CW: discussion of misinformation, pranking

:SIXTY-SIX:

Sirius and Remus stayed for dinner that evening, helping as Mrs. Weasley navigated the overly-excited household. Sirius listened to everyone tell their version of events and eased the tension with his joking manner, while Remus took the ones who needed a little extra support aside and listened to their feelings and struggles. Mr. Weasley did not return by supper, which made Mrs. Weasley a little nervous.

"I'm sure he's alright, Molly." Remus assured her again as he helped her set the table. "He's just helping the Ministry get through this."

"That horrible woman didn't help anything!" Mrs. Weasley huffed, levitating the pot of stew down onto the table. "Creating even more of a panic than there already was, honestly!"

"They really ought to fire her for spreading misinformation like that." Remus mused.

"Oh, they won't," Sirius retorted from where he was sitting with the twins. "Her articles may be inaccurate, but they sell papers."

Mrs. Weasley sighed, nodding her head in agreement.

They all ate together, Mr. Weasley and Percy popping in at the end of their meal. He looked exhausted, but seemed pleased when he saw Remus and Sirius at the table. He greeted everyone, then began to eat as he discussed his day.

"It was an absolute madhouse." He said sadly, shaking his head and taking a mouthful of stew. "There were journalists for the Daily Prophet absolutely everywhere trying to get answers. And of course it put a wrench in international relations too, because of course they saw what happened at the cup. It was embarrassing, if I'm honest.

"Have they caught anyone yet?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking stressed.

"Not yet," He shook his head. "But I doubt the Ministry will be allowed to let this go or cover it up. Not with the international pressure this situation now has."

He turned to Percy, clapping him on the shoulder. "Percy here, though, was very helpful today."

Percy looked surprised for a moment, then positively beamed. "Thank you, dad."

"'Course," Mr. Weasley waved it off. "He did an excellent job taking in all the complaints Mr. Crouch received today. There'll be more of those before this is over. Some of them will be fraudulent, but the Ministry needs to know how much damage an event like this caused."

Percy nodded importantly. "You're absolutely right, dad. Just today, there had to have been over a hundred letters in my inbox! I think the hardest part were the howlers - because they explode you see. I had to work very quickly."

Mrs. Weasley smiled fondly at him. "Well, you both just make sure to rest and eat up, right?"

Fred and George rolled their eyes behind Percy's back - no doubt he'd be bragging for weeks now - but they were happy Percy had found a way to use his talents without bossing other people around.

"Oi, Sirius." Fred whispered. "Want to take a look at something for us?"

"We've made something we think you'll like." George added, leaning over his brother and grinning.

"Sure," Sirius grinned, pulling away from the table and following the twins to their room.

Sirius had always been a big supporter of their ideas and inventions. So, he wasn't at all surprised when they handed him a bag full of brightly-wrapped candies and what looked like an ordinary wand.

"We were going to have Harry smuggle them out for us," George said, once he'd safely closed the door. "But you're a safer vessel for these."

"We've spent a whole month perfecting them." Fred added eagerly. "But, well…"

"Mum found out and went batty on us."

Sirius nodded seriously. He understood where Mrs. Weasley was coming from, but as the child who himself got into mischief, he also understood the twins.

"So," He held up one of the candies to examine it. "What are these, exactly?"

"Ton-Tongue Toffee." George said reverently. "We haven't tested them actually, because we can't do the magic to reverse it and we didn't want mum or dad to freak out."

"Ah," Sirius replied. "Well, I'm here now. What's it supposed to do, in theory?"

Fred beamed. "It's supposed to enlarge the person's tongue! It can be shrunk pretty easily, but it's brilliant, isn't it?"

Sirius chuckled, smirking. He threw one off to Fred, who caught it. "Go on then. I'll put you right afterwards."

Fred nudged George, smiling brightly. "Told you he'd get it! Cheers!"

And he popped the toffee into his mouth without further ado. A moment later, George was doubled up in laughter, as Fred's tongue grew and expanded out. Fred would have laughed as well, but he couldn't do anything around the massive size of his own tongue. Sirius shrunk it back down for him, then all three burst into laughter and applause.

Fred took a bow, grinning widely. "And that's only the beginning!"

"Wave the wand we gave you." George pointed to the wand in Sirius' other hand.

Sirius shrugged, then waved the wand. It let out a squawk, then turned into a rubber chicken. He laughed incredulously, then raised the chicken like a sword and let out a battle cry. Fred and George raced for their own trick wands, and then they had a three-way battle on their hands.

This is how Remus found them, running around like crazy people and brandishing a rubber chicken, fish, and a mouse. It was a testament to how well Remus knew all of them that he wasn't even fazed by the scene.

"Harry was wondering if he could stay the night, Sirius." Remus said. "I told him it'd be alright, but that we'd expect him home tomorrow."

"Right," Sirius said mock-seriously. "Back to adulthood, boys."

He winked, tucking the bag of trick candies into his coat and following Remus out of the room.

"You, love," Remus nudged Sirius on the shoulder. "Are an enabler."

"Guilty." Sirius shrugged. "But I can't help it - I'm a child at heart, Remus. Even when you make me pretend otherwise."

"Oh," Remus waved him off, taking a handful of Floo powder and putting it into the fire. "It's still embarrassing that the Floo network recognizes our home as 'Harry's house'."

Sirius shrugged. "It works for me."

He stepped into the fireplace and yelled. "Harry's house!"

Remus smirked, then followed him through the Floo to their flat. He was pleased though because Sirius had taken on the charge of explaining everything to Kreacher, who was surprised by their early return. He had just finished tea with Petunia, who had come by to check on him that afternoon. Though Kreacher was an incredibly independent creature, they all felt better knowing he'd at least had one interaction a day.

"Shame about Winky." Kreacher muttered. "I suspect she'll be looking for work now."

"Probably." Remus sighed, taking a seat at the table. "Do you know her, Kreacher?"

Kreacher shook his head, his overly large ears flapping with the motion of it.

"No," He croaked. "Dobby knows her though, from when he served the Malfoys."

"That makes sense." Sirius nodded, stretching his arms over his head and yawning.

"Well, Kreacher," Sirius stood back up. "It's been a very long day."

"Yes, yes," Kreacher waved them both away to bed. "I shall have breakfast ready in the morning."

Notes:

Right, so this is our lighter chapter before we introduce all our new characters and issues. I wanted to give Percy a little more credit than they did in cannon, and I also thought this would be how Sirius would interact when it came to the twins' prank ideas. Anyways, let's get the dramatics going!

Happy Reading!