Harry Potter The King of Elves

"It's Percy-," George said, smiling like they'd found a cache of Christmas presents.

"-He's got himself a girlfriend ." Fred said, reveling in the reveal.

"He can join the club then," Ron said. "Harry's got one too!"

Dinner that night was a lively affair. It wasn't a party, but it certainly felt like it. With Percy's big secret out of the bag most of the attention was focused on him, and of course this mysterious Penelope. Aside from a few congratulations, and pats on the back from the twins, Harry was largely forgotten. He found it odd to be in anyone's shadow, especially Percy's, but it was a feeling he'd be glad to get used to. At least then it'd mean he was just being treated like a normal person.

Besides the occasional barbs from his brothers, it was left to Percy to do most of the talking; he had to be constantly prompted by his mother though or he'd stop. Mrs. Weasley wanted to know everything about Ms. Penelope Clearwater: who she was, where she was from, how they met, what her parents did; the works. It was a point in her favor that she was a fellow Prefect, even if she was a Ravenclaw.

"So when are you two seeing each other? Have anything planned?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Um-," Percy didn't seem to have an answer.

"What about you, Harry, and this girl of yours?" she inquired.

"Yeah, who is it anyway?" George asked.

"It's the Japanese bird in your year isn't it?" Fred asked.

"That one's Chinese and a year up," George corrected him. "Name's Ching, I think. Jo Ching?"

"Hey," his brother defended, "I don't care who she is. All I know is she's been eyeing him since he got made Seeker last year."

Harry sat there getting more embarrassed by the moment. He didn't know what he was expecting once the spotlight finally hit him, but this certainly wasn't it. How many girls had he been oblivious to last year?

"Are you two mental?" Ron asked. "It's Hermione."

Ginny seemed to curl into herself.

"You know," Fred said to his twin. "We should've bet on that. I never thought Harry'd have the guts to approach her."

George nodded. "She's way too scary for me, and we grew up with mum."

His mother shot him a look promising harsh treatment should he ever find a girl he liked.

"She approached him," Ron said wisely. "Muggles do things backwards."

"Yeah? How do muggles do it?" Fred asked Harry.

"George! That's not appropriate," Mrs. Weasley chided.

"I only asked-," the boy tried to defend himself.

"I know what you asked, and I know what you meant ."

"Then why'd you yell at me for?" the other twin asked affronted. "Fred said it. If you want to get onto me, do it for what I say." Then to Harry George shot a quick, "So how do muggles do it anyway?"

"Both of you, up to your room, now!" Mrs. Weasley commanded in a tone which left even her husband looking like he'd be glad to leave too.

Fred and George wisely retreated to the soothing explosions that always seemed to come from their lair as Mrs. Weasley tried to calm herself.

"Since you mention it," Harry said while fighting a blush once the twins were out of earshot. "Hermione did mention wanting to meet up at Diagon Alley the Wednesday after we get our letters."

Mrs. Weasley looked to her husband.

"It should be this weekend," Mr. Weasley said looking glad he could be helpful. "Dumbledore should be back by then."

"Oh, wonderful," Mrs. Weasley beamed. "That'll give you two a chance to walk about with Percy and this Penelope," she said to Harry. "You look after him, Percy, I'll keep the others occupied so they don't embarrass you two."

Now it was Percy's turn to look embarrassed though he tried to cover it by eating. Ginny seemed to sink even lower until she threatened to slide under the table completely. Ron seemed to be the only one to take all this as a matter of course.

"Dumbledore's been gone?" Harry asked, trying to appear only mildly curious about what the old man's been up to.

"A very busy man for someone his age," Mrs. Weasley said disapprovingly. "I would've thought he'd settle down to a nice quiet life when Arthur and I left school. Goodness knows he deserves it," she explained. "Then, of course, came all that You-Know-Who business, and a string of incompetent Ministers," she shook her head. "The poor man hasn't had a break in decades. Such a shame."

"He's been in Geneva for most of the week chairing the latest meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards," Mr. Weasley said in an aside to Harry.

"Well, it was a great meal, as always, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said as he excused himself from the table. In no time at all he was back in his room, back on his bed, and back to staring up at the ceiling trying to figure out what he was going to do.

Harry felt the stirrings of a kind of nervousness he'd never felt before, and it had nothing to do with the chance to see Hermione just days from now. Dumbledore was coming back. It'd been a kind of happy thought in the back of his mind for the last several days that with whatever was going on at Gringotts and all their plans, Dumbledore either didn't seem to notice or simply didn't care and that was why he hadn't heard from them.

With the headmaster out of the country, the lack of any money from his account and nothing from Gropegold when he came back would probably be impossible to ignore. Dumbledore would come for him, of that he had no doubt. His letter to Lichfield suddenly seemed all the more important. He'd definitely need as much protection as Gringotts could offer. An entire goblin army guarding the Burrow would only slightly lessen the anxiety he was starting to feel.

With the way Gringotts had been so far though Harry could already hear Barchoke's voice saying no. 'We're a bank, not Goblin Armies Я Us. ' That idea was going to go nowhere, even if he asked, which only left one thing he could do: run and hide.

.....

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