No Repeating History

Chapter 8

"What did your mother want?" Harry asked when he sees Ginny return from the firecall. He was busy with overseeing Lily on her children's broom and trying not to get grey hairs from worry when she was showing the same talent he had in the sports.

"She wants us to come over in the weekend with the kids to meet some distant relatives," Ginny said, smiling at her husband.

"Have we met them already?" he asked, having already seen a lot of Prewetts and Weasleys now, who all wanted to brag about having Harry in the family.

"No. There from a squib line. You won't see them on a family tree anywhere," she said and Harry frowned questioningly at her.

"It was my dad's aunt that was the squib. In those days they were simply disowned," she said, knowing the way Harry felt about family.

"You dad's aunt? But aren't you the first Weasley girl in generations?" Harry asked, being told endlessly by well-meaning uncles and great uncles how he got the one girl in their family tree and he should count himself lucky.

"The first magic one," she said. Harry nodded, feeling bad about her great aunt. It must have been horrible to be cast out of the family because she didn't possess magic. Then again, he had been cast out of his because he did possess it.

He shook his head, not liking to think back about the days he still lived with his aunt and uncle.

"So, why do we meet them now?" he asked, wondering why they would suddenly meet the magicless family members after such a long time.

"Apparently they have a grandchild who has magic," she said, sounding a bit amazed, "it's very unusual for squibs to have magic back in the family,"

"Well, we'll try to make them feel welcome then," Harry said with a smile, determined to not make them feel like freaks because they were just a tiny bit different, just like he was. Then he looked back at his daughter and he swore his heart did a backflip.

"Lily Luna Putter, get down from your broom this instant," he shouted when he saw the double somersault, which she shouldn't be able to do with the childproofed broom. He hoped that the muggle borns wouldn't be as wild as his daughter.

Lucinda had received the owl from the Weasleys with the confirmation that they were welcome and breathed a bit easier. At least her grandchild would be accepted by one part of the family. Roderick was sweet, and he had known about the magic world, but it had been his mother who had been exiled from the community, not him.

Lucinda knows he would never know the pain of rejection out of a family, and where he didn't fear that his family would accept George, she hadn't been so sure.

The children were full of excitement to go off and meet there magic cousins. The only one who seemed to share her anxiety seemed to be her son in law.

She hadn't liked Dudley in the beginning, not thinking the man was good enough for her only child. He had been rude and entitled, or so she thought.

He and Livia had met during a cooking for singles evening school, where Livia was the teacher. She had inherited her father's gift of creating great food, but never wanted to make a career out of it, dreading the long, irregular hours. But she had done the cooking school as a side job, to earn some money for her studies.

Dudley had been one of her students, and he had many, many questions, not even understanding the basics. In the end he had asked her for some private lessons and they got to know each other. Lucinda had first seen the big man, thinking him slow and stupid.

And while he was indeed not the brightest, he seemed to be willing to adjust and he and Livia had made it work. It was only after George was born that he had seen how tender he could be for the little child that she started to not dislike him anymore.

And now, he was standing here, ready to face one of his personal demons just for his children, and she couldn't help but appreciate it. Through her grandchildren, they were kin, and she felt the same fierce determination to do good for his children as she had got when she had Livia.

"Don't be afraid to ditch them if they don't want you there," she said, startling the family who were ready to ride off. Only five of them could fit in Dudley's car, so Lucinda would sit this one out.

"Lucinda," Roderick said, already having had this discussion with her, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking Dudley straight in the eye. He frowned a bit at her intense stare, probably not understanding the full implications, heaven knowns Livia hadn't married the smartest one.

"We won't," he answered eventually and she nodded, smiling.

"Good, and now, off you go darlings. And don't forget you're manners," she said, handing the bouquet of flowers and the bottle of wine she had prepared to give to the hosts to them and ushered them out of the door.

Then she turned around and waited, wondering how this would all end.

Dudley was glad that the drive took half an hour. He had so many mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, he wanted George to know about this magic and what it entailed. On the other hand, he would see Harry again.

It would bring up all the shame he had tried to bury. Livia knew how much trouble he had, thinking back about his childhood, even though she had never knew who exactly his cousin was or the exact problems.

It had taken him some while to come to terms with the fact that he had been a bully and an entitled spoiled brat. Even in early adulthood it had taken him some time to get over the fact, but then he had met Livia. She must have thought him so stupid, barely able to cook an egg.

But the treatment Harry received from his parents was something he had buried deep, only recently starting to surface with their treatment of Freddy, even though it had been George having the magic.

He wondered what his parents would say if they knew they had been spoiling the wrong child. He shook his head, trying to dispel those thoughts. His parents would only be involved in his son's lives if they got fair treatment from them, and even then Dudley would not allow them to have contact without supervision.

No way was he going to let him and Harry happen again. He just hoped his cousin had gotten over his bad childhood. In a way they were both victims, even though Harry more than him.

His musings were interrupted when the impossible structure came into view, and he swallowed nervously, wondering if Harry would be there already. He parked the door and everyone got out of the car.

Roderick stretched his back painfully and Livia did some last-minute adjustments on the collars of the children's shirt, revealing her own nervousness with the fussing.

"Come on, get the flowers and the wine ready," Dudley said, handing Freddy the flowers and Georgie the wine bottle.

Then they marched off to the house and knocked on the door.