Chapter Three: Bill and Fleur's news

Harry was the second to arrive at the Burrow. He stepped out of the green flames, dragging his suitcase behind him, to be greeted by Mrs. Weasley, who was standing at the kitchen surface cooking dinner while awaiting their arrival.

"Hello, Harry." She smiled at him before waving her wand to make the frying pan flip its contents before she came over to give him a hug. "It is good to see you are well. And a late Happy Birthday I should add."

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you"

There was a sound from the fire behind him and he turned around.

"And there's Hermione, welcome back." Mrs. Weasly gave her a welcoming hug as well. Then she turned back to Harry. "I've got your birthday gift right here, Harry." She said, pulling a package from a cupboard and handing it to him. "I apologise for the lateness of it."

"That's alright, Mrs. Weasley." He took the package and opened it to find a shirt inside, white with big, blue letters saying 'ENGLAND FOR CHAMPIONS'.

"Woah!" Ron took it and looked it over. "This is an English Quidditch shirt!" He said excitedly.

"Well, yes." Said Mrs. Weasley. "You-Know-Who did not care much about Quidditch." Some countries wanted to continue the world cup as usual, but with pretty much all of Europe saying that was a definite danger, if Voldemort tried to attack during one of the games, the cup had been postponed. They would be playing this season and next summer would be the finale. "Now that it's going to be held this year I figured you might want to support England."

"Too bad the cup's held in Australia, though." Said Ron. "It'll mean another twenty years before it comes to Europe again."

"But Hogwarts will let fourth years and up listen to the England games over the radio." Hermione said. "The pre-rounds are played in Europe, so they'll be broadcasted at decent times."

"Who's in England's poule?" Harry asked, sure that Ron would know.

"Netherlands, Estonia, Turkey, Sweden and, unfortunately, Luxembourgh. They're really good. They slaughtered Scotland at the last cup."

"Well, Dinner is almost ready and you still need to unpack." Mrs. Weasley broke in. "You can continue your discussion while doing that. Harry, you sleep in Ron's room. Ron, go help him set up. Dinner will be ready soon. Hermione, Ginny asked to see you when you got back here." That they were legally adults now in both the wizarding world as well as the muggle world obviously did not stop the woman from ordering them around.

The three nodded and headed for the staircase, Harry using the locomotor charm to make his suitcase follow him to the small room that was Ron's.

"I should probably warn you." Ron said while they were setting up. "Don't expect much from George tonight. He barely speaks nowadays."

Harry did not need to ask why. George and his twin brother Fred had been inseparable, and now Fred was gone. It had to be hard on George, loosing his twin. "Alright." He answered therefore and shoved his suitcase under the bed he would be using. He never unpacked. He just took out what he needed when he needed it. "So he's not gone back to live above the joke shop then?"

"Well, he spends most of his time there, but whatever he's doing, he's not running the joke shop. Mum told him to at least come round for dinner. I believe she's worried he'll forget to eat if she doesn't feed him."

A few minutes later Mrs. Weasley came in to see how they were doing. "Good, good. You're all set then." She said, seeing the bed all made and the suitcase out of sight. "Dinner is ready." Mrs. Weasley added. "Your father won't have much time, Ron. He has some business to take care of. Could you tell your sister and Hermione to come down too please?"

Ron nodded and Mrs. Weasley left the room.

"So is he still with the department where he tries to find fake anti-dark art stuff?" Harry asked.

"The Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects?" Ron said it as if he had the name rehearsed several times. "Nah, he's transferred back to his old job at the muggle department two weeks ago. But he kept his salary. Since no-one else seemed to want his old job there, it was easy to demand a thing or two."

"Well, that's good, right?"

"Yeah. He does what he likes again." Ron carefully kept away from the money issue. "Not that he did not like the other position, but he took that because we were at war and all and he felt like he could do good that way. Now that peace has returned, he's glad to return to the muggle business. Can't possibly understand why, though." He added.

They met Hermione and Ginny as they headed downstairs and Harry felt a rush going through him when Ron's sister spoke his name. "Harry? Have you got a quick moment?"

Ron and Hermione headed downstairs together, but Ginny took Harry's hand and pulled him into her room. The first thing she did was kiss him, pressing him against her with enough force that Harry did not even bother to try and struggle free. Her lips were so soft and her arms around his neck were so warm.

Then the kiss broke and she turned away. "Why didn't you write to us?" She asked quietly, taking a wrapped package from her bed and fingering it. "We thought something had happened to you."

"I'm sorry." Harry answered quietly. "I didn't know what to write."

"Anything would have been fine, really." She turned around and handed him the gift. "Anyway, happy belated birthday. I really didn't know what else to get you."

Opening the gift, Harry saw that she had given him a scarf in blue, with big, white letters spelling 'GO ENGLAND GO'. "For the world cup." He said "Thanks, Ginny."

"I'm sorry for not coming to your place with Ron and Hermione." She said quietly, looking at her hands. "I did not know if you'd want me there."

He frowned, not quite knowing how to respond to that. "You have nothing to apologise for." He told her instead.

"But I feel I have to." She said. "I mean, I didn't know if you'd want me there and I thought about giving you space and…"

"Ginny." Harry grabbed her hand. "It's fine." He really did not want to discuss that now.

"Alright." She said quietly, seeing the look in his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you've come back to stay with us until school starts. You are going, aren't you?"

Harry shrugged, letting go of her hand. "Don't know yet." He said.

"Well, I think you should." Said Ginny in a way that quite reminded him of Hermione. "If for no other reason then just to get your diploma. After that you can always decide whether or not you want to continue studying, and if in a few years you do want to continue you will be able to with a Hogwarts certificate."

"Harry! Ginny! Dinner!"

"We'd better go before she blows up." Ginny said.

Dinner that evening was a lot quieter than Harry was used to when dining with the Weasley family. There were no real jokes, not even a word from George, who had turned up a few minutes late, making his mother worry. Harry was used now to the hole in George's head where his ear had once been, but it was unnerving to him silently sulking all evening. This dinner was not at all like Harry was used to, Ginny barely met his eye and Hermione looked slightly nervous. It was as if there was a tension in the air. Even Mr. Weasley's arrival just as they were all seated did not clear the tension. Mr. Weasley greeted his wife, then Harry and the others.

He spoke of work and Mrs. Weasley commented on this or that. There was not much more talk than that. It was really unusual and Harry was glad when it was over and George went upstairs. Mr. Weasley put on his coat again.

"Oh Harry, I wanted to ask you if you want me to arrange a place at the apparition exams next week."

Harry looked up surprised. "But I already know how to apparate."

"Yes, I know." Answered Mr. Weasley. "But you need a license to be allowed to apparate. Too many accidents happened already, you know. Body parts that did not come through."

Harry remembered the slight problem they'd had last year with Ron's arm when he tried to apparate. But then, Ron had failed his first test for leaving behind a small part of his eyebrow. He nodded. "Alright." He answered. "I'll take the test." Might as well. No need to get in trouble over something as stupid as apparition.

"Very well, I'll sign you up. It's a week on Friday, Ron and Ginny will be taking the test that day as well. If you want to practise, you can do that on Tuesdays." He walked up to his wife and kissed her on the cheek. "I shouldn't be too long."

When Harry got to Ron's room, he found Ron and Hermione lip-locked on Ron's bed. "Could you do that somewhere else?" He said annoyed, dropping himself on the bed.

The two quickly drew away from each other, looking surprised. "Sorry, mate." Ron muttered as Hermione wiped her mouth quickly. "Hadn't expected you so soon."

"Thought I'd be making out with your sister then, eh?" Harry asked sharply.

"Well..." Ron looked like he really wanted to change the subject and Hermione got to his aid.

"Ginny's been really worried about you. Last year she was left wondering if you were alright, whether you were dead yet and now you disappeared again. She does not know what to think of you."

"She needn't think anything." Harry told her. "I'm a big boy now, I can take care of myself."

"That is not the point." Hermione tried but Ron shook his head.

"I think they'd better work that out by themselves." He looked really uncomfortable talking about his best friend and his sister. But he gave Harry a warning look as if to say he better not hurt her.

"Oh, alright." Said Hermione, who'd missed this look, annoyed. "Anyway, I've been thinking it might be nice to buy our school stuff on our own this year. I mean, Mrs. Weasley always does the job for us and we're really old enough to go by ourselves now. There's no threat of being killed anymore, is there? And I'm sure it will be loads of fun."

Ron, who wasn't too keen on shopping, looked doubtful. "I don't know, Hermione." He said. "I mean, mom does a great job buying all the stuff and we wouldn't want to insult her, right?"

"Oh she wouldn't be insulted." Hermione said cheerfully. "I already asked her if she was okay with it and she said it was fine with her. What do you say, Harry?"

"I don't know if I'm going back to school." He said simply.

"What?" Said Ron with wide eyes. "Still doubting?"

"You have to." Said Hermione. "If you get your degree you can always choose not to do anything with it immediately, but without it there won't be a worthy job in the wizarding community for you. And you're not trained to join the muggle community decently either."

That came suspiciously close to what Ginny had just said to him.

"Well, if you're not going, I'm not going either." Ron declared, earning himself a glare from Hermione.

"Oh yes you are, Ron. I'm not going to stand by and watch how you throw away your future."

"And you'll do that for Harry?" He asked incredulously.

"Of course not!" Said Hermione. "Harry, think about it. One more year and you are practically free to do as you wish. Besides, there will be no Draco Malfoy at Hogwarts so it has to be a good year."

"I said I don't know yet whether I will go or not." He simply said. "It's not like I already made the decision not to go."

"Good. Then all we need to show you is the advantages of going and the disadvantages of not going." Said Hermione

"But not tonight. I'm going to sleep." Harry knew he could not hold her off for long, but he turned on his side now, his back to the other two. They got the hint and left him to himself. He closed his eyes, not tired, but wishing he would just fall asleep.

Hermione left the room soon after that, and Ron looked over to Harry. "So, are you serious that you don't want to go back to Hogwarts?"

"Ron, please." Harry sighed, turning around to face Ron.

"Hey, I can see your point, you know." Ron answered. "I mean, with all we've done last year, I'm sure we'll manage without a Hogwarts stamp saying we're qualified wizards. Hell, the auror department should recruit us immediately."

"Ron, what are you..."

"I'm just saying, if it weren't for mum and Hermione killing me if I did not finish at Hogwarts, I might have decided not to go back either. I'm on your side, Harry."

"So you think Hermione is wrong and I should not go back?"

"Well..." Ron seemed nervous. "I'm just saying I can see your reasoning. And a year is a long time if you spend it someplace you'd really rather not be."

"But you do think it's best to finish school."

"Well, yeah." Ron concluded "Like she said, there's no harm in doing so."

Harry turned his back to Ron again.

The following days both Hermione and Ginny kept giving him 'friendly advise' to finish school with them. When Mrs. Weasley found out he was thinking of not going back, she joined the two young women by giving hints as to what he could do once he finished school properly. Also, she made sure to tell Ron, when Harry was near, that under no circumstances should he think he would not have to finish his education, just because he helped defeat You-Know-Who. This made Ron go quite pale and only after he had left the room did colour come back to his face.

That weekend there was a small party at Bill and Fleur's place to celebrate their first anniversary. Bill, Ron's oldest brother married the beautiful Veela Fleur last year. Unfortunately their wedding party had been ruined when a patronus came to warn them the ministry of magic had been taken over by Voldemort. This caused a great many of them to flee instantly, amongst which were Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The dinner party this year was a few days late, but that was due to the fact that Bill and Fleur had decided to take a relaxing honeymoon this time, since there was now much less to worry about. They had been to Italy and Greece and Mrs. Weasley, whenever she was not assuring Harry that Hogwarts was the best choice for next year, couldn't stop talking excitedly about wanting to hear their tales.

She and Ginny seemed to have accepted Fleur as Bill's wife now. They still did not like her all that much, but so long as they were only spending one evening with her they would be on their best behaviour. Hermione, on the other hand, seemed less cheerful about he party. She remembered all too well how Ron was suscpectical to the magical enchantment Veela tended to radiate and Harry accidentally heard her warning Ron not to lose his head this time.

Saturday came and even Mr. Weasley was home in time to dress up. Though they were not expected to come in dress-robes, Mrs. Weasley insisted that they would at least put on their best non-formal clothes. "Fleur's parents are going to be there too and you know how those French people care for clothing." So they ended up wearing clothes that everybody except for Mrs. Weasley would label as formal clothing and travelled to Bill and Fleur's house using the floo network.

They arrived before Fleur's family did and shook hands, exchanging polite conversation. Harry shook Bill's hand, which held his firmly and just a little longer than he ought to as he smiled widely. He noticed the oldest of the Weasley brothers had his long hair neatly tied back and it even seemed an inch or so shorter than he remembered. The scars on his face showed where he had been scratched, though Harry thought they'd healed quite well. His own scar, he thought, was a lighter white than Bill's scars were. Of course, he still had the luck that he could hide his one scar. Bill's would be visible for ever.

Fleur laughed almost seductively as he shook her hand as well, and he needed Hermione's elbow in his ribs to remind him it was just the Veela in her causing the feeling. At least he wasn't the only one affected, he thought as he noticed Ron in need of a reminder as well.

The house was still as Harry remembered it, only without all the protection spells. It was rather small for as many people as would be here tonight, but with a little bit of moving around Harry thought they should all fit. After all, last year he had come here with Ron, Hermione, Dean, Luna, Mr. Olivander -the wand maker- and a goblin named Griphook and they all found places to sleep in Shell Cottage for more than one night. Yes, the two families would definitely fit for an evening

Fleur went back to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Mrs. Weasley offered her to help

"Oh no." Answered Fleur quickly. "I 'ave it all under ze control. You juzt zit down and ze dinner will be preesented soon."

Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to be insulted at this, had to be distracted. "Come on, Molly. Aren't you glad to see your son?" Mr. Weasley said to her, smiling brightly, dragging her to the living room to sit her down on the couch.

They did not have Bill to themselves for long, though. Soon Fleur's parents and her little sister arrived. Fleur came back from the kitchen, squealing and greeting her family in French and Bill got up to greet them as well. Fleur's mother, her Veela features also very visible, offered her daughter help. Much to Mrs. Weasley's delight, she was also not allowed to enter the kitchen. Bill took her to the living room and smiled apologetically. "She wants to prove she is a capable woman by doing it all herself tonight." He explained.

"But she ees my dooghtur." Said the tall Mrs. Delacour, throwing a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder. "I know she ees capable. She 'as nozing to prove to me."

"I told her that." Said Bill. "But unfortunately she disagrees."

"Are you zertain you told 'er enouf?"

But before Bill could answer, the fireplace lit up again and Percy, Ron's third brother, stepped through. The plump Mr. Delacour took this moment to guide his beautiful wife into the living room.

"Hello, Bill, everybody." He greeted them, shaking hands with Bill. "Charlie sent me an owl that he might be later. Something about guiding a dragon away from a muggle village." He shook his head, looking quite disapprovingly. "Now where is your lovely wife so I can greet her?"

"Aai am in ze kitchen." Came Fleur's voice. "Don't come in, I will be right zhere."

Percy instead joined Bill and the others in the living room and greeted Fleur when she returned from the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later they were all invited at the dinner table and sat down, still chatting happily about this and that. The only one not joining in the exchanging of events was George, who had not wanted to come at all. Much to everyone's surprise, it had not been Mrs. Weasley who had demanded he'd go, but Mr. Weasley. Harry had not seen the light-hearted, easygoing Mr. Weasley seriously angry often, but just hearing him shout was enough to scare him. It had certainly done the trick. Though he had not spoken a word since, George had been ready just in time today.

When everyone was seated, Fleur came in. Unlike Mrs. Weasley, who preferred hovering the food in, she walked to her chair next to Bill and summoned the food. It looked like the Hogwarts opening feast in small! There was roasted chicken, ham, salad, potatoes cooked and baked, many sauces and for everyone to drink whatever they wanted! It looked and smelled delicious and Fleur's mother was certain to tell her that.

"Thees smells like ze best meal I 'ave ever 'ad. You could open a restaurant."

Even Mrs Weasley admitted Fleur had impressed her. "How do you keep it warm until everything is ready?" she asked, upon which Fleur answered that it was the newest oven Bill had given her that kept the food warm and still as delicious. "You could store ze food in zere even for a day or two and it will still taste az eef eet were just made. Of course, I made zis all freshly today."

Bill was the first to get a plate of food, which was the signal that they all could dig in. Though Fleur's mother and sister took tiny portions at a time, the others just put big chunks of everything on their plates.

Soon the conversation came to the honeymoon. "Venice wuz zo romantique. All ze little boats and ze water and ze beautiful houses. Even in ze muggle part we could not be bored." Mrs Weasley and Mrs. Delacour wanted to know everything.

The honeymoon talk was interrupted by a loud *CRACK*, followed by the sound of the doorbell. Bill went to answer and only moments later Charlie, Ron's second oldest brother, entered the dining room. Harry was surprised to see he had managed to change into neatly fitting clothes, though he seemed to have a new cut right below his eye.

Mrs Weasly stood up to greet her second son heartily. Just as he was about to move on to Fleur, his mother held him back. "Oh, Charlie." She said with a sigh, her hand going to the cut on his face. "Look at you, just look at you! Really, my heart would beat much more calmly if you would just consider a job that did not contain those horrible, violent beasts!"

"Mother, please." Said Charlie, kissing his mother on the cheek again while pushing her hand away. "I am glad to see you too." He said, and then moved to greet Fleur. He waved at the others in the room and acknowledged Mr. Weasley with a nod of the head, before sitting down on the chair Bill had quite literally drawn up out of thin air. Some polite words were exchanged between Charlie and the others, and then the conversation returned to Bill and Fleur's honeymoon.

"The runes in Greece are amazing. There is so much about them even wizards do not understand, and just seeing them gives a magnificent feeling." Hermione and Percy both enjoyed this part most. They asked many questions, but Harry was unable to follow this conversation. He knew very little of ancient runes, never having taken the subject in school while Hermione had taken it to her exams. Percy must have taken it as well considering how much he knew about it.

The evening passed pleasantly and when dinner was done, Fleur had the dishes disappear to conjure up desert, meaning many flavours of pie, whichever you wanted. Harry chose to play it safe and went for the chocolate one, but was pleasantly surprised to find it had strawberries inside it.

Again the dishes were cleared away with a wave of Fleur's wand and soon enough Bill cleared his throat.

"Fleur and I would like to welcome you once again in our house on this day, that is very special to us. A little over a year ago, this beautiful and warm young woman became my wife and since then my love for her has only grown." He smiled lovingly down at Fleur. "It was unfortunate that on that particular day, which should have been our happiest day of all, events happened as they did. The past year has been very hard on all of us, the most tragic of all being, of course, the loss of Fred. He should have been here tonight, right next to George, eating with all of us. Unfortunately this was not allowed to be."

Bill paused his speech, seeing that his mother was hastily looking for a handkerchief. George, Harry noticed, sat completely stiff, staring at the spot that previously held his empty plate, showing no emotion at all. The one ear he still had left was growing as red as his hair, though. He felt something against his hand and saw that Ginny tried to put hers in it. He opened up to let her put it there and squeezed it reassuringly for a moment.

Bill sighed and continued quietly. "As much as we grieve him still, and as harsh as it may sound, his death was not in vain. He fought as hard as any in the end. And then Voldemort was finally stopped."

Bill had obviously noticed that Harry got quite sick of everybody complimenting him with it. The great Harry Potter, who caused Voldermort's downfall not once, but twice. It really annoyed him and he was quite glad the attention was kept away from him here tonight.

"The last two months, and now I speak again for Fleur and myself, have given us the rest we needed so very, very much. The honeymoon we could not properly take before has been very good for us and we wanted to celebrate our love with you tonight. We are very thankful to have you all seated at our table."

The group clapped but Bill soon held up his hands, asking them for silence once more. Fleur now stood up and all of a sudden she looked like she was shining with light. "We do have one more announcement to make." Said Bill and he looked to his wife, wrapping an arm around her waist. Then he put his hand on Fleur's stomach and looked at it lovingly.

An ear piercing silence fell, until there was a gasp. Mrs. Weasley put her hand over her mouth and Mrs. Delacour looked at her daughter disbelieving. "Mais non." Her high-pitched voice sounded.

Fleur nodded her head. "Mais Oui." She said quietly, completely drinking in the moment.

They seemed to be the only ones to understand what Bill was trying to say though.

Mr. Weasley frowned at his son and Mrs, Weasley said, "You are..." Fleur nodded. "That means I will..." Now Bill nodded. Mrs. Weasley let out a small cry. "Arthur! We're going to be grandparents!"

And Mrs. Delacour fell into her husband's arms. "La grand mère. Moi. Moi!"

Charlie was the first who seemed to come to his senses. He stood up and moved over to his brother. "Blimey, that's great news! Congratulations!" And they hugged as most men did, clapping each other on the back. "Well done. Congratulations."

"You too." Bill said. "After all, you will be an uncle soon."

As Charlie was moving to congratulate Fleur, if she would let go of her mother, at least, the others stood up as well, all except for George, who in return got ignored.

"How soon is soon?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"She's three months now." Answered Bill proudly. "Just half a year and you will be aunt Ginny."

There was quite a lot of commotion as everybody congratulated everybody. Harry felt a bit lost. He was not family, he would not be an uncle. He was just Bill's younger brother's best friend. He would never be anyone's uncle. He did not expect Dudley to contact him when he was going to be a father, if there were ever any wife that could stand him enough.

He stood back for a while, until Mrs. Weasley seemed to guess his thoughts and pulled him right in. "Don't be silly, boy. You belong to our family now. You will be an uncle just as much." And she kissed him on the cheek. "Congratulations"

Slowly, the commotion faded away and the guests finished their good wishes and sat back down. George still scowled at a dirty spot on the tablecloth.

Fleur took care of the drinks for everyone –or rather, she tried to. Both mothers refused to even let her stand up and insisted they would take care of that.

The next chatter was all about the new baby. What would become the baby room? Would it be a boy or a girl, would the baby have the red Weasley hair or would he or she escape it and be blond, like Fleur? When would the Delacours be allowed to baby-sit, and when could the Weasley parents baby-sit?

Then it came to the naming of the baby. "Actually, zhere we wanted to ask you zomething." Fleur looked around the crowd. "If it iz a baby girl, ze name will be Rosette. But if it were a boy, we would like, if you agree to it," and she looked from Mrs. Weasley to Mr. Weasley and then to George, "we would like to call ze baby boy Fred."

The table would have gone silent if it weren't for one of them "What?!" George exclaimed loudly, standing up so quickly his chair fell to the floor behind him. It was the first thing he said all evening. "You want Fred's name to be given to the son of a werewolf and this... this-this French whore?!"

Realising what had just been said, Harry ducked his head, waiting for what was inevitable. Mrs. Weasley gasped. "George." Mrs. Delacour mumbled something in France. Mr. Weasley looked shocked, as did Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Charlie and Percy. Mr. Delacour was quite angry. "'Ow dare 'e!"

Bill stood up from his chair, a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Get. Out. Of. My. House." His face was turning scarlet as he was straining not to do anything more and he pointed to the door. "Now." He growled.

George glared back "Fine!" He said. "I wouldn't want to stay here with you lot anyway!" And with a loud *CRACK* he disapparated.

Meanwhile other adults had stood up. Mrs. Delacour was now rambling in French, holding her daughter, who seemed close to tears. Mr. Delacour said "Ai want an apologee to my doogthur!" He seemed to be aiming this at Mrs. Weasley, who was not listening to him, but was busy crying into the handkerchief she still held. Charlie was saying not so very nice things about his brother and Ron seemed to still be thinking on what had just happened.

"Please." Said Mr. Weasley, a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Please, let us all calm down. Calm down! This is not going anywhere."

It took a minute, but slowly everybody calmed down and, though most people were still scowling at one person or another, they sat down again.

Mr. Weasley sighed and looked at the Delacours. "Fleur, Mr. Delacour, Mrs. Delacour, as head of this Weasley family I give you my deepest apology for my son's behaviour today. He has closed himself off since Fred's death, and..."

"Zat is no excuse!" Said Mr. Delacour angry.

"You're right. It isn't." Said Mr. Weasley quietly. "And I am not planning on just letting him get away with this."

Now it was Fleur who spoke up. "'e 'as insulted me greatly." She said. "'e is not welcome in my maison anymore."

"Fleur..." Tried Bill, but she did not want to hear it.

"I do not wish to see 'im any more, Bill. 'e will not come in ze house again."

Bill sighed. "I think it is time to put an end to this party."

Mrs. Weasley looked weakly at her husband. "Will you go and check on him before he does something stupid?"

Mr. Weasley nodded. He quickly said goodbye to Bill and Fleur and disapparated, Harry guessed to the burrow.

All the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry prepared to leave. Tonight should have been a night to celebrate. Even Harry, who was angry with no one in particular, only the world, thought George had really crossed the line with his behaviour. He knew George had it tough, but this was a bit much.

Charlie agreed to come back to the Burrow, but Percy declared he had reading to do for tomorrow. He asked his mother to send an owl, though. Mrs. Weasley weakly apologised again and congratulated the pair once more with the pregnancy and then hurried her children to the fireplace. Harry looked back and saw Mrs. Delacour was still talking to her daughter, in French, no doubt.

He was about to take a handful of the floo powder, when Bill asked him to come over for a moment. Frowning, Harry did so. "Look," said Bill, "I didn't think you wanted me to say this in front of everybody, but I have to say it. Thank you. For whatever you did that night. Thank you for killing Voldermort."

Harry sighed. He indeed did not want to hear it. "Bill, I just..."

"I know." Bill cut him off. "But I'm still grateful. I grew up in fear, knowing there was an evil wizard who went around killing people. It's not nice growing up learning to look over your shoulder. Thanks to you our child won't have to feel that way. Thanks to you he or she can have the carefree youth neither Fleur nor I ever really had."

For once Harry was lost for words. How could he argue with Bill? How could he deny he'd done anything special when he was confronted with something like this? He didn't know. So he just nodded instead. Then he took some floo powder, stepped into the fireplace and called out for the burrow as he dropped the sand. He disappeared in the green smoke.

Once back in the Burrow, Harry found Mr. Weasley staring at the grand clock that instead of the time, showed where any of the Weasleys were at any moment.

Mrs. Weasley arrived shortly after Harry did. "Well?" she asked anxiously. "How is he doing? He hasn't done anything stupid, has he?"

Mr. Weasley looked at her. "He left." He answered.

"WHAT?!" Mrs. Weasley said. "What do you mean, 'he left'?"

"Like I said," shrugged Mr. Weasley. "Packed a few things and left. Gone."

"Where did he go?" She asked him suspiciously and Hermione pulled Harry, who really wanted to know more, back behind a wall from where the conversation could be followed just as easily. And he was not the only one listening in. Ron and Ginny were also crouched behind it, both trying to get as close to the door opening as they could

He turned to face her. "What?" He asked, but she held a finger against her mouth "Sshhh"

"I don't know where he went. He just disapparated." Harry heard Mr. Weasley answer tiredly. "I tried his home, but nobody's there."

"You are trying to say that our son packed his stuff and disapparated to who knows where?" Mrs. Weasley all but screeched. "And you just let him go?!"

Mr. Weasley's voice answered "What should I have done? I don't think forbidding him to go would have worked."

"You should have stopped him!" She said angrily. "You should have..."

"Stunned him until you arrived? He's twenty, Molly. He'll do what he wants. Besides, perhaps it is about time he blows off some real steam. Perhaps it will finally help him deal with it."

"But he's out there all by himself, angry, completely without a plan!" Harry could hear she was heading towards crying again.

"I think we've heard enough."

Harry turned around, as did the others and they saw Charlie standing there, watching them. When had he arrived? Harry did not even know whether Charlie had come here before or after he did.

"But what if something happened to him?" Ginny asked worried.

"Like dad said." Answered Charlie. "There is nothing we can do. Besides, he's old enough to take care of himself and to take responsibilities for his actions." There was a concerned sound in his voice. "Let's leave mum and dad to themselves." And he made sure they went up the stairs and out of sight.

They gathered in Ron's room and sat down on the two beds.

"I hadn't realised how bad he was." Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, he's taking Fred's... you know. He's taking it really hard. Even harder than mum and dad." Said Ron quietly.

"Doesn't he have the joke shop to run?" Asked Hermione quietly. "I'd have thought he'd want to keep that running to honour Fred."

Ron shook his head. "Doesn't have the heart for it anymore, I suppose. Though they shared fame equally, it was usually Fred who came up with the ideas and George helped improve them. It was like Fred was the founder and George the developer. Without Fred I don't think he'd even want to think of new joke items anymore."

"Where do you think he's gone to?" Ginny looked at Ron questioningly.

"I have no idea." Her brother answered.