Chapter 4: Night at the Burrow

*****

            The house was fairly quiet and calm when George and Alinora appeared in the middle of the living room of the Burrow.  They almost thought the place was empty until they noticed Brad and Katie talking quietly in a far corner of the room.  At the same moment they also heard the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen.  They looked briefly at each other before quietly making their way out of the room, leaving Brad and Katie to continue their conversation, apparently unaware of their arrival.

            Joining the others in the kitchen, they found Ginny, Angelina and Charlie clustered around the table while Molly was busy at the stove fixing something that smelled wonderful.  They turned to see who had come in and Alinora soon found herself buried under hugs- first from Angelina, then from Molly Weasley.  George was greeted with less exuberance, but they did see him much more often.

            As they sat down at the table, provided with steaming mugs of cider, Ginny gave Alinora a slightly sheepish smile before handing her a piece of parchment.  "Mum already knows about tonight.  This came for us earlier."

            Alinora unfolded the note, holding it so both she and George could read it.

Ladies-

I'm sorry your last show was marred by this latest attack.  I am quite sure that you rose to the occasion in your normal spectacular fashion and I'm sure they still don't quite know what hit them.

We intend to keep it that way.

Please stop by the school midweek so that we can discuss the situation.  I'll be expecting you.

Albus Dumbledore

            "Humm, interesting.  I much prefer this.  I half expected Moody to show up on the doorstep, ranting and raving."  Ali slowly refolded the note and put it down on the table.  She was silent for a while, considering the implications of Dumbledore's words, then, deciding that such considerations were useless at the moment; she looked up and smiled determinedly.  "So, when are we expecting everyone else?"

            Molly glanced at the Grandfather clock nearby, "Arthur, Ron and Fred are still at the Ministry.  Harry's game should be over soon, and Hermione said that she had to stop by the house before coming by tonight."  Molly's lips tightened for a brief moment after her last comment, but didn't say anything further as she turned back to the stove.

            Ali and Ginny exchanged a significant glance.  Ron and Hermione had moved in together at the beginning of the year and Molly still wasn't too happy about it.  She had at least become a bit more accepting, or maybe just less vocal…

            "Well, while we're all waiting then, I think I'll go stretch out in the living room for a while and rest my feet.  It's been a long day."  Ali slid her chair back, got up from the table and headed towards the living room.

            "Yeah, I'm a bit tired too…" she heard George say, as she heard his chair slide back as well.  Since her back was to the group, they couldn't see her grin, but she definitely could hear their laughter as she walked out, followed closely by George.

            Katie and Brad appeared to have finished their conversation, but didn't look like they wanted company, so Ali headed towards a couch opposite them.  Sinking down on the cushion with a sigh, she leaned over to unzip the sides of her boots and remove them.  She wiggled her toes happily, leaning back to stretch.  George had settled down near by and Ali happily stretched out on the couch, with her head pillowed on his thigh.  Sometimes being short has its advantages, she thought as she snuggled comfortably into the length of the couch.

            "I'm glad nothing happened to you tonight.  When we got word that that your show was a target…"  He sighed.  "I'm just glad we were able to get there in time for you, almost late, or not."  George's voice was serious in tone, but he was smiling gently down at her.

            "I knew you'd be there.  You've never let me down when I've needed help."  A devilish twinkle appeared in Ali's eye as she stared up at him consideringly, "Though you've sometimes been a bit less than helpful in less serious situations… such as my first visit here…"

            George groaned.  "You're going to be bringing that up for the rest of our lives aren't you?" he asked.

            Ali chose not to answer, but simply grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.  She'd first been to stay with the Weasley's the summer after she and George finished their stay at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  They'd visited with her mom for a couple days before flooing back to the Burrow for the next week.  This was fine, except George hadn't bothered to explain just who it was that he was bringing back with him…  Molly had been quite surprised to see a strange witch appearing out of her living room fireplace.  Luckily, Ginny had been in the next room and had calmed things down long enough for George to appear and explain the situation.  Once calmed down, Molly had been quite interested in meeting Alinora.  That conversation, or interrogation, had lasted most of the afternoon while George had been sent to help his twin Fred in the garden.

            They both relaxed, entrenched in their own thoughts and half asleep.  At some point, Fred and Ron arrived via the fireplace, but other than waving a hand at them as they went through to the kitchen; they were content to stay where they were.  They heard Hermione Apparate into the kitchen as well.  Now they were only waiting for Arthur and Harry.

            The voices in the kitchen began to rise and they could hear Ron's voice above the rest, though not what he was saying.

            "I wonder what he's going on about now?" George wondered lazily.

            "I'm not sure, but it sounds like Ginny's getting irritated as well.  Shall we go see?" Ali answered back as she began to sit up.  She heard George mumble something in reply and turned to smile and give him a hand up as well.  Katie shot them a questioning glance, motioning to ask if they should come too.  Ali waved her back.  "We'll see what's up.  Hopefully nothing major."

            They walked into the middle of an argument.

            "I can't believe you aren't taking this seriously!  You could've been killed tonight, and you're making jokes!  Playing pranks on Death Eaters…" Ron's voice trailed off as he threw his arms up in the air in frustration and turned around, finally seeing Alinora and George in the doorway.

            "Ron, do you honestly think that any of us were taking this lightly?  Playing 'pranks', as you put it, doesn't mean that we don't understand the seriousness of the situation.  I think we showed that we understood it perfectly by doing exactly what our job is- to identify the threat and, if necessary, immobilize it until trained back up can come take over the situation."  Ali's voice was calm, but serious, as she walked into the room and over to Ron.  Suddenly she grinned up at him, "And if you want to get snippy about the pranks, leave Ginny out of it.  They were all mine and I think they worked just fine."

            Ron groaned again.  "Now you're not taking things seriously!  You shouldn't be using Fred and George's joke shop tricks against trained wizards!  That can be dangerous!  Don't you girls realize that?!?  You could have been killed!  These things should be left to the experts."

            There were several intakes of breath at that and Ali felt George's hands grip her upper arms firmly.  She gently shook him off and took another step forward, sweeping her hair back off her neck.  With a word, she removed the concealing makeup that covered a thin, four inch scar running down the left side of her neck.

            "I think I am quite knowledgeable about just how serious this job can be.  I received this," she gestured at the scar, "a year and a half back when your 'experts' made a mistake that we had to fix.  One of those pranks you're so against was what saved this from becoming a fatal injury.  Despite that, I still spent a week in St. Mungo's, Colin was in for almost as long with his injuries and the others were lucky enough to only receive minor damage.  Don't tell me how to do my job Ron and don't begin to judge how seriously we take all this.  We know it can mean losing our lives- we're not stupid, we knew what we'd agreed to six years ago."

            Alinora took a deep breath, held it for moment and then let it go slowly before looking back up at Ron.  "I know that you care about Ginny, and the rest of us, and that worry makes you touchy about what we do.  I understand that.  And we all really appreciate it.  But you have to trust that we are professionals and we are quite capable of getting the job done.  How we chose to do that is up to us.  Our unpredictability helps."

            "And it can be very amusing to hear about later as well." a new voice broke in from behind them.  "Such as, how did they get soaked like that?"  Arthur Weasley had arrived home during the argument and was standing with Katie and Brad.

            "Ah, that would've been from the water balloons." Katie replied, smiling at the childlike joy on Arthur's face.  "It was followed by a lot of cold air that effectively kept them contained for a while due to their robes freezing up."

            The mood lightened considerably and even Ron looked like he was trying to contain a smile.

            "Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a party or celebration or something?  What's with all the seriousness anyway?"  Fred asked.  "Don't make me pull out our new product line for testing…" he warned, looking quite taken with the idea.  Alinora could tell by George's expression that he thought that might be a good idea too.

            "I think a celebration is definitely in order." Brad's calm voice soothed the group, turning attention away from Fred's comment.  "It's wonderful that Katie, Ginny and Alinora are finally home, after a very successful tour on the road, and…"

            "And we won our Quidditch match!"

            Ginny, who, along with the rest, had missed Harry's arrival, jumped up from the table to throw her arms around him and give him a very thorough kiss.  Fred began making retching noises until both Angelina and Molly hit him over the head to make him stop.

            Brad was laughing, but stopped when Katie poked him in the side and gave him a significant look.  "Yet another good reason to celebrate!  But Katie and I would like to offer up a third."  He stopped and placed an arm around Katie's shoulders and pulled her close to his side.  They were both smiling happily.  "After a great deal of skillful negotiations on my part, I have finally convinced Katie to marry me."

            "Yes!" screamed Ali as an "About time!" was yelled by Ginny.  They quickly converged on the startled pair, hugged each separately, before pulling Katie into a group hug and dancing her around the room while chanting over and over "Katie's gettin' married.  Katie's gettin' married."

            It took a while to calm down after that announcement, and the reaction to it, but finally the group had settled down at the table to eat the wonderful meal prepared by Molly.  They were almost finished eating when, during a lull in the conversation, George decided to spice things up just a little bit more.

            "So, Ginny, Harry, when are you two going to stop hiding your engagement and come clean?"

            Ginny's face went red.  She shot Alinora a startled look as she took a moment to pound on Harry's back- he'd started choking on something he'd been eating.

            "Don't look at me, I certainly didn't tell him!" Alinora looked as startled as Ginny.  She turned to look at the smug expression on George's face as he viewed the family's reactions to this new revelation.  "How did you find out?" she whispered to him as Molly and the rest converged on the red faced pair.

            "I'll never tell.  But they'd hid it long enough.  It's been a year…  No need to hide it anymore.  Not sure exactly why they did to begin with, but I'll let it go."

            Ali shook her head in disbelief.  "You kept that secret for a year and didn't tell anyone?  Most impressive."

            "I know I am.  That's why you love me."

            Ali had gotten to her feet in preparation to go officially congratulate Harry and Ginny, but she stopped for a moment to place a kiss on his forehead.  "You're right.  And don't ever forget it."  With a quick hug, and another kiss on the cheek, she was gone.