Several hours later, George woke me up for dinner.
"Come on love, supper's ready," he told me, dropping a kiss on my forehead.
I groaned and pressed my hand to my head.
"Ugh. I don't want to live," I muttered, slowly opening my eyes. He laughed and scooped me into his arms. My stomach lurched dangerously. "That was a really bad idea," I said, rushing to the bathroom to vomit. Once that was over, my head felt marginally better, and I trudged down to the kitchen with George.
The table was groaning under the amount of food that was set on it. I shuddered slightly, and grabbed a plate to begin filling with the blandest food I could find.
"Anna," George said quietly, his lips whispering against my ear.
"Yeah?" I asked snottily.
"There are too many people in this house tonight," he said quietly, and I looked at him curiously. "There aren't enough bedrooms," he explained.
"Oh," I said quietly. "Well, We could always have the kids stay here tonight, and the adults floo to the London Manor," I suggested. "There are…seventeen bedrooms in the London house," I told him with a shrug.
"I'll go suggest that to mum," he said and slipped away.
Rarely did I ever offer to let people stay in one of my houses. I owned the London Manor, thanks to Grandpere. He had left it to me in his will, and I now owned it free and clear. I let myself fall into one of the chairs and began eating slowly. I watched as George spoke quietly with his mother, and she nodded briskly, waving him away. George cleared his throat and everyone looked up at him expectantly.
"As many of you have realized, there is no way that everyone will be able to fit into this house tonight," he began, and several snorts were heard. "So Annabelle has offered the use of her London home for adults to sleep in. Children will remain here. Please make sure you have your clothes and luggage ready to go tonight at about eight."
There were outbreaks of muttering, and I smiled warmly. George sat down beside me, and wrapped his arm around my waist for a quick hug as he placed a kiss on my cheek. I smiled and continued to eat my dinner.
"We should go over early to make sure that Johannes and Sebastian have the bedrooms prepared, and to make sure that they don't let Hermione see them," I whispered and he nodded and he swallowed.
"Hermione would probably flip out if she encountered your house elves," he agreed, and I smiled.
"I doubt I would live through the night," I joked, reaching for my glass of water.
Gianna and Adele were whispering and looking at a paper in front of them, and Adele was shaking her head and pointing while whispering heatedly to her sister. I grinned and took a sip of water.
"What are they planning?" I asked George quietly. He looked over at our girls, and smiled.
"I don't really know, but it makes me very glad that we aren't going to be staying here tonight," he answered, and I laughed.
"Me too," I confessed. "What time is it?" I asked, looking up at George.
"Hmm, about seven twenty," he told me, kissing my nose. I nodded, and stretched lazily.
"I'm going to head over," I said, kissing George quickly before walking over to the fireplace.
George stepped out of the fireplace in a burst of green flame, followed closely by my parents. I was sitting on the counter eating chocolate ice cream directly out of the carton. I smiled toothily at George.
"We're very tired, Annabelle, so if you don't mind, we'll just be going directly to bed," mom told me. I nodded and smiled warmly, giving each of them a perfunctory kiss.
Mom and Dad both walked over to the stairs and up to the second floor. I grinned when I realized that they had finally decided to start letting me have the master suite in my own home.
"Do I get any of that?" he asked, walking over to me. I grinned and scooped out a spoonful of chocolate ice cream. "That's not what I meant," he said, before eating the ice cream anyway.
"I know," I answered brazenly.
He grinned, and dropped the spoon on the floor as he leaned forward to kiss me soundly. I grinned back and began laughing hysterically when he squashed the container of chocolate ice cream between us, causing chocolate ice cream to ooze everywhere.
"Well hell," he muttered, tossing the carton to the floor and dragging me to the edge of the counter. I moaned softly against his lips, and laughed when the fireplace roared to life.
"Maybe we ought to wait until everyone's here, and we can go to bed," I whispered in his ear as Fred and Angelina stepped out of the fireplace.
"What the hell happened here?" Angelina asked, staring at the chocolate ice cream mess that seemed to cover almost the entire kitchen.
"George felt a need to destroy the chocolate ice cream carton," I said sweetly. She laughed and took Fred's hand. "If you guys go out this door, and take the first hallway on the left you can stay in the second room on the right. Once you go in, your names will appear on the door until I have them cleared," I told them.
"That's bloody brilliant," Fred murmured as they walked out of the kitchen.
I laughed and pushed George away from me for a moment and pulled off my sweatshirt so that I was sitting in my sweat pants a little white T-shirt. He sighed and walked out of the kitchen. I knew full well that he was walking up to the master suite to deposit our trunks, so I didn't bother to ask him his destination.
Paul and Brigitte were the next to arrive followed closely by Elizabeth and Christophe. Jamison and Jennifer were next, and about ten minutes after them, the rest of George's siblings arrived in rapid succession with their spouses. I sighed as the last couple walked out of the kitchen, and I turned to look at the mess that the chocolate ice cream had made. I lifted my hand and simply said, "scourgify." I had always thought that a wand was a little superfluous, and therefor rarely used mine.
"You look amazing," George murmured from the doorway.
I looked over and smiled at him, as I picked up the now empty cardboard container. I dropped it into the trashcan and walked over to link my arms behind his neck. He said a quick incantation to sound proof the room and then another to close the floo connection for the evening. He set his hands on my hips, and kissed me firmly. I sighed softly and was not at all surprised when he lifted me into his arms. What did surprise me was when he shoved all of the pots and pans and appliances off of the kitchen island counter to clatter loudly on the floor.
"George," I warned, and he grinned, setting me down before swinging up beside me.
I laughed as he pushed me flat onto the counter and continued what he had started by the door. My hands became frantic as he literally ripped my shirt off, and I clawed at his until he rose to yank it quickly over his head. Somehow, neither of us had heard anyone walking up on the door, but we did hear the door slam into the wall next to it as it was flung open. I froze and looked over his shoulder. Ginny had walked a few steps into the kitchen, and froze. I blushed furiously.
"Who is it?" George asked in a whisper.
"It's your sister," I answered with a soft laugh. "Move your ass, Weasley," I told him, before sliding off of the counter and snapping my fingers so that Johannes appeared. Ginny continued to stare at us, apparently shocked.
"What, Gin?" George finally snapped, as he retrieved his shirt. "You never shagged Harry before?" he asked. She reached down and picked up the ripped fabric that had once been my shirt.
"Of course I have, just not on the kitchen counter, and he usually doesn't rip my clothes off like a crazed animal," she replied haughtily, tossed me my shirt, and flounced out of the kitchen.
"Johannes, I'm very sorry, but could you clean up this mess?" I asked, holding the torn remains of my shirt to my chest.
"Certainly mistress," he replied, and immediately began working at an amazing pace.
George slung his shirt over his shoulder and then lifted me into his arms and carried me up to our room. He literally threw me into my bed, and I laughed, only to once again be interrupted by an insistent knock on the door. I groaned and flopped back, pressing my hands to my eyes, as George strode over to the door. I flicked my wrist and caused the curtains around my bed to draw closed on the side that would have offered a view of me to whoever was at the door, and listened very carefully.
"What do you want?" George growled, and I bit my lips nervously.
Deciding that this was as good a time as any, I crawled over to the opposite side f the bed and reached into my nightstand to pull out whatever was available and could serve as pajamas, so that I could change quickly. All I found were some of George's shirts, and I shrugged, pulling on one of his Oxfords.
"Is that anyway to speak to your darling little brother?" Ron's voice returned from the doorway. "You've got a rather large problem, mate."
"Yes?" George sounded as if he didn't quite believe that. I sighed, and crawled under the covers of the bed, pulling the thick down comforter up to the bottom of my ears.
"Hermione happened to see what she is convinced is a house elf," Ron whispered. "She's fuming in the bathroom right now, but in a few minutes she'll be storming up here demanding to rage on at Annabelle," he said. "Thought a warning was in order."
George heaved a sigh and closed the door, before walking over to where I was now ensconced in the thick bedcoverings. I smiled sweetly and slid over to the side of the bed, so that he could climb in after changing. I was beginning to believe that Hermione wasn't going to come and shriek at me, and had therefor almost fallen asleep, when there was a loud pounding on the door. I groaned, and moved to shove the blankets out of the way.
"I'll go take care of it, love," George murmured, setting something on a bed table, and swinging out of the bed. I sighed and rolled onto my stomach, trying to remain awake enough to listen.
"Could you please get Annabelle for me?" Hermione asked brusquely.
"She's asleep, Hermione, what do you need?" he asked, stepping out and closing the door behind him.
I smiled warmly, and fell asleep in moments. I never heard him walk back in.