AN: Can't remember if I've mentioned this or not - this is AU with an AU timeline (because I'd written it before JKR confirmed it and I couldn't be bothered to go back and amend everything I'd mentioned) - the timeline is on my profile if you get confused; it pretty much just shifts everything forward a year.


June 30th 1997

Meanwhile …

If there was anything that could be said about the regulars in The Hanged Man, it was that they liked their gossip.

The same could probably be said of any local pub in any small village where the slightest change to routine can fuel weeks of excitement.

However, The Hanged Man wasn't just any local pub; it was local pub in Little Hangleton, which happened to be where Voldemort's father hailed from, so that was the pub Addie was aiming for that afternoon.

Finding the place had not been easy, until Sirius remembered Harry mentioning a man being killed in his original dream about the house and Dumbledore mentioning that the Ministry seemed unconcerned about the murder of a Muggle named Frank Bryce.

From there, Jen had been able to track down the news report of a mysterious death in Little Hangleton in 1995, which was much easier than finding the original reports of the Riddle family.

Unsure how much, if any, Death Eater activity was in the village, Addie had placed a strong Glamour Charm on herself and travelled alone, much to Sirius's displeasure, but she was not backing down. Her brown hair was scraped back into a messy bun, her brown eyes blinking owlishly from behind thick-framed glasses, and she looked just like a Muggle historian – at least, she hoped she did, since that was the effect she was going for.

Her original wand was still Merlin only knew where, but her replacement was tucked into a wand holster under her shirt. It didn't respond quite the same way, but it was perfectly acceptable. She doubted any wand would ever be the same as her first, and she had said as much to Mr Ollivander.

His answering smile had been almost sad. "Well, Miss McKinnon, the wand chooses the wizard you know", he had said, which she had taken to be agreement.

She took her time wandering around the village, stopping to admire the hanging baskets that lined the 'high street', taking photographs with a Muggle camera of some of the older houses, all the while observing the manor house on the hill.

It was just as creepy as she had imagined it, and she didn't attempt to approach it, turning instead to the small pub on the corner.

The interior was dark and smoky and she had to blink a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden change of light.

The noise level dropped as she entered, people twisting around in their seats and abandoning drinks to focus on the stranger who had wandered into the midst.

The clientele seemed to be made up of the entire population of the village – she could only assume they had nowhere else to go. One side of the pub seemed to be entirely older people, nursing local ales. The other side was primarily teenagers and young adults, playing pool in between cokes and cocktails. A couple of boys to her left seemed incredibly interested in her entrance and she could feel their eyes on her as she crossed the floor.

Their stares sent uncomfortable prickles up and down her spine, but she ignored them, taking a seat at the bar and smiling at the barmaid who almost ran over to her. "Lemonade please."

"Certainly, love." The woman said, reaching under the bar for a glass. "Anything else?"

"No thank you." Addie said, slipping her camera back into her bag. "It's sweltering out there."

"Makes a change from the rain." The barmaid responded, setting her drink on the bar. "£3.20."

That sounded a lot to Addie, but she had no idea what the exchange rate between galleons and pounds was, and that wasn't the point of the exercise anyway, so she counted out the coins and handed them over, silently thanking Lily for teaching them how to use Muggle money.

"Travelled far to get here?" The woman asked casually.

Addie smiled – nosy, yes; subtle, no. "Not really. I'm staying in Greater Hangleton for the week – holiday, you know. Never been able to leave work behind. I'm a historian." She said, anticipating the next question. "Small villages like this fascinate me." She took a sip of lemonade. At least it was very good. "Out of interest, is there a story behind the old manor house on the hill? It looks deserted."

Her eyes lit up. "Ah, now, there's a story! See what happened was … No, tell you what – you want this story first hand, so to speak. 'Ere, Dorothy! This lady wants to know about the Riddles!"

Addie looked over her shoulder to see a wizened old lady seated in one of the booths with a glass of water. Her face lit up as well, and she beckoned Addie over with a gnarled hand.

Thanking the barmaid, Addie made her way over and slid on to the bench opposite Dorothy, who squinted at her.

"My names Madeline." Addie said with a smile. "I'm a historian."

"Ah, then you'll want to 'ear this story." Dorothy croaked. "When I was a lass, that 'ouse was owned by the Riddle family – father, mother and son. Weren't very well liked. The father was the squire around 'ere, but you know as well as I do that don't mean squat anymore. Didn't back then, but you wouldn't think it, the way they carried on. Been a bit of a to-do when I was a babe – the son, Tom, ran off with the daughter of a tramp!"

Addie made an appropriately shocked face. "But he came back?"

Dorothy snorted. "Claimed to have been bewitched. Little 'ussy probably told him she was pregnant. Or maybe he did get 'er pregnant and just ran away when he couldn't 'andle it."

"When was that?" Addie asked curiously.

"Ah, now, let's see …" Dorothy said slowly. "I don't remember that, but it was only sixteen years later when … I musta been about six at a guess."

Addie tilted her head curiously. "Sixteen years later … What happened sixteen years later?"

Dorothy leaned towards her, bringing with her a faint whiff of stale cat litter, and Addie tried not to grimace. "I were sittin' 'ere, in this very pub, when their maid came runnin' screamin' down the road, into the pub. All three of 'em – dead."

Addie gasped with feigned horror. "Good gracious! What happened?"

"Well that's the strange thing!" Dorothy said smugly. "No one knows, do they? Police couldn't work out 'ow they died. They arrested ol' Frank Bryce – 'e were the gardener – but they 'ad to let 'im go – no evidence."

"Do you think he did it?" Addie asked.

"I did." Dorothy said. "For a long while. But 'e died as well, not so long ago. Found 'im in the garden. Just the same as the Riddles – looked like 'e'd been scared to death."

Killing Curse, Addie's mind supplied. "Well, that's …"

"Exactly." Dorothy leaned even closer. "There's somethin' funny about that 'ouse. You mark my words."

Addie took a drink, thinking about the story. It wasn't really the Riddles she was interested in, but she didn't want to seem too eager. In the worst case scenario, she had to cast a Compulsion Charm or a Memory Charm, but that was the last resort. "What about the tramp's daughter? What happened to her?"

Dorothy shrugged. "No idea. Disappeared, never came back. Father died, brother went mad, and then 'e died an' all."

"What was her name?" Addie asked, hoping she sounded absently curious as opposed to truly interested.

Dorothy's face screwed up in concentration. "Let's see … Ma said they were all 'm's, and really strange … Merope!" She crowed. "Merope Gaunt – Gaunt by name, and gaunt by nature, me ma used to say – looked like she was starving."

The Gaunts, from what Addie could remember, were originally an Ancient and Noble pureblood family whose inbreeding and obsession with blood purity had left them ostracised by even the most obsessed of purebloods, despite their ancestor being one Salazar Slytherin.

Even Sirius's mother would not have been swayed into an arrangement – where the Blacks had managed to escape most of the downfalls of 'line-breeding', the Gaunts had managed to catch all of them – their magical power had dwindled, their intelligence with it, each generation became uglier and uglier, and they were all quite mad.

Okay, so none of the Blacks had escaped that particular downfall – even Sirius, Jen and Andie, arguably the sanest of the Blacks, had a streak of insanity within them. They just managed to hide it better than the others.

All of this would certainly explain why Voldemort was such a psychopath, and verified his claims of being Slytherin's heir.

"If you want to take a look," Dorothy said thoughtfully, "their old shack is on the road out of town. You can't miss it – there's a snake nailed to the door."

Addie did not leave immediately. She was in no rush and she didn't want to draw unnecessary attention, so she stayed and nursed her lemonade, asking Dorothy about some of the other houses and the history of the village.

Dorothy was quite happy to tell Addie all of her childhood stories and only when she began visibly tiring did Addie finish her drink, thank her for her time, and leave.

There was only one road in and out of Little Hangleton, and Addie had walked along it on her way into the village, but had seen no shack.

This time however, she walked more slowly, her eyes scanning the hedgerows either side of the country lane, and finally, she found it, a tiny shack set back from the road.

The path was overgrown with nettles and brambles, which explained why Addie had missed it the first time, and she didn't attempt to fight through them, staying on the lane and observing it from a distance.

Dorothy was right about the snake, but it was no longer nailed to the door. Its body had decomposed, its bones lying on the floor, in front of the door, a dire warning to all who dared enter.

The snake, though, was the last thing Addie was concerned about – magic shimmered around the shack in wards and enchantments. She recognised the signature of the magic from the island and it definitely wasn't there for nostalgia purposes.

One thing was certain though – she wasn't stupid enough to attempt a closer look without back-up.


As soon as the words left Jen's mouth, relief flooded through Ginny like a tidal wave. "You set it up!"

Jen squeezed her shoulder. "I didn't trust Dumbledore not to have someone at the station to force Harry back to the Dursleys, so I told him to call Dobby on to the train and have him take Harry and Draco back to Potter Manor. And Daphne too, I guess."

Ginny sighed heavily and closed her eyes, reaching for the place where Draco had been earlier. Draco? Jen says it's all clear and we'll be with you in the next 30 minutes.

There was a brief moment of silence, then the link reopened and his presence rushed back into her mind. Okay, before you yell at me, Jen insisted we didn't tell anyone to make sure that no one found out until it was too late.

Do you have any idea how worried I've been?! Ginny demanded. Why did you close the link?

I didn't mean to. Draco insisted. But I'm sorry.

Do it again, and I'll hex you into the next century.

The response was quick and relieved. Done.

"Jennifer?" Molly asked. "What's going on? And don't tell me Harry's at Potter Manor, because I've guessed that."

"Ginny?" Jen prompted quietly.

Ginny sighed, sitting down opposite her mother. "Mum, about two weeks ago, when Hermione and Draco woke up, I … Well, something happened."

Molly reached across the table to take her hands, looking concerned. "What is it, Ginny?"

Ginny took a deep breath. "A soul bond formed between me and Draco."

Molly stared at her and Ginny braced herself for an explosion, but Jen spoke first.

"Neville, Susan, your guardians have given their permission for you to spend the summer at Potter Manor with us." She said. "But it's not going to be a holiday, I'm afraid."

Hermione grinned. "Are you going to train us, Jen?"

Jen nodded, and that was enough to distract Molly – at least for the moment – from her daughter's soul bond. "I don't think …"

"Sirius and I are Harry's legal guardians." Jen said flatly. "Sirius is also Hermione's, thanks to Gringotts. Amelia and Augusta have given their permission. Now, admittedly, I cannot train Ron and Ginny without your permission, but I'm not stupid enough to believe that Harry and Hermione won't do it for me."

"But they're children!" Molly protested.

"We're underage." Ginny said. "We're not children."

Molly scowled at her. "Soul bond or not, my girl …"

"This has nothing to do with the soul bond." Ginny said fiercely. "Voldemort tried to use me to come back, remember? I know you like pretending that my first year never happened, but it did. I remember Tom Riddle, I remember the after-effects of the possession, I remember seeing Harry on the floor of the Chamber, I remember everything!"

Ginny, Draco whispered. It's alright, Ginny.

Ginny took a shaky breath, grasping the extra restraint he offered her. "Ron and I nearly died last month, Mum. We could have done. We are already involved, whether you like it or not, because Harry isn't getting out of this. And we aren't leaving him."

"She's right, Mum." Ron said, his hand on his mother's shoulder. "Ground us if you like. Keep us here. We're still going to fight."

"You shouldn't have to!" Molly cried.

"Molly, I agree with you." Jen said firmly, shutting down Molly's argument. "I love Harry like he's my own son. I love all these kids. I hope beyond hope that this war ends and we sit in this kitchen and you can say "I told you so"." She softened her voice, reaching out beseechingly to the older woman. "But, Molly, if that happens, the kids are alive to see it. If the opposite happens, if they do have to fight for their lives, and I'm the one who can say it … they won't be."

"Voldemort has tried to kill Harry five times already." Hermione pointed out.

"Six, if you include the cursed broom." Neville said.

Hermione frowned. "Can we include the cursed broom? That was Quirrell, not Voldemort."

"But Quirrell was possessed by V-V-V-Voldemort." Ron pointed out.

"True." Hermione said thoughtfully. "That's true."

Jen shook her head in disbelief and turned back to Molly. "You see, Molly, Harry should not have had to defend himself all of those times, but where would he be if he hadn't?"


The first thing Addie saw when the entrance hall of Ravenscroft Manor formed around her was Sirius pacing the floor. He swiftly changed course to meet her halfway.

"Did you find her?"

Addie nodded, allowing him to hug her. She was more comfortable with physical contact and affection now, eased, she suspected, by Sirius keeping his promise to dole out hugs when she needed them. "Her name was Merope Gaunt, daughter of a local tramp."

"Gaunt. So he is Slytherin's heir." Sirius concluded.

"Great minds think alike." Addie said with a smile. "She caused a great scandal when she ran off with the squire's son."

"I bet she did." Sirius said. "Any sign of a Horcrux?"

"Well, there's something there." Addie said slowly. "I just don't know if it's a Horcrux. The Gaunts' old home is covered with magic, really sadistic magic at that. I wasn't going near it by myself." She looked around. "Has Remus already gone to Potter Manor?"

Sirius nodded. "Jen let him know that Harry and Draco were there about ten minutes ago." He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

Together, they made their way to the reception room and Sirius offered Addie the floo powder. Unlike Ravenscroft, which was connected to several fires, Potter Manor was connected to Ravenscroft Manor only, a fact that Jen had made absolutely sure of.

She stepped through the fire into the warm reception room of Potter Manor, which was almost entirely different to the one she had just left – the Potters, although proud purebloods, had rarely stood on ceremony, even in formal company.

Remus was waiting for them, with three teenagers, but Addie barely had time to acknowledge them, before Sirius appeared from the flames and one of the teens hurtled himself across the room into his arms.

Sirius hugged his godson back with equal emotion, murmuring reassurance into his messy hair. It was a scene that brought a smile to Addie's face, albeit one tinged with sadness.

A few days after her return, Andromeda had come to visit and, at Jen's request, given Addie a medical examination. As Addie had suspected and accepted, she had not escaped entirely unscathed, and she considered herself lucky that the only damage was internal and confined to her reproductive system.

Addie had never really been maternal, not that she hadn't considered children in the past, so it wasn't something that she was dwelling on, especially since she had been expecting something (in her opinion) much, much worse.

That didn't mean that the fact didn't sting a little, especially when Sirius spoke about Harry and Hermione, and she saw just what a wonderful father he was.

She was easily distracted, though, especially when Sirius released Harry and they both turned to look at her.

"Merlin, you look like your father." She laughed almost immediately. "Sorry, Harry, I bet you get that a lot."

"Yeah, I do." Harry admitted. "But I don't mind."

Sirius laughed. "Harry, this is Addison McKinnon. She would have been your godmother."

"Call me Addie, Harry." She said, wrinkling her nose. "I can't think of the last person who called me Addison. It's nice to finally meet you. Between Lily, James, Jen and Sirius, I feel like I've known you forever."

Harry blushed slightly, but looked pleased. "Are Mum and Dad okay?"

"They were the last time I saw them." Addie assured him. "I'm doing what I can to help Jen and Remus find the island."

"Thanks." Harry said quietly. "Are you okay? After … everything?"

Addie smiled at him, touched by his concern. "I'm getting there, Harry, thank you." Then, because she could see him searching for another topic of conversation, she asked, "Who are your friends?"

Harry turned towards them automatically. "Oh, this is Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass."

"Draco," Sirius greeted, moving to shake his hand. "I hear it's you I've got to thank for my continued existence."

Draco shrugged a little self-consciously. "I just reacted."

"Good reflexes." Addie commented, observing him. Sirius had explained about Draco, but a Malfoy with a friendly face was still a shock.

Speaking of shock, Daphne's face was pale and she was trembling ever so slightly.

"Are you alright, Daphne?" Addie asked gently.

"She was attacked on the train." Harry said with a scowl. "Wannabe Death Eaters."

Addie grimaced and wrapped an arm around the young girl's shoulders. "Come on. Let's go and get a cup of tea. Padfoot can show the boys to their rooms."

Sirius rolled his eyes and gestured for Harry and Draco to follow him, flicking his wand to levitate their trunks after them. He led them up the one of the two marble staircases in the entrance hall that framed the entrance to the ballroom and then up another flight of stairs.

"The first floor is almost entirely a library." He explained as they reached the second floor. "So this is where the bedrooms start."

Harry looked horrified. "We'll need to put Tracking Charms on Hermione, or we're going to lose her."

Draco tried to choke back a laugh, but only succeeded in giving himself a coughing fit. Harry slapped him on the back, now grinning broadly, as Sirius stopped outside one of the doors. "Draco, this one's yours."

The room had probably once been red and gold like much of the rest of the house but someone, much to Draco's visible relief, had redecorated in muted green with silver accents.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Sirius said. "You can thank Jen for the paint job. Although we should really be thanking Harry for letting us stay here – it's your house after all."

"Like I'd say no." Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Is the next one along …?"

"No." Sirius said, anticipating the question. "Yours is on the next floor."

Harry frowned slightly, but Draco didn't seem surprised. They followed Sirius up another flight of stairs and he pushed open the door to a room that caused Harry's heart to almost stop.

"Sirius!" He protested. "It's huge!"

"It's your room." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but …"

"Pot-Harry." Draco said, interrupting him. "They're not doing this to make a point. This is your room. There's a specific order of rooms in ancestral homes. Your parents, once they became Lord and Lady Potter would have moved into the Master Suite. There's probably a Mistress's Suite as well, but I doubt your parents ever used it. This room belongs to the Heir Apparent. It would have been your father's room, growing up, right?"

"That's right." Sirius confirmed. "I used it as well, when I came to stay, even though they had the room. James insisted."

"This was my dad's room?" Harry asked, his eyes lighting up.

Sirius's smile softened. "Yeah, Pronglet, it was. Come on, I'll show you around."


Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to apparate directly into the grounds of Potter Manor, unless you had Potter blood.

As such, Jen and Molly apparated the students to just outside of the wards and Jen ushered them across, almost walking straight into Ginny when she stopped dead.

"I know." Jen said, anticipating her reaction. "It's a beautiful house."

"Stunning." Hermione agreed faintly.

Jen led them up to the front doors and unlocked them with a tap of her wand, leading them into the magnificent entrance hall. "Hello the house!"

"Sirius is showing Harry and Draco to their rooms." Remus said by way of greeting. "Addie's giving Daphne a shoulder to cry on."

"And hello to you too." Jen said, kissing him. "She's good at that."

Hermione's gaze remained fixed on the staircases, her hand squeezing Ginny's tightly, as Draco and Harry appeared, perfectly unharmed, chatting to Sirius on their way back to the ground floor.

Sirius caught sight of them halfway down and excused himself from their discussion to jog the rest of the way, and Hermione took her cue to fly across the room into his waiting arms.

"It's alright, Kitten." He whispered. "I'm alright. I'm so sorry I scared you."

Harry acknowledged his friends and Molly with a wave and jogged straight to Jen, who embraced him tightly. "I am so, so sorry, Harry. I should never have left you alone like that, especially not under those circumstances."

"It's okay, Jen." Harry said, his voice muffled against her shoulder. "You explained why, I understand."

"Doesn't make it right." Jen said, pressing a kiss to his head and releasing him so Hermione could scold him for scaring her.

Harry listened patiently for several minutes, until she began to repeat herself, whereupon he took her in his arms and kissed her softly.

Hermione gave him a stern look. "You can't do that every time I'm mad at you."

"I can try." Harry said with a cheeky grin.

"Merlin." Jen muttered under her breath, recalling a similar conversation between James and Lily.

Sirius sidled over to her. "You owe me ten galleons."

Jen pulled a face at her brother, but didn't begrudge him the money. He had won the bet, after all.

On her other side, Molly gave a little indignant squawk, drawing her attention to Ginny who appeared to have been mentally berating Draco and finished up by hugging him tightly, a move that seemed to shock him as much as it did Molly.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, hugging her back. "I won't do it again."

"Molly, don't." Jen said tiredly. "There's nothing you can do."

"But …"

"A soul bond only forms between two people who are perfectly matched." Jen said. "It doesn't always form, the circumstances have to be exactly right, and they're incredibly rare even then. But it would not form if he would ever hurt her. That should be enough."

"But …" Molly repeated. "Harry …."

"No." Jen said flatly. "Quite aside from Ginny's soul bond with Draco and Harry's relationship with Hermione, he sees Ginny as a little sister. He calls her 'sis', for Merlin's sake. Take my advice on this, Molly, and let it go."

"People haven't always." Molly insisted. "I grew up hearing rumours of soul bonds, people still kept other betrothals …"

"And they died young." Remus finished. "Take it from someone who's experienced a completely blocked bond, Molly, even if very briefly. Breaking a bond is fatal to its participants. I do not recommend it."

Jen shuddered, remembering those three days before they realised the consequences of shutting the link completely. Try to get her to see reason, would you? She moved forwards to meet Draco as he released Ginny, greeting him with a second unexpected embrace.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Thank you." He responded. "I don't know what I'd have done if I'd had to go home. Daphne …"

"The more the merrier." Jen said, releasing him from her arms and turning to survey the young woman who had just appeared with Addie – quite literally; the kitchen at Potter Manor was only accessible from the front of the house by way of a secret passage in the walls.

She was still quite pale but looked a lot better than when Remus first saw her, so whatever Addie had said to her in the kitchen must have done a world of good.

"Hello, Daphne, I'm Jen, Harry's godmother."

"Thank you so much for this, Lady Black." Daphne said quietly, shaking her hand.

While Jen told Daphne not to stand on ceremony, Sirius slung an arm around Addie's shoulders and guided her towards the new arrivals. "Come on, meet the rest of the rabble."

"Rabble?" Susan asked, with mock affront. "How dare you, sir?!"

Sirius sniggered. "Addie, this is Susan Bones, Alice's niece, and Neville Longbottom …"

"Frank and Alice's son." Addie finished, shaking their hands. "You look so much like your mother, Neville."

"Did you know them well?" Neville asked.

Addie nodded with a sad smile. "There were ten of us in our year, so the dorm was split in two. For the first five years, Alice and I shared a dorm with my sister, Leona, and …" she glanced at Molly "… two other girls. Those three were glued at the hip most of the time, so Alice and I, when we weren't with Jen and the others, we tended to keep each other sane. I am so, so sorry about what happened."

Neville nodded, his gaze dropping to the floor, and Sirius rescued him by directing Addie's attention to the Weasleys. "Molly's youngest, Ron and Ginny."

"Are we sure Lily didn't have another one and forget about it?" Addie asked dryly.

"You're not the first to ask." Ginny said with a grin. "But I am definitely 100% Weasley."

"Unfortunately." Ron muttered with a smirk, ducking the smack his sister aimed at his head.

"And this," Sirius said, pride filling his voice, "is Hermione."

Addie smiled broadly, clasping the hand the girl reached out to her. "Hermione, it's wonderful to finally meet you. Sirius has told me so much about you."

Hermione's face lit up with a smile. "Good things, I hope."

"Very good." Addie lowered her voice. "He thinks you can walk on water, just so you know."

"Oh, I can." Hermione said airily.

"Only on Tuesdays though." Harry added. "And she does tend to sink even then."

Addie laughed, her heart lifting. These two were so very important to Sirius and for them to accept her so readily and openly was a relief.

Yes, they were still treading carefully around the borders of their past relationships, focusing on recovery and re-acquaintance as she had insisted upon, but they both knew – although they said nothing to each other – that it was a matter of time.

Jen caught her eye and waved her over and she excused herself to join her best friend out of earshot of the others. "Well?" She asked in a low voice. "What did you find?"

"One apparently abandoned manor house." Addie answered. "One heavily warded shack. And one pub full of very eager gossips."

Jen smirked. "Heavily warded, huh?"

"Heavily warded and belonged to the Gaunts." Addie confirmed with a grin. "The daughter of whom ran off with the squire's son, Tom Riddle."

"I love gossips." Jen said cheerfully. "Did you go inside?"

"No, the magic was pretty nasty." Addie said. "Wouldn't want to do it by myself."

"Fair enough." Jen said. "We'll go tomorrow. We'll get Molly to …" She trailed off, eyeing the woman dubiously. She had stopped arguing with Remus about the soul bond (or at Remus about the soul bond; Remus wasn't exactly arguing back), but still did not look happy as she watched Ginny and Draco talking with the others. "On second thoughts, the less involved she is, the better. I'll floo Mandy and Arabella tonight, get them to come and watch the kids."

"Can we call them kids?" Addie asked sceptically. "I don't think Sirius has told me everything, but given what he has told me, you can hardly classify them as children."

"Probably not." Jen agreed. "But it's quicker than calling them 'underage young people'." She checked her watch. "And given that the next two days could well be a bit overwhelming, I need to borrow a couple of them now. Hermione?"

Hermione looked over questioningly. "Yes?"

Jen smiled. "We're going shopping."

Hermione grinned back and grabbed Ginny and Susan's hands. "'Scuse us, boys."

Jen laid a hand on Daphne's shoulder. "You'd better come as well, unless you have some dress robes for the wedding?"

Daphne shook her head, a light pink blush staining her cheeks. "You don't have to …"

"I know I don't have to." Jen said firmly. "But I'm going to. Molly, I'll bring Ginny home when we're done."

"How did you talk Mum into it?" Ginny asked once they were outside. "I mean, I have no arguments if you want to buy me a dress, but Mum tends to get a bit funny about it. I think that's where Ron gets it from."

"Yes, I was expecting an argument." Jen agreed. "So I took precautionary measures." She winked. "You'll just have to be another bridesmaid."

Ginny's face lit up. "Thanks, Jen."

"Why are we doing this tonight?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Well, there's some things we need to do over the next few days, and I don't know how they're going to play out." Jen explained. "Which reminds me, Mandy and Arabella should be coming over tomorrow morning – Addie, Sirius, Remus and I need to disappear for a few hours."

"Why?" Susan asked.

Jen's smile turned slightly feral. "We're going hunting."