Libra Xena Black: Second Year at Hogwarts

3. The Burrow.

Staying at the Burrow was absolutely wonderful. Libra felt as she had never felt at the orphanage, she felt wanted, and she felt like she was home.

Now, Libra had never really felt at home anywhere, except for Hogwarts, so she was running off of descriptions of what home was like in the fairy tales she would read as a kid. But from what she gathered, this was a good home.

There was always someone yelling something. Whether it was Mrs. Weasley at the twins, or the twins at Percy. Whether it was someone shouting 'Give me that back!' or 'Hey! Who took my broom?', someone was always shouting. It sounded awful, but it was absolutely delightful to Libra.

And everyone's stuff was everywhere. You couldn't walk into a room without seeing a stray coat, or a pair of shoes. And it annoyed Mrs. Weasley endlessly, but to Libra it was proof of life in the house. Proof that people lived and loved and enjoyed life there.

Their house was also falling apart into pieces, which made Libra so, so happy. There were drawings on the walls of the living room ("Ignore that Libra, it's from when Percy went through an art phase and we ran out of paper") and the couch was falling apart. ("Sorry about that, Charlie brought a cat into the house once, it didn't end well.") And god, everything had it's own story, and everything was worn but loved.

All of this happened at the orphanage, too. Although there it was dark and dreary and you were constantly scared to say the wrong thing to Mallory.

Here, it was bright and happy and joyful. You didn't have the fear of a drunk guardian or snobbish occupants to worry about. Only loving (albeit short tempered) parents, and happy siblings. And everything that was broken at the orphanage was just pitiful, not interesting.

But the people at the Burrow weren't like the ones at the orphanage.

Here, people made sure she was feed at least three times a day. ("Oh Libra, Harry, make sure to take some more hash browns, mums  hash browns are legend.") When she was at the orphanage, it was hard to eat three times a week.

And Mrs. Weasley always made sure she was wearing suitable clothes, and washed them when they got dirty. She even lent her a shirt when Libra ran out of things to sleep in. ("We'll have to go shopping when we go to Diagon Alley. I never had a girl, so I don't have any clothes for you to borrow.")

And when she would walk into a room, someone always acknowledged her and the boys. Whether it was asking her how she slept, or asking her opinion on something. ("Oi, Ron, Harry, Libra. Do you guys think Fred or I are better looking? It's obviously that I'm the better looking twin, right?")

Libra loved it so much. The girl saw how a family was supposed to interact and love each other, and when she was here, she felt like a part of it.

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"So Libra, Harry, any embarrassing details we should know about our dear Ronniekins here?" Charlie asked while they were all in the living room one night. "I'm guessing his friends see a different part of him than his brothers see."

Ron's head snapped up so fast Libra felt the whiplash he got for him.

"Don't say a word." Ron said slowly, glaring at both Harry and Libra.

All of the Weasley boys, the Blacks and Harry were sprawled out in various spots in the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gone to bed shortly after dinner, and the kids just gathered in the living room.

Harry, Libra and Ron were sat in front of the fire, talking about things that had happened over the summer. Percy and Fred were arguing about something a few feet away from them. George and Leo were playing exploding snap near the window. Bill, Charlie and Gid (the youngest Weasley) were talking about Hogwarts, Gid's eyes lighting up as he heard about the place he would soon be going too.