Chapter 18: New Years

Okay, last chapter for tonight and this week. I will be posting again Monday or Tuesday. This chapter is a little longer and I hope you all enjoy the story. Thanks for reading and please R&R!

Harry woke up the next morning excited for his cousin coming, but also to start working on his schoolwork. He knew he had gotten very behind lately, but he couldn't help it with all stuff that had gone on before school had ended.

He dressed for a run and went to the Quidditch pitch to run. After his run, he showered and dressed for the day before going downstairs and sitting down for breakfast.

"Morning, Mum, Dad."

"Morning, Harry," they both replied.

"So is homework the only thing on the agenda for the day?"

"Pretty much, I figured if you guys could get at least a quarter of it done today, you guys can have after dinner off, but you have to get the work done and that means everyone gets a quarter. You, Ginny, Rigel, Daphne, Neville, Tom, Artemis, Draco, Fred, George, and Percy get it done."

"Yes, Mum," he said sweetly.

Ginny came down a few minutes later and was soon followed by the rest of the kids.

After breakfast, Draco arrived and they all began their work. Lily had situated the largest study into a room ready for anything the kids needed to work on, including a library. They all agreed that Potions, even though Professor Snape had become nicer, was still the most difficult class and started there.

After Potions was done, they started to work on History of Magic because it was the most boring and the one most of them needed help on.

By the time they had all finished their History of Magic essays, it was time for lunch. They all walked downstairs to eat and smiled weakly at Lily as they sat down.

"Hi, guys, what all have you finished?"

"History of Magic and Potions," they replied.

"Well, that definitely sounds like a quarter to me. You guys can rest for the rest of the day and work on whatever you have left tomorrow."

"Thanks, Aunt Lily," came from some. "Thanks, Mum," came from Harry and Artemis.

"Hey, Harry, can we play hide-in-seek?" Dawn asked.

"Sure," Harry replied to his little sister. "Would anyone else like to play?"

Almost everyone agreed, except Artemis and Percy, who had more work to do for school. Fred and George, who were in their fourth year, had more work to do as well, but they didn't really want to work on it.

"Are we playing outside or inside, Dawn?"

"Inside, it's too cold outside."

Harry laughed and said, "Okay, let's go to the third floor then. There's more places to hide and we only have to stay out of Mum's and Dad's room."

They all followed Harry and Dawn up to the third floor and played a long game of hide and go seek. Everyone went to wash up before dinner and met downstairs to eat.

They sat down together and Lily served them dinner.

After dinner the kids went to bed and relaxed for the first time all day.

The rest of Christmas break was spent finishing up homework before New Years and finally Sirius's New Year's Ball.

Harry was excited to go with Katie, but sad because he knew wanted to go with Ginny as well. He knew it was partially because of the bond, but that didn't matter to him. He wanted them both to be happy and they were both denying each other happiness.

Ginny didn't seem as excited to be going with Rigel, but the rest of the kids were getting pumped about the ball. Tom was going with Hermione. Charlie with Artemis, Bill with Tonks, Ron and Daphne, Astoria and Neville, Fred and George were going with Angelina and Alicia, and Draco was going with Dawn since the little girl had continuously pestered him until he agreed.

The day of, the kids were finished with their homework, and everyone was helping arrange and decorate Grimmuald Place.

It was beautiful when it was finished and by nightfall, everyone was ready.

Harry was waiting with Sirius, Gabby, Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria like usual. He loved to see the people arrive and greeting them was good practice of his lordship.

The first to arrive, much like last year, were the Malfoy's.

"Lucius, Narcissa, it is lovely to see you both," Gabby greeted.

"You as well, Lady Black," Lucius stated with a small bow to the woman. He turned to Harry and paled a bit. "Lord Potter."

"Lucius," Harry greeted, but otherwise said nothing. Lucius and Narcissa moved on and Harry held back the anger that he felt. He didn't want to ruin Sirius's party, but he was going to have a talk with that man about the respect to a person's bonded.

The Bell family arrived and Harry smiled.

"Good evening, Lord and Lady Bell. Katie," he greeted with a small bow to each of them.

"Lord Potter, well met," Lord Bell said.

"Hi, Harry," Katie said and went to stand by his side.

"Katie, you look beautiful," he said and she did. She was wearing deep blue robes that complemented her eyes and dark hair. He was wearing forest green robes, but had left the green streaks out of his hair for the night.

"Thank you, you look quite handsome as well," she replied with a blush.

"Would you like to go inside with your family or stay out here and greet?" he asked politely.

"Could we go inside?" she asked. "I wouldn't mind looking around and seeing the decorations."

"Of course, I'll see you inside in a little while, Uncle Sirius."

"Okay, Harry, have fun," Sirius said.

Katie took his arm and he lead them to the ballroom.

"This is amazing, Harry," she said.

"Yeah, we worked it on most of the day. Do you want to get something to drink?" he asked.

"Sure," she said.

They walked over to the drink table and got some pumpkin juice.

"This party is really nice, Harry," she said.

"Yeah, Uncle Sirius plans really well. Plus, Gabby won't have anything less than perfect."

Katie grinned and soon everyone arrived. They had dinner and Harry asked Katie to join him in the first dance with the rest of his family.

Unlike when he was dancing with Ginny, this didn't feel natural. It was pleasant and they danced for most of the night, but it wasn't the same. A lot of the times Harry caught Ginny's eyes across the floor and they would look away quickly.

At midnight, Harry gave Katie a kiss and bid her goodnight when she left with her family. He promised to write, but said nothing of their relationship further. He didn't like her like that and he would have to explain that to her soon.

Harry went to bed soon after he had helped clean up.