Chapter 2

So the big moment had finally come…I was about to face my family for the first time in about five years. It was so weird to even think about! Five years ago I had left a note informing my parents and older sister Molly that I had dropped out of Hogwarts right after my sixth year, and I was headed to America to fulfill my dreams…as a muggle. I said that it was something I needed to do because I wasn't happy in the Wizarding world. I didn't hear from them after that until my sister's wedding invitation.

"Are you ready for this?" Adelaide asked, wrapping her arm around my waist as we got ready to head to the Burrow.

"As ready as I will ever be…and that's not ever going to be very ready."

"I love you, you know that right?"

"Yes, and that's what is getting me through this. I love you so much."

We shared a quick chaste kiss and then headed downstairs to gather around the Potter's fireplace. Adelaide and I no longer had wands, so we would have to travel via the floo network. Lily, Albus and James all headed through before it was finally my turn. I had to take a deep breath before throwing the powder down and clearly stating my destination. It was a very strange sense of déjà vu to experience the feeling of traveling by the floo after so many years of living as a muggle. I had forgotten the dizzying feeling of all the different fireplaces rushing past. Sooner than I had hoped for I was landing on the carpet in my grandparent's living room.

"Now James Sirius you better be behaving for your father. He is letting you off easy in my opinion! Drugs, honestly! If I were your father I would make sure that…" Grandmother scolded. What she would make sure to do I will never know, because it was at that moment that she spotted me walking towards her, "Lucy?"

Grandmother immediately ran towards me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. I had forgotten how much she smelled of chocolate chip cookies and how warm and loving her hugs were. It was at that moment that I realized how home sick I truly was. I love my life with my band and of course I love Adelaide more than I can even wrap my head around…but it's not the same as coming home to the warm embrace of a family member. I had to bite my lip in attempt to keep the tears that were welling up in my eyes at bay. All hope was lost when my grandmother started to cry though. It was as if the floodgates had opened and tears just streamed down my face. We literally had to have held each other for five minutes just silently crying.

When we pulled apart I looked around and found that we were the only ones in the room. I knew that Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny and Adelaide had to have come through. They must have left to give my grandmother and I some privacy.

"Lucy, it is so great to see you. The family hasn't been the same since you've been gone," grandmother stated, pulling me to sit down on the couch with her.

"I've missed you all so much too…why didn't you write?" It was the question that I was dying to know the answer to. I figured rather than beat around the bush I would get straight to the point.

"Your father said that you wanted to cut yourself off from the family and said that we shouldn't write so that you could fulfill your wish."

There it was again, the statement I don't remember making. I didn't want to completely cut myself off from my family; I just wanted a chance to follow my dreams. If only I could find that letter and reread what I said. Maybe I could find out how my family had misinterpreted what I said or something.

"Oh…of course, well I've missed you all the same," I replied with a sad smile, "So who all is here?"

"You are the first ones to arrive. Everyone else should be here soon though. I imagine that Molly is going to be very surprised and happy to see you."

"Surprised? She sent me an invitation. Even if I did only reply to Uncle Harry and told him to keep my coming a secret, I bet she knows deep down that I wouldn't miss this for anything in the world."

My grandmother didn't get a chance to reply because at that moment my Uncle Charlie strolled in through the front door. He looked the same as I remember: body full of scars and burns from working with dragons, long hair in a ponytail and just all of his being emitting the air of someone cool and casual.

"Well if it isn't my long lost niece Lucy!" Uncle Charlie exclaimed at the sight of me, "I kept hoping your band would come and tour closer to me so that I could come and see you live and in action."

Uncle Charlie picked me up and swung me around like he used to as he gave me a hug. He didn't have any children of his own and he always jokingly claimed that I was his daughter since I'm not much like my own father.

"You know about my band?" I asked, trying to process the fact that my family members still clearly cared about me.

"Of course I do! What kind of uncle would I be if I didn't keep tabs on my pseudo-daughter?"

"I see you are still the same old Uncle Charlie!"

"Same yes…old, I don't think so."

At that moment another voice came floating into the room, "I haven't heard you call anyone your pseudo-daughter since…Lucy?" Uncle Ron paused for a second as he walked into the room with Aunt Hermione, Rose and Hugo trailing behind him.

They all stopped and stared at me for a second before I was immediately pulled into the middle of a massive group hug. While in the middle of the group hug I heard laughter that I immediately recognized as Adelaide's. When I was finally let out of the hug I was greeted by Adelaide standing there with an amused smirk on her face.

"Guys this is my best friend and bandmate Adelaide," I introduced and then went through the effort of naming all of my family members that were present for her. However, I knew that by the end of the night she probably wouldn't remember the majority of them.

"And last but not least this is Hugo," I said pointing at my youngest cousin.

"It's so nice to meet you all," Adelaide replied, "Are you two in Gryffindor like the majority of your family seems to be?"

"Yes, I'm going into my sixth year," Rose replied, smiling brightly.

"Nope, I'm the lone Slytherin in this family," Hugo replied shocking me. He was seriously sorted into Slytherin? My Uncle Ron must have had a right fit over that one!

"Sweet! I was in Slytherin when I was at Hogwarts too!" Adelaide replied which caused Hugo's face to immediately brighten.

The two high-fived and then Adelaide began asking him questions about what was going on with the house, who the head was now and such. It was amazing how easily my family seemed to be taking to her. Granted, they didn't really know the truth about who she really is in relation to me…but I hoped that getting to know her first would warm them up to the idea that the two of us are actually dating.

"Does your father know that you are here?" Aunt Hermione asked suspiciously as some of us walked towards the kitchen.

"No, no one knew that I was coming except for Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny," I replied sitting down at the kitchen table with Aunt Hermione, Aunt Ginny and Grandmother.

"So how have you been?" Aunt Hermione asked, "I don't support the idea, but was dropping out of Hogwarts worth it?"

"Yes, it was…I know that I probably should have waited until I graduated, but I really am happy."

"That's what we love to hear," Aunt Ginny replied, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"So how was he when I left? My dad I mean?"

"I don't think that's for us to answer sweetie," Grandmother replied, "That's something you will have to talk to him about."

"Oh right…of course," I replied, picking at my fingernails, "So have things been just as crazy around here as they used to be?"

"Yes…well there is never a dull day in this family," Aunt Hermione replied.

"Isn't that the truth?" a voice stated walking into the room.

Turning around in my chair I found myself faced with Aunt Fleur, Uncle Bill, Dominique and Louis.

"Lucy! It's so wonderful to see you!" Aunt Fleur exclaimed, her accent as thick as ever. She rushed over to kiss me on both cheeks.

I got the same greeting from the rest of them and then asked, "Where is Victoire?" "Oh she will be here soon with Teddy and Dora," Uncle Bill replied.

"Dora?"

"Oh that's right, you wouldn't know this! Victoire and Teddy got married a couple years ago and they had a baby girl that they named Nymphadora," Aunt Fleur replied.

"Victoire and Teddy are married? And they have a kid? Wow, I have missed a lot," I replied, letting out a huge breath of air.

"Yes you most certainly have," a voice I recognized as Victoire stated as she walked into the room.

I turned around in my chair once more to find Victoire, who was definitely pregnant, standing there holding hands with a bright-blue haired Teddy who was holding a small child in his arms.

"Oh my gosh Vic!" I couldn't help but get up and give one of my favorite cousins a hug. I couldn't bring myself to ask the question that was weighing on my mind a little…why wasn't I invited to her wedding? Or at least informed of her wedding? Or child? Even if I left I feel like these are some important things to know.

Hugging my pregnant and married cousin was when it really hit me…life continued back home while I was gone. I don't know why, but in some ways I expected to come back and find things just the way that I left them. I knew it wasn't logical, but it didn't stop me from feeling as strange and uneasy as I did.

"I'm so happy that things between you two worked out," I stated as I pulled apart from Victoire, "If you two would excuse me, I have to run to the bathroom."

Before waiting to hear their response, I took off at a fast walk towards the second floor bathroom. Once there I closed the door and then collapsed to the floor with my head in my hands. What was I thinking coming back here? They all clearly got on fine without me!

A couple minutes into my bathroom floor thoughts, a knock sounded on the door.

"Lucy I know you are in there," I heard Adelaide speak, "I'm breaking in if you don't open this door in two seconds!"

"It's open," was my weak response.

The door immediately opened and revealed my girlfriend. She gave me a half smile before closing the door behind here and coming over to sit down next to me.

"So what's wrong?"

"How did you know that something was wrong? I could have just really needed to use the bathroom?"

"Are you serious? Lucy, I know you better than you know yourself sometimes. I saw you're face while you headed to the bathroom. Everyone else might be fooled, but you can't fool me….so again what's wrong?"

Damn my oh so observant girlfriend. I really can't get away with hiding any of my feelings from her!

"One of my closest cousins got married and had a kid and I wasn't even informed!" I replied, tears coming lightly down my face, "I know it's delusional but I really expected to come back and have everything the way that it used to be."

"Oh sweetie," Adelaide pulled me into her arms, "I know that has to hurt. You have a chance to have things be different from now on though. You chose to come back and be here for your sister on her big day. That is really brave of you and I'm so proud of you for doing that because I know this is a very hard situation for you."

"I guess I'm just very confused…they didn't write and they didn't inform me of the big events going on, but yet they still kept tabs on me and they have all greeted me back so warmly. I don't know how to react!"

"Well I think they all thought that distance is what you wanted. You can set things straight while being here though."

"You're right…and I'm not setting things straight by crying on the bathroom floor."

"So are you ready to go back down there?"

I took a deep breath and then replied, "Yes."

After standing up and looking in the mirror to make sure that my makeup had survived my second crying session, I grabbed Adelaide's hand and headed out of the bathroom. On the landing of the second floor we briefly kissed and then dropped hands before walking downstairs once more. When I got downstairs there was an even bigger surprise waiting for me…my immediate family had arrived. My father was the first to notice and he dropped the cup the he was holding on to the carpet. Seeing my father's reaction, my mother turned towards where he was looking then brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle her gasp. This caused my sister, and the man I'm assuming is Abenner, to turn towards the staircase. My sister's reaction was the most worst of them all. Her eyes turned dark and the smile that was gracing her face turned into a frown.

"What are you doing here?" she asked coldly, making my insides freeze at her words.