Infinite Magic (Male Reader x Harry Potter)

Ronald Commits Assault

Christmas was coming.  One morning in the middle December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow.  The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.  The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.  None of us could wait for the holidays to start.  While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy, and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms.  Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where our breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

Malfoy: I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home.

He was looking over at Harry as he spoke.  Crabbe and Goyle chuckled.  Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them.  Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match.  Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next.  Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick.  So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.  It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas.  Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once.  He told us he didn't feel sorry for himself at all, and that this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had.  Ron and his brothers were staying too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.  When we left the dungeons at the end of Potions, we found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead.  Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told us that Hagrid was behind it.

Ava: Hi, Hagrid, want any help?

Hagrid: Nah, I'm all right, thanks Ava.

Malfoy: Would you mind moving out of the way?  Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley?  Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose.  That hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to.

Ron dove at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.

Snape: WEASLEY!

Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.

Hagrid: He was provoked, Professor Snape.

Hagrid stuck his huge hairy face out from behind the tree.

Hagrid: Malfoy was insultin' his family.

Snape: Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid.  Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more.  Move along, all of you.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

Ron: I'll get him.  One of these days, I'll get him.

Harry: I hate them both.  Malfoy and Snape.

YN: Come on man, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas.

Hagrid: Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat.

So the five of us followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

McGonagall: Ah, Hagrid, the last tree.  Put it in the far corner, would you?

The hall looked spectacular.  Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.

Hagrid: How many days you got left until yer holidays?

Hermione: Just one.  And that reminds me, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library.

Ron: Oh yeah, you're right.

Hagrid: The library?  Just before the holidays?  Bit keen, aren't yeh?

YN: Oh, we're not working.  Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is.

Hagrid looked shocked.

Hagrid: You what?  Listen here, I've told yeh.  Drop it.  It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'.

Ava: We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all.

Harry: Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?

YN: We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere.  Just give us a hint, I know I've read his name somewhere.  I'm pretty sure my mom's actually mentioned him.

Hagrid: I'm sayin' nothin'.

Ron: Just have to find out for ourselves, then.

We left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.  We had been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were we going to find out what Snape was trying to steal?  I'd even mentioned it to my mother, but she'd ignored that part of my letter.  The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book.  He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time.  He was missing from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry.  And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library.  Tens of thousands of books, thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.  Ava and Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search, while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random.  Harry and I wandered over to the Restricted Section.  I had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there.  Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and I knew we'd never get one.  These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Madam Pince: What are you looking for, boy?

Harry: Nothing.

Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at us.

Madam Pince: You'd better get out, then.  Go on, out

Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry and I left the library.  The five of us had already agreed we'd better not ask Madam Pince where we could find Flamel.  We were sure she'd be able to tell us, but we couldn't risk Snape hearing what we were up to.  We waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but we weren't very hopeful.  What we really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down our necks.  Five minutes later, Ron, Hermione, and Ava joined us, shaking their heads, and we went off to lunch.