"Hi. Were you just having lunch with cousins Axe and Rox?" Victorie Weasley asked.
"No, they were just trying to get into my business. You're so lucky you don't have a little sister, Victorie, they're a pain." said Lizzy.
"Did you ask your ma'ma about spending the Christmas break at my grandparents Villa in France? All the other girls will be there. You've just got to come." Victorie asked.
"Yeah, I asked. Mum said 'no'. She said she wants us all home for Christmas, but we'll see each other at the Weasley gathering." Lizzy said, trying to sound excited. Lizzy thought Victorie was the most perfect girl she'd ever met. Long strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and she was dating Teddy Lupin, the cutest, funniest boy in the whole world, in Lizzy's opinion.
"That's too bad." Victorie said. "We could have done a make-over on you. Maybe dye your hair ginger. With that mousy, brown hiar you have, you don't even look like a Weasley. Of course, my beautiful, strawberry, blonde hair would never suit your complexion. You must get your dark hair from your muggle-side." Victorie commented without noticing how her words stung Lizzy. "I'll see you later, Eliza. Come on girls, we'll go make plans for our holiday."
Why did she have to inherit this stupid, brown hair from her mother, Lizzy thought to herself. Then sulked off to the Hufflepuff common room.
During Christmas break, all Lizzy did was grumble at her mother. She complained about everything, even the clothes Robin had bought Lizzy for Christmas. They weren't fashionable; she'd never be caught dead in them, "they look like muggle clothes!" Lizzy shouted at her mother.
"That's enough young lady!" Robin shouted back. "I'm tire of your attitude, and we're all sick of listening to you complain."
"Then you should have let me go to France with Uncle Bill and Aunt Fluer. Then you wouldn't have to listen to me. I WISH YOU WEREN'T MY MOTHER!" Lizzy screamed at Robin, then ran to her room and slammed the door.
George saw the temper rising in Robin and quickly ushered the other kids out the front door. "Why don't you kids go see if grandma made any cookies today." he suggested.
Robin was hot on Lizzy heels. "If this is the behavior they are teaching you at that school, I don't think you have any business going there." Robin yelled as she burst into Lizzy's room. "You have been surly and disrespectful ever since you started at Hogwarts. I think your time there has come to an end." Robin threatened.
Lizzy looked at her mother in horror. She couldn't really mean that.
"Now Robin," George began, as he walked up behind his wife. "I think you both need to calm down before something is said you'll both regret."
"I think that ship has sailed." Robin said. "This is that schools fault, and the friends she's made there. I'm serious, George, she's not going back."
"Dad!" Lizzy cried. "She can't do that. She can't take me out of school."
"Robin, I don't agree." George said.
Lizzy gave a sigh of relief, but Robin gave him a look that told him he was sleeping on the couch tonight.
"You can't blame the school for Lizzy's behavior," George continued. But I am concerned about the friends she's making there. I agree, perhaps an extended break would do her some good."
"I HATE YOU!" Lizzy wailed at the top of her lungs.
Lizzy didn't come out of her room the rest of the evening. Nor the next day. Axe took her in some food, but Lizzy wouldn't speak to her. She didn't even come out the following day when her brothers and sister went back to Hogwarts.
The next day, however, she had no choice but to come out. Robin came knocking on her door bright and early. "Get up and put these clothes on." Robin instructed her. Then handed her a white blouse and black pair of slacks.
"What's this?" Lizzy balked.
"Your uniform."
"I'm not going to muggle school." Lizzy told her mother in no uncertain terms.
"No, you're not. You're going to work." Robin informed her.
"What?" Lizzy screeched.
"That's right. You're going to work. What did you think, you could lounge around the house on a permanent holiday, living off your father and I?"
"I can't wait until I can move out of this house!" Lizzy spat at Robin.
"More reason for you to go to work. You'll need money for rent and expenses." Robin said.
"You're charging me rent?"
"No, as long as you work your shift and don't get fired, your dad and I will support you. And the money you earn can go into a savings account. Now up you go, I'll drop you off."
Lizzy was so upset with her mother, the last thing she wanted to do was chit-chat with her in the car. So she had no idea where her mother was taking her.
Robin pulled up at the village pub. "I'm working in a pub? Lizzy asked.
"It's honest work for a girl your age, with no education. If you'll recall, I was a waitress in a pub when I met your father." Robin smiled at the memory of the tall, young man who'd come in to get three cups of tea to go, but then stayed 2 hours chatting with her. He came in every day after that. Robin didn't know anything about wizards or the wizard war that was going on at the time. "I'll pick you up after work." she finally told Lizzy.
It was hard work and Lizzy smelled of fried food and sweat by the end of the day. But she'd survived her first day, and she wasn't about to complain in front of her mother. When they walked in the house, all Lizzy wanted to do was pass out on her bed.
"You might want to wash those clothes, if you're going to be wearing them again tomorrow." Robin told her.
Lizzy was so tired, she wanted to just sit down and cry, but she went in, changed her clothes and got her washing started. She was grateful Robin didn't make her fix her own supper. She was quiet at the table, but it was more from exhaustion than anger at her mother.
