Brothers

Chapter 3



Chapter 3 - Family

Once more Fred and George were bathed by the yellow light that spread around
the room.
"Not again!" complained George squeezing his eyes shut.
"Amateur!" said Fred, taking off his shades. "There they
are!" he pointed to a tree near the lake.
"By Merlin! What happed to your eye?" asked the boy with red
hair seeing the purple bruise around his friend’s right eye.
"My eye collided with some Muggle-borns." shrugged the
long-haired blond boy.
"What happened to Mudbloods?" asked George, amazed.
"Does this mean you won't come with us to the Muggle snackhouse?"
asked Arthur sadly.

"One thing has nothing to do with another, Artie. I won't change my
plans because of some revolting Muggles." said Lucius stiffly.
"I’ve got as much right to go there as they got to come here."
"You should go to the Headmaster, Lucius." said the girl with
copper-coloured hair.

"No way, Molly. That old fool doesn't like Slytherins. He may even take
away points from me for fighting." retorted Lucius, a wicked grin in
his lips. "Besides, they already got what they deserved."
"I can't believe you sent some of them to the infirmary!" said
Arthur hotly.

"It wasn't me. It was Bellatrix!" said Lucius defensively.
"Bellatrix? As in Bellatrix Lestrange?" asked a horrified Fred to
his brother.

"Then you should be glad somebody defended you!" said Molly.

"If it were someone else, I'd be, Mol. But that girl gives me the
willies." said Lucius, shaking his head.

"Why?"
"I don't know. I just don't like her. Something is rotten there." he
said. "Really rotten."

"There sure is! She is a Death Eater, you jerk!" George shouted at
Lucius, knowing fully well he wouldn't hear him.

"Maybe you're just holding a grudge against her, Luc. She can't be that
bad. Look at the rest of her family." said Arthur.

"Yes, you may be right, Artie. Her wicked little cousin is not so bad
altogether. He's actually very funny. And Cisa, well, she's..." Lucius
stopped when he felt his face's temperature rising considerably.

"That Sirius is a pest." mumbled Molly.

"What were you saying about Narcissa?" pressured Arthur, with a
sly grin, making Molly stop her mumbling.

"Ah, she's really something. That body, those eyes and hair.." Lucius
sighed, lying on the grass. "And she's so funny." he continued,
with a dreamy expression.

"I think someone's in love", observed Molly.
"It's not an infatuation, Molly," said Lucius, sitting up. "It's
more than that. I can't explain it. It's just that, when I look at her, I have
good thoughts. She makes me think things I’ve never thought before." he
said, looking at his friends's amazed expression.
"She makes me want to use a leash and an imbecile sign." he
said in a very low voice, looking around.

"She makes you think of sadomasochism?!" asked Molly, horrified,
makinghur hur roll on the grass laughing.

"That's not what I meant!" said Lucius, his face burning with
embarassment. "What I meant was that when I look at her I think of tacky
things like wedding bands and marriage," he explained, "and a
little house with children and..."

"All right, all right. I’ve got it!" interrupted Molly.

"That's so cute! Our little Lucius has turned into a young man" joked
Arthur, hugging his friend and making his girlfriend laugh.

"I'm proud of you!" he said, kissing his cheek.
"Why don't you call her to come with us?" suggested Molly.
"Would she? I don't know... what if she doesn't like me?" asked
Lucius, trying to dodge Arthur, who now was jokinglyessiessing his hair.
"Of course she does, Luc. Why else would she spy on you from afar?"
winked Arthur, holding his friend and pointing at a blond figure across the
lake.
"Gerroff me, Artie. You knew she was there and you still attacked
me!" accused Lucius. "This is so embarassing." he
murmured, getting up.
"That's what family is about, Luc!" shouted his friend, as
he got farther away.
At that moment, Fred and George were hit by the blinding light again.
"Where are we?" asked George, taking off his shades.
&quack ack of originality kills, I hope you know that." said Fred, also
taking off his shades.
"Wow! Was that what he meant when he said a little house?" he said,
pointing at the Malfoy Manor.
"If that's a little house, we live in a shoe box!" said George.
"There's Mum, Dad and...", he pointed at the arriving gues &qu "... Bill, Charlie, Percy and us" finished Fred.
"Wow... Percy was even stranger then than he is now." he observed,
frowning as he got nearer to the couple who knocked at the huge door.

"Uncle Artie!" shouted a blond girl of six years of age,
throwing herself in Arthur's arms.
"I missed you!", she smiled, kissing him.

"I missed you, too." he said, putting the girl on the ground as
she ran to Molly.
"And your Mum and Dad? I hope he's not in front of the mirror again".

"I didn't know Malfoy had a daughter." said George.
"Mum's in the library reading to Isabele, and Dad's upstairs. We were
playing when you knocked." said the little girl, holding on to Molly's
legs.
"Do you know that it's going to be a girl, sweetheart?" asked
Molly, as Arthur went up the stairs.

"No, but I chose the name anyway!" she shrugged.
"Come on, let's play!" she called out the boys.
"Come, let's follow Dad." urged Fred, climbing up the stairs.

"Don't you think you're too old to play with dolls, Luc?" asked
Arthur, leaning against the door, watching his friend, a fully-grown man with
long, platinum hair, animating dolls with his wand.
"Cisa can't play with Julie anymore because of her pregnancy, so here
I am" replied Lucius, with a huge grin.

"Look what I can do", he said, pointing his wand to four dolls
in military uniforms, that were singing and joyfully dancing to some Beatles
songs.
"Stop this hellish Muggle music, Lucius!" shouted a ghost
behind Lucius.
"Good afternoon, Arthur!" greeted the apparition politely
seeing thd-had-haired man at the door.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy." answered Arthur with equal
politeness.

"The band may be Muggle, Dad. But the music is sheer magic."
retorted Lucius, making the ghost leave the room fuming and snarling something
about how Muggle rebels deserved to die.
"Don't mind him, he doesn't know what he’s saying. Let's go get
something to eat."

And once more the yellow light flooded the room, covering Fred and George.
"We're home!" said George, looking around.
"Are you sure? It looks so n&quo" observed Fred. "Look there."

"That's a good one, Charlie." said Arthur between bouts of
laughter.

"I don't get it", said Percy, pouting.

"You wouldn't recognise a joke if it danced naked in your face!"
said Bill, making everybody laugh, except for Percy.

"Excuse me", said Lucius Malfoy, getting out of the fireplace.
"Now that's better." he said, after spelling out the Floo
powder from his clothes.

"Hello Lucius!" greeted Molly.
"Arthur, Lucius is here." she called her husband.

"Luc, is there something wrong?" asked Arthur, as he got up
Bill and Charlie following him.

"Hi Uncle Luc!" said the boys.

"Hi you." said Lucius, smiling.
"You tell me, Artie. You were the one who called me and asked me to
come here."
"You must have dreamt it, Luc. I didn't call you" said Arthur,
seeing all the blood in Lucius's face drain away.
"Where are you going?" he asked alarmed, watching his friend
throw some Floo powder in the fireplace.

"Malfoy Manor!" shouted Lucius, before disappearing in the
green flames.
And a light even more blinding than all others flooded the room, tearing
everything it touched and taking Fred and George with it.
"What the heck was that?" asked George, afraid to open his eyes.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!" complained Fred, thrwoing away his shades.
"Lucius! Lucius!" called Arthur, entering the manor's main
office.
"By Merlin! What happened here?" he asked, looking at the huge
sheets of smoke billowing inside the room.
"Arthur?" called Narcissa, in a weak voice huddled on the
floor covered with soot.
"Are you all right?" asked Arthur, seeing her nod. "Where's
Julie?"

"They came, Arthur!" she was crying. "I tried to
take her out of there, but I couldn't stop the fire."

"Let's get you out of here first." he said, putting her
inside the fireplace and throwing the powder.
"The Burrow!" he shouted, running to the stairs.
"Let's go!", called Fred.
"Lucius!" said Arthur, seeing his friend coming down the
stairs with a small body in his arms. "Is she...?" he asked,
tears rolling down his face.
"The girl" said George, and it was the only thing he could say
before the blinding light covered him once more.
"Ma bébé! My baby!" screamed Narcissa, throwing herself
over the marble slate in front of her.
"Narcissa, dear. Try and calm down", said Molly, trying to
get her away froe sle slate. "Breathe in deeply... Yes... Just like that..."
she shushed her friend while her own tears kept flowing freely.
"Why are they crying?" asked Fred. "Good heavens! Look at that,
George", he pointed to the slate.
"Julie Anne Malfoy - 1973-1979." read George aloud.