Unbeknownst to Eliza, Remus had also sent out letters to all their friends- well, more specifically, invitations. Invitations for a small, surprise farewell party on Sunday, a day before she was set to leave.
Molly Weasley had instantly offered to help, and together, they delegated the different tasks to the right people. Molly and Harry were in charge of the food, with Remus helping with the desserts; Fred, George, Ron and Ginny were to degnome the garden and cut the grass so that Bill and Charlie could set out the tables and chairs; Percy had been given table decorating duty and Mr Weasley was to sort out the lighting. Cleaning up inside the house was given to Hermione and Fleur, much to Ginny's amusement. Theodore Nott was unable to help out due to the fact that he was working during the day, but he promised Lupin he would attend the party as soon as he finished.
Needless to say, on Sunday morning, the burrow was pure chaos. Mrs. Weasley had woken them all up at 8am sharp and rushed them all off downstairs to have breakfast. Poor Charlie was still so tired that he almost fell asleep face first into the cereal. Luckily, Ginny pushed the bowl away just in time. Currently, it was just Ginny, Ron, and Charlie at the table (since Bill lived at Shell cottage with Fleur, and Fred and George had moved out to live in the apartment above their shop)
"Quickly or we'll all be late!" Cried Mrs Weasley, wringing her hands frantically.
"Blimey mum, calm down! They're not arriving till this afternoon, we have plenty of time." Mumbled Ron as he poured himself another bowl of Cheeri Owls cereal.
"I am well aware, Ronald," snapped Mrs. Weasley, "but in case you haven't noticed, there's an awful lot to do! Now don't forget to degnome the garden, and Charlie you -"
"Put out all the tables and chairs with Bill. I know, mum." Interrupted Charlie, who was looking slightly more awake now that he'd had his morning tea.
"Where is Bill? Heaven sakes, they better not still be in bed!" She exclaimed. And with that, she rushed towards the floo to call all those who lived separately, brushing past Percy who had just entered the kitchen.
"Morning everyone," he said cheerfully, only to be met with various different grunts in reply. Percy was already dressed and seemed to be carrying a clipboard of sorts, checking things off with his inkless quill.
"Oh, for Godric's sake, Perce," grumbled Ginny in annoyance, "how are you already dressed?"
"Ah, well, Mother said to be ready early last night. Besides, I'm not dressed dressed. I mean, this is only my work jumper, I shall have to change into my party jumper closer to the time to avoid getting it dirty."
It was one of the main differences between them. Whilst Percy preferred to be organised and punctual, his siblings preferred to relax, and just, as they always said, 'go with the flow'. However, Percy couldn't relax, not whilst they still had 101 things to be done. Sighing, he went to make himself a cup of tea, ticking off 'refresh' on his checklist, before checking the time.
"Goodness is that the time already, I had better get going. I still need to pick up a few table decorations, and then I need to quickly pop into the ministry to hand in my report. I shall see you all later."
"Oh wait, Percy, before you leave -" started Ron as he fumbled in his pockets before pulling out a piece of a crumbled parchment. "Would you be able to collect my order from Diagon Ally whilst you're there? The order numbers are all on that paper. It's Eliza's leaving gift, so it's pretty important. I'd go myself, only mum wants me in the garden."
Percy refrained from reacting. On the inside, he was slightly annoyed that Ron had left something so important to the very last second. Again. However, he sucked it up, smiled, nodded, took the paper, said goodbye, and left. If he'd have said any of that to Ron, it would have just ended up in another big argument, and Percy didn't want to start one of those. Not now that his siblings had finally started forgiving him. He couldn't lose his family again over something so stupid.
An hour later and everyone, bar Eliza, had arrived. They were set to work immediately. Fleur and Hermione quickly got to work cleaning the inside of the house, which didn't take nearly as long as they thought, but that didn't stop them from taking their time. If they left now, they would be given another strenuous task by Mrs Weasley. So instead, they stayed, cleaning as slow as possible and filling in the time with the latest gossip from both Gringotts bank and the ministry.
»»————- ✼ ————-««
Outside Ginny, Ron, Fred, and George were trying their best to not get bitten by a gnome.
"This is ridiculous!" Shouted George, "they just keep running back in. And it's absolutely boiling out here, I'm sweating already."
"You just have to throw them really far," replied Ron as he swung a particularly fat gnome over the fence.
"How about a little competition?" Proposed Ginny, wiping a small bead of sweat of her forehead. "Whoever throws a gnome the furthest wins, as long as it doesn't make its way back,"
"That sounds perfect, sis," said Fred as he threw his arm around Ginny's shoulders, "the winner doesn't have to help tidy up tonight."
And with that, the four Weasley's started swinging gnomes as far as possible, all desperate to win. Nobody wanted to help clean up at night.
»»————- ✼ ————-««
"Why'd we always get stuck on table duty?" Grumbled Charlie as he walked towards the clearing in the garden, his table floating behind him.
"Don't complain Charlie it could be a whole lot worse. At least we're not on gnome duty. I can't imagine trying to fling those fat pests in this heat." said Bill, chuckling. "Let's put them down here." As Bill turned, he accidently hit Charlie's table too.
"Oi, watch it, mate!" he exclaimed. "Actually, Bill, i've had a glorious idea. How about a rematch from our last table joust? If I do recall, I won that. Well, I did until Percy got mad at us."
And that is how the second table fight occurred, with both parties claiming to have previously won.
»»————- ✼ ————-««
"That pie looks amazing, Mrs. Weasley" complemented Harry as he went to place his dish on the trays.
"Oh, thank you dear, how are those chicken fillets going?"
"All done. Just need to finish off the roast potatoes."
"And you, Remus? Nearly done?"
Remus grabbed some fresh strawberries and placed them on top of his dessert. He had made a beautiful chocolate cheesecake with an Oreo base, topped with a milk chocolate ganache. He had discovered Oreos on his trip to the muggle supermarket the other week and was quickly addicted. How had he never tried one before? After that, he made sure to always have a packet or two at home at all times, just in case. "The cheesecake is nearly done too Molly, just needs a quick cooling charm, and it should be okay."
"Perfect." Molly placed a quick stasis charm over her pie and lasagne and set them all on the trays that were to be taken outside. "I do believe we're actually ahead of schedule for once, I- Remus dear do stop eating all the chocolate, you'll ruin your appetite."
Remus looked abashed and turned a bright shade of pink, "sorry Molly" he mumbled, stuffing the rest of the bar into his cardigan pocket.
They tidied up the kitchen in silence after that, only to be interrupted by a loud reoccurring thudding noise from the garden. "What on earth is that?"
The source of the commotion was revealed as they went into the garden and saw Charlie and Bill with their wands out, levitating two tables up in the air, trying to knock each other's down. Fred and George were both cheering on Bill whilst Ginny was supporting Charlie. All 5 of them failed to notice a very angry looking Mrs Weasley storming up behind them. Harry and Remus meekly following behind, trying their very hardest not to laugh or look amused.
"Boys!" Yelled Mrs Weasley. "What on earth do you think you're doing? Put those tables down at once!"
"Sorry, mum," Bill said, still grinning. "We had to settle the score from last time."
After another lecture, Mrs. Weasley went back inside with Remus whilst Bill and Charlie redirected the tables to the ground. After a quick count of whose table was missing the most pieces, it was decided that Charlie was the winner of this years table joust, meaning Charlie and Ginny were both excused from tidying up that evening. The tables were set up end to end in a row, and Bill reattached all the missing table legs and, with a flick of his wand, conjured a table cloth that covered the entirety of the tables.
By 6 o'clock, the tables were groaning under the weight of all the dishes of food that Mrs Weasley, Harry, and Remus had prepared. Mr Weasley had attached fairy lights along the trees and bushes that surrounded the garden. Percy had done a splendid job with the table decorations. There were pink intricate faux flowers running along the centre of the table with candles dotted in between, and the plates and cutlery had been spelled to match the colours of the flowers. The Weasley's had all been sent up to get dressed into their smart party clothes just in time for the guest arrival. Neville had arrived first, quickly followed by Luna Lovegood and Theodore Nott. After depositing their gifts on the allocated presents table (one of Percy's last minute adjustments) they all sat themselves down at the table under the clear deep blue sky, patiently waiting for the guest of honour, Eliza Woods.