𝙮𝙤𝙪 || 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐰𝐨: 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐡

Life at the Burrow was, for lack of better words to describe it, chaotic and strange. It wasn't by all means a bad thing, it's just that you were so used to your neat and mellow household that everything in the Burrow surprises you.

You jumped at every noise and howls the ghoul in the attic made when you first visited Ron's room. Explosions were heard every day from the twins' bedroom and no one bats an eye, the mirror over the kitchen mantelpiece criticized the state of your hair and clothes, and a few lost chickens would end up inside the house and cause a ruckus.

But those things were never a bother when the Weasley family was incredibly kind to you. You liked it here.

A few days after your arrival, you finally heard from Hogwarts one morning. You, Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were already at the kitchen table for breakfast when Ron and Harry went down.

As soon as she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor. You reach down to retrieve the bowl and when you emerged, Ginny was as red as the roots of her hair by then. You sigh in relief when Harry doesn't seem to notice this as he sat down.

"Letters from school," said Mr. Weasley, passing you, Harry and Ron identical envelopes addressed in green ink. "Dumbledore already knows the both of you are here. Doesn't miss a trick, that man. You two've got them, too," he added when Fred and George enter the kitchen, still in their pajamas.

Momentary silence blankets the whole table as everyone read their letters. There was a reminder that told you to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on September first. There was also a list of all the new books you will be needing for this year.

Apart from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk, the rest of the needed books was from the same author named Gilderoy Lockhart. You recognize that name from one of the books Mrs. Weasley owned. If you remember correctly, he was a fairly good-looking wizard with blond hair and blue eyes.

"You've been told to get all Lockhart books, too!" Fred said as he peered over at Harry's list. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan. Bet it's a witch."

"That lot won't come cheap," said George as he glanced at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive."

"Well, we'll manage," said Mrs. Weasley but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand."

At this, Harry turns to Ginny. "Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" He asked.

She nodded, blushing, and put her elbow in the butter dish. You pretend not to notice like everyone else as Percy walked in. He was already dressed with his prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest.

"Morning, all," greeted Percy. "Lovely day."

He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again and pulled out a bundle of gray feathers from underneath him. It looked familiar.

"Errol!" Said Ron, taking the owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under his wing. "Finally! He's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue Harry from the Dursleys."

He set him down on a perch inside the back door and tried to make him stand on it, but decided to lay him on the draining board instead when he flopped straight off it. "Pathetic," Ron mutters as he opens Hermione's letter and read it out loud:

Dear Ron, and Harry if you're there,

I hope everything went all right and that Harry is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl because I think another delivery might finish your one off.