Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and never will (unless by chance I use Obliviate on J.K. Rowling…)
A/N: I've always wanted to write a Harry Potter fanfic, so I decided to write my first as a little Christmas special! After all, Mr. Potter IS a character in It's A Wonderful Life! Takes place during the grandparents' era! Please read and review. Enjoy…
Many years before the birth of Harry Potter, a miracle took place in the wizarding town of Hogsmeade. It was Christmas Eve, and a young Mr. George Weasly had just discovered that his life had turned to ruin. It was all because of his careless Uncle Billy and his inability to remember where he placed the 8,000 galleons.
George was scared. He would be imprisoned for this, he knew, and he wasn't quite sure he could survive Azkaban. How could he leave his wife and children? His youngest, Molly, would surely be heartbroken to lose her father to the dementors wrath!
He could see no other way out. He would pitch himself into the Black Lake at Hogwarts and rid them all of his stupidity. George passed into the grounds without much question, but had to trudge through the thick and quickly gathering snow. Just as he was about to make the leap, he heard a cry from below him. There was already someone else in the water! It seemed to be an old man who could not swim nor reach a wand to save himself. The old man screamed for help. George did not have time to consider the consequences of his actions, and so he dived into the water to try and pull the man out.
"How did you manage to fall in again?" Professor Dibbet asked of the old man sitting in his office wrapped in a blanket.
"I didn't fall in, I jumped in to save George."
"Save me?" Asked a confused George. But he let it go; he had drunken a little too much fire whiskey at the Hogs Head before he went to meet his end.
The headmaster shook his head impatiently and had them escorted out of the school when they finally seemed well enough.
"So what kind of a wizard are you, can't even get yourself out of the water!" George said grumpily as they left the grounds.
"I'm no wizard George, I'm an angel. Your guardian angel."
"What? I didn't ask for any guardian angel! I wish I'd never been born!"
"You mustn't say such things!" The old man thought for a minute. "Perhaps that's just what you need…see the world as what it would be without you…"
The snow had stopped falling.
They walked to the Hog's Head Inn at George's request. Only a drink could take the edge off the oddities that he had already encountered. Just coming into town, a man had called the place "Pottersville" instead of Hogsmeade! It was just plain odd!
"Aberforth! Get me a Firewhiskey, will ya? I've had a tough night!"
"Do I know you?" The man said gruffly.
"Of course! It's me! George Weasly! What's wrong with you Aberforth, why don't you recognize me?" He shouted. It didn't take long for them to be thrown out of the place.
George was getting scared. His home was in shambles, as if it had never been rebuilt. It resembled a shack, and no one even entered the place for fear of spirits! As if that were not enough, not even his own mother had recognized him when he went o see her at Honeyduke's. He ran into the night searching for something familiar.
"Nothing is the same George. You were never here, you never changed these people or these places."
George rounded on the little man and yelled,
"This is all your doing! You've erased all their memories! I want to see my wife! Where is Mary?"
"You're not going to like it, George." The old man mumbled, cowering.
"Tell me!"
"She never married. She runs the little teashop down the street, 'Madam Puddifoot's'"
"No!"
The little man held out a small mirror and showed it to George. In it he saw the woman he loved, now a fat maid closing up the sickly sweet shop.
"It can't be! I want my life back! Please, give me my life back!"
It began once more to snow. This time, the little man was gone.
"George? Is that you?"
"You know me? It's a Christmas miracle!" George yelled at the wizard.
George sprinted down the main street of Hogsmeade, full of joy.
"Merry Christmas, Three Broomsticks!" He called. "Merry Christmas, Zonko's joke shop! Merry Christmas you wonderful old post office!"
He ran home as fast as he could. He was overjoyed to see the lights on in his house and rushed through the door.
"Mary! Mary, where are you?"
"George? George! You're back! We were so worried!" She led him into the drawing room where all the children stood in front of the Christmas tree.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
George scooped up little Molly in his arms, his eyes shining with tears of joy. One by one, the people of the village came into the house, offering up whatever money they could spare for the family.
Lastly, Uncle Billy entered and cried out,
"George! I remembered what happened to the money! Old man Potter took it when I went to make the deposit at Gringott's, and he obliviated the memory!"
"After him!" They all cried. The mob rushed towards Mr. Potter's house, wands in hand. When they reached his mansion, they rushed to the door, but George stopped them.
"Wait! Let's leave him alone, it is Christmas after all." They listened to him without knowing his real reason for halting the attack. Just inside, George could see Old man Potter playing with his grandson, little James. George smiled. Even if he was a rotten old man, he wouldn't want to wish anyone harm. Besides, it wouldn't make anything better. And he already had a wonderful life.
The End