Bakugan: Mystic Battle Brawlers

2. The Burrow and a Surprise.

  Harry spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to his sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past him, until he started to feel sick and closed his eyes. Then, when at last he felt himself slowing down, he threw out his hands and came to a halt in time to prevent himself from falling face forward out of the Weasleys' kitchen fire.

"Hey," said Harry, straightening up. "What was that you gave Dudley?" "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. Harry looked around and saw that Ron and George were sitting at the scrubbed wooden table with two red-haired people Harry had never seen before, though he knew immediately who they must be: Bill and Charlie, the two eldest Weasley brothers.

"How're you doing, Harry?" said the nearer of the two, grinning at him and holding out a large hand, which Harry 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.

Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook Harry's hand. Bill came as something of a surprise, though Harry hid his reaction. Harry knew that he worked for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, and that Bill had been Head Boy at Hogwarts; Harry 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 - cool. 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 Harry recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide.

Before any of them 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 Harry 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!"

Harry and the Weasleys roared with laughter again. "It isn't funny!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons "We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" said Fred indignantly. "No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git," said George. "Isn't he, Harry?" "Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," said Harry earnestly. "That's not the point!" raged Mr. Weasley. "You wait until I tell your mother -" "Tell me what?" said a voice behind them.

Mrs Weasley was behind them, looking curious as to what has got her husband so angry. "W- well... y-you see..." stuttered out mister Weasley. "Let's head upstairs." said Harry, motioning for all the young redheads to do so. The Weasley sons did so and went upstairs, Harry following behind. Suddenly, Harry was hit with a wave of killing intent. He ran up the stairs to where it came from, Ginny's room. He opened the door and found Hermione glaring at Ginny. 

"So Hermione is where the intent came from, but that means..." his thought trailed off as Hermione spotted him and called to him. "Harry James Potter!" she started in a stern voice. "You Better have a good reason for not contacting me all Summer!" He shivered at her tone before saying "I had an unexpected trip to Japan and I couldn't take Hedwig with me." "Oh, Japan? Why were you there?" Harry thought for a moment, and said "Vernon had some job transaction thing." Hermione seemed satisfied as she stopped glaring at him, turning to Ginny and smirking.

Then Hermione noticed something. "Harry? Is that a sword on your back?" "Well..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think Ron is calling me." He promptly ran out of Ginny's room and straight for the Twin's. He slammed the door behind him, turning to the two pranksters. "I'm staying with you guys, it's much safer here." "What," "did," "you,""do?" asked the twins in their split speech. "Hermione found out I had a katana." They looked at each other before grinning madly. "Well little Harrikins," said George "Welcome to our little band of misfits." finished Fred.

A few hours later found the entire Weasley family, Harry, and Hermione, at the table for dinner. "So Harry, how was Japan?" asked Percy, without his usual pompous tone. The other Weasley's were shocked to hear him sound so normal. Harry said "It was brilliant, I made a few muggle friends there. The cities were so warm compared to England." Hermione chose that moment to speak up. "Did you know that there was an anomaly in Japan that affected the rest of the world's climate?" 'How did she know about that?' thought Harry in alarm. "What is a climate?" questioned Ron Weasley, leaving Hermione open to another lecture.

After the Weasley's finished dinner, they all went off to do their own thing. Hermione walked up to Harry and asked "Can you come outside? I need to speak to you." Then she walked outside, Harry following. As soon as they were a fair distance away from the Burrow, Hermione turned to Harry with something he couldn't believe she had, a Gate Card. Harry quickly pulled out his own and they both shouted "FIELD OPEN!!!!"