Title: Coming Home, Chapter 4, Meeting the Family
Rating: PG-13
Characters/pairings: Harry/Ginny
Summary: Now that the Final Battle is over, Harry wants to pick up the pieces of the life he left behind, starting with Ginny.
Author'sNotes: Plot bunny that refused to shut up. Hope it's enjoyable. Extra special thanks to my betas rosiekatriona, and sassyfrass. Constructive criticism cheerfully accepted. Praise greatly enjoyed. Flames haughtily ignored.
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Molly Weasley had a problem. Several, in fact. But the one that was preying on her mind now was the location of her four youngest. Truth be told, after the chaos of the battle, and the ministering to the wounded, it had been quite a relief to send Ginny, Ron, and Hermione off to bed so that she wouldn't have to worry about them. But it had been rather a long time since she'd seen those three, and even longer since she'd seen Harry.
Currently, she and Arthur were seated at a table in the Great Hall, desultorily nibbling on whatever meal happened to be in front of them. Charlie and Bill were across the table from her, dozing, and George and. . . and Percy-somehow that felt like a betrayal to put those two names together-were seated next to Arthur. But not knowing exactly where her other four were was rather vexing.
"Arthur," she said, leveraging herself to her feet, "I'm going up to Gryffindor tower. Ron and Hermione went up there ages ago, and I want to check on them. Are you coming?"
Arthur was tired. He had been one of the few Ministry officials available whose loyalty was unquestioned, which meant that he was being consulted on all aspects of the cleanup. It boded well for his future job security, not that he cared about thatright now, but it also meant that he hadn't been able to get much sleep at all on his little cot in the corner of the Great Hall. But it looked like Molly needed him-he hadn't lived with her all these years without gaining a comprehensive understanding of all her facial expressions. And this one meant, "I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this, but I really need you right now."
He mustered up a tired smile and pushed himself off the bench. "Of course, Molly dear. I want to see them too." He looked over at his other sons and said, "Boys, let's take a little walk, okay?"
Bill and Charlie took a little more persuading, but in the end all six of them silently headed out of the hall, towards the stairs. Molly looked back, with not a little pride in her heart. Her family had acquitted itself admirably in the war. Percy had worried her for awhile, but when the dragon was loose, as the saying went, he showed his true strength. Her heart skipped a beat yet again as she looked at George, missing an ear and a twin-truly they had been lucky, or blessed, or something, but it was rather hard to remember that through the pain.
As they slowly climbed the stairs towards where they hoped their missing four were sequestered, Arthur got a peculiar, faraway look in his eyes. Molly noticed and shook her head. She squeezed his hand, and when he looked back at her, she said, "Go ahead and tell me-I know you won't be able to get it out of your head."
Arthur smiled ruefully at his wife-she had just as much experience in his facial expressions as he did hers. "I was just thinking-the Ministry has lifts, right? Well, the Muggles have these great things called escamapators that look like stairs, but they move. How hard would it be to get them into Hogwarts? I mean, we have to go up five more flights, and I could really use an escamapator right now."
It was at that moment that Molly knew they'd be all right. Yes, they had lost a son (cue skipped heartbeat), and yes, the war had taken a rather large toll on the Wizarding world in general. But if her Arthur were able to think such (for him) normal thoughts, then the healing had already begun. Molly, of course, was the voice of the Weasley family, to coin a phrase. But Arthur was the family's heart, and Molly wouldn't have it any other way.
Reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, Molly heaved a sigh of relief-she wasn't exactly young, anymore, and that was quite a lot of stairs. Maybe an escamapator wouldn't be such a bad thing.
"Hello, Weasleys!" the Fat Lady called out in happiness. "I bet you're looking for the rest of them, right?"
Arthur smiled and nodded gently. "Yes, Ma'am," he answered. "May we please go in? I'm afraid we don't have the password. . ."
"Tosh," the portrait answered. "I know who you are, and if anyone deserves entrance, it's the Weasley family-pure Gryffindor, through and through. Go on in, dears" she said, and reached over and unhooked the side of the painting, which swung slowly open.
The Weasley family clambered in the opening, with Arthur giving Molly a hand up. Once inside, Bill and Charlie headed to the worn sofas, slumping down and closing their eyes almost immediately. George and Percy stood next to their parents for a bit, looking around in amazement that the Common Room was as unscathed as it was. It might have been a scene from any normal day during the school year, except for the scarcity of students.
They were interrupted by the sound of voices coming down the girls' staircase.
"-but why does each stall have a waste basket?" It was clearly Ron's voice.
"Honestly, Ronald. There are just some things that girls need that boys don't!" This was an obviously exasperated Hermione.
"Like what?" Ron's voice came as the couple finally came into view.
Hermione looked rather relieved to see the Weasleys there en masse. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," she said brightly.
Ron turned to look so quickly that he just about overbalanced. His face instantly flushed bright red. "Hi, Mum. We were just. . . er. . . Hermione wouldn't let me go up the boys' side, and I really had to use the loo, and so she took me up the girls' side. . ." Ron trailed off into embarrassed silence as the rest of the Weasleys just stared.
The silence was interrupted by a snort. Then a suppressed chuckle. Then all of the Weasley men, Ron excluded, lost their composure and the room was filled with their laughter.
Surprisingly enough, it was George that finally commented. "I never thought it would be Ron who found the way into the girls' dormitory. Fred and I. . ." he paused for a bit, then swallowed. "Fred and I would have given a lot to know the trick. Come on, Hermione, tell us what you did."
Hermione blushed a bit, then moved closer to Ron and put her arm around him. "It's simple, really. The wards only detect if a boy is going up by himself. If a girl holds the boy's hand, the wards allow him through just fine."
Percy looked shocked. "But-but-" he stammered. "That would allow just about anyone to gain access to the female side. I admit that it makes sense, but why did nobody figure it out before?"
Arthur chose that moment to clear his throat, unfortunately drawing attention to the light blush coloring his cheeks. Molly, too, looked like she'd rather be talking about something, anything, else. But the impending interrogation was interrupted by laughter and footsteps coming down the boys' side.
Ginny's voice got louder and louder, until the girl herself appeared at the bottom of the stairs, although turned around as though addressing someone farther up. "Harry, will you give up already? Just leave your hair like it is-I like it all mussed up like that. Besides, I worked hard to give it that 'just shagged' look, and I intend to show it off."
It was at that moment that Harry appeared, Ginny turned around, and they both saw the entire rest of the Weasley clan staring, gobsmacked. Silence reigned supreme in the Common Room, followed, very closely by a tremendous cry of mixed anger, humor, and, above all, consternation.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" came one cry.
"Harry Potter! I assume you have an explanation for this!"
Lower, and much less angry came a soft, "Way to go, sis!"
And rising clearly above all the rest was an outraged voice shouting, "Stupefy!"
