Pressing Flowers [ Harry Potter AU ]

Chapter 5 - train ride gossip

NOTE - any lore here is all made up or based on pre-existing theories, i did not check any sources. anyways, welcome back after over two years!

also, look out for the inside out 2 references ;)

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As the train rushed past field of goats, sheep, and cows, Harry faintly heard Ron and Pansy whisper with their faces pressed up against the compartment windows, "Sheeeeeep.." and "gooooaats..." respectively. But his head was in another world, daydreaming of...

"His parents were WHAT?"

"Uhhh huh. Brothers."

"WHAT??" they all said in unison.

"Wait. Who's?" Harry asked.

"My granddad." Draco giggled. "My great-grandfather and great-great-uncle.. well, they were both my great-grandfathers, I guess. Blegh." He shuddered.

"That is actually CRAZY," Pansy said. "But not too insane I suppose, somewhere down my heritage, maybe three, four generations ago? two cousins married. Not even like, second or third or anything. And guess what?"

"What?" they all asked, leaning in closer.

"They had EIGHT kids."

"No way," Harry said, fucking astounded.

"Mmmmm-hm" Pansy said, basking in the drama. "I actually think they were somewhere on Wee-Wee's family tree, too. And one of their kids was a professor here, Andersen, or something?"

"Oh! I read about her," Hermione piped up, "Quite interesting. Disappeared after four years of teaching, supposedly she had taught Divination, had a prophecy, and then-"

"Hold on a minute," Ron interrupted. "Are we completely ignoring the fact that she just called me Wee-Wee?"

"Yes," they all said.

"Load of bollocks, this is," he muttered.

"Do you have any family gossip, Wee-Wee?" Harry poked, laughing.

"Oh shove off, will you? But yeah, I s'pose. Buncha my relatives were on the dark side of both wars. Mostly on Mum's side. Few on Dad's. Righties, they are. Pure-blood enthusiasts and all that. Mum's been no-contact with her parents ever since he got outta school, they hated Dad, said he was a dirty little Muggle-lover, Mum said they were righteous pricks, slammed the door, that was that. I think they died 'round when the twins were born n didn't give her a bit of inheritance. Gave it all to her brother. He died in the war though, one kid, went missin' few years back, no clue where they or the money went. But somewhere back we mixed in with the magical creatures, don' even wanna know what that's about. But yeah, that's all I can remember. there's loads more I'll have to ask Mum about."

Everyone was silent for a while. Then Harry finally broke it with a very wise, "Wow."

Ron's face went a bit pink. "That was a lot, wasn't it? Um... sorry, guys."

"No, no, don't apologize! That's wicked!" Draco said, his mouth wide open in a slight shocked smile. "D'you have any idea what type of magical creatures? Or how long ago?"

"Probably dwarves with that red hair," Harry answered for him, ruffling the top of Ron's head, only to have his hand shoved away and a rather rude hand gesture pointed at him.

"No, no I do not, thank you Harry," he said sarcastically, earning a raspberry (and then a literal one tossed into his mouth by Hermione, ever the bringer of healthy snacks.)

"I have some family history drama," Harry perked up excitedly.

"Really?" Ron and Draco asked. "But aren't your parents..."