When Harry woke up on Christmas morning, in his sleep-induced confusion he wondered why it felt like there was a weight on his legs. He opened his eyes and saw a pile of brightly wrapped parcels, but it still took his brain a few seconds to fight off the cloud of sleep and realise what he was seeing. There were a lot of Christmas presents, like three times the ridiculous amount of presents Dudley would receive. At first Harry assumed there was some type of mistake, and that whatever magic it was that sorted the presents had failed and placed not just his gifts but all of the Gryffindor fourth years gifts on his bed. He started sorting through them, checking the names so he could give them to the proper recipient, yet they were all addressed to him even though there had to be close to a hundred. Most of them were signed either from Uncle Sirius or from Grandfather Charlus.
Among the pile of presents Harry found a letter and decided to open that first. He quickly checked the signature at the bottom and found it was from his grandfather.
Harry,
Happy Yule. It's a pity we can't be together as a family this year but maybe it's for the best. I'm honestly not feeling much of the festive spirit this year and I fear I would have been a disappointment. Now I'm sure by now you have seen the pile of gifts you have. Don't get used to this amount, I have over ten years worth of Christmases to make up for so I decided to splurge. Plus, there are plenty of things you would have accumulated growing up that you should have had. So enjoy your day and enjoy your date tonight. Just please remember to behave like a gentleman.
Love,
Charlus
Harry re-read the letter again and wondered why his grandfather wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit. It took him a moment, but he then realised that, despite it being Harry's first Christmas he could remember with any real family, for Grandfather Charlus it was his first Christmas with most of his family gone. He had heard the holidays are when losing someone hits you the hardest, and all he wanted to do right then was give his grandfather a hug.
Putting the letter down, Harry started to sort through the presents. There was one each from Ron, Hermione, Mr. & Mrs. Granger, Mrs. Weasley, and Hagrid. Then there were about forty from Sirius and Grandfather Charlus, quite a few less than Harry originally guessed but still a ridiculously large number of presents. Mrs. Weasley had sent him the usual Weasley jumper and a tin of homemade mince pies, and Harry immediately pulled on the wool jumper. Ron had gotten Harry a large box of chocolate frogs. A box of homemade treacle fudge from Hagrid made Harry glad he didn't have any fillings when he tried a peace. Dan and Emma had sent him a book called The Dangerous Book For Boys, and a quick flick through it showed lots of interesting things, everything from how to tie knots and build tree houses to poetry. He would definitely give that a read later.
Hermione had gotten him a bottle of cologne and pair of silver cufflinks with the initials H.J.P. engraved into them, which he loved. Harry had caught Hermione doodling on a bit of scrap parchment, writing her name but with his surname. Harry knew from his time in school that it was something girls did, he had seen enough of his female classmates do exactly the same thing with whatever celebrity they had a crush on that week. However, he couldn't help but notice that if he and Hermione got married they would have the same initials.
The pile of presents from Sirius and Charlus had its share of cool things, but the main majority of it was clothes and books. A new pack of socks or underwear may not be exciting to most, but Harry, having not had such things for most of his life and using only his whale of a cousin's castoffs, appreciated it all. The new pyjamas that were enchanted to keep him warm even in the middle of winter were definitely appreciated. He also had a complete new Quidditch kit, a new broomstick servicing kit like the one Hermione had gotten him last year, a set of Gobstones, Exploding Snap cards, and a small pile of books, including what looked to be a handwritten book full of prank spells and their counters made by the Marauders. There was also a large tub full of sugar fruits and candied nuts that had Harry's mouth watering, and a bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Apparently Harry's great-grandfather Fleamont had developed it to control the Potter curse of wild hair, but it had also worked for almost everyone else so it had become hugely marketable. Fleamont had sold the rights to the recipe for a tidy sum of galleons and a small stake in the business of the brewery that bought it.
When Harry was finished opening his presents, he finally decided it was time to get up. He dressed himself completely in new clothes he had received for Christmas and pulled open the hangings around his bed to find his dorm mates busy opening their presents as well. There was a chorus of good mornings and holiday wishes between them, and Harry set about putting his new clothes away in his trunk. "Hey Harry, thanks for the robes," Ron called out as he opened up the package that contained his robes for that evening.
"No problem, mate. Just don't drip any food on them tonight, yeah?" He teased Ron, and the two of them had a laugh.
Once Harry was finished putting all his new stuff away, he made his way down to the common room where he found Hermione waiting for him. As soon as she saw him, she ran up and tackle-hugged him, ending up with her arm around his shoulders and her legs around his waist while she said "Thank you Harry, thank you, I love it!"
Harry was just able to keep his feet from the tackle and couldn't keep the smile off his face. He had gotten her a necklace with a locket pendant enchanted to be bigger on the inside that could hold forty-nine regular sized photos, and it would randomly select one when you opened it. On the front of the locket was a large Lilac Aquamarine gem that had been carved into a Heart shape. It wasn't an expensive gem but it was a very close match to Hermione's favourite colour.
The rest of Christmas Day was surprisingly fun. After breakfast, the trio decided there was no need to focus on preparing Harry for the tournament today. They had already worked out that Harry would need to retrieve something from the lake, all three of them were taught the Bubble-Head Charm over the summer, and Grandfather Charlus had already promised that he would teach Harry an amphibious potion in the new year. Therefore, most of Harry's preparations for the second task were well in hand, so taking a few days off was probably one of the best things he could do. The three of them joined the twins in kicking off a school-wide snowball fight. The older years used magic to make small castle-like ice forts all over the designated fight zone, and the students formed teams pretty much along House lines.
The fight quickly got ridiculous as snow started to fly everywhere. Harry was rather happy when he managed to get Goyle in the face with a snowball, and he laughed as the Slytherin boy over-acted dying, only to find it was all a distraction. While Harry was laughing at Goyle, about ten Slytherins from the younger years came running out from behind one of the forts and they all started pelting Harry with their snowballs. It was a surprising Slytherin move for someone Harry had always considered a bit of an unthinking brute, and it was only a bit of snow, so Harry took it all in fun.
Lunch that day was split into two sittings. The younger years went first and had the normal Hogwarts Christmas lunch, though apparently they all sat at the Hufflepuff table as there weren't enough of them to bother with spreading out over all four tables. Once the younger years were done, the students attending the Yule Ball had a much more simple lunch. As the Yule Ball included a meal, it wasn't worth doing a full Christmas dinner for them. After lunch, all of the girls disappeared up to their dorms to get ready. Harry, Ron, and most of the other boys in their year thought that was ridiculous, and when they said so the older boys from the sixth and seventh years just told them to get used to it.
Most of the boys, Harry and Ron included, went back out into the snow for round two of the Great Hogwarts Snow War. After about two hours, Professor Snape came out and told all the boys that it was time for them to go get ready. He was even relatively civil about it, although Harry was sure that was due to there being a large number of Slytherins partaking in the Snow War, and also because Harry was so covered in snow that he was sure Snape hadn't realised Harry underneath that layer. So the Snow War was left to the younger years, and the Gryffindor boys who were attending the ball made their way up to the dorms.
The hot showers after that felt like heaven, the water washing away all the snow and bringing feeling back to numb fingers and noses. After the shower, Harry decided he would use the Sleekeazy's he had been sent for Christmas. It was simple enough to use, just spread a little on his hair then style as normal. Harry ended up getting a little help from Seamus as he had no experience actually styling his hair, as before now the best Harry could hope for was clean and not knotted.
His robes were a very dark blue with a hint of purple, rather like the night sky. It was basically a very dark version of Hermione's favourite colour, which made sense given that Hermione had chosen the colour to match her robes. Harry hadn't seen her robes yet, but he would bet all the gold he had in his trunk she would be wearing her favourite periwinkle blue. Harry's robes also came with a stole he was supposed to wear, which was weird to Harry, who had grown up only seeing the occasional precast on TV wearing one. However, in reality it was no weirder than a tie, and at least he didn't have to struggle trying to tie the stole into a perfect Windsor knot.
Despite having gone up to get ready for the ball almost two hours after the girls, Harry and the rest of the boys were still down before the majority of the girls, including Hermione. So they settled in to nervously wait for their dates. When the girls came down, it was clear that they had all put in a lot of effort to look as good as they did. The older girls, who were probably more practised at making themselves up like this than their younger counterparts, came down first with Colin Creevey snapping photos of them all. He told the girls as he did so that they could order copies from him over the next few days, and he would deliver them as quickly as he could.
A lot of girls also pulled their dates to one side and had Colin take couples photos. Harry was just thinking he would definitely need to get Colin to take a few photos of him and Hermione when Ron elbowed him in his side. Harry looked at Ron and saw he was staring at the stairs to the girls' dorms, and when Harry turned to look his jaw dropped. Standing there arm in arm were Lavender and Hermione, and Harry had to look twice to see it was Hermione.
Lavender was easy to spot, as one of only three black girls in Gryffindor she was wearing a teal dress that started almost white at her collar and faded to black. About halfway down her skirt were the star sign rhinestones she had told them about during their shopping trip, sparkled with what Harry assumed was a magical light. The girl looked stunning. However, despite how good Lavender looked, to Harry she looked like a wallflower next to Hermione, although he had to admit maybe he wasn't objective in this regard. He hadn't recognised Hermione at first because she was absent her regular mass of bushy hair. Instead, Hermione had her hair tied in an elegant knot and draped over her one shoulder. She was wearing a strapless periwinkle blue gown that Harry was sure had to be held up by sticking charms.
Hermione smiled, obviously pleased that she was able to stun Harry beyond the capacity for normal speech, and replied "You don't clean up half bad yourself." Then she hooked his arm with hers and pulled him over to where Colin was taking photos. There was a little bit of a queue, as Colin was focused on getting pictures of the girls as they came down the stairs, but when it came to their turn Harry had regained enough of his brain to ask Colin, "is there any chance you can do both magical and non-magical copies? Hermione's parents would probably like to have non-magical pictures, but I'm sure my grandfather and godfather would prefer magical photos."
"Sure, I can do that. That's why I have two cameras, there are plenty of muggleborns like me whose parents have to be careful. That's why this second camera has regular film in it," Colin said as he held up a second camera he had hanging around his neck. Harry and Hermione posed for a few photos following Colin's advice on how to stand and where to put their arms, and then the couple got out of the way for Lavender and Ron. Harry suspected that Ron would probably ask Harry for a loan of the gold when Colin came around and asked what prints everyone wanted, but he was fine with that. The Weasleys had done enough for Harry that paying for a few photos was the least he could do.
Harry offered Hermione his arm, and when she took it the two made their way down stairs to the Great Hall. Just before they got to the hall they were called over by Professor McGonagall. "Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, the two of you look brilliant this evening. The champions and their dates are to wait in the trophy room until they are announced. Then you will enter and make your way to the champions table."
Harry and Hermione thanked the professor and turned down a side corridor that would take them to the trophy room. When they got there, Cedric was already there with his date Cho Chang. Cedric and Cho had only officially started dating since Halloween when Cedric's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, but the two had been dancing around each other since the start of the year, especially during the Quidditch liberation meetings. Cedric waved them over, and the two duos started chatting. Given that there were not only three Quidditch players but specifically three Seekers in the group, the conversation was inevitably focused on Quidditch. It only got worse when Victor Krum walked in with Alicia Spinnet as his date. They were discussing the merits and feasibility of the Sloth Grip Roll when Professor McGonagall walked in with Fleur Delacour and her date, a Beauxbatons boy that they had seen around a few times but didn't know the name of.
"Right, I will go into the hall in a moment and then I will announce you to the Hall. You are to walk in and make your way directly to the champions table where all the judges will also be seated tonight. After that dinner will be served, and once that is over with you will perform the first dance. Once that is over, you can enjoy the rest of the night as you see fit," Professor McGonagall instructed.
She had them all line up next to the door that led into the Great Hall, in the same order that the champions' names came out of the Goblet of Fire, so Harry and Hermione were last. Professor McGonagall went into the Great Hall, and less than a minute later the ambient noise from the hall disappeared and they could just hear Dumbledore giving a speech, but could only understand about one word in three from where they were.
After a few minutes, they clearly heard Professor McGonagall saying, "The champion of Durmstrang, Victor Krum and his date, Miss Alicia Spinnet!"
Victor and Alicia walked out together and there was a polite applause. About a minute later, Professor McGonagall repeated the same thing with Miss Delacour and her date, followed next by Cedric and finally Harry. He and Hermione stepped into the Great Hall together and were both a little shocked at how different it looked. The regular House tables were gone and were replaced by a large number of smaller round tables that could seat four to six people. The House banners and Christmas trees had also been removed, and the entire Hall had been redecorated into what Harry could only call a fantasy winter wonderland.
Harry led Hermione to the champions table where the other champions were now waiting along with Dumbledore, Madam Maxime, Karkaroff, Bagman and surprisingly Percy Weasley. Once Harry and Hermione arrived, everyone started to take their seats. Cedric held out a chair for Cho first and all the boys copied him, even Dumbledore who held out a chair for Madam Maxime. Once the ladies were seated, Harry and the others took their seats. Each plate had a menu sitting on it and they all started perusing it. Each option was a full three course meal. There were three options for each, and from what Harry could guess each option had a dish representing the food from the region of one of the schools. The starters were a baked camembert (which Harry guessed was French as it was a French cheese), potted shrimp (which Harry knew was classic British), and gravadlax which the menu said was cured salmon. The mains were pork chops, coq au vin, and a slow cooked beef stew that was popular in pretty much every European country. And for dessert there was a classic British apple pie, French macarons, and a chocolate cake called Kladdkaka.
Harry was wondering if a waiter was going to come around and take their orders when Dumbledore said clearly to his plate "gravadlax", and something that looked like smoked salmon appeared on his plate along with some dark brown bread. Harry got the idea immediately and ordered the potted shrimp as he didn't know if he would like the French cheese, never having tried it before and knowing some of them can have a rather strong flavour. Hermione, it seemed, didn't have the reservations he did and immediately ordered the cheese.
"So Percy, I was expecting to see Crouch, not you, how did this definite upgrade come about?" asked Harry.
Percy didn't like how Harry disparaged his boss, but given that Crouch had been one of the people to throw Sirius into Azkaban without a trial no one was going to call him out on it. "Mr Crouch is not feeling too well at the moment, and someone from the department had to be here. Being Christmas Day most people had plans with their family, and I actually have more family here than anywhere else, so I was happy to take the role."
Harry realised Percy was right, with him here five of the nine Weasleys here in the hall right now. "You're right, even Ginny is here with Neville."
"Oh, Longbottom asked out Ginny? I'll have to have a word with him later," Percy said, overly psyching himself up to give Neville the big brother act.
"No need, Ron and the twins have already adequately warned Neville of just what the consequences would be. Ron even borrowed your line about defenestration," Harry informed Percy.
Percy laughed. "I never actually intended to use that one. I'm more surprised Ron even knew what it meant."
"He didn't," Hermione told him,"Ginny had to tell him afterwards." Percy just laughed even harder. "So how are things in your new job?" Hermione asked.
"Busy; there is a lot of work and a lot of it is boring but important, like trying to set up an international standard for cauldron thickness. It's a safety issue, as if you overheat one that's too thin it melts and causes accidents. It's important, but in reality it's just reports on everything from cost impact, St. Mungo' addition rates, and a lot of other boring stuff," he told Hermione.
Hermione nodded and said, "Sounds worthwhile though. Have you done a comparison of how much it costs to treat the injuries compared to the cost impact of the thicker cauldrons? Maybe you can make an argument for a reduction in taxes and offset the cost?"
Harry tuned out the two of them at this. How the Ministry goes about regulating the thickness of cauldrons didn't interest him at all. Instead he turned to his potted shrimp and started to dig them out from under the layer of butter, and put them and some of the butter on the bread that also came with it.
Krum, who was sitting next to Harry, had the same thing and was copying what Harry was doing, the dish apparently being new to him. "Is this sort of thing where the name Potter comes from?" He asked
"That is one of the origins of the name, but my family name is from making and potting Potions. Back then the practice was to use ceramic pots to store potions as glass was still really expensive." Harry repeated what his grandfather had told him about the family name.
Krum nodded along and then asked another question, and by his tone Harry guessed that this question actually interested the Durmstrang champion a lot more. "I was reading your country's Quidditch magazine and it was saying how we have you to thank for the Triwizard Quidditch cup this year."
"Well I wouldn't say it was thanks to me, all of the Quidditch players banded together and it wasn't even my idea at first. I just agreed to let them use my fame to get the magazine involved," Harry said, playing down his part as it had truly been a group effort.
"Still, a worthy thing to use your fame for. Ever since I joined the Bulgarian national team people have wanted me to support this or that cause. Some of them are worthwhile but others definitely weren't when I looked into them. Making sure that your school's sports program isn't cancelled for an entire year is definitely a worthy place to start," Krum said. "You just need to be careful in the future."
Harry nodded in understanding. He was planning to donate the proceeds from selling the dragon parts he wasn't going to keep and had been looking into some charities, and a few that he had researched turned out to be, if not outright scams, definitely rather unethical. For example, there was a charity to promote reading and learning that donated books to a library in Hogsmeade. However, the charity was run by the owner of a publishing company and every book that was bought to donate just happened to be from that specific publishing company. It did some legitimate good, but it was just a way to get the public to buy more books and increase his profits.
"Alicia was also saying that you are as good on a broom as I am," Krum grinned, and Harry was sure they had reached what Krum really wanted to talk about.
"I wouldn't say that. I got to watch you at the World Cup, and while I think I'm good I'm not on that level." 'Yet,' Harry finished in his head.
"Don't sell yourself short Harry. You have caught the Snitch in every game you played except one, when Diggory here beat you, but let's be honest you would have at least had a fair chance at getting the Snitch if the dementors hadn't attacked the game," Alicia said.
"And don't forget you caught the Snitch in under five minutes once," Diggory jumped in. "You could definitely play professionally if you wanted."
"I'm not saying I'm bad at playing seeker, I'm saying I'm not at the level needed to play at the international level." Harry wasn't going to let himself be inflated in front of Krum too much. If he did, then it would be just his luck that he and Krum would have to fly for the final task and Harry would be worse off if someone on Krum's level expected more from him.
"We should have a pickup game sometime," Alica suggested. "Two of Hogwart's best players are sidelined due to the tournament, and I'm sure Victor would love a no-frills pick-up game. What about you Fleur, do you play?"
"Not really. I have played the occasional game but Quidditch is not really my thing. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground," the French champion said.
"At last, someone with some sense." Hermione beamed at the girl.
"Says the girl who has never missed a Gryffindor match," Harry teased.
"I wasn't watching Quidditch. I was supporting my best friend." Hermione shot back.
With the ice broken between them, the dinner was rather enjoyable. For the most part the teenagers talked between themselves and the adults did the same. Before they knew it, they were finishing the last of their desserts and it was time for the opening dance.