*PLOT HOLE EDIT 10/27/15: So as I was posting this story to , I happened upon a fairly significant plot hole in this chapter. Apparently Remus and Oz had already had their big werewolf revelation in a previous chapter, so now this one is fixed so that they're simply playing along with Willow rather than having the information revealed for the first time. Oops.*
*PLOT HOLE RE-EDIT 7/8/16: It's been brought to my attention that my original edit didn't really fix the problem, so I've done some more in-depth reworking of this chapter. Hopefully the problem is fixed now. ;)*
Iiiiittttsss...A CHAPTER! lol (I don't really have anything to say here this time...)
Chapter 7: Hole
"Secrets
Eating at the core of me
Shut off
Trusting all the lies I breathe
I'm so far from where I need to be
I've given up on faith, on everything
All I wanted, all I needed
Was some peace"
-"Hole" by Kelly Clarkson
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October 27, 2001: "Where is he Oz?" asked Willow, shifting a squirming Lily on her hip. "Is he here yet?"
Oz smiled softly at his fiancée and squeezed her arm gently. "He'll be here, Willow," he said calmly. "You just have to be patient."
"Not my finest quality at the moment," grumbled the frazzled redhead. "I am so ready for a break from teaching. Maybe I wasn't cut out for it after all."
"That's what all new teachers say at first," said Remus, silently appearing in front of the couple. "You'll either grow used to it or…"
"Or what?" asked Willow, eyes wide and pleading as she stared into her co-worker's odd amber eyes.
Remus cocked an eyebrow and smiled mischievously. "Or you'll crash and burn," he said.
Willow groaned and buried her face in Lily's bright red hair. "I knew it," she bemoaned. "I'm doomed."
Oz raised a questioning eyebrow at Remus. "You know each other?" he asked. "Wait, is he the professor you're working with up at Hogwarts?"
"Well, yes," said Remus, brow furrowed in confusion. "Willow is my assistant professor. How do you—Willow is your fiancée? Merlin, what are the odds."
Willow raised her face from the giggling Lily's hair. "Wait," she said, "you know Oz?"
"I should," said Remus. "I'm his birth father."
Willow stood gaping like a fish, her green eyes jumping back and forth between the two men like ping-pong balls. "No fudging way," she said. "Why did you never mention this, Oz?"
The orange haired man shrugged. "I guess neither one of us connected your Professor Lupin with my dad Remus. It's kind of surprising though, considering Remus isn't exactly a common name."
"How did I miss this?" lamented Willow. "I can totally see the resemblance now. And hey, guess the stoicism thing is genetic, huh?"
Remus smirked. "Only when we want it to be."
Willow snorted. "Obviously." Something occurred to her just then, causing her to pause and scrutinize each man more closely. "So, I know how Oz got bitten, but does your condition leave your children with any pheromones that attract others to them and leave them with a higher likelihood of turning, or was it just plain dumb luck?"
XXXX
Fred and George were more determined than ever to solve the mystery of Miss Willow Rosenberg. Despite common belief, the twins were actually quite intelligent. They knew that where lived the books, lived the knowledge. However, to keep others continually underestimating them and to preserve their reputation as troublemakers, they rarely ventured into the vaunted halls ruled over by the formidable Madam Pince. Luckily they had perfected their sneaking and, thanks to the Marauders, they knew every secret passage and hidden corridor practically by heart. This allowed them to venture in and out of the library without Madam Pince or any other students being any the wiser. Thus their reputation remained unsullied.
The twins barricaded themselves in their dorm (their original roommates had long ago requested separate accommodations, so it was only the twins and Lee sharing the room now) and spread their latest acquisitions across the wooden floor. Yearbooks and newspaper clippings made up the majority of their treasure, spanning from the present day back to the 1980s. "Did you get her personnel file?" asked Fred, taking stock of their bounty.
"Course," said George, pulling the file from the back of his trousers. He opened the old-fashioned manila folder and began leafing through it. "This puts her birthdate in 1980," he told his twin. "She was adopted sometime after her first birthday from an orphanage in London—muggle, it looks like." Fred began to weed through their pile for books that would be relevant with their newly acquired information. George frowned. "This is odd."
"What?" asked Fred, scooting over to look over his brother's shoulder.
"Well, she was found with a bunch of other kidnapped children when she was only a year old. It was some pretty big case from 1980-1982 where a whole bunch of magical and muggle kids were taken from their homes by the same person. They never caught the guy, but they did catch a few of his accomplices."
"So there's a possibility."
"Exactly. Let's focus on finding out more about the case and which families reported missing kids."
"On it," said Fred, practically diving across the floor back into his pile of books. "You wanna pull Bill in again?"
"Only if we can't find enough on our own," said George. "He's got some contacts that could be useful."
XXXX
"Are you talking about the werewolf thing?" asked Oz nonchalantly.
"Because we got that out of the way the day we met," added Remus, smirking.
"You two sound so much alike," Willow said, giggling inexplicably.
"Mama otay?" asked Lily sweetly, running her little hand through her Mother's hair just like Willow often did to her.
"Mama's okay, Lily-Cub," promised Willow. "Your Dada and Grampa are just being silly gooses." She glanced at the two men who were sharing conspiring grins with each other. "Men," she sighed. Lily giggled. "Okay boys," she said loudly. "Since you already know all about each other, you can have long conversations about the pitfalls and misadventures of your cursed days—nights, technically, I suppose. We came here for a reason today, gentlemen. We've only got a few hours to see about six different houses and decide which one Oz and I are going to buy. You said you wanted to help your son, Remus, so both of you get your heads screwed back on straight and help Lily and me find a house for our family." The men stared sheepishly at the ground. "Before I grow old here, people," snapped Willow, her eyes narrowing in impatience and her red hair billowing in a non-existent breeze. That snapped Remus and Oz out of their funk. The men scurried to do as Willow bid, Oz taking Lily and Remus guiding them down the Hogsmeade streets to their first destination.
XXXX
"George! I think I've found something!"
Fred's cry broke the silence of the room that had been punctuated only by the rustling of pages for far too long. "What is it?" asked George, setting his folder down and walking on his knees over to his twin.
"It's a list of children reported missing from 1979-1982. They're mostly wizarding kids too, though there is a muggle or two mentioned. Could be muggleborns, I suppose. That's not what's interesting though; look."
George looked at the name under Fred's finger then shared a look with his twin. "I think it's time we had a nice long talk with Mum and Dad," he said solemnly. The name, written in black ink glittered on the page as though it had been written only minutes ago: Danielle Willow Weasley.
Dun dun dun!
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