(2) Patrimony (H. Potter)

Chapter Two

Rhiannon kind of likes Grimmauld Place. It's quiet. Dark. Creepy. Which she likes. It actually reminds her of those old haunted mansions in muggle movies. Which is part of why she liked Durmstrang. The horror aesthetic and feel to it. She also likes making dandelion tea, the smell, the tedious nature, the normality of it. It gives her something to do with her time here. Kreacher has almost rarely left her to her own devices, keeping a very close eye on her, even constantly complained as he watched her make tea the first few times. He actually complained and whined the first few times she did anything in the house.

It's late afternoon when Rhiannon finds herself in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a book open in hand, and on the stove behind her a teapot boiling water for some tea. It's silent, the house, but then again it is usually pretty quiet, even with Kreacher grumbling a lot. Always finding something to complain about. Sirius keeps mostly to himself or to his guests when they are here. Most keep their distance from Rhiannon, but given Dumbledore's statement about them being scared off by her name, she's not all that surprised. Sometimes adults are worse than children. Attila is stretched out on the floor, head close to a small fireplace against the wall, lit and warming the room. Hecate had turned up with him a few hours after Rhiannon arrived, but didn't stay after that. Not at all surprising. For all the promises of explanations and help with her abilities, Hecate has been very, very absent over the summer. Dumbledore was actually her first visitor since she returned from school. Her mother is clearly not serious about making up for lost time, and Rhiannon doesn't care enough. She at least has one parent that wants to be involved in her life and actively tries despite being locked away in prison. Even now, she has her two-way mirror set up on the table, propped at an angle against the salt and pepper shakers so that Gellert can watch her. He just likes to watch her study, which she found weird at first, most people would, but given how much he's missed out on, it does make sense to her now, it just took some getting used to.

Suddenly, there is noise from the floor above at the front of the house that disturbs the silence of the kitchen. Pulling Rhiannon's attention from her book when she recognises the familiar voices of Ron and Hermione, already arguing over something or other. It's not that surprising considering how often they seemed to bicker and argue last year. Rhiannon closes her book and then stands from the bench, intending on going upstairs to greet Hermione more than Ron, but she is actually feeling happy that he's here too. Rhiannon has barely made it to her feet when the kitchen door opens and Hermione races in.

"Rhian!" Hermione states and pulls her into a tight hug. Rhiannon chuckles and hugs her back. Ron follows her in and rolls his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asks her with a grumble when Rhiannon pulls back from Hermione.

"Lovely to see you too, Ronald" She points out and ruffles his hair, he pushes her hands away and fixes his locks, she turns and moves towards the kettle that is about to whistle on the stone. "As for what I am doing here...I guess I am living here now" She admits causing Hermione raises an eyebrow at her, taking a seat at the table.

"Why?" She voices. "What happened?" Rhiannon shrugs.

"Dumbledore turned up" She answers as she takes the whistling teapot from the stove. "Told me to pack my things...Said that the Ministry was going to look at me for intel on Harry, start intercepting my letters...."

"Who's the creepy old guy in this mirror?" Ron asks as he looks into the glass mirror, Rhiannon shoots him a look and then moves closer to him.

"My dad," She tells Ron who is quick to look away, making a surprised face. She takes the mirror from him and lifts it up to her eye level. "Sorry, Dad" She offers. "I'll talk to you later"

"Make sure you do, Rhiannon" Gellert tells her, worry sounding through in his voice, and then the glass clouds over again. She sets it down just as Hermione clocks Ron over the head and gives him a look.

"He sounds worried about you" Hermione points out, glancing at her friend, it must be bad for someone like Gellert Grindelwald to be worrying about things.

"He has been all summer" Rhiannon agrees as she sets out a few teacups. "After what happened in the maze....and with Voldy being back, and now me being here..." Behind Ron and Hermione, Fred and George walk into the room. Rhiannon offers the two of them a wave as she pours out a few teacups of tea. She set down the kettle and then allows George to pull her into a tight hug. Rhiannon lets out a breath as she hugs him back. His friendship has surprised her the most. She was not expecting him to send her letters over the summer. "Hey, Georgie" She greets and he lifts her up causing her to chuckle slightly before he sets her back down, releasing her. George was actually the only person she told that she was here. For Hermione, she wanted it to be a surprise. She's not close enough to Ron. And well, Dumbledore told her not to contact Harry. So that left George. He turns to pick up a teacup before taking a seat next to Hermione. Fred gives her a wave as he joins his brothers at the table, Ron giving them both a hurt look. "And after the whole thing with Durmstrang and Hogwarts," Rhiannon continues her conversation with Hermione as if George hadn't interrupted it.

"What things?" George asks.

"Durmstrang replaced Karkaroff after he ran off, and I'm now not allowed to return to the boys club" She answers.

"That's a shame" Ron mumbles to himself, Rhiannon glances at him and then smirks.

"Yeah, so come the new term, I'll be attending Hogwarts" Ron snaps his head up in surprise and maybe slight alarm. Hermione chuckles behind her hand.

"What?" Ron asks.

"Dumbledore invited me" Rhiannon answers and then hands Hermione a cup of tea. "Would you like some tea?" Ron glances at Hermione's cup and then nods.

"What is this?" George asks as he takes a drink from his own cup.

"Dandelion tea" Rhiannon answers and then narrows her eyes. "Why? Is it bad?"

"No" George assures her with a small chuckle. "No, it's good"

"Oh, good. They used to make it at the orphanage and it's probably the only thing I actually liked about the place, always made me feel better"

"Orphanage?" Ron asks her, she hums and nods.

"Yeah" She answers and gives him a look. Surprised that he didn't already know that. Hermione and Harry do. She assumed that they would have told him all about her and all the things that she talked to them about.

"I just...I mean I didn't know that you...." Ron rambles slightly, because he wasn't aware that she was raised in an orphanage, he assumed that Grindelwald had something to do with her upbringing, even if in the back of his mind he knows that Grindelwald has been in prison for years and her mother only turned up at the end of last year, upsetting her, and Harry, meaning that she would have had no involvement in her life.

"Well, I was" Rhiannon stops him. "With no-magiques" She sits with her own cup of tea, pushing another across to Ron.

"Don't let our dad hear you saying that" Fred points out. "He'll corner you with questions about rubber ducks...." Rhiannon raises an eyebrow at him.

"He's not kidding" Ron agrees. Rhiannon smirks a little as she raises her teacup to her lips. Just then two older Weasleys, and they are very clearly Weasleys, enter the room only to pause seeing Rhiannon at the table. She swallows a little as she lowers her teacup.

"Mom, Dad" George starts. "This is Rhiannon..."

"Grindelwald" Ron adds, George shoots his brother a look.

"Arthur Weasley....and my wife, Molly..." Arthur introduces, but she can see how they feel about her being here. Dumbledore did say that Sirius was the only one that was happy to have her around, and she knows that's because he can't judge her and he understands what it means to not follow in the family legacy. Rhiannon looks down and nods a little.

"I'm just going to go to my room and study" Rhiannon offers as she collects her mirror and her books. "Attila" She calls as she stands, he stands from the floor, following her out of the room. Hermione shoots Ron a dirty look before she goes off after her friend.