Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's stuff. Not mine.
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Chapter 7: The House of Weasley
The Return to Hogwarts was very uneventful. Since they were journeying across lands they had already traveled across, they were able to make it back to the castle in a matter of days. As soon as they arrived, the mirror was taken by Dumbledore and a number of other wizards and witches whom seemed interested in examining the mirror in search of something. That was what was on Ron's mind as he was walking down the halls with Hermione one day.
"They've examining that thing for a long time now. What is it that they're searching for?"
"A hint to the location of the remaining two talismans," said Hermione. "Usually, the Mirror of Erised simply shows your heart's desire. But if you look into it with the desire to find something, in this case the remaining two talismans, the mirror will show you where to find and what they are. I'm willing to bet that nobody, not even Dumbledore, actually knows what the remaining two talismans are. In fact, I'm sure that we only needed the mirror as one of the three talismans for the sole purpose of finding the other two. Its those two that are the real key to the outcome of this war." She said all this very quickly.
Ron stared at her, his mouth hanging open. "Why is it that you always know about this kind of stuff when you've only been here for a few months?!"
"Honestly, don't you ever read?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and walked away from the grumbling Ron. She had different things on her mind: namely, her feelings for Harry. 'There is no way that a knight would ever fall in love with a lowly farm girl' she thought sadly. She decided that she was not going to act on her feelings; she would simply stand back and watch him find happiness in the arms of some deserving noble lady, no matter how heart breaking it would be for her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The following day, Hermione was wandering around the Hogwarts ground when a beautiful, snowy white owl flew down to her bearing a letter. Hermione smiled at the owl as it landed on her shoulder.
"Hello Hedwig, do you have a message from Harry?"
Hedwig nipped Hermione's ear affectionately as she took the letter and started reading it.
Dear Miss Hermione Granger,
You have been invited to the celebration of the 16th birthday of Lady Virginia Weasley. The celebration shall take place in three days at Weasley castle, also known as "the Burrow". We look forward to your attendance. Please come.
Lord Arthur and Lady Molly
House of Weasley
Hermione had heard of Lady Virginia: she was Ron's younger sister. She had never met her, or any of the Weasleys besides Ron for that matter, and wondered why she would be invited. However, Hermione knew how important birthdays were (she herself had turned 17 only a few weeks ago) and decided to accept the invitation. After all, she was positive that Harry would be there as well since it was Harry's owl that had carried the invitation.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Just you wait till you meet my family," said Ron on the day of the celebration. "They're a weird bunch, especially my brothers."
"What do your brothers do for a living?" asked Hermione.
"Well lets see now...Bill works for Gringotts bank, Charlie travels around the Hufflepuff lands studying dragons, and Percy recently became Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Ravenclaw: thank God he's out of the Burrow. Oh, and Fred and George, they're twins by the way, became court jesters, much to my mum's horror, stupid gits. You may want to be careful around them. And of course, I'm a Mage Knight." At this point they had stepped in front of a fire place. Harry pulled out a jar filled with glittering powder.
"Is that Floo Powder?" asked Hermione.
"Nope, its a potion for beauty rest," said Ron with a grin on his face. Hermione sent him a death glare as Harry threw the powder onto the fire. He then shouted "The Burrow!" as he stepped into the flames. He instantly disappeared and was followed by Ron. Hermione shouted "The Burrow!" as she stepped into the flames. After a whole lot of spinning, she tumbled out of another fireplace.
"Well, how was your first experience with Floo Powder?" asked Harry as he offered her his hand.
"Just fantastic," she said dryly. Her insides did a couple of flips as Harry helped her up. As soon as she was on her feet, Hermione looked around to observe her surroundings. Weasley Castle and it's surrounding lands were one of the few areas within the Kingdom of Gryffindor that was not under Slytherin control. She was standing in a great hall of a rather run down but cozy castle. There were two long tables that ran along the sides of the hall. The center of the room had been cleared out to make a dance floor that would be used at the celebration that night. The walls were decorated with scarlet tapestries, all with golden lions drawn on them: the symbol of Gryffindor. Hermione looked to her side and saw a number of people with the same red hair as Ron.
"Welcome Hermione," said a tall, slightly balding man whom could only have been Lord Arthur. "We've really been looking forward to meeting you." Lord Arthur Weasley was none to have a fascination with muggles and immediately took a liking of Hermione. He turned to Harry and said, "Thank you for lending us Hedwig to deliver the invitations. Errol would have collapsed if he were given the job."
"My pleasure," said Harry.
"Oh its so nice to finally meet you," said a plump woman next to Arthur: Lady Molly. "Ron and Harry have written so much about you that I feel like I know you well." She then did something completely unexpected by throwing her arms around Hermione! Needless to say, Hermione was completely startled by this sudden display of motherly affection from a noble woman she had just met. She finally managed to stutter out a "Thank you."
She was then approached by another red head who seemed to be carrying himself around with high nobility and aristocracy: Percy. "Miss Granger, how absolutely delightful to meet your acquaintance," he said with much posh as he took a bow and stuck out his hand. Before she could shake it however, Percy was pushed aside by one of the twins: Fred.
"Miss Granger, how stupendously wonderful meet you," he said in a mocking tone as he shook her hand. He was then pushed aside by George who said "Absolutely smashing to meet you," as he shook her hand. Hermione stifled a laugh as Percy scowled at Fred and George.
"Do you two always mock your brother like that?" she asked.
The twins made a serious face as Fred said, "Oh, only when he gets all posh and snobby."
George continued, "Which happens to be..."
"Once..."
"Or twice..."
"Every minute..."
"All day..."
"Shut up!" shouted a very irritated Percy. Lady Molly was scowling, but Harry and Ron were snickering.
"Anyway," said Fred with an innocent look on his face. "Would you like a piece of bread?" He offered her a small piece of bread.
"Why, thank you very much," said Hermione. Before she could eat it, however, Harry grabbed Hermione's wrist, took the piece of bread, and popped it into Fred's mouth. Ron and George started howling with laughter as Fred's hair turned blue! After a few moments silence, Fred also started laughing.
'Oh, so that's what Ron meant by being careful around these two,' thought Hermione as she too laughed. She immediately stopped laughing when she saw a beautiful young red headed girl around the same age as her. Hermione suddenly became very aware of how plain she looked when she saw the noble girl who was none other than Lady Virginia. She was wearing a beautiful golden dress that brought out the full color of her hair. Her brilliant red hair was tied back in an elegant bun, leaving a few locks cascading around her face. She had a few, light freckles around her small nose and her chocolate brown eyes shone with life. What struck Hermione the most however, was the affection those eyes showed when they saw Harry. Hermione, all of a sudden felt miserable.
"Does she fancy him?" she whispered to Ron.
"Fancy him?" said Ron. "She's absolutely crazy about him. Back when we were children, she always turned bright red and couldn't utter a single sentence right whenever Harry was around."
"Does he fancy her back?"
"I don't know. I never asked."
Hermione looked down sadly. If anybody were to be with a Knight like Harry, it would have to be a noble lady such as Lady Virginia. She was a farm girl. There was no competition what so ever.
"It is good to see you again, Sir Harry," said Lady Virginia as she kissed his cheek.
Harry smiled and kissed her hand. "It is good to see you too, milady."
Virginia then turned to Ron and gave him a hug. "I missed you, Ron."
Ron grinned as he hugged her back. "Really?" he said. "I thought you were hoping that I would be banished from this castle in a matchbox."
"Ron, shut up!" said Virginia as she pulled away. She then noticed Hermione and gave her smile, "You must be Hermione."
Hermione curtsied and said, "I'm am very honored, Lady Virginia, that you wish for a mere muggle-born as myself to attend your celebration of your sixteenth year. I am..."
"Please, call me Ginny," cut off Lady Virginia (or rather, Ginny). "And I don't want you to use such ridiculous formalities with me. You were invited because you're Ron and Harry's friend. Besides, I really wanted to get to know you and I hope we could really be friends." She then looked at Hermione's blue and white robes. "Do you have anything to wear to the celebration?"
Hermione was suddenly interested in her shoes. "No, these robes are all I own," she said sadly.
"We'll take care of that," said Ginny. She took Hermione's hand and pulled her out into the corridor. "I'll show you to your room," she said with a smile. "I'll dress you up in one of my dresses. You're going to look absolutely beautiful tonight."
As Ginny led her to her room, Hermione wondered if a lowly farm girl like herself could ever look as beautiful as the elegant Lady Virginia.