Chapter Text
The common room lay strikingly quiet, so much that a whisper could carry from wall to wall uninterrupted. While such silence was expected late at night, the holiday exodus of students had made a sweeping calm the new norm. For Rose Weasley, who had spent the last five years immersed in the noise of her fellow Gryffindors, this stillness had an eerie quality to it. She’d never stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas before, and the absence of the usual shouts and laughter made the crackling of the fire all too loud.
Rose had to admit her uncles’ tales were true. The twinkling lights of a thousand floating candles gave Christmas a unique feeling, accentuated by the thick whiff of mistletoe and peppermint in the air. Nevertheless, not even old Hagrid carrying a beastly pine tree from the snowy grounds to the hearth of the Great Hall could offset Rose’s discomfort, or the creeping edginess that had settled in the moment the scarlet train had pulled away without her.
It had been a month since her family delivered the news. Her mother had a diplomatic trip to America, and her father was going with her. Rose had expected they’d be tagging along, but, as her parents put it, the trip would be “too boring for kids.” Merlin’s sake, she was fifteen already! The least they could have done was ask for their opinion. Rose and her brother were perfectly capable of taking the subway and visiting museums by themselves.
Honestly, Rose couldn’t help but think that being the Minister’s daughter was such a bloody nuisance sometimes.
As it turned out, several of her uncles were also spending the holidays away, so a Christmas at the Burrow was ruled out. There was talk about all the kids being too much for Rose’s grandparents to handle by themselves, and they agreed everyone would be better off keeping each other company at Hogwarts—as if that could stop Rose from feeling like a last-minute afterthought.
“I’m just saying. Why couldn’t they name them Fire Turtles? They don’t look much like crabs to me.”
Oh yes, and Scorpious, her always-curious boyfriend, had also stayed for the holidays.
“Are you serious?” Rose asked, her head still on his lap. She didn’t want to be dragged into a trivial discussion, but she couldn’t stand such an obviously wrong statement.
“Hey, they’re not even red,” he countered.
He’s kidding, right?
Rose put her book down with a frown. “Their entire internal body structure is nothing like a turtle.”
“Their external structure looks pretty much like a turtle to me.”
Brilliant holiday we’re having. Arguing about Fire Crabs.
Roxanne, Rose’s cousin, seemed equally vexed. The girl tore her eyes away from the chess game she was losing to Hugo and joined Rose in her Fire Crab crusade. “What was the last time you saw a six-legged turtle?”
“When was the last time you saw a turtle-headed crab?” Scorpious shot back.
“Guys, really? Does it really matter?” Hugo said.
“YES!” all three of them answered at once.
Hugo raised his hands in defeat. “Have it your way, but just so you know, it’s pulling me out of my game here.”
“Oh sod it. I’ve had enough of this, you’re crushing me anyway!” Roxanne stood and walked to the fireplace, where she let herself drop on an armchair.
Hugo looked scandalised. “You can’t just leave a wizarding chess game unfinished!”
“Yes, I can. It’s in the rules! It’s called resigning.”
Rose knew her little brother hated that. He always liked to take every game until the very last breath, even if the result was completely decided way ahead.
Rubbing her forehead, Rose turned across the room. Aside from Hugo, Roxanne, and two younger girls on the other end, the Gryffindor common room was empty. It did make it easier to bring Scorpius over—he was in Slytherin, after all—but it gave the room a sense of dullness that was so foreign to it.
“Maybe I should go study or something,” Rose said, sitting up.
“Oh come on, Rose. It’s Christmas Eve!” Scorpius argued.
“Do I have to remind you we have O.W.L.s this year? Besides, it’s better than arguing about Fire Crabs.”
“Who’s arguing about Fire Crabs?” asked Lily as she walked down the girls’ staircase. She was Rose’s cousin as well, though she was a Potter, not a Weasley.
Hugo threw his arms in the air. “All of them!”
Lily snorted. “Twits.”
A new chess match was set up after Hugo convinced Lily to play. At the girl’s second move, Hugo winced as if Lily had made a horrible mistake. Annoyed, the redhead girl immediately stood up. “Okay, enough, I’m done.”
“Lily! Not you too.”
Rose rolled her eyes at her brother. She decided to rest her head on her boyfriend’s legs again; there wasn’t much time to study anyway, and it was a safe way to avoid her brother asking her to play instead.
BANG!
The common room door flew open, and four boys stormed inside.
“You guys, I have a great idea to spend the rest of the night!” James Potter, Rose’s most annoying cousin, announced.
The young girls on the other end of the common room had already started making their way out, surely looking for something less dull to do. The commotion startled them only momentarily, as everyone in Gryffindor was used to James’ antics.
Roxanne approached the group with her arms crossed. “I was starting to wonder where you lot went after dinner.”
Freddie answered, “Same old, sis. We were at the library studying in holidays, like the good chaps we are.”
“At the library? Yeah, right. Surely Louis’ idea of a good Christmas,” Scorpius teased.
Louis rolled his eyes.
The Fat Lady’s portrait swung closed as the other girls finally exited, leaving only Rose’s family and Scorpius in the common room.
“Actually, it was my idea,” James told them once he saw the portrait shut, his typical mischievous grin shone on his face. Even in his last year at Hogwarts, James didn’t seem like he had matured much at all.
“Have you been smelling unknown potions again?” Rose asked.
“Ha! Very funny.”
Al, who was James’s brother and far more nicer, came forward. He was a Slytherin, but that didn’t seem to stop James, Louis, and Freddie from making him a temporary fourth member of their group now that Leo Stevens was away for the holidays. After all, Al had to find something to do when Rose had kidnapped his best friend to use as a pillow.
“It really was James’ idea, and you won’t like it,” Al warned.
It was then that Rose noticed the book. An ancient, dusty tome that could be nothing good if James had shown interest in it. “What’s that?”
“A book.”
“You know what I mean smartarse.”
“It’s supposed to contain forbidden spells,” James said, faking an ominous voice. “We got it from the Restricted Section.”
Rose glanced at Roxanne and Hugo, who seemed to share her uneasiness. James usually caused all kinds of mayhem with his planned pranks, and it was even more chaotic when he tried to improvise. Rose knew better than to ask how they had gotten access to the Restricted Section.
“Is it about Fire Crabs?” Lily asked.
“Absolutely not!” Freddie said loudly.
Lily took a couple of steps closer to the book. “Then, whatever it is, I’m in.”
That seemed to confuse James. “Who even wants to talk about Fire Crabs today?”
Hugo’s eyes darted to the couch where Rose and Scorpius were trying to pretend not to hear.
After he registered the words, James turned towards them. “Listen, Malfoy!” he said with a frown, his accusing finger pointing at Scorpius. “It’s bad enough that I have to stand having a nasty Slytherin in this holy common room—”
“Oy!” Al argued.
“Shut up, you,” James told his brother, before turning back to Scorpius. “As I was saying. It’s enough having you here, even worse seeing you trying to get handsy with my cousin—”
Rose’s cheeks went red. “He’s absolutely not getting handsy with me, as you so kindly put it!”
“Shut up, you too, Red. This is between Malfoy and me,” James said, still pointing at Scorpius. “I’m warning you. I’m allowing you to be here and date my cousin—”
“Allow!?” Rose shouted.
James didn’t acknowledge the interruption. “... but if I hear once more that you are annoying my sister with your stupid, boring Fire Crabs…”
Louis and Freddie let out a laugh as Lily smacked James right on the shoulder.
“Ouch! What was that for?!”
“Being dramatic.”
“Fair enough,” James conceded, rubbing his head. “Still, Malfoy, drop the Fire Crabs. You’re pathetic enough as you are.”
“Oy!” Scorpius replied, “At least I didn’t run across the Great Hall wearing a pink skirt on Halloween.”
James blushed furiously. He didn’t like to talk about that one. “That… was a prank, and I so made Smith pay for it. Tenfold!”
“Err, guys, the book?” Hugo asked.
“Yes, of course,” James said, putting it on a nearby table. The title read, Most Obscure Spellwork of the Tenth Century and Why It Was Banned.
Roxanne’s cautious glee turned to an incredulous look. “You gotta be kidding me,” she said.
Unfortunately, Rose knew that if there was someone capable of something as idiotic as taking a dangerous book out of the Restricted Section that could very well be packed with dark things, and all of the name of a prank… that person was James.
“And you’re just going to go through those pages and get us all expelled?!” Rose shrieked. She was a prefect, and should put an end to whatever this was right now.
“Or jailed,” Scorpius muttered to Al, who nodded with a tired sigh.
“I already have something in mind,” James said, opening the book on a specific page.
Rose stood up and followed her cousins to read the title herself. “Time Displacement Charm For Miscellaneous Objects?”
“Brilliant, isn’t it?”
Rose knew little about time travel, but she knew enough. Her mother often used it as an example when warning them about the dangers of powerful spells. Even without that, Rose had heard enough to know that messing around with time travel could not only land them in detention—or Azkaban, for that matter—but could also destroy the world as they knew it. Honestly, James had better be joking.
“So, what? You seriously want to try a time-travel spell you found in some dodgy book?” Roxanne asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“Maybe you can travel to last year’s game against Ravenclaw and give your past self pointers before he gets his arse owned by Meredith Fenwick,” Scorpius quipped.
Freddie and Albus almost doubled over laughing. James, next to them, fumed.
“Doubt it’ll work,” Louis added with a smirk. “For that, he would need to know how to beat her. If anything, the only advice he could give his past self is how to get his arse owned even more spectacularly.”
“Whose side are you on?!” James scolded his cousin. “Anyway, if any of you knew how to read, you’d realise the book is not talking about time traveling people, but objects.”
“Because that makes it so much better!” Rose mocked him. She crossed her arms and braced herself to hear this new half-witted idea of him.
“We’re not doing anything, alright?” James said. Rose still narrowed her eyes at him, her suspicion far from gone. “Anything dangerous at least.”
Rose huffed.
Roxanne didn’t look convinced either. “Care to elaborate? I don’t trust your definition of dangerous.”
They all waited for James’ answer. The boy sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Alright, reckon we can’t send things to the past. It’ll break the time balance, or something like that. But that was not my intention. I’m not stupid, unlike what you may think, Rose,” he started. “Still, considering we were left behind while our parents went on vacations—”
“Work,” Rose corrected, not admitting that she shared his frustration.
“Whatever,” James dismissed. “I was thinking we could pretend to send some gifts to them for Christmas, to the past. Not actually doing anything. Just, you know, gather some stuff and imagine their past selves fretting over getting gifts from their future kids.”
Rose tried to process this in her head, but she couldn’t find the catch. And with James, there was always a catch. “You mean… pretending we send things, but not actually doing so?”
“Precisely.”
Confused stares were exchanged. Roxanne turned to Rose and shrugged, then moved her attention back to James. “That sounds…”
“Underwhelming?” Scorpius completed.
“Lame,” Fred said. “Trust us, we told him.”
James snorted, falling heavily onto the couch where Rose had been resting. Scorpius looked at him strangely from the other side, but James paid him no mind. He just leaned back and buried his face in his hands.
“I know, I know! It’s lame,” the boy whined. “Here I am in my last year at Hogwarts, and that’s the best I can come up with?”
In some other universe, Rose might have felt sorry for her cousin. “No one ever asked you to come up with stupid pranks,” she told him. “I’m sure McGonagall doesn’t consider them extra-curricular worthy.”
“He has learned a thing or two from some of these, Rose,” Hugo argued. “And he’s making an effort to catch up to Uncle George and Uncle Fred’s reputation.”
“A goal he’ll never reach,” Louis said casually, earning a glare from James.
“Which is rubbish! He’d accomplish more if he looked for something else to invest his energy in,” Rose reprimanded.
Scorpius picked that moment to chime in. “He’s already in his last year, though. Not much time to accomplish anything.”
Al shook his head, faking disappointment. “Seven years at Hogwarts… wasted.”
A cushion flew out of James’s hands and hit his brother square on the face.
“Anyway, that’s it. That’s the story of the stupid book.” James’ shoulders slumped. “I was sure I’d find something fun to do with it, but after going over the pages, this is the best I got. It’s the only part I could understand. A spell that I can’t do without messing with time, and which is surely too complex to do anyway.”
A moment of quiet settled in the room, broken only when Lily spoke. “Okay,” she said.
All eyes turned to her, even James, who had his forearms resting on his knees. “Okay, what?”
“Okay, let’s do it. The pretend-gifts.”
Hushed voices and curious glances were exchanged.
“Are you serious?” James asked. “But… it’s lame.”
“It is. But, honestly, there’s nothing else to do,” his sister said. “Besides, it might be worth the while… and the alternative is to keep talking about Fire Crabs with these two,” she nudged in Rose’s and Scorpius’s direction.
“Hey!” Rose yelled.
“Alright, I’m in!” Roxanne said.
“Oh, by Merlin’s beard. Me too,” Al added.
One by one they all agreed to the plan, until it was only Rose left.
“Promise no spell is going to be used? That it’s all pretend?” she asked.
James, now infused with a new sense of purpose and a mischievous grin, put a hand to his chest in a solemn oath. “Promise.”
The setting for the Time Displacement ritual was more straightforward than Rose would have imagined. It was even faster to arrange, since they were just making a game out of it and everyone was having a laugh. They were supposed to make a large circle with some mystical, who-knew-what kind of sand, but Freddie took heaps of ash from the fireplace in its place, and spread those across the floor between smirks. The book asked for dragon scales to be placed on top of the circle, and since they were lacking those, Roxanne brought down her Herbology gloves and brushed the remnants of dragon dung fertilizer on them.
“You’re supposed to get those cleaned on your way out of the greenhouses,” Louis said, as she watched Roxanne spreading the fertilizer over the ashes.
Rose had to agree. The last thing she needed was to return to her dorm and find out it smelled like dragon dung.
At one point in the circle, an hourglass was supposed to be smashed against the floor, and the sand was to be made to look like a dragon’s head. The point was for the circle to resemble the legendary Ouroboros creature—a symbol for life, rebirth, and time—but Lily broke her Muggle wristwatch instead, and Hugo used a stick to make an uninspired attempt at a smiling dragon with the ashes on the floor.
“Perfect!” James decreed. “Marvellous setting for a time travelling ritual. Now, to which year are we sending the Christmas gifts?”
“We aren’t really sending anything,” Hugo said.
“And this crap is not going to work even if we tried,” James told the boy, pointing at their disastrous attempt for a Ouroboros dragon. “But we’re pretending, Hugo. It’s no fun if we don’t play the part.”
“Guess so…”
Al walked around the circle, studying it with academic curiosity. Finally, he turned to James. “It would have to be Christmas morning. During a year when all of our parents stayed at Hogwarts.”
After plenty of discussion, they decided on the year that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. It couldn’t be 1994, because Hogwarts, A History didn’t lie, that was when the Triwizard Tournament happened and a year before the war started. It also happened to be after Viktor Krum’s first World Cup, and Rose was never wrong about Quidditch dates.
Soon, they all agreed that Sirius Black must have escaped in 1993.
James took a step forward, pressing his hands together. “Okay, who wants to start? We can pick anything we have in here or in our trunks. Imagine something that would knock them off their feet.”
Lily, who had been lost in thought, was the first to speak. “Nothing will happen to the gifts? It’s just make-believe, and none of our stuff will be damaged?”
“Of course! Perfectly safe. I’ll even Reparo your wristwatch myself,” James told his sister.
“Then wait for me here.”
It took only a minute before Lily came rushing back down the girls’ staircase. She was carrying a yellow and green shirt.
“It’s one of Mum’s old Harpies’ jerseys,” she explained, as she turned it around to show the ‘G. Potter’ text on the back over the big number seven. “This one is very soft now and I use it to sleep, so no dung better stick to it!”
Lily waved her wand and a red wrapping paper soon enveloped the jersey. She placed it carefully in the middle of the circle, adding a hastily scribbled note on top of it.
“Just imagine Mum’s face at that age, finding out she plays for the Harpies in the future!” Al said with a wide smile.
“The last name would come as a surprise too. I don’t think they were snogging that young,” James added.
Lily rolled her eyes.
“What about Dad’s present?” Al asked.
James scratched the back of his hair. “Well… that year was all about Sirius Black…”
“Dad didn’t know he was innocent! Could we send something to tell him the truth?” Al asked.
“It’s not like I have old newspapers claiming his innocence,” James said, rubbing his chin for a moment. “But… I may just have the thing.”
James went to the dorms to fetch some old biker goggles that he proudly showed to everyone. They were made from leather from what Rose could see, and James showed the strap was embroidered with the name Sirius.
“Found them in Sirius Black’s room at Grimmauld Place. He used them for Muggle biking—how brilliant is that?!—and they have some variation of the Impervius Charm to keep rain and bugs from hitting you on the face at high speed. It was a pain to modify them to fit on top of glasses, but I managed,” James said with a wide grin. “They work great for Quidditch.”
He wrapped the goggles and wrote a hasty gift note, which he signed with his full name. Then he convinced Albus to sign as well. They’d heard enough about the past to know that Uncle Harry would topple over upon finding out he had a son named Severus—a detail that Al wasn’t too happy about.
The rest of them were soon making gifts, wrapping them with notes that raised secret giggles. For her mother, Roxanne brought down an official Quaffle for next year’s World Cup, a ball so precious the girl hadn’t dared to play with it. She made vocal threats to James about it getting damaged. Freddie was simpler and picked a dungbomb for his father.
“Seriously? I’m sure they had dungbombs back in 1993,” Hugo said.
“Not as good as this one,” Freddie said. “Double-lasting smell, and more powerful too. Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes new prototype, patent pending.”
Rose sighed. Only Freddie would think of giving his father a dungbomb for Christmas, and only Uncle George would be mad enough to appreciate it.
Considering his parents were nowhere near Hogwarts in 1993, Louis made sure to remind them of the rest of the family. Lucy and Molly had already finished Hogwarts, but Louis put a brand-new work planner inside the circle for Uncle Percy. Lily helped him charm a yellow jumper with a moving badger on the front for Aunt Audrey—a trick they had only used with lions for Gryffindor’s Quidditch banners, but it wasn’t hard to adapt.
Freddie and Roxanne took charge of Uncle Fred’s present. They sent him promotional merchandise for the joke shop’s new location in Ireland—the opening of which was the reason Uncle George was away for the holidays. Uncle Fred didn’t get to see his life’s dream reach its peak, so it was a nice thought.
Not like they’re seeing any of this, though. It’s all pretend, Rose told herself.
When James asked Hugo about their gifts, the boy didn’t give it a second thought. He picked his Dad’s Chocolate Frog card and put it in the pile with the obligatory wrapping and note.
Rose huffed. Not only had her brother picked a cheap present—by Merlin, he had ten copies of their dad’s card—but also one that Rose knew their father would absolutely love.
“What about Aunt Hermione?” James asked, and all eyes landed on Rose.
Since Hugo had already called dibs on their father and gotten away with the easiest of gifts, Rose had to think a little deeper. Not much, really, as only one thing came to mind that she could give to the fourteen-year-old version of their mother.
“You’re sure none of this is reaching them?” Rose asked again. “It’s not like any of this wouldn’t blast the past as it is, but the thing I have in mind…”
“You have my word,” James said, putting his hand on his chest again.
Rose sighed. “Alright, give me a second.”
It only took a quick trip upstairs before she came down with the perfect gift.
“A book, sure, how surprising,” James teased.
Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s Hogwarts, A History.”
“She already had that one back then, didn’t she?” Hugo asked.
“Of course she did! But not this one,” Rose said, brushing the pages casually. “This has many things that haven’t happened for them yet.”
It was basically a retelling of their future, as detailed as anyone could find.
James leaned over her shoulder. “Oh, it’s even the Hermione Granger edition.”
“The what?” Scorpius asked.
“Aunt Hermione wrote the preface to that one,” Louis explained.
Rose placed the book along with the other gifts and carefully crafted a note. She thought it might sound a bit bitter, considering her mood, but it wasn’t quite like that. She wasn’t truly mad at her mother; Rose knew she had obligations and made an effort to make things better. And she also knew how much they had struggled in those years with the war. With this gift—which her fourteen-year-old mother wasn’t ever going to open—Rose wished she could tell her that it all ended up okay in the end.
“So that’s it?” James asked.
“Well, Scorpius still hasn’t sent anything,” Al said.
They all turned to him expectantly. James looked a bit annoyed but shrugged.
“You sure? It’s not my family, and I don’t even know…” Scorpius began.
“Go on, before I take it back,” James said, stepping back to give him access to the pile of presents.
Rose smiled as her boyfriend stepped forward. He had the same sober expression he wore before Quidditch matches, which Rose found so interesting. The boy put a hand inside his pocket.
“The only thing I have with me that would be of any significance is… well, this,” Scorpius said, taking an old picture out of his wallet.
When she noticed the family photo, Rose’s heart tightened. It was from when Scorpius was a little boy and his mother was still alive. Just Scorpius and his parents, looking like a happy family—if a bit serious to Rose’s standards.
Rose wanted to comfort him, to let him know she was there for him, but all she could do was put a hand on his shoulder. At least Scorpius turned around and smiled at her, so it must have been a welcome gesture.
Scorpius put the picture in a small box, then placed it with the pile of gifts. He scribbled a note and stepped away.
“A picture!” Roxanne suddenly yelled, causing everyone to jump.
“What?” Rose asked.
“That’s what we’re missing. Let’s send them a picture.”
Considering all they’d already sent, Rose didn’t think a picture could add much harm. Lily brought her camera and organized everyone in front of the Christmas-decorated fireplace. She set it on a timer and ran to get in the picture.
Once it was taken, Rose placed the photo on top of the pile. “Guess that’s it,” she said after a while. “Now what? We pick our stuff?”
James looked wistful at the pile of presents. “There goes my last Christmas at Hogwarts,” he said.
“Our last,” Freddie added, putting an arm around him. Louis joined them.
As much of a prat as James was, he was still her cousin, so faking annoyance, Rose went over and gave them a hurried hug, just like everyone else.
“Let’s make it ceremonial,” James said, pulling out his wand.
Rose’s eyes widened. Voices were raised.
“Wait! You said we weren’t doing it!” Al said.
“I know, but nothing bad will happen, trust me,” James said. “We made a mess of the ritual setting, and there’s no way I’ll get the words right. The spell isn’t that simple. I’ll just swing my wand. It doesn’t feel complete without doing anything.”
There were arguments, but they all reluctantly agreed. Rose had to admit it—there was no way the bloody spell worked with dragon dung and a Muggle wristwatch.
James skimmed over the page, not really caring if he got the instructions wrong. He made lazy motions that should fit with the date and intention of the spell, and said, “Tempus Mittimus.”
A blinding light came out of nowhere, and there was a collective gasp. When it was gone, so was the entire gift pile.
Rose stared open-mouthed at the spot where it had been, along with the rest of the people in the common room. It wasn’t until several seconds later that Roxanne broke the silence.
“Fuck,” she said. “My Quaffle!”
They all rushed forward amid curses and shouts, looking for their possessions, but they were really gone.
Rose turned around, livid. “JAMES POTTER! Those gifts better not be where I think they are!”
The color had completely drained from James’s face, and the boy let himself fall onto his arse. “Damn… We should’ve stayed with the Fire Crabs.”