"Momma, can we go to the joke shop?" Gianna asked, her eyes staring avidly at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. I sighed, nodded, and allowed her to run ahead of me into the store. Adele remained by my side, holding my hand and gazing longingly at Quidditch Quality Supplies.
She took after her father so much that at times it was downright painful for me to be around her. Gianna had this insane desire to pull prank after prank and she always looked so damned mischievous that I was constantly watching her. Furthermore, Gianna had taken to inventing her own joke items and pranks. Adele took after me. She was extremely studious and a very intellectual girl. Both girls looked like their father, but it was looking as though they had inherited my genes for height and build. It tore me to pieces that both of the girls were better at being Beaters than Seekers, and I held out no hope that they would ever stop completing eachother's sentences.
"Momma, can we go to the Quidditch store?" Adele asked hopefully, her beautiful eyes boring into mine.
"Of course sweetheart, after we Gianna's joke stuff, and your wands," I replied, squeezing her hand briefly.
We walked into the shop and I saw hordes of children clambering around, making purchase after purchase. Adele wandered off to look at some of the merchandise while I waited just inside the door. A familiar voice caused me to listen a little more carefully.
"I swear, that girl looks so familiar," he said. I knew it was George.
"She looks like a Weasley," Fred replied quietly.
"Gianna, look what I found!" I heard Adele cry.
"There are two of them?" George asked incredulously.
"Whoa…that's awesome," Gianna grinned. "We need some of those too," Gianna said, and I heard candies falling into a basket. "Let's go find Momma."
"Ok," Adele answered, and they reached the end of the aisle. They had only been one aisle over.
"Momma, look at all of this stuff! It's so much better than the stuff I've been trying to invent at home!" Gianna cried, holding up the basket.
"Great, let's go pay for it all, dear," I said, taking the basket. I looked up from my daughters smiling faces and saw George Weasley staring at me in shock. I smiled weakly.
"George, what is it? Who do those girls belong to?" Fred asked, as he peeked around George to see me standing there with my two daughters. "Whoa, shit," Fred whispered as he jumped back behind the aisle, hiding himself from view.
"Momma!" Gianna shrieked, jerking on my sleeve.
"I know, I know, we're going to pay," I snapped, marching toward the register. I was almost there when a hand gripped my upper arm in a strong vice-like grip causing me to stumble and jerk around.
Without even looking up, I knew exactly who had grabbed me and I lifted a fiery gaze on George, and gave my arm a strong jerk, only to find he wasn't letting go that easily. His eyes were aflame, and he looked ready to kill me. I met his gaze and once again tried to jerk my arm out of his grasp. Fred had slunk over behind the counter to stand beside Lee, and was whispering quickly out of the side of his mouth. Lee's eyes were growing steadily larger, while I was growing steadily more angry.
"Momma?" Adele asked nervously, staring at George. Gianna was starting to look very upset about the situation, and I glanced at my two daughters.
"Excuse me, Mr. Weasley, but I need to go pay for my daughter's items," I said in a frosty tone. I had never seen George so angry; he looked about ready to murder me on the spot.
"Don't take that tone with me, Annabelle," he said in a growling whisper.
"Let go of my mother," Gianna said in a low, angry tone, staring defiantly up at George.
He blinked and looked down at Gianna, and his grip on my arm relaxed considerably. I took the opportunity to yank my arm out of his grasp. Unfortunately, I used a bit too much force, and fell into the shelves on the other side of the walkway. I stood up and marched up to the counter. Fred stared at me as I set down my purchases. George was still watching my little girls with amazement, and hadn't moved from his earlier spot in the store.
"Hello, Annabelle, I didn't realize you were back in Britain," Fred said in a polite tone. I stared at him.
"Yes, the girls are leaving on the train for Hogwarts tomorrow," I replied, as he rang up the items in the basket.
"Really? Perhaps they'll meet Ron and Hermione's son, Nathan," Fred commented, staring right back at me.
I noticed he had finished ringing up the items.
"How much do I owe you?" I asked coldly, pulling out my wallet.
"One hundred and seventy-five galleons," he said without batting an eye. I whirled around to stare at Gianna.
"You picked out almost two hundred galleons worth of joke paraphernalia?" I shrieked, staring at my daughter. Gianna shrank back.
"No, actually, she picked out twenty-five galleons worth of merchandise," Fred said lazily.
"Excuse me?" I asked in a deadly calm voice, turning slowly to face him. "You're going to charge me an extra one hundred and fifty galleons?" I asked in a frigid tone.
"Yes, that was the idea," he replied smirking slightly.
"Fine. Nevermind, we will just go elsewhere to purchase these items," I replied and with that grabbed both of my daughters by their hands and marched out of the store.
We were just about to walk into Quality Quidditch Supplies, when someone called after us.
"Annabelle, wait!" I stopped and turned to see George running up the street after us. I waited for him to reach us, and he held out a bag emblazoned with his store name on the front. "These are for your girls," he said in an odd tone. I took the bag and handed it to Gianna, who immediately began digging through its contents.
"Thanks, George," I replied, reaching for my purse. "How much do I owe you?" I asked.
"Nothing, it's a gift," he said, watching as Gianna grinned at some of the products she pulled out. "I, uh…I would like to speak with you," he said quietly, tearing his eyes off of Gianna and Adele who were grinning from ear to ear as they walked into the Quidditch store.
"I suppose we could arrange that," I replied in a polite tone. "The girls and I are staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, and I'll be there for a couple of weeks while I look for a flat out in Hogsmeade."
"Hogsmeade, what for?" he asked, sounding surprised.
"Well, the girls are going to Hogwarts, and although they can't come visit me for these two years, I would like to be able to see them when they are able to visit," I replied. "Look, they're leaving on the train tomorrow, and if you'd like to speak with me privately it'll have to be after that."
He nodded and looked into the store and through the window saw our daughters gazing lovingly at a Firebolt 250. I still had them using Nimbus 2001's, but knew that they wanted new brooms.
"They're mine, aren't they?" he asked in a quiet tone.
I swallowed and glanced at Gianna and Adele before replying.
"Yes, they're yours," I whispered.
"Why didn't you tell me?" George demanded, whipping an enraged gaze up to me. "Didn't you think I ought to know that I had two daughters? Don't you think that I might have wanted to be a part of their lives? What gave you the idea that you couldn't tell me about them?" he asked, leaning close to me.
"You wouldn't have wanted them," I said simply.
He stared at me, apparently shocked and appalled that I would say that. I didn't wait for him to reply I simply turned to walk into the store where my girls were waiting to try and weasel a new broomstick out of me.