Late that night, the door to Ron's bedroom banged open without warning. He had his wand out and a jinx on his lips before the questioning voice registered as his mother's.
"Is Harry up here with you?"
She cast a magnified lumos, and Ron threw his arm over his eyes with a groan of protest.
"Wha—"
"Ron!" Mum's voice was sharp and urgent. "Where's Harry?"
"I dunno, did you look in Ginny's room?" Sudden awakenings in the middle of the night did not improve Ron's diplomacy.
"She's missing too." Mum rifled through Harry's things.
"Well, they're probably out for a fly. Lost track of time." He squinted at the clock: 3:07. Bloody hell, that was a lot of time to lose.
"Get dressed," Mum ordered, abandoning Harry's rucksack without bothering to replace the items she had removed. "I need your help downstairs."
Ron ran a hand through his hair, trying to wake up. "Mum, what—"
"Your sister and your best friend are missing! Arthur says they were going into Muggle London, and they've never come home. There are still people who would like to see that boy dead!"
"All right," Ron said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "I'm awake."
"I'm going to Floo-call Bill."
When Ron arrived in the kitchen a few minutes later, Charlie was already at the table and Mum's head was in the fireplace.
"She still talking to Bill?"
"Huh-uh," Charlie said, pouring a cup of tea and pushing it towards Ron. "Moved from him to Percy and now George."
"Ginny's going to love that."
"Did Harry say anything to you?" Charlie asked.
Ron shook his head and took a sip. "I have no idea what he was planning, but he obviously did a crap job if Mum's already found them out. Something to do with Muggle London, so Hermione was helping, but she didn't say what. I didn't want to know."
"Were they even planning to come home tonight?"
Ron opened his mouth, then closed it, considering the implications. "I don't know," he admitted. "Could go either way. But neither one of them asked me to cover for them."
"Ginny wouldn't disappear without saying anything," Charlie said. "She's more responsible than that." He frowned. "I thought Harry was too."
"But Harry—"
Ron's defense of his friend was interrupted as his mother scrambled away from the fireplace and a tall, spinning figure appeared.
"Bill!" Mum exclaimed. "They're not at Shell Cottage?"
Bill, his long hair unbound and wearing what looked like Fleur's dressing gown, placed a reassuring hand on his mother's shoulder.
"They're not in the house or the garden, and my wards haven't been disturbed. Are we sure they haven't just fallen asleep somewhere?"
"Not on the property," Dad said, coming in and closing the back door behind him. "These wards haven't been disturbed either, and none of the broomsticks are missing." He focused on Ron. "You don't know where they are?"
"No, Harry didn't—"
"You're certain?" Dad pressed. "This is not the time to cover for a friend, Ron."
"Harry didn't say anything to me. Hermione might know, but—"
"We've no way to reach her," Bill said with a sigh.
"Well, I could go down to the village and ring her parents' house, but…." That would definitely not help the situation between Hermione and her parents, to ring them in the middle of the night looking for two of her friends.
"No, I don't want to worry them," Mum said, wringing her hands together. "Oh, something bad has happened, I just know it!"
"Now, Molly," Dad said, putting an arm around her and leading her to the table. "We don't know that."
"What if they're lost, or cold, or—"
"It's the middle of August, Mum," Ron said. "They're hardly going to freeze to death, even if they are outside."
Both Bill and Charlie glared at him, and Ron sat back.
"Or in hospital. Or a Muggle hospital! With needles and stitches and—they could have been kidnapped, or attacked…."
Bill left Dad to deal with Mum and joined Ron and Charlie at the opposite end of the table. "What are you smirking about?"
"What?" Charlie said.
"You're sitting there like you know something we don't," Bill said suspiciously.
Charlie hesitated, shooting a glance towards their parents and lowering his voice. "An eighteen-year-old boy and his seventeen-year-old girlfriend go out on a date and don't come home on time. Now, assuming said boy was someone other than The Boy Who Lived, what would be your first thought?"
Ron saw Bill's expression start to clear, then there was a loud crack! just behind them. Mum screamed, and both Ron and Bill drew their wands.
"Bloody hell, you lot are in a right state," George said. "Gin-Gin's finally revealed herself as the trouble-maker she is, eh?"
"You—you—" Mum's face was bright red, and Ron ducked out of the way as she swatted at George without particularly aiming.
George looked from his parents to his brothers and back. "Am I the only one who thinks Harry and Ginny going missing together is a good thing? I mean, if it was only one of them … then I'd be worried."
Charlie raised his brows in Bill's direction.
"He does have a point," Bill said. "Maybe they're just … together."
"In Muggle London," Mum muttered, obviously not reassured. "Merlin only knows what kind of dangers lurk in that place. Cars and criminals and—and—regurgitating toilets—"
George pulled out a chair and sat down across from Bill. "Doing some experimenting tonight, were we?"
Bill followed his brother's gaze and saw the lace trim on the edge of his—or rather, his wife's—dressing gown. "Shit," he said, beginning to shrug it off as his brothers smothered their laughter.
"I'll thank you to watch your language at my table, young man," Mum said sharply.
"Yes, Mum."
Ron laughed harder when the sleeves caught, trapping Bill with both arms behind his back.
"Didn't you notice it was too small?" Charlie said, standing up to help.
"I thought it felt lighter than usual—don't rip it!—but it was dark and I was in a hurry."
Now with both arms free, Bill stood up. Charlie pulled the filmy garment away from him and handed it back. Bill began to wad it into a pile, then thought better of it and folded it neatly with his wand.
"So what's Fleur wearing, that old blue monstrosity you wouldn't let Mum replace?" Charlie teased.
"None of your damn business."
"Oi!"
"Sorry, Mum."
Ron, George, and Charlie sniggered.
But having to call out her oldest son twice in as many minutes had aroused Mum's suspicions, and she took a closer look at the activity at the end of the table. "What are you lot giggling about? Your sister is missing! And Harry!"
"Oh, come on, Mum," George said. "It's not like they've been captured by Death Eaters."
"George!" Dad said.
Ron gave him a hearty kick.
"Ow! Well, there's only—"
"Oh, my word, what if Harry saw one of them? He's always been reckless, and Ginny would follow him anywhere—"
"That's kind of our point, Mum," Charlie said dryly.
"They've been captured, and now they're being held and tortured," Mum said, near tears. "My poor babies."
"Molly!" Dad said sharply. "Now that's enough. We have no reason to think this is anything more than teenage shenanigans."
Bill leaned across the table into George's space. "Now look what you've done, jackass."
"Bill Weasley!" Mum shrieked. "If I have to tell you one more time…."
Ron sucked in his cheeks to stop the laughter. It wasn't funny—of course Mum in tears wasn't funny, and George deserved more than a kick in the shin for winding her up like that—but the look on Bill's face….
"Look, Mum, why don't I go to St. Mungo's," Charlie said.
She started.
"Just as a precaution," he said quickly. "To put your mind at rest. If they're not in hospital, then we'll know they're not hurt. Okay?" He glanced at Dad, who nodded.
"Thanks, son."
Charlie had just disappeared into the fireplace when there was a knock on the door.
Mum was up before anyone could move. "Percy?"
Ron wondered why he hadn't just come in.
"Hi, Mum."
She pulled him into the kitchen with one hand twisted in the front of his robes (because of course Perce was wearing a full set of robes at three-thirty in the morning), then put both hands on her hips and glared up at him.
"And just where the hell have you been?"
Percy gaped, whether at Mum's sudden attack or unusual language, Ron couldn't say.
"Well?" she demanded.
"I—I went to the Ministry," Percy stammered. "There's nothing. I talked to the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and the Aurors. No reports of Death Eater movement, no suspicious activity, no unusual callouts. Nothing to suggest Ginny and Harry are in trouble."
"Oh, they're in trouble all right," Mum said darkly. "Sit down. Have some tea."
Percy scurried to Charlie's empty seat.
"There, see?" Dad said, patting Mum's hand when she returned to the table. "Nothing to worry about. They're just being kids. Thank you, Percy."
"But this is so unlike them, to go off without a word," Mum fretted, stirring the spoon she'd left in her tea. "Ginny has been so responsible this summer, such a big help, and Harry—he's always conscientious. He's never given us a bit of trouble."
Other than the obvious, apparently.
"Do you think they might be at Grimmauld Place?" George said in an undertone. "Harry owns it since Sirius died, right?"
Ron nodded, having already considered and dismissed the idea. "If it were just Harry … maybe. We hid there after the wedding, when we had no other place to go. But I don't think he'd take Ginny there. He hates that house. And if we suggest it, and Mum goes over there, and they're not there…."
"She'll freak out even more." Bill sighed.
Percy sent a wary glance over his shoulder. "I hope Charlie hurries up."
"I hope Charlie has good news," Bill said.
George scoffed. "Harry's the most recognizable wizard in Britain, and everyone knows he's living here. If anything had happened, we'd have been notified already. No news is definitely good news."
"Unless they're in Muggle hospital," Percy said.
"You don't really think anything's wrong … do you?" Ron said, looking at his oldest brother.
"You know them best," Bill said. "What do you think?"
Ron thought for a moment, then said, "Harry's used to doing his own thing without answering to anyone. I think he got it in his head that if he waited until Ginny was of age, they didn't need permission to go away."
Three sets of confused blue eyes blinked back at him.
Ron shrugged. "No mum, remember?"
"But surely his aunt—" Percy began.
"Didn't give a damn about him," Ron said flatly.
Bill looked to Mum, who continued staring into her teacup, and back to Ron. "That is so not fair," he muttered.
Before Ron could do more than smirk triumphantly, the fireplace flared green and Charlie stepped out.
"Good news, Mum," he said at once. "Neither Ginny nor Harry have been treated at St. Mungo's."
"There now," Dad said. "No suspicious activity, no injuries. They've just gone to London to celebrate Ginny's birthday, that's all."
"Ginny's birthday was two days ago!" Mum said in exasperation.
"As I recall, the … festivities for your nineteenth carried on for quite a while."
Ron and George groaned, and even Bill winced.
"Yes, well…." Mum tucked a stray hair back into her braid. "We had a late start. We were still living with your parents that autumn. Ginny and Harry have—"
"Been living with us all summer," Dad said, obviously amused now. "And most of this lot." He indicated the five brothers gathered round the table.
Mum huffed. "That is not what I meant and you know it."
"Molly. Our daughter has snuck out to spend the night alone with her boyfriend. I'm not saying that doesn't present some concerns, but they're neither dead nor in imminent danger of becoming so, which is more than we could say for most of the last year. They're fine, honestly. I'm sure they'll turn up in the morning."
"Mum's right," Bill said quietly. "They've practically had the house to themselves all summer. Why go away now?"
"More to the point," George said, "how is it that my sister did such an abysmal job of covering her own—" He shot a quick glance at Mum. "—tracks? Fred and I taught her better than that. Like, a decade ago."
Ron snorted. "Forget Ginny, what about Harry? He spends months hiding from the most powerful wizard of all time, and my mum finds him out in less than twelve hours! It's disgraceful."
"I don't know about you, Perce, but I've been craving some of Mum's cooking," Bill said. "Dinner at the Burrow tonight?"
Percy cottoned on at once. "Definitely. George?"
"I wouldn't miss it for all the jokes in Zonko's."
Ron looked at the gleam in his brother's eye and started to feel sorry for Harry … until he caught sight of the ginger plait down his mother's back and was reminded of her panic and the dead of night. The git had taken off with Ron's sister without so much as an attempt at a cover story; time to welcome Harry to the family properly.