Chapter Sixteen

A/N: I OWN NOTHING!

Simba loved the Burrow, but there was something about it that got tiresome after a while. Maybe it was the screaming from Mrs. Weasley?

"Arthur! Oh Arthur!" she called. "Owl!"

Mr. Weasley hurried down to his wife, and Simba—being a cub trained well by the twins—pressed his ear against the wall to eavesdrop.

"Molly! We won!"

"Won what Arthur?"

"The drawing at the Ministry! Remember? You told me to put my name in months ago!"

There was a squeal of delight and Simba pulled his ear from the wall. Well, wasn't that a change of pace.

0000

Simba was amused when a family meeting was called, but he was honored that the Weasleys thought of him as family.

"Now, as I'm sure you all know," Mr. Weasley said, giving Simba a small knowing smile, "I won the Ministry drawing for seven hundred galleons."

"Wow, and we were—"

"—wondering about this meeting. After all—"

"—we haven't blown anything up—"

"—yet."

Simba rolled his eyes at the twins, who rolled them right back. Percy was acting like a pompous prat because apparently someone got the brilliant idea to make him Head Boy. Ginny was curled into a small ball, to Simba's surprise.

"We plan to take a visit to your brother, Bill!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed with a smile and the entire Weasley clan exclaimed with happiness and cheer.

"What about Simba?" Ron asked, realizing the lion was still with them.

"He can come too," Mr. Weasley said with a smile. The young lion had made himself a part of his family. "I'm sure he would appreciate being nearer to his home."

Simba smiled but it was forced. Yes it would be nice to be close to the oasis, but would it really be nice to be so close to the Pride Lands after all this time? He didn't know what he would do if given the choice to go back. He couldn't do anything without Harry though.

"Thank you Mr. Weasley," Simba said with a grin later that night. "You don't have to include me in your vacation."

"I don't think Ron would settle for anything else," Mr. Weasley said with a well-mannered smile. "Neither would the twins for that matter. They're very protective of their friends."

Simba smiled once more, but this time it was a more natural smile. He was honored that Ron and the twins thought so highly of him. The next morning, they were woken up early.

"The portkey leaves at seven," Mrs. Weasley shouted before going to wake up Ginny and Ron.

"It's three," Simba yawned as he stretched before getting up. Fred chuckled sleepily.

"That's mum for you," he said. "The earlier the better."

Thankfully, no one fell back asleep and they made it to Egypt without any problems.

"Oh bloody hell," Simba muttered when a tall red-haired man pulled a wand on him. "I have to go through this again."

"Charlie," another tall man shouted. "It's alright. Mum and Dad wrote and told me."

"How'd they do that without Errol keeling over midflight?" Simba whispered to Ginny.

"They used Hermes," Ginny whispered back and Simba nodded in understanding. That would make sense. The other man, the one who had prevented Charlie from attacking Simba, smiled at the family.

"Hey you guys," he said and Simba took that time to see what he looked like. Despite the long hair and the odd thing hanging from his ear, he looked like one of the Weasleys.

"Bill!" Mrs. Weasley smiled. "You didn't tell me that Charlie would be here."

"I didn't know until now," Bill chuckled. "Also, because you didn't tell me you'd be leaving England today!"

"Well it was a tough choice," Mrs. Weasley said, "but we decided to take a trip to see you!"

Simba had stopped listening. He was looking out onto the horizon, wondering how far the Oasis would be from this site, and if it would be worth the risk to run down there while the Weasleys were here.

"Simba?" Ginny said softly. Simba shook his head.

"Just lost in thought," he told her. "What'd I miss?"

Ginny giggled. "Fred and George tried to trip Percy. Mum caught them though. She's still giving them a dressing down."

"I thought they'd be less obvious," Simba shook his head as they walked into camp. It was there that he took note of Ginny. Around him, she seemed to be her normal outgoing self but around her family she seemed tense and scared. Only Ron could bring out the normalcy.

"Maybe she needs a good dose of Hakuna Matata?" Pumba suggested when he told them about it.

"The oasis could be days away from here though," Simba griped. "Besides, Mrs. Weasley would never allow it."

"If you told her it could help Ginny…." Timon told Simba, but trailed off when he saw that the teen was sleeping. For the first time in two years, Simba got to celebrate his birthday on the continent of his birth.

"I wish Harry was here," Simba said on his birthday.

"I bet he wishes he was here," Ron nodded. "You know the Dursleys aren't going to let him go to Hogsmeade."

"I'm surprised your mum let you go," Simba teased and Ron began to give way to a chase. The workers watched in amusement; most of them had gotten over their shock of Simba and everyone else just ignored him.

000

It was her nightmares that finally turned Simba's hand. Err…paw. Watching Ginny suffer was not something Simba would do, even if Harry weren't friends with her brother.

"Mrs. Weasley?" he poked his head into the matriarch's tent after a few days of silently watching Ginny.

"Yes?" the mother smiled when she saw it was Simba. "Come in!"

Simba plodded in and shook his still growing mane. "Umm…I was wondering if I could ask you something?"

"Anything!"

"It's about Ginny."

The friendly look on Mrs. Weasley's face slid off and the atmosphere grew tense. "What about my daughter?"

"There's an oasis, not far from here," Simba said. He had run off to see if it was true and he was surprised to find that it was only two day's away.

"What about it?"

"It might help Ginny with her nightmares," Simba said. "It helped with mine."

The confession threw Mrs. Weasley off guard. "Well, I don't know. I'd want one of her brothers to be there at least."

"I'm sure I could get Fred to join us," Simba said. "Or George, or both."

Mrs. Weasley still seemed unsure, but she nodded and told Simba that she would talk about it with Mr. Weasley. A few more days went by before Mrs. Weasley gave her answer.

"I'm wary about this," she said. "So I would like to join in this oasis journey."

"Of course," Simba grinned. He hadn't expected anything else. "Are the twins joining us as well?"

"They went over the moon when I asked them," the matriarch said with a smile. "Here they come now."

The twins had linked arms with their little sister and were walking locked step with her.

"What is it Simba?" Ginny asked with a smile.

"We're going on an adventure, " Mrs. Weasley said. "It's all cleared with your father so he knows where we are."

"Wait, you're coming too mum?" Fred asked.

"I am your mother and all of you are underage!" Mrs. Weasley puffed up in protest. "Of course I will be attending this outing."

Simba rolled his eyes and got down so Ginny could ride on his back. It would be a far journey and he didn't want her to tire out.

"I'm not hurting you am I?" Ginny asked as Simba got back up.

"Please," Simba scoffed. "Harry rides on my back all the time and it never hurts me."

Ginny giggled; Simba didn't think he said something all that humorous but if it got the young girl to laugh then so be it.