Chapter 28 – A Graceful Return
Harry couldn't tell who was most stunned by the proclamation that Severus Snape had just made but, considering the looks of the people that were in the room, he thought that Draco would be the winner. The blond boy had reached for the nearest seat and sat down shakily as he watched his mother and his godfather hug the stuffing out of each other.
Severus and Narcissa looked around after 30 seconds and found that they were the center of attention. They sprang apart blushing. 'Snape blushes; who would have thought it possible?'
Narcissa's cheeks were very red but she saw the dumbfounded look that her son had. "Draco. Sorry dear, I don't know exactly what to say to you now. Ginny, Hermione and the house elf found and removed four runic tattoos on my body that I don't ever remember seeing before. I can only guess that their location and intent had something to do with at least making me forget the relationship that I had with Severus in school. I do remember the arranged marriage that was set up with your father and my objections to it."
"But…"
Severus walked over and placed a hand on Draco's shoulder. "I'm sorry for this shock we've placed you in. This must be very confusing for you. I wouldn't put it pass your father to place the Imperius curse on anyone and that includes your mother. I suspect those runes were applied just before or after the marriage ceremony happened. If you have objections to our past history or any possible future I would understand. Lady Hermione, did you understand what those runes were before they were removed?"
Hermione scratched her head as she thought of a way to phrase things diplomatically. "There was the obvious obliteration rune that was linked to a rune for feelings. It would have cancelled the most extreme feelings Narcissa would have had stored in her memory. I think it also would have had the effect of making her uncaring about those that were not blood relatives. That's just an educated guess on my part, I'm afraid."
Narcissa nodded sadly. "It fits in with facts I'm aware of. I never had a good relationshipwith anyone after I married and barely acknowledged my own family outside of Draco. That, at least, has gotten better since Lucius went to jail. What were the other two?"
"It was an Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for maleness; its location on her body may have had something to do with ensuring that you only produced a son."
"That.. power-hungry excuse for a man. He insured that I would just be no more than a breed-cow for his heir and then he…."
"Left you and abandoned the marriage bed?" Severus guessed.
Narcissa wiped away a tear and Draco rose to carefully hold his emotional mother. Harry was going to excuse himself and lead his wives and Sirius out of the room but Narcissa straightened up. "You all might as well hear it from me as from Severus. Lucius Malfoy's 'preferences' included torture and other humiliations that I am too ashamed to admit I knew something about. I visited the dungeons once too often and was threatened about disclosing what I never wished to witness him participating in."
'Ewww!' came the mental comment from each of the Potters. Hermione and Ginny both unconsciously moved a little closer to their lovong husband.
Ginny cleared her throat. "The last tattooed rune we found was a Reversed Berkano. It usually indicates a loss of control or stagnation in your individual life."
"So a created dependence and a lack of ambition. Perfect for a pureblood's wife."
"I believe there may actually be some intelligence in that soft head of yours, Mr. Black."
"That's Lord Black, Professor Snapdragon."
Narcissa screamed loudly in frustration and pushed Draco carefully back a step. She marched the few steps to Sirius and grabbed him by the ear. She then dragged him back to where Snape stood. She grabbed his ear with her free hand and dragged both heads close together.
"I've had enough of this idiocy and I will not stand for it anymore. Apologize. Now!"
Sirius and Snape stared at each other for a couple of seconds and then Sirius broke first. "I apologize for being rude. You are a guest here. Severus."
"I am also sorry. For being insulting and offending a close family member of someone I care about."
Cissie loosened her hold just a bit. "Good. I'm not saying you should be best friends but you will treat each other with common courtesies from now on. And not just in my presence. Is that understood?"
"Yes."
"Perfectly clear."
Cissie released her hold on their ears and folded her arms in front of her. "Now shake hands."
"I will not."
"No!"
Harry would have laughed but he was fascinated by the scene he was witnessing. He thought Professor Snape had the 'Stare of Doom' down pretty well but it was nothing compared to what a truly vexed Narcissa Black was now projecting.
"If either of you ever want to talk to her again, I would suggest doing what she says."
Both wizards turned to look at an amused Hermione and then they looked at each other. Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'm not going to stay here all afternoon." He held out his hand and Severus shook it for about a half a second.
Narcissa nodded. "Well that was a start. Mrs. Potters, you should count yourself lucky that your husband has some common sense about him."
"We've trained him well." That quip from Ginny brought a laugh from Cissie, Sirius and even a chuckle from Severus. Harry frowned a bit but realized that anything that Sirius and his potions teacher agreed on wouldn't be a bad thing in the long run.
"We didn't have a chance to look before. What does your arm look like now, Professor Snape?"
Severus Snape's head turned around sharply at Hermione's question. So many things had happened so quickly that he hadn't taken the time himself to look at his arm. As everyone gathered around him, Snape brought up his arm for everyone to see. The Dark Mark didn't seem quite so dark; it was a dark grey instead of the previous midnight black. A closer inspection revealed that there were small cracks or spaces in some of the inking.
Severus was surprised to hear a congratulations come from Sirius. "It looks like Harry did something impossible again. We'd better keep a close eye on the youngster to make sure that he doesn't think he can try or get away with everything."
"Hey, that's our job" said Ginny a little defensively. The adults in the room smiled and Gracie woofed once from her place on the couch.
Harry shook his head sadly. "I'm trying to lead a nice quiet life here and all these situations just seem to find their way into my daily existence."
"Perhaps the famous Harry Potter should just expect that his life may never be normal."
Harry grinned. "That famousness won't ever be an excuse I'll use in class Professor. I would monitor that leaving from Tom Riddle for a while. I'm not sure I've started a total unraveling or not but I wouldn't expect the Mark to disappear soon. It you'd like we'll try breaking some other strands but it won't be today or anytime soon. I'm a little knackered."
"I'll have Albus and Poppy take a look at this when I return to Hogwarts. It is quite a remarkable feat for anyone Lord Harry; I thank you."
Harry frowned a little at the title but he saw that Severus was being genuine in his respect. 'That is a welcome change' came from Hermione.
"Narcissa, I think the three of you need to have a good long sit down and private discussion. Knop?"
When the house elf appeared, Harry asked him to make sure that the fires were lit in the Garden Cottage and that there were some sandwiches and drinks available for their guests. Knop nodded and said that he wound attend to it immediately. He stopped before disappearing though and came up closer to Harry. "Lord Harry, is there a sentence on the girl that has to be served before she can revert?"
"Huh? What girl? Neither Ginny, Hermione or Narcissa are being punished for anything."
Knop sighed a little sadly and looked around the room. He made a gesture with one hand and an item floated off the desk to Harry's grasp.
"You need to really look to see everything Lord Harry. I will go prepare the Garden Cottage." Knop disappeared with a small blink.
Harry looked at the copper band in his hand and then at the other people in the room. "Does anybody have an idea about what he just said? I certainly don't have a clue."
Hermione pointed to what Harry was holding. He clasped the Eye of Horus and took a good look around the room again. He stopped as he looked past Sirius. "Oh, bullocks. Dobby!"
Before the house elf could make his usual bow and speech, Harry ordered him to go to Hogwarts and bring Madame Pomfrey back and to ask Dumbledore to come to the Manor immediately. Dobby popped away alarmingly quick.
Harry looked at Hermione and Ginny and they both gasped loudly. "Yes, we're idiots – all around. Cissie, would you take Severus and Draco and go stand by the door. I don't want to scare her."
"Scare who?"
"Shhh! This may not work."
Ginny pulled Sirius along so that he was standing by the couch. She pushed him down and then returned to stand by her mates. Sirius watched as a blanket levitated off the back of the sofa to lie across the couch. A green glow surrounded the three Potters as Harry pointed his wand. Sirius trusted Harry and the others but wondered what in blazes the three were thinking. He didn't have to wait long as the spell left Harry's wand.
"Deprehendo absolutes veritatus!"
Everyone gasped in shock as the bolt of light hit the form huddled under the blanket. The silence in the room was broken two seconds later by some swearing from Sirius and the pop as Dobby reappeared with Madame Pomfrey.
"What was so urgent that I was kidnap - OH!"
As Fawkes suddenly flared into the room with Dumbledore a new voice was heard from the couch. First was a giant yawn and then a surprised squeak. A totally different set of muscles pumped enough air through suddenly altered vocal cords to roughly speak.
"Ooooh….Iriuz, I feeel must odd ail ofa suddan."
The hands came up in front of her face and the naked girl looked at them wildly. She yelled once and fainted.
"Gracie?"
Xxxx xxxx
Harry and the others left the study so that only Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore were left in the room. Sirius was going to leave too before a shocked, scared and newly awoken young lady grabbed his hand and wouldn't let it go. Harry told Dumbledore to use the Potter house elves for whatever help he needed before they left the room.
It was thirty minutes of guesswork and impatience for the group outside before the door opened and Dumbledore waved for everyone to come in. He was alone in the study and Harry asked where Sirius and their transformed new guest were.
"Poppy checked the young lady out and she is remarkably well. She was in shock and Poppy gave her a mild sleeping draught after clothing her. Sirius is currently watching the young lady upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms. Poppy has gone to St. Mungo's to research the obscure topic of hysterical transformations. I've taken the liberty of using your name Harry to send some house elves for Molly, Amelia Bones, and Minerva. They will very helpful I believe in the weeks ahead. Perhaps we should all have a sit down and talk about this."
"Hysterical transformations headmaster?"
"A rare accident or set of circumstances that trigger an inadvertent change in a latent animagus."
"Ooh, the poor girl" came from Narcissa.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Narcissa found a seats in the study as Harry volunteered his chair behind the desk for Dumbledore. Severus and Draco excused themselves to go have a talk in the small house that Harry had Knop prepare for them.
"I used a bit of Legilimancy to try and make some sense of Gracie's jumbled memories. This story is very patchy and incomplete, but here's what I believe happened. A dozen years ago the Death Eaters and Voldemort…."
"Tom Riddle" Harry insisted.
"Yes, Tom and his followers were rampaging across the countryside, killing muggles and children of mixed parentage. They also tried to take advantage of the political unrest by removing or influencing the so called pure-blood families by intimidation or outright torture. Lots of followers were converted to the cause because of threats like that. Growth by fear."
"Not what happed to Neville's parents" Ginny said.
"Yes but that happened after the Dark Lord disappeared" Dumbledore said. "That was a response to get information about Voldemort's possible location."
"Back to Gracie?" Narcissa prompted.
"Occasionally Riddle brought along a Dementor or two to serve as a threat or outright killer. They obeyed him instead of the Ministry at that time. I will have to ask Amelia to check the old records of missing and unaccounted for families. What I suspect happened is that a magical or mixed blood family was attacked by the Death Eaters or Voldemort personally. The family hid their young daughter to try and protect her. Young Gracie may have witnessed their murders and/or been exposed to the Dementor's. That great shock and fear may have triggered a transformation in the young girl to become the dog that came to save Sirius all those weeks ago."
"Sounds very speculative Dumbledore."
"Her memories are very scattered and incomplete. When I scanned her mind I found memories of wandering aimlessly or being fed odd meals by various people. With no forewarning or preparation the young girl found herself trapped in that canine body and had no way of getting back to her own. Over the years she retained some intelligence but the dog part became the dominant part of her personality. I suspect she'll have a rough time transitioning back to being a teenager now."
"We'd all like to help her" Hermione said.
"There is already someone here that the young girl has attached herself to."
"That would be Sirius. Just for the time they spent together?"
"That's partly right Harry but there are other important reasons. They are both animagus and the young lady has already seen him go back and forth from his animal shape to human a number of times. She'll need Sirius' guidance to help her control her gift. The second reason is a bit of luck. When Sirius tumbled on a name to call her by, it was something she already knew."
"Gracie?"
"Maggie Grace Churchbright. Poppy guesses her age as about 15 or 16 years old. I'm happy that you have found and solved her mystery but the young lady will be very confused for a while."
"A dozen years wandering around the countryside? It sounds very difficult."
"I suspect her magical core sustained her when times were rough but maybe she can tell us more when she comes around."
Just then there was a knock on the study door and Hermione opened it to find a confused Molly Weasley, Minerva McGonagall and Amelia Bones looking anxiously at the group inside the room. "Your house elf told us there was a crisis at the Manor. Has anyone been hurt?"
Harry shook his head no but invited the three witches in. Narcissa greeted the new guests warmly but excused herself from the subsequent conversation as she wanted to catch up with her son and Severus. Both Molly and Madame Bones started at that name but Narcissa smiled and said it was a conversation for another day. She thanked Harry, Hermione and Ginny for the help she had received and left the room.
Hermione looked at the group and said that Sirius would probably be needed for the talk about Gracie. She told Harry that she and Ginny would send him down and take over the watch on the sleeping girl. Harry nodded as he realized he wanted to be part of the discussion of the young animagus' future. The girls gave Harry and hug and small kiss and Ginny and Hermione both exchanged a hug with Molly on their way out the door.
Harry called for Knop and asked for some juice and water to be provided for everyone in the study. He popped back in with the provisions as Sirius entered the room. Sirius looked to be in shock and he went to the bookcase at one side of the room. He poured a small glass of firewhiskey for himself and took a sip before coming back and finding a seat.
Dumbledore took stock of the five people in the room with him and started speaking. "A most unusual occurrence happened this morning…"
Amelia and Molly both groaned as one and looked at Harry. "What did you do this time Harry?" came from Amelia Bones.
"Hey, it's not always trouble" Harry stated. Sirius took another sip from his glass.
"But it's always something monumental."
"Gentleman, please. We need to discuss something most serious. Ladies the story I'm about to tell you is fraught with surprise and unexpected encounters. It started about a dozen years ago…"
Xxxx xxxx
Hermione and Ginny walked upstairs talking about the strange conditions that the newest human member of their household would awaken to.
"Imagine not remembering how to talk properly or use a toilet or shower?" said Ginny.
"That's not all of it Ginny. What about her family? If she has any left that is. They've probably given up all hope about her survival after all these years."
"And just before we have to go back to school in a couple days. I'd really like to be here for Maggie … Gracie? What do we address her by?"
"Gracie I guess, that's what she's been responding to. Maybe that's why your Mum was called. She's got plenty of free time now and could help her. Get her used to talking and dressing and all that other normal behavior."
"We'll have to ask about coming and seeing her on the weekends then. She'll need people around her that are about her age."
"Oh Merlin, I just thought of something else. If she's truly been wandering around for a dozen years she won't know how to read or write. I guess Home Schooling or tutoring will be her best chance for catching up with the rest of us."
"She may never attend Hogwarts. That's rotten luck."
The two Mrs. Potters eventually found their way to an open bedroom two doors down from the one Sirius occupied. They found him pacing around the room and then stopping to come back to the bed to check on Gracie. He seemed very worried and both girls were quiet as they came into the room.
Hermione told Sirius that there was a serious discussion occurring down in the study between Dumbledore, Mrs. Weasley, Professor McGonagall and Madame Bones. Sirius nodded and made to leave the room but beckoned both girls to the door. "She's been a little restless the last couple of minutes and I'm not sure if she will wake up soon or not. Try to speak calmly to her if she does wake up and 'tell' Harry immediately. I want to be informed. I think she remembers me more than anyone else and I don't want her to panic about waking up without me being here."
"It's ok Sirius. We'll take care of her."
Sirius nodded and hurried away. The two young ladies went to sit on the bed and talk mentally as they watched the former Landseer that had only been in her animagus form for so many years. Maggie Grace Churchbright looked very peaceful sleeping. Now that Hermione and Ginny could really get a good look at her, they were both struck by her beauty. The face was petite but squarish with a nice windswept appearance. Her hair was a little unusual; soft black with streaks of white locks growing haphazardly. It wouldn't take much of a leap to remember the coloring of Gracie, the big web-footed dog.
The meeting downstairs between all the adults grew from a general discussion of Gracie's believed past into a complicated speculation as to what her future should or could encompass. Harry kept Ginny and Hermione informed as to the interactions and stated their opinions and beliefs when he was asked.
It was almost an hour later when the form on the bed stirred again and Hermione 'told' Harry that Gracie was waking up.
'Most of our group is coming up there Hermione.'
Hermione nodded and slipped a little closer to Gracie's side on top of the bedding. The girl slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. Her eyes went wide but then she saw Hermione and Ginny nearby. Gracie moved a little ways back from them and looked wildly around the room.
"Sirius is on his way up. He'll be right here in a minute or so. Gracie, do you remember us? I'm Hermione."
"And I'm Ginny. We don't mean you any harm, really we don't."
Gracie nodded and tried speaking; it came out as a rough cough. Ginny poured a glass of water for her. She looked at it curiously. "Would you like some help?"
Gracie nodded and Ginny held the glass up to her mouth. She tipped it up slowly and Gracie swallowed. Ginny tilted it back and Gracie carefully grabbed hold of the glass with her hands and took it out of Ginny's grip. She looked at her hands and brought the glass up to her mouth. She was trying to watch both girls and her hands and it resulted in spilling more down her front than in her mouth. She looked embarrassed but Ginny just applied a drying charm to Gracie's clothes and smiled. "Better?"
"A lot."
"You have a nice voice Gracie" Ginny said.
"Thanks." Gracie's head bobbed as she said that.
"You remember how to talk then?"
"A little Herminny."
"That's good Gracie."
"That's very good Gracie but her name is Hermione." Sirius had a little smile on his face as he joined in the conversation. Gracie's face lit up like one of the twins' fireworks as she looked to the doorway. Sirius walked in and Ginny moved aside to let Sirius take her place on the comforter. "They told me you had woken up. Are you feeling okay?"
Gracie nodded hard but then stopped. "I'm feeling better; still mixed up now. I have to really concentrate on talking."
"That's understandable and we'll all make allowances if it takes a while to get comfortable again with that. You can practice with us three."
"And all of us out here" Harry said from the doorway.
Gracie leaned a little towards Sirius but he patted her hand. "Nobody wants to hurt or scare you Gracie. Would you like to meet my family and friends?"
"Fam…ily? Okay, as long as you don't leave me alone."
Sirius waved and the group outside came in a few steps but stopped when they saw Gracie get a little nervous. "It's okay Gracie; you've been around most of these people for many weeks. That is Ginny and Hermione."
"And I'm Harry. Nice to meet you Gracie." Harry moved a few steps forward and Gracie nodded her head.
"I remember you three. You're all shorter now though." Gracie liked the fact that Harry and the other two girls laughed and smiled at her.
"We're staying at Harry's house. Harry is married to Hermione and Ginny; they are his mates."
"Like you and me Sir..Sirius?"
"Not quite Gracie. You and I are very good friends though."
"Good" Gracie said. She looked where Harry, Ginny and Hermione stood together. She thought she could trust them.
A wider female with hair sort of like Ginny's stepped forward. "You can call me Molly, Gracie. I hope you don't mind but Sirius has asked me to help take care of you for a while. You've been… absent(?) a long time and have forgotten a lot. I won't be here all the time but I'd like to help you remember and feel comfortable around other people again."
"Okay Mol... lee. Sirius, was I really a dog for a while?"
"Yes, you were Gracie but it wasn't your fault and it was a good thing for a while. It's a special talent only some people have. You can become one again but let's get you used to being human again."
The last woman stepped forward. "My name is Amelia. We'll teach you everyone's last names a little later. I'd like it if you wouldn't mind if I came around every so often to talk to you."
"I like talking again. Sirius didn't know what I was saying when I woofed at him."
That got a smile from everyone and Gracie relaxed a little more. These people were friendly even if she didn't know all of them very well. She hoped she would get to know them better.
"There are other littler people around the house. They are house elves and they all have their own names. The one that will be around you the most is named Llasol but she's not here right now."
Gracie nodded but then looked around at everyone. She whispered to Sirius. "I rember them. I.. I need to go outside Sirius. To do…"
Hermione and Ginny stepped forward before Sirius got too red in the face. "We'll take you Gracie but it's not going to be outside anymore."
Hermione and Ginny helped Gracie get out of bed and had to walk beside her as she looked down to watch her feet move. She was a little unsteady but looked over her shoulder to see Sirius before the girls led her into the bathroom.
Sirius watched the door closed and slumped a little. "This is going to be harder than I thought. I don't want to be her… mate."
Amelia stepped closer to Sirius. "You'll be her pack leader until she starts standing on her own. Molly will try to be here almost every day after school starts. I'll try to stop in as often as I can."
Sirius rolled his eyes at Amelia and guessed it was another of Fate's random choices. But he didn't know anything much about young ladies, especially helping in the raising of them. Harry came over and clapped him on the shoulder. "You wanted to practice your parenting skills Sirius. Looks like you're getting a crash course."
Sirius looked at his snickering adopted son and poked him in the shoulder. "Just remember, you're the older brother now until we find out if she has any family left."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "We'll have to find out if we can come here more often for a while. I'd rather not expose her to the kids at Hogwarts for a while."
Sirius nodded and then the three young ladies came back from the bathroom. "That was very different. Sirius, Ginny and Hermione said I could go with them and pick out some other clothes to have. Is that okay with you?"
Nodding carefully Sirius and the others watched as Ginny, Hermione and Gracie left the room and started explain the things they saw to her.
"She seems intelligent enough Sirius. Maybe it won't be so difficult to catch her up."
Sirius nodded at Amelia but Molly thought she would go and supervise what the girls lent to Gracie. Molly was a little concerned that Ginny and Hermione would lend her clothes that weren't simple enough or proper yet. As she left, Sirius began banging his head on the wall.
"This cannot be happening."
Harry came up and patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, it gets much worse now. After they pick out a couple of outfits for Gracie, she's probably going to want to show them all to you. We're going to have a fashion show!"
"I'd better go send for Moony then. No sense letting him or Nymphadora missing out on all this fun."
Harry and Amelia laughed at the befuddlement in Sirius' face. They knew there would probably be a long discussion with Gracie later in piercing her story together but for now it seems the more the merrier.
As Harry and Amelia headed for the master bedroom, Harry heard Sirius call Dobby to go fetch his best friend.
Xxxx xxxx
The Burrow was unusually quiet for breakfast. Mrs. Weasley was telling her sons about the unexpected turn of events that led to everyone finding out that the big black and white dog that had been Sirius companion was really a teenage girl. It almost stopped Ron from helping himself to seconds of the scrambled eggs, toast and rashers of bacon.
She explained to her family that they all had supper together and everyone took turns explaining to her how to eat with silverware with hands that weren't quite used to grasping things. "She dropped a lot of things but everyone knew not to laugh or stare at her. If any of you go over to the Manor and meet Gracie, I hope you'll be extra nice to her."
"But Mum", Fred said, "if she's trying to learn table manners it would make no sense to have Ronniekins go."
"Wht d'you mean?" Ron said around a mouthful of food.
"Well everyone knows you don't have any manners, table or otherwise. Hey, maybe Harry and Sirius could teach them both at the same time."
Ron threw a piece of toast at Fred who deftly caught it, split it and handed half of it to George without batting an eye.
"Gracie was very interested in talking to everyone as she had a lot of questions. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left right after supper and Madame Bones said she had to get home and take care of her niece Susan. The rest of us stayed up for a few hours answering questions about magic and house elves and anything else that came to the young girls mind."
"There was a really rough spot later. Ginny called me 'Mum' once in answering a question and it made Gracie become quiet for a long time. She then broke down crying and hugged Sirius for the longest time. When she recovered enough she said she had finally remembered what happened to her Mom and Dad. Nobody there asked her to explain but she took one look at Sirius and just started talking. They had all been out on a picnic near their home and a bunch of bad men came up to them and started firing spells at her parents. Her Mom had told her to run while she and her Dad fought back against the attackers. She hid under a footbridge but saw and heard them torture and kill both her parents. She got real scared when the bad men started searching for her and can't remember anything after she heard a bunch of footsteps on the boards going over her head."
"That poor girl" Mr. Weasley said. "So much time all on her own. Did Dumbledore have any idea of how she survived as a dog all those years?"
"He thinks that when she transformed into a dog that she kept all her intelligence and that she became a full grown dog instead of a puppy. That intelligence and size probably kept a lot of predators away and made other people sympathetic to her appearance. She kept getting much smarter than your usual dog as the years passed. Gracie says she remembers spending at least one winter with a small family with three children before they up and disappeared one day."
"Wow…" said Fred.
"…and she had the happenstance to fall in with Sirius Black" George finished.
Molly shook her head. "Sometimes I do believe there is such a thing as fate or that magic works itself around to helping certain people. Gracie will be facing a tough learning curve now for all those years she's wandered. So I want a promise from all of you that if and when you meet her, you'll be extra respectful."
"That won't be a problem for me and Ronald" Percy said. "At least we have some couth."
"Hey, we have as much couth as they next person. We're just…"
".. saving it up for the occasion when we really need it."
Mrs. Weasley stared down her nose at her twins and they grudgingly agreed to help as her as much as they could.
"Your father and I will be going over there this afternoon. Harry created a portkey we could use for the time being as I'm going to be helping Gracie with reading and writing and other things after everyone returns to Hogwarts.
"Can we go too?" Ron asked.
"Don't you boys have cleaning and packing to do for school?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"I'm done already" Percy said.
Ron frowned. "I'm…not sure where my trunk exactly is. Did either of you two nick it for some reason?"
"No, we didn't. It's probably somewhere in that mess you refer to as a room. You should at least move some of the piles around sometimes to see what's there."
"Haha. You could help me straighten it out."
"It you hadn't spent every spare moment with Luna this holiday you might be able to find the things you needed."
"Mum can Luna…"
"No, you will not have your girlfriend sort out your room. You should know better."
"Just thought I'd ask" Ron said dejectedly.
Just then there was a small pop and an envelope appeared floating over the middle of the table. All four boys made a grab for it but it scooted up and then made a beeline for Mr. Weasley. When he plucked it out of midair, Mr. Weasley turned it around so that everyone could see who it was addressed to. "This is from Harry, Ginny and Hermione. I recognize her writing."
Mr. Weasley unfolded the note and read it with his wife leaning over his shoulder. "I guess your wishes are granted. Harry wants you all to come over and spend the afternoon with them and catch up with everything."
Percy snapped his fingers. "Too bad; I'll have to take rain check I suppose. I'm supposed to go over the new tutoring system with Penelope before we have to tell the other prefects about it on the train.
"Is this going to involve a lot of revising in her bedroom Percy?" Fred asked coyly.
Percy blustered a bit about lack of respect for the Head Boy's duties but Mrs. Weasley told the boys that they shouldn't make fun of their brother as he had an actual girlfriend he could claim.
"Before you go over to the Clearwaters Percy, could you go up in the attic and see if you can find some of those old primers I taught Ron and Ginny with?"
Percy nodded and put his dishes in the sink before heading upstairs.
Ron was thoughtful as he finished his breakfast. He eventually sighed. "Tell Ginny and them that I apologize but can't make it either. I really need to straighten up my room and get to packing I guess."
"Very good Ron" his mother said as she kissed the top of his head. "That's very responsible of you. Tell you what; if you stick to sorting out your room you can have Luna come over and keep you company."
"Oooh, that positively guarantees that nothing will get done then."
Ron tried to glare at his brothers but they were giggling too much. Mrs. Weasley swatted them on back of the head and they looked at her with disbelief. "Well, it's not like your sister is here to do that when you deserve it. Ron, she may sit or stand in the hallway and talk to you while you work. Is that understood?"
"Yes Mum."
"If by some chance you do finish cleaning up your room, you'll be alone with Luna till we get home later."
The twins whistled loudly. "Yes Mum!"
"Ronald!"
"I'll be a gentleman Dad. I promise. I'd better go floo call her to see if she can some over later."
The twins caught the silent smile that their Mum and Dad exchanged. They all liked Luna even if she was a little unusual at times. Ron's parents knew that Ron would behave himself. The twins however were the only ones wondering if Luna would be behaving or not.
Fred and George hurried back to their room to see if there was anything on their drawing board that they wanted to talk to Harry about. He had been pretty decent about paying them for some of the ideas they had come up with and it didn't hurt at all that he was somewhat unbelievably well off.
