Ch 18 Family Dinner Part 2

There were a few moments of silence before Ron decided to speak, "But father, is there anything the order is doing to stop this worst-case scenario?'

"Hmm, What do you mean? What can we do?"

"I mean there is obviously only one thing that You-know-who could do to grab a win for his candidate at the last moment... and that is to attack the other two candidates. So is order doing something to protect them in case he attacks them?"

Ron knew from Sam's memories that there was soon going to be an attack on Madam Bones orchestrated by Lord Voldemort himself and while he knew there wasn't much anyone could do once Voldemort decided to kill someone.

He could at least try pointing his father in the right direction because he was a man with a voice in the order and if by some luck the 'big man' moved and a change occurred then it was all for the better.

"No. We don't think there is any need for that, as they are given protection by the Ministry themselves and more importantly, they are not normal wizards themselves, especially, Amelia Bones... she is the head of DMLE and is one of the strongest witches alive, there are not many in the Wizarding world who are even qualified enough to protect her. Besides they have powerful wards protecting them that should hold against most attacks,"

"Even against you-know-who?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow making his father fall silent, "I mean if I was him, I would attack her myself if she is as formidable as you say and is also up for the position of minister,"

"That..." Arthur hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, "No. I don't think there are many wards that could stop you-know-who."

"Ron's right, Father," Fred nodded with a rare serious expression on his face, "They will try and target them if they want to cause the most mayhem and chaos now that they are in the open,"

"I guess you bring up good points," Arthur sighed while scratching his chin, "Fine, I'll bring it up in the order meeting tomorrow... but they're both very stubborn people so even if Dumbledore wanted to do something, nothing may come out of it."

"I don't know about the Rufus guy, but Madam Bones has a niece in my class, so I am sure that if Dumbledore offered to protect her family, she wouldn't deny it,"

"Maybe..." Arthur mumbled before shaking his head as a smile appeared on his face, "But enough about these heavy topics, tell me boys, how are things at your shop? Is everything going well?"

"Of course." George leaned back with a confident smile on his face, "Things couldn't be better. We are getting order after orders, it seems people can't get enough of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes..."

Just as the twins were bragging about their shop, a knock on the door interrupted their conversation and their Mother, who was coming down the stairs, immediately perked up and hurried to the door, "That must be Bill," and right behind her was a widely yawning Ginny.

"Bill!" Molly's warm voice sounded a second after she opened the door, "You're here," she said as she hugged her oldest son.

"Mum, how are you," Bill greeted back with a smile.

"Bill!" Ginny exclaimed in a delighted voice as she became the next one to hug her favourite brother.

"Oho! Look how tall you've gotten, Ginny. Give it a few years and you'll be as tall as me,"

"No, I won't." she denied with a slap on his arm but she couldn't stop the wide smile on her face.

"Fred, George, Ron. How are the three of you doing?" Bill asked with a wide smile on his face, after greeting his father with a hug.

"Fine!" "Couldn't complain!" "Never been better!"

"I've been meaning to stop by your shop for a while now, but the goblins just keep sending me from one place to the next and I just didn't have the time..."

"Don't worry, Bill. We're still getting set up, and most of our stuff still gets sold by mail order... so you're not missing out on a lot. It'll still take us a week or two to completely open for business and you can visit us then,"

"And don't worry we'll be sure to give you a family discount," George added with a smirk on his face, that implied the opposite, that they would definitely rip him off.

"That's very generous of you," he replied with an amused smile on his face, "And you Ron, how are you enjoying your holidays... and what's this I hear about you holding a party in your dorms, eh?"

"Hoho! You should definitely hear about this story, Bill," Fred immediately said in a delighted voice, "It's quite the daring tale filled with adventure, love and danger..."

And so began the teasing, the shouting, the laughter, the scolding and all the usual rambunctious that a Wealey family dinner entailed.

"You know, I finally understand the saying that a meal after a day's hard work will always taste better," Fred burped before nodding in a sagely manner making almost everyone roll their eyes.

It was the very end of dinner with most of them having eaten their fill, when Molly suddenly remembered something and turned towards her oldest, "Bill, didn't you say that you had some news to share with us? What is it? Did you get a promotion?"

"Uh, no, it's something different," He replied with a rare nervous look on his face before he took a deep breath, "Mom, do you remember, how you were always telling me that it was time for me to look for a girl, get settled, get married. Well..."

"Are you finally ready?" Molly exclaimed as her face lit up with a smile, "Oh, dear, that is such wonderful news. I know of so many wonderful girls, we'll definitely find the most perfect girl for you and—"

"Um, Molly," Arthur interrupted his wife's tirade with a hand on her shoulder while looking at his oldest who looked a tad bit uncomfortable, "I think the boy's already got a girl in his mind..."

"What?!"

"Y-Yes." Bill nodded before taking another deep breath, "And I already got engaged."

"W-What?!!" "Are you for real?!" "To Whom!" "And why so suddenly?" "Maybe he got someone pregnant?" "Shut up! George!"

"Her name is Fleur Delacour," Bill replied, with his eyes on his parents as he ignored his siblings, "Mum, you remember her from the Goblet of Fire, right, she was the only female champion..."

"I-Yes, b-but..." Molly stammered having trouble forming words.

"Ah! Congratulations, Bill,"

With Ron and his father Arthur in the lead, everyone jumped and began congratulating their Bill while patting him on the back.

"My, My, you've outdone yourself this time, brother. Getting a Veela for yourself... we're so proud of you"

"Seriously, how did you manage to snag a beauty like that, huh? You must give us some tips."

"I am so happy for you, Bill. But how and when did you propose to her... you did propose right?"

"Of course, I did." Bill replied while rubbing the back of his head, "And I took her to a famous restaurant yesterday and did it there... it was all very classy," he murmured with a fond smile on his face, "That girl wouldn't have settled for anything less,"

"B-But..." Molly began in a flustered tone when she finally managed to find her voice, "Aren't you being too hasty, Bill? We don't even know this girl... who she is, who her parents are, a-and isn't she F-French." she whispered the last part as if she was saying a curse word.

"Weren't you the one who was eager for me to get married, Mum... and is there something wrong with her being French?" Bill asked a bit tersely.

And just like that the merry atmosphere in the house turned completely awkward.

With years of instinct ingrained in them, all four younger siblings made eye contact with each other simultaneously and with a single nod they understood what they had to do.

"Ah! I forgot! We need to do that thing in the shop, don't we, Fred."

"You're right, George, that thing was very urgent, so we need to leave immediately. Goodnight, people. The food was amazing, Mum. We'll see you later, bye."

"A-And I also forgot that I was supposed to write a letter to my friend, she must be waiting for me, so I am going to my room. Good night!"

"And I... have some homework to do," Ron said lamely, as he ran up the stairs after his sister.

And just like that all the youngsters instantly disappeared from the room, leaving the three adults to their adult talk...

"Good night, Ginny."

"Night," Ginny replied with a wave as Ron passed her room and went up the stairs towards his own.

The moment he went inside his room, Ron sagged in relief as it had been quite a long day and he wanted nothing more than to get some rest.

A few minutes later he was lying on his bed with the first-year charms book in his hands. He was already done with most of the book so he decided that he might as well finish it before turning in for the night.

It only took him twenty minutes to reach the last spell written in the book and the moment he finished and closed the book with a satisfied expression on his face a pleasant surprise notification from the system appeared in front of him.

[Quest: Conquer the Library (1)]

[Description: The Hogwarts Library with its illustrious history has long been considered a treasure trove for all the book lovers in the Wizarding World. Scour its infamous bookshelves and devour all the valued information in its countless books to solve all mysteries of magic.]

[Objective: Read at least ten books. (10/10)]

[Quest Completed!]

[Reward: Exp+20, Conquer the Library (2), Reader Lv1]

"Oh, My! I completely forgot about this... Let's see..."

[Queat Alert!]

[Conquer the Library (2)]

[Description: The Hogwarts Library with its illustrious history has long been considered a treasure trove for all the book lovers in the Wizarding World. Scour its infamous bookshelves and devour all the valued information in its countless books to solve all mysteries of magic.]

[Objective: Read at least twenty books. (0/20)]

[Reward: Exp+40, Conquer the Library (3), Reader Lv2]

"Hmm, so this is a quest series... I wonder how long it goes..."

[New Skill!]

[Reader Lv1]

[Description: Read any piece of written information at 2X the speed while retaining as much information as possible.]

"This... this is... just so OP!!" Ron exclaimed in excitement as he sat up on his bed.

Just imagining the sheer potential of this skill was sending jolts of electricity through his body.

A book that would have taken him an hour to read would now only take him half an hour.

This skill was completely blowing his mind...

Not to mention that this was just Level 1, what if it was Level 2 or 3 or even 10, would that mean that ultimately he would someday in the future be able to read 10 times faster, and that he could finish a book in a matter of minutes?

"This changes... everything,"

///