2 The First Lunch Break
Everyone was leaving the living room to take a dinner break.
"Those were some pretty good impressions Ginny" Harry praised her for her imitations of the hat and McGonagall hoping she wouldn't revert to the Ginny Weasley he had to deal with in his second year.
"Thanks" she said.
"Harry" Fred and George chorused.
"Tell your Mum I'll be there shortly" Harry told Ginny before walking up to the twins. "What's up guys?"
"The fact that you…"
"…stopped our singing the school song" the twins told him.
"There a reason?" Fred asked.
"Not really" Harry said, his cheeks getting a pink tint to them though he was unaware of this as he thought of the look he had given them when they had attempted to join Ginny's singing the school song. "She has a good singing voice I didn't want drowned out."
"Sure" the twins said in a knowing tone.
"Well Harry" Fred said.
"You've always been like a brother to us" George said.
"So if you ever decide to date Ginny…"
"…you have our blessing."
"And if Bill, Charlie, and Ron don't like it,"
"Just let us know."
"And we'll deal with them."
"Me and Ginny? A couple?" Harry asked "She's just now being able to talk to me without blushing."
"Are you three coming or what?" a cold yet smooth voice they recognized as Snape came.
The three jumped and turned but saw Ginny laughing at them.
"You should have seen your faces" she laughed.
The four went to the kitchen and Harry made himself comfortable between Ron and Hermione.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"What? I can't be friends with the rest of your family?" Harry joked as Molly placed the cooked food on the table.
Everyone ate while discussing in various groups what they were thinking of the books.
"These books are evil." Ron said. "Nobody was supposed to know all these things."
"I agree. Imagine how I feel. These are MY thoughts and even then some are exaggerated." Harry agreed.
"C'mon guys." Hermione said. "At least this will help the adults understand what all we've been through. Maybe then they'll see us as more than children."
"You'll be on our side before long." Harry declared.
"And why is that?" she asked.
"You lying about the troll." Ron said.
"My first Quidditch match." He told her.
"Fluffy"
"Norbert"
"Need we go on?"
Hermione gulped as she eyed the group of professors who were having their own conversation.
Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, Molly and Arthur were gathered today having their own private conversation.
"Had I known Mr. Longbottom had such a hard time coming into his magic, I would have had more patience." McGonagall sighed.
"Well, we know there's hope for him." Flitwick said. "They say that the longer it takes for the magic to come in, the longer it takes for the full potential to show."
"How does THAT show hope?" Snape asked.
"Because Mr. Longbottom hasn't reached it yet." Flitwick said. "When he does, I believe we can see a vast improvement. Providing a certain someone doesn't keep scaring the boy, Severus."
"And it's not just your behavior towards Mr. Longbottom." Sprout added her two knuts. "You hadn't even spoken one word to Harry and already he knew you didn't like him."
"I honestly don't see where you see James in him other than looks." McGonagall said. "Now, maybe if he HAD been raised amongst wizards then perhaps more of James would be apparent. That boy is too modest for his own good."
"Which is why I placed him with the muggles." Dumbledore explained.
"Yes Albus. He may not have been spoiled but he wasn't exactly treated as part of the family either. Locked in a cupboard while his pig of a cousin had TWO bedrooms! The muggles tried to stamp out the magic! We're luckily he wasn't damaged anymore than he was. It's no wonder the boy is so skinny!"
"I admit that I probably should have listened to Arabella a bit more when she stated her concern about what was going on and at least made it look as if we were spying on them." Dumbledore said. "Especially when I had another person who reported a few concerns."
"You had other people spying on Harry?" Arthur asked.
"I didn't ask this person to." Dumbledore said looking over at Remus.
"Remus?" Molly asked.
"Unfortunately, due to the wards and his lycanthropy, he couldn't get too close." Dumbledore said.
In the group that Remus was in,
He, Moody, Tonks, and Sirius were in their own little group.
"I don't know guys. I get reading books 1 through 4, but 5, 6, and 7? They haven't happened yet."
"Exactly!" Sirius argued. "We could change a few details. Such as people dying."
"Maybe we can even find hints on how to clear your name." Tonks suggested.
"I like that." Sirius said. "Then I can get another place to live and get Harry out of this hell house"
"But what if the way to have a good result is for one of the bad actions to take effect?" Remus asked.
"That's why we read the entire series." Moody said. "When flipping through them, I noticed the epilogue for the seventh book is 19 years after the last event of the main plot for book 7. Long term effects will be seen."
"Scared you'll see something you won't like?" Sirius teased Remus.
"Yeah. Me biting one of the kids." Remus said.
Sirius groaned an banged his head on the table.
"You WON'T!" Sirius exclaimed. "Those kids know better by now. And those that weren't there will know by the third book's end. Personally, I'm interested in getting to know Harry better. Already I've learned a lot: he's had a crappy childhood he needs to redo, that damned hat nearly put him in Slytherin, and he, Ron, and Hermione weren't B.F.F's straight on the train."
"Not to mention that a certain someone was a fan girl." Tonks said smirking towards Ginny who was in a conversation with her brothers.
"That's another thing I'm looking forward too. Seeing Harry's love life."
Over at the table with the Weasley kids minus Ron,
"Perhaps a hat would be the best bet." Ginny told the twins. "You can have a band around it and that band could be the color the hair changes."
"Either that or mix it up a bit. Like a blue hat could hold pink dye. Just have them random." Charlie suggested.
"You know, if Mum knew what we're talking about, she'd kill us?" Bill stated.
"We know." His younger siblings chorused.
"Just making sure." Bill said. "You two also might want to talk to Harry about other accidental magic moments"
"But wait until we're done with the books." Charlie told the twins.
"Of course." Fred agreed.
"We're not stupid." George said.
"Harry's going to have more mood swings than Mum does during her time of the month when we're acting up and Harry's around."
"Are you comparing Harry to our mother?" Ginny asked.
"Well, we could have gone with Lupin and bringing up the mood swings he has as the moon changes." Fred said.
"But he's not nearly as dangerous as Mum."
"And the only other option was you and…"
"…as previously stated, we're not stupid."
"You have a mean bat-boogy hex."
"We know not to mess with our ickle Gin-Gin." George finished while pinching Ginny's cheek.
She grabbed his wrist and twisted it back
"Never. Pinch. My. Cheek. Again." She growled.
"Yes Mum" George gritted.
She kicked him in the shin for that.
Everyone turned to her at hearing George's cry of pain.
"Don't mess with the little sister." She said buffing her nails on her jumper.