Hello! This is chapter seven and I've planned for nine *is sad* we are nearing the end of this tale of misadventure...well the first part anyway! Methinks it shall be even more AU by 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' because I've got a lot planned for this series. Anywho, I'd like to thank the few reviewers and the huge number of people who added me to alerts and faves! I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much and sorry for not updating as regularly as we'd all like. :-) Also another little note, I know Padma is Asian and will most likely not celebrate Christmas but, for the sake of my sanity, let's just pretend she does. K? Please? Thanks!

Disclaimer: Nooka is not the owner of the Harry Potter series or its characters etc. But she does own the plot to this story and Harley...technically!

Thoughts and emphasis.

The months swiftly swept away in a hurry of classes and homework so that, before anyone noticed, December was upon them and everyone was getting excited about the Christmas holidays. Padma in particular was bouncing around the place with increasing excitement as the end of term drew near.

"I can't wait for Christmas!" she exclaimed as they were all wandering along to History of Magic. "All the family will be gathered for at Nan's for Christmas day for presents and food! Nan makes the best Yorkshire puds ever!" She was about to go on, but realised Harley and Draco were being rather quiet on the subject. Then she was hit with the sudden realisation that her two friends were staying at Hogwarts for the festive period. "Oh Merlin! I'm so sorry! Your guys are staying here aren't you? Me and my big mouth!"

"It's ok Pads, we've got each other to keep company!" said Harley.

"Yeah, and besides I've heard that Hogwarts is really exciting at Christmas. Plus they have a feast on Christmas day."

"What better way to spend Christmas than to have the entire tower to yourself, hang out with one of your best friends and have a feast for dinner?"

This cheered Padma up considerably and she was in much better spirits by the time they entered the classroom, despite the fact that she didn't enjoy history very much at all.

Things sped up during the last few days of term and everyone was rushing around trying to pack up their things and swapping presents. Things were so hectic that classes became nothing more than quizzes and games, with the exception of Potions of course, and they all finished early on the last Friday in preparation for the journey home the next day.

The next day, Harley and Draco walked Padma to the Hogwarts Express to see her off. They were all quiet and nervous because they all had bought presents for each other. They weren't sure how this would be received by the others, they'd only known each other since September after all and, although it felt like much longer, they were still anxious.

Draco was the first to break the silence when they got to the station. "I got you two something, it's not much but, well, you know...merry Christmas." he handed them a small package each, blushing slightly.

The girls thanked him and Padma rummaged through her bag before handing her friends a present each too. "Well I couldn't resist either! All I can say is thank Merlin for Christmas Hogsmeade trips!"

Harley smiled and handed over her own gifts for the two. "Apologies for the amount of sellotape, but at least you'll have fun getting into them!"

They all laughed and then the whistle for blew signalling Padma's departure. She hastily hugged them both and ran for the train. "Merry Christmas you guys!"

"Merry Christmas!" yelled Harley.

"Don't eat too much turkey!"

Padma glared and they both waved her off as the train pulled out of the station, continuing until it was out of sight. They wandered back up to the castle, discussing what Padma could have got them.

Christmas morning broke in cries of excitement in the Patil household and the adults were rudely awakened by the youngsters jumping on them and demanding that presents should be opened now. So the adults sleepily trailed after the children. Cups of tea were made and they all sat down to watch the younger members of the family rip off the brightly coloured paper to reveal the delights lying within.

Padma left the presents from her two best friends until last. Harry's for obvious reasons, why the boy thought that he needed so much sellotape was beyond her. She waited until everyone else was distracted, either admiring each others gifts or looking at their own, and picked up Draco's gift. She rolled her eyes. A book, how typical. She loved books as much as the next Ravenclaw, well except Harry, but she didn't want them all the time. That was all her family had bought her ever since her sorting. Sighing, she unwrapped the present and gasped in surprise, it was a diary. All lovely and blue and bound in leather with a golden raven on on the front. Well, she supposed she could forgive Draco for that bit of Ravenclawness. She opened it to the front page and discovered a note scribbled there.

Merry Christmas!

Sorry about the Ravenclaw theme, but I couldn't resist! I bought three of these, one for each of us and got someone to charm them so that we can send messages to each other through them To set the password, write it in on this page and it'll set itself up.

Enjoy!

Draco.

Padma smiled and set it to one side, deciding to have a go later in the day when Harry and Draco would be awake. She turned to Harry's gift and rolled her eyes, she would have to teach the boy how to wrap presents properly. She turned it over in her hands and found what she was looking for, a small patch of gift wrap untouched by sellotape. After much pulling and ripping she finally uncovered the box within.

Inside said box was a miniature raven which decided to fly around in circles above her head, cawing. Padma smiled as she watched it fly around, the figurines were quite common in the Wizarding world but she loved them and was fascinated by the spells used to create them. She looked at her family and sighed in contentment, hopefully the other two would like her gifts just as much as she like theirs.

Christmas morning downed crisp and clear at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the suns' dim rays lighted up the towers and one tower in particular was about to witness the rude awakening of one Harley Jayne Potter. A silver tabby was sneaking up up on its sleeping human with one goal in mind, attack. He gently lept up onto the bedside table and stealthily climbed over the odds and ends kept there, when he reached the edge he paused and then geared himself up for an almighty leap onto the lump which buried beneath the warm covers. He lept and landed right on target causing the human to scream and fall out of the bed in shock. Mission accomplished.

Harley glared up at the tabby kitten who was smugly washing his paws. "And here I was hoping for a bit of peace and quiet on Christmas morning." she checked her watch and groaned. "Oh well, I suppose I might as well get up!"

Harley made her way down to the Ravenclaw common room to pick up her presents and made her way to Gryffindor Tower. She and Draco had decided to open their presents together because it was Draco's first Christmas alone and Harley felt rather sorry for him. She couldn't imagine why the Hogwarts houses played such a huge role in British Wizarding culture and why it drove happy families to disown their children just for being who they were! Even Padma, a Pureblood Witch herself, had found what had happened to Draco to be a step too far. However, she did argue that the Malfoy's had been in Slytherin for centuries and were very proud of this fact, they saw Slytherin as the only house to be in. The fact that Draco had been sorted into Gryffindor was an added insult.

As she was thinking through this insanity, Harley had made her way through the silent castle and had now arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harley gave the password and entered to find Draco and Neville Longbottom sat in front of the fire exchanging stories about the gifts they had received off elderly relatives over the years, it appeared that Neville was winning.

"Merry Christmas guys!" she called as she made her way over.

"Merry Christmas!"

"So, you decided to open presents without me Draco? I'm offended!"

"Neville wanted too and he refused to wait any longer!"

"Hey don't blame me! You didn't try very hard to stop me or yourself!" retorted Neville, crossing his arms.

"Well I suppose I forgive you, but only this once!"

Draco sighed in mock relief. "Thank you, oh generous one!"

Neville laughed at the two friends' antics. "Aren't you going to open yours Harry?"

Harley looked thoughtfully at her gifts. "Hmm...which one to open first..."

Draco bounced up and down in excitement. "Oooo mine! Open mine first!" He then realised how childish he was behaving and regained his composure. "I mean, mine is obviously going to be the best."

Harley smiled and picked up Draco's gift. She slowly unwrapped it much to Draco's impatient frustration and Neville's amusement. "Oooo a diary!"

"It's not just any diary! It's a three way communication diary." Draco gushed.

Neville whistled. "Impressive!"

"Thank you Draco, now we can plot our evil deeds in secret." she winked at Neville. "And now for Padma's." She made short work of the wrapping paper this time and gasped. It was a box about the size of a DVD with a picture of the three of them inside along with a note.

"It's a memory box." said Draco. "I got one too." he showed Harley his own. It was painted black with dragons carved into it. Harley's was the colour of mahogany and had wolves carved into it.

"Cool." said Harley with a smile.

She quickly unwrapped the rest of her presents. She received some wonderful rock cakes from Hagrid and a book on the history of the Potter family from Remus along with a framed picture of her parents, which she gently placed into her memory box for safe keeping. Finally, she came to the last gift. There was no name on the tag to indicate who it was from, just a short note.

It is time this were returned to its rightful owner. Use it wisely.

She opened it and her two companions gasped in surprise at what came out.

"It's an invisibility cloak." breathed Neville as Draco tried it on. Sure enough, he disappeared.

Harley frowned and searched through the discarded wrapping paper for clues. There were none and she didn't recognise the handwriting. "Hum, curiouser and curiouser." she murmured.

"Who's it from?" Draco asked as he looked at the note in puzzlement.

"No idea." sighed Harley. "It's obviously from someone who knew my parents well enough from them to entrust this to them.

The rest of the day was spent wondering who it was from and why they felt the need to send it anonymously. Also playing exploding snap and the wizarding version of Cluedo that Neville had received from one of his distant relatives.

As the day drew to an end, Draco walked Harley back to Ravenclaw Tower, he wanted to suggest something that he knew Neville would never approve off. Honestly, he sometimes wondered how the boy had ever been sorted into Gryffindor! Where was his sense of adventure? They reached the Tower and Draco looked around before turning to an amused looking Harley. "So Harry. We have an invisibility cloak and a castle full of drunk professors." he grinned "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Harley smirked back. "Oh yeah!" They grinned evilly at each other before vanishing underneath the cloak.

Two hours and a pit stop off at the kitchens later, Harley and Draco came across a deserted corridor hidden behind two tapestries and a trap door. They were slightly disappointed to discover that all the rooms were abandoned classrooms and turned to leave in search of somewhere more exciting when Harley noticed a room hidden in an alcove at the end of the corridor. She peeked in and found something worthy of their attention. She beckoned to Draco and they both approached the object of their curiosity.

"What is a mirror doing in an abandoned classroom in an abandoned corridor hidden behind two tapestries and a trap door?" queried Draco.

"What is a three headed dog doing guarding the Philosopher's Stone on a forbidden floor in the castle?"

"Fair point." he conceded.

They both circled the mirror like curious cats before coming to stand in front of the mirror in confusion. Harley looked up at the inscription and read it aloud. "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi?" she frowned. "Is that welsh or something?"

Draco gasped. "Harry...my parents..."

"What?!?" she looked around.

"No! In the mirror!" he reached out to the mirror.

"Huh?" Harley looked into the mirror and her eyes widened at what, or rather who, she saw. "Mum? Dad?" She whispered. They smiled sadly at her and wrapped their arms around her. She felt nothing.

"They accept me for who I am." choked out Draco. That was the second thing that struck Harley as odd.

She looked at the inscription and pulled out a pen and notebook to copy it down. "Very strange." she murmured as she wrote.

"What is?"

"Well, from what I can work out, this mirror is showing us our parents." she sighed at Draco's uncomprehending look. "My parents are dead and yours disowned you. What's in that mirror is a fantasy or a dream."

"So?"

"I don't know, it's something to do with those words..." Harley trailed off, lost in thought.

"Draco sighed and cast a longing look at his parents. "I suppose...maybe we should go? If this thing is enchanted to show us our parents then maybe it could do something else. My Father always said that you should be careful around enchanted objects because they have a mind of their own and are, therefore, dangerous."

"Wise words...ok, let's go. This'll give me and Pads something to ponder over."

Draco groaned as they both slipped back under the cloak. This would mean more research.

The room and the corridor fell silent once more and the shadows in the corner of the mirrors' room shifted to reveal, briefly, the figure of an elderly man dressed in robes embroidered with moons and stars. He glanced at the mirror with a smile and the shadows shifted, obscuring him once more. The room and corridor returned to their quiet solitude and a red stone glistened in the mirror of desires.

Yeah, everyone seems to be *gasp* gasping in this chapter! I apologise for the lateness, hopefully the next one won't be far off!

Hope you enjoyed and please review!

Nooka