An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Fifty-Six

I was left standing just inside the door, staring at my massive extended family in shock. I was still holding Cedric's hand, so he had to stop with me, and he shot me a confused look before following my gaze to the crowd of people in the room.

And just like that, he was frozen in place too.

"AT LAST! I have been waiting years to meet the man you deem worthy of your company!"

Just like that, I was unfrozen, face-palming at my uncle.

"Thor, I haven't even known him years," I said, walking towards my family anyway, hand in hand with Cedric. His parents were over there too, beaming at the both of us, along with the Weasleys. Thor just waved me off.

"Ah, it feels like years! Now—Cedric, is it? Tell me about yourself." Thor clapped a heavy hand on Cedric's shoulder, and to his credit, he didn't flinch. He seemed a little nervous, but he still gave Thor a winning smile and started up a friendly conversation.

I just shook my head, turning to the rest of my family.

"Shouldn't you guys be more focused on me, since you haven't seen me since Easter?" I asked, looking at Aunt Nat.

"We get to spend the whole day with you," she said. "We only get to grill your boyfriend for the next few minutes."

With that, she walked over to join Thor and Cedric. I grimaced a little, but then my dad was hugging me, and I couldn't focus on my family being obnoxious anymore. I was just happy they were all here.

Other than Thor and Nat, my family all gave me tight hugs before they started interrogating Cedric. I talked to his parents for a little while, since this was the first time I'd seen any of his family since we started dating, but they were mostly interested in talking to their son and to my crazy family. I didn't really want to hear Nat subtly threatening Cedric in the middle of polite conversation, and Harry hadn't come into the room yet, so I drifted over to the Weasleys, who had mostly just been watching our interactions with amusement.

"Hello Alexa!" said Mrs. Weasley, stepping forward to give me a big hug as soon as I came close enough. "It's good to see you again."

"You too!" I smiled, returning her tight hug. I did the same with Bill, and then I stood back a little so we could talk. "So are you guys here for Harry?"

They both nodded.

"We knew the muggles probably wouldn't come, and apparently Dumbledore did too," said Bill.

"It was so sweet of him to reach out to us," said Mrs. Weasley. "We're happy we can be here for him."

"I'm sure he'll be happy, too." Both Weasleys smiled, but before we could continue our conversation, Pepper was calling to Mrs. Weasley.

"Molly! Come here, I'd like to introduce you to Happy..."

"Be right there! Excuse me, dears," she said, leaving me and Bill and waving to Pepper as she approached. I mouthed 'thank you' to Pepper as she went; Happy was intense with my dad's security, but he was actually insane with mine. Introducing him to Mrs. Weasley would give him some peace of mind (he was very angry when he didn't get to meet her last summer), and it would also give Cedric a break from his crazy.

"Diggory's taking all this like a champ," Bill said, a slight smile on his face as he watched Bucky use his metal arm to give Cedric a handshake with a squeeze that was just slightly tighter than it needed to be.

"No kidding. I actually think this whole thing is stressing me out more than him."

"Oh, it definitely is," Bill agreed. "You looked like you wanted to curl up into a ball in the corner of the room when your Uncle Thor over there started talking to Cedric."