the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 26 Christmas Presents

Christmas morning in the Weasley home was a study in chaos. Though the Weasleys were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, there were plenty of presents to go around - including a Weasley jumper for everyone there. Seeing Severus and Sirius in matching blue jumpers, each with a red 'S' on their chest was just about the funniest thing Harry had ever imagined. Ron and Remus also matched with their bright Maroon 'R's.

Sirius had also taken great pains to find gifts for all of the Weasley children - and though Harry suspected Bill and Charlie, who weren't that much younger than Sirius, were embarrassed to be lumped into the 'child' description, they were delighted with the long slender swords they had been given. Remembering the conversation about pureblood families and swords, Harry glanced at Arthur Weasley. The man looked somewhat sad to see the swords in his sons' hands, but he nodded his thanks to Sirius. They were at war and though Arthur didn't want to admit it, as members of the Order of the Phoenix, his sons would be on the front lines. Sirius clapped Arthur on the shoulder in sympathy, but nothing more was said.

To Harry's surprise Severus had brought gifts for everyone as well. They came mostly in the forms of expensive books that he knew the Weasley family could not possibly afford, though for Fred and George he had purchased potion ingredients that they had gone apes over. While they had been lousy potions students due to their pranks, they were actually excellent potion makers. Their prank products required a degree of skill that Severus obvious recognized.

He had also purchased a book on the History of the Wizarding World for the Grangers - something they were obviously delighted over after the nature of the conversations they had been having the last couple of nights. To Harry's amazement, Severus also had a gift for both Remus and Sirius. It was an old book bound up in leather. Harry was rather stunned that he was giving his godfather anything, but as Severus handed it across to Sirius, he saw his godfather handing a similar book over to Severus.

Seeing the look of disbelief on Harry's face, Sirius just smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "They're family lineage books," he explained. "They are something we should have exchanged before the two of you were ever bonded. It's a very old tradition. I'll show it to you later if you'd like."

Harry just nodded, guessing that this was yet another custom he knew nothing about.

Harry was delighted with the new broom he'd gotten from Sirius and Remus, both with the broom itself as well as the fact that both men's names were on the card, as if they were already together. His firebolt had been damaged the day he'd taken the Eye of Odin from Voldemort's hand, and though it was still useable, it wasn't as maneuverable as it once was.

He was sitting on the floor along with Ron, Hermione and Ginny admiring the broom when Severus tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He was a bit surprised when Severus handed him a very small, neatly wrapped box a few moments later. He had expected a book like Ron and Hermione had gotten from the Potions Master. He opened the box curiously. Inside was a potion vial. Taking it out, he read the label out loud. "Oculus Reparium Infinitas."

There were several startled gasps at the name, and Harry frowned as he glanced around. Even Sirius looked both surprised and impressed. "Isn't that the spell you use to repair my glasses, Hermione?" Harry asked.

But Hermione shook her head. "No, that's Oculus Reparo. What you've got in your hand is like a thousand times better than Lazic Surgery or the Eye Sight Repairing charm."

That caught the attention of the two Grangers, but the others didn't catch the reference. "What's Lazic Surgery?" Ron wanted to know.

"It's a Muggle procedure that corrects bad eye sight," Hermione explained. "They use lasers to reshape your eye, but it doesn't always work and it has about a two week recovery period. Furthermore, your eyes sight will proceeded to deteriorate again over the years." She glanced at her parents. "And the charm only fixes your eyes for the day - kind of like the equivalent of contact lenses."