BROKEN PIECES & GOLDEN SEAMS

VII

13. rules are meant to be broken and a haircut to soothe away the trauma?

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Percy gets over it apparently. The next few days transpired with fewer mishaps. The kids tried to brief her on the illicit things to do in the magical world, somehow coincidentally forgetting to add that they were indeed illegal, just highly discouraged perhaps.

The adults, on the other hand, attempted to inform the forgotten fact. There were exceptions to it though. Some believed that to be young is to break rules. Some simply wished to conjure a duck-crup hybrid (the best of both worlds!).

A similar scene takes place on another cloudy morning. Ron and Ginny try to convince their mother to bake a cake to celebrate their guest's triumph in surviving a week in the magical world.

"No way, how?" Percy questions the twins' tales, incredulous. "How're people so stupid in the name of hades?"

"It's true—" Fred gives a lazy grin, resting his legs on the dining table only to retract immediately at his Mum's smack.

George settles with a cocky grin, "—as true as the time Ginny kicked Ron's ass in Quidditch that one year."

"Leave me out of this!"

"Say more say more!"

"No—like how?" Percy reiterates with much more emphasis. "How did the Ministry believe him to be—what, cousin of his friend?"

"Yes!" The twins chorus.

"What?" Harry mirrors her confusion.

"It is true actually," Hermione concurs with a firm finger in the air. "Godelot did escape the law by pretending to be his son's cousin, Gerard. He didn't even use a disguise," Disappointment layers her words.

"That's so stupid," she declares. "and he was like this Dark Wizard, wasn't he?"

The witch fights a smile as she agrees to the morbid fact, "He was."

Harry blinks at their guest turning to stare at his godfather. "This can work?"

"Harry, I don't have to be Hermione to tell you that it's the stupidest shit I've heard all week," Ron says, not unkindly.

"But it'll be hilarious if it works!" Ginny doesn't disagree yet she wishes to indulge the thought of Sirius Black donning a ruse in plain sight for the sheer hilarity of it.

"Absolutely! You could become Gerard—"

"—White!"

Remus glows with amusement. Such a ridiculous idea that would indeed be hysterical but would make his late best friend proud if it were to work. "Andromeda Tonks' cousin?"

"That can turn into a dog at will?" Sirius joins the conversation at last, the shine in his dark eyes becoming real for once as he looks at the werewolf. "And be ridiculously charming?"

Harry preserves his serious nature, looking for support by the solemn granddaughter You-Know-Who. She remains the sole person to not be in stitches. He averts his gaze at the last moment though from her thoughtful profile as he remembers her true identity. "But Snape already knows you're an animagus?"

"The Ministry doesn't." Remus rolls his eyes, appearing younger than he had in years. "You want to mess with Severus don't you?"

"Of course I do," Sirius scoffs. He winks at his grinning godson.