Fury

Fury

Chapter Three

Family Obligations

Cate stood in the corner of the ballroom, trying desperately to blend into the wood paneling that lined the great room and hiding behind a large potted plant. She had been told by at least three cousins that her mother, aunts, and grandmother were looking for her, and she had a fairly good idea why.

She was the only cousin, in her rather large extended family, that had not brought a date, and was old enough to do so. Her mother, cold as she was to Cate, would forgive Charles, her younger brother, for not having a guest; he was sixteen, still in school, and any date he might bring would be spending her time away from school with her family. Cate, at twenty-two, would not be forgiven for such a faux pas. In fact, her many aunts were probably dying to set her up with someone suitable, and knew just such a person who happened to be without a partner this very evening who would have been perfect.

Her father was the oldest of seven children, six boys and a girl, five of whom were still living. Her mother was the middle of four children, two boys and two girls, three of whom were still living. That made for a grand total of six aunts, plus her mother, all of which wanted to see every one of their children, nieces, and nephews safely paired off and married. Her older sister, Isabelle, the eldest, was the first of twenty-two cousins to become engaged, but, if her aunts had anything to say about it, certainly wouldn't be the last.

From the moment she had walked through the door, she had been accosted by several cousins, introducing her to their dates and/or significant others. She had smiled graciously each time, either shaking hands with the men (if her cousin was female) or kissing the girl on the cheek (if the cousin was male). Four times, she had had to congratulate a couple; in addition to her sister, four other cousins were getting married in the next year. Once, in the case of her cousin Caritas and her fiancé, Gavin, she met the partner's child. Thankfully, for Carrie's sake, the child wasn't hers, but Gavin's from a previous marriage. Lydia was a beautiful child of three, and the youngest person in the room. She was quickly taken by a helpful house elf to the nursery.

To escape the procession of happiness, Cate had sidled over to the desert table, where her father's sister Temperance found her. Aunt Temmie had two daughters, both nineteen, and both of whom had brought dates. Cate had to listen to the particulars of both relationships in excruciating detail, and when that was done, her Aunt Veronica had joined them, pulling in her eldest daughter, fiancé in tow. After that, Cate was regaled to wedding minutiae, which, quite frankly, she got in sufficient quantity from her sister, and was dying to say so, but that would have been rude.

All in all, the Moon Halloween Ball, normally a favorite of Cate's, had slowly descended into a night of hell. And then the dancing started.

If she could have leapt through the window at that moment, and run for the woods, she would have. But she was certain at least one aunt would have followed her, dragging an eligible bachelor behind her.

~*~

The next morning was painful, to say the least. Moon Manor was fully large enough to house an army; the entire family could certainly fit, and if certain honeymoons were observed before the wedding, well, there had been a ball last night, and alcohol, and no one was going to pay much attention, as long as caution was observed, and discretion.

Cate found herself in the middle of a table that had been stretched practically into the hall. At the head, her father, mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles chatted quietly, some with obviously pounding heads and bloodshot eyes. For the most part, the adults ignored the children, all of whom were grateful for that fact. Near the adults, grouped in pairs, were the engaged couples. Cate found herself next to her cousin Sebastian and his fiancée, Aileen, a very nice, sweet girl that Cate could hardly stand. On the other side were the cousins whose dates had not been allowed to stay, because there wasn't yet a wedding to anticipate. Cate wished desperately that she could join in those conversations, but found herself dragged into wedding details yet again. Before the end of the meal, she had been invited as bridesmaid for all of the weddings, and to be maid-of-honor for Aileen, who had a small family and wanted a private wedding.

She escaped the table as soon as decently possible, but couldn't seem to find a room in the entire manor that didn't either have a couple in it, making wedding plans, or one of her aunts, telling her the name and life story of a nice boy that would just love to meet her.

Cate found herself wilting, and couldn't think of a way to escape. Her mother, as distant and unfocused as she normally was, seemed her old self again, and had been finding ways of pointing out Cate's faults, not the least of which was a lack of a boyfriend. As pleased as she was with the turn of events that had drawn her mother out of her misty shell, she wished, just for a second, that the woman had directed her pointed attentions at someone else.

After a lunch that made breakfast seem pleasant, her cousins- the ones not getting married, as opposed to the couples who seemed inseparable- begged their parents to be allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Cate found herself dragged along, with a list of requests from her mother and aunts, longer than the novel resting unread next to her bed. Her brother Nathan led the charge through the fireplace into the Three Broomsticks, followed by Demeter, Victoria, Elaine, Cornelia, Bertie, Elinor, and Charity, the twin of Caritas. Before Cate disappeared through the flames, Isabelle handed her a stack of papers.

"Can you get these for us? That's a love. Thanks."

Cate watched her sister glide out of the room, not a hair disturbed on her perfect head. Sighing, she stepped through the flames.

~*~

She found her cousins already dominating a table, with tankards of butterbeer and, in Bertie's case, a glass of Firewhiskey. She ordered a small glass of water, knowing, without any doubt, that her cousins planned to spend the rest of the day away from the Manor, and, also without doubt, that her mother and aunts would blame her if any harm came to them, ignoring the fact that Nathan was two years older than she was and supposedly the responsible one.

She glanced at the lists before sighing, finishing her water, and standing up.

Elinor grabbed her sleeve. "Where to, Catie?"

Flashing the pieces of paper at them, Cate smiled. "Shopping for the aunts."

There were sighs and moans of commiseration, but none of them offered to help. She waved merrily, fighting bitterness and ignoring the sick feeling in her gut as she watched them order another round. She had to make it quick, or they would drink the place dry without her.

She had to stop at nearly every store on the high street, placing the orders and having them sent through the Floo to the Manor. She wasn't going to carry, for example, half a side of beef, in her purse- though, due to magic, she likely could have. She picked up catalogues from all of the stores her sister had on her list; they all involved weddings in some way, and she had they sinking feeling that she was going to be subjected to wedding talk for the remainder of the family visit, if not until every last cousin was properly wed.

She finished as it was nearing sunset. She paused at the window outside Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Hogsmeade Branch, staring at the display in ghastly colors of puce, orange, and a yellow that was unnaturally bright. She wondered what Isabelle, or, for that matter, her mother, would say if she bought a sample of something that looked like a wedding cake that turned everyone into various bird forms. She was contemplating a molting Isabelle in a wedding gown when someone slammed into her from behind, knocking several packages to the ground and cursing her soundly.

She grabbed the window frame to keep from falling, feeling her feet slip out from underneath her. A strong hand gripped her elbow, pulling her upright and wrenching her shoulder. A gust blew her hair in her face, and she felt heavy hands roughly brush off the robes that her mother had insisted they all wear in public.

"You alright?"

She froze. She knew that voice. "Yeah," she squeaked. "I'm fine. Thanks." Another gust blew the rest of her hair into her face, including a clump that landed into her wide-open mouth.

The voice laughed as she pulled the hair out from between her lips. "Well! Look who it is! Izzie Moon's little sister. We've got to stop meeting like this!"

Cate looked into the laughing face of George Weasley and scowled. "I didn't plan it, if that's what you're implying. I'm shopping." The last words were said primly, as though she expected him to contradict her.

George grinned. "And that includes staring at my window, yeah? Like what you see?"

Cate could feel a blush. "No. I just...I had a stone in my shoe, and your display distracted me."

George nodded solemnly, a smirk ruining the entire effort. "It does that. Where are you off to?"

Cate checked her list. "Um, Three Broomsticks, actually. I've..."

He jumped in. "Great. Headed there myself. I'll walk with you."

Cate's blush deepened. "You don't have to...I'm just...uh..."

George held out his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. "Articulate. Shall we?"

Cate felt as though a person could have fried an egg on her face. "Sure."

They walked through Hogsmeade, his packages dancing along merrily behind them. Cate's hand barely rested on George's arm until he gripped it firmly and locked it in place with a grin. A struggle, she felt, would have been futile, and potentially embarrassing. Watching the faces of the people passing by, she could practically read their thoughts.

Who is that girl with the famous George Weasley? Do you see what she's wearing? Who is she?

Cate stared determinedly at her feet, watching the shoes of people passing. George didn't say a word until they got to the door.

"Here we are."

He held the door for her, motioning her forward. Blushing, she stepped into the smoky room and looked at the table where, a mere three hours before, her cousins and brother had been determined to drink the bar dry.

The table in the corner had more people at it now, including four of the five couples that had stayed back at the house. Nathan, her darling older, and obviously extremely drunk, brother, had a witch on each leg, and was alternating between kissing the neck of the one and the lips of the other. She didn't recognize either of them, but thought that one may have been in her year at Hogwarts, and the other perhaps a year older. Persephone and her fiancé, Edmond, had obviously joined them, and were making out in the corner; Ed had a bottle hanging limply from one hand, and the other was in a place that was rather indecent in a public. Persie seemed to be enjoying herself, if the moans were anything to go by.

The other three couples were doing almost exactly the same thing, in various states of undress; Benjamin and Reagan were actually under the table, while Sebastian and Aileen were closer to standing against the wall than sitting on the stools. Carrie and Gavin were in a booth, lying in a prone position, while Carrie's twin, Charity, was on the other side, with a boy that Cate didn't recognize. The rest of the cousins were dancing, mostly with other patrons, but it seemed that a group of younger wizards had been there, since the girls were mostly dancing with boys near the same age, and they certainly weren't the dates she had met at the ball yesterday.

Cate was greeted with a round of drunken cheers; the only other person that seemed even remotely sober was Cornelia, and she was currently downing another glass of something that looked like water. She turned to George to thank him, and saw him staring at her family with a dumbfounded expression.

Cate turned again, just in time to see Elinor slide down her partner's legs in what was clearly meant to be an erotic move, only to end up on the floor.

She blushed. "Sorry, George. Didn't expect them to be doing this."

George raised an eyebrow. "You know them?"

Cate's blush deepened. Clearly she had misread the expression. "Um, yes. That is my brother, Nathan," she said, pointing to him. "And the rest are my cousins. We were having a family thing this weekend and everyone needed to get out of the house."

George grinned. "Looks like fun. Can I join you?"

Cate blinked. "Sure."

He winked at her, dropping his gaze to Elinor, who was trying to get off the floor gracefully. "Let me send off those packages and I'll be right along."

Cate nodded, dumbstruck. "Sure. Take your time."

There was a crash and a chorus of giggles. George's grin widened, and his eyes twinkled. "Not likely."

~*~

Cate didn't know how much longer they were in the bar, but eventually one of her aunts noticed that they hadn't arrived home yet. Someone- she was sure it was her grandmother- had sent her Aunt Temmie. She was the one least likely to get upset at indecency, and most likely to tell the parents what had been going on. Temmie started shoving people through the Floo, careful not to grab anyone she didn't know. A protesting Elaine went first, lips still locked on the boy she had found and trying desperately to hide from her mother the fact that her bra was half off. Victoria soon followed, and then the exodus seemed to be processing quite nicely. Sebastian and Aileen went together, though they had managed to get his pants buckled before Aunt Temmie noticed, and soon, there were only a handful left, mostly passed out around the room.

Cate saw Madame Rosmerta behind the bar, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth. The bar was a disaster, but they had drunk all the butterbeer, and at least half of the Firewhiskey. Cate had given up her no drinking rule, and begun to catch up to her family, rivaling George, who, it seemed, was no lightweight. Cate watched Temmie shove a groaning and stumbling Gavin into the fireplace; Carrie was passed out in the booth, her arms hanging limply on the floor.

Cate was sitting at the original table, next to George, who was at least as drunk as she was. She watched him finish his last glass and stand up shakily. She frowned, and slurred, "Where do you think you're going?"

He turned to her, his brown eyes bleary in the low light. "Home."

She shook her head, her hair falling out of the ponytail she had put it in some time ago. "No way you can Apparate home like that."

George pointed a finger at her, staring into her eyes as though trying very hard to see her face. "Can too."

Cate grabbed his hand and dragged him near the fireplace, where her aunt was bodily hurling her cousin Demi through the green flames. Only three others remained besides the two of them; it must have been near closing time.

"You can't, and I won't let you. Don't want to Splinch you, do you?"

He blinked at her. "You're pretty."

She giggled. "You're drunk."

He tapped her nose after a few misses. "You too."

She smiled at him sloppily, watching her aunt glare at a protesting Nathan as she sent the two girls to their own homes. "Yup. So you can't Apparate."

George frowned. "Cause you're pretty?"

She laughed, ending it in a hiccup and a burp that was certainly not lady-like. "No, cause you're drunk, silly. Am I pretty?" she asked seriously.

He nodded solemnly. "Oh, yes." And then he did something unexpected.

He kissed her.