Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament [Book 4]

5) Dinner with the Weasleys

We had only moved a few paces into the garden when Crookshanks, Hermione's ugly cat, sprinted out of a bush in front of us, chasing a gnome. The gnome giggled as it dove into a Wellington boot sat by the door, Crookshanks sticking a ginger paw into the boot in an attempt to reach it. At the same time, there was a very loud crashing noise coming from the other side of the house. When we went into the garden to investigate, we saw that Bill and Charlie both had their wands out, making two old tables fly above the lawn and smash into each-other in attempts to knock the other's out of the air. Fred and George were cheering for their brother's, Ginny was laughing, and Hermione looked torn between amusement and anxiety.

Bill's table hit Charlie's with a loud bang, and one of its legs were knocked off. There was a scuffling overhead, and we looked up to see Perry's head peeking out from the window.

"Will you keep it down?!" He shouted.

"Sorry, Pear," Bill was grinning. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?"

"Very badly," Perry said irritably, slamming the window shut. Laughing, Bill and Charlie sat the tables down, end to end, and Bill mended the broken table with a flick of his wand, along with summoning table cloths.

Soon enough, the tables were covered with dishes of Mrs. Weasley's amazing cooking that reminded me of my own mom's food. Eating an amazing meal under a bright blue sky with some of my favorite people in the world was paradise.

As I helped myself to some of Mrs. Weasley's potatoes, Perry was telling his father everything about his cauldron report.

"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday," Perry said, speaking as if he were better than everyone. "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman --"

"I like Ludo," Mr. Weasley interrupted. "He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favor: His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble -- a lawnmower with unnatural powers -- I soothed the whole thing over."

"Oh Bagman's likeable enough, of course," Perry, "but how he ever got to be Head of Department... when I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?"

"Yes, I was asking Ludo about that," Mr. Weasley's brows were furrowed. "He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now -- though I must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried...."

"Oh Bertha's hopeles, all right," Perry said. "I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth... but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her -- but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However" -- he gave a loud sigh then took a sip of his wine -- "we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup." Perry cleared his throat then glanced back towards where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and me were sitting. "You know the one I'm talking about, Father." He raised his voice a bit. "The top-secret one."

"He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work," Ron rolled his eyes. "Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons."

I looked at my friends, grinning mischievously, "I think it's gonna be a tad bit cooler than thick-bottomed cauldrons."

Hermione turned to look at me, "Do you know what the event is, Percy?"

"I don't know too much about it," I said, leaning back in my seat. "I do know that it's going to be held at Hogwarts. And that all of camp is going to be there. You'll finally get to meet the great formidable Clarisse! And Grover. Gotta love the G-man."

Harry leaned forward, "How do you know this?"

"Luke is chaperoning camp," I explained. "Him and Hope. I think Howie is coming, too. Henry and Holden would have come, but they have stupid things to do in stupid Australia. Hey, maybe I can ask them if they've seen that Bertha lady."

Next to us, Fred, George, and Charlie were talking about the World Cup.

"It's got to be Ireland," Charlie said through a mouthful of potatoes. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."

"Bulgaria has got Victor Krum, though," Fred argued.

"Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven," Charlie said quickly. "I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was."

"What happened?" Harry asked Charlie.

"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," Charlie said sadly. "Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

I had seen every game. I played Chaser on Hufflepuff's team, and was the youngest player to have ever played. I'd forced Howie to play Keeper during summer break, though he wasn't a very good one. Of course, we also played demigod Quidditch at camp, with Cedric Diggory included. He was our resident mother hen.

Mr. Weasley summoned candles for our quickly darkening dinner, and we heartily ate homemade strawberry ice-cream. By the time we had all finished eating, moths were fluttering around the candles and the smell of grass and honeysuckle had filled the night air.

I hoped the year was going to be as good as this dinner.

The fates are cruel.

Me and Testosterome played LEGO Harry Potter. We are on the third year. We need to play again. LEGO games are surprisingly fun. When we were younger, we used to play the Marvel one. It was awesome. I liked completing the missions, but my sisters like role playing. It was a bit of a mess.