Twisted (Charlie Weasley)

Chapter Twenty Five

A quietness fell over headquarters as everything seemed to calm down for a moment as everyone celebrated not only the new year but the first of the Weasley grandchildren to be born. It was modest to say that Artie found himself a celebrity amongst his aunts, uncles, grandmother and most of all his namesake, Arthur Weasley the first. Charlie was given the time to stay briefly with us in Grimmauld Place, though I knew that once he left Artie and I would join him in returning back to where we really belonged.

Romania owned more than just a small part of my heart, it had bought it whole and didn't seem to have any thoughts of returning it. While I loved England, there were bittersweet memories here as well. Things that I did not want to have haunting my every move, and things that should have been left in the past the minute I changed my name from Lestrange to Tonks.

It was in all this quiet that I grew content. Happier then I had ever felt before, and a happy that was all thanks to the family that had adopted me as their own. There was above all though, a thankfulness that Artie would never feel what I felt growing up. He would be a Weasley, whether that meant a golden boy like his Uncle Bill and Percy, or a trouble maker just as his Uncle Fred and George seem to be. It did not matter to me, all that really mattered was that he was blanketed in love for each moment of his life, something I knew I never would recieve.

The first years of my life were hard, but they are in the past. These words are something that I have said almost every day for several years, even more so now that I have found what true happiness and true love are. I have found a place, a person to call home... even if he has a love for danger, I know that it is nothing compared to the love he has for me and now the boy we call our son.

"He has your eyes," Molly said as she rocked Artie back and forth in her arms, pulling his small and chubby body up to her own. "Other then that though, I would say he looks just like what Ronald looked like as a baby."

The youth had left back for Hogwarts a few days prior, and their absence from the house hung over everyone like a tone of bricks. It was a clear sign now that it was time the Order get serious once again, the holidays that shouldn't have been taken were long past over now.

I sat at the end of the long table where order meetings were generally held, watching with a careful eye as Molly swung Artie about trying to make him laugh. "How unfortunate," I said bitterly at the thought, "Now we both have the pleasure of sharing the same eye colour as Bellatrix Lestrange."

A laugh sounded from behind me, Bill had been staying in Headquarters the past couple weeks to keep a watchful eye on each of his parents, in a slight panic ever since the accident had occurred, "Don't be silly Indy," He said pulling up a chair next to me, "You have a much crazier look in your eye then she does!"

"Oh you tosser, enough of that... No one could possibly be as crazy as the queen of crazy herself." I told him throwing a wad of paper at him. He dodged it easily and laughed as I hit my head down on to the table.

Molly let out a light laugh as she watched me hit my head down, and then looked down to Artie once again, "And while he may look like his uncle Ron, he certainly cries like his uncle Bill."

I snorted as I looked up to Bill who was very red in the face, "I can't say what I was like as a baby... or really what I looked like other then a single photo, my birth announcement... I am sure none of you can imagine Bellatrix smiling and giggling while putting together a baby book."

For a moment the room was silent, Molly and Bill both unsure of what to say to make me feel better... and there really was nothing to be said. I had come to terms long ago that my mother was no saint. I was happy with the life I had though, and there was nothing else that truly could be said on the matter. "Andromeda took lots of photos when I moved in with them, it was crazy... sometimes Tonks and I would morph so we looked like each other, I am sure Andromeda knew as she took the photos, but she never said anything about it."