Harry Potter and the Book of Souls

>Chapter 6-Crystals and Gold>

"Now is the time that we've all been waiting for the opening of the gifts!" announced Mrs. Weasley as the rest of the family made it back to the living room.

Hermione rushed out into the hallway and returned with a small, cylindrical package wrapped with shiny blue paper adorned with golden snitches with buzzing wings that were zooming freely around. As he held the present close, he thought he could hear a faint buzz behind him and turned around only to find the empty kitchen with the piles of empty plates still stacked on the large, roughly hewn wooden table.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" Hermione gave Harry a quick hug before handing him her present.

Harry slowly unwrapped the paper, careful not to rip any of it. Inside he found a round box of azure velvet and gold stripes. He cautiously took the lid off the box and found three small, gleaming, diamond-like crystals on top of a tiny blue cushion. Harry had no idea what these things were. His mystified expression noticeably gave Hermione a proud feeling.

"These are trakto crystals, "Hermione began to explain with her customary perspicacious tone. "I got them at a magic store in Latvia. They are very new and useful." Hermione paused and smiled at Harry and Ron who still had no idea how these miniscule crystals could be useful. "They serve," Hermione continued, "as communicators and locators. As long as you have one of these crystals, you'll be able to talk to, and locate, Ron and myself wherever we are."

"Wicked!" exclaimed Harry and Ron in amazement.

"Of course, Ron and I must have a crystal too. We can always keep in touch now, Harry. And look, they attach to the bottom handle of our wands!"

Hermione demonstrated by grabbing one of the trakto crystals and placing it on the bottom handle of her wand. It immediately fused onto it and radiantly sparkled a bright blue light in the unlit room. Harry and Ron did the same, watching as their wands glowed green and red, respectively, staring at the crystals for a moment with an eagerness to test them out. As the light slowly began to fade, a glint of gold caught his eye, but as soon as he tried to get a closer look, the light had vanished.

"Lets go out and try them!" yelled Ron excitedly, jumping up and darting towards the door, unaware of the gleam of golden light.

"Hold it right there, Ron!" called out Mrs. Weasley, "Harry must open his other presents first. There will be plenty of time to try out the tracting crystals later!"

"They're called trakto crystals, mum." exclaimed Ron in a disappointed tone.

"Never mind that. Let's get to another present." Mrs. Weasley said huffily.

Next, to everyone's astonishment, Ginny sheepishly came up to Harry and handed him a small, rectangular package wrapped in gift paper that had unicorns prancing around.

"Thank you, Ginny," said Harry as he looked up from his careful unwrapping, causing her face to flush bright red in embarrassment.

"I hope you like it," Ginny replied meekly as she shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot.

"I'm sure I will."

Harry carefully folded up the gift-wrap, and turned his attention back to the present, which was currently enclosed in a small rectangular box made of vermilion velvet. He carefully opened the box, which revealed a golden pendant. Looking closer, Harry saw that it was in the shape of a phoenix. The fiery bird had ruby encrusted eyes and appeared to be in the middle of flight. As Harry continued to gaze at the phoenix, he was amazed to see the bird flap its wings once and wink at him.

"Wow, Ginny! It's wonderful!!"

"I'm glad you like it." With a sudden impulse, Ginny came up to Harry and surprised him by giving a quick hug, inducing catcalls from Ron and the twins, who had just entered the living room. The youngest Weasley hastily pulled away, blushing, and walked back to her former position by the mantelpiece.

Fred and George then stepped forward, bowing extravagantly. "We, the best purveyors of mischief," they recited in unison as they sneaked a sly glance at Sirius and Remus, who had just entered the room, "proudly present to you a sample of our newest creations from the Weasley Wizard Wheezes, made possible by a certain benefactor, who shall remain nameless."

Bowing deeply again, the two waved their hands mysteriously before brandishing a large basket tied with violet and orange-stripped ribbon. Harry cautiously placed the basket on a nearby coffee table, wary of all the practical jokes within the flamboyant container.

"Err... I'm not sure what to say... Thanks... I suppose," Harry said politely, still eyeing the closed box nervously.

"Our pleasure, old chap," George announced, while Fred nodded fervently as the twins patted the younger boy on the back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw another peculiarly wrapped parcel, which caught his attention. When she noticed his curiosity with the gift, Mrs. Weasley explained: "Yeah, that one's for you too. I made it myself and Arthur tried to wrap it the muggle way."

After hearing this, Harry knew immediately that it would either be some sort of food or clothing-- Mrs. Weasley was always complaining about the state of his clothes or pushing Harry to eat more helpings of food during his stays at the Borrow. Despite this, Harry picked up the parcel and started to open it. Upon closer inspection, Harry saw that the gift was covered in layers of Daily Prophet publications with globs of duct, masking, and scotch tape covering the newspaper. After several minutes, Harry realized that Mrs. Weasley had a wand and politely asked her to cut open the wrapping for him, saving his fingers-- hurt from vain attempts to unwrap the gift himself, without ripping the newspaper-- from more suffering, since Hermione was the only one who had even heard of scissors.

"I don't think he wrapped it quite right," Mrs. Weasley mused, looking at Harry's now red, throbbing fingers thoughtfully.

As he had expected, the many layers of newspapers had uncovered to reveal a pair of long, woolen socks. Harry pulled them out to reveal the Hogwarts emblem embroidered intricately on its sides, which showed up prominently against the scarlet background. After making a closer examination, Harry noticed that the symbols from each of the houses were making faint sounds, and Harry could discern the cawing of a raven, the roaring of the lion, the hissing of a snake, and the growling of the badger amongst the ruckus of the of the twins.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said amusedly.

"I'm glad you like it, dear," Mrs. Weasley replied with a warm gleam in her eyes. "There's a secret to these socks," she continued, leaning in closer. "The socks are charmed so they change to the colour of the house of whoever touches it."

"That's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed brightly as he carefully set down the gift on the mantel above some dried spots of honey beside a large jar of sparkling floo powder.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound from somewhere to his right caught Harry's attention. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see a metallic flash of gold zooming towards him. With his seeker reflexes kicking in, Harry stuck out his hand and deftly plucked the flying projectile out of the air. Bringing the object up closer to his face, Harry could see a pair of fluttering golden wings struggling under his fingers. A chorus of gasps echoed across the room as Harry turned around.

"I was wondering when you'd catch it," came Sirius's amused voice from beside him. "It sure took you long enough." Harry shot an awestruck glance at his godfather, a feeling of happiness bubbling from within. "Happy birthday, Harry!" Sirius continued. "I hope you like the present."

Harry opened his fist to reveal the scintillating body of an ornately carved golden snitch. As he ran his fingers across the fine etchings, Harry saw the name of his father, "JAMES POTTER" engraved intricately into the design on the snitch's surface.

"I love it!" Harry cried in excitement. He watched as the snitch pulled its small, rapidly-beating wings into its surface. The seemingly innocent golden sphere rested peacefully in Harry's hand, but he knew that he'd probably be chasing the little bugger around the Burrow before he left if he didn't put it somewhere secure. It wasn't the snitch he worried about it was everything else in the Burrow.

"I feel like playing some Quidditch," Harry mused, imagining what he'd be able to do with his own snitch. He'd be able to hone his skills on the Quidditch field over the rest of the summer before he'd return to Hogwarts once more.

"We can have a quick match later," commented Ron offhandedly as he grinned knowingly at Harry. "Wow, Harry. I didn't know that your dad had his own snitch," he came up and looked over Harry's shoulder, beaming at the new present.

"Well, James was the best seeker and the Gryffindor team captain in his time, you know," Sirius announced smugly. "He was a brilliant flyer, was old Prongs," he continued, reminiscing about his Hogwarts days with his best friend.

"Every single Quidditch team captain received a special snitch with their name engraved upon it upon graduation," Lupin clarified, after seeing a few bemused looks. "It was quite a treasured gift that most of them received. Speaking of which, this is my present. I hope you like it," Remus Lupin said smiling amusedly, handing Harry a neatly covered gift, which he easily recognized as being some sort of book.

Harry examined it for a moment then looked up at the former professor with a puzzled expression. Everyone in the room was patiently starring at Harry, waiting for him to open his gift. As with his other presents, Harry carefully removed the wrapping. To his surprise, he found a locked diary, tied with a scarlet ribbon that held a golden key. Harry untied the ribbon with care and read the gilded inscription on the front cover, which said, "THE DIARY OF LILY EVANS".

"It was your mum's diary Harry. I kept it all this time and waited for the right moment to give it to you. I've never opened it," Lupin explained with watery eyes that betrayed the smile he had on his face. "Happy birthday, Harry."

Harry was in disbelief for a couple of minutes. The room was still and quiet too -- this diary was an unexpected gift from his former professor. Even Sirius was surprised, he never knew of Lily's diary. The only thing Harry had from his mother, besides her scintillating emerald eyes, was a picture book Hagrid had given him some years back. Now, mixed emotions of sadness and curiosity ran through Harry's entire body. He had the urge to open the diary and begin reading it that instant, hoping to discover things about his mother's personality. However, this wasn't the best time; he still had many more presents to open and he wished to be alone when he read it.

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Ron: Please review, everyone! That chapter wasn't exactly as long as we wanted it, but Hermione was being a

Hermione: ::THWAP THWAP THWAP::

Harry: :: laughing :: Please review, as Ron said. We'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as we can, but you know how we are :)

Cho: We also post on Schnoogle, in case you wanna look there, too :) Thanks, m' dears!