Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, brilliantly created by J.K.
Rowling. Most situations are based on those created by J.K. Rowling.
Note: No real point to this chapter, just an interlude with the Weasleys and Potters who remain at home while Emma and James are off at school.
Chapter Twelve: Happenings at Home
"Ron?" Hermione called. "Ron? Did you send Emma her birthday gift?" She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, calling up.
"Of course I did," Ron called out, and then his head appeared, wet. He had apparently just gotten out of the shower.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. "I want her to get it this morning."
"She will," said Ron. "I made sure to send it."
"You're POSITIVE?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione, even Charlotte told me to make sure I send it," he said. "I think you've talked about it enough."
Hermione's interests changed at the mention of the three and a half year old. "Where IS Charlotte?"
"Here mummy," came the little girl's voice, and Hermione turned around to see Charlotte covered in a brown substance.
"Charlie, did you get into the refrigerator again?" Hermione asked.
"Yup!" Charlotte said proudly.
Hermione sighed, and picked Charlotte up. "Charlie, love, you know you're not supposed to do that." Hermione carried her into the kitchen where, after she set the little girl on the counter, she began to wipe the chocolate from her face. "You are going to spoil your dinner."
"No I won't, mummy," said Charlotte. "There's always room for chocolate."
"AFTER dinner," said Hermione.
"No, better before," said Charlotte with a nod that seemed to tell Hermione that when it came to chocolate, Charlotte Weasley was the resident authority.
"I agree," came a male voice from the doorway. "Chocolate before dinner has never steered me wrong."
Hermione smiled at Ron. "Or chocolate during dinner, after dinner, before breakfast, in between meals," she said to him. "I could go on. I'm amazed you haven't started to resemble chocolate frogs."
"What do you think Charlotte?" Ron asked. "How would you like your old man if he looked like a chocolate frog."
Charlotte just laughed. "Daddy, eating chocolate frogs won't make you look like one," she said.
"But what if they did?" Ron asked, always testing his most logical child.
"Then you'd look pretty silly," said Charlotte. She looked at Hermione. "Can I get down now?"
"Of course," said Hermione, and she helped Charlotte off of the kitchen counter. Charlotte ran from the kitchen and Ron leaned on the stop where she had been sitting.
"And what about you?" he asked.
"What about me?" Hermione responded.
"What if eating chocolate frogs made me look like one?" he asked.
"I suppose you've never heard the story of the 'Frog Prince' have you?" Hermione asked, and Ron shook his head. Hermione readied herself to explain. "It's the story of a princess who kisses a frog. After she does, he turns into a handsome prince."
"So your point is?" Ron asked.
"I guess I would just have to kiss you till you turned back into my prince," Hermione said with a smile, and Ron leaned in to kiss her. They were inches from each other when suddenly they heard a shout.
"MUM!" came Olivia's voice from the top of the stairs.
Hermione groaned at the interruption, but she and Ron headed for the second floor of their house. "What's going on?" Hermione asked when she saw the state of the hallway. There were clothes - from the looks of it mostly Olivia's - strewed up and down, as well as some books. There were some papers still flying about in mid-air, and Ron grabbed one as it floated down. Olivia promptly snatched the sheet from her father.
"HIM!" was all Olivia said, and she pointed in the direction of her brother's room.
"Jack!" Ron called, but no one emerged from the bedroom. "Jack!" Still no one. "Jack Arthur Weasley, you come out here right now!"
The door opened slightly, and Jack peered through the crack. "Jack?" Ron asked now. "Do you know anything about this mess?"
"I didn't do it," said Jack calmly.
"Yes you did!" Olivia shouted. She turned to her parents. "He came into my room where I was working on a story and he asked me if I wanted to play with him. When I said no, he got really mad."
"Mad enough to do this?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "And in the two minutes that your father has been downstairs with me?" Olivia nodded. Hermione raised a suspicious eyebrow at the eight and a half year old.
"Okay, maybe I threw stuff," she said quietly.
"And?" Hermione asked.
"He threw stuff too," Olivia said, again pointing a finger at her brother.
"Jack, come all the way out here," Ron said to his son, and Jack stepped tentatively into the hallway. Ron surveyed his children. "Now, I find it hard to believe that just ONE of you made this whole mess. Now, Olivia has told us that she threw some of these things. What's your story?"
"I wanted to play," said Jack. "So I stole her story."
"And threw it into the hallway?" Hermione asked. Both children nodded, Jack slowly and Olivia more vigorously. Hermione continued. "That explains the papers. Now what about the clothing?"
"She threw it at me," Jack said. Hermione looked at Olivia.
"I just wanted to stop him from running away with the story," said Olivia. "It's private."
Ron, who had been picking up more of the pages of Olivia's story, handed them to her. "Jack," he said. "You should not have taken Olivia's work from her, especially if she told you not to. This is something your sister obviously cares a lot about."
"And Olivia," said Hermione, "if you had a problem you should have told me before it started. You don't throw things at your brother, even if it's just your clothes."
"Yes, mum," said Olivia, and she looked down at her shoes.
"Now," continued Hermione. "As we're having guests in a little while, I'm willing to let this go with a warning. If I hear any more problems from the two of you, you're both going to be punished. Understand me?"
"Understand," Jack repeated.
"Now, clean this mess up and then go into your own rooms, and stay there," said Hermione, "or join me, dad and Charlotte downstairs."
"Okay," said Olivia, and she and Jack turned to make their way into their own respective bedrooms.
"One more thing," said Hermione as the children were about to disappear from the hallway. They turned to her. "Don't forget to write your sister for her birthday." Jack and Emma nodded, and then went into their bedrooms, Olivia clutching her story to her chest.
* * *
A hour later, the family was greeted with a knock at the door. "Hi, Gin," said Ron as he opened the door and stood to let her, Harry, Lily and Daniel in. "How are you, Lily?" he asked.
"She's pouting," said Ginny, "because she got in trouble this morning for putting gum in her brother's hair."
"Join the club," said Ron, and he recounted the problem that had occurred between Olivia and Jack earlier. When he was finished, he turned to the little boy. "Hey there, Daniel," he said. "How are you?"
"Good," he said. "Where's Charlotte?"
"Come on, buddy," said Ron. "I'll take you to her." He picked up his nephew and headed into the next room. Harry and Ginny followed.
Hermione greeted Harry and Ginny and the four sat down in the living room. Lily headed up to Olivia's room, and Jack smartly came downstairs to join the adults. Charlotte and Daniel sat near their feet, playing with a stack of blocks. "Daniel, you have to build it this way," said Charlotte, and she took some of the blocks from her cousin and showed him her preferred way of building block castles.
Daniel watched her intently. When she was done, he looked at her. "No," he said, and he swept a hand through the entire castle to knock it down.
"Daniel!" Charlotte cried out in frustration. "You're not supposed to do that!"
"Charlotte," said Harry. "That's the fun of blocks. Building something and then knocking it down."
Charlotte looked at her uncle questioningly. "Why is that fun?" she asked him.
Harry seemed stumped. "I don't know exactly," he said. "I just know that it is."
Charlotte looked at him again, then simply nodded her head and moved a group of blocks away from Daniel so she could build her castle in peace. Daniel, on the other hand, continued to stack a few blocks and then knock them down, giggling each time that he did.
Harry looked at his friends and shrugged. "To each his own, I suppose," he said.
"I'm amazed they get along so well," said Ginny. "With Daniel all over the place, and Charlotte liking everything to be in order." It was true. The youngest Potter and the youngest Weasley, just eight months apart in age, were as different as night and day. Daniel was extroverted and liked to run around and make noise. Introverted Charlotte preferred time to herself, whether it be building a block castle or just looking at books. Yet somehow the two managed to be quite good friends, somehow complementing each other. Often, Charlotte managed to make Daniel calm down and sit still for a while, and sometimes Daniel could make Charlotte come a bit out of her shell and run around and carry on (and not worry so much about what the logical explanation for things was).
"I think Daniel could stand to learn a few things from Charlotte," said Ginny when Daniel gleefully knocked down his tower again, blocks hitting Ginny by her feet. She looked over at Charlotte, who shook her head at her younger cousin's actions and then continued to quietly build her own tower.
"Charlotte needs to loosen up," said Ron, and Hermione hit him on the arm, knowing Charlotte would take offense if she heard what Ron said. But the little girl showed no sign that she had heard her father, and continued on with her castle.
"You want to know my opinion?" said Harry. "I think they're just fine the way they are."
* * *
"Little brothers are so annoying!" Olivia exclaimed as she and Lily sat on her bed, the story Olivia had been working on between them.
"I know!" said Lily. "Sometimes I wish Daniel would just go and live with grandma and grandpa at the burrow!"
"Do you think they'll take Jack too?" Olivia asked, and the girls giggled. Lily reached down and picked up the first piece of paper in the stack on the bed.
"Why didn't you just let him read the story?" Lily asked.
"It's private," said Olivia.
"But I'm reading it," said Lily. "I like it."
"I don't want Jack to read it," said Olivia. "It's mine."
"But you're going to be a write," said Lily. "People have to read what you write."
"But not today," said Olivia.
"I guess so," said Lily. "But you know your brother will read anything you publish."
"Like I said," Olivia said again, "not today."
Lily shrugged and continued to read Olivia's story, which chronicled the life of a young princess who discovers that she has magical powers, and uses them to rid the world of evil. Olivia watched her read it, then asked, "So why'd you put gum in Daniel's hair?"
"He deserved it," said Lily simply.
"Why?" Olivia pressed.
"He wanted to take my doll," said Lily. "And he would've ripped her head off." Despite her friend's obvious annoyance, Olivia laughed at her statement.
Lily gave her cousin a stern look. "He would have. And I love that doll. My dad gave her to me when I was little."
"I know which doll you mean, Lil," said Olivia. "We play with it all the time at your house." Lily responded by sticking her tongue out at her cousin, and then continuing to read the story. When she was finished, she turned to Olivia to give her a review.
"I like it," she said. "You should keep working on it. I think you could make some money."
"How much?" Olivia asked, suddenly intrigued at the prospect of money.
"I don't know," Lily said, shrugging.
"You're no help," Olivia scoffed, and the girls laughed, enjoying each other's company until Hermione called them down to dinner.
* * *
"Happy birthday daddy!" Charlotte called out as Hermione walked to the dinner table with a cake and set it in front of Ron. The family sang a quick refrain of "Happy Birthday to You," and Daniel got to help his uncle blow out the birthday candles. Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek before returning to her seat next to him and helping him pass out the cake slices.
"And here's to Emma on her birthday as well," said Ginny, holding up a glass. "She may not be here physically, but she certainly is in spirit."
"Here, here," said Harry, and the family clinked glasses before digging into their pieces of cake.
Note: No real point to this chapter, just an interlude with the Weasleys and Potters who remain at home while Emma and James are off at school.
Chapter Twelve: Happenings at Home
"Ron?" Hermione called. "Ron? Did you send Emma her birthday gift?" She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, calling up.
"Of course I did," Ron called out, and then his head appeared, wet. He had apparently just gotten out of the shower.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. "I want her to get it this morning."
"She will," said Ron. "I made sure to send it."
"You're POSITIVE?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione, even Charlotte told me to make sure I send it," he said. "I think you've talked about it enough."
Hermione's interests changed at the mention of the three and a half year old. "Where IS Charlotte?"
"Here mummy," came the little girl's voice, and Hermione turned around to see Charlotte covered in a brown substance.
"Charlie, did you get into the refrigerator again?" Hermione asked.
"Yup!" Charlotte said proudly.
Hermione sighed, and picked Charlotte up. "Charlie, love, you know you're not supposed to do that." Hermione carried her into the kitchen where, after she set the little girl on the counter, she began to wipe the chocolate from her face. "You are going to spoil your dinner."
"No I won't, mummy," said Charlotte. "There's always room for chocolate."
"AFTER dinner," said Hermione.
"No, better before," said Charlotte with a nod that seemed to tell Hermione that when it came to chocolate, Charlotte Weasley was the resident authority.
"I agree," came a male voice from the doorway. "Chocolate before dinner has never steered me wrong."
Hermione smiled at Ron. "Or chocolate during dinner, after dinner, before breakfast, in between meals," she said to him. "I could go on. I'm amazed you haven't started to resemble chocolate frogs."
"What do you think Charlotte?" Ron asked. "How would you like your old man if he looked like a chocolate frog."
Charlotte just laughed. "Daddy, eating chocolate frogs won't make you look like one," she said.
"But what if they did?" Ron asked, always testing his most logical child.
"Then you'd look pretty silly," said Charlotte. She looked at Hermione. "Can I get down now?"
"Of course," said Hermione, and she helped Charlotte off of the kitchen counter. Charlotte ran from the kitchen and Ron leaned on the stop where she had been sitting.
"And what about you?" he asked.
"What about me?" Hermione responded.
"What if eating chocolate frogs made me look like one?" he asked.
"I suppose you've never heard the story of the 'Frog Prince' have you?" Hermione asked, and Ron shook his head. Hermione readied herself to explain. "It's the story of a princess who kisses a frog. After she does, he turns into a handsome prince."
"So your point is?" Ron asked.
"I guess I would just have to kiss you till you turned back into my prince," Hermione said with a smile, and Ron leaned in to kiss her. They were inches from each other when suddenly they heard a shout.
"MUM!" came Olivia's voice from the top of the stairs.
Hermione groaned at the interruption, but she and Ron headed for the second floor of their house. "What's going on?" Hermione asked when she saw the state of the hallway. There were clothes - from the looks of it mostly Olivia's - strewed up and down, as well as some books. There were some papers still flying about in mid-air, and Ron grabbed one as it floated down. Olivia promptly snatched the sheet from her father.
"HIM!" was all Olivia said, and she pointed in the direction of her brother's room.
"Jack!" Ron called, but no one emerged from the bedroom. "Jack!" Still no one. "Jack Arthur Weasley, you come out here right now!"
The door opened slightly, and Jack peered through the crack. "Jack?" Ron asked now. "Do you know anything about this mess?"
"I didn't do it," said Jack calmly.
"Yes you did!" Olivia shouted. She turned to her parents. "He came into my room where I was working on a story and he asked me if I wanted to play with him. When I said no, he got really mad."
"Mad enough to do this?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "And in the two minutes that your father has been downstairs with me?" Olivia nodded. Hermione raised a suspicious eyebrow at the eight and a half year old.
"Okay, maybe I threw stuff," she said quietly.
"And?" Hermione asked.
"He threw stuff too," Olivia said, again pointing a finger at her brother.
"Jack, come all the way out here," Ron said to his son, and Jack stepped tentatively into the hallway. Ron surveyed his children. "Now, I find it hard to believe that just ONE of you made this whole mess. Now, Olivia has told us that she threw some of these things. What's your story?"
"I wanted to play," said Jack. "So I stole her story."
"And threw it into the hallway?" Hermione asked. Both children nodded, Jack slowly and Olivia more vigorously. Hermione continued. "That explains the papers. Now what about the clothing?"
"She threw it at me," Jack said. Hermione looked at Olivia.
"I just wanted to stop him from running away with the story," said Olivia. "It's private."
Ron, who had been picking up more of the pages of Olivia's story, handed them to her. "Jack," he said. "You should not have taken Olivia's work from her, especially if she told you not to. This is something your sister obviously cares a lot about."
"And Olivia," said Hermione, "if you had a problem you should have told me before it started. You don't throw things at your brother, even if it's just your clothes."
"Yes, mum," said Olivia, and she looked down at her shoes.
"Now," continued Hermione. "As we're having guests in a little while, I'm willing to let this go with a warning. If I hear any more problems from the two of you, you're both going to be punished. Understand me?"
"Understand," Jack repeated.
"Now, clean this mess up and then go into your own rooms, and stay there," said Hermione, "or join me, dad and Charlotte downstairs."
"Okay," said Olivia, and she and Jack turned to make their way into their own respective bedrooms.
"One more thing," said Hermione as the children were about to disappear from the hallway. They turned to her. "Don't forget to write your sister for her birthday." Jack and Emma nodded, and then went into their bedrooms, Olivia clutching her story to her chest.
* * *
A hour later, the family was greeted with a knock at the door. "Hi, Gin," said Ron as he opened the door and stood to let her, Harry, Lily and Daniel in. "How are you, Lily?" he asked.
"She's pouting," said Ginny, "because she got in trouble this morning for putting gum in her brother's hair."
"Join the club," said Ron, and he recounted the problem that had occurred between Olivia and Jack earlier. When he was finished, he turned to the little boy. "Hey there, Daniel," he said. "How are you?"
"Good," he said. "Where's Charlotte?"
"Come on, buddy," said Ron. "I'll take you to her." He picked up his nephew and headed into the next room. Harry and Ginny followed.
Hermione greeted Harry and Ginny and the four sat down in the living room. Lily headed up to Olivia's room, and Jack smartly came downstairs to join the adults. Charlotte and Daniel sat near their feet, playing with a stack of blocks. "Daniel, you have to build it this way," said Charlotte, and she took some of the blocks from her cousin and showed him her preferred way of building block castles.
Daniel watched her intently. When she was done, he looked at her. "No," he said, and he swept a hand through the entire castle to knock it down.
"Daniel!" Charlotte cried out in frustration. "You're not supposed to do that!"
"Charlotte," said Harry. "That's the fun of blocks. Building something and then knocking it down."
Charlotte looked at her uncle questioningly. "Why is that fun?" she asked him.
Harry seemed stumped. "I don't know exactly," he said. "I just know that it is."
Charlotte looked at him again, then simply nodded her head and moved a group of blocks away from Daniel so she could build her castle in peace. Daniel, on the other hand, continued to stack a few blocks and then knock them down, giggling each time that he did.
Harry looked at his friends and shrugged. "To each his own, I suppose," he said.
"I'm amazed they get along so well," said Ginny. "With Daniel all over the place, and Charlotte liking everything to be in order." It was true. The youngest Potter and the youngest Weasley, just eight months apart in age, were as different as night and day. Daniel was extroverted and liked to run around and make noise. Introverted Charlotte preferred time to herself, whether it be building a block castle or just looking at books. Yet somehow the two managed to be quite good friends, somehow complementing each other. Often, Charlotte managed to make Daniel calm down and sit still for a while, and sometimes Daniel could make Charlotte come a bit out of her shell and run around and carry on (and not worry so much about what the logical explanation for things was).
"I think Daniel could stand to learn a few things from Charlotte," said Ginny when Daniel gleefully knocked down his tower again, blocks hitting Ginny by her feet. She looked over at Charlotte, who shook her head at her younger cousin's actions and then continued to quietly build her own tower.
"Charlotte needs to loosen up," said Ron, and Hermione hit him on the arm, knowing Charlotte would take offense if she heard what Ron said. But the little girl showed no sign that she had heard her father, and continued on with her castle.
"You want to know my opinion?" said Harry. "I think they're just fine the way they are."
* * *
"Little brothers are so annoying!" Olivia exclaimed as she and Lily sat on her bed, the story Olivia had been working on between them.
"I know!" said Lily. "Sometimes I wish Daniel would just go and live with grandma and grandpa at the burrow!"
"Do you think they'll take Jack too?" Olivia asked, and the girls giggled. Lily reached down and picked up the first piece of paper in the stack on the bed.
"Why didn't you just let him read the story?" Lily asked.
"It's private," said Olivia.
"But I'm reading it," said Lily. "I like it."
"I don't want Jack to read it," said Olivia. "It's mine."
"But you're going to be a write," said Lily. "People have to read what you write."
"But not today," said Olivia.
"I guess so," said Lily. "But you know your brother will read anything you publish."
"Like I said," Olivia said again, "not today."
Lily shrugged and continued to read Olivia's story, which chronicled the life of a young princess who discovers that she has magical powers, and uses them to rid the world of evil. Olivia watched her read it, then asked, "So why'd you put gum in Daniel's hair?"
"He deserved it," said Lily simply.
"Why?" Olivia pressed.
"He wanted to take my doll," said Lily. "And he would've ripped her head off." Despite her friend's obvious annoyance, Olivia laughed at her statement.
Lily gave her cousin a stern look. "He would have. And I love that doll. My dad gave her to me when I was little."
"I know which doll you mean, Lil," said Olivia. "We play with it all the time at your house." Lily responded by sticking her tongue out at her cousin, and then continuing to read the story. When she was finished, she turned to Olivia to give her a review.
"I like it," she said. "You should keep working on it. I think you could make some money."
"How much?" Olivia asked, suddenly intrigued at the prospect of money.
"I don't know," Lily said, shrugging.
"You're no help," Olivia scoffed, and the girls laughed, enjoying each other's company until Hermione called them down to dinner.
* * *
"Happy birthday daddy!" Charlotte called out as Hermione walked to the dinner table with a cake and set it in front of Ron. The family sang a quick refrain of "Happy Birthday to You," and Daniel got to help his uncle blow out the birthday candles. Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek before returning to her seat next to him and helping him pass out the cake slices.
"And here's to Emma on her birthday as well," said Ginny, holding up a glass. "She may not be here physically, but she certainly is in spirit."
"Here, here," said Harry, and the family clinked glasses before digging into their pieces of cake.