Chapter 2: Minerva Weasley

Polly walked into the kitchen and was immediately happy to smell wonderful things. It was the best part about spending time with her Grandmum, the food. She sat down at the table, mumbled 'good morning' and had just begun to reach for The Daily Prophet when her hand was smacked by the handle of a knife.

"Let your mum read the paper first, Gwen." Melody Boyd shook her head at Pauline. "Manners."

Minnie walked over and put eggs and bacon down on the table. "No Mum, that's Pauline, Gwen's daughter."

Melody gave Minnie a curious stare. "Acts just like Gwen. You need to teach her manners, Minerva."

"Yes, Mum." Minnie winked at Pauline. "Eat up, we've got a rather busy morning today. Tea or pumpkin juice?"

Polly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Is there coffee?"

"Coming right up." Minnie separated the different parts of The Prophet and handed her mum one section and gave Polly the other.

"Minerva! Where are my glasses?" Melody's wrinkled hands felt around her cardigan and on the table. "Can't read without them. Your father wouldn't let me do the thing at St. Mungo's, had to keep the glasses."

Polly reached across the table and took the glasses from behind the teapot and handed them to her great-Grandmum. "Here you are. Why did you have to keep the glasses?"

"Thank you, Pauline." Melody put on her glasses and picked up the paper. "Said he liked them too much, the sexy librarian thing."

Pauline broke out into laughter and looked over to her Grandmum Minnie who simply rolled her eyes and continued on with breakfast. The paper didn't hold too much of interest, as it was the usual things; the Minister for Magic wanted to ensure the wizarding community that he was keeping the secrecy statues in place, blah blah blah. Thankfully her section had the Quidditch news and standings, so it was while realizing that the Wasps were probably not going to catch the Cannons in the tables anytime soon that her Grandmum sat down next to her.

"You need to help me with Mum today. Can you drive?"

"What?" Polly almost spilled her coffee. "Drive? What do you mean, like the Muggle speeders?"

"Speeders? Oh no." Minnie chuckled. "Much older than that, it's an automobile. A car. Runs on petrol."

"Petrol?" Polly shook her head. "Gran, you said in class that Muggles haven't used petrol for years, it's…"

"I know, dear, but this is…well, this is different. It's a little Morris Minor. My father's car."

"My car." Melody waved a piece of toast at Minnie. "That's my car. Your father liked that horrible old van. HR won't let me drive anymore, says I'm too old. Am I too old, Minerva?"

"Yes, Mum, I'm afraid so." Minnie took a sip of tea. "That's why I asked Pauline if she could drive, I'm think I'm getting too old." She glanced over to Polly. "Don't worry; I'll explain everything when we get to the shed."

Once breakfast was finished, dishes were cleaned and Melody was comfortable in her chair Minnie motioned for Polly to follow her out the back door. When the doors moved aside Polly felt a small thrill go through her fingers; she'd always wanted to come out and explore the big shed but she'd never been allowed; her Mum said that it was 'off limits for good reason.' Now her Mum was back home and Grandmum was in charge.

"I can tell nobody's cleaned in…this just won't do." Minnie moved her wand about in a series of deliberate motions, murmuring incantations, and soon the accumulated cobwebs of at least a decade disappeared, all of the surfaces looked as if they'd been cleanly wiped down and the air smelled somewhat better. She looked over to her granddaughter. "I don't think I can do anything about the smoke smell even if I really tried, besides, it smells like Dad."

Polly opened her mouth wide enough that her Forty Flavor gum dropped out and landed on top of her trainer. It was like she'd stepped into a Muggle museum, there was stuff everywhere. "Wow."

Minnie patted her hair back in place and gave Polly a small smile. "Yes, wow and all that, but I'm not sure how long it is going to take us to find everything."

"What are we looking for? Something for the car?"

"Mmmm…you could say that. And a few other things. The Stintborough Museum is putting together a display and asked to display some items, not permanently of course, but for a while."

Polly shook her head. "Why'd they want Muggle stuff?"

"Why would they want Muggle stuff, please. Because Stintborough wasn't always a wizarding village, Polly. When Mum and Dad moved here it was a Muggle village, no magical households." She took a look at her watch. "I do hope he's on time."

As if on cue there was a knock at the shed door and as Polly turned to look she smacked her knee on a box, causing several smaller boxes to fall. Luckily the man with glasses took out his wand and levitated them to the ground before they could do any damage to Polly. Upon seeing the man Minnie put her hands together and smiled.

"Harry Ron, thank goodness."

He laughed and put away his wand. "You're the only one who calls me that anymore, everybody else just calls me HR."

"Well, that's my brother, dear." Minnie went forward and hugged him.

As Polly sat back and tried to do the usual Boyd connections, figuring out exactly how they were related, another person came around the corner. His clothing was a little different than what Polly was used to, as she had never seen anyone outside of a musician wearing leather trousers. Especially not red leather trousers. His hair was down to his shoulders, a mass of brown and he was wearing a t-shirt with a woman's face on it that looked like a witch, but no witch that Polly had ever seen.

"Pauline, do you remember Harry Ron from the party?" Minnie walked over to Pauline with the man in glasses. "This is Harry Ron, my great-nephew."

The man, with somewhat reddish hair and glasses who looked to be in his thirties waved at Polly. "You probably don't remember, too many people. My granddad's Hieronymus and the little squirt in the paper on Great-Grandmum's lap's my boy Henry."

Polly nodded but her eyes glanced over to the boy in red leather trousers for a moment.

Harry Ron caught her glance. "Sorry, had to bring an expert for one of the requests. Great-Aunt Minnie, Polly, this is Perseus Boot."

Mr. Red Leather Trousers, or Perseus, nodded. "Ma'am. Miss."

Minnie nodded and wagged her finger knowingly. "Perseus, are you any relation to Terry…

"He's my Granddad." He looked over to Harry Ron. "Guns, right?"

-ooo-

Polly sat in one of the comfortable chairs and sorted through yet another box, placing the ones without the items they were looking for on one side. As they had started their search her grandmum had explained everything; the Museum wanted some notebooks of Professor Muggle's, along with some other mementos. They had specifically asked for the guns, something that gave Polly quite a shock, as she didn't know of any working guns in the British Isles; firearms had been banned by the Muggles twenty-five years ago. Besides the guns and notebooks Harry Ron was going to make sure that the Morris Minor was in working order and they were actually going to drive it down to the Museum.

The shed itself had surprised her, as it wasn't really a shed but more than an extended, well, she didn't really know exactly what to call it. A house? A flat? A library? Maybe a bit of all of those things? She went to pick up another box when it floated up and eventually landed in front of her. Polly looked up to see Perseus Boot nod at her and put his wand away. She gave him a lukewarm smile of thanks and began searching in her newest box.

"Got 'em!" Harry Ron stood up from his pile of boxes. "They've got a bloody horrible locking spell on 'em, though. I mean, shit, might take us…" He stopped suddenly, turned red and began apologizing to his Great Aunt.

Minnie laughed at him. "Don't worry, you're of age and I can guarantee you it isn't the first time curse words have been spoken in this shed." She walked over and levitated the wooden box out of the larger box until it rested on a small table. When Minnie moved her hand close to the latch blue light began to crackle all over the surface of the box. "Oooh, Mum, that's a good one." She looked over to Polly. "Mum hates, and I mean hates these things but Dad was oddly proud of them. I only saw them a few times, and he actually let all of us children fire them once. Mum was furious. They fought about these things for at least thirty years. I think she actually cast a spell on the box to keep him from opening it."

Perseus stood over the box and studied it intently. Without saying a word he drew his wand, muttered something and with two flicks the blue light stopped. "Squib spell."

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Minnie patted Perseus on the shoulder. "Good thing Dad didn't know."

Without so much as an 'if you don't mind' or a 'with your permission' Perseus opened the box, pulled out two cases and removed the guns. He laid one on the table and took the other one out of its case. "Walther. Looks like it was serviced yesterday." He put it down on the table and took out the other one. "Same thing. Enchanted." He reached in the box, pulled out a clip and stuck it in the gun. As he pointed it at the window everyone else ducked but soon Perseus chuckled slightly. "Won't fire. Have to have his permission. Good one, Gramps."

"Permission?" Polly looked over as Perseus put the gun in the box.

"Granddad Boot put a spell on the guns so that only people with his or Professor Muggle's permission could fire them. Useless for anyone else."

"That's why they only worked when Dad let us try them." Minnie nodded. "HR and Hugo tried once after that but nothing happened. Solves that little mystery."

Polly continued looking through old boxes until Harry Ron stuck his head in and told them that the car was ready. Perseus loaded up the guns, her Gran put several other boxes in the back of the car and then motioned for Polly to join her. After being shown how to open the door and put on the seatbelt in the passenger seat Polly watched her gran turn a key and was startled as the little engine roughly began purring. There was a grinding noise as her gran moved the little stick between the seats, but before long they were moving, much slower than a broom.

As they bounced down the road Minnie turned to her granddaughter. "Did you find anything interesting in the boxes?"

"How did you learn how to do this?"

Minnie smiled. "Dad taught all of us kids, said it would come in handy. HR got in to a bit of trouble with one of Uncle Nate's cars one summer, though. I thought Mum was going to kill him. Oh, and Mione and I may have got into a bit of trouble one year. We tried to get the car to move and it definitely did, rolled away and we couldn't stop it. Broke out a window in the shed. Mum was livid."

As the scenery flew by Polly thought about how different it was, the way she grew up compared to her Gran. She had grown up knowing about the Muggle world, sort of, but her Gran had grown up in both worlds. "You didn't have to take Muggle Studies, did you?"

"Oh no, dear. All of us grew up going over to Grandma and Grandpa Boyd's in Florida over the summers, not to mention Uncle Ted and Aunt Candice's house. And then there were some Christmas holiday trips…it was different with Uncle Nate and Aunt Lavender, since she worked for the AAB." Minnie saw the slight look of confusion on her granddaughter's face. "American Auror Bureau. No, since all of us knew so much about the Muggle world we didn't have to take the class. Why? Having problems with Muggle Studies? Professor Renfrew hasn't said anything to me."

"No, Gran, Muggle Studies is fine. It's just…weird. You went to Hogwarts but you know how to do all the Muggle stuff."

Minnie laughed softly. "Not all of it, I'm woefully out of date. One of the reasons I stick to history."

Polly was silent for a few moments but eventually her curiosity got the better of her. "So what was it like growing up with all the Muggle stuff? With Great-Granddad Hank not being able to do magic?"

Minnie slowed the car and began shifting gears. "Very interesting, to say the least. We're here now. Tell you what, when we get back to Colony House later we'll do a bit of baking and I can tell you some stories. How does that sound?"

-ooo-

The smell of baked goods filled the kitchen at Colony House as Polly opened her Grandmum's diary again. It felt so, well, wrong to be reading the diary while her Grandmum moved about the kitchen, taking things out of the oven, making icing, all of the usual things. Instead of continuing on from the last entry she'd read Polly flipped through until she found a very long section of words. After flipping back to the start she began to read.

4 July, 2025

Dad's celebration for American independence was definitely full of fireworks, and not just the kind that go into the air! Since HR and Lily ran off and got married Mum's been completely mental. The official ceremony is on the 19th, but all of us know that they're really married. The big ceremony is for Mum and Ginny Potter and it's making Dad smoke his pipe a lot more. I have to be in the wedding and have a fancy dress. Oh yay.

It feels so weird to have Lily as a sister-in-law. Mione thinks that it would be perfect if she would marry Al but I wish it would be me. I know Mione and I are twins but we're so different. She likes all the girly things, Quidditch and is usually the one who gets in trouble, which means she gets attention. What about me? I don't like the makeup, I don't play Quidditch. I'd rather read. There are so many wonderful books in Dad's library! He's made a list for me to read, things he thinks I might be interested in, but Mum insisted that it isn't all Muggle stuff so Aunt Hermione made me a list. I've just finished Untold Stories of the Second War, and I couldn't believe it all. Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry did so many things that sound crazy but I know they're true. I asked Aunt Hermione about it and she said she'd tell me another day, which means it all must be true because adults always say that about things they don't want to talk about.

Gin was actually nice to me the other day! I think she was ill.

Got an owl from Cleo the other day asking if I could introduce her to Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. I knew this was going to happen, especially after it got out that they're my godparents. It makes me wonder how James, Al and Lily aren't complete prats. Probably because Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny wouldn't let them!

Diary, I also got a letter from Philip Towne. He's a year ahead of me in Ravenclaw. He wanted to know if I could go on a double date, but after reading I realized he wants to go out with Mione. His roommate Cuthbert Snergins would be my date, and Cuthbert is horrible. I think he eats his bogies. I know Mione is Mione, but why don't any boys want to date ME? I guess I'll have to wait for Al to notice, because the boys at Hogwarts are horrid, stupid little gits. I didn't tell Mione about the letter, I'm ashamed but I put it in the bottom of Dad's owl cage along with the old newspapers.

Mum hurt my feelings so bad the other day that I almost cried. We were in Diagon Alley and we were shopping for things for the wedding and I heard her tell the witch that works at the shop that she's glad there won't be any weddings for a long time after HR and Lily's wedding. When the witch asked why Mum said that she'd have to keep an eye on Gin because she's pretty but it would be a good, long time before Mione and I got married. Why? I know I'm not pretty like Gin, she's got long dark hair and pretty eyes, not to mention her chest is getting bigger, and Mione and I look almost the same. Why do the boys want to see her and not me? I feel like I'm a lamp most of the time, that people forget about me unless I say something. Well, not Aunt Hermione. She always talks to me like I'm a grownup. I think the best place in the world is their house in Satterbourne. Maybe I should ask Aunt Hermione if I could stay with her and Uncle Ron. She has to be sad because Rosie has her own place now and Hugo is in the army. She probably needs me.

I hope HR doesn't have to go in the army. It scares me to think that he might have to go and fight, because even if he can fight like a Muggle he's not very good at dueling with his wand. He's great at making wands, though. I'm afraid that if he went to the army he might die. I don't know what I would do if HR died.

Sorry this is a sad entry, Diary. Sometimes I wish I was Minerva Weasley and Aunt Ron and Uncle Hermione were my parents so I didn't have to do all the Muggle stuff and be teased about Dad. Not that often, though. I love Mum and Dad a lot. Maybe we could just get rid of Gin.

More later!

Minerva

Polly stopped and looked over at her Grandmum arrange cookies on a cooling plate. It must have been hard for her back then, and it was while she was thinking of everything she remembered a little bombshell in the diary entry. "Grandmum, did HR and Lily elope?"

Minnie stopped and smiled at her granddaughter. "Oh yes, yes, they did. Right after their last year at Hogwarts, before the war started. Ginny Potter was, well, to say she wasn't happy was an understatement." She raised an eyebrow at Polly. "I take it you found an entry from then?"

Polly nodded. "You really didn't like your older sister much back then, did you?"

"She was a pain in the arse, but then again, I'm sure I was as well."

After taking one of the freshly baked cookies Polly thought back about the diary entry, specifically the parts about wanting to be noticed. She'd felt like that before, especially around Harriet Walbeoff; all the boys noticed her.

"Minnie!" Melody's voice rang out from the sitting room. "Minerva!"

After wiping her hands on her apron Minnie smiled at Polly. "Sounds like she's up from her nap. Tell you what, I noticed you had a good time looking through boxes today. Why don't you go find some things in the shed? I'm sure Mum would like to talk about them." She leaned over to her granddaughter and lowered her voice. "Plus it'll keep her busy for a while."

"I HEARD THAT!"

Minnie shook her head. "Of course, Mum! I'll be right there."

Polly waited until her grandmum had left the room before closing the diary. What other things were out there in the shed?