Can I Keep Him?

CHAPTER 2: A Night With Peers

The door opened to an explosion of orange. He realized he had underestimated Ron's love for Quidditch, and the Chuddley Cannons. The bedspread and the walls were all brilliant shade of orange. The walls were covered in Chuddley Cannons posters and the bedspread itself was Chuddley Cannons memorabilia as well.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione were sitting on the floor chatting and laughing. They caught sight of the new arrivals.
"What are you doing here, Neville?" Ron asked brightly (but a little confused).
Neville glanced at Ginny and shrugged. "I'm staying for the summer," Neville said. He wasn't ready to tell the story again.
"Won't your grandma get lonely?" asked Ron, ever tactless.
"Thought it would be good to spend time with kids my own age," he muttered.
"Gin, what did the twins say?" asked Ron, quickly forgetting Neville.
Ginny sat down cross-legged between Harry and Hermione and motioned for Neville to join her. "They said they could be running a bit late, but they should be home soon. They also said they've got some new products nearly ready for sale. I told them I had people I'd be willing to test them on, so they're bringing some samples home." Ginny grinned evilly. She'd really been quite pleased that she'd been allowed out of the house alone at all; she wasn't sure if how much longer she'd be allowed to as all the adults seemed to be getting more paranoid.
"Don't let mum hear you talk like that, or we'll all catch it hot," George warned from the doorway.
Fred came and stood next to him. "That's right. Mum only approves of the joke shop as long as we aren't 'corrupting' the rest of her darling children. She said that includes you too, Harry, so be good," he snickered.
"When did you two get home?" asked Hermione, standing up.
"Not a minute ago," Fred said. He gave Hermione a hug and then turned her around by her shoulders so she could give George a hug too. Hermione and Harry had only just arrived earlier in the day when the twins were still at work. Hermione's loathing toward Umbridge meant she decided to forgive them for most of their mischief as long as there wasn't any of it in store for her personally. Fred and George waved hello at Harry. They saw Neville and gave mock impressions of being startled (evidently Mrs. Weasley had told them that Neville would be staying).
"George, I do believe my eyes are failing."
"Perhaps you've just forgotten how to count, dear brother."
"Well, let's see. Two redheads, our lovely bookworm, that green-eyed boy who keeps hanging around here, and...one more!"
"Did Mum pick another one up while shopping again?" asked George.
"I don't know."
They both grinned. "Good to have you here, Neville," they said. Deciding that as of-age wizards they were too good for the floor, they shut the door and sat on the camping bed, which seemed to be the only thing in the room not covered in orange.
"Did you bring the stuff?" asked Ginny, eyes gleaming with malice. "I can't wait to try it all out on Malfoy."
"You be careful," George said.
"You'd better 'toe the line' and not get in any trouble," added Fred.
Ginny grinned. "Weasley rule number #2 Don't get caught," she recited.
"Good girl."
"We've taught you so well. Now if only Ron and Harry could learn from your example..." Fred sighed. Ron and Harry got caught far more often than was wise for their health.
"We're going to give MalFerret plenty of trouble this year. Especially on the Quidditch pitch," Harry said. "Right?" He looked at Ginny and Ron, who nodded vigorously.
"It's a shame we've got to train up new Beaters though," Ginny said, sourly.
"That's not our fault. Even if we hadn't left, we wouldn't be there now."
"But if you stayed through the year, you might have been able to offer some advice on training or picking people for next year. I'm not thrilled about last year's last minute replacements and I don't want to keep them," Harry said firmly.
"But we were banned for life from Quidditch anyway," Fred said glumly.
"Dumbledore got that reversed this summer though," Hermione said.
"That's true."
"I don't see what all this fuss is over Quidditch anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore canceled it in an attempt to make the houses get along," Hermione said.
Ron stared at her. "How can you say that? Quidditch is life!"
Charlie, who had come home this summer to help out with the Order and was studying some native dragons of Great Britain, stuck his head in the door, "Somebody mention Quidditch?"
"Can't hide anything from you," Fred said, rolling his eyes.
"Can't hide anything in this house," Charlie said, coming in and taking the chair at Ron's desk.
They all chatted a bit, Charlie not questioning Neville's presence. Ron always seemed to bring friends home over the summer. What was one more? He'd passed Percy on the stairs carrying another bed up so he knew the boy would staying at least the night. Charlie knew his face was vaguely familiar, as though he'd seen it a very long time ago. He soon gathered that the boy's name was Neville.
Bill came in, brandishing a letter, "Char-Char, there's a letter for you. It just came through."
Everyone turned to look at Charlie, who was blushing a fearsome pink (particularly his nose and ears). "Nobody's called me 'Char-Char' since I was little, except Mum and..." he trailed off as the gears in his head clicked. "Gimme that letter!" He lunged forward to snatch the letter from his older brother.
Harry, Neville, and the others saw that the letter was indeed addressed with the words "Char-Char." Bill, realizing how much Charlie wanted the letter, tossed it to Ron. "Keep away from Charlie!" he howled, laughing.
Charlie was now running toward Ron, and Ron tossed the letter over Charlie's head to Harry. Harry glanced at it, didn't recognize the writing, and threw it Frisbee-style to Fred. Fred opened the letter and started to read while Bill was detaining Charlie on the other side of the room (which was no easy task). "To my darling Char-Char," started Fred.
Charlie made a sound of disgust. "She only calls me that to annoy me. I never should have let it slip that Mum used to call me that."
"Maybe we should just skip to the end of the letter and see just who 'she' is," suggested George.
"A capital idea! Now let's see..." Fred's eyes scanned down to the end of the page and he gave a snort of laughter. He showed the letter to George.
George grinned. "I should have known! I thought they were a little too close the last time I saw them together. Don't worry, Charlie, we won't show anyone. This is too good for mere humiliation; this is more like blackmail material."
"It's my letter. Let me read it. She might have said something important," Charlie said, straining to get away from Bill. He almost succeeded. Just because Bill was older didn't mean Charlie wasn't stronger. At their ages, it didn't matter if someone was a few years older. The only problem was that Bill had done of top-notch job of pinning Charlie's arms behind his back.
"If you don't let me read it, I'll let him get you," Bill said to the twins.
Fred and George held a briefly whispered conference. "Bill, you will have full access to the letter at a later time." Fred stuffed the letter in his pocket.

"That's better," Bill said. "Sorry, Char-Char." Bill still held Charlie's arms pinned, clearly no easy task. Bill was taller than Charlie and could have held the letter over his head for quite some time, but Charlie was stockier and had a little more muscle than he did. Bill was finding it a little tougher to hold on.
Charlie glared at him.
At that moment, Percy came in, hauling another camping bed behind him.
"What's that for? Harry's bed is already here."
"Neville," Percy replied shortly as he dragged the bed so that it was set up between Ron and Harry's. No one offered to help him.
"Neville? I half forgot you were here," Ron said. "You've been so quiet."
Neville just shrugged. He didn't really feel like talking. The others were all part of the same group; he wasn't there yet.
Percy said with as much primness as he could muster, "Mother said that she'll bring some more pillows and blankets up in a bit."
"Percy, if you don't mind my asking, why didn't you just use your wand to bring that up?" asked Hermione.
"Ask them. I'll be in my room writing to Penny." He slammed the door and was gone.
Harry and Hermione hadn't asked about the Percy situation yet (knowing it was probably delicate), but now they were more curious than ever. "So?" asked Harry.
"Mum and Dad were ready to take him back, we weren't. We saw how much it hurt them everyday when he was gone. He's still earning our trust back. We talked it over, like mature adults, and decided to take away his wand."
"You're punishing him?" gasped Hermione.
"Well, we're not exactly punishing him. It's more like he's...doing penance for his sins or his crimes."
"You see, we wrote up this whole list of terms of agreement for him to come back. Not being allowed to use his wand outside of work is just one of them"
"So you see, it's understandable that he was a little miffed when Mum needed someone to bring the bed up; Charlie and I told her that Percy would be happy to volunteer," Bill finished.
"Do your parents know about how you're all treating Percy?" asked Hermione.
"Merlin, no!" the redheads said, looking shocked.
"And they aren't going to find out, right?" asked George.
"Mum would have our hides for sure," said Fred.
Harry and Hermione nodded. "Not a word."
Neville just sat there.
"Right?" repeated George looking at Neville a little menacingly.
"Oh, right. Of course not," Neville said. He'd always wanted a brother or a sister, or somebody around who was somewhere near his own age. How could they be treating their brother like this? Then again, he didn't know too much of what had gone on really, just bits and pieces he picked up last year. It wasn't as though anyone ever bothered to actually tell him what was going on.
"Good. Because if there's one thing Mum always says, it's that you're never too old..." said Bill.
"Or too far away..." said Charlie.
"Or too be-freckled..." said George.
"Or too funny..." said Fred.
"Or too tall," added Ron.
"Or too young," Ginny said.
"To stop listening to your mother," all seven Weasleys finished.
"Neville, do you remember how nice Mum was downstairs?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah," he said slowly.
"Imagine the exact opposite of that, and you've got an impression of her when she's really angry," said Ginny.
Neville swallowed involuntarily. It sounded worse than Gran when she was mad.
"Do you remember when we took Dad's flying car and rescued Harry that summer?" Fred asked Ron, wistfully.
"Yeah. And when we got back..."
"Mum was yelling so loud at the three of you that she woke me up," Ginny laughed.
"She was a complete angel to me when I showed up with you," said Harry.
"Of course she was. Unlike us, you hadn't broken any rules yet," said Fred.
"Didn't I tell you that rescue mission was a bad idea?" Hermione scolded Ron.
Bill asked Charlie, "Where were we that summer?"
"You'd just gotten transferred to Egypt and I was finally finished with my training and off to Romania."
"Oh, right."
Neville felt very out of place as they continued to reminisce. He didn't know what was going on with Percy. He didn't know about all the past Weasley family, Harry, and Hermione escapades. After all, only so much of it ended up in school gossip (or the news). He just wasn't part of the family like Harry and Hermione were. He sat there, pretty much ignored. "Er, where's the bathroom?"
"Down the stairs, third door on your right."
"Thanks," he said, getting up and shuffling out of the room. As he was leaving, he heard Hermione ask the others about how Penny had taken it when Percy had left the house.
Neville saw clutter on the stairs and in the messy rooms whose doors were ajar. Gran would have never permitted anything of the sort in her house. She wasn't exactly a neat freak, but she liked things to have order and make sense. It never made sense to her why her grandson didn't excel in all the areas that her son had.
Neville thought about going back down to the kitchen and Flooing home. He didn't belong here. He wasn't in the mood for company, but he didn't want to go back to that empty house. Besides, he could hear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking in the kitchen. He went back up the stairs and paused outside the door to Ron's room when he heard his name.
"What about Neville? How much do we tell him?" asked one of the twins.
"What do you mean how much?"
"We've got a lot of information. Four of us are in the Order, and you four already know way more than you should," said Bill.
"Order information is supposed to be secret," Charlie reminded them.
Ginny said firmly, "Neville is in the same pot of stew as the rest of us."
Harry agreed. "He fought with us at the Department of Mysteries. He's always been someone we could trust if we had to." Neville realized this wasn't exactly the best of compliments, but at least it was something.
"From the sound of it, so was Pettigrew before he switched sides," warned Ron.
"Ron!" scolded Hermione.
"Well it's true. I'm just using my brain and being cautious, Herms. You never know when a traitor will turn up," he replied.
"You can't honestly suspect Neville!" Hermione said, shocked.
"I don't and I hope I never have to," Ron said heavily with a certain amount of vehemence in his voice. "But nowadays, how can anybody trust anybody?"
"If you think Neville is here as a spy, you're dead wrong, Ronald Billius Weasley!" replied Ginny angrily.
"Billius?" asked Hermione.
"After an uncle," Ron said impatiently. "If he's not here to spy, then why is he here? He's never come before, or shown any interest in us. You honestly can't believe that lie about spending time with his peers," Ron retorted. "Did he even bring a trunk or his Hogwarts stuff?"
"I know why he's here, but I'm not about to tell you, Ronald Weasley. I invited him. If he thinks he can trust you enough to tell you why, then just maybe he'll tell you. In the meantime, just drop it. I'm sure he'll be back any minute."
Neville smiled weakly. Good old Ginny. At least he could count on her. He listened while they chose a "safe topic." As he entered, they were talking about Quidditch.
"I really think the Canons can take it this year," Ron insisted.
"The Canons don't stand a shot, Ron."
"I'm telling you, this is their year!"
"You've been saying that since you first learned how to say Quidditch. Give it up."
"Let's ask an outside opinion," recommended Hermione. "Neville, what do you think about the Canons' chances this year?"
Neville weighed his choices. If he said they didn't stand a shot and couldn't catch the Quaffle if it was glued to their hands, and couldn't throw it in the hoop if the hoop was a mile wide, Ron might strangle him in his sleep. He didn't know all that much about Quidditch, but he'd heard enough about the Cannons to know that even he would probably be a better player than most of that team and he hadn't flown since first year. "I don't know, I spend a lot of time outside in the garden. Not much time reading in the paper about Quidditch." It seemed the safest answer, and it was true.
"Not reading the paper? But what if something important came up?" asked Hermione.
"I skim it usually. Or I glance at the headlines. I don't get to see it until Gran is done and if there's anything important she'll tell me. But we stopped getting The Prophet last summer." That hurt. Was it always going to hurt so much when he mentioned his Gran? Harry would know. Harry might just understand what he was feeling. But Neville wasn't ready to talk to Harry. Not yet.
Harry said, "Skimming is a bad idea. Do you have any idea how much I missed last year by just checking the front page and the headlines?"
"They did say some rotten stuff about you last year," Neville admitted.
Mrs. Weasly knocked and opened the door. "Are all of you still awake? You ought to be asleep. Especially those of you who have work tomorrow," she said, looking pointedly at the four oldest.
George shrugged. "It's our shop. We open whenever we want to anyway."
"And close whenever we want. We'll be home early tomorrow night for the birthday celebration, Harry," Fred added.
"We thought about taking the whole day off, but summer is our busiest time of year with all the Hogwarts kids out of school, you know. Can't miss out."
"Go for it," Harry said.
Charlie and Bill looked at each other. "We don't have such a flexible work schedule. We have to be on time for our jobs. But I don't have to go in until eleven anyway. And I've got a letter to write." Charlie glared at the twins as if to say, I'm going to get that letter back. Sleep with one eye open. Fred and George just snickered.
Bill looked at Harry, "Charlie and I really wanted to take the day off, but we couldn't get it. We're both free on Thursday though. Thought maybe a game of Quidditch might be fun."
"Yeah! That sounds great. I'm really out of practice after last year..." Harry trailed off.
"Bed, now. All of you," Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "Here, Neville dear, I brought you some pillows and blankets." She gave him a kind smile and went about making up his bed.
Everyone started saying their goodnights, and by the time any of them had actually stood up to leave, Mrs. Weasley was back in the doorway.
Bill passed through first. "Goodnight, Mum." He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Charlie, Fred, and George all did the same. As Ginny and Hermione went through, they gave her a hug and told her goodnight as well. "Goodnight, boys," she said to Ron, Harry, and Neville. But she didn't leave.
Ron got the message and got up to give her a goodnight kiss too, blushing a little as if saying, Mum! In front of my friends?
Harry got up and hugged Mrs. Weasley.
Neville felt compelled to do the same. Mrs. Weasley even gave him an extra hug. It was nice. Mrs. Weasley was so warm and friendly and open compared to his Gran; as much as he loved his grandmother, he knew she didn't radiate the same natural warmth. Mrs. Weasley beamed at them all and said goodnight. Mr. Weasley passed by and popped his head in the door.
"Goodnight, Ron. Goodnight, Harry. Goodnight, Neville. It'll be nice to have you stay this summer, Neville. Always a pleasure having you, Harry. Maybe tomorrow we can talk about computerors?"
Harry grinned, "Computers, Mr. Weasley."
"Oh, right, right."
"I'll be there in a moment, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said. "Ron, Neville's things won't be arriving until tomorrow. Would you loan him something to sleep in for tonight?" It wasn't really a question.
"Of course, Mum."
"Alright then. Goodnight, all of you."
"Goodnight," they chorused.
At last, the door was shut.