The Approaching Storm

Chapter 7: A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas, its that special time of year. Family and friends gather to celebrate life, love, and joy. Even the most estranged family member, seems to 'pop up' around the holidays. People who are normally mean are a little nicer. People who are somewhat greedy are a little more generous. People who believe in nothing seem to have a little more faith. Magic fills the air and miracles happen, all during the Christmas season.

That is unless you are one certain family.

"Look at these pathetic excuses for Wizards, they disgust me!" Lucius Malfoy said, as he gave nasty stares to the poorer wizards around.

"Now Lucius dear, not everyone is as fortunate as we are," Narcissa Malfoy responded to her husband.

"Bah! We would be better off without their sort. I do not know what is worse, poor wizards begging for scraps, or Muggleborns!" Lucius said, still with a disgusted snarl on his face.

"Speaking of which," he continued, as he turned to face Draco, "What is your academic standing this year, son? Please tell me you are ahead of that Granger girl," he finished, looking Draco straight in the eyes.

"Ah. Well. Granger. Um.," Draco rambled on.

"For Gods sake, boy! At least sound educated! You're a Malfoy. How can you continually be beaten by this girl? Really, how is it someone of her lineage can have so much magic ability. Muggleborns are freaks! They should not possess a stronger magic than Pure Bloods! Its an outrage!" Lucius went on with his rant.

"Are we sure the girl is a Muggleborn? After all, much was happening during the child's birth and early years. Many children lost their parents and were sent to orphanages, lost to the wizarding world, until they came of age," Narcissa interjected.

"No, she is a mud," Draco began to say, but saw his mother raise her eyebrow to 'such inappropriate language', "I mean she is a Muggleborn. Her parents are called Dentals or Desents, something of that sort. They deal with teeth," Draco said, trying to remember what Hermione called her parents.

"Bwa, Hah, Hah," Lucius burst out laughing. "How absurd, stupid Muggles. Why would anyone deal with teeth? We need not worry about teeth, we just charm them," he concluded.

"Now, now, dear, you must remember they are just primitive compared to us," Narcissa replied.

A scraggly old woman approached the Malfoy's.

"S'cuse me kind people, can you spare some change, please," she said, with an outstretched hand.

"Don't touch me, you repulsive hag! I'm not made of money!" Lucius roared, as he walked past the old woman.

The Malfoy family didn't even spare a glance back at her, as they continued walking, with a superior attitude.

Today was Christmas Day. Many witches and wizards were out and about. Decorations filled the streets along with happy Christmas Carolers. Delicious aromas filled the air and enticed the senses. Sugar Plum Fairies waved wands around, as delicious desserts fell from the sky, literally.

Christmas at the Weasleys had been very enjoyable, so far. Hermione and Ron didn't have any real tension between them. She was extremely relieved by this. Ginny was true to her word about Aunt Flora embarrassing Ron. This year she had decided the 'Mongolian Empire' look was in. Ron was less than pleased with the atrocious outfit he had to sport around for the family.

The Ministry of Magic was hosting a celebration banquet that evening. Most of the Ministry had agreed that some event should be planned to keep peoples spirits high. Also in hopes to show that the 'rumors' of Voldemort's rising were not hindering the Ministry.

Mr. Weasley and Percy, being part of the Ministry, were invited with their families to the banquet. Hermione and Harry were also included.

Many Hogwarts students were walking the streets, looking at all the Christmas sights. Some of them were there for the celebration. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were among them, walking about, looking into different windows of shops. The boys were quite enthralled with the Quidditch shop, as usual. The Nimbus had a new rival. The new broom, the Excalibur, was considered to be the best. It could soar a rider to hundred feet in two point five seconds. The broom has been clocked at seventy miles per hour. The clean edges and curves of the broom provided a smooth ride and was amazing at cornering.

Hermione noticed Ron and Harry practically had drool hanging out of their mouths.

If only they took to their studies remotely to what they do Quidditch, she thought, as she rolled her eyes at her best friends. She then thought back to the train ride the other day.

When she got back to her compartment after her interlude with Malfoy, Harry had told them he was going to owl Sirius to help figure out who his sister was. Hermione questioned the idea of him talking to anyone about the situation especially since they weren't even suppose to know. Harry said he had to have some outside information. He was getting nowhere on his own. Plus Sirius was the closest with his family and he trusted him completely. Hermione agreed hesitantly.

She concluded her memory and focused back on her best friends.

After the boys had finally daydreamed enough about the Excalibur, the four students started to walk. Ron was trying to grab as many desserts as he could that fell from the sky.

"I wish I had one of my very own sugar plum fairies. Life would be excellent," Ron said, in a daydream fashion.

Hermione shook her head at her friend. She then noticed on old woman, standing on the side of the road. She had seen many unfortunate wizards and witches around today. Some were looking for money, others for charms, some even food. This one particular woman looked so lonely and lost. Hermione went up to her.

"Are you ok, is there anything I can help you with?" she said to the old woman.

The old woman looked up to Hermione. "Such a kind girl. Not many of your type around here. Can you help an unfortunate witch out?" she asked Hermione.

"Sure, here you go," Hermione replied, as she handed the old woman some money.

"Bless you child. Your kindness will one day be rewarded. That, you can be sure of," she said to Hermione, with a gleam in her eye. This gleam reminded Hermione of the gleam Dumbledore would get in his eyes when he knew something you didn't.

"Ay Hermione! Come on, we have to go find mum and dad," Ron yelled to Hermione, from across the street.

Hermione turned to look at Ron. "All right!" she yelled back to him. "Sorry, but I have to," she stopped speaking, as she turned back around to face the old woman. The reason she stopped was because the old woman was not there any longer. Hermione tried to look all around, but saw her nowhere. 'Strange,' she thought, as she headed across the street to her friends.

They met up with the rest of the Weasley family. They all headed to the Ministry Celebration Banquet. The dress was not too formal, more semi-formal. The Ministry wanted everyone to be comfortable. The building that the banquet was held in was down the street from the actual Ministry. They had hired a professional Wizard Décor Agency to decorate the building. Gold stars shinned from the outside of the building. An enchanted waterfall cascaded down the sides of the building, but left an opening for the entrance. The inside of the building was decorated in the same fashion. Gold stars twinkled in the enchanted ceiling. All the walls had a shimmer affect to them. Sheer material covered the tables in beautiful colors. In all, it was quite breathtaking.

Hermione roamed around in awe. Ginny was right behind her with the same expression on her face. Hermione spotted a couple of Hogwarts teachers. Snape was there dressed in his usual black robes. He was alone of course. Hermione couldn't imagine anyone could possibly tolerate him long enough to come as his date. Professor Trelawney was also there. Hermione made a mental note to avoid her at all costs. She needed to warn Harry and Ron also. Having their deaths predicted, yet again, could be a damper on the holiday mood. Some Hogwarts students were wandering around. A majority of them were Slytherin. She saw Pansy talking to who she assumed to be her family. The older man had a pug sort of face. The woman had Pansy's color hair and a very snotty look with her nose up in the air. Yes, they must be the Parkinson's. She knew that Draco was probably around somewhere. This meant his family would be here also. She shuddered at the thought of running into the whole Malfoy clan. For some reason she couldn't see them having very much Christmas spirit. Well, that is unless it benefited them in some way. Lucius Malfoy decorating a Christmas Tree and singing a Christmas Carol didn't seem to be fathomable. The Malfoys also had a way of just looking at you and making you feel like dirt.

A lot of 'top notch' officials where present. There were many wizards and witches from other countries. Hermione even heard a rumor that one of the Royals from France was in attendance.

"How exciting, isn't it, Hermione? I've never been to a social function like this before. Have you?" Ginny asked in a very excited tone.

"Not exactly. This is interesting though," Hermione replied.

"Interesting? Is that all you can say? This is fabulous! Did you here about the Royal? I heard he is only a year or two older than we are. I bet he is quite the catch," Ginny said, eyeing the crowd.

"If you say so. I've never been much on the whole Royal attire," Hermione said nonchalantly back.

"More for me then," Ginny replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"You'd better be talking about food, Ginny," Ron said, from behind his sister.

"Oh Ron, please. I'm not a baby. I'm a girl who can talk about boys," she said back to him.

"As long as its talk," Ron said, almost under his breath.

"You're the overprotective one, aren't you?" Harry said, as he walked up to Ron, patting him on the back.

"Well, someone has to be," Ron said back, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Oh goody, look what we have here. How did you peasants get in here? Are you the servants for the evening? If so, the punch bowl is low," an obnoxious voice said, from behind the group.

"Are you the entertainment for the evening? I didn't know they were going to have a live animal display. A talking ferret is rather original," Ginny said, as she stood in front of Ron. She blocked Ron's progress. Otherwise he would be storming up to the ferret and bludgeoning him. That would cause quite the scene.

"Feisty one, aren't you, Weaselet," Malfoy retorted.

"Look, Ginny, your mother is waving at you. Maybe you should take Ron and see what she wants," Hermione said, trying to stop the situation from escalating.

Ginny grabbed Ron, gave Malfoy a nasty smirk, and walked away. Ron was red in the face, but went along with his sister. He was giving Malfoy a menacing stare, mumbling under his breath.

"Its Christmas. Can't you turn somewhat decent for a minute?" Harry asked, giving Malfoy a hopeless look.

"What fun would that be? I think all the sappy Christmas crap is for the birds," Malfoy said, shrugging his shoulders.

Harry sighed. He brought a hand to his head. "Why even try, you're such a git," he said, looking away from Malfoy.

"Uff," Hermione said, as someone backed into her.

"Excusez-moi," a young gentleman said in a heavy French accent, as he turned to face Hermione. When he did face her, he just stopped and starred at her. Hermione felt very uncomfortable under his stare.

"Mia?" he said to her, with questioning eyes.

"Um, no, sorry, I'm Hermione Granger," she said back to him, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, desole. You look like someone I knew a long time ago," he said, with a sad look in his eyes. "I'm Philippe, pleased to meet you, Manquent Granger," he said, as he bowed to her. He looked towards Harry and Draco for introductions.

"Thank-you Philippe," she gave him a bright smile, "This is my friend Harry Potter and this is Malfoy, I mean Draco Malfoy," she said, correcting herself about Malfoy.

"Ah, the famous Harry Potter. My family has a past with the Potters. I, of course, know Monsieur Malfoy," he said, giving Harry a weird look.

"Philippe, you are needed," a woman said, as she approached.

"Pardon. A tout a l'heure," he said, as he walked away.

"Rubbing noses with Royals, Granger? This should be your one shinning moment, to have a royal speak to you," Malfoy said to Hermione.

"Royals, what are you talking about? And what does he know about the Potters?" Harry questioned Malfoy.

"Philippe is a Royal of France, idiot. You call yourself a wizard and don't know who the Royals are. As for the Potters, his family probably had the bad luck of meeting them," Malfoy said, as he gave Harry an annoyed look. Harry looked at Draco and sneered.

"Well, what do we have here?" an icy voice said. "Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger, what a surprise to see you both in attendance," the voice continued.

Harry gave the owner of the voice a deadly, hateful glare. Hermione noticed this and tried to think of a way to intervene.

"Um. Nice weather we're having," she said. She wanted to smack herself for such a stupid comment.

Lucius, Harry, and Draco all looked at her liked she had just grown horns on top of her head.

"Hello, Draco dear, are these your friends?" Narcissa said, as she approached the group.

"Hardly," Draco mumbled, giving a grumpy look.

Hermione shook her head slightly at Draco. She caught something out of the corner of her eye. She noticed a man in a black cloak standing alone in a corner. His face was covered

"Who is that?" she asked, as she pointed to the man.

"Who's who?" Draco asked, following where she had pointed.

Hermione watched the scene that unraveled. The hooded man pulled out his wand. He pointed it towards Philippe. She screamed at Philippe to duck, as she saw the man whisper a spell. A red light shot out of his wand. Philippe moved out of the way at the last second. Hermione grabbed her wand. The hooded man then turned to face Hermione. His face was still covered. She had an awful feeling in her stomach. A cold hateful wave washed over her. Penetrating her very being. She could feel the man's evilness radiating from him. He pointed his wand at her. He shook his head at her, and waved his finger back and forth. She stared hatefully back at him, trying to suppress any fear she might have. She could see the bottom of his face. He gave an evil smile. He pointed his wand up in the air instead of at Hermione. Then he shouted,

"Asperattero!"

A black light shot from his wand and covered the ceiling. The whole room shook violently. People were screaming, running, and Apparating in all directions, trying to get out of the building. Hermione heard a loud crack noise above her head. She noticed a large beam cracking. It split and fell rapidly towards them. She noticed Narcissa Malfoy was in its direct path of impact.

Draco screamed, "Mother!" He tried to grab for his wand before it was to late. Lucius was frantically trying to gain enough balance to grab his wand. Harry just starred frozen in shock.

A loud, "Impedimenta!" was screamed.

Hermione stood there with her wand clasped tightly in her hand. Breathing heavy.

The beam slowed and landed without harming anyone.

She looked back to the cloaked man. He was no longer there.

Narcissa had a shocked expression on her face, looking at the beam. Lucius shared the same expression. Narcissa then looked toward Hermione and approached her. Hermione just starred at her, not sure what to expect. Narcissa took the wand from Hermione's hand gently.

"Thank you. That was very quick thinking and very clever," she said, as she grabbed Hermione's hand. She gave the hand a quick squeeze and smiled at Hermione. She held her hand and gave her a curious look, and then she gave Hermione her wand back. She stood waiting for Hermione's response.

"I. Er. You're welcome," Hermione finally managed to say.

Narcissa walked back over to Lucius and Draco, who were both still in utter shock. Lucius looked towards Hermione. His expression was unreadable. He looked like he was battling some internal battle. He gave Hermione a smirk, then turned his attention to his wife.

Draco hugged his mother. He approached Hermione slightly, and just nodded to her. Hermione smiled. Another beam fell near them. This one caused a collapse in the floor near the group.

"We have got to get out of here!" Harry yelled, regaining his senses.

Harry, Hermione and Draco were running right behind Lucius and Narcissa when part of the ceiling fell. They all ducked, and took cover. Harry waited until the dust cleared. He noticed a wall had been formed blocking their previous route. He looked around to see if he was alone. He heard some coughing, and some rocks move. Hermione appeared before him. He felt so relieved. Some more rubble moved to reveal Malfoy. Then Harry sighed and thought, 'I would be stuck with him'.

Lucius and Narcissa were on the other side of the debris. They were yelling at Draco to see if he was ok. He said he was fine and for them to Apparate out of the building. He told them he would find another way out. Lucius half-heartily agreed, and the other side of the debris went silent.

"I wish we could Apparate! We wouldn't be stuck in here if we could. Ok, Potter, you're the famous rescuer, get us out," Malfoy said to Harry smugly.

"How am I supposed to know how to get out of here? You git! You know this place just as well, or probably better than I do!" Harry yelled annoyed at Malfoy.

"I'm not the 'Hero', you are. So get to work! I have had it being trapped with you in weird situations this year!" Malfoy yelled back at Harry.

"Calm down you two. Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. Besides, there is a hole in the wall over here. Help me move some of these stones," Hermione said, as she began to lift stones out of the way.

"Why is it we always find a secret room when you're around, Granger?" Malfoy said, struggling to lift some of the bigger stones out of the way.

"I think it's more along the lines of, why do things happen when you're around, Malfoy?" Harry said, also struggling with heavy stones.

"Look, we can fit through, come on," Hermione said as she squeezed through the opening.

The trio entered the room. Draco and Harry glared daggers at each other. The room led to a hallway that led underground. They followed the hallway and walked for what seemed like an eternity. Draco and Harry were too tired to glare anymore. It was musty and chilly. This area had obviously been sealed off for years. Hermione held up her wand, as it lit the way. They kept walking until they reached a set of big oak doors. The doors had strange symbols engraved all over them. They all three pushed on the doors and entered. Once inside they saw rows and rows of books and parchments.

"What is this place? Some type of library?" Harry asked, looking around.

Hermione walked up to one of the parchments and looked at it. "Not exactly," she said.

Draco walked over to her to see what she was looking at. He read over the parchment, his eyes held a questioning look. "This is some type of Hall of Records," he said.

"Before The Dark Lord, there was a huge Hall of Records. It contained every witch and wizard for generations. Every child born with magical powers had a record there. When the Dark Lord came to power, the Hall was destroyed. It was thought best to keep the records far away from him. That way Muggleborns and Half-Breeds could penetrate his ranks as spies. The Pure Bloods, who wanted nothing to do with him, couldn't be distinguished from anyone else. There was no way to tell who was who, unless you came from a prominent family, like mine. Many children lost their families in the mass killings and were put in orphanages or sent to Muggle relatives," he said, as he eyed Harry.

"Many were misplaced due to all the chaos and didn't go to their wizarding relatives. This must be the Hall. I guess they didn't destroy it," Draco concluded, looking at his surroundings with curiosity.

Harry started to look around. He then got a smile on his face. "You know what this means? Maybe I can find out some information about my family, about my sister," he said, in an excited manner.

"Get real, Potter. If you think I'm helping you look through all these things," Malfoy said, as he held a bunch of parchments in his hand. "You must be crazy."

"There has to be some order to them. Look, see here is the A's," Harry said, walking up to a section of books. "Just look for the P's"

"Well, we are past that collapsing building, somewhere underground. I really have nothing better to do. But I still don't want to help you, Peanut Potter," Malfoy said, with a smirk.

"Fine, don't then. Just sit there and be useless, like usual. I mean its nothing new," Harry said, as he began to look.

Draco gave him a dirty look and stood up. He walked down one of the isles and began to look. Hermione gave him a questioning glance. He turned to look at her.

"What! Its Christmas, consider this my one good deed for the year," Malfoy said irritated, as he returned back to searching.

Hermione raised her eyebrows slightly and mouthed 'Ok,' shaking her head.

They looked for two hours. Draco was getting tired and grumpy. He needed a break. He sat quickly against the bookshelf. This motion rocked the shelf slightly. A book fell and hit Draco in the head.

"Bloody Hell! Stupid Book!" Draco yelled, rubbing his head, as he threw the book in Harry's direction.

Harry rolled his eyes at him and said "Idiot," under his breath. Then he noticed the book. He picked it up and began to look through it. His eyes widened. "Malfoy, I could kiss you!" Harry exclaimed.

"Potter! I don't want to visualize that! I don't swing that way, too bad for you," Malfoy said, still rubbing his head.

Hermione walked by Draco. She huffed and gave him an annoyed look. Then she said, "Ferula," which caused a band-aid to appear on his head.

Draco grumbled and pouted as he walked with Hermione up to Harry. He saw Harry had pulled out a certain parchment and was reading it.

"Well, what does it say, Potter? Come on spit it out," Draco said, trying to see what the big mystery was.

"Hold on Malfoy! Let me finish!" Harry snapped at Draco. Then his eyes widened as his finished reading.

"Well! What's the big mystery? Are you actually related to Trolls? That is believable. You have the same brain capacity of one. Ouch!" he exclaimed, as Hermione elbowed him in the side.

"That's going to bruise you know. You are so abusive," he continued, glaring at Hermione and rubbing his side.

"You play Quidditch. You have fallen from at least fifteen feet, been hit by Bludgers, and you get into fights all the time. Yet you whine more when I elbow you than any of those events," Hermione said, giving him a sarcastic smirk.

"What is with the smirking? That is my trait. See, I knew you wanted to be like me," Draco said, trying to annoy Hermione.

Hermione just stuck her tongue out at him, and focused back on Harry.

Draco mocked her, sticking his tongue out obnoxiously. He was tired of things sticking their tongues out at him. 'First, it was that stupid Spell-A-Bet-Keeper, then that fairy. Ehh! If he ever catches that little beast,' his thought was interrupted by Harry.

"This is what it says:

On this day, the thirty first of October the year of our lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty One, we do hereby adopt Amelie Honorine Amarante-Marius Potter as our child. We accept all rights and responsibilities. The reason for the adoption is the death of her parents John William Potter and Clarisse Antoinette Amarante-Marius Potter of the French Majestic Providences. We, the said child's aunt and uncle, do decree by the wizard's oath.

Then its signed: James Henry and Lily Evans Potter," Harry finished, trying to grasp the situation.

"Amarante-Marius?" Draco questioned. He then grew a disgusted look on his face.

"Unbelievable. The famous Harry Potter just keeps getting more famous. You are so unbelievably annoying," Draco said, giving a withering look to Harry.

"What are you talking about now, you great Prat!" Harry said irked by Malfoy.

"Ok listen up, moron. You, by some unimaginable reason, are related to the Royals. You're not related by blood, but by marriage, sort of. Your sister, cousin," Draco said in confusion, trying to figure out what this girl is to Harry.

"Whatever, anyway, her mother Clarisse was a Royal. Actually my mother knows Clarisse's sister-n-law, Angelique. You have meet Anqelique's son, Philippe Amarante-Marius. I guess he wasn't kidding when he said 'My family has a past with the Potters,'" Draco said, thinking about the information just revealed.

Harry was still trying to grasp everything. "Ok, let me get this straight. My dad had a brother named John. He married a Royal named Clarisse. They had a daughter named Amelie. They both died somehow. My parents adopted her. She became my sister. Then my parents died the very day they adopted her. Finally she disappears from existence," Harry said, trying to place the events in order.

"Brilliant Potterstien," Draco retorted, rolling his eyes. He looked towards Hermione.

"You haven't been very talkative, Granger. What is your take on the development?" Draco asked, with a questioning look.

"What? Oh I'm just trying to understand everything," she replied, looking rather distant in Draco's opinion. He gave her another questioning glance. He wondered what the 'know it all' was thinking now.

"Ok then," Draco continued. "If we are done, can we leave now? I'm starving!" he said, rubbing his stomach.

"I guess," Harry said, looking slightly lost.

Hermione walked up to Harry. She put an arm around him. "It will be ok. At least you know her name now," she said, trying to encourage her friend.

"I know, but this sister thing is starting to look more like a curse," he said, looking at the parchment.

"I'm sure it will turn out better than you think it will. Come on let's get out of here," Hermione said, as she turned to walk out of the room.

Harry and Hermione started to walk out of the room and into another hallway. Draco followed behind them and gave a suspicious gaze at the pair. As they headed down the hallway they saw light underneath a door ahead. They pushed the door open and were back outside, on a street. As they walked out the door behind them vanished. Hermione and Harry didn't care too much, they where glad to be out. Draco on the other hand was oblivious to being outside. He was still eyeing Harry, with a calculating look. Hermione turned to look at Draco. He took his eyes off of Harry and looked at her. Then he smirked slightly. Hermione gave him a questioning look. He shook his head and mouthed "nothing."

The trio walked down the street, each with a new bit of knowledge.