Christmas Afternoon, 1992

After dressing into a fresh set of clothes Fred was pacing around the bedroom they'd been allowed to sleep in for their stay in Wales, clearly lost in thought.

"Freddie?" George asked, from where he was sitting on one of the beds, his legs crossed.

"She loves being home..." his brother sighed out, scuffing his toe against the leg of the other bed and catching George off guard. He'd thought that his twin was pondering on meeting Georgia's grandparents who were due to arrive at any moment.

"Right? And?" George asked, not seeing what Fred's point was, it was no different to them loving being home during their summers.

Fred turned to look at him "What if she decides to stay here? She hasn't been home in five months... she may never want to return to Hogwarts and at the moment maybe that's not a bad idea..." he trailed off and then sat down onto the other bed, chin resting on the palms of his hands, lost in a different set of thoughts.

Jumping up George moved to sit next to his brother, nudging him lightly. "You're telling me that, you, Fred Weasley, mischief maker extraordinaire is worried that the witch you might have feelings for won't return to Hogwarts with us?"

Fred nodded his head slightly and George let out a small laugh, "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Gia loves Hogwarts. She's always returned after the Summer, you've got nothing to worry about"

"That's because she's either spent the holidays with Roo or us. She's happy here though Georgie, you saw her with the animals today. She treats them like family, not to mention how excited she is to see her grandparents again. What if she realises the Muggle world is where she wants to be?"

George knew he couldn't argue with that, he had seen the change in the brunette since they'd arrived in Wales. There was a whole other side to her that they'd never gotten to see before and she had been a lot happier and carefree, but he still didn't think she'd abandon them by not returning to school, nor did he think that Ruby would even allow it. The two were nearly as inseparable as he and Fred, and he knew the girls didn't have secrets between them either so if Georgia had expressed thoughts on not returning to school then he had faith in Ruby that she would have come to them for help.

He was saved from giving his brother an answer though as the door burst open and Ruby ran in looking flustered, footsteps could be heard hurriedly moving down the stairs and for a second George held his breath, scared she was about to tell them that Georgia wasn't coming back to the magical world.

"They're here" the blonde gasped, throwing a look over her shoulder.

"Oh god" Fred scrambled off the bed, tugging at the bottom of his shirt to straighten it back out.

"Do we have to do this Roo?" George grimaced, not at all prepared to pretend to be a Muggle. Ruby held her hand out for him to take.

"Yes, come on, it'll be fine. We've all got each other"

Reaching the kitchen Kay offered them a welcoming smile while Georgia and Lewis took turns hugging the elderly man and woman in the doorway, they both had grey hair but Lewis resembled his parents a lot. It was clear for them to see that Georgia took after her Mum's side rather than her dads.

"Nain! Taid!" Georgia squealed, kissing her grandparents on their cheeks. The three hung back as the Welsh greetings began, Ruby smiled, it was amusing to listen to but she didn't have a clue what was being said.

"AH rhaid i'r rhain fod yn ffrindiau" (Ah these must be the friends) Georgia's grandmother smiled as she spotted the three guests.

"It's really nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs Goshawk" Ruby smiled sweetly, holding her hand out for them to shake which they returned. She then subtly rose her eyebrows at Fred and George indicating that they do the same.

"Peidiwch รข siarad Cymraeg" (Don't they speak Welsh) her Grandfather questioned.

"Na, maen nhw'n byw yn Nyfnaint" (No, they live Devon) Georgia replied, causing Fred to stare at her with his mouth open, it amazed him that she could speak another language so effortlessly. With a snigger George elbowed him.

Kay made them all some hot drinks and as they moved into the living room where Lewis suggested they'd be warmer and comfier the catch up conversations continued back and forth between the four adults and Georgia in Welsh. Her shadows feeling a little bit left out before Lewis gave them the nod that they could open the rest of their presents. With excited yells the four turned where they were sitting on the rug by the fire and grabbed the rest of the gifts from under the tree to sort and hand out. Fred and George instantly squashed theirs to look for the one from their mother, holding up matching blue packages and waving them at the two girls.

"These one's first!" Fred beamed pointing towards the same blue present in Georgia's lap.

Ruby reached for hers also and almost in sync they tore into the paper, finding brand new hand knitted sweaters with their initials on, thanking Merlin there hadn't been another mix up this year.

"What's those?" Kay asked as she sipped on her tea, her own presents on the floor by her feet, Georgia knew she always waited until last to open her stuff. Wanting to enjoy everyone else's reactions first.

"Jumpers from Mrs Weasley" Georgia smiled, taking off her current sweater and pulling the purple one with the big orange G over her head. "She makes them for her whole family"

"And those closest to the family" George added.

"Isn't that sweet of her" Lewis commented mid way into tearing paper from one of his own gifts and Georgia hummed her agreement.

Soon all their gifts had been opened and shown to the adults and a round of thank yous had been given, the four teens went to put their new gifts away in their school trunks while Kay went to finish making Christmas Dinner. Returning they helped to set up the table and lay out the crackers, Georgia explaining quietly that they weren't like the ones they were used to.

Dinner had started off as a quiet affair, the eight of them squashed round the table in the kitchen, plates heaped with Turkey and Ham, alongside a range of vegetables. It was nothing compared to what they were used to at Hogwarts but it tasted amazing nonetheless. Soon conversations turned as Georgia's grandparents tried to find out more about her best friends.

"So you all attend the same boarding school then?" Mr Goshawk asked, and Ruby nodded at the elderly man, finishing her mouthful of food before replying.

"Yeah, best in the country"

"You like it then?" He asked.

"Oh I love it, I couldn't imagine going to school anywhere else" Ruby spoke, mindful of how she was wording things. As everyone went back to eating she assumed the questions were over until Mrs Goshawk took over asking.

"Do you have a favourite subject?"

"Mhm definitely potions... ah!" Fred yelped as Georgia pinched his leg under the table.

"He means chemistry" Georgia gave an awkward chuckle, covering up for the mistake. "It's just a silly name we've got for the lesson because of the many experiments we do"

Her grandfather gave them an odd look but didn't push the matter as his wife went on with her interrogation. "Our Georgia mentioned you being from Devon, was it?" She received three nods in reply and she continued on, "Long way to go for school, isn't it?"

"Family thing" Ruby told her.

"And you?" She asked looking at the two identical boys who'd been strangely quiet.

"Same thing" Fred replied before explaining, "All our siblings before us have been through those halls, in fact it's the place where mine and George's parents met, so it makes the most sense" he added and George nodded along. Georgia feeling proud of her friends for not giving them away.

"Even their younger siblings are now following them through the school" Georgia smiled.

"My goodness, how many of you are they?"

"Seven, mum really wanted a girl" George answered causing Georgia to giggle at the looks on her grandparents faces.

"They must have great jobs, your parents, to be able to send all of you to such a wonderful school" Mr Goshawk gave him a questioning look and George threw a panicked look at Ruby and Georgia.

"Our fathers work for the government" Ruby quickly answered, gesturing between herself and the boys, she was only bending the truth slightly.

"Will we have heard of them?" Georgia blushed and panicked internally as she scrambled to think of how to answer that question for her friends, they were beginning to tread dangerously close to the edge of giving the secret her and her parents had hid so well away. Her mum shuffled in her seat, wondering what her in-laws were playing at, feeling sorry for the children having to think on their feet. She willed dinner to end so that she could bring out pudding and direct the talk into another direction.

"Oh I doubt it" Ruby easily shrugged, "It's all behind the scenes work they do"

"So they've got office jobs?"

"You could put it like that yeah" Ruby nodded, reaching for her glass of water, "but it's highly important work. Things wouldn't run smoothly without them"

"Plus not to mention that the Welsh government is very different to the English" Georgia piped up and Fred pointed at her.

"Exactly"

Soon their plates were empty, stomachs were filled with both dinner and pudding, crackers had been pulled and the quartet were still wearing their paper hats on their heads as they all returned to the lounge to rest in front of the warmth of the fire as they watched the television. As had become the norm the teenagers gathered together on the floor, her shadows too nervous to leave Georgia's side around her relatives. Fred had won a small card game in his Christmas cracker and while her parents were engaged in a conversation with her grandparents, held mainly in Welsh, Georgia quietly explained it was a game of pairs and they had to find the matches as she laid the cards out face down on the floor between them.

They were engaged in a game that George was winning when suddenly the atmosphere in the room changed, Georgia's head snapping up to focus her attention on the adults. The twins shared a look, they may not have understood what was being said but they knew it wasn't good as Georgia shook her head no, turning wide eyed towards her mum.

"Dwi ddim eisiau" (I don't want to) she muttered. "Dywedwch wrthyn nhw Mam" (Tell them Mam).

"Mae hyn yn eu bai yn tydi?" (This is their fault isn't it?) the elder man pointed at her friends and Ruby felt the boys tense beside her, it didn't take a genius to know they were being spoken about.

"Na!" (No!) Georgia replied angrily, "Rwyf am ddilyn Mam i mewn i feddygaeth" (I want to follow Mam into medicine)

"Byddwn yn gweld iddo eich bod yn newid eich meddwl erbyn diwedd y flwyddyn" (We'll see to it that you change your mind by the end of the year) her grandmother nodded matter of factly and Georgia glanced at her mum who looked sheepish.

"I might have forgotten to mention that they're staying with us until the New Year"

"Perfect" Georgia huffed, folding her arms. No way would her friends last the whole week pretending to be actual Muggles and she wasn't sure she could deal with her grandparents wanting to make her go to farming school. Hogwarts was where she belonged.

"Felly, yr hyn yr ydych yn ei ddweud yw fy mod i'n rhy fud i gael gyrfa mewn meddygaeth?!" (So, what you're saying is that I'm too dumb to have a career in medicine?!) She spat at the elders.

The lights in the room flickered and the fire seemed to roar just that little louder, Fred and George looked at one another, aware of what was happening. Georgia was losing control of her magic as she lost control of her temper. Shuffling closer they placed comforting hands on her shoulders to ground her and remind her she couldn't let it happen and give the secret up.

"Gia... what's happening?" Fred whispered but she shook her head, knowing if she spoke she'd let the tears she was so desperately holding back, fall. And she didn't want to look weak.

Fred found himself moving his hand down and giving Georgia's hand a squeeze, he wasn't about to pry but he felt it was only right that she told her best friends what had just gone down between her and her grandparents. Georgia looked up at him, giving him a grateful smile, she couldn't do much else as leaving the room would just look rude so she was pretty grounded to the spot until someone allowed them to leave which didn't look very likely.

Realising that the tension in the room wasn't going to shift anytime soon Kay stood up to distract everyone from the current conversation, asking who wanted tea. "Why don't you four take Connie out on a walk" she indicated to the black and white dog that had been bouncing back and forth, excitedly wagging her tail. "Burn off some of that energy she's got"

Georgia nodded with a blank look on her face and Ruby jumped up, grabbing Georgia's hands to bring her with them, once the other witch was up on her feet she linked arms with her to guide her from the room, hoping that a bit of fresh air would help them all feel better, Wrapped up warm and with Connie in tow the four teenagers left the cottage. Georgia leading them all down the trail she and Connie were familiar with.

"What an earth was all that about back there?" Fred questioned once they were at a far enough distance.

"My Nain and Taid making life plans for me"

"What kind of life plans?" George asked, kicking a rock along the dirt path.

Georgia unclipped Connie's lead and gave her the nod that it was okay for her to run off ahead before replying, "They want me to drop out of school after exams" Fred turned on his heel to glare at George, who had the decency to throw him a sympathetic look in return.

"Surely they can't make you do that" Ruby gave her a shocked look.

"They're offering to pay for me to go to Agriculture College" Georgia grimaced, then took the stick that Connie had returned from the cluster of trees with and threw it as far as she could.

"What's that?" Fred frowned.

"A Muggle school where you learn everything you need to know about farming. Not that I need it, I've helped out since I was able to walk"

Ruby shoved her hands into her pockets, falling into step beside the brunette, "Don't they know you don't want to take over the farm?"

"They don't care about that. This farm has been in the family for years, they've had my life mapped out since the day I was born. They don't want it to go to anyone else"

"But it's your life so it's your choice, surely they can understand that, right?" George replied as he threw the stick for Connie this time.

"I don't know" Georgia shrugged, letting out a sigh.

"Are you really leaving Hogwarts?" Fred asked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"No, I don't want to. And it wouldn't be until after OWLs anyways but still no"

"Dumbledore wouldn't allow it anyways," Ruby stated.

"I should write to him" Georgia mused, the thought occurring to her. The others agreed it was a good idea and after a few more games of fetch with Connie they clipped her back to her lead and headed back towards the cottage, seeking the warmth it provided.