I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

Extended Family

Chapter 27 – Camping 2 Hullabaloo

Takes place right after chapter 25, after Harry's first European League

"You know, when I said I wanted a vacation after the Euro League, this isn't what I had in mind," Angelina said a little grumpily.

"You were in Rome, for many that's a vacation," Alicia said snippily.

"Okay fair, but we were playing games and working and stuff," Angelina replied.

"The entire time?"

"Is this about the souvenir thing? I think this is about the souvenir thing."

"At least I know who thinks about me," Alicia said frostily. "My own fiancé didn't get me a souvenir."

Oliver flushed at the looks from everyone. "I was captaining," he said lamely. "You know me, I forget things when I'm captaining."

"Therefore, I love baby bird the most," Alicia said and hugged Harry.

"Hey! I got you something too!" Katie complained.

"I love you marginally less than baby bird and more than Angelina and Oliver," Alicia said, hugging Katie.

"Shut it," Angelina sighed, pushing a smug Katie. "Is this what I have to look forward to for the whole weekend?"

"She'll get it out of her system," Oliver chuckled. He barely flinched when Alicia kicked him in the leg.

"Are they usually like this?" Daphne asked.

Hermione nodded. "More or less. I forgot you didn't really hang out with us when it was the original team."

"Right, is everyone ready?" Harry asked brightly. He clapped his hands at the circle of nodding heads. "Brilliant. Okay everyone, here we go." He held up large wooden ring and everyone touched it. After a moment it glowed blue and the portkey took everyone away. They landed in a large clearing, swaying and stumbling lightly from the trip.

"Ooh where are we?" Luna asked as she looked around with wide open eyes.

"Firefalls!" Harry said. "Amelia gave us permission to camp here for the weekend as long as we clean up after ourselves. There won't be any training sessions all weekend either so it's just us."

"Oh I wanted to come here after you told me about it," Hermione said happily.

"It's just a small hike that way to another nice clearing near the falls," Harry said, pointing. "And it's not a long walk to the Floo hub if there's an emergency or anything but it's very nice here. We're also on protected land so I really don't think there'll be any problems." He led the way and everyone followed.

"Well you sure are moving up in the world," Alicia said.

"What does that mean?"

"Calling the director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement simply by Amelia."

"She told me to! It's weird calling her Director Bones or Madam Bones when she's around Grimmauld all the time."

"And you rubbing shoulders with her in private! Just think of all the things you can get away with now, all the influence you have."

"You're being weird," Harry said, making a face.

"She is not wrong though," Daphne said. "The potential political power there is incredible."

"Right? All that power at his fingertips and he is probably one of the only people that won't take advantage of it. What a waste," Alicia sighed.

"Stop trying to turn him into some kind of political monster," Katie frowned.

"I'm just saying!"

"There's nothing wrong with showing some political pout," George said and he and Fred made identical pouting faces.

"Political pout?" Tracy looked confused.

"You know, when you pout politically," the twins said unhelpfully.

"I'm going to politically smack you both," Angelina grinned.

"Clout you mean," Fred said and dodged the swipe.

"Fudge does look like he suffers from gout come to think of it," Katie giggled.

"Not this again," Alicia groaned. "He who would pun would pick a pocket."

Harry jumped. "Katie!" he exclaimed with a red face.

"What, I'm just picking your pocket," Katie smiled and waggled her eyebrows at him, her hand in his pocket.

Hannah blinked a few times. "Wow, seeing them all like this is really jarring. I remember them being mostly intimidating and scary."

Ron nodded. "Hell, I lived with them in the tower and thought that."

To celebrate a good ending to their first European League season, Harry and Oliver wanted to do a big group event once more, including more of their friends. They decided to go camping and as luck would have it, a large portion of them were free for a weekend. Harry and Oliver agreed that a slightly closer and more accessible campground would be better this time with all the people and most of them having never camped before and luckily Harry got permission to be at the FireFalls training grounds.

It was the original team plus Luna, Hermione, Daphne, Tracy, Ron, Hannah, Ginny, and Neville. Like the first time they went camping, there was a mix of enthusiasm but all were excited to spend time with one another before they went back to their busy lives.

"Speaking of picking each other's pockets, I'm glad we got more tents this time," Fred snickered.

"There won't be any inappropriate behavior," George said severely, staring at his younger siblings.

Ron and Ginny made rude gestures while Neville and Hannah looked faintly embarrassed. "Including you?" Ginny snarked.

"Nope, I'm exempt."

"Don't worry. I won't do anything inappropriate so he kinda can't now," Angelina smiled.

"Boo!" George shouted as others laughed.

Harry looked over at Hermione. "You might want to start exercising a bit more."

Hermione glared at him, puffing a little. "I am perfectly healthy and get an adequate amount of exercise."

"You're also out of breath and having difficulty hiking," he said.

"I don't normally hike," she growled.

Daphne looked equally uncomfortable. "People do this for fun?"

"Yeah, can't we levitate our bags or shrink them or something?" Tracy asked, wiping away sweat.

"You won't get the full experience," Harry said.

Tracy gave Luna a look. "You look way too happy about this."

Luna was beaming, her smile from ear to ear and she bore her backpack with little difficulty. "I used to go on camping excursions with my dad a lot. We couldn't always use magic on the way because we went through Muggle places. I'm used to it."

Tracy, Daphne, and Hermione exchanged looks and pushed on, grunting from exertion.

They finally reached the campsite and dropped their packs with groans of relief. Hermione glared at Luna when her bag did not make a noise when it hit the ground. "Hey! Is that a feather-light charm?!"

"Why didn't we think of that?" Tracy groaned.

"I asked if I could and someone said I would not get the full experience," Daphne growled.

"I didn't say that, I'm kinda surprised I didn't think of it," Harry said.

Alicia snickered. "I didn't use that charm on my bag. I suppose some of us are just tougher."

"As if you don't have only clothing in yours and made Oliver carry the heavier stuff," Katie snorted.

"Tougher and smarter," Alicia said smugly.

They set up the camp together. There were three magical tents with expanded flat-like interiors. Oliver and Alicia were sharing the smallest one. The Weasleys and their significant others had a very large one. Harry had gotten a large one that could change the interior a few different ways and would be sharing it with Katie, Luna, Hermione, Daphne, and Tracy.

Hermione spent a long time exploring the interior. "I've gone camping with my parents and this is so much better than a regular Muggle tent. I definitely need to get one for us."

Alicia shuddered. "I don't know how you can tolerate one without the interior being like this."

"So what's next, setting up the outdoor kitchen?" Fred asked.

Harry smiled. "Help me stack up a bunch of materials but I think I got it handled after that. I couldn't do this the first time we went camping, but I think I can this time." He waited for everyone to move things about and after things were placed, he nodded. "Here goes."

He moved his wand in a series of complicated motions, incanting softly. A fallen log became a large kitchen style prep table. A pile of rocks became a deep fire pit and a stone oven appeared beside it. Another large stone turned into metal and became a grill, balanced perfectly over one side of the firepit. The largest rock shifted into a simple ice box and he filled the ice compartment with the water charm and elementally transfigured it to ice. With another wave, the debris was cleared away, leaving a very clean and well set up kitchen space.

"That's incredible!" Katie exclaimed and hugged him.

"Now that's putting your mastery studies to use," Alicia applauded.

Harry smiled proudly. "Thank you! Won't last too long but long enough over the weekend and I'll change them back before we go. It was a little easier with all the magic in the area from years of training that happens here but I think it worked a treat."

"That was really good," Hermione said with a big smile. "I wish I did a mastery of some kind now."

"You can always go back and do one," Daphne said. "Plenty of magicals wait until they are secure enough to do so."

"I'll definitely do that then." Hermione walked over to inspect the grill. "Matter change and shape change." She picked it up. "Wow, I never would have guessed otherwise."

"Professor McGonagall must be very proud of you," Luna said, just as proudly.

Harry looked up at the sky and noticed the position of the sun. "Oh! We have to go now, come on!" He started pushing people down a path. "Let's go, hurry hurry!" He led them at a fast pace.

"What's wrong?" Angelina asked as they hurried down the path.

"I don't want us to miss it!" Harry called back.

"Miss what?" Ron huffed and puffed.

"This!" Harry led them out of the forest onto the shores of the river and pointed up at the falls. The setting sun hit the waters and just like that time back when he was brought here by Pomfrey and led to the falls by Moody, the sunlight made the waters look like molten fire. The light traveled up the waterfall, making it appear like fire was rising up the cliffside. Then the top was fully illuminated by the crystal beneath and the entire waterfall splashed and burned.

"Oh my," Daphne gasped.

"This is beautiful," Hermione said in a hushed voice.

"This is why I wanted everyone to come here this time," Harry said.

Oliver whistled. "This is really something."

They stood in relative silence, listening to the crash of water as they watched the natural beauty. Katie wrapped her arms around Harry and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thank you for bringing us," she said softly.

He hugged her back, "Glad you're with me." After a moment he took a small bottle out of his pocket and set it down beside the waters. When the others gave him a questioning look, he looked solemn. "It's for a friend of a friend. Moody's friend used to love it here and he died during the first war. I asked Moody what his friend liked and he told me."

"That's good of you Sir Harry," Oliver said softly.

-0-

Darkness fell but the large fire kept the shadows back. An island of light shimmered among the sea of night, filled with happy chatter and laughter. Harry made a big pot of sausage and bean stew and made American biscuits once more. For dessert there was fire roasted fruit and a big bag of marshmallows for people to roast over the fire.

Ron looked at Luna when she poked his bowl of soup. "Looking for nargles?"

"No, but it is nargle free. I just wanted to see if it was any more exciting to poke your sausage. It's not."

Alicia choked, needing Oliver to pat her back to clear the stuck food. "I beg your pardon?!" she exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at Luna. Angelina, and the twins stared as well.

Harry, Katie, Hermione, Daphne, Tracy, Hannah, and Neville were laughing hysterically while Ron and Ginny shook their heads at a Luna that smiled demurely. "It's an old joke," Katie gasped, holding her sides.

"We had a fire roast during our sixth year and Ron raised a fuss about Ginny touching his sausage," Hermione giggled.

"Which I still don't know why it was unreasonable for me to concerned about," Ron groused.

"What were you doing touching Ron's sausage?" the twins asked Ginny, horrified.

"He was hogging the fire!" Ginny exclaimed. "If you leave your sausage lying about then it's your own damn fault if someone touches it!"

"It wasn't lying about! I had it carefully placed for maximum cooking potential!" He looked at an unrepentant Luna." "And weren't you supposed to ask Hannah before touching my sausage again?"

"I don't have a problem with Luna doing that," Hannah said, wiping her tears away.

"You're just giving sausage touching rights away like that?" Ron sighed. "I don't know how I feel about that."

"Just to Luna because I trust her," Hannah said soothingly.

"It's astounding what you get away with," Hermione said to Luna.

"I'm adorable," Luna said smugly.

"Yeah, you are," Harry said and kissed her forehead.

"Does she have the right to touch Harry's sausage?" Daphne asked Katie.

"Yup. Same with snuggling and licking," Katie said with twinkling eyes.

"I know what those mean separately but given the current context, I am deeply concerned," Alicia sighed.

"How have we gotten less mature since leaving Hogwarts?" Angelina sighed.

"Oh don't you pretend you're more mature. You laughed for a full minute when George ripped one the other day," Fred said.

"It sounded like he had a bullfrog in his pants!" Angelina protested with bright red cheeks.

"Oh I did have a bullfrog, well a new toy thing that croaks like a bullfrog," George said without any embarrassment. "Just so happened both things went off at the same time coincidentally. Besides, you tell me all sorts of things the Tornadoes do that you find funny."

"Oh and how's that mature?" Tracy asked cheekily.

A thunderous belch tore through the air and some people jumped at the sudden loudness of it. Everyone turned and gaped at Alicia who wiped her lips delicately. "What?" she asked when they looked at her with clear surprise.

"Hell yeah, that's my girl," Oliver gushed and kissed her cheek while everyone laughed themselves hoarse.

"So what do we do now?" Daphne asked as they picked at dessert.

"Well we could-" George started.

"No! Absolutely not! Not this time!" Alicia said severely, poking Harry in the side.

"Ow! Hey! I didn't say anything!" Harry protested.

"I still remember the hell you wrought last time we did this," Alicia scolded.

"What did you do?" Tracy asked.

"He told us some very scary Muggle ghost stories," Angelina said. "It made for a very stressful first night."

"Not my fault," Harry complained. "The twins made me do it."

"You can't blame everything on us," they said together.

"Why not?" Ron asked. "It's usually your two's fault anyways."

"What Muggle stories did you tell?" Hermione asked, interested.

"Something about a maniac with a hockey mask and a machete and an undead burned bloke with knife fingers," Oliver said with a light shudder.

"Jason and Freddy?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I'm surprised you know of them," Alicia said.

"My Mum loves horror movies. But they're characters from movies. They aren't real." Hermione turned thoughtful. "I mean, ghost stories aren't supposed to be real. Muggle ones anyways since there are magical ghosts and their memories are technically real."

"They aren't?" Alicia scowled at Harry.

"I mean, I didn't know they weren't either," Harry said weakly. "Though, I mean, I guess I should have eventually considering where I heard about them from."

"What does that mean?" Neville asked.

"I just heard the stories when I was younger and didn't really know any better," he said lightly. He felt better when Katie hugged him. He felt even better when Luna pressed into him from the other side.

Hermione and Daphne caught on and wore identical ugly looks, looks shared by the older ones. Ginny, Neville, and Hannah looked on with mild confusion for a moment.

"How about some funny stories instead? Oh Fred and George will like this one a lot but everyone will too. Wanna hear how Dora and Sirius' latest prank war got Amelia caught in the crossfire?" He soon had everyone howling with laughter as he described the mess that happened. How an escalation of pranks had culminated with Sirius jinxing the wrong toothbrush that made Amelia sound like a mouse. Which did not prevent her from incanting at all and Harry had been summoned as 'backup' from a cowering Tonks and Sirius.

After more funny stories, everyone went to bed. Harry laid in bed first, quiet with his thoughts. He grunted when Katie flopped over him. "Something wrong with your side of the bed?"

"You're not in it," she said and smiled at his chuckle. "I just wanted to lump on you and squish out the bad thoughts."

He smiled and kissed her. "Thank you," he said warmly. He moved a little, closer to the middle of the bed and he sighed softly as she relaxed on him, draping herself comfortably over him. "Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever…not feel bad about things back then."

"Sadly, I don't think so, but that's normal. You've gotten so much better though. You used to be frozen for longer, really getting lost in your thoughts but tonight you bounced back really fast." She nuzzled his neck with her nose and lips.

He relaxed more, equally from her touch and her words. "Thanks. That's good."

"Very," she said softly.

-0-

The next day was incredibly pleasant. After a large breakfast that meandered, they all split off to do all sorts of different things.

Neville, Luna, and Ginny explored the forest around them and Neville found lots of plants and seedlings he admired and cultivated. He then found a trail for him and Ginny to explore while Luna sketched the surrounding areas.

Harry and Oliver took Tracy with them and taught her how to fish. She returned later triumphant and chased a squealing Daphne around the camp with a very large specimen before Daphne returned the favor, chasing her around and firing stinging jinxes. Daphne and Hermione and Alicia spent the time chatting about magical theories and experiments while Angelina and Katie threw a Quaffle around for a while before pitching in and relaxing, chatting with Hannah.

There was a small incident when the twins were trying to prefect a new product, a biting boomerang to compete with the fanged frisbee. Ron had boldly declared that the twins could not hit him in the arse and they had, of course, proven him wrong. Ron, of course, retaliated and it resulted in Harry and Katie having to extract broken fangs and teeth from the three Weasley's rears while Angelina and Hannah and Alicia lambasted them.

"Okay, I can see the appeal in camping," Daphne admitted that night as she set her plate aside. "It is a lot more fun than I thought it would be."

"It's nice to get away," Tracy said. "Normally I'd rather stay somewhere nice and fancy but this has been a lot of fun."

"Thanks for letting us come," Luna said to the original team.

"Of course," Alicia said warmly. "It's nice with good friends."

"We'll have to try winter camping one day," Oliver said enthusiastically.

"In the snow?" Angelina said incredulously.

"Oh yeah! It's awesome, I've done it when I was little. Snowball fights, making castles and things. Drinking hot chocolate around the fire."

"You're doing that right now," Katie laughed.

"Oliver is the only person I know that drinks hot chocolate year-round," Alicia said, shaking her head. "It's terrible. Also, I am not camping in the cold."

"You don't know what you're missing," Oliver said.

"The cold. I wouldn't be missing the cold," Alicia sniffed.

"What's that look for?" Angelina asked with narrowed eyes when George looked up at the sky.

"Nothing," he said insincerely.

She glared at him and then at Fred.

"Something about cold feet," Ron said with a savage smile. "I told you I'd get you back for hitting me in the arse," he said to a betrayed looking George.

"You said I couldn't hit you in the arse! That's your own damn fault!"

Angelina grunted. "Fine, if you don't like my cold feet then you can sleep alone."

"Oliver's feet are always freezing," Alicia complained. "I'm glad I'm the shorter one so I can avoid them."

"Daphne's feet are like ice," Tracy said. "That'll wake you up real quick in the middle of the night." She shrieked when Daphne kicked her off the camp stool. "So cold!"

"You cannot feel my feet through my shoes and your pants!" Daphne shouted.

Neville and Hannah looked at each other and decided to stay quiet, especially when Ginny and Ron gave them sudden looks.

"I think I have the colder body temperature," Katie laughed. "I always cling to you because you're so warm."

"You don't hear me complaining," Harry smiled.

"Are my feet cold?" Luna asked, slipping them out of her shoes and putting them on Harry's leg.

"No not really."

Luna tapped her feet with her wand. "How about now?"

"Gah!" Harry shouted, recoiling. "Why?!"

"Because it was funny," Luna giggled while others laughed. Her smile disappeared and she shivered. "But now they are very cold." She gave him a pleading look.

"Absolutely not, you did that to yourself!"

She sniffled.

"Don't be mean to Luna," Katie chided him.

"I'm not," he protested half-heartedly. He sighed and patted his lap and Luna gleefully put her feet there. "I hope you learned your lesson," he said to her as he rubbed them.

"Freezing my feet means you will rub them back to warm," Luna said seriously.

"No that's not the lesson at all!" He gave a laughing Katie an exasperated look. "Look at what you're teaching her!"

"And I'm learning from her," Katie said. She tapped her feet with her wand and shrieked. "Ah cold!" She pushed her feet into Harry and sighed with relief.

"See, it's fun right?" Luna asked.

"What an upgrade," Harry sighed. "Instead of the Boy-Who-Lived, it's the Boy-Who-Warms."

"You sure are moving up in the world," Alicia said and their laughter filled the night.

-0-0-0-

diffident-serpiente - Many people underestimate Percy, to their detriment. I'm glad you still enjoy the stories and setting. I'm still enjoying writing them. I went on a spree this week and managed 8 chapters.

mwinter1 - Thank you.

D,J, Scales - Glad you enjoyed.

Mattyb4678 - Thank you for the high praise.

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Yup, you and a couple other people so the chapter sort of grew from there. Also it was a bit of an apology chapter to make up for Defiance.

alix33 - Hedwig is a hoot, literally.