Chapter 3
Harry enjoyed the trip to the Weasley's for the most part.
He liked being on a broomstick, which he hadn't done since summer began. He never would get over the great feeling of flying on his Firebolt, a top of the line broomstick.
Harry was the Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He got much acclaim for his natural skill on the broomstick. The first team Harry played on narrowly missed winning the Quidditch Cup, and the second year the season ended early, but the third year, driven strongly by their captain Oliver Wood, they finally did win it. In Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, the season was canceled due to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, in which Harry took first place.
Looking back Harry would have preferred not winning, or even being in the tournament, as it should have been. Harry was entered in for a fourth school by one of Voldemort's supporters, and was basically set up to win. Upon touching the trophy, Harry and fellow Hogwarts student Cedric Diggory were transported to a graveyard, in which they met up with Lord Voldemort. Cedric was killed, and Harry was no longer immune to Voldemort's evil magic. Harry gave his one thousand galleons of prize money to the twin Weasely brothers, who were hoping to open their own joke shop when they graduated from Hogwarts.
Despite the thrill of riding on a broom once again, it was a very boring ride. Percy was not a very talkative person. Harry kept himself excited mainly by thinking about how much fun he'd have when he got to the Burrow.
Also, it was hard to hold on to the Bluebottle with only one arm, since he had to use the other to keep Hedwig's cage flying in the air. He almost fell off a few times.
Though Harry knew he was almost there, he couldn't wait until he actually got to see Ron again. And as good as that would be, Harry still knew it would be nothing compared to when the first term of Hogwarts began again.
. . .
When the Burrow came into view, it looked like the front part of it was burning. Harry knew, though, that it was just the Weasleys, waiting for Harry and Percy to arrive.
When they finally did arrive, Harry learned that Bluebottles do not make for smooth landings. When Percy brought it in for a landing, Harry was slammed down by gravity, which came into affect the second Percy's legs hit the ground, and since Harry's legs were much smaller than Percy's, he was still about a foot off the ground.
After getting up and dusting himself off, Harry was greeted by the rest of the Weasleys with warm hellos and even a hug from Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh no!" Harry suddenly exclaimed "Hedwig!" Harry turned around to see his owl's cage on its side, with Hedwig flapping her one good wing, making such a ruckus in her cage that Harry was sure was only drowned out before by his excitement of seeing the Weasleys again.
As Harry walked over to pick her up, Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister by a year, ran past him, and took Hedwig out of her cage.
"There goes the family animal lover," said George Weasley.
"What happened to her?" asked Ginny, ignoring her brother.
"My uncle hit her and knocked her into a wall," Harry replied, "and she hasn't had anything to eat for a while, either."
"Well I'll take her inside and get her fixed up. She can have some of Pigwidgeon's food."
Harry was surprised how composed Ginny was acting around him. Before she had always been nervous around Harry, prone to knocking things over. "Thanks, Ginny," Harry said gratefully.
As Ginny walked back into the house, Ron came up to him. "Ginny absolutely loves anything to do with animals," he informed Harry. "Let's just say I wouldn't plan on seeing Hedwig again until the term starts, she'll be so wrapped up in taking care of him."
. . .
Harry settled into the Burrow rather quickly, as usual. He had spent a good part of the last two years there, and he was still more comfortable there than he had ever been at Privet Drive. He had become enchanted with it, and, aside from Hogwarts, there was no place at which he would rather be. He had come to regard the Weasleys as his own surrogate family.
Mrs. Weasley was very kind, and she showed the same affection to Harry as she did to her own children.
Mr. Weasley was also an extremely nice person. He, as part of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department of the Ministry of Magic, was always asking Harry about the things that Muggles used to get along without magic.
Fred and George were the biggest clowns Harry had ever met. The two hoping to open their own joke shop, despite their mother's best wishes, it was not uncommon to hear an explosion or any other strange sound coming from their room.
Ron was Harry's best friend, and was like the brother he never had.
Harry had not gotten to know Ginny as well as he had the rest of the family, but he was very pleased at her enthusiasm to help Hedwig.
Percy was kind of pompous, and extremely bossy, but, Harry had learned, that's not hard to get used to.
Ron's other brothers Bill and Charlie had already graduated from Hogwarts. Bill worked at Gringotts and Charlie studied dragons.
The Weasley's biggest problem was, though, that they weren't exactly rich. Harry had given Fred and George his prize money from the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but most of that money would probably go into their joke shop. Harry figured though, that, with the brothers' mind for practical jokes, the Weasley Wheezes, the name they were planning on using for the shop, would challenge Hogsmeade's Zonko's as the best joke shop in the wizarding world.
Harry's summer turned around. He was eating better, and so was Hedwig whose wing Ginny had taped up. She wouldn't be able to deliver mail until after the term started, but Harry was fine knowing that she was on the road to recovery.
But the thing Harry enjoyed the most was the small Quidditch practices. They did not have everything necessary to play a Quidditch game, but they did have brooms, and substitutions for the balls. In the place of the Quaffle was a basketball, and in place of the Snitch was a golf ball, and two baseball bats replaced the Beaters' clubs, all of which had been gotten by Mr. Weasley, because his job was so closely related to Muggles.
They could not have a real game, but the practices were a good appetizer for the season in Harry's mind. To test Ron's skills as a Keeper, someone would throw the basketball to the left or right of him, and see if he could stop or catch it. Ron was adequate at it, but he wasn't nearly as good as Oliver Wood, their former seeker and captain, had been.
For the Beaters, Fred and George, they would have one person who they would throw the ball, one person they would throw the ball at, a Beater, who would be the teammate of the of the person who the ball would be thrown at, and another person riding around on a broom, on the opposite team. They had to use the basketball for the Bludger, since they had no other balls to use. When the ball neared the teammate, the Beater would come in and knock the ball with the baseball bat into the other player. Fred and George would switch off between thrower and Beater, and Harry and Ron would switch off between throwee and Beatee, as they liked to call them. Sometimes George and Fred would clown around by letting the Bludger hit their teammate, usually when it was Ron.
The most fun part for Harry, of course, was the Seeker game. Somebody would throw the golf ball up, down, left, right, or wherever, so that Harry would have to move to catch it, as he would the Snitch.
Between Quidditch practices Harry and Ron would do their summer homework. As usual, Professor Snape and Professor Binns had piled it on with History and Potions homework respectively.
Just as Harry was putting the finishing touches on his 'Evil Wizards, Witches, and their Downfalls' Report (in which he tried not to put too much in about himself), Mrs. Weasley called for him and Ron.
"Ron! Harry! Hermione wrote you back!"
Harry and Ron ran into the kitchen, where Pig, who had taken a letter to Hermione just two days before, stood there, letter tied to his leg, looking as content with himself as ever. Harry took the letter from him and unfolded. Pig still stood there, waiting for praise. When he didn't get anything, he flew off to Ginny's room, to Harry's suspicion, to steal Hedwig's food. Harry noticed that Hermione's handwriting was a bit shakier than usual, and that some of it was blotched, as if by water.
'Dear Harry and Ron,
I'm so sorry to hear about Hedwig. Is she all right? I'm glad you escaped from those horrible people.
I have some news myself, but it is not all good news. The bad news is, I got an owl from Viktor, and he said that he met someone else from his homeland.'
The writing was especially blotchy here. Last year, Hermione had developed a relationship with Viktor Krum, the Seeker on the Bulgarian team.
"Poor Hermione!" Harry proclaimed.
"Yeah," Ron replied, but with, Harry noticed, a smile creeping onto his face.
'The good news is that I got a letter from school telling me that I've been made a Prefect. They told me the password to our common room and everything, even how to deduct House points.
See you soon,
Hermione'
. . .
Harry had not realized how much time he had already spent at the Weasley's. He and Ron had done all of their homework and figured that they would spend the rest of the summer practicing for Quidditch. Ron had improved somewhat as a Keeper, but he still could never compete with Oliver.
Harry and Ron had both finally received their letters from Hogwarts.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
The new term will start on September 1. A list of all necessary books and equipment for the 5th year is enclosed.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Harry then read his list of supplies.
'Course Books
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Gawshawk'
Upon reading the list, Harry was very surprised. Only one book. He figured that everything they needed for the year they had already bought in previous years.
"That's a relief," Ron said after reading his list.
. . .
Harry was looking up at the two identical faces of Fred and George Weasley. He had been having a wonderful dream; a dream about Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes, who had once saved Harry's life. In his dream Fawkes was flying in the sky, on a beautiful sunny day. Gradually, Fawkes seemed to become slower and slower and weaker and weaker. Then George and Fred had woken Harry up.
"Psst, Harry," whispered George, "wake up."
"What do you want?" Harry demanded quietly, irritated at the timing of the twins.
"You know that Ron's birthday is September 12, right?"
"Yeah," Harry replied, hoping that they were going somewhere with this conversation. Ron had never made a big deal out of his birthday. He never asked for anything much, except a cake and maybe a small present, like a quill or something.
"Well, the thing is," Fred continued, "he made the Quidditch team, nobody else in Gryffindor wants to play, so Ron wins uncontested."
"The problem is," George interrupted, "that the only two half-decent brooms that this family has are our Cleansweep 7's. Ron has an old Shooting Star, and Charlie has a Comet 130, which is way outdated, so we can't give that too him."
"So," concluded Fred, "we're going to get him the top of the line broomstick. Ron will probably be the worst Keeper in the league, so we'll have to get him the broom to make up for it."
George pulled out a page he must have ripped out from a magazine. The twins said in unison, "The Silver Streak."
The page showed a broom with a slick black handle with silver printings on it. The twigs were marvelous, perfectly straight and silver colored. Harry could tell that it probably outmatched even his Firebolt.
"We've got the money, thanks to you," George went on, "but we have to have money for our joke shop. So we'd really, really appreciate it if you chipped in."
This was a no-brainer for Harry. The broom would be expensive, but he wouldn't even be paying for all of it. He had plenty of money.
"Of course."
Harry enjoyed the trip to the Weasley's for the most part.
He liked being on a broomstick, which he hadn't done since summer began. He never would get over the great feeling of flying on his Firebolt, a top of the line broomstick.
Harry was the Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He got much acclaim for his natural skill on the broomstick. The first team Harry played on narrowly missed winning the Quidditch Cup, and the second year the season ended early, but the third year, driven strongly by their captain Oliver Wood, they finally did win it. In Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, the season was canceled due to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, in which Harry took first place.
Looking back Harry would have preferred not winning, or even being in the tournament, as it should have been. Harry was entered in for a fourth school by one of Voldemort's supporters, and was basically set up to win. Upon touching the trophy, Harry and fellow Hogwarts student Cedric Diggory were transported to a graveyard, in which they met up with Lord Voldemort. Cedric was killed, and Harry was no longer immune to Voldemort's evil magic. Harry gave his one thousand galleons of prize money to the twin Weasely brothers, who were hoping to open their own joke shop when they graduated from Hogwarts.
Despite the thrill of riding on a broom once again, it was a very boring ride. Percy was not a very talkative person. Harry kept himself excited mainly by thinking about how much fun he'd have when he got to the Burrow.
Also, it was hard to hold on to the Bluebottle with only one arm, since he had to use the other to keep Hedwig's cage flying in the air. He almost fell off a few times.
Though Harry knew he was almost there, he couldn't wait until he actually got to see Ron again. And as good as that would be, Harry still knew it would be nothing compared to when the first term of Hogwarts began again.
. . .
When the Burrow came into view, it looked like the front part of it was burning. Harry knew, though, that it was just the Weasleys, waiting for Harry and Percy to arrive.
When they finally did arrive, Harry learned that Bluebottles do not make for smooth landings. When Percy brought it in for a landing, Harry was slammed down by gravity, which came into affect the second Percy's legs hit the ground, and since Harry's legs were much smaller than Percy's, he was still about a foot off the ground.
After getting up and dusting himself off, Harry was greeted by the rest of the Weasleys with warm hellos and even a hug from Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh no!" Harry suddenly exclaimed "Hedwig!" Harry turned around to see his owl's cage on its side, with Hedwig flapping her one good wing, making such a ruckus in her cage that Harry was sure was only drowned out before by his excitement of seeing the Weasleys again.
As Harry walked over to pick her up, Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister by a year, ran past him, and took Hedwig out of her cage.
"There goes the family animal lover," said George Weasley.
"What happened to her?" asked Ginny, ignoring her brother.
"My uncle hit her and knocked her into a wall," Harry replied, "and she hasn't had anything to eat for a while, either."
"Well I'll take her inside and get her fixed up. She can have some of Pigwidgeon's food."
Harry was surprised how composed Ginny was acting around him. Before she had always been nervous around Harry, prone to knocking things over. "Thanks, Ginny," Harry said gratefully.
As Ginny walked back into the house, Ron came up to him. "Ginny absolutely loves anything to do with animals," he informed Harry. "Let's just say I wouldn't plan on seeing Hedwig again until the term starts, she'll be so wrapped up in taking care of him."
. . .
Harry settled into the Burrow rather quickly, as usual. He had spent a good part of the last two years there, and he was still more comfortable there than he had ever been at Privet Drive. He had become enchanted with it, and, aside from Hogwarts, there was no place at which he would rather be. He had come to regard the Weasleys as his own surrogate family.
Mrs. Weasley was very kind, and she showed the same affection to Harry as she did to her own children.
Mr. Weasley was also an extremely nice person. He, as part of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department of the Ministry of Magic, was always asking Harry about the things that Muggles used to get along without magic.
Fred and George were the biggest clowns Harry had ever met. The two hoping to open their own joke shop, despite their mother's best wishes, it was not uncommon to hear an explosion or any other strange sound coming from their room.
Ron was Harry's best friend, and was like the brother he never had.
Harry had not gotten to know Ginny as well as he had the rest of the family, but he was very pleased at her enthusiasm to help Hedwig.
Percy was kind of pompous, and extremely bossy, but, Harry had learned, that's not hard to get used to.
Ron's other brothers Bill and Charlie had already graduated from Hogwarts. Bill worked at Gringotts and Charlie studied dragons.
The Weasley's biggest problem was, though, that they weren't exactly rich. Harry had given Fred and George his prize money from the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but most of that money would probably go into their joke shop. Harry figured though, that, with the brothers' mind for practical jokes, the Weasley Wheezes, the name they were planning on using for the shop, would challenge Hogsmeade's Zonko's as the best joke shop in the wizarding world.
Harry's summer turned around. He was eating better, and so was Hedwig whose wing Ginny had taped up. She wouldn't be able to deliver mail until after the term started, but Harry was fine knowing that she was on the road to recovery.
But the thing Harry enjoyed the most was the small Quidditch practices. They did not have everything necessary to play a Quidditch game, but they did have brooms, and substitutions for the balls. In the place of the Quaffle was a basketball, and in place of the Snitch was a golf ball, and two baseball bats replaced the Beaters' clubs, all of which had been gotten by Mr. Weasley, because his job was so closely related to Muggles.
They could not have a real game, but the practices were a good appetizer for the season in Harry's mind. To test Ron's skills as a Keeper, someone would throw the basketball to the left or right of him, and see if he could stop or catch it. Ron was adequate at it, but he wasn't nearly as good as Oliver Wood, their former seeker and captain, had been.
For the Beaters, Fred and George, they would have one person who they would throw the ball, one person they would throw the ball at, a Beater, who would be the teammate of the of the person who the ball would be thrown at, and another person riding around on a broom, on the opposite team. They had to use the basketball for the Bludger, since they had no other balls to use. When the ball neared the teammate, the Beater would come in and knock the ball with the baseball bat into the other player. Fred and George would switch off between thrower and Beater, and Harry and Ron would switch off between throwee and Beatee, as they liked to call them. Sometimes George and Fred would clown around by letting the Bludger hit their teammate, usually when it was Ron.
The most fun part for Harry, of course, was the Seeker game. Somebody would throw the golf ball up, down, left, right, or wherever, so that Harry would have to move to catch it, as he would the Snitch.
Between Quidditch practices Harry and Ron would do their summer homework. As usual, Professor Snape and Professor Binns had piled it on with History and Potions homework respectively.
Just as Harry was putting the finishing touches on his 'Evil Wizards, Witches, and their Downfalls' Report (in which he tried not to put too much in about himself), Mrs. Weasley called for him and Ron.
"Ron! Harry! Hermione wrote you back!"
Harry and Ron ran into the kitchen, where Pig, who had taken a letter to Hermione just two days before, stood there, letter tied to his leg, looking as content with himself as ever. Harry took the letter from him and unfolded. Pig still stood there, waiting for praise. When he didn't get anything, he flew off to Ginny's room, to Harry's suspicion, to steal Hedwig's food. Harry noticed that Hermione's handwriting was a bit shakier than usual, and that some of it was blotched, as if by water.
'Dear Harry and Ron,
I'm so sorry to hear about Hedwig. Is she all right? I'm glad you escaped from those horrible people.
I have some news myself, but it is not all good news. The bad news is, I got an owl from Viktor, and he said that he met someone else from his homeland.'
The writing was especially blotchy here. Last year, Hermione had developed a relationship with Viktor Krum, the Seeker on the Bulgarian team.
"Poor Hermione!" Harry proclaimed.
"Yeah," Ron replied, but with, Harry noticed, a smile creeping onto his face.
'The good news is that I got a letter from school telling me that I've been made a Prefect. They told me the password to our common room and everything, even how to deduct House points.
See you soon,
Hermione'
. . .
Harry had not realized how much time he had already spent at the Weasley's. He and Ron had done all of their homework and figured that they would spend the rest of the summer practicing for Quidditch. Ron had improved somewhat as a Keeper, but he still could never compete with Oliver.
Harry and Ron had both finally received their letters from Hogwarts.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
The new term will start on September 1. A list of all necessary books and equipment for the 5th year is enclosed.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Harry then read his list of supplies.
'Course Books
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Gawshawk'
Upon reading the list, Harry was very surprised. Only one book. He figured that everything they needed for the year they had already bought in previous years.
"That's a relief," Ron said after reading his list.
. . .
Harry was looking up at the two identical faces of Fred and George Weasley. He had been having a wonderful dream; a dream about Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes, who had once saved Harry's life. In his dream Fawkes was flying in the sky, on a beautiful sunny day. Gradually, Fawkes seemed to become slower and slower and weaker and weaker. Then George and Fred had woken Harry up.
"Psst, Harry," whispered George, "wake up."
"What do you want?" Harry demanded quietly, irritated at the timing of the twins.
"You know that Ron's birthday is September 12, right?"
"Yeah," Harry replied, hoping that they were going somewhere with this conversation. Ron had never made a big deal out of his birthday. He never asked for anything much, except a cake and maybe a small present, like a quill or something.
"Well, the thing is," Fred continued, "he made the Quidditch team, nobody else in Gryffindor wants to play, so Ron wins uncontested."
"The problem is," George interrupted, "that the only two half-decent brooms that this family has are our Cleansweep 7's. Ron has an old Shooting Star, and Charlie has a Comet 130, which is way outdated, so we can't give that too him."
"So," concluded Fred, "we're going to get him the top of the line broomstick. Ron will probably be the worst Keeper in the league, so we'll have to get him the broom to make up for it."
George pulled out a page he must have ripped out from a magazine. The twins said in unison, "The Silver Streak."
The page showed a broom with a slick black handle with silver printings on it. The twigs were marvelous, perfectly straight and silver colored. Harry could tell that it probably outmatched even his Firebolt.
"We've got the money, thanks to you," George went on, "but we have to have money for our joke shop. So we'd really, really appreciate it if you chipped in."
This was a no-brainer for Harry. The broom would be expensive, but he wouldn't even be paying for all of it. He had plenty of money.
"Of course."