Chapter 7

AN: Keep in mind, Rapunzel hasn't ever heard of the Weasley family, or how their family was torn apart

"Guys, I'm having second thoughts." Rapunzel's heart started to race once she saw the Burrow in sight. Actually, it'd been racing the second the girls and George had shown up at her house.

For the record, she really did not want to be there right now. She knew her arrival would make things worse, and she'd probably ruin the party for everyone. No, she would ruin the party for everyone.

"Stop! You can't have second thoughts now, Goldie!" Rose grabbed her arm, trying to pull her towards the Burrow, but Rapunzel stayed where she was.

"Yeah, we got you all prettied up, and we even spent an hour trying to figure out how to keep your hair glowing for over three seconds!" Belle shook the tape recorder in Rapunzel's face. Rapunzel was the one who had figured it out. She realized that the frequency of the sound waves in the notes of the song could be hummed into a tape recorder, and then bobby-pinned inside the messy bun on her head. The sound waves made the hair glow, and as long as the music kept repeating itself, the hair would continue to.

Now Rapunzel surmised that she probably shouldn't have helped make herself even more of a cause for distraction. Having 12-foot-long hair was enough of one, having it glow for hours on end wasn't going to help her case. "Guys, I'm just going to sit here a while, okay? I think I need to compose myself before I walk inside." She sat, hoping the others would leave her so she could make a run for it.

The girls frowned. "Alright, but I'll be out here to check on you in like 10 minutes, okay? You better not leave." Rose wagged her finger at her, a mock frown on her face. The two headed into the Burrow, where music and voices were now flooding from.

Rapunzel stared at the ground, her eyes closed. I can't go in there.

"Second thoughts, eh?" George sat down next to her. Rapunzel's eyes shot open. She'd forgotten he was there. "Bet you ten Galleons you were going to bolt."

"Then I guess I'd lose ten…what? What are Galleons?"

"Right, sorry. Sometimes I forget that they changed the currency after the War." He smiled at her. "I've been doing that a lot lately."

They sat in silence, staring at the sun, which was slowly sinking into the horizon. "What was it like?" Rapunzel asked quietly. "Before curses, I mean."

"There never really was a time before curses, Rapunzel. There was just a time when the line between good and bad was obvious, and those who were bad used curses, and those who weren't didn't. Now that line is so foggy, I'm sure even the great Harry Potter has crossed it."

"Were there people like us then?"

"Yes. They weren't treated as horribly as we are." He smiled. "Voldemort was a bigger threat, you know? Missing an ear or having long hair weren't really considered the spawns of Satan until he died."

Rapunzel didn't respond; she didn't know how to. George laughed it off as a joke, having a curse, and yet she couldn't see how it was funny.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" He turned to her, then, without waiting for her to answer, "How did you get cursed?"

"Oh." Rapunzel had never been asked that before. Normally people didn't care to know. "Well, my mother says I was born with it. She says that my real mother was very sick when she gave birth to me, and so my real father went out to find a cure. He found a flower that could cure all diseases, and fed it to her during labor. When I popped out, she died, and I had six inches of blonde hair. My father died of grief and embarrassment a week later. Which was when Gothel took me in. No one else wanted me."

She smiled apologetically. "Sorry. We're about to go into a party, and I just told you how my parents died. I really should get out more often."

George smiled back. "It's fine. I'm glad you told me. A Death Eater cursed my ear off, so my curse story isn't nearly as sad as yours is. I believe this is the first time someone other than my brother has outdone me."

"I won't tell him if you don't."

"Oh, I'm sure he's already laughing about it now." George stood up. "Let's go inside. It's time for you to meet the family, Punzie."

"Rapunzel's here."

"Great. Do you have a gun in your house?"

"Why? You want to shoot yourself?"

"No. I want to shoot her. She's fucking annoying." Jack huffed and leaned farther back into Albus' bed. Albus sat next to him, the two playing an intense game of Black Ops 6: Divine Rights. It was basically like all the other Black Ops games but the boys loved it because the entire point of the game was to go through hell, and come back to Earth in one piece.

"You still pissed that she threw you out of her house?"

"No, what I'm still pissed about is the fact that she hit me with a frying pan in the face." Jack pointed to the black-and-blue spot underneath his eye. "She shouldn't even be strong enough to hold a frying pan, goddamnit."

Albus laughed. "She hit you pretty hard, Frost. Sucks to be you."

Scorpius burst into the room. "Guys, it's party time. Stop being losers, and let's go chat some girls up."

"You realize the only girls here are either A) my family members, or B) Rapunzel and Belle." Albus managed to shoot both Jack and the Dark Lord Satan at the same time, ending the game.

"Exactly my point." Scorpius winked, then disappeared.

Albus shook his head. "Well, Lily will have fun. She's liked Scorpius since forever."

"I'm still waiting on that gun, Al."

The fireworks were the best part of the night, in Rapunzel's opinion. Mr. Weasley ("Call me Ron. 'Mr. Weasley' is my dad." *wink*) and George lit them off, and they exploded into the sky with such exuberance that the hairs on the back of Rapunzel's arms raised and goosebumps formed on her legs.

The party had been fantastic. Rose's family had accepted her as one of their own, helping her out with every little thing she did. It was the first time in a long while she had felt truly at home. Rose and Belle stayed with her every second, and she never even caught a glimpse of Jack. Her glowing hair stayed that way through the night, but she had to let it down later on.

She hadn't realized it'd been growing the entire time it'd been glowing, and now it dragged on the floor behind her. She shut off the tape once the fireworks started, not wanting to direct attention towards her. Belle and Rose left to get them drinks, and Rapunzel found herself sitting next to Beckett, one of Albus' friends.

She'd never really talked to him. He wasn't really the star of the Slytherin 3rd years, that was Albus' position, being the son of Harry Potter and all. (For the record, Rapunzel hadn't really heard of them. Well, she'd heard of the War and their part in it, but hey, the combination of living in a secret location in Germany and being cursed didn't exactly make her a wanted customer of The Daily Prophet.)

He also wasn't in the same manwhore league as Jack and Scorpius, meaning he was kind of overlooked when it came to the who's who of 3rd years.

"Hey. You're Rapunzel, right?"

"Wow. How in the world did you know?"

He gestured towards her hair, which lay sprawled around her. "Educated guess."

"You're Beckett, right?"

"And how could you have possibly known that?"

"Educated guess."

He laughed. "You know, it's weird how I've never formally met you. I mean, I've known Rose for ages, and Belle and I live near each other. But Albus and Jack talk so much about you that I feel like I've already known you longer than either of them."

Rapunzel gave him a look. "What?"

"Nothing. Hey, so I hear you're planning on taking Ancient Runes this year?"

"Yep. I figured that since I can already speak Latin and Sanskrit, one more dead language can't hurt." She smiled when he laughed. He really wasn't that bad looking. He didn't compare to Jack or Scorpius, but he had really lovely dark brown hair and green eyes, like her own.

"That's good. I'm taking it too, but I don't know anyone else who is. We'll probably walk into class and it'll just be us two." He smiled at her as Belle and Rose sat back down. "I look forward to studying dead societies' reminiscings with you, Rapunzel." He left, and Belle immediately squealed, hugging Rapunzel.

"Oh my God he likes you! AAAAAAHHHH! PUNZIE! I actually like Beckett too, he's not a douchebag manwhore like his friends."

"One of his friends is my cousin, Belle."

"True. Albus isn't a manwhore. But he is a douchebag."

"…I can agree with that."

"This year is going to be so great!" Belle giggled, clapping her hands. "RA RA RAVENCLAW!"