Turn Back the Clock

Chapter 7: A Plan

As the days began to melt away and the nights continuously carried on, little progress and been made on figuring out how to get the seven teenagers back to their time period, much to Rose's dismay. Instead of creating plans, their time was devoted to cleaning the house. By the end of the week the entire house was spotless. No speckle of dust could be found. No cobwebs were on display. No bed was not made. It was entirely spotless. At least it was clean enough in the children's mind, but Molly Weasley still seemed to find something wrong with Grimmauld place everyday. 

"Oh Hermione dear, could you and Ronald clean these goblets again? They looked a little dusty this morning." Molly Weasley instructs, as she wiped a silver goblet with her finger. It came back clean, but she couldn't have these children sitting around discussing things about the future or the Order. They needed to be kept busy and there was no better productive activity then cleaning. 

"But Mum!" Ronald whines. "We cleaned those yesterday. They can't bloody well be dirty again." 

Molly turns her motherly stare on her youngest son. He yelps and remains silent, peeking over his shoulder at Hermione, who had dropped her head. The two hadn't spoken a word to each other, since the night Ron had found her reading. Anytime they tried, it only resulted in blushing and a series of words that didn't make sense. Yet they still found themselves being forced to work together everyday, something that they felt was no coincidence. 

Still Hermione didn't mind. She enjoyed spending time with Ron, even if they didn't speak. It was simply nice to be in his presence. They way he clumsily knocked over anything in his path or the string of colorful words he'd mutter under his breath when he didn't think Hermione was listening. The way his whole scent took up the entire space when they cleaned a room and messed with Hermione's mind. The way her hand would tingle, after their hands would accidentally brush one another when they'd reach for the same rag. Being around Ron made her feel like a young school girl again, but she couldn't deny the fact that she liked being around him. 

Ron however; did mind. He hated being alone with Hermione in a room. He felt clumsy and stupid. She'd send him a smile and suddenly he'd feel the urge to tell her how pretty she is, but instead he'd end up tripping over a chair, too distracted by her to realize where he was going. It was an endless cycle of Ron making a fool of himself. 

Hermione and Ron glance at one another and blush again, before nodding and heading off into the kitchen together without another word. Molly smiles at their disappearing figures, still quite pleased that they'd marry one day. She quite liked Hermione and felt that she'd keep Ronald in line, something she knew her son needed. 

Molly continued to send everyone to various spots around the house, with tasks so outrageous the children began to wonder if the woman had gone mad. She had sent Rose and Harry to scrub the bottom of the table in the kitchen and dining rooms. Hugo and George were forced to the entrance hall to dust, not mop, but dust the floors. Lily and Ginny were given the perfectly normal task of laundry. The twins with Fred and James were split between the bedrooms and given the task of polishing the bed frames. They grumbled and complained, but refused to disagree. Molly Weasley scared the hell out of each and every one of them, especially when she gave them one of her motherly looks. 

"And Albus and Scorpius why don't you get started categorizing the library?" She suggests with a sickly sweet smile.  The two boys nod immediately and exit the room without a word of complaint, even though all they wanted to do was complain. Why in the world did they need to organize the books? Nobody, but Rose and Hermione bothered reading the books and when they did they carelessly left the books lying on the table. For claiming they loved books so much, they were sure irresponsible when it came to putting the books back. Rose insisted that she left the books on the table, so that she knew which ones she had and hadn't read. Albus believed it to be a total lie, but he wasn't going to argue. Rose Weasley was almost as terrifying as Molly, when she was angry.