CHAPTER 10

"Harry, come on, it's almost seven o' clock!" Sirius exclaimed from outside Harry's door in Dumbledore's quarters.

If Sirius had opened the door, he would have seen Harry sitting on his bed, staring at the clock resting upon his nightstand. Harry very well knew that it was nearly seven o'clock; he spent the past hour staring at that clock and counting down the minutes. Truthfully, Harry had not planned this far ahead before he decided to go back in time. All of his planning had revolved around freeing Sirius and destroying Voldemort. He rarely thought about how he wanted to deal with his friends. He hadn't anticipated that he would be given the opportunity to see them so soon… He figured that once he freed Sirius, he would have plenty of time to decide how to rebuild his relationship with the Weasley family.

He thought about what to do a bit … just not enough to be prepared for their first meeting. During his restless last few nights in the previous timeline, when he considered the Weasleys, he reached no conclusions. He was torn, during those brief moments, between meeting them at letting the old timeline play itself out before meeting Ron on the Hogwarts Express, and running over to the Weasley's the second he came back and making some wild excuse for being there. He loved that family more than life itself; he had proven that much with his sacrifice in coming back. But he was concerned about meddling in their lives at such an early age.

Ron and Ginny were still much too young to understand the severity of the truth. So, that would mean that he would be forced to lie to them whenever he was around them, or at least hold back the truth. Harry wasn't sure how they would feel about this when they were old enough to learn the truth. They may see it as a necessary action, or, a manipulation of their lives. They had a perfectly happy childhood in the previous timeline without him in their lives; maybe he should let it play out the same way as before. If he doesn't want to be a manipulator, he should meet Ron on the Hogwarts Express, and they would become friends from there.

But at the same time, they were his everything. Why come back in time if it was just to avoid those that you love. What if he wasn't able to stop Voldemort this time, and his days were numbered. How would he feel then about avoiding his best friend and his future wife for years?

"Harry, it's five minutes to seven!" Sirius exclaimed through the door, interrupting Harry's thoughts. "Mrs. Weasley was nice enough to invite us; we should at least be on time! We don't want to leave a bad impression."

Harry rolled off his bed and pulled a jumper over his head, wishing more than anything that it had the Weasley 'W' branded on the front. But the fact remained that he did not have any of those jumpers in this timeline, and he was going to have to earn them. He stepped out the door and joined Sirius in Dumbledore's office, butterflies nearly erupting from his stomach.

"Ready to go?" Sirius asked, already stepping towards the fireplace.

Harry took a deep breath, trying to compose his emotions. In just a few seconds, his second family was going to be spinning into view. Sirius finished lighting the emerald green fire, and turned back towards Harry.

"You want to lead the way? Remember, there residence is called 'The Burrow'," Sirius said, ushering Harry into the fire.

Harry stepped into the fire and closed his eyes before shouting, "The Burrow."

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The first thing Harry's senses picked up was the smell. Most people would describe the smell as a large mixture of things. Within it, there was a freshly cooked meal, a bit of smoke (likely from one of the twins' experiments), and a fresh scent coming from the large piece of land the Burrow sat upon. However, Harry did not identify all of these odors; rather, he thought of one word: Home.

The second thing his senses picked up was the slamming of a door nearby.

Harry opened his eyes, and he jumped slightly when he saw three redheads only feet away from him, staring at the fire with a dumbstruck look upon their faces. Sirius emerged from the fire a few seconds later, but simply nodded to the younger boys as he made his way to the kitchen to greet Mrs. Weasley.

"I thought Mum was pulling our leg…" the twin Harry knew to be Fred said.

"Just trying to get us to come downstairs…" George continued.

"She said Harry Potter would be coming any minute…"

"Told us to act normal…"

"And to not stare at the fire until he came…"

"But we figured there was no way…"

"Percy said that he knew you…"

"But we thought he was pulling our leg too…"

"We do have four legs between the two of us…"

Harry's attention then turned to Ron, who had nothing more to say other than, "Wicked!"

"Sooo you guys know who I am… but who are you?" Harry laughed.

"I'm George," Fred said.

"And I'm Fred," George said.

"Perce told me about you two… So is it safe to assume you're Fred, and you're George," Harry said with a large smile, pointing at the twins correctly.

"I think we are going to get along just fine," George stated.

Harry turned his attention towards Ron as he asked, "And what's your name?"

Ron straightened his shoulders up a bit; he had taken a backseat during this conversation, which was typical when you lived with five older brothers. "Well, technically it's Ronald… but you had better call me Ron. As you can see, I have twins that I can stick on you if you call me by my full name."

Harry laughed as Fred and George let out a ferocious growl, trying to imitate a bloodhound.

"Hey, Harry!" Percy exclaimed, walking into the room. "Sorry if my brothers are annoying you, they tend to do that."

"Hey, Perce, come join us! They aren't annoying me too much yet… And if they do, I have a mass murderer godfather that I can stick on them," Harry sniggered as the younger Weasley boys laughed loudly.

"Well, after what happened today, we all know that Sirius wouldn't hurt a fly," Percy said, before adding in, "…or a rat."

Fred and George stopped laughing from Harry's joke abruptly, and just stared at Percy. Ron quickly quieted down as well.

"Fred, I need a piece of parchment… Ron, I need a quill… NOW!" George exclaimed. Fred and Ron ran to the desk standing in the corner of the room and grabbed the supplies.

"What's todays date?" George asked.

"September 10th," Harry replied.

George put the quill to the paper and began writing, while speaking the words out loud, "Let it be known that on September 10th, 1987, Percival Ignatius Weasley made a joke."

"This is a day that will go down in history," Fred replied.

Harry watched Percy carefully, unsure of how he was going to take this joke. While Fred and George did it lightheartedly, their joke poked fun at Percy's personality. Percy was smiling, but this smile wasn't quite reaching his eyes.

Harry took a step towards Percy and extended his hand, "Congratulations, Percival. That joke was masterful and I'm sure it will be the first of many to come."

Percy fully smiled this time, and returned the handshake with enthusiasm, "It will be."

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After a few more minutes of chatting, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Harry made their way into the kitchen. He was greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley along with Bill and Charlie. Mr. Weasley explained that Dumbledore had allowed all of the Weasley boys to take the day off and come home for the trial.

In no time, Mrs. Weasley assigned each of her sons a task in order to help out with dinner. All at once, Percy and Ron set the table, Bill and Charlie made everyone's plates, and Fred and George brought in a few extra chairs from the garage. Harry stood near Sirius and Mr. Weasley, who were discussing the injustice of using Dementors in Azkaban, but his mind was elsewhere. He had still yet to see Ginny, so the butterflies in his stomach still fluttered away.

Now, a bit anxious and wishing to do something, Harry approached Mrs. Weasley, "Anything I can do to help?"

"Oh no, Harry dear, you can just relax. I have seven children to help me," She replied warmly.

"Speaking of which, have either of you seen Ginny?" she called towards her Percy and Ron.

"Yeah, she was with us waiting for Harry in the living-room, but ran into the garden as he arrived," Ron called back.

"She's probably a bit nervous to meet you. I'm sure that you've noticed this by now, but you're a bit of a celebrity in the wizarding world. When she was a bit younger, I used to read her bedtime stories about you." Mrs. Weasley said. She noticed Harry's blush and continued, "I'm sorry, I know you didn't ask for this fame. I just want you to understand why she is acting the way she is."

Harry let out a small smile, "It's fine, Mrs. Weasley. I know I'll have to get used to it eventually, it's just weird coming from the Dursley's… my relatives… to all this."

Mrs. Weasley gave a bit of a sympathetic frown before Harry continued, "But all of your boys are hard at work on dinner, let me do something… I can go find her."

Before Mrs. Weasley could object, Harry had already begun walking towards the back door.

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Harry walked out the door, struggling to maintain a calm expression. Soon, he would meet the girl that had his heart, and she would have no idea. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with Ginny. While he loved the woman she became more than anything, he was meeting a six-year-old version of her. To her, he would simply be the 'Famous Harry Potter', and nothing more. It would be years before he could act upon his feelings, and even then, he would technically be around sixteen years older than her. He wasn't sure how he would deal with this problem, but he knew that it wasn't a problem that could be solved today. Today, he would be making a first impression, and hopefully would be able to get Ginny to put her shyness aside and talk to him.

While Harry thought about all this, his feet led him to a tall oak tree that stood near Mr. Weasley's shed. While the side of the tree that faced him was barren, he could see a small pair of feet protruding from the opposite side. Harry slowly walked around the tree, and sat down opposite of the small red-headed girl who had been staring out into the meadow.

Ginny's eyes grew large as she glanced instinctively up towards his scar. After confirming that Harry Potter sat before her, she blushed deeply and her brown eyes looked to a point over his shoulder.

"So, you must be Ginny," Harry said, hoping to start a conversation. Ginny simply nodded her head.

"Of course you're Ginny Weasley though… everyone knows who you are. Bright red hair, six older brothers, your dad works at the Ministry, and I even heard you were the first Weasley girl born in generations."

Ginny blushed even harder, "I'm not famous,"

"Sure you are, first Weasley girl born in generations? That's impressive," Harry replied.

"I can't help that… I didn't just decide to be a girl," Ginny said back uncertainly, confused with what Harry was trying to say.

"And I didn't decide to defeat Voldemort that night," Harry said back, in a soft voice. Ginny flinched at the name, but less than Harry was expecting.

"I didn't do anything to become famous; I sat in my cot and watched as my mother died. People call me a hero, but I didn't do anything. They celebrate the day that Voldemort was defeated, but to me that's just the day my parents died. I don't know what happened that night, but it's no fun being famous for something that you had no control over."

Ginny's eyes moved from over his shoulder to meet his. Time seemed to stop as Harry looked into her familiar eyes. He watched her eyes grow watery, and after a brief moment she said, "I'm sorry… about your parents… I've never thought about it like that…"

"It's fine, all I'm really trying to say is that you don't have to be shy with me. I'm just Harry."

Ginny watched him for a few more moments, before reaching out her hand and replying, "Well hi, Just Harry… I'm Just Ginny,"

This time, it was Harry who blushed as he shook her hand. He really felt like just a seven-year-old when he was talking to her, and his seven-year-old self typically didn't interact with girls. This same phenomenon happened a bit when he was joking around with the other Weasleys as well. Harry knew his seven-year-old soul was still in his body, and it seemed as though it could simply poke through the surface when the situation was right.

"Well, Just Ginny, it seems as though we have the same first name," Harry said back with a smirk.

"It appears so, Just Harry," Ginny replied back, returning the smile.

"We should probably head inside… your mum was looking for you," Harry said, getting to his feet. He held his hand out for Ginny, and she took it with a smile as he helped her up.

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Dinner was relatively uneventful, but still delicious. Percy grabbed the seat next to him, with Ron on his other side. Ginny was on the other side of Ron, and Harry couldn't help but notice the sullen look on her face as she took her seat. The twins sat across from Harry, and throughout dinner the boys all talked about Hogwarts. Ron and the twins had never seen the castle, so they peppered Percy with questions. They thought the Percy was joking when he told them about the moving staircases, and after they learned from Harry that he was serious, Percy had to explain to him that there was a method to all the madness and nobody really became lost after their first few days in the castle. Harry felt a bit bad that Ginny wasn't involved in this conversation, but Bill and Charlie were sitting across from her and seemed to be keeping her entertained.

Hogwarts really was the perfect topic of conversation to make Percy feel included. He was the expert in this area, and it seemed as though the twins and Ron had never really talked to Bill and Charlie about what Hogwarts was actually like. Even when the meal ended, Fred, George, and Ron all continued talking to Percy, and Harry could tell that Percy loved the feeling of importance.

Eventually, Mrs. Weasley came in and started having her children help clear the table. Ron managed to sneak out of the kitchen just before his mother looked his way, and signaled for Harry to follow him. Harry was a bit relieved, as he hadn't really had time yet to talk to Ron one-on-one and was beginning to think that he wouldn't have the chance to tonight.

Ron led him into the living-room, and invited Harry to play a game of wizard chess. After quickly explaining the rules, they began to play. At first, Harry considered going easy on him, as he was still only seven-years-old. However, that quickly changed when Ron managed to capture his queen only three moves into the match.

They ended up playing three games, Harry was crushed in the first two but managed to end the third game in a stalemate. As pathetic as it was, Harry was semi-proud of himself for tying Ron. He knew that this was likely the closest he would ever get to a victory, so he couldn't help but smirk.

More important than the outcome of the match was the conversation they had during it. Ron had told him all about Quidditch, and focused on explaining the 'pure talent' that was the Chudley Cannons. Although Harry knew that they wouldn't be winning a championship in the next decade and a half, he decided to go along with it and declare his allegiance to the Chudley Cannons as well.

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After their third game of chess, Sirius found Harry and told him that they should get going, as it was getting late. Harry reluctantly agreed, and made his way around the house saying goodbye to the various Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley gave him a large hug, and told him that he was welcome anytime. Harry didn't see Ginny at first, but she came running down the stairs when she heard Harry saying goodbye to the rest of the family.

Before Harry stepped into the fire, Sirius told him that they weren't going back to Hogwarts right away. Sirius handed him a small sheet of paper and told him to memorize what was on it. Confused, Harry glanced down at the paper and read:

12 Grimmauld Place

Harry looked back up at Sirius, thinking that he knew how this night was going to end.

Harry stepped into the fire, and took one last look back at the people standing around the fire, knowing that he had made the right choice in coming back to this timeline. Before him, stood the people he cared about the most in the world, the Weasley family and Sirius. He wasn't sure the next time he would see the Weasleys again, but tonight had been perfect… so far at least.

With a smile on his face, he said goodbye one last time before shouting, "Grimmauld Place!"

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Please leave a quick review! Let me know what you think of the story so far.. I always get a bit excited when I see an email saying someone left a review, so please help me out and leave one!

I'd like to give them a quick thanks to my betas Arnel and RS223 for making this chapter much more readable!