Chapter 19:
The end of school year was rapidly approaching. Over the following weeks, Nora studied more than she had in her entire life. Every free period, every night and during every lunch, the OWL and NEWT students could be found immersed in large volumes on every subject. McGonagall had even given the prefects authorization to reorganise the common room to allow more space for studying and the curfew had been pushed as long as a prefect kept an eye on everyone. Most of their examinations went rather well for those who had studied. Nora and Aveline had been over prepared for every subject while the others tended to have a more frivolous attitude when it came to studying. As second week of June started, they had gone through most of their evaluations only having ancient runes, arithmancy and potions left. On the morning of the sixth, they were all wondering what Snape would have them do the following day.
"Only potions and we are officially done with our bloody owls!" George grinned.
"Speak for yourself.' Nora grunted. "I'm going to fail Arithancy for sure."
"Don't be so pessimistic Freckles. You'll do fine." Fred said squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.
"Right. I'm rubbish with numbers and no one takes that class." She sighed.
"I can't help you there, I'm worst than you are. Didn't you use to study it with...Oh I get it." Aveline said.
"I just don't want to bother him." Nora said feeling a slight bit guilty.
Fred and George looked from Nora to Aveline and shrugged their shoulders knowing that unless they asked, they would not understand.
"Who are we talking about?" George asked as Aveline nudged him. "Oi! What was that for?" He laughed.
"It's fine. It's just I used to study Arithmancy with Cedric but since I've been going out with Fred he's been more distant, which was to be expected and I don't want to bother him with arithmancy."
Fred seemed to feel rather uneasy for the next few seconds.
"Well at least he's taking it better than Angelina did with the whole juice throwing at your back." George said trying to diffuse the tension.
"True." Nora laughed.
"You should ask him." Fred suddenly said.
"What?" Nora asked raising her eyebrow. Fred and Cedric had never been particularly friendly towards each other especially since the Quidditch match that previous fall. Aveline and George simply stared at Fred with wide eyes.
"If you need help with school stuff, you should ask him." He repeated.
They all stared at Fred for a moment.
"What?" He asked.
"That's pretty mature Freddy, we're just surprised." George teased with a grin.
"Thank you very much." He rolled his eyes. "But really it doesn't bother me." He added shrugging his shoulders.
"So you won't get snappy with me and send Cedric death glares for a week?" Nora asked with a slight grin referring to previous experiences.
"I will not behave like a territorial toddler I promise." Fred laughed. "Go find your study buddy." He nudged her as she got up.
"You're never cease to impress me Freddykins." She teased as she pecked him on the lips and left.
"So how long before you freak out and get really jealous?" George grinned.
"Oh shove off!" Fred said.
"Ooh, is it Freddy's time of the month?" Nataleigh asked as she sat down next to them.
"Nora just went to find Cedric because she needs help with arithmancy." George grinned.
"I see." She smirked. "Are we still waiting for the freak-out or has Fred already gone nuts?"
"Come off it! It's fine." Fred rolled his eyes.
"He's right, they've been friends for ages and they dated for almost five years. You can't just expect them to stop talking to each other." Aveline said reasonably.
"And he's handsome and smart and kind of dreamy, and they're going to be studying alone. For hours. And he's madly in love with her." Nataleigh grinned.
"I kind of hate you." Fred said glaring at her.
"What are future in-laws for Freddy?" Nataleigh teased.
After walking around for a moment, Nora found Cedric in front of the Hufflepuff common room.
"Hey Nora." He smiled but she could tell he was exhausted.
"Hey Ced, I kind of have a favour to ask."
"What do you need?"
"I'm bloody rubbish at arithmancy and I'm really freaking out about the exam and I tried to have Ava help me but she's worst than I am and I really don't know who else to ask but I totally get it if you'd rather not..." Nora rambled.
"You're rambling." He laughed. "And of course I'll help, I could actually use a hand with potions, I haven't been getting all of it."
"Deal!" She grinned as they headed off to the library.
After two hours of studying potions, they had covered most of Snape's course.
"I think we deserve a break." Nora chuckled. "How've you been? I missed you lately, it's not the same studying arithmancy and potions without you."
"I've been alright." He said shrugging his shoulder. "It's just harder than I thought it would be." He added with a sad smile.
"I'm sorry." She said feeling a bit guilty. As happy as she was she did not want to see Cedric hurting either. He deserved a lot more.
"Don't be. You're happy. I'll be too...Eventually." He added with a chuckle.
"Alright then, friends?" She asked with a smile.
"Of course." Cedric grinned as they went back to studying.
The next week went by at an insanely rapid pace and before they knew it, they were done with their fifth year while Ron had managed to break a leg going on one of his adventures with Harry and Hermione which they promised to tell everyone about during the summer. After getting all of their belongings together they headed towards the Hogwarts Express to make their way back home for the holidays.
"I can't believe OWL year is actually over." Nora said as they entered an empty compartment.
"I know. I might actually get to spend more than five minutes with you." Fred grinned. "Since you won't be studying all time."
"I didn't study that much." She said defensively.
"You studied more than I did in seven years." Erik teased.
"That's another issue." Nataleigh said from the doorway. "We'll actually meet up with you guys later." She said as she and Wood left the compartment.
"It's kind of sad Oliver isn't coming back next year." Aveline sighed.
"What about me? Am I invisible." Erik laughed.
"Not invisible. Just annoying." Nora teased.
"I'll miss you misfits as well." He grinned.
"So who's doing what over the summer?" George asked.
"I'm going to France for a week to see my aunt and uncle." Nora said which made Fred groan and pull her closer to him. Nora laughed before continuing."And then I'll be back for the summer and Ava's staying at my place. And there's the Quidditch World Cup."
"Yes there is." Fred and George said with matching grins.
"What about you Erik?" Aveline asked. "I'm just staying with Nora." She added.
"I'm opening my bar and we'll see how that goes. You lot better come." He said with a proud smile.
"We will don't worry about it." Nora added as Meggan rushed into the compartment trying to catch her breath. "What is going on with you?" Nora asked as everyone laughed.
"I might have sent a bat bogey hex Malfoy's way." She said while catching her breath as she sat down next to Erik.
"Now that's my girl." He said ruffling her dark hair.
"Really Megg, I don't think I've ever been more proud of you." George grinned.
"You're growing up so fast." Fred added pretending to wipe away tears.
"Very funny. He just got on my nerves and I got mad. At least I don't blow things up like Nora does when she loses her temper." She grinned.
"Hey!" Nora laughed.
"It is true, whenever you're on edge you tend to blow things up, like for the past weeks when you blew up a pillow I threw at you, and a book, and a mug and.." Fred teased.
"Alright, I think we get it." Nora rolled her eyes.
"Where's Nat?" Megg asked looking around the compartment.
"She's with Oliver." George stated. "Doing things that probably aren't appropriate to discuss with a child your age." He added with a sly grin.
"Oh." Megg said a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Aren't you adorable when you're flushed?" Fred laughed.
"Says the guy who spend the past five years blushing whenever Nora came in the room." She said glaring at him.
"Touché Mini-Freckles." George laughed. "Careful Freddy, you wouldn't want her to hex you as she did Malfoy."
"I'll see you lot later." Megg said rolling her eyes. "I'll go find Hermione, Ron and Harry or something."
"Ickle Freckles is going to find Ronnikins?" Fred grinned.
"Oh shut it." She said as she left the compartment.
"She's getting quite feisty." George laughed.
"She has quite the temper." Nora smiled.
"As do you, and Nat, and Niko, and even Addie." Erik teased. "The only normal one is Neil, and possibly Ella but she's still tiny."
"Possibly true." Nora laughed.
As the train finally arrived at the station, everyone gathered their trunks before saying their goodbyes.
"I'll see you in two weeks." Nora said as she hugged Aveline.
"I'm counting on it." Aveline smiled sadly.
"Come on girls, it's two weeks." George said as he and Fred waited for them in the doorway.
"Alright." They laughed. Fred put his arm around Nora's waist as they walked out the compartment and onto the platform.
"I'm gonna miss you." He whispered as they pilled all of their luggage on a trolley.
"I live fifteen minutes away, twenty tops Fred" Nora chuckled.
"Still." He said kissing her on the top of the head.
"You're kind of adorable you know?" She grinned before pecking him on the lips.
"Oi Lovebirds!" George called from further away. "Dad and Brooke are over there!"
"Are you ready?" Fred asked.
"My mum should be rather normal, yours is going to be the one who'll be overexcited." Nora laughed.
"True." Fred laughed as they found their parents.
"Nora!" Her mother hugged her as Fred hugged his father.
"How are you Mum?" Nora asked with a half smile.
"I'm alright. Better." Brookelle smiled. "Julianne's with the girls. Are you two officially together?" She added gesturing from Fred to Nora.
"Because Molly will be thrilled." Arthur laughed.
"Yes we are." Nora said smiling at Fred.
"Aww if it isn't the Gryffindor lovebirds?" Niko said as he arrived with his luggage.
"If it isn't the Slytherin git?" Nora said glaring at her brother.
"We're not even off the platform and you're already fighting." Brooke said rolling her eyes as she went to hug Niko.
"He started it!" Nora said defensively as Meggan, Neil, Ron and Ginny arrived.
"Are Nora and Niko already fighting?" Neil laughed as he hugged their mother.
"He's being a git." Nora mumbled.
"I'm just stating facts Satan." Niko said with his usual smirk.
"Alright then, where are Nat and Percy?" Ginny asked.
"She's probably with Oliver, he's training with Puddlemere over the summer so they won't be seeing each other much. As for Percy I have no idea." Nora said.
"I'm sure they'll make it work." Brooke said with a warm smile.
"What about you Megg any boy in mind?" Arthur asked making Ron snort. Megg send him a death glare which silenced him.
"Not really." She smiled.
"Because you're too busy arguing with Malfoy." Ginny grinned.
"Am not!" Megg said defensively.
"You did run into our compartment to avoid him. What was that about?" Fred said with a gleeful grin.
"It's nothing!" She sighed in exasperation.
"At least someone in the family has decent taste." Niko said.
"Oh, would you like to date Draco?" Nora said raising her eyebrow and grinning.
"You know what I mean." He said rolling his eyes.
"I think you'd make a cute couple, same hair, same eyes." Fred grinned.
"Yeah very matchy." George added.
"Alright, let's stop this before it gets out of hand." Arthur sighed as Nataleigh and Percy arrived. Nataleigh seemed to be wiping away tears.
"Sweetheart." Her mother said hugging her.
"It's fine." Nataleigh said. "It's just harder than I thought it would be."
"You'll be fine. Alright are we ready to go?" Brooke asked rubbing Nataleigh's back as everyone nodded. "We'll see each other soon enough." She said to the Weasley's as they parted ways.
"I have something to tell you guys." Brooke said as they drove home.
"Does it have to do with what happened with Harry, Ron and Hermione? And Lupin and..." Megg started.
"How do you know about that?" Her mother asked looking at her in the rear-view mirror.
"They told me." She said matter of factly.
"Or she interrogated them." Niko said.
"I'm not that annoying." She said.
"Really? That's new to me!" Neil teased.
"What were you supposed to tell us?" Nora asked ignoring her siblings' bickering as they pulled into the drive-way.
"Well we kind of have a house guest for... well some time. And Lupin's here for supper." She added.
"Why is our teacher at our house?" Neil asked as they got out of the car and gathered their luggage.
"They're friends." Nataleigh said speaking for the first time since they left the station.
"Who's else is staying with us?" Nora asked again as she opened the door.
"Oh well..." Her mother started.
"Wait he's actually staying here?" Megg asked staring at her mother with a shocked expression as they all dropped their luggage in the lobby before settling into their home.
"Who are we talking about?" Niko said with an irritated tone.
"Well it's..." Their mother started but was interrupted by Nora shrieking and making a glass vase explode. She froze the intruder before turning to her mother seeing her siblings shocked expressions.
"What in the bloody world is Sirius Black doing in our kitchen?" Nora shouted.
"Would you please unfreeze him?" Her mother asked.
"We'll explain everything. Why don't we all sit down?" Lupin said trying to hide a grin.
"You're asking her to unfreeze a mass murderer. Who's in the middle of our kitchen?" Nataleigh said staring at Black's frozen figure.
"He's not a mass murderer." Meggan said.
"For once I'm with Satan and Slob, what the hell is going on here?" Niko asked as they took seats in the living room.
"Norabel, would you please unfreeze him." Brooke said patiently.
"As you wish Mum." She said flicking her hand in Sirius' direction while keeping an eye on him.
"Did you freeze me?" Sirius said looking at Brookelle.
"She didn't, I did." Nora said dryly.
"Nora..." Her mother scolded.
"What?" She said innocently as the three adults sat on a couch facing the teenagers.
"So you were going to explain this." Nataleigh said not being able to stare at anything but Sirius Black. "At least he looks cleaner than on the posters." She added.
"Nataleigh!" Her mother shouted but Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Alright, this is going to take a while." She sighed.
"Maybe you should start by explaining why he's in the house." Neil said with a confused expression.
"Alright, well as Megg said, he isn't a mass murderer." Brooke started.
"Well that's reassuring. What happened with the muggles then? Did they just drop dead?" Nora said sarcastically making Sirius and Remus conceal laughs and her mother roll her eyes.
"They were murdered by Peter Pettigrew." Remus said with an expression of pure hatred.
"And who is that?" Niko asked.
"He went to Hogwarts with them." Megg answered.
"Why do you know all of this?" Nataleigh said with a confused expression.
"I told you, Hermione, Harry and Ron told me." She sighed.
"When you interrogated them, right." Nataleigh added making her younger sister sigh.
"Well she's right." Lupin said. "Maybe we should start there."
"Fine." Brooke said. "When I was at Hogwarts, I was bestfriends with Julianne, Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon. While Remus, Sirius, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew formed some sort of gang/group thing. We eventually all got really close and became good friends, even if we didn't always see eye to eye." She added making Sirius snort. She suppressed a smile before going on. "Lily and James, Harry's parents ended up together in our seventh year while..." She said stopping herself for a moment. There was an awkward pause during which everyone looked at the adults expectantly.
"You dated!" Megg said.
"How did she...?" Sirius asked looking at Brooke.
"I can tell when people lie, and I know what emotions they're showing, it's all really complicated." She said with a smile while the other siblings looked absolutely gobsmacked.
"Well we did, date. Times were quite dark though, Voldermort was rising to power and people were dying left and right. When I was seventeen, I was promised in marriage to your father, and well you know that part." She said looking at the kids. "James and Lily were being hunted by Voldermort and went into hiding. We always thought Sirius was secret keeper which would have meant that he was the one who had betrayed them." She said swallowing hard.
"I told James and Lily to make Peter Pettigrew secret keeper, because no one would have expected it." Sirius said taking over. "He gave them up and when I learned what had happened I went to confront him about it. He whined and then killed all the muggles on the street before cutting off his own finger and transforming into a rat."
"A rat?" Nataleigh asked.
"He's an animagus, so am I. We learned it to help Remus with..." He said stopping himself.
"If it's the fact that he's a werewolf everyone knows. I've known since November." Nora said matter of factly.
"Alright then, well, that's pretty much it." Sirius said looking at her with an impressed smile.
There was an awkward silence that lasted for well over a minute.
"So you are not a psychotic mass murderer?" Nataleigh asked breaking the silence.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "No I'm not." He said with a grin.
"I hope you all understand that you can not under any circumstances tell your father about this." Brooke said her stare lingering on Niko for a moment longer.
Nora and Nataleigh snorted. "You really think Niko will keep anything from him?" Nora said.
"Good luck with that Mum...Really." Nataleigh said sarcastically.
"Girls." Brooke said warningly. "Niko. Do you understand that if the wrong people know about this Sirius will end up back in Azkaban."
"Why would I care what happens to him?" Niko said sending glares at his sisters.
"Because I care about him Niko. Do it for me." She said almost pleading.
"Whatever. Fine." Niko said looking away.
"Thank you." Brookelle said as she got up and kissed the top of his head as he rolled his eyes. "So now you all know about Sirius, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
"Seriously?" Nat sighed.
"Yes seriously Nataleigh." Brooke said as she went back to sit with Sirius and Remus. The teenagers all looked at eachother expecting someone to go first.
"Do I really need to pick one of you to go first?" Brooke sighed making Sirius and Remus laugh.
"Fine, I'm Meggan, everyone calls me Megg. I just finished my third year and I'm in Ravenclaw. I can tell when people are lying...And that's pretty much it. Oh and I'm a chaser." She ended with a smile.
"And she's a goody too shoe pain." Nataleigh laughed ruffling Megg's hair.
"Oh shove off Nat!" She said but laughed anyway.
"I'm Neil, I also finished my third year. I'm also in Ravenclaw but I'm telekinetic. And I play keeper." He said.
"You're in Harry's year right?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah but I don't spend much time with him." Neil said. "Megg does though, she and Hermione are more twins than we are." He laughed.
"He's really nice. He's kind of terrified of Nora and Nat though." She laughed. "And he has a knack for getting into trouble but he has good intentions."
"Not unlike some people I know." Lupin grinned at Sirius.
The triplets stayed silent looking at each other and waiting for the other two to speak first.
"As you may have noticed the triplets are more stubborn than the twins." Brooke said rolling her eyes. "Will one of you speak?"
"Fine. I'm Nora, I just finished my fifth year. I'm in Gryffindor and I play chaser. And I can freeze and blow things up as you witnessed earlier."
"And she's a prefect, and a straight O student and the perfect child." Nataleigh grinned.
"Oh shut it. I'm also the only who's disowned by our dear father." Nora finished. Sirius laughed at this.
"Welcome to the club." He grinned. "I was disowned at sixteen."
"Pureblood supremacists?" Nora asked glancing at Niko.
"The worst." Sirius laughed.
"You might have potential." Nataleigh said. "Well I'm Nataleigh and I'm in Gryffindor as well. I'm kind of the loud one here, I don't play Quidditch, and I'm not a prefect. And I'm not brilliant but I can heal myself from pretty much anything."
"She draws really well and she isn't as screwed up as she makes it seem." Nora laughed.
"Well, I'm Nikolaus, I'm in Slytherin. I'm also a chaser and a prefect. And I can astral-project myself." He said dryly.
"Alright then, Nora would you get Addie and Ella from Julianne's so we can all have diner?" Brooke asked.
"I'll go with her." Nataleigh said jumping off the couch with her sister.
As the girls closed their front door they looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing.
"Our family is so screwed up." Nataleigh said after a minute.
"Well it's going to be a summer to remember." Nora laughed as they went to pick up their siblings from the Diggory's home. And what a summer it was going to be.
A/N : Once more, sorry for the lack of updates... I was swamped with work and my twin. But they're giving me some time off soon so I'll be able to write more! I hope you still enjoy the story and keep really do motivate me and make me write faster. I won't ramble much this chapter because I want to post this as fast as possible! Please review it really means more than you think! I love you all. Xoxo.
IMPORTANT: Would you rather have more uploads of shorter chapters or do you prefer fewer uploads of long chapters? Please tell me in the reviews!
P.S. Sorry for typos I uploaded this really quickly and I didn't proof read as much. Don't hate me too much!
To Cheerfully Blue : I'm glad you liked it and I really appreciate the fact that you reviewed again, it means the world! The reaction to candy mice was my sister's way of recreating my reaction when we found a mouse in my house a few weeks ago. It was horrible...She and my boyfriend probably won't ever let me forget it :P Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the ones to come. Xoxo.
To KellyLupin : Thanks so much for being a fateful reviewer! I'm glad you still love the story. And I'm sure he'd be thrilled to hear that. I'm sure we'll eventually meet. I do spend some time on your foor. Who knows we might have already met. And he is quite handsome isn't he? I'm quite lucky to have him. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Xoxo!