Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the wonderful character belong to J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine…unless by some strange coincidence this does in fact happen in the 7th book. Otherwise, it's all MINE!
Chapter 1: Commotion in Motion
Harry Potter awoke on a balmy summer morning, slightly sleepy, but ready for the day. He looked to his left and saw Ron snoring quietly, a bit of drool running from his mouth. He smiled and took this time to take in the celebration ahead.
Today was Bill and Fleur's wedding, a much anticipated event in the Weasley house and there had been many preparations made. Harry peering through the window saw one hundred and seven cream colored chairs behind a small canopy where the bride and groom would soon be standing. He smiled, remembering the effort it took him and Ron to arrange those in perfect rows under Mrs. Weasley and Fleur's strict orders; even with magic this was a tedious chore.
Turning back to Ron, he heard his friend mutter "No, no, autograph's girls, I've got a game to win." Laughing, Harry threw a pillow at Ron's face, and he bolted out of bed with a start.
"Oy!" Ron yelled glaring as he wiped his eyes. "What was that for? I thought I'd been hit by a bludger!"
"I'll hit you with more than a bludger if you don't come down here this once!" Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed from the downstairs hall. How she knew they were awake, Harry couldn't begin to guess.
"Mum is going to put us to work, I just know it," Ron groaned, putting on a pair of trousers and a Chudley Cannons t-shirt. Harry quickly brushed his teeth, brushed his hair (the mirror scoffed, as usual, at the sight of his untidy mane) and hurried with Ron to the bottom of the stairs.
Turning the corner to the kitchen, they saw Mrs. Weasley fully dressed with her purse in one hand and a long parchment in her other. Hermione and Ginny were also dressed, and Fleur, who up to this point had been literally pulling her hair out in a frenzy, seemed calm and collected as she stood by the fire holding the jar of floo powder in her hand.
"Mum, where are you all going?" Ron asked, looking around at the girls in confusion. "And where's breakfast?" he added, looking around the kitchen for a sign of eggs or bacon.
"Your breakfast," Mrs. Weasley fumed, "is in the icebox waiting to be made by you! The girls and I are going out to get our dresses and flowers. Your father and Bill left this morning to have some father/son time and that is why I have this list." Harry noticed that she did indeed have a large roll of parchment in her hand. "You, Fred and George, who should have been here by now (She looked at her magical clock and saw the Fred and George's hand were still placed on WORK), and Charlie will set up for today's event. Everything you need to know should be on this list." She held out the parchment to Ron, who just stared.
"But-" Ron barely got out when Mrs. Weasley directed her attention to Harry.
"Oh, and Harry, if you want to help, you're more then welcome, but be sure to take it easy."
Ron glared at Harry, who merely shrugged, and replied, "No problem Mrs. Weasley, I'd love to help," as he took the list from her hands.
"Thank you dear. Well, we'll be off, we shouldn't be any later than one- if we are later, make sure you are dressed by two, ceremony starts at three!" she shouted over her shoulder as the girls ushered to the fireplace.
Looking down the list, Ron sighed dramatically. "Clean living room, tidy kitchen, intercept the vendors, de-gnome garden. Look!" he exclaimed as he unrolled it further, "This list has to go on for about a foot! This is going to take us hours!"
Harry couldn't disagree. The list was a foot long and four hours didn't seem like enough to make the Weasley home wedding ready. "Well, I guess we should get started!"
Twenty gnomes and an hour later, Ron and Harry were soaked with sweat and dirt. The garden had been completely uprooted in various places and Charlie came out shaking his head.
"Boys, boys, boys! Did you uproot all those gnomes by hand?"
Ron glared at Charlie, who was now taking a sip of what looked like a cool, delicious, chilled butterbeer. "Yeah Charlie, we did. We uprooted every single one of these stupid ugly things WITHOUT your help. Why? Oh wait, don't tell me. You know a simple spell to rid the garden in the blink of an eye, dirt and labor free. Am I right?!" Ron shouted, his face sun burnt and screwed up in a nasty frown.
Charlie seemed to be quite startled by Ron's aggressiveness but recovered quickly with a sheepish smile. "Well, yeah that's exactly right. Vulsum arunca!"
Harry turned to the garden and saw, to his dreaded surprise: twelve or so more gnomes flew into the air and shot across the garden wall. Their grumbles and cries of disapproval were loud and obnoxious, but not as vicious as Ron's.
"WHAT!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW COME NO ONE EVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS BEFORE!? DO YOU PEOPLE GET SOME SORT OF SICK PLEASURE FROM SEEING US STRUGGLE WITH THESE DUMB THINGS?"
Harry was quite sure at this point that Ron's head was going to explode, and slowly backed away and braced himself.
Charlie however, just shrugged and smiled. "Well, yeah, you've pretty much hit the nail right on the head," and he walked inside.
Defeated, Ron slumped onto the ground and lay on his back facing the hot sun. Harry, who was equally exhausted, sat next to him, wiping the soil from his filthy glasses. He sighed and looked sideways at his best friend, "Well look at it this way: after all this work at least the party will be fun!"