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The holiday’s were always a techy subject for Harry. The Dursley’s didn’t exactly celebrate Christmas, at least not for him. He’d get maybe one present a year. It was usually something practical, something he needed for school or to survive. In turn, he didn’t get anything for them. So when he got to Hogwarts, it was all a bit of a shock. When he had the chance to not go “home” for the holiday, he took it. His first real Christmas had been eye opening. It made all the difference being with people who actually cared about him.
Now that he was a bit older, he could really get involved and, in some small way, repay everyone around him for all they had done for him. So on a weekend, he went down to hogsmeade to do some Christmas shopping. He went into the bookstore for Hermione and got her a book on wizard history. Ron got assorted sweets from honeydukes (along with other people he wasn’t quite shore what to get, like Neville). He also got a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean, that would find there way onto Dumbledore’s desk. He continued to wander around for a while and check things off his list. Eventually he came across a small thestral figurine that he decided would be perfect for Luna. After a debacle with the cashier, who couldn’t see it, he eventually got out of the store. He bought the rest of the items on his list, got lunch, and then headed back to Hogwarts.
———
A few days later he went to start wrapping the gifts. As he went threw everything he realized something was missing. After checking everything, he realized the missing thing was the thestral figurine. He searched the whole room with no luck. At a certain point he decided he must have dropped it in the common room. As he opened the door to the stairs, something flew past him quickly. He only caught a few glimpses of it. It was small, and grey, and……..Oh no.
He bolted down the stairs but it was already hidden. “Dang it”. He scanned the room looking for it, it had to be hiding somewhere. As he looked, he noticed Ron, Hermione, and Neville sitting by the fireplace.
“What was that about Harry?”
“Hey Ron, hey Hermione, hey Neville.” He didn’t look at them, opting to continue scanning the room. “You didn’t happen to see anything fly past, did you?”
“No?” There puzzled face’s had the question ‘ what are you on about ’ written all over them. He’d love to know that himself actually. Unlike Ron, he hadn’t grown up in the wizarding world. And he hadn’t researched it a ton like Hermione. He had taken a more ‘jump in head first’ approach, which wasn’t bad, just came with some disadvantages.
“Hey Ron, are wizard figurine’s enchanted?”
“Whatcha mean?”
“Like, can they move around of their own volition?”
“Course, a lot of’m are.”
He gave a disheartened sigh, “Of course”. Well, the figurine wasn’t getting out any time soon so he at least should get some help looking for it. “So none of you saw it?”
“Saw what Harry?” Hermione ask, closing the book she had most likely been reading before he had run into the room.
“It’s a figurine of a thestral, small, grey. It’s a Christmas gift. I didn’t realize it could move.” The three just gave each other a puzzled look. Did they seriously not see it?
…….
Oooooooh, shoot. They can’t see it. Harry felt like hitting his head on the wall. It was going to be so much harder to find the thestral then he’d originally thought. “Hey, so I’ve gotta ask you an insensitive question. Sorry, but have any of you ever seen anyone die?”
Hermione gave a small nod, “No”. Ron said the same thing.
Then Neville responded, “No, unless you mean my relationship with my parents.” He said it with a lighter tone and the other three just looked at him.
“Are you okay Neville?” Harry responded, forgetting about the thestral.
“I’m fine”, his face was a little sad but he acted as if nothing had happened.
“Ok, let me know if you need anything.” Harry started to turn to continue his search for the thestral, making a mental note to check in on Neville later. Then the common-room door began to open, a first year gryffindor walking in. As he looked over, a blur of gray flew out the door. Come on!
He ran out the door, almost running into the first year. “Sorry. Bye guys.”
He ran through the corridors chasing after it. Avoiding people who were walking. Kids hadn’t left for Christmas just yet. There was about a week of classes yet and then everyone would go home. Ron and Hermione both go home for the holidays, so he was going to be at the school with just a couple teachers for the most part.
Since he was lost in thought while running, (not a good combination) he ran straight into someone. “Sorry”, he stepped back. They were tall, so they had to be a teacher, but before he looked up, the thestral whizzed past them and to Harry’s surprise, the person he ran into turned as if he could see it. However, this blocked his line of sight so he didn’t see where it ended up.
Harry looked up to see Dumbledore and immediately felt ten times worse about running into him. “I’m so sorry professor. It’s just…” but before he could continue, he was interrupted.
“It’s fine Harry, I can see your quite busy. I was just out on a stroll so don’t let me keep you.” He gave a polite smile and moved out of Harry’s running path.
“Thank you professor, sorry again.” He went to continue running after it but realized he hadn’t actually seen were it had went. “Professor, did you happen to see a blur fly past you by any chance?” Harry wasn’t actually sure if he could see the thing, but he was hoping so.
“Yes, it took a right up there.” He pointed towards another hallway. “I’d try the defense against the dark arts room.” He turned and continued on his walk.
“Thank you professor”, Harry yelled out to him and went back to running towards where Dumbledore had directed him.
———
He ran into the room and saw the thestral flying around and duck behind a desk. The last thing he wanted was for it to escape again so he slammed the door behind him. He ran over to where he saw it, only for it to move just as he got there.
The professor’s door opened and Remus found him running around the room and looking under desks. “Harry…?”
Harry stopped in his tracks, he hadn’t thought anyone would be here. “……Hi….. professor”. He turned slowly to face Remus, his face was a mixture of bewildered and concerned.
“Are you all right Harry?”
“Yeah”. How was he supposed to explain this? “Have you ever seen anyone die?”
There was a pause in the conversation. “……That’s a bit insensitive Harry. Where’s this coming from? What are you doing in here anyways?”
“Sorry sir, it’s just, I got a Christmas gift for someone and it can only be seen by those who have seen death.”
“You got……a thestral? That doesn’t explain why you’re in here though?”
“Well I didn’t realize that the figurine could fly, so it got away from me and I’ve been chasing it all over Hogwarts.” He spoke quickly, feeling terrible about having run into the room without saying anything. There were only a few people’s opinions of him he actually cared about at Hogwarts, but Remus was one of them.
“Ahhhh I see”, a look of understanding dawned his face, one that usually showed up every time Harry explained the mischief he had gotten into that week. “So I take it you’ve chased it into here, judging by the closed door.” He gestured towards the door that had been slammed shut a few minutes prior.
“Yeah”, he gave a nervous chuckle. “If you don’t mind, I’m just going to search around the room for it.”
“Of course. If you’d like, I could give you a hand.” He gave a small smile. “I haven’t seen one in quite a while, but I should know it when I see it.”
Harry stood there a little surprised for a minute. “You can see them?”
“Yes, but I’ve only seen them at Hogwarts so it’s been a while. Shall we begin the search. “
“Ok”, Remus’s help was going to make it a lot easier. They both moved to start searching the room. Remus went to the left side and he went to the right. They worked from the back of the room, up.
Quickly, they turned to idle chatter as they searched. “So who’s this gift for?”
“My friend, Luna. I saw it in the store and I thought it was perfect for her. She’s the only person I know who can see them. She actually explained to me what they are.” Thinking of his friends at Hogwarts gave him a light smile.
“That’s nice.” There was a small level of sadness in his voice. The idea of kids being able to see thestral’s, at such a young age. He felt bad for them, although he had been able to see them back then too, so maybe he was just a hypocrite.
After it had been quiet for a minute, Harry changed the subject. “So professor, what are you doing here? I hadn’t expected to see you here when I ran in.”
“I was working on the lesson plan for this week.”
“Oh, sorry I interrupted you.” Now he felt even worse for barging in.
“Not at all. I was already done with the first few days worth of prep, and it was starting to get rather dull. This is a welcome break.”
Harry gave a slight sigh, although he still felt bad. “That’s good. So, do you have any plans after this week is over?
“Not really. Read a few books, maybe start on my planning for next semester.”
“You’re not going anywhere for the break?” Harry couldn’t imagine Remus didn’t have friends he’d want to visit, although, it’s not like he was going anywhere either. On the plus side, it would mean there’d be someone he liked at Hogwarts over the break, so that’d be nice.
“Nope. Although I believe Sirius is stopping by for a few days just to say hi.”
“He is!?” He looked up from the desk he was searching under.
Remus looked up at him, just slightly worried. “Oh, I might not have been supposed to tell you that.” He gave Harry a wide smile. “Just don’t let him know I told you.”
They both laughed a little and went back to searching. They were about halfway done with the room. Harry was looking against the wall and under a big table when he thought he saw some movement. “I think I see…” When he reached out for it, it flew out from under the table and into the air. “There it is!” He jumped out from under the table and Remus looked up from where he was searching.
After some running around, jumping up and down, and yelling, Remus took out his wand and cast a spell. “Stupefy!” He ran under the figurine and caught it as it fell. “There you go Harry. That should keep it still long enough for you to get it back to your dorm.” He handed the figurine to Harry.
“Thank you professor.” He’d love to stay and talk to him more, but he didn’t want the spell to wear off. So he gave Remus a smile and ran of to the dorm rooms.
———
The week went by quickly, everyone talking about there plans for the holidays. By the time they had reached Friday, Harry had been so busy with the last homework, he hadn’t been able to give people there gifts. So now he was running around the school, the afternoon before everyone went home, giving his friends gifts. Luckily Ron, Hermione, and him had agreed to give each other their gifts and open them later that night, so that was two less people he had to find.
He found Neville in the hall’s, leaving his last class. Hagrid was in his cottage. He gave professor McGonagall her’s in her classroom and then convinced her to let him into Dumbledore’s office to put his gift on the desk. Everyone else, he found around the school. The last one he had to find was Luna. Which, after asking multiple ravenclaws, pointed him towards the greenhouse.
She was looking around at…. something? He had learned not to question it. As he walked in, she noticed him and looked away from whatever she was doing. “Oh, hello Harry Potter.”
“Hi Luna. What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for nargles. What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to catch you before you left for the break.”
“Oh?”
“I wanted to give you your Christmas gift.” He held out the small wrapped item.
“Oh, can I open it now?”
“Sure. Be careful though, it might run away if you don’t keep an eye on it.” He chuckled, but made a mental note of where his wand was, just incase he needed to stop it from running away again.
As she opened it she gained a look of wonder and excitement. “You’re alone a lot so I thought this would be a good thing you could just have with you if you wanted.” He put his hand on his neck bracing for the reaction.
“Thank you Harry.” She gave him a wide smile. “I’m afraid I haven’t done my Christmas shopping yet, so I don’t have a gift for you.”
“It’s alright. Think of this as just a thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” She gave him a puzzled look but he didn’t elaborate. “Anyways, have a good break Luna.”
“You too.” She gave him another, slightly smaller, smile. He turned and walked out while she looked down at the gift. She got a small piece of meat from her pocket and gave it to the figurine.