Harry was wondering how something like this could've made its way into the Weasley home when on the very next page he saw it: the design of a clock. It wasn't just any clock though, it was the Weasley clock - it really couldn't have been anything else. Around the sides were some of the same phrases, though some, like 'Time to Feed the Baby,' were obviously different. The curious part though was that each one had a string of those strange symbols with it. The real clock didn't have those - or did it?
Harry was just getting up to check when he heard Mr. and Mrs. 'It's still strange to call her Molly' Weasley coming down the stairs.
"No, absolutely not," Mr. Weasley was saying as he hurried away from his wife. "I'll hex it off first. We said when we had Ginny we weren't having any more kids. We're not going to have more just because you think you'll feel - Harry! I thought you were upstairs with the boys."
Mrs. Weasley smacked her husband on the shoulder.
"This," she said, gesturing to Harry, "is why you don't build a house vertically. This is the second time I've had embarrassing conversations while walking in on him."
"Third, actually," Harry admitted. "The first time I hid in the kitchen until it was over."
Molly hid her face in her hand in embarrassment.
"Right," Mr. Weasley said to his wife. "Next time we build the house your way."
Harry chuckled.
"Was it the house I found in this?" he asked, holding up the journal.
"Oh, now where did you find-," Mrs. Weasley started before seeing all the books strewn about as she rounded the couch. "I guess I don't have to ask that question, do I?"
Mrs. Weasley smiled as she flipped through the old journal.
"Oh, look, Arthur!" she said excitedly. "There's the recipe I had to incorporate a Sound Sleeping Solution into a meatloaf."
"So it is," Mr. Weasley said with a less than enthusiastic look. "We're so lucky you found that, Harry."
"Yes, well, it may not have tasted like custard cream but it got the job done," Molly said defensively. "And I didn't hear you complaining when the kids were little."
Mr. Weasley shrugged noncommittally.
"Aw, there's my house," she said fondly as she flipped through to the next page.
"Would've been hard to press all nine of us into that little thing," Mr. Weasley said appraisingly.
"That's the beauty of normal homes, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley chided. "You can build out - not just up."
"I was going for a nice tower look," Arthur said evasively.
"You and Xeno both," Molly said with a shake of her head. "And my clock! I'd forgotten it was in here. My, it was so simple in the beginning, wasn't it?"
Harry hadn't thought there was anything simple about the drawing he saw; it was the most complicated thing he'd ever seen, and he said so.
"Oh, no, enchanting's actually quite simple once you know the basics," Molly said with a wave. "The hard part came later. You have any idea how tricky it is to get one object to track nine others all at the same time, especially when they're all related? I'm lucky it didn't turn out to be as big as a house."
"Do they teach that at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, his interest piqued.
"They touch on it a little at N.E.W.T. level, once you know the basics," she answered.
"Newt?" Harry asked.
"Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Mr. Weasley explained, looking over his wife's shoulder. "They come after Ordinary Wizarding Levels in your fifth year."
"They used to have a whole class dedicated to it," Mrs. Weasley said. "But something bad happened when we were younger and a bunch of people died - turned people off the subject."
"You've got a bad rune there," Arthur said.
"What? Where?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Just there," her husband said, pointing to one of the symbols on the page. "That says 'chickens' not 'baby'."
"Yes, well," a flustered Mrs. Weasley said, quickly flipping through the journal again. "Nobody's perfect."
"Hang on, is that why we got chickens in the first place?" Mr. Weasley asked. "'Oh, Arthur, you know I've always wanted chickens, '" he said in a fair approximation of Mrs. Weasley's voice. "You made a mistake and couldn't admit the truth?"
Mrs. Weasley snapped the journal shut.
"I may not be as bad as my brothers," she said drawing herself up to her full height, which, seeing as she was rather short, didn't amount to much. "-But that doesn't mean I'm not without my own bit of Prewett pride."
"Have you thought about what you're going to do with the extra money this year?" Harry asked, thinking it might be best to distract the Molly.
"I'm - I'm not sure I follow you," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at him strangely.
"Well," Harry said with a shrug, "Lichfield said we can't collect rent until the whole thing with Dumbledore and the guardianship thing is taken care of, so that'll help you out. And even then," he continued, somewhat embarrassed, "you guys have been so nice; it wouldn't feel right taking your money after you let me stay here. I'd let you have the place but I think Lichfield would poke me to death if I even mentioned selling it."
"You'd - you'd sell us the Burrow?" Arthur asked shocked.
"Well, yeah," Harry said. "It's your home."
Harry suddenly found himself pressed against the warm fleshy bits of Mrs. Weasley in his first ever hug from a mom. It was rather uncomfortable; he didn't know what to do with his hands. Mr. Weasley, however, seemed to know exactly what to do with his. He ruffled up Harry's messy mop of hair even more than it normally was.
"You're such a good boy, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said.
Harry finally decided that giving her a pat on the back was probably the least he could do.
"Oi!" one of the twins called from the stairs. "I thought we told you-"
"-We're never gonna call you 'Dad,'" the other twin finished for him.
"You should be so lucky," their mother chided, walking off to the kitchen with her husband while flipping through the journal again.
"You've got her wrapped around your finger," Ron said amazed, "and you've barely been here a week."
.....
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