((This is much shorter than you're used to, but I finished the chapter where I wanted to and that's that. Hopefully I will post longer chapters again soon, now that the semester is over and I'm home for the holidays.))
The twins were right when they had said Mrs. Weasley cooked the entire kitchen. The table was covered in plates when she walked in, the Weasley family scattered across the kitchen talking among themselves while their mother finished up the cooking. Ginny and Ron were talking with Harry in the living room, where Josie set down her sweater on top of her father's jacket and waved a hello to the three of them before Ginny abruptly stood up and moved towards her. "Are you okay? We overheard dad telling mum what happened." She asked, placing an arm on her shoulder. "I'm fine, just a few cuts and bruises." She said back, smiling at her reassuringly.
"Hello Harry, Ron." She said softly, waving at them and getting a nod with a short wave in return. The sound of someone coming in the doorway behind her made her turn to come face to face with yet another Weasley she had not met. "Hey, mum said come on, dinners ready." He said, his voice soft but deep. He almost disappeared back through the doorway until Bill, drying his hands on a dishtowel, blocked his way out. "Better hurry up before Ron gets there an eats everything." He said with a laugh. "Charlie have you met Josie?" he asked, nudging his brother into the room.
"No, I'm sorry." Charlie said, holding a hand out awkwardly to her. Josie took it gently, smiling at him as politely as she could. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Josephine, but everyone seems to call me Josie." She said as she let go of his hand, the rough skin tickling her palm. "Nice to meet you." He replied, smiling at her before turning and heading into the kitchen. "Come on, its getting cold." Bill said, reaching a hand out to take Josie's arm and lead her into the kitchen, the twins following close behind. She was led to a chair near her father, the twins quickly sitting on either side of her with a glare at their older brother. Josie couldn't help but laugh, the twin's scowls sending her into a fit of giggles. Quickly the family settled down, two empty chairs at the end of the table left open.
"Expecting somebody?" Andre asked, helping Mrs. Weasley shift the plates and serve everyone. "Mr. Weasley and Percy, who knows when they'll get home after that mess. I'm surprised you're not swamped." Mrs. Weasley said, sitting in her seat. "Its not as urgent in my branch, sadly can't say the same for my brother in law." Andre replied, and soon enough the two fell into a conversation about the ministry. "What made you change schools Josie? Beauxbatons is a great school." Bill asked after a while, pulling Josie from her hushed conversation with Ginny and the twins about the World Cup. Josie's heart sunk a bit when she thought of her prior school.
"It just wasn't what I needed in my life, it wasn't my style." She responded, nudging at her food and smiling to herself. "Do you like Hogwarts?" "Of course, it's wonderful. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." She said, smiling when she felt Georges knee bump up against hers under the table. "How many O.W.L.S did you get?" Charlie chimed in, looking up at her from his food for the first time since dinner began and flipping long bangs out of his eyes. "Four, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Ancient Runes" Josie replied hesitantly, hiding behind her glass as she took a drink. "Two of the best and two of the most boring classes, good job." Bill said as he shook his head, sitting back in his chair and smiling at her from across the table. "Do you like Quidditch?" Charlie asked, the twins snickering on either side of her.
"What?" She asked, turning to look accusingly at Fred who was covering his mouth to suppress his grin. "She doesn't play, and she's not all that good at watching either." He teased, earning an elbow in the side from Josie as she gaped at him. "I keep up just fine, I kept up at the World Cup." She argued, scowling at him. "She's right; we've spent most of the summer talking about it. She's very well informed I can assure you." Andre intervened, smiling at his daughter before going back to his conversation with Mrs. Weasley about the children's schooling. "Not surprised, she hasn't missed a match." Ginny said, the three younger students at the opposite end of the table perking up when Quidditch was mentioned. "Or a practice." Harry added, a smile that he hadn't worn the entire time creeping onto his face.
The back door swung open, Percy Weasley and who Josie assumed was Mr. Weasley walking into the already cramped kitchen. "Good evening Arthur." Andre smiled widely as he stood up to shake Mr. Weasley's hand firmly before turning to Percy. "Andre Desmarias, pleased to meet you." Percy shook her father's hand, his own thin fingers getting lost in Andre's grip. "Percy Weasley, it's my pleasure." Percy replied, turning and spying Josie between the twins. "Hello, Josie." He said, nodding his head in her direction. "Hello Percy, how are you?" she replied as she stood up to shake Mr. Weasley's hand. Josie didn't hear his reply over Mr. Weasley's hello.
"It's nice to finally meet you, I'm Arthur Weasley." He said boisterously as he shook her hand and moved to take a seat at the dinner table, allowing Josie to sit down again. "It's nice to meet you as well." She replied with a smile. Soon enough the table fell into loud conversation, the many people surrounding it falling into laughter and jokes all through desert. The adults corralled the kids into the living room while they spoke over tea in the kitchen and cleaned up.
Josie sat herself down on the multi toned couch, expecting the twins to sit on either side of her. Instead Bill Weasley planted himself next to her, arm slung across the back of the couch and a grin on his face. "So what could possibly convince you to be friends with these two?" he asked, motioning towards the twins who had set themselves beside and in front of her. "It just happened I guess, I kind of walked into a prank of theirs and we had a lot of classes together." She replied, fidgeting nervously with her shirt. "They're always together." Ginny added from her place on the floor. "I'm just surprised, you're so pretty." Bill added, trying not to smile at the scowls planted on the twin's faces. "Oi, back off Bill." George said lowly, obviously annoyed at the elder Weasley. "I'm not doing anything, I'm just talking." Bill replied with a smile. "I think you're doing more than talking." Fred said, his eyes narrowed.
"Bill, stop antagonizing them." Charlie said softly from his place against the door frame. "I'm not; I'm just talking with my brother's friend who happens to be a very beautiful French girl." Bill's smile gave away what he was actually doing, which was in fact trying to rile his brothers up. Josie blushed, her hands covering her face as she tried not to laugh at the Weasley children's banter. "Have a thing for the French now do you Bill?" Ron spoke up for the first time all evening, he and Harry standing against the fireplace joking to each other. "Who wouldn't? Have you heard her talk?"
"Pardon?" Josie squeaked softly, looking up from her palms to glance between the people in the room. She had never imagined her voice being attractive to anyone, but as she looked between Fred and George's nodding, smirking faces she began to wonder if the stereotype for her language was correct. The only people in the room who didn't seem to agree somewhat were Ginny and Charlie, both of which rolled their eyes at the statement. Even Percy raised a brow and seemed to be thinking over his brother's statement.
"Sorry boys, but your friend is a very enchanting girl. I would never forgive myself if I didn't flatter her in some way." Bill stated with a sly smile, turning to Josie only to wink at her playfully. Josie felt herself flush, but it was nothing compared to the red that was spreading from the twin's ears and down their necks. "Well as you bloody well know she's our girlfri-" George covered Fred's mouth before he could finish, all eyes in the room going wide as silence fell over them. They could hear the muffled voices of their parents in the kitchen, the conversation continuing on despite the outburst from the living room. The quiet was broken by the Percy Weasely, whose gasp startled everyone in the room enough to turn every head towards him with a snap.
"OUR girlfriend? What in the wo-" Fred was over the back of the couch in an instant, his hand slammed over Percy's mouth as the prefect continued to ramble into his palm and struggle against his brother. "Percy shut up, please!" Fred groaned, rolling his eyes as Percy attempted to elbow him in the side and letting go when his brother shut up. "If you don't keep this quiet I will tell mum about the time you had Penelope Clearwater in your dorm for three nights straight the second week of school." George said, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Percy?" Ron said in disbelief, his face a look of disgust and awe. "Even Percy gets around better than you do." Harry said, earning himself an elbow in the ribs as he doubled over laughing.
"Did everyone else know about this?" Percy was rambling. "Did you know about this?" he exclaimed with a gesture in Harry's direction, who only nodded as he coughed out another laugh. "It's fairly obvious." Charlie said, running his hands through his hair and watching his brother stutter over his words. "Just because you're blind as a bat when it comes to romance doesn't mean everyone else is." Bill added, chuckling when Percy glared at him. "But it-it's," Percy stuttered, his hands moving rapidly to make sense of this. "It's not right, it's not decent!" "Oh pipe down Percy." Fred sighed, taking his place next to Josie again. "It's none of your bloody business that's what it is, and mum and dad are to hear nothing about it or-" "you know." The twins warned, smirking at Percy's flabbergasted expression.
Luckily Andre broke the tense silence that followed, poking his head into the living room and grinning widely. "Josie, ready to go?"