Chapter 9: Christmas holidays.
Lucius sat in the library watching Bella carefully, as she was chatting merrily with her cousin's. Lucius frowned, he couldn't quite understand how someone so lovely could be related to someone like Darion Weasley. To Lucius, Darion was loud, obnoxious and rude. Bella however seemed to be Darion's total opposite and he loved that about the petite redhead. Bella got up to leave the library and Lucius followed. As soon as she was out of ear shot of her cousins he approached her.
"Hello Bella." Lucius said silkily.
Bella turned in surprise. "Oh, Hello Lucius."
"Bella, I was wondering what you were doing during the holidays." Lucius inquired.
"Well I know that I was supposed to meed dad's side of the family."
"Oh." Lucius's face fell.
"Why?"
"Well I was hoping that you could come to my house some time to, you know meet my family."
"Why?" Bella looked at him surprised. "I mean we barely know each other and well, it's not as if we're dating."
"No, but we could be Bella." His face brightened at the suggestion.
"Look, I'm sorry Lucius. Your a nice boy, weird but nice." Bella said softly. "But I just don't like you in that way. I'm sorry."
Bella walked away, leaving Lucius to stare after her in disbelief.
'You will be mine Bella Weasley.' He thought to himself. 'Even if you don't know it yet, you will be mine.'
If Bella thought she could feel the excitement mounting in the air a month before the holidays were set to begin, it was nothing compared to now. She shivered with anticipation as she waited to board the Hogwarts express with Darion and Marcus. A moment before she boarded, Bella took one last look at the other students.
"Where's Ares?" Bella wondered aloud.
"Don't know, maybe we should ask Andromeda." Darion muttered eying the Slytherin girl angrily.
"What does she have to do with anything?" Bella asked confused.
"Nothing Bella, lets get on the train shall we?" Marcus said quickly. "Come on Darion!" Marcus pushed Darion onto the train, then boarded it himself.
"Stop pushing Marcus!" Darion growled.
Bella followed her cousin's, dodging whenever one of them swung at the other playfully. As they entered a compartment Marcus turned to Darion.
"You don't think mum knows about what we did, do you Dari?" He asked nervously.
Darion punched Marcus's arm as Bella asked.
"Know what?" She looked from Darion to Marcus. "Okay, what did you do?"
"Why we didn't do anything Bella." Darion smiled innocently.
"Right, and like I'm supposed to believe that." She scoffed. "If you didn't do anything then you wouldn't be afraid of your mum finding out now would you? So what did you do?"
"A gentleman never reveals his secrets dear cousin." Darion mock bowed to Bella.
"I'll have to remember that the next time I see a gentleman dear cousin." Bella shot back and sat down.
"Ouch!" Marcus fell backwards in laughter. "Did she ever burn you Darion!"
"Sod off Marcus!" Darion sat down huffily as the train began to move.
As the train pulled into London, Darion looked out the window. He would never admit it but he was eager to find out whether or not their mother did know about the prank. As it pulled up to the platform Darion got a glimpse of his mother's face and knew his answer. With a yelp Darion pulled away from the window.
Marcus looked at his brother's pale face and squeaked. "She knows doesn't she?"
Darion nodded.
"We are so dead!" Marcus groaned.
Bella took a quick look at her aunt Hermione's face. She saw nothing wrong with her look until she caught a glimpse of fire dancing off her eyes, this wouldn't have bothered Bella except that she knew that no one had lit a fire, off or on the train.
The train stopped. Both boys groaned, knowing the impending doom that awaited them.
"Well, been nice knowing you cousin's." Bella said quickly as she got up and hurried off the train.
"What do we do now?" Marcus asked as he watched Bella flee from the train.
"What can we do?" Darion sighed. "We have no choice but to face mum."
"Maybe we can hide until everyone's gone, then bolt." Marcus said hopefully.
"You know as well as I do that she won't leave without us Marcus. That won't work." Darion shook his head. "No, we just have to face her."
"BUT I'm too young to die!" Marcus whimpered.
"Come on." Darion motioned as he got up.
"Uh-uh!" Marcus shook his head.
"Marcus, come on!" Darion growled as he pulled Marcus out of his seat.
The boys deboarded the train and walked up to their mother, who was just staring at them angrily.
"Mum, let us explain." Darion began, but cowered under his mother's glare.
"Stop right there." Hermione told him sternly. "I refuse to talk about it here where everyone can hear us."
"But mom!" Marcus paled even further.
"Don't you but mom me Marcus! Now get your things and lets go!" Hermione tapped her foot impatiently.
The boys nodded somberly and retrieved their trunks from the train. They placed them on the trolleys their mother had brought with her and followed her silently to the car. Hermione didn't even look at her son's again until all of the car doors were closed.
"What in bloody hell were you thinking?" She shouted at the boys. "You're father is recuperating right now and he doesn't need the added stress of you two being expelled!"
Marcus and Darion exchanged surprised looks.
"What's wrong with dad?" Darion asked.
"Don't you dare change the subject!" Hermione shot an angry look back at Darion. "What would you have done if Ginny had become upset with your little prank and reported you to McGonagall?"
"Didn't think of that." Darion muttered.
"That's exactly my point! You didn't think of what might happen because you didn't care Darion. All you cared about was playing your dumb prank and not of the consequences."
"I tried to talk him out of it mum." Marcus said trying to redeem himself a bit.
"Oh you did, did you? And a fine job you did at that didn't you? In the end you even helped him pull the prank, so where in that did you actually try to stop him?"
Marcus sank into his seat and began to look out the window.
"Just as I thought. You are both grounded to the house during the holidays and you are banned from preforming any experiments as well. No going to the shed, which by the way is finished and has all of your experiments in it."
"But mom!" Darion protested.
"Don't you but mom me.You brought this on your selves! I mean it,no playing or experimenting during the entire holiday vacation." Hermione finally started the car and set it into gear. As she pulled away she spoke again. "Your very lucky I don't do worse to you. The reason I am only placing you on this punishment for the holidays and not longer is because your aunt Ginny did find it funny and not insulting."
They rode in silence for a bit before anyone spoke again.
"Mum?" Marcus said softly.
"What!" Hermione snapped.
"What happened to dad?" He asked in concern.
"Your father was in an explosion." She told them. "It was caused by someone that could only be described as a Voldemort copycat."
The boys looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Is he okay?" Darion asked.
"Yes, he's okay. he's got some bumps and bruises along with some broken ribs but he's alive."
"Oh good." Marcus sighed with relief.
They fell silent again until they pulled into the house's driveway. Hermione then turned back to her son's.
"Your father doesn't know about this so not a word!" Hermione warned them. "I don't want him upset while he's healing."
"Yes mum." The boys said together.
Darion and Marcus took their trunks one by one into the house. As soon as they were settled in, they went in search of their father. They found him in the kitchen, sitting at the table.
"Hello dad. Glad you're alright." Marcus hugged his father.
"Yes dad, don't know what we'd do without you." Darion moved in for his hug.
"Really?" Ron looked at his boys in surprise.
"We may be royal pains in the arse dad. But we do love you and mum." Marcus replied
"Yeah, we even love Lissie." Darion added. "Most of the time that is."
"I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you boys say that." Ron sighed.
"So when do we go to grandma's?" Marcus asked eagerly.
"When Bill gets married next week, Why?" Hermione asked eying him.
"Oh nothing." Marcus said quickly. "Just grown quite fond of our new cousin is all."
'Even if she did bolt, leaving us to face mum alone.' He thought miserably.
"Yes, she's the only one we have that doesn't either slobber on us or play tea party with Lissie." Darion nodded.
"Well, I'm just glad that you two have found someone to relate to in this family other than Fred and George." Ron grumbled.
"Oh and by the way boys. Speaking of cousin's we just found out that Sam is expecting their first child." Hermione beamed. "The good thing is that even though she's pregnant she won't be showing at the wedding next week. Imagine getting married and having to try and hide a swelling belly."
"Ugh! Mum, we don't want to hear this!" Darion groaned.
"What?" Hermione saw their disgusted looks. "Well it's not like I'm telling you how she became pregnant." She said rolling her eyes.
"We're eleven mum,we want to hear about toys and games. Not babies and ugh, girls!" Marcus gave another disgusted look.
Hermione just clicked her tongue and started on dinner.
Darion sat in the back of his parents car anxiously. They were finally making their way to their grandparents home. He just wished that it didn't have to be for a wedding. Tomorrow would be his uncles wedding and because his father was an usher and his mother a brides maid, this meant that Darion, being the oldest would have to be responsible for his siblings actions. it was not because Darion himself was responsible, even he would say he was far from it. It simply had to do with him being the first born. Even though it was only by a tenth of a second, he was still older than Marcus. Oh how he wished Lissie had been born first, she was more responsible than both Marcus and Darion put together.
"Stop squirming Darion!" Marcus growled beside him.
"I can't!" Darion grumbled.
"Look, we already told you we'd be on our best behavior tomorrow!" Marcus whispered.
"I know. But mum isn't happy with us as it is and all I need is for you or Lissie to do something wrong." Darion grimaced. "Then she'll come wailing on me like a banshee from hell!"
"She won't Dari. we'll be good." Aloisia gave Darion an encouraging smile.
Darion sighed and nodded but otherwise stayed silent.
About an hour later they arrived at the Weasley family home. Molly Weasley had heard their car and came out of the house with a large smile.
"Hello Mione dear." Molly gave Hermione a hug. "Ron, how are you feeling?" She asked as she gently hugged her son.
"Feeling better mum." Ron blushed.
"Dari?My you've grown dear."Molly looked at Marcus.
"Uh, mum? that's Marcus not Darion." Ron chuckled.
"Oh dear!" Molly gasped. "Oh Marcus!I'm so sorry!"
"That's okay grammie." Marcus hugged his grandmother. "I get that a lot at school. Don't really understand how though, what with him being a Gryffindor and I'm in Hufflepuff."
"Yes but I'm your grandmother. I should be able to tell you two apart."
"Mum, you couldn't even tell us apart." Fred came out of the house grinning. "So what makes you think it'll be different for them if you couldn't even tell us apart?"
"Too right!" George came out behind his brother. "How are you boys?"He winked at his nephews.
"Fred, George help the boys bring in the bags." Their mother ordered as she ushered Ron into the house saying. "We really ought to get you into bed."
"I'm fine mum,honest!" Ron protested as he tried to get out of his mothers arms.
No matter how hard Ron tried though, he couldn't wiggle himself free from his mother's grip. So he finally had to concede defeat and allow himself to be ushered into the house.
Hermione and Jalisia trailed in after them leaving Darion,Marcus,Fred and George to take care of the luggage.
"Since when did we become bellhops?" George asked as he watched the others leave.
"Well, I can't say about you guys but Dari and I have been in constant punishment since we fulfilled that ruddy promise of your's to aunt Ginny." Marcus blushed.
"You didn't!" Fred gaped at them.
"You mean to tell us that you sent your aunt a Hogwarts toilet seat?" George's mouth hung open.
"It was Darions idea!" Marcus said defensively.
"Now we're not saying your wrong to have done that boy's, Merlin knows we've pulled a hundred or more pranks in our time. But well," George trailed off. "Mum doesn't know about this does she?"
"You mean grandma?" Marcus inquired. "I don't think so. But our mum sure put a harsh punishment on us for it."
"Oh?" Fred raised an eyebrow.
"She grounded us to the house, no playing or experimenting during the holidays at all." Darion told them miserably.
"Ugh." George gave a sour look.
"Well best get these bags inside eh?" Fred groaned as he lifted one end of a trunk.