Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

67 - The Risky Things In Life

{ A/N: The above picture is what I imagine Charlie Weasley to look like (it's an edit I found from Artbreeder)! I've also given him a few features that aren't mentioned in the books just to make things more interesting as well :-)

CONTENT WARNING: NSFW
This chapter contains heavy sexual material and mature themes. Read at your own discretion. }

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Before I knew it, the rest of July had passed by me in a blur of warm, lazy summer days. Nothing truly outstanding had happened in my world since Fred and George had stayed over at my house. I did get to see my girl friends once when they'd gotten back from their vacations, but other than that, I hadn't done a whole lot.

Now it was the middle of August, and things had finally started to pick up again in my life. A few days ago I got a very exciting letter delivered from George. As a Ministry worker, Arthur Weasley had managed to acquire tickets to the Quidditch World Cup for his family and had also secured enough for me, Jasper, Harry, and Hermione to tag along too. Thus, in his letter, George was officially inviting me to stay with him at the Burrow for a few days and attend the match with him and his family.

Thankfully Mum had been more than willing to let us go. Now it was Saturday afternoon—two days before the Cup—and Jasper and I were standing in our living room with our packed bags, about to leave for the Weasleys.

"You'll be on your best behavior for Molly and Arthur, won't you?" Mum asked us in front of our fireplace. "They're being such sweethearts to take you to such an incredible event, so you better be."

"Mum, of course we will," I assured her with a laugh.

She nodded approvingly. "And you make sure to offer to help with things while you're at their house, like dinner. Understand?"

"Yes, Mum, we understand," Jasper replied a bit impatiently, rolling his eyes.

"Alright, then I guess I'll see you off now," Mum said with a smile, pulling us in for hugs.

Once we'd said our goodbyes, Jasper and I each stepped into the fireplace, dropped our handful of Floo powder, burst into green flames, and travelled magically all the way to little Devon, England where the Weasleys lived.

We stumbled out of the fireplace in the living room of the Burrow, which could only be described as a jumbled and cluttered array of furniture and decoration. Nothing about the room was uniform at all— everything was different patterns, colors, shapes, and sizes.

Scattered about the room were a few armchairs sagging from years of being sat on, a comfortable sofa with a few blankets surely knitted by Molly thrown on the back of it, and a couple of squashy cushions on the ground. On one wall was a large wooden bookshelf full of battered and dusty books, and on another was a sideboard with firewhiskey, butterbeer, and other adult beverages. Additionally, a wooden wireless set occupied the space in front of the window.

What I found most interesting about the room, however, was the magical clock above the fireplace. It had nine golden hands—one labeled as each member of the household—and in the place of hours on the clock's face were possible locations as to where each Weasley could be. Currently, all hands were pointing to "home" except Arthur's, who was apparently at work.

Overall, it was certainly a shabby little room, but also incredibly cozy at the same time. It gave me a warm, happy feeling when I looked around at it, and I suspected it would surely become one of my favorite places the more time I spent here.