Chapter 13

If you are reading this it means you have stuck by me long enough to reach chapter 13 or you have begun to read and decided to stick it out till here. Either way you are a superhero and deserve a prize…COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!

On a more related topic, you may recall we last left Harry and Ginny on a romantic trip away leaving all four kids in the tender care of Hermione and Ron. This chapter takes place a month or so later when Harry and Ginny have returned. It may have been just me but I thought that story line was a tad stale. So here we go….

((((((00))))))

Monday 16th April

Lily Aurora Potter sat at the kitchen table, oblivious to her surroundings. At her feet her twin siblings, who had recently turned three and felt far superior to their two-year-old selves, clunked about with multicoloured plastic toys. Across the table her elder brother James was making a birthday card for their cousin Lola who was becoming two the coming Wednesday. Lily however was unaware to all of this. She was decorating her Egg. The twins had come home with very fancy eggs from their nursery school. They stood in a proud position on the windowsill, in all their feathery-painty- gluey- stripy glory. Lily had a palette of paint out and was intent on her Egg. Over the years Lily's combination of art skills and stubborn determination when it came to this project every year had earned the capitalisation of her Easter egg.

It had started with a harmless game on James' first Easter. A very young baby who had no idea what was going on had been presented with a little chicken egg and under great encouragement from his parents dabbed a spot of blue paint. When Lily arrived new colours were bought to distinguish between the spotty eggs of brother and sister. A sense of competitiveness had emerged when James had taken all the stickers, which in Lily's eyes was sabotage. The following year she had complained her egg was too little. The enlarging of the eggs had started a new era in egg decorating. As the years went by James' interest faded but Lily remained headstrong in making her egg perfect. The twins had joined the race late but with a head start of each other. Still, Lily's Egg came up trumps every year and her family just took it as another of Lily's quirks.

Down the road at Hermione and Ron's things were less than peaceful. They were on the verge of a full-blown arguing, but ever so slightly, not quite there.

Hermione, at seven months was enormous and her stomach looked more and more swollen by the second. Currently she lay sprawled out on the sofa eating her current craving; extra-sour pickles. A Witch-and-Child mothering magazine was open on her rather revealed stomach. Her bushy hair was in two fat bunches to keep it off her face as she was in a state of permanent over-heat and dehydration. Ron on the other hand was cleaning the house, while simultaneously preparing lunch, ordering a pram and composing a letter to Gringrotts, complaining about a goblin who's name he couldn't remember.

"You could do something!" Ron suddenly exclaimed as the pram company put him on hold to a burst of 50's dance music.

"You know what Dr. Ami said Ron." Hermione adopted a professional male voice. " 'Lots of bed-rest and relaxation. You don't want to damage those girls do you!'" she chuckled in an imitation of her doctor. "So I'm on doctor's orders Ronnie!" In calling him 'Ronnie' she was clearly trying to sweeten him up. Needless to say this was totally unsuccessful.

"I'm not exactly asking you to climb Everest here am I?" he snapped. "A little light dusting not going to hurt you. A touch of cookery shouldn't be too difficult! You can even sit on your backside and phone the bank- or the pram people!" Ron threw down the duster and stormed out the house. Hermione, who felt more alone than she could remember, broke down into tears.

Honour was sitting silently in her playroom. Why speak? There was no one to listen. When she was younger and used to occasionally visit her cousins she would feel a pang of jealousy when she saw the brothers and sisters playing. Some like Flame and Spike, or the various sets of twins, were very close in age and shared toys and games and tricks they had come up with together. Some even spoke their own secret languages. In the case of Pierre, Jacques and Brigitte it wasn't so much that they had created an exclusive language. French flowed easily out of the mouths and when they were small they spoke the languages intertwined, blurring the lines between the languages. The other kids found this pretty easy to cope with, having picked up many useful words and phrases over the years. Honour, who only saw them very seldom, had not a clue what they were saying. Others had wider age gaps like Dan with Lola. In cases like these it wasn't so much shared toys as mentoring, teaching, having a role model or a student that looked at you for guidance. For Honour there was no one. That is of course not strictly true. There was Mummy who treated her like she was two and Daddy who gave her money and treated her like she was 20. Then there was Grandmamma Hortensia and Grandpappa Gregory. She never spoke to them. She curtsied. On the other side there was Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur. They showered her with love and treated her age-appropriate but they would never fear her and seek to please her above all. They wouldn't do. Her three nannies- Meg, Anna and Nikki- were respectful but were clearly only here for the money. Ho-hum. She might as well give it another shot with Mummy.

"Hello Honoury-Ponoury-Poo!" was Jane's response to her daughter's arrival down the stairs. Honour responded with a low voice.

"Is it important Precious because Mummy's got an arrangement to go and play cardies with Carla and Erica. I would invite you bunnykins, but it's really for grown-ups." She softened the 'r' in 'GROWN-ups' making it a definite "GWOWN-ups."

Honour turned away. After all, most self-respecting eight-year-old would.

Dressed smartly in a tweed suit and red lipstick Ginny Weasley set off for her interview at Love Potion Mags Inc. Ginny was a paediatrician –children's doctor- and St. Mungo's and had seen an advertisement in the Daily Prophet for a health-based agony aunt for magazines like Witch Weekly, Witch-and-Child, Household Magic and Magic Baby, Baby Magic which were all run by the same company-Love Potion Mags Inc. To get this job would be a huge career leap for Ginny and a move in the right direction. She entered the building and sat in the waiting room with two other witches and one house-elf that was clearly with the rather snooty woman, who sat with her back to Ginny and the other witch.

"Hi, I'm Ginny Potter," said Ginny smiling and giving her hand out to the other woman. The woman took it

"Electra Goldman." She said. "Ooh, I bet you'll get it. My friend's kid was at St. Mungo's and said you were really fantastic."

Ginny smiled "I'm nothing special really, just-" but at the mention of the word 'Potter' the snobby lady had turned to Ginny. She held out a white-gloved hand.

"Finally some-one of class," the woman smiled cruelly and darted a mean look at Electra. "You may know of me, I'm Georgina Crabbe. I believe our husbands were at school together. My husband hated yours, but that doesn't mean we can't have a friendly discussion does it, however much Vincy hated Harry- which was masses I must say." She laughed her cruel laugh again. Ginny wondered if Georgina knew the meaning of the word friendly. " I see you haven't brought your elf. How very cosmopolitan. I'm sure where ever it is its far more adequate than Frisky here." Ginny thought this a little unfair considering the elf in question had just brought Georgina a cappuccino, but she held her tongue and let Georgina carry on. "Until you came I was stuck here with this Evecta woman who hasn't got a leg of heritage to stand on. Her father was a plumber for heavens' sake! I don't think she'll get the job though. Not a square inch of brain in her head." Georgina had apparently forgotten that Electra was right there. Electra's eyes were fast filling with tears. Ginny wanted to give her a hug. As Georgina opened her mouth once more her name was called and after kissing Ginny on each cheek and summoning her elf she scuttled off, ignoring Electra.

"You mustn't worry. You're far more likely to get it than Crabbe-ella de Ville over there." Electra showed a faint sign of cheering up. "And you know what?" Ginny asked, "Harry's mum Lily's parents were both Muggles. The grandchild of two Muggles is the Harry that the tabloids can't get enough of. And Vincent Crabbe? Pah!" Ginny made a very Fleur noise.

"Wasn't he popular and handsome and sporty and clever at school? That's what she was saying before you came in."

"Popular? Him? People knew him as the beefy bodyguard of Draco Malfoy. He didn't even have a date for the school dance. Handsome? Well if you find the back end of a donkey with measles appealing then maybe, just, maybe you might think Vincent Crabbe mildly good-looking. Sporty I'll give you. He was a hard-faced bully, but he did have muscles. Clever? Clever? Not in a million years. Not in a billion years." Ginny finished and the ghostly smile that had been playing at Electra's lips turned into a fully-fledged grin.

She shyly posed a question to Ginny. "Are you really married to Harry Potter?" Ginny nodded.

"Are you married?" Ginny returned the question. A look of sadness crossed Electra's face.

"My husband's in St. Mungo's. He's d-dying" She blinked rapidly and closed her eyes for a second. When she re-opened them she was composed once more.

"How awful! Do you have any children?"

"Eight," nodded Electra. "We've got Sarah and Peter and Jenny, Maya and Jason and Zak, and then the little ones, Tiger and Luke."

"What lovely names! We've just got the four." And Ginny proceeded to introduce James, Lily, Sirius and Mia. They began to swap anecdotes, tips and photos until a trouser-suited brunette woman called out

"Electra Goldman" quickly followed by a Chinese woman in a skirt-suit calling out

"Ginevra Potter". As the two women left the waiting room they caught a glimpse of Georgina looking very smug in another room. They reached their separate rooms and wished each other good luck. The door swung shut and Ginny's interview began.

Wednesday, 18th April beamed up at her guests while digging into some chocolate birthday cake. Around her sat family and friends. The biggest shock of the day had come when Honour had turned up with her father who then dropped her off and a (for once) happy looking Honour had joined the party.

It had been a rocky start. She didn't know how to play pass-the-parcel or musical bumps. She was at a loss when it came to junk food. She had difficulty with calling her own cousins their correct names, which caused a bit of offence considering she was technically 'one of them'. It was as though she was a teenager, at a pub for the very first time. All the regulars had their in-jokes and knew exactly what to do when. She was all at sea with how to have a toddler's birthday party. As the party carried on full flow with laughter and games and sharing and some words that it seemed everyonesubstituted the French. She wondered if she would ever pick it up…

Will Lily's Egg be good enough? Will Ron return home? Will Honour find a friend? Will Ginny get the job? Will Ginny and Electra ever meet again? Ginny and Georgina? Will Honour get the hang of parties? Or her cousins for that matter? Is Harry a horcrux???

FIND OUT ONLY IN 'THE FINAL HORCRUX'

Seriously though. If you've come this far in the chapter that means you either love it smiles or you HATE it frowns. Either way please leave a review for me! I guarantee I will reply to anything and everything. Even if it's mean, even if it makes no sense, EVEN IF IT'S A NUMBER OUT OF 10!!!

Come on. Press the little 'Go' button. You know you want to. And remember cookies for all who review