Near the end of November, Simmons received a letter from Hermione's parents inviting her to go skiing with them for Christmas.

Not having been skiing in a long time, FitzSkimmons immediately jumped all over the opportunity, Simmons returning the letter asking permission to bring along her two best friends, a witch who'd never been skiing before because the wizarding world had never heard of skiing, and an essentially muggleborn wizard who'd never been skiing because his adoptive parents were abusive and never took him anywhere they weren't absolutely forced to. Unsurprisingly, Simmons quickly received a reply to her carefully worded/manipulative letter, granting her permission to bring Daisy and Fitz along to go skiing. They knew it was a risk to spend the entire Christmas break with the parents of one of their characters, but they hoped between there being three of them to share the attention, and hopefully staying pretty busy the entire time, Hermione's parents couldn't ask too many questions that would make them suspicious that Simmons wasn't actually their daughter.

And it turned out that it was a good thing they were on the ball with getting permission from Hermione's parents to come with, and that the Grangers were willing to let two semi-strangers come along, because the first week of December, Daisy received a letter from Mrs Weasley telling Ronna to come home to The Burrow for Christmas, and bring Harry Potter with her.

Daisy waited a few days, pretending that the owl had taken longer to get to her than it really had, before sending a reply letter saying, 'Sorry mum, but Hermione's parents already invited us to go skiing with them for Christmas, so we won't be able to come to The Burrow. ~Ronna'

Of course, they didn't believe for one moment that that was going to be the end of that, and the very next morning they weren't disappointed. Mrs Weasley had sent a lengthy letter with many choice things said in it, telling Ronna that under no circumstances was she to be anywhere but with her family on Christmas Day.

"Well, good thing then that I will be with my family on Christmas Day," said Daisy with a wry smile as she finished reading the letter. "Too bad for her she doesn't know who my family actually is."

Knowing they wouldn't be going to The Burrow, and knowing there was no way Mrs Weasley was ever going to accept that, they decided there was no reason to send Mrs Weasley a return letter, as it would do no good, and if anything just result in a howler being sent their way. They did decide though that it would be best to travel to Hermione's parents' house by Knight Bus, instead of having to face Mrs Weasley at Kings Cross as they tried to get to Hermione's parents and the overbearing woman tried to force them to come with her to The Burrow. They knew if Hogsmeade station at Christmas was anything like Kings Cross in September, there would be absolutely no adults of Hogwarts authority there, and they could just walk over to the road and hold up their wand hand, and the Knight Bus would come screeching to a halt just for them. It would also shorten their travel time substantially, letting them leave for the ski trip earlier.

So they threw Mrs Weasley's letter in the first fire they passed by after breakfast, letting Mrs Weasley think that they had bowed to her demands, while really doing exactly what they'd told the woman they were going to do from the very beginning.

~FSK~

Wednesday night, very early Thursday morning before the Saturday they were to leave for Hermione's parents, Fitz had a dream.

Well, he had dreams and nightmares frequently, they all did, but this one was more significant than most, though they wouldn't find that out until the following morning. And in the dream, he found himself gliding across the dark, barren wasteland of Maveth as a snake, slithering through oddly straight and narrow trees that looked more like metal posts or bars. Suddenly up ahead, sitting in the sand with his back against a rock, was a man in a restless slumber. As Fitz-snake neared him, the man suddenly stirred and jumped up, revealing himself to be Ward, though whether Grant Ward or Hydra Ward, Fitz-snake neither knew nor cared. As Fitz-snake looked up to get a better look at Ward and the stick of wood he was pointing at Fitz-snake, Fitz-snake realized that Ward was guarding a door, whatever that was doing in the middle of the dessert on an abandoned planet. So having no other choice, Fitz-snake reared high and struck, plunging his fangs deeply into the man's flesh over and over, feeling his ribs splinter beneath his jaws and the warm gush of blood all around him. Ward was yelling something about how he didn't have any choice but to betray them over and over and over again, that he didn't deserve to be eaten alive by a snake, before finally falling silent and slumping backwards against the rock that was next to the lonesome door, a river of blood flowing through the sand, painting it red.

Fitz-snake briefly wondered if Ward's blood was poisonous, as his head hurt slightly after accidentally ingesting some of the villain's blood as he'd plunged his fangs into him, but it didn't stop him from being able to push his way through the door that disappeared like mist as he slithered through it, and slithered into the battle arena in the Kree space station seven decades into the future. But all thoughts of Ward, Maveth, and anything else immediately disappeared when he saw Simmons-salamander slinking around on the other side of the arena, and he quickly ran across the floor to greet her with a kiss, two salamanders so in love no curse of Fitz briefly being turned into a snake could keep them apart.

After that, the dream drifted off in even less sensical directions, before petering out entirely, Fitz rolling over in his sleep to spoon Daisy.

~FSK~

Early Thursday morning, Umbridge received an urgent message from her secret lover, Minister Cornelius Fudge.

From whispers she heard behind her back, most people seemed for some reason to think that she was, or at least should be, in a romantic relationship with a dementor, or at the very least that she should try snogging one sometime. She had no clue where these rumors could have possibly started from — did nobody know that pink and black clashed horribly? Of course, Corny's lime green bowler hat didn't go much better with her pink ensemble, but as he thankfully never tried wearing the hat to bed, it wasn't an issue.

But romantic interests aside, she had received a message from Cornelius informing her that Arthur Weasley, father of the Weasley clan that included the twin boys at Hogwarts who were constantly getting on her nerves, though she'd not yet been able to pin them down for anything, had been found dead in front of the door to the Department of Mysteries, by what the mediwizards at St Mungo's had said was blood loss from three snakebites in his chest, likely aided by some poison in the fangs that prevented the wounds from closing. She and Cornelius both knew that Mr Weasley was an ardent follower of Dumbledore, but from her four months there, it didn't seem like any of his beliefs had passed on to the children or their friend, Hermione Granger, who as the most rule-abiding, and smartest witch to have come through Hogwarts since probably Umbridge herself, was highly unlikely to have been fooled into believing the lies Dumbledore had been trying to spread to destabilize the Ministry.

Even Harry Potter hadn't made a peep of his lies about You-Know-Who having returned since he'd come to school, that she'd heard of anyway, nor had he been in correspondence with anyone, Dumbledore connected or not, since she'd tricked Filch into stealing all of Potter's mail for her to illegally snoop through. So while she might normally try to interrogate all of the Weasleys, Potter, and Granger for information on what Mr Weasley had been doing there, or at least what the Order was up to or where they were headquartered, it seemed highly unlikely that they would know anything, and if Dumbledore caught wind that she was interrogating his students without any authority, he might try to do something to control her. High Inquisitor-ship only gave her authority over teachers, not students, and while that was something to mention to Cornelius to rectify, at the moment Dumbledore could still rightfully protest to her interrogating students, and while she knew she would win in the end, that Cornelius would always come through for her, at the moment it would only make the professors hate her even more, and be even less cooperative. It just didn't seem worth the risk for the very small amount of information she thought she could get out of it. But she could try at least to insist that they had to stay at school until the end of term if Dumbledore or McGonagall tried to send them home early — that was a bluff she figured she could pull off, with little risk of harm if she failed.

~FSK~

FitzSkimmons were eating breakfast when Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the Great Hall.

She quickly stopped by the twins and Ginevra, before coming by them and asking Daisy to accompany her to her office, all with such a somber expression on her face that they thought someone must have died. Especially when Professor McGonagall didn't even say a word when Simmons and Fitz stood up with Daisy to come along as well.

As it turned out, someone had died.

Once they were inside her office and seated, Professor McGonagall told them all with utmost graveness, "Weasleys, I'm terribly sorry to have to inform you that your father has died in his duties for the Order."

Everyone looked at her in shock, FitzSkimmons included. This was Harry Potter, not Game of Thrones — reasonably well-liked characters didn't just die. In fact, with the exception of Quirrell and a sparkly vampire, no one had died in four books.

Finally, Simmons asked through the deathly silence of shock, "How did he die?"

"He was bitten by a snake — and I'm afraid that's all I can tell you," answered Professor McGonagall. "He wasn't discovered until this morning, but it happened sometime last night."

Suddenly, Fitz remembered his dream for the first time since he'd dreamed it the night before, combined with the fact that he/Harry had had visions before. "Were there three sets of fang marks, right in the ribs? And was he guarding a door, and you found him slumped against, uh, I'd guess a wall if he was guarding a door?"

Everyone in the room turned to stare at him, his wives included.

"I think I had a vision of it happening, only it was so mixed up with my normal dreams that I had no clue it was a vision while it was happening, and never woke up," explained Fitz. "It wasn't Mr Weasley I attacked in the dream, it was someone I knew from the muggle world, and it was on a barren, alien planet and the man slumped dead against a rock, not a wall, but the door was there. And yes, I was the snake doing the attacking in the dream — Hermione was a salamander a short while later, it didn't make any sense."

"Salamander? Really? What was I, then?" asked Daisy.

"Actually, you weren't in it — that I remember, anyway," answered Fitz. "Sorry."

"Third wheeling it even in your dreams," muttered Daisy, shaking her head in teasing disbelief.

But Professor McGonagall was focusing on the 'Harry sort of having a vision of what had taken place' part of what Fitz had said. "You're sure you dreamed of what happened to Mr Weasley?"

"Well, I'd have a much better guess at that if I knew what actually happened to Mr Weasley in order to compare the two, but given the fact that I've had visions about Riddle before, and you said Mr Weasley was doing something for the Order, which should mean something to do with Riddle, even if vaguely, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say yes," answered Fitz.

"Potter, I think it best if you see Dumbledore," said Professor McGonagall. "Weasleys, Granger, wait here."

But before any of them could stand up, the door flung open and Umbridge burst into the room.

"No one is going anywhere until the term is officially over!" she screeched in her high-pitched voice. "I am the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and I do not give anyone permission to leave before the term is over, and term does not end until the final bell has rung tomorrow afternoon!"

"I was just taking Potter to see Headmaster Dumbledore — no one is leaving the castle," said Professor McGonagall coldly, even if she had been fully intending to ask Dumbledore for a way to send the Weasleys and probably Potter to The Burrow early to mourn the passing of their father.

Umbridge was only very momentarily abashed, quickly recovering herself and saying in her normal simpering voice, "Well, no one is to leave these grounds until term officially ends, and if anyone does, I will hold you responsible, which will be grounds for termination of your teaching position of this school."

"Noted," replied Professor McGonagall icily, before turning to Fitz and saying, "Potter, if you will."

When FitzSkimmons all stood up, like normal she opened her mouth to protest, but Fitz cut her off before she could begin. "I want them with me."

Apparently not wanting to argue in front of Umbridge, McGonagall simply turned and strode out of the room, letting FitzSkimmons follow behind her. When they reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office, Professor McGonagall said, "Fizzing Whizzbee."

Once upstairs, McGonagall said to Dumbledore, "Professor Dumbledore, Potter said he had a...well, a nightmare about what happened to Mr Weasley last night."

Dumbledore remained staring at his interlocked fingertips as he had been since they had entered, as he asked quietly, "What did you see, Harry?"

"I won't bore you with the whole dream, because it makes no sense and is mostly from my muggle life, not my wizarding one, but in the dream, I was a snake for most of it, who slithered up upon a man, not Mr Weasley, who was guarding a door. I attacked him, hitting him with my fangs three times, before leaving him slumped down to bleed out and die. Then I slithered straight through the door like it was just a mist, and the dream just got weirder from there," answered Fitz. "I didn't think anything about it until Professor McGonagall just told us a few minutes ago that Mr Weasley had been killed by a snake, and remembering that I sometimes have visions, thought it worth asking if a few of the details matched up, like the number of bites and guarding a door. And that's when Professor McGonagall brought us up here. Oh — and the man was pointing a stick at me before I attacked him, which was probably supposed to be the wand I presume Mr Weasley would have had with him."

"And you said you were the snake?" Dumbledore asked quietly, still noticeably not looking at Fitz. "You saw the scene through the snake's eyes, you weren't standing beside the victim, or else looking down on the scene from above?"

"No — I was definitely the snake," answered Fitz. "I turned into a salamander later on when I saw Hermione as a salamander, but I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with Mr Weasley."

Dumbledore simply nodded to himself for a second, before standing up and sweeping over to a spindly little table and picking up a fragile silver instrument. Setting it on his desk, he tapped it gently with the tip of his wand. The instrument clinked and gave off tiny puffs of smoke which Dumbledore watched carefully until the puffs of smoke became steady stream with a serpent's head opening its mouth wide.

"Naturally, naturally," Dumbledore murmured, before asking the instrument, "But in essence divided?"

The smoke serpent split itself instantly into two snakes, both coiling and undulating in the dark air. Apparently satisfied with that answer, Dumbledore gave the instrument another gentle tap with his wand at it turned off, and he replaced it on its spindly little table, before turning back to Professor McGonagall.

"Professor Umbridge has already denied permission to send them home early," the stern woman said, apparently reading his mind.

"Very well, then," answered Dumbledore. "Please have the Knight Bus ready to pick them up as soon as possible tomorrow afternoon. And unless there is anything else…."

Back down in Professor McGonagall's office a few minutes later, Professor McGonagall told the Weasleys and FitzSkimmons, "It will be best if you take the Knight Bus to The Burrow tomorrow evening." Continuing on coldly, she said, "As you heard, Professor Umbridge may not approve of any quicker way of getting you home like the Floo or a portkey. But the Knight Bus will be awaiting you outside the Hogwarts gates once term has officially ended. Also, I personally would let you off of classes today, but once again…."

~FSK~

It looked several times through the remainder of that day and the next that the Weasleys wanted to ask Fitz questions about his dream of Mr Weasley's demise, but as FitzSkimmons conveniently disappeared every time any of them got near, they never got the chance to.

As soon as the bell rang signifying the end of classes for the day on Friday, the end of classes for the term, FitzSkimmons ducked into a broom cupboard to change into muggle clothing, before immediately heading down to the Entrance Hall, ready to leave. Simmons had shrunk their trunks back down to their necklace charm size, and so Simmons and Daisy had around their necks everything they needed for Christmas break. They knew that they couldn't perform magic on their own over Christmas, but as long as they returned their trunks to normal size before they stepped off of the Knight Bus, they would be perfectly fine because there were of age wizards at the very least driving the Knight Bus, if not passengers on the Knight Bus as well, so the Ministry couldn't pull a Harry-vs-dementors-over-the-summer again on them.

They had a vague hope that Professor McGonagall, or some other responsible adult would already be down there when they arrived, and let them go ahead and walk down to the Hogwarts gate, so they could catch the bus and be at Hermione's parents' house before the Weasleys had even finished packing their trunks after class to bring home with them. Unfortunately this didn't happen, and when Professor McGonagall did finally show up after her class, she forced them to wait the hour it took for the Weasleys to finally arrive with their trunks. Once the redheads finally showed up, McGonagall walked the six of them down to the gates, where she threw up her wand hand to bring the giant purple bus to a screeching halt in front of them.

As soon as Mr Shunpike opened the door, Professor McGonagall told him, "These six are going to The Burrow. Please get them there as quickly as you can, it's urgent."

But once they were all on board, and the door had closed on Professor McGonagall and the three Weaselys were looking for seats, Simmons said quietly to Mr Shunpike, "Twenty galleons apiece to you and Mr Prang if you take us to the address on this slip of parchment before you go to The Burrow. We're not spending Christmas at The Burrow, but Mrs Weasley hasn't accepted that fact, and we'd rather not have to Petrificus a woman right outside your bus — might lead to liability issues for you, if the wizarding world has any such thing."

"You had me at twenty galleons," answered Mr Shunpike in an equal undertone. "We need to drop Ms Prawley off at the Leaky Cauldron, then you'll be next. And I think we can rationalize the necessity of two more stops between your location and The Burrow, to give you a little extra breathing room."

"Thank you very much," said Simmons, slipping over the twenty galleons each.

Just a few minutes later, the purple triple-decker bus's doors opened up in front of the train station just a short walk away from Hermione's home. Simmons quickly unshrunk their trunks, before giving Mr Shunpike a short nod of thanks as they stepped off. The moment they were out, the doors quickly snapped shut behind them and the bus squealed off in a cloud of tire smoke, the Weasleys on the second level of the bus completely unaware that FitzSkimmons were no longer passengers.

~FSK~

Ten minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt on the road at the path leading up to The Burrow, in front of where Mrs Weasley was standing waiting.

The twins and Ginevra immediately piled off and into their mum's waiting arms, Mr Shunpike quickly closing the doors behind them and having Mr Prang speed off, so he wouldn't have to answer any awkward questions about why Harry Potter, a Weasley, and whoever the girl who'd paid him was, hadn't got off as well.

It took Mrs Weasley several minutes of hugging her children to realize that Harry Potter and Ronna weren't there, but as soon as she did she asked, "Where are Harry and Ronna?"

The twins and Ginevra turned to stare at the empty road behind them as well, having assumed that the trio had got off right behind them, even if they hadn't seen them at all on the bus after they had headed down the rather crowded bus to try to find some seats. They had just assumed that the three had found seats somewhere else on the bus, and would be right behind them as soon as the bus stopped at The Burrow. But as much as they stared, FitzSkimmons persisted in their absence.

Finally, Fred said, "They got on the bus right behind us. We headed off to find seats since it was crowded, and we never saw them again, but we just assumed they'd found seats elsewhere, that they'd wanted to sit alone."

"They were definitely on the bus when it started moving, but the bus stopped four times between there and here, and we weren't paying attention to who got off at any of those stops, or even where they were," added George.

"Well, let's head back up to the house, and I'll contact Dumbledore," said Mrs Weasley.

But as soon as they got inside, Mrs Weasley happened to glance at the stack of mail sitting on the kitchen table, and remembered the letter that Ronna had sent back in early December. Mrs Weasley had assumed after strongly correcting her daughter's misconceptions, that no reply meant that she was going to obey, but suddenly Mrs Weasley had to wonder if Ronna had simply been ignoring her demand that she and Harry come home for Christmas, and not go do whatever dangerous, stupid muggle thing Granger was doing. Of course, how Ronna or Harry could still even be considering doing that when Arthur had just died, she couldn't fathom, but it made as much sense as Granger going on the Knight Bus with her children to begin with, instead of waiting on the normal train back to London the next day.

So in addition to sending an urgent owl to Dumbledore telling him that Harry Potter and Ronna hadn't made it to The Burrow like they were supposed to, she also gave Errol three more letters to deliver after Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts, one each to Harry Potter, Ronna, and Granger to demand answers on where they were, or to the girl on what she had done to Harry Potter and her daughter.

Fortunately for FitzSkimmons, though, Errol was Errol, and the winter weather was blustery, and by the time Errol even reached Hogwarts half-dead, FitzSkimmons and Hermione's parents were already on a plane to the Swiss Alps to go skiing.

Several days into their ski trip, FitzSkimmons were sitting around the table of the mountain cabin they were staying in with Hermione's mum and dad, eating breakfast and Simmons reading the Daily Prophet that was resolutely delivering itself to her even in Switzerland, when Simmons lay the paper down in front of her spouses.

"The Ministry finally decided to report Mr Weasley's death," she said. "Also looks like they found a new lead propaganda writer, since Rita's still out of commission."

~.~

Arthur Weasley found dead outside the Department of Mysteries

Last Thursday morning, Ministry workers coming into work found Mr Weasley's body laying on the ground outside the door leading into the restricted Department of Mysteries, half covered with an invisibility cloak. A well-known supporter of Dumbledore, it makes one wonder what possible legitimate reason Mr Weasley could have had for being outside that particular door, in the middle of the night when no one was there, when he works in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office seven floors above.

Minister Cornelius Fudge has been warning Ministry employees and the wizarding population at large for months that Dumbledore is likely plotting to overthrow the Ministry. Could this attempt to sneak inside the Department of Mysteries be part of the Hogwarts Headmaster's secret plan? Doubtlessly, the Ministry will be making a full inquiry into why one of Dumbledore's most trusted agents was trying to force their way into the Department of Mysteries under the cover of night, wearing an invisibility cloak.

In addition to being inside known fearmongerer Albus Dumbledore's closest circle, Mr Weasley has also been charged with misusing muggle artefacts over the years, despite heading up the department that supposedly restricts and regulates such things. Most infamous was his charming of a muggle vehicle to be able to fly, a vehicle that went on to badly damage a historic tree on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a charge he got off noticeably light on, unlike those he and his department arrest.

~.~

The article continued on in a similar light for several more paragraphs, painting Mr Weasley, Dumbledore, and by extension everyone who supported or even believed Dumbledore, as terrorists against the Ministry.

"They sure went off on Dumbles and Mr Weasley," said Daisy when she had finished reading. "This is probably even worse, or more direct, I guess I should actually say, than what they did to Harry over the summer."

"They certainly didn't pull any punches this time," replied Simmons.

"You know, I've been thinking about something since we learned about this," Fitz said quietly so Hermione's parents in the attached kitchen wouldn't hear, "Do you think in the book, that Harry had a much clearer vision, like last year when they were while I/he was awake, and he was able to warn someone and save Mr Weasley's life? Because that seems like a very book thing to have happened, especially when you remember Ginevra, in the Chamber of Secrets, with the Sword of Gryffindor."

"Probably," answered Simmons with a slight nod of her head. "It was a Weasley, and not literally anyone else here. Sometimes I have a hard time telling if this series is more about Harry, or the Weasleys."

"That's what I was thinking as well, the only thing is, Harry's visions have always been of Riddle — and he definitely wasn't someone I remember being in the dream," said Fitz.

"Maybe the snake was Nagini, and Nagini is magically connected enough to Riddle that Harry could still have the vision?" proposed Simmons. "Remember, we don't actually know how this whole vision thing works."

"True," said Daisy. "Also, I noticed the article never once mentioned how Mr Weasley died. We know it was by snake bite, which makes for a good plot and use of Nagini somehow, along with playing on Harry's snake abilities, but the Prophet didn't say a single word about how he died. In fact, the entire article contains absolutely zero respect for the fact that a man died, and is purely Dumbledore-bashing, Mr Weasley-bashing for being connected to Dumbledore, and they somehow even managed to bash everyone who's ever even considered Dumbledore to be a decent-seeming guy."

"I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and say that they don't mention it because that would require admitting that a big arse snake was deep in the bowels of the Ministry, which I'd imagine they'd really rather not do," said Simmons.

"Snakes have asses?" smirked Daisy. "I'd really like to see a snake with a big, juicy, plump ass. Think it'd have big tits to go with its big ass?"

"Is it a big titty goth snake?" added Fitz teasingly. "Lot's of dark black eyeshadow and black leather snakeskin?"

"Hey, now, that's hitting too close to home," smirked Daisy. "The snake can have its big tits and a bigger ass, but I have exclusive rights on the whole dark, goth, want to die persona."

"And you rocked the look — even if I can't support the feel-bad-for-yourself phase you were going through at the time," replied Fitz.

"If you two are done flirting with each other and talking about snakes with boobs and bums, we should go get ready to go skiing, and not risk my parents hearing us talk about anything along those lines," interrupted Simmons, rolling her eyes.

But before they could even stand up, there was a loud smack on the wooden door of the cabin. Walking over and opening it up, Simmons found Errol lying on the porch, looking in an even sorrier state than normal.

Turning back to look at her spouses, Simmons said, "I think You-Know-Who's complaints about us going skiing finally arrived from across the Channel and several countries. And guess what — there seems to be one for each of us! She thought to include us all — how thoughtful."

Simmons brought the unconscious bird inside so it wouldn't freeze to death, before taking off its letters and handing them out.

Harry and Ronna's were essentially the same, wondering where they were, and saying how worried she was, that for all she knew Death Eaters or You-Know-Who could have killed them. Hermione's, however, was different. In it, Mrs Weasley accused Hermione of stealing Harry and her daughter from her, and demanded, 'What did you do to Harry and my daughter!? I haven't forgot you leading poor Harry on last year before dumping him and going to the Yule Ball with that quidditch player!'

"Lovely woman," muttered Simmons as she handed Hermione's letter to her spouses to read.

"I guess we should send a return letter reminding her we already told her what our plans for Christmas were," said Daisy. "Once Errol's alive again, of course. So I guess when we get back from skiing."