Christmas

The weeks passed without incident and to his great dismay, Harry had no new ideas for finding the Horcruxes. The rain gave way to snow and very soon the Christmas holidays arrived. As the headmaster had asked him, he chose to stay at Hogwarts. His parents disagreed, but he remained inflexible. And anyway, the week he told them was also a week when what he now called the crises made their appearance. In addition to the exams, each time the headmaster took time to reassure him. Eventually, a bond was formed between Harry and him. And several times, Harry wondered if he should talk to Dumbledore about what he had done the previous year, but he was too afraid of his reaction.

He spent the holidays alone in his common room, only to discover a pile of presents at the foot of his bed on Christmas morning. His parents, not holding a grudge, gave him a train ticket to Privet Drive, with the start dates of the Easter holidays highlighted in red, in addition to a ton of boxes of his favorite sweets. Harry doubted that the Horcruxes would be destroyed by then, but he was still touched. He unwrapped his other gifts.

From Dobby, he received a set of clothes that he would not wear for anything in the world. He also found a new diary and a book on Quidditch illustrated with magnificent moving images that came from Ginny. He quickly threw the first gift in the trash and devoured the second because it was so fascinating.

Once he finished reading, Harry was about to go eat in the great hall when he saw that he had forgotten one of the packages. The wrapping was tiny and when he opened it he discovered with surprise an old parchment yellowed by time. Surprised, he looked for the card to find out who had given him this strange gift. When he saw the name of the Weasley twins on one of the packaging remnants, he began to understand. He immediately dropped the parchment before it exploded or made a green mustache appear on him.

He eventually found a card on which was written:

In reward for your acts of bravery towards our family, we recognize you as the heir of chaos and grant you the secret of our power. Swear with your wand, on the ancient relic, that your intentions are evil, and the 4 ancient gods of mischief will reveal to you the secret of our powers.

PS: Don't even think about kissing Ginny again.

There was a 9 in 10 chance that it was a tasteless joke by the twins. Nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him. He placed his wand on the parchment and swore that his intentions were bad.

As soon as the parchment turned into a map of Hogwarts with the names of its inhabitants written on it. He spent long minutes examining it, amazed. He saw the headmaster pacing in his office and Sprout working in her greenhouse. Then a detail intrigued him. According to the map, two people were in the common room. He examined the room once more, but he was indeed alone. Harry didn't pay much attention to it. After all, this map was old and was probably starting to malfunction.

Nevertheless, a thought was looping in his head while he was eating. Where had he seen the name Peter Pettigrow before?