Of Christmas Past by Chaser921
Chapter Notes: Thanks very much to my wonderful beta Yemeron, who made this chapter much better than it originally was.
Hermione ducked behind a tree, breathing hard. She and Ron had been dodging each other for a good half-hour, and while she was in decent shape, she wasn’t exactly athletic. She sneaked a glance around the trunk, and a snowball whizzed over her head. She ducked back quickly, ran a short distance, and hid behind a large lightning-scarred tree. She could hear Ron in the distance, laughing.
“Hermione! It’s no fun when you hide! Where are you?”
She smiled and leaned against the tree, but straightened a moment later as a flash of vivid green caught her eye. It was an unusual color among the white and brown of the snow-covered forest, and she stepped forward to get a better look. She knelt next to the object and picked it up. It was a green, woolen glove with a hole in the tip of the right index finger. She frowned and looked inside the cuff, where she found, as she'd suspected, the name GINNY WEASLEY written in Permanent Never-Fade Fabric Ink.
A second later Hermione had the wind knocked out of her as she was grabbed around the waist and thrown to the ground.
“Ron!! Get off!!!”
She struggled and kicked. His laughter turned into a yelp of pain as her knee connected with something soft, and she winced. He rolled off and curled into a fetal position as he tried to protect himself from any more blows.
“Sorry, Ron, are you all right?”
“No, I’m not bloody all right! Those were my bleedin’ bollocks you kicked!”
“Oh…I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean it, honestly!” He glared at her, and she bristled at once. “Well, I didn’t! Besides, if you hadn’t slammed me into the ground like that it wouldn’t have happened!”
“I was just trying to have a bit of fun! Then you go and kick me in the knackers!”
“I already told you, it was an accident! Besides, I just found this.” She held Ginny’s glove out to Ron, who took it, frowning.
“It’s Ginny’s glove,” he said slowly. “You reckon she lost it?”
“I don’t know what happened, Ron,” Hermione said, “but it looks like there was some kind of struggle here. The snow’s all churned up, look. And there are footprints…oh my! They lead into that stone circle!”
“A stone circle? Cool! What do you suppose it does?” Ron asked.
Hermione frowned. “I don’t know… I know I’ve read something about them, but I can’t remember exactly what. Some time in our third year, I think. What was it…DON’T!”
Ron had walked over to the circle and was on the verge of entering it. He looked at Hermione crossly.
“Why not? It looks like Harry and my sister did!”
“It could be a trap or something!” Hermione said urgently. “There aren’t any footprints leading out, and Harry and Ginny definitely aren’t inside it anymore!”
“You don’t think…You-Know-Who used it to catch them somehow, do you?”
“I don’t know,” Hermione replied worriedly. “But we need to find them. If we can’t find them before dark…we’ll have to go get help.”
“But who?” Ron asked glumly. “Dumbledore’s gone.”
Hermione looked pained at Ron’s mention of Dumbledore, but managed to be exasperated with him at the same time.
“Professor McGonagall, Ron! She’s current head of the Order; she’ll know what to do!”
Ron nodded in agreement. “Right, shall we split up to look for them? Say, meet back at the hotel by dark?”
Hermione hesitated. “Okay. I really, really don’t like it, but it makes more sense. We can shoot up green sparks if we find them and red if something bad happens.”
Ron nodded firmly, pulled out his wand, and headed off into the forest. Hermione sighed, drew her own wand, and started walking in the opposite direction.
Two hours later, back at the hotel, neither one of them had succeeded in locating Harry or Ginny. Ron paced up and down the length of the room impatiently as he waited for Hermione to finish in their shared bathroom.
“Finally!” Ron stopped pacing in relief as she appeared. “I thought you’d never get out of there. Where are we going then? Headquarters?”
Hermione nodded. “We can use the Floo Network from there to get to Hogwarts and talk to McGonagall.”
She took Ron’s arm, and the two of them Apparated in the alley between numbers 10 and 11 of Grimmauld Place. They checked to see if the coast was clear, and then ran the short distance to the entrance of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
The house was still dark and shabby, but Mrs. Weasley had not ceased her efforts to clean it, and it was in slightly better shape than when the pair had last seen it. They arrived in the entrance hall and quickly stepped into the living room where a huge fireplace took up most of the west wall.
Hermione took a handful of powder from the small pot on the mantle and stepped into the fireplace, loudly shouting “McGonagall’s office!” There was a “Whoosh!” of green flame, and a moment later she tumbled out of the fireplace into the headmistress’s office. Professor McGonagall lifted her head from the letter she was writing and stared in surprise as Hermione stood and dusted herself off, only to be knocked down again as Ron came through the fireplace in a cloud of ash.
“Hermione! You have to move after you land!”
“And you’re supposed to wait five minutes, Ronald! Honestly!”
“Excuse me, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley!” Professor McGonagall said sternly, preventing an argument from breaking out. Ron and Hermione glared at each other before taking seats in the two chairs that faced her desk.
“Now, explain yourselves!” Her stern look melted into something like worry. “Is something wrong? And where is Mr. Potter?”
Hermione glanced at Ron before answering. “Well, Professor, we’re not really sure…”
McGonagall raised her eyebrows and leaned forward as Hermione told her about her discovery of Ginny’s glove and their subsequent search for Harry and Ginny. When she mentioned the stone circle, however, McGonagall’s expression changed momentarily from one of worry to surprise, but she said nothing until Hermione had finished.
“Well, this is certainly an interesting development. Have you told anyone else about this?”
“No, Professor. Do you know what happened?”
“I can’t say for certain, Miss Granger, but I have a good idea of what may have occurred. I’ll need Arthur to help me double check, but I think I know where they’ve gone.”
Ron and Hermione leaned forward anxiously.
“I believe they have gone into the past.”
Hermione raised both hands to her mouth and gasped, while Ron’s mouth simply gaped open.
“Wha-what? They’ve gone where?” he whispered hoarsely.
“The past,” McGonagall said crisply. “Hundreds of years before Hogwarts was founded, powerful witches and wizards across the British Isles erected stone circles as a means to travel through time. Something to do with the way the placement of certain stones conducted magic, you see. Merlin himself went to Ireland for the boulders of Stonehenge. That was an ordeal, you can be sure! Even the Muggles found out about it, and even though most of them don’t believe it now, it’s worked its way into the legends about one of their monarchs...King Arthur, I believe.
“However,” she continued, “after many wizards killed their past or future selves, time travel was restricted and put under the exclusive control of the Ministry of Magic. Most of the circles were destroyed or allowed to fall into disrepair, but others were never found. It sounds like the one you stumbled on at Godric’s Hollow is one of those.”
Hermione smacked herself on the head and groaned. “Now I remember! I read about the stone circles when I was researching Time-Turners and time travel in our third year. I thought I should know as much as possible about them, since I was using one.”
McGonagall nodded. ““I’ve been assisting Arthur Weasley with research on time travel, and some of the material covered circles like the one you found. The Ministry wants him to look into alternative methods, since most of the Time-Turners were broken in the Department of Mysteries. I’ll contact him, Alastor and Remus to help me determine if Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley are indeed in the past. If they are, we need to locate them. I think Alastor has contacts in the Ministry that can help us. Arthur might, too, come to think of it. You two can wait in the Gryffindor common room, if you like. I’ll summon you when I hear from them.”
They nodded and stood as Professor McGonagall opened the door and ushered them out.
Several hours later, Ron was pacing the common room impatiently while Hermione pored through several books from the Hogwarts library. After about ten minutes, he walked over and dropped into the seat next to her.
“Anything interesting in there?”
She shrugged and opened her mouth to reply, but just then the portrait hole swung open, and they looked up to see Neville Longbottom.
“Neville!” Hermione cried, rushing over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. “It’s so good to see you! How have you been?”
He patted her awkwardly on the back and grinned at Ron, who was looking at him through narrowed eyes.
“Oh, fine, I suppose, considering.” He shrugged. “Doing my best to get by, what with everything that’s been happening with the Death Eaters. But, um, anyway, Professor McGonagall sent me. She wants to see you in her office.”
Hermione let go of him at once and turned to Ron.
“Well, let’s go!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the portrait hole. “Thanks, Neville, we’ll catch up with you later!” she shouted over her shoulder as the portrait swung shut. As soon as they were through, they ran to the headmistress’s office, where they found Moody, Lupin, and Mr. Weasley waiting for them.
“Have you found them?” Hermione asked as soon as they were through the door.
Mr. Weasley nodded. “We’ve got their approximate location in time and place. Luckily, they didn’t go back that far, or they would have been harder to find.”
Ron looked puzzled, so he elaborated. “Magic leaves traces of itself that can tell you exactly what it was used for, if you know how to look, though the further back in time it goes, the harder it is to trace. Fortunately, Harry and Ginny only went back seventeen years, so the traces were still pretty strong.”
Hermione blinked. “Seventeen years?” she whispered, “Do you think he’ll meet “ ”
“He already has,” Mr. Weasley interrupted her. “We think he and Ginny are staying at their house, or they were last we checked.” He frowned.
Ron looked confusedly at them. Hermione sighed and explained.
“He’s met his parents, Ron.”
His expression changed immediately from confusion to amazement, and he seemed too stunned to say anything.
“We’ve been…debating on what the best course of action is, actually, and we wanted your input,” Lupin added. “It’s very important that we get them back to the present so that the future is affected as little as possible. However, who we send for them and when we send them are rather delicate issues.”
“I’ve told you, it could cause irreversible damage the longer he stays!” snapped Professor McGonagall. “Time isn’t something to be taken lightly!”
“How are we going to go back and get him?” asked Hermione timidly. “Can you use a Time-Turner to go that far back?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Moody. “If we can get one, that is.” He gave a crooked grin. “Most of ’em were smashed when you all broke into the Department of Mysteries. There are still one or two out there, don’t worry,” he added as Hermione’s expression grew anxious. “Tonks might have one from when she was on duty, now I think on it. Anyway, if she don’t, the Ministry should be able to get us one.” He barked a harsh laugh. “They want Harry back as quick as possible so he can get rid of You-Know-Who for ’em.”
Ron cleared his throat and stepped forward timidly, and all eyes turned to him.
“’Scuse me, but…well, I was wondering, d’you think it’ll cause too much damage to the future for Harry to stay, at least for Christmas?”
Hermione opened her mouth to object, but he went on hastily before she could.
“I mean, think about it; it’s the only time he’ll ever get to be with his mum and dad! I know if it was me, I’d want to be with them as long as I could.”
Moody hesitated, then shrugged. “Can’t really say,” he said gruffly. “Potter’s had some experience with time travel, so he’ll know not to mess with things. And his past self isn’t developed enough to try to kill him or anything.”
“But will that be enough to restrain him?” asked Professor McGonagall. “If your parents were about to be murdered and you could stop it, would you do so? Even if it meant You-Know-Who could never be defeated?”
Ron looked hesitant, but took a deep breath and spoke anyway.
“But that’s just it, isn’t it? Harry knows he’s the only one who can stop You-Know-Who.”
He looked at Professor McGonagall apologetically.
“I mean, if it comes down to a choice between saving his parents and saving the whole world, Harry’ll choose the whole world. He’ll agonize about it for ages and try to work out how to do both, but in the end, he’ll choose us. He knows that’s how it has to be because he’s the only one who can defeat You-Know-Who. He’s supposed to be a hero; that’s what he does. Why not let him have a bit of happiness before he has to save the world?”
Professor McGonagall frowned sternly, but Lupin looked at him thoughtfully as Hermione nodded slowly in agreement.
“You’re right,” she said softly, staring at Ron, who slowly started turning red. “Harry feels like he has to be a hero for the wizarding world, and he’s right, he does. He’ll do the right thing, in the end. He won’t want to, but he will.”
“I agree with you, Ron, Hermione,” Lupin said quietly. They looked at him in surprise, mouths agape, and McGonagall’s gaze whipped sharply over to him as Moody frowned. “Harry understands his responsibility to the wizarding world. He may not like it, but he understands that he is the only one that can defeat Voldemort, even if he has to let his parents die. The least we can do is allow him one happy Christmas with them.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be having a furious debate with herself. Finally, she sighed in defeat.
“I have my worries about it, but I trust that Mr. Potter will do the right thing and not try to change the course of time.” She paused, and a small smile appeared on her face. “And I suppose you’re right, Remus. The least we can do is let him spend Christmas with his parents.” Ron grinned delightedly at this. “However, I do think we should send some of our people to keep an eye on the situation, and soon.”
Moody nodded gruffly in approval. “Lucky for us, Christmas is only in three days, so he won’t have time to do much damage,” he said as he turned to Lupin and Arthur. “Who do you suggest? I was thinking of young Tonks, myself. Her Metamorphmagus skills’ll be invaluable.”
Lupin nodded. “She’s also young enough not to be recognized. We need to send someone with her who’s got some experience, but wasn’t around then.” He looked pointedly at Moody. “We can’t go, we’re too recognizable. Unless you want to be drinking Polyjuice Potion the whole time.” Moody grimaced as Lupin gestured at Ron and Hermione. “And they’re too young.”
Ron opened his mouth furiously, but Hermione cut in before he could start.
“But Professor Lupin, shouldn’t we go anyway? I mean, Harry is our best friend, and we can help explain the situation to him when we get there. He’ll believe us. As for our being young, it’s a good thing because we won’t be recognized!”
Moody nodded grudgingly. “She’s got a point, Lupin.”
Lupin sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair.
“Fine, but they need at least one more experienced group member! Who do you suggest we send?”
“Why don’t we contact Tonks first and see if she’s even got a Time Turner,” Mr. Weasley broke in. “If she doesn’t, we’ve got to try and get one from the Ministry, if they have any more. Once we deal with that, we can contact the other Order members and see who’s available to go with them.”
Professor McGonagall didn’t look happy at the delay, but inclined her head in agreement.
“I suppose that’s all we can do for now,” she said wearily. “Let me know as soon as you get in touch with Tonks.”
“Don’t worry, Minerva, we’ll get everything straight,” Lupin soothed as he, Moody, and Mr. Weasley walked to the fireplace. “We’ve got to.”