The Gift of Giving

"Rose, I've got a question," Sally-Anne said.

For the few days leading up to the play, the Perks family had agreed to let Rose and Hermione stay with them. As well as camping had gone, having a hyperactive girl that didn't sleep wandering around the house was starting to drive Hermione's parents mad. Not to mention that they were certain that she was getting up to something, since Dan couldn't any of his rolls of duct tape that he kept in the house. He always had spares just in case, but all of them had vanished. Initially, he thought he had just ran out, so he bought more, but then those vanished too.

"What do you need, Sally-Anne?"

"Harry's birthday is coming up, and I was wondering if you knew anything to get him."

"A picture of his parents," Rose replied immediately.

Hermione stared at Rose, who tilted her head in response.

"What?" Rose asked.

"You didn't even need to check your notebook," Hermione said suspciously. "You always need to check your notebook."

"I've got a good memory when it comes to people with dead parents," Rose replied. She turned back to Sally-Anne. "We can go visit Professor Dumbledore at Hogwarts to see if he's got something."

"Slow down, Rose," Hermione said. "First things first, how do you know he wants a picture of his parents?"

"Remember how I told you about the Mirror of Erised?"

"It shows a person whatever they desire most," Hermione said. "Did Harry see his parents?"

"Yup! Remember, I told you about it after you got back from break!"

"I must have forgotten," Hermione said. "You say a lot of things; it's hard to keep track of them all."

"You should get a notebook!" exclaimed Rose happily.

"I'll work on it," replied Hermione, who had little intention to obtain a notebook any time soon.

"Why do you think Professor Dumbledore has a picture of them?" Sally-Anne asked.

"Because I'm almost positive that he knew Harry's parents," Rose replied. "He's got that air about him."

Hermione looked at Rose, raising her eyebrows. "Really? That's your reasoning for going to visit Professor Dumbledore during the summer? A hunch?"

"Also, Professor McGonagall knew his parents," Rose said. "Ref told me when we were breaking out Harry, so I can only assume that Professor Dumbledore does as well. If I'm not mistaken, they were students at Hogwarts."

"That makes sense, seeing as how it's the only magical institution in the country," Hermione said.

"Are you sure he won't mind us visiting him?" Sally-Anne asked.

"It'll be fine!"

Albus was sitting at his desk, contemplating how he could spend the last few weeks of summer. There was hardly a month left until term started, so he wanted to enjoy them. He knew that Harry and his friends were attracting trouble, and had a feeling that this year would be the same as last year.

Albus had already given up on trying to figure out what was going to happen, although he had made a list of what he suspected might happen. He had also considered circulating the list around the staff to take bets on what would happen this year, but thought that it might be unprofessional, and tip off some of his staff in the event that some of them were going astray.

He also needed a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Once again, Severus was the only one that applied for the job, but he didn't want to risk losing his Potions Master. Severus was an invaluable asset, not to mention a close friend, and curse or no, there was a definite pattern that indicated that whomever took the job would be gone before the end of the year.

Rumor had spread that Gilderoy Lockhart was considering taking the job for some free publicity. Now there was a thought; the professor that was chosen sometimes ended up with their worst secrets exposed, otherwise Albus would've already asked Remus Lupin, but Lockhart had something he wasn't telling people.

There was no way that that outspoken little Ravenclaw he had known grew up to be a monster slayer. If Lockhart was anything, it was charming and clever. Albus was sure that that instead pointed to–

"Salutations, Professor Dumbledore!"

Albus left his musings for another day and looked up to see his favorite three Gryffindor girls standing in his office.

"Hello," Albus greeted them. "Rose, didn't I specifically ask you not to come here until September?"

"No, you said I wasn't allowed to live here," Rose replied. "You didn't say anything about visiting."

"Oh. What a strange oversight on my part. How can I help you young ladies?"

"With Harry's birthday tomorrow, we were wondering if you could help us get him a present," Sally-Anne said.

"I'm sure I can," Albus replied. "I myself have always enjoyed some nice toffee."

"We actually had something specific in mind," Hermione said. "Erm…"

"A picture of his parents," Sally-Anne said. "Rose told us about the Mirror of Erised and said that Harry really wanted a picture of his parents, so I thought it would be nice if we got him one. I think it will cheer him up, especially after everything he's been through with his aunt and uncle."

"Yes, Minerva told me about your rescue mission a few weeks ago," Professor Dumbledore said, turning to look at Rose. "You could do to be a little more subtle, Rose."

"I'm not apologizing," Rose said. "His uncle was in my personal space, and that door was in my way. So I fixed it!" Rose beamed. "I can fix anything!"

"So you've mentioned," Albus said. "But you were right in your assumption that I have something for the young Mr. Potter."

Albus reached into one of the many drawers in his desk and pulled out a chest. From that chest, he produced another chest, from which he took a small desk. From one of the drawers in that desk, he took a picture frame, and handed it to Sally-Anne.

Sally-Anne looked at the picture in the frame. Looking back at her were two people. One was a man that looked like an older version of Harry, and the other was a woman with brown hair that fell just past her shoulders. They both smiled warmly at the dirty-blonde girl.

"I meant to give him that at the end of last term," Professor Dumbledore said, "but it slipped my mind somehow."

"Don't you just hate it when that happens?" Rose asked.

"Quite," Albus replied to the reason that he had forgotten.

"I find a notebook helps!"

"Aren't you worried that you'll run out of space?"

"Nope!" Rose replied simply. "If I do, I'll just get a new one!"

"Of course," Albus said. He didn't know for sure, but he assumed that Rose would probably make herself a new one if she needed. "Will that be all?"

"Well, if you're asking, then–" Rose began.

"Yes, Sir," Sally-Anne said quickly, hoping to stop Rose before she got carried away asking questions. Sally-Anne looked down at the picture in her hand, then added, "Thank you, Sir."

"You are most welcome, Sally-Anne."

Rose pulled her staff of passage (Albus was pleased with how well he remembered the names of the girl's belongings) out of her quiver, and the three of them disappeared from the Headmaster's office, leaving Albus to return to his thoughts.

Saturday night, they all met up at the Burrow. It was out of everyone's way, but since it was the first Muggle play the Weasleys had attended, it was agreed that they should meet up first.

On the way there, Hermione and Sally-Anne made sure to explain to Rose that it was just pretend, and that she should sit quietly in her seat during the entire performance.

"Don't get out of your chair unless you see us getting up too," Hermione said. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Rose replied, smiling.

"Repeat it back to me," Hermione said.

"'Don't get out of your chair unless you see us getting up too.'"

"Your chair, Rose," Sally-Anne said.

"Hermione just told me to repeat it back to her."

"Do you understand?" Hermione repeated.

"Yes," Rose said. "Just pretend, don't try to participate."

"Right," Hermione said.

"Hey, Rose, what did you get Harry for his birthday?" Sally-Anne asked, hoping to change the subject.

When Sally-Anne was wrapping and signing her present to Harry, Sally-Anne had originally planned to have her two friends sign it, but Rose had told her not to sign Rose's name as part of it. Instead, Rose was now holding a small box wrapped in red wrapping paper.

"Gloves of dexterity."

"Which are…?" Hermione prompted.

"They'll increase his Dexterity! He has to have fast reflexes in Quidditch, so I figured he'd appreciate me improving them!"

They arrived at the Burrow a few minutes later, and the five of them were greeted by Mrs. Weasley at the door.

"Happy birthday, Harry," Sally-Anne said, handing him the wrapped picture.

Harry was almost startled. This was the first birthday he could remember getting actual presents, rather than just orders from the Dursleys. He had already been spoiled by Mrs. Weasley the previous night, and now his friends had got him something. He noticed Rose holding a second present, beaming away in her usual cheerful manner.

"It's from Sally-Anne and I," Hermione said.

Harry hastily unwrapped the present, staring in amazement when he finished.

It was a picture of two people, a man and a woman. The man looked a lot like him, and the woman smiled back at him with eyes that looked like his. He had seen them both before in the Mirror of Erised. It was a picture of his parents.

Harry stared at it for what must've been hours (But in reality, was a minute), then turned to look at his friends.

"We went to visit Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said. "He gave it to us to give to you. Rose said you'd–"

Harry cut off his friend with a hug, wrapping his arms as best he could around both girls, a feat made easier by them standing next to one another.

"Thank you," he said.

Sally-Anne gladly returned the hug, as did Hermione, albeit more hesitantly.

"You're welcome, Harry," Sally-Anne replied.

"What a wonderful gesture, girls," Mrs. Weasley said.

The three children moved apart, and Harry returned to staring at his parents.

"Don't worry, Harry," Mr. Weasley said. "They'll be here when you get back. I think Rose has something for you, too."

Harry looked away from the picture of his parents to see Rose holding a red box up to him.

"Happy birthday!"

Harry set the picture down on the table and unwrapped the present, although with less enthusiasm. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful, but instead that his mind was on the picture he now had. He could see his parents, even if it was just a picture.

Harry opened the box to find a pair of black, fingerless gloves inside. In fact, they closely resembled his Quidditch gloves, which he realized he hadn't been able to find the other day.

"Are these my Quidditch gloves?" he asked.

"Modified, but yes," Rose said. "Sorry about taking them. I enchanted them to improve your Dexterity!"

"Thank you," Harry said.

"Rose, use of magic is forbidden in Quidditch matches," Mr. Weasley said.

Harry's heart sank. He knew he wasn't allowed to pull out his wand in the middle of a match, but he didn't realize that magic wasn't allowed to be used at all. Did that mean he wasn't allowed to use his glasses either? Rose had modified them to improve his ability to see, and, as he had learned, hear, so did that make them magic? Wait, what about their brooms? Did they count as well? Suddenly, the rules of Quidditch didn't make any sense to him.

Harry started to panic. He loved Quidditch. No matter how bad things got, he could always grab a broom and kick off into the sky, leaving all of his troubles beneath him. Quidditch made sense to him, and it was comforting to know that. It was his escape from life, but now he was starting to question it. Why couldn't everyone just leave him be? Was happiness a luxury he just couldn't afford? Why did they have to take this away from him?!

"Well, then, it's a good thing that no one can detect the magic on them, nor can anyone prove I enchanted them!" Rose exclaimed.

"But you just said you did," Mr. Perks said.

"No, I didn't!" Rose said. "I will neither confirm nor deny that those gloves are now a pair of gloves of dexterity +2."

The Twins grinned, and, as soon as no one could see them, each gave Rose a thumbs up.

In spite of all the trouble that Rose had caused, this time, Harry was on her side. He glanced down at the picture of his parents and smiled. They wouldn't try to take this away from him.

"I wouldn't bet on no one being able to detect the magic on those," Mr. Weasley said. "Especially at Hogwarts. Either Professor Vector or Professor Dumbledore are going to be able to figure it out."

"Besides, not even your enchantments will last forever," Percy said. "That's just how magic works."

"Rose doesn't mean a normal enchantment," Hermione said. "It's difficult to explain, but it's not technically magic."

"Oi!" Rose exclaimed. "What do you–"

<I'm making your case!> Hermione pathed to Rose, having slipped her hand in her pocket for the seashell.

"It's like a kind of trick," Sally-Anne added, picking up on Hermione's reasoning. "She calls it enchanting, but it's really not."

"It's just easier for Rose to call it enchanting," Hermione said.

"But it's not magic," Ron said.

"It's like she just made the gloves lighter so his hands can move faster."

"Which is more like alchemy than anything."

"And, since it doesn't qualify as magic, it should be perfectly legal to use those gloves during a Quidditch match," Hermione concluded.

Both Arthur and Molly eyed the girls suspiciously. None of it made sense to them, but then again, few things the crimson-haired girl said made sense.

"It still feels like cheating," Arthur said. "And you know what they say about when something feels like cheating."

"Yes," Rose replied. "You've just got to persuade the DM that it's acceptable, and it's fine."

"Actually, I was going to say 'It probably is.'"

"Dad, it's the difference between a Nimbus 2000 and a Nimbus 2001," Ron said. "Both of them are legal, but the team with the Nimbus 2001 is going to have an advantage over the other team with the Nimbus 2000."

"If you're still uncertain, I invite you to take it up with Professor Snape," Rose said. "I'm sure he's subjected that pendant I gave him to every test known to magic!"

"You… gave Professor Snape a pendant?" Arthur asked. "Professor Snape?"

"Yup! He and I are friends!"

Molly and Arthur stared at the girl. No student was friends with Professor Snape. Most of the staff didn't care for him.

"Really?" asked Molly.

"In Rose's mind, yes," Hermione said.

"Just nod," Ron said.

Molly and Arthur exchanged looks, then both nodded hesitantly at the girl.

"That's nice, Dear," Molly said.

As they all went outside, Harry whispered to his friends. "Thank you."

"For the gifts?" Rose asked. "You already said 'Thank you'."

"No, not that," he said. "For defending the gloves. I was starting to get confused about the rules of Quidditch."

"The rules specifically state that no 'magically enhanced equipment' is allowed to be used," Ron said. "But like Rose said, she can't use 'magic', so those gloves aren't 'magical'."

"Of course, we just couldn't say that to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, surprised by how well Ron had kept up with them.

"Still, thanks," Harry said.

"Don't mention it, Mate," Ron said.

Hermione glanced over at the red-head. The arguments that he had made earlier were impressive, and had probably made the difference between Harry being allowed to use the gloves in a match and not. She knew he was good at strategy, but she always assumed that he would be a slow thinker.

"Ron, that was impressive the way you came up with those arguments," Hermione said.

"Huh?" Ron said. "Oh, that? Thanks, I guess. That just popped into my head, and I thought 'Dad will buy this, let's try it.'"

Rose made a quick note in her notebook. Not only could Ronald strategize well enough to impress her brother, but he could also think quickly on his feet. He was going to be a good leader someday. Rose just had to figure out how to push that along.

"I think that went well," Sally-Anne said on their way out of the theatre later that night.

"I'm glad we thought to inform Rose that it was all pretend," Hermione said.

Sally-Anne was glad that everyone had enjoyed the play, but best of all was Mr. Weasley's reaction to it.

"Extraordinary," he said as they left the theatre. "Simply wonderful! I didn't realize that Muggles were capable of such things. What did you call them again?"

"They're called 'special effects'," Wilfred explained. "It's just a trick, really, but they enhance the play, and, as you saw, bring it to life."

"Fascinating!"

As they were walking, Dan finally remembered what it was about which he had wanted to talk with Rose. He caught up with the crimson-haired girl, and said, "Rose, we found your project in the closet."

"The duct tape golem?" she asked.

"Is that what it's supposed to be?" he asked.

"All that's left is to animate it!" she exclaimed. "And then it'll be done!"

"Rose, you can't just make something like that," Dan said, hoping he understood what she meant by "golem". "If people see it, then it'll mean trouble for us."

"Don't worry," Rose said. "It won't talk, it's strong, and it will listen to your every order. Also, since the duct tape is still fairly malleable, it should be able to fold away!"

"Why did you leave it in the closet instead of taking it with you?" Hermione asked, having overheard the conversation. "Why not use your portable hole?"

"I figured that your parents would want to know what had happened to all of their duct tape!"

Dan and his daughter let out identical sighs.

"You could've just told us," Dan said.

"Oh, yeah, that's just as much fun," Rose said.

When the girls returned to the Burrow, there were beds laid out for all of them. It was cramped in Ginny's room, at least until the bed laid out for Rose was packed away. It had taken some work on her part, but Rose was able to convince Mother Weasley that she honestly didn't need to sleep, and even if she did, Rose had her own bedroll she could use.

Rose spent the night outside gazing at the stars. It was easier to see them at the Burrow than at Hogwarts, and the cool night air reminded her of the good old days when she would go adventuring with her friends. Back when creating a golem out of whatever materials were lying around wasn't considered wrong, and you didn't usually get accused of cheating just for making a magic item.

What's wrong with everyone here?

The next morning, the entire group, along with Hermione's and Sally-Anne's parents, went shopping for school supplies. Everything went smoothly, which was making Hermione suspicious. Things never went this smoothly, so what was going to happen to make it worse?

"What's going on there?" Sally-Anne asked, indicating a crowd of people outside of Flourish and Blotts.

"Didn't you hear?" Mrs. Weasley asked eagerly. "Gilderoy Lockhart's doing a signing for his new book!"

"He is?!" gasped Hermione.

"He's real?!" exclaimed Rose.

"Of course he's real!" groaned Hermione. "Haven't you read his books?"

"Yeah, but I thought he was just made up."

"Really?" asked Ron. "You of all people?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We need to go there to get books anyway," Mr. Weasley said. "Why don't we all go?"

Once inside, Mrs. Weasley and Hermione waited in line to have their books signed, while the others collected books for school.

It was then that something occurred to Sally-Anne that she hadn't realized until that point.

"Rose, who's buying your books?" she asked her friend, noticing that Rose didn't have anything.

"No one."

Rose looked at the title of one of the books on a shelf, and, after reading the title, tapped the book.

"Then how are you getting them?"

"I'm not."

"What about the rest of your supplies?"

"Why would I need more supplies?"

"For school."

"I'm just going to make them," Rose replied simply, tapping another book.

"But–"

"I would like to announce that I, Gilderoy Lockhart, will be taking over as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Rose's notebook was out in an instant, and she scribbled down this new information. She also made several notes regarding his appearance, and a reminder to herself to ask Hermione for all the books she had on this guy. Before, he had been just another name; now, he was relevant to the Plot. Not just that, he was now the only unknown professor at Hogwarts, which made him a prime suspect should anything go wrong.

Sally-Anne noticed that the Lockhart guy had pulled Harry in for a photo op, even though Harry didn't look all too comfortable with it.

After Harry was allowed to leave, Sally-Anne approached him.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

"You can't go five feet without making a scene, can you, Potter?"

They turned toward the familiar voice to find Draco standing in the door to Flourish and Blotts. Accompanying him was a tall man with blonde hair that reached down well past his shoulders.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry shot back.

"Now, boys," Mr. Weasley said as the group moved toward the front of the store. "Let's be civil about this."

"Of course you would try to divert a fight you can't possibly win, Arthur," the man accompanying Draco said.

His voice was smooth and cold, and there was a permanent look of contempt on his face. He was arrogant and aloof, and reminded Rose way too much of Sk'lar's predecessor, Professor Seelahs, not to mention at least half of the Elves she had met at Arcrel.

"Lucius, we're just having a family shopping trip. We don't want any trouble."

"Of course," Lucius said. "It's a wonder though that you can even afford secondhand books, given the rubbish you've been passing off as legislation."

Ron clenched his fists. Where did this jerk get off insulting his dad like that?

Dan muttered something under his breath that would've got him a look from his wife had he said it out loud. The man's son had nearly got his little girl killed, not to mention had made her terrified to be alone in the hallways of her own school, and now he was acting like they were in the wrong.

"How do you get your hair like that?"

Rose had taken her own approach to getting even with Malfoy Senior, which took the form of inspecting his hair at close quarters. No one was quite sure when or how she got a stack of books under her, but she was standing on one while holding up some locks of Malfoy's hair.

"It's not greasy like Butter-Head's down there. This is nice! Is this real?"

"I beg your pardon?" Lucius said coolly, shifting away from Rose. He didn't jump, but almost glided away from her. It was as if he practiced not showing emotions other than contempt.

He's like a well-kept version of Professor Snape, Hermione thought. Were all Slytherin alumni like this?

"I was just admiring your hair, Goldilocks," Rose said, jumping down from her stack of books.

"Ridiculous crimson hair, annoying Scottish accent, and bizarre clothing," Lucius muttered. "You must be Rose Peta-Lorrum."

Rose curtsied. "The one and only!" She mimicked the contempt on Lucius's face. "And I'll have you know that people have told me that my hair is pretty."

Goldilocks glanced over at Hermione, then back to Rose. "Perhaps compared to some people."

"I saw that," Rose said, her I'm-going-to-kill-you-now smile appearing on her face. "Did you just insult my best friend, Goldilocks?"

"Isn't someone going to stop her?" Emma whispered. "Before she gets into trouble?"

"Let's see how this plays out," Dan replied.

He and Emma were starting to go out of their minds dealing with the crimson-haired girl all summer. She was slowly driving them mad without trying. They both understood that the girl was trying to be polite, but she still didn't understand their way of doing things. Their daughter insisted this was due to Rose living on her own for so long. Dan was a little curious to see how bad she got when she did try, especially if the target was the father of the boy who had caused Hermione such misery at Hogwarts.

"I see your choice in friends is as bad as your choice in clothing," Lucius drawled.

"This coming from the man who used to wear a black cloak and skull mask?" Rose shot back at the man.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't give me that, you used to run with Volds, whose followers wore extremely tacky black cloaks and skull masks."

"She's got a concept of 'tacky'?" Dan whispered to Hermione.

"Apparently."

"You've apparently done your research, but if you had read the records more closely, you'd know that I was controlled for my position in the Ministry."

"Of course," Rose said. "But you know, my friend Shadow once told me the only difference between an actor and a politician is that actors admit that they're paid to lie. Politicians just lie about lying."

"Someone should teach you some manners, little girl, before something bad happens to you."

"That sounded like a threat, but I'm sure you didn't mean for it to come out that way," the mudblood said. "So tell you what? Before this gets out of hand, why don't we both just walk away? That way, nobody wins, and nobody loses. What do you say, Mr. Malfoy?"

Hermione held her breath waiting to see what happened. She knew what Rose would do if a fight broke out, and there were a lot of innocent bystanders that might get caught in the crossfire. Rose was usually careful, but Hermione still remembered an incident last year after Rose had allegedly trapped Slytherin in their common room that ended up with Neville in a full-body bind.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder and saw Lockhart standing back from the action. Why didn't he say something? Given everything he'd done, surely he could do something to stop a fight from breaking out. Did he not want to get involved? What about the other adults? Her parents were Muggles, so Hermione wasn't expecting much from them, but what about Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?

"Come along, Draco," Lucius said. "I think we're done here."

Draco, who had made his way over to harass Ginny, tossed one of her books back into her cauldron in disgust before rejoining his father.

"Did you deliver the package?" Lucius muttered as the two of them left.

"Yes, Father," Draco said.

Rose watched them go, then turned to her friends.

"Everyone alright?" she asked.

"That was impressive the way you handled him," Mr. Weasley said.

"Thanks, but I could've done better," Rose said. "Just give me some time to find his berserk button. Everyone's got one, it's just a matter of finding it. Like Draco's is when I call him Drakey or remind him that I'm better than he is at… everything. Except getting my hair to be greasy. I'll admit, he's got me beat there."

"Did you see their faces?" Ron said, laughing. "I thought both of them were gonna deck you!"

"Nah, Goldilocks is better than that," Rose said. "He wouldn't do anything to threaten his public image, but when I respectfully offered him an out, he took it."

Hermione couldn't believe it. After everything she had seen Rose do, Rose was acting coherent. The girl was making perfect sense for once, and had handled the entire situation with a level head. Hermione fully expected Rose to attack the Malfoys, or at least reverse gravity, but she hadn't done anything.

"Did you mature in the past five minutes?" Hermione blurted out.

"Me, mature?" Rose asked. "Nah! But after I realized that my standard annoyance tactics weren't going to work, I asked myself 'What would Alice do?'"

"Really?"

"Of course, the answer was 'Slice him like a tomato', so I then asked 'What would Sk'lar do?'"

"Thank you for not slicing anyone like a tomato," Hermione said.

"You're welcome!" Rose exclaimed. "I figured Sk'lar would handle it with a more rational approach, so that's what I did! Then I remembered something Uncle Oz said about how politicians hate to feel like they lost, so you should always make them feel like they won."

Hermione was starting to understand how Carolina, whom she had learned was the responsible member of Rose's family, managed not to go mad: She looked at the bright side of everything. Rose had mentioned that before, but Hermione hadn't realized until just then that that was the trick to it. That was the trick to surviving Rose.

I just need to look on the bright side, thought Hermione. Rose might not seem like she knows what she's doing, but if I trust her, it'll work out eventually.

Hermione wasn't sure she'd ever fully grasp the idea, but knowing it was a good start.