{Disclaimer:  The Harry Potter World was created by J.K. Rowling and rights and owned by, but not limited to, Scholastic Books and Warner Brothers.  I, therefore, own no parts of this save for Andromeda McGee and Wyvern the cat.}

This chapter is dedicated to my cat, Cinnamon, who decided my lap was a good place to lay every time I sat down to type this.

Chapter 18

Reunion

**Someday, somehow I'm gonna make it alright,/ But not right now/ I know you're wondering when/ And I hope that since we're here anyway,/ We can end it, saying/ Things we've always needed to say, / So we can end up staying/ Now the story's played out like this/ Just like a paperback novel/ Let's rewrite an ending that fits/ Instead of a Hollywood horror . "Someday" Nickelback**

Christmas Eve came sooner than expected and Andy found herself in front of a familiar house holding a bag of gifts.  She hadn't known what to give her brother or his family who she basically didn't know.  Then again, they hadn't known that she existed until a few weeks ago either.  She knocked politely on the door.

A young girl with two dark braids opened it a few moments later with a puzzled look on her face.  "Who are you?"

Andy wasn't sure what to say.  "I'm, um, well, your father's expecting me."

"Daddy!  There's a strange lady at the door!" the girl called to her father.

Ben had appeared just after his daughter had let Andy in.  "Andromeda!  You did decide to come after all!  Merry Christmas!"  He engulfed her in a huge bear hug.

"Merry Christmas to you too!  You don't change, do you Ben?"

"Never have and never will."

"Daddy?" Ben's daughter tugged at his sweater.  "Who's the lady?"

"This, my dear, is a very good friend of mine who I have not seen in years, Andromeda," he turned to Andy, "Or do still go by Andy?"  They had decided before that it would be easier to explain that she was an old friend instead of an aunt.  Relations were always more difficult to explain when they had been missing for years.

"Andy, please.  Andromeda's quite a mouthful."

"Then this is Andy."

The girl's face scrunched in puzzlement.  "She's never been here before."

"I know, honey," Ben explained patiently, "She just got back from traveling and I asked her to stop by for dinner."

"What do you do?" his daughter asked politely with the innocent curiosity of little children.

"Alexis, that's enough, go help your mother."  Alexis pouted, but did as her father told her to.

Andy chuckled.  "Its okay, Ben, I'm used to it by now.  Having to teach eleven through eighteen year olds does that to you."

He shrugged, "I was afraid she would get a bit too inquisitive.  Kids are like that."

"I know, and how many do you have?"

"Five," he answered with a roguish grin.  "That was Alexis; she just turned nine in November.  I wouldn't be surprised if she took after you, though none of the others have."

"Others?"

"I'll introduce you to them.  Here, let me take your coat."

Ben led Andy through the familiar halls of her childhood home.  It was much like she remembered but with subtle differences, like the new paintings on the walls and different colored carpets.  A group of three boys were crowded around a television playing video games.  In actuality the two older ones were playing while the youngest watched, enthralled by the explosions on the screen.

"How many times have I told you not to let Noah watch you playing games?" Ben spoke sharply.

"Sorry, Dad.  It does keep him quiet.  He likes to watch, don't you, kiddo?" One of the older boys ruffled Noah's hair.  Noah nodded energetically.

"Fine.  Andy, these are my sons, Elliot, Wesley, and Noah.  You three, this is Andy, an old friend of mine."  He wanted to say sister, but knew it just wouldn't work out that way.  Maybe later, in a few years, he would be able to understand all that had happened to her, but until then, 'friend' would work as an explanation.

"Okay, nice to meet you, lady," said Noah, looking up then going back to watching his brothers play their game.  The older two mumbled greetings as well.

"This way," Ben led Andy into the kitchen where his wife and eldest daughter were preparing the meal.  "This is my wife, Gabrielle and my eldest daughter, Brianna.  You already met Alexis.  You guys remember me telling you about Andy, right?"

Gabrielle was the only other one who knew that Andy was actually Ben's younger sister and not simply a friend.  "Hello, Andy, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."  Gabrielle McGee was a woman of medium height with auburn hair that fell in stylish waves to just above her shoulders.  She shook her hand warmly.  A timer dinged, signaling that something was done.  "Brianna, check the biscuits.  Take them out if they're done."

"Yes, mum."  Brianna was almost a perfect copy of her mother with longer hair that fell to the middle of her back.  "They're all done."

"Dinner should be ready shortly, dear, if you would like to sit down at the table.  Ben, get the rest of the herd ready to eat."

"Kids!  Dinner's ready!" Ben bellowed.

"Benjamin! How many times do I have to tell you not to yell in the house?" Gabrielle admonished her husband shaking the spatula she was holding at him.

"Sorry, dear."

"Men," Gabrielle grumbled under her breath.  "You're lucky, Andy, men are always more trouble than they are worth.  Never get involved permanently with any of them; that is my advice to you."

"I'm not that bad!" Ben protested.

"No, you aren't, dear.  I could have done a whole lot worse.  Instead I picked you."  Gabrielle smiled at her husband as she handed him a tray with a turkey on it.  "Here, take this."

A large table in the dining room was set with a red table cloth and the fine china that was saved for only special, holiday occasions.  The five children were seated around the sides, leaving seats for Ben and Gabrielle at one end and Andy at the other.

Dinner was an ornate meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce served with a nice wine and sparkling grape juice for the children.  Andy almost wished she was back at Hogwarts and didn't have to spend time with the awkwardness here.  The children could care less about her existence.  Ben was happy that she was here, not having been able to spend time with her since she had reappeared, but he was the only one.  She wasn't so certain about his wife, who took it well enough but not as well as it could have been.

The dessert of homemade Christmas cookies moved the group out to the living room.  Andy brought out the bag of gifts she had brought with her.  They were not much, but they were at least something.  She had created enchanted snow-globes for each of them, each with a different scene inside.  At the moment they were frozen so that it wouldn't frighten the kids too much.  She had created a gnome for Noah, a unicorn for Alexis, a dragon for Wesley, a different dragon for Elliot, and a pixie for Brianna.  The one for both Gabrielle and Ben was a faery couple sitting on a few wild flowers.  The models inside were life-like and with a simple word could be enchanted to move around and make noises or even speak if they could in reality.  Andy was rather proud of them.

Noah was utterly thrilled his and spent the first few minutes enthralled by being able to flip it upside down to see the snow fall on top of his gnome with the red cone hat.  He tottered off to the kitchen, following his mother as she cleaned up the table.  The globe slipped out of his hands as he tripped on a chair sticking out.  The little boy tumbled down to the floor, snow globe slipping out of his hand and shattering on the floor.  He began to bawl loudly.

"What is it, Noah?" his mother asked her crying son.

He pointed to the broken snow globe.  The gnome was standing in the middle of the pile of glass, shaking his fist at the young boy and mumbling in a strange tongue.

"Oh dear," Gabrielle wasn't sure what to make of it.  "It'll be okay."  She picked him up.

Ben had entered the kitchen as he heard his son's tantrum.  He, too, noticed the gnome on the floor.  "Oh, boy.  Andy, I suggest you get in here now."

"Hmm?" Andy asked as she walked into the room.

"Look at this."

Andy looked down at the floor, seeing the gnome and the shards of glass.  "That's not good.  I thought I had made it unbreakable.  Oh, well must have forgotten to do this one.  I can fix it in a jiffy."

"Andy, no," Ben commanded her.  "That's not it.  The thing moves."

"Yes, it is supposed to do that.  I put them in stasis until I could explain everything to everyone else who doesn't know about me.  It must have come undone when it broke."

"What are you talking about?" Gabrielle asked confused as to what they were talking about.

"He never told you, did he?"

Gabrielle shook her head.  "He only told me that you were his sister and he hadn't talked to you in years.  There was something about your parents disowned you and you went away for a while because of that, refusing to speak to any of the family."

"That's relatively accurate, but he never told you exactly why our parents disowned me, did he?"

"No, Andy, I chose not to," Ben answered for her.

"Well, that makes things more difficult now doesn't it?" Andy asked rhetorically.

Noah noticed the angry gnome on the floor.  He stared at it, amused that it moved.  Maybe it would play with him.  "Mommy, it moves."

"Yes, Noah, it moves."

"Can I play with it, Mommy?"

"No.  We don't know what it is.  It's probably dangerous."

"Actually," Andy spoke up.  "It's only a figurine that got animated.  It can't do too much harm.  Thankfully, he didn't break any of the dragon ones; those would be I would worry about if they broke."

"Will someone just explain this to me?" Gabrielle was getting frustrating.

Andy shared a look with her brother, biting her lower lip.  Neither of them knew how the rest of the family would take it.  "Um, do you want the nice easy version, or the whole thing?"

"I just want answers."

"Fine," Andy pause.  "I guess the easiest way to explain it is that I'm a witch."

"You're a what?"  Gabrielle was not sure that she had heard her correctly.

"A witch, a person who can do magic.  Like this."  Andy pulled out her wand from a sheath in her sleeve.  "Reparo."  The shattered remains of the snow globe fused back together, encasing the fuming gnome back inside, compete with all the snow and liquid.  She gave it to Ben.

Gabrielle was at a loss for words.  That couldn't happen under normal circumstances, yet she had seen it with her own eyes.  "Did you know about this, Benjamin?"

"Yes.  Andy's my sister, how wouldn't I know?"

"And you let her do this?"

"Gabrielle, this is why my parents disowned her.  This is why I cared for her until she was able to go off on her own.  This is why I have had no contact with her for the past seventeen years.  Of course I let her.  She's a fully trained witch."

Gabrielle was still uncertain about the whole thing.  "And what does a 'witch' do for a living?  Sit around a cast unless spells and bribe money off of normal people?"

Andy took a deep breath.  She would keep her temper for Ben's sake.  "No, it's not like any of that.  The Magic world is completely different from the world you know of.  We have our own government, our own jobs, and our own stores.  I am employed by a school and teach eleven to eighteen year olds magic."

"That can't be too difficult.  You'd only need one person to do that, wouldn't you?"

"No, not at all.  Hogwarts teaches all sorts of subjects, like charms, and history, and herbology, and self-defense and many more."

"Right," Gabrielle did not like what she was hearing one bit.  It couldn't be true.  No wonder Ben hadn't spoken to this crazy lady in so long.  She wouldn't have either, if she had been in his shoes.  "And what do you teach?"

"Potions," Andy spoke brightly.  "This will be my second year teaching it.  It's sort of like your Chemistry except with magic involved."

"I can't take this.  Just get out of my house.  I can see why Ben hasn't spoken to you in years.  You're an abomination to society."

"Fine, I'll go.  We'll just see how you take when your daughter gets her letter to Hogwarts in two years," she turned to Ben.  "I've been watching her all evening and I think you were right.  She does take after me.  I think she may have the talent.  We shall see.  Good-by, brother.  Thank you for dinner."  Andy gave her brother a hug, grabbed her coat from a rack by the door, and left.

Ben stared after her.  That had gone worse than expected.  He hadn't thought Gabrielle would react that way.  It was over now and he had a feeling that Andy would not be welcome in the house unless Gabrielle knew nothing about the visit.  "You didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did.  That woman is an abomination.  What she did is completely impossible.  I will not allow her around my children."

"I asked you politely to give my sister a chance and when she tried to be helpful, you slammed her down.  That was uncalled for."

"Daddy," Noah spoke up.  "It's moving again." He pointed to the globe Ben was still holding.

"See?" Gabrielle questioned, "All she's good for is parlor tricks."

"You don't know my sister.  Andy is incredibly intelligent and is very good at what she does.  The position she has right now is the equivalent to a college professor.  She's at the top of her field."

"I don't care.  I will not allow her in this house ever again."

As soon as Andy had gotten out the door, she Apparated back to Hogsmeade and walked down the long, dark path to Hogwarts.  At least they accepted her here. 

{Author's Note:  Eventually I will learn not to simply sit down and start typing things.  Until then, chapters like this will continue appearing.  Perfect timing, too.  Christmas Eve and that's when this chapter takes place.  Ha!  I rock!  Merry Christmas to all!  Maybe I get the next one done by New Year's to continue this whole posting on when it takes place.  We'll see about it.

Josie: I know what I'm doing.  I have to bring them together in order to cause more pain if they get ripped apart.

Sunkyssed: Thanks!

Sora:  At least some one liked the interaction between them!

Peace, Love, and Christmas Cookies, Nataly Ravenlock}