Austin Black had always been a rather indecisive girl, however she knew as a fact that she did not want to go to the stupid Weasley christmas party.
She could remember a time when she had enjoyed the festivities, back when she would play with all the other kids and stuff herself with delicacies, however during her first year at Hogwarts, she had decided she was too old for it and avoided it by feigning illness or specifically making other plans for the same date. Unfortunately this year her friends were all busy and her Dad, Sirius Black, was forcing her to come even if she had been throwing up after every breath.
"I can't believe you're making me stay here, I haven't seen these people for six years!" She sulked, fiddling with the hem of her red velvet dress she'd convinced her dad to buy her for the occasion.
Sirius looked down at his daughter in amusement, although he'd told her that she had to come today, he had half expected her to sneak away, since, after all, she was as mischievous as her father.
Before he had the opportunity to reply, the door of the burrow flung open to reveal a plump, little old lady with a mop of curly red hair, "Sirius! Finally!" She cooed, enveloping him in a hug, "It was getting so late I thought you weren't going to come! Why didn't you apparate or use the floo powder?"
"Sorry Molly, I have an underage witch that refused to mess up her dress because of floo powder, so we had to walk." He explained, pushing his greying black hair away from his eyes.
Mollys own eyes widened in excitement as she registered what he'd said, "Austin came?" she asked, looking past him and towards his only child, "She did! Look at you! So beautiful!" She cried, wrapping her arms around the sixteen year old girl, "Come in and say hello to everyone, I'm sure they'll love to see you again!"
Molly took Austins hand and dragged her through to the living room where there seemed to be a million more people chattering away.
"Everyone! Look who's here!" Molly called, gaining their attention, the family instantly pounced on Sirius, asking him what he'd been up to and nagging him for not seeing them more often, when they eventually settled down, all eyes focused on Austin, who tugged nervously on her black hair.
"Everyone, you remember Austin?" Sirius inquired, earning a few nods and smiles.
"I bet she doesn't remember us though!" A playful voice teased, Austin looked over to see a lanky red-head wink at her, his arm slung around a pretty girl with skin the colour of coffee who dug her elbow into his ribs at the comment.
Austin gave the slightest shake of her head when Molly burst out with "Not to worry dear! I'll introduce you! Let's start with the eldest..." She pointed at a broad man with a thick scar slashed across his face, "That's Bill and his wife Fleur along with their daughters Dominique and Victore, Vic is over there with her boyfriend Teddy, didn't you see him last year?" Austin nodded and waved at him, Teddy had visited Sirius and her last year to hear some more stories about his father, "Then there would have been Charlie and Percy but Charlie is in Romania and Percy is spending christmas with his wife's family," Molly continued, "There's George and Angelina and their kids Fred and Roxanne, you probably know Fred from school?"
Fred grinned, "Yeah, we're in Divination together!" he added enthusiastically, Austin relaxed slightly at seeing him, they were quite good friends at school.
"Shut up Fred, she likes me more!" Another voiced chimed, before a familiar red head burst into the room and ran over to Austin excitedly, he hugged her quickly once he'd reached her, "You didn't tell me you were coming here." Louis commented, sounding disappointed.
"I didn't know." Austin replied honestly, smiling properly for the first time since she'd arrived, Louis was one of her best friends, the only Weasley that had truly stayed close with her since she'd stopped visiting.
"Aussie, let Molly finish introducing everyone." Sirius told her before gesturing for Molly to continue.
Molly hadn't even noticed the interruption and carried on, "That's Arthur, my husband, but I'm pretty sure he's already too drunk to be very welcoming," She muttered with a tut as she glared at the man that seemed to be having a conversation with a cat, "That's Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo," she continued, pointing to a family that all waved happily at her, "And finally, that's Harry and Ginny, who you of course know, and their kids James, Albus and Lily, the lovely blonde boy over there is Scorpious, Albus' boyfriend." Molly finished, seeming slightly out of breath, "Im surprised you don't know most of these kids."
Austin bit her lip in embarrassment, "I've seen most of them around school but that's about it." She replied quietly.
No one seemed to notice how uncomfortable Austin felt and their conversation quickly moved on, different people spread out and started on new topics in smaller groups, the boys mainly discussing Quidditch while the girls mainly talked about how childish the boys were.
After a while of standing around, Austin distracted herself with finding a bathroom. It took a solid ten minutes of checking behind random doors before she came to her destination, but as she walked in she found it was already being occupied by Dominique.
"Sorry!" Austin squeaked, instantly backing out of the room, her cheeks flashing scarlet.
Dominique chuckled, "Don't worry about it, I'm literally just sorting out my makeup in the mirror."
Austin smiled and moved into the bathroom with her, "You don't need the makeup, you're so gorgeous, besides, don't you have veela blood?"
Dominique sighed, "Yeah, but look at you! I want long black hair and a smashing figure like yours! Instead I'm blonde and skinny."
Austin frowned and looked at herself in the mirror, she never understood why people complimented her so much, she knew she wasn't particularly unattractive, but she'd also never thought she was anything special either.
"I'd have to disagree with you there, I think it'd be fun living in a world where everyone chases after you and you can get anyone you want... It helps that you're related to practically every war hero there is." Austin thought aloud.
Dominique furrowed her eyebrows, "But you're chased by everyone too and your related to war heroes, so we're basically the same aren't we?"
"What are you talking about? The only boy interested in me is my boyfriend." Austin scoffed, she thought she was being truthful and that Dominique statement was absurd.
"That's rubbish!" Dominique exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air, "The only reason you don't have almost every boy at Hogwarts pouncing on you is because you have a boyfriend that they actually like!" Dominique sighed, "Honestly though, they probably do still try it on and you're too oblivious to notice, you didn't even notice me trying to spend time with you for the first couple of years you were at school, I gave up in the end."
"I'm not that oblivious!" Austin retorted before properly understanding what Dominique had just said, "Wait, you tried to hang out with me at school?"
Dominique nodded, "Yep, but you just didn't seem to want to."
Austin thought back for a moment, realising for the first time that all those times Dominique had walked over to her and tried to include her, it had probably been because she had actually wanted to be friends, Austin had always assumed she was just acting nice because her family told her too and shrugged Dominique off in annoyance.
"I'm so sorry, I just-" Austin started, but was quickly interrupted by a hand being held up.
"Don't worry about it, it's all in the past." Dominique reassured her, giggling at Austins embarrassment, "How about you don't do that anymore though? Maybe we could try to actually be friends?"
Austin felt a rush of warmth race to her heart and grinned, "I'd like that."
"Good," Dominique stated, cleaning up her bits of makeup into a little bag, "Sorry, I'm taking ages and you needed to go to the toilet-"
"What's going on in here? Are you two gossiping?" Louis wondered, peering in from behind the door cautiously.
Dominique opened the door wider to get out, "No, I was just leaving so Austin could use the loo-"
"Actually, I don't need to use the toilet," Austin admitted, "I just felt awkward downstairs with all those people I barely knew and decided to get lost..."
Louis and Dominique blinked at her in wonder.
"Why is everyone in the bathroom? Has the party moved in here?" Another voice inquired, this time Fred was the one that pushed through the door with a wild grin on his lips as he looked between them, "Seriously, what's going on?"
"Dom tells me that Aussie was hiding in the bathroom to avoid the parents." Louis explained.
A moment of silence filled the air whilst the teenagers looked at one another, and then, simultaneously, they all burst into full-blown, shoulder-shaking laughter.
"You're so weird!" Fred chuckled after the group had sobered up and escaped the room, he slung one arm over Austin and the other over Dominique.
Dominique giggled, "You can hardly talk! You hide from Teddy for a week after you broke his broom that year!"
"I remember that!" Louis cackled, "You're face when he found you..." he started to say but was laughing to hard to confirm coherent words.
Fred's grin dissolved and he looked around at his friends like a rabbit in headlights, "You haven't seen Teddy when he's angry! His hair turns-"
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say isn't going to make me think you're less of a wimp." Dominique winked playfully.
"Anyway," Fred burst out, clearly trying to change the subject, "Do you want to go outside and play a game of two versus two quidditch in the dark?"
Louis instantly perked up excitedly, "That'd be interesting! I've never played it this late before!" He claimed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
"Aussie, you coming?" Dominique asked, this time looking hopefully towards Austin.
"Yeah, I'd love to!" Austin nodded, "I just need to grab my jacket, do you know where it'd be?"
Dominique instructed her on where the room with the jackets would be before leaving to set up a makeshift pitch with the boys.
Austin hopped through the house with a twinkle in her eyes, her feelings about tonight had completely changed, she was genuinely enjoying her time at the Weasley residence and was even starting to think that she was truly becoming friends with the people that lived there.
She didn't notice the light in the room was on as she made her way towards it. She didn't hear the moans that escaped under the door as she drew closer. She didn't even realise the couple were nearby until she burst in on the scene before her.
James was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning back on his hands that were supporting his body behind him, his eyes were closed and his black hair was sticking out at odd angles. There was a girl with him, her blonde hair pulled back into a scruffy pigtail whilst she bobbed her head up and down, he lips around his-
BANG!
Austin slammed the door shut in shock and rushed down the stairs as quickly as she could before she gave herself a chance to think. She rushed past the kids playing hide and seek and pushed through the parents who were all slightly tipsy and didn't even notice her presence, she only stopped when she was outside and the crisp air tickled her skin.
"Are you alright?" Louis checked, watching her warily, a worried expression on his face, "Where's your jacket?"
Austin thought for a minute. She hadn't recognised the blonde girl with James in the bedroom, which meant she probably hadn't been invited, otherwise Molly would have introduced her, meaning James must have snuck her in. Austin had only just come back into these people's lives, she didn't want to start spreading secrets and starting arguments, besides what good would it do?
"Yeah, I'm fine," She lied through a little smile, "I'm just not cold anymore."