Harry Potter and the Year After

Chapter Seven: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

Chapter 7: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

The next morning, Harry met Ginny in the kitchen. She was in her robe and slippers, which were pink and clashed horribly with her hair. She was drinking a glass of pumpkin juice.

"'Morning," Harry said to her. He was still in his pajamas—a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. "Where's your mum?" They appeared to be the first two up.

"In the yard hanging clothes to dry-- Harry we need to talk."

"Oh, that doesn't sound good..."

"Look, I was talking with Mum yesterday, and--"

And someone cleared their throat from the bottom of the steps.

"Mr. Weasley!" Harry said, jumping away from Ginny, even though he hadn't even been touching her.

"'Morning," he said, with a befuddled expression on his face. He sat down in his normal seat and poured himself some pumpkin juice. He had to push a gift basket out of the way to reach the jug.

Harry hurriedly grabbed the basket and moved it out of the way, hitting the jug. Luckily Ginny saved it with a hover charm before it spilled all over Mr. Weasley.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, feeling heat radiate up out of his collar.

"Quite alright," Mr. Weasley said, and then took a sip of juice. Mrs. Weasley came in from the yard then with a basket balanced against her hip.

"Morning," Mrs. Weasley announced to the room as she passed through. She flicked her wand at the oven as she passed. On the countertop, a bowl of batter, which Harry hadn't noticed until now, started pouring dollops of itself into the pan on the stove.

Mrs. Weasley was making pancakes while she wasn't even in the room.

Harry and Ginny set about clearing this morning's gifts from the table in order to make spots for themselves. Soon after, Ron and George came downstairs. The pancakes flipped themselves.

"Morning," Ron mumbled, yawning. George said nothing as they both sat in their usual seats. It was relatively quiet until Mrs. Weasley bustled into the room and started serving everyone breakfast.

"So, my youngest son is moving out today," Mrs. Weasley said, breaking the silence as they started eating. Harry's stomach was churning. What was Ginny going to say before Mr. Weasley came down? He was tempted to just outright ask her here at the table...

"I'm going to head back to my apartment, too, Mum," George said without looking up from his plate.

"What? Today? Surely not," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I might as well get on with it," George said. Harry glanced over at Mr. Weasley, who glanced back at him and then to George.

"At least wait a day. I'll come with you and help you sort things out."

"Actually," George said, "Angelina said she'd come by and help me sort things out."

Harry wondered if anyone else noticed how Fred wasn't mentioned once.

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said, as though mildly surprised, "Well then. Alright. I suppose I'll help Ron and Harry then."

"Harry's only got the one rucksack to his name, Mum. And I haven't exactly got loads of stuff either," Ron said, but then when he looked up at his mother he quickly added, "But you know, if you wanted to help us... you know I'm sure there's lots of cleaning to be done."

"No, no, I understand. You all have to flee the nest," she said. Harry was starting to feel bad about leaving, but really it had sort of been her fault. He honestly wasn't looking forward to living at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, but he didn't really have another choice at the moment that was much better.