Bittersweet

Chapter Five:

An Ancient Missing Piece

Felicity walked over to the tray with the sandwiches and was about to make her plate when Ginny called her over to the sofa in the corner where her and Hermione were sitting.

"Here, we saved you a seat," Ginny said politely, handing Felicity a plate with two sandwiches and a large square of cake on it. She patted the sofa between herself and Hermione, gesturing for Felicity to sit. Hermione smiled at her and nodded and Felicity beamed. She was making friends! Sound the trumpets!

She took the plate from Ginny and gingerly plopped herself in between the two girls.

"So... what do you think of Grimmauld Place?" Hermione asked, taking a bite of cake.

"It's..." Felicity trailed off, struggling to find a polite phrase to describe the house. "It's... got... plenty of wildlife..."

Hermione and Ginny both began laughing and they launched into the descriptions of the creatures they'd discovered while cleaning out the kitchen.

"I was just putting a pot away when this ghoul comes lumbering out of the shadows-" Hermione explained.

"Oh my gosh, she screamed so loud!" Ginny said giggling furiously. "It was hilarious! She came running out, screaming hysterically, clinging to Ron. You couldn't get a word out of her. So Sirius and Bill grabbed two of Mum's frying pans and burst through the pantry doors and the 'terrifying ghoul' was just standing there with its hands over its ears looking confused."

Felicity who had just taken a bit of her second sandwich laughed and choked on it, which made her laugh harder. Hermione was rolling her eyes and shaking her head. But soon she too was giggling raucously.

"Ah, the old 'Hermione and the Ghoul' tale," came Ron's voice from behind the sofa. A hand rumpled Hermione's bushy hair affectionately. "They'll be telling that one for years to come, eh Hermione?"

Felicity looked around to find Ron and Harry standing behind them. Her eyes met Harry's for an instant and there was a violent swoosh in her stomach. She groaned inwardly, as she smiled on the outside. She should not fall for this guy, or any guy for that matter.

Then Hermione hit Ron with the sofa pillow she had been sitting against, right in the face. Ron stood stock still for a moment, blinking incredulously as though he couldn't believe what had just happened before vaulting over the back of the sofa, pillow in hand. He mock-glared at Hermione, pretending to be severely offended.

"Ms. Granger, you just made mistake number one," he said advancing on her menacingly, cushion raised.

Hermione's eyes were wide and Ron was prepared to swing when-

"Ronald Weasley! You put that pillow down this instant!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, startling them all. But none as much as Ron who jumped at least four feet in the air, the pillow sailing across the room and landing in a large empty aquarium. The other four began to laugh at him as he threw his mother a look of deepest resentment.

Felicity, still laughing, glanced around Mrs. Weasley to see that Sirius, Fred, and George were having silent fits of laughter. She caught Sirius's eye and winked. She would have to thank him later for forcing her to come downstairs. She had been missing out on a lot of a good thing.

"Alright, that's enough!" Mrs. Weasley barked, making everyone clam up immediately. "Now that you've all obviously finished eating and then some we can get started on these cabinets."

Ron and Ginny grimaced quite visibly and their mother scowled at them, shook her head, and stared pointedly at the cabinets, which clearly meant, "Get off your bums and do as I say."

Felicity, Ginny, and Hermione got to their feet and trudged over to the cabinets, closely followed by Harry and Ron, the latter of which was furiously muttering under his breath in a Kreacher-like manner. Felicity thought she caught the word, "slave driver" but couldn't be sure. She smiled anyway... with Ron as a friend she was certain things would never get dull and if they did it was highly likely he would have something extremely funny to say about it.

But was he her friend? Were any of them her friend? Or were they just trying to be nice and polite, because Sirius and Mrs. Weasley had told them too? She wouldn't blame Harry, she'd probably looked like a brat times twelve hundred to him, being carried down the stairs, kicking and screaming. But as she glanced over her shoulder at him, talking amiably to a glowering Ron, she couldn't help but hope he truly did like her and would over look the previous circumstances.

Then Hermione launched into a vivid description of the time they had been cleaning out the hall closet and a large dead spider the size of a teapot had fallen on Ron and he'd shrieked like a little girl and ran from the room. Hermione looked over her shoulder to see Ron's reaction, but he seemed engrossed in his quiet conversation with Harry, though the tips of his ears were slightly pink. Hermione rolled her eyes at Felicity and shook her head.

Fred, George, Mrs. Weasley, and Sirius were waiting for them at the cabinet, Fred and George in a cadet-like stance with their wands held at the ready, Sirius trying to keep a straight face, and Mrs. Weasley scowling again. Sirius composed himself and paused for a dramatic effect before he threw open the cabinet doors grandly. A large cloud of dust immediately whooshed out at them and Felicity sneezed violently. Hermione and Ginny whispered, "God bless you," as they approached the open cabinet doors.

Sirius was the first to reach into the dusty cupboard and was rewarded with a nasty bite from one of the silver boxes with the obscure writing upon it. He jerked his hand back away from it, but that didn't keep it from encasing his hand in a gross brown crusty thing.

Felicity would have most likely screamed and ran off to find the nearest sink if her hand had been covered in a creepy ugly brown thing, like Sirius's, but he didn't. Sirius studied it for a moment before tapping it with his wand. The shell-like crust crumbled and fell to the floor. He carelessly tossed the silver box into the trash sack they were using to put all the old crap from the cabinet in. She stared wistfully at it, wishing she could study the language on the outside more closely to figure out what it was or at least what it was based on.

"It's okay," Sirius said, shaking his hand to get the last of the crust off, "I think it might have just been Wartcap powder."

Felicity was still watching the box longingly when George, his hand wrapped into a cloth carefully sneaked the box out of the bag and into his pocket with the doxies. Felicity was sure he only wanted it for the Wartcap powder, so she made a mental not to ask him for the box later.

The next interesting thing they encountered was a particularly large Shwippad that skittered about on its many metallic legs from the cabinet shelf and onto Harry's arm. Felicity's eyes widened. Her father had had a Shwippad. He'd confiscated it in a Dark Artifacts raid and had kept it in his study, always under lock and key in a thick glass case. Mrs. Trinket had explained that it was a very dangerous contraption that would seek out the nearest pure of heart and try to puncture their skin to drain the host of pureness. Apparently, this one had decided on Harry and crawled up his arm, its joints clicking as it ascended. Harry stared down at it curiously, apparently not aware of the danger.

Felicity grabbed the heaviest looking book available (Nature's Nobility: a Wizarding Genealogy) and swatted the Shwippad off his shoulder. It landed in the floor and she threw the book down on top of it, effectively crushing it. But just to be sure, Felicity stepped on top of the book and added her own weight to make sure the thing was destroyed. She stepped down off the book and gingerly picked it up. The Shwippad was thankfully in little pieces.

"Thanks," Harry said, as Fred picked up the pieces and tossed them into the trash sack.

Felicity's gray eyes met Harry's green. Swoosh! She cursed herself internally.

Felicity shook her head. "No problem."

Harry smiled and turned his attention back to the cabinet and Felicity followed suit, still cursing herself. Fortunately, the next unpleasant thing they encountered was something that took her mind off the swoosh! Harry's eyes brought about. It was another silver box with ornate writing upon it that Felicity couldn't distinguish.

"Are those... snakes?" Hermione asked quietly as Sirius lifted the box out of the cabinet and held it out before them to study. Sure enough the calligraphy Felicity had been examining was written so the words formed the long bodies of two intertwining snakes.

"What d'you think's in this one?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I bet there's snakes in there," Ron said with a grimace.

"The box isn't big enough to hold more than one snake," Hermione said practically.

"Miniature snakes, then," Ron said, sticking his tongue out at her. Hermione stuck her tongue out back and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well we're never going to find out unless we open it," Sirius said cheerfully. He flipped up the catch and opened the lid.

Two silver serpents hovered just above the box their mouths and eyes closed. Ron grinned triumphantly at Hermione, who rolled her eyes.

"What is it?" Mrs. Weasley asked curiously.

"It's a music box," Felicity said.

They all turned to look at her. She calmly took the music box out of Sirius's hands and held it before her. "I used to have one just like it, mine had fairies instead of snakes, though," she added quickly, seeing eight pairs of raised eyebrows. "The winding mechanism is the snakes themselves. You just grab hold like so," she took hold of the snakes with her left hand while holding the box with her right, "twist," she turned the snakes clockwise several times, "and voila."

She sat the box down on the cabinet shelf where it came from and let go of the snakes. They shuddered for a moment and seemed to stretch themselves out, their eyes blinked open and next their mouths. Two forked tongues flitted back and forth and a song began play. It was a rather mysterious haunting tune that Felicity thought fitted a snake very well. It sounded faintly like the songs Muggle snake charmers used. She yawned involuntarily and rubbed her eyes. They were starting to itch from sleepiness. To her left Harry was stifling a yawn and on her right Mrs. Weasley's head was drooping.

"Mum... you know... I don't m-much feel like c-cleaning anymore," Ron said through a wide yawn.

Felicity rubbed her eyes again and shook her head. She was feeling so tired all of a sudden.

"I'm so... s-sleepy," Hermione said softly.

"It's the music box," Ginny said groggily.

"What?" Harry mumbled, his eyes closed.

Felicity felt her own eyes closing and fought to keep them open, to stay awake.

"The music box!" Ginny said again, reaching for the lid and slamming it shut.

Felicity's eyes jerked open, as did Mrs. Weasley's, Sirius's, Fred's, George's, and Hermione's. They all turned to her, eyebrows raised. Felicity raised her hands in surrender. "I swear, my music box at home did not do that," she said apologetically. "I had no idea that would happen."

Then to Felicity's great surprise. They all began laughing. Even Mrs. Weasley managed a small chuckle. Felicity breathed a sigh of relief and chucked the music box into their trash bag.

"Or did someone want to keep that?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hey, look at this," Harry said, pulling a very dusty old locket out of the cabinet. He looked at Sirius and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "An old necklace of yours, Sirius?"

Sirius grimaced. "Probably one of Bellatrix's old things," he said, taking the necklace from Harry and rubbing some of the grim from its surface. "She practically lived here for a while when she was younger."

Felicity watched as Sirius tried to pry it open. It was just an old tarnished locket on a very long chain with nothing terribly remarkable about it, except the amount of grim on its surface.

"Damn," Sirius muttered, staring down at the stubborn locket in his palm. "Idiot thing won't open."

"Here give it to me," Ginny said, taking the locket from him. "You don't have the fingernails to get it open."

She carefully dug her pale pink nails under the locket's catch and wrenched. Nothing happened. She tried again and only succeeded in breaking the nail on her index finger. "Ow!" she said dropping the locket and waving her hand like she'd been burned.

Ron caught it before it hit the floor and he too tried to open it with no luck. The heavy locket was passed from person to person each trying their damnedest to open the thing. Then it was Felicity's turn. She took the locket from Hermione and for a second she could have sworn she felt the thing shudder in her palm. Only halfheartedly did she try to pry the locket open before returning it back to Sirius.

"Bellatrix must have put some charm on it," he said as held it by the chain, letting it swing back and forth in front of his face.

"Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if sweet Bellatrix's locket was thrown out," came a gravely voice from behind them. They all wheeled around to find Kreacher rummaging through the trash bag. He already had the music box tucked under one arm, several family photos and a large golden Black family ring on his stubby finger. It gave Felicity chills to think that the elf had been there long enough to collect these things without her even noticing.

"Looking for this?" Sirius asked cynically, letting the locket swing in front of the elf's face.

"Kreacher isn't looking for anything," the house elf reassured them. "Kreacher is cleaning, Kreacher would never move anything from its rightful place in Master Sirius's home." He bowed deeply and while he was facing the floor Sirius snatched the music box and picture frames away from him. Kreacher looked up hesitantly. Then feigning surprise, gasped, "Wherever did Master find those?"

Sirius laughed bitterly and held out his hand. "Give me the ring, Kreacher?"

"What ring?" Kreacher asked, though he appeared to be struggling with the words. He hastily (and apparently what he presumed to be stealthily) stuffed the ring into his loincloth.

"Urgh," Harry muttered in her ear. "I wouldn't want it back after that."

Felicity shivered, feeling his mouth so close to her ear, but managed a weak smile and a laugh to disguise the current swooshing and whooshing in her abdomen area.

"The gold ring I just saw you hide," Sirius said. Felicity could tell the elf was trying his patience. Sirius's fists were clenched and she was ready to bet his nails were digging crescent moons into his palms. "The one with the Black family crest on it."

Kreacher could not disobey a direct order like that so with as much resentment as he could muster he pulled the ring back out of his loincloth. "Oh Master means this ring," he grumbled. "Master should have been most specific."

"Yes, because we all know there are a trillion other rings in your loincloth he could have been talking about," Ron muttered sarcastically.

Felicity saw Hermione shoot him a disapproving glare.

"Now put it back where it belongs," Sirius said, folding his arms over his chest, "in the trash."

At this Kreacher burst into angry tantrum tears, swearing and cursing like a sailor, as he stomped toward the trash bag and threw the ring back into it with unnecessary muster. He then stormed out of the room, calling Sirius names Felicity had never heard of under his breath.

Sirius shook his head. "That was my dear old dad's," he said. He rolled his eyes at the door the elf had disappeared behind. "Kreacher wasn't as allegiant to him as he was to my crazy old mother, but I still happened upon him snogging a pair of old trousers last week that I'm assuming belonged to my father."

"'Snogging'?" Felicity asked curiously. "What d'you mean he was 'snogging' them? What's that?"

Everyone apart from Mrs. Weasley and Sirius glanced at each other, either embarrassedly or mischievously.

"Hey, Ron and Hermione, why don't you demonstrate for our new friend, Felicity, the noble art of snogging," George said, with a look of seriousness on his face, though his eyes were gleaming.

"Strictly for educational purposes, you understand," added Fred, his facial expression identical to his twin's.

Instantaneously Hermione and Ron turned roughly the shade of a beet, Ginny let out a cackle of laughter, and Harry bit his lip clearly wanting to laugh but not to risk his best friends' wrath.

"How about I demonstrate the noble art of bloody murdering you two!" Ron bellowed at Fred and George.

He shoved Ginny aside and launched himself at Fred and George who by now had tears of mirth streaming from their eyes. Ron's attack only seemed to enlarge their glee. Hermione buried her face in her hands and had to be lead away to the sofa by Ginny who was scarcely containing her giggles.

Felicity had a feeling she would find all of this a hell of a lot more funny if she had any idea what "snogging" was. By now Sirius and Harry were laughing as they watched Ron chase the twins around the room and even Mrs. Weasley was trying to suppress a smile as she halfheartedly told Ron to lay off the twins. Apparently Harry noticed Felicity wasn't laughing and sidled up to her.

"Snogging-er-is kissing," he said, a pinkish hue forming on his cheeks. "Erm-well not just kissing-getting really into the kissing."

Felicity felt heat creep up her face as she laughed, finally understanding the joke. "You mean like making out?" she asked.

Harry looked puzzled.

"Really-um-enthusiastic-kissing involving tongue and not just on the mouth," she explained as the twins with Ron hot on their tail zoomed past them.

"That's it!" Harry said, nodding enthusiastically and laughing. "Making out. Snogging. Same thing."

His laughter was infectious. She laughed again, suddenly feeling very comfortable around Harry. The cautious "I-just-might-have-a-huge-crush-on-you" feeling was going away. She laughed again, this time a real joyous laugh. Everything was going to be fine.

Nothing quite so interesting happened after what would later be called the "Snog Crisis." Mrs. Weasley kept them working until five that evening. She herself hurried off at four to begin preparations for dinner.

"Could I help, Mrs. Weasley," Felicity asked politely. "I'm not trying to get out of cleaning or anything. I just like to make myself useful. And I'm a pretty good cook."

"Certainly not," Mrs. Weasley said with a kind smile. She embraced Felicity in a warm motherly hug, despite the fact that Felicity had a good four inches on her. It was one of the first Felicity had experienced in a good long time and it felt so soft and safe. "You're the guest of honor tonight and you won't lift a finger." Felicity raised an eyebrow. "At least not in preparing the meal," Mrs. Weasley added quickly before bustling out of the drawing room and down the stairs to the kitchen.

"I'll go help her then, shall I?" Sirius said moving toward the door. "Everything has to be special for our special guest." He winked at Felicity then disappeared out the door. Felicity rolled her eyes to the others.

When five o'clock ticked around Hermione, Harry, and Ron suggested they head down for dinner and led her downstairs talking amiably. Hermione brought up the subject of school and how they would be taking their O.W.L.s this year.

"What are 'owls'?" Felicity asked curiously. "I mean besides the birds."

"Ordinary Wizarding Levels," Hermione answered brightly, seemingly unaware that Ron and Harry were shaking their heads at her behind her back. "They're sort of a standardized test that every witch and wizard at Hogwarts has to take in their fifth year."

"Then there's N.E.W.T.s, in seventh year," Ron chipped in.

"'Newts'?"

"Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Harry explained promptly. "Sound lovely, don't they?"

Felicity laughed.

"I can't wait, though," Hermione said with a zealous air. "Do you know how much we're going to learn this year? Do you have any idea?"

"The only think I'm looking forward to learning is new seeker moves," Harry said simply.

"You're a seeker?" Felicity asked eagerly.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Me too! For my school!"

"No way," Harry said, his eyes wild with excitement. "That's brilliant!"

"Totally!" Felicity said excitedly. "Ah, this is so sweet! What sort of broom do you ride?"

"Firebolt," he said proudly and Felicity felt her jaw drop.

"No way! I am so jealous," she said enviously. "Isn't that what Ireland was riding last year at the World Cup?"

"Yeah, all three of us were there!" Harry said enthusiastically, gesturing to Ron and Hermione who were exchanging exasperated looks at the pair of them caught up in everything seeker. "Did you go?"

"Yes, it was awesome, wasn't it?" she asked, remembering how much fun she'd had with Anne and Tyler. "We were sitting by a really weird wizard from Bulgaria that kept picking his nose but it was still amazing. Did you see Victor Krum's Wronski Feint?"

"Yeah, we were right up in the top box, perfect view," Harry said, grinning broadly. "I've been dying to try it since then."

"As soon as I got home afterwards I jumped on my broom, broke out my snitch, and tried it," she said zealously. "It was midnight I think when we got home and Anne, my friend just scowled at me and went to bed, she's not big on quidditch, but me and Tyler, my other friend, he's a chaser, stayed up until dawn, riding around the yard! It was so much fun!"

"Now, I'm jealous, I haven't had a chance to try it yet," Harry said wistfully.

"You have to, as soon as we get to Hogwarts," Felicity said ardently. "It'll change your life."

"I know Victor Krum," Hermione put in. "Dated him, actually."

Felicity gaped at her. "You're joking!"

"No, our school had a ball and Durmstrang was visiting for the Triwizard Tournament and he asked me to go," Hermione said simply.

"You are so lucky," Felicity said, thinking of all the seeker moves she could have learned from him.

"He invited me to visit him in Bulgaria this summer, " Hermione continued regretfully, "but-"

"Called it off with Vicky, though, didn't you?" Ron cut in nastily.

"'Vicky'?" Felicity asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ron's cute pet name for him," Hermione said in a bored tone. "Yes, I called it off with Vic-tor, Ron. I hope you're happy?"

Ron said nothing, though he did look smugly satisfied. Felicity smothered a giggle and Harry rolled his eyes before bringing the topic back around to quidditch.

"I wish this place had a grove or something we could practice in," he said nostalgically.

"I know, it was one of the first things I looked for when I got here," Felicity agreed. "I've just had to content myself, reading about it."

"You've got quidditch books?" Ron asked interestedly.

"Too many," Felicity answered truthfully. "About a fourth of my collection is quidditch related novels and I have a quite a library for a fifteen-year-old."

"You have more books?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Oh no," Ron said in a low voice, sharing a glance with Harry.

"Yeah, tons," Felicity said to Hermione. "Why do you like to read?"

"Does she like to read?" Ron echoed in a exasperated voice. "I don't reckon she'd come out of the library at Hogwarts if Harry and I didn't make her."

"Of course I'd come out of the library," Hermione said curtly. "I have to go to classes."

"Oh yeah, classes, right," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "But to eat and sleep? Never."

"Shut up, Ron!" Hermione snapped. "I didn't mean it like that."

"You know it's true!"

"It is so not true-"

"Come off it, Mione, you know you eat, sleep, and breath that moldy old library. You revel in it!"

Harry raised his eyebrows at Felicity and shook his head. "Four years of that gets old fast," he muttered as Ron and Hermione continued to bicker.

"I can imagine," Felicity nodded, smiling at the quarrelling couple.

"So what sort of broom d'you ride?" Harry asked, bringing the topic back around to quidditch.

"It's called a 'Nightstreak 3000," she responded thinking fondly of her broomstick upstairs.

"Never heard of it, but then that doesn't really say much," Harry said, slightly bitterly.

"Oh, because you live with the Muggles?" Felicity asked sympathetically.

"How did you-?"

"Sirius," she explained shortly.

"Yeah, I don't get any news about anything," said Harry and Felicity could definitely hear the bitterness in his voice now. She assumed it had a lot to do with the fight he'd had with Ron and Hermione last night and how he was told nothing over the summer, "much less the new broom models that come out. Is it American?"

Felicity nodded. "It's sort of rare so I doubt you'd have heard of it anyway; only a hundred or so were manufactured, exclusively in America," she explained. "They're not quite as speedy as a Firebolt, but totally in tune the rider's slightest movement or thought. Awesome at turns and sharp cuts and loops. Makes pulling out a dive much smoother. You'll have to ride it. It's definitely an experience."

Their quidditch jargon continued (Hermione and Ron still arguing heatedly) as they headed to the kitchen for dinner, the twins and Ginny chatting about the twins' latest invention in front of them. Harry was just detailing the inter-House Quidditch Cup competition at Hogwarts when they came through the kitchen door and the most delicious smell greeted Felicity's nose.

Mrs. Weasley appeared to have gone all out with dinner that evening. The table was set with broiled new potatoes, a large chef salad, chops, and a number of other entrees that Felicity had never seen before but all smelled quite delicious. She suspected they were native to Hermione, Harry, Ron, and the others, but they were most definitely foreign to her.

"There she is: Miss America," Sirius crowed, beaming animatedly, raising his glass to her as she entered. Mrs. Weasley smiled warmly at her as she bustled around the table setting plates and silverware on each crocheted place mat. Sirius scrambled from his chair and hurried toward her, singing jovially, "She's beauty and she's grace... she's Miss United States!"

"Sirius you promised! No more American jokes," Felicity cried as he chauffeured her to her seat at the head of the low wooden table. She could feel her cheeks flaming as he continued to sing the stupid beauty pageant song and Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George watched, laughing good-naturedly. Felicity pointed across the room at Harry, who was attempting to turn his chuckling into a fit of coughing. "I have a witness!"

"Ah, Sirius mate, she has you there," he admitted, his green eyes dancing with amusement.

"Well, you'll let me slide just this once, won't you?" Sirius asked, a broad grin covering his face.

Felicity smiled bemusedly. "Of course I'll forgive you, Sirius, dear," she said, "but only if you'll get me a tiara."

Sirius roared with laughter and stuck out his hand. She took his hand and shook it courtly.

"Deal!"

"Alright, Sirius, quit pestering Felicity and sit yourself down," Mrs. Weasley said. "All of you, sit down, sit down. Remus and Bill will be a little late but Arthur and Tonks should be here just any-"

Ginny had just taken her seat to the left of Fred when the door was pushed open and a tired looking Mr. Weasley shuffled into the kitchen.

"Seven raids today, Molly, seven," he said taking off his hat and glasses and running a hand through his thinning bright red hair. "Some imbecile put a Blathering Charm on an old Muggle lady's coo-coo clock, so instead of just chiming, the thing carried on about all manner of things-"

"Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said quietly.

"-Not particularly dangerous, just rather annoying," Mr. Weasley continued exasperatedly. "Three snapping doorknobs, almost lost a finger, I did-"

"Arthur, dear," Mrs. Weasley interrupted a little louder, as Mr. Weasley held up a bandaged pinkie.

"-And that hoodlum Heath McGregor, just out of Hogwarts, has gone and put a Bucking Hex on some poor Muggle's rocking chair," he continued wearily, apparently unaware his wife was trying to call his attention to Felicity. Mrs. Weasley gave Felicity, who was finding the whole thing extremely amusing, an apologetic look. "Threw the poor fool six feet, bless his-"

"ARTHUR!" bellowed Mrs. Weasley.

Mr. Weasley sprang up from his seat as though it had suddenly turned white-hot. "What is it, Molly, dear?" he cried. "What?"

"We have a new member of the household present tonight," she said kindly, resting her hands on the back of Felicity's chair. Felicity stood up hesitantly.

"New member?" he asked, clumsily pushing his glasses back on. Then he spotted Felicity. She put on her warmest smile as he hurried forward to shake her hand. "Arthur Weasley," he said, shaking her hand amiably. "So nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Weasley," she said happily. "I'm Felicity Parish, Severus Snape's goddaughter."

"The pleasure is all mine," Mr. Weasley said distractedly. "Good heavens, look at all this food."

"I thought we'd have a bit of a banquet for one of our newer residents," Sirius said.

"Harry had one last night, so we decided to have a nice dinner for Felicity tonight," Mrs. Weasley, matter-of-factly.

"You didn't have to, Mrs. Weasley, really," Felicity said embarrassedly, sitting back down. "It wasn't necessary-"

"Of course it was necessary!" Ginny said heartily.

"Don't be silly," Hermione chided.

"Sit down," Ron urged.

"Well, okay," Felicity agreed. She sank back into her wooden chair just as the kitchen door banged open again. A woman with long curly blond hair and a cute button nose pranced in jovially, narrowly avoiding a collision with Mr. Weasley.

"Hello all," she chirped. "Smell's delicious, Molly. What's the occ-oh!" Her eyes landed on Felicity, who immediately got to her feet and held out her hand.

"Felicity Parish," Felicity said, introducing herself, as the witch came forward.

"Tonks," she answered. "Are you the witch from America? Snape's goddaughter?"

Felicity nodded.

"Sure took you long enough to come down," Tonks said, playfully winking at her.

"Well, she had to see if we were worthy, you see," Harry said wisely.

Felicity stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well you're here now and that's all that matters," came a new voice from the kitchen doorway.

They all turned around. Another wizard had stumbled through the kitchen door, smiling kindly at Felicity. He was a little shorter than Sirius with a tired, pale face and flecks of gray amid his sandy brown hair, wearing a set of shabby black wizard's robes.

"Remus!" Sirius shouted, beaming. "Come meet the newest member of the Grimmauld clan, Miss America."

The wizard strode forward, still smiling warmly. "Remus Lupin, a pleasure to meet you."

"Felicity Parish, the pleasure's mine," said Felicity, smiling as she held out her own hand.

Then their flesh touched and each of their smiles faltered for a split second, before they returned just as friendly as before.

Werewolf! Werewolf! Felicity's mind flashed warningly and she knew that Remus Lupin's mind was telling him: Veela! Veela!

"It's a sort of safety measure nature built into your mind," Felicity could remember Professor Annabelle Warren, her heritage professor and one of the most efficient veela Felicity had ever met, explaining. "It's built into all the minds of magical creatures so closely related to humans. Veela, werewolves, centaurs, merpeople, giants even. One only has to touch them, something of theirs, or even something they've touched recently to know that they're in the presence of a fellow magical creature. Now, let's continue with your dancing lesson..."

"And I'm Bill Weasley," said another voice from behind the werewolf, Remus Lupin.

Felicity's eyes followed the voice and alighted on a particularly good-looking red-haired wizard. He was tall with long black deliberately faded robes, a navy concert shirt, and dark denim, artistically ragged jeans on beneath them. His red hair was pulled back in a ponytail revealing a small dark stone earring in his left ear. There was a little stubble on his strong chin and he smiled at her with perfectly straight pearly whites and bright blue eyes.

Felicity was surprised there was no swoosh! in here stomach as she shook the handsome wizard's hand too and introduced herself.

"Well now," Mrs. Weasley said, sounding slightly impatient. "Now that everyone's been introduced. Why don't we sit down to eat?"

"Here, here!" said Fred and George loudly, banging their fists on the table.

An hour or so later and Felicity's jeans were feeling distinctly too tight around the waist as she listened drowsily to Hermione and Ron tell Harry and her about life at Grimmauld Place.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Ron said genuinely, "living at the Order's headquarters."

"You'd think it's dreadfully exciting," Hermione said, smothering a yawn, "but it's not."

"Not in the least," Ron added. "Mione and me are bored to tears most of the time."

"Who's 'Mione'?" Harry and Felicity asked together.

Ron and Hermione blushed and Hermione raised a small, embarrassed hand, claiming the nickname as hers.

"Aw, I wish I had a cute nickname-" Felicity began, hoping to encourage Ron in his subconscious pursuit of Hermione.

"Of course if Ron gave it to you it would be something like 'City'," Harry said, laughing.

"If you weren't my mate, Potter-"

"-You'd give me a cute nickname, too?" Harry shot at him.

"Yeah, like 'hairy otter' so everyone would think you're an under-groomed water mammal," Ron shot back, laughing.

"But a cute one!" Hermione said pointed out. "Just like your nickname."

Felicity hastily turned her laugh into a cough and buried her face in her napkin. When she looked up again at the trio, Harry was grinning reluctantly, Ron was still chuckling to himself, and Hermione was wiping her eyes.

Then she turned to Felicity as though just remembering something. "Felicity, I've been wondering can I please, please, please, go and look at-"

"-my books?" Felicity asked, smiling. "Of course. I was going to invite you guys up after dinner anyway."

"Really?" Hermione asked.

Felicity nodded.

"Brilliant!" Ron said enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

So while Sirius, Tonks, Remus Lupin, and the rest of the Weasley clan continued to lounge around the table, Felicity led Hermione, Harry, and Ron out of the kitchen and upstairs to her room. Hermione's reaction was one of rapture as she stumbled toward Felicity's bookcase, Ron looked appreciatively around the room, flopped down onto her bed, and grabbed Quidditch: The Magazine from her bedside table, and Harry hurried to the other side of the bed and held her Nightstreak 3000 up, excitedly.

"You're room is lovely. Wow! You have Futhark: An Ancient Alphabet by Yegg Drasil? I requested it to Madam Pince, the Hogwarts librarian, but she hasn't ordered it yet..."

"Bloody hell! Felicity, your room's excellent and you've only been here a week! Mind if I look at this? Brilliant, it's got an article on the Cannons..."

"This your broom? Bloody fantastic! I believe what you said about the sharp turns and dives; it's so lightweight! 'Nightstreak 3000,' eh? I'll have to let you check out my Firebolt..."

Felicity just stood in the doorway smiling at the three of them, wondering what she had been so afraid of... why she had waited this long to come out of her room if this is what had awaited her. These three people, Harry, Hermione, and Ron fit together like some sort of life-size jigsaw puzzle. Each one was different and each brought something to their group. One's flaws were simply looked over because another's merits made up for it and vice versa. They argued and congratulated, teased and supported, laughed with and laughed at.... Felicity had never seen three friends more perfectly suited for each other in her life and somehow... it seemed like somehow she fit too. Like some ancient piece of the puzzle no one had any idea about, but it was there all the same waiting to finish everything...

"Hey Felicity, where'd you get this one?" Hermione asked holding up a large leather-bound book on Arithmancy and startling Felicity back into reality.

She smiled to herself as she hurried over to the bookcase to help Hermione with the book. Over her shoulder Harry and Ron were stretched out on her bed, leafing through her various quidditch magazines.

Dear Diary,

Hermione, Harry, and Ron just left and I don't know why I didn't meet them sooner. Ron is hilarious, Hermione and I are both bookworms, and Harry is a seeker just like me!

I woke up this morning and it took me a minute to remember that Harry Potter had arrived yesterday and then when I did remember I hadn't the faintest idea how I was going to manage to meet him. I returned Fred and George's Extendable Ears and went back to my room and Sirius came up and I thought he was just going to trill on about Harry or try to force me to come down, but he didn't, he wanted me to meet Harry! And as it turned out Harry was right outside my door.

Then I went all immature and flighty and hid beneath my Invisibility Cloak when he came in... I don't know why I did it. I'm just a nut I guess. Eventually, after I'd socked Sirius in the head, I came out and met him. He is about the same height as me, with really messy longish black hair and bright green eyes behind glasses. He's not your conventional handsome, but he's still pretty good-looking none the less. There was even a swoosh but I made it go away so it's all good.

So I went downstairs with Sirius and Harry... okay actually Sirius carried me kicking and screaming downstairs. I am ashamed, but admitting it is the first step, haha. Anyway we went downstairs and I met everyone and they met me. We fought doxies and explored an old cabinet with a bunch of creepy Dark stuff in it then went down to supper, where I met Mr. Weasley, Tonks, Remus Lupin, and Bill Weasley, who is excruciatingly hot. Wow. That's all I have to say on that matter. Remus Lupin is a werewolf, but he has been Sirius's best fiend since school, so I'm not unduly worried. You can't help what you are.

Then after dinner (which was awesome, FYI) Hermione, Harry, and Ron came upstairs to my room and just sort of hung out. It was nice, but it made me realize how much I miss Anne and Tyler. I think I'm going to get along with the three of them really well, I've got something in common with each of them and we can sort of relate to each other.

Anyway, Diary, my eyes are itchy with sleepiness so I'll write in you tomorrow possibly.

F. F. Parish