Ryn_
The next two days for her consisted of helping Molly around the house, tutoring Ginny for her final exams, and going out into the field to lay in the wheat and think on potions.
She still practices the art.
It took it a lot of her spare time, to say the least.
As she lay there in the field and stare at the sky, she picked at the blanket she was on in thought. It seemed that Fred was insistent on getting things between them back in motion, and she couldn't say she was against it. But something about it made her skittish. She couldn't pick why.
It was getting on her nerves quite badly. A year ago, she had been so madly in love with Fred Weasley that she would've done anything for him. Even die.
She almost had, in fact. The clouds drifting by lazily above her began to blur and double up, swaying slightly.
Her eyes were heavy and she felt deliciously comfortable, so content among the warm sun and soft sounds of wheat brush around her. Aside from the beautiful blue right above, the sides of her vision were golden. She might just stay here forever.
Her head had begun to fall to the side when the blanket was suddenly jolted and lifted into the air.
It wrapped her snugly and swayed, as if people were carrying it from each end. She yelped in protest and tried to see who her captures were.
"Oh– Fred! George!"
The twins laughed, as each had an end of the blanket and were supporting it on one shoulder as they marched through the field and back to the house.
"How did you even sneak up on me?"
She demanded, and George explained,
"Practically dosed off, you were. Wasn't too hard to sneak up on you."
She went limp in her little cocoon and said,
"Right, I forgot. You two were the wild cards of hogwarts, always sneaking around hidden corridors and getting into all sorts of trouble."
Fred, not without humour, said,
"As I recall, you were right there along with us. Skipping potions, sneaking out at night, giving us the password to your common room..."
Ryn went red and hid her face. The brother's chuckled to each other before continuing their own little conversation.
"I can't wait to see you two get your asses handed to you."
She said quietly, and they stopped walking.
"What?"
They both said, and she ignored them. After jostling her roughly they asked again, and she cursed before realising they could drop her at any second. And God knew they would.
So she quickly said,
"Muggle sports!"
"What about them?"
"You'll suck at them, obviously."
George seemed insulted and burst out with,
"Muggle sports? You think we'll be rubbish at Muggle. Sports.?"
She snorted and waved a hand,
"Fine, then. See how you fair. I won't help you, though."
Fred chuckled and exclaimed,
"We're Weasley's! We'll have your little assumptions six feet under before you can count the scores."
Ryn flashed back to all the times she'd visited her muggle family, and how rough and aggressive they could be. All the times where her cousins had ended up with broken bones and fractures and cuts everywhere.
They didn't know about magic, so she could never help with with injuries. And she had to hide her wand as well. She'd had one hell of a time obliviating her whole family after the children had found her broomstick.
With a small giggle, she suddenly decided that she couldn't wait until the twins had to deal with rioty muggles and no magic.
~~~~
Ryn was walking with the twins either side of her, and trying to do as best she could at giving her all the names of her family and basic rules of the house.
They each carried their suitcases in one hand, and Ryn's cat sat perched on Georges broad shoulder. They were walking casually down a pebble drive, at which end was a proud wooden house and stone house. All around for miles was lush green grass warped over tiny hills and in all different lengths.
"Is that the house? It's bloody huge!"
Fred said, bewildered at the sight of it. Ryn had gotten so used to seeing in that she hadn't really stopped to think about how big the home was. It was two stories, not counting the addict. There was a basement, too. The whole thing was a faded light brown and worn in. It had been thoroughly loved by Ryn's family for generations.
"It's old money."
Ryn said, warmth in her voice.
The whole thing was big enough to fit a family of twelve with room to spare. She began to explain about its history with surprising ease,
"It's been in my father's of the family for ten generations. Always been my favourite place. It was supposed to go to my dad, but he became an Auror and gave it to his sister. That was about when she married her muggle husband. My mum– she was French, and there's still some places in Paris–"
"You have places in Paris?"
George said, scratching Ravioli's head. Ryn shook her head 'no' and tried to elaborate,
"She had one place, an apartment. But it got sold once she was arrested. A majority of her side of the family were convicted, too, for being on his side during the war. The family home ended up being left to me, because Olivia refused it."
"What happened to it?"
"I gave it to my little cousins. They were only too young, even if their parents sided wrong. I– I couldn't let them be thrown into the system, so I hired a nanny and put money in to send them to school. I got a letter from the ministry a few months ago saying that one of my aunts left her place to me, too, but I think it was just so that once she got out of prison her beloved nest wouldn't be gone."
She chuckled at that. If her mum's sister was anything, she was vain. The twins went quiet, and when she looked at them they almost appeared hurt.
"What is it?"
She asked, looking between them. The boys exchanged a glance, seeming to communicate silently, before Fred spoke up,
"You didn't tell us. About any of this. Your cousins, your family being convicted, your aunt leaving you a place, you paying for your little cousin's schooling...why didn't you say a word? Don't you trust us?"
Ryn's words caught in her throat, painful and lumpy. She glanced between them again before bowing her head.
"These are my problems. Not yours. I knew you two would wand to help."
Fred looked like he was calculating something, and his gaze shot down tje road at the house as he said,
"This place? This is your 'place' in Scotland that you told me about? Where you've been staying?"
She scoffed quietly, hating how he always managed to figure everything out.
"Yes, if you must know. But I'd been alone for the most part, because the whole family was away on a bloody long trip. But...yes. I've called this house 'home' for the past while. You guys will be staying with me up in the attic."
George looked at her with worry as he said,
"You don't...what about having a place of your own? An apartment?"
"I um...I–"
"You can't afford it, can you?"
She kicked the pebbles in the pavement and groaned loudly in frustration,
"Stop interrogating me! It doesn't matter!"
"Oh, it doesn't, does it?"
"No! It doesn't at all! It doesn't matter if all my Quidditch winnings go to funding school! It doesn't matter that I live in my family home because I can't afford my own place! And no, it does not matter that my goddamn Witch of an aunt left me anything at all once she got gripped by the neck and tossed into the cracker house!"
The boys exchanged a wide-eyed look, and she sped up considerably.
She was so suddenly frustrated that she might as well have had steam rushing out of her ears. Why did all of that spill out of her just now? She hadn't been able to control herself, it was just as if the words all forced themselves out of her uncontrollably.
Fred_
She steamed off like a wild train down the path, and Ravioli pounced off George's shoulder to follow her. Fred looked to his brother, and to his relief, George looked just as concerned and confused.
"Did you–"
George began, but Fred cut him off with,
"No. She didn't tell me anything."
It was clear that all of this had been weighing on her, but she hadn't gotten a chance to tell anyone. As much as she hated it, the twins knew her extremely well. Better than she knew herself, they were willing to bet. George gestured to her, already nearly to the house, and said,
"If I've got this right, she's playing her ass off in Quidditch, winning like there's no tomorrow, and then transferring all of the money to fund her little cousin's schooling and housing?"
"You forgot the fact that she's dirt broke because of it and is now living in the attic of her aunts home."
Fred said, grimacing.
George let out a hum of thought and narrowed his eyes at Ryn's figure,
"What do we do?"
Fred rolled his shoulders as he responded,
"George, we once convinced her to break every rule in her two-shoes book in one night. We got the girl to prank Umbridge, and everything else of the sort. Pretty sure we can get her to let us do some heavy-lifting."
George winced.
"Dunno, mate. Never seen her this defensive."
"...We'll figure it out."
Down the road, Ryn had reached the house, and two little children sprinted out the front door screaming. They were small thin boys, about six years old, and had ink hair and fair skin. Ryn dropped her bag as if she'd forgotten all about it and got on one knee as the tiny set of twins barrelled at her.
They slammed into her at full force and wrapped their arms around her. After she squeezed them tightly, she placed each one on a hip and hoisted them up, making her way into the house.
As she held them on both sides, they played with her long hair and giggled at whatever she said.
"Forgot how strong she was."
George said, and Fred raised a brow,
"What do you mean?"
"She's carrying two six year olds. One of each side of her body. The girl is five feet and eight inches, bloody hell."
Fred only shrugged, because he'd always seen her as strong. One of the boys pointed at him and George, and she turned to look at them.
Ryn_
Jackson, the twin she held on her right, tapped her on the shoulder softly.
"Yes, Jackie?"
He tapped her again. The other twin, Mason, said,
"Aunty Blue, he's pointing at them! Over there, on the driveway!"
She turned then, and looked at what Jackie was pointing at. He had his small arm outstretched towards Fred and George.
"Who are they?"
Mason asked, and she smiled as she stared at them as they made their way towards the house. They were getting closer and closer, their long legs carrying them quickly. Fred bent to pick up her discarded bag.
"Are they our new uncles?"
Mason questioned. Ryn kissed both boys on their cheeks before heading inside,
"Let's go inside, shall we?"