Chapter 46
The Burrow was amazing in a wholly different way. It probably had been, at some point in the distant past, a stone pigpen. New rooms had been added to the house and it was now several storeys tall. The rooms over the base house were crooked and perilously dangling. Taylor guessed that there had to be magic involved keeping the place standing. Five chimneys perched on top of the red roof and a lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance.
Luna dove toward the front door.
The sign read THE BURROW, and around the house’s door was a jumble of boots and a rusty old cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.
Immediately, there was a problem. Noodle was going mad (or maybe panicked) inside her pocket.
Taylor climbed off the broom and took the serpent out. She didn’t know what was wrong with him, but she could feel through her power he really didn’t want to be here. Which was fine, she also didn’t want Ginny (and her family) to see Noodle.
Under Luna’s curious gaze, Taylor crouched and placed him on the grass. Noodle shot away as fast as he could, ignoring his injuries. She kept an eye on the snake. She’d stop him if he tried going out of her range or if he attacked someone.
“He’s afraid of something,” Taylor said, answering Luna’s unspoken question.
Luna looked around. “Maybe he doesn’t like rubber boots?”
Taylor grinned. That was as good an explanation as any.
Xeno arrived soon after. Lovegood senior had taken his sweet time flying over.
The house’s door burst open and Ginny came out running. “Taylor! Luna!”
Ginny’s approach was like an uncontrolled bull.
Taylor braced for the impact, closing her eyes, but none arrived. She peeked one eye open, and Ginny was standing in front of her, looking very embarrassed. Taylor wanted to roll her eyes. She stepped up and hugged the ginger-head.
Ginny squeaked, but hugged back soon after.
That hug turned into a group hug when Luna joined in.
Mrs Weasley came bustling out of the house in her daughter’s wake, wiping her hands on an apron. “Taylor, Luna, dears. It’s so nice to see you.”
Taylor peeled away from the hug to offer a hand to the matron, who ignored it and pulled Taylor into yet another hug. “Thank you again for rescuing Ginny. I don’t know what I would’ve done if something had happened to my baby.”
“Mum!” Ginny squeaked again, trying to get away from Luna’s hug.
More people poured out of the house. First were the twins.
“Hello,” said Fred, or George (Taylor wasn’t sure which), “there,” George (or Fred) finished. “Thank you for saving Ginnykins.”
“Fred!” Ginny growled.
Mr Weasley was next. He shook Taylor’s, Luna’s and Xeno’s hands. “Welcome, welcome.”
“Isn’t your mother coming, dear?” Mrs Weasley asked.
Xeno laughed. “She was afraid of broom flight. I’ll Apparate with her in a moment.”
“That’s why you need the Floo,” Mrs Weasley chastised.
“And let Wrackspurts muddle my brain?”
That turned into an argument between the adults, with Mr Weasley trying to play peacemaker.
Fred (or George) snuck up to Taylor, and like the angel on her left shoulder, whispered. “Ginnykins tells us you like Quidditch.”
Taylor’s eyes went wide.
George (or Fred), was the devil on the right. “Let’s ditch the boring adults and play.”
When her mum arrived, maybe half an hour later, Taylor was screaming her head off trying to chase the twins, who kept flying circles around her. It was girls versus boys, and the girls were losing badly.
Taylor had a scuffed knee, bruises and a lot of grazes. Her hands were caked in dirt and full of splinters, there were leaves in her hair, and more mud on her robes than on the ground, all courtesy of her many falls while trying to catch the twins.
Taylor loved every second of it, even if her flying was horrible.
The game continued for about an hour, and then Fred (or George) caught the Snitch. The end score was something around four hundred and thirty to the boys against fifty (Luna scored once, Ginny the rest) to the girls.
It was amazing!
After the game, Taylor was subjected to the twins’ ‘cleaning’ services.
George (or Fred) hit her in the face with Aguamenti. She barely had the time to wipe the water out of her eyes when another spell, Tergeo, sucked the water out. Taylor opened her mouth, but a blast of hot wind hit her in the face, leaving her mostly dry, even if her hair was now a mess.
“What is this?” Mrs Weasley arrived, followed by the adults.
“Nothing, Mum,” Fred (or George) said.
“Just a small tussle,” George (or Fred) added.
“Look at the poor dear,” Mrs Weasley said at the same time Annette gasped. “Taylor!”
The Weasley matron took out her wand and circled it around while saying, “Episkey.”
One by one, the scuffed knee, bruises, grazes and splinters disappeared, leaving Taylor without a single injury to honour her first Quidditch game.
Annette inspected every inch of Taylor’s exposed skin.
“Mum, I’m fine!”
“You were hurt just a second ago!” Not finding anything wrong (aside Taylor’s hair), her mum turned to Mrs Weasley.
“Thank you, Molly. That was some excellent magic.”
“I’m not Madam Pomfrey,” the matron said, blushing. She pivoted, glaring at the twins. “You should have been more careful!”
“But mum,” one started. “She was having fun,” the other finished.
Afterwards, the whole crowd gathered in the kitchen for snacks.
The interior was cosy and looked lived in, with a jumbled and cluttered array of furniture and trappings. It had a large wooden table with enough room for everyone present.
The clock on the wall opposite where Taylor had sat had only one hand and no numbers. Written around the edge of the clock were phrases like: Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late.
The mantelpiece was stacked with books. All of them looked so interesting that Taylor wanted to grab one and start reading. The few titles she could read were: Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts — It's Magic!
An old radio sat near the sink, playing a song Taylor had never heard before.
“The Witching Hour,” Ginny whispered. “Mum loves Celestina Warbeck songs.”
Near one of the windows there was a perch, and on it, a very old-looking owl.
“That’s Errol, the family owl.” Ginny supplied.
Nap cast a single glance at the owl, fluffed her feathers and ignored the other bird afterwards.
There were pots and plates in the sink, but all dishwashing was done by magic.
As it turned out, not every Weasley had come home for Easter holidays. Percy had stayed at Hogwarts, his prefect ‘job’ more important than family, at least according to George (or Fred). Mrs Weasley seemed sad for a moment, before bustling toward the stove and returning with loads of food.
Conversation turned again to boring adult talk. The twins fled as soon as they could, leaving Taylor, Luna and Ginny to suffer alone.
Annette and Xeno were engrossed in talking about school, classes, The Quibbler, and magical society in general with the Weasleys.
“Do you want to see my room?” Ginny whispered.
Taylor looked gratefully at the redhead.
The girls snuck away and passed through the living room.
Taylor didn’t have much time to look around, but she saw a cosy sofa and armchair, another fireplace, and yet another clock. This one also didn’t have numbers. It had various phrases such as home, school, work, travelling, lost, dentist, hospital, prison, and mortal peril. It had nine hands that, instead of telling time, each hand had the name (and picture) of a family member.
Percy’s clock hand pointed at school, while Ron’s was stuck at hospital. Two others, Bill and Charlie, were at work. The rest were firmly pointing at home.
A huge wooden bookshelf crammed with books was near the clock, and Taylor looked longingly at the books before being pulled by Ginny up the stairs.
Ginny’s bedroom was on the first floor. It was small, but bright. A window on the opposite wall to the entrance overlooked the orchard. There were a lot of posters hung on the walls and ceiling. One was of some music band named The Weird Sisters, but all the members were guys. Another was a picture of a very pretty Quidditch player by the name of Gwenog Jones.
The bed was near the window and a small wardrobe was opposite the it.
Near the window was a desk and above the window was a golden flag.
“It isn’t much,” Ginny said, looking down.
“This is amazing,” Taylor said, skipping in and looking at everything.
The poster of the Quidditch player waved and winked at Taylor. The band members all had knowing looks on their faces, waving at her too. Taylor felt her face burning. She was behaving like a child who had never seen a magical home.
“Do you want to play a game?” Ginny asked.
“Which one?” Luna asked back.
Ginny opened the wardrobe, digging around. She held two different games. One was a singed pack of Exploding Snap cards, the other a battered set of Gobstones.
“What are they?” Taylor asked, never having played a wizard game. She actually knew what they were from all her spying, but she thought it would be strange if she just knew everything.
Ginny looked embarrassed for some reason. “We can play the classic rules for Snaps,” she said. “When you see two identical cards, hit them with your wand. Just watch out for the explosions.”
“And the other?”
“We put the gobstones in a circle, and you have to shoot and knock other players gobstone out.”
“It is a smelly game,” Luna chimed in.
Ginny sniffed. “Only if you are bad.” Then she sighed. “The gobstones squirt a smelly liquid in your face whenever you lose a point.”
Taylor pointed at the cards. “Let’s play snaps.”
The game was loud, messy and stupendously fun. Taylor had never thought that she’d have to watch out for her hair (and eyebrows), but ducking out of an exploding card was par for the course.
Mrs Weasley wasn’t a fan, yelling at them to “Stop all that ruckus up there!” but Ginny mostly ignored her mum.
The game didn’t last long. There were only so many times Taylor was willing to risk burning her eyebrows before she called it quits. They sat on Ginny’s bed, talking about Quidditch, bands and more.
“How did you save me?” Ginny asked when there was a lull in the conversation.
Taylor had been expecting this question for weeks, but it still set her insides twisting. She wanted to tell Ginny, but it was just too soon.
Her smile was very sad when she said, “I’ll tell you, but not today, alright?”
Ginny took a deep breath and it came out shakily. “Thank you.”
The visit lasted until evening. Before they left, Ginny called out to Taylor and Luna.
“Nneka is arriving on Tuesday and is staying until Saturday.”
“Daddy, can we come visit again?” Luna asked her father.
“Of course, Moonshine.”
“I’ll look after them,” Mrs Weasley promised.
Xeno took Annette back first. While the adults were distracted, Taylor collected Noodle and helped Arabelle sneak into Luna’s pocket.
She hadn’t even left yet, but couldn’t wait for Tuesday to arrive.