"How could you not tell her anything?" Draco Malfoy demanded, pacing back and forth in front of the other adults and older children.
After Zephari's little incident, the other children still in school had been bustled off to bed with the excuse that it was getting late and they would be heading to Diagon Alley early in the morning. It was a good enough excuse for the younger children, but the older ones – particularly those older than fifteen – were not fooled. Draco suspected they were listening by all means possible at the moment.
"We thought it was best for her..." Molly murmured, looking at her hands which were in her lap, "We were planning to tell her the truth when she left school."
"Obviously, you were wrong." He snarled, making no small number of the Weasleys stare at him.
"What did you expect us to do, Malfoy?" Cho Chang demanded. "How do you think they would have reacted had we told them everything when they were younger?"
"No better than Zephari did today, overhearing us talking." Charlie muttered miserably, "But at least they would know."
"The elder children have found out," Severus drawled from the edge of the group, their collective gaze suddenly falling on him in a mix of surprise and horror.
"Honestly, you didn't expect them to remain oblivious forever, did you?" Dethol demanded, his arms crossed over the shirt Zephari had given him, as he had not yet removed it.
"I suspected they would." Bill sighed, "I just wish they could have heard it from us."
"Oh? And what would you have said?" Malfoy demanded scornfully, "'Children, your – insert relative here – was killed by Voldemort in the war, but we decided to let you remain painfully clueless for the past eleven years. Terribly sorry about that, hope you'll forgive us.'? Do you honestly think some kind of bullshit story would have worked on them?"
"The Weasleys – and our two Potters – are a smart bunch, most knew by third year. Elder siblings tell their younger siblings as soon as they find out. Chiharu and Zoë already know, Cho, so stop looking at me like I've suddenly turned into a Hinkypunk." Dethol paused to meet her glare until she looked away, "The rest all know as well." He added thoughtfully, "But Zephari has no older sibling to tell her how her parents died, let alone how they lived. You owe them all that much, to tell them how they lived."
Draco could not help but nod contently, noticing that the other two professors did so as well. It appeared that the Weasleys needed the advice of a complete outsider on their familial matters. Just as Draco knew he sometimes did. Raising two boys without a maternal presence was downright near impossible, so he spent a large amount of time with the extended family that had taken him in after he showed his true colors.
An uncomfortable silence fell and, finally, Arthur Weasley stood up. "I think that settles the matter for tonight. We should all head to bed now; tomorrow's going to be a long day."
The others murmured in agreement and headed up the stairs of The Burrow or outside to their tents. Draco followed Severus out into the front yard, where they had pitched their tent. He lived in the Snape mansion during the summer, along with his two sons – who also shared the tent with them. However, he was in no mood to sleep. Neither was Severus, apparently.
Draco pushed open the flap and set a silencing spell on the main room of the tent. Snape followed, his features tense as he, too, contained his frustration. They checked on the boys and returned to the main room before Draco rounded on his mentor, "How could they?" He demanded.
"They should have told the children how their parents died, at the very least." Snape agreed.
"But to not talk about them at all?" Draco fumed, "Zephari did not even know that her two real uncles are Aurors, out hunting down the last of the Death Eaters that killed her mother."
Both were plainly disgusted. Snape had his arms crossed and his face was disapproving, the sides of his mouth drawn into the smallest of frowns while the rest of his face was tense. Draco supposed that his features were in something of the same expression as he paced back and forth, his robes billowing out behind him.
"It's completely dishonouring to their memories." Snape growled after a lengthy silence.
"And to the kids themselves!" Draco snapped, "Imagine what it must be like, to only be hugged and coddled when asked what happened to your parents! Imagine what it must be like to never know your family because they're too busy trying to find the bastards who killed your parents!"
Someone else stepped into the tent, dressed in black like them and his face just as livid. Draco whirled on the intruder, only to resume pacing irritably. Dethol na N'ataya was just as irritated as they, but he would simply pace a little and listen, allowing them to soothe their nerves. Draco found it was easier to get rid of his anger when someone just as angry simply listened.
Indeed, about three hours later, he found himself feeling less angry. He slowly stopped pacing and snapping, eventually sliding into a chair at the table. Severus had long ago placed himself in another of the four. Dethol sighed, running a hand over his creased and tired features. "I think we've run out of fuel for our anger at the moment." He murmured, "We had best turn in now if we expect to go to Diagon Alley with the others tomorrow."
Draco nodded, muttering the counter-spell so that they could be heard outside again. He and Severus bid good night to Dethol before heading to their rooms. As Draco changed for bed, he could not help but feel that they had gotten more than they had bargained for when Athen Black decided to chase after his wife's murderer.
"Wake up, dears, it's time to go."
Dante opened her eyes with a tremendous yawn. Her vision was blurred for a moment before she saw her grandmother's face in the doorway. She grinned impishly. "Wotcher, Grandmum." She said innocently.
Molly rolled her eyes, "You definitely are Tonks's daughter." She said with a laugh as Zephari, Zoë and Amanda stirred. "Breakfast is ready, shopping after we eat."
Zoë's face lit up instantly and Dante could not help but giggle. Her cousin adored shopping and everything girly. She was often considered a traitor in Dante's sister's eyes because of it. Most of the Weasley girls were tomboys, after all, and Zoë just was not; which was silly, Dante found, because Zoë was a Potter, not a Weasley.
Zephari, as well, looked excited, but in a more reserved way. In fact, if one did not know Zephari extremely well, as she did, than one would think that the girl was rather reluctant to go shopping. That was just how Zephari was, hiding her emotions constantly. But after six years of sharing the same household, Dante knew her well enough to guess her mood accurately.
Dante knew her eyes were sparkling with joy. She got out of bed and quickly changed in front of the others, as they always did. Only Zephari was the least bit uncomfortable with such actions but even she changed in front of the other three which proved that she was just as excited as Zoë and Dante.
"Hurry up, Amanda." Zoë urged as the youngest girl got tangled up in her robes.
"Here," Zephari said sharply, striding over and helping the youngest girl get her arm out of the neck and her head from the sleeve with gentle tugs instead of sharp pulls that her tone indicated she might have used.
The little straight-haired brunette appeared from the dark green folds, "Thanks." She squeaked gratefully.
"Come on!" Zoë cried and, grabbing one of each Dante and Zephari's sleeves, dragged them out of the room.
"Let me go, Zoë!" Zephari snapped, wrestling her black sleeve free.
"What? Are you afraid I'll make your robes dirty?" Zoë teased.
"Yes, you and your grubby Gryffindor and Ravenclaw hands." The darker girl teased, smirking superiorly.
Dante rolled her eyes and wrenched Zoë's hand from her own sleeve. "We had better hurry." She reminded the other two.
As she continued down the stairs, Amanda appeared at her sleeve. "How come they always fight like that?" The eight year old asked.
Dante giggled slightly, "They don't mean any of what they say, it's just teasing." She assured her cousin.
"Oh." Amanda said quietly, not at all convinced.
As they arrived in the kitchen a chorus of happy voices greeted them. Dante sat down beside her cousin Alexis, while Amanda sat down beside Alexandre. Both of them grinned at her and Amanda, who was across from Dante. Their grins were identical and they nodded in unison at Zephari and Zoë as the other two sat down beside Dante and Amanda, respectively.
"Nervous?" Alexis whispered, still grinning.
Dante shook her head, "We're just shopping today." She reminded her cousin.
Alexandre served Amanda some eggs and bacon, which she stared at dully. "What's up?" Alexandre asked her, concern replacing his grin.
"I'm the last one." Amanda explained mournfully, "Mum teaches, so she's gone during school too. It'll be just me and Dad this year."
"Same as last year." Alexis pointed out unhelpfully, which was typical sibling behaviour between the two.
"Yeah, but this year we won't be able to visit Dante or Zoë or Zephari." The little girl sighed.
"We'll come back for Christmas, Mandy." Dante assured her cousin.
That made the little girl light up happily and delve into her breakfast. Zephari, however, looked doubtful. Dante gave her foster-sister a cautious glance and got a glare in return. The rest were oblivious to the exchange and soon the Weasleys, the Potters, the Malfoys, the Snape and the Black were ready to go. The adults hurried the children through the Floo network to Diagon Alley one by one.
"See you on the other side." Zephari said before saying, "Diagon Alley!" and vanishing.
Then went Zoë, who simply gave Dante two thumbs up before vanishing. Dante was the last child to go before Amanda, as she was the youngest. She grabbed the Floo powder with the ease of long practice. She climbed into the fireplace after throwing the powder down, whispered "Diagon Alley" and the fireplace began spinning around her. She tucked her elbows in and squinted for the right grate. She climbed easily out at the right grate and was brushed off by two sets of hands while another two sets held her up until she regained her balance.
"Thanks." She said brightly and moved out of the way in time to catch Amanda stumbling out.
"Mum and Dad are meeting us at Gringotts." Alexis said, holding her sister up with a kind hand. "That's the official meeting place. Uncle Charlie has your key, Zeph, don't worry."
Zephari smiled in relief as she had been searching through her pockets for her Gringotts key. Dante was suddenly dragged off by an excited Zoë. "C'mon! The faster we get the Gringotts, the faster we can go shopping!"
"Who's going to supervise us, anyways?" Zephari asked, curious.
"A different parent has been assigned to every few kids. Us six have Uncle Charlie and Uncle Bill." Alexis said, as Alexandre looked as stumped as the girls.
"Lucky." A rather put-out voice muttered close by. "We've got Dethol."
"But Dethol's fun to go shopping with!" Zephari exclaimed.
"Come with us?" Dante offered, changing her hair's color to a more vibrant purple.
"Oh, fine." Felix agreed at Leif's urging.
The eight of them walked down the street to the white marble building. Zephari was the only one who dared go first through the doors, as the others were all rather intimidated by the goblins. Dante let Amanda hold her hand and they all stuck close together until they spotted the adults.
"Ah, there they are!" Molly cried out in relief, looking at the eight youngest children. "You gave us a scare!"
"Mum, I told you, you worry too much." Charlie walked up behind her, looking relieved to see them safe and sound.
"Alright, everyone with your parents!" Arthur called out.
Dante grabbed Zephari's sleeve and the two girls headed towards Charlie. However, Dethol stepped out and tapped Dante on the shoulder. "Sorry, Dante, but I'm going to have to take Zephari with me. Less stops, you know."
Dante blinked. "Oh..." She said in a discouraged tone.
"Don't worry, Dawn, we'll meet up after and still go shopping together." Zephari said brightly before she walked off with the other black-clad wizard.
"How come I'm going with you, Dethol?" Zephari asked curiously, craning her head back to look at him.
"Well, all the others have their own kids to look after." He said, sounding slightly disappointed that she was asking, "And Severus is tailing Draco, as those two bats like to stick together. I thought it would be fun to go on the hell-ride with you, too."
Zephari smirked, "So long as you don't throw up." She agreed, bouncing ahead.
He followed and remained true to her declaration. He did not even turn green. This, Zephari thought, was somewhat boring but she should have known better. He had, after all, spent the majority of his childhood traveling around the globe and, as an adult, he had flown on a hippogriff more times than Zephari had used the Floo network. That was saying a lot.
They reached the Black vault without difficulty and Zephari helped herself to hefty amount of galleons, sickles and knuts. Then they rode back up on the insane ride back up to the top and emerged into the daylight outside well ahead of the others. Zephari put the pouch of money in her inside pocket.
"Want an ice cream?" Dethol offered.
Zephari stared at him. "What about the others?"
He grinned, "They'll take a while, trust me."
"Okay." The girl said happily and he bought them both single cones of chocolate ice cream.
"So, you know that Charlie is your assigned guardian for the day, right?" Dethol asked dejectedly.
"Yeah, but you're watching Felix and Leif and they're coming with us." Zephari explained, grinning, "So you're going to get to spend the day with Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie!"
"Oh, goody." Dethol muttered, but she never found out if he was talking about spending the day with her uncles or because the Malfoys and Snape had just reappeared.
Zephari had never seen Draco Malfoy's two sons before. Usually they were visiting with maternal grandparents when she was at The Burrow, once every few years. This time, however, she got to see both. One, she knew, would attend Durmstrang Institute for his first year of schooling; he was the same age as she was. The other was two years older, now entering his third year at Hogwarts. He had not attended Durmstrang like his younger brother, something Zephari found interesting.
The younger brother looked very smug and amused about something. Severus Snape looked kind of green. Zephari looked curiously at Dethol, who was poorly hiding a grin. Draco Malfoy, as well, looked amused. The elder brother simply looked bored.
"Severus does not have a very good stomach for Gringotts carts." Dethol whispered before the pair strode over to the Slytherin group.
"Father-" The elder began to protest upon noticing Zephari's ice cream.
Draco ignored him, however, and the girl licked her ice cream with a smirk. He stared at her before sneering, earning a better sneer back. She licked the chocolate sweet yet again and he turned to look at his father whiningly.
The younger brother smirked at him and walked up to Zephari, "Can I have some?" He asked innocently.
Zephari grinned and handed over the cone, "Sure, just don't lick it all over." She warned.
He looked rather tempted to do just that, but did not and gave it back to her. He even managed a smile, "Thanks." He said.
Zephari took back her cone, "You're welcome." She said slightly shyly.
Dethol was looking at her with amusement and curiosity. She smirked slightly and went back to his side. She motioned for him to come closer so she could whisper. When he did, she only whispered one word. "Spite."
He laughed and she smirked more before continuing to eat her ice cream. Draco had been telling Dethol about Severus's unfortunate cart incident. Zephari listened in on the last part and gave a low chuckle when he finished. It was then that Severus reminded Draco, sharply, that he had not introduced his sons to Zephari.
"Zephari Black, meet Kai and Sirius Malfoy." He said smoothly, glaring at Severus for the jab in his rib by the potion master's elbow.
Kai, who Draco indicated was the older, glared at her until Draco cleared his throat. He then bowed minutely. "Pleased to meet you."
Sirius, however, did not need to be prompted. He bowed low, took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Pleasure." He said simply.
Zephari raised an eyebrow at this. Their father must be a slave-driver if he made them bow and be all courteous. Pureblood pride, her father used to call it. She did not wish to curtsy, but knew it was required of her, so she did to both boys. "The pleasure's mine." She insisted politely, looking at Sirius as she said so.
"Ah, look! There they are!" Dethol said joyfully.
Zephari turned to see the Weasleys – and the Potters – blinking disoriented-like in the bright daylight outside of Gringotts. Alexis, Alexandre, Zoë, Dante, Felix and Leif all hurried towards Zephari with wide grins. Zoë skid to a halt beside her, grabbing onto her collar to keep from crashing into Sirius, who dropped Zephari's hand with a start.
"Oh." Zoë said sourly, glaring at Kai.
He glared back. "Potter." He said sharply.
"Malfoy." She replied in the same tone.
"Who are they?" Dante whispered.
"Professor Malfoy's sons." Alexis whispered back. "The older one's Kai, the younger's Sirius."
Alexandre growled low in his throat, "Luckily, we only have one at Hogwarts. Sirius is going to Durmstrang for a year."
"Why does he have to go live with ice bergs?" Zephari muttered, but only Dethol heard and he chuckled.
"All set?" Charlie asked, joining them with Bill in tow.
"Actually, Charlie, you don't need to tail this group." Severus said suddenly, "Draco and I will be with them, we can chaperone. Go have some... fun... for once."
Zephari – and the rest of the children – stared at him. The word 'fun' just sounded wrong when he said it. However, Zephari was hoping that Charlie and Bill would leave them with the three professors. Dethol, for one, was fun to shop with and she wanted to spend some more time with Sirius, especially if he would help her annoy his father and Snape.
"We're coming with you, Charlie." Leif said suddenly, glancing at Felix who nodded.
"And we're coming with Bill." Alexis said firmly for herself and Alexandre.
Zoë and Dante looked torn and Zephari shrugged. "Go if you want." She said simply, but they did not.
"We can't leave you with just the Malfoys for company." Zoë hissed.
"Okay, suit yourselves." Zephari said, though she smiled happily.