It was a Wednesday morning in the middle of August. We were supposed to be setting off for Diagon Alley so that Percy, Ron, Fred, George and I could pick up supplier for Hogwarts. I was sitting in the loving room waiting for everyone else. Percy was outside, looking for Errol who had crash-landed somewhere in the garden earlier.
Ginny came into the living room and curled up beside me on the sofa. "Is Ron up yet?" I asked her. She shook her head. Just then, we heard "RONALD WEASLEY! IF YOU DON'T GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES, WE'RE GOING WITHOUT YOU!" Mum was hollering up the stairs at my lazy twin brother.
Dad was seated at the kitchen table reading the Daily Prophet. "Arthur! You're supposed to be helping me!" Mum hurried past us into the kitchen, wearing her don't argue you with me, or else face. Dad folded up his newspaper "er, yes Molly" he mumbled, obediently shuffling out of the kitchen and heading towards the stairs.
Suddenly there was a loud crashing noise. Ginny, Mum and I all ran out of the living room and stopped.
Fred, George, Ron and Dad were all lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Mum screeched. Everyone winced, clutching their ears.
Slowly, the heap of male Weasleys began to get t their feet. Dad was the last to stand up. "Explain yourselves, NOW!" Mum snapped. Dad looked at Ron, who glared at Fred and George. "Fred, George, explain" Mum said firmly propelling everyone (including Ginny and I) through to the kitchen.
We all sat down at the kitchen table and looked at Fred and George expectantly.
Fred sighed. "Okay, fine, leave it to me to explain" he elbowed his twin, who looked away with an innocent expression on his face.
"We decided we were going to drag Ron downstairs so that we could go, but he wouldn't move so we literally had to drag him by the ankles, until George managed to grab his top half and I grabbed his legs. So, we made it to the top of the stairs, but then we fell over Scabbers and fell downstairs. Dad was coming upstairs and we kind of knocked him over and he fell downstairs too, but it was Scabbers fault, honest!" he finished with a pleading expression.
Mum sighed. "Ron, this would never have happened if you'd come downstairs, instead of dawdling!" she snapped at my twin, who looked down at the table top, looking annoyed.
Just then, Percy walked in with Errol sitting on his shoulder. He saw us all sitting there solemnly. "What happened?" he asked in bewilderment, looking even more confused when we all looked at each other and started laughing.