So Harry Potter's fanfiction archive always seemed like a daunting place for me because everyone in the archives is so brilliant. But I really wanted this idea to come out, I've literally been waiting since March for December to come around. It'll come in three parts, the last part being delivered to you on Christmas morning. I hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the characters (to whom I can only hope to do justice) presented in the story, and the story line is a parody of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi". The text under each chapter title is from the story's last paragraph.

1

Tonks

The magi, as you know, were wise men-wonderfully wise men-who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.

Her memory may be as clumsy as the rest of her, but it never failed to remember the Christmases of her childhood.

She remembered the family uniting at her father's' parents' houses and all of the gifts and the cards pouring in from that side.

But they had great fun. She remembered impressing her muggle cousins with simple magic tricks she'd mastered young, pieces of colourful paper filling every inch of the floor and every corner of the room, torn ribbons littering the floor and smells ranging from spicy gingerbread to rich turkey and lamb and beef and goose. Her memories at Hogwarts were just as vivid –if not more because the castle brightened up and offered more opportunities for mischief during the holidays than in any other time.

Tonks wasn't superficial enough to believe that Christmas had to be luxurious and festive to be enjoyed, but she was sentimental enough to believe that it should be special. This year was no different. Especially since it was her first Christmas with Remus…

He was late waking up, still exhausted though the full moon had been days ago. Without that dirty little Snape, Remus couldn't get his wolfbane potion, thus making Snape now totally useless in the scheme of things and the universe's functioning.

She kissed his cheek and set a plate in front of him, well aware that he was exhausted and needed it. He grabbed her hand to hold her back long enough to kiss her, and run a hand over her belly. It was barely swollen, but they both knew it was only a matter of time. That was both scary and exciting and terrifying.

"How are you, love?" He asked.

"I'm fine. It's you that needs the worrying, Remus."

"I'm fine," he said.

"Not from what I can see," Tonks said pulling a chair and sitting down, picking up her fork and gobbling up.

Remus sighed and looked at her, his tired eyes both amused and exasperated at the same time. A look she got often, and had learned to associate with fondness.

"I'm okay. Don't you worry about me; I've been doing this all my life."

"That doesn't mean you're automatically invincible," she said.

"Well you're doing something completely different right now," he said, evidently speaking of the baby. "And you look just as tired. Would you like to stay home today?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I don't care how well you can change shapes Dora, it's not just the bags under your eyes that can say when you're exhausted. Besides," he said his voice becoming more serious. "I know that you deal with a lot at the office."

"Me? I'm fine." She tried to wave off.

"I talked to Kingsley."

"The bastard betrayed me," Tonks hissed.

Remus took her hand over the table.

"If you think that I don't know what you hear at the office and what people insult you for, then you're wrong; and if you think that you can protect me from knowing these things, then you're foolish."

"Oh don't you transform into a martyr and blame yourself, Remus." She said.

"I won't," he promised. "I won't. I acknowledge that you made your choice, knowing what it meant."

"Damn right, I did." Tonks said with her mouth also occupied with a spoonful of eggs.

"But if you need a break, which is only human…" Remus said.

"I'll take it, I'll take it. I know, I know." Tonks said, finishing off her plate. She got up to go fry another egg. "You better eat that."

Remus smiled. "I actually have to be out the door earlier than usual."

"What for?"

"I think… well, I rather not just spill the beans. But I think I have a chance today."

"I'm sure you do," Tonks said kissing his cheek before going back in the kitchen.

Remus worked odd jobs. It wasn't something a man of his education or qualification should be doing to survive, but Remus was used to it, after all. The Wizarding world had never been fond of werewolves, and it wasn't about to start now with Fenrir Greyback out to grab children in the night. Even with a "tame" and "humane" werewolf such as him- though it always disgusted Tonks how he was too monstrous for wizards and too human for werewolves. Was there nowhere he could fit in? Tonks had her arms open to him one way or another and she was more than willing to persist until the good days, but it wasn't healthy, and it wasn't fair.

He'd usually scourge London for jobs- especially on the muggle side of things where he could excuse his condition as one of their degenerative nerve disorders or something. The Weasley twins were quite fond of having Remus working in the back of the shop –since he'd insist that he'd ward off business if he was in the front. Flourish and Blotts secretly used him to review and recommend and find new books. But those were all short-term jobs that could last at best a month, at the least a few days. The holiday season's rush seemed to help a lot, but the full moon always put even the most generous and risky employer off for a bit.

Tonks wanted to write a book: "Things about Werewolves That Aren't True in Every Particular Case in the whole Wizarding World and its History, God Dammit you Thick Lot". Remus was no more dangerous after the full moon than she was- which actually wasn't true, because she was hormonal and catty.

With a wave of his wand, he got the dishes done before she could even pick them up, and had them put themselves away in the cheap cupboards of their small apartment.

"Thank you," she smiled leaning against him. He was wearing his proper coat: a nice, old-fashioned garment that was of dark blue cloth. It was long enough to reach his knees, and was his only undamaged item of clothing on the grounds that he'd always preserved it with upmost care. The buttons were losing their shine and the cuffs were long gone, but it made him look like a Victorian gentleman. It was a gift he'd gotten from Sirius a few years before Harry was born and the Marauders officially started growing up and falling apart. He had said he was tired of Remus not looking like a professor or scientist or minister. Tonks thought that he'd probably found it somewhere in Grimmauld Place.

"No problem," he said kissing her ear. "I'll probably be around the muggle side today, at least for another day post full moon, but I can't make any promises."

"Okay," she said. "Are you bringing your book?" She asked pointing to the paperback encyclopaedia on runes he'd been rereading for the last week.

"Not today," he said. "And do you have your case?"

Tonks kept her auror medals in a case given to her by her parents. They'd been stolen the month of You-Know-Who's takeover of the ministry. It'd taken forever for she, Kingsley, Daedalus and Hestia to find them again, in the drawers of the Head Auror's desk- go figure. Tonks brought the case home every night to keep them safe and back to work every day to show off, which was highly unpractical according to Remus. But he'd accepted the fact that she was stubborn as a mule.

"Of course," Tonks said. "Have a nice day."

"You too, love," he said.

She knew how bad he felt about having to look for work around London all the time. People were wary of him as soon as they set eyes on him, just as he was wary of the jobs he all but begged for. He'd lived this way his whole life (except for that one year where Hogwarts had welcomed him home and into his staff- the best year of his life, Tonks thought) and had accepted that it had become his fate just as the moon was now his enemy and silver burned. But with her in his life and a baby in her stomach, he felt inadequate and bad and worthless.

Sure: Remus Lupin may not glitter in the sunshine. Tonks would admit it. But his eyes glittered with wit and kindness when he was not in an intense recovery mode, and he was worth his weight in pure ruby-incrusted gold. That was what mattered.

Sadly you had to accept the first to live with the seconds, and most people just couldn't do that. Sometimes, not even him.

Drumming her fingers against the counter, Tonks pondered all of this. Remus' guilt, his fruitless hard work, the toll the outside world was taking inside, how he had to be reminded that he was a great man, the magic of Christmas…

Maybe she could weave all three together. She was clumsy, but she was starting to see how this was a knot she could tie.

"How's the cub coming along?" An auror called Estherson said walking by her desk, shoving her shoulder so she tripped on her own foot.

"I don't know," Tonks snapped back, "But my shallow harassment complaint against you is coming up really well, I just need to find a word to describe you that isn't vulgar."

Tonks probably would've gotten into a lot of trouble if Kingsley hadn't come in and told Estherson and Dawne that the Head wanted to see them. She got shoved again as she left and Kingsley locked eyes with her raging irises. He walked up to her.

"Are you okay, Tonks?" He asked her.

"I'm bloody fine," she said between locked teeth.

Tonks was a naturally bubbly and energetic person. She'd spent Hogwarts as everybody's friend, dancing through social events (well, tripping would be more accurate) and enjoying high school like people always glorified it as. She'd been well liked in the auror's office for the longest time, often dragged to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink after work and to parties and Quidditch games on weekends. Then one day she'd shown up with an engagement ring and it was like everyone had taken a step back. As if Tonks had started to smell. Of course there were exceptions; Kingsley of course, Dedalus and Hestia as well- bless them all from head to toe. But all of a sudden Tonks wasn't sure what her whole life had been around if one thing she did –one thing that wasn't anybody's business and that had hurt absolutely nobody, mind you- could totally crumble it all. Had she ever been a likable person, or had she had some kind of people-attracting quality that was now gone?

"Clearly not. Look, why don't take the day off?" Kingsley said.

"I can't do that, I'm saving up sick days for when the baby's born. I don't see Robards being generous with the maternity leave- little corrupt prat."

"You're getting too haughty," Kingsley said putting a hand on her arm to calm her down. "Besides; it's Christmas in two days. I'm in charge of the office today, Tonks. I'll make it work."

Tonks took a deep breath. She was tired- both physically and mentally. She saw Savage and Proudfoot sitting on the later's desk and giving her dark scowls and whispering about the scene with Estherson. Those two had been her mates- they'd had good bits of fun in Hogsmede last year when asked to watch the castle. It made her furious to see them against her now.

"Alright," Tonks said. "But you owe me twenty galleons if I get in trouble for this."

"You have my word," Kingsley said.

She went back to her desk. It felt empty to her. She had pictures of her parents and her dad's side of the family and her school friends. She had her locker sized posters of the Weird Sisters. Knick-knacks given as office jokes littered the surface, giving the gift givers a good laugh every now and then when they walked by.

There was also a small case with a thin black frame and a glass window, the one in which Tonks kept her auror medals of honour. She had four- one given because she'd graduated top of her class in a certain subject, one for the first dark wizard she'd gotten, one for being injured on the job, and another one for saving a fellow auror's life- Williamson who was now a Death Eater himself, curse him. She'd previously had one to acknowledge her facing of the Death Eaters, but all of them had disappeared from the country overnight, mysteriously. The case was custom made of alder, apple, laurel and pear wood and was a graduation gift from her parents. Gold borders were etched into the frame.

Alder wood being reputed for suiting only great witches and wizards, apple because apple wand owners often being gifted in magical tongues and communications with other creatures, laurel which was said to make wands unable of performing a dishonourable act, and pear because no pear wand had ever been found in possession of a dark wizard.

Her mother had worked in the back of a wand maker's shop most of her life and knew wand wood like she knew her own family. It made a sweet gift, as well as being a difficult one to craft in reason of the difficulty of blending wand woods, and the magical properties and luck that oozed from it. Whether it was lucky like her superstitious mother said, or not like her level headed father said: Tonks truly cherished the case.

She packed up her bag and saw Proudfoot and Savage's eyes still on her, giving looks that meant nothing good. Proudfoot's eyes were actually on the case of her medals- her achievements, the proof that she brought something to this office that nobody else could. She chewed on the side of her cheek and quickly shoved it inside her bag as well. His eyes quickly found something else to look at when she straightened up.

She shrugged on her dark green cloak and instead of pulling her hair out from behind the collar she shrunk it to her favourite bubble-gum pink spikes.

"Cheers Kingsley," she said before leaving.

She exited the building through the stupid toilets, and apparated to Diagon Alley, where she was determined to find a Christmas present for Remus on a day where she was free, the shops would be hopefully a little emptier during the daytime , and she knew he wouldn't be around.

Diagon Alley had lost its magical and chaotic property. It was like even the sun's beams didn't reach the hidden alley as much. The snow on the ground -usually kept clean and white, crisp and cheerful- had evolved to slush and had been tinged grey by the nervous passers trampling it with quick steps on a daily basis. Some stores' windows and doors were boarded up- either their owners had bailed, disappeared, or died. The holiday crowd was ridiculously small. People didn't loiter near shop windows or sit at cafés and ice cream shops to catch up.

Many wizards were doing the exact same thing he was, wandering Diagon Alley looking for jobs or people to help or things to mend with magic on the street to steal customers from this story and that one. Tonks had a feeling that some stores were hiring people to stand outside stores with similar stocks and advertising better stores at their own shops. It was a bit on the disgusting side to be honest.

Diagon Alley was a hard reminder that no matter how hard she and Remus were having it, the Wizarding world was suffering ten times that blow in general.

Tonks looked at the stores. They were all wide open to her, but she didn't know which one to look through first. She had no idea what to get Remus. She'd have ideas if this weren't their first and hardest Christmas together, and she'd have plenty of ideas if she didn't want the gift she'd go home with to be meaningful.

She walked up and down Diagon Alley, slipping on ice and tripping over irregularities in the snow more than once.

She tried a few bookstores- but no title jumped to her eyes that she knew for a fact that he hadn't read thought he absolutely had to read. He was a difficult book critic, although he'd never say a word against a book she got him, and books were so mundane. They were birthday gift material.

She stopped at Scribbulus' Writing Instruments, this store, that store, here and there. Nothing caught her eye. Fatigue starting to weigh down on her ("you won't be tired after the first trimester," her mother had said. "Liar," Tonks had said), she went over to the Magical Menagerie, and looked at the critters climbing their living spaces, kittens playing around in their pens, the birds squawking in their cages, the slumbering pets to be. He loved magical creatures, but now may not be the best time to get a new owl or whatnot.

The store attendant was lowering an adorable tabby into a little girl's hands and she was looking at the kitten as if it was gold and jewelled.

"Really Mama?" She asked.

"Of course. This kitty's your Christmas present," a witch said kissing the top of her head. "Always better to pick your own pet: they love you for it more."

"He's beautiful. I'm going to call him Porter."

"That's a beautiful name, sweetheart." The witch said as her daughter cuddled.

Reenergized by that warm, toothy smile and the Christmas gift success story that she'd just witnessed: Tonks set out on her mission again, going back down the cold street. At least it was sheltered from the wind.

"Miss," someone said. Tonks turned around and spotted a man wearing a patched and ripped up coat standing near a store door. "If you lookin' fo somethin' p'etty fo yo'self, that sto'e o'er 'ere 'as some'in of 'or likin'."

Tonks recognised his strange accent not as something from a homeland, but of a Tongue Messer curse. She didn't know the man's story, she didn't know what he was doing here, or if he had deserved it, but she handed him a galleon.

"Head over to Slugs and Jiggers," she said indicating the apothecary with a wave of her hand. "Ask for a teaspoon of pod butter, and you'll get your tongue functional again."

"'Anks Miss. 'Appy 'olidays."

"To you too," Tonks said watching him hobble away. She noticed that the woman in the shop window was looking at him walk away with wide, happy eyes and disbelieving that he was walking away.

Well, if she was in someone's good book she might as well go into the shop. It was Madam Malkin's. For a second she was puzzled that it was as deserted as it was, but then she remembered that Blythe Malkin's husband had been a mudblood. She was bad by osmosis to the general public, much like Tonks and her mother as a matter of fact.

The bell rang as Tonks got into the store.

"Welcome to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions," she said. "Thank you so much for chasing that scoundrel away. Business is bad enough already."

"He's not a scoundrel, he's just struggling," said Tonks rather defensively.

"Sometimes it's hard to appreciate that when you're doing badly yourself. How may I help you?"

"Nothing, I'm just looking around."

"For a Christmas gift?"

"Yes," she said.

"May I suggest-?"

"I'm alright," Tonks said quickly. She really wanted this to be a unique gift, not what everyone had on their wish list.

She looked through the stores, at traveling cloaks and warm winter coats with fur at the hems and elegant dresses for upcoming Christmas parties and balls. The price tags made her feel dizzy; the pouch of gold in her bag suddenly didn't seem so well-stocked.

She looked around some more, starting to think of leaving and coming back with a better holiday battle plan tomorrow. She hated Christmas Eve shopping.

That's when something reflected light around the old fashioned cash register Madam Malkin kept her profit, and Tonks saw the cuffs.

They were displayed on the counter, in a rotten wooden case. They were for coats, to embellish the sleeves. She took a closer look and noticed that rules were sculpted in their center. They'd stand out in a crowd of coats certainly.

She smiled.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"Seen something you like, dear?" Madam Malkin asked.

"Yes, how much for those cuffs?"

Madam Malkin gave a look.

"Five galleons each," she said.

"Five?"

"They're special, dear, good luck charms. Those cuffs are made in the private laboratory of an old Celtic druid; he's one of the last true artisanal amulet makers. He's becoming older and older, you know."

"What do the ruins say?" She asked. Remus would know.

"Well, like I said: they're old good luck charms. Phony now, of course: but they used to be worth an arm and a leg back in the day."

Historical value.

"But they're all animals. That's pig, that's rabbit, here's dog, and that's mouse."

History…

She had it.

"Are those the only animals you have?" Tonks asked.

"No, dear. If you're willing to be patient, I can place an order with my druid overnight and have them next morning."

"Will he do anything?" She asked. "And can I get some by tomorrow?"

"Surely."

"I'll need a stag, a dog, a rat and a wolf." Tonks said.

"That sounds doable," she said smiling and taking out a pad of paper to write it down. "Can I get your name, dear?"

"Tonks Lupin," she said. That would always be funny to Tonks, Kingsley, the Weasley and co: but Tonks didn't know what else to go by. "And… can I negotiate the price a bit?"

Madam Malkin looked up with a sad smile.

"Any other day I would, dear, but I'm having a tough year. I expect you to know that better than anyone. Your husband's a werewolf and your father's on the run: I recognise you now."

"I know but… I don't…" Twenty galleons was money she just didn't have to spare. "Is there anything I can do? I don't care what it is."

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart. Unless you have one of the coupons offered up in the Prophet."

"I don't read that, I use it as fuel for the fireplace," Tonks mumbled. Great: the one time something useful might have come up in that toe rag…

She looked around the store, pondering her options. This was what she'd spent her afternoon looking for, she had to get it. A stag, a rat, a dog and a wolf. They were the symbols of Remus' greatest years, of the part of his life where he'd been a regular schoolboy. Of the people who'd made him feel normal and hopeful and included in the world's best group for the first time in his life- last if you didn't count the Order of the Phoenix. Hung on his coat, the one item of clothing that made him feel and look like the proper and calm man that he was...

She looked at the cuffs sadly, and noticed the rotting wood.

"You need a new display case for those," Tonks pointed out.

"Well, in these rough times the priority isn't there."

"Think of how much more attention the cuffs would get if they were all nice and pretty," Tonks said trying to use her leverage. "And in these times? Good luck charms would sell like hotcakes."

Madam Malkin stopped and considered it. Tonks' heart started beating fast and she reached into her bag, pulling out her own medal case. She put it on the counter and Madam Malkin's eyes opened wide.

"Oh that's nice," she said.

"It's made of alder, apple, laurel and pear wood. Hard to craft, but its magical properties are very cool." Tonks said.

"Such as?"

"Well, it cleans itself," Tonks said for starters. "No fingerprints, no dust, and I spilled tea on it once and it repelled the liquid. It wasn't even sticky. It looks brand new, and the colour changes in the light. See how it looks black?" Tonks tilted it and as the store's lights caught on it in different ways, the different colours of the wood were shown, sometimes two or three of them at once.

"It's gorgeous," Madam Malkin said.

"You won't find another like it," Tonks promised.

"And you're offering to trade this for twenty galleons' worth of cuffs?"

"Trust me; they'll matter more than that. They'll matter more than their weight in gold or this case's weight in gold actually."

Madam Malkin considered.

"It's Christmas," she finally sighed with a shrug. "And if worst comes to worst, I'll get a good sum for selling it again."

"We have a deal?" Tonks smiled.

"Yes," Madam Malkin said. Her smile must've been contagious because the old witch's lips pulled into a smile as she filled in Tonks' order form.

When she got home, Remus wasn't there yet. She was starving, and got the kitchen cooking dinner even if it was his turn to put supper on the table. Thanks to her new and improved household spells (well, more or less improved), a pot of soup was stirring itself, a knife was cutting through a loaf of bread, dishes were setting themselves…

Her husband came back a little later, wearing a black traveling cloak that she didn't recognise, shoulders sprinkled with snowflakes. His eyes were dark brown and warm and pleased, though tired, and his chestnut hair was cut short, though grey shot through it like comets' tails.

"Hello," he said giving her a hug from behind.

"Hey you," she said leaning back.

"I found a store that was ready to hire," he said.

"In Diagon Alley?" Tonks said, scared for a second that he'd seen her lurking about.

"No, right off of it," he said.

Some stores just didn't attract the kind of attention for Diagon Alley.

"Well that's good," she said smiling.

"I'm going back tomorrow as well," he said.

"That's great," she said. He smiled back at her too. Apparently he'd had a good day.

"I'll go hang my coat. Everything smells brilliant, love."

"It's leftovers from Molly," she admitted sheepishly. Remus laughed before kissing her on the cheek once more and heading up the stairs.

Tonks smiled to herself, giddy for Christmas as if she was a child again.