Harry put the final touches on his painting of Hogwarts. There were only two weeks of fall term left Christmas was almost here. He hoped Aunt Petunia liked the painting. He was careful to omit the few details that made it clear Hogwarts was a magic castle but put enough in that he was granting her childhood wish to see Hogwarts for herself. He had also bought a refill of the stationary he and Dudley had got her last year since it had been a hit. He spent quite some time considering what to get the rest of his family for Christmas before buying. He'd ordered some gold cufflinks and shirt studs for Vernon and had gotten four tickets to a boxing match for Dudley.
He was torn between ignoring Marge (his preference) and sending a simple charcoal sketch of Ripper that he'd mounted and matted. If he sent the sketch he'd please everyone (except possibly Marge). He'd decided to get Neville the Gift certificate from Lillywhites he'd spoken of months ago. Hermione was going to get a copy of Helga's Guide Of Do's and Don'ts for Young Witches and Wizards. After careful consideration Harry decided to get Hagrid a book about dragon care. Not because he liked the man, so much as because Hagrid was the one who gifted him with Hedwig. Harry decided on chocolate frogs for the kids in Slytherin who either he tutored or was tutored by except Flint . Flint was getting a gift certificate to Quality Quidditch Supply. He'd done his Christmas shopping through owl order or via the mail order that happened through a post service catering to muggleborns in Hogsmeade thanks to a little help from Flint.
Apparently Albus too many names Dumbledore was good for something. He'd had words with Snape and Harry was off the constant all-weekend detentions. Harry was actually getting the opportunity to do some of his supplemental studies like occlumency. This was what a weekend was supposed to be. But like all things it had to come to an end. Two things happened the next day there was a signup to stay at school for the holidays and Harry got a dozen owls.
Harry had gotten the occasional owl order package, the mail forwarded to him via Aunt Petunia mostly from Gringott's telling him or asking about the odd business matter, and once a month he got a letter in return for his weekly letters to Aunt Petunia. So he was shocked when a dozen Owls lined up in front of him with parchments. Uneasy he started to remove them Tracy and Daphne helped him. He eyed the pile of parchments uneasily. He knew the mail wards of Hogwarts should prevent anything very harmful from coming through but he was sure he didn't know that many people in the wizarding world beyond the walls of Hogwarts. He tucked the parchments into his bag he'd figure them out in history, then tucked into his breakfast.
In History Harry set his dicta-quill to writing what Binns said. Then he slowly went through his pile. One of the first things he noticed was that unlike most wizarding correspondence most of these had envelopes a typical wizarding letter was a folded into twelfths parchment that had been sealed with wax. Envelopes usually meant large multipage letters, or formal invitations. Or worst case scenario something harmful enclosed. Harry looked through to see if he could find anything familiar about any of the envelopes. Well one of them had a seal with Longbottom under it, that one was probably safe, another had Corner that one too was likely safe.
By the end of class Harry had opened all the parchments, and was surprised to find himself the recipient of several invitations. One was from the Longbottoms for a Yuletide ball and House party, and one was for a winter Solstice Banquet and was from the Corners. The remainder were from people he didn't know and wouldn't even consider saying yes to, those invitations were to the Boy-Who-Lived and from people he had never met. Harry's largest issue with all of them was he had planned to stay at school.
The solstice dinner was the 21st and Longbottom Party was the 24th through the 1st, Harry really wanted to go to both but he also knew that his Aunt and Uncle would be at Marge's the 20th through the 2nd, Hogwarts was ending the 18th and the Express ran the 19th returning the 5th of January with classes resuming the 6th. There the added difficulty of although Harry had a wizarding wardrobe sufficient to school and he could cover dressing appropriately for a dinner party doing so for a ball and week long house party was a bit beyond its capacity.
He really wanted to go to the party at Neville's and he knew he needed to start making connections in the magical world the party at the Corners would be a good place to start. But how to do it? Harry supposed he'd better start by contacting his Aunt.
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