"I'm going to miss you," Grace mumbled as she hid her face in Sirius' chest.
"I know, little star, I'll miss you too," he said softly, squeezing her gently. "But we'll see each other soon."
"Christmas, right?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully. Sirius paused and looked at Helena for help.
"You might want to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas this year, Gracia," Helena spoke up.
"Why? Harry and I can come home and we can all spend Christmas together-"
"Hogwarts is going to be exciting this year," Helena interrupted. "I can't tell you exactly why, but you're going to want to stay for the Christmas holidays. If we were still at school right now, we'd want to stay too."
"Wish you could tell me," Grace grumbled, and Sirius chuckled as he pulled her into another hug.
"I expect a long letter with all the details of the match, understand?" Sirius told her and she nodded. "Good. Now you have fun with your friends the next two weeks, alright?"
"I'll try," Grace sighed. For the first time in her life, she wasn't looking forward to spending time at the Weasley's.
"Hey," Sirius started softly as he held her face in his hands. "We've got the rest of our lives to spend together, Gracie... you're only given a handful of years left this young... spend them with your friends," he told her, and she could hear the sadness in his voice.
"Okay," she nodded.
"Hi Aunt Molly!" Grace smiled as she hugged the woman.
"Oh, look at you dear!" Molly smiled as she squeezed the girl. "You're turning into a young woman, aren't you?" she whispered and Grace's cheeks turned red. "It feels like you've changed so much since I last saw you in June!"
"I haven't changed that much," Grace told her.
"Your clothes have changed, your hair looks longer, and is that nailpolish on your fingers?" Molly teased lightly.
"Where is everyone?" Grace asked, changing the subject.
"Oh, Ginny is upstairs with Hermione, Percy is in his room, and Bill and Charlie are-"
"BILL AND CHARLIE ARE HERE?!" Grace exclaimed excitedly.
"IS THAT GRACIE-VE?!" a familiar voice shouted from the kitchen. Grace dropped her bag and ran. She skidded to a stop and smiled widely at Bill and Charlie. Charlie stood up from the table and stretched his arms out wide; Grace ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"I've missed you!" she exclaimed. "How's Romania? What dragons do you work with? What dragons are there at the sanctuary? Can I come visit? How's Norberta-"
"Whoa, calm down, Gracie-Ve," Charlie chuckled. "Romania is fun. I work with a lot of different types of dragons. Maybe one day if Aunt Helena says it's okay. Norberta is doing just fine, living a full, and happy, dragon life.
"Hey! What about me?" Bill asked with a smile, and Grace grinned at him and hugged him next.
"How's Egypt? And all the tombs? Can you teach me about curse-breaking?! What do I have to do? Can I come visit you too?!"
"Egypt's great, tombs are tombs, and sure," Bill chuckled as he hugged her back. "Are you taking Arithmancy?" he asked, and Grace's face scrunched up in distaste, making Bill laugh. "Well you need to take Arithmancy to be a curse-breaker and to work for Gringotts," he told her and she sighed dramatically.
"Why does everything super cool require the most boring of classes?"
"Arithmancy isn't boring-" Bill started but Grace gave him a flat look.
"It's the most boring."
"And what electives are you taking?" He asked playfully, but when she went to answer, he stopped her. "Let me guess... hm... Care of Magical Creatures and, of course, Divination."
"Ron told you!" she huffed, making Bill laugh.
"Well I know you, you would've taken Care of Magical Creatures, but I was a bit surprised at Divination but remembered that you're a girl," Bill teased lightly and she scoffed, punching him in the shoulder. Bill winced and rubbed his arm tenderly. "That hurt, you've gotten stronger. I remember when your punches were just tickles."
"Oh shut up!" Grace hissed playfully.
"Is ickle-wittle Gracie-Racie being mean to Prince William Weasley?" Fred teased, coming through the kitchen fireplace. Grace turned and glared at him.
"Oh, say it isn't so!" George exclaimed as he followed after Fred, leaving the fireplace and pulling a trunk behind him. "Ickle-wittle Grace-Racie could never be mean to Prince William Weasley! Why that would result in capital punishment, don't you think Fred?"
"I agree, George. In fact, given ickle-wittle Gracie-Racie's history with Prince William I would even go as far as say that this is treason!"
"Ah, you're right, Fred! How dare she attack her mighty, and most noble,Prince Charming," George grinned and Grace's face was burning red with anger and embarrassment. There might have been a time when Grace was around four years old and had a harmless, silly crush on Bill. He would always play pretend with her and Ginny over the summer holidays, and read them the muggle fairy tale storybooks Grace brought (ones that were given to her by Remus). Grace had called him her Prince Charming, and ever since Fred and George would always tease her about. She was four, and didn't understand that you shouldn't have crushes on your cousins. Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur, even Bill and Charlie, thought it was adorable.
"Oh will you two-" Grace started.
"I don't think Bill's Gracie's Prince Charming anymore," Ron spoke up, grinning as he stepped out of the fireplace. "I think that title's been given to Harry," Grace's grey eyes narrowed dangerously at Ron and her face turned redder than his shirt. It took all of Ron's strength to not physically shiver and wither under her fiery gaze. She had a look that riveled his mothers, and his aunts...and Ginny's. It was one of the few things that, and he would never tell her this, she seemed to get from her mother.
"No!" Fred and George gasped with shit-eating grins spreading. "Our ickle-wittle Gracie-Racie fancies Harry Potter!"
"You better sleep with one eye open, Ronald Bilius Weasley," Grace hissed icly, and this time Ron couldn't control the physical shiver.
"Oh no, Fred," George gasped comically, looking at his twin. "It seems like our ickle-Granniekinses are about to fight!"
"Oh no! We can't allow ickle-Granniekins to fight! They're the second best dynamic-duo."
"After us, of course," George nodded.
"Ickle-Granniekins?" Grace's face paled and a cold, heavy feeling flooded over her at the sound of Harry's voice. She turned her head to look at him, and Harry stood there trying so hard to not laugh. Grace didn't hear the fire go again. How long had Harry been standing there? How much had he heard?!
"Did he eat it?" Fred asked excitedly, thankfully, changing the subject. Grace wrapped her hand around Ron's bicep, digging her nails into his skin and making hiss as she pulled away.
"Ow!" Ron hissed, but she dug deeper.
"You better pray that all he heard was 'Ickle-Granniekins', Ronald Weasley! Because if he heard more than that, I will kill you!" she threatened. The murderous look, and the iciness of her voice was enough to let Ron know that she was serious.
"Is it so bad that he knows?" Ron whispered softly. "I mean, I stand by what I said at Christmas..." Grace frowned, trying to remember what he said. "I think he could fancy you one day, and maybe one day is now?" he shrugged. "You two did spend practically every day with each other for the last six weeks..."
"Yeah but with Remus and Snuffles," she whispered, her cheeks turning pink.
"I mean we know nothing about girls," Grace scoffed, trying to conceal a laugh, "and we're bloody thick most of the time," this time Grace did snort, "and we're only fourteen and know nothing about feelings but... don't think that it's such a bad idea if he knows, okay?" Ron said, giving her a small smile. Grace felt her cheeks burn and she eased her grip on his arm. "I'm sorry that I teased you 'bout it in front of them," he nodded to his brothers. "I just know that you hate being teased about Bill..." she nodded slowly. "Am I forgiven, 'Racie?" he asked, giving her a sheepish smile and holding out his pinky finger. Grace couldn't stop the smile from spreading as she rolled her eyes at the stupid name he called her when they were children. Ron had a hard time with the hard 'G' sound of Grace's name when they were four (this was how Fred and George started calling her: ickle-wittle Gracie-Racie).
"Forgiven, Won," she whispered, using the name she called him when she was four; she had a problem saying 'R's. Grace locked her pinky with his. They both moved their wrists so their thumbs would touch, then unlocked their pinky fingers and poked each other's name with their pinky fingers. They came up with that silly gesture when they were six, that was when they started teaming up against their parents, and Ron's older brothers to get what they wanted. If Fred and George could cause mayhem, then they thought that they could cause mischief. They always were overlooked because of Fred and George, and they used that to their advantage. That, and Ron's parents had a hard time telling Grace 'no' (mostly because they knew she heard the word too many times at home), and Grace's mother couldn't tell Ron 'no' because he was the youngest boy.
"You dropped it on purpose!" Ron and Grace turned to see his dad shouting at Fred and George, his face turning an unpleasant shade of red. "You know he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet-"
"How big did his tongue get?" George asked, his eyes sparkling.
"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!" At this, Harry, Grace and the Weasley boys all roared with laughter. "It isn't funny!" Arthur shouted. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons-"
"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle," Fred interrupted.
"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git!" George added. "He bullies Harry, and Gracie, Dad! Isn't that right, Harry?"
"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," Harry nodded. "He's done it to Grace too-"
"That's not the point!" Arthur hissed, his face turning redder as he glared at Fred and George. "You wait until I tell your mother –"
"Tell me what?" That cold feeling of dread fell over not only Grace, but everyone in that room when they heard Molly's voice. Grace gulped as she saw her aunts hazel eyes glare suspiciously at her uncle, then they softened when she saw Harry. "Hello, Harry, dear," she said, giving him a kind, warm smile. Then it fell as she turned her heated stare back on Arthur. "Tell me what, Arthur?"
Grace knew that look of hesitation; it was one that her Uncle Arthur made constantly when he would tell them all off when they were kids. He had no realintention on telling her Aunt Molly about what Fred and George had done. "Tell. Me.What, Arthur?" Molly repeated, in a slow, dangerous, voice.
"It's nothing, Molly," Arthur mumbled nervously. "Fred and George just – but I've had words with them –"
"What have they done this time?" Molly snapped. "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes –"
"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" Grace jumped when she heard Hermione's voice behind them. She turned and saw both Ginny and Hermione in the doorway.
"He knows where he's sleeping," Ron muttered. "In my room, he's slept there last-"
"We can all go," Hermione said slowly, hoping Ron would catch up, he didn't but Grace did. Ron went to protest but Grace elbowed him in the side, making him hiss and glare at her. She gave him a look and a subtle side glance to his parents.
"Oh," Ron said, nodding. "Right."
"Yeah, we'll come too-" George spoke up.
"You stay where you are!" Molly snarled and Grace's eyes widened. That was their cue to leave.
Grace took both Ron and Harry's arms, and the three of them slowly started edging to the kitchen exit. The five of them then began making their way up the zigzag stairs. "What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.
Both Ron and Ginny laughed, Hermione didn't. Not a big shocker to Grace, she thought that Hermione could be a real buzzkill. "Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," Ron said quietly. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands, and trick sweets, loads of stuff! It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that..."
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," Ginny pipped in. "We thought they just liked the noise, and wanted to get a rouse out of Percy."
"Only, most of the stuff – well, all of it really – was a bit dangerous," Ron continued, "and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms," Ron muttered, and Grace's eyes widened. "She's furious at them anyway... they didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected."
"And then there was this big row," Ginny continued, "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop-" Ginny didn't get to continue, she was interrupted by a door opening and then Percy's annoying face popped out.
"Hi, Percy," Harry greeted awkwardly. Grace huffed. Out of all her cousins, Percy was her least favorite. He always sucked the fun out of everything, and often told her what she was doing wrong.
One time when she was six, she brought coloring books and a bunch of crayons over to share with Ron and Ginny. Grace was using a magic coloring book, it was one of the few things that Remus had ever bought Grace that was brand new, and the pages were enchanted to move once the person finished coloring the page. Well, she had her book upside down so she could color the bottom of the page, and well according to Percy, her coloring was atrocious, and she was doing it wrong. He plied the crayons from her hands and showed her how to 'properly' color inside the lines. When she tried again, and he still thought she was doing it wrong, he tried to take the coloring book out of her hands, but she wouldn't let him. They were screaming at each other, playing tug-a-war with a coloring book, Percy had tugged on it too hard, and the coloring book ripped in half.
Grace had screamed and cried so loud that it frightened Percy and he tried to fix the book before anyone came into the room, but it was too late. Aunt Molly had rushed into the room, thinking that she was hurt, only to find her screaming and crying at Percy. She asked what was wrong, and all Grace could do was hold up her half of her torn coloring book and point at Percy, crying: "Uncle 'Emus saved and saved to buy me this! And HE WUINED IT! IT'S WUINED!" Aunt Molly spent a good amount of time trying to calm Grace down, and had repaired her coloring book, telling her it was good as new and it was an easy fix. She then spent a half hour yelling and scolding Percy, saying that he was old enough to know better, and that he was starting Hogwarts in September, and should act like it. She also made Percy apologize. Percy never did bother her about her coloring after that, but he did correct her when she would read aloud.
Percy was her least favorite cousin, not just because he was a prat, but because he reminded her so much of her own mother.
"I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know – I've got a report to finish for the office – and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs," Percy said hotly.
"We're not thundering," Ron said irritably.
"Yeah, we're walking, you know that thing you do with your feet to get from point A to point B," Grace glowered at him. "I thought you were smart Percy, clearly we were all mistaken. I guess you're just a prat." Ron and Ginny snorted into their hands, and Percy glared at her through his horn-rimmed glasses.
"What are you working on?" Harry asked, turning the subject back to Percy's work.
"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Percy answered with a smug look on his face. It lit a match of irritation in Grace, and reminded her of Malfoy's smug face from June and she wanted nothing more than to punch it off Percy's face. "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin – leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year- "
"That'll change the world, that report will," Ron nodded, and Grace tried not to grin. "Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks," Grace nodded in agreement.
"You might sneer, Ron," Percy said heatedly, his face turning a light shade of pink, "but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger-"
"Well, we don't want to keep Percy from saving the world from mediocre cauldrons," Grace interrupted with a sharp nod. "Sounds so important that I fear that we're distracting you from your life's purpose, Percy. We wish you all the luck with saving the world, one cauldron at a time," she nodded again, and walked away, the others following her. Ron, Harry and Ginny were snickering behind her, and she could still hear Molly's shouts from the kitchen.
Harry grinned at Grace from behind. He always knew that she was a little different around the Weasley's, something that he noticed back before they started their second year when she came by. He wondered again (the same thoughts as he had in June) if Grace had always been like this, and he's just never taken notice of it before, or perhaps she was slowly growing out of the quiet shell. He always knew she could be sassy, having witnessed many of her random comments that were directed at people who annoyed her, but after having spent nearly every day with her and Sirius, he realized how much alike they were.
He noticed that Sirius and Grace had the same smile. Their lips made the same shape, they had the same smile lines, and their eyes wrinkled in the corners in the same way. They had the same eyes, not just the shape and color, but both of their eyes were wildly expressive. He witnessed the two of them having silent conversations with just shared looks alone, and their expressions often matched one another. When they were angry or annoyed, they had the same wrinkle between their brows and the same stormy look in their eyes. When they were happy and laughing, the same light twinkled and the same crinkles on the corners. Harry even noticed, that even though Grace is a girl, her and Sirius' tone of voice, and how they would say certain things were often the same.
Even the way they retorted back sassily was similar. Harry had witnessed a lot of Sirius' and Remus' harmless banter over the summer (something that he found was very entertaining and enjoyed watching); he had seen Grace and Remus bantering playfully, and even Sirius and Grace. When it was the two of them, Harry and Remus both watched with amusement. Grace got her sass from Sirius; it was obvious. Harry also noticed that Grace was, and he would never tell her this out of fear, a lot like her mother too. He thought, based on the way Grace would talk about her mum and from what he saw of the boggart, that Grace got all of her kindness and gentleness from Remus and Mrs. Weasley, but he saw that she got it from her mother too. That wasn't to say that he didn't also notice how Helena had talked to Grace, it didn't sit well with him and he didn't like it, but he saw how she was with Remus and himself. That kindness was something he's always seen in Grace.
He's also seen the temperament Helena had, and it was one that he was sure was a Prewett trait since it rivaled Mrs. Weasley's. That same temper, the same look, and icy tone, he had seen in Grace only a few times; but he also learned that Sirius had a short fuse too. He suddenly feared for Grace's future husband and children.
"Hey, you, okay?" Harry blinked and realized he was standing in the middle of the stairs, and Grace had looked at him with concern.
"What?"
"Are you okay? We kind of lost you for a second."
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine... I was just thinking," he shook his head.
"Not about the cauldron crisis of 1994, hopefully?" she joked, and Harry laughed.
"No, definitely not that."
"Then what?"
"You," Harry answered simply, then he realized what he said, and his cheeks flushed. He noticed her cheeks were pink too, and that made something in his stomach flip. "I mean, not you but... you..."
"...Riiiiight, because you don't really think about a person when you think about them," she nodded, her cheeks turning redder.
"I meant, I was thinking about how funny you are," he said and that seemed to make her face turn an even darker shade of pink, "and how he would probably laugh at what you said too, and I was just thinking how alike you are, because you're both...funny."
"Oh," she said quietly, "right... yeah, he would..."
"Oi! Will you two hurry up!" Ginny called from Ron's room.
"Coming!" Harry and Grace both said and quickly went to Ron's room.
A/N: And we are getting into the plot of Goblet of Fire~ Exciting, exciting!
I loved writing this chapter so much, it's so fun to see Grace interact with the Weasley's outside of school! You just get to see this different side of her that she was starting to show at Hogwarts in PoA.
I loved having Grace have a childish crush on Bill when she was 4. Because she was so little, and kids are so funny at that age because they don't care about anything. This does get brought up again in OotP for funsies, it's one of my favorite moments of this chapter.
I also loved this chapter because it really shows how close Grace is to her Weasley family, because well... if she wasn't with Remus, she was there and she really does see and love all her cousins like brothers and sister. Her and Percy's relationship though... has always been strained - even in PoA when she went missing, he was relieved because he didn't want anything BAD to happen to her but the two of them just don't... have the same connection, and that's explained in a future chapter coming up :)
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter~ I'd love to know what you all thought!