Note: Again with the non-showing up of the cool fonts! It's makes me so sad; it looked so cool on my computer and it's so plain here. *sigh* I'll get over it...eventually...

Chapter 4: Another Weasley

June 12, 2002: Molly Weasley practically ran into the kitchen. "Arthur! Arthur!" she called, waving a piece of parchment in the air as she practically flew through the door. "Call the children! Hurry!"

"What's the matter, dear?" asked Arthur concerned, coming down the stairs.

"He sent us a letter, Arthur!" Molly practically screeched, clutching the letter tightly in her hand. "We didn't scare him off!"

Arthur smiled fondly at his wife. "I'll round up the kids, Molls," said Arthur, smiling at his lovely wife. "Why don't you whip up a nice lunch for us while you're at it, eh?" he added with a broad, playful wink.

"Arthur Charles Weasley!" shrieked Molly, frazzled and worried over what could possible be in the letter.

Arthur came over to his wife and kissed her on her forehead. "It'll be fine Mollywobbles, I promise," he whispered in her ear; his nearness and voice still sent tinges up Molly's spine even after twenty-four years of marriage.

"Alright, I'll calm down. Cooking always helps me do that anyway," she said, as if it had been her idea all along. Arthur simply nodded in agreement. Molly suddenly turned on him. "Well? What are you waiting for, Arthur? Get the children—all of them! And no excuses this time, understand?!"

"Yes, dear," replied Arthur as he headed up the stairs to fetch their brood of redheaded children, leaving Molly in her element, cooking up a meal large enough to feed an entire army—or their family.

XXXX

Twenty minutes later Molly surveyed the kitchen table, giving an approving nod. Arthur was seated at the head, as it should be. On one side sat her eldest sons: Bill and Charlie talking about Quidditch and Percy attempting to engage his father in a conversation about the Ministry. On the other side sat her younger sons and her only daughter: Fred and George had their heads together, scheming up Merlin only knows what, and Ron and Ginny switched between discussing tactics for chess and tactics for Quidditch. Molly, at the end of the table opposite her husband, smiled at her happy family. And soon it will be complete again, she thought gleefully to herself.

The Weasleys were about halfway through their meal when Molly decided that it was time. Clearing her throat loudly to get her family's attention, she waved the letter over her head. "What's that Mum?" asked Ron and Charlie simultaneously.

"This is a letter from someone very dear to this family—"

"Harry!" said Ginny, blushing a bit as she said so.

"Mione!" suggested Ron, his ears turning bright red at just the thought of the brown-eyed, bushy-haired bookworm.

"Li!" said Charlie, grinning furiously.

"Mr. Crouch," put in Percy, as stiff and pompous as ever.

"Mary!" said George almost dreamily.

"Cassi!" suggested Fred, grinning manically.

"Father Christmas," put in Bill, getting annoyed. "Why don't we all just shut up and I'm sure Mum will tell us who it's from."

"Thank you Bill," said Molly, beaming at her eldest. "Now, your father and I have never told any of you this before because, well, frankly, it's been a rather painful subject up until now."

"What are you talking about, Mum?" asked Ginny sweetly.

Arthur stood up and went over to join his wife at her end of the table. "What your mother is trying to tell you is that you have another brother."

"WHAT?!"

"Are you serious?"

"Bloody hell!"

"Language, Ron!"

"Huh?"

"I think that we …."

"…should let…"

"…dear Mum…"

"…and Dad…"

"…explain this," Fred and George finished together.

"Thank you boys," said Arthur. "Now, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions…"

"How old is he?" asked Ginny hopefully; maybe she wouldn't be the youngest anymore.

"He's twenty-two," said Molly. Damn, thought Ginny dejectedly.

"What's his name?" asked Bill.

"Daniel Osmond Weasley," replied Arthur.

"What happened to him?" asked Charlie.

"The night that your uncles were killed, he went missing," explained Molly. "We've been searching for him ever since and it turns out he's been searching for us too—he met Auror Shacklebolt at the Leaky Cauldron, who put two and two together and figured out that Daniel is our son."

"What does he do?" asked Percy.

"I'm not sure," said Arthur truthfully. "Kingsley didn't say." Percy sniffed indignantly.

"What does he look like?" asked Ron curiously.

"Well," said Arthur, "according to Kingsley, he's quite short, but well-built apparently. He has stormy blue eyes and his hair's naturally red—of course—though Kingsley said it was blue when he met him. Ah—Kingsley also mentioned that he wears his fingernails painted black and he dresses like a muggle." Ron smiled happily—looked like he might have another cool older brother.

"We would like to know…" began Fred.

"…does our brother dear…"continued George.

"…know about magic…"

"…and does he prefer…"

"…to be called Daniel…"

"…or Danny…"

"…or something else entirely," they finished together as their entire family rolled their eyes at their antics.

"First off," said Molly, "I told him about magic in the letter I wrote to him, but I don't know how he took the news."

"Secondly," interjected Arthur, "When he was a baby we always called Daniel 'Danny,' but now, according to Kingsley, who has actually met him, he goes by Oz."

"Oz," muttered Bill. "That's pretty wicked."

"Mum," interrupted Ginny, "can we just go ahead and read the letter? I'd like to get to know this new brother of mine. Please!"

Arthur chuckled at his daughter's antics. "Yes, Molly, why don't you read it aloud for us."

"Are you sure you don't want to, Arthur?"

"It'll be alright, Molly. Just take a deep breath," she did just that, "now let it out," she did that too. "Good girl. Now, let's crack open that letter and see what Dan—Oz—has to say about himself."

Molly smiled and, shaking nervously, opened the letter and began to read aloud:

Hey.

Sorry I couldn't come up with something cooler there. Oh well, better luck next time. I guess I should tell you right off the bat that I've known about magic and the supernatural for years now. Never would have guessed on a hidden wizarding society, though. Willow would love that—especially the magic school part.

So I'm a wizard. Does that mean I can do magic and stuff? Huh. Never would've thought. Suppose it does answer a few questions I've had over the years, though…but enough about that. You told me all about my family; it's only fair I tell you something about me. Well, here goes…

I was raised as Daniel Osborne in a small town in California called Sunnydale. I was sixteen when Rob and Nancy (my adoptive parents) told me that I was adopted. To tell the truth, I wasn't all that surprised; I was always so different from them, especially in the height department (I don't' know if you know, but I'm a bit on the short side of short).

I was seventeen and on my first go 'round of senior year when I found out the truth about Sunnydale—it's on a Hellmouth. That is to say, it attracts all kind of demons and other nasties, many hell-bent on destroying the world. That was the year I started to help out. It was also the year my life changed drastically in a very different way—but that's not something I want to discuss in a letter.

When I was seventeen, right before I found out that I was living on a Hellmouth with demons and vamps and such, I met the girl of my dreams. I first saw her when my band (I was lead guitar) was playing at The Bronze (the local nightclub). We were playing at a culture appreciation dance type-thing and I happened to look up and I saw her. She was standing all alone, dressed up in a fuzzy Eskimo suit; she looked so adorable. As soon as the song was done I walked across the dance floor to find her, but she left just a second before I got to her. That was the first of many such near-encounters. At long last the day came when I finally met her. It was on the first day of career week (she was a junior, I was on my first senior year) and the two of us were the only ones in the whole school chosen by a big time computer company to discuss a possible future career with them. It was a big honor, especially since we were the only two in the school that they were trying to recruit—I like to call it fate. Of course, things didn't go smoothly —they never do on the Hellmouth (though that was before I knew about that). During Career Week, there was this crazy policewoman (who I found out later was actually some sort of demon bounty hunter) who pulled a gun on Buffy. While Buffy (Willow's best friend) and Kendra (a friend of Buffy's from out of town) were fighting her, she managed to get out a couple shots before the gun was aimed at Willow (the girl I'd met). I don't know what made me do it, but I jumped in front of her and got a bullet to my arm. I don't regret it for a second, though.

After that day, Willow and I started to hang out more. We went on a couple dates before she invited me to a surprise party she and Xander (her childhood best friend) were throwing for Buffy. What a surprise party that was. We were all set up—Willow, Xander, Giles (the librarian and the designated group "dad"), Cordy (Xander's girlfriend), Angel (Buffy's boyfriend) and I—and waiting for Ms. Calendar (the computer teacher and Giles's girlfriend) to show up with Buffy. Boy was it a surprise when they did: Buffy came crashing through the wall fighting a vamp. That was the first vamp I had ever seen dusted. Cordy, with her usual tact (and yes, I'm using sarcasm here) just had to pop up and yell surprise. I remember how concerned Willow was about me. She wanted to know if I was okay with everything, if I still wanted to hang out with her. Truth be told, learning that vamps and demons were real actually explained a lot, and I told Willow as much. She was so relieved. After that fateful day, I became an honorary member of the Scooby Gang (that's what Willow and Xander had dubbed our group fighting the forces of the Hellmouth and all that badness). Willow and I grew closer over that year and we began dating. That year I went through some major changes and I was afraid that Willow wouldn't want to be around me once she found out, but I was so wrong. She was nothing but supportive and understanding; I think that's when I first realized I was falling in love with her.

The end of that year was hard on everyone, but especially on Buffy. A new big bad came to town, with an unfortunate obsession with Buffy, and he targeted all of her friends just to get to her. The worst was when he killed Jenny Calendar, Giles's girlfriend. After that things went from bad to worse. Angelus—the big bad—had teamed up with his insane childe Drusilla and her childe Spike and the three of them were working on some plan to send the world to Hell (literally). Not long after Jenny died, we found out that she had been working on a way to give Angelus back his soul. Willow was determined and took it upon herself to finish what Jenny had started. The first time Willow tried the curse it ended in disaster; it was a trap. They were in the library, which just happened to be where the Hellmouth was, when the vampires attacked. Willow was preparing for the spell and none of them were ready for it. Giles was knocked out, a bookcase fell on top of Willow and she was out too, Xander told Cordy to run (so she did), and Xander got hurt too, but not as badly as Willow or Giles even. Poor Kendra, though—Kendra had first shown up around the time I first actually met Willow and she showed up again with the business of Angelus and Acathala (this stone demon who was a portal to literal Hell-on-earth). Anyway, back to Kendra. Kendra was in the library too while Buffy was out looking for Angelus. It was, of course, a trap, not that she knew it until it was too late. Drusilla, Angelus's insane seer childe, hypnotized Kendra and killed her.

I came when Xander called and told me Willow was in the hospital unconscious. I was so worried; Xander had called her parents, but they were out of town, as usual. I was by her side the entire time, though. Buffy came by once Willow woke up. She had been accused of Kendra's murder and expelled from school and was now hiding while she went after Angelus. Willow was still determined to do the spell, though. After Buffy left, with Xander following her to help Giles (who had been kidnapped by Drusilla and Angelus), Willow convinced Cordy and I to help her set up for the spell and try again. Trust me; no one can resist Willow's resolve face. She had just woken up; she was so pale and fragile, but I have never met a stronger person. She wanted to do the spell for Buffy. She knew how much Angelus had hurt Buffy and she knew she had to try. Willow began the spell and at first we weren't sure if it was working. Suddenly, it was like raw power was flowing through her. Afterwards, she told me she could feel the power flowing through her, and she knew the spell had worked. That was her first spell ever, her first step into the world of witchcraft. The spell had worked, but it was too little, too late. Angelus had already opened Acathala when the spell hit him and Buffy was forced to kill him to save the world. After that she ran off to LA for several months—her mom had kicked her out after Buffy had told her her biggest secret and she had just killed the love of her life—personally I think she deserved some time off.

Thus began a new school year. After spending the summer patrolling with Xander, Cordy, and Willow, it was time to go back to school. Of course, I had failed to mention to Willow that I would be returning to repeat my senior year with her. It's like this: I had missed some of my finals while I was helping the Scoobies to save the world and then I kinda didn't go to summer school to make them up. Even though I had to repeat my senior year, it was kind of nice to be able to spend more time with Willow. That year was pretty eventful in and of itself. Buffy came back and got accepted back into Sunnydale High (with some difficulty) and Faith came to town (she kinda did the same thing back in Boston that we did in SunnyD). Things took a turn for the worse one night when Buffy and Faith were out on patrol together. Faith made an honest mistake and couldn't deal with the consequences and began to fall deeper into the darkness. She eventually joined forces with the newest big bad—the Mayor. Graduation Day was certainly a day to remember. You see, the mayor had actually been around for about a hundred years and he was planning on ascending (becoming a full-blooded demon) on graduation day. He had grown quite fond of Faith and she had become like a daughter to him, so when Buffy put her in a coma in the process of trying once again to save the love of her life, he was not a happy camper. During our graduation ceremony, we rallied the entire senior class to fight the Mayor. The principal was eaten, but that wasn't really a big loss (he was, as Cordy so eloquently put it, "a tiny, impotent Nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu"). Sadly, not all of our classmates made it that day. The Sunnydale High class of '99 had the lowest mortality rate thanks to its Class Protector, Buffy, but that didn't mean all of us survived the actual graduation ceremony. Buffy was able to lure the demon-snake Mayor into the school by taunting him with Faith's knife. Once he was in the library, Buffy barreled out of there and she and Giles blew up the school. It was the only way to kill the Mayor. Plus it was just kinda cool.

Buffy's boyfriend left after graduation and Cordy left for LA before too long also. She and Xander had long since broken up and Xander left on a road trip across the US a few weeks after graduation. With the library blown up, Giles was now unemployed—I'm honestly not sure exactly what he did that summer. Willow helped Buffy patrol a lot as well as helping her pick out her classes for UC Sunnydale and I was pretty busy with my band that summer, but I joined them in patrolling as often as I could. That fall, Buffy, Willow, and I all started at UC Sunnydale. Things went well for a while; I lived in a house with my band mates and Buffy's first roommate turned out to be an evil soul-stealing demon. Willow moved in with Buffy after they sent Kathy (Buffy's demon roommate) back to her home dimension and Xander came back a few days after school started; apparently his car had broken down before he ever left California and he had spent the summer working to earn the money to get it repaired. It wasn't too much later that another familiar face showed up in our lives again: Anya. Anya was an ex-vengeance demon who had granted Cordy a wish after Xander cheated on her, but she had lost her power source and had been turned mortal. She had been stuck as a seventeen-year-old and asked Xander to the prom. She had then left before the ascension and she came back because she apparently couldn't get Xander out of her mind. After an awkward start, Xander and Anya began casually dating, secretly hoping to form a relationship of sorts. Earlier that year, Buffy had met Riley, a TA for her Psychology class. They had a strange sort of attraction to each other, but she was still getting over Angel at the time, so she didn't act on that attraction right away.

It was around this time that I met Veruca. She was the lead singer of another band and from the first time I saw her, there was something that drew me to her. I knew it wasn't love; it was like I recognized something in her that I saw in myself. When I figured out what it was, I tried to help her. Instead, I ended up making the biggest mistake of my life. After that, I tried to get Veruca to leave me alone, but she was convinced that I should be with her, not Willow, so she decided to go after Willow and she nearly killed her. I had to do something, so I stopped Veruca from hurting my Willow. After that, I realized I had to leave; I had to find myself before I could be with Willow. I never wanted to hurt her, but I think leaving her did just that. I spent the next several months traveling around the world, trying to find myself. After I felt I had accomplished my goal, I decided to go back to see Willow and tell her what I had been doing. We spent that whole first night I was back just talking. The next day, I was walking around campus when I came across a new friend of Willow's, a girl named Tara. Somehow I knew that the two of them were close, and I completely lost control. I was so close to hurting her, something I had hoped would never happen again. After that, I got into a spot of trouble and Buffy's new boyfriend Riley had to help me out. Afterwards, I realized that as much as I loved Willow, I couldn't be around her until I was completely in control of myself. I love her so much; all I wanted was for her to be happy. I had to leave again.

I spent the next three years traveling the world. I found myself in Europe two years ago and—more specifically—England just last year. While I was on my journey of self-discovery, I reopened my search for my birth parents, which led me to the Leaky Cauldron and Kingsley Shacklebolt, which in turn led me to write this letter to you.

I would love to meet you all, I really would. Unfortunately, that meeting will have to wait a while. I got a letter yesterday from Giles. He told me that Willow is in really bad shape right now. Apparently there was an accident and her girlfriend, Tara, got shot and killed. Willow consequentially got lost in her grief and turned to dark magicks. She killed the man who shot Tara and then she tried to end the world, seeing it as the only way to stop all the pain and suffering. Xander was the one who stopped her. He told her he loved her no matter what, and if the world was going to end there was no place else he would rather be. Somehow he got through to her and she came down from the dark magicks.

Will's pretty messed up right now. Giles told me that he brought her to a coven in Devon, so I'm headed there to see her. Don't ask me how, but I just know that she needs me right now. I haven't seen her in three years, but I've never stopped loving her; she's always been the only girl for me. All that matters to me is that she's happy, and right now she's not. I can literally feel her pain; it's suffocating. She really loved Tara and I've finally realized I'm okay with that as long as it made her happy. I've got to go and help her in any way I can. I really don't care if she doesn't want me anymore or if she chooses to find someone else to spend her life with, I just need to be there for her in whatever way she needs me to be. As soon as I finish this letter I'm heading out. I don't know how long I'll be gone. I promise to come and meet you guys as soon as I can, but right now Willow is my number one priority.

TTFN,

Oz

Molly finished reading the letter, folded it up gently and set it on the table in front of her. The entire Weasley family was speechless. Molly and Ginny were blinking back tears; Bill and Charlie were staring blankly at the wall in front of them; Fred and George stared at each other, as if reading each others' minds (which they very well may have been doing—it's a magical twin thing, after all); Arthur had his jaw clenched as if fighting back his own tears; Ron just stared down at his hands; and Percy was furiously polishing his glasses (very Giles-esque).

Bill was the first to break the silence. "The letter really says all of that?"

Molly nodded slowly. "Every single word."

Charlie nodded thoughtfully. "I remember studying about the Hellmouth in my sixth year DADA class. I can't believe my big brother had to live with all of that."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Sounds like he had it pretty tough."

"So, all these years…" said Fred.

"…he's been looking for us too?" finished George. Molly simply nodded.

"He's not the only one," said Arthur. "We never stopped looking either. Auror Chris Potter started the search back in '80 and Aurors James Potter and Kingsley Shacklebolt continued it."

"I can't believe Auror Shacklebolt actually found him after all these years," mused Percy, pompously placing his horn-rimmed glasses back on his nose.

"Oh, it's so romantic," sobbed Ginny. "He loves her so much! That's just so sweet!"

Bill patted his sister's back. "There, there, Gin." He turned to his parents quizzically. "Wait, if I'm older than him, why don't I remember him at all?"

Molly looked at her oldest son sadly, tears in her eyes. "That night," she began, "the night my brothers were killed and Danny went missing, you were there too."

Arthur continued for his wife. "Chris Potter found you in the woods. You had a very bad head wound—we don't really know how you got it. I took you to St. Mungo's right away and they told me that the blow to your head severely damaged your memory—they said that you might not ever remember anything that happened before that day that you finally woke up."

Bill frowned thoughtfully. "Wait—you said I was found in the woods?" Arthur and Molly both nodded. "W-we were staying with Uncle Gid and Uncle Fab that night, me and Danny, weren't we?"

Molly and Arthur both looked up sharply. "Y-you remember?" said Molly in awe.

Bill frowned some more. "It's a bit fuzzy…" he began slowly, "nothing's clear really…I remember hearing something strange outside, then Uncle Fab telling me to take Danny and run…I-I remember running…I-I…I think I found somewhere safe…then I remember wanting to go back, needing to go back…I left him…then I remember seeing the Dark Mark and I tripped over something and fell…then it's all black…"

Arthur frowned thoughtfully at his son. "After all these years…I wonder if maybe the letter triggered your memory…or maybe just talking about him…"

Bill shrugged. "The hell if I know."

"Language, Bill!"

"Sorry Mum."

Note Segundo: I kinda figured since Oz is so stoic & non-wordy that he might express himself better in writing/music, and since he's not there to sing to his family (hehe) he writes up a storm instead. Oh, and the quote of Cordelia's in Oz's letter is actually from BtVS Season 2 Episode 21 "Becoming: Part One."