Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 103: And I feel fine

Harry nearly fell off the bench when the explosion rocked the house. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was shouting "Protego!" not aware that he'd flicked his wand into his hand, had crouched under the table, and was pulling Ginny and Ron with him. Shrieking erupted around him—he wasn't sure who was screaming. He heard Charlie jump up. The plaster sounded like rain as it hit his shield.

"Fred and George!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed. "For the love of Morgana, those two are going to be the death of me!" Harry heard her storm out of the room and up the stairs.

Harry put his arm over Ginny, but Ron was struggling to get out of his grasp and out from under the table.

"Harry, it's okay—it's just the twins. One of their experiments. Happens all the time, mate," Ron laughed. "Come on. It's okay. Well, I mean we've got plaster in our tea, but no harm done."

"Merlin's beard! You've got some reflexes!" Charlie shouted, his voice distant because he was on the other side of the shield. Harry could hear shuffling and grunting and finally, Charlie asked, "Harry, you can 'Finite' your protection charm—we're safe now. Nothing else is going to fall on us."

Harry started emerging from under the table and murmured, "Finite."

"Ginny, are you okay?" Harry asked, bending down under the table again. She was trembling next to him and not following him back up.

He could hear Mrs. Weasley's progress through the house and then her voice thundered—he was pretty sure it was magically magnified as there was no way she could be that loud naturally. It reminded him of the howler Ron had received after the fiasco with the Ford Anglia. He cringed in empathy with the twins at the same time that he wanted to join in bellowing at them.

What on earth were they doing?

Harry could hear Charlie vanishing the plaster dust with an Evanesco charm while Ron was pouring out their tea at the sink. "Uh oh, I don't think we can salvage mum's cake."

"Ginny?"

"I'm here, Harry. That... that was loud," she said.

"Yeah. I didn't like it either. Are you still wearing the blindfold?" he asked, returning to the underneath of the table and running his hands over her hair and finding the blindfold still in place. "You can take it off, you know."

"I know. I did for a bit when I was scared, but I put it back on. You can't... I'm going to try to do it today."

"Are you two coming out from under the table or what?" Ron demanded.

"We're coming, Ron. Keep your pants on," Ginny retorted as she started crawling back to the bench.

It seemed that Percy had joined in yell-fest in the upper floors of the Burrow and that he was ranting as he descended the stairs to the kitchen. Harry had settled back on the bench when Percy walked in—his tones reduced to mutterings by the time he was sitting heavily on the bench beside Harry.

"... caused an entire inkwell to spill on my parchment and I couldn't clean it off without removing the entire letter I'd written to Penelope!" Percy said to the room.

"That's the pits, Percy," Charlie commiserated. "I'm sure it'll be a better letter the second time you write it."

"I doubt it. They don't think about anyone else. Totally absorbed in their own world. No consideration of those of us around them," Percy continued.

Harry accepted the fresh cup of tea from Ron and started to take a bite from his toast until his tongue encountered plaster dust and he sputtered and tried to wipe off his tongue.