Sorry the update took so long.
We still love Natalie.
Most of this still isn't mine.
Have fun with this chapter.
Please Review
That being said.
*****
"I'm quite glad you girls are here. I can fight vampires, I've taken on Death Eaters, and I even passed my Divination N.E.W.T. but make up is quite beyond me," Arabella laughed. She surveyed the table before her covered in various types of makeup.
"Never fear, Harry isn't the only one who can save the day," Ginny laughed. Hermione quirked her eyebrow in Arabella's direction.
"Divination?" she asked.
"Oh yes," Arabella laughed. "I was simply dreadful in that subject. It was taught up in the top of the North tower by this old bat who never came out of her classroom."
"Trelawney?" Hermione guessed.
"Yes, that was her name," Arabella said. "Only I think she was an older relative of the one you have now."
"So the teacher we have now has a reason to be looney, it runs in the family," Hermione laughed. "I walked out of her class somewhere after Easter of our third year and haven't been back since."
"I should have done that, but you have to have Divination to get into Auror training camp," Arabella explained.
"Good thing I suppose. I think the boys have decided that I'm going to be the non Auror in the group," Hermione said. She picked up a hairbrush from the table and dragged it through Arabella's auburn locks.
"I thought Ron wanted to be a professional Quidditch player," Arabella stated.
"Well if that falls through, and his potions grades aren't too dismal, then I think he wants to have Auror training to fall back on," Hermione explained.
"Well if that falls through, and his potions graes aren't too dismal, then I think he wants to have Auror training to fall back on," Hermione explained.
"And Harry wants to be an Auror?" Arabella asked.
"Harry hasn't really said what his plans for after Hogwarts are," Hermione replied.
"I think he's concentrating on living through that first," Ginny half- laughed.
"Poor kid. Luckily Voldemort has stayed relatively quiet since last June," Arabella said. Hermione and Ginny nodded in agreement. Before either of them could say anything, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Ginny asked before Hermione or Arabella could say anything.
"Bill," the voice on the other side of the door said. The doorknob slowly began to turn.
"NO!" Hermione screeched. She rushed to get around the table and throw herself up against the door.
"You can't see me before the wedding!" Arabella scolded.
"NOT FUNNY, CHARLIE!" Ginny shouted. The door flew open just after Hermione stepped out of the way. The hulking frame of the second oldest Weasley son appeared in the doorway.
"I got at least two of you!" Charlie laughed. He stepped completely into the room, pulling someone behind him. The person holding his hand was a girl not much taller than Hermione. She had long blonde hair that fell almost to her waist in silky waves. She had almond shaped grey blue eyes surrounded by thick black lashes. She was petite in build, but looked to be very muscular under her plum sweater and tight muggle blue jeans.
"Not funny, Charlie," Arabella echoed, much quieter than Ginny. She tried to smooth her disarrayed hair.
"Yes, I believe Ginny has already said that," Charlie laughed. "but at any rate, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Natalia Stockard."
"Hi," Ginny said, waiving at the woman slightly before turning back to the palate of eye shadow before her.
"So that's Arabella, the bride to be, and that's Hermione, Fred's girlfriend and Harry and Ron's best friend," Charlie explained.
"So you must be Ginny," Natalia said.
"What gave it away?" Ginny asked. "The red hair, the red hair, or the red hair?" The group in the room laughed appreciatively.
"Actually, I'd say it's probably the fact that Charlie said we were coming up here to meet Ginny, his sister, and since that's Hermione and that's Arabella, you have to be Ginny," Natalia explained. "Although the red hair did help a bit."
"Well dear, you've met the girls. Now I must go pry Bill off of the ceiling. Natalia, you may come with me or you can stay here and help with the makeup," Charlie offered. "Or you could always go sit with mum for tea."
"As exciting as the prospect of prying your brother off of the ceiling sounds, I think I'll have to stay with the makeup," Natalia said. Charlie smiled and dropped a kiss on his girlfriend's head.
"Alright then, see you later I suppose," he said. She smiled up at him before dropping his hand to rub at a shiny burn that laced the back of her knuckles. Charlie blew her another kiss before turning and exiting the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
"So Natalia, which division of the dragon preserve do you work in?" Arabella asked.
"How did you know I work in the preserve?" Natalia asked.
"Well, you've got a burn on the back of that hand and scars on the other, as well as a rather large scar just there under your jaw line covered by your hair," Arabella said. "I seriously doubt the preserve would allow you to get close enough to the dragons to get burned if you were simply one of Charlie's visitors."
"Very observant of you," Natalia laughed. She shook her hair back from her face. "You're right, I work in the hatchery and sometimes the little ones can't necessarily control their fire or their aim. And you're the Auror of the group?"
"Yes," Arabella replied.
"Safe to say I'm not nearly as observant as you. Charlie and Bill explained all about everyone to me before I got here," Natalia said.
"So girls, how about this mascara?" Ginny asked. The three girls all turned to look at the youngest of the group. Natalia grabbed a curling iron and Hermione grabbed the brush. They both started towards Arabella.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Arabella asked as the three girls proceeded to curl and brush her hair.
"If you want to be beautiful it is," Ginny said.
"And you most certainly want to be beautiful on your wedding day," Hermione added, laughing slightly.
"Should I really trust you three?" Arabella asked, glancing over her shoulder. Hermione and Ginny both nodded.
"You said it yourself," Hermione said. "You have about as much use for makeup as you have for death Eaters. I certainly don't want to see what you would end up looking like if left to your own devices."
"And I certainly don't want my mascara to go to Azkaban," Ginny added. Arabella, Hermione and Natalia all looked at Ginny wordlessly.
"It was a bad joke, I admit," Ginny said. "But Arabella, hurting the sister of your future husband now because of a bad joke might put a bit of a damper on the wedding plans. And besides, right now I hold the power to make you look beautiful or make you look like a clown."
"Then tell all the bad jokes you want," Arabella said. "I certainly don't want to look like a clown so I won't complain."
"So wait, you work with baby dragons?" Ginny asked, rather absentmindedly.
"That line of conversation was done several minutes ago there Gin," Arabella said.
"Forgive her," Hermione said, patting Ginny on her arm, "Her brain has been elsewhere ever since Braede4n showed up yesterday."
"Who is Braeden?" Natalia asked.
"My cousin," Hermione volunteered.
"So wait," Natalia said, attempting to process the information.
"And the boy Ginny is obsessed with," Arabella supplied.
"But he's not her boyfriend," Hermioen finished. Natalia shrugged.
"Sometimes boys are way slower than they should be," she laughed.
"Yes, but Braeden and I have quite the distance factor," Ginny replied. "He lives in France."
"Pretty sticks?" Natalia asked.
"What?" Ginny and Arabella chorused.
"She means Beauxbatons," Hermione supplied. "Beauxbatons means 'pretty sticks' in French." Arabella and Ginny both laughed.
"Yes, Braeden goes to Beauxbatons," Ginny said.
"Where did you go to school?" Arabella asked. "I don't remember you from Hogwarts."
"I went to Durmstrang," Natalia replied. Hermione and Ginny both fell silent. Arabella simply nodded.
"I almost did an exchange program there during my sixth year for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Arabella said. "But then with one thing and the other happening in the world, the trip was canceled."
"Durmstrang does have a great Defense department," Natalia said. Hermione looked at Ginny over Arabella's head.
"I think this hot pink lipstick will look fantastic!" Ginny said, picking up a shade of neon lipstick Fred had supplied when they scavenged for makeup earlier. He insisted it was left over from a Halloween costume.
"NO!!" Arabella insisted. Even with her limited knowledge of such matters, she knew hot pink lipstick was a step in the wrong direction.
%%%%%
Charlie sank onto his bed in the room he and his brother shared. He crossed his legs, placed his left elbow on his left knee and rested his chin on his left hand. Bill stomped past the bed and when he reached the other wall, he turned sharply on his heel and headed back to the other side. Charlie slowly turned his head to follow his brother's progress. When Bill turned, Charlie simply moved his head back to follow Bill the other direction. After about five circuits around the room, Charlie ventured to speak.
"So Bill, are you sure she's you know, good enough to make this permanent?" Charlie asked. Bill stopped dead in his tracks and turned to glare at his younger brother.
"I hardly think THAT'S any of your business!" Bill cried. "but yes, I do believe this is the right decision."
"William, are you sure you're thinking clearly?" Charlie asked. "You and she have only been dating since August!"
"But we've known each other since I was eleven!" Bill cried. "And since when are you allowed to call me William, Charles?"
"OOOOH, that was low," Charlie insisted. "but if you'er so sure that it's the right thing to do then why are you trying to wear a hole in the already threadbare carpet of our floor?" Bill leveled an icy glare on Charlie. He leaned back on his left leg and raised his left hand to chest level. Before Charlie had a chance to move, Bill sprang towards him, right fist connecting with the side of Charlie's head. Bill's forced caused the brother's to catapult backwards into the wall.
%%%%%
"I can't believe Bill is getting married later this afternoon," Ron said. He dragged his fingers in lazy circles around the top of Juliet's head. He was lying on his back on his bed. The kitten was curled into a fluffy ball, sleeping on his chest. Harry was stretched out across the floor and Fred and George were rolling a ball between themselves that Alroy was happily chasing. Braeden was stretched out across a chair in the corner, his nose in a book.
"You should probably start believing, because it's going to happen one way or the other," Fred laughed.
"He and Bella just met at the beginning of august!" Ron exclaimed.
"If you're not counting any of the time between Bill's first day of Hogwarts and last August," George laughed. Ron glared at his brother but didn't more too much in fear of disturbing Juliet.
"So I've got a question," Harry said.
"We're not Hermione, but we still may have answers," George quipped.
"How does one go about being in a wedding?" Harry asked.
"Well, typically the guy asks the girl if she will marry him," Fred began. "But actually it starts before that."
"No you prat," Harry spat, "I meant how does one go about the bit where you get to stand next to the bride or groom?"
"Why do you care?" George asked.
"He's in the wedding," Ron said.
"Well you know Harry," Fred said "The only other wedding we would have had the opportunity to go to would have been Percy's and besides the fact that we were at Hogwarts, he did elope so there wasn't much of a wedding for us to attend."
"So you guys have never been to a wedding either?" Harry asked. Fred and George both shook their heads glumly.
"How did you rate being in the wedding anyway?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, we're his brothers and he didn't even ask us!" George cried.
"I'm not standing with bill, dolt. "I'm standing with Arabella."
"Why?" George questioned.
"She and my mum were best friends in school, and after mum and dad died, Bella was assigned to protect me. She said it was only fair I got to stand with her at her wedding in my mum's place," Harry explained.
"Oh," Fred and George mumbled simultaneously.
"So do you have any clue as to how wizard weddings usually go?" Harry asked. He received four blank stares, and a head shake from Fred and Braeden.
"I've got a completely random question, since all of us are clueless about wizarding weddings," Braeden said. "How did this cat get the name Alroy?" "Astrid," Ron and Harry chorused.
"Astrid?" Braeden asked,
"Didn't Ginny explain about her in a letter?" Harry asked.
"She mentioned that there was a Malfoy in Gryffindor, but then she took the next three rolls of parchment explaining about Gryffindors and Slytherins and Malfoys and such, so she never got back around to telling about Astrid," Braeden replied.
"So Astrid is Gryffindors resident Malfoy," Ron said, by way of explanation.
"Well, your sister told me that much!" Braeden laughed.
"Astrid is one of the coolest little kids you'll ever meet. She's a first year, and despite the fact that she's a Malfoy, she is fiercely loyal, extremely sarcastic, and all around a good friend," Harry said.
"That explains a bit more," Braeden said with a nod.
"I thought sarcasm was inherent with the name Malfoy," Fred said.
"Yes, well," Ron said, running his fingers through Juliet's fur again.
"So Braeden, have you ever been to a wedding?" Harry asked.
"I was in one once," Braeden replied. Harry turned to face Braeden, a look of questioning on his face.
"Yes, I made it halfway down the aisle before I had to be taken out of the side door," Braeden added airily.
"Explain yourself, boy," Ron said.
"Well, my aunt Katherine was getting married and she asked me to be the ring bearer. I must have been around three or four. So I got all dressed up in my little penguin suit and had my little pillow and was following the flower girl down the aisle when I tripped on the back of her dress and tossed my pillow into the crowd. The flower girl was slightly irate, so she whacked me several times with her basket of flowers. She scared me so badly that I peed in my pants and had to be taken out of the church by my mother," Braeden explained.
"She hit you with your basket!" Ron cried.
"YOU WORE A PENGUIN SUIT!" Fred howled.
"Yes," Braeden replied, "they're quite the fashion statement at fancy muggle affairs." A look passed unnoticed between the twins.
"That story is all the more hilarious if the flower girl was who I think it is," Harry crowed.
"Yes, the flower girl was one Miss. Hermione Granger. Aunt Katherine is Weston and my father, Benjamin's younger sister. She had Hermione as her flower girl and me as the ring bearer." The crowd in the room collapsed with laughter.
"Hermione as a flower girl?" Fred asked.
"Certainly," Braeden replied. "She wore a pretty yellow dress that was all sleeveless. And she carried a little basket of flowers and wore a ring of yellow roses in her hair. She had all of these big brown curls and the roses almost got lost in them." Fred tried to pick himself up off of the floor but wasn't successful. He submitted to his laughter and continued to roll on the floor between George and the chess table. Juliet arched her back and dug her claws into Ron's chest. Ron screeched and flung the cat off of his chest and onto Harry. Juliet wrapped herself around Harry's head and hissed fiercely at the form on the bed. Harry screamed from under the cat.
"Seriously guys," a voice from the doorway said. "You've faced some of the nastiest creatures to ever live and you're screaming like first years over a bloody kitten." Hermione stepped across the room and plucked the hissing kitten from Harry's head. She cradled the small body in her hands and ran her fingers over its fur.
"There there now baby, I'll keep you from the bad men," Hermione whispered to the kitten. Then she turned to look at the boys. "At any rate, Mrs. Weasley wants all of us kids in the kitchen."
"I completely resent being called a kid," Fred insisted indignantly. Everyone else clambered to their feet.
"Alright," Hermione amended her statement as she returned Juliet to the floor. "All of you kids and Fred." Fred smiled sweetly at his girlfriend.
"Much better dear."
"Where has Angelina gotten off to?" Harry asked George.
"She and her favorite thing in the world are in the orchard doing the only thing she has time for," George explained slightly forlornly.
"Those would be?" Hermione asked, trying to ignore the looks of devilish interest that had crossed the faces of most of the boys.
"Flying and her broomstick," George replied. "They've taken over her life!"
"Does this mean George and Angelina are no longer together?" Braeden ventured to ask.
"That's exactly what it means," George replied. "Evidently I'm not serious enough about her Quidditch career to be her boyfriend anymore." Ron clapped his brother on his shoulder twice.
"I'm sorry man," he said.
"Oh it's not too much of a problem. I loved Angelina and everything, and this comes as a surprise and it hurts, it really does. I just need to wait a socially acceptable amount of time after being dumped to make things publicly official with Katie," George said, a devilish smile crossing his thin lips.
"GEORGE CLANCY WEASLEY!" Fred shouted.
"What?" I danced with her at the ball after Lina broke things off with me, and we both agree that things between us just feel perfect," George shrugged as he stepped into the kitchen leaving the rest of the group to ponder the implications of his statement.
"Kids!" Molly exclaimed.
"And Fred!" Hermione muttered under her breath.
"There are some people here I thought you might like to see." Molly pointed towards the table. The six teenagers looked to the other end of the room.
"Professor Lupin!" four of the five Hogwarts students chorused. The bedraggled wizard seated at the end of the table waved cheerily to the teenagers.
"Snuffles!" Harry cried as he was bowled over by the familiar large black dog that was his Godfather.
"Aunt Jo and Uncle Weston!" Braeden exclaimed. He headed towards the very distressed looking people seated opposing Lupin.
"Braeden Granger, what are you doing here?" Weston asked, visibly surprised at his nephew's presence in the kitchen of the Burrow.
"Well, as Ginny and I are," Braeden paused for a moment, searching for the right word to describe his and Ginny's relationship.
"You're interested in each other," Hermione supplied a phrase to fill the silence Braeden had caused. Braeden glared at his younger cousin.
"Braeden dear, it's not like everyone in the kitchen didn't already know," Jo laughed. Braeden turned his scowl on his aunt.
"Well, Ginny and I are interested in each other so Molly invited me here to the burrow for the wedding and then Christmas," Braeden explained.
"I actually didn't know he and Ginny were interested in each other, but then I didn't know him," Lupin called from the other end of the table.
"So I have just one question," Braeden said.
"Which is?" Jo prompted.
"Why didn't anyone bother to tell me I'm getting a new cousin?" Braeden looked pointedly at the very pregnant Jo.
"Braden, you're getting a new cousin in April," Jo said. "There, you've been told."
"I think you should name it Colt, after me," Braden announced.
"We've already picked out names," Weston said. "Weston Edward Granger Jr. for a boy and Jaquenetta Madeline Granger for a girl."
"Jaquenetta?" Braden asked, eyes widening with disbelief.
"That's what WE said!" Ron laughed from the other end of the table.
"You could always call her Jaqui," Hermione suggested brightly.
"And we could always call you Hermie," Weston shot back instantly. Hermione's face fell while all of her friends exchanged mischievous glances and laughter.
"And that's a no!" Hermione spat. "If you must shorten my name, I much prefer 'Mione to Herm or Hermie."
"Hermione dear, who are all of your friends?" Jo asked, pushing her short honey brown hair back away form her face. Angelina crashed through the doorway, leaning her broom against the bottom of the cloak rack.
"Brilliant weather out there today," she claimed as she unraveled her scarf from her wind swept cheeks.
"So mum," Hermione said, looking away form Angelina. "you know Ginny, Ron and Harry, and of course you know Braeden."
"I changed Braeden's nappies!" Jo interrupted. Braeden's face turned bright red and the crowd in the kitchen, which now contained Bill, Charlie, Natalia, Gus and Audra erupted with laughter.
"So that's George Weasley, the brother above Ron and that's Bill, the oldest Weasley. Charlie, the one standing next to Bill, is the second oldest and that's Natalia Stockard, his girlfriend. The little redhead is Gus Figg and that's his sister Audra. The girl that just came in is Angelina Johnson and the Weasley that looks exactly like Goerge is my boyfriend, Fred," Hermione explained. "I'm assuming you already met Mrs. Weasley and Professor Lupin."
"Heavens yes. Remus was quite helpful in getting us here," Go replied.
"Fredrick Bayard Weasley!" Molly shrieked. "What have you done with our Hermione?"
"Well mum," Fred began, a sly smile cracking across his freckled face." There is a big difference between done with and done to. I suspect you would much rather hear the answer to the latter." Molly's face reached an all-new level of furious. Weston's face turned bright red. Hermione's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Everyone else present stifled giggles except for Charlie who ran from the room and could be heard laughing in the living room.
"FREDRICK BAYARD WEASLEY!" Molly shrieked. "That is no way to behave in front of the parents of your girlfriend. And you KNOW Imperious is quite illegal!"
"Oh Mrs. Weasley!" Jo said, brushing a tear of laughter form her eyes. "They're teenagers. I for one, am quite glad Hermione found a guy with a sense of humor who obviously comes from a good family." Weston nodded about the family part but didn't seem to share Jo's feelings about Fred's sense of humor.
"Fred, did you really need to go there in front of my parents?" Hermione asked.
"I'm sorry babe, but she opened the door on that one. I couldn't help stepping in," Fred said sheepishly. Hermione smiled at Fred.
"Oh, guess what Hermione," Jo said.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Your little brother or sister is a wizard or witch!:" Jo announced proudly.
"So you could see the Burrow as it really is?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, and your father couldn't." Jo explained.
"I read something about muggle women being perceptive of magic when they're pregnant with wizarding babies," Hermione said.
"Really?" Bill asked. "I always knew a witch's power would grow if she was pregnant, especially if her child is powerful, but I didn't know it worked sort of the same for muggles."
"Can werewolves have babies?" Ginny asked.
"Only rarely, if both parents are alpha and the mother can control her change for nine months. Even then, the baby will most likely have lycanthropy. But if the mother changes while pregnant, the baby usually doesn't survive the change," Lupin explained.
"What if the mother is human?" George asked.
"Typically sons will survive but daughters inherit lycanthropy and usually die. Don't ask me why because I don't much feel like explaining the muggle scientific reason for it," said Lupin, running his fingers through his sandy hair and making it stand wildly on end.
"Wait, you all are talking as if werewolves really exist," Jo said cautiously.
"They do," the group chorused.
"Aren't they dangerous?" Weston questioned.
"During the full moon yes," Bill supplied.
"But even then, with the new advances in potions and all, they can be made quite harmless," Lupin added.
"Do you all know any werewolves?" Jo asked.
"Yes!" came the resounding answer from the group.
"Who?" Weston asked.
"My younger sister, Myah," Natalia supplied. Everyone else in the room exchanged nervous glances, not sure whether or not to speak.
"Me," Lupin finally spoke up.
"Really?" Jo asked.
"Yes," Lupin replied. "I got bitten when I was too young to remember but old enough that my first change didn't kill me." Jo and Weston just looked at Lupin and nodded, unsure of what to say.
"So kids, why don't you all go get ready for the wedding?" Molly suggested. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger can stay here with Remus and discuss his Lycanthropy. The Hogwarts Students, Braeden and Audra headed off towards the front of the house and the stairs. Natalia went off to find Charlie. Bill remained stationary.
"William, that means you too," Mrs. Weasley insisted.
"But mum, I'm hardly a kid anymore!" Bill said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"William Griffith Weasley! Out of my kitchen now!" Molly screeched. Bill turned on his heel and scampered out of the kitchen as fast as a 30 year old man can scamper.
*****
Dear Barrett,
Happy Birthday. Today would be your eighth. It's kind of rainy here today, not snowing as should be expected from Northern England in mid-late December. I would be surprised, only it hasn't snowed on your birthday since you turned three, only rained. Do you have something to do with that? Next year you should make it warm and sunny. That would really make people have kittens.
Speaking of kittens, Astrid got two for Christmas from two of her friends. The kittens' names are Alroy and Juliet. She was telling me about them today. She had to send them home with her friend for the holidays because she was afraid of what Keiran would do. So Astrid is definitely the first Malfoy ever in Gryffindor, which came as a shock to all of us. Keiran and I were utterly rotten to her for first term. Keiran will still be rotten, but she and I were both on the receiving end of a punishment courtesy of Lucius last night. While I still don't approve of her friends, I have to feel sorry for her. So I'm trying to refrain from calling her traitor, at least while we're at home. I'll need to keep up appearances and everything at school though. Astrid's best friends at school are definitely Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. While I hate the fact that she's in Gryffindor and that she's friends with them, I don't mind the fact that Potter and Weasel stand in as the big brothers that I can't be. Just as long as she doesn't ask me to be friends with them, it will be okay. She's also really good friends with a second year boy and a couple of the first year boys in her house, as well as one of the Hufflepuff girls.
Keiran, is, as always, Keiran. He's a snotty little bastard, and a stereotypical Slytherin. He's following in my footsteps well, and I suspect he'll rule over the common room by the time he's a fifth or sixth year. He made the Quidditch team this year, but only as a reserve. He's actually the reserve seeker, and I'm the reserve Keeper. Next year he'll be the seeker and I'll be the keeper when Pucey graduates. He's allowed to attend the meetings that Casey Warrington holds. I think I told you about those in earlier letters, maybe last year?
Emma, is, well, Emma. She took Astrid's side on the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin mess, and so I haven't really talked to her lately. Not that I ever really talked to her much before. She's taller than Keiran now, and she still has those goofy glasses. I'm glad I only have to wear mine occasionally. Mainly when I don't feel like charming my eyes so I can read.
So Saturday night was the annual Yule Ball. I went with my girlfriend of two months, Finley Alexander. Okay, close your mouth and get over the surprise of me having a girlfriend because I'm getting ready to break up with her because Lucius is a bastard. Oh sure, she's pureblooded, but her parents don't believe in tattooing so she's not even up to Lucius's standards. I'm really into Finley. She's a great girl. She even sort of wants to make me be nice. Or less of a bastard. She's got a great sense of humor and is incredibly sarcastic, but I don't want her to get hurt by Lucius or any of his henchmen. I know this sounds incredibly clichéd and all, but it's the truth. Well, that and I sort of miss single life so if things with Lucius settle down, I can always get back with Fin after a bit of a break.
In other news, I'm Slytherin Seeker, Prefect and still the best looking guy in all of Hogwarts. How is that for short sweet and to the point? Well, I believe this is all for now. I have another letter to write before I'm expected to be at dinner. With it being the solstice and all, I may get to go cause some mischief with Lucius and his friends. Expect another of these at the same time next year I suppose.
Your Brother
Draco
Draco carefully picked up the parchment and blew on the ink at the bottom of it. When the letter was satisfactorily dry, he picked it up and rolled it carefully. He stood up from his desk and started towards the window. He pulled back the forest green curtains and pushed the latch in the center of the window, making it swing outwards. He leaned out the window. Holding his wand in one hand and the letter in the other, he aimed a spell at the letter. Quickly, small blue flames curled around the edge of the letter. The tiny fire consumed the letter and illuminated Draco's pale hand in the quickly fading sunlight.
"Every year you write a letter and every year you burn it. Who is it too?" a female voice asked from the other side of the room. The letter fluttered to the ground as Draco had released it in his surprise.
"Who do you think?" he asked as he turned to glare at his youngest sister.
"I figured as much," Emma said. She looked at the ground through her oval shaped glasses and took a seat on the edge of his green bed. "Do you miss her?"
"No," Draco lied. "I simply write her a letter every year on her birthday because mum asked me to."
"Since when do you ever do anything anyone asks you to?" Emma shot back. She tucked a strand of white blonde hair behind her ear and looked imploringly at her older brother for an answer.
"Since when she was alive, Barrett did sort of look up to me," Draco snapped. He threw himself down on his desk chair.
"That doesn't explain why you write the letters for mum," Emma countered.
"Shove it," Draco spat. He glared evilly at his little sister.
"Look. I was just trying to be helpful, but since you're clearly just going to be a bloody wanker, I'm here to say that mum wants you at dinner in 30 minutes. You are to wear your best dress robes and be properly presentable." With that announcement, Emma turned on her heel and stormed from Draco's room. Draco looked at the door his sister had just run through.
"It's bwoody wankuh," he muttered. He slowly turned back to his desk and picked up another piece of parchment. He spread it out on his desk and clutched his quill tightly in his left hand.
Finley
It's over. I just needed a hot date for the Yule Ball. Now that that's done, your purpose has been fulfilled The two months were fun while they lasted, but I must say, Parkinson is much better to "be with" than you ever will be.
Thanks
Draco
Draco leaned back in his seat and admired his handiwork. Finley would be so irate that she would never speak to him. At least not until he was ready to date her again. He was sure there would be a next time. He was, after all, Draco Malfoy. He rolled the letter up and sealed it with a drop of wax. He walked over to his window, whistling for his eagle owl on the way. Adonis, the owl, landed on Draco's arm. Draco attached the letter to the owl's leg and whispered an address to it in Old English. The owl took flight and Draco headed over to his closet to find his dress robes.
*****
"Do you William, take Arabella to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the ministry of magic official asked Bill Weasley. The couple stood at the altar flanked by Charlie on Bill's side and Harry on Arabella's. Bill held Arabella's hands in both of his.
"Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togethaw today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam!" George whispered loud enough for Fred, Percy, Penelope, Hermione and Jo to hear. Fred and Jo stifled their giggles while Hermione, Percy and Penelope passed glares around to the pair of Weasleys and the out of control Granger. Angelina reached up from her seat behind the twins and thumped George soundly on the back of his head. George turned around and glared at his ex-girlfriend while rubbing a spot on the back of his head.
*Pop* *Pop Pop* *Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop* *Pop Pop Pop* *Pop* *Pop*
Thirteen black robed, black hooded figures surrounded the clearing where the wedding was in progress. Jo let out a shriek loud enough to wake the dead. Hermione calmly reached over and clamped her hand over her mother's mouth, never taking her eyes off of the circling death eaters. Wands appeared from pockets of the majority of the group. Arabella's father stepped up to stand next to Harry. He pulled his wand and clapped Harry roughly on his shoulder, wild blue eye swiveling madly in its socket. Harry felt relieved that Mad Eye Moody was on their side. Arabella hadn't disclosed her father's identity at any point before he clumped into the Burrow's kitchen on his one good, one wooden legs. They and Arabella's brother Aberdeen all claimed it was for everyone's safety.
"What do you want?" Arabella asked, pointing her wand at the Death Eater exactly opposite from her. The Death Eater raised his wand and fired off a spell into the crowd. A friend of Bill and Arabella's from school crumpled onto the ground.
"They struck first," Moody mumbled under his breath, his wand trained at a spot between two death eaters. Harry, too, chose a Death Eater and held his wand pointed at center mass. He noticed that Bill, Arabella and Charlie had all chosen a death eater also. Mad-Eye Moody caught the eyes of Hermione, Ron and the Weasley twins. He nodded at them. Arabella and Bill held Mr. And Mrs. Weasley's attention, while Remus Lupin stood at the end of the aisle alongside a large black dog.
"STUPEFY!" Moody roared. The rest of the gathered crowd took his spell as a signal to begin firing their own. The air was soon bright with flying spells. The first Death Eater fell to the ground. Harry managed to put his Death Eater in a full body bind.
"Stupefy!" Bill shouted, effectively stunning a Death Eater who was about to curse Arabella.
"Aqueous Reducto!" Five more "pop's" sounded, and one of the reinforcements shouted a spell that slowly began removing all of the water from Bill's body.
"Aqueous Restoro," Arabella recited the counter spell to save her not-quite husband. The Death Eater who had hit Bill rolled to the ground under the weight of the ominous black dog.
"HHHEEEEEEE-YYYAAAAA!" a squat grey haired lady barreled down the aisle. With a flying kick, she bowled the Death Eater nearest to Harry to the ground. Harry looked at her slack jawed.
"Don't just stand there boy, stun him!" the lady declared. Harry effectively placed a stunning spell on the Death Eater, as Arabella Figg, the older babysitter version ducked behind Harry.
"Where did you come from?" Harry asked, glancing backwards at his old babysitter.
"Nevermind that boy, just shield me," Arabella commanded. Harry glanced over and saw the younger version of Arabella Figg fighting between her father and her not quite husband. Harry glanced back over his shoulder to the older Miss Figg, but instead found a Weasley twin.
"Now I'm REALLY going to fuck with their heads!" the twin cackled, before heading out to where Fred and George had a Death Eater in a Mobilus Corpus, lolling like a puppet on a string between the two of them.
"HARRY! BEHIND YOU!" Hermione shouted. Harry ducked, and Hermione hit the Death Eater with a Wingardium Leviosa that catapulted him into the nearest tree. He hung in the topmost branches by the back of his robes. Hermione ran over and exchanged a quick high five with Harry. Only then did they notice Remus Lupin standing to the left of the back of the aisle. He had a Death Eater in either hand. Wand forgotten on the ground, he was busy banging the Death Eater's together like a large black pair of cymbals. Harry glanced over and found the three Weasley twins dancing a circle around two very confused Death Eaters.
"There are only supposed to be two of you!" one of the Death Eaters cried. A mad cackle issued from two of the twins. Harry wasn't quite sure which were real and which one wasn't.
"Harry," Hermoine's urgent tugging on the sleeve of his robe made Harry turn and look to where she was pointing. Bill, Arabella and Moody were standing back to back to back inside a circle of six Death Eaters. Charlie lay slightly outside the circle, unconscious and bleeding profusely from his mouth and one ear.
"Hermione, you go see about," Harry began, only to realize that Hermione had already taken off towards the fallen Weasley. Harry headed over towards the circling Death Eaters.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a war whoop came tearing forth out of the mouths of the Weasley twins and a short girl with lower back length neon green hair. The three rushed past Harry and dived onto the backs of three of the Death Eater's allowing Moody, Arabella and Bill to attack the other three. Fred and George bowled their death eaters to the ground, while the unidentified girl simply clung to the back of her Death Eater and held on for dear life. She threw her weight from side to side in attempt to knock the Death Eater over. Finally tired of swinging around with the Death Eater, she slowly began to increase in size until there was a severely obese, balding man hanging where the girl had been only moments before. Harry blinked twice and looked at the toppling Death Eater. The Death Eater shrieked wildly, and with a series of pops, the remaining Death Eater's disappeared. Sirius still growled ferociously at the Death Eater trapped under his weight. The Death Eater was unconscious and therefore unable to apparate. Hermione's Death Eater had disapparated from the tree. The two Lupin had been playing lay in a heap at the end of the aisle. The Death Eater the mysterious Arabella Figg had kicked still lay on the ground, courtesy of Harry's stunner. The Death Eater Harry put in the body- bind, however, had gotten away. The one the twins had been playing with before the arrival of the mysterious third Weasley twin had also disapparated. The two the three twins had taken care of had also gotten away, courtesy of the first Death Eater. The three Arabella, Moody and Bill had taken on at the very end were all crumpled on the ground.
"Eight out of eighteen," Moody said, surveying the damage, "not bad."
"Half," Ron and Braeden cried proudly from the back corner of the benches. Everyone turned to look at the two boys. Between them lay a black and blue Death Eater. His hood was thrown back and his face was covered in blossoming brusies.
"What happened to him?" Bill asked.
"We pulled a Hermione," Ron admitted sheepishly.
"You WHAT?" Hermione asked.
"We forgot we were wizards and simply beat the hell out of him!" Ron clamped his hands to his mouth as soon as the word hell slipped out. He glanced around nervously, hoping his mother didn't hear him, but Molly was in no condition to hear anyone. She had fallen victim to a stunner and was lying sprawled in the middle of the aisle.
"Well then," Moody said, stepping to the front of the group. "Of the gathered here, who is injured?"
"Charlie," came Hermione's frantic reply. She had turned the second oldest Weasley boy onto his back and managed to stop the bleeding, but her attempts to revive him weren't working.
"Molly is out, but I think she's just been stunned," Arthur said from where he knelt beside his fallen wife.
"Ginny," came Fred and George's chorus. Fred jokingly poked his collapsed little sister with the toe of his boot. Braeden stepped away from the fallen death eater and sprinted towards Ginny. He almost crashed into Natalia who was limping towards Charlie.
"Natalia, are you okay?" Moody asked when he noticed Natalia's limp. Natalia nodded through gritted teeth. She collapsed on the ground next to her boyfriend and gathered his head into her lap. Only then did anyone notice the weird angle her knee was twisted to.
"Anyone else?" Moody asked. The victim of the original spell came limping forwards.
"Are you alright?" Moody asked her.
"I'm just a little shaken up at this point," she replied.
"Anyone else?" Moody asked. The crowd nervously looked around, each hoping no one else would step forward. Oh sure, most people had the occasion scratch or bruise, but there weren't anymore major injuries.
"So what do we do?" someone from the crowd asked.
"Abject prayer and supplication come to mind," Weston quipped before Moody could reply.
"I'll still serve dinner for anyone who wants to stay, however, feel free to leave at any time you wish," Molly called.
"Molly, are you really sure you're up to that?" Arthur asked. He had just finished reviving his wife.
"Yes," Molly insisted, dusting her robes off as she spoke.
"Thank you all for coming to our wedding," Bill called, "I'm sorry it had to end this way."
"Those Death Eaters will be sorry too!" Mad Eye Moody muttered gruffly under his breath "No one ruins my baby's wedding and gets away with it."
"Oh daddy!" Arabella said. She cast a sweet smile in her father's direction. "My wedding would only be ruined if bill had died." Bill slipped an arm around his wife-to-be's shoulders and dropped a kiss on her temple.
"So what do you say we get the two of you married?" the priest asked. Bill nodded and Arabella happily followed the priest.
"Hey Ron!" Bill called over his shoulder.
"Yes," Ron called back.
"My best man is out, so will you come stand with me?" Bill asked.
"Certainly!" Ron exclaimed. He went over to Charlie to find Bella's ring in his older brother's pocket.
"Come on, Harry," Arabella called. Harry waited a moment for Ron to catch up with him, then the pair followed the couple and the ministry official. Just behind them Moody and Arthur began delegating responsibilities. Hermione led her parents off to begin explaining the saga of her life as a witch.
*****
"So what is your final answer?" a large man dressed in a black robe asked. He loomed over a couple sitting on the couch. The man on the couch was tall with no hair on the top of his head and black fuzz around his ears and the back of his head. The woman had long brownish-blonde hair, a ski-slope nose, and dark blue eyes.
"We said, NO!" the man insisted.
"Goyle, Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Bring them in!" the Death Eater insisted. A large Death Eater, Goyle, walked in, holding a squirming toddler in his arms. The toddler looked like a doll in comparison to the sheer size of the death eater. The man was at least 6'8" and weighed well over 300 pounds. His massive bulk made everyone in the room look small in comparison. Another Death Eater, Malfoy, followed him. Malfoy was smaller and skinnier, and had a long silvery blonde pony tail trailing down the back of his robes. He held the hand of a very dazed looking seven year old boy. The final two Death Eaters were the smallest yet, and between them walked a teenage girl. She glared menacingly at Avery and Nott as they held her arms..
"Now watch," the first Death Eater commanded. Goyle grabbed the toddler by her ankles. The baby's squirms turned to howls of anguish. Goyle swung her back behind him before bringing her towards the wall with full force. The baby's head came into contact with the wall with a sickening crack and a dull thud. Her squirming and screaming stopped and Goyle dropped her to a heap in the floor.
"Aqueous Reducto," came Malfoy's spell to the little boy. Almost instantly, a puddle began forming at the boy's feet.
"Mummy, what's happening," the boy asked, looking fearfully up at his mother.
"My baby!" the woman screamed, struggling to jump off of the couch.
"Petrificus Totalus!" came the first Death Eater's spell to stop a repeat of the Lily Potter incident. The puddle at the boy's feet grew larger and his skin began to stretch tightly across his bones. His eyes shrunk in their sockets until they looked like raisins. Jelly like goo ran down his face in large chunks. His skin began to split at his joints and shrivel around the splits. Bone and dehydrated muscle showed through the splits. The boy fell to the floor, a perfectly preserved skeleton complete with dried muscle and bone.
"Let's have a little fun with this one," Avery said said, looking at Nott over the head of the teenage girl. Nott reached under his robes. The Death Eater standing over the couple quickly bound the father to the couch. Before Nott could finish his business under his robes, the girl brought her heel down sharply on Avery's toe and kicked Nott in his crotch. She began heading for the door.
"Gladium" The first Death Eater said. Avery and Nott hopped madly about the room.
"Crucio, crucio." Malfoy muttered. The pair collapsed on the floor in shrieking heaps. "That should take care of them, Rookwood."
"Now what is your answer?" Rookwood asked the couple. Goyle and Malfoy came to stand at the man's elbows.
"NEVER!" The man on the couch screamed.
"Avada Kedavara!" Rookwood and Malfoy said at the exact same time, killing both of the couch's occupants. They glanced over their shoulder to see the girl crumple into a pool of her own blood, caused by the invisible sword the spell used to pierce her through her heart.
*****
"My Lord," a Death Eater sank to his knees at the feet of the Dark Lord.
"Yes?" Voldemort asked.
"The mission has been accomplished. Pettigrew is captured, the family is killed." Voldemort used the toe of his black boot to lift the hood off of the man's face.
"Very good Lucius." Voldemort commended. "Did we suffer any losses?"
"Watson, Greer, McDaniel, Andrews, Kirkpatrick, Julian, Talbot, and Lexington were all also captured."
"Of no consequence," Voldemort said airily.
*****
"FRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Sirius screeched as he barreled into the smaller dining room in the basement of the Burrow. He had just finished helping Arabella, Bill and Moody cart the prisoners, among them Peter Pettigrew, off to the Ministry of Magic.
"Yes Sirius, Freedom. Now could you sit down so this meeting can begin?" Dumbledore asked. Sirius vaulted over the back of a chair and into the seat next to the mysterious woman with the green hair.
"I have called you all here to discuss a very important matter," Dumbledore said from his position at the head of the table. Seated around him were the entire Weasley clan, except for Charlie and including Arabella Weasley, Harry, Hermione, the odd green haired girl, Remus Lupin, Sirius, Moody, Aberdeen Figg and his wife Helen, and a few more people Harry didn't recognize.
"As you may or may not know, the attack on Bill and Arabella's wedding was simply a distraction to keep some of the ministry's best aurors away from the scene of the real crime. At the same time as this attack, another group of Death Eaters attacked a household north of muggle London," Dumbledore tugged at his beard again and looked over to Arthur Weasley.
"The family consisted of two parents, a fourteen-year-old daughter, a seven-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. They were pureblooded wizards." The last statement elicited a gasp from everyone gathered.
"What does this mean?" Penelope Weasley ventured to ask.
"It means, most likely, that Dark Lord is attempting to gain followers and this family refused," Bill said grimly. "And they paid with their lives." Penelope winced visibly.
"Wait, a 14-year-old?" Ron asked.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "She was a student at Hogwarts, in the same year as your sister, but not a member of your house. I can't release her name right now because of the Ministry."
"What is the Ministry saying about the attacks?" the green haired girl asked.
"As of right now, they're blaming both Death Eater attacks on the fact that it's the winter solstice. There is no conclusive evidence that Voldemort was at either sight," Dumbledore said. Sighs and groans rippled through the crowd.
"That bunch of creepy, slimy, good for nothing, pieces of shit, maggot ridden," the green haired girl began. Sirius and Remus both clamped hands over her mouth.
"We all know how you feel about the Death Eaters," Remus said. He carefully removed his hand from the girl's mouth.
"I was talking about the Ministry," the girl declared.
"Nympho, that is completely uncalled for!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Hey, what I do in my spare time is none of your business!" the girl exclaimed. "and besides, you feel the same way! Hey WAIT! I'm not a! SIRIUS BLACK!" She quickly slapped Sirius four times in quick succession on his shoulder.
"If you children are quite through!" Dumbledore coughed from the podium.
"Sorry Professor Dumbledore," Sirius and the girl both said. They looked at Dumbledore with properly apologetic, properly childish expressions on their similar features.
"Just to pause here for a moment. For those of you, the girl with green hair there is Nymphadora Jaxon Tonks, resident Auror and Metamorphmagus."
"What girl with green hair?" Tonks asked. Her hair was bright pink and spiky. "And Tonks is fine."
"At any rate, a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix will be held at a later date to discuss that matter, for there is a more pressing matter at hand," Dumbledore explained. Harry looked over at Ron and quirked his eyebrow in a silent question concerning the Order of the Phoenix. Ron shrugged his shoulders at Harry. Hermione smiled smugly at the two boys. Both made mental notes to ask her later.
"In the other attack, the parents and the two oldest children were killed by spells. However, the baby was left to muggle methods, and they failed. The baby, despite being thrown into a wall, survived with serious injury and is being held at St. Mungo's." A slight cheer rippled across the room.
"The death's of her parents pose a bit of a problem though. The will states that if anything were to happen to the parents, the two younger children would go to their older sister because all grandparents are dead, the father was an only child and the mother's one sister is clinically insane. Problem being, baby Sloane is the only survivor," Arthur explained.
"St. Mungo's refuses to treat Sloane until she has a legal guardian and the Ministry of Magic, in an emergency meeting earlier today, deemed that she would go to a Muggle Orphanage unless a wizard stepped forward to adopt her," Bill finished.
"The Ministry has charged me with deciding baby Sloane's future," Dumbledore said.
"We can't let her go to orphanage," Molly insisted. "We'll take her!"
"Molly, baby Sloane may have lasting effects of the attack, and we'd prefer someone a bit younger. You already have seven of your own and I'm certain Grandchildren are on their way," Dumbledore said gently.
"You're right," Molly said. She looked over to Arabella.
"We'll do it," Penelope insisted.
"We'll not! I don't have time for a baby!" Percy insisted. "Especially not a two year old with problems." Arabella and Bill exchanged a look.
"What about my mum and dad?" Hermione asked.
"They've got a baby on the way," Dumbledore replied.
"I'll take her!" Tonks exclaimed gleefully.
"You're not mature enough for a baby!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yes I am! See?" She exclaimed, quickly morphing into old Arabella Figg.
"If any of the three of us should take us it should be Remus," Sirius said, thumping Tonks on her forehead.
"Hey! Sirius has an idea!" Tonks cried. "And it's a good one!"
"Explain yourself Tonks," Dumbledore said.
"Well. He's a werewolf so he can't have children, but he proved as a professor that he loves children, so who better to take the baby?" Tonks asked.
"I can take care of her with my job. The hours are flexible," Remus offered, his face lighting up at the prospect of being a father.
"Is that okay with everyone?" Dumbledore asked. Nods abounded all around the table.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dumbledore asked Remus.
"Yes," Remus said. Secretly, he'd been trying to work up the courage to volunteer before Loud and Louder beat him to it.
"Well come with me, we need to get to St. Mungo's."
*****
Draco sat at his desk, trying to concentrate on his potion's text. He had reread the same sentence three times. He secretly wondered what his father was doing. As a punishment, he had been left out of that night's Death Eater activities even though the Dark Lord had given Lucius permission to bring Draco along. He glanced out of his window and noticed an owl spiraling towards him. The owl was Adonis, and he had a letter tied to his leg, but he hadn't had time to receive a letter from anywhere. Adonis stopped at the window and tapped politely with his beak. Draco jumped up and ran for the window. He pulled the letter from Adonis's leg and immediately recognized his own wax seal.
We still love Natalie.
Most of this still isn't mine.
Have fun with this chapter.
Please Review
That being said.
*****
"I'm quite glad you girls are here. I can fight vampires, I've taken on Death Eaters, and I even passed my Divination N.E.W.T. but make up is quite beyond me," Arabella laughed. She surveyed the table before her covered in various types of makeup.
"Never fear, Harry isn't the only one who can save the day," Ginny laughed. Hermione quirked her eyebrow in Arabella's direction.
"Divination?" she asked.
"Oh yes," Arabella laughed. "I was simply dreadful in that subject. It was taught up in the top of the North tower by this old bat who never came out of her classroom."
"Trelawney?" Hermione guessed.
"Yes, that was her name," Arabella said. "Only I think she was an older relative of the one you have now."
"So the teacher we have now has a reason to be looney, it runs in the family," Hermione laughed. "I walked out of her class somewhere after Easter of our third year and haven't been back since."
"I should have done that, but you have to have Divination to get into Auror training camp," Arabella explained.
"Good thing I suppose. I think the boys have decided that I'm going to be the non Auror in the group," Hermione said. She picked up a hairbrush from the table and dragged it through Arabella's auburn locks.
"I thought Ron wanted to be a professional Quidditch player," Arabella stated.
"Well if that falls through, and his potions grades aren't too dismal, then I think he wants to have Auror training to fall back on," Hermione explained.
"Well if that falls through, and his potions graes aren't too dismal, then I think he wants to have Auror training to fall back on," Hermione explained.
"And Harry wants to be an Auror?" Arabella asked.
"Harry hasn't really said what his plans for after Hogwarts are," Hermione replied.
"I think he's concentrating on living through that first," Ginny half- laughed.
"Poor kid. Luckily Voldemort has stayed relatively quiet since last June," Arabella said. Hermione and Ginny nodded in agreement. Before either of them could say anything, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Ginny asked before Hermione or Arabella could say anything.
"Bill," the voice on the other side of the door said. The doorknob slowly began to turn.
"NO!" Hermione screeched. She rushed to get around the table and throw herself up against the door.
"You can't see me before the wedding!" Arabella scolded.
"NOT FUNNY, CHARLIE!" Ginny shouted. The door flew open just after Hermione stepped out of the way. The hulking frame of the second oldest Weasley son appeared in the doorway.
"I got at least two of you!" Charlie laughed. He stepped completely into the room, pulling someone behind him. The person holding his hand was a girl not much taller than Hermione. She had long blonde hair that fell almost to her waist in silky waves. She had almond shaped grey blue eyes surrounded by thick black lashes. She was petite in build, but looked to be very muscular under her plum sweater and tight muggle blue jeans.
"Not funny, Charlie," Arabella echoed, much quieter than Ginny. She tried to smooth her disarrayed hair.
"Yes, I believe Ginny has already said that," Charlie laughed. "but at any rate, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Natalia Stockard."
"Hi," Ginny said, waiving at the woman slightly before turning back to the palate of eye shadow before her.
"So that's Arabella, the bride to be, and that's Hermione, Fred's girlfriend and Harry and Ron's best friend," Charlie explained.
"So you must be Ginny," Natalia said.
"What gave it away?" Ginny asked. "The red hair, the red hair, or the red hair?" The group in the room laughed appreciatively.
"Actually, I'd say it's probably the fact that Charlie said we were coming up here to meet Ginny, his sister, and since that's Hermione and that's Arabella, you have to be Ginny," Natalia explained. "Although the red hair did help a bit."
"Well dear, you've met the girls. Now I must go pry Bill off of the ceiling. Natalia, you may come with me or you can stay here and help with the makeup," Charlie offered. "Or you could always go sit with mum for tea."
"As exciting as the prospect of prying your brother off of the ceiling sounds, I think I'll have to stay with the makeup," Natalia said. Charlie smiled and dropped a kiss on his girlfriend's head.
"Alright then, see you later I suppose," he said. She smiled up at him before dropping his hand to rub at a shiny burn that laced the back of her knuckles. Charlie blew her another kiss before turning and exiting the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
"So Natalia, which division of the dragon preserve do you work in?" Arabella asked.
"How did you know I work in the preserve?" Natalia asked.
"Well, you've got a burn on the back of that hand and scars on the other, as well as a rather large scar just there under your jaw line covered by your hair," Arabella said. "I seriously doubt the preserve would allow you to get close enough to the dragons to get burned if you were simply one of Charlie's visitors."
"Very observant of you," Natalia laughed. She shook her hair back from her face. "You're right, I work in the hatchery and sometimes the little ones can't necessarily control their fire or their aim. And you're the Auror of the group?"
"Yes," Arabella replied.
"Safe to say I'm not nearly as observant as you. Charlie and Bill explained all about everyone to me before I got here," Natalia said.
"So girls, how about this mascara?" Ginny asked. The three girls all turned to look at the youngest of the group. Natalia grabbed a curling iron and Hermione grabbed the brush. They both started towards Arabella.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Arabella asked as the three girls proceeded to curl and brush her hair.
"If you want to be beautiful it is," Ginny said.
"And you most certainly want to be beautiful on your wedding day," Hermione added, laughing slightly.
"Should I really trust you three?" Arabella asked, glancing over her shoulder. Hermione and Ginny both nodded.
"You said it yourself," Hermione said. "You have about as much use for makeup as you have for death Eaters. I certainly don't want to see what you would end up looking like if left to your own devices."
"And I certainly don't want my mascara to go to Azkaban," Ginny added. Arabella, Hermione and Natalia all looked at Ginny wordlessly.
"It was a bad joke, I admit," Ginny said. "But Arabella, hurting the sister of your future husband now because of a bad joke might put a bit of a damper on the wedding plans. And besides, right now I hold the power to make you look beautiful or make you look like a clown."
"Then tell all the bad jokes you want," Arabella said. "I certainly don't want to look like a clown so I won't complain."
"So wait, you work with baby dragons?" Ginny asked, rather absentmindedly.
"That line of conversation was done several minutes ago there Gin," Arabella said.
"Forgive her," Hermione said, patting Ginny on her arm, "Her brain has been elsewhere ever since Braede4n showed up yesterday."
"Who is Braeden?" Natalia asked.
"My cousin," Hermione volunteered.
"So wait," Natalia said, attempting to process the information.
"And the boy Ginny is obsessed with," Arabella supplied.
"But he's not her boyfriend," Hermioen finished. Natalia shrugged.
"Sometimes boys are way slower than they should be," she laughed.
"Yes, but Braeden and I have quite the distance factor," Ginny replied. "He lives in France."
"Pretty sticks?" Natalia asked.
"What?" Ginny and Arabella chorused.
"She means Beauxbatons," Hermione supplied. "Beauxbatons means 'pretty sticks' in French." Arabella and Ginny both laughed.
"Yes, Braeden goes to Beauxbatons," Ginny said.
"Where did you go to school?" Arabella asked. "I don't remember you from Hogwarts."
"I went to Durmstrang," Natalia replied. Hermione and Ginny both fell silent. Arabella simply nodded.
"I almost did an exchange program there during my sixth year for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Arabella said. "But then with one thing and the other happening in the world, the trip was canceled."
"Durmstrang does have a great Defense department," Natalia said. Hermione looked at Ginny over Arabella's head.
"I think this hot pink lipstick will look fantastic!" Ginny said, picking up a shade of neon lipstick Fred had supplied when they scavenged for makeup earlier. He insisted it was left over from a Halloween costume.
"NO!!" Arabella insisted. Even with her limited knowledge of such matters, she knew hot pink lipstick was a step in the wrong direction.
%%%%%
Charlie sank onto his bed in the room he and his brother shared. He crossed his legs, placed his left elbow on his left knee and rested his chin on his left hand. Bill stomped past the bed and when he reached the other wall, he turned sharply on his heel and headed back to the other side. Charlie slowly turned his head to follow his brother's progress. When Bill turned, Charlie simply moved his head back to follow Bill the other direction. After about five circuits around the room, Charlie ventured to speak.
"So Bill, are you sure she's you know, good enough to make this permanent?" Charlie asked. Bill stopped dead in his tracks and turned to glare at his younger brother.
"I hardly think THAT'S any of your business!" Bill cried. "but yes, I do believe this is the right decision."
"William, are you sure you're thinking clearly?" Charlie asked. "You and she have only been dating since August!"
"But we've known each other since I was eleven!" Bill cried. "And since when are you allowed to call me William, Charles?"
"OOOOH, that was low," Charlie insisted. "but if you'er so sure that it's the right thing to do then why are you trying to wear a hole in the already threadbare carpet of our floor?" Bill leveled an icy glare on Charlie. He leaned back on his left leg and raised his left hand to chest level. Before Charlie had a chance to move, Bill sprang towards him, right fist connecting with the side of Charlie's head. Bill's forced caused the brother's to catapult backwards into the wall.
%%%%%
"I can't believe Bill is getting married later this afternoon," Ron said. He dragged his fingers in lazy circles around the top of Juliet's head. He was lying on his back on his bed. The kitten was curled into a fluffy ball, sleeping on his chest. Harry was stretched out across the floor and Fred and George were rolling a ball between themselves that Alroy was happily chasing. Braeden was stretched out across a chair in the corner, his nose in a book.
"You should probably start believing, because it's going to happen one way or the other," Fred laughed.
"He and Bella just met at the beginning of august!" Ron exclaimed.
"If you're not counting any of the time between Bill's first day of Hogwarts and last August," George laughed. Ron glared at his brother but didn't more too much in fear of disturbing Juliet.
"So I've got a question," Harry said.
"We're not Hermione, but we still may have answers," George quipped.
"How does one go about being in a wedding?" Harry asked.
"Well, typically the guy asks the girl if she will marry him," Fred began. "But actually it starts before that."
"No you prat," Harry spat, "I meant how does one go about the bit where you get to stand next to the bride or groom?"
"Why do you care?" George asked.
"He's in the wedding," Ron said.
"Well you know Harry," Fred said "The only other wedding we would have had the opportunity to go to would have been Percy's and besides the fact that we were at Hogwarts, he did elope so there wasn't much of a wedding for us to attend."
"So you guys have never been to a wedding either?" Harry asked. Fred and George both shook their heads glumly.
"How did you rate being in the wedding anyway?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, we're his brothers and he didn't even ask us!" George cried.
"I'm not standing with bill, dolt. "I'm standing with Arabella."
"Why?" George questioned.
"She and my mum were best friends in school, and after mum and dad died, Bella was assigned to protect me. She said it was only fair I got to stand with her at her wedding in my mum's place," Harry explained.
"Oh," Fred and George mumbled simultaneously.
"So do you have any clue as to how wizard weddings usually go?" Harry asked. He received four blank stares, and a head shake from Fred and Braeden.
"I've got a completely random question, since all of us are clueless about wizarding weddings," Braeden said. "How did this cat get the name Alroy?" "Astrid," Ron and Harry chorused.
"Astrid?" Braeden asked,
"Didn't Ginny explain about her in a letter?" Harry asked.
"She mentioned that there was a Malfoy in Gryffindor, but then she took the next three rolls of parchment explaining about Gryffindors and Slytherins and Malfoys and such, so she never got back around to telling about Astrid," Braeden replied.
"So Astrid is Gryffindors resident Malfoy," Ron said, by way of explanation.
"Well, your sister told me that much!" Braeden laughed.
"Astrid is one of the coolest little kids you'll ever meet. She's a first year, and despite the fact that she's a Malfoy, she is fiercely loyal, extremely sarcastic, and all around a good friend," Harry said.
"That explains a bit more," Braeden said with a nod.
"I thought sarcasm was inherent with the name Malfoy," Fred said.
"Yes, well," Ron said, running his fingers through Juliet's fur again.
"So Braeden, have you ever been to a wedding?" Harry asked.
"I was in one once," Braeden replied. Harry turned to face Braeden, a look of questioning on his face.
"Yes, I made it halfway down the aisle before I had to be taken out of the side door," Braeden added airily.
"Explain yourself, boy," Ron said.
"Well, my aunt Katherine was getting married and she asked me to be the ring bearer. I must have been around three or four. So I got all dressed up in my little penguin suit and had my little pillow and was following the flower girl down the aisle when I tripped on the back of her dress and tossed my pillow into the crowd. The flower girl was slightly irate, so she whacked me several times with her basket of flowers. She scared me so badly that I peed in my pants and had to be taken out of the church by my mother," Braeden explained.
"She hit you with your basket!" Ron cried.
"YOU WORE A PENGUIN SUIT!" Fred howled.
"Yes," Braeden replied, "they're quite the fashion statement at fancy muggle affairs." A look passed unnoticed between the twins.
"That story is all the more hilarious if the flower girl was who I think it is," Harry crowed.
"Yes, the flower girl was one Miss. Hermione Granger. Aunt Katherine is Weston and my father, Benjamin's younger sister. She had Hermione as her flower girl and me as the ring bearer." The crowd in the room collapsed with laughter.
"Hermione as a flower girl?" Fred asked.
"Certainly," Braeden replied. "She wore a pretty yellow dress that was all sleeveless. And she carried a little basket of flowers and wore a ring of yellow roses in her hair. She had all of these big brown curls and the roses almost got lost in them." Fred tried to pick himself up off of the floor but wasn't successful. He submitted to his laughter and continued to roll on the floor between George and the chess table. Juliet arched her back and dug her claws into Ron's chest. Ron screeched and flung the cat off of his chest and onto Harry. Juliet wrapped herself around Harry's head and hissed fiercely at the form on the bed. Harry screamed from under the cat.
"Seriously guys," a voice from the doorway said. "You've faced some of the nastiest creatures to ever live and you're screaming like first years over a bloody kitten." Hermione stepped across the room and plucked the hissing kitten from Harry's head. She cradled the small body in her hands and ran her fingers over its fur.
"There there now baby, I'll keep you from the bad men," Hermione whispered to the kitten. Then she turned to look at the boys. "At any rate, Mrs. Weasley wants all of us kids in the kitchen."
"I completely resent being called a kid," Fred insisted indignantly. Everyone else clambered to their feet.
"Alright," Hermione amended her statement as she returned Juliet to the floor. "All of you kids and Fred." Fred smiled sweetly at his girlfriend.
"Much better dear."
"Where has Angelina gotten off to?" Harry asked George.
"She and her favorite thing in the world are in the orchard doing the only thing she has time for," George explained slightly forlornly.
"Those would be?" Hermione asked, trying to ignore the looks of devilish interest that had crossed the faces of most of the boys.
"Flying and her broomstick," George replied. "They've taken over her life!"
"Does this mean George and Angelina are no longer together?" Braeden ventured to ask.
"That's exactly what it means," George replied. "Evidently I'm not serious enough about her Quidditch career to be her boyfriend anymore." Ron clapped his brother on his shoulder twice.
"I'm sorry man," he said.
"Oh it's not too much of a problem. I loved Angelina and everything, and this comes as a surprise and it hurts, it really does. I just need to wait a socially acceptable amount of time after being dumped to make things publicly official with Katie," George said, a devilish smile crossing his thin lips.
"GEORGE CLANCY WEASLEY!" Fred shouted.
"What?" I danced with her at the ball after Lina broke things off with me, and we both agree that things between us just feel perfect," George shrugged as he stepped into the kitchen leaving the rest of the group to ponder the implications of his statement.
"Kids!" Molly exclaimed.
"And Fred!" Hermione muttered under her breath.
"There are some people here I thought you might like to see." Molly pointed towards the table. The six teenagers looked to the other end of the room.
"Professor Lupin!" four of the five Hogwarts students chorused. The bedraggled wizard seated at the end of the table waved cheerily to the teenagers.
"Snuffles!" Harry cried as he was bowled over by the familiar large black dog that was his Godfather.
"Aunt Jo and Uncle Weston!" Braeden exclaimed. He headed towards the very distressed looking people seated opposing Lupin.
"Braeden Granger, what are you doing here?" Weston asked, visibly surprised at his nephew's presence in the kitchen of the Burrow.
"Well, as Ginny and I are," Braeden paused for a moment, searching for the right word to describe his and Ginny's relationship.
"You're interested in each other," Hermione supplied a phrase to fill the silence Braeden had caused. Braeden glared at his younger cousin.
"Braeden dear, it's not like everyone in the kitchen didn't already know," Jo laughed. Braeden turned his scowl on his aunt.
"Well, Ginny and I are interested in each other so Molly invited me here to the burrow for the wedding and then Christmas," Braeden explained.
"I actually didn't know he and Ginny were interested in each other, but then I didn't know him," Lupin called from the other end of the table.
"So I have just one question," Braeden said.
"Which is?" Jo prompted.
"Why didn't anyone bother to tell me I'm getting a new cousin?" Braeden looked pointedly at the very pregnant Jo.
"Braden, you're getting a new cousin in April," Jo said. "There, you've been told."
"I think you should name it Colt, after me," Braden announced.
"We've already picked out names," Weston said. "Weston Edward Granger Jr. for a boy and Jaquenetta Madeline Granger for a girl."
"Jaquenetta?" Braden asked, eyes widening with disbelief.
"That's what WE said!" Ron laughed from the other end of the table.
"You could always call her Jaqui," Hermione suggested brightly.
"And we could always call you Hermie," Weston shot back instantly. Hermione's face fell while all of her friends exchanged mischievous glances and laughter.
"And that's a no!" Hermione spat. "If you must shorten my name, I much prefer 'Mione to Herm or Hermie."
"Hermione dear, who are all of your friends?" Jo asked, pushing her short honey brown hair back away form her face. Angelina crashed through the doorway, leaning her broom against the bottom of the cloak rack.
"Brilliant weather out there today," she claimed as she unraveled her scarf from her wind swept cheeks.
"So mum," Hermione said, looking away form Angelina. "you know Ginny, Ron and Harry, and of course you know Braeden."
"I changed Braeden's nappies!" Jo interrupted. Braeden's face turned bright red and the crowd in the kitchen, which now contained Bill, Charlie, Natalia, Gus and Audra erupted with laughter.
"So that's George Weasley, the brother above Ron and that's Bill, the oldest Weasley. Charlie, the one standing next to Bill, is the second oldest and that's Natalia Stockard, his girlfriend. The little redhead is Gus Figg and that's his sister Audra. The girl that just came in is Angelina Johnson and the Weasley that looks exactly like Goerge is my boyfriend, Fred," Hermione explained. "I'm assuming you already met Mrs. Weasley and Professor Lupin."
"Heavens yes. Remus was quite helpful in getting us here," Go replied.
"Fredrick Bayard Weasley!" Molly shrieked. "What have you done with our Hermione?"
"Well mum," Fred began, a sly smile cracking across his freckled face." There is a big difference between done with and done to. I suspect you would much rather hear the answer to the latter." Molly's face reached an all-new level of furious. Weston's face turned bright red. Hermione's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Everyone else present stifled giggles except for Charlie who ran from the room and could be heard laughing in the living room.
"FREDRICK BAYARD WEASLEY!" Molly shrieked. "That is no way to behave in front of the parents of your girlfriend. And you KNOW Imperious is quite illegal!"
"Oh Mrs. Weasley!" Jo said, brushing a tear of laughter form her eyes. "They're teenagers. I for one, am quite glad Hermione found a guy with a sense of humor who obviously comes from a good family." Weston nodded about the family part but didn't seem to share Jo's feelings about Fred's sense of humor.
"Fred, did you really need to go there in front of my parents?" Hermione asked.
"I'm sorry babe, but she opened the door on that one. I couldn't help stepping in," Fred said sheepishly. Hermione smiled at Fred.
"Oh, guess what Hermione," Jo said.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Your little brother or sister is a wizard or witch!:" Jo announced proudly.
"So you could see the Burrow as it really is?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, and your father couldn't." Jo explained.
"I read something about muggle women being perceptive of magic when they're pregnant with wizarding babies," Hermione said.
"Really?" Bill asked. "I always knew a witch's power would grow if she was pregnant, especially if her child is powerful, but I didn't know it worked sort of the same for muggles."
"Can werewolves have babies?" Ginny asked.
"Only rarely, if both parents are alpha and the mother can control her change for nine months. Even then, the baby will most likely have lycanthropy. But if the mother changes while pregnant, the baby usually doesn't survive the change," Lupin explained.
"What if the mother is human?" George asked.
"Typically sons will survive but daughters inherit lycanthropy and usually die. Don't ask me why because I don't much feel like explaining the muggle scientific reason for it," said Lupin, running his fingers through his sandy hair and making it stand wildly on end.
"Wait, you all are talking as if werewolves really exist," Jo said cautiously.
"They do," the group chorused.
"Aren't they dangerous?" Weston questioned.
"During the full moon yes," Bill supplied.
"But even then, with the new advances in potions and all, they can be made quite harmless," Lupin added.
"Do you all know any werewolves?" Jo asked.
"Yes!" came the resounding answer from the group.
"Who?" Weston asked.
"My younger sister, Myah," Natalia supplied. Everyone else in the room exchanged nervous glances, not sure whether or not to speak.
"Me," Lupin finally spoke up.
"Really?" Jo asked.
"Yes," Lupin replied. "I got bitten when I was too young to remember but old enough that my first change didn't kill me." Jo and Weston just looked at Lupin and nodded, unsure of what to say.
"So kids, why don't you all go get ready for the wedding?" Molly suggested. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger can stay here with Remus and discuss his Lycanthropy. The Hogwarts Students, Braeden and Audra headed off towards the front of the house and the stairs. Natalia went off to find Charlie. Bill remained stationary.
"William, that means you too," Mrs. Weasley insisted.
"But mum, I'm hardly a kid anymore!" Bill said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"William Griffith Weasley! Out of my kitchen now!" Molly screeched. Bill turned on his heel and scampered out of the kitchen as fast as a 30 year old man can scamper.
*****
Dear Barrett,
Happy Birthday. Today would be your eighth. It's kind of rainy here today, not snowing as should be expected from Northern England in mid-late December. I would be surprised, only it hasn't snowed on your birthday since you turned three, only rained. Do you have something to do with that? Next year you should make it warm and sunny. That would really make people have kittens.
Speaking of kittens, Astrid got two for Christmas from two of her friends. The kittens' names are Alroy and Juliet. She was telling me about them today. She had to send them home with her friend for the holidays because she was afraid of what Keiran would do. So Astrid is definitely the first Malfoy ever in Gryffindor, which came as a shock to all of us. Keiran and I were utterly rotten to her for first term. Keiran will still be rotten, but she and I were both on the receiving end of a punishment courtesy of Lucius last night. While I still don't approve of her friends, I have to feel sorry for her. So I'm trying to refrain from calling her traitor, at least while we're at home. I'll need to keep up appearances and everything at school though. Astrid's best friends at school are definitely Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. While I hate the fact that she's in Gryffindor and that she's friends with them, I don't mind the fact that Potter and Weasel stand in as the big brothers that I can't be. Just as long as she doesn't ask me to be friends with them, it will be okay. She's also really good friends with a second year boy and a couple of the first year boys in her house, as well as one of the Hufflepuff girls.
Keiran, is, as always, Keiran. He's a snotty little bastard, and a stereotypical Slytherin. He's following in my footsteps well, and I suspect he'll rule over the common room by the time he's a fifth or sixth year. He made the Quidditch team this year, but only as a reserve. He's actually the reserve seeker, and I'm the reserve Keeper. Next year he'll be the seeker and I'll be the keeper when Pucey graduates. He's allowed to attend the meetings that Casey Warrington holds. I think I told you about those in earlier letters, maybe last year?
Emma, is, well, Emma. She took Astrid's side on the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin mess, and so I haven't really talked to her lately. Not that I ever really talked to her much before. She's taller than Keiran now, and she still has those goofy glasses. I'm glad I only have to wear mine occasionally. Mainly when I don't feel like charming my eyes so I can read.
So Saturday night was the annual Yule Ball. I went with my girlfriend of two months, Finley Alexander. Okay, close your mouth and get over the surprise of me having a girlfriend because I'm getting ready to break up with her because Lucius is a bastard. Oh sure, she's pureblooded, but her parents don't believe in tattooing so she's not even up to Lucius's standards. I'm really into Finley. She's a great girl. She even sort of wants to make me be nice. Or less of a bastard. She's got a great sense of humor and is incredibly sarcastic, but I don't want her to get hurt by Lucius or any of his henchmen. I know this sounds incredibly clichéd and all, but it's the truth. Well, that and I sort of miss single life so if things with Lucius settle down, I can always get back with Fin after a bit of a break.
In other news, I'm Slytherin Seeker, Prefect and still the best looking guy in all of Hogwarts. How is that for short sweet and to the point? Well, I believe this is all for now. I have another letter to write before I'm expected to be at dinner. With it being the solstice and all, I may get to go cause some mischief with Lucius and his friends. Expect another of these at the same time next year I suppose.
Your Brother
Draco
Draco carefully picked up the parchment and blew on the ink at the bottom of it. When the letter was satisfactorily dry, he picked it up and rolled it carefully. He stood up from his desk and started towards the window. He pulled back the forest green curtains and pushed the latch in the center of the window, making it swing outwards. He leaned out the window. Holding his wand in one hand and the letter in the other, he aimed a spell at the letter. Quickly, small blue flames curled around the edge of the letter. The tiny fire consumed the letter and illuminated Draco's pale hand in the quickly fading sunlight.
"Every year you write a letter and every year you burn it. Who is it too?" a female voice asked from the other side of the room. The letter fluttered to the ground as Draco had released it in his surprise.
"Who do you think?" he asked as he turned to glare at his youngest sister.
"I figured as much," Emma said. She looked at the ground through her oval shaped glasses and took a seat on the edge of his green bed. "Do you miss her?"
"No," Draco lied. "I simply write her a letter every year on her birthday because mum asked me to."
"Since when do you ever do anything anyone asks you to?" Emma shot back. She tucked a strand of white blonde hair behind her ear and looked imploringly at her older brother for an answer.
"Since when she was alive, Barrett did sort of look up to me," Draco snapped. He threw himself down on his desk chair.
"That doesn't explain why you write the letters for mum," Emma countered.
"Shove it," Draco spat. He glared evilly at his little sister.
"Look. I was just trying to be helpful, but since you're clearly just going to be a bloody wanker, I'm here to say that mum wants you at dinner in 30 minutes. You are to wear your best dress robes and be properly presentable." With that announcement, Emma turned on her heel and stormed from Draco's room. Draco looked at the door his sister had just run through.
"It's bwoody wankuh," he muttered. He slowly turned back to his desk and picked up another piece of parchment. He spread it out on his desk and clutched his quill tightly in his left hand.
Finley
It's over. I just needed a hot date for the Yule Ball. Now that that's done, your purpose has been fulfilled The two months were fun while they lasted, but I must say, Parkinson is much better to "be with" than you ever will be.
Thanks
Draco
Draco leaned back in his seat and admired his handiwork. Finley would be so irate that she would never speak to him. At least not until he was ready to date her again. He was sure there would be a next time. He was, after all, Draco Malfoy. He rolled the letter up and sealed it with a drop of wax. He walked over to his window, whistling for his eagle owl on the way. Adonis, the owl, landed on Draco's arm. Draco attached the letter to the owl's leg and whispered an address to it in Old English. The owl took flight and Draco headed over to his closet to find his dress robes.
*****
"Do you William, take Arabella to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the ministry of magic official asked Bill Weasley. The couple stood at the altar flanked by Charlie on Bill's side and Harry on Arabella's. Bill held Arabella's hands in both of his.
"Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togethaw today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam!" George whispered loud enough for Fred, Percy, Penelope, Hermione and Jo to hear. Fred and Jo stifled their giggles while Hermione, Percy and Penelope passed glares around to the pair of Weasleys and the out of control Granger. Angelina reached up from her seat behind the twins and thumped George soundly on the back of his head. George turned around and glared at his ex-girlfriend while rubbing a spot on the back of his head.
*Pop* *Pop Pop* *Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop* *Pop Pop Pop* *Pop* *Pop*
Thirteen black robed, black hooded figures surrounded the clearing where the wedding was in progress. Jo let out a shriek loud enough to wake the dead. Hermione calmly reached over and clamped her hand over her mother's mouth, never taking her eyes off of the circling death eaters. Wands appeared from pockets of the majority of the group. Arabella's father stepped up to stand next to Harry. He pulled his wand and clapped Harry roughly on his shoulder, wild blue eye swiveling madly in its socket. Harry felt relieved that Mad Eye Moody was on their side. Arabella hadn't disclosed her father's identity at any point before he clumped into the Burrow's kitchen on his one good, one wooden legs. They and Arabella's brother Aberdeen all claimed it was for everyone's safety.
"What do you want?" Arabella asked, pointing her wand at the Death Eater exactly opposite from her. The Death Eater raised his wand and fired off a spell into the crowd. A friend of Bill and Arabella's from school crumpled onto the ground.
"They struck first," Moody mumbled under his breath, his wand trained at a spot between two death eaters. Harry, too, chose a Death Eater and held his wand pointed at center mass. He noticed that Bill, Arabella and Charlie had all chosen a death eater also. Mad-Eye Moody caught the eyes of Hermione, Ron and the Weasley twins. He nodded at them. Arabella and Bill held Mr. And Mrs. Weasley's attention, while Remus Lupin stood at the end of the aisle alongside a large black dog.
"STUPEFY!" Moody roared. The rest of the gathered crowd took his spell as a signal to begin firing their own. The air was soon bright with flying spells. The first Death Eater fell to the ground. Harry managed to put his Death Eater in a full body bind.
"Stupefy!" Bill shouted, effectively stunning a Death Eater who was about to curse Arabella.
"Aqueous Reducto!" Five more "pop's" sounded, and one of the reinforcements shouted a spell that slowly began removing all of the water from Bill's body.
"Aqueous Restoro," Arabella recited the counter spell to save her not-quite husband. The Death Eater who had hit Bill rolled to the ground under the weight of the ominous black dog.
"HHHEEEEEEE-YYYAAAAA!" a squat grey haired lady barreled down the aisle. With a flying kick, she bowled the Death Eater nearest to Harry to the ground. Harry looked at her slack jawed.
"Don't just stand there boy, stun him!" the lady declared. Harry effectively placed a stunning spell on the Death Eater, as Arabella Figg, the older babysitter version ducked behind Harry.
"Where did you come from?" Harry asked, glancing backwards at his old babysitter.
"Nevermind that boy, just shield me," Arabella commanded. Harry glanced over and saw the younger version of Arabella Figg fighting between her father and her not quite husband. Harry glanced back over his shoulder to the older Miss Figg, but instead found a Weasley twin.
"Now I'm REALLY going to fuck with their heads!" the twin cackled, before heading out to where Fred and George had a Death Eater in a Mobilus Corpus, lolling like a puppet on a string between the two of them.
"HARRY! BEHIND YOU!" Hermione shouted. Harry ducked, and Hermione hit the Death Eater with a Wingardium Leviosa that catapulted him into the nearest tree. He hung in the topmost branches by the back of his robes. Hermione ran over and exchanged a quick high five with Harry. Only then did they notice Remus Lupin standing to the left of the back of the aisle. He had a Death Eater in either hand. Wand forgotten on the ground, he was busy banging the Death Eater's together like a large black pair of cymbals. Harry glanced over and found the three Weasley twins dancing a circle around two very confused Death Eaters.
"There are only supposed to be two of you!" one of the Death Eaters cried. A mad cackle issued from two of the twins. Harry wasn't quite sure which were real and which one wasn't.
"Harry," Hermoine's urgent tugging on the sleeve of his robe made Harry turn and look to where she was pointing. Bill, Arabella and Moody were standing back to back to back inside a circle of six Death Eaters. Charlie lay slightly outside the circle, unconscious and bleeding profusely from his mouth and one ear.
"Hermione, you go see about," Harry began, only to realize that Hermione had already taken off towards the fallen Weasley. Harry headed over towards the circling Death Eaters.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a war whoop came tearing forth out of the mouths of the Weasley twins and a short girl with lower back length neon green hair. The three rushed past Harry and dived onto the backs of three of the Death Eater's allowing Moody, Arabella and Bill to attack the other three. Fred and George bowled their death eaters to the ground, while the unidentified girl simply clung to the back of her Death Eater and held on for dear life. She threw her weight from side to side in attempt to knock the Death Eater over. Finally tired of swinging around with the Death Eater, she slowly began to increase in size until there was a severely obese, balding man hanging where the girl had been only moments before. Harry blinked twice and looked at the toppling Death Eater. The Death Eater shrieked wildly, and with a series of pops, the remaining Death Eater's disappeared. Sirius still growled ferociously at the Death Eater trapped under his weight. The Death Eater was unconscious and therefore unable to apparate. Hermione's Death Eater had disapparated from the tree. The two Lupin had been playing lay in a heap at the end of the aisle. The Death Eater the mysterious Arabella Figg had kicked still lay on the ground, courtesy of Harry's stunner. The Death Eater Harry put in the body- bind, however, had gotten away. The one the twins had been playing with before the arrival of the mysterious third Weasley twin had also disapparated. The two the three twins had taken care of had also gotten away, courtesy of the first Death Eater. The three Arabella, Moody and Bill had taken on at the very end were all crumpled on the ground.
"Eight out of eighteen," Moody said, surveying the damage, "not bad."
"Half," Ron and Braeden cried proudly from the back corner of the benches. Everyone turned to look at the two boys. Between them lay a black and blue Death Eater. His hood was thrown back and his face was covered in blossoming brusies.
"What happened to him?" Bill asked.
"We pulled a Hermione," Ron admitted sheepishly.
"You WHAT?" Hermione asked.
"We forgot we were wizards and simply beat the hell out of him!" Ron clamped his hands to his mouth as soon as the word hell slipped out. He glanced around nervously, hoping his mother didn't hear him, but Molly was in no condition to hear anyone. She had fallen victim to a stunner and was lying sprawled in the middle of the aisle.
"Well then," Moody said, stepping to the front of the group. "Of the gathered here, who is injured?"
"Charlie," came Hermione's frantic reply. She had turned the second oldest Weasley boy onto his back and managed to stop the bleeding, but her attempts to revive him weren't working.
"Molly is out, but I think she's just been stunned," Arthur said from where he knelt beside his fallen wife.
"Ginny," came Fred and George's chorus. Fred jokingly poked his collapsed little sister with the toe of his boot. Braeden stepped away from the fallen death eater and sprinted towards Ginny. He almost crashed into Natalia who was limping towards Charlie.
"Natalia, are you okay?" Moody asked when he noticed Natalia's limp. Natalia nodded through gritted teeth. She collapsed on the ground next to her boyfriend and gathered his head into her lap. Only then did anyone notice the weird angle her knee was twisted to.
"Anyone else?" Moody asked. The victim of the original spell came limping forwards.
"Are you alright?" Moody asked her.
"I'm just a little shaken up at this point," she replied.
"Anyone else?" Moody asked. The crowd nervously looked around, each hoping no one else would step forward. Oh sure, most people had the occasion scratch or bruise, but there weren't anymore major injuries.
"So what do we do?" someone from the crowd asked.
"Abject prayer and supplication come to mind," Weston quipped before Moody could reply.
"I'll still serve dinner for anyone who wants to stay, however, feel free to leave at any time you wish," Molly called.
"Molly, are you really sure you're up to that?" Arthur asked. He had just finished reviving his wife.
"Yes," Molly insisted, dusting her robes off as she spoke.
"Thank you all for coming to our wedding," Bill called, "I'm sorry it had to end this way."
"Those Death Eaters will be sorry too!" Mad Eye Moody muttered gruffly under his breath "No one ruins my baby's wedding and gets away with it."
"Oh daddy!" Arabella said. She cast a sweet smile in her father's direction. "My wedding would only be ruined if bill had died." Bill slipped an arm around his wife-to-be's shoulders and dropped a kiss on her temple.
"So what do you say we get the two of you married?" the priest asked. Bill nodded and Arabella happily followed the priest.
"Hey Ron!" Bill called over his shoulder.
"Yes," Ron called back.
"My best man is out, so will you come stand with me?" Bill asked.
"Certainly!" Ron exclaimed. He went over to Charlie to find Bella's ring in his older brother's pocket.
"Come on, Harry," Arabella called. Harry waited a moment for Ron to catch up with him, then the pair followed the couple and the ministry official. Just behind them Moody and Arthur began delegating responsibilities. Hermione led her parents off to begin explaining the saga of her life as a witch.
*****
"So what is your final answer?" a large man dressed in a black robe asked. He loomed over a couple sitting on the couch. The man on the couch was tall with no hair on the top of his head and black fuzz around his ears and the back of his head. The woman had long brownish-blonde hair, a ski-slope nose, and dark blue eyes.
"We said, NO!" the man insisted.
"Goyle, Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Bring them in!" the Death Eater insisted. A large Death Eater, Goyle, walked in, holding a squirming toddler in his arms. The toddler looked like a doll in comparison to the sheer size of the death eater. The man was at least 6'8" and weighed well over 300 pounds. His massive bulk made everyone in the room look small in comparison. Another Death Eater, Malfoy, followed him. Malfoy was smaller and skinnier, and had a long silvery blonde pony tail trailing down the back of his robes. He held the hand of a very dazed looking seven year old boy. The final two Death Eaters were the smallest yet, and between them walked a teenage girl. She glared menacingly at Avery and Nott as they held her arms..
"Now watch," the first Death Eater commanded. Goyle grabbed the toddler by her ankles. The baby's squirms turned to howls of anguish. Goyle swung her back behind him before bringing her towards the wall with full force. The baby's head came into contact with the wall with a sickening crack and a dull thud. Her squirming and screaming stopped and Goyle dropped her to a heap in the floor.
"Aqueous Reducto," came Malfoy's spell to the little boy. Almost instantly, a puddle began forming at the boy's feet.
"Mummy, what's happening," the boy asked, looking fearfully up at his mother.
"My baby!" the woman screamed, struggling to jump off of the couch.
"Petrificus Totalus!" came the first Death Eater's spell to stop a repeat of the Lily Potter incident. The puddle at the boy's feet grew larger and his skin began to stretch tightly across his bones. His eyes shrunk in their sockets until they looked like raisins. Jelly like goo ran down his face in large chunks. His skin began to split at his joints and shrivel around the splits. Bone and dehydrated muscle showed through the splits. The boy fell to the floor, a perfectly preserved skeleton complete with dried muscle and bone.
"Let's have a little fun with this one," Avery said said, looking at Nott over the head of the teenage girl. Nott reached under his robes. The Death Eater standing over the couple quickly bound the father to the couch. Before Nott could finish his business under his robes, the girl brought her heel down sharply on Avery's toe and kicked Nott in his crotch. She began heading for the door.
"Gladium" The first Death Eater said. Avery and Nott hopped madly about the room.
"Crucio, crucio." Malfoy muttered. The pair collapsed on the floor in shrieking heaps. "That should take care of them, Rookwood."
"Now what is your answer?" Rookwood asked the couple. Goyle and Malfoy came to stand at the man's elbows.
"NEVER!" The man on the couch screamed.
"Avada Kedavara!" Rookwood and Malfoy said at the exact same time, killing both of the couch's occupants. They glanced over their shoulder to see the girl crumple into a pool of her own blood, caused by the invisible sword the spell used to pierce her through her heart.
*****
"My Lord," a Death Eater sank to his knees at the feet of the Dark Lord.
"Yes?" Voldemort asked.
"The mission has been accomplished. Pettigrew is captured, the family is killed." Voldemort used the toe of his black boot to lift the hood off of the man's face.
"Very good Lucius." Voldemort commended. "Did we suffer any losses?"
"Watson, Greer, McDaniel, Andrews, Kirkpatrick, Julian, Talbot, and Lexington were all also captured."
"Of no consequence," Voldemort said airily.
*****
"FRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Sirius screeched as he barreled into the smaller dining room in the basement of the Burrow. He had just finished helping Arabella, Bill and Moody cart the prisoners, among them Peter Pettigrew, off to the Ministry of Magic.
"Yes Sirius, Freedom. Now could you sit down so this meeting can begin?" Dumbledore asked. Sirius vaulted over the back of a chair and into the seat next to the mysterious woman with the green hair.
"I have called you all here to discuss a very important matter," Dumbledore said from his position at the head of the table. Seated around him were the entire Weasley clan, except for Charlie and including Arabella Weasley, Harry, Hermione, the odd green haired girl, Remus Lupin, Sirius, Moody, Aberdeen Figg and his wife Helen, and a few more people Harry didn't recognize.
"As you may or may not know, the attack on Bill and Arabella's wedding was simply a distraction to keep some of the ministry's best aurors away from the scene of the real crime. At the same time as this attack, another group of Death Eaters attacked a household north of muggle London," Dumbledore tugged at his beard again and looked over to Arthur Weasley.
"The family consisted of two parents, a fourteen-year-old daughter, a seven-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. They were pureblooded wizards." The last statement elicited a gasp from everyone gathered.
"What does this mean?" Penelope Weasley ventured to ask.
"It means, most likely, that Dark Lord is attempting to gain followers and this family refused," Bill said grimly. "And they paid with their lives." Penelope winced visibly.
"Wait, a 14-year-old?" Ron asked.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "She was a student at Hogwarts, in the same year as your sister, but not a member of your house. I can't release her name right now because of the Ministry."
"What is the Ministry saying about the attacks?" the green haired girl asked.
"As of right now, they're blaming both Death Eater attacks on the fact that it's the winter solstice. There is no conclusive evidence that Voldemort was at either sight," Dumbledore said. Sighs and groans rippled through the crowd.
"That bunch of creepy, slimy, good for nothing, pieces of shit, maggot ridden," the green haired girl began. Sirius and Remus both clamped hands over her mouth.
"We all know how you feel about the Death Eaters," Remus said. He carefully removed his hand from the girl's mouth.
"I was talking about the Ministry," the girl declared.
"Nympho, that is completely uncalled for!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Hey, what I do in my spare time is none of your business!" the girl exclaimed. "and besides, you feel the same way! Hey WAIT! I'm not a! SIRIUS BLACK!" She quickly slapped Sirius four times in quick succession on his shoulder.
"If you children are quite through!" Dumbledore coughed from the podium.
"Sorry Professor Dumbledore," Sirius and the girl both said. They looked at Dumbledore with properly apologetic, properly childish expressions on their similar features.
"Just to pause here for a moment. For those of you, the girl with green hair there is Nymphadora Jaxon Tonks, resident Auror and Metamorphmagus."
"What girl with green hair?" Tonks asked. Her hair was bright pink and spiky. "And Tonks is fine."
"At any rate, a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix will be held at a later date to discuss that matter, for there is a more pressing matter at hand," Dumbledore explained. Harry looked over at Ron and quirked his eyebrow in a silent question concerning the Order of the Phoenix. Ron shrugged his shoulders at Harry. Hermione smiled smugly at the two boys. Both made mental notes to ask her later.
"In the other attack, the parents and the two oldest children were killed by spells. However, the baby was left to muggle methods, and they failed. The baby, despite being thrown into a wall, survived with serious injury and is being held at St. Mungo's." A slight cheer rippled across the room.
"The death's of her parents pose a bit of a problem though. The will states that if anything were to happen to the parents, the two younger children would go to their older sister because all grandparents are dead, the father was an only child and the mother's one sister is clinically insane. Problem being, baby Sloane is the only survivor," Arthur explained.
"St. Mungo's refuses to treat Sloane until she has a legal guardian and the Ministry of Magic, in an emergency meeting earlier today, deemed that she would go to a Muggle Orphanage unless a wizard stepped forward to adopt her," Bill finished.
"The Ministry has charged me with deciding baby Sloane's future," Dumbledore said.
"We can't let her go to orphanage," Molly insisted. "We'll take her!"
"Molly, baby Sloane may have lasting effects of the attack, and we'd prefer someone a bit younger. You already have seven of your own and I'm certain Grandchildren are on their way," Dumbledore said gently.
"You're right," Molly said. She looked over to Arabella.
"We'll do it," Penelope insisted.
"We'll not! I don't have time for a baby!" Percy insisted. "Especially not a two year old with problems." Arabella and Bill exchanged a look.
"What about my mum and dad?" Hermione asked.
"They've got a baby on the way," Dumbledore replied.
"I'll take her!" Tonks exclaimed gleefully.
"You're not mature enough for a baby!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yes I am! See?" She exclaimed, quickly morphing into old Arabella Figg.
"If any of the three of us should take us it should be Remus," Sirius said, thumping Tonks on her forehead.
"Hey! Sirius has an idea!" Tonks cried. "And it's a good one!"
"Explain yourself Tonks," Dumbledore said.
"Well. He's a werewolf so he can't have children, but he proved as a professor that he loves children, so who better to take the baby?" Tonks asked.
"I can take care of her with my job. The hours are flexible," Remus offered, his face lighting up at the prospect of being a father.
"Is that okay with everyone?" Dumbledore asked. Nods abounded all around the table.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dumbledore asked Remus.
"Yes," Remus said. Secretly, he'd been trying to work up the courage to volunteer before Loud and Louder beat him to it.
"Well come with me, we need to get to St. Mungo's."
*****
Draco sat at his desk, trying to concentrate on his potion's text. He had reread the same sentence three times. He secretly wondered what his father was doing. As a punishment, he had been left out of that night's Death Eater activities even though the Dark Lord had given Lucius permission to bring Draco along. He glanced out of his window and noticed an owl spiraling towards him. The owl was Adonis, and he had a letter tied to his leg, but he hadn't had time to receive a letter from anywhere. Adonis stopped at the window and tapped politely with his beak. Draco jumped up and ran for the window. He pulled the letter from Adonis's leg and immediately recognized his own wax seal.