Arcane Academy

Chapter 15

Ginny slowly opened her eyes, wincing as they were immediately pierced with bright sunlight. She sat up quickly only to hiss in pain as a sharp pain ripped through her head at the abrupt movement. The sharp pain quickly subsided to a more manageable pain, but she still felt dizzy and a bit nauseated.

"Oh, I feel sick," groaned Ginny, rubbing her stomach in an attempt to ease her nausea. It didn't work, though, and she finally decided to do something about it. Perhaps she could get a Pepper-up potion or something from her mum or Bill to help her feel better.

Ginny gingerly crawled out of bed and stumbled to her trunk, pulling out a change of clothes. However, by the time she was dressed, she felt thoroughly exhausted. What was wrong with her? She'd never felt this weak before in her life. Another surge of nausea swept through her, and she staggered toward the door. Maybe she was coming down with the flu.

Walking out of her room, Ginny headed straight for the kitchen since that was the most likely place to find her mother. However, she slowed down slightly when she heard quiet voices as she neared the living room and peeked into the room. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Harry and Octavius sitting together on the sofa, talking quietly. Ignoring her nausea for the moment, she crept closer to the door, careful to keep out of sight, curious to hear what they were talking so intently about.

"Are you coming back after Christmas?" asked Harry softly.

"If I can," said Octavius, idly running his hand through Harry’s dark hair. "But it will probably be after New Year's before I can return. I'm sure my father will insist that I spend the entire week with the family. Hopefully, that's the extent of the time I'll have to endure with them."

"Do you plan to leave tonight or in the morning?" asked Harry.

Octavius sighed. "Unfortunately, I have to leave tonight after we exchange gifts. If I’m not at home on Christmas morning when everyone else wakes up, my step-mother will throw a fit.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to make the most of Christmas Eve then,” said Harry.

“Christmas Eve!” shouted Ginny, startling the other two teens. “What are you talking about? Christmas isn’t for another two days.” She immediately regretted her outburst as her head exploded in pain and the nausea kicked up a notch. She groaned softly and rubbed her temples, sighing in relief when the pain eased off a bit.

“Ginny, you’re awake!” said Harry, jumping to his feet and hurrying over to Ginny. “It’s about time. You’ve been asleep for two days now, and I was beginning to worry that something may have gone wrong after Marissa healed you.”

“Healed me?” asked Ginny, staring at Harry in confusion. If someone had healed her, why the bloody hell did she feel so terrible now? “I don’t think they did such a good job then. I feel horrible. My head’s killing me, and I feel sick to my stomach.”

Harry frowned worriedly at that response and placed the back of his hand against Ginny’s forehead. “Well, you don’t seem to be running a fever.”

“It’s probably just the aftereffects,” said Octavius calmly, walking up behind Harry and pulling the brunet into his arms. “Healing something like that is bound to have some kind of side effect.”

“Something like what?” asked Ginny impatiently. All of these little half-answers were seriously beginning to annoy her.

Octavius ignored Ginny’s question and leaned down until his chin rested on Harry’s shoulder, pressing gentle kisses against the brunet’s neck and cheek. Harry’s breath hitched slightly, and he automatically tilted his head, baring more of his neck for the shadow demon. Every slow glide of Octavius’ lips against his sensitive neck sent shivers through his body. Ginny’s presence didn’t even register with Octavius surrounding his senses as he was.

Ginny scowled, irritated at being completely ignored. “Something like what?” she demanded again. When Harry just blinked dazedly at her, she growled in frustration. “Harry!”

Harry jumped in surprise, snapping out of his daze. “What? Did you say something?”

Ginny looked at him for a moment before snickering slightly. “Now that I finally have your attention, tell me what’s going on. Why did I even need a healer in the first place?”

“That’s something you need to ask your Mum,” said Harry softly. “Come on. She’s in the kitchen preparing breakfast.”

As Harry started toward the kitchen, Octavius caught him around the waist and pulled him into a quick kiss. Harry looked up at the shadow demon and asked, “What was that for?”

“I had to have something to fortify me, so that I could deal with everyone without the desire to commit murder,” said Octavius teasingly. “Tristan’s such a grumpy bear in the morning, and Bill is disgustingly cheerful these days.”

Harry grinned and pressed another quick kiss to Octavius’ lips. “Well, that should last you a while then.”

Ginny couldn’t help but feel a little envious of the pair. She wanted someone to love her like that. “You’re so lucky, Harry,” she whispered softly. The shadow demon glanced toward her, and she gave him a fierce look. “Just know that if you ever hurt him, I’ll return it to you threefold.”

“Understood,” said Octavius, his deep voice breaking Harry out of his daze.

“Understand what?” asked Harry curiously.

“You are so clueless, Harry,” sighed Ginny fondly.

“But he’s just so damn cute, it’s easy to overlook,” said Octavius, smirking at the brunet.

“Hey!” said Harry indignantly. He scowled up at Octavius. “You’re not cute at all.”

“Of course not,” said Octavius easily. “I’m what is referred to as devilishly handsome.”

“The devilish part is certainly accurate,” muttered Harry.

Ginny snickered and poked Harry in the side. “Just admit it, Harry. You like the devilish part of him.”

“I admit nothing of the sort,” said Harry haughtily.

Ginny just smiled and grabbed Harry’s arm, pulling him toward the kitchen. “Whatever, Harry. Denial will get you nowhere. Now come on. I still need to get something for this accursed headache.” She stopped abruptly and looked at Harry. “What time is it anyway?”

“It’s almost ten, but your mum should still be making breakfast right now. We’ve been eating a late breakfast every morning the last two days because everyone’s been so worried about you,” said Harry.

Ginny smiled and nodded before continuing to the kitchen. As she neared the kitchen, the scent of bacon, sausage, and eggs hit her nose, and her stomach protested harshly. Dropping Harry’s arm, she gingerly rubbed her stomach, hoping to keep the nausea at bay until she could get something to sooth her stomach.

Mrs. Weasley noticed them as soon as they stepped into the kitchen, and she gave a happy cry as she rushed to hug her daughter. “Ginny, I’m so glad you’re awake.” She dragged Ginny to the table and pushed her down into a chair. She then quickly prepared a plate of food for her daughter and set it down in front of her. “Here you go, dear. I’m sure you positively famished right now.”

Ginny groaned softly, covering her mouth quickly when the smell of sausage made her stomach rebel. “I feel sick to my stomach, and I have a killer headache, Mum. Do you know if Bill has any nausea and pain potions here?”

“Of course, dear,” said Molly quickly. She hurried to the potions cupboard and pulled out two potions, passing them to her daughter.

Ginny gratefully gulped the potions down, gagging slightly at the taste. To her relief, the potions took affect almost immediately, and her headache and nausea disappeared as if it was never there. And with her nausea gone, her stomach suddenly growled loudly, demanding food. She took a tentative bite of sausage, hoping the nausea from earlier wouldn’t return. After several small bites without her stomach protesting, Ginny began to dig into her food more earnestly.

“Sit down and eat something, Harry,” said Mrs. Weasley, staring at the brunet in exasperation. “You don’t eat nearly enough, young man.”

Harry sighed in resignation and sat down in the empty seat beside Zenith with Octavius taking the seat on his other side. Mrs. Weasley immediately set a full plate in front of him, much to his dismay. There was no way he was going to be able to eat all this. He glanced speculatively at Zenith’s empty plate before looking up at the Dracken with wide, pleading green eyes.

Zenith hid a smile and stealthily stole a piece of sausage off of Harry's plate. Harry smiled gratefully at him and quickly spooned some of his scrambled eggs and a piece of toast onto Zenith's plate, as well. Now that a quarter of his breakfast was gone, he began to nibble on his food, sneakily giving some of the rest of it to his kits, who were sitting contentedly at his feet.

Mrs. Weasley, of course, saw everything and just sighed in exasperation. The boy would never gain any weight if he kept giving all of his food away. She guessed it was expected, though. From what Ron had told her over the years, Harry had gotten precious little food while growing up. It was only when he was at school or with the Weasley’s that he got a decent amount of food.

“That was delicious as always, Mrs. Weasley,” said Harry cheerfully after he’d cleaned his plate.

“I’m glad you liked it, dear. Do you want seconds?” she asked, knowing he would decline.

“No, thank you. I’m positively stuffed,” said Harry quickly.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at the brunet. “Then shoo. I have to clean the kitchen and start preparing for the Christmas feast.”

“Speaking of Christmas, what exactly happened to me?” asked Ginny abruptly. “What was wrong with me? Why did I need to be healed?”

Mrs. Weasley sighed softly and sat down at the table across from her daughter. “It’s hard for me to say this, so I’ll just be blunt. You were under the influence of dark magic from the time You-Know-Who possessed you four years ago.”

“W-What?” asked Ginny, staring at her mother incredulously. “That’s impossible. I haven’t done anything to help him since Harry destroyed the diary.”

“It wasn’t your actions the dark magic controlled,” said Mrs. Weasley gently. “It was influencing your emotions.” At Ginny’s continued look of disbelief, Molly took a deep breath and continued. “Tell me, Ginny, who is to blame for Sirius’ death?”

“Bellatrix Lestrange killed him. You know that, Mum,” said Ginny impatiently.

Molly nodded. “I do know that, but just a few days ago, you said that Harry was to blame- that if Harry hadn’t gone to the Ministry in the first place, Sirius would still be alive.”

Despite knowing that Ginny was under the influence of dark magic at the time, Harry couldn’t help but look at the redheaded girl with wide, betrayed eyes at hearing that. Although Remus, Ron, and Hermione constantly tried to tell him Sirius’ death wasn’t his fault, deep inside he knew that it was his own foolishness that had gotten Sirius killed. Hearing that Ginny felt the same just furthered his guilt.

Ginny flinched at the betrayed look Harry gave her. The memories of the past few days suddenly flooded her mind, and she was horrified with herself. Not only had she acted like a total harlot toward Harry and his suitors, she’d actively tried to drive a wedge between them in her determination to bind Harry to her.

Ginny felt nauseated and bolted from her seat, running to the bathroom and dropping to the floor in front of the toilet. She retched miserably, the memories of her dark deeds making her stomach roil unpleasantly. A cool flannel was pressed against the back of her neck, and she feebly looked back to find Harry pressing the flannel against her skin.

“How can you even stand to be in the same room as me?” she asked the brunet miserably.

“You were a child when Voldemort possessed you, and unfortunately, no one really knew how to deal with the aftermath of your possession,” said Harry softly. “Everyone, myself included, just assumed that destroying the diary fixed everything. It was only when Octavius, who can see shadows, noticed that you had remnants of dark magic clinging to you that we realised the extent of what that possession caused. Fortunately, Tristan’s aunt is a Fae healer, and she was willing to remove the tainted magic from your body, freeing you from the dark magic’s influence.”

“Are you sure it’s really gone?” asked Ginny timidly.

Harry smiled slightly. “Octavius said there are no more shadows clinging to you.” His smile dropped, and he gave her a stern look. “So no more trying to seduce me or my suitors. We are off the market, so to speak.”

Ginny blushed fiercely and covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe I did all that. I’ve been dating Dean Thomas since the end of my fourth year.” She suddenly jumped to her feet with a gasp of horror. “Oh no, I haven’t written Dean a single letter since we got here.”

Harry snickered softly and pushed her lightly toward the door. “Then you’d better start writing before he thinks you don’t want him anymore and finds someone else.”

Ginny gave him a scandalised look and ran out of the door. ‘Dean had better not be looking for someone else,’ she silently fumed, as she stormed back to her room.

XxX

Harry smiled happily as everyone gathered in front of the Christmas tree to exchange gifts. Zenith sat in the floor in front of him while Tristan and Octavius sat on either side of him. Bill and Remus sat close together on the loveseat, and Hermione and Ron were cuddled together on the floor. Charlie looked a little lonely, sitting by himself in a chair, and Harry resolved to introduce him to Grey and Gillian when they visited on New Years’.

George tossed a large, brightly wrapped gift into Harry’s lap. “This is from Mum and Dad.”

Harry eagerly tore into the gift, revealing his yearly green sweater and a ton of homemade sweets and meat pies. He grinned widely and pulled the sweater out, pulling it on immediately. “Thanks, Mrs. Weasley.”

“You’re very welcome, dear,” said Molly happily. At least one of her children was truly appreciative of the effort she put into those sweaters.

Fred suddenly tossed a gift in Harry’s lap with a wide grin. “Here, Harry. This is from me and George.”

Harry looked at the gift a little warily before tearing the wrapping paper off. He slowly opened the box and blushed fiercely, slamming the box closed. “What in the world were you two thinking?” He yelped in surprise as Octavius snatched the box out of his hands and peeked inside. “Hey! Give that back!”

Octavius just gave him a lecherous grin and calmly handed the box back to the brunet. He leaned closer to Harry and whispered, “I expect you to model that for me sometime in the near future.”

Harry blushed even more and hissed softly, “In your dreams. I’m not ever putting this thing on.”

“Come on, Harry. Let us see what you got,” said Ron.

“Absolutely not!” snapped Harry, clutching the box to his chest. “Someone else open a gift already!”

Fred grinned and tossed a gift to Octavius. “Here’s your gift from the Weasley family.” He then tossed a smaller gift to the shadow demon. “And that one is from me and George. Enjoy.”

Octavius opened the bigger gift first and pulled out a black sweater. He smiled at Mrs. Weasley and said, “Thank you for the gift. It’s lovely.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” said Molly happily.

Octavius then eagerly opened the gift the twins had given him. He was a little disappointed to see a box of prank items until he saw something underneath the items. He shoved everything else aside and smirked. Perfect.

“This is great. Thanks a lot,” said Octavius with a sly smirk in Harry’s direction.

“You’re welcome. Use them well,” said the twins slyly.

“What did you get?” asked Harry cautiously.

“I’ll show you later,” said Octavius smugly.

Fred and George quickly tossed two gifts into Tristan and Zenith's laps. "Enjoy, mates."

Zenith opened the larger gift and pulled out a dark blue sweater while Tristan had a white sweater in his box. However, neither of them even attempted to open the smaller gifts, choosing to wait until they were alone to see what devious gifts the twins had gotten them. They’d also seen the dark look of retribution Remus had aimed at the twins’ backs , and they had no desire whatsoever of having that look aimed at them.

Harry just sighed in relief. If Octavius’ reaction to the twins’ gift was anything to go by, he was glad Zenith and Tristan had refrained from opening their gift from the fiendish duo. Those two were obviously bound and determined to embarrass the hell out of him today.

Once Fred and George had given out all of their gifts, Harry quickly got to his feet. “My turn now.” He pointed to the stack of presents he’d placed under the tree and levitated them into the air, sending each gift to its proper owner before sitting back down.

“When did you learn wandless magic, Harry,” asked Hermione excitedly, ignoring the gift in her lap to interrogate her friend.

“We’re not allowed to bring wands to Arcane Academy, Hermione,” said Harry easily. “And those who do require a focus of some sort usually use gemstones to channel their magic.”

“Oh! Is that why you’re wearing that amethyst pendant?” asked Hermione curiously.

Harry shook his head. “My magi professor gave me this because amethyst helps calm and focus the mind rather than my actual magic. In other words, it helps to keep me focussed so that I can focus my magic.” When Hermione opened her mouth to ask more questions, Harry held up his hand to forestall her. “We still have two weeks of vacation, Hermione. I’ll answer your questions later. Right now, we still have gifts to open.”

Hermione grudgingly dropped her questions and opened her gift. She gasped in shock when she saw what was inside. “You got me my own copy of Most Potente Potions! Thank you so much, Harry.”

“I’ve actually started to like potions myself, Hermione. Without Snape constantly breathing down my neck and belittling everything I do, I’ve discovered that I’m quite good at potions, which is a good thing considering who my partner is,” said Harry.

“Who is your partner?” asked Octavius curiously.

“Grey,” said Harry ruefully.

“You mean that hyper were-tiger that’s constantly chasing after you?” asked Octavius with a hint of a growl in his voice.

“That’s him,” sighed Tristan. “It’s a wonder the little pest hasn’t managed to blow himself up yet. The only reason he’s passed so far is because he lucked out with his partner each year.”

“He’s not that bad,” said Harry with a smile. “Our potions have turned out quite well this year. The professor said our Verituserum was almost perfect.”

“Oh, I’m so jealous,” said Hermione enviously. “The hardest potion we’ve brewed this year was the Draught of Living Death.”

“Who cares about potions,” said Ron. “It’s Christmas time. We’ll never get all these gifts unwrapped if you two don’t stop dragging school into the conversation.” With that said, he quickly ripped the wrapping off of his gift and opened the box. He frowned slightly at the sight of a book in the box and slowly pulled it out. “A book, Harry?”

Harry smirked at the redhead. “Oh, but that’s not just any book, Ron. That book is special. Open it up.”

Ron shrugged and did as asked.

“Now touch the page and watch what happens,” said Harry eagerly.

Ron looked at Harry as though he was crazy before slowly laying his palm against the page. Immediately, a bright light flashed before his eyes, blinding in intensity, and when he could see again, he found himself flying through the air on a broom. Looking around quickly, he gasped in shock when he saw all the players of his favourite team, the Chudley Cannons, flying through the air with him. A quaffle suddenly flew through the air toward him, and he caught it in his hand, flying quickly toward the goal. Just as he threw the quaffle toward the goal, he found himself back in the living room with the book lying closed in his lap.

“Aw, man. I was just about to score,” said Ron with a pout. He then grinned at Harry. “That was awesome, Harry. Thanks, mate.”

“What was that exactly?” asked Hermione curiously.

“It’s a new kind of book that came out recently called interactive sports,” Harry explained. “It’s kind of like a mini pensieve on every page. It allows you to participate in a quidditch game of whatever team is on that particular page.”

“I played quidditch with the Chudley Cannons,” said Ron dreamily.

“Yes, we know,” said Harry. He looked at Remus and grinned. “You next, Moony.”

Remus opened his gift and found two books, one on Shamanic magic and one on Lunar magic. He picked up the book on Lunar magic and slowly flipped through it, eyes widening in surprise at the information he read.

Bill reached over and picked up the book on Shamanic magic. Flipping to the index, he slowly smiled as he read. This was the perfect gift for Remus. “This should help your monthly transformations a great deal, Remus.”

Remus just nodded, clutching the book to his chest.

Bill snickered softly at Remus' reaction and quickly opened his own gift. He reached in a pulled out a silver pendant with a jade scarab. Looking at the scarab closely, he saw tiny hierogliphs engraved into the jade. He quickly translated the writing and smiled when he realised that they were protection runes. "Thanks, Harry. It's perfect."

The rest of the Weasley's soon had their gifts opened, revealing a silver pendant with a black dragon made entirely of dragon scales for Charlie, a new floral print tea set for Molly, a remote control car (charmed to work on magic rather than batteries) for Arthur, and a whole box of prank items for Fred and George. The twins grinned widely at their gift and asked, "Where did you get these? We've never heard of any of these items."

"My friend Gillian got some of them for me, and Grey got the rest," said Harry. "Don't ask me where they got them because they wouldn't tell me."

“I guess it’s our turn then,” said Zenith cheerfully. He unwrapped his gift and stared into the box for a long moment before pulling out a silver pocket watch with an engraved fox on the front. He opened the watch and smiled when he saw an arrow with Harry’s name pointing to a small wedge with ‘home’ written in it. There were several other destinations, such as class, library, dorm, with Tristan, with Octavius, dining hall, travelling, courtyard, and mortal peril.

“You can add as many names as you like, but it’s to let you know where I am if you ever need me,” said Harry quickly.

“And the mortal peril bit?” asked Zenith.

Harry smiled sheepishly. “That’s if I’m ever in trouble, and with my luck, it’s bound to happen eventually.”

“That is certainly true,” muttered Mrs. Weasley. “You just don’t know how many times I’ve looked at our clock at home and seen Harry’s name on that particular section of the clock.”

“I hope you gave me one of those, too,” said Tristan, unwrapping his present quickly. He grinned when he saw a similar pocket watch in his box, but his had a flame engraved on the front.

Octavius opened his gift, but instead of the expected watch, he found a silver locket. He slowly lifted the locket out of the box, feeling a little disappointed. It was obvious to him that Harry didn’t want his whereabouts known to the shadow demon.

Harry felt a little disheartened by Octavius’ lack of enthusiasm with his gift. “You don’t like it. I guess I should have gone with the watch after all. It’s just that, you already have a way of being able to find me, so I wanted to give you something special. That’s why I chose the locket. If you open it-” Harry stopped speaking as Octavius opened the locket, watching the demon’s face closely for his reaction.

Octavius’ eyes widened in surprise as a small fox-shaped flame hovered nimbly above the open locket. The flames turned a dark grey, and Octavius looked at Harry for an explanation.

“It’s an elemental spell,” said Harry. “It’s kind of like a fiery mood ring, only the flames reflect my mood since they’re linked to me.”

“And what does this colour mean?” asked Octavius curiously.

Harry smiled sheepishly. “I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be. I love it,” said Octavius sincerely. Immediately, the flame turned a dark blue, corresponding with the happy smile on Harry’s face. He gently closed the locket and fastened it around his neck. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wrapped box, handing it to Harry. “I was going to wait to give you this, but I want you to go ahead and open it today.”

Harry opened the gift and pulled out a silver pendant with a glass orb attached. Inside the orb, swirling shadows flitted around restlessly. He snickered slightly at the gift. He’d actually expected something like this from the shadow demon, and that was why he’d given Octavius the locket rather than a pocket watch.

“What’s so funny, Harry?” asked Hermione curiously.

“He figured Octavius would give him something like that, that’s all,” said Zenith softly, knowing exactly what the brunet found so funny.

“And why is that?” asked Ron.

“Because the bloody demon has stalkerish tendencies, that’s why,” muttered Tristan.

Harry ignored them and smiled at Octavius. “It’s beautiful, Octavius.”

“It’s spelled to be unbreakable, and once you put it on, it will be keyed to your magical signature so that only you may remove the necklace,” said Octavius.

“It’s perfect,” said Harry sincerely.

Octavius summoned several other gifts from underneath the tree and passed them out, handing Harry another wrapped gift. “This is also for you.”

Harry unwrapped the gift and grinned in delight. In the box was an assortment of sweets and chocolates from all around the world. He turned to Octavius and pressed an enthusiastic kiss on the demon’s lips. Before the other teen could really respond to the surprise kiss, though, Harry pulled back with a grin. “Thank you so much, Octavius. I love it.”

“If I had known candy was all it took to get that response, I’d have given it to you a long time ago,” said Octavius teasingly.

“This is not candy, Octavius. This is nectar from the gods,” said Harry primly, opening a box of Swiss chocolates and popping one into his mouth. He closed his eyes and moaned softly as the rich milk chocolate melted on his tongue.

Octavius suddenly grabbed the back of Harry’s head and pulled him into a deep kiss. The lingering taste of chocolate combined with a taste that was all Harry hit his senses, making him growl softly for more. However, a moment later, Harry was pulled forcibly from his arms by a scowling Tristan.

“Cut it out, Octavius. We have presents to give out, as well.”

Octavius scowled at the redhead, wanting nothing more than to punch him in the face for interrupting his wonderful kiss with Harry, but a simple smile from said brunet kept his violent tendencies in check. He finally sighed and sent several other gifts flying to their respective owners. “Enjoy.”

Ron opened his gift and pulled out a box of chocolates, ripping into the box eagerly and popping one into his mouth. “Bloody hell, this is some good chocolate.”

“You and your stomach,” said Hermione with fond exasperation. She looked at Octavius and smiled. “Thank you for the chocolates.”

“My turn now,” said Tristan impatiently. He summoned a large box out from under the tree and handed it to Harry along with a smaller box that he pulled from his pocket.

Harry opened the big box first, eyes widening in surprise at the sheer amount of cakes and pies in the box. There had to be at least ten different types of cakes and ten different types of pies here.

“Well, what is it?” asked Ron curiously.

Harry grinned at the redhead smugly and handed the box over. Ron looked into the box and gasped in shock. He then looked at Tristan and asked, “Will you marry me?”

“Ron!” Hermione spluttered with a laugh.

“What? If I can expect these kinds of gifts on a regular basis, I can overlook the fact that he’s male,” said Ron reasonably.

At the shocked look on Tristan’s face, Harry burst into laughter. “Just ignore him, Tristan. He thinks with his stomach more than he does with his brain.”

Tristan shook his head in bemusement and decided to follow Harry’s advice and just ignore the redhead. “Open the other gift.”

Harry quickly opened the smaller box and pulled out a glass orb. “What is it?”

“It’s a communication orb,” Tristan explained. He pulled out a matching orb from his pocket and said, “Harry Potter.” The orb in Harry’s hand began to glow and Tristan’s face appeared within the orb. He summoned several more packages from the under the tree and sent one to Hermione, Ron, Remus, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Octavius, and Zenith. “Now you can keep in touch with your family without the risk of your former Headmaster from finding out.”

Harry smiled widely and kissed the faerie briefly. “Thank you so much, Tristan. It’s perfect.”

“I guess it’s my turn then,” said Zenith softly. He handed Harry a small gift. “Open this one first.”

Harry eagerly unwrapped the gift and pulled out a thin black wristband with a large black stone in the centre. On either side of the black stone, silver runes were etched into the wristband, and Harry looked at them curiously. He recognised two protection runes, but there were several runes he didn’t recognise. “What do these runes mean?” he asked, pointing them out.

“I’ll get to that in a minute,” said Zenith. “First, though, you need to add a drop of blood to the black stone.”

Harry shrugged and pricked his finger, allowing a drop of blood to splash onto the stone. Immediately, the stone began to glow, and when the light faded, the black stone had turned a bright silver.

“Now that the wristband is keyed to your magical signature, just say ‘Talbot, rise,’ and watch what happens,” said Zenith.

“Talbot, rise,” said Harry hesitantly. Instantly, the stone began to glow once more, and a small dragon appeared from the stone. It was about the size of a large dog with shiny black scales and large golden eyes. The dragon took one look at Harry and cooed softly, nuzzling it’s snout against Harry’s cheek. Harry grinned in delight and stroked the dragon’s smooth scales, laughing softly when the dragon rumbled in contentment.

“This is Talbot, my dragon familiar. Despite his size, though, he’s a full-grown dragon. He’s just a rare pygmy dragon,” Zenith explained. “As for your original question, most of the runes are linking spells and transportation spells, so that you can call Talbot if you’re ever in trouble, and I’m not there.”

“He’s gorgeous, Zenith,” said Harry happily. “Thank you.”

“When you’re ready to send him back, just say ‘Talbot, desist,’ and he will be transported back through the stone,” said Zenith. As soon as he said that, though, Talbot turned his head and growled at Zenith before turning back to nuzzle Harry affectionately. “You may have a hard time getting rid of him now, though. He really seems to like you, Harry.”

“The feeling is certainly mutual,” said Harry, stroking his fingers down the length of Talbot’s snout.

“Then if you don’t mind him following you around like a little lost puppy, he can just stay with you for the time being. I have a wristband, as well, so I can still call him to my side if I need him.”

“You want to stay with me, Talbot?” asked Harry eagerly. Talbot rumbled softly and nuzzled Harry’s cheek again, wrapping his tail around the brunet’s wrist. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Harry finally remembered the other gift and quickly unwrapped it. When he saw the contents inside, he burst out laughing. “Is this a hint or something? Do all three of you think I don’t eat enough?” Several packages of cookies and fudge lay in the box.

“It’s not that really,” said Zenith. “It’s just that we noticed that you have a bit of a sweet tooth, so we wanted to get you something useful as well as something you would just enjoy. So we collaborated with the sweets. Octavius chose chocolate, Tristan chose cakes and pies, and I chose cookies and fudge.”

Harry leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Zenith’s forehead. “I do enjoy my gifts. Thank you, Zenith.”

“You’re welcome,” said Zenith.

XxX

“I’ll try to be back before New Year’s,” said Octavius softly, shrinking his trunk and tucking it in his pocket. “Call me on the communication orb if you need me for anything.”

“I will,” Harry promised. He handed Octavius a small, wrapped box. “Give this to Claudius for me.”

“What is it?” asked Octavius curiously.

Harry smiled impishly. “A box of the twins’ trick candies. They’re highly entertaining.”

Octavius snickered. He was looking forward to seeing what they would do. “I’ll make sure he gets it.” His smile fell away, and he sighed softly. He pulled Harry into a tight hug. “Damn, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back soon.” Pressing a quick kiss to Harry’s lips, Octavius reluctantly stepped into the shadows and disappeared.