Chapter 8
"My grandchildren!" Molly opened her arms and hugged the three Potter siblings one after the other.
Albus preferred to keep the hugs short.
Now everyone was there. Bill and Fleur were the last to arrive and they were immediately greeted and questioned by everyone.
Albus liked the two of them quite well. Lily nudged him with her elbow, so he followed her to the couch. All the other members of the family who were still "very young" were there too.
"Malfoy isn't here at all?" Louis kept his voice very quiet. Dominique slapped him on the back of the head for his comment.
Lily's gaze immediately wandered to Rose, who twisted her face at that.
Albus wanted to disappear.
"You can be quiet sometimes," said Roxanne and Fred nodded after a moment. "That's Albus' problem, not ours."
"But we're his family!" James said and Rose shook her head.
"Are we really?" Louis asked and Fred frowned. "What?"
"I'm just saying! The only person he hangs out with is Malfoy! No one else." Louis shrugged and Dominique sighed.
"Okay, we can stop talking about it now," Lily said, because she just didn't feel like it anymore.
She had never understood the problems everyone had with Scorpius Malfoy anyway. Not everyone was like her own family.
But she didn't want to say that. Normally she wasn't the type to keep everything to herself and not talk about it. But she saw what problems Albus had with the others and she didn't want that. She didn't want to live like Albus.
But somehow she did.
She only didn't want it to realize.
Lily frowned and looked over at Albus, who was sitting next to her and had already tensed his body.
"It's my problem, isn't it? Why are you even getting involved?" Albus' voice had now become a little louder than he had intended. Rose then folded her arms and leaned back against the couch. Fred sat next to James and whispered something to him, James hesitated briefly before leaning forward closer to Albus.
"Shall we talk for a minute? Alone?" James raised his eyebrows as Albus shook his head and answered "No."
"Woah, I sense a very tense atmosphere here. I don't like it at all." Teddy came into the living room and looked around. "Something I should be let in on too?"
"Probably," Louis replied more quietly and Dominique sighed. Victoire remained silent the whole time and stood next to Teddy.
"But you still won't tell me?" Ted asked. "You know you can trust me."
"Very well." James got up on his feet and Albus' head immediately darted towards him. His heart was beating faster.
Please don't.
"James," Lily warned louder and James was about to sit down again. Then he looked back and forth between Teddy and Albus before his brain started to rattle.
Should he really do that?
Teddy has a confused expression on his face, as does Victoire.
Fred had put his hand on James' right shoulder. The two were like brothers and almost always messed around. That's why Fred was one of the people who could change James' mind the quickest.
James' eyes wandered to Fred for a moment before turning back to Teddy, who still looked confused. "It's all okay. Sorry, I just read too much into it."
Teddy nodded slowly, but not convinced.
"Is everything really okay, Dominique?" Victoire narrowed her eyes at her sister, who immediately nodded at the look. Then Victoire looked at Louis, who also nodded after a few seconds.
♡
"How is Hogwarts?" Ron asked with his mouth full, which earned him a disdainful look from Hermione. Arthur immediately dropped his fork and looked at the teenagers in the family.
"It's nice," replied the younger Molly and Lucy nodded excitedly. "It couldn't be better!"
Fred grinned. "The pranks couldn't be better!" He joined James.
The older Molly shook her head before grinning a little. There always had to be some Marauders in the family - no matter what generation.
"I'm thinking about signing up for Quidditch," explained Hugo and the adults immediately looked at him. "That's a great idea!" said Ron and George nodded in agreement. "Oh yes."
Percy then nodded too. "It'll definitely be great."
"You have to write to me when you're on the team, Hugo," Bill asked Hugo, who nodded.
"And you, Albus? How are you at Hogwarts?" Charlie asked, and now all eyes were on him.
Albus sighed inwardly.
Great.
"It's all okay," Albus answered the question after a brief hesitation, and Lily's gaze wandered to the floor. Rose clasped her hands and tried not to look at anyone. Hugo looked around confused, and Fred shook his head slightly.
Teddy and Victoire were the first to notice the teenagers' strange behavior when Albus was asked about Hogwarts. Albus began to get really nervous.
"He's doing great!" James intervened, hoping to change the subject. Even he was now feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Why are you all acting so strange?" Fleur asked, analyzing each of the teenagers.
"Um, we all had a little discussion earlier. It wasn't quite over yet," Roxanne came up with an excuse that was swallowed by the adults.
The Potter-Weasley family spent the rest of the evening laughing, telling funny things and playing games.
Sometimes even Albus could laugh along.