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Christmas Day. Also known as the 25th of December. Also known as the day that Rose Potter and Remus Lupin were forever grateful that nobody other than them and their family bore witness to the insanity that was one Sirius Orion Black. The very idea that one of his Mind-Healers or someone from the Ministry could have seen his behaviour made the two forever thankful for the wards on The Pottery.

Sirius was running around the family room like he was both high and doped up on caffeine, randomly switching from human to dog and back again, laughing rather maniacally over the decorations and presents. Apparently the idea of a family Christmas with no outsiders and no rules enforced by 'family' or 'well-meaning' nosy bastards had completely erased Sirius' behavioural limits – what existed of them anyway.

The remaining occupants of the house, including the portraits of James and Lily who'd been moved for the day, were looking at him with no small amount of concern, and Rose was genuinely worried that there was something wrong with him. Lily seemed to share her views and the two females wore identical expressions as they watched the mad man. (The fact that Rose had red hair for the day just reinforced the similarities between mother and daughter.) Remus was also worried but he had a resigned air about him that suggested this behaviour had been expected. James was just rolling around his portrait roaring in laughter at both his friend and the expressions on his wife and daughter's faces.

Sirius was having the time of his life. It was Christmas! It was the first time ever he could properly celebrate with his family with no major problems whispering in his ears. Even after he graduated from school they had still been in the midst of a war, and with the constant news about people dying and families being tortured a celebration had always been tinged with a fearful desperation that their family would be safe.

But this time was different. He was a free man, he had a lovely fiancée, Moony was carefree for once, and his Rose, his precious Bambi, was now his daughter and their family was together. He knew his behaviour was worrying to the others, but he wanted everyone to have a Christmas that was entirely about family that they could all remember. His and Moony's memories were tainted by fear of the war, and Rose's only good Christmas was when she'd been one and she couldn't even remember it. If he had to act like an idiot to make everyone happy, then so be it.

He caught Moony's eye and gave him a quick wink and a grin before the other man's eyes widened before he looked over at their daughter and walked up behind her slowly. She just noticed he was missing before she was swept up in the werewolf's arms with a small squeak and given a tight hug, before the man threw her on the sofa by the tree and her presents where she landed with a small scream.

The two men laughed at the red-headed girl as she lifted her flushed face and glared at them. It was barely seven in the morning and they looked way too happy for this early. Rose grinned at them a bit before aiming her wand at them and hitting them with a very cold jet of water that had them spluttering and shivering.

The Pottery was the scene of complete maturity after that as the family spent the next hour using the cushions and their wands in a violent magic-enhanced pillow fight to the raucous cheers of Lily and James Potter. The house-elves even surreptitiously joined in too, switching out from cooking their lunch every now and then to fling cushions in random directions and cover everyone in feathers.

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After finally calming down presents were opened and all three of them ended up complaining about being spoiled.

Sirius was ecstatic over his basilisk-hide jacket, even if he nearly had a heart attack when he realised where the material had come from. He also got a set of expensive runic tools from Amelia for his business venture with Remus, as well as a case of foreign firewhiskey from Remus.

Remus was likewise horrified at the origins of his basilisk-hide boots but he loved them all the same. They weren't over-the-top in design and the dark colour would go well with whatever he wore. His clothes were also no longer an issue as Sirius had apparently gone on a shopping spree in a muggle shop and bought him a new wardrobe which he refused to return. He even got a present from Charity who'd sent him a beautiful quill and ink set for his investment work. (Thanks to Remus' genius mind, both Sirius and Rose were making enough money just from their investments that they'd never have to work a day in their lives if they didn't want to.)

The small girl – who was finally growing, thank you very much – was bewildered at the mountain of presents she'd got and truly couldn't understand why her new parents had spent so much on her. Her main present was a TV and VHS player with a dozen films that she'd mentioned in passing over the months. (Apparently joking that you would sell your own kidney to pay for one was actually rather disconcerting, and the two men had hastened to make one.) She also got around thirty new books – her obsession was eagerly embraced – another broomstick, a broomstick cleaning kit, nearly an entire wardrobe of clothes, and many more.

She couldn't believe her parents had done this much for her, and if she had to stop opening presents to surreptitiously wipe her tears, nobody said anything. After she collected herself she looked through the gifts from her friends and realised they seemed to have similar ideas to her dads.

All the girls except the Ravenclaws had gotten her clothes and accessories, while the Ravenclaw girls had each gotten her a book, or a series of books like Hermione. The Ripliad, huh? Hermione has good taste. The new one's only just come out, as well. The Ravenclaw boys and Wayne had banded together to buy her an obscene amount of sweets from Honeydukes which would probably last her a year, while Neville sent her a magical rose flower that glowed in the dark – the reference to her name was so sweet, and it was no wonder Neville had become one of the most sought-after men after the war.

Rose did think it was rather hilarious that her dads – all three of them – became rather twitchy when they saw her gifts from him, the twins and Blaise. It seemed the twins had enjoyed spending time with the daughter of an actual Marauder very much, as they had sent actual presents to her. Each of them sent a personalised hand-crafted bracelet they'd made imbued with protective runes, one in blue and one in green. They also sent the obligatory box of prank items, too – they were still Gred and Forge after all.

Blaise's present was the worst for her dads though, as the white gold necklace decorated with real diamonds was seemingly too similar to a courting gift for them, and the boxes of Italian hand-made chocolates put Blaise Zabini squarely in the line of fire for her over-protective fathers.

It was honestly taking all she had not to laugh as she knew that Blaise had done this on purpose. A month ago she'd made the mistake of telling him that her parents were determined to keep her away from romance, and Blaise had responded by telling her that he was going to send her something romantic just so she could enjoy seeing them freak out. She didn't realise that he would send such an expensive piece of jewellery, but he was well aware of her sweet tooth, ergo the chocolates.

She caught Lily's eye and grinned and got a knowing smirk in return. Her mother was known as a genius for a reason, and she'd obviously picked up that Rose knew more than she was letting on. Lily was proud of Rose for getting one over on the idiots, and she couldn't deny the hilarity of listening to three grown men rant about the non-existent love life of an eleven-year-old.

Rose's trip through time had given her the opportunity to save people and she had done so, and she'd vowed that she wasn't going to be selfish with the second chance to help people. But now that Voldemort was dead she considered that maybe she could eventually have a decent relationship as an adult. She didn't really care about gender, it was actually trusting another person so intimately that was the issue. It didn't matter right now anyway; an eleven-year-old body didn't exactly provide the best opportunities for romantic endeavours.

After she unwrapped all her presents Dobby popped in with a small box which had a card, and a lumpy misshapen package which had been sent ahead by Gringotts despite no signature with a note stating the object's strong magic. (The other impersonal presents would be sorted through in the next few days).

She opened the box first to find an incredibly old book with a worn but cared-for cover which was faded so badly she couldn't make out the title. She gently opened the front cover to the title page, and saw that the book was called The Secrets of the Alchemist. Rose was a little confused until she looked at the card.

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Miss Potter,

My wife and I would like to extend our deepest thanks for your help in re-obtaining our Philosopher's Stone. Despite our feelings towards the situation itself, we will be forever grateful that somebody as selfless as you found the stone and saw fit to return it instead of keeping it, as many others would have done in the same situation.

As a token of our appreciation, we have gifted you with a book that I (Nicolas) wrote many centuries ago. It is not the only copy but it is exceedingly rare. I hope that you enjoy it at your leisure. Thank you once more, and Merry Christmas.

Nicolas Flamel

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Seeing Rose start to hyperventilate the men jumped up and read the note over her shoulder. Afterwards they weren't much better. To have such an old book, written by the Nicolas Flamel, was insane. Both Remus and Rose were looking at the book with identical looks of glee and awe, and Sirius had to stifle his laughs as the two held on to the book so reverently as they found a place to store it. She then turned back to the lumpy package.

As soon as Rose laid eyes on it she knew what it was. Her dad's cloak. Her cloak. It seemed that Dumbledore had kept to his original plan, and she was now in possession of two of the three Deathly Hallows. Like with the stone, the inherent magic of the cloak resonated deeper with her as she picked it up, probably because she was Lady Peverell. Instinctively she knew that it would be stronger than it had been before. It had always puzzled her that a cloak from Death could be seen through by other wizards if they were powerful enough, and now she felt that this issue would be solved.

She placed the package down oblivious to the curious looks of her parents and read the note.

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Your father unfortunately left this in my possession before he died, instead of keeping it to use himself. It is high time that it is returned to its rightful owner. I would ask you to use it well, but I believe you will do so without my request anyway. Merry Christmas, Miss Potter. Your parents would be proud of you.

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Rose was baffled and more than a little worried. Had her actions affected so much that Dumbledore had truly changed? He sounded very remorseful and she couldn't understand how he'd changed so much. Or why. What had happened? She couldn't get over the nagging feeling that something was up, but she was quickly distracted by the cheering from James' portrait as Sirius fell over and hit his head on a table, cursing loudly.

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Christmas lunch at The Pottery was loud and riotous. After moving the presents to their rooms, they'd ended up playing games all morning and everyone was a little hyper. It was great in Rose's opinion; the kitchen was decorated with colour-changing streamers and bells that sung Christmas songs at random, as well as small paper fairies charmed to fly around the room.

Their table was completely covered in dishes of food, so much so that they wondered if the table had had to be strengthened to withstand the weight. Nearly every inch was covered in food, and those that weren't were filled with the prizes from the wizarding crackers they'd bought.

Christmas was loud, garish, and so far from 'proper' that the family of three couldn't help but appreciate how different it was from what they knew. Remus' Christmas memories were happy overall, but there was a sense of fantasy with them, as if his parents had thought that if they could act normal enough it would become a reality. Sirius knew that the Blacks' idea of this time of year was too twisted to be happy, and Rose's memories of the Dursleys' 'normal' family celebration proved beyond a doubt that this Christmas was the best.

Sirius and Remus were slowly getting drunk and started telling more and more adult jokes with bawdy humour, and seemed to forget that their daughter was only eleven. That may have been because she managed to keep up with them in that respect, being a twisted adult woman mentally. They seemed to appreciate her wit though, as did the portraits of her parents if the tears in their eyes were anything.

They didn't get too wasted though, as they decided to make use of Rose's new TV and VHS player to watch a few family films together, including some Disney films. Everyone was completely hooked and the three of them were curled up together on the sofa with the girl sandwiched between the men. Both had their arms were around her with their fingers playing with her curls absentmindedly.

She spared a quick thought for Neville and hoped that he didn't completely break down with the news about his parents. He may have wished to have his parents back with him, but hoping for something and seeing it become reality are two different things, and the upcoming changes in the Longbottom family would be rather trying on the boy. Rose desperately wanted him to be able to experience something like her current situation with his parents.

The family film marathon was interrupted by a trip to the kitchen for some of the lunch leftovers – thank Merlin for stasis spells – and they decided to gorge themselves on food before starting on a triple chocolate cake the elves had made earlier.

Not long after the three of them were full and very sleepy, and they fell asleep tangled together on their enlarged sofa, thinking about how thankful they were for their family.

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Your celebrity crush?? Mine is Matthew Daddario and Joseph Morgan.

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