Chapter 22: Laughter

The days until the party passed rather quickly, and before you could "bumbling banging band of baboons" the thirty-first had arrived. I ran around all day making sure that the manor was sparkling (not like there was much to do with house-elves running all over the place), and I must have changed clothes six times before the fireplace turned green and spit out Lee and the Weasley twins.

"Punctual,"

"As always." Fred said, finishing where his brother left off.

"Gred, Forge, Lee." I replied in greeting.

"Misters Weasley and Jordan, welcome. I'll leave you to your… frivolities, shall I?" Snape said, sweeping out of the room in a swirl of black. "Potter, if you need anything, you know where to find me."

"Wow Harry, who knew the great greasy git lived in such a wicked house?" Lee said after they'd set up the festivities and I'd shown them around the house.

"Yeah, Gred and I always thought he'd live underground--"

"Or in a cave--"

"Or a shack--"

"Or an abandoned church."

"And that he slept upside-down--"

"Hanging from the rafters or something."

I rolled my eyes at the twins' antics. "He's not a vampire you know."

"Are you sure about that?" Lee asked, flopping down on my bed.

"Yes, I'm sure. He just doesn't get enough sun, is all."

"If you say so Harry."

"So," I said, sitting down between Lee and Fred, "what does Ginny's face look like?"

Fred and George shared a look before turning back to me. "Have you ever seen a picture of our Great Aunt Tessie?"

"Not that I know of. I've heard about her though. Ron said she smells like moth balls and old, damp socks. Or something like that."

"Yeah…" Another shared look. "Take Ginny--"

"And take Voldemort--"

"The snake-faced Voldemort, not the 'Tom Riddle' Voldemort--"

"And breed them." George finished, watching the myriad of emotions I knew was flying across my face.

"You're serious?" I asked, looking from one twin to the other.

"You forgot to tell him to age it by about 80 years." Lee added.

"Gross…"

"Yeah, Ginny's got a wart on the end of her nose and everything."

"And she even smells like Aunt Tessie!"

"Wonder how your bonnie lass got a picture of the old bird…"

"Hmm…" The twins wondered together.

I laughed at their puzzled faces. "Rein's resourceful, so I wouldn't put it past her."

"Yeah?" Lee wondered.

"Yeah."

There was a comfortable moment of silent contemplation. Then "I can't believe you chose to live with Snape."

"Yeah well, it makes it easier to keep up a long-distance relationship when you live with your girlfriend's father."

"You're dating Snape's daughter?" Lee exclaimed, horrified.

"I didn't even know he had a daughter!"

"I wonder what his wife looks like, that she'd marry someone like him?"

"Mina's quite pretty, actually." I stated, smiling at the astonished looks on their faces. "Rein too."

"Wow…"

"Yeah, wow." Fred echoed.

"So… this 'Rein' girl…" Fred inquired, changing the subject.

"What about her?"

"How far have you gotten with her? Is she a good kisser?"

I chucked a pillow at Fred's head. "I'm not telling you that!"

"Aww, come on Harry! You're like a brother to us!"

"So?"

"Tell us!"

"No!" I said dodging a pillow aimed for my head. "You can't make me!"

"We'll see about that!"