A/N: All right, this is quite a long chapter, so I hope you'll enjoy it. Also, I introduce all the Weasleys of the new generation in this chapter, and I realize that it might be enough to make one's head spin, as there's just so many of them. However, any time that one of them becomes important again, I'll do my best to make sure you know who I'm talking about in context. Also, I should mention that I don't stick to the guide on Rowling's website for who the kids are, and who the members of Ron and Ginny's generation married, at least not whole-sale. I did take some ideas from it, though, such as that Angelina is married to George and that they named their first son Fred.
Chapter 7
Girl Talk
"Where should I put the presents?" asked George, seconds after apparating into the Potters' living room.
"How about under the tree?" suggested Ginny, pointing to the large and rather obvious Christmas tree located about a dozen feet behind George. She answered George's question from the kitchen, where she was putting the finishing touches on the pumpkin roll which she was making for dessert.
"Right-o!" agreed George, deciding to ignore Ginny's obvious smart-aleck attitude on the grounds that it was Christmas, and that she was probably stressed out from having planned such a large family occasion.
"Where's Fred, then?" asked Al, who had just walked into the living room along with Chloe. Fred was almost Al's age, and would be starting Hogwarts the next year. Al had promised Chloe that he would introduce him to her as soon as possible, and was getting ready to make good on that promise.
"He's about to Floo over with his mother and the other kids as soon as he finds his shoes. I swear, the boy's smart, but he can't keep himself organized to save his life," said George.
"Hmm... It's a good thing you've already told me about Fred yourself," said Chloe. "Wouldn't it be odd if that was the first thing I'd ever heard about him?" she asked.
"Well... yeah, but, you will want to keep it in mind. For instance, never lend him anything you're going to be anxious to have back anytime soon. I mean, he won't steal it, but chances are he'll have no idea where it's ended up within five minutes of you handing it to him. It's like you with quills, except he's like that with everything," Al pointed out.
"Well... sounds like next year, not a quill in Hogwarts will be safe," said Chloe.
"Except the one that I gave you today," said Al.
"Right-o," she agreed.
Suddenly, from out of the fireplace stepped Tiffany, the youngest of George and Angelina's three children. She was six years old, and this was only her second time using the floo-network without being carried along by one of her parents. George, who had already laid down the presents by the tree, swooped in and picked her up as she overbalanced and nearly wound up on the floor.
"Hi, Tiffany," said Lily, who happened to walk down to the living-room at that point.
"Lily!" yelled Tiffany, as she squirmed to get free of George's grasp so she could properly greet Lily, who was, as everyone knew, Tiffany's favorite cousin.
"Al, run up and get James from his room," commanded Ginny, "he should be here now that guests are arriving." The curt tone of voice she used while issuing this direction was something that she had been using often the past couple days during the preparations for the Christmas party. The stress had proved a little higher than she had anticipated.
"Don't worry about it, Al," said Harry, who had trailed Lily into the room, "I'll get him... You should be here to greet Fred." Harry winked at Al in what Al interpreted as an attempt to show that he shouldn't be offended by his mother's tone.
Meanwhile, Molly Weasley apparated into the kitchen at the same moment as Abby, George and Angelina's 2nd oldest, who was about to turn 10, and who would be starting Hogwarts the same year as Lily and Hugo, stepped out of the fire-place.
"Lily!" she said, running over to hug her cousin, who had just managed to free herself from Tiffany's hug.
"So, er, this is Tiffany and Abby," said Al, gesturing to each in turn. Tiffany gave a shy wave, and Abby smiled at her after she had hugged Lily.
As Molly quickly set about helping her daughter with the remaining preparations for dinner, Angelina stepped from the fire-place.
"Where's Fred?" asked George, who knew that Angelina usually waited for all her children to floo away before going after them, the better to direct traffic.
"He claims he's found his shoes and will be here in a moment. I'm not saying that I doubt our son's honesty, but..."
Just then, the fire blazed in the way that it usually did when about to emit a floo-traveler, and everyone expected Fred to come through then, but instead it was Andy Weasley, who was Percy's oldest child.
"Is Penelope coming soon?" asked Ginny eagerly, as she glanced into the living room and saw Andy. Penelope was good in the kitchen, and the last time she looked at the clock, Ginny had realized that another witch in the kitchen would be necessary if they were going to get dinner on the table by 2:00 as promised.
"Yeah, she should be coming after Annie and Jessica," said Andy.
But the next one out of the fire-place was not Annie or Jessica, but was instead Rose.
"Hi Andy," she said. Rose was the cousin with whom Andy got along the best, although the other cousins present at least gave him a wave.
At that moment, Harry stepped in and gasped at the number of people who had arrived since the last time he had been in the room only a moment before. "Quite the party we've got going on in here, then, haven't we?" He busied himself conjuring extra chairs so that everyone would have a place to sit.
Meanwhile, Annie stepped out of the fireplace. Annie had just turned 9. She was followed almost immediately by her twin sister Jessica.
Penelope apparated into the kitchen and Percy appeared in the living room just as Fred stepped out of the fire-place wearing flip-flops instead of shoes.
"I thought you said you found your shoes!" said Angelina angrily.
"I said 'I found shoes.' They were Dad's," explained Fred.
"So you haven't found yours?" asked Angelina.
"'Course I have, Mum! I just thought flip-flops would make for good seasonal wear," explained Fred patiently.
"Don't give your mother cheek!" yelled George, but he wasn't able to keep his voice from breaking into a laugh.
"Sorry, mum!" said Fred, putting on the most innocent face he could muster.
But at this point, Angelina was glaring at her husband for laughing while reprimanding their child instead of at her son for giving her cheek.
"Oi, Angelina!" said George, with his most innocent look, which, not at all coincidentally, looked nearly identical to that of his son. "Please forgive your son, and your husband. It is Christmas, after all. We can summon his shoes for him when we get home. And the flip-flops do make for a rather amusing seasonal choice."
Angelina took a deep breath. Even at the age of 11, Al had already speculated that it was only owing to his aunt's spectacular ability to forget her anger quickly that she and his uncle George were still on speaking terms after all these years. This situation was no different, and Angelina soon had a smile on her face. "Ah well. 8 months and the boy's off to Hogwarts to confuse professors rather than his poor mother."
In the time that Angelina had been arguing with George and Fred, Ron, Hermione, and Hugo had made their way through the fire-place and taken seats quietly around the living room. No one, apparently, wanted to miss the show. Now that the argument was over, however, greetings were exchanged all around.
"So, that's Fred, then, if you hadn't picked up on it," said Al.
"Yes, I'd picked up on that," said Chloe, who had gotten up to shake his hand.
"Fred, meet Chloe," instructed Al.
"I like your flip-flops. Pink suits you," said Chloe.
"Yes, well, I saw one of those muggle t-shirts claiming that 'Real men wear pink.' And I figured that real men wear pink flip-flops," said Fred.
"Interesting point," said Chloe.
Arthur suddenly apparated into the living-room, directly between Chloe and Fred, who, having finished shaking hands, were only standing three feet away from each other.
"Hello, everybody!" greeted Arthur.
Not a moment later, Charlie also apparated into the living room, followed almost immediately by his wife Fran, who was holding their baby, Timmy. "Are we the last to arrive, then?" asked Charlie, after surveying the room quickly. Timmy was the single only child amongst the Weasley cousins. His parents had only gotten married three years before, and had decided that it was too late in life to have more than one kid.
"Nope, we still need Bill's lot. Teddy's coming along with them, as well," said Harry.
"'Course he is," said Charlie with a smile. "Is he still dating our little Victoire, then?"
"Yes, though I'm sure she'd be appalled to hear you call her 'little,'" pointed out Hermione.
"She's appalled with an awful lot, if you ask me," pointed out Fred.
"No talking badly about your cousins! It's Christmas!" warned Angelina.
"I know it is," pointed out Fred in a sly whisper to Al, beside whom he had just taken a seat. "That's why I haven't insulted Andy yet." Fred gestured over to Andy, who was sitting with his father, Percy.
"I'm not looking forward to him being in Hogwarts next year," whispered Al, making sure that no one but Fred heard.
"Nor am I. I bet we both get sorted into Gryffindor, too, and I'll have to share a room with him. Oh well... At least if we're in the same house, I know he'll get prefect over me, and that'd be a load off my shoulders. We both know my father wouldn't stand a prefect in the family," said Fred.
"I'm sure you'll think of plenty of ways to not get made prefect," Al comforted him.
Jacques, who was the younger of Fleur and Bill's two children, came through the fire-place.
"The rest will apparate over in just a moment," said Jacques, after getting his bearings.
"Hi, Jacques!" said James, as he sat down beside him. "Looking forward to having Gryffindor whip you in the next Quidditch match?"
"You know you won't," retorted Jacques with a confident smile. Jacques was a fourth year Ravenclaw, and played Keeper for the team. Victoire was in Ravenclaw as well, although she didn't play Quidditch.
Finally, in four separate pops, Fleur, Bill, Victoire, and Teddy apparated into the living room, completing the full contingent of Weasleys.
The living room was extremely crowded in spite of its great size, nearly half as big as a common-room at Hogwarts, and there was happy chatting among all the guests in the living room while Penelope, Molly, Ginny, and Fleur completed dinner preparations.
The sound of chattering only got louder as the many Weasleys were packed around two long tables in the dining room to eat dinner. Still, there was yet more noise when the party moved back into the living room and presents had been distributed and began to be opened. Every time someone opened a present, they would yell their thanks, often clear across the room, to the person who had put the present under the tree for them.
There were a total of hundreds of presents opened by the more than two dozen people at the party, but the one that had all the children the most excited was, unsurprisingly, the one from the joke shop.
Although he gave each of his nephews and nieces a bag full of goodies suited to their personal tastes, he made sure that each of the children, including Chloe, got a prototype of his new product. It looked like a normal piece of parchment, but, as all the Weasley children knew, it was clearly not that simple.
"So, here's what you want to do," said George, explaining the gift after everyone had opened theirs. "First, you write along the top the names of whoever you want to be able to see what you write on the paper. Obviously, you can only write to people who also have one of these, and I would advise using first and last names, because if some other bloke named Al buys one of these, any message that you send just to 'Al' will go to both of them. But, anyway, once you start writing to someone, you can see what they write, and you can see what they write. You can also divide the page into separate columns, by drawing lines down the page. Then only the people whose names are written in each column can see what you write to them. As you fill up the parchment, information on the top will disappear so that you can keep writing at the bottom. You can clear the paper and start over by tapping it with a wand. Basically, this parchment is the best way to pass notes in class, without actually passing notes. But, of course, it works over longer distances, too. If it sells well enough, it could eventually put a damper on the owl-industry."
Chloe thought for a second. "So... kind of like chatting in the muggle-world?"
"Yeah..." said George slowly. "Only you write it instead of talking."
Chloe looked confused. Then, after comprehension struck, she said, "Oh, no, I meant 'chatting' on the internet."
"What?" asked Al.
"Oh, never mind," said Chloe.
Arthur looked quite interested by the subject, however, and Al smiled as he knew that Chloe was likely to get cornered by his grandfather and forced to explain whatever the internet was to him before he would leave the house.
Another gift that each of the grandchildren got was one of Molly Weasleys' famous sweaters. It had finally gotten to the point only a few years before where she was too busy making sweaters for all the grandchildren that she was no longer able to make them for her own children, a fact for which they were all rather grateful.
"I didn't mean to leave you out, Chloe," said Molly, as all the other grandchildren (except baby Timmy) performed the yearly tradition of pulling Gran Weasley's sweater on over whatever they had worn that morning.
"That's all right," said Chloe, who was once again a bit overwhelmed by the pile of gifts in front of her, as many of the Weasleys seemed to have been warned she was coming. "And thanks again for the scarf."
"Don't mention it," said Molly. "Next year you'll get a proper sweater. I only had time to make the scarf on short notice, though. You see, I knit by hand. Find it's more personal that way. You will be here next year, of course? Ginny said she's making this into a yearly family tradition."
Chloe wanted to protest that she wasn't family, as grateful as she was that everyone here seemed to be so keen on treating her as if she was. However, she just gave a meek smile instead, as Fred answered for her. "Don't worry Gran, we'll make sure she's here."
That made Chloe laugh in spite of how awkward she was once again starting to feel. She had known Fred for less than three hours and he was already making promises on her behalf. Al had not been joking when he said Fred was an interesting kid.
Rose plopped down beside Chloe, causing Chloe to have to scoot closer to Al on the already crowded couch. "Hey, thanks so much for the drawing. You mentioned you drew, but you never said you were that good at it!"
"Well, I don't like to brag," said Chloe jokingly. "But, seriously, you like it?"
"Of course!" said Rose, with obvious sincerity.
"I'm glad," said Chloe, who was somewhat surprised to find that she believed Rose more than she believed Al when he said he liked his. She supposed she thought of Al as more likely to lie to spare her feelings than Rose was. Not to say that Rose was inconsiderate of her feelings. But Chloe had been getting the feeling lately that Al might have a crush on her. Unless it was just wishful thinking. Chloe shook her head to clear it of these distracting thoughts and instead focus on the conversation at hand with Rose.
"Thanks for the color-changing ink, by the way," Chloe added. "It will be interesting to use it with my drawings."
"Oooh, yeah, it will be. You'll have to show me how it turns out. No more hiding your drawings anymore!"
"All right, then," said Chloe, with a smile.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the room, Jacques raised his voice and said, "James and I seem to have a bit of a dispute regarding our Chasing skills. Might anyone be in the mood to help us settle the score by starting a game?"
Harry was the first to respond, "What an excellent idea, you two!"
"Right," said Bill, who was clearly also excited to play.
"Victoire and Teddy, are you going to play? I can grab your brooms when I apparate over," offered Bill.
"I'll play," said Teddy.
"I'll watch," said Victoire.
Three minutes and several apparition-pops later, everyone had their brooms and was ready to go outside. Gryffindor's Hollow was home to several wizarding families, as well as a number of Muggles. The wizards had gotten together years ago and set up some charms over a field to make it so that no muggles would be able to notice if the wizards used their brooms over the field. Harry, Ron, Charlie, Bill, George, Fred, Angelina, James, Al, Jacques, and Teddy were each getting ready to play.
Harry did a quick count. "There's only 11 of us. We need one more for even teams, then we can just have each team be down a beater and just play with one bludger. Why aren't you playing, Ginny?"
Ginny gave a short laugh. "You may not have noticed, but we just had a boat-load of people eat here. I need to clean up!"
"We could clean up later, and I'd help," offered Harry.
Ginny gave a glance toward her mother and then back at Harry. "It'd be more responsible to clean up now."
"Er... All right, do you want me to stay in and help?" he asked hesitantly. It was quite clear that he hoped his wife would let him go out and play quidditch.
"No, no, go play," said Ginny kindly. "Shouldn't be too hard to clean with magic."
"Thanks, honey," said Harry, giving her a quick kiss.
"Can I play?" asked Lily. "I'd just need to borrow a broom!"
Harry almost nodded before Ginny said, "Not now, sweetie, it's too cold outside."
"I've got a cloak, I'll be fine!" said Lily. "Why do Al and James get to play?"
"They're older than you," said Ginny.
"But--" said Lily.
"Maybe we'll get a game or two together this summer and you can play, all right Lils?" asked Harry.
Lily knew that if both of her parents were in agreement on this, then there was no way she was going to get her way.
She looked about ready to start pouting, but then Rose said, "Hey, Lily, I brought my first written Charms test to show you. Thought you might get a kick of seeing how many of the answers you could get right already."
Al rolled his eyes at the fact that Rose had brought a test to a Christmas party, but he knew he couldn't really be too surprised, considering who her mother was. Lily, in turn, looked up to Rose. And since Rose had memorized half of the Standard Book of Spells Year One when she was nine, Lily had rather big shoes to fill if she wanted to emulate her cousin. Frankly, Al hoped that trying to emulate Rose was a phase that Lily would grow out of. As much as he loved Rose, it got a bit annoying always knowing his grades were going to be lower than hers, and he wasn't sure he could deal with his sister showing him up as well.
Finally Victoire decided to play instead of just watch, and the twelve started to make their way outside. Chloe, who didn't have a broom and didn't feel comfortable enough on a broom to want to borrow someone else's, started to follow those going outside. Then, after Rose and Lily had gone upstairs, Chloe quickly told Al, "You know what, actually I'm going to go with Lily and Rose instead, ok?"
Al's face fell a bit, as if he'd been looking forward to Chloe seeing him play, but then he said, "Yeah, all right, have fun."
"Yeah, you have fun playing Quidditch!" agreed Chloe.
But when Chloe went upstairs, after making her way through the living room with the younger children and the less Quidditch-oriented of the older guests, it was not to find Lily and Rose, but instead to seek somewhere that she could just be by herself for a few minutes.
It wasn't that she was ungrateful for the fact that the Weasleys and Potters had taken them into their family with an almost absurd speed. It was just that since the beginning of vacation, she'd been almost constantly around people. During the day, she'd been around Al, and often Rose, since Rose had visited Al's house both of the past two days. Sure, at night she was alone in Al's room, since Al was staying with James, but sleeping in someone else's bed always made her uncomfortable. She felt like she was in their personal space or something.
Usually, of course, Chloe was a rather sociable person, so being around people wasn't usually a problem. But at the moment, she really felt like she needed to be alone with her thoughts.
Once she got up to the second floor, she passed by Lily's room and went into Al's room.
She shut the door quietly behind her and sat down on the bed. She hadn't intended to sleep, but once she sat down on the soft bed, she suddenly realized how sleepy she was. Apparently, the trouble she had been having falling asleep in Al's bed, combined with being dragged out of bed early by Lily this morning, had taken its toll. She decided that she could be alone with her thoughts just as easily laying down as sitting up, so she laid down. Within three minutes, she was asleep.
She woke with a start when Ginny opened the door half an hour later.
"Oh, sorry!" Chloe yelled embarrassedly.
"Oh, no need to be sorry, Chloe," said Ginny nicely. "I'm the one who should be sorry. Should have thought to knock, but I thought you were down at the Quidditch pitch. Anyway, I was just putting Al's presents away for him."
"That's nice of you," said Chloe.
"Thanks," said Ginny, with a friendly smile as she sat down on the bed next to Chloe. "You know, me and you haven't gotten much of a chance to talk yet. I mean, I know you understand, with the preparations and everything. And we should have plenty of time to talk before you go back to school. That is, if you think Al won't mind me being a part of your guys' conversation once in awhile. I don't know, I just feel like I haven't been friendly enough to you."
Chloe noted immediately that Ginny was an oddly open person for an adult. Chloe respected that immensely, but that didn't stop her from being genuinely shocked at Ginny's statement. "Of course you've been friendly enough. Almost too friendly!" She paused. "That didn't come out right."
"It's ok. I'd rather be too friendly than not friendly enough, any day," Ginny said. "But if you want to explain more about what you mean, I'd be happy to listen."
"Well. It's not that you're being too friendly, I guess, it's just..." Chloe took a deep breath, torn about whether or not she should go on. She decided she might as well. Ginny had already seen her napping during a Christmas party, so if she was going to think she was weird, she'd probably started already. Plus, she seemed to be just nice enough of a person that she might genuinely be able to make Chloe feel a bit better if she confided in her. It would be a lot easier than confiding in Al or Rose, since she wouldn't have to see this woman every day, at least not once Christmas break was over. Chloe decided to continue, saying "It's just that... Well, I don't feel like I deserve it."
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny. Her tone was still kind, not suggesting that what Chloe was saying was absurd, just wanting to understand better.
"Well, you're all treating me so nice and everything. And I didn't know anyone here except Al, Rose, and James until three days ago, and you got me presents, and I didn't even have any money to get Al, Rose, or James presents, so I had to draw them drawings. And now I'm rambling! That one sentence was entirely too long," said Chloe.
Ginny's smile widened into a grin. "It's good that you're able to joke even when you're upset. Makes it just a little bit easier, doesn't it?"
"I guess so," admitted Chloe.
"Well, it sounds like you've got at least a couple issues going on here, but let me first try to explain why we're being so nice to you. There's something that you should know about us Weasleys. And, just to clarify, when I say 'Weasleys', here, I'm including Al, James, and Lily into the mix, because even though their last name is technically 'Potter,' they fit in splendidly with the rest of the family . Anyway, for generations, Weasleys have been famous for three things that made our family stand out from a lot of other Wizarding families. We all had red hair, as many kids as we could afford to raise, and bigger hearts than anyone else around. Now, you probably noticed from a quick glance around the living room during the party that the red hair thing is starting to become less of a distinctive feature. Just at an estimate, without counting in my head, I'd say we're down to just a little over half in my kids' generation. And unless you think we're poor, you've probably also gathered that we're not reproducing under the same rules that we used to be, either. I'm not too sure what the thought process was for my brothers and their wives, but I know what mine and Harry's was. See, one night we were joking about how everyone said that us Weasleys always had more kids than we can afford (that was the meaner version of the stereotype, saying that there were more kidsthan we could afford, instead of just as many), and we did the math. See, Harry got a pretty sizable inheritance from his parents, and, well... I'm not sure if Al would want me blabbing to you about how rich his father is, but we figured out that in order for us to overstep our financial means purely by raising kids, we'd have to have a number of kids that was well beyond practical to squeeze into my childbearing years. So we decided to just have the three. Anyway, my point is that now that our family has finally come into its own a bit financially, we seem to have stopped breeding with the same kind of uncontrollable enthusiasm as before. So the only Weasley family tradition that hasn't changed is that we've got some of the biggest hearts around. And I kind of hope that that tradition grows stronger, especially if the other two traditions are doomed to die out." Ginny paused. "You probably think I'm strange now, don't you? Just don't hold it against Al, okay?"
Chloe laughed. "Oh, trust me, Al's plenty weird himself. And you're not coming off as that weird. Just open. And I like that."
"I'm glad," said Ginny with a smile. "Now as for the money thing, I hope that from what I said just now, you've picked up that the Weasley family is the last group of people you should be embarrassed among for not having that much money. My brothers and I all grew up with... Well, we didn't really lack anything that we needed, but I always had to wear my robes for more years than my classmates had to, and my brothers were always getting hand-me-downs. 'Course, I got more than my share of hand-me-down books and school-supplies. And my first pet was a Pygmy-Puff. If you don't know what those are, they're just little ball of furs. Cost a lot less to buy and keep healthy than a cat or an owl, that's the relevant point. Anyway, I'm not complaining, I'm just trying to say that I know what it's like to not have a lot of money. And Harry didn't quite grow up in the lap of luxury either, even though he had to watch his cousin do just that. I think both Harry and I have done our best to make sure the kids don't grow up into spoiled little rich-kids, and I think we've done a good job so far. So I'm sure that Al and James are grateful for their gifts from you, and I know Lily was thrilled with hers. And if I know Ron and Hermione's parenting style as well as I think I do, Rose is just as thrilled with hers as well. Giving them something you had to do yourself was a lot more thoughtful than dropping a couple sickles on a box of candies anyway. Not that I'm insulting the merits of candy as a gift, of course."
Chloe nodded. "Thanks," she said. "This conversation has actually helped a lot more than I thought it would. Is it okay if I tell you one more thing, though?"
Ginny nodded emphatically. "Shoot."
"All right. Well. My family's not really poor, or anything. And, when I say 'my family', I just mean me and my Dad. See..." she trailed off again, then started up cautiously. "Hey, don't tell Al or James or anyone any of this, all right? Just, I haven't really told any of them yet, and I'd rather them hear it from me, first, if they've got to hear it."
"I understand," said Ginny.
"All right, well, my Mum left us just after I was born. My Dad's raised me by himself. Which isn't a problem by itself, 'cause he's always been about the most loving guy you could ever meet," Chloe paused and smiled. "Seems like my family and yours share that trait, eh? Anyway, we've always gotten along real well and everything, until I got my letter from Hogwarts explaining that I was a witch. He didn't take it really well. I mean, it wasn't like he burst into hysterics or anything, trying to burn me at the stake or something like they did to people they called witches in medieval times. More like he just quietly realized that he didn't know me nearly as well as he thought. Like he'd had this stranger living with him under his roof for 11 years whose identity had just become clear, and he didn't like it. Like he couldn't relate to me anymore." By this point, Chloe's voice had cracked and she'd started crying. She was a little bit embarrassed but knew there was no way to stop now, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to stop. She realized now that she'd needed to cry for awhile. Days, maybe. And now it was coming out, and in an odd way it felt almost nice to get it out. Ginny had put her arms around her.
"I'm really sorry, sweetie," she said consolingly. "I really can't imagine how tough that would be." Ginny seemingly had nothing else to say just yet, but waited in silence for Chloe to continue.
Finally, Chloe, who had been unable to talk through her crying, managed to get the crying down to just tears instead of the sobbing it had reached at its worst point. She continued. "Anyway, it was really awkward between us for the whole summer after I got the letter, and I was really hoping that at Christmas, once he'd had some time alone to adjust to the whole idea, he'd kind of come around and accept me for who I was. But, the last time I sent him an owl, in November, he sent it back-- I told him with the first owl I sent him that he could send a letter back with it if he just tied the parchment to his leg, so he's been using owl-post, just for return-letters to me-- with a response that mentioned he was going to Sweden or somewhere for Christmas, I forget exactly where. But he asked me to see if I could stay at school for Christmas."
Chloe looked at Ginny, tears coming out of her eyes. "So you think he just doesn't want you around anymore?" asked Ginny sympathetically.
Chloe nodded helplessly. She hated having her guard down so much with someone she didn't even know. She hated having her guard down this much with people she did know, which is why she hadn't told all this to Al or Rose. Whenever the subject of families came up, Chloe had just kind of skated over the issue and allowed Rose and Al, and sometimes Brittany, to monopolize the conversation. Their families were much more interesting than hers anyway.
"Well, there's other things that it could be," said Ginny. "I mean, I don't want to be putting any ideas into your head, but maybe he's met another woman and is spending Christmas break with her, but didn't feel comfortable telling you?"
Chloe thought the idea sounded a bit far-fetched, but still thought it was funny that Ginny was willing to discuss the possibility so openly with her. "I don't think so," said Chloe. "Because that wouldn't explain the awkwardness over the summer. Oh, wait. I forgot to mention. Over the summer, after the letter came, that's how all this tied into the presents. See, he stopped giving me allowance when the letter came. Frankly, that had seemed like one of the less distressing parts of my situation at the time, so I didn't care so much about it, but... Well, just, it became a bit of a problem when I was trying to think of what presents to buy people." Chloe smiled weakly, remembering what Ginny had said recently about being able to joke even when you were down.
"Well, like I said, it's really hard for me to relate to what it'd be like to be a muggle-born finding out you were a witch. And I really don't know what it'd be like for a parent. I mean... Every wizarding parent has the worry in the back of their mind that maybe their kid will be a squib, but it's not the same, because at least when it does happen, it's something the parents knew might happen. It'd be more like if there were no muggles at all in the world, just wizards, and all of a sudden some parent found out that his kid was the only one around who couldn't do magic. It really would be tough," said Ginny.
"Yeah, I know," said Chloe, starting to calm down a bit, although slowly. "It's not exactly that I blame him for it. And I've still got hope that he'll sort himself out in the end. I mean, I was hoping for Christmas break, but he only found out in July, and half a year is kind of a short time to adjust to something so life-changing. It must be hard for him not having me around the house, though. I think he depended on me in some ways. Geez. I wish I wasn't old enough to realize that about him. It was easier when I didn't know he needed to depend on anybody. Growing up's tough."
"Try doing it with six older brothers," said Ginny with a smile.
Chloe laughed, wiping away the last of the tears. "Well, I think on that score you just might have me beat." She paused again. "I really appreciate you talking to me about this. I really think it helped a little bit. I mean, it's still hard, what I'm going through with my Dad and all, but, it was definitely better to talk about it."
"And to cry a little bit, right?" asked Ginny knowingly.
"Yeah, that helped, too. Although now I'm even more tired than I was before," she said.
"That can happen, sometimes. Why don't you take another quick nap? I'd be surprised if the Quidditch-heroes come back in anything less than another hour, and when they do, I'll make some hot chocolate. Should I wake you up for that?"
"That sounds wonderful," said Chloe gratefully. She gave Ginny a hug, although the hug was about a lot more than the hot chocolate.
"I'm glad we had this little chat. And, I'll keep my promise and won't say a word about it to anyone, but... I really think you might want to tell one of your friends about it. Not that we can't be friends, but you know what I mean. A friend your own age. I think you should tell Al and Rose, since you seem to be such close friends with both of them, but I can see why you might not want to tell something like this to a boy. Men, especially Potter men, aren't great with talking about emotions."
"I'll keep that in mind. But I do think I'll tell both of them. Eventually," said Chloe.
Ginny smiled. "Well, I hope you will. Anyway, I'll just turn this light out for you and be on my way."
"Thanks Mrs. Potter," she said.
"Oh, call me Ginny. I think that anyone who you're comfortable enough with to cry in front of is someone you can call by their first name," she said.
Chloe smiled again. "Thanks, Ginny."
A/N: All right, so, I really hope you enjoyed that chapter, and if you did, I'd definitely like to hear why. Even if you didn't like it, I'd like to hear what was bad, too, and constructive criticism's appreciated even if you liked the chapter. Long story short: Review! Thanks for reading!
