Chapter 36

At 8pm the next evening, Harry and Hermione went to their scheduled meeting with the twins. When they arrived, Harry and Hermione found the twins hunched over a set of books with a lot of numbers in it. As they got closer, Harry was able to recognise the book that was their ledger.

"Do you want to talk about our joint venture? So, how brilliantly did we do?" Harry said happily.

"This meeting is not about our joint venture, even though we did extremely well. We supplied all or most of the school supplies for about 65 to 75 percent of all second year and above students," Fred said proudly.

"Then what do you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked.

"The problem is our family's financial situation is dire straits. We thought we were poor before but now the situation is way worse," Fred added.

"You see, the fine my parents got for our little brother's stunt is close to bankrupting us. Selling our home will barely cover the fine. Then we will have to start paying rent. Our parents will not be able afford to send us to school and pay rent at the same time."

"Can't your older brothers help?" Hermione asked.

"Charlie does not make much money from his job. It is really his calling so he cannot help. Bill, our eldest brother, was working in Egypt as a curse breaker. Since he is junior and unqualified in the eyes of the goblins, he is not making much money. So he has decided to come home and work in the Ministry instead to help out."

"How about our joint venture?" Harry asked.

"It makes nowhere near that kind of money. The only way we can save our home is if we use all the money we got without paying you guys. That includes the cost of the things that were purchased. It will breach our contract, and we are scared of what will happen then."

"We don't want you to lose your home. Why don't you allow us help you? We can work out a new agreement that will satisfy everyone?" Hermione suggested. Then Harry, Hermione and the twins took some time to negotiate a new agreement. The final result was that Harry would lend them as much money as they needed to save their home, and he would also pay all the twins educational costs. In return Harry was given the option to invest in any new business ventures the twins get involved in the future.

After the negotiations had been completed, Fred asked,

"Is there anything you want to talk about, or can we give the good news to our worried parents?"

Harry decided to delay them since he wanted Arthur and Molly Weasley to stew for a bit.

"We wanted to warn you that Professor Snape is on the war path. He suspects someone stole his notes, and we wanted to know if you can protect your mind from his probes."

"What probes are you talking about? If it is anal, then we will never let him, and I don't think he is kinky in that way. I've never seen him looking at our butts but maybe he exclusive to Dumbledore. That would explain how he able to get away with blue murder without the headmaster taking action," George said while batting his eye lids.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. I mean mental probes where he scan your minds for information," Harry said in defence of Hermione.

"No. We have never felt it," Fred replied.

"Do you mind if we try to scan your mind? I want to see if you do have any protection," Harry asked. Fred and George looked at each other.

"Alright, since you have been so willing to help us. Besides, we want to protect our business secrets from the Greasy Git," George said. Harry launched his attack on George, and all he found was a buzzing sound. He was not able to identify a single memory from George.

"Have you launch your attack on me yet?" George asked.

"I already tried. Let us see if I get the same results with Fred if that is alright?"

"Okay."

"Are you ready?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. Go ahead already," Fred said impatiently. It was same as George.

"I cannot read either of your minds. This is not any mind art defence I seen or know about," Harry said.

"Do you think that, as twins, they have developed their own mental shields?" Hermione asked.

"I think what has happened is that they are constantly communicating between themselves so any outside attack needs to be fast enough to follow the conversation they are having in their heads. It is like trying to follow a supersonic game of table tennis when you can only see one side of the net." Harry says.

"What would happen if one was asleep or stunned?" Hermione asked.

"Do you mind if we try stunning one of you and seeing if we can read the others mind?" Harry asked

"In for penny," George started.

"In for pound," Fred completed.

"Who should I stun?" Harry asked. Fred pointed to George and George pointed to Fred.

"Let's flip a coin. Fred, why don't you call." Harry said.

Both Fred and George said "Heads" at the same time. Harry flipped the coin without letting them see. He then asked,

"Which of you is Fred?" Fred pointed to George and George pointed to Fred. Hermione was tired of the game that the twins were playing. So she shot a stunner at both of them. George got hit.

"There that is settled. Who are you?" Hermione asked the remaining twin.

"I am Fred," Fred said hesitatingly. Harry then shot a Legilimency attack on Fred and this time he had no problems reading his mind. After checking a memory, he ended the atttack.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked Fred.

"Fine. Did you do something this time because I felt something?" Fred said.

"When I encountered your natural shields, that is when you became aware of my attack. The stronger the shields, the more painful the attack would feel." Harry explained. He remembered when he was going through Auror training, and his trainers informed him of this fact. He realised that Snape was not training him in Fifth year. Snape was destroying his mental shields so that Voldemort could enter his mind more easily, and they would know more about Voldemort's plans. While Dumbledore could also pass on discrete messages to Voldemort like attack Amelia by exposing a potential problem with Harry.

"As long as both of you are conscious, the two of you won't have to worry about Professor Snape trying to read your minds. But if one is stunned then the other is readable," Harry announced. He did not want to teach them the mind arts as they would in all likelihood teach people that Harry and Hermione did not like or trust like Ron and Ginny. Then inspiration hit Harry.

"I know a spell that is used to be by military teams and deeply devoted couples. What the spell does is it allows you to buffer each other against the impact of curses, hexes and even some potions. That way if someone tries to stun one of you, then the other can weaken the attack to the point where it has no effect or both of you will be knocked out but for a shorter period. This way you will always be protected from any mental probes, and you can help each other if attack occurs," Harry suggested.

The twins started speaking to each other about the offer before one of them said,

"Okay. We will allow you to perform the spell on us. By the way, how did you know about the spell?"

This caught Harry off guard. The spell was in a book from Dumbledore's secret private library.

"I found it in one of the private libraries I have access to," Harry said since he did not want lie to the twins but did not want them to know the full truth. This satisfied the twins as they knew that private libraries was something that ancient families had and were very protective of.

"Do you want to do it now, or do you need to prepare?" one of the twins asked.

"I will need to retrieve a book from my dorm first but I should be able to do it tonight," Harry said as he opened the door to the classroom they were in. All of a sudden a flash of light hit Harry. His battle instincts immediately kicked in as he rolled out the way and was about to fire a disarming curse when Hermione stopped him.

"That was amazing!" An excited Colin said in shock at the reaction by Harry. Colin's camera was clearly the cause of the flash that set Harry off. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm to prevent him from doing anything rash. Then Hermione said to Colin,

"I would not recommend you surprise Harry that way again. Next time I might not be there, and he could very well accidentally curse you." This statement scared Colin a little as he did not want to be at the business end of a wand held by the person that defeated Voldemort.

"Lockhart loves being photographed. I am sure that if you take some embarrassing photos of Lockhart, it would not be hard to convince Harry to allow you to take a photo with him and get him to sign it in exchange for those embarrassing photos of Lockhart," Hermione said in a conciliatory manner to Colin. This brightened Colin up immediately.

"If you promise not try to take my picture without permission, I could arrange a job for you," Harry offered.

"Would I be working for you?" Colin asked excitedly.

"No. They are good friends of mine," Harry replied.

"Oh," Colin said, disappointed that he was not working for his idol.

"If you work hard on the job and get a few good embarrassing photos of Lockhart, I will make sure that Harry would teach you something himself," Hermione said which resulted in a very happy Colin at the thought of being trained by his idol while Harry was not amused by Hermione's offer.

When Colin calmed down, he asked,

"What is the job?"

"I was thinking you can help the Weasley twins create a catalogue of the things they want to sell. You can take photos of the products they have on offer," Harry suggested.

"Could you introduce me to the Weasley twins now?" Colin asked.

"I need to talk to them first. Why don't you follow Professor Lockhart until curfew?" Harry advised. Colin was off like a flash at the suggestion.

Harry and Hermione then went into a empty classroom before Harry called for Dobby.

"How can I help Master Harry, Sir and Mistress Hermy, Miss?" Dobby asked as he popped in.

"Can you get me the book Battle Magic by Alfred Dumbledore?" Harry requested. Dobby popped away.

When Dobby reappeared, he had the original copy of the requested book. Hermione pulled out a blank book that she always carries in her backpack and began copying the book. Once the book was copied, Harry gave the original back to Dobby to return to wherever he found it.

They then made their way back to the classroom where the twins were staying. As soon as they reached the classroom, one of the twins started saying,

"Do you need us to take off our clothes?"

"Is virgin sacrifices needed?" the other twin asked.

"We willingly offer Ron and Percy as sacrificial lambs," The twins joked.

As much as I want to take you up on your offer, it is not necessary for the spell," Harry said.

"Can we hex them and say that it was necessary in this spell?"

"Go ahead. In fact, why don't you use this spell here: it will break their nose, and it can not be fixed using magical means?" Harry suggested while showing them a spell that was in the battle magic book he had with him. The twins began practising the spell.

Then Harry turned to them and asked,

"Are you ready?"

"Yes," The twins said simultaneously. Harry performed the spell while looking at the book to ensure everything went correctly.

"Done. Now Fred, I need you to punch George," Harry said seriously even though he was trying not to laugh. The twins punched each other, and both of them were out like a light. Harry and Hermione burst into uncontrolled fits of laughter. When they got their laughter under control, Harry woke them up by spraying ice cold water at them from his wand.

"We still need to test whether the spell works," Harry said after putting on his serious voice again.

"I don't think punching each other will test anything. Why don't you try to stun one of us and see whether the other can help overcome it?" Fred suggested.

"Why don't we turn this into a DADA class for dodging?" Harry suggested. The twins immediately started moving and making themselves as difficult a target for Harry as possible.

"Do you want the honours?" Harry asked Hermione. Hermione immediately fired a stunner at one of the twins but both of them were knocked unconscious.

"I guess the spell worked," Harry said to Hermione as they woke the twins up.

"I thought you said that we can buffer each other against stunner," Fred said angrily.

"It would take some time and a lot of practice for you do that. One of the immediate benefits though is that you can shake off the Imperius curse."

"Cool," The twins said simultaneously.

"We are more than willing to give you practice in overcoming the stunners or any number of hexes," Harry offered with a smile on this face.

"NO!" The twins screamed simultaneously.

"I have noticed that you stopped doing that twin speak where one twin will say something and the other twin will finish it. Is it deliberate or an accident?" Harry asked.

"We know how it annoys you, so we tried to keep it to a minimum in your divine presence." George said while pretending to be experiencing religious fervour.

"If you miss our unique," Fred started saying.

"way of communicating? We can start doing it," George continued.

"again when we are talking to you," Fred concluded.

"Enough of the twin speak. That will fill my quota for the rest of my time at Hogwarts," Harry said quickly.

"Only trying to help," Fred said.

"There is something we want to talk to you about," Hermione said.

"Shoot," George said. Hermione took out her wand and pretended to be preparing to fire off a curse at them. George and Fred both shook their hands in front of them indicating to Hermione not to fire.

"Don't shoot. Ask your question," Fred said quickly.

"It is really a favour. We want you to hire someone. His name is Colin Creevey, and he is in first year," Hermione explained.

"Why do you want us to hire the little bugger?" George asked.

"He is a photographer and can be very annoying. We hoping you two can keep him busy by getting him to photograph every item in your catalogue," Harry stated.

"We can do it later but cash flow is a problem at the moment," Fred said.

"Don't worry about that. We will pay for his services. This should be enough to pay for his equipment, supplies and wages," Harry said as he put a sack of gold on the table.

"I think we got ourselves a new worker bee," Fred said to George with a mischievous tone.

"Think of what we can do with the additional help," George said.

"Are you sure this is good idea?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know but we will see," Harry said.

"Oh, by the way, Colin is also following Professor Lockhart around trying to capture his embarrassing moments on camera. If you want, feel free to prank Professor Lockhart so that Colin has additional material," Harry said with a grin on his face as he directed the genius pranksters towards Lockhart and away from himself. This got the Weasley twins thinking, which gave Harry and Hermione the perfect opportunity to leave before they got dragged into whatever the twins were planning.