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

Extended Family

Chapter 60 – Giving Potterluck

Takes place after Iris' birth.

"What are you girls doing?" Daphne asked as she walked up holding Heather.

Dahlia, Hailey, Hadley, and Melanie were sitting together in the triangle and drawing with crayons and colored pencils. Luna was there with them and helping them.

"Hurkeys!" Melanie exclaimed, holding up her piece of paper. A vaguely avian shape ran over blue grass under a purple sky. The shape was a delicately traced outline of Melanie's tiny hand.

Daphne smiled. "A very lovely hurkey. Are they something that is akin to a nargle or wrackspurt?"

"She means hand turkey," Hadley explained. "We traced our hands and are drawing hand turkeys!"

"Oh I see," Daphne said but privately did not quite understand. "Are they turkeys that look like hands?"

"I don't think so," Luna mused. "But I did not come up with this myself. Hermione did. We should ask her."

"Hermione, what nonsense are you filling the heads of children with?" Daphne said with mock severity as she watched the woman walk towards them.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione replied, frowning at Daphne. "What nonsense?"

"Do hand turkeys actually look like hands?" Luna asked.

"Oh that? No it's just a fun art thing for children to do around this time of year. It's more popular in the States because they celebrate Thanksgiving over there. I think someone once thought a hand looks like a turkey from the side because the fingers sticking up can be made to look like feathers."

"Aw, I assumed that was an actual breed of turkey," Luna sighed disappointedly.

"What's Thanksgiving?" Hailey asked.

"It's an American holiday," Hermione explained. "When people landed in North America, they gave thanks for the passage and the people who lived there shared their food with them. So every year around this time in November, families gather to share a big meal and to be thankful."

"I'm thankful every day," Dahlia frowned.

"That's because you're a good girl that doesn't take things for granted," Hermione praised, kissing her forehead. "I don't think people over there are only thankful on Thanksgiving, but that's the purpose of the holiday as far as I know. Some cousins of my parents live over there and have explained to us."

"Interesting," Daphne said, bouncing Heather a little. "Sounds pleasant."

"Why don't we celebrate it here?" Hailey asked.

"Never caught on I suppose," Hermione said with a small shrug. "Bit of a shame. One should be thankful for what they have often."

Heather began to fuss a little, wriggling slightly. Daphne smiled and turned to watch Harry walking up. "Your goddaughter wants to be held by you."

"Which one?" Harry asked with a large smile. "Oh the lightest one," he teased and happily accepted Heather who gurgled happily.

"Don't insinuate that your goddaughters are too heavy," Hermione chided with a big smile.

"Never! I'll always carry them no matter how heavy they get." He looked down at the drawings the girls showed him. "Hand turkeys are really cute. Good job girls."

"Can we have a thanksgiving?" Dahlia asked, eyes wide and bright.

Harry looked at Hermione for an explanation and nodded when she finished. "Oh I vaguely remember seeing stuff on the telly about that growing up. Well I never need a reason to cook something big and for all of us so sure. That sounds like fun. Are there traditional foods to make?"

"Yes, not sure if there are any recipes in any of the cookbooks we got you before," Hermione mused. "But Mum and Dad would know a little. I can certainly call their cousins for you."

"We can do a Potterluck," Luna suggested. "It's a bit unfair to have you do everything. Everyone can bring something on top of you making what you do."

"My what luck?" Harry asked, bemused.

"You mean potluck," Hermione smiled.

"I like Potterluck more," Luna disagreed.

"So do we," the girls trilled.

"It is a very good thing that your ego does not swell typically," Daphne smiled.

"With all you lovely ladies to keep it in line," Harry laughed. "But yeah, that sounds great! I'll go to your parents today, Hermione and see what they say."

The small girls cheered at the coming impromptu holiday.

-0-

"What's all this?" Katie asked, holding up the long piece of parchment. "Is that our grocery list?! Have we really been eating all this much?!" She looked down at Dahlia with horror. "Dally! We might need to go on diets!"

"Nooooo!" Dahlia wailed. "Diets are evil!"

"No one is going on a diet!" Harry exclaimed. He looked at Katie and Dahlia with even more horror. "My girls are perfect as they are!" He relaxed as Katie and Dahlia laughed their heads off.

"Where'd you hear that by the way, flower?" Katie asked, picking Dahlia up.

"Auntie Lyly said it to Grandma Sammy," Dahlia said, throwing her arms around Katie's neck.

"Oh right. Lyla was saying something about not fitting in her favorite jeans anymore and Mum told her to diet instead of enlarging them again."

"Is that why you got her those stretch pants and they came back and attacked you?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Could be," Katie admitted, giggling. She listened to Harry's explanation. "Oh that sounds like a lot of fun. Good idea baby," Katie kissed Dahlia's cheek. She looked down at the list of ingredients written out. "That's still a lot of things though."

"I thought I'd try to make all the traditional things," Harry said. "Jean and David helped me compile a list of the more common traditional dishes and with everyone else bringing something, we'll have plenty to eat. Which, with everyone coming, we won't run out of."

"It'll be a Thanksgiving Potterluck!" Dahlia shouted.

"Potterluck? Naming it after you now, are we?" Katie grinned.

"You know me, the raging egomaniac," Harry chuckled.

"I might have to stretch out your hats to fit," Katie giggled.

"Auntie Luna thinks Potterluck sounds better than potluck," Dahlia explained.

"Well, as Potters, I think we should agree," Katie said seriously. "Oh, Iris wants to get out of her crib."

"Can I go get her?" Dahlia asked.

"Yes you may. That's our good girl," Katie said and let Dahlia go. They watched fondly as Dahlia dashed off to Iris' room. "She's such a good big sister."

"Yeah she is," Harry said proudly.

Katie straddled Harry's lap and kissed him on the lips. "So, is the Potter luck still strong then?"

"You tell me," he said and kissed her back. "I thank my luck every single day ever since you decided to go out with me."

She blushed prettily and kissed him harder. "You're so cheesy," she sighed softly.

"You love it."

"I do. Think you're going to get lucky tonight then?"

"I'm already lucky," he said and smiled as Dahlia walked back into the kitchen, carefully holding a babbling Iris. "I've always been lucky with my family and thankful every single day."

-0-

Andromeda set her medical journal down and gave Tonks a wide-eyed look. "I beg your pardon. Repeat that?"

"Haha, real funny Mum," Tonks said, cheeks pink.

"I honestly cannot remember the last time you wanted to do anything in the kitchen that was not eating or tasting the food."

"Probably back when I was still at Hogwarts. But anyways, I wanted to try again and well, biscuits aren't that hard."

"They can be," Andromeda said with a smile. "What brought this about?"

"We're doing a Thanksgiving dinner thing at PotterLand, oh and you two are coming by the way, and we're doing a Potterluck and I decided to try and make something instead of buying something."

"Hey that sounds like fun," Ted said warmly. "Sounds great to me."

"PotterLand and Potterluck," Andromeda laughed brightly. "I know Harry would combust from embarrassment than make such declarations himself."

"We have a thing where we're trying to name our little community and make his head look like a strawberry," Tonks snickered. "He more or less accepts Potter Village but some of them are really funny. Fred's Barony de Potter is so far the fastest way to get Harry embarrassed."

"Of course, because it is French," Andromeda sniffed.

"Better not let the Delacours hear you say that," Tonks smiled.

"She and Apolline say worse things to each other," Ted chortled. "Especially when they get drunk."

"I want to get drunk with you two!" Tonks exclaimed.

"After you got me utterly inebriated at the Cauldron that one time? No, you are still on probation," Andromeda said, waggling her finger.

"That was years ago! Before Harry got married! You're still mad about that?! Daddy!"

"Your mother got very sick the next morning," Ted snorted from laughter. "And you know her, she hates getting sick."

"Blame it on your body and not on me!" Tonks grumbled.

"If I did that, then it would not be your fault," Andromeda sniffed.

-0-

"Hello Ron!"

"Hey Mum!" Ron hugged his mother, reaching over the bar to do so. "How're you?"

"Doing well. Just dropping off some things to the local potion store and picking up some supplies. Ah thank you dear." She sipped from the tea cup he put in front of her. "Thought I'd pop by and see how you were doing."

"Doing great. Business is smooth and steady. A bit brisk at night lately but good overall. Oh say, did Harry message you about the thanksgetting?"

"Giving I believe and yes. We are all going, Ginny and Neville as well. Will you and Hannah be able to come?"

"Yup! We have lots of people to cover the Cauldron now thankfully."

"Splendid!" Molly breathed a happy sigh and took another sip. "I'll bring some extra food to help cover for William and Charlie. Those two outeat the rest of you put together."

"Do not!" Ron looked disgruntled. "I can go plate for plate with them."

"Not with Charlie anymore. That boy eats like a dragon does I imagine."

"Probably why he likes them so much," Ron snorted and grinned when Molly gave him a disapproving look that was ruined by her own snort. "Besides, I don't think it'll be that much of a problem honestly."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I helped Harry bring some stuff to the village and let me tell you, food won't be a problem at all."

"That sounds somewhat ominous."

"It's bloody hilarious actually."

-0-

"What is this?!" Katie gazed at the large wrapped object sitting in the garden. It was larger than a car and wrapped in brown paper, tied with cord that was thicker than ropes.

Harry palmed his face. "So, uh, if you ever ask Linette for something, make sure you are incredibly detailed in what you ask for."

"What did you ask for?" Katie asked, gazing at the wrapped item with awe and trepidation.

"I asked for a very large turkey-esque bird that tasted good and could feed a crowd."

"That's a turkey?!"

"So she tells me," Harry sighed. "So apparently there's a breed of turkey, from the States no less, that's a lot bigger than a typical turkey. I think someone once tried to magically grow turkeys or something and some got loose into the wild. A few generations and this breed of giant turkey started showing up and they became a delicacy."

"Nothing about this is delicate. It's bigger than the Weasley's car! That…leg? Drumstick? That thing is ginormous! A troll would have trouble using that as a club."

"Yeah and Linette showed me a picture of the thing when it's alive. It's hilariously horrifying." He showed her.

"Dear Merlin," she breathed, seeing the gigantic bird prowling through trees. "It really is a giant angry turkey that can…bite a tree trunk in half. This is safe to eat?"

"Yup, it actually tastes pretty good. Linette had samples of it."

"How much did it cost?"

"A lot less than it should have considering it came from the States. But Linette only charged me at cost because she never got a chance to order a whole one before and she had a good laugh when I showed up. Everyone in Skye Market was waiting for me to come pick it up and everyone found my expression hilarious." He made the face and Katie laughed. "I'm going to save a portion for them too but yeah, something tells me we won't run out of turkey."

"How are you going to cook this?"

"I've been wrestling with ideas all day," Harry groaned. "I think I'm going to transfigure a field oven and spatchcock it."

"You're going to do what to it?!"

"You know what that word means! Stop laughing!"

-0-

"I thought you were kidding," Sirius remarked, looking at the large fire pit oven that Harry was transfiguring beside the Quidditch pitch. "You really are making a giant fire pit oven thing."

"When you see the bird, you'll understand," Harry muttered.

"Are you cooking a hippogriff?"

"You're not cooking a hippogriff!" Hadley gasped loudly.

"No sweetie, I'm not cooking a hippogriff," Harry said, patting her head. "Granddog Sirius isn't being serious."

"Yes I am. Ouch!"

"Thank you, Amelia," Harry sighed.

"Of course, Harry," Amelia said, slipping her wand back into her holster.

People gathered to watch as Harry levitated the very large splayed-out turkey gigante through the air and nestled it in the coals. More sweeps of the wand tented the bird in shiny foil and a large dome grew from the ground to cover the turkey in a very large cooking vessel. Harry checked the thermometer sticking out of the oven and tapped it. "There. Now we wait and see if it works," he said with a rueful laugh.

"Well out of all of us, you'd be the authority," Amelia said, shaking her head. "I've seen dragons smaller than that thing in there."

"Oh I saved you the head," Harry said. "Sirius told me you collect interesting skulls and it came in the packaging."

"Oooh thank you. The Bones family has a history of exploring and hunting and collecting trophies when possible and allowed. How does it look?"

"Ever get bit by an owl and think how much it would suck if the beak was a lot bigger and sharper?"

"Oddly enough, yes."

"Well this thing can bite tree trunks in half."

"Can I see it now?"

Sirius suppressed a light shudder, watching Amelia walk off with Harry. "So do you like that sort of thing too?"

Susan shook her head. "No but some of my cousins do. It doesn't bother me that much but for a while I hated going into the study at Auntie's home. I traumatized myself walking in there as a little kid looking for the bathroom."

"Did it become a bathroom when you saw the heads? Because the first time I walked in there, I might have done that."

"No comment," Susan smiled.

-0-

"That smells amazing," Samantha said when she and Thomas and Lyla appeared with Bailey. Her eyes widened as she looked out over the field oven. "Katie told me it was a big bird but I didn't think I realized what she meant by big."

"I said it was bigger than the Weasley's car," Katie said, handing Iris over to Samantha.

"And I just had to see it," Arthur said eagerly. "And I measured it and it is in fact, larger than our Ford Anglia."

"And it's normally that big?!" Lyla gasped.

"Apparently," Harry snorted. "Turkey gigantes are big, who woulda guessed."

"Oh no way, it's a gigante?" Charlie asked.

"You've heard of them?" Arthur asked.

"Sure have. Heard about them from some magizoologists from the States. They can get big enough to fight dragons. Some don't bother hunting them because they're vicious. Big claws and talons and like to fight."

"Are they safe to eat?" Thomas asked.

"Oh yeah. Hear they're good."

"How do people hunt them? Do they have natural predators?" Samantha asked, nuzzling a cooing Iris.

"Really only dragons hunt them but they fight each other a lot. Some packs of wolves go after smaller ones. But they're exceptionally stupid. So it's not hard to get them to accidentally kill themselves. Some say they drown because they look up during the rain."

"So marginally dumber than you then," Ginny remarked walking by. She shrieked when Charlie kicked her in the rear as she passed and chased after him while others laughed.

-0-

"Right, well, let's see," Harry said. He deftly removed the cover, undoing the transfiguration that created it. A cloud of fragrant smoke and steam billowed out and stomachs growled at the savory scent. He undid the foil and lifted the gigante out and gestured it to an overly large table transfigured just for this purpose. He tented it in foil once more and nodded thoughtfully. "It looks good."

"Smells incredible," Angelina praised.

After scraping up the fond in the comically large roasting pan, he made a rich turkey gravy in an almost comically large pot, assisted by Luna and Daphne. Finally he carved into the turkey itself and was pleased to see the meat to be fairly juicy. By then, everyone set their dishes on long tables beside the large turkey and all watched and chatted with another in anticipation.

"Well go on then," Harry laughed. "Help yourselves!"

"Hey, you have to give a grand speech or something first," Sirius said.

"If I must," Harry sighed. "Well, thanks for coming and contributing everyone. I'm glad we decided to do this and we have Hermione and David and Jean to thank for the initial idea and for the help in figuring things out. I'm thankful for all of you being in my life and making it rich every single day. I never thought my life could ever be this good and I'm grateful. Thank you so much."

"Thank you for having us and it is a privilege and a delight," Andromeda said warmly. "I cannot speak for others, but our lives have been enriched by yours. We are thankful for you as well."

"I think all of us can say that," Alicia said with a teary smile.

"Let's hurry and start eating before we make everything cold from crying," Harry laughed and the others joined in. Everyone filled their plates and sat at the tables and chairs that dotted the area beside the still smoldering oven. Its immense size and residual heat kept the chill away and everyone ate hungrily.

"It tastes a lot like regular turkey," George said, chewing away. "You can tell it's not regular turkey, it has a wilder taste to it, but it's still really good."

"Bet it'll make some really good sandwiches," Fred said and did just that with the stuffing and mashed potatoes as well. "You lot are going to be sick of turkey with these leftovers."

"Everyone is taking as much as they can carry," Harry laughed. "And this is after the big portion I put aside for Linette and Skye Market and for the Hogwarts professors."

"How would you do it differently next time?" Molly asked as she ate. "You said it took many hours of slow roasting with it in one piece like this?"

"If there's a next time with a full grown gigante, and that's a big if," Harry said to laughter, "I'd cut it up entirely and roast it in smaller portions. Smaller than quarters I think. Can you imagine how much longer it'd take if I left it whole without spatch-roostering it?"

"Spatch-roostering?" Oliver asked. "Oh you mean spatchc-ouch!"

Alicia glared at him. "There are children about."

"Some very large ones," Harry agreed, sighing while Katie laughed and laughed, her face turning bright red.

Eventually they finished dessert and even with everyone taking large portions of the gigante, the leftovers were formidable. Harry already made a temporary ice box and was going to figure out how to portion out the rest but that was a problem for a less full and tired Harry. He sat back in a chair and smiled, enjoying the waves of conversations flowing over him and watching the girls somehow run around with the pets and owls of the families.

"Brilliant idea love," Katie said as she slid beside him.

"Not mine entirely. But I'm definitely glad we did it. Should make a tradition out of it," he said as he hugged her close.

"Me too. Even with a gigante." She smiled at his mock groan. "Our families are only going to get bigger, you know."

"That's true," he hummed. He grunted when Hadley and Hailey climbed on top of him and kissed him soundly on the cheeks. "Aww, thanks bunnies. What's that for?"

"Mummy said we needed to kiss the chef," Hailey said.

"Well isn't that nice," he grinned and kissed them back.

"I'm not doing that but here's a treacle tart," George said. "Let it be a proxy."

"Fair enough," Harry laughed and took the tart.

"Be careful," Katie laughed as Dahlia crawled onto them, snuggling into Harry as well. "Don't put too much pressure on his stomach, Dally."

"This is fine," Harry said, snuggling the three girls on his front and lying against Katie. "Man, a warm source on your stomach when you're full is actually really nice."

"I told you," Tonks said.

"It really is nice," Angelina smiled.

Harry dozed off, tired from the exertion of cooking all day and an overly full stomach. He felt happy as he did, surrounded by those he loved and feeling safe.

Feeling thankful.

-0-0-0-

Imaginer.012 - I'm glad you enjoyed it and good to see you. Hope things are better for you. I don't fight with my siblings anymore. I have cultivated a very healthy fear/respect for them ever since I was little and it has lasted well into my adult years haha. Hope you and your sister are good and you are loved as well.

alix33 - She was headbutting her roost like she did the first time way back in the Weasley Weekend chapter. I don't think all magicals families only have kneazles and crups, hence Bailey being a Labrador.