It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 13

"I'm a GRANDMOTHER!!!  I'm not ready for THAT!" Narcissa laughed, putting her arm around Draco's shoulder and kissing him on the cheek.  "Don't rush into marriage this time around, dear; I'm too young to be bouncing grandbabies on my knee!"

"Who do I marry?"  Draco stopped and turned to look at Emma.

"Astoria Greengrass."

"But she's Goyle's girlfriend . . . I don't steal her away from him, do I? . . . not my best mate!?"

"Gregory dies at the Battle, Draco," Emma replied in a small voice. "You and Astoria get together later.  But, if this works out, Gregory won't die . . . maybe you'll be married to someone else!  We'll just have to let that part of your future fate do as it pleases, won't we?"

"Yes, I guess so," replied Draco, who turned and wandered off toward the stairs.

"Then I won't have a grandchild?"  Narcissa mused.

"Narcissa, this is years in the future . . . after we change things, you might not have the one that's there, now, in 2012, but then again, you might have three!  You all will just have to go forward and take what comes!" Emma linked her arm in Narcissa's.  "Draco turns out to be a really nice fellow, as far as I could tell, only having talked to him for a couple of hours, back in 2012, but he's still a handsome flirt, so THAT won't change!"

"Merlin, I should hope not . . . then we really would have something to worry about, wouldn't we?"

Laughing, the Muggle and the Pureblood Witch descended the stairs, arm in arm, to join the others.

 * * * *

"You're getting pretty chummy with Draco and Narcissa," Tom whispered in Emma's ear, as he pushed in her chair, before sitting down beside her at the noisy table.

"I was just trying to make it a bit easier for him to go through the next movie, letting him know it not going to be pretty, but knowing he survives might help a bit," she leaned over and answered.

"Well, he's keeping an eye on you," noted Tom, as he glanced past Emma and saw Draco watching them talk.

"He probably has a hard time, considering his history with Hermione, watching you and me being so friendly with each other. It must be very weird."

"Either that, or he has a crush on you," suggested Tom, with a Slytherin worthy smirk.

"Oh,  don't be ridiculous, Tom.  He doesn't know me at all . . . he only knows, or thinks he knows, Hermione."  Emma swept her gaze casually around the table and saw that, indeed, Draco was staring at her.  She gave him a small smile and turned to Fred - or was it George - who was sitting on her other side.

"I think that you and your brother really need to go through the book and get the whole story on how you two make your brilliant exit from Hogwarts . . . it really does sound like a lot of fun, except for Dolores and Mr. Filtch, of course."

"Oh, we were taking notes like crazy and we'll get every detail out of the books before you leave.  This will be our best yet!"

"Don't I know it . . .  been there, seen it !!!!!"  Emma laughed.  "You wouldn't happen to have a Canary Cream with you?  I've been dying to try one!"

"A Muggle after my own heart!  I think I'm in love!" George - or was it Fred - swooned in his chair, setting Emma off in a fit of giggles.

 * * * *

Surprisingly, dinner  passed without any discussion of the content of the movie, except for questions about how the special effects were done, how long it took to film and how many people actually are involved in making the movies: camera operators, staging crews, costumes, props, sets, remote shooting, CGI and post production. 

Then the world wide acceptance of Harry Potter's stories and J.K. Rowling were discussed.  Also, there were lots of questions about other acting projects Emma, Rupert, Dan and Tom had done, besides the Harry Potter movies.  Dan's stage work was especially interesting to those around the table, as he'd been in two Broadway productions besides his London performances. 

Dan and Harry had insisted that Dobby and Kreacher sit and eat with the rest, as soon as they finished putting the meal on the table;  Dobby at one end of the long table, Kreacher at the other.  Kreacher was especially reluctant to be seated at the table, but Dobby was loving every minute of this experience.  Tonks got Kreacher to relax a bit, asking him to reminisce about when her mother was a little girl, visiting with her sisters, Bella and Narcissa to see their cousins, Sirius and Regulus, asking him for little gossipy tidbits about her Mum.

But after dessert, everyone knew the time had come to get down to some serious discussions about what was coming in the next few months.  Dan stood and addressed the group.

"Right.  Here's how we're going to do this.  Sirius, Remus, Severus, Albus, Harry and I are going to meet in the back parlor.

"Rupert, Minerva, Draco, Molly, Narcissa, Kreacher and Dobby are going to stay down here to talk strategy about a plan we hatched. 

"Luna, Neville, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Mad-Eye, Tonks and Emma are going back to the front parlor to discuss the Ministry scenes and how the book differs from what we saw in the movie.

"Fred, George and Tom can use one of the bedrooms to go over the twins contributions at Hogwarts"

"Wicked!"  they both agreed, grinning, turning to Tom, who rolled his eyes.

Emma stood.  "My group, come with me, we have a fair bit to cover.  Oh, first, could someone make three copies of this book for me, as all of the groups will need it for reference."

Laying the book on the table she watched as Minerva did the honors.

"I just love magic!  Thank you, Minerva!"  Emma handed a copy to Dan, Rupert and Tom. "Lots of luck with those two," she giggled, seeing Fred and George eyeing the paperback.

"Remind me, exactly, how I got this assignment?" Tom mumbled.

"Innate Slytherin sneakiness will be a great help to them, remember?"

"AH! . . .well . . .  moving right along . . .  Okay you two, time to discover your future."