Ch 18 Family Dinner Part 1

The moment Ron entered his home, he was hit with the aromatic smell of dinner being cooked and almost immediately his starving stomach growled in hunger.

His mother was standing over the kitchen, waving her wand over three sets of knives making them simultaneously chop three different kinds of vegetables in different styles, all while the ladle inside the big pot on the stove was stirring automatically.

'Maybe I should also learn some of these household charms... they are bound to be useful sooner or later,'

"Ron?! You are finally home. Where were you gone for so long?" Molly asked distractedly when she finally caught sight of her son standing at the door.

"I was just by the river taking a little walk to clear my mind..." Ron answered nonchalantly while approaching her, "But Mum isn't this too much food for just the four of us... Are we going to have guests from the order or are Fred and George coming again tonight for dinner?"

"No, no guests. It's just the twins... and Bill also said that he was going to stop by," she said with a wide smile on her face, "He said he had some news to share with us... I wonder if he got a promotion,"

"Really... but do the goblins even give something like promotions?"

"That..."

"And isn't he already one of the best curse breakers out there?" Ron asked with a curious look on his face, "What would he even become after a promotion... a senior curse breaker?"

"Um..." Molly's face scrunched up with an unsure look at those questions, as she knew very little about her oldest son's job. Whenever they even remotely had a discussion about it, it always ended up with her trying to talk him into leaving it for being so dangerous, "Why don't you just ask your brother when he arrives, I am sure he will be happy to tell you..."

"Oh, ok then... but why are the twins also coming back? I thought they had already rented the apartment above their shops and are going to live there from now on..."

"They are, but I told them to come here for their meals. After all, just because those troublemakers started to make some gold, it doesn't mean that they are now mature enough to take care of themselves and not burn down the house while making a toast or something... I mean, don't you remember..." she said as she slowly went into a rant about misbehaving kids who didn't listen to their parents.

"Yes, yes, you're completely right... that they are... of course, they should grow up now..." Ron nodded occasionally while examining the ordered chaos around the kitchen stand where five dishes were being made simultaneously, and that was without counting the salad, "So, Mum, can I do anything to help you?"

"Oh, of course," Molly nodded with a bright smile on her face, "But first... go to your room and change your clothes. When you come down, you can help me set up the plates,"

Ron looked down at his dirty wrinkled T-shirt and abruptly remembered that he had had a day filled with both physical as well as magical workouts so he wasn't looking very presentable, "Alright, I'll be right back," he said sheepishly before running up the stairs.

A few minutes later he was back in the kitchen helping his mother the little that he could, much to her delight.

While working, the mother-son duo were constantly chattering about one thing or the other, from mundane things like which neighbour was getting married to whom to more serious things such as if the new single by Celestina Warbeck was really as good as they say or if it was just hype.

And just as Molly was almost finished with dinner, with only the last dish requiring a few more minutes on the fire, the fireplace lit up signalling the first arrivals of the night and a second later the twins stepped out, one after the other.

"Hmm, something smells amazing, Mother," Fred smiled as he took off his brand-new coat before hanging beside the fireplace, "It seems you've outdone yourself once again,"

"Sure, sure," Molly replied, rolling her eyes before a frown appeared on her face, "But why did you boys arrive by the floo? You could have just apparated home. Don't you know how expensive the floo powder's gotten recently... you shouldn't spend money so flagrantly,"

"You can't think like that anymore, Mother," George clicked his tongue while shaking his head, "We are now the proud owners of one of the most fantastic magical shops in Diagon Alley, we need to maintain a standard now,"

"Besides, it's too much of a hassle travelling all the way to the Apparation point from our shop," Fred said smugly while taking a seat at the dinner table, "It's a complete waste of time,"

"What, all the way?" Ron said while rolling his eyes, "The alley Apparation point is barely five shops down the street from you"

"Exactly! You get me." George nodded his head, before a weird expression appeared on his face, "But tell me this, dear brother, What exactly are you doing?"

"If I am not wrong, then our little brother is..." Fred continued with narrowed eyes before Ron could answer, "doing kitchen chores."

That is exactly what Ron was doing, he was wiping the kitchen pans, pots and other utensils that were used to cook dinner with a rag in his hands.

The dirty containers were in fact being cleaned automatically in the sink because of a charm Molly had cast and the only thing he had to do was wipe them after they were clean.

"Why? Why are you doing this..." George asked with a tilted head, "Are you being punished for something? Were you being naughty again?"

"He is doing this on his own to help his mother." Molly snorted as she turned off the fire and took off the big pot from above the stove using her wand, "Because unlike some people..." she sent a glare at the twins, "he doesn't only care about creating troubles for his poor mother,"

"Oi, oi, since when did our little brother become such a sweet boy?"

"Perhaps, he was a sweet boy all along and we just didn't have the proper eyes to see it," Fred continued teasing while taking a bite of the freshly baked bread from the table. "Now, Ron, be a sweet little brother and get us some snacks,"

"..."

"Just... shut up," Ron replied with a helpless look on his face.

And just like that their bantering continued with the twins taking every chance they could to tease their little brother especially now that their mother had given them such wonderful ammunition.

However, thankfully Ron's agony didn't last very long as their Mom, who was half-heartedly trying to make the twins stop, abruptly jumped from her place at the dining table with a smile on her face, "Oh! It looks like your father is on his way,"

The three boys followed their mother's eyes toward the clock to see that their father's clock hand had switched to travelling from the Mortal peril position that everyone's hand had already been moved to after Voldemort came out into the open.

Just a few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door and Molly who was standing just behind the door immediately opened it to show a somewhat exhausted-looking Arthur looking at her with a warm smile on his face.

"Arthur, you're home early today," she said while kissing her husband on his cheek and taking his bag from his hand.

"It's because of the Wizengamont meeting tomorrow," he replied while entering and taking his coat off, "They are going to have a vote to kick Fudge out... so no one was in the mood to work anymore,"

"Oh... you are not going to be in trouble, are you?" she asked anxiously in a whisper making sure that none of the kids could hear her, "They're not going to fire you, are they?"

"Of course not... probably," he sighed before shaking his head with a wry smile, "Don't worry about it for now, we'll talk about this later," he said as a bright smile appeared on his face and he turned towards the dining table, "Boys, you're all already here. How are the three of you doing today,"

"Fine, Dad!"

"You four get talking. I'll start serving dinner." Molly said after she placed Arthur's bag on a nearby shelf.

"Molly, where's Ginny?"

"Ah! That girl. Seriously! I've already called her down a hundred times," she murmured furiously as she stomped towards the stairs, "Ginny!! Ginny!! If you don't come down here in five seconds then you can forget about getting any dinner tonight!!"

Behind her, the four of them had already begun to talk with each other, with their topic of conversation being the one that is probably on the mind of everyone in Britain's Wizarding world... at least for those of them who read the news.

"So Dad, who do you think is going to be the next minister after Fudge?" Fred asked while eating a piece of cucumber from the plate of salad.

"Hmm, while there are quite a few people who have thrown their name in, the most likely candidates currently are only two or... perhaps three,"

"Who are they?"

"Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour are the ones with the most experience and support in the Ministry at the moment, with most of the hardliners behind Rufus with the current circumstances in mind while the ones who want more stability throwing their support behind Bones,"

"And the third one?"

"The third one is a man who has even less support than Fudge at the moment, and most consider him out of the picture already but we in the order know that his chances of winning are not negligible and that his win would be considered the worst case scenario for our fight..."

"How is he going to win if he doesn't have any support?"

"Because he has the support of... you-know-who,"