My Magical Family

2012

It was a breakfast scene that was one in a line of similar ones; Harry sat dressed for work but without his Auror robe, Ginny in her dressing gown and large mug of tea, James and Albus on opposite sides of the table in their pyjamas and Lily at the end, next to him. Lily had obviously decided to dress herself that day as she had on her sky-blue Weasley Christmas jumper, a pair of purple shorts, the crinkly ballerina tutu that Fleur had given her on her last birthday and mismatched socks with her trainers that had velcro straps. Harry had glanced at Ginny when he saw Lily sit at the table, but Ginny shrugged, reminding him that she was four and that Lily wasn't going anywhere except the Burrow that morning. He nodded, turned to his breakfast and was glad he was taking just the boys on the school run, as even though photographers were forbidden from skulking around the school he knew that with Lily dressed that way it would be just his luck that she'd end up in the papers. As he chewed he laughed mentally, thinking on it more, because from what he'd seen when magicals tried to dress like Muggles it probably wouldn't make anyone bat an eye.

Thanking Kreacher for the refill of his tea, Harry noticed that while James was his normal, drowsy morning self, and that Lily chattered on as usual, Albus was particularly quiet. He looked over, caught Ginny's eye and nodded towards Albus.

With a nod of recognition Ginny looked over to her youngest son. "Al, don't worry, we'll both be there for your program."

"That's right." Harry sat down his tea, understanding why Al was so quiet. "I've got it on the schedule. Don't worry, I'll be there." Their assurances seemed to have the opposite effect as Al seemed to sink a bit lower in his seat. "Something wrong, mate?"

James' interest was piqued, so he perked up. "What's 'a matter, pixie arse, know you'll never beat mine?"

"James, we don't call people 'pixie arse.' It's not too early for some time on the naughty step before school. You know better than to use that language." Ginny waited until James mumbled something approaching apologetic and then reached over and smoothed Al's hair, causing him to try to move away from her in his seat. "It'll be fine, Al, you'll be fine. I don't expect you to 'top' James, you know that we just want you to try your best. You did try your best, didn't you?"

Al hurriedly shoved four pieces of bacon in his mouth, knowing that one of the rules of the table was that you couldn't speak with your mouth full. Ginny and Harry shared a look, then continued on with breakfast.

Once the meal was complete, and the boys had been sent upstairs to dress, Harry joined his wife at the sink, placing his dishes in the pile. "He's really worried about this, isn't he?"

"He is. You remember what happened at James' program, obviously."

Harry nodded. It had only been the year before, so it was rather fresh in his mind. They had dutifully attended the little school's presentation, nodding and smiling at the other parents, chatting with Principal Lavinia Ryder-Smythe, and then found a pair of empty seats somewhere towards the middle of the rows. Ginny had offered to help James with his presentation, but as always the boy had been strong-willed and had loudly informed her that he was big enough to do his own work and didn't need her help. Molly said that six was a difficult age, and Merlin help him, Harry had to agree. James was difficult, to say the least. And then the curtain had drawn back and the teacher for the six year olds started the program for My Magical Family. Harry understood the goal, to have the children learn about their family, draw pictures, and then stand up before the audience and tell why they'd chosen the family member. It didn't have to be a magical family member, one boy had done a presentation on his Muggle grandfather, but it had to be a family member. The underlying lesson in it all was to show that all families, whether pureblood or Muggleborn or any combination thereof, that all families were similar. It also gave the children experience speaking in front of a crowd, which he wasn't too sure was appropriate for the age group, but the presentations wouldn't last long and then the rest of the day would be spent seeing the classrooms, having lunch with the children and capped off with a sports day of sorts. A very innocent, fun day for children and families.

But as he turned back from the sink Harry remembered the moment that James stood up there and his picture was magically projected behind him. The main figure, obvious from the size depicted, was him. That was plain from the glasses and the scar. But the pride he'd felt seeing that his son had chosen him as a topic quickly vanished when he saw the other images. Childish depictions of Death Eaters, their heads rolling on the floor, blood spurting everywhere, and for Merlin's sake a few Dementors as well. Thankfully Lavinia didn't let him go on too long, as James had informed the crowd that his father was basically a superhero Auror who killed all the bad guys and would do the same to them if any of them stepped out of line.

"He's not James." Ginny knew from the look on Harry's face exactly what was going through his head. They'd had a long talk with James after that once they'd returned home. The remainder of the day at school had been awkward, to say the least. Thankfully most of the parents there took it well, although one woman kept shooting her rather nasty looks. "Maybe he wrote about Dad. You know he loves going into the shed with Dad and messing about with all the Muggle stuff."

"Thanks." He slid an arm around her waist. "But it's not everyone who has a mum who played for Harpies, you know."

Gin smiled at the compliment but shook her head. "He never saw me play, just out at the Burrow." She paused. "I am a bit worried, though. He wouldn't let me see what he'd been working on. You don't think..."

"I don't know. After James I'm afraid to ask. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll claim Hank as family. Godfather, you know."

"Oh, now that would be wonderful." Ginny rolled her eyes. "He'd probably try to smoke up there and we'd make the papers as being bad parents. Again."

"Hank never smokes around the kids. Trust me, if that ever happened Melody would hex him silly."

"Thank Merlin for small favours." Ginny looked at the clock. "They should be ready by now. I'll just go check." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll see you at eleven."

-ooo-

Standing near the back of the room, watching it fill up, Ron took another look at his watch. He knew many things, like the seats would be uncomfortable, Hermione would take too many pictures of Rosie and he'd have to endure a bunch of small talk with people he didn't know. Not his idea of a great way to spend an afternoon, but it was his daughter, and he was intrigued to who she picked as her subject. He'd chatted with Harry earlier that day at the office, as they were finishing up paperwork, and apparently Albus was just as secretive as Rose when it came to divulging their chosen family member. He nodded to a few people, exchanged dull pleasantries with a bloke from Games and Sports along with his wife, and wished they would hurry up. Hermione was in the front row, three seats saved, and it was his job to wait for his sister and Harry.

Finally he saw them and exhaled. "About time."

"We're not late, Ron." Ginny gave him a look. "We just dropped off Lily at the Burrow."

"Where's Hermione?" Harry looked around. "Don't tell me she can't make it?"

"Oh no. Cleared her schedule for the day." Ron motioned with his head towards the little stage. "Front row. Come on, she's saving seats."

"Front row?" Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Well, it is a school thing. Some stuff never changes."

After settling into their seats, greeting Hermione and nudging Gin about Hermione's camera, Harry waited. Would this be a replay of James? He'd talked to Ron about it that morning, how he was nervous, more nervous than he really ought to be for a school program, but if anyone understood it was Ron.

After commiserating with Harry, Ron let it slip that Hermione was really hoping that Rose's subject was, well, her. She'd taken Rose to work several times, informing him that it was 'very educational' for her to see how women such as herself were 'moulding the social fabric of the wizarding world.' He'd let her go on, but tried to gently remind her that Rose was six; implementing policy regarding centaur land probably wasn't that exciting for her. Hell, it wasn't for him.

Then the curtain went up and the teacher came out to address the crowd. Ron half-listened as she went on about the educational intent of the program, went over the schedule for the rest of the day and informed them that the students had drawn numbers out of a hat to see who would go first. A little blonde girl came out, her picture was displayed behind her, and she told everyone that her family member was her grandmother, a Healer at St. Mungo's. It was cute, the girl only got flustered once, and after going on and on about how Healers make boo-boo's go away for all sorts of people the girl finished up and then half-ran off the stage.

Then he perked up as Rose came out onto the stage. Hermione's camera flew up to her face and he smiled as Rose gave them a little wave. He chuckled as he saw that her hair was still together, as Hermione had fussed over it forever that morning. And then the picture went up.

It wasn't Hermione at her office at the Ministry. Oh no. Instead a red-haired figure stood with an upraised wand and pointed it at...dragons. He wanted to laugh, but knew that his wife would be disappointed. Really, though, how could she be? Paperwork versus dragons? He felt a nudge and leaned over to Harry.

"Charlie's gonna love this."

"Yeah." Ron glanced over to his wife, still thankfully snapping photos. "Not sure about Hermione."

Rose excitedly told about her picture, all the different dragons she'd drawn, how the red one was a Chinese Fireball and the really big grey one, unfortunately snapping a person in half with their jaws, was the Ironbelly. Her conclusion, though, was a bit of a stretch, as it seemed to her that her Uncle Charlie single-handedly kept all the dragons from escaping and killing everyone.

After Rose was finished and headed offstage Hermione leaned forward and beamed at them. Her voice was muted, but they could see the excitement. "Did you see the detail on the dragons? She knew the different breeds as well."

Harry gave her a thumbs up while Ginny leaned forward, voice also low. "Very well done. Charlie will be ecstatic."

Rose's presentation had calmed Harry's nerves a bit. She could have talked about her parents, or done something similar to James, but it was all very innocent. The next few children were the same, talking about their parents or grandparents or aunts and uncles, focusing on things like how they cooked great meals or took them on broom rides. One little boy excitedly told how his grandfather drove one of the ubiquitous black cabs in Muggle London.

And then Albus came out and Harry felt the nerves again. He really didn't want to have a talk with Al like he had with James. Even though he and Ginny explained things, the conversation had led them down a path that he knew he would have to finish eventually. They'd have to know what really happened. Someday. Someday hopefully far into the future, as he wanted them to stay kids for as long as possible. Knowing what your parents had to do, and how close they all came to losing everything, knowing exactly how Teddy's parents died...it was hard enough for him to reconcile on some days. But to tell all that to his sons and daughter?

He looked up and saw Al's picture projected behind him and was confused for a minute. It looked like him in the upper corner, with the glasses and the scar, and he guessed that was Ron next to him with the red hair as they were both wearing robes the same colour as their Auror robes. He let out a small snerk of laughter as in the opposite corner he guessed it was Hermione at a desk, as there were books all around her and her hair...well, it did look like her hair on the days she didn't muss with it. But the main figure, large, in the center of the picture was a thin figure with red hair and glasses, with a book in one hand and a wand in the other.

Albus stood there, hands straight at his sides, rocking slightly. "My family member is my Uncle Percy."

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Hermione's camera waver slightly as she whopped Ron on his thigh. Feeling Ginny's hand on his arm she looked at him with an expression of surprise. He guessed his expression must have mirrored hers and he quickly turned his attention back to his son.

As Albus talked through his picture it clicked for Harry exactly why he'd chosen Percy. James. The boys had always had a contentious relationship, not helped by James' attitude towards his brother, particularly because Al was still on the small side, something James exploited whenever he could. Now, listening as Al talked about the importance of rules the picture made sense, especially as Al mentioned that all people needed to follow rules, especially brothers. Percy was the one who made the rules, if people broke those rules he and Ron caught them, and once they'd been caught Hermione made sure they got their punishment.

As Al made his way off the stage Harry let out a relieved sigh. He could prolong the talk about the big things until later, hopefully much later. The next little girl who came out unfortunately got stage fright, and during the talks between her and the teacher there was a bit of a break. He leaned over to Ron. "We're never gonna hear the end of this."

"Merlin. Tell me about it." He shook his head. "I get it with Charlie, dragons and all, but we're Aurors. Gin played Quidditch and Hermione...but Perce? Mum will be so pleased. Future Ravenclaw, my guess. All about rules."

"Percy was in Gryffindor, you never know." Ginny was leaning forward in her chair. "Now quiet, she's trying again."

Thankfully this time the little girl got through her presentation about her grandfather who was a farmer, two more kids went and then it was over. As everyone stood up to head into lunch the kids burst out from behind the stage to find their parents.

"Mummy, did you like it?" Rose almost bounced on her toes.

"It was wonderful!" Hermione hugged her. "You did a very good job on the dragons. We might need to talk about the other people who work with Charlie, though. He doesn't do it by himself, no matter what he tells you."

"It was great, squirt." Ron put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I guess that trip to Romania made an impression, eh?"

Harry watched as Al came to them, much slower, his expression one that displayed his trepidation. When he got to them he stopped, stared down at his shoes and muttered 'Sorry.'

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?"

Al still wouldn't look at them. "I didn't pick you or Dad."

Ginny looked down at her son. "I thought it was brilliant."

Al's head snapped up. "You did?"

"I did. We did." Ginny looked over to Harry.

"She's right, we did. It was brilliant." Harry reached over and mussed his son's hair. "You got it right, that's how it works." Seeing Al's shocked face he leaned down. "James only got one part of it, the Aurors. You got it all."

"So I did better 'n James?"

Harry stifled a laugh. The boys would be the death of him with their competitiveness. "Yeah, Al, you did."

The teacher's voice echoed through the little assembly hall that it was now time for lunch, so students needed to help their parents to the lunch room. Al grabbed Ginny's hand and began pulling her towards their destination, the quiet boy from breakfast was gone, replaced by an excited boy trying to tell his mum all about his school. Harry watched as Rose did the same with Hermione, leaving him there with Ron.

"Better than James', right? Less blood, anyway." Ron smirked at Harry. "Only got one more of these to go through, right?"

The nerves hit Harry for a moment, but then he dismissed them. "Right. Can't wait to see who Hugo picks. Maybe it'll be one of Hermione's parents."

Ron laughed. "Well, maybe there'll be more blood in that one. What about Lily?"

Harry shrugged. "Who knows? At this point my Knut's on Fleur with all the clothes and stuff." He saw the look Ron was giving him. "What?"

"It's not time for that yet, mate. Eventually. I'm putting that talk off for as long as possible. But not today. Wonder what's for lunch?"

As the two Aurors walked through the little school, magical children and their families all over the place, Harry felt happy. The dark times were behind them, and even though he'd have to tell the kids eventually, today was not the day.

A/N: Just a little story that popped into my head the other night fixing dinner. Of course everyone would think that Charlie is cool, dragons beat pretty much everything. And then for some reason Percy came to my mind and...well, two cups of coffee later here we are.

As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.