A Changed Lestrange (1-2) (under editing)

1: A Skipped Timeline

Mrs Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was a mystery how she looked like a sabre-toothed tiger at her three sons.

"Ah." sighed Fred.

"Oh, dear..." sighed George. Mrs Weasley furiously halted in front of the five boys, hands on hips and looking at their guilty faces.

"Um... hello, Mrs Weasley." said Ashton awkwardly.

"Hello, Ashton." said Mrs Weasley in half-fear because she knew who he was - the son of two very powerful Death Eaters. Ron, sensing the doubt in his mother's voice, jumped in quickly.

"Don't worry, Mum, Ashton's a good guy." he looked doubtedly to Ashton, who gave him a cheeky smirk as Ron shuddered. "Maybe a tad violent... but he's not a bad guy."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ashton," said the redheaded mother, turning red slightly from embarrassment. Ashton gave her an urging gesture to speak to her sons as she turned back to them, her face now red with anger as opposed to embarrassment. 

"So." she said.

"Morning, Mum..."

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" she said in a deadly whisper.

"They were starving Harry, Mum! And Ashton was locked in his room - there were bars on his window!"

"You best hope I don't put bars on your window, Ronald Billius Weasley!" All three of them were taller than their mother but still cowered as she unleashed her rage.

"BEDS EMPTY! NO NOTE! CAR GONE! YOU COULD'VE DIED! YOU COULD'VE BEEN SEEN! I WAS OUT OF MY MIND WITH WORRY, BUT DID YOU CARE? NEVER, AS LONG AS I'VE LIVED... JUST WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME! WE NEVER HAD TROUBLE LIKE THIS FROM BILL OR CHARLIE OR PERCY--"

"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs Weasley, prodding her finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen! You could've lost your father his job..." It felt like her ultimatum went on for restless hours. She then turned on Ashton, who slowly backed away, as did Harry.

"Ashton, Harry, dears, I'm very pleased to see you. Come in and have some breakfast." She turned around and walked back into the house and Ashton, after a nervous glance with Harry and Ron, and Ron nodded encouragingly, proceeded to follow her.

The kitchen was rather cramped for Ashton's liking - though he definitely wasn't complaining, all Williams' food hall had was expired food. If it was one percent as good as the food at Hogwarts, Ashton would be pleased.

Mrs Weasley was haphazardly cooking breakfast and throwing dirty looks at Fred, George and Ron as she threw sausages into the frying pan. Every now and then she would mutter something along the lines of, 'don't know what you were thinking' and 'never would have believed it'. Ashton considered Mrs Weasley somewhat like Professor McGonagall - strict, but fair.

"I don't blame you two, dears," she assured Ashton and Harry, tipping a dozen sausages onto both of their plates. "Arthur and I have been worried about the both of you. Just last night we'd said we'd come to get the both of you ourselves if you hadn't wrote back to Ron by Friday. But, really," now Ashton's plate was full of eggs, sausages and bacon. "flying an illegal car across the country - anyone could've seen you--"

"It was cloudy, Mum!" whined Fred.

"You keep your mouth closed while you are eating!" snapped Mrs Weasley. Her expression softened when she started cutting Harry bread and buttering it for him, Ashton's was already buttered. 

At that moment, there was a diversion as a girl in the form of a small, red-headed figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran back out again.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Harry confusedly.

"Ginny." said Ron with a mouthful of food, hoping his mother didn't hear him. "She's been talking non-stop about you over the summer. Bit annoying, actually."
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Just then, the front door slammed.

"He's back!" George exclaimed. "Dad's home!" They hurried through the garden and back into the house as they came across a slumped Mr Weasley in his chair with his glasses removed and breathing heavily, his eyelids closed shut. He had a similar bone structure to Harry, thin as a twig. His red hair was thinning and developing bald patches, but the hair he had left was redder than all of his children's combined. His long, dark green robes were dusty and worn out.

"What a night," he muttered exhaustedly and grabbed for the teapot as his children that were still in Hogwarts, Ashton and Harry sat around him. "nine raids! Nine raids! And that idiot Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me while my back was turned..." 

"Find anything, Dad?" asked Fred eagerly.

"Just a few shrinking door keys. They use 'em for Muggle-baiting. Sell them as a key that keeps shrinking so they can never find it when they need it. Very hard to convict anyone... bless the Muggles, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic... but the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe what's--"

"LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?" bellowed Mrs Weasley, a vein looking ready to pop out of her forehead.  Mr Weasley looked shocked before looking guiltily at his wife.

"C-Cars, Molly, d-dear?" 

"Yes, Arthur, cars! Just imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was..." Mrs Weasley's snapping at her husband seemed to go on forever as, when it finally ended, Mr Weasley blinked in shock.

"Well, er, dear, I think you'll find that would be, erm, quite within the law to that... there's a loophole in the rules, you'll find... as long as they weren't intending to--"

"ARTHUR WEASLEY! You made sure there was a loophole in the rules so you could carry on tinkering with that Muggle rubbish in your shed!" snapped Mrs Weasley, her eyes bulging like absolute fire. "And for your information, Ashton and Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Ashton? Harry?" said Mr Weasley blankly, eyes open wildly. "Ashton and Harry who?" His eyes scanned the room, and his eyes fell on the two boys and jumped. "Good Lord! Harry Potter! Um, Ashton Lestrange... I trust he's not..."

"He's trustworthy, Dad." said Ron convincingly. 

"Very well. Very pleased to meet the both of you, Ron's told us all about--"

"Your sons flew that car to Ashton's care home and Harry's relatives' house and back last night!" shouted Mrs Weasley. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"

"You did? Really? Did it go okay--" he faltered under the red sparks flying from his wife's eyes. "I-I mean... that was wrong b-boys... very... very... very wrong." Ashton couldn't help but think Mr Weasley was only saying that because of the fact he thought his wife would've murdered him wandlessly if he had done otherwise. 

"Come on," Ron said to Ashton and Harry. "I'll show you my room."