Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did the pairings would have ended up a little differently. –wink– anyone else laugh at page 509 from TDH?
Also, for those of you who were wondering, 'nemo nisi mors' is latin for 'no one but death shall part us'. [story tile is also open to suggestions
A/N: The muggle and wizard currencies were based from the information Daniel Radcliffe released on Comic Relief.
Chapter One
[chapter title open to suggestions
The summer holidays had passed in a blur for Ginny Weasley. This had been the only year in which she hadn't't fantasized about going back to Hogwarts early, something which happened in every holiday that she spent at the Burrow. However, this summer had been far too busy for Ginny to start getting excited about school.
In the very first week of the holidays, she had spotted a notice in the window display of a shop, inquiring about a summer job someone 16 years of age and above might be interested in. Although the muggle town just outside of Ottery st Catchpole was somewhere she hardly ever went, and which required a 30 minute walk mainly uphill, Ginny had walked into the shop and asked about the position. Twenty minutes later she had the job and a shopping bag holding a pair of jeans that were too long for her. She was to start on Monday at eight, and she finished every day at four. The pay was 3 pounds an hour, something considered minimum wage in muggle day England, but Ginny wasn't't complaining. Three pounds an hour meant 24 pounds a day, and when converted into wizarding currency was almost 5 galleons daily. In two weeks she'd have been richer than Fred and George would have, if Bagman hadn't't paid them leprechaun gold at the Quidditch world cup two years before.
However, the good news hadn't't traveled far. In fact, it had only spread to one person: her older brother Charlie. She knew that her parents wouldn't approve of her getting a job at her age. To them and the rest of the wizarding world it was unheard of that someone got a job before they had finished school.
So her trips to the muggle town had been in secret. Every week day she would get up at seven and sneak out of the house long before anyone else woke up. Sometimes when she ran into her father at the breakfast table, she would spin him a tale about feeding the chickens, or about an early game of quidditch. The weeks had passed, and no one had found out about her job, although they often asked her where she had been for hours on end, having checked her room and the garden every hour or so, and never seeming to find her. A lot of the time she was able to dodge their questions by answering that she had been in the orchard reading, or, when she knew that they had gone there to play quidditch, she'd tell them that she'd been by the stream, or in the woods, depending on how many times she'd already replied with the same answer.
At work, things were a little better. Her working partner was delighted with her, thinking her the funniest girl she'd ever met when Ginny had come to her having had problems changing a customer's fiver; but soon Ginny had learned to deal with muggle money, and knew exactly how to react to tenners and all the buttons on the machine her partner called a 'till'.
Working in the second hand shop had also had other merits, since Ginny was allowed to go through the newly arrived items and lay aside all her favorites when there were no customers. Clothes with stains on them were put in bags to donate to charity, and when something had been in the store for over a month, it too was supposed to go to charity. However, she and Jenny always salvaged as many of the outdated items as possible when they fit. When they didn't, but they merely liked the material or the pattern on the shirts, they would put them in separate bags and save them for cutting up – sometimes motifs were handy for covering up minor stains.
Ginny had spent most of her summer this way. Working at the shop in the afternoons, and in the evenings coming up with ideas to render the clothes she'd brought home wearable again. Jenny had taught her how to use a sowing machine, but she wasn't very good and preferred to sow things by hand. It took much longer to get something done, but at least she was sure it looked presentable.
This way, Ginny shortened skinny jeans so that they fit her and didn't look too tight, cut off the ends of long dresses and turned them into tunics, shortened various long skirts, covered up minor, yet noticeable stains on long sleeved shirts that she liked with pretty motifs – one of her favorites was a gray cotton jumper that had once had a faded ketchup stain on the front. Instead of throwing it away, she'd covered the stain on the shirt with pink material shaped like a unicorn, and thanks to Jenny's clothing advice was persuaded to get something from the store every other day.
"Look at it this way" Jenny would say. "You can get the exact same sweater from River Island and pay it 20 pounds, or you can get it here for five pounds. Of course, someone has worn it before you and the labels on the inside of the shirt is different, but other than that they're the same shirt. I'm not saying that all the clothes you decide to buy have to be second hand, but if you want this shirt, I'd get it now because it looks great on you and it might be gone by tomorrow."
So almost every day Ginny had come home to the burrow with a new shirt or a pair of boots that she'd hide in the broom cupboard first and then smuggle into her room and into her trunk later in the evening. Of course, she felt bad spending money only on herself, and when the occasion came that she saw something Ron or her mom would like, she'd buy it for them and decide to give it to them as a Christmas or birthday present. This way, she already had a sweater for Percy, a pair of leather "business man shoes" for her dad, and a lovely black satin dress with a white bow on it for her mom. Ginny had had to borrow money off Jenny to pay for them and promise to pay her back when she got her pay check at the end of the month, apologizing profusely each time Jenny offered to lend her money, but she knew it would be worth it. She hated borrowing money off Jenny, but Jenny didn't actually seem to mind, and when she faced her on her last day of work, she had the best gift she could think of to thank her: A pair of boots she'd seen her admire in a magazine two weeks ago, which she had to go to a lot of trouble to find.
She'd had had to look them up on the internet (something which had proved much more difficult than the impression Jenny had given when she checked their horoscopes each day) and order them, something else which had caused a couple problems, since she'd had to get a credit card (she'd asked for Jenny's help with that,) but in the end she'd managed to get the boots delivered to the shop without Jenny finding out.
When Jenny had seen them, she'd freaked out, and tried them on immediately. They'd fit her feet perfectly although they clashed horribly with her outfit, but Jenny had insisted on wearing them on her way home anyway. Ginny on the other hand, had been given a beautiful silvery gray dress, which she too, had tried on immediately. It was made of cotton, and stopped at mid thigh, where an elastic stopped the dress from flying up when there was a breeze. Without leggings or jeans on Ginny felt slightly naked, standing there in the shop and admiring her reflection, but she had to admit that the dress looked good on her.
So they'd said their goodbyes, and promised to stay in touch and maybe see each other in the winter holidays. Ginny had been sad to leave her, but she knew it was for the best that they said goodbye. If she'd stayed for much longer, she might have become much more attached to Jenny, and it would have been harder to leave.
All in all, it had been a very busy summer, and now, only four days were left until the they left for Kings Cross once more.
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"Oi! Ginny!"
Ginny had just finished folding the dress Jenny had given her as a gift and stowed it away into her trunk, when Fred burst into her room. "Mom's told us to degnome the garden since Hermione, Bill and Charlie are arriving tomorrow, and she says that you're to clean your room, and that she's coming up to inspect it after dinner, so you better have everything tidied up or else."
He was panting, and holding onto the doorknob, evidently he had just run up the stairs, meaning Mrs. Weasley must be in a pretty bad mood.
"Why does my room have to be clean?"
Fred shrugged, still breathing unevenly. "Dunno, probably something about good impressions on Hermione."
Ginny sighed. It was always like this. Even though Hermione wasn't the least bit bothered when someone else's things were unorganized, just as long as her own were immaculate, her mom still made her do things like cleaning up her room to give Hermione a false impression of what her organizational skills were like. "I'll be right down, I just have one more thing to do."
Fred had his hand on the doorknob again. "Well you better hurry, because she's in a foul mood. She's burnt the mashed potatoes, and knives are zooming around the kitchen like crazy, trying to get them peeled in time for dinner." A second later he had vanished and Ginny could hear him running back down the stairs.
Making sure that none of her new clothes were showing, and that her muggle savings – 701 pounds that she had managed not to spend on clothes for gifts -- were still safe in the envelope at the bottom of her trunk, she slammed it shut and locked it. She didn't think that anyone would actually go through her trunk, but if her mom decided to wash her robes a couple days early and put them away for her she might have found some of Ginny's new possessions and that was something Ginny wanted to avoid for as long as was possible. Of course Ginny got new clothes from time to time, and most of her clothes were second hand so not much would look out of place there, but over the past 7 weeks her wardrobe seemed to have increased almost four times in size, something which would be hard to explain without her parents finding out about her job. She also recognized that it would be unavoidable not to wear her new clothes at Hogwarts, but Ron was much less perceptive than Percy or her mother, and she also didn't think Harry would be a problem. Hermione would be safe to tell her secret to, but they'd have to get out of earshot of her family first.
Its not that she didn't want to tell them, or that she thought that she had something to hide, she just didn't want to upset them. She knew that her parents would instantly feel bad if they heard she got a job, as it was only something which was done once a witch or wizard was finished with school. She was sure that her parents would react badly, thinking that ought to give their daughter more than second hand clothes and spell books, which was not why Ginny had taken up the job. Of course she had been a little selfish and thought of getting herself new clothes and perhaps new shoes, but her interest in the job had mainly been to keep herself busy during the summer. Of course, the fact that she had been working in a muggle shop would help her in the coming school year, as the ministry had taken a new approach on things after you-know-who's return and the battle at the ministry last summer, but Ginny had certainly not taken on the job because she felt her family was not providing enough for her. Just the thought of her family thinking of her this way is what kept her silenced. She knew that they would find out eventually, but she hoped that it would at least be after the Christmas holidays, so that they realized that she hadn't been totally selfish and that she'd thought of them too.
HARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERDegnoming the garden that evening was a tricky business. Mrs Weasley's foul mood had lasted for over an hour, encouraging them all to stay in the garden past sunset and complete their task until no gnomes were left to watch flying through the air. When Mrs. Weasley came to inspect their handiwork, she had no complaints, and Ginny felt that she was quite right not to, as each one of them had various bite marks on their hands, some of which were still bleeding despite their attempts to stop the blood. However, either due to the fact that the garden was finally free of gnomes, or that they were in physical pain, especially Fred and George whom had grabbed four gnomes at once, and who had all sunk their teeth into their hands at the same time (and weren't able to shake off for a full minute), Mrs Weasley seemed to cheer up considerably, and once the table was laid seemed her cheerful bossy self again.
"Have some more mashed potatoes Harry, you're still much too skinny. If you don't gain some weight before next year I may have to have a serious word with your aunt and uncle." And then,
"Arthur, must you really ask him how light-tulbs work again, and during dinner no less?"
"Percy! No reading the evening prophet at the table!"
And of course,
"Fred! George! Throw that away before you poke someone's eye out! Honestly Arthur, I don't see why you can't back me up this time, what if Ron had had to sneeze right that minute --"
"Hey, Ginny, d'you want to come play quidditch with us again tomorrow before we go to Hogsmead to meet Hermione?" Harry and Ron had decided to include her into their conversation, and she was glad for it as Percy seemed to be wanting to express his opinions on reading highly informative and important material (especially during these troubled times) at the dinner table, to anyone who would look his way. As she was seated next to him, she was glad to miss out on another indignant lecture, and immediately engaged in conversation.
"Yeah, sounds fun. Are Fred and George coming too?"
Harry nodded. "Yep." And when he saw Percy turn his head his way hurriedly continued "boy do I hope we manage to shape up Andew and Jack to fill Fred and George's shoes. Last year worked out okay, but I would hate to lose the cup to Slytherin in my last year at Hogwarts."
Ron and Ginny laughed. "Don't worry mate," Ron reassured him, clapping Harry on the back. "With all the training and planning you've been doing this summer, I doubt anything can go wrong, and if it does, that you don't have a back up plan for it."
"Oh yeah, you've been working on our team practices all summer haven't you?"
Ron snickered. "He's been obsessing over it ever since the start of summer. You know he has back up plans for at least twenty different weather conditions in which we might have to play in? And all the stuff he's come up with is insane. If what Fred and George said about Wood is true, I'd say he's just as obsessed as him."
"Oliver Wood?"
Fred and George had joined the conversation.
"Merlin's beard, he was crazy. Remember that time when he woke us at five in the morning for an early 'pep talk'?"
Harry laughed with them, remembering how his former captain had gone on for hours until the Slytherin team had invaded the pitch, and how Ron had belched up slugs the whole day after attempting to curse Malfoy with the wrong end of his wand.
Soon however, dinner had drawn to a close, and Ginny and the others were ushered upstairs (Ginny with a warning from her mother, informing her that she was coming up to check on her room as soon as the dishes were done) and that under no circumstances were they to secretly place any Weasely's Wizarding Wheezes in Charlie and Bill's rooms.
Lucky for Ginny however, was that her room was already tidier than usual. The prospect of someone finding anything related to her summer activities had caused her to keep her room as tidy as she could, except for perhaps a couple misplaced books and quills. So, when Mrs Weasley had come upstairs to inspect it, she had been pleasantly surprised at how Ginny had arranged her room so as to fit Hermione into it.
Ron and Harry however, had had less luck in pleasing her. They had hastily thrown all their belongings into Harry's cauldron and then attempted to hide it under Ron's bed. When Mrs Weasley found out, she was not at all pleased, and Ginny had been forced to retreat to the living room to be able to read in peace.
Unfolding the evening prophet, she read: "Mingling with Muggles, number 21". Skimming through the story, Ginny managed to deduce that it had been the same as many of the other articles which had appeared in the evening prophet for the past few weeks. It was always the same, the ministry would come up with tips in which witches and wizards could blend in with muggle society. Now that He Who Must Not Be Named was back, and that the ministry recognized it, new measures had been taken.
At first no one believed that you-know-who being back was true, as the ministry had spent most of last year publicizing the fact that him being back was a lie, and that Harry was a lunatic, obsessed with fame and desperate for new glory. However, facts had taken a turn when He Who Must Not Be Named had been seen at the ministry of magic last summer, and they had been doing everything within their power to keep the wizarding community calm.
Some of their plans, had, however, seemed a little pointless to Ginny. Going into hiding was, of course, one way to stay safe, but personally she thought that teaching witches and wizards more defensive spells would have been handier. Every family had been given a booklet with basic protective charms, but she felt that more work was being put in going into hiding than actually fighting you-know-who. However, she did know that every available auror at the ministry of magic was working on leads on several death eaters at a time and reinforcing security at Azkaban, so she supposed she wasn't allowed to criticize them too much.
The ministry had even gone so far as to make muggle studies a compulsory subject at Hogwarts, hoping that at least the children would be able to blend in with muggle society if their family need ever go into hiding. Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys, had of course, been a little shocked at this. Students had always been able to take the subjects which they chose to at Hogwarts, unless they did not meet the necessary requirements. It had never been that a subject had been forced upon the students -- at least, not in their O.W.L years and above. Which had been exactly the case for Harry, Ron and Ginny.
Ron had been appalled, but as soon as he remembered that his two best friends were raised as muggles cheered up instantly. Mr Weasley had been ecstatic, however he had been forced to keep his feelings to himself as his wife did not seem pleased at all. She had spent the whole week trying to persuade him to ask his connections at the ministry to "drop this foolish business" and that the only thing the ministry would succeed in doing is manage to make half the students at Hogwarts spend time on unimportant subjects such as these, while they should actually be studying for other subjects.
However, she soon dropped the subject when Mr Weasley pointed out that they too may have to go into hiding, and that the only people who would be able to help them with that would be Ron and Ginny. "As far as magic is concerned we at least stand a chance if we all rallied together. But imagine if you-know-who targeted our family specifically? We don't stand a fighting chance against that many death eaters. The only thing we would be able to do is move, disappear off the face of the earth, so to speak, and if someone got wind of a family behaving unusual amongst muggles they will be sure to find us. I don't like going into hiding any more than you do Molly, but if this is what we have to do for our family to stay together, then I'm willing to risk it."
So it hadn't been spoken of again, except amongst the Hogwarts attendees, and soon it had been forgotten about until the next morning when they met Hermione and the rest of the Granger's on the other side of the Leaky Cauldron, and inside Gringotts wizard bank.
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Due to a change of plans, Harry and Ron's quidditch game had not been held that morning. Ron seemed to have lost his list of books needed for school, and although it was exactly the same as Harry's, Mrs Weasley made him look for it the entire morning long. When they were finally ready to go at 11am, half an hour later than expected (Fred and George seemed to have hidden one of Harry's sneakers, which only Percy had been able to find after a summoning charm) and Mr Weasley had finally found a deodorant can he wanted to ask the Granger's about, they seemed to have run out on floo powder.
Mr Weasley had been forced to apparate into Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes to borrow some off Fred and George, and it was only at quarter past that the Weasleys and Harry made it to Gringotts.
"We are so very sorry," Mr and Mrs Weasley were saying to the Granger's, who seemed more terrified than annoyed. "Our sons... hiding things... they think its funny..." And then yet again apologizing, and saying they'd make it up to them and that they should really join them for a drink in the Leaky Cauldron after all the shopping had been done.
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Ginny were each being hugged in turn by Hermione, who's hair seemed to have become even bushier during the summer.
"Oh, I can't wait for school to start," she was telling them, ignoring Ron and Harry's groans. "Though I found it very odd that the ministry would enforce muggle studies on us like this. I mean, they do have a point, but it was very unexpected of them! Especially since so many witches and wizards would disapprove of the plan. I mean, a lot of the wizarding community must be outraged, what with their children having to take an extra subject at school this year, but it will be fascinating won't it? I wonder how they will approach it, there are so many angles from which you can look at it. I guess it depends on the teacher, doesn't it?"
"Hermione," Ron groaned, being the first to break under the pressure. "Its great to see you and all, but could we please not talk about school?"
"I'm sure you'd much rather talk about the quidditch season then?" Hermione retorted, but lucky for Ron they were interrupted by a goblin who was holding two small keys in his hand, and were asked to follow him.
"I'll wait with Hermione then," Ginny said, as Ron and Harry followed Mr and Mrs Weasley who were being led by the goblin and onto a cart.
"You're not going with them? I thought you liked the ride?" Asked Hermione.
"Well, I didn't want to leave you on your own," she said, and then, when she was sure her family was out of earshot "I need to get some muggle money exchanged."
"Muggle money?" Hermione asked , perplexed. "What are you talking about?"
"I got a job over the summer," Ginny told her in an undertone. "I need to exchange some of it into wizard money to get my school stuff."
"But what about your parents?"
"I haven't told them, and I really want to keep it that way, they'd get offended."
"Why?" Hermione asked, and then seeing Ginny's face said "You can tell me later. Come on, I'll go with you, we'll pretend its my money."
"Thanks so much Hermione, you're a lifesaver."
Hermione just looked at her sideways. "You will of course explain to me later what this is all about right?"
"Its not really a big deal," Ginny told her in an undertone as a Gringotts goblin examined the credit card and pay checks inside Ginnny's envelope. "Its just unheard of in the wizarding world that someone gets a job when they're not done with school yet."
The goblin was now pulling out the leftover rolls of money which Ginny had managed to not spend that summer.
"You would like this all exchanged?" He asked.
"Er..." Hermione said. "Yes please."
The goblin nodded, and turned away.
"What do you mean its unheard of? Is it scandalous or something?"
"Sort of, actually. Its almost as scandalous as having a baby," she said, and when Hermione spluttered elaborated: "its because its a sign of wanting to mature early. I suppose you think its odd, but if you're... pureblood, its seen as something really shameful."
"But I thought your family didn't care about blood heritage?"
Ginny smiled ruefully. "Some things don't change. Not many people care anymore if their bloodline is pure or not, but these sort of things are just... fact, basically."
Hermione frowned. "Well I think its very overrated."
Ginny grinned. "You also thought house elves were overrated too though, remember? Its not something you can change, no matter how unfortunate, its just like that."
Hermione was still frowning, but the goblin had now returned to his desk, and was peering down at Hermione, so she was forced to look at him as he addressed her. "And under what name am I to put this in?" He asked, interrupting their whispered conversation.
"Um..." Hermione said, taken aback by the unyielding stare that she hadn't noticed earlier, and fidgeting nervously under it. "G-Granger, please."
"Very well." They watched him rummage around with some files, before their attention caught elsewhere, to the cart which was slowly making its way back towards the main hall, and in which 5 figures were recognizable, mainly due to three of the passengers having flaming red hair.
"Uh oh, they're back," Ginny whispered to Hermione, as she made to hide behind the goblins desk. Following her lead, Hermione ducked slightly so that they were invisible to the oblivious Weasleys and Harry, who were now making their way past the many desks that lined the grand hall, and back towards the Granger's.
"That was quick." Ginny murmured.
What do we do if they see us?" Hermione asked, who had begun to giggle out of nervousness and embarrassment at the looks they were getting from passers by.
"Pretend we're looking for something," Ginny whispered, and she began to run her hands across the floor, doing a very good impression of a person who had just lost something small.
"Right," Hermione answered, running her hands along the floor too, and then, playing along, said slightly louder than was necessary: "It's got to be here somewhere." Her voice, however had traveled a little too far.
"Well well, what have we here?" Draco Malfoy had appeared on the scene. "Lost something, have you Weasley? I wouldn't bother looking for it too much if I were you, its got to be completely worthless... although, to your family it must have cost a fortune."
He sneered at her, and then at Hermione as she straightened up, filled with rage and indignation at seeing her friend being publicly humiliated. Ginny, however, had stayed kneeling on her spot on the floor, more worried about her family spotting them than Draco Malfoy's insults.
"Funny, seeing you around on your own, Malfoy. Where's your father?" Hermione asked.
Malfoys face flushed. "I'd be careful if I were you Granger," he drawled softly. "But since you're mentioning parents, isn't that sad lot over there yours?"
He nodded in their direction, and smirked at Hermione's reaction. "whats the matter?" He asked cooly, surveying her trembling hands. "Don't you want to defend even scum like them?" His lip curled as Hermione's face paled even more and she began to shake with fury.
"If you even dare come near them--"
"Hermione, Ginny, whats going on?" Mr Weasley, Ron and Harry had appeared.
Hermione was first to answer. "Nothing," she spat, surprising them all, before regaining control of her temper, and drawing in a shaky breath. "I mean, nothing," she said, more calmly this time. "Right, Malfoy?"
Draco, however, just raised one of his eyebrows at her mockingly and fixed her with an indifferent stare, as if challenging her to tell Mr Weasley what he had just said.
Ginny too, had now straightened up, and was looking slightly apprehensively at her dad, only just seeming to realize that he had appeared.
"Ginny?" He asked her uncertainly, turning his head her way and seeing the expression on her face.
She blinked, before realizing he was asking her about Draco Malfoy, and not the money the goblin was still taking care of for them three desks away. "Its nothing dad, I just dropped something. It must have rolled away, its not important."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, who had stepped in front of her and Hermione and was eying Draco with distaste. "I don't mind jinxing him for you."
"Harry! You can't!" Hermione said, as Draco pulled out his own wand. "Remember the school rules?"
Harry, however, wasn't listening. "Go on then, Potter," Draco jeered, sizing Harry up imperiously "if you've got the guts."
Harry's fists were balled up but before he could do anything more, a woman's voice called out to them.
"Arthur, what on earth?" She asked as her eyes roamed over Harry and Draco. "Whats going on?!" Mrs Weasley had come bustling over with Hermione's parents, who looked terrified at the thought of a duel. "Harry! Put your wand down this instant! Honestly, there are people watching!"
Annoyed as though he might have been, Harry forced himself to put his wand away, not wanting to cause Mrs Weasley any more trouble, considering all that she and her husband had already done for him that summer. However, all the commotion did cause at least some good, as it meant that the goblin had managed to pass Hermione the money without being noticed.
"Come on kids, lets go" Arthur Weasley was now saying, shooting furtive glances at Draco, who was smirking slightly.
They pushed their way through the crowd of onlookers, and stopped only when they realized that Ginny was missing.
Ginny was standing in the middle of the crowd of people, which was slowly progressing forwards, not having been quick enough to follow her family. With Draco Malfoy right behind her.
What was he doing? Her breath caught in her throat, and she jumped as she felt his fingertips brush her waist, then secure themselves there. She could feel him leaning towards her. His chest was barely touching her back, yet she could feel the heat radiating off him, and was very aware of how his fingers were playing with a strand of her hair. His hair tickled her cheek, she could almost feel his skin on her own. His knee was touching her bare leg, his breath was slowly moving down to her neck, and the sensation sent chills up her spine. She could feel him grinning as he let her waist go and leaned forwards even more, his hand slowly letting her hair fall back in place, and tracing her jaw line.
"Nice knickers Weasley."
For a moment Ginny stood, completely bewildered in the middle of Gringotts, and when she looked around for the blond haired boy, he was gone.
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The last day of the summer holidays was a very hectic one. Completely neglecting Hermione and Percy's advice, everyone had left their packing to do until after dinner. Instead, they had spent the day in the orchard playing quidditch, and in Hermione's case reading her new spell books, but always looking up long enough to cheer someone on.
At around six, everyone seemed to have grown hungry, and they descended the hill and back to the Burrow, where Mrs Weasley was already fixing dinner. Deciding it was best not to disturb her while she was cooking, as she had a tendency to make objects soar around the kitchen at random to do her bidding, they retreated to the garden, and jeered on the sidelines as Bill and Charlie conjured up some tables, and like they had done every summer Harry had seen them at the burrow, proceeded in trying to smash the other's table out of the air.
As always, Bill won, and a defeated Charlie was left to dive into the kitchen for the cutlery, coming back with two fists full and a piece of eggshell in his hair.
It made Harry wonder what Mrs. Weasley was cooking for there to be eggshell in her son's hair, but it soon became apparent as everyone seated themselves at the table, groaning under the weight of all the dishes. "Wow, it looks amazing Mrs. Weasley" Hermione complimented, earning herself an embarrassed smile.
"Thank you Hermione" Molly replied, flustered. "Well, eat up everyone."
Ron didn't need telling twice. For a full minute it was quiet except for the clatter of cutlery on porcelain, as everyone savored Mrs. Weasley's delicious cooking.
"I can't believe school starts again tomorrow. The holidays have been so short," Ron moaned, five minutes later as Hermione introduced the subject of Hogwarts. "I could play quidditch and sleep in forever."
Harry laughed in agreement.
"Still, it will be nice to see Hagrid again won't it?" Hermione soothed.
"Always the optimist" Ron grumbled, and Hermione smiled at him sadly.
"I don't see why you don't enjoy school more, Ron. Its fascinating."
Ron made a chocking noise in reply, and Harry was forced to intervene before Hermione could cause more harm, because Ron was looking horror struck. Luckily Ginny distracted Hermione while Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, stabbing a piece of chicken viciously, and the topic of school was not approached again.
When dinner was finished, and the candles were burning low, attracting moths, and everyone was filled to the brim with as much of Mrs. Weasley's cooking as they could stand, they retreated upstairs, all feeling sleepy and content.
"You really should have packed in advance you know," Hermione yawned as she bade the boys goodnight, observing the mess they'd managed to create in the two days that she'd been at the burrow. "You better wake up on time tomorrow or your mom will throw a fit Ron."
"Right," was all Ron managed to reply, before Hermione left, waving and rubbing her eyes.
"I wish she wouldn't lecture us so often," Ron grumbled as the door closed.
"You can't help it, its in her nature," Harry yawned, taking off his glasses and placing them near his bed as Ron kicked off his shoes before climbing into bed.
They'd have to wake up early tomorrow, he was too tired to finish packing right now.
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! It might take a while to update, depending on how many reviews I get, but I haven't decided to abandon this fic yet, so if you like it, don't worry, it will be continued. 3