Story Title: Time, Interrupted
Chapter Title: Receiving
Author: Madm_05
Rating: Strong PG-13/T
Warnings: Slight fluff, slight angst
Chapter Word Count: 6,011
Date: 15 October 2006
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everyone else from Potterverse belong to JKR.
Chapter Seventeen: Receiving
"Hermione! Get up, you've got to get up! It's Christmas Hermione! It's Christmas morning and we got presents!" Harry shouted excitedly, jumping up and down on the bed. "Get up! Get up! Let's go get Papa Sirius and Uncle Remus and go open our presents! Do you think we got toys? Do you? Or do you think we got clothes? I wouldn't mind if we got clothes, especially if they fit, would you? I would really like some toys, but clothes are better than nothing." He was still jumping on the bed.
"Eugh," Hermione tried to roll over, a difficult feat as her friend was still bouncing on the bed. She had never been this excited about Christmas, had she? "G'way, Hawwy. M'seepin'. Go." The young witch was terribly tired. After her brief nap in the sleigh, she had returned home only to be ushered off to one of the guests room with Harry, but couldn't sleep because of a nagging thought at the back of her mind. She couldn't help but think there was something she had forgotten, but couldn't for the life of her remember what it was. And my dream, she thought, cringing inwardly. Even now, after Harry had pulled her from her sleep, she couldn't believe that her dream self had married the Dark Harry.
She had a few ideas why Sirius and Remus wanted them out of their rooms, but nothing concrete. There were obviously doing something in Harry's room, but had to make her sleep somewhere else or Harry would guess. Even Harmony had been moved for the night. It's not like they would do anything for my room. I can't have hardly anything in there anyways, since it's too dangerous. She understood that they were obviously planning something, but she didn't see why she had to share a room with Harry. It wasn't as if there weren't at least a dozen rooms on this floor alone that weren't being used, even with the school in operation.
Hermione didn't particularly mind sharing a room with Harry, or even a bed for that matter, as he didn't move around as much as his older counterpart did. Likely because this Harry never saw Voldemort rise, or saw Cedric or Sirius or even Professor Dumbledore die. Not only that, but she had fallen asleep next to Harry and Ron too many times before for it to be awkward. Just because I don't mind sleeping next to him doesn't mean I like being woken up this early. Is the sun even up?
"But Hermione," he whined and collapsed on the bed, laying down so that he was facing her. "It's already after five! Are you going to sleep away all of Christmas morning?"
Hermione looked up fuzzily. Did he just say it was five in the morning? What was wrong with the boy? She blinked and got a good look at his expression and felt her heart melt. He looked so excited and so hopeful that he would actually get toys for Christmas. "Come on, Hermione! Santa knows where I live now, and I think he really brought me something! That means I really was a good boy!"
Hermione mentally cursed the Dursleys again and forced herself to sit up. "Alright Harry," she agreed. "You go get Uncle Sirius up, and I'll get Papa Remus. I'll grab Harmony on the way to the family room, okay?" She shook her head in amusement as he bounded off the bed and dashed out of the room. Hermione smiled and slipped out of bed, Harry's excitement rubbing off on her.
Pulling on her slippers, she left the fairly empty room and set off down the hall to the staircase and going down to the first floor. Once she reached the bottom, she forced herself not to look at the beautiful Christmas tree, or t even allow herself to look into the family room, so that everything would be a surprise. Continuing down the hall, she was amused that she could still hear Harry, who had already strong - armed his way into Sirius' room.
Hermione heard a sound that vaguely resembled a troll groaning, and knew that Harry had pounced on Sirius. Ever dignified, Hermione pushed Remus' door open and walked calmly into the Room. "Papa Remus," she said. "It's time to get up." He didn't move. Hermione shook his shoulder. He made a noise but didn't move.
Sighing, Hermione decided to do something completely un-Hermione like. She jumped on the bed yelling "Papa Remus, get up, it's Christmas!" She collapsed onto the bed as Remus shot up. That was more satisfying than I thought it would be. I'll have to find a reason to act like a little kid again soon. That was fun.
"M'wake, m'wake," he mumbled, stretching and yawning. "Wha time s'it?"
Hermione giggled. "A little after five, last I heard." Remus gave her a fuzzy look. "Harry woke me up. He was so excited I couldn't tell him to go back to sleep."
Remus nodded his agreement and pushed his blankets away. "Yes, he seems to have that effect on people. Let me get my house coat, then we'll get Harmony and head to the family room, okay?"
Nodding, Hermione slipped off the bed and walked to Harmony's crib, knowing it had been moved to Remus' room for the night. She was shocked to find the crib empty. "Harmony's gone!" Hermione shrieked.
Panicked, Remus leapt over his bed to get to the crib. Sure enough, Harmony was gone. The two raced for the door, both shouting "Harmony! Where are you?"
"What's going on?" Sirius asked, coming out of his room with Harry in his arms and his expression panicked.
"We can't find Harmony," Remus said, his voice shaking and his eyes wide with fear.
Sirius, Harry still in his arms, immediately turned and began to hunt for the toddler along with the others. Harry, getting in the spirit of the hunt, squirmed out of Sirius' arms and made his way to the kitchen with Hermione and began looking inside every pot he could to find Harmony. Hermione, more practical, began searching through the cabinets that Harmony had discovered a few weeks before and liked to hide in.
Breathing hard and shaking, Hermione continued her search. Did someone break in, and Remus not know it? Was she kidnapped? Did she somehow get out of her crib and decide to play a game of hide - and - seek? Oh, Harmony! Where are you? Suddenly she heard something ripping and someone giggling. Rounding the corner, Hermione's jaw dropped.
Harmony was sitting in the family room, merrily ripping a piece of wrapping paper to shreds and tossing it into the air. Hermione didn't know whether to be relieved that her sister was okay, angry that her sister had given her such a fright, or proud of her sister's excellent escape. "I found her," she called instead. "She's in the family room." Hermione paused. "I see books, so I think she's opening my presents," she muttered.
Harry immediately dropped the pot lid he was looking under and peaked around the corner. "That's funny," he said thoughtfully. "She wasn't there when I first came in." Hermione was about to tell him that her sister had always been something of an escape artist, and that she was very good at hiding if she didn't want to be found, but didn't have the time as Sirius and Remus came skidding into the room.
Remus scooped Harmony into his arms, holding her close and heaving a sigh of relief. "Harmony," he panted, "please, please don't do that again," his voice was still shaking. He looked down and chuckled, his laugh slightly hysterical. "I see you've opened two of your sister's gifts. Amazing how you only went after hers."
"Well, since we're all here, we might as well go about opening our gifts. But first," Sirius stepped over towards the fireplace and grabbed red hat trimmed in white and pulled it onto his head. "This was a tradition that your grandparents started when your dad was a little boy, Harry. Now, I'll be Jolly Old Saint Nick's helper and give out presents. Who wants to be a reindeer, and who wants to be an elf?" He asked, holding two sets of reindeer antlers and two green elf hats.
"I… um… I'll let Hermione pick," Harry said, looking at the antlers with a touch of longing but clearly planning to choose what Hermione chose.
Hermione suppressed a smile. "Since I was an elf yesterday, I think I'd like to be a reindeer for Christmas if it's alright with you, Uncle Sirius."
Sirius, having seen Harry's look smiled at Hermione, his gratitude shining in his eyes. "I don't see a problem with that. Here you go, Hermione, and you want a pair too, right Harry? And that means that Moony and the naughty little Dewdrop get the elf hats." Sirius gave Remus a look. "We need to either get her a new crib to sleep in, or we need to put some enchantments on the one she's using now. She's much too talented at getting out. I caught her climbing down the side of it yesterday." He said, handing over the hats.
"I thought that I would wake up if she tried to climb out." Remus sighed and pulled one of the hats one his head. He looked ridiculous- the hat was obviously made for a child. "We might as well let Hermione look at the two gifts that Harmony opened."
Hermione picked up the first gift and felt her eyes water. It was a large, leather bound book, titled The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Her parents had adored Shakespeare, and had taught her to love his works as well. "Thank you," she said softly. "I love it." Hermione held the book close and wondered what her parents were doing. Were they watching her through the well? She felt a sudden weight on her shoulder, but when she looked, she saw nothing.
Remus looked slightly nervous. "We saw lots of books by Shakespeare when we were at your old house. Sirius and I thought you might like it. You took a lot of books with you, but I don't think any of them were by Shakespeare. Those books were… not in very good shape."
Hermione sniffled. "I love it. Really," she said again. She set the book delicately in what she claimed as her area for opened gifts and bent to pick up the other gift and stopped mid reach. It was The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. And it was identical to the copy she had lost the night she lost her parents and Uncle.
"Oh no," Harry said, tears filling his emerald eyes as he caught sight of Hermione's second gift. "That was my present. I really wanted to see Hermione open it. She said it was her favourite book."
Hermione swallowed thickly then grabbed the book before making her way to Harry and pulling him into a tight embrace. "Thank you, Harry," she said quietly. "Thank you so much, it's wonderful."
She didn't think she would ever be able to tell them how much these two gifts meant to her. True, they were just simple muggle books, but the thought that everyone had put into these two gifts meant more to her than she could put into words. No one else would have gotten her something so ordinary, so muggle, and yet so special.
"Thank you," she managed to say again, still holding Harry in her arms, almost unwilling to let go of the boy who had given her such a precious gift.
Harry blushed. "It was nothing, Hermione. Papa Sirius and I had a hard time finding it though. We couldn't find it at first, so we had to ask for help. Everyone kept looking at us funny, too."
Hermione laughed. Considering how they were likely dressed and that they had had to go to a muggle bookstore, she didn't doubt that people had stared at them. They must have made an unusual sight indeed. "Who's going to open the next present?" Hermione asked, deciding to turn the conversation away from her and the muggle world.
"Well, we can have Harry and Harmony both open two presents at the same time to get them caught up with out favourite bookworm," Sirius said with a wink.
"That'll do. Here you are Harry, there's two there, but wait until Harmony starts to open hers. These are your presents from Hermione, and one of your gifts from me and Padfoot," Remus said, handing the gifts to Harry then pulling out two ore for Harmony.
"You're stealing my job," Sirius pouted.
Harry grabbed the packages with as much courtesy as a six - year - old boy could manage, but Hermione saw the excitement shining in his eyes as he grabbed Hermione's gift first. He waited until Harmony began to tear open the paper on her first gift before he joined in and ripped the paper away. Sirius and Remus looked on, both curios about the present- Hermione had refused to tell anyone about any of the gifts she had bought. Everyone's eyes seemed to water when they saw Harry pull out the stuffed stag.
"James," Remus breathed.
"Prongs," Sirius whispered.
"Dad," Harry choked.
The only sound for a long moment was the crackling of the fire and the ripping of paper over Harmony's giggling at her new lion. Harry stared at the simple toy, seemingly awestruck. Hermione felt a surge of panic. Does he hate it? Was a being too forward? Perhaps I should have given him something less… symbolic. Maybe it's bringing up memories he would rather not think of. I'm so stupid!
"Thank you," Harry said at last, his voice choked with emotion. "You gave me my dad, Hermione. Thank you." The young boy twisted and wrapped his arms tight around her. "Thank you," he said again.
Hermione hugged him back, glad that he liked her gift and understood what she was trying to do. In truth, she had always wanted to get Harry something like this, but hadn't thought it was appropriate to get a stuffed toy for him, especially considering who he shared a dorm with. "You're welcome, Harry."
"Well," Sirius cleared his throat, "why don't we continue on with this, eh? Otherwise you'll never get the chance to open the rest of your presents. Come on, Harry, open up your next gift. Harmony has already torn into hers," he said, nodding to Harmony who was gurgling happily over a new doll.
Harry carefully set the stuffed stag beside him then opened the other gift. "Oh neat!" Harry grinned. "It's a snitch!"
"It's not a real one," Remus said. "It's a practice snitch. I don't think you're ready for a real one just yet, but this will work well enough for now. Besides," he winked at Hermione. "I have it on good authority that you're going to be a Seeker."
"Right, let's open up some more presents!" Sirius chirped, searching through the presents, looking for one with his name. Hermione smiled to herself and shook her head. He truly reminded her of a little kid sometimes, when he wasn't being an over protective guardian.
Remus snorted and grinned at this friend then set Harmony in his lap while Hermione returned to her original seat. "Well, Santa - Helper Padfoot, are you going to give presents to the kids, or am I going to have to take that hat from you and do it myself?" Sirius pouted, but began passing out the presents.
Hermione suppressed a sigh. This was the very first Christmas that she had ever had without her parents. Even in the other timeline, she had been able to spend that one final Christmas with them, as the Death Eaters had attacked her home on New Years Eve.
Oh, there were the years that she had stayed at Hogwarts, but she had always been able to owl them their gifts, and write them letters. Sometimes they would send Christmas pictures back and forth. But not this year. This year there would be no letters, no gifts, no cards, no pictures. She had only memories of past Christmases with her family.
Forcefully pushing thoughts of her parents away, Hermione focused on her gifts in an attempt to enjoy this Christmas. Harry was having a wonderful time, even jumping for joy when he opened packages with clothes in them. Hermione did notice that Harry was always careful to never knock over the stag, and would sometimes reach over and pet it, just to be sure it was still there.
In the end, Sirius looked like he was on the brink of tears when he opened the painting Hermione had gotten for him, and had hugged her tightly when she had told him what Helena had told her of how the painting came to be. Sirius seemed to be lost in distant memories as he gazed at the painting for long minutes. Much like Harry would reach over and pet his stag, so Sirius would occasionally look over at the painting and be lost to everyone. He hung it over the fireplace, for all to see, he had said, but Hermione noticed that he spent much time next to it, just looking at his past.
Remus, too, looked as though he were going to cry when he opened the Discipline Pendant and discovered that, while it wasn't a cure for lycanthropy, it may very well give him some control and freedom from the Wolfsbane potion. He had smiled gently at her as he slipped the worn chain around his neck. Every so often, he would grab the pendant and just look at it, a glimmer of hope in his eyes, and smile.
Even Horace was gnawing happily on a bone she had convinced Remus to let her buy after they had left Helena's little shop, and Romulus had hooted happily at his new box of owl treats. All in all, Hermione thought she had managed to get good gifts for her makeshift family.
Harmony had giggled at every present she opened, seeming to enjoy ripping the paper more than actually getting toys. When she had finished, she had a large collection of dolls, toy unicorns that pranced about, pixies that would fly around her head, a myriad of stuffed animals similar to the lion Hermione had given her, and a toy chest with her name engraved on top. After she had opened all of her gifts, Harmony seemed to have more fun inside of her toy chest than actually playing with her toys- every time she tried to shut the lid to lock herself in, the lid automatically popped open as a child - safety feature. To her delight, Harmony also received a bag of sweets that she snuck into every time Remus looked away. She didn't realize that Remus knew she was eating the chocolate because of the evidence smeared around her mouth.
Harry on the other hand gasped excitedly at every package he opened. In addition to his toy snitch, he received several new sets of clothes as he was rapidly outgrowing his old robes, a set of Quidditch robes charmed so that they would match any team he wanted, a set of toy wizards whose wands would light up, dragons that would actually fly around the room, a toy chest also engraved with his name, and several figurine sets of Quidditch teams. Harry had also received a bag of sweets, but unlike Harmony, he always asked if he could have one.
Hermione, meanwhile, had only gotten a few toys. Most of her gifts consisted of books. She had received the entire collection of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and J.R.R. Tolkien amongst others. Perhaps her favourite of the muggle novels she received from Remus was The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry. It seemed Sirius and Remus had no idea what to get her, so they ended up buying all sorts of muggle classics, and a large collection of wizarding books. It was a little disheartening to have so many books and not be allowed to keep them in her room. She also received the toy chest with her name engraved on the top, and a set of figurines. She was amused to find that they were all famous witches and wizards, and even several muggles, who were known for various academic achievements. Just as with Harry and Harmony, Hermione also received a bag of sweets.
She had just set her bag of sweets aside when Sirius and Remus cleared their throats. "Harry, Hermione, we have one final present for you both," Sirius said. "Well, technically, we have two for you, Hermione, and we have something that we want you to keep for Harmony until she's older, okay?"
Hermione nodded, unsure she liked where this was going- they seemed so solemn. "First of all," Remus began. "One of your presents, Hermione, was something you should have gotten a while ago."
"Harry," Sirius handed a small box to the young boy. "It's time to give Hermione the special gift now."
Harry straightened up immediately, with his chest out and his shoulders back. He walked confidently to her and presented her with the box. Everything about him, his posture, his expression, his calm stance, exuded confidence, but Hermione could see the nervousness in his eyes.
Hermione accepted the box and looked at it curiously. It was small, and most likely a jewellery box. Probably a bracelet or something like that, she thought absently. She carefully opened the package and was unsurprised to find a small jewellery case with in. She opened the lid and drew in a sharp breath.
It was a ring.
"It's the betrothal ring for the Potter family," Harry said. "You're s'posed to wear it because you're my betrothed. You were s'posed to get it when we first became engaged, but Papa Sirius and Uncle Remus thought this would be better." He flicked his tongue nervously over his lips. "I'm s'posed to put it on you." He added in a rush. "But you can put it on yourself if you don't want me to."
She drew in a breath and handed him the box. "I'd hate to break tradition," she replied, her voice slightly squeaky. "You can put it on me." Hermione watched as he took the ring from the box when a sudden thought occurred to her. She recalled, distantly, that many of the Slytherin girls had worn ring on their left hands, even in first year. At the time, she had thought it was unusual, that it was a quirk of the wizarding world. Now she knew how serious it was.
Hermione looked up into Harry's eyes as he slipped the ring on her finger. Neither noticed the strange golden glow that surrounded them, nor did they see the surprised looks Sirius and Remus shared.
"Well," Remus cleared his throat. "Now I think it's time for the other gifts. Come over here, sit in a circle, okay?" Hermione glanced at Harry but obeyed, though really she thought they were sitting in more of a box than a circle.
"Right, okay then," Sirius said, shifting slightly. "Oh, Merlin's beard. Kids, this isn't going to be a happy gift." Harry immediately began to look nervous. Hermione herself felt distinctly uncomfortable with that revelation. "But we wanted to give you something so that you could remember." He pulled three small packages out of the pocket of his robe, two wrapped in dark red paper, one not wrapped at all. "You first, Harry."
Harry took the box offered to him, licked his lips nervously, then set to work peeling off the paper. He slowly opened the box and gave Sirius a puzzled look and pulled out a necklace. "It belonged to your mother," he explained softly as Harry froze. "From when she was still in school.
"See the letters? See the JP connected to the LE? Well, the JP is your dad, James Potter. The LE was your mum, Lily Evans. He bought it for her for Christmas. She quit wearing it when they got married, because the initials didn't match and she never got around to changing it. It was recovered from your house after Voldemort attacked." Harry nodded then pulled the necklace out of the box, slipping the long chain around his neck and looked up, almost daring anyone to say anything about wearing his mother's necklace.
"Here's yours, Hermione," Remus said, taking the remaining two boxes from Sirius and handing her the remaining box that was wrapped. Hermione felt a shudder of fear go down her spine. What lay within this box? Only one way to find out, she thought. Taking in a deep breath, she removed the wrapping and opened the box.
"These were my mum and dad's," she said softly, lifting a golden chain with three gold rings. "These are their wedding bands and mum's engagement ring."
Remus nodded. "You never said you wanted them, back in July, but I kept them anyways. I know that you were concentrating on your sister and probably didn't even think of it. I know it's not very happy, but you shouldn't forget your parents, no matter what. I thought that you might appreciate keeping a part of them with you." Hermione nodded and swallowed thickly before she pulled the chain over her head.
"This one," he sighed. "Is for Harmony, but I thought you might want to keep it for her." He handed her the remaining box. With some trepidation, she lifted the lid and removed a locket. Engraved on the front was 7/17/86, the date her parents and uncle died. Swallowing, she opened the locket to reveal a picture on her mother on the left, and her father on the right. What amazed her was that they were wizarding photos.
"We found some undeveloped film in your house," Remus explained. "I had it developed the wizarding way so that Harmony could see what her parents looked like, but most of them didn't come out very well-I think there may have been something wrong with the camera. Those were the only ones that came out well. Behind each picture is a lock of their hair." He shifted uncomfortably. "It's not really normal to do something like that, at least not in the wizarding world, but we know that Harmony never really got to know your parents, and we thought she might appreciate it."
Hermione winced at his words, knowing that she was the reason Harmony would never meet the people who gave her life. She nodded and clasped the locket tight in her hand and fought a surge of jealousy that her sister would get wizarding photos of their parents and she didn't. Don't be a fool, she chided herself. Harmony deserves this. It's your fault she'll never meet mum and dad, so she should get this much at least.
"Hey," Harry said, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "We never got our present from Santa! Were we bad? Did we not do a good job helping him yesterday?" He asked, his eyes sad.
Sirius and Remus looked relieved at the change of topic and shared a conspiratorial look. "Not at all. You see, Harry, we were talking with Santa last night after you went to bed. He said that you two kids were amazing, and that he wanted to give you all, even Harmony though she was too young to help, a very special gift for helping him." The two men shared another look then stood. "Come on, we'll show you."
Harry and Hermione exchanged curios glances, but followed their guardians and stopped in front of Hermione's closed doorway. "Hermione, I want you to stand right here. Harry, go stand in front of your bedroom door," Remus instructed. Harry looked a little confused, but went and stood in front of his door, Sirius following behind him.
"Alright, on the count of three, open them. One…" Sirius grinned. "One and a half…" He began to chuckle. "Two." Hermione sighed, wondering what he was so giddy about. "Two and a half…" He was snickering now, along with Remus as he bounced Harmony in his arms. "Two and three quarters…" Harry began to fidget. "Three!"
Hermione opened the door and nearly fainted. "Oh my," she breathed. Somehow, Remus and Sirius- or rather, Santa- had enchanted her room to make it look like a meadow surrounded by a forest. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Even the floor looked- and felt, she realized as she stepped into the room- like grass.
The wall to the left looked like a forest, and had animal life bounding about. There was a large oak tree in the very centre, that seemed to blend with her headboard. The wall opposite the door was a meadow, with grass swaying in a nonexistent wind. The blinds over her windows on the far wall were enchanted to match the scene of the meadow so that it blended well. The wall to the right was also a picture of a forest holly trees, but this time there was a small river, with a pair of otters playing.
Over head, clouds were painted onto the ceiling, but moved as though they too were being moved by the wind. Hermione gasped when she saw a stag dash through the trees and run into the glade before he bowed his head and dashed off. She looked amazedly at a swing that hung from the ceiling, but looked as though it was suspended from one of the branches of the large oak tree.
Slightly overwhelmed, Hermione turned around, only to feel her jaw drop further. The largest bookshelf she had ever seen covered the entire fourth wall. Most of the shelves were empty, but Hermione imagined that was done on purpose, as the vast majority of her gifts this year had been books. It looked as though the bookcase was made of oak, much like the tree on her wall. There were only five shelves filled, and Hermione thought that it was very appropriate- there were five statues on the topmost shelf.
The statue on the far left was a bust of Queen Maeve, whom Hermione knew once taught witchcraft and wizardry long before Hogwarts became established. Next came Merlin, the Prince of enchanters himself. In the very centre, perched above her bedroom door, was a bust of the Greek Goddess Pallas Athena. Continuing the right, was Charles Dickens, followed by Jane Austen. In short, two of her heroes from the wizarding world, her favourite authors from the muggle world, and the Goddess of wisdom to watch over her.
"Oh my," she managed again as she all but collapsed onto the swing and looked around dazedly.
"We put all sorts of spells over everything, so that you could keep it all in here," Remus said. "There are even spells on the books that we bought you, so that you can keep them in here as well, along with everything else you got. Everything is fire resistant, water resistant, transfiguration resistant. It took a lot of enchanting, but it worked out in the end. Santa helped a great deal.
"Santa, Sirius and I had a hard time deciding who would get what," Remus said softly as he stepped into the room. "You see, we thought that you would like this room better, but as you can see," he nodded to the stag that had reappeared. "Harry would have appreciated certain aspects of it as well. In the end," he sat down at the foot of her bed, right beside her on the swing. "I thought that, even though Prongs wasn't your father, he would have liked you. And he would have watched over you."
Remus sighed and looked at her. "I don't know whether or not you realize everything that you've done Hermione."
I've gotten my parents killed, she thought then immediately pushed her bitter thoughts away. Now wasn't the time to dwell on her mistakes.
"But you've done a lot of good." Remus continued, unaware of her inner struggle.
Yeah, Harry has already killed a man less than two weeks after his sixth birthday because of me. Now he has experience. Should make taking on Voldemort that much easier, don't you think? Hermione tried again to push her bitter thoughts aside.
"And I know that you've had it rough," he continued.
You have no idea. Hermione strained to keep her dark thoughts away.
"But I think that the storm clouds have passed, so to speak. I think we can finally relax, and be a normal family. Don't you think?" He looked over at her, a gentle smile on his face.
Maybe, but not if my luck runs out. "I hope so," she said, looking up at him. "I would really like that." She knew it was true. Now she truly understood why Harry wanted a normal life so badly. Ever since she had been a small child- in the first timeline- she had always wanted to be famous for some great discovery she had made. Now she longed for the days of anonymity, when she was nothing more than a bushy - haired bookworm waving her hand in the air.
Remus smiled kindly at her. "Come on, let's go look at the other rooms. I'm sure you'll like them."
And she did. Harmony's room was done in a fish theme. The floor looked and felt like sand, and the walls were varying shades of blue with fish swimming from one wall to the other. There were starfish and a squid, lobsters and angelfish, even a few sharks and stingrays amongst others. It was an… interesting aquarium on her sister's walls. She thought about telling Sirius and Remus that they had mixed freshwater and saltwater sea creatures, but decided not to spoil it for them.
Harry's room, much to his delight, was done in a jungle theme. It was an interesting jungle, to say the least. Monkeys swung from the trees, while lions, tigers, and panthers tackled each other playfully. A sloth hung from the one of the branches near the bed, while tropical birds of all sorts took flight over head. It was strange to see the animals run from one wall to the other, but fascinating just the same. Like in her own room, there was a swing handing from a painted branch that hung beside his bed, but Harry's had vines hanging down to suspend the wooden board that formed the seat of the swing.
Hermione stood amidst the splendour, feeling as though she were dreaming. She felt a wave of guilt come crashing down on her. All this time, ever since she had gotten the journal, she had been slacking in her duties. It was her responsibility to get the Horcruxes to prevent Voldemort's rise, and she hadn't made any plans to get them other than to train and wait. It was her duty to maintain the peace she had enjoyed.
She watched absently as Sirius pointed to a lion and told Harry that his name was Godric. I have a great deal of work to catch up on. I've been far too lax a of late. I need to start working more with Harry and start laying plans for getting the cup and the ring, even if I'm not going to go after them for a few years yet.
"Well are you just going to stand there and stare or are you going to come play? Maybe head back to your room and organize your books, or try out your swing?" Remus asked from beside her, a gentle smile on his face.
Hermione felt herself smile despite her thoughts. "I think I'll go put my books on my shelf," she said with a small grin. "And maybe then I'll try out that swing."
Tomorrow, she promised herself. I'll begin work tomorrow.
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A/N: For anyone who is interested, The Little Prince is one of my favourite books. It's short-the copy I have is barely more than 80 pages, and there are a lot of pictures-but it is very good.
Well, Christmas is over, but the next chapter will have a long overdue chat with the adults on New Years Day. Until next time. Thanks to everyone who read, and special thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please review!
Cheers,
Madm_05