I'm so sorry I let you wait for such a long time guys! really sorry...
here's another chapter...I hope you'll like it...it's not my favorite, but it's necessary for the story to continue, so..
enjoy!
and thanks for all the reviews! I love reading them!
Molly waited with the news about Jade's invitation to the family reunion till Arthur came back from work.
She felt like it was something both of them should be present for.
Kids spent the day outside. It's been sunny at first but clouds started to come after lunch, hanging low over Devon countryside with promise of rain.
The air was heavy and humid so everyone welcomed the wind which started around three in the afternoon. Everyone but Molly, who had the laundry outside, drying in neat lines.
She sent kids out with a basket of cloth pegs to secure the drying laundry better.
"I'm home!" they heard dad call from the living room.
"You should see the storm in London. Heavy rain and thunder, I hope it doesn't get here. I had to use the floo. Six sicles well worth the price, I don't know how I'd apparate in such weather." He shook his head, kissed Molly on her cheek and run upstairs to change.
Molly noticed new tear in the hem of his work robes. She'd have to patch it later.
After dinner the rain started, luckily all the laundry was already inside, freshly washed and ironed fabric waiting in neat pile close to Molly's sewing machine, soon to be transformed into new shorts for the kids.
The whole Weasley family was launching on the sofa, listening to the radio, as it wasn't time for bed quite yet.
"Jade honey, can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen?" asked Arthur, getting up and taking one more biscuit from the plate Molly set up on the table for kids to snack on.
"Sure." Answered Jade, a little bit confused, slowly getting up from the armchair where she was browsing the index of her herbology school textbook to see if she missed any reference about Wolf's bane. So far she found depressingly low amount of information about her chosen topic for the essay.
Molly was drying last of the plates from dinner when Jade walked in. Arthur closed the kitchen door, making sure they had some privacy.
"What's wrong?" asked Jade wearily, the memory of twins hiding boxes with questionable content under her bed popping into her head.
"Nothing's wrong dear, we just wanted to talk for a bit." Smiled Molly, sitting down, patting the surface of the table gently, indicating for Jade to sit down as well.
Arthur took an envelope from the stack of mail they were keeping on the window.
"There's this letter from Miss Jones, you know, your social worker." Started Arthur slowly.
"And everything is perfectly fine." He added seeing the horror expression on Jade's face. It was a habit for her – in the past, letters from social workers never meant something good.
"The thing is…" said Molly, trying to find the right words. "she was contacted by Two ladies from Ireland who…they are sisters of your grandmother."
"But all my grandparents are dead, there's no one left from my family, that's what you told me." Jade shook her head confused. All her life she's been told there's no one left and that's why she was passed around in the foster system.
"Well, they weren't in contact with your grandma for a long time and your mom didn't know them because of that so there was no contact between them and your parents. Apparently they've been looking for you since they heard about your parents passing away, but couldn't find you when you were in care of the country." Molly explained quickly, not wanting Jade to think someone abandoned her willingly.
"Their detective found you now, after you came to our family. They'd like to know if you want to …get in contact with them?" said Arthur, turning the envelope in his hands.
"why now? Why they left me all those years …it was terrible, I had to move all the time, and now…!" Jade yelled not really knowing why it hurt so much suddenly, to find out there was someone out there, related to her, yet they didn't know her and she didn't know them, why did it hurt so much even though one minute ago, everything was right. Now her world was spinning, all her thoughts mixed and confused.
"Honey, they were trying all those years, but couldn't find you, they tried their best." Molly shushed her and wiped a tear which fell on Jade's cheek without the girl realizing it.
"Nothing changes, You are our daughter and you have place in our family forever because we love you so much Jade. You know that, right? This would only mean that you'd get a chance to learn a little bit more about your past. More than any legal documents or social workers could ever tell you." Said Molly, carefully looking at Jade to see her reaction but Jade was just sitting there, not knowing what she wanted to do.
"they sent an invitation for a family reunion which they'll have this summer." Again no answer from Jade.
"It's ok if you don't want to go. It's up to you. You can always decide later, maybe one day in the future you'll want to meet them and if you do, we'll be here standing by your side. You have all the time you need." Said Arthur kindly, patting Jade's hand which was clenched in fist on the table.
"I don't want to. I don't want them. They're not my family, you are. You said I'm part of this family and it's forever and I'm a Weasley… they are not…I… I don't want them…" whispered Jade looking at Molly with pleading eyes.
"Jade, no one's saying you have to meet them. If you don't want to, that's perfectly fine, they even said in the letter that they'll understand if you decide against it. We understand, everybody's ok with either decision, we just wanted you to know about it so you can consider the options." Molly kept explaining quietly, seeing that Jade was almost hyperventilating.
"No, no no…I don't want them." Repeated Jade, eyes shining with tears.
"Shhh, it's alright baby." Said Molly, holding Jade in a bear hug, lightly combing her hair out of Jade's eyes.
Jade calmed down after some minutes and wiped her eyes.
"I think I'll go to bed now." She said getting up from the chair.
"Alright honey. Don't worry about anything ok?" said Arthur kissing her forehead.
"We're so proud of you, whatever decision you make, we're proud. And We love you so much Jade. I'm so happy to have you home." Smiled Molly and hugged her daughter one more time.
Jade skipped up the stairs, feeling quite tired and still a little bit confused about what just happened. Something she was sure about her whole life, turned out to be a lie.
In the kitchen…
"So, we should write to Matilda and let her know how Jade decided." Concluded Arthur, flipping the envelope he was holding one more time.
"I would wait few more days dear." Molly smiled, knowing all too well that Jade might change her mind once she calmed down and had time to think about it. She got up, kissed Arthur on the side of his head and went to the living room to send the rest of the kids to get ready for bed.
Jade's POV
I put on the oversized t-shirt I've been sleeping in but decided to get a pair of flannel pajama pants as well, since the air was getting pretty cold from the rain.
I brushed my teeth and washed my face, then wiped it with my towel which I then put on my hook on the wall in the bathroom. There was my cup and my toothbrush alongside the ones for the rest of the family. There were pictures of me with the rest of the Weasleys on the walls of corridors all the way up, past the master's bedroom even around my door. This was my family. The thought alone made me smile. I belonged and I felt sure about my place here. It's been a long time since I felt insecure about that. Yes, there were still moments of hesitation here and there, but that would go away with time because Molly and Arthur were forever.
I closed the door, leaning against it.
There was my bedroom, few new photos added to the walls from last year.
I closed the window halfway and the sound of rain was silenced a bit.
I laid down on top of the covers, staring at the ink blue ceiling.
So there was someone in Ireland., someone who cared enough to look for me, all those years.
...
Next morning was sunny and hot right from the early hour when all the Weasley kids woke up. Molly didn't feel like keeping the house in order with everyone jumping on each other's feet as they used to be especially grumpy on hot days with nothing to do, so she packed picnic and handed George the backpack.
Percy refused to go out, already deep in one of the library books which he borrowed for the summer with special permission of madam Pince.
"I'll never understand why mom stresses so much over cleaning the house, when we make the same mess in one day and she has to start cleaning again." Pondered Fred as they climbed up the hill, taking the right path, leading to one of the Weasleys' favorite spots in the forest.
"Did you get in trouble last night?" asked Fred, unexpectedly changing topic of the conversation and causing Jade to almost choke on a wild strawberry.
"In trouble? No, why should I be in trouble?" she asked, knowing very well why they wanted to know.
"Well, mom an dad talked to you in the kitchen." Explained George.
"…with closed door." Added Fred and Ron with Ginny nodded in agreement. It was a common knowledge among the Weasley kids that whenever a serious conversation took place, it happened in kitchen, behind closed door – which was a sign suspicious enough, on its own, as the door separating living-room and kitchen stayed open most of the day.
"No, it was just a letter that came for me…mom and dad wanted to discuss it with me, that's all." Said Jade quickly and started to walk faster, eager to escape the uncomfortable direction the conversation was turning.
Twins, Ron and Ginny however run after her.
"What was the letter about?" Ron wanted to know.
"Was it from school?" Fred and George asked at the same time.
"No, nothing like that… it was from the social worker…" started Jade. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it with everyone, but once she started, it felt like the right thing to do.
"A social worker?!" exclaimed Ginny. "you're not leaving, are you? Mom said you're my sister forever! She promised!" yelled Ginny with fear in her eyes.
"No, I'm not leaving, of course I'll be here forever." Shushed her Jade.
"Then what?" insisted Ron, and so Jade told them the whole story, about her grandma and the family in Ireland, about the detective and lawyer finding her after all this time, about the invitation and also about her decision to not go.
"What?" – exclaimed Fred.
"How can you not go?" George joined his twin, standing close to each other in the middle of the trail, making it impossible for Jade to continue.
"Well, I have you guys… we're family. I don't need anyone else." She started uncertainly. "Plus, I … it would be just another thing which would make me different. You know what I mean? You wouldn't go, they're not your family and …"
"Rubbish!" laughed Ron. "Ginny goes to visit aunt Muriel almost every year, because she's the only one invited, apparently, us, boys, we're too messy for precious clean house of aunt Muriel or something."
Fred nodded, seeing where Ron was going with this.
"And no one singles her out, we don't think about her as a stranger just because she goes away for a week or so." Added George.
"I hate it there, she makes me wear shoes all the time, even inside the house!" claimed Ginny as if it was hard to believe some people lived that way.
"You know, it would be cool if you could travel there." Started Fred.
"All the possibilities of new ingredients or ideas, the inspiration…" mused George.
"What are you talking about?" frowned Jade.
"Pranks my dear fellow trouble-maker. We need new set of pranks for next school year, and there's no such thing as being over prepared." Nodded George seriously.
Jade shook her head and turned to Ginny who slowed down.
"Ginny what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just thought you could send me a postcard from there. You got a letter now, Fred and George get letters all the time…"
"Which is a secret!" reminded her Fred.
"And they are not letters but orders and consultations with our future business partners." Corrected her George.
"…and even Ron gets letters from Charlie. And Percy from his girlfriend." Finished Ginny. "It's only me who never gets any mail." She looked really sad.
Jade thought about pointing out that if Ginny wrote letter to Charlie as Ron did, she'd get an answer too, but decided against it, seeing how sad her sister looked right now.
"You know what Ginny, next time I go somewhere without you, I'll send you the nicest postcard I can find." She promised and they continued walking.
At the top of the mountain, once they laid down the checkered blanket and pulled out bottles of pumpkin juice, Ron turned to Jade. "So, you're going?"
"I already told you I don't want to go." Said Jade looking down at her bottle, she started to scratch down the label.
"Well, that was before you heard our great reasons to go." Laughed Fred and high-fived his twin, but when they saw how quiet Jade got, they let it be and changed the topic, telling Ron tips how to fight the troll -which he'll have to do in front of the school before he'll be sorted into the house.
After they came back from the trip, tired and sweaty from the hot weather, Molly sent them upstairs to change and get some rest.
Jade climbed up the wooden stairs and was about to enter her own room, when she changed her mind and continued up, stopping in front of Percy's door.
She knocked lightly and entered after he called her in.
"Can we talk for a minute?" she asked, remembering how talking to Percy helped her decide about going to Hogwarts or not.