Always, Snape

Flying rivalty

The months flew by and Harry learned more and more about his new home which Hogwarts clearly had become. Around Christmas Harry knew the castle with its hidden passages and changing corridors by heart. He used to enjoy wandering around and seeking for new ways. While his expeditions as he called them he even managed to find the one or other treasure. His greatest was an old potiontextbook he found in the dungeons, near the potionlabs. For Harry it contained unspeakable knowledge, hundreds of spells so advanced he couldn't even imagine their effects and of course potion receipts. Many were enhanced versions of the original book, but some were obviously created by the author who called himself the halfblood prince. Harry spent so much time with the book, trying those spells or using the written advise to stand up to Snape in potions he soon lost any carefulness regarding the book. Nevertheless, Hermione kept cautious and dragged Harry to discover the author's identity but all they found were traces.

The holidays came and brought Christmas to Hogwarts. Harry who had never celebrated Christmas was so excited even about the little things like the decoration in the common room his friends often thought he was mental. But how could he explain to them he had never had a Christmas? The nearer 25th came the more excited Harry became. At Christmas Eve, when it was time to exchange presents Harry even needed to check trice if he wasn't dreaming by pinching his right arm. He couldn't believe he would receive any gift but apparently Ron's mother had not only sent his best friend one but Hermione and him, too, which contained a woolen jumper and some self made pastries. From Ron he got his own chess figures and from Hermione a rare book about the secret art of Occlumency. He himself got a signed poster of the cannons for Ron who loved quidditch and an interesting book about time turner for Hermione who loved books. Another extraordinary present he got was an invisibility cloak. It was a really strange piece of cloth because when you wore it you became invisible for every human but not for cats as Harry figured out soon when he walked into Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, which chased him through the whole castle before he could get rid of it. Another strange thing about the cloak was there wasn't a clue anywhere to be found who had sent the valuable gadget. Despite the cloak Harry just received a gift card with his name written on it which didn't solve any of the questions the trio had. Of course, Hermione trusted the cloak as little as the book of the halfblood prince and therefore she kept nagging Harry to be cautious. But truth to be told this hadn't even been necessary because the snow, those decorations, the cheerful mood and Hogwarts itself put Harry in quite an ecstasy he didn't spent another thought about his new found treasures the whole holidays. Instead he played in the snow, sat in front of a fire, read various books and challenged his two best friends at chess. This way the holidays just flew by and Harry found himself a little surprised as classes started again and the teachers started to brag about homework and additional courses.