"Yeah, well, passing over Fred's left buttock—"

"I beg your pardon?" said Fred's voice as the twins entered the kitchen. They had just arrived with Tori at the burrow for staying

"Are we telling the unbreakable vow story? I love that one." Tori chuckled, plopping herself on one of the counters. "How do you know about that?" Fred asked her, an eyebrow raised.

"Ginny told me years ago."

"Oh well, that's nice. Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything. Bless them."

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time," said Ron grumpily, as he and Harry were standing at the kitchen sink, peeling a mountain of sprouts. "And then I'll be able to do it by magic!"

"But meanwhile," said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet upon it,
"We can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a — whoops-a-daisy!"

"You made me do that!" said Ron angrily, sucking his cut thumb. "You wait, when I'm seventeen—"

"I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills," yawned Fred.

"And speaking of hitherto unsuspected skills, Ronald," said George, "What is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called—unless our information is faulty—Lavender Brown?"

Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to the sprouts. "Mind your own business."

"What a snappy retort," said Fred. "I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was... how did it happen?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Did she have an accident or something?"

"What?"

"Well, how did she sustain such extensive brain damage? Careful, now!"

Molly entered the room just in time to see Ron throw the sprout knife at Fred, who had turned it into a paper airplane with one lazy flick of his wand.

"Ron!" She said furiously. "Don't you ever let me see you throwing knives again!"

"I won't," said Ron, "Let you see," he added under his breath, as he turned back to the sprout mountain.

"Fred, George, I'm sorry, dears, but Remus is arriving tonight, so Bill will have to squeeze in with you two."

"No problem," George shrugged.

"Then, as Charlie isn't coming home, that just leaves Harry and Ron in the attic, and if Fleur shares with Tori and Ginny—"

"—that'll make Ginny's Christmas—" muttered Fred.

"—Everyone should be comfortable. Well, they'll have a bed, anyway," said Molly, sounding slightly harassed.

"Percy definitely not showing his ugly face, then?" asked Fred.

Molly turned away before she answered. "No, he's busy, I expect, at the Ministry."

"Or he's the world's biggest prat," Fred whispered as Molly left the kitchen. "One of the two. Well, let's get going, then, George."

"What are you two up to?" asked Ron. "Can't you help us with these sprouts? You could just use your wand and then we'll be free too!"

"No, I don't think we can do that," Fred said seriously. "It's very character-building stuff, learning to peel sprouts without magic, makes you appreciate how difficult it is for Muggles and Squibs—"

"—and if you want people to help you, Ron,"
added George, throwing the paper airplane at him, "I wouldn't chuck knives at them. Just a little hint. We're off to the village, there's a girl working in the paper shop who thinks my card tricks are something marvelous... almost like real magic."

Fred kissed the top of Tori's head and followed after his brother.

"Gits," said Ron darkly, watching Fred and George setting off across the snowy yard. "Would've only taken them ten seconds and then we could've gone too."

Tori chuckled, leaving the kitchen herself and walking up the stairs. She could hear Ginny and Molly arguing loudly in Ginny's room and decided to avoid that at all costs.

Instead, she decided to knock on Bill's door where he could hear him and Fleur talking. Bill opened it within seconds of Tori knocking.

"Hi Tori," Bill grinned, looking down at her from the doorframe. "Tori!" Fleur yelled, smiling widely as she embraced Tori quickly. Tori smiled herself, hugging her back.

"Hi, guys. I just wanted to say congratulations on the engagement!"

"T'ank you! Well, I am glad one person is 'appy." Fleur smiled wavered as she glanced out into the hallway.

"Molly will come around," Tori assured her, though she had no idea if that was true or not. "She's just being overprotective."

"That's what I've been telling her," Bill said, patting Fleur on the back. A moment later, Molly called Tori into Ginny's room and Tori congratulated them once again.

"This is ridiculous," Ginny yelled, throwing her hands into the air. "I don't want to share a room with Phlegm!" Tori entered, frowning. "Why can't we all just get along?" She sighed, walking over to the window where Molly laid out a cot. "I'll take the cot. Fleur can take the bed."

"Fleur is staying in the room with you and that is final, Ginevra!" Molly whispered shouted, taking a basket filled with clothes with her as she left the room. Ginny turned to Tori as if Tori would agree with her.

✧ ✦ ✧

The Weasleys and their guests were sitting in the living room, which Ginny had decorated so lavishly that it was rather like sitting in a paper-chain explosion. Fred, George, Tori, Harry, and Ron were the only ones who knew that the angel on top of the tree was actually a garden gnome that had bitten Fred on the ankle as he pulled up carrots for Christmas dinner.

Stupefied, painted gold, stuffed into a miniature tutu and with small wings glued to his back, it glowered down at them all, the ugliest angel Tori had ever seen, with a large bald head like a potato and rather hairy feet.

They were all supposed to be listening to a Christmas broadcast by Molly's favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck, whose voice was warbling out of the large wooden wireless set. Fleur, who seemed to find Celestina very dull, was talking so loudly in the corner that a scowling Molly kept pointing her wand at the volume control, so that Celestina grew louder and louder. Under cover of a particularly jazzy number called "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love,"

Fred and George started a game of Exploding Snap with Ginny. Ron kept shooting Bill and Fleur covert looks, as though hoping to pick up tips. Meanwhile, Remus Lupin, who was thinner and more ragged-looking than ever, was sitting beside the fire, staring into its depths as though he could not hear Celestina's voice.

"Oh, come and stir my cauldron,

And if you do it right

I'll boil you up some hot, strong love

To keep you warm tonight."

"We danced to this when we were eighteen!" said Molly, wiping her eyes on her knitting. "Do you remember, Arthur?"

"Mphf?" said Arthur, whose head had been nodding over the satsuma he was peeling. "Oh yes... marvelous tune..."

With an effort, he sat up a little straighter and looked around at Harry, who was sitting next to him. Tori sat on another chair, leaning forward.

"Sorry about this," He said, jerking his head toward the wireless as Celestina broke into the chorus. "Be over soon."

"No problem," said Harry, grinning. "Has it been busy at the Ministry?"

"Very," said Arthur, and Tori nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't mind if we were getting anywhere, but of the three arrests we've made in the last couple of months, I doubt that one of them is a genuine Death Eater—only don't repeat that, Harry," He added quickly, looking much more awake all of a sudden.

"They're not still holding Stan Shunpike, are they?" asked Harry.

"I'm afraid so," said Arthur. "I know Dumbledore's tried appealing directly to Scrimgeour about Stan... I mean, anybody who has actually interviewed him agrees that he's about as much a Death Eater as this satsuma... but the top levels want to look as though they're making some progress, and 'three arrests' sounds better than 'three mistaken arrests and releases'... but again, this is all top secret..."

"I won't say anything," said Harry. "Wasn't it Aurors who arrested him?" He asked as Celestina Warbeck began a ballad called "You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me."

"I wasn't apart of them, they're a much high rank who deals with that stuff. I'm not there, yet." Tori assured him. Of course, she had heard of Stan's arrest, she thought it was rubbish.

"Mr. Weasley, you know what I told you at the station when we were setting off for school?"

"I checked, Harry," said Mr. Weasley at once. "I went and searched for the Malfoys' house. There was nothing, either broken or whole, that shouldn't have been there."

"Yeah, I know, I saw in the Prophet that you'd looked... but this is something different... well, something more..."

And he told Arthur and Tori everything he had overheard between Malfoy and Snape. As Harry spoke, Tori saw Lupin's head turn a little toward him, taking in every word. When he had finished, there was silence, except for Celestina's crooning.

Oh, my poor heart, where has it gone?

It's left me for a spell...

"Has it occurred to you, Harry," said Arthur, "That Snape was simply pretending—?"

"Pretending to offer help, so that he could find out what Malfoy's up to?" said Harry quickly. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that. But how do we know?"

"It isn't our business to know," said Lupin unexpectedly. He had turned his back on the fire now and faced Harry across Arthur. "It's Dumbledore's business. Dumbledore trusts Severus, and that ought to be good enough for all of us."

"But," said Harry, "Just say—just say Dumbledore's wrong about Snape —"

"People have said it, many times. It comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgment. I do; therefore, I trust Severus."

"But Dumbledore can make mistakes," argued Harry. "He says it himself. And you—"

He looked Lupin straight in the eye.

"—do you honestly like Snape?"

"I neither like nor dislike Severus," said Lupin. "No, Harry, Tori, I am speaking the truth," He added, as the two pulled a skeptical expression. "We shall never be bosom friends, perhaps; after all that happened between James and Sirius and Severus, there is too much bitterness there. But I do not forget that during the year I taught at Hogwarts, Severus made the Wolfsbane Potion for me every month, made it perfectly, so that I did not have to suffer as I usually do at the full moon."

"But he 'accidentally' let it slip that you're a werewolf, so you had to leave!" said Harry angrily.

Lupin shrugged.

"The news would have leaked out anyway. We both know he wanted my job, but he could have wreaked much worse damage to me by tampering with the potion. He kept me healthy. I must be grateful."

"Maybe he didn't dare mess with the potion with Dumbledore watching him!" said Harry.

"You are determined to hate him, Harry," said Lupin with a faint smile."And I understand; with James as your father, with Sirius as your godfather, you have inherited an old prejudice. By all means, tell Dumbledore what you have told Arthur and me, but do not expect him to share your view of the matter; do not even expect him to be surprised by what you tell him. It might have been on Dumbledore's orders that Severus questioned Draco."

and now you've torn it quite apart

I'll thank you to give back my heart!

Celestina ended her song on a very long, high-pitched note, and loud applause issued out of the wireless, which Molly joined in with enthusiastically.

"Eez eet over?" said Fleur loudly. "Thank goodness, what an ''orrible—"

"Shall we have a nightcap, then?" asked Arthur loudly, leaping to his feet. "Who wants eggnog?"

Arthur bustled off to fetch the eggnog, and everybody else stretched and broke into conversation. Tori went to join in with the game of Exploding Snaps.

Shortly after this, Fleur decided to imitate Celestina singing "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love," which was taken by everyone, once they had glimpsed Molly's expression, to be the cue to go to bed.

Tori followed Ginny up into her room, where she climbed into the cot and collapsed into sleep, exhausted.

✧ ✦ ✧

Tori woke up the next morning to multiple packages at the foot of her cot. She, Ginny, and Fleur all began to unwrap the gifts. Tori had gotten a dark blue sweater from Molly which she cheerfully wore down to lunch along with her new earrings from Fred. They were shaped like fireworks and constantly changed colors.

Everybody was wearing new sweaters when they all sat down for Christmas lunch, everyone except Fleur (on whom, it appeared, Molly had not wanted to waste one) and Molly herself, who was sporting a brand-new midnight blue witch's hat glittering with what looked like tiny starlike diamonds, and a spectacular golden necklace.

"Fred and George gave them to me! Aren't they beautiful?"

"Well, we find we appreciate you more and more, Mum, now we're washing our own socks," said George, waving an airy hand. "Parsnips, Remus?"

Tori kissed Fred, thanking him for his gift before taking a seat down next to him and George.

"Harry, you've got a maggot in your hair," said Ginny cheerfully, leaning across the table to pick it out.

"''Ow ''orrible," said Fleur, with an affected little shudder.

"Yes, isn't it?" said Ron. "Gravy, Fleur?"

In his eagerness to help her, he knocked the gravy boat flying; Bill waved his wand and the gravy soared up in the air and returned meekly to the boat.

"You are as bad as zat Tonks," said Fleur to Ron, when she had finished kissing Bill in thanks. "She is always knocking —"

"I invited dear Tonks to come along today," said Molly, setting down the carrots with unnecessary force and glaring at Fleur. "But she wouldn't come. Have you spoken to her lately, Tori?"

"Not much since, well... the incident..." Tori said quietly, staring down at her plate of food. "What happened?" Harry asked, looking up from his plate concerned. Tori glanced at Lupin uneasily before sighing.

"Er— Tonks and I were practicing our patronuses... she wanted to 'show me how it was done.' And well... it changed."

"What about you Remus?" Molly asked.

"No, I haven't been in contact with anybody very much," said Lupin. "But Tonks has got her own family to go to, hasn't she?"

"Hmmm," said Molly. "Maybe. I got the impression she was planning to spend Christmas alone, actually."

"Snape said Tonks's Patronus has changed its form too," Harry told Remus. "I didn't know that could happen. Why would your Patronus change?"

Lupin took his time chewing his turkey and swallowing before saying slowly, "Sometimes... a great shock... an emotional upheaval..."

"It looked big, and it had four legs," said Harry, struck by a sudden thought and lowering his voice. "Hey... it couldn't be—?"

"Arthur!" said Molly suddenly. She had risen from her chair; her hand was pressed over her heart and she was staring out of the kitchen window. "Arthur—it's Percy!"

"What?"

Arthur looked around. Everybody looked quickly at the window; Ginny stood up for a better look. There, sure enough, was Percy Weasley, striding across the snowy yard, his horn-rimmed glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was not, however, alone.

"Arthur, he's—he's with the Minister!"

And sure enough, the man Tori had seen many times was following along in Percy's wake, limping slightly, his mane of graying hair and his black cloak flecked with snow.
Before any of them could say anything, before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could do more than exchange stunned looks, the back door opened, and there stood Percy.

There was a moment's painful silence. Then Percy said rather stiffly, "Merry Christmas, Mother."

"Oh, Percy!" said Molly, and she threw herself into his arms.

Rufus Scrimgeour paused in the doorway, leaning on his walking stick and smiling as he observed this affecting scene.

"You must forgive this intrusion," He said, when Molly looked around at him, beaming and wiping her eyes. "Percy and I were in the vicinity—working, you know — and he couldn't resist dropping in and seeing you all."

But Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the rest of the family. He stood, poker-straight and awkward-looking, and stared over everybody else's heads. Arthur, Fred, and George were all observing him, stony-faced.

"Please, come in, sit down, Minister!" fluttered Mrs. Weasley, straightening her hat. "Have a little purkey, or some tooding... I mean —"

"No, no, my dear Molly," said Scrimgeour. Tori guessed that he had checked her name with Percy before they entered the house. "I don't want to intrude, wouldn't be here at all if Percy hadn't wanted to see you all so badly..."

"Oh, Perce!" said Molly tearfully, reaching up to kiss him.

Tori stood next to Fred, staring at Percy herself. Even with working in Ministry, Tori hadn't seen Percy a lot. At the same time, she hadn't looked.

The Minister was still speaking, "We've only looked in for five minutes, so I'll have a stroll around the yard while you catch up with Percy. No, no, I assure you I don't want to butt in. Well, if anybody cared to show me your charming garden, ah, that young man's finished, why doesn't he take a stroll with me."

The atmosphere around the table changed perceptibly. Everybody looked from Scrimgeour to Harry. Nobody seemed to find Scrimgeour's pretense that he did not know Harry's name convincing, or find it natural that he should be chosen to accompany the Minister around the garden when Ginny, Fleur, and George also had clean plates.

"Yeah, all right," said Harry into the silence.

He was not fooled; for all Scrimgeour's talk that they had just been in the area, that Percy wanted to look up his family, this must be the real reason that they had come, so that Scrimgeour could speak to Harry alone.

"It's fine," He said quietly, as he passed Lupin, who had half risen from his chair. "Fine," He added, as Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to speak.

"Wonderful!" said Scrimgeour, standing back to let Harry pass through the door ahead of him. "We'll just take a turn around the garden, and Percy and I'll be off. Carry on, everyone!"

The Minister and Harry strolled off, leaving Percy to be coddled by Molly. "Do you want some food? Anything? Have a seat dear,"

"No thank you, mother. I just thought I'd pop by and say hello." Percy said, his eyes gazing the room. He stopped at Fred and Tori, who were holding hands. "That's new," Percy said awkwardly.

"It is," Tori replied, nodding her head slightly. "How long?" Percy asked, looking at the two of them. "Almost two years," Fred said, coldly.

Percy awkwardly nodded, shifting his gaze elsewhere.

we love writing christmas in october