Raised by Weasleys

the first day

     I arrived in the great hall where Hermione flagged me down. I smiled and walked over to the Gryffindor table and slid onto the bench beside her. 

     "How did you sleep? Are you ready for the first day? How do you feel about the tournament?" Hermione threw questions at me without giving me any time to answer in between. 

     I laughed and responded, "I slept poorly, I'm excited for the first day, and the tournament seems exciting. I'm excited to meet the people from the other schools." 

     "Oh no, you slept badly? What was wrong?" Hermione said concerned.

     "It's no big deal," I said, "I just had a weird dream I'll tell you about it later." I glanced up at Ron and Harry to see if they had heard me but they were laughing at something Seamus had said.

     "Oh that's strange, yesterday on the train Harry was talking about that dream he had, he won't tell us how the rest of it went though," Hermione said, raising her voice in annoyance towards the end to make sure Harry heard.  He glanced over and met my eyes for a moment before giving me a shy smile and looking away. 

     He had been acting weirdly towards me since the morning of the Quidditch World cup and I had no clue why. I thought about the dream he was talking about yesterday on the train, I had zoned out so it was a bit difficult to remember it all when I realized he said the first time he had the dream, was the night before the cup. 

     "I need to figure out what the rest of his dream was about and why it changed his attitude towards me but I know he won't just tell me. I need someone else to get it out of him for me... Ron. I can easily convince Ron just by bribing him with food. I miss how Harry and I used to be, we were so close and I need to figure out why that changed."  I thought to myself.

     "FERN!" yelled Hermione while snapping her finger in my face. 

     "Oh, I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" I said with an apologetic smile. I constantly zone out so she was used to it by now. I still always feel bad though, like I am being annoying for asking again. Hermione always reassures me no one is really bothered by it and it's all in my head.

     I caught Ron and pulled him aside before we headed to classes. "Hey," I said, "I need a favor."

     "What is it, and what's in it for me?" Ron asked. He towered over me at about six feet tall. Uncle Arthur said that he wasn't done growing yet and could very well grow a few inches more. I was fairly average at about five foot three but it meant that all of the Weasley men were able to pick me up like a child, which happened way too often. 

     I looked up at him and said, "I mean I'm sure you want to know too, right?" He looked at me questioningly. "Okay so maybe you don't care, but I really need to know! He's been treating me weirdly ever since the morning of the QWC and he said that's when he had the dream, pleeeaaaasseee??" I said giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

     "I don't knoww..." he said smirking.

     "Fine, I'll buy you a butterbeer when we go to Hogsmeade." I offered.

     "Deal." he said with a smile, we shook hands before heading our separate ways.

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     I was walking to my last class of the day, Potions. I was filled with dread as I stepped further and further down into the dungeons. I had this class with Slytherin and I knew I was screwed because Snape taught it and he let them get away with anything. It's not that I had anything particularly against Slytherin, they just didn't like me. I always tried to be nice but, for one, I was a "Weasley" and two I was best friends with Harry Potter, and finally three I was a Hufflepuff. I was basically everything they had been taught to dislike. No one in Hogwarts actually knew that I wasn't related to the Weasleys aside from Harry, Hermione, and teachers. I didn't look like them at all but my story is I'm their niece whose parents died when I was a baby. Apparently, whatever my parents had done was bad enough for me to have to go by Fern Weasley. I don't even remember the last time I had been called Fern Howard. I never asked about what my parents did because I figured if they hadn't told me already they weren't going to. There's also the fact that I didn't really want to know. 

     "Hey, Weasley!" called out Malfoy with a smirk. I took a deep breath and gave him my sweetest smile before finding a seat towards the back. I didn't see him, but I could feel him roll his eyes at me and mock my smile. I just ignored him and grabbed my potions textbook out of my bag. 

     "Hello, students." said Professor Snape in his usual monotone voice, "You have all taken this class before so I am going to waste no time with introductions. Let's begin." 

                                                  ---------------------------------

     Potions had dragged on forever so I left as soon as I could. I went straight to the library and got a head start on my homework. Hogwarts teachers wasted no time and assigned reading and homework on the very first day. 

     "Hey Fernie," said a voice behind me. No wait, it was two voices in unison. I turned to see the twins and my face lit up.

     "Hey Freddie, hey George!" I said with a smile.

     "You're doing homework already?" said George

     "It's the first day and we've only been out of class for fifteen minutes, you must come out to the courtyard with us!" said Fred.

     "Well, I really need to start..." 

     Fred began to pout, "Come on Fernie," he said.

     "Oh alright." I gave in and walked out of the library in between the two of them. 

     "You walk too slow." whined George, "At this rate, it'll be dinner before we get there."

     "Oh shut up," I said hitting his arm, "in case you've forgotten, you both are about a foot taller than me."

     "You're right, I did forget." said George, before picking me up and slinging me over his shoulder. He and Fred broke out into a run down the corridor, laughing, while I kicked to get George to put me down but he refused. I gave up and laughed with them as we neared the courtyard.