Chapter Two

Mail For The Burrow

"SCORE!" Ron Weasley hollered. "Look, Mum, it's Hedwig at the window! It's only taken Harry two weeks to reply to my letter!"

Ron opened the window and let the wet owl in. Hedwig shook her feathers in disgust. Ron was grinning as he took the letter from her leg.

"I wonder what he's got to say?" Ron began pulling at the scroll, and stopped short when it wouldn't budge.

"It's been magically sealed!" Ron said in surprise. "Harry's not allowed to do magic while we're not at school, I wonder what he's up to?"

Molly Weasley, Ron's mother, came over from the sink and peered at the letter.

"Oh, Ron, it hasn't been magically sealed at all!" Molly admonished him. "Look, it's addressed to Ginny, not you. Harry probably instructed the seal not to break for anyone but Ginny. Common practice in olden day wizarding communities; the seal itself has magical properties. Just tap it with your wand, tell the seal who the letter is for, and Merlin's your wizard. Harry's probably been studying – like you should be!"

Ron's face reddened.

"I haven't got time, have I?" He snapped. "I've got better things to do."

"Harry doesn't," Molly reminded Ron gently. "Now give Ginny her letter."

Ron looked at the scroll.

"Why's Harry writing to Ginny?" he asked petulantly.

Molly shrugged.

"Neither of us will know if you don't give it to Ginny, will we?"

Fred and George Weasley, Ron's older twin brothers, chose that moment to troop through the door, dirty from playing Quidditch in the yard, scattering mud everywhere with grins from ear to ear.

"Honestly!" Molly despaired. "You two are perfectly capable of cleaning yourselves before walking through that door!"

"Spoils the fun," George said cheerfully, settling into one of the kitchen chairs and grabbing one of the freshly baked biscuits on the table.

"Stop that!" Molly swatted at George. "They're for company!"

"Oh, come on," Fred said, his mouth stuffed with biscuit. "'Sif we ever have company!"

Molly put her hands on her hips.

"We've had unexpected company plenty of times before. If you don't stop eating all my biscuits, I'll put a charm on them so you can't touch them!" she threatened.

"Fair go," Fred said, shuffling out of the kitchen towards the stairs. "I only wanted one any- phwoar! Ginny! Watch where you're going, will ya?"

Ginny appeared in the doorway, looking haughtily back at Fred.

"I'm not the one who was muttering at the ground as he walked!" she snapped.

"Now, now, you two," Molly said tiredly. "Ginny, dear, good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Alright," Ginny shrugged and settled herself at the table. "Is there anything to eat?"

"Oh, there's plenty, dear, what would you like?" Molly asked.

"A letter came for you this morning." Ron said, watching Ginny carefully.

Ginny looked up, her cheeks slowly turning crimson.

"From who?" she asked casually.

Ron waited a few moments until he had George's attention before answering.

"Harry."

"Harry!" George crowed. "What's he writing to Gin-Gin for?" He snatched at the scroll, and yelped in pain as Ginny whacked him.

"Give me that!"

"No fun," George muttered, leaving the kitchen. "None at all."

Ginny stood up, clutching the letter.

"I might wait until lunch to eat," she said casually, before turning toward the door.

"Oh, aren't you hungry, Ginny?" Molly asked. "Are you sure, dear? I could whip up"-

"Honestly, it's okay," Ginny assured her, before hurrying out of the room.

"Hmm." Ron sat back in his chair, frowning. "I didn't know Ginny still liked Harry."

"Liked him!" Molly said, absorbed in watching figures of her family in a frame fight with each other. "She got over him ages ago, dear."

"Doesn't seem that way to me," Ron said sulkily.

"Now, now, Ron. You told me you'd rather Ginny dated Harry instead of Dean. I distinctly remember it."

Molly jumped and then rolled her eyes as Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, came crashing into the window.

"Now that's something Errol would do," she said dryly, wincing as the owl gave a hoot of pain.

"Yeah, but that was when she was dating Dean," Ron said uncomfortably, picking at some lint on his sleeve. "Now she's not."

"Yes. Now she's not." Molly gave Ron a level look, before hurrying out to pick up Pig.

"And that's the problem," Ron muttered to himself.