Chapter three: Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to Hogwarts we go.

From the moment they had arrived on the platform 9 3/4 Ron could tell something was off. Not with the train mind you, but with the people themselves. Or rather the ones he had not expected to see. As he looked through the crowd Ron spotted a very familiar head of red hair.

"Charlie!" Ron walked briskly to his oldest brothers side. "What are you doing here?"

Ron stopped in his tracks as he saw a small girl with the signature Weasley hair standing beside Charlie with tears running down her small face.

"Who is this Charlie?" Ron asked motioning to the small girl.

"Oh, Ron I would like you to meet my daughter Arabella Contessa Weasley." Charlie cleared his throat nervously.

"Your daughter?" Ron gaped. "If she's your daughter then whose er mum?"

"Do you remember Whitney Durgens?" Charlie asked and with Ron's nod continued. "Well, when we broke up she was pregnant but didn't tell me." Charlie sighed. "She gave birth to my daughter and even gave her our family name but never bothered to tell me. Well two month's ago Whitney was in a car accident and well, she didn't make it. But this lawyer calls me and tells me that I have a daughter. Whitney of course had no idea that I was a wizard so she didn't know what to do when little Bella showed signs of magic, or so the lawyer hinted. Since I am her father they asked me to take her in and I couldn't say no to my own child."

Ron's jaw dropped even further, then he snapped it shut as if he had just nodded.

"Well, when we broke up she was pregnant but didn't tell me." Charlie sighed. "She gave birth to my daughter and even gave her our family name but never bothered to tell me. Well two month's ago Whitney was in a car accident and well, she didn't make it. But this lawyer calls me and tells me that I have a daughter. Whitney of course had no idea that I was a wizard so she didn't know what to do when little Bella showed signs of magic, or so the lawyer hinted. Since I am her father they asked me to take her in and I couldn't say no to my own child."

Ron's jaw dropped even further, then he snapped it shut as if he had just realized it and cleared his throat.

"Does mum know?" Ron asked and with Charlie's head shake nodded. "Don't you think she'll want to know? I mean when your daughter gets to school how are we to keep Gin from blabbing it?"

"I didn't think of that." Charlie bit his lip in thought.

"Charlie!" Came Hermione's cheerful call as she spotted her brother-in law. She came over with their three children in tow and stopped as she noticed the small girl hiding behind Charlie. "Ummmm...who is that Charlie?"

"Hermione, kids; I would like you to meet Arabella "Bella" Contessa Weasley. My daughter." Charlie had given up trying to hide her from them. "Bella, this is your Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron and Cousin's Darion, Marcus and Jalisia."

Bella's eyes grew wide. "I have cousin's!" She squeaked.

"Hello Bella." Marcus grinned slightly.

"Hi Bella." Darion beamed.

"Hello." Jalisia smiled sweetly. "You actually have more cousin's then just us you know."

"I do!" She practically squealed with delight.

"Uh-huh. There's cousin's Allen, James, Aliana and Lilian." Jalisia counted on her hand. "Those are Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's kids. Then there's Uncle's Fred and George, Uncle Bill and his soon to be wife Sam, and of course Grandma and Grandpa Weasley." Jalisia ended her summation of the Weasley family tree.

"Thank you Lissie." Charlie smiled weakly at his niece. "She should meet them all at Christmas, but I guess it's better to at least give her an idea as to what she's in for."

"I'll send an owl to Gin and Harry to tell them not to blow the surprise to mum and dad." Ron told him and smiled at Charlie's sigh of relief.

"Well, well. Looks like a Weasley family reunion." Draco smiled as he walked towards the Weasley group.

"What can we do for you Draco?" Charlie asked coolly.

"Have we met?" Draco eyed Charlie.

"Not formally, no. But I know you by reputation."

"Hmm... can't say the same." Draco retorted, then turned to Ron. "So anything on what we discussed?"

"Not yet Draco. They want to check out your story first. Then they will make their decision." Ron told him. "So as soon as I know something, you'll know. But why are you here Draco? Surely you're not here just for that."

"No. I'm here to see Ares off." Draco smiled.

"Ares?" Ron looked confused.

"Yes, my son. Ares Lucius Malfoy." Draco sighed. "He starts Hogwarts this year."

"Wait, now I know you had a son. But I thought he was much younger." Ron looked confused, again.

"Alas, not true. You see, six years after the final battle." His face grew sour with the memory. "I didn't know it, but Pansy had become pregnant and although I did not see myself with her permanently, well I am not one to abandon my child so I did the right thing and married her shortly before my son was born. It was a private ceremony of course, but what can you do when your father is in hiding?"

"So he wasn't even at your wedding!" Ron looked aghast.

"Just how was he supposed to make it? If he showed up he would have been arrested on the spot. There were Auror's tailing me everywhere hoping that I would slip up and lead them to him." Draco eyed Ron. "So how was he to be at my wedding if he was arrested. No better to not have told him and let him stay in hiding then ruin my wedding day."

"Oh." was all Ron could manage.

"Ron, the train will be leaving soon and we have to get the boy's on the train!" Hermione's call interrupted the conversation.

The group broke up as each parent ensured that their child or children got onto the train along with their belongings. As the train began to pull away Charlie caught up to his brother again.

"So Ron, what was that incident with Malfoy about?" Charlie enquired. "And since when have you two ever been "buddy, buddy" with each other?"

"We weren't "buddy, buddy" Charlie and it was nothing. He's just wanting help in bringing his father to justice." Ron said simply and left it at that.

Darion and Marcus took Bella by the hand and dragged her into a compartment that was empty.

"So you had no idea about any of us?" Darion asked as Marcus closed the compartment door.

"Nope" Bella shook her head. "My mum never mentioned dad's side of the family."

"So your mum was a muggle then?" Marcus asked as he sat down.

"Muggle?" Bella looked confused. "What's a muggle?"

"It's a term we use for non-magic folk." Darion told her.

"Oh." Bella nodded in understanding. "Then yes, my mum was one then."

"Bella, what happened to your mum?" Marcus asked softly.

"She was driving home from work when this Semi pulled out in front of her and stopped. She didn't have enough time to stop herself so her car went right into the back of the Semi and killed her instantly." Bella began to cry again. "That's what my grandma told me anyway."

"Wow. That's a harsh thing to tell your grandchild. How her mother truly died. No sugar coating or anything." Marcus said with a harsh intake of breath.

"That's just how my mum's family is. Always telling the truth no matter how much it hurts." Bella grumbled.

Darion placed his arm around Bella. "Well it'll be okay. We're your family now."

Bella gave him a weak smile.

"Yes and at least you have Uncle Charlie." Marcus added encouragingly.

"Thanks guy's" Bella said weakly.

Just then the door to their compartment opened and a small boy with blonde hair stood in the doorway.

"Mind if I sit with you?" The boy asked. "Everything's full."

"Sure, come on in." Marcus smiled at the boy. "I'm Marcus Weasley and this is my twin brother Darion."

"I'm Bella Weasley." Bella blushed.

"Ares Malfoy." The boy closed the door behind him.

"You're Mr. Malfoy's son then." Darion stated.

"Yes." Ares nodded. "How do you know my father?"

"He came up to our family to talk with our dad today." Marcus explained.

"Oh, so that's where he went." Ares sat down beside Bella. "So are you all brothers and sister then?"

"No, we're cousin's." Bella explained.

"Oh."

"Any one got a clue as to what we're in for?" Bella asked nervously.

"You mean no one told you?" Ares asked confused. "But I thought every wizard and witch knew about Hogwarts."

"My dad didn't know I existed until three months ago and my mom was not a witch." Bella gave Ares a sour look.

"Well my father told me that they sort us into one of the four house's." Ares told her, ignoring her glare. "The house's are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. That's what I'm going to be in."

"What?" Darion asked confused.

"The Slytherin house. My family has been in Slytherin for ages. All of the Malfoy'sland there." Ares said triumphantly

"Oh, well our family has always been in Gryffindor. So I guess we'll probably be in that house." Marcus told Ares.

"Oh." Darion took a deep breath as the realization hit him. "And Slytherin doesn't like Gryffindor much do they?" he asked.

"Nope." Marcus stated and his face began to fall as he looked at Ares. "But if our dads get along then they can't hate each other as much as we've been led to believe, can they?"

"So then what does that mean?" Bella asked looking at the others. "Do we have to hate each other if we end up in either one of those houses?"

"I suppose so." Ares shrugged his shoulders.

"But why? Why should we do what the people of the past have done? Just because they say that's what's right? Why can't we stay friends no matter what house we end up in?" Bella asked confused. "Aren't we our own people here?"

"You know what Bella, you're right!" Ares looked at the others. "Why can't we stay friends no matter what?"

"Okay, so let's make a pact then." Darion held out his hand. "To stay friends no matter what house we end up in. agreed?"

The other's placed their hands down on top of Darion's to seal the pact.

"Friend's Forever!" they said together.

As the train came to a stop in Hogwarts, the four had moved out of their compartment and went to collect their trunks. This was of course until the driver came on the intercom.

"We are arriving at Hogwarts, please leave all of your belongings on the train as they will be taken to the castle separately."

Darion and Marcus had grabbed Bella's trunk before the announcement and as soon as they heard that they dropped the Trunk; just barely missing Bella's foot.

"Hey!" Bella shouted as they began to move off the train.

As soon as they had gotten a few feet from the train they heard a gruff voice call above the chattering students.

"First years this way please!"

They looked around to see where that voice was coming from and spotted a very large man with a group of children forming around him.

"That must be Hagrid." Marcus chuckled. "My dad told us all about him."

"Mine did as well." Ares stated. "But my father didn't seem to like him."

"Really?" Darion looked surprised. "Why? My dad loved him."

"Well, he says that it's because his father had always taught him that a pure blood wizard was best and anything else was "tainted". Now this is only my guess but since Mr. Hagrid is obviously part giant as well as being part wizard, well my father would have considered him "tainted" and there fore my father would despise him." Ares explained. "My father says that since he has gotten older, he has learned just what was true about what his father taught him and what isn't. These are the things that he is trying to correct in his raising me."

"Oh." the others said in unison as they walked toward the towering man. As soon as he had spotted the group he chuckled.

"Well I'd know a Weasley anywhere! You must be Ron and Hermione's boys." Hagrid beamed.

"Yes sir." Darion answered.

"Now I ain't no sir." Hagrid said gruffly as he turned to Ares. "And you must be the Malfoy boy."

Ares nodded.

"Now, you look like a Weasley, but i know Ron and Hermione's only got boys coming this year, and Harry and Ginny's children are too young. So then who's child might you be?" He asked turning to Bella.

"She's Charlie's daughter Hagrid." Darion blurted.

"Charlie?" Hagrid looked surprised. "I didn't know Charlie had a daughter."

"Yes well, none of us did until today." Marcus explained. "Charlie didn't even know until a few months ago when Bella's mum died."

"I see. Well best get a move on eh?" Hagrid winked at Bella. "Follow me you lot."

With that Hagrid led them to the lake where there were a dozen small boats waiting for them.

"No more than four to a boat please." Hagrid stated as he got into his boat.

Bella, Darion, Marcus and Ares took a boat together. As soon as everyone was in a boat they began to move. As the boats traveled over the lake a castle loomed into view. The boats soon docked at a stairwell and Hagrid took the lead up the stair case. As they reached the door Hagrid knocked loudly upon it. The door opened to reveal a surly looking man with long black hair.

"First years for you professor Snape."

"Follow me." was all the man said as he lead the students into a small room off the hallway they had entered.

Hagrid walked away mumbling "At least he could have said thank you. McGonagall always did."

"You will wait here until the sorting begins." was all Snape said as he left the students.