Someday at Christmas (Hermione)

[Deleted]

Although she and Harry would only be back for the night before returning to their getaway in Sweden, Ginny was glad to be at the Yule Ball. Unlike so many of her other memories from years gone by, she had been just thirteen at the last Yule Ball that she had attended, and she was able to remember the occasion as though it had been just days before.

Dressed in shimmering light pink robes, she had excused herself from her husband's side long enough to see if she could find Lily or Albus. Seeing them dressed so elegantly, Ginny was certain, would bring tears to her eyes, but she didn't want to be a thorn in either of their sides. (Hopefully, someone was there to take photographs.)

Avoiding the chaos of the dance floor—and reminding herself that she wasn't as young as she felt she was—Ginny took a seat at one of tables to make it easier for Harry to locate her when he was finished with his conversation. The only people she knew without any having to skirt around the issue of her memory loss were the other members of the Order, her family members, and a handful of Hogwarts students who were close to her children.

Offered a canapé by a passing waiter, she took it, though she wasn't sure what it had on it. Nonetheless, she took a bite, and—stopping a few crumbs from falling onto her robes—looked out at the crowd.

@hermionejean

[Deleted]

Hermione had been mingling all night; she was worried at first that she would be leaving Ron to himself all night but it turned out that he wasn't going to be coming after all. He'd come down with a horrible care of the flu and was tucked away in bed. Hermione had spent the entire day with him; they'd opened their presents in bed and she'd served their Christmas lunch on a tray. Hermione wasn't going to come to the ball, but Ron had insisted. He believed the red dress he had bought her shouldn't go to waste. So with a little guilt still in her heart; Hermione was here on her own. Luckily, as Senior Undersecretary she had plenty of people who wanted to talk to her, so she didn't feel the least bit lonely. She'd catch up with Hugo and Rose later; before the night was through she'd stop up to the Hospital Wing to say hello to Xanthippe as well.

Hermione excused herself from speaking with a particularly chatty colleague from the International Magical Cooperation team and walked to the edge of the dance floor. She sighed with relief and plucked a canape from a tray of a passing waiter. She saw a flash of red and realized Ginny had just sat down at a table by herself, looking like a vision in pale pink. Smiling slightly, she walked over to one of her oldest friends. “Is that seat taken?” she asked her, nodding to the seat beside her.

@ginevra

[Deleted]

“Is that seat taken?”

Ginny looked up at the sound of Hermione's voice. It was still surreal for her to remember that Hermione Granger was her sister-in-law; she should have been used to it, but it only felt to her as though it had been about a year. She glanced over to see if Harry was still in conversation and laughed.

“No,” she answered. “Harry's talking to someone from some department, I think.” There was no telling who would want to speak with him. “Have you lost Ron, too?” she asked jokingly. Now, if Harry and Ron ran into each other, who knew how long they would be talking before they would see them again.

@hermionejean

[Deleted]

Hermione nodded as Ginny gestured to the seat and sat down, taking a sip of champagne. She looked over and saw Harry speaking with someone familiar; Department of Magical Transportation if she remembered correctly. She could only see the back of the man’s head, but from the way he was standing it looked like their Departments’ deputy head. In her positions at the Ministry over the years, Hermione was quite sure she’d met everyone, from the janitors in Magical Maintenance to the different Ministers of Magic in between Kingsley and their niece Victoire. “Ron sadly is not here; he has a rather awful bout of the flu,” Hermione explained when Ginny asked after her brother. “I almost skipped this to care for him, but he did insist that being Senior Undersecretary meant I couldn’t skive off the ball,” she added with a small chuckle. Ron at least had promised to dance with her when she returned home later that evening, even if he was jumped up on flu medications, to make up for their heated arguments at the Yule Ball of their youth. “How are things going for you?” Hermione asked her friend. Ginnys’ memories were still not all back, but she knew that the woman was trying her best and that was all anyone could ask for.

@ginevra

[Deleted]

Hermione looked over in Harry's direction as she took a sip of her champagne, but then she brought her attention back to their conversation. Ron, she said, wasn't in attendance; he had what she referred to as being “a rather awful bout” of flu. Ginny frowned, sorry to hear that her brother wasn't well. Added Hermione, “I almost skipped this to care for him, but he did insist that being Senior Undersecretary meant I couldn’t skive off the ball.” She seemed to have a sense of humor about the situation, at least, though Ginny had a feeling that it was mostly because of Ron's stubbornness.

“I'm sorry Ron's not well,” Ginny replied. It must have been miserable, being ill on Christmas. “Let him know that I asked after him, alright?” she said, then, muttering with a laugh, “Merlin, I sound like my mum.”

“I'm glad you're here, though.” There were plenty of people from their days in school who were present at the ball—enough to make it feel like a reunion. Those to whom she had been close then, though, were the only ones whom Ginny cared to see now.

“How are things going for you?”

Ginny couldn't say that things were terrible, especially when she and Harry had been on holiday in Sweden—and would be returning to it after the night was over. “Alright,” she nodded. She couldn't say that she had been making as much progress as she would have liked in the regaining of her memories, though decades of memories hadn't been formed in a day. “I'm never sure where things stand with Albus,” Ginny voiced, “but I don't think he hates us right now. Lily and James are both understanding, though, so two of three isn't too bad… I mean, they are teenagers.” Thinking of Hermione and Ron's children, she asked, “How are Rose and Hugo?”

@hermionejean

[Deleted]

Hermione smiled and shrugged a little. “It’s alright; it would have been amusing to attend the ball with him since he went with Padma during our fourth year, and now Padma’s here with her husband, who was also our classmate. But it’s alright, I don’t mind mingling with old friends and colleagues,” she told Ginny. “I’m glad you’re here too though; I know this year hasn’t been easy for you, so I hope the ball brings you some much needed Christmas cheer,” she added.

Hermione listened as Ginny admitted she never knew how things stood with Albus; she thought back to her conversation immediately following the First Task with her nephew on how he had been nervous for his father to be reviewing his Auror application. She had reassured the boy that Harry wouldn’t be directly involved with his admittance into the training program due to family ties, but the conversation had concerned her on how Al’s relationship with his parents was. “I think being the middle child, and the only one in Slytherin at that, does take a toll on him,” she said slowly. “With James being the eldest, and Lily being….well, Lily, perhaps sometimes he feels left out in the cold. It’s not anything either of you could have done, just seems to be a middle child thing,” she explained. “Rose is….well, she wasn’t doing all that well a few weeks ago, but I saw her earlier and she looked happy. Hugo’s up in the Hospital Wing with Xanthippe, so I’ll be making a visit there before I go home," she added.

@ginevra

[Deleted]

Hermione explained the humor in the fact that so many of them had gone on to marry other people who—while also Hogwarts students at the time—hadn't been their dates to the Yule Ball years before. If their decisions as teenagers had been predictive of the future, Ginny knew that she would have been married to Neville, while Hermione would have been married to Viktor Krum. Even with what she knew had happened in those years that were absent from her memory, Ginny found it funny, too.

“I’m glad you’re here too, though,” Hermione added. “I know this year hasn’t been easy for you, so I hope the ball brings you some much needed Christmas cheer.”

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. “It hasn't been so bad.” It had been trying at times, but she retained the hope that every day would be a little bit better than the one before it.

Mostly, it was parenting that was her greatest challenge, and Hermione gave her some words of advice. Because Albus was their middle child and the only one of the three Sorted into Slytherin, Hermione explained, it likely made him feel left out. Fortunately, though, Hermione wasn't blaming her or Harry. “It’s not anything either of you could have done, just seems to be a middle child thing.”

As for her own children, Hermione was hesitant. “Rose is…” she began, “well, she wasn’t doing all that well a few weeks ago, but I saw her earlier and she looked happy.” Ginny frowned a little, wondering if it was anything like Lily's concern over Adrian Greyback's potential departure from Hogwarts. “Hugo’s up in the Hospital Wing with Xanthippe, so I’ll be making a visit there before I go home.”

“How is she? Do you know?” Ginny asked hopefully. She wasn't as close to the Meagle family as Hermione and Ron were, but having a child who was terminally ill was every parent's worst nightmare.

@hermionejean

[Deleted]

Hermione raised an eyebrow as Ginny said it hadn’t been so bad. If she had been in her position, losing her memories of her marriage, the births and lives of her children, she definitely would not be describing her life as ‘not so bad’. But perhaps Ginny was just trying to be optimistic; it was certainly would make things easier, that was for sure. It certainly didn’t help that each of Ginny and Harry’s children had their own issues; though from the looks of tonight, Lily Potters’ troubles seemed to be over. She watched as the redhead left the ballroom with the dark haired Greyback boy and smiled a little. She hoped Lily was happy; she hoped all her nieces and nephews were happy. But Lily had been turned into a werewolf and tomorrow night was the full moon. Physically, tonight she probably wasn’t at her best, but she looked as radiant as ever.

“She’s doing...as well as can be expected I guess. She has her good days and her bad. I think Hugo brings true comfort to Xan, more than she’ll say. I’d even wager perhaps more than her siblings sometimes. I know Rosie helped pull off this surprise for her tonight because she’s still too weak to manage a ball."  Hermione thought again how kind and thoughtful her son had turned out to be and smiled.  “The worst seems to have passed though; perhaps it is a sign of her impending recovery. All we can do is wait and see now.” The Healers had done what they could; whether Xanthippe made it through or not would only be known by the passage of time.

@ginevra

[Deleted]

Ginny nodded as Hermione said that Xanthippe Meagle had her good days and bad days—not unexpected, of course, with her condition.

“I think Hugo brings true comfort to Xan,” Hermione considered, “more than she’ll say.” From everything that Ginny had heard of her nephew's relationship with her, they were in love in a way that most adults could only hope to be. “I’d even wager perhaps more than her siblings sometimes.” They were triplets, though, which made Ginny think that Hermione's wager was a strange one. Thinking of Fred and George and how close they had been, she frowned though said nothing.

”I know Rosie helped pull off this surprise for her tonight because she’s still too weak to manage a ball,” Hermione added. She continued and said that the worst seemed to be behind Xanthippe. “Perhaps it is a sign of her impending recovery. All we can do is wait and see now.”

Pleased to hear that it sounded as though Xanthippe was beating her illness, Ginny smiled. She hoped that she and Hugo were having an enjoyable night, even if they were celebrating it from the Hospital Wing. “Send my love to them when you go up there, Hermione,” she told her sister-in-law. She didn't want Xanthippe to feel as if the rest of the world had forgotten about her just because she was ill. “It might be worth it to bring some butterbeer and hors d'oeuvres. I doubt they'll get any from the nurses.”

@hermionejean

[Deleted]

Hermione smiled. “Of course I will,” she said, then perked up at Ginny’s suggestion. “That’s a nice idea, I’m sure they’re feeding her of course, but a sampling from the ball would probably be well-received - thanks Gin!” she exclaimed.

Looking over towards some of the other Ministry workers, Hermione saw she was being gestured at frantically to her dismay. She sighed; with Victoire at the Ministry holding down the fort with Teddy, she was the most senior ranking Ministry worker at the ball. “Alas, duty calls,” she said, standing up. She bent down and kissed her friend and sister-in-law on the cheek. “I’ll try and catch you before the ball ends, if not we’ll get together when you and Harry get back from your holiday,” she promised. With a final wave and smile, Hermione made her way over to the group of Ministry officials, ready for more small talk and work chatter.

END HERMIONE

[Deleted]

Hermione thanked her for her suggestion that she bring some of the food from the ball up to Hugo and Xanthippe. There was more than enough of it to be had, so a few bites weren't going to be missed by anyone.

Ginny watched as her sister-in-law's head turned in the direction of some of her colleagues, who were motioning Hermione over to them. “Alas,” she said, “duty calls.” Ministry work never really stopped—not for anyone—so Ginny wasn't too surprised that Hermione had been called away for some reason or another. Her main concern, as Hermione excused herself, was that it wasn't anything serious.

“I’ll try and catch you before the ball ends,” Hermione added before parting ways with her. If not, which was probably more likely with the sheer number of Ministry officials present, “we’ll get together when you and Harry get back from your holiday.”

“Of course, Hermione. Happy Christmas.” Ginny nodded, not wanting to hold her up any longer. They would see each other sooner or later, even if it wasn't going to be later that night. Between their family and the Order, there was no shortage of occasions in which they'd be together, though catching up would be difficult in both cases for different reasons.

@hermionejean
(Fin.)