DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, who isn't me. The only profit I get from this is personal satisfaction.

Out of Mind

George awoke, but not where he was expecting. He wasn't in the middle of nowhere anymore, but rather in his bedroom at the Burrow. He could already smell Mum's cooking from the kitchen downstairs.

"Morning, Old George," Fred said as he pulled George to his feet with a grin. "Happy Christmas."

"What am I doing here?" George asked. "What do you need?"

"Nothing. George and I just thought you'd like to spend Christmas here this year. He really wanted you to be in control instead of just watching him enjoy Christmas. It's our gift to you."

I don't ever remember being that thoughtful at this age. "Tell him my thanks."

"Well, I think part of it was to get out of you testing his Occlumency," Fred whispered, "but don't tell him I said that."

George laughed. "Well, since the Outcasts Club hasn't been keeping track of what day it is, can I go back to my body for a minute?"

"Sure," Fred replied as he drank pumpkin juice.

Back on the continent, George pointed his wand at himself and whispered, "Legilimens. Imperio." Snape and Remus weren't up yet so George transfigured their clothes green and red and decorated a nearby tree. After about ten minutes, he tasted pumpkin juice again and returned to his room while keeping a part of his consciousness with the Outcasts Club.

"You good?" Fred asked.

"Yeah. Is Bill here? Did you ever get around to telling him about me?"

"He has to work," Fred sighed. "We sent him a letter months ago that said that the Saintlike One was no longer a problem—"

"You didn't write that I was George, right? Someone else could find that..."

"We're not stupid, you know," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "But I don't think Bill believed us either. George is pretty sure that Bill thinks we changed our minds too quickly."

"I concur with my younger self," George replied, "and I'll have to visit my older brother sometime to set him straight. Now, though, I've been missing Mum and Dad and everyone so you need to make sure that I don't act overexcited."

"Saint George," Fred said, "it's Christmas. No one is going to notice."

"If I'm giddier than Ron and Ginny combined, yes they will."

Watching Oliver while he possessed himself and Imperiused himself wasn't usually this bizarre, but today he didn't seem to have very good control. At the most random moments Oliver would start staring out into space with a big grin on his face. Remus knew that it was just because Old George was enjoying his time with his family, but it was still disconcerting.

"Anyway, what were we just talking about?" Oliver asked when he came out of it.

"Nothing," Remus replied. "Snape here was just emphasizing to me how important it is to be careful with wolfsbane so I don't kill myself."

"Again?" Oliver asked. "Snape, you do realize that Remus is not an idiot, don't you?"

"It is in no way advisable to brew a potion of this potential lethality while ill!" Snape insisted. "An extra fraction of a gram in the brew because of his shaky hands could kill him. Lupin may be the first werewolf who manages to make the potion successfully, and that will only be because I plan to watch him like a hawk and stop him from taking his failed attempts."

"Which, again, I am grateful for," Remus said. He looked to Oliver to back him up, but he was staring into space again. This time, though, something felt off.

"Is he going to keep doing this all day?" Snape asked. "He might as well just go into a comatose state and be done with it."

"He was smiling all the other times, right?" Remus asked. "Because he's not smiling now." If anything, it was pure shock—and whatever it was that could send a time traveler spending Christmas with his family into shock had to be important.

Oliver stood up and started walking so Remus followed him.

"Early?" Oliver asked. "There is no early. This wasn't supposed to happen at all, Fred."

Is he doing the same thing with both of his bodies right now? Remus wondered.

"Charlie only ever spent time with his dragons," the time traveler said. "He didn't care. But Tonks? Merlin, Remus is going to kill me."

So he isn't talking to me. Tonks...why does that name sound familiar?

"Don't interfere—don't you dare interfere. Don't even tell Young George. I knew my being here would change things and I deliberately haven't told anyone about who ended up with who since failed relationships are good for you—or so Ginny says, at least. But this? Maybe I'll tell them after they've tied the knot—they still have a chance of breaking it off on their own—but you keep that fact locked under all the Occlumency you've got, alright?"

Doesn't Sirius have a cousin named Tonks? Remus thought. Andromeda or something? But that's her married name. Is Old George talking about her or a relative of hers? And what does it have to do with me?

"Thanks, Fred," Old George said as he hugged a tree. That's when his fuller consciousness returned. "Do you have any idea why I'm hugging this tree? I don't even like this tree that much..."

"I haven't the foggiest idea," Remus replied. He wasn't sure about what just happened, but he was pretty sure that he did not want to find out. At the very least, Remus had no desire to become a murderer on Christmas, and even if Old George was exaggerating about that part, whatever the time traveler had discovered could probably wait.

"Huh," Oliver said. "Okay then. Did I miss anything this time?"

"Snape said that it's alright if you just keep your mind with the rest of your family," Remus said, "and frankly I agree with him."

"You're sure?" Oliver asked. "You want to spend Christmas just with Snape?"

"I've had worse Christmases," Remus said with a shrug. "You go on."

Old George gave him a grateful smile and collapsed. Remus sighed and dragged Oliver's body back towards camp.

"He's in a coma now," Remus explained as he placed Oliver on his bedroll.

Snape pulled out his wand and, apparently, decided to take the opportunity to examine Oliver's unconscious defensive state. Oliver normally he split his consciousness between his older and younger selves while possessing himself, so Remus figured Snape probably was right to check to make sure Old George's Occlumency was where it was supposed to be. Snape frowned at what he found.

"Does that mean you were able to get in or that he was able to keep you out?" Remus asked.

"Neither," Snape replied. "His head is completely empty."

"So everything's transferred to his younger self's head right now?" Remus asked.

"No. When Dumbledore probed the Saintlike One, he only saw Oliver's active presence there, not memories. It's as if his mind is not kept in his head."

"Then what have you been using Legilimency on before now?" Remus asked.

"Either he has his mind kept inside his head only when his active presence is there," Snape said, "or the fact that his active presence is in its natural home makes his mind more accessible. But why would his mind leave in the first place?"

"Do you think it has to do with him being a time traveler?" Remus asked.

"That is the most likely explanation," Snape said. "We can ask Oliver about it once his Christmas is over."

The solution to George's problem of whether or not he should send Remus to the past was now elegant: Tonks was planning on marrying Charlie instead. That did not mean that George was okay with it.

He'd always wanted Tonks in the family, of course, but he didn't want the werewolf to get the short end of the stick just because George's presence in the past had encouraged Tonks and Charlie to get to know each other. George hadn't even realized anything was going on between them besides friendship, but it apparently had been going on for months. And their engagement announcement at the Weasley's... George was still completely flabbergasted by the whole thing. He used his Occlumency to hide his true feelings and put out a happy vibe about the new couple, but he knew that Tonks and Charlie had noticed the initial dumbfounding and were going to ask questions sooner or later.

Charlie came by first. "George—or should I say Saint George?—did you really not notice? I thought you were actively trying to get Tonks and I together earlier. Was it just subconscious on your part?"

"Something like that," George replied.

"I definitely have to thank you for that," Charlie said. "I can't imagine life without her. What did I do last time?"

Just because George was in shock didn't mean that he'd lost his sense of humor. "You thought Norberta was more fun," he said with a sly grin.

"Norberta?" Charlie asked, his eyes widening as his jaw went a bit slack. "Okay, I think I finally found someone with a more unfortunate name than Nymphadora."

"Hagrid named her Norbert until you and your dragon buddies found out her gender."

"So Norberta's a dragon?" Charlie laughed. "Old George, don't do that to me again, okay?"

"That's what you get for asking about the nice surprises of the future," George replied.

"I can understand why you wouldn't want to tell Mum who married who—she'd drive all the girls away by acting like a match was 'meant to be,'" Charlie said. "But I have a right to know what happened to me now that I know what I'm doing. And speaking of Mum, are you going to tell her and Dad about you anytime soon?"

Charlie just had to trade one awkward topic for another... George thought."Uh...no?"

"Why not?" Charlie asked. "It's not like Mum can chew you out for it."

"Do you really think that me being 41 too is going to stop her?" George asked.

"Merlin's Beard, you really are still terrified of Mum!" Charlie laughed. "You do realize that keeping it from her is just going to make it worse, right?"

"It's not just that," George said. "Seeing Mum and Dad and everyone for Christmas was wonderful, it really was, but I am not a part of this family anymore. Not really. I'm more like some long-lost uncle than anything—even when I'm in Young George's body. And besides, next year it's going to be really important that we don't slip up about Voldemort and I don't want Mum and Dad involved in that. Maybe after the mess is done I'll tell them, but not before then."

"Alright, if you insist," Charlie sighed. "But what about Bill? He already knows about the Saintlike One, but not about you. You should tell him, at least, or he might do something stupid."

"Yeah, I know," George replied. "I was planning on taking a trip to Egypt once I was done here."

"Good. Bill is supposed to be the smart one, but if he doesn't know anything then he can't be much help," Charlie said. "Now go congratulate Tonks and tell her all about what we were supposed to do if you aren't going to tell me."

Bill... George realized. He might be able to help me figure out what I should do about Remus. I guess I still need my big brother's advice sometimes.

Author's Note:

Since I doubt they'll have relevance later, here's some answers for Guest I forgot to give last chapter:

I have absolutely no idea what Lysander is up to, so don't expect to see him again anytime soon. As for why Snape thought George was Fred, that was supposed to be just a throwaway gag, but I'll try to justify it. Snape propably can't tell the twins apart except by who is wearing Gryffindor or Slytherin robes—and given that they swap clothes whenever they feel like it...well, Snape had a 50/50 chance at best and got it wrong

—pisoprano