Hermione would tell me later that that Christmas spent with the Blacks in Potter Manor was one of the happiest she'd had since her parents had died. Minerva and I worried about the girl. In classes she was exceptionally quiet, never seeking to draw attention to herself or cause trouble. Although we were aware that she probably did cause trouble. Her arrival at Hogwarts signalled a change in the pranks of the Weasley twins, who expanded into a much more advanced form of magic. They also became much harder to catch. We had a small feeling that this had something to do with Hermione's influence on them. Still, the girl was hardly ever seen to smile or laugh, except in the company of her bond mates. So I was exceptionally proud to learn that I had played a role in her happiness that Christmas. We had grown attached to her, Minerva and I, having never taught a more dedicated student.

Remus crept quietly down the hallway. He was always the first up, Harry having been encouraged to sleep in from a young age by Sirius, who didn't want to deal with a small child early in the morning. He smiled slightly at the thought of Harry having to get up at what he would have considered ludicrously early for breakfast at Hogwarts. The only occupied guest room was coming up on his left. From here he could see that the door had been left open, possibly as a gesture of good faith. Wolves are nosey by nature and Remus stood in the doorway staring around the dark room. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom he could see that the three beds had been pushed together. If he'd been in a particularly wolfish state of mind he'd have called it a sleep heap. Two tufts of red hair were just visible above the blankets and sandwiched between them Remus could just about make of a few wisps of curly brown hair. He frowned. This was not...normal, but he decided to leave them to it. The poor girl must be roasting.

The first thing that occurred to Hermione was that it was hot. Really hot. Fighting her way through the layers of blankets and arms Hermione drew in a deep breath of cool air and glanced around her. The twins, who'd had their arms wrapped around her as they slept, sighed slightly and curled up on their respective sides of the bed. Carefully, she worked her way out of the covers and stood at the foot of her bed, rummaging through her satchel. Yesterday's clothes were still drying from being washed in the sink last night. She'd have to wear her uniform. The orphanage had not been able to afford multiple outfits for its occupants. Children grow quickly and finding them all clothes that fit for every day of the week was next to impossible where there were almost 30 of them. So during the week, the children wore their uniforms. Dresses for the girls, because they could all be washed in one go and were easy to fit and cheap to make. Hermione owned several of these and pulled one of them over her head, glad it had long sleeves to cover her bond marks. She fiddled with her hair in front of the mirror until the plait draped over her shoulder and obscured the Orphanage insignia. Glancing at the clock on the wall she frowned. Breakfast would be well over by now at Hogwarts. She blew lightly in Fred's ear and he slapped the side of his face to ward off the irritation. Hermione giggled at his confused expression as he cracked an eye open.

"Morning trouble. You need to get George up, I think we're late for breakfast."

There are two things which will get a Weasley to move quickly in the morning. Molly and food. Fred leapt out of bed and began to wake his brother. Hermione made to leave.

"Twist?"

She turned back to Fred and he tossed something to her. Chaser training kicking in, Hermione scooped it out of the air, without looking at them.

"Gloves."

Smiling Hermione left, tugging the damp leather gloves on and headed down the main staircase. Judging by the smell of fried meat breakfast was being served in the same place as dinner last night. The dining room was large and the table laden with tureens of food. Hermione smiled at the only other occupant, which was Remus. He frowned at her slightly, giving her gloved hands a confused glance, but smiled back.

"Am I up late?" She asked quietly, helping herself to eggs.

Remus glanced up for the large plate of bacon, sausages and what looked like black pudding in front of him and laughed.

"No. Actually you're up pretty early. Sirius doesn't usually rouse himself until nine-thirty. It's usually only me up this early."

"Oh." Hermione regarded the table with amazement. "This is a lot of food."

"Mmmm. Yes. Filly is thrilled to have so many people to look after. She's particularly taken with you by the way, so expect large servings of cake and..." Remus trailed off as he was interrupted by the thunder of feet down the stairs. They paused on the landing before a bellow shook the house.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER-BLACK!"

The feet resumed their hasty exodus before they manifested at the bottom of the staircase. Harry, dressed for the day, glanced around the room in wide-eyed fear, before yelling "Hide me!" and leaping under the table. Hermione could feel him shaking against her legs. It was probably more with laughter than fear.

"What did you do Harry?"

A quiet mutter from under the table answered Remus.

"Ask Twist?"

Remus switched his disapproving glare to Hermione who smiled sweetly and buttered her toast.

"I am guessing, and this is simply an assumption you understand, that someone, one would imagine Harry, did something to Mr Black's hair." She added marmalade to her toast and frowned slightly. "But that's simply a guess of course and shouldn't be taken with much seriousness."

"Of course." Murmured Remus, rubbing his temples slightly and mutter something about the reincarnation of Prongs. A quiet snickering came from under the table. Hermione passed the toast to Harry who munched quietly.

A loud thundering could be heard from above. Remus and Hermione waited in silence until the dishevelled and topless figure of Sirius Black appeared in the doorway. Remus lost it immediately and dissolved into laughter.

"Oh, sweet Merlin." He chuckled helplessly. "Look at your hair!"

Sirius's hair had been styled into a foot tall Mohawk. This in itself would have been a cause for hilarity, had it not been for the fact that it had been dyed lime green. Hermione just stopped herself from smiling. Just.

"Where is he?" The irate wizard snarled.

Hermione smiled gently and felt Harry freeze under the table.

"I believe he ran outside to hide in the garden, Mr Black."

"AH HA!" Sirius spun on his heel and raced off to the back door, which shut with a bang some moments later. Remus grinned at Hermione who simply assumed a look of angelic innocence and wrapped her fist on the table.

"Harry, I swear if you get marmalade on my dress I will kill you."

Harry, very carefully, edged out from under the table and took a seat next to Remus, out of reach of Hermione.

The twins appeared moments later, no doubt summoned by the smell of food. Or by the racket caused by Harry, Hermione wasn't sure which. Harry snickered as the Twins bowed deeply to Remus and slid quietly into seats on either side of Hermione giving her a quick hug as greeting. Hermione ignored this and continued eating her breakfast.

Fred's eyes were caught by the sight of Sirius Black running from shrub to shrub through the window, skidding slightly in the snow. He raised his hand tentatively.

"Er, excuse me Mr Lupin?"

Fred and George had received a letter from their mother telling them exactly what would happen if they weren't on their best behaviour. There wouldn't be a time when any child of Molly's was not scared of the wrath of their mother. "Why is Mr Black running around outside?"

Harry burst into peals of laughter and Remus frowned at him.

"Harry here thought it was a good idea to mess with Sirius' hair."

On either side of her, Hermione felt the Twins freeze as they caught on.

"Harry, you didn't did you?" Fred begged.

"Please tell me you didn't." George pleaded.

"I warned him." Hermione murmured.

"Warned him about what? What's going to happen to Sirius?" Remus fixed them all with a Percy like stare. Fred, George and Hermione frowned at each other. Eventually, George was offered as the sacrificial lamb. He ruffled his hair and frowned.

"Well Sirius' hair is the result of a prank we've been working on."

"There is a certain first year Slytherin who is overly fond of hair gel,"

"The idea was to replace it with this stuff,"

"Which changes you're hair to something daft, like..." Fred gestured out the window helplessly.

"However," Hermione broke in. "As Harry knew we haven't managed to get the charms quite right yet." She glared at the remorseless boy. "It's only supposed to last for two hours or so. But we can't get the timing to stick. Hopefully, it will wear off in an hour or so."

Remus stared in awe at the trio.

"You three came up with this on your own?"

They shrugged and busied themselves with their plates.

He blinked in amazement before he seemed to come back down to earth.

"So how long will Sirius be like that? Because he's somewhat vain about his hair. Something he and Prongslet share." Harry blushed slightly.

A crackle from the large fireplace drew their attention. A woman's face was floating in the flames.

"Morning Remus." She called.

"Morning Amelia." He called back, twisting in his chair.

"Aunt Amy!" Harry called. The blond woman's head swivelled to Harry and she grinned happily.

"Heya Harry. How's school been? Susan told me she'd seen you."

They gathered on the hearth in front of the fire. Hermione had never seen anything like the head floating in the fire.

"Oh, it's been great. I've been studying with Susan occasionally."

Amelia beamed.

"I'm glad. But anyway, is Sirius around, Remi? I need to see him."

"Why yes, he is." Remus' face was carefully blank and Hermione watched him with interest. His expression was eerily similar to the one the Twins pulled when they were in the middle of a prank and wanted to look innocent "Come over. He'd love to see you."

The woman, who Hermione supposed had to be Amelia Bones, smiled happily.

"Clear the fireplace then."

The floating head disappeared and Remus shooed them back slightly. A flash of green flames and Amelia stepped into the room, brushing soot off her robes. Harry tackled her in one of his overenthusiastic hugs and she smiled at Remus over Harry's head, as she ruffled his hair. She was tall and imposing, something about her reminded Hermione of a military general, with her slightly military uniform. But her eyes were warm and her face handsome, as she looked around at them.

"Whose all this then Remus?"

Remus smiled.

"Houseguests. Unusual for us, I know. But we made an exception for them. The twins are Fred and George Weasley."

Amelia nodded.

"With hair like that, I should have guessed. I work at the ministry with your father. Met your eldest brother a time or two as well."

She turned an expectant gaze on Hermione and Remus coughed slightly.

"And the girl in the corner, who looks like she's working out if she can beat you in a fight is Twist. We don't know her real name. No one will tell us."

Amelia nodded as though this was perfectly normal as she detached Harry from around her waist.

"Where is he?"

Remus grinned devilishly.

"He's in the garden. Why don't you head on out and surprise him?"

She nodded and the statuesque blond swept out of the room. Fred raised an eyebrow at Remus.

"It's amazing how people forget that I was involved in the pranking part of the Marauders." He had them gather by the window to watch.

Sirius had his head in a Rhododendron bush and was still shouting for Harry. Amelia approached him quietly through the snow and tapped him on the shoulder. Turning Sirius went pale and screamed like a girl. Clapping both hands to his head he fled indoors, leaving Amelia looking confused in the back garden.

Remus smirked.

"Told you he was vain."

When Amelia joined them inside, Remus informed her of the prank over coffee. Hermione joined Harry at the foot of the large staircase, trying to coax Sirius to come down and talk to his girlfriend.

"Come on Sirius!" Harry bellowed up the stairs. "She doesn't care how daft you look."

"I'm not coming down!" Sirius retorted mulishly.

"She looks at your ugly mug anyway. Personally I think it's an improvement."

"HARRY!"

Eventually, Sirius reappeared with a large Gryffindor scarf wrapped tightly over his head which he refused to remove. They spent the rest of the morning playing hide and seek in the house. The Twins always hid together, making them easy to find. Because no one spots two people hiding behind a plant pot. Surprisingly Amelia joined in and turned out to be very good. Apparently part of the Auror training was just a more complex version of the game.

They had soup for lunch, by which time Sirius' hair had returned to normal much to his intense relief. Hermione spotted Fred and George making a note of the duration on a piece of paper.

Sirius declared that they had to have a snowball fight. Well, he didn't announce it. He levitated a small snowdrift through the window and onto Harry and then he told them. He was still irritated about being pranked so easily, claiming his pride as a Marauder was irrefutably tarnished. Hermione ran upstairs and changed into her jeans, her dress being unsuitable for the snow. The fabric was still damp and she was frozen almost immediately, but no one noticed which was the important thing. The fight lasted for almost an hour, as the three adults teamed up against the children. Sirius and Harry wandered into the large copse of Norway Spruces and picked out a tree for the main sitting room, something Remus told her was a tradition. They spent the rest of the afternoon decorating it, bedecking it in tinsel, enchanted fairy lights, baubles and various nick-nacks. In the end, it looked terribly gaudy and tacky, as only a Christmas tree decorated by children will. They sat down at supper, quite exhausted from the day.

"Mr Black?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, girl with a nickname which I can't understand."

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?"

Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes as Sirius beamed at her.

"I run a muggle theatre company. Lily always said I was a drama queen. Now I direct drama queens for a living. Harry hates it because he can't stand Shakespeare and I had to bring him to performances when he was younger. On the plus side, he can recite a lot of it."

Hermione was surprised and told him so. He shrugged.

"I couldn't remain an Auror, not while I had to raise Prongslet. So I went into the theatre."

"Oh." Hermione paused for a second. "Which company is it?"

"A small Shakespear company."

She grinned at him.

"I am so not telling you my name."

Sirius pointed a fork at her.

"I will figure it out. I have two clues now. Firstly, you are muggleborn or the name of my company wouldn't have meant a flobberworm to you. Secondly, your name is Shakespearian. Is it Helena?"

"Nope."

"Juliet?"

"Too obvious."

"Bianca?"

"Not even close."

"Am I the only one..." Fred whispered to Harry. "Who has no idea what they're talking about?"

Harry just laughed.

"You get used to it."

"So Amelia, whose looking after Susan?" Sirius asked, spearing a large piece of broccoli.

"She's at Hogwarts. I'm working most of the holidays, alternating with Shacklebolt, so there's no point in her coming home, just to be on her own."

"You know we're always happy to have her, Amy." Remus murmured, smiling gently.

"I know Remus, but I can't be a burden on you."

"Oh, it's quite all right. She'll be family soon enough."

Amelia frowned and Sirius went pale, glaring at his friend.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing."

Amelia frowned and Sirius changed the subject.

"Will you be staying the night Amy?"

"That depends. Will you make it worth my while?"

Harry cleared his throat loudly and both adults froze.

"Unless you both wish your adopted son to be sick, I'll ask you not to talk about that at the dinner table."

"Adopted?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled and nodded.

"If you look on my official adoption form it says "Adopted by Sirius Orion Black and Amelia H Bones." It's wizard law. Although she still won't tell me what her middle name is." He scowled at her playfully.

"Huh."

Amelia had finished blushing.

"Sorry Harry." She muttered. Sirius just grinned unrepentantly and kissed her cheek. "Yes, I will be, although I'll have to leave early. I'm on duty tomorrow." Looking desperate to change the subject she asked: "Why are you wearing your wet Quidditch gloves at the table?"

Hermione, Fred and George froze slightly neither of them looking at the other two.

"Wood says it's good practise for Quidditch, Miss Bones." Hermione offered. She had a feeling this woman would see through any lie she offered up and looked desperately at Harry for support.

"But they're soaking wet. You're almost blue as it is Twist."

"We'll be all right. But thank you."

"It's okay." Harry whispered. "You can trust them. You know our secret. Tell them yours."

"Which secret of ours do they know?" Amelia asked setting down her cutlery, Auror senses tingling.

Hermione shrugged slightly.

"We know about Harry Potter."

She glanced at Fred, and then at George and together they pulled of their leather gloves, folded them neatly by their plates and went back to eating. The marks showed up clearly against their pale skin and he silence in the room was oppressive, as the adults stared at them in shock. Fred and George shuffled closer to Hermione for comfort but otherwise didn't look up from their plates.

"Is that..." Sirius began.

"Yes." Fred grinned at him. "Pass the mash Mr Black."

"Miss Twist?" A small voice asked.

Hermione looked around at the empty corridor and eventually, her eyes came to rest on the tiny house elf and she smiled warmly at odds with the shiver racked her small frame.

"Hello Filly. How are you?"

"Filly is very well Mistress. Mistress may I asks you a question?" The tiny elf was wringing her hands in worry and staring up at her with large green eyes.

"Of course."

"Why is Mistress wearing wet clothes?"

Hermione sat on the floor, slightly startling Filly.

"Because I only have two changes of clothes, and I couldn't wear my dress outside. I washed these in the sink last night, so they'd be clean. They haven't dried yet. The snow didn't really help either."

The elf frowned and clicked her fingers. Immediately Hermione's clothes began to steam as they dried out on her body. She looked up amazed.

"Thank you Filly. You didn't have to do that."

Those large green eyes filled with tears.

"It was a pleasure for Filly to serve such a nice witch. If you is leaving your clothes at the foot of your bed Filly will make sure they are nice to wear again."

"That is very kind of you but I couldn't ask you to do that."

The tears vanished and she stood straighter with a sort of maternal pride.

"Filly will not allow such a kind and polite mistress to wear dirty clothes. It would be an honour."

Hermione sensed she was going to get nowhere with this and gave in.

"All right then. Thank you."

The elf nodded happily.

"Tis nothing. Off to bed with you, young Mistress."

Somewhat bemused Hermione found herself being chivvied off to bed by a being that barely reached her waist. As she lay between the twins that night, clothes folded in a neat pile at the foot of her bed, she stared at the quiet ceiling above. She wasn't tired, feeling almost restless. Her parents would have loved this house. Her mother had taught her all about architecture and buildings. It had been a shared passion, well in as much as a young girl can be passionate about architecture. She missed her parents. Any child would she reasoned, but sometimes she'd come across something that would remind her of them so strongly she'd be almost knocked over. The twins helped. Harry did too but it was mainly the twins. The twins were...

Hermione blinked and realised she'd fallen asleep mid-thought. Checking the clock on the wall told her it was about five in the morning, much too early for anyone to be awake. Still, Hermione wiggled her way out of the duvet, without waking her companions, and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth. It was always the first thing she did in the morning. She'd wake up and hear her fathers voice saying "Don't forget to brush them properly." Dentists, she mused, left strange life lessons with their children. As quietly as she could Hermione made her way downstairs, feet sinking into the thick carpet. The Christmas Tree glowed as the enchanted lights flickered merrily. There was something incredibly peaceful about a Christmas Tree. The room was dim and the fire had burned down and Hermione spent the next three hours sitting quite happily, arms around her knees, singing to herself.

"You have a lovely voice." She jumped and spun around.

"Good Morning Mr Black." She murmured quietly aware of the sounds of the rest of the house rousing themselves. "You're up early aren't you?"

The Marauder ruffled his hair and grinned happily in his childish pyjamas. They were flannel and had little snitches on them.

"Amelia left early. Besides...IT'S CHRISTMAS." He sang loudly and began to dance around the room. As though summoned by the promise of fun the Twins appeared at the door and linked arms, dancing a jig around the room. Remus and Harry just chuckled from the doorway as Hermione looked on in amusement. Filly appeared with a crack, deposited a tray of breakfast things on the coffee table and burst into tears when Hermione gave her a hug and wished her a Merry Christmas.

Eventually the frivolity settled down and they began to open the brightly wrapped presents.

Fred and George received each a large knitted jumper with their initial on it. Which they immediately swapped with each other. Much to her surprise, Hermione received one too in navy blue like the twins, with a yellow H on the front, and a lovely card from Mrs Weasley who thanked her profusely for keeping the twins out of trouble. Hermione was thrilled with jumper. She'd needed one. From Harry she got a self-inking quill for class and from the twins she received a small potions kit, with ingredients she'd never used before.

Fred grinned. "We need you to keep up with your inventing."

"Also potion-making doesn't come under the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry. So you can use this at home. We checked" George added proudly. They beamed at her when she hugged them, causing Sirius to chuckle quietly. From the trio Sirius and Remus received sweets. Chocolate for Remus and Sirius got the fudge that Harry had recommended. Both wizards, however, smiled in amazement at the wrapping paper Hermione had chosen. She'd convinced Dean Thomas, for the fee of two chocolate frogs, to draw her a picture of a wolf and a picture of a large black dog. She'd then transferred these on to a large sheet of paper and enchanted the drawings to run around the parcels. Sirius promptly stuck his wrapping paper to the wall of the sitting room with a sticking charm. Remus folded his neatly and promised to frame it. They were getting to the bottom of the pile when Remus came across a wooden box with a small envelope on the top.

"It's for you three." He said and passed it over. Fred took the envelope, which read To F/G/H and passed it to George, who passed it to Hermione, who opened it. And then frowned. The only thing inside the envelope was a thick piece of card with what looked like a room inscribed in ink.

"Mr Black do you know what this is?" She asked passing it to him. He frowned slightly and showed Remus. She opened the box, the hinges squeaking slightly. Nestled in the velvet were three silver bracelets, two slim ones and a slightly broader one. Each was embossed with a swirling design which vaguely resembled the bonding tattoos on Hermione's arms and two of them had a name inscribed upon them in golden cursive script. Fred and George.

"That is a goblin communication rune. It's used to contain a message." He passed it back to Hermione. "Tap it with your wand."

Hermione retrieved her wand from where it was tucked behind her ear and tapped the rune. Immediately the slightly squeaky voice of Professor Flitwick filled the room, causing Harry, who hadn't been paying attention, to jump slightly.

"Good morning you three. First of all, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas. Secondly here is the solution to your glamour problem. And just in time too. Your gloves were getting filthy. The bracelets are Goblin wrought. The Goblins use a unique process to impress the enchantments into the metal. They won't rust or break, so taking them off for showering and so forth is not necessary. I would advise you to remove them once a week for a few minutes as you may experience a slight numbing.

Fred and George the ones on the side are yours, they have your names engraved upon them. Hermione yours is the thicker one in the middle. It should come apart into two separate bracelets. Place them on the wrists with the tattoos. The decorations are partly camouflage as Professor McGonagall tells me you can pass them off as muggle friendship bracelets.

Finally Miss Granger I have been asked to inform you by Professor McGonagall that you have earned yourself a weeks worth of detentions, for sheer foolishness. Leaving without parental permission and failing to alert the school is against the rules and as such you are being punished. Percy Weasley, when asked about your whereabouts kindly informed us that you, and the Twins had left to spend the holidays with Mr Black. Kindly tell Sirius that it is only because Minerva and I trust him that you are being left in his care. That and we have no idea where Sirius is. Well done on that charm work by the way. I told you I'd make a Master of you yet, Mr Black. You'll serve your detentions when you return. Merry Christmas."

The voice faded and Hermione looked up, slightly fearfully, at Sirius, who was watching her with a mixture of amusement and irritation.

"I thought I asked you to ask your parents for permission?"

Hermione smiled gently.

"My parents are dead, Mr Black. It didn't matter if I asked them or not."

Sirius lost some of his amusement and Fred and George linked hands with her quietly.

"Why didn't you tell McGonagall?"

"Because as a muggleborn at Hogwarts and an orphan, Albus Dumbledore is my guardian. I didn't really want him alerted to the fact that I knew your whereabouts, something he himself remains unaware of."

Sirius scowled.

"This is like arguing with Lily. She just comes up with more and more logic. I can't fight that. Moony, take over."

Remus grinned slightly at Hermione.

"That explains the nickname then doesn't it?"

Hermione nodded.

"It was the Twins idea. Well that and Amazon but only they're allowed to call me that."

The bracelets fitted perfectly, and the marks just seemed to fade out of being.

Bundled up in her new jumper, smiling happily, Hermione felt the best she had in a long time.

There ends the account of Hermione's Christmas with the Blacks. She made a lasting impression on Sirius and Remus that holiday, something that we will touch on again later. They returned to Hogwarts for the new term happy and healthy. If only things had stayed that way.

Dear Mrs Weasley,

I wanted to thank you for my jumper. It fits perfectly and is lovely and warm. So thank you.

The twins have been on their best behaviour all holiday. Fred was adamant I mention this. Not sure why. It's true at least.

I'm afraid I cannot take much credit for their behaviour at school. I was ill for a few days last term and they asked permission to look after me from McGonagall. We spent the days studying and they looked after me. So thank you for raising wonderful children.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year.

Yours,

Hermione Granger.

Updated 2019