The Rose That Grew from Nowhere
Chapter 2
At the Burrow…again
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione meet Rose for the first time. Chemistry starts to brew, despite the weird things going on.
Author's Note: I dedicate the cuteness in this story to my boyfriend…he's so sweet, and the way he talked to me when he first met me was so incredibly adorable. I love you, Walter!
Disclaimer: Rose is mine. Back off.
Harry Potter rose from the dirty ground. He had been on his hands and knees, chasing lawn gnomes that were being unusually devilish that morning.
"Come…here, you little…buggers!" he grunted. Ron wasn't having a very good time of it either, there was a gnome crawling across his back and giggling menacingly.
"Harry, hey, Harry! Help here would be of use…" Ron grunted, flapping uselessly at his back. The gnome was having a freeday.
"Hang on" Harry said. He brought his foot down across Ron's back with one quick sweep and the gnome went flying back into the bushes. It omitted a small scream and streaked back out of the bush, followed by a flash of orange fur. Crookshanks, Hermione's cat tore across the yard after the gnome.
Ron sighed relief and stood with Harry, examining his work. Not much had been done, except the tearing up of a few small bushes.
He looked at Harry and shrugged. "Oh well, Crookshanks has more fun with them anyway."
Harry looked towards the house. It looked like the typical cozy family house in the early light of the morning. "Why didn't your mum send Fred and George out to help?" he asked.
Ron shrugged. "Don't know. I didn't even see them last night."
At that minute, Fred and George came stumbling out the door, tripping over each other's untied shoes.
"Hey, where have you guys been?" Ron said.
Fred and George stumbled up, obviously suffering from lack of sleep. "Slept in" George mumbled, kneeling and sticking his head in the bushes to look for gnomes.
"Are you sure you even slept?" Harry asked Fred.
"Yeah, we were just up…doing stuff. No big deal, Harry" Fred said with a smile.
"More Ton Tongue Toffees, I suppose" Ron whispered.
"Are you kidding? We've moved on to bigger and better things than candy" Fred said, a bit of the mischief coming back into his face as he bent down to help his brother.
Harry and Ron laughed at the twins.
"Hey, Ron, Harry! Come in, breakfast is ready!" came a voice from the window. It was Ginny, Ron, Fred, and George's little sister. Her head disappeared.
"C'mon, then" Ron said. "C'mon Fred, George."
The twins had fallen asleep facedown in the dirt.
Harry shook his head and followed Ron inside the house.
Mrs. Weasley was setting out delicious looking plates of food on the table. Hermione, Ginny, Mr. Weasley, and Percy were already seated and eating.
"Good morning boys!" said a happy Mrs. Weasley, kissing them both on the cheek. "Aw, mum…" Ron protested.
"Where are Fred and George?" she asked.
"Still hunting…I guess" Ron said. Hermione laughed. "You know, both of them looked a bit…ragged out this morning. I wonder what they were doing up so late?"
"Who knows" Harry said. Percy laughed. "Probably one of their tricks."
Mrs. Weasley's face clouded up. Fred and George tormented her endlessly with their practical jokes, and it was about to give her a nervous breakdown.
Harry ate his breakfast silently, listening to Percy and Mr. Weasley jabber about goings on at the Ministry of Magic. He tried to blot out the words "you-know-who" from his mind, but it was no use. Voldemort would always be a part of him, if he wanted him or not.
The worst part was, Voldemort was out to get him.
"Did you hear, dad, that Cornelius Fudge has declared Hogwarts an unsafe place? I wonder if Dumbledore will resume classes this fall?"
"There's no way he would cancel term," Ron said, letting his fork clatter to the plate. "Dumbledore is the only person Voldemort's afraid of, and if there's one safe place for people to be, it's Hogwarts."
Percy clucked with his teeth, which he did when anyone argued with him, or said the name Voldemort. "Well nevertheless, Ron, Voldemort's power could become stronger…we never know what he can do. He is a dark wizard…"
Percy went off on a tangent describing what a powerful dark wizard Voldemort was. Ron rolled his eyes and began to mimic Percy. He was good at it, to Harry's surprise.
All this talk of Voldemort was depressing Harry. He excused himself from the table and went up to the room he was sharing with Ron and Hermione until term began. It was cramped, but it beat living with the Dursleys all summer.
He stretched out on his bed and tried to clear his mind. It didn't work. Thoughts of Voldemort were crowding his head, so bad his scar began to throb a bit. He massaged it and thought of what could happen if Voldemort caught him. He killed so many people…what would he do to Harry if he finally got him?
A noise in the corner attracted Harry's attention. "More yard gnomes?" he thought. He got up and went to where there was a pile of blankets. "I've got you now…" he thought.
Harry ripped the blanket off and screamed.
The girl under the blanket screamed too, a shrill bloodcurdling scream. Harry couldn't tell what was happening. The girl sprang from underneath the blankets and to another corner of the room. Before Harry could reassure her that he was not a criminal she had pointed her wand at him.
"Whoa!" he cried, throwing his hands up in front of his face.
The girl relaxed, but did not lower her wand.
Harry took his hands away from his face and saw the girl for the first time.
She was shaking. "Who are you?" she trembled.
"Harry…Harry Potter" he stammered. "I'm not going to attack you, you can lower the wand…please lower the wand."
She lowered the wand slowly and shook out her long red hair.
Thundering footsteps on the stairs signified the arrival of the whole family.
"What…who…how…" Mrs. Weasley stammered. She was about to pop.
"Molly, Molly dear, let me handle this. Who are you, young lady and why are you in our house?" he asked.
The girl started to open her mouth, but Fred and George came to the rescue just in time. "Mum, dad, we can explain…she's in trouble, we…we were trying to protect her…please don't kick her out, she's got nowhere to go!" they both took turns rambling about this.
Harry looked over at the girl and realized for the first time she was a knockout, even when she was trying to kill him. Her hair was long and dark red, and her eyes were a beautiful green. His eyes didn't compare, and everyone said they were his best feature. Right now they were flashing. Assumingly, she thought Harry was trying to kill her.
She turned to him. Harry's stomach fluttered immediately. He wondered why it did that every time he saw a pretty girl. He had never seen someone as pretty as her.
Her gaze began to soften. She smiled a bit, then turned to Mrs. Weasley.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. Your sons have saved my life, I believe. I'm on the run…from Lord Voldemort," she said. Harry noticed she had a deep sexy voice. He shook himself and wondered why he was even noticing her voice being sexy.
A hush filled the room. Mrs. Weasley began to panic. "Everyone come downstairs, we have a discussion to have."
The party followed the Weasleys downstairs. The girl turned to look at Harry, kind of apologetically. He blushed, and sort of smiled back.
"C'mon Harry, let's go hear the story" Ron said.
Harry shook himself out of the trance and followed Ron and the radiant new visitor downstairs.