Time Travel? Really!

Is the end of life really death??

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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It was quite nice not having the adults at school suspicious of Rose, and none of the professors seemed all that concerned that Rose had elected to go home for Christmas as they were more focused on taking names down for those who would be staying. They seemed much more rushed than usual, and with how much Dumbledore had been hiding in his office recently Rose wondered how much extra work they'd been given.

Rose was honestly too excited to care. Not one time at Hogwarts had she had the chance to take the Hogwarts Express home for Christmas and spend it with family. Her family. It was a new experience and she was going to enjoy it to the best of her ability, even if she was more childish than usual.

Though she had a feeling she wasn't the most childish if the letters from home were any indication. According to Amelia she was having a difficult time reigning in her fiancé, as he seemed to be on a mission to cover every inch of Rose's house in tasteless decorations even if it was still two weeks until Christmas. She dearly hoped her family home wouldn't be destroyed by his enthusiasm.

Rose had always thought herself to be a mature adult but being in the past was actually rather trying for her. She knew she was good at burying parts of herself that made her vulnerable, but her family was slowly bringing them out and soothing her long-buried pain. They'd realised quite quickly that she didn't know how to respond to affection, and they were rather good at distracting her with hugs and kisses. Putting her first was a new experience too, as adults had usually treated her as an afterthought. Or simply used her as a chess piece. Not that she was bitter or anything. Not at all.

She was coming face to face with childhood issues that had never been dealt with properly and her dads seemed determined to show her what a family really was. The two of them were focusing on her but Rose knew they were benefiting too. Sirius was obvious with his childhood tainted by insanity and cruelty, but Remus' early life hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows either.

His parents had said they'd accepted his Lycanthropy and cared for him, but when the full moon came he'd been locked away with his parents looking at him with sadness, fear and pity. They could have mentioned straight-up the brutal reality of his situation and he would have loved them just the same, but their method of pretending everything was normal was disheartening to say the least.

Now though the two men were very involved in the spirit of the season. She grinned at the thought of Christmas even though present shopping was getting a little daunting. Thank God for owl-order service.

Aside from her close friends, the rest of the Ravenclaws including Penelope were getting an assortment of magical and muggle sweets, and some key chains shaped like books.

Hermione was getting some wizarding children's books, like The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Daphne, Tracy, Susan and Hannah were getting some jewellery, and she'd bought some Potions tools for Terry. For Su and Millicent she'd gotten two high-quality jumpers.

The last two girls, Lavender and Parvati, were getting a set of colour-changing hair accessories. Wayne was getting a collection of Stephen King novels which inspired Blaise's Sherlock Holmes set. As for Neville, he was getting a new pair of Herbology gloves made from dragon-hide.

The terrible twosome Fred and George were each getting a book of notes handwritten by the Marauders. (She knew McGonagall would hate her forever if she found out.)