The Potter Twins and the Chamber of Secrets

III

"Oh, man, you've no idea how good it is to see you," Ron said excitedly as the car soared over outstretched fields and hedgerows. "When you didn't reply to my first letter I was pissed off, but when I didn't get one for the tenth time I reckoned something was wrong. Will said he didn't get any from you, either, right? So I knew there was a problem."

"Language, Ronald," the twins said together, and snickered.

Ron turned beet red.

"Well, we're glad you came," Harry said, and I added, "yeah, thanks, buddy. We were going mad in there."

"Speaking of going mad..." Fred wrenched the steering wheel to the right and the car broke through the clouds. Spread out in front of us was a carpet of untouched countryside, save for the house in the centre of it all. As the car banked lower, it looked to me like it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic (which, I reminded myself, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance read, The Burrow. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.

"...Mum's going to go mental," George finished, as the Ford continued to descend.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, as we landed and the doors popped open. I climbed out as Fred answered. "Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon. Although, Mum reckons that any muggles from the town would be searching for years before they found this place."

"Talking of which," Ron whispered loudly. "Shhh!" The five of us sneaked round the side of the house and as Fred pushed the door open, there was a horribly loud creak.

"Frederick Weasley!"

Fred sidled sheepishly into the kitchen and the rest of us followed. I was last in, and was hit with the full force of, "how dare you take the car anywhere? You could have been spotted, you could have been killed, you're so stupid!"

Eventually, Mrs. Weasley spotted Harry and I and gave us a warm smile. "Welcome, boys. Sam, give it a day and I probably won't be able to tell you apart from Ron!" she laughed. I smiled back awkwardly.

"So," George said, "how did you know we were gone? I mean, we took all the necessary precautions."

"Apart from the fact that you weren't in the house," Mrs Weasley snapped, as she pointed to the wall. "You've forgotten all about that."

I followed her finger and saw, nailed into the wall, the weirdest clock I had ever seen. There were nine golden hands, each with names on, presumably for each member of the family. In place of hours on the clock's face were a series of possible locations, including "home," "school", "work", "travelling", "lost", "hospital", "prison", and "mortal peril". As we'd stepped into the kitchen, the hands of Fred, George and Ronald had shifted from "lost" to "home".

"Oops," George said.

"Oops indeed," Mrs Weasley snapped furiously. "You could have been killed. Seen!"

"You already said that, Ma," Fred said. Mrs Weasley gave him a glare that would have made me shrink. "Erm," Harry volunteered, "thank you for having us?"

"Oh, it's my pleasure, dear," Mrs Weasley smiled. "Welcome to the Burrow. Ronald! Show them to your room."

Just as we were about to head up the stairs, a girl, a little smaller than Ron, cane trotting down. She got about two steps from the bottom before sighting Harry and I and freezing. "Hi, I'm Sam," I said with a wave. The girl stared at us for a few seconds longer before turning tail and fleeing up the staircase.

"That's Ginny," explained Ron. "Mental about you two, she is."

"Take them up, Ron," Mrs Weasley said again, "and be quick about it." She flicked her wand and about seven pots and pans flew to the counter beside her. "I'm making breakfast."

a/n
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
xx