I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
Extended Family
Chapter 115 – The First Rebellion
Takes place after chapter 97.
"Hey Hermione, question for you."
"Sure, how can I help?" Hermione said, looking up at Angelina.
"What exactly are you teaching the bunnies right now about rebellions?" Angelina asked, completely serious.
"You are doing what?" Daphne asked, looking slightly incredulous.
"I didn't mean to teach them about rebellions per se," Hermione said, flushing a little. "It sort of came up."
"How did it come up?" Alicia asked.
"I was teaching them a little about Goblin culture and history and one of the lessons I was teaching remarked that it was a consequence of one of the inter-clan rebellions in the 1500s," Hermione explained.
"You taught them about the Schism?!" Daphne frowned. "They should not be learning about that at this age!"
"I glossed over most of it! I only talked about what a rebellion was in the broadest and most technical of terms!" Hemione said loudly.
"Which one was the Schism?" Angelina asked.
"The one where the ruling Goblin clan was broken in half due to a succession in leadership due to infidelity. It wiped out two of the leading clans at the time and basically ensured how the United Kingdom's Gringotts branch would always be a little different compared to Italy's." Alicia rolled her eyes at Angelina's blank look. "We learned about it in school."
"I forgot, obviously," Angelina snorted. "The reason I mentioned it was that I overheard the bunnies talking about it."
"About the Schism or about rebellions?" Alicia asked.
"Rebellions in general. They were making a list of things they found worth rebelling over," Angelina said and she and the other women laughed.
"That is adorable," Daphne said. She gently shifted Heather to her other shoulder when the baby snuffled. "And I am glad I do not have to worry about Heather doing that right now."
"What was on the list?" Hermione asked.
"No pudding at least every third night was close to the top."
"That's actually reasonable," Alicia snorted.
"No flying at least every few days too." Angelina smiled proudly. "Those are our girls alright."
"Let me guess, something related to Harry was at the top," Hermione smiled.
"Not a hard guess," Angelina laughed. "Yup. If they don't get a hug or snuggle with Harry every day is grounds for rebellion."
"I suppose that's reasonable too," Alicia laughed.
-0-
"Okay Hermione, we really need to go over your lesson plans," Alicia said seriously.
"Oh what now?" Hermione asked.
"I had a rather interesting conversation with my daughter about what constitutes civil versus uncivil disobedience," Alicia said with hands on her hips.
"What? Why?" Katie asked, smiling from ear to ear.
"Apparently she wanted me to define what is civil and uncivil when it comes to disobedience," Alicia said crossly.
"Hey! That's not my fault! That's your daughter acting like her mother," Hermione protested.
"First of all, thank you, that was sweet of you to say," Alicia smiled. "Second of all, I certainly didn't teach her the phrase civil disobedience!"
"And it's my fault somehow?" Hermione looked and sounded offended. "I'm not the only person that teaches the girls things! Tonks works for law enforcement; she could be the one that taught them that!"
"If Dora taught them about it, they would know exactly what uncivil disobedience would be," Katie snorted.
"Luna too! She's the rebellious free spirit," Hermione insisted.
"She's not wrong," Angelina said.
"Okay, fair, but did you teach them about civil disobedience?" Alicia asked.
"Maybe," Hermione confessed. She crossed her arms when Alicia glared and Katie and Angelina snickered. "I'm not teaching them anything inappropriate! It's good that they're curious."
"It is," Alicia agreed, sighing wearily. "It's just not something I thought I'd ever have to talk to my child about at this age. Not to mention being asked to define it exactly, concerns me."
"Our girls are really well behaved," Katie soothed.
"Most of the time," Angelina snorted. "And I'm the one with the most obvious trouble-maker."
"Mine is the subtle one," Alicia said proudly. She looked at Katie. "And yours is the one that keeps their wilder impulses at bay."
"It's so weird that mine does that," Katie laughed. "I was worried she'd be like me and Lyla, we were brats."
"Harry's influence I'm sure," Hermione smiled.
"Yup! But like I was saying, the girls are generally well behaved. They haven't done anything really bad, aside from the time we found out that they learned how to go through the Floo alone and that was before we moved here where them ending up at someone's house unannounced or unknowingly is a lot less scary," Katie said.
"That's true," Alicia conceded. "Very well."
"No no, you wanted to inspect my lesson plans." Hermione reached into her briefcase and pulled out a very large binder and dropped it in front of Alicia. "There you go, enjoy."
"You put that much effort into planning out what you teach the girls?" Angelina looked at the large and full binder with astonishment.
"It's fun," Hermione sniffed.
"We underpay you," Katie laughed.
"I mean, I'm keeping everything for when it's the turn for the other kids," Hermione said. "Less work in the future."
"Aww, you were planning on doing that for them too?" Angelina hugged her when she nodded. "We definitely underpay you."
"Making Alicia follow through with her threat will be a good start to a new down payment," Hermione smiled slyly.
"Go on then," Angelina said, poking Alicia.
"Hoisted by my own petard," Alicia groaned.
-0-
Like most rebellions, it started with a cinder, a tiny ember smoldering almost completely unnoticed.
"Why are you wearing that dress?" Hadley asked when Hailey stomped up to them.
"Because I have to," Hailey grumbled.
"Why do you have to?" Dahlia asked.
"Because it's a gift from my great-grandmum, Mummy's mummy's mum." Hailey sighed and looked down at it. "I don't like pink and it's really weird."
"It does look kinda old-fashioned," Hadley said.
"We went and visited Mummy's family and Great-Grandmum was there and she gave me this dress and made me wear it. She got upset when I said no thank you because I didn't like pink and how it looks and Mummy got mad at me and said I had to wear it for her."
"That's not very fair," Dahlia said indignantly.
"That's what I said! I was being honest," Hailey sighed.
"So why are you wearing it now?" Hadley asked.
"I'm being stubborn," Hailey grumbled. "If they force me to wear it then I'll wear it all the time."
"That doesn't make much sense," Hadley said.
"We can try and make it fun," Dahlia said. "Let's get our weirdest looking dresses and wear them too."
"Oh, that would be more fun," Hailey said, brightening.
"Sure," Hadley agreed readily. "I have that weird pale pea-green dress I can wear."
"I'll wear the dress Nana Andi shrunk for me. The really stuffy purple one," Dahlia smiled.
"Thanks girls," Hailey said as they ran off together.
"Of course," Dahlia and Hadley said together.
-0-
"Uh, why is our sprog still wearing that dress?" George asked, looking out the window.
"I don't know," Angelina huffed. "She threw a fit when we told her to put it on, and now she won't change when she can."
"She also convinced Hadley and Dahlia to put on dresses too," George observed, watching the bunnies playing in the Triangle playground.
"Oh my goodness," Angelina said, standing up and walking to the window to watch alongside George. "Wow, that is a very odd shade of green."
"Oliver bought it I'm sure," George snorted. "And where did Dally get that? That looks like a miniature version of something my great-aunt Muriel would wear."
"Probably something of Andromeda's," Angelina smiled. "I should tell Hailey that it could be worse, as far as dress style goes."
"That'll go well," George snorted. "You know that when we were told something like that, we hated it."
"True," Angelina sighed. "At least she's got good friends willing to share the experience."
"They're good girls," George said happily.
-0-
Katie looked up from her paperwork, watching Dahlia walk past and waved back when Dahlia waved. "Why is she wearing that dress?"
Harry shrugged. "Something about 'sartorial solidarity'."
Katie snorted. "They pick up the weirdest vocabulary." She peered out the window. "Oh, it's not just Dally. They're still wearing the dresses from yesterday."
"I thought Hailey didn't like pink," Harry said.
"She doesn't, that dress was a gift from Angelina's grandmum." Katie shook her head. "Don't know why she's still wearing it if she doesn't like it. Wait, I have an idea. Probably her being stubborn."
"A daughter of Angelina and George being stubborn?" Harry gasped theatrically. "You don't say!"
Katie laughed merrily. "Right? Well, sooner or later, she'll stop wearing it."
-0-
"Okay bun, enough is enough," Angelina sighed. "I thought you didn't like the dress."
"I don't!"
"Then why are you still wearing it?!"
"Because you said I had to!"
"I didn't mean forever! It's been days!" Angelina leaned down for an experimental sniff. "Are you getting it cleaned somehow?"
"Auntie Luna casts a cleaning charm for us every day."
"Thank goodness for that at least." Angelina crossed her arms. "Are you going to really be stubborn about this?"
Hailey crossed her arms. "Maybe. Do I have to wear it again in the future or whatever else Great-Grandmum wants me to wear even if I don't like it?"
"Oh you are too young to be doing this to me," Angelina groaned under her breath. "You know what the answer is to that."
"Then I guess you know what the answer is to this!"
She fought down a wry smile. "Fine! If you want to be that way, wear the dress or nothing at all. Your choice."
"Fine!" Hailey stomped away.
"I love you!" Angelina shouted after.
"I love you too!" Hailey shouted before stomping out the door.
Angelina rubbed her temples and looked at Alex and Abby in their play area. "Please don't do this to me when you get older." She sighed when the twins noisily passed gas and summoned her mirror. "Layla Johnson," she said.
The mirror's surface shimmered and Layla appeared. "Hello love," she said, smiling. Her smile grew at Angelina's facial expression. "Oh boy, I think I know why you're calling. Please share."
Angelina recanted what happened and then ground her teeth when Layla laughed loudly and for a long time. "Real nice, Mum."
"Oh I'm just enjoying you getting what you did to me," Layla chortled. "It sure is sweet."
"Any advice for me aside from you enjoying my misery?" Angelina asked, smiling wryly at her mother's amusement.
"If she's anything like you, and she is very much like you, you can try negotiating."
"I don't remember you doing that for me," Angelina said indignantly.
"Because you don't negotiate! Besides, it sounds like Hailey is being nicer. When Mum gave you your first dress, you cut about half of the dress off because it got in the way of you playing. Mum was furious."
"Oh right, I did that." Angelina rubbed her forehead. "Is it too late for me to apologize for what I did to you?"
"Never, but it won't stop me from enjoying it," Layla smiled.
-0-
"HADLEY ALISON WOOD!" Alicia shrieked.
"Uh oh, she's mad," Hadley said with remarkable calm.
Alicia came running to the Triangle. "Why are you running around in just your knickers and underthings?! Why are the three of you doing this?!"
"Sartorial solidarity," Dahlia said with much dignity.
"What does that mean?!" Alicia cried.
"Mummy said I either wore the dress or nothing at all," Hailey said rebelliously. "So we decided to not wear the dress."
Alicia groaned and pulled on her hair. She grumbled something under her breath.
"Oh we should ask Auntie Hermione to teach us French," Dahlia said, recognizing the language. "Or I can ask Tante Fleur."
"Girls, put on some clothes," Alicia said firmly. "Now, please."
"I was just doing what Mummy said," Hailey grumbled, pulling on the pink dress.
"And we're being good sisters," Hadley said, giving her mother a look as she fastened on the green dress.
Alicia sighed, watching Dahlia struggle to put on the purple dress and smiled a little when Hadley and Hailey helped her. "Yes you are but aren't you taking this a bit too far?"
"No," the trio trilled and they scampered away, leaving Alicia to shake her head.
That evening, the three families ate dinner together outside and Alicia glared at the bunnies as they bent over something, whispering in quiet tones. "I swear, they're going to turn me prematurely grey."
"They're smart alright," Oliver said proudly. "Maybe a bit too smart."
"They're planning something," Angelina said, frowning. "I know they are."
"This isn't our fault, is it?" Harry asked, concerned. "We let them get away with a lot. Are we being too lax?"
"I don't think so," Katie said, patting his leg. "I mentioned this to Mum and she said me and Lyla did something like this when we were little so I think it's normal, the whole kids pushing against their parents thing and seeing what they can get away with."
"They're a lot less disruptive than when me and my sibs were kids," George said.
"That's not saying much," Alicia snorted.
"Right! Saying we should be thankful," George chuckled.
"Well, it can't get any weirder," Angelina sighed.
-0-
Harry dished bacon onto the towel to absorb the excess grease, tossing a piece to a waiting Hedwig. She caught it easily, chomping happily, making Harry smile. He heard Dahlia walking down the stairs and his easy smile turned into a confused smile when she walked into the kitchen. "Morning flower," he said.
"Morning Daddy!" Dahlia said and hugged him. "Morning Hedwig!" she said and hugged Hedwig who bonked her head against Dahlia's, barking happily. She then climbed up a chair and opened the cabinet and started taking plates out.
"It's not going to be that cold today," Harry said, watching her readjust her parka. "It's summer actually, aren't you a little hot?"
"A little," she admitted, "but this is what we're wearing today."
"Ah. Uhm, what did AngieMum say to Hailey yesterday?"
"She said we can wear anything we want, but not the dress and no more running around in knickers and nothing else." She started setting the table. "So we made a list of what we were going to wear on what day."
"Right." Harry summoned some parchment and a quill and ink. He wrote out a runic array and tapped it with his wand. Then he stuck it to the inside of Dahlia's parka. "Here you go, flower. A cooling runic array. Should keep you from overheating and here's two more."
"You're the best Daddy!" She pulled him down and kissed him on his cheeks. "Be right back!" She ran out of the home, leaving a bemused Harry and an amused Hedwig behind.
-0-
A few days later, the cinder became an inferno.
Harry had been sitting in his chair, cuddling with Iris. She had been chewing on his fingers and he did not look up when he heard the pattering of running feet. "Hello girls," he said without turning.
"Hi Daddy! Hi Papa Harry!" they said back but kept running.
He almost looked up at that. The girls almost always stopped to hug him no matter how many times he saw them. The only time they did not stop was when they were actively running from something. As he was about to look, Iris burped and threw up a little, diverting his attention once more. By the time he cleaned her up, he had forgotten about it and settled back in the chair, humming softly to a cooing Iris. Eventually they fell asleep together, him holding her securely and her napping on his chest. Katie's voice woke him and he blinked slowly. "Wha?" he said sleepily.
"Sorry love," Katie said, smiling at the sight. "But I wanted to ask you something. Do you know why the bunnies barricaded themselves in Dally's room?"
"They did what?!" Fully awake, he got up, still cradling Iris. "They ran in earlier but I didn't stop them or notice anything amiss." He followed her upstairs.
"They barricaded themselves in the room and refused to come out," Katie said.
"They're not hurt, are they?" he asked worriedly.
"No, and I can easily open the door and go in if need be but I was curious." Katie knocked on the door. "Okay bunnies, Daddy's with me. What's going on?"
"We're rebelling," Dahlia said through the door.
"You are? About what?" Harry said, deeply confused.
"I have to wear another dress again and I don't want to!" Hailey said indignantly. "And Mummy said I can't rebel like I did last time and so I'm rebelling now!"
"And we're helping!" Hadley said.
"We already did our chores for the next few days and we have our schoolwork with us," Dahlia said. "And we'll help with dinner but we're being disobedient and civil."
Harry looked at Katie who had her hands over her mouth to hide her laughter. "At least they're being polite about it," he smiled.
"And we're rebelling here because Papa Harry always helps," Hailey said stoutly.
Harry's heart thumped and he could not stifle his grin.
"Do your parents know?" Katie asked, her heart full of love.
"We left letters," Hadley said.
"Oh I think they found them," Katie said when she heard two very loud voices yelling full names in the not-far distance.
"Vive la resistance!" the bunnies yelled defiantly.
"Ooh I wonder who taught them that," Katie said as she and Harry walked down the stairs.
"Hermione, Luna, or Fleur really, Aimee and Colette too," Harry chuckled as Iris wriggled against him. "Not Dora though, they would've shouted something a lot ruder if they learned from her."
"She is driving me batty," Angelina said when she and Alicia walked into the living room. "And Mum is no help! Every time I say something she tells me what I did before and that to her, it's a lot better than what I did! And the worst part is she's not wrong!"
"Danielle finds it amusing as well," Alicia sighed. "She only had boys who beat the crap out of each other so she thinks this is refreshing."
"Our Mums love it," Katie laughed.
"I didn't tell Sirius because otherwise he'd be here helping them," Harry snorted.
"So what do we do?" Angelina asked, rolling her eyes. "This has been going long enough. Don't get me wrong, I love that the bunnies are together on this but it makes it a lot harder. And it's really annoying that they're technically doing what we said so we can't exactly ground them or punish them over it either."
"Maybe they'll stop on their own? They can't last that much longer, can they?" Harry laughed at the identical looks on the former Chaser trio. "Never mind, they probably could. In that case, we should get professional help."
"In terms of what?" Alicia asked. "Our respective parents aren't helping at all! They're enjoying our suffering."
"The other kind," Harry smiled. He reached for his mirror. "Ted Tonks."
"Harry!" Ted said happily through the mirror. "And Iris! Hello hello!" He waved jauntily to a gurgling Iris.
"Hi Uncle Ted," Harry smiled. "Do you have a minute?"
"Of course! What can I do for you?" His look of sudden concern became genuine amusement and by the time Harry finished sharing the latest events, he was chuckling richly. "Andi's been keeping me in the loop and it's wonderful. The girls are so smart."
"Too smart," Angelina sighed.
"I have a light afternoon. I'll come over when I finish to conduct negotiations," Ted said.
"We'd appreciate it," Harry grinned. He had Iris wave goodbye to her god-grandfather who waved back merrily before leaving the mirror call.
"I really hope this does not become a regular thing," Alicia said, shaking her head. "Requiring an actual solicitor to come by for negotiations with children."
"The bunnies are a lot like cats," Katie said. "Very specific on procedures and formalities in a way."
Alicia shuddered. "Good thing they are not in Society. They would cause the system to crumble and gain many enemies."
"Thank Merlin for small mercies," Angelina said with utter sincerity.
-0-
"Well, we have terms," Ted said.
He had come that afternoon, still dressed in his work attire, and had met with the bunnies to discuss and negotiate. After a fairly lengthy meeting, he had come down the stairs to where the mothers and Harry were waiting. Layla, Danielle, Samantha, and Andromeda had come one by one while the meeting was happening to partake in the fun.
"Oh splendid," Alicia said sarcastically. "Pray tell, what are they?"
"First, the bunnies have made it clear that they want to be a distinct recognized entity and that they maintain the right to be civilly disobedient in the future when the need is there."
Katie and Angelina and Alicia groaned at the same time in the same way, something that amused the older mothers to no end.
"Any hope on negotiating on that?" Angelina asked weakly.
"I'm afraid not, it was number one on their list," Ted said.
"Did you help them put it at number one?" Harry asked idly.
"I mean, I made suggestions and they didn't have to listen to me," Ted said, making the younger mothers groan again and Andromeda beamed at him.
"Right, what's next?" Alicia asked wearily.
"Second, they want the right to 'veto sartorial confinement as dictated by anyone not in the immediate family unit'."
"They did not say it like that," Katie protested.
"I might have legalized the wording a bit to make it sound more official and impressive," Ted smiled.
"Equal voting weight?" Alicia asked.
"No," Ted said, looking impressed. "Nice catch."
"If it was, then the whole clause would be moot," Alicia snorted. "Let me guess, one of their votes outweigh any single one of our votes?"
"All but one other person's," Ted said.
"Harry's?" Katie asked. She snorted when Ted nodded.
"At first it was one to three but I managed to negotiate it to one to two," Ted said.
"Our children are holding us over a legal barrel!" Angelina complained. "How did this happen?!"
"Harry love, do you have any popcorn?" Layla asked. "I'm really craving some popcorn right now."
"Oh actually yeah, I'll make some right now," Harry said, passing Iris to Samantha and going to the kitchen.
"I'm not accepting the one to two weight vote," Alicia said. "I will go as far as to say we will be more lenient and are willing to be more flexible but this village is not a democracy!"
"We are in the United Kingdom," Danielle smiled. "Is it a monarchy? Or a theoretical monarchy?"
"With Harry as king?" Samantha asked, giggling.
"Nah, Hedwig as Queen," Harry said as he brought over bowls of popcorn and Hedwig, seated on her throne which in this case was Harry's head, nodded regally.
"I didn't vote for her," Angelina muttered.
"I think I can make that work," Ted said, writing on the parchment. "You might have to accept equal weighted votes for all though, just warning you."
"Fine, what else?" Alicia asked.
"That's it actually. They made some suggestions for things up for discussion but I advised them to stick to the principle matters at hand to maintain weight and to lend further credence to future rebellions and negotiations. Oh and I'm to be the official arbitrator and negotiator when normal negotiations fall through." Ted looked very proud of himself. "The bunnies trust me to be objective and fair."
"Fine," Alicia sighed.
"Alright," Angelina sighed.
"Sounds somewhat fair to me," Katie sighed.
Ted went upstairs to broker the good news and came back down with the bunnies in tow, all wearing the dresses that started everything.
"Let me guess, Oliver got her the dress," Danielle sighed, pulling Hadley into her lap.
"It's weird green," Hadley said.
"It is and I'm sorry," Danielle laughed.
"Okay, I'll admit, this one is even more old-fashioned than the ones Mum gave you," Layla said. "Now that I'm looking at it more closely."
"Told you," Angelina grumbled.
"Where did you get this?" Samantha asked, looking at Dahlia. "That looks like ball gown dress robes!"
"They are," Andromeda laughed merrily. "A very old set of mine. I was doing a spot of cleaning and Dally was helping and she liked it so I shrunk it down for her."
"I like them but not for wearing a long time, it's been hard wearing it for days," Dahlia said. "They're stuffy."
"I had to wear robes like that all the time," Andromeda said, nodding at Dahlia's look of horror. "Even when I did not have to be formal. So I completely emphasize with you running about in underthings only."
"I thought they would be a lot older before they got into the rebellious phase," Alicia said later, watching the girls play with their grandmothers.
"At least it ended well enough," Katie smiled. "And hope it doesn't happen all that often."
"Why do I have a feeling you Cursed us by saying that," Angelina sighed.
-0-0-0-
odonnellzoo99 - The whole chapter came from the idea of Hedwig teaching them how to dance and it grew from there. I literally had no idea past the dancing and it just came out and I thought it was a lot of fun. That and I wanted Fleur and Aimee and Colette have some fun.
poka - Thank you. Extended is my comfort fic right now. I can essentially take a random thought or idea and somehow manage to work out a chapter with a large chest of characters and situations. It's rather satisfying and I'm usually happy with how the chapters turn out.
alix33 - Hedwig is a very good dance instructor.
Jimbo99 - Thank you, I'm grateful you enjoyed them. I generally have a bank of two or more chapters and I will typically update at least once a week for Extended Family. I am not taking requests at this time, I hope you understand. Thank you.