A fresh blanket of snow had fallen over the castle last night, making the old place look as beautiful as it always does in winter. The early morning sun was climbing the sky to warm up the chilled students setting out to the boats that will take them on the beginning of their journey back home. It was a cold day but the sun kept the day cheerful and bright. There were only two unhappy faces today and they had every right to be annoyed today. As the final goodbye's were finishing the students trundled off to the glistening lake so they weren't late to get to the train. Leaving Harry Potter to watch his friends wave back to him as the bobbed up and down in the small row boats. Harry waited to watch his friends sail off until they were just a speck on the opposite side of the lake before turning to return to the warmth of his true home, Hogwarts.

Harry breathed in the familiar scent of the castle, a welcoming mixture of worn leather books, treacle, smokey wood, freshly cut grass and a pleasant ocean spray. It always amazed Harry, even in his seventh year now it still does, of how Hogwarts always can feel so perfect with just the right mixture of smells that never fade and how warm and homely it feels. harry usually loves his winter breaks, no one to bother him. He can just relax and wander around the beautiful castle alone. But unfortunately Harry has been left with an intruder. Not technically mind you, he is a student but to Harry anyone that isn't Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Hagrid or Professor McGonagall isn't a welcome face in his two weeks of alone time. It was quite rare for students to stay over the winter break as they preferred to go home and wrap up for a much needed two week break.

Harry pushed the thought of the intruder out of his mind and wandered relatively calmly through the corridors, taking his his time on walking back to the common-room. It was relaxing to see Hogwarts so quiet, normally it was so busy you couldn't hear yourself think, so peaceful empty halls were a welcome change. Harry was so lost in thought that he jumped a little to find himself standing in front of the portrait of the fat lady and to see her staring intently at him. "Password?" She asked in her strangely deep voice, Harry realized that she must be repeating herself. "Stand firm." He replied, smirking to himself at the password. It had been set up by the 7th year boys as an inside joke. To all of the girls and younger students it was a brave quote for them to be brave as most Gryffindor's were but to all of the boys (who knew) it was their dirty joke not meaning anything to do with bravery if you catch their drift. Hermione was disgusted when she had finally forced Ron to tell her why all of the 7th year boys laughed when they opened the passage. True it was just a silly joke of a group of teenage boys dirty minds but it kept them smiling so no one bothered to do anything about it. It was a good job it was against school rules to reveal the ways to enter your dorms to other houses because it was very un-Gryffindoor like to have such a dirty mind, but to openly express it every day was something more like what Slytherin would have done.

Harry curled up on the large burgundy leather comforter and gazed into the fire. This winter was a bit colder than normal so Harry had requested to have the fire enchanted so it could be left blazing all day without the risk of spilling from the fireplace or from going out. Harry snuggled in deeper, this was home. True he had two other amazing homes, them being the burrow with the Weasley's the other being Grimwald place with Sirius, but neither were as safe as Hogwarts and neither were as beautiful. Harrys gaze turned to the red and gold tapestry embroidered with a fighting lion as he thought about all of the memories he had, had in this room. It definitely saddened Harry to realize that this was his last year as a Gryffindor student. But as the saying goes, once a gryffindor always a gryffindor. He gaze a small huff of laughter as Harry remembered when Hermione compared Ron to a teaspoon in fourth year. That night seemed a lifetime ago, even further back he recalled when he had to serve detention with Draco in the forbidden forest. "Wow" Harry though, when he thought about it those memories seemed more like dreams than actual memories. Harry shook his head, as if he was trying to shake the thoughts from his head. Harry pulled out his pocket watch from his robes, '8:30 a.m' it read. Harry decided that it was time to figured out how he was going to spend the next two weeks. Hermione obviously had suggested that he studied for his N.E.W.T.S seeing how they were half a year away, where as Ron had told him to kick back and do bugger all for the break, Harry had decided that he would rather not do either, not being content to do too much or too little. Harry just wanted something vaguely productive that didn't require effort. But now he just needed to relieve his boredom. Hoping to find something to inspire him Harry cast searching glances about the common-room.

Harry gave a loud sigh of frustration, 10 minutes had already past and still he couldn't think of anything to do. Harry got up and strode up the stairs to his dormitory, a little annoyed. He ran and jumped onto his bed and that was when it hit him, quite literally. The disturbance of Harry's jump displaced his invisibility cloak from its hiding place above his bed in the corner of the curtains surrounding his bed. It fell down and landed in a lump on Harry's head. This sparked an idea in his mind, Harry ran his fingers through the soft fabric as he planned what he might get up to. Harry reached under his mattress (because although he was quite a smart student he was hopeless at finding good places to keep his secrets when they weren't in his head) and pulled out the Marauders map, maybe this called for some old fashioned sneaking around. With only a couple of teachers and the intruder staying over the winter break, there was no one to disturb him or notice if he was gone for a couple of hours. Harry pulled his wand out from his trouser pockets and pointed it at the blank parchment, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said as black ink started to crawl across the page.