A/N: Daaang, this got way more attention than I was expecting. And just about every review left on chapter 1 was asking for more, so, here we go!
I'm getting some ideas together for taking this story into Harry and Ron's first year, maybe further than that even. We'll just have to see, since I'm also working on a couple other stories and my Nanowrimo novel at the same time, but I promise that if and when I decide to end this, I'll give it a satisfying conclusion.
Enjoy, folks!
-Triscribe
Chapter 2
Dumbledore returned two days after Harry's unorthodox arrival, mentally sighing at his lack of progress. With no other blood relatives of his mother's to send the boy to, it seemed necessary for a secret hideaway to be crafted, possibly on the Dursley property itself for maximum protection...
Apparating to the edge of the Burrow's land, Dumbledore let himself in the front gate and slowly walked towards the front door, still musing over the options. He was startled from his thoughts, though, by a chorus of children's laughter. From the direction of the little orchard came a stream of small redheaded forms, led by a familiar mop of black hair. Young Harry was racing away from the gaggle of Weasleys, clutching a ragged ball to his chest and grinning in delight. Right on his heels came the pair of cackling twins, then young Ronald, followed last of all by the huffing Percival and the little girl, Ginevra, shrieking with joy.
Standing aside to allow the stream of children to bolt past, engaged in some game and not paying him the slightest amount of attention, Dumbledore had to smile. It seemed that his idea of hiding Harry away for a short while with such a loving household had not gone remiss after all. He continued on to the door, knocking and then smiling cordially at Molly when she answered.
A few minutes later, that smile turned into a pronounced frown.
"My dear girl, I'm afraid you simply don't understand-"
"Understand what, Headmaster? That Harry was in danger at his old home and had to be removed? The same home you're debating taking him back to now?!"
"It is for his own protection-"
"From Dark Wizards and the like, I know, but what is supposed to protect him from those muggles?"
"He cannot-"
"Stay here? Of course he bloody well can! Let the Dark Lord himself come strolling up to my gate - no one touches my children." The woman's arms were crossed as she glared at him, and Dumbledore was unhappily reminded that Molly, when still bearing the Prewett name, had been a very fearsome Gryffindor at Hogwarts.
"Perhaps I ought to return later to speak to both you and Arthur-"
"Don't think for one moment that he isn't on the same page with me about this." She warned the old wizard. "You brought Harry to us, and like it or not, he's counted among my own children now. Put up whatever wards and other protections you want around the Burrow, Headmaster, because that boy is not going back to a place where he won't be safe and loved."
By then, Dumbledore was down to one last tactic, an underhanded one he wasn't particularly proud of. "My dear, please think of the risk it will put your own young ones in-"
Molly's eyes widened, and a moment later her wand was being tightly gripped as the furious woman pointed to the door, causing it to slam open. "Out."
"Now just one moment-"
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, get OUT!" He left, and rather quickly at that. Perhaps Minerva wasn't the only lioness willing and able to protect her cubs...
Changes would have to be made.
-TEW-
When Arthur returned home that evening, he was just as displeased as his wife about Dumbledore trying to take Harry away again. It had been an amazing transformation to witness, seeing the lad make so much progress just in a couple of days from worried silence to running and yelling right alongside the rest of the young Weasleys. There was no way in hell that the old Headmaster would be doing anything that could undo that change.
"It's not that I don't respect the issues he has to bear in mind, Arthur," Molly was saying as she cleaned up from dinner. "But there is the issues directly before me, which is the one of that boy needing love as he grows older. It's the least he deserves - what every child deserves."
"I'm not arguing with you on this one, love." Her husband assured her. "But we do have to prepare for what Dumbledore might try next. We don't technically have any legal right to keep Harry-"
Molly harrumphed. "By what legal right was Harry given to those muggles? Albus brought him here because he wanted to hide the lad away while searching for a suitable home, because he didn't think anyone would look for the hero of the Wizarding World with us; a simple hair colour charm and he'd fit right in with the rest of our lot."
"That's... Not a half bad idea. It would only have to be put on when we went out or if company came over, too. We'll probably want to check with Harry himself, though-"
"Yes!" A small voice squeaked, startling them both. Moments later, the three youngest children in the house entered the kitchen, wearing matching grins.
"Were you lot listening to us?" Molly demanded, hands on her hips.
"Fred and George were too, but they've run away now." Ron supplied.
"Twins!" Ignoring the woman's frustrated rantings, Harry slowly walked up to stand alongside Arthur's chair. The man watched bemusedly as the boy tried to put together his words.
"I... I told Ginny before, I want to stay. I want to be one of you." Harry explained, a hand coming up to touch at his coal black hair. "Can, can you make it red, always?"
Arthur found himself lost for words, merely nodding as he slowly reached out to pull the lad into a one-armed hug. "Y'know, your real mum had red hair, too." He was finally able to say. Harry's bright green eyes lit up excitedly.
"Really? You knew her?"
"Not all that well, but a bit, yeah. Your dad, too. He was a bit of a rascal in his youth, quite like the twins actually."
Harry frowned slightly. "Aunt P'tunia and Uncle Vernon always told me they were bad people, that was why they died and left me alone." Normally, Arthur only had admiration for muggles and their numerous wonderful inventions, but at that moment he only felt the desire to go strangle the ones poor Harry had been trapped living with for over four and a half years.
"No, Harry, they were heroes who died protecting you. Very, very good people. Some of the best there were." That night, instead of the fantastical stories about the Boy-Who-Lived that Arthur would usually tell Ginny, he found himself lulling all three of his youngest to sleep with true tales of the Potters and how they protected their baby boy to the very end. By the time the children were asleep, all together in a bunch where they wound up on Ron's bed, Arthur had lost any inclination whatsoever to disagree with his wife on the matter of keeping Harry with them.
That night, as the Weasley parents themselves prepared for bed, they were discussing how much it would cost to buy versus making a potion to permanently alter Harry's hair to a shade of red that would allow him to blend more easily with their own children. Money was always an issue in their household, but they would find a way to make it work.
They always did.
-TEW-
The next morning, money suddenly was much less of an issue than normal.
A delivery owl was waiting by the window when Molly came down to begin preparing breakfast. She was rather startled to find the Gringotts seal on the small package it bore, along with an accompanying letter bearing the Hogwarts crest.
"Arthur! Arthur, get down here!" She sent her words through a patronus, eager to get her husband downstairs without alerting any of the children that something was up.
"What is it, love?" He asked anxiously, stumbling into the kitchen as he struggled to keep from tripping in his haste.
"Look!" Inside the box was small, neatly arranged pile of galleons, gleaming in the soft morning light. Blinking in astonishment, Arthur then had the letter shoved under his nose by an excited Molly. "It's the same amount those muggles were being paid each month out of the money that the Potters set up for Harry, for his care and keeping. This is just the first installment, the rest will be transferred directly from his vault to ours at Gringotts-"
"Meaning that Dumbledore finally decided not to try and take him anywhere else," Arthur stated in relief.
"-I know it's mostly for taking care of Harry himself, but we'll be able to use this for keeping the house and grounds intact, and to go into the emergency fund, while the money that had been going into those we can switch to using for all the other children-"
"Molly, love, slow down." He laughed at her joyous expression. "Yes, we'll be able to do a lot with this - but for today, let's just celebrate, alright? Apparently," the letter from Hogwarts was held up. "Harry turns six years old today."
-TEW-
For as long as he was able to remember, Harry had never had such a good day as this. He'd woken up in Ron's room with the other boy and Ginny, gone downstairs for breakfast, and immediately been swept up into the rest of the Weasley family's excitement as they prepared for a party. The lad was shocked to discover that they were having a party for him, but then Mrs. Weasley had explained that it was his birthday, and that some good news had come that morning putting everyone into a festive mood anyway.
Happily deciding to go along with it all, Harry got to enjoy his first ever piece of birthday cake, and some of the older kids even got together a few things as presents (easily ten times better than anything the Dursleys had ever given him!). By the time evening rolled around, he'd been convinced that not only was this the best day of his life, but that the Weasleys were the greatest family ever.
"And you're one of us now." Ginny said firmly as they got ready for bed, everyone exhausted from the rapid fire events of the day. Harry easily agreed with her, an unfamiliar warm feeling completely filling him up.
He had a family now. And that was the greatest present ever.
