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The Trouble with Family | ||||||
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Category: Post-DH/AB Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Other, Ron Weasley Genres: Action/Adventure, General, Humor, Romance Warnings: Death, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 19 Summary: It is after the Battle and the search for Hermione's parents uncovers some unexpected branches on a previously well known family tree. Canon Relationships. Some Mature/Adult Themes and Language. Hitcount: Story Total: 51960; Chapter Total: 1360 |
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16th May 1998 (Saturday) The next morning when I woke I just lay in bed for a few moments going over yesterday’s events in my mind. Since meeting my sister’s family each day has felt like a whirlwind. There was a lot to take in and process, but it was also a great deal of fun. While I was laying there in bed I could hear voices outside, so I got up to have a look and I could see Dave’s Team emerging from their tents and getting ready to head off for their morning training. Jean-Luc looked like he was going to join them as well. Footsteps racing down the stairs caused me to head to the door of my room to see what was up. I caught a glimpse of what I thought to be Harry and Ron racing down the stairs. I quickly went back to the window to confirm my suspicions. They proved to be correct as Harry and Ron had indeed gone out to join up with Dave and his team. This surprised me a little but I did know that Harry wished to be an Auror, so it seemed logical for him to be there. But Ron was still on the fence of what he wanted to do. They quickly lined up with the others between Dave and Mick, then Shelly called them all to order and they started off across the yard and down the lane. Chuckling to myself I grabbed my dressing gown and headed for the kitchen to start to get things organised for breakfast. The kettle has just boiled and I was enjoying my cuppa when I saw Bill and Fleur emerge from the tent that had been setup for the Delacour family. They saw me in the kitchen and quickly came over. I made sure that I had a cuppa ready for them when they arrived. “How did you sleep?” I asked them after we had exchanged hugs. “Very well actually.” Bill said with a smile, “Fireball was right, those tents are very nice. Certainly, the beds in them are very comfortable.” He said with a shy smile to Fleur who returned it. “How about you Fleur? Did you sleep well?” I asked. “Oui, very well.” She said with a naughty smile at Bill. “I’m very glad to hear that.” I told them, “Sandra was telling me that the tent you were in last night is their old family one that they used for family holidays.” “Apparently, it was created so that you can easily add or remove extra rooms to it depending on your need at the time.” “Did Gabrielle get Dave’s old room?” Fleur asked me with a sly smile. “Yes I think she mentioned that that room did used to be Dave’s. Why do you ask?” I replied. “It was full of Book shelves.” She said with a knowing smile, then she had a laugh. “What’s funny about book shelves?” I asked her. “Et, ezn’t ze shelves zat were funny.” Fleur replied, “I was just remembering Dave’s reaction to carrying a sleeping Gabrielle into a bedroom.” She giggled. “’e was very shy and embarrassed for some reason.” She said with an amused look about her. “Yeah he almost fled once he put her on the bed and your mum went to remove her shoes.” Bill laughed. “True, but he did kiss her goodnight on her cheek like a proper gentleman.” Fleur said approvingly. “He certainly seems like a lovely young man.” I said confidently, “And they do seem to be lovely together.” “Oui. That they are.” Fleur said with a twinkle in her eye. I got some toast underway along with some bacon and the smells of breakfast cooking quickly drew the other members of my family down to the kitchen. Where they began to attack their breakfast. “I’m surprised Ron isn’t here already. What’s keeping him from food?” Ginny asked in between bites of her breakfast. “I’d say about a dozen Aurors or so and 5 miles of country road.” I said with a laugh. Everyone was looking at me with the same question on their face. So, I had to explain. “Harry and Ron joined Dave and his team for their morning exercise session.” I told them trying not to laugh. “Really?” Ginny exclaimed, “Ron is voluntarily doing exercise?” she asked almost in disbelief. “Yes, I don’t know whose idea it was, but they seemed very enthusiastic about it when they joined them outside earlier.” I said trying not to smirk too much. “I can’t wait to see what he looks like when he gets back.” Ginny said with undisguised glee. The rest of the family was also very keen to see what state the boys were going to be in when they got back. Several small wagers were placed as well. We happily chatted around the breakfast table until we could again hear the sounds of a group of people coming along the lane. Ginny lead the way onto the porch to see what state Ron and Harry were in. But as the group arrived Ron, Harry, Dave and Mick were missing. “Did you lose them somewhere?” Ginny asked Shelly with an evil glint in her eye. “No we didn’t lose them, we know where they are.” Shelly replied also with a twinkle in her eye, “Our new additions had some trouble with our normal pace, so Dave and Mick dropped back and stayed with them.” “There is no point in discouraging them so early.” Shelly said with a smile, “We have been doing daily runs for years, so we will give them some time to catch up.” With that Shelly and the rest of the first arrivals headed for their tents to get cleaned up. It was about 15 min later when the ‘stragglers’ as they were being called arrived back. Harry and Ron looked very flustered, while Dave and Mick looked almost relaxed as though out for a walk. “How did they go?” Ginny asked Dave with a smile. “Not too bad actually.” Dave replied, “It was their first go at this so we didn’t want them to push too hard. Better to build up slowly rather than do an injury trying to keep up.” He replied seriously. They helped both Harry and Ron over to us on the porch. “Go and get cleaned up boys then have some water.” Dave said with a gentle expression, “Well done. That was a very good effort for your first attempt. Just be ready for some stiff legs for a bit.” Dave said with a smile. With that he and Mick headed off on another run. “Where are they going?” I asked Shelly who was now crossing the yard. “Well as they had an easier time by running slower than the rest of us, they will need to do an extra 2 miles or they will never hear the end of it from the rest of the team.” She explained with a grin. “It shouldn’t take them too long though.” She said as she watched the two of them disappear down the lane, “We got some fresh supplies from the village again. Would like to join us outside?” She asked with a smile. We all got up and continued our breakfast outside while we waited for Dave and Mick to get back. While we were waiting Julian and Apolline emerged from their tent along with Gabrielle. “Good morning to you both. How did you sleep?” I asked them. “Extraordinaire” Julian replied with a wide smile, “Ze bed was very comfortable. More so zan I expected for a tent.” He said with a laugh. “I should hope that they are.” Shelly said with a grin, “The Auror department has spent a lot of time and effort ensuring that the beds are indeed comfortable. As they learnt back in Grandpa’s time that if their Aurors sleep well they work well also.” “That makes a great deal of sense.” Arthur said with a smile, “I should tell that to Kingsley as I know some of our Aurors grumble about things like that also.” It was now that Dave and Mick came back from their extended run. They both seemed quite relaxed though they were soaked through with sweat. “About time you joined us.” Fireball needled them both, “We were wondering if it was worth out trouble to leave you any breakfast at all.” She laughed. “If you eat my breakfast Fireball I will have you look after our guests tomorrow.” Dave said with his own grin at her. This seemed to do the trick as she sat back down and let the two of them get to their tents for a wash. I did notice Gabrielle follow Dave rather intently until he disappeared from view. Harry and Ron were now gingerly making their way across the yard to us after having cleaned themselves up from their morning run. “Did you have fun this morning?” Ginny asked Harry with an evil glint in her eyes. “Define fun.” Harry asked as he gingerly lowered himself into a seat. “Well for me, it was fun being snuggled up in a warm bed until I could smell breakfast cooking.” She answered him, “But your thoughts seem to be different to mine.” She added with another smirk. “Yes, well better to start with some pain now, instead of when Auror training begins officially.” Harry replied. “Sensible idea Harry.” Shelly answered him, “Especially if Dave or Mick have any input into the revised training program here.” She grinned. “Yes Dave hinted yesterday the sort of things he would recommend to Kingsley, Arthur and Gawain to be added to the training program for new recruits if he was asked.” Harry answered while grabbing some of the remaining bacon sandwiches. “I thought it was a good bet that his suggestions would be implemented, so I decided that I had better start to get used to part of it now instead of later.” He explained. “Well I can tell you that you are indeed spot on, as Kingsley has asked to see the training schedule used by our Auror academy to see what would be useful here. And I know Dave likes to utilise the physical training parts of it.” Shelly replied. “Especially when he is likely going to be training people in either manipulating sorcerous energy or sorcery itself.” She answered. “Why is that?” Ron asked. “Unlike magic, Sorcery taxes the body as much as the mind.” She explained, “So while after a hard day of using magic only you will feel drained, a hard day of using sorcery you will feel absolutely wrecked. As you will not only be mentally exhausted but physically as well.” “The upside is that using sorcery keeps you in good shape.” She said with a grin that she shared with Ginny, Hermione and Gabrielle. The girls all returned her smile and there was an occasional blush from them. “So having a good base level of fitness is of great benefit if you are going to make regular use of sorcery.” She said with a serious face. “Don’t try to frighten them away already Shelly.” Dave remarked as he came over to the table. “They were both very brave to join in with one of your training sessions. You should be encouraging them not trying to scare them off.” He added with a wink at the boys, “Besides for their first time out they did alright.” They seemed grateful at Dave’s evaluation of their efforts and smiled a thank you to him while attacking their breakfast. Gabrielle also had a brilliant smile for Dave as he arrived and she happily directed him to the seat that she had kept for him next to her. She was rewarded with a special kiss from him as he sat down. “As I mentioned to you on the run earlier, you don’t want to push yourself too hard too early with things like the physical training.” “We are not yet conducting evaluations or testing capabilities. So the best approach is to take it slow. Push yourself certainly, but don’t overdo it. If you wreck your ankle now or blow out your knee by trying to run too fast too early it will only give you more issues later on.” “If you have a chance I would strongly advise you to get to a good sports store, magical or muggle it doesn’t matter and get yourself some good comfortable running shoes. As I can guarantee that morning runs are going to be on the training schedule one way or another.” Dave said in his professional voice. “Any other pearls of wisdom, Dave?” Fireball said with wide eyes and an overly innocent look about her face. Dave seemed to suspect her of something as he was giving her a very suspicious look. “Yes actually. As I’m sure you have found out by now, don’t wear boxers for your morning run.” He said with a smile at Ron who had started to blush. “They can be rather uncomfortable can’t they Ron.” He chuckled, “Harry lucked out in that his were a bit snugger than yours, but I‘m also willing to bet that he is also still rather tender ‘south of the border’?” He remarked with a smirk on his face. At this Harry, had also started to blush under Ginny’s rather amusing stare that she had fixed on him. “Get yourself some good briefs that will give you some comfortable support. It will make your training time that much more comfortable.” He advised. “Speaking of being comfortable and ‘safe’.” George said as he got up with a large grin on his face, “We understand that you are planning on returning to the scene of your earlier ‘shopping experience’ later today.” “In order to try and prevent a reoccurrence of the aptly named ‘Paris Incident’ that occurred back in March, the boys and I” he remarked as he indicated, Harry, Ron, Charlie and Bill” thought it might be prudent to equip you with some appropriate… let’s call it ‘protective equipment’.” He said as his grin became large enough to be in danger of splitting his head in two. George walked over to where Dave was sitting and with a very elaborate flourish presented Dave with a package. For his part Dave had a deeply suspicious look on his face as he accepted the gift from George. “Should I be opening this under water or inside a shielded compartment?” He asked George still with the suspicious look on his face. “I can assure you Dave that the contents on that package will not explode or harm you in any way. Its contents is intended only to protect you and keep you safe. As well as to show you our eternal gratitude for all that you have done to entertain us so far in the short time you have been with us.” George remarked with his best ‘innocent’ expression. “Well go on, open it.” He told Dave, who was still very suspicious of George’s motives. Dave began to unwrap the package. What he uncovered was a packet of rather nice and plain looking briefs. He had a rather amused smile on his face as he pulled one out to examine it. As he did so Gabrielle started to laugh almost hysterically. Very surprised by this Dave turned the briefs around to see what caused her odd reaction. When he did so he looked rather confused, but Fleur, Julian, Apolline, Shelly and Jean-Luc all began to laugh nearly as much as Gabrielle. Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron were also laughing. But as they had been in on the planning I’m sure they did indeed know the meaning of the words. Even if they didn’t understand French. I couldn’t see what the cause of their laughter was so I got up for a better look. What I saw was that across the bum of each pair of undies was written the following words; ‘Rien à voir ici!’ Those of us who don’t speak French were all very confused as to what it meant. Eventually Apolline regained enough control to tell us that it translated as; ‘Nothing to see here!’ Well this caused the whole table (including Dave) to laugh uproariously. It took quite some time for us to get ourselves under control once more. Poor Gabrielle looked like she was on the verge of doing herself an injury she was laughing so hard. Every time she looked at Dave’s rather amused expression she would lose her control once more. Eventually we got ourselves under a degree of control once more. Drying her eyes Ginny asked, “Well are you going to show us how they look on?” with an evil glint in her eyes. Dave blushed to the roots of his hair, while Gabrielle looked rather hopeful. “Ah… No I don’t think I will show them to you.” Dave replied with a trace of embarrassment. “Why not?” Ginny asked, pleased with the reaction she had gotten from him, “Fireball was telling us all about your ‘speedos’ that you wear down the beach. They don’t sound much different to these.” “Apart from the writing that is.” She said with an evil grin. “This isn’t the beach.” Dave said still blushing. “Why does that matter?” Ginny asked him still grinning. “Let me put it this way, how comfortable would you be right now if you suddenly found yourself in only your bra and nickers?” he said with his own evil grin. “You wouldn’t.” She exclaimed, with her own blush rising. “Probably not. But isn’t that the same as wearing a bikini at the beach?” Dave replied with his own ‘innocent’ look. “Ok I see your point.” Ginny replied a little disappointedly, then she grinned and said, “Maybe you can model them for Gabrielle and she can tell us what they looked like.” At this both Dave and Gabrielle blushed brightly and looked at each other with shy little grins on their faces. This seemed to be what Ginny was after, as at this point she pulled her camera out and snapped several photos before Dave and Gabrielle were aware of her doing so. She had a very smug little smile on her face after capturing that exchange between the two of them. George too looked very pleased with himself. Dave got up from his seat and walked over to George with his hand out and a smile on his face. “Well done mate. Well done.” He said as he shook hands with a grinning George. The expression on Dave’s face changed ever so slightly and George exclaimed in surprise. The sound of his surprise drew the attention of the entire group. Once everyone saw the cause of George’s surprise there was a fresh outbreak of hysterical laughter. The cause of everyone’s laughter was that George was now wearing a very elaborate Burlesque outfit. Complete with the ruffled skirt that is cut high in the front, stockings, garter, corset and a small top hat with a bright pink feather in it. What material there was in the outfit was mostly pink but was also trimmed with black. The surprise on George’s face was even funnier than what he was wearing. Poor Ginny was laughing so hard she could barely hold her camera up. Eventually she managed to get off several sets of photos before George realised what was happening. He then made a break for the house. The high heels he was now wearing were definitely slowing him down though. They were most likely the main reason that Ginny got so many photos of him in that outfit. She was able to take off after him and easily beat him to the house so as to get photos of him both running from the camera and towards it. Dave then turned to shake hands with Harry still with a smile on his face. Harry quickly put his hands behind him and backed away, “No need to congratulate me Dave. It was a team effort after all.” He said trying to down play his role. “Oh yes. I had forgotten about the others.” Dave said looking over to a now rather worried group of young men. “I will need to think of something appropriate for you all.” Dave then displayed his own predatory grin at the boys. This made them all very concerned, but when he turned to the girls and grinned like a Cheshire cat I think they realised what sort of trouble they were about to be in. Looking back at the boys Dave raised his hand a snapped his fingers. Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron suddenly found themselves wearing rather revealing leather outfits. To say that they were surprised would be an understatement. The girls were also similarly surprised, but unlike the boys they seemed to be appreciating the view before them. Ron immediately tried to make a break for the house. Only to find that the pants that he was wearing had split down the outside leg and fallen off. Hermione gave her approval of this development with a round of laughter followed by a boisterous question, “What other parts of that costume come off like that?” “All of it.” Dave answered. “What!!!” Hermione exclaimed, albeit with a smile on her face. Ginny, Fleur and Cassy also seemed to be smiling wicked little smiles as well. “Yes all of it comes off rather easily. As they are the type of costume that male strippers wear on stage.” Dave said grinning like a mad man. When the girls heard this, they took off after ‘their’ boys to see if this was indeed the case. The boys all took off in different directions. A few of them inadvertently leaving some items of clothing behind. Appearing very pleased with himself Dave returned to his seat, sat down and laughed till his sides hurt as he watched the girls chasing the boys around the yard. Gabrielle was clearly enjoying seeing Dave so happy and she moved her chair closer over to him so she could enjoy cuddling him while she finished her breakfast. In all honesty, I couldn’t tell you how long it took for things to calm down again. I do recall that when Harry finally made it into the house Ginny seemed to be in possession of more of his clothing than he was. Ron must have been in a similar state as he was hiding behind Hermione (who was still laughing enthusiastically) as he made it to the house. Bill tried for the tent instead of the house but Fleur was also much quicker than the other girls and clearly had him under her control. Charlie however disappeared towards Cassy’s tent, with her in very hot pursuit. All of the boys seemed to be struggling to keep smiles off their faces when they eventually arrived back at the breakfast table. The girls too seemed to be overly smug about something as well. Even George had a smile on his face when he re-emerged from the house. All of the boys however did keep their distance from Dave and a wary eye on him as well, until he headed off with the Delacour girls to Paris. Dave had a smile on his face that just wouldn’t go away, especially when he looked at Gabrielle. He did however direct a questioning / challenging look at George. George for his part happily returned it, as he had to admit it was a rather unique and enjoyable response. “Now that we have all had our entertainment.” Arthur said still wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, “what is the plan for today Dave?” he asked eager to make a start on better securing our home. "I think the first order of business will be to get ‘The Doormat’ in place.” Dave answered, “Mick and Jono, I think you two will be the best ones to get that organised. Bill and Arthur can assist you while you get it in place. You can also show them both how it works.” Dave advised. Mick and Jono both seemed to be happy with that suggestion. “Once the door mat is in place, Mick and Abby can start work on setting up the different shield layers that we discussed outside the existing wards.” Dave suggested, “It would be a good idea to show Bill how you get them configured. I would also like at a minimum both Bill and Arthur to know how they work and how to reset them if needed.” He said looking to both Mick and Abby for confirmation. They both nodded in approval. “Jono and Rowdy, I would like you two to work your usual tricks on the main apparition point as well as setting up a new one with the stunner booby trap that we discussed yesterday. Make sure that the Talismans worn by all here will ensure safe passage through it though.” Dave requested. “Do you want some helpers for that task?” He asked them after seeing some eager faces in the crowd. “I never turn down willing helpers.” Jono replied with a grin. “Charlie, George and Ron would you like to assist Jono and Rowdy with that task?” Dave asked them. “Yeah ok. It sounds like fun.” Ron replied with George and Charlie indicating their agreement as well. “Excellent, just don’t let those two” he said indicating Jono and Rowdy, “Lead you astray.” Dave said with a chuckle. “Would we do that?” Jono asked with a look of wide eyed innocence that fooled no one. Dave only smiled back at him by way of a reply. “Once those two points are setup and operating I would like you to show everyone how they operate. Teach your helpers first and then get them to teach the others.” Dave suggested with a sly look at Charlie, George and Ron. “Cassy and Goose, you two are our potions and poisons experts…” Dave began to say only to have Fireball loudly remark, “Except when you’re cooking that is.” To some good natured laughter from Dave’s team. Dave had to fight back a blush that was trying to rise, while giving Fireball and rather strange look. “Somezing else I should know about?” Gabrielle asked Dave with a smirk on her face. Dave was about to reply when Shelly chimed in, “Let’s just say dancing isn’t the only civilised skill Dave has trouble with.” By this point Dave’s family and team members were all displaying wide grins at him. “Ok, I set the kitchen on fire one time.” Dave replied, “And you lot are never going to let me forget it are you.” He asked a little exasperated. “Well Dave it wasn’t just the kitchen fire, there were incidents of pots exploding, a cauldron that melted, an oven fire that got way out of hand. And let’s not forget everyone’s favourite the bread that ignited when it was toasted.” Shelley informed the group with a Cheshire grin on her face. “There’s a reason why we try to never let you cook, and when we have no other choice we make sure that you do it outside.” She said to laughter from Dave’s team. Gabrielle was having a hard time trying not to laugh at this new information about Dave. She was happily giving him an amused little smile that seemed to only make his blush worse. “Are there other skills he has trouble with as well?” Ginny asked with her eyes alight with mischief. “Oh my yes…” Fireball answered, “In fact we keep a record of them on this list here, see.” She remarked as she held up a rather large looking scroll. As Ginny made to grab it Dave quickly summoned it to himself, only to have Gabrielle quickly relieve him of it saying simply, “Merci.” With a smug little smile. The expression of worry bordering on outright fear on Dave’s face and the one of satisfaction on Gabrielle’s caused a good deal of laughter at the table. I think Dave was just beginning to understand that Fireball had obviously hoped he would take the list off her. Knowing full well, that Gabrielle wouldn’t be able to pass up the opportunity to look over THAT sort of information. Dave was a little unsure what to do next, he had just been very cleverly out manoeuvred by his sisters, and was not 100% sure of what was actually written on the scroll that Gabrielle now had firmly within her possession. I was very sure that she wouldn’t be giving it up willingly any time soon either. “You need to ‘urry up if we are going to get to Paris when the stores will be opening.” Gabrielle advised Dave with a cheeky smile. “Yes, Dave. Don’t dawdle with the team assignments, WE all have work to do today.” Shelly said needling Dave. There was a sea of smiling faces greeting this statement around the table at this statement. Dave eventually had to admit defeat on this topic, although I’m sure he was working on a plan of some sort to stop Gabrielle looking at that scroll. “Ok.” Dave said with a worried sigh, “Cassy and Goose, can you show Molly how to detect and neutralise the usual list of drugs and poisons commonly employed by assassins and bounty hunters.” Dave requested. “Make sure to show her how our little trick with spiking the water supply works, in case anyone tries to pull that one on her family as well.” Dave suggested. “Will do skipper.” Goose replied. "Oh… Also show her how to utilise her Talisman in this as well. As she has had it on long enough now to begin to be able to make use of it.” Dave requested. “Of course.” Goose replied with a smile. “Shelly and Fireball will start work on getting the various cameras we discussed installed and wired in. Those of you without an assignment can split yourselves up between them and Cassy and Goose.” Dave suggested. "Izzy, get yourself organised and ready for Kingsley when he arrives. But until he does help out where you think best.” He requested. Izzy indicated her agreement. “Any questions?” Dave asked. Seeing George’s hand in the air he pointed to him and indicated for him to ask his question. “Are you going to wear your new undies on your shopping expedition?” George asked to the collective laughter of all present. “Only after I have a curse breaker look over them.” Dave replied with a grin. Seeing Bill offering his services Dave clarified, “One who wasn’t involved with the creation of them that is.” He laughed at Bill’s only slightly disappointed expression. “Anyone else?” Dave asked. Getting no other questions he got up from the table, “Ok, let’s get to it. Remember if you need me, just call.” He said in his serious voice. Getting nods of agreement from his team he said, “Alright, I’m off to get changed then I’m out of here.” As he walked over to his tent. “Good luck.” Fireball called after him with a chuckle, both from her and several of the other team members. |
| Reviews 19 |
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