Entering Grimmauld Place for the first time since Sirius had died was made more bearable for Harry by having the Weasleys protectively surrounding him. Dobby and Winky, who had come to stay for the holidays, had done what they could to clean and brighten the place, despite Kreature's constant death threats toward Harry in particular.
Buckbeak could be heard chafing at the bit to see them and Harry felt almost glad to be here, when none other than Hagrid and Charlie came down the stairs with the large beast.
"Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed happily, throwing his arms around the giant.
"Didn't think I'd miss Christmas with yeh' did yeh' Harry?" Hagrid asked, eyes very bright.
Harry didn't know what to say, feeling very overwhelmed at the moment as Mrs Weasley hugged Charlie fiercely. He didn't know what to feel. Sirius had never liked this place, his old ancestral home, but this was really the only place he had spent any significant amount of time with the man.
Everyone was starkly reminded that this was the so called right and noble house of Black when Mrs Black's screaming at the sight of the Mudbloods and usurpers who, in her opinion were trespassers, rang out in the hall. They all tried to ignore the eery portrait's screams as best they could. Harry began to feel very claustrophobic in the cramped entrance way, though the Weasleys hardly noticed the tight space. In a moment of daydream, Harry wondered when Sirius would stop his mother's infernal screams and call for silence, and then it happened...
The portrait bellowed, "Filthy no good son of mine! I could be proud while he sat in Azkaban for supporting our lord, then the filthy scum denounced his noble acts of murder and professed innocence! The shame! The wretched shame that breaks a mother's heart!" Mrs Black wailed, as if the fact that Sirius was innocent disgusted her no end.
Harry wasn't even aware of feeling himself move toward the portrait as he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He didn't remember his wand leaving his robe, grasped unconsciously in his outstretched hand. Before anyone knew what was coming, Harry freaked out completely. He screamed like a madman at the portrait of the supposed mother.
"How dare you call yourself a mother!" Harry bellowed. Mrs Weasley moved to calm Harry down, when Dumbledore placed a hand of restraint on her shoulder, nodding silently.
"You were not a mother! And let's get one thing straight, this is not the noble house of Black any longer! Sirius hated it here! I will not say he hated you, because I prefer to think my Godfather had better feelings than that, but he hated this house, and he hated this hateful pose of you! So get out! This is my house now! Sirius may not have been able to get rid of you, maybe he didn't have the heart in his spell because of who you were supposed to be? But I? I have no problem with it! Get out of my house, and take your Pureblood, rich witch, lousy mother domain out of here!" For a moment, everyone expected to hear a rebuttal, and they weren't disappointed, but before the portrait could finish condemning Harry for being improperly brought up by cowards and traitors, the portrait burst into flames. They were spared watching Mrs Black burn as she ran screaming from the portrait with no where to go but oblivion.
Harry's shoulders were heaving as he sat heavily onto the steps, a few tears betraying his angry face. Dumbledore congratulated Harry for getting the hideous portrait to go away, but Harry felt disturbed by what he'd done. Ginny led him into the kitchen and handed him a strong cup of tea, while Mrs Weasley made lunch.
There were echos of 'well done,' and many thanks from Order members who were about that day working in the peaceful silence gratefully.
After lunch Harry felt the need to cover the now empty spot where Mrs Black had stood all these years. He asked to Tonks, who had been a relative of Sirius' to pick a suitable wallpaper for the spot.
"I know!" Tonks said mischievously, as wallpaper covered in white Lilys all over it appeared all down the hall. "Sirius' mom hated flowers, and so, in honour of your mom, since this is your house now, ta da!" Tonks laughed, seeking Harry's approval.
The wallpaper was very busy, like Tonks, but Harry fought the lump in his throat to thank her for her thoughtfulness.
Harry felt awkward, this being his house now, and everyone asking him where they should put their things and where to bunk and so on. It was too much for him so soon. This was Sirius' house. Ginny suggested to take some of the burden off Harry until he was used to things, to ask Dobby to be in charge of the day to day running of this house while they would be here.
"Dobby is honoured sir!" the house- elf squeaked as Winky promised to help, but out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Kreature, the former house- elf of the Blacks, scurry away in absolute disgust as the two Hogwarts elfs were asked to take over. Kreature had not cared for the house at all since his mistress had passed away, and had never served Sirius while he was the master of the house at all.
Hermione cleared her throat loudly, and Harry, too tired for guessing games, asked, "What is it Hermione?"
"Wages, Harry," she prodded forcefully.
"Oh yeah!" Harry realized, slapping his already dull achy head. "I will pay you of course, and if you need time off, just take it," Harry offered, feeling even these details too big to settle with the way he felt right now. It was as if everyone had forgotten that coming home to Grimmauld Place without Sirius would be very painful for him. They hadn't meant to be insensitive. It had just happened.
"Dobby will draw Harry Potter a bath. Sir looks tired," Dobby insisted, rather than asked.
Harry enjoyed the nice hot bath with scented oils that Dobby had blended to relax him. He lost an hour just soaking in the temperature controlled water.
"Harry?" came Ginny's voice. "You must be all pruned up in there by now." She strode in, bold as brass with a warmed towel and sat down at the end of the tub near his shoulders, gently rubbing his neck. He was very glad for the everlasting soap bubbles. Harry turned on the cold water tap with his toe before ordering her to turn around and wrapping himself in the blanket sized towel she had brought him. He shivered slightly from the cold water he seemed to need whenever Ginny was around at times like these.
"You've got to stop doing that to me," he sighed in exasperation, wondering if Ron had this trouble whenever Hermione was around, but vowing never to ask...ever!
"Why, whatever do you mean, Mr Potter?" Ginny asked slyly before slipping out so he could get dressed.
"Yeah, well, maybe you should stop coming in at times like this before you find you can't resist me any longer!" Harry laughed, trying to sound seductive from behind the closed door. The bath he had used was an ensuite, leading both to his own room and the hallway on the other side. Harry was just musing some more rather risky thoughts out loud to his girlfriend in a playful manner, when he opened the door to the hallway by mistake, and there, standing, ready for a bath, was none other than Mr Weasley, bathrobe and loofa sponge in hand, with a very scarlet Mrs Weasley, also in a bathrobe, holding a rubber ducky for Mr Weasley. Harry didn't know how much they had heard of the conversation he had just had with Ginny, but he suspected by the looks on their faces, pretty much all of it.
Harry felt his face getting extremely hot as he looked tentatively down the hallway for any signs of Ginny, who he had presumed had been standing just on the other side of this door waiting for him to finish dressing.
Mr Weasley would have had more to say if he hadn't found himself standing there sneaking off for a bath with his wife as well. Mr Weasley kept dodging around Harry's profile in the doorway, expecting to see his only daughter standing behind Harry in various states of undress. Figuring this out, as Mr Weasley resignedly bent to the side to peer into the room, Harry began talking very fast, feeling faint.
"Uh...er...you don't understand...I was only talking to myself in there," Harry hastily explained, not realizing in time what his statement to Ginny about 'not being able to stop,' would sound like, coming from someone who was supposedly alone. "I mean...I want...really! I haven't! It was Ginny," he said lamely. Oh great, now he'd brought her name up. He couldn't have made this more awkward if he'd tried. This day just seemed to get better and better.
The worst part of it all was the Weasley's 'understanding' of what they had assumed had taken place. Phrases like 'perfectly normal and natural and healthy,' were all bantered about, until Harry felt like he would fall through the floor with embarrassment, and through it all, Ginny remained in a silent fit of giggles behind the other door leading from the bathroom. Harry couldn't try to explain that he'd been talking to their only daughter, through a door, innocently enough as it was for the most part, without getting the dreaded 'birds and bees' talk, so he left it go at that, and wished them happy bath and promised to make Ginny pay later.
Dinner was an awkward affair, with Harry worrying that the Weasley's misguided idea of what had taken place in the bath, might have been shared with the other Weasleys, but after no one said anything, he knew the secret was safe. 'wait a minute,' Harry thought, feeling cheated, there was no need for secrets, nothing had happened! He didn't know what was worse, them thinking what they thought, or them knowing he had been talking to Ginny. Ginny made a face at him across the table in a teasing manner. 'She will pay, oh yes, she will pay,' Harry vowed with a grin back at her.
Professor Lupin knocked as Harry put his things away in Sirius' old room. Lupin knew Harry didn't want to complain, so he started talking naturally. "I miss that old dog," Lupin laughed hoarsely.
"Me too," Harry could admit, when someone brought it up first.
'I visited here with Sirius one Christmas when we were young," Remus explained. "But of course old Mrs Black made it quite clear I was unwelcome. She didn't even know of my...condition at the time." Harry wondered how many times Lupin had actually referred to himself as a werewolf, but whenever he did, he sounded like it was dirty and he would shudder. "No, it was the state of my clothes, my health, I guess..." he mused. "I wasn't good enough. She wanted Sirius transferred to Slytherin of course. Didn't understand the Sorting Hat choosing a Black for Gryffindor."
They talked for an hour before Harry thought of another gift he'd like to give Professor Lupin, in light of the conversation tonight. He kept telling himself over an over again that this would be wonderful Christmas, and maybe even a cleansing one, a one to put all of the previous ones to shame, for Harry had never had a Christmas at a real home before, just at the Dursleys or Hogwarts.
"How are classes going, Harry?" Lupin asked kindly. Harry told him quite truthfully that he'd much rather be allowed to attend the one he taught, Defence Against The Dark Arts, instead of just the less strenuous ones like Potions and such. This statement made Lupin feel very good, seeing as how Harry was well beyond N.E.W.T level in defence as it was already. Harry simply enjoyed Remus' company very much.
Later that evening, Ginny sat with Harry as he began the painful task of going through some of Sirius' old things. Remus had offered to help, but looked almost relieved when Harry told him he would call him only if he needed some advice. Poor Remus had been reminiscing enough already in the old house, having been here on weekends and full moons of late.
Harry got the courage to send some of Sirius' things to charity, knowing Sirius would approve, and especially knowing the rest of his family would not. There were things Harry knew some of Sirius' old friends would want, especially Remus, so he had boxed these and sat them outside of Remus' quarters down the hall with his name and a small note on it. Harry kept for himself only a few things. One old shirt that Sirius was wearing in a picture with James and a few photos.
All Harry had left of his own father, was his Invisibility Cloak, and Sirius' old shirt became like a second skin while he was at Grimmauld. When he put the old shirt on, it had just felt right somehow. It was green and fleecy and just a little big for him, but not in the Dudley hand- me-down sort of way. In the way that said, a part of him is still with me. When Harry got tired from the work and emotional tasks, Ginny kissed him lightly on the forehead and told him to nap.
When Harry laid down on Sirius' old, but incredibly comfortable bed, he expected to feel sad, or awkward, but somehow, he felt at peace and slept soundly.
Harry awoke to the sound of soft sobbing in the hallway. It was Winky. He opened the door to find the house- elf beside herself.
"Harry Potter Sir! Dobby is not meaning to do it sir!" Winky shrieked emphatically. Kreature attacked Dobby Sir!"
Harry felt his heart drop in his chest. If that miserable Kreature had hurt Dobby, he would pay dearly. Harry had already dealt with Mrs Black, but to his dismay, that was what had caused all the trouble to begin with. He followed Winky down the hall, followed by others who had heard the sounds.
Winky led them downstairs to the boiler room where Kreature made his meagre quarters. Dobby had complained, quite truthfully that Kreature's quarters stank and had proceeded to clean them while Kreature was off slinking around the house, no doubt spying on the Order. While cleaning, Dobby had accidentally dropped a picture of Mrs Black, breaking the frame of the prized item that the foul house- elf had secreted away.
Dobby leaned heavily on the boiler, which was extremely hot, horror struck, while Kreature, the Black family house- elf, lay dead, clutching the broken picture frame with Mrs Black and one of Narcissa Malfoy in his other hand. Harry instinctively grabbed Dobby away from the boiler, seeing it had nearly burned off Dobby's homemade shirt and had left his flesh on his back quite raw and blistered. Dobby was no doubt punishing himself for some perceived crime, as house- elfs were prone to do, having been ingrained to punish themselves by bad masters.
"Dobby was only cleaning Mr Harry Potter Sir! Dobby swears it!" the house- elf wailed miserably. Harry could see that Dobby would never have laid a hand on another living being unless in dire life threatening need, but even that was not the case, and he tried to calm the poor house- elf.
"I know, Dobby, it's alright, calm down," Harry tried to sooth. "Kreature was very old," Harry explained to the two other house- elves, though he couldn't help feeling relieved that Kreature was gone, no matter how guilty he felt about it. Kreature had helped bring about Sirius' death, and on more than one occasion, had tried to kill Harry as well.
"Kreature is telling us just the other day, that Harry Potter is killing his mistress!" Dobby moaned pitifully.
"What! I didn't kill anyone, it was just a wretched portrait!" Harry spat angrily.
"Dobby is knowing that sir, but Kreature tells us that he had no heart to go on after his mistress was banished.
Dobby then proceeded to relate all the mad ravings of the Black family house- elf. Kreature's heart gave out after mistress was gone, but kreature says Narcissa Malfoy is Kreature's new master, but then Dobby dropped his master's picture as Kreature is preparing to run away, and I says Kreature is a bad- house elf, and Kreature's heart gives out and he dies. Dobby is not meaning to drop the picture Harry Potter Sir, but Blacks can be as bad as Malfoys and I could not let him leave."
Dobby felt miserable and made to lean on the hot boiler again as punishment for having insulted his former masters. Hermione stopped Dobby from doing so, with tears in her eyes.
"Oh, Hermione, please don't tell me you feel sorry for Kreature!" Ron warned.
"No, but we'd better get Dobby some medical attention for his back, and then at least honour Kreature's last wishes to have his head placed on the wall next to his relatives," she suggested timidly.
As Ginny helped Dobby upstairs to have his wounds seen by someone qualified, Harry told Hermione, "Well, I'm not doing it. Gross! And as it's my house now, no way!"
This foul house- elf had killed the one last chance Harry had had to gain a real family when it would have mattered, so Harry had no intention of giving it anything even in death. Harry turned to follow Ginny, while Hermione stared at the gruesome scene. He felt bad talking to Hermione so harshly, but she knew what he had gone through as a result of this house- elf. He turned back to the red eyed Hermione and told her, "Sirius hated him. He hated this house. Bury him if you want Hermione, but he gets no honour here!" It was too overwhelming with having spent the afternoon going through Sirius' things like a pirate, he thought.
Ron could very well see where Harry was coming from and he sympathised with him, but he felt Harry could have indulged Hermione, if only for a brief display on the wall for the house- elf. Winky and Dobby, though deeply disgusted with Kreature's foul behaviour, stopped long enough to look at Harry in a sad sort of wonder. Harry refused to stay around to be made to feel guilty. He was already so good at that himself, he didn't need any help. Kreature was a traitor, a murderer. If Sirius's death had anyone else to blame but Harry, it was Kreature.
Harry slammed his door, Sirius's door, and laid back down, tallying up all the nasty deeds this despicable house- elf had done, and it seemed was still doing from beyond the grave. Hermione was mad at him, Ron was mad on behalf of his girlfriend, but felt torn for Harry. Winky and Dobby had knocked Harry down a peg or two on their worship scale, and to top it all off, he didn't like himself much right now either. Some holiday!
Ginny slipped into Harry's room.
"Not now, Ginny, please?" he pleaded. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her. He just didn't know what to say.
"What? I think you did the right thing, Harry," she said diplomatically. She could stay. They just sat in the uncomfortable silence, but Ginny wasn't judging him. She waited for him to speak.
"Dumbledore reckons it was really the Black's treatment of Kreature that led to his eccentric ways. He said Sirius' indifference to it contributed to Kreature's delinquency. I couldn't believe he could say that," Harry said, shaking his head. Harry had staunchly defended Sirius, after all, Sirius had been no where near this house- elf for years upon years, and when he finally did come home, Kreature had plotted his murder from day one, haunting his every step in his own house. Harry hadn't even realized he'd told her all of this out loud.
"I understand Harry," Ginny told him truthfully. "But you can't let Kreature have more of a negative impact on you. Hermione is right in some ways, Kreature was insane."
Now, Harry wished that Ginny hadn't stayed.
"What so now you're siding with Dumbledore and Hermione!" Harry said through fast forming tears in his eyes. Of all the people who had always stood by him, he thought she would know how he felt. He had lost everything because of this vile creature, and now he was supposed to what? Grieve for it?
"So, you believe in not guilty by reason of insanity?" Harry asked incredulously. "The end result is the same, no matter what frame of mind it had when it did it, when it killed Sirius, when it made me get Sirius killed." Harry's voice broke. Why did he have to defend himself against this?
Why didn't they just understand. "He...he told me Sirius wasn't here..that he wasn't here..." Harry repeated as if begging her to understand.
"I know Harry, I know," Ginny tried to sooth, but Harry moved away from her embrace. It had been a colossal mistake to bring him here to Grimmauld Place. The house just had a feel about it that could dampen the most hardened hearts, let alone those that were already bleeding.
"Harry, Kreature was mad, and he did help get Sirius killed." It was even hard for Ginny to admit that Sirius was dead, though she hadn't known him as well as Ron and Hermione.
"But you can't let him destroy your relationship with your friends," she said, a little forcefully. I think that would almost be Kreacher's plan if I didn't know better. He did know Hermione had a soft spot for elves and he had read S.P.EW brochures. His final act could have been to put a rift between you and your friends, knowing now, maybe, what we just found out about, (she lowered her voice) the weapon that the dark lord knows not, your friends Harry," she said softly.
It was unlikely that Kreature had taken this much effort to destroy Harry, but this house- elf had listened in on every meeting the Order had ever conducted in this house. If Dumbledore had mentioned anything about Harry and Ginny's discovery, or about their sleep Occlumency, Kreature would have known.
Putting this out of their minds as highly unlikely, Ginny, the peace maker, convinced Harry to let Hermione display the grotesque head on the wall until after Christmas, at which time, Dobby and Winky would dispose of all the heads in an acceptable house- elf tradition so Harry would never have to look at them again.
Hermione and Harry apologized to one another, while Ron was very relieved, but conversation was still very stiff by the time Madam Pomfrey paid a visit to see to Dobby's wounds. Harry was aggravated when she insisted that since she was there, she should have a look at him too. She ended up telling Mrs Weasley to see that he got more rest, and that set the tone for the rest of his time at Grimmauld Place.
The following evening, when tensions had eased, Bill arrived and made his famous Firewhisky eggnog, which Ginny had been sure to ask Madam Pomfrey if Harry could have some with his many potions. After much careful deliberation, Madam Pomfrey decided, that she could change one or two of his potions which would have reacted poorly with alcohol, so that Harry could have a small amount.
Ginny, having partaken of Bill's Firewhisky before, wisely stuck to Butterbeer. Hagrid had been drinking since seven o'clock and was rather drunk and he was wearing a large father Christmas hat on his shaggy head. By the end of the evening, even Professor Dumbledore's beard seemed closer to the floor and Professor McGonagall's hat had fallen off her neatly pinned up hair hours ago.
Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny were all hugging dramatically, promising never to fight again, as Ginny, the only sober one, laughed and rolled her eyes.
When Ginny half poured Harry into bed that night, he looked at her solemnly and said, "I love you Ginevra Weasley!"
"I love you too superhero," she giggled, wondering if alcohol was why he had said this. She left him sleeping, or so he thought. He wasn't as drunk as she had thought, and he did love her.
Ginny went downstairs to help the rather tipsy Winky with the mess of the evening's festivities while Dobby protested having to rest on Madam Pomfrey's orders. They knew Harry had not disrespected them. He was only hurting over Kreature's role in Sirius' death.
The following morning saw everyone, save Ginny, not looking forward to the floo to the Burrow trip this morning. Mrs Weasley berated Bill for his overuse of the Firewhisky, reminding him that there were underage people here, not to mention Mr and Mrs Granger, who'd never had Firewhisky before.
Harry wore Sirius' old shirt like a security blanket now. Flooing somewhere had never been easy for him, not liking the feeling of spiralling out of control and getting lost once. He had to scourgify Mrs Weasley's clean kitchen floor when he vomited, falling face first out of the fireplace into the kitchen. No one else did much better, but they at least managed not to puke from their hangover.
Mrs Weasley was obviously made of sterner stuff than the rest when she ordered, "Right, you lot, get the decorations, Christmas is only two days away. Mrs Weasley made the pathetic lot some peppermint tea, placing a few herbs from her cupboard in it, and glaring at Bill before giving him any. They all felt quite well after the tea.
Harry had never decorated a Christmas tree in his life and he was terribly afraid of doing it wrong. He watched Fred and George, who he figured would just throw the tinsel half hazzardly all over the tree, place each strand carefully, fascinated by their methodical technique. To his surprise, it was Ginny who just threw the stuff on in great lumps anywhere within her reach.
Mrs Weasley handed Harry the star for the top of the tree. He stared at it for a moment, bewildered. Dudley had always placed the star atop the tree and many Christmas times found Harry locked outside with Aunt Marge's dog, Ripper, while the tree was decorated.
"I couldn't," Harry said quietly.
"Nonsense, dear. You're the only one who hasn't had a turn yet," she coaxed. With visions of his nose pressed upon the cold glass of the window, watching Uncle Vernon hoist Dudley up to place the star atop the tree in his head, he took the star in trembling hands. Harry levitated the star up to the top of the tree, something that would have caused fainting in Privet Drive and something that made him smile for the first time in over two days. Ginny hugged him tightly to her, knowing he was overwhelmed once again. It had been a week of firsts.
After dinner, an owl arrived from Neville and Luna, first in Neville's writing. 'Dear Harry, I got an owl as an early present from my Gran. I am having dinner at St Mungos with my parents. They can even sit at a table now, though dad still doesn't speak and mom makes little sense. Even so, it will be good. I told Luna not to send this, but she insisted, so I thought I'd remember to tell you to consider its source. I know Luna will be mad for my saying so, but it is from the Quibbler, her dad's paper.'
The writing trailed off as if someone had grabbed the paper and slid it away from Neville and Luna's neat scrip began almost as dreamy as her speech. 'Dear Harry, I thought you should know, even though my dear sweet Neville has taken great lengths to ask me not to disturb you with this until after Christmas...so here it is.' and a news clipping from the Quibbler fell out of the envelope.
The headline read, 'Krumple skinned Horkak hunter dies mysteriously in forest after spotting several dragons. The article explained that no cause of death could be found, but speculated that the Death Eaters may have been involved and that in addition to the death, there had also been disappearances in the same area.
Harry tried to laugh it off, but found worry creep involuntarily into him. There was only one dragon family in the whole of this country free, and if any of this was true, she had been spotted by outsiders at last.
"Krumple Skinned Horkaks, honestly!" snorted Hermione, trying to win Harry's approval back even more and feeling guilty for being insensitive. Hagrid even had misgivings about this article.
Ginny was Harry's quiet voice of reason. "Well Harry, if there was anything going on with Sashu, Charlie's friends would have reported by now, and he'd tell us," she told him confidently, trying to save him more stress that he didn't need.
As the previous night had been rather boisterous, everyone went to bed early. Harry stared longingly at Ginny's door, wishing that she could sleep with him, just sleep, for real, in each other's arms as he paused at her door out in the hall.
"Oy! Romeo! You're in here!" Ron grinned at Harry, leading him to his own room. Harry was desperate for some sleep, so he had to push out all thoughts of the article from the Quibbler.
At about three in the morning, Harry awoke thirsty and upon going down the creaky stairs, surprised Hermione and Ron who were sitting on the couch kissing. He got a drink, apologized in an embarrassed sort of whisper and went back upstairs, lingering just outside Ginny's room.
"Gin, you awake?" he whispered, and when she did not reply, he asked a little louder.
From further down the hall, came a voice, Fred or George's he couldn't tell which.
"Harry, unless you want to visit us in here doing some experiments, I suggest you go back to bed. Ginny's like Ron, sleep through an earthquake she would. Of course Ginny could sleep through anything with life a the Burrow. She'd been used to things that went bump in the night as well as thud and crack and all manner of explosions coming from the twins room all through the years.
"And Harry, stay out of her room," one of them advised, he couldn't tell who still. "We've taken a page from Hogwart's girls dorms and booby trapped her door."
"Nothing personal of course," came the other voice. Harry had to hand it to Ginny's older and who would have guessed, wiser, brothers. He had been scheming.
Harry knew he wouldn't sleep now, so he took the twins up on their invite to view their experiments. It wasn't long before Harry knew that these products were not for a joke shop, not even their joke shop.
"What is all this?" Harry asked, taking it all in.
"Well, we didn't join the Order this year because of mom, but we have been trying to come up with intelligence products to help the Order," Fred informed him. Harry felt somewhat badly that the two pranksters had put aside inventing new things for their shop for the time being to concentrate on helping the Order, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves at least.
"Here, better put these on," Fred suggested, handing Harry an identical set of goggles to the ones they were wearing. "Okay, George, toss great Grandfather's coin to see who gets to try it first. I call heads."
"Tails it is," George said, somewhat apprehensively. Harry watched in curious fascination as Fred stood, removing his goggles and squinting as if in anticipation of things to come. George muttered something that sounded horribly like Avada Kedavra, but no, it couldn't be!
It was when the flash of green light emanated from the tip of George's wand, hitting Fred in his chest, sending him careening to the floor, that Harry lost it completely. Harry couldn't fight. He fell to the floor at first, wand raised at George, who was looking at him with a mixture of dread and wonder. George tried to help Harry up off the floor, but by now, Harry was yelling to wake the dead.
The room was bathed in bright light from the hall as Ron, Hermione and Ginny made it to the scene first. Everyone had their own wands out, but trained on no one specifically at the moment, just trying to make sense of the scene that met their eyes.
'He...he...he...killed.." Harry choked. By now Mr and Mrs Weasley, Tonks, Mad Eye Moody and Professor Lupin were also standing in Fred and George's doorway.
"Boys, what is going on in here! It's four o'clock in the morning," Mr Weasley said, not knowing that approaching Harry at the moment was dangerous. Mr Weasley got a blast of a Stunning Spell from Harry when he had reached for him.
"Don't touch me!" Harry whispered frantically. His mind flashed back to that green light, that killing light. His parents, Cedric, it all played out in his mind fresh as a minute ago. Ginny knew something was seriously wrong when even she couldn't get near Harry. He did not stun her, he warned her in no uncertain terms was she to get closer. For all the poor boy knew at the moment, George could have been under the Imperious Curse to kill his own brother. No one else knew yet that he was dead and not just lying there unconscious. Harry was in shock. He wanted to get out of there. George blocked his way from the window, which was on the third floor anyway, and the rest of them blocked the doorway.
