“Line up, quickly now, let me count you to be sure we’re all here” Mrs. Weasley strode down the assembled line like an army inspector on a parade ground. “Right, then, have you all got your lists? Hold them up so that I can see them. George, you go first and WAIT at the Leaky Cauldron until we are ALL there, do you understand!”
“Yes Mum” George grinned a suspiciously innocent grin.
“Ron, you go next, then you Harry dear. Then I think Fred, Ginny, and I’ll follow last. Mind you don’t wander away now.”
“Yes Mum” all the Weasley children responded, used to these instructions through many years of experience.
Harry winced as he remembered his first experience with Floo powder, Knockturn Alley was definitely not on his “to see” list with Voldemort back. He took his pinch of powder, stepped up to the fireplace, and said “Leaky Cauldron” as distinctly as he could. He closed his eyes as his body began to whirl by assorted fireplaces and desperately tried to keep his balance as the movement abruptly stopped. For once he didn’t land flat on his face.
“Uh, Harry, you might want to get out of the way or Fred’ll land on you” Ron’s voice came from outside the fireplace.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry” Harry sheepishly climbed out and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed since the last time he was here two years ago. Same assortment of witches, wizards and other magical folk. “Ron, where are we supposed to meet Hermione?”
“Florians. She wasn’t sure what time she’d make it here, so we decided we’d meet at Florians at 1:00 for lunch. Then she’ll come home with us tonight to stay until we leave for Hogwarts.”
“Right then, let’s go to Gringotts first, and then we’ll split up.” Mrs. Weasley arrived and shooed everyone ahead of her.
After the normal wild ride on the bank carts, Ron and Harry took off alone to get their school supplies with Mrs. Weasley’s parting words “Don’t forget, meet at Florians at 1:00” ringing in their ears.
“We’ve got our books, potions supplies, and owl treats etc., what’s left to get?” Ron mumbled looking at his list. “New robes. OH NO!! Harry, did you look at the bottom of the list?”
“What, where it says ‘All fifth years are expected to equip themselves with dress robes.’ Yes, I saw it. Look at it this way, now’s your chance to get rid of the ghastly ones you had last year.” Harry said with a grin. “Didn’t Fred and George talk to you?”
“About what? Practically the only thing I’ve heard from them all summer were the explosions they set off echoing through the entire house. Really hacked Percy off, but Mum and Dad seem to have decided that their experimenting was better than trying to get into mischief other ways.” By this time the boys had reached Madam Malkins and were standing outside the shop window.
“Took you long enough to get here, young Ronald” a very pompous voice came from behind Ron, sounding for all the world like Percy Weasley at his worst.
“But now that you’re here, lets get to work, no time to waste.” An identical voice came from behind Harry.
Whipping around quickly, they saw Fred and George smiling mischievously at them.
“You see, our experimental endeavors are doing so well,” Fred continued as he and his twin swept Harry and Ron through the door of the shop, “that we felt we must make an attempt to be sure that our youngest brother’s appearance does not disgrace the family name this year.”
“Therefore,” George interrupted, “we find that we must task an appropriate amount of our profit to the outfitting of said brother!”
“What?” Ron said with a completely confused look on his face. “Have you two gone totally mental?”
“Mental he asks, when all we want to do is make sure our favorite younger brother has adequate covering for all formal events.” Fred responded with a grimace.
Harry watched with an ill concealed grin while Ron’s brothers bullied him into the section of the store devoted to formal robes.
“Would you like some help dear?” A soft voice asked Harry. He turned quickly to see an elderly witch with a measuring tape around her neck waiting patiently to help him.
One hour and many galleons later Ron and Harry left the robe fitters with large packages holding their new acquisitions.
“Whatever possessed them to do something like that?” Ron asked with a dazed look on his face. “I never thought I’d own something so, so, nice! And it’s black, not maroon for once!”
“Ron will you stop? You sound like a girl! Or even worse, Malfoy!” Harry chuckled.
“Right, that was a really low blow. We better move if we’re not going to be late. Race you there!”
Both boys took off running as fast as possible, bobbing and weaving through the crowded street, big smiles on their faces. Harry had just glanced over at Ron when he suddenly bounced off a large, dark object and landed in a heap on the cobblestones. He looked up dizzily to see long, dark clad legs, crossed arms, and the unpleasantly sneering face of Professor Snape. ‘I’m dead’ he thought.
“Mr. Potter, do you make it a practice to run carelessly through the street?” Snape asked coldly as he helped Harry up. “Kindly take more care in the future, I am not a bumper car.” His cloak swirling, the professor turned and stalked off.
Harry slowly walked toward Florians. Ron was waiting impatiently at the entrance. “What happened? One minute you were right next to me, the next minute you were gone!”
“I ran into Snape, literally. I think something’s wrong with him, he didn’t deduct any points and he helped me up off the ground.”
“Not really! Are you sure it was Snape? Maybe it was someone else dressed like him? Maybe he had a really good summer?”
The boys entered the shop contemplating what their least favorite professor would consider “fun”. At a large table in a corner, they could see the rest of the family and Hermione talking happily.
“Sorry Mum, are we late? Hi Hermione!” Ron said as they rushed up.
Hermione rose as they approached the table, and gave Ron a hug. “Where’s Harry Ron? Aren’t you going to introduce your friend?”
“Umm, Hermione, I am Harry.” He replied with a self-conscious grin. Hermione stared at him speechlessly. “Don’t I get a hug?”
“Oh, sorry.” After hugging Harry, Hermione plopped down in her chair, still staring at him. “Harry, you’ve really….changed.” she finally said.
“I didn’t think I’d changed that much” Harry replied.
“Your whole face, it’s just different. You look like someone, I just can’t put my finger on it.” Hermione continued to stare at Harry making him feel rather like a lab experiment gone awry.
“Did you all get everything on your lists today?” General Molly Weasley inquired, saving Harry from thinking of something to say to Hermione. “Right, we’ll head home after lunch then.”
The next week passed more quickly than any of the students would have believed possible. Each day was filled with conversations, laughter, chores around the burrow, and pick up Quiddich games. Before they knew it, it was time to go back to Hogwarts.
Mrs. Weasley efficiently maneuvered each of them out of bed and down the stairs to breakfast early that morning.
“Mum, how’re we getting to the station?” Ginny asked.
“We’re taking muggle cabs!” Mr. Weasley explained entering the room with a wide grin on his face and anticipation in his eyes. Any opportunity to see real muggles at work was something to be enjoyed for Mr. Weasley.
“They should be here soon, too, so everybody eat up” Mrs. Weasley said coming to the table with a platter of sausages. “You all have your trunks packed, I hope.”
A chorus of “Yes Mum’s and Yes Mrs. Weasley’s” rose up from the table.
“Good, good. Then when you are done, bring them down and put them by the door. And Ron, you might want to keep your owl treats close by, don’t want Pig to get out of control and annoy the muggles.” Mr. Weasley picked up the ‘Daily Prophet and began reading as he sipped his tea.
The two cabbies arrived in due time to ferry them all to the station. While Mrs. Weasley sorted out who rode with whom, Mr. Weasley, unable to pass up the opportunity to investigate muggles and their machinery, attempted to strike up a conversation with one of the men. By the time the baggage had been loaded and the children assigned to cabs, they were running late. It didn’t help that Mr. Weasley, sitting in the front seat of the lead car, kept distracting the driver with his incessant questions about this apparatus and that knob. Harry, Ron and George rode in the same car as Mr. Weasley, and they watched with amusement as the Cabbie became more and more exasperated with Arthur’s ‘bloody stupid questions!’
As they reached the train station, a fine rain started to fall. Mr. Weasley and the twins set off to find trolleys as the rest of them unpacked the cabs. By the time everything was loaded and they had reached the platform, only 10 minutes were left before the train left. They quickly loaded their belongings on the train, and returned to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
“Fred, George, I expect you to spend your time studying for your N.E.W.T.s, not playing tricks on people.” Mrs. Weasley said sternly, hugging them both. “You need to make up for your low O.W.L.s.”
“But Mum, where would Hogwarts be without the Wonderful Weasley Twins enlivening the place!” they both answered in chorus, mischievous grins firmly in place.
“Thank you for having me, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley” Harry said gratefully.
“You’re more than welcome dear. If you need anything this year, anything at all, just let us know.” Mrs. Weasley said as she hugged him. “Now, I’ve packed sandwiches for you all.”
“Thanks Mrs. Weasley.” Hermione hugged Mrs. Weasley goodbye.
“Bye Mum, Dad, we’ll owl you tomorrow to let you know we’re there.” Ron said as hugged his mother.
Mr. Weasley gently herded them toward the train as Ginny lagged behind to talk to her mother. “Hurry now, you don’t want to miss the train. Ginny, come on now, you’ll be back before you know it!”
As they entered the compartment they had picked out, Ron, Hermione and Harry leaned out to wave goodbye to the Weaselys, and then closed the window.