Author's Note:

There's not really anything to say but hopefully you enjoy this chapter. It'll probably end up being my favourite one.

Chapter 18

"It was irresponsible and stupid! You're not realising the greater point here! Hermione said that she wouldn't stay and wait for her family to be insulted! What were you thinking?! You mindless little twits!"

Fred and George sighed. Molly Weasley was on a tangent and when she was on a tangent, she could go on for hours. Ginny looked up quietly, sparing a soft smile at the four that walked into the doorway. Molly quickly ended her speech. "Oh Draco dear! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for the boys to be so immature, I mean really! Oh! Not that the slugs were for you or anything…you know the boys…just trying to spice things up!" She apologised quickly with a nervous laugh. She definitely didn't want Draco Malfoy thinking lowly of her family. Draco just smiled at her, knowing full well that the slugs were intended for him.

Coughing loudly, Hermione stepped forward staring the twins in the eye. The two boys melted slightly into their chair under her watchful gaze. As much as Hermione had changed, her menacing anger hadn't. Even in their school days, she had been able to terrify anyone into listening with complete rapture and the anger in her eyes was burning much brighter than ever before. "I'm not going to yell at you; I, unlike the pair of you, have matured and changed. I have new responsibilities, my children, and I am not going to set a bad example for any of them. This, Fred and George, is what the pair of you should be doing. Look at David and Peter, George and Fred, you look at Thomas. We all have children, have we not?"

"Didn't we fight a war so that we could get rid of the crap called prejudice and isn't that just what we've achieved? I mean, look at the kids; they're behaving so much more mature than you two are. Grow up and face the facts. Draco isn't the bad guy that you always wanted him to be. And he is not going to stick around to deal with your complete crap. And you know what? Unless you accept him, I'm not going to stick around and I know that Draco'll try to convince me otherwise for the sake of keeping my friends but there is no way that I'm going to separate my friends from my family. And I'm not just talking about with the both of you. If you cannot grow up and get this through your idiotic brains, it'll apply to your family. Your prejudice will eventually run through to your kids and I'm not going to allow my children to be hurt. You have confused and upset them today, enough as it is. Do you understand me?" Upon receiving their nods, she straightened up. "I'll be awaiting your answer in the dining room."

Her voice, though remaining a soft mutter, had dropped to a menacing tone. The men's eyes had widened with shock and they had sunken even further into their chairs. Smiling softly at the other occupants of the room, she spun on her heel. Ginny's face had turned a dark red at the threats her friend had made, she was not going to lose her friend again because of her dim-witted brothers. The Weasley Parents were much in the same state. Arthur Weasley opened his mouth, angry at his two sons.

Coughing gently, Draco stepped forward slightly. "May I?" He asked the head of the Weasley family. "Fred and George, I don't know how long it will take you to get out of this damned prejudice. Look at me! I don't have a mark on my arm, I never have. Tell me. Did I seem like a prejudiced prick at all today? No, I even bloody apologised to you and from my past, you know just how hard that must have been for me! I have changed; I changed over our seventh year. Your own sister knew me then and she knew me for the person I truly am. You can't tell her she's daft, I mean, she beat you in all of her subjects and she is a thousand times more reasonable that you are. Are you really going to ignore that?! Stop trying to make excuses and face the facts. I'm not who you think I am nor will I ever be."

Smiling softly at the parents, he whispered a soft apology before moving into the room that his wife had just. Fred and George looked terribly as if they had been slapped in the face. Ginny grinned before stepping forward.

"Look Gin, don't get started." Fred muttered, already frustrated with himself for being so immature.

"Whoa! Don't even call me Gin. That is for people that I don't want to kill. You are IDIOTS and if I lose Hermione because of you, there will be hell to pay. And you know that I can do it. I mean, I know more than half the tricks that you have up your sleeve and I could hurt you any day that I wanted. You'd better damn well watch out."

Ron and Harry merely growled angrily at the twins before stalking out with the Weasley girl and parents. Fred and George glanced at each other before staring at their hands.

"Mate…you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think I am."

"We've screwed up."

Fred and George at least had the decency to walk into the room with sheepish expressions on their faces. By the time they had entered the dining room, all the food had been vanished including their unfinished meals and the bowls had been replaced with exactly thirty-nine bowls of Chocolate Soufflé. Molly Weasley was shuffling around the kitchen, muttering about how pleased she was that she had opted to make forty servings of Soufflé instead of just thirty-two as the initial guest count was. Hermione was grinning at Blaise who had finished his bowl and was attempting to steal some from her own bowl. Draco was laughing at Penelope Weasley, nee Clearwater, and Fleur who was attempting to stop Christopher from flinging bits of the pudding at his younger brothers.

Arthur had knocked all senses of sanity from his mind with his FireWhiskey and was now pouring the drink onto his Soufflé to 'spice it up a bit' as he was explaining to Pansy who, also with a bit too much influence of alcohol, was following his lead. Bill was clutching onto his ponytail and running away from a far-from-sober Charlie who was aiding his nephew, Peter, in an attempt to chop it off. Angelina was in turn chasing after her brother-in-law screaming out that running with scissors was dangerous and a bad habit to be teaching her son. Katie and Percy were laughing at the trio, clutching onto their sides. Ginny and Ron were attempting to hide all traces of alcohol from their clearly intoxicated father, who was making quite a fool of himself, and the blonde ex-Slytherin, who they figured from the amounts of alcohol she had consumed was near passing out.

Harry had ended his conversation with Lavender to join Blaise in his attempts to get more of Hermione's soufflé. In Molly's thrill of her return, she had given the extra Soufflé to the Mrs. Malfoy who was quite happy to eat it herself. Harry and Blaise, however, were quite opposed to this, having begged Mrs. Weasley for the extra pudding. Lavender had, along with Charlie's wife, Giselle, jumped to the aid of Fleur and Penelope who were struggling with the children. It seemed as if the other children had found the idea of flinging 'chocolate goo' around the room a splendid idea and they had all decided to join in. The room was filled with delighted squeals, laughter and loud chatter when the Weasley twins entered the room.

"Daddy's back!" exclaimed Peter, noticing his father and Uncle Fred as his Uncle Charlie ran past them with him in his hands.

The two words brought the activities of the families to a halt. Even Arthur and Pansy in their drunken states turned to look at the two men that had just entered, unaware that the bottles of FireWhiskey in each of their hands were still chugging alcoholic liquid onto their puddings. The giggling of the children continued until the silence of their parents caught their ears. They turned their attention to the twin men as a stray 'missile', courtesy of Jayden William Malfoy, flew straight into the forehead of Fred Weasley. Aaliyah giggled lightly, leaning over to her brother, to whisper to him, 'nice aim'.

Apart from her soft whisper, the room was in utter silence. Draco's eyes had widened as a small portion of soufflé slapped the previously-angered man in the face. If they so much as raise their voice at my boy, he's dead. Hermione thought quickly. To hell with good impressions…if he does one thing out of line…

Fred's eyes inverted and zoned in to the small portion on his forehead that was slowly sliding down. Wiping it with one finger, he shook it so that it fell onto the floor. By now, Jayden's eyes had widened and his face was laced with fear. After all, it was this very man that had gotten so angry at his dad and done mean things to Aunty Ginny and the nice fat lady. Fred grimaced before slowly making his way to Jayden. "M-Mr. Weasley…I-I'm s-sorry!" He wailed loudly, breaking the preceding silence.

He knelt down before him, smiling softly. "Hey, don't worry about it kiddo." He whispered softly. "I completely understand." He said, his hand slowly reaching for the bowl beside the little boy. Hermione smiled widely at Fred's reaction as Draco sighed audibly. Within a second, the bowl that Fred had been reaching was sitting upside down, on Jayden's head. The little boy's eyes widened for a second as the brown sludge slowly drooled down his head before his face split into a big grin.

"You're on, Weaso!"

At this, the older children had grabbed their hardly eaten plates and within moments, the chocolate dessert was being flung repeatedly after the twin Weasleys. Hermione watched them with a bright smile, giving her husband a gentle wink. A soft chink on her plate caused her to look down, only to see a spoon quickly receding from it. Blaise was grinning cheekily at her before shoving the spoon and its recently-acquired contents into his mouth. A second chink made her look the other way where the other raven-haired man was quickly pushing a spoon into his mouth. Within seconds the uproar that had come before the entrance of the Weasley twins had returned with much more fervour.

Ron glanced at his father only to find him and Pansy gawking at their bowls and almost drowned puddings. With a fatherly grin at the blonde girl, he grabbed up his bowl and slurped the mushy contents into his mouth.

"AW DAD!"

Hermione laughed gleefully as she and Ginny threw themselves into a small couch in the living room of the Burrow. Bill was standing near to them staring in the mirror was complete shock. His previously long hair had been butchered by his nephew, while his elder brother had been quite conveniently seated on him. His hair was now shoulder-length and cut at all sorts of angles. Charlie was seated in a one-seater on the other side of the room with Peter sitting on his lap. The pair were grinning sneakily together as they watched his dismay. Most of the other children, those involved in the food fight, were lying on the floor; all of them fast asleep.

Percy quickly moved to his elder brother and through his amused laughter, was attempting to console Bill on his 'tremendous loss'. Arthur had grabbed Molly and was leading her in a staggering waltz around the room, all the while attempting to avoid Pansy who was napping quite happily with the children. The other mothers had pulled up the chairs from the kitchen and were quite wearily eyeing their children, as if expecting them to jump and run around again. Draco and Blaise were catching up, by mock-wrestling in the corner.

Harry and Ron were standing with their backs to the kitchen door, arms folded over their chests as they amusedly watched the elderly Weasleys attempting to dance. Fred and George grinned as they exited the kitchen behind the two youngest men. They were a sticky mess and winked at Hermione and Ginny as they caught their eyes. Creeping up behind the Boy-Who-Lived and their Ronniekins, they jumped on the two boys, rubbing handfuls of salvaged soufflé into their hair. The adults fell into an uproar only to stop at the fear of waking the children.

By the end of their laughter, Harry and Ron had joined in with Blaise and Draco reverting to old habits in a match of Gryffindors vs. Slytherins. Fred and George were now attempting to convince their wives to dance with them, despite being covered with their mother's cooking. Hermione grinned widely at the scene before her, it was one that she had dreamed of for a long time. Turning to her red-headed friend beside her, she saw the girl-turn-woman smiling sadly at her.

"Gin?"

Ginny's smile turned from that of sadness to happiness. "I'm sorry, Mina. It's just…I've missed having you around, you know? Some classic female company. I mean I've had Angie and Katie and all of them…but it's not the same. I never was close to them like with you. And gosh, without you around, everyone was half as happy. We…we all thought you were dead, Mina."

Hermione smiled softly as tears prickled her eyes. "I'm sorry…I'm so so sorry, Gin. I wish I had told you…but think of it, our dreams have come true. We always said we wished that I could tell Harry and Ron and everyone and for it to be all fine. And look, Harry and Ron are actually playing with Draco and Blaise. And…everyone's mingling just perfectly." Nodding her agreement, Ginny merely leaned over and wrapped her friend in a large hug, a hug that meant everything would be fine.

Their moment was interrupted by a loud whooping from the corner of the room. Draco and Blaise were jumping with glee while Ron and Harry appeared quite put out. "WE WON! OH YEAH! SLYTHERINS FOR LIFE!" The two 'men' yelled excitedly.

Harry and Ron scowled playfully. "As if! Lucky win! REMATCH!" Harry yelled. Draco and Blaise cockily smiled, agreeing to their plea.

Hermione glanced over at Ginny who was shaking her head with amazement. "My god, they just never grow up, do they?" She said, giggling with her friend. Fred and George high-fived each other as their wives finally conceded to their pleas for a dance. Pulling the disgusted women close to them, and the pudding, they simultaneously led their wives around the room, avoiding the haphazard movements of their father and rather-amused mother.

Bill sighed as he sat down beside his little sister and woman who was practically his other sister. "My hair…my beautiful hair." He muttered, staring directly ahead of him. Laughing at his antics, Hermione took in all that was happening around her. She caught Draco's eye as the wrestling match was yet again won by the Slytherins. Smiling gently at him, she sat back in her chair and sighed.

It was definitely good to be back.

Author's Note:

Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. I was really hoping to capture a sense of a light-hearted, friendly and sort of dysfunctional but completely normal family. Review please!