Intruder in the Burrow

Charles Weasley yawned and stretched. The Knight Bus sped through the streets, nearly avoiding mailboxes and streetlights. The bus gave a sudden lurch, and he was thrown from his bed, onto the floor.

'Oh, shit… that hurt…' he muttered, inspecting the newly acquired burn that he had landed on. 'Watch it, will you?' he said loudly to the driver, who didn't react. He muttered a bit more swearing to himself and climbed back onto the bed. Charlie would normally have just apparated back home, but he had been tired lately, so he didn't even bother with it. Bloody dragons had become restless recently, so he was getting more injuries as the days wore on. Yep, he needed a vacation, and the Burrow was the most comfortable he could think of, even if the constant screaming from his mother at the twins was always there.

The bus took another lurch, but he was ready for it, and held himself in.

'St. Ottery Catchpole!' The driver called, and the bus slowed to a halt. Thankful, Charlie gathered his things and got off rather quickly. Apparating from here wouldn't be too difficult; his house was only two miles away. Making sure he had everything, he disapparated as the bus took off. Next thing he knew he was outside the door of the Burrow, where inside he could hear the welcoming clatter of plates and talking. Slowly and quietly he opened the door.

'Charlie!' Mrs. Weasley said happily, running to her second eldest son, 'how are you?' she asked as she gave him a large hug.

'Wonderful, mum,' he said, looking around the table, 'how is everyone else?' 'good's' and 'fine's' came from around the table. Charlie was about to take his normal spot, when he saw someone else sitting there.

'Oh, hello,' he said, and she stood.

'Sorry, didn't know this was your spot,' she said, and stuck out her hand. 'My name's Teresa Doony, I work for your brothers.' Charlie didn't take it, though. Instead he looked at her with a slight frown. Feeling awkward, she put her hand back to her side.

'Which ones?'

'Fred and George.'

'You work for them?'

'Yes… I test their products…' she said, and he nodded, still surveying her. Feeling more awkward by the moment, she forced herself a smile. 'Yes, well,' she said, taking her plate, 'I'll be… up in the room…' she said, and put it in the sink, then went rather quickly up the stairs.

'Charles,' Mrs. Weasley asked, surprised, 'what was that about?' Charlie sat down and summoned a plate for himself.

'I don't like her…'

'Because she sat in your spot?' Ron asked, a mouthful of potatoes.

'No, because she looks familiar, but I can't place her,' Charlie said, and started working on a piece of pork. They spent the rest of dinner talking about Romania and the things Charlie had been doing. When they were finished Mrs. Weasley made the twins go back to bed (their chills were gone, but she just wanted to make sure) and Ginny and Ron went to their rooms anyway. Charlie picked up his suitcase, and took it up to his room, then came back down, and sat with his father in the sitting room. Mrs. Weasley was giving Fred and George another set of potions.

'Why is she here?' Charlie asked as he sat in a chair. The family portrait hung above the fireplace, a twenty-year-old Charlie holding seven-year-old Ron by the back of the shirt, who was trying to jump at the camera.

'Son, she's homeless,' Mr. Weasley said, looking at him, 'we very well couldn't let her sleep by the river any more. Besides, she's a nice girl.'

'But she reminds me of someone…' Charlie muttered.

'She's helped around the house, and hasn't caused any trouble… well, nothing besides doing things with the twins. You should have seen her when she came: extremely skinny. She's gained a lot of weight and she's only been here a week.'

'How old is she?'

'Turned twenty-two two days ago.' Charlie didn't respond any more than a 'mm…' though. His head was racing. She resembled someone he knew back in the days of Hogwarts, someone who he only had bad memories of. Doony… the name seemed familiar-

'I've got it!' he cried, slamming his fist on the chair. 'Doony, she had a brother, curly, deep brown hair, green eyes… Their closely related to the Blacks and Malfoys, pure-bloods… same beliefs as the other two, too…' he said, as Mrs. Weasley emerged from the dining room.

'Who's closely related to the Malfoys?' she asked sharply, and Charlie pointed to the dining room.

'That girl, Teresa!' he said, 'Her big brother… big oaf he was… Daniel! Used to insult me like the Malfoys… junk about Muggle-fancying… anyway, he had a little sister, and she's it! Nasty lot they were, got into a few fights with him,' he said, thinking back farther.

'Are you sure?' Mrs. Weasley asked uncertainly, 'she's a nice girl…'

'I don't care how nice she acts!' Charlie said, standing, 'she needs to get out of our house! What if she's a spy for you-know-who?'

'There's a way you could check,' Mr. Weasley said, and Charlie nodded.

'Yes- I'll go up and do it now,' he said, and practically ran up the stairs.

'I don't believe it…' Mrs. Weasley said, and sat down.

'Charlie could be right, you know,' Mr. Weasley said, then there was silence.

Charlie skipped every other step as he went up the stairs. He didn't know which room she was in, but when he heard muttering coming from one of them, he went straight to Percy's. He knocked, and the voices stopped.

'Yes?' came Teresa's voice.

'It's Charlie,' Charlie said, and there was a great deal of shuffling of papers, until Teresa opened the door.

''Ello,' she said, smiling, 'may I 'elp you?'

'Drop the accent,' he snarled, and stormed past her into the room. 'I know who you are, you're Daniel's little sister, aren't you?' he asked, and Teresa sighed.

'Yes,' she admitted, and he nodded.

'I knew it, I want you out of this house! Did your family set you up to this? Did He-who-must not be named set you up to this?' he asked, and she raised and eyebrow.

'Set me up to what?' she said calmly.

'Take off the act,' he said, and motioned around the room, 'this, to spy on us?'

'I'm not spying on you,' she said, the calm becoming a bit more forced, 'I'm not part of that family any more.'

'How are you not part of a family?'

'I was disowned when I was sorted into Gryffindor,' she said, sitting on the bed. 'They didn't like the fact that one of them wasn't in Slytherin. Practically sent me out on the street, would 'ave if I 'adn't found a friend's 'ouse to stay in. Her name was Penelope Kaiser; her whole family was cockney. I lived with them for six years and picked the accent up.' She explained, and Charlie calmed down a bit.

'Give me some proof,' he said, and Terry shrugged.

'All right,' she said, and went to the closet, pulling out her old school robes. 'Do any kind of charm or curse you can think of and the emblem will stay the same.' She said and Charlie looked them over. Teresa then showed him both her arms. Charlie could see no hint of the Dark Mark. 'I can understand where you're coming from, though, my brother gave you 'ell, didn't 'e?' she asked, and he nodded.

'Yeah, how'd you hear about that?'

'He was five years older than I was. I remember you in the common room, talking to your friends about it, especially during the N.E.W.Ts. I could have smacked him but 'e gave me the same 'ell whenever I walked past,' she said. Charlie had to admit, she was convincing, but the thought of a Doony in his house still made him uncomfortable.

'Just… don't try anything,' he said, and left. When the door had closed, the twins emerged from under the bed.

'That's why your name sounded familiar!' Fred said, dusting himself off, 'you're big-brother nearly got Charlie sent home for fighting one year, heard mum writing the howler.' They grinned at each other.

'Yes… 'bout tha'… sorry for not telling you…' she said, and they shrugged.

'It's none of our business, Charlie just has bad memories,' he said, their faces still in identical grins.

'Now, about those Every Changing Beans…' George said, and they pulled out their plans.

'ARG!!!!' The next morning the whole house-old was awoken by the sound of Teresa screaming. Ron, who's bedroom was closest to Percy's, was the first one there along with Ginny, and when he saw what was in the room he reeled back. On the bed was a giant, black, hairy spider.

'GET IT AWAY!' Teresa screamed, falling off the bed. The twins had come by now, and the rest of the house had apparated. They immediately fell into fits of laughter, while Ron crinkled his nose.

'That's sick, you guys,' he said voice squeaking a bit, and went out of the room. Mr. Weasley quickly made the spider disappear, and Teresa turned.

'Where are they?' she asked venomously, and the twins stopped snickering. Ginny pointed at the two figures who were laughing, besides their brother Charlie. 'that- wasn't- FUNNY!' she shrieked, voice going up several octaves. Mr. Weasley shook his head and went down to the breakfast table.

'It was just a jo-' Fred started, as the two were backing up near the wall, hands outstretched.

'THAT WAS A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A JOKE!' the two looked at each other, rather surprised. She had never raised her voice like that before. 'THERE'S ONLY ONE THING I'M DEATHLY AFRAID OF, AND THAT'S SPIDERS, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?' she demanded, and they shrugged. Mrs. Weasley was about to say something, but Charlie put a hand on her shoulder.

'Mum, leave them to it, she's doing a good job on them,' he said, but Mrs. Weasley stepped between them any way.

'All right, dear, lets all settle down, it's gone,' she looked around, the red still had not drained fully from Teresa's face, but she went back into Percy's room and slammed the door. The others made it down to the breakfast table, and all the way down the twins were making excuses.

'We didn't know!' Fred said, as Mr. Weasley opened a letter the owl had just delivered.

'Molly, dear, get everyone around.'

'Why?'

'We need to go to the Order, Dumbledore wants us.'

Ooo, cliffhanger! I love cliff hangers… so… hangy… newayz, hope u enjoy, it's not that bad of a deal. We'll get into some action now, at any rate. Yes, action, I know you people are like 'where's the angst? WHERE IS IT, DAMN IT??' yeah, yeah, I know, I'm sorry about that. BTW, if she's turning into a Mary-Sue… tell me… dear God tell me…