Summer in a House
Lyrics from Vanessa Carlton's "White Houses"
Summary: Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger are stuck in a magically guarded house for the summer as The Second War reaches a major climax. All they have is each other, a great supply of food, a few chess sets, and two owls. What, exactly, could be made of this?
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Crashed on the floor when I moved in
This little bungalow with some strange new friends
Stay up too late, and I'm too thin
We promise each other it's till the end
Now we're spinning empty bottles
It's the five of us
With pretty eyed boys girls die to trust
I can't resist the day
No, I can't resist the day
Ginny opened the door to the strange little white house and looked inside. "Hello? Guys?" No answer. "Ron? Harry? Hermione? ...Luna? Neville? ...Mum? Anybody?"
Assuming she was the first to reach the summer's hide-out, Ginny calmly took her suitcase inside and sat it down in the living room. It was a nice place, though rather small. Ginny had a strong desire to explore, but was simply too tired from her day of cleaning to do so. Yes, she had spent the entire day cleaning out that stupid attic in the Burrow. Then, her mum had told her in the most panicky way possible that she was to meet Ron, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and possibly even more 'minors' involved in the war at a house where she would be staying for the summer. Supposedly, there was some important Order business for the older Weasleys to tend to and the Burrow was not safe enough for anybody to stay there. While Ginny was concerned and curious, she was very interested in how her summer would go. Six teenagers in a house, alone for the summer? Now, this was quite odd. Definitely not a typical Ginny Weasley adventure.
Well then, considering he was going to be there. Now, that would be a definite setback, would it not? He would keep Ginny busy, even if that meant just giving her something decent to look at other than these blank, undecorated walls. Where was this place, anyway? Ginny had arrived by Portkey, and assumed the others would, too.
Ginny heard the door creak open and she sat up quickly from her spot on the floor. "Hello? Anybody here?"
"Hi, Harry..."
Harry seemed to almost be a bit startled at seeing Ginny sitting on the floor, smiling in greeting. "Oh...hello there, Ginny. Are you the only one here yet, then?"
"Yeah, I am," she said. "It's already ten o'clock...you'd think, if the others plan on getting here tonight, it would be soon, no?"
Harry grinned, setting his suitcase down beside Ginny's. "Yeah, they should be." He stopped talking for a moment, his eyes scanning the room. "Have you been exploring yet?"
"No."
"No? Why not?"
"I'm quite tired, as I've been cleaning the bloody attic all day," Ginny said.
"Well, erm, would you like to go exploring with me?" Harry asked, smiling invitingly.
"I suppose..." Ginny said slowly. Harry seemed rather unusually nice. If she were in his position - that is, locked in some strange little house while the world around him is in turmoil that is centered mainly around himself - she would be very moody. Very moody. Yet, Harry seemed completely unbothered by it.
The two set off down the hall on a self-guided tour around the house. "So..." Harry cleared his throat, trying to make some small talk.
"Do you think Ron or Hermione will get here soon?" Ginny asked, figuring Harry's two best friends should be a safe subject. Safe enough, anyways.
"Yeah...yeah, by tonight." Harry seemed rather distant as he said this, his eyes slightly glazed over as he looked blankly at a door (which the two were about to discover was leading to a bathroom).
"Harry?"
"Oh, sorry," Harry smiled. "I'm sorry. Tired. Very tired."
"Sure," Ginny grinned, nodding. "Me too."
"Hello! Anybody home?" It was Ron's voice who broke the awkward silence which was beginning to fill the air. Ginny turned sharply and started toward the door to greet her brother, while Harry just stood there, slightly dumbfounded.
"Hello, Ron," Ginny said, grinning. "Is -"
"Hermione is out front with the twins, trying to talk them out of bringing 'alcoholic beverages' into the house," Ron said, rolling his eyes. Then, mumbling, he added, "As if it'll do any good. Beverages...a bloody complicated word, if you ask me. I doubt Fred and George even know what it means."
Ginny rolled her eyes, helping her brother (who seemed annoyed that his sister was helping him) carry his things to the side. Harry eventually appeared, and greeted Ron cordially. Ginny was almost positive something had happened that she didn't know about. Whatever it was, she wanted to know. Having been around the schools' gossip queens just a bit too long, Ginny was accustomed to knowing everything immediately, and did not like this whole new 'secretive' air.
Eventually, Hermione and the twins came inside, Hermione huffing and puffing angrily and the twins smiling mischievously as they carried theirs and Hermione's suitcases inside. "There, there, Miss Granger, calm down," Fred said, grinning.
"Fred Weasley! I will -"
"I'm George," Fred interrupted.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Hermione wailed. "I am not going to spend my summer vacation being driven mad by a couple of identical twits!"
Fred winked and George grinned, neither seeming bothered at all by Hermione's negativity. "It's okay, we're not staying," George said, and Hermione let out a sigh of relief.
"You're not staying?" Ron asked curiously.
"No, we'll be working with the Order this summer," Fred declared proudly. Ron started to protest (who said the twins could be in the bloody Order if he couldn't?!) but he was interrupted by George.
"Well!" George sighed, finding a seat on a comfortable couch. "Who's been around the house yet?"
Harry shrugged and Ginny raised her hand in a very Hermione-like way. "Harry and I looked around a bit earlier, but Ron arrived so we haven't seen everything yet," Ginny said eagerly. "We found a bathroom, three bedrooms, and a kitchen. There was another door and a back door which probably leads outside...so, I guess we have three bedrooms..."
While Ginny said this, Hermione counted in her head. "Three girls, three boys? How will this work?"
"That's simple," Ginny said. "Brother and sister share a room."
"Well, let's choose our rooms, then."
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Almost immediately after everybody went choosing rooms, Neville Longbottom and (much to Harry's disappointment, as she seemed to have taken quite a liking to him) Luna Lovegood arrived. After about an hour of getting situated, everybody met back in the living room out of pure boredom. "I think we should play a game," Fred suggested, and George immediately raised an eyebrow suggestively. At the same time, the twins declared, "Spin-the-bottle?"
"No!" Hermione shrieked. "I mean...no, as we don't have any empty bottles." When everybody in the group eyed Hermione suspiciously, she tried a quick subject change. "Fred, George, when are you leaving, anyways?"
"I brought butterbeer," Ron said, shrugging.
"Ronald Weasley, are you suggesting that you support this idiotic idea?" Hermione interrogated.
"Well...I don't see what's wrong with it," Ron replied hesitantly. "Harry?"
"Sure, anything to get my mind off other things," Harry replied.
"Well, looks like we voted and you lost!" George declared. "Sorry, dearest 'Mione."
"Excuse me?" Hermione said. "Ginny, what's your opinion on this?"
Ginny was now an interesting shade of red. Obviously, every boy in the room besides Harry and Neville were her brothers, and therefore (as some unwritten rule said) she wouldn't be kissing them. That would simply be incest and just wrong. If she said she supported the idea, certainly Harry would catch on? Everybody knew Ginny couldn't possible like Neville. Harry couldn't possibly know that she still fancied him a bit - no, more than a bit. More like...a lot. "Sure," she squeaked.
Without giving Ginny any time to change her mind, Ron immediately took out a bottle of butterbeer and downed it in less than a minute. "Well, there we are. Should I start?" Ron grinned, setting the bottle in the middle of the floor.
As soon as the bottle hit the floor, Fred and George stood up. "Sorry, it's nine o'clock," Fred interrupted. George was bouncing on his heels, anxious to get out of the house.
"It was nice seeing you, Harry, Neville, Luna," George said, bowing. "Adeiu!"
With that, the two Disapparated, leaving a room full of fifteen-and-sixteen year olds to stare at each other with wide-eyed, scared expressions. "What, none of you have played spin-the-bottle before?" Luna quizzed, looking about the room with a bug-eyed expression. "Honestly!" She fixed her eyes on Ron, nodding for him to begin.
Ron took a large gulp of air, put his fingers on the bottle, and spun it.
"Ginny? I can't kiss my sister!" Ron squeaked. "That is so sick! Oh no, I quit. This is -"
"Oh, give me a break!" Ginny cried. "Spin again, Ron."
"Oh." Another quick spin of the bottle, and poor Hermione Granger was red-faced and embarrassed.
"Just a quick peck?" she squeaked, red to the roots of her hair.
Ron nodded, took a deep breath, and leaned forward. Less than two seconds later, both were sitting back down, their faces cherry-red.
"That was cute," Luna commented. "Ron, choose somebody to spin."
Ron scanned the circle, his eyes locking with his best friend's. "Harry, mate, you could use a good...kiss." Ron winked and slid the bottle toward the messy-haired wizard, who looked at it blankly for a moment. However, Harry wasted no time ("Let me get this over with, then.") and simply spun the bottle.
"Luna," Ron announced, as if it wasn't obvious.
Harry shrugged, leaned forward, and gave Luna a quick peck on the lips. Harry seemed unembarrassed (surprisingly) but Luna had an even dreamier look as she sat back down in place, sighing. "Harry, you choose, then."
"Here you are, Neville."
And so the game went on, and by the end of the night everybody had kissed everybody (with the exception of the brother/sister couple that was simply unacceptable). The perfectly made beds that were waiting for warm, satisfied bodies to fall into them were never unmade, as everybody fell asleep on the floor together on their first night in the strange little white house.
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Author's Notes: This is part 1 of probably a lot of parts. Sorry if it takes a while to write. I have two yearbook deadlines and lots of shopping to do this week.