The patronus disappeared, leaving everyone astounded. It was Sirius that broke the shocked silence.
"Remus!" He barked, already pushing his friend out of his chair. Remus shook his head like a dog trying to clear water out of his ear and grabbed Tonks hand.
"We shouldn't be here," he said, backing away from the table. "Harry - I'm sorry - I'll explain some other time-" He had a wild look in his eye as he seized the now standing Tonks's wrist and pulled her away; they reached the fence, climbed over it, and vanished from sight. Sirius watched them go with a torn expression. He looked as though he desperately wanted to follow his best friend and make sure that he was okay, but also didn't want to leave Harry with the minister. Harry won out and Sirius slumped back into his chair, gripping his fork tensely.
"The Minister - but why-? I don't understand-" Mrs. Weasley stuttered, looking thoroughly confused. I agreed, why would the minister be coming? What did he want with Harry? Obviously it would be for Harry, he wouldn't want anyone else here, would he?
A second later Mr. Weasley was walking down the path, Rufus Scrimgeour right behind him. He wasn't someone you could mistake, his wild mane of hair and his scarred face made for a very recognizable person.
"Sorry to intrude," Scrimgeour said, limping towards us. He looked anything but sorry. "Especially as I can see that I am gate-crashing a party."
"Many happy returns." He finished, eyeing Harry's cake. I found that extremely odd, why would he care about Harry's cake, it was just a birthday cake shaped like a snitch, nothing even remotely odd.
"Thanks," Harry said stiffly, his eyes darting to Sirius's and then Mr. Weasley's. Sirius shook his head slightly, indicating something to Harry, I wasn't sure what. Mr. Weasley just remained tense and straight.
"I require a private word with you," Scrimgeour went on, not caring about all the silent conversations going on around the birthday table. "Also with Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger."
What? Why? I thought instantly, barely aware of the fact that George's grip on my arm had tightened almost painfully.
"Us?" Ron asked, sounding extremely surprised. "Why us?" I noticed Luna had stiffened by his side and looked worried, something I had never seen her look before.
"I shall tell you that when we are somewhere more private," Scrimgeour replied, glaring at Ron. That made me mad, there was no reason to glare at him. It was a justified question. Scrimgeour obviously wasn't here for a social visit and just because he was the minister didn't mean we didn't have the right to refuse him. "Is there such a place?' he demanded of Mr. Weasley. I narrowed my gaze and glared at him. How dare he come here, interrupt our party, and then make demands! He had no right!
"Yes, of course," Mr. Weasley answered, looking nervous. "The, er, sitting room, why don't you use that?"
"You can lead the way," Scrimgeour said to Ron. "There will be no need for you to accompany us, Arthur."
Harry and I instantly stood up while Ron looked at his parents. George was still gripping my arm, and Sirius was gripping Harry's. I turned to George and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "I'll be right back, Love." I said, gently pulling my arm out of his grip. He nodded his head stiffly, letting go of my arm begrudgingly.
Once we were inside the Burrow, Ron, Harry, and I all squeezed onto the same couch. It would have been cozy when we were eleven, but now it was past cramped. I wasn't even sure if we'd be able to get up again once we sat down. At least we wouldn't have trouble nudging each other. We might have trouble determining if it was a nudge or just someone breathing though. Once we were seated, Scrimgeour spoke.
"I have some questions for the three of you, and I think it will be best if we do it individually. If you two" – he pointed at Harry and me- "can wait upstairs, I will start with Ronald."
"We're not going anywhere," Harry said, glaring at the minster. No way in hell he was separating us. We'd already decided, we were together till the end. Besides, I'm not sure Harry or I could get back up off the couch.
Scrimgeour glared at Harry, looking to be trying to decide whether it was worth it to fight us. "Very well then, together," he said, shrugging. He cleared his throat, glaring at us again. "I am here, as I'm sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore's will."
Harry and Ron looked at each other, I kept my gaze on him. George had taught me that when acting you should never, ever act surprised. I really needed to tell Ron and Harry how to act, they were terrible!
Scrimgeour read us the contents of the will, questioning us after handing over each item. It was nerve racking and thrilling, but mostly confusing. Why had Dumbledore left us such odd items? Why give Ron the deluminator? Why give me the Tales of Beedle the Bard? I'd never even heard of the book… Mostly though, why give Harry an old Snitch?
Scrimgeour told us about the sword, and then left, leaving a very mad group behind at a party that no one wanted to celebrate. Poor Harry, couldn't he have a normal birthday?
We all gathered back around the table and served the food that Mrs. Weasley had made. After a hasty chorus of Happy Birthday we sliced and ate the extremely suspicious cake that Mrs. Weasley had made. All in all not one of Harry's better birthdays, but at least it beat Ron's. Tomorrow would be Fleur's wedding, and tonight was my last chance to go out on a date with George. We'd start the Horcrux hunt after the wedding, and there would be precious little time for romance.
How shallow was that? I was actually getting to keep my eye on my love, not like Harry or Ron, both of which had to let their girls go to Hogwarts alone, and I was sad because there wouldn't be any romance time?
I finished clearing off the picnic table and went to find Harry, Ron and George. They were in the living room playing exploding snap. That's what they were supposed to be doing in any case, they actually were discussing plans. I walked into the room and strolled up next to George, leaning over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He had a good hand, but wasn't paying it too much attention. I squeezed in beside him and wrapped my hands around his arm. Fred had left to go see Angelina, they were making some last minute plans for 'potterwatch' and they'd fill us in on them when we saw them tomorrow.
"No fair!" Ron piped up, grinning as he glanced in the kitchen. "No double teaming." He said. He winked at me and I heard Mrs. Weasley continue with her clattering in the kitchen. He may be complete rubbish at acting in front of the minister, but at least he was good with his mum.
"Muffliato." I thought, and aimed my wand at the door way. Harry looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I cast the spell.
"I thought you disapproved of that spell." He said, smiling slightly.
"Desperate times Harry, desperate times."
"What is our plan guys?" George asked, glancing at the door and smiling when he realized his mum couldn't hear us. "How are we supposed to sneak out after the wedding- for that matter, when are we sneaking out?"
I turned towards Harry expectantly, which caused him to raise his eyebrows in alarm. "I've no idea. I thought you two would come up with something." He said, indicating George and me.
"Wait," I said, holding up my hand. "Why me? George I can understand, him and Fred are masterminds at sneaking in and out of places, but I most certainly am not."
"Yeah, but you know more spells than a library." Ron said, looking like it should be obvious why I was asked.
"So?" I asked, huffing a little. "Why does that matter?"
"How about I just say it's because you're really smart?" Harry said, looking amused.
"I'll accept that." I said in a dignified voice. "However, despite my immense knowledge and impressive spell collection, I have no idea how to sneak out."
"Oh…" Harry said, sounding disappointed.
"Luckily the sneaky prankster has an idea." George piped up, a smile on his face. "All we need to do is find away to distract mum for a minute, just enough time for us to get together and apparate the heck out of here, right?"
"Yes." Harry said.
"Well then, Fred and I can do that easily, won't even be a challenge."
"Goody." I said, my eyes sparkling as I looked at him. He got so excited when he was thinking about a prank, it was positively adorable.
"Okay, nother question." Ron piped up, glancing at the kitchen again, apparently satisfied with what he saw he turned back to us. "Why did Dumbledore give us those items? What was he thinking?"
"I don't know." I answered honestly. "The deluminator is incredibly neat, and very unique, but we could use Peruvian instant darkness powder to replace it. As for my book, I've never even heard of the 'Tales of Beedle the Bard."'
"What?" George and Ron both exclaimed looking stricken.
"You must be joking." Ron said.
"No, I'm not. Why, you two have read it?" That would have to be a first, Ron having read a book I hadn't. Wow.
"Come off it," Ron said, George still looked shocked. "You know, Beedle, he's the one that the stories come from." He waited and Harry and I still showed no sign of recognition. "Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling stump?" He asked. I shook my head, he had to be joking.
"The Fountain of Fair Fortune?" George offered, looking a little less shocked. We shook our heads again.
"The Three Brothers?"
"The Warlocks Hairy Heart?"
"Grumble the Grubby Goat?"
"The Wizard and the Hopping Pot?
They fired the tales off one after the other, looking between us in shock as we shook our heads. At least I wasn't alone, Harry looked just as clueless as me. Thank god for him, I'd hate to be the only clueless muggle born in the room. I was still having trouble believing Ron had read a book that I hadn't.
"We didn't have stories like that." I said, looking back and forth at George and Ron. "We had stories like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella-"
"Is that a disease?" Ron asked, perfectly serious.
"No." I answered, feeling exasperated, Harry was trying not to laugh. "Okay, so they are children stories?"
"Yep." George answered, a smile on his face.
"Okay." So Dumbledore left me children stories. Why on earth had he left them to me?
"Why do you reckon he left you that snitch?" George asked, picking up the golden ball and looking at it curiously.
"Yes, I thought for sure something was going to happen when you touched it." I said, sighing as I looked at the golden ball. Harry's eyes lit up and he grabbed the snitch, a smile pulling at his lips. He glanced at the kitchen before turning back to us.
"Remember my first game?" He asked us. George and Ron were both quiet for a moment but then their eyes got wide. Ron started pointing at the snitch frantically, seeming incapable of words.
"You didn't catch it!" George exclaimed, looking surprised.
"No," Harry said, really smiling now. "I nearly swallowed it."
I sucked in a surprised breath, feeling stupid for not having realized that before. Harry looked at the golden sphere with his piercing green eyes, a look of hope on his handsome face. He moved the ball to his lips slowly, and we all held our breath in expectation. He moved it forward, inch by torturous inch, and then, it touched his lips. Nothing happened. He sighed in bitter disappointment and then I saw it as he moved the ball from his mouth.
"Harry!" I gasped, pointing frantically at the words etched into its side.
"I open at the close." Harry read, a look of awe crossing his features.
"I open at the close?" George repeated, looking lost. Harry shook his head, looking annoyed now. We repeated the phrase hundreds of times, but we couldn't make any more sense of it.
Really, couldn't Dumbledore have just left us a message of what we needed to do?
{}o{}o{}
We talked for a while longer, but then Mrs. Weasley broke us up and we didn't get another chance to talk. Before I knew it, it was time for bed and I realized I hadn't gotten to spend any time alone with George. I sat up on my bed, having just fixed my pillows, and turned towards Ginny's bed. She was fast asleep, perfect.
I grabbed my pillow and a comforter off my bed before standing up very quietly. I turned around and headed for the door, being careful not to make a sound. I reached for the door knob and gripped it gently in my hand. I turned it and pulled, opening the door.
"Just go in to their room, don't knock or mum will hear." Ginny's voice came from the bed. I froze and spun around, staring at her with my mouth hanging open.
"How did you?" I started, blushing as I realized she knew what I was planning.
"Please, do you think I'd be a heavy sleeper with brothers like Fred and George?" I chuckled at that and gripped my pillow tighter.
"Thanks, you don't mind do you?"
"No," she replied, laying back down. "Have fun." I smiled one last time at her and then turned back to the door. I walked out of the room and tip toed down the hall towards George and Fred's room. remembering Ginny's suggestion, I pushed the door open without knocking. George was stretched out on his bed, one arm tucked behind his head, the other holding an open book that he was reading. His eyes shot up when I stepped into the room and a huge grin lit up his face.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this late night visit?" He asked, sitting up and laying his book beside him on the bed. His eyes drifted down to my pillow and blanket and his grin got even bigger. It was his large toothy grin that made me feel weak kneed and happy.
"Do you mind if I stay?" I asked, holding my blanket and pillow up. He nodded his head excitedly, already scooting over in the bed to make room for me. I glanced over at Fred's empty bed before stepping forward and setting my stuff down beside George.
"He's at Angelina's apartment." George said explaining Fred's absences. "Last night they'll be able to do anything… The hunt won't be very good for romance." He said, winking at me as I fluffed my pillow. I scooted closer to him and smiled down at him as he lay down. I ran my hand down his chest, tracing his well toned abs as I looked at his blue eyes.
"Well, we might as well make the most of our last night." I said before leaning down and kissing him.