In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 5: Dark Matter

Chapter 218: Call It What You Want

LUCY:

I let go of George and then jumped into Fred's arms without stopping to catch my breath. He started spinning me around, as he always did, holding on a little tighter than usual, the same way George had.

The second he set me down, I reached for Henry and squeezed as hard as I could.

"I went to you last because I wanted to hug you longest and I know the twins are impatient," I said breathlessly as I continued holding onto him.

"Aw," he replied, sounding touched.

I released Henry after a long moment and grinned at the three of them. "Hi," I panted. "Hi hi hi."

"You good, Cub?" Fred asked.

"Yes, I am excellent, why do you ask?" I spotted bushy brown hair and a ball of purple fuzz in my peripheral vision, so I abruptly turned and cupped my hands over my mouth. "Have a good Christmas, Hermione!"

"You too, Lucy!" she replied with a small but sincere smile before disappearing in the crowd, Wangle on her shoulder.

When I turned back to the others, George was cocking his head at me. "Wait, she's not coming with us?"

"Oh Merlin, no, but I'll tell you the full story later, not here, not now, we had a small Christmas celebration last night just the two of us," I said. "Anyway, hi, I missed you!"

A small bark behind me got my attention, and I turned to see Harry holding my backpack in one hand and Tuck's carrier in the other.

"Thank you, Harry, you're the best," I said with a smile as I shouldered my backpack and scooped Tuck out of his carrier. I kissed Tuck on the head. "I know, I'm sorry I left in such a hurry, I just had to say hello to my other favorite boys. You understand, don't you, Tuck?"

He licked my face in forgiveness, and I turned back to my other favorite boys with a smile. George was looking at Tuck with wariness that I could tell he was trying to hide, but more notably than that, Henry was looking at George with concern. My smile widened — either George had told Henry that he was afraid of dogs, or Henry had figured it out for himself, and I wasn't sure which one was sweeter.

"Don't worry, Georgie, he's staying at the Burrow, so you won't have to see much of him. Hagrid just insisted that I should get to spend this Christmas with him, because it's been a few years since I've been able to do that. I'll keep him away from you, don't worry." I sighed happily. "Anyway, hi, I've missed you, have I mentioned that already? Hi. Harry, say hi."

Harry stepped up beside me, and I could hear the smile in his voice without even looking at him. "Hi. Your siblings should be here momentarily. Lucy just sprinted off the train in a mad dash to greet you and left us in her dust. Tuck was eager to catch up with her, so they insisted I chase after her and bring him along."

"You are good at chasing after our Cub," George commented.

"Could be better, though," Fred grumbled.

Before anyone else could respond, we were joined by Gretch, Ginny, Ron, and Neville, three of whom were sporting pygmy puffs on their shoulders.

"Hi, Henry!" Gretch said brightly, holding out her pygmy puff to show him. "This is Schubert! I named him after Franz Schubert because I thought they looked similar."

Henry tossed his head back and laughed. "Oh Merlin, you're right! He does look like Schubert!"

I glanced at George, who was watching Henry laugh with an undeniably fond expression on his face. I looked at Fred, who was already looking at me with a knowing smirk. I raised my eyebrows at him in silent question, and he shook his head, so my jaw dropped incredulously. He held his hands up in surrender. I shrugged and smiled, then glanced at Ginny to see if she'd noticed the same thing I had. She was already looking at me, with a strange expression on her face.