Summer was already coming to a close, but Polly wasn't upset. How could she be? She was spending the last days of summer at the burrow, with her best friends. She had spent most of July with her family, and then the first few days of August at the burrow. Ginny had taken quite a liking to Polly, as most people do. Ginny was just happy to spend some time with another girl instead of her brothers. Speaking of, George had just finished taking Polly on a lovely walk around the yard. He pointed out his mothers favourite flowers, and pointed out the ones that had ended in some kind of grief for the boys. There were several that caused rashes, and one that caused them to be ill for a month when they were eight.
"How can you possibly get into trouble, looking at flowers."
"What can I say? We're a talented pair," George said, laughing. He led Polly back up the stone path they'd come from. "Ronald, what are you lying on the ground for you lump?"
Ron Weasley was the youngest boy in the Weasley herd, and something was clearly bothering him. Polly could see it written on his face like a map within his freckles. "Harry hasn't written all summer, I think his uncle has something to do with it."
"What do you mean?" Polly asked, sitting next to him. George rolled his eyes, but followed suit.
"His uncle and aunt are terrible muggles. Really horrible people, and Harry has no choice but to live with them. I tried using a telephone but I don't think he heard me."
"Where you speaking loudly?" Polly asked.
"I was shouting."
"Oh," Polly said. "Yeah you're not really supposed to shout into phones, that kind of hurts."
"But I've sent a million letters! And I haven't got a single one back." Ron laid back on the grass to look at the beautiful blue sky.
"I'm sure Fred and George will figure something out to help you, Ron." Polly winked at George, who had just been locked into helping his kid brother instead of hanging out with Polly, the girl of his dreams. He stuck up a sarcastic thumbs up, and then rolled his eyes once Polly looked away.
"I'm sure he will now that you've said it! You're the best," Ron said, smiling.
Polly spent the rest of the day in Ginny's room dishing out any and all details she thought could be useful for Ginny's first year of Hogwarts. It was all the usual advice at first, stay on top of homework, surround yourself with nice people, and then it turned into a really helpful session where Polly explained in truth where things typically went wrong. She thought she would spare Ginny the boring old advice and just be honest. Rumour would spread and people will let you down. But some people will be so loyal and trustworthy that it makes up for all the bad.
Ginny was writing everything down that Polly said. The young girl was so eager to start school that she was shaking just at the thought of it. As Polly was finishing up what could be considered a lecture, Ginny brought up Harry Potter. This would be nearly the hundredth time, and that's just to Polly alone. Polly once again told the girl what she knew about Harry, which was very little. Why Ginny bothers with the same old details from Polly instead of Ron we may never know.
"Are you sleeping in here again?" Ginny asked, yawning.
"If you don't mind," Polly answered, growing tired herself.
"Not at all."
In the morning, Polly woke up rather early. And she was confused as she stood up, wandering down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Polly was very thirsty. But as she walked she realized that something was off. She could hear some of the others awake in their rooms, shuffling about. Polly shook it off, and continued on her quest for a refreshing beverage.
In the kitchen, Molly Weasley was pacing back and forth. Her head snapped up when Polly walked into the room. Molly quickly realized it was Polly and her eyes softened for a moment, before they turned angry again.
"Do you know where they've gone?" Molly asked. Polly knew she wasn't getting accused of anything, but she felt she had done something wrong all of the sudden. But Polly knew exactly who Molly was talking about, and she had a pretty good idea of where they'd gone.
"Uhm, I did mention to George that he should help Ron find a way to help Harry," Polly said, looking at her bare feet. She wiggled her toes. "But I just meant like send a letter through muggle post, or talk to them on the phone normally."
"Oh, dear. No, I'm not blaming you, no, no." Molly walked over to her sons' friend, and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. "You're not in trouble, they are. Now, have you come down for food or drink dear?"
"Uhm, drink please."
"Yes of course, take this," Molly said, filling up a glass with water and passing it to Polly. "And head back on up to bed, I'll call you for breakfast in a bit."
"Okay, thank you." Polly turned on her heels to escape the scene long before the twins came back. On her way up she peaked into Ron's room. He was gone too. She didn't know what to expect when they got back.
Polly closed the door behind her sharply as she entered the room. She shook Ginny awake with one hand, with the other she finally drank the water. Getting it was a hassle. Polly explained that if Ginny had anything to admit to her mom, now was the time to do it. Polly was kind of joking, but if Ginny did have anything to admit, now was definitely the time.
"What? Why?"
"Because Fred, George, and Ron are about to get in trouble."
Ginny grinned. "How much?"
"I'd say quite a bit."
Polly and Ginny then spent the rest of the morning staring out the window waiting for anything to happen. In that time, Polly tried to suggest a few people that would be easy to talk to on Ginny's first day. Ginny was a little shy, so Polly was doing whatever she could to help.
"My friend Justin is only a year older than you, and he's an absolute sweetheart. And there's a girl named Lavender going into second year as well, Justin has a bit of a crush on her I think, because he's told me loads about her." Polly thought for a moment. "Oh, and there's this really lovely girl named Rita in Slytherin house. If you ever need help on Transfiguration, she's your gal. She loves helping others so, don't even feel embarassed asking."
"What about," Ginny whispered the next part, "cute boys."
Polly laughed for a second, making Ginny blush and hide her cheeks. "I'm not laughing at you, love. I'm just laughing at the way you said that." Polly cracked her knuckles. "But I'm glad you asked."
Ginny laughed. "I can't decide whether I think guys are cute or gross. It's hard to tell."
"Ah, see you don't have to figure out which one they are. You actually have to come to terms with that fact that they're usually both. Especially when they think there's no girls around, then they're really gross."
"Oh," Ginny said, looking out at the sunrise. "That's weird."
"Anyway, let's focus on the question. Cute boys. In my house there's Cedric Diggory, he's a close friend of mine and he's gorgeous." Ginny listened intently. "And there's Justin, and his friends Dean and Seamus. Those three are all a year old than you and they're cuties." Polly was making a list in her head of all the people she found beautiful. "Oliver Wood, I'm sure you've heard his name a few times or more."
"Sh," Ginny said, ducking until just her eyes were above the window pane. "They're home!"
"I'm not ducking, in fact, I hope they see me." Polly laughed. "Lord knows I'm going to make fun of them anyway."
Ginny giggled, and stood up to properly watch with Polly. There were the four boys, Fred, George, Ron, and Harry standing in a small circle. Polly couldn't see their faces, but she could tell they were all scared. There's no possible way they weren't, because Molly was storming across the yard. Chickens scattered in every which way, terrified of the mother stomping towards her babies.
"I'm going down, are you coming?" Polly began walking to the door.
"I'm going to get ready first. Who's that forth boy, I can't quite make it out from here."
"Oh, you'll know him when you see him," Polly said, walking downstairs for the second time today. Just as she entered the room, the group of five was coming in from the yard. Polly raised an eyebrow at George, who just grinned back. "Lovely to see you, Harry."
"You have no idea how lovely it is to see everyone," Harry said, smiling. "Good summer?"
"Very nice thank you, Ron told me your uncle, rotten luck. Least it's over for now." Polly took a seat next to George, as Harry sat down opposite of Polly, Ron beside him. Fred had yet to sit down. Polly turned to George, who shifted his eyes away. "So how did you get to his house? Where is that again, Harry?"
"Oh, Surrey." Harry kept his eyes elsewhere. Molly was almost amused at how Polly was handling George.
"Surrey? How in the hell did you get to Surrey and back?"
"Remember that blue car I mentioned of dads well – hey!" George was cut off by Polly smacking him in the back of the head. "You told me to help Ron!"
"I didn't tell you to break a bunch of laws and risk your fathers job, and your lives," Polly said, shaking her head. "I just meant to help him find a new way to get a letter to Harry, or even cheer Ron up until we could see Harry at school and know he was okay."
"But if we hadn't have saved him, he might not have been to school," Ron said.
"Dumbledore would've gotten him, and why didn't you just ask your mother instead of giving her a heart attack?" Polly asked. George didn't have a good answer for her. "That's what I thought."
"I like this girl," Molly said, "Bring her around whenever you'd like."
"She's got to go," Fred joked, sipping on some tea. He was leaning against the counter.
Polly shook her head, and returned to eating the breakfast Molly had made them. It was simple, enough eggs for everyone and some toast. They must absolutely fly through bread here. Ginny finally walked into the room, looking tired still. The moment her eyes saw Harry she was turned around and back up the steps. Polly chuckled, and brought her dish to the sink. Molly winked, flicking her hand towards the sink. The dish began washing itself.
"I'll go fetch Ginny, poor thing is prolly having a panic attack," Polly said, smiling.
"Right then," Molly said. "Thanks dear, might as well stay talking with her. You don't need to help these boys de-gnome the garden." The three red haired boys moans, and slumped their shoulders.
"Mum! I'm wicked tired," Fred said, stretching. "We should go to bed."
"It's your own fault you've been up all night. The gnomes are out of hand, and I've just said you will de-gnome them. Or did you not hear that?"
"Yes mum," Fred said, defeated sounding. Polly shook her hand, dragging her hand across George's shoulders as she passed him. She said, "have fun!" as she walked up the steps to find Ginny.
Ginny was in her closet. It took Polly nearly half an hour to find the girl. She was so star struck, and a little angry at Polly for having not mentioned it was Harry bloody Potter that had shown up with her brothers.
"He probably thinks I'm a loon," Ginny said, rubbing her forehead. "Harry Potter thinks I'm crazy, this is a disaster."
"Harry's a good kid, he won't think you're a loon," Polly said, picking off the sweaters Ginny had used to cover herself. Polly put them beside her. "Get out of the closet, c'mon. The boys are in the garden, no need to be shy."
"I wonder if Harry thought I was pretty."
"If I'm being honest, I don't think you were there long enough for him to look." Polly laughed. Ginny laughed and shoved Polly.
"Be quiet!"
"Ginny, stop acting crazy, you loon!" Polly laughed as Ginny mumbled stuff under her breath like, 'you suck' and 'I don't like you anymore.' "Perk up, buttercup."
"Did you see how cute he was?" Ginny asked. Polly rolled her eyes, landing them on the blushing girl. "I mean, he's so brave, and smart."
"Polly!" a voice called for Polly. It was one of the twins, that much Polly could tell. But since the sund was muffled by walls she couldn't tell which one it was.
"I better go, you going to be alright?" Polly asked, standing up.
"Yeah, I'll be okay."
Polly left Ginny sitting on her bed. That was much better than the closet anyway. The twins were waiting for Polly in the kitchen. They were still dressed from yesterday, while Polly had yet to get dressed. Both of the twins looked very tired, but everyone knew if they were to fall asleep, Molly would chew their ears off.
"Stop spending more time with Ginny than us," Fred said, crossing his arms.
"Stop getting punished and I won't have to," Polly said, raising one eyebrow.
"She's getting so mean," Fred complained, shaking his head.
"Hey, be nice." George crossed his arms.
"You heard him," Fred said.
"I was talking to you, Fred," George said, looking at his brother. Polly stuck out her tongue.
George winked at Polly.