Harry Potter And The Unexpected Friend

A few hours later Harry was enjoying breakfast in the Great Hall. The house elves always try to make meals on Christmas special, and this was no exception. The tables were stacked high with a huge variety of foods and treats. Harry was happily eating and chatting with Hermione and Neville, who had finally decided to get out of bed.

"Neither of you are being fair to me," Neville complained, "You both know that I am going with Ginny Weasley, but neither of you will tell me who you are going with." Neville dropped his fork and stared at his friends, waiting for one of them to finally reveal their secrets. "If I didn't know better I would think… that's it isn't it?! You two are going to the Yule Ball together. It makes sense now, but I don't understand why you would think you needed to hide it from everybody." Harry and Hermione both began laughing and shaking their heads at Neville's guess.

"That's not it at all." Harry answered. "I promise you that I am not taking Hermione to the Yule Ball. In fact she hasn't told me who she is going with either."

"Don't whine about me not telling you, I don't know who you are taking." Hermione retorted.

"I've said all along that you were both going to have to wait and see. I will tell you this though; you are going to be very surprised with who it is." Harry smiled at his friends' frustration. Hermione saw Harry's satisfaction with himself, and decided to get even.

"Gee, Neville, who do you think would be the most surprising person Harry could take to the Ball?" Hermione asked with a mischevious grin.

"Maybe he is taking Professor McGonagall." Neville answered, both of them trying their best not to even look at Harry while they continued their conversation.

"No, I can think of someone more surprising than that. Harry is taking Professor Snape to the Ball!" At this Hermione and Neville began laughing loudly while Harry watched angrily, but eventually even he had to admit it was funny and began to smile.

"A hundred points from Gryffindor for being prats!" Harry said in his best Snape impression. All three of them continued laughing, as well as the people sitting close enough to them to hear the conversation. After taunting Harry a few more times the topics returned to the normal Christmas ones such as what presents they had all gotten. Hermione once again thanked Harry for his gift: a fifty galleon gift certificate to Flourish & Blotts.

Hermione's thank-you's were interrupted when dozens of owls flew into the Great Hall. Almost everyone had received a letter from their families wishing them a Merry Christmas. Harry was surprised when an owl he didn't recognize landed on the table in front of him and held out its leg, waiting for Harry to pull the letter off. Curious about whom it could be from, Harry took the letter and gave the owl a piece of bacon in thanks. As the owl hooted and flew off Harry opened the letter, happily realizing that it was from Sirius.

" Merry Christmas Harry!

I wish I could be there with you, but until we find Wormtail I have to stay on the run.

On the bright side we are working on finding a place for you to stay for part of the

summer so you won't have to spend it all with those relatives of yours. It still makes

me angry to think that someone as wonderful as Lily could have a sister so dreadful.

Congratulations on getting past the Horntail! Perhaps not the method I would have

thought of but it certainly did work. Don't let those idiots who think your talents are

evil bother you, Harry. You are growing up to be a fine young man and I know your

parents would be proud of you. I know I am.

Good luck on the rest of the tournament. Remember to keep your eyes open and be

on guard at all times. If you think someone is acting suspicious let me know and we

can talk about it. You can now mail me if you want, but don't send Hedwig because

she is too easily recognizable. Take care of yourself, Harry.

Love, Sirius "

Harry read the letter a couple of times, pleased to hear that his Godfather was still safe. He wondered where Sirius was hiding this Christmas and hoped it was somewhere warm. Harry felt a bit of hope rising up inside him when he remembered that Sirius was working on finding him a place to stay at other than the Dursley's, that would be an excellent present. He had been silently thinking about the letter for a few minutes when he realized Hermione was looking at him curiously.

"The letter was from Si- Padfoot. He seems to be doing ok." Harry said. Hermione smiled, knowing how attached Harry was to his godfather.

"That's great Harry. What are you going to do for the rest of the day?"

"I think I'll go see Hagrid. Do you want to come?"

"No thanks." Hermione answered. "I've got some things to do and then I really do need to get ready for the Yule Ball." Harry was a little bit confused, just how long did it take for a girl to get ready for something like this? He had just planned on putting his dress robes on and spending a few minutes trying to get his hair to lay down, which he already knew would not be successful. Harry shrugged and decided he didn't really want to know what went into a girl's preparations for a Ball. Taking one last drink of pumpkin juice, Harry said a few quick good-byes and walked out of the Great Hall.

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