Stand Strong
By: Kryptonite
A/N: I updated. Tell me what you think please.
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Three Days Later: The Burrow- 12:50
" Where did they go? This the longest any of them have gone without coming over to eat."
" To find Fred." George said brandishing a piece of parchment in his sister's writing that had showed up pinned to his door that morning.
" Oh dear." Mrs. Weasley said, looking at the empty hand where Fred had charmed his own name off.
" Why are they bothering with a coward like that?" A voice behind them made everyone jump.
" Because he's not a coward." The three Weasley's turned to look at the group that had popped in behind them. The five familiar faces in front parted to show three unfamiliar faces and one face that George saw every time he looked in the mirror.
George just growled and sat so hard in the chair it was a miracle that it didn't break.
" I am a coward. Just not in the way you think." Fred said, putting down the little bundle of mass that he had been holding. The little boy clung to his leg instead, burying his face in the cloth at the strangeness of everything.
" Can we do that again?" The little girl that the other girl was holding asked, whispering in her excitement.
" We'll have to when we go home. Hello Mrs. Weasley, it's a pleasure to meet you."
" Who are you?" The girl winced.
" I'm Sam. Samantha Owens, ma'am." Sam stuck her hand out to the flabbergasted woman, who weakly shook it.
" It's nice to meet you too dear. Fred, come here." Her voice had gone from soft to hard, reminding Fred of when he and George had gotten into trouble over their pranks. Fred stepped up to his mother, looking ashamed and was surprised to be pulled into a hug. " Took you long enough."
" I'm glad to be here to mum." Molly Weasley wiped at a few tears that threatened to spill over.
" Who are these two little ones?"
" My sisters kids." Molly bent down to eye-level with the twins.
" Do you want some lunch?" Both kids nodded and walked cautiously over to the table, dragging Sam with them, her fingers clutched tightly in their six-year-old hands.
" Thank you." They said, staring at the food that smelled amazing, before turning their dark blue eyes on Sam.
" What are you looking at me for? She offered the food to you."
Sam commented, trying to ignore the fact that her niece and nephew were asking her permission to eat! She stood in the doorway to the kitchen watching as the two children picked up the too-big forks and started eating.
" Maybe the rest of us could go into the living room and catch up." Molly suggested, not wanting to discuss certain things in front of little kids. Everyone agreed.
" You two stay in here and try not to make too much of a mess okay?" Sam asked, crouching between their chairs. They turned, mouths stuffed and eyes aglow and nodded happily at her. " And don't make yourselves sick, either!" She stood up and walked into Fred's arms before the two of them made their way into the living room.
" So, Fred. Where have ya been?" George asked sullenly.
" New York." The silence reigned for a moment and everyone could clearly hear the kids in the kitchen.
" How long have you and Fred been… dating?"
" Almost three years now. Fred and I shared an apartment for a year before that." Sam bit her lip and tried to think of something else to say.
" What do you do?" Mrs. Weasley asked, feeling the need to fill that silence as much Sam was.
" I work at the local newspaper. Editing."
" That's interesting. Where did you go to school? You are a… you know." Sam smiled gently.
" Yes, I am a witch. I went to Salem. Closet academy to where we were living. Then I took a couple of night classes at Brooklyn College on journalism before I got my job."
" It must be nice being able to see your family all the time." It was a pointed remark to Fred and he flinched at its edges.
" It has its advantages." Sam looked over her shoulder and bit her lip.
" Why are you watching your sister's kids Samantha?" Mr. Weasley decided to pipe up and ask something that had been bothering him since the kids had basically asked to eat.
" It's Sam sir. And I'm watching her kids because she and her husband took my parents on a cruise and didn't schedule a baby-sitter or accommodations on the ship for James and Maxine." She glowered but Fred's hand on her arm brought her back to the present.
" One of the disadvantages is having to see James and Max go back to that-" Fred stopped before he swore and the kids heard him.
" We've been trying for three years to get custody. The courts say we have 'insubstantial evidence'. If they just showed a sign of magic." Sam broke off and Fred finished.
" But even if they did it wouldn't matter because the muggle courts wouldn't take kindly to the Ministry telling them what to do."
" Not like Jules would listen anyway." Sam muttered darkly.
" If you're lucky mom, sometime soon you'll become an honorary grandma. I'm already their uncle." Molly raised an eyebrow.
" I don't see a ring." Both people blushed, deeply.
" We're waiting until we're a little better off. My dad's been smuggling things out of the house for us to sell or pawn and so far we're about half way to a better apartment."
" Once that's settled we're gonna talk some more."
" You do realize that you'd have a better chance of getting the kids if you were married, don't you?" George pointed out, more than slightly interested in his twins' life since leaving.
" We talked about it. At this point Jules and her husband, Kevin, have to much money for us to stand a chance."
" What do you mean 'too much money'?"
" It's like this sir, the more money you have the more influence you command. They're able to pay off anyone we get who might be even a little sympathetic to us."
" Enough of that. Fred, what are you doing for a living?" Fred looked at his shoes before his eyes came back up, dancing with mischief.
" I work at a toy store. I'm the best employee they have." Sam laughed at a memory his tone invoked.
" Yes he is the best. He's the only one they can convince to play with the kids. The one time I went into work to take him to lunch he was under a rather large and growing pile of kids. Suddenly he stood up, shedding kids like water. Everyone started laughing and shrieking.
" When he caught sight of me he managed to convince the kids to wait until I had taken all my jewelry off, with my coat and purse put in a safe place to start chasing me. And of course this big lug just had to help."
" Of course." Fred said with mock seriousness.
" That's my boy." Arthur muttered appreciatively. Another uncomfortable silence fell.
" How's Bill, Charlie and Percy? Harry mentioned something in his letters but I don't remember it now." Fred's voice dwindled as he spoke knowing by the looks on his parents' faces that Harry hadn't told them about the letters. " Sorry."
" No, it's okay. I should have told them from the beginning."
" Bill's still working at Gringotts. He has a girlfriend that he's thinking of proposing to but he's not sure. Percy is acting as an assistant to the new Minister of Magic."
" Go Percy." Fred muttered, eyes shining in pride.
" And Charlie is living in Ireland with his wife. They're expecting their first child in a few months."
" That's great mum."
" I think I'll just go and check James and Max." Sam pushed herself off the couch and walked into the kitchen. A few more seconds of silence prevailed before George spoke up.
" Is it just me or is it really uncomfortable in here?"
" Very." Everyone agreed at once, laughing at the silliness of everything. A high pitched scream brought everyone to their feet and racing to the kitchen. Max was standing on a chair screaming her head off. James was kneeling next to Sam, trying to make her wake up.
" Please Aunt Sam. Wake up! Please!" Fred slid down next to her head.
" What happened?"
" I don't know!" James was crying as hard as his sister. " She just fell." Hermione had already pulled Max into her arms, taking her into the living room and Harry picked James up off the floor. He started kicking and screaming, wanting to get back to Sam.
" Sam! Sam wake up!" Fred had straightened Sam's body out, checking for any punctures or wounds and finding none. He sat Indian style and pulled her head into his lap. Gently setting his hands over her forehead he started whispering.
Ginny and George started forward but Arthur's outstretched arms stopped them.
" We can't break his concentration or they'll both die." It took Fred's whispering all of ten minutes before he finished. Sam's eyes fluttered open, skin devoid of all color and eyes the color of the twins clouded in confusion.
" We really need to find a better way to prevent these." Sam looked up at Fred and grinned, looking and feeling better already.
" You know you like being able to get my head in your lap so don't even pretend to be put out. I could hear the twins. Are they okay?"
" They're in the living room." Sam struggled up and was sitting when the twins raced in and jumped on her.
" I'm fine. It's okay." The twins were clinging to Sam's neck as if there was no tomorrow. " Everything will be alright." A teddy bear no one in the Weasley family had ever seen in the house came floating out of nowhere and squeezed itself between the twins and into Sam.
The entire house seemed to take a collective breath as they all realized what the twins had just done.
" What just happened?" Sam asked looking at the twins with a look of wonder and pure amazement. The two looked like they were afraid of getting hit.
" No-nothing Aunt Sam." James tried to hide the teddy bear before anyone else could see it.
" No, it's okay." Sam was smiling so happily and Fred was joining her, kneeling back down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
" Momma hits us when we do strange things." Harry winced at the memory the comment produced. Sam closed her eyes in pain.
" She's not going to hit you again." The four on the floor pulled each other closer into a family hug, not wanting to let anyone go for anything.
" It's okay we do strange things?" James asked cautiously, giving Maxine the teddy bear back.
" Yes. Just not in front of other people." James looked over his shoulder and leaned closer to Sam to whisper but everyone heard anyway.
" What about them?" He questioned.
" They're okay." Sam whispered back, smiling, eyes shining with unspilt tears.