Hello! and sorry for the delay. Here's the latest chapter of Torn Apart. It's not much but I hope you like it. Read and Review Please!!!
PS: Get ready for some whiplash!
"It's weird right?" Emily talked while reading the Quibbler on top of his bed "I mean after so many years, it's just not normal."
"Well we haven't seen each other since we were babies and it's normal." Harry answered his sister. He was also on the bed but with his back against the wall, strumming along his guitar.
"That's different. We're siblings." Emily said throwing the magazine aside.
"And they are husband and wife." Harry said slowly.
"Yeah, husband and wife who have not seen each other for years. Husband and wife who though each was dead and I have no doubt dated and slept with other people when they were still married. I mean you don't just pick up from there like it's nothing! It's weird and unnatural and feels like I've been living inside an episode of The Brady Bunch."
"The what?" Harry asked.
"Muggle thing." Emily mumbled dismissively "I mean, doesn't your dad have a girlfriend?"
"He's your dad too." Harry corrected.
Emily gave another dismissive motion and Harry sighed and answered "Yeah. He had a girlfriend but I think Adam asked him and he told him that was over."
Emily didn't say anything but rather just stared at his guitar in thought. "I don't know. It just feels weird to me living like this."
"Of course it does. It's been three weeks and you're used to living with girls. Trust me it's weird for us too. It's going to be okay." Harry tried to smile.
His optimism seemed to confirm her fears rather than make her feel better. "I just feel like, everyone is being forced to fit together so perfectly, I'm afraid we'll up and break eventually."
"Have you told any of your sisters this? Or your mom?" Harrys asked her quietly.
"Your mom too." she mumbled.
"Have you?" Harry pressed again, ignoring her comment.
"No. I don't want to worry them with my pessimism."
"Oh so It's alright to worry me though?" Harry asked mocked undignified.
"Umm yeah." Emily grabbed the guitar from his hands and laughed "I just met you. Come on, I'll play you my new song."
Harry smiled and heard her play. He understood what she meant though. He understood everything she meant. He understood her like he'd never understood anyone before and she got him like no one ever got him before. Like her, he also felt the unnatural scene his old and new family had been thrust into and was afraid it could crumble at any moment. He already had a quidditch field full of affection for his sisters, especially cuter than life Daisy and Rachel (who had come as quite a shock to James but the old fart quickly became a sickeningly doting grandfather.) They'd been living together for a week and already you could feel the clear affection all members of the house felt for each other. You could also tell the way everyone was walking on tiptoes, trying their best to keep everyone else happy. It was a Stepford land and the only one who he didn't feel that from was Em.
Emily finished the song and Harry realized he hadn't heard anything. She laughed and threw him a pillow. "You didn't hear anything did you?"
Luckily a knock on the door came and Harry was saved from answering her.
"Hey guys." Charlie's red mane popped into the room. He smiled at them and said "Get ready, we've been called to a ball."
"What?" Emily asked, sounding as confused as Harry felt.
"We've been invited to the Diggory Manor Party and mom and dad decided we should go. Lotsa people live in this house and there are only six bathrooms so...good luck." With that he ran out of there. Emily and Harry stared at each other for five seconds and then took off to get ready.
-*-
Amy searched her closet for something to wear to the party. She was annoyed at the last minute decision to attend since she always required at least one day to pick something. Special attention should've been given to this party since it would be her debut into her new life. The party would be at that cute Cedric's house, she would meet her future schoolmates and all eyes would be on her and her sisters and she had nothing to wear!
Amy was about to holler for her sister but stopped herself thinking that her screaming probably wasn't something her brothers wanted to hear. She put on her bathrobes and sauntered over to Emily's room with five dresses in hand. She found Emily trying to unsuccessfully brush her hair.
"I don't know why you bother. It looks fabulous messed up anyway." Amy told her sister. The compliment was sweet but had an underlying note of bitterness Emily caught but ignored.
"Yeah but the dress I'm wearing tonight goes well with straight hair." Emily said.
"Speaking of which what will you be wearing?"
"The mirror mosaic dress I found at that vintage shop with Jane that one time. The short one."
"Oh yeah." Amy said "Yeah, that's perfect."
"What are you wearing?" Emily finally stopped fussing over her hair.
"I don't know. What should I wear?"
"That pink Dior you have looks nice." She pointed to one of the dressed in her sisters hand.
"Yeah but wearing a muggle designer on a wizard event?"
"Wizard designers are horrid. The only good one is mom and even she prefers muggle clothing style."
"Alright." Amy turned to leave when Emily said "Oh and can i borrow your hair straightener?"
-*-
"Hey Rach" Jess cooed while holding up her niece "Who's the cutest baby ever?"
"Thanks Jess" Jane grabbed her daughter from her younger sister's arms. "I needed to get dressed."
"You're going to leave her with Ruth?"
"Yeah but grandma's plane just got here and I wouldn't have time to get ready if I had waited for her."
"No problem. I was already ready."
"You look nice by the way" Jane said studying her sister who was wearing a long-ish and very cleavage showing red dress "nice to see you back in your old clothes."
"Yeah well" Jess flipped her blond mane around "I figured that if I keep up the conventional look I'll probably please dad but will probably end up being picked up by an unbelievably boring guy, like that last guy you dated. Joel the Gringotts accountant was it?"
"Hey" Jane swatted her sister in the shoulder "He was a very nice man."
"If by nice you mean unbelievably dull then yes he was."
Jane giggled "I'm kinda glad Emily ran him off for good when she 'accidentally' set his hairpiece on fire."
"So are we all believe me." Jess laughed remembering the happy incident.
"What in the hell are you doing dating a guy with a hairpiece?" a gruff laugh interrupted both sisters. They turned around to see Adam and Charlie walk in.
"Knock much?" Jane said and handed the baby over to Adam who was making gestures to hold her "And he was just prematurely bald."
"You can do so much better than old prematurely bald men." Charlie put an arm around her shoulder.
"Yes well none of the good looking ones are interested in a 23 year old widow with a three year old daughter." Jane nodded towards Adam who was rocking Rachel in the air.
"Yeah I still can't believe you got married at 17 and had a baby." Adam said.
"Yeah well he was a military man." Jane stopped talking when she felt her heart clench like it always did when she thought of Michael.
"She's right thought. So far the only men she's dated that are good looking and don't mind Rachel are the one's that run off after the first night of sex." Jess interrupted.
"Oh I'm sure that's not true." Charlie argued.
"Would you date a 23 year old with a 3 year old?" Jane asked him.
"Ummm...no." Charlie said "But that's only because I'm 20 and I don't date older women."
"Oh please." Adam laughed "You dated a 36 year old cougar when you were 19."
Jess laughed "What!? Did she have a hairpiece?"
Baby Rachel laughed along with her mother and aunt and uncles even though she wasn't quite sure what the joke was.
-*-
"I'll bet it's something like an obstacle course." Daisy curled a strand of red hair around her index finger as was habit while talking around the fireplace with her brothers.
"I hope we get to fight something." Danny giggled excitedly.
Darry spoke up in a soft mysterious voice "Fred and George Weasly told me that they make you battle a troll to get sorted."
"Wow." Daisy and Danny said impressed.
"Well that's actually not true." Remus appeared from behind them "The sorting is nothing difficult or life threatening."
"Aww come on Uncle Remus why do you have to ruin all the fun?" Darren cried out.
"Sorry to ruin your fun but we'll be leaving soon and none of you have your shoes on."
"Shoes take like a second." Danny said while Daisy nodded furiously alongside of him.
"Yeah? Well then how about a race? The first one to put on their shoes and head back down here wins. Ready? Set? Go!"
The three redheads stared at the dressed up werewolf. "How old does he think we are?" Daisy whispered.
"The winner gets a chocolate chips put in the next time I cook pancakes for breakfast..." Remus added.
The triplets gave each other a glance and then ran off to their rooms, pushing and shoving each other as they went.
"Guess they're not little kids anymore huh?" Remus said more to himself than anyone else.
"Nope." Sirius who had been paying close attention to the exchange from a nearby armchair said "But they're still little enough for us to mess with. And we still have Rachel." Both men stared at each other for less than a beat before running off to Jane's room screaming "Rachel! Rachel!"
-*-
While Rick was showing Annie his Hamazing Book of Hippogriffs, Erin was bored to tears. Hippogriffs were awesome in person but in a book they were just plain boring. She turned her attention to Jake who had been writing something for a while now.
Her brown curls bouncing at her sides, Erin stood next to Jake and asked "Watcha doing?" all the while trying to read what he'd written.
"A letter." Jake grunted in replye, hiding the contents of the letter from view.
"For who?" Erin asked.
"What's it to you?" Jake asked her. They held a staring contest for several seconds until Rick interrupted the silence. "He's writing to his girlfriend, Sidney."
"Sidney?" Erin asked in a sing song voice "Is she pretty?"
"Yes." Jake said annoyed and got up to send his letter.
"What's up with him?" Erin asked Rick. The smart magical creature lover shrugged and said "Probably cause we've been stuck here for two weeks and he hasn't seen her so he's grumpy."
"Oh." was all Erin said as she looked to the door where he brother had left.
-*-
"Alright, is everybody ready to go?" Lily asked her family while she tied Daisy's coat closed. They answered with an incoherent chorus of yeses.
"Good. Now the boys know this but girls listen up, beyond being a social event, this is a business event since my boss- Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge is likely to be present. I need you all to be on your best behavior and look after each other. Besides that, everyone is going to want to meet you and ask questions so be careful with that. Got it?"
The girls nodded along unenthusiastically. James sighed but grabbed hold of Daisy and Darren's hands and walked over to the fireplace. "Let's go then."
And go they did.
