CH 110: Christmas Countdown

It had been two days since the morning Hermione had awoken to discover that Rita Skeeter had been in her home. It had taken her a solid day to begin to calm down from the shock of it all, and another day to settle into life in a household of six. Despite Ron's concerns that the kids would feel unsafe or vulnerable, both Rose and Hugo had seemingly seen it as no more than an amusing story to share with their cousins and friends.

But, when she awoke that Monday morning she was struck with a thought that sent panic down every nerve. Christmas Eve was the following day and she, for the first time in her life, was utterly unprepared for the holiday. She sat straight up in bed grabbing her phone to double check the date, and the sudden movement startled Ron.

"Wuzwrong? Time to feed 'em?" he mumbled sleepily.

"No. Worse."

"Mmm?" he muttered, eyes already closing.

"Ron! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!"

"Well spotted, Love. That is precisely why I have had to spend all those ruddy hours at the shop. You wouldn't believe how many people put off shopping 'til the last minute. Today is going to be absolutely barmy."

"Ron! Get up! Unless you made some sort of secret trip to the North Pole that I don't know about, I am pretty sure you can lump us into that group of barmy unprepared masses. What are we going to do!?" she said, panic creeping into her voice.

Ron sat up, eyes still closed, but ran his hands through his hair and over his face as he tried to wake up.

"I'm up," he said, though he sounded more as if he was trying to convince himself instead of inform his wife.

"Ron, sorry, but between the babies and the kids coming home and that horrible woman, I do believe the entire month of December got away from us."

"Um – well – wait a minute. Still waking up, but I feel like we had maybe had a plan back - well – back before the babies. Hold on, I'll think of it in a sec."

"Is it terrible that I am really hoping you haven't gotten me anything?" she winced.

"No. And I didn't. So I hope we're even. Please say we're even?"

"Thank God. And we are definitely even. I wasn't that organized, I promise."

"I have an idea. Let's just give each other those hiking baby carrier thingies and we'll get them later," he said.

"Perfect. That's brilliant, actually."

"See, we're on a roll. And, hey – I remember now– you had made that amazing cookbook for my birthday. It was so great we decided to get more printed for my parents and siblings."

"Oh! Right! And I did that back in April! I think I put them at the other house. But, yeah – we're good for all of them, then," she said with a huge sigh of relief. "Of course, that still leaves my parents and our four children."

"Well, do you think Hazel and Ryan will feel all that left out? I mean, I adore them, but they chew on their toes, so the bar is pretty low on what makes them happy."

Hermione laughed. "Well, yeah, of course. But I want them to have stockings by the chimney and everything. Maybe I'll find something small today just for fun."

"Ok. See – crisis averted."

"Well – crisis lessened, but I don't know about averted. We still need gifts for Rose and Hugo, my parents, Melissa, Mrs. Carrington, Mrs. Eldwin, Matthew and Fatima…"

"Blimey. Well, now – wait a minute – we won't see Melissa and our lovely elderly ladies 'til after Christmas. Same with Coppedge and Fatima. And they're getting married in a few weeks. Can't we just get them a nicer wedding present?"

She laughed, "Well, alright. That does seem logical. Especially since they absolutely know how surprising our new additions were. But, I still need to go shopping today."

"But I have to work at the shop. Do you really want to take the babies out shopping today? It'll be a madhouse."

"Well, unless we want to give them things from the shop, I guess I probably have to. And I don't really want to give my mum a skiving snack box."

He chuckled and shook his head. "No, don't s'pose that would be a good idea. Think Rose and Hugo could handle the babies on their own?"

Hermione looked at Ron as if he'd grown three heads. "Not 48 hours ago we had an actual intruder in this house. I am not ready to leave my four kids with no adult here."

"Right. Yeah. Sorry. Dumb suggestion."

"No comment," she said flatly.

"Alright, I'm up. Let me hop in the shower and get going. We'll figure something out. We always do."

As he got up, Hermione's phone buzzed, and Hermione realized it was her mum. "Morning, Mum. What are you doing up so early?"

"Well, I am suspecting that I know you well enough to guess that you are probably just now realizing you have a lot to do before tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah," she confessed in a defeated whimper. "I lost track of days somewhere. I never do that. I'm not quite sure what happened."

"What happened?" Jean laughed. "I'll tell you what happened. Twins. Twins happened. No other explanation necessary. But, that's why I'm calling. First – please know your father and I do not want any gifts from you lot this year. Two new grandchildren is more of a gift than we could have ever dreamed of. Second - I am all set and ready for Christmas. You are not. I am desperate to spend the whole day with your four children. You are not. So, I will be there in an hour, and you can wade into the last minute shopping bedlam that is December 23rd , and Ron can head to that crazy shop and deal with that migraine in an orange bag."

Laughing, Hermione sighed, "I love you, Mum."

Encouraged, Hermione got up to take a shower and head down to make breakfast. She smiled as she came downstairs and saw Rose sitting on the sofa with both babies in her arms.

"Morning, Mum," she grinned.

"You're up early," Hermione said, joining her daughter on the couch and reaching for Ryan.

Rose shrugged. "They were ready to be up, and I didn't want to miss a minute with them. I've missed too much already."

Hermione smiled sadly at her. "I know they have missed out on you, too. You are an amazing big sister, Rose. You have been for a long time. But, now there are two new souls waiting for you to show them the ropes."

"Just wish I could see them more often. They are so much bigger than the last time I saw them. And after the break I won't see them until Easter!"

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Welcome to my world! Now you know how much your dad and I miss you each time you go up to Scotland."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Hadn't thought of it that way," she admitted. "I just worry that I won't really get to know them."

"Oh Rose," Hermione grinned. "You will have wonderful relationships with both of them. Look at Ron and Bill. They are just about the same age difference as you and the babies. And while Bill was at Hogwarts for much of Ron's growing up years, they were always close. And they still are."

"Wow, you're right. I forget he is so much older than Dad."

"Exactly. But Bill was able to be that special older sibling to Ron. He could be the wise brother to help him out with problems that Ginny or George or Fred would have just teased him about. But while he was old enough to be helpful, he was still young enough to be fun. You will develop your own special relationship with both Ryan and Hazel, I promise."

They both sat for a minute, captivated by the little ones in their arms. Rose traced Hazel's tiny eyebrows with her finger as her sister watched her with wide brown eyes.

"Mum, Dad said maybe I could have Scorp over to come meet the babies. Do you think he could come today? Or maybe for Christmas Eve or Christmas?"

"Well, he will absolutely meet the babies over the break. Today probably isn't the best day as your dad will be working and I have to run a ton of errands, so your grandmum will be coming over today, and I know she wants to spend time with each of you. Then Christmas and Christmas Eve I would think he would be with his family, no?"

"Well, his family is rather small. And I don't think they do a lot of fun family things. They're pretty formal as you know. He loves his parents, but I know he gets lonely over vacation. I know he would just love these two. And, well, I miss him over vacation too. You know, since he and I are together all of the time at school – well, with Al, of course."

Hermione looked at her oldest daughter, and realized what a beautiful young woman she had become. And, while she had previously wondered about the relationship Rose had with Scorp, she could see from the sudden flush on Rose's cheeks that her previous suspicions were probably right, at least from Rose's perspective. Of course, she had no idea if Scorp thought the same thing, or if he had even yet noticed that Rose was actually a girl. But, either way, she did not envy the emotional roller coaster that was bound to be ahead for her daughter.

"Well, how about you owl him and see if he wants to come over on Boxing Day. That's only three days from now, but if it is alright with his parents, then you'll be able to introduce him to the babies and have some time to catch up. Does that sound like it might work?"

She smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Mum."