Arthur's New Trainers

Arthur's New Trainers

by Dethryl

Molly Weasley, housewife and mother of five, was at the stove preparing dinner. She absently hooked a foot under the giggling and squirming George, who was attempting to escape her watchful eye. She then apprehended his twin brother Fredrick, who had thought to escape while she wasn't looking. Percival was in his new place at the table, having just been deemed mature enough to sit in a normal chair. William and Charles, the two older boys, were out and about somewhere. She'd have to call them in to supper before too much longer.

"I'm home!" came a voice from the front door to their house, the Burrow. Her husband was home from his job at the Ministry of Magic. He was late again, as he often was. She chided him constantly about how he ought to be spending more time with her and with the children, but Arthur loved his job.

She heard the thumping noises as her husband deposited his briefcase and overcoat in their proper places. She was always very strict that his work stayed at work.

"Molly! Molly, look what I've got!"

She jumped slightly. He had surprised her. She hadn't even heard him come up behind her.

"Arthur, shame on you for sneaking up on me! It's about time you got-" she said as she turned around and stopped dead in mid-sentence. The sight before her was shocking, highly so. Her husband of twelve years, proud father and under-paid Ministry employee, was not wearing his robes. Nor was he wearing the Muggle trousers that he had taken to wearing in the past couple of years. He was wearing his knickers, praise the Lord. His pale chest, fiercely freckled and sparsely covered with reddish curls, was bare. He was grinning like a small child on Christmas morning. He lifted one foot for inspection.

They were perhaps the ugliest things Molly had ever seen. Bright white material glared out obnoxiously. White cords knit back and forth over the tops. The bottom had many jagged lines cut into the black substance, whatever it was. The top front of the thing was a raised orange blister of some infathomable purpose.

"What do you think?" he asked eagerly.

"Percy, take your brothers upstairs. Now," Molly said firmly. Percy immediately got down from his chair and grabbed onto the squirming twims. With a slight effort he dragged them from the kitchen. He knew better than to mess with Mum when she used that tone.

"What are you wearing?" she demanded as soon as the children had left the room.

"Muggle footwear!" he said gleefully. "They call these things 'tray nerz', and they're delightfully comfortable! I have a pair for you as well."

"You are out of your mind," she told him flatly. "I'm not wearing something that ugly."

"But look what they can do!" he exclaimed. Arthur crouched down and pressed on the orange blister several times rapidly. There was a faint hissing sound. "Now as you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. This is just like a suction pump, only instead of sucking water, it's sucking air. These things here pump air into the bottom to give more support!"

He held out another pair of the awful things to her, these with lavender stripes running up the sides. She shuddered.

"Arthur, you take those ridiculous things off at once," she demanded.

He sat down at the table and did not take the ridiculous things off at once. He merely continued to pump up his footwear. "I think these are delightful," he said, sounding very pleased with himself. "I shall wear them every day, and you won't have to worry about rubbing my feet anymore because I'll have support. I'll be able to-"

At that moment, there was a loud popping noise. White powder sprayed up from the footwear, covering Arthur with something finer than flour. A slow deflating hissing sound faded away.

Molly looked at her dumbstruck husband. "See what you get for messing around with Muggle things? You've made a mess in my kitchen. Now go bathe, I've got to clean up and finish making dinner."

Finé