kbinnz - Harry's New Home

It took them a moment to dig themselves out - spitting snow and with eyes newly shining in glee - and then all previous hostilities were forgotten as the three turned on their mutual foe. "Get her!" Charlie roared, and Ginny and Harry let out shrill war whoops as they chased after the big redhead and the fleeing, laughing Molly.

That more or less removed the last of Harry's inhibitions and he slowly relaxed and enjoyed all the mayhem as it swirled around him, occasionally breaking over his head as well. He still tensed a bit when one of the older boys took off after the twins - who were, as usual, using the holidays as an excuse to test their latest gags and driving everyone mad in the process - but he could be confident the resulting screams were due to a tickling hex and not a brutal beating. Even when Charlie or, more often, Bill finally lost his temper and held the two teens down for a few resounding whacks on the rear, it was clear the twins' loud yelps and dancing about clutching their bums owed more to their love of attention than any real distress. Harry also noticed their antics tended to mollify their older brothers, and he grinned at this further evidence that the twins were rather more Slytherin than anyone realized.

What Harry didn't notice was how carefully all of the Weasley children avoided pouncing on him from behind or doing anything that might take him by surprise. Though only Ron had been privvy to Harry's confidences, Snape had made it clear to Molly and Arthur that Harry was still struggling to overcome his time with the Dursleys, and they had, in turn, shared enough with their older children to make it clear that Harry was not to be ambushed or forced into anything. Even the twins understood that Harry was off limits, and though they didn't know all the details, they knew enough to realize that (a) they could seriously upset the boy with unthinking pranks and (b) their parents would murder them if they did. Arthur's pointed reference to the aftermath of their attempt to get a young Ronnie to make an Unbreakable Vow had been more than enough to convince them that this was one parental stricture to be obeyed without question.

Only Ron and Ginny had been spared the parental briefing, but Ron had - unbeknownst to the adults - told his sister that Harry's home life had hardly been the idyllic fairy tale of The Boy Who Lived and that if she insisted on treating him like an icon, she'd embarrass both herself and Harry. Ginny was bright enough to fill in the gaps of what Ron didn't say, and her awe and shyness was transformed into a fierce protectiveness that at first startled both her brothers and Harry. As a result, between Molly and Arthur's stern directives and Ginny's eagle eyed vigilance, the Weasley boys took great care not to alarm Harry with their exuberance.

The object of all this solicitude was blissfully unaware of it, and Harry slipped happily into life among the Weasleys, experiencing for the first time the chaos and joy of a large, happy family.

--##--

Though Harry managed to avoid any major trouble during his time at the Weasleys, he did not escape completely scot-free. Towards the end of his visit, he demonstrated his comfort at the Burrow by joining Ron and Ginny in a heated battle with the twins, prompted by the twins attempting to prank Ron with a rather realistic-looking toy spider. Fred and George found to their dismay that their youngest brother now had formidable allies in both Harry and Ginny (who had been privately tutored by Bill in some particularly nasty hexes). The living room was reduced to rubble in the ensuing hostilities, and all five children were banished to bed right after supper.

"The twins also ended up with sore backsides, both for starting it and for being old enough to know better," Molly explained over a cup of tea when Snape came to collect Harry two days later, "but since Ron and Ginny were only punished with an early bedtime, I felt it appropriate to treat Harry the same way and saw no need to inform you."

"And the twins did not attempt further retaliation?" Snape asked, frowning. He would have expected Fred and George to be more than a little angry at receiving such a humiliating, not to mention painful, punishment. Taking that resentment out on the younger children would have been understandable.

"If we held a grudge тАУ" Fred piped up, unexpectedly entering the kitchen with his twin at his side.

"- each time we got whacked тАУ"

"- we would have run out of siblings тАУ "

"- a long time ago, Professor."

"Besides, to be completely fair тАУ"

" тАУ we did start it. We just hadn't expected тАУ"

"- Harry and Ginny to jump in like that."

"But once they did тАУ "

" тАУ we kind of got carried away тАУ"

" тАУ and we pretty much knew тАУ "

" тАУ when the tree caught fire тАУ "

" тАУ that we were in for it."

"You burned down your Christmas tree?" Snape echoed incredulously.

George grinned as he poured two glasses of pumpkin juice. "Not intentionally."

"And Christmas was technically over," Fred pointed out, grabbing a handful of Christmas cookies from a jar on the counter.

"That was the worst of the damage," Molly intervened hastily. "Everything else just required a good cleaning, which the children provided. Without the help of magic."

Snape scowled. After Harry's house elf-like upbringing, he did not want the boy subjected to further cleaning duties.

"We actually had тАУ "

" тАУ a pretty good time with it," the twins admitted in between cookies.

"By then we weren't mad at each other any more тАУ "

" тАУ Mum's yells had deafened us all equally тАУ "

" тАУ and the littlies had heard us getting walloped тАУ "

" тАУ so Ron figured we were even for the spider тАУ "

" тАУ so there was no point in fighting further and we тАУ "

" тАУ just made a game out of it."

Snape was surprised by how philosophically the twins had accepted their smacking, though he reflected that, given their fondness for pranks, it was likely a routine occurrence.

"Boys, go let Harry know Professor Snape is waiting for him," Molly instructed and the twins obligingly raced out. "They're really getting too old to spank," she said, reading Snape's mind with an ease that startled the Occlumens, "but it was either that or bar them from going to Featherbee's flying arena yesterday, and they would have been devastated to have missed a treat like that. I gave them the option, in fact, and they just ran down to get my wooden spoon." She chuckled, remembering how George had presented the spoon with a flourish, while Fred bent over and wiggled his bum invitingly. A half-dozen swats later, their jollity had become rather forced, but they hadn't objected once.

Their reentry to the living room, where the younger three were already engaged in cleaning duties, had been accomplished with a minimum of awkwardness. Fred and George had entered, moving stiffly and with their faces rather more flushed than usual. "I'm sorry, Ron," George had offered immediately, for once fairly serious.

"Me too," his twin had echoed.

"You okay?" Harry asked in concern. The Burrow was anything but soundproof, and those whacks had sounded awfully hard, to say nothing of the concomitant yelps. Of course, the twins were practically as tall as Molly now, but if the grimaces on their faces were anything to go by, the walloping had not been a token punishment.

Harry's rear tingled in sympathy. It hadn't been so long since his time at the Dursleys, and he well recalled how much even a few hard whacks could hurt. He felt a rush of love for his Da at the thought that he never had to worry about getting smacked like that again, not even if he had been the one to burn down the Christmas tree.