Disclaimer: All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.
Chapter 2
Party Like a Weasley
Ginny's hand found Harry's. Her fingers fit perfectly in between his. "So my answer….is yes. But you have to take me out. No more sneaking around or leaving to backpack across the country in a tent."
Harry grinned. "Sounds great."
The train ride passed quickly. Before Harry knew it, they had arrived at King's Cross Station, a little too soon for Harry. He reluctantly took his arm off of Ginny's shoulders.
Ginny stood up to retrieve her trunk. Harry did not have any luggage to haul around. Remembering Ginny's annoyance with Dean with constantly helping Ginny through the portrait hole, Harry asked Ginny if he could carry her trunk for her. He knew that she was quite capable of doing anything she liked, but he felt like it was the right thing to do. Ginny cocked her head to a side and considered it for a moment. Harry thought she would say no, but Ginny let out a reluctant, "Well…all right."
Instead of a crowded platform of steam, luggage, and parents, they met quite a different sight when they stepped off the train. A deafening roar welcomed Harry as he stepped off the train. He had one hand on Ginny's trunk while the other hand was intertwined with Ginny's hand. He was temporarily blinded as cameras from every angle flashed.
Harry's eyes met Ginny's. He was unsure of how she would react to this sudden limelight. What if she hated being in the public eye and wanted nothing to do with him? What would he do then?
To his relief, a small smile curved her soft pink lips up. "You can't avoid it, I suppose. You are just as much their hero as you are mine."
A wild grin lit up Harry's expression. "Want to make front page with me?"
"I think we will no matter what at this point." She replied.
"May as well make it a good picture then." He dropped her trunk on the platform and pulled her into a kiss. He placed one hand under her chin, tilting her head up while the other arm snaked around her tiny waist. More camera flashes erupted.
Harry pulled away slowly, studying Ginny's face for a reaction. Ginny seemed to be studying his face as well.
"Want to get out of here now?"
Ginny simply nodded and walked off with Harry and her trunk in tow. She smirked as she saw a number of disappointed girls glare daggers at her. Their envy was palpable. Ginny looked up at Harry to see if he had noticed the large fan club of women. She was happy to see that he remained completely oblivious.
With a loud crack, Ginny and Harry apparated into the street in front of the burrow. Ginny and Harry sighed a collective sigh of relief at its familiar appearance.
They opened the kitchen door to find half of the family already home. Mrs. Weasley paused briefly to acknowledge their arrival.
She was in the process of putting her kitchen back together. On one half of the sink, dishes were being scrubbed viciously by a scrubber moving by itself. On the other half of the sink, a number misleading ordinary looking dish towels rinsed the soapy dishes, dried them, and placed them neatly in a cupboard that never seemed to get full. Harry smiled. He thought his Aunt Petunia may have actually been interested to see this spell.
Mrs. Weasley was directing her attention to charming some potatoes to peel themselves. In between spells, she did not hesitate to put her two new arrivals to work.
"Ginny, dear, I really need your help. We are expecting a large number of house guests. We are going to plan Fred's funeral tonight after dinner. I am sure the whole family will be here for the wake. You know how your father's side of the family gets at wakes. I need you to clean the bedrooms and change the sheets. I'll send Hermoine to help you as soon as she arrives back from Australia.
Harry, darling, if you wouldn't mind, could you help clear out the twin's….um George's room? We need to move those boxes into the attic. Hopefully Bill has managed to put the ghoul back in the attic by now."
Ginny rolled her eyes and grabbed her trunk from Harry's hand. She threw a, "See you!" over her shoulder at Harry as disappeared into her room.
Harry looked up at the large amount of stairs ahead of him and thought it would be easier to apparate to the top where the attic door was located. With a sudden pang of fondness and grief, he remembered the twins apparating every few feet within number 12 Grimmauld Place to everyone's annoyance. In memory of Fred, he pictured the top of the stairs, closed his eyes and felt his body being shifted through tubes. With a loud crack, he appeared at the top of the stairs.
Fleur gave a startled cry and dropped a cardboard box. Sneak o scopes with tiny feet spilled out from the box, scurrying along in every direction. "Sorry, Fleur. I didn't mean to scare you." Harry waved his wand and the sneak o scopes returned to the box with a squeal of protest.
"Ello 'Arry. You have done so well. I knew 'Ogwarts would be safe with you there. I do not understand why Fred and Jeorge 'ave all of these…contraptions!"
"Research I suppose." Harry replied.
Between Bill, Fleur, and Harry, the room was cleared out very quickly. They cleaned it and changed the bedding before moving down to Ron's room. They met up with Ginny, who was carrying around a large wicker basket with sheets precariously billowing in every direction. They moved around the house, using a variety of cleaning, dusting, and charming spells. Harry learned a lot from Fleur and Ginny. He thought cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place would be a lot easier now.
The last room was Ginny's room. Bill and Fluer left to help once again de-gnome the garden. Percy, George, and Charlie were already out in the garden tossing gnomes over the hedgerows. Ron had not turned up yet, they assumed he had escorted Hermione to Australia to see her parents.
Ginny's room was by far, the cleanest of the house. The walls were an airy light blue color. There was a long and narrow bed with a purple quilt. Next to a small wardrobe was a vanity table with an assortment of books piled on top. Animated posters of the Holyhead Harpies decorated her walls.
Harry made Ginny's bed while she put her clothes away. When Ginny opened her trunk, Harry paused with interest. How in the world is she going to fit all of that stuff in that wardrobe? It's the size of a large cupboard. Ginny opened the wardrobe to reveal the size of another small room. It had been charmed to the size of a walk in closet. Ginny grabbed an armful of clothes and climbed in the wardrobe, hanging up clothes and robes with her wand as she walked along. Her clothes were all organized by color. Gryffindor reds filled the front of the closet, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, purple , and black clothes. There were large sections of purple and green robes. Harry smiled and tucked the sheets under the mattress.
"You know I think all the work we did was quite pointless." Ginny called from her wardrobe. It sounded as if she was in a cave.
"Why's that? I thought your family is coming over?"
"Usually when they visit, all the kids get banished from their bedrooms. We will be expected to sleep on the floor while they steal our beds. And everyone will probably very drunk. Brace yourself for the worst."
Harry grinned in response. A large Weasley clan smushed in the kid's bedrooms all drunk was a funny picture. Harry wished he had experienced something remotely as exciting growing up. It sounded loads better than listening to his dumb Aunt Marge go on and on about her dogs and what was wrong with him.
Ginny emerged from her closet after moving her trunk to the back of the wardrobe by the black clothes. She wiped her hands on her robes and helped Harry place her pillows back on her bed.
"You're so kind to help with all of this." She thanked him with a peck on the cheek.
"I don't mind at all really," Harry said blushing a little, "not like your mother would take no for an answer, if I did not want to help anyway."
"Yes, she is a very bossy woman. That's where Percy get's it from, you know."
"Ginny, I was thinking for our first date…"
"All right, DINNER! COME BEFORE IT GETS COLD!"
Ginny clasped Harry's hand and lead him down the stairs. She of all people knew that there was never any time for the food to become cold at the burrow. "We'll continue that later," she said in response.
Gathered around the table was the entire family. Molly and Arthur sat at the head of the table. Bill and Fleur sat on Molly's immediate right. Charlie and Percy sat on her left. To the left of Arthur sat Fred, Andromeda, and Teddy. Harry grinned at his godson, who was preoccupied by banging a metal spoon on the table. His hair was a vivid blue today.
Andromeda smiled at Harry and introduced him. "Teddy dear, this is your Godfather, Harry. He'll be your babysitter for when Granny has to get out of the house, that is if it's still ok with you, Harry?"
Harry looked a little startled but then a little relieved. "So he won't be living with me then?"
"No, Tonks wanted him to live with me. She said if anything happened to me, she wanted you to take care of him. But hopefully that won't happen anytime soon." She beamed down at her godson, then picked him up carefully and placed him in Harry's arms.
Harry sat down by Ginny, who had sat on Arthur's right. He placed Teddy on his lap and began to hand him an assortment of silver ware to play with. Teddy seemed pleased with his new playmate.
The dinner Mrs. Weasley had prepared was similar to a Christmas feast. A roast lamb was the center piece of the meal. There were bowls of carrots, brussel sprouts, and potatoes. There was a walnut, honey, and stilton salad, and two puddings: an apple and plumb crumble with custard, and (Harry's favorite) treacle tart with clotted cream.
People talked about various things amongst stuffing their faces and passing dishes. Harry paused every few bites to help Teddy shovel food into his mouth or take away something from Teddy that was not supposed to go in his mouth. For his first go at feeding a little person, he thought it went all right. For as much food as Teddy got on himself, Harry got as much food in Teddy. Ginny looked over at Harry and laughed a beautiful laugh. The state of Harry's robes was comical. Harry just smiled down at his blue haired godson and then smiled back at Ginny. Mrs. Weasley observed from across the table with a look of approval on her face.
After dinner was cleared magically, they gathered in the parlor for tea and coffee. Bill, Fluer, and Charlie sat on one couch. Fred and Mr. Weasley sat on a worn loveseat. Andromeda sat on an arm chair, and Mrs. Weasley sat in the other armchair. Harry was sprawled out on the floor with Teddy, while Ginny sat on the floor with her back resting on her mother's chair.
Once everyone was settled down, Mr. Weasley cleared his throat. "I heard from Ron and Hermione, they are staying the night at her house. They moved them back to England successfully. Hermione said that her parents are a little angry but more importantly, they are safe. She and Ron will be arriving tomorrow morning."
Mrs. Weasley chimed in, "Right, so tomorrow morning family will start arriving. Aunt Muriel sent us an owl this afternoon, she will be the last to arrive but she will make it for lunch. So far I know we will have Uncle Gideon, Uncle Fabian, Uncle Billius, Mr. and Mrs. Delacour…"
"Mum, if you name the whole family we won't get any sleep," interrupted George.
"Fine, fine. I won't tell you which of your friends are coming then." Snapped Molly.
"Who?" cried George, Ginny, and Harry in unison.
" Lee Jordan, of course, Angelina Johnson, Oliver Wood, Neville Longbottom, the Lovegoods, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell. Oh and of course Hagrid."
Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat before continuing. "So the family will of course have the bedrooms. Youngsters will get the parlor. After lunch tomorrow, we will have the funeral service. After we bury him…" She broke off sobbing into a handkerchief that Ginny had produced for her with her wand. Ginny held her mother's hand while she cried.
Mr. Weasley took over somberly. "After all of that's done, we will have a good ole fashioned Irish wake. I know Fred would have really liked that."
The evening died down pretty quickly. Teddy fell asleep in Harry's arms, his head resting on his shoulder. His mouth was opened slightly, and a small string of drool rolled down his robes. Not that it matters at this point really, thought Harry. His robes looked positively dreadful.
The older adults tromped off to bed gradually. Andromeda took Teddy to Ron's room and conjured up a crib. The rest of the children, minus Bill and Fleur, slept in the parlor since the beds were already made for the guests. Harry actually preferred this. The last thing he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts. Harry guessed the others felt the same way, since they stayed up later than necessary, playing games of exploding snap. One by one, they dozed off. Some lying down, others sitting up with blankets sprawled across their laps.
Harry fell asleep on his back, while talking to Ginny about quidditch. Ginny had been lying on her stomach about a foot away from Harry. He was therefore very surprised to wake up in the middle of the night to see a sea of red hair spread out on his chest. Ginny had been the one to move this night. Harry wrapped his arms around her back and stroked her hair until he fell back asleep. A deep feeling of contentment washed over him.
The next morning passed very quickly. After a hurried breakfast, red headed relatives of all ages and sizes arrived non-stop. Harry had no idea where or how they would fit all of these people into the tiny burrow. Hermione and Ron arrived at the burrow around ten to help direct the chaos that had ensued. Every few steps Harry took, a different relative wanted to shake his hand or congratulate him. Harry felt a little uneasy with all of the attention. He was relieved when it was time to change into black robes and begin the procession down to Ottery St. Catchpole's Church.
The citizens of Ottery St. Catchpole looked out their windows curiously as a large congregation of mostly red heads made their way down to the church. They kept to themselves, as was the status quo with the citizens of Ottery St. Catchpole and the Weasley family.
The service was quite lovely. So many people had attended that the church ran out of seats. People stood in the back and on the sides of the pews. The same wizard who had conducted Bill and Fleur's wedding stood up and conducted the service. George had insisted on doing Fred's eulogy. It seemed appropriate. Who knew Fred better than his own twin?
George spoke of his brother's talent, ambition, humor, and wit. He spoke of his bravery and courage. When he concluded, there was not a dry eye in the entire church. Harry wrapped an arm around Ginny as they mourned Fred.
The dinner following Fred's funeral was anything but somber. They had set up a hundred red and gold tables in the orchard behind the burrow. Food, butterbeer, and fire whiskey were abundant. Toward the end of the meal, George set off a vast assortment of impressive fireworks that he and Fred had designed together. A large dragon swooped over the guests, causing shrieks and cheers, then flew up into the starry night sky.
As Ginny had predicted, most the guests did get pretty sloshed. Harry learned the reason why so many people had to spend the night at the burrow. If you tried to apparate while intoxicated, there was a good chance you would end up where you did not want to be, or end up somewhere with out the rest of your body.
Ron leaned into Harry to tell him a story about his Uncle Billius, "At my great grand father's funeral four years ago, Billius was pretty sloshed you know. He tried to apparate to the pub to get some more fire whiskey but ended up leaving his whole right arm behind! Imagine that, his wand was with it and everything! Course the dumb ole codger only apparated a couple of feet across the lawn he 'cuz couldn't concentrate. Had to go to St. Mungo's for a while."
Around one in the morning, some people decided to go to bed. The older family squeezed into the upstairs bedrooms. The parlor appeared to have turned into the entire Gryffindor house. Lee Jordan proposed a drinking game. "We'll all have a go and tell one story we remember about Fred! After each go, we all take a drink."
Ron decided to go first. "When I was a little boy, I accidentally broke Fred's toy broomstick. So he turned my teddy bear into a gigantic spider!"
Roars of laughter ensued and everyone took a gulp of their drinks.
Katie Bell spoke next, "One time after practice, Fred got yelled at by Filch for tracking mud into the castle. Fred was got so angry at Filch, he cast a spell on him that made him hop around like a rabbit for the rest of the day! Filch was too embarrassed to mention it to any professors of course. Stupid prat!"
The image of Filch hopping about the grounds of Hogwarts was enough to send the room into laughter again. He saw Hermione out of the corner of her eye put a silencing charm on the room so they would not disturb the rest of the house.
Angelina spoke up, "Fred asked me to the Yule ball by chunking a wad of paper at my head! And I'm not sure why I said yes, but I am glad I did." She tilted her glass up and drank.
Hermione told the story about Fred and George apparating about the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, right after they had passed their apparition test, driving everyone mad. Harry told the story of the Marauder's map. Neville told a story where Fred had hexed a bully for picking on him. Ginny told a humorous tale where Fred had tried to blame Ginny when he broke a lamp. He got caught in the lie because Ginny had gone with her father that day to the ministry. As punishment, Mrs. Weasley made him play tea party with Ginny. She dressed him up with a large color changing feather boa, a floppy garden hat, and her mother's apron. Charlie and Bill had called him Mrs. Weasley the rest of the week.
During all of the stories, Harry spotted George sneaking out the back door. He did not follow him, he felt that he probably wanted to be alone.
Considering the amount of stories of Fred's mischief and bravery, they were all terribly drunk within an hour. Eventually, the party died down, resulting in young witches and wizards sleeping everywhere. The parlor filled up quickly. Some people retreated into the living room to play strip exploding snaps and the remaining slept in the kitchen. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found spots under the kitchen table.
"I have to say, that was the most fun funeral I have ever been to." Said Harry.
Ron sighed, "Yeah, Fred wouldn't have had anything less."
Sleeping on a kitchen floor with his best friends and girl friend, Harry fell into one of the best sleeps of his life.
Author's Note: I really appreciated your reviews! Thank you for reading and commenting. I will probably continue the story. I have a lot adventures Harry and Ginny will experience together.