Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Sunday Dinner at the Burrow

With his meeting with Mr. Weasley concluded, Harry returned to the confines of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. He had intended to go back to his writing, but his mind kept wandering to the sudden news that Hermione would also be at Sunday dinner. Any excitement that had built up at the prospect of becoming an auror had quickly drained away, replacing it with a something that he likened more to terror. Harry was quite nervous about seeing her. It was not as though he did not want to see her or talk to her about what had happened. In fact, quite the opposite was true. He longed for the chance to set things right between them. What scared him the most was that their first meeting would be at the Burrow, surrounded by the Weasley family. There were a thousand other places that Hermione could have picked for their first encounter, all of which would have been much better. Granted, Mr. Weasley had only just invited Harry to dinner, so Hermione would not have known that he would be there also. Then again, she had to have known he probably would be; meaning Hermione had chosen tomorrow as the first time they would see each other. He had to think that she had a good reason for this. Hermione did not do anything without a good reason.

Harry was most surprised by the fact that Hermione had been back in England for a full two weeks. He had thought she was still in Australia, searching for her parents and was slightly annoyed with her for not at least telling him she had safely returned. As it was, Hermione had found her parents and had their memory charms reversed in just two days. The speed with which this was accomplished was made possible by the help of Mr. Weasley, who had put Hermione in touch with a contact of his at the Australian Ministry of Magic. She stayed with her parents for a week before returning to England. Her mother and father still remained in Australia to tie up a few loose ends and have a bit of a holiday.

Unfortunately, Mr. Weasley could provide little other information as to how Hermione was doing or what she had been up to since her return. Much of what he had known came from his friend in Australia. The last he'd heard from Hermione was a note she had dropped him shortly after her return, thanking Mr. Weasley for all of his help in finding her parents. The only word anyone had received from her since was the reply to Mrs. Weasley's owl, accepting the invitation to dinner.

Harry awoke late the next morning after very restless night of sleep. His dreams kept shifting between images of Mrs. Weasley tugging on his ears, stretching them to the point where they touched the floor, and to Hermione yelling and screaming that their friendship was over and that she never wanted to see him again. Part of him had wanted to cancel dinner, telling the Weasley's that he was sick, but he knew ten seconds after she received his message, Mrs. Weasley would be pounding down his front door. So, at five minutes to one, it was with some trepidation that Harry again stood on his front step, and disapparated away from his house, to where he was standing just a hundred feet from the Burrow and just in time see a large brown object flying straight for him.

One quick move later and Harry had dropped to his knees, wondering just what that thing that had come within inches of striking his skull had been. Not knowing what else to expect he drew his wand and slowly stood up to his knees to see Fred and George Weasley charging towards him.

"Harry! Duck!" George yelled out.

"What?"

"DUCK!" Fred barked. The urgency of his tone told Harry to comply immediately. A half-second later, he heard a deep whooshing sound directly over his head. A moment or two later, the slight tap on his shoulder told Harry that it was safe to raise his head. He looked up to see Fred and George standing on either side of him. "You alright, Harry?" Fred asked.

Harry stood up in a huff and said, "If I'd've known that's how you two were going to greet me, I would have stayed in bed," Harry said angrily.

"Sorry about that Harry. Honestly, we weren't trying to kill you," Fred said. "We didn't expect you to pop out right then and there."

"Ah, but it was worth it just to see the look on your face," George said before screwing up his face into a look the resembled some kind of exaggerated expression of shock, which put Fred rolling on the ground.

"Come on, I didn't look like that," Harry said, hoping to God that he had not.

"Yeah Harry, ya did!" Fred said, and then made the exact same face as his brother. With Fred and George both making the same stupid expressions, Harry could no longer hold back the laughter. Their looks were rather funny, after all.

After a few more moments, when things began to die down, Harry was able to ask, "So, what the bloody hell was that thing?"

"What? You mean this?" George said as he pulled the long, flattened stick, angled in the middle, from his robes. "This, my friend is a Self-Guided Retrieve-All Boomerang. Go on, have a look." George passed the boomerang over to Harry. It looked like any other boomerang he had seen in pictures of his old muggle school books. It had the familiar wide "V" shape, which put the curved tips just over a foot apart from one another. The narrow arms fit comfortably in his hands. Harry was not sure what kind of wood that it was made from, but it was shaved down very thin and smooth. It finished in a light oak color, which allowed the only embellishment, a large letter "W" printed in black at the very top of the angle, to stand out quite well.

"It retrieves any object you desire, so long as it's within a hundred yards and weighs less than five pounds," Fred added.

"Couldn't you just use a summoning charm?" Harry asked.

"You could, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun, would it?" George replied with a sly grin.

"No, I don't suppose it would be," Harry said realizing the stupidity of his question. "So, is this a new product for the shop, or something?" he asked as he handed the boomerang back to George.

"It's more of a concept, really; a sort of prototype for a whole range of products that can retrieve objects," Fred answered.

"We've had the idea for something like this for a while, but it was Hermione's little trip to Australia gave us the inspiration for the boomerang. It seemed like a cool way to try out our concept," George excitedly said.

"It took us nearly two weeks to figure out the right combination of spells to get this baby to work right, but we got there in the end," Fred added.

"We perfected it this morning, and we were just testing it out by chucking garden gnomes out into the field and having the boomerang bring them back. It's been working perfectly," George said, sounding quite pleased.

"So, why exactly aren't you going to sell it in the shop?" Harry wondered.

"Because boomerangs are qualified as muggle artifacts, and that means we can't really market them to our customers," George said.

"That and dad'd if we broke any laws against the misuse of muggle artifacts," Fred concurred. "The only way he said we could make our prototype was to make the magic impermanent. It will only last a day, two at most, and then this is just a normal boomerang again."

"Plus, there is some issue of safety, Harry," George said. "Boomerangs were originally meant to be weapons, you see. That means that this thing could do a serious bit of damage to someone."

"But I thought that a bit of danger was always part of the fun for you guys," Harry said, surprised that the Weasley twins were showing some unexpected restraint.

"For us, yes, but as for our customers, that's a different story, altogether," Fred said. "Harry you know better than anyone that our products don't cause severe physical harm. A little discomfort maybe, but nothing serious. This thing, on the other hand…well, just imagine what would have happened if you would have apparated just a second later. It would be very bad for business if one of our boomerangs caused someone a severe head wound just because they accidentally stepped in the way."

How close he had come to death was not something that had escaped Harry, but for all he had been through, even the image of him lying on the ground the boomerang sticking out of his skull, now banging around in his head, was something that was of little concern. He realized, however, that there was some merit to the twins' sudden hesitancy with one of their products.

"But now that we have the right spells, we can start making products that are both safer to use…"

"And don't break any statutes against the misuse of muggle artifacts statutes. That'll make mum happy. She's always worried that we're going to break the law or something."

"Oh, and speaking of Mum, Harry, you wouldn't mind not bringing your near miss up. She'll have a fit if she thinks we almost killed you," George implored.

"But that wasn't your fault. You didn't expect me to apparate right there. Your mum can't blame you for that." Harry said.

"Be that as it may, Harry, Mum won't quite see it that way. She'll say we weren't being careful enough no matter how you try to spin it," Fred added, sounding equally worried.

Realizing that they were probably right, Harry agreed to Fred and George's request, on the provision that neither of them ever made that stupid face of his again. "What, you mean this face?" Fred said before quickly contorting his face into the same expression as before. This set all three of them off into laughter again. "Alright, fair enough," Fred said as their laughter died down.

"Agreed," George added. "I suppose we'd better get you inside, Harry. Frankly, I'm starving, and everyone's been dying to see you, especially Mum. She's can't wait to fret about how undernourished she expects you to look."

"And Hermione's been asking when you were going to get here about every five minutes. It's one of the reasons we decided to sneak out here. She was becoming quite annoying," Fred said.

"Hermione's already here then?" Harry asked trying not to sound nervous.

"Oh yeah. She arrived a little while ago, and it seems she's quite anxious to see you, young Harry," Fred said in a tone that was quite suggestive in its meaning. Harry knew that Fred was only joking, but he tried very hard to ignore it nonetheless.

The three of them headed towards the door of the Burrow. "Hope your hungry Harry. Mum and Fleur have been cooking all morning long. I'm not too sure about the fare today though. Fleur's been teaching Mum French cuisine," George said as they walked.

"Yeah, your dad mentioned that," said Harry.

"You've spoken with Dad?" Fred asked.

"Umm…yeah…I…er…I had a meeting with him yesterday," Harry said back instantly wishing that he had not mentioned their meeting at all. Mr. Weasley had made it clear the day before that he wanted to keep their little get together a secret. Fred and George knew how to keep a secret better than anyone, but the fact that they were not even aware that Harry had met with their father spoke volumes as to how secret Mr. Weasley wanted their meeting to be.

"Really? In his office?" George asked this time. "He didn't say anything about meeting with you."

"Anything we need to know about, Harry?" Fred said, sounding much more curious.

"It was nothing special really. Your dad wanted my help with something, that's all," Harry said trying to play everything down.

"Come on Harry. Look who you're talking to. You don't have a meeting with a high ranking Ministry official, in their office, unless it's about something important. You may as well tell us now because you know we're going to find out sooner or later," said George.

"Guys, I've said all that I think I should say. If you want to know anything else, you'll just have to wait to find out like everyone else." Neither Fred nor George seemed too happy with Harry's answer, but they did not press the issue any further. Harry did suspect that as soon as they entered the house, they would be grilling their father for answers.

Harry steered the conversation away from his meeting with Mr. Weasley and onto the joke shop. During the unpleasantness of the past several months, business had taken an entirely not unexpected down turn, but things were steadily returning to normal with sales again growing on an almost daily basis. Now the twins were once again running the leading wizarding joke shop in all of Britain and were also in negotiations to purchase the now defunct Zonko's joke shop in Hogsmeade; a plan they had previously been forced to abandon during Harry's sixth year, when the school trips to the only all wizarding village in Britain had been brought to end.

Upon reaching the door to the house, George and Fred led the way into the house with Harry in tow. Everyone greeted him as though he were a long lost member of the family whom they had not seen in years. Mrs. Weasley immediately pulled Harry into one of her patented tight hugs. She had changed considerably in the three weeks since Harry had seen her last. She had lost a noticeable amount of weight and the flecks of grey now present in her hair made her seem, somehow, older, and even though she was genuinely happy that Harry had arrived, there was still a pronounced look of sadness in her eyes. The look sadness was something Harry had expected. Losing two of your children on the same day did that sort of thing to people.

The rest of the Weasley family had a similar look to one degree or another. Even Fred and George, who had been upbeat when Harry arrived, seemed to be sinking into their own kind of funky mood. Percy, in particular, was almost as bad off as his mother. In time, Harry would learn that the guilt over ignoring his family for two years only compounded the grief of losing a brother and his sister. Of the entire Weasley family, Fleur seemed the most upbeat. She seemed to have a certain radiant glow about her that only seemed to make her look even more beautiful than she already was. Although not even she was aware of it yet, Fleur's radiance was the effect of her pregnancy, which would be discovered and announced in the ensuing weeks.

But Harry was not really concerned about Fleur and her beauty. As he shook hands with everyone, he glanced around, looking for the one face that mattered to him at that moment. He soon caught sight of Hermione while shaking hands with Mr. Weasley. His heart began beating faster in anticipation of the moment when they would finally meet each other again. As he was greeted by the rest of the Weasley family, Harry periodically glanced in her direction to see her standing, waiting with a nervous patience, fidgeting slightly, and looking as though she was trying to figure out just what she was supposed to be doing with her hands. He realized that Hermione was just as anxious about their encounter as he was; a fact that put him a little more at ease. Again and again, their eyes would meet for the briefest of seconds, before both of them quickly looked away only to find their gazes apprehensively returning to each other once more.

At last, the moment arrived. Harry found himself standing just a few feet away from Hermione. "Hello, Harry," Hermione said, offering him a small, uneasy smile.

"Hi, Hermione," Harry replied, quickly wishing that he had been a little smoother with his delivery. Then, Hermione made a motion towards him, ready to give him a hug. Harry, not wanting everyone else to think something odd was going on between the two of them, accepted her embrace. It was obvious from the moment they joined together that they both felt very awkward being so close to one another again, and neither held on too tightly. It was also kept very short, lasting only for an instant. When they parted, both took a step back, putting a good two feet of space in between them.

"How have…," both of them said to each other at the same time. Hermione made an anxious little laugh before asking again, "How have you been?"

"I'm…alright, and you?"

"I'm okay. I guess. I managed to find my parents and get their memories fixed."

"Yeah, I heard that. I'm really glad you were able to get them sorted out."

An uncomfortable silence set in between them, almost as though both of them were waiting for the other to say the next words. There were so many things Harry wanted to say to her, things that he hoped would make things right between them, but it was Hermione who summoned up the courage first. "Listen, Harry, I'm really sorry that I haven't been in touch," she said in a low, quiet voice. "I know, I shouldn't have left things the way they were, but I didn't know what else to do."

"It's alright, Hermione. We both had a lot to think about, and you needed time. I think we both needed some time to figure things out." Hermione seemed to relax a little bit and let out a soft, gentle smile.

"I was thinking that you and I should talk. Maybe after dinner we could go for a coffee or something…I mean if you want to, of course." Hermione looked as though her whole life depended on his answer, a feeling which Harry fully understood.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Harry said trying to give a reassuring smile. "We've…er…we've definitely got some catching up to do."

"Great. So, after dinner then?"

"Yeah, definitely."

There was a slight coughing sound and both of them turned to see Mr. Weasley, "I'm sorry to interrupt. Hermione, I was wondering if I might have a quick word with Harry. I promise it won't take long, and then you two can get back to catching up."

"Yes, of course," Hermione said, not quite being able to hide her relief that Mr. Weasley had mercifully brought an end to a somewhat uneasy moment. Even Harry had to admit that he was glad his first meeting with Hermione was over. It had gone as well as could have been expected, not great, but certainly far from terrible. "Harry, we'll talk later," Hermione said before leaving them and walking off to the kitchen.

"So, Harry, I was just wondering if you'd had a chance to think about what we'd discussed yesterday?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Oh…yeah, I have given it some thought," Harry said quickly lying. He hadn't given their conversation a single thought. Other things had been on his mind after their meeting, leaving him little room to consider anything else. Fortunately, there was a really was not much to think about. By the time he had left Mr. Weasley's office, the day before, he had pretty much decided to let them make their big announcement. He had only wanted to take a day to turn the idea over in his mind a few more times just to make certain, but Harry doubted much more thought would have done little to change his mind.

"Good. Might I ask if you have come to a decision?" Mr. Weasley asked sounding hopeful.

"If you think a big announcement will help things out, then I suppose that would be alright. I figure I owe Kinglsey for putting his neck on the line for me so many times. It's the least I can do for him."

"Wonderful, Harry! Simply wonderful!"

"When do you think you'll be making the announcement, Mr. Weasley?"

"As soon as possible. I'm going straight off to send a Patronus to the Minister, and he'll probably be making the announcement in the morning. I imagine the news will be something in the tomorrow's evening edition of the Prophet. I cannot thank you enough. You really don't know what a help this will be, and I promise you Harry, you will not regret it."

"It's no problem Mr. Weasley."

"Harry…" Mrs. Weasley suddenly spoke, "…would you mind giving Fred and George a hand setting up the tables outside. You and Arthur can finish your business after we eat." She spoke in a tone that was eerily reminiscent of the previous summer when she had learned that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not returning to school. That, along with the cold stare now directed at Mr. Weasley, told Harry that Mrs. Weasley was fully aware and did not approve of what he and her husband were now discussing. Like before, this was her attempt to prevent any discussion of things she was not on board for.

"Yeah, sure, Mrs. Weasley," Harry responded, electing not to make any waves at this moment in time. He quickly made his way outside to find the twins busy setting up the tables under Fleur's direction.

The meal itself was up to Mrs. Weasley's usual standards of excellence. As predicted, the cuisine was French, which meant that the portions were rather small as tradition dictated, but the sheer number of courses, six in total, more than made up for the portion size. The first course was a partridge terrine. This was followed by a grilled salmon with some kind sauce that Harry could not place but was tasty none-the-less. He devoured the main course of boeuf bourguignon. A salad nicoise followed the main course. For desert, they had chocolate mousse, a dish that Harry found more than made up for the salad course. The final course were individual a cheese tarts. After getting past the fact that desert was not the final part of the meal, Harry found the cheese tart to be quite scrumptious.

Also unlike the dinners in the past, this one started out as a subdued affair. No one really seemed willing to talk about anything, making for a sort of uncomfortable silence. To make matters worse, Harry and Hermione had been seated directly across from one another. This forced them to have to look at each other. They spent most of the first few minutes trying to avoid eye contact with and generally trying to ignore each other's presence. Yet, try as they might, it was something that neither of them seemed capable of doing entirely. Harry could not help but look Hermione's way every so often and seemingly always at the same moment she was glancing towards him. Their eyes would meet briefly of moments, before each turned away from the other. This only served to make Harry feel more ashamed at himself for what he had done. Still, it could have been worse. They could have been seated right next to each other.

As they were finishing their partridge terrines, Bill finally broke the silence by asking Hermione about her trip to Australia. She spent the better part of the fish course relating the tale of her trip to everyone. Her parents had set up a small but thriving dental practice in a suburb of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Hermione kept her parents as dentists, the only part of their past life that she had allowed them to retain. It was, in fact, the main reason she was able to find them so quickly. As hard as it was to believe, throughout the entire continent of Australia there happened to be only one set of husband and wife dentists from England who went by the names of Wendell and Monica Wilkins.

The rest of Hermione's story for the most part concentrated on some of the sights she had seen and strayed away from anything that was more personal in nature. Then it was Harry's turn to tell everyone what he had been up to for the past three weeks. "There's not much to tell really. Hermione suggested that I do something with the house, so mostly I've been doing a lot of painting. I figured that if I was going to live there, I might as well make it a little more livable."

"Painting eh? That place could definitely do with a touch up or two," Bill said back.

"Bill! It is rude for you to say such things about 'arry's home!" Fleur interjected.

"What? Darling, I'm sure Harry isn't offended, are you Harry?"

"Not at all. Bill's right, Fleur. Until the Order began using it, the house had pretty much sat empty for ten years. Even the good cleaning we gave it still couldn't take away its… dreariness…"

"Or the house elf heads…"

"Or that bloody picture of Sirius's mum," both Fred and George added.

"Exactly." Harry went on telling them everything he had done to the house up to that point. As he spoke he glanced over to find Hermione staring at him with look that was a mix of both pride and gratitude.

"Sounds like you've kept yourself busy, Harry," Bill said when Harry was finished. "So, I guess you're planning on staying there for a while?"

"I suppose. I don't think my aunt and uncle would be too happy to have me back. Besides, it's kind of nice having my own place."

"Have you given any thought as to what you are going to do next?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, there's been a lot of speculation and rumors surrounding what you might do," Bill said. "The more preposterous have you taking over security at Gringott's or you joining the Chudley Cannons as their seeker…"

"That wouldn't be a bad idea…" Fred interrupted.

"Yeah, they might actually win a match or two with you Harry," George added.

"Couldn't hurt, them." Bill said. "But surely you've given it some thought. There must be one or two worthwhile prospects on the horizon for you, Harry."

"Umm…there was this one thing…" Harry looked down the table at Mr. Weasley, not knowing if he should tell everyone yet.

Mr. Weasley, in turn, nodded back and said, "Alright. You all might as well know the truth now. You'll be hearing about it soon enough, and it's probably best that you hear it now rather than read about it in the papers." Everyone peered down at Mr. Weasley with curious looks. "Harry, here, has graciously agreed to accept a position with the Ministry. He is going to be our next addition to the Auror Department."

The entire table sat in stunned silence, looking back and forth between Harry and Mr. Weasley. "'arry, zis is wonderful news," Fleur finally said with a bright smile.

"Yeah, Harry, congratulations," Bill added.

Everyone proceeded to offer their congratulations. Fred and George jokingly said that they would now have to be on their best behavior when Harry was around. Mrs. Weasley was the only one who did not say anything to Harry. Instead, she sat, stone faced and looking forward, refusing to even look at him. Harry was certain that she definitely did not approve of his future profession.

With this new revelation, dinner began to take a more buoyant feel. Everyone began talking and having quiet conversations. Harry and Hermione, however, continued with her silence towards one another, each speaking to the other only when it was necessary. When dinner was over, Hermione broke out her photos from her trip and began passing them around the table as Mrs. Weasley began clearing the dishes. Harry offered to help clear the table, but Mrs. Weasley insisted that he relax and look at Hermione's pictures. After several minutes, Harry was the only one who seemed to notice that Mrs. Weasley had not returned from the house to collect the remaining dishes. He quietly excused himself on the pretense of needing to use the toilet, and made his way into the house.

He found Mrs. Weasley sitting at the kitchen table. She was staring at a picture that hung on the wall across from her. It was a picture of her family. The figures of her children were moving around, smiling, and laughing. Harry looked back at Mrs. Weasley, and he could see the streak of tears flowing down her face. "Mrs. Weasley, is everything alright?"

She jumped slightly, before turning to look at him. "Oh! Harry, I didn't hear you come in." Mrs. Weasley quickly got out of her chair and moved towards the sink, putting her back to Harry. He could see her bring her hand to her face to quickly wipe away the tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Harry said, now embarrassed by his intrusion.

"No. No. It's perfectly alright dear. I was just thinking," she said, still keeping her back to him. He watched her begin cleaning the dishes she had already brought into the house. Harry quietly walked towards her, stopping next to Mrs. Weasley. She did not look over to him, keeping her attention to the dishes in the sink. "Congratulations on your new job."

"Yeah. Thanks. I take it that you're not very happy with my decision to become an auror?" he asked carefully.

She turned to Harry, finally looking into his eyes as a calm reassuring look came over her face. "It's not that Harry. I'm a mother. I worry. It's something that can't be helped. No matter how old any of my children get or how good at their jobs they might be, I'm still going to worry about them. That includes you. I still worry about Charlie working with those dragons or that Fred and George will blow themselves up experimenting with some new product for that shop of theirs. Heavens, you should have seen what a wreck I was when Bill first decided to become a curse breaker for Gringott's."

"So, you don't want me to take the job?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be more comfortable with you choosing to take a nice, quiet job sitting behind a desk somewhere, but I know how badly you've wanted to become an auror. I'm not going to stand in the way of what will make you happy. Besides, you'd hate sitting at a desk. You'd never be content unless you were right in the thick of things. So, please Harry, take the job. I'd feel terrible if you decided not to do it because of me."

Harry grabbed Mrs. Weasley. This time it was his turn to give her a tight hug. "Thank you, for this," he said as he pulled away.

Mrs. Weasley put her hand on his cheek. "Harry, you will be a great auror. Just don't expect me to stop worrying about you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And please, promise me that you will pay attention during your training and above all, to be careful."

"Cross my heart," Harry said, unable to hold back the smile on his face.

"Now that we've had our little talk, you should go back outside. I'm certain everyone's wondering where you've gotten to."

"I'd be happy to help you finish the dishes."

"No…no. You run along. This won't take me a tick."

"Alright." Harry began walking towards the door but stopped as he put his hand on the door knob. "Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes dear?"

"Tonight, after I leave, you should ask your husband to tell you the truth."

"The truth about what Harry?" she asked, suddenly sounding alarmed.

"That night after the battle, he and I talked, and I told him the whole story about everything that we saw and did last year. Just tell Mr. Weasley that I said it was time you learned the truth. You deserve to know."

"Why can't you tell me Harry?"

"Because, it'll take a while, and I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about that again, at least not without another bottle of firewhiskey to help things along." With that, Harry opened the door and walked back outside.

So, Chapter 10 is done, finally. Took me a while but here it is. As always, any constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged.