Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
── IN WHICH THEY REUNITE
. . .
As usual, the Potters were late. None of them really were ones to stick to perfect timing, Harry constantly seemed to be missing a watch, and although Ginny was a bit better at time keeping, there had been occurrences where she had been late to a few Holyhead Harpies practises, luckily no matches yet.
Teddy Lupin showed up 'fashionably' late, and James and Albus (who idolised the boy in some form), copied him for years. Little Lily seemed to be the only one who was ever in a rush to be there, somehow always the one behind the family arriving on time.
It didn't even seem to matter that it was meeting with family. The various parties, dinners and meet ups that the whole clan had, well the Potters seemed to always be late to them as well.
And this seemed to apply to the end of summer trip to Diagon Alley. It was always a family event - and with the size of the Weasley-Potter clan, the shop owners would have to be notified in advance.
Every time one of the younger family members reached eleven years old, the older ones would always be there to help them - it was pretty much guaranteed that someone would always be there, the family spread over so many houses at Hogwarts.
And just like every trip before that, the Potter family were last to show up. The rest of them were sat in the Leaky Cauldron, overflowing the seating area at the back.
Celeste was sat near her father and mother, who were chatting somewhat animatedly with Molly and Arthur, who always loved to have another chance to see their grandchildren all together (Christmas at the Burrow, despite it's expansions, was extremely crowded, and led to some people not getting seen as often).
Fleur messed with her daughter's hair, the ginger curls bouncing up and down in the sunlight. Celeste had seven-year-old Hugo on her lap, the boy always seeming to have loved the ginger-haired girl, and was currently playing with a muggle toy car, running it up Celeste's arm.
But whilst Hugo played, Celeste's eyes were trained on the fireplace, watching for a cloud of soot to appear, the sound of people appearing there. She, of course, was waiting for Teddy, but also Ginny and Harry - Celeste seemed to get on with them extremely well, considering her love for Quidditch.
But suddenly, Hugo almost fell off her lap, and Celeste reached for him, as a loud bang echoed through the place, making them all jump out of their skin.
"Of course they're waiting. I told you they would be." The extremely familiar voice of Teddy Lupin emerged from the smoke. Behind him, Harry appeared, and then later, Ginny and Luna, then the two Potter brothers.
Hugo had climbed off of Celeste's lap completely by now, and the girl practically jumped up to go and hug her best friend, whose hair was as bright blue as ever.
"Idiot." Celeste muttered as they hugged, Teddy digging his fingers into her side, tickling her. She yelped and dragged herself away, flicking the boy in the back of the neck.
"Celeste!" A much younger, female voice said, and soon enough Lily had her arms wrapped around Celeste's waist, head resting on her stomach. "I missed you!" The Potter girl smiled, as Celeste picked her up.
"You've gotten so much bigger." Celeste told her and Lily blushed, nodding before hugging her again, hiding her face in her neck.
"I heard you're Quidditch captain - and prefect." Ginny walked over to the pair and Celeste nodded, practically basking in the look of pride the woman gave her.
"Not many fifth years get that. It's usually sixth or seventh." Harry mused, joining his godson, who practically towered over him.
"Yeah, congrats Cel." Teddy grinned. "Can't wait for Hufflepuff to beat you past the point of return - Slytherin won't be winning the House Cup this year, that's for sure."
"Not so fast, Lupin." Celeste replied, putting Lily down to go and find Roxanne. "If you really think you're going to beat me then you have another thing coming. We both might have been taught by Ginny and Harry but I just so happened to visit Romania for a week or so."
"That's where you went?" Teddy's jaw dropped and Celeste smirked. "Victoire told me you went to stay with one of your school friends - Erin or whatever her name is."
"It's Evie - and I did. For the first day. Then Charlie came and picked me up. Spent the whole week with dragons and him teaching me all his heat techniques in preparation for this year." Celeste looked proud of herself, and Teddy just looked shocked.
"Come on you two." Bill called, and the best friends turned to see the family heading towards the back yard which split off the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley.
Teddy and Celeste hurried after them, far too caught up talking about Quidditch to really notice anything else.
"So in short, I've been trained by the Harry Potter, the Ginny Weasley and none other than Charlie Weasley. Oh, and did I mention Viktor Krum came over for a week, he and his son?" Celeste said, and Teddy looked even more shocked.
"That's not fair!" He half-yelled, ignoring the attention he got.
"Scared I'm gonna beat you, Lupin?" Celeste smirked, and Teddy glared at her, before reaching out and actually tickling her, causing the girl to shout and bump into a few people, apologising profusely between laughs.
Two best friends reunited, but could be soon pulled apart by a little game called Quidditch.
