Chapter 15: Weasley Interactions

Harry arrived back at Hogwarts late that night, when it was almost curfew. The hallways were all but deserted as he hurried past the suits of armor and paintings on his way up to the Ravenclaw tower.

"What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?" the knocker asked him.

Harry sighed. He had always hated the riddle that the knocker asked. Not only was it horrible for security, but if someone needed to get back into the common room in an emergency, things would be bad.

Not that he didn't like learning little tidbits of facts throughout the day, like the rationale for the knocker claimed that all Ravenclaws enjoyed. He just thought it was dreadfully inconvenient.

But at least he knew this one, so that was something, right?

"Silence," he told it assuredly.

The door swung open to reveal the Ravenclaw common room.

Exhausted after the long and exciting day, between getting Sirius freed and catching up with his friends at Gringotts, Harry went straight up to his dorm room and collapsed onto his bed.

-o-o-

Thankfully, the next morning was a Sunday, so Harry got to lie in bed before getting up to face the day.

By the time he got up, Anthony was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, he got dressed and went downstairs to the common room.

Hermione was, unsurprisingly, reading a book. As Harry approached her, she looked up, "Finally awake?"

Harry smiled, "Yes."

"I heard you were gone for yesterday for family matters. Everything all right?" Hermione asked, concerned.

Harry grinned this time, "Everything's more than fine. It'll probably be in the Daily Prophet, actually. Let's go eat breakfast and I'll fill you in."

The two of them walked down to the Great Hall and sat down. Just as they did, an owl flapped its way over to them.

Harry smiled, detaching the letter with expert ease and handing the rolled up Daily Prophet to Hermione. He chuckled at the contents:

Prongslet,
I thought you might want to see this and I didn't want to bother Flitwick with it. Happy reading!

Lots of love,
Sirius Black

Peering over Hermione's shoulder, Harry skimmed through the article. It stuck to the facts for once, which was odd for the Daily Prophet, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It was probably going to go back to its typical half-truths tomorrow anyway.

Once he had finished reading, he sat back and started piling food on his plate. He was famished. As he ate, he watched Hermione's facial expressions change.

When she was done, she put the newspaper aside and stared at him, "How much of that article was true?"

Harry smiled. Over the past month that he had gotten closer to her, she had begun taking the veracity of sources like the Daily Prophet with a grain of salt. "Most of it, surprisingly."

"Wow," Hermione said, the only thing she could think of.

Just then, a red-haired pest came their way. Ronald Weasley.

"Hey Harry! When you are ready to stop hanging around bookworms, you can always hang out with me," he shouted, food still visible in his mouth.

Harry was repulsed by his atrocious table manners, but responded all the same, "If I may remind you, I am one of those so-called bookworms."

"Yea, but you are Harry Potter! You are better than them!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry just raised an eyebrow.

A pair of twins came over. He had seen them before, at the Gryffindor table. They always seemed to be laughing and pulling one sort of prank or the other. Judging from their familial resemblance to Ron, he guessed that they were Weasleys as well.

"We apologize for our prat of our brother," one of them started.

"Unfortunately, we can not choose our family," the other continued.

"But we can do our best to ensure that he does not bother you in the future," the first one finished. The two bowed, and then chivied Ron away.

Harry shared an amused glance with Hermione.

Before he could say anything, the twins were back, "Once again, we apologize."

"Oh, the horror!"

"We forgot-"

"-to introduce ourselves!"

"I am Fred"

"and I am George"

"or am I Gred"

"and perhaps I'm Forge!"

Harry was mildly amused by their antics. Their manner of speech was definitely something to investigate. Did they have telepathic communication or something?

He also made an internal note to find a way to differentiate between the two of them. While they were identical twins, that didn't mean that they weren't slightly different, and knowing their differences might benefit him in the future. Plus, it was likely to get on their nerves, seeing how much pride they clearly took in being as similar as possible.

As Harry was thinking, the twins continued, "Either way"

"we are"

"the Weasley twins"

"mischief makers extraordinaire!" they said together.

"So," Harry asked, "Did you want something?"

"As a matter of fact"

"Yes, we did"

"How did you know?"

Harry just shrugged and smiled a sly smile. "A master never reveals his secrets. Now what did you want?"

"Your help in planning and executing our pranks." The twins stopped beating around the bush.

"And in return, what do I get?" Harry questioned.

"Full immunity from our pranks," came the quick answer.

"As well as being part of the joy of pranking!" the other twin added.

"So when do we start?" Harry asked. He hadn't played a good prank in a while.

He ignored the disapproving look that Hermione shot him. She was a very by-the-book, rule-abiding person. There was nothing wrong with that, honestly, she just had to learn to lighten up sometimes.

"Now," the twins had identical sly grins on their faces.

However, their prank plotting was interrupted by a prefect approaching them, who judging from his familial resemblance, was yet another Weasley. Honestly, how many were there? Harry could only hope that this one was not as bad as Ron.

"It's perfect prefect Percy," one of the twins whispered to him.

"My brothers aren't bothering you, are they?" Percy asked in an authoritarian tone.

"No, of course not," Harry replied easily.

Percy raised an eyebrow, as if doubting the veracity of his words. "I'll be watching. Come on, you two, I need a word with you."

With a mournful sigh, the twins got up and followed Percy out of the Great Hall, but not before shooting faces at Harry behind Percy's back.

"The library?" Hermione questioned.

"The library," Harry confirmed.

Once they had ensconced themselves in their special spot in the library, Harry told Hermione the events of the day before, skimming over what had occurred at Gringotts. Much of that stuff was a secret.

If he was perfectly honest, Harry was surprised by the fact that Firedagger allowed him to keep the sword of Ragnuk the First. Although it did make perfect sense if he thought about it, seeing as Firedagger had that ability as he was a direct descendant of Ragnuk the First. But still. The fact that the goblins had allowed him to keep it rather than storing it safely at Gringotts spoke volumes about the amount of trust they had in him. Harry vowed to never break that trust.

The rest of the day passed quickly, with Harry and Hermione finishing up their homework and doing some extracurricular research. And if most of the books that Hermione was reading were law books, Harry didn't comment, only pointed her in the correct direction for supplemental material with a smile on his face.

-o-o-

A/N: Unfortunately, with midterms coming up, I won't be able to update next week. Therefore, the next update will be two weeks from now.

As always, thanks for reading! And thanks especially to those who review! I love reading reviews! :D

Chapter posted: January 20th, 2020

Tentative update date: February 3rd, 2020