A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. Happy St. Patty's day, youse guys! Hope this chapter was worth the wait. SPOILER ALERT: Annie fangirls ha ha! Happy reading! XO

Chapter 44

Annie sat on Ron's bed, her back against the footboard and her knees pulled up to her chest, flicking through one of her friend's comic books. Ron had sprawled himself out on the rest of the bed while Harry, Hermione and Ginny each sat cross-legged on Harry's camp bed that was set up in the cramped room. Harry, Annie and Hermione had arrived at the Burrow earlier that day, dropped off by their respective parents.

"I just want to know what they've been meeting about," Ginny said picking at a loose thread in the blanket.

"Neither of you have been to their headquarters yet have you?" Harry asked looking between his best friend and his sister.

Ron shook his head. "Nope. Mum and dad won't let us come."

"Dad says we can't go until Dumbledore gives them the okay," Harry answered. "I guess whatever it is they've been talking about is really big."

"Anything about you-know-who is pretty big, mate," Ron said giving a snort of laughter. Harry laughed as he took off one of his socks, balled it up and chucked it across the room only to have it hit Annie directly in the back of the head.

"Oi!" she exclaimed turning around and throwing it back at her cousin. "I'm trying to read here!"

"Read?" Hermione exclaimed. "Those are picture books! I have a book in my bag that I could loan you if you want something real to read."

"Is it really thick and heavy with a lot of pages?" Annie asked with eager sarcasm looking up from her comic book.

"It is!" Hermione swung her feet off the bed and crouched in front of her backpack. When she stood back up and turned around, she had the book held tightly in her arms. "I got it a few weeks ago. It's really great. It's about-" but she cut off when she noticed the smirk on Annie's face. She rolled her eyes and placed the book back in her bag and sat down on the bed. "Honestly, if you didn't want to borrow it, you could have just said so."

"I thought my sarcasm implied it," Annie answered over Ginny's giggles. Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes. "Hermione, I read all year in school. Just let me read these comic books. Pass me another one, Ron?"

Ron reached under his bed and pulled out another comic for Annie and put the one she had finished reading away.

"Anyway, weren't you guys discussing Voldemort or something?" Annie said as she flipped the cover.

"I thought you weren't paying attention?" Harry asked ignoring Ron and Ginny's shudders.

"I wasn't. Now leave me alone. This one's weird."

Just then a sudden crack made them all jump and turn around to the source. Fred and George were standing in the doorway to Ron's room with wide identical grins plastered on their faces. Annie squealed and jumped off the bed, tossing the comic book aside. George caught her in hug and lifted her off her feet.

"You've passed?" she asked after George had set her down. "Why on earth would someone pass you two?"

"We were wondering the same thing actually," Fred answered casually walking over to Annie's vacated seat on the bed.

"At least you passed on the first time around unlike Charlie," Ron said kicking at his brother.

"How many times did he take the test?" Hermione asked.

"Twice was it?" Ron answered looking toward Fred who nodded confirmation.

"Wait," Annie said looking up at George excitedly. "So does this mean –"

"I believe it does, Annie, my love," he answered kissing her on the cheek.

"Yes! Weird Sisters here we come!"

Annie and George started dancing wildly around the room in celebration as the others looked on and laughed. Ginny, however, sat with her arms crossed and had a slight frown on her face.

"I still can't believe you have tickets," she said as she watched. "I wanted to go to that concert so bad. They're my favorite!"

Annie stopped dancing and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Aw, come on, Ginny," she said walking over and hugging her from behind. "Don't be like this. How about I get you a t-shirt when we go? And next time they come around, it'll be you and me. Weird Sisters fanatics united!"

Ginny sighed and turned to look up at Annie with a slight smile. "Okay, okay. Next time you and me. But this time you better bring me back a shirt."

Annie laughed as she let go of Ginny and danced back over to George. "You got it. Hey, wasn't there something you wanted to show me?" She looked between Fred who was still sitting on the bed kicking back at Ron and George who had placed an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh yeah," Fred said as he stood up, mussed Ron's hair, and made his way to the door. "Yeah, it's in our room."

George took Annie by the hand and started pulling her out of the door.

"I guess I'm going this way. See you later when you're done your boring discussion on Voldemort," she said laughing and shutting the door behind her.

"Does she realize how serious this situation is?" Hermione asked looking to Harry with a slight frown. "She seems completely disinterested whenever we bring it up."

"I thought that too," Ron said looking to Harry as well.

Harry shrugged. "I think she's just bored and frustrated with the whole thing," he answered simply. "She's not disinterested. You know her. She hates waiting for information. Sirius isn't telling her anything and neither is my mum and dad, Remus, or Lydia. She wants to know but she doesn't want to keep talking about it without getting any answers."

"Makes sense," Ginny said. "I wish I was as care-free as her."

Annie sat at one end of the kitchen table, peeling at the label on her Butterbeer, as Sirius sat at the other end, watching the clock that hung on the wall.

"What time does the concert start again?" Sirius asked after a few minutes of silence. He had taken his eyes off the clock and was now looking over at his daughter.

"Eight," she answered simply, sweeping the peeled bits into a neat pile.

"And what time did George say he was coming?"

"Seven."

"It's 7:10," Sirius said looking up at the clock again.

"Well aware," Annie sighed. She placed the bottle back down on the table and walked over to the window in the living room. She pulled back the curtain and looked out to see a figure making their way up to the porch. "He's here!" she called over her shoulder as she rushed over to the door.

"Hey, you, sorry I'm late," George said with a grin when Annie opened the door. Annie stood on tip-toe and wrapped her arms around his neck as he pecked her on the cheek.

"How's it going, George?" Sirius asked leaning against the doorframe.

"Alright," he answered, swinging an arm around Annie's shoulders. "Ready to go?

"Yes!" Annie squealed grabbing her jacket off the hook by the door.

"Not so fast, kiddo," said Sirius standing in front of the two teenagers with his arms crossed. "Are you sure you've got your tickets?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "Yes. Got 'em right here in my pocket."

"Money?"

"Other pocket."

"If she's not home by twelve I'll hunt you down," Sirius said threateningly pointing a finger at George.

George gave him a big, goofy grin. "Looking forward to it."

"Oh, come on let's go," Annie said taking George's hand from around her shoulder and pulling him toward the door. "Bye dad."

"See you later, Sirius," George said giving a wave over his shoulder as he and Annie walked across the yard. They stopped just outside the gate and George gripped Annie's hand tightly. George spun on the spot and Disapperated with Annie at his side. When they stopped spinning, they were no longer standing in Annie's front yard but in a large field with trees and a large crowd of people surrounding them.

"I will never get used to that," Annie said shutting her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Apparating has never been my cup of tea. My head is swimming."

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad," George said leading her over to the merch table. "We're here aren't we?"

Annie stood up on her tip-toes and kissed George on the cheek. "Yeah."

After buying themselves and Ginny t-shirts, they made their way over to their seats. They sat in folding chairs right in the third row from the stage. The crowd was getting loud as they waited for the concert to begin. Suddenly the sound of bagpipes could be heard playing through the air. The audience, including Annie and George, rushed forward as the band took the stage.

"I can't see!" Annie complained as she jumped up and down to get a better look over the people in front of her.

"Hang on," George said standing behind her and placing his hands on her waist. "Jump," he instructed. Annie did and he lifted her right into the air and up onto his shoulders. "Better?"

"Much better."

Annie stayed perched on George's shoulders throughout most of the concert, only coming down twice to give him a break. She screamed, she cried, she danced she even caught a guitar pick that was thrown into the audience. When the concert was over, George set her down on her feet in front of him and spun her around. She leapt into his arms and kissed him with full adrenaline-fueled passion. When they finally pulled apart, Annie was smiling up at George.

"That was awesome!" she squealed as he placed his arm around her waist and lead her to the Apparition point. "Thank you for coming with me."

"Thank you for inviting me," he said looking down at his watch. "Hey, we've still got some time before your dad starts his manhunt. Do you want to get some food? I'm starving."

"Yeah, yeah food sounds good. Oh! Ice cream! Let's get ice cream!" she said taking his hand. "There's this place in town that's open late and then you could walk me back as we eat."

"Alright then, ice cream it is." George held Annie's hand tightly as turned on the spot and Disapperated away.

"They don't notice us at all do they, Bandit?" Sirius asked the dog sitting at his side. He was sitting on the front porch stairs with a cup of tea in one hand and the other scratching absentmindedly behind Bandit's ears. He lifted his hand to look at his watch and noticed that it was twelve o'clock precisely. "Midnight. Alright, boy, go tell the princess to stop snogging her prince and come inside."

Bandit dutifully got up and raced toward Annie barking like a loon. Surprised, Annie quickly pulled herself away from her boyfriend and caught the full force of the large puppy that knocked her right to the ground. Annie sat up and giggled as Bandit licked her face. Sirius came walking over with a huge grin on his face, obviously proud of what he had done.

"Hey, kids!" he said taking Bandit by the collar so Annie could stand up with the help from George. "How was the concert?"

"I can't believe you stuck the dog on us," Annie said crossing her arms over her chest.

"It was insane," answered George. "Annie caught a guitar pick."

"Sounds like you had a good time then," Sirius said ruffling Annie's hair. "Well, it's getting late. You should probably head on home, George."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess it is pretty late. Mum will go mental if I'm not back soon. Have a nice night, Sirius," George answered reaching out and shaking Sirius's hand.

Sirius clapped him on the shoulder before heading inside with Bandit at his heels. Once he disappeared into the house, George pulled Annie into a hug and whispered in her ear. "I'll write to you tomorrow, yeah?" he asked. He could feel Annie nod against his chest. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she whispered back before standing on tip-toe up and kissing him on the cheek. "Goodnight."

Annie gave George a mischievous grin before turning to walk toward the door. Once inside the house, she shut the front door and made to take off her shoes before Sirius came in and stopped her.

"You may want to keep those on," he said. "We have to go to the Potter's."

"Why?" she asked arching one eyebrow up.

"Harry ran into some Dementors tonight and, well, he may possibly be expelled from Hogwarts."

"What?!"

A/N: Cliffhanger! Until next time. XO