Ok, here's the deal. I know I said (very stupidly) that I hoped to have
this finished by, well, now, but the truth is it won't be. Not a chance. It
is now Friday night, and on Saturday I'm flying to Australia for 6 weeks.
Anyway, back to the story. This chapter was going to be very, very, VERY
long, so I split it right down where I thought the middle would be.
Therefore, there is now 'the nightmares after Christmas part 1' and the
nightmares after Christmas, yep, you guessed it, part 2. Part 2 isn't quite
finished yet, but I hope to get it uploaded by Saturday. I'm determined to
do loads of writing this summer, only trouble is, I won't have a computer
to use. Enjoy the chapter and the summer y'all!
Chapter 17- The Nightmares after Christmas part 1.
Hermione, Daphne, Ron and Harry spent the rest of the evening lazing around in front of the TV, watching a daft Christmas special and pigging out on the sweets they had received as Christmas presents. By ten they were all feeling very drowsy, and Hermione was just about to suggest that they all go to bed when she discovered Harry and Ron had already beaten them to it- they were both fast asleep. Hermione nudged Daphne in the ribs and pointed at her friends. Daphne grinned. "Should we wake them up?" She suggested wickedly. Hermione frowned. "Don't be so cruel." She said sternly, causing Daphne to grin even wider. "I was only joking cuz." She said reassuringly, biting into another chocolate frog. Hermione settled back into the sofa to continue watching the film on the TV, feeling full, happy, a bit sleepy but mostly very content. The feeling didn't last long. Hermione and Daphne jumped slightly in surprise as Harry suddenly grabbed the arm of the chair he was sitting on, his eyes tightly shut and his head turned to one side as if he was avoiding watching something. Daphne slowly put down her box of frogs. "Harry's having a nightmare." She said worriedly to no one in particular. Hermione paled as Harry's head turn in every direction frantically. "Oh no." She whispered. Daphne frowned at her cousin's response. After all, it was only a nightmare. "We should wake him up." She said, taking a step towards Harry. Hermione grabbed Daphne's arm and pulled her back down onto the sofa. "No! Don't you dare!" She cried in alarm. Daphne sat frozen at the look of worry and alertness on Hermione's face. And she had never spoken to her like that before. Blinking rapidly, she looked around the room for something to focus on apart from the shaking Harry or the look on her cousin's face. Her eyes fell on Ron, and widened. Ron was shaking as well. Daphne's eyes darted between the two boys, the anxious feeling in her stomach growing by the second. Harry was sitting bolt upright in his chair, breathing rapidly. Ron seemed to be in far more distress. He was shaking his head and struggling violently, as if something was pulling him back. Hermione suddenly realised that Ron was also having a nightmare and turned, if possible, even paler. "Ron?" She said quietly, as Ron continued to thrash about. Suddenly, Ron started to shake his head even more, crying out. "No! No!" He shouted frantically. Hermione stood up unsteadily, torn between her two friends. "No! No!" Ron yelled again, flailing about even more. "No- GINNY!" And with that, Ron's eyes flew open and he sat up straight, looking around wildly. Hermione gaped at him as Ron's breathing began to return to normal. He swallowed hard, rubbing the back of his neck, his ears turning pink. "Ron?" Hermione repeated shakily, as Ron turned to look at her. "Er, sorry, I- Harry!" Ron jumped to his feet as Harry fell onto the floor in front of his chair, clutching his scar and yelling loudly. Hermione spun around frantically and she and Ron fell to their knees next to Harry at the same moment, afraid to touch him or try and wake him up. A couple of seconds later, Harry's eyes flew open and he rolled over onto his side, his hands still pressed on his scar. Hermione and Ron glanced at each other anxiously and then back at Harry. "Harry?" Ron said worriedly. Harry gradually lowered his hands. His eyes were open wide and filled with tears of pain from his scar. "Are you OK?" Hermione asked quietly as Harry sat up slowly. He looked at Hermione, then at Ron, and then down at the floor. "I-" Harry didn't finish his sentence- instead he jumped to his feet so suddenly that it startled Ron and Hermione into falling backwards. Harry was pacing back and forth by the time Hermione and Ron stood up, muttering under his breath. "Hedwig and Pig would be too slow, I can't apparate, but you can't do that inside Hogwarts grounds anyway. does Floo powder work? Probably not, that'd be too easy to attack by, so I'll have to go somewhere else, but where? Oh God, what do I do? I." Harry suddenly stopped pacing and turned to face Ron. "Ron, do you have any Floo powder?" He asked. Ron was startled by the question, but answered as quickly as he could. "Er, yeah. Upstairs in my trunk. I'll go and get it." He said, starting towards the door, but Harry stopped him. "No time." He said, pulling out his wand. Hermione gasped. "Harry, you can't." She protested weakly. Harry ignored her. "Accio Floo powder." He said, waving his wand slightly. He looked over at Hermione grimly. "I don't think anyone will mind after I save Fudge's life." He said. Hermione swallowed hard. The Minister for Magic was obviously in danger, and right now Harry was the only one who could help him. She whipped out her wand as the Floo powder bag came flying into the room, pointed it at the empty fireplace, and immediately bluebell flames flared in the grate. Ron stepped forward as Harry reached into the leather pouch he was holding. "Harry, where are you going?" He asked. Harry didn't answer; Ron doubted whether he had actually been heard. Instead Harry stepped up to fire, threw some of the glittering powder onto it, stepped onto the now emerald flames and yelled "The Burrow!" He disappeared. Ron barely waited two seconds before doing the same thing. Hermione stood undecided as he also vanished from sight. Finally making up her mind, she also grabbed the Floo powder. "Hermione?" Hermione jumped and spun around. She had completely forgotten that Daphne was still in the room. "What's going on?" Daphne demanded, looking very shaken. Hermione threw some powder onto the fire. "Daphne, I'll explain everything when we get back. But just stay here, OK? I'll be back soon." And with that Hermione stepped into the flames, yelled "The Burrow!" and also vanished. Daphne stood in front of the sofa with her mouth open, watching as the flames turned blue again. Harry and Hermione had both used magic in the holidays, which was against the school rules. For Hermione to do such a thing, something very bad must have happened. And what was 'The Burrow' anyway? Daphne had always been a very curious person, and right now it was killing her. With her heart in her throat, she reached for the small leather pouch that lay abandoned on the coffee table. Taking a pinch of the glittering powder, she threw it onto the blue flames, and took an involuntary step back as they turned green and roared higher. Cursing herself for being such a scaredy-cat, Daphne gingerly reached out a hand towards the fire. She hadn't expected it to be hot, after all she had just watched three different people step into the flames and not be burned alive. It was warm, like warm breath actually, like standing next to a radiator on a cold day. Daphne stepped fully into the fireplace, ducking so as to not hit her head. Inside, she straightened up fully. Taking a deep breath she yelled out what her cousin and her two best friends had just done, and prayed that it would turn out right. "The Burrow!" Daphne's first reaction was that everything had gone terribly wrong. She started to spin around very fast, and immediately hit both her elbows on the sides of the grate. She tucked them into her sides and shut her eyes tightly so she didn't have to watch the blurred shapes in front of her. She could feel all the sweets she had eaten churning inside of her, so she kept her mouth shut tight as well. A few seconds later, (though it seemed like hours to Daphne) she felt herself slowing down, and she dared to open her eyes. She saw another blurred shape in font of her that looked very strangely like different rooms in different houses. She suddenly came to a shuddering halt and immediately felt herself being thrown forward out of the fireplace. Daphne landed on her hands and knees in front of the fireplace, in a strange room and in a lot of pain. Her elbows and knees were aching, and she could feel grazes on her hands. "Ow!" She cried as she sat back, inspecting the cuts on her palms. They weren't too bad though, so she looked up, and found herself staring straight at a wand. "Who are you?" Daphne swallowed and looked up at the owner of the wand. He was tall, with dark red hair and wearing horn-rimmed glasses. And he looked pretty dazed, but alert and irritated. Daphne didn't know what to say. "I, er." She started, but thankfully she didn't need to continue. "Daphne!" Daphne looked up at the sound of the familiar voice to see Fred Weasley standing in the doorway of the room she was in. Daphne felt very relieved to see him. She really liked Fred and George- they were very funny and had both taken a great liking to Daphne, because she found their pranks hilarious and willingly tried their toffees and other sweets. The person who was pointing a wand at her lowered his hand and frowned at Fred. "Do you know this girl?" He asked suspiciously. Fred rolled his eyes. "Calm down Perce, it's only Daphne. She's Hermione's cousin." He said, taking a step into the room. George suddenly appeared behind his twin. "Hi Daphne. Jeez, what did you do to her Percy?" He asked with a grin. 'Percy' folded his arms indignantly. "I have done absolutely nothing to her, she just arrived by way of Floo powder, and I merely." "Yeah yeah." Fred said with a shrug. "Come on Daph, everyone else is in the living room." Daphne stood up achingly as Percy stomped out of the door past the twins. Daphne looked around the room- it was apparently a kitchen, but the strangest kitchen she had ever been in. "Where are we?" Daphne asked timidly. George grinned. "Welcome," he said, "to the Burrow. Home of the Weasleys." Daphne's eyes widened. "This is your house?" She asked curiously. Fred and George nodded as she followed them into the hallway. "Yep. Why did you get here so late after everyone else?" Asked George curiously. Daphne shrugged. "They didn't know I was coming after them. Hermione told me to stay behind." She answered truthfully. Fred grinned. "Well you couldn't miss out on all the fun, could you?" He said as they reached another door, through which frantic voices could be heard. "Come on." George whispered as they stepped inside. The small living room was packed with people. Not only Ron, Hermione and Harry, but also Percy, two other red-haired men, and two people who could only be Ron's Mum and Dad. Harry was speaking very fast to Mr Weasley, who was looking very worried. Percy's face had a greenish twinge to it, and Ron and Hermione were also looking quite sick. Mrs Weasley was sitting in a chair, watching Harry anxiously. None of them noticed they had entered the room. ".So then he said something about Hogwarts to that snake, and I could understand it because, you know, and then my scar started to burn and it woke me up." Harry finished. Mr Weasley sighed heavily and scratched his balding head, turning to one of the red-haired men, whom Daphne assumed were Ron's older brothers. "Bill, go straight to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore. Percy, Charlie, we're going to have to go to Fudge's house. I just hope we're not too late." He said warily. Percy and the one called Bill nodded and stood up at once. Bill nodded to Harry, Ron and Hermione, and then with a flick of his wand, disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, Mr Weasley was doing something to the living room fire. Suddenly, a head appeared in the fire, and Daphne had to cover her mouth to prevent a scream. Not only was there a head in the fire, (that was enough to freak anyone out) but also it was the most hideous head she had ever seen. It had scars over every inch of it, the nose was so crooked it didn't seem real, and the eyes were different sizes and colours. However, the head didn't seem to be harmed, even though flames were licking its ears. "What can I do for you Arthur?" The head said in a low, growling voice. Mr Weasley knelt down in front of the fire. "Harry's here- he had another dream and believes that Fudge could be in danger. We're going to need back up at his house." He said quickly. The head in the fire was looking extremely grave. "Right. I'll get Arabella and Fletcher. We'll meet you there." He said. Mr Weasley nodded. "Thanks Alastor." He said, and with that the head in the fire disappeared. Mr Weasley turned around to face his family. "Well, we'd better-" "Daphne!" Hermione gasped as she spotted her cousin, and Daphne suddenly found the entire room staring at her. Hermione was glaring at her angrily. "Hello Hermione." She said hopefully. Hermione stopped glaring and rolled her eyes. "I should have known you'd follow us anyway. Did you hurt yourself?" She asked more gently. Daphne shrugged. "Only my knees, hands and elbows." She said dismissively. Hermione smiled weakly. "Everyone, this is my cousin Daphne Granger. Daphne, this is Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron's parents, in case you hadn't realised. And these are his brothers, Percy and Charlie. Bill just left." She said, pointing them out as she said their names. Mrs Weasley stood up and smiled at Daphne. "Hello dear. It's nice to meet you, though it could have been under happier circumstances." She said with a sigh. Mr Weasley also smiled at Daphne, though he looked very strained. "Well, come on boys, we'd better go." He said heavily. At this point, Harry held up his hand. "You, you're not going to his house, are you?" He asked disbelievingly. Charlie also stood up, pulling out his wand. "What else are we going to do?" He asked Harry. Harry opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it again with a frown. Mr Weasley placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry- we'll be fine. You did the right thing." He said. And with that, he disapparated. Percy and Charlie barely had time to wave goodbye to their mother before doing the same thing. Harry flopped down onto one of the sofas crammed into the room, with his head in his hands as if trying to force something out of his head. Ron sat down in front of him on one of the armchairs. "Don't worry Harry. You've done your bit now- there's only so much you can do after all." He said quietly. When Harry didn't respond, Hermione sat down next to him on the sofa. "Ron's right." She said encouragingly. "All we can do now is wait." Harry grumbled something, but Ron and Hermione couldn't hear what he said. "Pardon?" Hermione asked. Harry lowered his hands. "I hate waiting." He repeated bitterly. "We all do dear." Mrs Weasley said, bustling back into the room. No one had noticed she had left in the first place. She was now carrying a tray with a large, steaming teapot on it, six mugs, and a small bottle of pink liquid. Mrs Weasley placed the tray on the table and poured drinks into all of the mugs, which turned out to be hot chocolate, not tea. She handed them round to everyone and then turned to Daphne. "Sit down my dear." She said kindly, nodding to a large red armchair. Daphne did as she was told, gratefully settling down into the comfortable lounger. Mrs Weasley sat down on the table next to her. "I'll clean up those cuts for you, OK?" She said, picking up the bottle of pink liquid and pouring some of it onto a cloth. Daphne held out her hands, and Mrs Weasley put the cloth onto the cuts and grazes. Red smoke rose from the cloth, even though Daphne wasn't feeling any pain, and when Mrs Weasley took the cloth away, the cuts had disappeared. Daphne grinned. "Thanks Mrs Weasley." She said with a smile. Mrs Weasley smiled back. "You're welcome." She said kindly, staring at Daphne. "You know," she said, cocking her head to one side. "You really look like Hermione." Daphne faked a look of horror. "Don't say that!" She said. Hermione glared at her from across the room, and Daphne waved at her sarcastically. Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes and stood up, trying to hide her laughter. Daphne held her mug in her cold, cupped hands, and stared around the living room. It was small, but full of chairs of all shaped and sizes. There was a large mantelpiece, on top of which stood seven pictures in frames, one for each of the Weasley children. Daphne caught sight of the one of Ron, and struggled not to laugh. He was about the same age as in the picture Remus had sent to Harry that morning, and in this one he was repeatedly trying to mount a broomstick that was much too large for him and falling off awkwardly. Daphne continued to gaze around the room, taking in the other, larger, family photos that hung on the walls and the magical instruments and books that stood on shelves, surfaces and in piles on the floor. Her eyes fell on a large Grandfather clock in the corner, and she stared harder. It was amazing- there were seven hands, and each had a name of a family member on it. They were mostly pointing at different points, and each of these points were not numbers. 'Molly', whom Daphne assumed was Mrs Weasley, 'Fred' 'George' and 'Ron' were all pointing to 'Home'. 'Ginny', the smallest hand, was pointing at 'Bed'. 'Bill' was pointing at 'In a meeting', and finally 'Arthur' 'Charlie' and 'Percy' were pointing at 'Mortal Peril'. Daphne swallowed hard and looked across the room to where her cousin sat talking quietly to Harry and Ron with a serious look on her face, deciding not to point out the clock to everyone else. Daphne tuned her ears in to what the trio, (as she always thought of them) were saying. "But what if they're outnumbered?" Harry was saying. "The Deatheaters could." "There's not much we can do about that, is there. So we should try to stop worrying." Hermione said, looking sombre. Ron sat back, looking sceptical. "That could be quite hard." He said logically. Hermione shrugged helplessly. "I know. But we have to try. And we have to trust them all." "But what if they." Harry began, but Hermione silenced him with an angry look. "Can we please not talk about it? Thank you." She said annoyed. Daphne sighed. She knew her cousin well enough to know that she was deeply worried about Ron's father and brothers, but this was just her way of dealing with not being able to do anything to help. Hermione turned to Ron, obviously hoping to change the subject. "So what was your nightmare about?" She asked curiously. Harry's head snapped up. "You had a nightmare as well?" He asked. Ron's ears turned pink. "Yeah, well, kind of. I don't remember it, just the waking up part." He said, shifting a little under Harry's stare. "It was about Ginny." Hermione said. "You yelled her name when you woke up." She told him. "Does that help you remember?" She added, sitting back. Ron shook his head slowly. "Nope. I just remember waking up, and then realising Harry was having one of his dreams, so I went into help Harry mode." He said casually. Harry snorted. "I need all the help I can get." He said darkly. At this point Mrs Weasley sat down in a chair next to Daphne, holding a half knitted jumper with needles dangling from it in her hands. "So, dear, how was your first term?" She asked kindly, starting to knit. It was obvious her mind was not on it though, so she put it to one side and sat looking at Daphne. "Oh, it was good. I was really surprised to see Hermione there, but glad as well, obviously." She told her with a slight smile. Mrs Weasley smiled. "What are your class like? Are you a Gryffindor too?" She asked. Daphne nodded. "Yep." She said. "My class are great. There's Lori, she's my best friend. Then there's Jake and Lara- they've known each other for years but didn't know they were both going to Hogwart's. Um, then there's Mark, he's got a brother in Hermione's class, and there's Craig and Sam. Then there are the twins, Kim and Abby. That's it." She finished with a grin. Mrs Weasley smiled again, looking rather nostalgic. "There were seven boys in my class, and two girls. I'm not entirely sure just how I survived." She said. Daphne laughed, deciding then and there that she really liked Mrs Weasley. 'And', she thought as she looked around the living room again, 'Hermione and Harry were right- the Burrow is really cool.' Daphne turned back to Mrs Weasley as she spoke again. "So tell me about your friend- did you say her name was Lori? What's she like? Is she a Muggle-born as well?" She asked. Daphne shook her head. "No. She's, well." Daphne suddenly remembered everything she'd ever heard about the Weasley/Malfoy war and fell silent. She didn't want Mrs Weasley thinking of Lori in a certain way just because of her family. "Yes dear?" Mrs Weasley encouraged her kindly. Daphne looked her straight in the eye and said, "She's a Malfoy. Leonora Malfoy." Mrs Weasley looked mildly surprised, but covered it up quickly. "Ah. Well, Fred and George told me that she had been sorted into Gryffindor. Is she nice?" She asked. Daphne felt a bit ashamed of drawing the conclusion that Mrs Weasley would think of Lori badly, and made up for it by giving her a lengthy description of Lori, and even threw in a blow-by-blow account of Gryffindor versus Slytherin, which she suspected her to be interested in. She was right- Mrs Weasley was obviously very proud that three of her sons were members of the Quidditch team. It was half an hour before Daphne realised exactly why Mrs Weasley was taking such an interest in her- no one else was. Fred and George were always lost in their own little world, and were sitting in a corner, drinking hot chocolate and drawing sketches of broomsticks they would like to build. All of them were booby-trapped. Daphne didn't expect to be shown much attention by them- it was her cousin's behaviour that was a bit surprising. Even though she was a lot older than her, Hermione had always treated Daphne like her friend, and had included her in everything that she could. However, right now, she was sitting on the other side of the room with Harry and Ron, with her back towards her and seemingly forgetting that she was in the vicinity. Daphne watched with interest as she and Ron took turns talking to Harry, trying to make him answer instead of sitting there with his head in his hands, and even though she felt a bit annoyed at being left out, she couldn't help but admire the way they were handling the situation. Hermione and Ron argued more than anyone she had ever met in her life- the simplest thing could set them off for hours. But right now they seemed to be reading each other's thoughts as they picked up each other's sentences and reasoned with their friend. Even though she could only hear snippets of what was being said, Daphne could see it was working. Harry was answering everything they said now, and was looking at them as they spoke. Daphne felt like giving them a round of applause. She also felt like hugging Mrs Weasley for talking to her- if she hadn't, she would have been sitting there like a lemon with nothing to do. It was clear that at the moment the three of them knew nothing outside of their conversation, and it was also apparent why they were such good friends- they were there for each other. Daphne was snapped out of her rather philosophical reverie by Mrs Weasley, who looked over her shoulder to see what she was staring at. "They work well together, don't they?" She said with a smile. Daphne blinked and looked back at Mrs Weasley with a sheepish grin. "Yeah. They do." She said quietly.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Ok. There you go for now. Sorry it ends so abruptly, but like I said, I had to cut it off somewhere. Next update in six weeks- I bet you won't mind that much though. Oh, and while I remember, the title of this story does actually mean something you know! I NEED A BLOODY TITLE!!! 'Please help me with a title' is not acceptable in the long run. So please, help me with a title. I expect suggestions when I get back, and even a brief reference on the subject would be appreciated.
Please review!!!
Chapter 17- The Nightmares after Christmas part 1.
Hermione, Daphne, Ron and Harry spent the rest of the evening lazing around in front of the TV, watching a daft Christmas special and pigging out on the sweets they had received as Christmas presents. By ten they were all feeling very drowsy, and Hermione was just about to suggest that they all go to bed when she discovered Harry and Ron had already beaten them to it- they were both fast asleep. Hermione nudged Daphne in the ribs and pointed at her friends. Daphne grinned. "Should we wake them up?" She suggested wickedly. Hermione frowned. "Don't be so cruel." She said sternly, causing Daphne to grin even wider. "I was only joking cuz." She said reassuringly, biting into another chocolate frog. Hermione settled back into the sofa to continue watching the film on the TV, feeling full, happy, a bit sleepy but mostly very content. The feeling didn't last long. Hermione and Daphne jumped slightly in surprise as Harry suddenly grabbed the arm of the chair he was sitting on, his eyes tightly shut and his head turned to one side as if he was avoiding watching something. Daphne slowly put down her box of frogs. "Harry's having a nightmare." She said worriedly to no one in particular. Hermione paled as Harry's head turn in every direction frantically. "Oh no." She whispered. Daphne frowned at her cousin's response. After all, it was only a nightmare. "We should wake him up." She said, taking a step towards Harry. Hermione grabbed Daphne's arm and pulled her back down onto the sofa. "No! Don't you dare!" She cried in alarm. Daphne sat frozen at the look of worry and alertness on Hermione's face. And she had never spoken to her like that before. Blinking rapidly, she looked around the room for something to focus on apart from the shaking Harry or the look on her cousin's face. Her eyes fell on Ron, and widened. Ron was shaking as well. Daphne's eyes darted between the two boys, the anxious feeling in her stomach growing by the second. Harry was sitting bolt upright in his chair, breathing rapidly. Ron seemed to be in far more distress. He was shaking his head and struggling violently, as if something was pulling him back. Hermione suddenly realised that Ron was also having a nightmare and turned, if possible, even paler. "Ron?" She said quietly, as Ron continued to thrash about. Suddenly, Ron started to shake his head even more, crying out. "No! No!" He shouted frantically. Hermione stood up unsteadily, torn between her two friends. "No! No!" Ron yelled again, flailing about even more. "No- GINNY!" And with that, Ron's eyes flew open and he sat up straight, looking around wildly. Hermione gaped at him as Ron's breathing began to return to normal. He swallowed hard, rubbing the back of his neck, his ears turning pink. "Ron?" Hermione repeated shakily, as Ron turned to look at her. "Er, sorry, I- Harry!" Ron jumped to his feet as Harry fell onto the floor in front of his chair, clutching his scar and yelling loudly. Hermione spun around frantically and she and Ron fell to their knees next to Harry at the same moment, afraid to touch him or try and wake him up. A couple of seconds later, Harry's eyes flew open and he rolled over onto his side, his hands still pressed on his scar. Hermione and Ron glanced at each other anxiously and then back at Harry. "Harry?" Ron said worriedly. Harry gradually lowered his hands. His eyes were open wide and filled with tears of pain from his scar. "Are you OK?" Hermione asked quietly as Harry sat up slowly. He looked at Hermione, then at Ron, and then down at the floor. "I-" Harry didn't finish his sentence- instead he jumped to his feet so suddenly that it startled Ron and Hermione into falling backwards. Harry was pacing back and forth by the time Hermione and Ron stood up, muttering under his breath. "Hedwig and Pig would be too slow, I can't apparate, but you can't do that inside Hogwarts grounds anyway. does Floo powder work? Probably not, that'd be too easy to attack by, so I'll have to go somewhere else, but where? Oh God, what do I do? I." Harry suddenly stopped pacing and turned to face Ron. "Ron, do you have any Floo powder?" He asked. Ron was startled by the question, but answered as quickly as he could. "Er, yeah. Upstairs in my trunk. I'll go and get it." He said, starting towards the door, but Harry stopped him. "No time." He said, pulling out his wand. Hermione gasped. "Harry, you can't." She protested weakly. Harry ignored her. "Accio Floo powder." He said, waving his wand slightly. He looked over at Hermione grimly. "I don't think anyone will mind after I save Fudge's life." He said. Hermione swallowed hard. The Minister for Magic was obviously in danger, and right now Harry was the only one who could help him. She whipped out her wand as the Floo powder bag came flying into the room, pointed it at the empty fireplace, and immediately bluebell flames flared in the grate. Ron stepped forward as Harry reached into the leather pouch he was holding. "Harry, where are you going?" He asked. Harry didn't answer; Ron doubted whether he had actually been heard. Instead Harry stepped up to fire, threw some of the glittering powder onto it, stepped onto the now emerald flames and yelled "The Burrow!" He disappeared. Ron barely waited two seconds before doing the same thing. Hermione stood undecided as he also vanished from sight. Finally making up her mind, she also grabbed the Floo powder. "Hermione?" Hermione jumped and spun around. She had completely forgotten that Daphne was still in the room. "What's going on?" Daphne demanded, looking very shaken. Hermione threw some powder onto the fire. "Daphne, I'll explain everything when we get back. But just stay here, OK? I'll be back soon." And with that Hermione stepped into the flames, yelled "The Burrow!" and also vanished. Daphne stood in front of the sofa with her mouth open, watching as the flames turned blue again. Harry and Hermione had both used magic in the holidays, which was against the school rules. For Hermione to do such a thing, something very bad must have happened. And what was 'The Burrow' anyway? Daphne had always been a very curious person, and right now it was killing her. With her heart in her throat, she reached for the small leather pouch that lay abandoned on the coffee table. Taking a pinch of the glittering powder, she threw it onto the blue flames, and took an involuntary step back as they turned green and roared higher. Cursing herself for being such a scaredy-cat, Daphne gingerly reached out a hand towards the fire. She hadn't expected it to be hot, after all she had just watched three different people step into the flames and not be burned alive. It was warm, like warm breath actually, like standing next to a radiator on a cold day. Daphne stepped fully into the fireplace, ducking so as to not hit her head. Inside, she straightened up fully. Taking a deep breath she yelled out what her cousin and her two best friends had just done, and prayed that it would turn out right. "The Burrow!" Daphne's first reaction was that everything had gone terribly wrong. She started to spin around very fast, and immediately hit both her elbows on the sides of the grate. She tucked them into her sides and shut her eyes tightly so she didn't have to watch the blurred shapes in front of her. She could feel all the sweets she had eaten churning inside of her, so she kept her mouth shut tight as well. A few seconds later, (though it seemed like hours to Daphne) she felt herself slowing down, and she dared to open her eyes. She saw another blurred shape in font of her that looked very strangely like different rooms in different houses. She suddenly came to a shuddering halt and immediately felt herself being thrown forward out of the fireplace. Daphne landed on her hands and knees in front of the fireplace, in a strange room and in a lot of pain. Her elbows and knees were aching, and she could feel grazes on her hands. "Ow!" She cried as she sat back, inspecting the cuts on her palms. They weren't too bad though, so she looked up, and found herself staring straight at a wand. "Who are you?" Daphne swallowed and looked up at the owner of the wand. He was tall, with dark red hair and wearing horn-rimmed glasses. And he looked pretty dazed, but alert and irritated. Daphne didn't know what to say. "I, er." She started, but thankfully she didn't need to continue. "Daphne!" Daphne looked up at the sound of the familiar voice to see Fred Weasley standing in the doorway of the room she was in. Daphne felt very relieved to see him. She really liked Fred and George- they were very funny and had both taken a great liking to Daphne, because she found their pranks hilarious and willingly tried their toffees and other sweets. The person who was pointing a wand at her lowered his hand and frowned at Fred. "Do you know this girl?" He asked suspiciously. Fred rolled his eyes. "Calm down Perce, it's only Daphne. She's Hermione's cousin." He said, taking a step into the room. George suddenly appeared behind his twin. "Hi Daphne. Jeez, what did you do to her Percy?" He asked with a grin. 'Percy' folded his arms indignantly. "I have done absolutely nothing to her, she just arrived by way of Floo powder, and I merely." "Yeah yeah." Fred said with a shrug. "Come on Daph, everyone else is in the living room." Daphne stood up achingly as Percy stomped out of the door past the twins. Daphne looked around the room- it was apparently a kitchen, but the strangest kitchen she had ever been in. "Where are we?" Daphne asked timidly. George grinned. "Welcome," he said, "to the Burrow. Home of the Weasleys." Daphne's eyes widened. "This is your house?" She asked curiously. Fred and George nodded as she followed them into the hallway. "Yep. Why did you get here so late after everyone else?" Asked George curiously. Daphne shrugged. "They didn't know I was coming after them. Hermione told me to stay behind." She answered truthfully. Fred grinned. "Well you couldn't miss out on all the fun, could you?" He said as they reached another door, through which frantic voices could be heard. "Come on." George whispered as they stepped inside. The small living room was packed with people. Not only Ron, Hermione and Harry, but also Percy, two other red-haired men, and two people who could only be Ron's Mum and Dad. Harry was speaking very fast to Mr Weasley, who was looking very worried. Percy's face had a greenish twinge to it, and Ron and Hermione were also looking quite sick. Mrs Weasley was sitting in a chair, watching Harry anxiously. None of them noticed they had entered the room. ".So then he said something about Hogwarts to that snake, and I could understand it because, you know, and then my scar started to burn and it woke me up." Harry finished. Mr Weasley sighed heavily and scratched his balding head, turning to one of the red-haired men, whom Daphne assumed were Ron's older brothers. "Bill, go straight to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore. Percy, Charlie, we're going to have to go to Fudge's house. I just hope we're not too late." He said warily. Percy and the one called Bill nodded and stood up at once. Bill nodded to Harry, Ron and Hermione, and then with a flick of his wand, disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, Mr Weasley was doing something to the living room fire. Suddenly, a head appeared in the fire, and Daphne had to cover her mouth to prevent a scream. Not only was there a head in the fire, (that was enough to freak anyone out) but also it was the most hideous head she had ever seen. It had scars over every inch of it, the nose was so crooked it didn't seem real, and the eyes were different sizes and colours. However, the head didn't seem to be harmed, even though flames were licking its ears. "What can I do for you Arthur?" The head said in a low, growling voice. Mr Weasley knelt down in front of the fire. "Harry's here- he had another dream and believes that Fudge could be in danger. We're going to need back up at his house." He said quickly. The head in the fire was looking extremely grave. "Right. I'll get Arabella and Fletcher. We'll meet you there." He said. Mr Weasley nodded. "Thanks Alastor." He said, and with that the head in the fire disappeared. Mr Weasley turned around to face his family. "Well, we'd better-" "Daphne!" Hermione gasped as she spotted her cousin, and Daphne suddenly found the entire room staring at her. Hermione was glaring at her angrily. "Hello Hermione." She said hopefully. Hermione stopped glaring and rolled her eyes. "I should have known you'd follow us anyway. Did you hurt yourself?" She asked more gently. Daphne shrugged. "Only my knees, hands and elbows." She said dismissively. Hermione smiled weakly. "Everyone, this is my cousin Daphne Granger. Daphne, this is Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron's parents, in case you hadn't realised. And these are his brothers, Percy and Charlie. Bill just left." She said, pointing them out as she said their names. Mrs Weasley stood up and smiled at Daphne. "Hello dear. It's nice to meet you, though it could have been under happier circumstances." She said with a sigh. Mr Weasley also smiled at Daphne, though he looked very strained. "Well, come on boys, we'd better go." He said heavily. At this point, Harry held up his hand. "You, you're not going to his house, are you?" He asked disbelievingly. Charlie also stood up, pulling out his wand. "What else are we going to do?" He asked Harry. Harry opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it again with a frown. Mr Weasley placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry- we'll be fine. You did the right thing." He said. And with that, he disapparated. Percy and Charlie barely had time to wave goodbye to their mother before doing the same thing. Harry flopped down onto one of the sofas crammed into the room, with his head in his hands as if trying to force something out of his head. Ron sat down in front of him on one of the armchairs. "Don't worry Harry. You've done your bit now- there's only so much you can do after all." He said quietly. When Harry didn't respond, Hermione sat down next to him on the sofa. "Ron's right." She said encouragingly. "All we can do now is wait." Harry grumbled something, but Ron and Hermione couldn't hear what he said. "Pardon?" Hermione asked. Harry lowered his hands. "I hate waiting." He repeated bitterly. "We all do dear." Mrs Weasley said, bustling back into the room. No one had noticed she had left in the first place. She was now carrying a tray with a large, steaming teapot on it, six mugs, and a small bottle of pink liquid. Mrs Weasley placed the tray on the table and poured drinks into all of the mugs, which turned out to be hot chocolate, not tea. She handed them round to everyone and then turned to Daphne. "Sit down my dear." She said kindly, nodding to a large red armchair. Daphne did as she was told, gratefully settling down into the comfortable lounger. Mrs Weasley sat down on the table next to her. "I'll clean up those cuts for you, OK?" She said, picking up the bottle of pink liquid and pouring some of it onto a cloth. Daphne held out her hands, and Mrs Weasley put the cloth onto the cuts and grazes. Red smoke rose from the cloth, even though Daphne wasn't feeling any pain, and when Mrs Weasley took the cloth away, the cuts had disappeared. Daphne grinned. "Thanks Mrs Weasley." She said with a smile. Mrs Weasley smiled back. "You're welcome." She said kindly, staring at Daphne. "You know," she said, cocking her head to one side. "You really look like Hermione." Daphne faked a look of horror. "Don't say that!" She said. Hermione glared at her from across the room, and Daphne waved at her sarcastically. Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes and stood up, trying to hide her laughter. Daphne held her mug in her cold, cupped hands, and stared around the living room. It was small, but full of chairs of all shaped and sizes. There was a large mantelpiece, on top of which stood seven pictures in frames, one for each of the Weasley children. Daphne caught sight of the one of Ron, and struggled not to laugh. He was about the same age as in the picture Remus had sent to Harry that morning, and in this one he was repeatedly trying to mount a broomstick that was much too large for him and falling off awkwardly. Daphne continued to gaze around the room, taking in the other, larger, family photos that hung on the walls and the magical instruments and books that stood on shelves, surfaces and in piles on the floor. Her eyes fell on a large Grandfather clock in the corner, and she stared harder. It was amazing- there were seven hands, and each had a name of a family member on it. They were mostly pointing at different points, and each of these points were not numbers. 'Molly', whom Daphne assumed was Mrs Weasley, 'Fred' 'George' and 'Ron' were all pointing to 'Home'. 'Ginny', the smallest hand, was pointing at 'Bed'. 'Bill' was pointing at 'In a meeting', and finally 'Arthur' 'Charlie' and 'Percy' were pointing at 'Mortal Peril'. Daphne swallowed hard and looked across the room to where her cousin sat talking quietly to Harry and Ron with a serious look on her face, deciding not to point out the clock to everyone else. Daphne tuned her ears in to what the trio, (as she always thought of them) were saying. "But what if they're outnumbered?" Harry was saying. "The Deatheaters could." "There's not much we can do about that, is there. So we should try to stop worrying." Hermione said, looking sombre. Ron sat back, looking sceptical. "That could be quite hard." He said logically. Hermione shrugged helplessly. "I know. But we have to try. And we have to trust them all." "But what if they." Harry began, but Hermione silenced him with an angry look. "Can we please not talk about it? Thank you." She said annoyed. Daphne sighed. She knew her cousin well enough to know that she was deeply worried about Ron's father and brothers, but this was just her way of dealing with not being able to do anything to help. Hermione turned to Ron, obviously hoping to change the subject. "So what was your nightmare about?" She asked curiously. Harry's head snapped up. "You had a nightmare as well?" He asked. Ron's ears turned pink. "Yeah, well, kind of. I don't remember it, just the waking up part." He said, shifting a little under Harry's stare. "It was about Ginny." Hermione said. "You yelled her name when you woke up." She told him. "Does that help you remember?" She added, sitting back. Ron shook his head slowly. "Nope. I just remember waking up, and then realising Harry was having one of his dreams, so I went into help Harry mode." He said casually. Harry snorted. "I need all the help I can get." He said darkly. At this point Mrs Weasley sat down in a chair next to Daphne, holding a half knitted jumper with needles dangling from it in her hands. "So, dear, how was your first term?" She asked kindly, starting to knit. It was obvious her mind was not on it though, so she put it to one side and sat looking at Daphne. "Oh, it was good. I was really surprised to see Hermione there, but glad as well, obviously." She told her with a slight smile. Mrs Weasley smiled. "What are your class like? Are you a Gryffindor too?" She asked. Daphne nodded. "Yep." She said. "My class are great. There's Lori, she's my best friend. Then there's Jake and Lara- they've known each other for years but didn't know they were both going to Hogwart's. Um, then there's Mark, he's got a brother in Hermione's class, and there's Craig and Sam. Then there are the twins, Kim and Abby. That's it." She finished with a grin. Mrs Weasley smiled again, looking rather nostalgic. "There were seven boys in my class, and two girls. I'm not entirely sure just how I survived." She said. Daphne laughed, deciding then and there that she really liked Mrs Weasley. 'And', she thought as she looked around the living room again, 'Hermione and Harry were right- the Burrow is really cool.' Daphne turned back to Mrs Weasley as she spoke again. "So tell me about your friend- did you say her name was Lori? What's she like? Is she a Muggle-born as well?" She asked. Daphne shook her head. "No. She's, well." Daphne suddenly remembered everything she'd ever heard about the Weasley/Malfoy war and fell silent. She didn't want Mrs Weasley thinking of Lori in a certain way just because of her family. "Yes dear?" Mrs Weasley encouraged her kindly. Daphne looked her straight in the eye and said, "She's a Malfoy. Leonora Malfoy." Mrs Weasley looked mildly surprised, but covered it up quickly. "Ah. Well, Fred and George told me that she had been sorted into Gryffindor. Is she nice?" She asked. Daphne felt a bit ashamed of drawing the conclusion that Mrs Weasley would think of Lori badly, and made up for it by giving her a lengthy description of Lori, and even threw in a blow-by-blow account of Gryffindor versus Slytherin, which she suspected her to be interested in. She was right- Mrs Weasley was obviously very proud that three of her sons were members of the Quidditch team. It was half an hour before Daphne realised exactly why Mrs Weasley was taking such an interest in her- no one else was. Fred and George were always lost in their own little world, and were sitting in a corner, drinking hot chocolate and drawing sketches of broomsticks they would like to build. All of them were booby-trapped. Daphne didn't expect to be shown much attention by them- it was her cousin's behaviour that was a bit surprising. Even though she was a lot older than her, Hermione had always treated Daphne like her friend, and had included her in everything that she could. However, right now, she was sitting on the other side of the room with Harry and Ron, with her back towards her and seemingly forgetting that she was in the vicinity. Daphne watched with interest as she and Ron took turns talking to Harry, trying to make him answer instead of sitting there with his head in his hands, and even though she felt a bit annoyed at being left out, she couldn't help but admire the way they were handling the situation. Hermione and Ron argued more than anyone she had ever met in her life- the simplest thing could set them off for hours. But right now they seemed to be reading each other's thoughts as they picked up each other's sentences and reasoned with their friend. Even though she could only hear snippets of what was being said, Daphne could see it was working. Harry was answering everything they said now, and was looking at them as they spoke. Daphne felt like giving them a round of applause. She also felt like hugging Mrs Weasley for talking to her- if she hadn't, she would have been sitting there like a lemon with nothing to do. It was clear that at the moment the three of them knew nothing outside of their conversation, and it was also apparent why they were such good friends- they were there for each other. Daphne was snapped out of her rather philosophical reverie by Mrs Weasley, who looked over her shoulder to see what she was staring at. "They work well together, don't they?" She said with a smile. Daphne blinked and looked back at Mrs Weasley with a sheepish grin. "Yeah. They do." She said quietly.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Ok. There you go for now. Sorry it ends so abruptly, but like I said, I had to cut it off somewhere. Next update in six weeks- I bet you won't mind that much though. Oh, and while I remember, the title of this story does actually mean something you know! I NEED A BLOODY TITLE!!! 'Please help me with a title' is not acceptable in the long run. So please, help me with a title. I expect suggestions when I get back, and even a brief reference on the subject would be appreciated.
Please review!!!