A couple of weeks had passed since Raine and Sullivan Fawley had been reunited with one half of the old group. And so, the couple arranged a day out for the group to reunite fully after 16 years apart.
Ophelia and Emory, Rune and Dove, Nicole and Theodore, as well as Morgandy and Michael kindly asked Nicole's younger brother, Jaron, to take care of their children for the day to which he agreed, for an expensive price of 3 galleons a child. A trick Nicole taught her brother when they were young, and a trick that she instantly regretted.
They had all gathered in the Lufkin house and once Helen and Harlen joined them, the group disapparated out of the house, apparating outside the Leaky Cauldron.
The nine wizards and witches, and the one muggle regained their balance and headed inside the wizarding pub, giving a quick wave over to the barmaid and heading out back to open the entrance to Diagon Alley.
Emory took it upon himself to open the entrance, tap each one of the bricks in the correct order at a steady pace. The bricks began to vibrate and eventually moved, revealing the wizarding shopping community.
Chills rushed down Michael's spine as he has never been able to fully comprehend the wizarding world or it's little treats and tricks.
The ten friends walked out of the bricked area through the brick wall that had kindly opened for them. They looked around and for Raine and Sullivan hoping to spot the couple before they do.
"Dove!" a voiced called Dove and she turned around, "over here!"
Raine Abbott came running towards Dove and once she reached her, the two embraced each other. Husband, Sullivan Fawley followed shortly behind and went in to hug Rune.
"Haven't seen you in 16 years," Sullivan laughed, "and now all of a sudden it's like we're back at Hogwarts, seeing each other every damn day."
Raine looked at her husband who pulled out of the hug from Rune who now had his armed wrapped back around Dove.
Raine sighed a sigh of relief, "I so glad you didn't bring your kids, I wouldn't be able to cope with them running around the shop probably screaming like mad."
"Jaron has them, although the cheeky bastard charged me 3 galleons to look after his own niece, but it's all for a good reason, no doubt Emma and Amelia will find a way to burn the place down," Nicole joked, causing the group to laugh as a whole as they all silently agreed to themselves.
"We told the others we'd meet them at Rosa Lee Teabag when you lot arrived, so we'd better get going," Raine smiled.
Walking along the cobbled streets to the shop in question, nerves soon began to hit Ophelia and the others. They hadn't been all together since the fight, as not all of the members could face the funerals.
Nicole being her usual clumsy self, managed to trip over one of the cobbled stones and smoothly play it off as if nothing happened, however, the rest of the group were trying to hold back their laughter by using the muffliato charm.
They reached the shop, and the twelve of them all hesitated to enter. Ophelia could see Iakona's red hair through the shop window. She looked up to her husband and smiled, she squeezed his hand to reassure him that everything was going to be okay. The two nodded at each and took their steps forward towards the shop entrance, Emory opened the door and entered holding it open for his wife and friends to enter one by one.
The group inside the shop heard the door open due to the door chime hanging above the entrance, they all stood up at once and turned to their old friends.
Ophelia and Iakona made eye contact instantly and rushed over to each other. The impact the two girls made when they hugged each other after 16 long years was enough to knock them both to the floor, but the two girls managed to find a way to stay on their feet as they embraced each other. They both longed for this moment and now that it was happening neither one of them wanted to let go.
Whilst the Ophelia and Iakona were in their hugging trance, everyone mingled and apologised for the reunion taking just under two decades to happen. Emory and Vincent embraced each other and desperately tried to hide their tears from one another. Dove and Nicole embraced Elowen and Twyla together, the four girls wrapped in one giant hug.
Morgandy jumped straight into a hug with Geraldine. Whereas Rune, Theodore and Harlen joined into a group hug with Emory and Vincent as well as Caspian, Daxten, Huw & Iolo, Sullivan, Enoch, Ignatius and Alûn.
Ophelia and Iakona finally pulled away from their long embrace, tears running down both of their faces and tear stains on both of their cardigans. The two both began dabbing away their tears with tissues their husbands had given them.
"It's been so long," Ophelia wept as she gripped onto Iakona, "how I've missed you!"
"Oh Ophelia," Iakona cried back, "how not a single day has gone by and I haven't thought of you!"
The two pulled away and Ophelia saw the tears running down Iakona's face, "you know if you continue to cry, I'll continue to cry, right?"
The two girls laughed as they desperately tried to stop crying. They let go of each and Iakona went to greet Dove, Nicole, Morgandy and Helen.
The next people Ophelia saw was Elowen, Twyla and her cousin Tirion. The four girls all formed into a giant group hug and spoke about how it had been too long since they saw each other last.
Tirion and Ophelia hadn't seen each other since Nikolai's christening which was over five and a half months ago, so their embrace was much deserved. Tirion wiped away her tears and smiled up at her cousin, "my mum, she misses you very much, you must come back to Swansea and visit," Tirion smiled to Ophelia.
Ophelia had a big smile on her face and hugged Tirion again, "you know I will, I'll have to pop down one of the weekends I'm not caught up in a load of work."
The Lockwood twins, Huw and Iolo, came over to join in with the hugging fest, and to see their cousin who they haven't seen since Christmas.
"We've missed you so much, Lia," Huw said for both him and his brother, "I guess it's difficult to see family when you're an Auror now!"
Ophelia laughed at her cousins, "you seem to forget I've been an Auror for years and no not at all, I just really hate your guts," Ophelia joked with the two not-so-little boys, who were now more or less fully grown men with beards and moustaches, "Merlin's beard, Iolo, you look like my dad!"
"Mum said the exact same thing, she said I look like uncle George and Huw looks like our dad," Iolo laughed.
"You wouldn't think you're both identical twins, would you?" Ophelia laughed, "funny what facial hair can do."
Ophelia greeted the others including, Emory's sister and her sister-in-law, Olivia, Nicole's brother; Franko, as well as her cousins Felix and Geraldine, then followed by Vincent, Edison and Caspian, Enoch, and finally, Ignatius and Lucretia.
Ophelia was just about to sit down when someone called her. "Do I not get a hug then, Lia?"
Avalon Chavez asked. Ophelia hadn't seen Avalon since the morning of the fight.
Ophelia smiled. It wasn't like the school days where she gave her a fake smile just for being friends with Lyra. It was a real, genuine smile. Ophelia felt so happy to see her. She knew that Avalon had been trying to redeem herself in Ophelia's and her friends' eyes. And at this moment, Ophelia had fully forgiven her. It wasn't like Avalon did anything wrong, it was Lyra's fault, and just like the others, Avalon was caught in the middle of it.
Ophelia opened her arms for Avalon to embrace her. Their arms were wrapped tightly around each other, with Ophelia's chin resting on Avalon's head due to the height difference.
As they pulled out of the hug, they smiled at each other, and Ophelia could see her husband looking at her through the corner of her eye.
Ophelia walked over to Emory and the two sat down next to each other around the table.
A waitress came over and asked if the group would like to order anything. The large group went round and ordered what they wanted from tea to coffee to water to fizzy drinks.
Once their beverages arrived they all started to discuss their huge announcements.
"Well firstly, I'd like to make it very clear, that yes, myself and Dove got married just over thirteen years ago, and we welcomed our little girl who's not so little seeing as she's in her second year at Hogwarts, Anwen, twelve years ago," Rune smiled as he looked at his wife.
There were congratulations coming from each side of the joined tables.
"We also got married back in fifty-two," Edison stood up, "and then Iakona and I officially became parents to our little boy in fifty-six, his name is Ryan."
"Congrats, mate!" Emory smiled as he hugged his friend..
"So, I guess this the thing then, to announce marriages and children," Enoch spoke up, "we're also married, with two boys, Elliott and Jack."
Twyla let out a huge sigh of relief, "you'd think they were twins yet there are eighteen months between them."
"Jesus Christ, anyone else married with kids?" Caspian laughed.
"Yes, you," June Williams spoke up from where she was sat next to Caspian, "to me and you're the father of our daughter."
"What's her name?" Dove asked, a great big smile on her face as she watched Caspian and June playfully hit each other.
"Her name is Raven," Caspian smiled as he looked to Ophelia, "after the bravest girl we know."
Ophelia's eyes widened, "all I really did was punch several people, several times in the face and get their blood all over me."
"Wait, that was his blood?" Elowen asked.
Ophelia nodded as she seemed unfazed by the topic.
"You're still the bravest person we know, Lia," June smiled as she reached her hand out to Ophelia's, "you sent him into hiding, god knows where he is, hopefully, dead in a ditch or something like that."
"Not quite like that," Ophelia hummed as her eyes widened.
Dove looked at her, "what do you mean?"
Archer shook his head as he caught eye contact with Ophelia.
"He applied for a job at Hogwarts in fifty-eight," Ophelia shrugged, "which he didn't get, and because of it, he threw a hissy fit and cursed the position."
Rune looked at Emory, to Harlen, then to Archer who was holding his head down and shaking it, and then to Ophelia, "how do you know?"
"Archer was the only one who had the decency to tell me," Ophelia shrugged, "it's nice to know my own husband and two of my best friends can't even tell me especially if he appears out of hiding after ten years."
Avery and Helen looked to each other, eyes widened as the situation grew uncomfortable.
"Ophelia, you were pregnant with Emma, you were already stressed enough, I didn't want to worry you further," Emory sighed as he began to rub his wife's shoulder.
"Okay, let's ignore the fact that Tom went to get a job at Hogwarts for a second," Geraldine stopped the conversation, "when on earth did you two get back together? And then when did you get married and have children?"
"Yeah, I want to know too," Iakona looked at her friend, her eyebrow raised, "spill the beans, missy."
"We got back together in fifty-two, engaged in fifty-four," Ophelia smiled as she looked at Emory who was still rubbing her shoulder, "married in fifty-seven and then our daughter, Emma, was born a year later and now we have a sixth-month-old son called Nikolai."
"Finally!" Vincent yelled out for everyone around them.
All their friends cheered and clapped. It was the best news they had all heard in a while, and the news they had all wanted to hear for a very long time.
"That's the best damn news I've heard in sixteen years," Ignatius admitted.
"How about Harlen and Helen getting married in fifty-four?" Emory pointed between the two as he drifted the conversation away from him and his wife.
"You're not?" Geraldine gasped, "oh my god, you are!" Geraldine ran to Helen and they both hugged.
Everyone sent over their congratulations to Avery and Helen as they all cherished this moment.
"Archer, don't you think you've got something to tell everyone?" Ophelia cocked an eyebrow to him.
Archer looked at Ophelia and smiled, "uh, yeah, I've actually been married to Ffion Wright for a couple of years now, and have two girls, Violet and Hannah."
Sighs of relief came from Emory's and Nicole's mouths as they congratulated their friend.
"I seriously thought you were going to say you and Lia were married then," Nicole laughed as she looked between the two, "and you just tricked us all."
"Well, if he wasn't with Ffion, I'd think we'd make a fine couple!" Ophelia joked, "and Nick, you would have been in on it anyways.
"Maybe we are, and Ffion is just a cover-up!" Archer said in a mysterious voice, "oh god if she was here, she'd kill me for saying that."
Ophelia laughed along with Archer as she had spent a great deal of time with Archer and Ffion over the years as a result of their work on the Auror team.
"Oh yeah, Theo and I are married, our daughter was born in fifty-six and her name is Amelia," Nicole smiled as she told the group of her relationship with Theodore.
"Since when?" Iakona gasped.
"Just a little under seven years," Theodore smiled up at his friends.
"Well everyone knows that El and Daxten are a couple, so how about I tell you all, other than us lot because they already know," Morgandy smiled, "This is my husband, his name is Michael, and we have two children, a girl and a boy, and I'm currently just under two months pregnant with our third baby."
The group all waved and said their hellos to Michael, with Caspian even shaking his hand. Afterwards, they all looked at Morgandy with confused expressions.
"Uh, no offence, Morg, and you as well Michael," Edison started, "but, I thought, you know, you batted for the other team?"
Morgandy and Ophelia looked at each other and laughed. Michael just shrugged it off as he was used to this question as he got a tone when he first started going out with Morgandy.
Morgandy shook her head as she looked at Edison, "I guess you can say I do, but I like both men and women," Morgandy smiled at no one in particular, "it's a bit of a curse, to be honest, you don't know who's more attractive, your best friend or your husband."
Ophelia laughed, "or in your case, your husband or his sister."
"You think my sister's hot?" Michael turned to his wife, a confused expression on his face as he attempted to comprehend the situation, and what his wife saw in his sister.
"I mean, she is beautiful," Morgandy shrugged, "but don't worry I chose you!"
Ophelia and Emory scoffed as they attempted to hold back their laughter.
"Oh, thanks!" Michael retaliated by flipping Morgandy off.
The group all gasped as Morgandy and Ophelia began laughing their heads off after Michael and Emory joined in with the girls' laughter, one by one the group eventually joined in. Iolo took this to his own advantage.
"Well some of you know but, Huw and Olivia are a thing!" Iolo yelled over his friends.
Huw whacked Iolo in his side as everyone turned to look at Huw and Olivia.
"What did you just say?" Vincent asked Iolo.
"I said, 'Huw and Olivia are a thing'," Iolo repeated his previous statement.
Emory and Ophelia looked at one another, they were confused as to why the rest of the group didn't know.
It was Tirion who was the first to speak after the announcement of Huw's and Olivia's relationship, "wow, what's with the Lockwood and Oliphant relationships?"
"So, if those two get married, would that mean they'd be cousins-in-law?" Vincent asked Tirion.
"A – they're already married, B - no," Ophelia shook her head, "I'd be Olivia's cousin-in-law, and Emory would be Huw's brother-in-law, there'd be no relationship between us other than the fact we're husband and wife."
"I've kind of always worried about that, but it's alright then," Emory smiled to himself as faked his relief posture, "it's not going to be weird now."
"You mean how you lost your virginity to each other and how you're now married with kids don't you?" Nicole bluntly asked.
Ophelia and Emory looked at each other, their faces going redder by the second as their friends tried to hold back their laughter.
"Well no, not necessarily," Emory covered the two, "just by the fact we've always had some sort of history."
"Oh, and how when you both broke up in sixth and seventh year, and then you both proceeded to get with other people just to make the other person jealous," Dove nodded.
"And how both those relationships failed, as both those people you dated turned out to be sociopaths, one who ended up in Azkaban for using the imperius curse on us, and the other who is a mass murderer and killed several people, two of those being our friends," Rune backed up his wife as they high fived each other.
"Basically saying that you two belong together and when you date other people they're sociopaths," Avery shrugged, "also did I mention, that after you all left to get help that morning, they both kissed."
There were loud gasps from the group as Dove and Nicole looked at one another.
"You what?" Dove shrieked.
"I swear to god you two have been destined to be together since you first met!" Rune looked at the two.
"How's a kiss got anything to do with two people being destined to be together?" Ophelia asked as she tried to defend herself.
"Archer, Ignatius, please explain that it was no ordinary kiss, and it was a very passionate one indeed, one that 'friends' at the time do not do," Avery looked at the two he mentioned all whilst pointing at Ophelia and Emory.
"Oh yeah, that was very passionate, even the eye contact before and after the kiss was," Ignatius nodded his head as he thought back to their kiss.
"Can we stop talking about that day please!" Nicole shook her head as she helped her friends out of the situation they were in.
The group looked over to Nicole who had a sad look on her face, "sorry, Nick!" they all said together as they realised how hurt she was still even after sixteen years.