thank you all for the encouraging reviews! love hearing from you guys!
here's another chapter - sorry I didn't upload it earlier but I had lots of exams at school...
enjoy! :)
It was a long day and when Jade was practically falling asleep behind the table at dinner, Molly rushed her upstairs to change into PJs and brush her teeth.
She fell asleep before she had time to get under covers and Molly just smiled at her and closed the door.
She would check Jade later to see if she managed to wiggle her way under the blanket because it was pretty cold at night.
Arthur was still downstairs with kids but as soon as Molly came to the living room Fred and George excused themselves, saying good night to their mom and running upstairs to their room. Ginny hugged her mom and went upstairs too, asking on the way, if someone could bring her a cup of water.
"I'm on it." Said her daddy and rushed to the kitchen for a glass of fresh water.
Molly just smiled and kissed Charlie good night and he just nodded his head, saying he'll stay up a little bit longer to catch up on all the UK quidditch magazines.
Percy collected all his books and wished his parents sweet dreams, before going to his room to study a little bit more for his extra-credit summer school project for his spells-class.
Arthur rolled his eyes after hearing that and followed his son upstairs to bring the water to his youngest.
Molly turned off the light in the kitchen and decided to check on Jade before she went to bed.
Jade was still asleep, but she turned to her side and her covers were impossibly wrapped around her. There was no way Molly could cover her properly without waking her up. So she took the crocheted blanked from the chair where Jade put it before going to bed and tucked her newest little one in.
Everyone woke up to beautiful first Saturday of summer.
Jade was up early, as well as Charlie and Percy, who was already dressed and sitting on the living-room couch with book and bunch of parchments with notes.
"Breakfast's ready!" called Molly and happily watched the kitchen fill with all her children.
Arthur carried Ron down and twins followed him with sleepy eyes and messy hair.
They had matching PJs but that didn't fool Jade. She knew exactly who is who.
And when she watched Arthur put his youngest son down on his chair, she knew what this meant and she felt excited.
Today was perfect day for flying. Everyone shoveled porridge into their mouths and jumped from behind the table almost at the same time, except for Percy who was reading morning newspaper.
"Alraight, everyone get dressed, I'll meet you by the broom shed in five minutes!" they run upstairs and Molly heard five door slams.
"Aren't you going with dad honey?" She asked her son, whose nose was still buried deep in the Daily Prophet.
"Mom, you know Fred and George are going to blow something up or get into some kind of trouble the minute they leave house and really, I have this essay to write, and some letters to mail to Penelope…I mean, to some friends from school." Explained Percy, folded the newspaper and after putting his dishes to the sink he was ready to go back to his room. Thankfully today there will be no yelling or running in the house.
"You're not staying inside Percy." Said Molly strictly. "I don't mind if you read or study or whatever you want to do, I want to see you outside. It's summer Percy, you're home finally after five months and dad and I missed you so much. Why don't you go with them? You don't have to fly, just, I don't know… take your books there and at least be with everyone else. Please." Said Molly and looked sadly at her son.
"Ok mom, but I'm taking the spell book. I won't miss whole day of studying just because they want to fly." Sighed Percy and marched upstairs.
Arthur handed everyone their broom, but now that Charlie was back, there was only Bill's very ancient Comet left for Jade and it wasn't exactly reliable broom.
"Well, I guess you'll have to get Bill's old school broom, it's pretty slow and it always turns a little bit to left, but that's all we have." Said Arthur, apologizing to Jade.
"That's ok, I'm just a beginner anyway, I'm sure it's perfect for me." Smiled Jade and gladly took the old broom.
"No, dad, she can take mine – I'm not going to fly anyways, I'll just sit there and study. And watch you guys fly, really, I have too much school work." Said Percy, handing his almost unused broom to Jade.
"Are you sure? I can fly on this one, it's no problem." Said Jade but Percy shook his head and gave her his broom.
When he saw how happy she was that he'd share his broom and when she hugged him, he couldn't help but smile and hug her back.
"No problem sis, that's what brothers are for." Percy replied and everyone was looking at him speechless. This didn't seem like Percy at all, well, until he added:
"at least now I can carry my books and don't get them all dirty from the dust. I have one very important essay to write about medieval spells for professor…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, some highly important…"started Fred
"…and very advanced-level essay about how your nose needs to be cleaned…" added George
"…properly from all the times you stuck it up some professor's …" continued Fred.
"-that's enough boys, let's go!" laughed Arthur and rushed girls in front of him.
"…butt." Finished George before high-fiving his twin and running after their Father.
Percy followed them with his chin high in the air, and his books safely tucked under his arm.
Percy stuck to his words and didn't touch a broom all day. Instead of flying, he sat down under one of the trees and spread all his notes around him.
Fred and George took off with Charlie right behind them, Arthur didn't even have time to remind them about the muggles in the village, so he turned to his three youngest and had his usual speech about safety and rules.
Jade jumped on her broom as soon as he told them to go and have fun.
She followed twins and Charlie, who were trying some really complicated patterns. Ron was flying slower than usual, he didn't want to get into trouble, because he was sure this time, the punishment would be much worse.
Ginny loved flying, but still needed a couple of lessons so her daddy taught her new tricks and Ron joined them too, because lessons with twins and Charlie weren't fun at all. They were trying out difficult stuff and he didn't want to concentrate that much.
Jade stayed with her older brothers at the distant end of the field.
Twins were glad they found new flyer so close to their own skills. It would be much more interesting to play quidditch now.
Charlie even offered to be her coach for the summer and maybe get her ready for team try-outs in two years when she could join school team but she said no.
And she said it so seriously that no one questioned why Jade didn't want to join school team. She, however, gladly accepted all the tips and tricks boys had to offer and her flying improved greatly even after only one day of practice.
They joined Percy in the shade under the tree and Arthur took out the lunch Molly packed for them.
Simple cucumber sandwiches with chickpeas hummus and tomatoes, with home made lemonade and brownies.
They had great time, talking and teasing each other over the lunch, even Percy put away his books (though he claimed it was only because he didn't want them to be stained with tomato juice and chocolate).
When the sun started to set down and all of them were worn out from all the flying and sun, Arthur said it was time to go home. None of them wanted to leave, flying was their favorite thing to do but with dad working all week they usually only had one opportunity on weekends if mom didn't make them clean something around the house.
Even Jade who was still getting used to the broom, felt like she could stay all night flying around the pitch faster and faster every round.
Percy, who left two hours earlier was now sitting behind the pick-nick table in the garden, quickly scribbling some letter. He had just enough time to finish last sentence, sign it and hide all the rolls of parchment away before Fred or George could take them.
"Dinner!" called Molly from the back door so twins let Percy be and hurried to put their brooms into the shed. They were always hungry, like all the boys on the world and even though they loved Hogwarts' cuisine, nothing could be compared to
mom's cooking. They were ready to eat, with bowls full of onion-cabbage soup with zucchini. It was one of Molly's special recipes for summer when her garden was full of vegetables.
Dinner was accompanied by numerous stories from school. Most of which were already known at the burrow from frequent letters from headmaster and professor McGonagall – the head of the Gryffindor. Listening to the other side of story, told from the perspective of their sons was quite entertaining, Arthur was giggling constantly and even Molly caught herself smiling a couple of times, unable to contain her usual scolding expression.
Jade soaked every word about the school and with every new detail she learned about it, it seemed like more and more magical place.
When one of the stories ended with classroom full of dragon dung on the day of final exams and that caused Ron to snort and get ice cream into his nose, it was time to finish the dinner. Molly knew it was the job of her two sons (even though they denied it, the glances they threw at each other told Molly she was right), but it was an old story, from first or second week of February and she completely forgo about it, after all, this wasn't their worst prank this year.
"Looks like we'll have a storm coming." Commented Arthur, putting dishes to the sink. And true to his words, first drops, as huge as snitches started to fall.
"My laundry! Merlin's pants!" exclaimed Molly. With all the kids out of her way since morning, she made today laundry day and lined of fresh clean clothes were hanging in the backyard.
Boys didn't bother with shoes, Fred and George run out with Charlie closely following them and started to pull down all the clean shirts and socks. Jade run out too with Ron, and helped everyone save the laundry, while Ginny and Percy run from door to the laundry lines and back, with heaps of clothes in their arms.
They made it in time, only a few dishcloths were left hanging in the last line, but Molly stopped Fred, just before he run outside to get the last pieces.
It was raining hard and they heard first thunder from behind the hill.
"Thank you darlings, you all saved my laundry day!" said Molly and showered them with kisses and hugs.
"Ok, go upstairs and change into your PJs then we can get the hot cocoa with ice cream and marshmallows on top. You all deserve a special treat tonight."
In five minutes, all seven kids plus Arthur were sitting in the living-room, snuggled under blankets or sitting on the floor pillows, drinking their special chocolate and talking about everything and nothing.
"So, Jade, I heard you've met your friend in the village?" asked Molly, sitting down on the loveseat next to Jade, who simple nodded.
"Did you know him for a long time?" tried Molly again, desperately wanting her newest daughter to open up a little.
"Well, we've known each other since kindergarten, but after three years I had to… move, and we haven't seen each other since." Sid Jade sadly.
"What is he like?" Molly wanted to know. She pulled out her knitting basket, to take a little bit of attention from Jade and made her feel less pressured.
It worked a little.
"He's awesome, he always knows how to make me smile. We used to talk bout everything, and he always reminded me to behave well, since I was getting into trouble a lot and he didn't want me to be sent away…" Jade talked and talked, Ginny, sitting down on the floor, stopped playing with her Harry and listened. She always imagined Harry would be exactly like that, maybe a little bit more rebellious, but in every other way, she imagined he resembled Bruno.
Ginny was a little bit jealous of Jade and her fiend, having what she thought to be a secret language.
"Will you teach me the…?" Ginny asked suddenly.
"Teach you what?" asked Molly confused, not aware her youngest was listening to their conversation.
"Teach me the secret language you have with Bruno." Explained Ginny, looking at Jade with pleading eyes.
"Well, I guess I could try." Said Jade, smiling a little. Small things like this made her feel like part of the family. Like she belonged and she was actually useful.
After a short while of silence Molly came up with an idea.
"Would you like to invite him over? Maybe for lunch on Monday?"
"Could I?" asked Jade, so excited she jumped off the couch.
"Of course you can honey, it would be marvelous to get to know your friend." Said Molly and giggled when she saw how excited her girls were. It was going to be a small party full of little ones. Ginny decided she needed her own friend over and asked if they could invite Luna too.
Later that night, when Molly was lying in her bed, going over her plans for Monday, she smiled again, remembering how excited Jade looked when they suggested the lunch, but at the same time it pierced her heart knowing Jade was still not feeling like at home. It will take time, she repeated to herself, but if they felt like Jade was the part of their family since always, Molly wanted her newest daughter to feel the same.
But she wouldn't ask if she could invite her friend over, she never asked for more food or new clothes at the store, never refused to get up, but now when Molly was thinking about it, she never even had to wake Jade up, it seemed as if the girl was always awake in the morning when she knocked on her bedroom door.
Arthur mumbled something what sounded like "stop worrying so much" and wrapped his arms around Molly and his steady breathing and light snoring lulled her to sleep.