Riddled

|1| Morning at The Burrow

Ron was complaining again.

"Harry hasn't answered a single one of my letters!" he groaned one morning, sitting at the kitchen table.

Ginny, sitting across from her brother, rolled her eyes.

"I suppose your letters got lost in the Muggle post, Ronald," said Mrs. Weasley, stirring something in a pot with her wand.

"But I've sent him twelve letters! They can't have all gotten lost, that's mad!" Ron protested.

"Oh, shut it, Ron," said Ginny. "He probably just doesn't want to talk to a troll like you."

Ron looked completely outraged. "He's my best mate, of course he wants to talk to me! And besides," he said, giving his younger sister a knowing look, "You're the one who's in love with him. Don't you want him to keep talking to me so you can follow us around and sneak glances at the back of his head?"

"Ron!" said Mrs. Weasley, sounding exasperated. "Be nice to Ginny. And you'd best look out for her at Hogwarts. It's her first year."

It was Ron's turn to roll his eyes. "Oh, please," he groaned. "Percy'd be more than happy to give her the grand tour, wouldn't he? He's a bloody prefect!"

"Watch it!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, pointing a stubby finger at him. "Your father and I are very proud of Percy's success. It'd do you good to make more of an effort to follow in his footsteps."

"Errol probably lost your letters, Ron," Ginny told her older brother. "He's the stupidest owl there ever was, I doubt he even made it as far as the Muggle post."

"Even an owl as stupid as Errol can't have lost twelve letters," said Ron all though it sounded like he didn't really believe his own words. He looked down at the table with dismay. Mrs. Weasley set down two bowls of steaming porridge in front of them. Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust, which received a glaring look of disapproval from Mrs. Weasley.

At that moment, Percy came strutting into the kitchen, wearing his shiny prefect badge pinned to his jumper. "Smells delicious!" he noted as he passed Mrs. Weasley, kissing her cheek. Ron and Ginny exchanged a look and both gagged. Unfortunately Percy spotted them and scowled at them as he sat down at the table.

"Fred! George!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed up the stairs. There was silence. Mrs. Weasley proceeded up the stairs, holding up her long skirt as she went and mumbling angrily to herself. A moment later Fred and George came running down the stairs, Mrs. Weasley behind them, scolding them, saying, "Why don't you two try and answer me for once when I call you?" The twins joined Percy, Ron, and Ginny at the table. Mrs. Weasley marched back upstairs.

"What's eating you, Ron?" asked Fred. Ron was still staring at his porridge glumly. He shook his head in response to Fred's question.

"He's upset because Harry hasn't written him all summer," Ginny told Fred, who raised his eyebrows with interest.

"Perhaps it's for the better, Ronald," said Percy, straightening up in his chair and holding his head high, thrusting out his chest slightly to show off his gleaming prefect badge. "Harry Potter got in a lot of trouble at Hogwarts last year. It's best not to get involved with someone like him."

Ron looked stricken. "Are you mad?" he said to Percy. "Harry defeated You-Know-Who last year! Percy, you're as sensible and stuck-up as Hermione!" With that, Ron left the table and stomped upstairs to his room. The door slammed loudly. Fred exchanged a glance with George, and said, "I have an idea." With that, the twins left the table and bounded up the stairs. Percy turned to Ginny.

"So," he said, with an egotistic flair that made Ginny feel nauseous, "Are you excited about Hogwarts? Nervous? You shouldn't be... You'll be in Gryffindor for sure, all the Weasleys are... As long as you surround yourself with the right kind of people and-" But Percy couldn't finish lecturing Ginny because she groaned and left the table. She walked up the stairs and went into Ron's room without knocking. Ron was sitting on his bed with Fred and George, and they were in rapid discussion. George was scrawling something down on a piece of parchment. They immediately went silent when Ginny asked, "What are you up to?" and Ron snatched George's parchment and stuffed it up his shirt.

"Nothing!" said Ron, a little too quickly. "None of your business, Ginny, go away."

Ginny sighed with defeat. Ron was a stubborn person and she didn't feel like fighting him. She was outnumbered anyway. And she just wasn't in the mood... She hadn't told anyone, but she was nervous about starting at Hogwarts. And nervous about seeing Harry there every day.

author's note

hi everyone- thanks for reading the first chapter of my fanfiction! If you like it, give it a vote, and tell me what you think in the comments! More chapters coming soon.

-zoe