"It was dreadful," Hermione said softly to Theo the next morning as the children began to settle in. They were all in his classroom today with only about fifteen students in attendance exactly one week prior to Christmas.
"Want me to kill him for you?" Theo asked, taking a sip from the mug that he was clutching as if it were a lifeline. "I mean, not me-me, but I could probably pay someone to do it."
"Aww, thanks. No, I'm not – yes, good morning Lucy – I'm not mad at him. Or… I don't know, maybe I am, but he certainly didn't do anything to deserve it."
"Whatever you say, darling. Hey, I was thinking about it, I'm more than capable of handling the kids this week if you want to take a minute to yourself before Wednesday."
"Thanks Theo, but I don't think going home and wallowing with Felix is the best call. I'll go batty. Did you want to take the week? You're right, there's not even a full class here."
"Nah; Neville is still working through Wednesday, and it's not like I have much else – Henry, drop that bottle of paste right now! – going on."
Hermione glanced at the clock and noted that it was nearly ten. The class was comprised almost entirely of students from Malfoy House. Draco had owled earlier in the week and said this might be the case, but if she wouldn't mind playing daycare so they could finish getting the manor set up for the holiday next week, he would appreciate it. So, daycare it was.
Hermione saw Charlotte to the side, on her own as usual, and nodded at Theo before drifting over. She sank down so she was kneeling beside the desk.
"Good morning Charlotte," Hermione said in a pleasant voice, "are you ready for Christmas next week?"
"Good morning Miss Granger. I think so – Mr. Malfoy said we'll get some presents, and that the elves will make special meals all day long."
Hermione's previous offense on behalf of the Malfoy house elves had long faded. Draco had actually attempted to free all of them after learning about the history of slavery in his muggle studies classes, but once they'd learned about his plans to open the orphanage, they adamantly refused to leave, no matter how many socks he bestowed. Though Hermione routinely asked after them when she visited, they assured her that they couldn't be happier caring for "their kids."
Hermione noticed a little frown on Charlotte's face as she watched the other students mill about.
"What's wrong dear? You look sad."
The girl's lips twisted a bit, as if she wasn't sure what to say, or perhaps whether or not she should say it.
"Miss Luna and Mr. Malfoy told my best friend Rachel yesterday that she's getting adopted."
Rachel Krantz was another of the orphans, but a year younger and still in Theo's group.
"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Hermione asked, obviously curious what her take was on the topic.
"I guess so… but she has to leave the manor. She didn't even come to school today so she could spend time with her new mummy. What if she never comes back?"
"I don't think her new mummy would stop her from coming to school. And I know it might make you sad that Rachel won't live with you anymore, but I think we should be happy for her. I'm sure she's very excited."
Charlotte was twisting her hands together nervously, and there were several beats of silence before she spoke again.
"What if I never get adopted and get a new mummy like Rachel did, Miss Granger? What if nobody wants me?" she asked quietly, and Hermione's heart nearly shattered. This tiny human had already endured so much hardship in her short life, had had to take care of herself because nobody else did.
In that moment, if she hadn't already before, Hermione decided it wasn't up for debate. She was going to adopt Charlotte, and she was going to work very hard to be the mother that the little girl deserved.
"I don't think you have to worry about that Charlotte. You are a wonderful person, and anyone would be lucky to call you their daughter."
"Do you really think so? I know that I read a lot, and I'm not very good at talking to people… and Rachel says I snore."
"Do you want to know a secret?" Hermione asked in a conspiratorial voice, leaning in so their heads were almost touching.
"Yeah," Charlotte whispered, wide-eyed.
"I snore too," Hermione admitted with a wry smile. Charlotte grinned and giggled; Hermione placed a finger over her lips in a shushing motion, which just made the girl laugh harder.
"Alright, that's enough, let's quiet down everyone," Theo said, having taken up position at the front of the room. Hermione stayed crouched but tipped her head so the children looked toward him. "Now I know that Christmas will be here soon, and we are all terribly excited, but this is still a school."
There was a collective grumble across the class and Hermione had to fight back a smile.
"I said this is still a school," Theo continued, "and as such Miss Granger and I have come up with a very special cultural project for all of you. Now, who here has heard of Frosty the Snowman?"
oOoOoOo
"I'll never get used to muggle entertainment," Theo said quietly to her as they sat in the back of the room passing a tin of holiday biscuits between them while the projector played the ending of the movie. Santa had just returned with the reanimated Frosty on Christmas Day. "The vast majority of it is positively horrifying."
"Yeah, you're right, wizarding folklore is much more upbeat. Let's not forget the bedtime story about the three brothers that made an agreement with Death."
Theo paused for a moment, arched an eyebrow, and then tipped his head in acknowledgement of her point.
"Let's take them outside after lunch – it snowed last night and they can tire themselves out playing in it."
"See, this is why I keep you around," Hermione said, placing the lid back on the tin and stashing it on his desk as the credits began to roll. She flicked her wand and shut off the projector, heading to the front of the room. "Let's all eat our lunches and then we can go out and play in the snow, how does that sound?"
She was met with collective enthusiasm as they dug out their lunch pails and paper sacks. Thirty minutes later everyone was bundled up and playing in the small courtyard to the side of the school; not surprisingly, most of the children broke into groups and began constructing their own snowmen. Theo was on the other side of the plot casting a warming charm on a bench he'd conjured.
"What did they think of Frosty?" a familiar voice said from behind her shoulder. Hermione pulled in a deep breath before turning to see Fred, clad in a blue hat and scarf that matched his eyes perfectly, because of course they did, holding out a steaming mug of cocoa to her in one hand while grasping a second one in the other.
"They loved it of course," she said, accepting the cup and smiling in thanks. "Theo was a bit disturbed though. He kept referring to Frosty's hat as a 'dark artefact.'"
"Ah well, muggle cartoons can be jarring at first to our sensitive wizardly temperaments."
She huffed out a laugh and tried to ignore the nagging ache in her chest as she thought back to their conversation the night before. This was neither the time nor the place to dwell on that.
"How'd you manage to escape the shop?"
"Jeremy is keeping an eye on things for a few minutes. I saw you all come out and couldn't resist stopping over to say hello; it looked like far too much fun to be had without me."
She turned to reply, but spotted Charlotte near the wall of the building behind his shoulder, crouched and shaping a small sphere of snow between her mittened hands with a look of ardent concentration on her face.
Hermione pulled out her wand and twirled it dexterously, rolling together a larger ball of snow that came rest at the girl's feet. Fred, catching on, did the same with a slightly smaller one and levitated it to rest on top of Hermione's, creating a small divot at the top for the head that Charlotte was holding. She gave them a surprised, toothy grin before setting it on top.
Fred looked from Charlotte to Hermione and then back and, with a mischievous glint in his eye, vanished his cup and bent to pick up a handful of snow, beginning to shape it into another sphere about the size of a fist. He started to back away and it took Hermione a moment to realize what he was doing, which she took to quicky vanish her own nearly-empty mug.
"Fred Weasley, don't you dare –"
Before the word completely left her mouth, she was pelted in the stomach with a ball of fluffy white snow that exploded on impact.
"Oh, you're done for!" she shouted with a laugh, bending to scoop up her own ammunition and whipping it in his direction where it hit his shoulder and sent a spray of frozen water into his face. Within moments, a mass snowball fight broke out across the courtyard. Theo hopped up and conjured a low wall made of ice, pulling the younger children behind it and arming them with a pile of perfectly round snowballs that they tossed clumsily into the fray, giggling uncontrollably.
Fred threw another at Hermione and missed, leaving her an opening to bombard him in rapid succession with two in return. Charlotte, following suit, lobbed one in his direction and struck him in the back of the head and knocked his hat off, his ginger hair darkening to a coppery color under the condensation. The girl froze for a moment with a terrified look on her face, apparently worried she had hurt him, until Fred laughed loudly and countered with another, purposely aiming low and hitting her in the legs.
They carried on like that for perhaps ten minutes until everyone was red-faced and soaked to the bone.
"Truce, truce!" Fred finally shouted, he and Charlotte having taken cover behind a small mound of snow with Hermione across from them, hiding behind the trunk of a large beech tree. Everyone in the courtyard came to a stop, merrily shouting and laughing.
"Come on, let's get all of you dried off before you catch cold," Theo said loudly, shaking water from his curls and motioning for the children to head toward him and back into the building. He began to cast drying and warming charms on them as they passed.
Charlotte started to follow but then stopped and bounded back toward Fred and Hermione.
"Thank you, Mr. Fred!" she exclaimed with a wide grin, quickly wrapping her arms around his waist and then turning and taking off toward her classmates before he had a chance to react.
"She really is a special little girl Hermione," he said with a crooked smile as he watched her leave, turning toward the witch and, noting that she was shivering, casting a drying charm on her coat and gloves.
"Well she was right to thank you," Hermione said, responding in kind by drying Fred's trousers and coat. "I haven't taken part in a snowball fight since we were at Hogwarts."
"Do you remember the absolute war we had your first year when we got that blizzard?"
"How could I forget? You kept hitting Quirrell in the back of his turban. You know, it occurred to me later that you were literally throwing snowballs in Voldemort's face."
Fred's mouth dropped open in shock. "Sweet Salazar, I didn't realize… that's brilliant."
Hermione just shook her head and smiled. She should have known that would be his response.
"I should be getting back to the shop," Fred said after a pause. His eyes connected with hers and there was that feeling again. Like there should be more to their good-bye than just words.
"Yeah, of course… I'll see you Wednesday then?"
"Wednesday," he nodded.
Hermione rocked uncertainly on her heels for a moment before finally breaking away and heading to the door where Theo was drying off his own clothing. She turned to see Fred still watching her with a somewhat perplexed look on his face before ducking inside.
"Oh sure," Theo said, shaking his head at the two of them as he followed her in, "you're just friends. No danger there."
oOoOoOo
Hermione arrived home that night and, after depositing her things in the front closet, headed straight upstairs and toward the spare bedroom down the hall from her own. She flicked on the light and stepped in.
It was mostly boxes of odds and ends from her parents' home, things she had purposely packed away with the hope that not seeing them regularly would dull the frayed edges of that particular wound. But as she spun and took in the space, it seemed more like a possibility for the future than a shrine to her rather painful past.
She let out a sigh. It was going to take a bit of work to make it into a livable space for Charlotte, and she'd have to buy furniture and paint, but nevertheless she rolled up her sleeves and started in.