A/N: This story was written for Marvelously Magical Fanfiction's Holiday Collection: Enchanted Wonders! The aim of this collection was to create a fun holiday themed set of stories for the month of December that melded the Harry Potter Universe with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
My pairing was set to be Hermione Granger & Darcy Lewis and the enchantment I was given was the spell to turn water into rum as well as a holiday themed word which was heirloom ornaments. All of these make an appearance in this story in some way.
I hope you enjoy this story as well as the rest of the stories in the collection. I know that many of these authors have worked very hard on all of their collection pieces for this group as well as a few other holiday themed events going on this time of year.
If you enjoyed my story and would like to check out some of my other works, feel free to search up starrnobella on most social media and you will be able to find a way to contact me outside of AO3.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Love always,
~starr
Walking around the small store, Hermione smiled to herself as she saw all of the beautiful Christmas decorations hanging from the ceiling. She hadn't seen so many ornaments and wreaths in one place since she had left London. The sights and smells brought back memories she was almost sure she had long forgotten.
There were rows upon rows of Christmas trees lining the aisles of the store. Mixed among them were a few other species of trees that Hermione wasn't sure of the names for, but they were each decorated just as beautifully as the pines. However, she wasn't here to just look at the beautiful decorations. She was here on a mission, and it would appear her partner in crime was missing.
Hermione looked around and sighed, not finding Darcy anywhere nearby. She couldn't for the life of her figure out where her friend had wandered off to. It wasn't like they had been here for hours, it had only been a half hour tops. The decorations were too beautiful not to take in and enjoy for a few moments.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. Quickly, she unlocked it and scrolled through until she found the name of the contact she was looking for. Usually, Hermione would just send off a quick text, but she feared that the two would never be reunited if she didn't give a ring. She pressed down on the call button and raised the device to her ear as she waited for a voice to come through on the other side of the line.
"Hermione?" the voice answered.
"Darcy, where did you disappear to?" Hermione asked, sighing in relief at the fact that Darcy at least picked up the phone this time when she called.
"Uhm, well. I was walking just behind you when we went down the first aisle. And then when you rounded the corner into the second one, I was only a few steps behind you," she paused momentarily, taking a deep breath. "But when we started down the aisle with all of the alcoholic ornaments, I got a bit distracted and stayed looking at this one tree covered in old wine bottles. When I turned around, you were gone."
"I don't remember an aisle with trees decorated with alcoholic ornaments," Hermione replied, thinking back to all of the aisles she had been walking through. The more she thought about it, the sooner she began to realize just how easy it would have been for her to have lost Darcy in her wandering. She hadn't really been paying attention to the people surrounding her. Her sole focus had been on the decorations.
"Well, that doesn't help us at all," Darcy said with a laugh. "Where are you now? I'm in… aisle fifteen. I think."
Hermione looked up in the air and spun around looking for a sign to tell her where she was currently standing. It took a few moments, but just ahead of her, she noticed a sign with the number thirty-five written across it. Her eyes bugged out a little bit as she realized just how massive this shop must have been. as
"Earth to Hermione! What aisle are you in?"
She laughed at the voice coming through the phone. "I'm in aisle thirty-five."
"Thirty-five!" Darcy shouted.
Hermione snapped her head around as she heard the shout reverberate through the store. "Stay where you are. I think I heard you shout and it sounds like you aren't that far away from me."
"Okay, do you want me to stay on the phone?" Darcy asked. She wasn't really sure what to do at this point. It wouldn't be the first time she had managed to get herself lost in a store. There was no way she could count the number of times she had lost Jane in a store when they went shopping for parts for the lab on the one hand anymore.
"Since I'm following the sound of your voice it would be nice if you'd keep talking," Hermione chuckled.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, Granger, or I'll keep moving around this whole store," Darcy replied.
"How did you know I rolled my eyes?" Hermione asked, surprised by the fact that she was right.
"I just know you," she said. "Honestly, I'd have been more surprised if you would have told me that you didn't roll your eyes at my smartness."
"I guess I need to stop being so predictable. There you are," Hermione said, lowering the mobile from her ear and slipping it back in her pocket.
Darcy turned to her with a smile on her face and slipped her own phone back in her pocket. Then she wrapped Hermione in a giant hug. "I'm so glad you found me! I was starting to think I'd never see you again."
"Don't be so dramatic," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "But I don't think we are going to be able to find what we need here."
"Why not?" Darcy questioned.
"Because of the name, heirloom ornaments. I don't think that's going to be able to buy in a store and mean the same thing," Hermione said with a shrug. "I might need to apparate to London for a few days and go back to my parents' old flat. I'm pretty sure their holiday decorations are still there."
"I'll be honest. I'm not even sure what an heirloom ornament is," Darcy said with a laugh. "But I'm totally down for a random trip to London."
"Are you sure you want to apparate again? I don't remember it going so well the last time," Hermione said, furrowing her brow.
"I gotta get used to it at some point," Darcy replied. "Let's go."
. . . . . . . . .
Landing roughly outside of her parents' old flat, Hermione's heart was flooded with sadness as she looked upon the rundown building. Her parents hadn't been here since before the war. After she returned their memories, they decided that they liked their life in Australia and didn't want to return to London. She really couldn't blame them, but at the same time, it was sad that they were no longer living in her childhood home.
"You alright, Darcy?" she asked, dusting off the snow that had landed on her when they landed on the ground.
"Yup, I'm good," Darcy said, walking up to the gate in front of the house. "But it's freaking cold out here, can we go inside?"
Hermione nodded her head and waved her hand over the lock of the gate. "Alohomora." The gate creaked open, and the two walked inside. She repeated the process over the front lock, and before long the pair had made their way into the house.
Leaving the coats in the entryway, Hermione and Darcy made their way deeper into the house. Darcy took the chance to explore a little bit and gain some insight into the life that Hermione had left behind in London. Hermione made a beeline for the kitchen. The door to the cellar was in there, and the basement was where her mother kept the Christmas ornaments.
She wasn't sure why she hadn't taken the ornaments with her when she moved to the states, they were her's now that her parents no longer lived here. Part of her didn't want to take everything out of this home because if she did, then it wouldn't feel like home anymore. Making her way down the stairs, she cast a Lumos spell on the lights, and they flickered to life. She smiled broadly as the room illuminated and the boxes scattered around came into view.
"Hermione, where'd you go?" Darcy called.
Hermione turned back toward the stairs and called up in response. "I'm down here! Bring down something to drink on your way down. This could take a while. Mum had a lot of ornaments, and I want to make sure we pick out the perfect ones."
There was silence for a few moments outside of the sound of Darcy's shoes clunking against the ground as she walked around the kitchen. Hermione laughed and turned her attention back to the boxes. Of course, the Christmas ones were at the bottom of the pile. Slowly she started to move the boxes off the top of the pile and created a new one behind her near the stairs.
"So I couldn't find anything stronger than water," Darcy said with a heavy sigh as she placed the two glasses on the workbench off to the side of the room.
"Did you have something in mind?" Hermione asked, glancing back over her shoulder as she moved another box. "I might be able to conjure something up or turn the water into something else."
"Rum is rather festive, don't you agree?" Darcy asked, walking over and taking the next box off the top of the pile and adding it to the ever growing pile beside them.
Hermione thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head once, walking over to the workbench. "Rum I think I can do."
Darcy smiled proudly and continued moving a few more boxes. Finally reaching the bottom box, she slid it out into the middle of the room and then walked over to join Hermione at the workbench. "Why is it still clear?"
"I thought you might enjoy the spell, so I waited until you came over here," Hermione replied with a shrug.
Darcy looked at Hermione and then back at the boxes behind them. "Or were you just waiting until I was done moving all of the other boxes out of the way."
Hermione shrugged and focused her attention on the two glasses. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and reached into her pocket to pull out her wand. She raised it over the glasses and took one more deep breath. "Eye of rabbit, harp string hum, turn this water into rum."
Her wand sparked at the end, and they heard a small fizzle. Both of them watched as the water in the glasses turned slowly from a clear liquid to one of an amber color. They exchanged a glance with one another and tentatively reached for the glasses. Looking over the glass, Darcy lifted the drink to her nose and took a deep inhale of the scent.
"Smells like rum to me," she said, shrugging her shoulders and lowering the glass to her lips ready to take a sip.
"You were really about to drink that without making a toast?" Hermione exclaimed, reaching out and lowering Darcy's arm slightly. "Here's to a delightful holiday season and to making new memories with great friends."
"Here here," Darcy said, smiling broadly. She clinked her glass against Hermione's and lifted it to her lips once more. She tipped her head back and allowed the amber liquid to burn its way down her throat.
Hermione followed suit, and both of them laughed as they coughed slightly at the burning sensation. It was definitely rum alright, but that didn't necessarily mean it tasted all that good. "Let's find those ornaments. We want to find the ones with dates on them, that way everyone can have a good laugh at little Hermione. Then we can swing by your parents' house and find some ornaments with little Darcy pictured on them."
Darcy opened her mouth to reply in protest but closed it almost immediately. This was the type of Christmas tree they had agreed upon, so it was only fair that she share her baby pictures as well.
The Avengers wanted to start their own traditions and celebrating in their awkward years was going to be an excellent way to start. Besides, both Hermione and Darcy were looking forward to seeing Tony and Bruce's baby pictures. From the few glances they had at an old photo album of Tony's, they knew he wasn't always the dashingly handsome man that he was today. Everyone had some awkward years.
"Now that we've got my pictures, let's go get some of yours," Hermione said proudly, putting the last lid back on the box of Christmas ornaments.
"If we have to," Darcy sighed, pushing herself up off the ground. "There better be some embarrassing pictures of everyone else, or I'm going to vote we make our new tradition drinking more of that terrible rum."
"I mean we can do that too," Hermione laughed. "That's the great thing about holiday traditions, you can have as many as you want."