Queen of the Night: Years 4-5

by awalkerlifeforme

Tara Nox has had an interesting childhood. Lately things have taken a darker turn. From eerie presents and notes from a mystery sender to dreams of Voldemort's return, Tara knows something big is coming. When a competition between the three elite wizarding schools takes a strange turn, Tara finds herself, her best friends, and her boyfriend getting sucked into a dangerous scheme.

4. Back to the Burrow

Much of the following morning ended up being spent packing up my things. I was as useless with packing as I had always been, waiting until the last moment to run around and shove all of the things back in my suitcases. My parents were planning on Apparating them over to the Burrow in the morning so that I didn't have to worry about bringing them with me today. Harry would already have all of his things. If I brought all of my things with us, we would start running out of room. Plus, I had a lot more things than Harry did.

As much as I would soon wish that I wasn't in school with all of the studying that I had to do, I was thrilled to be getting to go to the Weasley's for a few weeks. I missed them all. And I really missed getting to work with the twins on their eventual joke shop, which had apparently gotten along pretty well since I had last seen them. I did love my parents, but I really didn't want to have to hang out with them for the next two weeks. Especially with the whole Cedric debacle. It was going to be good to hang out with the rest of my friends and harass the twins again.

Their business plan was some of the first things that I had ended up packing away. I wanted to make sure that I didn't lose anything. I constantly kept copies of everything that they did in the instance that their mother found their things and tossed them in the trash, which we knew she would do if she found anything. I was about halfway through packing all of my things when the Muggle cell phone began to ring. I dropped in my last few books and walked over to my bedside table, picking it up. There was only one person that it could be.

"Freddie? What's up?" I answered.

"Tara!" Fred's voice called.

"Wonderful to hear your voice!" George's near-identical voice called through the phone. "Since Fred's been hogging you all summer."

I could practically see the scowl on his face. "Have not!" Fred yelled at his twin.

"Georgie!" I chirped happily. I did talk to Fred slightly more than I talked to George, but I loved them both dearly. "Can't wait to see you boys, as much as I'm sure what I'll regret saying that."

"Now, now, Tara," Fred said.

"Have a little faith," George teased.

The only thing that I had faith in was that Fred and George were sure to do something to me while I was sleeping, just the way that they always did. "Are you two coming to get Harry and me?" I asked the twins.

"Yep. We're coming with Dad and Ron," Fred said.

"Awesome!" I chirped.

It would be wonderful to see the two of them get to meet the Dursley's, seeing as they'd heard so much about them from Harry and I. "You'll get to finally meet Bill and Charlie, too," George added.

"Are they at the Burrow?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. Got in a few days ago," Fred explained.

"Cool," I said. I'd always wanted to meet the other two Weasley brothers. "Hey, I meant to ask you two. How are you getting here?"

"Don't know," Fred said.

"Dad said he arranged something," George added.

"That ought to be good," I snorted.

Seeing what Mr. Weasley thought would be a good idea to arrive at a Muggles' house (who notoriously hated wizards) would be absolutely fascinating. "We meant to ask you, Tara. Is Harry's cousin still on that diet?" Fred asked.

Dudley would likely stay on that diet until the end of his life. "Yeah. Barely getting more than one grapefruit a day but it's not doing much good. Doesn't look like he's lost anything more than his spirit," I snorted. It had been miserable for him since the end of the year. I knew that he couldn't wait for school to start up again so he could get dessert in their cafeteria. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing to worry yourself with," George said.

His voice held a teasing note to it. What the hell were the two of them planning? "That sounds ominous," I commented.

"Tara!" Mom's voice came from downstairs. "Who are you talking to?"

"Shit," I muttered.

"Language, Tara," Fred teased.

"Shut up," I snapped, moving towards my dresser. "They're not supposed to know that I have this phone. They'll get all paranoid that I'm talking to Cedric."

There was some chattering coming from their end of the phone. "What do you -?"

"More on that later," I interrupted Fred. "See you later, boys!"

"Bye, Tara," the twins chirped.

Barely waiting for the twins to finish saying goodbye, I snapped the cell phone shut and flung it back into my dresser. I wouldn't need it until next summer anyway. As I slammed my dresser drawer shut, I darted over and flung myself back on top of all of my things. My parents didn't know about the phone and I was sure that they would take it if they realized that I had one. Even though I used it only to talk to the twins, they would probably get the idea that I was talking to Cedric. As I began moving my books around, my bedroom door swung open.

"Were you talking to someone?" Mom asked curiously.

"Myself. Sorry," I lied.

To my surprise, she didn't push it. She merely smiled and strode further into the room. "You know, they say the first sign of going insane is talking to yourself," she teased, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Oh, I think we're long past that point," I joked.

We both laughed softly. I was being honest. We really were long past the point of me being somewhat sane. I had lost that after my First Year at Hogwarts. I smiled at my mother as we both sat back on the bed. I could feel the slightly awkward air in the room. We both loved each other but things were tense after the massive fight that we had gotten into over Cedric. She glanced over all of my packed things before her eyes landed on my pictures on my bedside table. The few that I hadn't packed yet, anyways.

Her eyes fell on the picture of Cedric and me in front of the Leaky Cauldron. To my surprise, a small smile fell over her face. "That's a nice picture," she said.

"I'm not getting rid of it," I responded.

It was one of my favorite pictures. "I'm not asking you to," Mom said. The two of us stared at each other as she let out a little breath. "I know you care for him, darling. He's a handsome boy. If I were in your place, I would have had a crush on him too."

For a long time, I didn't know how to respond. All I wanted to tell her was that it was obvious that I had a crush on Cedric. Everyone had a crush on him. All of the girls thought that he was adorable and the boys all thought that he was wonderful. Most of the people in Hogwarts liked him, at least. I had just been the one lucky enough to earn his affections. Something that I hadn't thought was possible for a long time. Something that I refused to let either one of my parents take from me.

"It's not just me," I finally said, settling on how I wanted to go about the conversation. "Most of the girls in Hogwarts have a crush on him."

"Must be nice to be the one who earned his affections," Mom commented, echoing what I had just thought.

Blushing slightly, I nodded. "Yeah. It was. Especially since I used to get called out by Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, and Cho Chang for my crush on him. They would always say that he didn't care about me; he was just too nice to let me down easily," I said. Mom frowned. She knew how much Malfoy and I fought. "It was nice to get to throw him back in their faces."

"Just for that?" Mom asked curiously.

"No," I snapped quickly. "I really like him."

And it was the truth. I adored Cedric. "I can see that," Mom said, smiling fondly. "You're a good liar, Tara. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Yeah."

Lying was one of my many talents. "Guess what? Back in her day, your mother was a good liar too. I kept a lot of secrets from my parents because I thought that I was protecting them. I realized as I got older that I wasn't protecting them. I was protecting myself," Mom said pointedly. I arched a brow, unsure where this was going. "I like Cedric very much. I think he's a good influence on you."

Was she really telling me that she liked and approved of Cedric? I knew that she didn't. She only liked Cedric when the two of us had been friends. The moment that she realized that we had actually gotten romantically tangled, she had ended up hating him. But now it seemed that she had changed gears again. She was telling me that she liked him and that she thought that he was a good influence on me. She hadn't really thought that when she had caught the two of us locking lips in Diagon Alley the other day.

"You didn't think that yesterday," I commented softly.

"No," she agreed. "But I had time to think and calm down."

Did that mean what I thought that it meant? I wasn't sure so I decided to go with it. "So... you're okay with it?" I asked carefully.

Did I at least get one of their permission? That would help a little bit. "Not necessarily okay with it. But I stayed up very late last night thinking about everything," Mom explained. I nodded at her. "Your father will never budge on his position. He'll feel better when the year is up. You'll have owned up to your end of the promise and he'll have nothing to come back to you with."

"In the meantime?" I asked carefully.

A grin fell over her face. "Try and be a little sneakier."

The two of us stared at each other before we began laughing hysterically. I knew that there was a reason the two of us got along so well. It was because we were essentially the same person. She had lied to her parents about her first relationship just the same way that I had. She understood exactly where it was that I was coming from. She might not have liked it, but she did understand it. The two of us moved forward as I wrapped her in a hug. We might have argued a lot but she was always there for me when it counted.

"Thanks, Mom," I said happily.

She smiled down lovingly at me. "You're welcome. I'll see if I can try and get him to budge," Mom promised. I grinned softly. "If not, it's only two weeks."

"Yeah, I know."

That was one parent down that was okay with my relationship with Cedric. Now it was Dad's turn. Although I knew that it would be much harder to get him to budge on the whole relationship. He would always be paranoid about what was happening with the two of us. He would never want the two of us to be alone in a room together. But that was too bad. I was getting older and ready to date. Plus there was the simple fact that he couldn't look after me while I was at Hogwarts. He was just going to have to trust me.

We sat in silence for a little while before Mom spoke again. "You know, part of why I was so upset was because I wanted to know that my daughter felt like she could talk to me about boyfriend problems. I want you to be able to talk to me," Mom said quietly.

My heart sank. I loved my mother and wanted to be able to talk to her about boyfriend problems. "I wanted to be able to talk to you about it," I said.

"You can," Mom promised, giving me her hand.

The two of us sat together as I smiled at her. At least now I could talk to her about what was happening with Cedric. "I was telling the truth, you know. We've never... done that," I said awkwardly.

"I know. So does your father," Mom said. At least someone knew that we weren't to that point. "If it ever gets to that point, you're more than welcome to talk to me about it."

"We're not there yet," I promised.

"Keep it that way, please. You're far too young for that," Mom said.

"On that much, we agree," I muttered.

As much as I really cared for Cedric and really enjoyed our time together, there was no way that I was ready for that. I did enjoy the nights that we spent together - which I knew sounded terrible - but those were mostly innocent. The two of us enjoyed our time together. Laying in the Astronomy Tower or hanging out in the Prefect bathroom on the fifth floor. I thought about mentioning something to Mom about those nights but ultimately decided against it. Perhaps that was a conversation for a little later on down the road.

Eventually, Mom's gaze shifted toward my desk chair. Her eyes locked onto the Hufflepuff scarf sitting there and I blushed as she grinned. "Since when were you Sorted into Hufflepuff?" she asked playfully.

"He gave it to me. Come to think of it, I actually have a lot of his things. Coats and sweaters and scarves. Mostly because I'm always cold," I laughed, glad that I had packed all of his things.

It was really time to give him his clothes back. "A gentleman. I like it," Mom said. We both smiled as I nodded. He really was a gentleman. "How do your friends feel about him?"

Snorting under my breath, I shook my head. "They don't love it. They think that he's too old and basically the same things that you were thinking. They just don't like him because he's handsome and popular and smart. Honestly, Harry and Ron are worse about it than you two are. They always roll their eyes and walk away. Hermione's the one person who thinks it's cute," I said happily. At least someone didn't mind my relationship. "The twins gave him the nickname 'Pretty-Boy Diggory' to show their distaste."

But that nickname was made before I showed up at Hogwarts. "Fred doesn't like him, then?" Mom asked curiously.

"No. But he never has," I explained. Was there a particular reason that she had only mentioned Fred? "Why?"

"Just curious," Mom said quickly. "He's been a good friend to you."

A small grin appeared on my face. I would always love the twins. They were some of my favorite people. "Yeah. Fred's the best. George, too," I added as a last minute thought. "They're kind of a package deal."

"Hmm... probably not with everything," Mom pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter," Mom said quickly. "Do you want help packing?"

"Sure. Where's Dad?"

"Out at the World Cup sight. He'll be back to see you off before you head to the Dursley's."

"Okay."

That was fine by me. I was glad to not have Dad around right now. At least with Mom here, I could tell her all about Cedric. She walked over and started helping me pack up the final few things that were still laying around the room as I told her all about my budding relationship with Cedric. I started back with the first few flirtations that we had had over the past few years, particularly those in my Second Year, to telling her about that first date in Hogsmeade and ultimately how my feelings for him had escalated from that little crush I'd formed in Madam Malkin's.

She had seemed absolutely fascinated about the entire relationship. She had clearly enjoyed the stories of the early stages of our relationship. All of those little flirtations that we had shared and the many times that I hadn't known what they meant. She obviously liked those moments when we had kept our relationship a secret from everyone. She liked the stories about the kisses that we had shared when no one else was watching. She had gotten a good laugh out of the fact that our relationship had come out when I had excitedly kissed him after winning the Quidditch Cup.

My mother even spent some time telling me about her own escapades during her days in Hogwarts. Apparently, she had been quite the little rebel. Unlike me, she rarely got caught when she had gone out breaking the rules. Just like with my own time at Hogwarts, she apparently really liked sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet up with boyfriends - my own father, at least. Which was kind of gross but kind of funny at the same time. Turned out that they also had a fondness for the Astronomy Tower. We had both laughed long and hard over that one.

We both seemed to have such a wonderful time talking together. It was the first time in a long time that I felt like I didn't have to hide anything from her. We just got to chat back and forth about the things that I had always wanted to talk to her about. Everything with Cedric. The things that confused me about him and the things that I was thrilled with about our relationship. Just before noon, after we had finished packing, I was slightly surprised to see Rusty float in through my window. I smiled as the owl landed on my lap.

"Whose owl is that?" Mom asked curiously.

"Cedric's," I answered.

The grin turned up on her mouth. She clearly thought that the whole relationship was adorable. "Ah," she said, standing from the edge of the bed. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Okay." She was halfway towards the door when I called her back. "Mom? Thanks, seriously."

She smiled. "You're welcome, Tara."

Once she was gone, I turned to Rusty. "Thank you, Rusty."

The owl hooted at me for a few moments. I had always liked Rusty. He seemed so happy for an owl. I pulled Rusty over towards Dai's cage and let him hop inside. Rusty was one of the few owls that Dai tolerated - Hedwig and Hale being the other two. I grabbed the letter from Rusty and slit it open. I perched myself on the edge of the chair at my desk and unfolded it. Cedric's letters were traditionally very long and detailed. To my surprise, this one was only a few lines long. I began reading over it with a smile.

Tara,

I really do hope that this reaches you and not your parents. Especially not while you're around them. I just wanted to tell you that Dad and I are getting ready to head to the Quidditch World Cup tomorrow. You're still being allowed to go, aren't you?

In the event that I don't get to talk to you before we actually get settled, there's a water spigot not far from where the tents are. If you can, meet me there at midnight.

You bad influence.

Cedric.

Needless to say, a broad grin appeared on my face. I was thrilled to see that Cedric had written me a letter. Honestly, I hadn't been expecting him to speak to me until we returned to Hogwarts - or if I was lucky and ran into him at the Quidditch World Cup. He was taking a massive risk even writing me the letter. If Mom hadn't forgiven me for the lie, she would have taken the letter and probably burned it. If Dad had seen it, he would have lost his mind. I would have to make sure that the letter was locked away somewhere that he couldn't potentially find it.

It had been two days since I had last spoken to Cedric. It might have seemed a little silly, but after being with him almost constantly over the summer, I really missed speaking to him. So I read over the letter two or three times. His last comment was the one that kept making me smile. When it came down to it, I supposed that I really was a bad influence on him. I was probably a bad influence on everyone. And that was part of what made our relationship as fun as it was. I pulled out a blank piece of parchment and wrote my response quickly.

Cedric,

No worries. Dad's at the World Cup already. The Weasley's are coming to get Harry and me in a few hours and we'll head to the Cup in the morning. My parents will be there but I can manage to slip away for a little while. I'll be there at midnight. We've got a lot to talk about, anyway.

You're right, I am a bad influence. But that's what makes me fun, right?

See you tomorrow,
Tara.

A midnight rendezvous with Cedric. Those were my favorite kinds of rendezvous. At least, when it came to meeting up with him. Hopefully, I would be able to sneak out of the tent to meet up with him. The good thing was that I was staying with the Weasley's at night. My parents wouldn't even be around there. As long as the twins didn't overhear me leaving in the middle of the night, I would be just fine. Even if they did run into me on the way out, I could either lie to them and say I was just thirsty or bribe them into leaving me alone.

Perhaps I would be able to get away with this. I folded the letter with my answer up and handed it back to Rusty. I had to send him off before Dad came back. He knew Rusty. It would just make things terrible all over again. As Rusty fluttered off through the window, I found myself tingling with excitement at the thought of seeing Cedric alone again. It was something I was so looking forward to. There was a part of me that loved the thrill of sneaking around with him and potentially getting caught. I supposed that it was the Gryffindor in me.

In the next five minutes, I had packed up the final things in my room and was ready to leave. I tossed Cedric's Hufflepuff scarf on the top of my trunk before closing it and moving it into the corner of my room. There was a broad smile on my face and it was for multiple things. Heading to the Burrow, the eventual Quidditch World Cup, and meeting up with Cedric tomorrow night. I couldn't wait for any of it. After feeling like a complete moron for the past two days, I was thrilled for things to start looking up again.

"Tara!" Mom's voice floated from downstairs.

"Yeah?" I called back.

"Got all your things packed?" Mom asked.

"Got them! They're sitting in the corner of my room!" I shouted down to her.

"Wonderful," Mom chirped.

Grabbing the last few things that I needed for the day, I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and pulled on some sneakers. There wasn't much that I needed from the house for the night. Plus I knew that we would be waking up early in the morning. All I was planning on doing was changing into my new clothes and trying not to fall onto my ass as we headed out to the World Cup. Pulling my backpack into my hands, I turned on my heel and left the room, heading towards the stairs and bounding down them. Mom and Dad were waiting for me downstairs.

"We'll make sure to grab everything when we head to the Burrow in the morning," Mom said as I walked into the living room.

"Okay," I said.

"Going to Harry's?" Dad asked, eyeing my bag.

Mom and I exchanged a look and smiled at each other. I trusted her to talk to him. "Yeah. We're going to wait there for the Weasley's to come. It should be fun," I said somewhat blankly. "How's the Cup coming along?"

"It's coming. Starting to look like we might actually be able to put everything together in time. You'll love it, you know," Dad said kindly.

"Oh, I'm sure I will," I said.

"We'll all have a good time," Mom put in.

Things would be awkward between us for a while, but we would manage. "Yeah," I muttered.

"Have fun with the Weasley's, darling," Mom said, dismissing me from their presence.

"Oh, I'm sure that I will. I'll tell everyone that you two said hello," I called back.

"Thanks. We'll be at the Burrow by the time that you're ready to leave in the morning," Mom told me.

"Awesome. See you tomorrow, guys," I chirped.

"See you tomorrow, love," Mom said.

"Bye, kiddo. Behave yourself," Dad warned.

Of course... He must have still been convinced that I was going to try and find Cedric and spend some time with him. Which ultimately wasn't a lie. I grabbed my overnight things in a bag sitting against the door and threw it on over my shoulders, darting from the house, a broad grin spread over my face. I was so excited about the World Cup. I made my way across my own lawn and into the Dursley's, knowing that they would hate me stepping on their perfectly-manicured grass. I walked up to their door and knocked. Vermin growled when he opened it and realized that it was me.

"He's upstairs," Vermin said.

His own pleasant way of greeting me. "Figured," I deadpanned.

"I expect complete silence!" Vermin warned.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll be quiet," I growled.

He was really the biggest pain in the ass. We had no intention of being loud and annoying. We were just trying to keep ourselves out of trouble until we got the Burrow. So, I walked through the house, spotting Horse-Face and Dudley. While Horse-Face appeared to be cleaning every nook and cranny (probably to impress the Weasley's), Dudley seemed to be terrified. I rolled my eyes at the Dursley's fear of the Weasley's and headed upstairs and into Harry's room. At least we would be able to laugh at their fear together.

As I walked into his room, Harry perked up. He appeared to be in the midst of packing. "Hi," I chirped.

"Hey!" Harry grinned, jumping to his feet and meeting me in a hug. "You're here already?"

"Sure am! I was getting bored sitting at home," I said honestly.

"Are your parents at home?" Harry asked curiously.

"Mom's still at home but she's heading out to the World Cup with Dad soon. Dad's already been there; I think he got there pretty early this morning. He came back long enough to say goodbye and warn me to be careful. I guess they're both going to be heading out soon. They'll meet up with us on the way tomorrow," I explained.

"You ready for that?" Harry asked curiously.

To try and dodge my parents while meeting up with Cedric? Just another day in my life. "Yeah. I'll be ready to potentially slip away," I joked.

Harry's eyebrow raised. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm well aware that it's not a good idea," I said honestly. If I managed to get caught on my midnight rendezvous, I'd really be in for it. "Let's move on to something else, shall we?" Harry rolled his eyes. "What time did you start packing?"

It looked like he'd barely started. "A few hours ago," Harry answered vaguely.

We both knew that it meant he had just barely started. "Want some help?" I offered.

"I'd love it," Harry said happily.

There was no doubt in my mind that this was the happiest part of Harry's summer vacation. Getting to pack up and get ready to start Hogwarts again. It was also one of my favorite times of the year. I couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts for another year of mayhem and mischief. Even though Harry and I couldn't use magic, we made a game out of packing. Throwing things across the room and into the trunks. It made for good Quidditch practice since we couldn't really use our brooms in the middle of the almost entirely Muggle community.

Within a few minutes, we were having an excellent time. It was needless to say that we were much happier here than the Dursley's were downstairs. They were biting their fingernails in distress at having an entire, and quite large, magical family in their living room. We were both thrilled to be getting to go to the Quidditch World Cup - which meant getting away from our families a few weeks early. Harry had always enjoyed getting away from the Dursley's. While I usually liked my parents, I was sick of their overbearing attitudes. Mostly Dad's, with the entire Cedric debacle.

By twelve o'clock that afternoon, Harry's school trunk was packed with his school things and all his most prized possessions - the Invisibility Cloak he had inherited from his father, the broomstick he had gotten from Sirius, and the enchanted map of Hogwarts he had been given by Fred and George Weasley last year. The Marauder's Map - which Dad would freak out about if he knew that we had it. He likely still thought that Filch had it in his office and was still fighting to learn how it worked. We had been forced to jam everything into his trunk since he seemed to be acquiring more things with each year.

The two of us had emptied his hiding place under the loose floorboard of all food, double checked every nook and cranny of his bedroom for forgotten spell books or quills, and taken down the chart on the wall counting down the days to September the first, on which he liked to cross off the days remaining until his return to Hogwarts. We spent some time eating the remaining food since it would spoil by the time that we were ready to return to Hogwarts. At least, when we got to the Burrow, Harry wouldn't have to worry about only getting a grapefruit for breakfast.

Since I did have some things with me for the overnight stay in the Burrow, Harry had been nice enough to allow me to keep some of my things with his own trunk. Once we were completely packed - and had checked three times to see if we'd missed anything - we debated on heading downstairs. But things were too awkward and we ultimately decided to stay upstairs. Neither one of us really wanted to be around the Dursley's for the next few hours with their scowls and nervous ticks. I just wanted to see the looks on their faces when they saw how the Floo network functioned.

Even being hidden away upstairs, I could still tell that the atmosphere inside number four, Privet Drive was extremely tense. Perhaps it was because I could hear the muttering of the Dursley family downstairs. The imminent arrival at their house of an assortment of wizards was making the Dursley's uptight and irritable. Last night had been one of the most amusing times of my life since I always liked seeing Vermin flustered. Harry's uncle had looked downright alarmed when Harry informed him that the Weasley's would be arriving at five o'clock the very next day.

"I hope you told them to dress properly, these people. I've seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They'd better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that's all," Vermin had snarled at once.

The two of us had exchanged a look with each other and I knew that Harry had felt a slight sense of foreboding. Neither one of us had ever seen Mr. or Mrs. Weasley wearing anything that the Dursley's would call 'normal.' Their children might don Muggle clothing during the holidays, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley usually wore long robes in varying states of shabbiness. Of course, we weren't bothered about what the neighbors would think, but we were both anxious about how rude the Dursley's might be to the Weasley's if they turned up looking like their worst idea of wizards.

"Do you think that they'll wear Muggle clothes?" Harry asked, obviously thinking the same thing that I was.

"Probably not. I don't think that Mr. or Mrs. Weasley own Muggle clothes," I answered.

Even from the first time that I had met the Weasley's, I had never really seen them wear Muggle clothes. The kids tended to wear Muggle clothes at almost all times. But Mr. and Mrs. Weasley normally had on some type of reddish robe. There was no doubt in my mind that the Dursley's would be infuriated with what the Weasley's were wearing. Perhaps Fred and George would wear normal clothes, but they weren't really the ones that the Dursley's would be focused on. I couldn't help but wonder if Horse-Face had ever met the Weasley's. After all, her sister had been their friend.

"They'll lose it," Harry finally said.

"Yeah, probably."

"Might be kind of funny."

The edges of my lips turned up in a smile. It would definitely be my entertainment for the day. "It's going to be hilarious. Should we go downstairs and see what's going on?" I offered.

Not that I wanted to go downstairs, but I was mildly curious. "Yeah. Let's check it out."

Harry and I closed up all of his things before turning and heading downstairs. The entire Dursley family were sitting in stone cold silence. They already looked somewhere between petrified and fascinated. Vermin had put on his best suit. To some people, this might have looked like a gesture of welcome, but Harry and I both knew it was because Vermin wanted to look impressive and intimidating. Not that Mr. Weasley would care. Honestly, he would probably think the way that Vermin was dressed was rather strange. It made me smile.

Dudley, on the other hand, looked somehow diminished. This was not because the diet was at last taking effect, but due to fright. Dudley had emerged from his last encounter with a fully-grown wizard with a curly pig's tail poking out of the seat of his trousers, and Horse-Face and Vermin had apparently had to pay for its removal at a private hospital in London. Another thing I would have to thank Hagrid for. It wasn't altogether surprising, therefore, that Dudley kept running his hand nervously over his backside, and walking sideways from room to room, so as not to present the same target to the enemy.

Much to their dismay, the Dursley's ended up inviting me to stay for lunch. Not that I really wanted any. But I didn't want any trouble yet so I stayed and ate. Lunch was an almost silent meal. Harry and I sat right next to each other but didn't dare speak and shatter the tense silence. Dudley didn't even protest at the food (cottage cheese and grated celery). Horse-Face wasn't eating anything at all. Her arms were folded, her lips were pursed, and she seemed to be chewing her tongue, as though biting back the furious diatribe she longed to throw at Harry. Perhaps this all brought back terrible memories of her sister.

"They'll be driving, of course?" Vermin barked suddenly across the table.

"Er," Harry answered dumbly.

Knowing that I should have said something, I decided to let Harry fend for himself. It might be rather funny to let them think that the Weasley's were going to come in a car. Obviously, Harry hadn't thought of that. How would the Weasley's pick the two of us up, if not by Floo? It wasn't like they understood the Underground. They didn't have a car anymore; the old Ford Anglia they had once owned was currently running wild in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. But Mr. Weasley had borrowed a Ministry of Magic car last year; possibly he would do the same today to avoid frightening the Dursley's?

Wouldn't that have been disappointing? "I think so," Harry said.

Vermin snorted into his mustache. I clenched my fists slightly. The Weasley's might have been a poor family, but they were absolutely wonderful and were better than the Dursley's in every single way. I could see Harry tensing up the same way that I was. Normally, Vermin would have asked what car Mr. Weasley drove; he tended to judge other men by how big and expensive their cars were. I had a feeling that one day Dad might buy a BMW just to prove to Vermin that he could. Either way, I doubted whether Vermin would have taken to Mr. Weasley even if he drove a Ferrari.

Deciding that I might as well talk about magic while we were allowed, I said, "They might Apparate."

A small grin appeared on Harry's face. Horse-Face paled nervously. Dudley shifted in his seat. Vermin whipped towards me with a venomous stare. "What's that rubbish?" Vermin snapped.

"Appearing in a place," I explained.

Vermin's face fell. "They most certainly will not be doing that!"

"They could also be taking the Floo network," I offered again.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Vermin asked.

"Traveling by -"

"Enough!" Horse-Face shrieked, speaking for the first time that afternoon.

She must have remembered all of the things that Lily had told her or her parents when they had been kids. This must have brought back some genuinely terrible memories for her. Not that I cared. This was payback for all of the years that she had spent terrorizing Harry, her own nephew. The rest of lunch was eaten in complete silence, Harry and I sending each other little glances every now and again. Once it was over, we all took our seats scattered around the living room but the tense air didn't lift. If anything, it only got worse the closer that we got to five o'clock.

Harry and I ended up spending most of the afternoon in his bedroom; neither one of us could stand watching Horse-Face peer out through the net curtains every few seconds, as though there had been a warning about an escaped rhinoceros. I ended up running back to my house to grab the cell phone that I had left in the drawer. No one was home. They must have already gone to the Cup. By the time that I got back to Harry's bedroom, the two of us stared down at the phone, desperate to call Fred and George. I wanted to at least be able to talk to them until they came.

Sitting here was making me far too antsy. Passing the time was next to impossible. We couldn't play Exploding Snap without breaking the law on underage wizardry. Plus the Dursley's would hear and lose it. Reading was boring and we didn't even have the new spellbooks to study with yet. We were both fully packed. There was nothing to do other than sit together on his bed and talk, hoping to keep ourselves distracted and from watching the clock. It was harder than it had ever been. Especially as the clock seemed to slow the closer to five o'clock we got.

"I wonder if this is the first time that she's been around magical people since your mother..." I said awkwardly, trailing off at the end.

Lily would always be a sensitive topic. "It probably is," Harry said somewhat carelessly. "She must hate them."

"Either that or she's just nervous around them. Do you ever wonder if she got along with Lily?" I asked suddenly. Harry arched a brow. "Before finding out that she was a witch?"

Harry thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Doubt it. She's never even talked about my mother."

"I mean... they were still sisters. Wasn't she even slightly upset at the fact that she died because she was murdered in cold blood?" I asked curiously.

"If it's ever bothered her, she certainly didn't show it."

That was when I noticed the emotionless tone to his voice. "Sorry for bringing it up," I muttered awkwardly.

"It's okay." The two of us sat in silence for a while before Harry said, "Want to tell me about the two teams that are going to be at the World Cup?"

"Sure!" I chirped.

If there was one thing to keep me from getting too invested in watching the clock, it would be talking about the World Cup. It was easy to see just how excited Harry was. Having only seen school games prior to this, I knew that he would be astounded. We had some really good players on the school team - the two of us being some of them - but even we were nothing compared to all of the professional players who would be at the Cup. Although I would never admit out loud that we weren't even halfway o the point that they were. I was too proud for that.

Instead, I spent a long time telling Harry about the two teams we would be watching. I told him all about how Bulgaria almost always wore scarlet robes and how, this time, they would no longer be riding Cleansweep Eleven's, which they had been riding for as long as I could remember. Instead, they would now be on Firebolts, just like Harry and I played on. I had mentioned that I was looking forward to Ireland's play. They were always a lot more fun to watch. They played dirty and tended to get pretty big heads whenever they won - a habit that I had, too.

The more that I told him about the World Cup, the more excited that he seemed to be getting. He even asked me about the last World Cup that I had been to. In fact, I had only been to one before. I had gone with Mom as Dad had played, just a few years before I'd met Harry officially. I giggled as I recounted Dad's gameplay - aggressive but winning. It was exactly where I had gotten my own attitude from the game. The Stars had blown Japan's team out of the water. Ever since there had been a nasty rivalry between the two. Harry promised to never root for Japan.

Finally, the time was nearly there. "Ready to go downstairs?" Harry offered.

"Yes," I said.

"Are your parents already gone?"

"They weren't there when I ran back to grab the phone, so I think so. Mom's at the Ministry and Dad should be at the World Cup already," I explained. "Too bad because it would have been kind of funny to have them all together around the Weasley's."

Harry snorted in amusement as I grinned at him. It really would have been funny to see the Dursley's completely outnumbered by magical beings in their own living room. Perhaps something for another day. In the meantime, we just needed to get the Weasley's here and get out before things could get any more awkward. When we could no longer wait impatiently in Harry's bedroom, finally, at a quarter to five, the two of us went back downstairs and into the living room. Within seconds I wished that we were back upstairs.

Horse-Face was compulsively straightening cushions. Not that she really wanted the house to look spotless. I doubted that she really cared. Either Vermin was making her do it or she was looking for something to do with her hands - other than strangling Harry and me for inviting wizards into their home. On the other hand, Vermin was pretending to read the paper, but his tiny eyes were not moving, and I was sure he was really listening with all his might for the sound of an approaching car. He might as well have been sitting by the window and watching for their arrival.

The most amusing of all was Dudley. Despite his good advice to me yesterday, it still didn't make up all of the awful things that he had done to Harry over the years. Hence why his terror brought a slight grin to my face. Dudley was crammed into an armchair, his porky hands beneath him, clamped firmly around his bottom. If only Hagrid was coming with the Weasley's... Harry and I ultimately couldn't take the tension; the two of us left the room and went and sat on the stairs in the hall, our eyes on his watch and our hearts pumping fast from excitement and nerves.

My Muggle cell phone was clasped tightly in my hands. Maybe Fred and George would give me a call before they actually arrived to give us a fair warning. But it remained as silent as ever. My eyes remained firmly locked on Harry's watch as I saw the seconds tick by. Much to my horror, five o'clock came and then went. Vermin, perspiring slightly in his suit, opened the front door, peered up and down the street, then withdrew his head quickly. I rolled my eyes. It was five o'clock on the date. They could give them a few minutes to get here. They didn't know this part of Surrey, anyways.

"They're late!" Vermin snarled at us.

"I know. Maybe - er - the traffic's bad, or something," Harry said.

"There's a lot of kids in the family. Something might have popped up," I put in helpfully.

Chances were that someone had likely forgotten something or didn't realize what time it was. Vermin snorted ungracefully. "Too many kids, if you ask me," he said.

"We weren't," I growled fiercely.

I absolutely despised hearing anyone badmouth the Weasley's. "Do you know where they are?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Nope. But knowing the Weasley's, something popped up. You know how many kids there are in that family. They're probably taking forever to get ready. You know how long it took us to get to King's Cross in Second Year," I said, placing a hand over Harry's arm comfortingly.

"Yeah..." Harry mumbled.

"They didn't forget about us, Harry. I just talked to Fred and George this morning."

"What'd they say?"

"That we'd see them later."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "It'd be worse if you weren't here," he said.

It wasn't hard to imagine how panicked Harry would be if he were stuck here alone. "Oh, I know how sad you'd be without me," I teased. Harry laughed as I pulled the cell phone out of my pocket. "Let me see if they answer."

If there was one way to make either one of us feel the slightest bit better, it was to call the twins and make sure that they really were on their way. Maybe they ended up doing something other than the Floo network. Perhaps they had ended up driving and were having a hard time finding the house. I walked a few steps away from Harry and pulled up the twins' number, dialing it instantly. It rang a few times before going straight to voicemail. I furrowed my brow as I tucked the phone back in my pocket. The twins never ignored or missed one of my calls. Was something wrong?

Harry perked up as I walked back. "Anything?"

"No answer," I said. Harry's face paled. "Don't panic, I'm sure the twins are blowing something up."

We both laughed at the very true statement. The twins were always blowing something up - even Hogwarts toilets. But that happy air didn't last for very long. Ten past five... then a quarter past five... The later it got, the more nervous I got. Mom and Dad could still take us, just in case, but I hated hearing the Dursley's muttering about us. Exchanging a glance with Harry, I could tell that he, too, was starting to feel anxious now. I had been expecting a few minutes' delays. Not this much. At half past, we heard Vermin and Horse-Face conversing in terse mutters in the living room.

"No consideration at all."

"We might've had an engagement."

"Maybe they think they'll get invited to dinner if they're late."

"Well, they most certainly won't be," Vermin, and I heard him stand up and start pacing the living room. "They'll take the two of them and go, there'll be no hanging around. That's if they're coming at all. Probably mistaken the day. I daresay their kind don't set much store by punctuality. Either that or they drive some tin-pot car that's broken d - AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"

Their scream was enough to instantly alert Harry and me that something was wrong. I reached for my wand before realizing that it wasn't there. I supposed that it was a good thing that I didn't have one anyways. Harry and I jumped up in surprise. From the other side of the living room door came the sounds of the three Dursley's scrambling, panic-stricken, across the room. What the hell was happening out in the living room? Everything was stone-cold silent just a few seconds ago. Next moment Dudley came flying into the hall, looking terrified.

"What was that?" Harry asked; either me or Dudley, I couldn't tell.

Dudley wasn't answering. "No idea. Come on!" Harry yelped.

"What happened? What's the matter?" Harry asked Dudley again.

But Dudley didn't seem able to speak. Even when I laid a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down, he still looked like he was about to lose it. Perhaps it was the wrong time to try and speak with him. Hands still clamped over his buttocks, Dudley waddled as fast as he could into the kitchen. Harry and I stared at each other again. Whatever it was didn't seem dangerous. More surprising than anything else, I guessed. Still unaware of what was happening, Harry and I hurried into the living room. A massive grin immediately broke over my face.

"Oh... I forgot about that," I whispered, giggling.

"What?" Harry asked, stupefied.

"Look," I said.

Harry followed my finger to where I was pointing to their fireplace. Fred and George were telling the truth. They were coming through the Floo network. The only problem was, I had forgotten about what was in front of the Dursley's fireplace. Loud hangings and scrapings were coming from behind the Dursley's boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it. I really should have told the Weasley's to come through my own fireplace, which wasn't boarded up with some cheesy fake fire, but this was much more amusing.

"What is it?" Horse-Face gasped, who had backed into the wall and was staring, terrified, toward the fire. "What is it, Vernon?"

Honestly, she was more likely to know what was happening than he was. Harry stared at me for a moment and I nodded. Clearly, he was beginning to understand exactly what had happened. This was definitely not something that I was planning on letting any of them live down any time soon. Not after the relentless teasing over Cedric and I's relationship[. I prepared to explain what was going on to the Dursley's, but we were left in doubt barely a second longer. Voices could be heard from inside the blocked fireplace.

"Ouch! Fred, no - go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake - tell George not to - OUCH! George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron -"

"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad - maybe he'll be able to let us out -"

It sounded like Mr. Weasley and Fred were in there so far. Who else was planning on coming through? For a moment I hoped that they were all planning on coming. I would have liked to see just how many people we could fit inside the relatively small fireplace. There was a sudden loud hammering of fists on the boards behind the electric fire. My hand instantly clapped itself to my mouth. I wanted to see how long we could keep this going. I was particularly enjoying getting to see the baffled and horrified looks that Vermin and Horse-Face were wearing.

Unfortunately, I could only wear a straight face for so long. The moment that Harry and I locked eyes, we both began laughing hysterically. The glare from the Dursley's was the only thing that kept us from laughing even more. I had known that the Weasley's were planning on coming through the Floo network (despite my fears that they had changed plans) but I really had forgotten that their fireplace was boarded up. I never bothered looking at it before today. I had really just thought that they would get scared by the monstrous green flames.

"Harry? Tara? Harry, can you hear us?"

That one sounded like Mr. Weasley again. It was very hard to keep myself from collapsing to the floor in a fit of giggles. I had never seen someone actually get stuck in a fireplace. Harry and I glanced at each other and grinned again. This was definitely not something that any of the Weasley's would be living down anytime soon. Not if Harry and I could help it. The Dursley's rounded on Harry and I like a pair of angry wolverines. It was the fastest that I had ever seen either one of them move.

"What is this? What's going on?" Vermin growled.

"They - they've tried to get here by Floo powder," Harry explained, obviously fighting a mad desire to laugh. "They can travel by fire - only you've blocked the fireplace - hang on -"

"It allows them to travel almost immediately to another place. Think like the transporters in Star Trek," I further explained.

"Why would they do that?" Vermin hissed.

"It's faster," I reasoned.

Because not everyone is a bigot who's afraid of anything that he doesn't understand. The two of us glared at each other as I turned back to the fireplace. As much as I wanted to let this charade go on a little longer, I knew that the right thing to do was to tell them that we were here and would manage to get them out as quickly as possible. So, Harry and I approached the fireplace and Harry called through the boards.

"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?"

The hammering stopped. Somebody inside the chimney-piece said, "Shh!"

"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry... the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."

"Damn!" Mr. Weasley's voice came angrily. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire," Harry explained.

"Really?" Mr. Weasley's voice asked excitedly. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that..."

"Electric, Mr. Weasley," I corrected.

"Right," Mr. Weasley said, humming through the wood. "Let's think... ouch, Ron!"

"This is brilliant, boys," I cackled happily.

"Tara?" Fred's voice came.

"Hello, Freddie. Having a good time?" I teased.

"Yes, Tara. I'm having a marvelous time stuck in the fireplace," Fred growled back.

"Well, I'm certainly having a marvelous time," I chuckled.

A little thump came from where I imagined Fred had just punched the stone. "Just wait until we get back to the Burrow! You'd best watch yourself when you go to bed," Fred barked.

"Oh, scary coming from the man stuck in the fireplace," I teased.

Harry laughed as Ron's voice now joined the others'. "What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?"

"Oh no, Ron," Fred's voice came, very sarcastically. "No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here," George said, whose voice sounded muffled, as though he was squashed against the wall.

"Boys, boys..." Mr. Weasley said vaguely. "I'm trying to think what to do... Yes... only way... Stand back, you two."

Things were slowly getting even better and better. The Weasley's were clearly going to have to blast away the electric fireplace so that they could get into the house. Even though it would be an incredibly easy fix for Mr. Weasley, there was no way that Vermin or Horse-Face would be okay with what was sure to be a brief state of disaster in their living room. Harry grabbed onto my hand and pulled me along so that we had retreated to the sofa. I watched with a quirked brow as Vermin, however, moved forward.

"Wait a moment!" Vermin bellowed at the fire.

"I would suggest you back away," I offered quietly.

Vermin glared at me before saying, "What exactly are you going to -"

He never got to finish. An earsplitting bang interrupted him. The electric fire shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outward, expelling Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron in a cloud of rubble and loose chippings. Harry and I ducked to narrowly avoid getting hit by the flying wood. Horse-Face shrieked and fell backward over the coffee table; Vermin caught her before she hit the floor, and gaped, speechless, at the Weasley's, all of whom had bright red hair, including Fred and George, who were identical to the last freckle.

A barking laugh escaped me before I could stop it. "That's better," Mr. Weasley panted, brushing the dust from his long green robes and straightening his glasses.

Fred, George, and Ron began sitting upright. "Hello, boys," I greeted dully.

Fred was the first to meet my eyes. "Ah -"

"Tara -"

Nope. I recognized the look in the twins' eyes, having known them long enough. I backed away from them. "Stay away from me until you take a shower!" I shouted.

"Ah - you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!" Mr. Weasley's voice interrupted us.

The twins stopped advancing on me as I turned to see what else was happening. Tall, thin, and balding, Mr. Weasley moved toward Vermin, his hand outstretched, but Vermin backed away several paces, dragging Horse-Face. I rolled my eyes. It was just an accident. They would be able to fix the fireplace. The Dursley's really needed to learn to get a sense of humor about things. Words seemed to have utterly failed Vermin. His best suit was covered in white dust, which had settled in his hair and mustache and made him look as though he had just aged thirty years.

"Er - yes - sorry about that," Mr. Weasley said, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see - just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry and Tara. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking - but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the kids back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."

My eyebrow raised in surprise. "I didn't know that Muggles fireplaces were cut off from the Floo network?" I half-asked and half-said to Mr. Weasley.

Mr. Weasley turned towards me and nodded. "Oh, of course. We can't have witches and wizards getting spit out in random Muggles' fireplaces all over the world," Mr. Weasley pointed. I nodded in understanding. I guessed that made perfect sense. "The Obliviators would never have a free moment."

"That makes sense. I guess Little Hangleton must still have some witches and wizards there," I muttered.

"Pardon?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly.

Harry shot me a look as Fred and George quickly appeared at my sides. "What are you hiding?" Fred sang.

"Nothing," I repeated.

"Come on, Tara. Tell us," George prodded.

"There's nothing to tell," I snapped.

The two of them didn't look convinced, but I was hoping that they would let it go for now. That would be a conversation for another time. Sensing that the twins would let it slip for now, I turned back towards the rest of the family. I was ready to bet that the Dursley's hadn't understood a single word of what Mr. Weasley had just told them. They didn't care enough to ask Harry or me what things were like in the Wizarding World. The Dursley's were still gaping at Mr. Weasley, thunderstruck. Horse-Face staggered upright again and hid behind Vermin.

"Hello, Harry! Hello, Tara!" Mr. Weasley finally greeted brightly.

"Hi, Mr. Weasley," I giggled.

"Got your trunk ready?" Mr. Weasley asked Harry.

"It's upstairs," Harry said, grinning back at Mr. Weasley.

"Marcus and Julia bringing your things later, Tara?" Mr. Weasley asked me.

"Yep! I've just got a bag with my things. They're upstairs in Harry's room," I explained.

"We'll get it," Fred said at once. As he walked towards the staircase, he stopped in front of me. I narrowed my gaze at him. "Want to come show me to the bedroom?"

He waggled his eyebrows playfully at me. "Get out," I snapped, shoving his chest.

George, Harry, and Ron laughed as Mr. Weasley glared at his son. Fred held a hand over his chest in mock hurt. "Don't be rude, Tara. Just being friendly," Fred teased.

"Oh, yes. You're quite friendly," I groaned.

Fred threw his arm over my shoulder, practically keeping me glued to his side. "Only for you, love."

"Go away, Freddie," I snapped.

George grabbed his twin and shoved him off of me, taking his place. "Exactly, Freddie. She likes me much more than you," George told his brother.

"So true," I added, wrapping an arm around George's waist.

"Hey!" Fred barked indignantly.

"Go, boys," Mr. Weasley warned them.

The sooner we got out of here, the better. We could all mess with each other back at the Burrow. Winking at Harry and I, Fred and George left the room. They knew where Harry's bedroom was, having once rescued him from it in the dead of night with my assistance. Vermin and Horse-Face looked terrified as the twins headed upstairs, probably wondering how they knew just where to go. As I looked at Harry, the two of us started laughing again. I suspected that Fred and George were hoping for a glimpse of Dudley; they had heard a lot about him from Harry.

"Well," Mr. Weasley chirped, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence. "Very - um - a very nice place you've got here."

Another grin appeared on my face. It was rather amusing to see just how awkward their official meeting was. Not just long distance glares as usual. As the usually spotless living room was now covered in dust and bits of brick, Mr. Weasley's remark didn't go down too well with the Dursley's. Vermin's face turned purple once more, and Horse-Face started chewing her tongue again. Neither one of them looked even slightly pleased with the turn of events. However, they seemed too scared to actually say anything.

Mr. Weasley was looking around curiously. I had a feeling that he wanted to run back and forth and start looking at everything. He must have been fascinated to be in a real Muggle home with nothing even remotely magical - save the trunk and bag in Harry's bedroom. Mr. Weasley loved everything to do with Muggles. He worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts in the Ministry of Magic and very much loved his job. I could see him itching to go and examine the television and the video recorder.

"They run off eckeltricity, do they?" Mr. Weasley asked knowledgeably.

"Electricity, Mr. Weasley," I repeated from earlier.

"Oh. Of course. Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs," Mr. Weasley added kindly to Vermin. "And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are."

Vermin clearly thought Mr. Weasley was mad too. It was very hard to keep me from laughing. The look on the Dursley's faces was nothing short of horrified. They clearly hated him and all of his children. But they were definitely too scared to actually say anything about their distaste of the Weasley's to their faces. Vermin moved ever so slightly to the right, screening Horse-Face from view, as though he thought Mr. Weasley might suddenly run at them and attack. I snorted under my breath, faking a cough.

Dudley suddenly reappeared in the room. I glanced up curiously, wondering what had drawn him out. That was when I could hear the clunk of Harry's trunk on the stairs and knew that the sounds had scared Dudley out of the kitchen. Dudley edged along the wall, gazing at Mr. Weasley with terrified eyes, and attempted to conceal himself behind his mother and father. Unfortunately, Vermin's bulk, while sufficient to hide bony Horse-Face, was nowhere near enough to conceal Dudley.

"Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, taking another brave stab at making conversation.

"Yep, that's Dudley," Harry said.

Harry, Ron, and I exchanged glances and then quickly looked away from each other; the temptation to burst out laughing was almost overwhelming. Dudley was still clutching his bottom as though afraid it might fall off. Mr. Weasley, however, seemed genuinely concerned at Dudley's peculiar behavior. Indeed, from the tone of his voice when he next spoke, I was quite sure that Mr. Weasley thought Dudley was quite as mad as the Dursley's thought he was, except that Mr. Weasley felt sympathy rather than fear.

"Having a good holiday, Dudley?" Mr. Weasley asked kindly.

Dudley whimpered in fear. Dudley might have said a few nice things to me and had always been much nicer to me than he had to Harry, but that didn't change the fact that he had always been a bully. Perhaps this would finally trigger something in him. Maybe he would grow up and start being nicer to his cousin, who had never really been mean to him before. Much to both my amusement and Harry's, we saw Dudley's hands tighten still harder over his massive backside.

It took me only a moment to realize what he was afraid for. Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk. Of course. They always had that look about them that warned someone to run from them before they could hurt you in a playful way. Dudley must have been terrified of them. The twins glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. He was very obviously Harry's cousin. No one else would have matched his description. Fred and George's faces cracked into identical evil grins.

"Ah, right. Better get cracking then," Mr. Weasley said.

As the twins took their spots at my side, I narrowed my eyes at them. "That's a dangerous look," I whispered.

"No. We would never," Fred said, affronted.

"We're on our best behavior. We already made a promise," George added.

No way. There was no way that they were planning on leaving Harry's house without doing something to his family. Perhaps not Vermin or Hose-Face. They were terrified enough from the fireplace explosion earlier. Right now, I was sure that it was Dudley who they were planning on attacking. The question just remained, what were they going to do to him? Mr. Weasley pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. Once more, I saw the Dursley's draw back against the wall as one.

"Incendio!" Mr. Weasley cried, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him.

Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours. They were still red but they would be green within seconds. I could see the Dursley's staring at their fireplace in fear. Mr. Weasley took a small drawstring bag from his pocket, untied it, took a pinch of the powder inside, and threw it onto the flames, which turned emerald green and roared higher than ever. The Dursley's looked absolutely terrified and more than a little happy to get the Weasley's and us out of their house.

"Off you go then, Fred," Mr. Weasley said.

"Coming," Fred said.

But he lingered by my side for a moment. "If you ask me if I want to share a fireplace, I'll kill you," I snapped.

That was his go-to comment whenever we traveled by Floo powder together. "Actually I'd very much like you to be the last one through," Fred said, grinning madly.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"You'll see," Fred said playfully, moving towards the fireplace. "Oh no - hang on -"

My eyebrow quirked. What the hell were the twins planning? Something magnificent, I was sure. Just as I had expected, a bag of sweets had spilled out of Fred's pocket and the contents were now rolling in every direction - big, fat toffees in brightly colored wrappers. My jaw dropped as I watched the turn of events. Were those what I thought they were? Fred scrambled around, cramming them back into his pocket, then gave the Dursley's a cheery wave, stepped forward, and walked right into the fire. He turned and gave me a little wink.

"The Burrow!" Fred cried.

"Oh no..." I whispered.

Where was the one that he had left? "What're those?" Harry whispered back.

"You'll see," I said.

If the twins had it their way, we would know what was happening in a matter of seconds. My gaze turned towards the far corner of the room where I saw Dudley ducking down - likely picking up the present that Fred had left for him. Horse-Face gave a little shuddering gasp at the fireplace roaring. I wondered if she was used to seeing someone use a fireplace. Perhaps Lily, when she was younger. There was a whooshing sound from the fireplace, and Fred vanished. I glanced over at George, who gave me the same wink Fred had.

"Right then, George, you and the trunk," Mr. Weasley ordered.

They really weren't going to stay and watch? Perhaps they knew how much trouble they were going to get in the moment that we realized what was going to happen to Dudley. I just wished I knew which one the twins had given him. Harry and I helped George carry the trunk forward into the flames and turn it onto its end so that he could hold it better. George took my bag as well and I smiled at him, giving him a nod to tell him that I would let him know what happened. Then, with a second whoosh, George had cried out for the Burrow and vanished too.

"Ron, you next," Mr. Weasley said.

"See you," Ron said brightly to the Dursley's.

They looked absolutely horrified that Ron had dared speak to them. Harry and I smiled at each other before looking back to him. Ron grinned broadly at Harry and me, then stepped into the fire, shouted for the Burrow as his brothers had, and disappeared. Now Harry, Mr. Weasley, and I alone remained. The air was suddenly very awkward. Much to my surprise, Dudley moved a little bit closer to me. I tried to force a smile onto my face. I could at least give him a little smile.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Dudley asked.

My head whipped around to him. "What?" I gasped. Why did he think that Fred and I were together? Because we playfully messed with each other? "No. That's Fred Weasley. He's a good friend of mine."

"Oh," Dudley muttered, looking surprised. "Sorry."

"Well... 'bye then," Harry said awkwardly to the Dursley's.

"See ya," I added.

It was extremely awkward in the Dursley's household. All I wanted right now was to head to the Burrow and enjoy the last bit of the summer before heading back to Hogwarts. The Dursley's (unsurprisingly) didn't say anything at all. Harry and I both moved toward the fire to leave together, but just as the two of us reached the edge of the hearth, Mr. Weasley put out a hand and held us both back. I noticed that his eyes were almost deadlocked on Harry. What was the problem? Mr. Weasley was looking at the Dursley's in amazement.

"Harry said goodbye to you. Didn't you hear him?" Mr. Weasley asked

A small grin appeared on my face. "It doesn't matter," Harry muttered to Mr. Weasley. "Honestly, I don't care."

"It's no big deal. They'll never say goodbye," I whispered.

As much as it would be funny to see Mr. Weasley give Vermin a lesson in manners, I also didn't want anything to embarrass Harry. I knew that his aunt and uncle had always embarrassed Harry. He didn't like people knowing just how much his family hated and didn't care for him. But I supposed that it didn't matter. We would just ignore what they had said. They didn't really matter. The two of us went to move forward again, but Mr. Weasley did not remove his hand from Harry's shoulder.

"You aren't going to see your nephew till next summer," Mr. Weasley said to Vermin in mild indignation. "Surely you're going to say good-bye?"

One of my hands shot over my mouth. I wanted to know how this whole thing would play out. Much to my amusement, Vermin's face worked furiously. I had never seen him as angry as he was right now. The idea of being taught consideration by a man who had just blasted away half his living room wall seemed to be causing him intense suffering. But Mr. Weasley's wand was still in his hand, despite the fact that he would never do anything to him, and Vermin's tiny eyes darted to it once, before he took in a breath.

Very resentfully, he said, "Good-bye, then."

"See you," Harry said.

He put one foot forward into the green flames. "The two of you can go together, Tara," Mr. Weasley instructed.

"Okay," I said, stepping into the flames, which felt pleasantly like a warm breath. "Have a good year."

The green flames in front of my vision made me smile. I really did miss being in the Wizarding World. It was so much better than the dull reality of the Muggle world. Harry and I grabbed hands - which was much easier than slamming into each other as we rocketed through the grates - and he prepared to yell for the Burrow. The very moment that he began to say the name of the Weasley's home, however, a horrible gagging sound erupted behind the two of us, and Horse-Face started to scream.

It appeared that we were about to learn what it was that Fred and George had decided to leave as a present for Dudley. Harry and I wheeled around. Dudley was no longer standing behind his parents. He was kneeling beside the coffee table, and he was gagging and sputtering on a foot-long, purple, slimy thing that was protruding from his mouth. I gasped in surprise. One bewildered second later, I realized that the foot-long thing was Dudley's tongue and that a brightly colored toffee wrapper lay on the floor before him.

"I knew those morons managed it!" I gasped.

How didn't I realize that they were actually going to make those toffees work? I'd thought that they were being a little too ambitious too quickly, but it turned out that they had managed to prove me wrong. And I had never been so proud of them. I remembered Fred and George talking about something that they were trying to create to make your enemies wish that they had never opened their mouth. It turned out that it had worked. And this was why Fred had wanted me to come through last. He wanted someone to report to him on the effects.

"What is that?" Harry gasped.

"Fred and George's newest invention," I said.

Harry grinned. "Wicked."

We were both laughing at the top of our lungs by now. I had never seen something so amusing. Horse-Face hurled herself onto the ground beside Dudley, seized the end of his swollen tongue, and attempted to wrench it out of his mouth; unsurprisingly, Dudley yelled and sputtered worse than ever, trying to fight her off. She clearly didn't realize that the only way to get his tongue back to normal was going to be with more magic. Vermin was bellowing and waving his arms around, and Mr. Weasley had to shout to make himself heard.

"Not to worry, I can sort him out!" he yelled, advancing on Dudley with his wand outstretched, but Horse-Face screamed worse than ever and threw herself on top of Dudley, shielding him from Mr. Weasley.

"Better than television," I muttered to Harry.

He laughed. "No, really!" Mr. Weasley cried desperately. "It's a simple process - it was the toffee - my son Fred - real practical joker - but it's only an Engorgement Charm - at least, I think it is - please, I can correct it -"

But far from being reassured, the Dursley's became more panic-stricken; Horse-Face was sobbing hysterically, tugging Dudley's tongue as though determined to rip it out; Dudley appeared to be suffocating under the combined pressure of his mother and his tongue; and Vermin, who had lost control completely, seized a china figure from on top of the sideboard and threw it very hard at Mr. Weasley, who ducked, causing the ornament to shatter in the blasted fireplace. Harry and I both barked with mad laughter.

"Now really!" Mr. Weasley barked angrily, brandishing his wand. "I'm trying to help!"

It was rather amusing to watch the four of them try and figure out what the hell was happening. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened with the toffee and Fred and George had created. Like Mr. Weasley had said, it looked like it was a simple Engorgement Charm that they had placed on the candy. But I couldn't be sure. I would have to ask them later. They must have been waiting with anticipation for the two of us to arrive at the Burrow. Bellowing like a wounded hippo, Vermin snatched up another ornament.

"Harry, Tara, go! Just go!" Mr. Weasley shouted, his wand on Vermin. "I'll sort this out!"

"Oh," I whined, "but -"

"Now!" Mr. Weasley shouted.

"Told you it would be an eventful day," I chuckled to Harry.

The two of us laughed all over again. Nothing ever amused me quite as much as the twins did. I couldn't wait to tell them that the experiments they had spent so much time working on were actually a success. Neither Harry nor I wanted to miss the fun, but Vermin's second ornament narrowly missed Harry's left ear, and on balance, I thought it best to leave the situation to Mr. Weasley. Perhaps we would be able to get an accurate recount of what had happened from Mr. Weasley when we had all arrived at the Burrow.

Harry and I stepped fully into the fire, looking over our shoulder as the two of us shouted for the Burrow. My last fleeting glimpse of the living room was of Mr. Weasley blasting a third ornament out of Vermin's hand with his wand, Horse-Face screaming and lying on top of Dudley, and Dudley's tongue lolling around like a great slimy python. I was still chuckling, wishing to see how this would end, but next moment Harry and I had begun to spin very fast, and the Dursley's living room was whipped out of sight in a rush of emerald-green flames.

A/N: Next time... Upon arriving at the Burrow, Tara sees just how much trouble the twins have been up to over the summer as she gets reacquainted with the rest of her friends and meets the final two Weasley brothers. A slightly shorter chapter seeing as not a ton of stuff happens. Hope you guys liked it! Thanks for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

Son of Whitebeard: No, Mafalda is definitely not going to be a surprise at the Weasley's. Hope you liked this one!

Guest: I'm so glad that you like the way that I write Tara's parents! I agree, they're not my favorite characters. Quite honestly, I'm much more invested in the kids of the story. I'm working on making them a little bit nicer and better. They do love Tara and care about her deeply. Perhaps they're just a little too sarcastic with her. They didn't tell her about moving because they didn't want to upset her prematurely. It was definitely a mistake on her part. They do listen to Dumbledore too much and that'll come more into the story in the coming chapters. I love long reviews! Feel free to leave them! And thank you so much! I really appreciate all of the kind words!

GraySkys: Cedric is wonderful! He's definitely one of my favorite characters. I agree, things will be a little more upsetting (a lot more) if he does die, but it would be for the best. It would definitely bring out her dark side and strengthen her. If I choose not to kill him though, it'll definitely leave her with a constant confidant. Here's hoping that you liked this one!

Guest: I'm so glad that you love it! Hopefully this update came fast enough!

Vincent FGS91: Trust me, I understand! Things always seem to pop up so damn fast in the adult world. Thank you so much! I'm really glad that you enjoy the story so far. I'm having so much fun writing Tara's journey. Hope you liked this one!