Chapter 51

Harry's Point of View

The evening passed in a series of mugs of hot chocolate, tales of school (both present from us younglings and past from James and Sirius – who had joined us shortly after lunch) and games. Wizarding chess had been a brilliant hit until Ron beat everyone. Then we moved onto monopoly – a muggle board game Lily enjoyed, which went on for several hours, leaving Fred and George (who had paired up as a team) as the winners after bankrupting all of us.

Leo and we were drowsy as we tumbled into bed at nearing midnight, but happily so, and more than willing to yield to the siren call of sleep.

Then next morning I was woken by both Leo and Charles jumping on our bed, with a sleepy but amused Ron watching on. Ginny stood awkwardly in the doorway, taking in the painted walls of out room with interest. Everyone was (in typical Christmas tradition) still in their pyjamas and sporting ruffled bed-hair.

Percy groaned as Leo threw the glass of water that we kept on our bedside table over us, providing us with a shot of energy. I didn't even bother fighting Percy as he grabbed control, grabbing both Leo and Charles' wrists and pulling them out of the room with him, running up to Lily and James' room to wake them up. I was excited, yes. But not quite that much.

Breakfast was a rowdy affair, with ten of us all wrestling for food. Lily put her foot down when food actually began being thrown at each other ("Sirius started it!") and put an end to it before any real mess could be made ("If you make a mess you can skip present opening to clear it up – without magic, mind!"). Yep. Lily was a pro at threat making.

Present giving wasn't delayed for any of us, however, and soon brightly wrapped parcels were flying thickly through the air. We received (between all our school friends) almost a new wardrobe of robes, a phone that could run on magic from Leo (and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin), "A guide to Archery for Dummies" courtesy of the Apollo Cabin, a lock-picking set from the Hermes cabin, a book on advanced potions from our godfather, and a broom-care kit from Charles. Lily and James gave us a fifty galleon gift-voucher for Flourish and Blots (correctly guessing we'd prefer to choose our own books) as well as a series of smaller presents such as new potion ingredients, a leather bracelet with five silver enchanted charms for protection, and a set of paints and brushes for our work on our room.

In return, we sent several gifts back to camp – sketches of plans copied from textbooks that the inventor never managed to complete for the Hephaestus cabin, or a warded chest filled to the brim with wizarding sweets for the Hermes cabin, and acromantula silk (the strongest material on earth) to the Apollo cabin to create bow strings out of. We had swapped for the silk with Hagrid, offering him an orphaned fae egg we'd found in the forest in return. Leo received a kit of bolts, screws, paperclips, rubber bands, tools and scrap metal along with a tonne more random objects to tinker away with. Severus was given a celestial bronze cauldron, forged by us (with Leo's help, supervised by Beckendorf over Iris Message), to experiment with the metal's effect on his potions. For Charles we had managed to purchase an all season ticket for the Chudley Cannon's matches in this year's League. James received a season ticket too, as Charles was only twelve still. Lily we gave a new recipe book we'd seen her admiring in Diagon Alley in the summer.

The rest of the day passed swiftly, without note really. Christmas dinner was a very quiet affair, with many of the Weasley's giving Severus strange looks as he sat and ate his meal next to us. Surprisingly no pranks were pulled, and we fell into bed feeling rather happy.

It was a couple of days when we found ourselves unable to sleep, and so had decided to walk around the corridors that we found a black leather bound book, lying innocently on a window seat. Percy picked it up, noting the faded gold lettering on the back reading "Tom Marvolo Riddle" before flipping through it. But the pages were blank. It rang a bell in our memory, and Percy pulled up the image of Lucius Malfoy slipping a battered black book not unlike this one into Ginny Weasley's cauldron last summer. Presumably they were in fact the one and same.

We took it to the library, picking up the bottle of ink and quill we had discarded earlier when doing our homework after lunch, and dipped the quill in the ink, hovering it over the page as we wondered whether or not it was a good idea to write in this book. A drop of ink splashed down onto the page, then disappeared, the ink apparently being absorbed into the page, but not travelling through onto the other side.

Ginny? Is that you? I'm sorry about what I said earlier.

Percy and I stared in amazement at the words that appeared in the book, written in a pretty curly hand. Percy's dyslexia didn't much like the curly style of the writing, so I read it to him.

Not Ginny, w I'm afraid. I wrote crossing out the 'w' before I could write we. Percy sniggered at my mistake, but didn't comment.

Who are you then? The diary wrote back.

Harry. I replied honestly.

Harry Potter? Twin soul with Percy Potter? Brother to the Boy-Who-Lived? The diary seemed excited now. I snorted.

No. I told you, I'm Harry. Just Harry. One soul can't be more than one person, can they? Even if I was, why would you care? If you ask me, you seem more than a little stalkerish. Maybe I should burn you...

That would not be a good idea, little Harry. My diary isn't flammable.

Your diary, huh? Does that mean you are Tom Marvolo Riddle, the boy whose name is on the back?

The diary didn't reply for a while. Yes and no. I am his memory, preserved in a diary for fifty years. Please could you give me back to Ginny? I owe her an apology. Besides, it isn't nice to steal other people's belongings.

She left you lying on a window seat. Picking you up is hardly stealing. I scoffed, and Percy sniggered again. You must have been a Gryffindor, with such high morals over stealing.

Gryffindor! Gryffindor! If one could stutter in words, Tom Riddle did so now. I'll have you know I am a Slytherin, born and breed! One could say it was even in my blood...

'Harry! Harry! Harry!' Percy grinned. 'He's got to be the heir of Slytherin! He said it was in his blood!'

'Like being Slytherin is in Draco's perhaps. Every Malfoy since the dawn of their house was a Slytherin – with the few Ravenclaw exceptions – so he could have been a bastard of some ancient line. Or similar to Snape – if he mother defected from her family rules and fell in love with a muggle.' I reasoned. 'Besides, if he is, as he said, a memory preserved in a diary, then how would he be terrorising the school? It just doesn't add up!'

'He could be possessing someone, like Voldemort with Quirrel last year.' Percy pointed out.

I shook our head. 'But he's a memory. Thus he can't have a soul to possess someone with.'

Still there Harry?

No. I retorted sarcastically. I've gone to Spain.

Touchy. Tom wrote in his fancy writing. Percy and I burst out laughing.

Writing sarcasm doesn't have the same effect. Especially when it's all to do with how you put stress on the word. Anyway. I'm now pondering whether physically ripping apart your bindings would work.

Absolutely not! Must you insult me so? Just give me back to Ginny. At least she's polite!

At least? Got other problems with our dear Ginny, do you?

That is none of your business, even if I did, which I don't. Now, please. I'm asking politely now. Give me back to Ginny!

Fine. We sighed. In the morning. She'll find you right where she left you. How's that, your lordship?

Perfect actually.

'Smug git!' Percy huffed. 'Leave it be, Harry, I'm getting tired.'

'Same here, actually. Draco and Blaise are coming over tomorrow, and Draco said Blaise is bringing that awful cat of his. Felix indeed!'

Percy groaned. 'I hate that beast. Can't we get rid of it?'

'No!' I exclaimed. 'Percy, that's rude, besides, Blaise is besotted with the creature. And he's our friend. If Blaise wants a cat, and we still want to hang around him, then sod the cat, I for one value friendship better.'

'Hump!' Percy yawned, ruining his moody pout. 'Bed?'

'Bed.' I agreed, forcing our tired limbs into action and dragging us to our room and into bed.

Tomorrow we would worry about cats named Felix and diaries named Tom Riddle. For now, sleep was needed. A long, restful sleep...

Hi! Sorry its so short. I had intended it to be longer, but... this chapter really didn't want to be written. Next chapters should get longer though :)