mundungus' gifts pt. 1

A/N:
Hey! Been quite awhile. Sorry for the attack of edits —I messed up Daisy's birthday and I can't wait to fix the storyline. As a gift, here's a new chapter!

I haven't had the time to add GIFs in this and the last few chapters, sorry! Hope you readers still love the story despite lacking visual appeal HAHAHA

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February 13th, 1996

SIRIUS SLAMMED THE attic door open and placed his hands on his hips, "Alright, young lady, that's it. You've been cooped up in here for two weeks, and when you get down you're covered in sweat and tiny cuts all over your hand and I've been calling your name nonstop— what the bloody hell is this thing?!"

"Oh," Daisy huffed, reappearing from behind a seven-foot wire frame. "My science project."

"Science?" Sirius remarked curiously, stepping deeper into the room. "What can this do?"

"I'm still fine-tuning this— equipment. It should be working now..."

"Where did you even get—"

"Don't touch it!" Daisy cried out, then added hastily out of manner, "Please!"

Sirius, who already had a finger placed on the metallic contraption, halted with wide eyes like a deer caught in headlights.

He backed away in a very slow motion.

"Thank you," Daisy curtsied slightly in a playful manner.

"You know you're getting cheekier each day."

"I learn from the best," she said, grinning and obviously referring to her housemate.

"See!" Sirius exclaimed, "So, where did you even get all these... this?"

"Here and there. I never left the house, I promise," Daisy said. "Kreacher helps."

After Sirius yelled 'Get out!' at it before New Year, Kreacher disappeared from Grimmauld Place for two weeks or so. Sirius had to call out its name for nearly half an hour before it finally returned, saying that Sirius didn't really state where it should 'get out' of so it took the chance to get out of the suffocating house entirely.

Kreacher was then forbidden to leave the premises due to its knowledge regarding the Order, and it complied. Of course, followed by a string of creatively woven insult to its Master.

Since then, it... Well, it never really helped with the cleaning. Daisy and Sirius would occassionaly caught sight of it, brooding in one dark corner or sneaking stuffs into its nest, somewhere in the basement.

At first, Kreacher wouldn't take any instruction from Daisy. It just muttered profusely about her blood status. But then Sirius blew up angrily at it and told it that Daisy was practically his niece. She was a Mistress here as much as he was the house's Master.

So when Daisy needed wires, solar panels, and random accessories for this project of hers, Kreacher obliged ("Of course, Young Miss— Kreacher cannot understand how Master can see this girl as his niece, no, and oh the shame of it, she keeps on moving things around, my poor Mistress' things, my Mistress' legacy—"). Daisy didn't know and didn't want to know where it managed to get Muggle electrical equipments.

"What... are you doing?" Sirius raised his eyebrows in amusement as Daisy slipped into the metallic cage and began clicking switches left and right.

"Testing its functionality." She tugged on a cable leading to a weird looking cone, placed near the window. "Why did you come— up here?"

"It's lunch time," Sirius answered monotonously. His eyes were still glued to the alien project. "I cooked. You haven't answered my question. What's this for?"

Daisy connected her Muggle phone with its charger, and it lit up successfully.

"Yes!" She exclaimed happily, finally able to scroll through her contacts. "Look, it's charging! And it's working well!"

"What's that got to do with this box thing?"

"You told me that magic— is interfering with my reception, so I figured if it's able to— interfere with radio waves, then magic must be a form— of force or wave itself, am I right? Maybe that is what magic is; the gift, ability to control the forces— of the world. For example, levitation spell must be a— way to repel gravity, or to direct enough particles dispersed— in the air to carry its weight— You don't follow me, do you?"

"What do you think, sweetheart?" Sirius said sarcastically.

"Anyway, this is a tweaked form of— Faraday Cage. And a solar powered charging port. In conclusion, my cellphone is operatable— in the house now!"

"Yay! Now, let's eat lunch."

"It's barely twelve! Five minutes, please!" Daisy whined, still undecided on who she should call first.

"Nope. You get the entire day to stay in that gigantic bird cage slash aquarium and play with your cellphone after lunch. Get down right now."

"But, Sirius—"

"Don't make me say it twice," Sirius said warningly, wiggling his index finger. He swiftly turned around and head back out the door.

"Fine," Daisy sighed, climbing out of the cage, "Mother."

"I heard that!"

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February 13th, 1996

AS LIFE BECAME so hectic with his thriving business, D.A. meetings, finding loopholes in Umbridge's tyranny, N.E.W.T.s preparation, Angelina's constant nag about how hard Quidditch was without her top players, and classes, Fred only indulged in the thought of Daisy when the rest of his dormmates were fast asleep.

Nothing seemed to change from last year. They were still miles and miles apart. They couldn't exchange letters, saying how they missed each other and how they were doing.

But his unrequited affection burst out of its limit today —a day before St. Valentine's day, because George gave him a heads-up that he would be ditching him for a date in Hogsmeade with Alicia.

George and Alicia.

"What?" George asked defensively, though his face was very red when he said it, "She's nice."

"I know she's nice," Fred said, "I just... didn't know... Was that what you and Daisy were talking about last Christmas? How come she knows more than me, your literal half?!"

"She doesn't. You're exaggerating again," George rolled his eyes, "Just hang out with Lee or something."

"Fine. Have fun, but not too much fun!"

But then, Lee told him to hang out with George because he had a plan with some of their classmates to invite random girls for a group date, and he knew Fred wouldn't like to join.

Well, that's true. But he was not happy about it.

Angelina, as this year's Quidditch Captain, forced her terrible team to practice tomorrow, so her, Ginny, and Ron were out of the questions.

Harry was going on a date with Cho.

Hermione didn't even bat an eye as she scurried away, saying, "I've got plans, sorry."

Fred ended up sulking the rest of the afternoon, wondering what to do and what Daisy was doing at the moment.

How he wished he could whisk her here and take her to a magical Hogsmeade date. That was a nice thought.

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February 13th, 1996

DAISY SPENT HOURS calling her acquaintances, catching up with them and apologizing for not reaching out since their brief encounter last month.

She couldn't exactly tell them that she couldn't find a decent signal or an electrical socket to charge her phone —that was why she couldn't call, so she just said that she was too busy settling in. She was adapting.

Surprisingly, she chatted the longest with Dominic, who updated her with all kinds of neighbourhood news, including Mr. Allen's therapies, Marisol's servant having a baby, Athena's ballet recital next week, and his very own girlfriend named Wendy.

Vincent scolded her for not returning his calls, and Taylor joined in the conversation from the same device. They were happy, together in Harvard.

Lucy rambled on about how much she missed her and fed her lots of intel about the Allen Residence.

Marisol kept on asking about her condition. She was glad that Daisy wasn't gasping every four words anymore, now that her lungs were getting better.

Ms. Sloan was teaching in a new household.

She even called her Father, and they exchanged a few cordial questions. He was learning how to channel his anger through non-destructive means with his doctor.

When she finally placed the phone down, at the brink of dinner, she felt... lonely.

She wished she could pick up the phone and it could connect her to any of the Weasley kids, too. Gazing out the lonely outdoor made her reminisce on the many beautiful days she had spent with Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Percy, Bill, and Charlie. Harry and Hermione, too. She wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could feel her missing them and if they would drop by soon. She wondered what her favorite pair of twins were up to, what they were doing... What Fred was doing...

She glanced at her phone and noticed the date. February 13th, she thought, Ah... Tomorrow's Valentine's.

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February 14th, 1996

FRED NEARLY SKIPPED breakfast, still sulking on his bed. He figured he should just make use of the Hogsmeade day-off to catch up on his sleeping and lounge uselessly around.

Nearly.

George practically dragged him out of bed, saying he should eat breakfast before wasting the day. He was disgusted by the many red and pink decorations around the Great Hall, and the many abashed giggles resonating throughout Hogwarts' corridors.

"Fred—"

"Don't talk to me," Fred groaned, "Bunch of traitors."

"C'mon!" Lee threw a hand over his shoulders, "Come with us! D'you have a girl in mind, huh? If you don't, Kenneth is dating this girl from Hufflepuff, one year below us, Melissa Hughes, and she's bringing some of her mates like Kennedy, Sif—"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar barn owl flew over and dropped a thick envelope onto his thankfully-already-empty plate, then wasted no time to turn around and leave.

"What's that?" Angelina inquired.

"Dunno," Fred said, furrowing his eyebrows. He flipped the package around only to find his name scribbled messily on it.

He tore the envelope open and found a folded, empty parchment. A short letter was attached.

Fred,

Write, and your sentence will appear for ten seconds on its counterpart.

This is your Valentine's Day gift from me. No one should know.

Nice doing business with ya.

M. F.

Fred's face lit up immediately. He grinned like a mad man, clutching the paper tightly with his hands, "I have to go."

"Huh? Who is it?" George asked.

"From Dung," Fred whispered to him, then straightened his back and said in a louder voice, "I'll tell you tonight."

"I thought you're mad because we're leaving you alone," Lee frowned, huffing. "Are you coming or not?"

"Nope."

"Hem, hem."

It seemed like Umbridge was allergic to students' happiness. The moment a jubilant sound was heard from people in non-green-colored robes, she was there in an alarming jiffy.

Fred and George gave her identical uninterested expression, while their group of friends held their breaths.

"Yes, Professor, ma'am?" Fred said in a solemn, sweet, yet definitely sarcastic tone, imitating her mockingly.

"I see you have received a package, Mr. Weasley," she said, "May I see what it is?"

"Aren't there more pressing matters for a High Inquisitor, other than checking students' package, Professor?" George beamed.

"If you have nothing to hide, there should be no problem for me to take a peek, hem? Shall I take your disobedience as a warning sign?"

"Just give it to her, Fred," Alicia said in a low volume.

Fred took out the parchment and lifted it high in the air, flipping it back and forth to show its definite emptiness. "There."

Professor Umbridge eyed it in complete scrutiny. She looked completely unhappy with the fact that it was nothing.

"It's just an extra parchment I need for Herbology essay. May I go, Professor? I have to jot down the answer before I completely forget."

"Well," Professor Umbridge tugged on her pink cardigan, "I suppose so."

Then the toad-like woman walked away, towards her next group of victims.

"Bye, boys and girls," Fred hopped over the long bench, taking the envelope and everything else, plus two extra chocolate scones to snack in his room. "Have fun!"

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February 14th, 1996

"FLOWER, DID YOU raid England's chocolate supply?!" Sirius blanched when he entered the kitchen that morning. Daisy was prepping platter after platter of chocolate-based delicacies, so many, they were covering the entire tabletop. Tonks was there, still bundled in her winter garments, munching on a bite-sized cake. "This looks like a bloody testing event!"

"Wotcher, Sirius."

He narrowed his eyes at his cousin, "And what are you doing here?"

"Ouch," Tonks placed a palm on her chest, feigning hurt, "Don't act like you hate being visited. Other people may take it the wrong way."

Sirius sat down beside Tonks, then picked a chocolate finger from its pile. "Seriously, what are you doing here?"

"Taking Moody's documents, again, and Hestia's bag," Tonks dramatically sighed, "Perks of being the youngest, and being lonely on Valentine's Day. Thankfully, we have our lovely Daisy to brighten up our bleak day."

"Oh! Dais, you should show her your aquarium bird cage!"

"Aquarium bird cage?"

"It's a makeshift Muggle Safe— Haven," Daisy said, "I'll show you when you— don't have to hurry. Pay a visit this weekend, please!"

"Alright, sure!" Tonks shrugged, "I'll check my schedule."

"Who are you making all these for?"

"The Weasleys, mainly. Mrs. Weasley promised to drop some— at my house for Lucy and the others, then send some to Hogwarts. You two. Remus. Any other visitor."

"Speaking of Remus, this is his chocolate supply you're using, isn't it?"

"Yes," Daisy chuckled, "I raided Remus'— year-long supply."

Tonks scoffed playfully, "More like month-long."

"Oh-ho-ho," Sirius shook his head, "He's gonna be mad."

"He won't, I asked him. He's in the bathroom."

"He's what?!" Tonks blinked, whipping her head back until a painful crack was heard. "Ouch..."

Daisy looked at the older girl innocently, "I thought you knew."

"I barely got here! When did he come?"

"Six o'clock," Daisy said. She craned her neck to look over Sirius' shoulders, "I wonder why he's— taking so long."

Actually, Remus wasn't looking his best. It was the first time he came over after last week's Full Moon. He looked worn out, tired, and the brand new cut on his collarbone still seemed so fresh. So when he heard Tonks arriving, he dashed to the bathroom and hadn't come out since.

Daisy made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Did he has something against her? Why did he keep on avoiding her, or stuttering when she called his name?

As if on cue, Remus reappeared by the open door. "Er— Hi."

"R— Remus!" Tonks said, her purple hair turning pink involuntarily. "I didn't know you were here!"

"Yeah, Remus," Sirius snickered cheekily. Unlike Daisy, who were always the last to catch on romantic things, he knew what was going on. "I didn't know you were here."

Tonks smacked his shoulder behind her back, but maintained her smile at the newcomer.

"I was just—" Remus scratched his head, "Daisy— Helping."

"Ah..." Sirius nodded, "Helping Daisy, you mean. And what were you doing in the bathroom for fifteen minutes?"

Remus turned as pink as Tonks' hair, while the latter hissed, "Sirius!"

"What? I'm just curious."

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Marisol and Atlas being all lovey-dovey