CHERRY, george weasley

056, he got off!

CERISE GROANED AS SHE TOSSED AND TURNED IN HER BED. Harry was still at his hearing, and there was nothing really to do in this place. She sighed when she heard the door open, and opened her eyes to see who it was. It was Loralei.

"Where's—?"

"With Ginny," Loralei shrugged. "They've become well close lately. He's going to end up ditching us soon."

"It's probably because I went off on one," Cerise told Loralei quietly, "Y'know, with my mum and him. I still feel awful about it, but I know my father. He didn't agree to adopt Elijah out of kindness, it was because he wants to replace Cedric. And my mum... she's letting him do it."

Loralei pulled Cerise into a tight hug. A hug she knew her best friend needed. They weren't expecting two more people to join in. Loralei felt Cerise laugh into her shoulder as George and Fred poked each of her sides.

"Bloody wankers," Cerise said, being the first to pull out of the hug.

George held a hand to his chest, "You wound me, Cherry." He said, before grinning. "Like seriously wound me... Like siriusly."

Sirius, who happened to be walking past Cerise's bedroom at that moment, poked his head in the door as he barked out a laugh. "That was brilliant!" He exclaimed, before continuing on with his day.

"I like Sirius," Fred said quietly. "He loves the joke shop idea."

"Probably because he was a prankster himself," Loralei stated, leaning her head on Fred's shoulder. "It was him, James, Remus and Peter. Sirius told me they pranked Cerise's dad one time."

Cerise's head snapped in Loralei's direction. "They did?" She said.

Loralei nodded.

"I need to know this story." Cerise smiled.

So, Loralei explained it to her. "Well, I'm guessing you now know about Remus?" She said, making Cerise nod. "Well, your mum was friends with everyone. And the Marauders—as they called themselves—absolutely loved your mother. When they found out she was pregnant at such a young age, Sirius and James planned to prank Amos. Every piece of hair on his body, pubes and all, was neon pink."

"Okay, I don't need to know about my father's pubes." Cerise said in disgust, "But, I would've loved to of seen my dad with neon pink hair. He probably cried because of it."

The rest of the day continued on, with Cerise, George, Fred and Loralei sat in Cerise's bedroom and just telling very scary stories. The three had left half an hour ago, and were in the kitchen, but Cerise was sat up in her bedroom.

Baby Jay was now asleep. He had been with Molly all day, until she needed to prepare dinner.

"I knew it!" yelled Ron, punching the air as Cerise entered the kitchen with Jay close to her chest. "You always get away with stuff!"

"They were bound to clear you," said Hermione, who had looked positively anxious when Harry had entered the kitchen and was now holding a shaking hand over her eyes, "there was no case against you, none at all."

"Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off," said Harry, smiling.

Mrs. Weasley was wiping her face on her apron, and Fred, George, Elijah and Ginny were doing a kind of war dance to a chant that went: "He got off, he got off, he got off—"

"That's enough! Settle down!" shouted Mr. Weasley, though he too was smiling. "Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry—"

"What?" said Sirius sharply.

"He got off, he got off, he got off—"

"Be quiet, you four! Yes, we saw him talking to Fudge on Level Nine, then they went up to Fudge's office together. Dumbledore ought to know."

"Absolutely," said Sirius. "We'll tell him, don't worry."

"Well, I'd better get going, there's a vomiting toilet waiting for me in Bethnal Green. Molly, I'll be late, I'm covering for Tonks, but Kingsley might be dropping in for dinner—"

"He got off, he got off, he got off—"

"That's enough—Fred—George—Ginny!" said Mrs. Weasley, as Mr. Weasley left the kitchen. "Harry, dear, come and sit down, have some lunch, you hardly ate breakfast..."

Cerise sat herself next to Sirius, feeling her eyelids start to close. Sirius, not even looking at her, nudged her gently. "Wake up," he whispered, "You've eaten hardly anything all day. You need to eat dinner."

Cerise groaned. "You're such a dad," she muttered, passing Jay to him and rubbing her eyes as she stifled a yawn. "But, you're right. I'm bloody well starving."

Sirius grinned as he looked at the sleeping baby. He had always wanted kids of his own, but because of everything that happened, he didn't have any. He was thrown into Azkaban when he was twenty-one, escaped two years ago, and has been in hiding ever since.

He had a secret girlfriend when he was thrown into Azkaban, no one knew of her. He still had no idea what had happened to her.

"Course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they were going to convict you," Ron said happily, now dishing great mounds of mashed potato on to everyone's plates.

"Yeah, he swung it for me," said Harry. "I wish he'd talked to me, though. Or even looked at me."

He quickly clapped his hand to the scar on his forehead.

Cerise piled food onto hers and Sirius' plates, considering Sirius hadn't noticed the food as he carefully moved to place Jay in his downstairs bed.

Fred, George, and Ginny were still singing. Elijah was now too busy eating his food to even care about Harry's hearing—Cerise found that very relatable. She loved food.

Hermione still looked rather anxious, but before she could say anything, Ron had said happily, "I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening, to celebrate with us, you know."

"I don't think he'll be able to, Ron," said Mrs. Weasley, setting a huge plate of roast chicken down in front of Harry. "He's really very busy at the moment."

Cerise tuned out the rest of the conversation as she tried to get Sirius to sit back at the table and eat.