Chapter two
She walked out of the main road of St Ottery Catchapold and in the direction of Ron's house. It was affectionately named the Burrow and Hermione uttery adored it. It was a big house, four stories, completely run down and leaning slightly to the side.
Mrs Weasley, Ron's mother, said that it was held up with love but Hermione jsut thought it was a matter of time before it fell down completely. It would take that long to fix it if it did though, considering the Weasleys were numerous and made up of mostly males. Ron was the youngest brother of six and the second youngest in there tight knit family. Ginny, oone of Hermione's best friends, was the youngest and only girl apart from Mrs Weasley.
The others were Bill, who was the eldest and worked as an archaeologist in Egypt, but was home for the holidays. Then there was Charlie who was a zoologist and worked mainly with lions and tigers. He worked at a big reserve type zoo in wales and was also staying at home for the holidays.
The third son was Percy. he had a job as an assistant to some important person in parliament, and the family hardly ever saw him, and he wasn't here at all. Hermione had never even met the man and she had been staying at the Burrow every holiday for the passed two years since her mother passed away and her father turned into somewhat of an alcoholic.
The fourth and fifth son's came as a package deal. They never went anywhere without each other. Fred and George were twins and completely insane. They caused trouble where ever they went and even managed to make a career out of it. They owned their own joke shops.
Hermione had only met Bill and Charlie once before, briefly at Mrs Weasley's birthday party last year. She had gone to school with the twins for years and was unfortunate enough to be the target of many a prank that they claimed was testing their merchandice for their imaginary shop. She looked back on those memories fondly now that she actually knew they were serious about what they had been doing. She only wished they hadn't targeted her so much.
She was looking forward to getting to know Bill and Charlie better, considering that she found their work to be fascinating. She loved history, it was her favourite subject and she was completely obsessed. Pair that, with an odd fixation on mythical creatures and it made for interesting conversation and even better projects.
Hermione had a habit of starting research projects, even if they weren't called for in school. She was always studying something whether it be the history of Hypogryffs or dragons and right now, werewolves.
Her mind was on werewolves as she walked down the battered trail that cut through the forest between the town and The Burrow, enjoying the wildness of the scenery as her thoughts drifted.
She had started this research project before school had started, just gathering information and sources. Then she was informed by the school that she was attending that the curiculum for year twelve now demanded each student undertake a research project. They shuffled around the time table to create three extra periods a week, added on to their already hectic schedules for them to spend on working on it.
She did ask if she could hand in one of her already completed research projects but her teacher, Mrs Mcgonnigal said that it had to be a newly created project.
She didn't mind as much as Ron and Harry did, she actually enjoyed studying and research but they had gone on and on about how unfair it was.
By the time she had gotten back to the Burrow, it was just getting dark. She opened the front door, far past the time where she had to knock and all but ran into a solid chest. She felt back onto her arse groaning in pain as he gathered her bareings.
"Shit I'm so sorry." Said a deep voice in front of her. Hermione looked up to see a red haired wall of muscle looking down at her with a sheepish smile.
"S'okay Charlie. Help me up would you?" She asked the second eldest Weasley child. He leaned down and grabbed her waist, lifting her clean of the ground and then setting her down on her now outstretched legs. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sheer strength he exuded. She wasn't the skinniest woman around, infact she had been called fat a time or two. She didn't particuarlly care about it but Charlie seemed not to have a problem with her weight.
Hermione couldn't help but stare at him in awe. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he looked at her. 'At least he doesn't tower over me like Remus had.' She thought, and then a blush crossed over her face as she compared the two beautiful men to each other.
"Sorry about that. Mum had just sent me out to look for you actually. Didn't want you walking around alone in the dark, especially in the woods." He said as he moved aside, letting her walk properly into the room.
He closed the door behind her and then followed her as she made her way into the kitchen. The Burrow was all light wood and soft colours, orange being a main one. The kitchen was bright with the sunset clear in the windows that sat over the bench that Mrs Weasley was bustling about over.
Hermione turned to the left, to see the big table that sat in the room, was almost full of people. Ron and Ginny were at the end of the table, talking about football, and Bill was listening in with amusement. Fred and George had their heads together, obviously planning some kind of prank or another, and Mr Weasley was reading the paper at the head of the table.
Charlie put his hands on her shoulders to guide her out of the door way so that he could get passed and go and help his mother with the cooking. She smiled shyly up at him and then turned back to the table and sat down next to Ginny.
"What time is Harry getting here again Ron?" Gin asked and Hermione turned to the red head, her interest piqued.
"Harry's coming over?" She asked, almost relieved to hear it. His aunt and uncle were horrible to him, and usually whenever he saw them he was sporting some kind of bruise or injury.
"Yeah, his rental's agreed to let him live here during the school year, so that he could study with me or something. I'm not too sure on the excuse he used but they were happy to get rid of him. He'll be bunking with me." Ron said with excitement.
"Thank god. From what Ron's told me, that family is seriously abusive." Bill said and Hermione nodded in affirmation.
"They're terrible. I nearly had to call the police once last year but Harry insisted that I didn't. Something about how his aunt looks so much liek his mother, made him want to stay. I glad he's finally seen sense though." Hermione said and Bill gave her a soft smile.
