Damnit, Weasley!

Chapter Twenty Six: Caught

"Ah." Said Fred.

"Oh, dear." Said George.

I felt like I was about to cry. This is by far the most trouble I've ever been in.

Mum stopped in front of us and glared us down. It was horrific. "So." She said.

"Morning, Mum." Said George nervously.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?"

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to-"

We all cowered in fear as the beast within broke loose.

"Beds empty! No note!" I elbowed the twins sharply in the ribs at this. "Car gone-could have crashed-out if my mind with worry-did you care?-never, as long as I've lived-you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy-"

"Perfect Percy." Muttered Fred. I honor him for even daring to speak.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" Mum screamed, jabbing Fred in the chest with her finger. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job-"

It seemed to go on for hours, and when she finally stopped, I could feel tears threatening to spill and my voice about to crack.

When she turned to a frightened Potter, she said, "I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear, come in and have some breakfast."

Unbelievable.

Ron nodded at Potter to follow her into our house, us redheads following behind.

Once we were in the kitchen, Potter sat down at the table and was looking around in awe.

Mum was moving around the kitchen, throwing glares at me and my brothers every now and then as she made breakfast, muttering things like "don't know what you were thinking of," and "never would have believed it."

"I don't blame you, dear." She said to precious scar-face Potter as she dumped food onto his plate. "Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday. But really flying an illegal car halfway across the country-anyone could have seen you-"

"It was cloudy, Mum!" Fred tried to argue.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!"  She snapped.

"They we're starving him, Mum!" Said George.

"And you!" She snapped again, but this time not as harsh because she was buttering Potter some bread.

I saw Ginny come down the stairs, squeal, and run back up them.

"Ginny. My sister. She's been talking about you all summer." Ron muttered to Potter.

"Harry Potter, oh he's so cute! Alex, I'm so nervous for my first year at Hogwarts, what if he hates me?! What if he loves another?!" I whispered, mocking Ginny in a high pitched voice, making Potter go red and Ron almost choke on his food from laughter he was trying to stifle. I saw Mum look at us with suspicion and I quickly pretended nothing happened, shoving eggs into my mouth.

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry." Fred said, grinning. He also got a look from Mum and he quickly looked down.

The rest of breakfast was silent until we were all done eating. "Blimey, I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed and-" Fred started, trying to get out of his soon-to-be-announced punishment.

"You will not. It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again-"

"Oh, Mum-"

"And you too." She said, glaring at me, Ron, and George. "You can go up to bed, dear. You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car-" She added to Potter. Ugh. However, he quickly responded, "I'll help Ron. I've never seen a de-gnoming-"

"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work. Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject-"

"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden. Please don't make us listen to Lockhart's nonsense advice." I pleaded as she took one of Lockhart's books off the mantelpiece. I mean, sure, Lockhart had amazingly good looks, but his stupidity ruins it.

"I bet he knows a lot more than you, Alexandra." She said, glaring at me.

Mum stared down at the cover in awe at Lockhart's face. "Oh, he is marvelous. He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book...."

I rolled my eyes.

"Mum fancies him." Said Fred in a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred." Mum said, her cheeks pinker than usual. "All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect it."

We all sleepily started walking out to the garden. I was so not in the mood for this.

Once we were outside, Potter started up a conversation. "Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know." He told Ron.

"Yea, I've seen those things they think are gnomes, like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods...." Ron said, his head stuck in a peony bush.

I heard a scuffling noise and the bush moved as Ron stood back up, holding a gnome. "This is a gnome."

"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!" It squealed.

Ron held it arms length away from its ankles, dangling it upside down.

"This is what you have to do." He said, raising it above his head and starting to swing it around and around like a lasso. "It doesn't hurt them-you've just got to make them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnomeholes." Ron added reassuringly to a shocked Potter.

Once he let go, the gnome flew about twenty feet into the air before landing with a thud in the field over the hedge.

"Pitiful. I bet I can get mine beyond that stump." Said Fred.

When Potter picked up his first gnome, he seemed to be pretty gentle. That was, however, until the gnome bit his finger. After that, he threw it about fifty feet into the field.

The air was soon filled with flying gnomes.

"See, they're not too bright. The moment they know the de-gnoming's going on they storm up to have a look. You'd think they'd have learned by now just to stay put." Said George, scooping up multiple gnomes.

"This is exhausting. You know, the Malfoys don't have gnomes in their garden." I groaned, rubbing my sore shoulder.

"The Malfoy's don't have gnomes in their garden." Fred mocked, just before Potter spoke up.

"That reminds me, why did you come along on that journey to save me, I thought you hated me?" He asked before throwing a particularly fat gnome over the fence.

"I was bored. Summer was seriously dull."

"Would you have cared if I returned to Hogwarts?"

I thought for a moment.

"Well, it would be unfortunate. You're Ron's best friend, and everyone at Hogwarts adores you, and all in all it would just be frustrating to sit at home with your rotten relatives. I guess it would be a bummer."

"It seems our sister isn't as much as a git as we thought!" George said, faking a face of surprise that earned him an eye roll from me.

Potter didn't say anything else, responding with only a nod.