Chapter 3:

 The "New" Burrow

            Harry and Hermione arrived at the Weasley's house, which was at least half the size of Hogwarts, along with two other vehicles; a broomstick, and a very battered flying carpet. Harry and Hermione saw Ron sitting on the steps, apparently waiting for them. The other two guests approached him first, and he directed them to somewhere in the house. When he saw his two friends, he ran over so fast, neither Harry nor Hermione could take another step.

            "Hey! How are two doing?" asked Ron, as he shook Harry's hand, and pulled Hermione into a big hug.

            Ron still had the same fiery red hair, the Weasley trademark, the same sloppy grin on his face, and his height (he was still growing). The last time Harry had seen Ron, he had only been 6'5", but now he was at least 6'11".

            "Just fine, thanks to my sugar momma and my new car, oh yeah THANKS my brother!" Harry yelled as he slapped Ron on the back.

            "Well you now, I had a "few" left over Galleons from my allowance, and well…yeah, glad you like it." said Ron slowly.

            "How are you Hermione?" asked Ron, poking her in the ribs.

            "No thanks to you, good," Hermione replied, rubbing her ribs.

            "Well….Ron, no wait, you don't need to know," began Harry.

            "Know what?" asked Ron hurriedly.

            "Well you see, you know these last couple of years, we've had these, loony, adventures, and Dumbledore thinks, somehow…." Harry drug out.

            "Yeah! Yeah!" whispered Ron excitedly.

            "Well he said that… we went above and beyond the N.E.W.T.s, and secretly graduated last year!" yelled Harry, as he did a standing back flip.

            Ron just stood their, mouth hanging slack, gazing into nothingness. He started to make a little noise like a sick giraffe before he finally just dropped to the ground in a cold faint. His two concerned friends rushed over.

            "Man, out cold," exclaimed Hermione, as she checked his pupils, " well lets get him inside."

            As they walked inside, they almost dropped Ron as they gazed around the entry hall. There were many house elves, going in and out of rooms, up and down stairs. The entire hall was made up entirely of marble lined with gold. The were so many rooms, the entire crowd at the entire Quidditch World Cup could've shared a room with one other person and there would still be extra rooms. Mind you this was just the bottom floor of the six story mansion.

            Several elves came scurrying over to them as they drug Ron inside. They began to tend to him with their magic, as quickly as possible bowing to Harry and Hermione the entire time.

            "Wha…What happened?" asked Ron groggily, as he awoke.

            "Well Harry just told you we didn't have to go to school our 7th year, and you passed out," said Hermione knowledgeably.

            "Oh yeah…wicked" Ron said, right before he passed out once again.

            The house elves quickly scurried back, and this time, had Ron on his feet in no time. He stood up and gestured town the hall and began to walk, motioning them to follow. The walked at least a quarter of a mile, to a large glass door. Ron tapped it with his wand and they walked into the biggest backyard anyone of them had ever seen (except Ron of course).

            "What do you think?" Ron asked, as they gazed around at the Quidditch pitch, the monster sized swimming pool, which Ginny was sunning her self in a bathing suit, to the large workshop with the letters, WWW above it.

            "Ackk…" exclaimed Harry and Hermione simultaneously, their turn to pass out.

            They collapsed in a heap at Ron's feet, to the laughter of all the Weasley's except Percy, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Fred and George had emerged from the workshop, followed by Charlie and Bill, their arms full of the Twins new inventions.

            Ron called for several house elves to come and revive his friends.

            When Harry and Hermione awoke they were in a splendid bedroom, on a very large, and extremely comfortable, bed. They got up, and to their surprise, the door opened almost automatically, a small house elf with very large ears, a flat small nose, and dark blue eyes, entered and told them to follow him. They instantly followed him through the maze of winding corridors, which somehow reminded Harry of Gringotts. He suddenly wondered if there were dragons here too.

            Just then they entered a magnificent dining hall (literally a hall), and noticed the Weasley's sitting at the far end of the hall. They hurried down to welcoming smiles, and hugs.

            "How are you doing?" asked Fred, while George was busy with something under the table.

            "Just fine," replied Harry, gripping Hermione's hand, " How's the business?"

            "Well, it depends," said George finally sitting up, " Do you mean the thousands of Galleons we've made or the products?"

            "Well seeing as you just told us about the money, how about the inventions," chimed Hermione.

            "Smart one my dear. Well we've had a couple of extremely valuable breakthroughs, but we need test subjects," replied Fred happily.

            "Stay away from us," bellowed Harry with fake anger in his voice.

            "Shucks! Well got to get back to work," said the Twins, as they retreated from the table.

            "Harry, my good man, how's it going?" asked Charlie, as Harry got slapped on the back by the extremely muscular red head.

            "Not bad, not bad," said Harry, "By the way, how's old Bessie and Norbert doing?" (Bessie is Harry's Phoenix that Charlie is looking after while Harry's at the Dursley's).

            "Pretty good, she's now in her burning days," replied Charlie.

            Harry sat down at the table along with Hermione, and the elves began to bring out food on silver platters. An elf came over to Harry and Hermione and asked if they'd like a drink. Hermione pointed to the butterbeer, and as she did that, Harry remembered about how he was supposed to stop at the Three Broomsticks and pick up his letter.

            "Oh Crap!" exclaimed Harry, as he suddenly stood up.

            "What?" asked the table anxiously.

            "I forgot, I was supposed to stop at Hogsmeade and pick something up," he said as he dug in his pocket for his keys, "Anyone want to come with?"

            "Yes please," said Ginny, very quickly.

            The rest of the group replied various responses, all of them rejections.

            "Well lets go then," Harry said gesturing Ginny to follow him.

            Harry chatted with Ginny on the way over, mostly about her new boyfriend, Dean Thomas. Ginny's crush on Harry had ceased to be at the end of Harry's 5th year, when she realized it wasn't going anywhere and started to date Colin Creevey. 

            Harry stepped out of his car, and with Ginny in tow, walked into the pub. Madam Rosmerta was serving a goblin some mulled mead, when she saw Harry.

            "Oh, Harry, dear. I have a package for you, let me get it," the older witch said, as she scurried behind the bar to retrieve it. She tossed him the long skinny package, which he deftly caught.

            "Thanks," murmured Harry as he walked back out to the car.

            Sitting down on the bucket-racing seat, he performed several detection charms before carefully opening the package. It contained two wands, each having its own tag:

James Potter + Lily Potter

            Under the two magical instruments, there was another note that read:

            Dear Harry,

            These Wands belonged to your parents, no, correction, belong to your parents. If you would like to know more, come to Meridian, Mississippi on December 25, and you just might get you best Christmas Present ever, your parents.

From,

Serendipity

            Harry sat in solid disbelief as he passed the letter to Ginny and ran his fingers down the length of his parent's wands.