***A/N*** Hey guys! I figured it would be a sin not to add to this fic on George and Fred's birthday so here's a smaller? chapter than the last two I posted. I hope you love it and I'm already sorry for the ending *yikes* xx
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"We'll have the family over tonight,"
I walk into the kitchen still wrapped in my blanket. Mum, Dad, Uncle Fred, and Ophelia are already sitting around the table eating breakfast in their shop uniforms.
"I don't think Victoire and Teddy will be showing up if Dominique comes," Uncle Fred says, "Not according to Bill the last time we talked anyways."
Dad notices me standing in the doorway and he smiles big, "Morning peanut."
"Morning Daddy," I say before going over to him. He picks me up and puts me on his lap, wrapping his arms around me snugly.
"That last fight they had at Christmas was pretty bad," Ophelia says before taking a bite of her cereal, "You two act like we fight all the time but at least we still talk to each other."
"Speaking of you lot," Mum says, "Care to explain why there are three boxes of pizza and a lot of chicken wings in our fridge right now?"
Ophelia glances at me like she's expecting me to rat them out and pretend like I had nothing to do with it. To be fair I've done that in the past loads of times but I don't say anything this morning.
Ophelia shrugs, "Dunno, but it was probably Freddie, he's the only one with any money around here."
"What's happening tonight?" I ask, leaning back against Dad.
"We're going to be celebrating Daddy and Uncle Fred's birthday," Mum says. She gets up from the table and goes over to the kitchen counters, "Annie do you want some oatmeal for breakfast?"
"Calling George Daddy in front of the kids? Kinky." Uncle Fred says.
Mum turns around and throws something at the back of Uncle Fred's head. Ophelia snorts and sends her spoonful of cereal across the table.
"Ow!" Uncle Fred clutches the back of his head and turns to look at Mum, "What have you been doing? Taking aim lessons from my mother or something?"
"I've got five kids Freddie. Good aim comes with the job."
Freddie comes out of his room already in his uniform, "It's true, Mums been throwing things at the back of my head for years. Never misses."
He goes over to Mum who's getting my breakfast ready and pecks her on the cheek, "Morning Mummy."
"A grown man calling his mum mummy?" Uncle Fred says.
Dad laughs, "When you saw Mum again you cried for three days and hung onto her like you did when we were kids. Don't judge him for being a mummy's boy."
"Yeah, but I came back from the dead. He came back from India."
Freddie squeezes past me and Dad and ruffles my hair before he sits down in the spot beside us, "So I missed my Mum, sue me."
"Cassiopeia! Theseus! Theo! Let's get a move on please!" Mum shouts throughout the flat.
Freddie looks up at Ophelia and they share a look. A look that I don't understand.
"Hey Mum, you're not going to make Theseus work in the shop are you?" Ophelia says. She gets up from the table and stands in the way of Mum's view of the living room.
"Dad! We're celebrating your birthday tonight eh?" Freddie says. He sits in a way that Dad'll have to turn to look at him to have a conversation with him.
Cass and Theseus sneak into the living room. But Theseus doesn't come out of Freddie's room like he's supposed to and because Ophelia and Freddie are talking to Mum and Dad, they don't realize.
"Morning Mum!" Cassiopeia sings, "If you're going to make Theseus work downstairs he's going to need a uniform."
Mum breaks the conversation with Ophelia. Leah puts her bowl in the sink and pours herself a cup of coffee which she isn't supposed to do.
"Freddie?" Mum says.
"Yeah?" Both Uncle Fred and Freddie say at the same time.
Mum looks over at them. With the three of them sitting all together like this it looks like there's three of them, not just two. I never really noticed how much Freddie looks like Dad and Uncle Fred but they're nearly triplets sitting together like this.
"Freddie bear can you take Theseus into the basement and see if one of your old uniforms might fit him please?" Mum says.
Freddie picks up his bowl of cereal and drinks the leftover milk at the bottom of the bowl before getting up and putting it in the sink too, "Yeah, come on."
The two of them leave just as Mum puts my oatmeal on the table in front of me.
Theo comes out of their room and into the kitchen, trying desperately to put on their bowtie. We don't have to wear a bowtie with our uniform, just a purple suit and a patterned top underneath but Theo's been wearing a purple bowtie with orange dots on it since they could decide what they wanted to wear.
"I'm not late am I?" They say going over to Mum and pecking her cheek as well. They take the bowl of oatmeal that Mum was holding out of her hands and takes a bite, "Cheers Mummy."
"They get breakfast made for them and I don't?" Cassiopeia yawns as she sifts through the fridge. She ends up pulling out a slice of pizza and taking a bite before Mum can grab it out of her hands.
"Pizza is not breakfast!" Mum says sternly.
"It is if you eat it in the morning." Ophelia says, "I'll head downstairs and start stocking the shelves."
"I'll come. I've still got some stuff I have to memorize." Uncle Fred says. Together they head down the stairs and into the shop, I can hear them laughing the whole way.
"Daddy?" I ask.
"Yeah pumpkin?"
"Are you going to have a real birthday party this year? With cake and candles and everything? Cause normally we just have breakfast and family over."
Dad laughs and squeezes me tighter, "I'm going to have the biggest birthday party I've ever had. I haven't been able to spend this day with my brother for years."
Mum smiles at us and Cassie finishes off her slice of pizza just as Theseus and Freddie come back into the room. Theseus is wearing the standard purple suit that we all have to wear but he's got a black shirt underneath, tucked into his trousers and not buttoned all the way.
Apparently, Cassiopeia loves it cause despite the fact that Mum and Dad are in the kitchen she goes over to him and kisses him, whispering something in his ear that makes his cheeks turn pink.
"Oi, none of that." Dad says, "I don't need to see those things."
Mum laughs, "Didn't have a problem with your son snogging Evie in public for a good five minutes yesterday. What's so different about this?"
"Yeah Dad," Cass says turning around and looking at Dad, "What's so different about Freddie kissing Evie and me kissing Theseus?"
"Go," Dad whispers to me lifting me off his lap and putting me on the ground, "Save yourself, it's too late for me."
I laugh as Mum and Cassiopeia start digging into Dad and why he doesn't mind seeing Freddie kiss but minds a lot when he sees Cassiopeia kiss.
I close my door behind me and change out of my pyjamas and into my uniform and a white top. I know that it's supposed to be a patterned top underneath the suit but I really don't like wearing colours all that much and this is the best that Mum and Dad are going to get.
Cass and Theseus are already downstairs by the time that I'm changed and ready for the shop. I can faintly hear everyone laughing downstairs. Freddie is still in the kitchen, doing everyone's breakfast dishes.
"Mum says you're on cash today," Freddie says. He doesn't look up from what he is doing but he knows that I'm there.
I go over to the counters and climb on top of them, sitting beside the sink to keep Freddie company, "I hate cash," I grumble.
"Would you rather be on customer support like me?"
"No..."
Freddie laughs and finishes up the last bowl, "Come on, it shouldn't be that bad down there."
We head down the stairs together and are instantly bombarded with loud music and noise, and a shop full of customers. Shouldn't be that bad down there my butt.
"Sorry, do you work here?" A lady asks Freddie. He excuses himself from me and goes to help the lady. I work my way through the crowd and over to Ophelia Theseus and Cassiopeia who are on cash with me today apparently.
"So you're telling me that you've been doing this your whole life?" Theseus asks looking around the shop.
Cassie laughs, "There's a picture of me and Leah upstairs. Literally, the first day that we were back from Saint Mungo's Dad opened the shop and had a buy one get one free deal on everything we sell to celebrate our birth."
"Buy one get one free? That's actually really funny."
"Yeah... hilarious."
I stop listening to their banter and Cass trying to teach Theseus as much as she can when a customer comes up to my till with a bag full of things.
"Hi! Find everything okay?" I put on the customer service voice that I was essentially born with and slap on a fake smile.
"Yeah, thanks. Ophelia helped me a bunch." They say. I press the button on my till that has Ophelia's name on it. We've got to do that every time a customer says that one of us has helped them. Whoever gets the most mentions by the end of the week gets a prize.
As I start ringing in their items another customer goes to Cassiopeia and Theseus. They banter for a bit, the customer says that they've never seen Theseus here before, Cassie says that she's training him. All the normal things.
"That's going to be ten galleons, five sickles, and, twelve knuts," I say to my customer.
"The things I do for my children," They say fishing out their money, "they're absolutely mad for the stuff you sell here. Course I don't have to tell you that, you're a kid yourself."
I shrug, "Growing up around all this sort of numbs you. It's not as exciting as you think after a few years."
The customer looks at me funny and hands me the money. I count it again just in case before putting it in my till. The receipt prints out of the machine and I put it in the paper bag before handing it to the customer, "Have a great day. Hope you see you back soon."
"Cheers thanks," They say before turning around and leaving the store.
I sigh and rest my elbows on the counter, cupping my face in my hands. I look around at the chaos that is our shop. Dad is chatting with a few parents while Ophelia pulls off some basic muggle magic to distract their young children. She pulls a lolly from behind the little boys ear and he shrieks with laughter before taking it from her.
Freddie comes down the stairs right beside the cash counter with a big box in his hands. We've only been open for about an hour and he's already got to refill the jumping snakes that we keep at the front of the shop.
"Hey," Ophelia comes over and jumps over the counter, "Do we still have the lost and found back here?"
She squats down to underneath the tills and searches through the boxes.
"I think?" Cass says watching her, "They might have moved it to the office."
Ophelia pulls out a big cardboard box and laughs, "Found it... let's see here. If I was a little girl what would I want."
Cassie hits her with the end of her pen, "You can't just give little kids toys from the lost and found."
Ophelia kicks the box back into the cubby where she pulled it from and holds out a small stuffed animal that has been there for years, "Watch me." She says before hopping over the counter again and going back to the little kids she was entertaining earlier.
I look at Theseus who can't seem to stop staring at everything, "Are you okay?" I ask him.
"Hm? Yeah, yeah I'm good. Overwhelmed by a lot but good."
Cassie puts her hand on his shoulder and his body relaxes, "Mum and Dad won't let him in here," She says in a hushed tone.
Theseus nods just as another customer goes up to their till.
The day is long and drawn out. After the morning rush of it all it starts to slow down at around three in the afternoon. Leaving us time to actually catch our breaths.
Theo comes over to the counter carrying Maurice one of our cats. We let Pickles and Maurice roam the entire shop all the time, the customers seem to love it. You don't know the amount of times I've heard someone say to Mum and Dad, 'I love that your cats represent your family. Orange and black hair beauties,' or something along those lines.
"I wonder what's for dinner." They say putting Maurice down on the counter in front of me.
"Everyone's coming over so I think it's gonna be one of those everyone brings something." I say back to Theo.
"I hope Aunt Fleur brings those thingies that she makes."
"Yeah cause that's specific."
"You know those thingies? The little cupcakes she makes out of salami, cream cheese, and spinach? I could go for a plate full of those right about now."
Ophelia comes up to us and pretends to pull a lolly out from behind Theo's ear, "I've been practicing. Dad says being able to do muggle magic in a world full of wizards is a powerful thing."
"Better keep practicing, I hate lemon lollies," Theo says taking the lolly from Ophelia and putting it on the counter.
"What do you mean muggle magic?" Theseus asks.
Ophelia laughs and sighs all at the same time, "Oh my little sheltered pureblood. You have so much to learn and so little time to do it."
"What do you mean by so little time?" Theseus asks.
Ophelia shrugs, "You're nearly all grown up and you've only just had pizza."
Cassie snorts, "I'll teach him everything he needs to know."
"Yeah, I bet you will," Ophelia says which makes both Cass and Theseus turn pink for some reason.
It's a few more hours of boring work till Mum and Dad close up the shop. Once Mum turns that sign on the door everyone lets out a breath of relief.
Freddie lies down on the floor in the middle of the shop. His hair is standing straight up off his head and he looks like he hasn't slept in seventy-two hours, "Christ." He sighs.
Uncle Freddie pretends to step on his face and Freddie grabs his leg and pulls on it laughing.
"I better get home to the wife," Uncle Freddie yawns stretching his arms high in the sky, "Get a shower, pretend to help her out with the food that she's bringing and be back here in what? Two hours?"
"The wife eh?" Mum says, "Someone can't wait to make it official."
Uncle Freddie laughs, "I owe it all to Cassie over there actually."
We all look at Cass who looks just as confused as the rest of us, "You do?"
Uncle Fred nods, "Darcy sent his letter back, saying that you had a talk with him about everything. He realized that he was being childish and that his Mum deserves happiness and if I'm the one that provides that for her then so be it. Also said he'd never call me Dad but he has graduated from Mister Weasley to Fred so there's that."
"Oh..." Cass says with a smile on her face, "It's not that big of a deal."
"You got me my happy ever after kid. More than once. What more could an uncle ask for."
Both Cass and Uncle Fred look like they might start sobbing on the spot.
"Okay get out of here before you make my daughter cry would you?" Dad says making us all laugh.
The party was the best party that the Weasleys have ever had. And by that I mean no one got in a fight or stormed off halfway through, or were caught snogging somewhere they shouldn't be. It was a great start to the rest of our holiday. It leads us into a false sense of security though, because the next day...
The next day was probably one of the scariest days of our lives.