Parvati had been warned that Wendy's burgers were a travesty to British beef by Seamus. So she wasn't exactly tempted to order it. There was a question about what she could order the moment that Seamus's parents had led everyone into the fast food place. Fortunately a glance at something called the super value menu enabled her to figure out an order that wouldn't get her in trouble.
"Go ahead and have a burger, I know you have had one before, but I warn you, mass produced food isn't as good as what you had at the Granger's."
Parvati turned and looked at her mother with shock, her mouth dropping open. She had not told her parents about her trying the burger.
"Oh, don't deny it. There isn't a teenage Hindu in Britain who hasn't at least considered it, and that stain on the t-shirt was way too telling."
Parvati felt her face getting warm. She remembered that small stain from where a piece of that burger had dropped on her shirt. She hadn't known that her mother had identified it though. She'd thought that her mother had just spelled away the stain.
"Your father and I met for the fourth time in our life at a barbecue in Texas. Of course that was already after our marriage had been arranged, but we were only fifteen. In Texas, not having beef is not an option. So we had the burgers, and made a promise never to tell anyone who might tell our parents."
Spying that Seamus had already forgone the burgers, Parvati looked up at her parents, and with a sassy tone that she couldn't believe she managed after the words left her mouth, "Perhaps, mother, you are projecting. I shall have the crispy chicken nuggets and a biggie coca-cola. My parents will apparently be having burgers. I suspect that my twin sister will have the same?"
Parvati turned towards her sister, discovering that Padma had an expression of shock, but it was quickly replaced by a matching grin. "Sounds got to me Parvati ... though I think I'll go for a frosty instead of a coca-cola, chocolate, of course."
"Mother, father, may we be excused while you order, joining my Seamus at table?" Parvati asked, slightly bowing with her hands pressed together, attempting to pull the role of dutiful Hindi daughter.
"You may be excused, daughters," her father said. "We, however, will be having the grilled chicken, as is proper." Her father's attempt at being the stern father for once failed, as both his daughters broke out into giggles. "Kaamilee will see to both of your conduct."
With that, Parvati found a seat next to Seamus, with Padma and Kaamilee across from them. As Kaamilee turned and sat down, she noticed that her sister-in-law was starting to show just a bit. That was going to throw a rock among the pigeons at Hogwarts. As far as Parvati knew, her parents were not aware of their upcoming grandparentness. Parvati had nearly given it away once, when during the discussion of proper behavior, her mother had said that she and Seamus were not to be the first to make her a grandmother.
"So, Seamus, ready to go back to Hogwarts?" Parvati asked, as she moved up against his side.
"Homework's done, I'm certain that I have packed everything, so I'm ready to go," Seamus said. "I'm really glad we had to leave last night. Father Quinn has had me do Sunrise Mass every single day I was in range of Saint Columcille's and if I'd been there this morning I wouldn't have slept enough to make it through watching sorting."
"So, do you think Ginny will make it into Gryffindor?" Parvati asked, as Seamus's arm went around her shoulders.
"As if that's even a question," Seamus replied. "That girl is absolutely fearless, and with her brothers, there is no way she's a shrinking violet. I'm just waiting to see that bat-boogey hex that Ron kept talking about, probably on Fred and George."
"True," Parvati said as she spied the parents with loaded trays on their way to the tables.
"They won't make it to Hogwarts," Padma said. "Once Ginny learns that her wand is free to use, I bet she'll have a ready reason to take on at least three of her Hogwarts attending brothers, if not all four."
"No, Percy's probably safe, or he will be with one of his babies in his arms," Parvati said.
"That's certainly the case and from what I've heard, Percy might have figured out how not to offend Ginny a lot better than any of her other brothers," Seamus said as his parents sat down next to him. He took his arm from around Parvati's shoulders and addressed his parents, "My chicken sandwich?"
Neville Longbottom was not sure how to say goodbye to his parents as they stood on platform nine and three quarters. He had never had the opportunity to do so before and was a little chicken.
While it was true that he'd stood on that very platform a year before, saying goodbye to his grandmother with her vulture hat, she wasn't here this year. His parents had asked her to let they say goodbye at the station without her, last night when they thought Neville was already in bed. So this morning he'd hugged his grandmother, who wasn't quite as stiff and unmoving now that she wasn't responsible for him. Much to Neville's parent's surprise, Gran had proceeded to dump three pounds of Skittles, something that Neville had discovered at the Grangers, into his trunk. His parents had some objection to the large quantities of sweets, but Gran had whispered into his ear that she'd owl him more when he was at Hogwarts, since he couldn't go to Hogsmeade as a second year.
So, now he stood, awkwardly, in front of his parents, his trunk at his side, wondering what to do, what to say. He'd never had to say goodbye to his parents before. Time seemed to stretch, yet also compress. Neville wanted to do something, to say something special, yet he seemed to be paralyzed in front of his parents. The words, the sound, the breath, all seemed to be catching in his throat.
Suddenly his mother was hugging him, and his father placed his arm around him. "I'm going to miss you my big little boy," his mother said with a slight sniffle. Then she loosened her hug a bit and looked at him. "You will write."
"Maybe not as much as Ginny wrote Harry, but every week," Neville promised, as his mother ended the hug.
"Now, I expect you to do well this year, again," his father said. "You should also remember that all work and no play makes Neville a dull boy. When your Mum reads me your letters, I want to hear about more than classes."
"Yes Father," Neville replied, looking up and meeting his father's eyes.
"Now, you're probably the first of your year to arrive, so let's go find an empty compartment," his father said. "I'll put your trunk up, before I have to depart for the Ministry."
It would be his father's first day back as an Auror, delayed just so he could take Neville to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. Neville dragged his trunk onto the train and into the first compartment in the third car. As soon as he entered the compartment, his father physically lifted the trunk up to the magically expanded rack above the seats.
Then his father turned around, and as he hooked his thumbs on pockets, Neville suddenly realized something that he hadn't quite seen before. His father was nervous. Now that Neville recognized it, he could tell that his father had been nervous for quite some time, perhaps ever since he'd come home. He wasn't sure why he hadn't seen that before. Perhaps it was just because he was so glad to finally get to know his father. Neville didn't know what to say, so he decided to just hug his father.
"I'm going to miss you Neville," his father said, as Neville buried his face in his father's auror robes.
"Same Dad, same Dad," Neville repeated, pulling away.
Any further words were cut off when Hermione stepped into the doorway, baby Jimmy in her arms. Behind them was Harry, attempting to maneuver two trunks at once. "May we join you, Neville?"
"Yes," Neville replied, looking at his father who was already taking the two trunks from his friends.
"How is little Jimmy, Hermione," his father asked.
"Sleeping through the night finally," Hermione said. "He really didn't like the car seat we got, though that might have been my fault, as there was a crease in the blanket under him when I picked him back up. I don't think he's going to let me put him down for an hour or so."
"Babies do tend to be a bit clingy when they're gotten comfortable again," his father said. "I remember when poor Neville got his foot caught in the crib bars. He wouldn't let Alice put him down all morning. In any case, have a good journey to Hogwarts, we'll probably see you at Yule. Neville, your mother expects at least a weekly letter."
"I'll try to remember, Dad," Neville said, hugging his father one more time before his father tousled his hair and left the compartment.
"So, Neville, how was having parents at home," Harry asked, as he sat down beside Hermione, placing his left arm around her shoulders.
Neville paused a moment before replying. It wasn't an easy question to answer, not to Harry, who like Neville before the summer had not known what having parents instead of relatives. Living with Gran wasn't near as bad as with Harry living with his aunt and uncle, but both of them had felt that not having their parents had made them loose something, especially when the other students talked about their parents. There had been times where Neville would have traded everything for the overbearing smothering hug that Ron got from his Mum.
"Weird, but good mostly," Neville said. "Mum and Dad spent a lot of time with me, getting to know how I grew in their absence. Sometimes it was a bit smothering, especially with Mum waiting to tuck me in and wake me up early every single morning. Sometimes a bloke wants to sleep in every single morning. Hi, Dean. Anyway, how was living at the Grangers, put your fingers in your ears, Hermione, I want honesty."
"Best summer I've ever had," Harry said, looking down at Jimmy. He touched his index finger to Jimmy's nose, and the baby smiled, as Dean shoved his trunk onto the shelf above Neville "Hermione's parents were great. I got real clothes of my own, and was allowed to arrange and decorate my own room. They even got me a new mattress. I've never had a new mattress before. I didn't have near a tenth of the chores that the Dursley's made me do, and that's with helping take care of my son."
"I told you the Dursley's were unreasonable, and you wouldn't have had to do half of what you did if you didn't volunteer," Hermione said, as Dean took a seat across from her and pulled out his sketch pad. "Not that we'd ever object to you baking any of your pies, and that chicken dish you made last Thursday ... simply divine."
Neville could see the blush rising on Harry's face, as the apparently good cook replied, "It wasn't much. I could have done better with a little more time, and a better supply of spices."
Neville noticed that Hermione was suddenly looking upwards, and her head shook slightly. From last year's experience, he could tell that Hermione had issue with Harry's non-acceptance of the compliments. Neville moved on, however, as he was a bit curious about other things, before Hermione could open her mouth to berate Harry. "Have they told you what your arrangements will be like this year?"
Hermione glared briefly at Harry, who did not seem to notice as he was busy moving his finger such that Jimmy would attempt to capture it's tip. Then she spoke up. "Well, apparently I'm still going to be over on the boys side, but Professor McGonagall said that she had enough time to set up an actual room for Harry, Jimmy, and me, attached to the second year boy's dorm. We still have to share the bath, though. We've got an assigned house elf, named Sercan, who will help take care of Jimmy when we're in class. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to collect on the diaper change promises from last year, and I do intend to take Jimmy to the Great Hall to eat, even if he's just breast feeding for now."
"And no staring at Hermione when she'd breast feeding," Harry stated. "It makes her uncomfortable, and Jimmy can tell that."
"I promise you, the only time I'm going to stare at you, Hermione, is for the purpose of drawing or painting," Dean replied. Neville could see that his pencil was already scratching out a picture of the Potter family.
"I expect hat now, Dean," Hermione replied. "Thank you for the Baptism painting. It's hanging in the parlor at home now."
"I was really surprised that your parents commissioned me to paint it," Dean said. "Thanks to that, and the royalties I'm getting for the cover of the book, I don't think I'm ever going to run out of supplies again. I've got plenty to keep up my practice this year, though I don't think I'm going to take any more commissions until next Summer. They take a lot of time to do right. Hi, Ron, your family must be running early this year."
"Thank Penny and Ginny for that," Ron said, sitting down beside Neville. Percy levitated Ron's trunk up before departing. "Penny wanted to leave plenty of time in case something happened with her and Percy's twins, and Ginny wasn't going to chance missing the Hogwarts Express for her first year. Looks like Seamus is sitting with the Patils, along with Lavender"
"That might be a good thing, especially when Jimmy decides to take a nap," Hermione said. "We're the quieter half of Gryffindor in our year."
"Ginny has found a compartment with her friend Luna between us and the Patils," Ron said. "I don't think that will be enough to keep us from hearing Seamus, though."
The time seemed to pass so swiftly, as the group waited for the Hogwarts Express to pull away from Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters. All too soon, the carriage jerked as the train began to move. Neville moved to stand by the window between the seats, waving at his mother as the Express left the station.
No sooner than he sit back down did the clear voices of Seamus and Parvati waft into the compartment, singing to Sir Hubert Parry's tune, William Blake's poem.
And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England's pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold:
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green & pleasant Land.
He looked out the window to see that they were still passing through the outskirts of London, but soon they would be in that green and pleasant land. It would go by, so close yet unreachable. By night fall they'd be in the Highlands of Scotland, in a grey castle, already missing the summer rituals. Neville sighed. "Do you think we can play exploding snap without issues with Jimmy?"