"Oh, hello, Amisty. I hadn't expected you to make such an entrance," Mr. Weasley beamed, and she laughed lightly in response.
The redheaded man was looking around, interest and wonder evident on his face.
"They run off eckeltricity, do they? Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs. And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are," He commented happily, sounding very proud of his knowledge.
And then, as if on cue, Dudley waddled in, hands covering his bottom strangely.
He stared around, first at Mr. Weasley, then at the strange girl who appeared out of nowhere that was Amisty and then attempted to hide behind his mother and father.
"Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Harry?" Mr. Weasley tried to start up conversation once more.
"Yep, that's Dudley," Harry nodded.
Amisty coughed quietly, barely managing to conceal her laughter.
"Having a good holiday, Dudley?" Mr. Weasley asked kindly, his voice gentle and welcoming.
Dudley just whimpered pathetically.
Fred and George reentered the room, both carrying a trunk each.
They spotted Amisty, not at all surprised at her sudden appearance and winking, and then grinning evilly at the sight of Dudley.
"Ah, right. Better get cracking then," Mr. Weasley decided, rolling up his sleeves and pulling out his wand. "Incendio!"
The fireplace roared to life, flames flickering joyfully. Mr. Weasley pulled out a drawstring bag, throwing a pinch of powder into the flames, which turned a bright emerald green.
"Off you go then, Fred," Mr. Weasley directed.
"Coming," Fred grinned, until a bag of sweets spilled out of his pockets. "Oh no -- hang on -- "
He hurried around, picking up all the sweets hurriedly and shoving them into his pockets.
Amisty tried to pretend that it didn't look incredibly staged as Fred finished cleaning up the spilled treats, waved to the Dursleys, picked up her trunk, and walked into the fire.
"The Burrow!" He shouted, and disappeared with a whoosh of air.
Harry's aunt gasped.
"Right then, George, you and Harry's trunk," Mr. Weasley nodded to the second twin.
George walked into the forest too, adjusted the trunk, and whooshed away as well.
"Ron, you next," Mr. Weasley continued.
"See you," Ron grinned to the Dursleys as he stepped into the fire. "The Burrow!"
"Alright, go on, Amisty," Mr. Weasley smiled warmly at her.
She felt the corner of her mouth quirk up as she walked toward the fire.
"Nice meeting you," She sent a wide, crooked grin over her shoulder at Harry's family as she stepped into the warm flames of the fire. "The Burrow!"
She started to spin very, very fast, her elbows tucked into her sides, and stepped out at the sight of the Weasleys' kitchen.
Of course, she stumbled to the ground, ever graceful.
"That was quite an interesting way to show yourself, Amisty," Ron grinned as George tugged her up to her feet.
"What do you mean by that?" Fred asked, his eyes narrowed mischievously.
"I was under the Invisibility Cloak and decided, well, that they already saw so much, why not give them a bit more of a shock," She grinned, shrugging as she looked around.
The kitchen bubbled with laughter. Ron and was sitting at the kitchen table, two other redheads sitting beside him as George took a seat as well.
She guessed they were Charlie and Bill, the eldest Weasley brothers.
"Hi, Amisty. I'm Charlie," The closet one held out a calloused hand, a grin on his face.
"Nice to meet you," She beamed, taking in his appearance.
Per usual, his hair was bright red, freckles spattered across his face, and he wasn't as tall as Ron and Percy, with a strong stature and what seemed to be a burn on his arm.
So if that was Charlie, the other one had to be Bill.
She shook his hand as well, very much surprised at what he looked like.
Bill was definitely tall -- she had to crane her neck to look him in the eye -- and his long red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, highlighting the fang earring dangling from one of his ears.
His outfit was amazing, something she wouldn't be too surprised to see Lee Jordan wear, and the boots seemed to be made of dragon hide.
"Dragons," She pointed at Charlie, "and Gringotts, right?"
"One hundred percent, congratulations, you've surprised no one!" Fred nodded overenthusiastically, earning a sharp punch from her as the kitchen laughed once more.
She was about to open her mouth to retort when Harry fell in, this time getting helped up by Fred.
She took that as her cue to sit down.
"Did he eat it?" The twin asked excitedly, eyes glowing with anticipation.
"Yeah. What was it?" Harry asked, brushing down his robes as he righted himself.
"Ton-Tongue Toffee. George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer..." Fred replied, and the kitchen laughed, again.
Not that Amisty was complaining, she quite liked the cheerful atmosphere.
"How're you doing, Harry?" Charlie asked, holding out his hand as well.
They exchanged pleasantries, Harry meeting Bill, and then Mr. Weasley Apparated into the room.
"That wasn't funny, Fred! What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?" He shouted furiously.
"I didn't give him anything. I just dropped it... It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to," Fred replied smartly.
"You dropped it on purpose! You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet -- " Mr. Weasley continued.
"How big did his tongue get?" George asked, not at all fazed with his father's reaction.
"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!" Mr. Weasley shouted.
Amisty snorted, covering her mouth to quiet her laughter.
"It isn't funny! That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons -- " He started once more.
"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" Fred protested angrily.
"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git. Isn't he, Harry?" George added.
"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," Harry replied seriously, Amisty nodded in agreement.
"That's not the point! You wait until I tell your mother -- " He started, still fuming.
"Tell me what?" A familiar voice asked.
Amisty turned around, unable to conceal her smile. Mrs. Weasley was standing at the doorway, and the familiar presence of the woman overpowered the fear of what she would be saying to the twins.
"Oh hello, Harry, Amisty," She smiled at the two newcomers before her gaze flashed back to her husband. "Tell me what, Arthur?"
"It's nothing, Molly. Fred and George just -- but I've had words with them -- " Mr. Weasley replied quietly.
"What have they done this time? If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes -- " Mrs. Weasley started, sounding exasperated.
"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron," Hermione suggested, a hidden message in her words.
"He knows where he's sleeping, in my room, he slept there last -- " Ron protested, the message going right over his head.
"We can all go," Hermione persisted, raising her eyebrows.
"Oh. Right," Ron nodded, finally catching on and surpassing his obliviousness.
"Yeah, we'll come too," George piped up, already rising from his chair.
"You stay where you are!" Mrs. Weasley snarled.
He fell back into his seat.
So Amisty, Ron, and Harry stood up and joined Hermione and Ginny at the doorway to escape the dangerous territory behind them.
"What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked lightly as they trekked up the winding staircase.
Ron and Ginny laughed, Hermione stayed silent.
"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room. Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that..." Ron replied.
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things. We thought they just liked the noise," Ginny went on.
"Only, most of the stuff -- well, all of it, really -- was a bit dangerous, and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms... She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected," Ron nodded.
"And then there was this big row because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop," Ginny finished just as a door popped open on the second landing, Percy's head poking out.
"Hi, Percy," Harry smiled as Amisty waved.
"Oh hello, Harry, Amisty," He nodded to the two of them. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know -- I've got a report to finish for the office -- and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."
"We're not thundering. We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic," Ron retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Ministry of Magic?" Amisty asked curiously, only to wish she hadn't spoken as Ron groaned and Percy straightened up importantly.
"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation. We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin -- leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year -- " He began.
"That'll change the world, that report will. Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks," Ron cut him off dryly.
Percy's ears turned pink, "You might sneer, Ron, but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger -- "
"Yeah, yeah, all right," Ron waved him off and headed up the stairs once more. Percy slammed his door shut angrily.
Amisty tried to ignore the furious shouting from downstairs, poor Fred and George.
They reached Ron's room, still plastered in orange and Chudley Cannons merchandise. The tiny owl that had arrived to Ron on the train fluttered around in a cage, hooting happily.
"Shut up, Pig," Ron muttered. "Fred and George are in here with us, because Bill and Charlie are in their room. Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he's got to work."
"Er -- why are you calling that owl Pig?" Harry asked, looking from the tiny grew bird to his friend.
"Because he's being stupid. Its proper name is Pigwidgeon," Ginny cut in before Ron could reply, arms crossed.
"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all," Ron rolled his eyes. "Ginny named him. She reckons it's sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't answer to anything else. So now he's Pig. I've got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that."
"And Crookshanks?" Amisty asked, looking over at Hermione.
"Out in the garden, I expect. He likes chasing gnomes. He's never seen any before," Hermione replied.
"Percy's enjoying work, then?" Harry asked, dropping down on one of the four beds.
"Enjoying it? I don't reckon he'd come home if Dad didn't make him. He's obsessed. Just don't get him onto the subject of his boss," He twisted his face up and matched his voice to Percy's. "According to Mr. Crouch... as I was saying to Mr. Crouch... Mr. Crouch is of the opinion... Mr. Crouch was telling me..." He dropped the expression, shaking his head.
"They'll be announcing their engagement any day now."
"Have you two had a good summer?" Hermione asked, looking over at Harry expectantly. "Did you get our food parcels and everything?"
"Yeah, thanks a lot. They saved my life, those cakes," Harry nodded, grinning.
"Boring as always, but it was rather entertaining to see his uncle's face when I came out from under the Cloak," Amisty replied mischievously.
"You what?" Hermione whirled around to face her, eyes narrowed.
"Have you heard from -- " Ron began, desperately trying to change the subject only to freeze halfway through his words once realizing his mistake.
Sirius wasn't a topic they could talk about in front of Ginny.
"I think they've stopped arguing," Hermione saved them, and Amisty nodded in confirmation. "Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"
"Yeah, all right."