"Do you want to see Harry's present from me?" Hermione asked.

"It doesn't have too many bows and frills does it?" Fred asked.

"We might have to make him wear it the rest of his holiday," George began.

"And through the entire term," Fred finished.

"Mostly with a Permanent Sticking Charm," George said, smiling wickedly.

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "It's this Muggle poster, but-"

"Muggle?" Fred said, "Points for originality, but…"

"Negative points for boring," George said.

"Will you let me finish?" Hermione asked, eyebrows arched.

"Yes, whatever were we thinking?" Fred exclaimed, bowing low.

"We bow to your superior gift finding abilities," George said.

"As you should," Hermione said with a nod. "It's a poster that has a Muggle video game on it, and I want to find a way to make it come alive, and move, much like the Wizarding ones."

"Interesting," George said, stroking his chin down a few centimetres into the air as though he had a beard. "Pray tell, were you thinking of doing so without the extraordinary talents of Messrs. Weasley and Weasley?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Hermione said with a chuckle.

"I still don't get it," Harry said. "It's a cool idea, but I just don't understand it. It's like a half-eaten cheese wheel chasing after these octopus pudding blobs."

"Muggles are mysterious that way," Fred said.

"There is much wisdom in their mysteriousness," George said, sagely.

"It's just Pac-man," Hermione said, laughing now.

"We should inspect this gift later to help verify the authenticity and improve upon the Muggle simplicity," Fred stated, serious.

"And learn its secrets, forever securing our place in the future of mankind," George added.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So," Harry asked, "how has your break been?"

"Oh, the usual," Fred said.

"Wild experiments in our room," George said, "general scolding from mum."

"Half the time," Fred added, "she isn't exactly sure what we have done."

"She would scold just as much if she did," George said, "to be fair."

Knock. Knock.

"Harry? Hermione?" came Mrs. Weasley's voice through the door.

"Speak of the manticore," Fred said in a breathless whisper.

"We're in here," Harry answered. He stepped over to the door and opened it, revealing the inquisitive Mrs. Weasley looking in.

"Hermione, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "your father is back. Can you two help us prepare for dinner?"

"Sure," she replied, rising from Fred's bed where she had been sitting. Fred and George rose from George's bed, following her with obvious reluctance.

The four of them followed Mrs. Weasley to the kitchen where the others were busy helping. The younger siblings were collecting plates and utensils, Charlie and Bill were carrying a large pair of tables through the door and into the yard.

"We've got too many people to eat in the kitchen this evening," Mrs. Weasley said. "Can you help Ginny and Ron set the places?"

They went outside to set a placemat and utensils at each place. Harry felt the late afternoon sun peaking around the edge of the house, warming his face when he faced it. Ginny had a minor accident when he tried to take some plates from her. The whole lot, about eight plates still in her hands, fell flat on the ground at her feet and shattered into many pieces. Harry stood there, about an arm's reach too far away to help, looking at the pile of rubble. Ginny's face turned the brightest pink, and she covered her face with her hands.

"Careful there," Bill said, flicking his wand. The broken bits reassembled into neatly stacked plates and floated carefully to their places. Kneeling down to Ginny's height, saying to her, "Are you okay? Don't carry too many at once, Gin."

"I-I," Ginny began, still covering her red face. "Thanks."

"Of course," Bill said, smiling. "How about we get the last few utensils set, eh?"

She nodded, and the pair took care of the last couple on their side of the table. Harry stood there watching what transpired, confused. Something was evidently bothering the youngest sibling. He didn't have time to inquire before the adults came out bearing platters full of food. Mr. Granger carried the largest, a mouth-watering duck.

"Oh, where can Arthur be?" Mrs. Weasley said, stepping back into the house as though he were wandering about inside there.

"He'll be here shortly, I'm sure," Bill assured her, setting down a bowl of potatoes.

"We might as well start," Mrs. Weasley said, "sometimes the Ministry keeps him back a little."

The places were set, everyone took a seat, and, before they began to eat, Mr. Granger raised a glass to toast. "Cheers to a happy meeting," he said, "and an excellent meal."

"Here, here!" they cheered.

Mr. Weasley appeared causing a bit of a stir around the table. He came over taking the remaining empty seat between Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Granger.

"Oh, sorry I'm late everyone," he said, taking his seat. "A Muggle picked up something rather nasty at one of those, what do you call them, sale of car box things, Mr. Granger?"

"Car boot sale?" Mr. Granger offered after a moment of thought. "Please call me Robert."

"Ah, that's the thing," Arthur said. "Call me Arthur. Tell me, Robert," he began, ladling some mash into the man's plate for him, "is a lawn mower usually dangerous?"

"No," he answered. "We Muggles use them to shorten the grass when it gets too long. Was there something wrong with one?"

"Evidently, someone hexed one to roll out of control at someone's house," Arthur said. "It caused quite a mess, as you might expect."

"That's horrible!" Robert replied, putting down his fork. "Did you find out who did it?"

"We're looking into it," Arthur said, frowning. "For now, we removed the hex, cleaned up as best we could, and modified the Muggle memories."

"Modified their-?" Robert asked, surprised.

"Magic is meant to be secret," Arthur said. "Can you imagine the chaos if all the Muggles suddenly knew about the wizarding world? These sort of pranks would just be the start of the problems on both sides. So, we remove the bad memories in these cases, so that the Muggles don't have to remember them, and can't tell others about it."

"I-I don't know what to think about that," Robert said. "I could have had my memory changed and not even know it. It's a bit….violating, isn't it?"

Harry looked down the table, having been listening as most of the table was to the pair talking. He hadn't thought of it that way, before. It was a very good question.

Arthur seemed a bit conflicted, but Bill stepped in.

"It may not be ideal," Bill said, "but at least Muggles don't have horrible memories of bad things rotten wizards have done. They wouldn't understand it and would be terrified, haunted by such possibilities."

"Some think that the wizarding world should open up more to the Muggle one, work together," Charlie said, "but most are afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Robert asked, sounding anxious.

"Afraid of what would happen if we were known," Bill said. "If everyone wanted magical solutions to all of their problems, we wouldn't have a moment's rest."

"Not to mention wizards and witches might be treated as weapons," Charlie said.

"Every war that Muggles fight uses whatever technology and weapons are available," Hermione said. "It's a sad truth."

"And wizarding wars are different?" Robert asked, sounding upset.

"Not so far as I've seen," Hermione said. "They just use different weapons."

"The danger," Charlie said,"would be in mixing the two."

"Picture your greatest explosive…what's it called," Bill said, frowning and putting his hand to his head.

"The nuclear weapons?" Robert asked.

"Yes, those," Bill said, gesturing towards Mr. Granger. "Those are protected so that Muggles cannot get to them. If wizards are suddenly able to Apparate - appear from thin air, so to speak - into the room containing them and whisk them away in an instant, wouldn't that terrify the Muggles? And if your enemies had wizards, you would have them too, and everyone would be fighting at a much more dangerous level."

"I suppose you are right," Robert said. "I still don't like it, so much, but it makes sense."

"No one has come up with a better way yet," Arthur said, sadly. "Maybe one of this lot will."

The younger Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione all looked over at him with a question in their eyes.

"Change often comes with younger generations," Arthur said. "You should have seen some of the things they allowed back when I was younger."

"Oh?" Robert asked.

The pair began discussing some older days, and Harry could see Robert had warmed up to Arthur more. They laughed and chatted amicably thereafter.

Harry turned to Hermione, saying, "I was scared they were going to start fighting over the Muggle wizard thing."

Hermione frowned, saying, "My dad does have a point, though. The Muggles are kept much more in the dark about things than the wizards and witches."

"Well," Harry said, "I suppose that's a matter of population. The wizards cannot ignore the amount of Muggles in the world. It's much easier to disguise the smaller population than the larger one."

"True," she said, eyes glazing over as she looked up at the purple band of sunset above the house.

Harry looked, too, seeing faint hints at a more pink along the edge of the house. Further away from the house, paler and darker colours played across the sky. The air was still warm from a long, hot summer's day.

"Enough of the heavy talk," Fred said, "what about the topic at hand?"

"Yes," George said, "indeed, the topic at hand."

"And what might that be?" Hermione asked, arching her eyebrow.

"Silly little Hermy-pie," Fred said. "We all know the topic."

"We do?" Harry asked.

"And since when am I a Hermy-pie?" Hermione asked, shaking her head.

"Since now," Fred said.

"On this day," George added, "the twin knights of Weasley thus dubbethed Miss Hermione Granger, the Hermy-pie."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "And what, pray tell, is this topic?" she asked, clearly ready to change the subject.

"Why the birthday of one Harry Potter, of course," Fred said.

"There must be pranks, of course," George stated, solemn.

"That goes without saying," Fred added. "But more important things will have to be discussed."

"Ah, yes," George said. "The initiation, for one."

"Initiation?" Harry asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll know soon enough," Fred said, his eyes maniacal.

"Better you than me," Hermione whispered to him, chuckling.

"Oh, just you wait, Hermy-pie," George said. "Your birthday will be at Hogwarts, right? Initiations are so much…"

"More interesting there," Fred finished.

Harry laughed. Hermione couldn't help laughing, too. Finally, the twins burst with their raucous laughter, but no one else at the table seemed to notice. It had to be a common occurrence. Harry saw that the rest of the table had divided into a few different conversations. The two fathers were eating and talking as casually as though they were best friends. Harry occasionally heard one ask a question like, "How does the wand create magic?" or "What is the purpose of this fellytone thing?"

Mrs. Weasley was scolding Bill about his hair while Charlie fought on his behalf. Percy was lecturing Ron and Ginny at the other end about something so interesting Ron was feigning sleep in a bowl of gravy. Or maybe he had actually fallen asleep in it. Ginny caught sight of Harry looking down towards her end, and managed to knock the bowl out from under Ron's chin and onto his lap.

Fred and George saw this, laughing at Ron. "Take better care of your bowl there, Ronald," Fred cried across. Ron shot an ugly look at Fred before carrying the bowl off and hurrying inside to find a new shirt.

"Am I supposed to be involved in this planning?" Harry asked.

"Oh, just so you know to keep the day free," Fred said.

"We'll fill Hermione in on her duties later," George added.

"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said, grinning.

"There's no apologising in the trenches," Fred told her.

"Have you thought of anything new during the break?" Harry asked.

"New for what?" Fred asked. "We always have so many projects going on."

"New pranks, I suppose?" Harry asked.

"Oh, a bit," George said. "But we won't be telling what."

"You need to be initiated to know the full ways of the twins," Fred said, solemn.

"Oh, however can we live without that?" Hermione asked.

"Sadly, so many must," Fred said.

"I only asked as I was thinking about some of those spells we used to guard the trapdoor," Harry said, "and I reckon we could improve on them."

"Oh?" Fred asked. "Is our little Harrykins thinking of taking up the great art of the trickster?"

"No, but I think you could stop someone much more effectively by-" Harry began.

"Shh," Hermione said, elbowing Harry. He looked around, and saw Mrs. Weasley coming around the table.

"How are you two settling in?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "Harry, you look rather starved. You should eat more, do."

"He had a pretty healthy appetite at our place," Robert called across chuckling. "Kids just burn off everything. I miss those days."

Harry could see him feeling his ever-so-slight bump around the stomach. He laughed, shaking his head at the rather skinny man.

"Still," Mrs. Weasley said, "it's good to keep up your strength, and look, there's still a heap of this mash here." She plonked more onto his plate before moving down to check on the end of the table.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said. He was used to good food service at Hogwarts. The House-elves were second to none, but the Weasleys and Grangers had been very hospitable towards him. He really appreciated how much they all tried to make him feel at home.

After a little more feasting, the meal was done, and Mr. Weasley was going to assist Mr. Granger in getting home quickly.

"I really can't drive all the way back at this hour," Robert said. "I would be much too tired."

"Oh, you came here by car?" Arthur asked, excited again. "I have one, myself. You should see it. I've done some work on it that you might find really-"

"Arthur, not now," Molly, his wife, said in her subtlety annoyed voice.

"Right," he said, suddenly more business, "Perhaps we can Apparate you back into your area, and then you drive the last of the way home."

"Appa-what?" Robert asked, sounding a bit unsure.

"If you hold my dad's arm," Bill said, "he can take you directly to Cambridge, was it?"

"Yes, but what about my car?" Robert asked.

Everyone puzzled for a minute, wondering how they could get a large vehicle to travel across the country as fast as apparition. Robert watched the others, looking rather beside himself. Despite the conversation and all his interest in magical things, he still hadn't gotten used to being around it.

"Mr. Weasley," Harry said, "maybe you could shrink his car down so that you could carry it with you when you apparate."

"Or just vanish it," Bill said, "and make it re-appear on the other end."

"That's probably better for the car," Charlie said.

"True," Harry said. "If it's small, you could hurt it more easily."

"What do you mean by vanish?" Robert asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Like this, Mr. Granger," Bill said. He waved his wand at a glass on the table.

It vanished. Bill walked over to the other side of the table and waved his wand again. The glass appeared on the table at the new place, right where he had pointed with the wand.

Robert came over and picked up the glass. "Amazing," he said, holding it up to the dimming light of the sunset.

"We can do the same with your car, Robert," Arthur said. "We pop over to Cambridge, find a quiet spot and make your car reappear in the same place."

"If you think that is the best way," Robert said. "I suppose it would be a sight to see. Only…you won't erase my memory, will you?"

"Just don't broadcast there are wizards and witches everywhere," Arthur said with a laugh.

"The Hogwarts professor who met with us and our Hermione told us that," Robert said, "so no worry there."

"That had to be a surprise, eh?" Arthur asked, walking down the lane with Robert and the others.

"Oh yes," Robert said.

"Very surprising," Hermione said. "But it was a wonderful one."

"We're very glad she's taken so well to school," Robert said, pride showing in his eyes. "She's always been the top of her class. Hermione works hard and we're both very proud of her success."

"We've heard nothing but good things from our sons," Molly said, smiling.

"Thank you," he said. "And thank you for taking her and Harry on for the last bit of summer. If you need to reach us, Hermione knows our address and phone. Owl if it's an emergency, I suppose."

"We will," Molly said as they arrived at the edge of the wood.

"Now," Robert said, turning about. "It's been very nice to meet you all. I will see if my Milly can come next time. Perhaps we will both see Hermione off at the station in September."

The others wished their goodbyes to Mr. Granger before he came up and gave Hermione a big hug. "You have a fun time, Jeannie dear. Your mother and I will miss you, very much."

"I'll miss you both, too," she replied, returning the hug and kiss. "I'll see you soon."

"Harry," Robert said, shaking his hand, "it has been great getting to know you. Take care."

"You too, Mr. Grang-err, Robert," Harry said.

Robert and Arthur passed through the trees. After a moment there was a loud crack sound, and Harry knew that the pair had Apparated to Cambridge, shortening the journey home significantly. The rest of them walked back up to the Burrow. They needed to clean up, and bed was probably in order at some point. But knowing the twins, Harry and Hermione wouldn't be allowed to sleep for quite some time. They had many things yet to discuss.