Chapter 27

Reunion

Emily stood at the railing, watching random people wander along for whatever purpose they had. She had yet to spot any red hair, so she had some time to think. And as was often the case, she had a great deal to consider.

When she met the Potters at school, she hadn't known what to think at first. They sat down randomly and introduced themselves, and then a slice of the popular set invaded. She was extremely uncomfortable, right up until she realized that the Potters were deliberately ensuring that nobody bothered her.

They hadn't asked, and they didn't know her. It was like they just knew.

It's wasn't more than a few days before she realized that Harry was much the same as she was, just not to such an extreme degree — and unlike her, he knew how to hide it. They did know, because he dealt with similar feelings, and Ginny knew him better than anyone. That made her vastly more comfortable, and the first meaningful friendship she could recall had been born.

Oddly, she had always thought of them as a single unit. They were almost always together, and they never argued or fought. Sometimes they finished each others' sentences as though they were speaking as one. It was amazing to watch, and to her they were just them, and there was no other explanation.

Now, of course, she understood more of why that was, but that was neither here nor there.

When she lost her grandfather, she briefly thought her life was over — and possibly literally. Her parents were horrible people, at least to her, and for them to blame her for his death in the first place was beyond painful. He was her favorite relative, and she already desperately missed him.

How could they think she wouldn't save him if she had a way? The only conclusion she could come to was that they were just ugly people who hated her on general principle. They were jealous, and were more than happy to take it out on her ever since she had her first bout of accidental magic at three years old.

They never let her forget it, and only met the barest legal requirements for guardians from there on out, and arguably not even that.

She had gone to the Potters out of simple lack of choice. She had no other friends, and the lack of relatives that liked her was something she was all too aware of. She'd hoped to sleep on their couch for a day or two while she figured out what to do.

And then, suddenly, they were her guardians. She had no idea how they pulled that off, but pulled it off they had. The first day or two was awkward as she tried to figure out how this would change things, but they did their best to put her at ease, and she soon realized that nothing would change at all.

Except that they were family now, and they meant that.

Emily had no idea what the future would hold — she didn't know what she wanted to do with herself career-wise — but for now she was content. The only thing better would be if she could find someone who would understand her and love her in a more romantic sense. She held out little hope, but given what existed between Harry and Ginny, anything must be possible.

She wasn't really looking forward to escorting Ginny's family aboard — new people made her viscerally nervous — but she was doing it anyway. She knew why Harry didn't want to be seen, and there was no reason to tempt fate. After all they had done for her, this was the least she could offer.

Ah, and there they were.

A gaggle of redheads — plus a beautiful silver-blonde bombshell — trooped down the stairs to the dock. She watched as they came closer, and while she couldn't hear their conversation, she noticed when it petered out. And then Ginny's twin brothers started laughing uproariously.

Must've seen the name of the boat, she smiled internally.

But soon they were walking up the gangway, and it took all of her considerable willpower to tamp down her nerves enough that she wouldn't break and run away. Bill was in the lead, of course, with his gorgeous fiancée by his side. Not that Emily really swung that way very much, but Fleur was a girl who could turn the heads of even the straightest of women.

She was slightly jealous, but only slightly; she hated attention enough as it was, and the amount of attention that girl got had to be truly obnoxious.

"Hello, Emily," greeted Bill calmly.

She was way too uncomfortable to talk, so she just waved at him. But just as she was about to motion them forward, he laid a hand gently on her shoulder and turned to introduce his family. She was surprised, but managed to keep it off her face.

"You already know Fleur, of course," he offered, "and this here is our Dad, Arthur Weasley."

"It's nice to meet you, Emily," the older man smiled. "Bill explained who you are, so I'll just say welcome to the family."

Emily blushed slightly at the sincerity of the sentiment, and perhaps smiled a bit more, but otherwise just nodded at him. She was truly touched that he would so easily adopt her so to speak, but her nerves were in full flow, and she could do little about it. It was annoying, honestly.

"This one here is Percy," Bill continued, pointing out the serious looking one. "Don't underestimate him," he suddenly grinned, "there's more there than first meets the eye."

Both of the twins blanched, and Emily wondered if she would hear that story later. Clearly, something had happened. Perhaps Percy was one of those that Harry and Ginny referred to as Slytherin? Maybe he had surprised the twins a few times? She didn't know, but it would be interesting to find out.

As long as she could do it from afar, anyway.

"And finally," said Bill through a long-suffering sigh that she thought was entirely his sense of humor talking, "we have the terrible twins, Fred and George. Or Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, as I like to call them. Don't eat anything they give you, or you might just find yourself molting later."

Emily blinked at the oddity of that statement, and the twins drew themselves up proudly. Unlike the others, though, they sauntered forward, and they each took one of her hands. It was all she could do not to snatch them away and run.

"My dear beautiful and delectable Emily," gushed one twin in over-the-top fashion.

"Such a beautiful name, that," sighed the other one dreamily, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye with his free hand.

"We are humbled to meet you, your luminous effervescence," continued the first one as he lifted her hand in classic fashion and kissed her knuckles.

She blinked blankly at them, even as she saw Bill mouthing the words to his fiancée off to the side. She couldn't help but wonder where that had come from — especially considering that effervescent was not a word that would describe her. At all.

And his twin seemed to agree.

"Luminous effervescence?" he frowned.

"What?" the first one blinked back at him.

"Our standards are falling, Gred. That was terrible."

"And you think you can do better, Forge?" asked the first one again.

That one rolled his eyes and turned back to her, raising her other hand to also kiss her knuckles. "Enchanté," he said mock-seriously. "You are a credit to the female of the species, beautiful lady. We look forward to getting to know you."

"And pranking you," the other one added.

"And pranking you," that one agreed.

She was relieved when Arthur snagged the collars of a pair of suddenly grinning twins. "Don't mind them," he said, rolling his eyes as he dragged them away from her. "We don't really know what's wrong with them, so we just have to deal with it."

She had to snatch her hands back, as they weren't letting go, but succeeded fairly easily.

She smiled faintly — and very nervously — at the man, and then before anyone could say anything else, she motioned for them to follow her and backed away to head to the salon.

They were funny, she would easily admit that. Had that just happened to someone else, she would have been grinning. Instead, though, it made her skin crawl, and gave her the distinct desire to run away and hide. She knew it wasn't their fault, and she wished she understood where that impulse came from, but in the here and now she just had to deal with it.

She tried to ignore the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end at the fact that there were people behind her, and led them aft along the deck. Rather than the forward salon, which was effectively their living room, they were going to the aft salon, which was a bit larger and more appropriate for a gathering. She absolutely adored this boat; it was set up beautifully.

Emily hadn't even known she liked boats until she came to the Potters for help and discovered that they lived on one.

She ignored the conversation behind her and slid the door open, motioning them to precede her inside. She just caught a glimpse of Harry and Ginny rising from a couch when suddenly the twins burst forward into a run. Those two… were trouble.

She slipped in after everybody and closed the door behind her even as they started gushing.

"Harrykins!" burst one as he rushed over and wrapped Harry in a massive hug, causing Harry's eyes to bulge.

"Gin-Gin!" burst the other, as he did much the same to his sister.

And then they swapped.

She chanced a glance a Arthur, and saw him smiling softly at the scene. Percy, too, was smiling, though it was a little sad for some reason. Bill and Fleur had simply appropriated a spot on the couch.

Emily considered doing the same, but was more comfortable standing against the back wall for the moment.

Finally, the twins released them, and Ginny moved forward a few steps before Percy finally moved up and gave her a surprisingly gentle hug. She suspected that he was not normally the physically-demonstrative type, but this was a special occasion. He held on to her for a moment, Harry looking on with a small smile.

"I'm glad you're okay, Ginevra," Percy said softly. "I'm so sorry you had to go."

"Thanks, Percival," smiled Ginny. And Emily detected a note of humor there, probably over the use of his first name. She had heard a few things about various members of the Weasley family, of course.

When he finally let her go and moved off a few steps, Arthur slowly approached. He seemed distinctly hesitant, though from what she had heard about the situation, it was understandable. From what she had heard, however, the man had nothing to apologize for — and she knew for a fact that Harry and Ginny felt the same.

And sure enough–

"I hope you can forgive me," said Arthur softly.

"There's nothing to forgive, Dad," she smiled sadly, even as she stepped forward to wrap him in a hug. "You weren't yourself. I'm looking forward to getting to know the new you."

Even with as little of it as she could see, the relief on Arthur's face was palpable. He had truly been worried about the outcome of this. She had the sense that Ginny had thought hard about what to say when she saw him again, too. Not that she could blame her.

Arthur let her go then and put a hand on her shoulder, gazing at her for a long moment as though to fix her image in his mind. Then he turned to Harry and stepped forward, likewise hugging him. Harry seemed pleased by this, even though she knew that he didn't care for being touched by anyone but Ginny.

Though Emily could get away with it at times, which was flattering, truth be told.

"I'm glad to know you're okay," said Arthur. "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter. And welcome to the family, son."

"Thanks, Arthur," smiled Harry.

Finally the hug broke, and then Percy said a few words to Harry that Emily couldn't hear. Whatever it was, though, it seemed to please him, so she didn't worry about it. And then, everybody found places on various couches.

Emily looked around, but every place except one was next to someone she didn't know. She skirted around the room, trying to avoid everyone's notice, and then finally slipped into the spot next to Harry. It wasn't her ideal choice — too many eyes pointing in that general direction — but it was better than the alternative.

Harry smiled at her and rubbed her back briefly in comfort, and that made her relax very slightly. She didn't miss Ginny's thankful smile either.

"So," said one of the twins finally. "You married our sister."

"And you didn't invite us to the wedding," frowned the other one.

Arthur looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it. And to her surprise, Harry just smirked.

"Actually, no," he said calmly. "There hasn't actually even been a wedding. Or a ceremony of any kind."

The twins blinked. "Isn't that, you know…"

"…required for being married?"

"One would think," grinned Ginny, "but in our case, no. Just one little kiss, and we woke up two days later, already married."

Bill and Fleur were grinning, but everyone else was confused. Emily had the sudden epiphany that while Bill and Fleur might have passed on that they were married, they apparently hadn't said anything about how. She hoped that wouldn't backfire.

"Wait, what?" frowned Percy.

"It's a Soul Bond, Percy," said Harry, suddenly serious. "That literally happened. We had no control over it, not that we're complaining."

"I've never even heard of that," the young man frowned. "A Soul Bond you said?"

"That's what the Americans call it," nodded Ginny. "It's real, and irrevocable. And like my dear husband said, we're not complaining."

"You're truly okay with this," Arthur stated, seeming surprised.

"From that perspective it's just a legal thing, Arthur," said Harry quietly. "Our relationship moves at the pace we set, we just happen to know we'll always be together. That's the only real difference."

"We need to kiss more girls, Fred," said a twin suddenly.

"But they'll have to be twins, Fred," frowned the other twin.

"And what happens if it's twins, but only one of them takes?" asked Percy with a raised eyebrow.

Both twins deflated. "Damn, he's right," said one.

Everyone chuckled and then Arthur spoke up again. "I think we need to deal with the elephant in the room," he said bluntly, turning to look at them. Emily had to work not to cringe away from that serious gaze, even though she knew it wasn't directed at her.

"What are your plans?" he asked quietly. "Are you coming home?"

The tension ratcheted up something fierce, and both Harry and Ginny closed their eyes. She could tell that they were terribly distressed by the question, and she wanted to comfort them, but sensed that it would be a bad time. So she just stayed small and unobtrusive in her little corner of the couch.

"This is our home, Dad," sighed Ginny finally, opening her eyes again. "And by that, I mean the Escape Artist. We can't stay in Britain or Harry will eventually be found out, and that will be the end of our peaceful life. So in a couple of weeks, we'll be going back to America."

Surprisingly, Arthur just nodded like he expected that.

"It doesn't mean we can't visit sometimes," said Harry quietly, "and you can always visit us in America, too. Visiting us will be much easier to arrange. The more often we're here, the bigger a risk we take."

"As much as I don't like it," sighed Arthur, "it's very sensible. I just wish it didn't have to be like that."

"So do we, Dad," agreed Ginny. "But we can't control the public, and you know what will happen the instant they discover he's alive. Skeeter unwittingly did us a massive favor. For the first time in his life, Harry can be himself. None of you can really understand just how valuable that is, but it's a major, major thing."

"Don't they notice?" frowned Percy curiously. "I mean, he's obviously Harry Potter."

"Ironically, no," shrugged Harry. "Or if anyone has, they've kept quiet."

Emily knew she had to speak up then; she was the one with the perspective to explain. It was a terrifying prospect with so many new people around, but Harry and Ginny were her family now, and she wanted to contribute.

"H-he isn't such a b-big d-deal there," she forced out softly. "M-most p-p-people haven't even s-seen a p-p-picture. We all j-just ass-s-sume it's a c-c-coincidence."

"But if someone figures it out," nodded Ginny, as she and Harry both smiled at her, "then it has the potential to be almost as bad as it is here. Otherwise we wouldn't care quite as much, because we could have America as a refuge from it."

Speaking up had taken a lot out of Emily, and of course Harry noticed. He reached over and rubbed her back again, which she deeply appreciated. It was like every time she spoke to strangers there was a backlash that tried to push her further back into her shell.

She fought off the urge to lean into him; accepting his comfort that way right now might give the Weasleys the wrong idea.

There was a brief silence as they all digested what they'd just been told. Emily was of two minds: on one hand, she wanted to escape, maybe go up to the other salon and read for a while; but on the other, she wanted to see where this went. Her social issues were truly maddening. Harry had mentioned Occlumency to her earlier; she was going to learn that, and hope that it would help at least a little.

"Okay, back up a minute," said one of the twins suddenly. "You live on a boat? Why?"

Harry and Ginny both blinked at that, and that made Emily grin faintly. She had asked much the same question. And then she had discovered the joy and freedom of it, and now understood fully.

"Because we wanted to, George," said Ginny quietly.

"But what if you have kids?" asked the other twin.

Harry and Ginny both snorted at that. "Do you really think we're ready for children?" asked Ginny, slightly incredulously. "No, that's not happening for a while. We need to have ourselves sorted out first, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's not like we can't buy a house somewhere if we want to."

"Besides," said Harry quietly, "you have no idea how peaceful it is out there on the ocean. Nothing around for miles, nobody to bother you… And even dockside, it's really peaceful. The sounds at night make it much easier to sleep."

"Unless you're on the b-b-bay," quipped Emily, to her own surprise.

Ginny, who had been sipping something at the time, almost spit it out all over the floor, but managed to prevent it. Then she burst out laughing, Harry chuckling away beside her. "True," she wheezed after a moment. "Merlin, we are never staying there, ever again."

"Amen," nodded Harry.

Surprisingly, that and the resulting explanation seemed to set the room at ease, and Emily leaned back and just watched. She was deeply envious of the Weasleys for the love in their family — and she would be willing to bet that Harry was, too. But now the two of them had access to it.

It wasn't quite the same as having it be their birth families, but she wouldn't trade her new little family for the world. These people seemed wonderful to her; she just had to get to know them.

And she would have to figure out how to stay with Harry and Ginny as long as she could manage; graduation was only a year away, and the idea of losing this genuinely scared her.

===[~]===

A/N: And finally, they meet up with the rest of Ginny's family (the sane ones, anyway)! Yay!

Jlargent: You're probably right about that, but Harry is paranoid, and for good reason. It only takes one who has more than the average number of Wizarding brain cells!

GinnyPotter6891: It was a reference to the fact that she's heading off various explosions regarding her marriage by using Bill to defuse it. Otherwise this scene would have been much more fractious! =)

EmlynMara: Ack! I hate it when I make dyslexic typos! Will have to go back and fix it…

Stay tuned, and thanks for your reviews!