Chapter 10 The Weasleys

It wasn't long before Albus, James and Riley were joining Rose and Ron, and following into the living room of their house. To Riley, it seemed like no matter where she looked, there was a magical item of some sort. When Ron led them through the kitchen, things were magically cleaning themselves, and every picture in every hallway was animated. Riley absolutely loved it.

"So what do you think?" Rose asked Riley, plopping down on the couch in what seemed to be the living area.

Riley looked around, at every magical thing in the room, from the simple moving pictures, to an odd colorful object she could not even begin to describe, then turned to Rose and sincerely said, "I love it. It's brilliant."

Rose broke into a huge grin. "Thanks. Me and mum decorated it ourselves."

"Took them nearly three weeks to do it too." Ron commented, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Speaking of mum," Rose continued, now directing her attention to her father, "Where is she? Sleeping I presume."

Ron nodded. "Hugo is too." he added.

"Hugo?" Riley asked, confused.

"Her little brother," Albus explained. "He's really funny. Loves playing jokes and stuff."

"He's been spending loads of time with George. Seems only fitting that he'd learn a few jokes here and there." Rose stated, like it was obvious, then returned her attention to her father.

Riley watched her with jealousy. It was clear that Rose loved her father. Riley could tell just by the way they interacted, and how much Rose tried to make conversation with him, that she practically idolized him. She knew it was silly, but she suddenly got a longing for a father of her own, which is something she'd been deprived of.

"When are dad and mum coming?" Albus asked excitedly. "They are coming right? I want them to meet Riley!"

Ron laughed at Albus' enthusiasm, "Yeah, they're coming." He glanced over at a clock hanging on the wall. "They should be here in about an hour. Why don't we make some breakfast while we wait?"

The four kids agreed happily to breakfast, and Riley wondered what breakfast in a wizard family would be like. She was happily suprised to find that it was exactly like a muggle family breakfast, other than the fact that everything was made magically.

Soon, as she was digging into a pile of pancakes, a little, red haired boy came rushing into the room, and dived under the table. Right behind him came a very tired, and very wet Hermione, still in her bedclothes.

"Hugo Weasley!" She screeched.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed and jumped up from his seat, the crumbs from his breakfast falling to the floor - it turned out he ate as messy as Rose - possibly even messier. "What happened?"

Hermione pulled a now whimpering Hugo out from under the table and pushed him to Ron. "Hugo thought it'd be funny to test out George's new invention on me."

"Well what was it?" Ron asked he was rummaging through a cabinet for a towel so he could dry his wife, he eventually gave up and murmered a spell so one flew straight into his hands.

"Tell him Hugo." Hermione said, trying to calm herself down.

"Well," Hugo began, "it was a glass of water that I set on mummy's nightstand last night. It's secretly an alarm clock, so I used her wand to set it. When the person is supposed to wake up, the glass goes BOOM!" He made a huge gesture with his hands, "and water goes everywhere."

"Now Hugo," Ron said after wrapping the towel around his now shivering wife, "do you think that was a very wise thing to do?" Hugo shook his head no. "Do you promise not to do anything like it again?" Hugo shook his head yes, his eyes were wide, as if he were trying to prove he was being sincere. "Ok. Now just to make sure it doesn't happen again, you need to de-gnome the garden before Lily, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny get here."

"But Daddy!" Hugo objected.

"Hugo. . ." Ron warned.

"Fine." and Hugo sulked outside, to start de-gnoming.

After Hugo was gone, and Hermione had returned downstairs, perfectly dry and properly dressed, a loud crack sounded outside of the house. Riley nearly jumped out of her seat because the sound was so similar to that of a gunshot. Rose and Albus however, had opposite reactions than Riley. They both ran to the door, with huge grins spreading quickly on their faces.

"Dad!" Albus shouted as the kitchen door was opened and a man with messy black hair, bright green eyes, and large, round glasses entered, followed close behind by a middle aged red head, and a young girl, also with red hair. Harry was of course the man in the glasses, Riley knew this right away. She could only assume that the red headed woman was his wife Ginny, and the young girl was Lily Luna, a girl she had heard much about from Albus and Rose.

"Hey Alb!" Harry greeted, ruffling his son's hair. "Hey Rosie!" He gave them both a hug, then noticed Riley, who was awkwardly sitting at the kitchen table, unsure of whether or not to get up and greet the Potters or to stay in her seat. "And who is this?" He asked, still looking at Riley.

"This is Riley!" Albus exclaimed, thrilled to have someone new to show Riley off to. "We met her on the train. She's in Gryffindor too!" Albus frowned, thinking. "Well . . .except during potions. Then she has to sit in the back with all the Slytherins."

"Do you know?" Harry asked, looking towards Riley again, studying her. She had the slight feeling that his eyes were trying to hide something, a look of recognition maybe. "Well why would that be?"

"Because we were late to the first class. Professor Slughorn put Rose and Albus in the front, and I was sent to sit in the back."

"Why did he put you two in front, eh? So he can make sure you don't blow up your new cauldrons?" Harry asked, poking Rose and Albus playfully in the stomach, Riley noticed his eyes flick back to her face occasionally, although his attention was directed at the other two.

Riley suddenly became conscious that Harry was not the only one in the room who kept glancing her way. She caught Ginny outright staring at her, with a slight look of shock on her face. Once the Potter mother noticed that Riley had seen her, she quickly recomposed herself, and left the room with Lily Luna to find Hugo.

She turned her attention back to the conversation between Harry, Rose, and Albus, which had turned from potions talk, to talk on the other classes at the wizarding school.

"-and when you tickle it, it changes colors!" Rose exclaimed,explaining the Leavis Sublino from their previous herbology class.

Riley half smiled, but just couldn't get interested into the conversation. She had her own mum at home who she could spend hours telling stories of school to, and, although Harry was quite interesting, she just didn't find it the same. Plus Harry's occasional scans of her face were a bit unnerving. Once the conversation switched to Care of Magical Creatures, and the teacher, Hagrid, Riley excused herself to go to the bathroom. Rose jumped up and offered to show her the way, but Riley declined, and lied about remembering passing one on the way in. Rose didn't seem entirely convinced, but didn't object.

Riley left the room and started to wander about the house. Truth be told she didn't have to use the bathroom, and wasn't even sure where any of them were, but she couldn't stand sitting in the kitchen with Harry, Albus and Rose any longer. It felt as if she was intruding on a family moment, even though all three of them had tried to engage her in conversation.

She walked through the hallways, thinking of her own mother and again longing for a father. It seemed as though she stopped and studied every family picture on the walls, and at each one a new wave of envy hit. She wished that she had a father who would take her swimming, or dress up as Santa to personally deliver presents on Christmas, like Ron did. It was at that moment, while studying a picture of a three year old Rose and Albus laugh as they unwrapped a young boy with blue hair from one of their Christmas presents, that Riley decided that she would do whatever she could to find her dad.

"What're you doing?" A voice asked from behind Riley. Riley jumped and twisted around to see a very entertained James behind her.

"What-what do you mean?" She asked, straightening her robes nervously.

"Well," began James, "you were staring at that picture for quite a while. I was starting to worry you had been petrified or something. . . never mind" he added seeing the confused look on Riley's face. "Let's just get back downstairs, everyone's been looking for you."

Riley followed James through the hallway, and down a flight of stairs that she didn't even remember going up. "Really, they have?" she asked, a bit suprised.

"Yeah. Rose started freaking out when you didn't return from the bathroom after 10 minutes. She insisted on searching all of them in the house, and tried setting up a search party. Apparently everyone wants to hear the story of you in the muggle world."

Riley continued following James down to the living area, and apologized to everyone for exploring the house without permission. It appeared that everyone was relieved to have located her, and Rose gave her a huge hug right away. Riley hugged her back and suddenly she felt as if she were truly a part of the Potter-Weasley family.

They spent the rest of the day telling stories. It seemed as most of the household loved Riley's stories the best, seeing as only two of them were raised by muggles like she had. Hermione offered up a few similar stories to Riley's, but Riley felt as if she was telling every other story. Not that she was complaining, she loved the audience, who was Ooohing and Ahhhing and laughing at the perfect parts. Ginny and Harry had stopped looking at her quite so weird and were laughing along with the rest of the family.

Quickly though, the sun had disappeared under the horizon, and Riley was in her nightgown, sharing Rose's room with Rose, and Riley was recalling the events of the day. In her mind, it was nearly a perfect day, the only thing that would have made it perfect, would be her mum being there, to join the fun.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

How did you like this chapter? I personally had loads of fun writing it! It's Christmas Eve, and I spent it sitting in my room, telling Riley's story. Uploading chapters has been a little slow, so over Christmas break, I'm going to prepare a few chapters that I can have ready to upload each Monday! This one is being uploaded a bit early, so think of it as a Christmas present :)

Questions: Why do you think people kept giving Riley odd looks? How are you enjoying the Weasley's?

Thanks to everyone who reviews each week, I truly love it! :D