…The New Year…
The sixth and seventh years that returned from the previous year were put in classes together. The school had been returned to its previous state. Professor McGonagall was promoted to Headmaster. Uncle Severus had been given the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts after months of questioning.
Many students and teachers were still shaken from the war and were often found crying in corridors and halls where loved ones were lost.
Slowly everyone began the healing process. I found myself walking by the Room of Requirement to see how it was healing after the fire that took Draco's friends.
I made my way to the grounds. Luna and Izzy were already there. "What are you doing here? I figured you'd be snogging Blaise.", Luna poked me. "I thought I'd visit Fluffy.", I tickled her.
Izzy skipped around happily as we went over to where Fluffy. Fluffy opened his eyes. I sang a song in Latin. Fluffy put hi head down. "I heard that you and the Giant Squid got into quite a bit of trouble of the summer.", I scratched behind Fluffy's ears.
We played with Fluffy for 2 hours. Hagrid came and collected Fluffy so he and Grawp could take him for a walk. We went back up to the castle. Luna went to hang out with Neville and Izzy had tutorials. I sat on a bench taking in some sunlight.
"Why hello Blaise.", I stated with my eyes closed. I heard him chuckle. "How's your seventh year?", he asked. "About as much fun as your having to repeat it.", I responded. He tsked.
"Saw you playing with Fluffy from my last class.", he said looking around. I sat up. I smacked his chest. "You should focus on your schoolwork and not me.", I scolded him. He raised an eyebrow. "Then you should study in the library in your free time. Come on.", he nodded his head in the direction of the library.
I shook my head and took a step back. "Do I need to do a countdown?", he asked mischievously. He counted backwards from 10, but I still did not move. He picked me up and went to the library.
He put me down in a chair and strolled off to gather some books. He placed them on the table. "If you do better than me on 6 exams, I'll take you to the best photography spots in Italy and I'll even take you to some fantastic food places.", he whispered. my eyes flickered with interest at the prospect. "Deal?", he outstretched his hand, and I took it.
I began studying like I'd never studied before. Most of my free time I was in the library. I heard Blaise and Izzy talking across the table from me. "I've never seen her study so hard.", Izzy mumbled. I had several subjects' books in front of me. I finished another paper and placed it atop the ever-growing papers I'd finished.
I looked up with a grin showing them my ink stained fingers. "You want to go to Italy this badly?", Izzy asked with a wave at the books. I cleared my throat. "You'd do the same if you could go to Romania.", I countered with a wink. She went red and rushed off into a dark section of the library.
Blaise hit my hand lightly. "Not nice.", he tsked. I ignored him and began studying again. I looked up as I finished my work. I waved my wand, and all of my things flew in an organized fashion into my bag.
I stood and walked out of the library with Blaise. I was reading as I walked, and Blaise spent most of the walk leading me away from the pitfalls and missteps. "Please watch where your watching love.", he said preventing me from walking into a wall.
I kept walking but I put my book down. We turned a corner and found Draco and Hermione on patrol. We waved and they nodded as they continued on their way.
I decided that I no longer wanted to walk. I sat on a bench. "This is our last year.", I sighed as I looked out the window. He sat down too. We watched as the wind made the trees dance. "What are you going to do after graduation?", I asked him. He looked down. "I thought about working as a potioneer.", he mumbled. I grinned at him.
"Aww, Blaise has such big dreams. It shouldn't be that hard for you to attain. You're a potions prodigy.", I told him. He smiled slightly. I grabbed his hand, and we went down to lunch.
I was pouting down at the ground. "You've been spending too much time studying so you should get out.", Blaise told me. We were on our way to Hogsmeade. "Fine, but you're not to tell me off for the things I buy.", I countered.
We entered the village and I skipped over to the sweets shop. Blaise watched as I picked out various sweets at various quantities. As we left the shop, he cleared his throat. I tsked, "Are you going to tell me off?"
"Why'd you buy so much?", he questioned. "My cousins.", I answered, "You want me to tell you another family story?" He nodded and we went to the trail that led to the Shrieking Shack.
We reached the fence. I put my bag down. I leaned against the fence. "You know that my father is an Animagus. You know uncle Remus is a werewolf. You know that my father, uncle Remus, and uncle Severus had a difficult time getting along when they were at Hogwarts.", I looked at him. He nodded.
"When they were in their sixth year my father got extremely pissed at uncle Severus. They fought and pranked each other so much that the school had a tendency to avoid them during their skirmishes. Uncle Severus had nearly figured out uncle Remus' secret. My father told him to go down to Whomping Willow and taught him how to get past it. Uncle Remus had just started his transformation and uncle Severus had just entered the tunnel. He saw uncle Remus and werewolf uncle Remus had started to go after him. Harry's father uncle James took him out of the tunnel and charged uncle Remus as his Animagus, a stag.", I told him looking at the shack. Blaise was stunned. I continued, "However, uncle James had not saved uncle Severus' life because he wanted to. He just didn't want to get into trouble."
I stared at the shack. "The shack was never haunted. Dumbledore just let the rumors go so that way when uncle Remus went there for his transformations people wouldn't go near. They've all grown up a lot since then thanks to some forced interactions from my aunts but every now and then they'll get into debates about who actually won. They never once considered that killing one another was a bad thing until they had kids."
Blaise stared at the shack. "Despite all that the women in my family are still worse.", I shook my head and looked up at him. "When I first saw your uncles interact when Remus came to teach it thought there might've been bad blood, but I never thought it went to that extent.", he whispered.
He looked at me, "They seemed so friendly in the Hospital Wing." I chuckled. "Uncle Severus makes Auntie Zahara happy and vice versa. Even thought he used to be in love with Harry's mum. But they spent some time together after they left Hogwarts, they fell for each other. So, everyone accepted hm into the family and they got to know him better.", I looked at the shack.
"Your family is very accepting. I'm still not sure what your siblings and uncles told your parents about me.", Blaise sighed. "Oh, please. They're my parents. They'll worry about me until the end of time.", I poked his arm. I picked up my bag.
He scoffed. "I'd rather you dread me out scoring you in exams.", I giggled. He chortled. "You should worry about if you beat me, you'll have to tell your parents.", he countered.
I shook my head as we walked back. "Mum said when you sent the pictures of Italy that I could go once I was and adult. You should have seen dad's face.", I scoffed.
We went to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeers. We sat in a corner and drank them. Blaise asked more questions about my family and I answered them with the best of my abilities and memories.
We made our way back up to the school. I turned to him as we passed through the school gates. "Tell me about your family.", I poked his arm. He looked around. we took a seat on a bench as he began to tell me about his family. I listened attentively as he spoke for the first time about his family.
"Will they like me?", I asked suddenly. "How should I know?", he said jokingly, "Maybe if you made those eclairs of yours, they'd warm up to you faster." I looked at my hands nervously. He placed his hands over mine. "They'll like you. Mum loves you and raves to them about you all the time.", he explained, "They've seen the letters we've written to each other. They've seen how happy I get when I talk to you, about you, and when I see you. They saw how angry and confused I got after the Yule Ball. They'll love you just as they love everything you've already done for me."
I smiled. "That's better.", he laughed. I gave him a kiss and we sat there talking about the different recipes I had that they would love.
…Winter Break…
The weeks passed quickly, and I received word from my parents that they had a surprise for me when I got home. I showed Izzy the letter. She'd received the same letter but had no clue as to what our parents were referring to.
I packed my things for winter break. I had opened the window and River and Blue flew in and out for fun. Every now and then Tuvin would join them.
We took our things down to the Entrance Hall. My cousins, Ava, Lucas, and Blaise were already there. I asked Ava about the letter. she'd gotten one too but assumed it was about something only Lucas or Izzy would be interested in. they went ahead to the carriages.
The Golden Trio, Ginny, Neville, Draco, and Luna came down the stairs. "We all got letters from our parents saying the same things.", Hermione muttered as she read my letter. It felt as if they were planning something.
We walked outside as we discussed what the surprise was. This debate continued onto the train and all the way home. The adults refused to say anything at the station.
At home we opened the door to find my other cousins and their parents already there. My friends and their parents arrived right after us. The adults went into the study to discuss something. They came out faces beaming brightly.
"We're taking you guys on a family vacation!", Mrs. Weasley clapped her hands excitedly. I looked around. "We thought it might be a bit fun especially as everyone of you knows each other and hate to be apart.", Mrs. Zabini snickered.
I was in a bit of a shock. Mum nodded at me. My mouth fell open. She held out a book to me. I took it and flipped through it. I began shaking in excitement and I could barely find my voice.
"Where are we going?", Ginny asked leaning over. She glanced at the page I was reading and fell to the floor in shock. I passed the book around still unable to talk.
When everyone was thoroughly shocked mum took the book back. "We leave soon so make sure you're properly packed and be ready to leave in 20 minutes.", she smiled, and the adults left the room.
The others left to check their suitcases and switch out things they'd forgotten or thought they would need. I was still shaking. "Come on problem child.", Blaise led me upstairs to my room. he went through my closet picking out outfits while I packed my camera equipment and shoes.
"Why aren't you freaking out about this like everyone else?", I asked realizing he was perfectly fine. He laughed. "I helped them come up with the idea. Well me and Draco that is. In fact, there is one person who wasn't down there with her family. You know her. Her name is Astoria.", he put the last of my things in the small suitcase.
We went back down to find the others still rushing around. "Wow, I've never seen everyone acting so chaotic!", I gaped as I watched the scene.
Mum walked by and handed Blaise a set of car keys. "You know where the airport is. You can take Draco, Astoria, and Charlotte to the airport as you four are the only ones ready. We'll meet you guys there.", she strode off to help the boys pack and I heard Kreacher popping up in random rooms trying to clean the chaos.
I picked up my small suitcase and we went outside to the car. Draco was already there with Astoria. "Ready to go?", Draco asked as we approached. Blaise held up the keys and I helped Astoria put the bags in the car.
"Nice to meet you again Charlotte.", Astoria smiled. "Same here. I can still remember the first time we met. You were trying to stop Ava from hitting a seventh year.", I sighed, and she laughed.
We got in the car and headed to the airport. Astoria and I sat together talking about all the trouble Ava got into. "She seems much better now.", Astoria giggled. "Why of course she is. She has a bit of a distraction.", I winked slyly.
"What on earth are you to talking about?", Ava demanded from behind us. We jumped. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring. Izzy guided her over to a seat. I turned around to see everyone else now heading over and nudged Astoria.
She turned and had to cover her mouth to prevent a laugh from coming out. "What are you two laughing about?", Ava demanded. We shook our heads. "It's just so funny how distractions appear.", I winked.
She turned to where we were looking before. Fred and Charlie Weasley were having what looked to be a very interesting discussion with mum and dad. She turned around and nodded in understanding.
"Mrs. Wrackspurts and Astoria seem to be having fun.", Luna sighed as she sat down next to Astoria. "Mrs. Wrackspurts?", Astoria asked. Luna pointed at me. "We were just observing.", I muttered.
We boarded the plane. The adults were all in first class leaving the kids alone in business class. Ava talked with Daphne and Astoria all through the flight.
The boys were talking about various sports. I decided to catch up with Hermione and Ginny. I hadn't been able to see them that much since school resumed.
The plane began to descend, and we landed. We were huddled in front of the airport. "Ready to have some fun?", mum asked.