𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

48 || The Quidditch World Cup

my bad on the hiatus lol im going to college now 

"Ash, Bill and Charlie are here!"

I took the stairs two at a time and slid into the kitchen in my socks. Bill and Charlie arriving meant that Harry would be here soon. Down near the front door stood Hermione and Ginny. I flashed them both a grin.

Hermione had arrived a day ago through the fireplace with Mr. Weasley. We'd both screamed at the top of our lungs when we caught sight of one another and couldn't be separated for the rest of the night.

We waited excitedly by the door, peering through the front window. In the distance, two heads of red hair popped out of the top of the corn stalks. I stood on my toes to get a better look; one of the men had longer hair tied back in a ponytail and what looked like a fang earring in one ear. The other was shorter and stouter, but had a giant smile on his face. Both were wearing some form of Muggle overalls, but the one with the earrings' were significantly dirtier and appeared to have burn marks on them.

Mrs. Weasly opened the door happily to receive her visitors with open arms. They hugged her with big smiles.

"Good to see you all again," said the taller brother. Ginny nudged me. "That's Bill," she whispered. She ran to go give her brothers a hug, who looked overjoyed to see her.

"And who's this?" said the other brother, Charlie. He reached out his hand for me to shake, and I did.

"I'm Ashlynn," I tell him. "Ron and Ginny's friend from school."

"And part of the family, don't you forget," said Mrs. Weasley, wagging a finger. I laughed sheepishly. I was eternally grateful for the kindness the Weasley's had shown me in the past few years.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ashlynn," said Bill, shaking my hand after Charlie had moved on to ruffle Ginny's hair. "I take it you're the potions whiz Ron had told me about?"

I blushed. Ron had really sung my praises. Before I could deny, Mrs. Weasley had already ushered us all inside, chattering excitedly about the meal she had prepared for the special occasion.

"When is Harry getting here?" I asked her as nonchalantly as I could. She glanced at the magical clock on the other wall, where Mr. Weasley's hand moved to "Traveling."

"Soon, I do believe," she said, winking. I flushed again.

I missed Harry, of course I did. We were very close, and while Ron was great company, there was some sort of bond Harry and I had from our combined trauma that he and Hermione just couldn't replicate. No one else really understood what it was like to fight the Dark Lord and have a known criminal as your father/godfather.

Sirius and I had written many times over the summer, and he seemed to be enjoying himself with Buckbeak somewhere with warm, tropical weather, judging by the flamingo feathers he had encased with his last few letters. He had also mentioned that Lupin had gone to visit him once or twice, which greatly eased my worries about his access to food.

Suddenly, a loud clanging and thumping came from the fireplace, and Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley tumbled out, all covered in soot. Harry was soon to follow. I ran to help him up and dusted him off before bringing him into a tight hug. He smiled at me, and hugged me again just as I was about to pull away. I didn't mind. I did say I missed him, after all.

Mr. Weasley, who was very red in the face, began to scold Fred and George about something. Mrs. Weasley joined in, while Bill and Charlie watched from the kitchen, amused.

"What happened?" I asked Harry while Ron and Hermione greeted him with their own hugs. Harry laughed.

"Fred and George 'accidentally' dropped a bunch of candies in front of Dudley," he explained. "So of course he ate one, and then his tongue stretched out nearly a foot long..."