Chapter 1: The Letter
"RONALD WEASLEY! HARRY WEASLEY!" Molly screamed in fury as she stood upon the threshold to the attic room of the Burrow."Don't tell me you both stayed up the night again fighting with your pillows! Look at the mess you've made! You both clean it up before I come here again or you will de-gnome the garden for a month!"
"Wha...?" a red-headed boy muttered groggily as he emerged from a tangle of blankets. Freckled, with a long nose, he rubbed his eyes sleepily and looked around sleepily with half-open eyes just as another shape emerged from a bed next to his. This boy, raven haired, with piercing green eyes was a few inches shorter than the red-head but still rather normal for his age.
"Mum! But Fred and George were here as well! Can't they help as well?" Harry pleaded after he had gotten his own bearings and learnt what all the fuss and noise was about. "FRED! GEORGE! You both get up here right now!" Molly shrieked. "Mum! What's all the noise about? I want to sleep!" a small red-headed girl muttered sleepily as well from below. "Sorry, Gin, dear, but your brothers have been upto their regular games again and it's time they learned some manners and etiquette."
"FRED! GEOR-"
"Coming Mom!" two voices cried out in unison, from below. Footsteps were heard on stairs and a few minutes later as Harry and Ron were stretching themselves after de-entangling themselves from the mess of blankets, two more red-headed boys came into the room identical to the legs of their maroon pajamas. "What's all this fuss about, mom? We didn't do anything!" they said with innocent looking faces. "We went to sleep right after dinner remember?"
"No you didn't! You both came up here after Mom and Dad went to sleep and started this!" Ron cried out in protest as Harry nodded in agreement. "I don't care who started this or who was involved but the room will be clean when I return!" their mother said with a tone that said "or else..." and left the room.
"Let's leave these two to clean this up will we, Fred?"
"Of course. We wouldn't want to disturb them would we now?"
With that the two twins left the room, leaving a spluttering Ron and Harry in their wake. "Gits!" muttered Ron as he threw a pillow onto the bed. "That they are. C'mon Ron, let's clean this mess up. I really don't want to spend the rest of the month de-gnoming the garden! And especially not tomorrow!"
After nearly an hour, the duo had cleaned up their room (which involved sweeping up all the feathers from the broken pillows under the carpet and stuffing the old socks into drawers), washed themselves and gotten down to the kitchen where Molly Weasley was now laying out breakfast. The twins and the little girl were already seated around the table and were apparently waiting for their arrival. After shooting dirty looks at the twins, Ron and Harry sat down next to the girl. They started to laden their plates as their mother said disapprovingly, "If I hear or see the remains of another pillow fight before September, both of you might not go to Hogwarts at all. You hear me?"
"Yes, Mum."
"So what are we going to do today, eh - Harry?"
"Well... Fred and George did promise to teach us some quidditch today and Dad bought enough brooms for all of us... so I was wondering, Mom, can we really try flying?"
She looked up sharply form her bacon and eggs and glared at the pair of them. "With all that you put me through the past week, I have half a mind not to. But seeing as Hogwarts will be starting soon and you both need some practice, I don't see why not. But NO flying through the goal posts or anything like that on your fist day in the air, you hear me?"
"Yes, Mum."
A sixth red-head came down the stairs, dressed neatly and smartly even though it was only seven in the morning. "Good morning, everyone." he said as he sat down and started piling some carefully chosen food onto his plate but suddenly got up scratching his behind, his face clearly showing his discomfort.
"Fred! George! What did you do to Percy?" their mother reprimanded as the twins promptly burst out laughing.
"Nothing!" they said in innocent voices that deceived no-one.
"Did you put itching powder in his pants again?" Molly screamed as she brandished a thin stick and waved it in the direction of Percy's bottom shouting "scourgify!".
"Thank you mother." he said as he sat down glaring at his brothers.
"You two will de-gnome the garden for a week. I told you both that if I catch you pranking anyone again that you would be punished." their mother said, glaring at the two of them as they opened their mouth in protest. "No buts! Ron, you and Harry won't be able to learn flying till evening. These two definitely will not be allowed near the pitch for another week. It's Friday and your father said that he would be home by three o' clock the latest."
"But mom! Can't Harry and I-"
"No you most certainly will not. I will not have my children flying unsupervised until they have learned to fly. You both can take a walk or something. I'll wrap up some sandwiches or something and when your father comes I'll tell him to head over to the pitch by four. So you can have the entire day out."
Harry and Ron knew that there was no way out of it now, so they both ate their breakfast as hurriedly as possible and picking up the pack of sandwiches quickly ran out, discussing what they were going to do and where they could possibly go.
"I do hope that those two don't try to play quidditch by themselves. Because if they do... well I'll just see about that." Molly Weasley muttered to herself.
"So what are we going to do today, eh - Harry?" Ron asked Harry again, the moment they were out of earshot of their mother.
"Hmm... I really don't know. I surely am not going to take a walk! What does mom think we are? Puppies? No way... Let's try some magic."
"But... but... all right."
The duo sat down on the grass after walking some distance away from the Burrow, a few yards from the quidditch pitch. Harry took some blades of grass into his hand and tried his best to make them fly. All he managed was to make it twitch (although that too may have been because of the wind). Ron had given up completely after trying to change the color of his hair for a few minutes.
"C'mon this is boring, Harry! Let's go do something else." Ron pleaded, yawning.
"Ok. Fine. What do you say I give you a dare?" Harry asked, a malicious glint in his eye.
"You're on! Give me your best! I bet I can do it!"
"Fine but if you don't... you have to... umm... de-gnome my side of the garden as well for a week."
"Deal!"
"Ok then... here's your dare. Get one of the brooms and fly at least a few feet. There. Try that on for size!" Harry smirked.
Ron visibly paled and his mouth hung slack. "No way Harry! If mum catches us... we're as good as dea-"
"Ha! Chicken! Now you have to de-gnome my side of the garden!"
"I'm not a chicken!"
"Prove it!"
Ron glared at his brother. "Fine then. But if mum catches us...."
They both ran toward the quidditch pitch and opened up the broom shed. "Wow Ron! Your Dad's gotten Nimbus 1700s for all of us!"
Faces red with excitement forgetting all about the dare, the duo grabbed two Nimbuses and dashed out of the shed. "Umm... Harry? How do we fly these things?" Ron asked hesitation showing on his face.
"It can't be that hard. Let's just get on the broom for now ok?"
Saying this the pair of brothers mounted their identical brooms. Suddenly without a warning Ron dashed into the air, screaming at the top of his lungs as the broom dragged him all over the place, his firm grip on the broom preventing the worst from occurring.
Adrenaline flooding his body, Harry kicked his feet off the ground and forced himself into the air. Suddenly, he felt very much at ease. The broom responded to his lightest nudge and it felt as if he had been learning to fly for his entire life. The repeated screams of Ron breaking into his thoughts, Harry soared in the direction of Ron, leaning his upper body along the broom urging it to go faster (Ron was headed in the direction of one of the goalposts). Suddenly from below he heard a shriek. "HARRY! RONALD! What on earth are you two doing up there? PERCY! Get out here and get these two back on the ground!"
Ignoring the rantings of his mum, Harry closed in on Ron just as he was about to knock his head on the goalpost. Grabbing the twigs of the broom he pulled back hard and grabbed Ron by the collar. Ron's broom fell away to the ground where just before it hit the ground, their mum managed to summon it to her, her wand now brandished.
Pulling Ron onto his broom with one hand and securing the balance of the broom with one hand, making sure that Ron was holding on tightly, Harry landed a few feet where their mother and Percy were standing; Percy looking awestruck and their mother simply furious. In fact her hair and face were nearly identical in color. "What were you two doing? You could have been killed! You had me so worried! And your father spent so much on these brooms! What do you think he would've felt if you had gone and-"
"But mom! It was an accid-"
"No buts! Go to your room and stay there until your father comes home. You can take your sandwiches with you. And no sneaking out! I will personally come and lock your room up if I see you two out of the room today!" Clutching at her chest, their mother handed over the broom to Percy who came up to the two of them, the awed expression still on his face. "Heavens Harry! Where on earth did you learn to fly? I've never seen anyone fly like that! Not even Charlie can fly that well! Just wait until Dad gets home! BUT, you two were completely out of the line. Didn't mom tell you directly that no one was to fly today until father came home? She's going to be extremely disappointed with you two, you know? She might not even allow you two to fly before school starts again!"
Faces gloomy, Harry and Ron made themselves back to the Burrow. Halfway there, Ron seized Harry from the shoulders, pulled him around and said "Thanks Harry. I don't know how you learnt to fly like that... but it sure did save my life."
"It was nothing Ron! But you know flying isn't that hard. I only hope mom has it in her heart to let us fly again. I wouldn't even mind de-gnoming the garden for a week or two... if I could ride that broom again!"
As the two boys waited in their room, playing a game of Exploding Snap, time flew by and soon their father was at home listening impatiently to the story told by Molly and Percy.
"You mean to say that Harry flew so well on his first time on a broom?" Arthur Weasley inquired his face shining with excitement. "That boy really is a wonder I must sa-"
"ARTHUR WEASLEY! Those two boys are in BIG trouble and you will very well not congratulate ANY of them for disobeying me." Molly screamed at her husband, her face nearly as furious as it was before. The two boys heard this outburst even to the attic and grinned to themselves, knowing that their father would not even think of reprimanding them but instead would give whatever punishment their mother would say and afterward ask Harry to show all of the family his flying antics.
So it was no surprise to them that after their father had dealt out their punishment (cleaning dishes for the rest of the holidays – except tomorrow which was Harry's birthday), cornered them away from the sharp ears of their mother and asked if Harry would like to fly once again before dinner.
Grinning from ear to ear, the two boys ran outside followed in earnest by their father, Percy and the twins. Harry literally dived into the broom shed and fished out the Nimbus and mounted it before any of them had even reached the shed. He kicked off from the ground, the same feeling of elation returning with a sense of being at home. Flying, he thought, was much, much better than walking. Grinning to himself he looped in the air and zigzagged through the three fifty foot high goalposts. Diving down, he soared inches above the twins' heads as payback for their tricks in the morning as they dived to the ground, landing flat on their faces.
Laughing, he landed next to his father looking up at his awestruck face. "How on earth Harry?" he spluttered. "I really don't know Dad. I just nudge the broom and it carries me. I don't do a thing!" Harry replied, longing to kick off again.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Wood takes him to the team even though he is a first year. I bet even the other teams would be willing to accept him – that is if he goes to Gryffindor." Fred mused out aloud.
"Of course I will! I'm not going to go to any other house even if I'm sorted to them!" pouted Harry.
"All right, now don't start to fight. Now, Fred, George, Percy, why don't you and Harry fly around a bit until I teach Ron how to kick off properly and fly?"
Pulling out brooms from the shed, the four brothers kicked off into the air where they chased each other in the air trying their best to catch Harry but never succeeding. A long time after the sun had set, when it was nearly time for dinner, they headed inside, Ron and their father having joined in the game of "Catch Harry" which ended in a victory for the twins who had corned him by laying a trap.
"What do you bet Mum's first words will be: 'clean up, the lot of you, or no dinner!'." Fred asked George. Rolling his eyes he said, "Three knuts."
"Deal!"
"ARTHUR WEASLEY! Didn't I tell you not to encourage these boys to fly again?"
"You loose. Three knuts?"
"Arghh!"
The next day, Harry woke up to see sunlight streaming in from the parted curtains on the battered windows in his room and to find Ron's bed empty. Frowning, because it was unusual for Ron to ever wake up before Harry, he got up from the bed and had a quick wash, changing into a red jumper and black jeans before running down the stairs three at a time, yelling "What's for breakfast?"
Just as he opened the door to the kitchen, his mother engulfed him in a hug while everyone in the room yelled "Happy Birthday Harry!" As his mother let go with him telling "Mum! Leggo!", his dad patted him on the back and Ron and the brothers wished him as well (Bill and Charlie having gotten there in the morning). After getting his last wishes from Ginny, Harry glanced at the table and saw to his disappointment that there were no presents and no cake. Frowning, he turned to his mom and putting on a mopey look, said, "What? Nobody loves me anymore?"
Laughing, their mother said, "Of course not dear! It's just that we're going to be having your party in the evening and a couple of people have to arrive. So we decided to keep your gifts and cake till then."
"Oh, ok then. Who's coming? Is Aunt Muriel coming?" Harry asked, a dreaded look spreading across his face.
"No, dear. Your Aunt's down with some fever and won't be able to make it. ("Whew" muttered Harry under his breath while the rest of the Weasleys also gave a sigh of relief) The other guests are a surprise. They didn't want me to tell you about them because they want it to be a surprise. I hope you can wait to find out though."
"Of course I can Mum! As long as..." Harry asked biting his lip.
"What, dear?"
"I can go and play quidditch?"
To his greatest surprise and to the immense surprise of the rest of the Weasleys, she nodded.
"It'll give me some time to get the party ready with you lot out of the way. That includes you too Arthur!"
Just as the seven brothers and father were about to leave, leaving Ginny with their mother, two identical brown barn owls appeared at the window, tapping on it with their beaks.
As their mother opened the window, the two owls flew toward Ron and Harry, dropping into their hands a letter each.
Glancing at the seal on the letter, Harry knew it had to be from Hogwarts, having seen them being delivered to his brothers. Turning it in his hands so that he was now looking at the recipient's address, he saw the unbelievable.
On the letter were the words: "Harry J. Potter, The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon."