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Prologue:
The family were all sitting in the cosy living room of the Burrow one lovely Christmas Eve. There was chattering coming from every direction, though people could still keep track of what the others were saying.
It was the way the Weasley-Potter clann worked. They could keep numerous conversations going at once, about things from dragons to cake recipes. Most people found it highly amusing to watch and impossible to fathom.
Everyone was there; Harry and Ron were chatting to Percy about any way they could improve the communication skills in the Auror Departement. Angelina, Ginny and Fleur were laughing as they watched George sneek up behind the three men and set off a Decoy-Detanator. Hermione and Audrey were complimenting their mother-in-law on her amazing mince-pies and Christmas cake while pretending to love listening to Celestina Warbeck on the Wireless. And Bill, Charlie and Arthur were each nursing a glass of Firewhiskey while arguing about whether James should get a haircut or not.
James – who was completely ignoring his Grandfather and Uncles' advice – was sitting on the couch beside his cousins Hugo and Louis. They were looking at the broom catalogues they had received through owl-post, hoping that they would see one of the amazing specimens under the Christmas tree.
Over on the stairs, Dominique, Albus, Lucy and Roxanne were playing a game of Exploding Snap, the game still very much alive in this generation. Everyone except Roxanne was completely covered in black dust – a few of them with singed eyebrows.
Lily was sitting on the ground, by her father's feet playing with her dolls and watching her cousins curiously, while hitting one of the doll's heads of the floor until it fell off. But continuing with her imaginary Tri-Wizard Tournament nonetheless.
Rose was standing over by the tiny bookshelf with her cousin Molly, both looking for a book to read and test each other on. They found a copy of "Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them," and had begun to ask questions that any normal witch or wizard would find incredibly difficult to answer.
Freddie was – as usual – up to no good. He had been looking very mischievous all night, his mysterious eyes darting around the room, his cheeky grin playing on his face. Whenever he was asked by suspicious adults about what he was doing, he would act all innocent and pull a puppy-dog face and they would leave him be, because if they got in his way, his 'plan' would end up even more disastrous than it was bound to be.
Over by the window, away from everyone, Teddy and Victoire were whispering about something. No one questioned what they were whispering about, because they knew that they probably wouldn't get an answer. It had always been like that; they were inseperable. All of the adults in the family used to joke about the two being joined at the hip, which was completely true, but sometimes embarrassing. The family would have loved to hear that they were studying, but that would have been a lie. Victoire had her O.W.L's this year, but she wasn't planning on studying. She had her reasons.
They were sitting on the window seat with some parchment, a quill and ink. It did look like they were studying, but they had better ideas. Mrs Weasley called her children and grandchildren over to the table for dinner, but as they all got up, they fell over will a dull 'thud'.
"Freddie!" the whole family shouted. Freddie had tied everyone's shoe laces together and they had all fallen flat on their faces. Some – like Hermione – had been quick enough to Levitate the youngest children, to stop them from hitting their heads off the ground, but others had landed on top of one another and that made it very awkward for trying to get up.
"How does he do it?" Ron asked the other adults after everyone had gotten un-tangled and sat at the table.
"You're not actually asking that question, are you Ron?" Bill laughed at his younger brother "He's George's son, it's not like he was ever going to love studying!" Ron laughed at this too, as Mrs Weasley finished placing the many bowls of food on the incredibly long table.
"So Victoire, how's the studying going?" Hermione looked directly down the table.
"Oh, erm – yeah." She answered unsurely.
Teddy backed her up "She's studying all the time!" he exagerrated "Gets me to quiz her on everything!" he threw his hands up in the air, sending a few carrots to the floor.
During dinner, Victoire had begun to flick peas at Freddie, they would land in his curly, dark hair and then Teddy would laugh at him. He soon caught on and began to do the same to her and Teddy. None of the adults noticed, until Victoire hit Percy in the eye.
"Sorry Uncle Percy." She apologised, struggling to stifle her laughter.
"It's fine." He wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't said anything, because he was talking to about Ministry stuff – which was perfectly fine with Victoire, because she wouldn't have to endure a lecture about eating your vegetables, not using them as a weapon.
"So Ted," Hermione asked during dessert "how's Andromeda getting on?"
"Oh – erm, she's fine. Yeah, she's just, erm – yeah..." he finished awkwardly.
Hermione looked over to Harry and Ginny with her brow furrowed. Teddy never really stumbled over his words much, Hermione seemed to be the only one to notice this change. Harry and Ginny were trying to stop James shoving Albus' head into his mashed potatoes.
"Andy's gone to visit the Malfoys for a bit." Ginny whispered, after she had cleaned Albus' face off.
"Oh..." Hermione nodded, and continued to make sure Hugo was eating his vegetables.
But Ron just had to go and say "Oh, she's not bothering with those snobs, is she?" Hermione and Ginny glared at him furiously and Harry raised his eyebrows so that they were almost touching his hairline. Ron just went back to stuffing his face with chicken legs.
Teddy laughed, it didn't really bother him that Ron wasn't fond of his maternal family. He found it mostly amusing, but there was always going to be that bit of him that was curious as to who they were. He'd heard stories about them, and they didn't sound like the friendliest bunch of people. But his grandmother seemed to think that they had changed and he was willing to take her word for it.
"Guess what!" a twelve year old Dominique said to the family.
"What!?" Lily shouted, thinking of it as a game.
"James has a girlfriend!" Dominique teased, causing James to stand up swiftly and knock over his plate.
"I do not!" he argued. Victoire took this opportunity to throw some mashed potato at her sister.
"Hey!" she shouted, wiping the food off of her face "Did you see what she did?!" she pointed to Victoire.
"I didn't see me do anything, did you Tedward?" Victoire asked Teddy.
"No, not a thing," he said innocently as they high-fived under the table.
Dinner was cleared up. All the family had to help, except George and Ron, who claimed they had cramps. Of course no one believed them, but they would just whine if they had to work, so it was a win-win situation.
All of the children went up to their room. On Christmas Eve, they usually all slept in the same bedroom, they didn't have to, but they chose to. It made everything that bit more exciting. And if they didn't, it probably wouldn't feel like Christmas at all.
The loud banging of footsteps could be heard up and down the stairs of the rickety house. Hermione and Fleur were trying to round all of the kids up and make them stay in the room. They weren't succeeding.
"I don't want to brush my teeth!" screeched eight year-old Lucy, sitting herself in the doorway of the bathroom. The group of teenagers and childrens' paths now being blocked by her.
"Lucy, you must brush your teeth," said Hermione. Lucy looking at her, disbelievingly. "Or you'll be the last to open your presents tomorrow."
Lucy's face dropped. She stood up and skulked through the bathroom door, squirting the minty-paste on her toothbrush.
The Burrow had been extended, ever so slightly, to add a few extra rooms and bathrooms. The bedroom that the kids were staying in was rather large. There were bunk-beds and camp beds covering the surface of the carpeted floor, along with many toys and books. They did come with a lot of luggage.
"Freddie, step away from my bed!" said Roxy, knowing her older brother was probably planting something explosive there.
"I was just fluffing your pillows," he blinked innocently.
"Of course you were." she couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Albus! Did you wash your face?!" called Ginny from downstairs, knowing that her son previously had mashed potato on him.
"Oh mother, why do you doubt me so?" said Albus, though it was unclear whether Ginny heard him or not.
"You know Al, you really do talk posh for a nine year old," said Roxy as she passed by.
"I'm only three years younger than you," he said, rather defensively.
"Relax Albus," said Rose, looking up from her book "I'm pretty sure that was a compliment." She snapped it shut and began to pull down her covers "I also have quite a mature vocabulary."
Dominique was running around the landing, trying to catch Victoire. Victoire must have taken something of her sister's, because she was taunting and teasing as she hopped from bed to bed.
James was attempting at wrestling Teddy on the floor. He had pushed Teddy onto the floor and was now smashing his still-growing fists against the sixteen year old's chest.
Lily was tucking all of her dollies and toys under her blanket and kissing them all goodnight.
Hugo ran down the stairs in his flannel pajamas and into the living room. He wanted to remind his Nana to put some treats out for Santa. He walked past the sparkling tree and decorations charmed to float around the room and climbed onto the sofa.
"Daddy, where's Nana Molly?" said Hugo, his thumb in his mouth.
"Oi! No sucking your thumb, or it'll disappear," Ron told his son, causing Hugo to remove his thumb from his mouth immediately. "And don't worry; she remembered the biscuits – "
"And – "
"And the carrots for Rudolph. Now up to bed."
"OK. Mewwy Christmas!"
"Thumb out! Mewwy Christmas, love you." He kissed his son on the cheek and sent him back up to the bedroom. Hermione had come down the stairs when she saw Hugo escaping, and now stood with her arms folded, at the end of the stairs. She kissed her son goodnight and walked over to the sofa.
"You shouldn't 'Mewwy Christmas' him," she scolded.
"Why not?" asked Ron, his voice getting a little bit higher-pitched.
"Because it's not good for his speech-development." She explained, folding her hands on her lap. George struggled to stifle a snicker. Earning himself a glare from Angelina aswell as Hermione.
Back up in the room, Fleur was finally getting everyone to settle down. She carried Louis on her hip, and even though he was the baby of the whole family, he still was maybe just a little bit too old for it.
"Eet is time for bed, mes chéris!" Fleur called, her accent easier to understand because the children had grown up hearing it.
"Do we really have to?!" James heaved a sigh, his shoulders slouched, making his arms seem heavier than they were.
"Because Papa Noël will not be able to deliver your cadeaux, eef you do not sleep!"
"Do you know what mum and dad got me, Aunt Fleur?" said Freddie in his most innocent voice, batting his eyelashes.
"Now Freddie, why would I tell you zat?" she said, pinching his nose and using an equally sweet and innocent voice. Freddie huffed and made his way over to his bed.
Everyone had gotten settled down, though the kids were all still rather giddy.
"Bonsoir, mes gingembres!"
Various replies of "Bonsoir" "Goodnight" and "Merry Christmas" chorused from the children, as Fleur closed the door.
The second the door snapped shut, Teddy got up from his camp bed in the corner and walked over to it. He held up his finger and then began to whisper.
"OK, the coast is... clear!"
Victoire got up straight away and began rummaging around her bed; under her pillow, in her bag, looking for something.
"The coast is clear for what?" asked Molly, not liking that they were up to something.
"V?" Teddy raised his eyebrows to Victoire.
"Just a sec!" she replied, her head inside her bag. She was pulling out all sorts of random objects from inside it and throwing them across the room.
"What's with the toy dragon?" Roxy asked, holding up a stuffed orange dragon toy.
"Steve!" Victoire grabbed the dragon off her cousin and gave it a hug.
"V, back to business!" said Teddy in an urgent whisper.
"What business?" Rose asked, sharing the same worry as Molly. All of the kids seemed to be getting frustrated.
"Got it!" Victoire exclaimed.
"Got what?!" Lily screamed, thinking that it was an awfully exciting game.
"This," said Victoire, slightly out of breath.
"Give me that!" Dominique grabbed the object from her sister's grasp, obviously annoyed about whatever they were fighting over earlier.
"Dom, give it back now!" Teddy and Victoire had their wands pointed at Dominique now. All the kids were thinking the same thing, This must be serious.
"It's only a bit of wood..." Dominique argued "Fine," she gave in and threw it to Teddy.
"Now that we have that matter settled, could everyone shut up for a second?" said Teddy, trying to quieten down the whispering Hugo and Louis. The whispering stopped and Teddy continued. "Me and Vic have something we need to talk to you all about."
"But Aunt Fleur said Santa wouldn't come if we didn't sleep!" Lucy interrupted.
"We'll only be a few minutes, OK?" Victoire told her. Lucy nodded.
"We have a proposition for you all," Teddy began.
"What kind of proposition?" asked Roxy, stroking her imaginary goatee.
"I was getting to that," he said impatiently "For those of you who are attending; how's your school life?" he sat down on one of the beds and clasped his hands together.
"Cool, so far," said James, him only having spent a couple of months at Hogwarts.
"Fine." said Dom, not really paying attention.
"Fun," Freddie said in that creepy, mysterious voice.
Roxanne rolled her eyes at her older brother. "Yeah, great. Why?"
"Yes, why the spontaneous question? I thought the answers would be pretty obvious," said Molly, finding Teddy's sudden interest rather strange.
"Because we," he said, gesturing to himself and Victoire "are concerned for your happiness."
Rose snorted at this. Teddy and Victoire's eyes snapped towards her. "Concerned for their happiness?"
"Yes?" Victoire said, giving her cousin that innocent questioning look.
"Why wouldn't they be happy?" Albus responded instead, both him and Rose being old enough to understand Hogwarts.
"Because, we're not." Said Teddy, looking down at his hands, his voice barely above a whisper.
"What do you mean you're "Not happy at Hogwarts"?!" James practically shouted, being told to quieten down immediately after.
"Well nothing's ever good enough." Victoire began to flip the wooden box in her hands.
"What do you mean?" asked Molly, finding slight pleasure in the fact that she was better than her cousin. Though not in a spiteful way.
"Do any of you," Teddy suddenly regained composure and looked at everyone in the room "ever get compared to your parents?"
"I've never really thought about it..." said James.
"Well of course you haven't, you're only in first year!" said Albus.
"Shut up, Al!" James argued. Albus, about to make another witty remark, was interrupted by Freddie.
"Yeah," everyone knew he wasn't agreeing with James. His voice lacked all heart and he looked quite sad.
"In what way Freddie?" Victoire asked her cousin, sounding sympathetic.
"Well no matter what prank I pull... it's never as good as dad's or Uncle Fred's."
"How? You're pranks are pretty dramatic." Said Dominique. It seemed that Freddie's sudden change in mood had attracted everyone's attention.
"Well, let's say that I set off fireworks from the shop in the Great Hall," he began "Sure people think it's great. But all the teachers and stuff say that 'Fred and George set off their fireworks during exams, and made them eat the teacher'!"
Everyone was gobsmacked at this confession of their usually strangely mysterious cousin.
"That's a prime example Freddie!" said Teddy. Victoire nodding in agreement.
"And we feel the exact same way." Victoire said, though not as cheerily as Teddy.
"Anyone else got an opinion on the matter?" Teddy asked
"I still don't understand what you're trying to get across." Said Molly, furrowing her brow.
"Mol, you're smart. But are you as smart as you're dad?" Victoire said, trying to focus on what Molly cared about most – intelligence.
"I don't know..." Molly looked away timidly.
"What's the prop-masition?" Louis asked, getting bored of all the school talk.
"Let's do the opposite." Teddy said this bluntly, causing the kids more confusion.
"The opposite to what?" James asked.
"Everything we're supposed to do."
"So, don't be high-achievers?" Freddie asked, interest brimming his voice.
"I guess you could put it that way..." Victoire shared the same mischievious glint as Teddy.
"So what do you want us to do!?" Dominique, whom everyone thought previously wasn't listening.
"Become Professional Trouble-Makers." Said Teddy, as though it was the most simple thing in the world.
"Note the 'Professional' bit." Victoire included.
"You mean like a gang?" Rose asked.
"Now you're getting it!" Teddy clapped.
"B-but I'm getting a job in the Ministry!" Molly exclaimed, furiously "I can't be working with a gang! I should just report you right now, instead of being done for treason!"
"We'd have jobs Molly. So as to not blow our cover."
"Oh, I get it." Freddie nodded "Do the crime, but not the time."
"You like it?" Victoire asked.
"I have to say that the offer is enticing. I never fancied working in the Ministry, or Gringotts for that matter. Too boring."
Some of the kids old enough to understand what was going on, rolled their eyes – of course Freddie would find that much paperwork boring.
"I don't know about this..." Albus said unsurely "What's there to gain from it?"
"It's only causing trouble for the sake of it." Rose added.
"Yeah... and what's in the box?" Roxy cocked her eyebrow.
"You'll all just have to wait and see, won't you?"
None of the Weasley/Potter children understood then what Teddy and Victoire meant. They – being the eldest – knew what it was like to have their talents unappreciated.
Freddie – being a year younger than Victoire – was beginning to understand. He had never been focused on his studies, and that seemed to rein in more criticism. His father didn't seem to mind, but Freddie found Teddy and Victoire's proposition interesting.
And even though Molly was hesitant at first, she understood where they were coming from. Her grades never quite compared to her father's, in some peoples' eyes, and she wasn't a prefect in fifth and sixth year, because she was deemed too studious. Not having enough friends didn't seem to be a beneficiary.
Soon enough, all of the kids were eager to be apart of their cousins' mischief. Whether it was for the same reasons mentioned, or another entirely, they found the idea quite rebellious.
And thus it was formed. An untitled organisation of criminal children just wanting to feel like they are important.