My Father's Only Rule

Chapter Seventeen: Christmas With The Weasleys

Christmas Day 1995 - Grimmauld Place

I stepped off the train and got a taxi by myself. It was a nice taste of adult-ing. I instructed the driver to take me to Grimmauld Place, but when I arrived, there was no number 12. I must have circled the building a dozen times. Number 12 Grimmauld Place just didn't exist. I panicked for a moment, but suddenly, the whole building started shaking. And then it was as though the building was split into, and number 12 was hiding in between the two parts. I noticed the muggles in their windows didn't seem to notice as number 12 appeared out of the walls. I chuckled at the blatant display of magic. I knocked on the door, and a stout red-headed woman answered it.

"Oh- hello," she said frantically. "What can I do for you, dear?"

"Oh, I," I stuttered. "I'm-"

"Grace!" I heard a voice say. The woman turned around and we both saw Ginny walking towards the door. Then the woman turned back around to look at me with a smile on her face.

"OH!" she laughed. "Miss Snape! Yes, I almost forgot you were coming. Hurry on in before you freeze," she ushered me into the house. "I'm Ron's mum. Pleased to meet you, dear."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Fred!" she hollered. "George!" The twins emerged out of the dining room at their mother's call.

"Grace," they said in unison.

"Boys," I said back.

"Go on and take Grace's things up to Hermione and Ginny's room." Fred and George did as they were told with a smirk.

"Don't go through my stuff!" I hollered at them.

"Wouldn't dream of it," they said together. Mrs. Weasley smiled at me.

"I see you've figured out how to take care of them. Come on dear." She led me into the kitchen where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mr. Weasley, and Sirius were all at the table. Hermione stood up first.

"Grace!" she said as she hugged me. Ron gave me a fist bump as usual. And Harry, well, let's just say that the only thing standing between Harry and I was our audience. Mr. Weasley looked horribly beaten up.

"Ah, welcome Miss Snape," he said. "Nice to meet you. We were just discussing how Harry turned out to be quite the hero."

"Oh, you don't have to tell me," I said, admiring Harry.

"Here you are, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, handing me a wrapped gift. I looked at her confused. For me? "Go on, open it." Everyone watched as I opened it. Inside was an obvious handmade sweater. It was black and had the Hogwarts Crest on the front. A far cry from the expensive jacket I was wearing, but equally thoughtful.

"Oh," I said. "Wow. Thank you. Did you make this?" she nodded with a smile on her face. "I love it. Thanks."

"Oh, Grace," Harry said. "This is Sirius." Sirius reached out his hand to shake mine.

"Nice to meet you, dear. In-person and not over fire."

"You too, sir," I smiled. Sirius smiled back.

"I like her," Sirius comically said to Harry as he patted his shoulder. "You better not screw it up."

"I don't plan on it," Harry laughed.

I loved staying at Grimmauld Place. Sirius told us that it was his childhood home and that he had offered it up to Dumbledore as HQ for the Order. The house of Black was a fascinating history lesson. So much history in just one family. So many twisted people, yet one honest man. I didn't realize the extent of Draco's family tree. Narcissa, Sirius's cousin, had two sisters, Bellatrix and Andromeda. Bellatrix was a death eater, and she went insane and was locked up in Azkaban. Andromeda was disowned for marrying a muggle-born. Narcissa obviously went on to marry death eater Lucius Malfoy, making Sirius Draco's second cousin or something. Everyone was connected, it was amazing. And for a moment, I stopped thinking about wanting to fight. When I saw that Harry, who had to fight whether he wanted to or not, was enjoying his holidays, all I could think about was the wonder of the community, and my friends. At this point, they were my only friends.