Cored

Chapter 52: A Weasley and a Waine

"Are you ready for this?" Lee asked as he, Crawley, and Katherine stood in front of the door to the Burrow, conjured in the Nest's living room.

The rest of the Weasley lot had stayed a few days in rooms Katherine had created in the cellar—which now had a proper staircase up to the main floor—but had gone home the day before. Katherine had spent the last few days convincing Picquery and Quahog to be fair in their sentencing plans. There had also been a fair bit of conversation about her magic, but they agreed that as long as Crawley was with her, she could travel freely. Picquery had winked at her, but Quahog at least pretended to be oblivious to their relationship. Besides, the other aurors were busy looking for the wizard with the dark magic who had been working with Iz. Katherine agreed to help them with the questioning and, if the person agreed, with looking through their memories for any clues.

Now, though, she stood in front of the Burrow door, hearing the family scurrying around behind it, she wasn't thinking about any of that.

"Ready," she said, opening the door.

Immediately, she was met with a feathery flurry in the face.

"Corliss," she said, gathering the owl in her hands and cradling her in the crook of her neck. "Oh, girl, I missed you so much. And you are going to love the cabin. Trees and space and the river and so many windows—it'll be the perfect nest."

The bird hooted excitedly, nipping at Katherine's fingers and finally fluttering to rest in her palms with no intention of giving up the spot. When she conjured Nestor, though, the excitement began all over again and the birds perched tight to one another on her shoulder.

"The flock is together again," Crawley said with a laugh. Nestor chirped at a suspicious Corliss, who seemed to take his word for the man's changed ways. But she still kept an eye on him.

"Another bird for me to win over," he whined.

Katherine shrugged. "I have a good book you can read."

She couldn't even hear his scoff because she was immediately pulled into the kitchen by something that smelled incredible.

"Gran, I cannot tell you how much I have missed your cooking," she said, kissing Molly's cheek. "Crawley is okay, but nothing like this."

"Maybe I can give him some lessons," Molly responded with a smile.

Katherine set Nestor and Corliss on the window ledge, where they tucked close to one another and began to doze from all the excitement.

"Dad," she said, "what are you doing?"

She thought she heard the words "intentions with my daughter," coming from his direction, and Crawley's face had turned a bright red. She raised her eyebrow at him as he grinned impishly at her.

"Just getting to know young Crawley here better. International relations, you know."

"I think you can leave that to us, thanks," Hermione said, taking Crawley's arm and leading him away to the back room, followed closely by Ginny.

"Be nice," Katherine called out. Ginny turned around and stuck her tongue out, beckoning Angelina and Fleur to follow.

"Poor bloke doesn't stand a chance," Ron said, shaking his head and clapping Lee on the shoulder. "Those women are a nightmare."

"He's pretty good with nightmares," Katherine laughed, pulling her eyes away from where the group had disappeared.

"Gramps outside?" she asked George.

"Yeah, showing Percy and Audrey something. And I think Charlie and Bill are flying."

George pulled on his coat and followed Lee and Katherine out to the shed, passing through the shadow of her two airborne uncles.