Meeting Of Swords and Wands

Chapter 6: Deathboy Summons the Death God

After another rather painful trip by Floo, I arrive in (mostly) one piece back to the homely Burrow with my loaded down trunk filled with all kinds of wizarding menagerie and a much lighter money bag. Thank gods Hades is covering this trip, because being a wizard is pretty expensive. And it is going to be a very long trip.

Shuffling to my dufflebag, I suddenly realized something just as the last of our group walked in.

"Where are we going to sleep?" I asked. Nico looked up at me with a 'you serious?' face.

"Well, Dumblore did say that we are staying here." Nico replied, clearly mocking me.

"But, I mean, where in this house are we sleeping?" I clarified.

"I call dibs on the couch." Nico stated, challenging me to say otherwise.

"Oh no you don't Neeks." I replied, accepting the challenge, "Eldest gets the first dibs." Nico then started miming 'Seriously!?' to which I mimed 'yeah, yeah' to which Nico gave me the death glare in response. I gave him my 'gotcha' grin in return. Nico non-verbally communicated that he was going to wring my neck, to which I mimed 'blah, blah, blah' back. Nico might have actually followed acted on that threat, but Mrs. Weasley interjected.

"Well, I was thinking that Arthur could set up the tent and you two and the kids would like to sleep there for the remainder of the summer." She said. Neeks and I looked at each other, then her, and back to each other.

"That sounds great to me." I replied, smiling. "Thank you so much for your hospitality."

"Oh, don't worry about it Percy." Mrs. Weasley replied. "We're always ready to give a home to those who don't have a real home to come back to." I caught a quick look at Harry and saw a flash of both joy and pain on his face. I took a mental note to talk to him about it at some point about it. I knew that face. I've seen that face on many campers when the subject of home comes up and Annabeth had that same face when Mom said that she was welcome to her apartment as another home.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Weasley" Nico replied with gratitude. I was reminded that aside from Camp, Nico's only other home is his room in Hades' castle in the Underworld. Man, I am the lucky demigod.

"You're welcome Nico dear." Mrs. Weasley replied as she hugged him. Then, she hugged me. "I know Britian is a long way from New York, but I want you two to enjoy your stay here." I smiled.

True to Mrs. Weasley's words, Mr. Weasley got the tent canvass out on the ground. I was about to grab a mallet to begin setting the tent up when Mr. Weasley whipped out his wand and made several fluid movements with it. The movements looked a lot like sword movements in their precision and fluidity. To my astonishment, the tent began to rise and make itself. If I was uninterested in magic, now I will study if it meant that I could set up tents without hassle.

"Ok, kiddos! Home sweet home!" Mr. Weasley declared as he strode in. Curiously, I walked in. How, can such a small tent hold all of us plus our luggage? I walked in and my mouth nearly fell out. The interior was enormous and there were multiple wings with sealable flaps and large central stove.

"I totes need to learn how to that." I said, awestruck.

"I know, right!?" Harry replied with a knowing smile on his face.

"Ok, girls in one wing, 4th years in one, Fred and George get their own." Arthir explained, "Dinner will be outside." Nico and I took our trunks amd dufflebags to one wing and set them below our cots while Ron and Harry left to grab their stuff.

"So, Perce, what do you think?" Nico asked as he laid down on his cot.

"Well," I began as I composed my thoughts, "I really like the Weasleys."