Annabeth Smith in the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter Two: The Burrow

02 August 1992
The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England

It took them the rest of the night, but finally Ron, Harry, Annabeth, Fred, and George made it back to the Burrow.

Fred flew the car in and landed it outside the garage before they all climbed out. Harry immediately let Hedwig out of her cage and she flew around a bit before going to share Eden's nest. The Barn Owl didn't seem to mind the company though, he just moved over a bit to give her some room.

After Fred had parked the Ford Anglia back in the garage and locked it up again, the group made their way inside, leaving Harry's trunk outside the front door.

Fred lifted the window quietly to reach the doorknob, taking a look around to be sure no one was awake yet. When he was sure they were alone, Fred motioned for Harry and Ron to come into the kitchen. "Come on. Okay, come on. Shhh! Shhh!" Fred told them. When George had come in with Annabeth behind him, Fred closed the door as the Weasleys and Annabeth kept all kept a keen eye out for Molly. "Okay, come on."

Harry was in awe of everything he was seeing around him. The Burrow was stuffed full of anything and everything there must have been in the world. In the sink, a pan was washing itself. As Harry walked through the kitchen, Ron followed him with Fred, George, and Annabeth behind them as the four all took off their jackets.

There was some buns on the table and Ron went to grab one as Harry kept looking around.

"Do you think it'd be all right if we had some of this?" Ron asked Annabeth and his brothers.

George grabbed one for himself and Annabeth with a half-smile and passed Annabeth's to her. "Yeah, Mum would never know." Fred grabbed one as well, munching on it.

The twins, Ron, and Annabeth followed Harry as he walked through the Burrow. Annabeth watched happily as her cousin became fascinated by the Weasley family clock. On it wasn't the time, like a normal clock, instead it featured different location. Some included, 'School', 'Work', etc. And instead of two hands, there were spoons. One for each of the Weasley children, including Bill and Charlie even though they no longer lived at home, one for Annabeth, and one each for Arthur and Molly. There even was a section titled 'Aunt's House', for when Annabeth was at her Aunt Roxy's. As Harry stared at the clock in awe, Annabeth's spoon, Fred's spoon, George's spoon, and Ron's spoon moved from the section 'Lost' to 'Home'. Looking away from the clock, Harry continued on into the sitting room where he spied knitting needles knitting on their own.

Ron came up behind his friend with the twins and Annabeth as they ate.

"It's not much, but it's home." Ron commented.

"I think it's...brilliant." Harry said, still taking everything in.

Suddenly, someone came racing down the stairs. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Molly yelled at Ron, Annabeth, Fred, and George. The four hid their buns behind their backs. It was one of the rare times the Weasley Matriarch had actually yelled at Annabeth, and to be honest, Annabeth found herself a little scare. She half hid herself behind George. Molly turned and smiled at Harry as she came over to the children. "Harry, how wonderful to see you, Dear." She turned back to the ones in trouble. "Beds empty! No note! Wands missing! Car gone! You could've died! You could've been seen!" Molly smiled at Harry, kindly. "Of course, I don't blame you, Harry, Dear."

"They were starving him, Mum! There were bars on his window!" Ron informed her as Annabeth and the twins nodded along.

"Well, you'd best hope that I don't put bars on your window, Ronald Weasley!" Molly reached past Ron and Harry to Annabeth, Fred, and George. "Now, give them here. Hand them over." Reluctantly, the trio pulled out their wands and passed them to the her. She put them in her apron pocket and turned to Harry, softening instantly. "Come on, Harry. Time for a spot of breakfast." Molly pushed her way passed her sons and Annabeth with Harry to lead him to the kitchen table. When she sat him down, and the others had taken their seats, Annabeth in her usual place on George's left, Molly started filling Harry's plate up. The sound of someone else running down the stairs filled the house. "Here we are, Harry. Now tuck in. That's it. There we go."

Ginny appeared in the front of the kitchen by her mother at the stove. "Mum. Mummy, have you seen my jumper?"

"Yes, Dear. It was on the cat." Molly put the pan of bacon that she'd just filled Harry's plate from back on the stove.

Suddenly, Ginny noticed Harry and stared wide-eyed at him. "Hello." Harry greeted kindly before Ginny backed away and ran off. Fred and George looked each other, chuckling. Annabeth, knowing the signs of a girl infatuated with a boy, elbowed George for it, but she couldn't get to Fred. Harry turned to Ron, concerned. "W-What did I do?"

"Ginny. She's been talking about you all summer. Bit annoying, really." Ron informed him.

Arthur came to the front door and leaned his head in the window a moment before coming inside. "Morning Weasleys and Annabeth!"

"Morning, Dad!" The Weasley boys all called out except Percy, who seemed to be still half asleep from his spot that he'd just occupied by Ron when Ginny had run out of the room.

"Morning, Uncle Arthur!" Annabeth greeted.

"Morning, Arthur." Molly told her husband as she turned from the stove to fill his plate.

"What a night. Nine raids. Nine!" Arthur informed them all as he took off his hat and outer robe.

"Raids?" Harry asked Ron.

"Dad works at the Ministry of Magic, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Dad loves Muggles. Thinks they're fascinating. You should see how he talks the ear off of Annabeth's Aunt Roxy every time he sees her." Ron explained.

Arthur gave Molly a kiss on the cheek and took his seat at the head of the table. "Well now. Ah." Then, he noticed Harry. "And who are you?"

Harry sat up straighter. "Oh, sorry, Sir. I'm Harry, Sir, Harry Potter."

"Good Lord, are you really? Well, Ron and Annabeth's told us all about you, of course. When did he get here?" Arthur picked up his fork and knife to start eating.

Molly turned to her husband. "This morning. Your sons and goddaughter flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night." Sure, they were about to get in trouble, she turned back to the stove.

"Did you really! How'd it go?!" Arthur asked, excitedly, before his wife smacked him on the arm. Ron, Harry, Annabeth, Fred, and George had to try hard to hold in their laughter. "I mean...that was very wrong, indeed, all of you. Very wrong of you." He went back to his breakfast. "Now, Harry, you must know all about Muggles. Tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck? Roxanne will never answer that question for me."

"Oh, um..." Harry started to answer only to be cut off by the squawk of an owl.

"Well, that'll probably be Errol with the post." Molly said.

"Doubt it'll be Eden, he seemed to be content in his nest when we came up." Fred told them as they saw the Weasley family's owl, Errol, come flying towards the open window. Except he ended up flying into the closed window beside it instead.

Everyone winced.

"Oh, fetch it will you Percy, please?"

Finally, fully awake, Percy got up and made it to the window just as Errol hopped up onto the windowsill with the letter still in his beak.

Percy took it and opened it as the family owl flew off. "Oh look, it's our Hogwarts letters. And they've sent us Harry's and Annabeth's as well."

"Dumbledore must know you're both here. Doesn't miss a trick, that man." Arthur said as Percy passed out the letters to each of the children. He passed Ginny's letter to his father since she wasn't in the kitchen.

"This lot won't come cheap, Mum. The spell books alone are very expensive." George informed her.

"Well, I can always help out with that." Annabeth offered.

"Thank you, Annabeth, but no. We'll manage."Molly said from where she read over Harry's shoulder. She reached for hisletter to read it better. "There's only one place we're going to get all ofthis; Diagon Alley."