Harry and Ron both lifted Harry’s trunk and they set off into the night; Ginny next to Ron, with Bill, Charlie, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley surrounding the three youngest in a protective circle. They reached the middle of the street and Mr. Weasley held up a hand, indicating to them that it was time to stop.
“This spot is as good as any,” he said. “Ginny, you grab hold of your mother’s arm and Side-Along Apparate with her. Harry, Ron, neither of you has passed your test yet, so I think it would be safest if you grab hold of Bill and Charlie and Side-Along with them.”
The Weasleys and Harry did as they were told, and within moments, Harry felt the uncomfortable feeling of Apparation as he and his trunk were planted firmly in front of the Burrow, his second favourite building in the world.
“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, as she and Ginny appeared next to Harry. “You didn’t leave any lights on in the house, did you, dear?”
“No,” replied Mr. Weasley. “I didn’t,” he added, drawing his wand. Harry and the rest of the Weasleys followed suit.
“I’ll handle this,” said Mr. Weasley, as they passed through the garden. He made his way to the front door, followed closely by Bill and Charlie. Mr. Weasley nudged the slightly ajar front door even wider and peeked inside. He let out a gasp.
“Err… perhaps we should come back later, Molly,” he said, turning towards his wife with reddening ears.
“We live here,” she replied shortly. But as she made her way past him he grabbed her arm.
“Molly, really we should just…” but Mrs. Weasley elbowed him out of the way, marched to the front door and kicked it wide open, so that everyone in the garden could see what was inside. There, in clear view, was Fred Weasley and a very pretty young woman engaged in very serious snogging on the Weasleys’ sitting room sofa.
“MUM!” cried Fred, as he quickly covered himself and the young woman up. “You said you wouldn’t be back 'til morning!”
All of the Weasley boys, Ginny, and Harry were all now doubled up in fits of laughter; Mr. Weasley looked apologetic and stared up at the night sky and Mrs. Weasley was looking daggers at Fred.
“Were you cold a moment ago, Fred?” asked Bill cheekily.
“Oh, shut it,” replied Fred, as Mrs. Weasley entered the sitting room.
“Don’t worry, Fred, I always knew you’d be the one to make Mum finally… crack,” said Ginny, and then she to fell the ground in a fit of giggles. It was at that precise moment that George chose to come down the stairs, with an equally beautiful brunette at his side, wearing his father’s robe.
“Done yet, Fred?” he asked, not noticing the others standing in the doorway. “I was about to tell Elizab… oh… Mum.” He stopped dead in his tracks, staring open-mouthed at his family.
“I know what you’re thinking, and don’t worry,” he said, moving towards his mother. “Fred and I cleaned all the dishes away after we had dinner.”
“Why, you two,” cried Mrs. Weasley, advancing towards them. Fred (still wearing a blanket), George and the two young girls were too quick for her and dodged her as they ran from the house.
“Nice to see you all,” yelled Fred over his shoulder as the four of them Disapparated once they had gotten far enough away from the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley stood in the hall of her home, horror-struck, as everyone else, including Mr. Weasley, giggled uncontrollably.
“Come now, Molly,” placated Mr. Weasley. “They’re young."
“They were… were… fornicating in our house! Probably in our bed,” she cried, and she sank onto the sofa. “Ah!” she cried quickly and jumped up from the sofa. At this point, Ron was howling, and both Ginny and Harry had tears streaming down their faces.
“Come on, Mum,” said Ginny, through her laughter. “That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!” Mrs. Weasley didn’t look like she thought it was as funny as Ginny did, and she gave her daughter a stern look before setting off into the kitchen.
Ginny caught Harry’s eye and rolled her eyes making it seem, for a moment, that they were boyfriend and girlfriend again. Ginny, however, quickly followed her mother into the kitchen before Harry could even smile in return.
“Come, dears,” she called, as she began setting the table. “I’ll whip you up something quickly and then it’s off to bed with the lot of you. It’s getting late.” They ate in silence, unless you included the shriek from Mrs. Weasley as she pulled what looked like one of the twins’s socks out of the flour jar.
“Everyone, up to bed… now,” she said, authoritatively as she cleared the table. “Harry, dear, I made up the other bed in Ron’s room for you. Sleep well; it’s good to see you again.” She gave him a bone-crushing hug.
“It’s good to see you, too, Mrs. Weasley,” he replied, once she released him from her grasp. “Goodnight.” Harry, Ron and Ginny trooped up the stairs and reached Ron’s room.
“Goodnight, Ginny,” Ron called, as he opened his door.
“Goodnight… to both of you,” she replied quickly, hurrying into her room without a look back.
“Sleep well, Ginny,” Harry replied to her back, before following Ron into his room. He would not act like a child, he thought. He was going to be adult about this. It was he, Harry, who had broken up with her and it was he, Harry, who would have to deal with the repercussions of that, however bad they made him feel.
“Harry?” Ron called, as they both slide into their beds and turned out the light.
“Yeah?”
“We’re not going back to Hogwarts, are we?”
“I’m not,” Harry replied. “You shouldn’t be stuck with my burden.”
“I’m coming with you, mate. Hermione and I are with you until the end.”
Harry said nothing and merely smiled to himself in the darkness.
“Speaking of which, what about you and Hermione?” asked Harry, now grinning from ear to ear. He heard Ron’s head hit the underside of the bunk.
“Err… umm… what umm… what do you mean?” he replied, his voice squeaking for the first time, that Harry had heard anyway, in the past couple of years.
“You know what I mean, mate, between you two, what’s going on there?” Harry prompted again through the darkness. He never liked to talk about things like this to Ron, but it did help him get his mind off Ginny, which was better than nothing.
“Nothing,” Ron replied, much too quickly.
“Is that a real nothing, or a Ginny nothing?” asked Harry, smirking to himself.
“A real one,” said Ron, though he did not sound at all convinced.
“All right, well, goodnight, mate,” said Harry, rolling over on his side.
“Yeah… 'night.”
No matter what Ron said, Harry thought to himself, his two best friends did have feelings for each other and Harry would just have to wait and see what Bill and Fleur’s wedding had in store.
* * *
“Harry!”
Harry’s eyes opened slowly and he sat up slightly, only to be grabbed by two arms and have a mane of brown, bushy hair hit him square in the face.
“It’s so good to see you,” Hermione said, releasing him from her grip and sitting down on the edge of his bed. “How have you been?”
“Spectacular, Hermione,” replied Ron sleepily, from his bed. “He’s only been attacked by Death Eaters twice.”
“What?” she replied, nervously. “Were you on that highway the day we left Hogwarts? Oh, Harry. Where was the second attack?”
“At Privet Drive,” Harry replied dryly. He did not want to talk about this. “My uncle told the Death Eaters that I lived there. I suppose what he told them weakened the magic that protected me there. Not enough for them to enter the house itself, but obviously enough to cast about five Killing Curses and send them into the living room,” he added angrily, getting up and walking to the bathroom. When he returned, he was met with the sound of Ron and Hermione’s bickering.
“Why would Crookshanks have stolen your Special Award for Services to the School?” Hermione said acidly.
“Don’t ask me,” replied Ron angrily. “All I know is, it was on the dresser, right here, and now it’s not.”
“Ronald, the award is the same size as Crookshanks. How exactly do you think that he would have managed to steal it?” Ron opened his mouth to say something but Harry held up his hands.
“Look, Hermione, you’ve been here for three minutes and you and Ron are already fighting. Ron, it would have been physically impossible for Crookshanks steal it. Did you look under your bed?” Ron reached under his bed and pulled out his award.
“Ah,” said Ron sheepishly, “I’ve umm… found it. Sorry, Harry. Sorry, Hermione.”
Hermione glared at him but quickly softened after an annoyed looked from Harry. Harry smiled at the pair of them.
“Now, if I have to listen to you two like this for the rest of the year, then you’re not coming with me, and I mean that.” He let a smile creep across his face. “Come on, I think I can smell breakfast, Ron.”
“Wicked, I love breakfast!”
* * *
The three of them reached the kitchen in silence, where they found a very angry-looking Ginny, still in her pyjamas, and a busy Mrs. Weasley setting breakfast on the table.
“Stop making so much noise so early,” said Ginny angrily to Ron, giving him a glare that reminded Harry very much of Mrs. Weasley.
“But it was her fau…” he began, pointing at Hermione, but quickly changed his tune. “Yeah, sorry, Ginny.”
He gave Harry a look and a thumbs-up while Hermione and Ginny exchanged a glance, rolled their eyes and mouthed something that sounded to Harry like boys.
They ate in silence for a few moments until the post owls arrived through the open window. A tawny owl dropped the Daily Prophet in front of Hermione and she placed a few coins in the pouch on its leg.
“Anyone we know died?” Ron asked as he swallowed a piece of bacon.
“No, but oh… this is interesting,” Hermione replied, opening the paper wider so that everyone could see. Harry looked at the article in the centre of the page.
Harry stared at the paper. He did not know what to think.
“Well, that’s excellent,” said Mrs. Weasley, from over Hermione’s shoulder. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with you two,” indicating Ron and Ginny, “if they had closed Hogwarts. Not to mention you, Harry, dear.” Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Ron fervently shook his head. Later, he mouthed and Harry nodded in agreement. Ginny looked at each of her three friends, frowning.
“You’d better tell her soon, Harry,” she whispered while her mother left the kitchen. It was the first time she said more than ‘hello’ or ‘goodnight’ to him. “She’s going to be worried sick when you do, mind you. Not to mention how worried I’ll be,” she added, and she went back to her breakfast.
Harry saw Ron and Hermione share a smiling glance. No, Harry… he thought to himself, you broke up with her for a reason. She’s with someone else now, anyway. With that uncomfortable thought in his mind, he rose from the table, cleared his dishes and stalked off into the living room without a word to his friends.