A different beginning (George Weasley)

Chapter 1

"Rosie! Mum wants to talk to you." My little brother called from the stairs leading to my room.
"Why does she want to talk to me?" I shouted over the blaring music coming from my record player.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Why should I know? She doesn't seem mad or anything."
I groaned and rolled off my seat on my couch to go see my mother, turning off my record player on the way, carefully putting the fragile vinyl back into its place on my shelf designated just for my collection of records. Mum usually would just come up to talk to me, but I guess something must be really wrong. "Fine, I'll be down in a minute, thanks Harry."
He smiled crookedly. "No problem sis."
I smiled back at my silly brother, and ran down the large marble stairs that centered our beautiful home.
My mum wasn't in her usual place in the private parler, so I asked my dad, who was in the study.
"Hey dad?" I asked, seeing that he was deep in concentration
"Yeah honey?" He said without looking up from his papers.
"Where's mum? She asked Harry to get me, but I didn't see her in the parler,"
He looked up, surprise on his face for a moment, but quickly it turned to understanding. "Right, I was supposed to be there soon as well. She should be in the greenhouse." He stood up, setting down his papers. "Walk together?"
I smiled. "Of course dad."
We walked together down one of the many large, long hallways that made up our home, and out the back door to the gardens, where the large glass greenhouse sat, thousands of different colors thrown in between the green leaves and vines.
My mum sat at her own private office, which was a part of the greenhouse. Since she didn't really work much, she never really wanted a formal office, so she spent most of her time here, experimenting with the plants. My dad went over to her, kissing her for a solid minute before sitting down. This would bother most kids, but my parents were so affectionate with one another, it's stopped bothering me.
"Hey mum, what was it you guys wanted to talk to me about?" I asked, sitting down across the table from my mum and dad, who sat hand-in-hand.
"Yes, er well it's about your brother." She said, twisting her hands like she usually did; something I inherited from her.
"What about him?"
My mum looked to my dad with pleading eyes, and he continued for her. "You know about what happened when you and Harry were little, at godric's hollow?" I nodded, remembering the story my parents had told me over and over. "Well, we suspect that Harry may have some connection to Voldemort. His scar on his forehead might have something to do with him, and as you know, your brother is quite famous in the wizarding world, especially at Hogwarts."
"Yeah, every once in a while someone asks me about him at school." I said, grimacing. It's hard to go to a school where everyone asks if they can meet your brother, especially when he doesn't even go to your school.
Mum met my eyes, sympathy lying deep in them. "It's going to be a lot worse when your brother starts next week. We wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind watching out for him, keep him safe if you would."
"Of course I can." I laughed at their seriousness over me taking care of my little brother. "Is that all?"
They both relaxed, like a worry was gone from their minds. "Yeah, that's all honey. You can go back to your room if you want."
I got up to leave, but before I got through the door, I remembered something and went back to sit down. "I have a question for you guys."
My dad had already left, returning to the house to attempt to make dinner, which I would end up fixing later, so my mum was left at the green house. "What's up Rose?"
"Can I have some friends over this week?" I blurted, worried about her answer.
To my surprise, her face lit up. Even she couldn't hide the surprise in her voice. Your godfathers are coming this weekend, but sure! Who are you inviting?"
This was the hard part. "Fred and George Weasley."
My mum surprised me yet again. "Molly and Arthur's boys?"
"Yeah I think so." I said, recognising the names. "Do you and dad know them?"
"Yeah, dad works with their father. Very nice family." She said, a smile on her face.
"So they can come?" I asked, getting excited.
"Of course honey. I'll write a letter out to the Weasleys tonight, maybe they all want to come. I think their youngest boy, Ron, is starting this year as well."
I gave her a hug, "Great! Thanks mum."
She chuckled lightly. "Of course honey. I only hope they'll be able to make it."
I practically ran back to my room, excited to write to Fred and George, who were probably some of my best friends, even though we never really hung out outside of school.
"What's with you?" Harry asked, a pile of clothes in his hands.
"I have friends coming over this weekend." I said simply, a smile still on my face.
"You?" He said, surprise in his voice.
I threw a pillow from my bed at him, knocking over his pile of clothes.
"Mum!" He cried, running away to tell on me.
I laughed and started cleaning my room, putting all of my clothes in the hampers, mainly using wandless magic, but I manually did a few things too, just to take up time.
I surveyed my larger-than-average room, and put everything in its place, ending with the record player, which sat by my large hogwarts trunk, which my owl Jackie sat on top of, along with her cage, though it was barely used. I put on my favorite vinyl, beach boys, and started sifting through my old robes and such from last year, which were strewn about my room, mostly in piles. Once everything was back in its place in the neatly packed suitcase, I opened up my balcony doors, and let the cool summer air into my room.
Since my room looks over the gardens, its often filled with a sweet, flowery smell, especially since my mother often insists on putting a new bouquet of flowers in my room every week. My room is simple, with quidditch teams and gryffindor gear on the walls, my wall that's dedicated to vinyls, cds, and tape recorders, all centered around my four poster bed, which is decorated with twinkle lights strewn from the top of it. The ceiling on top of my bed has tons of pictures on it, mainly polaroids. I put them there so that no one else can really see them unless they lay on my bed, and since I'm not exactly one to have sleepovers, I'm the only one who sees them.
Mainly their just funny pictures, a few from home, a few from traveling, but the two people that appear most in my photos are Fred and George, and a lot of them are during quidditch practices. I only have a few moving pictures, one from my 13th birthday this past summer, one of Harry playing quidditch in the backyard, and my favorite, right smack dab in the middle of the photos, the only one that truly stands out.
It's a silly photo, but it never fails to make me laugh. The photo is from my last year at hogwarts, and it's of the twins, and Lee Jordan and I in the gryffindor common room. Me and lee had gotten tired of the twins playing jokes on us, so we decided to get them back big time with a hex placed on their book that made them look like old women. Not to mention that they had to sing opera-style for the next 24 hours. It was hilarious. The photo was of me and Lee laughing at Fred and George, who were hitting us with their canes. I wasn't entirely sure who took that photo, but I didn't care, I was so glad to have caught the moment on camera.
Within a few hours of sending the letter, we got a response from mrs. Weasley, carried by an old owl that seemed it might drop dead any second.
Mr and Mrs Potter,
Thank you so much for inviting Arthur and I! We can't wait to join you tomorrow evening for supper.
I'm glad the twins have found a friend in your daughter, and who knows, maybe Ron and Harry will get along well, Ron needs more friends that aren't his own brothers.
Please let me know if you need me to bring along anything with us, I am more than happy to make a desert, especially since you were kind enough to invite us all along as well.
Thank you again for the invitation,
Molly Weasley.