Chapter 9

No infringement intended! Settings and a majority of the characters go to the beautiful and talented J.K Rowling!

Chapter 9

 

The next day I was rushed to pack my things before I missed the train.  Once I was all set, I was dragged to the train, where I sat with the same crew I’d arrived to.  Excitement filled me.  What could be better than vacationing with friends?  The only person missing was Trillie, who I was told would join us later on.  We were all still exhausted from last night, and Scorpius fell asleep with Rosie already nodding off on his shoulder.  James winked and got up to talk to some of his second-year friends.  Al nodded and took my hand.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask you, Soph.”  His thumb was making dizzying circles on the back of my hand.

“That’s all right.”  I whispered.

“But I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”  He said, firmly.  I turned, there was something I couldn’t quite read on his face.

“Wh-“

“Sophia Frederick, will you be my girlfriend?”

Time stopped.  I wasn’t on the train any more.  I was back in the common room, after that first kiss.  He was asking me.  We were at the dance, and he was holding me close.  I was sitting in a compartment, and everything was silent.  There was nothing in the world other than the boy sitting next to me, holding my hand, and asking me to be his girlfriend.

“Yes.”  I said, softly.  The room moved once more, and I noticed one of Rosie’s eyes open slightly.  But I didn’t care.

James came back in surprisingly quick with a chocolate frog squirming in his hand.  He bit of its head and it froze.  He popped down next to me and gave our intertwined fingers a pointed look.

“James, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend.”  Al said, proudly.

“Oh?  For how long now?”

“Maybe two minutes.”  I laughed.

Al shrugged and put his arm around me.  “If it’s been two minutes, then they’ve been the best two minutes of my life.”  I blushed, leaning into him.

“Daww, that’s so cute.”  James said, putting his arms over his head.  “Guess I’ve got to find a girlfriend now, right?”

 

We reached platform 9 ¾  before noon.  Rosie’s mother was waiting for us at the stop.  There was a little boy with bright red hair clinging to her leg.

“Rosie!  There you are!”  The woman embraced her.  She had brown, wavy hair that hung about her shoulders, and beautiful brown eyes.  As she held out her arms to embrace her daughter, I caught sight of a scar on her arm that said mudblood.

“Oh my gosh!”  I said, a little too loud.  Rosie’s mother looked at me, confused.  “Sorry, uh… It’s just… You’re… You’re…”

“I’m what, dear?”  She smiled.

“You’re Hermionie Granger!”  I said, surprised at myself.

“So I am…  And you are?”

“Aunt Hermionie,” Al said, “This is my girlfriend, Sophia Frederick.”

“Girlfriend?”

“For all of fifteen minutes, now,” James said, laughing.  Hermionie laughed with him.

“All right, well… As Sophie pointed out, I’m Hermionie, Rosie’s mom, and this is Hugo.  The boy peeked out from behind her leg.  “Go ahead, Hugo, say hullo!”

“Hi.”  He said, walking out.

“Well, the car is this way.  It’s a muggle rental, since I had to fit all of you in it…” She sighed.  “It’ll be a long drive, does anyone need to use the restroom?”  Heads shook.  “Good, then it’s off to the Burrow!”

In the car, I overheard Hermionie talking to Scorpius.

“So your father is Draco Malfoy, yes?”

“Yeah…”  He hung his head, as if his father embarrassed him.

“Oh, don’t be so hard on him.  I’ve forgiven him a long time ago.  In fact I’m glad my daughter is with you.  I can’t promise that my husband will react the same way, though.  I’m sorry, dear.  Don’t worry, though… He’s perfectly harmless.”  Scorpius nodded and smiled as Rosie took his hand.  Hermionie smiled in the rear-view mirror and then turned her attention to the road.

 

We arrived at The Burrow after thirty minutes or so of Hermionie’s ruthless driving.  He pulled in to find several other cars parked there.

“Albus, honey, be a dear and introduce her to everyone, won’t you?”  She asked as she pulled the key from the ignition.

“Of course,” Albus smiled.  “Come on, you’ve got to meet my mum.”

I followed them inside feeling nervous.  It smelled like something was roasting inside.  I saw the kitchen, there were several pots stirring themselves, and a hunk of ham roasting by itself on a spit.  There was a curious clock in the corner with Hermionie and her husband Ron’s name on it, along with many names I didn’t recognize, and Rose and Hugo’s names too.  They pointed to different spots, at home, at work, traveling, and in mortal danger.  They all pointed to home, now.  Albus lead me into a huge family room full of couches and a shocking number of red-haired wizards.  My mouth dropped open, slightly.  I looked around, not able to believe it.

“Well, looks like my mum and dad aren’t here yet.”  Albert said.  “But you can meet everyone else.  Everyone!”  His voice rose a little so that the people in the room turned.  “This is Sophia Frederick.  Sophie, this is Bill and Fleur and their kids, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis.”  He gestured to a long-haired man with a soul patch and the gorgeous blonde next to him with all of their children nearby.  “This is Charlie.”  Albus pointed to a picture of a red-haired boy next to a dragon.  “He lives in Romania and couldn’t make it out.  And next to him is my Uncle George, who owns a joke shop, and his wife Angelina and their kids Fred and Roxanne, Fred was named after my uncle who died in the war of Hogwarts. Percy should be-oh I remember.  Percy is in Romania visiting with Charlie.”  I nodded.  “This is my uncle Ron, he’s Rosie and Hugos dad.”

“Ron Weasley!”  I said, a little too excitedly.

“Oh yeah, Ronald gets all the fame, but who opened up the highly successful gag shop in Diagon Alley?  Hm?  Nothing for old Georgie.”

“Oh, can it George.  Yes, dear I’m the famous Ronald Weasley, how do you do?”

Al cleared his throat.  “This is my Grandmum, whose name is Molly-“

“You killed Bellatrix Lestrange.”  I said, softly.  The old woman rocking back and forth in the chair just smiled at me and said,

“Yes I did, dear… That I did.”

There was a moment of silence as we all exchanged looks, then Al cleared his throat.  “And this is my Grandad, Arthur.  And next to him is our cousin… Well, sort of.  His name is-“

“Teddy.  Teddy Lupin.  Nice to meet you.”  Said the boy with blue hair and a blue beard.  I shook his hand.

“Your father was Remus.”  I said, softly.

“My gosh, Soph, how did you come to know all of this?”  Al asked.

“When you told me your dad was Harry Potter and were surprised when I didn’t fall down at your feet I decided to find out why.  I know everything about the Battle of Hogwarts… I feel like I’m surrounded by celebrities.”  I whispered.

“I hope we’re not too late.”  Someone said from down the hall.  They walked in and I saw a beautiful woman with bright red hair and a man with dark, curly hair and a lightening scar on his forehead.

“Sophie, this is my mum and-“

“Harry James Potter.  The boy who lived.”  I said, softly as tears filled my eyes.  “I know.”

 

He shook my hand after I’d said it.  I felt like I was meeting the supreme hero of the Wizarding world.  Greater than Merlin or Dumbledore, who I’d also read about.  His wife was the beautiful Ginny Weasley, who Albus was very happy to introduce me to.  She was a lovely woman, and she had a smile for everyone.  Standing behind them was a little girl with bright red hair, a Weasley trait.  Albus explained that it was his sister, Lilly.  Harry Potter himself said he was pleased to meet me, to which I could have collapsed there on the floor.  I guess it hadn’t really hit me until now that I was really dating the Harry Potter’s son.  We all sat down to dinner at several differently-shaped tables to eat.  I sat next to Albus.  Rosie sat across from us with Scorpius, who Ron Weasley was constantly glaring at.  I could tell Scorpius was trying hard to ignore it.  Mrs. Weasley was full of sweet talk, and kept insisting that we all eat more.  She addressed me quite often.

“I’m so happy Albus found a girl friend.  I was beginning to worry, you know-“

“Mum,” Ginny said.

“Now we just have to find James a girl, don’t we?” She clasped her hands together, shaking her gray hair, which had once been bright red.

“Funny story.”  James said, swallowing a bite of beans.  “I actually went with Sophie here to the Yule Ball.  You could say that lil’ Al here stole her from me.”  He winked.  “But that’s all right, I’d hate to split up such an adorable couple.”  He laughed, taking a sip of his juice.

“Come on, now, James.”  His father said.  “Enough of that.”

“So, this whole Tri Wizard Tournament, thing…”  Harry said, leaning in.  “Tell us, how did the first event go?”

“It went great.”  Albus said, taking a sip from his cup.  Thinking about it, suddenly I wasn’t hungry any more.

“You know, there’s two Tri Wizard contestants sitting right here at this table.”  Harry said, looking at me.  “If there’s anything you’d like to know, anything at all, now’s the time to ask.”  It was dead silent for a moment as my mind whirled with all the questions I could possibly ask and I finally said"

“How did you do it?”

“How did I do what?  I’ve done a lot of things.”  He smiled and everyone laughed nervously.

“How did you get through it?”  I blurted, before I could stop myself.  “The tasks, and the nerves, and the confusing clues…”

“Friends.”  Harry said, simply.  “Without ol’ Ron and Hermionie, I think I’d have died.  Six times over, actually, I think I’ve counted.  Use your resources, and don’t be afraid to ask.  That’s the best I think I can give you.  We’re planning on coming out to see the final event, you know.”

“Yeah, we are mate.”  Ron said, giving him a nudge.  “It’s gonna be great.”

“I’ve never seen it in pairs like this.  You’ve got to tell us how the first event went, tell us everything!”  Hermionie insisted.

“Well… Let me start by saying that without Sophie here, I’d be dead as a doornail.  I owe her my life.”

“Please, without your skill with a broom I’d be dead, or pulling the Kappas off of me-“

“Would you two knock that off!”  George laughed.  “Just tell us what happened already!”

We took turns filling in parts of the story, and I learned things I didn’t even know, even if I was there the whole time.  I showed off my X scar from the Centaurs, and a couple of the deeper Kappa bites.  There were gasps, and ‘oh my’s’ and ‘back in my day’s’ and the occasional applause as we told our story.  When we’d finally finished recounting our adventure, I realized just how great it really was.  For the first time when thinking about the tournament, I wasn’t all that nervous.

Harry congratulated us on our success, though we weren’t first, coming out alive was a victory in itself.  Ron commented on how my wit reminded him of Hermionie, to which she said “pshh, nonsense, she’s more like Luna.  Speaking of which, when are they coming in?”

“Oh, they had to cancel this year.”  Mrs. Weasley said with a frown.  We finished dinner soon thereafter and trooped off to unpack, which Al and I hadn’t done yet.

“I didn’t know where to put you, Sophie, dear.”  Mrs. Weasley said with a little pout.  I hope you don’t mind sharing a room with Rosie, Scorpius, James and Albus.  Of course, there’s a sheet do divide the boys and girls, and I told James to keep an eye on all of you…” I didn’t hear the rest of what she’d said.  I was too distracted by Albus walking in front of me.  I looked at the back of his neck, the curve of his spine, just visible through his shirt, the way he walked, always bouncing off his toes… His hands, his long arms, his muscular shoulders… The way he’d started to cut his pin-straight hair, sticking it up in the front, though when it was down it swished down by his eyebrows.  We could’ve died at the hands of those Centaurs.  If he’d been gone, would I have known?  Would I remember the way his elbows looked when he rolled up his sleeves?  Would I picture the way the back of his head looked, with his hair coming down to a little point?  Before I could continue these thoughts, I was in a room with two sheets in the middle.  Mrs. Weasley claimed they were charmed to keep us on our separate sides, but we all knew it was a dull threat, even though we weren’t planning to do anything.

I unpacked my things next to the mattress on the floor next to the bed Rose had taken.  She’d offered it to me multiple times, but I preferred to be on the ground.  It was cozy there.  Eventually, she slipped out to rejoin the family in the living room.  I was still composing a letter to my mother, who was no doubt worried.  Al appeared on the other side of the sheet, a smile on his face.

“I knew she was joking.”  He stepped right across the border to his side of the room.

“You’re gonna get us in trouble.”  I smiled.

“Whatcha doin?”  He asked, sitting down next to me in the bed.  There was a hole in his left sock, right where his second toe was.  It was slightly longer than his big toe.  Would I have ever known?

“Writing a letter.  It can wait.  What’s up?”

“Not much.  Is something on your mind?”

“You know me too well…” I sighed.  “It’s just… I’ve been thinking that we could’ve died at any point during that challenge… I can’t loose you now!  It sounds pathetic, now that I say it out loud.  And I’ve been so worried about who put our name in the cup, and why and when… Why hadn’t anyone seen them?  I just… I mean, at first I though it was James, what with all that talk of teams, but now I don’t know…”

“You don’t have to.”  He said, comfortingly.  “This was my dad and Uncle Ron’s room when they stayed here.”  He changed the subject.  “If you here any clanking, it’s the ghoul upstairs.  I can’t believe that thing’s still alive.”

I smiled.  He looked like he might kiss me again when we heard raised voices down the hallway.

“Scorpius.”  We both said in unison.

Author's Note

Happy Christmas! Sorry again for font changes :P
Please review! How do you like Christmas at the Burrow?