Chapter Eleven - The Family
Mrs Weasley seemed a bit distant when she returned, but not in a bad way. She allowed Uncle to prepare dinner again, since she claimed to be busy cleaning up the house for the events of the following night. Mr Weasley and Uncle headed outside to prepare the backyard for any possible outdoor activities. So I stayed inside with Crookshanks, reading a book.
Loud voices woke me up on the following day. I sighed in relief when I realized they were happy voices and not arguing voices. Mrs Weasley was greeting another woman, apparently. There was a soft knock on the door of my bedroom, and I got up to open it.
Uncle looked at me with a sheepish expression. "John, my brothers and sister decided to come here earlier than I thought. They want to meet you. Do you want to meet them now or do you rather sleep some more?"
The sunlight was bright, even through the curtains, so I supposed it was late to go back sleep, anyway. "I'll be ready in a bit," I said seriously. Uncle nodded and closed the door.
It took me a good fifteen minutes, since I was trying to find something blue to wear. I didn't want an Inu-jin to eat my clothes while I was wearing them!
When I went to the kitchen, I was met with the bizarre image of five redheads. There were two men, shorter and stockier than Uncle, and identical to each other. Fred and George Weasley. There was a young woman with long hair tied in a low ponytail. Ginny.
She was looking at me with a startled expression. The twins, who had been talking loudly and laughing, were also looking at me as if I had done something wrong. Suddenly I felt nervous. All the staring was starting to creep me out.
As if sensing my discomfort, Uncle walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "John, meet my annoying brothers, Fred and George," he said. Even if I already knew them from the pictures he showed me the previous day, I let him explain. "She is my little sister, Ginevra. We call her Ginny, though," he added quickly, when she glared at him. "Ginny, Fred, George, this is John Granger."
That seemed to break the ice. The twins instantly came up to me and pushed each other around, fighting to shake my hand. I looked questioningly at Uncle, but he just shrugged.
I turned around and noticed that Miss Weasley was approaching me. She crouched slightly and smiled. "Hey there," she said.
"Hello, Miss Weasley," I said politely.
She chuckled. "I haven't been called that in a long while. I'm married, so I usually go by Mrs Longbottom. But that makes me sound too old, don't you think? Just between us, you can call me Ginny," she said amusedly.
I blinked in surprise. "Do you know Auror Neville Longbottom?" I asked.
Ginny smiled and nodded. "Yes, he's my husband. You'll probably see him tonight."
I was whirled around abruptly, and I realized it had been one of the twins. They were grinning down at me, and I almost did a double-take as I was reminded of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, from the old Disney cartoon movie. "You want to try one of our products?" one of them asked me, and then turned to his twin. "What do you think, George? Which one do we give him?"
As George struck a pose as if he were really thinking about it, I felt two strong hands on my shoulders. Both twins rolled their eyes and looked up at whoever was behind me. "Ronnikins, you're not fun at all," George finally said, as they both backed away.
"Don't listen to them, John," Uncle said softly. "They're troublemakers." At that, they started making faces at him, but he didn't pay attention. I nodded obediently, ignoring the two non-adults.
"Ginny, dear, when are you and Neville going to give me grandchildren?" I heard Mrs Weasley ask. Fred and George snickered, but Uncle sighed in annoyance.
Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head. "For the last time, Mum, let it go! And don't mention it in front of him!" She left the kitchen hastily, and went to sit in the living room, leaving Mrs Weasley looking surprised.
Uncle also the left the kitchen.
Not wanting to be around Fred and George or Mrs Weasley, I followed him. I sat down on the small worn out couch, while Ginny and Uncle sat on the large one.
They were talking in hushed tones. It looked like he was comforting her. Eventually, she didn't look angry anymore, and instead she and Uncle were chuckling.
The door in the kitchen opened and we all heard Mrs Weasley exclaiming happily. "Bill! You're finally here! Fleur, and little Franky!"
A tall man with dark red hair in a low and short ponytail entered the living room. He had three white scars across his face, and earrings that looked like fangs. He also had a thin mustache. "Hi, Ginny, Ron," he said, nodding at them. When he turned to me, he sighed and seemed sad. "Hello, John."
I frowned in confusion. How did he know my name? But then again, Mrs Weasley probably had sent letters to her family, explaining why I was there. "Hello, sir," I said.
"Quite polite, aren't you?" he asked, walking up to me so he could ruffle my hair. I wrinkled my nose at that. I could only tolerate that from one or two people. And Bill was not one of them.
A pretty blonde woman walked into the living room, followed by a boy of my age. The boy had light orange hair and gray eyes, and his skin was pale. "Hello, everyone," the woman said in a strange accent, which I recognized. French people spoke English with that accent. I had been to France a few times, with my grandparents and Mother, so I was familiar with the speech.
"Hey, Francois, look. You can play with John," Bill said to the boy. "You can probably teach him some games, since he was Muggle-raised."
What was that supposed to mean? I suddenly felt very defensive of my family's lifestyle. It wasn't as if Muggles didn't know how to have fun!
Francois seemed to ponder this, as he looked at me critically. I paid no attention, and shifted my gaze to Uncle, almost helplessly.
A knock made us all turn to the front door, and I grinned. Only a non-Weasley would knock, that much I had learnt. So it was probably Miss Lovegood.
"Luna, dear!" I heard Mrs Weasley saying. "How wonderful is to have you around again! Oh, that's the jumper I gave you five years ago!"
Miss Lovegood emerged from the kitchen, with her usual dreamy expression. She was wearing blue pants and a light-blue jumper, which had a dark blue L on it. Uncle stood up and greeted her awkwardly, eyeing the rest of us through the corner of his eye. But Miss Lovegood had no problem in kissing him on the cheek. "Hi, Luna," he stuttered.
"Hello, Ronald," she said casually.
I got up and hugged her legs, my head barely reaching above her hip. "Hi, Miss Lovegood!" I said brightly.
She chuckled and crouched so she could hug me. "You know, John, you can call me Luna," she told me amusedly. "You don't have to be so formal."
I blushed and nodded. "Okay... Luna," I squeaked out. Then I remembered about my socks. "Look, that way the Inu-jins won't eat my clothes," I said, pulling the leg of my pants so they both could see the color of my socks.
Luna smiled proudly. "Very wise, John," she said, and we both looked up at Uncle. He was chuckling quietly, his blue eyes shining in amusement. "Do you have anything blue on, Ronald?" Luna asked, her own eyes flicking with mischief.
Uncle blushed and stammered something that sounded a lot like "underwear." But I wasn't about to question him.
As the day progressed, two more Weasleys came to the Burrow. Charlie, the second oldest, was a muscular bloke with short hair. He was rather easy-going and fun to talk to. He didn't bring anyone, and apparently was too much in love with his job. Percy was also single, and quite distant. He didn't even acknowledge me when Uncle presented me.
Finally, Neville Longbottom arrived. Ginny met him cheerfully with a peck on the lips (I blushed when I saw that), and a hug. They looked quite happy with each other, so I wasn't sure why Ginny had been mad at Mrs Weasley at the mention of children.
When he saw me, Neville smiled softly. "Hey, there, John," he said. "How have you been?"
I returned the smile, and extended my hand for he to shake. This made him chuckle, but he shook my hand nonetheless. "I'm okay. Uncle is very good, and he's helping me a lot," I said, hoping it sounded favorable for my guardian. After all, Neville was an Auror.
He nodded, his eyes shining. "I'm very glad to hear that," he told me.
Francois turned out to be an interesting distraction, and an improvement from Aunt Geraldine's grandchildren. He was old enough to talk to, but not old enough to have deep conversations. He wasn't as arrogant as I thought he was when I first saw him, but he had an air of superiority, probably because of his mother.
Finally, at eight o' clock, we sat to have dinner. I sat between Uncle and Francois. Luna sat at Uncle's other side, but I wasn't worried about that. I was actually a bit hungry.
There was a lot of chicken and meat, salads, mashed potatoes and the list kept going. It took us all one hour and fifteen minutes to finish all the food. Mostly, because the adults kept talking about their family things.
Francois and I kept to ourselves as the Weasleys, their spouses (or friend, in Uncle's case) jumped from one topic to the other.
I learnt that Percy didn't like Father since before the end of the Second War. Apparently, Father had played a big role on finishing it. I wasn't sure why Percy would dislike Father, then. Most of the Weasleys didn't seem to get along with him, only Mrs Weasley. Mr Weasley looked as if he was obligated to mediate.
The rest of the Weasleys seemed to think highly of Father, though.
When we moved to the living room, Uncle sat between Luna and me on the large couch. The others got chairs and the twins conjured more seats for everyone. They didn't stop talking, remembering those who fell during the Second War, and those who survived.
Soon, it was time for the countdown, and the Weasleys were rather loud about it. Everyone left their sitting positions to rush about the place. The adults got small glasses with cinder, while Francois and I were given pumpkin juice. We still had five minutes, though.
I saw Uncle running off, and then return with two small cups with pumpkin juice, he gave one to Luna, who seemed glad of the change. I was feeling too curious to stay sitting on the couch, so I walked up to them.
As he came back to stand in front of her, he looked at me and smiled. "Hey, John! What are you going to wish?"
I blinked in confusion. "Aren't wishes made in birthdays?"
Luna nodded. "Yes, but some of us also make wishes as the new year starts," she explained.
"Do they come true?" I asked curiously.
She looked at Uncle from the corner of her eye before looking back at me and nodding. "Most of the time," she said.
I grinned at that, before trying to come up with a wish. "I think I know what I want to wish," I said.
"I wish I get the new broomstick, the Cumulus 2007!" Francois said excitedly next to me. At some point, he had decided I was the wickest kid on the block.
"I'll wish this new job works out," Uncle said hopefully. Luna touched his arm at that.
"I wish for a better year for all of us," she said.
The three of them turned to me, expectantly. I looked at my feet, almost ashamed to say it. "I wish... I can find Father this year," I said quietly. "I want to know him."
When I looked up, I saw Luna's eyes shining and Uncle looking at me sadly. Francois looked genuinely confused, but said nothing.
"Ten! Nine!" the other adults had started chanting, and we jumped, slightly startled. I raised my cup (Francois imitating me immediately), and counted with the rest. Uncle and Luna quickly shook themselves, also following the countdown.
"Eight! Seven!"
As I counted, I realized it was the last year I spent with my mother. The first time I didn't chant with her and my grandparents, the last ten seconds of a year.
"Six! Five!"
But looking around, I knew I was not alone. I had a family now. My uncle, Ronald Weasley. His family, who was becoming my own. I even earned an annoying cousin, Francois.
"Four! Three!"
Luna was next to Uncle, happily exclaiming the numbers. Ginny was holding Neville's hand and leaning against him as they stood with the others. Fred and George were jumping around, spilling their drinks, but were too happy to notice. Percy had a small smile on his lips. Bill and Fleur were standing together, near Mr and Mrs Weasley, looking calm but their eyes sparkled with happiness. Charlie was watching the twins and laughing as he tried to shout the seconds.
"Two!"
Looking up at Uncle, I felt proud to have him as my guardian. "Happy New Year, Uncle Ron!" I exclaimed as the others shouted and jumped wildly around.
Uncle Ron looked even happier. "Happy New Year, John!" he exclaimed, setting his cup aside and picking me up. I let my own cup fall as I hugged him tightly. I didn't cry, I was too happy. And I knew my mother was happy for me.
Notes: Yay! John is finally starting to loosen up. Go, John!
I'm aware that the celebrations must be different. I'm Argentinian, so we're somewhat like the French,
Spanish and/or Italians when it comes to New Year's Eve.
We have a twelve-wish tradition here, but it seemed a bit too much, so I stuck with one.
The whole thing was also based on what I used to see when I was little. Our family get-together was loud, we spent a
lot of time eating, and adults talked non-stop (and I always listened closely, unlike my cousins. :P)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. I had a few problems with the "I wish" parts, since I never really listened
to the rules of speech in my English classes. :P