A Visit at the Durselys'
By Flittery H
Harry heard the doorbell ring from his spot on his bed under the covers, trying to do his potions homework. He thought very little of it, figuring it was some friend of one of the Dursleys. The only thought he really had about it was hoping it wasn't one of Dudley's old friends who might still like the idea of using him as a punching bag. He glared into his book at that thought; just one more year and he'd show them--one more year before he'd be a fully powered wizard, legally allowed to do whatever sort of magic he wanted… he would have quite a bit of fun with Dudley then.
He heard some voices murmuring, they sounded almost… familiar. Curious, he carefully put his potions homework away under the floorboard, and crept out to the landing, peering down the stairs. His mouth flew open, and he stood there gaping at the sight before him. Standing in the doorway was none other than his best friends from Hoggwarts: Hermione, Ron and Ginny. His heart leapt especially at the sight of Ginny.
"Oh you must be Mrs. Dursley!" Hermione was saying in a sugary sweet voice, "it's such a pleasure to finally meet you!"
Mrs. Dursley looked a little puzzled, "Um, are you Dudley's friends?" she asked. Ron's eyebrows shot up in disgust, but he hid his feelings after a pointed nudge from Hermione. "Oh, no," he said to Mrs. Dursley, "we're friends of Harry's."
"Harry's friends?" asked Mrs. Dursley, turning a bit pale.
"Yes," spoke up Hermione quickly, "we knew him from elementary school." Petunia breathed a little sigh of relief. "Well, come in," she said, still a little shaken, "I'll go call Harry down for you…" But Harry was already rushing down the stairs, beaming. Hermione rushed forward and gave him a big hug, then Ron shook his hand, grinning at him, and then came Ginny. Harry grinned down at her for a moment, somehow restraining his first instinct, which was to kiss her of course, before giving her a clumsy little hug, and breathing deeply into her hair. "Happy Birthday, Harry," she whispered into his ear.
When he had finished his hug with Ginny, Harry turned to his Aunt. "Can they stay awhile, Aunt Petunia?" Petunia must have been so relieved that these friends weren't from Hoggwarts (or so she thought) that she nodded, almost smiling. "Why certainly Harry, you know your friends are always welcome here…" Harry nodded a little, rolling his eyes, and led his friends into the kitchen, followed also by a very curious Aunt Petunia.
"You guys hungry?" Harry asked as they reached the kitchen. Ron and Ginney nodded, Hermione shrugged. Harry began to open the refrigerator as Ron looked on in wonder. Hermione nudged him again, nodding towards Mrs. Dursley.
"Oh Harry, I baked some cookies this morning," said Petunia, "why don't you offer them to your friends?" she held out the plate of cookies. Harry looked at her, a little puzzled, but took the plate and placed it down in the middle of the table, gesturing for everyone to sit down. He sat next to Ginny, scooting his chair even closer to hers. Petunia placed glasses in front of each of them and put the bottle of milk out next to the plate of cookies. "Well you can't very well have cookies without milk, now can you?" she said, laughing forcibly. Ron still looked a bit puzzled and amazed at all the muggle things going on, but he tried to keep his mouth closed at least. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Ginny giggled a little.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you kids alone," said Aunt Petunia haltingly, a little dazed. Hermione smiled sweetly at her and she left the room.
Ron let out a loud sigh of relief. "Harry! I thought I was going to pass out! You should've seen the look on her face when Hermione told her we were your friends!"
But Harry wasn't paying very much attention to Ron at that moment. The second Petunia had left the room, Harry had immediately leaned down and kissed Ginny, and was still doing so. Hermione giggled at Ron's red face, and kissed his cheek. Ron cleared his throat and Harry and Ginney separated reluctantly. "Sister, Harry," he reminded, still red, "My sister. The girl you've just been kissing is my sister." Harry couldn't help grinning just a little, he hadn't realized how much he missed Ron's over-protective brother routine when he was away from it for so long. Ginney giggled as Harry sighed and looked down at her, pouting a little. "Later, then," he said softly, his forehead leaning against hers. Her eyes closed instinctively and her lips leaned closer to his, and then Ron cleared his throat again and she sighed, pulling away.
They sat around the table for a little while, eating cookies and drinking milk and catching up on what they had all been doing for the summer. When they had finished eating, Harry suggested that they get out of the house for a bit, he still felt strange being around them in the Dursleys' house, like one of them would walk in the room at any moment.
So the four friends trooped outside into the sunshine and walked down Privet Drive. As soon as they were out of sight of the Dursleys, Harry let out a whoop of joy. He swooped down on Ginney, lifting her up and twirling her around, then let her down slowly. "God I've missed you," he whispered as her feet touched the ground. He kissed her again, deeply, longingly. Hermione smiled wistfully, clamping her hand over Ron's mouth so he wouldn't interrupt them. "Give them a break, Ron," she whispered, "they haven't seen each other for over a month." Ron still whimpered behind her hand. Her smile twisted a bit wickedly. "Ron, if you hadn't seen me for a month, wouldn't you do the same thing?" Ron nodded reluctantly, and Hermione slowly removed her hand. "Well I might try to be a little discreet if your older brother was around," said Ron, bitterly.
"First of all, I don't have a brother, and secondly, no you wouldn't."
Ron grinned a bit. "Fine," he said.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"Hey, was that a fight?"
"I don't know, why?" she asked, thinking she knew why.
"Well if it was, that means we get to make up now."
"Well when you put it that way, I think that was a very large, nasty fight, don't you agree?"
He grinned widely and kissed her.
When Ginny and Harry had finally emerged from their kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers. "This is the best birthday present I've had," Harry whispered. She smiled, "it was my pleasure to give it," she said. He sighed, preparing himself for Ron's tirade he knew was coming, but he found him surprisingly otherwise occupied. Ginny giggled at the sight of her older brother unabashedly kissing Hermione nearby. Harry cleared his throat.
Slowly the other pair became aware of their presence and turned to them. Ron turned crimson and Hermione turned a bit pink, but grinned at Ginny, who grinned back. "Um, Ron," said Harry, "might I remind you that Hermione is my honorary sister?"
Ron sputtered, "Your what?"
Harry was quite amused. "Well, since Ginny is your sister, I thought it would only be fair that Hermione become my sister."
Hermione seemed to consider this, nodding and smiling amusedly at Ron's red face. He was still not pleased though. "Oh go on!" he sputtered at Harry. Ginny couldn't hold her laughter any more and began laughing uncontrollably, soon joined by Hermione, and then Harry. Finally Ron rolled his eyes, but laughed a little too and put his arm around Hermione's waist.
Just then, four identical majestic brown owls swooped down to the four of them, one owl stopping in front of each. Though puzzled, they each untied the letter attached to their owl's leg and found a powder blue envelope bearing their name. The owls took off into the air as quickly as they had come.
Ginny, who had been first to get her envelope opened, squealed in delight. "A party!" she exclaimed. Hermione turned her card over and over in her hands, staring at it unbelievingly. Harry stared down at his.
You have been cordially invited to a party to be held in honor of the seventeenth birthdays of Ms. Parvati and Ms. Padma Patil. Please come to our home at number 24 Court Street, London, to help us celebrate this wondrous occasion at 8 o'clock in the evening of Friday the twenty second of August. Please RSVP by August 10th.
Harry and Ron looked at each other in horror. A party?? For Parvati and Padma? Hermione and Ginny were already discussing what they would wear. Harry and Ron looked at them sheepishly. "You don't really want to go, do you?" asked Ron unbelievingly. The girls looked at him, puzzled. "Well, of course, Ron," said Hermione, "why not?"
"Well, parties…there's all that--dancing…and, and dress robes and everything…" said Ron. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. "You're going," she said. Ron's eyes pleaded with her. "Oh c'mon Hermione!" he pleaded, "I'll do anything else…!" Hermione did not back down, however.
Ginny looked towards Harry. He sighed and shrugged, relenting before a fight. He was still so glad to see her, he didn't care if he had to go a stupid party. She smiled softly at him, putting her arm around his back. "It'll be fun," she said, "I promise."
"Guess so," he said, "Don't have much of a choice anyway, I suppose." She grinned. "Exactly."
They walked around for a little while longer, Harry showing them the finer points of Privet Drive. Then they walked slowly back to number four, just as the clocks were chiming six o'clock, time for dinner. Harry opened the door sadly, preparing to say goodbye to his friends, when Aunt Petunia spotted him there.
"Saying goodbye Harry?" she asked alarmed, "but I've already prepared extra for dinner! They must stay!" She smiled invitingly to the three friends. They glanced quickly at Harry, who shrugged. Hermione smiled her sticky sweet smile at Mrs. Dursley, "We'd be honored," she said. Petunia beamed. "Good."
They all entered the dining room, which had been set for seven. Mrs. Dursley pointed them to their places: Hermione, Ron and Ginny across from Petunia, Harry and Dudley, and Mr. Dursley at the head. He stared suspiciously at Harry's friends, but apparently did not recognize them. They stared politely and innocently back.
Dinner that night was relatively quiet. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley asked quite a few polite questions to Harry's friends, all of which they answered as simply and evasively as possible, and all went rather smoothly. Dudley was silent the whole time, but kept throwing odd glances towards Ginny, which Harry picked up on and was not happy about. The Dursleys had deducted through their questioning that Ron and Ginny were brother and sister (not a hard fact to deduce, seeing how much they looked alike) and in a roundabout way had figured out that Ron and Hermione were dating. This, of course, left Ginny and Harry in an odd situation, for why else would a little sister be hanging around with her brother's friends? Petunia looked from one to the other, a smile spreading slowly across her strained face. Dudley scowled.
Petunia looked to Ginny. "How long have you two known each other?" she asked, a sly smile on her face that said she was asking a somewhat different question. Ginny blushed a little. But Harry spoke up. "We met in my last year at Privet elementary. We've been writing letters and such," he said. Aunt Petunia nodded. "I see." She gave Ginny a little knowing smile. Ginny smiled shyly back.
"Um, Mr. Dursley," Ron started a few minutes later, "I was wondering if it would be alright for Harry to come stay with me for a few weeks, until the end of the summer…"
Mr. Dursley seemed to consider this for a moment, then he looked toward Harry, who's eyes were bulging with hopefulness and was nodding furiously. Vernon looked back toward Ron, "…Well," he looked to Petunia, who nodded as well, "I guess it wouldn't do any harm…" The four friends beamed at each other.
After dinner, Ron, Hermione and Ginny made their excuses to the Dursleys and left, Harry following them to the door.
"I don't know how to thank you guys for this… It's been a really wonderful day," said Harry. "The best is still coming," said Ginny, with a sly little grin. Harry looked puzzled. Hermione giggled, "Go up to your room, Harry. You'll get your real birthday present in a few minutes." Ron was scowling, but Hermione nudged him. "Well, see you next week then," he said, "We'll be by with Dad to pick you up." Harry nodded and beamed at them, though still puzzled about his "real birthday present."
He climbed the stairs apprehensively, then went into his room and closed the door. He sat down on his bed, waiting. After a moment he heard his bedroom window open, and saw Ginny's cute little red head poking through. She smiled up at his wide eyes as the rest of her body followed, and Ginny was standing in the room. She giggled, then put her finger to her lips, "shhh!" Slowly, a grin spread over Harry's face as he realized what was going on. In two strides, she closed the distance between them, twining her arms around his neck, and kissed him sweetly. His arms closed around her back and he kissed back eagerly.
"How did you get up here?" he asked, breathlessly, when the kiss had ended. "Fred and George apparated, then floated me up here," she answered, just as breathlessly. He grinned down at her. "You planned all this just for my birthday?"
"Well, yeah, I mean it's not like I'm getting any pleasure out of it," she answered playfully, pushing him back towards the bed.
"Mm, we'll see about that," said Harry pulling her in for another kiss.
The end of this kiss found them leaning back on the bed, Ginny with one leg on either side of Harry's torso, while his legs bent up around her. Harry's hands were reaching up under her t-shirt, and had come across a fabric unfamiliar to them. He pulled away, looking at her, puzzled. She grinned, and slowly pulled her shirt over her head. Harry stared. Ginny had always worn white. Always. Different colored bras were not very popular in the magical world. But tonight--tonight it was red. Red lace at that. Ginny grinned evilly down at him. "Hermione took me to a muggle department store," she said. Harry nodded, speechless.
They began kissing again, which led to other things, but they stopped before they had gone too far, just lying back in the bed together.
"Harry…are you sure you don't want--"
"Ginny, what if the Dursleys hear us? They'd go crazy! I don't want out first time to be filled with worries. We can wait, don't you think?"
She nodded, snuggling into him. "In a year, you'll be done with school, right? And then you can get your own house…" she trailed off sleepily. Harry, smiled, nodding. "And then we can do whatever we want…" He nodded again. She grinned, her eyes falling shut.
Early the next morning, they awoke to a light tapping on the window. Harry got up and put on his glasses. He opened the window to the grinning face of Fred Weasley.
"Come to collect my little sister," he said, looking around, "oh, there she is!"
Ginny was blushing furiously, hastily throwing her clothes on over the red bra and underwear she had slept in. "Red Ginny?" cried Fred, "Hey George! Ginny's got red underwear!"
"'s that so?" called George from the ground, "I think Mum'll have a fit."
"You tell Mum and I'll tell her how many times Angelina and Katie've slept over in the last week!" threatened Ginny, coming over to the window. She was still completely red, but now fully clothed.
Fred sighed. "Oi, Ginny you ruin everything!"
"Not that you have anything to say about girlfriends sleeping over…" said George. "Oh shut up!" she exclaimed, "Mum'll believe me before you anyway!" Well, Fred and George couldn't really say anything to that. Harry grinned.
Ginny kissed his lips quickly, before climbing out the window to her brothers. "See you next week!" she called as she was floated gently down to the ground with Fred. "See ya Harry!" called Fred. "Next week!" called George. Harry waved.
The next week went rather slowly for Harry, full of Aunt Petunia's cheerful questioning about Ginny and Dudley's scowling and Uncle Vernon's sidelong glances. Finally, it was over and Mr. Weasley came with Ron and Ginny in their new car to pick him up. Ron came in to help carry Harry's trunk and Ginny took Hedgwig's cage, happily cooing at the snowy white bird within.
"Why doesn't their father come inside and chat for a moment," said Aunt Petunia, "I feel so wrong not greeting him properly."
"Uh, he's really busy, Aunt Petunia," said Harry, "we really have to hurry."
Aunt Petunia reluctantly let them leave without meeting Arthur Weasley (and inevitably recognizing him and ruining everything).
"Hermione's meeting us at The Burrow," explained Ron once they had climbed into the car, "she wanted her parents to drop her off, something about meeting them…"
It turned out that Mrs. Weasley had invited the Grangers for dinner that evening, and was in a most anxious mood, rushing around trying to make everything perfect.
"Mum, you're acting like your about to meet Ron's in-laws," said Bill soothingly. The twins cackled. "She is about to meet Ron's in-laws," said Fred. Ron scowled at them. Harry held back a laugh.
It was a large and mis-matched group that gathered that evening for dinner at The Burrow. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had come around five with Hermione, who immediately started helping Mrs. Weasley and Ginny in the kitchen. Ron, Harry and the twins were to set the table. Soon afterwards, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell arrived as well, followed shortly by a nervous looking silvery blonde.
When the door-bell rang for this particular guest, Ron happened to answer it. He gaped, unable to form coherent sentences. She smiled. "'ello Ron," she said, "you 'ave grown very much since I last saw you." Hearing the voice, Bill had rushed to the door. "Fleur! You're here just in time," he said, "we're starting dinner in a few minutes." Ron was still gaping. "So I guess you know my brother Ron," Bill continued, smiling as he knocked a finger under Ron's chin to close his mouth. By this time Harry, Ginny and Hermione had come to see what was going on. Hermione almost gasped out loud and looked rather furious. Ginny and Harry just stood there looking a little bewildered.
Bill swept Fleur Delacour inside, his hand resting on the small of her back. "Mum!" he called, "Fleur's here!"
"Oh that's great dear, bring her outside, why don't you, dinner's starting," she called, hurrying outside to the huge table in the garden carrying a heavy looking platter of food. They all filed outside and sat down at the table. Mr. Weasley sat at one head and Mrs. Weasly at the other. On the right of Mrs. Weasly sat Fleur, followed by Ron, Hermione, George, Katie and Mrs. Granger. On her left sat Bill, followed by Ginny, Harry, Fred, Angelina and Mr. Granger.
It was one of the happiest dinners Harry could have imagined. Mrs. Weasley talked excitedly to Fleur about how she had met Bill in Egypt while researching ancient magic for the French Ministry of Magic. They recounted amusing stories of their times together, Bill filling in a few English words that Fleur couldn't remember. Molly was sufficiently charmed. Hermione took a little longer than Mrs. Weasley, but she too eventually warmed up to Fleur's enthusiastic story-telling and forgave her for being part veela. That didn't stop her, however, from nudging Ron painfully in his side whenever he stared at her for too long.
Ginny and Harry took little part in the conversation. They listened intently, but somehow neither felt much like talking. Harry's thumb gently stroked the back of her hand, and they quietly reveled in each other's nearness--and the knowledge that they would not be forced to part again for at least a whole year.
After dinner the group dispersed, Fleur and Mrs. Weasley to the kitchen to clean up and talk about Bill, Ron and Hermione to Ron's room to "talk", the twins and Angelina and Katie out somewhere, and Harry and Ginny to the garden to walk around.
REVIEWS! I need reviews on this story so please if you have any desire what so ever for me to continue this please review!