Chapter Fifteen, New Friends

Izzy looked around her room in wonder, it was a little overwhelming that she had her own room; not her cupboard, not Dudley's spare room. But her own room, and a room she actually got to decorate. Standing besides Ginny in the middle of the room, that was rather bare apart from the numerous pots of paint, rollers, trays and other equipment. When Mr Weasley and Bill had put a sort of stencil on the walls they had also shrunken the bed, rug, chest of drawers with a mirror, wardrobe, chair and bookcase and moved them into another room until they had finished later that day. Izzy was still quite shocked at the paint drying within seconds, didn't give off fumes and didn't need more than one coat like Muggle paint. Mr Weasley had found that very intriguing.

"Thank you for helping me, Ginny." Izzy said shyly, painting the golden muriels by the window and on the left side of the wall. 
"It's okay, I want to help you." Ginny smiled. Izzy smiled back at her, both of them giggling when a bit of paint flicked on to their faces. Izzy had changed into a long sleeved olive T-shirt, black leggings, red converse and her hair up in a bun. She had also taken off her Heiress rings, slipping them inside her rucksack for safekeeping. Ginny had changed into a black T-shirt, blue faded jeans and brown boots. Izzy had just finished painting a golden replica of Hedwig and Ginny, a golden time turner, a black broom with a hat on top, and a shelf full of magical books, a chalice and golden stars above it when Mrs Weasley called them.
"Girls! Luna's here!"

"Coming Mummy!" Ginny shouted. "Come on Izzy, I know you and Luna will be best friends." She said reassuringly.
Izzy nodded unsurely, and followed Ginny back down the stairs and into the kitchen where Bill and Mr and Mrs Weasley sat with a man with long platinum blonde hair, and dressed in eccentric style clothes and ink stained fingers. His daughter sat beside him. She had her hair up in a bun like Izzy and Ginny but with a sunflower strewn through the middle, a long sleeved purple top with some splotches of paint on it, multicoloured leggings and purple converse. She had the same hair colour as her father, wide ice blue eyes and a happy smile on her face.
"Hi Luna. Mr Lovegood." Ginny greeted, as she entered the kitchen. "This is Izzy, our new sister. Izzy, this is Luna and her Dad, Mr Lovegood." Ginny introduced. 

"It's very nice to meet you Izzy." Mr Lovegood kindly greeted the shy girl, as her hair slowly turned pink to match her cheeks.
"Hi Izzy." Luna beamed, with a wide, happy smile.
"Hi Luna, Mr Lovegood." Izzy shyly greeted them.
"Izzy loves Magical Creatures as well as Xeno." Mr Weasley stated. "The boys tell me she wants to be a Magizoologist and you should see the drawing she did for her room. It's amazing. There's a Muriel that takes up one wall of the Forbidden Forest with Thestrals, a unicorn, a small Hogwarts in the background, and a Centaur and on the other walls there's smaller ones and even a drawing of her owl, Hedwig."
"That is wonderful." Xeno exclaimed happily. "It's wonderful to find someone else who loves these creatures. Luna and I always go on expeditions around the world looking for the rarest Magical Creatures." He told Izzy kindly.

"Really?" Izzy asked intrigued, creeping closer to the table.
"Oh, yes. When we find them Daddy puts it in his magazine: 'the Quibbler'." Luna said serenely.
"Could I maybe read it, Mr Lovegood?" Izzy asked politely.
"But of course, and please call me Xeno." Mr Lovegood stated happily, rummaging in his pocket. "Ha ha! Here you are, your first copy of the Quibbler. If you like it we can set up a subscription, and perhaps if you and my Luna become good friends as I'm sure you will, you can accompany us on our expedition next year." Xeno suggested, handing over the magazine to the young girl who had an extremely happy smile on her face.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! I will look after each magazine." Izzy cried excitedly, holding it close to her chest. "Luna, would you like to help Ginny and I decorate my room?" Izzy asked, suddenly shy once again.
"I'd love to." Luna agreed happily, jumping from her seat rather suddenly, and kissing her Dad's cheek. "See you later Daddy."
"Be good my little Dragon-Puff, and I shall pick you up after dinner when I've finished the next issue. Have fun." He smiled, watching as the three girls happily laughed as they ran up the stairs. "She has had a hard life, hasn't she?" Xeno asked sadly, turning to Mr and Mrs Weasley. Arthur and Molly sighed wearily taking a sip of their tea as they gathered their thoughts.

"She really has." Molly said sadly. "We have a court case coming up against her relatives and against Dumbledore who knew she would be abused if he left her with her relatives but he did so anyway, and he set trials in the school so she'd go against You-Know-Who. It happened a few days ago. She was unconscious for three days. My Freddie was beside himself."
"She's also on an extensive Potion regime to get her back to normal. She's such a kind and caring girl, that I don't understand how anyone could treat her the way she has been." Arthur added sadly.
"If you need any help send an owl to Luna and I, and we shall do what we can. Even if it's just Luna being there for her or us both offering support for the trial." Xeno said seriously, quite unlike his eccentric self.

"Thank you Xeno." Molly and Arthur said gratefully. The four of them talked for a little while longer before Xeno headed home to finish the next issue of the Quibbler, and Molly continued making the dinner while Arthur and Bill went to check on the boys in the garden. Thanks to dinner being delayed, Izzy, Ginny and Luna had finished decorating all of her bedroom and came down to dinner with happy smiles on their faces and splotches of gold, purple, white and black paint on their faces. When the others saw them they couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well, it looks like you girls had fun painting." Charlie chuckled.
"It looks like you had a paint fight." Ron laughed.

"Mm hmm." Izzy said, with a big grin as she nodded her head. "We've finished it. The enchanted rollers are so weird." She laughed, sitting in between Ron and Luna and opposite Fred.
"That's great girls." Arthur smiled, setting Izzy's Stomach Soother and Nutrient Potion in front of her. "After dinner we'll put your things back into your room so you can settle in, the boys will all help." He said, looking at his son's who nodded their heads.
"Your drawing was amazing, Izzy, I can't wait to see what it looks like on the wall." Fred added, causing Izzy to blush but beam happily at him.
"It's amazing and so are Luna's drawings at her house." Ginny said, amazed at her talented friends, as they all settled down to dinner, talking happily to each other in between bites. Izzy mused this is what a normal, happy family must be like at meal times and she revelled in it.

After dinner Xeno came back to pick up Luna who politely thanked Mr and Mrs Weasley for having her and hugged both Ginny and Izzy tightly, waving goodbye happily as she promised to meet up again. Once they had left, Bill and Ginny stayed downstairs to help Mrs Weasley clean up after dinner while Charlie, Ron, Fred, George and Percy followed Izzy and Mr Weasley upstairs to her room. They gasped at the amazing artwork on the walls, it was stunning. The floor was of a deep oak laminate flooring that was heated to warm up in the winter months, like the rest of the house, but what amazed them were the walls.

The whole of the right wall was taken up by a large black, purple and white mural of the Forbidden Forest with three Thestrals, a baby and two adults; the mural also went back in stages. A bit behind them was a Centaur with his bow and arrow ready to fire, and in the very background was Hogwarts castle and a Unicorn rearing up on its hind legs at the edge of the Forest. On the North, South and West facing white walls were little murals in gold and black. Each depicted something magical or a Magical Creature, but on the West facing walls was a brilliant golden Hedwig.

"Izzy this is amazing." Ron said in wonder, as he turned in a circle to get a good look at the room.
"Maybe you should design our rooms." George added teasingly, making Izzy laugh.
"Right let's get everything into place so you can all get ready for bed." Mr Weasley said, taking Izzy's furniture and resizing it with Charlie's help. It took a bit of work and even sparked a small argument between Percy and Ron over where something should go. Only for Charlie to put a stop to his brother's fighting; and said firmly that as it was Izzy's room she gets to decide where things go and no one else. In the end it was done and Izzy loved it, her clothes were even in the wardrobe and chest of drawers and her books on her bookshelf thanks to a wave of Mr Weasley's wand.

Opposite the door, in between the two windows sat her bed with a red and white bedding and a red fluffy rug to the left side of the bed. The lights were in the shape of brass owls, thanks to a brilliant Transfiguration from Charlie. On either side of her bed were white bedside tables with lamps on top, they had one drawer and shelves underneath it, covering her windows were beige curtains and on the right side of her room, next to the window sat her owl stand. The windows were charmed via Mr Weasley to allow Hedwig to come and go as she pleases, and the floor beneath her stand had been charmed to clean up any droppings that landed on it. Next to the other window sat a beige armchair, with her white bookcase besides it. A gap sat between the bookcase and the large white wardrobe with a mirror door and drawers holding her shoes, showing off her golden Hedwig.

And finally; on the wall beside her door was a large white chest of drawers with a mirror on top and some photos of her parents, and her friends sat on top of it in frames with her album beside it. Her Invisibility Cloak was folded up neatly placed in the drawers along with her socks, tights, underwear and pyjamas. Her school trunk sat in the corner in between the wardrobe and the chest of drawers, with Hedwig's cage on top of it. Her broom had been moved to the broom shed with Fred and George's brooms.
"Thank you." Izzy said happily, but feeling a tad overwhelmed at the kindness she's been shown by everyone.
"You're welcome sweetheart." Mr Weasley smiled at her. "Oh, before I forget." He waved his wand and her copy of the Quibbler flew into his hands, Ginny had placed it in her room so it wouldn't be ruined while they were painting. "Here you go." He said, handing it to her.

"Now, why don't you go have a shower and wash all that paint off and get some sleep. I'm sure it's been a trying day." He suggested kindly.
"Okay. Thank you." Izzy said, she safely placed the magazine on her nightstand.
"Night Izzy." They bid, each of them giving her a tight hug before they filed out of her room, heading to their own to relax.
"Night." Izzy said softly.
"Goodnight sweetheart." Mr Weasley said, hugging her tightly and even pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Once Izzy had showered, washed her hair and washed away all the paint. She changed into her pyjamas making sure to put her rings back on. After drying and plaiting her hair, she climbed into her soft and comfy bed, amazed at everything that has happened so far. It all seemed surreal to her; like a dream.

A wonderful, beautiful dream.
And if it was; she wished with all of her might that she would never, ever wake up from this wonderful dream. For if she did she feared she'd be back at the Dursley's locked away in her cupboards, and forced to be their punching bag and slave once again. And that thought was more than she could bear and it just broke her heart. Shaking her head of those thoughts she smiled at Hedwig who was perched on her headboard.
"Goodnight Hedwig." Izzy whispered, stroking her owl before she flew to her perch and Izzy fell asleep with a soft smile on her face.