Wow, many thanks to all of you for reading. I am happy you enjoy it so far.
A special smile is dedicated to HPFAN whom I cannot thank enough for pointing me how to improve the grammar in Chapter 1. I will correct it soon. Feel welcome to comment again : )
Now, as we are getting into Chapter 2, I was dared by my torturer – ahem, sorry, friend - to write about the funniest/ ridiculous/absurd scene I could think of while threading my "serious" plotline and without betraying the characters. I don't know if I have succeeded at this, but I threw a few of them in the next chapters. I am begging you for mercy.
You are about to read now…
Chapter 2
A shockingly emotional scene leading to a – gasp - birthday surpriseThis car ride made Harry nauseous.
«Wizards should not be allowed to drive,» muttered Harry, clenching frantically the arm of the car door. Sitting beside him, her knee against his, Ginny was glancing at him frequently and he could read on her face she shared heartily his opinion. To her left, Bill was sleeping - even snoring - and missing on all the action. Mr. Weasley was sitting in the front, musing enthusiastically at the Muggle marvels he was spotting along the ride, while Moody grunted hmhms and was taking each yellow light as a personal mission to not touch the brakes.
As soon as Harry set foot out of the car in front of the Burrow, he looked up at the Weasley's house and felt he was finally waking up from a nightmare. Ginny rushed in with Hedwig's cage and his Firebolt. A yawning Bill waved a dismissive hand at Harry and brought his trunk in, leaving him with Mr. Weasley on the front porch. Harry waved a relieved goodbye at Moody, who flashed them a scary smile as he manoeuvred the car down the road.
«That was a nasty ride,» slipped Mr. Weasley through his teeth, trying not to move his lips. «I'm never letting him drive us again.» Harry chuckled and Mr. Weasley rested a light hand on his shoulder before entering the Burrow.
Harry took a few minutes before following Mr. Weasley in, savouring the acute feeling of waking up from a long sanitized dream in which everything looked or felt the same. It was a mystery to him why Mrs Weasley's wild flower beds smelled so much better than Aunt Petunia's posh garden settings. The Burrow was all sound, sight and smell: shouting and laughing coming through the open windows, multiple textures sculpting the unique shape of the house, the light casting a bright glow along the tree line and of course that glorious, appetizing smell that tickled Harry's nose.
After Harry pushed the door open, he looked at his empty hands. For a second, he wished he could have brought something more than his luggage and his growing appetite.
Mrs Weasley got to him first and hugged him so hard he gasped. She kissed him soundly on the cheeks, and then rubbed off with her thumbs the lipstick she smeared on him. That little gesture made Harry blink a few times, as he was embarrassed and moved by the way she always seem to care about him as he was her own child. Finally, Mrs Weasley spoke with a small tremor in her voice, a smile stretching her lips, her warm hands cupping his face: «Harry dear, I'm so glad to see you. You've grown quite a bit, as I see! You don't look as bad as usual. Did they feed you right this year? Why don't you sit down for a bite?»
An absurd amount of food had already been placed on the table. Fred and George clasped his hand in a very manly manner, their face mirroring their obvious glee. Ron came running down the stairs. He jumped the last three steps and shouted a booming «Oï Harry!».
Harry noted that his friend was getting annoyingly tall and strong. His red t-shirt clashed with his freckles and his arms were still showing the scars left by the terrible events that occurred in the Ministry of Magic last spring. «You'll see soon enough that our little Ronniekins seems to have completely recovered from his…how shall I say this delicately…his brief encounter with a brain,» said George (or was that Fred?), catching Harry's glimpse at Ron's scars.
Ron scowled as Fred (or was that George?) added, with a wicked smile, « Yeah, Ron, you should have kept it. You never know when you will need one.» Ron snapped back, two red patches on his cheeks, «You two would have been able to share it for a while.» His eyes met Harry's and they smiled at each other. Ron locked him in a solid embrace and Harry could read in his lanky features his sheer joy to see him again.
Over his shoulder, Harry noticed a blurry of brown curls: as soon as Ron let go of him, Hermione Granger jumped into his arms. Harry laughed and staggered a bit while Hermione was looking at him, her brown eyes a little misty. Her voice was shrill when she said: « I am so happy you're back. I missed you.»
Harry returned the embrace, a little surprise by his friends' display of affection. He layed his hands on Hermione's shoulders and held her at arm length so he could look at her properly. Hermione looked tired under her tan and her cheeks were hollowed, as she had been sick. But her usually serious face was smiling and Harry felt a strong wave of affection for her. «If I could choose a sister, I would definitely pick Hermione,» thought Harry, looking at the fine lines that crinkled her face when she smiled.
After all, he could tell her everything, anything, from dead serious to immensely embarrassing and she always seemed to take it seriously. She knew what to do about it or she went fiercelyfor answers. That never faltered to amaze him: with all her knowledge and resources, Hermione was like a human lifesaver, a brilliant lifesaver, holding his head above the water when sometimes he felt like sinking was the only option.
His eyes were distracted from his brotherly feelings for his friend by a svelte silhouette with a red braid that was sitting up the stairs, silently witnessing his joy to see his friends again with a delighted smile, her arms crossed on her chest. Harry almost jolted when he realized he had always thought of Ginny as Ron's sister or as a friend, but he never could imagine her as his sister. This new perspective made him suddenly confused.
«Harry?» pressed Hermione, looking in his eyes and then throwing a short glace over her shoulder. Harry saw her brown eyes glitter again as her head turned back to him and Harry was compelled to hug her again. He saw Ron's ears turn red. Harry gave her a pat on the shoulder and managed to utter, « I missed you too, Hermione.»
A sea of red hair was looking at him, smiling with warmth. Slowly, he lifted his head and said softly, his eyes grazing the red braid, « I missed you all.»
Ron looked embarrassed with the emotional silence that followed and spurted with animation, his blue eyes twinkling, «Harry, we've got you a birthday present you'll never forget, something bloody brilliant, mate. You will not believe how hard Gin, Hermione and I worked on this.» Mrs. Weasley drew an imperious hand as she commanded, «Now, stop using that b-word already, Ron. Your surprise can wait. Harry, be a darling and eat something. You looked famished.» Harry promptly obeyed and took place at the table as Ron sat to his left. In front of him, Hermione let herself drop on the wooden bench and he noticed she looked a little gaunt. He looked at her face again and frowned: his concern grew as he noticed the dark circles under her eyes.
Fred – Harry was pretty sure of this - ushered to his left and poked him in the ribs with his elbow. « Harry ! Are those… muscles?» Fred mockingly gasped while feeling his biceps. « You wear them quite well. Have you seen that, sis'? » From the corner of his eyes, Harry tried to catch Ginny's expression but she had slipped under the table, retrieving something she had dropped down. Harry smirked as he caught the angry glance Hermione casted at Fred. He could not hold a chuckle when Fred shrugged and blew a kiss back.
Ginny reappeared from under the table, her face slightly pink, brandishing her knife as a silver trophy and waving it menacingly in front of Fred's face. Harry could see a warning into her eyes. Hermione chewed intently: sheswallowed with a last menacing glance to Fred and turned back to Harry. « So Harry, it's your birthday today. What would you like to do? » Harry served himself eggs and shrugged. «That I already did. I left Privet Drive, so this is turning to be the best day of the year. Everything will be great, » he smiled.
Ron gave him an excited look while he spurted, « You have no idea how brilliant it will be!» Down the table, Bill yawned again, brushing his eyes with his large hand and Ron lowered his voice, whispering to Harry, «Bill has a new girlfriend…you know.» He winked. «He looks tired as hell. What can wear a bloke like this? Non-stop snogging?» They sniggered while Hermione looked to the ceiling with a disgusted look on her face.
Lunch was noisy: laughs, exclamations and taunts were coming from everywhere at the same time. Ron was getting teased mercilessly by the twins, who were describing each spoonful he was bringing to his mouth in an over dramatic tone, « And now the huge black hole is opening to swallow that poor thing who only wanted to live…to live!» Hermione and Ginny were engrossed in some kind of whispering and giggling conversation. Mid-meal, Bill got up and winked at Mr. Weasley as he went through the back door.
Harry felt strangely alone even if people surrounded him. His eyes crossed periodically Mrs. Weasley's as she seemed to be watching him intently. He bowed his head to his plate. As he was happy a few minutes ago, he felt he could not blend now to any conversations around him.
Somehow, he felt someone was missing, someone with a husky laugh and a fondness for very bad puns, someone he briefly considered family, his family.
When Ron finally took the cookie plate away from him while claiming to the table it was time for the surprise, Harry shook himself up and got up. That surprise was starting to intrigue him greatly. Ron bounced to the backdoor. «You'll need your Firebolt, » he said over his shoulder to Harry. He frowned and turned around torun upstairs toretrieve it, but he bumped instead into Ginny who shoved it in his hands. He thanked her as Hermione suspended herself to his arm and pulled him outside, under the sun.
He was surprised to see, sitting on a rickety wood bench, Remus Lupin with his legs and arms crossed. He had a doubtful expression on his face as he was listening intently to Nymphadora Tonks, who was laughing and eating some kind of candy that colored her teeth black. Mad-Eye Moody – what was he doing there? – had a defeated look on his face. Bill Weasley looked like he was taunting him, laughing and pointing a finger at him. Harry blinked. Was that Fleur Delacour, almost too beautiful to look at?
Harry glanced quickly at Ron and his mouth wide opened confirmed his first impression. Harry watched Fleur rub gently Bill's back and he predicted to himself that meals at the Weasleys would become hugely entertaining if this couple got serious.
When that odd group saw them coming, they raised their heads and waved – except for Moody, who growled. Harry looked around him and he suddenly realized that everybody was holding a broom…including Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
And then, as he looked closely at the backyard with a growing amazement, he understood.
Oh my, will you survive the suspense?