Chapter 9 – The Jokes on You
"Harry. I see the woman of your dreams has accepted your proposal."
"Yes she has. Ginny, Daveak is responsible for the final design of the ring you are wearing."
"It is great to meet you. I have a request."
"What would that be?"
"I would like another ring like this one made for Harry. I have decided that I want to have us wear these as wedding bands."
"That is a bit different but there is no problem with making the ring. It would take a few days. Have you set a date yet?"
"I have talked it over with mom and dad. They have agreed that we could have the wedding before school starts."
"I take it that these two are your best man and maid of honor?"
"Actually no, we are not here in that capacity. I saw her ring and fell in love with it. So when I asked Ron to marry me, I told him I wanted rings like hers. I like the rubies but want topazes instead of emeralds."
Ron stood there and said nothing. "That is a bit unusual for the woman to ask the man."
"Yes. The war with Voldemort taught me that life is a bit uncertain. I want to make sure that I do things before anything else happens. When Ginny said yes to Harry's proposal of marriage, I turned and asked Ron to marry me. Later he told me that he had wanted to ask me but had not gotten a ring yet."
"I said yes to her question when she said that she didn't need a ring to be engaged to me. I decided to make it a double wedding if we can get the rings done in time. I liked my sisters' idea to use them as wedding bands. Do you think you can get them done at the same time as Ginny's?"
"I have no problem getting them done at the same time. They will be ready in two weeks."
"Let's go tell mom. She is supposed to be at the Leaky Caldron to meet us for lunch."
"We can stop by George's flat and see if we can get him to come out. He's become a bit of a hermit."
Ginny turned to Ron. "I didn't know he hadn't been out Ron. Why?"
With a slight hitch in his voice, "He misses Fred."
Hermione hugged Ron. "Ok, let's see if we can get him to come out."
Ron looked pretty bad. "Are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah mate, but I sure miss Fred."
I slapped him on the back and we walked on in silence.
Ron knocked on the door to the flat. "Oi, George. Open up man."
George opened the door with his wand in hand. "Hi, what brings you to my flat?"
"Well Hermione, Ginny, Harry and I thought you should get out a bit so we have come by to kidnap you."
"Not happening."
I stared as hard as I could. "Then invite us in for a visit."
I think he was a bit shocked when he looked in our eyes. "Just for a bit but…"
"Good." Said Ginny and she pushed past him.
We all followed her in and closed the door. I handed him a piece of parchment and put a finger to my lips. This seemed to get his attention and he opened the note.
He nodded and cast a quick spell.
"The note says without other eyes and ears. This had better be good or I'm tossing you out through the window."
"The good news first"
She held up her hand showing off her ring. "Harry and I are getting married."
Ron piped in. "Hermione and I are getting married."
This seemed to stagger him he sat down in a chair.
I had to tell him the truth. I owed that much to him because the news that would follow would be pretty heavy.
"George, recently I have been introduced to the staff."
His head snapped to me. "Only family knows of the staff."
As soon as he said it his eyes got big and he looked at Ginny, Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, how did this happen?"
"Before you get to upset, your mom was witness to the question and the answer when I asked Ginny to marry me and she agreed."
George looked at us. "Start from the beginning. I have decided that I am not going to throw you out the window and I want all the detail you can give me."
We were there for half an hour or so before we finished and had his support.
"I haven't been in the shop since Fred died."
Ron handed him the cloak. "When we leave we are going to go to the Leaky Caldron tell mom about our double marriage plans. We will come up with the idea to clean up the store. This will give you time to get to the side door under Harry's cloak."
As we left Ron started talking with George. "I still think you should come with us."
"No Ron, I'm not ready yet."
"Ok, but next week I am going to drag you out. I'm going to get mom to come with me."
"Yeah, yeah. Next week."
He shut and locked the door. We were walking to the Leaky Caldron.
"Harry."
I turned and saw Amelia Bones coming toward me.
"It's good to see you out. Have you been to see George?"
Her eyes said something else. I made a quick decision. "We talked with George but couldn't get him to come out. Come with us to the Leaky Caldron. We are going to meet Mrs. Weasley."
Hermione made it sound spontaneous. "You can be among the first to hear the good news."
"What news?"
"You will have to come with us to find out."
Mrs. Weasley spotted us as we entered and noted we had another with us. "There you are. I was beginning to think you were going to stand your mom up for lunch."
"Mrs. Weasley."
Hermione was going to play it for all it was worth.
"Yes."
"I have asked Ron to marry me and he said yes."
"You mean you got tired of waiting for him and persuaded him to marry you?"
"No I mean I asked him and wouldn't take no for an answer."
Mrs. Weasley turned to Ron. "I think you owe me a sickle."
Ron had the decency to blush.
"Hermione, this means we are going to have a double wedding. Arthur will be pleased to no end."
Amelia looked shocked and worried. "This is great news. I am glad you shared it with me."
Again her eyes said something else. Molly saw it to and started talking with Hermione and Ron. Amelia whispered to me.
"Harry, you are being followed by the ministry. I don't know why or who has ordered it. I saw someone tailing you the other day and have been trying to find out why. Watch your back Harry. I think Fudge has it in for you."
"Thanks"
"I am going to have to go tell Arthur. He will be thrilled to gain a daughter as well."
I turned to Ginny. "I got it"
"Got what Harry."
"How to get George out of his flat."
"How?"
"Let's clean up the Joke shop, today"
Ron looked over at me with widening eyes as he realized what I had just implied. "Today?"
"Yeah, then he would have to come out and run the store."
Ginny picked up on the tension. "Are you sure you want to do it today?"
"Yep, the sooner the better."
"Aw, I wanted to finish my butterbeer."
Hermione just grabbed his arm and dragged him out of his seat. "We can come back and get one when we're done. If we don't get done tonight, we can come back and get two tomorrow and Harry can buy."
Amelia looked at us as she caught on. I sure hope I'm right about her. "I have to work late today. The boss is going to have a cow if I don't finish the bunch of papers on my desk."
I watched her leave. As she went out she paused and looked at someone I didn't know.
"Come on. If we hurry we can get back and finish the night with a stop here."
Ginny's eyes looked worried. "Okay."
We hurried down the street to the Joke Shop. I sure hope George was there.
"Why the side door?"
"I have a key to the side door."
"Oh."
We went in. I paused before I closed the door.
"This place is a mess."
"Block the front windows so passers by can't see in."
Just after I said that some blinds came down.
"George?"
"Yeah."
He pulled the cape off.
"We are being followed and I think Fudge is behind it."
Everybody looked over.
"Amelia said something after she told me we were being followed by the ministry. They're coming soon."
"They won't be able to come in the front now that the barricades are in place."
Ron looked nervous. "Start the cleaning. Stick to the plan."
George vanished under the cloak. Ginny went to one corner with me and Ron went to the other with Hermione. We were stirring up dust and chatting about the stuff on the shelves. The door opened quietly.
"I want to check the back room to see what kind of shape it's in."
Everyone tensed up. Six guys came in; as soon as they saw us they let loose. The hex didn't touch any of us but we went down with our wands still in hand.
"We get two Weasleys instead of one. Fudge is going to be pleased."
"Quiet fool, we need to make it look like a Weasley device malfunctioned and blew up the store."
The door slammed shut. They turned toward the door. We jumped up and four were down before they turned back around. George finished the other two as they turned back toward us. The door exploded inward. We ducked and George hid under the cloak again. Two more came in slinging hexes as they jumped behind the counter.
George spoke.
"Prolapsi Cavum, Adtillamus Digiti."
George smiled to himself as the two fell into a hole in the floor. We heard laughter coming from the hole in the floor. It took an hour to sort out that the first six were local thugs hired to do a job. They had no real bad crimes in their past. The last two were not just hired thugs. Both were wanted Death Eaters and were quite a catch.
"George, can you keep these eight here while we check out their home? I don't think we can let the ministry have them till we take care of Fudge. We need to get the evidence from their place."
"I can manage that. What do we do with them latter?"
"Those two we will turn in to Magical Law Enforcement. They need to pay for what they have done."
Ginny got a mischievous smile on her face. "The other six, make them the advertisement for reopening the Joke Shop of course."
That was the first time since Fred died that George had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.
"I think I have just the thing."
