Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

"I don't see why we can't just use magic to do this," grunted Ron as he and his twin brothers carried one of the numerous large banquet tables out to the garden.

"Because I what will happen if you do use magic, the table will hit the patio door and we'll have broken glass everywhere." Ron jumped as he heard Mrs. Weasley's voice directly behind him.

"But Mum, this is only the first table that we've brought out, and there are still two more!" groaned Ron as he turned to allow the table to be positioned correctly.

"Well, I'm sorry dear, but if you want your friends to come over, this has to be done," said Mrs. Weasley with finality, letting Ron know that the discussion was closed.

That night the Burrow was going to be packed. The war was over, and it was a gorgeous summer, and Mrs. Weasley decided to celebrate by having a large picnic at the Burrow. All of Ron's friends were coming, along with many other family and family friends. After tonight, Harry and Hermione would be staying with the Weasleys. Harry had inherited 12 Grimauld Place from Sirius, but after two weeks there, he found it dark and lonely, and full of the memories which hurt him most. A summer with the Weasleys would be the best thing for him. Hermione was just fine at home, but she would always be happier with Ron and Harry, and she couldn't let those two have all the fun without her!

"Now, we have 2 hours until the guests start arriving, we need to make sure that everything's ready. I don't want to see anyone dawdling when there's work to be done!" Mrs. Weasley walked into the house to continue preparing what was sure to be an impressive meal.

Ron, Fred, and George all scowled at her behind her back, and then went back to heaving tables around the yard. It had taken them what seemed like forever to get that first table out without magic, and it would surely take much longer to get the other two out. They positioned the first table, and looked back through the window at the other two tables left to be placed in the garden. The twins looked at each other, and Ron suddenly felt nervous. That look could only mean one thing.

"Ya know, there's a way that we could make Mum happy, and not have to lug these tables out all by ourselves," said Fred, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Of course there is, dear brother," replied George.

"What, what are you going to do," Ron said nervously.

"Mum doesn't want us to use magic because she thinks we'll break the doors, right? Well, what if we just take off the doors," said Fred as he took one of the bolts from the right French door.

"No, no, no, no, no!" yelled Ron. "These plans of yours never work, and I'm not getting in trouble because you decided that it would be a great idea to take off the doors. Mum'll have a fit when she finds out."

"Well, she doesn't have to find out, now does she?" replied George, who took the other bolt out of the door. Fred took the door and started walking to the side of the house with it.

"Well, I guess if we're careful, there would be no way for her to find out," said Ron, thinking.

"That's the thinking, little bro," replied Fred, patting Ron on the back. "Now, if you could just help me with this door here, we'll be all set to get these tables out with a snap."

"Or a swoosh," grinned George.

The three brothers got the doors off and out of the way, and Fred picked up his want and chanted, "Wingardium leviosa!" But the table wouldn't budge. Fred tried it again, this time grunting a little bit and using more strength. The table shook a little, but remained planted in the living room. "I think I'm going to need some help here," stated Fred, sweating a little from the effort. Ron and George stood next to Fred, and on the count of three, they all said "Wingardium leviosa!" The table finally started moving, and they moved their wands towards the garden where the other table was. They settled the table down perfectly, and turned to do the same thing with the other table. They did the spell, and the table started coming, but to their dismay, the glass French doors also flew up into the air. Ron started and broke his part of the spell. As he did, the doors pummeled to the ground, the glass shattering and breaking into thousands of tiny pieces.

"Oooh, little Ronniekins is going to be in trouble!" nagged Fred.

"Me! This was your idea in the first place!" shouted Ron, trying not to imagine the horrible things his mother was going to do to him. Just then, he heard a voice behind him.

"Oh, this is so easy to fix, I don't see why you just do it instead of staring at the broken doors."

Ron turned around to see Hermione and Harry standing behind him. Hermione calmly walked up to the broken doors and perform a charm that quickly got rid of the little chards of glass and pieced them back together. The doors looked as if they had never been touched. "C'mon, let's get these doors back into place while the twins get the table set in the garden," said Hermione. Ron just stood there for a moment, stunned. Then he came to his senses.

"What are you two doing here already? You're not supposed to be here for another two hours!"

"We know you're mum, Ron, that's why we're here," said Harry, grinning from ear to ear. "We figured that we'd come and take some of the load that she's giving you off of your back."

"And it looks like we came right on time," said Hermione, smiling. Ron's heart fluttered a little bit. He had nearly forgotten how beautiful her smile was in the last months of school. They all had smiled so little. Ron looked forward to more of those smiles from Hermione; although he still didn't understand why they had the affect they did on him. He just knew that he liked it.

"Harry, Hermione!" shouted a girl about their age, her red hair flowing behind her. "You're early! I'm so glad you're here!" Ginny ran to hug Hermione, then Harry. "You've no idea what it's like living with these three," Ginny nodded to Ron, Fred, and George.

"Hey! It's not like you're any picnic to live with either," said Ron, trying to put a hurt look on his face, but caving in smiling. He and Ginny had always had a great relationship, and all their jibes at each other were wholeheartedly good-natured.

"Oh my goodness, you're here early! How lovely it is to see you!" Mrs. Weasley came out to the garden to see what all the commotion was about. She took Harry and Hermione into crushing hugs before letting them go.

"It's lovely to see you, too, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione politely. "Is there anything we can do to help with the preparations for tonight?"

"Help? No guest of mine is going to help set up! Fred and George can finish up here. Ron and Ginny, why don't you finish preparing your rooms so Hermione and Harry can put their things in there." Fred and George gave their mother another glare behind her back. This time she caught it. "And don't you two whine about doing the rest of the work. You're almost done."

"So, Harry, how's Grimauld Place looking?" asked Ron as he put some of his things away.

"It's a lot nicer now that I finally got Sirius' mother off the wall. Once the war was over, she was too frightened of me to stick around, and she fled from her portrait. I have no clue where she is now," replied Harry. Harry had vowed to do some serious house cleaning once the school year was over. Under Mrs. Weasley's direction the house had become clean, but it was still dark and full of painful memories. Harry wanted his house to be bright and wonderful, like life after the war. Although the house would always hold memories of Sirius, Harry wanted them to be happy memories, not painful ones.

Harry set his stuff down and began to unpack. "I'm glad to be out of there for the rest of the summer, though. I never realized how much work it is going to take to make the house livable. Two weeks of straight spring cleaning is enough for me for one summer."

"Like you don't think my mum's going to have us do the same here?" asked Ron, sitting down on his bed. "Just look at what she's having us do for one night!"

"Oh, but it'll be different here. I'll be among friends, not alone, and it's not full of such painful memories. I'm sure that if your mum has us clean, we could definitely have some fun." Harry smiled, thinking about the great, carefree times he and his friends could have now.

Ron wasn't convinced. To him, cleaning was cleaning, and it was not fun. "C'mon, let's go check on the girls," Ron said as he hopped off his bed.

As Harry and Ron walked toward Ginny's room, squealing and giggling could be heard. "What the bloody hell do you think is going on in there?" Ron asked Harry.

"I don't know mate, but you're going in first," Harry said as he pushed Ron toward the door.

Ron knocked, but the giggling went on. He knocked a little harder, and the sounds subsided. He could hear footsteps, and he was greeted at the door by a pair of chocolate brown eyes. His heart thudded for a moment as he stared into them. A giggle knocked him to his senses. "What's going on in there?" he asked.

Hermione opened the door wider. "Why don't you come in and see?" she suggested, a wry smile on her face. Ron and Harry walked into the room, only to be bombarded by pillows. The girls attacked them from every angle, and they couldn't see where they were coming from. Nor could the boys find pillows of their own to defend themselves with. Finally, as he randomly put his arms out to try to reach something, Ron grabbed Hermione and grabbed her around the waste, she facing away from him.

"You're going to pay for this," Ron growled wryly. He tore away the pillow that had been in Hermione's arms, threw it across the room, and lifted Hermione over his shoulder.

"What on earth are you doing, Ronald!" cried Hermione in a fit of giggles. Ron tossed her on the bed, picked up the discarded pillow, and threw it at her. As Ginny ran after Ron with a pillow of her own, Harry grabbed her by the waist and tossed her on the bed. Then the boys grabbed all the pillows they could find around the room, tossed them on the girls, and then hopped on top of the pillows.

"You reckon we should let them go, Ron?" asked Harry as he tried to keep his balance as Ginny tried to roll around and get out.

"I don't know mate, this was an unprovoked attack," replied Ron. Just then, they heard a shout from downstairs.

"What in Merlin's name is going on up there! Guests are going to be here any moment, and the table has yet to be set!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, I guess now we have to let them go now," said Harry, standing up. "Making your mum mad the first night here is not a good idea."

After picking up the stray feathers around the room and tidying themselves up, the four went downstairs to help set the table for the guests who were about to arrive.