"You must be Harry. Remus talks about you all the time."

Harry smiled, "Not much good, I'll tell you that."

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "Of course it's mostly good. I'll show you your room," she leads him down the hall way.

Harry looked about him as he walked. He had never lived here, but only visited once or twice. This would be the first time without Remus or Sirius. The portraits on the wall and the heads of old house elves were seriously creepy, but that was to be expected. The Blacks were never welcoming in their decor choices.

Mrs. Weasley stopped at a door, "I'm afraid you'll have to share with my son Ron," her tone was apologetic, "All the other rooms are full."

Harry swallowed, "I'm sure it will be fine Mrs. Weasley. Thank you," he slipped his trunk inside the door and followed.

Mrs. Weasley smiled sadly, "So polite. He looks so much like James. And it almost broke my heart to see Lily's eyes again."

xXx

Harry dropped his trunk at the foot of the extra bed and flopped down on it. He sighed and closed his eyes. His journey on the Knight Bus had shattered his nerves and made him feel extremely tired.

A voice drifted in from the hall, "I hope that Slytherin isn't going to be sharing my room," this was Ron Weasley, another of Harry's failing attempts at a friend.

"Don't be such a pig, Ron. It isn't like he wanted to be a Slytherin," Hermione Granger. Wrong as she rarely was in class. Well, not wrong as such, but not off target completely. Harry had told the hat he really didn't care for Gryffindor.

"It isn't supposed to matter Ron. You heard what the Hat said," Ginny Weasley. Harry's only real friend. She could only be speaking about the Sorting Hat, whose dire warning had often replayed in Harry's head.

"That thing must be losing it. Spending all year long on a shelf can't be good for it. Like the Slytherins would ever start being friendly with us." Ron said.

Ginny spoke up, "Harry isn't a thing like that, and you know it. He's never been anything but polite, even to you."

"What's wrong with me?" Ron demanded hotly.

"Only that you insult him or curse him every time you pass in the hallway. He doesn't even tell Snape about it. You would be in detention for years if Snape found out you were cursing his Seeker."

Ron grunted.

Harry rolled over and slept.

xXx

Harry woke as a weight settled at the foot of his bed, "What?"

"Hello, Harry, and welcome to the currently Weasley infested number twelve Grimmauld Place, which quite possibly will belong to you someday."

"Hi, Ginny. How come you're so…buoyant?"

"Ooh, is that a new word?"

"I have a day calendar."

"I see. Mum says it's time for dinner. How does that sound?"

"It sounds awkward and uncomfortable. Being threatened by all of your brothers isn't exactly my definition of a good time. I don't need to eat."

"Oh, c'mon. It won't be all my brothers. Charlie and Percy aren't here."

"And that makes it so much better. Need me to bring anything?"

"Well, Mr. Sarcastic, you can sit up here, wait until my git of a brother-"

"Which one?" Harry quipped.

Ginny ignored him, "--comes up to his room. Then you two can argue about everything, before he passes out. And later you can walk through the creepy hallway and down to the kitchen, which is in the basement, PS, only to find that there is no food left."

"Hmm. What's my other option again?"

"Eat dinner and pass out at roughly the same that Ron does."

Harry smiled, "God, I have missed you."

Ginny pulled him to his feet, "Back at you, Harry."

xXx

Ginny had been right about her brothers. Sort of. Ron, Fred and George took turns sending him dirty looks, but Bill, the one Harry had really been worried about, seemed fine with Harry's presence. A little surprised when Ginny had sat with Harry away from everyone else, but fine nonetheless.

It was only after dinner, though, that Harry encountered any real problems. Ginny had talked him into a chess game in the living room. They were fairly evenly matched for most of the game, but Harry soon won.

"You've been playing with me, haven't you?" Ginny asked, eyeing his checkmate glumly.

"A little, yes. But you did very well."

"You held yourself back! You probably could have won in a few moves."

"Four moves."

"Really? I find that hard to believe," Ron had entered the room. He stood near the doorway, arms crossed, and staring at Harry with untrusting eyes.

"I'm not really much of a betting man. What stakes do you have in mind?"

"If I win, you stay away from my sister."

Ginny objected, "Ron! You can't tell me who I can associate with!"

"Stay out of this, Ginny."

"Fine. If you win, and you won't, I'll stop talking to your sister. But if I win, you'll leave us alone."

Ron cracked his knuckles, "Fine."

"Reset," Harry ordered the pieces. They moved slowly back to their assigned places.

"I'll be black."

"Fine," Harry sat, "Pawn E4," the pawn in front of Harry's king marched forward.

"Pawn E5," the pawn in front of Ron's queen trudged forward, grumbling.

"Bishop c4."

"Pawn H6."

"Queen h5."

"Pawn A5."

Queen f7, checkmate."

Ron eyed the board in surprise, and then stood and left the room.

"I win."

"Yes you did."

xXx

For those of you who can't read chess, this is the website I got it from: http/ made Ron a worse chess player than he is, but I'll just say that he didn't know the trick because it was done by a Muggle.