Life at the Burrow was always lively, it was impossible for it not to be considering there were ten odd people around all the time. When Hermione came things became a little cramped, then with Harry, we had no choice but to take meals either in shifts or outside in the garden. Fred and George had opted to go with their dad to fetch Harry, Ron also going through the fire though they seemed to have trouble getting through at first. In any case, from the sounds that were coming from the other side, I had a bad feeling one of the twins had maybe done something to someone and sure enough when they came back, they were beaming. "Dropped a toffee in front of Harry's cousin. Practically inhaled it."
"It was brilliant, worked just as we planned." George agreed as Harry then followed. I gave him a hug when he arrived, dusting off the soot and fussing over him. He'd written during the summer – we write quite a lot now – asking for help after his aunt decided that the entire family needed to go on a diet on account of his cousin being a fat pig. Of course, Harry hardly needed starving any further, and once I'd told my mother she'd practically armed herself with ingredients and baked like crazy to help me supply Harry with enough food to get him through until he joined me here. There was a fresh parcel every week, I just hope it had been enough. I'd written to Lupin about it, who had also stayed in contact over the summer, and he hadn't been happy with the news.
I kept my letters to dad discreet and sparse, sending one every fortnight or so with Orion so that I could keep him updated on what was going on. I kept all of our letters a secret from my mother, she never questioned them anyway, and now they were all neatly collected and hidden in a false book I'd made. A book made to look like a school textbook, but when you opened it, was a perfect hiding compartment. Another idea I'd passed along to the twins. "Good to be back?"
"Definitely." He agreed before looking around to meet Bill and Charlie for the first time. Mr Weasley followed back through the fire soon after and started on the twins, angry with them for what they'd done to the muggle boy, but his raised voice soon brought Molly investigating and once she'd caught onto the fact it was one of the twins' jokes, she exploded. She was furious, laying into them and I got a front row seat to exactly how she felt about Weasley Wizard Wheezes. It was a little startling at first, the way she carried on so after a while I picked up Harry's trunk, glanced around to make sure no one was looking then dropped it on my foot.
"OUCH!" Yelling as the heavy trunk crushed my toes, I immediately started to howl and Molly, now distracted and fussing over me, completely forgot about the boys. Giving them a wink, they quickly scarpered before they could be collared again and I caught Charlie grinning at me knowingly as I was made to sit down whilst Molly inspected my foot. Ron and the others had already disappeared, so as Molly made sure none of my toes were broken, she gave me a cream for the bruising then made me sit with my foot elevated for the rest of the day.
I was waited on hand and foot, though I'd much rather have been helping out but Molly wouldn't hear of it, and Arthur agreed. I think he figured out what I'd done as I'd catch him giving me smiles every now and then but didn't say anything about it. Later, the boys both came over once it was safe to be in their mother's presence again, whispering to me. "Thanks Mia."
"We owe you one."
"No, you owe me a new foot!" I joked, wiggling my toes from where my foot sat propped under a cushion on a chair and after that, we shared a laugh. They helped me hobble outside where I cheered with everyone as Bill and Charlie played table wars, which basically meant they had the two tables they were supposed to be setting up ramming at one another until Percy bellowed from his window on the second floor for us to keep it down. Grouchy as ever, I see. Eventually we were all sitting down to dinner and as I was around the middle between the twins, I had a good vantage to her the numerous conversations.
Percy was talking about his cauldrons report and his boss, Mr Crouch, and they also mentioned Ludo Bagman. Apparently he was the one who'd gotten us all tickets to the World Cup, so he was automatically a great guy in my books. Mum and dad would have come too, but they'd scheduled a holiday instead from last year and couldn't change it, so they were going on a romantic getaway together. Percy also mentioned something about a Bertha Jorkins who had gone missing, but his conversation was boring so I turned to Charlie's instead who was talking about his job to Hermione. It was always interesting to hear about dragons.
It was only when Percy mentioned the top secret event being organised right after the World Cup did I look up. "Oh come off it Percy, admit it, you're dying to tell us but you can't. If you're not going to tell us then stop mentioning it, or I won't be able to sleep a wink until I know." I said to him with a playful pout. "You know I'm curious by nature." Percy allowed me a rare smile, used to me and my way of being blunt. Now the twins and Charlie were talking keenly about the World Cup, so I turned my focus on them as Mrs Weasley complained about Bill's earring and long hair.
"It's got to be Ireland." Charlie was saying as I stuffed my face with more pie. "They flattened Peru in the semi-finals."
"Bulgaria have got Viktor Krum though." Fred argued though Charlie reasoned that Ireland had seven good players whilst Krum was just one person.
"I wish England had gone through, that was embarrassing that was." Harry quickly asked what happened so Charlie filled him in on what happened to all the quidditch teams of the British Isles. Only Ireland had played decently, the others had all lost rather spectacularly. I couldn't wait for the World Cup tomorrow, so after a fulfilling dinner and pudding, Mrs Weasley sent us all to bed where I chatted to Ginny and Hermione on the way up.
"Honestly I didn't think quidditch was something you were overly keen on, Hermione." I was saying to her as we all brushed our teeth, our hair and changed into pyjamas. "Of course we always appreciate you coming to the school matches."
"Well, since it's such a huge sporting event in the wizarding world, I thought it would be quite interesting to experience. Of course I don't understand the obsession some people have, but it is a rather thrilling game." She said so I smiled to her.
"Don't worry, we'll make a quidditch fanatic of you yet. Right Ginny?"
"Absolutely." She agreed, tossing me a spare pillow as we each climbed into our beds. There was only two, so I shared with Ginny after we argued for a little while over who would sleep with who. Each of us was fine with sharing, so in the end we spun a wand to pick the two who shared and I ended up with Ginny. Obviously since I am a blessing to everyone's existence, Ginny was fine bunking with me and after some light conversation about ordinary girl stuff such as boys, school and all those things until one by one, we dropped off to sleep.
