Chapter 7

Ginny stared at her mother for a few seconds, "Wait a minute, you mean that she was supposed to marry Charlie when they graduated from Hogwarts?"

Molly sighed and dropped down into the chair across from Ginny. "Lucy and I were best friends. When I got pregnant with Charlie, it was only a few weeks later that she found out that she was having Mari. She was here when she went into labor, your father stayed with Bill and Charlie while the midwife and I helped her deliver Mari." She conjured a pot of tea and two cups, handing one to Ginny. "When she was finally here, your father brought Bill and a three week old Charlie up to see the baby. Bill kept staring at her, he called her is sister." She took a sip of tea, "As she and Charlie grew up, we could see something there. Charlie would never cry when she was nearby, and the same with her. When they were two, a garden gnome stole her dolly. When Lucy and I got into the garden, Charlie was sitting on the gnome pulling on its ears and nose. Mari was sitting next to him, her doll in her arms and one of Charlie's hands in hers."

Ginny smiled thinking about her two year old brother beating up a gnome over Mari's doll. "Were they always close?"

Molly laughed and summoned the photo albums from when Charlie and Mari were young. "Have a look for yourself; I'm going to finish cooking so that we can eat."

Ginny took the stack of albums and stepped into the other room. She motioned for Harry, Ron and Hermione to join her, since the three were staring at Charlie and Mari. She led the other three upstairs to her room and shut the door behind them.

"What's with that girl and Charlie?" Ron asked.

Ginny sat down on the bed and opened the first book. "Well, mum says that her mother promised her to Charlie when they were three, so she may end up being a Weasley."

Hermione and Ron sat down on the bed, and Ginny slid over so that Harry could sit next to her. "These have pictures of the two of them. Mum told me a story about when they were two," she said, then told them the story that she had just heard.

"That is just so sweet," Hermione gushed when Ginny had finished.

"I'm sure that Ron would have done the same for you," Harry remarked, making Ron blush.

Ginny turned the pages of the album, stopping every time she came across a picture with the dark haired little girl in it.

"Awwww, look at that," Hermione said, pointing to a picture of Charlie and Mari. The dark haired girl was looking down at a biscuit in the grass and Charlie was breaking his biscuit in half and offering part of it to her.

"I would never believe it if I hadn't seen it," Ginny said. "a Weasley male sharing food, unbelievable."

Harry laughed and pointed to another picture, this one of Mari and Charlie playing dress-up with what must have been Molly's robes. Charlie wearing a ruffled blue robe, and Mari wearing the same robe in green.

They spent quite awhile looking through the pictures, until Molly called them for dinner.

When they got to the kitchen, Mari was helping Molly to get everything on the table. Ginny put the albums down and went to lend a hand. "Ginny dear, could you get the jug of pumpkin juice?" her mother asked. Ginny smiled at the two women and put the jug on the table.

The four teens cornered Mari as she was setting the dishes to wash themselves. "Mari, why did you come to England?" Ginny asked.

Mari sat down at the table and motioned for them to join her. She quickly conjured a tea set and poured for them. "My aunt was a Muggle, and she died about two weeks ago. She pleaded with me to find Albus Dumbledore to find out more about my mother. I got to London, and searched everywhere I could think of, but I couldn't find him. I had been walking around London, and just felt drawn down the street where I met Charlie."

"It must have been your magic pulling you toward Diagon Alley," Hermione said.

"I don't know," Mari answered. "Charlie came out of that pub and we ran into each other. He's a lot more solid than me, I landed on the ground. He helped me up and bought me tea, then brought me here."

"How did you get here?" Hermione asked.

"Well, he suggested that we travel by floo, and I laughed at him. He finally apperated the both of us into the garden."

"Dual apperation is difficult, I'm surprised that you didn't leave anything behind," Hermione commented.

"That's the first thing he said to me, 'you might want to check and make sure that we didn't leave any parts behind.' I didn't understand then, but Molly explained how hard it is to apperate two people." She took a sip of her tea, "Well, Molly called Albus and he suggested that I stay here and learn from Molly, Charlie and the four of you, when you got home."

Ginny grinned, "I hear that you might marry my brother," she said. "You do know that he lives in Romania, and works with Dragons?"

Mari stared at the girl, "No, I didn't know that." She looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "I don't think that I would mind working with Dragons, are they as bad as the Muggle stories about them?"

Harry laughed, "I'll put my memories of the tri-wizard tournament in a pensieve sometime and you can tell me."

Mari looked around at the laughing group, and noticed a strange glowing around the two distinct couples. Ron and Hermione were glowing a dark red color, she thought that it looked like a beautiful halo, and around Ginny and Harry was glowing a rich gold. Before they could ask what she was staring at, her eyes rolled up in her head and she dropped from her chair.