A Badger With All The Snakes

Chapter Fifty Two

~ Eight Months Later ~

"C'mon we're almost there."
"Look, there it is."
"I would like to point out that this is a terrible idea."
"If you want to leave now is your last and final chance. Once we get through those gates, there is no turning back. We are too close to finding out if my aunt is here or not."
"What are we waiting for let's go." The nine of them set off towards Crossett Manor. What once was a happy and joyful home, looks as if it hasn't been touched in years. The garden was wilted, all brown, the yard didn't look any better. The house itself was dusty. It looked extremely sad as well.
Marilyn was the first one to reach the door, before she even touched the door knob, it opened.
"Cassie, you've read about this house, what does it say?"
"Crossett Manor is one of the very few Manors that are still standing since the time of the Hogwarts Founders. The door can only be opened by a Crossett. It is said that once the door has opened to a Crossett, the house belongs to them. Any foe of a Crossett, can not enter and will be vanished to the outside gate."
"Looks like you just got a house Lynny."
"Seems so. Let's go." Walking into the house, they immediately noticed that there were several sleeping bags, and it looked as if people were staying in the house.
"What the hell? I thought the door only opened to Crossett's?"
"Hello? Is anyone here? We're looking for someone, is anyone here?"
"Girl what the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed? I don't want to die, I can't die, I'm too young to die. I can't die a virgin."
"Dot shut the fuck up man, we're not going to die. How the fuck are you still a virgin?"
"Seriously?"
"All of you be. . .quiet." Marilyn stopped talking when she saw the very people she thought she would never get to meet.
Her grandparents.
"Holy shit."
"Oh my god."
"I thought they disappeared."
"We did not disappear. We have been searching for my sister, your great aunt Samantha."
"Wait, did you say Samantha. My middle name is Samantha."
"You must be Ronia, my sons adoptive daughter. I'm Theodore Sr. Your grandfather. How is my son?"
"He's good. Happy with Enzo. Your not against him being with Enzo, are you?"
"Of course not. As long as he is happy, I will support my son through everything."
"We are your other grandparents Ronia, Enzo's parents."
"I can't believe I'm talking to my grandparents."
"Marilyn? Micah? You two have grown. Your the spitting image of your mother, and you your father."
"We get that a lot."
"Your the ones that we're named after."
"Of course."
"Your not at all like I imagined. Any of you."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yeah, yeah it is." The four of them hugged.
"Cassandra?"
"Yes?"
"We're your fathers parents. You have my name as your middle name."
"My dad misses you, both of you. A lot actually. He talks about the two of you all the time." Narcissa and Lucius smiled at their granddaughter, pulling her into a hug.
"I have a little brother, Lucius, he's ten, he wants to be called LJ."
The three laughed.
"You must be Amara, I'm your grandmother, your fathers mother, and they are your mothers parents."
"This is insane. They're going to lose their shit."
The four of them laughed and hugged.
"The rest of you must be our grandchildren. We're your grandparents."
"Alexandria Molly Weasley. My dad is George Weasley and my mom is Katie Bell Weasley."
"I'm Taneem Charlie Weasley. My dads Ron, and my mom is Parvati Patil Weasley."
"Dotson Arthur Weasley. Dads Fred and my mom is Angelina Weasley. You can call me Dot or Dotty."
"James Sirius Potter. Harry and Ginny Weasley Potter are my parents."
"You all have your fathers eyes. And the hair."
"We've been known to be notorious for it."
"Alex and Dot love a good prank. Knowing who their fathers are, I'd say it's normal." Arthur and Molly laughed and pulled all of their grandchildren in for a hug. Marilyn was the first one to break the silence.
"What happened to all of you? You all just disappeared out of nowhere. Our parents were broken for weeks. I've never seen my mom cry so much at one time. I've also never witnessed my dad have a panic attack."
"We had to leave. My sister, your great aunt, is alive. So is the aunt you are all looking for. As a matter of fact. Everett, Samantha, Emily, come on out, it's just our grandchildren."
Three women walked out of the shadows.
"What the hell? I thought they were dead!"
"James!"
"What? Oh c'mon let's be honest, at some point, we all thought they were dead. It was like chasing ghosts, and I'm not talking about running after Peeves."
"Micah, calm down. Hey, look at me, look at me. Deep breath. It's just James being James, nothing you can do about it." Ronia was able to calm down Micah, Marilyn looked at her in shock, as did everyone else. Several occasions where Micah had lost his temper and the one on the receiving end always, without fail, landed in the Hospital Wing. Micah got his short fuse from Mattheo, MJ was the only that could calm him down, and now Ronia was the only one that could calm Micah down.
"It's like looking at younger version of our Madalie and Mattheo." Older Micah nodded his head at his wife, silently agreeing with her.
"Back to the topic at hand, what happened to you three?"
"It's a long story, one we don't have time for. You all need to get back to Hogwarts, before anyone realizes your missing."
"Samantha is right."
"Wait, why is my middle name, your name? Did you know my biological parents? Please tell me."
"I did. I was the one that left you on Theodore and Lorenzo's doorstep. Your parents were killed in a car crash, a logging truck had a drunk driver, he veered off into their lane, hitting them head on. They were on the way to hospital, your mother was giving birth to you."
Ronia fell back into Micah, he caught her and held her close, running a calming hand through her hair, kissing her temple on her forehead, leaning his forehead against the side of her face. He had seen his father do it his mother a thousand times, it always seemed to work when she was stressed from work or if she was missing her parents.
"How, how did you know them? Who were they?"
"They were the greatest people that I had ever known. They were beyond excited to bring you into this life Ronia. Your name is your mothers name, your middle name, Evangeline, your mothers sister, and me Samantha. They hadn't named you yet, but I did. I was the next thing to family your mother had. Your father, didn't have much growing up. He in a way was like the Riddle's, as a matter of fact-" An alarm sounded through the house.
"What is that?"
"Someone is here. Quickly children, hide. Go upstairs, first room on the left, in the closet, you'll be able to fit. Go, now." The teens ran up the stairs, and did exactly as they were told.
"That was my foot Potter."
"Shut up. Now." They waited for a few minutes before they heard footsteps into the room. Walking closer to the door. They saw the handle twisting, and all holding their breath. Micah had an arm around Ronnie protectively, ready to use his body as a shield if the person on the other side was a person that they would have to fight. It opened and Mattheo let out a breath of relief when he saw all of them.
"Thank Merlin. Marilyn, Micah, you two have some explaining to do. As for the rest of you, your parents are beyond pissed." Micah and Marilyn looked to another, they shot up and tackled their dad in a bone crushing hug. All three feeling relieved.
Mattheo led the teenagers downstairs, Maddie pulling her kids into her, both of them towering over here, especially Micah with 6'5 self. Marilyn being 5'9. Mattheo was only 6'0, Maddie being 5'4.
"You two are in so much trouble. I'm glad your okay."
"Do you know how worried your father and I were? Amara, you can't just ran off from school whenever you feel like it."
"We had a reason for it."
"I know you did. We know that. Just, next time you decide to go on a man hunt, please talk to us. You damn near gave us a heart attack."
"Hell damn near it is not even the word. I did have a heart attack."
"Tom, Mattheo?" The Riddle brothers froze, they turned towards the voice, only to see who they thought was their sister.
"Emily? Is it really you?"
"Yes. It's me." Mattheo didn't waste a second in hugging his twin sister. Tom joining them a second later. MJ, Pansy, Blaise, Draco, Theo and Enzo all hugged each other, their parents joining them, then their kids. The three Riddles broke apart from their hug. After several years of searching, the brothers finally have their sister back into their arms.
"How? We looked for you, for years."
"I know, I'm sorry. I couldn't let you find me until I had finished with what I was doing."
"Care to fill us in?"
"The ministry has been lying to us all. The minister didn't fire Umbridge. He didn't obliviate Marcus Flint or Adrian Pucey. They're still living in London."
"We know. We know where they are too. In prison. We might have threatened the Minister that if he made them go through the Dementors Kiss, we, uh, we would have someone on the inside kill the two of them, and him."
"Remind me not to piss him off."
"We do that on a daily, surprised he hasn't killed us yet."
"If Mattheo and I were going to kill either of you, we would have done it back when we were all in Hogwarts." Theo and Enzo gulped, pulling Ronia closer to them just a tad. Micah snickered, catching the attention of everyone in the room.
"Something funny?"
"These two really think that I would do anything to hurt Ronnie."
"Never know with anyone with the last name Riddle."
"I take offense to that."
"Not you per say-"
"Alright enough. What I want to know is why our parents decided to disappear into thin air, right under our noses, and not leave any clues as to what they were doing or where they were going." Their parents all looked to one another, sighing before turning back to their kids.
"We did it to protect all of you. Before you argue, we did it to protect our grandchildren as well. Your father might be dead, but that doesn't mean your mother is. She's out for revenge. On you Mattheo. It doesn't matter to her that your her son, she wants you dead."
"Yeah there seems to be a lot of that going around. Still doesn't explain why you left rather than not tell us."
"She wants you to suffer the same way she did. She's after Madalie, and the twins." Silence consumed the room, the only thing that could be heard was, well, nothing. Micah and Marilyn looked to their parents, to each other, their friends and family.
"Why us? We don't even know the woman, what did we do to her?"
"There is a reason you don't know her, and you won't. Ever. Our mother is a woman that you do not want to cross, she's ruthless and insane. She'll stop at nothing to get what she wants."
"So what do we do? We can't just hide. If we hide that shows her we're scared, don't get me wrong I am, but if this was you, would you run and hide?" Mattheo looked at his son, to his daughter, then Maddie.
"I wouldn't. Im not willing to put the lives of your mother and sisters in danger. You have Ronia now, she needs you, and so do your mother and I, Marilyn too." Micah looked at his dad, nothing needed to be said between the two of them. Now that Micah and Marilyn were older, they understood why their parents wanted them to get along more, for times like these. Ronia walked away from her dads, she went into Micah's embrace, the two of them holding each other. Making eye contact with Theo and Enzo, Micah made a silent promise to always protect Ronia, even if things didn't work out between the two of them, he would always be there for her.
"Let's get out of here. It's late, and you lot need to get back to Hogwarts. As much as I want to bring you home with me." Even after being grown and having families of their own, the seven used to be Slytherins, and single Hufflepuff, remained best friends.