12
Fred swore loudly as he stumbled out of bed the next morning, after stubbing his toe on the dresser. He immediately smacked his hand over his mouth as he remembered Carly still sleeping there on his bed. She didn't seem to have heard him however, as she didn't move an inch, and Fred breathed a sigh of relief. He headed across to the door, stepped through it, and silently closed it behind him. George was already eating a breakfast of Witchety Smacks cereal and reading the Daily Prophet. Fred took a seat beside his identical twin and sighed.
"Heard back from Dad yet?"
"Yeah. He's on his way over with Mum." George replied.
"Really? Thank Merlin's beard…" Fred muttered.
There were three loud snaps as Molly and Arthur Weasley, the twins parents, plus Ginny Weasley, the youngest of the Weasley children, plus the only girl, apparated beside them in the small kitchen.
"Hey Mum, Dad, Ginny." Fred stood up, to greet them, quickly glancing at his bedroom door, hoping the noise hadn't woken Carly. Ginny playfully punched Fred's arm, but Arthur started pacing immediately.
"George told me everything that happened to the two of you. Well, I should say, three. Sorry it took so long to get here… Where is she?" Arthur enquired.
"Asleep." Fred said slowly. Arthur raised a questioning eyebrow, while Ginny rolled her eyes and smirked.
"My room." Fred replied quickly to his fathers gaze, hoping his mother wouldn't reprimand him right now.
Molly threw a startled look at Arthur but nothing more was said on the subject and Fred relaxed a little, though he knew he would hear it later.
"So what do we do?" George asked, who was also smirking slightly.
"Well I say we report them. Tell the Ministry what they're up to. I think I could pull a few strings and get the issue prioritized…" Arthur continued pacing. He worked for the Ministry of Magic, as the Head of Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells Protective Objects, and would have no trouble getting the situation sorted out.
"Do you think the Ministry would waste it's time on something like this though?" Fred asked his father.
"Of course Fred, there are departments that are put in place exactly for these situations." Arthur replied distractedly.
"Well let's head down there now then, shall we?" George suggested, folding up his newspaper, which had pictures of Death Eaters branded on the front, who leered at the Weasley's from their Azkaban cells.
"Right then, we'll not all of us need to go. Maybe just the two boys.."
"I'm staying, Carly's in the next room, remember?" Fred cut over Arthur, ignoring Mrs. Weasley's sigh.
"I'm sure she'll be fine, Fred. Besides, your mother and Ginny will be here if she wakes up. I'm sure she'll understand." Mr. Weasley replied.
George began stoking the fire in the fireplace, and pulled out a box of Floo Powder from the kitchen cupboard.
"You shouldn't keep your Floo Powder in the kitchen cupboard!" Molly gasped. "Didn't I teach you boys anything?"
"Probably." Fred grinned.
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes won't go anywhere, right?" George added, his grin identical to Fred's.
"Alright boys, come on, we have to do this as quick as we can." Mr. Weasley muttered, grabbing a handful of Floo Powder, as Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes.. He threw the powder into the fire and the flames sprung up instantly, turning a bright acid green. He stepped into the flames.
"Ministry of Magic!" He cried, and was suddenly gone from the fireplace, and the flames shrunk down and turned gold once more.
"My turn." George said, stepping towards the fireplace and throwing his powder at the flames.
"Ministry of Magic!" He yelled, and managed to poke his tongue out at Ginny before he disappeared.
"If she wakes, tell her I'll be back soon." Fred said, and the two women nodded, though Fred meant for it to be aimed more at Ginny than his mother. He shrugged and threw his powder onto the flames and watched them spring to life. As he stepped inside, called his destination and braced himself for the whirling sensation, he saw Carly standing in the doorway of his bedroom. She smiled at him softly for a split second, and then Fred was pulled away.
The fireplaces whizzed before his eyes and Fred struggled to keep his breathing under control. The Floo Network wasn't exactly his favourite way to travel after once inhaling a mouthful of soot and shortly after on the same trip being prodded by a pointy stick holding a marshmallow. George, of course, had found that amusing.
Fred stumbled out into the massive hallway that belonged to the Ministry, and after catching his bearings briefly, spotted his father and brother, and the three of them headed to the elevators.
Fred ignored the cool woman's voice as they ascended six levels, finally arriving on Basement Level Two, which housed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"Oh, hello there, Arthur." A young wizard nodded at the three Weasley's as he practically ran past them.
"Arano Derpley." Arthur said simply to Fred and George, as a brief explanation.
They reached the main doors to the Law Enforcement department, and stepped inside. The room was a light grey, with magical windows on the walls, depicting a sunny day.
A door to the right had a small window on which was printed, 'Arthur Weasley, Head of Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells Protective Objects'. The twins nodded at each other, with eyebrows raised, in recognition. Arthur was already to talking to a tall woman with grey hair behind the Administrative desk in hushed tones. The woman nodded a few times, muttering back, then gestured for the three of them to take a seat.
"They'll be with us in a moment." Arthur explained as they sat down.
None of them said anything until a young blonde man approached them and extended his hand to each of them. He had worry lines that creased his forehead, but his blue eyes sparkled with curiosty.
"Walken. Christopher Walken. I'm the Head of Office for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Come on into my office, take a seat." He stated, then beckoned for the Weasleys to follow him into his office.
He took a seat behind an elaborate mahogany desk, where messy stacks of paper sat amongst quills, ink wells and coffee mugs.
He conjured chairs for the three men to sit on, and once they were all seated Walken began speaking rapidly.
"Alright gentlemen, I need to know every detail of your encounters, what the offenders looked like, names they gave, specific details unique to them, accents they may have had, hair colour, eye colour, scars, tattoos, jewelry, everything. Any places they mentioned. Any detail will help.
We have magical records on every witch and wizard that ever attended a school of magic. For example, I could say to you Thomas Wilkins has buck teeth, Jennifer Armond is blonde, and Harry Potter has green eyes. With such details we can narrow down suspects. Unfortunately it's only marginally, and they may have been home schooled, but it can help. So let's get started shall we?"
The three Weasley's glanced at each other, then the twins in turn described their assailants.
When they were done, and Walken had taken down all description on parchment, he filed the sheets in a drawer behind his desk and smiled wanly at them.
"I think that will do for now, I will give these details to my colleagues when they return from their current assignment. Thank you for your descriptions, I am sure they will be of much help. From now on I do suggest you keep a close eye on your customers, even the regulars, and make sure your friend Carly is always in safe hands. I fear that they may make an attack on this girl if she is left unguarded. If this does occur, then we may need to get the Aurors involved... But let us not think of such things!" Walken rose to his feet and the Weasley's followed suit, and shook Walken's hand in turn.
"Thank you for your help." Fred said, and George nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I hope you can catch them soon."
"We will do our best to do so." Walken replied, as he rounded his desk and led them back to the door of his office.
"Well I hope that will have gotten us somewhere." Arthur sighed as they made their way back to the fireplaces. The twins nodded together, then one after the other they all stepped into the fire to return to Diagon Alley.
