I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
Extended Family
Chapter 54 – Scavenger Hunt
Takes place after chapter 48.
"Mum?"
"Yes dear?" Alicia asked, looking at her daughter.
"I'm bored."
"And what would you like me to do about it?"
"Something."
Alicia sighed. "And do you two share her affliction?"
"What's a fliction?" Hailey asked.
"This." Dahlia flicked Hailey's ear who squealed and retaliated.
Katie smiled. "That's just a flick and don't do that Dally. An affliction is like an illness or a condition. AliMum was asking if you two were bored too."
"I'm a little bored," Hailey said.
"I could be a little bored," Dahlia said unhelpfully.
Katie snorted. "Thank you for being honest," she said dryly. She bounced a babbling baby Iris. "Problem is, as you see, we're minding your little siblings and it's hard for us to entertain you."
"You could help us," Angelina said, giving her daughter a look.
Hailey looked up. "I guess we could."
Alicia snorted. "Let us make a deal then. I have a means to soothe your boredom and once it has been, you help us after. Deal?"
"Deal!" the trio of girls said.
Alicia summoned a quill and parchment and wrote a list of things. She handed it to Hadley. "There. I have given you a list of things to find and bring back. It's called a scavenger hunt. You are to stay within the bounds of the neighborhood. Everything that is on the list can be found here. Gather them all and bring them back and we will reward your cleverness."
"Thank you Mummy/AliMum!" the girls cried. They ran off, chatting excitedly.
Angelina gently rocked the bassinet holding Abigail and Alexander. "What kind of things did you write on the list?"
Alicia waved a hand, moving a slumbering Melanie from one shoulder to the other. "I was deliberately vague on that: true treasure, concrete thought, captured color, that sort of thing."
"You're a monster," Katie laughed.
"That'll keep them busy for a while," Alicia snickered.
-0-
The three girls looked over the list.
"I don't know if I get most of these," Hailey said when they finished reading it.
"Mum likes to be tricky. Sometimes it's annoying," Hadley sighed.
"We can figure it out," Dahlia said confidently.
"We can?" Hadley asked.
"Daddy said we're really smart and that when we work together, we can figure out a lot of stuff."
"Well if Papa Harry says so then it has to be true," Hailey said.
"Okay," Hadley said, all reservations gone. "Let's try and figure it out one by one then." She looked at the first item on the list. "Concrete thought. Concrete is hard. We have to think about hard things?"
"Or find something that is hard and thinky," Dahlia mused.
"Oh! I know this one!" Hailey exclaimed. "Didn't Professor Granger tell us something like this?"
"You're right! She said books are thoughts written down and books are hard," Dahlia said.
"Then let's find the biggest book that looks the most complicated," Hadley said. "We should go to her house. Mum says her library is good but Professor Granger's is better."
They scampered off in the direction of Hermione's home.
-0-
Hermione stopped, staring at the door to her library with a frown. She almost never closed the door; it was too much a bother to constantly open and close it really. She also could hear something faint from within the library and despite thinking for a period of time as a child that books could literally talk, she knew now that they could not.
"Fred! George! If you're messing with my books again, I'll stick your tongues together this time instead of just to the roof of your respective mouths!" She opened the door wide and sighed with relief seeing the three girls inside looking up at her.
"I knew someone did that to Daddy!" Hailey said loudly. "I knew it wasn't an accident!"
"What are you girls doing in my library?" Hermione asked with a smile.
"We're doing a scavenger hunt and we thought we could find something here that's concrete thought," Hadley explained.
"And we remembered you telling us that books were thoughts made real and that books are hard and you have the best books in all the houses," Dahlia said.
Hermione wiped a tear away. "Oh, you girls are so sweet. Remembering what I said and acknowledging that my library is the best."
"May we borrow a very complicated and hard book please?" Dahlia asked.
Hermione looked around. "Here, this should work. Applications of Numerology." She smiled at their blank looks. "It's magical maths." She laughed at their groans and faces. "Oh wait, one second." Hermione summoned a knapsack and tapped it with her wand. "Here. You can put all sorts of things inside and it'll keep them safe. Please make sure nothing happens to my book."
"Thank you, Professor Granger!" the girls chorused. They hugged her and went running out of the house.
Hermione watched them fondly from the window. "A scavenger hunt huh? That sounds like fun."
-0-
Luna inspected the canvas critically. She had been painting the creek and the surrounding area for a patron that liked nature scenes. Palettes floated around her as did several different brushes, all within arm's reach. A flash of color caught her eye and she added it to the painting. Some more dabs added a bit more color and it slowly crept along the edge of the meadow alongside.
Luna stopped and frowned, finally looking at the color for what it was on the canvas. She smiled and focused on the color in the scene she was painting. "Hello girls."
"Hi Auntie Luna," the trio trilled. They were creeping through the meadow slowly, trying not to disturb Luna though they were unaware that Luna had added them to the painting in a way. At her beckon they came scampering around.
"I love your paintings," Hailey sighed.
"Oops, did we do that?" Hadley asked, pointing at the streaks of red and brown that ran through the edge of the meadow.
"Yes but it is nothing bad," Luna said. "I think I like it. It's easy enough to make as flowers and not as t-shirts." She softened the edges of the colors and they melted into the greenery as if they belonged there. "See, there we are."
The girls sighed at the beautiful painting.
"Do you have a moment to help us?" Dahlia asked.
"Yes, several. What can I do for you?"
"We're doing a scavenger hunt and we're looking for captured color."
Luna blinked. "That's an odd thing to look for."
"Mum was being tricky and we decided since you know the most about colors, you would be the best to ask," Hadley said.
Luna smiled. "That is very sweet of you to say. I think I certainly can help with that." She waved her wand and an empty jam jar floated out of the kitchen window and she caught it. Swirling her wand around, ribbons of paint rose into the air and settled into the jar. Another series of charms made the paint in the jar constantly move and swirl, showing different combinations of colors. The witch then sealed it tightly, tapping the jar once more to prevent spills. "How's that?"
"It's so pretty!" Dahlia squealed. She held the jar to the sunlight and the colors within glittered.
"It really is," Luna mused. "Hmm, thank you for the idea girls. I think I can do a lot with this." She hugged them back and watched them dash away. She flicked her wand and the colors along the edge of the painting slowly started to oscillate, slowly but constantly moving and changing.
"I certainly can do a lot with this," Luna smiled.
-0-
"Unspeakable horror? What's that?" Dahlia asked.
"Uh…something really scary that either can't talk or we can't talk about it?" Hailey suggested.
"AliMum's weird sometimes. Sorry Hadley," Dahlia said.
"She's weird a lot," Hadley said.
They stood there and pondered.
"Oh! I know!" Hadley said suddenly. "Daddy has something in his Quidditch trunk. He had a really bad game when he first started playing for Puddlemere, something about being scored on a lot. He said he wouldn't talk about it a lot but he kept a play ticket of the game to remind him of it."
"That should work," Hailey said.
The girls ran to Hadley's home and went to Oliver's office/Quidditch room. Hadley opened the trunk and rooted around in it for a while before finding what she was looking for. She put the ticket into the knapsack and asked, "What's next?"
"Temptation," Dahlia read.
"Mummy said I'm tempted to be naughty," Hailey said. "When I want to play pranks or use one of Daddy's things."
"That sounds a little too easy," Hadley frowned. "Grabbing a Wheeze. Mum says I'm tempted by candy but that's easy too."
"Oooh, I know," Dahlia said. "How does this sound?" She described something to her friends.
"Oh that sounds good," Hailey said enthusiastically.
"Let's go!"
-0-
Tonks stumbled through the Floo with a deep sigh. She was exhausted from work and wanted nothing more than to take a long nap. She knew it would throw off her sleep schedule but at this point, she did not care. The operation she ran today had been beyond tiring and it was a success, made possible from weeks of effort.
She flopped onto the couch and cursed when her head hit the cushion a little harder than she had intended. She narrowed her eyes as she looked around. "Hey, where's my napping pillow?!" She looked around wildly. It was her favorite pillow to nap on, firm enough to lie on, squishy enough to hug, and infinitely comforting.
She tore her living room apart, looking for her pillow. "Oh, I'm going to get whoever made off with it!" she screeched.
-0-
"A shadow?!" Hailey stomped the ground. "Mummy!"
"Oh this one's easy," Dahlia said.
"How? You can't touch a shadow," Hailey said.
"Sure you can." Dahlia led them to the Potter home and she cupped her hands around her mouth, making a barking sound. Hedwig barked back and came flying down to her, landing on her head and nuzzling her lovingly.
"Hi Hedwig," Hadley and Hailey said, petting her.
"When Hedwig wants to bother someone, she flies after them like a shadow," Dahlia said. "She flies behind them and will move their things around."
"Ohh that makes sense," Hadley said.
"Can we have a feather please?" Dahlia asked, looking up at Hedwig.
Hedwig bobbed her head and preened her wing, removing a loose feather. She dropped it daintily into Hailey's outstretched hands. She basked in the adoration of the girls, cooing at they petted her. After receiving her due worship, she nibbled their fingers and fluttered off.
Hailey carefully put the feather into the knapsack. "Okay, what's next?"
"Trouble," Dahlia said. "Should one of us get in the bag?"
"I don't think it's big enough," Hadley said.
"Oh this one's easy too," Hailey said. "Daddy has something in his office that he shouldn't. It's not a Wheeze either."
"Oh goody, that's done too then," Hadley said happily.
"We only have one more on the list then. True Treasure," Dahlia said. They looked at each other. "That's the easiest one."
"Yeah, guess Mummy put the hard ones up front," Hadley said.
"Let's go get the thingie from Daddy's office and go find our treasure," Hailey said.
-0-
Harry smiled wearily as he walked up the others in the back garden. "You lot are a sight for sore eyes."
"Rough day?" Katie asked, kissing him on the cheek.
"Oh yeah. Practice was a bit rough. The new reserves are rougher than we thought and think they're not so you can guess the trouble. Cap was close to bashing heads with her bat," Harry sighed. He smiled widely when Katie deposited Iris into his arms. "But now I'm home and with my family so that doesn't matter anymore." His smile grew when Angelina piled Abigail and Alexander on him and Alicia put Melanie beside him. "That's a lot better."
"He's going nowhere for a while," Angelina laughed.
"Where're the bunnies?" he asked.
"They were complaining about being bored earlier so I sent them off on a scavenger hunt," Alicia said.
"Oh that sounds like fun," Harry remarked as he patted the sleeping babies gently.
"It must have been, they haven't been back in ages." Katie said.
"I wrote some very good things to hunt," Alicia said smugly.
"You wrote some annoying cerebral ones you mean," Angelina corrected.
Harry's eyebrows rose when Tonks came stomping up. "What's wrong Dora?"
"Someone nicked my napping pillow!" she said in a loud whisper to not disturb the babies. "I got home ready for a kip and it's missing! Have any of you seen it?"
"We've been here all day," Katie said. "Maybe the girls got a hold of it? They're on a scavenger hunt."
"Who put my napping pillow on the list?!"
"I didn't," Alicia said. "I honestly can't think of how that would fit any of the ones I wrote." She frowned as she saw Oliver and George ambling up. "What are you two doing together?"
"Good to see you too," George sniffed. "Ollie came by the Wheezes for something and Fred sent me home so I can help Angelina and the babies."
"I needed something to get back at Morgan," Oliver said sheepishly.
"Oh well that's fine then. He's a prick," Alicia said airily. "Oh don't give me that look, the babies don't understand us right now and Melanie is sleeping," she said at the looks from the others.
Luna came walking over. "Hello everyone," she said pleasantly.
"Hi Luna, how're you?" Katie asked.
"Well thank you. Finished my last piece, thanks to the girls. Have they returned yet?"
"Not yet. You saw them earlier?" Alicia asked.
"Yes. They came asking me for help on their scavenger hunt." Luna looked at Iris pleadingly and Harry passed her over. With a wide smile, Luna sat beside Harry, rocking the baby gently. "I'm glad they came. Helped me immensely with my work."
"Oh drat," Hermione said as she approached. She looked glumly at Luna and Iris. "I thought I'd beat you over."
"You'll get your turn soon," Luna said, cooing at the baby.
As George hefted Alexander in his arms and Angelina took Abigail and Oliver scooping Melanie up, the three girls rounded the corner. "There!" Dahlia said and they ran up and crowded around Harry. "We found you!"
"You sure did," Harry said warmly, hugging them. "What for?"
"We're done with the hunt!" Hailey said excitedly.
"Well then, show us what you found," Alicia said.
Hadley opened the knapsack. "For concrete thought, we have this book that Auntie Hermione lent us."
"Applications of Numerology? Just reading the title makes me sleepy," Oliver snorted.
"It's a hard book and a hard subject," Hailey said.
"Not bad," Alicia agreed. "Very well, accepted."
"Auntie Luna gave us this for captured color." Dahlia held up the paint filled jam jar and they ooh'd appreciatively at the swirling colors.
"Gosh that's really pretty," Katie admired.
"You may keep it," Luna said. "I'm rather proud of it and will be doing more with the idea. I will credit you three of course," she said to the delighted girls.
"I didn't think you'd go asking for help but I suppose I can't fault you," Alicia mused.
"Some of these were really hard," Hadley said, frowning at her mother.
"They were supposed to be," Alicia said, frowning at her daughter.
"This is unspeakable horror," Hailey said and handed the ticket to Alicia.
"Why did you have them looking for unspeakable horror?" Angelina asked, staring at Alicia.
Oliver groaned, seeing the ticket. "It fits the bill. The Montrose Massacre. Absolutely got slaughtered my rookie year in that game."
"Why do you keep it then?" George asked, amused.
"It's good to know your low points to celebrate the high points," Oliver said easily. "And to see how far you've come."
"That's really profound," George admired. "Did Alicia tell you that?"
"Nah, I read it off a fortune paper once," Oliver said and they all laughed.
"Hey! My pillow!" Tonks glared at the girls. "I'm going to ward the heck out of my place to keep you little thieves out!"
"Why'd you take Dora's pillow?" Katie asked.
"Temptation. Auntie Dora said every time she sees her pillow she wants to nap," Dahlia said.
"Oh, well, you're not wrong," Tonks said, face flushing and hair turning curly. "It's my favorite pillow."
"We were going to bring it back," Dahlia said apologetically.
"Next time leave a note or something," Tonks sighed. She took the pillow back and hugged it tight. "Good reasoning though. Can't fault you there." She accepted the apology hugs from the girls.
"And is Hedwig's feather trouble?" Alicia asked.
"No, she's shadow," Dahlia said. "Because she can follow you around with you noticing."
"How does someone miss a snowy owl?" Oliver asked. He froze when he felt something brush the back of his neck and at the looks from the others. "She's right behind me, isn't she." He jumped when she hissed in his ear, much to the amusement of the others.
Hedwig flew around, looking quite smug before landing delicately on Dahlia's head, chest puffed out.
"That's accepted and please ignore my remark about you being trouble," Alicia said. "Is one of you trouble then?"
"I suggested one of us get in the bag," Dahlia said while the others laughed.
"Nope, this is trouble." Hailey fished out a bottle and held it up.
"Hey! I know that bottle, where did you get it?!" Angelina glared at George when he groaned. "I said I didn't want it in the house!"
"Fred said it'd only be a day!" George said. He picked up Abigail and cowered behind his son and daughter.
"What is that?" Hermione asked, peering at it.
"It's concentrated liquid fire from salamanders!" Angelina nearly shouted.
"That stuff can burn through dragon scales!" Alicia gasped.
"Sweetie, give that to me," Katie said and she gently but hurriedly took it from Hailey. She cast all sorts of charms around the bottle, murmuring feverishly as she coated the bottle with as many spells as she could. Harry then wrapped it in parchment and transfigured the parchment into dense metal.
"That stuff is incredibly not safe and not terribly legal to have around with a permit," Tonks said, eyes narrowed at George.
"We have a permit for hazardous substances," George said weakly. "How'd you even know it was in my office?" he asked Hailey.
"Uncle Fred mentioned it the other day through the Floo."
"You are in a lot of trouble mister," Angelina growled at George. "And you get your brother here tonight so I can give it to you both at once."
"Why do you even have that?! Wait, I don't want to know," Hermione said, shaking her head.
"Remind me to ask Tracy about extended home insurance," Harry murmured to Katie once they finished safety proofing the bottle.
"I'm surprised we didn't start with that," she murmured back.
Alicia shook her head. "Okay, well, yes that does count as trouble. Well, that's a good job bunnies. Very clever choices."
"Too clever," George muttered.
"We're not done yet," Hadley said proudly. "We have one more: true treasure."
"Oh that's right," Alicia said. "Go on then, what's your true treasure? Were you three able to agree on the same thing."
"Yup, it was easy," Hailey said. They all climbed on top of Harry, settling comfortably on him. "Papa Harry is our true treasure."
Harry's heart melted and his smile was warmer than the setting sun. He wrapped his arms around them tightly and sighed when they hugged him back. "I love you girls so much," he said, kissing them on the head one by one. "You're my treasures."
"I should have guessed that," Alicia said wryly. Her smile turned soft as she saw how happy they looked. "Still, they're not wrong."
Katie put a hand over her heart and sighed happily. "Goodness, you have to warn your poor mother before you do that. She'll faint from the sweetness," she said to Dahlia. She eagerly hugged Dahlia who opened her arms but did not move from Harry.
Hedwig climbed from Dahlia's head to Harry's, plumping down and hooting proprietarily from on high.
"She looks remarkably like a dragon right now," Luna smiled.
"I'd put money on her against a dragon," Angelina said.
"Thank you for the hunt, it was fun," Dahlia said to Alicia with the other girls echoing.
"We can help with stuff now," Hailey said.
"How about you girls help me with dinner? We can have a big one out here," Harry said. Given their orders, the girls dashed into the Potter house to obtain the necessary things.
"Now that's a smile," Katie said to her husband, kissing him.
"Can you blame me?"
"Not at all," Hermione said. "It's delightful really." She gave Alicia a look. "Those were some rather difficult things you wrote for them to find. Aren't they usually more specific and less…abstract?"
"I might have wanted to give them a little difficulty for the difficulty they gave us," Alicia admitted.
"Well they did come up with some really clever things," Katie mused.
"I'm surprised they knew about the ticket," Oliver chuckled. "I can't remember the last time I mentioned that game."
"I'm charming my pillow to be unremovable from my house," Tonks grumbled.
"Oh right, so, about this thing," Angelina said, pointing at the secured bottle.
"Seriously, it was only supposed to be a day," George moaned. "I have got to watch what I say around her. Same with Fred."
"Why isn't it at the Wheezes?" Luna asked.
"Because we discovered that it reacts violently to certain things in our development room and don't ask me how we discovered it."
"That was you?" Hermione snorted. "The other day part of Diagon was shut down due to a fire. I heard things weren't damaged too much but still, enough to cordon off an area for some time."
"Aurors went to investigate," Tonks frowned. "Thought it was an explosion from a spell with mal intent."
"No, just idiot intent," Angelina sighed, rubbing her temples. "You told me there was only a minor accident."
"The accident was minor," George protested. "What happened because of the accident was maybe just a little bit bigger than minor."
"Maybe I'll ask Tracy about a small storage shed with as many protections we can layer on," Harry suggested. "Kind of like the shed your dad has for Muggle things only way more secure."
"Put it next to the pitch. I want to be far away from that waiting explosion," Alicia said.
"But what if it explodes by the pitch?" Oliver asked, concerned.
"Then nothing of value will be lost," Alicia said, patting his hand.
"There wasn't an explosion," George said weakly. "Just a…fire that reacted energetically and slightly out of controlled…y"
"That's an explosion," Hermione said dryly.
"Well it didn't explode and we all had a good laugh and time together," Harry said. He smiled as he watched the girls coming walking over with baskets and things. "Let's just enjoy the time together and treasure the moment with each other."
"That was dreadful," Angelina laughed as the others groaned and Harry looked smug.
"He's going to be dining on this for ages," Alicia sighed with mock severity.
"But he certainly deserves it," Luna said stoutly.
"He sure does," Katie agreed.
-0-0-0-
diffident-serpiente - Any excuse to include Hedwig really. Sometimes it's hard not to include her. Magical theory is fun to think about and I'm having some fun messing about with it for this new smaller fic project. It's going in a slightly different direction than anticipated but hopefully will still be fun to read. Lardy bread sounds like a dense fruitcake bread, I'd try it. I read about laverbread once in my other major series I love and have always wanted to try it. Thank you, hope all is well with you as well. Things aren't going to go great for a long time for me but I'll make do and do what I can. Thank you for your kindness, it means so much.
guest - I randomly gt the idea one day for the chapter and it came out more sincere and fun than I thought it would. Glad you enjoyed.
Arnie1701 - I plan on eventually doing a small oneshot fic with that premise.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - I probably won't do that but it certainly could happen in the setting.
alix33 - Flight Mistress Hedwig is the best.