BACK TO THE BURROW
When twelve o'clock neared the next day, Rose's room was almost completely empty. Only the furniture remained.
Everything Rose owned had been put neatly away in her trunk, which stood neatly in the corner of the room.
Uncle Vernon had almost turned white when Rose told him the Weasleys would be arriving the next day at five.
"I hope they have the decency to show up in normal clothes." He snapped. "I don't want the whole neighborhood to see… I've seen the kind of clothes your people usually wear, I don't want unnecessary attention."
Rose immediately felt a pit in her stomach. She had never seen the Weasleys in muggle clothes and she had a feeling even if they tried they wouldn't really succeed.
They don't have enough contact with muggles to understand their 'fashion'.
She really didn't care a damn about the neighbors but she was scared how Uncle Vernon would treat the Weasleys if they were in their normal attire.
Of course Vernon had put on his best suit, wanting to look intimidating. And Petunia her best dress to look proper.
Dudley however looked smaller if it was possible. He seemed to wish himself invisible and was constantly searching for a spot where he would attract the least attention. Which wasn't surprising since his last encounter with a wizard had gone terribly wrong.
While eating lunch Rose felt the pit in her stomach grow bigger. Everyone was silent, even Dudley when he got his meagre meal.
Aunt Petunia didn't even eat at all, she just sat there with very thin lips and a dark look.
"They'll be driving, of course?" Uncle Vernon suddenly asked, Rose jumped from the sudden noise.
"Euhm." said Rose.
Rose felt like throwing up, she hadn't even tough of that. They didn't have a car anymore since year two. She knew they were going to use magic. Don't let it be brooms, please, don't let it be brooms.
"I don't know." Rose confessed.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"I haven't really seen a lot of transport they use, only the train." Rose wisely didn't speak about apparating, brooms and fireplace travel.
She quickly fleed to her room after that, Uncle Vernon was looking murderous after that revelation. Rose put on a set of new clothes that Petunia had bought for her this summer. She wasn't used to having so much choice, but she finally settled on a blue-green blouse.
The blouse was sleeveless and very loose. It was one of her favorites because the neckline dipped down a bit and the cut showed off her new acquired curves. If they qualify as curves at least, everything had softened a bit at least, except her face, her roundish cheeks had lessened, of course this could be because of the diet.
Rose put on a pair of white ripped shorts to match with the blouse.
She pulled her hair up in a high ponytail, she really needed a haircut, her hair almost reached her hips now. Rose looked into the mirror and was happy with her look, wondering if Cedric would be too her stomach fluttered happily and a blush appeared.
Finally, at a quarter to five, Rose went back downstairs and into the living room. Aunt Petunia was compulsively straightening cushions. Uncle Vernon was pretending to read the paper, but his tiny eyes were not moving, and Rose was sure he was really listening with all his might for the sound of an approaching car. Dudley was crammed into an armchair, his porky hands beneath him, clamped firmly around his bottom.
Rose couldn't take the tension, she left the room and went and sat on the stairs in the hall, her eyes on her watch and her heart pumping fast from excitement and nerves.
But five o'clock came and then went. Uncle Vernon, perspiring slightly in his suit, opened the front door, peered up and down the street, then withdrew his head quickly.
"They're late!" he snarled at Rose.
"I know." said Rose. "Maybe… er… the traffic's bad, or something."
Ten past five... then a quarter past five... Rose was starting to feel anxious herself now. At half past, she heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia conversing in terse mutters in the living room.
"No consideration at all."
"We might've had an engagement."
"Maybe they think they'll get invited to dinner if they're late."
"Well, they most certainly won't be." said Uncle Vernon, and Rose heard him stand up and start pacing the living room. "They'll take Rose and go, there'll be no hanging around. That's if they're coming at all. Probably mistaken the day. I daresay their kind don't set much store by punctuality. Either that or they drive some tin-pot car that's broken d… AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"
Rose jumped up.
From the other side of the living room door came the sounds of the three Dursleys scrambling, panic-stricken, across the room. Next moment Dudley came flying into the hall, looking terrified.
"What happened?" said Rose. "What's the matter?"
But Dudley didn't seem able to speak. Hands still clamped over his buttocks, he waddled as fast as he could into the kitchen.
Rose hurried into the living room. Loud hangings and scrapings were coming from behind the Dursleys' boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it.
"What is it?" gasped Aunt Petunia, who had backed into the wall and was staring, terrified, toward the fire. "What is it, Vernon?"
But they were left in doubt barely a second longer. Voices could be heard from inside the blocked fireplace.
"Ouch! Fred, no… go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake… tell George not to… OUCH! George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron…"
"Maybe Rose can hear us, Dad… maybe she'll be able to let us out…" There was a loud hammering of fists on the boards behind the electric fire.
"Rose? Rose, can you hear us?" The Dursleys rounded on Rose like a pair of angry wolverines.
"What is this?" growled Uncle Vernon. "What's going on?"
"They… they've tried to get here by Floo powder…" said Rose, fighting a mad desire to laugh. "They can travel by fire… only you've blocked the fireplace… hang on…"
She approached the fireplace and called through the boards.
"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?" The hammering stopped. Somebody inside the chimney piece said, "Shh!".
"Mr. Weasley, it's Rose… the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."
"Damn!" said Mr. Weasley's voice. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"
"They've got an electric fire." Rose explained.
"Really?" said Mr. Weasley's voice excitedly. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that... Let's think… ouch, Ron!" Ron's voice now joined the others'.
"What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?"
"Oh no, Ron." came Fred's voice, very sarcastically. "No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up."
"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here." said George, whose voice sounded muffled, as though he was squashed against the wall.
"Boys, boys…" said Mr. Weasley vaguely. "I'm trying to think what to do… Yes… only way… Stand back, Rose."
Rose retreated to the sofa.
Uncle Vernon, however, moved forward.
"Wait a moment!" he bellowed at the fire. "What exactly are you going to…" BANG.
The electric fire shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outward, expelling Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron in a cloud of rubble and loose chippings.
Aunt Petunia shrieked and fell backward over the coffee table, Uncle Vernon caught her before she hit the floor and gaped, speechless, at the Weasleys, all of whom had bright red hair like Rose, including Fred and George, who were identical to the last freckle.
"That's better." panted Mr. Weasley, brushing dust from his long green robes and straightening his glasses.
"Ah… you must be Rose's aunt and uncle!" Tall, thin, and balding, he moved toward Uncle Vernon, his hand outstretched, but Uncle Vernon backed away several paces, dragging Aunt Petunia. Words utterly failed Uncle Vernon. His best suit was covered in white dust, which had settled in his hair and mustache and made him look as though he had just aged thirty years. Rose shot a nervous glance between her uncle and Mr. Weasley. Thank god, she was leaving today, she didn't want to hear the aftermath of this occurrence.
Mr. Weasley seemed to notice the death stare.
"Er… yes… sorry about that." said Mr. Weasley, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see… just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Rose. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking… but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."
Rose was ready to bet that the Dursleys hadn't understood a single word of this. They were still gaping at Mr. Weasley, thunderstruck. Aunt Petunia staggered upright again and hid behind Uncle Vernon.
"Don't worry, he'll put everything back how it was, like this never happened." Rose explained calmly.
The Dursleys looked at her with wide eyes. Yep, definitively happy to be leaving after this.
"Hello, Rose!" said Mr. Weasley brightly. "Got your trunk ready?"
"It's upstairs." said Rose, grinning back.
"We'll get it." said Fred at once. Fred and George had been busy dusting themselves off and examining the home of the Dursley's. Their eyes suddenly focused on Rose and Fred winked at Rose. George seemed to be frozen in place. He had the strangest look in his eyes, one that Rose could quite pin down.
Fred nudged George and he seemed to jolt awake, throwing a goofy smile at her.
They left the room. They knew where Rose's bedroom was, having come to pick her up once in the dead of night, in a flying car.
Rose suspected that Fred and George were hoping for a glimpse of Dudley, they had heard a lot about him from Rose.
"Well…" said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence. "Very… erm… very nice place you've got here."
As the usually spotless living room was now covered in dust and bits of brick, this remark didn't go down too well with the Dursleys. Rose cringed and Uncle Vernon's face purpled once more, and Aunt Petunia started chewing her tongue again.
However, they seemed too scared to actually say anything.
Mr. Weasley was looking around. He loved everything to do with Muggles. Rose could see him itching to go and examine the television and the video recorder.
"They run off eckeltricity, do they?" he said knowledgeably. "Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs." he added to Uncle Vernon. "And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are." Uncle Vernon clearly thought Mr. Weasley was mad too.
He moved ever so slightly to the right, screening Aunt Petunia from view, as though he thought Mr. Weasley might suddenly run at them and attack.
Dudley suddenly reappeared in the room.
Rose could hear the clunk of her trunk on the stairs, and knew that the sounds had scared Dudley out of the kitchen. Dudley edged along the wall, gazing at Mr. Weasley with terrified eyes and attempted to conceal himself behind his mother and father. Unfortunately, Uncle Vernon's bulk, while sufficient to hide bony Aunt Petunia, was nowhere near enough to conceal Dudley.
"Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Rose?" said Mr. Weasley, taking another brave stab at making conversation.
"Yep." said Rose. "That's Dudley." She and Ron exchanged glances and then quickly looked away from each other, the temptation to burst out laughing was almost overwhelming. Dudley was still clutching his bottom as though afraid it might fall off. Mr. Weasley, however, seemed genuinely concerned at Dudley's peculiar behavior.
Indeed, from the tone of his voice when he next spoke, Rose was quite sure that Mr. Weasley thought Dudley was quite as mad as the Dursleys thought he was, except that Mr. Weasley felt sympathy rather than fear.
"Having a good holiday, Dudley?" he said kindly. Dudley whimpered. Rose saw his hands tighten still harder over his massive backside.
Fred and George came back into the room carrying Rose's school trunk. They glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Their faces cracked into identical evil grins. Oh oh.
"Ah, right." said Mr. Weasley. "Better get cracking then."
He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. Rose saw the Dursleys draw back against the wall as one.
"Incendio!" said Mr. Weasley, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him. Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours. Mr. Weasley took a small drawstring bag from his pocket, untied it, took a pinch of the powder inside, and threw it onto the flames, which turned emerald green and roared higher than ever.
"Off you go then, Fred." said Mr. Weasley. "Coming." said Fred. "Oh no… hang on…" A bag of sweets had spilled out of Fred's pocket and the contents were now rolling in every direction… big, fat toffees in brightly colored wrappers. Fred scrambled around, cramming them back into his pocket, then gave the Dursleys a cheery wave, stepped forward, and walked right into the fire, saying "the Burrow!" Aunt Petunia gave a little shuddering gasp. Rose examined her aunt more closely and to her surprise fear had turned into wonder and intrigue somewhere along the line. It made Rose smile.
There was a whooshing sound and Fred vanished.
"Right then, George." said Mr. Weasley. "You and the trunk." Rose helped George carry the trunk forward into the flames and turn it onto its end so that he could hold it better. George seemed very tense while doing this.
Then, with a second whoosh, George had cried "the Burrow!" and vanished too.
"Ron, you next." said Mr. Weasley.
"See you." said Ron brightly to the Dursleys. He grinned broadly at Rose, then stepped into the fire, shouted "the Burrow!" and disappeared.
Now Rose and Mr. Weasley alone remained.
"Well... 'bye then." Rose said to the Dursleys. They didn't say anything at all. Rose moved toward the fire, but just as she reached the edge of the hearth, Mr. Weasley put out a hand and held her back. He was looking at the Dursleys in amazement.
"Rose said good-bye to you." he said. "Didn't you hear her?"
"It's okay Mr. Weasley, I think they're a bit overwhelmed." Rose muttered to Mr. Weasley.
Mr. Weasley did not remove his hand from Rose's shoulder.
"You aren't going to see your niece till next summer." he said to Uncle Vernon in mild indignation. "Surely you're going to say good-bye?"
Uncle Vernon's face worked furiously. The idea of being taught consideration by a man who had just blasted away half his living room wall seemed to be causing him intense suffering. But Mr. Weasley's wand was still in his hand and Uncle Vernon's tiny eyes darted to it once, before he said, very resentfully.
"Good-bye, then."
"See you." said Rose, putting one foot forward into the green flames, which felt pleasantly like warm breath. At that moment, however, a horrible gagging sound erupted behind her and Aunt Petunia started to scream. Rose wheeled around.
Dudley was no longer standing behind his parents. He was kneeling beside the coffee table and he was gagging and sputtering on a foot-long, purple, slimy thing that was protruding from his mouth. One bewildered second later, Rose realized that the foot-long thing was Dudley's tongue… and that a brightly colored toffee wrapper lay on the floor before him. The twins…
Aunt Petunia hurled herself onto the ground beside Dudley, seized the end of his swollen tongue and attempted to wrench it out of his mouth, unsurprisingly, Dudley yelled and sputtered worse than ever, trying to fight her off.
Uncle Vernon was bellowing and waving his arms around and Mr. Weasley had to shout to make himself heard.
"Not to worry, I can sort him out!" he yelled, advancing on Dudley with his wand outstretched, but Aunt Petunia screamed worse than ever and threw herself on top of Dudley, shielding him from Mr. Weasley.
"No, really!" said Mr. Weasley desperately. "It's a simple process… it was the toffee… my son Fred… real practical joker… but it's only an Engorgement Charm… at least, I think it is… please, I can correct it…"
But far from being reassured, the Dursleys became more panicstricken, Aunt Petunia was sobbing hysterically, tugging Dudley's tongue as though determined to rip it out, Dudley appeared to be suffocating under the combined pressure of his mother and his tongue, and Uncle Vernon, who had lost control completely, seized a china figure from on top of the sideboard and threw it very hard at Mr. Weasley, who ducked, causing the ornament to shatter in the blasted fireplace.
"Now really!" said Mr. Weasley angrily, brandishing his wand. "I'm trying to help!"
Bellowing like a wounded hippo, Uncle Vernon snatched up another ornament.
"Rose, go! Just go!" Mr. Weasley shouted, his wand on Uncle Vernon. "I'll sort this out!"
But Rose was frozen on the spot.
Uncle Vernon was bellowing loudly and Rose wasn't aware of her surroundings anymore.
"You'll pay for that, little bitch!" It echoed through her head, loud and clear.
A rough and violent shiver shook her core and she tasted bile in her mouth.
She wanted to scream but her voice was quiet, she wanted to run but her feet wouldn't move.
Marge was booming over her, the belt in hand, an evil grin on her face.
Ready to use it. Ready to rip her back open.
"Rose!"
Rose felt really small, she needed to hide, she needed to run, she needed to do something but she was eyeing Marge with an intense, paralyzing fear.
"Rose!"
Suddenly Rose snapped out of it. Final shivers running through her spine.
Mr. Weasley was looking at her with big, worried eyes. While still dodging everything Vernon threw at him. Petunia was still screaming, Dudleys was still crying.
Suddenly, anger overcame Rose. She was furious, furious that the Dursley's wouldn't listen, furious that Fred had left that candy, furious that Dudley just had to eat it and white, hot, rage that she had to go through another memory like that again.
"Enough!" She bellowed and her demand boomed through the house. Rose had put some extra push to her voice. Her non-wand magic powering it.
Suddenly the three Dursley's froze in place. They had never seen her this way. Powerful, utterly magic.
"Calm down! This is easily fixed if you wouldn't panic this quickly. Aunt Petunia, can you please move out of the way before Dudley suffocates, because that, we can't fix."
Petunia flinched when Rose addressed her and let go of the now four feet long tongue.
Mr. Weasley saw his chance and quickly shrank it again with a flick of his wand.
Dudley gasped gratefully for air. Petunia let out a yelp and pulled him close quickly.
"There, was that so hard?"
Petunia and Vernon looked at her, wide-eyed. And Rose saw a look that she hadn't seen in a long time, a look that she had hoped never to see again.
They looked at her like she was a freak.
Her shoulders dropped and her stomach turned to ice.
Rose's look turned cold.
"If you excuse me, I have some twins to kill."
She stepped into the fire, as she said "the Burrow!" The next moment Rose had begun to spin very fast, and the Dursleys' living room was whipped out of sight in a rush of emerald-green flames.
The twins are in for it now ;)
As always, let me know what you think, I love reading your opinions!
XXX D.
