Chapter 4: Weasleys and Demons

Harry awoke to the droning sound of the television. Sitting up awkwardly in the plush armchair, he stretched his neck.

"Good morning!" It was Pepper's Aunt Phoebe. Harry imagined this was the aunt that Pepper was closest with - she looked the youngest, (she was insanely fit), and it seemed that she was the one that could talk Pepper down from her insanity the best.

"Morning," he grumbled. Pepper had slid from her sitting position and was now laying along the length of the couch on the floor, a blanket fully covering her face from the light. The only thing in view was a mop of dark hair.

"Would you like anything to eat?" Phoebe asked. She was still in a pair of pyjamas, drinking a mug of coffee in large gulps as she watched the news.

"No thanks," said Harry, fully awake now.

"What did you and Pepper do last night, anyway?"

"Talked...a lot," Harry said. "She wanted to know everything about Hogwarts and I was pretty interested in what you guys do, too. We were up pretty late. Do you know what time it is?"

Phoebe glanced at the Grandfather clock behind Harry. "Eight," she answered.

"I slept late," said Harry to himself.

"What time do you catch the train tomorrow?"

"Eleven. My friend Ron's family offered to take us, if we Floo over there tomorrow morning then they can drive us there. Oh, but you wanted to be there, didn't you?" Harry realized. "I'll ask if you can come, too, then. Speaking of the Weasleys, we have to be over there in thirty minutes."

"Oh, right. Well then, I guess I'll wake up Pepper, even though I like her better when she's sleeping, " Phoebe joked. She leaned down to the foot of the couch where Pepper was leaning and shook her. When that didn't work she tickled her neck, which only caused Pepper to move her head. Then Phoebe pushed her niece over.

Pepper's eyes shot open. "Oh...Harry...good morning..."

"We have to leave in thirty minutes," Harry told her.

"Oh, I'll go get changed then..." Pepper said, dashing up the stairs.

Thirty minutes later Harry and Pepper were, once again, standing at the fireplace, but this time the only thing Pepper had to be nervous about was meeting the Weasleys. She was dressed to impress them in a long flowing skirt and a tight sleeveless top with stars on it and her hair done up in a loose, casual bun. "You're a bit dressed up," Harry said.

"I want to make a good impression," Pepper said. "You should know by now I like to do that." She smiled. He shrugged and threw power into the fire, yelling his destination and disappearing. "Bye!" she called to her aunts as she jumped in the fire after Harry, yelling, "Weasley House!"

Harry helped her up from the hearth and she stood, finding she was not covered in soot. "Hi, Pepper," Ron said. "Hermione do you want to take Pepper to meet Mum, I've got to have a word with Harry."

Hermione took Pepper's hand and led her through a room (Pepper guessed it to be the dining room because there was a table and chairs) and into the kitchen where a red haired woman was bustling around, surrounded by pots and pans and knives doing things themselves. "Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, getting the woman's attention. "This is Pepper Halliwell; Pepper, Mrs. Weasley."

Mrs. Weasley had a large smile on her face. "Nice to meet you, Pepper," she said.

"Likewise," Pepper answered.

"You're just in time, dinner is ready," she announced. "We're eating in the garden, afterwards Ron and Hermione can give you a tour." They followed her out into the garden where there were two long tables set up. There were already a bunch of redheads sitting at the table and the one Pepper expected to be the father saw her and Hermione there, so he got up and walked over to them.

"Pepper, Mr. Weasley; Mr. Weasley, Pepper Halliwell," Hermione introduced.

"Halliwell-Black, isn't it?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Yes..." Pepper said. "How'd you know?"

"I work for the Ministry of Magic," Mr. Weasley explained quickly. "Do you know what that is?"

Pepper nodded, Harry had explained it to her last night. "Well," he continued, "it's always news when there's a new student at Hogwarts, and you're the last heir in the Black line, so there was some talk." But by the nervous look on his face, Pepper suspected it was more than that.

Throughout the delicious meal, Pepper met the rest of the Weasleys that she didn't already know – Bill, Charlie, and Ginny, and it was explained to her by a whisper in her ear from Ron that he had another brother – Percy – but he'd had a row with the family so he wasn't here. Pepper had to ask what "row" meant. She asked Fred and George more about their joke shop and they were happy to tell her about their products and their ideas for more of them. Then she and Hermione had an engaging conversation about a Muggle book they'd both recently read.

After they ate, she got the tour she'd been promised. She found the Weasleys' house (a.k.a. the Burrow) was very interesting and she'd probably have great fun exploring it if she had the chance. Eventually, they said their good byes and their see you tomorrow's and Flooed back to Pepper's house.

She introduced them to her aunts, and Piper said, sorry, she had to run. Pepper was in the middle of asking Phoebe if they could go see a movie when fragments of blue light entered the room and Leo appeared.

"Uncle Leo, finally!" Pepper said. "This is – "

"H-how – what?" Ron stammered.

"Sorry, no time," Leo said quickly. "Is everyone here?" he asked.

"No," Pepper supplied. "Aunt Piper just went to the club."

"That's not good," he said. "There's a demon headed this way. Where's Paige?"

"Upstairs," Phoebe said. She called her sister down.

"You're going to have to stall this thing until we can get Piper here," Leo said. "You'll need the Power of Three to defeat this."

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood there, extremely confused.

"It's powerful?" Phoebe asked. "Do you know what it is?"

"I don't know what it is, no, but it is pretty powerful," Leo said. "Pepper, call Piper," he ordered, and Pepper went into the kitchen to call her aunt. "Nothing you can't defeat, of course," he assured them.

"She's not picking up her cell or at the club," Pepper said, returning to the living room.

"Damn," Leo muttered.

"Can I be the third?" Pepper asked hopefully.

"It might work," Leo said, "though you've never done it before. Okay, when it gets here Pepper and Paige hold it off, Phoebe you get a look at it and go get the vanquishing spell or potion from the Book of Shadows. Now I have to go," he said, and disappeared.

"He didn't even tell us when it was coming," Phoebe said worriedly. Just then, the door was kicked in and a pointy-faced demon burst in. "But I'd say now! Freeze him!"

Pepper waved her hand and the demon froze.

"I don't know how long that'll hold him, you three hide, get going Phoebe," Paige instructed. "One of you, if you're not going to move, will you at least go try Piper again? The numbers are by the phone, clearly marked, we need her to blow this thing up."

The demon unfroze and Pepper froze him again. "Come on! Will you do what Aunt Paige said, please? He won't hold much longer!"

Harry ran into the kitchen to call and Ron ducked behind the couch but Hermione stayed where she was. "I can help!" she said. "I can throw spells at it."

"Hermione, we don't know how dangerous it is, just hide!" Pepper said as the demon unfroze again, throwing what looked like a mini beam of lightning at them. Paige orbed it to herself and threw it back at the demon. The lightning hit the demon but it didn't do any good.

The demon, spotting a defenseless Hermione, threw one at her, but Pepper used the power passed on to her by her mother and threw it out of the way. "Hermione, move!"

"She's on her way!" Harry yelled at them from the kitchen.

"Stay where you are, Harry!" Pepper told him. Paige orbed herself behind the demon and kicked him down. Pepper froze him again. "Move!" But Hermione refused to move; instead when the demon unfroze again she whipped out her wand and began throwing spells at it, just like she said she'd do.

It didn't hurt the demon, just hindered it a bit so Pepper and Paige could throw things at it and Phoebe could come down the stairs yelling, "I've got it! It's just a spell! Freeze it, Pep!" Pepper froze it once again and Phoebe ran to her aunt and her niece, shoving the paper from the Book of Shadows in their faces. As soon as the demon began throwing things at them and advancing towards them they recited the spell, but it didn't do anything. Hermione began her spell throwing at it again to stall for time while the Halliwells realized it didn't work and began fighting again.

The demon rushed towards them and knocked Pepper aside with his hand. She went flying into the wall and was knocked unconscious. Hermione stopped and went to see if she was okay when the demon hit her with a lightning bolt. She flew into the wall, too, and landed on top of Pepper, not quite unconscious. Ron couldn't take it anymore, he jumped out from behind the couch and started tossing spells at the demon, though he didn't know nearly as many as Hermione did. The demon threw Phoebe aside, too, and Paige was Orbing around the room so she wouldn't get hit. When the demon realized it was being hit from a different direction, it advanced on Ron, but before it could reach him Piper came through the door and tried to blow the demon up, which merely knocked it off its feet.

Phoebe managed to get up and went over to her sisters with the spell in hand. The three sisters chanted the vanquishing spell and the demon vanished with a scream. Ron nearly fainted but, instead, went over to Hermione.

"Harry," he yelled, "Get out here!"

Harry emerged from the kitchen, and upon seeing Pepper and Hermione lying on the floor, hurried over to them. Phoebe, Paige and Piper leaned over Harry and Ron, trying to see if their niece and her new friend were all right. Ron tried rolling Hermione off of Pepper and Hermione groaned.

"Hermione?" said Ron. She groaned again.

Harry shook Pepper to see if she was awake. He got no answer from her. "Pepper?" he said.

"She's unconscious," Phoebe said. "Let's get her to the couch." Harry picked her up and brought her into the living room, Phoebe and Piper following, and placed her on the couch.

"Are you sure she's just unconscious?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Yes, it isn't the first time this has happened," Phoebe reassured him. Paige and Ron helped Hermione into the living room and sat her in a chair.

"Is she alright?" Hermione asked, rubbing her head.

"I think so," Piper said, coming back from the kitchen with a wet paper towel and placing it on her niece's forehead. "She'll wake up."

The next forty-five minutes were spent waiting for just that to happen. Piper only stayed for fifteen, however, because Phoebe and Paige convinced her to go back to the club. The other five of them were too concerned to do anything else but wait.

When she stirred and groaned as Hermione had, Paige rushed and got a glass of water. Phoebe helped her niece sit up and answered her when she asked what happened. Paige handed Pepper the water and she sipped it slowly. "I think I'm okay," she said, finishing the water and placing the glass on the table. She looked round at the other people sitting in the room. "Have you been waiting for me all this time?" she asked. They nodded. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "How long have I been out?"

"Forty five minutes," Phoebe said.

"Geez, you guys could have gone and done something," Pepper said. "Hermione, thanks for helping, by the way," she added.

"No problem," said Hermione. "That was fascinating, actually. I've never seen a demon before. Come to that, I didn't even know they existed."

"Well, we've got to go and do something now, can't just sit around here forever. How about a movie?" Pepper half asked her aunts and half asked her new friends.

"Sure," Harry said and Hermione and Ron nodded, though Ron looked a little confused.

When she saw Paige and Piper hesitate she said, somewhat sarcastically, "I'm fine to drive, and then we'll go straight to the club where Aunt Piper can look after us. Please?"

"Okay," Paige gave in. "Have fun."

Back to her energetic self, Pepper grabbed her car keys from the key rack, beckoning for Harry, Ron and Hermione to follow, and hurried out the door, into her car. Hermione sat in the front seat, Ron and Harry in the back. "What's a movie?" Ron asked.

"What's a movie?" Pepper repeated, shocked that he didn't know what a movie was.

"Ron grew up surrounded by wizards," Hermione explained, "A movie, Ronald, is a sequence of filmed pictures giving the illusion of continuous movement put onto film."

The three other occupants of the car were stunned for a moment before Ron said, "You sound like a bloody dictionary, Hermione."

"Yes, well, you asked and I didn't know how else to put it," Hermione said, going pink.

"Oh, Hermione, I meant to ask you something," Pepper said. "Do you think...oh, what's his name, Harry...that boy yesterday in the robe shop...?"

"Malfoy," Harry said with disgust. "Hermione, you wouldn't believe this, Pepper thinks Malfoy's good looking."

Ron snorted. "Malfoy?" he said with as much hate and disgust as Harry had.

"Yes, him. Don't you think he's good looking, Hermione?"

"Well, um..." Hermione stammered.

"Don't tell me you agree with her, Hermione," Ron said, not believing what he was hearing.

"You can't be serious..." Harry goggled.

"Well, um..." Hermione repeated.

"Come on Hermione, just say what you think," Pepper prompted her.

"He has got great hair," Hermione finally said. "Though he's a bloody great git," she added quickly.

"I fully agree," Pepper said smugly. "And if you guys were girls you'd think so, too."

"Yea right," Ron mumbled as Pepper pulled into the movie theater's parking lot.