Christmas presents

It was a new day, and Harry felt that everything had changed.

His Occlumency and Occlumency had both improved tremendously in one go, and everything around him seemed clearer and more vivid. His magic had barely changed, but his mental strength had increased significantly.

Could this be the result of touching that silvery star yesterday?

Harry was puzzled. He wanted to try again, but he immediately recalled that terrifying sensation of unbearable agony, when he had been unable even to scream, and hesitated.

What was it? Harry was baffled. He pondered it for a long time without finding a single clue.

While he was still puzzling over it, Ron's voice suddenly reached his ears. "Harry, Harry, wake up."

Harry opened his eyes and saw Ron sitting on the edge of his own bed, waving to him. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Harry sat up and grinned, having noticed Ron unwrapping a pile of little boxes beside his bed-his Christmas presents. There were some beside Harry's bed, too.

"Harry, thanks for the present." Seeing Harry get up, Ron happily waved a card in his hand.

It was the Claudius Ptolemy card, the third-rarest Chocolate Frog wizard card and one of only two cards Ron was missing-the other being Cornelius Agrippa, the rarest of all.

"You're welcome." Harry laughed heartily. Having someone like a present you gave them was definitely something to be happy about. He had put a great deal of thought into this gift and had even asked the twins to track it down at Zonkos Joke Shop before finally getting hold of it.

Harry began looking through his own presents.

First came the largest one. To his surprise, the sender was Dudley.

Harry's face took on an awkward expression when he opened it. Inside were...

"Harry, what are those?" Ron had finished unwrapping his own presents and came over curiously when he saw Harry starting on his. The things Harry was holding left him looking utterly bewildered. He had no idea what they were.

"Er... these are called boxing gloves." Harry put on the red gloves, threw a punch, and explained a little about boxing.

"Cool!" Ron let out a loud whistle. "No wonder you had such an easy time beating up Malfoy and Goyle!"

Harry had no reply to that. He picked up the little note beside them from his cousin Dudley: If anyone dares mess with you, put these on and give him a beating.

Harry was rather speechless. Cousin, why do you think I'm some well-behaved kid who's easy to bully? Harry felt that his cousin might have misunderstood something about him.

The next present was from Hagrid. It was a flute, roughly made and apparently Hagrid's own handiwork.

Harry felt a little conflicted, not because the flute Hagrid had made himself was unattractive-though it really wasn't much to look at. The problem was that Harry had no musical talent.

Harry had had long fingers since he was little, so he had tried learning the piano as a child. But his musical aptitude was so abysmal that he had eventually given up.

Well, all right...

He tried blowing into it. It sounded like an owl hooting. Played at night, it might be a little creepy...

Harry shook his head, set it aside, and opened his third present.

The third present was from Ron's mother, Mrs. Weasley. She had knitted Harry a sweater. The stitches were fine and neat, and Harry liked it very much. What mattered most about a gift was the thought behind it, and this was clearly a very thoughtful present.

Ron, however, looked a little embarrassed, because the sweater was bright green, with a large box of sweets wrapped inside it.

Harry noticed Ron's expression, grinned, and pulled the sweater straight on. "Please make sure to thank Mrs. Weasley for me. Oh, perhaps it would be better if I thanked her myself. I really like it."

Harry's brilliant smile dispelled Ron's embarrassment. But paired with Harry's looks, that overly radiant smile gave Ron a new reason to feel awkward.

This time Harry didn't notice. He was busy opening more presents.

Hermione and Neville had both prepared presents for Harry as well, which surprised him somewhat. They seemed to have put quite a lot of thought into them, too. By comparison, Harry felt that his own gifts hadn't been thoughtful enough.

Aside from Ron's present, which he had taken particular care over, he had asked the twins to buy all the others at Zonkos Joke Shop. Although they were unusual little trinkets, Harry still felt they lacked a little thought.

Further down, there were presents from quite a few other classmates, mostly small things. After all, the students close enough to Harry to exchange presents with him were all first years, and none had much money in their pockets.

At the very bottom was a paper-wrapped parcel. Harry picked it up, found it quite light, and opened it. But before he could pull its contents all the way out, his entire body suddenly jolted as though he had been electrocuted, and he toppled headfirst to the floor.

At the same time, a cacophony of indistinguishable, piercing noise erupted. Almost instantly, the assault of sound drove Harry into unconsciousness.

He could faintly hear Ron crying out, "Harry, Harry..." But the voice grew ever more distant and indistinct.

In a place between reality and illusion, amid a chaotic gray where black and white were indistinguishable, a pair of scarlet eyes slowly opened.

It seemed to see through endless time and space before finally settling on a castle hidden away in the Scottish Highlands.

Yet a wall blocked it from looking any further. This displeased it somewhat. It had slumbered for far, far too long, and across those endless years, something capable of stirring its senses had rarely occurred.

Even so, it made no move.