Opened At The Close...

4: Back to The Burrow(again)

    Stepping out onto the platform with his trunk and Hermione's floating above him again, Harry saw almost immediately the familiar crowd of people with flaming red hair; his favorite family in the world, the Weasleys. As he made his way toward them with Ginny (who was holding Teddy) at his heels, he noticed that Mrs. Weasley looked slightly harassed. Luna and Neville waved good-bye and walked over to their families as Ron asked,
"What's wrong, Mum?"
"Reporters!" Excliamed Mrs. Weasley with exasperation."Everywhere! Interrogating me on you lot." She looked at them all for a moment, then seemed to realize that something was off.
"Where's Hermione?" She asked, worried.
"She went to see her parents,"Ginny answered, stepping out from behind Harry, and Mrs. Weasley smiled, seeing her fully for the first time that day and noticing the baby she was holding.
"Well, it was about time. I'm sure her parents will love to see her, " Mrs. Weasley said distractedly as she peered at the green and blue bundle in Ginny's arms. Then she laughed."Oh, he looks like a Weasley, look at him!"
"Andromeda said that would make you laugh," Harry said slyly, moving out of the way of the people scurring back and forth along the platform.
"Well, I suppose she was right, then,"Mrs. Weasley replied smiling faintly,"Now, you boys can just Apparate there first, and Ginny and I can  take the Ministry car to the Burrow. Hold tight to your trunks, now," she said, waving them along.
  Gripping the trunks, Harry turned in the spot and felt his whole body being compressed very tightly, then just as he needed more air, he surfaced with a pop in the yard of the Burrow. The old pair of Wellington boots had been replaced since the last time he had been there, though the Flutter-by bush fluttered as attractively as ever. Mr. Weasley glanced out the kitchen window and saw Harry and Ron, beckoning them to join him. Smiling, Harry and Ron levitated the trunks with them and obliged.
     "Hello, boys!" Mr. Weasley said cheerfully from the kitchen table over a mug of tea and a bowl of cold cereal."Molly and Ginny taking the Ministry car, then?"
"Yeah," Ron said, taking the box of cereal and a bowl from the cabinet and helping himself."Want some, Harry?"
"No, thanks," Harry said, plunking the trunks down next to the back door and seating himself at the table.
"Good, because I wouldn't have gotten any for you anyway!" Ron said bitterly, and when Harry and Mr. Weasley looked utterly confused, he explained,"Harry didn't bother to ask me if I wanted something from the trolley on the train, but he asked Luna and Ginny, because appearantly reading or holding a baby makes a person uncapable." Harry laughed, but Mr. Weasley still looked confused.
"What baby?" He asked Harry.
"Oh!" Harry said; he had forgotten that he hadn't told Mr. Weasley that he had Teddy, although it didn't take Mrs.Weasley long to see which baby it was."Teddy, Teddy Lupin." Mr. Weasley smiled, his balding head glinting in the light.
"Ahh, so you've got him from Andromeda, have you?" He said, taking a bite of cereal.
"Earlier today," said Ron thickly through a mouthful of cereal.
"How old is he?" Mr. Weasley asked, his grin fading as the atmosphere changed from cheerful to depressing in two seconds flat.
"Andromeda says he's four months," Harry said quietly. There was a deafening silence that was broken by Crookshanks, meowing indignantly to be let out of his cage.
"Oh, sorry, Crookshanks, I forgot," Harry said apologetically as he unlatched the cage door. Crookshanks gave Harry a grudging look, then stalked off to find a nice cushion to curl up on.
"We should go to Diagon Alley sometime this week," Mr. Weasley said, clearing his throat. "We are running low on Floo powder, your mother wants new dress robes for her birthday, and the owls are running low on treats. Not to mention the fact that Harry needs a new owl, as much as I hate to say it," said Mr. Weasley gently.
"Yeah, I hate to say it too,"mumbled Harry. He had been putting off getting a new owl for weeks, for he didn't really need one while they were horcrux hunting. The prospect of getting a new owl seemed very depressing,  but he no longer had the school owls at his disposal, so Mr. Weasley had a point.
"I don't think I want to go to Diagon Alley," Ron said furtively. "There will be people staring at us everywhere we go."
"And a question for every step we take," Harry said darkly, staring out the window. The sky was a rich grapefruit pink, the thin wispy clouds littering the sky were tinted a bright orange; Mrs. Weasley and Ginny still had a two hour long car drive ahead of them...
"Did you get off of work early?" Harry asked Mr. Weasley. He nodded.
"I've returned to my post in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, but my salary has actually been raised!"He raised his eyebrows as if even he couldn't believe it."Everyone in the Ministry who was a member of the Order of the Phoenix has been given a raise, actually," Mr. Weasley explained thoughtfully.
"How do they know if a person really is a member?" Asked Ron.
"Easy. They just ask who's in the portrait in the first hallway of headquarters, and what happens if it's disturbed."
  Harry remembered all to well the shrieks of the portrait of Sirius's mother; her shrieks were as terrible as Kreacher's mutterings, maybe even worse because they were impossible to ignore.
"I'm taking my trunk to my bedroom," Ron announced, getting up to place his bowl in the sink. Harry rose, as well.
"Me too," he said, taking Crookshanks's empty cage off of his and Hermione's trunks.
     Five minutes later they had deposited Ginny's trunk in her room, Hermione's trunk in Bill's old room, Harry's trunk in the twins' old room, and Ron's trunk in his room. It was Ron's room where they now were, Harry perched on the windowsill, staring outside at the maroon sky and Ron lying on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.
"Harry, what do you think Hermione's doing right now?" Ron asked thoughtfully.
"Explaining to her parents why she erased their memories, I guess," he said.
"You think she already restored their memories?" Ron asked.
"Probably."
"This is gonna sound selfish, but-" Harry cut Ron off.
"You wish she was here? Yeah, it does sound selfish, but I do, too." Neither spoke for a moment."It's alright, though. She'll be here in a few days or so," Harry said. On that note, Ron seemed to cheer a little.
"Yeah...What did you think of the dirigible plums?" Ron changed the subject.
"I actually liked them," Harry said."Didn't think that I would, though."
"I know. That gurdyroot infusion of theirs tasted like bogey-flavored Bertie Bott's." Ron said, crinkling his nose. "When are you going to Grimmauld Place, Harry?"
"I don't know....I guess at the end of the week," Harry said.
"Are you going to do anything about that painting of Sirius's mum? I've been wondering if Kreacher could take it off and none of us knew he could."
"What? Oh, Merlin, I hadn't thought of that!" Harry said, stunned. "Kreacher!"
  There was a loud crack,  and in front of them appeared an old and wrinkled house elf, who bowed so low toward Harry that his nose touched his toes.
"Master called?" Kreacher croaked at the floor.
"Yes, Kreacher. I need you to take the picture of Mrs. Black off the wall in the hallway," Harry said, then he added,"You can put it in your room." Kreacher looked numbly surprised, then bit back tears as he said,
"Yes, Master. Kreacher thanks you, Master. Mr. Weasley..." Kreacher bowed once more toward Harry then toward Ron, and vanished as quickly as he had come.
"I used to think he could never be a good house elf," Ron said laughing.
"Believe me, when I inherited Grimmauld Place, I wasn't too happy to have him, as well. But he has cleaned it up nicely."
"Isn't it crazy that you have a baby to take care of now?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, a bit. But he seems kind of easy to take care of," Harry said nonchalantly.
"Don't say that, not this soon at least!"Ron said.
"What? Why?" Harry asked dumbfounded.
"Because, what if he's really a nightmare to take care of and you just made your hopes all high that he was really a sweet angel?" Ron said, sitting up to stare at Harry rather than the ceiling.
"Andromeda would have told me if he was difficult," Harry said stubbornly.
"Don't be so sure about that," Ron said darkly. Harry only rolled his eyes, but was a bit nervous anyway. By the time Mrs. Weasley, Teddy, and Ginny had arrived an hour later, he was quite relieved to see Teddy awake, but calm.
"Just hanging out," Ron said in a mock-casual voice, reaching out to take Teddy from Ginny, who turned away.
"If you want to hold him, sit down. Can you imagine how hard it would be for Harry to tell Andromeda that his best mate dropped her grandson?" Ginny asked. Ron scowled and walked upstairs again.
"I put your trunk in your room," Harry said as he took Teddy from Ginny (who actually let him.)
"Thank you," she said, traipsing upstairs to unpack her trunk.
"I wish his hair hadn't changed," Mrs. Weasley said ruefully."Arthur would have laughed, too."
  Teddy's hair had indeed changed from a fiery red to a curly bright yellow.
"That's fine, Molly. This yellow is enough to make me laugh," Mr. Weasley said, sitting down on the sofa next to Harry."I've never seen a baby with bright yellow hair before...but, then again, none of my kids are metamorphagi," He said.
"His eyes have changed, too," Harry realized aloud, looking into Teddy's eyes which were now black. Teddy could sit up if supported, so now he leaned against Harry's stomach, chewing his hand happily.
"When are you leaving for Grimmauld Place, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen.
"In about a week," Harry said, shrugging.
"Well, you can stay longer than that if you want," Mrs. Weasley offered, coming into the living room with three mugs of tea and handing one to both Harry and Mr. Weasley.
"Thank you," he said for the tea."But I should probably move over there in about a week..." In all honesty, Harry felt he was sort of at a standstill. He had come to the end of the business with Voldemort, and he had finished school, so basically there were only two things to focus on now: work and family. Harry was very glad that there were no more cases left to solve, no more secrets left to uncover that dealt with Voldemort. Everyone that the Ministry could account for* had been given Veritiserum and asked if they had had anything to do with Voldemort, whether they felt any remorse, and under what curcumstances they had done such things. This meant that most people, Death Eater or not, that had helped Voldemort were shoved into Azkaban after heavy trials.
"Well, all right, dear. If that's what you feel is best,"Mrs. Weasley said pleasantly, sipping her tea.
"I'm going to go see what Ginny and Ron are doing,"Harry said, standing and repositioning Teddy in his arms.
"Be careful with him on the stairs, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley called after him as he climbed the stairs, to which Mr. Weasley responded,
"Oh, Molly, leave the boy be. Do you really think Remus would have made him godfather if he thought Harry wasn't careful enough?"
   Harry smiled, reaching the landing where Ginny's room was, and knocked on her door.
"Hang on a second... Okay! Come in!" Came her voice from the other side of the door. Harry opened the door and walked into the small, bright room. The walls still had the same Weird Sisters and Holyhead Harpies posters hanging on them.
"It's me, Harry," Harry said unneccesarily as he walked in. Ginny looked him up and down, then said,
"Oh, good, for a second there I thought you were Ron." Harry rolled his eyes, sitting on the edge if Ginny's bed while she brushed her hair.
"When are you going to Grimmauld Place?" She asked him.
"Everyone's been asking that. In a week," Harry answered.
"You do realize that everyone's going to be visiting you all the time? You'll almost never be alone," Ginny said as she set down her hair brush and plunked down beside Harry.
"I figured that. I don't think I'll mind you and the others Apparating in and out of my house, as long as you always show up in the same room. Maybe you should always Apparate to the kitchen or something, seeing as how I don't want anyone popping in my bedroom while I'm getting dressed," Harry said with a smile. This time Ginny rolled her eyes, smiling.
"I  haven't passed my test, yet," she pointed out.
"Oh..." Harry said, slightly disappointed. "Well, there's always Side-Along Apparition..."
"Yeah, but it would be nice to have the freedom," Ginny said wistfully. "I could visit you whenever I wanted."
"Do you want to go see what Ron is doing with me?" Harry asked her, standing up.
"Sure. I'm not doing anything else," she said, following him to the door. There was a sound of someone running away from the door on the other side, and Harry cast Ginny a look before opening it. When he flung the door open, Ron was just then hurrying up the stairs. He looked over his shoulder, feigning surprise.
"Oh, there you are!" Ron said, his face red."I've been looking all over for you two!"
"I think you already found us," Ginny said bitterly. "Do you enjoy being a nosey prat, or can you just not help yourself from eavesdropping on every private conversation you hear?" She continued, while Harry tried very hard not to laugh."The tables will turn, one day. I'd watch out, if I were you, Ron." she finished darkly. Ron scowled and thundered up to his room, a laughing Harry and a yellow-haired Teddy in his wake, while Ginny whipped around back into her room.