CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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-: fourth year :-

── IN WHICH ALEKS IS WELCOMED

. . .

"SO IT'S TAKEN APPROXIMATELY twenty.. one hours for you to replace me." Ginny's grip slipped from Evie's wrist, which she had grabbed and pulled towards her face and away from the group in order to check the time. "Of course, considering he's the brother of Viktor Krum I'm find myself lacking the ability to care that much." A frown covered her face, peering back at Harry, Ron, Fred and George, all of which looked amazingly interested in whatever Aleks was saying. "You should go and rescue him."

"He's perfectly capable of rescuing himself. Besides, you're the one who dragged me away from him.. so if you think about it, it's you who should be rescuing him." Evie hummed to herself, pulling her cardigan sleeves down over her wrist again. "So.. you don't mind that you might be replaced?"

"Please!" Ginny exploded. "He's a Krum. I'm not gonna mind you doing anything with him.. to a certain extent of course."

"Of course, of course." Evie looked more than amused at the look on Hermione's face. "What, Granger, got something to say?" She joked as the girl fell into step between them. Hermione didn't say anything and the two gingers shared a look. "Seriously though, is everything okay?"

"Just rattled after last night." Hermione didn't complain as Ginny slid an arm around her waist. "Hey - trying to walk here." Despite her complains, there was an overall lack of movement on behalf of the Weasley. "And confused on how you two can be so... lively." 

That was a question that baffled many. The boys might be avidly listening to Aleks's tales and pushing for answers to their many questions (Ron's mostly seemed directed towards the older of the two famed brothers, but everyone was far too tired to point out the impudence) but they were punctuating their sentences with stretched 'sorrys' as they yawned and rubbed sleep from their eyes. This contrasted greatly with the attitude originated in Ginny and Evie, who, despite their initial hatred to the world after receiving such a rude awakening after shockingly few hours of sleep, were all kinds of energetic.

"Who knows." Ginny hummed. "I mean, maybe Bill made magic coffee, or it might be the idea of a good breakfast waiting for us at home.... or the fact that my best friend is - this - close to bagging Viktor Krum's brother."

"Hey - he's more than that. You would hate to be known only by your brothers, and I hate being known by mine." The Potter replied. "That being said, I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least slightly interested in him."

"Really?" Hermione looked more worried about it than she cared to admit. "I just... he seems nice enough, but our first encounter was him running away from his bodyguards. And the only reason he was there last night was because he did the very same irresponsible thing and ended up lost in a campsite whilst Death Eaters attacked the poor muggles." There was an edge to her voice and Evie joined Ginny in placing an arm around her, hand moving up and down her back consolingly. 

Evie didn't say anything for a moment. "But you have to admit that it wasn't his fault for the attacks. Or the fact he has bodyguards. And besides, if anything it proves that he didn't know that it was going to happen until it did." Her arm on Hermione's back slid around to hook under her elbow. "He helped me last night, and punched Malfoy. Doesn't that sound familiar? If I can remember correctly - then there's someone here who would find they have quite the similarity." 

Hermione grinned at the memory before digging her elbow into her friend's ribs. "Shush. Just be careful then, if you really have to like him." At the sound of her words, both Ginny and Evie came to a stop.

On either side of Hermione, the girls' eyes met, wide with excitement. In just moments, Ginny had enclosed her hands around Evie's palm and Hermione's, exhilaration and speed building as they spun around each other in carefree glee. Neither knew exactly what brought on such display, but the urge to build adrenaline until they were exhausted once more sounded so, so, enticing. 

"You've got her support!" Ginny sang into Evie's ear, who was watching as laughter spilled out of Hermione's life. "And he punched Malfoy!" 

In a dizzyingly heap of giggles the three of them fell to the grassy field beneath them as if they were children, laying back, breathless and wide awake, a stark contrast to the group of boys who came to a stop by their heads, peering over them.

"Are they always like this?" Aleks asked, eyes meeting Evie's as she grinned up at him, unabashed. 

"Evie and Ginny, possibly." Harry added his reply.

"Hermione, not really. Nice to see you loosening up." Fred snarked with a similar smile on his face to Harry's as he crouched down and his hands secured under Ginny's armpits. George copied on the other side of Hermione and the two twins lifted up the girls and settled them down on their feet. Evie, however, waved away Harry's concerned gaze - he might have been taller and a little stronger, but he was by no means able to copy the twins' actions. 

Instead, Aleks swiftly moved in front of the ginger Potter as she sat up, the world before her eyes swaying horribly. Stars glinted in the corner of her eyes as the Krum held out a hand before her, reaching down further to take the arm she offered - it was hanging loosely as majority of her energy was taken up by retrieving oxygen into her lungs, when it had been jolted out as a result of their invigorating actions. 

"Thanks." She breathed out as she settled on her feet once again, not even realising how her hand tightened around his as she steadied until she felt as though her chest was rising and falling as normally as possible and her hand retreated quickly. "Sorry - and thanks, again."

"No problem." Aleks replied. "You offered quite the escape, I must say." His eyes flickered away from her only when he was forced to, when his subconcious made him aware of the group of boys forming around him again. 

Evie realised quickly what he meant and she shook her head. "Honestly, anyone would think none of you had any manners at all. Bugger off with all your questions and leave the poor guy alone." She ordered. "Try having a normal conversation for once."

Several paces in front of them, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Mr Weasley became aware of the lack of tired chatter behind them and turned, finding that the group of students had slowed to a stop and were now crowding around one another, Fred, George and Ron's voices becoming loudest as they protested against Evie's complaints on their ill-disciplined torrent of questions. 

"Come on, all of you." Mr Weasley called, voice easily carrying over to them. "Less time chatting and more time walking, please. You'll have time to bother Aleksander with your meaningless conversation when we arrive home." 

"See!" Evie exploded, triumphant. "Get walking, idiots." Ginny grabbed her hand and yanked her forward, Hermione falling into step between them. Momentarily, before Aleks was overwhelmed once again, similar to his own actions at the end of the match, Evie winked.

. . .

"Ouch! Mum - you're strangling us -" Fred and George's voices melded into one singular yelp as Molly Weasley seized them both and dragged them into a firm, overly-relieved hug. 

Their walk from the campsite to the mist-shrouded spot of grass on which their Portkey (something which Evie still found a little disgusting and held onto the edge of the old boot with the very tips of her nails - just enough to ensure she would be able to return to Devon with the others) was sat, promptly travelled back to the hill on which they had approached it the previous morning.

Then, as the end of a sunrise plagued their tired eyes, they began to traipse their way through field, woodlands and the slowly livening streets of Ottery St. Catchpole before heading up the lane to the Burrow (the sight of the house rising out of the wilderness caused quite the effort of awe in Aleksander's eyes; he had never seen anything quite like it).

The doors of the familiar had burst home by an anxious Mrs Weasley, who had quite obviously been awaiting their arrival as she peered through the bottled window clutching a cup of tea upon which she dropped at seeing a thicket of red-haired people approaching with seemignly enough brunettes to identify them as the people she had been waiting for. 

The Daily Prophet had been clutched in her hand as well, as that was brandished around when she first hugged her husband and revealed to the group that already a front-page report had been printed with the swirling image of the emerald Dark Mark in the sky the cover image. Molly had hugged Arthur and decided to forgo the systematic process of hugging each of her children in age-order turn and instead headed to Fred and George with a look of severe remorse as she pulled them into a tight hug. 

"I shouted at you before you left!" Mrs Weasley said, starting to sob without making remedy to the predicament she placed the twins in. "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough OWLs? Oh Fred, George..."

"Come on, now, Molly, we're all perfectly okay." Mr Weasley soothed his wife, prising her off the twins and leading her back toward the house. "Bill," he added in an undertone as he momentarily turned back to the group of eleven, "Pick up that paper, I want to see what it says."

The children began to trail in after them, Evie glancing around the group before announcing her intentions. "I think I'll go make tea. There might not be enough mugs for everyone... and you-" Her attention turned to Aleksander, who had been stood with Harry and Ron, who talked to him in very fast-paced conversation as they kicked dirt around with the edge of their shoes. He looked up. "Come on. You can help."

"I'm not really a tea person..." Aleksander's gaze was all over the place; he had rarely been anywhere outside of London whilst visiting the country, and he had to admit the Devon countryside was a little different to his home country. "But I guess this is the time to learn."

"Damn right it is. We'll wait until Mrs Weasley has calmed down a bit to let her know we have one extra." Evie turned back to the house, where Fred and George were ducking down to pass through the doorway. "Come on - quick. We have tea to make."

She ushered him into the house, and within ten or so minutes every pair of hands belonging to the thirteen stood, cramped, in the tiny kitchen was holding a tea cup to their liking. Evie, admittedly, had quite the knack for remembering how people liked it, and despite Mrs Weasley favouring only a single teaspoon of sugar in her drink, she had bypassed that talent of hers and instead loaded it with a couple spoonfuls more; sweet tea was a quick fix for a shock, and Mrs Weasley seemed to have been encroached in anxiety since the Wizarding World was informed of the incident. 

Mr Weasley took the mug handed over several chairs and Percy's folded arms, sitting it down in front of Mrs Weasley and taking the offered bottle from Charlie, tipping a shot of Ogdens OldFirewhiskey into the liquid and taking the paper from Bill, scanning the cover. 

"I knew it." Mr Weasley sighed heavily. "'Ministry blunders...culprits not apprehended... lax security... Dark wizards running unchecked... national disgrace'... Who wrote this? Ah... ofcourse . . . Rita Skeeter." 

"That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" Percy exploded. "Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans-" 

"Do us a favor, Perce." Bill interrupted, yawning, "And shut up." A prominent frown appeared on the Ministry worker's lips. Evie rolled her eyes. 

 "I'm mentioned." Mr Weasley commented, his eyes widening behindhis glasses as he reached the bottom of the Daily Prophet article.

"Where?" Mrs Weasley spluttered, choking on her sweet tea and whiskey. "If I'd seen that, I'd have known you were alive!" 

"Not by name," said Mr. Weasley. "Listen to this: 'If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.' 

"Oh really." Mr Weasley scoffed, handing the paper to Percy. "Nobody was hurt. What was I supposed to say? Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods... well, there certainly will be rumors now she's printed that." He heaved a deep sigh. "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office; this is going to take some smoothing over." 

"I'll come with you, Father." Percy announced, self-importantly. "Mr Crouch will need all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person." He bustled out of the kitchen without another word, passing Fred and George caught up in making impressions of him quite perfectly. 

Mrs Weasley looked most upset at this. "Arthur, you're supposed to be on holiday! This hasn't got anything to do with your office; surely they can handle this without you?" She pleaded.

 "I've got to go, Molly." Mr Weasley said. "I've made things worse. I'll just change into my robes and I'll be off." He stood up from his chair, his eyes landing on a coven of fourteen year olds. "Of course - Molly, you'll find we have one extra. Aleksander Krum was seperated from his group, and Ron offered a mattress for him to sleep on whilst contacting his parents." 

"What?" Mrs Weasley looked up, following her husband's extended arm.

Aleksander stepped forward, hand extended, which Mrs Weasley shook with an bewildered expression on her face. "Pleased to meet you, Mrs Weasley. I hope it isn't too much trouble to intrude on your-"

"Shut up." Evie nudged him rather deliberatley in the ribs (it seemed a little more than just that; she had abnormally pointy elbows). "You sound like some posh twa-" She was silenced by a hand appearing on her mouth. "Idiot. Some posh idiot. Sorry Mrs Weasley, all this is really my fault. I got seperated from the group last night and me and Aleksander here, who happened to be sat next to me when watching the match, ended up losing his bodyguards and ended up on our side of the camp. Of course, in the chaos, nobody could find anyone they needed to and he stayed with us overnight. Now, how about some breakfast?" Her eyes were bright as she looked around the kitchen. "Me and Harry could get some bacon and eggs going...?"

"I can help." Charlie nodded, stepping forward despite his mother's protesting splutters. "You lot, dump your stuff in the living room and get to work. Ron, show Aleks to your room for a moment?"

"Got it." Ron agreed, oddly nervous to be actually alone with the brother of his idol and set off to his room with shouts of apology to how crowded it was in there, but it was a truly cosy house to live in. 

Aleksander had been anxious about the prospect of being alone in a foreign country with a girl and her friends and their family he had only met the day before, but he found himself increasingly gracious that it had been Evie Potter he had managed to befriend; there was the impression that he would never be more welcome in any other place. 

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