A/N: So, I was rereading and realized I screwed up on Remus's eye color. At one point I referred to them as a greenish-blue, and then several chapters later I said they were brown. I've gone back and corrected it. Sorry.
Catalina was heading back to the greenhouse to do some more work with Pomona when she came across the lovely girl that Minerva had brought back to the castle just the day before. The beautiful girl was staring out the windows but her eyes weren't focusing on any particular thing. It was easy to see she was lost in her thoughts. Cat's heart went out to her. She'd lost both parents, been hunted by men who were as bad as if not worse than Abraham, and she'd just found out that the man whom she'd been sent to, the man who was supposed to protect her, was also dead and gone. "Good morning Sully, how are you today?"
Sully snapped back to attention and gave a small smile to the blonde woman. She didn't know much about the woman, other than the fact that for some reason these people thought Catalina Barron was a Muggle. The woman might not be a witch, but she and her daughter Ophelia were definitely not plain-jane Muggles. "I'm fair to middlin'. How are you?"
"Good. I can honestly say since coming here, most days I'm good." Cat smiled. She approached the girl to look down on the grounds. "I was heading out to the greenhouse. Pomona leaves in two days and she's been giving me instructions so I can help take care of things while she's gone. I'm going to be helping a young man by the name of Neville. What are your plans for the day?"
"Remus, Ophelia, and I are going to Diagon Alley." Sully saw the flicker of fear and unease cross Catalina Barron's face. "I won't let anything harm your daughter."
Cat smiled wryly. "I know both you and Remus will protect her. I guess it's just been a long time since she's gone somewhere so public without me. It's been a long time since I've had other people helping to watch over my girls."
"That you trust me so quickly means more to me than you really know." Sully spoke softly.
Cat looked at the girl next to her. Today Sully wore knee high red vinyl boots, short red vinyl shorts, and a red vinyl bustier. The girl had multiple hoop earrings in her ears, seven in one and nine in the other. One eyebrow sported two piercings, while the other held one. A small red ruby graced the side of her nose, and when Sully spoke Cat could see that her tongue was pierced as well. The tattoos that covered the right side of the girl's body didn't detract from her beauty, neither did the multiple piercings. "Sometimes people let the physical appearance of something influence their decisions. I myself have been guilty of this. I thought because Abraham was so handsome he had to be wonderful, he wasn't. You're a lovely girl, and I happen to think your body art enhances that."
Sully knew Abraham was Cat's ex husband. She also knew the man had been abusive. She didn't know the full extent, but with her abilities it hadn't been difficult to pick up on torment the Barron family had suffered. "Thank you Cat."
"I know how hard it is to lose your mother Sully. If you ever need someone or something, please feel free to come see me." Cat offered.
"There you are Miss Myrthaltin." Remus and Ophelia had just made it to the top of the stairs and now stood watching the two women. "Are you ready to proceed to Diagon Alley?"
"Whenever you are."
&
Annabeth was exhausted. The night before Kelliope had shown up at her doorstep sobbing. Hobart's family had contacted her parent's immediately, not only expecting an apology, but also expecting Kell to continue on with the wedding. The girl had been beyond wrecked. Annabeth couldn't understand how parents would try to force their own child to enter a loveless marriage. Sure, it used to be done all the time, but that was in the dark ages, not current times…well, at least not as much in current times. So now Annabeth was getting the shop ready for opening, and trying to remember the code to get into the potions cabinet for a pepper up potion.
"Morning Annabeth!" Fred called out.
"Good morning Annabeth!" George followed his brother shortly after. "How are you this fine morning?"
"Tired." She replied and finally got the needed potion and downed it quickly. "I needed that." She muttered.
Fred grinned. "Out sowing your…"
"Wild oats?" George finished.
"No, Kelliope came over. Her parents aren't taking her break up well."
"Did she go back to the git?" Fred frowned. George struggled not to chuckle.
"No, but they're certainly not making it easy on the poor girl. She might stop in and see me later."
"Oh?" Fred tried unsuccessfully to hide his cheer at the thought of the blonde girl returning.
"That's fine." George was just shaking his head. His brother was over the moon for the girl. "That guy she was with was a complete moron."
Of course Fred agreed with this sentiment. "Did she happen to tell you which school she went to?"
Annabeth hid her grin. "She was home schooled by private tutors. She hated it, but I can tell the girl is really smart."
The door to the shop opened and the girl in question entered and stood hesitantly near the door. It was easy to see she had been crying as her eyes were puffy and ringed in red, and her nose was red and shiny. Her normal thin lips were slightly swollen and chapped, and as Annabeth hurried over to wrap an arm around her shoulders she started sobbing again. She was trying to speak through her cries, but it was all coming out garbled. The Weasley twins moved quickly.
"Come along love, there there, it's all going to be all right." Fred soothed as he moved forward to assist Annabeth in getting Kelliope into the backroom.
George was already moving to get tea for the girl. "Fred's right Kelliope. There's nothing we can't fix if given the opportunity."
"You guys are so…so nice." She hiccupped and followed as they led her to a chair behind the counter. She knew they wanted to know what had happened. "I got home last night and my parents were furious. Hobart's parents had already contacted them and they were angry that I'd hit their precious Hobie. I tried to tell my parents how I felt when I'm with him, but they wouldn't listen. They said I was lucky to be getting someone with his status. I told them that I wasn't getting him anymore since I'd broken off the engagement, and then they really went crazy. They told me that I would indeed be getting married to Hobart. Then they said if I continued to argue that they would disown me. They told me if I didn't marry him I couldn't stay there…"
"What did you tell them?' Annabeth asked gently; the twins had gone silent. Even at their angriest, their parents would never kick them out or disown them…
"I left!" She wailed. "I took my things and left and now I don't have anywhere to go! What am I going to do?"
"Well, first we need you to calm down…after that we can start figuring things out." Annabeth soothed.
The twins had walked a few steps away and were muttering to each other. Finally, after nodding at each other with pleased expressions, they walked back over to the girls. "Right, well, here's what we suggest." George began.
"We're going to be opening a shop in Hogsmeade soon. We were going to have to hire someone to work in that shop, as well as a manager to take care of things when we're not there." Fred spoke.
"The store's under renovation currently and there's an apartment on top of the store." Now it was George.
Fred picked up the explanation. "So what we think is that you start working for us here…"
"Then when the shop is ready there, you would switch over to that shop…"
"Or Annabeth could…or even both of you could."
"Until we hire another employee it's all sort of in the air."
"It's quite possible we could just do a rotation."
"What do you think?"
Kell and Annabeth had been watching the twins talk. It was fascinating. Annabeth had seen it before of course, but it still amazed her. The two were so in tune with each other. "You would hire me? But I've never worked before…You don't even know me."
The two men looked at each other and shrugged. "Seem all right by us." George stated.
"You're both wonderful. I'll take the job. Thank you so much." She sniffled.
The door to the shop opened and Remus entered with two younger women, both attractive in different ways. As soon as Remus entered the shop Annabeth straightened her posture without even realizing it.
"Good morning all." Remus greeted the small group, and his eyes immediately went to Annabeth. She was even lovelier today than she had been the first time he saw her a few days before.
"Good to see you Remus." Fred grinned. "Way we present one of our new employees Kelliope…I don't know your last name Kell?"
"Kelliope Friggles." She blushed slightly as his attention turned to her.
"A pleasure to meet you Miss Friggles. These are my new friends Ophelia Barron and Sully Myrthaltin."
"Great to meet you!"
"Are one of you one of the Muggles staying at the castle?"
Ophelia looked between the two men who were identical. "I'm a Muggle."
"Not hardly." Sully snorted. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Sully. Not a Muggle."
"Both Americans?" Fred asked with interest. George was busy staring at Sully and Ophelia's legs. "Well, look around, and if you need anything let us know. We're here to please."
While Remus took a few moments to speak with the twins, Annabeth went back to working on the books in the back room, and Sully, Kelliope and Ophelia began looking around the shop. The three girls would occasionally speak and they all showed a hint of shyness as they began to get to know each other. Sully wasn't normally a shy girl, but then again she wasn't used to spending much time with other females either. So far neither Kell nor Lia had been rude or catty towards the half-elf, and she was returning to her normal brash, blunt self. She was in the middle of laughing as Kell finished the story of Hobart and the Belgium Belching Chocolates, when the door to the shop slammed open so hard that it cracked the glass. Five men in dark black robes and white masks entered the shop with menacing steps.
"Good grief how many of you fuckers are there?" Sully rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Enough to take care of a disgusting creature such as yourself." The man in front hissed.
One of the men had seen Kell and he pointed at her. "A Pureblood? Associating with filth?"
"The only filth I see is you people. You'd better leave before it's too late for you!" Kell spat at the man.
The first man chuckled, and the other four joined him. "Foolish little girl, what are you going to do to us? You can't use magic in this store; the blood traitors saw to that! We out number you, and we're bigger and stronger. We need the creature for our own reasons, but you two girls," his eyes roamed nastily over Kell and Ophelia's bodies. "Well, you two ladies can keep us entertained while we wait."
Ophelia was trembling. She wished Remus and those two red-haired boys would come back out. She was scared to call out though in case it made these dark men hurt them sooner. Her eyes glanced around frantically wondering if she could find something that could help. At least they couldn't use magic…that was a blessing, right? Finally, her eyes landed on something called Harry's Exploding Snitch. If it exploded it had to be useful in this situation, right? Ophelia trembled as she began to inch towards the item slowly.
Kell recognized the man who'd spoken to her. "Your Dark Lord is dead! Too bad you didn't join him." Kell prayed Fred, George, and the older man, Remus returned quickly.
The man who'd originally spoken chuckled and motioned the others to spread out.
"I'm not going anywhere with you." Sully stated in a very calm tone. "And you aren't going to hurt my new friends."
One of the men from the back had reached Kell. He stared down at her for several tense moments. Kell gasped as she realized who stood before her. "Father?" she whispered.
With a snarl the man lashed out striking her with the back of his hand across her face. She cried out, and all hell broke loose.
&
Molly Weasley watched Catalina Barron as she began to plant the bulbs for the Singing Daffodils. The blonde woman was smiling and taking pleasure in the simple task. "Hello there!"
Catalina looked up to see the shorter, plumper woman with the shiny red hair. She could instantly see the resemblance to Ginny and Ron. "Hi! You must be Mrs. Weasley! Your children have told me all about you!"
Molly chuckled. "Call me Molly dear. I've been hearing about you and yours for the past few days myself. Just wanted to come and meet you."
Cat finished the last row of bulbs and stood, brushing off her hands. "I'm glad you did."
The bulbs in the ground started humming and Cat looked surprised. Molly's grin widened. "Don't you just love those? I swear that humming could send me off to sleep. The only bad part of em is when they hit puberty, some of them sound all froggy."
"It's still just so odd to hear plant life singing." Cat shook her head.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll get used to it quick as can be. Would you care to join me in the castle for a spot of tea?"
"I would love to." She responded and the two headed up to Hogwarts.