Chapter 17 – Going Public

The following morning Viktor was working in the garden with Zena in a cradle under a tree when he heard the floo alarm sound from inside the house. Picking up his daughter, Viktor made his way inside to see who was calling. When he arrived, Viktor was surprised to see James waiting in the floo. He had indicated the night before that it would be several days before the filings took effect. As Viktor appeared in the room, James began speaking from the floo.

"Hello Viktor. I have news that can't wait. The filings are moving along faster than expected. The protectorates will go into effect at midnight. I called in a couple favors and managed a twenty-four hour delay on the public data release. That's the best I can do, and it's unofficial. So that means that the day after tomorrow the filings will be public record. Depending on how quickly reporters move, you may see it hit the news in three days. With you and Ginny being international Quidditch starts, I don't think you're going to be able to avoid the media."

Viktor frowned. "Alright James. Thanks for the warning and buying us another day. We talked about it after you left last night and we think we're going to publish our own statement in the Quibbler before anyone else gets hold of it. I guess I should call Ginny and Charlie and head over there now to get that started. Luna publishes in two days, so the timing will work if we get it started before she starts pressing."

"Hmm, okay, I understand Viktor. I would like to review the article before it prints. Would that be alright?"

"Sure."

"Alright, let me see what I've got available. I have an opening at two. That's all for today. Is that too soon?"

"No, let me get busy and we'll see you at the Quibbler then."

James nodded and disappeared from the floo. Viktor then made a call to Luna to warn her what was happening. Next, he called Ginny at the shop and she agreed to head to the Quibbler shortly. Finally, Viktor packed up Zena and floo'd to the reserve to collect Charlie. Charlie was in class, so Viktor arrived in the central office and spoke to one of the director's assistants. She wasn't too pleased, but Charlie had advised his employer on his and Viktor's relationship, so the director sent a student to retrieve Charlie and end his morning session early. A few minutes later, Charlie appeared. He hugged and kissed Viktor before nuzzling and cooing over Zena. Viktor quickly filled Charlie in on the reason for his unannounced visit. Charlie turned to the slightly bemused office staff and advised that he should be back in time for his last session at three. Then he, Viktor and Zena floo'd to the Quibbler.

Luna and Ginny were waiting when they arrived and Luna led them to her new, large office. She already had chilled butterbeers waiting as they all sat down to discuss the approach they wanted to take. First, Viktor filled everyone in on exactly what James had told him. Then Charlie spoke.

"Alright, so it seems that we have no choice. Our personal life is about to be made public. So, let's do it on our terms. What do we want say?"

The next hour was spent with all four partners designing a statement and story. Then they went outside to take a picture, which Luna had convinced them would be necessary. Luna hovered her camera before maneuvering herself into the shot . They took a dozen pictures and then decided on a favorite. The chosen picture showed Viktor and Charlie embracing in the center with Viktor holding Zena. The baby was turned so only the back of her head was visible. Then Ginny stood to one side of the men and Luna stood to the other side. They had their arms extended around Charlie and Viktor, while they leaned in front of them and kissed each other. Once the picture was decided, there was one last decision to be made.

"So, I need a title for this article. Something short, that will catch the eye of readers."

Everyone was silent for a minute as they contemplated, then Charlie spoke up.

"Family Redesigned"

Each of his partners turned to look at Charlie and smiled.

"Perfect Charlie. Simple and to the point."

With that decided, Ginny declared that she was hungry. They still had well over an hour until James arrived, so Ginny apparated away to pick up sandwiches. Twenty minutes later they were all lazing under a tree near the office while they ate lunch and waited. When James arrived, he found the four of them stretched out in a pile on the picnic blanket snoozing. The solicitor smiled and stepped up to wake the family. Viktor was the first to sit up and yawn, with the others quickly following.

"Mmhmm, hi James. Give us a minute. The day was too beautiful to pass up a picnic and a snuggle."

James chuckled before making his way back to the office, followed a couple minutes later by his clients. Once they were all settled back into the office, James reviewed the article quickly and offered a couple small changes. With his approval complete, Charlie floo'd back to the reserve and everyone else departed shortly thereafter.

That evening, the Krum-Weasley family talked during dinner about the next steps prior to the Quibbler's publishing on Saturday. It was already Thursday and none of their family were aware of the legal proceedings or Ginny's news. Despite the short notice, they decided on calling a family dinner at their house the next evening and making it a potluck. With that decided, as soon as dinner finished they took turns placing floo calls to all of the family. Everyone accepted except Bill and Fleur, who were due to leave for France the next day with their kids.

The protectorates went into effect at 12am Friday and would be a matter of public record by 12am Saturday. Which meant that the Prophet and other publications would print stories by Sunday at the soonest, but the Quibbler would be issued on Saturday before those. Friday night arrived and Ginny, Luna and Charlie arrived home early to help Viktor with the last preparations. He had made a large roast for their contribution to the meal and the house was almost ready as well. In the previous months since they had moved in, the house had been gradually furnished and was starting to feel truly like a home. The dining room had a large oak table that could seat up to sixteen and the sitting room and library were fully furnished with enough seats for the entire family. Shortly before six, everyone started arriving and soon the house was filled with the delightful, noisy chaos that accompanied Weasley family meals. Everyone brought at least one dish, with Molly bringing four and soon the magical table was literally groaning from its burden. When Viktor brought out the large roast and set it in the middle, the table let out a final 'ooof' before finally going silent.

Everyone began to load their plates and the room quieted as everyone started eating. Molly was eating, but kept looking down the table at Ginny and Ginny knew that her mother was suspicious, which is why Ginny had made a point of sitting at the other end of the table. As the first servings disappeared and a few people started to reach for seconds, Ginny decided it was time. She stood up, tapped her fork on a glass and called the table to order as everyone turned to look at her.

"Okay everyone. Now that we're all at least partially satisfied, we need to talk to you. That is myself, Luna, Viktor and Charlie. Our family. We've had a busy couple of weeks and we have news that you need to hear from us before hearing it elsewhere."

Ginny's announcement caused her parents to look worried and a couple of others set their forks down to stare at her. Ginny took a breath and prepared the most monumental piece of her news first. She looked to her right at Luna and to her left at Charlie and Viktor, and was strengthened by their smiles as she began.

"First, I am happy to announce that we are expecting again. This time I will be the one adding on to our family…"

Ginny was about to continue when the table erupted with cheers. Down the table, Molly dabbed her eyes and smiled. After a couple of minutes, everyone realized that Ginny was waiting to say more and quieted so she could continue.

"Also, when we went to have the pregnancy confirmed, I received the somewhat unexpected news that I am expecting twins."

This brought several gasps and a new wave of cheers. Molly finally had had enough and got up to walk down the table and embrace her daughter. They stood holding each other for a minute before Molly pulled back and spoke.

"Well dear, it truly isn't a surprise. Every generation of women in my family has had twins for as far back as we have records, which is at least four hundred years."

Charlie laughed at this and Viktor's eyes bulged. Ginny turned to look at him and smiled.

"Sorry Viktor, I guess I should have warned you. The women in my family are unusually fertile."

Viktor took a long swallow of wine and his look of shock changed as he shrugged his shoulders and smiled at his partners. With her news delivered, Ginny sat down. Taking his cue, Charlie stood next to deliver the news about their legal proceedings.

"Alright everyone, so that is the first bit of our news and I have to assure you that all four of us are overjoyed to be adding to the family again. As our family has grown, we've encountered a few issues with acceptance and decided to research what options we had legally available to unite the four of us under the law the same way we have already united in our hearts. We started this even before we knew Ginny was expecting. We have hired an excellent solicitor and he has found a way to assist us. When we first told you about our partnerships, I told George that I didn't know of any way we could legalize our family. I am now pleased to say that I was incorrect. James, our solicitor, implemented two sets of legal proceedings to formalize our union. The first is the simplest. As of a month ago, we have all filed and had our surnames legally changed to Krum-Weasley, the same as our daughter."

Charlie took a moment and let that announcement settle in. There were a few startled exclamations, but on the whole the news seemed to be accepted. Arthur seemed unfazed and Charlie was happy that his father didn't mind. There were plenty of Weasley brothers to carry on the pure Weasley name. Realizing everyone was waiting for the rest of what he had to say, Charlie continued.

"The next legal filings we have implemented are much more complex. James located a very old wizarding law called the Consort's Protectorate. No filings have been made under it for 164 years, so our filings came under a good bit of scrutiny at the Ministry. The Consort's Protectorate allowed old pure-blood families to bring concubines or consorts legally into their family, allowing for pure-blood lines to be extended and for the consorts to receive the legal protections that were unique to the old purebloods. While this law was intended for something much different, we decided to proceed and use it for a modern purpose to unite our family legally. Each one of us has filed a protectorate with the other three listed as consorts within those protectorates. These were very complex filings that were subjected to an extensive review at the Ministry. We also tried to keep the records sealed from public viewing. Unfortunately, there were several individuals at the Ministry on the review board who were not pleased with us and wanted to abolish the old law, but since they couldn't they decided to deny our privacy request. So, our protectorates were approved and went into effect this morning, but they will be a matter of public record as of tomorrow morning. James managed to arrange a twenty four hour delay to give us a bit more time to deal with the public attention that is likely to be coming our way."

Charlie stopped and looked over at Luna. The next part of the announcement was hers.

"So, we know that by tomorrow morning our personal legal filings will be unsealed and available to anyone. We anticipate that the Prophet may have the story by Sunday. We have decided to print our own story before they can falsify one without our assistance. Tomorrow morning's printing of the Quibbler will feature a full article detailing what we've just told you. Each of you receives a copy of the Quibbler, which is why we called this dinner on short notice. We wanted to tell you before you read it. Since Bill can't be here, Ginny has sent an owl to meet him in France with a letter detailing our news."

Luna sat abruptly as the entire family took a moment to absorb the information. Arthur was the first to speak.

"Well, that certainly gives us a lot to think on. We're all thrilled of course that Ginny is expecting. It wasn't easy at first to accept your relationship, but I know that you are all committed to each other. I am also happy that you've found a way to formalize this, even if the old law you're using is a bit strange. I hope that the reaction to your story will be positive, but your family supports you despite the outcome."

"Thanks dad, that means a lot. We're happy and we want the family to be as well."

Another moment of silence was broken when George spoke up.

"Excellent, so we are all good now? Back to the food!"

The entire table laughed and dinner resumed with the help of a few warming spells over items that had cooled. The rest of evening was spent with a round of loud discussions and more than a bit of joking and teasing among the Weasley siblings and their family. The last guests didn't leave until almost eleven.

The next morning dawned and Luna was off early to check on the Quibbler distribution. She brought a couple home and everyone was pleased with the printing. Now they just had to wait for the reaction and potential response from the Prophet. They passed the rest of weekend quietly at home, content in their family.