WEASLEY'S WINDY WHIZZER
In which Arthur Weasley gets the wind up!
With regard to the following story, the characters and settings in this story belong entirely to the works and 'world' created by J.K. Rowling and I am grateful that she so kindly allows us, her fans, to enter her world and 'play' for a while. This is an entirely amateur work and not for profit.
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CHAPTER ONE: The Dinner Party
"Come in Mum and Dad," said Ginny Potter "Welcome to the new incarnation of 12 Grimmauld Place! Ginny kissed them both and then said, "Give me your coats and go on through to the lounge. Harry's in there with the rest of our house-warming guests. He'll ask Kreacher to sort you out a drink, before we all eat. It's just through on the left there, I'll pop these things away in the cupboard for you then I'll be back once I've checked on the progress of the food."
Molly and Arthur Weasley looked at the bright new modern entrance hall to the house, with it's light and airy décor and were astonished. They remembered the place as it was in the days prior to the end of the war. It had been dark, drab, dirty and gloomy. It was a barely habitable, near wreck, when it was given over by their friend and Harry's godfather, the late Sirius Black, to be the Headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix. Obviously Harry and Ginny had wrought wonders on the old place. The old flickering gas lamps had gone and the house was now lit by modern electric lights, The walls had been cleaned and re-papered, the floor carpeted and the woodwork all repainted a pale creamy yellow. Central heating had also been installed as was evidenced by the modern designer radiator in the hallway. All in all the house was unrecognisable from it's previous state.
As the couple reached the door of the lounge they saw that the improvements carried on and the whole place, as far as could be seen, was now beautifully decorated and tastefully furnished. All the other house-warming guests were already sitting around chatting with Harry and amongst themselves. "Hello everyone," said Arthur, entering the room with Molly close behind.
The guest list, in addition to the senior Weasleys, consisted of Ron and Hermione Weasley (of course), George Weasley and his soon to be wife Angelina Johnson, Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood, Neville and Hannah Longbottom, Bill and Fleur Weasley and also Dudley Dursley and his wife Estelle. Dudley and Harry had completed the reconciliation they had begun when the Dursley family were taken into hiding during the war and they were now on good terms, even though Dudley's father Vernon was still a hostile bigot and Aunt Petunia sadly still stuck by him.
Dudley had become estranged from his parents during their time in hiding because he had ceased being hostile to magic, remembering how Harry had saved him from the Dementor attack. Now he had no contact with his father and thus, sadly, very little with his mother also. He had become a thoroughly reformed character in his period of 'exile' due to the war, when he was protected by witches and wizards whom he grew to admire for their care towards himself and his parents. He was now no longer recognisable from his old, fat, bullying self. His lovely wife Estelle was expecting their first child, (which they knew would be a girl), in a couple of months and Dudley had joked with Harry that he hoped she would be a witch. Although in his heart of hearts he actually meant it, having seen for himself the wonders that wizarding folk could do and having been so well protected by them.
When Harry phoned Dudley to invite them to the party Dudley had joked that the reason Harry wanted himself and Estelle there was so that Harry wouldn't drown in a sea of Weasleys, but in truth they were very welcome guests.
Harry and Ginny had hoped that Percy Weasley and his girlfriend Audrey would have been able to join them, but he was in New York with Kingsley Shackle bolt, assisting him at a UN meeting being held in secret session, about ongoing reforms in international muggle/wizarding relations. Charlie Weasley was also unable to attend as he was still in Romania, working at the dragon sanctuary.
As they entered the lounge Arthur and Molly said hello to all their fellow guests, were seated and accepted a glass of wine offered to them by the Potters loyal house elf, Kreacher, who was now very much a respected family retainer, following his help in the Horcrux hunt and his heroism at The Battle of Hogwarts. Molly then made a beeline for the obviously pregnant Estelle, introduced herself, (this being the first time they'd met), and then started chatting to her about their forthcoming happy event.
Shortly though Molly broke off from her conversation with Estelle, turned to Harry and said, "This is lovely Harry, I love the way you've decorated the old place, it's so bright and airy I wouldn't recognise it from the old days. Sirius would be proud of what you and Ginny have done to his old house."
"Thank you Molly, but I must admit it is mostly down to the good taste of the lovely young lady you see here." Harry said, indicating Ginny who had just re-entered the room. "It is nearly all her design, myself, the builders and the decorators just did the donkey work."
"Well we had to get it done Mum," Ginny said. "We couldn't raise our child in that small rented riverside flat, although it was lovely for just the two of us."
Molly looked dumbstruck for a second and then, squealing like a little girl, rushed at Ginny, hugging her and saying, "You mean? Your going to? Unable to finish her questions and simply hanging on to her daughter, who nodded and smiled happily in reply.
"But when did you find out Ginny," Molly asked. "You're so naughty telling me like that! I nearly fainted," she smiled.
Harry and I got the confirmation through from St. Mungo's just this morning Mum, but I've suspected it for a while. Thank God we got the place finished on time.
Arthur had been watching this exchange, feeling flabbergasted himself. As soon as his wife let go of his daughter he rushed in, kissing and hugging her, saying, "Congratulations Ginny love, and you of course Harry," he said looking round at him. "You're both going to make splendid parents and we'll be the proudest grandparents in the world."
Harry said, "Thanks Arthur, I know you will. You and Molly have been a mother and father to me as well. We've already got a nursery room set aside and now we just have to finish off it's decoration, but we'll put the finishing touches to that once we know if it's a boy or a girl. We asked the hospital not to tell us before the baby is born though, Ginny and I want it to be a surprise."
All their other guests then joined in congratulating of the happy couple.
"So a new home and a baby on the way, this is a double celebration then," said Neville, who was clinging on lovingly to his wife, the lovely Hannah, the both of them grinning, because they had a secret themselves but didn't want to steal Ginny and Harry's thunder. Time enough in a few days to invite them to a celebration of their own.
"Let's have a drop of that bubbly we have on ice then Harry," said Ginny. I think Estelle and I can risk a tiny symbolic glass each without doing any harm to the babies. So Harry went out in the kitchen to get the champagne, Kreacher being otherwise occupied putting the finishing touches to the meal. Harry returned with a magnum of champagne and charged sufficient glasses for everyone, although with just a symbolic drop each in Estelle and Ginny's. He raised his glass and said. "To my darling wife Ginny, who has made me the happiest man in the world." They all raised their glasses and drank the toast, "To Ginny and the baby!" Nobody noticed however that Hannah barely sipped hers.
Ginny then replied saying, "To my wonderful husband Harry, without whom it's probable neither I, nor any of us would be here this happy night." And they all drank, "To Harry!"
Sitting back down again just before going in to eat Arthur Weasley began looking around the lounge and his eyes were drawn like magnets to the large, flat screen TV and other entertainment equipment on a stand in the corner of the room. His face became filled with an almost salivating look of longing.
He turned to Harry and said, "I see you've had the ekeltricity installed in the place, That'll be handy when the baby comes along. How are you getting on with the muggle technogolgy?"
Harry almost laughed, knowing how fond Arthur Weasley was of muggle gadgets and how much he admired what they could do, even if he wasn't too sure about how any of it worked. "Well Arthur," he replied, "As you know I was raised as a muggle, so I have always been able to get on alright with that kind of stuff. Ginny's learned all about it as well now, she loves it too."
Harry went on. "As you probably know from the feedback to your department in the Ministry, since we got rid of Tom Riddle the muggleborns spearheaded a trend amongst young witches and wizards of mixing magical and muggle influences in their homes and lifestyles. Ever since the Ministry's researchers found out a while ago how to screen muggle electronics from magical damage it now tends to be the young, rich 'purebloods', who just a few years ago would have scorned anything muggle, that want all the smartest and most up to date mobile phones and other gear. It's become a bit of a fashion war amongst them! Funny how things go. It seemed weird at first, seeing them all going around in the Alley, toting their iPhones and netbooks etcetera." Harry said smiling. "Ginny and I both have mobiles now as well, and we just love watching movies and listening to music on our entertainment equipment. After we've eaten I'll show you how it all works shall I?"
"That'd be wonderful Harry," said Arthur, who obviously could hardly wait.
It was a lively and fun dinner party. For all those who were allowed to drink it there was good elf made wine and sparkling oak matured mead. That is for all except for Estelle, Ginny and, strangely enough Hannah, who tried to claim she was staying teetotal in solidarity with Ginny and Estelle. But both the pregnant young women and Molly immediately saw through this white lie though. Neville and Hannah were forced to confess that they also were expecting a happy event and endure mass hugs and congratulations as a result.
All the guests though enjoyed plenty of good food, partly thanks to the efforts of Kreacher, who was an excellent cook, but also because both Ginny and Harry who themselves had learned their way around a kitchen since leaving Hogwarts, having been taught by Molly. For all it was an evening full of good cheer. Even Fleur, (who was still known not to be a fan of most British cooking), declared the meal delicious, which Ginny modestly said was largely down to Kreacher's skills.
At the end of the meal Harry left some of their guests in the dining room in the capable hands of Ginny for a while and took Arthur back into the lounge. As they left the room he said to the others, "By all means come and join us if you'd like, I promised Arthur a display of the wonders of muggle science, so give us a few minutes before you move into the lounge would you, unless you want to come and see the demo too?"
Molly, Dudley and Estelle, Bill and Fleur, George and Angelina, Hannah, Ron and Hermione and also Xenophilius remained with Ginny for a while chatting in the dining room. George and Angelina and also Ronald and Hermione in any case had already got some muggle gadgets in their homes. Bill and Fleur were not on the electricity grid at Shell Cottage, Dudley and Estelle, as a muggle couple, of course had 'all mod cons' in their home. Xenophilius was not very interested in muggle science and technology in any case.
The other smaller group, consisting of Arthur, Luna, Neville and Harry entered the lounge and Harry demonstrated to them what his muggle HD TV, disc player and audio equipment could do for ten minutes or so. They were all very impressed, particularly Arthur, who had never imagined the advances that muggle science had made in the past few years, since he had last watched a flickering, blurry picture on a TV in the window of a muggle shop.
Luna also unexpectedly seemed very impressed with the HD television, although she was the last person Harry had down as a technology lover. However, it seemed that she had recently been dating a nice muggle boy whom she'd told a little about her trips with her father, hunting for evidence of unusual creatures like Crumple Horned Snorcacks etc. Although Luna hadn't told the boy who was called Alan Mathers exactly what type of creatures she and her father went looking for she did say they were unusual. It turned out that Alan was himself somewhat interested in what muggles called cryptozoology, as well as being interested in more 'normal' wildlife photography and had said he would lend her his HD camcorder for her next trip, so she could shoot some high quality footage should she and her father locate any of their targets.
Luna said, "That's a lovely picture quality Harry. If Daddy and I get some good shots of Snorcacks on our next field trip I'll be sure to bring the results here to show you them if I can. I do hope Daddy will be well enough soon to come on a little field trip soon, he's still a bit fragile since he had the second stroke. That muggle medicine Hermione found out about seems to be working well though. It augments the St. Mungo's potions, just like she said it would. He's getting stronger every day, well you can all see that just to look at him."
Harry replied, "Yes, let's hope he's out Snorcack hunting again soon Luna, and if you get any good footage we'll look forward to seeing it." Harry wasn't sure whether he was humouring Luna or not any more. Over the years he had come to believe that there might well be things she could see but other's couldn't. The situation with the thestrals had made him think. Anyway, if she did manage to shoot some footage he'd certainly be interested in seeing it.
After the demo of the muggle technology the party re-convened, then later, once they had all digested their meal Ginny and Harry gave all their guests a tour of the rest of the house, showing them all the improvements to the property. To end the tour Harry called Kreacher and asked his permission to show them the house elf's pride and joy, his new 'bedsit'.
Kreacher, in recognition of his loyalty and bravery had been given a room of his own during the makeover. This being the old room which housed the newly restored Black family tree tapestry and which now also contained the relocated picture of his old mistress Walburga Black. Also, (at Kreacher's own insistence), the preserved heads of his ancestors in a glass cabinet. They'd done this because Kreacher would have been outraged had Harry and Ginny buried the heads in the garden and thrown the painting in the builder's skip, as they would themselves have probably preferred. Moving the picture, (using specialist magical builders, who'd had to relocate a section of the wall to do so), had been quite costly, not to mention noisy, thanks to Walburga's shouting and screaming. But at least they could now get into the house without being subject to a tirade of abuse from the 'pure-blood' fanatic's portrait.
Funnily enough though, once relocated Walburga Black seemed far less hostile and she seemed to approve of her new position in Kreacher's room, as from where her portrait was now located on a side wall she could not see that Sirius, Andromeda and Nymphadora's names, which she previously blasted off the tapestry, had been restored to the Black family tree. Harry and Ginny asked Kreacher to promise not to tell her either, as part of the deal for him getting the room.
Kreacher's room, whilst it was now clean, comfortably furnished and tidy as a result of the careful restoration work still retained some of the darker Slytherin colouration and old fashioned atmosphere of the old house. In it were also displayed several of the Black Family heirlooms which Mundungus Fletcher had stolen and which Harry and Ginny had been able to track down and reacquire. Amongst other sources a post war raid on Borgin & Burkes by Aurors had turned up several of the missing items. Kreacher was now delighted to be able to live there in his new 'des res,' surrounded by his favourite familiar things. Although he still resolutely refused all offers by Ginny and Harry to give him his full freedom and pay him a proper salary.
This was much to Hermione's disgust since she still held ambitions to free all house elves, apparently whether they wanted to be or not! However, given Kreacher's attitude, she did not blame Harry and Ginny for his refusal of their offer, could see how much Kreacher was devoted to them and she well knew how much the couple cared for him in return.
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At the end of the evening their guests all disapparated home, all still being sober enough to do so. All that is apart from Dudley and Estelle, who got a normal muggle cab home since they lived fairly close by. This left Ginny and Harry to settle down in the lounge with a nice cup of tea, along with Kreacher, who had his usual nightcap, a mug of cocoa, which he relished.
"I think that all went very well Ginny," said Harry. "What do you think Kreacher?"
Kreacher, smacked his lips on his cocoa and then replied, "Yes, very well indeed Master."
"Kreacher," Harry asked, "You know we keep asking you just to call us Harry and Ginny?"
"Yes I do Master," said Kreacher.
"Well, do you think you'll ever be able to do so?"
"I doubt it very much, Master Harry," said the crafty old elf, smiling.
At that Harry chuckled and shook his head, knowing this was as close as Kreacher would probably ever be able to get to calling him by his first name. He pulled Ginny up from the sofa by both hands. They both said, "Goodnight Kreacher," and they went off to bed feeling happily weary. "Goodnight Master and Mistress," said Kreacher bowing and also went off to his room for a well earned rest.
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CHAPTER TWO: A Meeting In The Pub.
The next day was a Sunday and that morning after breakfast Arthur Weasley was out in his shed at The Burrow, pottering about amongst his various bits of broken and inactive muggle machinery and gadgets. Molly was indoors reading recipe books and planning something for the evening meal. Nearing lunchtime Arthur went back into the house and said, "Do you fancy coming into the village for a drink at the pub Mollywobbles, we could have a snack lunch there and it's a nice day for a walk."
"No thanks darling", Molly replied. "I think I'll do a nice bit of baking this afternoon, before I get dinner ready. I don't get many Sundays free to do as I like, usually we have family here to cook lunch for. You feel free to pop into the village for a bit though, the walk will do you good. Don't get drunk though."
"As if I would," smiled Arthur and kissing her goodbye walked off to the nearby village pub in Ottery St. Catchpole. This was called The Golden Phoenix and was about only about half a mile away across country.
Since the war ended there had been a considerable loosening in some areas of the Statute of Secrecy, as the increasing numbers of muggleborns, plus the need to help Voldermort's many muggle victims had caused a shift in wizarding opinions. Recently the Ministry of Magic had authorised an experiment in integration, which was going on in two locations which already held high concentrations of wizarding folk.
One such area being Ottery St. Catchpole itself and the other was Godric's Hollow. Within a half mile or so of the outskirts of these places there was a magical perimeter screen, this would automatically modify the memories of any outsiders leaving the villages who might have seen anything 'unusual', whilst leaving the locals unaffected. Within the screen the muggle and magical communities now mingled openly. It was found though that in any case in Arthur and Molly's village the revelation to the local muggles that they had witches and wizards living amongst them could hardly have been said to have come as a shock.
So many minor incidents and sightings had happened over the years that not been 'corrected' by the Ministry's obliviators that it was an open secret anyway that there were some 'strange' folk around. However, this knowledge had provoked no hostility from the local muggle population, it seemed the time of fearful 'witch burning' was long past. The full revelation of a wizarding presence in the area therefore caused no great surprise or dismay and many muggles in fact happily found that they had been friends with witches and wizards for years without knowing it.
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Arthur Weasley walked into the bar of The Golden Phoenix and spotting him the muggle landlord Dave called out, "Hi Arthur, How's the hocus pocus business going?"
"Not bad, not bad at all Dave," Arthur replied, "I managed to produce three rabbits out of my hat the other day. Molly made a pie out of 'em, they were delicious too," he said smiling.
This being a kind of running banter between them when Arthur popped in for a drink now that the locals all knew he was a wizard. Arthur ordered a beer, then sat down in the corner at a table to drink it. Shortly a middle aged, tall, balding man, with a ruddy smiling face whom Arthur didn't know approached him saying, "Excuse me sir, may I have a word."
"Of course you can," Arthur replied. "That's the good thing about pubs isn't it, I always find, getting to know people I mean."
"I believe the landlord said your name's Arthur?" said the man.
"That's right, Arthur Weasley." He replied sticking out his hand
The stranger took it and shaking it said, "My names Jeff Miller, we've just moved into the area, that is to say my wife Jenny and I. I understand from what you just said that you are one of the local magical folk we've heard so much about. I must say you don't seem so very odd," he smiled.
"Well," said Arthur, "For the most part we're not so different from you muggles, that's what we call non magical folks by the way. We work, eat, sleep, have families, pretty standard human stuff really. It's just that we do some things a bit differently from muggles, that's all."
"Take me for instance," Arthur went on. "I suppose you could say I'm a bit of a bureaucrat. I work for The Ministry of Magic, although probably not for much longer as I'm thinking of taking early retirement. Our new Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, is a wonderful chap with great new ideas, but he's making so many sweeping changes so fast that it's a bit bewildering for an old codger like me. I think it's time for me to hand over to the next generation."
"There's a Ministry of Magic is there?" Said Jeff. "That's interesting, what do you do there, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I used to work for the section that controlled the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts. That involved checking up for inappropriately charmed or cursed muggle items etc. But for some time now I have been promoted into Muggle Relations, indeed the very department that formulated the policy that made this 'open community' experiment possible. Anyway, enough about me, what do you do Jeff?"
"I've taken early retirement myself as it happens, I had a spot of heart trouble a while back, but it's better now I'm glad to say." said Jeff. I used to be an engineer, working in electrical and electronic design. Now I'm a bit of a part time inventor, pottering about in my shed.
Arthur's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Now here's a chap I really want to get to know well," he thought to himself.
He spoke up saying, "Well this is fortunate Jeff, as you can probably tell from what I said about my work I have always had a fascination with muggle science and technogolgy."
"We say technology," Jeff put in.
"Do you really? See I'm learning already," Arthur laughed. "Anyway, I'm a bit of a machinery buff myself, I once magically converted a Ford Anglia so that it could fly, but my son let it escape into the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts after it developed a mind of it's own. Got me in a fair bit of trouble with the Ministry that did. The bloody thing nearly got me prosecuted by my own Department!"
"Sounds amazing Arthur, A flying car, I'd love to have seen it, have you got a workshop at home then?"
"Not so much a workshop as much as an old nissen hut full of bits and pieces and a few tools. If I do retire though I'd like to do a bit more with the place." Arthur replied.
"Would you like to pop round to mine and Jenny's place, you could see the set-up I have in my shed. We only live just round the corner and I'm sure you'd find it interesting Arthur. I've only just got it all up and running properly since we moved here."
"Could I really Jeff? That's most kind, I'd love to, what say I get you another pint and then we'll go and take a look, as long as your good lady won't mind?"
"No of course not Arthur, Jenny's been dying to meet one of our magical neighbours, she'll be delighted."
A short time later Arthur and Jeff arrived at a neat little house in a quiet lane a couple of minutes from the pub. Jeff let Arthur in the front door and called out, "Jenny, I've brought company, I met a new friend at the pub."
Jenny Miller, Jeff's wife, came down the stairs. She was a petite, pretty woman with short dark haired, but she looked a bit flustered. "Sorry, she said, I was just changing the duvet covers. I hate doing that, it's my least favourite job, I'm hopeless at it they always get in a tangle and it takes me ages. I was worried that the scones in the oven would burn before I finished it. Anyway, hello there, I'm Jenny Miller, and you are?" She said holding out her hand.
"Arthur Weasley, Arthur said taking Jenny's hand and shaking it. Pleased to meet you Jenny. Jeff and I were having a chat at the pub and he kindly invited me back to see his workshop."
"Ah, so you're another engineer are you, I swear Jeff spends more time in the shed since he retired than he spent at work at the factory, still, it keeps him happy," she smiled.
"No, I'm not an engineer Jenny," Arthur said.
"That's right," Jeff put in happily, "Arthur is one of the local magical community, he's a wizard! You've been saying you've been wanting to meet some of our new magical neighbours ever since we moved here and the estate agents told us about them, so I've brought Arthur to meet you and to see my workshop. He's a bit of a machinery buff himself."
Jenny looked stunned for a moment and then said. "Well this is a delight and such a nice surprise. Would you like a cup of tea Arthur, you wizards do drink tea don't you?"
"Jenny, I may call you that may I? The whole magical world virtually runs on tea, that and pumpkin juice anyway," Arthur smiled. Then pulling out his wand he conjured a beautiful bunch of flowers for Jenny and said, "These are for you my dear, could we possibly take our tea out in Jeff's workshop?"
She stared in wonder at the flowers she had been given, sniffed them and found they were real. Then recovering her composure she replied, saying, "Certainly Arthur, and I'll bring it out to you with some warm scones and home made jam shortly."
As the men were going out of the back door and into the garden Jenny opened the oven door of her Aga, from which a lovely smell of baking was emanating.
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CHAPTER THREE: Arthur's New Hobby.
That evening back at The Burrow over dinner Arthur was enthusing to Molly about what he'd seen at his new friend Jeff's house.
"It was amazing Molly!" he exclaimed. "He's got a welding machine that sticks bits of metal together using fire! You should see it working, a vicious thing it is, all sparks and molten metal like a goblin's workshop! And there's something I think he called a lathe that lets him chop bits off of pieces of metal a thousandth of an inch at a time. Can you imagine that, a thousandth of an inch! Plus there's all sorts of tools and gadgets, lots of them running off of electricity! Yes, that's the proper word for it, he taught me. He's also got loads of power tools, all with plugs and the sockets to stick 'em into. It's a brilliant place!"
"So it sounds like you've found a nice new friend then Arthur." Molly replied. "I'm glad, since the kids have left home you've been looking for something to do, and you'll need a good hobby if you retire. This, what did you call it? Engineering was it? Sounds right up your street. At least it sounds like this Jeff person knows what he is doing with it, muggle or no muggle. Unlike you and your dodgy bodged up car that nearly got Ron and Harry killed and you the sack! You just make sure you listen to what Jeff tells you to and do it properly!"
"You'll love his wife too Molly." Arthur went on. "Jenny loves to cook just like you do, you have so much in common, can we invite them over to dinner one evening?"
"Of course we can," said Molly. "It'll be nice to meet some new people, things are sometimes a bit quiet around here now the kids have moved out." And saying that, briefly Molly looked a bit wistfully sad.
"Come on Mollywobbles, cheer up", Arthur said. "The kids may have 'moved out' officially, but they're here most Sundays for lunch and there'll soon be a whole new generation of Weasleys and Potters, not to mention Longbottoms, dropping by at all hours to fill this place up again. How's about Wednesday night for dinner? I don't think we'd best subject the Millers to the madness that is The Burrow at 'full blast' on a Sunday lunchtime, not until they get to know us a bit better anyway."
"Wednesday would be fine by me Arthur, will you let them know, just tell them to be here about Seven-ish."
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Wednesday evening came and the Millers duly arrived, having walked the pleasant stroll from the village to the Weasley's house. They were amazed at The Burrow and all it's quirky magical charm.
They had their meal and Jenny was very complimentary on Molly's cooking, saying, "That was fantastic Molly, thank you so much. The lamb literally melted in the mouth and the pudding was gorgeous." She went on to say, "This is a lovely house Molly, It's so uniquely yours. You and Arthur, your personalities shine out of it. It's so homely and comfortable" I wish we could have a place so unique, our new little house is nice and comfy, but I'd swap it for The Burrow in an instant."
Molly was delighted that Jenny loved her home and offered to take her on a full tour. The two women went off leaving Arthur and Jeff to make their way out to Arthur's shed to see what could be done about setting him up a proper workshop. They entered Arthur's old nissen hut and Arthur lit the oil lamps using his wand. Whilst this action impressed Jeff he seemed a bit worried.
"So Arthur," he said, "You've no electricity in here then, and none in the house either I noticed."
"No we don't," said Arthur. "In fact until recently it was very rare for wizarding houses in the countryside to have it, and not even all town houses owned by magical folk did either. Delicate electronics tend to blow up around strong magic, unless it's got the new shielding that they just discovered. In any case we're about a half a mile from the nearest power lines in the village here and to get the house connected would cost a fortune, far more than I, a humble civil servant, could ever afford. Not that we've ever missed it much, up 'till now anyway."
It could be a problem though Arthur, if you want a good workshop set up here," Jeff said. "You'd need the 'leccy' to run the gear. Unless you can use magic to do it of course."
"Well yes, from what I saw at your place I can see that," said Arthur sadly. "Some things I can get to work by magic or even manually like simple saws and drills etc. But for the 'fine tolerance' stuff, no I doubt it. For instance I could never run something like your lathe with any accuracy. So perhaps I will have to settle for a more basic set-up?"
Jeff looked around the shed taking in the contents of Arthur's muggle gadget collection, the old hoovers, the old radios, the electric motors, the car and lorry batteries, wires, plugs and assorted bits of electrical and electronic junk and a gleam came into his eyes.
"I have an idea," said Jeff, "Let's go back into the house and do a few drawings."
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The two women were sat in the comfy lounge of The Burrow by the fire They were chatting about their kids. Jenny and Jeff's children were also grown up and had left home, so they had much in common to talk about. They were each sipping glasses of elf made wine and swapping stories about when their children were babies and about them growing up, when their menfolk came back into the house.
"Well," said Jenny, "how does it look Jeff? Can you help Arthur get his workshop up and running for him?"
Jeff looked at her smiling and mysteriously said, "Yes Jenny, you know I think we may just be able to do that, with a fair breeze behind us. Then turning he said, "Come along Arthur, get out that sketch pad and some pencils and let me teach you some engineering."
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An hour or so later Jeff's design had come together. It would use some of the electrical and electronic items in Arthur's shed and some bits he had himself. Plus some sheet metal fabrications that Jeff could weld up in his own workshop. By mounting them on top of a wooden tower some forty feet high what had come together was the design for a wind turbine.
Jeff and Arthur were still talking about it as they made their way back out of the study and rejoined their wives. "So you understand it now do you Arthur?" Jeff asked.
"Well," said Arthur, "I know I never went to a muggle university to study this stuff, but I can see some of the basic principles. You say that running an electric motor in reverse can make it create electricity, as long as it's the right kind of motor. That makes sense. You put electricity in and it moves, you put movement in and you get electricity out. So if we put those windmill sail thingamajigs onto one of the big electric motors I've got then they'll make it turn and we'll get power we can send down wires into my batteries, where I can keep it until I need to use it. Is that right?"
"That's precisely right Arthur! You're catching onto this far quicker than I could ever get to understand magic, that's for sure. We'll make an engineer of you yet!" Jeff laughed.
"OK boys, schools out for the night, we'd better be going home soon Jeff," said Jenny.
"Jenny's right Arthur, it's getting late and we'd better call it a night soon," Molly agreed. You've got to go to work tomorrow Arthur, you've not retired yet you know."
"Yes, you're both right," Arthur said, "Sorry we abandoned you for so long ladies, but you know us men, can't multi-task to save our lives and when the old creative juices get flowing we tend to get obsessed.
"Oh don't worry Arthur," said Jenny, "Molly and I have had a lovely chat and we've arranged for us to come over and join some of the rest of their family for Sunday lunch, if that's OK with you."
"That'll be great," beamed Arthur, "I warn you though Jeff and Jenny, when the kids are here it can be a bit of a madhouse, but to be fair it's a lot less crazy than it used to be when they were younger. Having their wives and girlfriends around has helped to civilise them a bit. Just don't eat anything our son George gives you! No, don't worry, I'm only kidding, it's an old family joke. Angelina, his intended, has got him well under control and now he's almost human." Arthur said smiling.
"It'll be great to meet some more of your family Molly, said Jeff. What's more from what Arthur and I have been planning we may well need some help once we get started building it. As Arthur suggested, a few guys on broomsticks would be a great help putting it together, since we won't have a crane."
Molly then said, "OK, who's for a nightcap before you go? We have some particularly nicely aged Firewhisky, if you'd like to try it? Or if not then some muggle brandy we keep, purely for medicinal purposes you understand!"
They were all sat in the lounge a few minutes a little later, sipping firewhiskies all round.
"Wow," said Jenny, "This stuff is potent, I like it though, do you run your broomsticks on it?" She joked.
"No," Molly replied smiling. "They run on pure magic, they don't need fuel."
"I'd like to see how that one works," said Jeff. "It seems you witches and wizards have got a lot to teach us muggles as well."
"Well Jeff," said Arthur, "That in a way is the main point of this local experiment in magical folk and muggles living openly together. We at the Muggle Relations Department hope that from this experience a whole new mixed society using the best of both our combined talents will come about."
"It certainly seems to be going that way at present," said Jeff. Raising his glass he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a toast, To Muggles, Witches and Wizards, long may we prosper!" And they all joined in the toast.
They finished their drinks and then a thought struck Jenny. Looking concerned she said, "How are we going to get home Jeff? It was an easy walk across country in the daylight, just half a mile or so's stroll, but there's no proper roads leading to here so we can't call a cab home. I don't fancy the walk back in the dark either, there's some marshy bits down by the River Otter. Also I forgot to bring a proper coat and it's got chillier since it got dark."
"Don't you worry about that Jenny," said Molly. We'll get you there."
"Thanks all the same Molly," said Jenny, "But I don't much fancy flying on a broomstick either, certainly not in the dark."
"No we won't take you that way either. But neither Arthur nor I have had too much to drink to apparate, we'll take you home side-along."
"What does that mean Molly?"
Arthur put in, "You'll find out Jenny, stand up, hold on to my arm and then hold onto your hat!"
Jenny stood up as asked, took his arm looking a bit worried and they disappeared with a crack.
"Where'd they go Molly," said Jeff looking concerned.
"Don't worry Jeff," said Molly. Arthur knows where your house is and I've put a temporary trace on him, so we can follow. She held out her arm and said, "Hold on tight, the first step's a biggie," and they too disappeared.
The two couples re-appeared in the quiet, empty lane just outside the Miller's cottage. Jeff and Jenny both felt a bit woozy for a minute or so, having never apparated before but neither were too nauseous and soon recovered after a short sit down back in their home. The Weasleys explained that many witches and wizards were often far more affected by it the first few times of travelling that way and that in fact the Miller's had done very well. Once the Millers were fully recovered the men shook hands and the women kissed and hugged each other goodbye, saying they were looking forward to Sunday. Jenny insisted she'd be bringing a cake, some dessert and some scones to share, being nearly as much of a 'cookaholic' as Molly.
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CHAPTER THREE: Of Weasleys and Guests.
Sunday morning came around and Jeff and Jenny began to get ready for their Sunday lunch at The Burrow. Jenny packing a large sponge cake, a couple of large and delicious looking apple pies along with some scones. She also put a couple of bottles of wine into a big basket to take with her. Jeff had also prepared for Arthur a proper scale drawing of the wooden wind turbine tower they needed to build.
The previous day Arthur Weasley had dropped by their house for a short visit carrying an old metal watering can with a hole in it. He'd held it up proudly to show Jeff. Eyeing it dubiously Jeff said, "Well I suppose I could weld it up Arthur, but to be honest it's a bit far gone with rust. A new plastic one from the garden centre would do the job better and wouldn't cost a lot. I'll just get you one next time I'm there."
"Ah," said Arthur. "You don't understand of course, why should you eh? I don't want it repaired, let me explain, this is a Portkey! It does much the same job as apparition but needs no magic on the part of the users, the magic's already built into the object itself. It is pre-set to take you both to our garden at The Burrow and return you home to your own house whenever you want. I thought it would be useful and got Ministry approval for it. I explained it would be helpful for a joint muggle/magical project and my Department were very keen. It's not active at the moment, I'll just put it in your back garden and use my wand to activate it if that's OK?"
Going through the side gate by the house and into the Miller's back garden Arthur placed the old watering can on the lid of a rainwater butt and pointed his wand at it.
"There, now it's active," he said. When you want to come over tomorrow both of you hang on tightly to it and a few seconds later it will transport you to our place. You'll know you've arrived as the spinning sensation will change and feel very different from how it feels when you're in transit. When you feel it change let go. As it is a very short journey there will be little difference in energy potential between the point of departure and that of arrival, so whilst you may drop at most a foot or so to the ground it should not make for too traumatic an end to the journey. Just be ready for it when you get there and bend the knees, alright?"
"Right then," Said Jeff. "OK then," Jenny who'd joined them also said. Both speaking almost at once but sounding a bit dubious and nervous.
"No seriously," said Arthur. "A little trip like that'll be no trouble and save you a lot of walking, plus we can all get a bit tipsy on that firewhisky you liked so much without having to worry about how you'll get home. Although of course you'd always be welcome to stay over. Anyway, I'm looking forward to Sunday, see you both then." Then Arthur smiled, winked at them both and vanished with a crack, back to The Burrow.
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Sunday lunchtime was now near and Jeff and Jenny, having got ready for their luncheon engagement and with Jenny carrying her basket of baked goodies and the wine held tightly in the crook of her elbow they went out into their rear garden and approached the manky looking old watering can. Then, with a look of trepidation on both their faces, they held hands. Jenny bravely said, "well here goes nothing." They both gripped the rusty handle with their free hands and a few seconds later their world began to spin.
It only lasted a few seconds and then the sensation changed, just as Arthur had said it would. Jeff shouted over the whirling chaos around him, "Just like Arthur said Jenny. Bend your knees and let go!"
They both did so. The whirling instantly stopped and they gently dropped a very short distance to the ground, in fact mere inches, nowhere near as far as they'd expected, landing safely in the garden of The Burrow between the house and Arthur's shed. The old watering can lay on the ground near them.
"Wow, that was different," said Jenny smiling. "I feel fine though, how are you?"
"No problems at all," said Jeff. "Either I'm getting used to travelling by magic or that Portkey thingy is not so rough on the sense of balance as apparating. Let's go and eat, I'm starving, I didn't have any breakfast on purpose and smelling your baking has been making me drool since eight o'clock this morning," he smiled.
They walked up to the door of The Burrow and knocked. Molly answered the door, warmly welcomed them and ushered them in, hugging them both. "Come in, come in, so glad you could make it," she said.
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world Molly," Jenny replied. She handed her basket over to Molly saying, I brought a few things over for you, like I said I would. I couldn't accept yet another invitation without making a contribution.
"Oh you shouldn't have worried, we're so used to having a lot of guests to Sunday lunch, but thank you anyway, it's most kind of you. Ooh, those apple pies look gorgeous," Molly said, lifting up the cloth covering the basket. "We'll have them with some custard for pudding."
"Please go through to the dining table the pair of you and Arthur will introduce you to the family and our other guests," said Molly to them both. "Excuse me for a little while though, as I must finish getting lunch ready to serve." And with that she headed back into the kitchen.
As they entered the dining area Arthur was there, seated at the head of the table along with a group of people at least a couple of whom, by their red hair, Jeff and Jenny surmised were fellow Weasleys. There was also a stunningly beautiful blond haired young woman who, (from the way she was holding hands with him), was very attached to one of the red haired men, one who bore some quite serious facial scars. However despite his injuries he seemed nevertheless most happy and smiled broadly when they entered the room. Another obviously non Weasley was a beautiful, athletic looking, dark skinned young woman of African ancestry. She was sat next to another of the young Weasley men, who winked at them in a most disarming fashion when they entered the room. The final two who appeared to be non Weasley guests were another young woman, this one a very fey looking ash blond, petite and pretty and the young, slightly built, dark haired boy she was obviously with, who from his looks and the nervousness he displayed seemed also to be there as a first time guest.
Arthur stood up when Jeff and Jenny came in and greeted them, then began introducing them to their fellow lunch guests. Arthur said, "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet our new friends Jeff and Jenny Miller. They live nearby in the village and are local muggles. Jeff, Jenny, let me introduce our family and friends," he said, beginning to go around the table.
He started with the scarred red haired man and his beautiful lady. "This is our son Bill and his lovely wife Fleur, they live in a charming seaside cottage near Tinmouth. Until recently they both worked for Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Bill's still there but since just after the war Fleur has been working at St Mungos Hospital alongside our daughter Ginny, who with her husband Harry sadly can't be here this weekend."
"Hello Jeff and Jenny, lovely to meet you," smiled Bill.
"Bonjour, Jenny, Jeff, it is zo charmante to meet you, said the stunning blond woman in a soft French accent.
"Hello, Fleur and Bill, nice to meet you too," smiled Jeff and Jenny likewise. Then Jeff said, "No don't get up, or else we'll be here all day just shaking hands around the table if we start that."
Arthur went on, "Next we have our son George, who runs the best joke shop in the world, and with him is his fiancé, Miss Angelina Johnson, a pro Quidditch player and one of the best Chasers in the country.
"What do you mean 'one of the best'," said Angelina, but she was smiling as she said it, probably in anticipation of Arthur's answer.
"Just that it's lucky for you our Ginny didn't turn pro in the end, then the sparks would've flown," Arthur smiled, and they both laughed. Jeff and Jenny again said "Hello." to the couple. Jenny noticed as he turned to face full on to them that George, oddly, was lacking the lobe of one ear, but that he had a very winning smile.
"Hello there," said George, nice to meet you and don't worry, no matter what scurrilous tales about me you may have heard I've promised Angelina no pranks today. If I do she'll murder me," he smiled, then leaned over and kissed his fiancé.
"Next along we have another of our magical neighbours whom I don't believe you have met yet. Our dear friend Miss Luna Lovegood and her lucky boyfriend Alan Mathers. Alan's also a muggle and since he's not from our community is just getting over the shell shock of being told by Luna that she is a witch. Luna's had to cast an immunity spell against the security shield on him or he'd forget about her every time goes went back to London."
Arthur smiled at Luna and Alan and they both smiled back at him, but it was noticeable that Alan was clinging on rather tightly to Luna's hand.
"Hello Jeff, Hello Jenny, It's lovely to meet you" said Luna in a soft and lilting voice. It's good there are other muggles here as well as Alan, since he has been very nervous about coming to stay with me and my Daddy this weekend. I think he's being very brave though, because I only told him I'm a witch a little while ago," Luna said, smiling gently at Alan and then back at Jeff and Jenny.
"I don't know about brave," said Alan. "I know neither Luna or any of her friends would ever hurt me, but I sure do know now what the phrase 'culture shock' means." he smiled. "Same here," said Jeff. "Likewise," said Jenny. And all the non magical folk chuckled a little.
Luna went on, saying, "Sadly this time Alan and I can't stay that long, as I don't like to leave Daddy alone for more than a few hours since he's been unwell. Luckily he's much better now and getting stronger all the time and we do live very close to here. I've got hold of a magical alarm which Daddy carries around his neck at all times and which will call me if he needs me urgently. But all being well we will stay at least until after pudding, that's my favourite bit of all," she said smiling.
"Well that's all of our guests this weekend," Jeff and Jenny," said Arthur. "There are often more here, but as I said, our son in law, Harry Potter and his wife, who's our daughter Ginny, along with our son Ron and his wife Hermione are away together at Hogwarts School seeing friends this weekend. Harry and Ginny are making a point of getting out and about doing some travelling as many weekends as often as possible for now, as for safety reasons Ginny won't be allowed to apparate when she gets further along with her pregnancy."
We're also missing our other sons Percy and Charlie this weekend, they're both abroad working at the moment. So this place isn't quite so much of a zoo as it often is on a Sunday lunchtime," Arthur smiled.
Just then, out of the kitchen serving dishes and tureens bearing delicious looking food floated and landed on the middle of the table. Molly followed them in from the kitchen saying, "Well dig in everyone, and watch the plates, that heating spell tends to make them a bit too hot."
During the meal the conversation was lively, Bill mentioned his work in the bank where he was currently helping administer the compensation fund that had been set up post war to help victims of Voldermort's reign of terror, both muggle and magical families alike. Jeff and Jenny, as muggles, knew nothing about the recent magical war and were astonished to hear about what had happened only a few years back and the real explanation for the many 'accidents' and 'natural disasters' that had occurred at that time.
They also learned briefly the story of both Bill and George's injuries and about the sad loss of so many in the war, including that of the other Weasley son, George's twin Fred. The tales of the war and of the heroism of those around them were astonishing to Jeff and Jenny. However, the most astonishing thing was not their new friend's bravery but the modest way they recounted that time of horror. When Jeff and Jenny mentioned this and tried to thank them all for their part in bringing peace to both magical and muggle communities alike the Weasleys, Angelina and Luna would have none of it, saying Voldermort's defeat was mostly down to others, particularly to Harry, Ron and Hermione and that all of the rest of them had played only a supporting role. Jenny and Jeff suspected however that they were being very modest.
"Anyway," Arthur said, with finality in his voice, "Let's talk about something other than the bloody war shall we? We're here to enjoy ourselves after all."
And Molly agreed saying to Angelina, "Guess what Angelina dear, the local magical community is talking about setting up a proper Quidditch Club and pitch in the village and starting a new local amateur side openly playing for both a magical and muggle audience of supporters. Do you think that'd be a good idea to promote inter-community friendship?"
I think that would be brilliant Molly, if it happens be sure to let me know and I'll be sure to get my team down here to play a charity match against your local side. But if Ginny, Harry, Ron and George are on your team though we'll want a start of at least fifty points! They're all a bit too useful and I wouldn't want us to be beaten by a bunch of yokels, it'd be bad for team morale," she joked.
What's Quidditch Angelina?" asked Jenny. "Yes, I was wondering that too said Jeff. When you were introduced to us earlier. Arthur said you play as something called a Chaser and as a pro, is that right?"
Angelina explained. "Quidditch is a sport played on flying broomsticks by both witches and wizards, often in mixed teams like mine, Puddlemere United, or sometimes by single sex teams like the all female Holyhead Harpies. However, it is always played on equal terms, so in that sense the magical community got there way first in the sex equality stakes. It's a fast and spectacular game, it can be very dangerous played at a high skill level and injuries are quite common. Although it must be said that our healers are much better than the muggle doctors at curing things like broken bones. To those of us who love the game though it is the best sport in the world and I'm sure that if your fellow muggles here get to see it they'll be hooked as well."
Angelina went on to explain the basic rules of the game and said she would lend Jeff and Jenny some DVD's of recent matches, so they could see exactly what she was talking about. "I'll send a couple of discs to you through the mail from London, just give me your address. I know how to use the muggle post so you should get them in a couple of days." Angelina and George between them then went on to talk about how they'd both started playing for their House Team, Gryffindor, whilst they were at Hogwarts together, alongside George's late brother Fred and a young Harry Potter.
The mention of Hogwarts then led on to further talk amongst all the guests about the school. This brought out many happy anecdotes amongst those present who had attended Hogwarts, about what they'd got up to there as pupils. Fleur recounted a little about having been a Tri Wizard Champion for Beauxbatons, but glossed over the tragedy that had happened during the competition, whilst explaining about how her visit to Hogwarts eventually led to her marriage to Bill.
Luna spoke about her recent visit back to her old school only a few weeks earlier. Also about the very popular talk on the D.A. she'd given and how it had led to her being offered the chance to co-author a book which would be published soon. She was writing it with the new Senior Faculty's History Lecturer, Professor Ptolemy Sharpe, (or Professor Dishy as Luna blushingly called him, since she admitted she'd initially had a bit of a crush when she'd first met him, but that it had turned out he was married).
Alan was unphased by this admission however. Luna's famous high degree of honesty having already let her tell him about the short term infatuation she'd had before she'd met him. Luna also explained that it was this same visit that had also resulted in her getting Nightwings, her recently acquired and much loved thestral, who was a gift from Hagrid.
Jeff and Jenny were amazed to hear from Luna about this amazing magical creature, of a type totally unknown to muggles. Alan confirmed that although he couldn't see Nightwings the thestral definitely existed, as he'd stroked her. Eventually, and quite some while after pudding, (Jenny's apple pie, which they all had thoroughly enjoyed), Luna and Alan did indeed leave to return to Luna's home. They said their thanks and goodbyes and then went outside to the garden, from where Luna took Alan by side-along apparition to her father's house.
The remaining guests were in the lounge of The Burrow, having made themselves comfortable and carried on talking whilst sipping firewhisky or some of the muggle wine Jenny had brought. This must have been very good, as Fleur happily drank it saying it was very nice, and she was known to be fussy about wine, being French. Jenny and Jeff got talking with George about his job and were intrigued to hear about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and that such a magical place as Diagon Alley existed in the middle of muggle London. George offered to take them to see the place sometime.
The conversation then turned to how Arthur and Jeff had met up and how they intended to build a wind generator to supply electrical power to Arthur's proposed workshop, as well as, perhaps, to The Burrow itself, if the equipment could generate enough.
It was decided that Jeff would start fabricating the windmill blades in his home workshop that coming week and as soon as those plus the cowling were ready the wooden mounting tower could be raised by Arthur and his family, then the generator could be installed and tested. Constructing the tower itself was a relatively easy proposition for wizards, as it could be built with simple carpentry whilst laid horizontally on the ground, then raised magically to it's vertical position and secured in place on it's foundations. They would then use further magical means, along with brooms, to lift the turbine hub's housing to the top, secure it in place and bolt on the blades to drive the generator.
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CHAPTER FOUR: The Big Switch On.
It was one Saturday about a month later in early autumn when the wind turbine's components were completed and the sturdy wooden tower it was to be mounted on was ready to be erected. The components that had been made in Jeff's workshop had been slung between two brooms and moved into storage in Arthur's hut.
Hermione and Ron, Harry and Ginny who were staying at The Burrow that weekend had agreed to work from the ground using their combined wand power to levitate the tower to it's vertical position from where it lay on the ground. George and Angelina were on hand to provide overhead views and assistance from their brooms. Arthur and Jeff were in charge of getting the support legs of the tower into the ground sockets that had been created for them and would pour the wheelbarrow loads of cement that would stabilise the structure once it was correctly located in the holes. Molly and Jenny were providing moral support, sandwiches and tea.
There was little wind luckily, as it would have made precision wand work hard. The young foursome simultaneously lifted the tower from the ground using a synchronised Wingardium Leviosa and then, when it was high enough they skilfully tipped it's considerable bulk to vertical and drifted it over to it's intended position. Jeff and Arthur moved in close to the base of the tower and using a combination of Arthur's wand and Jeff pulling on a loop of rope they got two of the legs in line with the holes that had been dug for them. This meant the other two legs were automatically aligned as well. They then held the tower steady, whilst the four 'prime movers' gently lowered it slowly into it's final position. The tower stood there four-square in it's proper place and was stable. To ensure it would remain so the concrete was poured from wheelbarrows and shovelled into the holes. Finally guy cables were also connected to the tower to spread the load in strong winds, running out to previously installed stabilising pads on all four sides.
Now all that was needed was the generator unit itself to be fixed to the top, the blades fitted to the hub and then the unit's electrics connected up. That would happen the next day, once the concrete had set.
On the Sunday morning the the weather was fine and the first part went fairly easily. The generator unit itself mounted into a protective cowling and with a rotating base to allow it to track the wind was fairly heavy, but no worse than the tower had been. It was also a hell of a lot smaller, so easier to manoeuvre. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry lifted it to the height of the mounting platform at the top of the tower and George and Angelina gently pulled it into it's exact place using their wands and their brooms.
The next part of the process was novel for Jeff, as he was flown up to the mounting platform on a spare broom, which was connected, outrigger canoe style, to Harry's, with both broom's magic being slaved to Harry's control. This unusual arrangement was needed as one broom would probably have not been able to carry Harry and Jeff safely, as he was a big man. Once at the top Jeff used a safety harness to anchor himself to the tower and then bolted the generator hub unit's rotating base firmly in place. He called down, "That's fine it's not going anywhere," Harry then collected him from the top of the tower and they all went into the house for 'elevenses'.
The next stage was fitting the windmill blades and that proved tricky, as even given the slight breeze there was enough wind to catch each sail as it was suspended from a broom and make the whole combined unit unstable. However, given some superb flying by Harry and Angelina between them the blades were hauled up to the generator and bolted to the central hub by Jeff, who once again was at the top of the tower. The last major component, the tail-piece that would keep the windmill faced towards the wind, was then hauled up and bolted on. Thus all major construction was completed.
Finally the electrical cabling which was already pre-fitted down one of the legs of the tower was attached to the generator then at the base it was temporarily run along the ground surface into Arthur's nissen hut. Also the operating cable to the emergency storm brake, (the lever of which was fitted near the base of the tower and which would feather the blades and stop the unit from rotating in winds that were too high for it's governing mechanism), was connected to the unit and applied to stop it rotating.
With the unit thus stabilised the temporary wood blocks that had been stopping the blades rotating were removed. The power cabling would eventually be run in proper underground ducting to the shed and possibly into the house as well, but for the initial testing it was simply connected to the batteries via a charging, stabilising and inverting circuit Jeff had built from various bits of old broken radios and electronic gear in Arthur's collection. The electronics of this had been made very robust and deliberately 'over-engineered' so as to withstand nearby magic, plus the new 'shielding spells' were applied to it, to keep it safe.
A lightbulb was connected to the mains output of the circuit, then Arthur went back outside, aimed his wand at the braking lever fitted to the tower and released the brakes on the generator. As the blades began to slowly turn in the light breeze the lightbulb flickered and glowed orange, then as it picked up speed the light grew brighter and whiter, until finally it glowed strongly and powerfully.
"Eureka," shouted Arthur, "The Burrow is now a part of the Twenty First Century!"
Everyone came into the shed to see the miracle and then Arthur and Molly asked Jenny if she would do the honours and officially 'launch' the new generator, to which she happily agreed. They handed her a bottle of sparkling wine, (since they were saving the good stuff for later that evening). Jenny broke it against the concrete base of one of the tower's legs saying, "I name this generator Weasley's Windy Whizzer, long may she bring light into this house."
The party that evening in The Burrow was even livelier than the previous one Jeff and Jenny had attended. They had only briefly met Harry Potter, Ginny Potter and Ron and Hermione Weasley the previous morning prior to getting the tower set up. Now they and all the previous guests they had met earlier when they'd previously come to Sunday lunch were there as well.
This time though it seemed few, if any people would be going home that night, even Luna and Alan would be staying over, as her father Xenophilius was being looked after by someone Jeff and Jenny were given to understand went by the name of Kreacher.
Kreacher, they were told, was a type of magical being called a 'house elf', who worked for Harry and Ginny Potter and he and Luna's father had recently become great friends. Probably because they were both 'getting on' a bit and were both a bit 'eccentric' they enjoyed each other's company. They would be fine overnight and would probably get into one of their friendly, but fierce, Wizards Chess battles, which they both enjoyed.
This evening would be a true celebration of the work's completion and also because, as it turned out, it happened to be Alan's birthday that weekend as well.
As the varied and delicious buffet style meal of 'finger food' produced by Molly was being consumed the sound of music began to fill The Burrow. Jeff was amazed to find out that the wizarding world had a form of radio by which they could pick up music and other programmes, even without mains electricity or battery power. He assumed it was some form of magically amplified 'crystal set'.
Initially the assembled party listened to these broadcasts, but the music available was hardly describable as lively. Someone called Celestina Warbeck started singing a song, and whilst Jenny and Jeff quite liked it and Molly was obviously a fan, Fleur pointedly winced at the very sound and left the room. However the song soon ended, then Harry and Ginny brought a large 'boom box' type battery powered sound system out from a small 'holdall' style bag they'd brought with them. This bag seemed three times too small to have held it to Jeff's eyes, let alone all the rest of the couples clothing and overnight things.
Soon the party began to liven up as the music took a turn towards dancing to Irish Folk, a type of music popular for parties in the wizarding world it seemed. Ginny needed to take things sedately as she was pregnant, but even she and Harry managed a fairly gentle dance to some of the slower songs. The Irish music went on for some time, but then there were a very lively couple of 'rock' numbers that only the younger couples, Ron and Hermione, George and Angelina, Bill and Fleur and Alan and Luna were able to dance to, as Harry and Ginny 'sat it out'. These tracks were apparently by a famous wizard group called The Weird Sisters. But that was fine by all the others, since the older party goers needed to get their breath back anyway and have a drink following the ' Irish session'.
They moved out to the kitchen and sat at the table there, leaving the lounge to the youngsters for a while since there was more room in there to dance, the lounge furniture having unaccountably vanished for the most part. Jeff and Jenny had never even noticed the magic that had brought about the going of it.
Eventually the older party goers rejoined the younger ones and as a finale to the dancing that evening another, (but very different style), Weird Sisters track was played. This was a very romantic and 'smoochy' song called Magic Works and all the couples there shuffled around to it in each others arms as a 'last waltz'. The vanished sofas, chairs and other furniture then reappeared and everyone relaxed, and drank firewhisky, butterbeer, wine, mead, ale, whatever they fancied, (in Ginny's case home-made lemonade), and chatted until about one a.m., then started sleepily drifting off to bed, as it had been a tiring but successful weekend.
Molly then came up to Jeff and Jenny and said. "Why not stay the night? Breakfast here tends to turn into another party. As you've seen magic can do wonders with furniture, but so can you muggles and that sofa you're sitting on is actually a very comfy muggle made sofa bed. Arthur here bought it a couple of years ago to put up unexpected guests. Of course we could simply transfigure a normal sofa into a bed for the night but, as you know, Arthur loves muggle gadgets and enjoys the way it folds up, bless him. Anyway, It's a wizarding public holiday tomorrow and so none of us have to go to work or get up early. That's another reason why we could hold this celebration, apart from thanking you for your wonderful work Jeff."
Jenny and Jeff were beginning to feel very tired and so happily accepted Molly's offer with thanks. So Molly magically created them a set of clean new nightclothes each and a new toothbrush. Then after Arthur waved his wand, (which unfolded and set up the sofa bed). Arthur and Molly then wished them a good night and went upstairs.
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The following morning in the Weasley household was a lively affair. With so many house guests staying over breakfast, as Molly had predicted, turned into a bit of a party in continuation of the previous night.
After breakfast some of the youngsters went off to play an impromptu three-a-side game of safe-(ish), bludgerless and snitchless Quidditch in the field behind the house, with 'rush keepers' Ron and Harry covering the hoops. The teams were Ron, George and Angelina trying to gain control of the quaffle against Harry, Bill and Fleur. The trios were pretty evenly matched in skill and the game was watched by an amazed Jenny and Alan, a frustrated Ginny (who because of her pregnancy wasn't allowed to join in), Luna, who preferred flying her thestral Nightwings to broom flight, as well as by Hermione who was not a lover of broom flight, but liked to watch the others play.
Leaving the youngsters to play Arthur and Jeff went out to the shed to finish off the installation of the cabling from the generator. They laid the feed cable from the wind turbine into it's proper waterproof ducting, in a narrow trench that Arthur had dug using his wand and which ran to the nissen hut.
Jeff then made proper permanent connections to the charger and battery banks and inverter circuits. These circuits would convert the direct current of the batteries to a usable mains AC voltage, to power Arthur's new workshop tools, which he would soon be getting. Jeff checked the available power from the equipment and said to Arthur, "You know what Arthur, you've got loads of 'juice' here my friend, certainly enough to spare to run low energy lights in the house and a few gadgets. Perhaps not a enough for a washing machine or dishwasher, but then again with Molly's magic you don't need those from what I've seen. There's plenty though for a television, disc player and sound system, and maybe a laptop computer because they don't need a lot of power. It'd be a shame to waste it so shall we lay another mains cable into the house and get it connected up? What do you say?"
Arthur got a gleam in his eye, remembering Harry and Ginny's marvellous equipment that he'd seen in Grimmauld Place. He didn't need asking twice. The pair immediately set to work, Arthur using his wand to dig another small trench from the hut to the side of the house and Jeff running the extra cabling Arthur had created with his wand from a small remaining sample he had left. This they then placed in more waterproof ducting, to keep the installation dry and safe.
Over the next couple of weekends Jeff aided by Arthur, who'd learned so much 'on the job' that he was becoming a fairly competent electrician's mate, ran new cabling throughout The Burrow. They installed efficient 'low energy' lighting for each room and a few outlet sockets in the lounge, kitchen and one in each bedroom. They then coupled the whole installation up to a new fuse box and circuit breaker Jeff had fitted in a kitchen store cupboard.
XXXX
One Sunday evening a few weeks later at sunset the long suffering Molly, who had, (of course), made a fuss about the mess and disruption the installation work had caused in her house, was given the honour of formally switching on the 'illuminations'. George, Angelina, Harry, Ginny, Luna, Alan, Bill, Fleur, Ron and Hermione had all been invited to watch the 'grand ceremony' and had apparated in for the occasion. Molly somewhat nervously flicked the switch on the mains box and the new house lights came on, lighting up the darkening Burrow.
Molly looked at them in wonder and said, "Well I've done some magic in my time, but this is something new I must say." Everyone clapping and laughing congratulated Molly on her new 'spell'.
Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione then quietly sneaked out whilst the rest were still talking and swiftly returned from the broom store outside with several large boxes that they'd previously hidden there. They then placed them in the lounge.
Seeing what was happening Arthur and Molly followed the two couples into the room looking puzzled and as they put down their burdens Arthur asked, "What's all this then."
Harry replied, "This Arthur and Molly is your new home entertainment system, we've all chipped in for it as I saw how much you liked our set-up at home. It's a present from us all to say thank you for all you've done for us over the years. For me personally you two have been like a mother and father and you've both been true friends through thick and thin to us all. Thank you so much and we hope you get many years of enjoyment out of your new 'modern' home. Now let's unpack all this gear for you shall we and get it set up."
Molly and Arthur were overwhelmed and both had tears in their eyes as they thanked everybody for what they'd done.
Soon the brand new equipment was set up and gleaming on it's stand in the corner of the room. It was then plugged in, a disc placed in the player and the large screen TV sprang to life, showing a remastered copy of a popular old muggle musical Molly had loved since seeing it in on a date in a muggle cinema with Arthur, decades before. The picture quality was superb and the sound magnificent. Seeing this both Molly and Arthur both held each other, as Molly sobbed again. Regaining her composure a little Molly said, "Oh how wonderful, how can we ever thank you everyone, I never imagined anything like this here in my own home."
Arthur, proud at knowing how to do so after Harry's Grimmauld place 'demo', turned down the sound with the TV remote, hugged his wife and said, "Yes, thank you all so very much, not just for this but all your help in making it possible, particularly you Jeff, we'd never have done it without you."
Then he turned to Molly and kissed her, saying, "You see Mollywobbles, it's like I've been telling you for years, they're damned clever these muggles," and he laughed and was joined by everyone else.
Jeff then said, "I'll be over again tomorrow morning Molly, I need to set up the satellite dish up on the roof and get the Freesat receiver tuned in so's you can get broadcast TV, it's the best way to get a good signal out here. I need daylight to do the job safely and then the system will be completed. Strictly speaking you'll be needing a TV Licence, but as this place is so far off the muggle beaten track and no detector vans can get anywhere near it, personally I wouldn't worry about it too much. Still if you really want to get one just pop into the post office in the village and they'll sort one out for you."
"Thank you Jeff," said Molly, "I'll be expecting you then. Yes, I do think we will get a licence to make things legal. After all with a husband who works in a respectable job in the Ministry of Magic we hardly want to start breaking the law at our age," she giggled.
"Well," said Arthur, "I may still be working for them at the moment, but now I'm getting my new workshop I don't think it'll be for much longer. I'm taking voluntary retirement and letting the younger ones take over. As for me, with Jeff's help I'm going to become an inventor," he said.
And with that Arthur dimmed the lights and they all sat down to have a drink, and watch a bit of the movie.