Chapter 4

She ushered him out the door, where a Muggle car was parked in the street.

"Borrowed it from a friend," Mr. Weasley explained as they all climbed into the vehicle.

"So, how's your summer been so far, Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley, looking at him through the dashboard mirror.

"Not great, but I think I'll live," Harry replied. He rubbed his forehead involuntarily. His scar still was sore.

Suddenly, Harry remembered something Ron had said in the letter that came the other day. "Didn't you say something about how you had to take me from the Dursleys early because you had to be somewhere else?" he asked Ron.

It was Mrs. Weasley who spoke however. "Yes, my sister-in-law's home in Oregon in the United States. We haven't seen them for about seven or eight years, so it should be nice."

Harry had a strange feeling they weren't just going for a family reunion. "So she's your sister then?" he asked Mr. Weasley.

Mr. Weasley chuckled. "Oh, no, there hasn't been a girl in the Weasley family since… well Ginny's been the first in around a century."

"No, Leah Browning married my younger brother, Stephen," said Mrs. Weasley. "She's a Muggle. Both of them were very avid travelers, and ran into each other when Stephen got into a bit of trouble in Italy. He mixed up a few words and the police weren't too happy. Leah helped him out." She smiled fondly. "They were married about a year later."

"So what happened to your brother?" Harry asked. It seemed odd that Mrs. Weasley mentioned her sister-in-law, but not her brother.

All three Weasleys were silent. Mrs. Weasley spoke quietly. "A year after Stephen and Leah's fourth child, Luke, was born; Stephen was killed by a Death Eater."

Harry suddenly felt very embarrassed for asking the question. "Was he an Auror?" he asked.

"No, but my older brothers, Gideon and Fabian were," said Mrs. Weasley. "Stephen was killed four years after You-Know-Who disappeared, so nobody knows why the Death Eaters searched him out." She sniffed loudly.

At the words "Gideon and Fabian" something clicked into place in Harry's mind. "Gideon and Fabian Prewett?" he asked. "You're their sister?" Mrs. Weasley nodded with a few tears in her eyes. "So what happened after your brother… died?"

Mrs. Weasley wiped away her tears. "Well, naturally Leah was devastated. Here she was, a widow with four children under the age of six, and her own family was gone. She even went so far as threatening to raise the children as Muggles to keep them out of harm's way." Mrs. Weasley sighed. "She had to accept it though; you can't force magic out of a wizard's heart. So off each of them went at eleven to Salem."

Nobody said anything after this. It was only when Harry asked what the Prewett children were like did Mrs. Weasley speak again.

"Well, there's Alex, he's a few months younger than Fred and George, then there's Lorraine and Margaret, who just turned sixteen, lovely girls-"

"Lovely girls?" Ron interrupted. "Sure, they're lovely. Do you remember what they did to me?"

"Oh, Ron, you can't blame them," said Mrs. Weasley fairly. "They were only three."

"They set me on fire!"

Ignoring her son, who was now steaming, Mrs. Weasley continued. "After the girls comes Luke, who is fourteen, I can't believe it. The last time I saw him he was only six, cute little thing, just like his father." She reminisced at length about this nephew more than the others for an unknown reason.

"Oh, I almost forgot," said Mrs. Weasley, handing Ron a parchment envelope. "Ron, show him that picture Margaret sent Ginny."

Ron pulled out a wizard photo, which would have been completely normal, except that the occupants were waving at them. Harry looked at the photo, which was of a family in front of a small house with a gate around the front. At the bottom was written in very neat handwriting-

Ginny-

We took this just last week. Aren't the puppies cute?

–Margaret

A short, dark-haired woman was in the center, next to who was clearly her husband. He didn't look anything like Mrs. Weasley though, for he had a dark blonde hair color and hazel eyes, whereas Mrs. Weasley had red hair and brown eyes.

"That's not Stephen," said Mrs. Weasley, clearly reading his mind. "That's Brian, Leah's husband now." She leaned over to point out two of the children in the photo. "This," she said, pointing to a teenage boy who looked quite a lot like Brian, "Is Andrew, Brian's son, and this," she pointed to a dark-haired little girl with big brown eyes, "Is Kayla. She's Leah and Brian's daughter." She noticed the look on Harry's face. "I know it's terribly confusing."

Standing next to Andrew, and holding two spaniel puppies, was a tall girl with reddish blonde hair and green eyes. Harry thought this must be either Lorraine or Margaret. But the girl to the left of the blonde certainly couldn't be her twin. This girl, who was restraining two adult dogs, and also trying to keep three other puppies in a basket at her feet, had the dark hair of her mother, and was about six inches shorter than her sister.

"Are these the twins?" asked Harry, pointing to the girls.

Ron nodded. "The one holding the pups is Lorraine, and the other is Margaret." He pointed to a short boy who looked much like Margaret, and then a young man who had the same hair color as Lorraine. "That's Luke and Alex," Ron explained briefly.

Harry handed the photograph back to Mrs. Weasley. "Why are you going to visit them?" he asked.

"The girls and Luke are going to be attending Hogwarts this year," said Mrs. Weasley vaguely. She placed the photo back in its envelope, and made quite a show of resealing it.

"They'll be staying with you?"

"It's not quite final yet, but yes, probably," said Mrs. Weasley, still fiddling with the seal. She looked around the car nervously, as if something was going to jump out and attack them. "I don't think it's safe to discuss this here, but I'll explain some other time."

Mr. Weasley, who had been silent for some time, spoke up. "We're here," said he. "You two go on and get Hermione, and I'll get the trunk opened."