Hey, guys, here's the next chapter! And, this time, on time! School ends on Tuesday, so from now on I will have plenty of free time to write and I will post regularly; who knows, I might update twice a week if I can... :)
Anyway hope you enjoy reading the chapter; I did, it was fun to write some parts! As always, Read and Review (a lot!)!
Chapter 9: Of Friends and Bent Houses, Large Families and Football Matches
During the rest of the week, the tension at school between Gryffindors and Slytherins grew stronger and stronger, to the point one could almost actually feel the energy snapping between the students of the two houses.
The match, the first of the football season, would have been on Saturday morning, and it would have seen the two strongest houses one against another, competing both for the old rivalry existing between them and for the lead in the House Cup.
When the last bell of Friday rang, I came out of my Art class with Ron and Harry, listening to them talking about the match.
I had discovered only two days before that they both were in our house's team, respectively as Keeper and Captain, and they were happy to have one more excuse to 'kick Malfoy's pale ass during the match', to quote their words.
Needless to say, I agreed with them, even if maybe I was a little…gentler in expressing my agreement on the topic.
Harry went straight to the football field, while Ron walked me to my locker to get all the books I needed for my homework before catching up with him.
I had agreed watching Gryffindor training session that afternoon, and meanwhile I would have studied a bit for the Trigonometry test we had the following Monday.
We were talking about the test when Malfoy strode toward us, a sneer on his face.
"Dreading the match, Weasley?" he asked Ron mockingly, opening his locker and stuffing his books inside.
"In your dreams," said Ron, throwing him a warning look.
"So, tell me, is the Mudblood your new little mascot?" Malfoy got on, acting like I wasn't even there. "You know, teams usually uses dogs or other animals as luck charms; Gryffindor is the first one I hear about which uses rubbish instead of beasts."
"Don't you dare, Malfoy," Ron growled under his breath, stepping forward.
Malfoy's sneer became more pronounced as he took a step forward too, his chest almost touching Ron's.
"Or what, Weasley? You are going to hit me?"
Ron's eyes narrowed, his irises dark with rage.
"You shouldn't fight with me, Malfoy," he warned; I noticed he was several inches taller than the blond Slytherin boy, and much stronger too.
"Why?" Malfoy asked mockingly, a glint of amusement in his steel grey eyes. Ron pushed him backwards by his shoulders, making him stumble a few feet away from us.
"Because I would kill you!"
Malfoy straightened his back, his upper lip curled in a grimace, baring his teeth.
"Try me," he said defiantly, looking ready to fight.
Something in the tension of Ron's back told me he would have picked up the provocation without thinking twice, and that he would have regretted it later. I didn't want him to get into trouble for fighting at school, especially if he started the fight to defend me from Malfoy's words.
I put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Ron, it's not worth it," I said softly, not even looking at Malfoy. He looked down at me for a moment; then nodded, a small smile tilting his lips upwards.
"You are right, he's not worth it." He handed me the crutch I had put by the locker to get my books and glared at the pale boy in front of us.
"So, now it's Hand-Me-Down Weasley and Mudblood Granger? I didn't think your family could sink lower; apparently I was wrong."
Ok, now he was really getting on my nerves: who was he, to talk like that?
"Shut up, you little spoiled, arrogant prat!" I hissed, barely restraining myself from hitting him on the shin with one of my crutches.
"Don't you dare talking like that about him and his family; they are worth ten times you and your noble privileges. You are good just at humiliating people because they are not like you and your little snake friends, but you know what? I would rather die than spend one minute of my time with you!"
He looked a little taken aback by my sudden snap, but he hid it pretty quickly; he didn't say anything, though, and I felt sweet satisfaction in shutting his mean, venomous tongue up.
"See you on the field, Malfoy," said Ron with a smirk, not even turning to look at him as we headed outside, to the field.
As soon as we got out in the pale sun, a huge grin exploded on Ron's face.
"You were great, standing up to him like that! For a moment I thought you would have beaten him up!"
I smiled, wrinkling my nose. "You know, I had thought about it: a good hit on his shin with my crutch, and he wouldn't have played football the whole season. But that wasn't worth it."
I looked up at him, blushing a little. "And thank you, for defending me when he said…those things." He shrugged, walking me to the terraces on the side of the field.
"He has no right to say such mean things to you. Next time I hear him even daring to say your name, I swear I will beat the hell out of him," he promised, only half-joking. "And you don't have to thank me, you stood up for me when he insulted my family," he added, turning serious.
It was my turn to shrug.
"You did it for me, so we are even," I said, sitting down and putting my bag by my feet. Ron smiled, nodding once. "Yes," he said before running to the locker room, where the others were waiting for him. "We are even."
Ron's POV:
When I entered the locker room, loud whistles erupted from my teammates, who were all laughing and throwing me funny looks.
"Aww, what took you so much, little brother?" asked Fred, putting on his sweatshirt. I glared at him and didn't answer, opening my locker, where I had written R.W. the previous year, when I had gotten into the team. It was some kind of rite of passage among us; the lockers were covered in the initials of all the players who owned them. I took my things, then spoke.
"We met Malfoy on our way here," I said dryly, throwing on my t-shirt and soccer shoes.
Everyone shut up immediately at those words.
"What did the little snake want?" Harry asked, furrowing his brow and sitting down on one of the benches.
I shrugged, slamming my locker shut.
"Offend us, as always. He started to insult Hermione, and I almost started a fight with him. Then he offended my family," at that Fred and George looked like they wanted to go look for Malfoy and kill him themselves, "And she almost started a fight with him. I have to admit, she shut him up."
Dean laughed, raising his fist in the air.
"That's about time!" he said, grinning. "The girl is definitely a Gryffindor: she has the guts to stand up to a snake and defend her housemates!"
There were many agreement sounds among the team.
"And he will cry tomorrow, when we will beat them 10-0!" Harry added , standing up. Cheers followed his words, and I shook my head, smiling.
"Let's go, the field is waiting for us!"
We ran out in the cold November afternoon, and I smiled when I saw Hermione sitting there, a book in her lap, her long hair falling down her shoulders and partly hiding her face.
The fact that she had agreed to assist to our training made me happy, even if she just sat there studying: she would have brought us luck, I was sure, despite Malfoy's mocking about it.
I thought about how she had stopped me in the Entrance Hall, before I could get into trouble for starting a fight in a corridor.
I absentmindedly rubbed my shoulder where she had touched me to restrain me from jumping on Malfoy and beat the daylights out of him, and I smiled: yes, she would have definitely brought us luck.
I woke up early on Saturday morning, feeling -surprisingly- excited about the match.
After a quick shower, I dressed in my best jeans and red v-neck shirt and went downstairs for breakfast, singing softly to myself.
Aunt Elspeth was already in the kitchen, as always, but that morning there was a different smell in the kitchen, one I immediately recognized with joy.
"Chocolate pancakes!"
I was literally addicted to chocolate, a thing my parents, as dentists, had never fully understood; Emma was the only one, in the family, to share my passion.
I piled four of them in my plate, along with two large chocolate chip cookies, and filled a mug with coffee, wolfing everything down quickly, partly because I was starving, and partly because I wanted to go quickly. It was eight thirty already, Luna would have been there to pick me up at nine.
"Mmm, chocolate! I love you, Auntie!" Emma exclaimed running into the kitchen, with a huge grin on her face. She climbed onto a chair and piled food on her plate to the point she was almost disappearing behind it, and then dove in.
I smiled, shaking my head, and motioned to get up, when Aunt Elspeth stopped me.
"Oh, wait, dear, I have something for you," she said, taking a bag from the back of her chair and handing it to me.
I peeked inside, and grinned.
"Wow, that's fantastic!" I said sincerely, taking the red Gryffindor hoodie and the red and gold scarf from the package.
"Well, since you are going to the match, I thought you would have liked it," Aunt said, smiling.
I nodded, immediately putting on the hoodie; it was warm and comfortable, a bit too long for me, but I didn't care. It had a rampant lion embroidered on the front in yellow, and the word Gryffindor written on the large front pocket.
"Mione, can I come too?" Emma asked, putting on her best puppy eyes and smiling sweetly.
I shrugged, standing up and grasping the back of my chair for balance.
"Of course you can, every student can watch, along with the families. My friends are playing, I bet they would be happy to see you there too."
Emma squealed happily and quickly ate her last pancake, jumping down the chair and running upstairs.
I followed her, amused, and found her fumbling in her closet, pulling something out. I smiled when I saw it was a Gryffindor scarf, just like the one Aunt Elspeth had given me.
"We bought your hoodie and scarf together yesterday," Emma explained, trying to tie it around her neck. "And Aunt bought me one too."
I sat on her bed and motioned for her to come to me.
"Come on, I'll help you with that. Take your brush too, your hair is like mine today, I'll see if I can do something about it."
She smiled and obeyed, jumping on the bed and sitting cross-legged in front of me, handing me the brush.
I slowly pushed it through her dark ringlets, trying not to pull at the knots in the attempt to tame her bush of hair. When I was satisfied, I pulled it up in a loose ponytail, just like I knew she liked, and she gave me a smile so sweet it made my heart melt. I put her on my lap and hugged her, smiling.
"Mione, can I ask you a question?" she said, her voice muffled by my shoulder.
"Of course, anything," I said, nodding in her hair.
She pulled a little from me and looked me in the eye, smiling sheepishly.
"You know I have made friends at school, right?" she asked, playing with the embroidery of my hoodie.
I nodded, curious to know what she wanted to ask.
"Well, there are these three girls I get along with very well, Alice, Meredith and Alexis. Next week it's Meredith's birthday, and she said her mom gave her permission to invite Lice, Lex and me for a pyjama party."
I smiled: she wanted permission to go.
"You have to ask Aunt Elspeth for that," I said, kissing the top of her hair. She nodded.
"I have already done that, but she said I had to ask you."
I thought about it for a moment: she had never slept out, but I didn't see anything wrong in letting her go. After all, Lavender and I did pyjama parties since we were four.
"Well, I think there would be nothing wrong in letting you go. But," I added before she could interrupt me with her 'thank you's, "I want to know Meredith's mother first. Who knows, she could be a crazy witch who eats cute little girls with bushy hair," I joked, tickling her.
She jumped down, laughing, and nodded. "She always gets Mer from school, you can meet her if you come after your lessons."
I smiled, holding out her hand.
"We have a deal."
She shook it enthusiastically, and then ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
Five minutes later we were downstairs, with our Gryffindor scarves tied around our necks and our coats on, waiting for Luna to come and get us.
Not much later Mr Lovegood's car pulled into the courtyard, and I smiled, taking my crutches and walking to the hall.
My balance was getting better, and I was starting to make small walks around the house without the crutches, gripping the walls or the furniture if I stumbled, but it happened very rarely.
"Aunt' we are going!" I called, while Emma opened the door.
Aunt Elspeth came to the kitchen door and smiled, waving at us.
"Enjoy yourselves, dears! And…" She grinned, raising her fist, in which she was holding a kitchen towel, "Crush those hateful snakes!"
I was still laughing when I got to Luna's father's car, but as soon as I saw then I stopped, widening my eyes in surprise.
Mr Lovegood was dressed in red from head to toe, and he had a striped top hat on his head, with the words Gryffindor Champions on it.
Luna, instead, had on plain jeans and a red jumper, but her hat was much, much more…original than her father's.
It looked like she had glued a stuffed lion's head to her hair, fangs, mane and everything. It was funny, though, and Emma really loved it.
We pulled in the car and drove to the school, chatting about the match; I found out that the whole school, except the Slytherins, would have supported Gryffindor, since no one wanted to see 'the snakes' winning.
When we got to the castle, the whole place was crowded with students dressed in red and gold or green and silver, many of them with their parents, siblings and other relatives. Here and there, someone intoned anthems and various school or team's songs, quickly followed by large groups of people around, without distinction.
We headed to the field, in order to find a seat in the front rows, but the terraces were still almost empty since the game wouldn't have started for almost another hour.
We found a good spot in the front, from which we had a good visual of the field, and sat down, chatting happily with everyone around. Colin and Dennis Creevery joined us, along with their parents, and then Parvati and Padma with their family, and Neville, Luna's boyfriend, a nice Gryffindor seventh year whom I had several classes with.
"Came to see Ron and Harry?" Ginny asked, plopping down beside me.
I nodded, rubbing my hands together; the wind was pretty chilly that morning, but at least it was sunny.
"Couldn't miss the opportunity to see Slytherin's defeat," I said, grinning widely.
Ginny grinned back, and we exchanged loud high fives, laughing.
After a while people started to quiet down, and a boy's voice echoed in the field through a microphone, shutting up the crowd.
"Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen! Today we are here under this wonderful blue sky to support the strongest teams of our school in the opening match of this season!"
A roar of approval lifted from the hundreds of people gathered there at his words.
"He is Lee Jordan," Ginny told me, pointing at the black skinned boy who was doing the commentary. "He is Fred and George's best friend."
I nodded, as the boy resumed his speech.
"The teams will be out in a few minutes, but for now let's just say that this will be an important match not only because it's the first of the year, but also because the winner team will jump forward into the House Cup classification! We all know that the teams are both very strong, and the question is: who will prevail, the lion or the snake?"
More cheers and claps followed his words, and then we all settled down and waited for the two teams to come out. I would have never believed it possible, but I was really starting to enjoy myself.
Ron's POV:
We were all in the locker room, us boys plus Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, the only three girls in the team. We could hear Lee Jordan's commentary echoing outside, it was almost time.
"Ok, guys, listen," said Harry, standing up from the bench he had been sitting on for the last fifteen minutes, "We all know this is an important match, but we don't have to think about the Football Cup, or the House Cup. Points don't matter, ok?"
There were a few nods and hushed 'Yes's from us; we were all nervous, but determined to win.
"I think we all agree that we have to be careful around the Slytherins: we know they never play fair game, and the last thing we need is an injured mate. So, if the choice is between losing the ball and getting tackled by someone Like Gregory Goyle-"
"We fight!" exclaimed Angelina, exchanging high fives with the two other girls.
Harry rolled his eyes, but smiled.
"So, in the end, I have only one thing to say."
He grinned and held out his hand; we knew what that meant. We put our hands on top of his, smiling, glad to resume our traditional pre-match ritual, and when we all were done, Harry shouted: "One for all and all for one: let's show Slytherin who rules Hogwarts!"
A chorus of cheers and claps followed his words, and we all ran outside, feeling invincible. We knew it wouldn't have been easy, but we would have fought to win.
"And here's the Slytherin team coming out!" Lee exclaimed, a veil of mock glee in his voice.
From the other side of the field, where most of the Slytherins were sitting, came loud cheering and clapping, but no one else joined them; a few Gryffindors even whistled and booed the other team as it entered, their green uniforms blending in with the synthetic grass of the pitch.
"And HERE'S GRYFFINDOR! C'MON, FOLKS, LET'S GIVE THEM THE WELCOME THEY ARE WORTHY OF!" Lee shouted, jumping on his feet. Cheers, shouts and claps boomed from every part of the terraces, suffocating the small pool of whistles coming from the green and silver patch of Slytherins.
Many students were waving Gryffindor scarves and flags, and Ginny smirked, gesturing to Neville and Seamus, who were sitting a few seats down the row. The boys nodded, grinning, and three large banners passed from hand to hand while they unfolded them.
One had a rampant lion on it, and the words POTTER FOR PRESIDENT written in the upper section, while the others said WEASLEY IS OUR KING and TWINCREDIBLE TWINS, clearly addressed to Ron and his brothers.
Parvati and Padma pointed at the one with the lion drawing, grinning and saying proudly: "We did it!".
In a matter of two minutes, the banners were waving in the cold wind, held up by our enlarged group of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, and the players were lined up in the pitch, ready to play.
Madam Hooch, the PE coach, who was also the referee for that match, walked to the middle of the pitch, ball under her arm and whistle in her free hand, glaring at the two teams with her yellow, hawk-like eyes.
"I want a fair game," she warned, her voice loud enough for us all to hear. "From all of you."
Was it just my impression, or she was looking at the Slytherins when she said that?
"Captains, shake hands."
Harry and Malfoy stepped forward, stiffly shaking hands, their eyes narrow with dislike and suspicion.
"On the whistle…three…two…one…"
The whistle sounded, and they were away.
"The ball is immediately taken by Angelina Johnson -that girl is a great player, and rather attractive too, I must-" "JORDAN!" McGonagall's indignant -though slightly amused- reproach echoed in the pitch, causing several pools of laughter among the crowd, especially through the oldest Gryffindors, who all knew about Lee's crush on his classmate. "Sorry, Professor!" he apologized half-heartedly, resuming his commentary. "Neat passage to Dean Thomas, a good find of Potter, last year only a reserve-back to Johnson-passage to Fred Weasley, the boy knows how to handle a good cross-passage to Potter-tosses the ball-GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"
Cheers erupted from the terraces, and Ginny threw her fist up in the air, grinning. "Oh, yes! First goal in less than five minutes! We are going to crush them!" she said, holding up her part of the banner higher.
"Now Slytherin gets the ball-Malfoy leads-passage to Goyle-Tiger-Alicia Spinnet takes the ball, man, she is the fastest runner I had ever seen-to Potter-Thomas-no, Slytherin takes the ball back-Malfoy-Parkinson-Goyle-Malfoy again, he's going to score-Weasley dives-blocks the ball! Great save of Gryffindor's keeper!"
After Ron's dive to block the ball, someone in the back shouted: "Guys, let's start with 'Weasley is our King'!" Many started to sing then, clapping, and I turned to Ginny, incredulous.
"They composed an anthem on Ron?" I asked, as almost everyone in our group joined the singing.
Ginny laughed, nodding.
"Slytherins got the idea in fifth year, when Ron had just joined the team and was so nervous during the match he missed every ball. When he kicked the right gear in, though, we revisited it and came out with this."
I laughed, as the words of the song echoed among the crowd.
Weasley is our king
Weasley is our king
He didn't let any ball in
Weasley is our king
Weasley can save anything
He never leaves a single chink
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our king
The match got on like that, between cheers and whistles, triumphant anthems and moans of disappointment from both parts, as Lee Jordan's commentary accompanied everything.
At ten minutes from the end, the score was 3-3, and Gryffindor was fighting to score the last goal.
"Gryffindor has the ball-Spinnet passes-Weasley-Bell-ball to Potter! The captain is running for the goal, he is unstoppable-ready to score-Goyle runs towards him-OUCH-FOUL! FOUL!"
Goyle, a huge boy who looked almost twice the size as Harry, tackled him to the ground without even trying to hide his move, blocking him.
I jumped on my feet, ignoring the buckle in my legs at the sudden movement, followed by everyone else around me.
"Foul! Foul!" Ginny screamed, her face flushed with rage and concern, her hands gripping the railing in front of her.
"Is he ok?" Emma asked, standing on her toes to watch what was happening and gripping my hoodie.
I bit my lip, waiting, and sighed in relief when Harry stood up, wiping the blood dropping from his nose with the back of his hand and pushing his glasses up. He seemed ok, he had just hit his face on the ground when Goyle slammed him down.
Madam Hoock, meanwhile, had gotten to the Slytherin player, and was yelling at him furiously, waving a red card under his nose.
Sent off, good.
Madam Hooch then raised her hand, giving a penalty to Gryffindor. The team lined up; Fred -or George, I still couldn't tell the Weasley twins apart- would have taken the penalty. It seemed like the whole pitch held its breath as he took a run-up, kicked-
"SCORES! GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"
Cheers and yells raised from most of the crowd, and Ginny hugged me.
"He did it! He did it!" she squealed, making a small jump.
Gryffindors seemed to gain new strength from the last score, and they not only managed to keep the game under control for the last ten minutes, but they even scored three more goals in a row, taking the result to 7-3.
When Madam Hooch's whistle signalled the end of the game, the cheers were so loud I was sure even Aunt Elspeth could hear them downtown.
"We are in the lead for the House Cup!" Neville shouted, exchanging high fives with Seamus. "Two hundred and twenty points up, we will surely win this year!"
How could Gryffindor gain those many points during the match?
Ginny seemed to get my confused look, and she smiled. "Houses gain points during football matches, too: ten points for every goal, and a hundred and fifty points to the winner team," she explained; I nodded, easily doing the math in my head.
If before the match Gryffindor led with a hundred and twenty points, followed by Slytherin, with a hundred and five points, we were now three hundred and forty to a hundred and forty: they wouldn't have caught up with us easily.
"Come on," said Colin and Dennis Creevery, grinning and pointing at the celebrating team, "Us all Gryffindors are going down to the pitch to celebrate them, you can't miss it!"
I didn't want to miss it, either, so I took my crutches and followed my housemates down the terraces and onto the grassy field, with Emma close on my heels like a stamp on the envelope.
Ginny hugged her brothers, beaming at them as she did so, and the boys submerged the Keeper, the Captain and the Twins, the heroes of the match: Ron had saved most of the balls Slytherin threw at him; Harry had scored four of the seven goals, and Fred and George had scored the penalty and the last goal, barely five seconds before the end.
When they saw me, though, Harry and Ron grinned and pushed from the crowd to pull me with them.
"You are the best luck charm we have ever had, Ron was right!" Harry laughed, clapping the other boy's shoulder.
Ron's ears turned pink, but his smile didn't falter.
"Told you," he said, ruffling Emma's hair, "That I knew you would have brought us luck coming to the match."
I smiled and shook my head, blushing slightly.
"My pleasure," I said, shrugging.
"Oh, what a cute scene, Losers One, Two and Three altogether," said Malfoy's sneering voice from behind us.
God, why did that boy have to crop up every time and ruin our mood?
"Shut up, you prat, and go back crying with your forked tongued teammates," I said, not even looking at him.
So I was startled when he put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it with such force he hurt me. I turned sharply, ready to hit him, but someone else beat me on the action.
When she saw Malfoy touching me, in fact, Emma, my little angel, ran forward, kicking him -hard- in the shin.
He let me go, grasping his leg, and I smiled triumphantly: that was my sister!
"Don't you dare touching my sister, you snake!" Emma shrieked, her small fists closed at her sides and her blue eyes shining with fury.
The Twins laughed and put their hands on Emma's shoulders.
"Guys, we have a future little Gryffindor here!" one of them shouted, pointing at her. Emma grinned, practically glowing with satisfaction at those words, and the circle of red and gold closed again around us while we all cheered for both our victories, the one over the team and the one over Malfoy.
"Hermione, we are all going to our home to celebrate -us Weasleys, the Potters and the Lovegoods-, why don't you come too?" Ginny said, pulling me a bit from the rest of the crowd.
I hesitated for a moment, and she smiled, linking her arm through mine.
"Oh, come on, what would Ron and Harry do without their 'luck charm'?"
I smiled at her words, looking down; apparently, I was on my way to become the official mascot of Gryffindor team.
"Plus, my mom and dad have heard us all talking about you the whole week, and they are curious to know you, they would be happy if you joined us," she added, putting on her face a sad puppy look which almost beat Emma's best one.
I chewed on my lip, still unsure.
"Aunt Elspeth is waiting for us to come home for lunch," I said finally.
That was the only thing holding me back: I was afraid Aunt Elspeth could be offended if we ditched on her for lunch. Not that she would have said, of course; she was way too kind to do something like that. But still.
To my surprise, Ginny laughed.
"It's just because of that? Call her and make her come too! We all will be there with our families, why shouldn't she join us, too? Today is a great day, we won the first match of the year and crushed Slytherins 7-3, we have to celebrate!" I smiled and shook my head, but took my cell phone from the pocket of my coat and quickly dialed Aunt Elspeth's number.
Half an hour later, Mr Lovegood stopped his car in front of the Weasley's house, and I widened my eyes as I took in the building.
It looked as though it had once been a large stone building, but several extra rooms had been added here and there without a precise scheme, so it was now several storeys taller and dangerously bent in some places, making me think it was standing up just thanks to magic.
The materials of the outside walls were different, and they went from the large, smooth stones of the ground floor to the wood planks of the top floor, which resembled a tower.
The roof was made of square, dark grey slate tiles, and several mismatching chimneys were perched on top of it, some made of stone or bricks, and others looking barely more than tin flues.
A crooked handmade sign was stuck in the ground near the entrance, the words 'The Burrow' carved in it in a surprisingly neat writing.
I got out of the car, still looking at the house in awe, and Ginny caught up with me, looking up at the tall building.
"It's not much," she said with a sigh, "But it's home."
I looked at her, incredulous.
"It's not much? It's fantastic!"
She looked at me like I was crazy, or probably thinking I was kidding, but it took her less than ten seconds to realize that I was serious. She grinned, a glint of pride in her eyes as she gestured to the door.
"Shall we go in?"
When we entered the house I saw Aunt Elspeth already sitting in the living room, chatting quite happily with a short, plump woman in a flowered apron.
She had a kind face framed by soft billows of red hair, and her hazel eyes twinkled every time she smiled, making me think of Ginny, whose eyes sparkled in the same way when she was happy.
As soon as she saw us she got on her feet, first hugging Ginny and then looking at me with the kindest smile I had ever seen.
"Hello, dear," she said, guiding me to the couch where Aunt Elspeth was sitting. "You must be Hermione."
I nodded, blushing a little and feeling as though the crutches in my hands were burning. I would have done anything to look normal in that moment, in front of the several people who crowded the small room.
Mrs Weasley -there was no doubt she was, even if she hadn't introduced yet- spotted Emma just then, and her eyes lit up.
"And you, sweetie?" she asked, bending slightly to look at my sister, who had hidden behind my back.
"She's Emma," I said with a smile, trying to push her a little forward with one of the sticks. "My sister."
"A little tiger," said Ron, coming in with all of the boys.
"Yep, she kicked Malfoy," agreed Harry, grinning.
"Pretty hard, I should say," said one of the Twins, stretching his arms above his head.
"So hard poor snakey ran crying to his mommy," added the other brother, mirroring his twin's posture.
With the boys came three more people, one of whom I knew already -Mr Potter, who had picked us up after our little exploring of the village a few days back-.
I had never seen the others before, but it wasn't difficult to tell who they were: the tall, lanky man with red hair and dark blue eyes was obviously Mr Weasley, since he had an incredible resemblance with all of his sons, and the petite woman with dark auburn hair could only be Harry's mother, with those startling green eyes which were of the exact same colour as her son's.
Before anyone could say a word, Ron's stomach growled loudly, causing widespread laughter among our large group.
"Come on, let's settle down for lunch. The boys need energy after the battle," Mrs Weasley said, smiling and leading all of us into another room, a small kitchen almost wholly occupied by three long tables set one after the other and surrounded by a jumble of mismatching chairs.
We all sat down randomly; I ended up between Ginny and Emma, with Harry and Luna at the opposite side of the table.
We all were chatting about the match, commenting Ron's great saves, Harry's goals and the Twin's unstoppable joined playing. When Mrs Weasley brought food onto the table, though, we all shut up, too busy working our ways through it to talk; man, Aunt Elspeth cooked well, but that was the most wonderful food I had ever eaten!
The day went by like that, always among friendly chats and jokes; after lunch the 'grown-ups' settled down into the living room for coffee, and we 'kids', as Mr Weasley addressed to us, went outside, in the sunbathed courtyard.
The boys quickly set up a football match, but since Harry was still a bit dizzy after the hit he got during the game, he skipped, and Ginny happily took his place in the two against two game.
And jeez, she played incredibly well.
I sat on the stairs which led from the kitchen to the courtyard, supporting now a team, now the other, while Harry openly favoured Fred and Ginny. I wondered briefly if there was more between them than it actually seemed, but that thought was quickly forgotten as I found myself refereeing the game, since the four sibling seemed unable to play fair.
It went on like that until dusk, when the sun began to set and the wind chilled us all to the bone, forcing us to go back in; a few more chats and laughter, and then we all parted, waving and whishing goodbye as everyone went back to their house.
That night I was so tired I fell asleep almost instantly after I laid my head on the pillow, but I also felt so completely, wonderfully happy.
I never want this to end, I thought, smiling, before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.
PS. Sorry for the changes in Weasley is Our King, but I had to edit it a little to make it fit into the human world; anyway, I tried to keep the rhythm and rhymes as much as I could. Hope you liked it! :)