Chapter Two

A Family Tradition

"Cousin Maggie!"

Before she could even dust the bits of ash from her shoulders, Maggie was nearly attacked by Charlotte Weasley. A sturdy five-year-old built with the same compact strength as her parents, Charley knocked Maggie straight back into the fireplace. Uncle Harry was just coming through, and with his trademark quick reflexes, he caught Maggie and righted her and brushed her off when he'd barely even materialized.

"Daddy!" Charley squealed with the same enthusiasm, and jumped up into his arms. He caught her easily and swung her up so she could wrap her legs around him and cling like a barnacle.

"There's my girl," he said warmly. "Goodness, I've only been gone a day."

"I missed you," she replied, confident and content now that he was here.

Uncle Harry leaned his forehead against his daughter's and rested there a moment, the dark unruly hair spilling into the equally messy bright red. Maggie felt a deep pang in her heart. She'd never have such a reunion with her father, even now that she had come to find out what she could about him. You couldn't leap into the arms of a memory.

Charley clambered down and started asking Maggie a million questions about Canada, about her trip, about her family, and everything else under the sun.

"Do you think I could fly for England someday, if I work really hard? Mummy says—"

"Charley! Give her a moment to breathe," Uncle Harry chuckled.

"Did I hear my name?" asked a deep male voice as someone appeared in the doorway.

"Charlie!" Harry cried, walking forward to embrace his brother-in-law warmly. "When did you get here?"

"I knew Maggie was coming today, so I came down to help you see her off to school," Uncle Charlie answered, winking at Maggie. "Hi, there, love. How was your trip?"

"I don't know yet," she said faintly, her head spinning. She didn't like Flooing, and she hadn't even gotten all the ash off her clothes yet.

Uncle Charlie laughed, and caught her up in a hug. "Come on. Your Aunt Ginny has got some tea and biscuits in the kitchen, you can relax for a few minutes in there."

"Can I sit down first?" she sighed, returning the hug with affection. She liked Uncle Charlie.

Instead, Uncle Charlie picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She squealed.

"Uncle Charlie, put me down!"

She kicked and squirmed and only got tickled in the side for her struggles. By the time they got to the kitchen, they were both laughing and red-faced and out of breath. Uncle Charlie dumped her in a chair, and his energetic namesake rushed in and started bouncing around him, shouting,

"Me, too, me, too, Uncle Charlie!"

He rolled his eyes and gave her a brief ride around the kitchen, tickling her and making her shout. He dumped her in a chair, too, then turned to his sister where she stood at the stove, waiting for the kettle to boil and laughing at his antics.

"Sit down, sis. I'll get this."

"No, it's nearly ready," she protested, waving a tea towel at him. He caught the towel and used it to jerk her forward before she could think to let go. With a cry of surprise, she was yanked into his arms, and he picked her up by the waist and threw her over his shoulder just like he'd done to the girls. His wide shoulders were plenty strong enough for his sister, and he deposited her at the table with no seeming effort. She made a face at her laughing daughter and niece, and Charlie grabbed the tea kettle just as it began to whistle.

"Here we . . . are," he finished with a stutter, staring at the three sitting at the table. "Merlin's beard."

"What?" Ginny asked with trepidation.

Harry, who'd corralled his sons and brought them in for tea, stopped in the doorway and blocked the boys from entering. "Oh," he said with surprise.

"What?" she asked again, sounding annoyed now.

Maggie looked at her Aunt Ginny and cousin Charley and thought she knew what they were looking at. The hair, the skin, the frame of the body . . . all three of them were so obviously Weasleys.

Uncle Harry walked over to Maggie and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "You look more like him all the time," he said in a hoarse whisper, and then he sat down next to his wife and gave her a rough embrace.

"What are you all talking about?" Matt asked in a lazy voice as he strolled in and plunked down next to Maggie. "Hello, Maggie."

"Hello, Matt. It's nothing."

Then Sirius bounded in, brandishing a toy wand and shouting complex and completely imaginary spells. He pointed his wand at Maggie and said firmly, "Verditus Toadalamus. You're a big green toad now, Maggie."

"Are you sure that's a real spell, Crash?" she asked primly.

Uncle Harry burst out laughing. Everyone stared at him.

"Here we are all thinking what a Weasley she is, but she's her mother all over again," he explained, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and trying to stop laughing. "She said just the same thing the first time we all met. Ron was trying to turn his rat Scabbers yellow, and Hermione said it just like that."

Maggie could feel her face turning red as they all laughed about it. She supposed she was like Mama, a bit. But for heaven's sake, did they all have to keep talking about her?

"I'm ready for tea now," she said in the same prim tone, and touched off a brief flurry of activity as Uncle Harry jumped up for the biscuits and told Aunt Ginny she'd earned a minute's rest while Uncle Charlie started pouring the tea.

Matt nudged her in the ribs. "Don't worry about it," he said softly. Maggie smiled at him gratefully. She liked Matt the best of all her cousins, even her French cousins. He was so soft-spoken and kind, but he was really tough when he had to be. She'd heard all about his kidnapping and how he'd fought with that Nightmare Curser. He was quite a bit older than she, he was going to be a fifth-year this term, but she felt like she could talk to him about anything if she wanted to.

"Well, Maggie, it's nice to have you here," Aunt Ginny said when everyone was served and comfortably munching and sipping. "I hope you get a good night's sleep tonight, because you'll have a big day tomorrow."

Maggie couldn't help but grin. "I know. The shopping centre in Toronto is ever so much bigger, Mama says, but Diagon Alley is still the most splendid place. I can't wait."

"It's quite a tradition, you know," Aunt Ginny said, smiling back at her. "That's why your grandparents want to come along and spend the day with us."

"Really?" she asked, feeling like her face would split from smiling. "Good, I've missed seeing Grandma and Grandpa Weasley."

"We'll do all your school shopping and have lunch all together. I'm sure we'll see some of your new schoolmates there, too. I expect we'll run into the Malfoys?" Ginny said, looking at Matt.

Matt nodded, his mouth full of biscuit. Swallowing thickly, he said, "Ran and I both need new gloves for Quidditch, so we're going to meet up to look at them. Is that all right?"

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny smiled at each other.

"What?" Matt asked, mystified.

"You're pretty sure you'll be on the team this year, aren't you?"

Matt grinned. "They've been trying to get me to join since my first year, haven't they? Besides, Ran's team captain now."

Aunt Ginny gave Uncle Harry a sly glance. "I heard it's not good for a captain to just let his friends onto the team."

"What?" Uncle Harry asked in an injured tone.

"Nothing," she replied.

"Whatever, Matt is a great flyer, I'm sure he'll be a good addition to the team."

"Anyone will be a better Seeker than Dane Sheffield," Matt grumbled. "His own brother says so when he commentates the matches."

Maggie turned so she was facing Matt more directly. "You're playing Seeker, then? Who else is on the team? Are they good in their positions, or will things have to be reorganized this year? Do you know if anyone else is trying out besides you?"

Maggie tried not to be a bothersome little girl even though she was following Matt to Quality Quidditch Supplies to look at the brooms while he met his friend to buy gloves. Mama had promised her that she might have a broom, if she would pick one she liked that was not too expensive and send word to her. Jonah hadn't been happy, he didn't think girls should have their own brooms, and he'd tried to argue that since Mama hadn't ever used one, neither should Maggie. Then Mama had said something so hurtful that Maggie had been shocked. She was certain it was the closest Mama had ever come to flat-out telling Jonah she had loved Ron more than him.

The words were still there, floating around in Maggie's brain. "When I agreed to marry you, I never said I would allow you to take away half of what Maggie is. She is a Weasley, not a Simpson, whether you like it or not. She takes after her aunt and she very much takes after her father, and I couldn't be happier about that. If she chooses to fly or even play Quidditch, you will not stop her."

It had answered the question Maggie had, of whether or not it was good for her to be like her fther, but t the same time, she wished her mother had not said that. Jonah had been so quiet after that, not angry or upset, but only quiet. Maggie felt like she was driving them apart, just by being there. She felt like things would be better if she wasn't there, so it was good she had come to England. She couldn't help but wonder if their family might be better off if she didn't come back.

"Over here, Matt," a voice called, breaking Maggie's dark thoughts apart. She looked up—and up. Ran Edwards, at sixteen, was nearly six and a half feet tall, which she'd been assured was only because his grandfather was very tall and not because his werewolf blood had got the better of him. Still, he was huge and imposing, physically. Maggie was slightly awed.

"Hey, Ran. You remember Maggie, right?"

"Yeah, your cousin, isn't she?"

"Yes, Hermione's daughter. Maggie, you know Ran."

"Yes. Hello."

"Hello." He gave Matt a questioning look, but Maggie saved her cousin the explanation.

"I'm here to pick out a broom. Mama said she would buy me one this year, but she's going to let me choose and write to her about which one."

Ran's eyes lit up. "Do you know what kind you like yet?"

"No," Maggie admitted. "There's a broom maker on Prince Edward Island who makes really fantastic brooms, but I thought that since I was going to be living here most of the time, I ought to pick a broom by an English craftsman."

Ran grinned. "Come on, I can show you which brooms are good for which sort of flying. Do you play Quidditch?"

Maggie shared a smile with Matt, and they followed the tall boy into the shop. She liked Ran.

They looked at brooms for an hour while Ran and Matt vied for Maggie's ear to explain all the good points of certain brooms, depending on which position she played in Quidditch, assuming that she did, in fact, try out and make the team some time. They assured her that as a first year, she wasn't likely to make it onto the team this time out, but she really should try out next year when their best Chaser had graduated. Matt finally reminded Ran that they'd better pick up their gloves before they were late to join the family for lunch, and Maggie decided she'd better come back at the end of the afternoon when she'd had time to think about it.

"Very wise," Ran said solemnly as he held the door for her, and winked.

Maggie's stomach was so tight with excitement and good humour that she couldn't really eat when they all sat down for lunch at the café on the north end of Diagon Alley. They had claimed the entire outdoor seating area, but apparently Grandpa Weasley had anticipated this and made a reservation for them. There was her grandparents, and her Uncle Charlie, then Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny and her three cousins, and then there was Draco and Vianne Malfoy with their son Scorpius, who was only a baby, and Ran, who took up all the room his little brother wasn't using. Then two men called Mr. Jordan and Mr. Thomas showed up and said they'd closed the shop for a quick lunch, so they were joining everyone, too.

"How's business?" Uncle Harry was asking Mr. Thomas, who shrugged and smiled.

"Good and steady, like always."

"What I wouldn't give to have the twins around to give us some fresh ideas!" Mr. Jordan declared. "Dean and I have exhausted our limited imaginations."

Uncle Harry laughed. "That's one thing you could never accuse Fred and George of."

"You remember the fireworks our fifth year, when they dropped out?" Mr. Thomas asked Uncle Harry wistfully.

Aunt Ginny laughed. "Do you think anyone could forget what they did to that despicable Umbridge woman?"

"They certainly showed her a thing or two about her authority at the school," Uncle Harry agreed.

Mr. Jordan had stopped talking and started pushing his meal around with his fork. Mr. Thomas nudged him with an elbow and gave him an encouraging smile.

"Still," the man prompted, "business has been good."

"So long as we keep their original range of products stocked and come out with something new every Christmas," Mr. Jordan said agreeably. He glanced over at Maggie, who was watching the conversation with true interest. Finding out about her uncles was nearly as good as finding out about her father. Judging by the little she did know, they sounded like extremely interesting men. "Well, Maggie, I hope you're not too bored by the old folks reminiscing."

"You're hardly that," Grandma Weasley said dryly, patting his arm, just as Maggie protested,

"Not at all, Mr. Jordan! It's very fascinating!"

He made a face. "Molly's right, I'm not old folks yet. Call me Lee, love."

She smiled, not knowing that her smile made Lee's heart ache. "Okay." It lit up her face, that smile, animating it with the life and joy he so missed in his old friends.

"Well, here we are shopping for school supplies . . . again," said Grandpa Weasley. "What do you think of our little family tradition, Maggie?"

She grinned.

"Wait," Maggie puffed, trying to catch enough breath to be heard. She'd spent her last night at her grandparents' house, learning how to play chess from Uncle Charlie, and they'd gone to bed quite late. Maggie was not a morning person. "Wait!"

"Hurry now, dear," her grandmother chided, tugging on her hand. "We can't miss the train." Grandpa was carrying her trunk for her to make things quicker. They said they'd take her through the barrier and see her onto the train safely.

"I'm hardly awake yet," she grumbled, nearly stumbling as Grandma pulled her recalcitrant body along.

"Here we go!" Uncle Charlie said suddenly, and then Maggie was swinging through the air with a shriek of surprise, then she was sitting in her uncle's arms and he was carrying her along. "Really, Mother, we're practically sprinting, of course she can't keep up!" he scolded, jogging along easily. He looked down at his surprised niece and winked. "I guess we forgot to tell you that running late is part of that family tradition we were talking about!"