The Prophet || G. Weasley

[1] Retrieving Harry

[Outfit Above]

The day before the Quidditch world cup, Kat prepared to help pick up Harry through the floo network. No matter how much she tried to explain to Mr.Weasley that the Dursleys would not love the idea of them coming through their fireplace, he simply said it would be simple and cause no trouble. Oh, how wrong he was. Kat was caught in between the twin's arms as they stood behind their father in complete darkness.

"Ouch! Fred, no--go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake—tell George not to—OUCH! George, Kat, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron—" Mr. Weasley called out frustratedly as the five of them were crammed in the blocked-off fireplace. "Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad—maybe he'll be able to let us out—" George began hopefully. Mr. Weasley began to pound on a wooden wall in front of them. "Harry? Harry, can you hear us?" He called out.

"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?" Harry called back. Mr. Weasley stopped hammering and shushed the twins. "Mr. Weasley, it's Harry...the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there." Harry explained with a slightly nervous tone. "Damn!" Mr. Weasley grunted. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire," Harry explained. "Really?" Mr. Weasley asked excitedly. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that...Let's think..." Mr. Weasley trailed off just as Kat shouted and jumped closer to George. "Ouch, Ron!" Ron gave Kat an apologetic look. "What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?" Fred scoffed and looked down at Ron.

"Oh no, Ron, no, this is exactly where we wanted to end up." George moved Kat in front of him so she was squished between him and Fred and Ron anymore, then spoke. "Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here." Ron rolled his eyes at their sarcasm while Kat shook her head with an amused look. "Boys, boys..." Mr. Weasley vaguely warned. "I'm trying to think what to do....Yes...only way...Stand back, Harry."

Harry backed up as Mr. Weasley pulled out his wand. "Bombarda." He chanted quietly causing a loud bang to ring out and the wall to burst outward raining down debris on them. Petunia shrieked and fell backwards only for Vernon to catch her. "That's better." Mr. Weasley panted as he and the rest of the group dusted themselves off.  "Ah—you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!" Mr. Weasley greeted smiling brightly, he moved towards Vernon, his hand outstretched, but Vernon backed away several paces, dragging Petunia with him.

"Er—yes—sorry about that," Mr. Weasley apologized, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see—just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking—but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."

George and Fred shared an amused yet partially awkward look with each other at Mr. Weasley's rambling. "Hello, Harry!" said Mr. Weasley brightly now turning towards the raven-haired boy. "Got your trunk ready?"

"It's upstairs," Harry grinned widely back at the oldest redhead. "We'll get it." Fred said at once with a wink at Harry before he and George left the room and made their way upstairs to Harry's bedroom. Kat stepped forwards and enveloped Harry in a tight hug. "It's good to see you, Harry!" The brunette exclaimed as she pulled away from the younger boy.

"Well," said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the silence. "Very—erm—very nice place you've got here."  Kat and Harry shared an amused look as Mr. Weasley tried to make things less awkward but not helping himself in the end. Mr. Weasley looked around the house in utter awe while Dudley walked into the room. "Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, taking another brave stab at making conversation.

"Yep," said Harry, "That's Dudley." Ron and Harry exchanged glances and then quickly turned away trying to hold back their laughter. "Having a good holiday, Dudley?" Mr. Weasley asked kindly yet Dudley only whimpered. George and Fred came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk, the two glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Kat took a small step closer to George when she noticed Dudley giving her weird looks and looking her up and down.

George then wrapped an arm around her waist and held her closer while glowering at the chubby boy. Without her noticing, George nodded towards Fred curtly causing Fred to grin evilly. "Ah, right," said Mr. Weasley. "Better get cracking then." He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. "Incendio!" said Mr. Weasley, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him. Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily.

Mr. Weasley took a small drawstring bag from his pocket, untied it, took a pinch of the powder inside, and threw it onto the flames, which turned emerald green and roared higher than ever. "Off you go then, Fred," said Mr. Weasley. Gesturing for the older twin to walk through. "Coming," said Fred. "Oh no—hang on—" A bag of sweet suddenly spilled from Fred's pocket and the contents began rolling in every direction of the floor.

Fred scrambled around, cramming them back into his pocket, then gave the Dursleys a cheery wave, stepped forward, and walked right into the fire with Harry's trunk. "The Burrow!" Fred called before he vanished into the green flames. "Right then, George," said Mr. Weasley, "You and Kat." The couple stepped into the fire hand in hand. Then, with a second whoosh, George had cried "The Burrow!" and they vanished too.