We continue with our characters enjoying a normal summer.

RON I

The sound of pipes being hit again and again woke up Ron, like many mornings. The sun was clearly visible, though Ron wished he could sleep longer some days. This day was one of them. He stayed in bed, remaining deaf to the noises the ghoul was making. After what seemed like five minutes to him though, he heard a loud noise, this time not coming from the attic, but from under his chamber's floor.

"Ronald Weasley, wake up! Everyone is already at the table!" his mother berated him from the inferior floor. She probably threw a spell so that a broom on the fourth floor would hit the ceiling under him.

With a groan, Ron got out of bed and went down the staircase until he arrived in the dining room, where indeed everyone was already there, except one.

"Where's Dad?" he asked.

"Already at work," Percy replied before their mother could do it. "You would know if you had woken up earlier."

"Like you, Mr Prefect, who arrived minutes after Dad left? It's not going to look pretty on your curriculum," Fred teased their older brother.

"Maybe we should write to the Minister about this," George added.

"Eat your breakfast, boys," their mother said, serving sausages, eggs and bacon to Ron. "And you too, Ginny."

"Ron, is Harry still coming tomorrow?" his little sister asked.

"Yes, he is," Ron replied, exasperated. It had to be the hundredth time he answered the same question from Ginny. Ever since he told them two weeks ago when Harry would arrive, Ginny had asked him every day, sometimes up to ten times within the same day, if Harry was still coming.

"Ginny, are you going to ask him his autograph?" George asked.

"Because we're planning to ask for his as well. Percy, do you want one too? Why ask for two or three when we can ask for four?" Fred joked.

"Oh, Fred, George, leave that poor boy alone. No autograph. And I don't want any of you asking any question about You-Know-Who while he stays here. And Ginny, you don't point him when he arrives," their mother warned them all.

His mother always talked of Harry as a poor boy. She said it had to be horrible, what he went through as a baby, and also in Hogwarts before the summer vacations. Ron found it annoying in the end, just like Ginny's repetitive questions. He had been knocked out as well in those dungeons. He could have died. As for what happened when he was a baby, it was a very long time ago, and Harry himself told Ron that he remembered nothing of that day. It wasn't that a big deal. After spending so much time with Harry over the last year, Ron had come to realize that he was just a normal kid, just like he was. The only real difference was the scar on his forehead. Ron would like it if everyone could just behave normally about and around his friend.

"We must behave normally with him," Percy said. For a very rare time, Ron agreed with him. "I mean, at Hogwarts, people were pointing him all the time, and whispering behind his back. I stopped it as much as I could, but I couldn't be next to him all the time, and there were so many people talking that..."

"What were they saying about him?" Ginny asked, interrupting the older of her brothers at the table.

"All sorts of things, Ginny. And at the end of the year, let me tell you it was no better. People were still whispering behind his back whenever he went, especially after he made Gryffindor win the House Cup."

In fact, it was Ron, Hermione and Harry who made Gryffindor win the Cup. But he didn't want to risk engaging a debate without end with Percy or facing Fred and George's jokes.

"Yeah, we still don't really know what happened in those dungeons. Ron, is it true you got knocked out while playing chess down there?" George asked.

Ron turned red. So much for trying to avoid mockeries. "They were giant pieces of chess, okay? Did you ever experience what it is like to be hit by a queen?"

"I did," Fred replied. "I tried to get Madam Pomfrey to treat the bruise on my finger, but she refused and kicked me out of the hospital wing. My bottom has never felt the same ever since."

They all laughed, even Ron, at the exception of Percy. Even their mother couldn't contain her short laughs this time.

"Stop that, you two fools. I'm wondering how many teachers kicked you in the back only last year," their mother asked, more seriously.

"Only seven. It was a record year," Fred replied proudly.

"Yes, it was, but were kicked eight times, in fact," George countered.

"Eight? Which did I forget?"

"Madam Hooch. You remember?"

"We didn't receive any kick from her. It was last year."

"You forgot the time she did it with her broom."

"It's not a kick. A kick must be performed with feet."

"I think we can kick someone out of the Quidditch pitch with a broomstick. That makes eight."

"No, we can't count it. Or else we would have to count the time in our first year when Filch did it with his broom. His normal broom. We never counted it."

"Yes, we did."

"No, we didn't."

"YES, we did."

"NO, we didn't."

"Enough you two!" their mother finally said, as Ron and Ginny muffled their laughs while exchanging a look.

"Will you go to the paddock while Harry's here?" Ginny asked Ron.

"I think so. Fred? George?"

"Of course. From what you're telling us, Ron, he doesn't have much opportunity to play Quidditch during summer," Fred replied.

"Be careful to not be spotted by the inhabitants of the village," Percy warned them.

"Can I come? To the paddock?" Ginny asked.

"Well, you can watch, Ginny. You don't need permission for that," Ron told her.

"But I want to fly."

"You didn't have your first flying lesson, little sister," Percy said. "You could hurt yourself."

"No, I wouldn't."

"Children, stop bickering. Finish your plates. And then, the garden needs to be de-gnomed," their mother said. "Fred, George, Ronald, you'll take care of it."

"Can I go with them?" Ginny asked.

"Of course, my dear. Go help your brothers."

Five minutes later, the four of them were in the garden. Ron had caught two gnomes, hanging one with each hand by the ankles, and swung them in circles. Then he cast them far away from the garden, over the edge. They fell like small potatoes in the grass beyond.

"Hey, Ron." It was Ginny who asked him questions while she spun another gnome. "You remember that game Gryffindor played against Ravenclaw?" Of course, Ron remembered. "Why couldn't they delay it? I mean, Harry was at the infirmary, and he was Gryffindor's Seeker. Why didn't they delay the game to let him wake up?"

"Because we can't delay a game because a player is injured," Ron said, gloomy. He hadn't completely digested yet the defeat. They were a blink of an eye away from winning the Quidditch Cup, and they let it slip.

"They could have made an exception. I mean, it was Harry Potter. It should count as something."

"Not for the professors. If only Bell caught the Snitch instead of that substitute Seeker..." Ron raged.

"I don't like this girl. The Ravenclaw Seeker. She should have let Gryffindor catch the Snitch. It's Harry who should have caught it. I'm willing to bet he would have gotten it if he had played, and this girl would not even have seen him catch it."

Ron was annoyed by the fact Ginny was talking about Harry nonstop since summer began, but on this matter, he agreed with her. Both Ginny and Ron had attended that game. Ginny had come with their mother, like the two times before that. She had been really upset when they lost. And she had complained that Harry wasn't playing as Seeker that day. Although it was for different reasons, Ron agreed with her. Harry should have been given the right to play the game. The match should have been delayed, especially since it wasn't Harry's fault that he was unavailable on this day. Whoever that girl who caught the Golden Snitch was, he knew one thing for certain, he wanted Harry to teach her a lesson when they would face each other this year.

"I want to fly with you and Fred and George today," she blurted.

"Ginny, if you get hurt, Mom is going to kill us."

"I won't get hurt."

"Yes, you will. You never mounted a broomstick before today," Ron stated as a matter of fact. Which it was.

"Because you never allow me to," his little sister said after a moment.

"Because Mom and Dad don't allow it."

"It's not fair. You were flying before you went to Hogwarts."

"That's not true. It was only George who brought me on his broom with him and leaned sideways all the time to make me afraid of falling."

"You're a scared boy, Ron," Ginny taunted him, while throwing another gnome out of the garden.

"And you're a silly girl," he retorted, doing the same but sending his own gnome farther.

"I'm silly? Did you look at yourself?"

There was no way of shutting up Ginny. She was his little sister and he loved her, but sometimes she got on his nerves, like Fred and George, and especially Percy could. At least Ron could enjoy his time with Ginny, Fred and George, while there was nothing to enjoy with Percy lecturing them, except when Fred and George would set traps for him.

"I always find them funny," Ginny said while grabbing another gnome. "A little like you, Ron. You look kind of alike."

"Me and those things?" Ron looked at the one he just caught, his head looking like a potato. "I don't think you could do this with me."

Ron turned around himself quickly with the gnome and released it at the right moment. It was the longest distance he reached today.

"Maybe I could try," Ginny taunted him.

"You're welcome. I won't be hurt when you fail."

Both laughed. That was the kind of humor he liked to share with his little sister. After the de-gnoming was over, Ron went back to his bedroom to have some quiet time, and maybe take a nap, but he ended up reading his comic books on The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. He read the seventh issue, one of his favorite, where Martin tried to clean his house with a flying broomstick without realizing it, which resulted, among other things, in several holes in the ceiling and the walls, a broken nose and the house being messier than before. Whenever Martin got problems with his broom, his neighbors, doctors, the police and even his wife asked him how these accidents happened, and the absurd explanations he provided were always accepted as if everything was natural. Ron had a lot of fun and laughs reading about this, even if it was probably the tenth time he read this issue.

In the afternoon, Ron, Fred and George, accompanied by Ginny who tagged along, went to the paddock with their broomsticks. As they took their brooms out of the shed, Fred noticed the door was ajar.

"Ron, you didn't close it good enough yesterday," Fred said.

"No, I did. I locked the door before I went back to home," Ron assured.

"Well, you didn't lock it good enough, it seems, because it is open."

"Has any broom disappeared?" Ginny asked.

"No. They're all here." Fred and George took their Cleansweep Fives, and Ron took his old Shooting Star. Ginny, who got no broomstick, didn't take any, but she followed them, talking about Quidditch with them.

"Do you think you're going to win the Cup this year?" she asked Fred and George.

"We should. If Harry isn't stuck in the infirmary like last year. Wood tried to convince the professors to delay the game, but there was nothing to do. Too bad Katie didn't catch the Snitch. It was a fun game though, I have to admit it."

"You lost," Ron pointed out.

"I know, Ron," George said. "But there's more to Quidditch than winning. It's not that we lost the game that bothers me the most. It's that we lost it with such a difference in the final score that Slytherin won the Cup."

"Ravenclaw could have given you a few more points for that."

"I don't think we would have, if we were in their place. Besides, their regular Seeker was injured, and they took a small second-year girl to replace him. We thought Katie had a very fair chance to catch the Snitch."

"Anyway, this year is going to be different," Fred interjected. "We're going to win the Cup, Wood will finally have his name on it, just like we will, and everybody will be happy."

"Except the Slytherins," George specified. They clapped their free hands.

They finally arrived at the paddock on top of the hill. It was surrounded by trees, so no one would see them. Ron mounted his Shooting Star, and it flew slowly up. Fred's and George's Cleansweeps rose much quicker. Ron had the impression to move at Scabbers' speed. That reminded him that he had to feed his rat when he would go back home.

They threw apples and even small stones at each other for maybe two hours before their mother called them to help her prepare dinner. Their father was about to come back home, and not late for once this week. As a result, they stopped playing before any of them, including Ginny who watched and encouraged them, actually wanted to stop.

Their mother happened to have called them back just in time. They had just finished preparing dinner when their father showed up to the door.

"Evening, Weasleys!" he said as he walked in.

"Evening, Dad!" They all answered.

"Arthur!" their mother said. "I'm so happy you could make it home in time." She helped him remove his traveling cloak.

"You can't imagine how happy I am me too," he said, almost falling on his chair, rubbing his forehead in the process, his eyes half-closed. "Finally, a quiet night." Strange thing to say since the sun was only beginning to fall. "But I'll have to leave tomorrow early again."

"But you're going to miss Harry's arrival, Dad," Ginny said.

That seemed to wake him up. "What? He's coming tomorrow?"

"Of course, Arthur. How could you forget? He's spending two weeks here," their mother said. "We talked about it last night."

"Oh, yes. It's true. I guess there's just so much work I forgot about it. So, when is he supposed to arrive?"

"Tomorrow in the morning."

"Well, I'll try to stay until his arrival, but I don't know if I can. Tons of work at the Ministry. I crossed the path of his mother, Lily Evans, once or twice, but we couldn't talk much. She seems to be as busy as I am."

"Why is she so busy?" Ginny asked.

"She's training to become an Auror, Ginny. She's the talk on everyone's lips right now in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It's quite uncommon for someone to follow an accelerated training path."

"Did you ask her what face You-Know-Who did when she defeated him at Hogwarts?" Fred and George asked in tandem.

"Enough, you two!" their mother said, placing a plate full of food in front of them.

"As I said, we didn't have a chance to talk for very long," Arthur said. "But now that I think about it... Yes, I saw her yesterday... She said Harry would arrive early tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll have a chance to see him then. But let's talk about what you did today. Or more like what you did the last few days. I almost never saw you," he told his children.

Percy detailed how he worked all day to prepare the next year, despite them being over a month from the start of the school year. Fred and George said how they made other things explode in the chamber they shared. Ron talked about the adventures of Martin Miggs he read. Ginny talked about when she watched three of her brothers playing Quidditch on the hill, and she eventually brought the topic of discussion back to Harry, like she always did. No matter how they tried to redirect the discussion, she always came back to it.

When Ron got into his bedroom that night, he was eager for the next morning. His best friend was coming to stay for the next two weeks, after all. However, he was a little worried about what Harry would think of their house when he would arrive, or about Ginny if she ended up chasing him the whole time of his stay here. Still, Ron had no problem sleeping that night.

He was woken up very early the next morning, and he groaned so that his mother would let him sleep a little longer.

"Ron, come on! You're not going to sleep the whole day!"

It wasn't his mother's voice. Ron opened the eyes to find his best friend standing right in front of him. "Harry! What are you doing here?" Ron asked, while yawning.

Harry laughed. "Your mother told me to wake you up. She told me your bedroom was on the fifth floor, so I just climbed here and opened the door."

"But... what are you doing here? We are in the middle of the night." Ron might have sounded unhappy, but the truth was that he was smiling. He was glad to see his friend, even at this time of day.

"Not really." Harry looked at his watch. "Six o'clock in the morning."

"Six o'clock! You woke me up at six o'clock during summer! Who are you? Hermione Granger?"

The fact Harry was obviously containing his laughs didn't make Ron feel better disposed towards him for a moment. He brought back the covers of his bed over his head.

"Ron, your mother is not going to be happy if we don't go down soon," Harry told him, still barely not laughing.

"Let her be angry. She always is," he said half-jokingly, half-seriously.

"Ron, come on. All our parents are together in your dining room."

"Let them be together. Me, these are my vacations."

"Ron, look, I'm sorry for waking you up. Could you just come and say hello to my mother?"

Ron groaned and removed the cover from his eyes. "Did a single month of vacation suffice to turn you into a male version of Hermione?"

"I'm not like her, Ron."

"Well, right now, you certainly sound a lot like her. Stop or I'll start thinking like everyone else that the two of you are dating."

Despite his complaints, Ron rose and headed outside of his bedroom with his best friend.

"Hermione and I are not dating. You know that. She's just a friend. Would you like it if I asked you if you two were dating?"

"Yuck! Never bring that up again!"

"If you stop you too," Harry said.

"Deal."

They went down the stairs until they arrived in the dining room. Ron indeed found both his parents sitting at their dining table along with Mrs Evans, Harry's mother. His dad seemed especially fascinated and seemed to be asking her about something called an alarm clock.

"So, you're saying that the needles are turning around the clock thanks to batteries," his father said, uncertain.

"Most of the time, but some new models are just plugged into the wall and work with electricity."

"Eckeltricity!" His father was excited by the very word, like always. Ron looked at Harry, who just seemed amused by the situation. His best friend's mother noticed his presence then. She stood up and smiled at him.

"Hi, Ronald. How are you?"

"Fine," he answered, trying not to yawn.

"Keep an eye on Harry while he stays here. I don't want the two of you to get into trouble." Ron nodded. Mrs Evans looked at her watch. "I'm afraid I've got to go."

"I'll follow you," Ron's father said. "I'm getting to work early me too. The trip will be more pleasant at two people."

"I'll see you in two weeks, my dear." Harry's mother kissed him on the front and ruffled his hair before she left. "I wish you a good day, Molly," she added for Ron's mother.

"You're sure you'll be able to prepare dinner without me?" Harry asked his mother before she left. She turned to face her son, a faked expression of outrage on her face.

"I managed without you for an entire year. Do you doubt my culinary talents, young man?"

"I certainly think you will miss me after two days because I won't be there to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner," Harry said with a huge smile while raising successively his thumb, his index and middle finger.

"Be careful, young man, or you might pay a heavy price when I drag you back home," she said with a smirk. "Enjoy your stay."

Mrs Evans left on that last remark. Ron looked at his friend, who was just waving his hand at his mother, smiling. Ron then stared at his own mother, who for once looked just as speechless as Ron was. Ron would never have been allowed to speak this way to his mother. Perhaps Ron ought not to be so surprised. He saw such exchanges between Harry and his mother during the Christmas holidays, but they were rare. He thought his mother tolerated them because it was Christmas. But judging by what just happened, both seemed to kind of enjoy it.

"You must certainly be tired, Harry. If you want, you can go back to sleep for an hour or two. Ron can find some place in his bedroom for you," Ron's mother said. He rarely loved her more than in this instance. He felt like he needed five more hours of sleep.

"Thank you, but I'm not really tired. I wake up at this hour almost every day. I wasn't joking when I said I prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner at home. I can help you if there's something that needs to be done," Harry offered.

Ron couldn't believe what Harry was saying. He was just given the chance to go back to sleep, and instead he wanted to help Ron's mother with domestic tasks.

"That's very sweet of you, dear," Ron's mother said. "Well, chickens need some tending. So come, both of you."

Ron growled internally. Why couldn't Harry say he wanted to get back to bed? As a result, still in pyjama, Ron helped his mother and Harry getting the eggs and cleaning the hen house. It was seven o'clock by the time they were done. When they walked back into the house, Ron felt more awakened, but he was still yawning.

"Okay, Ron. Go back to bed," his mother finally told him. "Rest for a little hour if you want. You can show Harry where he's going to sleep at the same time."

"Thanks, Mom," Ron said.

Harry followed him. "Sorry, Ron," he told him once they were climbing the staircase.

"Never mind. But never do that again. It's summer. We're supposed to rest."

"Okay. I promise."

They arrived in the orange bedroom of Ron. Another bed had been installed the day before in prevision of Harry's arrival. "That's where you'll sleep," Ron told his best friend. "I know it's a bit small, and I'm warning you, the ghoul in the attic is always banging on the pipes..."

"I find it great."

Ron didn't expect that compliment. He felt the blood rushing to his ears.

"The Chudley Cannons?" Harry asked, looking at the posters covering the walls, all representing the seven players of his favourite team.

"Yes," Ron proudly said. "You never told me which was your favourite team."

"I haven't decided yet." Harry sat down on the other bed, the one that was added for him. "Who is Martin Miggs?" he asked while looking at the pile of comic books.

"The most stupid and hilarious Muggle you can find," Ron replied. "You never heard of him?"

"Not really. Well, I think... Yes, I think there were some in our common room last year."

Ron nodded. "You can read them if you want. That will leave me some time to sleep a little."

"Thank you, Ron." Harry took the first issue and opened it. "I wasn't aware there were comic books in the magic world."

"Of course, there are. What did you read before you arrived at Hogwarts?"

"More like Hermione's kind of books. My mother only told me I was a wizard when I was nine. I tried to learn more about our world, but it was through more... heavy reading." They both laughed. It was a reference to Hermione calling those light reading last year.

"So you never read comic books before?" Ron asked, unbelieving that Harry never got the chance to read those.

"Yes, I did, but those that Muggles read. For me, it was about Superman, Flash, Captain America, Hulk, or even Asterix."

"What? Muggles read comic books about asterisks?" Ron didn't understand why they would be interested by stories about stars that appeared in a text. Muggles were indeed very strange.

"Not asterisks, Ron. Asterix. It's about two Gaulish warriors who fight the Romans during Antiquity and who drink a magic potion that give them a superhuman force. They become strong enough to lift entire buildings with their bare hands."

"There's really a potion that can do that?" Ron was suddenly very interested.

"No, Ron. These are just stories. The effect of the potion only lasts ten minutes, but one of the two warriors fell into the cauldron when he was a child, and as a result, the effects of the potion on him are permanent."

Ron tried to imagine it. He imagined that he was strong enough to lift the house single-handedly. How cool that would be! Very interested, Ron began to ask Harry more questions about these comic books. Harry told him the potion was prepared by a druid, who bore the strange name of Panoramic, which interested Ron very much. Druids were very ancient wizards, and Ron could remember the tales about them that his mother taught him as he grew up.

Harry then began telling him about the other comic books he read as a child. Ron was fascinated by Hulk, a man who could change into a huge green beast who destroyed everything in its path and who could not be killed nor stopped by anything. He was less interested in Iron Man, and didn't understand very well how a very rich guy could become a superhero just by building himself a fancy suit. Then there was the Doctor Strange, a powerful wizard who Ron never heard about, and Spider-Man, a boy barely older than they were, capable of climbing buildings and producing spider webs after being stung by a very special spider. Ron, fearful of spiders, was horrified when Harry first told him how he got his powers, but he ended up considering that at least the boy did receive some benefits from being stung and it was probably worth it. There was also a guy dressed in red who could run very fast, an alien with his female cousin who were nearly invincible, along with a group of losers who travelled through time in what Harry called a spaceship, a guy with a glowing yellow hand, and a half-god who could use the power of lightning with a hammer. Ron wondered what impression he would have if he was handling a hammer rather than a wand to throw spells.

Ron, in return, talked to Harry about other comic books in the wizarding world, and they had so much fun that he forgot about his tiredness and was in a very good mood when they went down the stairs, wearing their clothes for the day. They were even the first to arrive at the table.

"So, did you sleep?" his mother asked Ron.

"No. We found another way to have fun," he replied.

"Well, good. Perhaps if Harry stayed all summer, it would be easier to wake you up in the morning."

Percy came down not long after them, still in pyjama. Fred and George followed suit. Ron wondered where Ginny was. She didn't wake up late usually. Well, he wasn't going to delay his breakfast because she was late.

They were halfway through breakfast when she finally came down from her bedroom, running through the stairs. "Mommy, have you seen my jumper?" she asked their mother.

"Yes, it was on the cat."

But then she must have noticed that Harry was present, because her eyes grew wide.

"Hello."

Harry just said this one word to her, and she turned red like a tomato and ran away back to her room quicker than she had arrived.

"What did I do?" Harry asked, uncertain, as if he had done something wrong, while Fred and George were trying hard not to laugh loudly.

"Ginny. My sister. She's been talking about you all summer. It's kind of annoying, really," Ron explained.

"Be careful, Harry. She'll be wanting your autograph," Fred said with a grin.

Their mother stopped them from going further on that road. At the end of their breakfast, she sent them to de-gnome the garden once more, and Harry accompanied them this time, but not Ginny. Ron's best friend got the trick quite quickly with gnomes, and they competed to send them the farther possible.

This time, when they got to the hill to play Quidditch, they were allowed to play much longer, and with Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand, the best broom they had. He allowed Ron, Fred and George to try it in turns, but nonetheless, Harry was found to be the best to catch apples. This wasn't a big surprise, since he was the Seeker among them.

While they played, Ron surprised Ginny hiding behind a tree while looking at them playing. When Harry asked Ron if it was his sister behind this tree, Ron saw her running away more quickly than he could imagine.

It went this way during the whole two weeks Harry spent at the Burrow. Ginny knocked something over every time Harry walked into a room where she already was, or when she walked into a room where Harry already was. She looked through a gap of her door when Ron and Harry climbed to his bedroom, only to shut it right away as soon as she saw them. And when Harry tried to tell her something, she knocked several somethings altogether. Harry finally stopped trying to speak with her.

Ron's father, on the other hand, was the complete opposite with Harry. Every time he had breakfast or dinner with them, he wanted Harry to sit by his side and spent his time asking him about Muggles and everything they did, from their means of transportation such as cars and helicopters to a kind of automatic razor they used to remove their beard. He talked at length about the Ford Anglia they had and that he modified heavily, even adding a function for the car to fly. Harry didn't seem to know what he should say about a flying car.

Ron was very happy that Harry was there, and he loved to spend time with him, even though he had to admit that it created some unwelcome irritating changes. Harry woke up much earlier than Ron did, and he always offered his help to Ron's mother to prepare breakfast. As a result, Ron's mother was saying very often how Harry was obliging, and Ron felt obligated to help them sometimes. Ginny was no longer talking without end about Harry, but she wasn't saying a word anymore, and after a few days, her habit of knocking things began to get boring rather than amusing. Also, his father was giving more attention to Harry during meals than to any other of his children.

Still, the two weeks were pleasant. Harry even went to the village to buy Ron some Hulk comics, which Ron was very grateful for. Ron was sad to see Harry leave on July 30. Since it was the day before his birthday, Ron's mother organized him a little party in the afternoon, with a huge cake for dessert. Even Ginny managed to smile while eating the cake.

"It's too bad your mother isn't there," Ron told him as they were leaving the table, their stomachs full.

"She wants to organize my own birthday party. She's like that. She wants to prepare one for me herself. She's always done it," he explained.

In fact, Lily Evans came to bring her son back home this very evening. She thanked both Ron's parents, and Ron as well, for taking care of Harry, and they left. Just before he left, Harry and Ron agreed to meet in Diagon Alley to buy their school material for next year. Hermione had told them which day she would go there, and they would go to the Alley the same day.

I received some comments to the effect that I wasn't doing Ron justice in this fanfiction. It is true that he has far less chapters than Hermione so far, and perhaps this is because I kind of like Hermione's character more than Ron's, but it really wasn't intentional. I'm trying to show Ron more substantially, to put him forward in subsequent chapters. This fanfiction is definitely not a Ron-bashing place.

Please review.

Next chapter: another Weasley