Luna and Draco now went to St Mungo's together every day, escorted most of the time by either Andromeda or Sirius. Their parents had been placed in the same room to make the security measures easier. Xenophilius was still weak but at least he managed to stay awake when his daughter was here. Narcissa was still unconscious, but Draco still held her hand and spoke to her, making sure she knew that she wasn't alone, that she was safe and that he was fine. He was staying at the Marauder's lair as well. It was now a very full house but they managed. There was space for everyone and they were outside a lot.
Draco was sleeping in Harry's bedroom along with Dudley and it was a bit packed but he liked it, it was like having brothers, something he had always wanted. It wasn't the same feeling as sleeping in the dormitory at Hogwarts, because at school they all had their own space. Still, it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would.
That day, Dudley had gone to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with Rose, to test their products like they had asked him. Rose had prepared everything with Fred and Remus the day before and she was able to guide him to the back room, where everything was prepared, along with questions to answer. If it worked, if he felt something weird while touching it...
They even asked him to test the Sleepless dream potion and it was a big success. It worked the same on him as it did on wizards and witches, and so muggle born would be able to gift it to their muggle loved ones.
"So Dudley, we haven't been able to talk much since you arrived, how are you liking it with us?" Rose asked him.
"Pretty well. I thought that I'd miss watching TV but I don't. Your world is pretty amazing." He replied.
"I know. We do have a tv, and if we don't do magic around, it works pretty well, but we never think about turning it on. Plus, the protective wards prevents the channels from being clear... It works well with the tapes and dvds though." Rose replied.
"I'm glad to be here though, it shows me just how much I missed on by being mean to Harry all this time." he shook his head.
"It was your parent's doing. All has been forgiven." She smiled.
"I know, and they're trying to change too. It's a good thing. And they're excited about the Pygmy puffs, they watch them on the mirror every time I call them and dad showed me, he's working on a mini house for them, large, with lots of fun stuff. He wants mom to be happy and she fell in love with them." he smiled back, just as they arrived.
"We're here! Come let's get to work." She smiled as they walked into the store from the back door.
Remus was there, he nodded at them before he left the room to go to the office. Rose guided Dudley and they were soon greeted by Fred and George. Of course Rose and Fred started kissing.
"No offense Dudley, but I won't greet you like Fred's greeting Rosie." George joked.
"No offense taken." Dudley chuckled.
.
Cho Chang 's plan had formed as soon as she had crossed Harry Potter and his muggle cousin on Diagon Alley. She just needed to know if and when he'd come back and she thought the best way would be to have someone at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to tell her if he ever dropped by. That's the reason she made friends with Verity, the young woman the twins and Remus Lupin had hired to handle to cash register.
Cho tried to be smart about it and had casually admitted to her new friend of having a crush on Harry Potter's muggle cousin, a boy named Dudley Dursley. Of course her new friend told her that he had been by once and that he was supposed to come back. Verity happily warned Cho of the day and time Dudley was supposed to come by to test the products and so Cho had managed to get some free time from her parents to hang out at the store. She had to be careful not to be spotted by Rose, because she had a feeling that the young Potter would guess her intentions weren't totally sincere quickly enough.
Her plan wasn't very elaborated yet. Get close to Dudley in hope that, in the long run, he'd be able to get her close to Harry Potter. She knew that using him wasn't right, but she didn't care. She had been humiliated by Harry, Rose and Ginny and she'd get her revenge. She didn't know how, but dating Dudley would be the first step. She'd have one foot in the place.
She entered the store and, as usual, it was packed. The Weasley twins were always packed from opening time to the moment they closed their doors, it was a definite success.
"Oh, Hey Cho!" Verity smiled when she saw her.
"Hi Verity!" Cho smiled.
"I know you're not here for me today. He's in the back room with Miss Potter. Wait here, I'll go ask her a question, they'll stop the testing and take a break. I'll make sure she joins me up front. You'll be able to speak with him." Verity smiled, eager to help her friend.
"Thank you so much!" Cho smiled.
"Anything for love!" Verity replied, still believing that Cho's feelings were sincere.
Cho watched Verity walk to the back room, glad she had thought of befriending the young woman. She was very useful.
Fred and George were busy. The Ministry of magic had bought their entire stock of Shield hats, shield gloves, shield Cloaks... They were out and so they were making sure more would be done quickly, mainly because they were out of stock but also because the Ministry had ordered more. They were also thinking of ways to enlarge the defense branch since it seemed to be very popular at the moment.
Verity came back to the front of the store with Rose and Dudley walked out. Cho rushed to him.
"Hi there! Dudley, right?" She asked, managing faking a blush.
"Yes, hi! You're a school friend of Harry's right? Cho?" Dudley asked.
"Yes, I am. I didn't know if you would remember me. What are you doing here?" She asked him.
"Oh, George and Fred asked me to test some products, to see if it works well with Muggles. I think they want to creat some sort of label they'll place on products that can be used on or by people who don't have magic. Rose was overseeing it but an employee needed her so we took a break. She said I could wander around the shop." he smiled.
"Is it going well?" Cho asked him.
"Yes, so far everything works fine." Dudley nodded.
"I was wondering... Would you mind if we met up later? When you're not busy or hanging out with your cousins I mean... I'd like to see you again, you know, just us..." Cho asked him in a small voice.
"Sure, I'd love to. I can give you my address if you want, or the name of a nearby park where we can meet up." he suggested.
"I'd love that!" She nodded and so Dudley gave her the name and address of a park he liked to go to and they agreed on a date and time when they would meet up there and spend some time together.
They talked some more for about 15 minutes and when Rose started making her way back to them, Cho said goodbye to Dudley and walked away. She thought it had all gone pretty well. It would take some time but the best plans took time, she didn't mind hanging out with a muggle, Dudley didn't seen to bad company after all. Maybe she'd manage to get him to fall in love with her, then he'd even agree to help her in her revenge against Harry, Rose and Ginny.
.
The rest of the day went well for Dudley and, when it was time for him, Remus and Rose to go home, the twins surprised him with a bag full of their products, the more innocent ones he'd be able to use on his own, or with his parents. Of course they advised him against using it in front of other muggles and Dudley nodded, happy to have this gift.
Dudley was sure that his parents would love to use the Sleepless dream potions.
.
While Rose and Dudley were at work, Sirius escorted Harry, Luna and Draco to the Burrow. Once the kids were away, Sirius turned to Molly.
"You said that you wanted to talk to me? What's going on?" He asked her.
"Right, I almost forgot about that with everything that's happened. We need to have a serious discussion with Ginny and Rose." Molly declared.
"About what?" Sirius asked, confuse.
"Sex of course." Molly replied, as though it was obvious and Sirius should have guessed.
"Aren't they too young for that? They're just little girls..." Sirius shook his head.
"Little girls? Oh Sirius I wish you were right but they're teenage girls, young women." Molly shook her head.
"But the safe sex talk? Isn't it too soon?" Sirius insisted.
"I don't think so. They're both in very serious relationships. Rose is going to be in 6th year, Ginny in her 5th. Can you honestly tell me that, when you were their age, nothing happened at all with girls?" Molly asked Sirius and he suddenly paled.
He remembered of course and yes, he did have sex in his 5th year, and the years after that. With several different girls...
"I see you understand that I'm right." Molly smiled, seeing the look of horror on Sirius' face.
"Yes, you're right... I mean, Rose is a very serious and responsible girls but still... We don't know what they know about this..." Sirius shook his head.
"I know that Arthur had the talk with the twins a coupe of years ago, and he plans on having it with Ron in the next few days. Harry is welcome to join them." Molly offered.
"I can talk to Harry but maybe he could join Ron and Arthur, make it easier on him embarrassment wise if there's someone else with him... As for Rose and Ginny... Well, Remus is Rose's godfather, he should be the one to give her the talk..." Sirius replied, knowing that Remus would agree that this conversation needs to happen.
"I'm planning on having a very serious conversation with Ginny about this, you know, safe sex or even better, no sex. Rose is welcome to join us." Molly offered with a smile, understanding that Remus and Sirius could be uncomfortable with this.
"I'd appreciate this." Sirius nodded.
"Good then, I'll let you know when to have Rose over for this conversation then." Molly smiled.
"I feel like I just gained 20 years... It feels like yesterday when we were speaking to Lily's stomach, trying to get the babies to know our voices, and then, suddenly, they're one year away from being adults..." Sirius shook his head.
"I know what you mean. Ginny was my last baby and soon my first baby will start making babies of his own... Time flies." Molly shook her head.
I know some of you don't like the way I wrote Cho. Sorry about that, but that's the way I decided to write her. It's only the beginning. I know that she's out of character, but it's the way I want it for this story.
Inspiration still isn't back, sorry, i'll keep updating once a week, maybe once in a week and a half. I think I need a little break from Harry potter fandom, i'll write other things and come back to this one. Don't worry, i still have a few chapters written that I can update. I might start writing new chapters before I run out of new chapters to give you. Ifnot, I hope you'll forgive me for taking a little break and delaying the rest of the story for a bit. Don't worry, it's coming. The story line is written.
Review please?
Lorelei Candice Black