Chapter 7 - The Weasleys
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!
AN: Thanks Turnlach for you BETA work!
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Harry was suddenly awakened the next morning by Hermione jumping on his bed and tackling him. He laughed at her antics before giving her a sweet kiss on the lips. She beamed at him, before lying down next to her boyfriend.
"It's time to get up…" She said softly. "We have to check into the Leaky Cauldron."
"Yeah… in a minute… I'm kind of enjoying you being next to me." Harry said, grinning cheekily at her and making her blush. She then turned serious.
"Are you going to tell Ron?" she asked him. Harry looked at her,
"About us? Or about me being from…you know?" he asked.
"Both, I guess." she said.
"Well about us… I have no intention of hiding it from anyone!" he said with a large grin, hugging her again, "But about the future… no." he said softly. Hermione looked at him in confusion.
"But we tell each other everything." she said.
"I know… but in our sixth year… we find out Ron has… a rather loose tongue. He does not mean to tell people, he just sometimes lets it slip, or talks about it at the wrong time and someone overhears… I guess he's sorta like Hagrid." Harry said grinning madly when he compared him to Hagrid. This also caused Hermione to burst out laughing. "But yeah… if he accidentally let slip about the future… well it could be very, VERY bad." Harry said seriously, Hermione nodded in agreement.
Harry and Hermione then headed downstairs. Sirius was sitting at the table eating breakfast, waiting for them to come down and when they entered the kitchen he looked up.
"Have some quality snogging time?" he asked grinning and raising one eyebrow. Hermione blushed at this, and as much as Harry tried not to he also blushed. Sirius just chuckled at getting Harry back for his comment in Madam Malkin's.
All three of them started to eat breakfast before it was time for Harry and Hermione to leave. Hermione gave Sirius a hug, Harry also gave him one.
"I'll call you tonight… and I will also call you about my Quidditch games… I put in some mental defences so that you can sneak past the Dementors without them noticing or affecting you…" Harry said softly. "We will catch Peter this year and get you cleared." Harry said softly, Sirius just gave him a big hug.
"I think we will meet again this year… tell us when your first Hogsmeade trip is, I'll meet you then." Sirius said, Harry just nodded, giving Sirius one last hug before he and Hermione left for the Leaky Cauldron.
When they arrived they walked up to Tom, who was behind the bar.
"Well hello again Mr Potter, Miss." Tom said.
"Hello Tom… We need two rooms… just the night." Harry said, Tom nodded and handed them two keys.
"Oh and if anyone asks… I have been here since I first came, and Hermione here has been here for a day already." Harry said slipping him another two galleons, Tom for his part just nodded.
Harry and Hermione went up to their rooms and put their stuff away. Harry had to put most of his stuff away, making it look like he had been here for nearly a week, while Hermione only had to give the image of a day. After that they both went down to the bar and ordered a couple of butterbeers and waited for the Weasleys to arrive.
About thirty minutes later a sea of red hair entered the pub. Harry looked up and waved to the Weasley family at which time Ron came running over to the table.
"HEY GUYS!" he said happily, "It's great to see you again!"
"What's got you so happy mate?" Harry asked him, trying to hide his laughter, Hermione just looked confused.
"Here look at this!" he said, handing Harry a cutting of the Prophet. It was a picture of all the Weasleys; in the background you could see the pyramids of Egypt.
"Cool, how was the Holiday?" Harry asked, while he handed the piece of the paper to Hermione.
"It's was great! There were the normal muggle tours and all, but then there were the wizard only parts… I never knew I would ever enjoy learning." Ron said, Harry laughed at this, Hermione seemed to brighten.
"Good, now I won't need to bug you to study as much anymore." she said happily.
"Hold up now." Ron said, "I said I didn't mind learning, I said nothing about studying." Hermione seemed to scowl at this, but soften when Harry gently squeezed her hand under the table.
It was at this time that Percy came over, walking proudly, and his Head Boy badge pinned to his shirt. When he reached the table he held out his hand to Harry.
"Hello Harry, pleasure to see you." he said pompously, giving Harry's hand a firm shake. Harry was finding it rather hard to keep from laughing. "I see…" Percy started but was cut off then as Fred, or was it George, pushed him out of the way.
"Harry, old man, it great to see you…"
"Splendid actually…"
"Spiffing…"
"Absolutely bloody…"
"Marvellous!" the twins said. He didn't know how they did it, and they had never told them, but he found it amazing… it was like they could read each others minds.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mrs. Weasley said, "Try and set a good example for Ginny here."
Ginny seemed to blush when Harry looked at her. She mumbled a soft, "Hi" before quickly walking away.
Mrs. Weasley then turned to Harry, engulfing him in a hug, "How have you been dear? Have you been eating enough?" she asked. Harry just nodded, he loved Mrs. Weasley like his own mother, but sometimes she seemed to smother him.
"Have you heard the good news?" she asked him, Harry just shook his head. Mrs. Weasley's smile grew and she put her hand on her chest, looking very proud, "Second Head Boy in the family! Percy got his badge!" she said.
Harry heard the twins mutter something along the lines of, "And last one in the family." though it seems that Mrs. Weasley also heard them.
"Yes I guess it will be… I noticed that they didn't make either of you prefects."
"And why would we want to?"
"Ruin all our fun…"
"And stop us from pranking!"
"Not in our lifetime!" The twins said, saying the last line at the same time. They then quickly excused themselves and headed out into Diagon Alley.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron also left the pub and headed out into Diagon Alley.
"So… What you want to do? School stuff? Lollies? Pranks?" Ron asked.
"Well Hermione and I already have our school stuff… so I guess we will get your stuff first… get it over and done with." Harry suggested. Both of them nodded and they made their way through the different shops, picking up all the stuff that Ron needed.
After about an hour they had finally got all of the school stuff done Hermione said, "I want to buy a pet… my mum said I could, and she gave me some money for one." Harry and Ron just nodded.
"Er… do you know of any pet stores Ron?" Harry asked. Ron seemed to think for a bit before he nodded and started to lead them down Diagon Alley.
They finally came up to the shop that Harry remembered. When they entered it wasn't very roomy, there were cages stacked all around the place. He noticed two large purple toads that he found familiar. Hermione started to look around the pets until she came across a large orange cat, Crookshanks. Harry grinned as Hermione seemed to fall in love at first sight with the large feline.
She then quickly walked over to the clerk and pointed out the one that she wanted. The lady seemed very surprised, and quickly got the cat and his paper and handed it over to her. She seemed very happy to be finally rid of the cat.
Harry then turned to Ron who was looking at owls, "Where's Scabbers Ron?" Harry asked.
Ron's face seemed to fall a little. "Ran away in the pub… I hope I find him again today…" he said sadly, while Harry was cursing inside. After Hermione had brought Crookshanks, Ron made some comment about it being ugly, which caused Hermione to whack him over the back of his head before she stormed off back to the Leaky Cauldron.
Ron seemed very confused and didn't understand what he did wrong; Harry just shook his head, clearly amused before following Hermione. She dropped Crookshanks off in her room before the trio made their way back out into Diagon Alley.
They stopped at a number of stores, before they came across Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron gasped as he looked in the front window, there was a new Firebolt sitting there with a notice under it which Ron read aloud,
** THE FIREBOLT **
THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART RACING BROOM SPORTS A STREAM-LINED,
SUPERFINE HANDLE OF ASH, TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH AND HAND NUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER.
EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC PERFECTION, GIVING THE
FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE BALANCE AND PINPOINT PRECISION.
THE FIREBOLT HAS AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND INCORPORATES AN UNBREAKABLE BRAKING CHARM.
PRICE ON REQUEST.
Ron was eyeing the broom in awe, "I wish I could just have a ride." he whispered, Harry chuckled at this.
"You can have a ride of mine at Hogwarts then… you can also have my Nimbus if you want." Harry said in his ear, quietly, he didn't want to draw attention.
"YOU HAVE A FIREBOLT!" Ron exclaimed, causing everyone to turn to Harry. Harry just sighed and nodded slightly. Ron jaw dropped, as did everyone else's.
"When did you get it? Can I see it?" Ron asked quickly,
"I got it yesterday… of course you can see it." Harry said…, "Do you want my Nimbus? I won't need it and it would get more use by you since you can use it during the summer." Harry said. Ron's eyes seemed to widen before he threw his arms around Harry in a hug.
"I'd love it! Maybe I could try out for the Quidditch team!" Ron said thinking aloud; Harry just shook his head, as they started to make their way back to the Leaky Cauldron.
When they got back, they went straight into Harry's room, where Ron was closely examining Harry's Firebolt. Hermione came up behind Harry and started to whisper in his ear.
"Should we tell him… about us now?" she asked, Harry just nodded.
"Um… Ron?" Harry asked, Ron just grunted and continued to examine the broom.
"Ron" another grunt, "RON!" this seemed to get Ron attention as he looked up.
"There is something we need to tell you" Harry said softly, "We… that is Hermione and I, err… well, we like, umm…"
"You like each other as more than friends?" Ron said. Harry's eyes went wide as he looked at Ron who he seemed a little amused, "It's about time… like the whole school hasn't known since your first year." he said.
"You're not angry or anything about it?" Harry asked, Ron seemed to think for a moment,
"No… but don't leave me out ok…" Ron said seriously.
"Oh Ron we would never! You're our best friend!" Hermione said jumping over Harry and giving Ron a bone cracking hug. When Hermione finally let go Ron seemed a little confused. It was then that it hit Harry… Ron started to notice Hermione after the Yule Ball… he could only hope that Ron would still be happy for them.
They then noticed it was about time for dinner so they got up and went downstairs. Before Harry could make it to the table Mr Weasley stopped Harry and pulled him off to the side.
"Harry… what I'm about to tell you… a lot of people wouldn't want me to…" He said seriously… Harry just nodded; he already knew what this was about.
"You have obviously heard about Sirius Black?" he asked, Harry again just nodded,
"Well I must ask you to be careful… it seems that Black thinks that killing you will bring You-Know-Who back to life… Hogwarts is going to have some extra guards… please don't go wandering off at night." Mr Weasley said. Harry just nodded and Mr Weasley patted Harry on the shoulder before they both went over to the dinner table.
Tom had to join two tables together so that the seven Weasleys, Harry and Hermione would all fit together. Once that was done they ate through a lovely five course meal before Mrs. Weasley announced that it was time for bed, since they had an early morning tomorrow.