A/N: Aloha! I haven't written in a v long time, and I actually wrote a similar story (Always a Triplet, Always a Friend) under a different username a few years back, but I wanted to try a story about triplets again. The main girl is amazing and awesome and best friends with Cedric Diggory and the Weasleys. I just started reading Outlander and I want everyone to be Scottish, but that is difficult to write.
Anyway, I don't know how long this story will take, if I will give up in the middle, etc. My life is pretty stagnant and boring right now but that will hopefully change soon…
Hope you enjoy this story, please review!
April 1984
She stood there, on their new front porch with her brothers, looking out over the fields. "This is it," her brother Jack said quietly, "this is where we'll play."
"It's big," her brother Ben smiled, "it'll be great, Jackie!" He took his hand to pull him, "Come on! Stop being so sad. Think of all the adventures we'll have!" He turned to her, his golden-brown eyes bright, "Right, Klee? Tell him!"
Cliodhna grinned, "Ben's right, Jack! There's the wood. I bet there's a stream or a pond! And look!" She pointed up at the sky where a bird was flying overhead. "We're going to have a grand time here!"
Jack's frown faltered slightly as Ben continued to pull him down the porch steps, "It'll be fun you think?"
Both of his siblings grinned as they stepped out into the grass. "Very fun!"
"Not scary?"
Cliodhna patted Jack's shoulder, "Not if we stick together!"
"We'll always stick together."
Angus and Catherine Quick had finally moved their family to the countryside after much debate and difficulty finding a suitable location. They settled on a three-bedroom cottage in Ottery St Catchpole with a decent amount of land, plenty of nearby open space and woods and a handful of Wizarding families.
They were both not surprised by the different reactions their young children had to moving and leaving their London flat. Catherine and Angus knew in time they would grow to love their new home.
"And that family down the lane, I told you, the Weasleys? They have a couple of kids too," Angus told his wife.
Catherine looked out the front window as she waved her wand to organize some picture frames and books on the bookcase, "More than a couple I think."
The knock on the front door sent Ben, Jack, and Cliodhna out of their bedrooms where they were unpacking to the front hall.
"Who is it?"
"Yes, mum, who is it?"
Catherine smiled ruefully, "Well, let's open the door and see, shall we?"
A tall ginger-haired man grinned, "Ah, Angus, welcome to Ottery St Catchpole! This is my family!"
The Quick children stared openly at the ginger family, Ben's mouth agape. "You – you all have –" he went to point at them when Angus intervened.
"I'm Angus Quick," he smiled, "this is my wife Catherine, and these are our children, Cliodhna, Jack, and Ben."
Mrs. Weasley smiled warmly at Catherine and Angus before turning to the Quick siblings, "I'm Molly, this is Arthur, our eldest Bill is at Hogwarts and this is –"
"Charlie," the tallest boy smiled widely, "I start Hogwarts in September."
Molly flashed a smile at Catherine, "Yes, yes, we're all very excited and this is Percy," she patted the back of the boy with glasses, "then the twins, Fred and George –"
"Mum, I'm George –" one of the twins glanced up at his mother, "Merlin you can never –"
"This is Ron," she ignored the twins, "and this is our youngest, Ginny."
"I'm 2 and a half," the girl said proudly before glancing at her brother Charlie to double check.
"And how old are you?" Molly smiled sweetly at the Quicks.
"Six in September," Ben replied, still staring at the many different shades of ginger hair.
Arthur and Molly looked at Jack and Cliodhna to see how old they were too. Jack noticed nearly everyone looking at his sister and he, "Oh," his cheeks flushed, "we're all the same age."
"Like the twins?" Percy pushed his glasses further up his nose.
"But there's three of us," Cliodhna frowned slightly at the Weasley children's reactions. "We're triplets."
As the adults sat in the kitchen getting to know each other, the Quick and Weasley kids stood out in the yard, staring at each other. No one quite understood what being a triplet meant.
"Fred and George look exactly the same," Percy stated matter-of-factly, "but you don't."
Jack nodded, his usual shyness overshadowed by his aggravation that everyone was so confused and seemingly stupid. "Yes, but we don't because there's three of us-:
"And I'm a girl," Cliodhna chimed in.
"Sorry," Charlie's clear blue eyes expressed his apparent embarrassment by his siblings' behavior. "We just haven't met triplets before I mean, we haven't met that many twins either."
Ben shrugged, "We haven't met any either –"
"We saw those older triplets once, at the sore, remember?" Cliodhna nodded at Jack when Ben shook his head, "Remember?"
"They were Muggle," Jack said to Charlie. "Mum thinks maybe there aren't many triplet Wizards in England."
"I reckon Hogwarts hasn't had any before I could write to Bill –"
"Bill!" Ginny shrieked and ran around Charlie, "Bill! Bill!"
The twins laughed and soon joined their sister running around everyone and yelling the eldest Weasley's name. Percy looked skyward in annoyance and Ron covered his ears. Charlie looked slightly embarrassed at the Quicks until they all started to giggle. "Oh no, that'll only –"
The yells of 'Bill' got louder until Ginny finally fell down laughing and Ron removed his hands from his ears. One of the twins jumped on Charlie's back and the other collapse next to Ginny.
"Ow, George, cut it –" Charlie pushed his brother off his back.
"How can you tell them apart?"
Charlie looked at Cliodhna, "Well, you just can after a while –"
"It's small things," Percy chimed in, "that you notice."
"But your mum –"
Fred and George both smiled wickedly, "We were fooling her –"
"We like to fool her –"
"She gets so –"
"Mad –"
"And she feels bad –"
"Let's us have extra sweets –"
Charlie cut them off, "But it's not nice and they should stop doing it," he eyed them seriously and Cliodhna could tell the twins shook slightly under their older brother's gaze."
Ron was staring at three Quicks again, "You all have different colors," he pointed at their eyes.
Cliodhna smiled at the younger boy who was nearly their height, "Just another way we're different."
The triplets' next encounter was not nearly as awkward as the first and the Quicks and Weasleys soon became fast friends. Charlie, because he was a few years older, had taken it upon himself to try to babysit his siblings after Bill had gone to Hogwarts, but the addition of the triplets made his "job" easier instead of more difficult. That second day, Jack took to Percy almost immediately when he saw the older boy reading quietly outside while the twins were swinging Ginny around in the field. Ben, laughing at the twins and Ginny, attempted to get a grumpy Ron to lighten up, and Cliodhna looking around at everyone, walked to Charlie and smiled, her hazel eyes wide.
"You play outside everyday?"
Charlie smiled at her impossibly happy face, "Yea, but we don't go very far unless mum or dad with us."
Cliodhna grinned again and looked out at the others, just as George dropped Ginny's hand by accident and she fell, scraping her knee on the dry grass. Charlie started towards them, ready to reprimand the twins, when Cliodhna got there first, "You're all right Ginny, you're all right, see? Barely a scratch!" She turned to George, "Just be a bit more careful next time?"
George nodded, glancing quickly at Charlie before turning back to his sister, "Sorry Gin – you're all right, yea?"
The young girl sniffled, her eyes red before nodding, "Yes," she hugged Cliodhna tightly, burying her face in the other girl's shoulder.
Charlie, still slightly flabbergasted, smiled at the pair: he was going to have a much easier time babysitting with Cliodhna around.
The Quicks and Weasleys were fast friends and all of the kids got along despite their age differences and personalities. Even though Jack was quiet and more reserved, he still occasionally enjoyed the rambunctious antics of the twins. Ben, who immediately got along with the twins, got along just as well with Ron, Charlie, and even Percy. Cliodhna and Charlie, being the most mature, got along famously, but she, more even then her brothers, got along with all of the Weasley children.
She read books with Percy, she helped the twins with their reading and with small pranks, she told stories to Ginny and made sure to include her in all activities, and she explored the hedges with Ron.
Nearly a month after the Quicks had moved in, the entire Weasley family had gone to King's Cross to pick up Bill.
"What do you think he'll be like?" Ben slurped his oatmeal, his golden-brown eyes on his mother, stopping when she turned around to reprimand him.
Jack stirred his oatmeal slowly, "Probably tall."
Cliodhna snorted and their mother sighed, "John Randolph Quick, do not be smart."
Jack's cheeks flushed, "Well he is older," he said quietly.
"Charlie and everyone won't stop talking about him, I bet he's great," Ben smiled.
"You think he'll like us?" Jack asked quietly.
Cliodhna patted his arm, "Course! Charlie and Percy wrote to him about us, remember?"
"Hmm," Jack mumbled.
Cliodhna shrugged at Ben and continued to eat her oatmeal. They'd meet the oldest Weasley soon enough.
Bill had longer hair than Charlie and was much taller, but his grin was just as wide when he met the Quick triplets. Despite finishing his second year at Hogwarts, he didn't mind playing with the younger children that first summer. He got along quickly with the triplets, telling all of them about Hogwarts.
"Are there triplets there?" Ben asked one day.
"No," Bill said, "but I didn't read all the history books. I almost asked Professor Binns, but –" he sighed dramatically, "I'd still be there listening."
"Is he really that bad, there's so much to learn," Percy said quickly, "I mean of the school of magic of –"
"But not of triplets!" Fred laughed.
"Come on Billy, will you and Charlie fly again? We want to watch!"
"When will I get to fly?" Ron grumbled.
"After us," George replied seriously.
"And we don't get to until we're 9," Fred said matter-of-factly.
Ron pouted, "That's so far from now."
Charlie patted his brother's back, "Don't worry, you can watch us in the meantime."
This made Ron only pout more.
"Mum, Dad," Ben clasped his hands in front of him and did his best to look innocent, "the Weasleys get to start flying when they're 9."
Angus and Catherine did their best to look solemn, "Yes. And?"
"Well, we," he waved at Cliodhna and Jack, "were hoping we could fly at 9 too."
"Maybe before," Jack piped up quietly.
"We would do chores and help up in order to pay for brooms," Cliodhna said, "since three brooms is a lot."
Angus and Catherine looked at each other, "I think 9 is all right."
"I think I was 8 –"
"And I didn't until school –"
"You were full Muggle, mum!" Cliodhna clapped her hand over Ben's mouth, his golden-brown eyes wide in surprise.
"Maybe on their half birthday," Catherine ignored her son's outburst.
Ben opened his mouth to argue but Jack burst out, "Thank you," pulled his brother away.
"That's as good as we'll get," Cliodhna nodded at her brothers as they headed upstairs. "We'll be flying right when the twins do!"
"I like the Quicks," Bill told his brother as they flew lazily high above the field, "it's good for the others to know non-Weasley children."
"It's been a nice change," Charlie agreed.
"The twins seemed to have calmed down a bit."
Charlie's blue eyes widened, "Really?"
"Merlin yea! Mum's not yelling at them nearly as much."
Charlie shrugged, "Seems the same to me, but I hope you're right. Or the house will be destroyed by Christmas."
Bill laughed and looked down at the kids below, "Nah, Klee'll keep them in line. They listen to her and she's not even 6. I reckon Ginny will be the same."
"Because they're girls?"
Bill shook his head at his naïve younger brother but didn't bother to explain.
September 1 was a sad day for the Weasleys and Quicks. "Nothing will be the same now," Ben lamented.
Catherine patted the top of his head, "Oh, don't be silly, dear. You have lots of schooling to do now." This only made Ben frown more.
Jack perked up, "With the Weasleys?"
"Percy and the twins will come here some days, yes. Some days you'll go to the Burrow." She didn't mention that this way both mothers could have a break from (some) of their children.
That first fall went by rapidly what with schoolwork and adventures in the yard, but everyone was ecstatic when Charlie and Bill came home for Christmas.
"Why can't we see the Weasleys tomorrow?" Jack had whined, surprising both his parents.
"Because we're seeing Grandmum, remember?"
"But we'll see them on Boxing Day, all right?"
The triplets looked at each other gloomily, "All right, fine," Ben conceded.
And thus began their Holiday traditions.
Summer 1985
"Oi!" No one moved from their spot on the brown grass, irritating the tall redhead boys that stood a few meters away. "Oi!"
Charlie was now standing over George, Bill standing over Ben, "We said 'oi', you lot!"
"Oh, hullo, Charlie," Fred said airily, his eyes closed.
"School over already?" Cliodhna said in an eerily accurate impression of Fred.
"Gin?" Charlie said in disbelief.
The young girl opened her eyes wildly but Jack patted her hand and she closed them again tightly.
"None of you are happy to see us?"
Ben shrugged, "Sure, sure," he pressed his lips together tightly to keep from laughing.
"We ARE happy!" Ginny screeched, jumping up and throwing her arms around Bill's legs.
"Aw, Gin!" George moaned, "You ruinted it!"
"No she didn't," Cliodhna chided, standing up and grinning, "we were only fooling." She hugged Charlie tightly, "We're so pleased you're back!"
"That wasn't funny," Bill said, eyeing the twins.
"Don't look at –"
"Us! It was Jack and Percy's idea!"
Charlie and Bill looked astonished as Ron finally opened his eyes slowly at all the noise. "When did you two get back?" He asked sleepily.
That summer started off as though Charlie and Bill had never left for school. The two weaved stories of their year at Hogwarts as the rest of the children sat rapt with attention. Molly and Catherine were both pleased with these short reprieves from their usually wild bunch.
With Catherine, Angus, and Arthur, they spent many weekends exploring the nearby wood and learning to swim at the pond.
"Why are Klee and Gin wearing different swim clothes?" George asked innocently.
"Well, lad, they're girls," Angus scratched the back of his head and met his wife's eyes worried, about the follow-up questions. But Bill and Charlie, being slightly perceptive, made a ruckus by jumping into the deep pond shouting at each other, causing Ginny and Ron to laugh and clap.
That entire summer had been so fun and carefree for the Weasley and Quick children that it was even harder for them to watch Bill and Charlie leave again that fall. Ben pouted for what seemed like days until Cliodhna finally rolled her eyes and smacked his arm. "Stop being such a baby. You'll see them in a few months!"
"I'm not –"
"They would never want to hand around with a baby like you!"
Catherine nearly bit her tongue she shut her mouth so fast before she could laugh out loud.
A/N: Slow start, next chapters will be better, please review!
Best,
Sarge