The Other Potter. Book Four.

I FEEL LOVED

“Did he eat it?” said George excitedly as I stepped through the fireplace.

“Yes. It was freaking hilarious-“I was cut off by harry sliding out of the fire place and knocking me to my feet.

“You really aren’t skilled with this are you Harry?” I said as George helped me up.

Maybe he did like me.

“How’s your cousin’s tongue?” Fred asked as he pulled Harry to his feet.

“What was it?” Harry grinned.

“Ton-Tongue Toffee,” said Fred brightly. “George and I invented them, and we’ve been looking for someone to test them on all summer…”  The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter; I looked around and saw that Ron was sitting at the scrubbed wooden table with two red-haired people I had never seen before, though I knew immediately who they must be: Bill and Charlie, the two eldest Weasley brothers. 

“How’re you doing?” said the nearer of the two, grinning at me and holding out a large hand, which I shook, feeling calluses and blisters under his fingers. This had to be Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania. Charlie was built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long and lanky. He had a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it.

Alright, he was hot.

He shook Harry’s hand afterwards.

That’s right, I’m first.

Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook my hand. Bill came as something of a surprise. I knew that he worked for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, and that Bill had been Head Boy at Hogwarts; I had always imagined Bill to be an older version of Percy: fussy about rule-breaking and fond of bossing everyone around. However, Bill was - there was no other word for it – Totally-freaking-awesome.

He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill’s clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that I recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide. 

“Oh my gosh, you’re cool.” I blurted out. Damn it.

“Umm...” Bill said awkwardly.

“I mean, I like expected you to look like an older Percy, not someone cool.” I said feeling all of the eyes staring at me.

They all burst out laughing.

Before any of us could say anything else, there was a faint popping noise, and Mr. Weasley appeared out of thin air at George’s shoulder. He was looking angrier than I had ever seen him. 

“That wasn’t funny Fred!” he shouted. “What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?” 

“I didn’t give him anything,” said Fred, with another evil grin. “I just dropped it… It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to.”

“You dropped it on purpose!” roared Mr. Weasley. “You knew he’d eat it, you knew he was on a diet-”

“How big did his tongue get?” George asked eagerly. 

“It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!”  The whole room –less Mr. Weasley- Exploded into laughter again.  “It isn’t funny!” Mr. Weasley shouted. “That sort of behaviour seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons.”