The Misadventures of the Weasley Brothers
by
FireValkyrie
Chapter 3: And the chaos begins!
sSs
"Uh-oh," Kelena muttered, searching the surrounding area for the chaos that was sure to ensue.
Everyone turned towards the end of the alley when the sounds of screams erupted from inside the Magical Menagerie. Witches and Wizards fled the shop, followed by…well, a menagerie of magical creatures. Giant toads that croaked fire hopped along, followed by a monkey-looking creature that flew around using its tail.
"Ooh, I want one of those!" Terry screeched, her eyes glazing over.
Hermione and Mrs. Weasley wore duel expressions of horror as a small, purple-ish goat flew by, cackling madly the entire time.
"Remind you of anyone?" Live asked Ginny, motioning towards Kelena.
"I do not cackle! I merely have a strong laugh!" Kelena defended.
"You cackle. Quite proficiently I might add," Live affirmed with a grin.
"You know, muggles insist on the fact that all witches cackle," Harry said, startling the girls.
"It's Kel's fault," Ginny said, entranced by a fluffy dancing cat.
Witches and wizards ran around trying to catch the various magical animals before they caused any real damage. Ginny squealed as a miniature nurse shark ran by on rubbery legs.
They watched for a while until most of the animals were put back into their cages before Ron and Harry went off into the Quality Quiddich supplies store to ogle all the different models of brooms for sale. Terry, Ginny, Hermione, Live and Kelena headed off to Madame Malkins to look at some dress robes.
Terry scoffed and acted annoyed when Live and Kelena picked out some low cut robes to try on. She wasn't much in touch with her inner Sexpert, as Live would put it.
"Well, if you don't like it, you don't have to be here, do you?" Kelena spat angrily.
"Fine then!" Terry yelled before she stomped off to find Mrs. Weasley. Hermione shrugged when Ginny looked inquiringly at her and went back to trying on shawls.
The four later ran into the twins in a potions ingredients shop as they were trying to finish up the rest of their school list. They broke out in identical grins when they saw the girls.
"Ah, ladies, enjoyed the show did you?" asked George. Or was it Fred...?
"I knew it had to be you two behind this. Only you would do something so thoughtless!" Hermione scolded, poking her finger in one of their chests.
"Actually, we can't take all the credit for this one," said George thoughtfully.
"Have you seen her--?"
"Kara, we mean," interjected one of the twins.
"We seem to have--"
"--misplaced her somewhere--"
"--during all the confusion."
"You lost my sister?!" Live shouted threateningly.
"Well, not lost, entirely--" the twins were slowly backing away now.
"--just misplaced." Their grins faded as Live's scowl deepened.
"She'll turn up sooner--"
"--or later."
Live rubbed her temples emphatically. There were two of Fred and George. Surely Mrs. Weasley wouldn't miss one of them...Should Kara not show up, of course…or not…
"We'd better go look for her then," Kelena said, turning from the shop. Fred and George followed dutifully behind the girls.
They searched all the shops, from Madame Malkins all the way down to the Leaky Cauldron, with no trace of her. They even asked a very bothered looking Goblin in Gringotts if he had seen her. Live was getting more and more worried, the twins more and more anxious, and Kelena more and more exasperated by the enduring search. Where could a hyper-blonde who should be in a sugar-induced coma be? The one place they didn't check was the Magical Menagerie.
"It's either there, or down Knockturn Alley, and I don't think Kara would go down there by herself," said Ginny, casting a wary eye down the darkened alley.
"Yes, but would she return to the scene of the crime?" asked George skeptically.
"It's worth a shot," said Hermione, starting off towards the pet shop.
The inside of the Magical Menagerie was once again calm, or at least as calm as the store got. A very frazzled looking witch who was trying to round up some skipping rats looked up from her hunt when she saw them.
"Can I help you?" she asked in a tired voice.
Hermione began to give her a detailed description of Kara, "..and she bounces around like she's had loads of sugar..." But something else had caught Live's attention. There was a pure white, and very irate looking wolf sitting in a cage staring dismally out at the group.
"...and she may or may not have tried to hypnotize one of the cats--"
"How much for the wolf over there?" Live asked, cutting Hermione off.
"That one?" the woman asked, ignoring Hermione and cutting to business. "Hmm, I don't think it has any extraordinary powers. I don't even remember getting it shipped in actually..." she trailed off, staring at the animal.
"Yes, but how much?" Kelena asked, getting a bit impatient.
"Uh, Live? Are you sure that you want something quite so...exotic?" Hermione asked, sounding worried.
"Of course I'm sure. How much?" Live asked with persistence, turning her attention back to the sales witch. The sales witch seemed to be thinking hard on the subject.
"Where are you going to keep it?" Ginny asked, walking up to the cage.
"Better yet, you think you could train it to do anything?" Fred asked, his interest peaked. "Maybe it could sniff out Kara."
"I doubt it. Looks kinda stupid to me," Kelena said, a small grin appearing on her face. Ginny was startled when the wolf growled and bristled unexpectedly.
"It looks dangero--"
"No, no, I'm pretty sure it's stupid," Kelena cut her off.
"Tell you what, I'll give you 15 galleons for it," Live said. The witch looked a bit reluctant, so she added, "since, you know, it doesn't have any powers or anything."
"Deal," said the sales witch. "Would you like me to muzzle it for you?"
Live and Kelena shared an evil grin. "Please do," Live answered.
The group attracted quite a few stares when they walked out of the shop with a very angry looking white wolf on a leash. Live was positively strutting with her new fashionable purchase. To the surprise of Hermione, Ginny, and the twins, she led them around the Magical Menagerie to a small alley-way between it and a high-priced quill shop, and then behind that so that they couldn't even see Diagon Alley any more.
"What are we doing back here?" Ginny asked.
"Oi, yeah, what gives? Shouldn't we look for Kara?" Fred added.
Live sighed. "Alas," she said, "now is the time that you learn of our deep dark secret." She and Kelena both sighed heavily and hung their heads. Fred and George backed away noticeably.
"I knew it, she's a Death Eater!" George exclaimed, pointing at Live.
"I told you Slytherins can't be trusted," said Fred to his twin.
"She's probably brought us back here to sick that wolf on us, make it look like an accident," George continued. Live glared at him, but he only grinned and gave her a wink.
Indeed, Live looked murderous. "I am not a Death Eater!" she hissed through clenched teeth. Kelena was trying to stifle laughter.
"Well, you have to admit, you do kinda--"
"Don't you start Kel! I'll tell them about that time at the river--"
"No!" Kelena looked a bit panicked. Fred and George watched with a mixture of amusement and horror. The wolf, who had previously been pacing restlessly, began to struggle and pull at it's lead. Live held tight to the little loop at the end and the wolf began to try and squeeze it's face out of the leather muzzle.
"Alright, alright," Kelena said, leaning down towards the wolf.
"Wait!" Hermione cried out, but it was too late. Kelena unbuckled the leather straps on the harness, freeing the wolf. She moved to pet the wolf, who promptly bit her. The movement was so quick that only when she cried out in pain did everyone else jump. Hermione began to say something by the way of admonishing Kelena, but before she had her mouth even halfway open, there was a pop like a bottle being opened, and Kara stood where the wolf had once been.
"What was that for?" Kelena yelled at her, clutching her bruising hand.
"Stupid wolf, my ass!" Kara shot back.
Hermione and Ginny stared, mouths agape, at Kara.
"You're...you're a--"
"Animagus?" Live prompted. Hermione nodded in shock.
"Wicked!" Fred and George said as one. Kara stood, hands on hips looking positively pleased with herself.
"That's illegal!" Hermione exclaimed. "How could you possibly-"
"You wanna keep it down?!" Live chided.
"You could get into serious trouble if someone found out!" Hermione continued in a hushed whisper.
"But no one's going to find out unless you nark on her," Kelena said taking a step forward. Hermione looked very ill at ease.
"You're not going to say anything, are you?" Kara asked pleadingly pulling a puppy dog face. So that's where she gets it, thought Ginny amusedly.
"Oh…well-- oh, of course I'm not, but you should be more careful! I mean, look what happened. What if someone else had bought you? What would you have done then?" she asked, turning the conversation around.
"Then I would have bit that wizard and found a nice dark corner to change back in," Kara answered indignantly.
"How did you end up getting caged anyway?" Fred asked, completely enthused with the whole idea.
"I panicked. There was this really freaky goat thing that wouldn't leave me alone. Kept butting into me, laughing madly the entire time. Kinda reminded me of you, Kel," she said looking at Kelena. Now it was Kelena's turn to look murderous and Live's to stifle laughter. "Anyway, it was freaking me out, so I popped into wolf form to scare it away, and the store owner got the drop on me."
"You know how much fun we could have with this?!" Ginny asked in excitement. Kara was a bit surprised. She had expected one of the twins to ask that.
"Speaking of fun," said Kelena, "how did you get all of those cages open?"
"Could it be something from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Live queried, looking at the twins accusingly.
"Sadly, no, it was not something of our own device," said George, rummaging through his pocket and wishing he could take the credit for such masterful madness.
"Have you ever heard of a kind of metal that will open any door?" asked Fred.
"Yes, actually," said Hermione, "Harry's got a knife made out of it. The metal is infused with a potion that does something akin to the alohamora spell. It was invented in 1853 by the--"
"You're doing it again, Hermione," Live chided. Hermione blushed.
"Found it!" said George triumphantly. He held out a small, glass ball that shimmered blue in the palm of his hand.
"We discovered it in a box of Gobstones we bought at a junk store," said Fred.
"It works like a gobstone," said Kara, "only--"
"Only, it squirts out the potion that unlocks doors in a kind of mist," finished George.
"It unlocked a trunk at the junk store," supplemented Fred.
"But it was Kara's idea to roll it into the pet store," continued George, sprouting an evil grin.
"One of my more brilliant moments," Kara beamed.
Live wrapped a proud arm about her sister. "You're coming along quite nicely," she grinned. The others looked from the smirking Slytherin to the grinning Gryffindor.
Scary. Very scary.
"But what was the point of all that?!" Hermione asked with irritation. She saw no rhyme nor reason for Kara to do such a thing. "You didn't nick anything, did you Kara?"
"No…I just, I don't know...I acted on impulse..."
"Impulse to do what?!" Hermione pleaded, more exasperated than ever. It was because of concern that she could have been caught that Hermione was so frazzled.
A grin spread over Kara's face. "We now know that there's nothing this little baby won't work on," she said, taking the small ball from George and tossing it in the air appreciatively.
Hermione clicked her tongue and put a hand to her temple. And to think, the new school year hadn't even started yet. "Well, come on then, I don't intend to spend the rest of the day in some creepy alley," she said before starting off in the direction of the bustling street that was Diagon Alley.
Fred and George continued after her speaking in hushed voices, followed by Kara and Ginny who had once again brought up the subject of 'the book' from Flourish and Blotts. Kelena and Live brought up the rear, making sure to keep a safe distance from Hermione while they spoke.
"Good thing we didn't tell Hermione that you could turn into a cat," Kelena whispered, sporting a devious grin.
"Or that you're a Metamorphmagus," continued Live wickedly. The two erupted in giggles and hurried forward to catch up with the others.
sSs
