Right people this story is about maybe a month or something after The Battle Of Hogwarts where, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys are at the Burrow for most of the story , whilst the month long celebrations are still going on. It starts with Harry and the Weasleys heading to another party on the Muggle train. Kingsley is still Minister for Magic and well you will find out alot more stuff as you read on. Im sorry if this is not up to JK Rowling standards ( though i doubt anything on this website is to be honest ) and if i get anything wrong in terms of events im sorry its just i really cannot be bothered to skim through all 7 books again and remember the little details that may contradict what im writing, although i have read each one a number of times so im guessing im going to be pretty accurate. Only one difference is made to the original story and that is that Fred Weasley never died, why have i decided to do this.
1) Without Fred, George just isnt as funny, they both complete each other and are a great double act.
2) I feel that JK wouldn't have killed him off if she was going to do another book, but because it was the last one she decided to add more grief with Fred and George being obvious fan favourites.
3) Also she already killed off some great characters in Lupin, Tonks ect, and i feel because my story takes place at the Weasleys' and other places with the Weasleys' having both of them just makes it feel more like the originals.
Anyway hope you like it. Also could you please review. I'd love to see what other people think, this is the first time I'v written a story since i was like 10. So review please.
Harry was looking out of the window of the speeding train he was on, they were passing fields and farms now. There were large green hills and yellow daisy fields as far as he could see. Harry thought it was a very beautiful sight and much preferred it to the dark, hustle and bustle of the London Underground. He and the Weasleys' were travelling to the home of Dedalus Diggle who was holding one of many hundred parties to celebrate the great victory that was won at Hogwarts and the defeat of Lord Voldemort. Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Percy and Charlie were to get the Muggle train to Bristol, where they would meet Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, and Ginny then they would get the details on how to get there, for none of them had been to the Diggle household apart from Mr and Mrs Weasley. As Harry gazed out of the window Ron and Charlie were deep in conversation about goings on at the Ministry whilst Fred and George were asleep, Percy was reading a book that Harry didn't see the name of.
"So is it true then, about that Common Welsh Green that attacked a Muggle village in Swansea, apparently it killed fifteen people and loads more were injured, it was in the Prophet?" asked Ron,
"Yes it is true, that's the third time in the past month that there has been reports of unprovoked dragon attacks, this is the first on Muggle land though. But Kingsley's trying his best to sort it out, he sent some wizards from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to Swansea to search for the dragon, and to modify the memory of the Muggles at the scene. I heard he sent Aurors to back them up too." replied Charlie, "That's all the Ministry needs, after You-Know-Who gone and the rounding up of the final Death Eaters, if dragons starting to get out of hand it will be alot of trouble for the Ministry and I mean alot." Charlie was looking intrigued by the idea of a dragon rampage.
The train came to abrupt halt at the current station as Harry turned around to join in the conversation but then closed his mouth, he hadnt talked much on the journey he was feeling a bit tired.
"I think you should keep your voices down its just Muggles aren't usually used to hearing about dragons, Death Eaters and Aurors." said Percy with the smallest smiles.
"Yeah well shouldn't be so bloody nosy should they." said Ron with a quick look out of the compartment window where a number of Muggles had gotten on the train. The three of them laughed and so did Harry as he rummaged in his pocket for a packet of Fizzing Whizbees.
"Actually I think Perce has a point, I'm sure I seen an elderly man giving you a strange look a few stations ago when we were talking about Quidditch, they'll think we're all mental." said Charlie as Harry handed him a Fizzing Whizbee.
"We're not mental." said Ron, "Well except for Fred and George." he added laughing.
"I heard that." came Freds' muffled voice.
"Yeah me too, you little..."
"I thought you were supposed to be asleep." interjected Ron, as the second Weasley twin stirred.
"People do wake up at some point Ron." said Fred as they laughed. Another couple of minutes passed as they talked and laughed, as Fred and George were awake theyre topics of conversation had become a bit more humorous. They were at a point of telling them about all the times in Hogwarts where they set off for night time strolls to the kitchens or the Prefects bathroom, ( in which Percy made a very disapproving noise ).
"Anyway.." Ron started after they had just laughed at Fred and George telling them about the time they met Luna Lovegood in the school kitchens, "It's good to see you laughing again Harry, are you alright mate you've hardly spoke all journey, liven up we're going to a party." he finished with a grin across his face.
"I'm fine, just a bit tired thats all, and c'mon Ron its like the tenth party we've been to in the past few weeks, you can't seriously be that excited." replied Harry.
"Harry has got a point, we have been to a fair few now." agreed Percy, as he packed his book into his rucksack and pulled out another one, Harry saw it was called, Ministers for Magic: The Eighteenth Century.
"Yeah but still, its a party isn't it, and George didn't you say Dedalus always throws a good one." said Ron excitedly.
"What...Yeah" said George turning around, he and Fred had bewitched two pencils to joust each other in mid air, "Yes c'mon."
"Damn you always win at that." said Fred grinning. Percy opened is mouth to speak with a frown across his face, probably to tell Fred and George that it wasn't wise to play that sort of game on a Muggle train. However he must've guessed the twins would not have listened to him, so he buried his face in his book again.
"I know, makes up for the fact you always win at snowball wars." said George also grinning, "But yes Ron, Dedalus does always throw a hell of a party, Dad's told us loads of stories about how he and Mum have been to his house for celebrations." he added.
"Yeah so don't worry Harry this should be alot better than some of the other ones, for instance Hestia Jones' party.", Fred laughed to the others as he told Harry, "Apparently he has something good lined up this time, some top notch entertainment as he would say, still I think he has got to do something unbelievably good to beat Lee Jordan.", and Harry gave them a smile whilst remembering Lee Jordans party, he had asked some famous wizard band to come and play the whole evening and he and his parents charmed some statues to walk around like waiters, it was the best party Harry had ever been to. Wizard parties of this magnitude were always spectacular compared to Muggle ones and the fact Dedalus had something entertaining in store, and the prospect that this party might be alright made him slightly more cheerful.
After another hour or so passed in which they learned from Fred and George how to be masters of pencil jousting, all of them were good enough wizards to actually charm their pencils of course, however their seemed to be much more skill involved than just charming your pencil into the air as George showed by winning for the eighth time in a row. The aim of the game was to knock all your opponents pencils out of the air whilst keeping yours upright, this was much more fun than it sounded, however Percy excluded himself from the game saying it was foolish when they were on a Muggle train. At the end of their tenth game, George and Harry were the only two with their pencils in the air.
"Not as easy as it looks is it." he said grinning after knocking Harrys' pencil out of the air, to become victorious again.
After a couple more games of pencil jousting they moved onto trying out Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans which Harry had bought two packets of the day before, Ron was unforunate to get marmite flavour one and Harry was sure he had gotten mustard. When they had finished eating the beans they moved on to discussing what was happening at the Ministry, Quidditch and other events happening in the wizarding world. They talked and talked, and due to Fred and George laughed alot too, when they were about 15 minutes away from the station they were getting off at, Percy looked up from his book whilst Ron was talking to Harry about how he would love a Hogwarts meal at the moment, Charlie and the twins were still talking about Quidditch.
"...I seriously could kill for one of their chicken legs, and the treacle tart, thats your favourite isn't it." he said with a longing look on his face and Harry nodded also thinking about the fantastic meals his old school served up.
"Ron." said Percy looking fairly thoughtful, "Where did you say Hermione was again?"
"She's visiting her parents." replied Ron "But i forgot to tell you why, I couldn't whilst Mum was listening it's Hermiones business not ours..."
"Such a thoughtful ickle boyfriend Ronnie is." laughed Fred as George gave a snort.
Ron stared at Fred and made a rude hand gesture which Fred responded with a mock look of outrage.
"You wouldn't do that if Mum was here." he replied to Rons' action.
"Anyway I sent her an owl saying that everyone was asking after her and she said it was alright to tell the truth.."
"I should bloody well think so aswell." interrupted George as Fred laughed.
"Will you two shut up for a second." snapped Percy, "Carry on Ron." he added ignoring the twins' pretending to look like 5 year olds who's parents had sent them to bed early.
"We're ever so sorry Perce." they both said in unison.
"Yes well I forgot to tell you, just before Harry, Hermione and I set off on our mission, she modified her parents memory to think that she was none existent and moved them to Australia so the Death Eaters didn't track them down..."
"What?" Ron was interrupted again but this time from Charlie, "Did she really? That must of been so hard for her, anything could of happened whilst she was away, it was an immense risk, although I do admit it was also very clever of her. I know you said she was intelligent but still." said Charlie looking surprised and sympathathetic towards Hermione. Charlie, because of his studying of dragons in Romania, hadn't spent as much time with Hermione and Harry as the rest of the Weasley family and was still getting to know them in great detail, although Harry suspected he already knew a fair bit about Harrys' personality from his mother who wrote to him reguarly whilst he was in Romania. Nobody in the room was too surprised at Hermione's clever plan other than Charlie who had known she was clever, but its something about knowing Hermione very well for nearly 8 years that nothing she does seems to surprise you much anymore thought Harry.
"Yeah but that's Hermione, she's amazing at times isn't she Harry," said Ron, and Harry nodded, Ron contiued, "Well she's went back to them to remodify their memory so that their back to normal and to think that nothing has happened, also she said she wanted to spend a few weeks with them as she hasn't seen them properly in like a year." Ron finished and looked out the window. Harry was sure Ron was thinking about Hermione all the way in Australia with her parents, or maybe they had moved back in the country, all Harry knew was that Hermione was due at the Burrow in a few weeks time to spend the rest of summer with them. After fairly long silence Charlie spoke again.
"It will have took some very well practised magic to do a memory charm that effective, I'll be very impressed if she has pulled it off successfully." said Charlie looking slightly concerned, " I think we're here now too, Dad said to cross the bridge to the other platform and meet them at the entrance."
They all picked there bags and rubbish up and moved along to the end of the train. Muggles were giving Ron a very peculiar looks as he had pulled his wand out his back pocket and started polishing it on his sweater, then holding it up in front of his eyes to examine it.
"It's always dirty this thing." he said rather stupidly.
"Ron." hissed Percy, "Ron put it away."
It took Ron a second to realise what he was doing then he hastily put it in his back pocket again, stammering his apologies to rest of them.
"Seriously, Ron how thick are you, lets pull my wand out on train full of Muggles, what a good idea why don't we all do it." said Fred mimicking Ron pulling his wand out, as they got onto the platform and started to head towards a vast bridge which connected both platforms. They walked along with the bustling crowd of Muggles towards the large bridge.
"Well I forgot we were on a Muggle train, sorry ok, they didn't notice, how are they gonna know its a wand, it would have just looked like a bit of wood to them, which is why they were looking at me wierd." said Ron looking sheepish but then building up a defence mid-conversation.
"How could you forget you were on a Muggle train?" laughed George, as he gave Fred an incredulous look, Fred shrugged and was about to say something when Percy cut in.
"Will you three stop bickering" snapped Percy, "And don't talk about wands in a Muggle train station for crying out loud." he added looking annoyed. At this Fred, George and Ron made a silly face behind Percy back.
"C'mon Mum, Dad, Bill and Ginny should be just over this bridge." said Charlie trying to divert their minds to finding the rest of the Weasley family.
They walked up the stairs and along the bridge and then down some more stairs, and there they were at the entrance to the station, Mrs Weasley gave a cheery wave then tapped the others on the shoulder and pointed to where Harry, Ron, Charlie, Percy and the twins were coming down the stairs towards them. Mrs Weasley pulled each of her sons into a tight hug then turned to Harry and hugged him too.
"Hello Harry dear, how was the journey, did you eat enough, did you get some sleep." she said in her warm caring voice.
"Yes Mrs Weasley, I'm fine thank you." replied Harry returning her warm smile. Harry then turned to Ginny and she pulled him into a hug too. It was cormforting to be reminded of how nice her hair smelled.
"Wheres Dad." said Charlie as Harry and Ginny pulled apart and looked around. For Mr Weasley had disappeared from the entrance to the station, for a moment Harry thought he had Disapparated but then looked behind him and saw Mr Weasley walking forwards towards the platform staring open mouthed at one of the trains that had just pulled in.
"Dad what are you doing?" said Ron looking fairly puzzled.
"Arthur not now, we have to go" Mrs Weasley said looking stern. Mr Weasley turned around looking amazed.
"Just give me a minute Molly dear, this is utterly fantastic, I love trains Harry," he said turning to Harry, "I bet it takes a big battery to operate this one eh?"
"Well..." began Harry. He was about to explain that batteries didn't motivate trains and that it was an engine but Mrs Weasley cut across him.
"Arthur, hurry now c'mon we have to go, now." she said looking exasperated at her husbands interest in the train.
"Dad I don't get it, you've seen the Hogwarts Express, it's just the same, it's a train." said Ron looking amused at his father.
"Yes Ron, but the Hogwarts Express is operated by magic, the driver merely sits in his cabin and reads or does whatever comforts him, this however is outstanding, to see trains built and operated by Muggles who have no magic and have to do things by themselves, by hand, is just amazing, I think I find these more interesting than plugs to be honest." he said beaming. Harry knew that Mr Weasley loved everything to do with Muggle technology and could not help but supress a grin towards Ron and Ginny as they turned in his direction looking at him bewildered.
"Now Arthur come on get a grip of yourself, stop fooling around, we have to hurry." Mrs Weasley said, she was looking pretty annoyed now and Mr Weasley seemed to have noticed because he turned around and walked towards his wife.
"Yes of course, just a bit interested that's all, sorry Molly dear, shall we get going then, Dedalus' house is about forty-five minutes from here, its over the hill and along the path, normally we'de apparate but, your mother and I decided it would be nice to have a walk." he said beaming again, "Now Harry, tell me, how big is the battery that motivates those trains." he added as they walked over the hill and towards the long path that lead by some fields. Harry laughed as Mrs Weasley shook her head muttering something about madness and she walked forwards to Bill and started trying to persuade him to give his hair a trim.
"Mum, Bill's hair looks really cool, leave him alone." said Ginny laughing, "Anyway, Bill, where's Fleur? Is she not coming?" she added.
"No unfortunatly, I tried to persuade her but she said that all these parties are tiring her out, poor thing, I expect her to be asleep when I get in." replied Bill. Harry turned to Mr Weasley and answered his previous question.
"Well, Mr Weasley, it isn't a battery that operates them, it's an engine." explained Harry, thinking Mr Weasley probably knew about an engine just not that it was used in all vehicles.
"Ahhh of course," sighed Mr Weasley still looking rather amazed and cheerful, "I love engines too, although I do get mixed up on which machines use them and which don't, still I'd love to know how they work Harry." he said looking at Harry with alot of interest on his face, and Harry explained all about how engines actually worked as they walked along the path leading to Dedalus Diggles' household., he could feel a sense of excitement now as they approached the party, maybe George was right, maybe this would be a great party and is mood lifted even more as he and Ron's father moved their conversation onto aeroplanes. As they walked along the path for about half an hour, Harry was now at the front of the group along with Ron, Bill and Charlie. They were talking about the dragon incident in Swansea again when they heard Mr Weasley shout over to them.
"Bill, its just over another hill to the left there, about another 5-10 minutes I think and you should be able to see dear Dedalus' house." he said smiling and turned back to talk to Percy and Mrs Weasley. Fred and George were lingering at the back of the group and kept making things explode with their wands, and charming sticks to hit each.
"Anyway as I was saying, if dragons start going on a rampage all around the country, the Ministry will have a lot of work on their hands, Harry if you thought that Horntail was bad, you should see some of the wilder ones we had to deal with in Romania." Charlie said as they continued there discussion on dragons.
"Do you know whats upsetting the dragons, what is making them so restless, I mean what normally disturbs them?" asked Bill.
"Normally, if wizards or Muggles stumble across them they do will get agitated, also if they're food and water supplies are low they tend to wonder about and more often than not they come across human civilisation." replied Charlie, and Harry admired how much he knew about dragons, Harry had always been interested in them even if he didn't like the fact they could easily kill you if you met one.
"But that's been happening for ages, I mean those things could happen at any time couldn't they, it's got to be something else that's disrupting them hasn't it?" asked Ron looking slightly anxious.
"That is true Ron, but the only other possibility I can think of now and it also relates to why they're being aggressive and not just wandering around, is perhaps territorial behaviour." said Charlie, and as he said this Bill looked really worried. Harry and Ron looked at each other not worried but pretty confused.
"But territorial behaviour, they're aren't enough dragons in the country for them to take up all the land, there is plenty of room for territory, isn't there?" asked Ron, still looking confused, and then it hit Harry as Charlie spoke.
"Yes that's right, which is why there hasn't been territory trouble for years. But as you said there aren't enough in this country. It is possible that dragons from other countries have been flying over here to live." said Charlie, "But that's only a suggestion, since I have studied them for so long I know it would be unusual for them to fly out their own country, but it's a very slight possibility, although a very bad one." he added.
At this Ron looked fairly frightened and he spoke.
"But if foreign dragons are coming over then there'll be even more dragon attacks won't there, and not just form British species." said Ron in a hushed voice.
"Well, trust me if there were many foreign dragons in the country at the moment we would definatly know, they wouldn't know whats countryside and whats civilisation so they could pop up anywhere." said Charlie, "However some foreign dragons aren't as bad as the British ones, I know fine well that the Swedish Short Snout isn't as bad as the Common Welsh Green, and most certainly not as bad as the Hebridean Black. Hebridean Blacks never come out to humans but they dislike human civilisation a lot, they gave medieval settlements alot of trouble centuries ago. They've sort of backed down since then but are all the more vicious for it. I can imagine them going on a rampage if any foreign dragons intefere with their territory." said Charlie, this was the most Harry had ever heard about dragons even after facing one in his fourth year, Charlie then continued, "There is one dragon I would love to see come here, that's if anything like this actually does happen if any dragons do start flying over here which I seriously doubt, but its nearly impossible to find one."
"You sound like Hagrid." interrupted Ron looking at Charlie bewildered, "Charlie it's a dragon," he said flapping his arms and twisting his face, "It eats people it blows fire and burns stuff." Harry and Bill laughed.
"Ron I'm talking about the Antipodean Opaleye, it never eats humans or attacks things that don't provoke it, it will even flee when attacked rather than fight back. However they're extremely rare and live in New Zealand so I can't imagine them coming here." said Charlie looking slightly disappointed.
"Thank god. I don't want any more dragons in this country, even if it is an Apdodidum Popeye or whatever it was." said Ron looking at Harry. Charlie was looking up at the sky apparently lost in thought. Then Bill spoke.
"Charlie, if foreign dragons do move over here you don't think Horntails or Fireballs would make it do you." he said.
"Well I can imagine the Horntail coming over it's vicious attitude would suit the situation, and as Hungary isn't too far from here..." at this Ron let out a long groan, "However if I were you I'd be more worried about Chinese Fireballs, fair enough one on one the Horntail would slaughter it, and brutally, however Fireballs nearly always seem travel in groups for some reason and if they come over here they will be more likely to stick together and attack native dragons or other invading dragons, rather than themselves." said Charlie, it really was amazing how much he knew about dragons and their behaviour. Harry stared at him as did Bill, Ron started fiddling with his hands, although they were all clearly in awe of Charlie, for obviously his brothers and Harry knew he studied dragons but Bill and Ron were impressed with how much he actually knew. He had clearly studies long and hard, and was very passionate.
Bill looked at Charlie and said, "When I came to visit you few years ago in Romania, didn't your friend say that the Chinese Ministry had alot of trouble controlling the Fireballs ages ago?"
"Ohh yeah he did, Lenny was always good for information, he always hears stuff like that and he reads alot," responded Charlie, "Yeah he told me later on about how there had been reports of attacks, and one of them had been on a wizard town, the inhabitants tried to hold the creature off but were so brutally attacked they had to hide out admist destruction. Well the Chinese Ministry were confused to find out how so many wizards could'nt hold off one dragon so they sent a fair few of there men to investigate and help out. When they got there they found that there were about five Fireballs attacking the town, only three of the Ministry workers got away as the rest were killed, they got to the Ministry headquarters and told the Minister what had sent some more workers and I don't know exactly how but they finally fought the dragons away but there were other attacks around the country, not as bad as the one on that town but still this was a time when dragons were still active and they had a lot of trouble with them, its all written in books in China, I think in some detailed dragon books that you can find here, if you look at the history of them it will have that event in there somewhere." he finished.
"Are there still attacks in China?" asked Harry.
"Not many, maybe a couple a year or less of a small magnitude, the dragons have been driven away and hide in the mountains like in Britain." said Charlie, "All of this we've been talking about though, this makes dragons sound really bad and everything, these are some of the most savage of their kind we are talking about. All dragons are formidable when provoked, just some attack as an instinct or for no reason at all, its in their nature, and I doubt highly whether dragons will become that active again." he finished looking at them. Bill was looking at Charlie in great respect, Ron was looking as if he would like nothing better than to get out the country, and Harry could not help but smile at the knowledge that Charlie had, he was indeed a very clever young man, and his time in Romania certainly hadn't gone to waste.
"You say dragons will never be that active again, well what about that bloody dragon invasion from the other species you were going on about before?" said Ron as he looked at Charlie scared at the idea of dragons becoming active again.
"Ron I did say that was a very slight possibility, you shouldn't worry too much, I very highly doubt it will happen, what I have told you is about the feircest of dragons and their attacks, I wouldn't be surprised if them dragons were dead now, although I don't pretend there will be some other savage ones out there. Its all stories and almost myth." said Charlie looking almost amused by Ron's expression.
"But it still happened." he mumbled.
"Look Ron put the dragons out of your head, and you can start worrying when or if the Ministry informs us all of unrecognised dragon species entering the country." said Bill smiling.
"Like the Ministry's going to inform us all of dragon invasions." laughed Ron.
"Ron, this is Kingsley in charge now not Fudge or Scrimgeour. He wouldn't let something like that go unoticed." said Bill looking at Ron.
"Yeah, I s'pose." muttered Ron. They had walked a considerable distance now and Harry would have been tired and bored had it not been for their discussion on dragons. Whilst Ron may have put the dragons to the back of his mind, Harry could not help but dwell on the terrible possibilities of a dragon war. Then he shook himself, he was being silly, Charlie had said it was a very small possibility. And as they walked up another hill Harry's mouth fell open as he heard Mr Weasley shout,
"Here we are!"
"Wow!" cried Ron looking amazed.
"Excellent." said the twins together.
They were looking at a house at the bottom of the hill which had a very large garden with a very large number of people in it. The house itself looked spectacular, it was white with a grey roofing, it had colour changing lights lit all around it. On the second floor there was a balcony with rows of sofas and amazing plants. There were thirty or so people standing on the balcony laughing and some pointed where Harry and the Weasleys stood and waved. Harry waved and looked down into the garden as sparks were flying everywhere, as laughter and shouting could be heard from down below. As they walked down the hill towards the front gate Harry thought to himself, George was right this was going to be one hell of a party and Dedalus Diggle had certainly stepped up to the occasion. Harry smiled to himself as Ron clapped him on the back. Dragons had now been pushed right out of his mind and he braced himself for one of the best nights of his life as he saw the little figure of Dedalus Diggle hurrying to the front gate, his hat toppling on his head, as he exitedly came to greet them.
Thanks for reading people, thats just the first chapter, I will be doing more because I have finished school now and have lots of free time ahead of me until September I shall work on the more of the story as i progress but I know it won't be as long as any of the originals even the Philsophers Stone. I decided to include alot about Charlie and his knowledge of dragons later on in the chapter as you never really found out about his personality much in the other books. Sorry if i made any mistakes, I will correct them if you point them out and I hope i've done alright for my first taste of Fan Fiction. So please review.
