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

Extended Family

Chapter 64 – Scared Stiff

Takes place after chapter 50.

"Protection and defense obviously. Stone and earth for stability and to shore up the protections." Hermione looked over the runic array she and Harry made together. "Why did you include lake?"

"Absorption," Harry said. "To diffuse."

"Oh that's a good idea," Hemione hummed. "Plus it's also a stabilizing factor as long as we separate it from earth. We can use sun to tie them together."

"That should work," he agreed. They finished writing out the array on parchment and he stuck the parchment to a post. "Alright, go for it."

Hermione pointed her wand and cast a stunning spell at the parchment. The runes flared brightly and the spell dissipated without damaging the post or the parchment. "Diffuses quite nicely. The parchment isn't showing any damage. Your turn and make it something stronger."

Harry shot burning sparks into the parchment followed up with a Shocking Jinx. The runes shone even brighter and the parchment wrinkled a little but no damage was done to it or the post once more. "I think that works."

"Especially since everyone else won't have their wands," Hermione said, looking satisfied. "We should still move everything breakable out of the room however."

"Do you think that this is a really bad idea given how much work we're putting into this?" Harry asked wryly.

Hermione half-shrugged and giggled. "I mean, yes and no. It'll be a lot of fun I think and we want to make sure nothing bad happens. It'll be worth the effort and at least we can reuse this in the future."

"How's it going you two?" Jean walked into the garden and handed two glasses of water to them.

"Going well, thank you," Harry said, accepting the glass and drinking. "I think we managed to work out the major protections for the room."

Jean clapped her hands. "I'm so excited!"

"We know Mum," Hermione smiled. "You've been talking about nothing else for days."

"I know, I've been the one talking," Jean laughed. "Thank you for going through all the effort dears."

"You're welcome. I'd feel super bad if we accidentally damaged anything," Harry said.

"Oh I found this by the way." Jean walked back to the house and revealed a large fluffy pink pillow.

"Mum!" Hermione cried, snatching the pillow away.

"That's Hermione's hiding pillow," Jean said to a bemused Harry. "For her to hide behind when things got scary."

"Not a word Harry," Hermione said, mock glaring at him.

"I've only a few words," Harry laughed. "Adorable comes to mind." He ducked as she swung the pillow at him. "Oh hey, that's an idea actually. What if we put absorption and attraction runes into pillows and handed them to the others."

"To take in accidental magic like a lightning rod. That's a really good idea!" Hermione beamed. "That'll work nicely and help provide more protection."

"Can I have one?" Jean asked.

"You don't have bouts of accidental magic," Hermione sighed.

"No but if it will let me wallop you here and there with impunity, then that'll come in handy," she said seriously.

Harry laughed again. "I'll make sure you get a nice big one."

-0-

"Hello Daphne!"

"Hello Mrs. Granger!" Having been a more frequent visitor since their first time, Daphne felt much more comfortable around Jean, enjoying the fond embrace.

"I see you come well attired," Jean smiled.

Daphne twirled on the spot. "These sweats are very comfortable, thank you so much!"

"Mum got jealous of us and we got her some and she wears them a lot too now," Tracy smirked.

"Mother sniffs at us but I believe she is jealous as well," Daphne said with grim amusement.

The Floo flared and more people came walking through, careful to gather up the soot and ash to keep the home perfectly clean. "Thank you for having us," Alicia said and offered a wrapped bottle to Jean.

"Of course, thank you for coming," Jean smiled and greeted all the guests. "Harry and Hermione are finishing the protections in the television room. Follow me!" She led Alicia, Angelina, Oliver, Daphne, Tracy, and Luna into the room. "No twins today?"

"No, they couldn't get away from the shop and didn't want to close early for the first of summer sales," Angelina said. "And Katie couldn't come over of course, she's incredibly busy in France still."

"We're pretty lucky that the League just ended the regular season," Oliver said, "or else me and Angie and Harry would probably be neck deep in practice and things right now."

"Seriously, I'm still exhausted," Angelina chuckled. "Congrats by the way, Puddlemere being first this year!"

"Thanks! Did you see the final top three rankings? We were within points of each other. Tutshill almost took second this year."

"I knew we'd have to play a lot harder once Rabbit joined the League," Angelina said proudly. "I'll take third, we hammered Wimbourne and Falmouth hard to take it. Portree deserves second."

"Enough of the Quidditch talk," Alicia sighed. "I get enough of it as it is!"

"Oooh, this is lovely," Luna said as she walked to a piece of parchment stuck to the wall. "This is a very nice runic array."

"Hmm, why is there lake?" Daphne mused, looking over Luna's shoulder.

"Stability and diffusing I imagine," Luna said, "as in water."

"Oh yes, I believe you are right. Must be Harry's idea," Daphne said.

"Hey! You're not wrong, but still," Hermione said, looking up from the ground around the television and shooting Daphne a look.

"Why did you two put up so many runic wards?" Tracy asked, looking around.

"To prevent any accidental spells and magic from doing a bit of damage," Harry said, finishing applying the last of the parchment pieces.

"Do you expect us to be throwing spells around like that?" Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, considering there really isn't anything like horror movies per se in the Wizarding World, we didn't want to take any chances," Harry said seriously.

"We have scary stories," Angelina said.

"But movies are quite a bit more than stories," Hermione said. "Everyone, please put your wands on the table here and grab a pillow."

"Ooh snuggily," Alicia said as she hefted one.

David came walking into the room while everyone was getting situated. He set drinks and snacks down on the table with a flourish and grinned at the others. "You lot are in for an experience."

"Why are we watching scary things by the way?" Tracy asked.

"Because Mum loves horror movies," Hermione said. "And they can be fun here and there."

"Plus when I heard you lot have heard of Jason and Freddy tangentially, perhaps you'd like to see their mythos in action," Jean said. "And to give Harry a bit of closure." When she had heard how the original team had been terrorized by stories of Jason and Freddy during a camping trip, she had found it hilarious. When she learned that Harry had been told stories of the characters, fully thinking they were real, as a cruelty inflicted by the Dursleys, she had been furious.

When she talked to Harry about the theme of a horror movie night, she was more than willing to avoid those movies for him. Touched by her care, Harry decided he would like to watch the movies and see if he could put his fears to rest.

"Well," Oliver said, dragging the word out, "not a bad idea I suppose."

"They're not that scary, are they?" Alicia asked, a hint of hesitation in her voice.

"No, not that scary at all," Jean said soothingly.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Why'd you do that?" Harry whispered.

"Because Mum thrives on horror movies and she's comparing them to all the ones she's ever watched and they might pale in comparison to the really scary things, but that doesn't diminish the fact that they are scary," Hermione whispered back.

"Oh boy," Harry said.

They all got comfortable and David started the first movie before settling in his chair with Jean curled beside him.

"Why are we watching Friday the 13th Part 2?" Luna asked. "Shouldn't we be watching part 1?"

"Because Jason doesn't show up until this one," Jean explained. "You only need to know that in the first one, he was more of a rumor and someone else was responsible for the going-ons."

They started watching and the sudden death of the first character and the appearance of the severed head made them all shriek, clutching their warding pillows tightly.

"That's it, budge over," Angelina said and pushed Alicia aside.

"Hey! What gives!"

"You have Oliver here! I need Rabbit protection!" Angelina squeezed between Alicia and Harry and pulled him to her. "Katie would say he needs to protect me more so there."

Luna clung to his other side, burrowing into him.

They continued to watch with differing levels of enthusiasm. Each new fatality and sudden attack caused flinches and groans.

"Yeah, you weren't wrong Sir Harry, he's like Flint only uglier and with more muscles," Oliver said once Jason appeared in his full terrible glory.

"Ugh, this is grotesque," Daphne said at the later messy death of one of the characters. "People like watching this?!"

"It's called slasher horror," Jean explained. "Gorey and violent but there's something about having the dread of something following you and attacking suddenly."

"This is all fake, right? Like it doesn't or didn't happen," Tracy asked.

"I mean, there are some really sick people out there but the movie is fiction yes, why?" Hermione replied.

"Just saying, how are there so many Muggles about if you get killed whenever you try to shag?" Tracy asked with remarkable sincerity.

Luna peeked over her pillow. "What does shagging have to do with how many Muggles there are?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Daphne said, red-cheeked but waving her pillow threateningly at Luna. "You have to know where babies come from. You are not that naïve."

Jean clamped a hand over her mouth, furiously fighting her laughter while David did the same. The others stared at Luna.

"The worst part is I don't know if she's being serious or not," Alicia muttered.

"I'm pretty sure she's having us on right now," Harry chuckled.

"Just trying to ease the tension," Luna said before squeaking at Jason slashing at another victim, hiding behind her pillow once more and squirming into Harry.

"Gosh, names really do have power huh?" Angelina said at the movie's end. "We know a Ginny that would wreck someone like that Ginny did."

"Yeah, seriously," Oliver said. He shuddered. "Okay, having watched the movie, Jason doesn't seem that scary. You can stop him. I bet any of our spells would stop him cold so he's not that bad."

Hermione scooted away from Alicia a little. "Why are you glaring at me like that?"

"Because this was your idea! Scary movies are fun you said! If I have trouble sleeping tonight, you will pay the price!"

"Might want to save that after the next movie," David chuckled as he started it. "I personally find this one to be way more scary."

Luna squeaked and tried to hide behind Harry once more as the movie started.

"Ugh, you undersold how bad he looked," Angelina said weakly when Freddy Kruger appeared on screen.

"That jumper is hideous!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Yes Daffy, focus on the jumper. Not the burn scars or the bloody knife finger glove thing," Tracy said scathingly. "But the jumper! That's the problem!"

"It is, look at that thing!" Daphne said angrily.

"Looks like Caerphilly colors," Oliver grinned.

"Oh thinking about it in relation to Quidditch does make it less scary now," Alicia gulped. She shrieked as Freddy clawed someone gruesomely. "Okay, maybe not!"

They watched in terror as the victims were chased in their sleep.

"I hate this," Tracy groaned. "I love sleeping! It's one of my favorite things! Ruined!"

"Calm down," Daphne said, hugging her. "There are only a very few specific things that can hurt you in your dreams like that."

"There's a Japanese creature called a baku," Luna said, her voice muffled as she had refused to look out from behind the pillow and Harry since the movie's start. "It can enter your dreams and eat them."

"Okay, perhaps there are more than what I thought," Daphne said weakly.

"It eats your dreams, but not you, right?" Tracy asked nervously.

"There's conflicting accounts," Luna said.

"Great," Tracy huffed.

"Okay see, you can stop him too," Oliver said when Freddy was dragged into the waking world and stumbled through traps.

"I'm not convinced that he isn't slightly magical himself," Alicia said, her voice muffled by her pillow. "Transfiguring himself, legilimency, other things." When Kruger dissolved when faced by Nancy's bravery, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, he relies on fear, so a Patronus will sort him out," Angelina said with relief.

The ending made them shriek as they realized that Freddy was not as gone as they thought. Hermione squawked when Alicia leaned over Oliver to belabor her with her pillow. "It's not real!" Hermione shouted, fighting back.

"I don't care!" Alicia said. "I'm not going to sleep for nights because of you!"

"Nothing a sleeping potion won't help," Oliver said unhelpfully and received a pillow to the face for his troubles. "Maybe a Calming Draught too."

Jean chuckled. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Oh! I mean," Alicia flushed bright red, "I enjoyed spending time with everyone and watching things is certainly a treat. I suppose I'm not the best at scary things however."

"Next time we can watch romantic movies," Jean said. "There's plenty of those and I'm sure we can wash all the scariness away."

"Oh that sounds delightful," Daphne sighed.

"There's some nice comedies and action movies too," David said, winking at Oliver and Harry.

"I wouldn't mind watching a romantic movie," Harry mused.

"You? Really?" Tracy asked, astonished.

"I've only read part of one romantic novel so far but it was kinda fun."

"You did?!" Angelina looked at him surprised. "When?"

"Hermione left it out in our common room and I picked it up and started reading it," Harry said. "It was really interesting but when she saw me, she snatched it away and wouldn't let me borrow it anymore."

"Of all the books I have, that's the one you showed interest in," Hermione groaned while everyone burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you didn't let him finish it," Jean giggled, hand over her mouth.

"A romance novel that makes Hermione Granger blush, I must know what it is," Daphne said.

"I'm not telling," Hermione snapped. "It's mortifying!"

"We all have guilty pleasures," David chuckled.

"Do you remember what the cover looked like?" Luna asked Harry. "If you describe it, I can draw it and we can go looking for it."

"No more movie nights!" Hermione shouted to more laughter.

"Hey, our home, our television system!" Jean smiled.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Hermione moaned.

"Hey like Mr. Granger said, we all have guilty pleasures," Oliver said genially. "I've been getting more into fishing lately and actually picked up Muggle books on fishing."

"He wakes up early to play with his rod," Alicia sighed.

"Sure do," Oliver winked.

"Tracy likes to read the fashion monthlies," Daphne smiled.

"So do you!"

"I've picked up embroidery," Angelina said with a shy smile. "It's actually kinda fun to sit and work on something fiddly like that here and there." She glared at a giggling Alicia. "I'll sew your lips together."

"See? You're in good company," Jean said, patting Hermione on the hand.

"I'm still not telling what the book is," Hermione grumbled half-heartedly.

"I never thought I'd see the day where Hermione would refuse to talk about a book," Alicia sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't blame her, it was pretty saucy," Harry grinned. He soon found himself pushed over onto the ground with Hermione trying to smother him with a pillow.

"Hey that's familiar, but usually someone else doing it," Angelina laughed.

"Ah memories," Alicia sighed gustily.

-0-0-0-

Arnie1701 - It's fun thinking of silly names for the neighborhood.

alix33 - Little Tracy might have been a little unrealistic.