Aaaaand we're onto fourth year. Please vote and comment with any feedback - it really helps me out :)
Al's face hurt from trying not to laugh as the four ginger men tumbled out her wall. Obviously the Weasley's had tried flooing to her parent's house and failed miserably due to their lack of fireplace. Mr Weasley glanced around at the muggle house he'd found himself in, "Fascinating," he commented under his breath.
The twins were there too, "Hi Al," they said, grinning at her.
"Hey," she said, awkwardly because Ron was there and he was ignoring her.
"Alexandra," her Pa said stiffly, "Do you know these...these..." he seemed at a loss for words.
"Of course I do, Pa," she said cheerily, "I go to school with them."
Mr Weasley held his hand out, "I'm Arthur," he said, "And this is Fred, George and Ron. I hope you got our letter?" he asked putting his hand back in his pocket when Al's Pa didn't take it. Mr Dursley didn't answer, instead eyeing the great big whole in his living room wall, "Ah, yes. Sorry about that, I had it fixed up to the Floo network for the afternoon. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, you see. Took some worming through the Floo regulation panel, but we got there." If at all possible, Al's Pa went a deeper shade of purple. He looked highly constipated.
Harry appeared downstairs with his trunk, ready to go. "So," Mr Dursley said, finally engaging, "Is our Alexandra not good enough for you lot?" Al felt her face go hot with embarrassment and Fred and George smirked at her.
"No, Pa," she explained, "I was invited by my friend, Draco, but I didn't want to go. These are Harry's friends." She'd found that the best way around her Pa's mood was to make it her own fault. Usually, she could do no wrong. Usually. Today didn't look like one of those days, "You wouldn't want me hanging around people like Harry, would you?" she asked, doing her best impression of first-year Draco to make herself seem as snooty as possible.
This didn't work either. "You're all as bad as each other in my books," he said drawing himself up.
Right then, Al thought, it's time to bring out the big guns. She screwed up her face in mock despair and made her lip tremble. Then she made herself hiccough and whine like a baby having a tantrum - which was what she was going for. "You...don't...mean...that!" she wailed, until her Ma swooped her into a great big hug. She pretended to sniff on her Ma's shoulder while looking at the four horrified faces. It took all her effort not to laugh at them. She resorted to a wink instead, making Fred and George grin again, and Mr Weasley and Ron wear matching faces of surprise.
"Right," Mr Weasley announced, "We'd best be off." He took out his wand and lit a fire in the whole in the wall. Then he chucked some powder into it and announced, "Fred, you first."
Fred stepped forward towards Al, "See you," he said, shaking her hand. When he pulled away, Al noticed three brightly wrapped toffees in her hand and he winked.
"George, with the trunk," Mr Weasley said as Fred spun away in the emerald flames with Harry's owl cage. He'd been given one by Sirius for his birthday.
"Bye, Al," he called, "take care." Al knew he was talking about the toffees.
"Ron," Mr Weasley called. Ron jumped in as the other two had.
Meanwhile, Al offered her Pa a toffee, "I'm sorry we argued," she said, knowing he wouldn't refuse due to the row with her Ma that would ensue. He grunted and took a toffee, popping it in his mouth.
"And Harry," Mr Weasley said, clapping him on the shoulder.
Harry looked around, "Bye then," he said.
"See you," Al told him.
He was about to get into the fire, when Mr Weasley stopped him. "Harry said bye. Aren't you going to say goodbye to your nephew?" he asked. Before Mr Dursley could reply though, he began to choke on something as his tongue grew.
The chaos that ensued was fantastic. It consisted of Harry running into the fire, Al's Pa wrestling with Mr Weasley, who was trying to fix the engorgement charm, and Al's Ma throwing ornaments hysterically at Mr Weasley. Finally, Al's Pa's tongue was fixed and Mr Weasley hurried away.
Mr Dursley turned to Al menacingly, "You..." he panted, "...are grounded...until school," he told her. That wasn't so bad - it was only two weeks. She hurried upstairs straight away to write to Fred and George.
*****
Al was munching happily on her Coco-Pops, when the paper arrived, and ruined her day. Throughout the summer, she'd ordered the Daily Prophet so that she could keep up to date on Sirius and Pettigrew, but she hadn't heard anything. "Sorry, Pa," she said, paying for her paper, "I'll write to them again and tell them to deliver it later in the day." He hadn't been happy with the daily owls that had been arriving.
She peered at the front page and dropped her spoon, shattering her bowl and making a mess, "Now really, Alexandra-" her Ma began as she tidied the mess. But Al wasn't listening; she was still looking at the front page.
SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP
, she read, glancing at the picture below. It was a moving image of the Dark Mark flickering in the sky. Al recognised it from when she'd done all that reading on the war in her first year. She skim read the article; no deaths, but there had been Death Eaters. More on page four, it read. She flicked to the page.
"Are you listening to me?" her Ma said.
"No," Al replied, continuing to read. They'd all escaped? How?
"Now listen here-" her Pa growled.
Al thrust the paper into his face impatiently, "Look!" she told him. he opened his mouth to argue, "Read it," she warned, rather than said.
Her Ma gasped, "I-I know that," she said.
"You do?" Al asked, confused.
"My sister told me about it during that war they had," Petunia explained.
Al's Pa had gone a very pale shade, "Are there a lot of these Death Eater fellows?" he asked, worried.
"I don't know," Al confessed, "But a lot of them will still be in hiding." The feeling in the household was very sombre for the rest of the day.