Leah was nervously pacing back and forward as her eyes kept glancing at the front door. Fred had just pulled of his shoes after coming home from work and walked over to her, gently placing his hands on her shoulder, making her stop pacing.
"Hey, don't be nervous." She looked into his piercing blue eyes and saw his relaxed state, making her instantly relax her shoulders. "It's just Harry."
"Yeah, I know." She fidgeted with her sleeve. "It's not Harry I'm nervous about but trying to see his parents."
"I know." He said as he traced his thumb on her cheek. "And I'm right here."
Leah wrapped her hands around his waist and rested her head on his chest, holding him close. Fred was still holding her tight to his chest when the doorbell rang. With a last reassuring smile from Fred, they made their way to the front door.
"Hi, Leah, Fred." Harry smiled when the door flew open, revealing the two. "Thanks for inviting me."
"Come in, come in." Fred said as Leah stood frozen looking at her cousin. "Why don't I give you a tour."
"Yeah." Leah said absently. "I'll make us some tea." And she disappeared in the kitchen.
"Did I do something wrong?" Harry asked Fred when they walked towards the library.
"No, no." He looked from the kitchen door to the chosen one. "She'll explain later. You should see the garden; I'm planning on putting up some quidditch goals in there."
"You officially moved in then?" Harry chuckled.
"Haven't left since I found her here. Georgie moved in too, last month."
"How does Hermione feel about that? With me cleaning up Grimmauld and work, we keep missing each other."
"She's fine with it. She understands that George and I need to be close to each other after the past year. And Hermione gets along great with Leah."
"And thank god for that, because otherwise working together would be horrendous." Leah snickered as they walked in the kitchen. She put the teapot and cups on a plate and gestured them to follow her to the living room. "If Hermione and George don't have a date night, she spends a lot of her evenings with us."
"Hermione and George." Harry said slowly as he sat down on one of the armchairs. "Still getting used to that."
"You're not alone my friend." Fred laughed. "But if you see them, it kind of makes sense."
"Harry..." Leah said softly, but the two boys looked at her. "I'm so sorry that you had to spend all of those years with the Dursleys. I don't know why Dumbledore or someone of the ministry didn't look further in the family. We would've welcomed you right in. Your life, my life could've been so different."
"It's not your fault, Leah. I wish I had known too, but I'm so happy we have a chance to get to know each other now."
"Me too." A small smile appeared on her lips. "Can you tell me about your time at Hogwarts?"
"What do you want to hear?" Harry asked, making himself more comfortable on his seat.
"Everything!" She exclaimed, making the two boys laugh. Leah leaned into Fred's side as Harry told his adventures with Hermione and Ron when they went to school. Harry's stories made her laugh, cry and feel outrageous. She felt so sad about who the boy had lost over the years. Not only his parents, but also his mentor, godfather and many more. She wanted to give Harry a chance to talk to each one of them, but she knew it would take time, for her powers to become stronger. So, she wanted to start with his mum, the once who was actually related to her. So after dinner, when Harry was digging into his pudding, she brought up the subject.
"Uhm, Harry?" The boy in question looked up with the spoon still in his mouth. "You know what I can do right?"
"Yes." He said a little unsure, his eyes going back from her to Fred.
"I've learned a few weeks back that I'm not the only one that can see them, but when I would touch someone, they could see and talk to them too." Harry's eyes went wide and nearly chocked on his spoon. "And I want to give you a chance to talk to your parents."
"What?!" He chocked out. "You would do that for me?"
"Of course." She smiled and Fred added. "But it still takes a lot out of her, so it's best to start with just your mum, since she's a relative."
Harry still looked at them with a shocked expression. "Are you sure?" When Leah nodded enthusiastically, he added. "When do you want to try this?"
"If you don't have any other plans... now?"
"Now?!" His spoon clattered to the floor. "Sorry." He muttered picking it back up. "I – uhm – no I don't have other plans."
Leah pushed herself from the table and Fred followed quickly. Harry shook the shock from him before he followed the pair to the living room, where Fred already conjured the pillows to the floor.
"Can you sit next to me?" She asked padding the pillow next to her. He nodded dumbly as he lowered himself next to her, Fred sitting on the other side of her. She closed her eyes and focused on the picture of his mum Hermione had given her and whispered. "Veni ad me" She felt the same magic coursing through her like she felt with her nan or even Molly's brothers. She opened her eyes and saw the girl from the picture sitting on the couch in front of her. She was still so young, she guessed she was about her age. Her long red hair reached her lower back, bright green eyes looked at her with smile.
"Leah." Her voice quiet voice echoed in the room.
"Lily?" She felt Harry stiffen next to her at the sound of her name.
"Yes." She smiled. "I'm so happy you're finally in my son's life. I've watched you grow up in a beautiful young woman. And my Harry..." Her eyes went to her son. Leah tore her eyes away from the young woman and held out her hand for Harry to take. With a shaking hand he took hers, and with a soft nod to the couch from her, Harry looked to his mother.
"Mum." He whispered, tears already forming in his eyes. Leah squeezed his hand reassuringly, knowing how hard it might be.
"Harry, my handsome, brave boy, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too." He said wiping the tears away with his other hand.
"Don't cry sweetie." She said with a sad smile. "I'll always be watching over you, I know it's not the same but you're never alone. You've found a great family that loves you." She glanced to Leah. "And Leah finally found her way to you."
"You knew about her?" Harry asked surprised.
"I did. I was close with my cousin once. I even visited you and Addie when you were born, but then everything happened, and I never saw you again." Her sad smiled dropped completely. "I know you two are mad that they didn't place Harry with your family, and I really wished they did, but..."
"Yeah." Harry and Leah said gloomy in a whisper.
"No more sad faces." She smiled as she tried to lift the mood. "You are going to do so much together. Harry, you look so much like your father, once she's ready we can sit down, the four of us." Harry nodded with tears, knowing the conversation is coming to an end. "And Leah, you're ready to see her. She's been waiting a long time to talk to you." Leah gave her a tearful smile. "I love you." Her whisper ended the connection and she disappeared.
The loss of the connection, the loss of the magic made Leah feel weak in an instant and she fell back into the already waiting arms of Fred, who pulled her close to him as he stroked her hair. Black spots covered her eyes, but to her surprise she didn't black out, and after a few minutes she saw Harry sitting worried across from her, holding her hand. Fred offered her a coke, and she drank it in one go, the sugar helped her bring her dizziness down and she pulled herself up.
"How do you feel?" Fred asked, rubbing her back gently.
"Dizzy and tired, but otherwise." She craned her neck to look at her boyfriend, who smiled down at her before placing a sweet kiss on her forehead.
"You're getting better."
"Hm." She hummed as she looked back to Harry. The moment they locked eyes, Harry threw himself at her, wrapping his arms around her, his head nestled in her neck. "Hey, it's okay." She whispered as she put her hand on his back as he started to shake. They hold one to each tight while Fred went to make some tea.
"Thank you." Harry said once he had pulled back, drying his eyes. "I know it takes a lot from you..."
"It's actually getting better, last time I was out for like seven hours. I'm so happy you got to see your mum."
"And your aunt Lily." He managed a smile. "Uhm, Leah? Was she talking about your sister?"
"Yes, Addie. I believe the twins might have told you about her?"
"Yeah, she was your twin right, identical like Fred and George?"
"She died when I was young. I haven't seen her, my Nan said I wasn't ready before."
"I would like to hear about her, and about when you were younger. If it's not too hard."
"No, I would love to talk about her. But I think I'll like to be a little more comfortable." She chuckled as she stood up. They both walked to the couch and Fred came in with a new pot of tea. After placing it down on the coffee table, he sat behind Leah as she was turned to Harry, leaning his head on one hand and the other rested on her thigh.
The cousins talked well into the night, talking about their childhoods, school, the muggle world. Fred was already snoring slightly next to her as they talked, his head hanging on the edge of the couch. George came back from his date with Hermione a few hours ago and snickered as he saw his twin drooling. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, said hi to Harry and ran up the stairs as he nicked a plate of cookies.
Leah loved, loved, loved the twins' shop. She loved the magic that flowed through it, she loved the loud noises and busy crowd, she loved the product and the utter brilliance around it. So, now she was delighted to see the other side of it. After opening the shop with George, Fred was still snoring in their bed, they made their way to the backroom as Verity took over. With a wave of his wand, a few cauldrons flew over and landed on the large desk. Leah stood against the wall as she watched George prepare everything, unsure what to do herself. When George put the last ingredient on the table, he looked up to her with a grin.
"What're you standing there for? You won't learn anything from way over there. Come here." He gestured her over. She walked over and placed herself next to George and looked at him expectantly. "Today we're just making extra puking pastilles, fever rush, itch-like-a-bitch. Here are the instructions." He tapped his index finger on the notebook between them. "I'll go over every step. You have your cauldron and I have mine, just ask if you have any questions, alright?" When she nodded, he started with the first steps. "Grab some boomslang skin."
The worked together well, to her surprise it went easier than expected. Those two Weasley boys could make everything look easy. It certainly helped that George kept joking around as the music blared through the room. She was swaying slightly as she tossed the mushrooms in the pot, making a puff of smoke appear. She blew the smoke away and saw George grinning at her.
"A natural." He winked.
Leah scoffed at him. "Hardley. No, just a good teacher and making something more fun than an antidote for common potions."
"You should see every potion as an opportunity." George said, and when he saw her raised eyebrow, he added. "You can do so much with them, you can heal people, transform things, make the best joke in the world. Once you're used to making potions, you can experiment, just like we do in the kitchen.
"Huh." She said more to herself as she thought his words over. "I like that point of view."
"Thought you would." He grinned. "Come on, let's get some lunch for us and the others."
"What about?" She pointed to the cauldrons. George waved his wand over it, putting them on a stasis, she saw Hermione and the twins do before. "Alright, let's-Aaaah!" She shrieked laughed as George tossed her over his shoulder. "Fuck George, you nearly gave me a heart attack! What are you doing?" She asked as he started to walk towards the shop.
"Told you, lunch." He laughed as they entered the busy shop, full of kids. "Ah, twin-o-mine, you're here." George clapped Fred on the shoulder, who looked amused at the pair.
"Yeah." He grinned. "Arrived about an hour ago but Verity needed help at the register. What are you two up to?"
"Lunch." Leah said, her head still facing the other side as she leaned on her hand. Already giving up trying to get out of George's strong grip.
"Well..." Fred appeared in front of her with a smile. "Bring me some fish and chips." He kissed her lightly.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" She pouted as she pointed to George's head.
"Won't do any good, love." He kissed her again before George hopped out of the shop, people laughing as they went by. She glared playfully at her boyfriend, who had resumed his spot behind the register before the door closed before her eyes. But still George held her tight on his shoulder, only when they reached the muggle pub, he had put her down.