Chapter 9
Arthur heard the knock on the door and hurried towards it, opening the door eagerly, curious about the squib part of his family. He looked at the people standing in front of his door and almost asked what Ginny was doing there, but then he saw some distinctive differences in the way the red headed woman looked.
“Hi, you must be Roderick Lewis?” Arthur asked when he got over his surprise. He was the oldest between them, just a few years older than Arthur himself was probably, but it was hard to tell. It was the only name he knew, since Roderick hadn’t mentioned any other names on the letter.
“Yes I am,” the man said pleasantly, “and this is my daughter Livia Lewis, and her husband Dudley. And my grandkids Georgie and Freddy,” he said. Arthur was slightly taken aback when he heard the children’s names, but he did his best to not show his surprise and smiled at them.
“Why don’t you come in, my wife is here, and some of our grandchildren will arrive soon,” he said. The group followed him in, Livia and Dudley looking slightly uncomfortable. Georgie was pressing himself close to his parents, but Freddy was curiously looking around in childlike eagerness.
Molly, who had been waiting in the living room, and greeted them, and they all said their hello’s back.
“Got you some flowers, miss,” Freddy said, holding them up.
“Miss, he says,” Molly said taking the flowers and bending down, “you can just call me Molly,”
“You can call me Freddy then, and that is Georgie. He can do magic,” Freddy said, smiling widely, always feeling straight at home wherever he was.
“Freddy, be polite,” Livia said, herding her son away, knowing that some people disliked such direct behaviour.
“We brought some wine as well,” Georgie said, and Arthur took the bottle with a smile.
“Thank you. We’ll quickly put the flowers in a vase. Please, make yourself comfortable,” he said, and herder a shocked looking Molly towards the kitchen, closing the door behind them.
“Freddy and Georgie?” she asked, looking surprised at the names, and he nodded. He knew that she still had trouble with the loss of her son, and hearing those names casually connected to two brothers brought back memories.
“They are nice names,” he said, still the coincidence was rattling, “they seem nice people. Livia looks a lot like Ginny,”
“Yes, she does. For a moment I thought it was her,” Molly said, quickly summoning a vase and putting the nice flowers in there, “let’s go back to them,”
They went back to the living room and saw that the family had taken place in some of the couches. Freddy was curiously looking around, sitting on his father’s lap, while George was sitting in between his mother and father, looking unsure.
Arthur and Molly took place in a couch near them.
“So, Roderick wrote that you can do magic?” Arthur asked, leaning closer to the group, and especially looking at Georgie. Georgie wiggled nervously in his seat.
“Just a bit,” he said, “only when I try real hard or get really upset,”
“That’s good,” Arthur said nodding and then the fireplace suddenly roared to life. Freddy let out a little shriek and Georgie buried himself against his daddy’s arm, scared at the sudden fire.
“Oh, it’s just the kids. Nothing to be scared off, they’re traveling by floo,” Molly said getting up from the couch. The fire turned to a greenish colour and Ginny stepped out, followed by Albus and Lily, finally Harry stepped through.
“Hello everyone,” Molly said, hugging the kids and giving kisses, “let me introduce you to our relatives,”
She turned around to the surprised looking people, having never seen anyone walk out of fire before.
“This is Roderick, his daughter Livia, and this is her husband,” she started to say, but then she heard Harry speak.
“Dudley?” he asked, surprise in his voice.
“Yeah, it’s me,” the man said, guarded, standing up, squaring his jaws.
“You two have met?” Arthur asked, curiously.
“Yeah, you can say that. He’s my cousin,” Harry said, a wary look in his eyes, “what are you doing here?”
“It’s my kid that’s magic,” Dudley said, standing defensively in front of him, “but if you think it’s a problem that we’re here, we’ll just go. We’re not looking for a fight,”
“Your kid has magic? Well that’s ironic. Does he have to sleep under the stairs as well, like a nice little freak,” Harry said, feeling some anger overwhelm him. Silence followed his statement for a second.
“He’s a meany daddy, he’s calling Georgie a bad word,” Freddy said. Freddy was clinging to Dudley’s legs, tears falling out of his eyes at the reminder how his grandparents had treated him.
“It’s fine, we’ll go,” Dudley said, not wanting to fight. He lifted Freddy and Georgie grabbed his hand, but Livia stopped him.
“I’m sorry for how his parents treated you, and we’ll go. We don’t want to cause any trouble,” Livia said, but then her eyes got hard, “but if I ever hear you call one of my sons a bad word again, I’ll make sure that there will be trouble,”
Harry looked shocked for a second, the anger draining him, just leaving him embarrassed. The family made to go and Molly was looking nervously around, Albus and Lily clinging to Ginny, not understanding the sudden tension.
At first Harry felt righteous, but quickly it was replaced by guilt.
“No wait Dudley. It wasn’t fair of me to go off on your children. I’m sorry,” Harry said. Dudley looked at him, and then glanced at his wife. She stood there, her chin in the air, her eyes stony.
“Please stay for a little longer,” Arthur said, “perhaps we can talk this out. It seems that it has been festering for a while,” a moment of indecision and the Livia sighed.
“Okay, fine. But leave the children out of your fight,” she said, looking at both Dudley and Harry.
“That’s nice,” Ginny said, stepping forward, “this is Albus and Lily. Why don’t you play outside with?” she looked at Livia expectantly.
“Georgie and Freddy,” she said, again being met by startled eyes, but Ginny recovered quickly,
“Why don’t you play outside with Georgie and Freddy, show them the broomsticks, the children’s one,” she said and soon where the kids outside so that the grownups could talk.