Afire Love

Chapter 1

Ginny had invited me to spend a day at the Burrow; I knew she wanted me to meet her family, and her boyfriend. We had been friends for over two years and I had never met any of them. I knew that her asking me to meet them meant a lot, and I obviously agreed to come.

A little after noon, Ginny greeted me at the door and introduced me to her parents who were sitting in the living room. Mr and Mrs Weasley were very welcoming and warm, I felt immediately at ease in their home. Three of their children came downstairs and greeted me, and they promptly left to the garden. Mrs Weasley watched them suspiciously, indeed, the weather was not so good that day, and Ginny and I spent most of the afternoon in her room. Ginny had been really busy with Quidditch, while I was busy with class. Although are centres of interests were fairly different, we still enjoyed each other's company.

Later in the afternoon, while we were grabbing a little something to eat, I realised how late it was and was about to tell Ginny that I would soon be leaving, when she opened her mouth first.

"Nora, would you like to stay over for dinner?" she offered.

"Oh, thank you, but I don't want to intrude. Plus, I have work to do."

"You won't intrude. Harry will be here tonight and I want you two to meet! Besides, you will have plenty of time to study later."

"Perhaps you should ask your mum about it, especially when so much people will be having dinner here."

"Exactly, one more person won't be much trouble. I'm sure she'll agree, please stay?"

I sighed and agreed.

In the kitchen, Mrs Weasley was already busy cooking, and the smell of the food made my stomach growl a little. Ginny's mother laughed at the sound of my stomach and offered me to stay for dinner. Ginny looked at me, satisfied, and offered her mother for some help. We helped her pealing the vegetables and we baked a huge chocolate cake.

"Bill and Fleur will be coming over for dinner," her mother said, with a hint of warning in her voice.

Ginny sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Bill is my older brother," she explained after a minute, "he's a curse breaker."

"Oh, I remember you mentioning him a couple of times."

"That's very likely. Fleur Delacour is his fiancé. She's super annoying."

"Ginny," her mother warned.

"I know of her, she was at Beauxbâtons right?"

"Yes. How come you know her?" Ginny asked, surprised.

"Well, she's pretty, she's smart, everybody likes her, and she was our champion at the Triwizard tournament. Everyone knows her at least by name. I never talked to her before, but I heard she's nice," I said shrugging.

Ginny shrugged as well.

"Charlie will be there as well," her mother added.

"Charlie?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Yes, and they should all be here any minute. You can go dears, thank you for helping me."

Once in the living room, Ginny and I set up the table for eleven people, which was unimaginable to me. We sat on the couch when the door opened. Mr Weasley greeted the new comers, and Ginny and I got up. A handsome couple was standing in the hallway, getting rid of their coats and scarves.

To the image of every Weasley I encountered, the man was a tall red head and kind of reminded me of a rock star. His red hair was gathered in a pony tail, which let us see an earing with a fang. I immediately liked him. The woman by his side had a totally different look she was shorter, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her clothes were very conservative, and everything about her gave the image of a sweet and gentle woman. Still, there was a fierceness to her eyes. Despite their difference in look, they looked very sorted together.

"Hey Gin," the man said, approaching us.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Bill cheerfully said, shaking my hand, immediately followed by Fleur.

The couple stepped into the living room and were assaulted by the rest of the family. The twins had come downstairs with another boy I had not met yet. After he greeted his brother and sister in law, he walked in my direction.

"Good evening, I'm Percy."

"Hello, Nora."

"I apologise for not greeting you earlier. I was busy working on a project for the Ministry. Were you at Hogwarts as well?" he asked.

"No, I was at Beauxbâtons."

"Good school, I heard. I work at the Ministry of Magic. I have actually been working with the Prime Minister ever since I left school."

"That's very impressive," I answered surprised.

He was about to talk again when Ginny appeared.

"Percy, don't bother her please."

"He seems... dedicated," I said while she was taking me away.

"For sure. He can be really annoying when he talks about work, and you don't want to get him started on the Minister."

The family was greeting someone else when I saw Ginny's face glow. She walked to the door and greeted a tall black-haired guy with a kiss. It was not too difficult to know who he was: I had obviously heard of Harry Potter before. He looked charming. Ginny walked back my way, holding his hand.

"Nora, this is Harry. Harry, meet Nora," she joyfully introduced.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi, Ginny told me a lot about you," he said, shaking my hand.

"Really?"

"Yes. She insisted that we had to meet some day," he said laughing.

"She did the same with me," I revealed, laughing. "She told me a lot about you too."

"So, are you happy now?" Harry asked his girlfriend.

"Ecstatic," Ginny said, hitting him in the arm.

"Is Ron here?"

"No, he had something planned with Hermione tonight."

I stepped aside, leaving the two lovers together. I had a view of the living room: M. Weasley, Percy and Bill were talking together, while Mrs Weasley and Fleur were sited and speaking politely. Ginny and Harry were assaulted by two over excited twin and the little group soon burst in laughter. Mrs Weasley invited everyone to sit while waiting for the last brother to arrive. I took place next to Ginny, Percy was on my left, Fleur in front of me. A place was empty in front of Percy. Some appetisers made their way to the table. Fleur and I started conversing about our former school when I realised, we had caught the attention of most of our neighbours. She did not seem bothered in any way, but I could feel my cheeks burning. We stopped talking soon after.

"So, Nora. What kind of job do you have?" Percy asked when the noise of the conversations grew louder.

"I don't have a job just yet. After I left school, I decided to keep studying in a muggle university."

He rose an eyebrow and was about to add something when the front door opened. Everyone became silent and turned to the entrance, where someone just appeared.