Chapter Seven
"You three are driving me absolutely nuts," Fred sighed as the triplets ran energetically through his office, chasing each other with fanged Frisbees, squid-in-a-box and other assorted pranks produced by the Weasley twins.
Upon hearing the distressed note in their uncle's voice, the three children quickly ceased their play time. It was Grace who spoke first, "We're worry Uncle Fred, well, maybe Penny's not, but me and Malcolm are." She fixed Fred with those large hazel eyes. Katie had apparently taught her the trick to the puppy dog eyes and the little seven year old had quickly mastered it.
Nodding quickly, Malcolm hurried to Grace's side and set up his own puppy dog eyes. He scuffed his foot on the wooden floor of the office, "We didn't mean nothing by it, Uncle Fred. We was just playin'."
After shooting a glare at her brother and sister, Penny also glanced innocently at her uncle, "I'm sorry too, Uncle Fred. We can stop playing if you want us to."
Fred issued a sigh and rubbed his temples with his thumb and index finger. Did he and George give their mother headaches this big? If so, he would have to visit her later and apologize. "How about this," he proposed, "you three be as quiet as you can until I'm done with this paper work, and I'll take you to Auntie Katie's new flat. Would you like that alright?"
The girls gasped and jumped in excitement, while Malcolm whooped loudly. Katie was they're absolute favorite, because she would always play with them whenever she saw them. She would do the girly thing, as Malcolm would call it, with Penny and Grace, and would teach him the latest Quidditch moves. She had even purchased a Jr. Broomstick kit for him.
Auntie Katie was the greatest!
With the triplets now silent, Fred was able to get back to work. Who would have ever guessed that Fred Weasley would actually take paper work seriously? And in the joking business on top of that?
George had chosen that time to quickly walk into his brother's office, "The new shipment just arrive from Romania. We can get started on that special project."
Nodding, Fred glanced at his co-owner and brother, "And how many did we get?"
"More than we bargained for," George replied with a grin.
That same grin had spread across Fred's face at the answer, then he looked to the triplets, who were still remaining silent. He smiled at them, "You three want to be off to Auntie Katie's now? I'm sure she won't mind you hanging out with her for a while."
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" They yelled together, hopping from foot to foot in excitement.
"George could you--" Fred began, looking from the triplets to his twin.
George waved him aside, "No need to ask, bro. I'll take them to Katie's while you get everything set up." To the triplets he said, "Alright, troops! Head on out of here, single file, ten hut!"
Penny, Grace and Malcolm lined up in a perfectly straight line and began to march in place, though not quite together. George nodded his head in satisfaction, looking over each of them with a military scowl. He grunted, "Forward, march! Left. Right. Left. Right. Keep it moving soldiers! Left. Right. Left. Right. Left." George marched out behind them, gently closing the door to Fred's office as they departed.
Because George felt no child should always depend heavily on magic and that the triplets were in need of a little exercise every now and then, the four marched all the way to Katie's new living quarters.
Right, and the fact that the Weasley brother had been too lazy to purchase more floo powder that day had absolutely nothing to do with it.
"Company, halt!" George growled in his most 'intimidating' voice, and the triplets quickly stopped, tripping over their feet and stumbling over one another during the process. They quickly collected themselves and stood up straight, staring ahead at the plain white door that would lead them into the flat.
George marched in front of them, "Private Penny, prepare to initiate knocking sequence."
Penny marched a little closer to the door and raised a clenched fist to it. "Prepared to knock, sir!" A small giggled escaped from somewhere behind her. It was Grace.
"Is there something funny, Private Grace?" George asked, bending at the waist so that he could look the girl in the eyes. When she quickly shook her head, George continued with his interrogation, "Did I give you permission to giggle?" Again, Grace shook her head. "And do soldiers cry?"
But Grace didn't answer when the front door to the flat suddenly opened, and Katie was revealed, drying her dampened hair. A smirk played across her face and she shook her head while she gently tsked. "I thought I heard you out here, General George," she teased.
She looked over the three children, grinning, "Private Malcolm, was General George giving you three too much trouble again?"
Malcolm's grin, which rivaled that of the Weasley twins, grew wider as he was asked this question. He gave a sidelong glance to his uncle before looking back at Katie and quickly nodding.
George gasped, "I'm hurt, Private Malcolm!"
The girls giggled and Katie laughed before she allowed everyone in. Upon entering, the triplets ran rampant, leaving George to have a brief word with their babysitter. George lowered his voice so the children wouldn't hear, "Sorry to dump them on you like this, Katie, and without any notice. Fred and I just got a new shipment in, Angelina's got training and Alicia's been working mad hours again."
Katie shook her head and waved it aside, "Don't worry about it, George. It was either me, or your poor mum, and you know she hasn't been fairing up too well as of late."
The red haired man nodded and scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah. But, thanks a bunch, and do want us to pick them up at any certain time?"
"Let them spend the night," Katie said, shrugging her shoulders, "We've got a guest room in this place, and I'm pretty sure Seaver won't care."
"You're an angel, Katie," George replied, embracing his friend in a tight hug.
After being released from the warm embrace, Katie smirked at him, "Yeah, you'll get my bill when you pick them up."
George feigned a grimace and ducked out of the door, "Well, in that case, I better just go ahead and leave them with you for the rest of forever."
Whacking his arm playfully and pushing him out the door, Katie and George said their goodbyes, leaving Katie full reign of her favorite Weasleys. "Who's ready for the grand tour of Auntie Katie's new flat?"
"I am! I am!" The triplets cried out, though not together.
In no time at all, Katie was showing the three children about the large flat. They even had a close encounter with Seaver herself as she rushed in, complaining about how she was late for a vitally important meeting. The chaser did; however, take a moment to be introduced to each child, but nothing more. She declared that she would more than likely be fined and fired if she were any more tardy than she already was.
Moments after Seaver's departure, Malcolm and Grace had engaged in a game of gobstones while Katie did Penny's nails in bright magenta color. When there was a gentle knock on the flat's front door, all activity came to a standstill.
"You three hold tight," Katie grunted, as she pulled herself up from the floor and over to the front door. When she opened it, she could have been pushed over with a feather. "O-Oliver."
The newest addition to the Chuddley Cannons, smiled brightly, holding up what looked like a bottle of wine. "I thought that you could use a little house warming gift."
"Is that wine?" Katie whispered, eying the bottle with caution.
Oliver grinned, shaking his head, and turning the bottle about so that Katie could read the label. "It's that new Sparkling Pumpkin Juice. It's pretty good stuff, thought you, even Seaver, might like some."
After standing there for a moment in complete silence, Oliver finally spoke, "Uh, are you going to let me in, or will I have to stand out here until you close the door in my face?"
"Oh! I--" Katie blushed a bit, still terribly confused as to why her new teammate was at her new place of residence of all places. "I'm sorry, come right in."
"Blimey!" Malcolm shouted, upon seeing Oliver enter the house. "You! You're Oliver Wood!"
At the boy's exclamation, Grace and Penny looked up from their tasks to their newest arrival. Though Penny was absolutely clueless as to who Oliver Wood was, Grace was little short of astounded.
Oliver grinned at the three little red heads before glancing at Katie. The blond smiled, "They are my charges for the day. Meet Malcolm, Grace and Penny."
The three waved energetically, though not quite as energetically as Malcolm. In no time at all, the flat resumed normalcy, and Malcolm had engaged Oliver in a few rounds of exploding snap. After having been royally destroyed by the young boy, Oliver collapsed onto the couch next to Katie.
"So what's the story with the triplets?" Oliver asked in a small voice. "I know they aren't your's, and I know the stork didn't just drop them on your door step."
Katie grinned and shook her head, "No, I don't think I'm going to feed you the stork story." For a minute she was silent, watching as Malcolm defeated his sisters at the game he had thrashed Oliver in. With a small sigh, the blond looked back at her teammate, "They're Percy and Penelope's kids."
"Really!"
"Keep your voice down," Katie chastised him silently, but then nodded, "Yeah. Turns out, when they graduated Penelope was pregnant and Percy didn't have a clue about the whole thing. When she did tell him, the prick didn't believe her." She glanced at the three red haired children, shaking her head. "Yeah, the whole red hair must be all her fault, seeing that she has black hair and all."
Oliver snorted, trying to fight back a small bout of laughter, but fell silent when Katie began to speak once more. "I'm not clear on exactly what happened," she went on, "Fred and George didn't give me the details, but Penelope became very ill with some really weird illness and had to be carted off to St. Mungo's, leaving the triplets homeless. Mrs. Weasley took them in, but it was a bit much for her, so when Fred and George took off on their own, they took Malcolm, Penny and Grace with them."
"Interesting," the Scottsman said, being that it was the only word he could think of that applied to the situation. They were silent for a moment before a single word was uttered between them. "Well, does the prat acknowledge the fact that his brothers are taking care of his kids?"
Katie shook her head, "Percy hasn't been on good terms with the family for almost six years now. Every now and then Mrs. Weasley will try to show some sort of love toward him, but he doesn't really seem to care enough and blows her off. The rest of the Weasley's just pretend that Percy never existed."
With a small nod, he responded, "Yeah, that's the best way to forget about the git, I suppose. He was a bloody annoyance back at Hogwarts. I swear, I was going to kill him, but then I would have gotten expelled and would never play Quidditch again."
Katie couldn't help but laugh at this comment. It was as if Oliver was his teenage, Quidditch obsessed self once again, but the moment was a fleeting one, because Oliver quickly frowned and shrugged, "Not that I wouldn't mind if I stopped playing Quidditch for a bit now."
"You can't not play Quidditch," Katie said, slightly startled and not caring that she had used a double negative. "It should be a crime if you don't play! You used to love everything about Quidditch. The fundamentals, the history, the actual sport--"
Oliver shook his head, grinning weakly, causing Katie's voice to die away slightly. The man sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "That was a long time ago, and, well people change."
"But you aren't supposed to," Katie argued.
"And you haven't," Oliver replied tartly.
At his tone, Katie looked away from him and bit down on her lower lip. "I didn't mean to be so pushy," she apologized, causing Oliver to immediately feel a bit of guilt on his part.
He quickly stood, "Listen, it's getting pretty late. I should get going." He headed for the flat's door. At remembering the triplets he quickly turned around, "Bye, guys."
"Bye Oliver!" Malcolm called, abandoning his thirteenth game of exploding snap to run over to his Quidditch idol and give him a high five.
"Bye Mr. Wood!" Grace said respectably, waving excitedly at him. Penny simply smiled dreamily, staring at the new keeper for the Chudley Cannons. Katie laughed, realizing that little Penny had developed a little bit of a crush on Mr. Oliver Wood.
"I think you might have a new fan, Oliver," Katie said, jerking her head toward Penny, who turned a bright red when he looked in her direction, and quickly started up another game of exploding snap, threatening to start if Malcolm didn't hurry up.
Oliver smiled, "I don't think I can handle another fan at the moment. I almost got jumped by a little old witch when I was at the Leaky Cauldron the other day. Her husband almost jumped me too." He shook his head and smiled, "Said I was using too much charm on his wife and that I deserved a good beating."
That earned another quick laugh from the blond. "Well," he went on again, "I should be going, really. I've got to meet with Crystal before practice tomorrow."
And with that, he left.
Penny stood at Katie's side watching him leave, then finally she spoke. "He's really dreamy, Auntie Katie. You're lucky that you get to see him all the time."
"That I am, Penny," Katie said silently, more to herself than the child. "Come on, let's get you, Malcolm and Grace to bed, because you three are going to practice with Auntie Katie tomorrow."
"More Quidditch?" Penny complained?
"You'll be able to see Mr. Wood."
Penny instantly perked up and hurried into the heart of the flat to tell her brother and sister to hurry into bed. Katie grinned at the girl's reaction.
Tomorrow would certainly prove to be an interesting one.
