Fred looked frantically between the eleven-year-old girls and Hermione. He now realized just exactly how the girls looked familiar. They had his red hair, but it had the all too familiar fuzziness that was their mother's hair. One of the girls had green eyes like him and the other had brown eyes like her mother's. The news was slowly hitting him that he was a father.
"Why didn't you tell me! Why! I should have known. Who told you to leave?" Fred knew that Hermione wouldn't have left unless threatened. "Was it George? I'll kill him. He was always jealous." Fred was pacing now. He couldn't believe he had daughters.
"It wasn't him. Perhaps we should talk later, in private. They don't know everything either," She said the last part so quietly that only Fred could hear.
"Why don't we go out tonight, and leave the girls here? I'll tell you where we're going later. If they're anything like their father, they'll try to sneak out and follow us."
"Ok. Dumbledore wants me to show you to your rooms. They're next to ours, so you can get to know the girls." Hermione spoke as the four walked up the stairs.
"You know, I should have known something was up when they said their middle names. 'Molly' and 'Guinevere'. My mum and my sister's names. And 'Madeline' and 'Anastasia' were always your favorite names." Fred shook his head as he spoke.
Hermione looked over at the girls who were walking towards their rooms. She had planned on some alone time while she got ready to go out tonight with her ex for the first time in eleven years. "Why don't you girls go get to know your father better." This was not a question but a statement.
"I'll tell you about my . . . rather our family while your mother gets ready for tonight." Fred told Maddie and Stacie as they walked into Fred's rooms.
A few minutes later, with the girls settled on the crisply made bed, Fred proceeded to unpack and tell about his family. "Well, where to begin? Let's see, you've got a grandpa, Arthur, and a grandma, Molly, and a whole slew of aunts and uncles. There's Bill and Fleur and their daughter Mimi. Then you've got Charlie and Sally. They have Jr., Jack, and Sharon. Percy is married to Penny and they have Jill. Then there's my twin. Didn't know I had one did you?" He paused to let the girls shake their heads, "George and Katie have twins, too, Jim and Jake. Last you have your Uncle Ron and Aunt Ginny, neither of who have married, yet. Bill and Fleur both work for Gringotts bank. Charlie still works in Romania with Dragons, and Sally used to work there, too. Percy works with the Ministry of Magic along with Penny. George and Katie work, and used to work there too, in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, a joke shop George and I started in our 7th year here at Hogwarts. Ron's teaching here, too, and Ginny is at the Ministry. And your Uncle Harry, I'm sure you'll call him Uncle too, if you don't already, is teaching also." As Fred finished he walked into his closet to hang up some clothes, and Maddie turned to Stacie.
"Can you imagine? All that family, we've never even met Mama's family. I wish we didn't have to wait 'til Christmas to meet them."
Fred heard this last comment as he walked back into the room. "Why don't we go some time this week? If your mum is the same as always, she'll be done with two weeks of work in one. I'll talk to her tonight, ok?"
The girls grinned happily and told Fred they were going to go visit with Dumbledore for a little bit. Much to their mother's delight they had proven to love the magical world as much as she had at their age. They spent much of the day with Dumbledore and McGonagall. As the girls left Fred grabbed his jacket and walked the two steps to Hermione's suite. Before he could knock Hermione opened the door.
"Hi. I heard the girls leave. They'll be with Dumbledore for a while. He knows that we will be out so he'll make sure they're in bed. So where are we going?"
"To Hogsmeade of course. Oh, by the way, I told the girls I'd take them to meet the family. They'll all be at the Burrow tomorrow. Can you come, too?"
"Yes, it's about time I saw them again. At least Harry and Ron will be here tomorrow. That'll be the hard part, you know?"
"They'll be glad to see you though. Shocked and surprised, but happy. They missed you, we all did. So did your parents, why didn't you tell them?"
"I'll tell you everything when we go someplace to eat. It's a long story."