A Different Kind of Weasley: Chapter Seven
beatriceeagle and I were unable to get the seventh chapter of A Different Kind of Weasley sent into the Quill before they closed submissions, so I'm posting the chapter here, unlocked, until we can upload it after Deathly Hallows.
Authors’ Notes:
BeatriceEagle: Thank you to Whimsy for doing this so quickly, thanks to Arya for doing most of the work, thanks to our readers for being so great.
Arya: Thank you everyone for reading our fanfic so far. No matter what happens in Deathly Hallows, we plan on continuing Margot’s story. Hopefully we’ll stay close to canon, but we can’t know for sure what will happen. Thanks to Whimsy for being such an awesome beta and betaing the chapter faster than we’ve ever seen. Thanks also to BeatriceEagle who has been the most awesome co-writer ever. I hope all of you enjoy Deathly Hallows, and we will see you after the release! Finally, we are not JKR and could never be as awesome as she is!
Chapter Seven
Dinner Happenings
"Thank you again for inviting me, Mr. Weasley. Really, I hope I'm not too much of a problem."
Margot glanced across the table at Pepita, who was taking small, polite bites of her sandwich while watching Fred and George with careful, worrying eyes. She tried not to laugh; she rarely heard anyone call Fred Mr. Weasley. Apparently Fred didn’t either.
"It was Margot who invited you, and you aren't a problem," Fred said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. George snorted and reached across him to grab the salad.
"It really is fine," Margot told Pepita for the third time that evening. "And Mami won't mind, either. I told her you were coming and she was very happy. She likes it when I invite friends over. There will already be a lot of people there, so no one will notice an extra person."
"If you're sure," Pepita said. "I know it was last minute...Mum didn't want to miss having Christmas with me, but she had to go to Italy for business..."
George grinned. "Italy! We were there last week, weren't we Fred! There's a nice little shop down in Venice, in the magical section, that's for sale, and a friend suggested we look into it."
"You didn't say anything to me," Margot said with a frown. "I thought you were in Paris."
"No, Paris was last month," Fred corrected. "Lovely city. Not much sense of humor."
Pepita laughed. "No, I wouldn't expect so. I went to Paris with my mum last summer. It was very beautiful. Did you visit the Eiffel Tower, or the Louvre? The Louvre has a nice magical exhibit, some of the best artwork in the wizarding world!" She bit her lip and looked down at her plate. "If you like art, I mean."
"No, we didn't visit any art places," Fred said with a sly grin on his face. Margot felt her eyebrows raise automatically, something she seemed to do a lot in Fred and George's presence. "We did, however, visit a place called the Moulin Rouge..."
George winked at Pepita, whose face turned bright red. "Met some gorgeous ladies there. And there was that one girl, what was her name? Colette, I think?"
"She looked a lot like Verity, now that I think of it," Fred remarked, an impish twinkle in his eyes. Margot kicked him under the table. "What?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I think I'm done. We're going to Mami's at eleven tomorrow morning, so don't sleep in you two." She shot a look at George. "And don't stay out too late."
"You sound like their mother," Pepita remarked, standing and carrying her dishes to the sink.
"She practically is our mother," Fred said as he followed them. "You're getting to be nearly as bad as Mum and Ginny, Margot."
Margot smiled at him. "Thank you, Fred. I take that as a compliment."
"You shouldn't," he muttered.
Once certain that Fred and George did intend to clean the dishes before going out for the night, Margot walked back to her room, Pepita following closely behind. When she'd heard that Pepita was planning on staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, Margot had immediately volunteered to have her as a guest. Fred and George never cared, and friends usually made the holidays even more fun. This year's party would be smaller than normal: Charlie, Claire, and their children were celebrating Christmas at Claire's family’s winter home in Spain, and Andrea and Evan both were ill. Dinner would be quieter this year, and secretly Margot didn't mind. The larger parties were stressful for Mami and there was always the off chance that someone who wasn't invited would show up on a whim, ruining the entire evening. Though it was amusing to watch Aunt Hermione and Aunt Ginny try to figure out where Marietta Edgecombe would sit, the amusement ended when all the desserts were gone when they were halfway around the table.
"Your fathers are nice," Pepita remarked as the two entered Margot's room. Margot pushed a pile of books aside and took a seat on the floor, while Pepita perched on the bed. "I've been in their shop a few times, but I hadn't really spoken with them. They're funny."
"They know," Margot remarked with a dry smile. "Well, are you tired? Or do you want to sit and talk or read? You brought that book, didn't you?"
Pepita looked embarrassed as she fished the well-read and dog-eared book from under her pillow. "Yes. I just keep reading it. It's fascinating. I've read about Divination before, of course...you come across it while researching papers and things, but never in such detail! I didn't know there were so many ways of being a Seer! I thought, you know, it was just tea leaves and silliness, but really it's much more than that."
Margot shrugged. "It's mostly tea leaves and silliness. Don't get Uncle Harry started on the topic of Seers...he'll never be quiet."
"Why?" Pepita asked. "Does he hate them? This book says a lot of people don't properly respect them, and think that they are frauds."
"No, he doesn't think that anymore," Margot explained. "His partner at work is a Seer, and apparently that has helped them solve several cases. If he hears anyone talking badly about Seers now, he gets very angry."
Pepita petted her book, much like Margot had petted her owl many times, and smiled. "I would never speak badly about Seers. Not after reading this book."
"So you like Divination, then?" Margot asked.
"It's a little obvious, isn't it?" Pepita said, shyly. When Margot nodded, she grinned. "It's just...suddenly, it's a subject that is completely different from everything else. All the others rely on you waving your wand in the right way and saying the right spell...and this one is just...perhaps if you do this, it will work. Perhaps if you see something in the crystal ball, it will be the future. Nothing is certain, and I like that."
Margot nodded. She'd never heard Pepita talk about anything so eagerly. She knew Pepita enjoyed her lessons, as any proper Ravenclaw did, but this was the first time she had seen her actually get excited about something.
"Do you like your new subjects?" Pepita asked. "Care of Magical Creatures, right? I heard that the professor is interesting."
"Interesting, yes," Margot replied. She frowned. Dusavoir certainly was interesting. In the last lesson before the holiday, he'd asked her to stay after class. She had thought he would say something, some explanation for the odd way he looked at her and the way his voice sounded when he called her name, but after a few moments of fumbling, he'd simply congratulated her on the score for her last essay. And it hadn't even been as good as Lex's. The continuing looks and remarks bothered Margot, and she could only hope that Dusavoir would explain at some point. She doubted very much that her asking would help at all.
"Well, we should go to bed," Margot said. "We have to be up early tomorrow if we want to get to the party on time."
Pepita set her book aside and frowned. "I thought we didn't have to be there until eleven?"
Margot laughed. "Yes, and it will take Fred and George at least three hours to clean up the mess we make when we open our presents in the morning. Add breakfast to that, and the fact that the idiots agreed to make a pie for lunch, and we have to be awake by at lesat five. And that’s not including the time we’ll need to Floo home to retrieve the pie from the oven, because Fred and George will have forgotten it."
* * *
"I still can't believe she sent all of my gifts here!" Pepita exclaimed, smiling happily. She clutched her brand new copy of Seers: A Focused Study in one hand and the letter from her mum in the other. "I told her I didn't need anything, but apparently she had these bought for me even before she left...oh, and Margot, the gifts from your fathers were wonderful. When I saw the package I was afraid that they would be those Skiving Snackboxes everyone loves, but it was so sweet of them to give me something useful. It's a lovely quill, it really is. And the Pigmy Puff is adorable."
Margot smiled. "They love making people happy, and they always know how to do it," she said, remembering the Spell Me Pretty Witch doll the twins had bought her for her seventh Christmas. She didn't like to think how hard it had been to find the doll, but she would always treasure it and remember the look on George's face when he came into the flat that evening with the doll.
"How long until the pie is ready?" Margot called into the kitchen. She and Pepita had been thrown out an hour ago after the two of them had informed Fred that it was easier to crack an egg with your hands than with a wand. There was a slightly burnt smell in the air, covered by the surprisingly delicious smell of baked apple pie. If this was edible, Margot suspected Mami would...well, she wasn't quiet sure what Mami would do, but it would be interesting to watch.
"Another twenty minutes!" George called. "And don't come in here!"
Pepita shook her head. "I can't believe they kicked us out."
"I know!" Margot said. "I've always been the one to make the food. You can't trust them with the oven. They nearly burned down the flat on my ninth birthday when they tried to make me a unicorn-shaped cake."
"My dad could never cook," Pepita said. "I wasn't home enough to care, though."
Margot looked up at Pepita, hearing Lex's voice in her head. It was egging her to find out more information. She wanted to ignore it, but that was nearly always impossible. "Why not?" Margot asked.
Pepita looked down, her fingers stroking her Pygmy Puff's purple fur. "He sent me away when I was little, you know. To a mental health institute for disturbed children. He didn't want to have to deal with me being strange, being different. Even now that he knows mum and I are witches, and I’m not crazy, he won't even come and see me. He told Mum to take care of me because he certainly didn't know how to deal with a witchling for a child. He didn't want me because I wasn't normal. At least Mum can cook."
"I'm sorry, Pepita," Margot said quietly. "I remember you saying something at the end of our first year, but I didn't know about your father...."
Pepita stopped petting the Pygmy Puff and looked up sharply. "Don't tell Lex," she said. "She'll never shut up about it. She's a friend, but...Margot you understand, right?"
Margot nodded. "Of course."
"DONE!" The shout from the kitchen made both girls jump. George hurried out of the kitchen, wand in hand. "It's done! Hurry up you two, or we'll be late."
"They would blame us," Margot grumbled as George ran back into the kitchen, where Fred was yelping. "Use a hot pad!" she shouted. "They never learn."
Pepita giggled.
"We're Apparating with the pie!" Fred called. "If you're late, Mami will be mad!"
"No more mad than she was last year," Margot said to herself. There were two pops heard from the kitchen as the twins Disapparated.
"After you," Margot said, pointing to the fireplace, where the pot of Floo powder sat. Pepita helped herself and a moment later disappeared into the flames. Margot followed, closing her eyes. A few moments later, she found herself standing in the fireplace at the Burrow.
"Oh good, we've all arrived now." Mami hurried over to Margot and Pepita. She waved her wand, and the ashes fell off their clothes and into the fireplace. "Everyone else is outside. I believe they've started up a Quidditch match... tell them dinner will be ready soon!"
Margot motioned to Pepita, who was glancing around the kitchen with curious eyes. Margot supposed Pepita had never seen a proper wizard family kitchen (Fred and George's could hardly be considered proper, after all), and decided it would be strange to see a self-stirring bowl for the first time, not to mention the set of knives chopping up the vegetables for the salad.
"I like it here," Pepita remarked as they walked outside. "It's very cozy. And your grandmother seems very nice."
Margot smiled. "She is. But I suppose you have to be when you have this many grandchildren." The two girls stopped as they came to the edge of a small crowd that was gathered near the garden watching four figures who were flying above them.
"It's Uncle Harry and Uncle Bill against Aunt Ginny and Uncle Ron," Leona said, coming over to join them. "The apple tree is the goal for Uncle Harry's team, and the tree that's practically dead is Aunt Ginny's goal."
"Don't you need more people for Quidditch?" Pepita asked, looking up at the sky with a frown.
Leona shook her head. "Not really. They're just using a Quaffle, so it's whoever scores. They started before the rest of us had a chance to volunteer."
"Mami said dinner's nearly ready," Margot told Leona. She looked around the crowd. It looked like all of her cousins, minus Uncle Charlie's children, were present. Aunt Fleur and Aunt Penny were standing under the shade of the largest tree in the garden discussing something frivolous, most likely. Grandpa and Uncle Percy were nearby, most likely debating the latest politics at the Ministry. Aunt Hermione was doing a trick for a few of the girl cousins and charming their hair to be various colors. Margot grinned as Aunt Hermione charmed Molly's hair to look like Lily's and Lily's to look like Molly's. She hoped it wouldn't stay that way through dinner; things could get confusing.
"Who's that?" Pepita asked, pointing to a young woman who was leaning against the apple tree and watching the Quidditch match above. Margot frowned. The woman looked vaguely familiar, but from this distances she couldn’t make out who it was. She wore a beautiful set of dark blue crushed velvet robes with silver embroidery of a pegasus across the chest. The robes were lined in purple, and put together so well that Margot suspected they hadn't been bought in Diagon Alley.
Leona turned to look. "Oh. That's Lierin. She's Uncle Harry's partner. He invited her to come and join us since her parents are in France for the holidays."
"I met her," Margot remarked suddenly. "This summer, when I was at Uncle Harry's, he took me in to the office. I saw Bellatrix Lestrange, too..." She shook her head to get the woman's face out of her head. It had been some time since she'd dreamed of Bellatrix, but the thought of her still brought the Death Eater's sneer to mind. It made her shiver.
"Well she seems very nice," Leona said. "Though Aunt Ginny doesn't like her very much."
"DINNER!"
The three girls turned to see Mami standing just outside the door with a pot of something in her hand. "Ronald! Get down here before you break your neck!" Margot glanced up and began to laugh. Uncle Ron was balancing on his broom, holding the Quaffle over his head, while Aunt Ginny and Uncle Bill were laughing loudly at their brother. Uncle Harry landed, and made his way over to Lierin.
"Let's go in," Margot said. The others were already beginning to file inside, where a several large tables had been set up so that they went down the corridor, into the kitchen to connect with the small kitchen table, and then back into the corridor and ending in the sitting room. Margot followed the others around the table, looking for her name. For some reason, Mami thought it was fun to put names on the seats so people would know where they sat. Apparently it made things easier. Or maybe it was to separate the particularly rowdy cousins.
"There we are." Margot and Pepita found their places, and Leona walked past, still looking for her seat. Margot glanced around to see who they were sitting near, and grinned. Uncle Harry was directly across from Pepita, with Aunt Ginny on the other side of him, while Lierin was across from Margot.
"How has your term been?" Lierin asked Margot. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny turned to hear, stopping their discussion on whether or not Molly would be allowed to dye her hair permanently.
Margot shrugged. "Fine, I suppose. I like my new subjects."
"Did you decide to take Divination?" Lierin asked.
"No, I decided not to," Margot said. "But Pepita seems to really like it, don't you?"
Pepita turned red and looked at her plate as Lierin looked over at her. "Divination, eh?" she asked. "That was my favorite subject at school, after Arithmancy anyway. Are you good at it?"
Pepita shrugged, her eyes still on her plate. "I don't know," she said quietly. Lierin nodded, seeming to realize that Pepita had no desire to talk about the subject. Margot frowned at Pepita, wondering why, but knew better than to pursue it.
"Well, Margot, you should be happy to know that we finally have Bellatrix Lestrange under control," Uncle Harry said. "She shouldn't be walking up and down London anytime soon, unless the morons at the Ministry accidentally set her free, and I can't imagine how that would happen."
"That's good," Margot said nodding, not really paying attention to what he was saying. She was watching Lierin, whose eyes were focused on Pepita. It was as if she was examining the girl, watching for something, but Margot wasn't sure what. There seemed to be a lot of that kind of secretive nonsense going around lately.
Sighing slightly, Margot dug into her Yorkshire pudding and put the matter out of her mind for now. It was Christmas, after all.
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