Chapter 13- Family Reunions
On Sunday afternoon Ruby apparated to the Burrow feeling slightly apprehensive. She had not attended a family meal since the ball, the first Sunday she had avoided but the next two she had genuinely been working. She heard the sounds of her family laughing, her mother's laughter could easily be picked out and Ruby felt reassured. It seemed that the visit to the prison had been therapeutic for her.
"Hey, Rubes!" James said, running over to her and picking her up in a hug and spinning her around.
"James! Put me down you prat!" She yelled, smiling in spite of herself.
"Sorry, haven't seen you for ages! How have you been?" He asked as they started walking over to the outside area that had been set up years ago to accommodate the large Weasley family.
"Alright thanks, busy with work, how about you? Found a new wingman yet?"
"No but…" James stopped walking and Ruby stopped too, looking back at her cousin.
"What is it?" She asked, slightly concerned. James had blushed which in itself was rather strange; she had never known her cousin to be embarrassed before.
"I've…I've met someone. A girl."
"Really? That's great, what's she like?"
"She's…she's amazing but…it's complicated Rubes." Ruby doubted it was as complicated as her liason with Scorpius Malfoy.
"Why? Who is she?"
"Her name is Poppy."
"And? Unless it's Madam Pomfrey?" She added with a laugh. James shook his head but still looked uncomfortable. "Where do you know her from?"
"We met in a coffee shop."
"In Hogsmeade?" Ruby asked; she was unsure of how to handle a nervous James.
"No, in London. Rubes she's…"
"A man? A murderer? Pregnant, oh Merlin is she…?"
"No, none of those things. She's amazing, she's really pretty, blonde with amazing tits…"
"Nice."
"And her smile, it's like Alice's; it just lights up the room. And the way she talks, she's so smart and quick witted and…"
"Bloody hell James, you're actually in love aren't you?" She asked; she had never heard James talk about anyone like this, his face looked so relaxed like he was dreaming of her standing in front of him instead of Ruby.
"I… she's… she's a Muggle."
"Oh, I see. Well have you told her anything yet?"
"No, but I want to."
"How long have you been seeing her?"
"Since September."
"Henry mentioned that you stopped pulling girls…"
"He would notice, anyway I'm not sure what to do, I really like her."
"Ruby, James come on, I'm dishing up!" Molly Weasley shouted from the table. James ran off in front of Ruby and she followed still thinking about James predicament. It was complicated, but not as complicated as her and Scorpius.
Ruby sat down next to her mother who greeted her warmly, as did the rest of the family, and then they started eating.
"How's work, Ruby?" Aunt Ginny asked who Ruby was pleased to notice was starting to show a slight baby bump.
"It's good thanks, treating a lot more patients without Healer Kyle."
"What, on your own?" Uncle Percy asked, pausing as he picked up the dish of boiled potatoes.
"Well, Scorpius is there too but just to assist. If any really strong potions or spells are needed then Healer Kyle has to sign for them but if it's standard stuff then he lets me do it."
"How are you getting on with Scorpius?" Albus asked and Ruby was pleased to note that he asked it with genuine interest and not malice.
"Fine, he's smart and he's good with the patients. Although one patient the other day refused to be treated by him."
"Why?" Rosie asked, looking intrigued.
"Because he's a Malfoy, I had a similar problem in my first year with a few patients. Both of our names are too well-known."
"Any more problems with reporters?" Her father asked.
"No, we're both back on day shifts which is great because it's not fair on Scorpius; he has classes in the afternoon so nights were really hard for him." Ruby could feel herself start to blush so she grabbed a cool glass of pumpkin juice and took a large gulp of it to try and cool down her face.
"Do you know if you're working over Christmas yet?" Her mother asked, looking at her daughter's expression carefully. The family had split into smaller conversations.
"I'm on-call Christmas Eve and Day, I'm sorry mom but I had to make sure I was off for the weddings so I couldn't really…"
"I understand, the weddings are more important. Have you got your dress yet for Milly's wedding?"
"No, what colour are the bridesmaid's wearing? I don't want to clash or anything."
"Red I think."
"Oh, no danger of that then, I'll probably wear the dress from the Ball." Ruby never wore red as it clashed horribly with her hair.
"Good idea, Aunt Petunia wanted to know if you want to bring anyone?"
"No, I can't wait to be in a group of people who don't think I'm an ice queen." She said bitterly, stabbing a potato with unnecessary vigour.
"No one thinks that Rubes," her father said quietly.
"Ha, you should speak to some of my patients!" She said, with a hollow laugh.
"No one important thinks that. When are you next off?"
"Saturday, well I'm on call."
"Do you want to come and collect the twins with me?" Her mother asked.
"Yeah, that would be nice, we could have lunch somewhere." Ruby was looking forward to seeing her sisters again; she really missed them when they were at Hogwarts, although this term seemed to have flown by and she couldn't believe that it was already December.
"Oh and it's Charlie's birthday on Sunday so he's having a gathering at the Three Broomsticks, he said to tell Alice."
"Okay, that will be nice." She said, searching in her bag for the blue-feathered quill and writing Charlie's birthday on her hand. Her parents looked at her in bemusement.
"Quill ran out Ruby?" Her father asked.
"No, it's a special quill so it only appears to me, that way people don't know how forgetful I am." She said, putting the quill back in her pocket, Aunt Ginny was also looking at her, intrigued.
"Cool, I've never seen one of those before, where did you get it? It would be useful for work." She said.
"It was a birthday present." She said, willing away a blush and praying they wouldn't ask.
"Who from?" Teddy asked, moving to sit next to her.
"Someone from work." She said, taking another glug of juice.
"Who?" Teddy asked again.
"Scorpius." She said, quietly.
"Malfoy got you a birthday present?" Her father asked, looking startled.
"Yes he did, Teddy I meant to ask you, you supervise Hamish don't you?" She said, trying to move the conversation on quickly, thankfully her father took the hint and let it drop.
"Yeah, he's a good kid, why?"
"Do you know if he's dating anyone? Alice wants to know."
"Don't think so, how did you guys meet him?"
"Amber had a rough shift on Friday so we took her out and we met him there."
"Oh yeah, he's best friends with Scorpius Malfoy you know?" Teddy said, in a slightly condescending voice.
"I know, Vic what's the date of the wedding rehearsal?" She asked. Luckily Victoire latched onto the wedding subject with predictable gusto and the conversation continued right up until Ruby left.
The next morning Ruby arrived at the office first and managed to make a decent start on her essay before Scorpius and Kyle arrived. Scorpius came first and walked in, levitating his textbook in front of his face and then sat at the desk without a glance at Ruby.
She stood up and made them both a drink and placed it on his desk.
"Oh, thanks Ruby. Good weekend?" He asked with a shy smile.
"Yeah it was good thanks, you?"
"Nose to the books mostly."
"You'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say."
"Even with my shocking memory I managed eighty four percent; you'll be fine!"
"I want to get eighty five."
"Why?"
"Because you got eighty four." He said, smirking. She laughed and then Kyle walked in and exchanged friendly greetings with his students before ducking into his office.
The rest of the week passed quickly, and with no mention of what had transpired outside the nightclub and by Saturday morning Ruby was looking forward to going to pick up her sisters; with the drama that the twin's arrival would no doubt bring Ruby would be able to forget her own life for a while.
Scorpius had managed a ninety four in the test and had been smug about it all week but Ruby had reframed from being annoyed or jealous about it; she had never been particularly competitive, her father's sport's genes had clearly just gone to the twins. Scorpius would not be in the hospital over Christmas as the first and second years tended to work Hogwarts terms and Ruby knew she would find it strange without him around.
"Doing anything for New Year?" He had asked on Friday morning as he was leaving the office.
"We usually go to the Three Broomsticks for the party, you?"
"Might see you there, my parents are going to Canada for a few days so I'll be hanging out with Hamish. Have a good Christmas, Weasley."
"You too, Malfoy."
Ruby had thought of little else but of whether to send Scorpius a Christmas present all morning. She was now standing at Kings Cross with her mother and Aunt Ginny waiting to pick up the twins, Hugo, Lily, and Louis. They were then all going for lunch in London before they were dropped off at their various homes.
"Bugger, what's that smell?" Aunt Ginny asked, sniffing in the air like a bloodhound.
"Doughnuts I think, why?" Her mother asked, looking around the station; they were waiting by the muggle ticket barrier to avoid the intrusion of the magical press.
"Smells bloody amazing! Where the hell are they I'm starving!" She whined and Ruby laughed.
"You'll understand one day Ruby."
"Not the way my life is going." Ruby said and her mother smiled and squeezed her arm.
"Course you will, plenty of time."
"Easy for you too to say, you were both married by now!" Ruby said with a laugh.
"Yeah but Eliza and Fred eloped, it's cheating. Mom took a good year to plan my wedding, I would have happily eloped but she would have killed me!"
"You're her only daughter!" Her mother said.
"Oh please, you've been as much her daughter as I have since we met over there before your first year 'such a pale, shy little thing'." Aunt Ginny said in an uncanny impression of Grandma's concerned tone. Ruby laughed and her mother smiled.
"MOM!" As usual with Immy, they heard her before they saw her and she arrived at breakneck speed and hurtled into her mother who staggered slightly under the clearly unanticipated assault from her middle child. Lily arrived next and the others followed behind, except Annabel.
"Hello, Immy. Good term? You're getting taller still!" She said, now looking up at her; she was taller than Ruby as well who was only 5' 7''.
"Yeah I know, it was great thanks. How are you? Hi Ruby!"
"Hi Immy, where's Annabel?" She asked, giving Immy a hug and then moving to hug Hugo, Lily and Louis.
"She was snogging Steven Carter, oh there she is!" Immy said, moving to hug Aunt Ginny and then gush over the slight baby bump.
"Hi mom, hi Rubes!" Annabel said, pulling them both into a hug.
"Hi Annabel, been busy have we?" Ruby asked, teasing her littlest sister with well-practised ease. As usual Annabel ignored it.
"Right let's get moving before I eat the entire doughnut stand!" Aunt Ginny said and they all walked out of the station and into a pizza express around the corner. Ruby and her mother sent all the luggage to the respective houses with a discrete wave of their wands.
"May I take your order?" The waiter asked as they sat down and pulled off their winter coats.
"I'll start and I'm going to say this fast so keep up. I want a 16'' pizza with cheese, extra cheese, peppers (but no yellow ones), mushrooms, olives, anchovies, ham, extra chilli and a sprinkling of paprika. And she will have a ham and pineapple pizza with extra ham." Aunt Ginny said (ordering for her sister-in-law as well) and not even bothering to pick up the menu. The waiter look slightly baffled but moved around the rest of the table to take the orders of the rest of the family, looking grateful that they were ordering from the menu.
"So kids I want gossip from all of the houses, thankfully you cover all of them so don't hold back." Aunt Ginny said as the waiter had moved away. The students dutifully filled the adults in on all the gossip from their house and Ruby smiled as she looked at them all.
"…and Uncle Charlie has been flirting with Madam Bell!" Finished Lily, causing her mother to nearly choke on her water; she recovered before Ruby had chance to retrieve her wand.
"What?"
"Uncle Charlie and Madam Bell have been flirting!" Lily said, looking delighted by her mother's reaction; Lily loved gossip.
"Madam Bell? As in Katie Bell?" Ruby's mother asked, looking intrigued.
"Yeah, do you know her? She used to play Quidditch for the Tornado's."
"Yeah we know her, she was on the Gryffindor team with me and your dad, she…" Aunt Ginny broke off and exchanged a look with Eliza who shook her head slightly. Ruby gave her mother a look that told her she wanted more information later before she distracted the kids.
"So, are you all coming to Uncle Charlie's birthday party drinks tonight?" She asked and as predicted they all talked excitedly about little else for the rest of the meal.
Later that night Ruby entered the Three Broomsticks with Alice and they looked for the familiar group of redheads and walked over to them.
"Happy birthday Uncle Charlie!" Ruby said, finding her way through the crowds and hugging her Uncle/Godfather firmly.
"Thanks Rubes, hi Alice!"
"Hi Professor Weasley, Happy birthday!" Alice said before leaving the group to find her own family, and then help her mother behind the bar.
"I've sent your present to Hogwarts, in case you left it here." She said, as Mrs Longbottom passed her a butterbeer.
"Thanks Ruby, how have you been?"
"Good thanks, you?"
"Great, glad it's the holidays though, oh hi…" Charlie walked off to greet someone else and Ruby found a seat next to Aunt Hermione.
"How are you doing, Ruby?" She asked. There was something about her Aunt Hermione that made Ruby want to always tell her the truth.
"I'm actually pretty good at the moment, things turn out alright in the end." She said and Hermione nodded looking pleased.
"Exactly Ruby, and if it's not alright it's not the end!"
"That's a good one. Oh I meant to ask someone, what's the deal with Katie Bell, Lily said she and Uncle Charlie have been flirting and mom and Aunt Ginny looked at each other really strangely."
"Oh, yes Hugo mentioned it to me," Aunt Hermione said, looking around to make sure they weren't overheard. "Katie used to date George. She tried to come to a few things at the Burrow after the war but I think she found it a bit difficult being around everyone, especially your dad."
"That's awful." Ruby said, looking over at her Uncle Charlie. "I hope she finds what she's looking for with Uncle Charlie."
"What about you Ruby? Have you found what you're looking for?" Ruby looked at her Aunt's face and suddenly felt the urge to cry, to confess what had happened and how hopeless and complicated everything was. Instead she looked away and he was there, Scorpius was sat at the bar having a drink with Hamish. Ruby gasped in surprise and her aunt followed her line of vision.
"Ah, I see." She said with a wry smile.
"Umm… I… I'm just going to go outside, it's a bit warm in here." She said, standing up and walking across the pub, and past the objection of her distress and out of the main door. She rounded the side of the pub and leaned against the wall, wiping away a tear that she was sure was just there because it was cold.
"Why must I always find you outside drinking establishments?" Came a familiar voice. Scorpius moved into the light and he looked at the tear track looking concerned. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine, just gets a bit hot in there." She said, looking at him.
"Ruby I…"
"What, Scorpius? What are we doing?" She whispered standing up and walking a few steps so that she was leaning on the wall of the bookshop next to the pub.
"I meant it, you know, what I said last week, I know it's complicated..."
"Complicated? I think this is more than complicated! We're… we're…" Scorpius moved towards her and she found her eyes drifting to his lips again.
"We're a Malfoy and a Weasley?" He said and she nodded. "Two sides of the same coin."
"Exactly, two opposite sides Scorpius!"
"I don't mean to make things complicated." He said softly.
"Then don't." She said, although her heart was begging him to kiss her.
"I don't think I can help it." And his lips were on hers again and her knees buckled slightly but he caught her and pushed her up against the wall.
"Umm…" Came a quiet voice from near the pub. The two trainee healers broke apart instantly and looked around to see who had disturbed them. It was Hugo.
"We're going to sing Happy Birthday, Ruby, dad sent me to find you." He said, his Weasley blush spreading to the roots of his red hair.
"Hugo…I'm coming." She said and he disappeared, looking mortified.
"Do you think he'll…?" Scorpius began.
"No, not Hugo, he was the best we could hope for. He's in Hufflepuff, I'll talk to him. I've got to go."
"Can we meet up? Before the end of the holidays?" He asked, Ruby turned back to him.
"I'll see when I'm free, I've got two weddings and work and stuff."
"Okay, and Ruby?"
"Yeah?" She asked, nearly at the door to the pub.
"I meant it, I don't mean to complicate things."
"I think it's too late for that, I've got to go." She walked into the pub and was immediately pulled back into the family. Her eyes found Hugo's and as soon as they had finished singing she made her way towards him; he led her into a corner of the pub.
"Hugo, please…"
"I won't tell anyone, Ruby." He said, and it warmed her heart because she could hear how sincere he was.
"You won't?" She asked desperately.
"No, don't worry."
"Hugo, thank you… I don't know how this happened." She said, sitting down on a stool.
"You can't help who you fall in love with." Hugo said which was surprisingly mature for a sixteen year old boy. Ruby looked at him carefully; he looked sad.
"Are you alright Hugo?" She asked.
"Ruby, can you keep a secret?" He asked. Ruby thought it was amazing he was even asking considering what he had just witnessed.
"Of course I will, Hugo, I think I owe you. What is it?" She asked. He looked around the room to check they wouldn't be overheard and then looked at his cousin's face.
"Ruby, I think I might be gay… I mean I'm sure that I am."
"Okay Hugo, you know it won't matter to the family, look at Ali."
"I know, I think I know but… I'm just not ready to tell everyone yet."
"Okay, I won't tell a soul, have you told anyone Hugo?"
"No, well…I told Nix" He said, with a wry smile. Nix was his black cat.
"And Nix didn't run off?" She said, smiling.
"No, he brought me a dead mouse the next morning though. Thanks Rubes." He said and he pulled her into a hug; he was still the smallest in the family.
"I think it's me that needs to be thanking you Hugo, imagine if Lily had found us!"
"You wouldn't have stood a chance, good thing I'm a Hufflepuff!" He said and they moved back into the family. It was a source of great amusement to the Weasley family that Ron, who was the most loyal Gryffindor out of all of the siblings, had not produced one Gryffindor child, he blamed Hermione for Rosie, who was a Ravenclaw, and with Hugo he had jokingly said that every family should have a Hufflepuff.
A/N So I'm back! I'll post the next chapter tomorrow and then we'll be back on track by Sunday. Thanks for all the well wishes, they really cheered me up. The operation went well and the surgeon admitted that I was right about something going wrong last time, that felt good! Please review!
Next chapter; It's Milly the muggle cousins wedding, Ruby meets someone who claims her mother used to steal her socks at Hogwarts (can you remember?), and Scorpius finds himself back in St. Mungo's.
Thanks to mozie for beta-ing!
witchprincess33- Thanks!
tiffany- Don't worry I'm sure it will be quite long, I'm already on chapter 28!
fantasyluver714- You'll get to know the twins more over Christmas.
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- Thanks!
Bowling4real- Thanks!
KurisutaruAi- Thanks, it's great to know that people are still finding the time to read the entire Words series!
LUG-14- Lol, thanks! They'll be more about Hamish and Alice at the second wedding.