The Eighth Weasley

Notes: Like Supplies, this is where things start to get fun, mad and kind of interesting, so I couldn´t wait to get started on these chapters (even though I´m meant to be reading a book on the Documentary - sense the excitement vibrating in the air!). Oh and I bet you can´t GUESS what this chapter is about, looking at the title. Mmm. I´m just so cryptic...

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"MERLIN!" Running across the bedroom floor, pursuing her renegade owl, Willow ran onto the bed, grabbing at him, as he deliberately avoided her, clearly not wanting to return to his cage. "Stay still, you stupid bird!"

"You really have a way with animals, Will," Ron chuckled. He had been the one to lug her trunk down the stairs a few moments earlier, leaving her to try and capture Merlin, who hooted from his spot by the lampshade.

"D´you want to do something useful, instead of just standing there and making smart remarks?" Her red hair wild around her rosy face, hands on her denim-clad hips, she looked down at him.

"I am doing something useful," her brother replied, grinning up at her. "I´m making your room look good by honouring it with my presence." Still, he did walk into the room and shut the door behind him. "Right, you little sod...send the bird this way."

"Ron!"

"Kidding, Will," he laughed, but didn´t quite duck in time.

A pillow hit him squarely in the face.

"Right!" Catching the pillow, he gave his sister a wicked grin. "It´s war!"

"Ron! No!" Backing across the bed, she looked down frantically, stooping to grab another pillow, only for the one in her brother´s hands to crash down on her head, sending her tumbling on the rumpled blankets. "RON!"

Pausing mid-swing, he frowned. "What?"

"Nothing!" Her second pillow hit him in the face. At such close range, it exploded sending a cloud of feathers into the air, as she leapt for another pillow, her brother´s hand grabbing her ankle. "RON!"

"That´s me!" he laughed, whapping her soundly across the head with the pillow, before starting to tickle the bare strip of belly that had been revealed when her pale pink baby-T had ridden up.

"Noooooooo!" shrieking, Willow tried to kick out at her brother, but he had pinned down her legs and tickled her mercilessly, leaving her giggling and breathless. "Stop it! Stop!"

"Willow, what´s going on in..." Molly Weasley trailed off, two of her three youngest children staring at her, both red in the face, laughing and covered from head to toe in white, fluffy feathers. "Oh, for goodness sake, you two..."

Squirming out from beneath Ron, giving him a shove that dropped him onto the floor, Willow smoothed her hair. "He started it, mom! I was trying to catch Merlin and he wouldn´t help!"

"Uh-huh!" Sitting up on the floor, he wagged a finger at her. "Who threw the pillow at my head, Little Miss Innocent?"

Willow scowled up at him. "But you were standing, making with the not-funnies and not helping and then I had a pillow and it went poof and feathers went everywhere and you started tickling me and then everything was a mess," She gave her mother a helpless look. "Oops?"

"Well, it´s too late to do anything about it now," Molly sighed, almost smiling at Ron´s indignant expression. "Have you got your owl into his cage? Your father has finished packing the car and we`re just waiting for you."

"Actually, tiny problem," She pointed upwards, where Merlin was perched on the lampshade, hooting happily.

Molly Weasley stepped into the room, avoiding feathers where she could. "You´ll have to train him up, dear," she remarked, then called up to the owl. "Merlin, you get your feathery tail into that cage now, or Willow will never feed you again!"

In a blink, the owl had shot down from the ceiling and straight into his cage, gold eyes gleaming in Willow´s direction.

Approaching the cage, Willow shut the door firmly. "I might not feed you anyway, cos you were being annoying," she tried to sound convincing. Merlin gave a plaintive hoot. Willow´s resolve crumbled. "But you´re so cute!"

Shaking her head, Mrs Weasley smiled. "You´re too soft, Willow, dear," she said, gesturing for Willow and Ron to go to the door. "You´re really going to have to teach that bird some discipline."

"Yes, mom."

"And Ronald,"

"Yes, mum?"

"You´ll be clearing this up when we get back."

"Aw, mum!"

***

"I don´t get it," Standing on platform nine, looking across the barrier to platform ten, Willow shook her head. "There can´t be a hidden door there."

"Well, it isn´t exactly a door, dear."

Along with her parents and Ron - all her other siblings at work - Willow Weasley stood on the spot where Platform 9 and 3/4 was. Allegedly. Staring at the solid barrier between the platforms, she shook her head again.

It was the 31st of August, the date that had been in her formal letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, and now, she was still trying to convince herself that she could walk onto an invisible platform through a border of metal without being noticed.

Her mother had explained that they had been forced to change the departure date because of all the muggles who were determined they could cross the barrier on the morning of September 1st, as detailed in the Rawlings books.

Ron quietly had added that he had gone on the 1st, the previous year, just to watch numerous deluded muggles walking straight into the metal barrier and almost knock themselves out. He had found it hilarious.

"D´you want me to go through first?" her brother asked. "It´s not hard."

"Looks hard to me," Willow mumbled.

"I mean crossing through it, not the actual barrier," Stepping around her, he gave her a reassuring smile. "Just watch what I do, then follow me through, right?" She nodded dubiously, watching intently.

Casually, Ron strolled to the barrier and leaned against it, shooting a grin back at his sister. The red-haired witch uttered a squeak of surprise when he seemed to just fall through it.

"It worked!"

"Of course it worked, Willow," Arthur said. "Like he said, it isn´t as hard as you´d imagine," He held out a hand to her, which Willow grasped like a child on their first day of school would, directing a question at her mother. "Molly, can you bring the trolley through after us?"

"Just make sure you get through safely," Molly nodded.

Leading their daughter to the barrier, Arthur Weasley looked down at her. "Are you ready, Willow?" She nodded nervously. "Don´t worry. You´ll get through fine." Side-by-side, they leaned on the barrier, as if looking at the train on the other side.

"What do we doooooooo!" Willow couldn´t help crying out as the sturdy support she was leaning on seemed to give way and she pitched forward in a swirl of metal, brick and darkness.

Two pairs of hands caught her, when she was convinced she was about to tumble and land on her face. Looking up, she found her father holding her right arm and Ron hold her left.

"Uh...did it work?" She straightened up, embarrassed.

"What do you think, Will?" Ron nodded ahead of them and Willow´s mouth fell open in awe.

They were inside some kind of enormous cavernous railway station, high, dark walls towering on all sides, the platform cluttered with witches and wizards armed with trunks, owls, cats and toads.

Purplish smoke and steam billowed around them as Ron and Arthur led her out onto the bustling platform around several robe-clad witches who were trying to bundle their illusive offspring into carriages, her eyes trying to take in everything at once.

Everything was dusky and softly-lit by the flickering lampposts, but it didn´t look gloomy, foreboding or at all frightening. It had an air of magic and mystery, which hung over the whole concealed platform.

That was when she saw it, just a little way ahead of her. While she had read the books about their world voraciously, she had never imagined the Hogwarts Express to look so...wow!

Brilliant red in colour, it was surrounded by the swirling smoke and steam that didn´t make it look less impressive. If anything, it made it look more spectacular, the metalwork gleaming and glinting by the light of lamp posts on the platform.

"You got through all right, dear?" Molly bustled up behind them, steering the trolley which was laden down with Willow´s dark brown, brass-bound trunk. Willow could only nod, staring at the train. "Well, come on then! We better find you somewhere to sit before all the seats are taken."

Mouth hanging open, Willow allowed herself to be steered along between knots of families, who were ushering their youngsters onto the train.

Ron was pointing out windows in the different carriages. "And that´s the place me and Harry first met, on the way to Hogwarts in first year..." he grinned. "And this one is where I got Pig..."

"And they have a witch with a buffet car, who should serve you at some point on the journey," her mother was talking on her other side, most of it passing straight through Willow´s head, her attention riveted on everything she was seeing.

Teeming everywhere, young witches and wizards - clad in robes and muggle-wear - aged between eleven and eighteen were hugging parents, siblings and loved ones, as they climbed into the compartments of the train, some gathering in groups of friends.

Never in her life had she imagined seeing so many trainee witches and wizards. It seemed such a surreal experience to be watching them laughing and talking together like normal children on their way to school.

"Ah! Here we go!"

"Huh?" Looking in the direction her father was pointing, Willow spotted a little sign sealed in the window. Her eyes bugged. It read. "Reserved for the personal use of Miss Willow Weasley."

"Blimey, Will, you´ve got friends in high places!" Ron remarked, shaking his head, as their father opened the door of the carriage, the brass handle gleaming. The interior of the cabin was impeccable, the patterned blue, red and green fabric of the seats vibrant. "They even cleaned them for you! That´s a first!"

"They...they gave me a special compartment?" Willow was stunned. Her father was already heaving her trunk up, into the compartment. With a little help from Ron, they shunted it under one of the seats. "But...but I don´t deserve anything special," She looked helplessly at her mother. "Why´d they give me something like this? I should sit with everyone else!"

"Well, you are a little older than most of the pupils, Willow," Molly reminded her gently. "And you do deserve a little special treatment, after all your time away from the magic world."

"But I´ll be on my own..."

"Not entirely on your own," a quiet voice spoke from behind them. Willow turned, startled, a delighted smile illuminating her face. Professor Lupin returned the smile with one of his own small ones, so similar to Oz´s. His eyes twinkled. "That is, if you don´t mind me invading your private booth."

"No! Of course not! I mean, no, I don´t mind! I didn´t want to be sitting on my own and now, here you are! On your own! And I´m on my own too and we can, you know, sit together and we can talk about stuff...well, I can talk, and you can sit and be all stoic and quiet and..."

"And she starts babbling before she even gets on the train," another voice added, amused. "Somehow, I shouldn´t have been surprised." Willow´s eyes flicked over Lupin´s shoulder and she released a squeal of glee.

"Hermione!"

Accepting a brief hug from the youngest Weasley, Hermione grinned and wagged a finger at Willow. "That´s Professor Granger to you, Weasley."

"Yeah, right, Hermione," Willow returned the grin. "Do you wanna sit with me and Professor Lupin?"

"Remus," Professor Lupin corrected gently.

"Right," Willow smiled at him. "Remus..."

Looking at the compartment, Hermione nodded. "Well, considering that Remus and I were meant to apparate straight Hogsmeade, I suppose we can force ourselves to tolerate your company for a few hours instead."

"You came to keep me company?"

"Actually, I came for the cauldron cakes," Remus said, his eyes twinkling.

Willow couldn´t help smiling broadly at him. "And there I was, thinking that you liked me, but nope!" She pointed at him in mock-accusation. "Traitorous lover of cauldron cakes!"

"Poor, neglected baby, aren´t you, Will?" Ron wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting on top of her head. "You´re just going to have to bug the knickers off these two Professors, to make them change their mind about not liking you."

"I can do that."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, wonderful," she groaned. "Just give her ideas, Ron."

"That´s all part of the cunning plan, Hermione," He winked at her, raising a smile out of his ex-girlfriend. "Right, Will, we better let you get on and settled. The train leaves in a tick."

"You´ll write to me?" Turning to give him a hug, she looked up at him.

"Only if you do the same for me," He glanced towards the van where the owls were loaded in their cages, his face twisting slightly. "And only if you can catch Merlin and I can catch Pig."

"Deal." She laughed. "Mom? Dad?"

"We´ll come and see you if you want us to, dear," Molly hugged her tightly. "Please let us know that everything is all right."

"I will. I love you, mom," She reluctantly released her mother, immediately being grabbed in an embrace by her father, who said nothing, but just held her tightly for a long moment. "I love you too, dad." She whispered.

Drawing back, his eyes misted with tears, he smiled. "Do us proud, Willow, like you were always meant to." He paused, then added. "And make sure to play at least one prank a month..."

"Arthur! Don´t you listen to your father, Willow!"

"And you said you didn´t know why the other twins are the way they are!" Laughing, Willow hugged each of them once more, then clambered up the small steps and into the compartment, Professors Lupin and Granger following her.

Arthur slammed the door shut for them, Willow leaning out of the window to wave to them as the train started to move.

"Have fun, Will! Don´t cause too much trouble!" Ron yelled as the train started to pull away from the platform. "And if you get put into Slytherin, make sure you show `em not to pick on a Weasley!"

Leaning out a little further, she waved a proud fist in the air as she yelled back, "I´m a Gryffindor, baby!"

Ron shouted something back, but she was too far away to hear what it was. She could guess, though, by the fact that their mother immediately grabbed him and hosed out his mouth with her wand.

She continued to wave until the train rounded the corner, out of the station and onto the open rails, and her parents and brother vanished out of sight.

***

"I wish you could have met everybody, when they were here," Willow was sitting between Remus and Hermione, her collection of muggle photographs being shown to the pair of Professors.

They had been travelling for several hours, when Lupin had raised a question about Oz, surprising both of them with the fact that he actually spoke, as well as starting a new thread in the conversation.

In response, Willow had hunted out her photograph album from her trunk, eagerly pointing out Oz in all of the pictures, then each of her group of friends, pangs of loneliness and reminiscence hitting her.

Hermione had been fascinated by Buffy, the Slayer. She had an immense list of questions, which she immediately whipped out, written in her neat script on several sheets of parchment.

They were about where a Slayer´s strength came from, why a certain person would be chosen as a Slayer, who decided what were true Slayer-related prophesies, why certain watchers were assigned certain slayers and many more questions that Willow had no clue about the answer to.

For her part, though, Willow was grateful for something that would allow her to talk about her friends. She was starting to miss them a lot, now. It had been weeks since she had seen them and she hoped she would be able to get at least Oz to visit soon.

"So she started fighting demons when she was fifteen?"

"I think so. Or just before she had her birthday," Willow answered eagerly. "I met her when she moved to Sunnydale. I thought she was like all the other...uh...cool girls in the school, but she actually spoke to me about being study buddies," She paused to drink from her bottle of pumpkin juice. "Oh! And then she saved my life! We kinda had to become friends after that."

"Was this during the harvest in 1997?"

Willow choked on the Bertie Bott´s Every-Flavour Bean she was chewing. "How do you know about that?"

"I read about it."

"You never fail to surprise me, Hermione. Even when I know what I should expect, you´ve surprised me," Both witches stared at Lupin. He looked as calm and unruffled as ever. "Oh," he added, noticing their stares. "This is my surprised face."

Shaking her head, Hermione glanced at Willow, who had clapped her hand to her mouth to smother her giggles. Slowly, the Muggle Studies teacher started to smile, then laugh along with the red head.

Then, much to their surprise, Lupin joined in.

"Let me guess," Willow laughed. "That´s your amused face?"

Twinkling eyes met hers. "How could you tell?"

"Call it a wild guess," She rested her head on his shoulder, patting his arm. "I think it could have been the smile that gave you away..."

Lupin tutted, as if disappointed that he had given himself away. "I´ll have to work on that, won´t I? Can´t start showing facial expressions on a regular basis. It may scare people," Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he winked down at her.

"And they call it puppy love..." Hermione started to sing under her breath, not even looking at them, but with a visible smirk on her lips.

"Hey!" Willow protested, laughing. "I have a puppy already!" Hermione turned to her, looking from Willow´s position to Lupin´s. Saying nothing, she simply raised an eyebrow and Willow pulled a face at her.

"She´s just jealous," Lupin muttered, unheard by Hermione.

Willow, however, heard, and immediately burst out laughing again.

Giving Lupin a dirty look, Hermione inquired, "What did you say, Remus?"

"Me?" His face once more expressionless, he gazed at her. "What makes you think I said anything, Professor Granger?"

Hermione´s brow rose again. "You´re blank faced and when someone is in hysterics near you, it isn´t usually a good thing," Both of Remus´ brows rose, making him look even more helpless and innocent than before. "Professor Lupin..."

"I simply commented that you might be wanting a puppy of your own, Professor Granger, nothing more."

Smothering a chuckle, Hermione returned her attention to her notes. "I´m sure..."