""HAPPY CHRISTMAS!""
Harry blinked at the surprise he got as he entered the main hall of Potter manor for breakfast on Christmas morning, where Sirius and Remus were apparently waiting for him to celebrate the holiday.
Unlike when Harry went to bed the night before, the hall now had fake snow falling from the ceiling above them, and each section of the U shaped table was covered in piles of gifts for each of them. Sirius was standing beside his pile to the right, Remus was standing beside his, notably smaller, pile to the left, and the largest pile that Harry presumed was his own sat on the head of the table.
"Quite the elaborate set up." Harry said as he entered the hall proper, though he couldn't help the small smile on his lips as he approached the pile of presents waiting for him.
"Well what do you expect? We have ten YEARS of Christmases to make up for!" Sirius exclaimed as he took a seat in front of his own pile of gifts.
"That's only us, Sirius. Harry hasn't celebrated a proper Christmas in over fifty years." Remus stated as he too sat down, obviously referring to when Harry told them about the Skyrim version of Christmas, Saturnalia. Even if the holidays were similar, there were still differences between the two aside from the name.
"Even if I had, it was nothing like this." Harry said as he stood before his pile of gifts, as sitting would have hidden him entirely from how large the pile was.
The next couple of hours passed with the three of them taking turns opening gifts, something Remus and Sirius insisted on so they could focus on Harry whenever he opened on his.
Among his gifts, Harry got a wizard's chess set from Ron, along with a knitted sweater and package of fudge from his mother. Sirius and Remus both insisted he wear it immediately.
There were many others that Harry got from his classmates, namely thing like candy, sweets, butterbeer, gloves and so on. The most notable gifts Harry got were the ones he received from Sirius, Remus and Hermione.
Remus gifted Harry an encyclopedia of all the magical creatures that could be found throughout Britain, Ireland, and some regions in Europe. Sirius on the other hand put the Black family fortune to work, and got Harry TEN different gifts, one for each year he missed, each one being rare magical weapons or artifacts that had Harry enthralled with their make and enchantments/curses. Some of them were even goblin-forged. And then Hermione also gifted Harry an encyclopedia, except the one from her detailed nearly everywhere single type of weapon used throughout history all over the world. With pictures of each one.
Needless to say Harry was itching to get back to his forge after he opened THAT particular gift.
Then there was the final gift that had been left for Harry, stashed discreetly at the very bottom of the pile. Whatever it was, he was obviously meant to open it last.
The package was light, and the paper wrapping it gave under Harry's hands as he held it. When he tore it open, a shimmering cloak spilled out like water with a note tucked inside.
Harry immediately grabbed the note before it could flutter out of reach, and read the familiar loopy writing on it while holding the cloak in his other hand.
~~~
This is an heirloom of your father's family that he left in my possession shortly before he died. Now it is time that I return it to you.
Use it well.
~~~
Harry blinked as he read the note, before looking at the cloak with much more interest than before now that he knew it belonged to his father.
"I remember that." Sirius said suddenly, drawing Harry's attention to him and Remus as they both looked at the cloak with nostalgia.
"What is it?" Harry asked them while running his fingers through it.
"It's an invisibility cloak, passed down to James from his father when he started school. According to him anyways." Remus answered.
"I can't even begin to tell you about all of the times your father and I snuck around the school under that thing. It was a miracle we never got it confiscated." Sirius said while appearing as if he were looking at something far away.
"You need cloaks to turn yourselves invisible?" Harry asked curiously, thinking of the Invisibility spell and potion he often used.
"There is the Disillusionment charm, but that basically turns you into a human chameleon instead of true invisibility. Only a handful of wizards are able to use the charm that well." Remus explained, even as Harry stood and swung the cloak around his shoulders.
At his current size/age, the cloak was much too large for him and dragged on the ground. But, the second he was covered Harry noted that everything from his neck down had completely vanished.
"Interesting..." He muttered, even as he noted something else. As the cloak covered him, Harry could feel something else covering his body. A feeling akin to the times that he prayed to Arkay for strength, or wandered directly into a place of his domain.
His curiosity about the cloak growing, Harry removed it from his body and carefully bundled it up until he could store it in his trunk later.
With all of their presents opened, it was finally time for breakfast as Sweets happily brought them all plates piled high with food, a little sweeter than normal for the holiday, as well as several large tankards of piping hot chocolate.
Once their bellies were full, the three men then just lazed about in the lounge for a few hours as they went over some of the gifts they received from both each other, and others.
With Remus, Harry looked through the encyclopedia of magical creatures as the other man told him more about them that he had learned through his own study and work. And amongst them Harry started creating a mental checklist of those he wanted to fight one day if he got the chance, such as the Dragons, Gryphons, Cyclops, Minotaur, and especially something as dangerous as a Basilisk. Unfortunately, Remus informed Harry that many of these creatures were endangered, therefore they were protected from being hunted with a few rare exceptions, like Basilisks, whose creation were strictly illegal.
Then Harry spent some time with Sirius discussing the enchanted/cursed items he bought, amongst which was a cursed necklace he acquired from a place called Borgin and Burkes. According to Sirius though, his family home was filled with all sorts of historical dark objects that his family had collected over the centuries. And since his intention was to just throw them away as he slowly went through the mess, he offered to give Harry any of the dark/cursed items he wanted to study. Needless to say, Harry was now excited for helping Sirius go through his house during the summer holiday.
It was in the early afternoon when the first of the guests Harry invited over arrived, Sirius's cousin, Andromeda Tonks, along with her husband Ted, and their daughter, Nymphadora.
"Andromeda! Happy Christmas" Sirius called as Goggles led the group into the main hall.
"Hello Sirius, Happy Christmas." Andromeda said as the two cousins greeted one another, before Sirius greeted Ted and Nymphadora after.
"Have any of you met Harry?" Sirius asked once they all greeted each other.
"I haven't, but Moody told me a bit about him from their trip to Azkaban." The youngest of the trio said, obviously Nymphadora.
"You know Moody?" Harry asked as he and Sirius led the group into the lounge.
"Aye. I graduated Hogwarts earlier this year, and went right into Auror training. Moody is my mentor, and a right bastard when it comes to training." Nymphadora said with a bitter tone. And curiously, her already curious purple hair began to shift to a dark red.
For the next hour or so Harry learned more about Andromeda and her family as they talked, namely that she was the middle child of her two sisters, Bellatrix and Narcissa, and was considered a blood-traitor by her family because she married Ted Tonks, a muggle-born. Because of that, Andromeda only truly considered Sirius, her husband and daughter to be her family.
Nymphadora however was quite interesting, as she was something called a Metamorphmagus, a mage who could change her own appearance at will. An enviable ability for even a master thief.
Unfortunately such an ability could only be inherited, not learned, so Harry had to give up on it.
As the day wore on, more and more people arrived for the dinner that Harry invited them to. Next to come was Neville with his Grandmother, who wore what was possibly the most unusual outfit Harry had ever seen. There was even a stuffed vulture on her hat.
After the two of them was Amelia Bones along with her niece, Susan. Then came Hermione and her parents, who were wide-eyed as they beheld a true magical household for the first time especially when they saw the house elves that were keeping the refreshments going while also greeting all of them. Even Moody showed up, much to Nymphadora's chagrin, allowing him and Harry to drink together as they both swapped old battle stories.
Then, right before dinner started, the last of the visitors arrived in the form of a group of five enchantingly beautiful women that immediately enthralled nearly every man present. Aside from Harry and Moody that is.
"What's with the Veela?" Moody growled to Harry in his usual irritable voice.
"Sirius." Harry answered back, even as the Veela looked around in confusion at the large group.
Immediately, Harry hit all of the men in the room with a Calm spell to mitigate their rapidly rising lust, before approaching the group of Veela to explain the situation to them. He also offered for them to stay and celebrate the holiday with them since they already made the journey, without having to perform their usual 'services' of course.
At the same time, Amelia led Sirius away to give him a lecture. And Harry had to bite back a comment about her sending him away for obedience training, or possibly having him neutered.
The rest of the evening passed without incident, especially since the spells Harry used on the other guys were strong enough to last for several hours. Plus the Veela that appeared also seemed to enjoy themselves since they were still being paid, just to hang out and eat instead of dancing and 'other' services. Not to mention that they weren't be ogled constantly like usual thanks to Harry's spell.
They all ate dinner, drank eggnog, and even sang a few Christmas carols while Harry played his instruments for them. Eventually though, the festivities had to end.
A few people, like Moody, Andromeda, Ted, Nymphadora, Neville and his Grandmother, left when it was time for things to start settling down. Others, like Hermione, her parents, Susan, Amelia and the Veela ended up staying the night in some of their spare rooms after Harry offered.
And when Harry went to bed himself, he found a visitor waiting for him in his room. A small, brown, nondinstinct owl.
When he acccepted the letter the owl had tied to it's leg, it quickly took off out of the window that Harry had left cracked open. And when he flipped it open, he found a quick note waiting for him with no signature. Just a small inky beetle scurrying across the page.
~~~
I found a potential partner. The details are enclosed.
~~~