Hermione presented her with another, much smaller box. "We got you this for two purposes, it's to try and remind you not to lose your temper. It's also a voice-activated portkey that will transport you to us no matter where we are, password is blue lagoon."
Ginny opened the box to find a gold bracelet with 'Ginny Potter' engraved on it.
"I totally understand if you don't want to wear it to dinner today but please wear it at all times after that," said Harry
Ginny hugged and kissed both of them.
Sirius opened his present and didn't know whether to laugh or cry, Remus had no such problems and promptly fell about laughing. Sirius was holding a door and a desk plaque, both bearing the legend 'Professor Sirius Orion Black, Head of Gryffindor House.'
"Are you two trying to make me responsible or something?" he cried
"Were even making you legal," said Hermione, handing him his animagus registration licence.
"We also got you these," Harry handed them both expensive designer watches, "both are portkeys that will take you to a certain unplotable tropical island where you might see some people you know."
"We'll explain later," was Hermione's answer to the puzzled looks.
Dobby and Winky gave Harry and Hermione a large wooden carving of the couple that was exquisite, a fantastic example of elvin artwork. While everyone was admiring the piece, it animated with both figures leaning into each other and kissing. None of them had ever seen anything to compare to this.
Remus gave them two photo albums full of pictures; one had the Marauders and Lily as they progressed through Hogwarts. The other was their own adventures of Hogwarts, including both of them with Buckbeak.
"How is this possible?" asked Hermione who knew that there were no cameras present at some of these events.
A smiling Remus replied, "we used a special camera that allowed us to take pictures inside a pensive, all we had to do then was collect memories"
Sirius present consisted of a box full of the weird and wonderful, the animagus diaries belonging to him and James defiantly fell into the wonderful category. A few 'bringing up baby' type books were accompanied by a wallet full of babysitting vouchers, redeemable anytime.
There were also three soft toys in the box, a black dog, a silver wolf and a stag. A weird collection of wizarding baby rattles and a few pacifiers thrown in for good measure completed the contents.
Ginny nervously handed over her gifts, she was so sure when buying them but now was full of doubts. How would they take it?
Harry opened the small box to find a gold ring with 'DAD' cut into the band, a glance at his wife showed a matching 'MUM' ring.
Both wore them proudly before hugging their daughter, tears for the missing was mixed with joy for those present.
Christmas hadn't been terrible after all.
...
The same sentiments were sadly lacking in the Granger household, Christmas cheer was in short supply.
Emma had cried herself to sleep and was now walking about the kitchen like a zombie, only one that kept bursting into tears.
On waking this morning, both had realised they had no way to communicate with Hermione or Harry and that was slowly eating away at Emma.
Christmas had always been her favourite time of year, yet she had ruined it for her family and had no idea why, the tears started again and she felt her husbands arm go round her shoulders and pull her close.
Amanda Granger sat at the table, nursing a cup of tea while watching her son comfort his wife. She let out an involuntary squeal as presents and a letter suddenly appeared on the kitchen table.
Emma reached for the letter with shaking hands and even had trouble opening it, she unfolded the parchment and read:
Dear Mum, Dad and Gran
Please excuse me if I don't do this right as I have never written a letter to my family before but I guess I should start by wishing you all a Merry Christmas.
I would like to thank you for pointing out my mistake last night, you made me realise that no one there understood what I was trying to achieve.
An apology and explanation was offered to all, with everyone seeming to enjoy the rest of the ball.
Hermione was, and still is upset that you felt it necessary to return home for Christmas, we understand you must have had a good reason but would have liked to hear it before you left.
I have sent our Christmas gifts, as we're not sure if you wanted to see us and here I feel I must apologise, the gifts were chosen under the assumption that we would all be together. We will of course exchange them for anything you wish.
Hermione and I are going to be leaving the country for a while but you can contact us by addressing a letter and leaving it on your kitchen table.
Will keep in touch.
Harry
As Emma finished reading, she collapsed sobbing onto the kitchen table. It took Dan five minutes to understand she was asking him to fix this as her sobs were drowning out her voice.
He kissed his wife on the top of her head before racing into the den for writing materials as Amanda tried to comfort the distraught Emma.
...
Harry and Hermione appeared in a small park she knew well, next to the tree a younger Hermione used to read under, releasing painful and pleasant memories of a lonely childhood.
As they walked down familiar streets towards their destination Harry asked his wife, "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, it's something that needs to be done. We both know it can't wait but just stay close to me, please?" pleaded Hermione, her confidence needing his presence.
"Always!" said Harry as they approached the door, pressing the doorbell.
The door opened and Harry said, "Merry Christmas sir, could we speak to Carol please?"
.....
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