There was a moment of silence when the troop of muddy warriors stopped at the doorway and Molly looked at them from the kitchen table where she was setting down the plates for dinner.
"At least shake off the mud outside. I just cleaned the floor." Said Molly after a little pondering. Kids knew not to fight in the mud, they knew she'll be mad, that's why they were standing there now, waiting what will happen. They looked ridiculous with mud in their hair and puppy-eyes, looking at her.
The thing is, even if you know the rules and you know not to do stuff like mud-fights, sometimes you just can't help yourself.
"I don't have to tell you that this won't happen again this summer, right?" scolded Molly watching her children as they tried their best to scrub down. George was sitting down on the step in front of the back door, giggling uncontrollably while Fred tried to scratch his soles, tickling his twin.
Jade was trying to pull grass out of Ginny's hair, running her fingers gently through her sister's red locks.
The sun was gone, just a tiny liver of purple left at the horizon.
"Get upstairs you lot, and wash your hands before dinner. You'll get cleaned after we eat." Laughed Molly when George pulled off Fred's shirt and started to fling it against the side of the house to get the dry soil out of the fabric.
Jade stopped for the slightest bit of a second and looked Molly straight into the eyes, not knowing what to say. She wanted to apologize and make sure Molly wasn't angry with them, but at the same time, she knew it was just an old habit – to worry about everything too much and question herself.
"Off you go." Smiled Molly and smoothed Jade's hair out of her face.
"Arthur! Boys! Dinner will be ready in five!" Molly called up the stairs to get the rest of the family down.
They had ramp pizza, with melted goat cheese on top. Luna stopped by with her daddy as they were walking home from their little expedition and brought Molly handful of wild leeks and invited everyone for a barbecue tomorrow afternoon.
Ron was talking with dad about the chess moves that he used to win earlier when playing with Percy, who was a very sore loser and was currently sulking, hiding behind his book about detailed early history of magic.
Twins were teasing Ginny about the mud she still had behind her left ear and Jade was sitting in the middle of the family hovoc, just listening to all the noise and basking in the harmony. She missed this so much over the year.
Hogwarts had big dinners and feasts on different occasions, and even ordinary everyday dinner was fancy, but nothing could be compared to this.
"Alright, Ginny, Jade you go up first, make sure you wash out all the mud from your hair." Instructed Molly as she was taking plates from the table. It was still pretty early but four of her kids needed extensive cleaning and she didn't want anyone up at midnight, still with dirt on their face.
"Jade, you can shower in our bathroom, Ginny, don't forget to rinse the shampoo properly, you know what happened last time, Fred, George, get up from the sofa, you won't sit on the clean throw until you get all the mud off!" continued Molly while girls run upstairs to get shower. There was always limited supply of hot water so they were lucky to be the first ones.
The second bathroom of Burrow was much smaller than the main one (if that's even possible). It was attached to master's bedroom and usually only used by Molly and Arthur. It had clean white tiles on the walls and painted wooden floor. There was a hook on the wall, holding two fluffy towels and small shelf over the sink with Molly's creams and perfumes and a cabinet behind the mirror with Arthur's shaving essentials.
Jade walked in, feeling a little bit out of place as if she was about to shower in some hotel bathroom.
She placed her towel and PJs on the small counter next to the sink, looking at herself in the mirror.
She was getting pretty tan, and there were few freckles on her nose. That was something new. She couldn't remember getting freckles before.
After taking quick shower and washing her hair two times with Molly's shampoo which smelled like wild flowers and sunshine, exactly like Molly's hugs, Jade hopped out of the bathtub and dried off. She put on the cotton pajamas and walked out of the bathroom, to find Molly in the room, standing in front of a small dresser which was placed under the small side window. The top drawer was opened revealing wide selection of yarns, neatly sorted according to color and material.
Jade flipped the switch, turning off the light in the bathroom and Molly turned around.
"Oh look at you! All clean and ready for bed." Smiled Molly.
Jade wasn't sure what to say as the topic of mud-fight was still a little bit awkward for her. She was expecting Molly to be much more angry with them, so she decided to let it be and asked instead: "Are you choosing yarn for some new project?" She walked closer to Molly, holding the wet towel and her dirty clothes in her hands.
"Oh yes, I was just thinking I'll start something quick and more summery in between the Christmas sweaters." Said Molly looking back down at her yarn stash.
"I'm thinking about making few more of those awesome wash cloths you made me for Christmas. I miss them in the kitchen when they are in the laundry." Said Molly taking a small ball of cotton yarn. It was yellow, but few shades lighter than the one Jade used for her two cloths at winter.
"I could make them." Volunteered Jade. She didn't have any knitting project started and she quite missed the satisfied feeling she got when casting off something she finished herself.
"Would you?" asked Molly, looking down at her daughter.
"Yeah, sure… I mean, it will probably take me longer than it would take you, but I could make as many as you want. And there's a seed-stitch variation in the pattern which I could try if you helped me to figure it out." Said Jade, looking shyly at Molly. It was nice to have something they shared, a little bit of world where no one other went and where Jade felt special. She could knit and she enjoyed it, just like Molly, and no one else in the family would understand.
"That would be so nice of you!" beamed Molly. "And I could make a pillow cover for your room at school. You said something about decorating it more next year right?"
"You would do that? Really?" exclaimed Jade. For her, knitting something as big as pillow cover was a huge project and knowing Molly would abandon her Christmas sweater knitting, just to knit something this big for her, made Jade feel … loved. It was weird to get that feeling in such random situations. Of course Jade knew she's loved. After a year of being a Weasley she finally accepted the fact that they indeed love her, just like they love their other kids, but sometimes, in moments like this, it just hit her.
"Thank you!" she hugged her surprised mom and rested her head on Molly's shoulder. "I'm happy to be home again."
"Well, we're happy you're home too! But no more mud fights!" laughed Molly as she kissed Jade's forehead.
"No more mud fights." Jade agreed and walked back to her room, with small ball of yellow cotton, safely tucked under her arm.
Jade woke up suddenly. The sky behind her window was still black, meaning it had to be the middle of the night.
She looked around the room, trying to remember what woke her up. It was a dream, but all she could remember was seeing Fred's dead body on the floor of the Great Hall at school, with George hugging his twin and crying. She had this dream before, after the Easter accident, but it's been a while since she woke up from nightmare.
She sat up, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. The small triangular window was open and soft wind was playing with the lace of her curtains.
She tried to control her breathing, but her heart was beating so fast that she just couldn't calm down.
"What's wrong honey?" came Molly's voice from the door. She walked inside and sat on the edge of Jade's bed.
Jade hugged her knees and hid her face. Tear started to flood her eyes and she didn't want Molly to see. "Just a bad dream." She whispered.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" asked Molly, gently pulling Jade closer to her side.
"It was about Fred, he… he died." Sobbed Jade. She didn't want to tell Molly about the nightmare, she didn't want to upset her and be worried again, but it felt so good to tell someone, she couldn't stop herself.
"Oh, dear, is it still about the accident in the forest? He's fine Jade, nothing happened. You are all alright." Whispered Molly patting Jade's hand gently.
"No, it's… he's older in the dream, and we're in the school." Whispered Jade, new tears coming to her eyes as she remembered the details.
"Nothing's going to happen to him, or anyone else. We're all just fine. Now…" smiled Molly, pulling blanket up, snuggly around Jade who was still shaking a little. "…you go back to sleep, no more nightmares today." Finished Molly, closing the window. "We'll talk about it tomorrow, but you need your sleep now, ok?" she kissed Jade's forehead and smoothed the blanket around her.
"Good night." Said Jade when Molly walked to the door.
"Good night sweetheart, if you need anything just call for us, but try to get some rest alright?" said Molly and left, leaving the door half open, so the yellow light from the corridor would shine a little into Jade's room.
They all slept in, which doesn't happen very often. The day was slow, mostly spent with preparations for the barbeque. Molly insisted on bringing some dessert and so she ordered all the kids to stay out of the kitchen for the day. When the time came for them to go, it was a strange sight. Molly carrying a baking bowl with still warm cobbler, Percy all spiff in clean button up shirt and dark green pants, twins running ahead of everyone with their matching tees and bags which they were planning to fill with samples from Lovegoods' garden (with permission of Luna's parents of course).
Ginny was talking to Ron, who was in a stage when he found the chattering of his baby sister really annoying so he was walking fast with Ginny skipping by his side.
Jade followed them with just a little bit less enthusiasm that normally.
Arthur was at the end of the row, holding a bucket of vanilla ice cream to go with the cobbler.
The moorland surrounding Luna's house was covered in blooming heather in all shades of pink and purple. Barbeque was set on the side of the house, with large brick fire-pit and carpets spread on the ground away from the fire, but still close enough for people to stay warm. They sat down on the throw pillows which Luna brought outside carefully arranging them in a circle on the sides of the carpeted area. There was delicious dinner of grilled ribs and sausages with cheese, followed by blueberry cobbler with ice cream from Molly.
Everyone was having great time, adults were talking and kids playing. Fred and George were pretending to be knights from their history of magic book and were fighting with sticks as swords, while Ginny and Luna were picking up handfuls of wild yellow flowers about which Jade was sure they smelled terrible but looked nice. Ron was getting second helping of cobbler and Percy sneaked into a quiet corner and pulled out a book which he managed to bring in spite of Molly's protests.
"You, my fellow warrior, won't see another sunrise, for I will end your life in this battle" announced George theatrically, putting his dirty sneaker-clad foot on Fred's chest.
"I shall die a hero!" exclaimed Fred and rolled his eyes madly before George pushed the stick between his arm and side of his body.
Arthur was sitting at the side of the "battlefield" with Jade snuggled against his side. She has gotten much more comfortable around them lately.
Then a lot of things happened really fast. First George pretend-killed Fred, accompanied by dramatic growls and exclamations, which made Ron snort out in laughter and cover the front of his shirt in blueberries. Arthur looked instinctively in his direction, only to see Jade turn pale and green before she turned around and threw up behind the low hedge which was growing alongside the garden.
Everybody got quiet for a while, concerned about Jade getting sick. Even Fred lifted his head from the ground where he was still lying "dead".
Arthur pulled Jade's short hair away from her face and gently patted her back. Ginny run to him with a glass of water from Molly so Jade could wash away the foul taste.
"It's alright. Just a little bit too much sugar for one night." Arthur shrugged, helping Jade sit back. He vanished all the mess with a simple charm before looking at Jade who was still pale but with a light pink blush on her cheeks, obviously embarrassed.
"I think a little walk would help. Right?" asked Arthur and pulled Jade up.
She gladly accepted any opportunity to get away from people staring at her and so they slowly walked to the end of the garden. Fresh wind and cold darkness of early summer night made her feel better but they couldn't erase the images from her memory. The nightmare from yesterday came back, leaving chills on Jade's back.
Arthur stopped by the corner of the fence, their backs turned to the house, looking down the hill at the lights of the village.
"Mom told me about your bad dream last night." Started Arthur. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's just …when I saw Fred lying on the ground right now…I couldn't stop seeing that picture in my head." Said Jade quietly.
"It's ok, you know it was just a bad dream and Fred is fine. Everyone's fine, but it's normal to have those fears, especially after accidents like that – in the forest…" Said Arthur but Jade interrupted him:
"But it's not just a nightmare, it… it wasn't just a dream, it was different." She struggled to explain.
"Honey, it was a dream,…" Arthur tried again.
"One time, I was nine, almost ten, I had a dream. It wasn't anything important or exciting. It was just me, walking down the corridor in some building. There was an ugly painting of yellow roses tied with pink ribbon on the wall. They had green striped wallpaper. I walked into a room with high ceiling and tall windows with heavy brown curtains hanging on the sides. There was a desk and a lady was sitting on a big leather armchair. I sat down on a sofa, close to the lady and she offered me biscuit. It tasted lovely but I didn't know to identify the taste. Best biscuit I have ever had. Then I woke up." Said Jade, looking seriously at Arthur.
"It was butterscotch." She added. "How do I know that? I've asked the lady. Three months later, when it happened. Every single detail I can remember from the dream. Everything happened. I asked the social worker if I've ever been in that office and she said it's the first time she has met me and she's been working there for over twenty years."
Arthur just stood there looking down at Jade.
"You know what was different about that dream? I could remember every detail. I still remember. I could paint you a copy of that picture which was hanging in the hall if I was a little bit better painter." When Arthur didn't say anything she added: "every morning I try to remember my dreams but the more I try, the harder it is and more details slip away. But that dream, I remember everything. And last night…" she didn't finish, because tears blurred her vision and Arthur pulled her into a hug.
"Shhh, it's ok, it doesn't mean anything, it was just a bad dream." He tried to calm her down.
"But it does! It does mean something!" sobbed Jade. "I remember all…"
Hey guys" sorry for another long wait – finals are here and I try to study…
sorry for any grammar mistakes I didn't have time to re-read this chapter...
Aaaaa (Guest) asked if second year will be in different story – I'm kind of thinking about putting every year in separate story so it would be more organized but I'm not sure…what do you think?
Cookie05 – 70th chapter is here! Thanks for reading! I can't believe I made it to 70 chapters!
Racheal Weasley thanks! I'm glad you like it!
xWellJustMex – my summer vacation starts 28.6. – so you still get summer sooner than me (hope that makes you feel better) :D
HpDork FreakaZiod thank you for reviewing!
Splendora-C.A.M-McGonagall thanks! I'm glad you keep reading and commenting!