Chapter 2
One cold, dreary December morning in 1988, Harry was nearly jumping up and down as he waited by the fireplace. All of a sudden, the flames turned green, and his best friend tumbled out onto the carpet. Ginny popped back to her feet in the blink of an eye, looking towards him eagerly.
"Has it happened?" She asked. "Did I miss it?"
"No! You're just in time, come on!" He led the way upstairs, down the hall and into his room. Nanna Figg was crouched by Harry's closet, and held a finger up to her lips as the children came closer.
"The first one's about to come out," she whispered, shuffling back a step to make room. Inside the small space, a grey and white tortoise-shell cat had made herself a nest out of one of Harry's old raincoats and an extra bedsheet, ignoring the humans as she laid inside it. As they watched, she stretched and pushed, and out came a little brown kitten.
Less than an hour later, two more babies had been born and licked clean, the trio nursing contentedly from their mother. The first had black stripes and patches to go with his dark brown fur, while the second looked just like their mother, and the third was a pale, smoky grey. Awed, Ginny had refused to budge until the whole thing was over, which was when Nanna Figg departed for downstairs to make some tea and sandwiches.
"And you get to see this all the time?" The girl asked as she and Harry left the room.
He shrugged. "Not really. The mums like to find quiet places to have their kittens, and we don't always find them 'til afterward. This time we just got lucky - I knew Treble had made a nest in my closet, and had that letter just ready and waiting to send to you for when she went into labor."
"I'm glad you did, Harry, that was amazing!" Ginny grinned and jumped off the last couple steps. The boy hopped after her, and then they raced to the kitchen, dodging milling felines as they went. Nanna Figg had a plate of cheese and crackers ready for them, and promptly sent the pair back to Harry's playroom at the back of the house.
"Did you finish your list?" He asked the seven year old.
"Almost." Reaching into her back pocket, Ginny pulled out a folded piece of parchment and spread it across the floor. Ignoring the couple of cats that promptly came over to sniff at it, she started to read aloud. "For Dad: an old ironing tool and table. For Mum: a picture frame painted by me. For Bill: a muggle flashlight. For Charlie: a dragon pendant. For the twins: some muggle firecrackers. For Ron: a bag of muggle sweets." She looked up at her friend. "I still can't think of anything for Percy or my friend Luna."
"Well... I don't know about Luna, but Percy wants to be prefect in a few years, right? Maybe we could find something in the muggle shops that help him get it."
"Like what?"
"Maybe a calendar or homework planner? Something that goes for two or three years, that'll let him look ahead."
Ginny nodded slowly. "That's a good idea. And if we see anything really odd or brightly colored, that would work for Luna. She likes strange things."
"Okay then, Nanna and I were planning another trip to the shops this weekend if you want to come. Saturday afternoon?"
"I'll ask Mum." Reaching for the snack platter, Ginny started as her hand instead encountered extremely fluffy fur. "Oh, hello Pickles!"
The calico meowed at her, quickly slipping into the girl's lap and making herself comfortable. Barely more than a kitten when Ginny first started coming over to the Figg household a couple years before, Pickles had swiftly attached herself to the redhead and would always find a way to end up perched upon her.
"Hey, I just thought - where's my name on that Christmas list?" Harry suddenly teased.
"I can't put yours on there! I want it to be a surprise!" Ginny protested, giggling. Her friend spent the next ten minutes pretending to pout and wheedle it out of her, but the girl stayed firm and ignored his efforts.
When the twenty fifth of December rolled around a couple weeks later, both children ended up surprising each other. Ginny came over in the evening to deliver three presents: a collection of magical postcards for Harry that he was quite excited over, a recipe book for Nanna Figg, and a bag of treats that had every single feline in the house coming to rub against her ankles over.
Then came Harry's present to Ginny: a cat collar with a tag the read 'Pickles' on the front, and 'The Burrow' on the back. When the girl looked up from it with an expression of shock on her face, he also deposited the happily meowing calico into her arms. Nanna Figg's present ended up being the essential supplies for keeping such a familiar - enchanted litter box, a couple of cat flap doors that would install themselves, and a sack with an Expansion Charm on it that carried enough food to last Pickles a month. And for the rest of the Weasley's, she included a selection of coupons to assorted Diagon Alley stores.
When Ginny returned to the Burrow with her new pet and everything else, the whole family came over to exclaim over the animal. Pickles took an instant liking to Ginny's parents and most of her brothers, but hissed whenever Percy came too close and utterly ignored the twins. Ron seemed quite surprised when she chose to settle down on the sofa between him and Ginny, inviting petting from both of them, but wound up just being pleased that the cat was willing to acknowledge him.
After her children had all gone to bed that night, Molly Weasley put a Floo call through to Arabella, who'd been expecting it. "I hope you don't mind the new addition to your household, Molly. When Harry decided it was time he gave Ginny one of our cats, nothing I said could dissuade him-"
"It's fine, dear, really." The redhaired woman smiled tearfully. "I daresay it's the sweetest thing you could have given her, and us. I'm only sorry you couldn't join us here for it."
"Yes, well, you and Arthur might know the truth about Harry, but I don't want to risk any of the children finding out and treating him differently because of it."
"I understand completely, Arabella."
-N5WW-
After the New Year holidays, Ginny asked if she could bring someone with her to the Figg household for an afternoon playdate. That was the day Harry got to finally meet Luna Lovegood, and also learned that there were, in fact, far stranger people in the world than he.
Still, odd as the new girl might have presented herself, she was fun to interact with - and the cats loved her too. Luna was perfectly polite to Nanna Figg, never posed the slightest protest when her multi-colored dress became covered in hairs, and even helped track down three different socks Harry had misplaced in recent months.
"She's fun," Harry stated once the blonde girl had departed through the Floo. Ginny grinned, glad that her two friends had hit it off. Pickles meowed in agreement from where she sat draped across the redhead's shoulders.
-N5WW-
The following summer, Remus agreed to take all three kids on a trip to Diagon Alley. Both Harry and Ginny were eager to look through Quality Quidditch Supplies, but also happily followed Luna into the Exotic Arcanery Emporium. It was on the next stop, though, that the trio gained a new friend for their group.
"Alright, each of you can get two books," Remus barely had time to finish his statement before the children took off, spreading out to find their prefered reading material: Luna off for the obscure shelves, Ginny to the adventure fiction section, and Harry into a row featuring tomes describing magical places all around the planet. He briefly nodded to another boy looking over the same books, but otherwise ignored him while browsing. When Harry's fingers brushed on the spine of an encyclopedia of ancient civilizations, however, the other child spoke.
"Considering travelling, are you?"
"Maybe," Harry replied, turning to look at him. "Going to have to get through school first, though."
The stranger nodded. "Hogwarts?"
"Yep. You?"
"The same. Though my father's been seriously considering Durmstrang instead."
"Oh? But that's a lot further away - can't visit home as easily for the holidays, I'd imagine."
The other boy simply shrugged. "My father's not one for annual celebrations anyway. And it might be worth it, to get me away from certain others who'll be arriving at Hogwarts the same time as me."
"When's that going to be?"
"In three years."
"Brill!" Harry grinned. "That's when I'm going too! My best friends are both a year younger than me, though, and I was a bit worried about starting up without knowing anyone there. Got any idea what House you want to be in?" He was blinked at, as if the other boy were a bit startled by Harry's sudden enthusiasm. Though, an answer was forthcoming soon enough.
"Slytherin. It's what my family line's always been in, excepting the odd Ravenclaw. And yourself?"
"Well, both my parents were apparently in Gryffindor, but I'd like to be a Ravenclaw myself, I think," Harry shrugged sheepishly. "I'm a lot better at reading a book a day than making new friends."
"I see." The stranger contemplated him a bit longer, then stuck out a hand to shake. "Theodore Nott, but I'm usually called Theo."
"Harold Figg, but most people call me Harry." He returned the grip, before gesturing to the bookcase. "So what were you looking at earlier?"
"Nothing in particular. I'm simply browsing until my father's ready to leave."
"Well, I'm allowed to pick out two to get, and you can help me if you want. Are you doing anything after this? My friends and I are all going to get ice cream next, and I can probably get Uncle Remus to let you come to."
Theo blinked again, as startled as before. "That- um, alright. I don't think Father will need me - I can ask, anyway."
"Great! Even if he says no, maybe we can get together another time; my Nanna lets me have my friends over a lot, but you have to like cats..."
-N5WW-
"So, Tigger, Double and Spectre are Treble's children, making them the older cousins of Queen Victoria's litter," Theo said. "But since Spectre and Misty are identical, we theorize that they're both Willard's children, making those two half-siblings and their respective littermates step-siblings - right?"
"That just about wraps it up!" Harry laughed, lifting up a kitten that had been steadily climbing his shirt, and handing the little furball over to his friend. Luna was lying on the floor between them, limbs splayed out and wearing a serene smile as the rest of the litter played around and on top of her. Sitting nearby, Ginny had a sketchpad balanced on her knees and was attempting to draw the scene.
Eventually, she huffed and threw down the pencil. "Drat it all, I can't make it look right."
"Can I see, Ginny?" Harry took the pad and looked over the rough sketch his friend had made. "It looks great to me."
"But it's nowhere near as good as the stuff you draw!" The boy's art pieces were of the highest quality for a nine year old, something that bugged Ginny to no end because she couldn't get the same results with her own endeavors.
"Yeah, but I've also had a lot more practice than you." He handed back the sketchpad and smiled encouragingly at her. "You'll get there."
"If you say so..."
"Look at it this way, Ginny - you're already a far better artist than I am." Theo told her. That got a smirk out of the girl, and she flipped to a new page to start another drawing.
-N5WW-
"And you don't have any choice in spending time with them?" Ginny asked, aghast.
"None. I didn't care so much when I was younger, but now I'd rather play with you lot than put up with those idiots." Theo pulled a similarly disgusted face, causing Harry to snicker.
"On the bright side, the time you spend with us is that much more enjoyable by comparison." Luna pointed out.
"Can't argue with that, I suppose."
The four of them had gone to the local playground that day in order to enjoy the unseasonably pleasant weather, something that Harry and Ginny had done in years past with Nanna Figg accompanying them, but on this occasion the four children were allowed to go by themselves. There were plenty of muggle children around as well, but most of them ignored the group, recognizing 'barmy Harry' and his redheaded friend as kids to avoid.
Not that the four were particularly torn up about this. It gave them the freedom to add wizarding terms into their play, and not worry about revealing themselves to the muggles. Their carefree afternoon came to a crashing halt, though, when one boy in particular spotted the little group.
A boy by the name of Dudley Dursley.
"Hey, Figgy-pudding!" Harry immediately stiffened, turning on his heel with a glare. Ginny actually growled beside him, causing Luna and Theo to exchange startled looks.
"What do you want, Dursley?" Approaching them was a rather rotund youth, backed up by three other large boys. None of them looked interested in joining the game of Dragons versus Wizards.
"I want you off my playground, Figgy." Dursley sneered, getting right in Harry's face. "None of us want you freaks around."
"Well that's too bad, because we aren't going anywhere." Ginny snorted, crossing her arms.
"Yeah," Theo added nervously, stepping up beside his friends. Luna joined them too, and the four stared down the group of bullies. Someone broke the stalemate, and then chaos erupted.
A few minutes later, despite being dirt-stained and disheveled, it was the magical children who watched triumphantly as their adversaries fled. They didn't feel quite so proud by that evening, however, as the bruises from punches and kicks began to manifest. All the children were grounded by their respective parents and caretakers, and didn't get to see one another again for several days.
When each was able to talk to Harry, though, he informed them with a grin that Dudley Dursley and his gang avoided him like the plague ever since the playground battle.