Harry felt himself nodding off on the ride back. He opened the window and let the fresh air wake him up. Ron was snoring in the backseat and Hermione had her nose in a paperback that she had taken along with her.

"I'm being a bad passenger, sorry Harry." She said, closing the book.

"No, it's fine. Go on." Harry said waving his hand.

"So, are you alright?"

He paused to consider his answer. "Yeah, I mean, I'm still mulling it all over. 30 plus years of thinking she hated me, it's a little hard to accept that she didn't."

Hermione put her hand on his. "Even if they did hate you, we love you."

He winked at her, "Cheers. You know I love you, too."

The better part of the day was over by the time they turned onto the dirt road leading up to the Burrow. Harry hit one of the bumps in the road harder than he meant to and it shook Ron awake with a start.

"Spider!" He shouted, opening his eyes.

Harry and Hermione laughed and he turned red.

"Finally. I'm starving." Ron said yawning and rubbing his stomach.

"I wonder if the boys are still on lock-down." Harry said as he parked.

"I'd say they are. I wonder how Percy is." Hermione said, covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed.

As soon as she heard the car doors shut, Ginny flew out the front door and threw her arms around Harry's neck.

"I'm so sorry I didn't go with you. I should have, I'm so sorry." She said, hugging him tight.

"It's ok, Ginny. Really, I'm ok." Harry said, kissing her temple sweetly.

"I should have gone along, I regretted staying behind as soon as you were down the road." She said.

"Was that before or after the toilet exploded?" Harry teased. He'd clasped his hands behind her back.

"Before. I regretted not going with you even more afterwards." She said. "How is Dudley? How is your Aunt? Tell me everything."

"Later. Where's the Potter third of Triple Trouble?" Harry said looking around the room. Ginny grimaced.

"They're all in Percy's old room. I set up a miniature Azkaban up there." She said. Harry chuckled.

"That's my girl. How's the toilet situation?" He asked.

"It's well in hand now. Percy's arse got the worse of it." She said giggling in spite of herself. "Dad, Charlie and Bill got it sorted. Jessica, too. She's pretty helpful, that one."

Harry kissed her mouth, gently running his hands through her long hair.

"What did she say?" Ginny asked, letting him go.

"I'll tell you later. Let me go deal with Jamie." Harry said.

Ginny's expression tightened. "Honestly, Harry I don't know what to do with him! I'm at my wits end."

"I'll talk to him, I promise."

The four of them walked inside and found the members of the family scattered around the house. Fleur was sitting in an old chair with her feet up on an ottoman. Hugo was sprawled out on her chest, fast asleep.

"Fleur, how were Rosie and Hugo? They give you any trouble?" Ron whispered as he kissed her cheek.

"Not a beet, Ron. Zey are perfeetly behaved, unlike my Louis." Fleur responded.

Ron smiled to himself, wondering how he got so lucky. "Well, we really appreciate you watching them for us today."

Fleur smiled. "I vas heppy to do eet. Hugo hez been asleep for about an hour. Ee should vwake up soon."

"You could have put him on one of the beds!" Ron said, concerned. "You didn't have to let him sleep on you like this! You can't be very comfortable!"

Fleur dismissed his worry. "I love eet, Ron. Louis doesn't vant to cuddle with his Mama anymore. I deedn't realize how much I meesed eet until today."

Ron leaned down and rubbed Hugo's back. "Hugo…wake up, son. We're back."

He crouched down and kissed the top of Hugo's head. The small boy started to stir.

"Daddy?" He said, rubbing one of his eyes.

"Hey, little man. Wake up." Ron smiled and held his arms out. Hugo let Ron pick him up and gave his son a hug. "You behaved for your Aunt, today. I'm very proud to hear that."

"I'm good, Daddy." Hugo said, yawning.

Harry took a deep breath as he wound up the stairs to Percy's old room.

Ginny wasn't joking. She'd placed an impenetrable force-field across the doorway; it was invisible but Harry could feel it slightly vibrate as he approached. It was similar to the protective spell Hermione placed around them while they hid from Snatchers. Fred, Louis, and James were each silently sitting cross-legged on a mat on the floor. Harry stood in the hall and crossed his arms.

"James." Harry said sternly. James turned his head and a sheepish expression flooded his face. "James, come here." The three boys exchanged weary looks.

"Dad, I…" His voice was quiet.

"No back talk, James. I said come here, now." Harry said, pointing at the floor.

"I can't, Dad." He demonstrated an attempt at movement and Harry understood.

"Mummy used a Sticking Charm?" He asked. James nodded.

Harry pulled his wand from his back pocket and pressed his free hand to the force field. Closing his eyes, he repeated a Dissolution Charm that made the force field thin out and weaken enough for him to squeeze through. The loud clomp his feet made when they stepped through into the bedroom made all three boys jump.

"Uncle Harry…" Louis said quietly.

Harry shook his head. "I'm sorry Louis but your Mum and Dad will sort you out on their own. I'm just here for James."

Louis and Fred nodded dejectedly. They hadn't really expected Harry to take their part anyway. James' face turned red as Harry crouched down in front of him.

"Dad, I'm…"

"Not hearing it, son." Harry said deeply. "You three have really done it this time. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Your Uncle Percy could have been very badly hurt."

Fred chuckled but Harry shot him a look.

"Look, I know you three hear your fathers, uncles and I take the piss out of Uncle Percy all the time but you lot need to be respectful. Nothing less is going to be tolerated."

Fred pursed his lips together, trying to hold back, but he said "My dad and Uncle Fred used to prank him all the time, what's the big deal?"

Harry sighed. "Your dad and Fred did more than their share of pranking; that's entirely true. But no one ever got hurt, least of all a family member, Fred. I can't express to you three how completely disappointed I am in you. Uncle Percy could have ended up in hospital. Aunt Audrey and the girls are no doubt just as furious as anyone. Had you considered your cousin's feelings? Molly and Lucy would probably love to wring your little necks right about now."

"But dad…you tell me all the time about Grandpa James and Sirius Black and Teddy's father. They got into loads of trouble together, too!"

Harry sighed, never missing those three men more in his life. He wished he could call on his own father for parenting advice. He wished he had been able to live with Sirius in the last couple of years he was alive. He wished he could commiserate with Remus over having a troublemaker as a son; for Teddy Lupin would certainly be the ringleader if he were closer in age to the three boys that surrounded Harry.

"James. I can't argue with you there. My dad, Sirius and Remus were indeed mischief makers. But they never purposely hurt anyone." Except their sworn enemy Severus Snape because he was in love with my Mum. Harry thought to himself. Better not mention that part right now.

"I swear it was an accident, Uncle Harry." Louis said sadly. "We weren't trying to hurt Uncle Percy."

"But you did, Louis. What if it was Rosie who used the loo instead? What if it was Hugo? What if you three sent your littlest cousin to St. Mungo's with this prank of yours? It blew up the toilet, what do you think it would have done to either of them?"

Louis' eyes opened wide. Fred looked away, looking like he was about to cry. James knit his eyebrows together and scrunched up his face.

"Didn't think of that, did you?" Harry was getting madder just at the thought of it.

"No." Louis said, biting his lower lip.

"We promise we won't do it again." Fred said with such sincerity Harry didn't doubt it for a moment. "We won't do anything dangerous ever again, Uncle Harry. We don't want anyone to get hurt."

"That goes for me, too." Louis replied, nodding.

"Me in all." James replied. "I don't want Rosie or Hugo getting hurt. They're too little."

"That's what I wanted to hear, boys. Just see to it that you remember this. It's not a bad thing to cause a little bit of chaos; manage a bit a mischief, but you have to draw the line at pranks that will get people hurt. Not just at home but at Hogwarts. A prank like that would have gotten all of you booted from school, no matter who you're related to. Understand?"

All three boys nodded.

"Brilliant. I'm going to go downstairs now. I don't know what spells this little prison is made up of so I can't undo it. I'm not sure it would be a good idea to let you up right now anyway. You're sorry for it now but what you did was terrible. Stay put and figure out how to apologize properly. I can't promise you don't have bollockings in your future from everyone else but for myself, I'm done."

Harry stood up and brushed his knees. He held his wand again and whispered the Dissolution charm again until he felt the force field give way enough to allow him through.

Harry took a few paces down the hallway and when he was sure he was far enough away, he pressed his back to the wall and sighed.

"Mum, Dad…I just hope I handled that the right way. Hope you'd be proud of me. This parenting shit sure isn't easy."

"Who are you talking to?" Ron's voice came from the top of the stairs.

"Nobody. Just trying to catch my breath. How's Percy? How are Audrey and the girls?"

Ron shrugged. "Percy's singed. It's his pride more than his arse, really. They all went home but they should be around tomorrow."

"We missed lunch, they thought we were eating with your cousin. Hermione's making some sandwiches for us." Ron said, sounding a little put out. They headed back down the stairs and Harry was still thinking about Monsieurs Moony, Padfoot and Prongs; wondering what life might be like if they'd never befriended a certain Monsieur Wormtail.

As the trio and Ginny sat around the Weasley kitchen table Harry told them in full detail about his visit with Aunt Petunia and about Emmeline. Ginny had started in a chair of her own, but by the time Harry was done recounting what Petunia had told him, she was sitting across his lap with her arm around him and her head on his shoulder.

"So. That's my news. My Aunt doesn't hate me and Emme's a witch." Harry said, summing up.

"Amazing. Absolutely amazing." Ginny sighed. "How do we handle the situation with Emmeline? Do we tell Dudley?"

"Beats the shit out of me." Harry responded. "I reckon he ought to know sooner rather than later, but he's got so much going on with my aunt…I don't know when he should be told."

"What if we had them all round and let Emmeline show him? Rather than us telling him – he might get upset – but if she shows him, and she's with the boys and Lily, maybe he'll see that she's not alone or strange…" Ginny's voice trailed off. It was all she could do to restrain herself from letting her old bitterness towards Harry's family show through as she spoke. She chose her words delicately. What she really wanted to say was "Let Dudley see that his child isn't a fucking freak, like they took you for, for all those years."

Hermione and Ron were nodding, it sounded like a gentle way to break the news.

"You can count us in on that too, if you like." Ron said. "Mione might be able to explain better what it's like to be Muggleborn. Hell, her parents might even be able to help."

"I was just thinking the same thing, Ron." Harry replied.

"I don't think my parents would object to that. However, at least in the very beginning, it might be best to do this in…stages. After all, Dudley's going to be in mourning for your aunt soon enough. It might not be the wisest thing to hit him with all of this all at once. We don't want to overwhelm him." Hermione said thoughtfully.

Ron nodded thoughtfully as he polished off his second sandwich. "Just know Harry, whatever you need; anything that'll make this easier just you know, ask."

Harry smirked at Ron appreciatively and after winking at Hermione in thanks, he closed his eyes and pulled Ginny closer to his chest.

"Never a bloody dull moment." He whispered in her ear.