Chapter 11:

The Weird Sisters

December went by in a rush of tests and planning. Teddy managed to annoy both Professor Trelawney and Professor Firenze by fortune-telling a happy Christmas for himself, but a bad Divination mark wasn't enough to spoil his mood. The rest of his marks were good enough to get on with. In the evenings, he did his Christmas shopping through catalogs; there was no way he'd be allowed to go to Diagon Alley this year. Most of it was easy - the usual story books for James and Al, a plush unicorn for Lily (who was taken with unicorns this year), a new quill set for Granny. He wanted something good for Uncle Harry this year, and was about to despair when he quite accidentally stumbled across a catalog that sold nondescript art for offices. He'd have skipped it entirely, but the cover showed a picture of a deer, with a hawk flying around in the sky above it.

Ruthless was nearly impossible - he felt he should get her something particularly nice in honor of going out, but Granny had written to him and advised him that anything resembling jewelry would be improper, and clothes were out of the question. He wasn't sure if that counted something like Quidditch gloves, but wanted to err on the side of caution. Books seemed predictable, as he got everyone books. Ruthless loved chocolate, but he had a feeling she wouldn't especially like a box of them, or consider them against the googly-eye rule. He finally settled on a wand holster with her initials etched into the leather. He could choose from about thirty designs to go with it, and picked a pair of lions. He imagined that she would like it. It looked like the sort of thing a tough duelist might have.

The upcoming trip to Weird World became the subject of nearly all conversations at Muggles and Minions games. Other than Frankie Apcarne, who Donzo deeply admired, the older students weren't going. They'd been invited, but seemed to realize it was a courtesy, and cited other plans. Ruthless was negotiating her space with Kirk, and dividing up duties regarding their younger brothers and parents. Victoire was writing frequently to Marie about what sorts of clothes to bring. Story, on the other hand, had been invited in good faith, but his parents had already accepted an invitation from dignitaries in the West Indies. They'd be back for the concert itself, but the days leading up to it were taken. Maurice was in an ecstasy of insecurity, as his parents and younger brother were going to appear. He'd been avoiding presenting the Burke family since first year. Corky's parents and sister had decided to stay home. Teddy had thought that Uncle Harry and his family might be there, but Aunt Ginny's brother Charlie had invited them to Romania until Christmas Day (which everyone would spend at Granny's this year). James wrote an excited letter about all the dragons he would see. Teddy was disappointed, but he supposed that he couldn't always expect Uncle Harry's family to be interchangeable with the others' parents and siblings.

Four days before Christmas, they piled into the thestral-drawn carriages again, but at Hogsmeade Station, instead of boarding the Hogwarts Express back to London, the group going to Weird World went to the Three Broomsticks, where Roland the innkeeper had cleared out the area in front of the fireplace. He handed Donzo a large tin of Floo powder with the Weird Sisters' logo on it.

"Came just this morning," Roland said. "Should be enough for all of you. Three times each."

Donzo took a deep breath. "All right," he said. "I'll go ahead so I can introduce you all. Just say Weird World. You should all get there all right. You'll know which grate it is because Dad's worked it into blue and bronze. On the far side. I'm not joking."

He tossed a handful into the fire and it went green, then he shouted, "Weird World!"

He disappeared into the flames. Maurice followed first, then Frankie. Ruthless was next in line, holding Teddy's hand, though when she let go, she seemed surprised to find that she'd been doing so. Her eyes popped open, then she grabbed a handful of Floo powder and nearly ran through the fire. Teddy followed her. He entered the strange, spinning world of the Floo network, watching the fires dancing by. He saw a ragged room where a couple lay in front of the fireplace, then they were gone, and there was an old woman eating soup, then a bunch of kids playing with a dog. Then he saw a flash of blue and bronze, and a grate ahead of him showed a bright, sunlit room. He leaned for it, then spilled unceremoniously out onto a marble floor. A pair of sofa cushions flew out and broke his fall, and he looked up to see Granny, smiling ruefully.

He let her hug him as the others came through, then pulled away. The room he found himself in was like something in a palace, with marble pillars and statues, high cathedral windows, and velvet draperies. It looked out onto an improbably sunny day, overlooking a pool in the shape of the Weird Sisters' logo. Among the statues, he could see mannequins dressed in the Sisters' most famous costumes - including the pink and purple dress of Kirley's that Teddy knew embarrassed Donzo greatly. Other parents and siblings were gathered around. Maurice was standing with a perfectly normal looking family who seemed to have been talking to Granny, and Ruthless and Kirk were buried in gibbering pile of redheads. Bill and Fleur Weasley, along with Marie, Aimee, Artie, and Muriel, were gathered together, watching the fire. Frankie had joined his parents, Maddie and Daffy, and his sister Carny. He'd already snatched up his baby brother Mac - short for McPherson - and started making faces at him.

Victoire came spinning out of the fireplace, her arms tucked neatly against her chest, her hair flying out in a silvery fan. Unfair.

No one came out after her.

From somewhere above a guitar chord rang out, and Donzo covered his face with his hands.

Kirley Duke came down a set of stairs, laughing. He was dressed in normal robes today, no pink and purple dress in sight. Teddy hadn't met him very often, and was still a little surprised by how average he looked - a little pudgy, with scraggly long hair and an uneven beard. Donzo had to take after his mother. Still, he was a good bloke, and when he said, "Welcome to Weird World," Teddy believed that he really was happy to see them.

"Nice entrance, Dad," Donzo said.

Kirley laughed and opened his arms as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Come on, Don. I haven't embarrassed you nearly enough for a whole day."

Donzo grinned, then went to his father and hugged him, rolling his eyes. He let go as quickly as was decent, then turned to his guests. "The elves have lunch already, and then I'll show you around. There's plenty to do, and the weather's controlled."

They all followed him down to a cavernous kitchen, where the elves - all hired rather than owned, Kirley assured them - had a huge buffet table spread out. Teddy was content to sit with Granny, who had resumed her conversation with the Burkes. They appeared to be comparing notes to figure out how they were related, and in which directions. Maurice's father seemed to think there might be some Black family heirlooms in the shop in Knockturn Alley, and was trying to convince Granny to sue for them. Maurice's brother, a pinched-looking boy called Wendell, seemed to be trying to hide from the crowd behind their mother.

After lunch, Donzo took them on a tour of the grounds. The pool outside was weather-controlled to always have a perfect summer day, though beyond its bounds, they could see the drizzly December rain. On the deck, Orsino Thruston was doing a drum riff while a young woman with curly blond hair practiced dance moves. Teddy thought she was the new lead singer for the Pondhoppers, who changed their line-up frequently. Both of them waved.

There was a ski slope which Teddy thought looked like broken bones waiting to happen, a great hall to be used for any sort of game they liked. Bill Weasley produced a bag full of holidays in a box, a gift from George, which included clubs, a medieval village, a town in the American Old West, and a fanciful town on another planet, complete with aliens. Donzo had every game Teddy had ever seen, and a library almost the size of the one at Hogwarts (most of the Sisters had been Ravenclaws). There were recordings of performances, and pictures everywhere of the family and the performances. There were twenty bedrooms, which weren't enough for everyone to get a single one. Teddy ended up sharing his room with Corky, next door to Donzo's (he shared with Maurice). Donzo's door had a door knocker like the one at Ravenclaw Tower. Victoire shared a room with two of her three sisters; Muriel remained with Bill and Fleur, and Artie was desperately excited to be sharing a room with Ruthless's youngest brothers. Ruthless herself was wandering around at a loss, since they'd run out of girls, but Victoire looked at Teddy, winced, and invited Ruthless to join her with Aimee and Marie. Ruthless seemed just as disturbed by the concept, but went quietly.

They didn't stay in their rooms for long in any case; within half an hour, they were down in the kitchen again, whipping up a brand new game that was simple enough for the little ones, teaming up by family (Teddy and Corky teamed up with Donzo, as the three of them were by themselves). In some other Weird World, adults gathered in lounges and musicians rehearsed in sound-sealed rooms, but here, just for the evening, it was their world to make as they saw fit. Greyback hadn't seemed so far away since the night he'd escaped.

The Burkes ended up teaming with the Apcarnes, but neither that team nor Teddy's team of assorted singletons ended up a factor in the beanbag war Frankie had finally worked up. In the end, Teddy's team joined the Weasleys and the Burkes and Apcarnes joined the Scrimgeours to meet in an all out apocalypse that ended in a confusing pile that Teddy was fairly sure he'd won, though Ruthless begged to differ. Kirk suggested that they kiss and make up. Ruthless threatened to knock his teeth out, but it was too late, as the younger brothers had heard and were keen to find out what Kirk was talking about. Ruthless went so red that she looked like she had her Quidditch hood on backward, and stalked off to the room she was sharing with the Weasley girls.

Teddy smiled at her brothers in a way that felt slightly mad.

They rejoined their families before bed, along with the rest of the Weird Sisters and the Pondhoppers, and Teddy spent an hour with Granny, listening to her stories of autumn at St. Mungo's, treating Neil Overby, and meeting with a man who was trying to talk her into writing another book. This seemed to have taken several meetings, although Granny said she had no intention of writing again; the history she'd written of the Black family had got it entirely out of her system.

"So why keep meeting?"

"Free lunches," Granny said. "Also, I'm quite bored. I should ask James to forward your stories to me."

Teddy shook his head. "Oh, no. I don't think anyone other than James would like them. But if you ask, I'll bet James would write to you."

The Pondhoppers decided to do an impromptu Christmas sing-along then, which was an experience in a room full of musicians trying to outdo each other. Donzo ended up belting out a "Gloria" in "Angels We Have Heard on High" that lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time on one breath, and everyone applauded. Teddy headed up to bed a few minutes later, leaving Granny talking to Ellsworth Wintringham, the father of the Sisters' lute player, about something having to do with music in their youth. Granny had a high opinion of Muggle musicians of the era, mainly because Granddad had loved them so. Wintringham also liked Muggle music, but was devoted to some different style, and they seemed to be having a pleasant, wine-fueled argument about it.

Ruthless made an appearance in the corridor of guest rooms, grabbing Teddy and pushing him off toward a staircase. She kissed him, then said, "Well, if I'm to take Weasley's sisters demanding to know if I'm your girlfriend, I'll at least have the kisses to show for it!" After it, she'd stalked off angrily. Teddy shook his head, reminded himself that Mum had been patient with even weirder behavior, then went off to sleep.

The atmosphere was a bit different in the morning, as Donzo had already gone off to his morning rehearsals when everyone else got up, leaving a note that they'd be doing boring sound checks until eleven, so he hoped everyone would find something entertaining to do. Teddy bounced around among his friends, talked with Granny, and finally went to the huge library to see what sorts of books he could get into. To his surprise, Kirley Duke was there sprawling in a large armchair, a book open on his lap. It seemed to be speaking quietly.

"Hello, Mr. Duke," Teddy said, wanting to announce his presence, but not disturb him.

He smiled at Teddy. "It's Kirley, please. Don's doing a bit with the Pondhoppers, and they're blocking it out, so I thought I'd have a break. It's one of my favorites." He gestured at the book, which Teddy was now close enough to recognize as a wizarding edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the illustrations acted out the scenes if the reader wanted to see them. "You know, Shakespeare was a wizard. All historians agree on that. Well, wizarding historians anyway. Except your grandmother, who thinks it's poppycock."

Teddy laughed, a bit uncomfortably. He'd heard Granny expound on the subject before. She didn't just think it poppycock, she thought it absurd old-family nonsense meant to claim anything worthwhile for wizarding history, and since they'd never produced a playwright of any real note, they'd just appropriated Shakespeare. "Well," he said, "it's a good play isn't it?"

"One way or the other," Kirley said, and closed the book. "Were you looking for something in particular?"

Teddy shook his head. "No. Just thought I'd see if there was a good book around."

"They're all good books."

Teddy nodded, uncertain of what to say. He glanced at the fireplace and asked, without having any particular goal in mind, "How did you make the back of the fireplace blue and bronze in the Floo network?"

"Ha!" Kirley put his book aside and leaned forward, eyes twinkling. "There's a little known fact - the great Catriona McCormack, star of the Pride of Portree, married a Floo repairman." He smiled fondly. "My sister Meghan always went to Mum's Quidditch practices, but it wasn't my cup of tea. I'd go to work with Dad. There's a whole world back there. I love it. Dad used to sing at the top of his lungs. I think people could sometimes hear him through the grates."

"How do you stop? I always wanted to know that."

"You don't, entirely. You just go through without giving a destination. But you have to hold on, or you'll end up wandering out there."

"Where are they, really?"

Kirley raised his eyebrows. "Don said you're a Gryffindor. That's the sort of question I expect from Ravenclaws." He stood up. "Come on. I'll show you, if you'd like."

Teddy agreed to it immediately, and followed Kirley back to the hall where they'd all come in.

Kirley raised his wand at the fireplace and lit it, then grabbed a pouch of Floo powder and tucked it into the pocket of his robes. He took the main tin of it and grabbed a handful, then offered it to Teddy. "All right. I'll go ahead so I can catch you if you get into trouble, but what you need to do is toss in the powder, then go into the fire without giving a destination. When you get through, you'll start to feel the spin. There's a ledge on the far side of the grate. Grab onto it. If you miss it, I'll catch you."

Teddy nodded, and watched Kirley go in, then, when the flames normalized, threw in his own handful. He resisted the almost insurmountable urge to call out a destination, and stepped through.

He missed the ledge entirely, but Kirley caught his shoulder and swung him back, holding him still long enough to grab on. They were floating here, and there seemed to be a great, silent wind. Fires hung suspended around them, as far as the eye could see. It was like being a fly among the candles in the Great Hall. Teddy looked down into flame-spotted nothingness.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"I'm afraid you're going to get a Ravenclaw answer instead of a Gryffindor one. There isn't a plain sort of spot. We're in a place between places, which isn't a place at all."

"Could we go to any of the grates?"

"No. There's security on them. And for God's sake, don't try to go back through this one without more powder, you'll be cooked." He fished in his robes and brought out the pouch. "You can only work on the grate you've come through. I wanted to touch this one up a little. Probably foolish, but it seemed amusing."

Teddy nodded. Aside from the fact that he was suspended and weightless in the middle of a place that didn't exist, it seemed like any other magic lesson. "What if someone else came through this one? Would he knock us off?"

"It's possible. Dad always cut off the system when he worked on it."

"Can I turn around?"

"Be careful not to let go."

Cautiously, gripping the ledge tightly, Teddy turned toward the emptiness beyond the grate. He'd never much cared for flying, but this was different. He laughed.

"Kirley!"

"Oh, damn," Kirley said. "Sounds like I'm needed back at rehearsal. We'd best get back to the inside."

Teddy pressed his fingers tightly into the edge and turned back around. Kirley let him take a handful of powder from the pouch, and he called, "Weird World," then spilled out onto the floor. Kirley came behind him, bounding out with great energy and not falling into anything.

"Thanks," Teddy said.

"Never ask a Ravenclaw a question," Kirley said solemnly. "There's always a danger of it being answered." He tipped Teddy a salute and followed one of the other band members (Teddy thought it was Merton Graves, but he was hard to recognize in a t-shirt and blue jeans) off toward the rehearsal wing.

"Lupin! Where've you been?"

Teddy turned. Corky was coming in, toweling his hair. Through the window, Teddy could see that everyone had congregated at the pool while he was gone.

"I haven't been anywhere," Teddy said.

"Well, then come out and be somewhere. Your girlfriend is actually in a real swimsuit." He waggled his eyebrows. "So's Victoire's mom."

"She's pregnant."

"Trust me, you can't tell."

"And Ruthless is actually wearing a swimsuit."

"We think so. She's got herself wrapped up in towels and she's hiding behind a mermaid statue. But she did put in her official vote for the 'Teddy-has-spent-long-enough-on-his-own' question, which passed unanimously, so I'm here to drag you outside."

"Can I get my swim things?"

"Frankie already brought them down to the changing room. No excuses. March."

Teddy raised his hands in mock surrender, and allowed himself to frog-marched out into the sunshine.

Ruthless's brothers finally coaxed her out from behind the statue, or perhaps "goaded" was a better word, as her Gryffindor spirit was questioned in the course of it. Under the huge towel she'd wrapped herself in, she was wearing a dark green one piece swimsuit which Teddy had a feeling would figure prominently in his dreams for a very long time. Judging by the way Roger and Corky were looking nervously away, he thought he wasn't the only one to think so.

He sat with her at the edge of the pool for a long time, but when he tried to kiss her cheek, she pulled away and reminded him of the rules.

Donzo and the Pondhoppers came out for lunch, and during the afternoon, there was a long rehearsal to which everyone was invited. Ellsworth Wintringham borrowed his grandson's lute at one point, and played the old wizarding carol, "The Spell on the Star." He asked Granny to come up and sing along. The lead singer of the Pondhoppers - the pretty blonde Teddy had seen yesterday - came up with the idea of audience sing-alongs for the concert itself, so they all ended up going through the old standbys, like "The First Noel" or "Three Wizards Crossed the Endless Sands." Josh Rosen from the Pondhoppers added a Hanukkah song - "The Muggles' Accidental Multiplication Spell" - which had something to do with oil and Muggles who were given the magic to make it last as long as they needed it to.

The next day, before the open rehearsal, Teddy took Ruthless for a walk in the woods by the ski slope (Granny double-checked the security before letting them out the door, which was somewhat embarrassing). There was magically produced snow, but there was also a magically produced warm, sunny day. Teddy had no idea how they made the two work together, but it did make for a nice walk, their shoes crunching in the ice while they basked in the sunlight.

Ruthless didn't look entirely pleased with the latter, and stopped abruptly, glaring at the sun for a moment before taking off her bulky jumper, chewing her gum angrily. Teddy was shocked to see that, underneath it, she was wearing a light blue sort of thing which had lace trim, and dipped down far enough to see her shoulder bones. It also actually seemed to fit her. She tied the jumper around her hips by the sleeves, then crossed her arms over her chest. "Mum brought me a lot of new clothes and I thought I should wear some of them so she thinks I like them but I don't like them. When have you ever seen me with lace on?"

"Er..."

"And that swimsuit!"

"Well... it was pretty." He stopped, realizing that he'd used the hated word, but she was too distracted to care, shrugging up her shoulders to try and make the top of her blouse come up, which made it pull up and show part of her side above the tied sleeves of the jumper.

"Bugger!" she said, then followed it up with a prodigious string of other curses that she seemed to have been storing up, gesticulating wildly as she did so. Finally, she sat down miserably on a bench shaped like a lute. It began to play Herman Wintringham's solo from "Weirder by the Winter."

Teddy sat down beside her, ignoring the music. "It really doesn't look bad, you know."

"I know. I saw Atkinson and Young staring at me yesterday. Even Apcarne got himself an eyeful. Then they all started being nice. How am I supposed to stay friends with them when they're looking at me like that, and being nice?"

"Did you want me to talk to them?"

"No! I just want them to stop it. Start acting normal again." She shuddered. "I was watching Victoire's mum by the pool, talking to her dad. All that cooing and such. I don't want that. I don't ever want that to happen to me!"

Teddy felt a bit like he was swimming in the middle of the Atlantic, surrounded by sharks. On a cloudy night. With no clue where he'd been dropped or why. So he just arranged his face as sympathetically as he could, and did his best to make sure his eyes were nowhere near the lacy trim on her collar, which had bowed out a little bit and was showing further down toward a small shadowed hollow on her chest.

"It's all very stupid," Ruthless said, pouting.

"Mm-hmm."

She didn't say anything else. The lute solo continued to play cheerfully along. She chewed on her lip thoughtfully.

After nearly a minute, Teddy said, "Did you want to go back?"

She looked at him sheepishly, and took out her gum. "Not just yet."

"Oh. Am I allowed to look at you like a girl when I kiss you?"

"Only if you think it helps."

"Trust me," Teddy said, "it helps. But I promise - no cooing and such." He put his hand on her face, then leaned over and kissed her, trying to remember the way it was done in a Fifi LaFolle novel (he'd been parceling out The End of the Earth as slowly as he could, to make it last, and hadn't had a kissing scene for some time). No stars exploded, but he thought one or two might be flickering hopefully.

Then he noticed that he was drooling on her.

He drew back and she wiped her face. "I'm in charge next time," she said, and the whole conversation was over. They walked back to the house together. She put her jumper back on before anyone saw her, and then they were at rehearsal with the whole group for the rest of the evening.

On Christmas Eve, Lee and Verity Jordan arrived with the equipment to broadcast over the Wizarding Wireless, and set up in the rehearsal hall. Lee's show went on all day before the concert, and he interviewed all of the Sisters, all of the Pondhoppers, and Donzo in the entertainment segments. He moved on to politics just after lunch, but kept it short in honor of Christmas.

"First," he said, "I'd like to give a hand to our Aurors, who've been taking a bit of heat from none other than our old friend Rita Skeeter. But they've done a fine job in an unexpected circumstance. And if the press has nothing better to do than light into Harry Potter for taking precisely three days to regroup, then I think the press is the organization that needs to rethink its priorities." He paused and glanced at Teddy. "Second, it's been a long time since I've given a message to a fugitive, and the one I want to give tonight won't be nearly as pleasant for the fugitive in question as our messages were when this show was still called PotterWatch. Our fugitive, in fact, is much less pleasant. He was a particular enemy of one of our favorite guests on PotterWatch, and has designs to keep his grudge going, even though our friend was already taken from us.

"So here's my Christmas message to Fenrir Greyback: We're coming for you. Harry's coming for you." He smiled fondly. "Don't know about the rest of you, but for me, that's a cheerful thought."

He cut to an advertisement for Weasleys', which featured a Shrinking Solution that was administered to someone called Fungal Grungeback, which apparently shrunk something he didn't care to have shrunk, and ended with everyone laughing uproariously while he tried threatening them in a high, squeaky voice. "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," George's voice announced. "Cutting them down to size since nineteen-ninety-six."

"Is that wise?" Granny asked quietly as soon as she was sure she wasn't being broadcast. "George has a two-year-old."

Lee shrugged. "Freddie's nowhere near George's house. George is nowhere near George's house. He and Angelina are living in Arabella Figg's old house at the moment. Probably driving Harry's aunt and uncle quite mad. But we're really hoping that Greyback gives it a go. He's got the whole place booby-trapped. It looks easier to get into than Hogwarts, but trust me, Greyback wouldn't get out any time soon."

"This is Harry's plan?" Granny asked, looking skeptical.

"No," Lee said. "It's George's and mine. And given the nod by a certain high-ranking government official currently in the West Indies, though he can't very well acknowledge it. And we reckon Fred would approve of it, and is doing whatever he can where he is to help. For Lupin. It's Operation PotterWatch. We take care of our own."

Teddy thought this a good plan - like something the Marauders might do - though he could see that Granny didn't like it for some reason. She didn't have time to protest, though, as the advertisements ended and Lee returned to his broadcast.

They all filed into the hall at seven-thirty and did sound checks for the audience and the stage. Donzo's mother, a sharp-faced woman who had been off arguing about a contract, arrived just in time to scurry backstage and help with the set-up. Kirley got them all warmed up for the group sing-along. Then, at eight o'clock sharp, they were live across the Wizarding Wireless Network. Myron Wagtail, the lead singer of the Weird Sisters, welcomed everyone and wished them Happy Christmas, then invited Donzo onto the stage to open things up with "The Little Drummer Boy." In a rehearsed move, Kirley interrupted the song and said, "Myron, Don's taller than you are these days - I think you ought to do that number now."

After some written banter, they all did the number together, and Donzo took a solo of "That Old Christmas Spell," accompanying himself on guitar for the first time in a live concert. Later in the show, in another first, he played a song he'd written himself. Teddy felt Granny lean over toward Fleur, and heard her say, "I think Kirley's passing the Quaffle on to Donzo."

At nine-thirty, they started the sing-along, and Teddy imagined people curled up around their radios at home, singing along with all the old favorites. It felt something like that even here at the concert. They wrapped it up at ten, then all went down to the kitchen together for a late Christmas Eve party before everyone headed off for their own Christmas Day celebrations. Teddy exchanged gifts with his friends, glad to see that Ruthless liked the wand holster. She admitted that she'd found it hard to shop for him as well. She'd ended up getting him a replica of the insignia his character was meant to have as a pilot in the game. She'd had it engraved to "Wings."

Once the last pie had been eaten, they all went to the entrance hall, where the fire was blazing. Their suitcases were lined up in front of it, grouped by family. Teddy's and Granny's were at the end of the line, and he watched his friends disappear, jostling with their siblings. Corky went with Roger, whose parents would be waiting outside the Leaky Cauldron; Corky had a Portkey to catch there the next morning. Ruthless's youngest brothers were sleepy, and she'd picked one of them up without even thinking, and he was curled up asleep against her. Victoire and her sisters were all fondly gossiping, and Marie managed to beg a kiss on the cheek from Donzo before they went.

At last, it was just Granny and Teddy standing with the Dukes. Granny smiled graciously. "Thank you so much for inviting us. I never dreamed when my daughter started putting up posters of you that I would be indebted to you for such a lovely holiday."

"No question of debts, my dear lady," Kirley said. "Don was the only child around here for a long time; I'm glad to have so many others around."

"I wish I could invite you to our home for Christmas dinner, but Harry's already taken care of the security for who can come in."

"We'd have had to say no anyway," Kirley said. "I think my wife would explode if I took her away from home after only a few hours."

Donzo and Teddy looked at each other awkwardly, then muttered something about seeing each other at school.

Then Granny sent their bags ahead, and they each took a handful of Floo powder and spun into nothingness. Their home grate flew at them, and Teddy could feel the force of the security spells Uncle Harry had woven around it. They touched him and tasted him, then spat him through into Granny's parlor. He tried to keep his balance, but ran into the ottoman and went sprawling into the sofa, his hand landing on something warm and breathing.