A.N.: I rewrote a few sections of earlier chapters so this chapter would work out: The twins and Cedric, all sixth-years, get their O.W.L. results late (because, obviously, of the teachers working hard to ensure the Triwizard Tournament will take place).
O.W.L. Results
The morning after, Harriet woke up earlier than usual, again, and had decided to treat Mrs Weasley by preparing the breakfast for everyone. It took a lot longer than it usually took Harriet to make breakfast, as she had to navigate her way around Mrs Weasley's pantry and larder, but going through some of her cookbooks, Harriet learned a few very useful little charms.
The post-owls arrived just after she had started cooking the bacon, and she had to open the kitchen window as wide as it would go so the three magnificent eagle owls could soar into the kitchen, bearing envelopes stamped with the Hogwarts crest. She took the letters, gave each bird a bit of bacon, and they left with great whooshes of their wings. Turning the sausages, Harriet examined the addressees; Fredrick Weasley, George Weasley, and Cedric Diggory. A small note at the bottom-right-hand corner of each envelope at the front read 'This envelope contains private and confidential examination results'.
It looked like the much-anticipated O.W.L. results had arrived. About time, too, Harriet thought; Mrs Weasley was almost beside herself, wondering how on earth the school could have possibly been so busy with…but she hadn't said what it was, that was keeping them from sending out the results with all the usual Hogwarts letters. She tucked them into the pocket of her dressing-gown, intent on giving them to the boys, but by the time Cedric shuffled out of the living-room, tousle-haired and puffy-eyed and looking very cute, she had forgotten about them. She muttered a charm that kept the food warm while it waited for consumption, and Cedric smiled, shuffling into the kitchen, squinting in the sunlight. This morning his boxers were yellow with badgers gambolling around happily.
"I didn't know Hogwarts sold House underwear," she whispered teasingly; Hermes wasn't a very deep sleeper. Cedric gave her a groggy little smile and felt the side of the teapot with the back of his fingers, taking a teacup from the cupboard above it. The teapot was always warm in The Burrow—everybody was always drinking tea, and if anyone needed to know how long people had been away from The Burrow, all they had to do was feel the teapot. Harriet sipped her tea and turned the sausages, transferring the bacon to a platter, and put it on the table; Cedric was cracking eggs onto the skillet. They worked in perfect silence for another ten minutes, preparing the breakfast, and when they heard sounds of life upstairs, they set the table, made another pot of tea, and stood waiting, smiling, for Mrs Weasley, always the first to rise, to come downstairs and stopped, stunned, at the foot of the stairs.
On the kitchen table was spread a platter of bacon, sausages, fried eggs, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, a big tureen of creamy porridge that had a little cinnamon and pieces of dates in it, a big bowl of fresh berries (strawberries, huge blackberries from the bushes down the lane that they had picked yesterday evening, sweet, tangy raspberries), stacks of buttered toast, a platter of thin French crêpes drizzled with lemon juice and sugar, pots of homemade jam and marmalade and a large coffeepot, the teapot, the Daily Prophet unfolded in Mr Weasley's place, this fortnight's publication of Witch Weekly in Mrs Weasley's. Mrs Weasley looked absolutely stunned.
"Oh, Harriet, how good you are to me!" she wept, and had to be poured a strong cup of tea. Gradually the other members of the household made their way downstairs, roused by the scents Harriet's cooking had sent wafting up the rickety staircase. Mr Weasley liked the nutmeg Harriet had put in the coffee, to give it an extra little bit of flavour, and Cedric really liked the cinnamon-date porridge. George's mouth went black from the number of blackberries he'd eaten by the end of the meal, and Fred had put in a request for crêpes tomorrow.
Something crackled softly as Harriet sat down, after pouring fresh cups of tea for Charlie and Bill, who wolfed down the porridge and sausages and bacon and eggs. Bill really liked the coffee, too. Harriet pulled the three envelopes out of her dressing-gown pocket.
"Um…Mrs Weasley, these arrived earlier," Harriet said, handing them to Mrs Weasley. She stared at the addressees, and divvied the envelopes out. Fred and George rolled their eyes at each other, switched envelopes because they hadn't been given the right ones, and tore them open.
"Not bad," Fred sighed.
"As I expected," George agreed.
Mrs Weasley took the letters before they could hide them, and the row that ensued scared everyone from the kitchen, to the far reaches of the house; Harriet, Rhona, Cedric and Hermes reconvened in the living-room with their toast and porridge and teacups, and tried not to listen to Mr and Mrs Weasley bellowing at the top of their lungs, trying to outdo each other, shouting at the twins.
Harriet sat cross-legged, finishing her porridge, and eyed Cedric.
"Haven't you opened yours yet?" she asked shrewdly, as he tried to tuck his envelope into his copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Setting her bowl down, Harriet lunged forward, plucked the envelope out of the book, and broke the seal on Cedric's envelope.
"Hey! That's a felony!" Cedric frowned, reaching for the letter.
"So report me!" Harriet murmured, opening the letter, and glanced down the list of subjects.
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS
Pass Grades: Fail Grades
OUTSTANDING (O) POOR (P)
EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS (E) DREADFUL (D)
ACCEPTABLE (A) TROLL (T)
Cedric Donnally Diggory has achieved:
Ancient Runes O
Arithmancy O
Astronomy O
Charms O
Defence Against the Dark Arts O
Herbology O
History of Magic O
Muggle Studies O
Potions O
Transfiguration O
"Ten 'Outstandings'," Harriet breathed, glancing up at Cedric. He looked pale and nervous, and he darted over to her, snatching the letter back. His light eyes zoomed over the parchment, his lips parting.
"Ten 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s!" Hermes breathed, shuffling over to Cedric to peer over his shoulder, tweak his eyebrows, and give Cedric an admiring look.
"That's really good!" Rhona breathed, peering over Cedric's other shoulder. "And you're not even doing dossy subjects, either—look—Ancient Runes, Arithmancy. You can do anything with these."
But Cedric just folded up the results, put them back into their envelope, and asked if he could borrow some parchment and a quill; he sat down in an armchair and started to write, and half an hour later, he was asking to borrow Pig, who had just returned from a delivery for Charlie.
"I don't know how he can stand it!" Rhona said, when she and Harriet sprawled over a blanket in the garden, for the first time in a while just watching the boys playing Quidditch rather than participating. They had decided to fester in the sun on the last day of holiday.
"Who?"
"Cedric," Rhona said, turning her face to Harriet's. "He's just got ten 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s—Percy didn't even get ten 'Outstandings'. And he's not saying anything to anyone about his results, 'cos he doesn't want to cause hassle with Mum and the twins."
"More hassle," Hermes sighed, and Harriet squirmed to glance back at the house; Mrs Weasley was still shouting.
"Maybe we should throw him a little party, out here," Harriet suggested. "Get a couple of bottles of Butterbeer, and a cake or something."
"Yeah…Yeah, come on, there's bound to be something nice in the pantry," Rhona said, hopping off the floor. She hauled Harriet off the blanket and they made their way slowly back to the Burrow, cringing when they heard Mrs Weasley crying, as Fred and George stormed out into the yard, with expressions to rival a Basilisk's powers of Petrification.
Bill was talking quietly to Mrs Weasley, his arm around her shaking shoulders—"they don't mean to upset you by saying things like that, you know they don't," he said gently.
"But they had such bright futures," Mrs Weasley choked, sniffing miserably into a handkerchief.
"They still do," Bill said consolingly. "You remember when Charlie failed his Potions O.W.L.—and he's done alright, hasn't he?"
"But…C-Charlie wanted to work with animals, all his life," Mrs Weasley cried. "He got top marks in Care of Magical Creatures, didn't he!" Bill caught Harriet's and Rhona's eyes, and when Mrs Weasley hid her face in her handkerchief again, he rolled his eyes. Rhona plucked at Harriet's sleeve and they tiptoed to the pantry; they found a large jug of iced Butterbeer and a platter of the fairy-cakes they'd made yesterday; they were decorated with different coloured icing, silver sugar balls, sprinkles, coloured sugar, glace cherries (which were Harriet's favourite), and chocolate-chips.
"Hey, should we make up some sandwiches, so your mum doesn't have to?" Harriet asked quietly, and Rhona, glancing over her shoulder into the kitchen, where Bill was refilling Mrs Weasley's favourite flower-patterned teacup, nodded.
"Yeah, keep us in her good books, at least," she said, giving Harriet a wary glance. They cut up a loaf of bread and made sandwiches—ham and coleslaw—and carried them outside; Rhona took most of the sandwiches to the orchard for the boys, and when she returned, she was accompanied by Cedric.
"Charlie's talking to the twins," Rhona said edgily, and they all dropped down onto the check blanket. Hermes was fiddling with the wireless so they could listen to Muggle Matinee, which he and Harriet really liked, because the female presenter had really good taste in music, and Harriet was spreading out the bowl of crisps and pouring the drinks.
"Alright, here you go," she said, handing out the glasses, and she raised her own. "To Cedric—"
"Who isn't just a pretty face," Rhona interjected, clinking glasses with Harriet.
"Who got ten Outstanding O.W.L.s," Harriet grinned.
"Here's to you!" Hermes grinned. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," Cedric grinned bashfully, locking eyes with Harriet, and beaming.
"You know, I reckon you're a bit too modest, Cedric," Rhona remarked, licking the icing off the top of her second fairy-cake. Harriet had hoarded half the ones with the glace cherries on top (Cedric liked these, too, and they'd actually had a wrestling match over the odd cake) and Hermes was sipping his Butterbeer, frowning at the pages of The Dark Forces. "Anybody in our family would've been the first to gloat over ten Outstandings, especially 'cos Fred and George probably didn't even get those marks combined." Cedric just shrugged and licked the pink icing from his lips.
Harriet thought he was very good not to gloat, when there was so much tension in the house already; she got the feeling Cedric worked hard but didn't mind if people didn't notice.
A.N.: Amour!