Bumblebee (A Fred Weasley Fanfiction)

- CHAPTER TWELVE -

The Burrow

Emmie arrived at The Burrow, she was finally meeting Fred's parents and she was nervous. The Burrow was all the way in Devon, it looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it was probably held up my magic. Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron and several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.
Emmie took a deep breath before knocking on the door, a few seconds later Molly Weasley opened it, her curly, ginger hair fell to her shoulders and she was wearing a mustard yellow dress and light brown cardigan. "Emmie!" She exclaimed with her arms wide open, "hi,"
"Come here," she pulled her into a hug, "it's so good to finally meet you."
Emmie stepped into the house, it was cluttered but very welcoming at the same time, "Fred!" Molly called and in no time at all he came running down the rickety stairs, he hugged Emmie tightly and, because his mother was watching, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love your hair," she looked up at him, his hair was shoulder length and parted at the side and really suited him, "come on, let's go put your stuff upstairs," he said taking her hand, "erm Fred, Emmie's sleeping in Ginny's room with Hermione remember," Molly interrupted,
"yes mum," he sighed.
Fred gave Emmie a tour of the house and, when they returned to the kitchen, the whole family were there, she said her hello's to George, Ginny, Ron, Percy, Harry and Hermione,
"this is my dad," said Fred,
"nice to meet you," Emmie shook Arthur's hand,
"and this is Charlie and Bill."
Charlie was shorter and stockier than the twins, he had a broad, good-natured face which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscly and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it. Bill was - there was no other word for it - cool, he was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail; he was wearing an earring with a fang dangling from it and his clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert except for his boots which were made from dragon hide.
Fred noticed Emmie admiring his brothers, "hey, I have alot to tell you," he nudged her.
They got to the twins bedroom, "sorry about that," she said, "it's fine, but I actually have alot to tell you." He replied, "me and George have been working on some things, you know joke things. Fake wands, trick sweets, loads of stuff. We're going to sell them at Hogwarts to make some money."
Brilliant!" Said Emmie, "yeah, problem is mum found the order forms and burnt them. Now she's all pissy at us because we want to open a joke-shop and she wants us to work at the ministry like dad and we didn't get many O.W.L.S."
"Well if this stuff is working and you think you can make a living out of it then I think it's a great idea,"
"Oh trust me, it's working. This morning, when we went to pick up Harry, I chucked a Ton-Tongue Toffee on the floor near his cousin and, of course, the fat git ate it. His tongue was four feet long before his parents let dad shrink it."
Emmie's laughter was stopped by Fred kissing her. He paused, "you better sneak in here tonight,"
"Are you sure?" She asked,
"what?"
"Well you're mum's already mad at you so you don't want to be going behind her back and I was thinking of having a little girls night with Ginny and Hermione," she replied, Fred pouted and crossed his arms, "fine. You want a sweet?"
Emmie looked at him confused, "a sweet?"
He held out a bowl, "yup."
She hesitantly took one and popped it into her mouth, "mm this is actually pretty good," she said in between chews, "what is it?"
"Nosebleed Nougat," he replied, "what?" She put her hand to her nose and looked at it, there was a tiny drop of blood on it, "Fred!" She shouted but he wasn't concentrating, he was writing in a notebook and muttering to himself, "hmm not enough blood."

They left Fred's room and went back downstairs to find Mrs Weasley alone in the kitchen looking extremely bad-tempered.
"We're eating out in the garden," she said when they came in. "Could you take the plates outside please, Emmie? Bill and Charlie are setting up the table. Knives and forks, please, Fred,"
They headed out of the back door into the yard, they had only gone a few paces when Hermione's bandy-legged, ginger cat Crookshanks came pelting out of the garden, bottle-brush tail held high in the air, chasing what looked like a muddy potato on legs. Emmie recognised it instantly as a gnome, barely ten inches high, it's little feet pattered very fast as it sprinted across the yard and dived headlong into one of the wellington boots that lay scattered around the door. Meanwhile a very loud crashing noise was coming from the other side of the house. The source of the commotion was revealed as they entered the garden and saw Bill and Charlie both had their wands out and we're making two battered old tables fly high above the lawn, smashing into each other, each attempting to knock the others out of the air. George and Harry were cheering; Ginny and Ron were laughing and Hermione was hovering near the hedge, apparently torn between amusement and anxiety.
By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs Weasley's excellent cooking and the nine Weasleys, Emmie, Harry and Hermione were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky.
Mr Weasley conjured up candles to light the darkening garden before they had their pudding and by the time they had finished, moths were fluttering low over the table and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle.

"Look at the time," Mrs Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you, you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the cup. Emmie, if you leave your school list out I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."
"Wow - hope it does this time!" Said Harry enthusiastically. "Well I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."
"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh Perce?" Said Fred.
"That was a sample of fertiliser from Norway!" Said Percy, going very red in the face. "It was nothing personal!"

"It was," Fred whispered to Emmie as they got up from the table. "We sent it."