"Slytherin! Slytherin!" Everyone in the common room cheered as the quidditch team finally entered. The Slytherin team were stunned by all the applause, the older members because they never really received an applause like this, no matter how many times they had played. Harry was also stunned as this was also his first time receiving an applause. It seemed much more real than the applause from the match, likely due to how close these people actually were.

Harry recovered quicker than the others and gave a small bow, the other members of his team saw him doing so and quickly copied him. Harry looked around and saw his friends cheering for him, Jet was perched on Daphne's shoulders.

"Speech!" Harry just about heard Jet hiss. Harry looked at the other team members and saw that they looked unable to speak as they were dumbfounded by the volume of cheering.

"Thank you everyone," Harry called as he began walking forwards, he walked to the center of the room, the crowd parting for him. "Thank you, thank you." Harry said once the cheering died down enough for him to speak. "Hey, can somebody give me something to stand on? I'm still unfortunately small." Harry said, a few seconds later a seventh year waved his wand and made a stand for him. "Thank you," Harry said before he got on the stand. "so...we won!"

"Slytherin! Slytherin!" The room cheered again.

"Yes, yes," Harry calmly said as he gestured them to all stop so he could talk. "yes Slytherin won. I wish I could take all the credit for it but I have to give credit where credit is due and say Slytherin wouldn't have been able to win without the help of the rest of my team." Harry gestured to the other members of the quidditch team, despite trying hard not to, they blushed when the room clapped for them. "Yes, well done to them all." Harry nodded.

"You scored the most points out of everyone!" Blaise shouted with a grin on his face

"Thank you, and yes I did." Harry grinned back. "I had to, I wasn't about to let us lose to Gryffindor." Harry said, earning a few laughs.

"Weasley is going to be pissed off!" Malfoy laughed.

"Yes, he will, but that's actually what I want to talk to everybody here about." Harry said, causing the room to go silent.

"You are worried about Weasley?" Pansy said with pure disbelief in her voice.

"No," Harry shook his head and tutted his teeth. "not Weasley, Weasley is an incredibly idiotic, ignoramus. No, Weasley's power comes from the fact that he has at least three other brothers currently in the school. Percy the prefect is one but he's not a major problem because based off what I've seen and heard, he's a major rule follower so won't do anything to us yet. It's the twins that I'm worried about."

"The devil pranksters of Gryffindor?" Angela asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," Harry said, popping the 'p'. "They've tried to prank us before, but we were able to avoid that. During the quidditch game you may have all noticed them aiming their bludgers at me. And if that wasn't enough then I also embarrassed their little friend, Lee Jordan."

"He deserved it," Tracy commented, earning several agreeing noises from other Slytherin's. "I mean did you hear him? He was a biased git."

"I doubt he'd agree," Harry said in an amused voice. "to start with, I know one way to deal with Jordan. I want Slytherin house to petition for for there to be a second announcer at each game."

"Why?" One fifth year asked.

"In muggles sports they would usually have at least two announcers so they can give different opinions on a match," Harry explained. "imagine during the next match we have a Slytherin announcer to cancel out Jordan's biased commentary. Or at the very least we all band together to make sure the Professor's force the announcers to be unbiased, we've all heard McGonagall try and keep Jordan in line and fail to do so, so if everything goes right then next time he'll get one warning before getting booted.

As for the twins I bet that sooner or later the idiots are going to want to get back at me. Likely either in the form of an ambush or more than likely in the form of another prank."

"What do you plan to do about that?" Angela asked.

"Well..." Harry hummed, he stayed silent for a few second before he finally spoke. "I like to think that perhaps we should simplify things, the Weasley's want to prank Slytherin house, let's just get it over with."

"What?" Malfoy blinked in confusion.

"Malfoy, thanks for volunteering." Harry smiled down at the blonde.

"Huh...what?"

"Weasley's!" The two Weasley twins were interrupted from their breakfast by Snape. The two had planned to enjoy their breakfast then spend any time that didn't have to do with school on figuring out a way to get back at Potter and the other Slytherin's. The two turned around and looked at Snape, only to see that he was looking more furious than usual and was standing next to another boy. The boy was a first year judging by his size, but for some reason his robes were orange and his hair looked exactly like Ron's. Upon closer inspection the twins realized that it was actually Draco Malfoy. "You two will come with me, now!" Snape growled.

"But we didn't do anything!" The twins protested.

"A likely story," Snape scoffed. "follow me, now!"

As the twins were being dragged out of the hall, the Slytherin table gladly watched with amused looks on their faces.

"Pure evil, Harry." Daphne grinned at him. "You're a genius."

"What can I say? I try." Harry shrugged as he grinned back.

Harry woke up on Christmas day, he glanced in the direction of Blaise's bed and saw that he wasn't in it. Most of the students of Hogwarts have decided to go home for the Christmas holiday's to spend time with family, that included all of the first year Slytherin's and Angela. Though Harry wasn't mad or upset with them, he understood the importance of spending time with family. Not something that Harry was really willing to do when his 'family' were the Dursleys, Harry had heard from Draco that his father found out that the Dursley's were likely to soon be arrested then they would be put on trial sooner or later, they would then likely contact himself to be a witness.

Hopefully by the end of the year he would escape their reach in a permanent manner. Harry climbed out of his bed and went to the bathroom. A few minutes later he exited the bathroom and realized that Jet was in a corner of the room alongside a pile of presents.

"Jet?" Harry asked in a confused voice. "What are you doing?"

"These were here this morning," Jet hissed in response. "what are they?"

"They appear to be presents." Harry commented as he walked over, barely keeping the disbelief out of his voice.

"We've never gotten presents before." Jet commented in a surprised voice.

"We've never had friends before." Harry reminded him as he knelt down next to him. "It used to just be us against the world, but now we actually have friends." Harry smiled as he stroked the back of Jet's head before he started opening his pile.

"Okay, this one is from Crabbe and Goyle." Harry said as he took one box, he opened it to reveal a couple of bags of sweets, funnily enough Harry had sent the same thing to those two. "Hmm, we're not really good friends with Crabbe and Goyle, are we?"

"Not really," Jet admitted. "why do you ask?"

"I think the two have potential," Harry answered. "when they get back we'll start working on them." Harry said as he put the box aside before taking another one. "Ah, this one is from Malfoy. Hmm, a book on quidditch plays."

"That could be useful." Jet hissed.

"Indeed, let's look at the next one, it's from Nott, sweets as well."

"So you will be getting diabetes this year then?" Jet asked.

"Possibly." Harry chuckled before moving onto his next present. "Tracy got me a book on my family history."

"Really?" Jet asked, sounding very interested. "That is excellent, you can learn more about your family. Maybe you can learn if any of your ancestors could speak to snakes."

"Possibly, but I doubt it." Harry replied before moving onto the next present. "Daphne sent me a book of spells, ah...and so did Blaise."

"So we know what you're going to be spending your Christmas break reading." Jet commented in an amused voice.

"Don't judge me," Was all Harry said before he looked at his next present. "this is from Angela." Harry opened it and pulled out his present.

"What is it?" Jet asked.

"It's a wand holster." Harry gasped before he began reading out loud the note that Angela had left for him.

'Hi Harry, I hope you like my present. It's a wand holster made from scales from a Hungarian Horntail, that's a dragon in case you didn't know. You just wrap it around your wrist and then put your wand in it, then when you need your wand you just flick your wrist and it pops out into your hand. There will be more detailed instructions inside but that's the basic idea. This'll be safer than keeping your wand in your pocket, it'll stop it from being summoned and it'll be quicker for you as well. Though I'd recommend practicing using it first, you don't want to overshoot and send your wand flying across the room. Hope you like your present.

From Angela XXX'

"What a lovely woman." Jet hissed happily.

"Yep." Harry grinned before putting the black holster on his forearm, Harry placed his wand inside then flicked his wrist. The wand shot out into his hand but nearly slipped out of his grip. "I think Angela is right, I need more practice with it." Harry said before he opened his second to last present, one which seemed to be a simple cloak. Harry frowned and looked at the note on it.

"What does it say?" Jet asked.

"Well, it says 'Your father left this in my possession before he died, I am returning it to you, use it well'." Harry answered. "There must be more to it than that, I mean why would an old cloak that my father had be valuable enough to give as a present? I mean it means a lot to me but it must have some value beyond just being a cloak, right?"

"I don't know, try it on." Jet suggested.

"Fine." Harry sighed before he put the cloak on, he looked down and blinked when he saw his body had gone. "What the hell? I've gone invisible!"

"An invisibility cloak?" Jet asked. "That could be useful. Does it feel weird being invisible?"

"A little bit, it's like you know your body is there even though your eyes are telling you that it isn't." Harry replied before taking the cloak off, Harry looked at the note once more but couldn't really recognize the hand writing, though it did seem familiar, hopefully he could figure out who it belonged to sooner, rather than later. Harry opened his last present, inside he found a photo album and a note.

'Hello Harry, I wish you a happy Christmas. I wasn't sure what to get you, or if I should get you anything since I'm a Professor, but I like to think that we're friends as well so I got you a gift. I spoke with Hagrid, he was working at Hogwarts when your parents attended. He even knew them, I asked him if he could go out and get some pictures of them. It turns out he could, in this album are pictures of your parents, and there's room for more pictures for you to add. I hope you like it, merry Christmas.

From Professor Babbling AKA Beth.

P.S Say hello to Jet for me.'

Harry smiled brightly, despite the tears running down his eyes, he opened the album and looked at the picture the same way a starving man would look at food.

Harry with Jet on his shoulder was walking down the hallway to the great hall when they found none other than Ronald Weasley blocking their path.

"Potter." Ron glared at him.

"Weasley." Harry said in a calm voice as he nodded to him. "Nice jumper." Harry added upon noticing the maroon colored jumper Weasley was wearing, it had a gold 'R' on the chest, no doubt for his name.

"Shut it Potter, your snakes aren't with you today. What's the matter? They go home and leave you alone?" Ron smirked.

"Yes, they went home because they have families that love them, my family is dead, what's your excuse Weasley?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did your parents simply not want you?" Harry added with a smirk of his own. Ron's smile quickly disappeared, he reached for his wand but Harry was quicker. He flicked his wrist and his wand came into his hand, he was really glad he had spent some time practicing because it would have been embarrassing if he dropped his wand in front of Weasley, Harry aimed his wand at Ron who paused just before he was able to pull out his wand. "I wouldn't do that if I was you, Weasley." Harry warned him.

"Going to use your dark magic on me?!" Ron spat.

"You do realize that I'm a first year student?" Harry asked in a bored voice. "The most advanced knowledge I know is some spells from second year."

"Maybe but I bet it's only going to be a little bit of time before you start learning dark magic!"

"Look Weasley," Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm highly tempted to hex the snot out of you then drop you outside of a teacher's office, but since it's Christmas, I'm going to be nice this one time and let you go. Shut up, don't talk, don't say anything, just walk away and we can get back to me embarrassing you tomorrow." Ron growled but to his credit he did turn and walk away. Once Harry was sure that Ron was gone he rolled his eyes and continued walking to the hall.

Once Harry got into the great hall he couldn't help but notice that the four long, rectangular tables were replaced with a single large, circle table. Apparently there were so few students that they could afford to have them sat at one table. Harry, seeing no other available seats, walked forwards towards the table. Nearly every Professor was here - apart from a few like Binns and Snape - along with Professor Dumbledore and the few remaining students, which included the Weasley brothers, the four glared at Harry as he sat down. Harry simply winked at them before sitting down.

He found himself sat in-between Professor McGonagall, who gave him a small nod, and Professor Babbling who smiled at him.

"Hello Mr Potter, merry Christmas." Professor Babbling said.

"Thank you, you too." Harry replied just before Jet hissed into his ear.

"What did he say?" Professor Babbling asked.

"He says merry Christmas as well." Harry translated.

"Oh, thank you Jet." She smiled at Jet who nodded in response.

"Mr Potter," Dumbledore nodded in greeting. "how are you enjoying your Christmas so far?"

"It's been the best one I've had so far." Harry answered honestly. "Well...my first one really."

"Your first?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Well I probably had one when my parents were alive but I don't remember that one." Harry shrugged. "The Dursley's never really let me celebrate Christmas."

"Did they not?" She frowned.

"No, I usually just made the food then stayed out of the way." Harry replied.

"Hmm." Professor McGonagall's lips thinned so much that Harry thought they might disappear, she glared at Dumbledore who had a pained expression on his face.

"Well...did you get any good presents?" Professor Babbling asked, hoping to bring the conversation back to a more cheery topic.

"Quite a few," Harry grinned. "mostly just sweets and books but I still liked them."

"I'm glad." Professor Babbling smiled. "Hopefully the next Christmas you have is as good as this one."

"Thank you." Harry smiled back. "I'm hoping that by the end of the year I won't be living with the Dursley's anymore."

"You are not the only one." Professor McGonagall nodded in agreement. As everyone finished eating Harry tugged on Professor Babbling's sleeve.

"Excuse me, can I talk to you in private?" Harry asked.

"Um...sure." Professor Babbling nodded, after they left the hall the two walked up to Professor Babbling's office. "Okay," She said once she closed the door. "what can I..." She found herself cut off as Harry suddenly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you." He quietly spoke, just loud enough for her to hear. "That was the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten." Beth paused for a second, unsure of what to do, she let instinct take over and slowly hugged Harry back.

"You're welcome." She whispered before kissing him on the forehead.

Later that night Harry had snuck out of the Slytherin common room, he had Jet wrapped around his neck and they were both under his invisibility cloak. Say what you want but Harry was an eleven year old boy with an invisibility cloak, of course he was going to explore a castle at night. At first Harry had started by exploring the restricted section of the library, he was able to read partway through a book when he heard Filch, the caretaker walking around.

Harry was quickly able to put the book back before sneaking away, though during his escape he had somehow entered a room with an ancient, ornate mirror. It has clawed feet and a gold frame inscribed with the phrase 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. Harry looked into the mirror, for a few seconds he was able to see himself, despite wearing the cloak. That caused Harry to panic, was the cloak not working anymore? Would he have to sneak back to the common room while being visible? But before Harry could do anything he saw two other people in the mirror, standing behind him.

Harry glanced backwards but couldn't see anyone, he looked into the mirror and took a closer look at the people. One was a tall, handsome man with brown eyes and black hair that looked exactly like Harry's hair, the other was a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes just like Harry's. Realization hit Harry and he took a step back before he could even think about it.

"Harry?" Jet hissed.

"That's not funny." Harry growled.

"I...someone's coming!" Jet hissed suddenly. Harry turned around and saw Professor Dumbledore enter the room, Dumbledore paused and looked in the direction of the mirror for several moments before he pulled his wand out. He pointed his wand in Harry's direction for a second before flicking it in the direction of the door behind him. The door quickly but silently shut.

"Hello Harry." Dumbledore casually greeted. "I see you like many before you have discovered the mirror of erised."

"You can see through my cloak?" Harry asked as he removed his cloak.

"Not quite." Dumbledore shook his head.

"A tracking charm then." Harry replied. "You're the one who gave me the cloak, aren't you?"

"Excellent Harry," Dumbledore smiled. "may I ask how you came to that conclusion?"

"Well I knew it wasn't a gift from muggles, for obvious reasons."

"Obviously." Dumbledore nodded before gesturing him to continue.

"If I didn't have the note then I'd have guessed that it would have been an expensive gift, which would have ruled out a few people, but the note gave me a few clues. It eliminates anyone my age or younger, and I recognize your handwriting."

"Oh?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I went to Gringotts before school, I found a letter to my parents, from you." Harry replied. "You congratulated them for having me." The letter was just one of many things Harry had found, he was also thankful that Dumbledore hadn't drawn any money from Harry's trust vault or family account, that would've made the next few years at Hogwarts very awkward.

"That I did," Dumbledore smiled. "I would be hard pressed to find another witch who looked as happy as Lily when she was pregnant with you."

"Thanks," Harry said in a quiet voice before shaking his head and continuing. "as for how you saw me, I have three guesses. The first would be wards."

"Wards?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I am not an expert in wards but I know that you can be keyed into them and that Hogwarts has them. I'm guessing that it could be possible for you to be keyed into the wards and use them to keep track of people but I figure that's probably not the case in a school where there is so many people."

"You are correct Harry," Dumbledore nodded. "I do control the wards as I am headmaster but I do not have the ability to track everyone through them. If it was perhaps a small home with a few people then I could easily have the wards set up to be able to tell me where people are and if they leave, but with this many people anyone could be overwhelmed if they focused on the wards for even a second. Imagine it, you look into the wards and then your brain is automatically told where hundreds of different people, ghosts and magical creatures are."

"Thought so, my next guess was that your glasses would be charmed to see through cloaks."

"Ah, a genius idea, but not true. No, these glasses are simply because my vision is not what it used to be." Dumbledore replied, though he didn't mention how even if he had his glasses charmed they wouldn't allow him to see through Harry's cloak.

"I thought so, that's why I went with my next guess, it was more simper. You placed a tracking charm on the cloak." Harry replied. "It makes sense, you give me the cloak but also put a tracking charm on so you know where I am. Can you remove it by the way?" Harry asked as he held his cloak out.

"You're asking me to remove it?" Dumbledore asked in an amused voice. "I must confess that I did not expect that. Do tell me Harry, why should I remove it?"

"Because you gave it to me to use, and I'm not going to use it if I worry about being tracked all the time." Harry shrugged.

"You make a good point," Dumbledore said with a small smile before he waved his wand over the cloak. "I give you my word when I say that I no longer have anyway to track the cloak." Dumbledore spoke. "However I would like for you to remember that if I catch you using it to break more rules then it will be confiscated for the year."

"Why did you give it me anyway?" Harry asked. "I can't imagine many headmasters giving students invisibility cloaks."

"The reason is a simple one Harry," Dumbledore replied. "it was your father's. He gave it me to study before he died, I could not give it to you when you were younger because you were living with the Dursley's. I had planned to give it you for your first Christmas."

"Hmm, what about the mirror?" Harry asked as he gestured to the mirror. "I saw my parents in it."

"Ah," Dumbledore sighed. "I suppose you would have. When you look at the inscription on the mirror, does it mean anything to you?"

"Not really." Harry shook his head.

"And if you read it in reverse?" Dumbledore asked. Harry frowned but did read the mirror in reverse.

"I show not your face, but your hearts desire." Harry read. "So the mirror shows what we want to see."

"The happiest man alive would be able to look into this mirror and see nothing, nothing but himself. You, Mr Potter, who have been denied your family all of your life will look into the mirror and see them, standing alongside you. The mirror will be moved tonight, I ask that you please do not go looking for it, many have been driven to madness, seeing things that aren't real."

"I understand," Harry sighed. "what about you, Professor? What do you see?" Harry asked.

"Me? I see myself holding a pair of socks. Everyone always sends me books, but you can never have enough socks." Dumbledore replied with a smile tugging on his lips.

"You know if you didn't want to tell me then you could have just said." Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyway, am I in trouble for being out late?"

"It is Christmas," Dumbledore said, more to himself than Harry. "I suppose I can make an exception for the night."

"Thank you." Harry nodded just before Jet hissed. "Jet says thank you as well." Harry added when Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"You are both welcome. Harry, can you come to my office tomorrow after breakfast please?"

"Why sir?" Harry asked.

"There is a serious conversation I need to have with you," Dumbledore said in a tired voice. "you may end up hating me at the end of it but it's one I feel would be best had sooner rather than later. But for tonight, you may enjoy your sleep." Harry frowned at that but nodded and put his cloak on, just to check it was really working he paused to give Dumbledore the finger. When Dumbledore showed no reaction Harry shrugged before walking out the room, Dumbledore stared at the door when it closed. "I truly hope you'll be able to forgive me, Harry." Dumbledore sighed before rubbing his eyes.