Harry has always spent Christmas Eve with someone. But being with people makes it hard to find yourself, so he spends one year alone.

Lucius Malfoy has been trained his entire life for his first year at Hogwarts - his chance to establish his reign, for seven short years, on the entire school. But between the pretty, cunning Narcissa, her famously unstable sister Bellatrix Black, and the Lestrange brothers, Lucius has competition.

Great heroes must always have something to strive for. When Harry Potter, the most powerful wizard in two hundred years, has no rival, the decision is made to craft not only an antagonist but an entire world for him... until an insane silver-haired girl shatters the spell.

Harry Potter walked bravely to his death, and he did not return. His blood protects the castle from Voldemort, the last refuge from the Dark Lord's world, and they must learn to carry on. Smallest bit AU, but it changes everything.

"Hi, Harry," she says, as if none of the past month has ever happened, and, some ways, it hasn't, because their lives just keep going in circles, and if you end at the beginning, it's almost like it didn't happen at all. Post-Hogwarts AU.