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The Burrow Rebuilt
By MrsAlphardBlack

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Category: The Burrow Challenge (2010-5)
Characters:None
Genres: General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: G
Reviews: 13
Summary: ** Winner of Best Family in the The Burrow Challenge **
Written in response to The Burrow Challenge, this is the story of how the Weasley family rebuilds their home after the war.
Hitcount: Story Total: 8298



Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.



Author's Notes:
This is the first time I have ever written fan fiction, and I hope that someone gets to enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it! After a few weeks of seeing The Burrow Challenge posted on the front page, I couldn't stop dreaming about how I would write the story, so I put it on paper. Writing it was a blast! Thanks for reading.




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The war was over. It was finally over. Those lost were laid to rest, and their families were allowed to build their lives anew. For many, including the Weasleys, this truly meant rebuilding, for their home had been destroyed, pointlessly, while the family was in hiding elsewhere.

Harry was determined to help the family, his family, prepare for their new life in any way he could, and that certainly included rebuilding the glorious Burrow, the only home (outside of Hogwarts) he had known as a boy. It was this argument, that the Burrow was his childhood home too, which finally convinced Molly and Arthur to allow him to contribute toward the funds necessary for rebuilding.

Even if Harry had not felt so much for the Weasleys as a family, he would have chipped in for the sake of the youngest of the redheaded bunch. This was the girl that had showed him love worth protecting against darkness. This was the girl he had died to defend. She was also the girl he had come back to love. He would do anything for Ginny Weasley. He was relieved that he did not have to call upon this argument, for Ginny was having difficulties enough with the death of her brother and trying to reconnect with her family. He knew it was too soon to suggest renewing their romance, but he wanted to be as much a part of her life as he could until she had moved through the initial stages of the grieving process. He certainly did not want to take Ginny away from her family, so he bided his time while her family strengthened their bonds, which happily included their bonds with Hermione and himself.

----

One painful, tear-filled and rainy week had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts, when the Weasley family, plus Harry and Hermione, laid eyes upon the Burrow for the first time in months. The sun was just peeking out from behind the clouds as they Apparated to the clearing behind the house. Unfortunately, the sun may as well have kept its rays to itself, for they were met with a horrible sight, one far more suited to the previous grey sky. The Burrow was not only broken, it was nearly decimated, with only a foundation and a few walls remaining.

"Wherever do we begin," Mrs Weasley wailed, turning away to bury her face in Mr Weasley's shoulder.

"Now, now, Molly, dear," he replied while stroking her hair, "everything will be all right."

"Dad's right, Mum," chimed in Bill. "We'll put the Burrow back as good as new."

"Better than new!" George added, garnering a few smiles from his siblings.

Charlie walked over to his mother, placed a hand on her back, and announced, "I'll head up the rebuilding, Mum."

Molly sniffed away her tears and gathered each of her children to her in turn, starting with Charlie, "Oh, my darlings, whatever would I do without you? All right, Charlie, you're in charge of building. Bill, dear, would you see about the finances? We'll need to draw up plans and get materials, as well."

At this point Percy cut her off. "Now, Mother, I can't very well have you building a house without first consulting an architect. And we'll need all the proper permits. Don't worry, I know just the chap," he said as Ron opened his mouth to protest.

"I suppose that it's back to Muriel's while the building is under way," sighed Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione, who had been standing off to the side with Harry, suddenly cleared her throat timidly. "Actually, I may have a solution which might, erm, help you to avoid prolonging such a stressful stay. Harry, I took the liberty of hiring a wizarding contractor on your behalf. You know, to fix Grimmauld Place. The manager was most pleased to be able to help the saviour of wizardkind, and his team set to work immediately. He said that you could work out the details of your bill later, as I knew you wouldn't want to be bothered at the time. It should be ready tomorrow, and, with Harry's blessing, I'm sure that the quarters would be much more pleasant."

Harry was stunned. Slowly, a smile spread across his face, and he hugged Hermione while crying out, "Brilliant! Of course you are all welcome! Thanks, Hermione."

With a plan of action quickly unfolding, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione decided that it was time to inspect the damage more closely to see what was salvageable, with Hermione making notes and Percy measuring dimensions. Afterwards, it was agreed that they would split up to start preparations: Bill to Gringotts to see about patching things up with the goblins for Harry and to get his job back, Percy to inquire after his architect friend, Charlie and Ron to see about materials, George and Ginny to see about locating any previous plans of the Burrow, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to Muriel's to explain and pack, Fleur home to start plans for the new interior design, and Harry and Hermione to Grimmauld Place to check on the progress there.

----

Upon entering the house which he had inherited from his godfather, Harry could not help but feel shocked. Was this really the home that had depressed Sirius so? It was virtually unrecognizable with a gold lion replacing the silver serpent knocker, Mrs. Black's portrait gone, the elf heads removed from the stairway wall, and new carpeting laid all around. He toured the house with the head contractor and Hermione in tow, making note of the improvements. When he got to the top floor, he was pleased to find that the decor of both Sirius's and Regulus's rooms had remained mostly unchanged; he owed a lot to these two men, and he rather suspected that Hermione had warned the crew not to change the rooms too much. The house was nearly perfect, it was nearly a home.

Payment and furnishings were discussed next. Harry was put out over the contractor's initial insistence that Harry's money was no good, but, after a fair bit of haggling, the man finally agreed to let Harry pay for all of the materials and a quarter of the labour costs. A decorator and friend of the contractor was consulted, and Harry was promised a completed home by the following afternoon.

----

When the group had finally reconvened at Auntie Muriel's, they compared notes and were pleased to discover that they could start rebuilding within the week, as soon as the designs were drawn and checked over by the architect.

George and Ginny had not had much luck in tracking down the plans for the old Burrow, so they brought snacks and beverages instead.

As it turned out, Bill, Percy, Ginny and Hermione made an excellent team where drafting was concerned. Bill's experience with tombs gave him an excellent grasp of space, Percy's meticulousness gave him an edge in drafting, Ginny's creativity and knowledge of her family's eccentricities translated to a number of ideas for room placement, and Hermione's logical mind allowed for a vision which was both fanciful and grounded. The rest of the family contributed ideas as they saw fit -- Mrs. Weasley requested that a nursery be added for her grandchildren, Ron suggested enlarging the kitchen, Charlie chuckled about extra bathrooms, George suggested adding closet space, and Mr. Weasley quietly requested a study -- but Ginny had the brainstorming mostly under control, with Hermione reining her in from time to time.

Several hours and many bottles of butterbeer later, the finishing touches were being put on the design. At that point, Fleur arrived with the happy news that she had owled her family and a few old schoolmates to request their help with decorating the Burrow. Upon hearing that one of the friends was an internationally renowned wizarding interior decorator who was frequently written up in Witch Weekly, Mrs. Weasley teared up and hugged her daughter-in-law.

Next, jobs were discussed. With the Ministry in upheaval, everyone decided that Mr. Weasley and Percy had better get back to help as soon as possible. Bill also needed to get back to Gringotts, since the goblins were not likely to give him a leave of absence directly after hiring him back. George opted to split his time between working on the house and running Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and Ron surprised everyone by offering to go with George. Charlie stood by his earlier assertion that he would supervise the building of the house, and Fleur offered to head up decorating and purchasing furniture. Since Ginny was not about to let Fleur decorate on her own, she begged Hermione to help her keep Fleur from turning the Burrow into a frilly, flowery travesty. Harry decided to help build, and he requested that Mrs. Weasley help Mrs. Tonks with taking care of young Teddy. The Weasley children were pleased with Harry upon hearing this suggestion, as it would be just the thing to keep Mrs. Weasley happy, occupied, and out of their hair; plus, they had come to a silent understanding that the house would be the children's gift to their parents.

----

Percy's architect friend came back with a minimum of changes, and the family agreed upon the final design. Percy and his friend acquired all of the necessary permits, and the Weasleys started evaluating cost. Bill, Charlie, Percy and George were the only Weasley children able to put up any money, but Harry was not about to let them go broke paying for the entire house. First he got them to agree to take the money he had saved in having Grimmauld Place repaired and refinished, then he got them to agree to have him match the largest contribution by one of the siblings. The arguing got a little heated at times, but Harry was finally able to make them see reason.

Given that none of them had built a house before, they decided to start the ground floor with contractors, then continue on their own. It was a decision which fit their budget and allowed them to learn from the professionals. As a result, the same crew that had gutted Grimmauld Place was hired to build the beginnings of the new Burrow.

----

Since the remains of the Burrow were somewhat less than structurally sound, demolition was the first step of the building process. Not one to let a chance at mayhem pass, George convinced Ron to stay for this stage. As the men worked, they paused to reminisce over various findings, including a particularly charred piece of wall which could only have come from the twins' room. Bill, who was able to work on the Burrow on weekends, pointed out that it was for the best that their mother had not witnessed the explosive power of the contents of their room.

A week passed, and the new Burrow finally started to look like a possibility rather than a dream. Demolition was done, the first floor was built, and Fleur's family and friends had arrived.

To celebrate the arrival, a veritable feast was prepared at Grimmauld Place, and, much to everyone's surprise, Mrs. Weasley had allowed Fleur to dictate the menu and act as head chef. They supposed that she had deferred to Fleur out of respect for Aster, the decorator. Over dinner, the Weasleys learned that Aster and her sister Daisy, who had accompanied her, had lived in Britain until starting wizarding school, then they were each sent to Beauxbatons in turn. While their family still lived near Lambourn, the witches had settled in Paris. Aster was two years Fleur's senior, and Daisy was the same age as George. Aster and Fleur's family fell into an easy rhythm with the Weasleys, but Daisy was more reserved and almost wary of the many redheaded men.

After the group got through introductions and a bit of history, talk turned to the Burrow's future interior. The blueprints were brought out after dessert, and Aster began running through possibilities with Molly and Arthur. Once a general theme was decided upon, she questioned the Weasley children, and Daisy added their input to the copious notes she was compiling. The sisters appeared to work well together, which became all the more apparent over the coming weeks.

----

At first, Harry was quite reluctant to strip off his shirt while working, as the Weasley boys had, but the heat of the summer was finally catching up to him. It didn't help that they had begun teasing him mercilessly, asking if there was something he was hiding. The truth was that he did have a new scar, one for which he hoped never to be known, and he didn't relish having everyone learn of it. Hermione knew of course, since she had been forced to apply the severing charm which detached the Horcrux from his skin. Ron probably knew as well, but that didn't make Harry any less hesitant in revealing the damage done in his quest. With that thought, he was reminded of his guilt at having not yet confessed to his friends that he had died in the Forbidden Forest, died yet come back to life. He told himself that when the time was right, he would divulge this secret, but he would continue taking small steps until then.

When the day came that he finally rid himself of his sweat-soaked shirt, the Weasleys finally understood his hesitance. It wasn't a lack of muscle that Harry was hiding, for he had filled out before being carved up: the gaping, pink hole over Harry's heart was all too visible on his white chest.

Charlie, by far the most muscular of the Weasley children, was the first to stop gaping and accept this wound. He called out, "Oi, Potter, I thought you were too skinny to draw any attention from my physique, but I wasn't counting on the scar trumping my burns." The rest of the men laughed at Charlie's words, and suddenly the scar wasn't such a terrible weight on Harry's heart anymore.

Of course, Harry had been very careful to remove this thin layer of defense on a weekend when the female members of the Burrow Rebuilding Team were away, as he had no idea as to how they might react, and frankly he hoped that he had a touch of sunburn to hide the pink scar before they saw him in such a state. Unfortunately, such wishes were doomed to go ungranted, as a series of pops clued him in to the return of the decorators from a furniture hunt. Why did he leave his shirt on the other side of the house?!

Fleur immediately picked Bill out and strode over to coo in his ear about how very handsome he was, a regular occurrence which disgusted the other men greatly. This would have made for a wonderful distraction, had Harry not been standing between the two of them. There was no way to hide the evidence without being completely rude and turning his back on the woman. Sure enough, when Fleur got within ten paces of Harry, she stopped and gasped. At this all of the girls stopped and looked at the spot where Fleur was staring, for Fleur was never derailed when it came to exclaiming over her husband. The attention caused a deep blush to spread over Harry's face and neck; honestly, he was turning into a Weasley.

"'Arry! What 'as 'appened to your chest?"

"Erm, well, you see ... " Harry trailed off, cleared his throat, and started again in a much more stable voice, "A Horcrux grew a little too attached, and a severing charm was the only thing that could keep us apart." He smiled slightly at his lame joke, hoping that it would be enough to keep Hermione from feeling too guilty as she stood there taking in her handiwork for the first time since she had freed him from the locket.

At the look of concern on Hermione's face, he added to Fleur, "I really can't feel it, so please don't worry."

She accepted his statement and continued toward her husband, while Hermione gave him a quick smile and wiped a few tears from her eyes. Ginny, however, seemed unable to overcome whatever emotions had surfaced upon seeing the scar: she stalked up to Harry, poked a firm finger into his chest, and demanded to know what had happened over the past year. Bill and Ron instantly came to Harry's defense, but he waved them away and indicated that Ginny should walk with him to the orchard. They paused long enough for Harry to grab his shirt and pull it on, then continued to the small paddock they had often used for Quidditch, where they finally settled themselves at the base of one of the surrounding trees.

He sighed as he eased himself down next to her, placing a hand on her back to rub soothing circles. The time had finally come, and he was ready. He explained that the tale would take several hours, then coaxed her to relax before he began. He had little difficulty relating the happenings of the past year until he came to his trip to the Forbidden Forest, when he faltered. She was wrapped up in his embrace by this point, and she pulled her arms from around him to push up from his chest and look into his eyes to tell him that she had heard, or maybe felt, him pass as he made that fateful journey. He gulped and continued, telling her that it was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, continue walking past her to his certain doom. Then he told her about dying and his conversation with Dumbledore. It felt good to finally tell someone, and he was glad that it was her. Ginny had shed a few silent tears during his tale, but she accepted his story, and he knew that she loved him for who he was and what he had done.

When it seemed that his story was done, she whispered "Thank you, Harry."

"No, thank you, Ginny," he replied, while turning her face to his. He saw her eyes widen in confusion, but he continued before she could say anything. "I came back for you, Ginny. You were my last thought before dying, and I came back because of you and how I feel about you." He watched warmth fill her eyes, pushing out the confusion that had lingered there before, and then he kissed her. Not the blazing kiss that had saved him from death, but a gentle kiss that spoke of how deeply he cared for her. He wasn't at all surprised when she kissed him back.

They sat for a few minutes longer, enjoying the feeling of rediscovering the wholeness that only came from sharing themselves, then they stood to walk hand-in-hand back to their family.

----

Dinner that evening was the best meal that Harry had enjoyed since before Dumbledore's death. Part of him had been missing since then, and now he was sitting next to her at the table, delighting in every accidental -- and purposeful -- rub of their arms or thighs. Harry could not help but think that the current rebuilding did not just apply to structures; for the first time since he heard the fateful prophecy, Harry believed that he would have a long and happy future.

Bolstered by his new-found hope, Harry threw himself into work and life with renewed vigour. The daylight hours were spent straining to put the Burrow back together, and he spent every evening curled up with Ginny, playing with Teddy until the tyke's bedtime, when Harry would put his godson to bed with a story about one or both of the boy's parents. Harry knew that the infant was too young to understand, but he would make sure that the child knew that his parents were intelligent, caring and brave.

----

Four weeks had passed since they began construction when the Weasleys were met with the sudden realization that they had only one room left to build. It was a Saturday, so all of the children were present for the momentous occasion when the final room was added, allowing them to see for the first time the finished product which had previously existed only on parchment. They took a moment to stand back and admire the vision that Bill, Percy, Ginny and Hermione had wrought, then set to work roofing the structure. The workers blazed away at the project, aiming to complete the exterior before the weekend was out; they all wanted to finish the interior then present the home to their parents the following weekend.

----

The decorators, who had been magically sealing off the rooms as they were finished and keeping pace with the building of the exterior, were more than equal to the task of finishing within the allotted week, and the entire family convened at the new Burrow for a celebratory first meal in their home on a beautiful day in mid-June. Molly and Arthur both wept happy tears when they saw the magnificent home their children and friends had prepared for them. It was a happy day, full of hugs, laughter and tears; it was a day that Harry and the Weasleys would not soon forget. The family had proven that finding the strength to rebuild was possible, even after experiencing such pain and loss. Harry had found hope for himself, and he now felt hope for the entirety of wizardkind.
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