Chapter 8 – Harry and the Weasley Den
Author's Note: Chapter 8 is up! It is the longest chapter yet! Shoutout to the new followers: Heart of a Lion in this story and Pastel dumpster and Silvey777 for the Legend of the Stone!
Author's Answer to the latest review from The Lonely Geek: Don't worry! Andrew will lose his perfect streak, mainly starting halfway this year and peaking on the next two. And the answer to the second part:
Author's Note 2: The Cover Competition for the two stories is STILL ACTIVE! If interested, send me a PM through my profile to give you the info.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter or its universe is not under my ownership.
Anthony, Andrew and Harry went to have a quick lunch before returning to the house. When they got there, Andrew went upstairs. He checked his personal bookshelf and collected some books.
"Harry, sit down and read these books. I found them at the second hand book shop back at Diagon Alley."
Andrew handed Harry a book called: "The Wizengamot: History and Procedures". He quickly opened it and started to read.
The Wizengamot is wizarding Britain's high court of law and parliament. It predates the Ministry of Magic itself, dating back to the days of the medieval Wizards' Council. It has been in activity since, at least, 1707, when the Ministry of Magic was established, the Wizengamot was incorporated into the newly-created Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Its administrative headquarters are located in said department, whilst the trials take place in the dungeons of the lower levels.
The first Minister for Magic, Ulick Gamp, had previously been Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is currently holding the position of the Wizengamot, and nearly half of the 20th century.
It is made up of around fifty members. The process for selecting members is unclear, though the Minister for Magic appears to have some power over the final selection. Aside from the judges and the Head Warlock, there is a Court Scribe that records the proceedings while the Wizengamot is in session. The Minister for Magic, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE), all have been known to attend significant trials and hearings.
There is also the Council of Wizarding Families, a branch of the Wizengamot. It is composed of families that have the Most Ancient and Noble, Most Ancient or Most Noble titles. Depending on the time they have held the family title, it is how the quantity of votes that they are determined to use. Some of the families that are currently in the Council are: Abbott, Bones, Crabbe, Crouch, Davies, Diggory, Dumbledore, Goyle, Greengrass, Longbottom, MacMillan, Malfoy, McGonagall, Nott, Parkinson, Potter, Prince, Rivers, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Smith, Travers and Urquhart. Currently dormant houses are the Founders houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin), the Black and Lestrange families (due to the heads being imprisoned), Prewett family (due to being a patriarchal line and the only survivor is female), and the Weasley family.
"That is a lot of information! I didn't know that my family had a chair in the Council!" Harry exclaimed, eyes rising from reading the book.
"Yeah you do. The one holding the vote for the Potter chair is Dumbledore himself, acting as a proxy until you turn 15, as you are an orphan. Otherwise you would've been eligible at 17 or when your predecessor, in your case, the late James Potter, retired. In my case, Grandpa Louis has our chair. In Nev's case, Augusta has the chair due to Frank Longbottom being incapacitated." Andrew explained.
Andrew and Harry kept talking about what Harry was reading; slowly processing the information he would sure need in the future.
Meanwhile…
Neville was dreading the talk with his grandmother. He knew he didn't do anything bad, but the unexpectedness of her reaction had him on edge. He approached the tea room, where Augusta was waiting for him. He knocked and he heard her answer.
"Come in, Neville."
Neville opened the door and approached the chair next to her grandmother.
"Please, sit down. We have to talk."
Neville sat down, looking at his feet nervously. Augusta was watching him like a hawk.
"So, my dear grandson, what happened at the end of last term that you had to stop Anthony's kid from talking?"
Neville stuttered the whole story, starting from after falling on Flying class up until the Quirrell chase. Her expressions were turning grimmer by the minute. Neville finished the story, nearly wheezing for air. He tried to say everything in one sitting, as Hermione would've done.
She stood up, walked towards the window and placed her hand at the windowsill. She sighed deeply.
"Neville, you were scared that I would've gotten angry at you because of it?" Augusta questioned.
"Y-y-yes, Gran." Neville answered meekly.
She sighed again. "Although some of the things you five did were indeed reckless, I am proud of you that even with your limitations and your self-doubts, you helped them incredibly." She walked and placed her slightly wrinkly hand on her grandson's cheek. "I am proud of you, dear."
Neville's head nearly unhinged from his neck when he raised his head to see his grandma, flabbergasted. He did not expect the outcome. He then stood up and he hugged her tightly, which she returned tenderly.
The Longbottoms let go of the hug and then the strongheaded matriarch walked to the door. She called behind him:
"What are you waiting for? Let's tell Lunker and the other elves to pack your stuff and to make our dinner, and I'll tell them to do your favorite plates."
Neville rose from the chair and followed his Gran off to the Dining Hall.
At the Rivers residence…
The Rivers plus Harry had a great meal, this time done by Anthony himself. After finishing, they went to the living room, waiting for Neville to come by Floo. At quarter past eight, the fireplace flashed green and Augusta and Neville appeared.
"Thanks for hosting Neville for the night. He has everything prepared for the new school term, except the books and some other extra needs." Augusta said warmly. She turned to Neville. "I expect you to do well during your stay at the Weasleys. I will see you on September 1st at King's Cross. I will visit Algie and Enid at their summer home in Spain." She patted Neville's left cheek sweetly and left through the Floo once more.
Andrew, Tony and Harry helped Neville stay at the guest room where Harry was staying and after much talking, the teens went to sleep. That morning, Harry, Neville, and Andrew waited by the entrance of the house for the Weasleys to come and pick them up. Their school trunks and the cages of Hedwig and Odin respectively were piled up neatly.
A swift knock on the door and Andrew opened the door. Four redheads were standing outside.
"Hey Andy! Hey Neville! Hey Harry! Glad to see you mates!"
Ron Weasley, his twin brothers Fred and George were greeting them with big smiles.
Mr. Weasley was standing next to a blue Ford Anglia with his glasses off and his eyes focused on cleaning the lenses. He was a thin man, going bald, but the little hair he had was as red as any of his children's. He was wearing long green robes, which were dusty and travel-worn.
"Hello Mr. Potter, Mr. Rivers, Mr. Longbottom. My name is Arthur Weasley, nice to meet you." Mr. Weasley shook their hands vigorously.
With the combined effort of Mr. Weasley and Mr. Rivers, Harry's, Andrew's and Neville's trunks were placed in the car's oddly wide trunk. Andrew's curiosity got the best of him and asked Mr. Weasley.
"Um, excuse me, Mr. Weasley?"
"Yes, Andrew?"
"Why the car's trunk is so big? It's not normal… Did you apply an expansion charm?"
Mr. Weasley smiled. "As sharp as Ron and the twins say… Yes, I applied an extension charm. It's hard to fit all of the members of my family in one vehicle, don't you think?"
Mr. Rivers was a bit proud at his son's observational skills yet something stroked him as odd.
"An expansion charm? You know that those are regulated, Arthur. Did you submit that paperwork?" Anthony asked critically.
Arthur Weasley's ears turned reddish pink, a signature sign of the Weasley clan that showed that they are either under pressure, embarrassed or repressing anger. In this case, Arthur's face was more of embarrassment.
"O-of course I did, Anthony? I AM a Ministry worker and a Head of Department too… I'm not like some others that skip basic procedures…"
Anthony laughed at Arthur's reaction. "Relax Arthur, I was joking!"
"I'm glad Andrew had got you out of the Dursleys and we came to get you for the rest of the summer, anyway," said Ron. "I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first –"
"Who's Errol?"
"Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes — "
"Who?"
"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," said Fred from the front.
"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," said Ron. "Said he needed him."
"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said George, frowning. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room... I mean, there are only so many times you can polish a prefect badge..."
"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?"
"He works in the most boring department," said Ron. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."
"The what?"
"Ronald, it's not the most boring department." Mr. Weasley chided to his youngest son. "It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare — I was working overtime for weeks."
"What happened?"
"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose. I was going frantic — it's only me and an old warlock called Perkins in the office — and we had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up —"
"Oh, we're here!" Ron exclaimed. Harry, Neville and Andrew peered through the enlarged window. It was an enormous brick house, with a lovely porch painted in white, a very fancy fence and a wide driveway. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.
They got out of the car.
Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind- faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a saber-toothed tiger.
"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said. "Come in and have some breakfast."
She kissed her husband and turned and walked back into the house and Harry, after a nervous glance at Ron, who nodded encouragingly, followed her.
The kitchen was a bit bigger than the Dursleys. There was a long wooden table and chairs in the middle, and Harry sat down on the edge of his seat, looking around. He had never been in a real wizard house before. Andrew's house didn't count much since it was in a Muggle suburb.
The clock on the wall opposite him had only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around the edge were things like Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late. Books were stacked three deep on the mantelpiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts — It's Magic! And unless Harry's ears were deceiving him, the old radio next to the sink had just announced that coming up was "Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."
"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Harry, tipping eight or nine sausages onto his plate. "Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday." She was now adding three fried eggs to his plate, and then, she flicked her wand casually at the dishes in the sink, which began to clean themselves, clinking gently in the background.
At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small, redheaded figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again, a door being slammed shut nearby.
"Ginny," said Ron in an undertone to Harry. "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer."
"Yeah, she'll want your autograph, Harry, and even more since her birthday is tomorrow!" Fred said with a grin, but he caught his mother's eye and bent his face over his plate without another word. Nothing more was said until all six plates were clean, which took a surprisingly short time.
"Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Harry as Mrs. Weasley swelled like a bullfrog. "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom."
They slipped out of the kitchen, passed the foyer and down the hallway with a staircase on the end. On the third door in that same hallway, a door stood ajar. Harry just caught sight of a pair of bright brown eyes staring at him before it closed with a snap.
"Ginny," said Ron. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally — "
They climbed two more flights until they reached a door with a small plaque on it, saying RONALD'S ROOM.
Harry, Andrew and Neville stepped in, and blinked. It was like walking into a furnace: Nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the walls, even the ceiling. Then Harry realized that Ron had covered nearly every inch of the shabby wallpaper with posters of the same seven witches and wizards, all wearing bright orange robes, carrying broomsticks, and waving energetically.
"Your Quidditch team?" said Harry.
"The Chudley Cannons," said Ron, pointing at the orange bedspread, which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball. "Ninth in the league."
"Harry, do note that the British Quidditch League has currently nine teams, so the Cannons are in last place, like always…"
Ron's ears flushed red and threw a pillow towards Andy's face, hitting him. Andrew poked his tongue out childishly.
Ron's school spellbooks were stacked untidily in a bookshelf, next to a pile of comics that all seemed to feature The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. Ron's magic wand was lying on top of a fish tank full of frog spawn on the windowsill. Harry stepped over a pack of Self-Shuffling playing cards on the floor and looked out of the window.
A shed was placed around 15 feet away from the manor, a large paddock where the Weasley kids flew their broomsticks, and next to it a rather large vegetable garden, in which the House Elf was currently working at. It was tugging at the ground, when suddenly, Tipper fell on his butt with a very long carrot in its hands.
Harry, grinning widely, said, "This is the best magical house I've ever been in." Andrew and Neville nodded at their friend's words.
Ron's ears went pink. Andrew approached the bookshelf and organized it neatly, by subject, and then he placed the comic books in order.
"Much better! Ronald, you should clean up a bit more, because then, someone would think that a troll lives in this room." Andrew drawled.
Harry and Neville sniggered at Andrew's words
The Weasley boys led Harry, Neville and Andrew to their rooms. Neville and Harry would be sharing one while Andrew had one for himself. They dropped their belongings and returned to Harry's room.
Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and how he told the elf he'd consider his warning. There was a long, shocked silence when he had finished.
"Very fishy," said Fred finally.
"Definitely dodgy," agreed George. "So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"
"I don't think he could," said Harry. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall."
He saw Ron, Andrew, Neville, Fred and George look at each other.
"What, you think he was lying to me?" said Harry.
"Well," said Fred, "put it this way — house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"
"Yes," said the four other together, instantly.
"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me."
"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"
"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry. "Why?"
"I've heard Dad talking about him," said George. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."
"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craning around to look at Harry, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung — Dad reckons he was right in You-Know- Who's inner circle."
Harry had heard these rumors about Malfoy's family before, and they didn't surprise him at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy.
"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf..." said Harry.
"Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll be rich," said Fred.
"Yeah, Mum's always had wished we had a house-elf to do the ironing," said George. "But all we've had was a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden back at the Burrow. House-elves come with big old manors like this one and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch one in our old house..."
Harry was silent. Judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy usually had the best of everything, his family was rolling in wizard gold; he could just see Malfoy strutting around a large manor house. Sending the family servant to stop Harry from going back to Hogwarts also sounded exactly like the sort of thing Malfoy would do. Had Harry been stupid to take Dobby seriously?
They kept talking until dinnertime was announced by Tipper, and then proceeded to the dining room. It had an even more ornate table, with a regal chandelier on it. It seems that Nicolas Flamel didn't go by simple. Harry was astounded at the quantity of pictures of the Weasley Family that were hung on the wall and Andrew noticed a peculiar looking clock.
It had nine hands and in the hands it had a small picture of each of the Weasley members, the two longest were Mrs. and Mr. Weasley's, followed by Bill, the eldest son, Charlie, the dragonologist, Percy the prefect, the prankster twins, Ron's and the shortest was for the youngest and the only female child, Ginny. Around the clock, there were phrases instead of numbers. Phrases such as Work, School, Lost, Traveling, Home and where the 12 would be placed was Mortal Peril.
Mrs. Weasley and Tipper had outdone themselves with the large and mouthwatering dinner they had made for them. Ron, as usual, was eating like if someone were to take his food away, Percy and Andrew were having a small conversation about his electives and Prefectship, Harry and Neville were laughing at the antics made by the twins, Ginny all shy, while her mother patted her cheek endearingly and the Weasley patriarch was glad at the family time.
After eating some treacle tart for dessert, Molly shooed the kids to their respective rooms. Ginny, Percy, Neville and Harry went to their respective rooms, the twins stayed at the second floor landing while Ron and Andrew continued to the third floor. Ron said his good nights to Andy and shut the door behind him. The Ravenclaw walked slowly towards his room and sat on the bed, collected the Potions notebook he had and read some of the annotations he had made, until he was too groggy to continue and fell asleep with his notebook on his chest.
The next morning, Tipper was waking everyone in the household per Molly's orders. As Andrew stretched up and grabbed a change of clothes, he took a quick shower, cleaned his teeth and changed into the cleaner clothing. He reentered the bedroom, dropped the dirty clothes and picked up his glasses and the notebook that had fallen to the floor and went downstairs for breakfast.
At the table, he sat next to a nervous Ginny. She was sneaking looks at Harry without him noticing, yet Andrew noticed it.
"So, it seems you fancy little Harry, eh Ginny?"
Ginny squeaked out of embarrassment and her face turned the usual Weasley red.
"N-n-n-no…" Ginny stammered.
"I know you do. Relax, I won't tell him." Andrew whispered. "By the way, my name is Andrew Rivers. Nice to meetcha!"
Ginny greeted him and relaxed a bit more. She even talked to him without any insecurity.
Arthur then left the dinner table, grabbed the cloak from the coat hanger, kissed his wife and said goodbyes to his children and he left to work. Molly then gave the kids a round of hot cocoa and Tipper produced some chocolate chip cookies for them. Ron started grabbing them like a madman until the matriarch bonked him on the head with the wooden spoon. Everyone laughed at Ron's embarrassing moment. Then, everyone left the room to sleep.
The next morning, Andrew woke up early. He went to the bathroom just in front of his room before Ron woke up. He took a lukewarm shower and relaxed. He dried himself and started to clean his teeth, when he heard a knock on the bathroom door.
"Andrew, is that you?" Molly said. "We'll be waiting you on the kitchen. Please wake up Ronald on the way down." Her steps faltered away from the door. He finished quickly and promptly went to Ron's door and knocked on it.
"Ron, wake up! Your mother called for breakfast!"
He heard a clunk and an "OW!" at the other side. Andrew laughed at Ron's reaction. He picked up his notebook and left to the kitchen. When he got there, Harry, Neville, Fred, George, Ginny and Percy were already there. Ron came tumbling downstairs a few seconds later, still in his pajamas.
Molly started serving breakfast while Tipper placed the forks and knives. Suddenly, the door opened and saw Mr. Weasley come in, with a tired look on his face. He plunked on the first chair and drew a long, tired breath.
"What a night," he mumbled, groping for the teapot as they all sat down around him. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned..."
Mr. Weasley took a long gulp of tea and sighed. Mrs. Weasley placed a plate with breakfast in front of her husband, which he smiled at.
"Find anything, Dad?" said Fred eagerly.
"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," yawned Mr. Weasley. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness. ..."
"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?" said George.
"Just Muggle-baiting," sighed Mr. Weasley. "Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it... Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking — they'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face..."
"Arthur, after you eat your breakfast, go take a nap and then we will finish cleaning the Burrow." Molly said tenderly.
"Sure will, Molly." Arthur stood up and went to the living room, and took his well-deserved nap.
At noon, the Weasley clan plus Andrew, Harry and Neville were going inside the enchanted Ford Anglia. They exited their manor grounds and went westward, towards Ottery St. Catchpole. They went into the village and then he took a right, through a rocky and disheveled path until they reached a stone fence. Arthur turned off the car and everyone was going out. Andrew, Harry and Neville were mystified by what they were seeing.
It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic (which, Harry reminded himself, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance read, THE BURROW.
"So, this was your previous residence?" asked Neville.
"Yeah, pretty weird looking, eh?" Fred said. George sniggered slightly after hitting his twin brother on the back of his head because of the offhanded comment.
"But at least we had somewhere to live in. Something we could call ours." Ron smiled wistfully, while his mother patted his head at the beautiful words her son spoke.
"You're right Ron. We didn't possibly have the luxuries and the commodities we have now but we had each other and love never waned in our family." She said joyously, but with tearful eyes.
The Weasley clan, Harry, Andrew and Neville entered the house. It looked somewhat bare without all of their belongings in place. They packed the remaining items in the boxes that were piled up in the kitchen and Molly directed them outside to degnome and weed out the garden. After some while, they cleaned a bit and they returned home to rest.
