"You, my dear, seem to have a knack at Potions."
Aria's eyes widened at her head of house's statement. Professor Snape stood next to the Herbology professor and Professor McGonagall stood on her other side. Why Aria needed an entire audience for ju...
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~*~
It was common knowledge that when staying at the Weasley household, Aria Rivers was in charge when the parents were out of the house. This was not meant to say that she was the oldest and the wisest, but Molly and Arthur Weasley did not trust their fourth and fifth born children to babysit responsibly, and for good reason. Percy did not care to be in charge, and the others were much too young to be completely independent. Once Charlie and Bill had left the house to pursue their own paths, it was Aria's job to take the mantle and put children to bed at a reasonable time. Ginny Weasley (now eleven years old), was just beginning to complain that nine o'clock was much too early of a time to go to bed since the twins and Ronald went to bed later.
"You're supposed to be my favorite person!" Ginny cried in annoyance, latching herself onto Aria's sleeve so that she wouldn't let her go. The almost fourteen-year-old wasn't having it. Despite Ginny's enormous doe eyes, she had never once fallen into her trap, and this time was no different.
"Maybe I don't want to be your favorite person," Aria countered. "Either way, your parents have kept their rules firm. It's two months before school starts, and at Hogwarts, you can do whatever you want, yeah? Stay up and party until midnight for all I care. Now go brush your teeth!"
Grumbling under her breath about Aria not being as much fun as she used to be, Ginny headed for the stairs, stomping all the way to the top. George came around the corner from the kitchen holding a large bowl of popcorn as if he thought it was humorous to watch Aria boss around his younger sister. Fred was close to follow behind his twin, carrying an even larger bowl full of different kinds of ice cream. Aria knew for a fact that Mrs. Weasley didn't even carry ice cream in the walls of the Burrow. Still, she didn't complain when Fred handed her a spoon.
"You'll be a great mother some day, Ria," George prided, tossing a handful of popcorn in the air and failing at catching any of the pieces. This made Fred laugh.
Aria dug into the ice cream. "And you'll be a marvelous father at the rate you're going, Georgie. Funny and witty, and simply telling all of your children to ask their mother. Just what a good father should do."
George threw another handful of popcorn at Aria, hitting her square in the nose. She snickered at his grim expression.
"I reckon I'll be the best father in the world," Fred intruded, sticking his fork in the air defiantly. "My children will only eat sweets and sugar. Just what every child wants."
"Ai, and they'll die happily at the age of two," Aria said with a solemn nod.
The three friends sat on the Weasley family couch, Aria squished between the boys. They had planned on watching a Muggle movie, but the adapted movie player that Mr. Weasley had tried to fix it to work without being plugged in and had stopped working just as soon as he had put it together. Aria and the twins had held a burial service for it as they threw it in the waste bin. Ronald had teared up quite a bit. He loved watching Muggle movies, though they'd only seen a couple (he'd particularly enjoyed Back to the Future).
