Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

On the second day of Christmas, Harry slowly opened his drowsy green eyes and reluctantly crawled out from the warm shell of his plush four-poster bed with the crimson curtains still drawn tightly around it.

As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched his stiff muscles, he noticed the pale winter sunlight filtering in through a gap in the curtains, already climbing steadily up the stone wall opposite his bed, illuminating specks of dust floating lazily in the air. Harry glanced over at the wall clock and realized with a flinch that it was already nearly lunchtime.

The Gryffindor boys' dormitory was unusually quiet and still this late in the morning. The only sound was the soft, rhythmic snoring emanating from Ron's bed, his head was completely buried beneath his quilt and only a tuft of the red hair peeked out.

As Harry's gaze wandered around the circular room, he saw that the trunks, bedding, and scattered belongings that usually littered Neville, Seamus, and Dean's areas had disappeared - the three boys had stayed an extra day at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball but had now already left on the early morning Hogwarts Express back to London.

In fact, Harry realized, most of the students who had stayed at the castle over the holidays had only done so in order to attend last night's magnificent Yule Ball. He would bet quite a few Galleons that there probably wouldn't be many people left on the Beauxbatons carriage or the mysterious Durmstrang ghost ship today as their students should also be making their journeys home.

With a huge yawn, Harry threw back his thick scarlet and gold quilt, swung his legs over the side of the four-poster, and slowly stood up. He crumpled up the expensive bottle green dress robes that Mrs. Weasley had owled to him specifically for the ball, which was now reeking of sweat and spilled butterbeer, and tossed them into the overflowing laundry basket in the corner.

Harry thought with a smile that the next opportunity he'd have to wear those robes might not come until after he graduated from Hogwarts, which was still over two and a half years away.

Harry came over to the windows in time to the steady ticking of the clock, his head was still slightly spinning from the late night. Resting his forehead against the cool glass, he gazed out at the Hogwarts grounds which had been transformed overnight into a spotless white wonderland, every tree, stone and tower of the castle was blanketed in a thick layer of freshly fallen snow that sparkled in the weak winter sunlight.

But as his eyes swept across the frozen stretch of the Black Lake, he noticed that the magnificent fairytale ice palace that had been conjured there for the Yule Ball had completely vanished, leaving the eerie Durmstrang ghost ship as the only structure rising up from the solid surface of the lake.

Staring at the empty spot where the shimmering ice palace had stood only hours before, Harry felt a sudden sense of loss and melancholy wash over him.

No matter what happened going forward, he knew that the Yule Ball held in that incredible ice castle, which had been created through the combined efforts of all the professors, was an experience that he would cherish as one of his most unforgettable memories from his time at Hogwarts.

Harry would confidently bet any amount of gold galleons that when the unfortunate younger students who had not been able to attend the ball returned to the castle and heard tales of the magical evening they had enjoyed, they would probably go crazy with envy and anger.

"Ha-choo!" Harry let out a massive sneeze, his breath fogging up the window pane.

His exhaustion was definitely not just due to staying out late for the ball. After the band had played their final tune and the professors had escorted the giddy students back into the Entrance Hall, Hermione had grabbed him and Ron (who had mysteriously spent a good portion of the night dancing with Lavender Brown and was a bit tipsy as a result) and whispered that she needed to go to the library and asked if they would be willing to accompany her.

At first, Harry and a slightly drunk Ron had looked at her like she was mental for wanting to study at 12am in the morning after the biggest party of the year.

No matter when in the term, it was not strange for Hermione to go to the library, but last night was the Christmas Ball. Every young wizard at Hogwarts only had one chance to experience it, because the Triwizard Tournament was supposed to be held every five years normally.

However, after Hermione clarified that she wanted to try to decipher the clue to the second task hidden in the golden egg she had retrieved during the first task. That, of course, had been enough to instantly sober up Ron and change Harry's priorities as well - keeping Hermione safe was far more important than sleep.

Growl growl--

The roaring from his stomach pulled Harry's cruising thoughts back. He rubbed his belly, looked at the door, then looked at his bed. Just as he was hesitating whether to succumb to sleepiness or hunger, rapid footsteps suddenly came from outside the dormitory door, followed by--

BANG!

The heavy wooden door flew open with such force that it crashed into the wall. Hermione burst through it, panting heavily, her bushy hair was even more disheveled than usual and her face flushed pink with excitement.

Gone was the elegant young girl from the previous night in her ballgown - this Hermione wore an oversized canary yellow jumper, faded jeans with rips in the knees, and had Crookshanks tucked under one arm. In short, she looked exactly like the Hermione Harry had known for the past three and a half years.

"I can't believe - " she began breathlessly, but cut herself off abruptly when she saw Harry still in his pajamas, staring at her in confusion, and Ron just starting to poke his head up from under the covers. "Why aren't you two up and dressed yet?" she shouted, frowning at them.

"That's because--" Ron grumbled hoarsely, his words accompanied by enormous yawns, and his eyes didn't open at all, he just squinted and rubbed his clothes, "We stayed in the library with a lunatic until two in the morning last night--"

"Don't dawdle, Ron, get up quickly!"

But Hermione was in no mood for excuses. She hurried over to Ron's bed, grabbed his jumper and jeans off the messy floor, and threw them at him, then kept urging Harry to hurry up and get dressed and go downstairs with Ron.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Harry asked as he and Ron hastily pulled on their clothes, not even pausing to brush their teeth before Hermione practically frogmarched them out the door and down the spiral stairs.

"You'll see," She replied, as a smile spread across her face despite her exasperated tone. "I promise, it will be a wonderful surprise!"

As they quickly approached the common room, Harry vaguely heard a familiar voice coming from below. After a moment of trance, an indescribable ecstasy welled up from the bottom of his heart. He felt it was impossible, but at the same time, he desperately hoped that his guess would come true.

Unable to contain his rising anticipation, Harry jumped over the last few steps, executing a perfect landing on the rug below, and spun around. There, in the center of the common room, surrounded by a group of excited Gryffindors, stood a tall man with long, wild dark hair and a beaming smile.

Seeing him at that moment, Harry showed a happy smile, and excitement quickly swelled in his heart, even his scalp was numb.

And the man with his back to Harry heard the landing sound just now. He slowly turned around, looked towards the staircase, also showed a happy smile, and opened his arms to him.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled joyfully, all traces of sleepiness vanishing in an instant. Not caring how ridiculous he looked still in his rumpled pajamas, he sprinted across the room, jumping a scarlet sofa in his way, and hugged Sirius tightly. "Why are you here!"

For a long moment, neither of them spoke, just held each other tightly, Harry's face pressed into Sirius's shoulder. When they finally broke apart, Sirius reached out a hand and affectionately ruffled Harry's messy black hair. "Where else would I be on Christmas but with my godson? Isn't Christmas supposed to be spent with family?".

Harry was too choked up to reply, a lump rose in his throat and his eyes burned at hearing those words. After a childhood devoid of love and affection with the Dursleys, the idea that someone cared about him enough to come to him on Christmas was still a concept that he had barely dared to dream about.

Hermione and Ron, who had now joined them, both had bright eyes as well as they watched godfather and godson gaze at each other. But after one more hair ruffle for Harry, Sirius turned to the three of them, and rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"Right then, you lot, we have no time to waste! I need you to go and pack your trunks immediately, we've got a bit of a journey ahead of us. Meet me back here as quick as you can!"

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

"I remember telling you that my ancestors left me a house, and I'm living there now--"

Sirius pushed Harry to pack his luggage,

"I let Kreacher, oh, the house-elf serving the Black family, you saw him during the Quidditch finals, I had him decorate the old Manor, we can spend the rest of your Christmas break there, and by the way, Remus is there right now, so we better not keep him waiting too long, at the very least, we have to get back for dinner!"

"Professor Lupin is there?!" Hermione whispered delightedly.

Ron, however, was frowning in confusion. "Hang on...did you say 'we,' Sirius? As in...me and Hermione too?"

"No, I meant the other Ron and Hermione," Sirius said teasingly, rolling his eyes. "Yes, of course I meant you two as well! Your parents were kind enough to let me nap in your room this summer, it's only fair I return the favor."

Sirius laughed and continued, "Before coming here, I also already cleared it with Dumbledore, he has no objection at all, just reminded you not to forget your Christmas break homework--"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged wide-eyed looks of incredulous delight, hardly daring to believe that this was real.

Sirius chuckled at their stunned expressions and made a shooing gesture with his hands. "Go on then, get moving! I was going to call Bryan to come along too but he's already back in London for his Holidays. We've already missed the Hogwarts Express, and I can't Apparate together with the three of you alone. So, our only option is the Knight Bus.

Trust me, after taking one ride on that purple monstrosity you'll want to get back to Grimmauld Place as quickly as possible for a lie down...and to see if you've still got all your limbs attached,"

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