— NICOLE WAITED FOR THE WEASLEYS AND HARRY TO ARRIVE IN THEIR FIREPLACE.
The summer didn't go quite as planned. First off, it took Harry's guardians a lot of convincing from Mrs. Weasley for them to get him from Privet Drive. It took so long, in fact that her parents had already finished the semi finals against Transylvania, and were crushed with a score of 390-10, all because of Atlas' injured arm.
Secondly, Molly Weasley tried to tell Nicole that only her children (except for Percy, who was busy with his work) would be coming, but Nicole tried to insist that she and Mr. Weasley could come too, since their guest house had a lot of space.
Molly still refused to come.
Hermoine came in two weeks, so her and Nicole have been spending time together since three days ago. Her father insisted that Hermoine should stay in her room for the moment since she might feel a bit lonely in the large guest house, which made Aurora quite annoyed, but she didn't really press on it.
Besides, Aurora was busy on her own. She and Cedric Diggory have been mailing each other non stop since classes ended. The girl even offered him some tickets— but he politely declined and told her that his dad already got a hold of some.
"Honestly, Nic." Hermoine started, sitting across the fireplace as she brushed her hair. "You should go come with me to the muggle world sometime. I think you'll find it interesting."
"Yeah," Nicole joked. "Maybe I could learn about those fafuchinnos you love so much."
"Cappuccino!"
"Whatever, they're basically the same thing."
Nicole stayed silent for a few minutes after that. The Weasleys have told her that they got Harry and were on their way to their guest house— but that was 20 minutes ago. Surely, they would be here now?
As if on cue, a tall redhead man suddenly emerged out of green flames and into their fireplace. Nicole, who hasn't recognized him before took the vase out of the table and shoved it into his face threateningly.
"Who are you?!" she demanded. The man stared at her vase, wide eyed.
"HERMOINE HELP ME. DO YOU KNOW WHO HE I—"
A green flame suddenly emerged, and out landed was Ronald Weasley. His inital reaction was excitement, but he quickly turned horrified when he spotted his best friend shoving a plant vase on his brother threateningly.
"Nicole, why are you trying to kill my brother?"
"Bro—" Nicole looked confused, looking at the man. "What?"
Suddenly, another unfamiliar face emerged out of the fire. Nicole stood in confusion while Hermoine quietly laughed. She can't believe she almost attacked Ron's brothers.
Way to make a first impression.
"How're you doing, Nicole?" said the nearer of the two, grinning at her and holding out a large hand, which Nicole shook, feeling calluses and blisters under his fingers. This had to be Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania.
The other Weasley shook her hand. He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill's clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Nicole recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide.
He was so cool.
"H-hello." Nicole stuttered out, awestruck. When she realized that she was shaking his hand for ten seconds, she quickly retreated it and placed it into her pocket.
Fred popped out of the fireplace, then George. They gave Nicole identical smiles, then came to pat her head.
"Hello, Nicky dear." Fred greeted.
"We missed you. Do you want some toffee?"
Nicole quickly shook her head.
Ginny Weasley popped out of the fireplace with a smile. The girl quickly greeted Nicole, who greeted her goodbye. Nicole noted that Ginny changed— she could barely say anything to Nicole the last year but now she seemed aright.
Lastly, Harry popped out of the green flames. Nicole's grin widened when she spotted the person she missed the most. Harry had grown taller once again and his hair was long.
She couldn't help but stare at him. The look was different, but she couldn't deny that it looked really good on him. Harry had grown over the summer, and it seemed like Nicole was now the shortest out of them. She hasn't grown since third year.
"Harry!" she exclaimed, walking over to him. "Hey!"
Hermoine watched as Nicole awkwardly hugged Harry. Nicole usually had no problem hugging her friends, and seeing her all awkward and stiff made her interested.
"Anyways," Nicole quickly let him go, looking at the massive amount of redheads in the Hwang Manor. "Come with me, I'll show you guys the guest house."
—
The Hwang Manor was huge. The Hwang family came from an extremely rich and pure bloodline, and their mansion was grand and large for a family such as them. A giant gate stood infront of the mansion and the guest house, and the front yard was clean, the grass all being the same height.
It was too big for a family like them who only had four people, but none of them really minded it. It would help especially in times like this wherein they had people over, and the space was just right for them.
"There's a room for each of you guys." Nicole explained. "If you go up the stairs to the second floor, there would be 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. Ginny and Hermoine could take each."
The girl then paused, pointing to the third floor. "There's 6 bedrooms in there. 5 bathrooms. Harry, Ron, Charlie, Fred, George, and Bill you guys take those. There's a lot of space in each room, don't worry."
"I'm going to end up getting lost in here." Ron mumbled to himself, staring at the large guest house. He had never been in anywhere this big his life and it overwhelmed him a lot. The staircases went to the third floor, then to the rooftop.
"If you guys are bored you can go to the mansion too." Nicole added. "But don't disturb Aurora though. She doesn't like people going in her room. I wonder why."
Once they had placed all their things in their respective rooms, all the Weasleys except for Ron decided to go play in their Quidditch felid. Ron desperately wanted to go, but it seemed like Hermoine had something else in mind.
"Let's go to the Muggle world! I can show Ron and Nic—"
Ron and Nicole groaned.
"Have you had a good summer, Harry?" said Hermione, deciding to change the subject. "Did you get our food parcels and everything?"
"Yeah, thanks a lot," said Harry. "They saved my life, those cakes."
"And have you heard from — ?" Ron began, but at a look from Hermione he fell silent. Harry knew Ron had been about to ask about Sirius. However, discussing it in an open area where anyone could hear them was quite risky. Nobody but themselves, Atlas, and Professor Dumbledore knew about how Sirius had escaped, or believed in his innocence.
Nicole sighed, and dragged them over to the mansion and into her room. It took a long time for them to arrive, six minutes exactly, and the silence was pretty awkward. Once they reached her giant room, Nicole shut the door and locked it.
"So —" she placed a chair infront of her door. "Have you heard from Sirius lately?"
Yeah," said Harry softly, "twice. He sounds okay. I wrote to him yesterday. He might write back while I'm here."
They were about to discuss it until two knocks suddenly came from the doorway.
Hermoine's breath hitched; what if it was someone who didn't know Sirus Black was innocent? They would be sent to Azkaban for—
"Nic?"
The quarted collectively sighed in relief at the voice of Atlas Hwang.
Nicole removed the chair that was blocking the doorway and opened it to see her dad. He quickly engulfed her in a giant hug, and brought her up a little. It had been a week since she last seen him.
"Hi, dad." Nicole smiled. "The Weasley's arrived at the guest house. Mr and Mrs. Weasley aren't here, though."
Atlas let go of his daughter, now smiling at her friends. He shot them a knowing grin, but all of them just stood awestruck at him.
Even though they've been friends with Nicole for more than four years, seeing her dad was still a bit surprising for them— they never got used to it.
"Harry, Ron, Hermoine, if you leave your school list out, I'll get Tilly to your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. She's getting everyone else's. Tell your sister and brothers to go leave me a list too, I'll buy it for you guys." he stated. Before any of them could reply, he faced his daughter. "Need to go say hello to Aurora. See you. Tell our guests that dinner would be served soon."
"Nic, your dad is so cool." Hermoine breathed out once he was gone. Nicole only grinned as they all walked back to the guest house.
—
The silence was unbearable.
Nicole took a bit out of her food. Tilly the house elf was used to cooking food from their culture, and it was a lot different from the food that was being served at Hogwats.
It had a lot of vegetables.
However, it seemed like Ron was enjoying his bibimbap, as his bowl was already empty. He was staring at Hermoine's half empty bowl with interest.
The second reason was that Bill and Charlie were avid fans of Atlas Hwang, and so were Ginny, Fred and George. If Ron froze like a deer in headlights, the rest of the Weasleys were just frozen. Unmoving. It was their first time meeting him and they didn't know what to say.
"Dad, where's mom?" Aurora broke the silence.
"She visited a few old friends, dear." Atlas replied, taking a bite out of his food.
"Mr. Hwang, can I have your autograph?"
Everyone looked over to Fred Weasley. Nicole let out a snort of laughter, while the other people on the table started to laugh too. This seemed like an ice-breaker, since the table started to talk freely.
Like expected, they talked about Quidditch. Bill was complimenting Atlas' skills, and Atlas bashfully listened to them. He tried shrugging it off, but he did really like the compliments coming from his guests. Nicole, Hermoine, Harry and Ron were busy talking among themselves, while Aurora just awkwardly watched everyone talk.
Then, night time came. At dawn, Nicole sneaked out her friends out of their rooms and brought them to her room in the mansion. She was pleasantly surprised to see that they were still awake.
Sneaking up to her room, the quartet paused when they heard speaking come out of Aurora's room.
"Um Nic..." Ron mumbled, looking at his friend. "Does Aurora have guests of her own?"
Nicole scrunched her eyebrows, before she quickly drew her wand out of her pocket. Whispering "Alohamora" she then slammed her sister's door open.
The sight shocked her.
Cedric Diggory was on a broom, flying several feet above the air and infronf of Aurora's window. Aurora was infront of the mirror, but they both snapped their heads towards the Gryffindors.
"Nicole, what are you doing?" Aurora hissed, slamming her windows shut. Nicole could see the shadow of Cedric rush away, and the girl started to giggle at Aurora.
"STOP LAUGHING!"
"We'regonnago." Hermoine said, taking both Ron and Harry's hands and rushing them away from the room. Soon, it was only a giggling Nicole and a furious Aurora that were left in the room.
"Nicole, I'm going to kill you. STOP LAUGHING!"
Nicole, who was almost crying out of laughter sat on Aurora's bed. The girl found this extremely entertaining. Aurora, the perfect child, was rebelling against her parents— no. Her mother.
"If you tell anyone I swear to Merlin I will hex—"
"I'm not you!" Nicole exclaimed, still laughing. "I-I'm not a snitch. Do you think I'd tell mom when she hates my guts? Do you think she'd believe me?"
Although Nicole was laughing, Aurora was still mad.
"I don't care! If you tell anyone—"
"—Harry, Ron, and Hermoine saw it too—"
"If you, Harry, Ron, or Hermoine tell someone I will hex the three of you. I don't care if Harry's the 'chosen one' I will kill hi—"
"Calm down!" Nicole giggled, now feeling a bit calm herself. "We wont tell anyone."
It was true. She wasn't. Over the course of two weeks Nicole asked her dad to put a memory charm on her to get rid of Cedric Diggory in her head before he left for the semi finals. He agreed, and Nicole didn't feel anything whatsoever anymore.
Aurora was still worried. You see, their parents had one rule. Well, technically, two.
The first was no failing grades, and the second one was no dating till you graduate.
Her and Cedric weren't exactly dating. Yet. But Nicole and her friends could interpret it into something else. The fact that her mother was the person who made the two rules didn't help either— she didn't want to break her trust.
Nicole then walked over to her room, before giving Aurora one last grin.