Double Double Toil and Trouble // One //

Chapter Three

When we all finally got home, it was almost six o'clock. The adults were exhausted, but Harry and I were still very energized. "Mum, can we go out and play Quidditch before it gets dark?" I asked. Mum looked at Dad, who just shrugged. "Fine, but wait until the Weasleys get here. The boys will want to play with you." "The Weasleys are coming?" Harry and I asked in unison. Mum smiled and nodded. "You didn't think they were going to miss your eleventh birthday party, did you?" Dad jumped in. "Go on and put your things in your room while you wait." We took the rest of our parcels and ran upstairs.

Harry and I had finally got our school supplies put away when we heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Mum had opened the door as we were walking down the stairs. We grinned widely as the herd of red-headed Weasleys came through the front door. First came the youngest, and the only girl, Ginny. She was only ten and was going to start Hogwarts the year after we did. Next, was her elder brother Ron. He was our age and was going to school with us. After him, the twin boys: Fred and George pranced in with mischievous grins on their faces. Harry and I had enjoyed having a few pranking sessions with those two. Next to Dad and Sirius, they're where we got all of our talents. After them came Percy. Unlike all of the previous Weasley's, he found doing his homework and studying rather enjoyable; we never understood him. There were two other Weasley children: Charlie and Bill, but we never saw much of them after they both graduated from Hogwarts. The parents of this large family: Arthur and Molly Weasley, walked in the doorway lastly. They all stood in a crowd at the bottom of the stairs, all of them holding different forms of presents. "Happy Birthday!" They all exclaimed. We laughed in excitement as we bolted down the rest of the stairs.

Before going out to play Quidditch, we decided to stay inside and open the presents they all had gotten us. Mr and Mrs Weasley had gotten us sweaters, both embroidered with our initials. Harry's said HJP for Harry James Potter, and mine said ALP for Alexis Lily Potter. It's not that we didn't appreciate the thought out into them, but the clothing items Mrs Weasley knitted were always a little itchy, and frankly not our colour. Mum made us wear the garments, but Dad always had our backs. Once, we went on holiday, Mum made us wear matching sweater vests all day, but Dad brought us spare clothes to change into. He slept on the couch that night.

Percy got us both a set of assorted quills. He said they would really come in handy at school. Though that's true, I wouldn't voluntarily want to use them. Homework wasn't my forte, no matter what subject it was.

Fred and George got us each a box filled with different kinds of different pranking supplies. When we opened them, I swear to Merlin I saw Sirius back away slowly. He had good instincts, seeing as he was always the one we tested these things on.

Ron got us both large amounts of sweets from Honeydukes. We would be grateful for it until we ran out of it. We were about to eat some pieces, but Mum took them away before we got a chance. Something about not spoiling our dinner.

I very much enjoyed Ginny's gift. She got us both golden bracelets with the initials of our first names as the charms. Even though Harry wasn't one for wearing jewellery, he was very much delighted to wear this. I pulled Ginny into a hug. "Thanks, Gin." I said, ruffling her hair. Harry hugged her as well. I noticed her cheeks turning bright red as he embraced her. I was the only one that knew she had a crush on my brother so I always playfully teased her about it.

The one thing we were really looking forward to doing was showing Ron, Fred, and George our new brooms. The red-headed twins were third-year Hogwarts students and both on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, playing as the two beaters. Ron was also the biggest Quidditch fan we knew, so we were sure they would find our Nimbus 2000's very impressive.

It turns out, not only were the twins and Ron astonished but as were Percy and Ginny. I never really thought of Percy as a Quidditch enthusiast, but he really just wanted to remind us that first years weren't allowed to bring their own brooms to school. Ginny had once told me she was looking forward to playing Quidditch professionally, but I didn't take her word for it as she was only six at the time.