THREE
"I REALLY HOPE HARRY doesn't end up getting Lupin fired like he has the rest of our Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers." Marina sighed, plopping down on a chair in the Gryffindor common room.
Rory smacked the girl's arm lightly, "That wasn't all Harry's fault. Besides, Lupin's not a nutter like the rest of them."
The school year had been going excellently. No, that was an overstatement. The threat of Sirius Black breaking into the castle and dementors roaming the school grounds wasn't ideal, but to Rory it was a bit better than students being petrified left and right. Also, Professor Lupin made up for all of it. He inspired Rory.
"Anyone who wants to spend the rest of their lives in a school and become a teacher is a nutter if you ask me," George interjected.
"Whatever." Rory rolled her eyes, slightly offended. "I like him. He's the best teacher we've ever had. With him, we're definitely all getting 'Outstanding' on our O.W.Ls."
"Speak for yourself, Rory," Fred scoffed. "You're smart."
"I study," She replied. "You two are smart, you just don't show it."
George sat down next to Rory and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Because we don't care about school. It's not useful."
"To you," She sighed. "Anyways, you two have any leftovers from Honeydukes yesterday?"
The day before was the second trip to Hogsmeade of the year. Just after her birthday, just as the snow began to fall, and right before Christmas. Three aspects that made it Rory's favourite yet. The charming little village was one of the girl's favourite parts of Hogwarts. She loved the grounds, but it felt good to take a trip with her best friends and hit up the shops. Falling right before Christmas it was a perfect time to get gifts for everybody she cared about as well.
"I've got some." Marina said, getting up. "I'll be right back."
Rory smiled looking back at George and Fred. "Can I see the map?"
The boys' mischievous smiles dropped and they gave each other a worried look. Rory furrowed her brows and leaned in with confusion. "What's that face for?"
"Rory..." Fred said slowly.
"... we sort of..." George trailed on.
"Gave it away." They said in unison.
"To Harry. He needs it more than us, really." George said.
Rory was shocked. She never thought in a million years the twins would donate their prized possession. The Marauders' Map. She understood why, she knew Harry was one to sneak around the castle and cause trouble "accidentally". However, it hurt her that she couldn't even say goodbye to it. Rory had many memories with the map, people watching was her favorite hobby. They had all the inside scoop on everything. That's how they found out the year before that Percy was in a secret love affair with Penelope Clearwater.
Sure some would find her attachment to inanimate objects silly, but it made her feel safe.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She snapped.
Fred shrugged, "Waiting for the right time I guess."
Marina returned to the common room and laid out her extra sweets on the small coffee table. Rory suddenly forgot all about the map and began enjoying the treats in front of her.
[][][][][]
RORY WAS NOT GOING HOME for Christmas. That was an absurd idea. However, Aaron (who was sorted into Hufflepuff, to Rory's surprise), wanted to go home. Rory decided, however, she would go to the Weasley's instead of staying at Hogwarts. Ron decided to stay back to avoid spending two weeks with Percy, which meant there was plenty of room for Rory to tag along.
Her last class before break was Defense Against the Dark Arts. As class was letting out, Rory decided to throw in a "Have a happy Christmas, Professor Lupin."
"You as well, Miss Archer. Will you be going home for Christmas?" He asked as the classroom emptied.
Rory almost laughed at the thought. Instead she shook her head and said, "No Professor, I'll be spending Christmas with the Weasley's."
"Ah, the Weasley's. You're very close with them then?" He asked, sitting on his desk.
Rory smiled and nodded, "Yes, Professor. Fred and George... they've been my best friends since I went shopping for my school supplies when I was eleven."
"I had friends like that when I was in school. Chosen family is often better than the ones we're born into. Don't you agree?" He said smiling softly. It was almost as if a thousand memories flooded past his eyes in a single second. Rory wondered to herself what happened to his friends, but she knew better than to ask. "You keep those Weasley boys in line, will you?"
She nodded quickly, "I will Professor. And.. thank you."
"You have a good Christmas, Miss Archer." He said, "You'll have to tell me all about it when you return."
Rory nodded, again, and left the classroom. Waiting outside the door for her were Fred and George.
"What sort of trouble did you get into this time?" Fred asked, ruffling her hair.
She quickly tried to fix it and giggled, "Just having a chat with my Professor. Anyways... we'd better hurry on. We've got an early train to catch tomorrow and I know neither of you have packed."
The train ride back to King's Cross the next day was like the uphill of a roller coaster, waiting for the big drop. Rory couldn't wait to spend Christmas at the Burrow. Her few weeks of the summer there were amazing, but she could only imagine what Christmas would be like.
The snow was falling lightly and it was fairly dark out by the time they arrived. The Burrow looked like a gingerbread house from the outside and a postcard on the inside. The first smell to greet Rory was funny enough, gingerbread.
"Oh Rory!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "It's such a pleasure to have you for Christmas, dear. I was just in the middle of baking some biscuits, would you like to help? After you set up in Ginny's room of course."
Rory smiled and nodded, excited, "Of course! Thank you so much for having me."
"You're always welcome here, darling." She said, pulling the girl in for a hug.
Baking biscuits with Mrs. Weasley was the perfect way to start off the Christmas festivities. She had never baked before and her mother certainly wasn't talented in the kitchen, but Mrs. Weasley was patient with Rory. However, Fred and George kept bustling into the kitchen trying to somehow ruin the batch. Mrs. Weasley was a very kind woman. She was everything Rory thought a mother should be. She knew when to be stern and put her foot down, but she did everything with love.
While the biscuits Rory helped make were baking in the oven, the family ate dinner. Given how amazing it was, she couldn't wait for actual Christmas dinner. The smell of cinnamon entered the house as the treats began to bake to completion. After dinner, Mrs. Weasley let them out of the oven to cool while Mr. Weasley and the kids toyed with the radio.
"I've got to tune it just right..." the man said, fidgeting with it. "If I don't it'll start playing —"
Suddenly a very familiar tune entered Rory's ears. "Wait, don't change it! This is my favorite Christmas song."
"See, it keeps playing Muggle music," he sighed. "Molly wants to listen to Celestina Warbeck."
"If that's the alternative... keep this on. At least till she gets back." Ginny said.
"We're singing deck the halls, but it's not like Christmas at all —" Rory sang, giggling.
George shot her a weird look, "This is your favorite Christmas song? It's completely depressing..."
Rory laughed and stood up, "I remember when you were here. And all the fun we had last year. C'mon Freddie, you'll dance with me will you?"
"I will!" Ginny smiled, joining Rory in jumping around the living room. Ginny quickly began catching on to the lyrics (well, just the word Christmas) and started singing along with Rory (who sang backup with pretty lights on the tree, I'm watching them shine). Rory couldn't help but giggle through most of the song.
Rory locked eyes with Fred and he sighed and stood up, joining the two girls.
"I can't believe you support this?" George said, almost appalled. But Rory could see he was slightly swaying along.
"C'mon, Georgie! Join us!" Fred laughed. "You too, Perce."
"Absolutely not." Percy rolled his eyes, he had a smile on his face though, as if he wanted to get up and dance around the living room.
"Baby please come home!" Rory belted out grabbing Fred's hands. He spun her around and she spun him. The end of the song was just the repetition of Christmas and Baby please come home, which made it easy for the kids to join Rory in singing along. Laughing and jumping around the whole time. Rory was nearly out of breath by the end and collapsed on the couch as the song faded out.
Ginny was still laughing, "Dad, keep it on, I wanna hear another one!"
"Muggle music is quite fascinating!" Arthur said with excitement. "Rory you'll have to tell me all about it sometime."
"Of course, Mr. Weasley." She nodded. "I'm quite intrigued by wizard music though —"
"Don't be," Fred grunted. "The Weird Sisters are quite sick though."
"When it comes to Christmas music, however... Celestina Warbeck doesn't compete." George said.
Just then, Mrs. Weasley came into the living room holding a plate of biscuits.
"That was a lovely performance," she said, "But..."
The kids groaned and Mr. Weasley quickly started fidgeting with the radio once more until it left the Muggle station and landed on what Mrs. Weasley wanted to hear.
"Now Rory helped make these, she's quite multi talented." Mrs. Weasley winked as the family grabbed biscuits off the plate. Rory took a bite and was impressed with her skill, even if it was mostly Mrs. Weasley, she felt a sense of pride as the Weasley kids looked satisfied with the treat.
"What can't you do, Rory?" Ginny asked, smiling.
Rory let out a soft chuckle, "I mean I definitely can't sing."
Fred scoffed, "You got that right."
Rory lightly smacked him and rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Weasley. You love it."
He took another bite of his biscuit and smiled, "Alright, yeah, maybe I do. Doesn't make you good at it."
"Oh this one is my favorite!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, turning up the radio. Rory caught Ginny rolling her eyes and laughed as the jazzy tune played throughout the house.
Rory had never felt more content.
[][][][][]
ON CHRISTMAS MORNING, RORY was shaken awake by a very eager Ginny Weasley. The two of them ran down the steps and saw the rest of the family sitting by the tree where Rory had just danced around and sang the night before. Rory loved giving people gifts. She loved watching them open it and seeing the smile on their faces.
Rory didn't expect to get any gifts from the Weasley's. Considering all they'd done for her, it would be ridiculous to think that they needed to give her a gift. However, when she scanned the presents and saw tags with her name on them, she was both confused and excited.
Rory got for Mr. Weasley, a book about the greatest inventions of the twentieth century, because of his fascination with muggle objects. For Mrs. Weasley, she got a new apron and matching oven mitts. She gifted Percy something small, a paperweight that he seemed to greatly appreciate. Ginny was given a little makeup kit. She had gotten Ron a Quidditch poster, but left it in the common room for him. Lastly Rory got Fred a new Gobstones set and for George, a Remembrall to help his studying habits.
"Alright Rory," Mrs. Weasley smiled, "Here's a little something for you..." The woman handed her a soft package carefully wrapped in brown paper.
Rory smiled wildly and unwrapped it. Underneath the paper was a yellow sweater with an "R" carefully knitted on the front with navy blue yarn. It was so perfectly handcrafted for her, she could feel the love and care vibrating off of it.
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley!" Rory smiled, getting up and hugging the woman.
"I know it's nothing fancy but —"
"It's perfect." She said.
"Oi, Rory," Fred said, snapping, "Open that one right there." He pointed to a much differently shaped package. She unwrapped the rectangle and revealed a book.
"Fred where did you get this?" Rory asked, smiling, staring down at the book. A memory flooded back to her of one of her first weeks at Hogwarts. She started playing the piano and taught the entire common room about one of her favorite musicals of all time.
Les Miserables: Piano Songbook
"Hermione," He shrugged, "Took a lot of convincing and I had to plan ahead way in advance. I figured since you're always slamming on the piano in the common room —"
Rory lightly smacked his arm and let out a laugh, "Hey! It's not slamming."
"Well..." George said, quickly moving away, protecting himself from an arm whack.
Sitting in the Weasley living room on Christmas morning reminded her of what it was like to be a child again. Free from worry about exams or mass murderers breaking into school. She felt for the first time in a while: true love and acceptance.
A/N:
i know there's a bit of a time skip but i promise the rest of the book isn't like this!! from gof on out everything is consistent! when i was rewriting this i didn't plan to add so many more chapters so that's why there are time skips earlier on!
also you can find ginny's bday party in the "cut for time" book on my account!