It didn't take long for Harry to be assimilated into the Weasley household. Mrs Weasley fussed over him, Mr Weasley peppered him with questions about muggles, Ginny blushed whenever he was around, and Ron spent most of the time joined to him at the hip since it seemed to make Fred and George less likely to make him the butt of one of their pranks. The only person to whom it made no real difference was Percy, who spent most of the summer hidden away in his room writing Godric knows how many letters.
After a week or so in the Burrow the family received their letters from Hogwarts; even Harry's was delivered along with the rest. The letters had the usual information and an updated required book list. Each of the lists required a complete collection of books by Gilderoy Lockhart, a wizard of whom Mrs Weasley was particularly fond. There was only one place to get everything which was why the family found themselves standing in front of their fireplace explaining to Harry how to use the Floo Network to get to Diagon Alley.
"He'll be all right, Mum," said Fred. "Harry, watch us first."
He took a pinch of glittering powder out of a flowerpot, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames.
With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred himself, who stepped right into it, and shouted, "Diagon Alley!" He vanished in an instant. George followed suit as Mrs Weasley gave Harry a last couple of pointers.
George appeared in the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron. He stepped out briskly and walked over to where his brother was leaning against a wall to wait for the rest of the family. They were in a room just off the main bar area with a few seats and tables.
"No dawdling," said Tom the barman, calling over to the two boys.
"Just waiting for the rest," said Fred, nodding towards the fireplace. Sure enough, there was a burst of flame and Ron stepped out. He spotted his brothers and moved towards them.
"Where's Harry?" said Ron, looking around for his friend.
"Hasn't come through yet," said George, frowning.
"He went just before me," said Ron, his eyes opening wide. He turned around to see his dad getting out of the fireplace. "Dad! Harry's not here."
"I thought he might have said it wrong," said Mr Weasley, shaking his head. He looked over at Tom and headed towards the man.
"What'll happen to him?" said Ron, looking worried.
"Relax, he won't of gone far," said George, slapping a hand on his brother's shoulder. "He said Diagon Alley, right?"
"It sounded more like 'diagonally'," said Ron. "Is that bad?"
"Nah," said Fred unconvincingly, as he shook his head.
"Where's Harry?" said Mrs Weasley, who had arrived with Ginny and Percy in tow.
"Fred lost him" said George, gesturing towards him with a thumb.
"I've done nothing," said Fred. "I came through first. You can't blame this on me."
"He didn't arrive?" said Mrs Weasley, biting her bottom lip in worry. She turned around just as Mr Weasley re-joined the group.
"I spoke with Tom and he assures me Harry will be fine. Probably got dropped off one stop over on either side of Diagon Alley," said Mr Weasley.
"Are you sure? He could be anywhere," said Mrs Weasley, looking worried. Her voice started to get higher. "This is all he needs after everything he has been through."
"Quite sure," said Mr Weasley, trying to keep his wife calm. "Because Fred and George went through before him, the line between our house and here was already established as a sort of guide. He can't have gone far. I'm sure he'll make his way back to Diagon Alley. We'll head up to Gringotts. From the steps we'll be able to get a good view and see if we can spot him."
"Everyone hurry," said Mrs Weasley, grabbing hold of her daughter's arm and heading towards the backdoor of the pub.
Outside of the back of the pub, the wall had already been opened up into the street and the family spilled out into Diagon Alley itself. Fred and George led the way, with Percy, Ron, and Mr Weasley not far behind. Mrs Weasley and Ginny followed as best as they could. The twins bobbed and weaved through the crowded street, almost knocking over a wizard carrying several boxes as they ducked under his arms.
"Sorry," Fred shouted over his shoulder.
"There's Harry," barked George, pointing ahead. "He's with Hagrid."
At the bottom of the stairs outside Gringotts stood Hagrid with his big bushy beard and Harry looking decidedly dishevelled and covered in soot. Also with them was Ron's friend, and fellow Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, an extremely intelligent girl but a bit too much of a goodie-two-shoes for Fred and George's liking.
"Harry," Mr Weasley panted, "we hoped you'd only gone one grate too far... Molly's frantic, she's coming now..."
"Where did you come out?" asked Ron.
"Knockturn Alley," said Hagrid.
"Brilliant!" said Fred and George together, grinning from ear to ear.
Soon Mrs Weasley was fussing over Harry, cleaning the soot from his robes while Mr Weasley fixed his glasses. The group heading inside Gringotts where they met Hermione's family. Mr Weasley was delighted to find out they were muggles and pointed at the notes they were exchanging into wizard money. After a quick stop to collect coins from the family vault everyone was back outside the goblin bank and quickly splitting up to go their separate ways.
"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books," shouted Mrs Weasley as Fred and George headed towards Lee Jordan whom they had spotted a moment earlier.
"Yes mum," chorused the pair without looking back.
"And not one step down Knockturn Alley," she warned.
"What was that mum? Can't hear you," said Fred, grinning.
"I said stay away from Knockturn Alley!" reiterated Mrs Weasley.
"Love you to mum," answered George.
"Fredrick Gideon Weasley and George Fabian Weasley, I swear..." started Mrs Weasley striding towards the pair.
"Just kidding mum," said George, quickly.
"Yeah me too," added Fred.
Mrs Weasley stopped and pointed a finger at them, before turning around and taking Ginny off to get her robes for Hogwarts.
"You know she's serious when she uses our full names," said George, turning back to Lee.
"Gideon? Fabian?" said Lee, smirking.
"Our middle names are from mum's brothers," explained Fred.
"Good to know Fredrick," said Lee.
"Shut up..." Fred thought for a few moments, "Leestorpher."
"You think Lee is short for Leestorpher?" said Lee, cocking his head to one side.
"Maybe not Leestorpher," conceded Fred. "Maybe Leephen?"
"Neither of those are even real names," said Lee, as the boys started walking away from Gringotts. "At least guess real names like... I dunno..."
"See? It's not that easy," said Fred triumphantly.
"Leeroy or Leopold or Liam or..." Lee struggled for a few seconds, "...Lee...drick?"
"Well? Which one is it?" asked George.
"None of them," said Lee. "I was just giving you examples."
"So what's Lee short for?" inquired Fred.
"Cos he's got little legs," answered George, looking thoroughly delighted at his own joke.
"It's short for nothing," said Lee, shaking his head. "It's just Lee."
"Come on, nothing?" said George. "No reaction. What's Lee short for? Cos he's got little legs. It's perfect."
"What about your middle name?" said Fred, ignoring his brother.
"It's nothing. It's a normal middle name," said Lee, dismissively.
"So tell us," said Fred.
"No chance," said Lee. "You'll take the you-know-what."
"Obviously," nodded George. "Ow... sorry."
The three boys had been too preoccupied with their conversation that they didn't even notice the man until they had bumped into him, sending the armful of boxes he had been holding all over the floor. They started helping him collect them from the ground.
"Miro!" exclaimed Fred handing a box to the man before realising they knew him.
"Alright guys?" said Miro, grinning at the three of them as they piled the boxes back into his arms. "Still watching where you are going I see?"
"What are you doing here?" asked George, putting the last box in place.
"I work around here," explained Miro. "Well our office is in Knockturn Alley, but close enough."
"Oh yeah, the Wizard..." Lee clicked his fingers together as he tried to remember.
"Detective Agency," Miro finished the sentence for him. "Yeah, me and Mr Lexington got it set up properly over the summer."
"How's it going?" asked Fred.
"Slowly but that's to be expected," said Miro. "Once word gets out I'm sure we'll be busy. That reminds me; we hit a dead-end with your case."
"Their case?" said Lee, looking at the twins. "As suspects?"
"No, idiot," said Fred, punching his friend in the shoulder. "We were nearly killed last year? Remember?"
"That could be any year," said Lee.
"Actually that's fair enough," admitted George. "But last year someone sent an assassin after us and Enoch, so Miro was trying to see if he could find out who sent him."
"No luck?" said Fred.
"Complete dead-end. We found his home but it had been cleaned out," said Miro, shrugging his shoulders. "Someone must have known he'd failed and went there to get rid of any evidence. Mr Lexington has few ideas we could try but they are long shots. I'll let you know if we find anything. And if you hear anything strange from your end you let me know."
"Strange sounds coming from his end?" said Lee, nodding towards Fred. "That'll probably be onions. Any night he has them he stinks out the dorm room."
"I would make an argument against that, but, well…" said Fred, shrugging his shoulders.
"Sure you don't need a hand with those," said George, pointing at the boxes.
"I'll be fine," said Miro, adjusting the boxes for a better grip. "Besides, I'd rather try and balance these than risk bringing you three down to Knockturn Alley."
"We'll be fine," said Fred.
"Oh I'm sure of that. I'm more worried about what your mum would do to me," explained Miro. "See you guys later."
"See you," chorused the three boys, waving their friend away before continuing down the street.
"Where we heading?" asked Lee.
"Gambol and Japes?" said Fred, referring to the wizard joke shop. "Could stock up on some No-Heat Fireworks."
"Sounds good." said George, nodding.
"Is your middle name Ferbal?" said Fred, looking over at Lee.
"That's not even a name," sighed Lee.
"That wasn't a 'no'."
The boys spent a while browsing through the joke shop before picking up a few fireworks to bring home. At one point they bumped into Harry, Ron, and Hermione in their shop and showed them their planned purchases, much to the delight of the two boys. After another half an hour of browsing they bought their chosen items and left the shop to head for Flourish and Blotts. On their way they transferred most of the items out of the paper bag provided by the shop before putting a couple in their pockets and secreting the rest up their sleeves.
"You do know that's what the bag is for," advised Lee as Fred plopped one firework in the hood of his coat.
"Yes, but mum is going to check the bag," said Fred. "And anything she doesn't like in there she'll confiscate."
"Then she'll check our pockets," said George, tapping his to emphasise his point. "And do the same thing."
"So the stuff we really want to keep... we hide," explained Fred.
"Why don't you just hide all of it and get rid of the bag?" asked Lee.
"We've been wandering through Diagon Alley on our own for an hour. There's no way she'd believe we didn't buy anything," said George. "If we showed up empty handed she'd search both of us all over. This way she only takes what we want her to take."
"You know if you put this much effort into your homework you'd probably be top of the class?"
"True but there's no fun in that, or explosions," said Fred.
"I think we could do with less explosions this year," said Lee.
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" said George, grinning.
"Looks like I've got to go," said Lee, pointing across the street to where his parents were inside the second hand robes shop beckoning him to come over. "I need a new cloak apparently."
The boys said their goodbyes and headed on their way. At the bookshop there was a large crowded gathered inside, mainly made up of women roughly around Mrs Weasley's age, crammed against each other in a long line that snaked around the stacks of books arranged on tables. George nodded towards a large banner stretched across the upper windows of the shop which proclaimed that Gilderoy Lockhart was in attendance to sign copies of his books. They headed inside and managed to find their father who was struggling to carry all the books required for their lessons.
"Thanks lads," said Mr Weasley, as they took a number of books from his arms. "Did you hear the news? Gilderoy Lockhart is going to Hogwarts."
"Isn't he a bit old?" asked George, doing his best to balance his stack of books.
"As a teacher, George, not as a… honestly," said Mr Weasley, shaking his head.
"Well that make more sense," said George, wedging his chin on top of his pile of books to stop them wobbling. "I'm guessing Defence Against the Dark Arts, that's the only one without a teacher."
"Yeah, unless any of the others decided to retire this year," said Fred, deciding to rest his back against the wall of the bookshop while their father had made his way over to where Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione were stood.
"I can't see any of them going," said George. Their father was talking to a man with long blonde hair who seemed to be the father of a blonde boy standing next to the man. The twins vaguely remembered the boy as one of the previous year's first years at Hogwarts but couldn't quite place his face.
"Maybe Kettleburn," said Fred, referencing the Care of Magical Creatures' Professor who after a long, and rather reckless, career had lost all his limbs save for one arm and half a leg. "I can't see him lasting much…"
The rest of Fred's sentence was cut short by the sound of Ginny's cauldron going flying and clanging against the shop floor. For some inexplicable reason Mr Weasley had launched himself at the blonde stranger, knocking him backward into a bookshelf, and causing dozen of heavy spellbooks to come thundering down on the pair.
"Get him, Dad!" shouted Fred excitedly.
"Jab and move, jab and move," added George, as Mr Weasley rolled around on the ground with the man.
"Break it up there, gents, break it up…" ordered Hagrid wading towards the pair and pulling them apart.
"Here, girl… take your book… it's the best your father can give you…" snapped the man before pushing himself out of Hagrid's grip and exiting the shop with his son in tow.
"What was that all about?" Fred asked Ron as the Weasley family along with Harry, Hermione and her parents, left the shop and headed down the street.
"Doesn't matter," said Ron, looking rather embarrassed about the whole thing.
The incident put a bit of a dampener on the rest of the afternoon. The two families, Weasley and Granger, along with Harry headed back to the Leaky Cauldron with their purchases and chatted for a few moments before heading on their separate ways; the Grangers out of the pub and back to the muggle world, and the Weasleys to the Burrow via the Floo.
Once back at home the children made themselves scarce while Mrs Weasley stated in no uncertain terms that she wanted to have a discussion with Mr Weasley about the ruckus at Flourish and Blotts before she made dinner. Harry and Ron headed outside to get on some brooms and throw a Quaffle around, while Ginny, Percy, and the twins all headed to their bedrooms albeit for very different reasons. Ginny's room overlooked the courtyard where Harry and Ron were flying around on the brooms, and she wedged herself in her window alcove so she could look out at them while she browsed through her new school books. Percy had found an old battered book called Prefects Who Gained Power in a junk shop in Diagon Alley which he wanted to read cover to cover before the day was out. The twins wanted to get their fireworks hidden in their room before their mother realised that with all the commotion at the bookshop she had forgotten to search the boys for any dangerous purchases.
"Fred! George!" Mrs Weasley's voice echoed up from the kitchen. "Bring those fireworks downstairs so I can check them. All of them, even the ones you are stuffing at the back of your underwear drawer."
"How does she do that every time?" said Fred, who had his arm firmly wedged in amongst the clothing.
It had been a few months since they had set up the Lexington Franca Wizarding Detective Agency above a small pie shop in Knockturn Alley, and despite their initial enthusiasm, business was slow. Lexington tried to use his contacts in the Auror's department to get them to send him any interesting cases they were working on which had become stalled but due to fact that his name had been blacklisted in the Ministry, all his requests were being ignored. The only cases they actually worked were the ones too trivial to interest the Ministry. So Miro and Lexington found themselves generally tracking down lost pets or misplaced jewellery.
"Here's your cut," said Lexington, handing Miro a few Galleons and a number of Sickles.
"Cheers," said Miro, glumly. As his partner opened the door with the name of their business emblazoned on the wood, he looked through the window of the pie shop and nodded at the owner. The gruff man inside didn't respond, which was in line with his usual customer non-friendly persona.
"Ah it's enough to feed us for a few days at least," said Lexington, as the pair climbed the narrow stairs up to their office. "We'll have a new case before we run out."
At the top of the stairs was a short corridor which had a couple of chairs lined against the wall. To the left, opposite the chairs, was a door with the name of the business written on the side while either side of the chairs were two more doors, both had 'private' written on them. At the far end of the corridor was another door with the word 'toilet' on the outside.
"We have a case," said a voice suddenly, next to Lexington's ear.
"Merlin's beard," exclaimed the man, clutching his chest. "I thought I told you to stop doing that Reg."
"Yes, sir, sorry sir," said Reg, whose face was protruding part way through the wall in the corridor.
"And come out of the wall so I can see you," added Lexington. "I don't mind ghosts but I'm not going to spend my days chatting to a wall."
"Right away sir," said Reg, floating out into the corridor. He was short, skinny, and wearing long flowing robes with large puffy sleeves. What little hair remained on his head was swept over the balding middle part of his scalp. He was polite, if overly apologetic, and he came with the building.
"You said we had a case," said Miro.
"Yes," nodded Reg. He pointed towards the office door. "She's in there. Mrs Elizabeth Formby."
"Has she been waiting long?" asked Lexington, trying his best to tidy himself.
"Only about five minutes," advised Reg.
"Right," said Lexington. He reached a hand towards the doorknob. "Shall we?"
"Thanks, Reg," said Miro, going to pat him on the shoulder. His hand passed straight through him. "Sorry, I always forget."
"That's okay, sir," said Reg, bowing his head. "Is that all, sir?"
"Yes, and stop calling me 'sir', it makes me feel old," said Miro.
"Yes sir, very good sir," said Reg, before floating upward through the ceiling.
"Good day, Mrs Formby," said Lexington, opening the door and stepping inside.
The office was a large square room with a sizeable window on the far side which filled most of the wall. The rest of the walls contained cabinets and shelves which were filled to capacity with trinkets and souvenirs that Lexington had collected over his years as an Auror. Miro still didn't know what half of them were and was pretty convinced that most of them fell afoul of a number of laws regarding the legality of owning dangerous magical artefacts. In front of the window were two large desks set at right angles to each other. They were pointed at two comfy seats in the middle of the room. One of the seats was currently occupied by a rather prim and poised woman.
Mrs Formby turned to greet them as they entered. Miro could see she was much younger looking than her clothes would have initially indicated. She had a kind face, with blue eyes and a warm smile. Her red hair was tucked neatly on top of her head into a tight bun.
"Mr Lexington?" said Mrs Formby.
"Please, call me Bernard," he said, shaking her hand. "This is my partner Miro Franca."
"Hello," said Miro, taking her hand. It was soft.
"Hello," said Mrs Formby, smiling. "You can call me Elizabeth, well, Lizzie."
"She's going to need it back at some point," muttered Lexington.
"Sorry?" said Miro, before he realised he was still shaking the woman's hand. He let go. "Oh, sorry."
"Now," said Lexington, taking his seat behind his desk. Miro did the same while he hoped no one noticed his blushing. "How can we help?"
"It's my husband. He's missing," said Mrs Formby.
"Husband, right," said Miro. He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. He took out his wand and tapped the quill two times. It sprang into life and started taking notes completely by itself.
"How long has he been missing?" asked Lexington.
"About a week. Six days to be exact," said Mrs Formby.
"Six days? Has he ever been away this long before?" asked Lexington. He too had taken out a quill and parchment but he was writing his own notes.
"Not without telling me beforehand."
"And can I just ask if you've informed the Ministry about his disappearance?" said Lexington. He looked up from his writing. "Not that I'm complaining about the work of course."
"Of course," said Mrs Formby, appearing a little flustered. She leaned forward and lowered her voice slightly. "It's just that I'd rather the Ministry wasn't involved. I don't want my husband getting in trouble."
"Ah well, one thing we can guarantee around here is no Ministry involvement whatsoever," said Lexington reassuringly. "They want nothing to do with us and I am more than happy with that arrangement. You can rely on our total discretion."
"I knew you would be a good choice," said Mrs Formby. She waited a few moments as though weighing up her options. "I think he might have been involved in something… illegal. Everything was fine until a few weeks ago. Then he started staying up all night and having all these secret meetings."
"Secret meetings?" said Lexington. "Did you know who they were with?"
"No," said Mrs Formby, shaking her head. "I never saw the man, just heard him when he came to our house unexpectedly. My husband was furious that he was there. Threatened to tell the Ministry. But the man just laughed and said they'd both end up in Azkaban if he did. I couldn't hear anything else after that."
"Well, we'll probably have to look around your home to see if we can find any clues to his whereabouts," advised Lexington.
"Of course," said Mrs Formby, nodding her head.
"And where did he work? We'll probably have to look there too."
"Oh, well he was a treasure curator for Gringotts but he generally worked from home in his office. I'm sorry but I don't know who he reported to at work, it was a goblin but other than that I just don't know."
"That's okay, I'm sure we'll be able to dig something up," said Lexington. "Don't worry Mrs Formby. We'll get to the bottom of this one way or another."
