Of Christmas Past by Chaser921
Chapter Notes: Thanks very much to my beta Yemeron, who betaed most of it for me in record time, and thanks also to my suitemate Chelsea for helping with the finishing touches. I hope you lot are satisfied, I worked like a house-elf to get it out this fast! Hopefully it'll get posted before July 18...Enjoy! And I promise, more Harry and parents goodness is on the way in the next chapter!
Ron and Hermione left the Burrow the next morning with a widely grinning Tonks, followed by a furious Mrs. Weasley.
“I thought I taught you better, Ronald Weasley! If Hermione’s parents found out that the two of you fell asleep together in my house “ I never would have thought “ ”
“We have to go Mum!”
“Goodbye, Mrs. Weasley!”
“See you later, Molly!”
With that, the three of them Apparated to the forest outside Godric’s Hollow before she could say another word.
“Right, you two,” Tonks began as soon as they’d arrived. “We’re going back to the twenty-third of December, 1980. I don’t know exactly what Harry’s told them, but we need to stay away from the Potters until we can talk to him and find out what’s going on. Have you lot got anyway of contacting him when we get there, or do we just need to wait until we see him out alone?”
“We haven’t got any secret way of contacting him, other than the usual ways, so I suppose we’ll just have to get him alone somehow,” Hermione said apologetically. “I mean, I suppose we could owl him…” But Tonks was already shaking her head.
“No, no, too risky that. We can’t risk any contact with anyone but Harry or Ginny until we know what’s going on.” She sighed. “Guess we’ll just have to get one of them on their own and explain everything. Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Did McGonagall or Moody brief you about what exactly it is we’ll be doing?”
Hermione nodded, but Ron looked at the ground and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Wasn’t paying attention.” Hermione looked exasperated, and Tonks sighed.
“Brilliant. It’s like this: most Time-Turners only work backward; you’ve got to live the time forward from when you went back. There were a few special ones made that took you forward too, but those were all broken in the Department of Mysteries. So, we can get back to 1980, but we’ve got to use another way to get back or we’ll be stuck.” Ron looked stricken at this, but she ignored the expression on his face and continued. “Lucky for us, the stone circle you lot found still works, and Arthur reckons it’s stable enough to get the five of us back. He said it’s strongest on the solstices, the equinoxes, and New Year’s Eve. Since the Winter Solstice has just passed and New Year’s is in a week or so, we’ll be coming back then. That gives Harry a nice long visit with his folks, but not long enough for him to do any major damage, with any luck.”
She looked at her watch, and beckoned them nearer, grinning again. “Right then, get as close as you can, not that you mind any, I’m sure.”
Hermione blushed at this, and Ron’s ears turned red as he shuffled closer to the two girls. Tonks took out the Time-Turner she wore around her neck, and threw its long, thin chain around their heads. It was different from the one Hermione had worn in third year. This one was much larger, and silver rather than gold. Tonks turned it seventeen times, and everything around them blurred.
They appeared in the woods by the village a few minutes later. The trees around them were slightly smaller, and the snow wasn’t quite as thick on the ground, but other than that, the clearing was the same as it would be in seventeen years. Tonks looked around and started in the direction of Godric’s Hollow. However, she’d barely taken two steps before she stopped abruptly and whirled to face Ron and Hermione. As a result, Ron crashed into her and they both started falling. His flailing hand grabbed onto Hermione’s arm in a vain attempt to stop their descent, but instead dragged her down too, and the three of them tumbled to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.
“Ow, Ron! That was my eye!”
“Sorry, Hermione. Hey, Tonks, what’d you have to go and stop like that for?”
“What’d you have to go and run into her like that, Ron?” Hermione snapped before Tonks could answer. “Maybe if you’d watched where you were going, you wouldn’t have knocked her over!”
“Oh, fine, blame me now, why don’t you? It’s not like I did it on purpose!”
“Can you two please stop arguing so we can straighten ourselves out? We’ve got a job to do!” Tonks reminded them before they could get into a shouting match. The two of them complied, though they kept looking daggers at each other. When they’d all finally managed to stand and brush themselves relatively snow-free, Hermione asked Tonks, more politely than Ron, why she’d suddenly stopped.
“Oh, right, I forgot, we need to get our cover straight. You know, who we are, why we’re here, et cetera. I was thinking I could pretend to be your mum, Hermione.” Her short pink hair suddenly sprang into a wild, bushy mane streaked with grey, and her face morphed into an older, more careworn version of Hermione’s.
Hermione grinned. “Well, it’s close enough, though I actually look a bit more like my dad. It’s his hair I’ve got; Mum’s is lovely and smooth. You’ll convince everyone else, though,” she added quickly. “But what about Ron? I mean,” she continued, her cheeks turning brilliantly pink, “we don’t look enough alike to be siblings, I don’t think.”
Tonks smirked widely at this. “I was actually thinking he could be… a very good friend of yours, come on holiday with us. You two could even pretend to be going out,” she teased, and Ron flushed as red as his hair. He glanced hesitantly over at Hermione.
“Er… that makes a bit of sense… What do you think, Hermione?”
“Well,” she mumbled, “It does make sense. I mean, if you were just a friend, you’d be spending the Christmas holidays with your family and not me, wouldn’t you? So, we should probably say that.”
Ron nodded silently as he examined his shoes, and Tonks chuckled. “Right, that’s settled then. Do you think the Roaring Lion’s still here? We need a place to stay, after all.”
“The sign said it’d been here for fifty years when we stayed at it in the future, so yes, I’d say it’s probably still here. Are we going to stay there?” Hermione asked.
“If there’s a room available. These little towns are usually a bit crowded around Christmas, what with family visiting each other and such. If it’s full, we might have to camp out here for a while.” Ron groaned at this, and she shrugged.
“Sorry, but if it comes down to it, that’s what we’ll have to do. But let’s go check on that before we start preparing for the worst.”
The three of them trudged into town, their bags slung over their shoulders. The Roaring Lion was the first building they encountered, and as they entered it, Tonks suddenly became motherly.
“Are you very cold, dear?” she asked Hermione in a worried tone as she brushed snow from her hair. “Goodness, your trousers are soaked! We need to get you into a hot bath before you catch cold.”
She turned to the clerk as Hermione bit her lip to keep from smiling.
“Good morning, have you got a room available? We’ve come a rather long way, and we’re a bit tired.”
The clerk started flipping through a ledger and running his fingers down its pages. He didn’t seem to find anything until he came to the last page.
“Ah, you’re in luck, the Coopers just checked out. We’ve got to tidy up the rooms a bit, and then you can””
“I’m afraid we need to check in immediately, my daughter’s soaked through,” Tonks interrupted him. “We don’t mind the rooms not being cleaned now, you can send someone up later.”
The clerk stared open-mouthed at her, and she returned the gaze imperiously. He shut his mouth with an audible snap before stammering, “You…you don’t mind…are…are you sure you don’t mind? Bit unusual…I mean, it’ll be a couple of hours before the maid can get to them…are you sure?”
Tonks sighed and said condescendingly. “As I said, we’re a bit tired, and my daughter needs to change into some dry things. We really just want to be able to drop our baggage off and recover; we’ll be going out again soon to get something to eat, so the maid can just clean then. All right?” The clerk hesitated, but nodded before handing her a set of keys and pointing up the stairs.
“It’s room eleven, just up there. I’ll send a maid ’round in a couple of hours, if that’s all right with you, madam?”
She smiled at him. “That would be absolutely lovely, thank you. Come dears,” she called over her shoulder to Hermione and Ron as she headed towards the stairs. They followed her, silent until they’d entered their rooms and shut the door. As soon as it was closed, Ron burst into laughter.
“That was bloody brilliant, Tonks,” he gasped, holding his sides. “I thought the poor Muggle’s eyes were going to pop out of his head!”
Hermione was giggling behind her hands, and even Tonks was grinning as she set down her bags.
“Well, it was easy, really,” Tonks said modestly. “I just pretended to be Molly.”
That sent the other two into more peals of laughter, and it was a few minutes before they’d all calmed down enough to start being serious.
“Right, reconnaissance. Hermione, Ron, I want you to go into town together. Act all lovey-dovey and such, I’m sure it won’t be that hard,” Tonks said, grinning. Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but before she managed, Tonks had moved on. “Go into a couple of shops; pretend you’re Christmas shopping or something. At some point, I want you to split up and start looking for Harry, Ginny, or any sign of the Potters. If you can’t get Harry or Ginny alone, try and find out where they’re staying by following the Potters or something.”
She handed them both small hand mirrors, which they pocketed. “Just speak into these to get in touch with me; I’ll be doing the same thing as you. If anyone asks, we’re spending Christmas here because it’s just me and Hermione, and we wanted to go somewhere new for the holidays.”
The two of them nodded and headed towards the door of their room, but Tonks called them back.
“Wait, we need to decide on names. Hermione, yours is fine, but Ron’s got to be called something besides Weasley. If the Potters hear someone claiming to be Arthur Weasley’s son is interested in them, there’ll be trouble, since you’re only a few months old. Anything in particular you want to be called?”
“Um…I dunno…Wagner? It’s close enough to my name I’ll remember it.”
Tonks nodded. “Good. And I’ll be Elizabeth Granger. Remember that if anyone asks, though I don’t think many will unless we stay very long. All right, off you go then. I want a word or two with the hotel manager before I leave.” She turned and began digging in her bag as the pair of them left the room and went downstairs to the streets.
Godric’s Hollow wasn’t particularly large, though it wasn’t especially small either. It had four relatively large streets that met in the center of the town and formed a square where most of the administrative buildings were. There were lots of side streets and alleyways as well, with many little shops and restaurants hidden among the houses. A few of them looked to be magical, though it was only apparent if you knew what to look for.
Hermione smiled and laced her fingers through Ron’s, who started and looked down in surprise. She continued to smile as she rose on her toes to reach his ear.
“We’re supposed to be going out, remember?” she hissed softly, slightly put out that he’d forgotten already.
“Oh, right, sorry,” he whispered back as they started ambling down the street. “It’s just a bit…odd, you know? Not that it’s bad or anything,” he added hastily as Hermione furiously opened her mouth. “It’s…it’s rather nice, actually.”
At that, Hermione’s eyes widened, and she shut her mouth abruptly. Ron ran his free hand through his hair nervously and pulled her towards the nearest building to take her attention off of him.
“Erm, let’s see what’s in here, shall we?” he mumbled as he shoved open the door to the shop.
The clerk looked up, and seemed to be surprised to see them before plastering a large smile on his face and stepping around the counter to greet them.
“Hello young sir, young miss. Welcome to Gaspard’s Glorious Gems! Looking for anything in particular?”
Ron just stared at him, appalled, as Hermione giggled behind her free hand. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but nothing came out. Finally, Hermione took pity on him and told the clerk that they weren’t looking for anything in particular, but would let him know if they found anything. He smiled and nodded before going back behind the counter, though his eyes followed them as they wandered around the store.
Hermione stopped in front of an opulent diamond necklace and turned to face Ron. He looked down at her in pleased surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I rather like that one, don’t you, dear?” He nodded placidly before looking down at the price tag, and choked.
“Ten thousand Galleons!” he whispered furiously in her ear. Her eyebrows rose, and she looked at the tag.
“That’s ten thousand pounds,” she whispered back, smiling. He frowned.
“What’s that in Galleons?” he hissed.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure what the exchange rate is. It’s probably something like five thousand Galleons.”
“Five thousand…” he looked pained. “Can’t believe someone would pay that much for it. Can’t believe anyone but Narcissa Malfoy would even wear it. Bit ostentatious, if you ask me. You weren’t being serious about liking it, were you?” he asked in a vaguely suspicious manner.
“Oh, don’t be silly, Ron!” She looked back at the necklace. “It really is a bit much for me. I prefer the simpler ones.”
Ron made a mental note of this as they moved away from the case. The other pieces in the shop were along the same lines as the necklace: extravagant and over-priced. Hermione walked out after only a few more minutes of browsing, and Ron followed her gratefully across the street into a Muggle sweetshop. He looked around in approval.
“Now, this is more like it!” he said enthusiastically, but his face fell a few minutes later as he realized that none of the sweets did anything interesting, like the wizarding Fizzing Whizbees or Chocolate Frogs. However, that didn’t stop him from filling a bag full of toffee pieces, sherbet lemons, chocolate éclairs, and wine gums. He waved the bag at Hermione, who seemed to be hesitating.
“Aren’t you going to get something, Hermione?” he asked.
“Well,” she said uncertainly, “Mum never lets me get any Muggle sweets; always wants me to get sugar-free things, so I’m not really sure what to get.”
Ron looked at her for a moment before grabbing another bag and filling it with small amounts of everything in the store and handing it to her.
“There you go, you should find something in there you like.” She smiled at him and nodded before going to the counter. Ron reached in his pocket to pay, but then remembered that he didn’t have any Muggle money. His face fell as he slowly drew his hand out of his pocket and shuffled up to her.
“Hermione, how’re we going to pay for this?” he whispered. She opened her bag and took out a couple of pound notes. “Don’t worry, your dad gave me some Muggle money from this time last night,” she whispered back as she handed the notes to the clerk.
“Oh, all right,” Ron mumbled. “I wanted to pay for you, though.”
She smiled again. “Well, since it was your dad that gave me the notes, it’s a bit like you are,” she said as she tucked the change back into her bag. “He said I should keep it since I knew how to use it, but really, it’s yours too.”
He nodded slowly as they exited the store, the little bell above the door tinkling merrily as they left.
They wandered through a few more shops, but didn’t buy anything. Hermione had to drag Ron away from an electronics store on the next street, as he kept exclaiming loudly that nothing in the shop made any sense.
“Ron,” she whispered, gripping his elbow tightly as she ushered him away from the very confused clerk, “you can’t go around saying things like that!”
“But I was just asking “ ” he began hotly, but stopped abruptly and grabbed her arm before he’d finished his sentence.
“Hermione,” he hissed, “Is that Harry? Over there, down the street across the way?”
Hermione frowned and squinted at the figure Ron was pointing at. “It looks like Harry, but it might be his dad…I mean, you know how everyone always says they’re nearly identical, and something about him seems off. Let’s try and get a bit closer.”