C O Potter

Year Four

Chapter 29

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If Julia thought that she was going to get off scot-free, she was sadly mistaken. Susan had learned the art of interrogation from her Aunt. It had been refined by Aunt Tonks, so after dinner, they started to get to know each other. Susan led the conversation, but she did answer the questions that Julia asked. If Julia didn't answer a question completely, then Susan would circle back to that question a few moments later. Somewhere around ten-thirty at night, Susan let up on her questioning.

"You two need to be in your own beds by midnight. If I come checking on you and you're not there. We'll decide what an appropriate punishment shall be."

"Yes, mam."

"Yes, mum."

Fred Sr. had learned to keep his mouth shut when his wife was in a mood. And tonight, he chose to keep his mouth shut. He liked Julia, and he was proud of his son for standing up for a person that was what the politically correct group would call 'The Vulnerable Population.'

As the young couple walked past Rose's room, they stopped to say hi.

"Hey! Did mum go easy on you?"

"Well, we still have all ten fingers and all ten toes so, yeah I guess she did!" Fred told his twin.

"Hey, Julia, I've got some bras that don't fit anymore, do you want them?"

"Sure! My parents left it up to the Coldstone's to buy my clothes, and they left it up to my parents. So, everything that I have is worn out or the wrong size."

Rose summoned the bras to her wandlessly and wordlessly.

"I guess hanging out with Vic and Cici has its advantages!" she said as she marvelled at Rose's display of magic.

"It does! If you ask them, they are more than willing to teach you! We started going over potions and wow! My grade in potions went up!"

"Mine too," Fred told her when she looked at him.

"Well, I know that Vic taught me a drying spell this morning before we took our showers and she also taught me a spell for drying my hair and styling it. She encouraged me to learn to do both of those wandlessly."

"Practice summoning the soap and shampoo to you also." Suggested Rose.

"They didn't buy me soap or shampoo. I had to borrow or use Candice's shower products. Plus, I don't know how to summon stuff to me."

"Here, let me teach you the spell, the spell is accio and whatever it is that you want to come to you. Like this bra." And she tossed a bra on to the floor." Accio bra!" and the bra flew into her hand. "Now you try it."

Rose tossed the bra back onto the floor. Julia looked at the bra, "Accio bra!" and nothing happened. She tried again, and nothing happened.

"You need to call it like it's a puppy, and you need to see it coming to you in your mind," Fred told her.

She looked at the bra, she closed her eyes in concentration, and with her eyes still closed, she said, "Accio bra." And she opened her eyes just in time for the bra to land in her outstretched hand.

Fred gave her a big hug and kiss for her reward.

"The next step with that is to do it wandlessly in the shower and then do it wordlessly," Rose told her.

"Well, tomorrow, we definitely need to help you select your own bath products. But, for after our workout in the morning, I'll loan you mine."

"Thank you." She said humbly. "Accio bras!" and she was rewarded with all of the bras flying at her. She giggled as she caught them.

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Once all five of them were in the lobby of the MI-6 building, Sean came down to greet them. He escorted them through security and then up to the conference room, down the hall from his office.

"Good afternoon, and thank you for coming on such short notice. I have a job that I wanted to know if you three were interested in."

The three teens just looked at him.

All I can tell you right now until you sign the confidentiality agreement for the job, is that it will help stop the flow of young girls from England to join the terrorist group that is responsible for the trafficking and deaths of thousands of young girls.

Cici looked at her mates for a moment, "Okay, we're in."

"What we have, is an opportunity for three people to travel from London to Syria using a trail of vehicles. What we want is to capture each person that is responsible for transporting human cargo. We also want their cellphones. We figure that it will take eight days to go from London to Syria following this trail." He pulled down a map of Europe and the Middle East, to show them the path that they thought that they would take. "So, you would start here in London, then you would take the tunnel to France and then on to Paris. In Paris, you will probably stay in one of the no-go zones that the French has given up to religious minorities. From there, most likely to Germany, then on to Austria, and so forth. Every time you change drivers or cars we want that person. Your langue skills are what they want. Because you're so good with languages, you're very valuable to them, and to us because of your age and skill set."

"Okay, but when we stun the person, it will kill the cellphone," Ced told him.

"Yes, we're aware of that. So, with the help of Harry," at this point Hermione gave Harry, a we need to talk kind of look. "And your uncles, we have developed a bag that will protect the cell phone from all but the most powerful of spells."

Ced and his wives looked at each other. "Okay, when do we start?"

"You would leave the morning after Christmas. We can meet Christmas afternoon to go over your cover and give you the supplies that you may need."

"And how much does this pay?" asked Vic.

Cici looked at her.

"Hey! I need lipstick! Unless you want me to keep borrowing yours!"

"Is that where my lipstick's been going?" Cici turned to looked at McMillian, "This job had better pay a lot!"

"It will pay each of you £100,000 each, plus £10,000 each for each person, and £5,000 each for each cell phone."

"And any laptops?" asked Ced.

"I'll get you £60,000 for each laptop split three ways."

"Make it £25,000 each, for each laptop, and we'll save as many as we can," Ced told him.

"Deal." Was all McMillan said.

Harry held the chair for Hermione.

Ced held the chairs for Cici and Vic.

Sean walked them to the apparition point of the building and wished them happy holidays.

"So much for our holidays." Said Vic. Her birthday was coming up, not that she had ever celebrated it, but still, there was hope. For Ced and Cici they had a small family party, not much different than a normal threesome night, but still, they had wished each other a happy birthday and made it special in some small way. Cici's mum had managed to get her a card. Harry and Hermione had made the same effort.

"We won't forget your birthday Little One," Cici told her just before they apparated to the mansion.

"When's Vic's birthday?" asked Hermione as they walked down the walkway to the mansion.

"December 27th," Vic told her.

"Well, with your mission happening on your birthday, we'll celebrate it properly when you get back."

"Thank you." She knew that they wouldn't forget her, Hermione was too organised for that, but she still didn't want to get her hopes up too much. She had so many broken promises from her mum, she couldn't count them all. She had made a promise to herself and her future children, if she ever had any, that she would never forget their birthdays.

"When's our anniversary?" Ced asked.

"When is our anniversary?" Cici asked.

"Well, we kissed on the Hogwarts Express, and that was on a Friday, before Christmas." Ced started thinking out loud.

"Then we got married on that Sunday, at night," Cici said, thinking out loud also.

They stopped walking.

"Then we went to Haiti for a day."

"Then we went to talk with Uncle Ragnarok about the swords."

"Then I think that Christmas was the following Friday."

Then they looked at each other, "Then our anniversary was last Monday?"

They started walking again.

The mansion doors opened for them, with Charles standing there waiting to greet them. "Lord and Lady Gryffindor, Lord and Ladies Potter." The old elf greeted.

They all returned his greeting.

"Kitten made it home okay?" Hermione asked. She's a mum, she has to ask, that's what mum's do.

"Yes, my Lady. Though she seems perplexed by her trunk."

"It's a simple spell."

"She's not used to a wand, mum."

Hermione looked at her son. Could it be that simple? With all of her abilities, she had troubles with using her wand? "I'm going to go check on Kitten." She told no one in particular.

"Okay." Said, Harry, as he headed for the study.

Ced and his wives followed Hermione up the stairs, to their room., he placed the trunks on the bed before enlarging them to their normal size. With a flick of his wand, the trunks started to empty themselves, the clothes put themselves away where they belonged, and the rest of their belongings went to their appropriate places. They changed out of their school clothing, they had to use a glamour as they moved around London, and in the MI-6 building. Now here at home, they changed into something a lot more comfortable. Both girls had chosen to wear something braless, they wanted to let the girls breathe, Ced was noticing a slight difference in the clothes that his wives wore. Cici was a little more revealing of her 'assets' than Vic. Vic was more conservative than her wife, but not by much, this wasn't something that most people would notice. Most people wouldn't notice that both girls wore the same size everything, same size shoes, same size pants, same size bras, down to the cup size, everything they wore was interchangeable if they wanted it to be. With one wife on each arm, they headed down to dinner.

"I can't believe you two forgot your own anniversary!" Vic teased her spouses.

Cici looked at her, "When did we," gesturing between her and Vic," get married?"

Vic shut her mouth. She stood there, her face scrunching up tighter. " I don't know! I know that it happened while we were on our summer holidays, and it happened before we went on our 'trip,'"

"But how much before we left and how far after we started the summer holidays?"

"Oh, My Godric! I don't know my own wedding date!"

They continued walking to the smaller dining room.

"What are you three talking about?" Angelica asked.

"We're trying to figure out when Ced and I got married, and then when Vic and we got married," Cici answered her mom.

"Oh, Wow! That was some hectic times! I know that you bonded on a Friday and the wedding was on a Sunday, but what were the dates?" she looked at Hermione for some help.

Hermione's eyes went wide, this would be something that she should know easily. "They got 'married' on the twentieth, that was the ceremony, their actual was the eighteenth of December. Their marriage certificate will say the eighteenth of December. But for Vic."

"Yeah, I heard some of what happened that afternoon. We were all going to practice dancing. Then that Mask person came over, then Vic got sick on the dancefloor." Angelica was sad for her.

"I think we bonded on the eighteenth of June. How coincidental is that?" Ced asked.

"That's six months to the day!" Vic thought out loud.

Ced looked at his dad, "Does this mean that I have to buy two sets of anniversary gifts?"

Grandpa Dan started choking at this point.

"I need to take Dan to get some fresh air!" Harry said as he rushed to get up and leave. Sorry son but you're on your own on this one he thought.

"Harry James Potter! How dare you!" Hermione started scolding him.

"Oh, roll call on that name!" Charlie quipped.

Angelica's head snapped around to glare at him.

"Let me help you there Harry!" Charlie volunteered.

"You move, and you're sleeping with Car-baun tonight! And I'll tell Uasal!"

Charlie got that drat! I almost made it, look on his face as he sat back down nice and slowly. It didn't help that Ginny had taught her that blasted bat bogey hex, Bill had taught her!

"Are you going to die on me dad?" Hermione asked coolly, "Because I'm not giving you mouth to mouth."

"No, no, just need a little water, that's all." Dan Granger wheezed out.

Hermione looked at Harry, then at his seat. Harry moved back around the table slowly.

"Ced, I think that it would only be appropriate that you buy two anniversary presents for your wives. Don't you gentlemen?"

"Uh, yes Ced I think that's a good idea." Choked out, Dan.

"Uh-huh." Grunted Charlie.

"Angel you are so wise in this decision," Harry said quietly. It was the only thing that came to mind to keep him from sleeping with the dragons that night.

"Okay! Well, I guess that I have some shopping to get done this weekend!" Ced told the group in a chipper tone. This was going to be fun! He started thinking about all the different things he could buy them.

"You even think! About buying me that. You, Charlie, and your dad will be sleeping with the dragons!" Cici told him.

"I like the ruby necklace, it'll go nicely with my red panties," Vic told him as the girls got up and left.

The other adults at the table just glared at him.

"Can I sleep with Car-baun tonight?" a small high-pitched voice asked.

"Not tonight honey, maybe after Christmas," Hermione answered her.

"I don't ever get to do anything fun!"

"What! It's not like I can just go out and buy negligées or nightgowns!" Ced told the eyes that were looking at him. Ced got up to go back upstairs to his wives.

When he entered their room, they were both sitting on the bed talking to each other.

"Mi Amor? Mon Amour?" he said gently.

"We forgot our own anniversary!" Cici said as she started to tear up.

"We would have forgotten our own birthdays if our parents hadn't sent us cards!" Ced told her teasingly.

Cici looked at him.

"You know it's true! Look how much stuff has been going on! When we found out that Julia was sold into slavery by her father, what did we do? We focused all of our attention on that!" Ced told her as he knelt at her knees. He was looking up into her big, brown, sensitive eyes. She wiped the tears that hung in the corners of her eyes with the back of a hand.

"I know, it's just that I feel like a failure! I forgot our anniversary! My dad was always forgetting his, and my mom's anniversary, he forgot all of her birthdays and my birthdays too! I just don't want to turn out like him." The guilt was starting to get to her.

"Mi Amor, do you know what I want for my birthday present? What I want for my anniversary gift? For Christmas?"

Cici shook her head no.

"I just want a kiss and a hug from you. I don't need anything more than that. You and Vic are all I want. I don't need anything more, I have you two." His sincerity was there for them to see on his face and to read in his thoughts. "We'll go shopping tomorrow and on Sunday too. If there's anything that you two want, tell me, and I'll get it for you, and if there's something that I like, I'll get it for you too."

That night as they slept, Vic and Ced's love for Cici flooded over her, letting her know that she was loved by them.

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The three of them stepped out of the public floo into Diagon Alley. They were followed by the rest of their friends. All of them had lots of Christmas shopping to do. Ced made sure to remind Fred that Julia needed her wand replaced with a new wand, not a second-hand wand. Amber's parents had let her spend the weekend with Angel and George. Amber, told the group, that she was gambling on the fact that her parents had a huge company report due, so she wasn't even going to go home for the rest of the Christmas holidays.

The group of happy teenagers moved from shop window to shop window. They had never heard of the term window shopping, but here they were doing it.

At Madam Malkin's, Amber said, "I was going to buy some bras, but Angel gave me all of her old ones."

"Rose did the same thing for me!" Julia said.

"Yeah! They look like new, and they fit great!" Amber said.

The potion that Vic was giving to Angel and Rose was working great! They had decided to wait until the day before returning to Hogwarts to go bra shopping again.

Julia wandered into the intimate wear section of the store. It was located in the back corner of the shop. She picked up a teddy and held it against her body to tease Fred with.

"Can you see us wearing that?" thought Cici.

"When? Before we soak in the tub?"

"Or afterwards, when Ced carries us to bed when we're asleep?"

"Ooo! When we go down to have dinner with the family!"

"Can you imagine how hard Hermione would hex us?"

"Can you imagine how hard Charles would whack our knuckles?"

"Have you ever been hit by one of Hermione's hexes?"

"Yes, that hurt! Have you forgotten how hard Charles can hit your knuckles with that stick?"

"No! That hurt too!"

The other girls in the group had watched the expressions on Cici's and Vic's faces as the two girls had their conversation privately.

"What are you two talking about?" Rose asked.

"Nothing!" Vic replied.

"Yeah, right! They're probably talking about how hard Hermione would hex them if she ever caught them wearing something like that!" Angel said with a lot of mirth.

"You're close, they were talking about getting hexed by my mum, and how much it hurt!" Ced told the girls out loud.

The giggling girls put the lingerie away, and they moved to the next store.

"Hey! We need to go help Julia get her own bath products. She's never had her own before!" Rose told the group quietly.

Vic watched as Julia's face pinked. But the group of friends changed course for the beauty salon. Rose helped her sniff the different scents of the hair care products. Julia would find one that she liked then let Fred smell it. She watched the different faces that he made before settling on the shampoo they both liked. They sniffed a couple of more, just to be sure, Julia watched as a look of contentment came across Fred's face at another shampoo. She put the first one back and selected the last one, now she just needed a seven-month supply of the stuff! They chose body soaps and conditioners, and deodorants, and body lotions, and …. While they were there, the other girls restocked their supplies too.

Amber was watching what Julia was doing and learning also, she had George sniffing body soaps and shampoos too. After listening to Rose, she realised that all of her stuff was a hodgepodge of different scents. She was sending out a confused message to her potential mate. The last thing that she needed was her mate to be any more confused than he already was. He was the most incredible guy she had ever met, but she didn't want him not knowing her and her 'scent.'

Rose looked over at Amber and George, "What're you doing?" she asked interestedly.

"We're selecting the correct products. I learned a lot from what you told Julia, and now I'm finding what I need. Like Julia got Fred to help her select her stuff, I'm getting George to help me. I realised that I had a confused scent." Amber replied to her quietly.

Vic and Cici smiled at each other. Elissa had done a good job of helping Cici. Cici had done a good job of helping Vic. Rose and Angel had learned when they had taken Vic shopping for her bath products.

As they exited the beauty salon, Tamara Treewood was walking towards the store, when she caught sight of Vic. The girl paled noticeably when she saw Vic make eye contact with her. Vic noticed that her nose still had that broken nose look to it. Madam Pomfrey had done an okay job repairing it, but it would take a healer of Hermione's calibre to fix the nose correctly.

"We have an appointment with Healer Potter on Tuesday, dear." Vic heard the woman behind her. "I wish that you would stop being so clumsy at school! She's very expensive!"

Cici looked, and George hadn't even noticed her. The only girl in the world to him was holding his hand.

The teens drifted from one store to the next. They would buy something in this store for this parent or something in that store for that person.

As they walked past the owlery, "Have you noticed that Hedwig never got back to me about her kids being our owls?" Ced commented to his wives.

"She didn't, did she." A confused Vic said.

"No, she didn't," Cici said thinking about the situation.

After lunch, the group of kids drifted into one of the pawnshops. The group split, the guys went to look at the guy stuff, the girls looked at the jewellery. Eventually, the guys drifted back around to where their girls were. Amber pointed out this spectacular piece of jewellery, Julia would point at something that she liked. Rose and Angel compared pieces with Cici and Vic. They thanked the shopkeeper for their time and moved on to the next shop. Slowly but surely, they all were getting their shopping done. It added to the price, and it took extra time, but they had decided to have all of the gifts wrapped in the stores as they bought them.

It was when they were entering into a higher end consignment jewellery store that George made a comment to Ced when they were alone, "Girls are bloody expensive!" he whispered.

"If you want to get them nice things, yes they can be. But the right girl is so worth it, mate!"

"Yeah, but geez!"

"A good quality woman will make your life so much more, I don't know, better! You know, there's a saying out there somewhere that I read a while back, it goes something like this; 'I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men. They are far superior and always have been. Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.'"

"Yeah, I know." He sounded downhearted.

"But you need to remember this part too; 'So, if you give her any crap, be prepared to receive a ton of shite!'"

The two guys chuckled together, the girls looked at them. Cici and Vic smiled at Ced. They had 'heard' what he had told George.

Ced walked over to the counter where his wives were. Vic took her index finger and pointed at a ruby jewellery set on consignment from an estate. "That's my birthday and Christmas present from you." She told Ced with a smile.

Ced motioned for the shop owner to come over. He gave an inquisitive look at the kids, but he came over anyway, there wasn't anyone else in the shop but them. As far as he could tell they hadn't tried to steal anything like that group of short-haired girls had.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, she would like to see this set there please," Ced informed the owner pointing to the jewellery.

"This set?" as he pointed to a less expensive set of jewellery.

"No, it's two over to your left," Ced told him politely.

"Okay." The owner said trying to keep the apprehension out of his voice.

He carefully removed the jewellery from the display case without touching it and sat it on the countertop.

Vic was reaching for the necklace when "No! don't touch it!" Ced said firmly. "It's cursed!" and he slapped Vic's hand away just before she could touch it. He took her hand and kissed it apologetically.

"What do you mean its cursed young man! I would never sell anything like that in my shop!"

"It's cursed sir. I can feel it." Ced told him respectfully.

"I assure you, young man, this collection is from one of the finest Old Wizarding estates in all of Britain."

"And whom might that family have been?"

"It came from the Old Wizarding family of Malfoy."

"And how did you come by it, sir?" Ced knew that his Uncle Draco would never have let a cursed item from his parents be sold, without him first removing the curse.

"It was brought in by a young witch who said she got it directly from the estate."

"Well, you may want to inform my Uncle Draco, that someone has stolen some of his mother's jewellery," Ced told the shop owner.

"And how do I know that you're not lying to me, young man?"

Ced called, "Leo."

With a pop, the finely dressed elf with the Potter's crest on his shirt showed, with a bow, "Yes, Master?"

"Leo, would you please ask Uncle Draco if he could come here, now? It concerns some of his mother's stolen jewellery."

"Yes, Master." And the young elf was gone.

A few minutes later a very angry Draco showed with Leo.

"Thank you, Leo." Ced dismissed the nervous elf.

"What are you talking about, Ced!" Draco was fuming!

"Uncle Draco, we were out Christmas shopping when we came into this store. My sister was looking at this set of ruby jewellery here," and he showed the set to Draco. "When she went to pick it up …"

"How did you come by my mother's jewellery?" Draco hissed at the shop owner.

"A, a, a, a young witch brought it in, she said that she got it from the, from your estate my Lord." The shop owner cowered.

Looking at Vic, "Did you touch it?" Draco asked sincerely.

"No, Ced nocked my hand out of the way before I could touch it."

"You saved her life. Yes, it is cursed so that only an heir of the blood of Malfoy can ever wear it. Meaning only my daughters and their daughters can ever wear it." Draco explained to the teens.

"So only Venus and Centauri can ever wear it?" asked Vic.

"Yes, it's something that my father did to all of my mum's jewellery." Then looking at the shop owner. "If you have any more of my mother's stuff, you need to return it to me, NOW!" he scolded the shop owner.

The shop owner hurried to the back of his shop where he kept the safe, they could hear him shuffling back up to the counter.

Draco looked in the cloth bag that the owner sat on the countertop. "Is this everything?"

The shop owner nervously said, "Yes, my Lord!"

"If you're lying to me, you'll be found out!" he raised his voice on every word to end in almost a yell.

The shop owner hurried to the very back of his shop.

"For what it's worth," he was looking at Vic, "You've got good taste, Vic," Draco told her as calmly as could be.

The owner hurried back through the swinging doors carrying a bag as large as the first bag, he placed it gently on the countertop.

Draco looked in the bag, then at the shop owner, "Lie to me again, and you'll learn why the name of Malfoy was feared by all!" he told the shop owner lowly and deathly cold in expression.

All the terrified shop owner could do was to nod at the heir of one of the most feared of the dark lord's followers.

"Please, join me outside where we can talk in private." Draco addressed the teens.

Once the group was outside, Draco cast a silencing spell on the front of the shop so the owner couldn't hear what they were saying. "So, are we doing Christmas late Sunday night or early on Monday morning?" this bipolar effect had Amber and Julia's heads spinning.

"I think that my mum was planning it the same as last year, everybody gathers on Christmas Eve and then we open presents at midnight," Ced told his uncle.

"I hope that Christmas is a little less exciting this year than last!" he teased the threesome. "I need to go, I've got Astoria's presents to wrap and these things to put into safe keeping." He told them as he hefted the two bags of stolen jewellery.

It was a mixed course of "Bye Uncle Draco" and "Bye Professor" that followed him as he apparated away.

The group of smiling, laughing teens moved on down the street to see what else might catch their eye. They stopped at the various windows to look at what was on display. They stayed away from the pawnshops for the rest of the afternoon. Then when they decided as a group that they had gone far enough in one direction they turned around and worked their way back.

At one point, they walked past an office complex, and Fred took note of the fact that there was a wizarding law office in there. Findlay and McKenzie law office. He decided that he would talk to his Uncle Sirius about who he would recommend, for what had come into his mind. He and Julia had spent most of the day with their arms wrapped around each other's waists, their hips pressed against each other, and they had figured out how to walk, so they didn't rub up against each other in an uncomfortable way. Every time they would stare into each other's eyes they would start kissing, they stared, and kissed a lot! The rest of the group just let the lovebirds be. George and Amber were just as bad, though George did take some serious ribbing about sucking on Amber's fingers for several hours. He would just blush and smile good-naturedly, he knew that the teasing was not done in a hurtful way, but out of fun, besides, at least he was sucking on his girlfriend's fingers and not some other girls!

As they got closer to the centre of the busier part of the shopping district, "Hey! I need to take Julia over to Ollivander's so I can buy her a new wand." Fred told the group. The group changed directions to go to Mr Ollivander's shop.

The bell above the door rang as they entered. The counters were just as dusty as they were when Vic got her wand, as when Cici's mom got her wand. Maybe this was some kind of scientific experiment that he was conducting.

"Ah! May I help you?" he said looking at the group of nicely dressed teenagers.

"Yes sir, I would like to by my girlfriend, a new wand," Fred told the ancient wandmaker.

"Okay, is there something wrong with her old wand?"

"Yes sir, her parents bought her the wand without her being there for the purchase. Her mum tested the wand out before they gave it to her."

"Hum, that wouldn't do at all, the wand chooses the witch, not the other way around." He looked at the group of kids. "May I see the wand?"

Julia stepped forward and pulled her wand out of her robes. She handed the wand to the old wandmaker.

"Hum, yes, I can feel that this wand is all wrong for you. Someone has recently reset the wand to try and make it work better for you." He looked directly at Ced. "They did a fair enough job, but the wand has had several owners, and not all of them good." He handed the wand back to Julia. "Now, let me go and get a selection for you to choose from. Just a moment." And he slowly moved to the back of the shop.

"I've never been in here before," Julia commented.

"Me neither, but it has a peaceful air about it," said Amber.

Several minutes later he shuffled back to the front counter, with a huge armload of wands. He created several stacks on the counter. Then they started the wand selection process. Mr Ollivander explained about each of the wands that Julia tried, he talked about the properties of the wood and the properties of the wand core. But ultimately, it was up to the wand. Close to an hour into the testing of the wands, none of the wands felt right to her, and she was getting frustrated. Julia had already gone through the second trip of wands, and she could see that Mr Ollivander was getting tired.

"Hum, let's try the less common wands. You seem to be a unique young witch." Again, looking at Ced, "Not as unique as your sister." He said.

For those that weren't there that Christmas, they looked at him for the story to pass the time.

"Is it normal for somebody's wand to stun someone else who tries to steal it?"

"If you are referring to young Miss Potter's wand, then there is no normal to compare it to. Her wand is perhaps the most unique wand that I have ever had the privilege to make. Why? Did something unusual happen?"

"Well, some of her classmates and upperclassmen have tried to take her wand and hide it. She leaves it on top of her bed so that it is comfortable."

"And? What happened?"

"Well, in the worst case, somebody spent three days in the Hospital Wing with an inoperative shoulder."

"Really? Well, I guess the good thing is that it didn't kill them. But to answer your other question, yes, this is not normal wand behaviour, but then, your sister is no ordinary witch either."

After Julia had placed the last wand back in its box. Mr Ollivander went to retrieve the more unusual wands.

He returned with only fifteen boxes, three of which were wands made from vine wood, the same kind of wood as Daphne's wand. For the next thirty minutes, they went through wands and their properties of them. They went through the I like this I don't like that, and then it all came to a halt when she picked up her first vine wood wand. This wand felt warm and alive, but it just wasn't right, but it was close. She put it in the box and set it aside. She opened the second box, and before she could even touch the wand, it burst into a shower of sparks. Then as she touched the wand to grasp it, she could feel that this was her new wand, the power that flowed through it was incredible, the wand seemed to know what she was thinking, without saying a word, she flicked the wand, and it obeyed her every thought. She transfigured the empty box from one shape to another from one colour to another, then returned it to its original shape and size.

"I think that we have found your girlfriend her new wand." Mr Ollivander said. What an interesting group of friends they were collecting.

Fred pulled out his debit card and paid for the purchase.

As Mr Ollivander handed him the receipt, he told them, "If you hurry you can just make the duelling store for a holster for her too."

The group said "Thank you!" as they hurried away to the duelling store.

As they entered the store just before closing the salesclerk that had waited on them for Vic's holster was wanting to leave. "We're closed!" he said brusquely.

"Is Larry in?" asked Ced politely.

"Nobody by the name of Larry works here!" he lied to him again.

Getting louder, "When did Larry sell the store?"

Larry came out of the back of the store, he looked at the clerk, "You can go home if you would like. I'll help them."

Cici flicked her finger, and there was a crash of boxes from the back.

"But, before you go, clean that up!"

Fred told the owner that they were looking for a wand holster.

Then Vic interrupted him, "Something similar to what you sold me a few months ago." She held out her wand arm and pulled up the sleeve of her cloak, there was nothing there, then she thought about it for a second, and her wand and its holster appeared before the group.

"Yes, I want one like that!" Julia exclaimed.

"Ooo! I remember that one! That's a Quick Draw IV Princess! Those are rare! Let me see if I have another one left. They only sent me a few of them. The price scared people off." He rushed to the back of the shop.

He returned with two boxes, "I have the last Princess, but it's in pink, and I have the new Quick Draw V in a variety of colours."

Julia looked at the two holsters, she slipped on the V, and it just didn't feel right, so she took it off. Then she slipped on the IV Princess, and it felt like it was a part of her body. "I like this one." She said in a dreamy voice.

"Since that's the last one, I'll take 25% off for you today."

While Fred went to pay for the purchase, Vic showed her how to load her wand into the holster. Then she had her practice five times ejecting the wand and then retracting the wand with her thoughts. She showed her that as a last resort, how to flex her wrist to get the wand to eject from the holster. She tried that a couple of times and had to reload her holster manually. Then as she looked at it, it disappeared.

"Now, you can wear it with a sleeveless dress!"

Amber and George looked longingly at the other holster. George had a holster already, but Amber still carried her wand in her robe pocket. The shop owner looked at them and saw that they wanted the holster, he let Amber try it on and saw the smile on her face as she liked the feel of it.

He leaned closer to the couple, "Buy it now, and I'll take 50% off, just because I'm in a good mood."

George's face fell, he was still a couple of galleons short. "Just a moment." He told the shop owner.

He walked over to Ced and motioned with his head to come talk to him. "Can I borrow a couple of galleons? I want to buy Amber that other holster and I'm short."

"Yeah, sure!" and Ced dug into his pocket and pulled out half a dozen galleons. "Get it to me later!" he told his mate lowly as he clapped him on the back and returned to his wives.

George was very thankful to the shop owner for giving him the discount, just because.

"Alright! Everybody needs to go home! Because I want to go home! And thank you for your business!"

"Thank you and Happy Christmas!" They all yelled as they left.

They made a beeline for the public floos and headed for the Potter Mansion. Once there, they headed up the stairs to get cleaned up and get down to dinner. They were already late, and they all knew how Charles felt about tardiness.

All of the guys seated all of their girls and all of them were rewarded with a kiss. At the end of dinner, everybody made it through without getting their knuckles whacked, Harry asked all of the teenagers to please remain seated.

"I have been contacted by a friend of mine in the British government. He's looking for some people with your skills to help him. He's willing to put all nine of you to work. The thing is, I can't tell you what it is until after your parents sign a release form. Then you will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement, that if you violate it, you will lose your magic. The project would start over the summer holidays." Harry told the kids.

"What does it pay?" asked George.

"I can't tell you that until after we get a release from your parents and you sign the nondisclosure agreement."

"What would we be doing?" asked Angel.

"I can't tell you that until after we get a release from your parents and you sign the nondisclosure agreement."

"Where would we go?" asked Fred.

"I can't tell you that until after we get a release from your parents and you sign the nondisclosure agreement."

"I don't have any parents," Julia said.

"But unfortunately, you do have a master. And he would be the one granting you permission or deny you permission." Harry told the young girl.

"Can I talk to you about something later Uncle Harry?" asked Fred.

"Sure, just come and grab me when you're ready."

"Okay, thank you."

"Can Amber spend the night here? Her parents said that she could stay with us, but I think my parents are getting nervous about things." George asked.

"Have your parents talk to me first." Said Hermione.

"Okay."

"Where do I get one of those release forms? I can have that signed before Christmas. My parents are so focused on their jobs and this stupid report, they don't even know if I'm home or not!" Amber said.

"I'll talk to my parents," Rose said. "But I think that my mum is going to have a hard time."

"Me too," said Harry.

"I'll talk to mine. But I think it's going to be my dad that has a hard time." Said, Angel. "Daddy's little girl."

"Go talk to your parents. Then we'll talk again on Christmas Eve when they're all over here." Harry told them.

As they left the dining room, the teens were talking amongst each other, speculating on what it was that they could be doing. The group started to climb the stairs, but Fred hung back, Julia turned to watch him, and he blew her a kiss and waved her on, he told her that he would be up in a minute.

"Can we talk now, Uncle Harry?"

"Sure, let's go to the study. Dobby, can you bring us a couple of butterbeers?" he looked at Fred, "Your parents do let you have a butterbeer every now and again, right?"

"Uh, sure!"

Pop! And Dobby sat the beers down on the end tables.

"Thank you, Dobby."

Pop!

"Uncle Harry," Fred got right into the reason he wanted to talk to him. "I want to give Julia her freedom for Christmas."

"Okay, that's a very noble thing you want to do."

"So. Who would be a good solicitor to do this?"

"I think that there are several that you could talk to. But let's talk about what can happen to her if you do this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you grant her, her freedom. Where's she going to live?"

"She could stay with us!"

"Have you talked to your mum about this?"

"No, I've only talked to you, just this little bit."

"Another problem could be that her parents could take her back and sell her again to a more abusive master. Maybe even someone who would put her to work in the sex trades."

"Oh."

"Or, even the Coldstone's could go after her saying that her papers aren't any good because of a technicality."

"Oh."

"It may not feel good being her owner, but you're probably the best thing that has happened to her in the last few years. If you wait until she comes of age, then you could set her free, and no one could challenge her on her freedom. By her belonging to you, your parents are putting a roof over her head, food in her belly, and clothes on her back. And if I know your mum, she's going to make sure that she gets the best education possible."

"I never thought of all those things. I just know that it's wrong for one person to own another."

"And you're right, it is. But right now, you're her protector. You're her knight in shining armour, protecting her from those that would do her harm."

"Okay, I can do that."

"And if you still want the name of a very good solicitor, come and see me again. But for right now, take care of your girl. In your heart, I think that you've already set her free. And maybe in her heart, you're her knight in shining armour that has rescued her from a fate worse than death."

"Thanks, Uncle Harry. I think that I'll leave things be and just keep talking to her, and when she thinks that she's ready, maybe we'll get married first."

"Well, for right now. Buy her a broom, she's going to need it."

"Okay! I can do that!"

.

Christmas eve morning found a large group of people in the Potter Mansion getting ready for a morning run. Fred and Susan had joined them, George and Angelina were there also, all of the teens were ready to go, the only parents that were missing belonged to Amber, and they were muggles that worked hundred plus hours a week. Hermione set a hard pace, but she wasn't surprised as the rest kept up with her. The group used the walk back to the mansion as their cool down as they entered the training room. For duelling practice this morning, Harry wanted adults against teens. He wanted to see if these kids could work together as a team to achieve their goal.

"Let's put something on the line here. Let's make this worthwhile to the kids." He said.

"What do you have in mind mate?" asked Fred Sr.

"The kids need their parents to sign a release form letting them work on a special project for the British government. If the kids win, you as parents sign the release form, no questions asked. If the kids lose, then they have to convince you to sign the release form."

"I don't think that I like this Harry." Said Susan.

"Yeah, me neither." Said George Sr.

Harry could see that the kids were chomping at the bit for this opportunity.

"Come on mum! At least give us a chance before you say no!" Called out Rose.

"Timed duel?" asked Angelina.

"Timed duel. Are thirty minutes okay, or does someone want a longer time?" Harry looked from parents to teenagers.

"Okay, thirty minutes it is. Choose your sides. On the count of three, two, one."

The hexes started flying! George knew that Amber was the weak link in their chain, she was the one with the least amount of training.

"What I want you to do is to stay behind cover and when you see a spell flying. Blast the ceiling from where the spell came from. Do you understand me?"

"Yes!"

"And don't get hexed!"

"Okay!"

George took off to support his sister and cousins, they set up a crossfire situation and kept barricades in front of them. They would cast and move, give cover fire and move, barricade and move, they worked to get their parents in a pincher movement, force them out into the open. Cast and move. Amber would peek out, see a spell, and then blast the ceiling above the caster, then she too would move to a new barricade. The teens did a good job of using suppressive fire to keep their parents from moving to the offensive. Then Ced saw a skunk running across the floor towards Amber's location. Amber cast and moved to get closer to her friends, Susan hadn't counted on that as she ran across the floor, sticking close to the various barricades and rubble littering the place. Now Susan was the one seeking cover, she was weak in her animus form, but she could slip in and out of small places easily. The teens pressed their attack, they had a lot to win and little to lose. Then a cheer went up from two of the teens, and the spectators saw the spells change directions. Amber cast another blasting spell to collapse more of the ceiling over the concentration of spells. Another cheer went up from the same set of teens. Susan had gotten behind the teens and started working her way back to the other parents. Amber didn't know that Susan was behind her. But she kept casting and moving, not staying in the same spot for more than two casts. Now Amber was the one caught in the crossfire of the parents. Cici and Vic wanted to help so much! But they knew that it wouldn't be a fair fight, they could easily overpower the parents and win, but their friends needed to show their parents that they could do this on their own. Cast and move, cast and move. Susan just missed hitting Amber with a stunner. Amber knew that she needed to find a spot now, and hunker down where she was safe from both directions. She looked to her left, she checked to her right, she liked the spot to her right, right up to the point that another stunner just missed her as she got ready to move to the right, left it is then! Julia saw Susan stalking Amber, and hit her with a stunner, Susan's shield held, but Susan moved back to take cover, this bought time for Amber to move to a safer location, she was out in the middle of the fight by herself. Susan peeked around the barricade and Julia cast again, keeping Susan's head down. On one end of the fight it was four against one, and on the other, it was one against two. Harry was guessing that the one that was left fighting the four was Angelina, an Auror, so she had training for this and could probably hold out for another few minutes. Susan was used to running a house and taking care of the business needs of her house, he didn't know the last time she had practised her duelling. So effectively it was a stalemate. Julia saw Amber looking to move again and waved her to her, she cast two blasting spells to keep Susan's head down. Amber was safe.

"Thanks," Amber said.

"Yeah, we've got until this summer to get you up to speed!" Julia told her.

"You know, I never thought that I would need this kind of stuff. But now I see that it's really useful!"

"Yeah, it is. Especially if you need to earn some money! Let's go this way." And she pointed back where they had started.

"Okay, I'm following you." She told her softly.

"Cast and move, cast and move."

"I've got that part!"

The two of them moved about three times when Julia told Amber to stay and cover her back. Amber did as she was told, and covered Julia's back. There's Susan! Julia crept forward wanting a better shot. She looked at Amber and motioned for her to fire two hexes at the barricade that Susan was taking cover behind. Bam, Bam, went the two hexes, and Susan stuck her head up only to get stunned. The two girls cheered loudly, and Angelina knew that it was up to her. It was six to one against her.

"Times up!" yelled Harry.

Everybody stood up, Angelina couldn't believe how close the teens were to her. They walked around, rennervating the adults, and giving them Vitamix potions.

"The kids win!" announced Harry.

"So, what's this form that we need to sign." Said Susan flatly.

"Let's deal with that after breakfast," Harry told her kindly.

"You kids did a great job!" Cheered Angelina. "All of you would make good Aurors, even you Amber! Because you followed instructions." She told her son's girlfriend.

Fred and George Sr. walked over to Ced and his wives, "How do you three like that body armour?" They really did look too much alike!

"We love it!" said Cici.

"What do you think of the voice distortion?"

"It scares the living stuff out of people," Vic told them. She needed to be careful and not reveal too much to, … which one is this?

"We need to be careful about what we say," Ced told his Uncles. "You did a fabulous job on the armour, and we don't know what my dad is talking about because he hasn't told us."

"Oh, okay." Said the first one.

"Thanks!" said the other one.

"I feel sorry for Aunt Minerva!"

"Me too!"

"Really!" said Ced

.

.

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A/N:

Revised 02.24.2018

And again 01.03.2019