Ron's POV:
There weren't any words to describe how relieved I was to see my best friend alive and well.
OK, let's just leave the well away, but they were both alive and they were coming with us!
They were both very thin and looked starved and pale and tired. They were also covered in bruises.
"Hello there strangers!" Fred said happily when we were on our way. "Long time no see!"
"Why didn't you answer to any of our letters? Hermione wrote to me and said she hadn't heard from you either." I asked the question that had been on my mind from the first week of summer.
"Long story," Lucy said in an exasperated voice. She looked extremely tired, even worse than Harry.
"Well, it's a long journey," George responded, so Harry started talking.
"We never got any letter and I did send a few in the beginning," he started. "But a couple days ago, some house elf came by our house. Apparantly it had intercepted all mail from and to our house and kept it."
I turned to him, surprised. "Why would a house elf do that?"
"He said he wanted to warn us," Lucy continued. "That we shouldn't go back to Hogwarts this year. Said it was dangerous."
Fred and George shared a confused look and I frowned too. "Why would it be? Besides, we were in danger last year too!"
"He didn't say," Harry said, irritated. "Do you know who has a house elf? His name was Dobby."
I looked at Fred and George. We didn't have one and didn't have many connections with the kind of people who did.
"No, only really rich families have them," George explained. "They're really expensive."
"How does it even work?" Lucy asked.
"Well, a family that has a house elf, has them as a slave. Thry work for the family they serve. They clean, cook, wash dishes tend to the garden and many other chores."
"So why would one come to our house and keep us from going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked. "He also did magic in my house. I got a warning because the Ministry of Magic thought I'd done magic!"
"So it wasn't you then?" I asked. Since I'd heard from Dad about the magic performed in Privet Drive, I'd been extra worried. Then I'd asked Fred and George for help.
"How did you know about it? No it was the elf!"
"Dad told us last morning," Fred said. "George, go more to the east."
George steered to 'the east' as I assumed and the conversation went on. "How did he know?"
"Dad works at the Ministry," I said. I honestly was surprised I hadn't told Harry yet.
When I looked to my left, I saw Lucy was fast asleep.
"By the way Harry, happy birthday!" I knew it was too late, but in my defense, I had tried to send him a letter. Luckily, I had already thought that he wouldn't answer anyways and something was up, so I hadn't sent his present yet.
"Thanks!" The twins congratulated him too.
*~*
Lucy's POV:
I woke up when Harry nudged my shoulder lightly. "We're here Lu..."
I looked out of the window and I was immediately very much awake. There was a very misformed, magical house in the middle of a field. It was a small kind of farm.
"Is this your house?" Ron reddened and the twins nodded.
"It's not much, but it's home..." Ron seemed a bit, ashamed maybe? Why though?
"I think it's amazing!" Harry said.
"I totally agree, couldn't have put it better myself," I said. Ron heaved a relieved sigh and the twins grinned and lead the way.
"We have to be quiet," Feed said. "You know the plan right?" I frowned, but the rest knew. "Mom can't know we left with the car..."
But then I saw Mrs. Weasley, storming our way. "Too late I think!" I dived behind the twins. Harry, Ron and the twins froze. This wasn't fair, so I went and stood next to them all.
"Beds empty!" She yelled. "Car gone, no note!"
The woman now stood in front of us all. Even though all three of her sons were taller than her (Ron had grown a lot) they all flinched away when she stormed at them. I had only seen the sweet, innocent mother- figure in her before, but I admired this bolt side of her too.
"But Mom..." Ron tried, shoving Harry and I forward in the hope she'd get destracted. "O hello sweeties!" She said to us in a loving voice. "Of course I don't blame you two."
She gave her sons a death stare. "D'you have any idea how dangerous that was?!" She continued. "You could've died, you could've been seen by muggles!"
"Mom, it was night!" Fred reasoned. "They were asleep." Harry and I nodded furiously to confirm it.
"No one saw us Mrs. Weasley," I added sol- emnly. Again, everyone nodded along.
"And it was dark, we flew high enough too..." George added quietly, but Mrs. Weasley only shot him a dirty look.
"You two must be hungry!" She suddenly said, the smile came back to her face. "Come along! I'll make you some breakfast! Do you like toast? Bacon?"
Harry and I were practically dragged into the house. When Harry looked unsure, I saw Ron give him a reassuring thumbs up. It was a relief to see Ron hadn't ignored him over summer.
"Can we do something?" I asked when we were inside and Mrs. Weasley started rummaging in the kitchen.
"No, no dear, you sit down." The Weasley brothers followed suit and sat down at the table with us. I looked around the house in awe: it was full of magic: there were magical cooking books, with recipes, antidotes for illness and house keeping guides.
On one wall hang a clock, but it wasn't a normal one: it held nine hands, all with a name on it. Instead of numbers 1 to 12, there were locations like dentist, school, work but also things like in danger, on their way and other things.
While the Dursley house always looked spotless and, in my opinion, too tidy and clean, this house was one big mess of stuff. It looked like a standard messy teens bedroom, but also like they really lived in here and it was really cosy.
In other words: I loved it.
Mrs. Weasley started piling Harry and my plates with loads of food, looking at our scrawny, thin bodies with slight worry. I hoped she wouldn't ask.
Ron, Fred and George were dead quiet, until Fred said, with a yawn: "well, I think I'll go to bed..." the three boys all stood up and went to go upstairs, but Mrs. Weasley stopped them.
"Oh no, you won't!" She called them back threateningly. "It's your own fault you're tired, going out in the middle of the night! I want you to degnome the garden!"
They groaned tiredly. "But mom!" Ron complained. "We're tired! That's the worst chore ever!"
I looked at Harry, but he too, didn't seem to understand what 'degnoming' was. "We can help!" Harry offered and I nodded, but Mrs. Weasley refused.
"Dears, it's really very dull work..."
"But we want to!" I retorted. She sighed in defeat and let us off, with the others.
"I can't believe you got Mom to surrender!" George said perplexed. "Mom of all people!"
I grinned proudly and said: "I kind of have that effect on people." Harry snorted, because he knew it very well.
After the degnoming, we went back to the kitchen. It was now 9 o'clock, so Percy was already up at the table, having breakfast.
"Your father is coming home soon," Mrs. Weasley informed. "And I'll tell him exactly what you did tonight."
And indeed, after a bit, a man with red hair entered the house, coming home from probably work. "Hello kids!" He greeted his children happily. "Morning Dad," said the Weasley boys.
"Arthur, those sons of yours took your car last night and flew with it to Little Whinging!" Mrs. Weasley started sternly, when he'd sat down. She looked to Ron, Fred and George.
"Did they now?" He looked up at the boys, who cowered back just a bit. "How was it?" He looked beyond excited as he asked and I almost burst out laughing.
"DON'T REWARD THEM ON IT, TELL THEM OFF!" Mrs. Weasley scowled her husband. Mr. Weasley coughed and said: "of course Molly. That very wrong of you boys, very wrong indeed!"
It was then, that he noticed Harry, the only one that wasn't a redhead. "Ah and who are you?" He asked kindly.
I nudged Harry and he offeref his hand quickly. "Sorry, Harry Potter, sir." Mr. Weasley looked stunned, but shook Harrry's hand normally. "I see! Ron has told so much about you!"
Ron's face heated up in embarrassment and I snorted. "And that is Lucy Potter Dad," Ron said, pointing to me. Mr. Weasley looked at me and shrieked.
"Of course! I'm so sorry, I didn't look properly, I thought-"
"No, it's fine, I get it!" I interrupted.
Right then, another set of feet came running down the stairs. Ginny Weasley, the only girl of the family and apparantly the youngest, appeared.
"Mom, have you seen my jumper?" She asked Mrs. Weasley urgently. She looked up at Harry and gasped, retreating quickly. Harry looked surprised and I smirked at the shyness of the girl.
"That's Ginny," Ron muttered. "She's been talking about you all summer, annoying really! I don't see why she's so shy though. She's never shy!"
The twins smirked and shared a look. I kicked Ron's feet. "Don't be so mean! I tyink it's sweet!"
Mrs. Weasley also scolded Ron for the way he talked about his sister.
"She's my age right?" I asked George, who was sitting opposite from me. He nodded and looked up, to where Ginny had disappeared. "She's almost 11. I don't know about you?"
"Me too. August 14's my birthday." Fred looked up surprised. "Wait, that's close. Ginny's is 11. You're still ten?"
I nodded. I decided to go and see Ginny. I knew how being the youngest could be sometimes. Older siblings, especially brothers, underestimating you and thinking you can't take care of yourself. It can get annoying as hell.
"Excuse me, can I go see her?" I felt like visiting a hospital patient when I said it, but Mrs. Weasley nodded happily. "Third floor."
Damn this house had many floors. I guess you need that, with seven children. I went to third floor. There were two bedrooms, but one of them was obviously a girl's.
I knocked hesitantly. "Ginny?" I called a bit shy. What was it with me and shyness lately? "It's Lucy... Potter. Can I come in?"
No answer came, but after a minute, the door slowly opened. Ginny's face was as red as her hair I knew mine was too.
"I thought you didn't want to." She started a bit unsure. "You never answered many letters and all."
I swallowed and looked down. "I wanted to, but my aunt and uncle... they hated all those owls. They don't understand, they're muggles..." I looked up at Ginny. "But I wanted to. I really liked you when I met you at the train station."
"Liked?" She asked, a smirk forming on her face and I felt a smile creep on my face. "Like."
With that, we went into her room. Her walls were all different colours. One was a nice pink (not the too girly pink). One was purple, the next was blue and next was red, like an overflow: red, to pink, to purple, to blue. It was really pretty.
On the walls were posters: of a quifditch team called 'The Holyhead Harpies', a band called 'The Weird Sisters' and pictures with family and another girl our age with blonde hair.
"That's Luna, she'll be in our year too," Ginny said when she saw me looking. "She lives nearby, she's a bit different, but I think it's cool."
I grinned. She at least wasn't against 'dif- ferent'. "Well, people also think I'm weird so..."
"Why? You're Lucy bloody Potter!" Ginny exclaimed. "I'm not famous in the muggle world," I said.
"My magic made me stand out. Muggles are small-minded, they don't like stand out. I was always the town's freak."
Ginny was kind of speechless. After a while, she asked: "are you alright? You look a bit ill."
Oh right, full moon tonight. Great. Just great. "Er... yeah, I'm fine, just tired. That reminds me, I need to write a letter. Two actually."
"You can use our family owl, but you have one right?" I nodded and went to go find Hedwig but stopped. "Any idea where she could be here? We took her with us, but I think your mom moved her inside."
"I have an idea, come on!" She lead the way downstairs, through the kitchen to their small owlery, which now held three owls. "You have two owls?" I asked.
"Percy's owl: Hermes. Got him as a present when he became Prefect." Hedwig came to me when she saw me and I stroked her.
"Can I borrow some parchment?" Ginny nodded and went to get some, while I got my feather and ink. I needed to get new supplies in Diagon Alley.
"Here you go," Ginny said, giving me a stack of parchment. "Who are you writing to?"
"Vannessa, she's a friend from my home town. My only friend there, really. She's also a witch, apparantly."
"How is she?" Ginny asked. "Is she coming to Hogwarts this year?"
"Yup she is. She's awesome. She likes pranks, like me. She's outgoing and loyal. A bit hyper sometimes, but that's fine."
Ginny grinned broadly. "She seems awe- some! Can't wait to meet her."
"And the other one's to Remus. He's a grown wizard. I met him when Harry was at Hogwarts, he..." I didn't really know how to go on. Being a werewolf was still new and weird to me. Besides, I couldn't tell her, or that Remus was one. "He was a friend of my parents, before they..."
Then very suddenly, Ginny hugged me. "I'm so sorry..." she whispered. "I didn't know, I wouldn't've asked."
"It's fine really," I said. I wrote to Remus to say I wasn't at the Dursleys. "What village is this? Or is closest?"
"Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon." I wrote down that I was with the Weasley family.
'It's a very nice family of redheads. They live in Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon. I'll be staying here the rest of summer. Don't worry, I'll keep track of the moon. Hope you are well,
Lucy'
I would be alone upcoming full moon, which was tonight. My first full moon on my own and so soon. Well, I was gonna have to get used to it, Remus couldn't always come.
"What house do you wanna be in?" Ginny asked. "I wanna be in Gryffindor, like all of my family. Or otherwise in Ravenclaw, I bet Luna's a Ravenclaw."
"Oh I don't know," I said. Minnie's face a few weeks ago had made it pretty clear I wouldn't get in. "First hope to be accepted really..."
Ginny frowned. "What do you mean? You're a witch right? And Harry got in. You're bount to be accepted!"
"I'm not sure, it's complicated..."
"Well, I am sure you'll get in," Ginny said with a comforting smile. "Just you wait, girl."
She nudged me and it oddly reassured me. "Thanks, Gin." Ginny smiled. It wasn't a smirk, like a joke or anything. It was serious!
I mean, I of course didn't know Ginny that well, but I had an idea she was pretty much like me, with pranks, jokey manner and badass. Not serious, I hadn't thought of her like that.
It was sweet.
"Kids, the letters are here!" Ginny looked up enthusiatically. "Come on!" She took me arm and ran to the kitchen.
"Harry, here's yours!" Fred handed Harry a Hogwarts letter.
Harry's letter was sent here... now was the moment I'd know for sure. The moment my fears would be confirmed.
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A/N:
Another chapter! I hope I've made a good start with Ginny and Lucy. I really didn't know how to start anything between them.
Anyways, hope you like it!
Xx