Disclaimer-Harry Potter is not mine.
Chapter Ten
The next morning greeted both Harry and Ron at quite an early hour. As it happened, however, it was the only day of the year the pair found this to be acceptable.
"Happy Christmas, Ron," said Harry upon sitting up and seeing that his best friend was also awake.
"Happy Christmas," Ron replied. He glanced at his older brother, still asleep on the camp bed at the foot of Harry and Ron's beds. He looked back at Harry, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "What do you say we show Bill just how happy of a Christmas it is?"
Harry's eyes lit up with glee, "I'd say that's an excellent idea."
As one, the two boys picked up the pillows on their beds and started pelting them at Bill's apparently lifeless form.
"WAKE UP BILL!" Ron shouted. "It's Christmas!"
"Presents!" Harry chimed in. "Bill! Wake up!"
"Argh!" Came the strangled shout from Bill's cot. "What the bloody hell was that for?"
"It's Christmas," Ron said calmly and pointedly.
"Presents," Harry added. "And you're just lucky it was us waking you up and not Padfoot."
No sooner had he said this however, than the door burst open and Sirius appeared.
"PRESENTS!" Sirius shouted happily. "TIME TO OPEN PRESENTS! EVERYONE UP!"
"What'd I tell you?" Harry said as the three of them followed the obviously sugar-high Sirius downstairs.
The rest of the morning was spent opening presents and pulling wizarding crackers. Around eleven, Ginny disappeared into the kitchen to begin making Christmas dinner. At noon everyone else halted their festive activities for a light brunch. A little bit after that, Hermione showed up bearing gifts for everyone.
"So," Hermione said as she opened her present from Ron, "Did you two get anything interesting this year?"
"I got a sweater from mum," Ron said. "No surprise there. She sent one for everyone. How she has the time to knit all of those things is beyond me."
"I got one, too," Harry said. "But guess what else I got?"
"What?" Hermione asked curiously while examining the box of chocolates that Ron had given her.
"An invisibility cloak," Harry informed her. "Isn't that so cool?"
"Who gave it to you?" asked Hermione incredulously. "It must have cost a fortune."
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. The note didn't say, but Aunt Ginny said not to worry about it. Then Moony and Padfoot started their whole reminiscing about the past thing when they saw it. Do have any idea how much trouble we can get out of with this thing?"
Hermione frowned, "I don't know about that, Harry. What do you think, Ron?"
"Huh?" He asked, looking up from the Chudley Cannons poster he had been examining. "What do I think about what?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "What do you think about the cloak? You know, the one Harry got for Christmas?"
"Oh, that," Ron said, "It'll be so easy to get past Filch with that thing, now. We won't almost get another detention for sneaking to the trophy room in the middle of the night."
"You didn't almost get killed by a giant three-headed dog, that time," Hermione said sourly.
"And next time you won't have to either," Harry pointed out. "Now, are you going to come back later? Aunt Ginny said to invite you and your parents and your aunt, too, I think, over for dessert."
Hermione shook her head, "We can't. Aunt Beatrice invited some other relatives over as well. Sorry."
"It's okay," Harry shrugged. "You guys have to come back for New Years, then."
Hermione grinned, "No problem. I'll ask mum and dad when I get back, but I'm sure they'll be fine with it. Anyway, I was just stopping by with your gifts; I have to get back now. I'll see you two on New Year's Eve. Oh, and Harry, we'll have to get your aunt to finish her story then, too. She never finished it the other day."
"Don't worry, she will," Harry said reassuringly as he and Ron walked Hermione to the front door.
"She had better," Hermione said as she stood on the front porch. "She never told us anything about that war she mentioned yesterday."
"We know," Ron reassured her. "Now, I thought you had to leave?"
"Trying to get rid of me, Ronald?" Hermione asked, starting to walk backwards down the front path so that she was still facing her two friends as she spoke.
"He just wants to get back to looking at that poster you gave him," Harry reassured her. "We'll see you New Year's Eve, Hermione."
"Bye," Hermione called with a wave, before Ron shut the door and turned to Harry.
"I'm starving," Ron moaned, clutching his stomach. "When d'you dinner will be ready?"
"Soon," His little sister said, appearing out of nowhere next to Harry. "I've just been helping Percy set the table. Do you know if anyone extra is coming over for dinner, Harry?"
He shook his head. "Why?"
Ginny shrugged, "It's just that your aunt told us to set out thirteen places, and there's only ten of us. Oh, is Hermione coming?"
"Nope," Ron answered. "Anyway, I thought she had only been invited for dessert?"
"She was," Harry said, frowning. "I wonder if Aunt Ginny invited anyone else."
"Now, why would you get that idea?" Sirius's voice asked from behind Harry.
"Where'd you come from?" Harry questioned, spinning around to face his godfather with a start.
"You really wanna know?" Sirius asked, a mischievous grin on his face. "Because I can assure you that tale of my origin is a truly lovely one."
"Not really," Ron replied quickly.
"We're never speaking of this again," Harry said immediately, shuddering slightly as Sirius merely grinned cheerfully at the two boys, before the youngest Weasley captured his attention.
"Do you know why there are three extra places at the dining room table?" Ginny asked Sirius.
"No," Sirius said. "Well, yes. Don't know if they're coming, though," he said, more to himself, than the three kids in front of him.
"You don't know if who's coming?" Harry asked.
"The plan is to reinforce the initial foundation we've set for Plan B," Sirius continued as if he hadn't heard his godson speaking. "Then, once that's all in place, we're going to continue on with Plan A, though slightly modified. We don't want to go making things look too suspicious. We might even have to follow up with Plan C for a while, too."
"What's with all of these plans?" Ron asked. "What do they mean?"
"It's nothing you have to worry about," Sirius replied mysteriously. "But I'm sure you'll be told…when the time is right. Now, who's up for some Christmas dinner?"
Sirius herded the three kids into the dining room with those words. With a curious glance at the three extra places at the magically elongated table, Harry picked a chair at random and sat down with Ron on one side, Ginny on the other. Almost as soon as the three of them took their seats the twins sat down on Ron's other side, and Bill and Percy sat across from them. Remus sat next to Bill, across from Ron, while Sirius sat at the head of the table. This left a place for Ginny opposite Sirius at the foot of the table, two extra places next to Remus, and one at the corner next to the younger Ginny.
Just as Ginny was finishing bringing all of the food out, there was a knock on the front door. She quickly set turkey down in front of Sirius, and hurried towards the door.
"Wonder who that is," Fred, or maybe it was George, said.
Muffled voices could be heard coming from the front hall as they all heard the sound of the front door closing. Then, footsteps, echoing slightly off of the wooden floor, started coming closer to the dining room.
"Well, I'd say we're about to find out," The other twin said.
Ginny appeared once more in the dining room, a large grin encompassing her whole face.
"I would like all of you to meet Petunia and Dudley Dursley," Ginny announced to the now silent room.
Harry's head spun around to face his godfather for a moment. 'Plan B,' Sirius mouthed, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling in a suspiciously Dumbledore-like manner. Harry rolled his eyes as he turned back to his aunt to see that she had moved aside to reveal his other aunt and the boy Harry recognized from the day before, standing there.
"H-Hello," Petunia said, somewhat shakily as her obvious nerves betrayed her. "Happy Christmas, everyone."
Harry smiled at her as she caught his eye. "Hello, Aunt Petunia."
Relief seemed to flood Petunia's eyes after he said that. She drew the blonde boy beside her a little closer.
"This is Dudley, Harry," She told her nephew. "Dudley, this is Harry: your cousin. You remember, don't you? I told you all about him and my sister last night."
Dudley nodded; there was a rather eager look in his eyes. He had never had any relatives remotely close in age to him before; this seemed to be a new and exciting experience for him. It was a rather large change from the rude boy he had been the day before.
"You can sit there, Petunia," Ginny pointed to the open seat next to Remus. "And why don't you sit next to your mother, Dudley? We can get rid of this space next to Ginny. It'll give us all some extra room."
The two Dursleys sat down where they had been directed, obediently. As Sirius started to carve the turkey, Remus turned to Petunia.
"Hello," He said pleasantly, "I'm Remus, Remus Lupin."
Recognition seemed to flash across Petunia's face. "You were friends with Lily. She talked about you all of the time."
Sirius turned in their direction at these words, promptly forgetting about the turkey. It was Ginny's turn to roll her eyes now, as she directed Bill to take over from Sirius.
"Did Lilykins ever talk about me?" Sirius questioned eagerly.
"Depends," Petunia answered evenly, "Who are you?"
"Sirius Black," answered Sirius, "I think we've met before."
"When?" Petunia asked, looking confused.
"I was the silent, handsome guy standing behind James when he and Lily went to your house to invite you to their wedding," Sirius replied innocently. Remus shook his head sadly as Petunia grimaced.
"I don't think Lily talked about you all that much, to me anyway. She did mention to mum and dad a few times how irritating you and James Potter were, though. Of course, that was before she went and fell in love with him."
"Ah, the good old days," Sirius sighed. He turned to his godson, "Why aren't you socializing with your cousin, Harry? Go on…mingle. And introduce him to your friends while you're at it."
Harry rolled his eyes again, as he turned to face Dudley.
"So," Harry began, "How old are you?"
"Eleven," Dudley answered promptly, "Same as you. Mum says I'm a month older, though."
Harry shrugged. "This is Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley. He's my best mate," Harry said, indicating the red-haired boy beside him, who happened to be stuffing his face with food at the moment, as per usual at mealtimes.
Dudley nodded, then glanced at everyone else seated in the dining room. "Do you all live here?"
Harry shook his head quickly. "I'm amazed we all fit in here to begin with. Only me, Aunt Ginny, Padfoot, and Moony live here."
"Who?" Dudley questioned curiously.
"Aunt Ginny's the one who answered the door," Harry said, nodding in his aunt's direction. "Sirius over there, is Padfoot. And Remus, next to your mum, is Moony. They gave themselves those nicknames when they were in school. We've all lived here together, practically my whole life."
Dudley nodded again in understanding. "Then who are all these other people? The ones with red hair?"
Harry couldn't help but grin at the comment about the trademark Weasley hair.
"Well, I've already introduced you to Ron. The one with glasses, next to Moony, is Percy, and that's Bill, next to him. They're two of Ron's older brothers. And the twins, Fred and George, are on the other side of Ron. They're some of Ron's older brothers, as well," Harry said, pointing to each of the boys in turn. "And this is Ginny," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the girl next to him, "Ron's younger sister."
"You're so lucky," Dudley said, once Harry had finished. "You have all these people around, at your house. All I have at home is mum and dad. I have to go out to find all of my friends, but luckily they all live pretty close by."
"The Weasley's aren't usually all here like this," Harry assured his cousin. "Their mum and dad decided to visit their other son, Charlie, in Romania over Christmas. We weren't expecting Bill to show up, but he did. And my friend Hermione has an aunt who lives nearby, so she's stopped by a couple of times during break."
Ginny smiled pleasantly as she listened to the conversation taking place right in front of her. This was definitely one of the major changes that had occurred as a result of her time traveling.
In her time, Dudley had been quite horrible to Harry, although their last encounter had been a bit more pleasant. As it turned out, Dudley had thanked Harry for saving his life, which had been the last thing Harry would've expected from his often violent and cruel cousin.
But this Dudley…this Dudley was very different from the one Ginny had known before. He hadn't grown up with a puny little cousin to pick on, and therefore had grown up to be a somewhat pleasant person. Granted, he had still been spoiled rotten, and he did feel above everyone else at school and on the playground, but here he had found family. In Ginny's time, Harry had been the one who yearned to know a family other than the Dursleys. But now, their roles seemed to be reversed.
Harry and Dudley had both grown up with loving families, but Harry had had the exposure to more than just your normal everyday parents. Harry had grown up more as Ron's brother than his best friend. And Hermione had always been a constant friend. Dudley had often resorted to bullying just because. And it had often resulted in his friends either just being his friends so they wouldn't be made fun of, or because they too wanted to pick on younger and smaller children. Hopefully, Ginny thought to herself, Dudley's exposure to his cousin would have an impact on the way he acted.
"Where's your dad?" Harry asked Dudley curiously.
Both Ginny and Petunia were distracted from their own conversation at this question, focusing their attention, instead, on the two cousins.
"Uh…why don't you ask mum," Dudley said somewhat uncomfortably.
Ginny frowned to herself. She hadn't pressed Petunia when they had shown up without Vernon, but she knew it had something to do with his opinion of Lily from all those years ago.
Harry turned to Petunia expectantly.
"Vernon…he wanted to spend some time with his sister," Petunia answered hesitantly. "He said he wanted to spend time with his family…not mine."
"That's okay," said Harry with a shrug, "I'll just have to meet him another time."
The rest of the dinner went on quite smoothly. Once he had filled his seemingly bottomless stomach, Ron helped Harry describe Hogwarts and all of the classes they had there to Dudley. Dudley, for his part, was absolutely fascinated by the fact that his cousin could do magic. This was another thing that made Ginny quite happy. Dudley Dursley had changed from the boy she had known before, clearly for the better. Growing up alone had done him some good.
After dinner, Ginny told Petunia and Dudley that Harry had a gift for them. At this point, Harry looked worriedly at his aunt. He hadn't met the two of them until the day before. He hadn't had time to buy them any Christmas presents. Ginny disappeared from the room for a moment, and when she came back, she was holding an owl cage, which held a magnificent tawny owl inside of it.
Dudley's face was simply amazed when he saw it, and Harry grinned at his aunt's thoughtfulness.
"Now you can write me when I go back to school," Harry told his cousin, who grinned in response.
"We should probably be going," Petunia said, looking at her watch as Dudley admired his new pet. "Thank you so much for inviting us over. We'll see you over the summer, Harry."
Ginny walked the two Dursley's back to front door, and once she came back she grinned at Sirius and Remus.
"Looks like Plan B is complete."
"You aren't ever going to tell us what all of these plans are, are you?" Ron asked no one in particular.
"Nope," Sirius said happily. "Now, dessert!"
Remus groaned. "No! We can't have dessert!"
"Why not?" Little Ginny asked curiously.
"The sugar, the caffeine, the holiday; it's all too much to handle with Sirius," Remus moaned into his hands, which were covering his face.
"Sugar?" Sirius asked, with wild eyes. "Where? I want the sugar. Give me sugar!"
"We're all going to die!" Remus said dramatically as Ginny brought the desserts out to the table.
"Look at it this way," Bill said, calmly overlooking the way Sirius was now attacking a plate of cookies, "You've survived living in a world that You-Know-Who was trying to take over. How hard could it be to survive a sugar-high Sirius? You've done it before."
"But a sugar-high Sirius is so much worse!" Remus insisted. "And I've barely survived before."
"If he gets too out of hand, we can always lock him outside in the snow," Ron suggested. "That way he won't be bothering us."
"Snow?" Sirius questioned, looking up from his empty plate with a mad glint in his eyes. "I wanna play in the snow!"
"See. Problem solved. Good job, Ron," Ginny said. "Now…who wants to help with the dishes?"
With those words, everyone tried to get out of the room as surreptitiously as possible. Sirius was the first to manage to escape—leave. And, being furthest away from the door, Ginny and Harry were the unlucky victims—volunteer dishwashers.
"Oh, come on, Harry," Ginny told the boy good-naturedly after he had grumbled under his breath all the way to the kitchen with a stack of dirty dishes in hand. "Now you get to tell me all about school. I haven't heard a thing yet about who your favorite teachers are—or who the worst security guard is."
"Definitely Padfoot," Harry said, starting to wash the plates, then handing them to the younger Ginny, who dried them. "Who else would let a fully-grown mountain troll slip past him on Halloween."
"I thought they didn't know who let it in?" Little Ginny said.
Harry shook his head. "They don't. But we think it was Snape."
The older Ginny quickly turned her laughter into coughing.
"Whatever would give you that impression?" Ginny asked, feigning curiosity, and avoiding the strange looks little Ginny and Harry were giving her.
"He was limping when McGonagall, Quirrel, and him found us in the bathroom," Harry replied.
"Who exactly is us?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
"Erm…Me and Ron…and Hermione." Harry said softly.
"And what bathroom were you three in?" Ginny pressed.
"The girls bathroom," Harry said quickly.
Both Ginny's rose their eyebrows at this.
"But Ron and I only did it so that our best friend wouldn't be killed by the troll!" Harry added hurriedly.
Identical grins broke out on the girls' faces now, but when Harry glanced in little Ginny's direction she quickly turned away, a blush rising on her cheeks. Thankfully, Ginny was able to keep her growing smile under control when Harry then glanced in his aunt's direction.
"So…" Ginny said after a moment, trying to change the subject. "What do you think of Professor Snape?"
Harry looked at his aunt in amazement. "You're kidding, right? You actually need to ask me what I think about Snape? To put it simply, he's pure evil!"
"He can't be that bad," Ginny replied with a shrug. "Although he can be a bit odd, at times. When you go visit the Dursley's over the summer, you should ask Petunia what she remembers about him growing up."
"Aunt Petunia knew Professor Snape?" Harry asked incredulously.
Ginny nodded, "He was your mum's first friend at Hogwarts." A sad sort of frown appeared on her face, then, "Your father and Sirius never liked him much," She shrugged, "The only thing that matters now is that Snape is innocent, Harry. He had nothing to do with the troll."
"How do you know?" Harry asked.
"Finish those dishes," Was all Ginny replied. "I'll get Ron and the twins to put everything away when you're done. And then you can go join everyone in the snow."
"Hurry up!" Little Ginny commanded Harry, speaking up again.
"I'm going as fast as I can," Harry protested.
"No you're not," She replied, "A snail could do this faster than you are. Hurry up!"
"Just do the dishes, please," Ginny interrupted, "Without breaking any, if you don't mind. I'm rather attached to this stuff."
Harry and Ginny glanced at each other and rolled their eyes, all arguing forgotten.
As the two children turned back to the sink, and pile of dirty dishes, Ginny smiled to herself. Everything was going according to plan perfectly. Not only was Harry becoming friends with his cousin…he was becoming friends with his future girlfriend as well.
Yes, things were definitely going well.
Rewritten 5/15/12