Staff, Swords, & the Prophecy
Chapter One -Part One-The Burrow, home to an old bloodline of wizards that are highly respected in some circles..in others. Well not so much. Arthur and Molly Weasley along with their seven children have called this place home. One may not think that the mismatched floors stacked one on top of the other really should work, in truth, without a little magic to begin with. This house would have never been made as strong as the hearts of the Weasleys.
"Shhhh…"
"You shhh! Mom gots him pulling up the weeds she has."
Fred and George Weasley had slipped out from the back door and were amusing themselves by sneaking up on their younger brother Ron. Who was the 'him' pulling up the weeds in the garden after being wrongly accused of playing a prank on the matriarch of the family.
It was one of those incidents where the twins knew the baby brother would take the hit for their antics. But Ronald Weasley wasn't some sap, he knew that when the kitchen was awfully quiet and upon inquiry. That Molly was wondering why Fred and George had left so early from the table. That something was amiss. His older brother Percy was there, but he was a straight laced fellow that could do no wrong his in parents eyes. Mostly because he DID no wrong. When Molly had begun to do the dishes. Ron and Percy went on their breakfast of oatmeal and berry scones. Suddenly there was a loud scream from the woman when a color bomb packet went off under water as soon as she set the plates down into the hot water suds. Ron had gotten off lightly though when he had pointed out it was the twins that had color smudges on their fingers; which she had remarked about four days ago. The day after they came back from getting school supplies at Diagon Alley to be more precise. Had he not been in the habit of looking out for such strange things, it would have been several long days of doing something unpleasant for their mother. Instead that was left for George and Fred once she found them. Ronald's laughter at the incident, which he couldn't help. Got him the weeds unknown to the pair of tricksters.
"You know, we really should lower that green. It looked a little too much like.."
"Grass after dad trimmed the lawn?" Fred would say quietly to George while watching Ron wrestle with a twister weed.
"When we were going for vomit...maybe up the yellow and add a smidge of substance to it?" George would suggest, sparking Fred to rub his chin some in thought.
"Maybe… A shame we had to try it on mom, yea but lucky our brother took the bait when we told them we'd save the best scones for him eh? Besides using it in the tub just wasn't going to work. Not without a good odor to go along with."
As the two walked away to try and figure out how they can improve on this unnamed bomb gag of theirs. Ron had finally pulled out the twister weed, though now the boy of 11 was left with trying to untangle the dead weed from himself.
"Bloody hell get off of me already! Just those two wait...they don't know what they got coming to them yet. Ohhh let Ron take the hit...blimey I don't think so not this time!" They boy was saying to on one besides himself and the weed that he finally got his limbs free of to toss in the wheelbarrow along with the rest that didn't belong. He just had to get through the rest of this week. Then all but Ginny would be in Hogwarts and HE would be able to curse those two if they tried their pranks on him there.
Ron had heard plenty about that school from his five older brothers, and knew he had a lot to live up to. To say that he didn't worry about that would be an outright lie. Those before him were either Head boy, Prefect, Captain of the Quidditch Team, really smart like Percy, or had made their names using other tactics like Fred and George for getting into trouble. So what was left? "At least I'll be in Gryffindor, mum and dad were...all my brothers were or are. Blimey I can't wait to get there…" Ron would say definitively after pulling up another weed from the soft earth to add with the rest.
It only took another three hours for the garden to be weeded well enough to the approval of Molly Weasley. By then it was time for lunch, the boy packing it away like a ravenous lion who hadn't eaten in a week. Yet he was scrawny as ever with that signature red hair and freckles. Where he put it all away no one could figure out and many have given up trying. Ron spent the rest of the day glancing through the pages of "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration." To only give himself a slight headache; enough for him to just lightly toss the book back into his trunk and leave his small room under the attic for some fresh air. With luck no one was on any of the old broomsticks which meant he could enjoy flying around for a bit where he and his siblings would play games of Quidditch near the house where no muggles could see. Long as they didn't fly up past the tree line that is.
At the end of the day Ronald Weasley fell asleep in bed, listening to the moans of the family ghoul up in the attic. Having wanted to skip watching mom and dad dancing to a song on the radio. Compelled to hear how they loved this song and the reason why for the umpteenth time. He'd rather listen to the ghoul then them going on and wondering how long his dinner would stay down. It was a good dinner too. (work on wording this paragraph better)
"Hurry up!" Ronald Weasley do not forget Scabbers! We can't be sending that poor rat through owl post the poor thing would never make it!" He mother was reminding him while everyone was pulling their trunks out onto the front lawn for Arthur to load up into the car. "I got him mum in my pocket! I told you that the last two times you said that this morning!" He would remind her, reaching in and pulling the grey rat halfway out to show her. Narrowly dodging Ginny running into him to grab something for Fred and George out of their room.
"Keep a close eye on him then dear, don't want to have him slip out on the way." Before he could answer, Molly already was walking away to answer Arthur's call for her from outside.
"Boys! Ginny! Let's get a move on then before we're late!" The man would say from the open doorway, both hands holding onto the doorframe itself so that he could lean in to make his voice heard. "Molly! Ah..there you are, do they have everything?"
"Yes I think so dear, how are we on time?" The matriarch of the family would ask, moving aside so that Ginny and Ron could slip out and pile into the car.
"We'll make it I think." Gesturing for her to go on ahead, Arthur would lock up the house with a tap of his wand before taking quick, long strides to see that he opens the passenger side door for his wife. Seeing that Molly was settled in her seat, the man would close the door to hurry around to the driver's side and start the car up.
They nearly stopped once to turn around for something one of the twins expressed was crucial yet, did not exactly admit was a school requirement. "If you father has to turn this car around boys I will make you all stay home and scrub the house every day for the year!" Molly said twisting her back to look at the children sitting all together. The look on her face was one that no one in the family wanted to really see. It wasn't her worst...but this look alone turned the car silent for several moments.
"Nevermind." Fred and George would say together in unison.
With traffic and driving around the block a few times to try and find a parking spot with no luck. Arthur finally just pulled into the departure lane to help get trolleys and see the boys off. "I'll just keep driving around then until I find a spot and meet you right back here Molly." Waving the lot of them goodbye, Ginny having decided to accompany her mother in seeing her brothers off. The Weasleys were nearly jogging to Platform 9 ¾; doing their best to get through the crowds of muggles who seemed oblivious to the group.
How muggles could look so blindly at some things and not think anything of it was amazing to Ron. There was no denying however that it helped at times when it came to minor wizarding things. He suppose some wizards when he took the time to think about it were just a blind to what was going on right in front of their noses. Probably because they do not even care to look down at anything beneath them or something like that. Ah the inner thoughts of a young wizard boy. Hearing his mother beckoning for Ron to keep up with them brought him out of his thoughts and into the present time. His pale freckled face slightly red as he realized they were nearly at the wall already. The blind thinking of the blind indeed.
Holding onto his trolley; watching his three older brothers go through the wall. Ron was about to take his turn when he heard another boy begin to stutter trying to get his question out. A muggle born was his initial guess considering the one with dark, shaggy hair and patched up glasses had no idea how to get to platform. He had nothing against muggle borns wizards personally; they were wizards just like him. Well, going to be after their seven years at Hogwarts. Blood was blood, it all ran red for them all pureblood or not.
The best advice his mother could give was one he heard each year. "If you're nervous, run." Sure it sounds like strange advice, but in this situation it was the most ideal. One could not guarantee the muggles passing by wouldn't notice...if they actually watched a person suddenly disappearing while heading towards a wall...well. There was a department at the Ministry of Magic to handle such things; worse comes to shove.
The boy having successfully made it through the wall, well...at least not crashing against it so it was best to assume he made it through. Molly then urged Ron to go through, followed by herself and Ginny. Most of the kids he saw were like him busy trying to get their things loaded onto the train while saying goodbye to their parents.
"Ron come here you got something on your face…" Turning around after passing his trunk up to Fred and George. He was met with a hankie that was wet scrubbing at his cheek.
"Ugh! Mum ger-off I'm fine!" His red read moving this way and that trying to dodge the handkerchief that has just be re-licked by Molly.
"Yea mum you heard him" Fred would say now beside George.
"You missed a spot I think he said.." George would chime in; both with an amused look on their faces.
"Did not!" Ron insisted with a now red face. Partly from the scrubbing, partly out of embarrassment. Jumping on the train to try and give them both a good punch on their arms. He didn't hear anything else his parents said with the whistle blowing a warning for everyone to hurry it up.
The twins disappeared through the crowd of students on board quickly before Ron could really get at them. The most he did was a glancing blow to Fred's arm in the beginning before some older girl was pushed towards him to serve as an obstacle. By the time he could mumble an apology his two older brothers were long gone and the train had already left the station.
"Bunch of rotten luck." The red haired boy would say a few minutes later while trying to find a seat. He wasn't picky, long as it wasn't with any Slytherin. That right there would be more trouble than it was worth. Passing a compartment working towards the front of the train, he had to quickly stop himself and turn back. Giving it another look there was only one boy inside the compartment itself.
"Hey..do you mind sharing? Getting a seat seems to not be so easy." Ron would say, recognizing the lone boy as the one who his mother helped earlier.
"No, come on in, help yourself." The boy would say sitting to one side at the far end.
Sitting down directly across Ronald would give a nervous smile. "Thanks, didn't really want to keep lookin' for too much longer. I'm Ron Weasley." He'd introduce himself, extending a hand out to shake.
"Hey here I thought I'd be alone the whole way, happy to see I was wrong. I'm Harry." Potter's hand would extend the other half of the way to mutually shake Ron's own. "Harry Potter."