To Mandy: It's OK if I don't win!
Okay, so, the new challenge:
*It must be funny OR serious (I'll give you not-funny writers a chance!)
? laughs, that's me!
*It has to be from the point of view of a character (NOT an object)
*The character you are doing the point of view of CANNOT be Ron, Hermione,
Harry, Voldemort, or any of the overused ones. [A reminder that I
give points for originality.]
*Must include the phrase "But...I don't like fruitcakes!" *laffs
with xoe*
*Someone has to die (it can be a sad or funny death.)
*There has to be a *DUH DUH DUH* barrette that plays pranks on people...
The Weasleys and the Devil's Child
By Juliette
Part Six
And so it went on that Nina and Dylan became more than just friends,
but it barely changed their already strong friendship. Thursday evening
found Nina and the entire Jones family waiting nervously, or in Nina's
case, anxiously, for the Weasley's arrival.
With a loud bang, Mr. Weasley apparated into the room, from thin air.
"Sir!" Mrs. Jones cried, jumping off the sofa.
"Dad!" Squealed Nina, lunging herself at the aging man.
"Aw, nice to see you too, sweetie," he cooed, patting her back. Once they had finally parted, Mr. Weasley explained that he had apparated there to make certain that the fireplace would really support floo travel.
"Foo what?" asked Mrs. Jones.
"Floo travel," repeated Mr. Weasley. He removed a small cloth bag from inside his robes and carefully undid the little bow holding it together. "You simply throw some of the powder in the fire and step in… oh, but don't forget to tell the network where you're going," he added.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones looked somewhat bewildered, but certainly a little impressed. Vicki, on the other hand, was gawking.
"Your Arthur Weasley! She stammered, goggling at his thinning red hair, apparently trying to decide whether to kiss his robes or not. She opted not to and bit her lip instead.
"Yes… do I know you?" asked Mr. Weasley, carefully studying the muggle girl.
Immediately, Nina saw what was going on. "Victoria, this is my dad, Arthur Weasley," she said, stressing dad. "And dad, this is Dylan's sister, Victoria Jones."
"Nice to meet you, Victoria," said Mr. Weasley, sticking out his robed arm. Vicki applied more pressure to her purple lip and stuck out her own arm. She felt light headed from all the confusion and desperately tried to make everything fit into place. It simply wouldn't.
"Better be moving along, then," Dylan piped nervously. "See you
later, mum, dad." He looked at his sister, being the only one to
understand her utter bewilderment, then leaned in and whispered: "Nina's
adopted, bone head." Vicki's eyes lit up and she grew less tense.
"Well," said Mr. Weasley. "I have short business at the Ministry, but give your mother my regards and apologies." Using his wand, Arthur prepared a fire for floo travel. First Nina and then Dylan disappeared, shouting, 'the burrow!' as they left. With a final wave, Mr. Weasley disapparated to the Ministry.
"Nina!" Molly's shrill echoed through the room as she came running up to her baby.
"Mum!" Nina wheezed in turn. She was fifteen, how much longer could her mother treat her like a small child?
Molly finally pulled away, her eyes sidling onto Dylan. The muggle born boy had just come forth from the large fireplace, and was remissibly dusting his muggle shirt with his fingers while meeting Mrs. Weasley's gaze.
"Dylan Jones," she assumed. "Come here," she said gently, but Dylan hesitated as he stepped into Mrs. Weasley's striking range. She gave him a full scrutiny before smiling at both teenagers. "Where's your father, no more trouble with muggles… I hope?"
"No, mum, he had business at the Ministry," replied Nina.
"That man, what does he want with the Ministry, we have enough money to support half of Hogwarts, for Merlin's sake!" Mrs. Weasley walked back into the kitchen muttering to herself.
Nina and Dylan let out identical sighs as the reached the first landing, positive that Mrs. Weasley no longer had her near 'magic eye' on them.
Nina, in front, turned and ran right into one of her twin brothers.
"Nin, watch it!" he said, scooping her into a hug and twirling her around the hall.
"I'd say the same to you," Nina replied, touching her head dizzily.
"What do we have here… this must Dylan?" Fred leaned down and pressed his nose into the boy's face, then pulled away, dissembling a rough look over. Dylan had another trepidation, which Nina found to be hysterical.
"That's just Fred," she giggled. "He won't harm you!"
"Oh good," Dylan said, relaxing.
"It's George, but we Weasleys generally don't bite," he winked, "though I'd watch out for Percy, he's the arch-fiend." They both laughed and Nina shook her head in disapproval.
"Better watch what you say, Fred, some of these walls can listen, and if Percy ever heard what you just called him…"
"What did you just call me?" asked Percy, sticking his nose out of a previously closed door.
"Speak of the devil," Fred said, humoring over his own pun.
"Nothing," said Nina.
Percy ignored them and redirected the question at Dylan, "what did they call me?"
"They were just telling me that you worked in the ministry and were such an over achiever," Dylan lied smoothly.
Percy's ears turned pink and he stuck out his chest. "Well I suppose you could say that…"
"Why are you home?" Fred asked.
"What?" Percy asked, baffled. "Oh that…" His face got a little red and he mumbled, "Penny's having one of her moods and," he scratched his head and cleared his throat. "I must get work done, there is too much work to get finished!" He slammed the door fiercely.
Across the hall, a door opened as the other one shut; George Weasley's head popped out. "What's got him so rankled? Hope it wasn't the Humor Pills we slipped him last week…was it?" It didn't sound as though George would have been very upset if they had been the pills.
"No, he sent us a howler at the shop yesterday, but Liz was there to open it. Bless her soul, that woman has spunk!"
"Who's Liz?" Nina asked.
"You don't know who Liz Johnson is?" George asked as if she were Harry Potter himself.
"No," she shook her head.
"Honestly do we have to stand in the hallway?" Dylan asked, speaking up for the first time since he had lied to Percy.
"No of course not," said George. He opened his door and they stepped into the twin's old bedroom. Nina and Dylan seated themselves contiguously on George's bed and the twins did the same on Fred's.
"Liz Johnson is the blessing that has kept together Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes," explained Fred. "We only hired her as a clerk a while back, but she does book keeping and other sorts now. She's the brains of the function… at least for the business side."
"Johnson?" asked Dylan. Both twins nodded.
"Angelina Johnson, sister?" asked Nina, catching onto Dylan's thought. They were compatible that way.
"You better believe it!" Frightened, Nina snapped her head toward the doorway. A beautiful black woman in soft teal robes stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Fred Weasley, you were supposed to meet me fifteen minutes ago!'
"Angel…"
"Don't Angel me, Weasley," she shot back.
Angelina took quick strides and met Fred near the bed. He stood up and she narrowed her eyes at him. It seriously looked as though she was about to slap him hard across the face, when they both burst out laughing. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely on the lips.
"So what's your sorry excuse this time, funny boy?"
"My sister just got home, I was on my way…"
"Sister? Ginny?"
"Nina," Fred said, pointing at her. For the first time, Angelina acknowledged Nina and the guy friend seated next to her on the bed. She smiled warmly and shook Nina's hand.
"Nice to finally meet you, I'm Angelina Johnson, I've heard a lot about you."
"That's funny, all I know about you is what we read," replied Nina.
"Read?" Angelina mimicked.
"The Harry Potter books," said Dylan. He opened his book bag and let the seven books fall onto the bed. George got up and examined each.
"Jeez, Harry doesn't look like that,' he commented.
"But did you find out who J.K. Rowling is?" Nina asked. She had been pushing the annoying question to the back of her mind all week.
"Yes, dad did. I don't really get it, so he can explain it."
Angelina looked down at the books as if they were evil. "Doesn't anyone know that I have copyrights on my name, this thing is smirching me!
"Now Angel, I'm sure they're not. They're smirching Harry, if anybody."
"Don't feel bad, Ms. Johnson, I wasn't mentioned in them. The rest of the Weasleys were, save cousin Derick; he started Hogwarts two years after Ginny."
"I have certain endorsements for Quidditch and," she paused and examined the book, "Bloomsbury isn't one of them. Mark my words, I will be talking to my agent about this," she said enraged. Angelina angrily marched out of the room; Fred followed her closely like a puppy dog.
"Ok… care to explain that?" Nina sternly said, eyeing her brother George.
"Sure," he replied. George cleared his throat and cracked each of his. "Well… Fred and Angelina go way back to Hogwarts, you see. We were all on the Gryffindor house team and…"
"We know, that's all in the books," said Dylan.
"Right… anyway, with Liz working for us, and me dating Heather…"
"Wait!" Nina shouted, "you're dating that American witch?"
Annoyed, George responded, "funny thing, I'll tell you that story if you'd stop interrupting me!"
"Right, sorry," Nina apologized.
"For the third time… I thought that maybe Fred liked Liz… I was constantly trying to set them up. I'd leave them to count stock in the cellar or ask them to close up if I was going on a date, but it just wasn't happening. But one late evening, maybe a month or two ago, in walks the famous Qudditch player, Angelina Johnson."
"Oh so what happened?"
"Well she wasn't all too pleased that her sister was working for us. After all, we had full classes with her, and er," he stuttered, "our track record with being serious and down to business wasn't so good back then."
"Yeah," Nina giggled.
Anyway, besides that, it was nice to catch up with an old classmate. God knows how or why, something between Fred and Angelina clicked. It's way too bad she's such a control freak, but Fred says she's not like that when they're alone."
"That's sweet," Nina said, glad for her brother. It would be nice to have a famous Qudditch player in the family, not that the Weasleys were not already famous for Molly's books. "So what about you and Miss America?" teased Nina.
George shot her a glare and launched into that ironic story. "You see, Harry's old girlfriend, Clara was Heather's old roommate and good friend. Those two, I mean Harry and Clara, got in a huge fight a few months back. Harry came to see Ron who was helping out with the shop at the time. Of course this was before Liz," he further explained.
Nina and Dylan nodded, not wanting to interrupt George's rambling.
"Clara has a bit of an attitude and was apparently throwing a few hexes at Harry, and so Fred, Ron and I went over to deal with her. Heather was there, of course, and one enraged Clara backed the two of us into a bathroom. Well… you get the rest," he added, turning a little red.
"Cute story," Nina said. Before then, she hadn't realized that she was leaning back in Dylan's arms, which was not unusual, but George was not supposed to know about their couple status.
"So how did it happen for you?" her brother smirked, obviously impressed with his own slyness.
"What happen?" Nina asked nervously, quickly sitting up. George just chuckled and shook his head.
"Hey, don't you have your own room?" he asked sarcastically. This was their cue to leave, and the two teenagers continued on their delayed journey up to Nina's attic room.
A thin layer of dust swirled into the air as Nina opened her door. She coughed briefly and then sat down on the edge of her bed. "What do you think?" she asked Dylan, finally regaining her full breath.
The boy circulated the room, a grin playing his face. "It fits you well," he commented. This was true. Nina loved living above her family in the crazy house. She had lived in Ginny's old room until Ron had moved out, then opted for the space upstairs.
A series of bangs overhead told them that the old gaul was up from a nap, and probably looking for some attention. Although the Weasleys had the money to hire a professional ghost exterminator (this was someone who would chase out ghosts, goblins, gauls, poltergeists and any other non-living beings from a house), they had grown accustomed to the noise. Molly and Arthur would never admit it, but they missed the twin's loud experiments. Percy had spent years trying to get rid of the thing, the same way that Filch still tried in vain to rid Hogwarts of Peeves the Poltergeist. It was utterly futile.
It was nearly seven thirty, so Nina and Dylan headed back toward the main floor of the Borrow. An array of delightful smells was drifting up the stairs, and their mouths watered.
Once in the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley shooed them into the living room. Fred sat on one side of a couch with his arm wrapped around Angelina's waist, with George and Heather on the other side of the sofa.
"Nina!" the American exclaimed. She shot up, hugged Nina and lightly kissed her on the cheek as if they were already family. "How are you, I'm so glad we have finally met again!"
Dylan, who stood closely beside Nina, poked her lightly. She glanced sideways and met his eyes. He lightly shrugged and spent the next five minutes trying not to laugh too hard at how fast George's girlfriend talked or how whipped Fred was for Angelina.
Percy came down the stairs looking as though he had just ate a lemon. "How am I supposed to get any work with that stupid thing in the attic?" This was more of an announcement than a question, but George felt the need to answer anyway.
"You could go home," he smirked. If possible, Percy narrowed his eyes, about-faced and practically marched into the kitchen to complain to his mother. Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley's shrills were audible and Percy, (now quite red faced), came sourly back into the living room. He silently sunk into one of the armchairs by the fire.
"Well, this is lovely, eh?" said Heather. She smiled, showing two rows of brilliant white teeth. When no one answered, she asked, "will anyone else be joining us?"
"Dad," Fred answered. According to the clock on the mantel, Mr. Weasley was traveling home from work. He only worked part time in the ministry, but had much trouble pulling himself away from his job.
"Ginny might drop in," George informed them. "She wants to see Nina, or at least that's what she told me."
"Why wouldn't she want to see her?" asked Dylan. Nina and Dylan had seated themselves across from the twins and Dylan was absentmindedly playing with her hair, while half-listening into the conversation.
"Well…" started George. Heather leaned forward, eager to hear the gossip. "So I hear from Bill, who had Gin and Scott at their house for a week, they're having marital problems."
"No way!" exclaimed Nina.
Bitterly, Percy spoke up, "shut-up and stop gossiping about your sister, she's…"
"Be quiet yourself, Perc, you're just mad because your having problems with precious Penny," George interrupted.
"Don' you dare…"
"Stop it!" They all turned around and goggled for a second. Ginny had apparated into the room. "Never," she said, angrily, "never did I dream that I would home and any of my siblings would be there, talking trash about me… never."
"Gin…" Fred started.
"Shut-up," she snapped back. Almost warmly, Ginny turned to Nina and hugged her. She eyed Dylan carefully and winked at him. "I complained about those butterfly clips and the shop gave me a new set," she said, drawing a package from her spring cloak pocket.
"Ginny, you didn't have to…"
"I know, Nin, but I wanted to." They each smiled, sharing a rare sister-sister moment. It had been too long since they had had one. "I also bought these," she said, pulling another small package from her pocket.
"What are they?" Nina asked, gingerly opening the box. Inside were three little clips, which appeared to be normal hair barrettes. Besides shimmering in a mystical way, they appeared to be completely non-magical.
"Let me see," George said eagerly. He peered into the box and couldn't hold back a half smirk.
"What?" Ginny asked crossly. A smirk from either of the twins often meant danger.
"Nothing, I thought they were ours, but they weren't."
"Nope," agreed Fred from his seat.
Ginny made a narrow Weasley face at the twins, which perfectly matched one of Percy's distasteful scrounges. "Ignore them," she whispered so only Nina and Dylan could hear.
Being that it was spring, the butterflies were more than happy to sit and flap their wings in Nina's silky hair this time. Ginny and Dylan carefully places them strategically around her straight locks, then placed the three clips between them, making a crown-like affect in Nina's hair. Even the mantel mirror had nothing bad to say about her appearance.
"Perfect!" Ginny exclaimed, stepping back and examining their work. Both girls giggled, which made Dylan role his eyes and look away embarrassed. Since it was no longer a huge secret to her siblings that they were now an item, Dylan kissed Nina lightly, assuring her that she was the most beautiful girl there. Well, all the other girls were nearly twice his age, anyway.
A few minutes later, Mr. Weasley apparated into the Borrow. He came smiling into the living room, holding out his arms for his baby girl. "Dad!" Nina shrieked, trying hard to keep breathing under his tight hug.
"Dinner!" Mrs. Weasley called. Famished, they started poured into the dining room, ready to eat their hearts out. Ginny looked awkwardly at the door and pulled Nina back into the living room.
"I have to go home," she said sadly.
"Stay," Nina pleaded.
"I can't… I need to work some things out with Scott."
"Can't it wait?" Nina asked, wondering how in the world someone could resist a Weasley dinner.
Ginny shook her head, "no. Someone once told me: never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight."
"Who told you that?" Nina asked.
"Hermione."
"Hermione?" Nina was shocked. "She doesn't have problems with Ron… does she?"
"Marriage is a funny thing, sis. You know why they say and they lived happily ever after in fairytales?"
"Because they do?"
"No."
"Why then?"
"Because those are stories. No matter how perfect something seems, we all have our problems. And we can work that out. I truly believe that if there is love, then there is a way. And I love Scott, but…" she paused and laughed quietly to herself. "Your fifteen, don't worry yourself with my problems."
"You're my sister, of course I'm worried," responded Nina.
"We'll be fine, it's Percy and Penelope that I'm more worried about. Poor Perc has been through a lot more than the twins know. They insist on making fun of him for being an old hag. Sometimes I wonder how those two even make it in the world, I mean the way they treat some people..."
Confused, Nina asked, "what's going on with Percy?"
"Don't worry about," Ginny replied. "Look, I'm sure mum and dad are already killing Dylan so you better go join everyone." Changing her whole attitude, Ginny went on, "I love you very much, have a great time at school." They briefly hugged and Ginny disapparated.
The Weasleys minus Molly were seated around a magically enlarged table in the dining room. To Nina's relief, it wasn't Mr. or Mrs. Weasley who was talking to Dylan, but Heather. All right, she wasn't all that relieved.
"Gin left?" Fred asked. Nina nodded, taking her reserved seat on the other side of Dylan.
"Help me! I thought I was going to die!" Dylan whispered into Nina's ear.
In return, Nina kissed his cheek and put her hand over his, under the table. A few seconds later, Mrs. Weasley came out of the kitchen with Paige, carrying the first course of the meal.
Fifteen minutes later, two more people entered the Burrow: Hermione Granger Weasley and Penelope Clearwater Weasley. Molly eagerly welcomed her two daughters in law to the table, getting up to accommodate them.
Hermione smiled warmly at Nina, motioning to give her a moment. Penelope, on the other hand, looked coldly down at her husband. Hermione put her hand on Penny's back and gave her a little push in his direction.
Clearing her throat, Penelope said hoarsely, "Percy, er, a word?"
"Ok," Percy's voice cracked. He stood up and followed her out of the dining room, back into the living room where Nina had just finished talked to Ginny.
Hermione squeezed into a spot between Angelina and Heather, greeting them each with a smile. Soon, she was engaged in a conversation about Hogwarts with Nina and Dylan. Hermione sighed, feeling a great amount of nostalgia. She liked Dylan, though. He was a muggle born, like her. Besides that, he was a Gryffindor. Her sister-in-law deserved the very best; there was no one better for her.
Aging and plump Mrs. Weasley once again disapeared into her kitchen. Paige followed quickly to help her employer remove the main course from the oven. While they were gone, Percy walked into the dining room quietly, then took his seat. Nina immediately noticed that Penelope was not with him. Poor guy, she thought.
For at least a few minutes, the Weasleys were polite to Percy, only
guessing what might have happened. Hermione switched seats with Mr.
Weasley to talk to him privately. Nina suspected that her sister-in-law
was involved in some sort of plan to bring the couple back together.
Nina would not have been shocked if Ginny were involved as well.
It was these grownup things that her sisters held back from her that really
ticked Nina off.
Mr. Weasley pulled a bunch of papers out of his robes, then flattened them on the table. "I did some more digging on the J.K. Rowling woman," he said.
"Really? Wonderful… tell us!" exclaimed Nina, already forgetting about her sibling's marital problems.
"It's a long story," Arthur began. Everything was a long story, really. Nina's life was a long, mysterious story. The fact that she didn't know who her real parents were made it that way. Anyway, this was one long story that she was really anxious to hear.
"Joanne Kathleen Rowling is really Rose Alston. She was the daughter of a witch and a muggle named Richard Alston. Marie Hayton, a Hufflepuff from your mother's Hogwarts year, died at the hands of Voldemort when Rose was two. She had another daughter named Heidrun."
"So she was half blood?" Dylan asked.
"Well, the ministry smoothed the whole thing over by making Richard believe that his wife, Marie, had died in a bad automobile accident. He was left with his two and five year old daughters, not knowing that they might be witches.
When Heidrun was eleven, she received the Hogwarts acceptation letter. She was in the same year as Bill, a Hufflepuff though. The poor girl only learned who her mother really was after a few years at Hogwarts. When Rose turned eleven, though, she did not receive any special invitations to any magic schools. She was devastated, but continued her muggle schooling."
"So Jo-, I mean Rose was brought up fully muggle?"
"You see, two months after Heidrun graduated from Hogwarts, her father died of cancer. Rose was still in school, and Heidrun became her legal guardian. This was how she came to know our world. Heidrun wrote articles for the Daily Prophet. Both girls were talented writers.
Rose was so involved in our world that she became known as a simple squib to those who knew her, and to those who didn't, she was probably a witch. After graduating from her muggle school, Rose worked in a bookshop in Diagon Alley, hoping that her sister could get her a job at the Daily Prophet. "
"Did she?" Nina asked.
"No, they didn't want any squibs, even if she was a brilliant writer."
"That hardly seems fair; you don't need to have magic to write," Dylan commented.
"Perhaps," said Mr. Weasley. He continued. "Rose pleaded with the Prophet and even with the Ministry to include her in our Wizarding society. We didn't know what to do, because it is rare that a half-muggle squib begs the Ministry to allow 'em to have a job."
"So she wanted to write Harry's biography?" Nina asked, shocked at how much sense it made.
"Yes, precisely. She brought the idea to the Ministry, hoping to get rights for the project. At first they thought she wanted to write a textbook for us, not the muggles. It was a good long laugh we had… that muggles would ever read a magic book about Harry. But they let her, hoping it would keep her off their back about the Prophet job.
When Rose published the first book, she was pushed to change her name and identity. The woman in all the pictures is not what Rose looks like; it is what Joanne looks like. She is given poly juice potion to become another woman, I'm not sure who though. My guess is she is a sick witch living her life out in St. Mungo's or another hospital with no chance of recovery."
"Wow, buthe books are amazing though. How did Rose know so much about Harry's life?" Dylan asked.
"Interviews, mostly. She made up some things, like Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets. It was not Ginny, but a boy named Colin Creevey. Using Ginny added more of a twist. Nothing in those books is false, but rather a little overdone. Molly and I skimmed them last week, but we have yet to read them."
"So that's it?" Nina asked bewildered. What still tickled her was why so few people in the Wzarding world knew about the huge success of the books about their modern day hero. To some, Harry was nearly a god for saving them from the Dark Lord countless times.
As if Mr. Weasley could read her mind, he told them, "not many of us know much about the books because they are generally hushed around here. The cover was originally enchanted to read Advanced Calculus to witches and wizards, but the Ministry found no reason to hide them in the newer editions. No one seems to care."
At that moment, Mrs. Weasley re-entered the dining hall, magically floating about a dozen plates of steaming food. Each dish lightly fell with a 'plop' in front of a guest. All immediate conversation was broken as they prepared to eat a delicious meal.
George neatly tucked his napkin into the top of his robes and gingerly picked up his knife and fork and scooped up a prodigious amount of food, eagerly wolfed it down, then repeated the process a few times. All the while, Heather started giggling; Nina had a bad suspicion that there was something going on under the table between the two of them.
"George Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, nearly standing in her seat. Arthur placed his arm on her shoulder, gently pushing her back into her chair. "I demand deference at this table!"
In response to the injunction, George shot back, "so it is now a crime to eat?"
Mr. Weasley calmly elaborated: "Fred, I think your mother is trying to say that your actions are not opportune, and therefor not appreciated in this house."
At that moment, Percy ingratiated himself into the growing conflict. "Yeah, better shut-up because you're giving me a headache and I have a lot to think about with the Daily Prophet reporting a faction in the Ministry."
"A what in the Ministry?" Dylan asked. No one seemed to hear him
"Stop sniveling Percy," Fred shot at his older brother.
Percy quailed, but still sternly told the twins, "it's not my fault that neither of you can not propriety to simple table manners, especially in front of girls!"
Both twins looked as though they were about to jump their older brother, Mrs. Weasley looked outraged and the rest of the Weasleys and guests were trying not to laugh too loud. It was so evident how much the family loved each other, but outbreaks at big family dinners were not uncommon anymore.
Hermione finally arbitrated the dispute. "I have a whim," she announced, smiling. The Weasleys turned and looked at Hermione as if she were a raving lunatic. Angelina put her hand on her shoulder and nodded for utter silence so she could enlighten the group. No one spoke for fear of the Quidditch player's known temper.
"Magic," she said. They gawked for further explanation. "Fred wants to eat like a chicken, so be it…"
"I didn't raise him to be a ne'er-do-well!" interrupted Mrs. Weasley.
"He's not a boy, Molly." Mrs. Weasley winced as her daughter-in-law addressed her by her first name in such a disrespectful tone. "He's thirty-two, in fact," she went on.
"Gee thanks," Fred said, "make me feel like an old hag…"
"Be quiet," Hermione snapped. She dug into her pocket and drew her wand.
"What are you doing to me, witch?" Fred shouted.
"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?" she asked rhetorically.
"Something like that…"
"Without uttering a word, Hermione shot silver sparks from her wand, at Fred. He opened his mouth and not a sound came out. "Much better," she smiled. "Happy devouring." She picked up her own fork and began to cut a piece of steak, when out of no where a ball of mashed potatoes hit her forehead.
"What the…" Ron started. But the half grin on Fred's face conspicuously revealed that he was responsible for the flying potatoes on his brother's wife's head. Fred waved his arms and mouthed two words which looked something like Food Fight!
Half way through the food fight, something began to tingle in Nina's hair, and it wasn't cranberry sauce either. She reached up and touched her hair… and something bit her finger! She firecly grabbed it, giving George a desired opportunity to send another round of spaghetti at her face.
"Aahh!" Nina shouted, as the greasy noodles slid down her face. A pain in her finger told her that the little clip was still very much attached to her finger. Nina violently shook her finger, trying to get it off. With all her might, she pulled back her hand as if to throw a baseball, and released the thing at top speed… toward Fred.
The tiny clip landed smack on Fred's nose, immediately grabbing hold. Fred began to frantically jump around, forgetting the past in his hands, he clamped a finger over his nose, while searching for his wand with the other.
It was evident that Fred knew the counter spell, but he was still under a silencing charm, and couldn't perform it. In a desperate attempt to get his twin brother's attention away from the salad dressing he was pouring over Percy's head, Fred shot out an array of colored sparks which half blinded Nina.
Dylan's head popped out from under the table; he had just crawled across. Apparantly he no longer cared what food came his way. Everyone's robes were covered in it, anyway. Dylan imformed Nina, who was hysterically laughing, that Hermione and Angelina were hiding under the table.
"And Heather?" asked Nina. The American girl was helping George hold Percy down, while she herself was covered head to toe in soup and some other slime.
"No George, not the fruit cake. It looks yummy…"
"But I don't like fruit cake," George responded. He scooped up a handful of the cake and spread it in Percy's face.
"Poor guys," laughed Dylan, talking about Fred and Percy. Fred's mouth was moving in vain, trying to find help.
"You know I reckon he made those clips," Nina said. She ripped the other two out of her hair and attached them to the table edge, careful not the catch her finger in them. "Good thing, they were probably designed to do that after a while."
"Really, you think?" asked Dylan.
"Yeah, seems like one of their new experiments, knowing Fred and George. Besides, how else would he know the counter spell?"
"He does?"
"Of course, he's shouting it."
"I guess your right, oh well. Serves him right, I guess."
"Yeah… well, maybe."
"Where are your parents?"
"I think they escaped to the kitchen," Nina guessed.
"Smart."
"Maybe."
With George and Heather attacking Percy, and Fred desperately trying to get his own death trap creation off his nose, Nina and Dylan were left to chat.
"You know it's a shame you couldn't have met my other brothers. They're a little more, well, how can I put this… civilized."
"I'm sure they are," Dylan smiled.
"And Hailey is a button," sighed Nina. She missed her part Veela, part Weasley niece. The girl was quite a handful, but Nina was glad to give up her title as the youngest Weasley. Bill and Fleur lived in France, and rarely visited.
As Percy was no longer being a good sport about his abuse, George finally noticed his brother in distress. He ran over and performed the counter-curse, laughing the entire time. Fred looked as though he was about to slap his twin, but decided not to, obviously scared that he would set the clip lose on him again if he dared hit him.
Things were beginning to settle down. Hermione and Angelina came up from under the table, and even the twins looked a little saner. They swept their wands across the room, summoning all the food into a large ball and disposing it in the kitchen.
Having no way of helping, Nina and Dylan sat back down at the forgotten table. Percy was slumped over in his chair, eyes following a small circular knot in the wooden surface. Overall, he did not look too good.
Nina stared at her brother for a few moments, trying to figure out a way to comfort him. This was a hard task when she hardly knew what was going on, and was so distant from her brother. Nina sighed. She felt Dylan wrap his arm around her waist, then brush aside her hair, planting a sweet kiss on her neck.
"Ok?" he whispered.
"I feel bad."
"Don't."
"I wish I could help..."
"Sometimes people are better left alone to their own devises. I think your brother needs that now, you know, to think things through."
Nina sighed again. "There must be something…" The dining room door shot open. Nina and Dylan's eyes shot up at Penelope Clearwater Weasley as she entered the room. Percy, thinking that it was Fred or George (or both), only lowered his head into his arms.
"Percy Weasley!" Penelope shrilled.
"Penny?" Percy pulled his head up and slowly turned around in his seat. His wife stood cross-armed next to the door.
Completely ignoring the presence of two fifteen-year-olds in the room, Penelope openly shouted at her husband. "I told you to come home, but do you listen?"
"…"
"Don't talk back to me."
"Why can't we talk this out…"
"What's there to talk out? I can't have children and that bothers you…"
"No…"
"Admit it, you want children that I can't give you."
"Penny…"
Nina gasped, staring wide-eyed at her brother and sister-in-law.
"I was a fool for marrying you, Percy Weasley."
"Maybe so, Penny," he said standing up. Nina couldn't help but notice tears forming in Penelope's eyes. "But I was so in love I didn't notice." This said, tears began to freely flow don't Penny's cheeks.
"I love you," she whispered. In the most unlike Percy way, he threw his arms around her, kissing her madly all over her face and forehead, finally letting his lips press against her.
"I love you," Percy caricatured, finally pulling away. Penelope rested her head on his shoulder, freely crying.
"I want children too," she sobbed.
"There, there."
Silently, Dylan took Nina's hand and led her out of the dining room, back into the living room. "Is your family always so dramatic?" he asked.
"Well… yeah," replied Nina.
"I guess dinner is over, then," commented Dylan.
"Yeah, you could say that. Well at least Percy is all right."
"Where did your brother run off to?" asked Dylan. They searched the house, but Fred and George had apparently apparated home with their dates. Go figure.
The next morning, Nina woke with a pit in her stomach. At first, she tried to shake it off. After dressing in muggle jeans and a tee shirt, she went down the kitchen. There was an eerie silence when Nina entered the room.
"Mum?" Mrs. Weasley looked up at her youngest daughter, her face streaked with tears. "Mum what's wrong?"
Mr. Weasley, who's hand was over Mrs. Weasley's at the kitchen table, held up the Daily Prophet. "Murder," he said.
"Murder!"
"Yes," replied Arthur quietly. "It must have been, I don't see any other way."
"Who, dad?"
"Doctor Thalia Stark."
The name did not ring a bell to Nina, but her father explained that she was the doctor who had helped them adopt her. "Me? What do I have to do with this? How do they know she was murdered?" Nina was suddenly too weak to stand. Someone who was probably linked to her birth mother was dad… why?
"Found in her office, papers all over the place, the whole place ripped apart," Mrs. Weasley said between sobs, quietly.
Mr. Weasley read from the article: "Ministry representatives confirmed that the wand used to kill Ms. Stark was none other than her own. 'Suicide, although unlikely, can not be out ruled,' reported by Roy Hayton from the Department of Mysteries." "It's complete bull, of course."
"Why would she tear apart her own office?" Nina asked.
"She wouldn't," Mrs. Weasley said, before loudly blowing her nose into a handkerchief. Mr. Weasley patted her back awkwardly and went to make Molly a cup of tea.
"Where is everyone?" Nina asked her mother, who had calmed down a bit.
"Who do you mean, love?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "Your boy friend is still sleeping in the twin's rooms, and I dare say that your food throwing brothers are probably opening the shop soon, if you would like to visit later. Don't worry yourself with this, you're too young."
Ignoring that her mother had just called Dylan her boyfriend, Nina responded, "I'm not too young, I wish everyone would stop saying that!"
"I'm sorry dear, sometimes it is better to live worry-free as long as you can. Dark times we used to live in, and I've seen children being forced to lose their innocence at very tender ages."
Nina blinked a few times, wondering if something was lodged in her eyeball. There was nothing but salty tears, for she knew that her mother was talking about Harry. They had all lived through those dark times, all except for Nina. She was only a few years old when Voldemort met his second downfall. There were those traumatized by it and others without their lives or loved ones, but all in all, it drew them together as a stronger community.
It was unknown to Nina why she was crying. She could not remember ever meeting Thalia Stark. She supposed she was crying for all those who had lost their lives for her generation. She was crying for her mother's loss and for her own innocence. There were so many questions Nina had, but then and there, she only wanted to cry in her mother's arms like a small child. Everything could wait until later. It was going to be all right, answers would be sought and she would find answers... however much they might hurt.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the fluffy fluff and maybe Nina, The Jones,
Heather, Scott and my theories on J.K. Rowling. Thank you and do
not sue!