This is going to be a *long* series… *sighs*

Disclaimer: Don’t own CCS or HP, do own this fic!

Chapter 15 – Harry

Flying is exhilarating. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before. I don’t understand why Yuki avoids broomsticks like the plague. I mean, it’s not a necessary life skill, but is he expecting to stay on the ground all his life?

Who knows?

Anyways, the duel with Malfoy’s tonight, and we’re holding it in the third corridor, next to the forbidden room. This way, if he chickens out, we’ll know right away, instead of waiting in the dark.

I still feel queasy though. This isn’t like flying. I mean, why is Malfoy such a prat? Gryffindor beat Slytherin fair and square in our last Quidditch match! Sure, I almost fell off my broom since someone was jinxing me, but I still caught the Snitch. Is it my fault I got jinxed?

Grr…

I think it was Snape. No one else hates me that much…

Still, I wonder. Now that I think about it, why is there that forbidden corridor? What’s in there? They wouldn’t be keeping anything really dangerous here at school, would they?

I hope not.

Well, it’s not like I’m going to gain anything just sitting here and pondering. He’d better show up this time…

I can’t believe it. Malfoy did show up. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know any spells and neither do I, so I took Yuki’s advice and kicked him between the legs. It worked, but then Crabbe and Goyle both jumped in…

“Freeze!”

That’s Yuki’s voice… and Crabbe has just turned into an ice statue. Yuki looks determined; he’s gripping his wand so hard his fingers are turning white…

“Cool!” Ron says, as he punches Goyle in the nose. Unfortunately, that doesn’t do too much. Malfoy is starting to look sick.

I didn’t kill him, did I? No, I think he’s probably faking it.

He’s reaching for his wand… well, not anymore, since Ron just stamped on his hand. Ow. Goyle gets up again, and now he’s coming for me.

‘Wingardium Leviosa!”

Goyle’s wand is floating up in the air where he can’t reach it, but that’s not much good since he barrels into me and we both go through the door. The door of the forbidden corridor… and the three-headed dog.

This is not good.

The dog just took a bite out of goyle’s leg.

I think that now is a good time to run. Definitely! So yes, we dash down the hall, and Malfoy and his goons are lying there gibbering nonsense, but at least we make it back to the Gryffindor common room alive.

‘Why is that dog there?” Ron gasps.

Yuki shrugs.

I have no idea what it’s doing here, but why would they have… unless they’re hiding something?

It’s all starting to make sense now.

Vault 713… Hagrid took me there. He took something out, but it’s just a tiny little package. I wonder what’s inside. It’s got to be important!

Wish I knew what it was though…

Yuki’s petting his bunny and he announces that he’s going to bed. Well, tonight was certainly informative…

Bed sounds good.

Nothing else really interesting happens after that though, I mean, it’s not like we’re going to go wandering there again! It’s nearing Christmas though, and I’ll be staying here, but at least it’s better than spending Christmas with the Dursleys and watching my aunt and uncle fuss over Dudley.

I still wonder if it was Yuki that beat him up. Well, I’m certainly glad if he did. Dudley deserves it.

Now we see how skill beats brute strength.

“Yuki? Are you going home for the holidays?”

“I have no home to go to, remember?”

Ron flinches as he does. “Sorry. Forgot. Don’t’ worry, though, I think I told my mom and she’ll send you…”

Yuki suddenly looks very, very uncomfortable. He stands up, picks up the bunny, and starts walking out the room.

‘Hey, where are you going?”

“Library to do some research!”

He’s practically sprinting out of the room. What could it be? Is his mom dead? I wish he were more open with us.

Ah well… can’t have everything. At least he’s better company then Hermione. Well, not that that’s saying much but we’re still friends!

Christmas comes… and presents. They’re nice presents, fudge and a sweater and candy. But the last one is really something.

It’s an invisibility cloak. Who’s it from though?

Ron’s begging me to try it on, so I do and sure enough, my body vanishes. This is so cool…

This also means I can wander around at night without getting caught!

No more sneaking. This’ll be great.

Now what do I really want to know? If the invisibility cloak works on dogs, then I can sneak past the three-headed dog in the room, right? So that’ll be fine.

“It’s a small package.”

“Yes.”

Yuki looks worried. “Harry, could it be a book?”

“A book? No, not unless they shrunk it down. Why?”

“Books can be very dangerous things…”

Ron’s lounging on a squashy red armchair and popping candies in his mouth like there’s no tomorrow. “How can a book be dangerous?”

“If it’s a book of magic, then who knows what spells it might hold?”

“What, you think Dumbledore is hiding a book of dark magic?”

Yuki inclines his head.

“Well, I guess I’d see why a dark wizard would want to steal that, but…”

“Maybe it’s nothing really special.”

“Are you kidding? There’s all those traps for a reason!’

The Great Hall looks truly inspired today, I mean, sure, here’s lots of trees loaded with glittery stuff, but what I really like is the sky. The magical ceiling is the best, they’ve got lots of stars out tonight, and it’s a full moon. Well, this is a much better Christmas then any I had with the Dursleys…

A shooting star tonight, oh maybe it’s a Christmas miracle? I might as well make a wish! I wish…

Well, how about something simple? My invisibility cloak will come in handy to help though…

End Chapter

Completed 1/25/05