Annabelle and Wren spent Christmas at her grandparents' house, with the whole of her mum's family.
Her grandma Ethel, a halfblood, had met Winthrop Bourke, a muggle, when she was in her mid-twenties. They 'courted' as they liked to say for a few years before Ethel gathered the courage to tell Winthrop about being a witch. He took it rather well and now he fit in decently in the wizarding community whenever he went on shopping trips with Ethel, just as she fit in rather well among muggles.
A few years after they married, they had their daughter Kendra, Wren's older sister, who was also a Ravenclaw. Right after she graduated Hogwarts in 1972, she got a job in the Ministry where she eventually met Colton Drake.
Colton was a halfblood who was in Slytherin in Hogwarts, but he was surprisingly decent to have belonged in the house of snakes. He was determined, as are most Slytherins, but he cared very little for blood status. He merely worked hard to get what he wanted, which lead to him gaining high status at the Ministry very quickly.
Colton and Kendra married in 1982 and had Audra in 1984 and Wilson three years later.
From what her mum had told Anna, her parents and sister were disappointed when Wren told them she was pregnant, seeing as she would be having her baby fresh out of school, which would make it very difficult for her to get a decent career. Even though she never said it, Anna got the feeling her Aunt Kendra had always been the 'favorite' daughter. Getting good marks, being Head Girl in her seventh year, getting a good job before getting married and having kids. Not that her grandparents would ever play clear favorites, it was just a suspicion.
"Anna! Wake up!" two annoying, high-pitched voices screamed in Anna's ears before she was ready to wake up. She jolted awake when the earth suddenly started jolting up and down.
"Wha-" she stopped and looked around with bleary eyes. Audra and Wilson, six and three years old respectively, had been jumping up and down on her bed in her grandparents' guest room.
"Wake up! It's Christmas!" Wilson shouted before jumping off the bed and running from the room yelling at everyone to wake up.
Anna threw her covers off and hurried after her cousins, down the stairs and to the living room where there was a giant Christmas tree.
"Look at all the presents!" Wilson screamed, picking one up and shaking it.
"Wilson, don't open any until everyone's down here." Aunt Kendra told him sternly, entering the room with a silk bathrobe tied around her slender waist. She had green eyes, like Wren, but her hair was a darker shade of brown, which was just past her shoulders. Wilson had her eyes and nose, but his dad's black hair; while Audra had blue eyes like her dad and golden brown hair, which she got from their grandma Ethel.
Wilson pouted at his mother and tossed the present back under the tree. Anna loved her cousins, as much as she could, but she knew they could be a tiny bit spoiled.
Finally, Grandma Ethel and Wren made tea and everyone sat around the Christmas tree. Audra and Wilson instantly found theirs and started ripping them open. Anna shook her head at them and picked up a present near her. Seeing that it was for her grandpa, she turned and handed it to him before grabbing another present.
Seeing her name on it, Anna ripped the paper open.
She ended up getting a new robe from her Aunt and Uncle, mittens and new quills from her grandparents, and new pajamas from her mum.
"This one's for you." Wilson grumbled when he picked up another large present, only to see his cousin's name on it.
"Thank you." Anna thanked him as she took it, wondering who it was from. She'd already received presents from most of her family.
She read the name tag and smiled. It said, 'To: Anna; From: the Weasleys'. It felt like multiple presents wrapped into a large bundle. She ripped the paper off and, sure enough, there were three separately-wrapped presents.
She opened the one from the twins, first, and shook her head with a smile. Ever since their first adventure into the Dark Forest, she refused to go back into the forest, unless with Hagrid and Charlie. The twins, on the other hand, made a few more trips, though not in the middle of the night. She had the suspicion they felt bad leaving her out, even if she had no desire to join them. Her present from them was a piece of parchment with several items pressed into it. One was a black flower, which grow in the forest. Another was a tuft of what looked like grey fur, and it made her think of the wolf pack she saw, which she told no one about. Another was a piece of spider web, which she was surprised was still in one piece.
Shaking her head, she moved on to open Charlie's present next and found a bag of owl treats for Ariel as well as some Sugar Quills. She was happy to see the owl treats because she was nearly out and forgot to buy more when her mum took her to Diagon Alley at the start of Christmas holiday. Ariel loved them, even though she preferred to eat something from Anna's plate when she delivered her mail.
Putting those to the side, she moved on to the last present. She couldn't think of which Weasley would get her a present besides the twins and Charlie, but to her surprise it was from Molly Weasley, their mother. Curious, Anna ripped the wrapping paper off and found a knitted scarlet jumper with a gold-colored number '4' on the front, which was Anna's Quidditch number. It looked very similar in design to the jumpers she'd seen the twins and Charlie wearing, and remembered Fred telling her that their mum knitted all of them a jumper for Christmas every year. Of course, those jumpers were one plain color with nothing on the front as far as she had seen.
Smiling, Anna pulled the jumper over her head over her pajama T-shirt. It was very soft and warm and a perfect fit, in her opinion. Just big enough to be loose and comfy. And the color perfectly matched Gryffindor's colors.
"What'd you get?" Wren asked, moving to sit on the ground next to her daughter.
Anna showed her mum her presents as she explained. "I got this from the twins, owl treats and Sugar Quills from Charlie, and this jumper from their mum."
Wren smiled as she looked at everything, picking up the parchment from the twins to get a better look. "That's very sweet."
"What's that?" Audra asked, looking at the parchment with her nose wrinkled.
Anna eyed her cousin for a moment. "A present from my friends."
"What kind of present is a wrinkled parchment with a dead flower and hair?" she asked in disgust.
"It's…a souvenir of some of their adventures." Anna answered carefully.
"Your jumper looks…interesting, Annabelle. Who's it from?" Aunt Kendra asked from her spot on the couch, Colton's arm around her shoulders.
"My friends' mum. I think she made it."
"She did." Wren answered with a smile, looking the jumper over herself and feeling the loose fabric of the sleeve between her fingers. "I remember Molly started that tradition when the twins were born. It amazes me how many of those she knits every year, especially with how fast all you kids grow."
Anna smiled and hugged her new jumper closer to herself. It was officially her favorite bit of clothing in the world.
XXX
"Incendio." Katie Bell aimed her wand at the empty fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, but nothing happened. She sighed tiredly.
"You're pronouncing it a bit wrong." Anna told her gently. "You emphasize the 'sen' part of the spell. In-sen-dio. And you're waving your wand in a circle. The movement's a bit more like this." Anna explained, demonstrating the hand movement with her own wand.
Katie nodded and tried again. "Incendio." She did the hand movement and fire burst from her wand to the fireplace. Her face lit up.
"I did it! Thank you so much," she leaned over and hugged Anna tightly, "I thought for sure I was going to fail this exam."
Anna laughed. "No problem. It's not that difficult." Her eyes caught sight of the nearby clock. "Shoot! I've gotta go. I'm supposed to meet Charlie down at Hagrid's hut. I'll see you later!" she called over her shoulder as she rushed out the portrait hole.
She ran down the stairs and through the corridors until she was outside, dashing across the grounds until she reached Hagrid's hut, where Hagrid and Charlie were already waiting for her.
"We were beginning to wonder what happened to you." Charlie commented when she reached them, nearly panting for breath.
"Sorry. I was helping Katie with some school work." Anna told them as they headed into the forest. Nearby, they found the hippogriff pen.
Anna hurried past the others, giving a short whistle. The hippogriffs all lifted their heads and turned to her. A couple slowly approached the fence near her, but Buckbeak hurried past them, squawking happily. Anna stopped at the fence and petted him while he ducked his head and nudged her shoulder with his beak.
"Someone missed yeh." Hagrid commented as he and Charlie came up behind her. The half-giant stepped around them and opened the gate, letting the two students follow him inside the pen before he closed the gate again.
Anna stayed by Buckbeak for a few minutes while Hagrid and Charlie crossed the pen.
"Anna, it's happening. Don't wanna miss it, do you?" Charlie called after a few minutes.
Anna quickly kissed Buckbeak's head before crossing the pen to crouch next to Charlie. A few feet away was a new nest with a small egg about the size of a Quaffle. It was shaking and squeaking, a few cracks already on its surface.
One of the younger hippogriffs, the little chestnut one that hatched Anna's first year, came over and nudged Anna's arm. Anna petted him, but he must have gotten too close for the soon-to-be-mother's liking, because the bronze female guarding the egg squawked at the little one, making him run back toward his own mother.
It took several minutes, but slowly the baby hippogriff pecked and chipped away at the egg until it was able to break itself out. It was covered in gray fluff and had bright yellow eyes.
"It's so fluffy." Anna whispered, covering her mouth with her fingers. It was easily the cutest thing she'd ever seen.
"Yeah. He's a cute lil' tyke, ain't he?" Hagrid chuckled, reaching out and tickling the baby's cheek with his giant finger.
Anna and Charlie stayed with Hagrid and the hippogriffs for a good hour before heading back up to the castle for dinner.
XXX
Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match in March, and Ravenclaw in May. However, Slytherin managed to practically destroy every house, winning them the Quidditch Cup and leaving them in first place by over a hundred points. The other houses were severely disheartened.
Annabelle, the twins, and Lee decided to get their own bit of revenge on the Slytherins a couple days after the Quidditch Cup was awarded.
They arrived to breakfast before anyone else, even the teachers. George kept watch at the front door while Lee, Fred, and Anna walked up and down the Slytherin table, adding drops of Swelling Solution to certain dishes and drinks that they knew the Quidditch players would eat.
George let out a whistle when he saw someone coming, and the others quickly corked their potions and hurried to their own table to sit and eat, acting completely innocent when a group of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefects entered the Great Hall.
About ten minutes later, Anna noticed a Slytherin seventh year going for the pumpkin juice she'd put a few drops of Swelling Solution in. She nudged Fred with her elbow and the two watched eagerly as the Slytherin poured himself a cup and took a sip. Since the potion was a bit diluted by the pumpkin juice, it took a minute for anything to happen, and when it did it was so slow it took a while to notice. But Fred and Anna had to quickly muffle their laughter behind their hands when the boy's face started swelling like an angry frog.
Many other Slytherins met a similar fate as breakfast wore on before anyone put two and two together, and soon many of the Slytherins were too afraid to eat their breakfast.
Over all, a fairly good start to the day, in Anna's opinion.
XXX
Anna sat quietly at breakfast, listening to the boys' usual chatter. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally. They'd finally finished their final exams the day before, which she had been studying like crazy for, for a couple months, staying up late into the night. The twins teased her for spending so much free time studying, and even dragged her out to have fun once in a while. While at the time it annoyed her when they interrupted her studying, within minutes she would be grateful for the distraction.
They were interrupted in the conversation by Professor McGonagall walking down the table, handing each student a sheet of parchment with their names on it.
Anna read hers over when she got it, and saw that it was to sign up for their electives their third year. They'd been given information on it around Easter holiday so they had time to think about it.
"What are you guys taking?" Anna asked curiously as the twins and Lee started writing something on their parchments.
"We're going to take Divination and Muggle Studies." Fred and George answered at once.
Anna eyed them for a moment. "Why?"
"Why not?" they answered back.
Anna shrugged. "Okay, whatever."
"What are you taking?" Fred asked, looking at her paper even though she hadn't written anything down yet.
Anna also looked at her parchment. "Well, obviously Care of Magical Creatures, that's a given." she answered as she quickly circled that subject.
They were required to pick at least two, and Anna had taken weeks to decide what her next one would be. She'd like to have a class with the twins, but she didn't need to take Divination or Muggle Studies. She'd heard Divination was a waste of time unless you had the particular gift for it, and her grandpa was a Muggle, she already knew a lot about how they lived and acted. From what she'd heard, Study of Ancient Runes was similar to History of Magic, and she wasn't a fan of history-related stuff. It was boring to her. The last subject available was Arithmancy, which she supposed would be useful, if not difficult to learn. So, she circled Arithmancy with her quill.
"Arithmancy? Why would you take Arithmancy?" Fred asked, having watched her circle it.
"Why would you take Divination?" Anna returned, putting her quill away.
"Because it's easy. Arithmancy's all math and numbers and such."
"I might actually be able to use Arithmancy in the future, you never know." Anna pointed out.
"But wouldn't you rather be in class with us?" George asked, playing pitiful with big, sad brown eyes.
Anna snorted. "You could always take Care of Magical Creatures with me." she pointed out.
Fred and George looked at each other, and actually seemed to be considering it, before they shook their heads and turned back to her. "Nah."
"Between you and Charlie, we hear about that stuff enough as it is."
Anna rolled her eyes, smiling in amusement. "I suppose you're right. And besides, we'll be in the same classes, anyway, with all our usual classes."
"I suppose we'll survive a couple classes without you." George sighed.
"Don't know who we'll copy off, though." Fred added thoughtfully.
Anna, in turn, smacked him on the arm.
XXX
Anna followed the twins and Lee off the train, pushing her heavy trolley onto the platform. They waved goodbye to Lee, who hurried over to his parents nearby.
"Can't believe Charlie's not coming back to Hogwarts next year." Anna said sadly as they looked for their parents.
"Yeah. Did he tell you where he's going next year?" George asked.
Anna nodded. "Yeah. He's going to study dragons in Romania on the reserve down there. It sounds amazing." Anna grinned. Even though she'd miss Charlie, who was her first real friend, she knew how excited he was to be going to Romania. When he talked about it his eyes lit up like the twins' did when they talked about a good prank.
"I can't wait to hear his stories when he comes home for visits." Fred grinned excitedly, "Though I'm sure mum's less than pleased. Another baby flying the coop. And leaving England."
"Off to wrestle dangerous reptiles." George added with a wicked grin.
"Don't say that around your mother." Anna warned, swatting his arm when she noticed Molly and Arthur Weasley standing with her own mother, Wren. "I'm sure she's already worried as it is, you don't need to make it worse."
The twins didn't comment, since they reached their parents at that moment. Molly was quick to hug her sons while Anna moved to hug her own mother. They stood around and talked for a few minutes while they waited for Charlie and Percy to arrive.
"You two need to come over in a couple weeks." Charlie announced as he leaned down to hug Anna. "Mum insists I need a going-away party before I leave for Romania. Probably going to invite friends from school and the Quidditch team. I'll owl you the details in a few days. Actually, it might be better if you owled me first so I could send it with Ariel. Errol's not the most reliable bird around." he finished with a grin.
Anna laughed. "I'll be sure to owl you in a few days, then."
XXX
Annabelle did as she promised, sending Ariel to the Weasleys' with a short note to Charlie asking for details on his going away party. His response told her it would be held at their home, called The Burrow, around 2 in the afternoon the second Saturday of July.
Wren and Anna Flooed to the Burrow about half an hour early, as Wren wanted to help Molly set up. The two women had reconnected since reuniting at the train station, and frequently met for tea or lunch to chat and relax.
When they stepped out of the fireplace together, Anna looked around the room she was now in. It was a cozy-looking living room with a sofa and a couple armchairs, a wooden wireless set, and a large clock on the wall. Though, when Anna looked closely at the clock she saw that there were nine hands, each with the picture of a member of the family, and instead of numbers, there were different places like 'home', 'school', 'work', 'traveling', 'prison', and, disturbingly, 'mortal peril'.
"Oh, someone's here. Guests weren't suppose to arrive for-" Molly Weasley cut off her worried rambling as she entered the living room. "Oh! Wren, Anna, so nice to see you!" she beamed, hurrying forward and hugging each witch individually. "You're early."
"We figured you could use some help setting everything up." Wren pointed out.
"Nonsense, you needn't trouble yourselves." Molly waved off, but Anna could see she looked a bit frazzled, her hair frizzy and food on her apron.
"Nevertheless, we had nothing better to do. And I'm sure you could use a couple women to help, Merlin knows how useful men can be." Wren countered sarcastically, earning a laugh from Molly.
"Very true. Well, I'm in the kitchen cooking with Ginny, you could come help us in there if you'd like, Wren. The boys are with Arthur in the backyard, getting everything ready. You could go help out there, if you want, Anna." Molly suggested, knowing four people in the kitchen would be far too crowded to get anything done.
"Sure, Mrs. Weasley." Anna smiled.
"The back door's through the kitchen back here, come along, I'll show you." Molly told her, putting her hand on Anna's back and leading her into a small kitchen with a table that set eight people. The whole table, as well as the few spaces on the kitchen counter tops, were covered in different dishes of food. Dishes were scrubbing themselves in the sink, and there was a large pot that was stirring itself on the stove.
Ginny Weasley, now nine years old, was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, swinging her legs as she watched the oven door, looking rather bored. She looked up and beamed when she saw Anna with her mum.
"Anna!" she shouted, hopping off the chair and hurrying over. She threw her arms around Anna's middle in a crushing hug, which surprised Anna. She'd only spoken to the youngest Weasley the few times they'd seen each other at Kings Cross Station. "I'm so glad you could come! I know you'll want to hang out with Charlie and Fred and George all day, but I was hoping we could hang out, too, if you want. You can tell me all about the Quidditch team, Charlie says you're really good, and I want to be on the team when I go to Hogwarts, and-"
"Ginny, Anna needs to go outside." Molly told her daughter sternly, cutting off her run-on sentences while she and Wren got to work on another side dish. "And I'm sure she'd rather talk with Charlie or the twins, she won't be seeing Charlie for a while, and the twins have more in common with her."
Ginny looked crestfallen as she sat back down at the table.
"Actually, if you'd like I could sit with you when we eat." Anna told the little girl, "I wouldn't mind telling you about Quidditch and Hogwarts, if you want."
Ginny's face lit up again. "Really?"
"Sure, but right now I'm going to help them set up in the backyard. We can talk later, though." Anna promised.
"Okay! Have fun out there, I think the twins are still trying to catch a few garden gnomes. They're lucky, I've got to sit here and watch the cake in the oven." she finished in a grumpy voice, rolling her eyes behind her mother's back.
Anna stifled a chuckle as she moved through the kitchen and out the back door. Sure enough, Mr. Weasley was using his wand to shoot streamers over the trees and hedges, Charlie, Percy, and Ron were setting up several large tables with chairs around them, and Fred and George were snooping through a bush.
Anna hurried across the yard, coming up behind the twins. She tiptoed the last few steps and suddenly poked them both in the back.
"Ah!" they both shouted in surprise, shooting upright from their bent over positions and spinning around. "Anna!" Instantly, their shock turned to delight and they quickly crushed her in a group hug. Anna laughed, hugging them back around their necks. They were both a couple inches taller than her so she was briefly lifted off the ground. When her feet were firmly back on the ground and they stepped away from each other she looked them over with a small smirk.
"Well, don't you both look dashing."
She was used to seeing them in their school robes, and occasionally a sweater vest over their button-down, but today they were both wearing an actual, formal vest over their button-downs. Fred was wearing a blue vest over a green shirt, and George a green vest over a blue shirt.
"Just don't mention the lack of a tie," Fred suddenly whispered, leaning down a bit to ensure no one else would hear.
"-or mum will make us put one on."
"And it'll choke us to death!" Fred ended, his eyes widening theatrically.
Anna laughed quietly, covering her mouth. She, herself, was in a white dress shirt and capris. Her mum tried to convince her to wear a skirt, but Anna hated skirts. It was bad enough she had to wear them in school, she didn't want to wear them anywhere else.
"Do I not even get a hug from my favorite Chaser?" a familiar voice asked from behind Anna.
She spun around, a grin already in place, to see Charlie standing behind her with an expectant look and his arms open. She instantly jumped forward, giving him a tight hug.
"Are you even allowed to pick a favorite?" she asked jokingly as she pulled away.
Charlie shrugged. "I am when I'm not Captain anymore. And when you agree not to tell the others."
Anna groaned. "Don't remind me. I mean, I've got nothing against Wood, he's great, but when it comes to Quidditch he's a bit…obsessive." she pointed out after she could think of a word.
"Like that speech he gave before our last match?" Fred grinned in amusement. "How much you want to bet if he comes today he'll go on and on about Quidditch and the team next year,"
"and how much he'll miss Charlie,"
"and the team won't be the same without him,"
"and how we probably won't be able to find a Seeker half as good,"
"but he'll be sure to lead the team to victory as best he can." Fred finished his and George's little back-and-forth comments in a dramatic tone, puffing his chest up.
Charlie and Anna snickered for a few moments.
"You two better not give him a hard time this year." Charlie warned, "You've gotta admit, he's a great Keeper. So take it easy on him, will you?"
"What about her?" Fred and George demanded indignantly, pointing at Anna.
"She'll probably try to keep you two in line." Charlie retorted with a grin.
"Well, I don't know about that."
XXX
Anna was greeted by the rest of the Weasley family before helping the twins de-gnome the garden, which was fun in it's own right. They turned it into a throwing contest, which Fred barely won. The only Weasley who couldn't make it was Bill. He'd planned on coming but something came up with his job in Egypt and he couldn't make it.
People soon began arriving, many of them Anna knew or at least recognized from school. But seeing as a lot of them were seventh years, Charlie's classmates, Anna didn't know all their names. She was pleased to see her cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, was invited. They got to talk for a little bit and catch up. Apparently, Tonks would soon be starting her training as a Auror, a dark wizard catcher. Anna wasn't sure how that would work out, given how clumsy Tonks was, but it was the thought that counted.
As she promised, Anna sat next to Ginny when they sat down at the large table to eat. Fred sat on her other side with George. She told Ginny a little bit about Quidditch, like her first match and about some of her teammates, and told her a bit about Hogwarts and the classes and Professors. Ginny seemed to be upset that Ron would be going to Hogwarts when summer ended, leaving Ginny all alone at home with her parents.
"I know how you feel, a bit." Anna told her when the younger girl said that, "Up until I left for my first year, I was home alone a lot because my mum works a lot. It was rather boring and lonely. But you'll be in Hogwarts soon." she assured her, which seemed to make Ginny feel better.
When Anna saw Ron off hiding behind some bushes, she mentioned it to the twins.
"Since Charlie graduated Hogwarts, Mum and Dad got him a new wand, so Ron got his old one. If he's sneaking around doing magic over there, Mum'll tan his hide. He knows he's not supposed to do magic."
"He doesn't have the guts to do it." Fred smirked. "He wouldn't risk getting in trouble and not being allowed to go to Hogwarts."
"And you would?" Anna smirked.
Fred gaped at her in mock offense. "You dare question me?"
Anna and George both snorted into their food.
XXX
The party went well into the night, people slowly leaving as the sun dipped below the horizon. Anna and her mother insisted on sticking around long enough to help put some things away, despite Molly's insisting they helped enough.
Finally, however, it was time for Anna and her mum to leave. While Wren said her goodbyes to Molly and Arthur, Anna said a much more permanent-feeling goodbye to Charlie.
"Don't look so sad." Charlie told her, "It's not like you'll never see me again. I'll come back eventually, for holidays or something. And you know you can write to me anytime, your owl's much more reliable than Errol." Anna gave a tiny grin, "Besides, you need to keep the twins out of trouble and keep me posted on the goings-on at Hogwarts, with Quidditch, the animals, and pranks and stuff."
Anna nodded quickly, trying to blink her tears away. Charlie was the first friend she'd ever had, the first person to really look past her last name and find out what she was really like. And he'd introduced her to nearly all her favorite things; Hagrid's animals, Quidditch, the twins…
"I'm still going to miss you." she muttered, looking at her feet.
Charlie pulled her into a hug, his arms big and strong from playing Quidditch. It was a warm hug, like what Anna always figured a father's or brother's hug might feel like. And she soon found herself not wanting to let go.
"You'll be fine. The twins have your back, and you can write to me anytime. It may take me some time to respond, since Romania's not exactly next door, but I will write you back. I promise."
Anna nodded against his chest, and subtly wiped under her eyes when she pulled away. She didn't need anyone seeing that she was trying not to cry.
Two arms suddenly landed over her shoulders, one on either side of her. "Don't worry, Anna,"
"you've still got us." the twins promised her.
Anna laughed, leaning her head on one of the twins' shoulder. "I suppose that's true."
XXX
With everything going on, I almost forgot today was Thursday, the day I update this story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, though I'll admit, I'm going to miss Charlie. But don't worry, they'll keep in touch, obviously.
Let me know what you all thought of this chapter.
And Happy Thanksgiving!