Chapter 4

Life at the Burrow

"I dislike the notion of the phrase "you cannot choose your family." That simply depends on one's definition of family. Often in my own life, I have found the bonds with the family I have chosen to be much stronger than my bonds with the family I was given."

General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk

"Oi, breakfast!"

Something hard bonked Harriet on the top of her head, and she shouted out, sitting upright and clutching her head. "Ow! Hey!" Harriet said. She laughed as she looked up at Ronnie's grinning face.

"Sorry, just excited you're here," Ronnie replied.

Harriet smiled rubbing her head and stretching. Despite the sore spot on her head, Harriet was happier than she could have ever thought she could be. It hadn't been a dream. She really had been rescued from the Dursleys by her best friend.

Harriet slid out of bed, stretched again and yawned. Between the excitement of the rescue the night before the ghoul in the attic right above them Harriet had barely slept in the last two nights. She knew she should be exhausted, but she didn't care. She was still too excited.

Harriet and Ronnie cleaned up as quickly as possible and went down to breakfast. The smell of frying bacon and eggs hit their nostrils all the way up on the third-floor landing. Harriet felt her stomach rumble with hunger as they finally walked into the kitchen. Fred, George and Ginny were already there, as were Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley. Mrs Weasley was fussing about the stove cooking up what looked like enough breakfast for a small army.

Harriet and Ronnie approached the table to take their seats. Mr Weasley eagerly gestured to Harriet to sit next to him. The moment she sat, Mr Weasley launched into a series of questions all about life with Muggles. Harriet knew that Mr Weasley was genuinely interested in Muggle life, as Ronnie had told her last year. But she was quite surprised by how little Mr Weasley seemed to know.

For instance, even though he apparently had a collection of plugs, Mr Weasley didn't know how they worked. As Harriet thought about it, she didn't know exactly how they worked either. She knew that the power company ran power to all the houses that paid to use it, and all you had to do was to stick the plug into the socket in the wall and it ran power to whatever it was you had plugged in. Fortunately, this seemed to satisfy Mr Weasley, and he promptly moved on to other topics. As he and Harriet talked, Harriet could see the other Weasleys rolling their eyes but still smiling. In the end, Mr Weasley was almost late for work.

"Isn't Percy coming down?" Ginny asked the room at large as Mr Weasley hurried out the front door.

Harriet looked around and realised Ginny was right, Percy was the only member of the family in the house who wasn't there. As she thought about it, Harriet hadn't seen Percy since she'd arrived.

"Oh, he must be having another lie in," Mrs Weasley said simply as she flicked her wand sending all of their plates to the sink. As she did, Harriet couldn't help but notice an odd little smile on Mrs Weasley's face.

"Yeah, Percy's been a little odder than usual this summer. Usually, he never misses a breakfast," Fred said suspiciously.

"Yeah, and he got his OWL results too, didn't even gloat once," muttered George with similar scepticism as he looked up at the ceiling.

Harriet felt curious now too, was Percy ill? "Do you think he's sick?" Harriet asked concerned.

"Oh, I doubt it dear, don't worry about Percy," Mrs Weasley said, still smiling her little smile.

From her left Ronnie suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Harriet, I've got a, uh, a match this Saturday and, well, I was wondering—"

"Of course I'd like to come!" Harriet said immediately.

Ronnie blushed and shifted a little in her chair. "Oh, thanks," Ronnie said, going as red in the face as her hair, "I was wondering if you wanted to go help me practice in a bit."

"Oh! Oh, sure!" Harriet said eagerly. It made her feel good to see Ronnie's sheepish grin.

"I'll join in too!" Ginny said. The three girls looked at Fred and George who both raised their eyebrows.

"What? You think we have nothing better to do than help some little girls kick balls around?" Fred said sounding affronted.

"No thanks," George said with a little smirk. "No kicking our balls, thank you very—ow!"

George yelped as Mrs Weasley rapped him on the top of the head with a long-handled wooden spoon. "That's enough you two, I won't have those kinds of jokes in my house, thank you very much," Mrs Weasley said.

George rubbed the spot on the top of his head, and both he and Fred opened their mouths to retort, but the burning glare from Mrs Weasley silenced them both immediately.

Harriet grinned as she, Ronnie, and Ginny got up and made their way upstairs to their rooms. Harriet still had to borrow clothes from Ginny, as almost nothing she had from the Dursleys fit her, either being too large or too small. The only clothing she had with her that did fit was her party outfit, and that was less than appropriate for practising football.

Harriet and Ginny changed into track shorts and tee-shirts, while Ronnie changed into her actual uniform. As they headed down the stairs, Harriet was a little worried that her old, ratty trainers wouldn't stand up to much football. The toe on the left one was split along the seam which made Harriet glad that enough of the morning had gone by that the dew was gone on the grass when they stepped out into the morning sunlight.

As it turned out, it was Harriet and Ginny that did most of running. Ronnie played goalkeeper for her team, so most of what Ginny and Harriet had to do was kick the football at her as she stood between two trees in the garden, trying to get the ball past her. Ronnie was pretty good, Harriet thought. She had a focus that Harriet hadn't seen Ronnie have any time before as she watched each ball come in. It made her very excited for Saturday to see her friend in action.

There was considerable delay in play when the ball rolled into the little patch of bushes that lined the house, and they were forced to do some impromptu de-gnoming. Some of the gnomes who had snuck back into the garden the day before got hold of the football and wouldn't give it back.

The practice came to a complete end a little before lunchtime with an angry shout from one of the second-floor windows. It seemed they had finally awoken Percy, who was yelling angrily down at them all, his glasses askew. Ronnie merely responded with an eye roll and a well-aimed punt of her football that sent it up, hitting the side of the house right over Percy's window, making him jump and duck out of sight, muttering in a disgruntled way.

"Not my fault he was up all night," Ronnie grumbled as Ginny laughed at Percy's expense.

As Harriet watched them, she was glad to see how well the two sisters did get along. Ronnie was right, with so many brothers she and Ginny did have to stick together.

They went back inside to wash up. Ronnie was dirty from how many times she had dived to block kicks and Harriet and Ginny had both worked up good sweats. After that, Harriet pulled out some of her parchment to finally write letters to all of her closest friends to let them know what had happened, as well as thank you notes to her other friends who had written her birthday cards. She wrote mostly matching letters as far as the story of her summer went, though she made sure to thank them all individually for the birthday cards, to apologise for not being able to write them back sooner and to tell them how much she was looking forward to seeing them as soon as possible.

Harriet felt a little embarrassed as she attached the sizeable stack of letters to Hedwig's leg. "Is that too much?" she asked the snowy owl.

Hedwig hooted in a dignified way, though she seemed very excited as she puffed out her snow-white chest. Harriet smiled and rubbed the back of Hedwig's head warmly between her thumb and forefinger. Hedwig clicked her beak with pleasure before Harriet leaned in to give Hedwig the gentlest hug she could.

"Thank you, Hedwig. I couldn't have made it through all this past summer without you. I'll never let anyone lock you away in a cage again, I promise."

Hedwig hooted softly and gave Harriet's earlobe a soft nibble. Harriet sat back, and Hedwig turned, spreading her silent wings and sweeping out of the window. Harriet leaned forward again to watch the owl fly off over the trees, disappearing quickly.

Harriet got up and stretched. She was getting even more tired, but she heard Ronnie yell up at her from a couple of floors down that lunch was ready. Not at all reluctant to have more of Mrs Weasley's excellent cooking, Harriet quickly got up and ran back down the stairs. Harriet thought Mrs Weasley's cooking was easily on par with Dobby's, and Harriet thought Dobby cooked just as well as the cooks at Hogwarts.

On the way back down the stairs, Harriet almost ran into Percy who was finally coming out of his bedroom, though still in a white tank-top and plaid pyjama pants. Harriet barely suppressed a giggle at the realisation that even here at home Percy still pinned his Prefect's badge to his shirt.

"Oh, hello Potter," Percy said in a distracted voice as he saw her.

Harriet smiled. "Hi Percy, how're you today?"

"Fine, fine, and you, Potter?"

"I'm alright, been having a good summer?" Harriet asked politely.

Percy merely shrugged. "It's had its ups and—wait a minute, P-Potter? What are you doing here?!" Percy asked in total surprise.

Harriet beamed up at him. "I got here yesterday morning! Fred, George, Ronnie and Ginny flew your dad's car to rescue me!" Harriet said and continued down the stairs, leaving Percy in dumbstruck silence behind her.

Lunch proved to be just as delicious and filling as ever. Harriet was pretty sure even Ginny's clothes wouldn't fit before long. They managed to eat much more quickly now that Mr Weasley wasn't bombarding Harriet with questions, and soon they were all back outside. This time, however, it was Harriet who had an idea for a game. Now that she had friends around she had the chance to play for the first time in her life.

"We're going to play Nancy Drew?" Ronnie asked. "How do we do that?"

Harriet launched into her explanation. She, Ronnie and Ginny would play the sleuths, trying to find the stolen treasure which had been taken by thieves played by Fred and George. The entire plan hinged on Fred and George wanting to join in, which Harriet doubted would happen after their refusal to participate in football, but to her surprise, Fred and George both agreed to the plan point blank.

They set things up as quickly as they could. They swiped the family clock from the kitchen that had all the Weasley family's names on it, pretending it was a rare, expensive clock with secret instructions on how to get to a buried treasure hidden inside it. The three girls gave Fred and George a half an hour to hide the clock and all the clues in the large garden and then hide.

Finally, Harriet, Ronnie and Ginny headed out. Harriet wasn't sure precisely what clues they had to look for. The garden was reasonably large and cluttered. However, she had a strong suspicion that if anything were going to be hidden anywhere, it would be in either the garage, Mr Weasley's shed, or the broom shed. The closest was Mr Weasley's shed, so they headed there to investigate first. The three girls crouched low and tip-toed as quietly as they could to the shed. They peeked cautiously through the windows, in case Fred and George were hiding inside to ambush them.

Seeing no one inside, Harriet opened the door. They searched a good ten minutes before spotting a conspicuously new looking piece of parchment sticking halfway out from under a shelf. She picked it up and read aloud.

There's a clue upon this paper,

That may help you halt our caper

Try and solve it if you may,

Or else the villains win the day!

Ronnie and Harriet crowded around Ginny, reading too. On the back of the paper was drawn a map, but nothing on it was labelled.

"Typical," muttered Ronnie in frustration.

"Well, we've just got to figure out the orientation," Harriet said, trying to sound cheerful.

There was a point on the map with a dotted line that led to another location, which had another dotted line leading to yet another site. Harriet took the note and walked out of the shed looking around. She had an inkling, and she had to see if it was right. She looked from the shed to the garage and turned the map. Sure enough, if she held it at the right angle, the line went right from the shed to the garage, and then the final line led straight to the broom shed on the front lawn.

"Okay, I'm guessing our next clue will be hidden in the garage," Harriet said, pointing this out to Ronnie and Ginny.

"Good thinking," Ginny said.

Harriet shrugged. "Just trying to think logically, I mean, not exactly like there's a lot of places for them to hide clues, is there?" Harriet said though she blushed.

They headed off towards the garage, again sneaking as they went, trying to be discrete. Unfortunately, the garage didn't have any windows to peek through as the shed had. If there were anywhere that Fred and George would be waiting to ambush them, it would be here. Harriet looked at Ronnie and Ginny, who both finally nodded reassuringly and Harriet pushed open the door.

It was almost pitch black inside the garage with no light from windows. The car took up most of the room, and Harriet kept clear of the doors on it, in case that was where Fred and George were hiding. On the other hand, it might also be where they had stashed the second clue.

Harriet closed her eyes, waiting to adjust them to the low light of the garage before she turned to Ronnie and Ginny. "Okay, Ginny, you check under things. Ronnie, you try checking on top of things, I'll look in the car and on the shelves," Harriet instructed.

Ronnie and Ginny agreed, and they set to work. Ginny peered under everything she could, while Ronnie walked around using her height to look on top of everything, even though she did have to go on tip-toe occasionally. Harriet looked on all the shelves and also braved peering into the car. After determining Fred and George were not, in fact, hiding in it, she opened the doors and climbed inside to look on and under the seats and in the glove-box. Finally, after twenty minutes of searching in the cramped garage, Harriet had to conclude that they must have missed something with the first clue.

"There's nothing here…" Harriet grumbled, crossing her arms in frustration.

"What can we have missed?" Ginny asked.

"You never looked up," said a voice from above them. It sounded as though it was brimming with barely suppressed laughter.

As one, Harriet, Ginny, and Ronnie all looked up. Fred and George were sitting in the rafters right above them.

"Surprise!" George yelled, and the twins dropped down on them.

Ginny, the shortest, managed to duck under Fred's grabbing arms which caught Harriet instead. George grabbed hold of Ronnie who yelled and struggled.

"Gotcha you little snoops!" Fred said as he pinned Harriet's arms down to her sides.

"No! Get off!" Harriet yelled though she was trying not to laugh.

"The little one escaped, Fred," said George as he tried to keep a hold of Ronnie and Ginny darted out the door.

"No matter my comrade in crime, we'll get her in due course!" Fred said, apparently taking his role to heart.

"You'll never get away with this!" Ronnie declared, looking like she was getting more into the game too.

"But of course we will!" declared George with a laugh, "What do you think this is, a game!?"

All four of them laughed at this though Harriet squeaked as Fred spun her around and lifted her like a potato sack over his shoulder.

"Ack! No Fred! Put me down!" she declared as she almost fell over face first when Fred stood back up too quickly and nearly lost his balance.

"Oy! I'm not Fred! I'm Prongs Padfoot, criminal mastermind!"

"Oh, what?! You're going to leave me with something like Mooney Wormtail!" George said, breaking character in his indignation.

Fred rolled his eyes as he tried to keep Harriet balanced on his shoulder while she was still struggling. "You can be—ow, hey watch it, or I'm gonna drop you! You can be Paws Mooney if you want?" Fred said.

George nodded.

"What the devil are you two talking about?" Ronnie asked, struggling harder.

"Never you mind!" George declared and seemed to realise he wouldn't be able to carry Ronnie over his shoulder as easily since she was the same height as him.

He started to force march her towards the door. Fred carried Harriet after them, and they started off towards the shed. From over Fred's shoulder, Harriet could see Ginny sneaking along after them, moving quite catlike amongst the bushes as she trailed them.

However, it was at that moment the game came to an end. They rounded the corner of the house, where it became apparent that Fred and George were taking them both to the broom shed. Ronnie took one look at it and immediately began to struggle frantically. At first, it seemed like she was still playing. That was until she finally yelled "NO!" and spun to kick George in the shin before running off.

"Ronnie!" Harriet yelled after her friend as Fred set her down, looking very confused.

"What was that about?" Fred asked, scratching his head.

Ginny stomped over to them, her arms crossed. As she did, Harriet couldn't help but recognise how much Ginny looked like a younger, thinner version of Mrs Weasley the morning Harriet had arrived at the Burrow. She walloped Fred on the shoulder and glared.

"You know she's afraid of spiders, you ass!" Ginny said and ran off after Ronnie.

"Oh, oh damn," Fred said, rubbing his shoulder before turning to look at the shed.

"Oh, yeah… that was kinda our fault, wasn't it?" George muttered sounding guilty as he rubbed his shin where Ronnie had kicked him.

Harriet didn't bother to wait for further explanation. She ran off after Ginny. She caught up with Ginny and together they started looking for Ronnie. They finally found her in her room, hugging her football tight to her chest and rocking a little. Ronnie looked away ashamed as Harriet and Ginny entered.

"Sorry I ruined your game, Harriet," Ronnie muttered. She gave a loud sniff, and Harriet sighed as she and Ginny sat on the bed next to her.

"It's okay, Ronnie, honest, just, what happened?" Harriet asked, hugging Ronnie tight around the shoulders.

Ronnie took a deep breath. "When I was three, Fred and George locked me in that shed for a joke… and it's crawling with spiders… I couldn't see them at first but they started crawling all over me and made me start to panic, and I got bit a couple of times, had to go to St Mungo's to make sure none of them were poisonous."

Harriet grimaced at the thought. She didn't mind spiders much; she'd gotten used to them from living in the cupboard under the stairs. But she had no problem imagining how traumatic that would have been to a three-year-old.

"Oh Ronnie, I'm sorry," Harriet said. Ginny sat on the other side of Ronnie putting an arm around her shoulder the other way.

Ronnie sniffed again. As she did, Harriet suddenly had a suspicion about Ronnie having never shown much real interest in flying or Quidditch, or sneaking out to fly as Ginny had alluded to doing. It wasn't so much Fred and George not letting her join in; it was Ronnie's fear of spiders. She didn't want to go near the broom shed, ever.

The rest of the week went much the same. Despite the awkward ending to the first game, Ronnie was okay with playing further adventures, although on the condition that the broom shed was not be used. They also expanded the games to the little paddock on the hill behind the Weasley house where usually Fred, George, their older brother Charlie, and now Harriet would practice Quidditch.

Harriet and Ginny continued to help Ronnie with her football practice too. Harriet was pleased to find she was improving as they played that week too, and she managed to score on Ronnie once. However, this made Harriet nervous, as Ronnie seemed to be very hard on herself for having let the goal in and had a harder time blocking them after that.

During breakfast Friday morning Hedwig flew in through the kitchen window, carrying six letters and looking immensely pleased with herself.

"Hedwig! She's got everyone's replies!" Harriet said and stroked Hedwig's back gently in thanks before taking the letters from her. Hedwig then flew up to the perch that the Weasley family owl, Errol, was sleeping on. Hedwig landed as softly as possible so as not to wake the old owl before she puffed up her feathers and stuck her head under her wing, clearly tired from her nearly week-long mission.

Harriet smiled at Hedwig and looked back at the letters, pondering who's to open first. She decided on Hermione's. Harriet found the letter fairly predictable. Hermione seemed torn between being glad that Harriet had been rescued from the Dursleys, and being more than a little disapproving that Fred, George, Ronnie and Ginny had flown an illegal car to do it. She also said how she and Marcus were going to both be in Diagon Alley the upcoming Wednesday, and hoped Harriet and the Weasleys could meet up there too.

Scott's letter was in the same vein as Hermione's, even saying how he and Kieran were planning on going to Diagon Alley on Wednesday to meet up with Hermione and Marcus as well.

"Well that would work out nicely," Mrs Weasley said overhearing Harriet telling Ronnie about this. "I'll see if Arthur can get the day off that day and we can all go as a family. You all should be getting your letters any day now with your book lists."

Harriet smiled even more. She was going to get to see all of her friends before school started.

Marcus' letter deviated considerably from Hermione and Scott's. In his, he expressed anger (which Harriet had predicted) at the Dursleys as well a bit of envy at having taken a ride in a flying car. However, whereas Harriet had imagined Marcus would have burned down the door to Harriet's bedroom, Marcus' actual desire seemed to be to set the Dursley's whole house on fire. Harriet shook her head but smiled affectionately and moved on to Hagrid's letter.

In his letter, Hagrid had much the same anger as Marcus, saying how if he had known what was going on he would have turned up and finished the job he'd started on Harriet's eleventh birthday with Dudley's pigtail. This time, however, he said he would make sure he turned the rest of the family in the pigs they were too. Even though Harriet appreciated Hagrid's indignation on her part, she had to admit she was glad now that Hagrid had not gotten such word.

Kieran's, predictably, was the mildest of the letters. He merely expressed his relief that Harriet was safe and that nothing terrible had happened to her, how he'd been worried after not hearing from her for so long, and he hoped she could go to Diagon Alley too. Something in Kieran's letter made her smile even more compared to the others. He was such a nice guy, just happy that Harriet was safe, and that was all that had mattered to him. Not revenge, just happy that she was okay.

Finally, Harriet opened Dora's letter. Harriet was the most nervous about opening Dora's letter considering that a little over a month ago Dora had helped Harriet stop Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher's Stone. As a result, Dora's still living ancestor and creator of the Stone, Nicolas Flamel, had the Stone destroyed. This meant that without the Stone's Elixir of Life, Nicolas and Perenelle would finally die.

Even though Dora had said that she and Harriet were now friends, and had cheered Gryffindor House winning the House Cup despite being a Slytherin (which meant they were supposed to hate each other on principle), Harriet was still nervous that the death of her relatives would make Dora resentful. However, whatever Harriet had expected to read in Dora's letter, she was wrong.

Dear Harriet,

My Muggle uncle runs a pest control company. It would be awful if some Formosan termites found their way into your aunt and uncle's home, wouldn't it?

Lots of love,

Dora

Harriet laughed at first but then stopped. Dora was only kidding, wasn't she? Harriet handed the letter to Ronnie, and her face immediately broke into a dark grin.

"You don't think she's serious, do you?" Harriet asked under her breath.

Ronnie just shrugged and handed Harriet back the letter. Harriet bit her lip in thought when six more owls fluttered into the window one after the other, each dropping a letter into a little pile on the table. Harriet picked hers up. It was indeed their Hogwarts letters.

"Ah there they are, I told you they would be coming," Mrs Weasley beamed.

Harriet tore hers open. The letter was full of the usual information: the train leaving from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, robe requirements, et cetera. However, the book list made her blink in astonishment.

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holiday with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

"Gilderoy Lockhart?" Harriet asked trying to remember where she'd heard the name before.

"What's that dear?" Mrs Weasley asked, and Ronnie groaned.

"Our book lists, Mum, we've all been set to get seven of Lockhart's books this year," Ronnie said miserably, and Ginny bit her lip looking up at her mother anxiously. "Each."

Mrs Weasley turned and looked at them curiously. "Really?"

Ronnie held up her list, and Mrs Weasley took it, her face seeming to fall with every line she read.

"Who's Gilderoy Lockhart?" Harriet asked Ginny under her breath. Ginny nodded towards the kitchen counter, where a book was propped up against the wall. There was a very handsome wizard on the cover, who had wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes, with flashing, pure white teeth that shone brightly. As with all other pictures in the Wizarding world, the man was moving and winking roguishly up at them all. Above his head was the title: Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Fantastic and Fabulous Feasts.

"He's a cook?" Harriet asked curiously.

"Oh no dear!" Mrs Weasley said looking flustered. "He's wonderful! One of the brightest wizards of the day! He's done and seen and written books on everything!"

"Mum fancies him," Ginny muttered.

"Don't be silly, Ginny," Mrs Weasley snapped, having overheard.

Ronnie snorted into her porridge and Ginny rolled her eyes at Harriet who returned a surreptitious smile before she looked back at her list. The professor who had set all these books must have been a fan as well, Harriet thought and looked up as Fred and George finally came down.

"Morning all," Fred said as they took their seats and Mrs Weasley started serving them breakfast too.

"Ah, book lists in eh?" George said, snatching up his letter and tearing it open. George read and his eyebrows climbed higher and higher up his forehead as his eyes moved down the booklist. George whistled.

"Blimey, all of Lockhart's dark arts books? That's gonna cost a knut and a half…" George muttered.

"Really?" Fred asked tearing his letter open too. Fred whistled too and looked up at Harriet, Ginny and Ronnie. "Did you three have to get all his books too?"

Harriet nodded. Fred sighed. "Six copies of seven Lockhart books for five of us…"

"We-we'll manage dears," Mrs Weasley said gently, taking their letters.

Harriet felt her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach. In her vault at Gringotts in Diagon Alley was a large pile of gold that Harriet had inherited from her parents. The Weasleys were not so lucky. Harriet tried to look oblivious as she, Ronnie and Ginny got to their feet. Fred and George looked up at Harriet.

"Oh, Harriet, had a question, since Ronnie's got team practice this afternoon, did you wanna practice Quidditch with us this afternoon?" Fred asked.

Harriet looked at Ronnie who rolled her eyes. "Of course, Harriet, you've gotta practice Quidditch too! Gotta keep being the best Seeker Hogwarts ever had somehow."

Harriet blushed.

Saturday afternoon came, and all of the Weasleys (minus Percy) headed down to the village. Harriet smiled with excitement. She had never seen a proper football match before, and going to watch her best friend play made it even better.

As they walked, Harriet couldn't help but notice that Ronnie's face already had the same look of determination on it that Ronnie always had when they practised. Harriet hooked her arm in Ronnie's and gave it a little squeeze. Ronnie gave Harriet a nervous little smile and squeezed back as they kept walking. Harriet tried not to seem worried about her friend. She knew Ronnie's confidence issues and wanted her friend to do well.

Harriet was glad that Fred and George were coming as well. Given the animosity that seemed to still be just below the surface between them, Harriet thought it was a nice gesture on their part to come out and support her. Ginny kept saying words of encouragement to her older sister, and Mr Weasley put his arm around her shoulder.

"Just remember honey, no matter what happens, know you did your best, and we'll always love you, and have fun, that's what counts," Mr Weasley said, smiling down at her warmly.

"Thanks, Daddy," Ronnie said back.

Harriet had to smile to herself. No matter how independent and tough Ronnie pretended to be at Hogwarts or elsewhere, Harriet had learned very quickly this week that Ronnie was "Daddy's little girl" through and through. Harriet supposed that the mess-up over Ronnie's name had something to do with it, but she found it adorable anyway.

Finally, they arrived at the pitch. By the looks of things, most of the town had turned out to watch the two teams. As she looked around, Harriet had to wonder how many of the other families there were also witches and wizards. Though Harriet then had to remind herself that football wasn't very popular in the Wizarding world. The only others she'd heard talk about it had been Dean and Marcus, who had grown up in Muggle homes like her. In fact, they were the ones who had given Ronnie her love of football in the first place.

However, Harriet was proven wrong when Mr Weasley greeted another man who Harriet thought could only be a wizard given his odd style of dress. He had long blonde hair that came down past his shoulders and was wearing a strange sort of ankle-length, patchwork overcoat that looked like it was made from pieces of old brown and white carpets, a gaudy red and blue knitted shirt, dirty white pyjama pants and brown slippers.

There was also a girl with him that looked to be about Ginny's age, who could only be his daughter. She had long blonde hair as well and was wearing a bright yellow sun-dress over blue Capri-style pants and red high-top trainers. At the sight of them, Ginny beamed. She and Harriet wished Ronnie good luck as Ronnie went to join her team before she led Harriet over to the little family.

"Hi, Mr Lovegood! Hi Luna!" Ginny said in greeting.

"Ahhh hello youngest Miss Weasley," said the man named Mr Lovegood. If odd, he seemed like a warm, genial man to Harriet as he smiled down at them both.

"Hello Ginny, it is nice to see you here," the girl named Luna said before she turned her large, grey eyes on Harriet. "And it's nice to meet you, Harriet Potter."

Harriet felt her eyes widen at the declaration. Unlike everyone else Harriet had met in the magical world Luna hadn't looked for Harriet's scar (which she was covering with her bangs) before recognising her. The girl's voice was sort of dreamy, though oddly matter-of-fact.

Mr Lovegood turned at the mention of Harriet's name and gave her a scrutinising look. "By Jove! So it is! Harriet Potter, it is an honour to meet you!" Mr Lovegood said, shaking Harriet's hand eagerly.

"Shhhhhh," hissed Mr Weasley, looking around at the rest of the families filling up the seats and the sidelines. "Don't go shouting that about too much, Xeno," Mr Weasley said.

"Sorry Arthur, sorry you just, well you obviously know what an honour it is for any of us to finally meet the girl who lived, eh?" Mr Lovegood said beaming.

"Th-thanks, Mr Lovegood," Harriet said feeling unaccountably nervous, "it's very nice to meet you too."

Mr Lovegood continued to beam while the girl, Luna, merely played absent-mindedly with her hair and watched Ronnie's team stretching and practising.

"Ronnie is quite good you know? She puts her all into playing, but I think she tries too hard sometimes, she wants to prove herself too much," Luna said.

"Er, yeah, I, I guess," Harriet said uncomfortably. Luna didn't seem to notice, just kept watching the players lazily.

From the middle of the field, the head referee finally gave a whistle to signal that the game was about to start. The fans and families all started heading towards the make-shift wooden stands sitting and waving excitedly to their kids on the field. The teams were co-ed, and it made Harriet rather impressed at her friend that she had managed to make goalkeeper when there looked to be others much taller on the team that Harriet thought would be better suited at first sight as they had longer reaches.

However, by the end of the match, Harriet found she had been proven dead wrong. Whatever worries Harriet had that Ronnie would start to lose focus if she let in a goal had been baseless it seemed, as Ronnie didn't let in a single goal. However, the day turned out to be bitter-sweet, as two-thirds of the way into the match Ronnie was getting tired and so her coach pulled her and sent in their reserve goalie. The new goalie ended up letting in two goals, which resulted in a tie at the end of the match and it was called a draw.

Harriet felt a little bitter that the coach had pulled Ronnie like that, but Mr Weasley shook his head and to Harriet's surprise, was smiling.

"No, no, Harriet, the coach did Ronnie a favour. He thinks Ronnie has a lot of potential, so he pulled her when she was getting tired before she let in a goal to keep her stats up. Ronnie hasn't let a goal in all summer; he wants her to get noticed," Mr Weasley explained.

Harriet nodded looking back at Ronnie who was walking toward them. It may have helped Ronnie individually, but it certainly didn't seem to have improved her morale. She looked miserable as Harriet ran up and hugged her.

"You were great, Ronnie!" Harriet declared as Ginny walked up beaming.

"Thanks," was all Ronnie muttered as Ginny reached up to tussle Ronnie's already messy hair.

"You really were, sis, you didn't let in a single goal," Ginny said soothingly.

"We would have won if I hadn't worn myself out so fast," Ronnie retorted miserably.

"You were, you know?" drifted the dreamy sounding voice of Luna Lovegood. "Why is it your fault the backup goalkeeper didn't play as well as you did even when you did get tired? That's something to be proud of."

Without another word, Luna walked off to rejoin her father, and they both started heading off down the road in the opposite direction from the Burrow. Ronnie blinked after her and muttered "Barking," under her breath as Ginny giggled.

"There's my girl!" Mr Weasley said making his way over and lifting Ronnie up off the ground as he gave her a giant bear-hug.

Ronnie groaned at the tightness of the embrace. "Daddy! Put me down!" Ronnie demanded though Harriet couldn't help but notice she was smiling now too.

Ronnie's coach came over, and he and Mr Weasley shook hands, both talking animatedly about Ronnie and her prospects. Harriet wanted to listen in to this conversation, but she felt a tug on her arm and saw Ronnie pulling her nervously away.

"What is it?" Harriet asked in confusion.

"Just come on," Ronnie said, and Harriet shrugged and followed with Ginny. They ducked through the little crowd, one after the other before finally breaking out the other side and running towards a thicket of trees. Harriet and Ginny were panting once they finally got there and they both looked up at Ronnie curiously.

"What was that about?" Ginny asked.

Ronnie didn't respond right away, merely picked up a stick and threw it in a long helicoptering arc towards another tree, which it hit dead on and spiralled off into the underbrush.

"Boys," Ronnie muttered. "They try and talk to me after every game."

"So?" Ginny asked, bemused. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Again Ronnie didn't answer right away. She merely shrugged.

"Doesn't matter, anyway, thanks for coming you two," Ronnie said, changing the subject.

Harriet smiled. "Oh come on, Ronnie, you're my best friend, of course, I'm going to come watch you play."

Ronnie nodded and looked up at Harriet before she finally smiled.