over the snow-covered ground to the lake in the distance. He wasn’t cold, his robe took care of that, but he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen once they removed their robes and got into the freezing water. Perhaps the water had been charmed to stay warm, maybe even like a Muggle Jacuzzi. But that was not the case. When they were about twenty feet away from the water, it suddenly became warm. So warm, in fact, that he had begun to sweat inside his robe.

“Whoa.” he murmured to himself, quickly discarding his robe.

Draco chuckled in front of him. He too had taken off his robe, letting it fall to the ground carelessly. After that, he quickly entered the water, shivering momentarily as the water began to cover his body.

“Come on in, the water’s fine.” he yelled, splashing water in Harry’s direction.

Harry quickly followed suit, and shivered himself as the water touched his skin. “Hey, the water’s cold!” he yelled, but continued in anyways. He knew he wouldn’t get used to it until he was completely submerged. Dunking his head under water, he soon became accustomed to the water’s chill and began to swim around lazily. “This is nice.” he said as he passed Draco.

“Yeah, I like to do this every time I visit.” remarked Draco. “It’s relaxing.”

Harry frowned. “Do you come here often?” he asked. He felt a feeling start somewhere inside of him, and realized with a jolt that he was jealous. Of Draco Malfoy! He shrugged off the feeling, knowing he shouldn’t be upset that Draco got to know Severus before he had. Draco was his godson, after all. But, he still couldn’t help but feel a little nagging of fear deep inside. Wouldn’t Draco almost be like a son to his newly acquired father? What would he want with Harry if he already had Draco, especially now that he was no longer under Lucius Malfoy’s evil thumb?

“Yeah, mostly during the summer vacations when father and mother were too busy with there own lives to take care of me. I was always in the way, and Severus ended up taking care of me a lot when I was younger. This will be the first Christmas vacation I’ve spent here, though.” he said sadly.

Harry wondered if he actually missed his parents. Seeing the bruises, even more emphasized by the sunlight and gleaming water, he couldn’t imagine how he could miss them. Suddenly, his previous feelings of self-doubt melted away. How could he feel jealous of Draco when the only person who seemed to even care about him was Severus? Feeling slightly ashamed of himself, he began to swim casually again, mostly in circles.

“I see you two are getting along fine.” both Harry and Draco jumped at the flat voice coming from behind them. Turning quickly, Harry saw that Severus was standing on the grass by the edge of the lake. From the looks of him, he had been worried. He probably thought that between the two of them, they would kill each other. No such luck. Harry was quite surprised by how well the two of them were getting along together, considering. But, it wasn’t as if Draco had changed within a day, no, Harry had noticed a significant improvement in the boy’s behavior the past few months. Knowing some of Malfoy’s past helped him believe he planned on staying that way.

“Potter didn’t know about this place, so I decided I’d introduce him to it. Besides, we were bored.” remarked Malfoy, swimming closer to the water’s edge.

“Very well. But, don’t stay out too long. Lunch will be served in a half-hour.”

Harry nodded, while Draco waved, sending a splash of water in Severus’ direction. The older man scowled before walking back towards the castle. Even in freezing cold weather, the man’s robes could billow menacingly.

When Harry was sure his father would no longer be able to hear him, he burst out laughing. Draco soon joined him. “I thought he was going to hex me for a minute there.” laughed Malfoy.

“Oh, I doubt that. But, it would have been pretty funny if you’d actually gotten him wet.” he said, still snickering even as he tried to calm down.

“Yeah.” he agreed. Still laughing, he splashed water in Harry’s direction. He succeeded where he had failed with Severus. Harry immediately returned the gesture, splashing an armful of water right into Malfoy’s face. “Hey!” he yelled indignantly. He gave Harry a feral look, before launching himself at the younger boy and dunking him under. Harry came up sputtering.

“Not fair!” he yelled, and proceeded to dunk the blonde boy as well. Harry waited for Draco to come back up. And waited. And waited. “Malfoy, this isn’t funny.” he yelled out, expecting the Slytherin to pop up out of the water directly in his face. Only he didn’t. Beginning to grow truly concerned, he started to skim the water’s surface for any sign of the blonde teen. “Malfoy!” he yelled again, when he still hadn’t surfaced. He was truly beginning to panic when he felt something grab his leg…and completely pull him under. Still in the throws of his earlier panic, he had swallowed a mouthful of water. Struggling for the surface, he felt an arm wrap around his middle and pull him under again. As if in a daze, he was brought back to another time and place, where he had struggled for breath while being held under water. He finally managed to kick his attacker and came up gasping and choking. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he screamed and pushed away, trying desperately to swim to the lake’s edge, and faltering. He heard a voice calling his name, but was too caught up in the past to realize it wasn’t Jeb. He went under again, too panicked to be able to swim right, and felt a strong arm wrap around his waist and pull him above water.

“No!” he screamed, kicking and lashing out at the ‘man’ behind him.

“Potter!”

“Get off of me!” he continued to fight, trying to pry off the arm still wrapped tightly around him.

“Potter, calm down. I’m not going to hurt you! Potter!”

As if a light had suddenly gone on inside his head, Harry recognized the voice. Exhausted beyond all reasoning, he sagged against the body still holding him above water. He felt Malfoy grip him more firmly around the waist from the suddenly limp form in his arms.

“Potter, are you alright?” asked Malfoy. Harry could hear the fear and confusion in the older boy’s voice.

Harry couldn’t remember ever feeling as embarrassed as he did at that moment, or exhausted, for that matter. “Yeah.” he said, tiredly.

There was a short silence, and Harry could only assume Malfoy was trying to figure out what to do. “Let’s get you back to shore, okay?” he suddenly said. Harry nodded and began to slowly swim towards the grassy edge of the lake. He noticed that Malfoy kept extremely close to his side, as if afraid he would suddenly go under. Harry wondered if he wouldn’t do exactly that.

As they reached the edge, Harry clumsily made his way towards his robe. He noticed a towel was sitting beside it, but was too tired to care where it had come from. Quickly drying off, he wrapped the large fluffy robe around his body and pulled it tightly closed. He could sense Malfoy staring at his back. He sighed when the Slytherin finally started asking questions.

“What was that, Potter?” he asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know how to answer that question.

“I wasn’t trying to drown you, I swear. I was just playing around.” he said, his voice pleading.

Harry knew that Malfoy hadn’t meant anything by it, even if it had scared the living daylights out of him. “I know that. I just got confused for a moment.” he tried to explain.

Malfoy remained unusually quiet then. Finally, he spoke. “You thought I was someone else, didn’t you?” he asked.

Harry turned around so quickly; water flew from his hair, splattering the Slytherin even from where he stood. “Huh?” he asked, unable to speak clear sentences, he was so very shocked.

“Why did you react that way, if you knew I wasn’t going to actually drown you. You reaction implies to me that you thought I was someone else for a moment there. Who?” he asked, staring Harry directly in the eyes.

Harry couldn’t seem to peel his eyes from the ones boring into his. “It was just this man.” he mumbled, unable to say more.

“What man?” pushed Draco.

Harry glared. “Why do you want to know?” he spat.

“Well, if this ‘man’ affects you so terribly, you should talk about it. I’m not trying to be pushy here, I’m just trying to be helpful.” he remarked. He paused for a moment, and then met Harry’s eyes once more. “I should have realized this was what you were trying to do back in the kitchen. I apologize.” he said softly.

Hearing those words coming from Malfoy made some of the weight weighing him down lift. It gave him the courage to actually respond to the earlier question. “It was a man that Severus and I met over summer. Due to the circumstances, this man, his name was Jeb,” he paused, needing to collect his thoughts, and his emotions, before he continued. No sense in breaking down like a fool in front of the Slytherin. “Well, I don’t know why, but he had it out for me. At one point, he tried to drown me. Severus saved me.”

Draco nodded in understanding. “So, that’s why you reacted the way you did. You thought I was this Jeb fellow.” Draco cringed. “Sorry, Potter. If I had known, I would never have grabbed you and pulled you under like that.”

Harry smiled faintly. “That’s alright. You didn’t know, no harm done.”

Draco grimaced. “Just the same, I still feel bloody terrible about the whole thing.”

Harry could only shrug. He didn’t know how to assuage the boy’s guilt. He honestly hadn’t done anything wrong. “Don’t worry about it. You just trigged a memory I wasn’t entirely prepared for at the time. I’ll deal.” He quickly changed the subject. “It’s probably past lunch time. We’d best get back before Severus sends out a search party.” he said, smiling.

Malfoy smirked. “Great, he better have saved us some.”

………………………………..

That night during supper, Severus informed Harry that Draco would be staying with them for the remainder of the Holiday. As if Harry hadn’t figured that out himself. He merely nodded. He was actually glad that he would have someone his age around, maybe then it wouldn’t be so boring when Harry didn’t have anything to do. He had completely finished all his homework, so that was no longer in the way.

After supper, the three retired to the living room. Harry lounged lazily on one end of the couch with Malfoy on the other end writing on a piece of parchment. Severus sat reading an unknown book near the fireplace.

Harry had just started to doze off…

He was walking down a deserted corridor toward a plain black door, past rough stone walls, torches, and an open doorway onto a flight of stone steps leading downstairs on the left…He reached the black door but could not open it…He stood gazing at it, desperate for entry…Something he wanted with all his heart lay beyond…A prize beyond his dreams…(1)

He woke up later, much later, to discover himself in his own bed. He briefly wondered how he had gotten there, and felt a flush of embarrassment as he realized Severus must have carried him. He threw the covers off of his legs and stood up from bed. The odd dream he had had that night fleetingly passed through his conscious thought before a voice startled him from his daze.

“Hey, Potter, it’s Christmas! What are you waiting for? Get down here!” he heard Malfoy yell. Harry grinned to himself and pelted down the stairs. Waiting for him in the living room were Severus and Draco. “Finally awake? Good, glad you could join us.” he said, smiling. “Let’s open presents!”

Harry grinned wider. “Okay.” He shrugged, more than willing to open presents first. He could smell breakfast being cooked in the kitchen. No doubt, Cella had gone out of her way for this meal.

Harry plopped himself down in front of the tree with Draco soon joining him. Severus decided to remain in his wing-backed chair.

The gifts were passed out, courtesy of Harry, and soon after all were ripped open. Wrapping paper lay haphazardly on the living room floor, and presents of all kinds lay amongst the mess. Somehow, Malfoy ended up with just as many presents as Harry had. He saw one from Parkinson and wondered who the rest were from. He briefly worried over Malfoy’s ‘friends’ and how loyal they would remain when they discovered Draco had refused the Dark Mark. Obviously, they didn’t know yet.

After present opening, Harry shoved all of his into a chair. Cella would take them up to his room during breakfast. Hermione’s gift, How To Become An Animagus, a book obviously, briefly caught his attention again. He really wanted to read that one. However, the beckoning of great smelling food called him towards the kitchen. Harry smiled happily. This was his best Christmas ever.