Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. I am but a poor knave. Angela and the Plot are mine, nothing else.
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The next instant she was spinning so fast she thought she was going to throw up. All she could see was swirling green at first, but she didn't dare close her eyes for fear that she would get out at the wrong place. After a few moments she began to see fireplaces whirring by very quickly. She had begun to worry that she wouldn't be able to stop when it came to the Weasley's house when her feet slammed into the ground. She and her trunk tumbled forward out of the fireplace in which she had landed.
Harry was right there to help her up, and she started to brush herself off before she looked around. She found herself surrounded by a sea of red heads.
A woman that had to be Mrs. Weasley quickly came forward and gave Angela a hug. "How nice it is to finally meet you, Angela dear. We've heard so much about you."
Angela was quite taken aback. She'd never heard someone so genuinely pleased to meet her. "It's nice to meet you too. I'm sure I've heard much more about you than you have of me."
The twins, Fred and George, came forward and shook her hand quite vigorously. "It's great to meet you," said one. "Yes, absolutely smashing." The other said.
Angela couldn't stop the grin that came to her face. She had heard of the twins' exploits over the past five years and knew not to accept anything they may try to give her. The twins grinned back at her.
A girl of about fifteen came forward and introduced herself as Ginny. "It's nice to meet you too, Ginny. I've heard a lot about you." Angela smiled at the girl who was now blushing a deep shade of pink.
The only red head left was laughing with Harry and a brunette girl over to the side. "This has got to be Ron and Hermione," she thought to herself. Taking a deep steadying breath she walked towards them, thinking, "I wasn't this scared when Voldemort was there." When she reached them she stuck out her hand to the red headed boy and said "Hi. I'm Angela. You must be Ron."
He took her hand and shook it, smiling. "It's great to have you here. This is Hermione," he added, indicating the girl on his left. Angela shook hands with Hermione, who said "I'm so glad to meet you. It'll be nice to have someone to study with this year finally." Harry and Ron both laughed.
"We heard about what you said to Trelawny and Snape." Ron said, giving her a look of appreciation. "That made my day to read that. It'll be good having someone around who has the guts to stand up to Snape. Of course, he may give you detention for it, but it'll be great nonetheless." He grinned at her as he finished. Angela couldn't help but grin back. Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as she thought.
Angela spent the day getting to know the Weasley's better. Well, the few that were there. Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie had all joined the fight against Voldemort, and were not going to be home until later that night. Apparently the final Weasley, Percy, had had a slight falling out with his father the previous year over Voldemort and, though the Ministry was finally accepting the return of Voldemort he had yet to make up with his parents. Mrs. Weasley made a delicious meal for lunch. Angela asked Harry if she was making such a large meal just because she was there and Harry reassured her that this was a daily occurrence. Mrs. Weasley tried to get her to eat seconds and thirds, but Angela simply could not eat anymore.
"It's delicious, but I don't want to have to taste it coming back up again, Mrs. Weasley."
Everyone around the table laughed.
"Well, I'm used to these boys who will eat anything you set in front of them, and in great abundance." Mrs. Weasley had explained.
"We're growing men, mum. We need nourishment." Ron had told her before filling his mouth again.
Angela laughed to herself, remembering her brothers and how much they had always eaten. She felt a slight pang when she thought of them, but nothing compared to what she knew she would feel if she left the wizarding world.
"So, what do you want to do today Angela?" Mrs. Weasley asked her, watching Fred get some more food on his plate.
"Do? I don't even know what there is to do around here. It doesn't really matter though. I'm pretty happy doing just about anything." Angela answered.
"Well, we could play Quidditch later," Ron said, his voice full of hope.
Hermione leaned over to Angela and told her in a quiet voice "Ron's hoping to get in some practice. He was on the team last year…didn't do so hot, though he did win the last game. Everyone's always comparing him to his brothers though, all of whom have been fairly good at Quidditch."
Angela knew what it was like to compete with brothers all the time, though she had usually outshone them in everything. "That sounds like fun," she said "As long as you don't expect me to catch a ball too much. Haven't quite gotten that part down yet."
So, after lunch they all headed down to the small field that the Weasley's used to practice Quidditch. They played four games before they were all too exhausted to play anymore. Angela and Ron had played at Keepers and Angela had finally discovered something that she was good at. Hermione was the referee with Harry and Fred on Angela's team, Ginny and George on Ron's. At the end each team had won two games, but they were too tired to play a tiebreaker.
"We have two weeks. We can always play again tomorrow. Or the next day." Harry had panted when Fred and George wanted to play another game.
"Yeah. I can't play anymore today." Ron had added, kneading a stitch in his side.
They were all hot and sweaty after playing in the hot August sun, but Angela was as happy as ever. She had found friends who liked her for her. Melissa was one of the few she had actually found that she could get close to in America, but she could see almost any of the Weasleys as best friend material.
When the other Weasleys came home that night for dinner they all seemed just as happy to meet Angela as the others. Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie seemed perhaps more so. Angela figured that they would have heard about her encounter with Voldemort from Dumbledore. And she was right. As she sat down at the dinner table Mr. Weasley had struck up a conversation with her about it, trying to glean any details from the story that Dumbledore hadn't told him. Everyone else around the table seemed enraptured in the story too and Angela heard various "Really?" and "No way!"s throughout her story. When she finished she got looks like that that Dumbledore had given her. They couldn't believe that someone had blocked Avada Kedavra.
"Well, Dumbledore told me of the block, of course, but…I didn't think it would really work." Mr. Weasley had said, astonished. The rest of the meal was filled with conversation about Voldemort (more commonly referred to as You-Know-Who around the Weasley table) and the curse blocks that Angela had done.
Angela was exhausted by the time they finished supper and politely excused herself from the table. She got up to go to her room and stopped just after she had gotten out of the kitchen. She didn't know where she was staying. Thankfully, Harry came out a minute after she did while she was pondering whether to go back and ask and feel stupid or to just wait for someone to come out.
"Oh, thank goodness. Do you know which room I'm staying in?" she asked, afraid that he wouldn't.
"Well, I imagine it's probably Ginny's room. That's where Hermione always stays. I'll go ask for you." Harry turned and walked back into the kitchen before Angela could stop him. He came back out followed by Mrs. Weasley.
"I'll show you to Ginny's room dear. Are you feeling alright?" she asked, with a true look of concern on her face.
"I'm definitely going to have to get used to this whole 'people caring' bit" she thought to herself before answering "Yes, I'm fine. Just tired. I haven't played that much sports since the last time my brothers and I played football in the backyard."
"Football?" Mrs. Weasley asked, a confused look on her face.
"Oh! It's a sport with a ball and one player throws the ball to another player down the field, who tries to get it down the field to score a touchdown. At least, that's American football. I think in England they refer to Soccer as football."
"You mean in America they refer to football as soccer." Harry interjected, smiling.
Angela looked at him, smiled and said, "Same difference."
Now it was Harry's turn to be confused. "Same difference? What's that mean?"
Angela sighed, as if having to explain why atoms exist, then said "It just means that it's the same thing. The difference is the same. Same difference. See? Nevermind, it's just an American thing I guess."
She walked into the small room that Mrs. Weasley had shown her. "I know it's probably not quite what you're used to, but, well-"
"It's great." Angela cut her off in mid-sentence, grinning. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here, Mrs. Weasley."
"Oh, it's not a problem, dear. The more the merrier we say around here. Are you going to bed now?"
"Um, probably not. It's still kinda early. I just need to rest for a bit. Thanks."
Mrs. Weasley left the room and Harry walked in, looking around. "I've never been in this room. It's…nice." There was slightly pinkish colored wallpaper on the walls and the bedspreads were pink also. It was tastefully decorated and you couldn't tell that the Weasley's didn't have very much from the looks of the room.
"Yeah, it is. I imagine it was hard to make it this pink without making it look like they painted with Pepto Bismol, but they did a pretty good job. I really do want to rest though, Harry and I think that with you in here I'll do anything but," she said, a mischievous grin playing across her face.
Harry smiled too, and bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Sleep well, my love."
Angela stared at his back as he left the room. She still couldn't get used to the fact that someone actually loved her. She laid down on her bed, sighing. "Is it really possible to be this happy?" she asked herself. She only hoped that it wouldn't end soon.
She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but she couldn't help herself after a few minutes. "I'll just close my eyes for a minute or two," she told herself.
Next thing she knew she was standing in front of a full-length mirror, staring back at her reflection. She was at about 20 give or take a year, looking very beautiful in the white wedding gown of her dreams. Tight fitting bodice, a very full skirt, and a long train. Melissa was helping her put on her veil. Someone came in and said, "They're ready for you." She took a steadying breath and grabbed her bouquet. She and Melissa hugged for a minute before heading out the door. She saw her father waiting for her, to give her away. He was wearing a tux and giving her a huge smile. She smiled back at him and took his arm. Then they waited. She felt very anxious but extremely elated, and when the person came to tell them it was time, she felt like she was going to puke, not from fear, but from nervousness. She walked down the aisle arm in arm with her father, seeing all of the people standing to see her, but focusing on the other men in tuxes at the end. Well, one in particular. He was staring at her and she felt herself blush under the veil. When they finally reached the end of the aisle, which seemed to take forever, the man took her hand and looked down at her. He smiled, looking just as nervous as she was. The preacher began right away, and soon Angela and her groom were exchanging rings and saying "I do."
Then the preacher said, "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride," He added, smiling at the groom.
The man lifted Angela's veil and their lips had almost touched when Angela woke up with a gasp.
She lay there for a moment, trying to remember everything about her dream. This was one of those that stayed with her though, so it wasn't hard. There was only one small detail. She couldn't remember who the groom was. She remembered that Ron and Hermione and Ginny had all been there, and most of the Weasleys, but she couldn't recall the face of her groom. He had been five or six inches taller than her, she remembered that, but his face escaped the grasp of her mind.
For a minute she was a bit upset with herself for not being able to remember, but then she thought to herself, "It can't be the future."
All of her other dreams of the future had been much shorter, fragments if anything. She had never dreamed more than a minute or two and had it come true. "So, there's really nothing to worry about. It's not really my wedding at all. Just a silly dream," she said out loud.
Just then Ginny came in. "Were you talking to someone?" she asked.
"Um, no, just myself, sorry."
"Well, Mum just asked me to check on you. She said you weren't feeling well."
"I'm fine, I was just a bit tired. I'm getting up now." She glanced at the clock when Ginny gave her a weird look. She had only been in the room for 10 minutes. "That's funny," she thought to herself, "that dream was at least half an hour long."
She got up anyway and went out into the living room. Harry, Ron, Bill, Charlie, and the twins were having a rather heated discussion about Quidditch. Hermione was sitting in a chair, reading a book. Mr. Weasley was reading a newspaper called "The Daily Prophet".
"Where's your mom?" Angela asked Ginny.
"Mum's in the kitchen, cleaning up a bit."
"Oh. I think I'll go and help her," Angela said. Ginny gave her a very weird look and then shrugged before walking over to her brothers and sat down.
Angela walked into the kitchen to find Mrs. Weasley at the kitchen table surrounded by papers, looking very worried. The dishes were washing themselves in a sink.
"Are you ok, Mrs. Weasley?"
"What? Oh, yes dear, I'm fine. It's just…the times." She gave Angela a weak smile, stood up, and began messing with some things on the counter. Angela gave a quick glance down at the papers that Mrs. Weasley had been looking at and quickly recognized them to be bills. Angela knew that the Weasleys didn't have much money. In fact, from what Harry had told her, they were downright poor. However, the only family she could think of that had been as nice to her had been Melissa's.
Angela knew what it was like to be poor. Her family had never had much when she was younger, though it wasn't because they didn't make enough money. Her parents were never the "responsible" types.
Angela suddenly had an idea. She had no idea how much in wizarding money she had gotten from the inheritance, but she knew however much it was it was more than she could ever use. She also knew that the Weasley's would never take money from her directly. However, if they didn't know that it was her, if she sent it anonymously, what could they do? She now had a plan. All she had to do was figure out how to do it. Dumbledore had had part of her inheritance changed into wizarding money and it was sitting in a vault in Gringotts. There was still a fair amount not changed collecting interest in a bank in America.
She began thinking to herself, "If I could give the vault I already have to the Weasleys, get some money from America, and change it at Gringotts and set up another vault for myself, then it would work out fine. Maybe I should talk to Harry about this. He would know what to do."
"Is there anything I can do to help, Mrs. Weasley?"
"No, dear. I'm almost finished in here. You go talk with the others." Mrs. Weasley gave her a genuine, if somewhat tired, smile.
Angela went back out to the living room, thinking to herself about how she could pull this off. The boys and now Ginny were still talking about Quidditch, but it seemed Hermione had given up on reading her book. Or pretending to read it. She was now staring at Ron over the top of it. Angela smiled to herself.
She walked over to Hermione and said "So, whatcha reading?"
Hermione snapped out of her stare, and looked up at Angela, blushing. "Oh. It's, er…" she looked down at the book and quickly, blushing further, turned it right side up. Angela sat down in the chair beside Hermione's and giggled.
"It's alright. So, you like Ron, huh?"
Hermione looked at Angela, horrified. "Wha- how did you-?"
"I saw you looking at him. It's alright. Really. And it's not like he's going to hear you."
Right at that moment Ron was yelling something about keepers that everyone else seemed to disagree with.
Hermione gave a nervous giggle and said "Yeah, I guess he won't. Well yeah, I kinda do like him…a lot."
"You two would be so cute together, you know that right? I mean, you compliment each other perfectly."
Hermione smiled weakly at Angela. "Too bad he has no idea I exist outside of friendship."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I heard about the dance fourth year from Harry. And how he got jealous every time you write to Viktor. And all of your little 'fights'. That boy has a serious crush on you."
"He was just worried about Viktor trying to get info on Harry from me. That's all."
"Oh, please. What was he supposed to say, 'I like you so I don't like it that you came to the dance with a guy four years older than me that I have no chance against'? He was saying the things he could think of that wouldn't make you think that he had really wanted to take you to the dance himself."
"He was always drooling after that Fleur girl though. I mean, he seemed to like her a lot more than he liked me. In that way, at least."
Angela smiled. "Well, he couldn't really help himself. She is part Veela."
"Harry really did catch you up on everything didn't he?"
"Yeah. Well, we had a lot of time, so…"
"A lot of time? You learned five years worth of material in a month and a half! How did you have time?"
"We found it. Or made it. It wasn't really as hard as it sounds. I'll tell you all about it later." Angela added, as the discussion about Quidditch seemed to be winding down. "I need to talk to Harry about something real quick."
She got up and walked over to the group with Hermione. Harry looked up at her, looking slightly surprised. "I thought you were going to lay down?"
"I did. Can I talk to about something real quick. Privately?" she asked Harry.
"Sure. I'll be right back guys." Fred and George had evil grins on their faces as they watched the two walking out of the room.
Angela and Harry went out into the backyard, where Angela posed her idea to Harry.
"I really have way too much money. And they need it a lot more than I ever will. What do you think?" she finished.
"I think it's brilliant! How did you come up with that plan?"
Angela told Harry about the Mrs. Weasley being worried and the bills on the table. "And then it occurred to me what I could do with all that money that's just sitting there in the bank. I remembered what it was like to be poor and to not have money to pay bills. It was not the best feeling in the world."
Harry and Angela plotted for another half an hour before going back in. It was dark and though they had stayed close to the door they both knew that there was not protective charm over the Weasley's house as there was over the Dursley's.
The next day at breakfast mail came for Angela, making her plan even better. It was a small package from Dumbledore that Angela didn't open until she got to her room. When she opened the box there was a small golden key, similar to the key to her vault that Dumbledore had helped her set up at Gringotts and a note.
Dear Angela,
This is the key to your parent's vault. They left it in my possession for safekeeping and I am now returning it to you. I'm sure you will find it useful.
Professor Dumbledore
This was it! She could give the Weasley's the vault she had set up with her inheritance and keep the one that her parents left her. Angela was very happy as she walked out of the room that morning, trying to think of ways she could give the Weasley's the key without them knowing.