CH 14
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
April first was a day that the Weasley twins loved. First because it was their day of birth, but secondly it was a day where pranks were accepted and their small Owl order only business flourished, as they sold samples of their products to the students of the school.
They didn't care what House the students were in, so business for the two of them boomed.
However, this year they actually received two parcels from Hedwig. Ron didn't notice, but their little sister did and she wondered why Harry would be sending something to her older brothers.
The twins were surprised, but they opened up the packages. One package contained a small parcel of books, including one that had been in Harry's personal tent library called Small Business Spells. He'd sent them two others on how to run a successful business. One was called 'Magical Marketing for the Masses' and the other was 'Business Accounting - Big and Small'. The second parcel contained a few common muggle joke items that the twins were absolutely fascinated with.
They pulled Harry away from his friends demanding an explanation for each and situations in which each item could be used. Whoopee cushions were explained with great hilarity, the nerd glasses didn't need that much explanation, tooth tinting gum and hot pepper gum was also easily explained.
"Most of these pranks are harmless," Harry said. "Some require some ingenuity to set up like the Whoopee cushions."
"Right-o Harry," Fred said, as he routed through the package and found glasses with spring-loaded, plastic eyes. "These are great."
"You better believe it," George said, as he put on oversize plastic sunglasses with a fluorescent green frame. "We could definitely use some of these ideas to make more magical products of our own," as he read about the function of the dribble glass that he pulled out of the box.
"I know," Harry said and then looked at them seriously. "Guys, um...I'd like to invest money in your shop. Maybe buy a few shares, you know, to support you...um...silently. Maybe I could buy a building for you in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley to set up your shop or a private lab somewhere for safe experimentation?"
Fred and George exchanged looks. They turned to Harry and asked, "Why?"
"Mainly because of something that I recently learned about my father and the friends he had in school," Harry explained. "They loved to prank people, although I have a feeling that they sometimes took it way too far." He paused to frown at that and then looked to them, "Anyway I figured that you could use a safe place to experiment or something like that."
"We refuse charity," George said, proudly.
"I understand," Harry said holding up his hand. "I was suggesting something more a partnership. A kind of silent business partnership because I'd like to be involved in something had has nothing to do with the Dark Idiot, if you know what I mean."
Luna showed up just then and said, "You should accept his offer."
"Luna," Harry put his hand over his eyes, as though to hide. He peeked through his fingers to gauge how the sixth year, Gryffindors were taking Luna's information. "Please," he said.
"They should know," the girl said, looking at both of them and then she focused on George. She tugged on Fred's arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy Birthday," she said, and tugged George to give him a tiny peck on his amused and then stunned mouth. "You're mine, in five years time." She then walked away with a flutter of her hand in a wave. "Be sure to send your order sheet to the Quibbler and the Underground Courier too."
"What the bloody hell was that," George asked, when he remembered that he had two guys grinning at him wickedly. "Is she cracked?"
"No," Harry sighed, still smiling. "I think she Sees things though. I've spoken to her from time to time and her advice has never once failed me. She's right though, you should put your Owl order forms in those too papers."
"Aren't you and her an item or something," George asked, although he suspected that they weren't going out since the girl had basically staked her claim on him? He pondered the strange Ravenclaw girl that walked away from them. He thought she was too young for him.
"No," Harry said. "We just play the part because it keeps the mass attention seekers away from me."
Fred looked to him and said, "That's brilliant, but what if someone was truly interested in you."
"I'm not prepared to invest time in anyone," Harry told them seriously. "I have too much to do, studying-wise and time is getting away from me. I want to do the best that I can within my immediate limitations. That's why I'd like to partner up with you two, in something like this. It'll keep reminding me that magic can be used for jolly good fun."
"Well," Fred looked to George, who nodded his head to his twin, who nodded back.
George looked at Harry and held out his hand. "All right partner, we agree. We'll meet again before the year ends…"
"…and draw up particulars for our future association," Fred said and held out his hand too.
Harry smiled at them, cross his arms and shook both of their extended hands, laughing as they did. "Bargain agreed," he said. "Meet me at the Gringotts Branch during the next Hogsmeade week-end at eight am in the morning. It's the best time to set up business accounts."
"Bargain agreed," Fred said and nodded his head.
"We'll be there," George agreed and nodded too.
Harry waved at them, as he headed in the direction of his morning class, "Bring your betting slip too."
Fred looked to his twin with a questioning look on his face and asked, "Do you think we're going to regret this?"
George had a similar expression and then he shook his head saying, "Nah. I'm thinking we're going to be in the right place at the right time for once."
"What about your future girl," Fred asked with a wicked grin.
George shrugged and said, "You know I'm not into the dating scene or anything like that. Five years may seem like a long way off, but if things are going to get…"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Fred said. "We're just going to have to make sure that everyone's as safe as they can be and…"
"Make sure that we're still around to lighten the mood with products from Weasleys Wizard Wheezes," they finished together with a high-five to one another.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Around the twentieth of May, sometime between the first and seventh of the month the four Champions were rounded up by Ludo Bagman and the other judges. The goal of the third task was explained to them down at the Quidditch Pitch.
Harry goggled at the sight of the growing hedges that were about eighteen inches high at the moment. His beloved Quidditch Pitch, a place where he'd been flying a few times in the past year to clear his head was now out of bounds. 'Bloody hell,' he thought. 'Why does something always ruin a perfectly good year of school?'
"Don't worry young man," Ludo Bagman said. "I know just how you feel. The Pitch will be returned to playing shape in time for your next year of school."
Harry nodded his head and then walked away from them, when they were dismissed. He had another appointment in Hogsmeade and couldn't miss it for anything. His godfather had sent him a note to meet up with him without his friends tagging along.
He raced through the corridors of Hogwarts, up to his private closet room and into his Alchemy room to pick up the flask with the Masking Potion that he'd made again. His godfather had requested more of it and that if it could be made to last longer, he'd greatly appreciate it.
So Harry had tested different versions and one that actually ended up tasting like fermented grape juice, which lasted for just a little over two hours. He only needed to change the cutting angle on the flower stem of his conjured Orchid, which had to have a longer expiration time. The one that he'd made for his test with Snape and contained the flower that had a time limit of one day had turned to sludge.
He also needed to use half of a crushed petal instead of three, plus two and a half drops of basilisk venom, a small change to the temperature of the flames when it is low, by one degree. That's all that needed to be changed on the original recipe in order to extend the time that the Masking Vapours could be used.
He had tested it on himself to mask his lightning bolt scar, change his hair and eye colour for the fun of it. He claimed that he'd been pranked, but didn't state who had done it. He'd walked around school with dark green hair, while his eyes were turned to a lime green for two hours and fifteen minutes. He deemed the changed potion to be a success. The Weasley twins accepted congratulations for the well-done prank, but were planning to get the information out of the Boy-Who-Lived on what really had happened.
So far the blasted boy had avoided them. They chose to follow him on the day that he was planning to meet up with his godfather. However he knew that they were there, besides he figured that the twins would be pleased to meet up with one their Marauder heroes, if he could keep them from cursing the man in the first place.
Harry double-checked his pockets and carryall before heading out to Hogsmeade. He was lucky this weekend, as Hermione had chosen to study for her final exams, while Ron was in detention for fighting with Malfoy again. They were both stuck cleaning the boys' first floor toilettes with toothbrushes. Not an original punishment, but definitely one that they would remember.
The Boy-Who-Lived walked about Hogsmeade without a care at who would see him because he used the Mask Potion again, this time all he'd done was change the shape of his glasses, his eye colour to a pale greenish-brown and let his hair grow to his shoulders again. The twins were surprised that no one noticed.
They followed him, disillusioned by the common charm that they knew about. They were busy whispering when they fell to the Petrificus Totalus spell. They felt their bodies being levitated and then moved to a secluded location. They weren't released from the spell until their disillusion charm had faded.
Harry shook his head and said, "You two! Accio all Weasley twins' wands." He pocketed all of the wands, the real along with the trick wands in a leather sack. "You want to know what's going on, well then follow the path until you get to a small opening between the rocks." They looked back at him and he said, "Go on. I'll be right behind you."
He then held them at wand point, forcing…um…guiding them to the cave. His godfather appeared from the tent opening in the cave, offering them some soup. "Hey," Sirius said. "You guys hungry, I just made pasta soup." He looked at the Weasley twins and then he turned to Harry, "These aren't your regular friends."
"Nope," Harry replied. "Go on guys, he's practically harmless." The twins were up for nearly anything and since it was extremely obvious that their young friend and business partner was not afraid of someone known as a serial killer, they figured that they'd eventually get an explanation.
They declined the soup in favour of the truth first. "We prefer to be certain…"
"That what we're about to eat is not poisoned," George finished.
"Right," Harry said. "Well, then, last year you know that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban." The twins nodded and motioned for him to get on with the story. "You also know that Ron lost Scabbers."
They looked to one another and wondered what the significance that was.
"Scabbers is the animagus rat form of a man that was also known as Wormtail," Harry said with a significant look at them, but saw that they recognized that name. "His real name is Peter Pettigrew and he was the one that betrayed my parents to the Dark Idiot."
The twins' eyes widened at that and they understood much more, as they grimaced at the thought that some strange man had been living in their house, hiding from justice and condemning what seemed to be an innocent man to prison. "How do we know…"
"That you're telling us the truth," George finished.
"Ron knows," Harry said. "Remember when his leg was injured last year."
The twins nodded and then turned to the man. George asked, "Why were you placed in prison?"
"Why hide now," Fred asked. The situation was explained and the twins whistled at the complications of it. "So now you're on the run from…"
"The law," George continued. "Poor mite," he said to Harry, as he noogied his head in a brotherly fashion. "No one to turn to, no one to trust!"
"Shove off," Harry said, as he escaped from their evil brotherly clutches. "I trust the two of you with him, just as you two trusted me with this," he said and pulled out the Marauders' Map.
"Well that's something I haven't seen in a long time," Sirius said. He looked at the map fondly and then noticed the shrewd look he was getting from the two red-haired look-a-likes. "What?"
"Do you know who made it," Fred asked in a rushed breath.
"Of course I do," Sirius said with a grin. "I made this with my friends. Mr. Padfoot, at your service," he bowed to the boys and changed into the large black wolfhound, which looked like it could be mistaken for a Grim. They nearly squealed like girls in delight and then they turned to Harry with a look, asking for an explanation.
"My father was nicknamed Prongs," Harry said. "Apparently he was an unregistered animagus also, a large Stag like my Patronus. Professor Lupin was Moony and you know about the other one."
"Brilliant," Fred said in a quick breath.
"Bloody brilliant," George replied. "We want to do the same. You guys are our heroes."
"Pranking where pranking has never gone before," Fred said with a nod. "Please teach us more."
Sirius barked out his laughter and then turned to his godson. "I like them," he said. "Of course I'll help where I can, what do you boys have in mind?"
"I wanted to buy them the premises for their shop," Harry said. "I also want to open up an experimental lab for the creation of magical joke items, but I don't want it to be in the same place as their store."
"We agreed that he'd be the honorary head of our Research and Development department," Fred said. "He gave us muggle items to see, if they could be converted to a magical equivalent."
"We are in need of a private and secure place," George said. "Especially since our mum would definitely not approve of any of this."
"We'd need someone to oversee what we do in order to help improve things," Fred continued. "Kind of like a manager or some such."
"Do you know of anyone qualified," George asked, both twins were begging with their eyes.
"Are we talking of full-time or part-time work," Sirius asked.
"Part-time," the twins replied together and George continued by saying, "We know that things are going to get iffy in the future and it makes sense that we do our part…"
"We're not planning to monopolise anyone's time, but we would appreciate someone checking in on us from time to time," Fred explained. "You know to make sure that we're not hurt or damaged, so-to-speak?"
Sirius paused to look at the three boys. He liked their ideas and it was going to be a good thing for Zonko's to have some serious competition. He tilted his head and thought about how to go about creating items and then about a location for a shop. "Diagon Alley would be the best place to set up a shop," he said. "It's more centrally located to the majority of shoppers, I'll look into a place for lease or perhaps to buy and you can lease to own from me. I won't charge you a wand and a broom for it either."
"I agree," Harry said. "You'd get the students shopping for the school supplies there too. So, I'm thinking that maybe a warehouse or barn in a remote location for the research lab?"
Sirius nodded. "There are some located everywhere," he said. "Are you planning to purchase one?"
"Yes," Harry replied. "I'm going to have it secured and secreted by the Goblins of Gringotts or maybe the Dwarves of Stoneguard, those two races have more access to Earth magics and are the best for security period."
"All right little brother," Fred said. "You win. We'll wait for you to tell us where it is and then we can all come and go as we please."
"Right," George said. "Are you planning to name the lab anything interesting?" He received a questioning look from his brother and the younger Gryffindor. "I mean is it going to have a business name and purpose or will it be a subsidiary of WWW."
"I think that it will be a subsidiary company of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," Harry said. "But the name of it has to be The Marauders' Mischief Lab or MML for short."
"Perfect pup," Sirius said. "I'll send and Owl to Remus and see if he can dig up our old pranking journals. He'll help when he can and might be the best one to look in on you from time to time, if you boys don't mind."
The twins' faces lit up at the thought of getting the venerated information.
"Guys," Harry said. "Just make sure that most of the pranks you produce are not harmful, okay?"
"Harry," Sirius asked in a tone.
"I don't want the pranks to be used to bully or to hurt anyone," Harry said and crossed his arms, as he explained. "I'd like it if the person being pranked could take it in a good humour, like Neville did with your Canary Creams, but I know that just like casting magic spells, intent is the key."
"We understand Harry," Fred said. "We'll leave you to talk to your godfather now."
"Our wands if you please," George said, with his hand out.
"Yes," Fred said. "If you please," he said with his hand out as well.
"All right," Harry said and handed them the storage bag he'd used for the wands. There had been too many of them, but the bag had been empty. It was one of his smaller bags that had a carrying capacity of five stone without any visible effect on the sack.
The boys left the place after they were Disillusioned once more.
The Boy-Who-Lived was alone with the man, who'd specifically asked him to show up in order to discuss what he'd found about the Riddle Family. "I found information on the name of the old man that died in your dream," Sirius told him. "His body was found in his old home and the muggle authorities claimed that the man died in his sleep."
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "That's what I figure they'd choose to say about it." He rubbed the back of his head and asked, "What about the Riddle Family?"
The ex-con explained, "They were once a prominent muggle family in a small town called Little Haggleton, not far from Great Haggleton. There were lots of ghost stories told in the local pub about the old man and he was link to a murder case that happened about fifty years ago. Three members of that family died under mysterious circumstances."
"The Dark Idiot is the one that did it," Harry said with certainty. "I've been doing research about the 'vessels' comment from one of the Prophesies and what's coming up every time in my mind is nothing pretty and everything Dark."
"What is it," Sirius asked. Despite his allegiance to the Light, he knew about many Dark Magics and rituals related to them. "What do you think he did?"
The Boy-Who-Lived looked far, far older than his fourteen years. He looked at the man with a look that told him to read his sincerity, "I think that he created a Horcrux." The Head of the Black Family sucked in his breath sharply, but the young man only continued. "In fact, since one of the prophesies said the word 'vessels' as in plural, I wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Idiot had made more than one."
"Bloody hell," Sirius swore. "If that's true than..."
"Yeah," the boy agreed. "He's not going to stop his rampage, as soon as he gets some kind of mobile body and I think that the Triwizard Tournament fits into that plan."
"I wish you were safe away from here," the man said, as he hugged his godson. "Do you want me to look further?"
"Please," Harry said. "There's something I'm missing, something about how a Horcrux is created." He held onto the man, who was more of a parent to him in the short amount of time that he'd known about him, than the Dursleys had ever been in the whole of the twelve plus years that he'd been living with them. "I know how to fix a botched Horcrux spell, however I still feel that something is missing, like how did he decide what to use as a container and what were the objects he chose?"
"I understand," Sirius said. "I'm going to need help on this. Can I bring Remus into the fold?"
"You haven't, yet?" Harry asked, surprised that the man would keep his oldest friend in the dark about any of this. "I thought that you'd have already told him some of it?"
"I can't," Sirius told him honestly. "It's part of the Godparent Magic and the oaths we take when we accept the position. James and Lily asked that I swear allegiance to you and you alone. They asked that, if you were to ever tell me something of a serious nature that I make every effort to believe and trust you. Any other alliances or allegiances that I choose to take in life are second to what I swore to you when you were a babe."
Harry bit his lips and tried to blink back tears of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. It was too much. Someone had sworn loyalty to him as a baby. He came first in that man's mind. Arms wrapped around him and he was enfolded in warmth. "Thank you," he said, as tried to hide the flinch his body made when the arms tightened. "I've never had that before."
"One day, sometime in the near future, I hope," Sirius started. "I hope that you'll tell me about it. Now though, I'd like to add Remus into the same bond and conditions that I'm bound by under the Godparent Magic. It seems that he's left you on your own too much and he might have been encouraged to keep his distance."
"You know that the same person that placed me with my aunt might have decided that I was to know nothing about my parents," Harry said, after he blew his nose into a handkerchief that had been held under it. He moved away after that to make some tea to calm down.
"Exactly," Sirius said. "There are several rituals to choose from, that can be done to allow me to share my responsibilities with him. It will allow him a voice in where you're place during your summers." He held up his hand in order to stop the protest he could see coming. "I already agreed that you can continue with your summer studies, but it will give the school someone they can actually contact should something happen to you. You already have the permission notes from your aunt and myself and he'll write one himself." He accepted the tea that was placed before him. "He'll just have to see that the summer program you chose is a good thing."
"You'll have to plan do it before the end of my fourth year here," Harry said, sipping his tea. "The Headmaster can't know about any of this either because I have a feeling that he'd try and stop you."
Sirius paused and thought about everything that his godson had told him about his previous years and from what he'd gleaned about the boy's true home life. "Good point," he said. "I wish this tent had a ritual room and then we could do it here."
"I have one in my tent," Harry said and sipped the tea he'd made.
"You do," the man said in a curious tone. "You have a tent too? Plus it contains a Ritual Room?"
"Of course I do," Harry said. "It's required equipment for my summer studies."
"Really," Sirius said and calculated a few things like time and planet alignments on the fly. His upbringing ensure that he knew the heavens and a few other things about rituals in order to make sure that they were carried out with optimum success. "Well, I'll be hexed," he said in a surprised tone. "You're program really requires you to have camping gear?"
"Yes," Harry said. "Look you get in touch with Professor Lupin and tell him what you can of your plans. Get him to send some of his Dark Arts essays or studies in print." He sighed and then said, "I've tried to write to him a few times, but the Owls all came back undeliverable."
"Really," Sirius' eyes gleamed. "Don't you worry about that, cause I'll get to the bottom of it, okay? Now what say you to letting me be the Professor for a bit, eh? I'll show you a few nifty jinxes and hexes that will never be taught to you in school."
Sirius looked at his godson's expression and barked his laughter out at the truly mischievous grin he received in reply.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC…