Ember to Ember

Date: October 15
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Contrary to what my replacement director told the kids, they do have show up two hours before the concert. The sopranos are still a complete mess. And yes, I know, it's a miracle they can do the concert at all, and I've refrained from shouting at my replacement.

Date: October 16
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
I've got your blue robe. Also: the Weasleys are coming and will be taking Alec out for dinner afterwards. Sorry, I didn't invite them; Alec did.

Date: October 17
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
That'll be a joy.

ooo000ooo
October 20

Alec carefully opened the door of his dad's bedroom and peeked in. Asleep. He tiptoed up to the bed, then paused, watching Daddy and Draco sleeping. Draco looked very peaceful, cuddled up to Daddy with Daddy's arm around him. Not so moody like he did sometimes when he was awake. He'd been moody ever since he'd come back after being away; Daddy said it had been really difficult for Draco at Azkaban, and that they worked hard to make you feel bad there. He looked like maybe he was feeling a bit better now.

Alec watched him for a few moments, noticing that Draco had some sort of drawing on his arm. He squinted and tried to get a good look at it, but Draco's arm was thrown over Daddy's chest and Alec couldn't quite see it. Oh well. He'd have to remember to ask Draco about it when Draco woke up. Right now there were more important things to do.

Alec leaned close to his daddy's ear. "Daddy," he whispered, and Daddy sighed but stayed asleep. "Daddy. Wake up."

Daddy's eyes blinked open and he stared sleepily at Alec.

"Daddy, it's concert day," Alec whispered. "Remember? It's concert day, wake up." He handed Daddy his glasses, and Daddy started to sit up, the sheet falling away from him. Beside him, Draco turned over and kept sleeping.

"You're not wearing anything!" Alec said, puzzled.

"Ah. Erm. No," said Daddy, pulling the sheets up. He cleared his throat and Draco's eyes opened. He started to sit up and Daddy put a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back down.

Alec looked over his shoulder. "Daddy, Draco's not wearing anything either," he whispered. Draco stared at Alec for a moment, then quickly turned his back and hid his face in a pillow. Alec could see his shoulders shaking.

"Erm. No, he's not," Daddy said, and Draco made a muffled sound like a snort under the pillow. Daddy gave him a small shove. "Erm, Alec, would you mind coming back in a minute? We'll put something on."

"There's a handy spell for that, actually," Draco said, and his voice sounded a little strange. "Garbamenta."

Daddy reached for his wand and muttered the spell, and then they were suddenly both wearing t-shirts.

"Why weren't you wearing anything?" Alec asked.

Daddy cleared his throat. "Erm. Sometimes grownups who like each other a lot go to bed together without clothes," he mumbled, and gave Draco another small shove.

"Did you and Mummy ever do that?"

"Alec, why did you wake me up?"

"It's concert day, Daddy," Alec reminded him patiently. "Remember? You said you'd make special breakfast."

"At..." Daddy peered at the clock. "Six o'clock in the morning?"

Alec blinked.

"Alec, it's... never mind. You can't tell time." Daddy rubbed his eyes. "All right, let's go then."

"I'm going back to sleep," Draco said, yawning, and Alec frowned.

"But you're going to be conducting today," he said. "Aren't you excited?"

Draco chuckled. "I've conducted a lot of concerts, Alec. It's very exciting, but so is sleeping in."

"But I want to practice."

"You know your parts down cold, and most of the other sections' parts as well." Draco yawned, closing his eyes again. "If all choir members were like you, I'd be out of a job."

"Come on, little man, let Draco go back to sleep," Daddy said firmly, getting up. "And let me envy him because he can." Draco laughed and Daddy gave him a quick kiss, then headed towards the kitchen.

"Do you think it'll be exciting being at the concert?" Alec asked.

"Oh, definitely."

"D'you think everybody will like it?"

"I'm sure they will."

"Granddad's really going to like that it's in a Muggle place, right?"

"Yeah," Daddy said, and they grinned at each other as he started the tea brewing. Granddad was so funny about Muggle things.

"D'you think Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione will like it?"

"Absolutely."

Daddy busied himself taking out sausages and eggs and charming the frying pan hot, while Alec got his mug out of the cupboard and carefully filled it with pumpkin juice.

"Daddy."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it'll be all right that Uncle Fred and Aunt Anne will be there?"

Daddy waved his wand at the eggs to hold them over the sausages until they were brown. "They'll probably be busy making sure your Granddad doesn't do anything silly."

"But d'you think they'll say anything nasty to Draco?"

Daddy sighed and poured himself some tea. "Alec, I don't know. I really don't think so. You saw how they were with Ben when he came to visit; everybody behaved themselves. They'll probably just ignore Draco, if they have to be around him." He waved his wand, turning the sausages over. "Which I doubt they will. You know Draco probably won't go anywhere near them anyway."

"Auntie Hermione told Uncle Fred she would hex him a new one if he said anything rude," said Alec, and looked up, startled, as Daddy choked on his tea.

"She said what?"

"That she'd hex him a new one. What new one?"

"Erm." Daddy coughed a few times, his face a bit red. "She, erm... probably a new nose."

"Auntie Hermione's good with hexes," Alec said. "That's what Uncle Ron says."

"He's not wrong."

"Mummy was really good at the Bat Bogey Hex," Alec said proudly, and Daddy smiled. "Uncle Fred said she hexed him a lot of times when they were little."

"Yeah, she did."

Alec watched the eggs slowly rotating over the frying sausages. "Why don't you cook with magic any more when Draco's here?"

Daddy tilted his head to the side and looked at Alec seriously. "Well... it's hard for Draco to not be able to use magic. I don't want to make him feel bad because I can do something he's not allowed to do. Besides, I don't mind cooking by hand. I cooked by hand all the time when I was little."

"Draco feels bad about a lot of things, doesn't he?"

Daddy gave him a sharp look. "Sometimes, yeah."

"So does Ben. He's sad too."

"Yeah, little man, I know."

"I'd be sad too. If you'd done some of what Draco did." Alec swirled his pumpkin juice around and watched the sausages get browner, their crackling sounding almost like tiny drums. It was so weird, that Draco had done such bad things. When Daddy had told Alec about Voldymort when he was little, Voldymort was the worst bad guy ever, and it was just so strange that somebody who did music could have helped someone like that. "I'm glad Uncle Percy's busy today."

"You and me both," Daddy muttered, then cleared his throat. "I mean, it's too bad, but he's not a big fan of music anyway. Maybe he can come to your next concert."

"I'm really little to be in a choir, right? That's what Draco said."

"Yeah, you are. Especially a choir as good as Draco's. You're lucky Draco let you in."

Alec suddenly frowned. "Daddy, what if people at the concert see Draco with Ben? What if the same thing happens like what happened at Brigid's Cross?"

"It's a Muggle place, Alec. He's not worried about that with Muggles."

Alec nodded, thinking of Brigid's Cross. It was still so confusing to think that he'd lost a whole day of memories there. Daddy had shown him a potion from Brigid's Cross that made it so you could sing more than one note at a time, and Alec and Ben had used it a lot, but Alec didn't remember buying it at all. Daddy had said that was because what had happened there had been really scary for Ben, so they'd got rid of his memories until they could figure out what to tell him. And of course if Ben couldn't keep his memories, Alec couldn't either, because otherwise he'd probably forget not to talk to Ben about what had happened. Daddy had promised to take them back to someplace like Brigid's Cross some day, but it was so strange to have lost an entire day just like that.

And it was so strange that Draco was back, but he was different. He had a beard now, and he wasn't allowed to do magic, and sometimes he was sad. Not crying-sad, but very quiet and serious. And sometimes very grumpy.

"Daddy, why does Draco fight with you sometimes?" Alec asked.

Daddy shrugged. "Sometimes people who are dating or married fight." He flipped over the sausages again.

"D'you think Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione fight?" Alec asked, bringing his daddy a loaf of bread.

Daddy smiled, taking the bread and slicing it. "Possibly."

"I've seen Uncle Fred and Aunt Anne fight sometimes."

"Yeah. It's normal. Even if you love somebody a lot, you don't always agree about everything. But you work it out."

"I don't like it when you argue."

"Nobody likes it, Alec," Daddy said quietly.

"You didn't used to," Alec pointed out. Daddy looked away, getting himself some more tea. "What if you had a really bad fight and you didn't want to be together any more?" Alec asked. "Draco said that once, remember? He said if it's that much of a problem, why don't you leave?"

Daddy picked up a hair-tie and pulled his hair back, staring at the frying sausages as he tied it into a ponytail. "It's hard, sometimes, being with Draco," Daddy said slowly. "There's always some problems when you're dating somebody. But things are a little more difficult for us."

"Is it because of our family?"

"Yeah, that's part of it. And because of the things Draco did. And because of Azkaban." Daddy set a toasting spell on the bread. "He's got a lot of things to deal with."

"What if you didn't want to date him any more? Could I still see him? And Ben?"

Daddy's lips pressed together. "I don't know, little man. I'd like to say yes. But I wouldn't want to promise anything I can't guarantee."

Alec watched the bread slowly turning a light tan colour, and wondered what Ben thought about all of this. Wondered what Ben was doing right now at his mum's house.

"Why does Ben spend so much time at Kara's house?" he asked.

"She's his mum."

"Yeah, but Draco's his dad. Why don't they live together? Everybody else's mums and dads live together."

"Erm..." Daddy thought for a moment. "Well, because Draco and Kara were never married. They're just parents together. They both love Ben and they both take care of him, but they don't want to live together."

"I thought you had to be married to have a baby."

"Erm, well, most people think it's better if you are, but you don't have to be."

"You were."

"Yeah."

"When are you going to marry Draco?"

Daddy gave him a stern look. "We've talked about that, little man, remember? I don't know if we ever will."

"When will you know?"

Daddy blew out his breath and glanced at the clock. "You know, I think maybe Draco's slept long enough. Maybe we should wake him."

"How long does it take before you know if you're going to get married?"

"I don't know," Daddy said, sounding a bit cross. "It depends."

"How long did you and Mummy wait?"

"Three years."

"That's a long time."

"Well, we were pretty young. Most people don't get married as young as we did."

"Why did you then?"

Daddy pushed up his glasses. "Erm. Well, we loved each other, and, erm, you were coming, so we thought we might as well. We'd sort of been planning to do it eventually."

"You got married because I was coming?"

"Not just because of that. We just did it sooner than we would've otherwise."

"If you and Draco were going to have a baby would you get married?"

Daddy's eyes turned very serious. "That couldn't happen," he said firmly. "You know I've told you that you can't have brothers or sisters."

"But if you married Draco, Ben would be my brother, right?"

"I suppose so." Daddy frowned and flipped the sausages over again.

"Well I'm glad Draco and Kara aren't married. Because if they were you couldn't date Draco, could you?"

"No, probably not."

"D'you think Draco and Kara ever go to bed together without any clothes on?" Alec asked, and took a step back as his daddy suddenly choked out a lot of tea and the eggs suspended over the frying pan dropped.

"Oh shite-" Daddy bit his lip and picked up his wand, frowning in concentration as he lifted the eggshells off the pan.

"You shouldn't say that word," Alec told him. "Auntie Hermione gets awfully angry with Uncle Ron when he says it."

"It's a useful word," Daddy muttered, clearing up the mess.

"So do they?" Alec asked. "Go to bed without clothes?"

Daddy was staring at the eggs with a frown. "Alec, that's... erm. No. No, they definitely don't."

"Definitely don't what?" Draco asked, walking into the kitchen yawning.

"Go to bed without clothes on," Alec said, and was puzzled as Draco turned right around and started to leave the kitchen, laughing.

"A little help here would really be appreciated," Daddy called out.

Draco looked over his shoulder. "You seem to be handling it very well on your own," he said, chuckling. Daddy flicked an eggshell at him, and Draco caught it with a smirk. He laughed. "Ooh, I'm not getting any tonight, am I?"

"Getting any what?" Alec asked. Draco smiled brightly at Daddy.

"Erm. Sweets," Daddy said, getting very red.

"What kind of sweets?"

"Special, erm, daddy sweets."

"Good save, Potter," Draco laughed, and left the kitchen.

"Daddy!" Alec realized something. "Now he's awake, d'you think Draco will practice with me?"

"I'm sure he'd be happy to!" Daddy said with a wide smile. "Why don't you go ask him?"

ooo000ooo

"Take me somewhere," sang Ben and the sopranos.

"Oh carry me somewhere," Alec and the altos sang in response, and this was such a beautiful song. It made you feel like you were on a ship to somewhere wonderful. Draco had said that it was about going to a place where you belonged, and Daddy had said it reminded him of himself when he was little.

It was so strange that people like Daddy and Ben and Aunt Hermione hadn't grown up in the magical world. How weird.

And it was so cool to stand next to Ben and sing. Much cooler than singing with only the two of them, because they had so many other people singing with them, and Draco was leading them, showing them when to come in, and how loud to sing. Not that Alec needed Draco to tell him any of that, but most of the other kids around him did, even the really big ones. And the parts where you didn't go quite with the beat were tricky for a lot of them. Not for Alec, of course; it was like climbing down a set of stairs. The part where they said carry me on was so easy to sing, like somebody was actually carrying you. Alec let himself be carried along, feeling nothing but the joy of the music, not even aware of anybody around him, until the final key change.

"We'll give you our heart, give you our breathing," Alec and Ben sang, "Give you a ship that could sail Abelard to Eloise."

Alec really liked that part. Abelard and Eloise were famous lovers, Draco had said, whose families disapproved of them and made them be apart, but they stayed in love for the rest of their lives. Then Draco had said something like "Bloody ridiculous Muggle sentimentality," and Daddy had said, chuckling, that Abelard was a wizard, and Eloise a witch. And had laughed when Draco refused to believe him until Daddy brought him a book Aunt Hermione had shown him once.

Alec blinked, startled, as the audience applauded. He'd forgotten somehow that he was on a stage, and he looked at Ben quickly, a little scared. Ben was grinning widely. Draco was happy with them, too. "Good job," he mouthed, smiling at the choir, before giving Ben and Alec a wink and reminding them all to be still and prepare for the next song.

The next song was Suo Gân, which started with Ben's solo. Alec briefly wished he could have a solo like Ben, and see Draco look at him proudly, and the audience smile at him, and his uncles look surprised and pleased, but decided he preferred his own part. It was pretty in its own way, even though a lot of it was just humming while Ben sang.

Ben and the other sopranos' voices went so high, too. It was impossible for Alec to follow them, even if he let himself go squeaky. They sounded like they were soaring off into the air, like on Daddy's broom - but gently, like Daddy flew with Alec so that Alec wouldn't be frightened. Ben didn't get frightened. They'd gone up with Draco and Ben a few times, before Draco had gone away and then couldn't fly any more.

At least Draco still had music. They could take magic away, but nobody could take music away from you.

A cradle song, that's what Draco had said this song was. It sounded like it, too. Especially when Ben sang it; for some reason, Ben really liked babies, even though they sounded awful a lot of the time.

There was a lovely silence after they finished, then a burst of applause, and Alec spotted his family in the audience. They were clapping, Daddy beaming at Alec and Ben, Uncle Fred saying something to Aunt Anne. Grandmum wiping her eyes, Granddad's mouth a little open as he stared at all the Muggles. Then Alec heard the opening notes of the next song and focused on Draco again. He could look for the rest of his family later.

Then suddenly it was intermission, and Alec didn't know how the time could've gone by so fast.

"It's going really well, isn't it?" he asked Ben backstage.

"Yeah," Ben said, grinning. "Dad's pretty happy with the sopranos."

"He didn't say anything to you."

Ben nodded. "That's how you know. If he's not happy, we hear about it."

"All right, kids," Draco said, gathering them all. "The mums are taking kids to the toilets. If you're not going, remember to stay backstage and not wander off."

"D'you have to go?" Ben asked Alec.

"No."

"Everyone under seven goes," Draco said sternly, and Ben and Alec sighed and joined the line of other little boys following the mums to the toilet.

"I saw my family!" Alec said to Ben as they waited, and Ben's mouth turned down. "What?"

"Me Da's not happy about them being here," Ben said.

"Why?"

"They don't like him. I think they should forgive him. Harry did."

"Uncle George did," Alec said, trying to make Ben feel a bit better. "So did Uncle Bill."

"Yeah?"

"I think so. And Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione."

"Dad says some people probably won't ever forgive him."

Alec didn't know what to say to that.

"I don't want to be somewhere where people don't like me Da," Ben said, scowling. "Especially if they don't let him use his magic."

"He said he doesn't mind that so much," Alec said timidly.

"He does too," Ben said, looking angry.

Alec felt awful. "But... he's still got music. I'd rather lose magic than music, wouldn't you?"

Ben's eyes grew huge. "Are you joking?" he asked, and Alec didn't have time to ask him what he meant because just then the toilet was free and one of the choir mums pushed him over to it.

ooo000ooo

Hope for Resolution was the last song, and it was one of those wonderful songs that had two totally different types of music, both coming together perfectly. Daddy had said it was from a part of the world where black people and white people didn't get along, and the first part was by whites and the second was by blacks and it was a song of both colours coming together just like the songs did. Just because one had a stronger rhythm and the other had higher notes didn't mean they couldn't get along. Which was true, and especially true for people, because it didn't matter if somebody was white or brown. Ben didn't care. Neither did his dad or his mum.

The first part was solid, like a good solid house, and the sound went up and down and praised God, like building a church, walls, roof, windows, then filling the church with light as the voices chased each other around and around, and it was like beams going in through stained glass windows. Like magic that built on itself, evermore and evermore.

Then it changed, got rhythm, and became a dance. Like the voices were playing, dancing in a circle over and over.

Then the most beautiful part came. The rhythm and dance continued, joined by the church building with its light, all of them building and dancing and filling the auditorium with light, and Ben was singing the church part of the song and Alec was singing the rhythm, and then they switched as the first sopranos took over the rhythm part and soared over the builders, then they switched again, and finally they brought all of the threads of music together. About people who were different, and who hated each other, figuring out how to live together and get along, and dancing in a beautiful building full of music and light.

ooo000ooo

"Did you see me?" Alec said as Uncle Fred swooped him up after the concert.

"You were fantastic!" he said, hugging him close. "I'm so proud of you!"

Alec beamed at him. "And I didn't forget a single word!"

Then Grandmum pulled him out of Uncle Fred's arms and hugged him close, crying a little bit. "Your mummy would've been so proud of you, dear," she said, sniffling, and Alec felt warm all the way in. None of them really understood music - not the way he and Draco and Ben understood it - but it still felt wonderful to have them here. And it felt wonderful being in this reception hall after the concert, in the middle of so many people who loved music. It was brilliant. Almost too brilliant, but in a wonderful way.

"Your soloist is amazing!" he heard somebody saying behind him. "Any relation to Kara Greely?"

"Her son, actually," said Draco's voice, and Alec turned around to see him, but there were too many people milling about. "You know Kara?"

"Really? Apple's no fallen far from the tree, has it?" the other voice said. "I heard her at the Kaye. Heard she got a contract?"

"Just signed a few months ago, with Windbourne. She has a CD in the works."

A couple moved out of the way. "Draco!" Alec said, finally spotting him.

Draco turned and smiled at him before noticing Alec's family.

"Was I good?" Alec asked, running up to him.

Draco glanced at Daddy. "You were wonderful. Didn't I tell you you'd have no problem?" He patted Alec's shoulder and gave Daddy a nod, turning to go.

"Hello, Malfoy," Uncle Fred said quietly, and Draco looked at him, his face very blank. Alec swallowed hard as he looked from one to the other, hoping they wouldn't fight. Daddy had told him a little bit about why Uncle Fred didn't like Draco, but this was Alec's concert. They wouldn't fight right after his concert, would they?

"Very good concert," Granddad said, and he sounded like it was a bit difficult to speak.

Draco nodded. "Thank you."

Ben came running through the crowd, going up to Draco with his mouth open in a wide grin, looking like he was just about to burst out something - and stopped short as he saw Alec's family.

"There's not a lot of really little kids in the choir," said Aunt Demelza, rather stiffly, as Ben drew closer to Draco and took his hand.

"There's not a lot of kids as talented as Alec. Or with as much patience." Draco smiled at Alec, and Alec grinned back.

"All right, erm, it's time to go to the restaurant," said Grandmum, and Daddy took Alec's hand.

"All right, Ben, say goodbye," Draco said, and Alec looked at them, surprised.

"You're not coming to the restaurant?" he said, and Daddy's hand tightened on his.

"Erm, Alec-"

"But... but it's my first concert," said Alec slowly. "And I thought Ben and Draco were going to come to dinner with us too."

Ben shook his head. "That's probably not a good idea," he said quietly, looking at the floor.

Alec frowned. Ben did that sometimes, ever since Draco had come back, acting like he was a lot older than Alec instead of hardly any older at all, and it really made Alec cross. But Ben was also looking sad and everybody was uncomfortable and it was like sour notes landing everywhere and drowning out the memory of the beautiful music. It made Alec wanted to stamp and shout and do all the things his cousin Michelle did when she was angry.

"Alec, we'll see Draco and Ben at home later tonight, all right?" Daddy said quietly. "Right now they're... busy."

Alec glared at him. Daddies were not supposed to lie.

Then Daddy leaned close to Draco and whispered in his ear, and Draco nodded. "Yeah, if he wants to," he said, and took Ben aside, talking to him seriously. Alec's family stood uncomfortably - Uncle George fiddling with his Muggle tie, Granddad peering up at the chandelier with its electric lights, Aunt Anne and Aunt Demelza talking in low voices, making Draco hard for Alec to hear.

Ben shook his head. "No, not without you."

"Ben, please. It's for Alec. And you said you had fun with his fam-"

"That was before I knew," Ben said stubbornly.

Draco sighed. "I won't make you go. But it would mean a lot to Alec."

Ben looked at Alec for a long moment, then nodded.

"Right, well Draco's going to be busy wrapping up the concert, but Ben's coming with us," Daddy said, and everybody smiled in relief.

"Let's go, Ben," said Uncle Ron, and held out a hand to Ben. Draco ran a hand over Ben's dreadlocks and exchanged a quick look with Daddy, then started to head back into the crowd.

"See you, Malfoy," said Uncle George, and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron nodded at Draco as well.

Daddy took Alec's hand again, walked up to Uncle George and said something Alec couldn't hear. Uncle George shrugged.

"I t-told you the day the family went mental on you, mate," he said. "M-makes no difference to me."

"Thanks anyway," said Daddy, and Alec wondered what they were talking about. But the crowd was still milling about, and he could only hear snippets of conversation from his family.

"We're taking the Floo to the restaurant," Granddad was saying.

"I love traveling by Floo!" said Ben.

"When did Malfoy grow a beard?" Aunt Demelza asked Daddy.

"He can't do magic, and he's got a scar on his jaw," Daddy answered, which didn't answer Aunt Demelza's question at all.

"Oh, so it grew while he was at-"

"Yeah."

"You wouldn't let me g-grow one," said Uncle George to Aunt Demelza.

"I'd rather not kiss fur, thanks," said Aunt Demelza.

"It's not that bad," said Daddy. There were a couple of snickers.

"I t-told you!" Uncle George teased her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Why d'you talk funny?" Ben asked Uncle George.

Uncle George chuckled. "I d-don't talk funny; you hear funny."

"What?"

"It's t-true. Your ears probably s-smell like lemons."

"What?"

"T-true." Uncle George leaned down and sniffed Ben's ear. "Lemons. That's why you hear f-funny."

"My ears don't smell like lemons!" Ben laughed, and looked at Daddy, who grinned at him.

"How do you know they don't?" Aunt Demelza asked Ben.

"Because somebody would've told me if they did!"

"Actually, you're r-right," said Uncle Fred. "They don't both smell like lemons. Only the l-left one does."

Ben blinked at him.

"The r-right one smells like oranges. That's how come you hear me t-talk funny too."

Ben laughed. "No you don't!"

"How d'you know?" asked Uncle Fred. "D'you know everybody else h-hears us talk just fine?"

"All right, how did they get to smell like oranges and lemons, then?" Ben asked.

Uncle George grinned at him approvingly. "Gnomes!"

"V-vengeful gnomes," said Uncle Fred.

Ben laughed, and Alec caught an amused look between Daddy and Aunt Hermione as Uncle Fred and Uncle George's story got weirder and weirder.

"He's a better ambassador to this family than Draco could ever hope for, isn't he?" she said to Daddy, her voice low.

Daddy smiled and nodded, then turned to look behind them, searching the crowd and slowing down. Alec followed his gaze, and saw Draco talking to a couple of women, most probably about the concert. Daddy gazed at him, looking like... Alec couldn't figure it out. Like he was thinking. A little bit sad, maybe. Then he shook himself and turned back, following the rest of the Weasleys as they headed towards the Floo.

ooo000ooo

Author's Note: The songs Alec and Ben sing in this chapter are Labour of Love, which was mentioned in chapter 3, Suo Gân, and Hope For Resolution. They can be found at the lyrics page, at

http://annafugazzi.livejournal.com/55489.html

It's been fun and challenging to write kid-POVs, but I'm kinda wishing I hadn't planned to do two of them so close together, and I'm very glad there are no more planned for the rest of the story. Two is enough for me :)