The Family Clock

***The Family Clock*** is an unfinished non-crossover fanfiction written by Jan. McNeville available on Fanfiction.net; it was first published in 2004 and (as of 2021) last updated in 2015, having reached not quite 200 000 words. It is heavy on original characters, and was originally started in response to a bet that the author couldn't write "the Anti-Mary Sue". Since it was started before the publication of the last two books, it is rather loosely connected to canon details and in fact even contradicts itself in many cases; the first chapter, which seems to have been intended as a one-shot, implies it is set in (possibly post-war?) 1998, while the later chapters rather seem to be set in the latter half of 1996. It is rated Mature "just to be safe".

*Ghosts, Mermaids, Clocks and Loonies* by ina-anna-eta is an unofficial (but acknowledged) sidestory, expanding on an earlier event mentioned briefly in chapter 3.

## Plot Summary

Jamesina "Jessie" Tickes is a young magical clocksmith, recently graduated from Hogwarts and apprenticed under her grandfather in Diagon Alley, right across the road from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. However, when her grandfather has a heart attack (non-fatal, but still) she starts running the shop herself. Then Charlie Weasley returns from Romania to write a book about dragons, the two become friends, and start dating. As Death Eater activity increases in Diagon and Knockturn Alley, without the Ministry doing much about it, Jessie becomes engaged in the Diagon Alley Chamber of Commerce where Florean Fortescue and Abigail Flourish conspire to elect her Chairperson.

Her older brother Ian, seeker for the English National Quidditch team, comes home for the off-season, just as she is summoned to Switzerland by the International Guild of Timepiece Artificers, Magical, to sit the test for Mastery; he suggests she bring Charlie along. They take a first-class stateroom on the over-night train to Bern, giving Charlie the chance to meet the heirs of some other European clocksmith families – not to mention Jessie's father and stepmother! Several matters of family business are aired, but the end result seems to be a better relationship between Jessie and her parents. Oh, and Charlie decides to sit the Novice test himself.

When they return to London, they are greeted by Nymphadora Tonks, who tells them that Florean Fortescue and his wife have been abducted, that in the attack his niece was killed – leaving her almost-eight-year-old son Loren an orphan, his other mother having passed away from cancer just a few days before – and that in his will Florean named Jessie as Loren's guardian, in the event such should be needed. The last part is news to Jessie, but since she has met the boy, likes him and knows what it means to grow up without a mother, she accepts. Jessie and Charlie propose to one another, she with a personally adjusted quidditch-watch-cum-amorlociometer she built in her spare time in Bern, and he with a silver filigree ring that he cast in *his* spare time.

The next morning, Ian and his new girlfriend Sam Redfern – one of Jessie's best friends and neighbours – come by with breakfast, and it turns out that he is Loren's biological father through an anonymous donation agency serving magical same-sex couples; this at least explains Florean's choice of guardian. After breakfast Jessie goes to help the aurors investigating Florean's abduction identify bodies and such, bringing Sam with her since one of the defenders used a muggle firearm, and that is something she is familiar with.

## Timeline calculations

Jessie overheard Fudge's slurs against her mother, visited Hogwarts and finally was attacked in her shop on the third Sunday of the month, which – assuming the story takes place in October 1996 (but see the next section) – was 20 Oct. This was also "The Sunday after the Death Eater attack on Knockturn Alley", but that attack was the same day as her date with Charlie, which must have been on the weekend since Hermione and Ginny came by with Hogsmeade chocolate (not to mention Padma and Parvati) which they could hardly have done on a weekday, and indeed Jessie confirms that the attack on the shop was "the day after our first date". So the date was on the 19 October, and their first meeting was the day before that.

It is not quite clear how long she spent in St Mungo's – she says a stunner to the head would put her out for a day, but she seems to wake up in the morning or middle of the day and gets released in the evening – but if "day" is taken to mean twelve hours rather than twenty-four it may be that she was released on the 21 October, at which point she was offered the chance to buy into the firm as a full partner. The election for the position of Chairperson of the Diagon Alley Chamber of Commerce happened "barely two days after Jessie took control of the shop", i.e. Wednesday 23 October, and was also on the day before her birthday.

Muggle Madness Night was held on Friday evening a week after the election, i.e 1 Nov, but Mel's preparations for it, leading up to her finally coming out to her family, were made just three days after, Saturday 26. This is also the day that Ian met Sam, and Jessie got her Guild summons. (That Ian referred to his upcoming date with Sam as "this Saturday" rather than "in a week" is a bit odd, but he presumably was a bit distracted.) Jessie at first planned to start buying property the next day, and then leave for Switzerland on the evening train, but in the end didn't wait to go to Gringotts ("The Redferns told [Ian about Jessie's and Charlie's relationship] *today*"); the attack on Apollo Nooke and Jessie's fight with Bellatrix Lestrange was the same evening. Sunday 27 started with Moody's visit, then Loren built a clock and Jessie went to her stepmother for clothes, and then finally the trip began. The placement of the chapters seems to imply that Ian and Sam's first date was on the same day, but it is explicitly said to be on a Saturday (the next day is Sunday, so they can sleep in) and would thus rather be on 2 November.

It is not clear how long they stayed in Switzerland; the ceremonies would have taken up at least the whole Monday, and they had time to shop, play Quidditch and secretly build presents to each other before going back. On the trip back, Charlie made a reference both to "the night before last" and "that first night [on the Trans-European]" in a way that suggests that they were not the same, meaning that the former was at the earliest Monday night after the ball, and thus that the trip home was on Wednesday 30 October, arriving in London shortly after dawn on Thursday. However, Loren's mum passed away "a few days ago", which was also "last Friday", and he "lost his family in a weekend", implying that they may have stayed longer and rather returned on Monday 4 November; this would also give Ian and Sam a Saturday to date on.

## Timeline inconsistencies

* According to the first chapter, Jessie starts working in Diagon Alley a year after Fred and George open their shop (i.e. April 1997 or later), then her grandfather suffers a heart attack in midwinter (1997/98) and stays six months in the hospital before finally turning the management of the shop over to her on more than a temporary basis. This places the main story in the summer and/or fall of 1998.
* However, we later see Cornelius Fudge step down as Minister for Magic, which happened in June 1996, and the abduction of Florean Fortescue, which happened sometime during the summer of the same year (although here both happen after Jessie states it is October). Before stepping down, Fudge refers to Arthur Weasley having been attacked "by that great dirty snake a year ago", which happened in the Autumn of 1995. There are also recurring references to the upcoming (but not immediately so) wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, which took place in August of 1997.
* Later in the same chapter as Fudge's mention of the attack on Arthur, Hermione is referred to as Head Girl, which would imply that she is in her seventh year (1997/98), yet the very next chapter begins with spelling out that it is, in fact, 1996, and Harry is referred to as a sixth-year.
* Going the other way, in chapter 28 Charlie exclaims "It's almost nineteen-ninety-six, not seventeen-eighty", claiming that it is in fact late 1995! Similarly, chapter 31 claims that Jessie achieved her mastery in 1995 (but several other dates in the same passage also do not agree with what is otherwise established).
* Jessie is said to be three and a half months younger than Fred and George (who were born on 1 April 1978) and she turns 20 during the story, again placing it in July of 1998. The Redfern triplets' birthday, which is three weeks after Jessie's, seems to be in August, supporting a mid-July date for Jessie.
* On the other hand, Jessie's first date with Charlie, which is said to be a week before her birthday (actually five days according to the calculations above), is in October. If she's in the same year as the twins, this would make her almost half a year *older* than them and place her 20th birthday in 1997.
* On the train to Switzerland, Jessie says that she started working full-time for her grandfather when she was 16, implying she left Hogwarts after her fifth-year O.W.L. exams rather than the seventh-year N.E.W.T. This would let the first-chapter timeline fit a 1996 date with plenty of margin, except of course the part about Fred and George having been open for a year – instead, she would have worked there for almost two when they set up shop.
* In the same chapter, Jessie refers to her date with Viktor Krum as having been "almost a year ago"; this would imply either that it is the fall of 1997 (or later), that she did in fact leave Hogwarts early, or that the dates mentioned in chapter 1 actually took place before she graduated.
* However, there are several fairly plot-central references to Jessie still having been in Hogwarts during Umbridge's time as high inquisitor, meaning that she can't have left before the summer of 1996.
* The day after the date in October Snape refers to Jessie having been "in business" for seven months; if he refers to the time since her graduation this would place the story around early January of 1997, while a reference to the time since her grandfather's midwinter heart attack would place it in July of 1998. To fit with the October date one would expect either four months (from graduation) or ten (from midwinter).
* Ian Tickes, who graduated the summer before Jessie started Hogwarts, says that Sam Redfern, who is weeks *younger* than Jessie, was in her first year when he was in his last. (He also claims to have been in the same year as Charlie Weasley, even though *he* graduated in 1991 (and says he is younger than Ian, although not by how much). However, details in the early books in fact do point to Charlie being older than that, so this may be more of a case of "this fact hadn't yet been revealed at the time of writing".)
* Further, Loren, who has his eighth birthday during the story, was conceived after Ian's graduation, which again places the story in 1998 at the earliest (if Jessie graduated in 1996, and Ian seven years before that). (In chapter 33, shortly after his birthday, Loren does say he is seven instead, but it is not clear if this is intended to make him younger or is simply a mistake on Loren's side.)
* To further complicate things, in chapter 2 the winner of the Greenpage Monthly under-21 Herbology contest, which is said to be held every Spring, is announced, and there is some time left until Neville's birthday (30 July), but school hasn't yet let out and it is also hinted that Ron hasn't had his birthday yet (1 March); this would thus place it in either early 1997 or early 1998. That "Hogwarts lets out fairly soon" is repeated in chapter 15 but this could also refer to Christmas break.
* In chapter 3, Jessie is said to have been a few weeks old when her mother died, and in chapter 10 it is said that she was not yet old enough to walk, but in chapter 24 she is said to have been two. In the same chapter it is implied that it happened in 1978, which would make Jessie too old to have met Umbridge in Hogwarts (unless she had had to retake a year, something that is never hinted at), while in chapter 26 it is said to have happened shortly before her mother's thirty-fifth birthday – which, by the figures in chapter 24, would be 1979, and also shortly before Jessie's second birthday. Chapter 31 actually gives a date, saying it was in 1980, but it also gives dates for several other events that don't fit what is otherwise established (namely that Siobhan Tickes was born about 1955 rather than 1944, that Jessie was born in 1976 rather than 1977 (and thus would have been *four* years old when her mother died, not to mention too old to suffer under Umbridge) and that Ian Tickes III died in 1946 rather than 1944), and given that the wording makes it look like it is taken from some kind of secondary source it seems to be less than fully trustworthy.
* In chapter 23, Ginny points out to Charlie that he has dated Jessie for "less than tree months", while it has actually been just eight days, 18th to 26th, since they first met (see calculations above). It is also said to snow in London, something that – while not completely unheard of in late October – does point to a later month. (However, in the same chapter, Charlie talks about buying Christmas presents early, which rather points to October or November at the latest.) Early the next morning, Jessie makes a similar claim to Ian of having dated Charlie "for a couple of months", and "not too frequently" at that, describing one of apparently several dates that haven't left any trace in the described timeline, and later the same day she repeats that they've been seeing each other "for a couple of months now" to her stepmother. Similarly, in chapter 32 Jessie reminisces of Molly inviting her and Charlie, Fred and George to dinner "a few weeks ago", when by the calculations she and Charlie met only twelve days previously, and it is said to be a winter morning and starting to snow.

## Characters

### Main characters

* Jamesina Tickes IV
* Charlie Weasley

### Other central characters

* Fred Weasley
* George Weasley
* Ian Tickes
* Sam Redfern

### Non-canonical characters

* Alexander Bones
* Leticia Bones
* Nathaniel Borgin
* Kate Bowen
* Clawhammer
* Clipring
* Paul Deroulede
* Juliette Devereaux
* Dixie
* Simeon Edgecombe
* Gordon Eelop
* Akintunde Ejiofor
* Rebecca Feathersham
* Abigail Flourish
* Gil Holzfaller
* Izzy
* Billy Jones
* Harrowby Jones
* Beauregard Lyon
* Daphne Gautier Lyon
* Gillian Lyon
* Gudule Lyon
* Gustave Lyon
* Kyle Macmillan
* Gertie Macnair
* Marius Macnair
* Maggie Malkin
* Samuel McArran
* Niels Nielsen VII
* Niels Nielsen VIII
* Apollo Nooke
* Mary Nooke
* Mary Nooke Sr
* Serapion Nott
* Vladimir Norochevik
* Loren Price-Fortescue
* Hans Prosser
* Karl Prosser
* Bob Redfern
* Ken Redfern
* Mel Redfern
* Sam Redfern
* The Redfern triplets' mother
* Vladimir Selnikov
* Fiona Gardner Tickes
* Gardner Tickes
* Ian Gardner Tickes I
* Ian Gardner Tickes II
* Ian Gardner Tickes III
* Ian Tickes
* James Tickes I
* James Tickes II
* James Tickes IV
* James Tickes VII
* James Tickes IX
* James Tickes X
* Jamesina Tickes I
* Jamesina Tickes III
* Jamesina Tickes IV
* John Tickes
* Myron Tickes
* Myron Tickes I
* Robby and Davy Tickes
* Sarah Tickes
* Siobhan Tickes

## Further non-canonical world elements

### Businesses

* Blossom and Roote's
* Clovier & Deroulede
* Greenpage Monthly
* Jas. W. Tickes and Sons
* Lyon et Fils
* Nielsens Ure
* Nooke's Books and More
* Quidditch Weekly
* The Sticky Lick
* Redferns' Pawn and Secondhand
* Selnikov Chasovnik Mekhanichna
* Trans-European Rail
* Universum Zeitmechanische Uhrfabrik

### Events

* 1938 Quidditch World Cup
* 1975 Quidditch World Cup
* Muggle Madness Night

### Food and drink

* Apple-pie ice cream cake
* Three-way banana split sundae

### Objects

* Amorlociometer
* Blood Traitor Ballpoint
* Bullshit Detector Quill
* Cat-Chasing Clockwork Mouse
* Collapsible staircase
* Colour-and-flavour-changing ice cream sauce
* Gil Holzfaller's mechanical orchestra
* Lady Morrigan's Mistress Cuffs
* Lifelike Moving Balloon Animals
* Magical battery equivalent
* Moving ice cream toppings
* Potion-detecting cups
* Remindall clock
* Spring Cleaning Easter Egg
* Subtle Escape
* Tie-on watch
* Thinknotes Quill

### Organisations

* Chronologie Mechanique, a.k.a. the International Guild of Timepiece Artificers, Magical
* Department of Broom Misdemeanors
* Diagon Alley Chamber of Commerce
* Knockturn Alley Chamber of Commerce
* Ravenclaw Business Lads

### Pets

* Mrs. Miniver (owl)
* Quintus (cat)

### Spells

* Anti-digression charm
* Blocking spell
* Chronometrancy charm
* Clearing charm
* Incupricata
* Ironing charm
* Obscenity-blocking charm
* Watch-stopping charm

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 1
2. ↑ Chapter 6
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 8
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Chapter 11
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 17
6. ↑ Chapter 21
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Chapter 22
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 27
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Chapter 28
10. ↑ Chapter 30
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 32
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 33
13. ↑ Chapter 34
14. ↑ Chapter 37
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Chapter 10
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Chapter 26
17. ↑ Chapter 13
18. ↑ Chapter 19
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 23
20. ↑ Chapter 25
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Chapter 29
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Chapter 31
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Chapter 2
24. ↑ Chapter 7
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Chapter 9
26. ↑ Chapter 15
27. ↑ Chapter 3
28. ↑ Chapter 24
29. ↑ **London**, section Climate, at *Wikipedia*