Stormythoughts
Title: Maybe This Is Family
Team: Appleby Arrows
Position: Beater 2
Theme: Family
Prompts:
[Dialogue] "Don't get too excited."
[Character] George Weasley
[Action] Baking
Additional prompt:
[Song] Go The Distance - Hercules
Word Count: 1663
"Come on Georgie! Put the pedal on!" Fred shouted, as he and Ron fought to pull Harry into the car. A car that was hovering over 10 feet in the air.
"I'm going Freddie!" George responded as he gave the accelerator of the car one more push.
A crash followed as Vernon Dursley, who had been gripping onto Harry's ankles, fell into the bushes below. A cheer rose from the boys. George grinned and flew the car into the sky.
"Oh and Harry." Spoke up Ron.
"Yeah."
"Happy Birthday." Congratulated Ron, as he gave him a one-armed hug.
Harry laughed. "Thanks Ron."
They fell into a comfortable silence, Harry grinning brightly as he was temporarily freed from the Dursleys. He would have to go back at some point but he wasn't going to worry about that currently. He was in a flying car for Merlin's sake! There were much better things to focus on.
Dawn was just beginning to peek over the horizon as the flying car reached the place that the Weasleys called home. It looked like it was about to fall over at any point and partly reminded Harry of rhyme 'There was an Old woman who lived in a shoe'. Not that thought of Mrs. Weasley as old or anything like that.
They walked into the house. Well, George and Fred swaggered in playfully, Ron just looking hungry, and Harry shyly following behind them.
George spun round and grabbed Harry's shoulders, pulling him into his side. "This is home. It's not much really but it fits all of us, so I guess It's good enough. Right Freddie?"
"Right Georgie."
"It's brilliant." Harry said, not paying attention to who was talking to him.
He marvelled at the things in the house. From the dishes washing themselves and the knife chopping ingredients, to the clock. The clock really fascinated him.
"Hey, George."
"Yes." Replied both of the twins, confusing Harry even further as to which was which.
They both laughed, and the twin next to Harry smiled. "I'm George. You can tell because I'm much better looking than Fred over there."
"Hey," Fred exclaimed. "We have the same face!"
"But I wear it better!"
"That makes no sense."
"Have you ever made sense of anything?"
Harry smiled at the twins banter. He'd always wished for someone to do that with. However, as an only child, and considering there was no way his cousin would ever be nice to him, Harry gave up on that idea.
"Anyway, what's the question Harrykins?" Asked George.
"What's with the clock? It's not like the clocks I've ever seen before."
"Ah, Mum made it. It works like a normal clock, but has extra parts. Those metal sticks with our faces represent ourselves, they run on magic and they have a clock like part of their own. They tell mum where we are. See Dad's face, it says he's at work."
"That's really cool."
"It's not really."
"Yes it is."
"Nah it's-"
"Boys!" Yelled a voice.
Fred and George grinned, while Ron shrunk back and Harry looked at them confused.
"Thats Mrs. Weasley and boy does she sound mad." George whispered chuckling, not seeing Harry's flinch at the word 'boy' nor the emotions and thoughts that ran through Harry as the misunderstanding he had through George's words.
Harry was terrified. Was Mrs. Weasley going to throw him out as soon as she saw him? Would he have to go back to the Dursley's already? He didn't know the way back. And even if he did magically find his way back, he was sure to face punishment because of what happened. Harry silently panicked.
"Boys!" Mrs. Weasley shouted again.
"In here Mrs. Weasley." Replied Fred.
Was Mrs. Weasley really so scary and cruel that her own kids called her 'Mrs. Weasley' not 'Mum'?
The door next to the kitchen slammed open and a very dishevelled, red headed woman stood in the doorway.
"Your beds were empty! I didn't find a note! The car was gone! Do you know how worried I was? I was watching that clock as if the world was ending. You could have died! You could have been seen!"
"Mum, we went to rescue Harry. I was worried. He didn't reply to any of my letters. There were bars on his windows, a-and they were starving him Mum." Ron quickly jumped in, to stop Mrs. Weasley's rant going any further.
With this statement from Ron, Mrs. Weasley finally noticed Harry. And when Harry realised he was now the subject of Mrs. Weasley's stare, he shrunk further behind George's back.
"Oh, Harry, dear, come out. There's no need to be afraid." Mrs. Weasley said in a much softer tone.
Harry hesitated but came out from behind George, only to be brought into a hug by Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh dear! You're so thin! Don't worry, I'll feed you till you can't eat anymore." She reassured him. "But don't you boys go thinking that this gets you out of punishment. You can get started on de-gnoming the garden. They have been a nuisance these last few days."
"But Mum, I'm tired," whined Ron.
"Well you should've thought about that before you went galavanting off into the night," she rebuffed.
Ron pouted, but said no more, and he and the twins went out into the back garden.
"Um, Mrs Weasley…"
"Call me Molly, dear."
"...Molly," Harry said her name slowly, as if testing out the word. "Can I go and help them?
"Are you sure dear? It's not your fault, you know that they're in trouble."
"Y-yes. I want to help them."
"Okay, well then be careful. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me. Arthur's going to be coming home, so I need to get started on breakfast."
"Okay." Harry smiled slightly before running to the back garden.
He was shocked by the sight in front of him. Ron, Fred and George were each running after what looked like the real-life version of those plastic creatures that aunt Petunia had in her garden.
"Wow-"
"Well hello there Harrykins. Come to join the fun, have you?" George said as he stopped running after his gnome.
"Yeah," grinned Harry.
"Well, don't get too excited. It's really not as fun as it looks. These little buggers hurt a lot." Fred smiled mischievously.
"I don't mind. What do I do?"
"You grab one of the bloody buggers and chuck 'em over the fence," Ron panted out.
"Got it."
Harry joined in and found that it was actually really hard. He soon found himself covered in just as much dirt as the others, but they were soon done.
"That was...hard"
"Told you it wasn't easy, Harrykins."
"Boys! Get yourself cleaned up! Harry dear, come with me." Molly called out.
Harry grew nervous, but parted with his friends and went off to the kitchen.
"I just wanted to know if you had any favourites for dessert."
Harry was surprised for a bit. No one had ever really asked what he wanted to eat before. He thought back to his meals at Hogwarts, and thought about which dessert he had liked the most.
"Um, I guess I like treacle tarts."
"Hmm" Molly started rummaging around the kitchen. "Wonderful. I've got all the ingredients right here. Would you like to help bake them?"
Harry smiled shyly but nodded. Molly cast a spell over him and he found that all the previous dirt that had been on him, had been erased.
"Scourgify Charm dear, works wonders." Molly muttered absently.
Harry grinned and walked over to help. He soon found that the saying 'time flies by when you're having fun' was immensely true. At the end of him baking with Molly, he found himself covered in flour with some of the mixture on the corner of his mouth and the tip of his nose. His fingertips were sticky with the filling of the tarts as well. Plus there was now the wonderful smell of tarts in the air.
"Looks like you've been having fun in here."
Harry spun round to find George laughing at the scene in front of him. Harry laughed as well.
"Yeah. Loads of fun."
Molly walked towards Harry with a wet rag and started wiping Harry's face clean and then his hands. A warm feeling bloomed in Harry's chest and he wondered if his Mum would have done this if she was alive, or if Aunt Petunia would have done this if she liked Harry more.
Harry giggled at the now familiar feeling of the scourgify charm.
"George, take Harry out to the table. Breakfast will be out soon."
George swung his arm around Harry's shoulder and led him on. "You heard the woman Harrykins. To the table!"
When they reached there everyone had already sat down, watching them as they came in.
"Now, who's this young man?" asked Mr. Weasley kindly.
Ron was the one that spoke up. "He's Harry, Dad. Harry Potter."
The small girl who was looking down at the table suddenly looked up and blushed. Harry, feeling awkward, chose to ignore that.
"Well, welcome Harry."
"Thank you."
Just as Harry and George sat down, a plethora of dishes came flying through the door and settled on the table. Molly came in next.
"Breakfast is served." Molly announced.
They all dug in and there was soon a warm buzz of conversations. Harry was brought into as many as he could be. He had never gotten such a warm welcome. He had always tried hard for years to make everybody, anybody like him, but it didn't work. The Dursleys never paid him any attention, yet for once, he didn't have to do anything to be included, and he was treated so kindly. The warm feeling from before bloomed in his chest and Harry smiled down at the treacle tart in front of him.
Maybe this was what a true family was like. And maybe they could even become his own family.