Ronald Weasley waited expectantly by the mail slot. His letter should have come any day, and it was nearing the deadline. He was pretty sure his older brothers hid his letter, but wouldn't more come? 

Before he could go find Fred and George, his father appeared in front of him. He had an excited grin on his face as he said, "Son, do you want to go out with me and your other siblings today? I got a good tip on a house full of Muggle things that are for sale."

"Uh, no thanks," Ron said sadly. "I'm waiting for my letter to get here."

"I'm sure it'll be here soon," Arthur said, ruffling Ron's hair. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Arthur said, nodding. "Your mom was going to stay home anyway." He turned away from Ron and yelled, "Percy! Fred and George! Ginny! It's time to go!"

Ron heard thundering and knew his siblings were running down the stairs to the Burrow. All except Percy. He was walking, like a normal person would. "Hey, Ron," George (at least Ron thought it was George) said. He slung an arm around his shoulders and said, "Why are you so gloomy?"

"Does it have something to do with this?" Fred (maybe?) said, producing a piece of mail from his pocket. 

Anger filled Ron's veins as he tried to get his letter from the twins. He growled when the twins ran out of the Burrow with his letter. He chased after them but stopped dead in his tracks. There were hundreds of owls circling the sky. All at once, they dropped letters and Ron grinned as he watched the twins get devoured by the mail. 

"That's what happens when someone stands in the way the Hogwarts mail system," Percy said, shaking his head. He crouched down and snatched a piece of mail, handing it to Ron. "Hide it from Fred and George."

"Okay," Ron said, sticking into his pocket. "Thanks, Percy."

"Don't mention it."

He waved to his siblings as they apparated away from the Burrow. His mother settled in next to him and said, "Why didn't you go with them?"

"I was waiting for my letter," Ron told her, reaching into his pocket. He whipped out his letter and his mother smiled warmly. "I thought it was late but Fred and George had it."

"Those nasty little buggers," Molly said in a joking matter. "Why don't we head inside to celebrate."

"Sure."

Ron followed his mother into the Burrow, clutching the letter from Hogwarts. Excitement flooded through him as he thought about Hogwarts; he heard amazing stories from Fred, George, and Percy and wanted to experience it for himself. Maybe he could be incredibly smart like Percy, or be a jokester like the twins. 

Molly led him into the kitchen and said, "I accidently made a few too many cherry pies so you can have a slice or two of one."

Ron's eyes widened as he took in the pies. He counted at least five but he wasn't sure if any more where in the oven. "Are you mad? How could you accidently bake too many?"

"I wanted to hold a celebration for you and kind of went overboard," Molly said sheepishly. She stood there for a second before grinning. "What if we had an eating contest?"

"What?" Ron asked, not sure if his ears were working correctly. "An eating contest?"

"Sure!" Molly said, nodding enthusiastically. "Whoever finishes their pie first gets a prize."

"What prize?"

"Extra sweets from Diagon Alley," Molly said, her smile widening. "I know we both would like that."

"Okay," Ron said after a second of thinking. "An eating contest it is." As his mom was arranging the pies, he said, "Let's not tell the others about this little contest. I just want it between you and me."

"Wasn't going to say a peep!" Molly set two forks next to the two pies and said, "Are you ready to go down, Ronald?"

"Never," he said, shaking his head. "What are we supposed to do when we're done?"

"Announce it," Molly said, rolling her eyes. "What else would we do?"

Ron shrugged. "I had no idea."

He sat down and realized the pie looked bigger than what he had originally thought. His stomach growled, through, so he knew he could do it. "Go!"

Ron scooped into the pie and  brought it to his lips. The sour taste was the first thing he tasted and his lips puckered. Then, the sweetness came and made the whole bite better. He glanced over and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. How could his mom have eaten that much? A third of the pie was gone and he had only eaten one bite of his.

Ron hurriedly shoved the pie into his mouth, disliking it more with each bite. Soon enough the tartness overpowered the sweetness and he could hardly shovel it down his throat. He knew he shouldn't look over at his mother but he couldn't stop himself. His mouth dropped open when he saw that she had one bite left and it was already on her fork. He sat back when she popped it into her mouth, turning toward him with a grin. 

"How did you win?" Ron asked, frowning. Molly only shrugged. "Well, congratulations, Mom. You won and now get to get more sweets at Diagon Alley."

"You know I'll share with you," Molly said, taking a deep breath. She laid a hand on Ron's shoulder and said, "I'm so proud of you, Ronald. I know you're going to enjoy your time at Hogwarts."

"Did you cheat?" Ron asked suddenly. He saw his mother's wand next to her plate. She tried to bat it out of the way but Ron grabbed at it. "Why did you cheat, Mom?"

"No, I didn't cheat!" Molly said quickly. "I just laid it there earlier!"

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

"Okay," Ron said, handing back her wand. Ron's stomach grumbled and he said, "I don't think that cherry pie agrees with my empty stomach. Too much sour."

She laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "All the food at Hogwarts will be so delicious that you won't know what to do."

Ron sighed in delight. His stomach was feeling better already when he thought about all the food Hogwarts would have. "As long as they don't have cherry pie, I'll be fine."