Currently, Harry was still learning Elder Futhark. It turned out that just learning the symbols wasn't enough. Oh, don't get him wrong, it was quick to get started as a beginner, but the moment you try to put a sentence together, it quickly becomes very difficult to manage. Honestly, you could get a rough idea when reading a runic text if you understood the concepts behind every letter, but writing something new was very complicated. Harry could see why mastering these languages could take years, but he was determined to continue. He had even practised every day about writing them, even if it was mind-numbingly boring, but he was progressing along very quickly.
Soon, he would be able to at least understand the Alchemy texts, even if wouldn't really try to use any of the information. Still, Harry relished the challenge and did his best to learn what he could without a professor.
In the evening, Harry would just hang out with his friends. It was nice to just destress every day with the common banalities of games and drama. As for his classes, McGonagall was as severe as ever, Flitwick was as whimsical as he used to be, and Snape was as much of an ass as he was during the beginning of the term. Quirrell kept jumping at every sudden movement, Sprout kept trying to mother them all, and the assistant professors kept being useless.
Days turned into weeks, which turned into months, until suddenly, Christmas was coming. Harry barely noticed it until one morning in mid-December, he woke up to find Hogwarts covered in several feet of snow and the lake was frozen solid.
Of course, everyone was excited to go home for the holidays, and Harry was probably going to be the only Slytherin staying at Hogwarts. Still, it wasn't that big of a deal, all things considered; Harry was comfortable with his own company, but he was going to miss his friends after a while.
The day started with the Weasley twins deciding to hex snowballs to hit the back of Quirrell's turban. If he really had Voldemort's face on the back of his head, then this had to be the single most amusing prank those two had ever done. At the image of the mighty Dark Lord being accosted with snowballs, Harry burst into hysterical laughter, to the confusion of his friends.
As expected, his good mood worsened soon after because of the blonde ponce. The Malfoy scion seemed to revel at holding something on Harry. The boy was very subdued for a few weeks following their confrontation after the crest unlocking, but he returned to send spiteful comments trying to badmouth Harry to everyone around him. He was probably trying to be discrete but it was just ridiculous.
The funny thing was that the blonde quickly folded the moment Harry so much as looked at him. Honestly, if someone else was in Harry's place and lacked his patience with the blonde, the boy would have ended up hexed into oblivion months ago. Still, it was a large upgrade since he had stopped trying to have a direct confrontation with Harry. He was cowed, even if he was still an ass. He was annoying but at least Harry could ignore him now.
However, it wasn't just him that was quickly getting annoyed by the arrogant boy. After the Quidditch match, the Malfoy scion reached new levels of insufferable and unpleasantness, where he kept provoking every Gryffindor in his sight. Even the other Slytherins kept getting annoyed at the loss of points and it was probably his father's influence that stopped any fourth or sixth year from hexing him for the risk of losing the house cup.
As expected, as Harry was saying goodbye to his friends, Draco had to ruin it by loudly proclaiming, "I do feel sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
Harry didn't show it, but that comment did sting a bit. Harry disliked the idea of being alone, not in the literal sense, but having no one that would comfort him when things get hard, or that would help him when he needed to. It was something he ached for in both of his lives and he was left wanting in both of them. He really wanted to punch the boy in the face for his comment.
Instead, he just smiled, raised an eyebrow, and continued his conversation with Daphne about her plans for the Holidays. Apparently, the Greengrasses were going to France for Christmas and had invited Tracy's family as well. Blaise was going back to Italy to spend time with his deceased father's family. It was some kind of tradition all things considered.
Harry did envy them a bit, but Hogwarts was more than magical enough to compensate for some trip abroad, and so, he smiled as Daphne was grinning in excitement about her future trip, "I'm so looking forward to visiting la Place Cachée, it's the French alternative to Diagon alley."
Harry snorted, "Yeah, the hidden place. It's not exactly an original name, is it?"
"You speak French?" Daphne and Tracy exclaimed at once.
The Potter scion simply shrugged, "Yeah, it's not that big of a deal. I speak English, French, Spanish, German, and Latin."
They were all gaping at him, and he rolled his eyes, "I got bored when I was younger, alright?"
They all kept grumbling about unfair geniuses, but Blaise interjected, "What about Italian?"
"I guess I could learn it in the Summer. I'm focused on Runes right now, and it's a bad idea to try learning two languages at once. I'm almost done with the basics of Elder Futhark, and I'm planning on learning Norse in the second semester."
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