Somewhere in the midst of physically drawing a chart of the seating arrangement of this dinner so that I could keep referencing everyone correctly, I decided the Weasley's had too many children. I'll put the chart in my A/N at the end if you really want to see it, but it really shouldn't affect your life too much. I just kinda want to include it because I took the time to do it. I dunno. I'm weird. Ignore me, read on.

Everyone arranged themselves around the dining room table, and Hermione felt a rumbling low in her stomach as the food began to arrange itself on the table. A pitcher of water floated around and filled everyones glasses as Fred grabbed the casserole dish and gave himself and Sam heaping portions of Molly's famous chicken and dumplings. Everyone quietly filled their plates, all bickering briefly forgotten at the promise of full stomachs. For a few minutes there was nothing but the clatter of metal forks against porcelain plates and a chorus of contented chewing.

Then, Luna asked Ginny politely about her wedding, to which Ginny started beaming and began to blather on about floral arrangements while her right hand fiddled unconsciously with the diamond on her left. Molly's eyes sparkled as she took in the pink tinge of her daughter's cheeks, and Fred and George shared a disgusted look with each other over the table. Amongst the wedding talk Arthur leaned over to Harry and whispered something that made Harry's eyes dart over to Luna, and then back to the older gentleman with a half-hearted shrug.

Hermione tried to listen with some kind of interest, but her eyes kept going back to Sam. It was funny, but with all the floating dishes, and magical wall hangings, and the frankly overwhelming abundance of red hair around him, Sam didn't seem distracted at all. In fact his eyes were fixed quite singularly on George.

It wasn't until a lull happened upon the conversation that Sam spoke up.

"What happened to your ear?"

"Sam!" Hermione admonished loudly. "That's very rude."

Sam looked at his mother with wide eyes and started to protest before George interrupted.

"No, 'Mione, it's fine, really." Everyone looked at George, expecting some kind of emotional reaction to the question, but George simply steepled his hands in front of him and fixed Sam with a curious gaze. "Do you like war stories, Sam?"

Sam swallowed hard and nodded, his eyes unblinking in anticipation. In fact, Hermione knew, Sam did love listening to the vets at their local diner swapping tales about battle scars, and jungles, and lying in trenches with bullets whizzing overhead. He wasn't old enough to really understand, but he knew it sounded like an adventure. This story, however, promised to be different than those.

"Years ago, before you were even born, there was a great war in the Wizarding World. You see Sam, sometimes witches and wizards are born in this world, and grow up knowing about magic. Or sometimes, like you, they grow up around Muggles."

"Muggles are people who don't have magic," Hermione added quietly, and Sam nodded his understanding without looking at her.

"Most of the time when people grow up around Muggles, it's because they have parents who don't have magic. There are other reasons it happens of course," George gave quick glances to Hermione and Harry in turn. "But when a witch or wizard has parents without magic, we call that witch or wizard a Muggleborn.

"It makes absolutely no difference. Your mom is a Muggleborn and she was one of the best and brightest witches of her age." The corners of Sam's mouth twitched up at the compliment to his mother but he didn't interrupt. "But there were some people who thought that being Muggleborn was something to be ashamed of. They thought Muggleborns weren't as good as what they called 'Purebloods'. It was complete rubbish of course, but these bad people had a leader. And his name was Voldemort."

It hit Hermione how long she had really been gone when nobody flinched at the name.

"Voldemort was very powerful, and very evil. He started a war to get rid of all the Muggleborns. But luckily, the good people had a leader too. That was Harry."

Sam broke his gaze from George for the first time since the tale began to look at Harry in awe, to which Harry bowed his head very modestly, and gestured for George to continue with the story.

"There was a lot of fighting, and a lot of people got hurt. I lost my ear. That scar on Harry's forehead is from Voldemort. When you meet my other brother, Bill, you'll see he has scars on his face from where a werewolf attacked him." Sam gasped quietly at this. "But in the end, Harry killed Voldemort. And then he worked very hard to undo all the bad things that Voldemort had done. It took awhile." George broke out of his storytelling character here, and turned to his left to fix Hermione with a soft gaze. "But he did succeed."

Sam looked down at his plate, digesting all of this new information. It was a story he would hear many more times throughout his life, understanding it a little better with time and exposure, but for now all he knew was that he was sitting at a table full of superheroes. After a long moment he raised his head again, and looked down the table at his father.

"Did you fight too?"

"I did," Charlie affirmed, he nodded back down towards Hermione and a small smile played on his lips. "So did your mom."

Sam looked at his mother like he'd never seen her before.

"I'm not sure this is dinner conversation," Molly said quietly. "As proud as I am of all of you, these aren't memories I wish to be revisiting during my first evening with my grandson."

George looked at his mother apologetically, and Hermione saw Sam's face fall. She scrambled to change the subject at her son's heartbroken expression.

"Catch me up, how's everyone doing?"

"The shop is doing fantastic," Fred piped up quickly. "George and I are having the time of our lives, aren't we Georgey?"

"Bill and Fleur have a daughter," Percy added. "Her name is Clarice, she's three now. Blondest hair you've ever seen."

"Percy's got himself a real love story in the works." Fred clapped his brother on the shoulder hard enough that Percy almost fell face first into his dinner.

"Oh?" Hermione beamed as Percy's face went beet red.

"His name is Thomas," Percy mumbled, wringing his hands together awkwardly as he found himself in the spotlight for the first time that evening. "He was a Hufflepuff in my year. And it's not a love story Fred we've only been dating for a few months."

"Eight months," Ginny chimed in through a mouth full of bread. She grinned in response to her brother's glare.

"I'm starting to consider retirement," Arthur announced, and apparently Hermione wasn't the only person hearing this news for the first time.

"Is everything all right, Dad?" Charlie asked. "You aren't ill or anything are you?"

"Oh nonsense," Arthur waved him off. "I'm going to live forever. But come now. Fred and George are wealthy businessmen, Percy and Ron are working for the ministry, Charlie's off in Romania fighting dragons, Ginny and Bill are starting families." Arthur shrugged. "You're all grown up. I don't need to work sun up to sun down to keep you kids fed and clothed anymore. Your poor mother is home all by herself, and now you guys are starting to give me grandkids to play with. Rubber ducks just don't hold the same priority they used to."

"Good for you, Arthur," Harry reached over and gripped the older man's arm fondly. "Really, congratulations."

"To Dad," Ginny said, raising her water glass in a toast. Everyone else at the table followed suit.

"To Dad," everyone chorused, even the ones around the table who didn't have red hair.

"I propose a game of Quidditch!" Charlie exclaimed loudly after dinner had been cleaned up. A mix of reactions came flooding back to him.

"Charlie it's after dark."

"It's freezing out."

"I'm too full."

"Hell yeah let's play Quidditch!"

"What's Quidditch?"

It was the last response from Sam that sealed the decision to play. They broke into small teams, Ginny and Harry playing both Chaser and Seeker against each other, one twin beating for each team, and Percy and Charlie taking their places as Keepers in the small backyard Quidditch pitch. Everyone flew high up on their broomsticks, and Hermione and Luna sat on the grass, watching and cheering for both sides. Sam sat nestled in his mother's lap, and she explained the rules to him as the Quaffle found its way into Ginny's grasp, and Fred stopped a well aimed Bludger from unseating his little sister.

They played for an hour, and Sam grew hoarse from cheering. He gave one last whoop as Charlie smacked away the Quaffle Ginny had aimed at him, then fell tiredly back against his mother and remained contently silent for the rest of the game: Which wasn't long, Harry caught the snitch a few minutes later and him, George and Charlie won the game by a small margin.

They landed with Charlie pumping the Quaffle in the air victoriously.

"Did he have fun?" Charlie asked as he observed Sam drifting to sleep in his mother's arms.

"Yes," Hermione assured him. "Your showing off was just as appreciated as you hoped it would be."

"Ah can't get anything past you," Charlie beamed. Luna gave him a sidelong look and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Right, well. You should get him to bed, yeah? He looks about ready to conk out right here."

"Yeah," Hermione moved to gather Sam in her arms and stand up, but faltered. He wasn't as light as he used to be, especially as a dead weight, and she was having trouble maneuvering from the ground to her feet without waking or dropping him.

"I've got him," Charlie offered, and with very little apparent effort he took Sam from Hermione's arms and cradled him. Sam's legs wrapped around his dad's waist automatically and his head nuzzled in Charlie's shoulder.

"I'll just set him up in Bill's room, yeah?" Charlie asked, and Hermione nodded.

"Thanks."

Sometime during this interaction, Luna had gotten up and made her way over to Ginny, who was swapping post-game insults with Harry at the edge of the pitch.

"Gin, can you do me a favor?" Luna asked. Ginny took an unconscious step away from Harry, distancing herself like she often did when Luna was around, out of respect more than anything else.

"Yeah, sure, anything, what is it?"

"Can you stay here tonight?" Ginny tilted her head curiously and Luna clarified. "Stay with Hermione. I don't want to impose anymore on your parents, but I think Hermione needs a friend."

Ginny was about to argue that her parents never considered Luna an imposition, but then Harry placed his hand on the small of Luna's back, and Ginny realized there might be other reasons Luna didn't want to stay.

"Yes, of course, Hermione and I have a lot of catching up to do anyhow."

After Luna and Harry went home for the evening, the remaining group made their way back inside to where Arthur and Molly were sitting by the fire. Ginny hugged her mother over the back of the couch, pressing her cheek to her's affectionately.

"I'm gonna stay the night if that's ok, Mum."

Molly smiled and leaned back against her daughter. "Of course it is."

"Me too," said Percy, sinking down into the large armchair in the corner. "I'd like to spend a little more time with Sam in the morning."

Molly and Hermione both nodded. Percy wasn't as extroverted as his brothers, he often felt overshadowed in social situations and easily got lost in the shuffle. If he was going to bond with his nephew, it was going to be one on one, not while entertaining the crowd as Fred had done. The interest itself made Hermione's heart swell, she knew Percy wouldn't bother if it wasn't very important to him. But of course it was important, Sam was his family. She couldn't seem to wrap her head around this new concept. Sam had a real family that loved him. Fred interrupted her thoughts abruptly by lifting her off her feet in a big hug and spinning her around the living room a few times.

"So good to see you Hermione, I love the little man, he's fantastic."

Hermione laughed and stumbled clumsily as Fred put her back on her feet. "Taking off then?"

"Gotta work bright and early. C'mon George."

"Yep." George kissed Hermione on the cheek. "Let us know if you need anything. Help getting set up in a flat, anything at all." He paused and pulled back from her. "You and Sam are staying, right?"

Everyone stared at Hermione expectantly. She nodded, eyes sparkling with excitement and love for the people around her.

"Yeah. Definitely staying, George. Can't get rid of me that easily."

"So long as Charlie doesn't scare her off again," Fred muttered, then grabbed George's sleeve and pulled him towards the front door before Arthur had a chance to yell at him. "Love you guys, see you later, you know how to reach us!" He blew a kiss to Ginny, and then him and George raced out of the house and apparated loudly a few feet past the front door.

"I did ask Charlie to stay for a few days," Arthur told Hermione. "I can send him away if it really bothers you, I just don't know how long he'll be gone if I do."

Hermione nodded. That made sense. Charlie was already blowing hot and cold. At first had taken to Sam like there was a gravitational pull between them, and then at dinner he had seated himself as far away from the boy as physically possible. Part of her understood how upsetting the whole situation must be for Charlie, but a much larger part of her didn't care. Not when it came to her son.

"A few days would be good," she finally agreed. "Just to get things sorted."

"So I'm getting married," Ginny said as she ran a hairbrush through Hermione's curls. The girls were sitting on Ginny's bed, Ginny combing through Hermione's hair in a painfully feminine gesture, but Hermione didn't mind. Ginny had way too many brothers, she relished these girly moments when they came.

"So I've heard," Hermione murmured.

"And I was hoping," Ginny went on, ignoring the sarcasm. "That you would be my maid of honor."

Hermione turned her head to look at her. "Surely you picked someone else by now."

"Blaise has a sister, I was going to ask her, but..." Ginny chewed on her lip. "I guess I never got around to it."

Hermione smiled and turned fully to pull the smaller girl into a hug. "I'd love to, Gin."

Ginny nuzzled against Hermione's hair and smiled. The sisterly bond between the two of them wasn't something that could be broken just by Hermione sleeping with a brother or two of Ginny's and running away. Hermione gave Ginny a squeeze, feeling like no time had passed at all, except for the fact there was a little more of Ginny to squeeze now.

There was a light rap at the door, and the pair pulled apart as it opened slowly.

"Sam's asleep," Charlie said, not quite making eye contact with Hermione. "I kept him up for a little while, told him some stories about dragons. But he's out for good now."

Hermione nodded. "Good, thank you. He's had a long day he needs some sleep."

Charlie looked at his sister. "Ginny do you think you could give me and Hermione a minute?"

"This is my room," Ginny shot back, but Charlie frowned at her and she grudgingly rose to her feet and pushed past him.

"Be nice," she muttered, and Charlie fought the urge to shove her as she disappeared around the corner. When she was gone he walked fully into the room and shut the door behind him.

"So..." he began awkwardly. Hermione nodded.

"So.."

seating:

Sam| Fred| Percy | Luna |Harry

Molly [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]Arthur

Hermione|Ginny|George|Charlie

I hate uneven tables don't you? All Ron's fault, it would've been fine if he stayed.

Yeah I got a little too involved in this chapter.