Chapter Six: The Wizarding World
By the end of that long day Kaylen realized that it was never Destin that is mysterious; it's their whole world. Travel through fire was the strangest and most uncomfortable method ever imaginable. After a decent time of watching fireplace after fireplace pass before him, he stumbled into the beautiful room and was covered in black soot. Kayle felt out of place in such an enchanting house, and immediately wished that he would have made a cleaner entrance. The excitement of magic was disappearing more rapidly than he expected. The room was crowded with people he didn't recognize. Finally, he saw Tayhe sitting at the large dinning room table, roughly scrubbing his face clean. Tayhe didn't bother to introduce him to anyone, didn't even look up at his entrance.
"You must be Kaylen, I've heard so much about you," a smooth voice warmed from his side.
Kaylen turned to meet a very pregnant women smiling genuinely at him. "It's nice to meet you ma'am. I'm assuming that you're Hermione." He politely offered a hand, painfully trying to forget how disheveled he felt.
"Ma'am? I didn't know I was old enough to be a ma'am... Yes, I am Hermione. You can call me 'Mione if you want, everyone does." Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the fireplace. He didn't get a chance to question the rash movement before noticing the flame in the hearth turn brilliant green. Dee shoots out of the fireplace with amazing speed, making a tremendous entry.
"Another lovely entrance by Miss Hogwarts 2005, ladies and gentlemen!" a voice announced from somewhere in the crowd. Everyone laughed at the comment, enjoying the clumsy debut.
Destin took a huge bow. "I learned from the best Auntie Ginny!" Dee walked towards the sink to grab a large wet cloth. "Here Kaylen, you can use this for your hands and face," she handed him the cloth. Instead of grabbing another cloth, Kayle watched her make a funny hand movement, completely ridding her of all soot. "I can get your clothes, but mum doesn't like me to take the soot off our guests' faces. I accidentally turned Tayhe into a guinea pig once trying to do it."
"Accidentally my arse, you planned it," Tayhe spoke up from the table.
"I simply wanted to see if you'd make a good pet, I changed you back right away! Anyway," she emphasized to change the subject, "I'll introduce you to the family. It looks like Bill and Charlie couldn't make it." She cleaned his clothing while he viciously wipes away the dirt off his face.
Kayle was surprised, but relieved to see he was fully clean. "So without them there will be how many here?"
Destin thought for a moment. "Twenty one I believe. Don't worry about their names, you'll get it soon enough. Tayhe come along, we have to make rounds anyway."
They slowly made it to everyone in the room. Hermione first, as she had missed her kids dearly. Kaylen met Percy and Penelope, their three girls Becky, Jen, Mon and their two sons Troy and Jade. Next he met Harry and Ginny, their children Jordan, Lily, Emma, James, Alexis, and Sam. Next were Fred and George, who did their best to confuse Kaylen the best they could (which was accomplished after only a few moments).
"Finally, this is my sister Serena, or Rena for short," Destin introduced.
"It's nice to meet you Rena."
"Right back at yah," she smiled before heading off in the other direction.
"She's strange, so just ignore her," Tayhe explained.
Kaylen laughed. "If I can put up with you two for how long, I'm sure I can handle a younger version."
"Har, har. You're so funny!"
"My grandparents aren't here yet. They're coming a bit later," Tayhe said.
"Tayhe, would you come here and help with the table? Destin, take Kaylen upstairs and show him around will you?" Hermioned directed from the other side of the room.
Dee lead Kayle upstairs. Meeting everybody at once with only passing comments as reference was slightly overwhelming for Kaylen, but he seemed to be adjusting alright.
"Molly and Arthur, right?" It was hard to keep things straight, so Kayle double checked while they were alone. They came to the top of the stairs and he took a deep breath. He could still hear everyone downstairs, but it is calm upstairs.
Dee smiled because she knew that he was already a little worn out. "Yes, and don't worry about being polite. They've heard so much about you, you're like family." She walked to the door closest to her and opened it. "This is Tayhe's room; where you'll be staying. I think Dad has already put your stuff in there."
The room was immaculate, everything always sat in the right place. The walls were a deep blue which brought warmth into the bedroom. The bed was a double, giving just enough room for Tayhe and a friend, but not enough to make a decent guest room. A few posters of Quidditch and baseball players hung on the wall here and there, but most of Tayhe's personal belongings were hidden away in his Hogwarts trunk.
"Where is your family staying?" Kaylen asked.
"Mostly at my grandparents. We only have one guest room right now, so Harry and Ginny will stay in there with Alexis and Sam. The other four, Jordan, Emma, Lilly, and James, will stay in my room," she pointed towards a door in the opposite direction then headed towards her bedroom. The upstairs had a simple lay out, which they had changed constantly throughout the years.
Entering the living room from the stairs, there were two large, overstuffed sofas to seat many people at a time, along with two recliners. Their TV wasn't very large, but it wasn't used very often, usually just when the parents wanted to relax and set up a 'movie night' for the kids. The walls were painted a cream colour – Hermione didn't want too many colours in the house. Tayhe's bedroom was directly to the left when coming into the room then the guest room after. Destin's bedroom was the far room right corner of the upstairs next to the bathroom.
Dee opened her bedroom door and was surprised at the amount of luggage at the end of her bed. They seemed to have packed a lot, but thankfully they haven't stayed in her room yet (having just arrived today) because the room would have been torn apart. She loved her cousins, but they were known to destroy everything in their path.
"There is going to be five of you staying in here?" Kaylen asked.
She shook her head. "Two on the bed, and we pull out two cots. I stay on the couch." Her room was a decent size, but the queen-sized bed, which evidently made it possible for her room to become a second guest room when she was at school, took up most of the room. She had painted the walls a neutral mocha colour, with sage green accents. "That's family right?"
"That's a big family." He laughed a little. Kayle went back into the living room and collapsed onto the red sofa.
Dee sats across from him with a sigh. "A little overwhelming?"
"A little," he agreed. "I don't know how you keep up with it all."
"All what?" she asked, not knowing what he was talking about.
"Everything. After introducing me to each relative you were able to ask or comment on a part of their life. 'I see you've finally figured out how control the amount of ear hair you grow with those pills,' which by the way was one of the weirdest comments I've ever heard and I'd love to get some of those," he added before continuing, "Or you say 'I heard you met the Weird Sisters!' or 'I heard you just got a new broom, how does it ride?' How do you remember who does what?" Kayle couldn't comprehend knowing so many specific details about people.
Destin laughed at his examples. "It's easy to know what Uncle Fred and Uncle George are working on. They own a joke shop and test all their inventions on us. Penelope loves the Weird Sisters - she'd been talking about going to the concert for ages. And I have passion for brooms; it's always exciting to get a new one. Once you get to know them it's quite easy."
There was a pause and they could hear everyone laughing downstairs. "So everyone down there is witches and wizards?"
"Yeah. How weird is this for you?"
"It's weird, but it's really interesting. You read fairy tales when you're little, and never think anything like this is real. This is more than I could have ever even imagined."
"He should have told you sooner, not two seconds before pushing into our world."
"He had his reasons I'm sure." They heard a door open down stairs, and suddenly everyone was louder than normal again. "Sounds like your grandparents are here."
She grinned and smelt the air. "It smells like Grams is here. Dinner's ready, lets go!"
Dee jumped up and ran downstairs, eager to see her grandparents. Kayle stood slowly to follow. 'This is the loudest family I've ever met - not to mention the biggest,' he thought, loving the fact that he is so welcome in it.
The rest of the evening was full of eating, laughter, and, of course, several arguments. Kayle enjoyed dinner, though he decided that it was better not to ask what a few of the dishes were. He observed everybody, listened to their conversations and finally realized that it was simple to catch on to who was who.
As for Destin's Aunts and Uncles, they were all from Ron's side of the family. It was easy to tell who married into the family, because they didn't have flaming red hair. Harry was the only Uncle to marry into the family, and Ginny was Ron's only sister, and had just had her sixth child. Fred and George have not married, and though neither brought dates, they were both in serious relationships. Percy and Penelope are the oldest young couple there, but Bill and Charlie are older then Percy.
While the adults stayed around the table, talking and drinking, and the younger kids watched movies upstairs, Destin, Tayhe, Kaylen, Becky and Jordan went outside. The night was beautiful, with a clear sky that allowed the moon to work as their light.
"Why is it so difficult to find something to do when everyone gets together?" Becky complained. In a way, she spoke the truth, but only because they usually were too lazy to think of anything creative.
"We could always go to the paddock, find something to do there," Jordan suggested.
Tayhe answered skeptically, "In the dark? We'd kill ourselves if we played."
"All the more fun for me," Dee laughed. "Plus, Kaylen hasn't been there. We should show him the sites."
"Good, then it's decided!" Becky started off towards their destination.