Chapter 11
Part Two
They had all decided to sit together at breakfast that day. Rose said it would make it more bearable for the rest of the Hogwarts population, but Victoire knew they all just wanted to talk about their newfound cousins. She figured they’d be safe to talk about them, in low voices of course so no one else heard, at breakfast, but she was going to put a ban on it after that. Given how good the Sinclairs were at sneaking up on them before they were related, she didn’t want to risk any latent Weasley sneaking genes awakening. Teddy had told her that wasn’t a thing, but he was also sitting with them and kept glancing about for MJ, so clearly he was lying.
In typical Sinclair fashion, MJ and Lucy ruined that plan. They walked into the Great Hall not five minutes after the Weasleys had found their seats. Victoire watched with interest as Lucy scurried over to the Hufflepuff table to speak to some friends, before jogging back over to join MJ. When she got there, MJ and Lucy spoke quietly before MJ got up, and the two of them walked over to join them.
“Good morning!” Lucy said, brightly. Victoire wondered where this energy had come from, she knew Lucy had had a later night than she’d had, and she was exhausted. “Can we join you?”
Victoire blinked, and shared a look with Dominique, who looked equally as confused. It was Teddy who answered them. “Sure,” He said. “Take a seat. Just a heads up, all of this lot is getting howlers for last night’s antics.”
“We know,” Lucy said. “We heard Uncle Charlie recording one for you all as he left. I think he recorded one for us too, just to keep it even.” MJ sighed, aggravated.
Victoire paused, she wasn’t sure if she’d heard Lucy right. Based on the looks on everyone else’s faces, they weren’t sure either. “And you’re okay with that?” She asked MJ. “Uncle Charlie outing you as Weasleys?”
“We’re Sinclair-Weasleys, if anything.” MJ snapped, grabbing a piece of toast and violently smearing jelly on it. “And it’s going to come out eventually.” She tore into her toast, and she’d swallowed turned to Jamie. “Your mother is very kind.” She said flatly. Jamie looked baffled.
“Thanks?” He said. MJ nodded, as if this was a peace offering, and turned back to her breakfast. “Hey, does this mean you’ll stop making me run more laps than everyone else when I mess up now?”
MJ glanced at him. “Laps are good for you,”
“Please?”
“Fine.” MJ said. “Only because my dad will kill me when he finds out I’ve been kind of bullying you lot.”
Victoire wondered a lot of things about MJ and Lucy’s dad. “Is he, um…” She hesitated, unsure of how to ask the question. Lucy answered it.
“Still missing? Yes. We told Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron everything we know-”
“Please stop calling them that.” MJ muttered. Lucy smacked her leg.
“Don’t interrupt me, Mary Joy Sinclair. Anyway, We told them everything we know, and they said it’ll still take time to find our parents.” She bit her lip, clearly distressed. Victoire waved a hand.
“Oh, they have to jump through all sorts of hoops. You can tell us what you told them later today, and we can have it figured out by the end of the week.” She said, Rose yelped.
“Let’s not make promises we can’t keep Vic,” Rose looked nervous. She was probably still scared of MJ. Victoire was.
“I have a question,” Georgie interrupted, his mouth full of food. “Why’s your name Mary? That’s so boring.”
MJ raised an eyebrow. Georgie chewed, unrepentant. MJ shrugged. “Dad wanted to name me after his Mum, but was still fighting with her. Mum wouldn’t let him, so they compromised. Mary instead of Molly, Molly can be a nickname for Mary anyway.”
Victoire stared at MJ appraisingly. “Why’d he never come home then?” She asked quietly. “Tore our dad up, it did, him disappearing.”
“He didn’t think he was welcome,” MJ replied. “Charlie said he sent letters, but I know our dad never received them.” She hesitated. “I think somebody was blocking them, and I think it was the same person who took our parents.” She looked as if she’d spilled a big secret, and in some ways she had. Victoire realized this was MJ trusting them, and she would not betray her trust.
“We’ll find them,” She promised. She wanted to say something more, but the morning post arrived, and with it, drama.
There were two things of importance in the morning post. One was the 12 howlers that arrived. Each of the children, including MJ and Lucy, got one, plus one from Uncle Charlie for all of them and one from their grandmum. The second was the Daily Prophet, with a photograph of Percy and Audrey Sinclair on the front page, declaring them missing. Victoire flipped the Prophet over before Lucy saw it, but she knew MJ already had. MJ gave her a nod of thanks, and Victoire felt a thrill of hope. Maybe the two could get along.
“What did the Weasleys do last night?” She heard Alex Wood mutter from the other end of the table. Maria and Ana did a quick count of the howlers, and then left before the cacophony started. They were just the start of the mass exodus of students who didn’t want to deal with the Weasley howlers.
“Who opens their’s first?” Rose asked, nervous. Victoire sighed.
“I think they’re all going to go off at the same time regardless of what order we open them in, Rosie.” She said. “Might as well do it at the same time, get them over with.”
“Wait,” Lucy glanced at them. “You’re actually going to listen to them?”
“Yes?” Victoire asked. “Well, we’re going to let them play, listening is a strong word. Why?”
In answer, Lucy took her howler and stuffed it in her glass of water. MJ rolled her eyes as Lucy snatched hers from her hand and did the same. The howlers turned red, started yelling, and immediately died.
“Are you serious?” Freddie said. “We could’ve been doing that the whole time?”
“Mum taught that trick to us,” Lucy shrugged. “Said she was taught it by her older cousin when she was a 3rd year.”
“This is the best day of my life,” Eli stuffed his howler in his water and watched it fizzle. “Quick, the rest of you do yours.”
“What about Uncle Charlie and Grandmum’s?” Rose asked, nodding to the howlers which had stayed floating, clearly meant for all of them.
“Can someone reach it?” Teddy stood on the bench to try.
“Great example you’re setting there, Mr. Head Boy.” MJ drawled. Victoire snorted as Teddy’s hair turned red. “Do you have a better idea?” He asked.
“Oh, are you a wizard?” Victoire sighed, pulling out her wand. With a flick of her wrist, she’d created an air current to pull the howlers down to them. They got Uncle Charlie’s in time, but their grandmum’s went off before someone could stop it.
“OF ALL THE THINGS TO BE TOLD MY GRANDCHILDREN WERE DOING AT MIDNIGHT,” It started. Victoire noticed MJ looking impressed. “I WAS NOT EXPECTING ALL OF MY HOGWARTS AGED GRANDCHILDREN TO BE TEARING OUT OF THE FORBIDDEN FOREST AND CAUSING DRAMA IN THE GREAT HALL.”
“Technically,” Georgie spoke over the howler. “Only four of us were doing that.”
Rose laughed, and Victoire scoffed as the howler continued, detailing how they’d all taken after their parents, and how she expected better.
“AND ONE LAST THING.” The howler cried. Victoire thought that she had said enough. “I EXPECT ALL OF YOU HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. THAT INCLUDES YOU, LUCILLE ANN AND MARY JOY.” With that, the howler burst into a puff of smoke. Hugo sighed.
“Ryan invited me to his place for Christmas,” He said miserably. Victoire snorted.
“Yeah, that was never gonna happen Hugs.” She ruffled his hair. “Especially not now. We’d all better be on our best behavior for the next month, or we’re getting scolded for Christmas.”
“How on earth does she know our middle names?” Lucy asked in wonder. “MJ, she knew your full name, did you tell Uncle Charlie that?”
“She probably found out from Aunt Emilie, the traitor.” MJ glanced up. “Oh, look. More mail.”
Victoire watched as a large basket landed between the Sinclairs. They eyed it with fear, and she spoke.
“Oh, just open it. Clearly it’s a gift from grandmum.”
“Clearly,” MJ snarked, but allowed Lucy to open it. Lucy gasped as the paper fell open to reveal a pile of baked goods, a scarf in each of their house colors, and two letters.
“How did she do this in 6 hours?” MJ demanded. Victoire laughed.
“Magic,” She replied. MJ pinned her with a glare, and Victoire stood. “You can store that in my dorm between classes,” She offered. “And pick it up before you go back to Uncle Charlie’s?”
“You just want to make sure we can’t leave without telling you everything,” MJ accused. Victoire shrugged.
“Maybe. Truce?” She offered MJ a hand. MJ rolled her eyes as she stood, Victoire was noticing she did that a lot.
“It’s not a truce if it’s the end of the feud.” She replied. “Like I said, my dad will kill me when he finds out about this whole thing.” But she shook Victoire’s hand regardless.
“Good,” Victoire said. “Not about your dad killing you, but about this ending. We are going to be best friends MJ Sinclair, and that friendship is going to start with us finding your parents.”
“Start with the second part and we can have a conversation about the first,” MJ sighed. Lucy snickered.
“That’s a yes,” She told Victoire. “Oh, these are good.”
“Are you seriously eating sweets at eight in the morning?” MJ demanded. Lucy rolled her eyes.
“I’ve had a rough night, Emmie, haven’t you heard, my parents are missing?” She turned the newspaper over, giving MJ and Victoire a look. Victoire winced, and MJ grabbed the basket.
“I’m leaving,” She told her sister, instead of admitting guilt. “I’ll see you at lunch.”
“No you won’t, I’m sitting with my friends,” Lucy said. “How about this, Hugo, Eli, Teddy and I will pick up dinner from the kitchens, and we can all meet for dinner somewhere?”
“Room of Requirement,” Teddy said. “Uncle Harry told me about it, we can meet there. I’ll get Lucy there, Victoire, you’ll get MJ?”
“Deal,” Victoire said. “See you at dinner then,” She waved goodbye to her cousins, and then turned to leave, MJ followed her. They didn’t speak the whole way to Victoire’s dorm, but it was a comfortable silence, not an awkward one, so Victoire would take it.