Chapter seven
Rescuing Harry
Delaney's POV:
My parents had decided to let me spend the last week of summer with the Weasley family. Ron and I had been writing each other every day since we left Hogwarts. I didn't see much of him at the end of the year since he was helping Harry and Hermione solve the mystery of the sorcerer's stone. I had distanced myself from that a bit, not really wanting anything to do with it. But, I was very excited to see Ron and meet the rest of his family.  "Laney!" Ron said as he rushed over to give me a hug. I hugged Ron and the hug was short and sweet. "Hello, Delaney." The twins said in unison. "Hi, Fred. Hi, George." Mrs. Weasley approached me and said "you must be Delaney." "Yes. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley." "Call me Molly, dear. And you can go up to Ginny's room and set your stuff down. And you'll be sleeping with her. It's also Ginny's first year at Hogwarts this year. Maybe you can help her settle in." I nodded and said "of course." Hazel was here as well since her parents were good friends with the Weasley's. I had learned from my mother that a lot of the wealthier families in the wizarding world didn't like the Weasley's. Because they were purebloods who were nice to wizards and witches who weren't. My mother is a pureblood witch and my dad's a muggle. The Weasley's treated me as if I was their own. Whereas someone like the Malfoy family would treat me awfully. But, Draco hadn't treated me that way. "Hello, Delaney." Percy greeted. I nodded to him and said "hi, Percy. Are you head boy this year?" He shook his head and said "next year, I hope." "I want to be a prefect when I get older." I told him. "You'd make a good prefect." "I think I wanna be one too." Ron said. Molly looked over at Ron and said "a prefect?" He nodded and she said "it's a lot of work, Ron." "I could do it, mum. If Percy can do it, I can do it." "It's boring, Ron." Fred started. "You can't break any rules. You're basically a hall monitor." George replied. Molly looked at the both of them and said "I don't want to hear about you two getting detention this year." "No promises, mum." They said as they walked off. Molly shook her head and then looked at me. "Ginny's room is on the second level so walk up the two flights of stairs and her room is in that hallway." I grabbed my stuff and walked upstairs as Molly told me. I walked down the hall and saw a red headed girl in one of the bedrooms. "Are you Ginny?" She looked up and said "Delaney?" I nodded and she motioned for me to come inside. "Ron's talked a lot about you this summer." "Has he? Good things I hope." "He said that besides Harry Potter, you were one of the first people he became friends with. He also always had to write you. We were always giving letters to Errol." I chuckled at that and said "which bed?" Ginny pointed to one by the window and said "Hazel's using that one." She pointed to another one and I nodded. "Have you met him?" Ginny asked. "Who?" I patted Duke's head. "Harry Potter." "Yes. I have." "What's he like?" "He's very kind. And is very brave. But, most importantly he's just like everyone else. I'm sure you'll meet him soon." Ginny nodded and didn't say anything else.

-

"Shh, come on. And be quiet." The voice of Fred said, waking me up from my slumber. "Hurry up!" Ron whisper yelled. "George, come on!" "I'm coming. I'm coming." George replied nonchalantly at his twin brother. I got out of the spare bed in Ginny's room and tiptoed to the bedroom door. I opened the door and said "where're you going?" George turned on his heel and said "to rescue Harry. Wanna come?" I nodded eagerly and Ron smiled at me. "Come on, Laney." "And get dressed." The twins added. I quickly changed into a tank top with a jacket over it and jeans. Hazel woke up and followed me. I told her to get dressed quietly and the two of us stepped out of the room. "Come on then." Fred said. I rolled my eyes at him and the twins started down the stairs slowly, the wooden stairs letting out a loud creaking sound. Fred and George froze and Ron said "go!" "Hold on. If we wait a minute they won't creak." Fred and George said in unison. I was in between Ron and George, the latter being directly in front of me. "Skip these four." I blinked a few times and looked at George crazily. "I can't." I told him. Him and Fred were able to skip those four steps because of their long legs. George turned around to face me and said "come here." He motioned for me to come towards him with both his hands. I hesitantly followed and he grabbed me, picking me up and handing me to Fred who set me on the ground. The twins then did the same to Hazel. "What about me?" Ron said. "No." The twins replied. Fred grabbed a pair of keys and the five of us snuck outside, going to a car. "Everyone in." Fred got in the driver's seat and Ron sat next to him up front. I then got in the back with George and Hazel. "Where does Harry live?" I asked Ron. "Surrey. He's hasn't been writing to me all summer. It's a bit weird." Ron furrowed his eyebrows and George looked out the window, whispering something to Fred who giggled. George then did the same. Ron made a face at them and then turned to me. "You like the burrow?" I nodded and said "yes. It's amazing." "It's not much but it's home for us." "I think it's amazing." Ron smiled and we started to approach Harry's home. "So, this is where Harry lives?" Hazel asked. Ron nodded and my eyes widened at the bars on his windows. "Ron, Fred, George. What're you all doing here?" Harry said in shock. He then noticed Hazel and I. "Delaney. Hazel." I smiled at him and said "hi, Harry." "Rescuing you of course. Now, come on. Get your trunk." Ron told his best friend. Ron and George proceeded to pull the bars off the windows so we could help Harry. He handed us his things and we took them from him, making sure it all got in the car safely. "Delaney, come up front." Fred motioned for me to come up to the front seat. I carefully stepped over the seat, sitting down next to Fred. Fred looked over at Harry and said "come on." I was now in between Ron and Fred. I turned to Fred and said "hi, Fred." He looked down at me and chuckled. "Hi, Delaney. You're so adorable." I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked away from Fred. I heard George's chuckle from the backseat and Harry proceeded to get into the car but not before his uncle tried to stop him. Ron and George pulled Harry into the car, slamming the door shut. Harry's uncle fell onto some hedges below and Fred started to make the drive back to the burrow. "By the way, Harry, happy birthday." Ron said. Harry smiled at him and said "thank you." "They put bloody bars on your windows? They're barmy!" George exclaimed. Harry sighed deeply and said "I know. They want me to be miserable." "Well, at least you're away from them now." I said as I turned to look at Harry. He nodded and George reached for a strand of my curly hair. He pulled on it gently, watching it spring back up. I half smiled and he said "m'not teasing you. I promise. The only one who has curly hair in our family is Percy. And it's cool to see a girl that has curly hair." Ron turned around to look at George and I turned back around to face the front. Every once in a while my eyes would flicker up to look at Fred. Fred and George were the older brothers I wanted but never had. My older brother and sister were great. But, we weren't close like the Weasley's. We had made it back to the burrow just as the sun was coming up. The twins told us all to be quiet as we snuck back into the house. Fred and George shushed us and they went to the table, grabbing biscuits off of it. Ron did the same. Harry looked around the burrow in awe. "It's not much. But it's home." Ron said to Harry. "I think it's brilliant." Harry told him. Ron smiled at him and Molly Weasley came down the stairs. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" The twins and Ron looked at her with wide eyes, hiding their snacks behind their backs. "Harry, how lovely to see you, dear." She smiled at Harry and approached us all. "Beds empty! No note! Car gone!" "They were starving him, mum! They put bars on his windows!" Ron told her. George nodded and and Fred did the same. "You best hope I don't put bars on your windows, Ronald Weasley." Molly said as she pointed at her youngest son. Ron's eyes widened and he turned to look at George who was grimacing at his brother. "And you drug Hazel and Delaney with you. Ridiculous!" Molly then went to the kitchen and Fred let out a breath of relief. "Thought it'd be worse." "Me too." George said. The twins then walked away. I followed Ron who gestured for me to come to the table. Molly brought out a birthday cake and said "happy birthday, Harry." His lips parted in shock and he said "thank you, Mrs. Weasley." Percy came down the stairs in his pajamas, his curly hair sticking out everywhere. I had only seen it slicked down or slicked back. Hazel stared at him as he walked by, her mouth agape. I nudged her and she said "when did he get cute?" I rolled my eyes playfully at her and I went to sit in between the twins and Percy. Ron was next to Harry and Hazel was on the other side of him. Ginny then came rushing down the stairs. "Mummy, have you seen my jumper?" She asked. "Yes, dear, it was on the cat." Molly replied. Harry looked at her as Ginny's eyes widened at him. "Hello." He greeted. She then went back upstairs. The twins sniggered and Harry said "what did I do?" "Ginny. She's been talking about you all summer. Bit annoying, really." Ron said. Then Arthur Weasley stepped into the house, greeting his children. They all answered back and he sat down at the table. He was ecstatic to meet Harry. "Harry, sir. Harry Potter." "Good lord. Are you really?" Arthur then asked Harry what the function of a rubber duck was. But before he could answer, Molly made sure to bring up how we went to rescue Harry. "Your sons flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back." "Really? How'd it go?" Arthur asked enthusiastically. The twins quickly started to explain and I did the same, Ron adding stuff in. Molly then hit her husband on the arm and we all stopped talking. "That was very wrong of you, boys. Very wrong indeed." Arthur corrected himself. George leaned over to me and said "have fun in the enchanted car, did ya?" I nodded and said "I did." "Sure she did. Couldn't stop looking at me and George the whole bloody time." Fred added. I looked down at my plate of eggs, feeling my cheeks heat up. Ron looked up at the twins' laughter and then made eye contact with me, rolling his eyes. "It's ok, Laney. All jokes." The twins said in unison. "Right." I replied softly. Hazel smirked at me and I shook my head at her. The sound of an owl entered the air and Molly looked toward the window. "That'll be Errol with the post." The Weasley's owl came flying towards the house but crashed into the window, the whole family wincing. "Fetch it, will you, Percy?" Percy nodded at his mother and took the letters from the owl. "Oh, it's our Hogwarts letters. They've sent us Harry's, Delaney's and Hazel's as well." Percy handed me my letter and I overlooked it, looking at the supplies I'd need for the year. "This lot won't come cheap, mum." Fred said as he looked up at her worriedly. "The books alone are so expensive." George then said with a frown. Molly patted George's shoulder and said "we'll manage." I felt bad for the Weasley's. I honestly did. My mother was a pureblood and had so much money in her vault. I wish I could get to it to help the Weasley's. "There's only one place we'll get all this. Diagon Alley." Molly and Arthur made sure we all had our things together so we could go shopping in Diagon Alley. Today we were traveling by floo. I'd seen my mother do it loads of time but never done it myself. Ron went first to show Harry how. "Diagon Alley." Ron said clearly as green fire erupted around him. I jumped back at the fire, bumping into the twins who stood behind me. George quirked an eyebrow and said "you ok?" I nodded and he half smiled at me. "Delaney, did you want to go next?" Molly asked me. I gulped and nodded, not wanting to look scared in front of the Weasley family. I took my handful of floo powder and said "Diagon Alley." I ended up in a different fireplace and Ron smiled at me as I stepped out of it. "You made it." I was relieved I had done it right. Once the rest of the family an Hazel arrived, we all went to the book store to grab our books. Gilderoy Lockheart was there promoting his book and of course had to take a picture with Harry. "Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page." The voice of Draco Malfoy said. I looked over and was somewhat excited to see him. He had been so kind to me the year before. "Leave him alone." Ginny said as she stepped towards him. "Oh, look, Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend." Then Draco's father came in behind him, telling Harry his scar was legendary. Hermione was quick to defend him. "And you must be Miss Granger." Draco nodded. "Draco's told me all about you. And your parents. Muggles, aren't they?" Hermione turned to look at her parents and then looked back at Lucius. "Red hair, vacant expressions, tatty secondhand book. You must be the Weasley's." Ron stared at Lucius with anger as Ginny did the same. George frowned at the bad mouthing of his family while Fred glared at him. I took a step back and gave George a small hug. George was taken aback and patted my shoulder awkwardly. "You. You look familiar." Lucius said to me. I didn't answer as I let go of George. "Lacework. Hertha's your mother. Isn't she?" I nodded. "How could a pureblood like you, associate yourself with people like the Weasley's?" "I'm not a pureblood. My dad's a muggle. I'm half and half." I stated. Lucius' eyes widened and he said "interesting. Draco, you never told me that." Draco's eyes met mine for the first time since his dad had entered the room. He had a look of genuine worry on his face. "And I thought Miss Granger's family was bad. Your's is just as pitiful." Lucius said to me. I felt my eyes begin to well up with tears and Arthur Weasley was quick to come over and bring the attention off us kids. Draco's lips parted as he noticed the small tears leaving my eyes. I stepped back away from the Weasley's, not wanting them to see me cry. Ron and the twins had noticed, along with Hazel. Once Draco and his father left, the four of them approached me. "Are you ok?" Ron asked. I shrugged and said "I don't know." "Don't listen to him. You're family's great. I love your mum and dad." Hazel tried to make it better. "I've never met your parents but I'm sure they're amazing. And your mum, being a pureblood Slytherin at one point, being the nice woman that she is, that's amazing." George said. "Don't cry, Laney. Don't waste tears over something Lucius Malfoy said. He's a right foul git." Fred said. I half smiled and George opened his arms, letting me hug him. I hugged him and said "thank you, George." "You're welcome." He pulled away and Hazel then gave me a hug. The twins walked off and Ron patted my shoulder. "Ignore them. They're gits." He told me. I nodded and said "you're right." Ron smiled and said "come on. Before mum and dad freak out cause we're still in this store."

The end is eh but I'm happy that Chamber of Secrets has started
~skylar✨✨✨✨