Chapter Thirteen

The Burrow

~ Harry ran back up the stairs, crashing into Ron's room, and finally remembered to close the door behind them. The last of the Potter line flopped down on the bed, heart still pounding. They were sure that any second now it was going to beat straight through their ribs, but they didn't trust themselves to calm down just yet. Harry was sure calming down would lead to thinking, and they definitely weren't ready to think. Not about what just happened, what the girls were probably thinking, and especially not about what would have happened if they'd been at the Dursley's when she'd tried on the earrings… and of course, upon thinking that, the unbidden thoughts slowly wormed their way between Harry's ears. His poor heart slammed back into high speed, so she jumped back up to their feet and paced around the room. The movement helped to distract the bespectacled child from the momentary terror that had flared at the thought of the Dursley's finding out about her… unnatural… desires for feminine garb. Eventually their heart slowed again, and this time Harry thought he was probably ready to tamp back down all these stupid emotions, and pretend nothing had happened. Nothing good ever seemed to come from the few times he'd allow himself to be all contemplative anyway. So yeah… no thinking... Hell, probably his best idea yet.

He let out a long sigh. Okay, well, maybe he'd try to deal with all this confusion later, but for now, flying. If ever there was a time to lose himself on a broom, it was now. He snagged his Nimbus, and after a quick peek out the window, to be sure no one would be able to see him from the road, he glided down to the garden below and ran off toward the orchard, to join in the impromptu Quidditch match.

It didn't take Harry long to arrive at the homemade Quidditch pitch, well half-pitch as it was only about half the size of the one at Hogwarts. The first thing he noticed, other than the smaller size of course, was that only one end of the pitch had goal posts. Normally there were three large, vertical hoops clustered on either side of the pitch, but the Weasleys only had two, and those were somewhat undersized. Harry sat back and observed from the sideline, curious how the brothers played together. Ron was playing keeper, while Fred and George looked to be playing chaser for one side, against Charlie on the other. Even though it was two on one, gameplay was surprisingly even. Charlie was obviously the better flyer, and he flew a much nicer broom, but the twins were just managing to outperform him through near flawless teamwork. Harry watched as his best guy friend managed a fairly impressive save against one of the twins, to cheers from Charlie and rather creative threats from Fred, well probably Fred anyway.

"Harry! Yes, about time! You're with me," Charlie cheered, to good natured complaints from the twins.

Thankfully Oliver made everyone practice occasionally with just the quaffle, so even though chaser wasn't Harry's position, he wasn't too worried about embarrassing himself. When he took up position (literally as they were about thirty feet up in the air) he noticed Charlie looking at him with an odd expression.

"Umm, is this okay?"

Charlie looked... concerned maybe?

"Oh, uh, sure. No, uh, I was just thinking, your dad used to play for Gryffindor, right? He was supposedly a hella talented player."

Harry's smile returned, he loved hearing about his dad, not that anyone had said much, but at least he knew something about his father. His mother though, almost no one really talked about his mother, and truthfully, he yearned to know more.

"Yeah, he was a chaser, and supposedly really good. Flying is pretty much the one magic that's just, it totally seems to click for me. So, uh, d-did you know my parents?"

"Nah, I'm sorry Harry, they were a bit before my time. Wish I did, but yeah… So, uh, ready to kick these guys' butts?"

After a very brief planning session, play resumed. Charlie and Harry harmonized pretty quickly. While they were both able to out fly the twins, and only partially because of their superior brooms, the game was still surprisingly even. Harry was a fantastic catch, and he was even a decent aim, but he just didn't have the arm strength to throw it very fast. Between Ron managing to block most of Harry's shots, and the twins intercepting a fair portion of Harry's passes, (though Harry's speed allowed him to intercept some of theirs as well) him and Charlie were only just beating the twins. After Ron's fifth save, Harry started to worry that Charlie might get upset at him for not scoring, so he tried to pass the next score opportunity off to Charlie, but the burly ex-seeker just grinned and passed the quaffle right back. Harry was a little surprised when Charlie cheered equally for Harry's scores, and Ron's saves, but it was the kind of thing most of his teammates at school would do, at least when they were just playing around during training. That kind of good natured sportsmanship was such a stark contrast to everything Harry had known before joining the Quidditch team at Hogwarts.

Play continued at a pretty furious pace for the next 30 minutes or so, until Harry noticed that Ginny had come back out. She was watching from some benches the Weasley's had sat up along the edge of the pitch. At the next pause he dropped down to land next to the empty handed, younger girl.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he stammered out, "Hey Ginny. Sooo, umm, d-did you, uh… i-if you'd like a go, you could use my broom, if you want?"

Ginny was dumbstruck, and just stared at Harry for several seconds, "Y-you mean I can play? On your broom!? On a Nimbus!" Ginny's smile lit her entire face, and Harry couldn't help but grin back, holding it out to her, but before she could take it Ron streaked down to hover over them.

"Woah, hey no way, Ginny! What are you crazy, Harry!? She can't fly! Especially not on a Nimbus."

Before Ginny could find her voice, shock from Ron saying something so stupid right to her face and all, a very confused Harry asked him, "why ever not."

Thankfully Charlie interrupted Ron's sputtered excuses, but not before Ginny got mad, which is apparently a very bad thing. Harry had heard enough horror stories to understand that Ron would be having a really unpleasant time soon. Ginny fought back against seven older brothers by rarely backing down, always getting even, and you'd almost never be able to see it coming.

"Ginny, how'd you do in flying class last year?" Charlie asked, amusement evident.

Ginny crossed her arms and turned away from her idiotic brother, before coolly answering, "Considerably better than Ron, if I'm not mistaken."

"Well, best get on up here then little sis!" Charlie laughed, and then laughed all the harder at Ron's scowl.

Ginny started to reach for Harry's broom again, but hesitated, "You sure you don't mind, Harry?"

"Umm, well, uh… just be safe okay," Harry smiled, holding the broom out.

Ginny didn't need to be told twice. She jumped on and immediately took off at full speed, angling her flight so that she would have taken off Ron's head if he hadn't swerved out of her way, nearly falling off in the process. The twins started to fly after her, thinking she'd lost control of the broom, but after a perfectly controlled high speed flip, Ginny aimed back down towards the twins, and shot between the two without a hint of hesitation. She came to a stop next to Charlie, both of them smirking hard, just barely holding back their laughter.

"Hey Ron, kinda looks like she can fly a Nimbus after all," Harry yelled up to his red faced friend.

And that's all it took, everyone except Ron burst into laughter so hard that they had to be careful not to lose control of their brooms. Ron sputtered something about showoffs, but the laughter was too strong, and by the time he had flown back up to the double goal hoops he was smiling too. Harry watched carefully, evaluating Ginny's control and general gameplay. She was pretty dang good, and obviously having the time of her life. While she wasn't quite as good on a broom as Harry, after his two years of training, he thought she had the potential to easily get there. She dropped a few passes, but her aim when she threw the quaffle was spot on, and Harry was a bit chagrined to see that Ginny must have been a bit stronger than him, as she was having an easier time of scoring against Ron.

On the walk back to the burrow for lunch, Harry and the twins were enthusiastically trying to convince Ginny to join the team as a backup chaser, and maybe seeker. The team hadn't had any backup players since before Harry joined, and even in Harry's first year, a backup seeker might have won them the Quidditch cup. He couldn't figure out why she was resisting at first, Ginny obviously wanted to, but surprisingly it was Ron that clued him in. It wasn't Ginny they had to convince, it was Mrs Weasley. Charlie hugged his little sister, and told them to leave it to him.

After lunch Harry joined Hermione in a tiny little lounge on the third floor where they could work in relative peace. If he was going to have any chance at finishing this summer's homework, AND reading ahead in his new books he would need to work hard, much to Ron's dismay. The time spent working together didn't involve a ton of conversation, but they still enjoyed each other's company, and having someone else to use as a sounding board whenever one of them struggled with a concept was wonderful. A little before dinner time, Harry wandered down to find Mrs Weasley hard at work in the kitchen.

"Would you like some help Mrs Weasley? I'm uh, well I'm kinda a decent cook."

"Really, Harry? That's a wonder, I doubt any of my boys would even know how to fry an egg," they both shared a small laugh before she continued, "that is really sweet of you to offer dear, but I do most of my cooking magically, so I'm afraid there isn't really all that much you could help with. Wouldn't you rather go play with Ron?"

Molly only just managed to register it as a dejected look flitted quickly across Harry's features.

"Oh, but, ah… I don't suppose you would be interested in watching? I doubt you've ever seen food preparation the magical way?"

Harry openly marveled at all how much faster the meal was coming together, not to mention how much control Mrs Weasley must be able to exert to manipulate as many ongoing spells as she was currently using, which flattered the witch greatly. It didn't take very long for Harry to accumulate a whole host of questions, and once she had finally convinced Harry it was okay to ask his questions, the two began a merry conversation that easily lasted until supper was ready. Molly was very amused when the normally reserved, well mannered best friend to her youngest boy, turned into a regular little chatterbox when it came to cooking and household chores. During their conversation, there were a few occasions when Harry unknowingly let slip a detail or two to cause the Weasley matriarch's good mood to nearly sour, though she didn't allow it to show. She was a believer in discipline, one had to be when raising seven children, three of which were regular little mischief makers, and chores were a terrific way to instill some of that discipline, but from a few things Harry had said offhandedly that just didn't seem right, it sounded like these muggle relatives of his maybe took things more than just little too far. She resolved to send Albus that letter very soon.

After dinner everyone sat around chatting for an hour or two, before they all separated to their own devices, until time for showers and bed at least. That simply a routine was established. After breakfast they would play Quidditch for a couple hours, Charlie offering tips and tricks to all, but especially mentoring Harry and Ginny, then heading back just before lunch. After lunch Harry would work with Hermione, Ginny and Ron joining in occasionally, but never for long, unless they could weedle Hermione into tutoring them. Then Harry would head down just before supper to learn more about magical cooking, and various other home care magics. Even though he couldn't technically cast the spells, he could still mimic the wand motions, and was even able to fetch this and that for Mrs Weasley, in order to spare her concentration.

Harry was surprised at how excited he'd been when Charlie told them all that he'd be around for the entire week. He had explained that he was studying for a certification to work with Wyverns (he'd had to clarify, two hind legs, two wings), a slightly smaller and less dangerous offshoot to the types of dragons he already worked with, as well as the certification for category four dragons. When asked, Charlie broke it down for Harry and Hermione, the rest of the Weasley's having already listened to his dragon ramblings for years. Dragons (four legs and two wings, possessing great cunning and varying degrees of intelligence), were broken down into five categories. The first two categories included dragons that grew to barely any larger than regular birds, the largest known had been the Atlantian Crestrunner, with a wingspan of almost twenty feet, while the smallest, the Cerulean Calliope, could curl up in the palm of a man's hand. Sadly all of the known species from the first two categories were now extinct, thanks primarily to poaching and the pet trade. Category three included most of the known dragons in Europe and the Americas, but category four was where the real monsters began. The dragons from three were intelligent and cunning, but the dragons from four were all of that plus incredibly violent when approached incorrectly. They also tended to possess more weaponry, such as the infamous Hungarian Horntail, which was just as deadly with its spiked tail, as it was with its vicious claws, fangs, and fiery breath. A licence for category four would allow him to work with all but the two most deadly dragons known to wizard kind, the only two category five monstrosities. There was the Uruloki, also known as the great fire serpents. These were sentient, massive, legendary beasts. Thankfully not many of these enormous monsters are known to still exist, and at last check they were all hibernating. The second species of category 5 dragon are known simply as the frost dragons. Almost nothing is known about them except that they didn't seem to get very large, they are almost completely immune to wizard magic, and their breath attack will completely freeze everything in their vicinity without fail, regardless of attempts to use shielding magic. It wasn't even known if they were sentient or not.

~After dinner, the twins would occasionally hang out with Harry and the others, and occasionally disappear to their room, where the odd explosion could sporadically be heard. Harry tried to sneak in once, just to see what they were up to, especially as he had overheard something about an upcoming prank, and very much did not want to be the one targeted. He cracked open the door and slipped through, except he didn't even make it through the doorway before a bucket of cold water dumped out over his head, followed by what had to be an entire two pound bag of rice. The twins roared with laughter while Harry scowled, but he couldn't feign anger for long, and easily laughed along with them before leaving for a shower. Harry decided it was best not to try sneaking up on the twins again, at least not in their space where they had the advantage.

Mostly Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny would all hangout together after supper. Harry was happy to see Ginny was finally coming out of her shell around him, and all it had taken was for him to make a complete fool of themself. He did have one pet project he'd begun to work on without letting any of the others know. Between the wild magic he'd used on his aunt, the wandlessly cast, if imperfect, warming charm, and his experiences activating the rune magic on his trunk, he'd decided he really wanted to start using this wilder magic now, rather than wait for sixth or seventh year. Figuring it was best to start with something simple, every night after they had gone to bed, Harry would try to magically force his wand to roll back and forth on the floor while he lay on his cot.

~ The week continued more or less in this fashion without too much fuss until Tuesday night, after supper Harry told everyone to hang tight for a minute while he ran upstairs. He returned a few moments later with his messenger bag, having trouble hiding his grin. Harry explained that he had an early Christmas gift for Ron and Hermione, Ron cheered while Hermione tried to refuse as it wasn't Christmas yet, but Harry insisted that they needed them for the train ride to Hogwarts. First he tossed everyone else a chocolate frog, before pulling two small, wrapped boxes from his bag with a flourish and placing them in front of his best friends. As he sat down, to many thanks for the chocolate, though Mrs Weasley insisted he shouldn't have, he announced "happy early Christmas."

Ron tore into his wrapping, while Hermione slowly unwrapped hers, meticulously peeling the tape back as she went. Once they had both revealed their shrunken trunks, to thanks from the pair and "oohs" from several of the people present. They fidgeted with the small boxes for a few minutes before Ron finally broke.

"Er, Harry, it looks like a nice box and all, but why won't it open?" Ron asked, while tugging on the lid.

"Oh, yes Harry. The detail is lovely, but I can't open mine either," Hermione half complained half complimented. It always bothered her when she couldn't figure something out quickly.

"Those" he paused for dramatic effect, "are your new school trunks!"

They stared at Harry, then each other, then to the boxes they held, before focusing back to a grinning Harry. Hermione tentatively asked how exactly that was supposed to work.

"Oh, I get it! Hey, no fair Harry." Ron exclaimed before turning to his mum, "can you undo the shrinking charms mum?"

But before Mrs Weasley even had her wand out Harry commented, "Ron, don't be lazy, unshrink it yourself."

And before Ron could reply, he whipped out his own trunk and pushed his magic into the rune. He tossed the rapidly expanding trunk to the ground before it got too large to hold.

Ron gasped, while the twins and Charlie chortled at Harry's hijinks.

Hermione beamed as she looked down at the, currently miniscule, carvings in the lid of her own mini-trunk. "It's a shrinking rune! Oh my gosh, that's so neat. How do I activate it?" The young witch was practically bouncing in her excitement.

"That's what you have to figure out," Harry stated with the utmost smugness.

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him, all smiles at the challenge, but Ron just groaned, causing everyone else to laugh. After a nod from Harry, Mr Weasley relented to Ron's continued plea for a hint. He explained the principles behind runic magic, and of course Hermione managed to enlarge her trunk a minute or two before Ron. Everyone took turns exploring Hermione's trunk, and when Ron finally enlarged his own. Harry explained that, once he found out about the library compartment, Hermione simply had to have her own, he did too actually, but Ron's trunk was simpler because he still had another big gift Harry was saving for actual Christmas. Ron and Mrs Weasley complained that Harry really shouldn't have spent so much on them, that he needed to watch his spending, but when Harry sheepishly admitted that, as it turned out, he was actually kinda rich, everyone just sorta paused to take it in. The seemingly poor kid who had always worn ill-fitted hand-me-downs, the kid that never looked like he got enough to eat at home, the child that lived with muggle guardians who didn't even seem to care for the child, that kid was actually rich… yeah, that took a second to process.

In the morning it would finally be time to head to King's Cross Station, and the Hogwarts Express.

Authors Notes

Yay, I finally fixed this rushed chapter. 6/10/22

Certainly took me long enough. There isn't really any significant changes to the story, just typo and word choice corrections, plus a few details being fleshed out a bit more.

Thanks for reading.