"Are you two ready yet?" Clary asked, peeking her head into the boys' dormitory to see Fred and George still scrambling around, tossing clothes into their trunks. "If you're not ready by the time the train leaves, I will leave without you. I'm not missing Mum's Christmas cookies."
"We're ready," Fred insisted with a huff, shutting his trunk and snapping the lock into place.
"Speak for yourself." George spoke up, still trying to fold his shirts down in order to get the trunk to close. "Two minutes, please."
"Two minutes." Clary said adamantly, walking over and plopping herself down on Fred's bed.
"So, you never told us how it went." Fred said, moving his trunk over by the door.
"Told you how what went?" Clary asked, taking a sip of the tea inside her mug.
"Your date with Cedric." Fred said, causing her eyes to widen, and she spat the tea out in shock, the hot liquid landing on Fred's jumper and causing him to yell out in surprise as George laughed at the spectacle surrounding him.
"Hot!" Fred yelled, jumping up and down and trying to air out the knit material. "Very hot!"
"Well, you've earned it, spewing that rubbish!" Clary shot back. "What are you on about, my date with Cedric?"
"You went on a date with Cedric in Hogsmeade last weekend!" Fred insisted, pointing an accusatory finger at me.
"I did not!" she protested, crossing her arms over her chest. "Can't two friends spend a day together? And besides-"
"Don't you dare say it wasn't a date because of Cho Chang." Fred demanded. "Because whether you both realize it or not, Cedric's mad for you. And I think you feel the same way."
"You've lost it," Clary insisted, rolling her eyes and standing up. "let me know when George is done packing."
"I'm done, I'm done," George assured her, snapping his trunk shut. "let's get to the station."
Clary hurried up to her bedroom to grab her trunk off her bed, then followed her brothers down to the common room to see Vasantha seated at one of the plush couches, chatting with Oliver Wood, the pair seated oddly close to one another as they talked. Clary gave her friend a small wave as they passed by, not wanting to interrupt the conversation, and led the way from the common room towards the castle's exit.
"What was that?" George whispered, gesturing back towards Vas and Oliver as they walked, causing Clary to shrug her shoulders.
"I'm not sure," she said as they made their way to Hogsmeade Station, dumping their trunks near the back of the platform with the others and making their way onboard to find a compartment.
"Merlin, I'm excited for Mum's cooking." Fred said with a grin.
"Mum!" Clary exclaimed with a wide smile as they ran off the Hogwarts Express to see Molly and Arthur Weasley standing at Platform 9 ¾ with beaming smiles, ready to greet the six children, and the eldest daughter pulled her mother into a tight hug before following suit with her father. "Dad!"
"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Molly beamed, greeting her kids. "And we have a surprise waiting for you all at home."
"Is it another cat?" Ginny asked excitedly.
"No," Arthur said, shaking his head with a laugh. "come on and see for yourselves."
The kids ran to grab their trunks before wandering back to Molly and Arthur, each of them extending their hands for their children to hold, as well as Percy, who had already obtained his Apparition license.
Clary had only Apparated a handful of times before, though it always left her feeling rather sick and dizzy after. When her feet finally landed on the floor of the Burrow's kitchen, she stumbled a bit, grabbing onto the first thing she could find to steady herself before she slowly opened her eyes to see two familiar figures standing in front of her, the one to the right conveniently being the object she had blindly reached for.
Bill and Charlie.
"What?" Clary exclaimed excitedly, pulling her two older brothers in for a tight hug. "I didn't think you two were making it back this year!"
"Oh, the sanctuary can manage without me for a few days." Charlie insisted with a grin before looking back at Bill. "We decided to come surprise Mum, got in last night."
"We only had enough Dungbombs to slip into three stockings." Fred whined.
"By all means, feel free to give mine to one of them." Percy said in a gruff tone before making his way upstairs to his bedroom.
"Someone's grouchy," Bill teased with a smile.
"Looks like someone's getting all three of them." George mumbled with a laugh.
"Go on, you lot get unpacked and I'll get the first batch of cookies in the oven." Molly urged the kids, causing Clary to run upstairs to her bedroom excitedly at the mention of the baked goods.
Throwing her trunk onto her bed, Clary quickly stripped out of her travel clothes, pulling on a new pair of jeans and the sweater her mother had knitted for her the Christmas two years before. She walked back down the stairs to find Bill and Charlie sitting on the couch, listening as Ginny recounted to them the stories of how her second year of Hogwarts was going.
Ever since Ginny's incident in the Chamber of Secrets the year before, Bill and Charlie were especially protective over their younger sister, since they weren't still in school to be able to look after her. Charlie still claimed that if he had been there, he might've somehow figured out what was happening with the diary, and could've saved her before it was too late, even though they'd all been told countless times there was nothing they could have done.
"There you are," Bill said as Clary took a seat on the couch next to her little sister, wrapping an arm around Ginny's shoulders.
"I would've hated if all Mum's cookies would've been gone by the time you came back." Charlie teased.
"Well, who would've eaten all of them?" Clary shot back at her older brother with a smug smile.
Charlie chuckled, showing off a bright smile. "Me."