"You know," Robin said. "My mother passed away when I was just about your age. She was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life, and you're the spitting image of her."
Lizzy remembered looking at pictures of her late grandmother and knew she was beautiful, but she never realized, until just this minute, that she'd grown to resemble her. She was beginning to feel differently about her brown hair. She was even starting to feel better about herself, but she still had one more issue. "Mum, why do you think the sorting hat placed me in Hufflepuff? Do you think I'm not good enough to be a Gryffindor?"
Robin knew this had always been a bone of contention with her daughter. "Sweetheart, if you ask me, of all the houses at Hogwarts, Hufflepuff is the best house. Gryffindor's, they're just a bunch of wannabes - wannabe the best, wannabe the boss, wanna, wanna, wanna. Hufflepuff's, on the other hand, is a house of ARE's...ARE loyal, ARE true, ARE special." Robin told her.
Lizzy listened to her mother's words. It certainly gave her a lot to think about.
Three days after mum got out of the hospital, we all went back to Hogwarts, including Lizzy, but no Eliza. We were all happy to see Eliza go.
Three days after that, Rox and I called a meeting of the Weasley cousins, Rox and I had solved the case.
"How's your Mum, Axe?" James asked.
"She's good. Dad took her on a week-long cruise while she recuperates." Everyone was glad to hear that, but it was time to get down to why we'd called the meeting.
"We interviewed everyone." Rox said.
I added, "We've eliminated all of you guys as suspects, all of your dorm mates and everyone is in the clear."
"That just leaves one explanation." Rox announced.
"Uncle Harry!" we both say in unison.
"What?" James asked in disbelief.
"Isn't it obvious. Uncle Harry discovered the map was missing and came to the school and took it back."
"CASE SOLVED!"
Rox and I were surprised, two weeks later, when we walked into the Slytherin common room to find our mums sitting there. I hadn't seen mum since she'd gotten out of the hospital so I rushed into her arms. "Mum, what are you doing here?"
Mum hugged be back, but got right down to business. "Hand it over!." she said.
"Hand what over?" Rox asked, grabbing my hand for support.
"Don't even go there, Roxanne Weasley." Ani said.
"Did you girls seriously think James wouldn't admit to his father that he'd taken the map, and made sure Harry had taken it back?"
Rox and I looked at each other, and then down at the floor rather than looking our mother's in the eyes. "Yes." we both admitted sheepishly.
"Abigail Lynn Weasley, you go get that map right now." mum demanded. I knew when she used my full name, I was in trouble.
"But mum..."
"Don't 'but mum' me, young lady. GO NOW!"
"But James stole it from Uncle Harry!" Rox chimed in, in my defense.
"Stealing something that's been stolen does not make it okay, Roxanne." Ani scolled. "I'm just glad you didn't accuse someone else of stealing it. Or even worse, set up one of your bothers as the fall guy."
"We would never do that!" Rox insisted.
"No, Alex may be a nerd-burger, but he's my nerd-burger and I really do love him." I told mum as Rox shook her head in agreement.
"Thank goodness for that. Now go get the map. We're not telling you again."
Defeated Rox and I went hand-in-hand to our dorm room to get the Marauder's Map, but not so fast that we didn't overhear our mothers.
"Is it wrong of me," Ani asked Robin, "that I think those girls are brilliant?"
"Bloody-brilliant" Robin agreed. "Now if we could just get them to concentrate their evil-genius on something good."
"Like world peace." agreed Ani.
"Feeding the hungry."
"Shelter for the homeless." the mum's said smiling.
When Rox and I came back with the map, mum said, "Come on, let's go." I was terrified, after she'd taken Lizza out of school before Christmas, that I was going to be next. She was going to take me home, I feared.
"Where are we going?" I asked nervously.
"To Gryffindor common room. You're telling James what you did and you're apologizing."
"But mum..." and I knew from the look she gave me, not to continue.
Cousin James was mad, real mad, but mum reminded him we were all family and he was going to have to get over it. One thing about my mum, all us kids knew better than to argue with her.
"I'll take that map back to my dad, Aunt Robin." offered James.
"That's okay, sweetie. I'll see that he gets it.
Mum and Aunt Ani stayed and had dinner with us and then headed back to the Hogsmead train station to catch the Hogwarts Express for the trip back home.
The following Monday, the dad's showed up. "This can't be good." Rox whispered to me.
"Is something wrong, dad?" Rox asked Uncle Fred. We were both trying to fight back tears. "No, baby, come give me a hug." James took his crying daughter into his arms and held her tight.
"Come sit down girls." dad said. "We've brought you something." I sat down next to dad. "We've talked to Uncle Harry."
"And we've decided you girls need this map more than James." added Uncle Fred.
Then dad pulled out the Marauder's Map and handed it to me. Rox and I sighed with excitement.
"You two have to be responsible with it." Dad said.
"Yeah, if the Mum's find out we've given it back to you, they'll kill us." Fred added.
"Now, let's open it up and see what everyone's up to."
"So" Robin said to George, when he got home that evening, "Do you really think it's safe, giving the girls that map?"
"They'll be fine." George said, taking his wife in his arms. "They're older than Fred and I were when we first discovered the map. And they're not going to want to do anythig that will risk you finding out they have the map, they are both smart girls. We have nothing to worry about." he said, trying to sound more confidant than he felt.
Mischief Managed
Case Solved.
Start from the beginning
