Chapter 11
The silent kitchen turned full of liveliness once again as Fred and George came down holding something in their hands. "Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the fire show."
Fred sneakily waved his wand as George grabbed everyone's attention; then suddenly there was a flash of fire, and next came an explosion. Amidst the explosion, a field of red and blue stars rushed up the ceiling, bouncing between the kitchen's wall and ceiling.
"Wow, so beautiful." Ginny praised in a daze, not feeling afraid of the explosions at all; meanwhile, Harry and Ron also nodded with a cheeky grin on their faces.
"You two...." But the same could not be said about Mrs. Weasley, as she didn't look pleased with such mischief, especially inside such a small area where the fun and exciting fireworks could take a wrong turn.
"Come on, Mom. Professor Alan is here today; we're so happy." George muttered sheepishly, The twins wanted to let Alan see their latest adventure. Mrs. Weasley, looking at her sons' faces, couldn't help but sigh while muttering a few words.
Alan, who had gulped down the beer, also gave the twins a thumbs-up while praising, "It was wonderful."
"Thank you, professor." The twins couldn't help but smile at being praised.
"Alan, it looks like the job of being a professor is not going to be easy, right? Have you thought about this aspect?" Mrs. Weasley suddenly asked.
Alan looked at Mrs. Weasley and said, "Definitely not going to be easy. After I'll have to be responsible for teaching so many students, I can't be just perfunctory; that would not sit right with my consciousness, and Headmaster has shown his trust in me, which I can't break."
Though, to tell the truth, he really didn't care about Dumbledore, but as he still needed to solidify his position in Hogwarts, he needed to be in the good books of the headmaster; moreover, preparing students for what was to come was also one of his goals.
"That's good, Alan." Mrs. Weasley smiled as if she had finally found her lifesaver and continued, "So can you promise me something?"
"If it's something doable, I'll definitely do it." Alan responded almost immediately.
Hearing Alan's response, Mrs. Weasley smiled, but then, turning a little bit serious, she said, "Fred and George are too mischievous, so Alan, can you control their behavior when they are at Hogwarts? I'm too worried for them." She looked at the twins, who at this moment were busy telling jokes and making Percy, Ron, Harry, and Ginny laugh, so she couldn't help but raise her voice a little bit while saying the part.
"Mom, how can you say that?" the Twins screamed, their expressions horrified; meanwhile, Ron snickered from the sidelines, as he wasn't included in the phrase; however, hearing what his mom had to say next made his smile vanish. "And include Ron in that list too." Mrs. Weasley said, glaring at his son.
"Professor, you won't do such things, right?" Fred asked, followed by George, who said, "We're birds who want to fly in the sky." Though Ron and Ginny wanted to laugh hearing that, still they too looked at Alan expectantly.
"Alright, alright, I won't be too hard on you guys." Alan said in a soft tone, looking at the kids expressions; however, knowing that Mrs. Weasley was looking at him, he added, "But, if you guys did make any mistake, then you all will be punished naturally."
"That's it," Fred said.
"You're such a kind soul, professor." George followed with a smile on his face, making others laugh as well.
"You two…" Mrs. Weasley wanted to say something, but this Alan intervened while saying, "Don't worry about them; I'll keep an eye on them in school." which finally brought a smile to Mrs. Weasley's face.
The dinner continued on and lasted for more than an hour, during which Alan first conversed with Arthur about his Diagon Alley visit, and then, looking at the bunch who seemed to be growing bored, he started telling them a few interesting short stories, which had been circulating in the wizarding community for quite a while now and were still pretty thrilling to listen to.
With his belly full and now beginning to look like a man with a puffy defense shield on his belly, Alan gulped down a cup of hot chocolate served by Mrs. Weasley, and then, as the night was growing heavier, the kids were sent to bed, and finally it was time to bid farewell to the Burrow and the Weasley family.
"Thank you for having me." Alan, walking out of the Burrow, turned around to look at the Weasley couple and said with a smile.
"It was our pleasure, Alan." The two of them replied with a parental warmth and then continued to stand there till Alan apparated from there while saying, "Good night."
---
Inside Ron's room, Harry was conversing with Ron in a hushed tone.
"Our Combat professor, Professor Alan, is quite different from the other professors at Hogwarts." Harry couldn't help but say it out loud.
In the dim light, Ron also nodded and said, "That's true. I wonder what kind of person our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is going to be."
Thinking of Professor Quirrell and how he had deceived both of their minds into thinking he was a poor soul till the last moment of revelation, both of them couldn't help but shiver.
"It would be nice if that person also were like Professor Alan." Ron mumbled, while adding, "Please don't be like Quirrell."
"We shouldn't be worried about that, Ron, because no matter how bad the new professor will be, he can't be worse than Snape, that large bat, right?" Harry added, looking out of the window while his thoughts started to drift away, making him even wonder why the Dursleys were not like the Weasleys. But before he could get any answers, he had fallen asleep.