Mrs. Weasley holds on to her tightly as they step into the Floo-network. The green flames absorb them and after a few flashes from different hearths, they appear in a large fireplace in the Weasley's kitchen. Bill looks up from his chair at the table and gives them a very charming smile. He gets up to offer Yvanna a hand while she's trying to step out of the fireplace on one leg. He guides her to the nearest chair. She thanks him and takes a moment to look around. The kitchen is stuffed with a huge table and eight chairs, none of which match. The cabinets are all made of blank wood and the stove looks like an antique. Under the counter top some rusty kettles are stored. In the sink a dish brush is scrubbing some plates all by itself. A large door leads to the overgrown garden where she first appeared. It looks more like a home to her than anything she can remember seeing before. "Would you like some tea dear?" Mrs. Weasley asks while taking a small kettle to the sink.
"Yes please," Yvanna answers.
Bill has returned to his seat across of her and folds up the newspaper. He looks at her but he doesn't seem to know what to say. She pulls up her eyebrows questioningly, causing him to start to laugh. "I'm sorry, but mum has been threatening to lock us up in the attic with the family ghoul if we mentioned anything that might make you uncomfortable. So I don't know what to talk to you about."
This earns him a warning look from his mother, but Yvanna breaks into the first genuine smile since... Well, a long time. "The family ghoul?" she asks.
"Yeah, it's been living in the attic since before I was born. It doesn't usually bother us. It just bangs on the pipes when it's too quiet."
"But Fred and George are in the house," Charlie notes, walking into the kitchen from a doorway to the side of the fireplace. "So it probably won't be quiet. Also, don't be alarmed when you hear something explode upstairs. They like to experiment with firecrackers and stuff."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Yvanna asks, while he takes a seat next to her.
He shrugs. "They haven't seriously injured themselves. And I'm starting to get good at healing burn wounds."
She looks at the scars on his arms and notes, "I can see that."
A very sheepish grin appears on his square face. "Uhu. That tends to happen when you're working with dragons."
Mrs. Weasley distributes the tea before sitting down next to Bill. Yvanna folds her hands around the warm mug and looks at the table for a moment. "I don't think I've thanked you for all your help." Looking at Charlie she adds, "And for defending me."
"Well, you kind of passed out before you could do that," he replies with one eyebrow pulled up.
"And your very welcome," Mrs. Weasley ads. "We are a bit short of space though. You're going to have to share a room with someone else. My daughter Ginny is the same age as you are, but..."
Bill chokes on the sip of tea he was just taking, while Charlie throws a surprised look at Yvanna. "But I saw you apparating. They don't teach that until your 16 at least."
"I didn't take any classes. I taught myself from a book. But I'm starting to get the feeling that's not normal, because people keep looking at me funny when I say that."
Bill lets out a snort. "Normally you learn apparition in a twelve week class with a healer at hand in case you splinch yourself."
"Right, I guess that's safer than just apparating at random. Kingsley mentioned I'm not allowed to do magic at all while I'm under age and not in the school."
"You don't have to worry about that too much here," Charlie notes. "There are no muggles around and at the moment there are four adult wizards staying here. The Ministry uses a tracing charm to detect magic near an underage witch or wizard, but they can't see who performed the spell."
"Unfortunately," Mrs. Weasley says. "Otherwise Fred and George wouldn't be able to mess up their room all the time. I've had to fix up the walls at least four times this summer and they've barely been home three weeks."
"Right, so practice spells from the schoolbooks but don't blow anything up," Yvanna sums up. "But you were trying to say something about your daughter."
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley picks up the conversation. "Ginny is the same age you are, but she's really into horses and musicians at the moment. Her room is full of moving posters. Not to mention everything is pink, so I expect you won't feel much at home in her room."
"Probably not," Yvanna answers, trying to picture a small pink room stuffed with trinkets.
"Bill and Charlie are only going to be here for two more weeks before they go back to work. If it's alright with you, you can share a room with them. It's big enough to put an extra mattress on the ground."
"Which I will be sleeping on," Charlie quickly adds. "You can sleep in my bed."
"I don't mind sleeping on a mattress. I don't want to rob you off your bed."
"I appreciate that, but you are never going to be able to get up while your leg is injured."
She can't really argue with that. After they finish their tea Bill walks out the room. A little later he returns with two of his brothers, unmistakably the twins. They look a bit like Charlie, shorter and with a stockier build, with red hair and a lot of freckles. After introducing themselves, annoyingly talking in turns, the four brothers leave the house. Mrs. Weasley installs Yvanna in the cosy living room and tries to find a book she deems suitable for a ten year old that won't be boring for her. Yvanna meanwhile studies the clock above the hearth, after noticing something is off about it. There are too many pointers. Upon closer inspection each pointer has a name and small picture on it. She recognizes the names of the Weasley family members. Instead of numbers there are situations laid out over the clock face, such as 'school', 'home' and 'mortal peril'. Luckily none of them are pointing to that last one, they are all pointing at 'work', 'Quidditch' or 'home'. She stops staring at it when Mrs. Weasley offers her a book titled 'Hogwarts: a history'.
She's all alone in a dark room with the wind howling outside. In the occasional flashes off lightening she can see shadows of bold branches on the wall, like long fingers stretching out to her. She can hear floorboards screeching as he approaches her room. She knows it's a he, but she has no idea who. The steps stop a short distance away. The door swings open slowly. All she can see is a set of red eyes that seem to light op in the dark. She shoots up to a loud crack of thunder and pounds her head into the wooden beam above her bed. The echo from the nightmare fades swiftly while she lets her head sink back onto the pillow. She tries her fingertips on the sore spot on her forehead. "Are you okay?" Charlie asks softly from the mattress on the floor.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just hit my head getting up."
"Sounded more like you were having a nightmare," Bill notes.
She turns on her side so she can look at them. She can just make out their faces in the faint early light coming in through the small window behind her. "I was, or I think it was a nightmare. It was a bit weird."
"Weird how?" Charlie asks.
"I don't know. Normally my nightmares have something to do with things I've actually seen. I didn't recognize anything in this one."
"You realize saying the words normally and nightmares together is not actually a good thing right? As in most people don't have nightmares every night."
"Yes, well… I'm sure that will get better in a while. I haven't slept this much in years, so I'm already seeing improvement."
"Despite having to share a room with two snoring adults."
She smiles at him. "Yes, imagine having a quiet room."
Bill snorts before changing the subject. "You know, Charlie's been pounding his head into that beam since he was seven."
"And nobody ever thought of moving it? Shouldn't be too hard considering the entire house is held together with spells."
The men look at each other and start to laugh. "I don't think so," Bill answers while checking his pocket watch in the light he conjures with his wand. "I just figured I'd learn a spell to heal the bump on Charlie's head."
"Off course, the first time he tried that it ended in a trip to St. Mungo's," Charlie says. "Mom was furious. Second time was better. She made him practice on fruits until he got it right."
"Never really developed any talent for healing spells though." He starts to get out of bed. "I have to get up for work in thirty minutes. You want come down?"
"Yes, might as well. I don't think I'm going to fall asleep again."
"You still nervous about meeting Dumbledore?" Charlie asks.
"Yes, off course I am," Yvanna answers while swinging her legs over the side. The wound has finally healed enough for her to move around herself. "He actually knew my father in person, before he turned into Voldemort. I reckon he will be looking for his character traits in me."
She ignores the reprimanding looks from the brothers after saying his name out loud and takes two steps towards the door. Her foot gets tangled in a piece of Charlie's blanket which is hanging of the mattress and she loses her balance. She falls forward on top of him, her face at the height of his chest. She actually giggles while she's trying to apologize. She can't remember ever doing that before. "That's okay," Charlie answers, gently pushing a strand wavy long hair behind her ear. "But if you're going to sleep here I think I'll move to the bed. Mom will kill me if she finds us sharing a sleeping space."
His gentle touch makes her stop getting up half way the movement and she stares into his eyes for a moment. At his last remark all three of them start to laugh. Bill offers her a hand and pulls her to her feet. Once they're in the kitchen Yvanna starts to make tea and toast for breakfast. Mrs. Weasley hasn't made any objections against her helping with the cooking and cleaning. She called it a nice change after raising 6 boys and having a daughter who is still a bit too young to show interest in housekeeping. "What are you going to do at Gringott's anyway?" Charlie asks his brother. "I reckon there are not a lot of curses to break in Britain."
"You'd be surprised what people store in their vaults sometimes," Bill answers. "Even dark wizards have vaults. Sometimes the goblins refuse to clear them out before a curse breaker has gone through them."
"I can get into that. But that doesn't answer the initial question."
"I'm just going to check if I can find any vaults for the Riddle or Zacharov family."
"If it's in the Riddle name it's definitely going to need a curse breaker," Yvanna says while providing them with breakfast.
Bill flashes her a smile before saying, "I reckon the Ministry already checked for a Riddle vault. They would've confiscated anything that was in there."
Their conversation is interrupted by a loud bang originating from the second floor. Shortly after that they can hear Mrs. Weasley shouting at Fred and George that they are not allowed to conduct their experiments on such an ungodly hour. Yvanna has gotten to know this as a typical morning in the Weasley household during the twelve days she has spent with them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any registered trademarks from the Harry Potter franchise.