Never Let Go

The walk to the kitchen proved to be much longer than I had expected it to be. It wasn’t because it was very far from Ron’s bedroom, no, it was because Ron insisted that we go through every secret passageway. He kept telling me to remember so that in case the twins ever grew cruel in their teasing, as they sometimes do, that I would be able to make a quick getaway.

It was funny how after all these years Ron was still terrified of his brothers. I had always just assumed that Ron had grown out of that, but he hadn’t. Apparently I was going to resume my post as the twin repellant. I was alright with it. I’d spend my entire childhood fighting with them for pranking Ron, it was only right that we continue that into our teenage years.

When we reached the kitchen we were greeted by our respective maternal figures whom were seated at the kitchen table, every so often pointing their wands at the various foods that were being prepared.

I had never been fond of preparing food by magic, I always thought that it took out the care that had to go into making food, who knows, maybe when I come of age and can use magic at home that thought will change but for now, I happen to prefer preparing food by hand.

“What are you two dears doing?” inquired Molly when she spotted them.

“Um, we’re both kind of hungry and I was going to make a few bacon sandwiches. We should’ve asked you if it’d be alright to use the kitchen . . .” I trailed off.

“Nonsense dear, this is your home as well and I’d much rather have you bustling about in here than the twins, one time I let them use them kitchen, never again.” Molly clapped her hands together. “So how are you going to make them, dear?”

“She knows how to cook the muggle way,” explained Rosalind.

“Do you really?” Molly looked genuinely impressed. “Where on earth did you learn to do that? Your Nan is just as dependent on magic as I for housework.”

“A friend taught me, her dad was the Mexican ambassador to the Ministry so we saw a lot of each other at events and we were in the same classes.” I replied.

“Does this mean you know how to cook Mexican food?” asked Molly.

“Yes,” I responded brightly. “I can prepare these really delicious dishes, not as tasty as hers or her mums but its pretty good, my Nan loves it so does Grandpa.”

“Well then you’ll have to cook for us one of these days. Don’t you want her to cook for us Ron?” Molly looked towards him.

“Only if she wants to,” he mumbled.

I smiled inwardly. Ron had never been particularly skilled at demanding things of people. He was always insecure with himself and believed that if he demanded something; he would be turned down, thus adding to his low self esteem. That was the reason why Ron always left things up to the person, only when he truly wanted something, did he speak with more conviction.

“If my Nan takes me to the store in California then I can cook something this week,” I answered.

“Blimey!” exclaimed Ron. “Why do you have to go to the store in America? Can’t you buy the things here?”

“Don’t think so,” I answered. “My friend and her mum always took me to Mexican specialty grocery stores to buy the stuff. In fact there was a time when I was really craving some food and I went to the grocery store in DC to buy some but I couldn’t find it since there isn’t a huge Latino population to carry those items for.”

“Always thought they had the same things at muggle stores,” commented Ron.

“No, it varies,” I looked over to my Nan. “Nan, can we go to the store or no?”

“The one in El Monte, the big one?” asked Rosalind.

“Yes, Nan,” I responded.

“Then we can go tomorrow after lunch.” She turned to Molly. “You’ll love her cooking, it’s a bit spicy but very good.”

“I'm looking forward to it,” Molly stood. “Now, let me show you were the things are since Ron doesn’t know his way around the kitchen.”

“Not true,” argued Ron.

“Let me rephrase that, Ron doesn’t know his way around unprepared food,” Molly laughed softly. “There are the pans, the food is in the refrigerator and the spices are, do you see that spot above the hanging pans?”

I nodded.

“Alright, well that’s where the spices are, in case you want to pepper or salt something and here is the pantry where the bread resides. If you need help your, Nan and I will be right here.”

“Thank you Molly for letting me use, your kitchen.” I spoke warmly.

“No problem dear.” Molly returned her attention to my Nan who looked as if she’d just gone into gossip mode.

I, on the other hand, took off my cardigan and placed it on a nearby chair. I then grabbed a hair band from my pocket and tightly placed my curls into a clean ponytail. As soon as I was ready I began telling Ron what he had to get, I was too short to reach the top shelves on my own so I delegated to him the task of placing all the necessary ingredients on the counter.

While Ron was grabbing the ingredients, I was scrubbing my hands, attempting to rid myself of all the germs that had accumulated on them throughout the course of the day. I didn’t want to make either of us sick, especially not me, since changes in food combined with drastic change in weather always led to my getting sick.

The two frying pans that Ron had placed on the stove for me were doused with the necessary amount of olive oil. As soon as the oil began to heat, I placed the bacon in one pan and began cracking eggs and putting them in the other.

Bacon sandwiches weren’t hard to make, they were actually quite simple but I had to fry a lot of eggs and a lot of bacon because although I only ate two, I knew for a fact that Ron needed at least seven to be satiate his hunger. He had always eaten an ungodly amount.

As each batch cooked, I placed them on paper napkins that would serve to soak up a bit of the oil but that wouldn’t make the food healthy. Anyone that eats bacon sandwiches knows that they’re not eaten because they’re healthy. They’re eaten because they’re delicious.

When I finished toasting the English muffins, I began assembling the bacon sandwiches, placing the egg, slice of cheese and piece of bacon. It took five minutes to finish making them and when I finished I placed them in a large bowl that Ron had handed to me.

Ron then took the bowl and placed it in an old picnic basket alongside a jug of juice. We then made our way out the backyard, neither of us talking, just staring out at the bright sunny sky.

“Is this good?” Ron asked when we reached the bench beside the pond.

“The frogs aren’t going to leap at us, are they?” frogs disgusted me.

“Are you still afraid of frogs?” Ron laughed lightly. “I thought you’d be over that by now.”

“That’s a fear that’s going to be around for life. What about you? Are you still afraid of spiders?”

Ron paled slightly, “Yeah.”

“It’s good to know that we both have irrational fears.” I sat down.

“They’re not irrational,” argued Ron.

“Yes, they are, even we have to admit that.” I grabbed the bowl from the basket. “Let me just get mine and I’ll give you the bowl so you can feast.”

“You made all those for me?” his eyes widened.

“Yes, I may not have seen you in ages but I remember how you eat.” I paused before adding. “Anyone that’s seen you eat remembers how you eat.”

“I'm not that bad at eating.”

“You’re not, but you eat a ridiculous amount for someone so thin.”

Ron smiled foolishly. “That is true.”

“Enough talking, eat your food,” I ordered.

Ron did as he was told. He lifted a sandwich to his lips and when he took the first pace, his face contorted into one of pleasure. He then proceeded to stuff his mouth with the other seven. There were several moments when I swore he was going to choke, but thankfully, he didn’t.

“This is so good,” spoke Ron with his mouth full.

I began giggling wildly; the sight was so bizarre to me. Ron was acting as if he had just taken a bite from some delicacy in heaven when in reality all he had done was gorge on a normal sandwich.

“Glad you like it,” I said when my giggles died down.

“Those were the greatest bacon sandwiches I have ever eaten. They were ahhh, so good! Will you teach me how to make them?”

I shook my head. “Knowing you, you’ll burn yourself with the oil. I’ll just make you some but not all the time, you’ll have a bloody heart attack if you eat those everyday.”

“That’s true; I can feel my heart beating really fast.” Ron lay down. “But they were so good.”

“Just sleep it off,” I told him. “They’ll wake us up when Bill and Charlie arrive.”

“Those two are going to be happy to see you,” Ron placed one hand on his belly, the other behind his head. “But they won’t know who you are at first. Changed a lot, you did.”

“Not that much,” I argued.

“I didn’t even recognize you and we were joined at the hip.” He pointed out.

“That’s because you were looking at my body and not my face.”

“N-n-no I wasn’t.” stuttered Ron, his ears turning red.

“Not like that,” I slapped his chest lightly. “I meant that you expected me to have a boyish frame still and when you saw me with a more feminine figure, you immediately thought that I was someone else.”

“Right . . .”

We lay there for a little while longer, only leaving when Ginny ran outside to tell us that the eldest Weasley’s had arrived. I immediately jumped from my place on the ground, incredibly nervous to see them. I had wanted to see Percy, I had always gotten along very well with him but apparently he had turned his back on his family.

My eyes widened in awe when I saw Bill standing in the middle of the kitchen. He looked like some gingery Jim Morrison, then I turned to Charlie whom looked rugged, they were no longer the boys that I had known, they were men.

“Hello.” I greeted.

“Is that really our little Millie?” asked Bill, he and Charlie had always referred to me as their little Millie.

“She’s not that little anymore,” stated Charlie.

“Not at all,” I added. “It’s nice to see you guys.”

“What? No hug?” Bill feigned hurt.

It was now my turn to be the awkward one, I had completely forgotten to hug them. In my excitement I had forgotten to properly say hello. Now I knew why Ron hadn’t hugged me right away.

“I didn’t know if you guys were into hugs anymore,” I mumbled awkwardly.

“We’re Weasley’s, we’ll be into hugs until we die,” joked Charlie.

I hugged them both tightly before returning to Ron’s side. They kept asking me questions about how America had been, if I was glad to be back. Told them I was. I had missed England but I hadn’t really known how much I had missed The Weasley’s until I was surrounded with them again.

They were a part of my family, a part of my heart.

I was glad to have them back.