A/N: This is the plot bunny that ambushed me in a dream after I read one of the reviews on the original "Letter to No One." Amazing what inspiration the muses can come up with!
A/N UPDATE (Jan 2006): This story is being re-edited to clean up minor plotline glitches, punctuation and grammar errors prior to the posting of a new chapter. "Metamorphosis" does not take OOTP and HBP into account, although the author reserves the right to borrow various bits of background and minor characters to use for cosmetic purposes.
Metamorphosis: Chapter Four
by RowanRhys
Sunday, 22 December, 1996
Diagon Alley was a Dickensian picture postcard when Hermione and her mother got there early on Sunday morning. Holly garlands, ivy, and big red bows decorated the windows and doorways, and even Gringotts, where they exchanged Muggle currency for Galleons, Sickles and Knuts, was adorned with two very dignified and proper wreaths.
They spent a merry time going from shop to shop, selecting appropriate gifts for Harry, Ron, and Ginny. When Fred Weasley ran into them on his way back from making a deposit at Gringotts, they were hijacked into Weasley Wizard Wheezes, where George and a staff of young witches and wizards almost as crazy as the twins demonstrated their newest inventions, and plied them with samples for Hermione to take back to Hogwarts, including a trick wand that cast Christmas Carol Charms. The wand would emit a burst of red and green light that, on contact with a person, would turn into a small red-beribboned holly wreath which would sing a Christmas Carol in its entirety in a high squeaky voice before dissolving away in a shower of red and green glitter.
"You've really come a long way since you first tricked Neville with a Canary Cream," Hermione admitted. "But has your Mum ever really resigned herself to the fact that neither of you will be going into the Ministry like Percy and your Dad?"
Fred shook his head. "Nope. She's absolutely sure that this place is going to fold and we'll regret not taking the right road. She won't listen to anything about it, not even about the profits we're making. But Harry was right--we need laughs more than ever these days."
Hermione looked up from the shopping list she'd been ticking things off of, "Harry said that? When?"
George shook his head and Fred unaccountably flushed as he answered. "Oh, about a year and a half ago. Now you said you were heading into Muggle London? Where are you going?"
Mrs. Granger, cautiously sipping a cup of unsweetened tea, spoke up. "The usual. Hambly's Toys, Selfridges, Marks and Spencer, and then down to Fortnum and Mason to pick up fruitcake and the pudding for Christmas Day."
At the mention of the toy store, Hermione saw George grin at Fred. "If we weren't so busy this week, I'd skiv off and join you. But duty calls. Happy Christmas!" He gave Hermione a quick kiss on the cheek before heading towards the front of the store where the cashier was being overwhelmed by eager kids ready to pay for their selections.
Fred grinned wryly. "I think I'm not so subtly being told to get back to work. Have fun and stop by before New Years if you can, Hermione. There's an Apparition Point by our back door if you don't want to deal with the Floo or Muggle transport."
She grinned. "Well, I finally have my license now, so I'll do that. Happy Christmas!"
Hermione was happily tired out, but full of the holiday spirit when she and her mother finally got on the Tube at Bond Street, laden with shopping bags bearing a variety of labels. The Jubilee Line cars were packed, so they stood, crammed in like sardines, with other holiday shoppers. The lights flickered as the car rocked along the underground tracks toward the Baker Street Station, where she and Mrs. Granger tumbled out into the maze of corridors and moving stairs that connected five different Underground routes at various levels.
Hermione pulled her mother to the side while the initial rush of people rushed from the platform into the labyrinth. "No sense in being trampled since we'll have to wait for our connection anyway! Are you feeling all right, Mum?"
"Oh, yes. I will need to check my sugar levels as soon as we get home though." Mrs. Granger shifted her purse strap higher on her shoulder and took a firmer grip on her shopping bags. "I'm ready if you are."
Hermione laughed picked up her packages and walked beside her mother around a dogleg corner. I wish I'd done some discreet magic and shrunk some of our burdens, she thought to herself. "I should have known that I'd get more than what I had on my list!"
"That's all right--"
The lights in the tiled hallway dimmed suddenly, came back to full brightness and then flickered twice before going out entirely, leaving them in pitch blackness.
"Oh, good grief! Mum, do you still have that pocket torch on your key chain?"
"Yes, just a sec--"
A voice hissed out of the darkness behind them. "Stupefy!"
TBC