A/N ~ This is not a complete chapter but I know it's been a horrendously long time since last I posted so I thought I'd break it into two parts. Sadly it will probably be just as long till my next post, my next few months are extremely busy socially, everyone I know seems to be either getting married or turning 30 at the moment. So I have weddings, hen's nights and birthday parties coming out of my ears and thus very little time for writing fan fiction! Anyway enough of that… on with the story
Barbeque at the Weasley's
Harry knocked on the door and waited impatiently for an answer. Finally after a few minutes they heard the pounding of feet approaching and suddenly the door was flung wide open.
`Harry, Hermione, Matt! How are you? Come in.' Ron said, a wide smile adorning his freckled face. He stepped aside and allowed them to enter.
`Matt you remember Ron don't you?' Hermione asked him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
`Of course, it's nice to see you again Mr Weasley.' Matt replied in his best polite voice. Ron threw back his head and laughed, `You won't get away with that here Mate, my dad's the only one who answers to that, it'd be too confusing otherwise. Why don't you just call me Ron?'
Matt hesitated and looked at his mum, uncomfortable with calling an adult by their first name, seeing his discomfort Harry came to the rescue.
`Or, seeing as Ron's kids call me Uncle Harry, I'm sure Ron would love it if you called him Uncle Ron.' Harry nudged Ron in the ribs playfully, `wouldn't you mate?'
`Oh yeah, of course, if you wanted to call me Uncle Ron I'd be thrilled.' Ron replied readily.
Matt smiled as the easy going banter between Ron and his father, `Ok then Uncle Ron,' he replied feeling his face go warm as he tried out the new title for the first time. Hermione saw his embarrassment and laughed, `You'd better get used to it my darling boy, I have a feeling you're going to have more Uncles & Aunts than you know what to do with very soon.'
`Speaking of which lets go out into the back yard and introduce you to them all, they're all dying to meet you' said Ron as he led them down the narrow entrance hall and into a big empty living area.
The house seemed to be made up of all odd angles and Matt was pretty sure it wouldn't have been able to stay up without magic. The room was cluttered but felt oddly empty like a fireplace full of logs but without a fire. The mantle was crowded with photos of people with bright red hair and Matt wished he could look at them all more closely. Unfortunately it seemed that there wasn't time as they hurried on into the next room.
The kitchen too was cluttered but felt empty. Matt could tell that the house was `well loved' as his mother often said of places that were full of fun kinds of mess. There were dishes washing themselves in the sink, an old odd looking grandfather clock in the corner and an odd assortment of sparkplugs, electrical wires and computer chips littering the table.
`I know it all seems a bit strange,' his father whispered to him as they rapidly approached the back door, `but I love it here and I'm sure you will too, once you get used to it.'
Matt only nodded in reply; he could already tell that if the people were anything like their home they would be a bit odd but a lot of fun.
When Uncle Ron finally opened the back door the sight that greeted them was one Matt was sure he would never forget. He had always thought that, growing up in Melbourne, he was used to seeing people of all different shapes, sizes, ethnicities and religions. It suddenly occurred to him when he stared at all of the people standing in the backyard that he had probably only ever met one or two people with red hair before. Yet here he was confronted with a, almost a herd of them, he couldn't think of any other word to describe it and they were all staring right back at him.
There was a moment of silence as Matt stared at them and they all stared back at Matt and then a wave of pure sound crashed into him almost sending him deaf as they all began talking at once. It was only when he was being introduced that he noticed that not all of them were red heads. Uncle Neville had brown hair and Aunt Luna and Aunt Fluer were both blondes and only a couple of the kids had the pure red Weasley hair. Jaoquin & Jon-Paul, Aunt Fluer and Uncle Bills oldest boys, twins who had immediately requested to be called Jack & JP, had hair that was more strawberry blonde in colour and even Katie, Uncle Ron & Aunt Luna's eldest, was a bit blonder than her father, though not as blonde as the boys. The other kids, all of whom were at least a few years younger than Matt and therefore not really worth noticing, tended to have much darker hair almost brown in some cases.
Once everyone had been introduced, and Matt had gotten over his initial shock at the sight of so much red hair, it was time to think about food.
`You're about to have your first taste of Mrs Weasley's cooking, are you excited?' his father asked as he led Matt to a seat at the table where Katie, JP and Jack were all seated.
`Um, I guess so' Matt replied unsure of how to respond, `is she a better cook than you?' he asked to the general amusement of the other kids at the table.
`Are you kidding? My Grandmother is the best cook in the whole world.' Said one of the twins, Matt wasn't sure which. Harry saw his confusion and took pity on his boy, who was obviously feeling a bit befuddled by all the new people and things.
`Easy way to tell them apart Matt,' he whispered conspiratorially leaning closer, `Jack has a small mole on his earlobe and JP doesn't.'
`Aww Uncle Harry, now how're we supposed to trick him?' Jack whined obviously deeply disappointed.
Harry laughed, `I'm sure you'll find a way! Any way I'm going to help with the food,' and he walked away leaving Matt alone with the other kids.
`So do you start Hogwarts next year as well do you?' J.P asked as he casually sprinkled some powder into a glass of pumpkin juice sitting abandoned on the table. `Ah, yeah,' Matt replied as the juice turned black smoked for a second and resumed a normal colour, `what is that stuff?' he asked indicating the glass.
`Pumpkin juice,' Jack replied on his brothers behalf.
Matt opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Katie.
`Do you have a binthamigigy in your throat?' she asked looking at him as though he were about to sprout feelers.
`I'm sorry do I have a what stuck in my throat?' he asked genuinely confused as Jack and JP began to laugh silently, if they were trying to hide their amusement they were doing an appallingly bad job at it Matt thought a little bitterly, thinking that they were laughing at his expense.
`No, not a what,' Katie said exasperation in her tone, `a binthamigigy. It's a little thing that looks like a fairy. They hide in people's throats and make them talk funny. You've been talking funny all afternoon.' She said pointedly.
`Oh no,' Matt said rushing to reassure her, `I don't have anything stuck in my throat, I've just got an Australian accent, cause I was born there and lived there all my life until now.'
Katie looked sceptical `If you say so, but if it stays around I'd recommend going to St Mungo's to see if you do have a binthamigigy.' At that point Jack and JP gave up all pretence and started to laugh out loud. Matt grinned realising a bit belatedly that they were laughing at Katie and not him. Jack and JP were clearly trouble but really funny, and Katie was completely crazy, but kind of cute, Matt could tell that they were going to have heaps of fun together at Hogwarts.
Jack wiped tears of laughter from his eyes, `at least she'll be in Ravenclaw so we won't see her too much,' he said grinning so that it was obvious he was only teasing.
`I will not!' Katie shot back adamantly, `I'm going to be in Gryffindor just like my Dad!'
`Oh no,' Matt said playing along, `looks like she will be in Gryffindor then, we're going to have to put up with her everyday!'
Katie looked at him her eyes wide, `Do you really think so?' she asked eagerly.
`Um, yeah,' Matt stammered, `my Dad and I were talking about it the other day and he said that in the end you choose what's most important to you and which house you'll be in.' Matt knew he couldn't tell his father's story so he went with his mothers instead, `I mean look at my mum, everyone says she's the smartest witch of her generation and she wasn't in Ravenclaw.'
She grabbed his arm in excitement, `that's true!' she squealed, `I'm going to tell my Dad!' and she ran off.
`Do you really think she'll be in Gryffindor?' JP asked
`Yeah, why?' Matt asked, they weren't serious about not wanting to be in the same house as her were they?
`Cause if she's in Gryffindor I'll never be keeper.' He said mournfully.
`Keeper?' Matt asked.
`Yeah, you know in Quidditch,' Jack supplied, `My brother has delusions of grandeur, he wants to play keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. We make a great team as beaters but he wants to do something different because he thinks we already get enough comparisons to Uncles Fred & George as it is.' Jack grinned evilly, `only problem is Katie is about ten times better than he is at keeping.' Matt looked at J.P for confirmation of this story and the boy nodded sadly.
`Well,' he said in an effort to be comforting, `there are definitely worse people to be compared to, my dad said that they're really funny and awesome beaters.' JP perked up a little at that, `that's true I suppose, and we're actually better beaters than they are,' he said brightly, `but don't tell them I said that' he added hurriedly.
Matt just laughed, `I won't'.
`Hey I heard you got a Firebolt! Is that true?' Jack asked suddenly very excited.
`Yeah it's awesome and my dad taught me how to fly and he reckons I'm good enough to make the Hogwarts team when I start next year!' Matt replied equally excited.
Jack laughed, `first years never make the team Matt, but maybe in second year you'll make the team.'
`Well my dad did,' Matt replied defensively.
`Yeah and he was the youngest player in a century and no-one has done it since either!' JP retorted defending his brother.
`So?' Matt asked feeling a bit insulted and annoyed.
`What are you saying that you're as good at flying as your dad?'
`He said I was.' Matt determined not to back down.
The three boys glared at each other for a few minutes before JP finally broke the silence, `I'm going to ask him then,' then turned to Harry who was approaching the table levitating a pile of plates in front of him, `Uncle Harry?' he asked.
`Yes,' Harry said distractedly his attention focused on the plates he was levitating into their positions on the table.
`Is Matt a good flier?' he asked innocently.
`Matt is an excellent flier,' Harry replied glancing at the boys just long enough to send a smile in Matt's direction.
Matt released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and smiled back at his father.
`Do you think he's as good as you?' Jack asked seemingly determined to press the issue.
This time Harry looked at the twins steadily, `I'd say he might be even better, he's got an advantage over me though, I never had anyone to teach me how to fly.'
The two boys looked back at Matt their gazes now filled with awe rather than the distrust that had been there previously, `The Gryffindor team is going to kick ass with us lot on it,' Jack was saying now.
`It'll probably be the best team in Hogwarts history, especially if we find some good chasers.' JP added, the excitement catching on, `with Katie as keeper us as beaters and Matt as seeker we could take on anyone!'
`Did you hear that George?' Uncle Fred asked his twin brother, `I did,' Uncle George replied, `these little rug rats think they could take on anyone!'
`Well,' said Mr Weasley from the head of the table, Matt suddenly realised that while they'd been talking the table had filled with people without him realising, `That sounds like a challenge for a Hogwarts alumni v Hogwarts future pickup quidditch match to me.'
Uncle George picked up a glass of pumpkin juice and took a long sip his skin turning a vibrant shade of purple, `Ooh this means war,' he said glaring daggers at Jack and JP. The three boys looked at each other all feeling dread settle into their stomaches, `What have we gotten ourselves into?' Matt asked voicing the thoughts of all three.
After lunch was over and Harry had apparated home to get their Firebolt's and come back it was time to organise the teams for the inaugural intergenerational Weasley family quidditch match, or so it had been named by the adults. The three boys stood with Katie all clutching their brooms looking at the adults who had already nominated every member of their team, using Harry as seeker, Ron as keeper, Fred and George as beaters and Charlie, Bill and Ginny as chasers.
`Who are we going to use as Chasers?' JP asked the others looking desperate. Matt and Jack both shrugged.
`We'll have to use some of the younger kids I suppose.' Katie said indicating the group of little kids that Matt hadn't payed all that much attention to.
`I'll play,' volunteered Martin, Uncle George's oldest son a stocky boy of about eight.
`Me too,' said Jess, Uncle Charlies daughter.
`You've only just turned eight though,' Jack protested, `are you going to be able to hold your own against the adults?'
`I'll be fine' Jess insisted.
`Alright,' Katie said smoothing things over, `now we just need one more but all of the other kids are too young really.'
`What about that kid over there?' Matt asked pointing to a boy that he vaguely remembered being introduced too but whose name and connection to the family he couldn't remember. The other kids all looked uncomfortable, `that's Uncle Percy's son,' JP said slowly as though there was something he wanted to say but he didn't know how.
`What's wrong with him? Is he slow?' Matt asked confused
`No, nothing like that, he's just….' JP trailed off and looked at his brother.
`He's a lot like his Dad.' Jack offered trying to explain.
`He doesn't play quidditch?' Matt asked not knowing what they meant.
`I don't know if he does or not, he never really talks to us lot much.' JP said and Matt finally understood. They obviously didn't get along well and didn't want him on the team.
`Well we need an extra player, it can't hurt to ask.'
`You go ask him then.' Katie said looking stubborn.
`Ok then.' Matt said and headed over to where the other boy was sitting alone at the table.
`Hey how's it going?' He asked as he approached.
`What do you want?' The boy asked defensively. Seeing that there was no reason to delay the purpose of the conversation Matt got straight to the point, `We're a player short, do you want to go chaser?'
The other boy looked at him carefully for a moment, Matt guessed they were about the same age and wondered what he had done that the other kids disliked him so much. `They don't want me on the team do they?' He asked abruptly.
`They didn't say that actually, they said that you wouldn't want to play, but I thought we should ask you anyway. So do you?'
`Yeah alright,' he said after a moment's consideration, `but I don't have a broom.'
`That's alright, I'm sure we'll be able to find you one. By the way I'm sorry but I've forgotten your name.'
The boy smiled, `That's ok, and it's Henry.'
Matt smiled and led the Henry back over to the group of kids, `Well Henry let's get you a broom and play some quidditch.'
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