Written for Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, September Assignment

House: Wampus

Task #2 - Mount Broom: Write about someone celebrating a small accomplishment

Bonus prompts: [action] smiling, [colour] yellow, [character] Hermione Granger (side)

Word count: 3974

After Dinner

Although Weasley family dinners were very pleasant, wholesome and fulfilling affairs, the younger attendees of such get togethers always found that the post-dinner activities were just as, if not more, rewarding. Perhaps not wholesome and only filling concerning one particular substance, but certainly an experience that enhanced the Burrow's weekly dinners.

It was on such a day of the week, that a banner blew in a light breeze, attached to two posts in the Burrow's garden. 'Congratulations!' it read, shimmering and waving to no-one, glinting in the setting sun, dipping below the orchard, casting deep shadows across the lawn and carrying the temperature down with it. There was a cheerful noise coming from the house, lit up already by candles and lamps, illuminating silhouettes bustling in the kitchen.

'It's just a game of cards Mum, we weren't even betting on it.'

'Oh, yes, I'm very sure of that,' Molly said, turning around and fussing some more with the pots that were washing themselves in the sink. Behind her back George passed some money to Bill under the table.

'Bill, you give that money back.'

'Merlin, the day I figure out how you do that…' Bill grumbled under his breath and the clink of galleons was heard as he placed the coins on the wooden tabletop. George started to shuffle the cards absentmindedly, looking out of the window. He smiled to himself then turned to his brother.

'I reckon it's a fine night for a pint.'

Bill matched George's smile, 'I reckon you're not completely wrong,'

'What about Fleur?'

'She's sick mum, she won't want to come.'

'I don't mean that, I mean are you going to leave your wife at home to go gallivanting with your brothers?' Molly asked incredulously, 'Percy is already at home with Audrey, and they're only dating,' she said, her hands coming to her hips.

'Yeah well, Percy can be a p- '

'She told me not to worry. Plus, for me it will just be a pint, no matter what George here is planning.' Bill cut his brother off.

Molly rolled her eyes but didn't bother with a reply. George looked slightly affronted at Bill's interruption and his insinuation that he was going to have only one drink, but he didn't let it bother him for long. He set the cards down on the table and strode into the sitting room, throwing the door open confidently.

He lamented the scene before him. His father had obviously been asleep in his chair, as he was now adjusting his glasses and blinking blearily at him.

Ginny and Harry were sitting on the sofa, now looking at him expectantly, but had obviously been flipping through Quidditch Weekly, which was open in Ginny's hands.

Ron and Hermione had no doubt been engaged in some inane argument, as they were sat across from one another by the hearth.

'Alright, we're going to the Leaky, there's no, ifs ands or buts, grab your coats, cats and rats, and be outside in ten' George chanted. He clapped his hands together and looked at the four teenagers expectantly, and to his surprise they all nodded at him. He had expected resistance, especially from Harry, but there was no such thing.

But then Mr Weasley raised his hand into the air. 'I'd rather not, son, if that's okay.'

'Fine, but next time we're hauling you out,' George said, causing his father to laugh lightly, then return to the book that had fallen on his chest. Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny moved about the room, finding shoes and patting down pockets to check for money.

Harry looked up at George at one point, pulling on a trainer. 'Does it have to be the Leaky Cauldron?' he asked.

'Sorry, Harry. It's the place to be tonight. All the new Hogwarts graduates will be there, plus Lee and Angelina, and Katie, I think. Besides, all your drinks are free there!'

Harry mumbled under his breath, 'I'd rather pay and not get hounded.'

'But you'll be old hat to everyone there, just the bloke who always created havoc at Hogwarts. The boyfriend of future Harpies superstar Ginny Weasley,' George said, slinging an arm around Harry as they exited the sitting room.

'That doesn't sound too bad,' Ginny said, exiting after them.

Harry put his arm around her shoulders and the three of them barely managed to leave through the kitchen door, emerging outside.

'Besides, we have to celebrate you too. Mr Harry J Potter, Auror- '

'-Junior auror,' Harry interjected.

'-Fully fledged, out-of-training auror,' Ginny finished, kissing him on the cheek.

They waited outside for the other three to join them. George asked Harry to teach him how to do the silent apparition that aurors could, and so Ginny was treated to a show of her brother and boyfriend spinning around the garden, Harry silently but George still with a loud pop.

'What helps me is if I hold my breath before, think more of really squeezing yourself into nothing and appearing with as less intrusion as possible,' Harry said, around George's fifth try.

'Alright, this is the one Harry, I can feel it.' George twisted, vanished, and then re appeared near the hen house, with a loud pop on both his disappearance and appearance.

'Sod this, it must take like a week to learn, yeah?'

'Well, yeah, a lot of the time- '

'Harry did it on his third try, George,' Ginny interjected for Harry, who was awkwardly rubbing his neck. 'Ron said that Orben had never had a student learn that fast, her eyes were as wide as saucers apparently.'

George raised his eyebrows at Harry, impressed, then he readied himself to turn on the spot again. Before he could, Ron exited with Hermione and Bill came behind them, shutting the door carefully. Hermione and Ron were debating again, and they provided background noise as the group walked to the edge of the Burrow, where they could apparate out.

The dry grass crunched under their feet, and the symphony of birds surrounding the house was steadily dying down to an occasional chirp or tweet. There was a strip of orange where the sky met rolling hills on the horizon.

Harry took Ginny's hands in his as they walked, George striding confidently in front of them. Harry found himself often walking around these days with lingering thoughts that told him he should treat moments like these as rarities, because in his life, when things got this good, this normal, something would come to take it all away from him.

And lately, things had only been getting better, so he spent quiet moments wondering what was going to happen - when it was going to happen, where it was going to happen- to ruin it all. He surmised that it was an anxiety he could live with, especially when Ginny would lean over to tell him that it was all over, or Ron would lean over panting, hands on his knees, and say, 'What have we got to lose?' when they were training.

He felt Ginny squeeze his hand and looked over to her, she was smiling softly at him, her hair catching the last bit of sun. He smiled back at her, and swung their hands a little, brought back to the present.

'Alright, Bill and I will go first to try and clear a table for the celebrities,' George said, turning around when they reached the edge of the Burrow.

'Try and get that one at the back, please, preferably without too many beer stains!' Hermione shouted at them as they left.

They almost lost track of time, the four of them waiting there, standing on the outer bounds of the house, now lit up against the dark sky, telling jokes and talking. Harry and Ginny weighed in on Ron and Hermione's argument, which only strengthened the couples opposing views on the topic.

In the middle of Harry explaining his opinion, Hermione shouted, looking at her watch.

'Oh! It's been almost fifteen minutes, they'll be wondering where we are!' she held onto Ron's arm and apparated on the spot, leaving only Harry and Ginny.

'Have you ever tried side-along without making a noise?' Ginny asked curiously, holding out her arm for Harry to take.

'No, and I don't think I'd like to try it on you,' he answered, grasping her forearm and then following Ron and Hermione, squeezed through space, until they landed lightly on their feet on the streets of London, sheltered in the shadow of the Leaky Cauldron. Muggles, also out for a drink, skimmed over the building with their eyes, not taking any notice of two teenagers who seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

They found Ron and Hermione still waiting for them outside, and when they were all together again Ron opened the door for them to enter, Harry blew out a long breath, and stepped inside.

The place was packed with witches and wizards. George had been right, it seemed the whole of the seventh Hogwarts year was gathered in the Leaky Cauldron, standing in small groups, or huddled around tables, laughing and clinking pints of beer. Loud music played over the crowd, only increasing the volume.

As they walked inside, Ginny and Hermione recognised most everyone they passed and stopped to say hello or wave. Their classmates seemed eager to see them, but then starstruck when Harry, and even Ron appeared at their side.

The further they waded in the more whispers Harry heard.

'It's Harry Potter!'

'Did you see Ginny Weasley was holding Harry Potter's hand? The cow.'

'All three of them are here! Let's buy them a round, we owe it to them!'

Ginny squeezed his hand for the second time that evening, leading him through the rabble. To be honest, Harry had expected a lot worse, another point that George had been right about. A lot of these people had already been in fairly close contact with him before, so while he was quite a spectacle, it was not the same as walking down Diagon Alley on Saturday, where every wizard over forty would stop him to shake his hand.

Harry blinked as a camera flashed in his face. He grimaced, but then heard members of the crowd yelling at the culprit, with rather colourful language, he thought.

'Ron! Ginny!'

George was calling them over from a booth at the back of the room, and the four of them made a beeline for it. They sat down and George immediately pushed four glasses full of golden liquid towards them

'See, Harry, that wasn't so bad,' he said.

'Mm, just a camera in my face and everyone gawking at me, not bad at all.'

'You're getting a bit ahead of yourself mate, I think they were gawking over me,' Ron said, leaning back in the booth and stretching his arm along the headrest.

Harry took a sip of his beer, savouring its taste. 'Let's agree that we were equally gawked at.'

'And Hermione and I? I think we deserve be considered gawkable, everyone was gawked at by a quarter,' Ginny said.

'Can we stop saying gawk?' Bill asked.

The group laughed, just as a nervous waiter approached their table, carrying a tray laden with shots of all kinds, from clear as water, to the fading colours of a sunset. One appeared to be just a ball of green flame. The waiter explained, as he carefully placed the drinks down, that it was a motley collection of some of the drinks that other patrons had requested to be sent their way.

'Merlin,' George said, then lifted from his seat and shouted over the bar. 'Thanks for the drinks, everyone, but keep the rest for yourselves, or your chosen one may not last the night!'

There was a round of cheers and applause, which George himself joined in, and Harry couldn't help but let a smile creep onto his face, a laugh as well, when George bellowed a song for him.

'His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad!'

'Oh Godric,' Ginny said, burying her face in her hands.

Hermione had been carefully counting the shots, while George entertained the crowds, he finished on a high, long note, with some lyrics Harry was quite sure were not in the original poem.

'There's thirty-one shots, so we can all have five, with one left over- '

'-Uh,' Bill interrupted, 'I'll only be having one, and I don't think Ginny should be having that many- '

'-Bill! I would've brought mum along if I'd wanted to hear something like that,' Ginny scoffed, crossing her arms.

'Gin, you've never drank that much though,' Bill said uncertainly.

'And where better to do it than with Harry, Hermione and three of my big brothers around? I'll be fine.' And before anyone could say anything more, she took a bright yellow shot and downed it, face screwing up as she took it. Yet, she grabbed another one, then another, until finally she had taken five.

She grimaced and stuck her tongue out. 'I think that last one burnt my taste buds off.'

'Well, I for one won't be outdone by my little sister, bottoms up lads and lady,' George said, and he downed his five shots, including the green flame one, that caused smoke to come out of his nostrils.

Harry, Hermione and Ron followed suit, and soon there were only six shots left. Bill took one, and then pushed the remaining five away from him. Hermione pushed hers towards Ron, but besides her, the rest of the shots were divvied up and the table's occupants were soon rather inebriated.

At the soberest of times, any gathering containing this certain combination of Weasleys, Potter and Granger was chaotic, but with the added element of liquor, things soon got out of hand and their table became one of the loudest.

Shouts of indignation and shrieks of laughter erupted from it periodically, accusations of lies and indignant refusals. At one point, Ginny crawled onto the table and started dancing, trying to drag Harry after her, who, in his state, didn't find it to be such a bad idea. Hermione had managed to keep his feet on the floor, but Ginny had subsequently fallen on top of him, in a fit of giggles.

Hermione and Ron had finally reached an agreement in their argument, becoming quite soppy as the night progressed, and she leaned against him when she laughed, helped him tell stories about Australia or long distant school memories.

The group cheered whenever a familiar face approached them. Lee, Katie and Angelina sat down with them for a while and stumbled through a rather lewd and surprising story about what they had witnessed in the bathrooms not an hour ago. Harry didn't know if he was too drunk to understand, or not drunk enough.

Neville stopped by, flanked by witches, though curiously constantly glancing towards the bar. Harry and Ron had another shot with him to celebrate the end of their training, and had stumbled, crying with laughter at Godric knows what, back to the booth where their friends sat. They found Seamus and Dean sitting in their seats, looking very happy, with their hands clasped together, and talked for a while, about the past, about the present, about the future.

When the steady flow of friends began to slow down, Bill drained the last sip of his beer and slapped his hands on the table.

'Right. That's me then, don't let me wake up tomorrow to your bare arses on the front page of the Prophet or something like that,' he said.

'Bill, no!' Ginny whined, reaching out for him, and grasping his wrist weakly.

'Sorry Gin-Gin, Fleur will be waiting. In bed. All alone. It's the struggle of a married man you see, you sprogs wouldn't understand' he said, winking.

'Bleurgh,' George said, creasing his eyebrows, 'I'm going to get another round before this vulgar conversation ruins my innocence.' He left their congregation and made his way through the crowd to the bar.

Harry, rather drunk at this point, still had his eyebrows furrowed.

'But you don't have to be married to- 'he paused mid-sentence, his brain somehow catching up with his mouth.

The rest of the table went quiet for the first time that night. Hermione had her eyebrows raised and lips pursed shut, staring fixedly down at the table. Ron was slowly trying to figure out what exactly Harry's words implied, which was rather difficult through the additional shot he had just taken. There was a steely edge to the amused expression that Bill wore and Ginny was simply grinning, enjoying the hole that Harry was digging for himself.

'To what, Harry?' Bill asked.

Harry spluttered, 'To- to play chess of course.'

'Ah, a common misconception Harry, people thinking only spouses can play chess, you're a smart one,' Bill said.

As Harry grew redder, George re-emerged from the crowd, waving four pints of beer above his head like a flag, they sloshed out onto the table as he placed them down, and he took a deep swig from his own.

'Did I hear you talking about chess? I leave for one bloody minute and you all become Aunt Muriel,' he said, wiping foam from the top of his mouth.

'George, Harry and I quite enjoy playing chess thank you very much. Harry's too good at it though, he always ends up on top,' Ginny pouted, though the ever-present spark of mischief in her eyes was gleaming.

-Ginny!' Harry said.

'What? Harry's rubbish at chess, he loses to Ron all the time.'

'I've never seen Harry and Ron play chess,' Ginny said. At that point, Bill let out a bark of laughter, and his shoulders shook.

'Well! If I had to play chess with any bloke, it would be Harry!' Ron said, raising his glass in the air. Hermione raised her eyes to the ceiling but laughed.

'You finally catch up to the conversation with that?' she said, turning to him.

'Well, it's true,' Ron slurred, though he sounded very sure of his words.

Harry clapped Ron on the back. 'Thanks mate, I really appreciate that.'

George looked between them all with narrowed eyes. 'You're all having me on, aren't you? Ok, I don't know what this- 'he waved his fingers around the table '-is all about, but I'm changing the subject. How do you lot feel about being test subjects for Hula-Holo Hoops? They're almost finished…'

Harry chose this moment to go to the loo, miraculously making his way there without incident. He drank some water from the tap before he left, already finding his mouth dry and sticky. Merlin he was going to have a fun morning tomorrow.

When he returned to the table, Bill was gone and so was George, but Neville had returned.

'George gone too?' Harry asked, taking a seat.

'He went off a with Angelina,' Ginny replied. Harry raised his eyebrows, and she returned the gesture, equally as surprised obviously.

Their party continued just as raucous as before, especially as the hour grew later, and the people that remained were those still energetic enough to talk and laugh and even- when some tables were pushed out of the way- dance.

Ron had dragged Hermione on said dance floor at some point, and Harry watched his two friends twist on the stained wooden floor. Ron was going to great lengths to make Hermione laugh, practicing ballet moves and curling her into his arms, then dipping her low. Ginny sat beside him, hand brushing up and down his thigh and talking to Neville animatedly.

What would happen now? Would some masked stranger come in through the door and start throwing hexes all over the place? Would there be a blood curdling scream from the bathroom? Would the roof-

'Harry?'

'Hm?

'Neville asked if you've heard from your senior auror yet, he says his seems nice enough, Proudfoot. That name sounds so familiar to me.'

Harry shook his head and looked at Neville. 'Sorry mate. Um, yeah. Well, I know it's Robards, but I haven't heard a word,' he said. Neville nodded then launched into a story about their early training days, when Robards had been ruthless, and rather fearsome.

Harry had not yet noticed, when Ron tapped him on the shoulder, that they were among the last people left in the pub.

'Hermione is falling asleep on her feet, and I think she threw up a little on my shoulder, we're going to get back to the Burrow. You coming?'

Ginny had her head on his shoulder, and Neville had already been gathering his things to leave, so Harry said yes to Ron, then shifted to move Ginny's head from his shoulder. He stood up and coaxed her up with him.

'Harry, you smell like… like… my mum,' she said, throwing her hands over his neck and hanging off him.

'Your mum?' Harry said, half dragging her out of the booth and through the pub.

'Mmhm,' she hummed, 'Food.' She said as explanation.

Tables were pushed against the walls, and several chairs were lying on their side. The floor was sticky with drinks, and Harry looked apologetically at the last barman. He fished in his pocket for some galleons and left them on the bar, then exited the pub onto the street, all but carrying Ginny.

'I am so telling Bill,' Ron said, seeing his little sister hanging off Harry. Hermione seemed to have recovered quite well, and just looked tired, yawning with her hands wrapped around herself.

The four of them apparated at the same time, appearing under the cover of darkness on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole. The light looked similar to how it was when they had left the same very spot. Tinged with light on the horizon. The new day was already dawning.

Ginny doubled over when their feet landed on the grass, and threw up. Harry grimaced but held back her hair.

'Ugh, don't tell Bill about this,' she groaned. Harry shared a look with Ron, grinning despite himself.

'I am going to get a glass of water, brush my teeth, and then go to bed. I'll see you all at noon,' Hermione said, already trudging towards the house. Ron walked back with Harry and Ginny, ambling their way up to the kitchen. He opened the door for them, and they entered the Burrow just as the sun started to crest over the hills, and creep into the windows.

'I'll go check on Hermione,' Ron whispered, tiptoeing through the house.

Harry poured himself and Ginny some water, but he turned away from the tap only to find that she had disappeared. He ventured into the living room to find her almost asleep on the sofa, curled into a quilt blanket. He placed the water on the end table and then moved a piece of hair out of her face. She opened her eyes at the touch and smiled.

'Thank you,' she croaked.

Harry laughed, but leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead. He ran his hands through her hair as her eyes fluttered closed.

'Oi! Gerroff my sister!'

Harry turned to see George in the doorway, looking very dishevelled indeed. A sheepish looking Angelina Johnson stepped out behind him and waved at Harry.

'Hello, Angelina,' Harry said, getting up from his seat. He walked past them in the doorway and then called out behind him.

'You're just in time for bed, George's is free I think, if you don't mind sharing with a one-eared, red haired bloke. I'm sure he won't. See you in the evening.'

He was still close enough to hear Angelina's gasp, then laughter, spilling from the kitchen and into every corner of the Burrow, just like the sun, replacing the shadows.