CHAPTER NINE
CHRISTMAS WITH THE WEASLEYS
Ron sat in the living room, across from Hermione and Ginny, who were chatting amiably. Hermione was reading Apparation: A Look At Theories Across The Ages and Ginny was looking at St Mungo's: Muggle Psychology vs. Wizarding Psychology. He didn't know what had gotten into his sister, but she seemed fascinated with the the whole idea of brain probing.
He couldn't keep his mind of Hermione. He didn't know how to react around her. Somehow it was different from their seventh year. She'd changed, both physically and emotionally. Her hair was still as frizzy and out-of-control as ever, but her teeth had all aligned themselves into some semblance of order and Ron suspected that once she'd left her parents' house she'd broken their No-Magic-On-The-Teeth rule. While she was still the same Hermione, (yesterday, she'd gotten off on a tirade: "And then there's the Muggle ideals about war. They're so much more interested in going to war than us wizards are, you know") there was still something different about her. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, but there was something.
Ron wanted desperately to be part of their conversation. "Hey, Gin, can I see that book?"
Ginny reluctantly passed it over. "The introduction says there's a nasty curse for anyone who destroys it. Don't forget that one time when I let you borrow one of my library books and you dropped it in the bathtub. I had a nasty welt on my face for weeks."
Ron noticed Hermione's face turned an interesting shade of pink, but he decided it best not to bring it up. "I won't," he said impatiently. "Don't you trust me? I'm your own bro--"
"No."
Hermione looked as if she was trying very hard not to laugh.
Suddenly, Fred Apparted with Angelina on his arm. "My brother's holding a book? I wasn't under the impression you could read."
"Very funny," Ron muttered, feeling his face grow hot. He read the deadly dull Introduction: I've been studying the art of brain probing, both on wizards (where you can see where they keep their brain) and even on objects where it is not so obvious. The Muggles have embraced the idea of brain probing for a long time, which they've called Psychology. This is a new form of magic, which many have taken to calling after the Muggle name. Some prefer the name 'brain probing' to--
Ron's head shot up. "This sounds boring," he said, passing the book back over to his sister.
Not unexpectedly. Hermione had a retort. "Oh, brain probing is fascinating. Some say it's a very imprecise branch of magic. How can you determine how a wizard is really feeling, anyway? But it's fascinating all the same. The first ever wizard to really argue its validity was George Naumann, who said--"
"Yeah, save the lecture," Ron muttered. He did enjoy listening to her voice, but not when she went off like this.
Angelina whispered something in Fred's ear and he grinned. "As soon as my relations show up."
Ron entertained himself by talking to Fred and Angelina. At least they weren't on a tirade on the greatness of brain probing. One by one, Ron's brothers showed up: Charlie, then Bill and a woman Ron didn't know, then George and Alicia. Mr. Weasley came, huffing and puffing and stamping his boots. "I hate Christmas Eve," he complained as he used his wand to pry off his boots. "The snow makes Apparating quite an adventure. And," he said, looking at his children, "it makes your mother frantic. Where is she?"
As if on cue, Mrs. Weasley emerged from the kitchen and said, "Waiting to hear what you think of this chocolate batter I'm about to put in the oven."
"Hey, how come I don't get to taste test?" Charlie said. "I'm your eldest son and, by default, I'm the most charming."
George snorted as everyone else laughed, including Mrs. Weasley.
"Yes, but I like your father better," she joked.
Mr. Weasley wandered back into the kitchen, looking delighted. Ron happened to notice that everyone was chattering happily while Angelina was fidgeting nervously. She did laugh at all of their jokes, though, even the ones that were deemed 'unfunny' by everyone else. A few minutes later, after his mother and father had re-emerged from the kitchen, Fred and Angelina stood up.
"I have an announcement to make," Angelina said, positively trembling, but looking excited all the same. Her cheeks were flushed and her mouth turned into a large grin. "I'm--we're-- expecting."
At this, the sound was positively uproarious. George went outside to throw some Fred And George's Fireworks, and Fred accepted everyone's congratulations with a goofy grin on his face.
"I can't believe you're about to be a father," Charlie told Fred. "You know you hold the child like this"--he put his arms in a position as if holding an infant-- "Not like this"--and then he held his arms as if he was swinging a child upside down in mid-air.
"I know," Fred said with a grin.
"He'll have me to answer to if he doesn't," Angelina said, looking much more relaxed now that she'd gotten her announcement over with and had been repeatedly hugged by her mother and father-in-law.
"And you don't want to mess with that," Fred joked as he ducked a playful swat from his wife.
After the initial excitement wound down, the attention turned to a timid looking young woman. "And who is this, Bill?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"I'm Katherine Odwald," said the young woman.
"Very nice to meet you, dear. By all means, make yourself at home."
"Classmate of Bill's, then?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Er--" said Bill. "Well, actually... erm. How to put this?" Ron had never seen Bill look this uncomfortable before, unless you counted the time he told Mrs. Weasley he'd accidentally thrown one of her plants instead of a garden gnome over the fence. "She didn't go to school at Hogwarts."
"Where did you go to school then?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"St. Louis's Enrichment School," Katherine said.
A heavy pause followed this. So Bill had brought home a Muggle? Ron was overwhelmed. Mr. Weasley jumped on the opportunity to ask her about electrical objects at once, but Bill said, "Dad? Do you want to scare her away? Honestly..."
Hermione, Ginny, and Katherine were up late. Ginny had asked to sleep in George's old bed ("so I can have a roommate... it's ever so lonely in my room by myself...") and the women had made a cot appear so that Katherine had a spare bed, too. Ginny had added her own touches; it wasn't a normal cot-- it was a very comfortable waterbed.
The row that was ensuing downstairs was getting out of hand. It was between Mrs. Weasley and Bill, and it seemed as if Mrs. Weasley was getting the last say.
"We met at her bank!" yelled Bill. "A slight conflict with her bank and ours. It was a half blood family. The mother goes to Gringotts, and the father goes to hers, and there was a mix-up. Her bank had no idea what Galleons were, and I went to fix it."
"Still, do you have any idea what you're doing? She's a Muggle!" she yelled back.
"You and Dad have always told us to be open minded, right? How come I'm not allowed to love someone who's not a wizard?"
"Because you know how people have been since the War. Everyone suspects each other nowdays. Wizards are highly suspicious of Muggles now. Which isn't good, but that's how it is. And you and Katherine will be in danger."
"You're no better than the Malfoys, you know that? And I'm going to marry her! I'm asking her tomorrow."
Katherine grimaced and said, "Guess that ruins the surprise, then."
"I'm sorry," said Ginny. And she truly looked it. "I can soundproof the walls. Honestly, you can hear anything from any room in this house."
"No, that's all right," Katherine said, as Bill said, "I'm doing it to be, oh, what's it called? Open minded. Isn't that what you teach?"
This seemed to be too much for Katherine. "Oh, so he wants to marry me to prove something. Please do whatever it is you wanted to do earlier--"
So Ginny soundproofed the walls. "Really, I don't know what's gotten into her. Mum's so open about these things. Although she'd probably flip her nut if one of us wanted to marry someone who wasn't a Gryffindor..." She flipped open her book again and opened the book to a random page.
"So, I understand you work at a bank?" Hermione said, trying to sound cheerful.
"That's right." Katherine looked glum. "Accounting. My dad seemed to think it was a more worthwhile profession. I would have loved to be an artist, but that probably wouldn't have worked out."
"Maybe you could show us some of your art work."
"All right. But only if you promise to show me how you do a few spells. Bill tells me I can't do them myself, of course, but I'd love to watch some magic."
Hermione nodded, but suddenly Ginny's face was pale as she flung her Psychology book next to her.
Hermione looked at her friend, wondering what had gotten into her. "Are you all right?"
Ginny shook her head no and pointed in the direction of her book. Hermione picked it up and skimmed the pages for what the offending passage might have been. Something made her heart skip a beat.
Diaries are particularly powerful pieces of magic. Often, young witches and wizards pick up an old diary of a recently deceased (or living or ghost) family member in order to become a part of them. If the person is alive, even as a ghost, the connection with the diary goes further. The witch or wizard who picks up the diary will have a deep connection with the owner of the diary, and the person who intercedes any sort of correspondence between them. In most studies, the person who's been corresponding with the diary cannot live without the intercedent; evidence has proven that the correspondent will live a half life in terms of--
Hermione cut off and flung the book in the same way Ginny had done. "Oh, Ginny," she said.
"I... well... erm." She seemd to be struggling with something to say. And then, with a smile Hermione could tell was forced, added, "Now I know why I'm miserable all the time. I'm apparently doomed to live a half life."
"I'm sure it's a load of rubbish," she said. "As I told Ron before, I read in some books that wizarding psychology can be very imprecise. There's still a lot of work to be done, since probing brains is a fairly new kind of magic in the wizarding--"
"I read somewhere that the man who wrote this book is almost always right," Ginny said, losing her cheerful facade and suddenly looking grim.
"Yes. Almost always right." Hermione tried to sound firm, but her stomach seemed to be doing flip-flops.
"Could someone explain to me what's going on?" Katherine said, looking at them suspiciously.
Hermione was surprised at the casual way Ginny explained what had happened at the end of her first year. "And so, Harry Potter--"
"Who's he?"
"Oh, yes, sorry. Not used to having to explain that." She smiled and backtracked. Finally, she came out with-- "So, apparently since Harry interceded and saved my life, I had a huge bond with him. But, now he's dead, so I'm doomed to live a half life. Oh, yes. And let's not forget the part where I apparently have a deep connection with Lord Voldemort, who was one of the worst wizards in history."
A heavy silence followed this and Hermione tried to change the subject. "How about we all go to bed? We'll all feel better in the morning, I expect."
The other girls agreed it would be a good idea, but Hermione stayed awake, worried about her friend. And, from the fact that Ginny wasn't breathing very deeply, Hermione surmised that her friend wasn't sleeping at all, either.
