Chapter 2
As the plane touched down and the wheels burned rubber on the runway, a few passengers lost their puny flight meals. Nellie was told that a Mrs. Molly Weasley would be picking her up. According to Professor McGonagall (the lady who sent her, her letter) said she was a woman with red graying hair. After crossing through the security gates again, she began to look around. The London airport was large and Nellie was very confused as in where to go. A plump woman surrounded by several good looking boys and a very bored girl where staring around the airport with amazement.
"How well Muggles have gotten along without magic!" The woman was saying.
"Mum. Stop saying that! You've been saying that for years!" said the youngest boy.
"And that public are packed with Muggles. She's been saying that for years." Said one of the eldest.
"Now. Her plane should have arrived." The lady said scanning her eyes. Her eyes landed on the very confused Nellie.
"That must be her!" said the lady. The boys all stared at Nellie's red hair.
"You sure she's not a second cousin or something?"
"Of course not! Mum would have told us so." The girl snapped finally.
"Yoo hoo!" called Mrs. Weasley. Nellie turned her head and saw the lady waving towards her. Nellie picked up her travel on bag and walked over.
"Do you happen to be Nellie Vonwit?"
"Yes I am. Are you Mrs. Weasley?"
"Yes! And these are some of my children. There's Percy, goodness where did he---"
"So pleased to meet you Nellie!" Percy was saying, smiling jovially and pumping her hand after he had just rushed over.
"Um. Hi." Said Nellie uncertainly.
"Percy, let go of the poor girls hand. You can flirt later." One of the other boys joked.
"That's Fred. The mirror image is George. And this is Ron, my youngest son and my daughter Ginny."
"Pleased to meet you all."
"Well. I guess Arthur will be dying to meet you. That's my husband. He loves muggles. But don't mind all his bugging." Mrs. Weasley babbled as they tried to find their car after they had retrieved Nellie's luggage. By the longing evil look in Fred and George's eyes, they had dearly wanted to goof off and ride the luggage conveyor belt.
"George, where did you park?" She then said exasperated.
"I parked on floor 5."
"We're on floor 7. We must have missed it."
"How can you miss your car?"
"Well you know. It's so old that it just disappears among all those fancy schmancy cars."
"Oh." They had reached floor 5 again.
"There it is!" Ginny said. "We passed that space twice!" The car was a very old rental.
"We used to have a flying Ford Anglia put Ron drove it to school and crashed it into a tree." Fred whispered to Nellie.
"Shut up." Said Ron. He turned to George who was getting into the front seat.
"We have to get home in time to greet Harry."
"Yeah yeah. Keep your pants on." George muttered. Percy smooshed himself right next to Nellie in the back who was already squashed seated next to Ginny and Ron.
"So." Percy said/flirted. "How old are you?"
"Sixteen." She said. Percy blanched.
"Sixteen?" He gasped.
"Ginny is going to be sixteen soon." Mrs. Weasley said. "Fred and George are nineteen, Ron is seventeen, and Percy is twenty one."
"How.. Nice." Nellie said.
"And Ron's friend Harry and their other friend Hermione are arriving by car later today. Bless those miserable relatives of his to let him take driver's ed." She said. "You've no doubt heard of Harry Potter?" Mrs. Weasley twisted in her seat. "The entire story of You Know Who and James and Lil----" Mrs. Weasley cut off and stared very hard at Nellie.
"What?" Nellie asked, frightened. "Is there something wrong?"
"No. No dear. You just briefly reminded me of someone." The entire car was quiet now.
"As I was saying.." Said Mrs. Weasley, breaking the silence. "Have you heard of him?"
"Yes."
"Oh he's such a charming one." Said Mrs. Weasley. "You should like him." Mrs. Weasley turned back around in her seat.
A half an hour later, the rental car was parked in front of a very odd house. There were hedges in the back of the house and there were many floors to the house.
"Ron sleeps up at the top. Harry sleeps there when he visits. Ginny sleeps on the second floor, You get to stay in Percy's room on the third. Fred, George, and Percy will sleep on the fourth. Our room is on the fifth. " Ron hefted Nellie's trunk out of the car and they went up into the house. A large black dog greeted the, sniffing and pawing eagerly at Nellie with it's flat spade like paws.
"That's my Niffller." Said Ron proudly. Nellie knew about Niffllers, even though she's never known anyone to have one for a pet.
"My oldest brother Bill works for a wizarding bank in Egypt and he was able to get me one. His name is Rocky."
"Dad named him." Fred added in. "He wanted to name him Lassie until he found out that he was a boy. You know, after that one TV show where the gullible little boy keeps falling into the well."
"Yeah. I know." A very balding man peeked his head into the hall by the front door where they all were gathered.
"You must be Nellie!" he said. "Come. You must come in and have a talk to Harry and Hermione about your summers in the Muggle World.
"I told you you should have driven faster! They're already here!" Ron told George. He ran into the kitchen.
"Hey guys!" he said to the two people sitting at the table waiting patiently. Fred and George said 'Hi' to them and Percy merely nodded. Mrs. Weasley flounced over and gave the boy with black hair, presumably Harry, a hug.
"Wow, Ginny." Harry said to Nellie, glancing over at everyone in the doorway to the kitchen. "You sure have changed over the summer."
"I'M Ginny!" Ginny said, pushing her way into the kitchen from behind her father.
"Then who---?"
"This is Nellie. Our exchange student from America." Mrs. Weasley said. Nellie stared at Harry. Harry stared back. Nellie was sure she knew that face and hair from somewhere else than books. Harry was sure he knew that face and hair from somewhere else but he didn't know where from.
"Hi! I'm Hermione! Pleased to meet you! Are you going to be attending Hogwarts with us when the term starts? I hope Dumbledore puts you in Gryffindor because we can have so much fun studying and going to the feasts and talking about junk and stuff and like it will be so cool and wait until you see my cat. He's the cutest thing in the entire world! Do you want to sit down? Here, you can sit here." Hermione said very fast. She seemed to have taken to Nellie. Nellie was quite surprised and took the seat that was offered to her.
"Hey Harry." George said. "Percy was flirting with Nellie in the car. Ever since Penny broke up with him he's been going after every single witch he can find."
"Have not!" Percy said. "How you doin'?" he asked Hermione and winked at her before apparating upstairs to his and his twin brother's room. Nellie tried to keep a straight face but ended up laughing out loud and causing the entire kitchen to laugh. This was great. Nellie thought. But she still had a feeling she knew Harry from somewhere..
"What would you like for dinner dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked suddenly. There were plates all around the table and platters of food. Mrs. Weasley had no doubt conjured them up.
"Um. Not much, thanks. I already ate something on the plane."
"Ooooo!" said Mr. Weasley. "I've never been on a plane before! What are they like?"
"They fly in the air and lots of people barf on them." Nellie said.
"Great Scott! I would LOVE to fly!" said Mr. Weasley.
"You know quite well we won't be able to." Mrs. Weasley said adding some sliced oranges to Nellie's plate at the table.
"So what is it like in America?" asked Harry.
"It's great. I've lived in all sorts of places. I lived in New York, and I lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and the last place I lived was Salem."
"I've heard of Salem! They're famous for their witch burnings and." Hermione stopped at the look on Nellie's face.
"Oops." She said.
"It's okay. I just don't like hearing about death."
"Neither do I." Said Harry.
"My parents died when I was really little. Like 4 months I think."
"Wow. That's small." Said Ginny.
"When's your birthday?" asked Ron.
"June 15th."
"I was born in July."
"I bet she knows all about you." Said Hermione, kicking him from underneath the table.
"Ow!" Nellie smiled as Harry grimaced and began to eat her dinner.
That night, Nellie brushed her hair in front of the Weasley bathroom mirror.
"What lovely hair!" said the mirror. "So brilliant red."
"Gee thanks." Nellie said, very surprised to get such nice compliments from the mirror. Harry came in to brush his teeth.
"Am I in your way?" Nellie asked.
"No. I can still get to the sink." Their eyes met in the mirror. Harry was just a bit taller than she was. Harry thought that both of their reflections in the mirror looked familiar. It was like he had seen both of them together in a picture. Smiling and waving. Harry recognized Nellie's bright blue gray eyes from somewhere. Harry quickly looked down and turned on the tap. Nellie picked up her brush, hung up her damp washcloth, and went to her room. She closed the door quietly after her, leaned her head against it, and tightly closed her eyes. She strained her memory back to as far as she could remember. She couldn't remember all of it. But she often always found herself crying after her mind raced through faces. So many faces. A pretty face of a woman with bright green eyes. Harry's eyes. A man with Harry's face and her eyes. A very small face of a young boy that made faces with his little face at her. And that evil face. Peering into the crib. Glancing at her with utmost disgust, pulling the blankets up close to her before leaving the room. A scream and loud bang. Someone ran into the room and began to cry. Someone cried her named and Nellie could see through the bars of the crib, the woman taking another child out of a crib and racing out still crying.
"Why the tears?" said a voice.
"Percy!" Nellie said, quickly wiping her eyes. "I thought you were sleeping in Fred and George's room!"
"Oops." Said Percy smiling evilly. "My mistake, hot cakes." Nellie punched him on the arm as he left. Nellie flopped down on the bed that Percy had just left. She covered her head with her pillow and soon drifted to sleep.
Harry trudged up to Ron's room. When he entered, he found Ron saying goodnight to all the Chudly Cannon Quidditch Players. It was an annoying habit that got on his roommates' nerves when he was at Hogwarts.
".. Goodnight Oliver Wood. Goodnight----"
"That's right." Said Harry, joking. "Goodnight!"
"Night Harry!" Harry climbed into his bed and Rocky jumped on the bed to sleep at the foot of the bed. That night Harry had a strange dream. A dream he'd never had before. It was different than all his past dreams. They used to always have flashes of green light (effects of Avada Kadavra) and the evil laughing snake face of Lord Voldemort. Or they were prediction dreams about what Voldemort was planning to do next. He hadn't had one of those in a while. This dream was quite strange. It seemed his memory was taking him far back. Farther than he'd ever remembered. It was the night of full moon. He could see it from the window out of a crib he was in. The moonlight washed over him. The light was then blocked by a dark cloaked figure entering the room. The figure passed him and Harry had sucked his thumb in fear. The figure left. A loud bang brought what he thought to be his mother into the room. She cried someone's name and began to cry. She swept him up in her arms, still crying. He was drowsy and hardly had a clue what was going on.
"How could you take her away!" yelled his mother.
"Mu ha ha ha!" laughed the evil laugh of Voldemort.
"Please have mercy! He's all I have!"
"Liar! Foolish girl! Stand aside!"
"Lily! Take Harry and run! I'll hold him off!"
"No James!"
"Go Lily!" Lily took a deep breath. Harry was being jounced as his mother ran.
"You can never escape me!" Voldemort yelled. There was the first flash of green light. Harry fell out of his now dead mother's arms as she collapsed to the ground. Someone picked him up.
"You bastard!" choked his father. Something wet fell onto his head. It felt like it was raining to him. He was only 1. He was set down safely on the ground and he heard his father say his last words.
"You've ruined my family. The girl's I loved are gone. Now you shall pay!" The next flash of green light came. Harry had begun to cry. He cried loudly. The evil face of Voldemort peered down at him. It was a regular evil face. No snake eyes or snake nostrils.
"Now it's your turn. The moon is at just the right peak of darkness." The voice of Voldemort sneered. Another flash of green light and a terrible screaming noise and a blast of pain on Harry's head. Then part of his other dreams began. The flying motorcycle and so on.. Harry suddenly woke up just as the flying motorcycle bounced as it landed. He was breathing heavily and sweat was running down his face, mingling with tears. Harry rubbed his eyes and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his nightshirt. Miles away on Privet Drive, Mrs. Arabella Figg woke up too. Cats snorted grumpily as they were shifted from their sleeping positions.
"She's still alive." Was all she said to the night. She looked out the window at the moon. It was almost full. Just as it had been that terrible night in Godric's Hollow.
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