“Now that everyone is here, let’s go,” Harry said. “You first Christopher,” he then continued throwing some floo-powder into the fire. After Christopher had gone, it was Sirius turn, to be followed by Lily and the girl who apparently was called Millie. James pushed his wife into the fireplace when it was Ginny’s turn and then jumped in himself behind Harry.
They came out in a small living room with somewhat worn furniture. James and Lily took a good look around the room. The most notable thing in it was a grandfather clock that didn’t seem to be able to tell time at all, but instead kept track of numerous people’s whereabouts. For a moment, Lily tried to count the golden arms carrying people’s names, but seeing that nearly all of them were pointing at the same spot on the clock she soon gave up.
“I see the kids already headed outside,” Harry said putting his arm around his wife’s shoulders. Ginny nodded in response and Harry gave her a peck on the side of the head before they started moving towards one of the doors in the room.
They entered a small, old-fashioned and rather cramped kitchen with a scrubbed wooden table in the middle. Voices and laughter was heard from the garden outside, and Harry and Ginny headed straight for the backdoor. When she stepped outside it suddenly became quite clear to Lily why she hadn’t been able to count the arms on the grandfather clock in the living room. In front of them were people of every age, size and hair colour imaginable. They spotted Lily and her blond-haired friend talking to a tall, athletic and rather handsome boy with the same shade of red hair as Harry’s wife and youngest son. Christopher was running around with a younger girl with red bushy hair, and Sirius was trying to look cool as he talked to a very pretty girl with long shiny silver hair.
“Ginny, Harry, there you are!” A tall, thin man with thinning red hair and glasses and a plump short woman came quickly towards them. Ginny smiled and got out of Harry’s arms to hug the woman that seemed to be her mother and Harry stretched out his hand towards the man. When Ginny were done hugging her mother she turned towards the man, who was very clearly her father, and gave him an equally big hug as she had her mother. She in her turn turned to Harry and embraced him. Lily and James looked at each other and couldn’t help but to smile at the fact that Harry so obviously loved and was loved by his in-laws.
After his mother-in-law had finally let Harry go, ensuring herself for the third time that all was well with the both of them, Harry turned back towards the red-haired man handing him a small package.
“Arthur, I saw this in a store yesterday, and I couldn’t help myself,” he said with a smile.
“Harry, you shouldn’t have. It’s Julie’s day today.” The man named Arthur answered with a grin on his face.
“Well I didn’t think it could hurt,” Harry added with an equally big grin as Arthur ripped the package open.
“Harry, what on earth is this?” Arthur said with a huge smile turning the present around examining it from every angle.
“I think it’s called a transformer, it gives you the possibility to use the electrical wall sockets in other countries. You see you put your English plug here, and then this side is different to fit the socket in whatever country you’re in.” Harry said showing how it worked to Arthur. James and Lily exchanged a look off bewilderment, but the man seemed to absolutely love the strange gift.
“The wall sockets, you mean the holes in the wall muggles have right?” Harry nodded to this as Arthur continued in amazement. “You actually mean to say that the wall sockets aren’t the same everywhere?”
“Nope, different country, different socket!” Harry said shaking his head.
“How possibly wonderful!” Arthur exclaimed. “And this thing, this transformer “ you called it?” he waited for Harry to nod his response, “it gives you the possibility to use all sockets? How delightful! Molly isn’t it amazing what the muggles come up with?”
“Yes, dear.” The plump woman who seemed to be named Molly said in a voice that clearly stated that she did not find it amazing at all. Arthur however, ether didn’t notice or didn’t care, because he carried on just as before, although he was addressing Harry this time.
“You have to come with me to the shed, and see how big my collection has gotten. And I found a new muggle gaddet that apparently is used to slice things, very interesting…”
“Dad, please! Harry was raised with muggle technology, remember? And I think the word is gadget not gaddet, am I right Harry?” Harry nodded in reply and shot his wife a grateful look, but James and Lily hardly saw it. They were staring at each other. Harry, raised with muggle technology? How could that be? Surely, Sirius wouldn’t have allowed that? Unless…but that was an option to horrible to even think about.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure you’re right. I’m sorry Harry; I get a little carried away at times. Well I just go and put this in the shed.” He smiled happily and turned to walk away. Molly waited until he was out of sight before she spoke.
“Harry you really shouldn’t encourage him! If he was forced to raid himself one day…well I don’t even want to think about it,” she shuddered. Harry smiled calmly and patted her gently on the shoulder.
“Molly, I am quite sure that there is enough loop holes in the laws to make sure he wouldn’t get in trouble. It is the perk of creating the laws, isn’t it?” The woman didn’t seem any more at ease though, and was just about to say something when Ginny cut her off.
“Mum, why don’t we head in to the kitchen and you can show me what you have planned for dinner. I’d love to help.” Molly looked at her daughter for a while, then smiled happily and led her to the kitchen. Harry looked at them go before he heard a very well known voice call his name.
“Ron!” Harry shouted back as he turned and shot off a huge grin in the direction of the tall read haired man coming towards him. The men met in a brief hug as they patted each other on the back. A woman with large bushy brown hair came up to the two men, smiling widely.
“Harry, how absolutely wonderful to see you again. I am so sorry, we couldn’t make it to yours or Ginny’s birthdays, but we felt it would be rude to Bill and Fleur to leave so soon after getting there…”
“It is quite alright, Hermione,” Harry said laughingly as he lifted her off her feet in a giant hug, finishing it with a light peck on her forehead.
“Hey, go kiss your own wife,” laughed Ron, slipping his arm around the woman’s waist pulling her closer. Harry grinned right back at him, and was just about to say something when a hand pulled on his robes.
“Uncle Harry, why did you kiss mummy? James and Lily looked down at the little girl still holding on to Harry’s robes. Even though she had her hair in pigtails, it was without doubt as bushy as her mother’s and it had the same colour as her father’s, giving her a rather wild appearance. Harry smiled at the little girl, patting her head as he sat down to face her.
“Well Cathy, I kissed your mother because I like her very much just as I do my favourite niece,” he said and gave the girl a peck on her forehead too. The girl apparently happy with the answer smiled at him and gave him a hug.
“Then you are allowed to kiss mummy!” she then stated very matter-of-factly, before she continued in the same manner, “and it is Catherine, not Cathy.”
“Oh, really I didn’t know that,” Harry said, straining himself not to laugh.
“I forgive you, you can’t know everything, and even daddy forgets sometimes and he is supposed to know, but that’s ok I forgive him too. He doesn’t know everything either.” Harry happily shot up a glance at Ron who grinned as he rolled his eyes at his daughter.
“Ask her who does know everything,” he then said with a smile. Harry turned his attention back towards the little girl, who answered before he could ask.
“Mummy knows everything! But you should know that, mummy says you’ve been friends forever.”
“Well I don’t know about forever, but we have been friends for very many years,” Harry laughed. The girl looked up at her mother who nodded at her. Then she spotted a young girl with silver hair standing by a table weighed down with presents and grabbed her mother’s hand pulling her towards the girl and the table.
“Mummy come, we have to help Julie with the presents. She might open them wrongly otherwise, and we should tell her the right way, so that she doesn’t rip the paper,” she then said in a would-be wise kind of voice. Her mother smiled and went with her, putting her hand at Harry’s shoulder saying in a soft voice:
“I’ll talk to your later Harry.” Harry smiled up at her and nodded before he rose. As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned and grinned at Ron, who grinned back.
“There is a lot of her mother in her I see,” he then said with a smile.
“Are you kidding, the only thing she’s gotten from me is the red hair,” Ron sniggered looking very proud of his daughter.
“What is this idea about not being called Cathy?”
“Oh, that rubbish. She got that in France, everyone kept calling her “Katerinne” or something like that and she absolutely loved it. I swear she learned more French during the last month than Bill has done living there for 7 years.” Harry couldn’t help laughing.
“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me,” he then said, still laughing when two men sneaked up behind him.
“George, Fred if you think you can sneak up on me from behind you do have another thing coming…” The two men who had just prepared to attack Harry looked very disappointed at their failure.
“I told you we should have taken Ron instead,” said one of them.
“Harry is a bigger challenge, though,” said the other one. Making Ron look absolutely offended and Harry laugh heartily.
“Well if I couldn’t sense when someone is sneaking up on me, especially so clumsily as the two of you, then I would hardly be alive today, now would I?” he said happily although Lily gasped and grabbed James’ arm when she herd her son talk about his own death like that.
“We are very happy that you are still alive,” one of them said smilingly
“Right, wouldn’t be happy if you left our sister alone with four kids,” the other one added with a huge grin on his face. James and Lily tried to separate the two men from each other, but soon found it to be as impossible as counting the arms on the grandfather clock. Harry however did not seem to have any problems in separating the two of them at all.
They were talking merrily for a while until the woman with bushy hair came back. James tried to remember her name, but it was all getting to much for him by now and he was completely clueless. Could it have been Harriett or Henrietta, he wasn’t sure but he did think it started with an H.
“Molly wanted you to help Bill and Charlie set up the table. Apparently dinner will be served shortly,” she said in almost the same matter-of-factly voice that her daughter had spoken with. Lily couldn’t help but to smile as she remembered her son’s comment about the little girl being very much like her mother. She could really see the resemblance.
The men groaned a bit, but headed over to where the tables were being put out. Shortly however they had forgotten all about setting the table and had, to the surrounding children’s delight, a fencing contest with the cutlery. After a while, another one of the many red-haired men at the party came up to them, this one with glasses. He did not seem to enjoy the fencing-tournament at all instead he looked very disapproving.
“What are you doing? And in front of the children? Is this supposed to learn them about responsibility and fulfilling ones duties?” he said with a tone of voice that very much corresponded to the look on his face.
“Lighten up, Percy! It’s a party,” One of the twins told him, while still trying to concentrate on his fencing session with Ron. The man they called Percy did however not seem to lighten up at all. Actually, he looked rather indignant. Before anyone had noticed he had pulled out his wand, flicked it and all the cutlery flew out of the air and landed in perfectly order on the table. The children moaned in disappointment, but Percy didn’t let that stop him. Instead, he opened his moth and started to give the children a lecture on being responsible.
Before he had gotten very far though, one of the twins had used a silencing charm on him and he couldn’t speak another word. The children cheered with laughter at this and Percy looked infuriated at this latest way of ridiculing him. Lily looked rather shocked but James almost folded with laughter, exclaiming to her that even if he couldn’t tell those two apart he definitely approved of them. Harry was having a very difficult time not to laugh himself, even if he tried to keep a straight face as he tried to tell his brother-in-law off.
“George, thank you very much for giving the children that idea. I am sure it will be delightful when they use it at school.” The twin that had done the spell just grinned at this before addressing the children in a very educational tone of voice, strikingly similar to Percy’s.
“Uncle Harry is of curse absolutely right. This is not an appropriate spell to use on people,” he then blinked towards Harry and his brothers before continuing. “Uncle Perce here is an absolute exception to that rule and the only person you are allowed to use that spell on, but of course not until you’re of age.” At this Harry couldn’t restrain himself any longer and burst into laughter before collecting himself enough to do a Finite Incantatem spell to allow Percy to speak again.
Percy didn’t look very grateful, but rather angry and he insisted on staying till the table was properly set:
“After all, the children need a real role model! And when not even a father of three such as yourself, Harry, can…”
“Four, Percy. Four!” Harry had gone very still and looked intently at his brother-in-law.
“Well, Harry, really. I know you say that, and it is ever so noble of you, but you must realise that the girl isn’t…”
“Finish that sentence and I will shut that mouth for you myself and I promise that if I do it, there will be no charm in the world that will be able to open it for you again.” Harry’s eyes had gone very dark now and he was keeping them fixed at Percy. Percy didn’t seem to really know what to do and hesitated a while before shooting his nose up in the air, turning his heal and walking away from them.
“You tell him Harry!” One of the twins said patting Harry on the back.
“Millie is as much a part of this family as he is.” The other one said.
“More so! She would never betray us the way Percy has.” Ron then added getting nods of consent from both of his brothers.
“Besides,” added one of the twins in a lighter tone, “if there is anything to the way she and Eddy have been looking at each other lately she’ll be a Weasley before we know it.”
“As much as I like Eddy, could we try not making my 15-year-old daughter into a bride just yet?” Harry laughed heartily, quickly forgetting his foul mood and Percy’s comment.
The rest of the afternoon was absolutely perfect. The food seemed delicious and the conversations flowed freely. James and Lily tried to take in as much information about this new family as possible, although they were quite sure that they would never remember all the names.
Molly and Arthur were the easiest ones. They were older than everyone else and they had been the first ones to greet Harry and Ginny when they came. To figure out that all the adults with red hair were their children was also easy, because they all looked very much like their father. James soon counted seven adult red heads, six boys and Ginny and so he and Lily began trying to learn who they were.
The oldest one was Bill, he and his wife Fleur were the parents the birthday girl Julie, who was the young silver haired girl they had seen by the present table earlier. She looked very much like her mother, and so did her older sister whose name they kept forgetting. James swore that there had to be some Veela in all of them, and even Lily couldn’t deny that the possibility was there. Lily also quickly added to her memory that Bill and his family were living in France, something that James however kept forgetting.
He however was very quick to learn that the second son of the family, a man named Charlie, was working with dragons in Romania where he lived with his wife Bonnie and their 11-year-old daughter Belinda. Who, they found out through little Catherine’s newly found interest in names, was named Belinda because one of the possible meanings of the name was beautiful dragon.
The third son turned out to be the rude man with the glasses that Harry had threatened to hex. Both Lily and James had no trouble remembering his name, and neither of them liked him very much. This was a feeling they felt they shared not only with their son, but also with several other of the family members.
The twins was apparently next in line, and although James and Lily still had no chance of separating the two of them they still learnt a lot about them. There names were George and Fred and they ran a joke shop together. Fred was single and lived in a small flat in central London, and George was married to a woman named Katie, with whom he had a son named Eddy. He they had no problems realising was to be the rather handsome boy that had been talking to Harry’s two girls earlier. After the twins and Harry’s conversation previously, Lily couldn’t help but to watch the boy a little closer during dinner, and she soon found that George had been right. Eddy and Millie kept shooting glances across to one another the entire afternoon, blushing every time they caught each other’s eyes.
Ron was the youngest son, and it didn’t take long for James and Lily to figure out that he and Harry had been best friends since their Hogwarts days. They also finally managed to learn that his wife’s name was Hermione, not Henrietta, and that she too had been a close friend to Harry for a long time. Their daughter Catherine was absolutely adorable and apparently never stopped talking. She did however find it very confusing when Harry mentioned both her parents as his best friend, because as she said, “…if something is the best, then it is better then everything else and two things cannot be best because then it isn’t better then everything else and that is illogical.” Harry very amused at this found it wise to agree with the little girl and asked her if she could accept that her daddy was his best male friend and her mummy his best female friend. At this she thought for a while, before breaking out into a huge smile, looking very much like her father’s, and saying that that was logical and thereby apparently approved.
After dinner, it was time for the birthday cake. A huge cake was carried out from the kitchen and little Julie couldn’t help to jump up and down on her chair as it was set down in front of her. Five big candles were lit and while Fleur held a very tight grip on her daughter’s waist, Julie managed, with a little help from her father, to blow them all out. She seemed very proud of herself and talked merrily to Catherine about what might be in the big presents on the table. The two of them could hardly wait to go and open them and sat impatiently kicking their feet when the grown-ups ate their cake, apparently far too slow for a 5-year-old birthday girl and her favourite cousin. When they were finally allowed to go, they ran to the table where Catherine started instructing Julie on how to open a present correctly, something that Julie seemed to take very seriously. After all, you listen to someone whose mother knows everything.
As evening drew closer, both the girls were exhausted and carried in to the house and put in bed. All the kids soon begged their parents and grandparents to be allowed to stay the night, something that made Molly light up as if it had been Christmas.
“The house gets so quiet sometimes, now when you’re all moved out,” she said to her children. “It’s so very nice when there are children here, there really should be in a house like this. Far too big to be just the two of us,” she then continued looking lovingly at her husband. Harry looked over at Ginny who gave him a discrete nod and a smile. At this, he rose and walked over to her. They both made their excuses for not staying, making sure to hug everyone in the family except for Percy, telling their children to behave themselves and that they would come and get them in the morning. James started to follow Harry into the house when Lily grabbed hold of his arm and stopped him.
“Evans if we want to go back with them now is the only chance,” he said looking at her clearly taken by surprise. Lily however just smiled at him.
“If you remember the conversation they had earlier about letting the children spend the night here, you might realise why I no inclination what so ever of going back with them right now,” she said. James stared at her before it dawned at him why Harry and Ginny had left early.
“Oh, that conversation! Right, you might have a point about staying here with the kids,” he then added with a huge grin on his face. Lily just shook her head at her husband, but continued to smile nevertheless.
“Besides, I’m dying to find out more about the blond girl. She doesn’t seem to be adopted, but they clearly see her as a member of the family anyway. I wonder who she is,” Lily then said.
“I know what you mean, Evans. She reminds me of someone, I just can’t put my finger on whom,” James said thoughtfully, studying the girl carefully before shaking his head and giving up the try. He felt however that the night probably wouldn’t end too soon, and that there would be plenty of time to figure out who she really was.