By the time Christmas holidays rolled around, Hermione had tried once more to fix the rift between Harry and Ron.  It had ended in a near bout of hexing and a racious bit of cussing from Niamh.  Those who were in the hallway at the time were highly confused as to what was going on between the Slytherin Four and the Gryffindor Duo and asked Hermione as soon as the battlefield was clear and the Four stalked off with fierce glares at Ron, who returned it.

Dean asked, “Hermione, what’s going on?  I thought you and them were friends.”

Parvati and Seamus behind him nodded and Hermione sighed.  She looked wistfully after the Four then said, “We were.”

“What happened?” asked Parvati.

“Nothing much.  Ron’s just being a complete idiot.”

“What’s new?” deadpanned Dean and Seamus.

A voice from Hermione’s shoulder made her jump and her eyes widen.

“When did Harry look so much like Snape?”

Hermione turned wide eyes on Neville, who took a step back, eyes flicking back and forth.  Dean, Parvati, and Seamus peered at her and Seamus asked, “Are you alright, Hermione?”

The brown-haired girl caught herself and nodded, giggling nervously.

“I’m fine.  Just fine.  Neville, can I talk to you?”

“O-okay,” stuttered Neville.

Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him off somewhere down the hall.  Parvati, Dean, and Seamus all looked at each other in confusion then after the pair.

By the time Neville returned to Gryffindor Tower he was as white as a sheet.  Dean stared at the boy and asked, “What’d Hermione want, Nev?”

Neville jumped and stuttered wildly, “N-n-nothing!”

“Uh-huh.”

“C’mon,” said Seamus.  “You can tell us.”

Neville shook his head, eyes wide.

“N-n-no.  I c-can’t.”

“Why not, Nev?” asked Dean.

Neville shook his head frantically, eyes darting around the common room.  A moment later Hermione entered and came to a halt, looking at them.  She turned to Neville and asked, “You didn’t tell them, did you?”

The boy shook his head even more frantically and Hermione smiled.  She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I knew I could count on you, Neville.”

Neville nodded and Hermione headed up into the girls dormitory.  As Parvati began to round on him, he shook his head and stuttered, “I c-can’t tell you!  I pr-promised!”

He quickly rushed up the stairs into the third-year boys dormitory, leaving the three to stare in confusion at each other, wondering what on earth Hermione could have told the boy.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Ye did WHAT!?”

Hermione wilted under Harry’s fierce gaze and mumbled, “It was that only thing I could think of.”

Harry threw up his hands and snarled, “Mione!  Slytherin’s ghost, what were ye thinking?!  Ye can’t just go around telling people the truth!”

“Harry,” said Hermione, forcing herself to look into his blazing green eyes, “Neville might’ve put the same thought into other people’s heads.  And they might be the kind of people who would’ve investigated that.  I stopped that from happening.”

“And what if it hadn’t happened?  Hmm?  What then?”

“I – I don’t know.”

“Ah.  Ye don’t know.”  Harry shook his head and continued, “Perhaps ye should know next time, aye?”

“Don’t you dare make light of me, Harry!”

Harry placed a hand against his chest in a mock shocked manner.

“Me?  Make light of ye?  Never.”

Hermione glared at him and stated firmly, “You are.  And Neville won’t tell.”

Harry arched an eyebrow, making Hermione wonder how anyone could mistake for anything else but his father’s son as that was one of the many expressions they shared.

“How do ye know?”

“I know Neville,” said Hermione, lifting her chin defiantly.

Harry looked down at her for a moment then began to chuckle.  He shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment as he placed on hand over his eyes.  When he reopened them, the bright green orbs were dancing with mirth.

“Oh, Mione.  Alright.  I believe ye.”

Hermione sighed in relief and began to return to Gryffindor Tower but Harry grabbed her arm, turning her to face him again.  The girl was shocked as he leaned down so their faces almost touched, eyes burning now, all mirth gone in an instant.

“But I warn ye,” he said in a low voice.  “If he tells, I’ll come after ye.  And doan tell anyone else, even if you think it would be best.  Its not safe.”

“I don’t understand.”

Harry chuckled and smiled coldly, making a shiver run through her.  God, he was scary when he did that!

“Best that ye don’t.  But trust me, it wouldn’t be safe for me if anyone besides ye all found out who me father is.”

Hermione nodded slowly and mumbled, “I understand.”

“Good,” said Harry, smiling warmly now.  “See ye after hols.”

As he turned to walk off, she said, “After hols, Harry.  I intend to get Ron to apologize then.”

Harry turned to half-smirk at her.

“I look forward ter it.”

He then gave her a short wave and walked off, calling over his shoulder, “Happy Christmas.”

“Happy Christmas,” said Hermione with a nod, wondering what the secret was that Harry thought would be revealed should someone find out who his father was.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Sirius POV

I sat, pondering by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room.  Once you got over all the green and silver in the room, it was actually quite nice.  Very comfy chairs.

Of course, I was not pondering chairs at the moment.  I was wondering what to get Harry for Christmas.

Then, I remembered the conversation a month ago between him, the girl Niamh who had claimed ‘Sirius the dog’ as her own, and the Slytherin team captain.  The name was Flight or something of that sort…

I chuckled mentally and rose, padding over to the secret passage over behind one of the couches.  Tapping a paw against the switch that would open it, I crawled through, grinning in the fashion that a dog grins.

I knew exactly what to get my godson for Christmas.  But I needed help.

Barking as I came out of the other end of the tunnel, I ran out of the dungeons, looking for the rather intelligent ginger cat that I had met.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Two days later…

“Well, everybody’s gone.”

Niamh collapsed into a chair and looked at Harry, who was sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace.  Mika was laid out on one of the couches, which he had dragged over to the fireplace for warmth.

The dark-haired boy smiled and opened his eyes to peer up at him.

“And no Malfoy.”

“Thank Merlin for that,” muttered Mika.  “I think I’d have hexed him by now.”

Niamh laughed and said, “Just give him your wand and tell him to hex you.  It’d be very entertaining.”

“Ah, now there’s an idea…”

Harry laughed then rose to his feet, yawning.

“I’m going ter bed.  See ye two tomorrow.”

“Night, Harry.”

“Night, mate.”

Harry waved to his two friends and walked into the desolate dorm, empty of all occupants but him.  He picked Hedwig up from her spot on his bed, ignoring her sleepy hiss of outrage.  Clambering into bed, he laid the snake back down, watching with amusement as she slithered under his pillow, muttering about rude humans.

“Night, Hed.”

The snake sighed and mumbled, “Good night.”

Harry chuckled as he closed his eyes, falling asleep a few moments later.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

The next morning he was woken by something jumping on his bed and barking furiously at him, waking him from a very sound sleep.  Propping himself up on one elbow, he peered blearily at Sirius, who was giving him the dog equivalent of a grin.

“Good morning, Sirius.”

The dog barked again and Harry gave the bear-like creature a shove, barely making him move.

“Alright, I’m up.  Can ye get off me now?”

Sirius barked again and leapt off of the bed, racing out of the room.  Harry shook his head after the dog and threw back the blankets, crawling out of bed.  He changed quickly, grabbed Hedwig (who made an attempt to bite him), and headed into the common room.

Mika and Niamh were already, both grinning brightly as he entered.

“C’mon!” cried the girl.  “I want to open presents!”

Harry laughed and sat down on the floor beside his friends, setting Hedwig on his head as he reached for the gift Mika handed him.

By the time they were almost done, Harry had claim on the most presents.  Niamh had given him a tiny pewter raven statue, its eyes two tiny, gleaming emeralds.  Mika’s gift was a book on highly advanced potions.  Harry’s eyes widened as he saw that it was a very rare book that not even his father had, as there were only ten copies of the book ever made.  The book had been written by a cousin of Salazar Slytherin himself and given to only the best Potions Masters.  The whereabouts of seven of the books was not even known and witch hunters had burned the other two in the 18th century.  If Harry read the front cover right, he held the original copy in his hands.

“Sweet Slytherin’s ghost…  Where’d ye find this?”

Mika replied, “Mum found it a few years ago on one of her digs.  She’s a magical artifacts hunter and a novice Potions Master, so she knew what the book was.  It as a gift when I had an obsession for potions.”  He shrugged and continued, “I remembered it a few days ago and sent Mum an owl, asking her to send it to me.”

Harry blinked and stared at the other boy before looking down at the book.

“Gods…”

“Is it really that rare?” asked Niamh.

“Ni, this was written by one of Slytherin’s cousins.  It has potions in it that we doan even remember anymore.”

“Slytherin himself?  Its that old?”

“Probably a De-Aging Charm keeping it together,” said Mika.  “Who knows what they had during those times?  Anyway, back to presents!”

Hermione’s gift to each of them was a box of Chocolate Frogs that she claimed was a joint gift between herself, Ginny, and Ron.  Mrs. Weasley had sent each of them one of her famous sweaters and some of her fudge.  Niamh nibbled on a piece as she opened a gift from Hagrid, which were some of his rock cakes.  Harry blanched, having met the hard cakes once and knowing the exact reason they were called rock cakes.  The dark-haired girl winced and muttered something about teaching Hagrid to cook properly.

Harry was surprised to find the Dursley’s had sent him a gift, which was simply a coat hanger that appeared to be twisted into a noose.  Mika looked at the object disdainfully and said, “They seem to have it in for you.”

“They can eat shit and die fer all I care,” remarked Harry.  “Or at least Aunt Petunia and Dudley can.  Uncle Vernon was fairly nice ter me ‘cept he can’t stand up to Aunt Petunia worth a Knut.”

“Dudley?  Who cursed him with such a name?” asked Niamh.

“Your name isn’t too hot either,” remarked Mika.

“My name just so happens to be Gaelic for ‘Bright’, thank you ever so much.  Dudley on the other hand…”

“Is a name me aunt gave ter him and he fits it perfectly,” growled Harry.  “Fat whale of lard that he is.  Let’s get off me bloody spit-sod relatives and back to presents.”

“Dammit, Mika, you’ve pissed him off.”

“Me?  What about you?”

“I made no remarks about the Dursley’s.”

“But…”

“Both of ye sod off!”

The two Slytherins mumbled apologies as Harry glared exasperatedly at them.

“Presents, please.”

“Alright…”

“Alright…”

And so the opening of presents continued.  Niamh had given Harry a Broom Servicing kit and Mika a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans while she had gotten the same thing from the two of them only switched around.  The three of them laughed at the coincidence then Niamh handed a long present to Harry, who began to open.  Sirius wagged his tail excitedly.  Harry was about to open his gift!

Harry ripped the paper aside and gaped at what rolled out of it into his lap.  The three Slytherin’s stared at the sleek broom laying across his knee’s, jaws practically sitting on the floor.  Niamh reaching out to touch the broom just to make sure it was there.

“Holy saints and demons…  That’s a Firebolt.”

“Who’s it from?” asked Mika.

Harry looked at the wrapping and said, “There’s no note.  Whoever sent this…”

“Was very, very rich and should be blessed,” said Niamh, blue eyes on the shiny red broom.  “We’ve got no chance to lose the match against Gryffindor now!  Hell, we’ll tromp all over their fluffy, golden tails!”

“Is that any way to talk about our friends?” asked Mika in an amused tone.

Niamh chuckled and said, “Hey, Quidditch is war.  Friends or not, we’re going to kick Gryffindor ass.”

Harry laughed at her then said softly, “I wish I knew who’d sent this.”

Mika frowned and began, “You think…?”

“Na,” said Harry, shaking his head.  He knew exactly who Mika was suggesting had sent it.  “He would’ve signed it.  ‘Sides, I’ve already got tha’ gift.”

“Really?  What?”

Harry smirked at Niamh and replied, “Secret.”

“Oh, curse you, Harry!”

“Curse me and I won’t be able ter fly.”

Niamh scowled at him and he smirked in response, causing Mika to laugh.

Sirius wagged his tail and barked, happy that his godson had like the gift.  But whom were they talking about?