Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Simple.

The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please
(Chapter Thirty Six- The Way It Turns Out)

Roxy wasn't really there.

Sure, she was sat in a room with McGonagall listing punishments at them. And she'd been running around like a crazy person earlier because Lily had begged her to, but she wasn't really there.

She wasn't anywhere.

She almost felt as though she was dreaming. But the dream had gone wrong somewhere, and now everything was just crumbling around her.

This was what happened when you didn't sleep.

That was what happened when you had to stay in your old dorm, to avoid your boyfriend.

That was what happened when you just stood there wordlessly when your boyfriend tried to get you to defend him.

And that was what happened when your cousins decided to cause a complete riot in the corridor, which was now published for the whole world to see.

That was her situation. That was why she wasn't anywhere. And why she really couldn't care less about what was going on.

"Roxanne?" Roxy flicked her head up to see McGonagall looking down at her. She wondered for a second if she'd been asked a question, but then her headmistress continued to speak and she sighed a little in relief. "Will you please tell your parents that if they wish to consult with me I will be in my classroom?"

Roxy just nodded, then stood up automatically as McGonagall left. Then she fell back into her seat and went back to staring at nothing.

Her cousins were discussing whatever McGonagall had said. It seemed to have upset Fred, and annoyed the rest of them.

She vaguely registered when Rose yelled a little at Al.

If she felt sorry for any of them, she felt sorry for Rose. The rest of them were just being stupid, but Rose was now stuck in a bad situation because of rumours and other people's actions.

It was alright for Roxy, everything in the article about her had been true. A little embarrassing, sure, but true.

Somehow, they fell silent again, after Louis suggested using The United Front trick.

He was such a child sometimes. Stuff like that would never work now; the parents weren't stupid. Dom pretty much said that in reply, so Roxy didn't have to.

And then the fire behind the desk crackled a little.

And then it changed colour from orange to green.

And even though Roxy claimed she didn't care about whatever punishments they got, or how stupid her cousins had decided to be, she still gripped the side of her chair a little.

The silhouette of her Uncle was the first thing she saw. It was a little ominous, really, until the fire died down and she saw his face. His classic black hair just as messed up as Al and James' always was, covering the top half of his scar. The same eyes as Albus, but somehow the same face as Lily…Her Uncle Harry.

He rarely didn't look happy. Occasionally when they mentioned the war he would go quiet and a little more sombre, but generally he seemed quite content. Right now though, he seemed to barely have any emotions.

He didn't say a word to them, just stepped out of the fire and allowed another shadow to take his place, this time clearly Roxy's Aunt Ginny, her hair matching the colour the flames should've been. Again, she didn't say a word, just stood next to her husband. Next was Uncle Ron, then Aunt Hermione. In just one side glance at her, Roxanne could feel Rose's unease.

Then came Roxy's Uncle Bill, joining the still silent brigade of parents.

And then came the shadow Roxy was dreading. Tall, with long hair pulled back.

Her mother.

When the flames died and Roxy saw her Mum's face, she suddenly had an overwhelming wish to go home. She wanted to run up to her Mum and beg her for advice; she would surely know what to do about Craig. Roxy only ever went to her Mum for advice.

Her mother didn't even look at her though, just silently stood next to the others' parents. And none of the kids made a noise, just looked up at their parents a little longingly.

She glanced at Fred, the twin-thing kicking in; she knew that right now, he really wanted to go home too.

And then the fire burned green for the final time, and Roxy's funny, happy father stood in the flames, awkwardly frowning.

"Hiya kids!" he said, stepping out of the fire.

Roxy almost laughed. God, she loved her Dad.

The rest of the parents turned a glared at him a little, clearly having planned to appear united, and Roxy's Mum hit her father on the arm as he joined the line.

All the parents had their arms folded; they didn't look at all happy. After so long without seeing them, Roxy hated that they were finally meeting again in angry silence.

"I would say that it's nice to see you, but in this situation it isn't really, is it?" Roxy's Aunt Hermione said simply, unfolding her arms.

The kids didn't reply; none of them. Roxy turned and saw that they were all just looking up with fear etched in their eyes.

"What do you have to say for yourselves then?" Aunt Ginny asked.

Then they all spoke at once. The word sorry was echoed by all of them, surrounded by different paragraphs of reasons or excuses.

Roxy chose to simply not speak.

She was sorry, they would know that.

"We can't hear you if you all talk over each other!" Bill said, keeping his arms crossed.

They fell straight back into silence, apart from Louis who said "We're really sorry, Dad."

"Yeah, we let you down." Hugo agreed.

Then something weird happened; the parents softened a little. Those who still had their arms crossed or on their hips relaxed, Ginny leant back on the desk behind her and Ron sighed and leant his head back.

The kids looked at each other a little confusedly, but then their Uncle Harry spoke.

"We appreciate the apology. Have you said it to each other?"

"Wh-what?" Al said.

"Have you apologised to each other?" Roxy's Mum asked, in the slow patronising away that she perfected on Fred years ago.

"We're not leaving until you do."

You're going to be here forever then, Roxy thought; none of the younger ones would speak first, Dom and Roxy weren't the problem here and the boys were so stubborn that neither of them would ever-

"I'm sorry, guys." James said simply. Roxy had to stop her mouth falling open, and one glance to her side showed her that the rest of them were equally as shocked. "I do realise that this is all my fault, you know?" he sighed. "You guys and Louisa are right; I am controlling. I don't mean to be, I honestly don 't, I just don't want any of you to get hurt. I feel like I have to protect you all because I'm the oldest, and I know I don't go about it the right way but... yeah." He turned his head to Rose, seemingly unable to stop apologising now he'd started. "I'm so sorry for the way I behaved about you and Scorpius. It was despicable and I know it; I promise it won't happen again."

Rose nodded. "I-It's alright, I guess. I'm sorry too, for yelling at you in the corridor-"
"You hardly said anything." Al said. "I was the one who was to blame for all of that. I'm sorry, Rose. And I'm sorry for everything with Scorpius as well; I don't mean everything I say about you two. I don't think you could do much better than him. He could but..." he laughed awkwardly, as did Rose.

It was weird. They were all being sentimental and honest and showing their feelings and... it wasn't what they did in this family; every now and again they would talk about the past and discuss the war, but that was about as deep as they ever got. Roxy wondered if she'd fallen asleep out of exhaustion, and was now dreaming this entire moment.

It was as if they didn't even realise that the parents were there watching; it didn't feel forced. Roxy thought all of them had wanted to sort this out, whether the parents were there or not.

"I'm sorry Lily." James said, turning to his other side and apologising to his sister. "And to you two. I know I used to cause you hell." He said, nodding at Dominique and Roxy.

"It's alright." Dom replied. "I know you only ever do it to protect us. And you have saved me from some right bas-"

"Ahem."

Dom turned and looked at her Dad. "Sorry." She mumbled. "And Uncle Harry, I'm so sorry for what I said about you and Aunt Ginny. It wasn't true at all, and I don't know what took over me..."
"It's alright." Ginny shrugged.

"I'm sorry about what I said about Aunt Fleur, Bill." James mumbled.

"Well, you will be when she next sees you!" he replied. Roxy could tell James was hoping he was joking, but she doubted it. "But in my books you're ok, James."
"As long as you win the Quidditch cup..." Ron mumbled, earning a slap on the arm from Hermione and slight laughter from the rest of the parents.

"A-and George I'm so sorry for ever even thinking those things never mind sayi-"
"It's alright, James." George replied simply, still smiling.

It may have been daughter's instinct, but Roxy sensed that her Dad's acceptance wasn't completely sincere. He always got a little angry when anybody spoke about Fred, and she sincerely doubted he would forgive the implication that his twin's death was nothing.

"Fred, what have you got to say?" Roxy's Mum asked her brother, turning a little to look him in the eyes.

"I'm..." Fred had never said sorry in Roxy's life. It had never happened. And she was pretty sure it wasn't about to...

"I'm 'orry."

Roxy almost smiled to herself, satisfied that Fred hadn't proved her wrong.

"There." Her Dad said, clapping his hands. "Doesn't everyone feel better now?" he said, sarcastically.

Roxy laughed; her Dad made her laugh like no one else could.

She heard a noise from beside her, and saw that the rest of them were laughing too. Not much, just enough to show that things were a little better. Fred and James were looking at each other meaningfully, and Fred just nodded at his best friend; they were ok now. All was right with the world.

"Obviously, you children arguing was the most worrying part of that article to us." Hermione said.

"Speak for yourself." Ron mumbled.

"But," Uncle Harry spoke louder than his best friend. "There are some other things we now have to talk about, now that you're all friends again."

At this, Louis physically groaned, putting his head in his hands, and Rose sank back into her seat as her smile vanished.

"Lily." Uncle Harry said, turning to his daughter. "Do you remember what I said to you the day I told you about Malfoy manor?"
Lily nodded a little nervously. "You told us not to treat anyone any differently."
"Do you remember that, boys?" Ginny said over her husband's shoulder.

Al and James both nodded, grimacing a little.

"Now, I'm sure Scorpius is a good person." As Harry began to speak, Roxy noticed Uncle Ron rolling his eyes behind his back, "and you cannot use what happened when we were at school against him. Agreed?"

Both boys looked so much like children for a second, nodding as if they were puppets.

"That goes for all of you." Aunt Ginny pointed out. "None of you can judge by... well, anything. Just judge them for the people they are, not what they look like or their surname or their blood or-"
"We get it, Mum." James said, smiling a little. "No judging."

Ginny smiled back, then shuffled on her feet.

"That just leaves something else that came up in the article to discuss..." She said, glancing at the other parents, who now looked as awkward as the children had just minutes earlier.

"Can we just do it my way?" Roxy's Dad asked impatiently.

"No, George."
"Why?" he whined at his sister.

"Because it's stupid." Her Mum replied.

"No, it's not!"
"What's George's way?" Hermione asked Ginny in a hushed voice.

Roxy's Dad saw this as permission to demonstrate, and stepped forward.

"Hands up, which of you kids have had sex?"

Roxy suddenly had an obsession with the pattern on the rug, and wished the floor would just fall away and she would go with it.

She looked out of the corner of her eye at her cousins, and saw none of the others had put up their hands either. Louis had even crossed his arms tightly, Dominique was biting her nails and Fred was staring up at the ceiling with interest. The virgins of the family, however, were a little less awkward; James was even smiling at Fred knowingly.

"You either tell us, or we ask you all individually." Her Dad said.

Roxy bit her lip hard as saw Dom's hand go up out. She noticed Bill's face fall a little, and felt guilty that she would have to do that to her Dad. Fred's hand went up next, and she saw her Mum look at him disappointedly. Then up went Louis' hand; Bill's mouth fell open.

"Louis!" Ginny exclaimed, clearly as shocked as the other parents.

"Sorry, just being honest!" Louis winced. "No judging, remember."

Louis turned and looked meaningfully at Roxy, and she put her hand up slowly.

Her Dad looked gutted. His eyes suddenly seemed full of disappointment, and he ran his hands through his hair.

"Right... well. Is that all of you?" he asked, moving from one foot to another and not meeting Roxy's eyes.

They stayed silent, and Roxy saw Hermione looking at her daughter warily. "Rose..." she asked.

Brown eyes met brown eyes as Rose looked up. "Yes. That's all of us, Mum." She said, shortly.

Roxy thought that if the kids weren't around, Harry and Ron would literally high five.

"So you're not..."
"Pregnant? No."

"And you and Scorpius haven't-"
"No."
Roxy sighed. Everything today had gone surprisingly well, considering the doomed circumstances she thought they were in earlier.

Then Uncle Bill asked a stupid question, probably out of pure curiosity. "Then why did you beat him up, James?"

Roxy turned her head, and saw all eyes were now on James. A part of her wanted him to reply honestly, so there were no more lies, but she knew that that would mean Rose would be in an even worse position. Things were never simple, really.

"Oh, er. Because I..." he seemed to look at Rose apologetically, and Roxy was almost sure of what he was about to say. "I was just upset about me and Lou breaking up, and so I found them kissing and took my anger out on Scorpius. I know it was wrong but I... yeah."
James was really surprising Roxy today, she realised.

"James... I hope you've apologised to Scorpius!" Ginny said angrily.

"I... I will." He nodded, looking meaningfully at Rose. She just smiled back, and Roxy saw her mouth "Thank you."
"There's never an excuse for violence, kids." Aunt Hermione said authoritatively.

"Says the girl who punched Malfoy in third year." Her Uncle Harry said, jokingly.

His wife and her brother laughed, and Hermione scowled a little.

"Anyway kids, we better be going." Harry said, squirming under Hermione's glare.

"Wait..." Fred said quietly. "You're not punishing us? Like, at all?"
Bloody Fred Weasley, Roxy cursed mentally. She was going to kick her brother, although one glance at her cousins told her she was going to have to get in line.

"Tell me Fred, what's everyone at school like about the Prophet article?" Harry asked, tilting his head a little.

"Completely pains in th-"
"What Fred means to say," Roxy saved her brother. "Is that they're all pretty annoying about it."
"Yeah, they keep congratulating me." Rose mumbled. She didn't seem quite as angry about it now; there was even a little smile on her face.

"I don't know what your problem is; I'm a legend now." Louis said simply, before looking up, seeing his father, and looking straight back down.

"I remember being in school when I was in the news. I think that's punishment enough for you." Uncle Harry said, smiling. He was so rational all of the time, it was pretty amazing; he kept calm in almost every situation, maybe because nothing could compare to what he had once been through.

"Great, then can you tell McGonagall to call off her punishments?"
"Why, what's she done?" Roxy's Dad asked nosily.

"We're not allowed girls in our rooms, we have to be in our dorms at ten, we can't go in the room of requirement and we're not allowed into Hogsmeade." Fred listed angrily.
George smiled. "Nice." He said sarcastically to his son, for which he got glares back. "Well as much as we hate to leave you in your boring school with all the gossip about you, we must get back to being stuck in our houses with reporters surrounding us!"

"Sorry. You're not mad at us are you?" Hugo asked, a little stupidly.

"Oh, Hugo we were never mad-" his mother began to reply.

"Yes you were; you were stomping all over the house!" Ron replied, properly speaking for the first time all day.
"No, Ronald, I was not." Hermione looked at her husband sternly, and he shut his mouth. "We were just disappointed, Hugo."
"That's even worse." James replied, sighing.

"Yeah..." Hugo whined.

Then silence hit them again. The parents, clearly planning on leaving, looked down at their children, and they looked right back up.

No one knew if they were meant to be moving to leave or getting up to say goodbye or just watching as silently as they had watched them arrive.

Ginny and Harry turned without words, and began to walk towards the fire.

Then Lily, who had been pretty much silent the entire time her parents had been with her, jumped up from her seat and put her arms around her mother.

"I missed you." She said as she transferred her arms so they were around her father instead.

"God, Lils, you're such a nerd." Al said, looking at his sister disappointedly. "No one else is going to hug their-"
"I missed you, Dad." James said, getting up and hugging his Dad. He and his father then turned to Al. "Come on, Severus, you know you want to." He teased.
Al grumbled, stood up, and hugged his Mum and Dad. Then the three of the children stood by the fireplace as their parents stepped into the fire one by one and disappeared.

"Bye kids." Uncle Bill said, turning towards the fire once Harry and Ginny were gone.

Dominique and Louis both stood, without saying a word, and got up and hugged their Dad silently. They then stood by the fire as their Dad stepped into the flames. Then Dominique said something in French, which made Louis and Bill laugh as he disappeared.

"Bye Mum and Dad, I'll miss you!" Fred called jokingly across the room as their parents also turned towards the fire, still sat in his chair.

"You too!" Her Dad yelled back, putting his hands around his mouth as if they were miles from each other.

Roxy, weirdly automatically, stood and practically ran at her Mum, feeling her feet skim across the carpeted ground. She put her arms around her Mum's neck and realised exactly why Lily had done it; in these few seconds she felt like she was right back home. After a few seconds she sighed, unclasped her fingers, and turned to her Dad.

He smiled at her awkwardly, and Roxy bit her lip back. She felt like she had to justify herself, justify why she put her hand up...

"Dad I-"
"Craig, right?" he said quietly. Roxanne nodded quietly. "Only..."
She nodded again.

"Right. I'm going to kill him."
"Please don't, I think James has already got that covered."

Her father nodded. "I hope so." Then she put her arms out like she used to when she was little and wanted picking up, and he smiled and hugged her.

"If he ever hurts you then I will take over James' job." He said quietly into her hair.

"He won't." She mumbled, slightly disbelievingly.

He might never hurt her, she thought, but he might break up with her.

Her dad was clearly unable to deal with the slightly serious situation (he always was) as he leant back and shouted over Roxy's head. "You still haven't beaten me, James, we got into far more trouble at this school."
"Yeah, but you never got a toilet seat, did you?" Roxy's brother teased.
George smiled. "If I want one thing from you, Fred, I want that toilet seat."

"No problem, Dad."
Then Aunt Hermione spoke from behind them. "Don't encourage them, George!"

"Gotta go!" George replied hastily, practically running into the fire to dodge Hermione. Roxy's Mum shook her head, and stepped into the fire after her husband.

And that was it, her parents were gone.

Roxy was now just stood on her own, looking down at a burning fire. She sighed a little, feeling a weird loss despite the fact that she'd see them soon.

She turned, and walked towards Fred's seat. He seemed to sense her unhappiness, and smiled at her as she sat on the arm rest.

"Right, that just leaves us two then." Hermione said, clapping her hands.

"Bye Mum." Hugo mumbled from his chair, clearly trying to copy Fred's behaviour. Rose, on the other hand, jumped up towards her Mum, and put her arms round her.

"Bye Mum."

And then she turned to her Dad, to hug him goodbye, and he turned and stepped into the fire, leaving her staring into flames. It happened so quickly that Roxy had to blink a few times to realise what had happened. She felt Fred move uncomfortably in his seat, and saw her other cousins looking around awkwardly.

Hermione just sighed, and turned to her daughter.

"Rose, I'll talk to him. The article just scared him a little."
Rose didn't reply, she nodded and her Mum stepped into the fire, leaving only the atmosphere behind.

The children only stared at Rose in silence, and she turned around and sighed before bursting into tears.

Wordlessly, Fred and Roxy stood up and joined their cousins, who had all put their arms around Rose.

"It'll be ok." Dom said reassuringly.

And Roxy had a feeling that, despite everything, Dom was right; it would be ok.

Because they were a family again. And she had a feeling that they might fight to keep it that way.