On this specific evening, the Burrow was buzzing louder than usual. Molly and Arthur were taking my parents with them to visit Charlie for the weekend in Romania.
They are going to be gone for the last weekend before the summer ends. Harry and Hermione are coming over to stay with the lot of us while our parents are gone.
"Boys, behave yourself!" Molly called from the front door, just as the two couples were headed out. Arthur gave us all a silent, reassuring nod- as he always did. My parents, smiling from behind the Weasleys, bid us all goodbye, and the four of them left closing the front door on their way out. For a moment or two we could all still hear Molly's worried complaints from behind the closed front door, and once it finally faded Ginny hopped up off of the couch from next to Harry.
"Okay, Fred did you remember to get it?" He had that big cheeky grin plastered on his face that always followed with some form of mischief- then trouble.
"Ginerva, I'm hurt that you'd think I had forgotten." Fred said sarcastically. George, looking over at his brother, rolled his eyes and snickered. "Gin, it's upstairs under the foot of his bed."
Hermione and Ron, exchanging confused looks, tried to get some information out of somebody.
Harry started smiling to himself knowing what was about to go down. Moments later Ginny reappeared at the bottom of the stairs, holding a large glass bottle, with a red-orange liquid sparkling from the inside.
"Oh, absolutely not!!"
Harry bursted out laughing at Hermione's protests. "No! Your parents would be livid! What if they find out?"
Ginny smiled sweetly, "Mione, relax. They won't be back for three days, it will be fine." Ron raising an inquisitive eyebrow, "Alright then, who's going first?" Fred grabbed the bottle from Ginny and sat down next to me with a smirk. "I think I know who ought to go first."
Shaking my head I turn my body to face Fred, who is sitting oddly close to me for some reason. "Frederick Gideon Weasley, is it possible you can ever have any fun while sober?"
With a sarcastic look and a grab of his chest, "Dylan Mae Serrano, is this a challenge I hear?" I leaned back into my seat, "Maybe, can you handle that Weasley?"
"Well, looks like the drinking is going to be delayed a bit, I think we need a quick game of quidditch to solve this." Harry started.
"Harry!! I've never heard a better idea escape that gorgeous face of yours!" I blurt.
"Dyl, he's literally defeated you-know-who like... multiple times..." said Ron, unsure if I was being serious or not.
"Whatever! We're losing daylight, let's go! I am going to absolutely kick your arse Frederick."
I got up and grabbed the bottle from Fred to put on the counter on our way out, accidentally brushing his hand as I did so. It was weird. It felt as if time had slowed for a moment, Fred looked at me oddly. His usual clearly readable expressions seemed to fade, being replaced by a very... confusing look. Um..? I'm going to ignore whatever the hell that was. I set the heavy glass bottle down and headed towards the front door. Looking up at George, who was standing in the doorway waiting, returning the exact same confused look I gave him.
"Georgie, you're on my team!"
"That I am Ranno! Lets go!!" George excitedly followed, throwing his arm around my shoulder as we left through the front door.
The rest of the group then got up to head outside for a match or two, Hermione last, clearly not too fond of brooms or the idea of playing quidditch in the slightest.
The only people I know who are always up for a game of quidditch, other than myself of course, would be the twins, and Harry. And I'm not too bad compared to the chosen one himself and the two hotheads with the bats. I'm a chaser, and a damn good one at that.
Once everyone had made it outside, we all got situated. Hermione sitting against the outside wall of the burrow, the rest of us finding brooms minus George and Fred who sped off to get the box with all of the playing balls.
"Okay! Ginny, you're with Georgie and I, the cooler team clearly. No offense Harry and Ron." I said, laughing.
"What? That is not fair, if you get George, I get Ginny!" Fred whined.
Harry and Ron stood next to him looking quite offended at the backhanded complaint.
"You snooze, you lose Freddie boy. Cmon, let's start. Unless you're already scared you'll lose?"
"Scared? Not of anything coming from you Serrano." Fred spat.
Hermione gave a countdown and the game started fast with no intention of slowing down. Brooms were flying back and forth past me in ginger blurs. One in specific had caught my eye for a reason I couldn't explain.
I paused for a moment, and admired Fred's smiling face. His cheeks were freckled and rosy, and his hair was pushed out of his face from the wind. Quidditch is where he was always at his best for as long as I knew him. But then it was almost like he felt me staring at him because sure enough he cocked his head in my direction. Noticing my admiration, he looked at me with a smirk.
The smirk quickly dropped into a look of alarm, "Dyl watch out!"
It took no time after that for me to realize a bludger was headed straight for me. Before I could even move out of the way, the ball had knocked me off of my broom sending me down to the ground.
Holy shit what just happened?
I open my eyes to see Hermione standing over me looking extremely worried and already casting a spell. My vision was blurred and everything was spinning around me.
I cried out as a shockwave of pain ran through my left leg. My ears were ringing and I was just regaining my breath from the fall.
"Lenio!"
"Mione, it's okay, I'm fine" I tried to sound convincing, sitting myself up. "I just- SHIT" No this is not fine. Wow, this is painful holy shit.
One by one everybody else scrambles off of their brooms to come see what had happened, as I failed to lift myself up off the ground, again. "Are you not able to walk Dyl? It's that bad? Oh shit. Mums gonna kill us." Ron sighed under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck, earning a smack behind the head from Hermione. "That's what you're concerned about Ronald?"
Fred knelt down and scooped me up bridal style, "Enough of that, you bloke. Clearly she's in pain. Help me get her inside."
Wrapping my arm around Fred's shoulders and dramatically throwing my head back, "So, Freddie. Does this mean my team won?", with a sweet innocent smile.
"I don't think so, Serrano. It's not gonna be that easy. You think you can guilt me into a loss because you're hurt? Well love, I'll tell you what," He said as we made our way into the living room. "You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that." He drops me onto the couch hysterically laughing.
As he drops me, I hit my foot on the arm of the couch, and without hesitation out came a nice loud, "Ow, fuck!!"
"Oh shit I am so sorry." Fred disappears into the kitchen and comes back with an ice pack and glass of water.
"Thanks Freddie."
"Of course, Dyl. I didn't mean to hurt you."
You know, Fred isn't always an ass, he can be a real sweet guy sometimes. Unfortunately it takes things like me falling off a broom to bring it out in him.
"It's alright Fred, I know." I said with a forced smile.
As the rest of the group filtered back into the living room, "I'm gonna go find something in Mum's cabinets, Dyl!" Ginny yelled from the top stairs.
"Kay thanks Gin!" I hollered back as I made myself comfortable.
Ginny reappeared in the living room within a few minutes with a glass jar filled with what looked like muck water from the side of a road. "Okay just down this. I know it looks gross -and trust me it won't taste or smell any better- but you drink this, and you'll feel better in minutes."
"Ugh, okay hand it here."
My face involuntarily contorted as I got a whiff of the bottle, and drank as fast as I could. I could hear George and Harry cheering me on as I finished it, which made it a little harder because Harry's cheers and attempt at dance moves were atrocious-which almost made me spit all of the potion out in howling laughter. I knew Ginny and Fred were thinking the same by the way we all looked at eachother with semi-concealed smirks.
"Okay, I think now would be a good time to open up that bottle of firewhiskey." Fred said, followed by a smack in the arm from George.
I look up, and giggle. "Okay, fair enough. I guess your team won fair and square."
After about an hour of sitting spread about the front living room as everyone passed the bottle of firewhiskey around, the sun had set, and Hermione had lit the fireplace which had made the room warm and cozy. By this time everyone had shifted around the room to be more comfortable.
Harry was sat on the end of one of the longer couches in the living room, with Ginny's head in his lap. He had one hand on the arm of the couch, and the other in her hair midlessy twirling while holding conversation with Ron who sat on the floor with his back against the couch.
Hermione and I were sitting the same way as Ron against the opposite couch, with the coffee table between us. The twins took up the majority of the couch Hermione and I were sitting against. George was sitting with his back on the arm of the couch, and his hands in his lap. Fred was completely sprawled out taking up the rest of the free area, which also happened to be invading my personal space. He always seems to be good at that for some reason. I never really seemed to mind though, growing up with him and George glued to my sides.
My foot had felt much better by now, and so had everything else. Ginny and Hermione had got up and decided to start making some food for everyone. Or at least attempted to, with a pile of grilled cheese sandwiches, and some American muggle noodles Hermione had brought over for us all to try.
We all grabbed what we wanted as we all gathered around the center table that seemed just too small to fit all of us around it.
With lots of loud voices and booming laughter throughout the house, the night seemed to slip away, and the firewhiskey began to wear off.
Unfortunately for me that meant partial pain was going to return soon as well.
As morning became nearer, everyone gradually disappeared to do their nightly routines, which soon left Ginny, me, and Fred.
A few quiet minutes passed and Ginny was off to bed. Fred and I held a conversation for just a bit after, then realized how late it really was.
"Okay I think it's best if we head off to bed soon." I said, trying to lift myself off of the couch I had been for what seemed like too long.
"Yeah best not sleep through tomorrow. We've got some packing to do." Fred followed.
I placed my feet on the floor, but unable to put any pressure on my foot. I made a poor attempt at concealing the discomfort, hissing in pain. Fred hopped up looking concerned, "You alright?"
"Erm, no. I need some help getting upstairs." I chuckled trying to hide the fact I was annoyed at myself for needing help.
Fred showed a comforting smile knowing I hate the need to depend on others. He bent down to my height- a notable difference there was between us- and I wrapped my arm over his shoulders and we slowly made it to the bottom of the stairs.
"Dyl it will be afternoon before we make up to Charlie's room, just let me carry you, please?"
I looked at him with a blank stare for a moment, "Okay. Fine."
"Thank Merlin. We'd never make it up there by sunrise."
"Very funny Weasley, can we just get on with it?"
We made our way up the three flights of stairs fairly quickly, considering Fred carried me the whole way up, which I will stay up at night embarrassedly thinking about for the rest of my life. As he was ascending the stairs though, I seemed to notice how much more muscle he has gained from last year. I swear 6 months ago his arms were half this size. How does that even work? I tried to be as subtle as I could be while staring...
I was not subtle.
"Dyl, you okay?" Fred had stopped in front of the room door.
"What?? Oh. No, yeah I'm good." I stuttered.
He snickered, shaking his head and opened the room door. I hadn't even bothered unpacking any of my stuff as we were all off to school in the upcoming days. He managed to step over all of the bags and set me down onto the bed in the room that once belonged to Bill.
"Okay, I'm just down the hall if you need me. O-or George. You know that." He said as he made his way back to the door. Just as he turned to grab the doorknob, I sat up a little.
"Fred?"
He spun around. "Yeah Dyl?"
"Goodnight." I said with a tired smile.
He smiled back at me and stepped out into the hallway, "Night." and closed the door behind him.
I drifted off to sleep almost immediately and felt as if I had blinked and it was morning already.
I heard a soft knock on the bedroom door, "Dylan, are you up?" George poked his head in and grinned when he noticed I was awake. "Hey, Ginny and Harry said they've got breakfast ready downstairs, you hungry?"
"Of course," I laughed, rubbing my eyes awake. "Ill be ready in a second i just need to change. Wait for me?"
"Of course." He repeated back, closing the door behind him.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and my foot wasn't hurting as badly as it was last night, thank Merlin. Hopefully this time I'm able to get around without another embarrassing feat.
I get undressed and throw on a large tshirt from the top of my trunk and some loose lounge shorts. I put on some socks and opened the bedroom door to find George patiently waiting for me on the other side.
"Okay let's go, I'm starving!"
"Me too."
I successfully made it down the stairs without assistance, although George seemed timid about it all.
We finally made it down to find everybody sitting at the table and plates piled high with random breakfast foods, Ron's especially. We gathered around the table with the others and I found an empty seat. "Okay guys my dad gave me something to bring for the weekend while our parents are away. I think he left it in George and Fred's room?" I look over at the twins.
They nodded in unison, "Yeah, that weird big box he left on the table?"
"Yep, we're watching a movie tonight!"
Hermione squealed, "Yay! It's been forever since I've seen a movie!"
Harry sat at the table, eating his breakfast smiling at our excitement.
{Time Skip}
It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. We all were in our rooms packing our trunks for school, as we were leaving tomorrow morning. We all seemed to finish around the same time, meeting up down in the living room and kitchen area.
George was sitting up on the kitchen counter, Fred next to him leaning his hands on the counter. Harry and Ron were just coming down the stairs and Hermione and Ginny were sitting opposite of each other at the table.
"Okay boys," Hermione said, turning her head towards the twins, "I presume you have sweets of some kind for the movie?"
"We sure do Mione," Fred said proudly. "Some of our own if you'd like to taste test."
"No, we absolutely do not want to try your trick treats, and we aren't bloody idiots either." Ron said with haste.
"Could have fooled me." Ginny interjected.
"Okay, okay! Ladies, let's take it down a notch shall we?" I stood up, "Harry, Ron, grab some drinks and cups from the cupboard please, and we will meet you upstairs. Sound good?"
The two boys nodded and headed into the kitchen. George dropped off of the counter and Fred stood up straight as they began making their way up to their bedroom. Hermione and Ginny stand up and the three of us start collecting pillows and blankets from the living room and follow behind the twins. We all collected into the bedroom and set down our findings. Ginny and Ron squeezed their way out of the cramped room and shortly returned with Charlie's queen mattress and dropped it in between Fred and George's bed which fit perfectly like a puzzle piece. Then, Hermione began placing the pillows and blankets down evenly and we had successfully made half of the boys room a super long bed. Everyone found a spot they were comfortable in and Harry and Ron began setting up the TV.
Ginny claimed Fred's bed, saving a spot for Hermione. Ron across the room on George's bed. Between the two twin mattresses on the floor was George and Fred next to their respective beds that they willingly gave up to their younger siblings. Between them left just enough room for me to comfortably lie thankfully. That wasn't always the case in this household.
Harry and Hermione had finished setting up the TV and made themselves comfortable next to their friends, and the movie started.
We were all somewhat close to each other, but in a comfortable way. The sun had set and the moon was shining through the blinds of the window behind us. There were low whispers under the volume of the movie. Everybody had a pillow or two and big homemade blankets from Molly were spread across us.