Authors Note: I own none of the people in this. I hope you like this one too, again thank you for all the reviews, they were very encouraging and helped me write this part faster. Hopefully the next chapter will come as easily as this one did.
Ginny Potter stared up at the clock above the fireplace, the one that had been a wedding present from her mother, and sighed. The sigh was loud enough that her squabbling offspring stopped in their arguments but only loud enough to make that pause a moment before they returned to their highpitched yelling with three identical shrugs. The clock told her that neither her husband nor his Godson were on their way home as their two hands were still pointing to 'Elsewhere'. She sighed again as she returned to her cooking and her niece looked up at her.
"They'll be back soon Aunt Ginny. Teddy said he wouldn't stop at the Dursley's so they won't be much longer. And Teddy has gotten there because he's pointing to Elsewhere and not travelling." The silver haired girl spoke quietly, her eyes and most of her attention on the bread she was kneading.
"I know Victoire, but tonight was the one night I needed him home on time. What with the O.W.L's, Teddy's results, Lily's letter and the whole family descending on me for tea, I needed him home." Victoire looked at her red-haired flustered Aunt and turned to the roiling pile on the floor that was all that could be seen of three of her cousins.
"James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna!" she snapped, not angrily. "Stop that now, get upstairs or no tea for you." The whinging started straight away.
"But Victoire, he said I'll never be as good as him…"
"But Victoire, she stamped on my foot…"
"But Victoire, he said that they'll flush teddy at school…"
"Quiet! Upstairs all of you, wash up, put on your nice robes and come back down and be civilised. Your mother and I are cooking your father's birthday meal, and we can't do that with all this hullabaloo, now, scat!" she clapped her hands and laughed as the three heads nodded as one and dashed up the curved staircase.
"You have a way with them." Ginny observed quietly as she added some salt to the boiling potatoes.
"I think it helps that Lily's in awe of me and that the boys are a little in love with me." Victoire smiled, silently noticing the hands on the clock moving to travelling.
"You get that from your mother." Ginny laughed. "I remember when your mother first came to Hogwarts. All the boys seemed to adore her. It was as if the rest of us didn't exist. Your uncle Ron was particularly under her spell, it drove Hermione crazy, so she counteracted with Victor Krum. That brought Ron to his senses. It still took him another three years to do anything about it though." Ginny paused as she added the carrots to the boiling water. "The Weasley men are very easy prey to Veela wiles… just be wary of James." Victoire laughed and, noticing the door handle moving slightly.
"I found that Lupin men are just as easy to bring under my spell." Ginny raised an eyebrow and Victoire smiled slightly as the door opened and Teddy walked in.
"Really? I only love you because you cast a spell on me? Well dang, that hurts."
"Teddy, no one says dang any more." Ginny informed him.
"Sorry aunt Ginny, and I'm sorry it took me so long, I got a little lost and then uncle Harry wanted to discuss results."
"That's ok Teddy. Now be a dear and lay the tables for me. Children on one, adults on the other. There'll be nine children and eleven adults." Victoire frowned and did the maths.
"Dominique won't like that." Teddy's shout of laughter came from the cavernous dining room.
"She's still at school, she's not an adult yet." Ginny explained with a smile as her husband wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "Happy birthday. How was your day?" Harry breathed in the scent of his wife's hair before replying.
"Interesting. Dudley was… different. I said we'd take them shopping with us when we go to get everyone's new books. The daughter seemed nice enough, his wife was a bit cautious."
"Hmmm, well she probably hasn't got her head around all of this yet." She turned in his arms and kissed him again. "I'm glad I get a moment to myself before the terrors re-emerge."
"Hugo's here!" A yell came from the top of the staircase as there was a knock at the door. Hermione popped her head round slowly.
"Hello all, can we come in yet?" and then there was the sound of a stampede upstairs as James, Albus and Lily raced down to see their cousins.
"What did I say about running in the house?" Harry and Teddy yelled at the same time from different rooms. Hermione was pushed inside as her two children dashed in to find Harry's. The fast garbled chatter of excited children caused Victoire to begin herding them into the playroom away from the adults.
"Hey! What do you say?" Ron said indignantly as he followed Hermione into the house.
"Hello Aunty Ginny, hello Uncle Harry, hello Teddy, hello Victoire. Happy birthday Uncle Harry." Rose and Hugo gabbled quickly.
"Good, go on, shoo." Hermione sighed as she sank into a chair nibbling on a carrot stick. James, Albus and Lily took their cue from their cousins and added their Happy Birthday Dad's before going where Victoire pointed. "Happy Birthday Harry, how were the Dursley's?" Hermione asked curiously.
"They were fine, Dudley still goes pink if you use magic around him. Vernon died a few years ago and Lara wants me to go visit Aunt Petunia."
"You didn't tell me that." Ginny said, pouring herself and Hermione a glass of wine.
"I didn't have a chance." Harry said with a glance at Hermione.
"Yeah, sorry mate. We were outside for a while, but then Lily spotted us so we thought we should come in." Ron said. "Mum and Dad are outside somewhere, they shouldn't be too long. Who else is coming?"
"Bill, George and Angelina and all their various offspring." Harry said rolling his eyes. "Anyone heard how Bill's doing at the moment?"
"Victoire's worrying about him. It's 20 years since they met so I don't think he's doing too well, not that he'll admit it." Teddy said as he came back in. "Tables are laid, and the drinks are ready. I'm going to go get some firewood." Ginny nodded at him with a smile.
"He's so grown up." Hermione said approvingly.
"He should be, he just got accepted as an Auror." Ron commented.
"Ha. That's because his Godfather and best friend are on the hiring committee." Hermione retorted.
"We'd never hire anyone on the basis of their relationship with us." Ron replied, a shocked look on his face.
"Of course not." Ginny replied, absentmindedly. "But I don't think that's why he's suddenly so grown up." She added mysteriously.
"What? What do you know?" Hermione said leaning in for a gossip.
"It's a hunch, and I can't say." Ginny answered. The kitchen door opened again and a large group entered.
"Look who we found outside." Arthur Weasley said, his arm around his eldest sons shoulders. The kitchen became very crowded as the rest of the guests all appeared at the same time. Hermione stood up to make space for Molly.
"Thank you dear. You do look well. And you Harry dear. Ginny must be feeding you enough. Now, grandchildren, much as we all love you, I suspect your cousins are all in the playroom so why don't you go find them? But first…"
"Happy Birthday uncle Harry!" Four voices piped before three pairs of feet dashed off. Dominique stood awkwardly in the corner, the firelight glinting off her silver hair as she watched her father like a hawk. Fred paused in the doorway, looking from Dominique to Bill and back again.
"Aren't you coming Dominique?" he asked. She looked at him and shook her head. Hermione walked over and put her arm around Dominique's shoulders, as Ginny joined them.
"Go on, Victoire's in there, we'll look after Bill." They gently led Dominique to the door and Fred took her hand tenderly and led her towards the playroom. "Oh dear." Hermione looked at Ginny, who was watching her eldest brother.
"I'm going to go hide the whisky. He won't touch much else." Hermione nodded, and looked at where Ron and Harry were chatting with Bill and George, the three of them making an effort to alleviate Bill's pain at the loss of his wife. She noticed Molly watching them all a look of worry on her face as she took in the new lines on Bill's already scarred face.
"Mrs Weasley, can you help me take the food into the dining room, I think it's almost done."
"Thank you Hermione." Arthur mouthed at her before going to greet Teddy who was re-emerging with firewood, covered in snow. "Says something about the condition of the world, all this snow in July." He said to Teddy as he pushed the door shut.
"Yes sir, that it does."
"Teddy, call me Arthur, Grandad, Mr Weasley, anything but sir."
"Yes sir, Arthur, Mr Weasley, sir." Teddy stuttered as he followed Molly and Hermione into the dining room. Victoire reappeared in the doorway. She spotted her father and went to hug him.
"Hi Dad, how are you? Louis seems really excited about Hogwarts. How is Gringotts doing?"
"I'm fine, Gringotts is fine, and Louis is overly excited." Bill kissed his eldest daughter on the cheek. "You look well. And more like your mother everyday." He looked at Harry. "Is there any whisky in your cupboards." Victoire stepped back, from him her smile freezing slightly at the thought that the sight of her made him want to drink, it didn't get any easier to understand, no matter how many times she faced it. The rest of her family went into the dining room to eat whilst she stood there, leaning on the worktop for a moment. After what felt to her like seconds but was in fact minutes Teddy came to find her.
"He's sitting between Ron and Uncle Arthur, he'll be fine, come and eat something?" she nodded her acquiescence and let him lead her to the table to sit next to him. From the other table Dominique was watching Bill carefully whilst masking it by eating.
As the meal came to an end and coffee and mints were served Ginny decided it was time for the toasts. She stood up at the table facing Harry at the other end.
"Thank you all for coming, once again to Harry's birthday, if you'd join me in singing…" they all laughed as she began to sing Happy Birthday in a wavering voice and then joined in on the second line, as had long since become tradition. As the song came to a close Harry stood, as again had become tradition, to bring forward the other celebrations of the night. "This year we're also celebrating two lots of exam results as James got mainly Excellents in his O. and one Outstanding, and as Teddy, our dear old Teddy, passes his exams to become an Auror." Ginny interrupted at this point to add:
" I'm assured that there is no nepotism there."
"Of course not." Ron responded with a sly wink at Teddy.
"As well as that we have four children going to Hogwarts in September, this year Lily, Hugo, Louis and Roxanne all get to join their brothers, sisters and cousins in Hogwarts hallowed halls. Remember to be nice to Professor Longbottom and he'll pass all of you!" it was a longstanding joke and as the laughs died down Hermione and Ginny both stood up.
"You forgot one person Harry." They said at the same time before looking at one another and laughing.
"Oh? Who?"
"Natalie." Teddy replied for him. "She is a member of the family even if no one's met her. And she is going to Hogwarts. It's a hard enough transition for her without our lot shunning her." Molly looked around confused.
"Well, who's Natalie?"
"She's my second cousin." Harry replied, "Dudley Dursley's daughter. She received an owl today and will be joining the others at Hogwarts too." Molly nodded.
"We'll have to have them all round to dinner Arthur, that's the best way." Hermione Ginny and Angelina shared a knowing look at that and smiled at Molly.
"Of course Molly."
"Yes, Mum if that's what you think we should do."
"And finally…" Harry said, raising the champagne glass he had just served to himself, "to absent friends and loved ones."
"To absent friends." They all chimed in, tears running down various guests faces. In the silence that followed Harry's sitting back down, Teddy stood up and coughed.
"Actually, that's not the last today. I wanted to thank all of you for taking me into your homes and letting me be a part of this huge loving family. I'm sorry that Percy and Charlie couldn't be here tonight, I did ask but they couldn't make it. So they'll have to hear this from Molly. I've asked Victoire to marry me, and she did me the great honour of accepting. I hope you will all be willing to help with the wedding, because we're going to need some help."
In amongst the tears and screams and well wishing that that announcement created, Lily, Hugo Roxanne and Louis were barely noticed as they slipped out of the room to sit on the stairs together.
"What do you think this Natalie's going to be like?"
"I've never heard anything good about her family. Dad always says the Dursleys were terrible to Uncle Harry growing up."
"Dad doesn't talk about them, but I heard mum and Teddy talking tonight, Dad went to visit them."
"I hope she's nice. And that she ends up in Gryffindor like the rest of us."