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Harry Potter and the Year of Revelations	By : zeldaofarel Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 7848 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Chapter 10: Christmas, Yule, Whatever the Name � Family Time!

The month of November brought with it a stormy, cold weather. Gone were such days as those of the Quidditch match, where the rays of the sun would make the colourful autumn leaves sparkle with the light dew that clung to them in the colder weather. More and more the students of Hogwarts opted for inside activities in their free time, rather than to shiver in the chilling windstorms that would sweep through the grounds.

On such a cold day Harry sat in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, staring at the flames, but not really seeing them. He felt very alone. Both his friends seemed to have abandoned him in favour of the other sex. Hermione made excuse after excuse to be with Regis Niemi, but Harry seemed to be the only one to take note of her absence. Ron was too busy living out his dream of fame. After the match he seemed to have a different girlfriend every day and they all hung on his arm as if they never wanted to let go. Harry wondered about his friend�s actions and he found he was rather disturbed by them. Thus as Harry sat there, he wondered if he should talk to Ron about it. Sighing, he picked up a book, the matter decided in his mind.

One morning while preparing for the day Harry decided to talk to Ron about his playboy-like behaviour. He accosted his friend in the bathroom after Ron finished �shaving�.

�Ron, why do you keep changing girlfriends?� Harry asked after he brushed his teeth.

��Cause it�s fun!� grinned the red-head boy.

�Fun? But you�re only with them for a day,� the other boy furrowed his brows.

�Yes, however, what a day!� he wiggled his brows in answer.

Harry frowned, then suddenly understood. Ron was just using those girls for sex! They didn�t mean much to him, just a few moments of pleasure. No wonder he always seemed to arrive to their dormitory well after curfew. It occurred to Harry then that he could be doing the same thing. Probably girls would sleep just as easily with him as they did with Ron. He recalled last year, when so many of them wanted to go to the Yule Ball with him. However, Harry knew that he could never have casual sex with them. He felt that when he did it with a girl he would have to be in love with her. For now, Isabelle was the only person he could have slept with. Everyone else would be just a meaningless encounter and he was certain that that wasn�t his style.

�Ron, don�t you think you�re hurting those girls by leaving them?� he asked, tentatively as to not accuse his friend of anything.

�Hurt them?� Ron clearly didn�t understand what Harry was saying. �Why would I? They all want me. They want to be with me. I never promise them anything.�

At that point Harry knew that Ron was a very different person when it came to relationships. Still, he thought that perhaps he could reason with the other boy.

�I would never do that. I think that when a girl sleeps with you, she expects more from you than to leave her the next day.�

�I never tell them that I wouldn�t.� Ron was clearly getting agitated by now with the direction the conversation was going. �Harry, are you jealous of me?� he accused.

�No, I�m not jealous. I�m just trying to see their side,� Harry wanted to correct his friend.

�Well I think you are jealous of my fame, Harry. You were always the one in the centre of things and now I am. I bet you were doing the same thing, you just kept it quieter so that you could keep you Saint Potter image. It was time that I got some of the attention myself and I�m not going to hide it. So there!� with these words Ron turned and stormed out of the bathroom. Harry was staring after him, mouth agape. He had angered Ron and he couldn�t really understand why. Hanging his head, he went out of the bathroom as well, wondering if he could convince his friend of his real intentions. However, when he went outside, the red-head was already gone.

After the incident Ron seemed to avoid Harry. No matter how much the raven-haired boy tried, he could not get his friend to talk again about the matter, thus he felt shut out, alone. Since he couldn�t do anything about the matter, he concentrated on Isabelle.

Harry decided to write more letters to Isabelle. He almost wrote one every day, but his only problem was how to get them to her.

One day, when he passed by her desk after class, he realized that he could put his wandless magic to some good use. So as he passed by, e made her book fall off the table. Being a gentleman, he quickly bent to get it for her, along with apologizing, and slipped his letter among the pages. After this, he left the room.

What he wrote about were not just his feelings for her, but also everyday happenings that he wanted to tell about to her. He finished every one of his letters with pleading to her to write to him, or resume their meetings, but she never did either. He missed her greatly. So, he repeated his delivery trick every day, refusing to give up on her.

Harry was making progress with wandless magic. He was able to do more things, to Oya�s great pleasure. In fact, he found that he got better and better at magic in general.

His teachers were greatly impressed that suddenly he would do new spells only after the first few tries. He was surprised as well. What Harry realized was that thanks to Oya�s training he just got a better general understanding of how magic actually worked. So by the end of November, he was doing so well that Oya decided to take their private lessons to the next level: �Harry, you�ve been doing very well,� she told him one Friday evening. �I think we can take the next step. So, from now on, you�ll learn mind magic.�

�Mind magic?�

�Yes. Meaning, you won�t be allowed to use your hands either.�

Harry stared at her.

�But� Aunt Oya, if I can�t use my hand, what should I channel my magic with?� he blurted out what occurred to him.

�Your whole body, Harry. Hand magic was just a way for you to better feel your magic at a conscious level,� she explained.

�But what world this be good for?�

�Have you ever been tied down?� she asked, obviously knowing the answer already. He remembered all too well.

�Last year, Voldemort tied me down to take my blood. I was also petrified when Pettigrew killed Cedric,� he spoke with such sorrow in his voice that Oya pulled him into an embrace. He let her and was glad for the comforting she offered.

�If you learn to only use your mind as a tool for working your magic, then nothing like that will step you again,� she said, in a comforting way.

Harry contemplated her words and suddenly wished he could have leaned mind magic a year before. That way, perhaps Cedric would still be alive and they wouldn�t have a war looming ahead of them.

�All right. I will put as much effort to becoming adept at mind magic as possible,� he told her.

Oya suddenly kissed his cheek and pulled back a little.

�I�m so proud of you, Harry!� she exclaimed. �You�ll learn fast, I�m sure. Next time you meet Voldemort, he�ll be sorry he ever took you on.� She smiled with optimism. �Now, let�s start with a familiar exercise, just a bit differently.�

She released him and walked to her desk. Oya pulled a drawer open and took out a rope, to Harry�s surprise. He looked at her with the obvious question written all over his face.

�I�ll tie your hands back, so you won�t be tempted to use them,� she informed him.

Harry just nodded and put his hands together behind his back. The thought did make him uneasy, but he forced himself to relax and trust his aunt. She moved behind him and he couldn�t help flinching at the first touch of the rope.

�Oh, Harry I wanted to ask you. Would you like to spend Christmas here with me? You could come to my rooms and spend some family time with me,� she said, with a bit of nervousness. �But if you have other plans, �that�s good, too.�

�No!� he replied enthusiastically. �It would be great!�

�Really?� She smiled at him. �We�ll have fun.�

�I�ve never seen where the teachers live,� Harry informed her.

�Oh, actually, the living quarters always open from the office,� she said and moved in front of Harry after she finished tying his hands. �My rooms are through that door,� Oya pointed at the one in the corner. �There are two rooms. One living room and a bedroom. It�s quite nice, she explained. Well, now that I�ve tied you up Harry, you�ll have to do the very first thing that you�ve learned of hand magic. Meaning, move the pillow with your thoughts,� she gestured towards the ones on the couch.

Harry contemplated the pillow. Suddenly, he had no idea, how he�d done magic with his hands. He made a move to scratch his head, when his unconscious movement was halted by the rope around his wrists. He took a few steps to be nearer the pillow. Gazing at it, he could finally recall how he had moved it with hand-magic. He remembered stretching out his magic towards it. At that very moment, he became aware of tingling sensation all over his body. Shutting his eyes, he concentrated on to. It was a kind of a warmth, he tried to name it, but in actual fact that was quite impossible. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked a Oya, who had a strange expression on her face. She was staring with wide eyes. Harry just ignored her for the moment and instead focused on his target, the pillow. He reached out with the warmth and felt a thread of it leave his body. It became a third hand for him and he picked up the pillow with his new hand. It rose in the air and then Harry noticed for the first time the shimmering purple thread that came at from his body and formed a hand at the end that held the pillow. He had never seen anything like it. The purple thing wasn�t just a thread. In fact, as he examined it a bit more closely, he realized that it seemed to be made out of liquid. For the first time since starting his task, he spoke to Oya:

�Hmm, you see the purple thing too?� He looked at her and it was a good thing, because she only nodded. �What is it?� Harry asked.

�It�s the magic within you,� she started to explain. �You see, everything has an aura. Magical people have some purple in their aura. The more the purple, the stronger the magic. Through training, the purple can grow.�

�Then you can see auras?� he inquired.

�Yes. Since you can see the purple thread, can you see my aura?�

Harry tried to see the same liquid around Oya, but couldn�t. So he shook his head.

�That�s all right. It took me about a year of trying. It comes to you gradually. You see your own and that�s great progress. Now, look at yourself.�

Harry looked down and saw purple glow around himself with little pecks of green.

�I�m almost all purple,� he noted.

�Yes Harry. You have been since you picked up the pillow. Apparently, the act advanced your magic to such a degree.�

Harry realized than that he was still holding the pillow up. He let go suddenly and it fell back on the catch. He looked down at himself again and noted that his aura was less purple and more green.

�What happened?� he asked upon the change.

�The colour of a person�s aura constantly changes. Magical people and beings always have some purple in it, but otherwise it�s determined by the mood and health, and some other things. Actually, once you see other people�s auras, you�ll be able to distinguish animagi easily.�

�Really?� Harry was astonished at the information. He was suddenly even more interested in auras. �How?�

�Well, when a person becomes his or her animal form that requires a constant use of magic. You should be able to tell from this what to look for.�

�Hmm.� he thought about it. His aunt was back in her teaching ode. If a person is using his magic, he should have a� very purple aura!�

Oya smiled at that.

�Correct Harry! An ordinary magical animal on the other hand would only have little purple. Now, I think we have discussed auras enough. You should practice trying to see auras whenever you can. Some day it�ll simply happen. Let�s practice mind-magic a bit more. I hope your hands aren�t in pain.�

�No, Aunt Oya,� Harry assured her.

The following weeks seemed to crawl by for Harry. He gladly told his friends that for a change he didn�t mind them not staying at Hogwarts. After all, the families felt the need to be together even if Voldemort was still staying low. No matter how slowly time passed, the day when the others left still arrived.

Harry stood in the Common Room with some other members of Gryffindor House as he waited for his friends to come down with their trunks. He had already given them his presents so that Hedwig wouldn�t have to fly in the snowy winter weather. Even as Harry looked at the large windows he could see the large flakes gently drift downwards in the light breeze. No, he couldn�t let her out, she may have been a snow-owl, but that didn�t mean she enjoyed snow-storms.

The arrival of several students broke him out of his reverie. He noticed Harry first, whose trunk floated behind her. She smiled up at him and headed in his direction.

That was when Harry noticed that behind her Isabelle was also leaving the staircase. He was started to see that she looked even paler than usual; her dark eyes were restlessly darting around the room. The black orbs finally settled on him capturing his green ones and holding them. He read so many emotions in her eyes as they locked together, as never before. He was truck by pain, sadness, longing and intense fear. Watching her, he started to notice the liquid of her aura swirling around her. First it was colourless and then even those were revealed to Harry. She did have some purple in it, but mostly it was orange. He made a mental note to ask Oya, what that meant, but he already had an idea. He was startled when suddenly Harry kissed him on the cheek, and he tore his gaze from the object of his affection, but before he did so, he noticed a look of surprise from her.

�Merry Christmas Harry!� Hermione exclaimed. �Merry Christmas. Hermione. You�re ready to go?� he inquired.

�Yes. Are you sure you�ll be ok here?� I mean, sure, Prof. Potter is your aunt, but she was a Death Eater and there are still mysteries around her, �this point Hermione lowered her voice to make sure that only Harry heard her.� Like Ares, or how come she had a child with Snape?�

�Hermione, I already have an idea about the later question. She once said that Voldemort played match-maker to his Death Eaters. Perhaps that�s what happened, Harry suggested.

�Good theory, Harry!� she praised. �Well, at least while you stay here, you could try to find at as much about Ares as possible.�

Ron chose that moment to arrive. He dragged his trunk behind him and it made a loud noise that caused everyone to stare at him. As he stopped, several girls immediately approached him. They all started giving him packages and wishing �Merry Christmas�, Harry and Hermione just stare at the scene, amazed. After they gave him hugs and kisses, they dispersed. Ron then sauntered over to his friends and deposited his gifts on the couch. Opening his trunk, he deposited the packages into it and only once he finished, did he look up at Harry and Hermione.

�What?� he asked, noticing their stares.

�Who are all those girls?� Hermione inquired.

�Oh, my fan club,� Ron told them nonchalantly.

Harry and Hermione were clearly startled at this news. Harry tried to remember when a fan club formed around Ron. He couldn�t. He realized that he had been a bad friend. He had been so caught up in his own life, especially Isabelle, that he had hardly paid any attention to his friends� lives.

Harry woke up early on Christmas morning. He was giddy with excitement at the prospect of his first real family Xmas. At least, the first one he could remember. Yesterday evening he had dinner in the Great Hall as usual. The professors were there, but only five other students all from Hufflepuff. Harry didn�t know any of them, because they were all below him and so they chatted among themselves. As usual when there were only so few people staying at Hogwarts, there was only one smaller table set.

Harry didn�t mind though. He sat between Professor Dumbledore and his Aunt Oya. They talked about all sorts of things, but only happy ones. Quidditch, lessons, no Voldemort at all. Aunt Oya told funny stories about Xmases with Harry�s dad when they were little. Harry especially liked the one in which Oya gave a prank gift to James. First of all she packed the small object into many boxes, all wrapped in paper. It took James abort half an hour to reach the actual gift. By then he was thoroughly frustrated and reached into the smallest box without looking at its contents. He quickly pulled his hand back, with a loud yelp of pain. He clutched one of his fingers with a grimace, informing his on-looking family about the fact that something had bit his hand. He glazed at his sister, who was goggling madly at his predicament. Cautiously he peered inside the box that was small enough to fit into his palm. His eyes widened and shorted that there was a lion in it. It was actually an animated lion statue that was prowling inside its box and snapping its yaws angrily. In the end James did like the gift and even built a small landscape for it in one of he bigger boxes. Oya had no idea what had happened to it, but James still had it when they parted ways.

After this Harry told his own story of an enchanted small statue. He still had the miniature Hungarian Horntail. It was currently residing in his trunk as it reminded him of the Tournament and that of Cedric and he really didn�t want to think along those lines. It did occur to him to simply get rid of the little dragon, but he did like it and hoped for a time when he could bare to look at it. However, the story of how he got the golden egg was a good one and Aunt Oya listened to it with interest. She expressed her regret at not having had the chance to see it.

All these happy memories were fresh in his mind as he finished out his present to his aunt from the trunk on Xmas morning. It hadn�t been easy to find a good gift for her. In the end he decided to ask Hermione to recommend something, being a girl and all. It was one of the rare occasions when they really talked. Nowadays the three friends rarely just spent time together. Ron was busy trying to date every available girl who wasn�t ugly or a Slytherin in Hogwarts. Being a Quidditch hero sure had its benefits and he seemed to be snagging a different girl in a different place every week. He was also unavailable. When she wasn�t revising for OWLS and nagging Harry to join her in Ron�s absence, she disappeared somewhere probably to be with Regis Niemi.

Harry thus spent most of his time alone. Thinking back to the past months Harry did feel lonely at times, but he decided to take Hermione�s advice a revise. He was determined to become an Auror after graduation, he couldn�t think of a line of career that would better suit him. After all, he was practically doing it already. They got some leaflets in November that told them what OWLs and NEWTs they need for careers, so he had quite an amount of studying to do in the required subjects. Among them were Potions, so he doubled his efforts in that subject. All the studying was paying off as well as he got praised more and lost less house points in Potions classes, much to Snape�s distaste. Another up side of it was that it kept his mind off Isabelle. Of course, during class, it didn�t help that Snape kept praising Isabelle for her excellent skills.

The tap finally came on his window and he quickly got his gift for Oya. He almost ran out of the tower, straight for Oya�s office. He was almost there, when Oya opened the door. He stopped in front of her and took in her outfit. She ressed for Xmas, that was notable. She wore a deep crimson dress, the hem of which was almost sweeping dark green robe. Because it was sleeveless, it let the widening sleeve of the crimson dress to dominate the look. Her long blonde hair was wavy and she wore more jewellery than he had ever seen her. In one word she was beautiful and Harry wondered if it was really for the occasion, or she had some different goal with it. She smiled at him brightly.

�Good morning Harry! Merry Christmas! Come, follow me,� she motioned him in and. Harry followed.

They entered the office and he found a door open inside it. She lead him inside and he found himself in a living-room. There was a huge fireplace not far from the door on the same wall. A gentle fire was merrily cracking in it, warming hearts as well as bodies. Besides it in the corner stood a huge tree. It was decorated with twinkling golden stars mostly and around it small fairies seemed to be flying in colourful dresses. They carried tiny bells that jingled at odd times. Under the tree Harry could see many packages waiting to be opened. In the middle of the room a sitting area was created. A wide green sofa with many pillows dominated it, with matching arm-chains on both sides. A low tale was in front of it, on which their breakfast was laid out. There was a pot of some liquid, judging by the fragrance in the air it was hot chocolate. Three cups stood beside it, just waiting to be filled. The table was otherwise laden with food, mostly sweet things. On one plate chocolate frogs waited in their boxes to be lead out and cause havoc. On another a chocolate cake glistened in the light, showing off its brown layer, tantalizing the occupants of the room. Of course the other contents of the table were not any less mouth-watering, and Harry noticed that there were also three plates. Harry wondered who the third person was. While he was taking in the various other decorations and furnishings of the room, Oya stood to the side, waiting for him to finish. When his gaze settled on her, she spoke to him.

�Would you close the door please?� she asked sweetly. �Then put the package under the tree.�

He did as she asked and then she walked over to another door opening from the main room. She slowly opened it, grinning by them. Harry gasped as none other, than his godfather, Sirius Black walked out. He more the biggest mile on his face that Harry had ever seen. He wore brand new robes, his hair was slacked at Harry and Harry ran over to him and embraced the dark-haired man.

�Sirius!� he exclaimed. �What are you doing here?�

�I came to spend Xmas with you,� Sirius informed his godson, returning his hug. Harry let him go and kept smiling, unable to stop. This was turning out to be the best Xmas he has ever had.

�Why don�t you open your presents now?� Aunt Oya suggested, gesturing towards the pile under the tree.

Harry went to them and Oya sat down on the couch with Sirius. They smiled at each other, Harry noted as he kneeled besides the shiningly wrapped packages. He quickly found Mrs. Weasley�s and unwrapped it. The usual jumper was crimson this time with a golden �H� in the middle. He put it on, as usual.

�Who�s that from, Harry?� Sirius enquired.

�Mrs. Weasley,� he answered.

�She sends me a jumper every year. She makes it. In fact, she makes one for all her children.�

�I see. So it�s as if you�re one of the family, eh?� Sirius observed. �I remember Molly Weasley. Fine woman. I hope some day I can thank he for being so good to you.�

Harry smiled at that and reached for a package from Ron. It was a very small package and Harry quickly unwrapped it. Inside the box he found a whistle. He quirked an eyebrow at that. He held up the present so the two adults could see it as well.

�A whistle?� Ron probably got it for Quidditch, �Harry suggested and quickly blew it, looking at Oya and Sirius. He noticed that when he did so, they both seemed to freeze in place for a moment.

�It�s a magical whistle,� Sirius told him, once he could move. �For about two seconds everyone who hears it gets frozen in time, except the one who blew it. It is very useful for Quidditch. I suggest you keep it with you. You never know when it could be useful.�

�You�re right, Sirius.� Harry turned to have a look at his next gift, after pocketing the whistle. He did think of putting it around his neck, but he still kept Sirius� necklace there under his clothes.

He chose to look at Hermione�s gift next. It was a book as usual. The title was �Grindenwald and Hitler�. Hermione had probably remembered that Harry had expressed an interest in Word War II history. He was happy abut the book and couldn�t wait to read it. He showed this to the adult as well and Oya told him that she had read the book and it was very good.

Harry had saved the presents of those in the room last. He started with the one labelled �Aunt Oya�. It was a box, not wrapped, only a bow around it in Gryffindor colours. On the card it also said �Handle with care�, so he gingerly put the box in front of him and untied the bow. After that he slowly raised the lid. Inside he found a small egg nestled in soft crimson velvet. Harry looked up questioningly at his aunt as he situated himself in a way as to face Oya and Sirius.

�It�s a dragon-snake egg,� she informed him.

�Dragon-snake?� Harry had never even heard of such creatures.

His aunt realized that Harry knew nothing about such creatures. She stood up and went over to one of the book cases lining the walls. She looked around for a bit and then took down a slim book.

�Here, you can have this,� she said as she walked over to him and handed him the book. �You�d better close the box, Harry, I will hatch in a few days and the change in temperature is not good for it. I charmed the box, so it will always be warm enough.�

�Thank you,� Harry said as he quickly closed the box. Then he looked at the book. It was titled �Dragon-Snakes � All you need to know�. He smiled at the wording and opened it. Inside he found a wizarding photo of a black snake with green markings above his eyes and two black dragon�wings. It flew around in erratic patterns, its body twisting with each turn. Harry was awed at owning such a creature. A thought occurred to him that he just had to ask. �Aunt Oya, will I be able to talk to it in Parselgongue?� he looked at her as he put down the book besides the box.

�Of course, Harry. That�s why I got one for you. I thought that since you can speak it, you should do something with it. Also, dragon-snakes are very smart creatures. I remember that Voldemort often used snakes for different purposes, like spies. You could use your dragon-snake in a similar fashion,� she explained.

�But that�s what Voldemort does�� Harry argued.

�Just because he does it, it doesn�t mean that it�s wrong. It�s a tactic. You know how much I like to study Muggle World War II. On it both sides they used spies. In fact, during the last war with Voldemort we used them. Serena and Severus�� as she mentioned these names, her voice took on a distant quality and she gazed over at Sirius, who was sitting next to her quietly.

Harry looked at him as well. He was staring at his hands with a pain in his eyes and his shoulders were slumped. That was when Harry remembered where he had heard the name �Serena� before Isabelle had mentioned it once after she had extra potions with Snape.

�Serena Snape?� he asked out loud.

Sirius looked up at this, startled.

�I didn�t know you�ve heard of her,� Oya told Harry.

�Just once I know she was Snape�s sister. I didn�t know she was a spy too. What happened to her?� his curiosity was sparked now.

�She was found out,� Sirius spoke up, startling the occupants of the room. His voice was hoarse, as if he was going to start to cry at any moment. �She was a Death Eater, but turned against them. Malfoy discovered that she was working for us. They killed her�� his voice choked at that moment and as a response Oya put a comforting hand on his arm. Their eyes meet for a brief second and Harry could see something flicker between them. Mostly it was concern, but also understanding and affection. �I�d better tell you the whole story, since I�ve already started,� Sirius said.

�You don�t have to�� Harry interrupted.

�No, you must be curious about it. In a way, I feel� I need to talk about it. Serena was supposed to spy for Voldemort. I knew her from school, though very superficially. She was Snape�s sister, a Slytherin and two years bellow me. She approached me in a pub I was frequenting at the time. Her orders were to go out with me and gather as much information as possible. Instead, first she made sure that I was on the side of the Light. Just in case I was a spy as well and the whole task was a test of her loyalty. Then she revealed it all to me. She said she wanted to be on the side of the Light as well; It was her father that made her join in the first place and she wanted out. I talked it over with Dumbledore and we thought that she would be the most useful as spy, since she was in the Inner Circle. Serena readily agreed. We fed bits of truth and large pieces of false information To Voldemort through her. I was going to be a father. It was the happiest day of my life, �he stopped and seemed to travel far back into the post. It took him some time until he was able to continue. �She was close to giving birth when Lucius Malfoy revealed that she was a spy.�

�I was there,� Oya spoke up. �Voldemort called together a meeting. We stood around him in a circle. Malfoy stepped foreword and told us about Serena being a spy. I was shocked, because she was my� friend. Voldemort and Malfoy took her away then. She couldn�t apparate away, because each meeting began with an anti-apparation spell. Her body was found a month later. The strange thing was that when they observed her body, it seemed that she had given birth not long before she was killed. We never knew what happened to the baby,� she finished and they all fell silent for a bit.

Harry could see how much the story pained Sirius and he knew that he should be comforted somehow. Oya seemed o come to the same conclusion as she quickly embraced the man in a hug and held him for a few minutes, absent-mindedly running a hand through his shoulder-length black hair. In return, he buried his head in her shoulder. Harry felt that he was intruding on a very private moment and kept silent. They slowly parted and their eyes locked. Both seemed to be filled with pain, probably at the loss of someone they both knew and loved. Oya and Sirius looked over at Harry, a bit startled to realize that he was still in the room.

�Sorry, Harry,� Sirius apologized.

�It�s all right,� Harry replied.

�Why don�t you open Sirius� present?� Oya suggested and Sirius smiled encouragingly a him.

�All right,� with those words Harry reached over to his last present. When he held the medium-sized package in his hand, it was quite clear that it was a book. He was getting lots of books this year, but he didn�t mind really. He unwrapped the bit clumsily done package and found a dark crimson book with gold lettering on it. He read the cover, it said �50 Most Beautiful Wizarding Love Poetry�. Harry looked up at Sirius questioningly.

�Well, I�d thought it would help you with the ladies. Just read it through. You could even memorize a couple of verses and say them to girls when you see them fit. It always helped me with my dating, �Sirius grinned at that. Harry, however, noticed Oya not being too happy about what the man was saying.

�Thank you,� Harry said and put the book among the others. He didn�t know if the book would indeed help him.

�Let�s have a very unhealthy breakfast of chocolate cake and hot chocolate!� Oya suggested. Harry nodded at that and with a large grin sat in one of the armchairs, closest to the couch. Oya rose and put one slice of cake on a plate. The house-elves had already taken care of the slicing. The plate Oya handed to Harry and then pared him a cup of steaming not chocolate and put it in front of him on the coffee-table, then repeated the process with Sirius. Both males nodded their thanks to her, and began eating. For a while the trio sat in silence, when Sirius spoke up:

�So, Harry, do you have a girlfriend yet?�

Harry was just drinking from his cup when the older man asked his question and choked on his hot chocolate. He quickly put the delicate china down, while he was coughing in a desperate attempt to not suffocate. Oya even had to put him on the back to relieve the tension.

�Sorry, Harry,� Sirius said at seeing the display in front of him. �I didn�t know my question would be the death of you,� he grinned. �But I�d still like to know the answer.�

�Well,� Harry began, once he got control over his lungs again. �No, not really.�

�Your answer makes me suspect you have your eyes on someone,� he narrowed his eyes on his grandson.

Harry blushed at that.

�I do��

�Then what�s the problem?!� Sirius exclaimed. �You�re a handsome boy, famous to boot. Perhaps you don�t know how to approach her?� He looked at the boy expectantly.

�It�s not that,� Harry began, his voice turning sad, eyes falling on his hands. �The problem is that� her name is Isabelle Malfoy.� Sirius was taken aback at that.

�You fancy a Malfoy!� he was outraged.

Harry winced at his tone.

�Not fancy� I love her,� he admitted quietly.

Sirius sat back, contemplating the boy in front of him. He studied his pose and didn�t speak for awhile. When the silence just stretched on, Harry looked up and meet Sirius� eyes. The man was still mulling over the information he had heard. Then the boy looked at Oya. She, of course, had already known about it and held understanding in her gaze.

�Sirius, I�ve already known about this,� she informed the man sitting beside her and turned to him, placing a hand on his knee. �You see, they have been friends for a while. Then Harry fell in love. She told him a couple of months ago that Lucius had arranged a marriage for her that will take place over the summer. At this Harry told her about his feelings and she turned him down and broke all contact with him,� Oya updated Sirius, who had turned his attention to the woman.

�I have been writing love letters to her and sneaking them into her bag,� Harry completed the story. �I got no reply.�

Sirius was still silent. All eyes were on him, but he didn�t shy away from them.

�She asked you to leave her alone?� he asked for clarification.

�Yes,� Harry answered. �But when I kissed her, she returned it. However, kissing did seem to scare her.�

�Well, that�s understand able,� Sirius said.

Harry looked at his godfather with a puzzled expression. Seeing this, Sirius decided to elaborate.

�The Malfoys are a very traditional Wizarding family. Oya doesn�t really know what those are like, because the Potters were a bit more modern. However, my family was just like the Malfoys. While I had no sisters, just a brother, I am still very much aware of what is required of pureblood girls. They have to marry pureblood wizards of their father�s choosing and produce as many offsprings as possible. Even if she returned your feelings, she would never be allowed to act by them. She is bound by the laws of the Wizarding World to her father until she�s 17,� Sirius finished his monologue.

Harry sat contemplating what he had heard. Oya meanwhile refilled his cup and handed it to him. As the boy drank down the warm hot chocolate, the sweet liquid soothed the ache that was becoming stronger in his heart.

�I really don�t have a chance, do I?� he looked at the two adults as if seeking denial, but all he got were confirmatory nods. With a sigh, he went on: �No matter what I do, she will marry that man and after June, I�ll never see Isabelle again,� he nearly choked as tears were threatening to spill from his eyes. To cover it, he drank deeply from his cup.

�Harry, you�re only fifteen. You still have your whole life ahead of you. You�ll see, soon enough, you�ll fall in love with someone else,� Sirius told him.

�It�s not like that,� Harry informed his godfather.� I can imagine my whole life with her. I had a vivid dream about us having a child and I�m so happy in that dream! I�ve never, ever felt so happy in all my life as in that dream!� Harry stopped. He realized he was shorting and tears were streaming down his face. He whipped them off and started speaking again in a normal tone after forcing himself to calm down a bit by taking deep gulps of air. �I know I�m only fifteen, but I don�t feel like it. I�ve been through so much. I�ve faced Voldemort three times in these past years and I know he won�t stop coming after me until I�m dead. I don�t know if I can defeat him, but I�m going to try. I�m facing these things and I don�t feel young. I know that Voldemort is staying low now, but soon he�s going to start killing. I�m already responsible for the death of one person. Now, I�m going to be responsible for everyone whom that maniac kills from now on, until I defeat him. I know that�s my job. I have no idea why, but it is. I am going to do it. So you see, I�m not a child anymore. I can�t be. I�m in love with Isabelle. It won�t pass. She�s the kindest, the sweetest and the most beautiful person I know. She�s intelligent. Sometimes she�s also very fragile, and then I only want to take her into my arms and protect her from all harm. These past months without her have been hell. I feel like a part of me is missing. I must find a way to keep her from getting married to that man. I don�t know how I can go on fighting if I loose her,� Harry finished, looking at his godfather and aunt.

�That does sound very serious,� Sirius told him, scratching his chin that was smooth as he had shaved off all of his beard and moustache. �I wish I could think of a way to help you, but I can�t. I will try to come up with something, though.�

�How long are you staying here?� Harry pointed the question at Sirius.

�Until New Year�s Day.
So we can celebrate together,� he smiled. �Now, I believe you�ve opened all of your presents, but we didn�t open any of ours,� Sirius tried to break the sombre mood.

�That�s right!� Harry exclaimed. �But I haven�t brought up your present yet!� with this Harry jumped up and bolted for the door. He hoped that when he came back, they could talk about much happier subjects.

To be continued�
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Harry Potter and the Year of Revelations