Arthur Weasley Flooed into Ron and Hermione’s sitting room. As he stepped out of the fireplace, he peered around the room only to find it empty. He was a few minutes earlier than he had told them.
Brushing the soot from his clothes, Arthur called out, “Ron? Hermione?”
Nobody responded to his calls so Arthur decided to check in the kitchen; possibly they were still having breakfast. As he exited the room, a sound caught Arthur’s attention. Thump, thump, thump.
Arthur stopped in the foyer, a quizzical look upon his face. He looked up the stairs toward the second floor, but it became apparent that the noise wasn’t coming from above.
What are those children up to? Arthur thought amusedly as he rounded the bottom of the stairway and started down the hall.
Thump, thump, thump. The sound was louder now. Arthur listened but couldn’t hear any voices coming from the kitchen which was located at the end of the hall. The noise appeared to be issuing from the room coming up on Arthur’s left.
“Ron?” he queried again but no one answered.
A woman’s screech filled the air quickly followed by, “Why you…”
“Hermione?” Arthur’s hand slipped into his inner pocket where he gripped his wand as he continued cautiously forward.
Suddenly, the thump, thump, thump was accompanied by a high pitched squeal.
“Get back there!” Arthur heard from the room. “I’m warning you!”
Arthur drew his wand and ran into the room. He was stunned by the scene in front of him.
There was Hermione, surrounded by piles of laundry, her hands pressed against a white, square box. Her hair was in disarray and she was straining to push the hulking machine back toward the wall. But the metal heathen would have nothing to do with being corralled.
The metal monster was bucking and screeching—fighting with all it had in an attempt to skip around the woman in front of it. Someone had made this machine come alive and it was intent on being free.
“Hermione! Move away!” Arthur shouted and he brandished his wand at the object.
Hermione whirled around in surprise at Arthur’s voice. Bewilderment was etched all over her face at her lack of comprehension to Arthur’s statement.
“Quickly, Hermione!” Arthur rushed toward the young woman. “I can’t cast a spell with you there! Hurry, so I can Stun it before it gets more vicious!”
Hermione had no time to react before a hand ripped her away from the evil box. A red light shot out of the tip of Arthur’s wand and directly hit the middle of the metal square.
An ear splitting boom filled the air along with soapy water and clothes as they shot out of the top of the machine. Hermione and Arthur were drenched as the mess rained down on them.
Pounding footsteps could be heard and as Arthur turned toward the doorway, Ron bounded in, wand held out in front of him.
“What the bloody hell was that?” Ron yelled as he surveyed wet laundry dangling from the overhead light fixture, the water splattered across the room and the agitator of the washer as it rolled to a rest at Arthur’s feet.
Arthur, the first to recover, pointed and said, “That contraption was attacking Hermione so I Stunned it.”
Ron rolled his eyes but it was Hermione who spoke. “Arthur, it wasn’t harming me.”
“But I saw you struggling to keep it from escaping,” Arthur interrupted.
Ron began to snicker as Hermione walked over to the smoking rubble. “Arthur this is -was- a washing machine. It’s a Muggle device we use to wash our dirty laundry.”
“Well, someone charmed it to life -- it was screaming in frustration to be free,” Arthur blustered.
“That was more than likely Hermione you heard,” Ron sniggered.
Hermione shot him a malevolent look. “Arthur, there was no spell on it. The laundry was not distributed evenly so that when the drum inside began to agitate, all the clothes went to one side.
“The screeching you heard was the belt – it was overtaxed by the uneven load inside,” Hermione finished.
Arthur’s face reddened considerably. He looked sheepishly at a disheveled Hermione, as sudsy water dripped from her and created a puddle on the floor.
“I’m terribly sorry, Hermione. I thought you were in trouble.”
Hermione looked at him, soaked and covered in soap, and strode to Arthur and hugged him. “It’s all right, Arthur. I can only imagine what it looked and sounded like when you came in.”
Ron, unable to control his laughter, spluttered, “Yeah, must have looked as if you were completely mental, woman.”
Hermione glared at Ron, and then viewed the mangled mess of what used to be a washing machine and chuckled. “Remind me to show you how a washing machine actually works when I get a new one, Arthur.”
The embarrassment on Arthur’s features was replaced by excitement over Hermione’s statement. “Really?” Arthur asked.
“Absolutely,” replied Hermione as she swiped her wet hair away from her face. “As a matter of fact, you can have this one if you’d like to try and repair it. I know how fascinated you are with how Muggle items work.”
“You mean it?” Arthur inquired astonished.
Hermione nodded. “Of course.”
A grin formed on Arthur’s face. “Brilliant! I can see Molly’s face now!”
The only sound that could be heard throughout the house was Ron’s guffaws in response to his father’s comment.
The look on Molly’s face when Arthur went home with the remnants of the tortured washer would be priceless.
