Yay! It's time for a get together I recon.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Chapter Thirty-Four
By Rosa241
Ron POV:
"Boys!" Mum calls for the hundredth time this morning. Honestly what's gotten into her I don't know. It's Christmas! We're meant to be able to lie in bed and sleep in, she's getting us up at the crack of dawn and won't even tell us why.
"We're coming!" I shout down again as I pull the jumper over my head. Harry's rubbing his eyes blearily and yawning loudly.
Okay so we shouldn't have spent so long last night talking about Flammel but what else were we meant to do? We can't just ignore it. Now that we finally know who he is, and what must be under that trap door, we can't let it go. My mind keeps running back to it no matter what I do. Truth be told I wish we didn't have to wait until we went back to school to figure it out but we don't have another choice. Its not worth the risk asking one of the others. They're already too suspicious as it is, asking them again is just wishing for trouble.
"Come on you two, Mum's going mad down there." It's Bills voice that drags me from my mind and forces me to come back to now.
"What's she want this early?" I ask as the three of us make our way to the kitchen. My brother says nothing as we walk but something tells me he knows exactly what's going on. What's happening? Stepping into the kitchen I'm about to ask her myself before I see exactly why we're all here.
"Hi Ron! Hi Harry!"
"Erm…Hi."
Hermione and Neville are both sat at the table grinning at us. Well Neville isn't so much grinning as giving us nervous looks as he glances around. Still not quite sure of what's going on I accept that plate of breakfast that mum pushes into my hands. Looking at our two guests I can see that they've both been given their own food, typical mum feeding everyone, which to no ones surprise are both empty.
"So what's going on?" I finally manage to ask as I sit opposite Neville at the table.
"Your father and I thought that it might be nice to have some of your friends over for the day." Looking to Harry I can tell that his grin has been matched by my own.
This is great.
Now we can let her know about the stone.
We couldn't risk telling her much in the letter, who knows who might have been able to get hold of it. But now she was here and we can tell her what we know. Let's face facts if any of us is going to be able to find out what the heck the Philosophers Stone is its her.
Molly POV:
"So nice to see Neville with friends." Looking towards the older woman I can see the genuine relief on her face.
We should have had him over years ago. Frank and Alice were our friends, they would have done anything for us. What happened to them couldn't be changed no matter what we wanted. At least now we can help.
"Well they're going to be at school together for a long time. Since they're friends we might as well get to know each other better." The Grangers simply smiled at me as they both sipped their tea.
"That Oliver boy's been sending Neville regular letters, every few days there's another one on it's way. I think I'm right in saying that he's even had one off of your boy, Percy was it?" Nodding, her words surprise me slightly. I didn't realise Percy was friendly with Neville. "Yes it's good to see someone looking after him. I had worried that he was going to struggle, my grandson is ever so soft."
I can see the genuine worry in her eyes as she speaks. Loosing Frank and Alice must have been hard enough but having to then raise her grandson as well? I can't imagine how strong she must have needed to have been.
"We were worried enough about Hermione too. She was so excited about being a witch and coming to Hogwarts." I can't begin to think how strange it must have been for them. One day they're a normal family with a perfectly normal daughter. The next they find out that she's a witch and there's this whole other world they've been living along side all this time. "She's never found it easy to make friends."
"Well Ron and Harry have had nothing but good things to say. We've heard a lot about her." My words seem to ease the concern of her parents face, particularly her father whose been shooting worried glances outside where the kids have been playing about in the snow.
"We've heard a lot about those two as well. I still can't believe everything that poor child has been through." It's obvious she's talking about Harry. "Poor thing."
"Oh yes that boys been through the ringer alright. Not that it's been easy for Neville either of course. They've both suffered." My husbands words surprise us all. He's been mostly quiet since the others arrived. "Still, they've got each other now."
Yes. Those kids will all be fine so long as they stick together.
Percy POV:
"So it worked? Do you think he'll try to take care of Harry when…well you know." Oliver glances over to where Ron, Harry, Hermione and Neville are making a snowman as he lowers his voice.
"I think he will. From what I know he'll do anything to take care of Harry. As soon as the Ministry decide Harry's homelife isn't acceptable he'll be first choice I'm sure of it. Let's face it they owe him something after keeping him locked up for all those years." There's no way that they can refuse to allow him to take over Harry's care. He's his god father for crying out loud.
"Well I definitely think that they should but will they allow it? I mean he has been in Azkaban for years. Maybe they'll think he's too dangerous now." It's something I'd worried about initially but I don't think we'll have to. Sirius was locked up for a crime he didn't commit and the ministry were at fault for it. They're getting enough heat with all the enquiries that have opened as a result of this, turns out that Sirius isn't the only one who didn't get a fair trial. Thankfully the others were all genuinely guilty, at least so far. They were taking heat for it though. The question had been asked that if an innocent man got locked up for twelve years how many guilty ones were allowed to walk free? Lucius Malfoy had said very little on Sirius' release I couldn't help but note.
"They have no choice. If they hadn't have locked him up for a crime he didn't commit then he'd have been looking after Harry anyway. And if they don't then well…it wouldn't be the end of the world."
"What do you mean?" Shaking my head I gesture to the house where mum and dad are entertaining the Grangers as well as Neville's grandmother.
"You really think mum and dad would let him go somewhere else? If they don't allow Sirius to have him then mum and dad will take him in a heartbeat. Either way he's out of that house." Nodding at my words I wonder how long it'll be before the ministry finally removes him from his Aunt and his Uncle. Surely they can't wait much longer?
"So what's the plan now?"
"Well you need to keep working on Neville. Help him out with Malfoy and try to build his confidence. He's got such a big part in this." Oliver nods as he gestures to the boy whose finally relaxing with the others.
"I think I might offer to help him out with his classes. I know I'm not up to your standards or anything but at least I can try and help. Maybe we can get him to stand up for himself, eventually I mean, no way can he do that yet." Smiling at him I can't help marvelling. There's a reason I wanted him to watch over Neville. He's so protective and very good at helping people stand up for themselves. If he can get me to do it then he can get anyone to. "What about you?"
"Keep my eyes on those three and try to get them to come to me. It'll be easier to deal with everything if they talk to me. There's still so much I don't know about what's going to happen." And there was the real problem. I don't know everything that happens and if I don't know about it I can't help, I can't do anything about it.
For now though all I can do is wait, wait and see what happens.
And I think we'll leave it there for now.
Okay so things are going to take a bit of a turn for the next few chapters. Looking at the timeline of events the next big event in the book is Norbert hatching which doesn't happen until late in April. Since it's now December I can either time skip (which I hate) or deviate. I want to deviate a little!
Until next time,
Bye x