Chapter Text
“Maggie what did you?” Mel asked her sister as she stared at the blank spots in front of her.
“I thought I was helping them to remember their best Christmases.” Maggie explained, almost hoping Macy and Harry had managed to trick them into thinking they disappeared from the attic.
“Why would you do something like that?” Mel shouted at her younger sister, mind racing with all the ways this spell could have gone wrong.
“I don’t know. I thought they could use some Christmas spirit.” Maggie justified, “They both been so cranky of late.”
“Gee, I wonder why?” Mel snapped back at her sister.
“Harry?!” Mel and Maggie began to shout. “Macy?! Harry?! Where are you?”
***
Macy and Harry stood on the front porch of the Vera Vaughn residence, both clutching their heads in confusion.
“Harry, why did you orb us downstairs?” Macy asked, pain in her voice as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
“I assure you I did no such thing.” Harry proclaimed, wincing as though the effort of being indignant were costing him brain power.
“Doesn’t matter.” Macy began, frustratedly, “Let’s just go back inside.”
Macy stepped forward to reach for the door handle, when the door opened in front of her.
She was stunned beyond belief. The person who stood in front of her simply could not be there.
“Marisol?” Harry asked
***
“Ok, I think I figured this out” Mel said, standing over the book of shadows “You said memento primum when you meant memento optimis.”
“So rather than remembering their best Christmases, they are remembering their first. Still doesn’t explain where they are.”
***
Macy and Harry stared stunned at Marisol, neither quite sure how to proceed.
“Did the Elders send you to help me?” Marisol asked, almost sounding amused.
“I...uh…” Macy began,
“Um, yes.” Harry said, stepping in front of Macy, as if trying to keep Mariol from getting a good look at her. “They knew you needed help so they sent us.”
Marisol sighed, smiling.
“Come on in.” She stepped inside, inviting them into a slightly different version of the house they just left.
“I told them I could use divine intervention to help through Christmas shopping with an infant, but this is not what I had in mind.”
“With an infant?” Macy managed to ask.
As though answering her question, there was the sound of a baby crying coming from upstairs.
“Yes, follow me.” Marisol said, beginning to climb up the stairs.
“Okay.” Macy agreed, leaning in close to Harry. “I think we must have been sent to the past.”
“Seems like, but is this going to be young Mel or young Maggie?” Harry asked her, proceeding to head up the stairs.
“I’m sorry, you never told me your names.” Marisol said, continuing through the hall.
“Ah, yes. I am Harry and this is…”
Another, even louder cry came from upstairs.
“Coming Macy!” Marisol shouted, rounding the corner and running up the attic stairs.
Adult Macy froze.
It were as though she had been kicked in the gut. How could this be possible? Of all the times and places they could have ended up...
“That’s me up there?” Macy asked Harry, though not really for an answer. “Baby me.”
Macy felt as though she might faint. She grasped at the handrail for support.
“Oh dear. Seems as though Maggie’s spell transported us back to your first Christmas.” Harry concluded.
“Can I even see my past self?” Macy asked “I mean, without a cataclysmic paradox occuring.”
“Of course, witches visit the past all the time.” Harry started to explain, another cry escaping from baby Macy. “I would however avoid touching the baby or your mother as a precaution. Don’t want to trigger any premonitions.”
“You mean like alerting my mom that she is going to die in roughly 27 years via murder?”
Harry opened his mouth as if to respond when Marisol’s voice broke through.
“Did you guys get lost down there?” Marisol shouted from the attic.
Harry and Macy rushed up the stairs. Marisol stood in front of a bassinet, cooing at the baby within.
“Terribly sorry.” Harry began. “I got caught up noticing the...uh...architecture of the house.”
Marisol nodded, standing up straight and turning to face them.
“Are you sure you are alright to watch her for a few hours?” Marisol asked. “My husband won’t be back from his mother’s until tomorrow and I promised I would watch his baby cousin while they were out of town.”
“Cousin.” Macy asked, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice.
“Not to worry.” Harry responded, his eyes darting over to the Book of Shadows. “Your, uh, Macy is in good hands.”
Marisol smiled at the both of them.
“Well, I must be off. Good luck to you Harry and uh, I’m sorry, your name is?”
“Uh...Margaery.” Macy replied.
“Margaery. Macy is a pretty easy going baby, she should sleep the whole time. But if not, she likes to be rocked and held and talked to.”
Before either of them could reply, Marisol was down the stairs and out of the room.
Smiles instantly dropping from their faces, Harry and Macy both scrambled to the Book of Shadow.
***
“Why don’t we use a reversal spell?” Mel suggested, flipping haphazardly through the book.
“Harry said they don’t always work the way they are supposed to.” Maggie began to explain. “We could either undo the spell or cause the opposite effect and send them to their last Christmases.”
“Which with Harry being an immortal being could never happen and could cause unknown and disastrous consequences…” Mel ranted, internally berating herself for how much she sounded like Harry right now.
“Let’s keep looking.” Maggie suggested.
***
“Just as I suspected,” Harry began. “A bit of mistranslated latin caused us to be transported to what I assume is your first Christmas.”
Harry pointed to the passage referring to memory spells.
“And the only way back is for the spellcaster to undo the spell.” Macy continued. “But you just gave us that lecture about the unintended consequences of performing those kinds of spells.”
“I beg your pardon, I do not give lectures.” Harry replied indignantly, before pausing. “Well I suppose it is technically my job to give lectures. Both to the three of you and my students. Hopefully this is one of the ones your sisters ignored.”
Before Macy could reply, a cry emanated from the bassinet.
It was hard to judge who seemed more panicked in that moment, Harry or one of the two Macys.
“I know I had a son in my previous life, but I would be remiss if I pretended I knew what I was doing at this particular moment.”
Macy swallowed thickly.
“Are you alright?” Harry asked, barely able to be heard over the crying baby.
“Of course, I’m fine.” Macy said, her voice becoming higher pitched the more upset she became “I am just trapped in the past with a whitelighter and a screaming baby that it’s own mother cant even acknowledge is hers.”
Harry felt helpless by the panicked saddened in Macy’s voice.
“Oh Macy, is there anything I can do?” Harry asked, not sure of what help he could be.
“Hold me.” Macy replied.
“What?” Harry replied, a look of shock widening his eyes. He couldn’t help the thoughts that next travelled through his mind. Thoughts of how strongly he felt for her and how no matter how much he wanted to, he could not put Macy or her sisters in danger by pursuing them.
But the thought of holding her made him blush.
Macy immediately looked panicked.
“Baby me. Hold baby me.” Macy rushed, pointing over at the infant version of herself in the crib.
“Right, of course.” Harry said, rushing over to grab the baby from the bassinet.
Harry scolded himself as he scooped the tiny bundle into his arms and began to bounce.
“There, there now.” Harry began, tucking in the baby’s blankets around. “There is no reason for a lovely baby such as yourself to be crying, is there?”
Harry began to walk around the room with the baby, humming a tune and closing his eyes, almost as though he had forgotten where he was or who he was holding.
Meanwhile, Macy was entranced. Watching Harry, a man who was so certain seconds before that he knew nothing about babies, effortlessly embracing and calming this child made Macy’s heart race.
Macy couldn’t deny she had been seeing him differently since her time as the source. He had requested they never address his thoughts, but there would be moments, not so different from this, when she couldn’t stop thinking about Harry. What kind of a man he was, and how in just a few moments of reading his thoughts, she felt more loved than she could ever imagine. It was almost enough to make her forget being stuck in the past with a crying reminder that this would be the only time she would spend with her mom.
Almost enough.
“There we go.”Harry said, placing a now sleeping baby Macy in the bassinet.
Adult Macy smiled.
“Seems the old instincts kicked in.” she told him.
“I suppose so.” He replied, smiling down at the baby in the crib.
“Now, how do we get home?” Macy asked, herself just as much as him.
“If only we could send a message to your sisters in the future. But it is not as though we can write them a letter.” Harry began.
“But what if we could?” Macy asked, an idea blossoming in her mind.
***
“I can’t believe I trapped our sister and our whitelighter in the past with no clue how to get them back?” Maggie started, throwing her head down on the book.
“Hey, we will figure this out.” Mel assured her, wrapping an arm around her. “We will find them somehow.”
“But what if they are already dead?” Maggie asked, raising up from the book and wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Not possible, I would know.” Mel assured her. “And so would you.”
“How?” Maggie asked, not bothering to wipe the next set of tears, letting them fall onto the book.
“Remember when Mom died. That feeling of dread in your heart, knowing something was wrong.” Mel clutched at her chest as she said this. “It’s not there right now. If something happened to them, we would know.”
Maggie nodded.
Mel smiled, tears falling from her own eyes.
“So we are going to stop crying and we are gonna find a way to rescue them.” Mel wiped away her tears, splashing a few onto the book.
Suddenly, words appeared on the page about memory spells.
***
“That’s quite brilliant” Harry complimented as Macy wrote in the Book of Shadows.
“You sound surprised.” Macy said with a snarky amused tone.
“I’m not sure one could ever become accustomed to your brilliance.” Harry replied, staring at her as though she were the only person in the world.
Macy smiled, though her smile quickly faded.
“Have I overstepped?” Harry asked in a hurry.
“No.” Macy whispered, shaking her head.
She took a moment to carry the book over to the window seat.
“It’s not you, it’s this memory. One of the only two Christmases I will ever get to spend with my mother.”
Harry stared at her mournfully as he sat down to join her.
“I’m so sorry Macy.”
“I don’t even remember what she got me.” Macy explained. “I know that is how being a baby works, but did my dad keep these things, or was removing all evidence of my mom necessary?”
“Not necessary, but perhaps he thought it would be easier.” Harry began
“Maybe he was right.” Macy agreed. “Maybe the reminders of what I lost would just make everything hurt more.”
Harry took a deep breath as he reached for Macy’s hand.
“More than anything, I wish this were a kind of pain I could heal.”
Macy rested her hand in his, trying to allow the warmth from his hand and the love in his eyes comfort her.
“Me too.” she said, allowing herself to shed tears onto the words she had just written, causing them to disappear.
***
Maggie, use the undo spell. It is the only way to bring us back - Macy
“Should we trust it?” Maggie asked Mel, staring at the words that had just appeared on the page.
“I think we have to”
Maggie nodded as she grabbed her sister’s hand and took a deep breath
“Converterent Alica” Maggie shouted.
A gust of wind filled the room as suddenly Macy and Harry stood before them holding hands.
Mel and Maggie ran over to hug Macy and Harry, tears flowing from all around