CH.1
ARRIVALS Ron Weasley was your average, everyday boy. That is, if having a wand, attending a school of magic and just happening to be a wizard was considered average. At the moment, that "average" boy happened to be sprawled on a bed in a room that seemed to be almost completely orange, on top of which he was snoring quite loudly. Despite being tangled in the orange covers, he was quite obviously a very tall and lanky person. His red hair and freckles adding a slightly different color in the room compared to the orange everywhere else, including his pajamas which were just as orange as the rest of the room.
He wouldn't sleep for much longer though, for in moments he was under assault from a pillow courtesy of a smaller red headed girl that was hitting him and speaking at the same time. "Wake up already, Ron!"
All of this only got one hand sleepily trying to bat away the pillow as he mumbled "Five more minutes, mum." Of course, this being his younger sister she did not seem to take it very well, instead hitting him harder with the pillow and yelling for him to wake up again. He finally snatched the pillow from her and settled back when she decided to use a different tactic.
"Harry and Hermione are coming today." She said sweetly, standing there and waiting.
Apparently those were the magic words, because at the start of the name Hermione he was bolt upright and wide awake now. "Today?" he asked, still a little sleepy but remarkably more awake than he had been moments earlier, just as she knew he would be.
As he sat up and started to get up, his little sister stood there, as if waiting impatiently. She was much shorter than he was, with porcelain skin and dark red hair and matching freckles. She was an extremely pretty girl but despite the fact that she was a sixth year student and he was just a year ahead of her in his last year at school, he would never admit that she was anything but his baby sister. He walked to his dresser past all the random junk he had scattered over the room to get clothes and then spoke. "What are you waiting around for, Ginny? I need to get dressed." He spoke irritably.
She sighed in exasperation and then spoke. "Because we're going to go get Hermione, since she can't apparate yet. Harry should be here soon." As she said his name, there was a loud pop from downstairs then a chorus of voices in greeting as he arrived. Ginny smiled slightly and Ron did his best not to laugh, which just produced a snicker in result. An indignant look from Ginny and a blank stare from Ron in response caused her to leave, which was just as well with him, he needed to get dressed.
In a few short moments, Ron came bounding down the stairs to the sight of his entire family plus one who was definitely not. The ones who were related to him were obvious due to the telltale red hair and freckles, and then there was the one that wasn't who happened to have dark hair and sticking out like a sore thumb in the sea of red heads. He also happened to have a small, lightning bolt shaped scar above one eyebrow which the fate of the world was hanging on.
A grin emanated from the scarred boy and a grin back from Ron as he came down and they shook each others hands. "Hey Ron." He said to him.
"Hey Harry, how are you?" replied Ron as they stood in the sea.
"As good as can be expected, considering..." but Harry wasn't allowed to finish that sentence before the oldest, and only, red headed woman out there shushed them and spoke. "Let's not worry about that now, Harry. It's time for breakfast, come on the lot of you." She was a bit on the heavy side, but looked paler than normal and as if she had lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. That was Mrs. Weasley, Ron's mother.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley." Replied Harry, smiling at her as the procession entered the kitchen to go and eat. First was Mrs. Weasley, going to go serve the breakfast, and then came a slightly balding man behind her who happened to be her husband, Mr. Weasley. After that Ron, Harry and Ginny trampled in for seats and to eat. Just as Mrs. Weasley started serving (Harry first of course since he never got enough to eat at the Dursley's) there were two more pops and two more people appeared in front of them. Harry jumped straight up as it happened and one hand went to the waistband of his jeans to grab his wand, halfway up he stopped himself as he recognized the two people in front of him. The two identical twins just grinned at him from across the table where they had apparated to and the first one spoke. "Oh, so you're going to curse us, are you Harry?" he asked.
"Wanting your donation to the shop back or something? I think he wants to renege on us, Fred." Asked the second before the first spoke again. "I guess he finally had the sense knocked into him then, George. Alas, at least we hid it well, you will never get it, young Harry!" he finished theatrically. A snort was his answer as Harry sat back down and then spoke. "I could always take it from those dragon hide jackets of yours, most of the money probably went there anyways." He responded, though quite amiably and not at all worried about the two practical joking red heads, who happened to be Fred and George Weasley of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes.
Ron piped up finally as he had sat there and spoke seriously. "Don't worry, unless your pre approved to apparate or dissaparate here, you won't make it. You'll end out in the lake. Fred and George invented deflecting apparition spells for their joke shop. Supposed to be for a joke on a friend, put it on the friends house, when he goes to apparate home he ends up somewhere else every time."
"Of course, until everything.settles down, we're withholding them from the public." Spoke Fred as the two of them sat down across from them. Mrs. Weasley loaded everyone's plate and sat down as well to eat. Mr. Weasley was talking to the twins about work, he used to work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts but now, with the return of Voldemort and the war, his job title had changed to that of the head of the department of Muggle Protection. He was tasked to supervise the wizards strategically placed around the country in case of an attack and to wipe the memories of any attack that happened. Fred and George, though continuing the joke shop, had joined up through the Order of the Phoenix and were helping him as well so the three could go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley was engaging Ginny in conversation, actually more the reverse. Ginny was talking about her and Hermione, some plans they had thought of. This made Ron listen for a moment then shrug before he spoke to Harry as he couldn't understand what they were talking about.
"So, how's your summer been?" he asked his friend. A moment after he said it, he wished he hadn't. Harry had been stuck at his aunt and uncles, who besides being muggles were being even more horrible to him than normal after they found out about the war that was going on right under their noses. Not to mention the fact that the most evil wizard, and one of the most powerful as well, happened to want nothing less than his death and had been hunting him for years.
A moments delay and Harry answered. "It was alright, how about yours?"
A silent sigh of relief from Ron, glad Harry hadn't snapped as he had been doing a lot since fifth year, though to be fair he was getting much better. Ron nodded and then replied. "Good. We're going to go pick up Hermione in a little while." After he said that, Harry snorted at the enthusiasm in his best friend's voice.
Ron looked perplexed though as his friend snorted, having no clue why he did so. Fred had overheard that and had opened his mouth to say something smart and sarcastic before flinching as if he had just been kicked under the table. Harry just shook his head in amusement before speaking, quieter now as he leaned in. "So, what's been going on? What's happening in the war? The Order?"
Ron looked back and forth between parents and leaned in as well as he whispered. "After Malfoy escaped, we finally saw him again. He came with a bunch of Dementors and attacked around Norwich, had to blockade the whole area until we could get them out. That was the ministry, the Order has been busy too, every time I-" he was interrupted by a glaring Mrs. Weasley, who must have either heard them or guessed what they were talking about. Both straightened up guiltily and finished the food within moments. After about two more helpings, Ron rushed off to go get ready to get Hermione. By the fifth helping of Mrs. Weasley's fantastic cooking the rest finally finished and stood up. Ron was still upstairs getting ready and in a few moments, Mrs. Weasley yelled up the stairs.
"All of us are ready. If you don't get down here now, we'll go get Hermione witho-" as she said that, he raced downstairs, cleaned up and freshly shaved. On top of the bath and the fresh clothing, the best that he owned, he could smell a faint whiff of cologne off of Ron. Harry suppressed a grin at that, as hard as he could as he shared an amused glance with Ginny who seemed to notice the exact same thing. Thankfully, for Ron's sake, the twins hadn't. "Finally!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as he came down, cutting off the thoughts.
"Now, let's go. Ron, you go ahead and apparate there and send a signal through the fire when you're there and the rest of us will come." She said which caused Ron to blush furiously in embarrassment. He'd get to see Hermione first, something he had been longing to do all summer. A wave of his hand and then pop, he disappeared into thin air.
ARRIVALS Ron Weasley was your average, everyday boy. That is, if having a wand, attending a school of magic and just happening to be a wizard was considered average. At the moment, that "average" boy happened to be sprawled on a bed in a room that seemed to be almost completely orange, on top of which he was snoring quite loudly. Despite being tangled in the orange covers, he was quite obviously a very tall and lanky person. His red hair and freckles adding a slightly different color in the room compared to the orange everywhere else, including his pajamas which were just as orange as the rest of the room.
He wouldn't sleep for much longer though, for in moments he was under assault from a pillow courtesy of a smaller red headed girl that was hitting him and speaking at the same time. "Wake up already, Ron!"
All of this only got one hand sleepily trying to bat away the pillow as he mumbled "Five more minutes, mum." Of course, this being his younger sister she did not seem to take it very well, instead hitting him harder with the pillow and yelling for him to wake up again. He finally snatched the pillow from her and settled back when she decided to use a different tactic.
"Harry and Hermione are coming today." She said sweetly, standing there and waiting.
Apparently those were the magic words, because at the start of the name Hermione he was bolt upright and wide awake now. "Today?" he asked, still a little sleepy but remarkably more awake than he had been moments earlier, just as she knew he would be.
As he sat up and started to get up, his little sister stood there, as if waiting impatiently. She was much shorter than he was, with porcelain skin and dark red hair and matching freckles. She was an extremely pretty girl but despite the fact that she was a sixth year student and he was just a year ahead of her in his last year at school, he would never admit that she was anything but his baby sister. He walked to his dresser past all the random junk he had scattered over the room to get clothes and then spoke. "What are you waiting around for, Ginny? I need to get dressed." He spoke irritably.
She sighed in exasperation and then spoke. "Because we're going to go get Hermione, since she can't apparate yet. Harry should be here soon." As she said his name, there was a loud pop from downstairs then a chorus of voices in greeting as he arrived. Ginny smiled slightly and Ron did his best not to laugh, which just produced a snicker in result. An indignant look from Ginny and a blank stare from Ron in response caused her to leave, which was just as well with him, he needed to get dressed.
In a few short moments, Ron came bounding down the stairs to the sight of his entire family plus one who was definitely not. The ones who were related to him were obvious due to the telltale red hair and freckles, and then there was the one that wasn't who happened to have dark hair and sticking out like a sore thumb in the sea of red heads. He also happened to have a small, lightning bolt shaped scar above one eyebrow which the fate of the world was hanging on.
A grin emanated from the scarred boy and a grin back from Ron as he came down and they shook each others hands. "Hey Ron." He said to him.
"Hey Harry, how are you?" replied Ron as they stood in the sea.
"As good as can be expected, considering..." but Harry wasn't allowed to finish that sentence before the oldest, and only, red headed woman out there shushed them and spoke. "Let's not worry about that now, Harry. It's time for breakfast, come on the lot of you." She was a bit on the heavy side, but looked paler than normal and as if she had lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. That was Mrs. Weasley, Ron's mother.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley." Replied Harry, smiling at her as the procession entered the kitchen to go and eat. First was Mrs. Weasley, going to go serve the breakfast, and then came a slightly balding man behind her who happened to be her husband, Mr. Weasley. After that Ron, Harry and Ginny trampled in for seats and to eat. Just as Mrs. Weasley started serving (Harry first of course since he never got enough to eat at the Dursley's) there were two more pops and two more people appeared in front of them. Harry jumped straight up as it happened and one hand went to the waistband of his jeans to grab his wand, halfway up he stopped himself as he recognized the two people in front of him. The two identical twins just grinned at him from across the table where they had apparated to and the first one spoke. "Oh, so you're going to curse us, are you Harry?" he asked.
"Wanting your donation to the shop back or something? I think he wants to renege on us, Fred." Asked the second before the first spoke again. "I guess he finally had the sense knocked into him then, George. Alas, at least we hid it well, you will never get it, young Harry!" he finished theatrically. A snort was his answer as Harry sat back down and then spoke. "I could always take it from those dragon hide jackets of yours, most of the money probably went there anyways." He responded, though quite amiably and not at all worried about the two practical joking red heads, who happened to be Fred and George Weasley of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes.
Ron piped up finally as he had sat there and spoke seriously. "Don't worry, unless your pre approved to apparate or dissaparate here, you won't make it. You'll end out in the lake. Fred and George invented deflecting apparition spells for their joke shop. Supposed to be for a joke on a friend, put it on the friends house, when he goes to apparate home he ends up somewhere else every time."
"Of course, until everything.settles down, we're withholding them from the public." Spoke Fred as the two of them sat down across from them. Mrs. Weasley loaded everyone's plate and sat down as well to eat. Mr. Weasley was talking to the twins about work, he used to work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts but now, with the return of Voldemort and the war, his job title had changed to that of the head of the department of Muggle Protection. He was tasked to supervise the wizards strategically placed around the country in case of an attack and to wipe the memories of any attack that happened. Fred and George, though continuing the joke shop, had joined up through the Order of the Phoenix and were helping him as well so the three could go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley was engaging Ginny in conversation, actually more the reverse. Ginny was talking about her and Hermione, some plans they had thought of. This made Ron listen for a moment then shrug before he spoke to Harry as he couldn't understand what they were talking about.
"So, how's your summer been?" he asked his friend. A moment after he said it, he wished he hadn't. Harry had been stuck at his aunt and uncles, who besides being muggles were being even more horrible to him than normal after they found out about the war that was going on right under their noses. Not to mention the fact that the most evil wizard, and one of the most powerful as well, happened to want nothing less than his death and had been hunting him for years.
A moments delay and Harry answered. "It was alright, how about yours?"
A silent sigh of relief from Ron, glad Harry hadn't snapped as he had been doing a lot since fifth year, though to be fair he was getting much better. Ron nodded and then replied. "Good. We're going to go pick up Hermione in a little while." After he said that, Harry snorted at the enthusiasm in his best friend's voice.
Ron looked perplexed though as his friend snorted, having no clue why he did so. Fred had overheard that and had opened his mouth to say something smart and sarcastic before flinching as if he had just been kicked under the table. Harry just shook his head in amusement before speaking, quieter now as he leaned in. "So, what's been going on? What's happening in the war? The Order?"
Ron looked back and forth between parents and leaned in as well as he whispered. "After Malfoy escaped, we finally saw him again. He came with a bunch of Dementors and attacked around Norwich, had to blockade the whole area until we could get them out. That was the ministry, the Order has been busy too, every time I-" he was interrupted by a glaring Mrs. Weasley, who must have either heard them or guessed what they were talking about. Both straightened up guiltily and finished the food within moments. After about two more helpings, Ron rushed off to go get ready to get Hermione. By the fifth helping of Mrs. Weasley's fantastic cooking the rest finally finished and stood up. Ron was still upstairs getting ready and in a few moments, Mrs. Weasley yelled up the stairs.
"All of us are ready. If you don't get down here now, we'll go get Hermione witho-" as she said that, he raced downstairs, cleaned up and freshly shaved. On top of the bath and the fresh clothing, the best that he owned, he could smell a faint whiff of cologne off of Ron. Harry suppressed a grin at that, as hard as he could as he shared an amused glance with Ginny who seemed to notice the exact same thing. Thankfully, for Ron's sake, the twins hadn't. "Finally!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as he came down, cutting off the thoughts.
"Now, let's go. Ron, you go ahead and apparate there and send a signal through the fire when you're there and the rest of us will come." She said which caused Ron to blush furiously in embarrassment. He'd get to see Hermione first, something he had been longing to do all summer. A wave of his hand and then pop, he disappeared into thin air.