They relaxed after dinner in the parlor, digesting before dessert. Victoire was every bit her mother's daughter, fussing over Dominique and Molly's hair- playing at being more grown up than they were. Fred, Louis and James were whispering suspiciously and Lucy, Rose and Albus were playing a quiet game of cards. While Ron began what was surely going to be a quick victory against him at wizard chess, Harry told Ginny and the rest of the family about the phone call from Dudley.

"Your aunt's asked to see you? What the fuck does that old bitch want?" Ginny said. She was bouncing 4 year old Lily on her lap.

"LANGUAGE Ginevra!" Mrs. Weasley shouted covering Hugo's ears with her hands. Ginny had long since retired from professional sport, but the way she talked sometimes made it seem like she were still in the locker room.

"Sorry, Mum. Don't say those words, kids." Ginny said looking around the room with a wink. James and Louis exchanged looks and smirked.

Harry shrugged at her original question. "I don't know. Dudley says she hasn't got long. I should go, shouldn't I?"

His question was met by conflicted faces. No one seemed to want to give their opinion.

"I don't see how it could hurt, Harry." Angelina finally said.

"She might want to apologize or something." Audrey offered.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Ron said.

Percy shot him a reproachful look. "Of course he should go - she's his family."

"Perce, you weren't there when we literally had to yank bars off his windows to get him out of the house. They treated him dead rotten." George answered for Ron.

"Let's not talk about all this unpleasantness in front of the children." Mr. Weasley said.

"Quite right, quite right." Percy said, trying to sound as if it were his idea.

"Charlie, tomorrow I thought we could take a look at that flat that opened up in the village," Mrs. Weasley said, changing the subject not very subtlely. "I think you'll really love it..."

Ron and Ginny looked at each other and playfully rolled their eyes.

"Mum," Charlie said gently "there are no dragons in Devon."

"But look at everything you're missing! You have all these nieces and nephews! The children don't know you! And who knows how much longer your father and I will be alive..."

Good old Mum, laying the guilt on nice and thick. Ron thought.

"Gran, I know Uncle Charlie..." Rose said innocently.

"Yeah, Uncle Charlie gives us sweets!" Lucy said, smiling a toothy grin.

"And firecrackers!" James said - and immediately turned red. Louis and Fred sunk down low in their chairs like they were trying to camouflage themselves.

"It was you?! You gave them the firecrackers?! They blew up my damn toilet, Charlie!" Bill said, angrily.

Charlie shrugged. "That's why I'll always be their favorite Uncle - I give them the stuff you won't let them have." He smilled at Bill.

"Yeah, well there's a reason we don't let them have those! The damage in our upstairs loo is the prime example." Bill said, still glaring at Charlie.

"Aw, come on Billy - in just a couple more years, they'll all have wands and they won't need firecrackers to blow shit up. Just laugh, it's not so terrible." George joked.

Fred sat up straighter in his chair. He was almost 11 and couldn't wait to get his hands on a wand when his Hogwarts letter came. He and Molly would both be joining Victoire and Dominique at Hogwarts in the fall.

"I don't remember you laughing when Fred hid all your pants in the freezer while we were sleeping." Angelina reminded him holding back a laugh.

"Well, I had to get to the shop to open up - it was a choice between not wearing pants at all or having my bollocks frozen off..." George said.

Louis caught Fred's eye, "Good one." He whispered. James nodded in agreement.

"Jessica, you're English - don't you wish you could move back home and be nearer to your family?" Mrs. Weasley asked hopefully.

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut and sighed. He put a hand on Jessica's in a consoling way. "She doesn't know, Jess. I'm sorry..." Charlie said to her.

Jessica smiled slightly, "It's fine, Charlie. I don't have a family, Mrs. Weasley."

Everyone looked at each other, then inevitably their eyes wandered to Harry.

Hermione had just pulled the Yorkshire pudding out of the oven, to her great relief, it hadn't fallen. She and Fleur reset the table for dessert and entered the living room in the middle of the awkward conversation that followed Jessica's revelation.

"I'm so terribly sorry, dear!" Mrs. Weasley was saying. Jessica smiled graciously.

"It's really fine, Mrs. Weasley. Don't trouble yourself over it." She said. Moments of silence ticked by, terribly slowly.

"So maybe we should have been talking about Harry's twat of an Aunt after all." George joked.

"George!" Mrs. Weasley and Angelina yelled at him in identical outrage.

Calling them in for dessert, Hermione nodded to Harry in way that meant "Come talk to me." He nodded back, understanding her body language. He followed her into the mud room - although in truth, it was ill-titled for Hermione would never allow mud to exist in her home.

"Are you going to go visit your aunt?" she asked him gently.

"I don't know. I supposed I will, I mean...I might regret not going in the long run." He looked down at his feet.

"Do you want me to come with you? Can we do anything to help?" She put her hand reassuringly on his arm and he smiled.

"I don't think so, but thanks very much." He shook his head, smiling.

She puzzled at him. "Well, if you change your mind..."

"Thanks, Hermione. Really, I'll be ok." They hugged quickly and joined everyone else back in the dining room.

Although they had each declared themselves unable to eat another morsel, everyone enjoyed a bit of dessert and tea or coffee and soon it was time to say goodnight. They would be seeing each other a lot over the next few days, they always did during Charlie's visits.

Harry and Ginny had already planned on spending the night with their three, but Louis and Fred begged to be allowed to stay as well.

"Mum! Can I stay over too?" Fred begged.

"Freddy, we're all going to be together tomorrow anyway. Let's just go home." Angelina said.

"Yeah but, Jamie's sleeping here!" Fred said.

"Mum, may I stay too?" Louis asked using his most polite voice. Fleur looked at Bill, who shrugged.

No fucking way. Ron thought. Come on, girls, don't let me down.

He was confident that his sisters-in-law would refuse but then much to his chagrin, Angelina said:

"Ask Aunt Hermione."

The two boys stared at Hermione with hopeful, pleading eyes. She was no match for them.

"I suppose it'd be all right. You can sleep down here in the living room." She said.

Great. Triple Trouble spending the night. So much for the new house. Ron thought. So much for sleeping soundly, so much for the shag I was hoping for.

As his siblings and their spouses queued up at the fireplace, Ron ran upstairs and quickly changed the sheets on his bed. He didn't want to forget and lay his head down on a pillow that smelled like Charlie's bollocks.

"Don't forget what I told you about Aunt Ginny's Bat Bogey hex, Fred. She won't hesitate." George said with a wink.

"If you cause even a second of trouble, I'll let Uncle Ron string you up by your toes, Fred." Angelina warned as they were leaving.

"Louis, remember what I've already said." Fleur cautioned, helping Dominique with her coat. Louis blanched and nodded.

"Are you sure about this?" Bill asked Ron. "I don't think there's any way in hell I'd let them spend the night in my house." He laughed.

Ron shrugged. "Hermione already said yes. I reckon they'll be ok tonight. There's four of us here to wrangle them."

"Well, if Louis gives you any trouble, Floo us, we'll come grab him."

"Maybe I should learn French," Ron mused. "Whatever Fleur said, it sounded scary."

Bill nodded. "She yells at me in French and I almost wet myself. She might be part-Veela, but she's all business when she's roused."

"We all like strong women in this family, don't we?" Ron said, smiling.

"Arthur! The children need to get to bed! You can tell Charlie more about this interweb when we get home. Let's go!" Mrs. Weasley yelled into the kitchen.

Bill chuckled, "I wonder why."

Ginny and Harry took Hugo and Lily upstairs to bed; Rose and Albus both had sleep swirling in their eyes but they were fighting it. Only babies fell asleep early, neither of them were willing to be counted in that category with their younger siblings. Fred, Louis and James sat very close together on the sofa, watching a program on the telly.

Percy, Audrey and the girls stepped into the fireplace and they all looked likely to fall asleep as soon as they got home. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Charlie and Jessica were all returning to the Burrow. Charlie was excited to show her where he grew up.

"You have a lovely home." Jessica said before they left. "Dinner was delicious, thanks so much for having me."

Hermione gave her a hug. "It was nice to meet you at last. We'll see you tomorrow."

Bill and Fleur said goodnight (Fleur glared a final warning to Louis) and they departed for Shell Cottage.

"Remember," Angelina said "the first bit of trouble and we'll come get him."

"Angie - come on, love. Roxie's going to pass out and I've got plans for you, Mrs. Weasley..." George said, pulling her towards the fireplace.

She rolled her eyes and kissed Ron and Hermione's cheeks before disappearing into the green flames.

"I had plans, too Hermione." Ron said, taking her around her waist and kissing her softly.

"I know you did. I'm sorry - maybe they'll behave." She said hopefully.

Yeah, and maybe a hippogriff will fly out of my arse. He thought. "Locking them in the linen cupboard is sounding better by the minute, isn't it?"

She giggled and turned to the boys. She knew they didn't maliciously do things, they were just kids.

"Anyone want some hot chocolate?" She asked them. They all happily nodded and Ron found himself nodding, too.

"Hermione?" Ginny called from the stairs. "Hugo's asking for you. I think he wants a bedtime story from Mummy." She smiled.

"I'll make the hot chocolate, you go ahead." Ron said, kissing her softly. "Ginny, do you want some hot chocolate?" he asked.

"Sounds good, Harry probably will, too. He's in the loo. I'll help you." She said.

Hermione went into Hugo's room finding him and Lily already in his bed, each cuddling a plush toy. It was simply adorable how well they got on. Only a year apart, the youngest of the bunch never rowed.

"Mummy, can you read us a story?" Hugo asked, sleepily.

"Of course, darling." Hermione replied.

She puzzled at all the books in Hugo's room. She could tell they would be fast asleep before she finished a whole story, so she picked up a book of nursery rhymes that was once her own. Hugo liked to fall asleep hearing the sound of her voice, more than the actual story she was reading.

She read a few pages of nursery rhymes and watched Hugo's eyelids flutter until he was asleep. Lily was a tougher customer. She liked princess stories but she looked tired enough that Hermione kept reading.

"Listen, this is a difficult rhyme, I swear - what is a rhyme for porringer?' She read.

"Bloody nothing." Ron said quietly from the door. Hermione smiled and winked at him. Ron snuck in on tip toes and put his hands on her shoulders, massaging.

"Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey. along came a spider and -OW, Ron!" She yelped. He squeezed her shoulders really hard at the mention of the spider.

"Why are you reading them scary stories?" He asked her.

She pursed her lips together and began again. "Along came a...butterfly, who was perfectly nice and Miss Muffett happily shared her lunch. The End." Hermione said, teasing him. "That better?" She asked closing the book.

"Yep." He said taking the book from her an putting it back on the shelf. "Hot chocolate's ready, come on."

Hermione leaned over and kissed Hugo and Lily before she followed Ron out of the room and closed the door.