"Did he eat it?" Fred asked excitedly, rushing over to Harry with George and Aisling right on his heels.
"Yeah." Harry replied, still looking a bit dazed from traveling via Floo. "What was that?"
"Ton-Tongue Toffee," Fred said happily, pulling a piece from his pocket and showing it to Harry. "George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them out on all summer..."
"Thank, Merlin I didn't take the one you offered me." Aisling added with a playful glare at her favorite redheads.
Everyone had a brief laugh at Aisling and Dudley's expense and Aisling laughed along good-naturedly. She knew the twins too well, there would've been no chance of her taking it anyways.
Aisling watched quietly as Harry became acquainted with both Charlie and Bill. She barely contained a giggle at Harry eyeing both Bill's hair and earring. It was a bit odd, but at the same time, edgy and cool on Bill.
Aisling turned back to talk to the twins when Mr. Weasley suddenly appeared out of thin air with a loud crack. His face was red and all of his anger was directed at the three of them.
"That wasn't funny, Fred!" He shouted, causing Aisling to flinch lightly and move slightly behind the twins. She hated the yelling part after one of their pranks, but it came with the territory. Someone would always take a joke badly and end up angry. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?"
"I didn't give him anything." Fred defended himself. It was a weak attempt, but hey. Desperate times and what not. "I just dropped it... It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."
"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr. Weasley pointed out with another loud outburst. Given, his point was correct. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet-"
"How big did his tongue get?" George interjected, looking eagerly at his father. Aisling peeked out from behind the two at this, she was interested in this part of the conversation.
"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!" The house erupted with laughter at this. She could just picture it. A boy that big with a tongue to match.
"It isn't funny!" Mr. Weasley roared once more, trying in vain to convince the family that this was a misdeed. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines Wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half of my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons-"
Fred cut him off there. "We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!"
"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git." Aisling added.
"Isn't he, Harry?" George turned to the younger boy for validation.
"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley." Harry agreed, furthering their point.
"That's not the point!" Arthur fumed. "You wait until I tell your mother-"
"Tell me what?" Sounded a voice behind them.
Everyone froze in their places and Aisling closed her eyes. Maybe if she couldn't see her, she wasn't actually there. She ended up peeking through her cracked eyelids to eye Mr. Weasley, who had frozen in place along with everyone else.
Mrs. Weasley greeted Harry before rounding on her husband. "Tell me what, Arthur?"
Mr. Weasley stood stunned for a long moment. Ash knew that he had never really planned to tell their mother about their antics. He never did, but this time he was caught in the threat.
Hermione and Ginny entered the room and Aisling gave them a hopeful look. They were just the distraction they needed. She watched as Ginny blushed when Harry grinned at her, causing her to cast the two a bemused look. Oh, to be young and in love.
It was a futile hope it seemed as Mrs. Weasley stared down her spouse. "Tell. Me. What?"
"It's nothing, Molly." Mr. Weasley mumbled and Aisling knew that they had lost. Fred, George, and Aisling...but it's sorted- I've had a word with them."
"What have they done this time?" Mrs. Weasley prodded. "It better not have to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes- If you boys dragged Aisling into this. Her uncle will be so cross with our family-"
Aisling resisted the urge to roll her eyes at this. Her Uncle Mars and Aunt Fiona were her sole caregivers, just as Aunt Jupiter and Uncle Mamba were Asafia's. When the twins' parents were killed in the First Wizarding War, they had been entrusted to the couples separately. It was an odd arrangement, but with her family it made sense. It was all about the training. Her Uncle Mars would not be cross at all when told about their antics. He loved Fred and George and thinks their inventions are the most wondrous things, Fiona may disagree, but when it came down to it she just liked to see Aisling happy.
Aisling watched as the others made excuses to go off to their rooms.
"We'll come too!" George exclaimed, just to be shut down by his mother.
"You three stay where you are!" Mrs. Weasley growled.
The trio watched everyone else leave with longing in their eyes before turning back to face the enraged woman.
"You three, kitchen. Now. Every pot and pan, plate and spoon, better be scrubbed spotless in time for dinner!" She instructed them then glared at Aisling specifically.
"And NO MAGIC."
All three held in groans of disappointment and headed into the kitchen to get started.
An hour and a half later the dishes were washed and stacked along the counters. Mrs. Weasley walked in, looked at the piles and gave the three of them a small smile.
"Good work. Now, be dears and go help Charlie and Bill outside. It's just too crowded to eat in here." She bustled off to the stove and the trio took their leave as quickly as possible. They didn't want her to think up more punishment.
They walked outside to find Bill and Charlie levitating the tables high up in the air. Ginny was already watching with amusement as they caused them to crash into one another in a sort of battle. Immediately, Fred and George began cheering them on and betting with one another who would when.
"Three sickles on Bill." Aisling said loudly enough so that Charlie could hear. The older boy turned to send her a glare which left Bill the opportunity to ram his table particularly hard.
Charlie returned his attention back to the fight, all the while cursing Aisling which caused her to laugh.
Soon, Harry and Ron joined the fun. Bill's table caught Charlie's at a certain angle and collide with a loud bang, knocking one of the legs from Charlie's table.
"Will you keep it down?" A voice screeched and Aisling looked up to see Percy's head poking out from his bedroom window.
"Will you?" Aisling retorted. "I swear that was at a decibel only dogs could hear."
The rest of the group laughed then Bill called up to him, "Sorry, Perce. How are the cauldron bottoms going?"
"Very badly." Percy snapped in return and slammed his window shut.
With that interesting display over with, Charlie and Bill returned their tables to their homes with Charlie fixing the leg of his with a flick of his wand.
"You two owe me 5 sickles." Aisling said with a grin, turning to face the twins. They both grinned and put an arm over her shoulder, each kissing a side of her temple.
"Take that as an IOU." They said in unison and Aisling glared.
"Don't think this makes me sweet on you." She warned them as they approached the tables to sit. "I better see that money."
They all sat and helped themselves to the food that was piled onto the now groaning tables. Maybe it wasn't wise to beat them up before placing this load on them, Aisling thought to herself.
She watched everyone at the table for a moment before jumping animatedly into the conversation about the World Cup with Fred, George, and Charlie.
"Ireland for the win." Aisling stated simply, looking around at the three boys and daring one of them to argue with her. Ireland was her home country and she would defend it's team with her last breath. Their chasers were to die for, not to mention they were mainly female, and honestly their keep wasn't too shabby as well.
"Yeah, but Bulgaria has Krum." Fred pointed out, being the only one brave (read: stupid) enough to argue with her.
"Pox on Krum, one good player doesn't make the tea!" She countered and Charlie nodded along with her.
"They flattened Peru in semifinals." He added. "I wish England got through, that was embarrassing, that was."
Harry suddenly joined the conversation. "What happened?" He asked curiously.
"Went down to Transylvania. Lost 390 to 10. Shocking performance." He then went on to list the other results of previous matches, but Aisling lost interest.
She took to looking out past the tables, past their light made by lanterns in the dimming sky, and out to the fields and woods surrounding the house. She fell silent, staring off and allowing herself to slip into a state of daydreaming. She saw herself running through those fields her first summer with the Weasleys. She was but 7 and Fred and George wouldn't even talk to her, so she had taken to following Percy around. That was until he made fun of her interest in 'undignified things.' Granted, he was but 9 at the time and ate mud pies in his leisure hours, but it still made her angry. So she rigged up a doorway so he'd trip and she found a pie for him to faceplant in. Amature stuff, but hey. She was 7. Fred and George took to her after that, and they had been getting closer ever since. Her joining Gryffindor and being separated from Asafia just furthered their relationship. She needed somebody and she was the only one they would let in to their little world.
Aisling was snapped back to the present by a hand giving the spot just above her knee a light squeeze. She looked over to see George looking at her curiously and smiled. "Sorry, I spaced out." She said and he returned her smiled.
"Well, glad to have you back." He replied, cupping her cheek briefly with his hand before reemerging in the conversation as Mrs. Weasley lit candles and brought out strawberry ice cream.
She saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron glancing around for a moment before leaning in close to one another. It spiked her curiosity to be honest, so of course, she listened.
"So-" She heard Ron begin in a hushed voice. "Have you heard from Sirius lately?" Wow, that was discreet. Aisling rolled her eyes but was eager for Harry's response so she listened closely once more, pretending to be paying close attention to Fred and George.
"Yeah," The raven-haired boy said quietly. "Twice. He sounds okay, I wrote to him yesterday. I might get his response while I'm here."
Aisling smiled at that. That was good. She had been wondering about Sirius. Her Aunt Venus had said he was doing well, but honestly, Venus wasn't the most reliable source of information. Aisling knew all about the fiasco that went down last year, it was all a part of being who she was and doing what she did. Granted, she wasn't supposed to let anyone know she knew, well at least not anyone that wasn't an adult involved or Asafia. The twins didn't even know about it.
She reverted her attention back to the conversation she was supposed to be in just before a yawn struck her. It was loud and obvious and both twins turned to look at her with amused smiles in place.
"Tired, Ash?" Fred asked fondly and she nodded.
All at once Mrs. Weasley shoo'd everyone off to bed while asking Harry and Aisling to leave their school lists out and she would pick their things up along with everyone else's.
"Oh, no. That's fine, Mrs. Weasley." Aisling dismissed her concern. "Aunt Fi has already bought all of my things. Her and Uncle Mars will be meeting us on the platform. They wanted to see me off this year, something about me being of age and them being concerned about something this year." She shrugged her shoulders and Mrs. Weasley nodded knowingly.
"Well, I'm sure you'll make the right choice about whatever it is they are talking about." She said, giving Aisling a hard look. Aisling simply nodded, not understanding but agreeing to whatever the fiery woman requested.
"Now, off to bed. You have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow!" She added and waved Aisling off into the house, watching her with a hint of concern as she went.
The mother wrung her apron in her hands and let it drop with a sigh. "She better not put her name in that cup." She muttered to herself.