I own nothing; Harry Potter and all those wonderful characters are Ms. Rowling's, and Beautiful Dreamer is Stephen Foster's.
This is dedicated to Seiina13 who (thankfully, or this never would have gotten finished) made me keep writing this story.
"Everyone get down here!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. Groans moans and "Aw Mum"s could be heard through the air. Ron screamed "Bloody hell" as he looked at his clock, but in five minutes, the youngest four Weasley children could be seen trudging into the kitchen of the Burrow, all wishing they were still in bed sleeping.
"Your father and I have decided that you're each allowed to invite one friend over for the summer with, of course, our consent of your choice of friend." She glared at Fred and George. "However, they will be asked to leave for the last week before school starts." Mrs. Weasley looked at the four of her children and then went over to the stove. "You can invite them today, and we'll arrange a time and date to pick them up. They must have the consent of their parents to come, and they must sleep in you own rooms." She came over and placed pancakes in front of each of her children.
"Now eat up. Write your letters, and clean your rooms!" A grumble of "Yes Mum"s was heard as they ate their breakfast and went back to their rooms.
Ron knocked on the twin's door. The door opened and Fred stuck his head out of the door.
"What'd ya want?" Fred asked as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.
"Had a question for you two," Ron said, only a little bit more awake than his brother.
"Yeah?" Fred said, opening the door to reveal George lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I was wondering if either of you two might invite Harry over."
"And why would we do that?" Fred asked skeptically.
"Well," said Ron, "I wanted to have both Harry and Hermione over, but I can only invite one of them. So…will you?"
"Can't little bro. I'm inviting Lee. We've got some great ideas, and we want to see if he'll have any ideas to help improve them."
"Oh." Ron looked downcast. "George? What about you? Will you invite Harry so we can have both him and Hermione here?"
"I won't invite Harry," George said slowly, "but I'll invite Hermione if you want 'em both." A look of what Ron thought might be shyness came across his face.
"Sure," Ron said slowly, knowing there was a reason other than generosity behind this, yet smart enough not to ask his brother what it was. "Thanks," he said, closing the door behind him and thumping his way down the stairs.
"Hey, Mum, do you have some ink, a quill, and some parchment I can use?"
"Yes, dear, they're on the top of my filing cabinet. Who are you writing to, Harry or Hermione?"
"Harry. George's inviting Hermione." After seeing his mother's suspicious look, Ron held his hands up in protection. "I know nothing of his plans, don't look at me like that," he said quickly. He took one last look at the piercing see-through look in his mother's eyes and hid his head in the filing cabinet. He had everything out and was beginning his letter when he heard his mother screaming.
"Fred, George, Ginny, the lot of you get down here. I want your letters mailed by tomorrow!" There was thumping on the stairs and everyone that was home came into the kitchen and sat down. Inkbottles, quills and parchment flew to land in front of everybody. "Now I want all of you to write a letter inviting your soon-to-be guest over. Your letter is to be done by the end of the day."
A chorus of "Yes, Mum"s was heard, followed by the scratch-scratch of quills as everyone wrote their letter. By the end, Ron's could read;
Hey Harry,
Tell the muggles you're leaving for the summer and that we'll pick you up- Ow! Mum just whacked me over the head! She says I have to write a proper letter. So, here goes.
Dear Harry,
If it is pleasing to you, we would much appreciate it if you would join us here for the rest of the summer. If it is convenient, we can pick you up Saturday, July 10 at 5:30p.m via the floo network from you aunt and uncle's home.
Sincerely Yours,
Ronald Weasley
P.S. Mum said I over did it. Pooy on her.
Hermione looked up from her desk as an owl tapped on her window. She opened it up as she recognized it as Errol – the Weasley's owl. It carried two letters. One said "Open first" in Ron's large handwriting. The letter read as follows.
Dear Hermione,
The other letter is a letter from George. Mum told us we could each invite one friend over, and he offered to invite you over Harry. Don't ask me why George is inviting you; I have no idea. Anyway, Mum's asked me to ask you if you'll spend a courteous 15 minutes a day with George, considering he was the one to actually invite you. His letter will give you all the details of picking you up; send Errol back with replies to both letters.
Hope to see you soon,
Ron
Hermione opened the other letter she knew to be George's. It read,
Dear Hermione,
Ron and I were wondering if you'd like to spend the summer at the Burrow. I'm not sure what Ron said in his letter, but if you can come, writes us back and we'll pick you up at 4:30p.m, Saturday July 10.
Yours,
George
Hermione started at the letter, a bit confused. Possible answers to the question: "Why on earth is George Weasley really inviting me over for the summer?" were rapidly going through her head.
She sat down at her desk and started composing a reply.
Dear Ron and George,
Ron, tell your mother I would be happy to courteously spend those 15 minutes each day. George, 4:30p.m on Saturday is a great time to pick me up, but be sure to use the downstairs fireplace if you're traveling by floo powder, because the upstairs one is a gas fireplace.
Sincerely,
Hermione
Hermione sealed the envelope and sent Errol off into the night after giving him some water and an owl treat.
Hermione heard a thud coming from the basement. She checked her watch; it was 4:35. So they were a little late. No big deal.
"Mum," she called, "Dad, they're here." She grabbed the last two of her bags and ran down the stairs. Ron and George Weasley were toppled on the ground in front of the fireplace.
"Hi, boys," Hermione chirped. She dragged Ron off of George and said, "How have you summers been going?" George stood up and brushed himself off.
"It's been going pretty well; Fred and I have been inventing several more Skiving Snackboxes for a joke shop we're thinking about setting up, but they need working on; there's still several bad side effects." George looked over at Ron who was bent over examining Hermione's old CD player. However, he straightened up when Hermione's parents came down the stairs.
"Mum, Dad, you've met Ron, this is his brother, George. George, these are my parents."
They exchanged greetings, Hermione said good-bye to her parents, took a handful of the floo powder from the Tupperware Ron was holding and she and her bags disappeared in a flash of green flame. Ron and George nodded their head in the Granger's direction and were off with Hermione's trunk between them.
Hermione landed in the kitchen of the Burrow. She straightened up, hearing Mrs. Weasley fuss over the dust on the bookshelf in the family room as she did.
"Hello," she called tentatively as Ron and George appeared in the fireplace behind her.
"Hello, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, rushing into the kitchen to give Hermione a hug. "Now I want you to take you bags upstairs. You'll be sleeping in Ginny's room, the boys will show you which one it is. You boys get her trunk, yes?" The boys nodded, and started up the stairs.
They dropped Hermione's stuff off in Ginny's room, and then they all went to the Dursley's and picked Harry up. After getting him settled in Ron's room, George turned to Hermione.
"Do you like to run? Ron said you didn't much like flying."
"I'll run. When? Where?" Hermione asked
"Met me on the back porch at 7:30." George turned and walked up to his and Fred's room, where Lee had already settled in.
Hermione came down the stairs in shorts, a spaghetti strap running top and sneakers. Her hair was in a ponytail. She walked by Ron, who ran into the wall because his attention was so focused on Hermione's "new look." She walked over to him and pushed his chin way up; it was halfway to the floor.
George was already there when she got to the porch. His eyes sized her up.
"Where are we running," she asked, pretending she hadn't seen where his eyes had been lingering.
"Down to the woods; there's something I want to show you," he said, averting his gaze. "I don't know how far you're used to running, so I brought brooms for us to ride, if we need them. Reducio," he said pointing his wand at the two broomsticks. He put them in his pocket, and started running at a medium pace. It was easy for Hermione to keep up with him.
After they had been running for about half and hour, George slowed down. They were in front of a rather large pond surrounded by trees. The sun was just starting to go behind the trees and the sky had started changing colors. Hermione gasped as she took in the view.
"It's beautiful," she whispered. She saw George staring at her out of the corner of her eye, but she pretended not to notice. They stood there for a while, staring at the sky.
"We should go back," George said, checking his watch. "I told Mum we'd be back by 9:00, and it's already 8:30."
Hermione turned around, agreeing. "Do you want to run back? I mean, I probably could, but…" she trailed off.
George looked incredulous. "You're still up for running!? I didn't know you were such a great long-distance runner! I don't think I can even make it all the way home!"
"Okay, we can fly," said Hermione, looking bemused.
"Sorry, perhaps I can get up my endurance later in the summer." He looked in his pocket for the brooms. After a couple minutes he called Hermione, who had wandered off. "Hermione? I seem to be able to only find one broom, so…" He got on the broom. "Climb on," he said, nodding behind him. She clambered on behind him, wrapping her arms gingerly around his waist. He looked down at her arms, and they both blushed a deep red. He kicked off, and Hermione closed her eyes, squeezing her arms tighter around George's waist in fear. However, in no time at all they had landed behind the back porch.
"We're back, Mum," George shouted into the house. They slipped inside, and agreed to meet at the same time in the same place tomorrow evening.
The summer continued uneventfully; Hermione and George continued their runs. George's endurance greatly improved. By the end of July, he could run both to the pond and back.