They were going ... they were going to the Weasleys', they were going to watch the Quidditch World Cup! Outside in the hall she nearly ran into Dudley, who had been lurking behind the door, clearly hoping to overhear Harry and Kirra being told off.
He looked shocked to see the broad grin on Kirra's face. "That was an excellent breakfast, wasn't it?" said Kirra and then turned to look at her brother who had an equally large grin on his face. "I feel really full, don't you?"
"Yeah I do!" Harry replied with a grin, the two of them Laughing at the astonished look on Dudley's face, the twins took the stairs three at a time, and hurled themselves back into their bedroom.
"OUCH!" said Harry as what appeared to be a small, gray, feathery tennis ball collided with the side of his head.
"What the hell" Kirra muttered as she just dodged it as it had tried coming straight for her head. Harry massaged the spot furiously, and the two twins looked up to see what the hell it was, and saw a minute owl, small enough to fit into the palm their hand, whizzing excitedly around the room like a loose firework.
Kirra then noticed that the owl had had two letters and dropped one in front of each of the twins. Kirra bent down, recognized Fred and George's handwriting, then tore open the envelope.
Inside was a hastily scribbled note.
Lil Hufflepuff - DAD GOT THE TICKETS - Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Mum's writing to the Muggles to ask you to stay. They might already have the letter, we don't know how fast Muggle post is. Thought we'd send this with Pig anyway.
We're coming for you whether the Muggles like it or not, you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you and Harry at five o'clock on Sunday.
If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway.
Percy's started work - the Department of international Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you. See you soon
- Freddie and Georgie
Harry looked to the owl, "Come here, I need you to take my answer back!" The owl fluttered down on top of Hedwig's cage. Hedwig looked coldly up at it, as though daring it to try and come any closer.
Kirra walked to the two owls and pat the two animals on the head, both of them instantly calming down and nuzzling their heads into her hand, letting out small hoots of content.
Kirra seized her eagle-feather quill once more, grabbed a fresh piece of parchment, and wrote:
Guys, it's all okay, the Muggles say I can come. See you both at five o'clock tomorrow. Can't wait. Love you guys x
Kirra
She folded this note up very small, and with immense difficulty, tied it to the tiny owl's leg as it hopped on the spot with excitement and Harry then attached his letter to the owls foot. The moment the notes were secure, the owl was off again; it zoomed out of the window and out of sight.
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The atmosphere inside number four, Privet Drive was extremely tense. The imminent arrival at their house of an assortment of wizards was making the Dursleys uptight and irritable. Uncle Vernon had looked downright alarmed when Kirra and Harry informed him that the Weasleys would be arriving at five o'clock the very next day.
"I hope you told them to dress properly, these people," he snarled at once. "I've seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They'd better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that's all."
Kirra rolled her eyes at her uncles words but couldn't help but feel a slight sense of foreboding. She had rarely seen Mr. or Mrs. Weasley wearing anything that the Dursleys would call "normal."
Their children might don Muggle clothing during the holidays, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley usually wore long robes in varying states of shabbiness. Kirra didn't mind and she wasn't bothered about what the neighbors would think, but she was anxious about how rude the Dursleys might be to the Weasleys if they turned up looking like their worst idea of wizards.
Uncle Vernon had put on his best suit. To some people, this might have looked like a gesture of welcome, but the 14 year old Hufflepuff knew it was because Uncle Vernon wanted to look impressive and intimidating.
Dudley, on the other hand, looked somehow diminished. This was not because the diet was at last taking effect, but due to fright. Dudley had emerged from his last encounter with a fully grown wizard with a curly pig's tail poking out of the seat of his trousers, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had had to pay for its removal at a private hospital in London.
It wasn't altogether surprising, therefore, that Dudley kept running his hand nervously over his backside, and walking sideways from room to room, so as not to present the same target to the enemy.
"They'll be driving, of course?" Uncle Vernon barked across the table.
"Er," said Harry and Kirra looked over at him with a shrug of her shoulders, both of the twins doubted that they would be coming in a car, but they had no idea how they would be arriving.
"I think so," said Harry as Kirra nodded her head. U
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Finally, at a quarter to five, Harry and Kirra went back downstairs and into the living room. Aunt Petunia was compulsively straightening cushions. Uncle Vernon was pretending to read the paper, but his tiny eyes were not moving, and Kirra was sure she was really listening with all her might for the sound of an approaching car.
Dudley was crammed into an armchair, his porky hands beneath him, clamped firmly around his bottom.
Kirra sat down to wait and as she sat their, her mind trailed off to her Slytherin friends. None of them had been in touch with her recently, she had been sending them letters but she hadn't been getting any form of response and she was beginning to wonder if she had done something to upset them.
She was certain she hadn't missed any of their birthdays... she couldn't think of what she could have done to upset them, but as she sat there lost in her thoughts she felt her heart ache withing her chest.
She missed them all, very dearly and she wasn't sure how much longer she could go without talking to them. At first she had brushed it off but it had been almost two weeks since they had talked to her, and she didn't really have anyone to talk to at home besides her brother.
Though she was grateful that the red haired twins, JJ and Maxine hadn't stopped talking to her, and recently after receiving a letter from him about a week ago about quidditch, she had been talking to her fellow house member, Cedric Diggory.
Her and Cedric were friends, and they played on the same team at school, but she never had that many conversations with him over the past three years since they weren't in the same year at school but over the last week, they had been getting closer.
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Five o'clock came and then went. Uncle Vernon, perspiring slightly in his suit, opened the front door, peered up and down the street, then withdrew his head quickly. "They're late!" he snarled at Kirra.
"I know," said Kirra and tried to think of something to say to her uncle. "Maybe — er — the traffic's bad, or something. "Ten past five . . . then a quarter past five . . . Kirra was starting to feel anxious herself now.
At half-past, she heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia conversing in terse mutters in the living room. "No consideration at all."
"We might've had an engagement."
"Maybe they think they'll get invited to dinner if they're late."
"Well, they most certainly won't be," said Uncle Vernon, and Kirra heard him stand up and start pacing the living room. "They'll take the boy and girl and go, there'll be no hanging around. That's if they're coming at all. Probably mistaken the day. I dare say their kind don't set much store by punctuality. Either that or they drive some tin-pot car that's broken d — AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"
Kirra jumped up. From the other side of the living room door came the sounds of the three Dursleys scrambling, panic-stricken, across the room. Next moment Dudley came flying into the hall, looking terrified.
"What happened?" said Harry as he ran into the room. "What's the matter?"
But Dudley didn't seem able to speak. Hands still clamped over his buttocks, he waddled as fast as he could into the kitchen. Loud hangings and scrapings were coming from behind the Dursleys' boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it.
"What is it?" gasped Aunt Petunia, who had backed into the wall and was staring, terrified, toward the fire. "What is it, Vernon?" But they were left in doubt barely a second longer.
Voices could be heard from inside the blocked fireplace.
"oh shit" Kirra muttered under her breath
"Ouch! Fred, no — go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake — tell George not to — OUCH! George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron —" Kirra grinned at the fact that Fred and George were there, an excited leap in her chest
"Maybe Kirra can hear us, Dad — maybe he'll be able to let us out —" There was a loud hammering of fists on the boards behind the electric fire.
"Lil Hufflepuff? Badger, can you hear us?" The sound of Fred weasley came from the fireplace and she went to sprint to the fire place but she was stopped in her tracks.
The Dursleys rounded on Kirra like a pair of angry wolverines. "What is this?" growled Uncle Vernon. "What's going on?"
"They — they've tried to get here by Floo powder," said Kirra, fighting a mad desire to laugh as she grinned widely. "They can travel by fire — only you've blocked the fireplace — hang on —" She approached the fireplace and called through the boards.
"Freddie? Can you hear me?" The hammering stopped. Somebody inside the chimney piece said, "Shh!" and it was clearly Mr Weasley
"Mr. Weasley, it's Kirra . . . the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."
"Damn!" said Mr. Weasley's voice. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"
"They've got an electric fire," Harry explained as he also stepped forwards.
"Really?" said Mr. Weasley's voice excitedly. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that. . . . Let's think . . . ouch, Ron!" Ron's voice now joined the others.
"What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?"
"Oh no, Ron," came Fred's voice, very sarcastically. "No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up." Kirra felt a snicker leave her lips
"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here," said George, whose voice sounded muffled, as though he was squashed against the wall.
"Boys, boys . . ." said Mr. Weasley vaguely. "I'm trying to think what to do. . . . Yes . . . only way . . . Stand back, Kirra and Harry." Kirra and Harry retreated to the sofa. Uncle Vernon, however, moved forward.
"Wait a moment!" he bellowed at the fire. "What exactly are you going to —"
BANG. The electric fire shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outward, expelling Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron in a cloud of rubble and loose chippings. Aunt Petunia shrieked and fell backward over the coffee table; Uncle Vernon caught her before she hit the floor, and gaped, speechless, at the Weasleys, all of whom had bright red hair, including Fred and George, who were identical to the last freckle.
Fred and George hadn't waited to shoot their way towards the girl and wrap her in their arms, messing her hair up as they both hugged her, Kirra groaned as she was squished between their bodies, "guys - ca-cant - breath" she choked out and the twins grinned before pulling away
"How you been badger?" George asked her with a grin and she returned the smile
"could have been better" she replied with a small shrug before wrapping her arms around them again, "better now that you two are here"
"there there lil Hufflepuff, no need to get all emotional" Fred joked as he wrapped his arms around her tighter, having missed her a great deal over the past few weeks, after all, the three of them were partners in crime
"That's better," panted Mr. Weasley, brushing dust from his long green robes and straightening his glasses. "Ah — you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!" Tall, thin, and balding, he moved toward Uncle Vernon, his hand outstretched, but Uncle Vernon backed away several paces, dragging Aunt Petunia.
Words utterly failed Uncle Vernon. His best suit was covered in white dust, which had settled in his hair and mustache and made him look as though he had just aged thirty years. "Er — yes — sorry about that," said Mr. Weasley, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace.
"It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo network, you see — just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Kirra and Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking — but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."
Kirra was ready to bet that the Dursleys hadn't understood a single word of this. They were still gaping at Mr. Weasley, thunderstruck. Aunt Petunia staggered upright again and hid behind Uncle Vernon.
"Hello, Harry! hello, Kirra!" said Mr. Weasley brightly. "Got your trunks ready?"
"It's upstairs," said the twins at the same time, grinning back. "We'll get them," said Fred at once. Winking at Kirra, he and George left the room. They knew where Harry and Kirra's bedroom was, having once rescued them from it in the dead of night.
Kirra suspected that Fred and George were hoping for a glimpse of Dudley; they had heard a lot about him from Kirra. "Well," said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence.
"Very — erm —very nice place you've got here." As the usually spotless living room was now covered in dust and bits of brick, this remark didn't go down too well with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon's face purpled once more, and Aunt Petunia started chewing her tongue again. However, they seemed too scared to actually say anything.
Mr. Weasley was looking around. He loved everything to do with Muggles. Kirra could see him itching to go and examine the television and the video recorder.
"They run off eckeltricity, do they?" he said knowledgeably. "Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs," he added to Uncle Vernon. "And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are."
Uncle Vernon clearly thought Mr. Weasley was mad too. He moved ever so slightly to the right, screening Aunt Petunia from view, as though he thought Mr. Weasley might suddenly run at them and attack.
"well this is going perfectly" kirra muttered sarcastically under her breath