A/N: This chapter is a little long.
Jasmine looked at Harry, "What's going on?"
"They're here to rescue us," Harry stated. Jasmine looked over to notice that Fred and George were in the flying car with Ron. "Start packing!"
"Here, tie that around the bars," Fred said, tossing a rope to Harry, who tied it around the bars.
Jasmine ran over, picked up Nyx, and stuffed her in the cage. "Sorry, Nyx. We're being rescued."
She picked up her old tattered messenger bag, which she had previously used for six years, before she got a new one in Diagon Alley, last year. She stuffed as much clothing and some books in the messenger bag. There was a loud crunching noise and she looked back to see that the bars were removed.
She also grabbed the jars of spinach and dead spiders for Nyx. She grabbed the bag of guinea pig food too. She tried to stuff the jars and bag in her messenger bag, before realizing that she didn't have room. She passed the jars, bag of food, and her messenger bag to Ron, who took them.
"Your turn," she told Harry, who did as he was told. He passed things to Ron, who took it. She grabbed Nyx's cage and held it close.
"Hurry, get in," Ron told them.
Jasmine went to the window, but Harry grabbed her arm, "Our Hogwarts stuff."
"Damn," Jasmine muttered.
"No problem," George said, "Out of the way, Harry and Jasmine." They both stepped aside as the Weasley twins climbed through the window. George took out a hairpin and started picking the lock.
"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick, but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow," Fred explained.
"I need to learn this trick," Jasmine said.
"So, we'll get your trunks," George said.
Jasmine passed Nyx's cage to Ron. "We'll get our trunks together, so you don't have take two trips."
"The bottom stair creaks," Harry warned Fred and George, who went outside the room.
Jasmine grabbed her ugly brown hiking boots and put them on. Harry doubled checked that he had given Ron everything before Fred and George returned carrying the trunk.
"I'll get your broomstick," Jasmine said and went outside the room. She slid down the banister again, and went inside the broom cupboard. In a way, she was surprised that her and Harry somehow survived staying in a broom cupboard for a decade. She grabbed the Nimbus Two Thousand and carried it upstairs, avoiding the last stair. She passed it to Ron and she and Harry went downstairs, to get her trunk.
Harry and Jasmine lugged it upstairs, and almost froze when they heard their uncle cough. They pushed their trunk in the car, with the Weasleys pulling on it.
"You first," Harry said, and Jasmine climbed out through the window, with Ron helping her into the car.
"Thank you for getting us." Jasmine said, almost breathless.
"It's no problem," Ron said.
"All right, now hurry," Jasmine hissed.
Harry started crawling in the backseat when a loud screech came from inside the room. She paled, "Damn it, we nearly forget Hedwig."
"That ruddy owl!" Uncle Vernon shouted.
Harry disappeared and returned passing Hedwig's cage to Ron, who grabbed it.
Jasmine grabbed the cage and looked at the owl. "I'm so sorry that we almost forgot you, you majestic bird." Hedwig looked indignant.
Uncle Vernon bellowed and Harry was now dangling out of the window. Ron, Jasmine, and George grabbed Harry's arm, as Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry's ankle.
"Petunia! They're getting away! They're getting away!" Vernon shouted as he pulled Harry back inside the room and they pulled back on Harry.
"Let go of my brother, you filthy cow!" Jasmine shouted, a little surprised at her bravery. Uncle Vernon was now half dangling out the window, pulling on Harry. Jasmine and Ron pulled back on Harry. "You're going to hurt him!" With one more tug, Uncle Vernon let go of Harry and fell out of the bedroom window.
"Put your foot down, Fred!" Ron ordered.
"See you next summer!" Harry shouted and the car shot off to the moon.
Jasmine started stuffing her belongings in her trunk. She noticed Hedwig in the cage. "We need to let Hedwig out."
"Yeah, she hadn't had a chance to stretch her wigs for ages," Harry stated.
George passed the hairpin to Ron, who went to work on picking the lock. "So, what's the story, you two?" Ron asked, sounding impatient. "What's been happening?"
With that Harry launched into what happened and Jasmine cut in to add a comment or two, most of which was to insult the Dursleys.
After Harry finished explaining what happened, Fred said, "Very fishy."
George said, "Definitely dodgy. So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"
"I don't think he could. We asked him who it was and he started hitting himself over the head with our lamp," Harry said.
"The poor lamp," Jasmine muttered and Nyx Apparated herself onto Jasmine's lap. She looked down and patted the black, furry guinea pig.
"What, you think he was lying to us?" asked Harry and Jasmine looked up, confused.
"Well, put it this way—house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you two from coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"
"Yes," Harry, Ron, and Jasmine said together.
"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained, "He hates us."
"I was thinking of Pansy Parkinson," Jasmine stated.
"Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson?" George asked, turning around, "Lucius Malfoy's son and Archibald Parkinson's daughter?"
"Archibald Parkinson?" Jasmine muttered.
"I would assume Malfoy isn't a common name, why?" Harry asked.
"I've heard Dad talking about Lucius Malfoy," George replied. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."
Fred looked over at them, "And when You-Know-Who disappeared, Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung—Dad reckons he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."
Jasmine wasn't surprised at all. "What about the Parkinsons?"
George shrugged, "I think Dahlia Parkinson is a supporter of You-Know-Who, but no one knows since the Parkinson Family is not quite as well-known like the Malfoys. The only thing we do know is that Perseus Parkinson was a Minister for Magic in 1726. He had anti-Muggle views."
"Of course," Jasmine said, feeling uncomfortable at the mention of the anti-Muggle views. Her friend, Craig, was Muggle-born and he was the second in class, behind Hermione Granger.
"We don't know if Parkinson or Malfoy even has a house-elf," Harry said.
"Well, whoever owns him will be an old Wizarding family, and they'll be rich," Fred stated.
"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing. But all we've got is a lousy ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden. House-elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch one in our house," George explained.
Jasmine looked through her trunk, wondering how she was going to get through the mountain of summer homework that the professors dropped on her.
"I'm glad we came to get you two, anyway." Ron said, "I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. At first I thought it was Errol's fault at first—"
"Who's Errol?" Harry asked.
"Our owl," Ron answered. "He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. Turpin and Strange were sending me and Hermione letters, wondering why you weren't answering their letters. So, I tried to borrow Hermes—"
Harry looked confused, "Who?"
"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," Fred answered.
"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me. Said he needed him," Ron said.
"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer. And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room… I mean, there's only so much times you can polish a prefect badge," George mused.
Jasmine couldn't help but smirk and pretending to look in her trunk to hide it. Last Christmas, she had found out her Housemate, Penelope Clearwater, had a crush on Percy, and she had found them sending some time together in the library. So, it seemed like they had gotten together.
"Does your dad know you got the car?" Harry asked and Jasmine looked at him. Apparently she missed something when she was asleep.
Ron looked sheepish, "Er, no. He had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it."
Jasmine tried to figure out that would work, with the Potters showing up on the doorstep? Would they say that they were just going sight-seeing or something?
"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic anyway?" Harry asked.
Ron explained, "He works in the most boring department, the Misuse of Muggle Artifact Office."
Harry seemed incredulous, "The what?"
"It sounds like what it's called," Jasmine said, before Ron can explain. "Obviously Muggle Artifacts are being misused."
"It's about bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare—Dad was working overtime for weeks," Ron explained.
Jasmine and Harry looked at each other.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose," Ron explained.
Jasmine couldn't help but busting out laughing at the thought. "That sounds like something I would do as a joke."
"Not really," Harry muttered to Ron.
Ron continued, "Well, Dad was going frantic—it's only him and an old warlock called Perkins—and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up—"
Harry looked even more confused, "But your dad—this car—"
"You're in a flying car," Jasmine said at the same time as Harry. "Cars are for Muggles."
Fred laughed "Yeah, Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles; our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."
"So the Weasleys really are considered blood traitors," Jasmine muttered to herself, disgusted with herself at using the term.
Apparently it was loud enough for George and Ron to hear.
George whipped around so fast, Jasmine was surprised he didn't get whiplash. "What did you just say?" He looked suspicious, along with Ron.
"Oh, it was something my friend Lisa told me. She's a pure-blood and she explained to me what the term means because Parkison called her that at one point. I can't remember what she said, so it wasn't important. I think she's considered a 'blood traitor' because she's friends with Craig, who's a Muggle-born," Jasmine explained. "Well, Muggle-born wasn't the word that Parkinson called Craig." She wouldn't even say that word.
"Of course she did," Ron muttered darkly.
Harry was confused, "What word was used?"
"That's the main road. We'll be there in ten minutes," George said.
A pinkish glow was becoming visible, along the horizon. She looked out the window, to see dark patchworks of fields and clumps of trees. In a weird way, it was kind of beautiful.
"Just as well, it's getting light," George stated. "We're a little way outside the village. Ottery St Catchpole."
With a small bump, the car hit the ground, and Fred shouted, "Touchdown!"
Jasmine wondered where he heard the Muggle term, and decided not to question it. Mr Weasley probably taught them the term.
The car landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard.
Jasmine leaned over Ron so she can look out at Ron's home.
It was several stories high and so crooked that it was held up by magic. It looked like rooms were added here and there. There were four; possibly, five chimneys perched on top of the red room. There was a lopsided sign stuck to the ground near the entrance that read: The Burrow. There was jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron next the front door. There were several fat brown chickens pecking their way around the yard.
This is what home looks like, Jasmine thought.
"It's not much," Ron said.
"It's wonderful," Harry said happily.
"I love it," Jasmine responded. She gathered her messenger bag and wand. She stuck a few books, parchment, ink, and quills in there so she can do her holiday homework. She grabbed Nyx's cage, thankfully, Nyx Apparted her way back in the cage to sleep, sometime along the flight.
They got out of the car and Jasmine looked at the Burrow again.
"Okay, now we'll go upstairs really quietly and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and Jasmine, and no one need ever know we flew the car," Fred told them.
Jasmine wondered how that was going to be believable. It wasn't like there was some sort of wizarding bus system to take them here overnight. She frowned and looked at Fred. "How—" She trailed off, noticing how he seemed to have shrank back, along with George.
"Right," Ron interrupted. "Come on, Harry and Jasmine, I sleep at the—at the top—"
Jasmine looked at him and saw he had turned a rather greenish color and looked forward, noticing Mrs Weasley marching across the yard. Despite being looking like a plump, kind-faced woman, she resembled a saber-toothed tiger that she saw in an animal book, once when she was younger. She was wearing a floral apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket.
"Ah," Fred said.
"Oh, dear," George said.
Mrs Weasley came to stop in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She said, "So."
"Morning, Mum," George said, trying to use a jaunty, winning voice.
"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs Weasley asked in a deadly whisper.
Ron said, "Sorry, Mum, but see, we had too—"
Mrs Weasley interrupted him, by shouting, "Beds empty! No note! Car gone—could have crashed—out of my mind with worry—did you care?—never, as long as I've lived—you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy—"
Jasmine noticed that even though the Weasleys boys were taller than their mother, but they were cowering before her.
"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.
"You could do with taking a leaf out of Percy's book!" Mrs Weasley yelled. She prodded Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job—"
Jasmine looked at Harry, who just seemed almost as awkward as she felt. It must've been embarrassing to the Weasley boys having their mother yelling at them, right in front of their friends. Harry looked back at her.
After a while, Mrs Weasley seemed to have finally shouted herself hoarse, turned to Jasmine and Harry. The both of them backed away, terrified that she was going to yell at them, too.
"I'm very pleased to see you two, dears," Mrs Weasley said, smiling. "Come in and have some breakfast." She turned and walked back inside the house.
Harry and Jasmine looked at Ron, both equally stunned. Ron nodded encouragingly and the two Potters walked after Mrs Weasley.
They were led passed the living room, which seemed cozy, with a sofa, armchairs, a fireplace, and a wooden wireless set. There was a clock with what looked like multiple hands.
They entered the kitchen, which was small and cramped. There was a scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle of the kitchen. Jasmine set the cage on the table. The Potter twins both tried to sit in the same chair, only to slap at each other's hands for the seat. Jasmine took the chair next to Harry's instead and looked at the clock on the wall opposite of them. It had one hand and no numbers at all. Written along the edge was 'Time to make tea,' 'Time to feed the chickens,' and 'you're late.' It had many pendulums and three bells on it.
She looked and found books on the mantelpiece, which had titles like, Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts—It's Magic!
"Now coming up is Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck," the radio announced.
Jasmine watched as Mrs Weasley clattered around the kitchen, cooking breakfast a little haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons, while she threw sausages into the frying pan.
"I don't blame you two, dears," Mrs Weasley assured Harry and Jasmine, tipping eight sausages onto their plates. "Arthur and I have been worried about you two, as well. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday. But really—" she added three fried eggs to each of their plates, "flying an illegal car halfway across the country—anyone could have seen you—"
She flicked her wand casually at the dishes in the sink, which began to clean themselves. Jasmine found it a little weird having someone else give her food instead of her getting it herself.
"It was cloudy, Mum!" Fred said, through a mouthful of food.
"You keep your mouth closed when you're eating!" Mrs Weasley snapped out.
"They were starving them, Mum!" George stated.
"And you!" Mrs Weasley responded, but she seemed to have softened. She cut some bread for Harry and Jasmine, and buttered it for them.
Jasmine was eating some sausage when she noticed a red-haired girl, wearing a nightdress walked in. Harry looked over and the girl squealed and ran out. The Potter twins looked at Ron.
"Ginny," Ron whispered to them, "my sister. She's been talking about you, Harry, all summer."
Fred grinned, "Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry." He caught his mother's eye, and lowered his head to his food.
Nothing more was said until all five plates were empty of food.
Fred set down his knife and fork, and then yawned. "Blimey, I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed and—"
"You will not. It's your own fault you've been up all night," Mrs Weasley snapped. "You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again—"
Fred interrupted, "Oh, Mum—"
"And you two," she said, glaring at George and Ron. She turned to Harry and Jasmine. "You two didn't ask them to fly that wretched car—"
"I'll help Ron," Harry interrupted. "I've never seen a de-gnoming—"
"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," Mrs Weasley said. She took a thick book off of the mantelpiece. "Now let's see what Lockhart has to say on the subject—"
George groaned, "Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden—"
The Potters looked at the cover of the book. There was fancy gold letters across the book that read: Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. There was a big picture of a wizard with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. In a way, Jasmine figured that Gilderoy Lockhart was rather good-looking. The picture of Gilderoy Lockhart was winking up at them and Jasmine felt her face heat up. Harry looked at her.
Mrs Weasley beamed down at the cover. "Oh, he is marvelous. He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book."
"Mum fancies him," Fred said in a audible whisper, to Harry and Jasmine.
"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," Mrs Weasley said, her cheeks rather pink. "All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come to inspect it."
The Weasleys got up and slouched outside. Harry stood up and walked with them, but he and Ron turned around to look at Jasmine.
"Are you going to come with us?" Harry asked.
"I was thinking that I should do the holiday homework," Jasmine told them.
"How can you work? We're on holiday," Ron stated.
Mrs Weasley looked at him, "because, unlike you, she's doing her responsibility."
Jasmine shrugged. "Well, there's that. I have to tell Craig and Lisa what happened and why I wasn't responding to them. I think Hedwig would appreciate the flight, considering she was trapped in the cage."
"But it's a de-gnoming," Harry said.
"I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities soon," Jasmine countered.
"All right," Harry said.
With that the two boys went out back. Jasmine set her messenger bag on the table and got out some parchment to send out some letters to Craig and Lisa. She looked at the parchment and wondered how she should start with the letters. Finally, she managed to find the words and started writing out what happened. After she finished the letters, she set them aside and took out the things she needed for Potions class, one of her favoirite subjects ever.
Mrs Weasley had made some tea and set the teapot down on the table. She even set a cup down and poured Jasmine some tea.
Jasmine looked at her, "Thank you, Mrs Weasley."
"It's no problem, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling.
Jasmine was halfway done with her essay when the front door slammed shut, causing her to jump up and send her ink bottle halfway across the table. "Oh, I'm sorry Mrs Weasley."
"It's okay, dear," Mrs Weasley said, walking over to table. She pointed her wand at the ink and said, "Tergeo." The spilt ink was removed from the table. Mrs Weasley picked up Nyx's cage. "I'll put—"
"Nyx," Jasmine answered
"Nyx's cage in Ginny's room, where you'll be staying." Mrs Weasley explained and walked out of the kitchen.
Mr Weasley walked into the kitchen, grabbed a teacup, and slumped into a chair. He was wearing what looked like dusty, travel-worn green robes. The three Weasley boys and Harry walked in. Harry sat down next to Jasmine, as the Weasley boys gathered around their father.
Mr Weasley groped for the teapot, found it, and poured himself a cup. "What a night," he mumbled. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned." He took a long gulp of tea.
"Find anything, Dad?" Fred asked, sounding quite eager.
"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," Mr Weasley said. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness…"
"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrinks?" George asked.
In a way, Jasmine thought it was odd that George would ask that since he was a prankster. Wouldn't his first thought would be to prank someone?
Mr Weasley explained that shrinking the keys was just Muggle-baiting. Of course, the Muggles wouldn't think it was magic and just assume that they keep misplacing the keys. "But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe—"
"Like cars, for instance?" Mrs Weasley interrupted, appearing in the kitchen, holding a long poker like a sword.
What was she doing with that poker? Jasmine wondered, staring at it.
Mr Weasley asked, "C-cars, Molly, dear?"
Mrs Weasley said, "Yes, Arthur, cars. Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while really he was enchanting it to make it fly."
Jasmine looked at her parchment.
Mr Weasley started to explain, "Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if—er—he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth…There's a loophole in the law, you'll find…As long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact that car could fly wouldn't—"
"Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!" Mrs Weasley shouted, interrupting her husband. "Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry and Jasmine arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"
Jasmine looked up to see that Mr Weasley looked confused, "Harry and Jasmine who?" He looked around and saw the Potter twins. He jumped, "Good lord, is it Harry and Jasmine Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron's told us so much about you t—"
"Your sons flew that car to Surrey and back last night!" Mrs Weasley shouted again. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"
Mr. Weasley looked at his sons, and sounded eager, "Did you really? Did it go all right?" He saw Mrs Weasley and Jasmine could've sworn she saw sparks flying from her eyes. "I—I mean, that—that was very wrong, boys—very wrong indeed…"
"Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Harry and Jasmine. "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom."
"But—homework," Jasmine said. She noticed how Mrs Weasley swelled up. "In second thought…"
She followed after them as they went down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, which wound and zigzagged up through the house. On the third landing, a door was opened ajar and it closed. There was a plaque that said: Guinevra's Room.
"Ginny," Ron explained. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally—"
Two more flights in and they stepped outside a door that had peeling paint. A plaque said: Ronald's Room on it.
When Ron opened the door, Jasmine's first thought was, Orange! It's hideous!
Everything was orange; the bedspread, the walls, and the ceiling. There was a bunch of posters of the same seven witches and wizards covering the wall.
Harry's head almost touched the ceiling.
Jasmine noticed a pile of comics titled The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. She went over and grabbed the top comic. She picked it up and looked at it.
"Your Quidditch team?" Harry asked.
"The Chudley Cannons," Ron explained, "The ninth in the league."
Jasmine opened the comic and looked at it. Strangely enough, the pictures weren't moving. She looked at Ron, "Hey. How come the characters in the panels don't move?"
Ron shrugged, "Don't know. I think it would be hard to have each panel move."
Jasmine looked at the panels. "I think it can be done. You know, try to make it loop, so the characters aren't going off script or talking to you." She flipped the page. What if Craig, Lisa, and I enchant the graphic novel to make the panels loop? She grinned at the idea.
"It's a bit small. Not like that room you both have with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he's always banging on the pipes and groaning…"
"This is the best house I've ever been in," Harry asked.
"Yeah, what he said," Jasmine agreed, not looking up.
Later that night, Ginny led Jasmine up to her room, after Harry and Ron retreated to Ron's room. Ginny opened the door and Jasmine stepped inside the room.
The room was small and had pink walls. There was a desk facing the window, where Nyx's cage rested and beside the desk was Jasmine's trunk. There was a rolled-out mattress on the floor, with a blanket and a pillow laid out on it. She went to the mattress and sat down on it. Jasmine walked over to the desk and put her messenger bag down. She looked out the window to see what would be a nice view of the orchid during the daytime. She nodded, "Nice view."
"I know," Ginny said.
Jasmine looked and noticed a large poster of an eight-member male band. They were hairy and wore black robes that seemed to be torn in an artful way. Jasmine thought that some of the band members were kind of good-looking, despite the hairiness.
"They're the Weird Sisters," Ginny explained, noticing Jasmine looking.
"Ah," Jasmine replied and looked noticed a poster of a dark-skinned witch in dark green robes and there was a golden talon on the chest.
"Gwenog Jones. She's the Captain and Beater of the all-witch Quidditch team, Holyhead Harpies," Ginny explained. She grinned broadly, "One day I'm going to play for them."
"Which position?" Jasmine questioned.
"Either Beater or Chaser," Ginny explained.
"Good idea," Jasmine stated and went to her trunk. She opened it and took out some origami paper that she got for Christmas. She went to the mattress and sat down cross-legged. She started to make a paper crane.
"Sorry for not being a great conversationalist," Ginny said. "I just never had what amounted to a sleep-over before."
"I feel the same way. I never really had a friend before. It was just me and Harry," Jasmine admitted. "Growing up with two boys, you know…"
"You never had a friend before?" Ginny asked, confused.
"Yeah," Jasmine admitted. "My cousin is a bully. He didn't want me and Harry to have friends. If we did, he would scare them off."
"What did the Muggles do?" Ginny asked.
"My aunt and uncle just turned a blind-eye to it all. My cousin's friend, Piers, was…the worst of the lot. The teachers thought that Piers had a crush on me," Jasmine admitted.
"Does he?" Ginny asked.
"Hell if I know," Jasmine muttered.
"What does Harry do when Piers picked on you?" Ginny asked.
"He tries to stop him. When they target him, I try to step in and help," Jasmine explained. "I protect him and he protects me. That's how it goes."
Ginny seemed a little proud at the thought of Harry protecting Jasmine. "He's a good brother."
"He is, although we had some fights when we were younger on what chores to do," Jasmine said. "I came up with the idea of a schedule. I do certain chores one day, Harry does the other, and the next day, we switch."
Ginny nodded. "I think we need something of a system here." There was a small explosion from upstairs and Jasmine jumped up at the sound. Ginny laughed, "Oh, that's Fred and George. Those explosions occur very frequently. You'll get used to it."
Jasmine looked at her, "Good to know." She finished the crane and held it out to Ginny. The crane flapped its paper wings and flew over to Ginny, who took it, and smiled.
Jasmine lay back down on the mattress and stared at the ceiling. Strangely enough, the mattress was actually comfortable. "Good night, Ginny."
"Good night, Jasmine," Ginny replied, a little confused.
Jasmine fell asleep.
The next morning, Jasmine made her way to the living room. She had almost walked by the other clock and went to look at it. It also didn't tell the time as well. She noticed that it indicated the status of each Weasley family, because it had nine hands, for each member, along with their pictures. There were phrases like, 'home,' 'school,' 'work,' 'traveling,' 'lost,' 'dentist,' 'hospital,' 'prison,' and oddly enough, 'mortal peril.'
So far, the nine Weasleys had their hands pointed at 'home', but she noticed two other Weasleys that she didn't recognize.
"That's one Bill and that's one Charlie," Ron told her, as he noticed her looking.
"Oh," Jasmine replied. "What does Bill do? I don't remember if you said."
"He works as a Curse Breaker in Egypt," Ron explained.
"What classes do you take to become a Curse Breaker?" Jasmine asked.
"From what I've been told, being a Curse Breaker is challenging. It involves travel, danger, adventure," Ron explained.
Jasmine nodded, remember that Ollivander told her that her wand, made out of Maplewood, needed fresh challenges and regular changes of scene to make it literally shine. Being a Curse Breaker sounded like a job for Maple wand users. "What is required for that job?"
Ron gave her a strange look, "I don't know. I'll owl Bill for you."
"All right, thanks," Jasmine said, and Ron walked in the kitchen, muttering something like 'Ravenclaw Hermione.'
That afternoon, Jasmine rewrote the letters, explaining that a house-elf had been stealing their letters, and Uncle Vernon had locked Hedwig in her cage, so they had no way to get her out. She also explained that they could try to figure out how to make the panels in the graphic novel move. She wasn't sure where Lisa and Craig where, but she knew that Hedwig would find them. She figured that Craig lived somewhere in Yorkshire.
The next day, Hedwig had returned with replies from Craig and Lisa. They said that they were relieved that nothing to serious happened, and they went back planning out their graphic novel as best as they can, but agreed to plan it some more on Hogwarts Express.
Two days after Jasmine's asked about it, Ron had given Jasmine the reply from Bill about the requirements to become a Curse-Breaker.
Apparently she needed an OWL in Arithmancy because banking and transacting is required. She needed NEWTS in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguartion, Charms, and Ancient Runes.
When she saw Arithmancy and the Study of Ancient Runes, she remembered the list of electives and extra-curricular classes that Percy had given her last year. She knew what two electives she was going to take in her third year.
Life at the Burrow was interesting. The ghoul in the attic howled and dropped pipes whenever he felt that things were getting too quiet. Ginny was right when she said that the explosions from the Weasleys twins' bedroom was a frequent thing. When Jasmine had looked in the mirror on the kitchen mantle, it shouted at her, "Straighten your clothes!"
It seemed that the Weasleys actually seemed to like her and Harry. Mrs Weasley fussed over their socks and tried to get Harry to have fourth helpings at every meal, while she tried to get Jasmine to have third helpings. Mr Weasleys had made them sit next to him so he can ask them questions like how plugs and the postal service worked. He even asked Harry what the function of a rubber duck was.
Jasmine even explained what a desktop was and what computer games were like, much to Mr Weasley's delight.
Sometimes at night, Ginny would drag her out to the paddock where the Weasleys store their broomsticks, and test out each broomstick. Jasmine wasn't much of a fan of riding broomsticks since on her first day of flying lessons; she had broken her ribs and wrist because she fell off a broomstick during her first flying lesson. She had been taking Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand out for these nightly strolls and allowed Ginny to ride it.
One day, Harry had dragged Jasmine out back to de-gnome the garden. After showing her what to do, Jasmine had to say, "I never thought I would know what the feeling like what a home is like."
Harry threw a gnome over the garden wall. "What about Hogwarts?"
Jasmine started, "I know there's Hogwarts and it does feel like home, but the Burrow…"
"Feels like home, too," Harry finished for her.
Jasmine nodded, "Yeah."
"It feels like home to me, too," Harry admitted.
A/N: Okay, I looked up Ginny's bedroom on the Harry Potter wikia, and I found the page for it. So, I looked for the citation and found it in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So, I used that description from the book for this one.
Since on the Harry Potter wikia, there isn't much information about Pansy Parkison's family, I came up with something for her parents. I figured that since pansy is a flower, I'll give Pansy's mother a name from a flower, too, so I went with Dahlia.