Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

If You Can Help Her – Chapter 14 – Back to the Burrow

Harry woke up in pain, with his hand on his scar, after dreaming about Voldemort and Wormtail planning his murder. While examining himself in the mirror, he decided he should tell someone about it. The first person he thought of was Ginny. Who better to talk to than the one who had shared her nightmares with him. He walked over to his desk and noticed the letter he'd received from her just yesterday.

Dear Harry,

Ron said he'd let you know, but I figured the way he puts things off it'll take him days to actually send the letter. You're coming back to the Burrow! Dad got the tickets to the Quidditch World Cup! It's gonna be Ireland versus Bulgaria, this Monday night. We'll be picking you up Sunday at 5! Dad wants to use the Floo network. I thought about telling him you had your fireplace blocked off, but then I thought about how funny it would be for the Dursley's living room to be blown up!

I told the twins about it, and they agreed with me. We'll be the last ones to come, and we'll try to get Ron to go first. Don't worry, Dad'll be able to fix whatever damage we do, but I just want to see the look on those horrible people's faces when their precious house is damaged! The twins are also planning on doing something to your cousin. I asked them to tell me what, but they just told me to find my own prank, so that's what I'm gonna do! I can't wait to see you!

Love,

Ginny

P.S. Mum sent a letter to the Dursleys the muggle way asking for permission to take you (not that they could stop us – we'll pick you up either way, she just thought it would be polite to ask). I hope she did it right. The envelope she sent was full of those stamps. It didn't look right to me, but she said they were needed.

Chuckling to himself, and realizing that his scar had stopped hurting him, he grabbed a piece of parchment and began to write his letter.

Dear Ginny,

I can't wait to see you, too! The World Cup sounds exciting! I've never seen any games besides the ones at Hogwarts. I'm glad I know to stay away from the fireplace tomorrow! That should be funny! I'd tell you not to upset the Dursleys, but they hate me and everyone else magical (and nonmagical too, based off of how they talk about everyone) so a good prank won't make any difference! I remember when Hagrid gave Dudley a pig's tail on my 11th birthday! Maybe you could do something like that. Just a thought!

Anyway, I'd like to tell you about this dream that I had last night...

…and then I woke up with my scar hurting and felt I should tell someone about it. You seemed the perfect person to discus my nightmares with. I'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone about it. Ron would run to your dad and worry your whole family, while Hermione would owl Dumbledore. I think I'll write to Sirius about it, too, so send Hedwig right back to me (hopefully with another sandwich).

I'm happy to say that both Dudley and Uncle Vernon are completely miserable with the diet they're on. I can't thank you enough for sending those sandwiches every day with Hedwig. I appreciate the cakes and candy everyone else has sent me, but honestly, you can only eat so much cake before you get sick of it. It's nice to have real food. Besides, the cakes are starting to stale. Anyway, I love you and I can't wait to see you.

Love,

Harry

After he finished writing this letter, he started on his letter to Sirius, hoping that Hedwig would get back from hunting soon. When he was finished with that letter, he got dressed and went downstairs for his 'breakfast,' which consisted of the smallest quarter of a grapefruit Harry had ever seen.

Right after he finished eating it, he was called to the living room by a very upset Uncle Vernon who had just finished talking to the postman about a strange letter that had just arrived. The envelope was completely covered with stamps, except for a small portion in the middle where Mrs. Weasley had addressed it to the Dursleys.

After an interesting and amusing conversation where Harry had basically threatened that if he couldn't go to the Quidditch World Cup, Sirius the escaped murderer would visit the house and kill all the Dursleys, he practically skipped up the stairs, making sure to taunt Dudley about how 'filling' breakfast was along the way.

When he arrived in his room, he immediately saw that both Hedwig and Pigwidgeon were in there. Pig had the note from Ron that Ginny had mentioned. He scribbled a reply to Ron and sent Pig away. Then, he added another post script to Ginny, mentioning he'd gotten Ron's note and the Dursleys said he could go. He also said she was right about the stamps and sent Hedwig with that letter.

The next day, when Harry was asked if the Weasleys were arriving by car, he put on a straight face and answered, "I don't know." At precisely 5 o'clock, there was a strange noise coming from behind the fireplace. Harry, knowing exactly what was going on, listened to Ron's voice complaining. He'd managed to tell Ron, "Be careful of the spiders in there," earning a whimper from his friend before he heard Mr. Weasley's voice.

After the chimney had exploded, covering the Dursleys with dust, and Ron, Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley had exited, Ginny came through the fireplace with an unreadable expression. She ran up to Harry and hugged him, allowing a small pastry to fall out of her pocket in the process, while the twins were getting Harry's trunk. Before they had left, however, they heard a mixture of a scream and a screech, as they saw that Dudley had become a canary with a growing tongue.

Dudley had just changed back to a whale-sized boy with a still growing tongue when Harry finally left after Arthur forced Vernon to say goodbye. When he arrived at the Burrow, Harry met Bill and Charlie Weasley. They, along with Harry, the twins, Ginny, and Ron, had a good laugh at Dudley's expense before a very upset-looking Arthur Weasley showed up. He immediately asked everyone but the twins to leave. While they were going upstairs, Harry heard the twins try to deny turning Dudley into a canary, claiming Ginny must have done it, but Arthur wouldn't hear it.

They ran into Percy, who seamed to be under the impression that he was in a monastery and everyone was supposed to tiptoe and whisper whenever they were near his door. Having been forewarned in a letter from Ginny, he did not mention one word to Percy about work. Ginny, glaring daggers at her ignorant brother, reminded Percy that this was a house, not a library, and that only a crazy fanatic brings their work home. Percy put on a smug face, said she was too young to understand and went back into his room.

They wound up in Ginny's room, where they found Hermione reading a thick book, as usual. She looked up, put the book down, and hugged Harry, saying she didn't hear him come in. At that moment, they heard Mrs. Weasley begin yelling at the twins, and decided the best thing to do was ignore it. When the argument was over, they helped with dinner, and spent the rest of the night talking about what they would see the next day at the Quidditch World Cup.

-IYCHH-

Chapter end