Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 21: The Christmas Feast

25 December 1991

Surprisingly, it had been a quiet seven weeks since the infamous Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match. Quirrell had made no more murder attempts on Jim or anyone else. The Gryffindors had taken no further action to investigate the Third Floor corridor or to "protect" the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrell ... or from Snape, as the Git and the Weasel were convinced that he was the true villain and it had been Quirrell who saved Jim from falling. Harry chose to let them believe that in the hopes that they'd do something stupid in Snape's class and get enough detentions to keep them out of trouble. Today, on Christmas morning, he thought back over recent events as he got dressed.

True to his word, Blaise had joined the study group, and he had been remarkably polite to those of less than immaculate blood purity. More than polite, in fact. He'd been almost flirtatious with all of the female members, including Hermione, a fact which troubled both Harry and Neville for reasons neither of them could articulate. Initially, Blaise had been a bit cagey around Harry after the latter had guessed correctly about his interest in Muggle culture, but soon, he made something of a game of letting Harry guess just how integrated into Muggle society he actually was. In addition to casual familiarity with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, he'd also let slip a few Simpsons references and even looked sadly sympathetic when Hermione bemoaned the cancellation of Doctor Who. They were also both fans of something called Press Gang. Harry himself was vaguely aware of the latter two shows and had actually seen several episodes of The Simpsons on occasions when the Dursleys left him with Mrs. Figg while they were on holiday. Only a few, though, as the older lady preferred American Westerns for some odd reason. Ironically, Harry had never actually seen Bill & Ted at all, but he'd heard it a dozen times, as it was one of Dudley's favorite videos and the television was next to his cupboard.

One big hint about Zabini came when Harry learned that the boy would be spending the Christmas holidays at his mother's mansion in Manhattan. A wealthy woman, Madame Zabini (Countess Zabini, to be precise, though Blaise claimed he didn't like "to brag") had a dozen homes around the world, but she preferred to celebrate the holidays in New York, due to a fondness for the city's legendary Times Square New Year's festivities. Blaise mentioned that Manhattan did not have a concentrated magical community comparable to Diagon Alley, and so the wizards of New York took things like subways and cable television for granted. He also joked that he sometimes felt like the wizarding equivalent of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a reference that was completely lost on Harry as it was not the sort of show the Dursleys would ever watch.

Theo had also joined the study session, Harry was pleased to see, although he remained shy and quiet. Neville made a point of taking Nott under his wing and giving the boy encouragement, especially when Harry wasn't around to do so. As far as Neville was concerned, Theo, by showing him how to unlock his suppressed memories, had helped save Longbottom's life just as much as Harry and Hermione, and he was determined to do what he could to repay the favor. After a few weeks, Theo's class performance had improved noticeably, though he had to put up with snide comments from some of the older Purebloods suggesting that Harry was leading him to consort with "undesirables." The first time he successfully performed a Transfiguration before Draco Malfoy made it all worthwhile, however.

When not preparing for end of term exams, Harry had divided his time between his ongoing legal dramas with the Potters and searching the school for any references to the elusive Prince of Slytherin. Both matters seemed to be at an impasse. For the moment, James Potter had no authority to disinherit him, but he would certainly keep looking. Harry, for his part, was looking into backup plans in case his birth-father ever succeeded, but according to the law, it would require hiring Gringotts to perform a few blood tests. Since Harry had no intention of sending samples of his blood via owl post, that meant he would have to wait for the summer.