"What the hell did you do to my sons?" Victoria said coldly, anger radiating off of her in waves that the air started crackling around her, her magic reacting to her fury. Standing in the backyard, the grass under her feet started sizzling and dying.
"Whatever they told you, it's not true. You know how boys make stuff up from time to time." Molly said with a nervous laugh, palms sweaty from fear at the Potter's rage.
"Now you're calling them liars? You've got some nerve Molly Weasley." Victoria said with gritted teeth. She noticed that the kids were looking at them and realized she hadn't used a silencing charm around the area, so she immediately cast that before continuing. "Look Weasley, I might not know the details of what you did to the twins, but believe me when I say you'll regret whatever the hell you dared to do while I was in a coma and after Fabian died. Don't come near me or my family again or you won't live to say another word after it."
"Are you threatening me?" Molly screamed, her face turning red and purple at the same time, she looked very unattractive.
"Oh no dear, I'm a Potter. We don't make threats, we make promises. And we make sure to fulfill them." Victoria said with a smirk, her eyes turning into pools of gold as they darkened from fury.
"Y-you can't do this. I'll tell Dumbledore immediately, he'll sort you out." Molly said, stuttering as she smiled in victory.
"Oh let him come to me, I have a few choice words for that cow as well. He can't protect you from me, Weasley."
Victoria turned at those last words and walked towards the door, done with the conversation. Molly followed after her, still shacking from fear at the woman's obvious power. As soon as they re-entered the living room, they didn't just find Fred and George with their stuff, but Percy as well. The three were holding a suitcase each and their school trunks, as they really didn't have that many clothes (Molly preferring to use the money to buy Ron and especially Ginny clothes over them).
"Percy? What do you think you're doing?!" Molly screamed in a shrill voice, everyone wincing at how loud she was.
"Something I should've done years ago." Percy said with a certain set to his mouth, his blue eyes glinting in determination. He then turned to his aunt. "Aunt Vickie. Would you mind if I come stay with you for the rest of the summer?"
His words made Molly gasp in shock while Victoria just smiled in comfort, not showing any other reaction to his words. The difference in reactions and the way they held themselves clearly showed the difference in status between the two women. While Victoria had been raised as the Heiress of The Honourable and Most Ancient House of Potter and had stuck by these lessons as she became The Lady of The Venerable and Most Ancient House of Prewett, Molly had completely forgotten how her parents had raised her as the years went by, leaving her as the dishonourable and dramatic woman that she was now.
"Of course you can, Darling. Come on then, we better leave now."
"Wait here a moment!" Molly shouted as the four turned to leave the house. "You are an ungrateful brat, Perseus Weasley. After everything your father and I have done for you, this is how you repay us. By leaving the first chance you get?!"
"Yes!" Percy said loudly, taking a deep breath after to calm himself. He wouldn't stoop as low as his mother. "Every day I lived in this house, you've made me feel like an outcast because of my Hogwarts house. You don't know how to treat us properly, you always compare us to each other and to others. I never feel like I'm enough, none of us do. Bill and Charlie left as soon as they graduated, but I can't wait until I graduate. So I'm leaving. Now."
That seemed to stump the woman long enough for them to leave.
The four appeared in front of Prewett Manor and Percy let out a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar castle-like manor.
"I'm really sorry for springing this onto you all of a sudden Aunt Vickie." He said as they walked towards the front door.
"It's nothing Perce. I'm just happy you're here now and could finally catch a break." Victoria said as she put her arm around his shoulders and led the three teenagers (and wow was that shocking, her sons and nephews were all teenagers now) towards the manor.
As soon as she stepped inside Prewett Manor, she took a look around, reminding herself to thank the House-elves for keeping it clean. The three red-heads gasped in shock as they entered, not remembering exactly how big it was on the inside.
"This place is huge." The twins said at the same time, mouths hanging open as they looked around.
"Oh you should see Potter Manor, it's a lot bigger than this one. And it looks like the house-elves kept it clean while we weren't here."
As soon as she had finished talking, they heard a series of pops and four house-elves appeared in front of them.
"Mistress." The four said in surprise, running to give Victoria a hug.
"Hello everyone."
"We miss you."
"I've missed you guys too." She said with a smile on her fact as the four tiny creatures let go, beaming at her.
"The little masters are here too." The eldest of the four and the Head House Elf, Biskey, said as she smiled at the twins.
"Hello." They greeted the house-elf with small smiles, getting brief flashes of memories with the elf from their early childhood.
"Why don't I show you where your rooms are so that you can get settled in and maybe change to more comfortable clothes? We can gather in the living room in thirty minutes and you guys can tell me all about the past ten years. I don't know what's been happening and I'd like to know as much as I can." Vickie said with a small smile as she led the way towards the stairs, the three nodding in agreement at her words. She showed them their rooms on the second floor, the twins taking their old room beside hers that had been updated to be for teenagers instead of three year olds as it had been before, thanking merlin again for house-elves, and Percy taking the guest bedroom opposite theirs. As soon as the three were inside, she heard a pop next to her, and immediately turned around to see of her loyal house elf, Kandy. Kandy had been her house elf since she was a small child, and continued being by her side her whole life that the elf even moved with her when she had gotten married, as she was tied to herself and not The House of Potter.
"Mistress Vickie, Kandy has missed you." While she did speak in third person, as all house elves did, she still maintained good grammar and vocabulary at the insistence of her mistress Vickie, who she had missed a lot during these years. But even when her mistress was unresponsive to everything, and was asleep all the time, Kandy made sure she took care of the house, her mistress and her little masters.
"I've missed you as well Kandy. Thank you for taking care of everything when I couldn't." Victoria said, smiling at her oldest friend and companion in gratitude.
"Of course, Mistress, Kandy would do anything for Mistress Vickie and her family." The elf said loyally, returning the smile.
"This does remind me, could you prepare one of my formal robes for tomorrow? Make sure it looks…powerful in a sense." Victoria asked the elf, smirking at her friend. Even if the Minister didn't invite her for a meeting tomorrow, even though she highly doubted he'd miss out on the opportunity after Amelia told him, she still had some people she needed to visit and wanted to look powerful doing so.
"Of course, mistress. Consider it done." Kandy said, smiling wickedly at the implications of the words and nodding her head in acknowledgement. She popped away right after to do as she was asked.
Victoria sighed tiredly at the exceedingly long day before she headed towards her bedroom. As soon as she was in, she walked towards her bedside table, as had been a habit of hers every time she'd returned home from a long day after her husband had died. She opened the drawer and took out the single photograph that she kept in there and sat at the side of her bed.
She bowed her head and stared at the moving picture in her hand. It was a picture of her and her husband, Fabian Prewett, at their bonding day. He had lifted her in his arms and was spinning her in a circle on the dance floor while they were surrounded by their closest friends and family, who were all laughing at the scene. What had always struck her was the look of pure happiness on both their faces. It had taken them multiple courtship dates and many struggles before they had managed to get to that very moment. Bonded at last and for a time, happy. But now she didn't have him, even though she needed him now more than she had ever needed him before.
"It's been ten years since you've been gone, but it feels like a few days for me. Maybe it's because I was in a coma. No, I don't think so, I think it's because I love you very much but you're not here anymore. They're thirteen now, I missed ten whole years of their childhood and I don't know what to do. I wish you were here, but you're not, and I have to live with that. I always thought clearly when you were around, but I guess I have to get used to thinking on my own now. Ten months or ten years, it didn't make a difference then and it doesn't make a difference now, but now I don't even have my Jamie to rely on, and I have to find and take care of his son too. What do I do Fabs?" She bowed her head, and let the tears she had been holding the whole day finally fall.
"Slytherin huh? Glad you two took after me in something at least." Victoria said with a laugh while they looked in shock at her words.
"Mum! You were a Slytherin?!"
"Oh yes I was. Take after my mother. James on the other hand was a Gryffindor like every Potter before him."
"What do you think about Ravenclaw then?" Percy said shyly, worried if her opinion was similar to his mother's.
"Well both my aunt and one of my best friends were in Ravenclaw, hell I was almost sorted there myself. I think they're one of the coolest houses ever." Victoria said with a smirk, getting a smile in return for her words.
A few hours into their conversation and after two cups of hot chocolate each that were provided by Prewett Manor's kitchen elf, Sunny, the fireplace flared and the head of Amelia Bones popped out.
"Hey Amy." She said, greeting her aforementioned Ravenclaw best friend with a smile on her face.
"Hey Vic. Glad to see you back at the Manor with Fred, George and even Percy with you." The Head of the DMLE said with a smile. "Hey boys."
"Hey Aunt Amy." The twins greeted, smiling brightly at their Godmother. Percy, on the other hand, politely said "Hello Madame Bones."
"I've got news." Amelia said to Victoria, gaining the woman's attention immediately.
"Okay, shoot."
"Minister wants to see you and Frank. Tomorrow at ten in the morning."
"Great. I kind of expected him to as this, anyways. I'll be there." Victoria said, her face showing her thoughts racing a mile a minute. "Did you tell Frank?"
"Thought I'd tell you first."
"Okay. Go tell him, and tell him to meet me at your office at nine thirty. It's okay to floo there directly, right?"
"Yes. I'll go tell him."
"Thanks Amy." The two exchanged goodbyes and closed the call right after.
"Well boys. It seems I have a meeting tomorrow. But for now, tell me about your pranks, what have you troublemakers been up to?" That got the twins going, talking about their three years of mayhem with Percy intercepting here and there to correct some dramatics, Victoria laughing the whole time.
While all of this was happening, The Longbottoms were having a reunion of their own. They had flooed directly into Longbottom Manor and the couple were waiting in the informal Living Room for Augusta to get their son from his room. As the two sat, a comfortable but tension filled silence fell, as the two were very nervous to see their son after ten years of him seeing them in the unstable, mute state they had been in.
The two straightened their backs and stood up when they heard footsteps getting nearer. They shared a nervous smile as they waited for their son to appear. Seconds later, but what felt like hours to them, a short, chubby cheeked eleven-year-old walked in, talking silently with his grandmother. He seemed to be explaining something before he turned his head towards them, and the slightly fake smile he was going to direct them immediately fell when he saw exactly who was in the room. His eyes started filling with tears at the sight of his parents looking at him with smiles on their faces and eyes that were also filling with tears.
"MUM! DAD!" Neville exclaimed as he ran towards his parents, who immediately took him in their arms and hugged him tightly, tears running as they fell to the ground. Augusta stood to the side, watching the family reunited with tears of her own falling unashamedly from her eyes. It was good to have her family back together again.
