A Visit from Dumbledore
Someone surveyed the burrow with twinkling eyes, gazing out from behind half moon spectacles. His ruby red cloak billowed behind him, and his long white beard fluttered a bit in the warm summer breeze. Many children would say that this man looked like Santa Claus; but that was not the case. Though it would bring Ginny great joy, Santa was not visiting the burrow. Albus Dumbledore was, however. He brought…..interesting news to the Weasleys, and already his mind was poring over all the possibilities. He stood a second, in silent contemplation, then went back to studying the home with wise eyes. He smiled slightly at the overgrown garden and the gnomes inhabiting it. One stray gnome wandered over to where Dumbledore was standing and attempted to bite his toe. He missed and went stumbling forward, as Dumbledore was walking towards the burrow.
Molly was busying herself over the stove, swishing her wand over the boiling turnips, muttering under her breath. Wiping a few strands of red hair out of her eyes, she consulted Gilderoy Lockhart's book, Meals with Merlin; Wonderful Cuisines Worthy of the Great Wizard Himself. Her brow furrowed as she read that Gilderoy's magical prowess neared Merlin's capability, but then went back to studying how to properly boil turnips.
"Jiggle and swoop." She jiggled her wand in her hand, then swooped it through the air in a great arc. At once, her pot exploded. Coughing as purple smoke filled her eyes, she heard the rest of her family thundering down the stairs and the doorbell rang.
Arthur muttered a spell, and the purple smoke was sucked into his wand, and the twins groaned.
"C'mon dad." Whined George, "The smoke added a nice flair to the kitchen!"
"Yeah, it matched our drapes! Though we might have to dye our hair, orange clashes horribly with purple," Fred chimed in.
"Oh, shut up you two" snapped Percy as Ginny giggled.
"Wha'? Wha' hap'nin'?" murmured Ron, rubbing his eyes drearily.
"Maybe if you didn't sleep in until 11:30 you would know what's going on." Suggested Charlie.
Bill followed in silently, not really wanting to add anything to the already frenzied atmosphere. The doorbell rang again.
"Bill, dear, can you get that?" Molly asked, trying to wipe the counter down with a spare piece of cloth. ("My blanket, Mum!" Ginny cried, trying to tear the fabric out of her mother's hands.)
Bill darted out of the kitchen as fast as he could, and he could hear the ghoul moaning in the attic. Man, was this a crazy start to a day. He opened the door and his mouth fell open as he saw Dumbledore standing there, as calm as can be.
"Uh, Mum! It's Dumbledore!" Shouted Bill.
"What, dear? Speak up!" Molly shouted back, shooing all her children out of the kitchen.
"DUMBLEDORE!" Yelled Bill, and Molly rushed out into the hallway, looking exasperated and slightly crazed.
"Oh, now? I mean, come in! What do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" she said, wiping off her hands on her apron. "Excuse me for one moment. ARTHUR!"
Mr. Weasley came running into the kitchen, wand brandished like a sword.
"What is it dear? Boggart? Death Eaters? Dear Merlin no, don't say it's Muriel!" he asked frantically.
"Arthur! Calm down! Dumbledore's here, go alert the children and I'll prepare a pot of tea." Molly said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, okay," Arthur said, and walked away muttering. (Thank god it's not Muriel, gave me quiet a scare, etc.)
In their mother's absence, all the children scurried back into the kitchen and made haste to look like they were working on one thing or the other. Bill, Charlie and Percy got out their schoolbooks and pretended to be reading with fascination (In fact, Bill and Charlie were just looking at the page; Percy was actually reading and finding it slightly enjoyable.) Fred and George were looking over maps that they had found in the closet, and every now and then they would gasp and point at a spot on the paper. Fred had a map an obscure muggle town (one which Arthur Weasley used to locate the position of a rogue stapler) and George had a map of the London Underground. They thought themselves very good actors, and believed themselves able to convince anyone of their interest in maps, including Albus Dumbledore. Ron stood in the center, glancing around and unsure of what to do. He decided upon grabbing the blanket out of Ginny's hands and continuing wiping down the counter. Ginny promptly grabbed it back, pushed him down, and started wiping the counter herself. Ron was laying on the floor, flustered, when Albus Dumbledore walked in.
"Good day to you." He said, glancing around. Ron blushed furiously and stood up, muttering. He scowled at Ginny who smirked back. Molly and Arthur walked in after him. Molly immediately began bustling around the kitchen, and Arthur offered Dumbledore as seat on a sofa that wasn't currently occupied with children.
"Excuse the mess." Arthur said, nudging stray toys away from the sofa with his foot.
"Oh, it's fine. There's nothing more boring than a clean home." Dumbledore said, sitting down.
"Will you try telling Molly that?" Arthur asked, glancing at his wife out of the corner of his eye.
"Listen here, Arthur Weasley," Molly said, aiming her rolling pin at him. Arthur winced, but Molly continued "I don't mind a little mess. No, I expect a little mess, with the twins living in the same house. But what I do mind is a grown man leaving telephones and computer mice and rubber ducks and Merlin knows what else in our room and sometimes ON THE CEILING!"
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Dear, I was merely experimenting with 'glue.' It worked, by the way." Arthur said timidly.
"Well that's wonderful. Who cares if I had to pry it off with my bare hands and scrub the ceiling, as long as your glue worked, then it's wonderful." Molly retorted, waving her rolling pin for emphasis.
"Molly, why didn't you use magic?" asked Arthur. Molly paused, and opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Her eyes narrowed.
"Go back to talking, I got a pot of tea to make." She said sharply and strode back to the stove. The twins laughed from behind their maps.
"So, what brings you here, Headmaster?" asked Arthur.
"Please, call me Albus. And I have come here to alert you with an interesting discovery. Just last night there was an interesting phenomenon. We have had 8 visitors, from the future, if you can believe it. Now, it is not your usual immature magicians with a time-turner. In fact, this appears much more unique and different. When a rare vial of time sands fell into a potion of rare and incredible power, a family was transported back in time. When they leave, it is believed that all of our memories will be deleted, so it is perfectly safe to interact with this family." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.
"And this family is…" Mr. Weasley was half dreading and half excited for the answer.
"Yours." The twinkling increased.
"So…what you are saying is….that our family….from the future….they went back in time?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Just thought I'd warn you."
"Yeah…" Arthur's mind reeled trying to grasp the situation. He looked around the room. All the children were leaning in, mouths agape. Even Molly was obviously eavesdropping to the conversation. He tried to force a smile, but it probably turned out more like a grimace. George was the first to speak.
"So we'll get to see what we're like in the future! THAT IS SO AWESOME!" George cried, and Fred nodded fervently in agreement. Molly shook her head.
"No. We are not involving ourselves with this." Molly said.
"But mum," George started. "This is so-"
"NO!" Interjected Molly, "I don't want to hear it. We will-"
"BUT MUM! This is a once in a lifetime oppur-"
"FRED! I told you, I don't want-"
"I'M GEORGE! And they'll forget anyway-"
"I THOUGHT I MADE MYSELF CLE-"
"C'MON MUM!"
"NO!" Molly cuffed George over the side of the head.
"If I can say something here," started Arthur, but George was incredibly annoyed. He was glaring at his mother and the map in his hands started shaking. It suddenly zoomed away and flew erratically around the room for a while. Everyone threw themselves on the ground, arms over their heads, and the letter zoomed about before piercing Albus Dumbledore above the left knee.
"Oh dear." Dumbledore said, lifting his robes to show a cut in the shape of London Underground right above left knee.
"I'm so sorry." Molly said,
"Oh, don't be. I daresay it will come in handy someday. Accidental magic is always so fun! And, if I might say something ("Of course!" Molly said) I agree with George on this subject. It would be quite interesting to see the future and if you will all forget, it will have no effect."
Molly bit her lip, but from the gentle coaxing of all her children, (except for George, he was still calming down from the letter incident.) she finally gave in.
"Oh alright! We'll let them stay here."
"Wonderful!" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily. "I'll go alert them. It will be an interesting week or so."
With that, Dumbledore left.
