Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.
When Hermione opens her presents in this chapter she receives some off Sirius and the last one may confuse you a little as you'll wonder its real significance. This will be revealed later on in the chapter and I'm sure you'll guess what it is, if not then I'll mention it at the end of the chapter so you're sure.
Any constructive criticism or reviews are extremely welcome - I adore feedback of any kind. Enjoy the chapter, it is one of my favourites and I hope you like it too.
Christmas Day
Christmas arrived quicker than Hermione could imagine, even after the marauder's prank shook all their systems a bit, and she was shocked when the day was suddenly upon her. She was just glad she had to fortitude and the organisation to have bought the Christmas gifts for her friends months in advance, but that didn't mean that she was prepared for what the day would bring.
For her, Christmas day had always been a day for family and now she found herself without her parents for the first time in her life. She had always seen her parents at some point in the Christmas holidays and because of Voldemort and his death eaters she would never have that chance again.
She knew she had a family in the Order, she loved them all just as much as she had her parents, but there was something about her parents that had reassured her. They had been innocent to the war until it took their lives and she could spend time with them just relaxing, walking, talking, watching TV without any discussions on the war, the casualties or magic.
She didn't even have to see them, there had been Christmas days since beginning Hogwarts when she hadn't. But then she had still been able to hear their voices and she couldn't even do that now. She looked past her bed and saw that Ginny and Luna were still asleep, checking her watch she guessed that their slumber was due to the fact that it was only five in the morning.
She decided that since it was very unlikely that she would go back to sleep and very likely she would end up having a little cry about her parent's absence, that she should go down to the common room so she wouldn't wake up the other girls. Pulling on her dressing gown and slippers she headed downstairs.
An hour later and she'd had her little cry, though it had really turned into a rather long cry and she hoped her sobs hadn't woken anyone up. Then again, having to deal with the noise of Fred and George's experiments tended to mean most of them could sleep through an earthquake.
She went back up to her dorm to clean up, heading to the shower and letting the rush of hot water wash away her sadness and tears. She splashed cold water on her face to remove what redness was left round her eyes and then dried herself off.
They were having lunch in the Great Hall and everyone was attending so they'd agreed it would be semi-formal. Therefore she selected a dress the colour of chocolate that hugged her curves and came to just above her knee. It had short sleeves and a scoop neck and she smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She tried not to think of the fact that it had been the last present her parents had ever given her.
She added a pair of black pumps with just a little heel and of course her charm bracelet. She dried her hair and left it to curl down past her shoulders in silky waves. She wore little makeup; some shimmery brown eye shadow, mascara and a little lip gloss.
While she was getting herself ready she vaguely noticed the others around her waking up and completing their morning routines around her. They were all done at around the same time and congregated in the common room to open presents.
Hermione noticed that the boys were all looking very smart in black trousers and a variety of coloured shirts, though Harry's hair still wouldn't lie flat. Luna wore a floaty blue skirt and a white scoop neck top, while Ginny had opted for a dress very similar to hers, but in black. Hermione grinned to herself as she saw Harry gulp as he saw his vivacious girlfriend swing her hips and give him a wink.
Shaking her head she headed for the pile of presents under the tree, hoping to herself that Harry wouldn't ruin Ginny's dress when he inevitably ripped it off her. From the angry looks Ron was giving the pair he was thinking the same thing, though probably more worried about his sister's virtue rather than the state of her dress.
The next half hour was full of hugs, squeals of delight and smiles as the group opened their presents. Draco and Blaise seemed shocked that so many of the Order had given them anything and she smiled in return when the two gave her shocked smiles at what she'd given them; a potions book he'd wanted for Blaise and a broomstick servicing kit for Draco.
Harry and Ron hugged her over the assortment of sweets and WWW products she'd given them and Ginny swatted her over the head and blushed as red as her hair when she unwrapped the scarlet and gold underwear with the words 'Property of Harry Potter' embroidered onto the back of the knickers.
Turning to her own pile she was extremely happy with the presents she'd received. She'd gotten some sweets off Ron and a set of books she'd wanted from Harry. Ginny and Tonks had put together to give her an assortment of new clothes, intent on changing her style to daring rather than bookish, which explained the mini-skirt and tight tops she'd found in the package.
Blaise had given her a book on defensive magic and Draco had surprised her by presenting her with a rare first edition of 'Hogwarts: A History.' The best part had been the incredulous looks on both of their faces when she hugged them in thanks.
Sirius had given her a host of different gifts and she smiled at each one with their different significance, not many knew that Sirius could be so thoughtful. The first gift was a delicate necklace with a replica gold time turner to remind her of the object that had helped her save his life and she placed it round her neck straight away. The second gift was a moving picture they'd taken where he'd charmed the camera to float in front of them. She laughed as she watched him tickle her giggling form before they both calmed and smiled brightly into the camera. The final present was a bottle of Ogden's finest firewhiskey and she laughed as she let the memories that bottle brought back wash over her.
Remus knew she was interested in eventually creating a potion to alleviate the pain and difficulty of lycanthropy, with Severus' help of course, and so he had kindly given her a notebook full of information on werewolves that only a werewolf would know, she knew that she wouldn't find all the information in books. In addition, he had given her a number of bars of the best Honeydukes chocolate and it was a mark of their friendship that he had managed to keep them for her without eating them himself - Remus had an unrivalled love of chocolate.
Kingsley had given her a few arithmancy and ancient runes books and she knew they would be useful in improving her arithmantic equations for the war and predicting any events that could have a severe impact upon the battle.
Finally, the rest of the Order had given her an assortment of different gifts including chocolate, sweets, books and trinkets. She was incredibly pleased with them all and their thought managed to help her forget for a while that her parent's gifts weren't among the others as usual.
There was no breakfast in the Great Hall as everyone was busy getting ready and opening presents so the house elves sent up a selection of food to their common room in case anyone was hungry. Once all the presents were open Hermione ate a croissant and had some hot chocolate while she read one of her new books and tried to ignore her disgust at the way Ron was stuffing his face with food when he would eat again in an hour or two.
At noon they all got up to head down to the Great Hall for lunch and met with the rest of the Order in the entrance hall. Hermione hugged everyone and wished them a merry Christmas before coming to the group of people consisting of Sirius, Remus, Kingsley and Tonks.
"Wow Mione, looking good, I am very partial to that dress," Sirius grinned perversely at her but she just rolled her eyes and hugged him. "Thanks for the present by the way, I've been meaning to get a new leather jacket for ages and I love the helmet," he told her, referring to the motorcycle helmet she'd given him, with a silver image of Padfoot on it. "Your welcome Sirius and I love my presents, great memories," she told him with a smile, which he returned as he touched the timeturner necklace around her throat, glad she had worn it.
She then went to each of the other three in turn, hugging them and thanking them profusely for their gifts while receiving their thanks for what she had given them. Remus loved his new moonstone cufflinks to ease him around the full moon and had already devoured half his chocolate. Tonks was delighted with the two tickets for a Weird Sisters Concert and Kingsley was fascinated by the books she had given him, some on ancient runes, one on arithmancy and another on powerful offensive magic.
They all headed into the Great Hall and Hermione was stunned when she saw it, brighter and cheerier than ever before, with huge Christmas trees and tinsel everywhere. She and Bill were the last to go in and suddenly found themselves stuck under magical mistletoe, which wouldn't let the pair go until they kissed. Luckily everyone else was occupied getting themselves seated and no one noticed Bill lean down quickly to brush his lips against Hermione's. Once released from the spell the two hurried quickly to their places, trying not to let the blush on their faces show and looking pointedly away from each other for at least the first twenty minutes of the meal. Still, she couldn't help but smile inside as she thought of his lips on hers.
Hermione noticed the two Malfoys and the two Zabinis looked a little lost and she guessed none of them had ever really experienced such a lively, loving Christmas. She did her best to make them feel better, talking about potions to Blaise and about duelling techniques with Draco, breathing a sigh of relief when they actually spoke and didn't just go off in the sullen silence that they were prone to occasionally. She was also pleased when she saw Maria Zabini speaking to Professor McGonagall and Tonks managing to get through a polite, if slightly awkward, conversation about how her mother Andromeda (Narcissa's sister) was. Tonks was also pleasantly surprised to discover that Narcissa's snobbery was more of an act and though not as warm and caring as Andromeda, she was a rather nice woman and did express an interest in getting to know her niece better and in seeing her sister Andromeda again soon.
They had just finished dinner and were about to start on dessert when Remus stood up and addressed the group. "Erm, since you're all here Dora and I have decided it would be the best time to announce a piece of news we wish to share with you."
He motioned to Tonks who stood up next to him and continued speaking, "as you all know, Tonks and I have been dating a while and we want to let you know … we got married at the weekend and Tonks is expecting a baby." Sharp, short and to the point.
Silence for a moment and then there was a flood of congratulations. Hermione hugged both of them and Sirius was exultant, "hey Moony, now you've married my cousin it means we're officially family." Hermione smiled softly at this, they might have been practically family since Hogwarts, but having it official was even better.
Kingsley shook Remus' hand and hugged Tonks, "congratulations, a marauder kid running round, how will we cope." Everyone laughed and they started dessert with multiple conversations on marriage, babies and Hermione, Ginny and Luna all begging Tonks for a full description of what her wedding was like.
Once dessert cleared away and the topic of Remus and Tonks' elopement and pregnancy had died down they pulled crackers. Hermione pondered that wizarding crackers were so much better than muggle ones, a bigger bang and better gifts inside. Once the smoke had cleared away everyone sat at the table talking quietly among themselves.
Remus appeared deep in thought for a few moments before suddenly speaking, "Mione, that night you brought Sirius back to us we asked what you bartered with. You told us that you told the veil spirit about how much Harry and I missed him, but you also said something about how you mentioned yourself, but that it was a story for another time. Can we hear it now?"
The expression on Hermione's face made it plain that she had hoped they would all forget that particular sentence, however she gave a small smile. "Ok Remus, you can hear the story, as long as you all promise not to feel any guilt." They all nodded, though a bit reluctantly, wondering what they could have to feel guilty about.
"Well, you all remember when Sirius fell through the veil, we were all sad about it, Everyone rallied around Harry and Remus, trying to support them, because they were really Sirius' only true friends, the ones who knew him best. The problem was that no one ever considered that there could be someone else who missed Sirius just as much, someone who tried their best to help Harry and Remus while grieving themselves."
"I don't blame you," she said quickly when she saw many of the table realising she was referring to herself, "I hid it well. There were few people who knew me well enough or were observant enough to tell. While Ron is one of my best friends, he is rather unobservant, Harry was stuck in his own grief obviously. Dumbledore may have been able to tell, but I rarely saw him and even Remus might have noticed but he was grieving like Harry."
"But Mione," said Ron with a confused expression, "no offence but you barely knew Sirius." Hermione gave them a sad smile and they saw her exchange a glance with Sirius, who spoke to her. "You never told them did you?" She shook her head and he gave her a look, "you should have told them Mione, they would have helped you deal with the grief. Not that you should have grieved for an old dog like me."
Everyone was looking between the pair with confusion, "erm, is there something we should know?" questioned Remus and the room looked closely at them. Hermione gave a happier smile, "Sirius and I were damn near best friends when he went through that veil, its just that no one ever knew. You didn't ever think how he came back and we were suddenly so close, it didn't just happen because I saved him. At the time I trusted him as much as I trusted Harry and Ron and he trusted me the same as Remus and Harry. Sirius knows things about me no one else does and I could say the same about him."
The entire room was shocked into silence at the revelation and immediately wanted to know all about it, so Hermione obliged with some help from Sirius. "It started the summer before our fifth year, when we were staying at headquarters and during the school year we sent letters." Sirius laughed, "yeah I remember that, yours were always essays and mine were a few lines." Hermione grinned indulgently back, "well I never expected you to do more than you had to Sirius, you surpassed my expectations by even writing back to me."
She looked back to the rest of the room, who were smiling in a surprised way at the banter between the two, "the letters were really just bits of news and random thoughts. It was actually Sirius who gave me the idea for the D.A. I'd tell him all about school and how Harry was doing and he'd tell me all the funny stories about what he was getting up to back at Grimmauld Place." She looked back at Sirius again, "remember when you told me about how Buckbeak had almost mauled Kreacher when he was muttering derogatory stuff about you under his breath." Sirius' laugh increased in volume, "oh I remember that very fondly, I laughed about it for over a week afterwards."
Harry looked confused, "but Umbridge was checking all our mail, how did your letters even get through." Hermione smirked in a rather Malfoyish manor. "We realised we might have that problem before school started and so Sirius gave me a mirror. It was sort of like the mirror he gave you Harry, but you didn't talk to others, it was like a portal you could send objects through, so we'd send our letters through that." Remus glared playfully at Sirius, "you never told me that you had those, they could have been useful." Sirius just grinned, "can't give away all my secrets now can I."
Ginny decided to use the moment of silence to jump in with her question, "so when exactly did you two become friends at headquarters because from what we all remember you were always fighting about house elf rights and how Sirius was too rash." Both Hermione and Sirius laughed at this. "It was real to start, but once our friendship got started it was merely a well perfected act. We laughed about it so much during our talks," said Sirius with a smile on his face. "Your talks?" questioned Harry, "yes," laughed Hermione, "the reason we became friends. It started at the beginning of the holiday when we were the last two up. We just started up a conversation about the morals of magic, Sirius was rather adamant that the killing curse should be allowed in certain cases, aka his death eater family. I always said that there must be some good in everyone but he never budged. I remember right after Bellatrix sent him into the veil, I remembered those conversations and from then on I believed what he said, sometimes Avada Kedavra is acceptable." Her face darkened at this but she soon shook herself out of it, "I always enjoy my debates about literature and poetry with Remus, but Sirius is the only one I'd go to for debates on morality, he's seen both sides."
Sirius grinned, "you can say that again, after all I was the one who corrupted you Mione, if you remember the great hangover cover-up." Hermione laughed at this, "Sirius I told you never to reveal that, you promised." Sirius just shrugged with a smile and Fred and George gave identical grins. "What does he mean Mione, we must know the story of how Little Miss Perfect stopped being so perfect," said Fred.
Hermione gave Sirius a glare, "fine I will tell you but just remember to blame Sirius for it all," she said, giving the man in question an evil grin. "My second night at Grimmauld Place, Sirius and I were the last ones up and we got into a debate about morality as I explained. So he says he needs a drink to debate properly and pulls out some firewhiskey. The he adds some comment about it being strong stuff that only the 'big people' can handle and you all know I wouldn't stand for that. I grabbed a glass, poured a shot and downed it in one. He just grinned and the debate continued. Luckily none of my family are lightweight drinkers and we all know Sirius can handle his drink so we were still holding the argument a few drinks later. That's how it all began. We would stay up late most nights drinking and debating until the early hours of the morning with no one the wiser. Of course in the mornings I had a hell of a hangover and Sirius found it hilarious to use the hangover potion himself and hide it from me. I would have been able to brew some myself but someone would have noticed. You were all under the impression that I just wasn't a morning person and that I needed coffee to wake up, the truth is coffee is my hangover cure. Harry and Ron, if they ever used their brains, should have realised that at school, where I obviously wasn't drinking, I was the one to wake them up and was always up bright and early at 6.30 am. I was always surprised I got away with it, Sirius just loved to tease me, talking really loudly on purpose."
The room was silent when she finished, until Molly started sputtering, "all those mornings when we learnt not to speak to you until you'd had your coffee, you were hung-over!" Hermione gave her a sheepish look, "Hermione dear you were only fifteen." Hermione gave a shrug, "almost sixteen, and actually with my time turner use I was almost seventeen. Plus UK law states that drinking within the home is up to the discretion of the guardians and though Sirius may not act like it he is an adult and kind of my guardian since it was his house." Molly just stuttered before going off on a tirade at Sirius about encouraging underage drinking and corrupting innocence, which Hermione tried to tune out. She thought it served him right for letting everyone know.
She turned to the rest of the table, who were looking at her with a mixture of shock and amusement. Tonks laughed, "I can't believe it Mione, that is the sort of thing I would have done at your age and I was a wild child." She shook her hair, today striped with pink and purple, as if to emphasise her wild streak. Remus just shook his head, as if wondering how he missed it and the Weasley twins spent several minutes congratulating her on completely fooling them all with her 'good girl' act.
Harry gave her a funny look, "you were drinking buddies with my ex-convict godfather, you know how weird that is Mione." But he smiled and she knew he was joking so she turned to Ron, who seemed shocked into silence. When he finally spoke it made the entire table roar with laughter, "wow Mione, who knew you could have fun." Hermione for her part just smacked him upside the head.
Once the laughter and scolding had died down Hermione looked serious again, "so now you know. I never told you before but the caster of the spell to bring a person back from the veil must have a strong personal reason to bring back that person. I just had to think about how lonely I was, no more humorous letters, no more late night drinking and debates. I lost one of my best friends, do you how many things I never told you, secrets I'd told Sirius that he'd made me promise to never tell anyone else so he'd be the only one who knew. He was the only one I could discuss them with and when he left I had no one to discuss some of my most important problems with."
She appeared to be getting into her stride, finally letting out everything she had held in during the year Sirius was trapped and it scared her friends, knowing she had suffered in silence. The Christmas mood was fast disappearing, the revelation of her friendship with Sirius before the veil bringing back the memories of suffering without him. Sirius got up out of his chair and came over the her, hugging her close and whispering to her, she began sobbing, "I missed you so much Sirius and none of them ever knew, I had no one to talk to and I was so bloody lonely." He was stroking her back now, "it's ok Mione, I'm back now, that time is over."
She went on sobbing though and spoke quietly to Sirius, but the table was so quiet everyone heard it, "Sirius it was so bad, the night I found out I considered ending it all just to get away from the pain." The room looked at her in shock, as did Sirius. "Mione, darling why didn't you ever tell us, we could have helped," asked Remus quietly with a pained expression on his face, hating himself for being so blind.
Hermione gave him a weak smile through her tears, "everyone had enough to deal with and anyway I only considered it for a minute before I knew its not what Sirius would have wanted me to do. Plus I'd miss you all too much." Her sobs subsided after a few minutes and she rubbed her eyes before whipping her wand out to clean up her face. "Sorry, bad memories," she muttered to the room, who nodded in understanding, still a little shocked by the revelations that they had heard during the meal.
Soon the noise level was up and the atmosphere in the room back to normal, though both Hermione and Sirius remained pensive during the rest of the day, lost in memories. One thing everyone knew was that this Christmas was one they would remember for years to come.
Thanks to all those who reviewed the previous chapter; Mwhahahaha18, Darkness-Lightness and LoveIt123. It is very much appreciated.
Ok, so if you didn't realise then the significance of the bottle of firewhiskey Hermione gets for Christmas off Sirius is that it is a reminder of the 'great hangover cover-up' Sirius tells the table about at lunch.
Sorry if the announcement about Remus and Tonks' marriage and Tonks' pregnancy seems rather rushed, but I didn't really know how to write it.
I hope you all enjoyed the little Hermione/Bill moment and I'm pleased to announce that there will be even more Bill/Hermione moments next chapter and we are soon reaching the time when they will finally get together. I know some of you might think their romance is moving rather slowly, since we've had over twenty chapters, but Hermione has a lot going on and so it would take time.