The Children of the Unicorn
Chapter 4
The next months passed quickly. Gryffindor won the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw in November 320-30, thanks to six superb new players, selected by Harry, the captain, and Harry's new Feints. They figured Hufflepuff would be easy. They had the same team members from last year, who had not scored a single goal all last year. It was Christmas before Harry knew it.
They had decided to have another Christmas Ball, as they had been so popular the previous years. The normal couples went. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Padma and Seamus, Dean and Parvati. They all agreed that Hogwarts seemed so boring without Fred and George, so the Gryffindors petitioned to invite them and the newly triumphant Alex and Ally (America had won its first game of the season). Dumbledore agreed, much to the displeasure of other teachers (whom we will just call Shnape).
Ginny was panicking the day of the ball. She needed makeup, jewelry, a hairdo, shoes, a perfect colored robe, a dress to go with the robe.
"Hermione, what's that spell Padma wrote? The one that will change this robe into the perfect color for my hair, eyes and complexion." Ginny held up dress robes she had borrowed from Hermione. "Because I just don't look good in spring green."
"Here it is; I wrote it down." Hermione pulled a slip of parchment and her wand from her pocket. "Colore perfetti tessuto!" The robes turned to a silky, cream-colored satin.
"What about a dress?"
"Try pink."
"With my hair?!"
"Okay, um.gold. Here."
Hermione tossed Ginny a gold gown. Ginny squealed.
"Ooh, it's perfect! But what about makeup?"
"Maquillage!"
Ginny ran to the mirror. Her face was perfectly made up.
"Where do you learn these?"
"Rose and me. I find them in books or I write them. Fixe cabelo!"
Ginny looked in a mirror. Her hair was in two braids that were joined together at the nape of her neck.
"Perfect! Shoes?"
"Anpassende souliers!"
"Jewelry?"
"Here, just take the paper."
"Okay. Joias perfeitas! There! Done!"
Ginny looked at herself. She had to admit, those spells were really good. The gold off-the-shoulder dress accented the robes perfectly, and the robes set off her hair, which in addition to the Queen Anne braids was also sprinkled with tiny rhinestones. The shoes were high heels the same color as her robes with a strap right above her toes and around her ankle. Her nails were painted the same color as the dress. The jewelry was a pair of dangly crystal earrings that brushed her neck, a pearl necklace, and a pearl bracelet with a single crystal in the center.
"It's perfect!"
"I think I'm going to match."
Hermione used the spells on herself, ending up in clothes, hair and jewelry identical to Ginny's except with heather gray silk robes and a white dress. The other girls all decided to match when they saw them.
The boys had apparently taken their girlfriends' advice. They matched their dates perfectly. Ginny took the arm Harry awkwardly offered her.
"Who's Neville going with? I know it's someone."
"A Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott."
"I know her! They'll be really cute together."
They continued talking all the way down to the Great Hall.
"Wow," Ron said, gazing at the decorations.
"They're beautiful," Ginny said in awe.
Instead of the usual four house tables, there were dozens of smaller tables spread out around the edges of the r Great Hall. The tables had been enchanted to look like they were made of ice, and holly had been spread out along them. There were ice sculptures with wreaths around them, and there were garlands everywhere. The customary trees were there, of course.
"Where's Hagrid?" Hermione said, looking around the room.
"Out in the garden," Neville said. He had apparently just come from there with Hannah. "With Madame Maxime."
"No! She left the school to come here?"
"I suppose. How else could she have gotten here?"
Hannah tugged on his sleeve and whispered something in his ear. He smiled and left for the dance floor. The others followed.
After an hour, they stopped for drinks. They pushed several tables together so they could all talk.
"Why isn't Rose here?" Padma asked.
"She said she couldn't fit into any decent robes anymore. She was moping in her room, last I checked," Hermione said.
"She looks too pregnant. I've seen her," Ally said.
Everyone laughed. "I heard that, Bernard," a voice said from behind them.
Rose was smirking at Alex from behind Alex's chair. Everyone was staring at her, because Ally was right, she did look very pregnant.
"Rose, I thought you said you didn't fit into any of your robes," Hermione said.
"I shopped. But Bill couldn't come, he has a cold."
Suddenly George pretended to be having a heart attack. Everyone stared.
"Rose.and a Bernard.are talking.to each other." he choked out. Ally rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.
"Snap out of it."
He recovered, grinning with his own wit.
"You are so lame."
"Thank you!"
"Rose, why did you come, anyways?"
"I'm dead bored. Sitting on my ass in my room can get a little boring after a while."
"Hey, you're not hurling every morning anymore."
"Good thing, too."
"Hello, Rose," Professor McGonagall said from behind them. "I didn't know you were going to come."
"Oh, hello, Mother. I wasn't, but I got bored."
"Don't' let your aunt see you."
She laughed. She called her other godmother Aunt Poppy. "Of course not. But I believe Dad has."
Professor Snape was striding towards their table.
*~*~*
Rose was relieved to see that he didn't look mad.
"Rosemary," he said. "I wasn't aware you were attending."
"Neither was I until half an hour ago. I got bored, and Bill has a cold."
"I see."
Suddenly Rose saw Harry go pale.
"Harry, what is it?"
He nodded in the direction he was looking. Rose followed his gaze.
Dudley and Erin were dancing towards their table.
"Run, he'll crush it," Ron said. They scattered just before Dudley "accidentally" knocked their table over.
"Oops," Erin giggled in a high voice. Rose's acute hearing heard Dudley whisper something to Harry.
"Better run, before I beat up you and your fat bitchy sister."
Ron heard, too and went red. Harry just turned sort of grey. He left for the ice garden set up outside the Great Hall with Ginny. Rose's eyes turned violet, but even so she grabbed Ron's robes as he lunged for Dudley.
"No," she whispered fiercely. "Remember what the High said."
Rose noticed Hermione place her hand on his shoulder and talk to him. He relaxed, and Rose let go. Hermione followed Harry and Ginny into the ice garden with Ron.
Rose decided she'd had enough. If she stayed down here any longer she would blow something up or Avada Dudley or Erin. She left the Great Hall and went through her personal portrait hole.
*~*~*
Erin and Dudley laughed at how stupid the Golds were being.
"She actually mentioned the High in a public place," Erin laughed.
"How stupid could you get?"
They laughed uproariously for about thirty seconds.
"What was that?" Dudley asked nervously.
"You've never felt it before," Erin explained haughtily. "Look at your arm."
They pulled up their left sleeves to reveal a skull with a serpent coming out its mouth. It was black and smoking.
"Touch it," Erin said. They did, and suddenly vanished into the night.
*~*~*
Rose woke up late the next morning. She rolled over and her face pressed against something lying on Bill's pillow. She opened her eyes and picked it up, thankful for the Vision Charm that had perfected her vision last year.
The note said:
Rose-
Went back to the house for a little something. I'll be back at around eleven.
Love, Bill
Rose smiled. It was Christmas! She rolled out of bed and hurriedly got dressed to see Harry.
When she got to the Gryffindor sixth year boys' dorm, everyone was still asleep. She decided to play a nasty little trick. She snuck up on her brother, silently pulled back the hangings of his four-poster, and-
"BOO!"
He yelled. Rose cracked up. Harry glared at her.
"Not funny, Rose. Not funny."
"Yes it was."
The other boys had woken up.
"What's going on?" Ron yawned. Then he saw Rose. "Oh, good morning, Rose."
"Come on," she said, tugging Harry's hand like a little girl. "You have presents."
The boys immediately jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. Rose followed at a slower pace and saw the boys already ripping at the wrapping paper.
"Harry, mine's the one in the Quidditch paper," she called down, descending the staircase. He nodded.
"Good morning, Rose," Hermione said from behind them. She was accompanied by Parvati and Lavender Brown. Rose pointed down the stairs.
"Presents."
The girls ran down the stairs two at a time.
"I'd better not have only baby clothes," Rose said.
"You shouldn't," Hermione said. "I saw what some of 'other people' got you." She glanced meaningfully at Ron and Harry.
"I'd better get back to my room. Bill should be back by now. He'd stopped by the house to get me 'something.'"
She opened the portrait hole and returned to her room. Bill was waiting for her with a big smile on his face and his hands behind his back.
"Got you something."
"Ooh, what?"
He shyly held out a small box. Rose eagerly took it and gently peeled off the wrapping paper to reveal a white box. Inside the box was a simple Celtic cross necklace.
Rose gasped. "Bill, where did you get this?"
"Professor Dumbledore. He gave it to me five years ago, when I started dating you. I've been holding it ever since."
"But I mean do you know whose it was?"
He shook his head. "Dumbledore didn't tell me."
Rose smiled painfully. "It was my mother's. I can remember playing with it when I was a little baby. She never took it off. Dad gave it to her."
"Here, I'll put it on for you."
She held up her hair and Bill wrapped the chain around her neck and fastened the clasp. She looked at herself in the mirror.
"It looks beautiful. Thank you so much!"
She kissed him.
"Here, I might have a little something for you too," she said slyly, pulling a wrapped package from her dresser drawer. He took it happily and began tearing off the paper. There was a flat stone inside. Bill looked at her quizzically.
"It lets you see where anyone in your family is. Just tap it with your wand and say that person's name. Harry's got one just like it."
"Thanks!"
"We'd better get to the rest of these presents or we'll never finish."
"Right."
They began dismantling their mountains of gifts. Rose got a gold collar for Godric from the Bernards with his name in rubies, a baby-sized dress and suit from all her godparents, five books from Hermione, CDs from Harry for her magical CD player, assorted Honeydukes candy from Ron, which he seemed to give to everybody, prank supplies and a copy of I Don't Need No Education from Fred and George, and baby toys from the Patils.
"Whew!" she said, after emerging from the pile. "I'm going up to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to thank everybody."
And she did so. Everyone was already using the things she had gotten them. Ron was scarfing down Chocolate Frogs like there was no tomorrow, Hermione was reading Advanced Arithmancy, with Advanced Potions, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Charms, Advanced Transfiguration, Unusual and Rare Magical Beasts, and Standard Book of Spells: Grade 100 next to her. She simply nodded at her cousin. Harry was using the All-Purpose Polishing Kit on his wand and Firebolt, and Parvati was trying on her new robes.
Happy to see that all the Gryffindors were happy, Rose went to Ravenclaw, where Padma thanked her very enthusiastically for her new robes.
After thanking everyone, she called the Fred, George and the Bernards to a spot just outside of the Forest.
"I've got a plan," she whispered. Everyone sat up. Rose's last plan had been.amusing, to say the least.
"You know that Muggle CD you gave me?" she said to the Bernards. They nodded. "I've got a Muggle CD player I enchanted to work here. There's a staff meeting today. We take the boom box, load in the CD, and blast it at top volume outside of the meeting. It'll be awesome!"
They nodded enthusiastically and went to round up the other Golds. In half an hour, they were outside the staff room with the CD and boom box loaded.
Rose smothered a giggle with her hand and pressed PLAY.
"HEY, TEACHERS, LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!" blasted at the top volume. Everyone covered their ears and scattered. Rose, obliged to move at a slightly slower pace, followed. She ducked behind a statue just as Snape burst out of the staff room.
"Who's playing that?" he yelled. Rose clapped a hand over her mouth to hide another laugh. Unfortunately, Snape heard the smack.
"Who's there?"
*Uh oh, Rosie.*
*Bernard, I told you never to call me that.*
"Ah, hello, Rosemary."
Rose jumped. Snape was a foot away from her. She grinned sheepishly.
"Revenge for all those detentions."
He gave her the Death Stare and strode off, forgetting to turn off the music. Someone snatched the boom box and ran.
Once safely away from the staff room, everyone broke into hilarious laughter.
"Did you see his face?"
"It looked like he would explode!"
They laughed again before Rose told them to get back to their rooms. They opted to have a snowball fight all day instead. Rose watched from her window.
*~*~*
Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff in January 610-0. The party celebrating their appearance in the playoffs against Slytherin lasted until five a.m., much to the displeasure of the teachers. Harry was being pelted with letters from Wood, telling him the marvelous job he was doing as captain and congratulating him on being an uncle. Harry didn't show Rose that one.
Rose had returned to her house after a blizzard in mid January. No one really minded. Everyone was busy studying for the exams in the spring, particularly Ginny. Hermione was helping her with her homework until quite late at night, causing them both to be rather snappish. Rose was also not the most pleasant to be around.
The morning of February 14, Harry was awakened by Ginny shaking his shoulder.
"Harry!" she shrieked. "Where's that stone you got? Check Rose!"
Harry was immediately worried. He dug through his trunk until he found it. But when he tapped it and said, "Rosemary Potter!" it simply turned bright yellow.
"Is that good?" he asked Ginny nervously.
"Yes, yes!" Ginny squealed. Her voice was higher than ever. "That's very, very, good!" She bounded into the sixth year girls' dorm to wake up Hermione and Parvati.
*~*~*
Hermione groaned as Ginny shook her shoulder.
"Wake up, Mione!"
"Not yet, it's a Saturday."
"Rose had the twins!"
That got her attention. "Really? How'd you find out? How much do they weigh? What's their length?"
"I don't know. I had Harry check his stone."
"Oh. Come on, let's wake everyone else!"
They ran through the room, waking everyone who knew and liked Rose and told them. They then hastily threw on clothes and met the boys in the hallway.
After several minutes of confusion, everyone ran to Professor Dumbledore for permission to see her.
"Professor, can we please go see her? It's a Saturday, we don't have any classes."
He held up his hand. "I anticipated your requests. You will find a Portkey over there."
There was a mad rush to grab the Portkey. Ginny got it and held it out. Everyone quickly put a finger on it and felt that familiar jerk and they were in St. Mungo's. They asked the clerk for directions and eagerly ran up the stairs.
They ran into the Bernards and the Weasly twins just outside the stairwell.
"Fred, where's Rose?" Ginny demanded breathlessly.
He grinned. "Who's Rose? I don't know any Rose." He looked around. George and the Bernards nodded. Ginny went red.
"Frederick Joseph Weasly! Tell me where she is, they're my niece and nephew too!"
They silently pointed to a door across the hall and everyone walked in slightly slower.
Bill smiled at them from where he was looking into a crib. Rose was sleeping.
"Line up, please, ladies and gentleman," George said from the door.
"Five Galleons per person," Fred added.
"Shut up, Weasly!" everyone said. They backed up and let them in.
*~*~*
Harry approached the crib cautiously. Bill smiled at him and picked up one of the twins.
"This is Lily," he said.
Lily had a lot of hair, auburn red of course. She was sleeping.
"Green eyes, right?" Harry asked.
"Yeah."
"Where's James?"
"Right here."
Hermione came forward and took Lily, and the other girls promptly began exclaiming over how cute she was. Harry took James. He looked like, well, James. He had lots of messy black hair. When he opened his eyes, Harry noticed his flashing green eyes.
"Oh, he's so cute!" Parvati squealed. The other girls soon noticed James and started comparing James and Lily.
"I think they have the same nose."
"It's the Evans nose."
"They definitely have the same eyes."
"Oh, Lily's awake?"
"Yeah, see her eyes?"
"Yeah. They definitely have the same eyes."
"Hello, everybody." Rose had woken up. She was sitting up in her bed, looking at all the people. "Gimme Lily."
Hermione handed her Lily.
"She looks just like you!" Ginny said. Rose smiled.
"Here, Lily, that's your uncle Harry, that's your annoying uncles Fred and George, that's cousin Mione, that's aunt Ginny, and that's Daddy holding James."
Lily opened her eyes wide at her twin and smiled. The girls squealed and cooed, mainly because James was doing the same thing at Lily.
"Uber-phoenixes," Rose joked. "Uber-heirs."
"What time were they born?" Padma asked.
"They were six minutes apart. Lily was born at three forty-four, James at three fifty."
"How much do they weigh?"
"Lily's bigger, seven pounds eight ounces. James was the shrimp, five pounds fourteen."
"Five pounds?!"
"Almost six."
"How long are they?"
"Exactly the same. Nineteen inches."
*~*~*
Outside the hospital room, Erin O'Connell hovered, listening to Rose and her friends.
"Idiots," she muttered. "Uber-phoenixes, uber-heirs. Say it just a little louder and the Dark Lord himself could hear it."
She snickered and Disapparated to the Dark Lord's hiding place. She bowed as she approached him.
"My lord, the twins have been born. When shall the plan begin?"
"In June," Lord Voldemort whispered. He seemed to sense Erin's impatience. "Don't worry, Erin," he hissed softly. "Soon. Very soon."
*~*~*
Rose returned home four days later, much to her pleasure. Her godparents had been flitting around everywhere, pestering her for news of who were the twins' godparents. Rose had to have them banned from the hospital.
She had decided on a godfather, Harry, of course. But she was stuck between Ginny and Hermione. Harry had already agreed, and she knew that both the girls would be pleased. But Hermione was around more often.
"Rose, who's the twins' godmother?" Ron asked. He kept continuously asking her.
"Ronald Weasly! I don't know!"
"Okay, okay. Just asking."
*Hermione.*
"Oh!"
"Shh!"
Hermione was visiting the house. Professor Dumbledore had given Rose's friends and family group a week off school, much to the dismay of Hermione.
"Hello, Hermione."
"I the twins something," she said shyly. She held out a flat package wrapped in plain white tissue paper.
"Thank you." Rose peeled off the paper. Inside was a children's book. Hermione smiled.
"Figured you could start them off early," she mumbled. Rose smiled.
"I love it! Thank you!"
She hugged her cousin.
"Here, would you like to hold Lily?" She nodded. "Here she is."
Lily was sleeping again. Hermione took her gently.
"Aw. She's so adorable when she's asleep! Look at her eyelashes! They're so long and thick."
"Baby lashes. I'm desperate to have them."
Hermione laughed. "Have you decided on godparents?"
"Yes, I have. Their godfather is Harry. I thought.you might like to be godmother."
"Of course! Thank you!" Hermione would have hugged her, but she was still holding Lily.
"What's her middle name again?" Hermione asked.
"Molly. And James's is Arthur."
"So they're named after their grandparents. That's so sweet!"
"Speaking of grandparents. Cornelius Fudge resigned."
"That's great! But who's going to be the new minister?"
"You'll never guess who's running for office against Lucius Malfoy."
Hermione gasped. "No! Mr. Weasly?"
"Yep. Molly told me when she came to visit."
"Oh, no. I can imagine how that must have been. 'Oh, look at my little grandbabies!'"
"Exactly. She fawned all over them."
"Hi, Rose," Ginny said from the door.
"Oh, hello Ginny."
*~*~*
Ginny hadn't expected Hermione to be there. She had wanted to talk to Rose alone.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure." Rose handed James to Bill and followed Hermione into the library. They sat down in some of the chairs.
"You've been thinking about the dream, haven't you?" she asked quietly. Rose looked surprised for a moment.
"I should've guessed you would figure it out. I should've learned that it's useless to try to keep things from empaths."
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to tell you this." Rose groaned. "He wants you to stay in the house unless Bill or Sirius or Fred or George is with you."
"In short, not without half of England. If Bill comes, he'll bring the twins, if the twins come, they'll bring the Bernards, if the Bernards come, they'll make Sirius come, if Sirius comes, he'll bring Gretchen, if Gretchen comes, she'll bring-"
"Gretchen?!"
Rose looked surprised. "I thought you knew about that. They're dating."
Ginny's jaw dropped. "Sirius is dating?!"
"Has been for a while. You didn't know?"
"But they only met in what, December?"
"They dated in school, but had to break up when Sirius got thrown into Azkaban, of course. They started dating again when Sirius was pardoned last year."
"That's so cool! He's actually developing a life!"
"I've always had a life," Sirius said from behind a bookcase.
"Hello, Daddy," Rose said.
"Ginny, who's on the Quidditch team this year, anyways? Your boyfriend never told me."
Ginny went red. "The Chasers are Ron, a fourth year named Daniel Johnstone and Hermione. The Beaters are these two third years, Charles Johnson and Danielle Anderson. The Keeper is, uh."
"Go on."
"Me," she said in a small voice.
"That's great! When's the next match?"
"May."
"I'm coming," Rose announced. "And so is the entire American national team. They got bored because they know they can beat England at the next game, so they've canceled practices for a while."
"America's playing England? Oh, no. They must be completely torn."
"Not me. God bless America!" Rose yelled.
"Ginny," Hermione said from the door. "We need to go practice! Harry wants us on the pitch in twenty minutes."
"Bye Rose!" Ginny said. Hermione gave Lily back to Rose and ran after Ginny.
*~*~*
Harry was driving the team crazy, and he knew it. Slytherin had recently rebuilt its entire team, and this time around the captain had gone for talent instead of size or money. They were good, and Harry knew it would be a challenge to defeat them.
"We've got to get this right by May," he told them determinedly. "I'm not Wood. I'm not going to make you sit through long speeches. I'm in favor of the 'do' strategy. So let's practice!"
Everyone cheered and rose into the air. Gryffindor had a very good chance, seeing as Rose had recently given the entire team Firebolts, courtesy of the American Eagles.
The practice went perfectly. Harry's Chasers had been practicing. A lot. Rose surprised everyone by turning up with Bill and the twins, who seemed to enjoy watching Quidditch.
"Well, you can definitely tell they're Potters!" Harry laughed.
"They're going to be excellent Quidditch players when they get older. They've got a brilliant Seeker for their godfather and uncle, two excellent Beaters for uncles, and two possible aunts as Beaters. Oh, and a possible Keeper for an aunt."
Harry glared at her, but it didn't work well when he was turning red.
"Stoppit," he mumbled. Rose laughed evilly.
"Why's Rose cackling?" Ginny asked as she landed next to Harry.
"Nothing."
*Reminder, Harry. She's empathic,* Rose said. Harry could hear her smirking.
"Fine, I'll drop it," she said.
"I've got to go. I just brought the twins up here so they could visit their evil uncle," Rose said.
"Which evil uncle?" Hermione said. She glanced meaningfully at Harry. Suddenly Harry realized something horrible.
"I just realized that if Snape's their uncle and I'm their uncle that would make Snape and me brothers!"
"Agh!" Ron said, pretending to have a heart attack. "They'll kill each other!"
Everyone laughed. The twins even smiled a bit.
*~*~*
The night before the Quidditch finals, all of Gryffindor stayed up discussing the game. They all talked about the new team.
"The new Keeper's that hot girl Erin O'Connell," a seventh year said. "Too bad she's a Slytherin. She's captain, too. She put her boyfriend, you know, the other new kid, Dudley Durseley, for Keeper. His waist nearly goes across all three goalposts. The Chasers are Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode. Crabbe and Goyle are Beaters."
"And I thought he was going for skill," Dean snorted.
"Seems half the team is over three hundred pounds," Seamus added.
"But that O'Connell girl sure is real hot," Dean said. Harry punched him in the arm.
"She is not."
"You have to say that. Your sister hates her," the seventh year said.
"For good reason. Come on, team, bed!"
To his surprise, they obeyed.
He woke the next morning to Ron shaking him.
"Come on, Harry! You have to get breakfast before the match!"
"Harry jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. He and Ron rushed down to the Great Hall, where the girls stared at them, looking perfect, of course.
"Eat, Mione," Ron said. He was shoveling food into his mouth at the speed of light. "You too, Ginny."
"Oh, I'm second, am I?" she said, pretending to be offended.
"Not to me," Harry said. Hermione awed.
"Aw. That's so sweet!"
Ron rolled his eyes, careful to make sure Hermione didn't see.
"Ron, if you eat at that speed, you're going to make yourself hurl."
He grinned sheepishly and ate a little slower.
"Is Rose coming?" Parvati asked.
"Yes, she is coming, and yes, she is bringing the twins. Bill and the Beater group are coming."
They had started referred to the Alex-Ally-Fred-George group as the Beater group, as it took to long to name them all.
"Come on, we need to get down to the pitch," Harry told the team. They hurriedly pushed in their chairs and rushed to the field.
Half an hour later, the Harry was shaking hands with O'Connell, continuing the Gryffindor team captain's tradition of trying to break the Slytherin captain's hand. O'Connell simply smirked and nearly crushed his. Harry had carefully used his left hand, instead of his Snitch hand to shake hers.
"A clean game!" Madame Hooch said. "No cheating!" She stared directly at O'Connell, who gave her an innocent stare. Madame Hooch opened the trunk holding the balls and let them out.
Immediately, Gryffindor took possession of the Quaffle.
"Granger passes the Quaffle to Weasly! Weasly to Johnstone! Back to Weasly! Weasly passes to Granger and.Gryffindor scores!"
Hermione had managed to get the Quaffle past Dudley when he had paused to keep from falling off the broom. Ron gave her a high five as they flew past each other.
"Slytherin has the Quaffle! Bulstrode! Parkinson! Back to Bulstrode! Zabini! Parkinson! Zabini! Oh, and an excellent save by the Gryffindor Keeper!"
Ginny had used her broom tail to whack the Quaffle to Hermione. Erin glared at her with hate.
"Granger passes to Weasly! Oh, watch out Weasly that's a Bludger- oh, excellent, Miss Anderson! Weasly passes to Johnstone and back to Weasly! Gryffindor scores again!"
Gryffindor scored eight more times and Slytherin three. The Slytherins were definitely starting to panic. Except for O'Connell, who was just overwhelmed with hatred.
*~*~*
Ginny was getting uncomfortable. Thanks to her empathic sense, she could feel how much O'Connell hated her. She was furious that a Weasly was so good at a wizarding sport. She was fuming at Hermione.
Ginny snapped out of her thoughts in time to bat the Quaffle away from her precious goalposts and to her brother. The team members who were telepathic remained in contact with each other at all times.
*Nice save, Ginny,* Harry commented.
*Mione, on your left. Bludger headed for your arm.* Hermione swerved.
*Watch out for O'Connell. She hates us. I mean more than usual,* Ginny warned. *Especially you, Hermione. She's mad that a Muggle-born could manage to be so good at a wizarding sport.*
*Ooh, little.I'll show her.*
Hermione then proceeded to score three more times, leaving them at 130-30. The Slytherins were furious. Ginny could feel it.
Gryffindor scored another seven times and Slytherin five, putting them at 200-80. The Slytherins began cheating just slightly, scoring several more times, leaving them 200-100. Harry and O'Connell were desperate to find the Snitch. They needed to find it soon. It was starting to get dark.
*~*~*
Harry was getting frustrated with O'Connell, so he decided it was time for a little Feint.
Pretending to see the Snitch, Harry went into a steep dive. The gullible O'Connell followed him. Just as they were about to hit the ground, Harry pulled up, his feet brushing the ground. O'Connell wasn't so lucky. Harry heard a loud crack as the toe of her shoe caught the ground. She swore.
Harry smirked and went higher, still looking for the Snitch. He didn't have much time left; the sun was going down.
But in the dim light of the sunset, he could just barely see a small glimmer of gold lurking near the Gryffindor goalposts. He dove straight at it.
O'Connell, believing it to be another Wronski Feint, ignored him until it was just too late. Harry grabbed the Snitch from where it was lurking near Ginny's shoulder.
*~*~*
Rose was thrilled. She hadn't seen a game this good since the Cup! She handed both twins to Bill and went to congratulate her brother.
"That was awesome!" she yelled over the crowd. "Lemme see the cup!"
He handed her the gold trophy, and she looked it over.
"This is awesome!" she said again. "I wish I could go to the party, but it's probably going to last until six a.m. I hate to think of the house if I left Daddy and Bill there until six a.m."
Harry laughed and ran to Gryffindor Tower with the rest of the team. Rose went back to Bill and her godparents and persuaded them to let her stay the night in her rooms.
"If Bill comes," Sirius said. "And I suppose you won't leave the twins with me."
"Course not. You don't know where the formula is."
"Why not?"
"You'd drink it."
Rose left for her rooms with Bill and the twins.
*~*~*
Rose was right. The party did last until six. Actually, it lasted all night. The Weaslys turned up with the Bernards to show off some new snacks and prank supplies they had been testing, causing several people to turn into skunks. Professor McGonagall made the stop when one of them "accidentally" sprayed the fire out.
Everyone went to bed at ten a.m. the next morning and slept until nine the next morning. Harry went down to Rose's room with Hermione, Ron and Ginny to visit.
He noticed that the twins had been added to the portrait of the Potters. Lily Potter (his mother, not the baby) asked him for the password.
"Bricoler des jumeaux."
The portrait swung aside and they walked through.
"Rose?" Harry called. "Bill?"
No one answered. Harry got a bad feeling. The last time he had gotten that feeling, Rose's shoulder had gotten nearly torn off by a shark.
"Getting that feeling again?" he asked. They all knew what he meant.
"Yeah." They nodded.
"Come on, let's stay together. We look through every room."
It took them a while. The rooms were very large, and had been expanded when the twins were born. They didn't find anything until the sitting room.
"Over here," Ginny called.
They ran over to where Ginny was kneeling. She silently held out her hand.
Lying in her palm was a Celtic cross, splattered with blood.
Chapter 4
The next months passed quickly. Gryffindor won the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw in November 320-30, thanks to six superb new players, selected by Harry, the captain, and Harry's new Feints. They figured Hufflepuff would be easy. They had the same team members from last year, who had not scored a single goal all last year. It was Christmas before Harry knew it.
They had decided to have another Christmas Ball, as they had been so popular the previous years. The normal couples went. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Padma and Seamus, Dean and Parvati. They all agreed that Hogwarts seemed so boring without Fred and George, so the Gryffindors petitioned to invite them and the newly triumphant Alex and Ally (America had won its first game of the season). Dumbledore agreed, much to the displeasure of other teachers (whom we will just call Shnape).
Ginny was panicking the day of the ball. She needed makeup, jewelry, a hairdo, shoes, a perfect colored robe, a dress to go with the robe.
"Hermione, what's that spell Padma wrote? The one that will change this robe into the perfect color for my hair, eyes and complexion." Ginny held up dress robes she had borrowed from Hermione. "Because I just don't look good in spring green."
"Here it is; I wrote it down." Hermione pulled a slip of parchment and her wand from her pocket. "Colore perfetti tessuto!" The robes turned to a silky, cream-colored satin.
"What about a dress?"
"Try pink."
"With my hair?!"
"Okay, um.gold. Here."
Hermione tossed Ginny a gold gown. Ginny squealed.
"Ooh, it's perfect! But what about makeup?"
"Maquillage!"
Ginny ran to the mirror. Her face was perfectly made up.
"Where do you learn these?"
"Rose and me. I find them in books or I write them. Fixe cabelo!"
Ginny looked in a mirror. Her hair was in two braids that were joined together at the nape of her neck.
"Perfect! Shoes?"
"Anpassende souliers!"
"Jewelry?"
"Here, just take the paper."
"Okay. Joias perfeitas! There! Done!"
Ginny looked at herself. She had to admit, those spells were really good. The gold off-the-shoulder dress accented the robes perfectly, and the robes set off her hair, which in addition to the Queen Anne braids was also sprinkled with tiny rhinestones. The shoes were high heels the same color as her robes with a strap right above her toes and around her ankle. Her nails were painted the same color as the dress. The jewelry was a pair of dangly crystal earrings that brushed her neck, a pearl necklace, and a pearl bracelet with a single crystal in the center.
"It's perfect!"
"I think I'm going to match."
Hermione used the spells on herself, ending up in clothes, hair and jewelry identical to Ginny's except with heather gray silk robes and a white dress. The other girls all decided to match when they saw them.
The boys had apparently taken their girlfriends' advice. They matched their dates perfectly. Ginny took the arm Harry awkwardly offered her.
"Who's Neville going with? I know it's someone."
"A Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott."
"I know her! They'll be really cute together."
They continued talking all the way down to the Great Hall.
"Wow," Ron said, gazing at the decorations.
"They're beautiful," Ginny said in awe.
Instead of the usual four house tables, there were dozens of smaller tables spread out around the edges of the r Great Hall. The tables had been enchanted to look like they were made of ice, and holly had been spread out along them. There were ice sculptures with wreaths around them, and there were garlands everywhere. The customary trees were there, of course.
"Where's Hagrid?" Hermione said, looking around the room.
"Out in the garden," Neville said. He had apparently just come from there with Hannah. "With Madame Maxime."
"No! She left the school to come here?"
"I suppose. How else could she have gotten here?"
Hannah tugged on his sleeve and whispered something in his ear. He smiled and left for the dance floor. The others followed.
After an hour, they stopped for drinks. They pushed several tables together so they could all talk.
"Why isn't Rose here?" Padma asked.
"She said she couldn't fit into any decent robes anymore. She was moping in her room, last I checked," Hermione said.
"She looks too pregnant. I've seen her," Ally said.
Everyone laughed. "I heard that, Bernard," a voice said from behind them.
Rose was smirking at Alex from behind Alex's chair. Everyone was staring at her, because Ally was right, she did look very pregnant.
"Rose, I thought you said you didn't fit into any of your robes," Hermione said.
"I shopped. But Bill couldn't come, he has a cold."
Suddenly George pretended to be having a heart attack. Everyone stared.
"Rose.and a Bernard.are talking.to each other." he choked out. Ally rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.
"Snap out of it."
He recovered, grinning with his own wit.
"You are so lame."
"Thank you!"
"Rose, why did you come, anyways?"
"I'm dead bored. Sitting on my ass in my room can get a little boring after a while."
"Hey, you're not hurling every morning anymore."
"Good thing, too."
"Hello, Rose," Professor McGonagall said from behind them. "I didn't know you were going to come."
"Oh, hello, Mother. I wasn't, but I got bored."
"Don't' let your aunt see you."
She laughed. She called her other godmother Aunt Poppy. "Of course not. But I believe Dad has."
Professor Snape was striding towards their table.
*~*~*
Rose was relieved to see that he didn't look mad.
"Rosemary," he said. "I wasn't aware you were attending."
"Neither was I until half an hour ago. I got bored, and Bill has a cold."
"I see."
Suddenly Rose saw Harry go pale.
"Harry, what is it?"
He nodded in the direction he was looking. Rose followed his gaze.
Dudley and Erin were dancing towards their table.
"Run, he'll crush it," Ron said. They scattered just before Dudley "accidentally" knocked their table over.
"Oops," Erin giggled in a high voice. Rose's acute hearing heard Dudley whisper something to Harry.
"Better run, before I beat up you and your fat bitchy sister."
Ron heard, too and went red. Harry just turned sort of grey. He left for the ice garden set up outside the Great Hall with Ginny. Rose's eyes turned violet, but even so she grabbed Ron's robes as he lunged for Dudley.
"No," she whispered fiercely. "Remember what the High said."
Rose noticed Hermione place her hand on his shoulder and talk to him. He relaxed, and Rose let go. Hermione followed Harry and Ginny into the ice garden with Ron.
Rose decided she'd had enough. If she stayed down here any longer she would blow something up or Avada Dudley or Erin. She left the Great Hall and went through her personal portrait hole.
*~*~*
Erin and Dudley laughed at how stupid the Golds were being.
"She actually mentioned the High in a public place," Erin laughed.
"How stupid could you get?"
They laughed uproariously for about thirty seconds.
"What was that?" Dudley asked nervously.
"You've never felt it before," Erin explained haughtily. "Look at your arm."
They pulled up their left sleeves to reveal a skull with a serpent coming out its mouth. It was black and smoking.
"Touch it," Erin said. They did, and suddenly vanished into the night.
*~*~*
Rose woke up late the next morning. She rolled over and her face pressed against something lying on Bill's pillow. She opened her eyes and picked it up, thankful for the Vision Charm that had perfected her vision last year.
The note said:
Rose-
Went back to the house for a little something. I'll be back at around eleven.
Love, Bill
Rose smiled. It was Christmas! She rolled out of bed and hurriedly got dressed to see Harry.
When she got to the Gryffindor sixth year boys' dorm, everyone was still asleep. She decided to play a nasty little trick. She snuck up on her brother, silently pulled back the hangings of his four-poster, and-
"BOO!"
He yelled. Rose cracked up. Harry glared at her.
"Not funny, Rose. Not funny."
"Yes it was."
The other boys had woken up.
"What's going on?" Ron yawned. Then he saw Rose. "Oh, good morning, Rose."
"Come on," she said, tugging Harry's hand like a little girl. "You have presents."
The boys immediately jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. Rose followed at a slower pace and saw the boys already ripping at the wrapping paper.
"Harry, mine's the one in the Quidditch paper," she called down, descending the staircase. He nodded.
"Good morning, Rose," Hermione said from behind them. She was accompanied by Parvati and Lavender Brown. Rose pointed down the stairs.
"Presents."
The girls ran down the stairs two at a time.
"I'd better not have only baby clothes," Rose said.
"You shouldn't," Hermione said. "I saw what some of 'other people' got you." She glanced meaningfully at Ron and Harry.
"I'd better get back to my room. Bill should be back by now. He'd stopped by the house to get me 'something.'"
She opened the portrait hole and returned to her room. Bill was waiting for her with a big smile on his face and his hands behind his back.
"Got you something."
"Ooh, what?"
He shyly held out a small box. Rose eagerly took it and gently peeled off the wrapping paper to reveal a white box. Inside the box was a simple Celtic cross necklace.
Rose gasped. "Bill, where did you get this?"
"Professor Dumbledore. He gave it to me five years ago, when I started dating you. I've been holding it ever since."
"But I mean do you know whose it was?"
He shook his head. "Dumbledore didn't tell me."
Rose smiled painfully. "It was my mother's. I can remember playing with it when I was a little baby. She never took it off. Dad gave it to her."
"Here, I'll put it on for you."
She held up her hair and Bill wrapped the chain around her neck and fastened the clasp. She looked at herself in the mirror.
"It looks beautiful. Thank you so much!"
She kissed him.
"Here, I might have a little something for you too," she said slyly, pulling a wrapped package from her dresser drawer. He took it happily and began tearing off the paper. There was a flat stone inside. Bill looked at her quizzically.
"It lets you see where anyone in your family is. Just tap it with your wand and say that person's name. Harry's got one just like it."
"Thanks!"
"We'd better get to the rest of these presents or we'll never finish."
"Right."
They began dismantling their mountains of gifts. Rose got a gold collar for Godric from the Bernards with his name in rubies, a baby-sized dress and suit from all her godparents, five books from Hermione, CDs from Harry for her magical CD player, assorted Honeydukes candy from Ron, which he seemed to give to everybody, prank supplies and a copy of I Don't Need No Education from Fred and George, and baby toys from the Patils.
"Whew!" she said, after emerging from the pile. "I'm going up to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to thank everybody."
And she did so. Everyone was already using the things she had gotten them. Ron was scarfing down Chocolate Frogs like there was no tomorrow, Hermione was reading Advanced Arithmancy, with Advanced Potions, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Charms, Advanced Transfiguration, Unusual and Rare Magical Beasts, and Standard Book of Spells: Grade 100 next to her. She simply nodded at her cousin. Harry was using the All-Purpose Polishing Kit on his wand and Firebolt, and Parvati was trying on her new robes.
Happy to see that all the Gryffindors were happy, Rose went to Ravenclaw, where Padma thanked her very enthusiastically for her new robes.
After thanking everyone, she called the Fred, George and the Bernards to a spot just outside of the Forest.
"I've got a plan," she whispered. Everyone sat up. Rose's last plan had been.amusing, to say the least.
"You know that Muggle CD you gave me?" she said to the Bernards. They nodded. "I've got a Muggle CD player I enchanted to work here. There's a staff meeting today. We take the boom box, load in the CD, and blast it at top volume outside of the meeting. It'll be awesome!"
They nodded enthusiastically and went to round up the other Golds. In half an hour, they were outside the staff room with the CD and boom box loaded.
Rose smothered a giggle with her hand and pressed PLAY.
"HEY, TEACHERS, LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!" blasted at the top volume. Everyone covered their ears and scattered. Rose, obliged to move at a slightly slower pace, followed. She ducked behind a statue just as Snape burst out of the staff room.
"Who's playing that?" he yelled. Rose clapped a hand over her mouth to hide another laugh. Unfortunately, Snape heard the smack.
"Who's there?"
*Uh oh, Rosie.*
*Bernard, I told you never to call me that.*
"Ah, hello, Rosemary."
Rose jumped. Snape was a foot away from her. She grinned sheepishly.
"Revenge for all those detentions."
He gave her the Death Stare and strode off, forgetting to turn off the music. Someone snatched the boom box and ran.
Once safely away from the staff room, everyone broke into hilarious laughter.
"Did you see his face?"
"It looked like he would explode!"
They laughed again before Rose told them to get back to their rooms. They opted to have a snowball fight all day instead. Rose watched from her window.
*~*~*
Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff in January 610-0. The party celebrating their appearance in the playoffs against Slytherin lasted until five a.m., much to the displeasure of the teachers. Harry was being pelted with letters from Wood, telling him the marvelous job he was doing as captain and congratulating him on being an uncle. Harry didn't show Rose that one.
Rose had returned to her house after a blizzard in mid January. No one really minded. Everyone was busy studying for the exams in the spring, particularly Ginny. Hermione was helping her with her homework until quite late at night, causing them both to be rather snappish. Rose was also not the most pleasant to be around.
The morning of February 14, Harry was awakened by Ginny shaking his shoulder.
"Harry!" she shrieked. "Where's that stone you got? Check Rose!"
Harry was immediately worried. He dug through his trunk until he found it. But when he tapped it and said, "Rosemary Potter!" it simply turned bright yellow.
"Is that good?" he asked Ginny nervously.
"Yes, yes!" Ginny squealed. Her voice was higher than ever. "That's very, very, good!" She bounded into the sixth year girls' dorm to wake up Hermione and Parvati.
*~*~*
Hermione groaned as Ginny shook her shoulder.
"Wake up, Mione!"
"Not yet, it's a Saturday."
"Rose had the twins!"
That got her attention. "Really? How'd you find out? How much do they weigh? What's their length?"
"I don't know. I had Harry check his stone."
"Oh. Come on, let's wake everyone else!"
They ran through the room, waking everyone who knew and liked Rose and told them. They then hastily threw on clothes and met the boys in the hallway.
After several minutes of confusion, everyone ran to Professor Dumbledore for permission to see her.
"Professor, can we please go see her? It's a Saturday, we don't have any classes."
He held up his hand. "I anticipated your requests. You will find a Portkey over there."
There was a mad rush to grab the Portkey. Ginny got it and held it out. Everyone quickly put a finger on it and felt that familiar jerk and they were in St. Mungo's. They asked the clerk for directions and eagerly ran up the stairs.
They ran into the Bernards and the Weasly twins just outside the stairwell.
"Fred, where's Rose?" Ginny demanded breathlessly.
He grinned. "Who's Rose? I don't know any Rose." He looked around. George and the Bernards nodded. Ginny went red.
"Frederick Joseph Weasly! Tell me where she is, they're my niece and nephew too!"
They silently pointed to a door across the hall and everyone walked in slightly slower.
Bill smiled at them from where he was looking into a crib. Rose was sleeping.
"Line up, please, ladies and gentleman," George said from the door.
"Five Galleons per person," Fred added.
"Shut up, Weasly!" everyone said. They backed up and let them in.
*~*~*
Harry approached the crib cautiously. Bill smiled at him and picked up one of the twins.
"This is Lily," he said.
Lily had a lot of hair, auburn red of course. She was sleeping.
"Green eyes, right?" Harry asked.
"Yeah."
"Where's James?"
"Right here."
Hermione came forward and took Lily, and the other girls promptly began exclaiming over how cute she was. Harry took James. He looked like, well, James. He had lots of messy black hair. When he opened his eyes, Harry noticed his flashing green eyes.
"Oh, he's so cute!" Parvati squealed. The other girls soon noticed James and started comparing James and Lily.
"I think they have the same nose."
"It's the Evans nose."
"They definitely have the same eyes."
"Oh, Lily's awake?"
"Yeah, see her eyes?"
"Yeah. They definitely have the same eyes."
"Hello, everybody." Rose had woken up. She was sitting up in her bed, looking at all the people. "Gimme Lily."
Hermione handed her Lily.
"She looks just like you!" Ginny said. Rose smiled.
"Here, Lily, that's your uncle Harry, that's your annoying uncles Fred and George, that's cousin Mione, that's aunt Ginny, and that's Daddy holding James."
Lily opened her eyes wide at her twin and smiled. The girls squealed and cooed, mainly because James was doing the same thing at Lily.
"Uber-phoenixes," Rose joked. "Uber-heirs."
"What time were they born?" Padma asked.
"They were six minutes apart. Lily was born at three forty-four, James at three fifty."
"How much do they weigh?"
"Lily's bigger, seven pounds eight ounces. James was the shrimp, five pounds fourteen."
"Five pounds?!"
"Almost six."
"How long are they?"
"Exactly the same. Nineteen inches."
*~*~*
Outside the hospital room, Erin O'Connell hovered, listening to Rose and her friends.
"Idiots," she muttered. "Uber-phoenixes, uber-heirs. Say it just a little louder and the Dark Lord himself could hear it."
She snickered and Disapparated to the Dark Lord's hiding place. She bowed as she approached him.
"My lord, the twins have been born. When shall the plan begin?"
"In June," Lord Voldemort whispered. He seemed to sense Erin's impatience. "Don't worry, Erin," he hissed softly. "Soon. Very soon."
*~*~*
Rose returned home four days later, much to her pleasure. Her godparents had been flitting around everywhere, pestering her for news of who were the twins' godparents. Rose had to have them banned from the hospital.
She had decided on a godfather, Harry, of course. But she was stuck between Ginny and Hermione. Harry had already agreed, and she knew that both the girls would be pleased. But Hermione was around more often.
"Rose, who's the twins' godmother?" Ron asked. He kept continuously asking her.
"Ronald Weasly! I don't know!"
"Okay, okay. Just asking."
*Hermione.*
"Oh!"
"Shh!"
Hermione was visiting the house. Professor Dumbledore had given Rose's friends and family group a week off school, much to the dismay of Hermione.
"Hello, Hermione."
"I the twins something," she said shyly. She held out a flat package wrapped in plain white tissue paper.
"Thank you." Rose peeled off the paper. Inside was a children's book. Hermione smiled.
"Figured you could start them off early," she mumbled. Rose smiled.
"I love it! Thank you!"
She hugged her cousin.
"Here, would you like to hold Lily?" She nodded. "Here she is."
Lily was sleeping again. Hermione took her gently.
"Aw. She's so adorable when she's asleep! Look at her eyelashes! They're so long and thick."
"Baby lashes. I'm desperate to have them."
Hermione laughed. "Have you decided on godparents?"
"Yes, I have. Their godfather is Harry. I thought.you might like to be godmother."
"Of course! Thank you!" Hermione would have hugged her, but she was still holding Lily.
"What's her middle name again?" Hermione asked.
"Molly. And James's is Arthur."
"So they're named after their grandparents. That's so sweet!"
"Speaking of grandparents. Cornelius Fudge resigned."
"That's great! But who's going to be the new minister?"
"You'll never guess who's running for office against Lucius Malfoy."
Hermione gasped. "No! Mr. Weasly?"
"Yep. Molly told me when she came to visit."
"Oh, no. I can imagine how that must have been. 'Oh, look at my little grandbabies!'"
"Exactly. She fawned all over them."
"Hi, Rose," Ginny said from the door.
"Oh, hello Ginny."
*~*~*
Ginny hadn't expected Hermione to be there. She had wanted to talk to Rose alone.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure." Rose handed James to Bill and followed Hermione into the library. They sat down in some of the chairs.
"You've been thinking about the dream, haven't you?" she asked quietly. Rose looked surprised for a moment.
"I should've guessed you would figure it out. I should've learned that it's useless to try to keep things from empaths."
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to tell you this." Rose groaned. "He wants you to stay in the house unless Bill or Sirius or Fred or George is with you."
"In short, not without half of England. If Bill comes, he'll bring the twins, if the twins come, they'll bring the Bernards, if the Bernards come, they'll make Sirius come, if Sirius comes, he'll bring Gretchen, if Gretchen comes, she'll bring-"
"Gretchen?!"
Rose looked surprised. "I thought you knew about that. They're dating."
Ginny's jaw dropped. "Sirius is dating?!"
"Has been for a while. You didn't know?"
"But they only met in what, December?"
"They dated in school, but had to break up when Sirius got thrown into Azkaban, of course. They started dating again when Sirius was pardoned last year."
"That's so cool! He's actually developing a life!"
"I've always had a life," Sirius said from behind a bookcase.
"Hello, Daddy," Rose said.
"Ginny, who's on the Quidditch team this year, anyways? Your boyfriend never told me."
Ginny went red. "The Chasers are Ron, a fourth year named Daniel Johnstone and Hermione. The Beaters are these two third years, Charles Johnson and Danielle Anderson. The Keeper is, uh."
"Go on."
"Me," she said in a small voice.
"That's great! When's the next match?"
"May."
"I'm coming," Rose announced. "And so is the entire American national team. They got bored because they know they can beat England at the next game, so they've canceled practices for a while."
"America's playing England? Oh, no. They must be completely torn."
"Not me. God bless America!" Rose yelled.
"Ginny," Hermione said from the door. "We need to go practice! Harry wants us on the pitch in twenty minutes."
"Bye Rose!" Ginny said. Hermione gave Lily back to Rose and ran after Ginny.
*~*~*
Harry was driving the team crazy, and he knew it. Slytherin had recently rebuilt its entire team, and this time around the captain had gone for talent instead of size or money. They were good, and Harry knew it would be a challenge to defeat them.
"We've got to get this right by May," he told them determinedly. "I'm not Wood. I'm not going to make you sit through long speeches. I'm in favor of the 'do' strategy. So let's practice!"
Everyone cheered and rose into the air. Gryffindor had a very good chance, seeing as Rose had recently given the entire team Firebolts, courtesy of the American Eagles.
The practice went perfectly. Harry's Chasers had been practicing. A lot. Rose surprised everyone by turning up with Bill and the twins, who seemed to enjoy watching Quidditch.
"Well, you can definitely tell they're Potters!" Harry laughed.
"They're going to be excellent Quidditch players when they get older. They've got a brilliant Seeker for their godfather and uncle, two excellent Beaters for uncles, and two possible aunts as Beaters. Oh, and a possible Keeper for an aunt."
Harry glared at her, but it didn't work well when he was turning red.
"Stoppit," he mumbled. Rose laughed evilly.
"Why's Rose cackling?" Ginny asked as she landed next to Harry.
"Nothing."
*Reminder, Harry. She's empathic,* Rose said. Harry could hear her smirking.
"Fine, I'll drop it," she said.
"I've got to go. I just brought the twins up here so they could visit their evil uncle," Rose said.
"Which evil uncle?" Hermione said. She glanced meaningfully at Harry. Suddenly Harry realized something horrible.
"I just realized that if Snape's their uncle and I'm their uncle that would make Snape and me brothers!"
"Agh!" Ron said, pretending to have a heart attack. "They'll kill each other!"
Everyone laughed. The twins even smiled a bit.
*~*~*
The night before the Quidditch finals, all of Gryffindor stayed up discussing the game. They all talked about the new team.
"The new Keeper's that hot girl Erin O'Connell," a seventh year said. "Too bad she's a Slytherin. She's captain, too. She put her boyfriend, you know, the other new kid, Dudley Durseley, for Keeper. His waist nearly goes across all three goalposts. The Chasers are Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode. Crabbe and Goyle are Beaters."
"And I thought he was going for skill," Dean snorted.
"Seems half the team is over three hundred pounds," Seamus added.
"But that O'Connell girl sure is real hot," Dean said. Harry punched him in the arm.
"She is not."
"You have to say that. Your sister hates her," the seventh year said.
"For good reason. Come on, team, bed!"
To his surprise, they obeyed.
He woke the next morning to Ron shaking him.
"Come on, Harry! You have to get breakfast before the match!"
"Harry jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. He and Ron rushed down to the Great Hall, where the girls stared at them, looking perfect, of course.
"Eat, Mione," Ron said. He was shoveling food into his mouth at the speed of light. "You too, Ginny."
"Oh, I'm second, am I?" she said, pretending to be offended.
"Not to me," Harry said. Hermione awed.
"Aw. That's so sweet!"
Ron rolled his eyes, careful to make sure Hermione didn't see.
"Ron, if you eat at that speed, you're going to make yourself hurl."
He grinned sheepishly and ate a little slower.
"Is Rose coming?" Parvati asked.
"Yes, she is coming, and yes, she is bringing the twins. Bill and the Beater group are coming."
They had started referred to the Alex-Ally-Fred-George group as the Beater group, as it took to long to name them all.
"Come on, we need to get down to the pitch," Harry told the team. They hurriedly pushed in their chairs and rushed to the field.
Half an hour later, the Harry was shaking hands with O'Connell, continuing the Gryffindor team captain's tradition of trying to break the Slytherin captain's hand. O'Connell simply smirked and nearly crushed his. Harry had carefully used his left hand, instead of his Snitch hand to shake hers.
"A clean game!" Madame Hooch said. "No cheating!" She stared directly at O'Connell, who gave her an innocent stare. Madame Hooch opened the trunk holding the balls and let them out.
Immediately, Gryffindor took possession of the Quaffle.
"Granger passes the Quaffle to Weasly! Weasly to Johnstone! Back to Weasly! Weasly passes to Granger and.Gryffindor scores!"
Hermione had managed to get the Quaffle past Dudley when he had paused to keep from falling off the broom. Ron gave her a high five as they flew past each other.
"Slytherin has the Quaffle! Bulstrode! Parkinson! Back to Bulstrode! Zabini! Parkinson! Zabini! Oh, and an excellent save by the Gryffindor Keeper!"
Ginny had used her broom tail to whack the Quaffle to Hermione. Erin glared at her with hate.
"Granger passes to Weasly! Oh, watch out Weasly that's a Bludger- oh, excellent, Miss Anderson! Weasly passes to Johnstone and back to Weasly! Gryffindor scores again!"
Gryffindor scored eight more times and Slytherin three. The Slytherins were definitely starting to panic. Except for O'Connell, who was just overwhelmed with hatred.
*~*~*
Ginny was getting uncomfortable. Thanks to her empathic sense, she could feel how much O'Connell hated her. She was furious that a Weasly was so good at a wizarding sport. She was fuming at Hermione.
Ginny snapped out of her thoughts in time to bat the Quaffle away from her precious goalposts and to her brother. The team members who were telepathic remained in contact with each other at all times.
*Nice save, Ginny,* Harry commented.
*Mione, on your left. Bludger headed for your arm.* Hermione swerved.
*Watch out for O'Connell. She hates us. I mean more than usual,* Ginny warned. *Especially you, Hermione. She's mad that a Muggle-born could manage to be so good at a wizarding sport.*
*Ooh, little.I'll show her.*
Hermione then proceeded to score three more times, leaving them at 130-30. The Slytherins were furious. Ginny could feel it.
Gryffindor scored another seven times and Slytherin five, putting them at 200-80. The Slytherins began cheating just slightly, scoring several more times, leaving them 200-100. Harry and O'Connell were desperate to find the Snitch. They needed to find it soon. It was starting to get dark.
*~*~*
Harry was getting frustrated with O'Connell, so he decided it was time for a little Feint.
Pretending to see the Snitch, Harry went into a steep dive. The gullible O'Connell followed him. Just as they were about to hit the ground, Harry pulled up, his feet brushing the ground. O'Connell wasn't so lucky. Harry heard a loud crack as the toe of her shoe caught the ground. She swore.
Harry smirked and went higher, still looking for the Snitch. He didn't have much time left; the sun was going down.
But in the dim light of the sunset, he could just barely see a small glimmer of gold lurking near the Gryffindor goalposts. He dove straight at it.
O'Connell, believing it to be another Wronski Feint, ignored him until it was just too late. Harry grabbed the Snitch from where it was lurking near Ginny's shoulder.
*~*~*
Rose was thrilled. She hadn't seen a game this good since the Cup! She handed both twins to Bill and went to congratulate her brother.
"That was awesome!" she yelled over the crowd. "Lemme see the cup!"
He handed her the gold trophy, and she looked it over.
"This is awesome!" she said again. "I wish I could go to the party, but it's probably going to last until six a.m. I hate to think of the house if I left Daddy and Bill there until six a.m."
Harry laughed and ran to Gryffindor Tower with the rest of the team. Rose went back to Bill and her godparents and persuaded them to let her stay the night in her rooms.
"If Bill comes," Sirius said. "And I suppose you won't leave the twins with me."
"Course not. You don't know where the formula is."
"Why not?"
"You'd drink it."
Rose left for her rooms with Bill and the twins.
*~*~*
Rose was right. The party did last until six. Actually, it lasted all night. The Weaslys turned up with the Bernards to show off some new snacks and prank supplies they had been testing, causing several people to turn into skunks. Professor McGonagall made the stop when one of them "accidentally" sprayed the fire out.
Everyone went to bed at ten a.m. the next morning and slept until nine the next morning. Harry went down to Rose's room with Hermione, Ron and Ginny to visit.
He noticed that the twins had been added to the portrait of the Potters. Lily Potter (his mother, not the baby) asked him for the password.
"Bricoler des jumeaux."
The portrait swung aside and they walked through.
"Rose?" Harry called. "Bill?"
No one answered. Harry got a bad feeling. The last time he had gotten that feeling, Rose's shoulder had gotten nearly torn off by a shark.
"Getting that feeling again?" he asked. They all knew what he meant.
"Yeah." They nodded.
"Come on, let's stay together. We look through every room."
It took them a while. The rooms were very large, and had been expanded when the twins were born. They didn't find anything until the sitting room.
"Over here," Ginny called.
They ran over to where Ginny was kneeling. She silently held out her hand.
Lying in her palm was a Celtic cross, splattered with blood.
