The Burrow Once Again
Harry looked around. He saw no one there which was very surprising. The Weasleys had seven children but two of them had already moved away. Bill was 22 and he worked for Gringotts in Egypt, Charlie was 20 and he worked with dragons in Romania, Percy was 18 and graduated last year, Fred and George were 17 in their last year at Hogwarts, Ron was 15 in his 5th year and Ginny was 14 in her 4th year. He decided to go upstairs and see if Ron was in his room.
As he approached he heard Ron, Fred, and George talking. "How about a candy that makes you blow up to five times you normal size for abut seven seconds?" asked Fred. They were obviously brainstorming new joke ideas. Fred and George were geniuses when it came to making joke products.
"Great idea!" yelled George.
"But do you think you can do it? Do you know any charms that would do that?" asked Ron.
"Maybe," replied Fred. "We can start working on them tomorrow." Harry decided to surprise them.
"Hey when you get those worked out I'd like to try one on Dudley," said Harry suddenly entering Ron's room. Nobody said anything for a second. They just stared at him amazed.
"Harry," said Ron finally breaking the shocked silence. "When'd you get here? Your early!" he said grinning from ear to ear.
"Just now," said Harry smiling at them. Fred and George still looked a little shocked at Harry's sudden arrival. "Where is everyone?" he continued then Fred finally spoke.
"Mum and Dad went to visit Charlie. They Apparated a few hours ago and Percy drug Ginny to work with him when none of us would go." George just nodded his head in agreement.
"Listen, Ron, can I ask you a big favor? The Muggles have been starving me all day. Could I have something to eat?" he asked. Then eyeing the candy and cremes Fred and George had with them added, "Something joke free?" Fred and George smiled at him.
"Sure. I don't know what I can do because I've never really cooked that much before but we can try," Ron said leading Harry downstairs to their small kitchen.
"Mum's the one who does all of the cooking, but I think we can find something in these cooking spell books she has," Ron said.
"Oh, well I don't really need a mean I just need something until we eat dinner," Harry said. He didn't want to have Ron thinking he couldn't stand being a little hungry.
"I think I've still got some chocolate frogs upstairs if you want a couple of those," said Ron looking relieved that he didn't need to cook. "Besides Mum and Dad'll be back in about an hour. And as soon as Mum sees you she's going to make a huge feast," said Ron. Ron's mother had always taking a liking to Harry and always went out of her way to cook stuff for him.
Harry and Ron ran back upstairs to find that Fred and George were now discussing the Gryffindor Qudditch team. Ron threw Harry a pack of chocolate frogs and he ate them happily.
"We need a new Keeper and Captain! Where are we going to find someone good enough to play on the team?" asked George. Suddenly it hit Harry. He had never thought about it before. Oliver Wood the Captain and Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team had graduated two years ago. And this was Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet (the three Chasers), Fred and George's last year! But Harry figured that Professor McGonagall (the head of Gryffindor House) had some sort of plan.
Just as Harry was assuring himself of this he heard voices downstairs. He and Ron looked at each other and decided to go down and meet whoever it was. It turned out to be Percy and Ginny.
Percy looked very happy and said, "Harry! So nice to see you again, my boy."
But Ginny who was looking very bored, tired, and grumpy just said, "Hi, Harry," and walked upstairs to her room.
"Been showing her around the office. I think a day at the office totally wore her out. I don't believe she thought about that when she agreed to go," said Percy and went upstairs to his room.
"I bet Ginny's about to die of boredom actually," said Fred as he and George came downstairs.
"Probably," said Ron nodding his head. "Do you guys want to go outside and play a little Qudditch?" he asked Harry, Fred, George.
"Sure," said Harry. "My Firebolt's in my trunk let me get it." He made his way to his trunk which was still sitting there. In his 3rd year Sirius had sent him the best broomstick known. It was his most prized possession. Harry knew that none of the Weasleys had their own broom so they all took turns riding Harry's. It was great fun. Harry hadn't ridden in so long it felt better than ever.
He saw George and Fred motioning him to come back down and he dove toward the ground as if diving for the Snitch. He jumped off his broom and stood next to the twins.
"Spectacular dive, Harry," said Fred. "Okay Mum, Dad, and Charlie are back. Come on. Let's go," he said hurrying Harry inside.
Charlie was standing next to Ginny and talking to her about something. "Harry, dear!" said Mrs. Weasley grabbing him into an enormous hug.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks a lot for letting me stay here again this summer. The Dursleys have been especially nasty lately, and I'm glad to get away," said Harry. The burrow was like a second home to him (Hogwarts was his first. No way did he consider 4 Privet Dr. a home!).
"They were starving him, Mum!" said Fred giving Harry an evil grin. He knew that if Mrs. Weasley thought he was starving then he'd be getting a package of food everyday from her at Hogwarts.
"No, that was just today. And they were going to feed me dinner," he said trying to cover up.
"Oh, well we'll have a big dinner tonight anyway," she continued. "I'll send Bill and owl and see if he can Apparate tonight to join us. And Charlie's already here," she continued partly talking to herself. "Oh! Ron, what about Hermione. Why haven't you heard from her this summer?" Harry realized that he hadn't gotten one owl from Hermione this summer.
"I don't know what happened to her," said Ron. "She just disappeared."
"Well, okay. They rest of us can enjoy a fine meal with Harry," she
said.
"Wait!" yelled Ginny. This surprised Harry because she had been very quiet ever since he arrived. Everyone looked at Ginny. She blushed then continued. "I know where Hermione is," she said quietly.
"Well?!" said Ron. Harry knew that Ron had gotten a little closer since the incident with Hermione's cat and Ron's rat. She too had stayed with the Weasleys last summer.
"She went to visit that boy from Durmstrang. Viktor Strum or something," Ginny continued.
"Krum," Ron corrected immediately. Viktor Krum was Ron's favorite Quidditch player. He played for Bulgaria, and was a Seeker like Harry. They had gone to see the Quidditch World Cup last year and it was Ireland versus Bulgaria. Krum went to the school Durmstrang and came to Hogwarts last year to compete against Harry in the Triwizard Tournament. He had taking a liking to Hermione and asked her to visit him over the summer.
"I can't believe she went!" said Ron. "Last year it sounded as though she didn't want to go at all," he continued. Mrs. Weasley just shook her head and returned to her cooking smiling. "Come on, Harry. We're going to send her an owl right now. You can bring your stuff up to my room."
Harry picked up his stuff and followed Ron up the narrow stairway. Ron was still muttering things like, "Can't believe she would do that," and "Why didn't she tell me?"
"Ron," said Harry. "Isn't it obvious why she didn't tell us? She doesn't want us to laugh at her." Ron was speechless. He knew Harry was right but didn't say anything.
Fianlly once they were up in his room he said, "I don't care. I still want to talk to her." He found his quill, some parchment, and scribbled some stuff on it.
"There," he said finally. "Read it."
Dear Hermione,
Having fun with Krum? Why didn't you say anything to
Harry or me but you told my baby sister! It doesn't matter now
anyway, though. If your coming back soon you can come and stay with us if you like. Harry just got here today. Send back your answer quickly.
"Lovely," said Harry sarcastically. "You know she's going to get mad when she sees this! That's the way Hermione is. You know how emotional she is," said Harry.
"I know," answered Ron. "But there was no reason why she didn't tell us. We're her best friends. We deserve to know. Ron tied the letter to Hedwig's leg and sent her off. They headed back downstairs.
Harry looked at the Weasleys clock. Harry loved this old clock. There were no numbers on it at all. Just the name of every Weasley. All of them (except for Bill) pointed to "home" except Mr. Weasley's. It was on "traveling," but very close to home which meant he should be there any minute.
Just then Mr. Weasley came striding in the door holding The Daily Prophet wizard newspaper and muttering to himself.
"Just don't get it. What idiot would do that?" he said. Everyone looked up at him curiously.
"What is it, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley anxiously.
"Sirius Black," he said. Harry's stomach dropped. "Some Muggle police almost found him! He sent a letter straight to the Ministry of Magic saying that he had evidence that could prove he was innocent. He would only come out of hiding though if he could have a fair trial," he continued. Harry felt like he could faint.
"How could Sirius do something so stupid?! Writing to the Ministry!" Harry thought.
"Ron, let's go upstairs," he said and Ron nodded eagerly. They ran upstairs as fast as they could and slammed Ron's door.
"What is he thinking?!" Ron almost yelled.
"Shhhhhh! They'll hear you!" said Harry. "I know Sirius, and he must have a good reason for doing this! Oh, where's Hermione when you need her?" Harry and Ron said nothing for what seemed like an hour. They were both lost in thought. Harry looked down at his watch. It had only been ten minutes.
"Okay, if Hermione comes then we'll talk about it then. We've got a month and a half until school starts, anyway," said Harry trying to stay calm. Ron just nodded in agreement. They stayed upstairs playing chess until dinner.
Harry and Ron went downstairs when Mrs. Weasley called them. They sat down at the table slight squashed. It was a fabulous dinner. Probably bigger that the one they had last year when Harry stayed with them. He knew it was so big partly because of Fred telling Mrs. Weasley about the Dursleys starving him.
They talked about everything. Qudditch, Sirius, Qudditch, Hogwarts, Qudditch, Hermione, and Qudditch. When everyone was full and sleepy they went upstairs and went to bed. Harry hadn't been this happy in a long time. He fell asleep and everything was peaceful. Until he started to dream again.