Daisy and Dahlia

The Weasleys came back from Egypt on the 24th; but Ron, like Neville, was severely restricted in his movements due to the threat of Sirius Black. Mrs Weasley was quite firmly decided that her children were not to go to Diagon Alley until the day before the Hogwarts Express left; they would spend the day shopping, spend the night in the Leaky Cauldron, and head from there to King's Cross in the morning. Harry, who knew that Rodelinda's plans for freeing Sirius hinged on getting both Ron and Scabbers to Diagon Alley, tried to push for an earlier date, but to no avail. The 31st of August it would be, and no other. Harry would be welcome at the Burrow earlier, if he liked and if his Muggle relatives would let him; Mr Weasley had contacts at the ministry who might be able to bend the rules and get the Dursley's fireplace connected to the Floo network for an afternoon, though of course Mrs Weasley couldn't promise anything. Harry owled back hastily, disclaiming the need for any such thing; he could perfectly well come over on the Knight Bus. The Dursleys, he said with perfect truth, would hate to have magical changes made to their chimneys, even temporary ones. What he did not say was that the chimney in question might well not even be theirs by this point.

As a matter of fact, it wasn't. A mere two days after getting rid of the twins and the bloodwards, Petunia had held an open viewing, which had been attended by more than ten prospective buyers. Two offers had subsequently been made, and after letting them bid against each other for a while, Vernon had closed a very satisfactory deal on the 10th. Since the 'fortunate' pair were first-time buyers, he had only to worry about his end of the chain, and he had already made an offer for a rather luxurious 'cottage' in the North Downs, whose increasingly frail owners had rather hoped to get the sale over by the end of July. ("They've got nothing in writing!" he had proclaimed to a tipsy Marge and an uncomprehending Dudley. "They don't have my business sense!") Petunia was looking forwards to village life, and really establishing herself as a genteel lady; Vernon would have a much shorter and easier commute, as he would drive to the train station in the nearest town and leave his car there during the day. Having the season ticket would also mean he would be able to drink as much as he liked during business lunches or more informal meetings; and being able to talk about his 'little place in the country' would give him a great deal of cachet. Dudley supposed it was all right. His room in the new house had its own ensuite, and the smaller of the two conservatories was being fitted out as a home gym for him. The village was a bit in the sticks, but the town was OK, and he could get a taxi there whenever he liked, if his parents weren't able to give him a lift. By the 24th, the contracts were signed, the conveyancers were hard at work, and number 4 Privet Drive was standing empty. Arabella Figg had, of course, written to Albus Dumbledore; but the owl had gone to Hogwarts, and Dumbledore was still abroad, seeing to his ICW business.

And so Harry headed over to the Burrow on the 28th, having been strictly drilled as to what he could and could not say, and the importance of acting normally around Scabbers. In particular, he was not to mention having had the 'cousin-finding' inheritance test done, as that was not only very rare, but was known to display godparents as well. The ordinary inheritance test, displaying only direct ancestors, was freely offered to anyone who asked for it and had the galleons to pay for it; and many people knew that Molly Weasley had been born a Prewett; Harry could have heard it anywhere. As it happened, Mrs Weasley didn't ask.

"So, erm, I have some news I wanted to mention," Harry said over lunch. "I was curious about my family, and I had an inheritance test done, and it turns out my mum's mum was a Squib from the Prewett family, and I wondered if that meant we were related? Her father was a Mercurius Prewett, son of Ezekiel Prewett." He did his best to look hopeful. Molly shrieked in delight.

"Oh, my dear boy! That was my father! Oh, to think, you're really one of the family! How wonderful!" She descended upon him and hugged him exuberantly. He hugged back. He had thought it would be out of reach, to be part of her family, Ron's family. And now, as well as the family he had with his little cousins, he might get to be part of a bigger family. Maybe. Once all the secrets were out in the open. Eventually, she let him go, still smiling.

"So, your grandmother would have been my older sister. Hmm. I don't think my mother was old enough to have a grandchild Lily's age. To think of it, Lily Evans was my niece, and I never knew! What was your grandmother's name, and who was her mother?"

"Heather Evans nee Prewett, though I think she also called herself Pruitt with a 'u'. Her mother was Peony Prewett nee Parkinson, daughter of Aurelius Parkinson and Hyacinth Flint."

"My father's first wife was a Parkinson," said Molly. "She died in childbirth, and the boy didn't survive. I've seen her portrait, but Father didn't talk about her much. Certainly I had no idea there'd been a living squib child. It wouldn't exactly surprise me, though. I remember the fuss Aunt Muriel made when Cousin Howard refused to send his child to the Muggle world once he was proven a squib. Kept telling him it wasn't done to keep them, and the other way was kinder." She shook her head, and smiled again. "So I'm your great-aunt! Half-great-aunt, technically. But you can call me Aunt Molly, and I'm sure Arthur won't mind being Uncle Arthur, will you, dear?"

"Glad to," Arthur smiled. "Always good to have more family."

"So that means you're all my cousins!" said Harry, smiling at Ron, only to find his friend looked less than happy. Ginny looked distinctly angry. The twins were grinning, and saying something about thirteen years of missed pranking opportunities; Percy seemed happy enough. But Ron was getting redder and redder.

"You're supposed to be my best mate!" he spat out. "Not just family. If we're family, then I'm not... I'm not anything more to you than any of the others. Just another Weasley. Nothing special. And this is my family. I already have to share enough. I don't-" Molly cut him off, scolding him sharply.

"Ron, you are my best mate," Harry finally said, once there was a pause in the tirade. "I don't want that to change. We can be friends as well as family, can't we? I was - I would be so happy if we could."

"It's all right for you, Ron," snapped Ginny, looking angrier than Harry had ever seen her. "But what about me? You can still be his friend, but I can't - not if we're that close cousins - I always thought, ever since I was a little girl - and now it's all ruined!" She burst into tears and fled upstairs; Ron stormed after her, glowering.

"Bit of a damper on ickle Gin-Gin's plans, there, Harrykins," said Fred, cheerfully.

"Can't exactly marry the Boy-who-Lived if he's your..." said George.

"Half first cousin, once removed," said Fred.

"Not as bad as an ordinary first cousin."

"But still a bit too close."

"We're not Blacks, you know."

"Well, there was Grandma Cedrella."

"She was disowned, she doesn't count. The point stands."

"Neither Weasleys nor Prewetts really go in for marrying very close cousins. Not like some families do."

"Third cousins might be OK."

"Hard to find anybody if you ruled out third cousins."

"But closer than that is a no-no."

"Oh," said Harry, feeling guilty. "Ginny fancies me?"

"She's had a crush on you for years," said Fred.

"Before she ever actually met you," said George. "But it kicked up a notch once she did." Harry supposed that might actually account for Ginny's peculiar behaviour the previous summer, always squeaking, and getting tongue-tied, and oddly clumsy.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I hope she feels better, soon." Molly sighed.

"She had an idea that since she looked like Lily, and you look like James, that meant it was meant to be," she said. "I thought it was harmless. All little girls dream of marrying handsome heroes, don't they? I used to keep newspaper clippings with photos of famous Aurors. You wouldn't think it now, but Alastor Moody was really very handsome when he was younger..."

"Eeew, Mum!" said the twins in perfect synchrony. "Mad-Eye Moody!"

"Obviously that was before I got to know your father," said Molly. "And it was just a harmless little celebrity crush, anyway. I didn't actually meet him myself until years later. Anyway, your sister will get over it, sooner or later. And you're not to give her too hard a time about it, understand?"

"Oh, don't worry, Mum," said Fred.

"Ickle Harrykins is enough to prank."

"And aren't there other cousins as well?"

"When can we meet them?"

"I'll introduce you to Daisy and Dahlia quite soon," said Harry. "They're twins, and they have magic, too, like me. And they're Parselmouths. Dudley might be trickier to arrange. But you can't prank Dudley with magic, because he's a muggle, and he's actually been much nicer recently. He's going to be my penpal once we're back at boarding school. And you can't prank the twins too badly, either," he said sternly. "They're only two. But they like farting noises and silly colour changes," he added hastily. "And they love being levitated."

"Fred and George gave Ron an Acid Pop that burned a hole in his tongue, once," said Percy. "I'd be careful, if I were you."

"We were eight!"

"And these days, we don't give other people things we haven't tested on ourselves first," said George.

"Unless we really dislike them."

"But don't worry, Harry."

"We tested the Hair-changing sweets on ourselves, and Lee, and quite a few others." Harry squinted. His hair was, indeed, tomato red.

"Slipped it in your tea when you weren't looking," said George, smugly. "We're getting really good at sleight of hand."

This, more than anything, reassured Harry he might really be becoming part of the family. And Percy asked after his holiday homework, and seemed pleasantly surprised to hear he had first drafts of everything, and was mostly finished reworking them. Mrs Weasley - Aunt Molly - pressed second and third helpings on him, and Uncle Arthur asked him questions about Muggle technology. After a while, Mr Weasley pottered off to his shed, and Harry thought he'd go and see if Ron had cooled down yet. Ron was still distinctly miffed, but consented to trounce Harry at chess a couple of times before he had to go.

Over the chessboard, Harry broke the news to Ron that he was away from the Dursleys for good, now. At first Ron was happy for him, but then, the more Harry explained, the less happy Ron became. The signet ring, especially, seemed to enrage him for some reason. "Like some poncy Pureblood type! What's next, being mates with Malfoy?" And Ron was frankly jealous of Harry's being considered an adult, and had no interest at all in meeting Daisy and Dahlia.

"Mate, I've already got one set of twins in my life," he said, "and I reckon that's plenty. Do yours do the twinspeak thing?"

"They do," said Harry, wondering how to break it to Ron that he would, actually, be bringing the girls to Hogwarts with him.

"Oh well, I daresay I'll have to meet them at some point," he said. "But don't bring them to Diagon Alley, eh? I'd like to hang out, just you, me and Hermione."

Harry agreed. Given what was planned for the Diagon Alley trip, he'd been intending to have the twins stay at home with Dobby regardless.