December 20, 1992

"Okay, so Ivy and Remus will be back tomorrow, and we're going to the Lovegoods' for Christmas, and… oh, that might pose a problem… oh, and then there's the Malfoys' party, which we can totally skip if you want, and then… What are you smiling at me like that for?"

"You're looking much better than you were before. I was starting to worry about your sanity."

"Thanks, Luna."

December 21, 1992

"Ivy, meet Luna. Luna, this is Ivy."

"It's nice to meet you, Ivy."

Remus nudged Sirius. "Is it just me or does it look like Ivy has hearts in her eyes?"

Sirius smirked. "I'd say so."

"No, I mean literal hearts. Wait, what did you do?"

"It's a rather nice effect, don't you think?"

"No need to look so smug, Remus," Harry said with a scowl.

"Told you," Remus replied. Alright, so maybe his smile was a little smug…

"How did you know she'd like Barty so well anyway? They've never met. You have barely met him. You dumped him on us and left."

Remus shrugged. "We wrote."

"You wrote… What exactly did you write about? 'How not to be a death eater?'"

"Among other things, yes. Mostly about you, Ivy, his hopes that you might decide to take over the world… Things like that."

"Well isn't that just bloody fantastic," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Yes, it has been working out quite well I'd say, wouldn't you?"

Remus didn't try to hide his smug smile or the chuckle at Harry's eye twitch.

"…kept trying to tell it to go lick Linus, but it wasn't very good at listening, and that's why everyone knows I'm a Parselmouth now. Oh, but Thomas made me keep Hilda a secret."

"Hilda?"

"The basilisk, remember?"

Sirius nodded. "Right. And Thomas knows because…"

"Because he was with me when I met her. Oh, but he did say he would talk to Percy, and then I can tell Fred and George and maybe Neville. He said it needed to wait until next term though. Oh, and Draco knows."

Sirius gulped. "Yes, well, listen to Thomas. Maybe it's not such a good idea to go telling everyone about the basilisk?"

Ivy shrugged. "I won't. He said some people might try to kill it. Wouldn't that just be awful?"

Sirius could think of other ways to describe it, but let it be. At least the basilisk had proven useful. Still, this was a bit of a contrast to Harry's own basilisk adventure. He really hoped Ivy knew what she was doing. Actually, he really hoped that Thomas knew what he was doing, and that Ivy could somehow be convinced to keep listening to him.

December 25, 1992

"Are you sure you're alright with going? It's okay if you're not, you know."

Luna smiled at him in the "you're adorable" way she did sometimes. Or at least that's what he hoped it was. It was possible that it was more of a "you're sort of an idiot but it's okay because I like you" sort of look. Although if she thought he was adorable and an idiot he would still take that.

"Was it hard to see Sirius?"

"What? No. Why?"

"Why not? You watched him die, and then you saw him here."

Luna was as blunt as ever. Merlin, Harry had really missed this.

"Well, it wasn't my Sirius, you know? I mean, yes, it's Sirius, and I love him, but they feel… I don't know… Different? I… Oh."

Luna smiled. "You love them both, but you recognize that they are different, even for all their similarities. I think it'll be the same way seeing Daddy here."

Harry nodded along. "But, so soon, and…"

Luna squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Harry. But it will be fine."

Harry exhaled. "If you're sure," he said, squeezing her hand in return.

"Yes," was all she said in reply.

"Okay, we all ready to go?" Sirius's voice came, followed shortly by the fast chatter of Ivy and Barty. Remus too eventually followed, and soon they were on their way, a rather odd mix of people ready to spend Christmas with the Lovegoods'.

This will be fine, Harry thought to himself a few times between his home and their destination. It will be fine.

Surprisingly, given most of his past life experiences, it was, in fact, fine. Pleasant, even. There had been that brief moment of panic when Xeno told Luna (older Luna) that she looked just like her mother, but everyone not already in the know seemed to take the fact that there were two Luna Lovegoods in stride. It had taken exactly four minutes to decide exactly how it was all going to work. Luna would keep her name, and she would be claimed as a Lovegood cousin. Other details such as her origin, the fact no one had ever heard of her, the fact that the two Lunas shared a name and a birthday (since Luna was insistent on keeping hers the same, and why hadn't Harry been able to manage that?), and the fact that she really did look just like Luna only older, well… Those other details were deemed mostly unimportant. No one else seemed concerned by them, so Harry decided to just enjoy the day and work out details with the goblins later.

Speaking of goblins…

"So, would Monday work to go to Gringotts? It might help if you are there," Harry said, speaking to Xeno, "to properly claim Luna as a relative and all."

"Yes, Monday would be fine. I'm sure the girls would enjoy meeting with their friends as well."

Ivy turned toward younger Luna. This was going to get confusing fast. "Are you friends with Bogrod and Gornuk too?"

Ivy's Luna (yes, that would work) looked back at her. "No, I don't think I've met them. Maybe you could introduce us? I do know Griphook and Ragnok though."

"Oh, can you introduce me?"

"Of course."

Harry smiled. It was so nice to see everyone getting along so well.

There was something seriously wrong going on here. How else could Harry talking so nonchalantly about visiting the goblins be explained? And when the girls spoke about meeting each other's goblin friends, Harry had smiled. Smiled. Definitely something wrong here.

It was a while though before Sirius was able to get an answer out of Harry.

"Harry, why are you suddenly okay with going to the goblins?"

"It's Luna," Harry replied, as if that explained everything.

Sirius sighed. Perhaps it did.

December 26, 1992

"Why are we going there again?"

"Ivy insisted she see her brother."

"She has a brother?"

Remus gave Barty a side-eye. "Didn't you read the letter I sent you? The one clearly outlining the Weasley family?"

Barty scoffed. "Of course I did. But you never mentioned they were related."

"Oh, they're not."

"Wait a minute, you just…"

"Remember what I told you about Longbottom?"

Barty shot him a scowl at the mention of his third least favourite name (coming somewhere after Crouch and Lestrange). "Yes, I remember what you said about Longbottom," he said petulantly.

"And the part about how she considers him to be a brother?"

"Yes, yes, I remember all that. And the part about their mothers being each other's godmothers, and isn't it just so sweet how they are getting to experience the pseudo-sibling relationship their mothers would have loved them to have, if not for the fact that they'd much rather of had them married at some point, but what can you do. Yes, I remember."

"Well it's essentially the same for the Weasleys."

"Wait, all of them?"

Remus opened his mouth but didn't reply right away. "You know, I'm not actually sure about that…"

Bill watched their guests with… surprise? Interest? Mild fascination? It was difficult to put a name to what he was feeling and thinking at the moment. Sure, he had heard stories about Lord Peverell, who had at some point apparently become Percy and the twins' idol (and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how that came about), and he had heard plenty about Ivy Potter, who was every bit the picture of sweet, innocent chaos that he had imagined her to be. He had also heard a lot recently, especially since being home, about Professor Lupin, who was apparently the best defense teacher any of them had had (and no, he was not at all jealous Fred, shut up).

But nothing compared to actually seeing them here.

Seeing them… well, fighting wasn't the most accurate term, but it would need to do for the moment.

And not one of them was even using magic.

Lord Henry Peverell-Slytherin, widely rumoured to be one of the most powerful wizards in the world, was currently engaged in a very magic-less scuffle with Lord Black, Professor Lupin, and four of Bill's brothers. Charlie and the twins weren't too much of a surprise, but Percy was not someone Bill had expected to see rolling around on the ground, not to mention the fact that he was actually doing something akin to winning whatever…this was.

Mr. Parry was watching on in amused silence, though to Bill it looked like he was actually considering joining in. Ron looked both excited and confused as to what was going on, Ivy and Ginny were cheering loudly, Ivy having procured popcorn of all things from who knows where, and Miss Lovegood was offering occasional commentary as if it were a sports match. Meanwhile, his parents had displayed several reactions before both settling on fond exasperation. It was a hybrid mix of the at-least-they're-doing-it-outside look and the I've-given-up-trying-to-get-them-to-stop look, both of which were rather familiar in the Weasley household.

So why were Bill's brothers and a few fully grown wizards rolling around on the ground in a (probably) mock free-for-all?

Well. Here's how it started.

Flashback

"Why did she just call Charlie her brother?"

Percy glanced over at him. "She claimed him as her brother and wants to adopt him."

That didn't exactly help Bill understand the situation, so he asked another question. "And how did that happen?"

"Oh, she met him last summer and decided she really liked him."

"And now he's her brother?"

"Mmhmm. I am too, apparently."

"And the twins?"

"No clue. She calls them her best friends all the time, but the only best friend of hers I've heard her also call her brother is Longbottom. Of course then there is Luna, but she's a girl."

Yes, astute observation there, Perce. Thanks for that. Truly helpful. "So… How many, er, 'siblings' does she have then?"

"I'm not certain. There is Charlie, obviously, and me, and Longbottom, as I mentioned. And then Luna, who seems to be the only girl so far. And then there's Thomas, who I think is a brother, but I'm not one hundred percent sure on that one. And Malfoy, though he seems to be more like the twins. Best friend, maybe not brother. Actually I'm fairly certain he has a massive crush on her. And then Oliver and Marcus, but I actually have no idea how she views them. I think they've more or less claimed her as their little sister, but I'm not sure that she has done the same. Oh, and then of course you have Kenneth Burke, who Luna claimed as her older brother, and who has unofficially claimed the same of Luna, but he and Ivy are just friendly, and I don't think he's part of Ivy's group in the same way. There are several other people Ivy is fairly close to in some of the older years, but I think that is it as far as her declared siblings go."

Bill was not sure whether or not he regretted asking.

"So, essentially she has several older students that she looks up to that she considered brother figures?"

Percy snorted. Bill wondered briefly what had happened to his brother and who this imposter was. "See her over there? With Charlie?"

Bill did. Ivy was currently waving her arms around excitedly and Charlie looked as if he were about to burst out laughing. "Yeah, what about it?"

"See those papers?"

"Yes…"

"Do you know what those are?"

Bill rolled his eyes at Percy. "No, I don't know what those are. I'm assuming though by the sun look on your face that you know what they are?"

He chose that moment to take a sip of the drink in his hand. It was a very poor decision.

"Those are adoption papers."

See the previous statement on poor decisions.

"She's trying to get him to adopt her?"

Percy looked exasperated at that. "No, of course not. Haven't you been listening to anything I told you?"

Bill had but didn't bother pointing it out, figuring it would not do much good at the moment.

"She's trying to adopt him."

Lord Peverell, who had been chatting with their father about some muggle thing or other that Bill had no idea about, suddenly paused mid-sentence and half-ran over to them.

"Sorry, did you say Ivy's trying to adopt someone?"

Percy gestured over to where Charlie and Ivy were sitting.

Bill watched as Peverell's eye twitched furiously.

"Just a moment," Peverell said with false cheerfulness, before making his way quickly over to his…daughter? Bill hadn't actually gathered that bit of information yet.

He watched as Peverell whispered quietly but animatedly back and forth with Ivy, Charlie watching the entire thing with a grin on his face. Obviously Charlie wasn't worried about the fact that a twelve year old girl was trying to get him to sign adoption papers.

Finally, Peverell seemed satisfied, though by the pout on Ivy's face, Bill was certain that she was not. Peverell made his way back to where Bill and Percy stood, and began talking to Percy about some book or other that sounded suspiciously like one of the ones Bill had come across in Egypt a couple of years back… No, there was no way Percy was reading stuff like that, was there?

No, of course not. No need to be worried at all.

He turned his attention back to Charlie and Ivy, Charlie now trying to comfort Ivy or something like that. Eventually, he pulled out a small little package from behind his back and handed it to her. She opened it and her face immediately went from pout to full out grin.

A small model dragon, because what else would Charlie possibly get anyone who showed even the slightest enthusiasm for his favourite creature.

Ivy gave Charlie a big hug, and Bill could see why she had declared him her brother. From here it looked like Charlie had decided having two little sisters was better than one as well.

"How come she didn't look that happy when I gave her presents." Bill glanced to his right only to find Lord Black standing there with a rather convincing kicked puppy look on his face.

"Uh, did you get her a dragon?" Bill offered.

Black muttered some curse or other not in English and Bill suppressed a chuckle at the pout on Black's face.

"What do I have to do?" Black whined.

Just then Charlie and Ivy joined them, Ivy proudly showing off the model Dragon to Peverell, and Percy shooting Charlie a glare that Bill couldn't quite make out the interpretation of.

"Charlie, my good man, I need to ask you something," Black said, getting Charlie's attention.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"How?"

Charlie gave Black a puzzled look.

"How are you doing it?"

"Doing what?"

Black let out something that sounded a bit like a whimper. "How come she likes you so much?"

"Charlie's my favorite," Ivy interjected, before turning back to Peverell. Bill thought he could make out something along the lines of "no dragons in the backyard" and "but there's room," but he couldn't be sure, due partially to the high pitched whine coming from Black.

"…only met her twice," Charlie was saying.

"What am I doing wrong," Black muttered none too softly.

"You could always settle for seventh," Peverell piped in. There had to be some connotation to that comment that Bill was missing, because Black took immediate offense to that.

Then all of a sudden there was no longer a wizard standing next to Bill, but a grim, who proceeded to chase Peverell outside.

Lupin appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and with a sigh said, "I'd better go after them."

Still not entirely sure what had just happened, Bill followed Lupin and everyone else as they made their own ways outside to where the grim that he was fairly certain was Black was jumping on Peverell, who didn't seem the least bit concerned.

Lupin managed to get in between them for a moment, before he too was pulled in, though he pulled Charlie along with him, making four wizards in all, or three and an animagus as it currently stood, that was rolling around on the cold ground. Then two red-headed blur shots past Bill and joined in.

End Flashback

Bill wasn't entirely sure at what point Percy got involved, but very soon there they all rolling around on the cold ground. At no point had anyone actually drawn a wand or uttered a spell. No, they were just going at it like a bunch of muggles. It didn't appear to be too serious though, and the sides seemed to change every twenty seconds or so, if you could even call it sides.

"Hey, do you want to join in?"

With Ron and Ginny's attention now firmly on her Ivy repeated her question with a grin.

Neither looked particularly thrilled at the prospect, but then Ivy pulled out her wand and grinned wider.

"But, we're not supposed to use magic outside of school," Ron said with a frown.

"Well it's not like anyone is going to be able to tell."

Ginny gave her an unimpressed look. "Except mum."

Ivy grinned. "I've got a plan."

Ron groaned, and Ginny looked excited.

Ivy skipped over to Barty and whispered in his ear. He too grinned, and soon was chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. A moment later all three had disappeared back into the house.

"There," Ivy said. "Okay, who wants to go first."

It was complete chaos. Bill wasn't sure who had shot the first spell, but now the only person sporting red hair was Professor Lupin, and anyone not previously involved in the skirmish was now. Oh, and did he mention they were all using wands now? He himself included, because yes, he too had been dragged into this. Not that he was complaining, really. It was pretty enjoyable, and a good chance to use some of the funny little spells he had picked up over the past few years. Ha. Try finding the counter for that, Charlie.

"WAIT!"

Everyone turned to face Ivy, a few shooting glares at various people who might have dared to hurt one of the girls.

"We need teams."

Girls against boys. A classic division of teams. And rather lopsided at the moment, it seemed, since there were three girls, only one of whom was actually an adult, versus six adult wizards and four teenagers. Wait, when had Barty showed up again?

"You're not doing anything. Why aren't you doing anything."

"Come on, Sirius. You can't expect me to actually shoot spells at them. What if I hit them?"

Sirius felt his eye twitch. "Harry, I love you, but they are winning."

"Yes, but…"

"Harry…"

"Okay, so new teams."

"Yes. We, your humble minions, beg leave to join your team."

"Fred…"

"Hey, I claimed rights as first minion ages ago."

"But Henry said I couldn't have minions."

"Fred, George, why are you two over here anyway?" Ginny asked.

"Joining the winning side, of course."

"We tried to tell them, but nooo."

"Okay, so team name?"

"Well, most of us are still at Hogwarts, so maybe team Hogwarts?"

"We could each be one of the houses."

"Someone would have to share, there's five of us."

"I don't mind sharing."

"Perfect. So I'll be Hufflepuff, obviosuly. George, you can be Slytherin."

George gave Ivy a mock salute.

"Ginny, you want Ravenclaw? You're smart."

Ginny beamed and nodded her agreement.

"Hey, what about me," Fred protested.

"Yes, yes, you're smart too. How about you be Gryffindor then?"

"Nah, I think I'll join up with Forge over here. We'd look great in green, wouldn't we."

"I can be Gryffindor," Luna offered.

"Perfect! Then we're all set."

"So can we be team Gryffindor?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"I'm out," came Barty's reply.

"Oh, hey Barty. You joining our team too?"

"They decided to be team Gryffindor."

"Ah."

"Wait, so does this mean we can't have Gryffindor anymore?"

"We are badgers and we are going to destroy you."

"Wow, Ivy looks really into this. Are you sure this is going to be okay?"

Harry and Percy both shrugged.

"It could be worse," Percy said.

"At least Nott isn't here," Harry added.

No one had any reply for that.

"And I was so looking forward to wearing green," Fred said with false sadness.

George adjusted the transfigured yellow tie tied around his head. "Just steal one from Draco when we get back."

Fred's face lit up. "Oh, that just gave me a wonderful idea."

George grinned. "I think I know. But later, we have to go get Charlie."

"On it."

"Where did she even learn that spell?" Bill asked no one in particular.

Next to him, Percy cleared his throat awkwardly.

Bill gave Percy a sideways look. "What have you been do…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, as he was suddenly quite distracted by the rabbit feet he was sporting.

"You know… it's just a little bit… ironic… that you're on… team Gryffindor… when you're… literally Lord… Slytherin…" the Weasley who had the dragons huffed out in between spells.

"You have no idea," Harry muttered.

Barty tucked that bit of information away for later.

"But Arthur, they aren't allowed to use magic outside of school."

"I'm sure it's fine, dear. They are well supervised, anyhow."

Molly took a good look at the fully grown wizards getting their butts kicked by her youngest kids who had apparently all joined up at some point. She wasn't sure this exactly counted as "supervision."

"I can't believe we got our arses handed to us like that," Sirius said with a groan.

"Told you," Fred, Percy, and Barty all said at the same time.

Harry grinned at Sirius's scowl. "Come on, Padfoot. You know you were holding back a bit. Nothing to be ashamed of."

Sirius muttered under his breath.

"What was that? Didn't quite catch that there," Harry said with a cheeky grin.

"I didn't want to get them hurt," Sirius said. "Besides, where did she even learn that one."

Harry chuckled nervously and noticed Percy doing the same. He shot the boy a commiserating look and Percy visibly relaxed. He laughed again, this time more sincerely. Of course, Ivy would have bugged Percy about learning spells. At least someone other than Remus was trying to make sure Ivy learned something that wasn't likely to result in widespread destruction while at school. And Harry had to admit, seeing Sirius with cat whiskers and a tail was hilarious.

Achoo.

A dozen pairs of eyes shot to the harumph that followed the innocent sneeze.

"Please adopt me," Sirius groaned into his cup of hot chocolate. "Or marry me, I'm not picky."

Arthur chuckled and Molly rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she finished handing out hot mugs.

"Sorry your plan didn't work out," Percy said to Ivy, giving her a sympathetic smile.

Ivy shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"You know, you don't have to be official to be family."

Ivy smiled. "I know. Thanks Percy. I'll give you your papers on your birthday."

Percy only partially choked on his hot chocolate.

"What was that all about?"

"Apparently Charlie's not the only one she got papers for."

Bill couldn't help but smile. "Determined, is she."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You have no idea."

"Why your birthday though?"

"Legal adult. Don't need mum and dad's signatures," Percy murmured.

Bill laughed outright at that.

"And I had no idea Xenophilius had a cousin. And such a wonderful girl. Oh, and they make such a lovely couple, don't you think dear?"

Arthur chuckled. "They do."

December 31, 1992

"Remind me why I have to go," Remus muttered under his breath as he fixed his tie.

"Because. I can't go alone."

"Harry, Luna, and Barty are all going, not to mention Ivy."

"But Harry and Luna are going together, I'm not going with Barty, and Ivy doesn't count."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Remus said with a chuckle, enjoying the look that flashed across Sirius's face.

"That's not what I meant. But she's going to go off with her friends, and I'd be left alone, Remus. Alone."

"And you're not going with Sabrina because…"

"Because she's still in Italy."

"Remind me why she's there again?"

"Visiting family."

"You mean the Zabinis?"

"Yeah."

"I thought she hated them?"

"Well her first husband wasn't terrible, and yeah, she despises his parents, but she loves his grandfather. She's his favorite grandchild."

"I…" Remus wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Okay, so she's not going to be there. But why do I have to go?"

"It'll be fine."

"None of those people like me."

"I like you."

"Doesn't feel like it," Remus muttered. "You owe me."

"Ah, Professor Lupin. So nice to make your acquaintance. I've heard excellent things about you. It seems you are quite the hit among the students."

"Lord Harrington," Remus said with a polite nod.

"I see Sirius managed to drag you here after all."

Remus frowned slightly and Harrington let out a soft chuckle. "Samira mentioned how much he's been complaining about Sabrina begin gone. I believe you have Remei and Narcissa to thank for your forced presence here."

Remus groaned under his breath and Harrington let out another laugh.

"Come on, let me introduce you around."

Remus didn't even get a protest out before he was dragged away.

"You look like you would rather be anywhere else than here right now."

Remus turned towards Lord Greengrass. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only to those of us that feel the same," he said with a smirk.

Remus groaned. "How do you do it?"

"Watch."

"Hey, have you seen Remus anywhere?"

Harry frowned. "Not for a while. Last I saw he was talking to Greengrass."

Now Sirius frowned. "I'll go ask Anthea then. Maybe she knows where they went."

"Ladies," Sirius said with a smile. "Have any of you by chance seen Remus around here lately? He was talking to Nate, but we can't seem to find either of them."

Narcissa and Anthea both smirked. "It seems your friend was dragged into Nate's little party group," Anthea said.

Sirius frowned. Remus wasn't much of a partier…

"Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the party avoidance group, dear," Lady Burke offered.

That made a little more sense.

"Try the library," Narcissa said. "They are probably trying to initiate Lupin into their secret Ravenclaw club as we speak."

"Harry, help me. We have to go save Remus."

"What? Why?"

"They're trying to make him a Ravenclaw."

Harry sighed. "I don't think Remus needs rescuing from something like that. And who is doing this anyway?"

"Greengrass, Westbrook, Thorburn, and Bromford."

"I literally only know one of those names."

"Harry."

A rather loud crashing sound interrupted Sirius's protest.

"Do you think we ought to…"

"Maybe we should…"

"It's fine," Lucius said, walking past them. "It's just the children."

Harry and Sirius watched him walk off.

"Is that supposed to make us feel better?" Harry asked.

"…AVENGE YOUR HONOR AND I WILL…"

Greengrass closed the door. "See, everything is fine."

Remus reminded himself that he was not at Hogwarts, so the kids were not actually his problem at the moment.

"So, Ignatius…"

"Basilius…"

Bromford rolled his eyes. "Nate, Bas, cut it out. We're going to scare the Gryffindor."

As Harry opened the door they were met with five surprised faces.

"See Sirius? Nothing going on. Just five men meeting in the library talking about…"

"Changes made in the most recent edition of Grammatica."

"See, Sirius? Changes made in… yes, well. Nothing to worry about is there."

"Merlin, you are all nerds," Sirius said in a horrified mutter.

Not one of them looked the least bit offended. Remus just rolled his eyes.

"Sirius, you already know Ignatius Greengrass…"

"Nate," Greengrass corrected.

"Sorry, right. Nate Greengrass. And this is Basilius Westbrook, Dunstan Thorburn, and Sebastian Bromford. Gentlemen, Sirius Black and Henry Peverell."

Pleasantries were exchanged, and Harry left feeling rather amused at Sirius's growing horror at the suggestion that he too join in their discussion. Apparently Sirius's eagerness to skip out on social events ended when it came to philosophical and academic discussions. Harry made a mental note to introduce Percy to Bromford though. He had a feeling they'd get along quite nicely.

"Did you know Lovegood had a cousin?"

"I certainly did not. Where is she from again?"

"I heard Canada, but maybe it was New Zealand?"

"Well I heard Henry is from Canada, so maybe that's where they met?"

"They make a lovely couple, don't you think?"

"Oh absolutely."

"I'd say our work here is quite done, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes."

"Now onto politics. If we can just get him comfortable enough to start showing up…"

"And Sirius too. Henry will be more likely to go if Sirius does."

"That's true. Now, about how to raise the topic…"

Lucius paused mid-sentence at the loud crash he heard. It was only the fourth one of the evening, so overall a quiet night. But, just in case…

"Dobby." The elf popped into sight. "Please go make sure no one is injured."

The elf popped back off to make sure the children were alive, uninjured (relatively), and still confined to the Gryffindor looking room. Lucius could hardly care less if anything happened to that room, but he'd still just as rather not have any serious injuries to deal with.

Turning his attention back to the conversation at hand, he noticed the surprised look on a few of the wizards' faces. Then someone made a comment about being nice to house elves. Well, since the opportunity had presented itself…

Barty smirked. It was always amusing to see Lucius doing his yes-you-should-all-definitely-listen-to-me thing. At the moment, not only was he displaying his closeness with Lord Peverell, which, after figuring out more about Harry's past, was becoming an infinitely amusing source of entertainment for Barty, but he was also making the whole house elf issue appear to be his idea. Only Lucius could give credit to someone else while simultaneously claiming credit for himself.

Very amusing.

"Oh, have you seen the lady with Lord Peverell?"

"I have. Do you know who she is?"

"I have no idea. I heard she was a foreign cousin of one of the minor families here."

"No, I don't know her name. I did hear she is a magizoologist or something along those lines."

"Oh, how fascinating."

"You know, I heard she does some sort of specialized creature work."

"I think she specialized in rare and undiscovered species and creatures."

"Oh doesn't that sound interesting?"

"I heard she was looking for help from a Parselmouth."

"I heard they met when Lord Peverell discovered a new species of snake."

"What a perfect love story."

"I hear they were childhood sweethearts."

"I heard they just met this summer."

"I heard they met in Brazil."

"I heard they met in India."

"How can someone be a specialist in undiscovered species?" Harry asked.

Luna laughed lightly. "Well someone has to be."

"Apparently," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Wizarding logic at it's finest."

"Of course."

Harry laughed and pulled her a little closer as they danced. Why was it so much easier dancing with Luna?

"Almost as many people like looking at you here as they did before," Luna said with a small laugh.

Harry did a theatrical groan. "It never stops," he whined. Harry glances around and brightened. "But it does look like they're looking at you more than me."

Luna giggled. "How would you tell."

"It's obvious, isn't it? You're much prettier than I am. So obviously they're all looking at you."

"Only because I'm with you. People don't look at me."

"No, pretty sure it's all you. It just took them longer."

"Longer for what?"

"To see what I see."

Unnoticed by Harry and Luna, Barty let out an audible "aww."

"You too?" Narcissa said with a conspiratorial smile.

Barty rolled his eyes. "Like you aren't already."

"Never said I wasn't."

"Ten galleons says end of the year."

"Twenty says end of summer."

Barty sighed. "I really should know better than to bet against you, shouldn't I."

Narcissa made a noncommittal hmm.

"Well, I'm fairly certain Ivy already has a wedding planner going. I'm sure she'd be open to taking suggestions."

The gleam that flashed across Narcissa's face gave Barty a brilliant idea.

"What do you think about Sirius and Sabrina? They seem to be taking their time."

"You're right," Narcissa said, frowning slightly. "Perhaps we ought to give them some encouragement."

Barty just smirked.

January 2, 1993

"And you have everything packed?"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad. I have everything packed."

Harry just rolled his eyes in return. "Hey, wait, what is this?" He picked up a notebook that had a few things sticking out of it.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just some ideas Aunt Narcissa gave me."

Harry frowned. Well, Narcissa didn't seem the type to give Ivy any suggestions that would be too awful…

"What kind of ideas?"

"Oh, just some wedding ideas. Nothing too big. Anyway, can I go over to Daphne's house now?"

"What? Yeah, sure. Just be back for dinner," Harry called out, as Ivy skipped out of the room.

"Sirius, I think Ivy is planning a wedding."

"What?"

"I mean, she hasn't kissed him, right? She's twelve. She's not kissing anyone yet. Right?" Harry's voice was somewhat pleading.

"Who?"

"Ivy."

"Who is she kissing?"

"Draco."

"Wait, they're getting married?"

Harry nodded, grimace firmly in place. "I think Narcissa is helping them plan it."

Sirius shrugged. "They're a little young, but you know how some families are. Like to have things planned well in advance." He frowned. "You haven't gotten a marriage contract yet, have you?"

"A what?" Harry's voice was about three octaves higher than normal.

Narcissa watched Sirius and Harry's faces with amusement. Eventually, Draco came into the room and her attention turned towards her son.

"Draco, dear, is Ivy your girlfriend?"

Draco sputtered for a moment before regaining his composure. "What? Of course not. She's my best friend."

Harry seemed relieved at that statement, even if Sirius did not.

Sirius fidgeted with his fork. He couldn't really concentrate on dinner, fantastic though it was.

"Ivy," he said finally, "is Draco your boyfriend?"

Ivy looked puzzled by the question. "Of course he is. Don't you remember telling me about my boyfriends?"

Sirius and Harry both choked a little.

"Boyfriends?" Harry coughed out, before invoking Merlin's name for something that Sirius couldn't quite make out.

"Yeah. I mean, there's Draco, of course, and Fred, and George, and Neville, and Cedric, and Blaise, and Theo, and Terry, and Justin, and…"

Apparently Narcissa hadn't covered the definition of "boyfriend" in her talk. Sirius did feel a little better though.

"Wait, so if she doesn't like Draco that way, then who does she like?"

Harry and Sirius shared a horrified glance. Draco Malfoy was one thing, but at least they knew him. What if she liked some other boy that they had never met and knew nothing about and…

Remus rolled his eyes at them. "She's only a second year. Give it another year at least."

"You don't know that," Sirius said indignantly. "We need to know these things, Remus."

"Fine, I'll keep an eye out," Remus said, after giving them a look. "Happy?"

Sirius would be happier if Remus didn't laugh at their reactions to the very real possibility that their sweet, precious, completely innocent Ivy might have a crush, or even worse, a boyfriend.