Chapter 75 – Giving them some intel

OoO

Two weeks had passed since the karaoke bar, and neither Harry nor Andy tried to talk to me about it. They tried to in the beginning, but I just ignored their questions. I was cleaning CJ and Teddy's room while the boys played outside. Ever since our move here over 2 months ago, the boys were inseparable. They played, ate and slept together. There was another room available, but the boys refused to be separated. It was amazing to watch them together, they copied each other's hair and eye colour, they're even starting to talk in sync with one another.

As I levitated the race car bed, I cleaned the floor with the mop. As the bed started to float down, my cell phone rang. I flipped it open to reveal a text message from Lee. We had exchanged a few letters over the week, and I gave him my cell number since it was easier and faster than through owl.

Hey, Jenny.

Don't forget, The Tricycle at two ;)

Lee.

Of, course I haven't forget. There's a reason I was cleaning the whole upstairs. Trying to keep busy and my nerves at bay until the time came. I jotted down a quick reply before I finished cleaning the boys' room and went to get ready.

"CJ!" I called through the garden where he was playing with Teddy. "It's time to go!"

"Coming!" He called back. He put his little shovels in his bucket in the sandbox and ran over with Teddy on his heels. "Can Teddy come with?"

I kneeled in front of the two boys. "Harry will be here any minute now." I turned to Teddy. "Harry and your grandmom are going to take you to the Weasleys."

"Why can't you come with us?" Teddy asked with his puppy eyes.

"Because we're meeting up with an old friend of mine."

"Will you come next time?" He tugged my hand slightly.

"We'll see." I kissed the top of his head. "Let's go inside, Uncle Harry should be here any minute." I stood up as the kids raced by me. With a smile, I followed them inside the house. Andy was tugging on her shoes when Harry arrived through the fireplace.

"Hello, handsome." I smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Hey, gorgeous."

He was wearing his auror robes, I raised a single eyebrow at him. "Are you going to the burrow dressed like that?" I chuckled. "Trying to impress someone?"

Harry huffed a laugh. "I wish. No, I just came from work, have other clothes right here." He lifted the bag in his hand. "When are you meeting with Lee?" He asked glancing at his watch.

"Now, actually." I looked over my shoulder. "CJ, honey." He gave Teddy a tight hug before walking over. I smiled at the two boys before he took my hand. "We'll see you tonight." I kissed Andy's cheek and the top of Teddy's head. "Are you staying for dinner, Harry?"

"If it's not too much trouble." He grinned.

"You're always welcome, Harry." Andy smiled as she picked up Teddy.

"Great, dinner for five then." I smiled. "See you tonight." I squeezed CJ's hand, and we popped out of the house.

OoO

We apparated right into the indoor playground. It was a wizarding playground, only opened about six months ago, by none other than Angelina Johnsson and her husband.

"Welc-" Angelina gasped a little as she saw me. "Gwen?" She choked out.

I smiled as I neared the desk. "Angelina, I didn't know you'd be here."

"Well, I do own the place." She rounded the counter and to my surprise she hugged me.

"I know." I chuckled. "But I thought you were still playing quidditch."

"I'm on a sabbatical for the next three years, since I gave birth to Liliane last year."

"Congratulations, Angelina. With your daughter and this place." I looked around. "This is amazing."

"Thanks. I didn't know you were back."

"Oh, we've only been back a month or two."

"Mummy." CJ tugged my hand, and I glanced down. He was looking at the playground with amazement, practically jumping to run in.

"You go play, I'll go sit on the side right there, okay?"

"Okay, mummy." And he was gone, already jumping into the first ball pit he could find.

"He's beautiful. He looks just like Cedric."

"Yeah." I smiled as he threw the balls in floating rings. "He is just like his daddy."

"Let's get you a seat and some drinks."

Anglina went to grab some drinks while CJ was roaming around the large playground. Angelina placed two drinks on the table and sat down across from me, her wedding ring glistering in the lights.

"Married and a baby, much has changed, Angelina."

"It all went fast." She chuckled. "He's a quidditch journalist, that's how we met. We dated for a year before we married, six months later I was pregnant."

"Wow, that's really fast." I laughed. "Are you happy?"

"Extremely."

"Then I'm happy for you."

"How are you?"

"I'm good. It took a while but I'm good." I searched the place, and my eyes found CJ immediately. He was going over a slide, that zigzagged from left to right, his laughter filled the place.

"And are you happy?"

I couldn't help but huff a laugh. "Happy..." I mulled the word over in my mouth. "I'm happy with CJ, I'm happy to reconnect with my friends, I'm happy to have Andy, Teddy and Harry."

"Harry?"

"He found me in Australia three years back. We stayed in contact, and we've become great friends."

"What about the twins? George?"

I winced and I took a sip from my coke. Angelina watched me intrigued. Before I had a chance to reply, not that I really had one, a voice spoke behind me.

"Well, would you look at that! Guinevere Northon and Angelina Johnsson, together!"

I rolled my eyes, and Angelina snickered. I tilted my head until I saw Lee standing behind me. He gave me a lopsided grin and I jumped up. My arms flung around him and he held me close. Angelina smiled as she let us be and walked back to the counter. His afro tickled my nose as I buried my head in his neck. We stayed there for a long moment, neither of us wanted to let each other go.

"Merlin, I've missed you." I said as we finally pulled away and I wiped the tears away.

"I've missed you too, Jenny." We sat down close to each other, I leaned against him. "So, your kid?"

"My son, CJ. He's-" I looked around the place. "On the trampoline, right there."

"He's-"

"The spitting image of Ced, I know."

We watched CJ jump around on the trampoline for a while, then Lee broke the silence. "So..."

"What do you want to know?" I asked as I turned towards him.

"Everything, but maybe start at the beginning?"

"Alright. I was in a bad place after the battle -" And so I started telling him. I started at the moment I left, at how I felt and why I had to do it. I told him about the CJ, Australia and the travels after. I didn't tell him about the addiction, I didn't see it was necessary. "We've moved back two months ago."

"Why now?" He finally spoke, never interrupting me while I talked about the past four years.

I breathed in deep and gazed over the playground. "I wanted more stability for CJ. And I finally was ready to come back, to see everyone again. I've missed so much, I've missed everyone so much." Lee took my hand in his and squeezed.

CJ came over breathing heavily, a large smile on his face. "I'm thirsty." He gasped.

"Here you go, sweetie." I laughed and handed him a glass of water. "Not too fast." He drank slowly and put the glass back down on the table before his eyes flittered to Lee.

"Uncle Lee." He said and wrapped his arms around his legs. I laughed at his surprised face, and he pulled him up to his lap. "Mummy talks about you."

"She does? Nothing too bad, I hope." He winked at me.

"That you're funny and you knew mummy since she was my height."

"Even shorter." Lee smiled at my son.

"Will you climb the wall with me?" CJ hopped off his lap and pulled his arm. Lee chuckled and followed him to the climbing wall. I watched them for a moment, Lee and CJ laughing and whispering to each other as they played together. I grabbed my camera out of my bag and took a few pictures of the duo.

OoO

Harry, Andy and Teddy floo'd over to the burrow. Harry felt nervous about seeing the twins, afraid they might have told the others about Gwen and what had happened. When they appeared in the living room, Teddy ran over to Victoire and started helping her build a house with the blocks. Bill, Fleur and Ron were sitting on the couches. He could hear people talking inside the kitchen.

"Hey, mate." Ron greeted.

"Hey, Ron. Bill, Fleur." He kissed the French woman's cheek.

"We better head inside. Everyone is already here, and mum's done with lunch."

"We got held up a little." Andy smiled as they walked to the kitchen, the two kids already inside. "Teddy wanted to go somewhere else."

"Weasley's Sunday brunch not excited enough for a four-year-old?" Bill chuckled.

Harry and Andy glanced at each other before she said. "No, it's not that."

"Andromeda!" Molly greeted her happily. "How are you?" She asked as they hugged.

"I'm good, Molly. You?"

"Family is happy and healthy, then so am I." She turned to Harry and gave him a bone crushing hug. Over Molly's shoulder, he saw George and Fred staring at him, their faces hard. Hermione was tucked into Fred's side, and Harry wondered if she knew. "Sit, sit. Lunch is ready." She ushered them to our seats and Teddy climbed on his lap. Harry ate in silence as the others talked around him, all while during he felt the twins' eyes on him. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Bill spoke to him.

"So, Harry, Ron told us you've been texting and talking to someone on the phone a lot." Harry shot a glare at Ron, who ducked his head, avoiding his eye.

"That's Aunt Winnie!" Teddy piped up with his mouth full of potatoes.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetie." Andy said, while the others, expect for the twins, chimed. "What?"

Harry and Andy glanced at each other, before turning to the Weasleys and Hermione. "Gwen is back. She's staying at my place with her son."

"CJ's my best friend! We sleep in my cool race car bed together." Teddy directed their attention to him but not for long.

"She's back?" Hermione gasped, so she didn't know. "For how long?"

"Indefinitely." Andy said. "She's looking for a place of her own, but I keep cutting out the listings. I like that she's staying at the house." She smiled. "We both lost someone significant, and we can talk about it together, it helps. And besides CJ and Teddy are inseparable by now, that's why he didn't want to come. He wanted to go with CJ and Gwen."

"Where were they going?" Hermione asked.

Harry risked a look at George and Fred. "They're meeting with Lee at The Tricycle."

"So, she's been staying at your place... for how long?" Fred asked.

"About two months."

"Two months?" Fleur breathed and several mouths dropped open.

"Why hasn't she reached out?" Molly asked.

"She wanted to take small steps. She's afraid." Andy said as she glanced to George.

"Afraid?" George spoke for the first time.

"Afraid people would be mad at her for leaving." Harry continued. "I asked her to come to the burrow, but that nearly send her into a panic attack."

Harry saw Fred and George share a look before they paled. The room went silent as they all took in this new information.

"How come you knew? And why do you text and call her, you didn't really know her." Hermione asked with a frown.

"Remember when we went to Australia to find your parents?" She nodded, so he continued. "I found her there." He felt all eyes on him, but he focussed his attention on the boy on his lap. "She wasn't in a good place back then. It was just a coincidence that I found her. I won't go into specifics, it's her story to tell if she wants to, not mine. She asked me not to say anything, just to tell you I've heard from her through a letter. We kept in touch after that, I had seen her two times since then, on Teddy's birthday."

"She came over then?" Ron asked.

"She came over when everyone left. They stayed a night or two and we went to the zoo or the playground with the kids." Andy said.

"I knew she was coming over, but I didn't know she was staying. I was really surprised to see her sitting in Andy's garden when I came over, CJ was flying with Teddy in the garden. It was the first time I've met him."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked a little accusatory and Fred started to fidget beside her.

"It wasn't my place to tell, Hermione. She's my friend and she asked me to keep it quiet."

"A friend?" George asked.

"Yeah, a friend. A great friend, but just a friend." Harry said looking him in the eye, until he ducked his head. Andy patted his shoulder softly and shot him a warm smile. "She's probably telling Lee about now, but did you know she visited the shop a couple of weeks back?"

The twins head shot up and looked at him with large eyes.

"She went in disguise." Harry's focus was on the twins, although he could feel everyone's eyes on him. "She first saw Lee, thinking she was a new costumer, he wanted to show her around. Then you showed up." He looked to George. "And wanted to take over. She was starting to panic already, getting overwhelmed. When she heard Fred call from the back, she muttered something about her stove or dishwasher or something and ran out."

"She had left her iron on." George whispered. "That was Gwen?" Harry nodded. "It was such a weird thing to say, Lee and I didn't really understand what had happened."

"That was two weeks before the karaoke bar."

"Wait!" Bill spoke up, holding his hand in the air as he frowned in confusion. "Didn't you two go to a karaoke bar?"

The twins nodded in unison. "We saw her then, on the stage singing with Harry." Fred said. Hermione frowned at her boyfriend but didn't say anything. "We were in shock really, seeing her after all this time. In a pub in London no less, with Harry."

"What did you do?" Hermione asked, linking her fingers through Fred's.

Fred glanced from their intertwined hands to George. "We left."

"You - you left?" Fleur asked shocked.

"It wasn't our proudest moment, but we were in shock you know. After their song ended, she bumped into us, and we just left without saying a word."

"Please tell me you wrote to her after? Or tried to contact her?" Fleur frowned when the boys looked down at the table. "Mon dieu." She shot up so quickly her chair fell to the ground. "I'm going to write to her. I know it was a shock for you, but you know what she's been through! You are a few of the closest friends she had."

Harry stood up and handed her a note. "You have a cell, right? Just text her, she knows we're telling everyone today, so she expects a message from you."

"Thank you, Harry." She took the note and walked out of the kitchen.

The twins looked down at the table, looking a little ashamed. Arthur cleared his throat as he tried to redirect the conversation.

"Andy, Harry, can you tell Gwen that she and her son are welcome to join us next Sunday."

"Any Sunday for that matter. Bash told us they barely had contact with their parents for the last few years." Molly chimed in.

"I'll tell her, thank you." He looked at Teddy, who looked confused at the whole conversation. Harry's head was pounding from all of the questions. "I think we better head home." He glanced to Andy, who nodded. "We'll see you next week."