Hi, everybody. This year's Christmas Story is the sequel to my story 'Older Brother'. Many have asked me to write a sequel, which I did and I decided to skip to Aaron's fourth year for this. I hope you enjoy the Story. I will post one chapter every day until they're all up.

Merry Christmas.

Permanent disclaimer: As Always I don't own anything concerning Harry Potter, I only Play in JKR's sandbox.

An Exciting Quidditch Match

Harry Potter sat in front of his parents' tent, talking to his friend Cedric Diggory. The two soon to be seventh-years at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry talked excitedly about the soon to commence finals of the Quidditch World Cup. Harry wasn't that tall for his age, he only stood at 1.77 metres, but that was alright with him, he was a seeker and they normally were small and speedy. He had inherited his father's messy black hair and his mother's brilliant emerald eyes. Thankfully he had also dodged his father's bad sight with getting his mother's eyes. Cedric was 1.82m tall and had brown hair with blue eyes.

Harry often teased Cedric about being a pretty boy. Harry's younger siblings Aaron, Dahlia and Jasmine were off with their own friends, scouting the stands for memorabilia of the teams. The match was Ireland against Bulgaria and it was hard to say who would win. While Ireland had the better chasers, Bulgaria had Viktor Krum, the currently best seeker in the world. Well, it was up to discussion in their minds, because Harry could give him a run for his money, they thought. Harry had become seeker for Gryffindor House in their first year at Hogwarts, making his father James incredibly proud.

Harry had been offered to play for the English team, but his mother Lily had put her foot down on him going professional before he had graduated. A real shame. All Potter males were of that opinion, but none dared to oppose Lily Potter on that topic. She was scary when she was furious.

Since Voldemort had attacked the Potters in 1981, the family had become famous, but thankfully Lily and James had stayed away from the idiocy that was made about Aaron Potter, the so-called Boy-Who-Lived. Harry and Aaron had been at home with their grandparents while their parents had been called for an emergency Order meeting because their spy, Severus Snape, had told them about a raid planned against St. Mungo's. The Order had prevented the raid, but it had only been a distraction. Voldemort had been told the location of the Potter home by the traitor Pettigrew and had come to kill the Potter children. But the sacrifice of their grandparents had somehow given Aaron and Harry a protection against Voldemort. At least that was what Dumbledore believed based on the little Harry had told him back in 1981, after the attack. When Voldemort had attempted to kill Aaron first, the curse had rebounded and cost him his body.

Harry knew more than that, knew that his grandmother had used runes to give both brothers a strong protection against Voldemort, including of making Harry a guardian for Aaron. And this power held to this day, and Harry had used the shield he could conjure to block the wraith that he had met in May of 1992, during that stupid incident during Aaron's first year at Hogwarts. Thanks to that, Harry knew that Voldemort was still alive. He had seen the wraith two years ago, at the end of his fourth year, when he had followed his little brother and his merry band of friends into the third-floor corridor that was out of bounds because Dumbledore had hidden the Philosopher's Stone there.

They had been hit with a confundus charm to go there. The Potters believed that the spell had been used by Dumbledore, who wanted to test Aaron, but they couldn't prove it. Harry had helped his brother by keeping Quirrell too occupied to really act against the younger brother, who had been hidden from sight, while they waited for their uncle Sirius Black and the aurors to arrive. Harry at fourteen was much more of a match for Quirrell than Aaron at eleven. Their father had taught both of them advanced Defence for their age, but still, Aaron wasn't up to such a task yet. Harry had known spells that would make a sixth-year envious and possessed the casting speed to put them to good use.

After that encounter, James Potter and Sirius Black, his best friend and current head of the auror office, had upped their training. Even Jasmine and Dahlia got started on exercises, even if they were just nine years old. But dodging wasn't a matter of age, as the two adults thought.

All of the Potter children were magically strong, angering the pureblood fanatics immensely. Harry had been at the top of his year since his second year. In first-year he had had some problems with Snape, who, despite being on their side, was a major bastard. Only his mother giving Snape a piece of her mind in a howler had got the man off his back and treat him neutrally. That was all Harry needed, what with his mother teaching him all he didn't get from Snape's classes. Aaron was normally second or third in his year, depending how much effort he put into his work. It didn't matter to any of the Potters, as that ranking was more than enough. They wanted their children to have fun, as long as they didn't slack on their studies. Aaron was chaser on the Gryffindor team since last year. Alicia Spinnet had had problems to coordinate her work for the OWLs with Quidditch and had quit the team and Aaron had won the spot during the try-outs.

Of course, some idiots claimed that it had been favouritism, because Harry was the Gryffindor Captain, but Aaron had shown how good he was in the first game against Slytherin, shutting everybody up with a spectacular performance. Harry, completely annihilating Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin seeker, didn't help Slytherin's mood any. Between Harry, the Weasley twins, the chasers and Oliver Wood Slytherin got completely destroyed. Nobody had dared to say anything against Aaron being on the team after that. Harry had to snort at the stupidity of people. After all, it was widely known that Potters were naturals in the air. That was true for all children of James and Lily by the way. Jasmine and Dahlia, who would start their second year at Hogwarts this year, also had shown great talent during flying classes.

Cedric, while being in Hufflepuff, had been Harry's best friend since they were five. Cedric's and Harry's mothers had been friends at Hogwarts and had arranged some play dates for Harry and Cedric. Chiana Diggory didn't think too highly of Molly Weasley and her ways to raise her children, therefore she wasn't that eager to let Cedric play with them, even if they were living in the same village. In her eyes, Molly was too controlling, too smothering and she babied her children to the extreme. On top of that, Ginny Weasley seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with Aaron Potter, which the now fourteen-year-old boy found creepy. Aaron had a great dislike for his Boy-Who-Lived-Fangirls.

Well, today he wouldn't think about that, he was here to see the finals of the Quidditch World Cup. His godfather Sirius had got them the tickets. As Head Auror he always got tickets for events like these and he always invited his best friends and their families to them. Thus, the six Potters and the four Blacks would be in a private box directly next to the Minister's box. It was made for security reasons officially, but every auror knew that the disruptive elements were too happy with the current Minister's incompetency to attack him. But there simply hadn't been alternatives to Cornelius Fudge when Millicent Bagnold had retired, which Harry knew from Sirius' rants that the man was highly incompetent.

Harry and Cedric hadn't bet on the outcome of the match when Ludo Bagman had come by. Harry could only shake his head at the stupidity of the man. In an area where you had to practice anti-muggle security you didn't run around in Wimborne Wasp Quidditch robes and you didn't talk about Quidditch terms while not lowering your voice. Well, since the selling booths had come, the security had been shot anyway. Why the Ministry didn't send the muggles on vacation he didn't know. It would have been much easier. A simple confundus charm would have done the trick and the ones on duty wouldn't have needed to obliviate the poor muggles all the time. James Potter had only chuckled about Harry's comment and swore to tease Sirius about it later. The idea was so simple and still so brilliant.

Finally, it was time to head to the stadium. The crowd of excited witches and wizards moved towards the wood behind which the stadium was located.

Harry and Cedric watched Aaron and his friends discuss the match excitedly while drinking butterbeer. The match had been great, the Irish Chasers had been superb and Krum a sight to behold. How Harry wished that he had been able to go up against the Bulgarian. Well, next year nothing was stopping him from accepting the offer from the English team. Finally, when Hermione Granger seemed to sleep while sitting, Lily shooed the younger kids inside the tent. It had been a long evening and now it was really time to sleep. Harry and the others stayed outside for a bit longer. Just when they wanted to head inside, they heard a commotion from a distance away, followed by screams and lights that were much too bright to be simple camp fires. Then there was the distinct light of several spells being cast.

"Dad, Uncle Sirius, something is going on over there," Harry informed the two men.

"You're right, Harry. Quick, wake the kids and take them to the wood. Organize a controlled retreat. Make sure that none are left behind!" Sirius ordered, and Cedric and Harry ran into the tents, intent on getting the kids up and to safety.

Two minutes later all the kids were outside.

"Listen, this is an emergency. Keep your wands at hand; don't mind the underage sorcery law. Go to the wood and hide. We will stop whoever is making the ruckus. Keep to Harry and Cedric and don't run off on your own," James informed the younger kids and they nodded.

Cedric took the lead while holding Juno Black's hand, she was only eight after all, while Aaron, Jasmine, Dahlia, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Aries Black followed closely behind. Harry brought up the rear to shield against possible attacks from behind. All the Hogwarts students held their wands and lit the way with them. Finally, after ten minutes of running into the wood, Cedric had the group stop and he and Harry looked around. It seemed as if they were safe for now.

"Keep your eyes open and in doubt fire disarming charms and stunners at anything that moves," Harry ordered the younger children.

It was a simple safety procedure that Harry had learned from Sirius. If in danger, take out first, apologize later. It was why his godfather was so good at his job. While Alastor Moody was legendary as an auror for his paranoia, his protégée Sirius Black was infamous for utilizing unconventional methods and succeed. While many had ranted about his policy of stunning first, his results spoke for themselves. A downed opponent wasn't a danger anymore and if you had made a mistake, you could apologize later. And the stunning spell wasn't harmful, the most that could happen was the victim having a headache, except it fell unluckily. But his real success came from insisting on searching each downed opponent and making sure to check the bare forearms for the Dark Mark. And each potential Death Eater had had to defend him- or herself under veritaserum. Azkaban was full of so called imperius victims.

Because, while the imperius curse made you do horrible things without having control, you still remembered everything you did and if asked if you willingly became a Death Eater and took the mark, only those under imperius would answer with no. Nott, McNair and the Carrows went to Azkaban that way. Sirius was sure some got away, but without proof that somebody was suspect as a Death Eater no investigation worked. The Ministry was that corrupt. The smartest one that Sirius suspected as a Death Eater was Lucius Malfoy, but without substantial proof there was nothing that could be done. He had set up an alibi and lived in France on one of his family's estates until 1988. That had been when he deemed it safe enough to return, as the persecution from the war had died down to nil. Not even Sirius could gain a warrant for his arrest anymore.

Harry finally noticed movement to the left and heard somebody call out 'Morsmordre'. His stunner flew to the place quicker than anybody could assume. He heard a dull thud.

"Cedric, I'm going to see who it was that I hit. Keep the others over here, Uncle Sirius and the aurors are sure to arrive here any moment. That was the Dark Mark he fired into the sky!" Harry pointed out and indeed the mark floated in the night sky and the screams from the outer woods increased tenfold.

Cedric nodded, and Harry ran over, making sure to be ready to shield against more stunners. Just when he reached the spot and started searching for the hit he made, he heard pops of apparition, shouts of stupefy and Cedric shouting 'down'. He ducked and found cloth next to a stunned house elf. He tore away the cloth and a wizard with blond hair appeared who had been invisible before. Harry quickly took his wand away and then a hand was on his shoulder.

"What do you think you are doing?" A harsh voice asked.

"Securing evidence and disarming a possible danger!" Harry shot back, "This man shot the mark up into the sky."

"What? Let me see, boy," The man demanded, "Hm, I've never seen him before."

"That's Barty Crouch junior. Who should have died twelve years ago at Azkaban," Sirius stated furiously, "Kingsley, I want Barty Crouch senior, junior and the house elf arrested and interrogated. This will not be hushed up. I want the full truth!" Sirius ordered, "Harry, good work."

"Thanks, Uncle Sirius," Harry said, "Did you get the ones that caused the panic?"

"One. The others apparated away when the Dark Mark appeared in the sky. But I think a nice little chat under veritaserum will get us some more names," Sirius said grinning.

"Good to hear. Well, I guess Cedric and I should take the others back now that the bastards fled. Do you know where Mum and Dad are?" Harry asked.

"They should be back at the campsite when you get back. They helped us freeing the muggles before the Death Eaters apparated away. Lily put the fear of Morgana in them," Sirius answered cackling a bit.

It was a well-known fact that Lily Potter was a formidable witch and one of the most powerful alive. Pissing her off was even considered a sign of insanity and the one doing it was recommended for a mental check at St. Mungo's. The only ones to do it and get away with minor injuries were James, Sirius and Remus, Though Remus rarely got on her bad side. He was too smart to do so.

"I guess she would. I'll see you later, Uncle Sirius," Harry stated.

The aftermath of the riot at the Quidditch World Cup was interesting and annoying at the same time. Harry was hailed as a hero for being the one to catch the one that fired the Dark Mark into the sky. As the older brother to the Boy-Who-Lived, he was already well-known and now he had added another impressive feat to his name. The Quidditch fans of course knew that the English team had tried to recruit him, but had failed, thanks to Lily Potter. Barty Crouch senior and junior, after being interrogated under veritaserum, were sent to Azkaban. Junior for his already decided punishment and senior for the breaking out of his Death Eater son and the use of the imperius curse. The caught Death Eater, Bertram Yaxley, gave up the names of four other Death Eaters, much to Sirius' disappointment Lucius Malfoy wasn't one of them. The bastard was still too sly to get caught.

Of course, Rita Skeeter tried to push all the blame for the security issues on the Ministry, but it wasn't going as well as she hoped. After all, Sirius had arrested three Death Eaters by now, two were hunted down after they had been named by Yaxley, and Minister Fudge didn't dare protesting, thanks to Sirius being a really nasty opponent. Not to forget his backing through the Potters.

While some of Fudge's financial backers were now hunted down, it would be political suicide to interfere in a Death Eater hunt. Harry meanwhile, after backing Sirius on the official press conference of the DMLE, had holed himself up at his parents' house to avoid being mobbed by the press. He knew this would blow over after a week normally. It would be forgotten in the upcoming Death Eater trials, which he wasn't involved in at all.

Harry was now trying to figure out how he would possibly be able to coordinate all of his duties next school year. For whatever reason, he had been named headboy. He had been so sure Cedric would get that badge. He was after all much better at avoiding trouble than Harry was. He was a goody Hufflepuff for Merlin's sake. But perhaps McGonagall had more influence than he had thought. She was his biggest fan after all.

Or the manipulative headmaster wanted to better his relationship with the Potters again. Since Aaron had arrived at school, something had happened every year and, let's just say, he had been a big part in Lily Potter's current reputation. Dumbledore had tried to have the Potters concentrate on Aaron, as he was the Boy-Who-Lived and subject to some crackpot prophecy. Thankfully Lily didn't buy into Divination and James also didn't think much of the subject. They had only increased the security precautions and continued living their lives. With more defence training for their children included of course.

Harry now was headboy and Quidditch Captain. It would be interesting to coordinate that with his studies for his NEWTs. Well, he would cross that bridge when he reached it.

It was evening and all students of Hogwarts were assembled for the feast that always started the new school year. The new first years had all been sorted and everybody had enjoyed the feast. Now they were waiting for Dumbledore to give the annual announcements. And they were interesting to say the least. While there was a lot of protest for cancelling the Quidditch season, the excitement over the Triwizard Tournament was bigger. While many were outraged over the underage exclusion rule, most started speculating who might become the Hogwarts champion.

"Are you going to enter, Harry?" Aaron asked his brother on the way to the common room.

"Perhaps. I will think about it, but the prospect excites me and it's not like I had Quidditch to look forward to this year," Harry answered.

"It would be really cool if you became Hogwarts champion," Aaron said, and his friends nodded.

"Thanks. We will see who becomes champion in the end," Harry said smiling.

The day before Halloween the delegations of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived. Harry had a stare down with Viktor Krum. It was common knowledge that Harry should have played the World Cup for England, if it had not been for his mother. Perhaps he would be able to have a one-on-one match with the Bulgarian seeker. It would definitely be a great opportunity. But more interesting than the Bulgarian seeker was one of the French girls. She had to have some Veela blood in her, judging by the number of boys that made fools of themselves over her. Harry was immune to the Veela allure thanks to his Occlumency training. It was one of the things his uncle Sirius had taught him and Aaron. The younger ones were just starting in the mental discipline. House Black had always been masters in the mind arts, due to their paranoia of losing their family secrets if the members of the house didn't learn Occlumency. And Sirius Black was acknowledged as one of the best the house had ever produced.

But Harry found the girl to be pleasant to look at, even without counting in the allure. If she was nice, he might want to get to know her better. For some reason, he had problems finding a girlfriend that liked him for him, not his family's name, wealth, his Quidditch popularity or his brother's fame. It was annoying how often it had happened that he found out about things like that. Not to mention that he automatically excluded girls that were too closely related to him. He would not date a cousin. He shuddered at the mere thought. Perhaps dating a foreign girl would help there. He gave the girl a charming smile without trying to get close. If she really was part Veela, she wouldn't like boys who made fools of themselves. Her surprised look seeing him proved him somewhat right.

Finally, after another great feast, which included specialties from other countries this time as well as classic English food, it was time for the opening of the Tournament. Dumbledore explained how one would go about becoming champion and warned everybody to not lightly put his or her name into the Goblet of Fire, as it would set up a binding magical contract and the chosen champions had to compete with no chance to get out. On the way out, Harry had to interfere with headmaster Karkaroff getting too close to Aaron. The fact that Mad-Eye Moody was the Defence Professor this year made for a very entertaining reaction from Karkaroff. He looked slightly jumpy. Harry used the chance to ask Krum for a seeker challenge.

"Hey, Krum. What do you think about doing a seeker challenge against me?" Harry asked.

"You're Harry Potter, right?" Krum asked, "The one that is said to be as good as me?"

"The same. I would like to get a real challenge, especially as we don't have the Quidditch Cup this year and I want to go professional next year," Harry confirmed.

"I agree. I vill prove I am the best," Krum said nodding.

"Great, what do you think, in two weeks on Saturday?" Harry suggested.

"Yes, that vill do," Krum nodded, and the two boys shook hands on it, "Vill you enter the Tournament, Potter?"

"Yes, I will put my name into the goblet. We will see if I am chosen," Harry confirmed.

"Ve vill indeed see," Krum said and then the Durmstrang delegation left for their ship.

"Wow, Harry. You are going to fly against Viktor Krum!" Fred Weasley said impressed.

"No shit, we should get omnioculars and sell the recordings," George added.

"I get 10 % of the profit and one omniocular for myself," Harry told them.

"Deal!" Crowed the twins together and rushed off to order the omnioculars and to recruit others to record the showdown of the century.

"Only you, Harry," Cedric, who had come over from the Hufflepuff table, said shaking his head.

"Hey, nobody said I couldn't take advantage of something the twins would do anyway," Harry commented snickering.

"True, so you are going to put your name up too," Cedric stated.

"Yep. I have thought about it and I will manage to do my NEWTs and the Tournament at the same time easily I figured, as I have nearly all the spells down anyway that we will learn this year," Harry replied, "So you're going to enter too?"

"Yes, I guess we will find out tomorrow who will become Hogwarts champion. But no matter, we will support each other, right?" Cedric asked.

"Of course. No matter who of us will be chosen, the other will help him win the Tournament," Harry confirmed.

After that they separated to go back to their respective common rooms.

Until tomorrow.