Fred sat in class, bored.
He was flicking bits of paper off the table with his wand and seeing how long he could levitate them before the professor noticed.
Upon noticing that several balls of paper were hovering in mid-air, the teacher glared angrily and gave a cry of "Weasley!".
To this, Fred replied with a shout of "Which one of us Professor?" despite the fact he was the only one in the room, making the whole class fall about laughing at both Fred and the furious look on Professor Quibert's face.
It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that the Weasley's came in hoardes - particularly angry hoardes if you upset one of their family - and after a year or two of each member of the Weasley clan looking hopeslessly at each other whenever a teacher called their surname, Fred had taken up the joke as a sort of light-hearted way to tell them to cut it out.
He'd been at it three years and it was yet to be successful.
Fred spent the rest of the class flicking his wand every now and then so Professor Quibbert's chair moved ever so slightly forward when he wasn't looking; by the end of the lesson, to Professor Quibbert's surprise and the class's amusement, Professor Quibbert was practically sat on top of the students in the front row.
"WEASLEY!" the yell followed Fred as he dodged out of the door at the sound of the lunch bell and headed to the Room of Requirement.
As he came around the corner, he saw his younger cousins Louis, Hugo and Lily walking along muttering to themselves.
He joined them as they murmured the words that made the door appear.
Looking quickly behind them, they hurried into the room and shut the door.
There was already a low chatter inside and as they ventured further in, they saw the huge table surrounded by mismatched chairs that they frequented every week.
Already seated were James and Dominique, both of whom were very lax about attending class for very different reasons.
James didn't like attending class simply because he believed there were better things to do in life than stare at books all day (Fred whole-heartedly agreed, but thought that getting in trouble for playing numerous practical jokes and failing his classes might be the heart attack his mother had been fore-warning them about since Fred's first day at Hogwarts).
However, in Dominique's case, it was simply that she was such a scatter-brain that the majority of the time she simply forgot to go.
Perhaps it was their similarities in the respect that their parents were constantly pushing them to be more academic, or the fact that they were, in all other aspects, entirely different that made them such firm friends.
"Really, James? Cutting class again? Honestly, anyone'd think I'd set you a bad example!" he flopped into the seat next to James, ruffling his cousin's mop of hair good-naturedly.
Lily, Hugo and Louis all took seats next to each other on the other side of the table, chattering excitedly about charms lessons and learning the Body-Bind Curse next Thursday.
"Shut up, Freddie! I'm only a year younger than you, you don't really need to set an example to me!" James grinned at his best friend, shoving Fred's hand off his head and flattening his now wild hair.
There was suddenly a lot of banging and screeching outside the room and the next second, the door burst open to reveal a fighting Lucy and Roxanne.
Their flaming red hair was tangled together as they clawed angrily at each other, Lucy roaring like a wild animal and Roxanne swearing so profusely that the air practically turned blue.
Fred and James leapt up to assist Molly, who had just sprinted in after her brawling sister and cousin, to peel the two hot-tempered Weasley's off each other.
It took both Fred and James' full-strength to hold back fiery Roxanne, whilst Molly managed to restrain her sister by grasping tightly to her hair.
Lucy's hair was her pride and joy - she'd spend hours styling it each morning and was so proud of how she had the longest hair in her family, even longer than beautiful Victoire's - and she'd do nothing to jeapordise it's length and style.
"Are you two done fighting now?" Molly asked, her severe tone almost exactly the same as her father's.
"Yes." Lucy whispered, eyes wide and terrified as she stared up at Molly's hand clutching a clump of her hair tightly.
"Ok then." Molly said, releasing Lucy's hair slowly as James and Fred tentatively let go of Roxanne. "Now, what were you fighting about this time?"
"She stole my boyfriend!" Lucy yelled, pointing a finger accusingly at Roxanne.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, not this again! I swear on... on Fred's life that I have no intention whatsoever of stealing your boyfriend!" Roxanne replied heatedly.
"Erm, Annie, I'm not too comfortable having my life sworn on." Fred admitted sheepishly, gaining a chuckle from James.
"This is the seventeenth one you've tried to nick this year!"
"Oh come on, even if I was stealing them, which I wasn't, it wouldn't matter because you don't even like them that much anyway!"
"How dare you! I happen to love Aaron Thomas!" Lucy protested.
"Come off it! You said that about Gregory Cox, Jack Hay, Garrett Wood and every other poor little sap who'll believe everything you say!"
"I did not, I thought I loved the others but I'm certain I love him!" Lucy retorted. "Just because no boy'll look twice at you doesn't mean you should be so jealous!"
"Oh get lost, every boy that you go out with only does it because you're known as the Hogwarts Whore!" Roxanne roared.
Tears filled Lucy's blue eyes and Roxanne stared guiltily at the floor, wishing she could retract the words she had just spoken.
All three of the younger Weasley-Potter's sat in various states of confusion, obviously oblivious to the words meaning whilst Dominique sat chewing her lip, shocked and uncomfortable; she wasn't used to serious situations.
Roxanne was too stubborn to apologise and the longer she stayed silent, the more tearful Lucy got.
"You know what, Roxanne? You don't know anything! You want to know why they call me that? Because when I had my first boyfriend, I slept with him because I loved him! Then he broke up with me and told everyone about it, and since then I've never been able to get rid of that name! All the other boys were to try and get over him and yes, maybe it was wrong that I didn't love them but you know what? I didn't sleep with a single one of them! And I actually love Aaron! So just... shut up!" Lucy yelled, her tears spilling and smudging the mascara around her eyes.
Roxanne had never been the emotional, cuddly type like Teddy and she didn't have a way with words like Albus, but in that moment she realised that this didn't matter - her cousin was upset.
Roxanne stepped forward and hugged her sniffling cousin.
"I'm so sorry." she whispered so only Lucy could hear. "I've been a pig. I just judged you from what everyone else thought."
"Don't worry about it. The only reason I accused you is because they seem to like hanging around with you more than me." Lucy admitted.
"Are you kidding? I'm on the Quidditch team, I have a knack for remembering History of Magic facts and my dad runs a joke shop. I'd be worried if they weren't hanging around! They hang around you because they like you. They hang around me in the hope I'll big them up to the Quidditch Captain, write their History-of-Magic homework and get them free sweets!"
They pulled apart and everyone sat at the table again.
It wasn't Roxanne and Lucy's first fight and it wouldn't be their last, but, for now at least, they were ok.
Albus entered the room a while later, Rose and Scorpius behind him, holding hands.
Instantly James, who seemed to have taken over the role of protective cousin from Teddy since Fred was quite laid-back and relaxed, jumped up, bristling.
"What's he doing here? This is a family meeting!" he growled, glaring at Scorpius.
"Oh come on James, it's not exactly top secret Ministry work we're discussing here!" Rose protested.
"It doesn't matter what we talk about, it's family only!" James argued.
"Cool it, James." Fred intervened before another argument broke out. "Scorpius, come sit next to me."
To everyone except James, it seemed as though Fred was doing the mature thing.
However, James saw the gleam in Fred's eye and a wolfish grin spreads across his face as he sits opposite Fred and Scorpius.
Rose seated herself on Scorpius' other side, looking triumphantly at James before starting a conversation with her younger brother about how he was getting on at school.
She was interrupted by two figures appearing in the portrait on the wall, steadily getting closer until it swung off the wall and Teddy and Victoire leapt out.
They embraced their family, Victoire hugging her siblings and cousins daintily whilst Teddy pulled anyone and everyone into bear hugs.
"So, how's the hiding out going?" Molly inquired.
"Not well. Hard to get a house with no money, and to get a job I need to give an address so that's no help. Since Bill's made the whole family swear to tell him if we so much as walk by their gate, there's no way we can hide out at their's. I think we might try staying at my Dad's place, he'd probably convince Mum to keep it secret." Teddy informed them. He had switched between calling his Godfather Harry and Dad since he was young; he had mostly referred to him as Harry during his rebellious teenage years but now mostly called him Dad and Ginny Mum.
"Remind me again why you're hididng?" Dominique asked, not because she didn't understand why they were doing it but because she had genuinely forgotten.
"We've told you a million times Dominique!"Victoire said, bemused. "We wanted to move in together and Dad wouldn't have it, said we were too young."
"Not to mention, Victoire being pregnant did not help things." Teddy chipped in.
Victoire shoved Teddy half-heartedly, knowing he was right.
"Anyway, what's this for? Why are we all here?" Fred asked.
"Oh, yes." Dominique spoke up, surprising everyone. "I just thought I'd let you know. I'm getting married."
Everyone gasped and Victoire leapt up "What?!" she screeched.
"Who to?" Fred wondered incredulously.
"Lysander Scamander." Dominique smiled dreamily.
"Domi... you're fourteen! I mean, is it even legal?" Victoire said gently.
"Yep. So long as she has her parents/guardians permission-" Rose began to say.
"Rosie, please would you cut it out for a second?" Victoire asked a little too nicely and Rose blushed bright red and shrank in her seat.
"Seriously Dom, do you think your parents are going to give you permission for this? I mean, they kicked off about Teddy and 'Toire just moving in together and they're older!" Fred reasoned, always rational despite his trouble-making ways.
"Actually, I think they'll prefer this to the other option." Dominique replied casually.
"What other option?" James asked.
"Lysander and I having an illegitimate child." Dominique answered and once again the room exploded with noise.
"What the hell do you mean, illegitimate child?" Victoire roared, her Veela roots showing through as her face twisted in fury. "You're not pregnant? Please tell me you're not!"
Dominique nodded absent-mindedly.
There were roars of "What were you thinking?" and "You idiot!" from the older Weasley's, whilst the younger ones whispered to each other, wide-eyed and stunned.
James stayed silent, watching as Dominique grew paler and paler, before clasping a hand to her mouth and rushing from the room.
Everyone grew quiet and James strode quickly after her, closing the door behind him.
Dominique dashed, eyes streaming, into a bathroom.
James ran in after her, apologising to the shocked girls who stood by the mirror before following Dominique into a cubicle and pulling her hair back from her face just before she threw up.
After a few minutes she fell back from the toilet, gasping and cheeks flushed.
She sat with her back against one wall and he sat with his back against another.
"Why'd you do it, Domi?" James asks quietly.
"You see what 'Toire has with Teddy. I want that. I have that. I just went a bit too far is all." she panted.
"A bit far? You're pregnant!" he said softly. "Your mum and dad are going to kill you!"
"I know." tears filled her eyes and it was the first time James had seen Dominique anything but happy. "I've been really stupid but I'm trying to make it right. I'm marrying him aren't I?"
"Is that really going to fix anything? You think they'll be fine with it so long as you're married off?" he asked.
"Of course not! But I'm not just marrying him because of that, I'm marrying him because I know he's the one!" she protested.
"Really? He's definitely the one?" he asked and she looked him in the eye and gestured at her stomach.
"He's still here isn't he?" she whispered.
As if on cue, there was a knock on the cubicle door.
"Domi? You in there?" Lysander's voice came through the door.
James jumped up and, despite Dominique's protests, pushed open the door and shoved Lysander up against the wall.
"You hurt her," James growled. "and I will kill you."
Lysander nodded profusely as James let him down; Lysander went over to Dominique.
He kissed her lips and her stomach, and then James knew that Dominique was going to be fine.
Needless to say, Bill and Fleur didn't react well to the news.
In the letter they sent in response to Dominique's, they were sure to tell her she had disappointed them beyond belief.
Terrified about going home to face them, Dominique had, at James' insistence, moved in with her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny for the summer.
She was almost five months pregnant and close to celebrating her fifteenth birthday.
Lysander visited almost every day, very dedicated to his fiance and growing child.
It was a good job too, because James was prepared to hunt him down and kill him if he hurt Dominique.
When, several months later, Dominique went into labour, it was James who went with her to the hospital.
Lysander met them there, and all three were terrified at the news that Dominique needed a caesarian.
She was only allowed one person in the room with her.
"James?" she said expectantly.
"You know what, Domi? I think it should be Lysander." James admitted.
Lysander jumped, surprised that James, who had been wary of him and had always seemed to dislike him a little, had volunteered Lysander for this.
"He's the father, after all. If you're going to be a family, you'll have to do it right." James explained.
As he watched Dominique and Lysander rushing off, their baby held between their shaking hands, James smiled.
Bill and Fleur rushed up to him, panting, asking where Dominique had gone.
Grinning, James pointed them in the right direction and they ran after their daughter, desperate to make amends.
In the end, Weasley's always came through for each other - they sometimes needed a little help, but eventually they realised that they just couldn't stand to leave anyone behind.
