You're My Destiny↣ Harmione

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter 33 - Our Destiny

With both kids standing there talking a mile a minute from excitement, George made a snap decision. Dobby was soon back with more than just a simple yes or no however. He had a proposal for George and, rather anticipating the answer from Amanda's father, an overnight bag for Dudley.

"The family were wondering if Dudley might want to stay here not just for tonight, but until the wedding? Dobby will pop back with wedding clothes for Dudley and Miss Amanda tomorrow, and then pick them up on the morning of the wedding."

With two pair of hopeful eyes staring at him, George was always going to say yes. Now it was time to sit these two down and discover just what happened tonight at the ball.

It was a pleasant few hours the three spent chatting before George realised just how late it had become and declared it was time for bed. Showing Dudley the fold-down bed in the box room was interrupted by Amanda boldly striding in and, with her arms around Dudley's neck, gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. She thanked him for a wonderful evening, before repeating the procedure with her father. George's kiss was on the cheek but the happiness he saw shining from his daughter's eyes was the best Christmas present she could give him.

"Thank you for letting me go tonight, dad. I know it wasn't easy for you but I was treated like family. Trust me on this, no one there wanted to mess with the Potter or Black families. I felt really safe, it was just like the way you always watch over me."

Knowing he was far too emotional for sleep at the moment, George returned to the living room and sat in his favourite armchair. Tonight had opened a lot of old wounds George had thought long since healed over. In terms of things he needed to deal with, he divided the kids' experiences of tonight into three distinct parts.

The first was obviously the ball itself. There was no question both Amanda and Dudley had really enjoyed themselves, and been well looked after while doing so. The second part was a lot more troublesome, and had George considering something he swore never to do.

If his Uncle Basil was now head of the family, that meant his Grandfather was gone. The old man had ruled the Ketterings with a fist of iron, and his word was law. Uncle Basil was always the most liberal of the three Kettering siblings. With his Aunt Margaret marrying into the Nott family, and his own father dying when George was eleven, Uncle Basil was really the only option to head the Ketterings after the old man popped his clogs. If, as his uncle had indicated to Amanda, George was the only nephew left then the Kettering family was in grave danger of dying out.

While his Uncle Basil was a liberal, the last thing he would want would be to see the family dying out. Watching Amanda dancing around the floor, wearing a Kettering heirloom while sporting the Potter and Black house crests would certainly have garnered his attention.

George was considering contacting his mother, perhaps even dropping a picture of her as yet unknown granddaughter in the note. That was as far as he was prepared to go though. His Amanda wasn't yet fourteen so George was just beginning to accept a boyfriend being on the scene. He wasn't ready to think much further than that, and would certainly never entertain any notion that anyone - other than Amanda - would choose who that boyfriend would be.

Even before these radical changes in their society, female squibs historical had an easier time of it than their male counterparts. With these changes, who knew where things would end up. Should anyone come sniffing around Amanda with a betrothal in mind, he would ask the young lord his Amanda thought so highly of to represent them - rather than his Uncle Basil. Dudley's cousin would surely honour Amanda's wishes and tell them to get lost, George wasn't so confident his uncle would do the same.