in which Harry finds a better mother figure than Petunia Durlsey
Turned out Harry found better than a rowboat. Of course, he hadn't given his name. He had sait his name was Harry Turpin. The nice redhead lady seemed to have believed him. Or at least, she was used to people not giving their real name and wasn't even questioning it anymore.
The woman - Molly Weasley, her name was - led him inside the ship. It wasn't a great, pricey ship, but it was enough to hold Molly's entire family. Apparently, she lived on it with her husband and their seven children (seven !). But they were, in fact, merchants.
Molly didn't even take his money. She said they were going to the Riddle Crown (which was now the Malfoy Crown) anyway and that one more mouth to feed when you already had eight wasn't much.
He followed her downstairs, where a girl about his age was fighting with... twins ? One of them had his head bandaged, but it was obvious he was a perfect replica of his brother. They spoke so quickly and so loud Harry wasn't able to get a single word out.
"Ginevra, Fred, George ! That is enough !" ordered Mrs. Weasley.
The only form of parenting Harry was used to was the ones the Dursleys had over their son, and they folded to his every demand. Dudley never listened to them when they tried to discipline him even a tiny bit. So obviously, Harry was the most surprised when all three kids shut their mouths and faced their mother. The girl - Ginevra - did glare at her mother, but she still listened.
"Fred, go fetch the others, will you ?" As the first twin went, Mrs Weasley turned to the second one and practically had a heart attack. "George ! Get that knife out of your ear immediately!"
George had a knife sticking out from the bandages. Harry had ended up in a nest of crazy marchants. Well, wasn't that fucking great. He turned to Ginevra, and the way she was looking at him only made him surer of his assomption. Before he could wonder anymore about it, Fred came back with four other redhead boys behind him and a tall man following behind. Immediately, Molly seemed to lighten up. She turned to Harry and introduced him to everyone :
"Children, Arthur, this is Harry Turpin. We will be dropping him off at the other side of the border. Harry, dear, meet everyone." She gestured to her children and husband. " You already met Ginerva, Fred and George. This is my eldest, William-"
"Bill" corrected the one he supposed was William.
"Than these are Charles - you can call him Charlie - and Percy"
They both waved to him. Percy was the one with curly hair (like, really curly hair, not just wavy) , and his clip-on glasses gave him a smart look. Charlie was so ripped Harry thought he would faint.
Finally, Molly gestured to the last of the boy. The guy was uncomfortably tall, like he had had a grow spurt he didn't know how to handle.
"And this is Ronald. You two are the same age, I'm sure you'll go along amazingly well"
***
"So, Harry, what brings you to cross the boarder ?" asked Charlie that evening.
Harry had by far realised something was off with this ship. When he had asked, Ginevra - who told him to call her Ginny - explained they had once have a witch in the family on her mother's side. The inside of the ship had been magically expanded ever since, but none of them were magic.
Harry found it kinda cool ; even though the family clearly was tight on money, all the kids had their own rooms. Except the twins, who insisted on sleeping in the same one.
They were currently curled up in front of a fireplace - also the product of their ancestor's magic - and Harry had been learning to know them. Molly had been right : him and Ron were going along really well. Percy had retreated to his room a little earlier. Bill had went off to write a letter to his fiancée - a girl named Fleur - and the twins were nowhere to be seen.
Right now, it was only the two youngest, Ron and Ginny, and Charlie.
Charlie had thrown an arm over his shoulder as he had asked his question, and Harry was glad for the fireplace as it masked the blush that had crept on his cheeks.
"My dad was from there, I'm trying to gather up information about him and hopefully one day I can find him" he finally answered.
It technically wasn't a lie, but it definitely wasn't the "there's a creepy old man who's basically been keeping me sequestered with my abusive relatives all my life and now I'm running away" version.
"He abandoned you ?" asked Ron.
Harry was coming to like his clumsiness. At least he went right to the point.
"Yeah, something like that"
They seemed to understand he didn't want to talk about it, and quickly changed the subject.
"So, where do you plan to go once you get there ?" asked Ginny.
Harry smiled awkwardly. He wasn't used to people paying attention to him ; except around Dumbledore, he didn't normally control his facial expressions. Charlie, who was sitting right beside him, picked it up immediately.
"You have no idea, do you ?"
"Not really, no"
There was a second of silence. Then Ginny sat up and clapped him on the knee.
"Well, that's a problem for an other time anyway. We've got two weeks until we get there, its plenty of time to go over the maps dad keeps lying around all the time"
She then stood up, swept her plaited hair around her shoulder and walked away.
"Im going to bed, dont forget to put the fire out when you're finished"
The three of them stayed chatting about different things until it was night once again. Harry learned that all the Weasley's seven kids were born at sea, but that the seven of them actually being here was rare. Bill now tended to stay with Fleur ; he was the one who sold the stuff their parents brought from other Crowns on the market, while the rest of the family went back for a new trip. Charlie apparently was a Komodo Dragon tamer, which explained the unfair amount of muscle the 25 years old had (he most definitely did not look 25 years old and Harry hated his life). He was just with his parents for a few weeks while he recovered from a nasty injury. And a year prior, Percy had apparently won a place as the youngest history teacher ever at the Academy of Hogwarts. For now the students were on holidays, but the new school year would start soon and he would have to go back for what would be his second year of teaching. The twins owned a shop back in the capital, but since they were the owners they were free to leave whenever they felt like it. Apparently, George loosing an ear had felt like a good time to take a leave.
Which meant that in reality, the only ones to actually live here were Ron and Ginny.
They looked close to one another, the Weasleys. From what Harry had seen of them, Molly and Arthur were good parents. They didn't abuse their kids, yet still managed to discipline them. Apparently, being tight on money had taught all 7 kids the price of money. They weren't spoiled like Dudley was, and yet they were far from unloved. He had never met anyone who could love more than Molly and Arthur Weasley loved their kids.
Harry wasn't going to lie, he was jealous. He rooted for it. Rooted for loving parents. His parents, preferably, but having Mrs. and Mr. Weasley around for a while might be enough for now.