Leave Out All The Rest

Summer Flowers

[AN:] So it seems someone has clicked fast-forward on this story and skipped an entire year. Can you blame me? It was dragging on a bit. This chapter and the next one are the final ones in their CURRENT age. After that, they grow up and get messed with. Stay tuned!

________________________________________________________________

Chapter Nine: Summer Flowers

POV: Rose

It has been eight months since the incident with Marcus Macnair and Vincent Flint. Of course, those two were expelled immediately, but it took one long hearing with the Wizengamot for it to be decided that Flint would be on a five year probation and Macnair's wand was to be snapped. The Minister of Magic had made that decree himself; Dark magic from anyone was not to be tolerated and would have severe consequences. 

"It's because he comes from a Death Eater family," Louis had said, repeating the same rumor the rest of the school was passing along. "The Ministry isn't going to risk any more dark magic from them." 

Although Flint and Macnair had been the brawn of this, Abel and Darren Greengrass were still responsible for giving the order against their younger cousin. They were threatened with expulsion, but in the end the Headmistress assigned them a year's worth of detention with the Care of Magical Creature's professor and Filch. They were scarred (mentally and physically)from their time in the Forbidden Forest and the maintenance on the animals' cages, but that was hardly enough punishment. We all agreed, but it was Liam's father, Alec Greengrass, who pushed for more. 

"What'd he do?" Freddie pressed for the thousand time, trying to get Liam to reveal what his father had done to Abel and Darren.

Liam shrugged. "He didn't say."

"All we really know," said Malfoy, "is our Aunt Daphne cried to my mother and begged her to have Uncle Alec change his mind." 

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny had been more than relieved that James and Louis only had a few bumps and scrapes from the altercation. Once Aunt Ginny had finished inspecting them thoroughly (to make sure neither had any gaping holes, although Louis kept complaining he'll have a scar from the bite Flint took), she then threatened to curse them into the next century. We all knew she was not bluffing, so Uncle Harry and Professor Longbottom had to hold her down long enough for Louis and James to flee the office. 

After she was sedated, she and Uncle Harry were allowed to go to the Hospital Wing to meet Emily. They thanked her over and over again for what she had done. They even apologized, hearts on their hands, like it had been them who cursed her.

James and his parents were Emily's most frequent visitors the week she remained in the Hospital Wing. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry stuck around so long not just because they had grown to like Emily, but because they expected to meet her parents to apologize over the incident. They never showed. An owl was sent to the Headmistress to excuse them from not attending, but they assured her Emily would be just fine.

"It's okay, Mrs. Potter," Emily had said to my aunt. She smiled, but she did not fool anyone with it. "I'm okay. Really."

Aunt Ginny had given her a smile back, but the apprehension was loud in her brown eyes. She took it upon herself to owl Emily every weekend for the rest of the school term.

Once James stopped being thick, he and Albus went back to treat each other like proper brothers. They were extra teasing to one another, but the other took it with stride. It was nothing but laughter, petty arguments, and pranks from those two.