Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Thirty-One

"NO WAY!" I shouted at the top of my lungs when Ron and Mr. Weasley Flooed in to pick me up. "NO FREAKIN' WAY."

"Aisling McKeon," Grandma'am scolded, "Lower your voice!"

I tried, but I really couldn't. "THIS IS NOT FAIR, RONALD WEASLEY!"

"What?" He asked, bewildered.

"YOU CANNOT BE THAT TALL! IT'S ILLEGAL!"

"Aisling McKeon, you'd better quiet down or I'll--"

"Okay, okay!" I relented. "Ron, how are you so freaking tall?"

"I only grew a few inches -- you did too--"

"You're, like, half a foot taller than me now!" I complained. "You're practically a giant! Now I have to look up to you when I want to talk to you."

"Wait until you see Fred and George, they're much taller than me --"

"That's impossible!"

"Alright, alright," Mr. Weasley said. "There'll be plenty of time for that back at the Burrow. Aisling, do you have everything?"

"I'll send one of my House-Elves along with her things," Grandma'am said.

"Wait, what about Jab?" I asked, worried the roughness of the Floo Network would hurt him.

"He'll be fine, just a tad dizzy," Mr. Weasley promised, then frowned, considering. "It might be better to sedate him, but I haven't anything to do that."

"I don't want to sedate him," I said quickly. "If we give him the wrong amount of anesthesia, he could get seriously sick."

"We'll just make sure he's strapped in tight," said Mr. Weasley.

"Okay." I picked up Jab's kennel, where Jab was busy brooding. He hadn't wanted to leave Cagney. I'd promised him I'd let Cagney visit him at Hogwarts. He still hadn't spoken to me since. "Hang on, Jab."

As soon as we arrived at the Burrow, Fred and George came striding into the room, and I was almost offended at how tall they'd gotten. They sized me up, pretending to frown critically.

"Well, George," said Fred. "I don't know. I can't tell."

"Neither can I," George agreed. "I can't tell if we've grown or she's shrunk."

This earned them each a smack from me. "You're both idiots."

"Tall, roguishly handsome idiots," Fred corrected. "At least, I am. I'm not so sure about George, though."

"That doesn't say much about you, now does it?" George retorted with a grin. "We're identical."

"Alright, you two, that's enough." Mrs. Weasley came in, smiling at me warmly. "Hello, Ash, dear, how are you?"

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking," I replied, setting down Jab's cage.

Hermione and Ginny came racing into the room. They both gave me a big hug.

Hermione had been shorter than me last year, but now we were the same height. Ginny, however, had some catching up to do. She was just tall enough for the top of her head to be level with my earlobes.

"I barely got any letters from you, Ash!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Sorry," I said. "It's been a really hectic summer."

"Wait, you got letters?" Ginny demanded, glancing at me indignantly. "All I got were summaries of your letters to Ron!"

"Sorry!" I said. "I'm trying to get better at it!"