Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter XXXVI: Christmas, Part I

Susan Bones woke up on Christmas morning before Hannah did. Not that she expected any less. Her friend was not only lazy, but had also stayed up practically all night last night, spending almost all of her energy bouncing off the walls and talking about how fun her time in Italy was and how she was looking forward to seeing what presents she had gotten this year. The girl was probably knackered.

Sitting up, the red-haired Hufflepuff began stretching, raising her arms above her head as high as they would so and stretching out her legs underneath the covers of her sleeping bag. She luxuriated in the feeling of her stiff muscles loosening, giving a groan of satisfaction. Then she reflected that she would feel even better after taking a shower.

She stood up and took a moment to look around her room to make sure there was nothing she could trip over. Hannah had been a bit excitable last night and may have thrown something along her path.

Her room was fairly large and clean, with a spacious walk-in closet on one side, a queen sized bed on another, a dresser, a night stand and a desk. Hannah slept on the floor in her own sleeping bag next to Susan.

Looking over at the large bed, Susan reflected on when she and Hannah were younger and used to sleep on the bed instead of the floor. She could not remember when they started sleeping on the floor, but she did remember why it had become something of a tradition for them.

Back when they were younger, Susan's aunty had taken them both on a camping trip muggle-style. At first, neither of them had liked it, the tent was too small, there was no beds, no household commodities, and cooking over a fire took too long. Both she and Hannah swore up and down that they hated it and never wanted to do it again.

That belief had only lasted for a day. There had just been something nice about camping without relying on magic. About sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag. About doing things the muggle way, seeing how the other world lived.

Her aunty said it had something to do with being self-reliant. Most witches and wizards rely on their magic so much they don't know how to do anything without it, and they had forgotten how good it sometimes feels to just do things the old-fashion way. Susan agreed, though she had not quite understood everything her aunty talked about.

Dispelling her thoughts, the young redhead went into the bathroom and took an extra long shower. She doubted Hannah would be awake even after an hour in the shower. Chances are Susan would have to wake the girl. That was just how she was.

Turned out she was right. After stepping out of the shower in nothing but a towel, Susan found her friend still dozing away in her sleeping back. And so, after getting dressed in a pair of pants and a comfortable fleece jumper, the first year Hufflepuff went to wake up her friend.

“Come on, Hannah. It's time to get up.”

Hannah continued to doze.

“Hannah, you need to wake up now.”

Susan tried shaking Hannah awake, but all that did was make the blond girl turn over on her side, away from Susan in an attempt to ignore her.

Susan huffed. Hannah was so difficult to wake up sometimes. Well, not really. But Susan was far too kind and demure to use any of the wake up methods her aunty suggested. Some of those suggestions were just cruel.

Well, at least there was one method her aunty had suggested that was sure to wake her friend up and not be unpleasant.

“Hannah, if you don't wake up now you won't be able to open presents.”

“What do you mean I won't be able to open presents?!”

And it worked, too. The moment the word 'presents' finished leaving Susan's lips, the blond miraculously snapped awake as if she had never been asleep in the first place. That sometimes made her wonder if the girl really was sleeping at all, or if she was just too lazy to get up and preferred to lounging around for several hours before actually doing anything.