Chapter Eight
The magical twins in question were also getting ready to close for the night when Dumbledore paid them one of his weekly visits, a visit in hopes of finding out if they had heard from Harry or not. Just like the week before they just sighed and delt with Dumbledore, "No Professor we haven't heard from Harry or Hermione since they left just over a year ago. Even if we had we wouldn't tell you, they deserve to live whatever life they are living, and you have no right to try and pull Harry or Neville back just so you can have your chess board complete. We are all just pawns in one big chess game against you and the Dark Lord and I don't know about the other pawns, but I am tired of being pushed around the board. Now if you don't mind Professor, it's been a long day, and we need to eat before doing inventory and the books before going to bed." Fred said as he shut the door on the headmasters face.
He then turned to George, not really saying anything but when you're a twin sometimes it's what you didn't say, that was just important. Turning off the lights, they headed upstairs to their flat and set about fixing dinner, they may not be great cooks like their mum, but they at least knew the basic's.
Since Fred was better at Potions, he was the main Cook, and George was on kitchen duty afterwards. While Fred was cooking George would get that days laundry started and dig out the accounting books for the shop and start to go over them. It was routine that they settled into once they disowned their parents, after all they couldn't go home for dinner or help with the laundry.
Just like Bill and Charlie they had to do things that Ron and Ginny took for granted, after all they were so far up their mum's ass they couldn't see straight. Ginny was still hell bent on finding Harry just so she could slip him a love potion to get him to marry her, then when he died fighting the Dark Lord she would be sitting pretty with her House Elves and Harry's fortune to keep her company.
Ron just wanted what was due to him, after all if it wasn't for him, Harry would have been a slimy Slytherin and firmly on the Dark Lords side. Ron thought he deserved some money for being the Chosen One's best mate, the one to make sure he was firmly on the side of the Light. Everything would be perfect it wasn't for one Hermione Granger, Ron did everything he could think of in his first couple of months at Hogwarts to keep that mudblood bitch away from Harry.
Except he didn't account for Harry's knack of saving people, she should have died when that Troll got loose in the school but instead Harry dragged him along with him to recuse her like some damsel in distress. Coming face to face with a Troll wasn't in the plans Ron had made for himself before he started Hogwarts, they weren't in the goals Dumbledore gave him when he gave him the task of befriending the Boy who Lived.
Dumbledore promised the two younger Weasley's all the gold in Harry's vaults once Harry died for the cause. When Ginny heard she could marry her Prince Charming as she saw Harry, she was happy a clam and willing to do whatever it took to accomplish it. Even drugging Harry with a love Potion or two and once she had him where she wanted him, she would then lead him to slaughter. Then she would play the part of the grieving widow perfect, holding off on getting remarried until her so called mourning state was over and then he would marry another Rich Wizard.
She had her whole life planned out to a T, of course she had been planning this since she was a little girl who dreamed of marrying the Boy who Lived. The only hitch in the plan now was finding the Boy who Lived and slipping him said love potions, that and getting rid of Hermione Granger. With her out of the way, there was no one standing in the way of what she and Ron wanted the most and that was Harry's money.
Life back in America was slow going for Remus, Dora was pregnant again and this time it was going to be a little girl he hoped to name Lillian Hope after the women who meant a lot in his life. Lilly Potter and his own mother Hope a muggle who married his father Lyall, a muggle who even though knew nothing about being a werewolf or even having magic did her best to raise him.
He lost his mother back in his fifth year at Hogwarts and his father just before graduation, even with all the magic at his fingertips he couldn't stop a muggle disease called Cancer taking his mother from him. His father was finally killed by Greyback after his father yet again did something to anger the violent Werewolf. This time instead of taking it out on his only son, Lyall was the target of a viscous attack that happened late one night just after Christmas break.
Lyall held on for months before dying from his injuries, he lived long enough to tell Remus that he was proud of the man he had become and was sorry for him becoming a Werewolf as a young child. Then Lyall died late one night leaving the house and surrounding Property to his only son Remus, who was still away at school.
Now that he was a father, he understood the sacrifices his father made to raise him, not many parents would have raised a werewolf for a son. They would have let Greyback have them instead and tried for another son to be their Heir, that is if they didn't already have a Spare to begin with. Sometimes Remus would wonder why his father didn't try for another son after he was afflicted, but at the same time it could have been his mother's failing health that kept them from trying for that Spare.
Remus was tempted into going into Magical Boston to get some prenatal potions for Dora since she was having such a hard time with this pregnancy and maybe grab a copy of the Quibbler while he was at it. Not that the Wizarding Wireless wasn't enough of a source to find out what was going on back home, he just felt the need to read it. Maybe to see if there was a clue about Harry's whereabouts or away to get a message to him, that is also if Harry still read the Quibbler in the first place.
It wouldn't due him any good to place an ad directed at Harry if Harry didn't read the Quibbler, it would just bring Dumbledore closer to his doorstep and that was something he or the Tonk's wanted. They had been a pretty good life up to that point and didn't need the headmaster to put his big nose in their business, like he had a habit of doing. Albus to many names Dumbledore had his hand into many cookie jars for their liking and didn't want his in theirs so to speak, Albus would just try to convince Remus it was good for the Wizarding Nation that Harry return to defeat the Dark Lord.
Remus knew that wherever Harry and Hermione were they were living their best lives and who was he to interfere with that. Maybe Harry found a nice Witch or Muggle to settle down with, maybe Hermione when back to school to become a teacher like she could have been if things were different back home and she had more opportunities awarded to her.
Being a Muggleborn meant she had to start at the bottom of the totem pole in anything she wanted to do, be it working in the Ministry or becoming a Teacher at Hogwarts. That was unless she was some how convinced to marry a pureblood, then she would be excepted to give birth to as many children as she possibly could. That's what Ron wanted her for, to be nothing but a broodmare for him and keep her chained so to speak in the kitchen, thank god she was to smart and got out before that could happen.
Looking over at his pregnant wife while she played with their young son, he thanked whoever he could for his family. He wouldn't give them up for the world, now if only he knew if Harry was happy then everything would be content in his life.
As the days went by time seemed to go fast, Mia was on cloud nine every night after work, Frank was working up the courage to propose to his girlfriend Queenie Kowalski, James was being allowed to skip a grade due to his performance in school and Pandora was getting closer to her teaching degree with every waking day.
Some would call her crazy, from working with a bunch of toddlers to going straight to night school so she could get her teaching degree so she could teach the older children. But she loved it and wouldn't stop for anything, even if her destiny were to walk in the door, she wouldn't give up. Her destiny would just have to understand that it's her passion and not to stand in her way, but she didn't need to worry about that, after all meeting her destiny was far off in the future.
Certain things had to happen before he walked into her life, some would think that the planets had to be aligned in Jupiter or that the stars had to be shining brightly but it wasn't anything magical that was to happen first. She just needed to be there to guide Mia to her own destiny and she was halfway there. Now with her 21st birthday approaching she was wondering what kind of things her friends had planned, she could find out if she really wanted to, but she thought that was cheating and didn't want to ruin whatever plans the five of them had come up with.
Conor and Murphy quickly became part of the group turning the foursome into a six pack, and once Frank proposes it will become seven. Queenie will fit in their tight nit group after all once Frank tells her his secret, she will take him back to New York to meet her family and reveal her own secret. After all she was named for her grandmother, who unknown to them fought in the war against Grindelwald back in the twenties. That was until she fell in love with a muggle baker and gave up her magic to be with him, it was something she never felt like she made the wrong choice in the matter.
After all, when it comes to matter's of the heart there is no wrong choice. Pandora knew that firsthand, she saw the love her parents had for each other up until the day her mother died. Even then her father's love for her mother was just as strong as it was at day one, she just hoped to find that kind of love in her own destiny.
She knew Mia had it, Frank had it, and someday both her and James would have it but until then she would help Mia and Frank with their love lives.
Frank was getting ready to propose to his girlfriend Queenie but first he needed to sit her down and tell her his secret and hope she didn't think he was crazy. So, he invited her out for a picnic in the park that way they couldn't be overheard, "Queenie there is something I have been keeping from you and since I have fallen so much in love with you it's about time, I told you, my secret. I am a Wizard; I won't tell you everything right now but someday I will tell you the whole story and how I came to live in America and why." He said as if he was asking her to pass the potatoes.
She just sat there in shock, she thought he was a normal Muggle or at least a muggle raised Squib, never in her life would she had guessed he was a Wizard, well if they were telling secret's she might as tell hers. "Frank, I have a secret of my own, now that I know you are a Wizard, I don't feel bad in telling you I am a Squib. My grandmother for whom I am named after was a pureblood American witch who fell in love with an American muggle who was a baker. They married in secret and had my father and his sisters; my father was born a squib, but his sister had magic. They went Ilvermorny in Mount Greylock, while my father became a baker like his father before him. My brother's take after our grandmother in having magic while I just take after her in looks, that's why I am named after her.
"While some families would disown squibs my grandparents didn't care, after all they didn't expect to have children let alone four. My own mother is a muggle and my brother's are going to Ilvermorny themselves along with our cousin's the Scamander's. Rolf is my age and currently taking after his grandfather as a Magizoologist, he is currently somewhere over in Europe hunting for more creatures to add to his collection." Queenie said as she stared at Frank.
Frank just started laughing, leave it to him to fall in love with the granddaughter of the Famous Queenie Goldstein, Pandora and the other's are going to have a field day with laughter when he tells them. "Oh Queenie, I thought your name sounded familiar, but I just thought it was unique. Never in a million years did I think I was falling love with a Squib let alone Queenie Goldstein's granddaughter. Now I can ask you this question and hope your answer will be yes, since you know half my secret. I promise that someday I will tell you the rest but its not just my secret to tell, it belongs to Pandora, James, and Mia as well. I would need their permission to tell it to you plus about a dozen oaths of secrecy. It's not that I don't trust you, I just have people looking for me back in England and they will do anything to find me." Frank said as he proceeded to get down on one knee.
"Queenie Kowalski, would you make the happiest Wizard in the world and marry me?" he asked. Queenie just sat there in silence, this was the last thing she expected when she woke up that morning, she thought they were just going to see Romeo and Juliet in the park followed by a picnic lunch and maybe a walk around the lake.
Knowing she owed him an answer she took a deep breath and said "Frank I would love nothing more than to marry you. But first you need to pass the family test, if you can pass my father's and grandfather's inspection then I will gladly marry you."
"When do we leave, I mean how soon do you want met to meet your family? I would introduce you to mine but they don't know where I am at, and you know the other's that I call family anyways." Frank asked as he slipped the ring on her finger, after all he wasn't worried about her family, they were going to love him.
With Queenie Goldstein being her grandmother, telling the rest of his secret just got more important to him, he needed to talk to the other's before meeting her family, that way he could tell them all at once and not have to repeat the secrecy oaths. Maybe he could even get his Gran here to America along with his parents, after all American Wizards work closely with their muggle counterparts when it comes to medicine.
He needed to sit down with Mia first after all this whole thing was her idea in the first place and if she agreed then he would slip down to Wizarding Boston and write his Gran. He would tell her to pack up his parents and bring to America for a better chance of recovery, he also would tell his Gran all about Queenie and how much he loved her.
