Gobbledygook
Ron shook his head and Arthur sighed again. He found himself hoping that McGonagall too was under potions and charms, and wasn't just neglecting her duties as Head of Gryffindor to see that the students were safe and had the proper equipment. Although, he supposed she was rather busy, being Head of the rowdiest group of students, being Deputy Headmistress, and being the Transfiguration Mistress as well.
He resolved to Floo the Professor later and ask her if she even noticed.
Severus ushered Harry into Madam Malkins, he figured they could get his measurements, place the order, and then do the rest of their shopping while the order was filled. That way, they didn't have to be sitting in there for hours doing nothing.
"Hello, welcome to Madam Malkins, what can I get for you?"
"He needs to be fitted for Hogwarts, but they need to be fitted a little bit bigger than he is to take into account the Nutrient Potions he has just gotten started on today. We also need to order a complete new wardrobe for everyday." Severus said, staring at the assistant as though daring her to say anything except to show Harry where the stool was.
Harry nervously flattened his bangs over his scar when Severus mentioned the Nutrient Potions. The last thing he wanted was for the papers to hear about the Boy-Who-Lived being on Nutrient Potions, because then they would go digging into why he was on them, which would lead them to the Dursley's, and then everyone would know how much of a burden he was on his own relatives! But wait, that wasn't right, how could he be a burden if he was paying for their whole lifestyle?
He didn't know Severus had already cast a light glamour to hide Harry's features.
The assistant just nodded and directed Harry to the stool like she was supposed to.
What happened next, was every man's worst nightmare.
30 minutes of being measured, while the assistant happily tried to find out what colors suited him best, and started naming all these colors that Harry didn't even know existed. Honestly, what was wrong with normal colors like red, brown, green, colors that Harry knew existed before now! After she had his measurements, she sat him down and started going over a catalog, going over different clothing designs! Finally, Hedwig had enough of all of it and screeched, flapping her wings for added affect. Harry reached through the link to soothe her nerves before saying, "I just want some shirts and pants."
She stared at him for a moment before going back to the catalog in her hands, then she looked at Hedwig before she wordlessly got up and brought back another one, this one with normal looking clothes (Normal for a muggle-raised kid anyway). Harry sighed in relief before choosing some that looked good and handing it back to her. She brought over an order form and started filling it out, "Did you want to place charms on those?" Severus looked as relieved as Harry felt that the torture was almost over. How did women enjoy this again? (A/N Before any girls reading this say anything, I am a girl, and I honestly do not understand how anybody can enjoy shopping.)
"Yes, some growth charms, fire-resistant, and anti-wear charms."
"Fire- resistant?" Harry asked carefully.
"Tutoring." Severus said with a straight face.
"Wh-what exactly are we going to be doing?"
"You'll see."
Finally, after being in there for an hour, they escaped with a, "Your order will be finished and ready for pick-up in three hours!" Once on the street, Severus looked at Harry and figured he did a good job in there, he deserved some kind of reward. "Ice-cream?"
Harry started and debated saying no, but decided to just go with it. "After that?" Harry asked, jerking a thumb back to the shop behind them, "Yes please." He was trying really hard to avoid thinking about the fact that Professor Severus Snape just asked him if he wanted ice-cream. Was this what having a godfather was? Is this something they did?
"Your taking all of this very well, Harry." Severus said as they walked over to Florean Fortescue's. He glanced at Harry, when he saw his hand automatically go to a still ruffled Hedwig.
"To be honest, I'm not really letting myself think about it right now. I'm afraid that if I do, I'll just break down or something. I mean, how exactly do you cope with learning that your Headmaster, someone you admired and respected, has been stealing from you and even blocked off all of your abilities? It's a lot to take in all at once."
Severus hummed just as they entered Florean's, and he waited until they were seated with their ice-cream (Severus with just plain chocolate while Harry got raspberry with nuts) before he answered. "This is a lot all at once. You will talk to somebody though, if it gets to be too much, right?" He asked, concerned that Harry would have a melt-down if he didn't try to bounce ideas off of somebody.
Harry nodded and ate some of his ice-cream before he suddenly smirked. "If only people could see you now. The Great Dungeon Bat sitting out in the sunshine eating ice-cream." He teased.
Severus groaned. Thank Merlin for Notice-Me-Not charms. "My reputation would be ruined." He said, sitting back in his chair and staring at his ice-cream for a moment before taking another bite. Oh well, it was worth it to spend time with and get to know his godson again. It was amazing how quickly Harry was starting to become at ease with him. Considering how timid he seemed last year.
Harry grinned cheekily, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
Severus mock growled, "Little imp." Harry laughed, the first Severus heard since the last time he baby-sat him when he was a year old. He decided he liked Harry's laugh. They finished their ice-cream exchanging random trivia about themselves, stuff like favorite color or favorite foods, Severus even told Harry about how he and Lily met!
"Ok, why don't we head to the luggage shop next, get you something with security on it." At Harry's confused look, "I undid at least 10 tracking charms and even more compulsion charms on all of your stuff, especially your Cloak, earlier when I was seeing what you needed for school. Trust me, you need a trunk with security on it. We can even make it multi-compartment, and one of the compartments could even be a library..." He said off-handedly. After that, all he had to do was walk faster in an attempt to keep up with Harry's rush to get to the shop. Severus shook his head.
"Good morning, gentlemen, what can I get for you today?"
"Multi-compartment trunk with every available security option. One of the compartments needs to be a library, although we will need to see a list of the other options." Severus said when Harry looked over at him, he nodded his head in agreement.
The shop-keeper grinned, "right away sir, here's the book," he said, handing them a small leaflet listing out the options for his trunk along with pictures and other options to customize each compartment with, "Call for me when you have decided, my name is Jack, I will just be in back getting a multi- out and the library put in for you. Ah, before I go, what wood do you want the shelving in?" He asked, flipping the page to the library.
When Harry looked to him, Severus motioned for him to choose, "It's your trunk."
Harry looked over the list, "How about... red oak? And, can you add the glass cases too? And put security charms on them." He wanted somewhere to put his family journals and the Grimiore while he had them with him. And whatever else old and rare books he might find.
Jack nodded. "I can do that. Call me when you have made your decisions." He walked in back and started doing what he said, only, he decided that this one would be extra special. After all, the two out in the front of the shop must not have noticed that the glamours covering Mr. Potter's scar had faded when they entered the shop as part of the security wards in place. And if the boy was coming back for a new trunk so soon, not to mention buying one with all the security he could put on it, and he could provide quite a bit of security having been a Gringotts Curse-Breaker and Ward-Master until a serious enough injury ended that career, then something must be going on. He wasn't stupid.
He'd heard the rumors about how awful Severus Snape was to Harry Potter, about how Severus Snape hated the boy. Yet, here Severus Snape was, treating the boy well. Snape had obviously gotten the boy new clothes as well, he looked much better in clothes that fit and weren't rags. And he'd wondered, last year, when Harry came into the store and left with a generic, standard Muggle-born school trunk, with absolutely no security charms whatsoever. Surely the Boy-Who-Lived would need some way to keep his stuff safe from creepy fans getting into it and taking 'souvenirs', or just messing with it just to say they touched Harry Potter's stuff?
No matter, it looked like that particular problem was finally being solved. In fact... He looked in the corner where he had a trunk resting, one that he'd already started with just this in mind. He'd forgotten about it. All it had on it so far was the Potter Crest carved into the lid, and the security wards in place along with shrinking and feather-light charms. It was made of dark mahogany, with gold fittings, it was multi-compartmented with the usual seven compartments, even if none of the compartments were yet filled as he had no idea what Mr. Potter would want in them. Well, now he knew that one of them would need to be a library. With Red-oak shelving and glass cases to keep the more rare and valuable books safe.
This trunk would be his master-piece.
Back out in the front of the shop, Harry was quietly going over the leaflet, asking Severus his opinion on some of the options. Severus had told him after Jack went to the back that unless it was specifically requested, multi-compartment trunks came with seven separate compartments. So far, it looked like a training room, a small kitchen for when he just felt like cooking, a potions lab that they would need to stock themselves (it came with two separate storage rooms, one for potions and one for ingredients. The ingredients storage room had a Green-house area for the ingredients that had to be used fresh), a space to store his quidditch gear, a standard school trunk space for his clothes (It would expand if needed), and an art studio.
When Severus questioned the art studio, Harry blushed and said that he had always liked to draw, but Dudley usually tore his drawings up, so he kind of just stopped drawing.
Severus just raised an eyebrow (inwardly he was seething) before advising him what features would be best to put in the potions lab (Like air-filters). They would visit the apothecary after they were done in here to get equipment. Finally, they called for Jack again.
Jack had just exited the trunk when he heard Snape calling his name. He had just finished putting the finishing touches on what he now saw as the most beautiful library he had ever created.
The glass cases gleamed in the lighting while the floor-to-ceiling oak wood shelves shined. Only the one who owned the trunk could move the books around once they were on a shelf or in a case, they were very much like the money pouches the goblins passed out to their wealthier clients in that regard. Beige drapes covered the enchanted windows, and in the middle of the room was a soft-leather couch, perfect for curling up to a good book. Or, if they weren't reading for comfort, but rather some serious research, there was a table and chair in the corner. Near the table was an Oak wood cabinet, already fully stocked with parchment, quills, and ink.
The floor was Mahogany, not quite as dark as the outside of the trunk, with rugs placed here and there. And looking over it all, was the Potter Family Crest. He was very proud of it. The best part was, he knew this library was going to be much loved and used.
He decided to go ahead and take the trunk with him back to the front, see if the library met with their approval before he started the other compartments. Somehow, though, he didn't see it not meeting their approval.
When he made his way up front, he had to hurry and explain how he knew it was Harry Potter when he saw Snape going for his wand after seeing the Potter crest on the trunk-lid. "My shop has security wards on it to strip concealing enchantments, much like Gringotts. Similarly, I can guarantee goblin-level security measures on the trunk, due to my old job as a Gringotts Curse-Breaker and Ward-Master. Contrary to popular belief, Curse-Breakers do more than just investigate and undo curses guarding old tombs." Snape relaxed when he finished his explanation about the shops security, and now he knew that Harry's trunk would be more than protected.
"As for this..." he said, motioning to the trunk fondly, "I made this a year ago in anticipation of you going to school, Mr. Potter. Unfortunately, when you came into my shop, Hagrid grabbed you a standard trunk with nothing extra, let you pay for it, and hustled you back out of the shop before I even realized it was you and could say anything."
Severus narrowed his eyes in thought. That wasn't right, Hagrid usually stopped to chat when he went to Diagon Alley for supplies. He wasn't one to just get in and get out, he considered it rude. Was it just because he didn't want Harry mobbed by adoring fans, or did Dumbledore tell him to just get Harry his stuff and get out in an attempt to keep people from saying anything about the Potter family that would make him ask the right questions?
"Why would you make a trunk just like that? This one looks expensive."
Jack smiled. "Because the Heir of House Potter deserves the best. My family owes yours everything. We were having some financial problems, my father made a couple of bad business decisions. It was to the point where we were trying to get one of the Houses to help us, none of them would. They all refused us. The Potters were spending the summer break at one of their properties outside the country, so they were the only House we couldn't ask. Anyway, we ended up having to borrow some money from the goblins to stay afloat and pay back our debts, but when the time came, we couldn't pay the goblins back. They don't appreciate that, they sentenced us to the mines to work off our debt or die trying.
Well, we were in the room, about to be port-keyed to the mine, when Lord Charlus Potter walked in, and paid our debt. He said that he got a message from Lady Bones about something going on, she wanted to help, but couldn't. She never said why, at least not that he told us. Anyway, he came home early to take care of it. He took us into the service of his family for two years, during our service, he gave me run of the Potter library so I could study for my chosen career, which happened to be Curse-Breaking, and paid for me to be able to go back to school. He also made sure to teach my father how to make better financial decisions so it never happened again."
Severus and Harry listened quietly. Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing, growing up with the Dursleys, he couldn't believe that anybody could just do anything for somebody else like that. Let alone somebody everybody else refused to help.
"The other Houses were stopped from helping if they wanted to, but didn't know why?" Severus asked.
"That's what Lord Potter said Lady Bones told him in her message. When we were walking out of the bank with Lord Potter, Professor Dumbledore came in. He said he had just heard and was on his way to see how he could help. Lord Potter didn't seem too happy to see him for some reason though..." Severus snorted. He knew why.
Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore had most of Magical Britain in debt to him in some way. Either financially, legally, or just when he helped them through a rough patch. The Houses didn't like that because they were the legal authority in Britain, and Dumbledore had started long ago to use the debt most witches and wizards owed him to get around that legal authority through 'favors'. Like when he was appointed Chief Warlock. Traditionally, and by law, the Chief Warlock could only be a current member of the Wizengamot already or a high-ranking member of the Ministry. Dumbledore was neither. However, his approval ratings by the public were so high that they had no choice. Since becoming Chief Warlock, he started restricting the Wizengamot's legal power and taking more and more of it for himself.
He only knew all of this because he was subjected to so many rants on the subject when he was in school by the Slytherin's who happened to be Heir to a House, and then later on by both James and Sirius. Even Remus to a point, but that was probably because before he was born, his father had been set to be the Chief Warlock when Dumbledore was given the position instead. So, yes, none of the Houses liked Dumbledore, he passed through laws they would never consider passing through, and Severus suspected he did it through a combination of memory modifications and suggestion potions, but he also knew that members of the Wizengamot were regularly checked for things like that, as were Ministry employees. So another suspicion was blackmail.
He still didn't know why the Marauders joined the Order when they all hated Dumbledore so much. Maybe they just hated the Dark Lord more. Severus made a mental note to have the goblins double check the financial situation Jack told them about, make sure it was really a bad business decision and that Dumbledore didn't have a hand in it. Maybe he could have the goblins take a closer look into the other people who were in debt to Dumbledore, see if maybe they couldn't do something to get rid of that debt, at least financially.
Jack suddenly clapped his hands, "Enough talk of the past, I brought this out here with me to show you the library, I just finished it when you called. Personally, I think it's my finest work."
Harry's eyes lit up. Jack grinned at him and beckoned him over. "Now," he started, pointing to a row of blank squares near the trunk lock, except for one, which had a book symbol on it. "Right now, the security features I have already installed are inactive. I'll help you activate them later once I'm done with the other six compartments. For now, anyone can get into it. These symbols, or rather, the symbols that will eventually be there, allow you access to the individual compartments. This book, is the library. Press on it, and open the lid."
Harry did what he instructed, and opened the lid to find a ladder leading down into it. He looked at Jack, who only gestured for him to go first.
At the bottom of the ladder, Harry opened a Oak door, only to gasp. It was beautiful, it was cozy and comfortable, it was perfect. He ran to the shelves and started running his hands over them, when he went to investigate the enchanted windows, the adults heard him mutter about how much he loved magic.
Jack shook his head, "How bad did Dumbledore mess up?"
"Bad. I trust there will be no word of us being here?"
"Of course not, like I said, my family owes the Potter's everything. After our service was up, Lord Potter helped us buy this shop, he was the first to invest in us. I am just happy somebody is helping him. I was concerned last summer when I realized who the small waif of a boy was leaving my shop, and then when I heard how you were treating him..." Jack looked at Severus out of the corner of his eye.
Severus snorted. "It's either treat him horribly in class and in front of the Death Eater children and still be there when he needs me, or find myself in Azkaban where I can never be there for him again." Jack just nodded.
They watched as Harry wandered over to the desk in the corner and investigated the cupboard beside it, looking at the quills and ink inside. After a minute, he stood in the middle of the room in front of the couch and started mumbling about how he would organize his books. The journals and Grimiore, would, of course be in the glass cases.
"Harry, come on, we still have more shopping to do." Severus called after a couple of minutes watching him.
Harry looked over and actually pouted a bit before he came back and followed the adults out of the trunk. Severus handed Jack the list they made of what compartments they wanted and the special options Harry picked for each.
Jack looked over the list and said, "I should be finished with this in two hours, at the most. Unless of course I get a sudden crowd of new Hogwarts students coming in... I believe the lists came out today?"
Severus nodded before he checked his watch. They still had two hours before their clothing order was ready to picked up. Plenty of time for them to visit the apothecary. Well, so long as he kept an eye on his watch and didn't keep Harry there for hours...
"How much will it be?" Harry asked. "I'm not taking it for nothing." He said before Jack could say anything.
It seemed like Harry guessed correctly because Jack's mouth snapped shut and he considered Harry for a moment before he sighed and muttered something like, 'noble Potters, never going to pay them back at this rate'. Louder, he said, "Custom-made multi-, 200 galleons, plus some extras... 250 galleons for the whole thing."
Harry nodded and dug out his money pouch to pay, giving Severus a look when he saw him reaching for his pouch. Severus raised his hands in the surrender position while taking a step back. He raised his eyebrows though, the standard, generic multi- trunk was around 400 galleons. 500 with the extras. (Security was included in the extras, as were the special options for each compartment). This was completely custom. 600 would have been the starting price, he figured with the extras, it would be closer to 750.
It was a testament to how little Harry truly knew about the wizarding world that he didn't know that.
He didn't say anything though, he just watched as Harry paid Jack. He knew the determination to pay someone back well when you owed them everything.
Jack took the money reluctantly and again promised the trunk would be ready in two hours as they left. When they were gone, he took the trunk to the back again so he could work in peace after calling his house-elf to mind the store and call him if any customers got difficult (more like disrespectful and abusive towards HIS elf).
Harry figured that he really shouldn't have been surprised when Severus steered him towards the apothecary after the luggage shop. He really should have been expecting it.
What he felt nobody could have seen coming was the way his new godfather went from dour Bat of the Dungeons to kid in a candy store almost the moment they stepped through the door.
He resolved to do better in potions from now on. So far, Severus had been good to him since the goblins rescued him and it was revealed the man was one of two godfathers. He didn't want to screw it up by doing awful in the man's favorite subject. He clearly loved it more than anything, even his reputation it seemed. He was going to be good so Severus didn't regret helping him like this.
"Let's get what you need for class first, then we will see about getting the equipment for your lab. Now, the potion kits are next to worthless. The ingredients aren't the best quality since they are for students or less serious potioneers, and they are also slightly more expensive then simply building your own kit." As he spoke, Severus led Harry over to the cabinets where they kept ingredients most used by Hogwarts students.
On the way, he grabbed an empty kit with slots in it for ingredients to be stored individually. Each slot was specially charmed to keep items from spilling over into other slots and causing cross-contamination. When they reached the cupboards Severus was looking for, he showed Harry where they kept parchments listing out the recommended ingredients for each Hogwarts year. He didn't need it of course, but he would need to know where they were for future reference when Harry came shopping without him.
He then proceeded to show Harry how to be able to tell the quality of the ingredients, passing him jars and ingredient pouches from the shelf beside them as needed. He explained that all the jars were spelled to be unbreakable and helped Harry put the proper charms on each slot as the ingredient was placed inside. Some ingredients required to be kept cool and dry, others required a moist storage environment. This was another advantage to building your own kit. You knew your ingredients were properly stored.
Some of the already-made kits lacked proper spells while others had all the proper charms. Others still, the charm-work on them was so sloppy they did more harm than good. You just never knew what you were getting with them. And then there was of course the poor quality of the ingredients themselves.
After gathering ingredients, Severus led (dragged) Harry over to the equipment. "Your cauldron is good for another year, two if you take proper care of it this year. Your other equipment though..." He said as he picked up a couple of silver knives to compare them so he could show Harry how to spot flaws in the craftsmanship that could affect ingredient preparation, which could affect the potion itself. After that, he moved onto the steel knife and then the stirring rods Harry would need for class. He set aside the better quality ones for once they were done gathering supplies for class and turned their attention to equipping the lab. "I will show you how to properly clean and sharpen your equipment later." He said as he grabbed a couple of whetstones and added them to the pile.
A spell was good in a pinch, but nothing beat doing it by hand.
He inspected the scales and then started comparing a couple of them, trying to show Harry how to tell when they were off-balance. "I will show you how to re-balance them later, using your old set. It is still a good idea to get a new set for class though. It is recommended that you get new scales every couple of years, no matter how good you are at re-balancing them."
After he was satisfied that Harry had everything needed for class, he sent him to the counter to pay for his items while he went back to the equipment to get the knives he set aside earlier. Instead of the one he grabbed for class, this time he grabbed several of each. Then he went to wait for Harry by the cauldron's after grabbing an extended and feather-light shopping basket. When Harry came back, Severus had him get his trunk out and open it up to put the school supplies inside. "This is my attempt to keep everything we buy straight, so we don't get everything too mixed up." He explained as he checked his watch and cursed in Chinese. They only had an hour left. Not long enough in his opinion.
He sighed before he grabbed and inspected four different sized pewter cauldrons, followed by four silvers, some bronze and one gold. "Different potions require a different type cauldron. All the potions brewed in class require pewter, however... eventually I hope to start you on slightly more complicated ones that will require the different cauldrons." He explained. He put all the cauldrons in the basket before leading Harry to the corner with gloves and aprons. Something Harry didn't have to worry about in class as the school provided those for the few potions they actually needed them for.
Harry was really surprised when he was led over to a corner where they apparently sold shampoo. When he looked at Severus, the man actually actually chuckled at the look on his face. "The fumes from brewing are what make my hair greasy all the time. This," he motioned to the shelves of shampoo, "is the only thing I have found that works to clean it. It's specially made just for Potion brewers. I brew so much I don't even bother with normal shampoo anymore." He said as he ran a hand through his hair. He had run back to Hogwarts that morning to get cleaned back up before coming back to the bank just in time for Harry to wake up.
"Ah."
"Yes, now. Ingredients." He said, checking his watch again. Fifteen minutes late. Great. He usually made it a point to be early to appointments or to pick things up. Oh well. This was a good reason to be a little late.
They went through the same process that they did with Harry's school kit, only this time Severus grabbed a satchel similar to what he used on his ingredient gathering trips. He hoped he could eventually take Harry on one of those trips, when they no longer had to worry about Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. He figured Harry would enjoy the chance to travel. From what he knew, Harry had been a total of four places in his life. Primary school, the Dursley home, Hogwarts, and Diagon Alley.
On their way to the counter, Severus grabbed a couple of boxes of potion vials. Each box contained around 100 vials, he would teach Harry how to spell them to be unbreakable as needed later.
The clerk raised an eyebrow when he saw their haul. "Building yourself a lab? Or did you blow your old one up?" He smirked until he actually looked up to see his old potions professor, Severus Snape, glaring at him, full force. It seemed he didn't appreciate the suggestion that he, the youngest Potions Master in history, could possibly blow up his lab. Blow up the cauldron during an experiment, yes, many times. The entire lab? NEVER.
The clerk gulped before quietly going back to adding up the price of their purchases and wrapping them up while Harry counted out the coins.
Severus smirked when he noticed the young man shaking. What this particular dunderhead was doing in an apothecary, he would never know. If anyone was capable of blowing up a lab, it was him.
After Harry paid, Severus reluctantly pulled him out of (in his opinion, anyway) the only shop worth spending any time in to go back to Madam Malkins. On the way, he noticed Harry cast a longing look at Flourish and Blotts and Quality Quidditch Supply. Well, it was a good thing he was already planning on stopping at those shops.
They stopped in Madam Malkins, picked up Harry's new clothes and got out. Both of them were in complete agreement that that was one shop not really worth their time to stay in.
Then they had to go back up the street to pick up Harry's trunk. Before they could get there, though, they ran into Arthur with Ron and Ginny.
"Ron! How'd it go at the bank?" Harry asked. He was worried about his friend being controlled.
"Fine, it went fine. Uh, we learned some stuff about the Headmaster, guess what? Turns out we never lost the Family Fortune. Our Grandfather didn't lose everything gambling." Ron said.
"What?" Severus asked, looking at Arthur.
Arthur nodded and smiled grimly. "Turns out the money just disappeared. Dad had to borrow money from the Malfoys so we didn't go completely bankrupt and made arrangements with the goblins for paying that debt back. According to them, that debt was paid back completely three years ago, and the Family vaults are recovered enough to supply the school vault again. Which means I can buy my children proper supplies for the first time. I've already gotten Ron a new wand, and Ginny can have her own too instead of Muriel's... By the way Severus, why haven't any of the teachers owled us about the condition of Ron's old wand?" He asked.
Severus frowned. "How bad was it?"
"The unicorn tail hair was poking out the end, and there were cracks in the wood. Ollivander almost called the DMLE on me for criminal negligence and child endangerment." He said.
Severus's eyebrows disappeared into his hair-line. "I honestly never noticed. Potions doesn't exactly require the use of a wand... I have no idea why neither Filius nor Minerva ever said anything."
Arthur frowned and pushed a hand through his hair, "I'll call Minerva later and ask her."
"Make sure you don't say anything that could make Albus suspicious about anything." Severus warned. Arthur nodded and sighed.
"I must go check and see if Molly and the boys are done in the ritual rooms. Although I have a feeling Fred and George are going to be kept by the Healers for a while. Albus put a partial block on their twin-telepathy." He said tiredly.
"What?" Severus hissed.
Arthur nodded. "I'm just thankful he had the sense to not completely block it."
Severus nodded grimly. That would have been the end of the Twin Terrors. He may not always like their pranks, but at least they pranked everyone indiscriminately. In fact, if there were a Slytherin-Gryffindor issue, the Twins were the ones he went to in order to get the Gryffindor point of view. They hated lying almost as much as he did, so they would tell him the true story as far as they knew it.
"What would have happened if it was completely blocked?" Ginny asked curiously, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer. She surprised herself when she spoke up, she hadn't wanted to say anything for fear of Harry thinking she was stupid.
Severus and Arthur looked at each other. "Lets just say the house would be a lot quieter... and emptier." Arthur said grimly.
Ron and Ginny gasped. No more Twins?
"Arthur, give this to Sharpaxe when you get back to the bank, you can just leave it with a teller or something, they will deliver it." Severus said, passing over the note he wrote earlier that day, while Harry was being fitted for new clothes.
Arthur nodded. "Well, we will let you get back to your shopping, come on you two." Ron and Ginny nodded and followed along behind, still trying to process what they just learned about their brothers. Severus nodded curtly to Arthur and swept away, leaving Harry to scramble along behind, waving to Ron as he did.
Both of them forgot all about the object Lucius Malfoy slipped into Ginny's cauldron.