Chapter 9: Kin

BellaPOV

"Hermione!" Ginny squealed, Harry said happily and Jacob shouted. "When did you get here?" Harry asked, giving her a quick hug. "Just now, with Ron and Rose," she said happily. "James let me in," she added. Ginny scowled. "I thought he'd went to bed, it's nine o' clock!" she grumbled, walking out of the kitchen to put him back in bed. "Hermione, this is my sister, Bella, and her brother, Cedward," Harry told her.

"Hi," I said with a smile. Hermione was pretty and she looked nice. She had poofy brown hair, and she was wearing plain jeans and a T-shirt with a pair of Chucks. How I wished for a nice pair of jeans, instead of these dresses and skirts. I was wearing a very impractical red skort, since skorts are at least a bit like shorts (I'd rather have shorts than these awful dresses), with a silk brown shirt. "Are you staying here over Christmas?" I asked her. "Yep," Hermione said as a tall guy that looked a bit like Ginny with red hair walked in and said, "Hey, Harry, Jacob. Who's this?" he said, acknowledging Cedward and I.

"I'm Bella," I said, pouring myself a cup of tea and offering some to everyone else nonverbally. "Harry's sister," I added when he looked confused. "Harry, you have a sister?" Ron asked, "But - " Hermione said quickly, making me realize she was very quick-witted, "She's about a year younger than him. She was adopted by the Cullens."

Ron looked at Cedward. "Hey, you look just like someone I used to know," he said. "His name was Cedric Diggory." Cedward looked at him. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he said, pouring himself a crimson glass of 'wine'. But I knew what it really was. Blood.

Hermione exited the room. I sipped my tea and Cedward left the room, gladly. No more than a minute later, Hermione reentered with an adorable little girl, Albus' age. "Who's this?" I asked cheerfully, walking over to hold the little girl. "This is Rose," Hermione said. "She's two." "Hi!" Rose said, clapping her hands.

Thirty minutes later, I was playing peek-a-boo with Rose while Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and all of the Cullens besides Cedward were sitting at the dining room table, chatting. Then I was very tired, and Rose fell asleep in my arms. I gave Rose to Jake, who was sitting up on the lounge chair in the dining room, sleeping, then I went to go to bed.

In the morning, it was very hectic. Jake and Ginny flew around the kitchen, cooking while Alice, Rosalie and Emmett played with the kids in the snow. Harry and Ron were at work. Hermione was sorting the library (she had a bookstore). Jasper was cleaning out the refrigerator to make room for what there would be at Christmas. That left me to clean the rest of the house, and Cedward sitting in his spare room, reading a book and being lazy.

So I made beds, folded laundry, scrubbed toilets, scoured the sinks, and just pretty much cleaned. But while I was doing the laundry, under a bath towel, I found my target: a pair of jeans. I felt the denim. It was soft and cuddly. I hugged them. I couldn't help but feel attached to them, no dress could ever match the greatness of these jeans. I looked around and slid them on under my nightgown. Then I found a shirt in Ginny's pile of clothed that was nice, cottony and said The Weird Sisters on it. I traded the nightgown for the shirt and finished doing the laundry. Then I went downstairs for lunch.

I went into the kitchen, got a "Good afternoon" from Hermione and a "Hey, hottie" from Jake, and I made a cup of tea. I was really getting addicted to British tea. It was good and strong, with plenty of caffeine. Cedward came in with a surly face, opened the refrigerator, and shouted, "Who drank my bl – wine?" "Jasper saw it in the fridge, and he thought it was going to… expire," Jake said, laughing. "Maybe you should lay off on the alcohol," I teased him. He licked his lips haughtily and said, "I'll get him back," lowly.

We ate a nice lunch of pasta and salad. As I sat down (last, I'd been waiting for my tea to strengthen) Ginny asked, "Are those my maternity jeans?" Alice scowled. "Why aren't you wearing the black taffeta dress I laid out on your bed for you to wear today?" she whined. I sat down and sipped my tea. "These are really comfy!" I said. "They're maternity," Rosalie said. "I haven't been allowed to wear jeans since I've been here, and they fit almost perfectly," I argued. "They're only a little bit too big."

"Maternity pants?" Jacob said. "Why are you wearing those?" he asked, not having listened to the first part of the conversation. "They. Are. Really. Comfy." I said. "I love the word 'comfy'," Hermione said, waving her fork, "It's so American." "Thank you," I said. Cedward looked angry as he sipped his blood. He must have found another bottle.

Then I noticed Emmett was eating human food. Then I realized he was just showing off to Rosalie. Geez.

"You're wearing maternity jeans," Cedward said, squeezing his blood glass, the stem of the glass threatening to crack. "I know!" I said, shoveling food into my mouth to ignore everyone else. "Give me a break. They're comfy." I said. "And Alice, I hate the way you dress me. I am not Barbie." "You're Bella," Jake said. "Not Barbie." Then he said, more quietly, "You're a lot prettier than Barbie." "I know," I said, "Plastic noses don't fit me."

Everyone had a good laugh and dropped the subject of the comfy maternity jeans.

Except Cedward.

Ginny took a well-earned break and drove Jacob and I to a cobblestone parking lot in London. Jake kept complaining about Floo Powder and that I was a Squib so I technically wasn't a Muggle so we could just get to where we were going quicker (they wouldn't tell me where they were taking me), but Ginny would have none of it and said that she liked to drive.

She was a very terrifying driver.

When we got to the cobblestone parking lot, we walked to a bar, or pub, as they all called it. I protested that I was not going into a bar, or pub, or whatever, but Jake told me it was just the place we had to go, it was the entrance to the shopping village. So I held my breath and we walked in to the pub.

It was grimy and dirty, and a toothless man sat at the counter, handing creepy people dirty mugs, especially one of which I heard say "Mübth…" repetitively. A few hags sat in front of the counter, eating greasy food from dirty tin plates, and everyone there seemed slightly insane. One woman pointed at Ginny and said, "My daughter… you've come at last…"

We all hurried out the back door quickly. There was just a wall, a squared-in alleyway with trashcans and a rather patchy old silver cat eating off of the ground where a pile of meaty bones sat by the exit door. Ginny strode to the back brick wall and tapped a brick with a thin stick she took out of her pocket.

The wall transformed, the bricks shifting, looking like Tetris blocks, moving around until they settled. It was an arch. As we walked through it, Jacob said, "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

It was different than Hogsmeade; it was a whole different feeling in the air. It was excitement and anticipation for Christmas mixed with the magic feeling I'd known in Hogsmeade, but it was multiplied. People bustled around, toting large or small animals, shopping bags, and various curious objects.

"Let's take her to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes," Jacob suggested. "That sounds fun," I added to Ginny. Ginny eyed a shop with a sparkly marquee that blurted Madam Malkin's, and in the windows there were dresses, robes, and all types of clothing on moving mannequins. "You two go on," she said. "I need to go celebrate not being fat and pregnant and go on a shopping spree!"

So Jacob and I walked along an extensive grey road, with people walking about. It became darker and darker as we got to the more Victorian and Gothic-style shops, and then as we walked further, we saw Tudor shops and the mood lightened a bit.

Then we came upon the most packed-full part of the street of all. Jacob grinned at my expression when I saw the shop. There was purple smoke coming from a chimney, and the shop was three stories high. It was on a side street, and it was the vertice of the street, like an L. It had two entrances, and people poured in one of them, and not many people came out of the other entrance. That's when I realized one was an entrance and one was an exit.

Jake and I walked into the store. It smelled like candy, chocolate, smoke and a slightly overwhelming smell of grape.

There were gold and colorful trinkets lining the walls, and labels exclaimed Extra Strength Love Potions and Classic Magic Wands: 50% Off! and Free Poster with Any Purchase over 1 Galleon. I picked up a fake wand. I said the classic kiddie-spell. "Avada Kedavra!" Jacob looked at me, horrified, as the wand turned into a chicken. "What'd I do?"

"Let me explain to you something," he said, pulling me away from a horde of teenage girls rushing to the love potions, "That is not an acceptable spell." "What?" I asked, confused. "It's the magical spell in all fairy tales."

"It's the Killing Curse, Bella," he said quietly. "It killed your parents and my parents, and the twin of my god-uncle that owns this place. Do not ever say that." "Okay," I said, a little embarrassed at my scolding. I felt so young, like a little child told not to wipe paint on the dog. "I'm sorry," I told Jake. "It's not your fault," he said.

After my sticky mess-up, we went upstairs where the animals were kept. I poked a few bellies of a few fuzzy bright-colored hamster things, and they squealed at the poke. As I was entertainingly poking one, I heard a voice behind me. "Don't poke them too hard, they will pop if you do."

It was a redhead man, and he looked extremely familiar. He was more muscular than Ron, but they had the same telltale hair. "You have to be a Weasley," I said. "Ginny and Ron's brother?" He was extremely cute, I noticed.

"I am," he answered with a smile, turning his head. "The only one-eared Weasley out of the bunch, too, if I may add," he furthered, breaking out into a raucous, loud laugh.

And he did only have one ear. There was a clean bit of skin grown over the patch where the ear was gone. Jacob saved me from embarrassment. "Hi, George," he greeted him. "Hi, Wolfie," he said, then caught himself, realizing that maybe I didn't know about Jacob being a werewolf. "It's okay," Jacob said. "She already knows."

George broke out into a contagious grin. I could see why he ran a joke shop. "Jacob only tells those that are close to him," he said. "Jacob has a girlfriend."

We didn't deny it. Jacob just smiled nonchalantly and said, "This is Bella." "Bella," George said. "Bella… Is that Italian?" "No," I said, trying out a joke on the owner of a joke shop. He should get it. "My parents were African, from… Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou. 'Bella' means 'the white outsider' in… um… Creole." George's grin spread over his face, and he laughed deeply. When he came to, he asked what my last name was. I told him.

"Potter. It's not that common of a name here, but…" George squinted.

"She's Harry's sister," Jacob said.

George's mouth flew agape. "There is no way in the world that she could have survived, unless she's like Harry… Two chosen ones…" he said, his brain stretching to find an explanation.

So Jake explained everything about me, about Cedward, about the Cullens, about the orphanage, about us… "Are you two close?" I asked them jokingly. "Best friends," George said. Jake nodded.

George gave us some fizzy stuff like buttery Coke and we sat down in the warehouse on boxes to chat. They explained to me why I couldn't say Avada Kedavra, even if I was a Squib, and I agreed to never, ever say it again.

It was dark and most of the customers had left when Ginny came through the door, adorned with bags of clothes. "George!" she said, giving her brother a hug and kiss. "I'm never going to get used to that ear," she added, patting the side of his head. "You mean, lack of ear," George corrected and laughed. It was comforting that he could joke about it. "At least it's not as horrible of a handicap as your husband's," George said to Ginny. "My little sister married a guy with a gash on his forehead for everyone to gape at." Ginny laughed. "You'll come for Christmas?" she invited George. "Christmas Eve," George said. I got the feeling he was lonely.

We got back at seven o' clock, and the sky was black. Dinner was on the table inside, though they hadn't started eating yet, and we had more guests. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were there, sitting at the table. Mr. Weasley was tall and lanky like Ron. Mrs. Weasley was plump but she must have been very pretty in her young days. They both had red hair.

I sat at the table, and Jacob sat beside me. Ginny sat down. We were all seated, and Mrs. Weasley looked at me kindly. "Who is this?" she asked. "I'm Bella, Harry's sister," I said uneasily. I hated attention sometimes. "Harry told us all about you," Mrs. Weasley said, and you could tell she was nice by her voice and the way she carried her words, and I was thankful no one had to explain Harry's long-lost sister. I got the feeling she was a good mother.

"Well," she said, dropping a healthy dollop of stuffing onto her thin husband's plate before adding a spoonful to her own plate, "I'm Ginny's, Ron's, George's, poor Fred's, Percy's, Charlie's and Bill's mother," she said. "And grandmother of dearie Lily, Albus, James, Rose, Victoire and Kurt," she said. "With one coming Percy and Penelope's way and another coming from Charlie and Wendy's way," Ginny added. Mrs. Weasley beamed. "Yes," she said proudly, "Children are such a blessing."

Hermione smiled too. "Another coming my way, too," she said. "I only know it's a boy." Ron grinned. "Congratulations!" Harry said. Ginny squealed. Even Rosalie said, "That's wonderful!"

But Wart-on-Chair Cedward scowled. "Filthy Mudbloods scumming up the earth with their dim-witted offspring," he said from gritted teeth. Hermione's face was aghast.

I didn't know what Mudblood meant, but it was certainly an insult to Hermione, and one to Ron, who looked extremely angry as if Cedward had just slapped his wife.

"You can leave now," I said to Cedward. He looked at me, a mixture of you're-supposed-to-let-me-do-whatever-I-want-because-I'm-better-than-all-else and maybe a bit of penitence. "Leave," I repeated. "You can come back when you can try to act normal and less like a jerk."

Everyone looked at me, but I didn't break my gaze from Cedward. This was my family. My family belonged to me, and I didn't want it messed up by the likes of Cedward Calligory.

I would not have it messed up by the likes of Cedward Calligory.

He got up and left. Jake grinned at me supportively. "You didn't have to do that," Hermione said softly. "I've been called worse." Harry looked at me. I shook my head. "You shouldn't have to put up with someone that acts like an infant."

I looked at Lily, who was bouncing on her mother's lap and looking around at everyone. "I take that back," I said. "Lily's more mature than him." I turned to Hermione again. "And I don't think your baby should be the butt of Cedward's insecurities."

Surprisingly, everyone was a lot more blithe after that. Ginny and I finished with dinner early to prepare some more spare bedrooms for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and for Charlie, Bill and Percy, her other brothers and their wives and children, who would be arriving the next day.