The first week of August was spent quite like most of July had been. Harry, Ron and Ginny played a lot of quidditch, especially after their Hogwarts letters had arrived. Harry had not even thought about who would be Quidditch Captain that year so he was surprised when he found the badge with his letter. There was also a painful moment when Ron realized he'd still be a prefect next year and he'd have to do it without Hermione. They wondered whether her badge would be given to someone else, and who it would be. They guessed it would be Parvati, as her twin-sister Padma was a Prefect for Ravenclaw.
Unsurprisingly, neither Luna nor Ginny had been chosen as Prefect. Luna because she was, well, Luna. She had told Ginny she hadn't become a prefect by sending a Howler. Ginny explained that Luna preferred sending Howlers because according to Luna "it is hard to convey emotion on a piece of parchment". Ginny wasn't chosen as a Prefect because, as she said in private to Harry with a huge grin, she probably spend too much time in detention. Harry had never noticed that Ginny got in trouble that much, but he had also realized that Ginny was quite like the Twins in her personality: outgoing, creative and cheeky. The big difference was that he had never seen the Twins angry and Ginny's temper was highly flammable. When her temper did flare up, Harry was always reminded of the fact that she had a wicked Reductor curse. She probably was good in all variants of Exploding Charms, considering her sometimes explosive temper.
Harry and Ron also spend some time reading over their textbooks from years previous. They had silently agreed that they needed to put in more work but it had taken a while to implement that intention. Often they started with one of them asking "what would Hermione do?" They often spend time reminiscing about her, as it still hadn't sunk in completely that she was gone. Their reminiscing often ended up with them becoming angry at the injustice of it all, reinvigorating their intention to do better.
In one such conversation, they had invited Ginny. They had discussed the battle at the Department of Mysteries and had tried to give each other feedback and tried to analyse the duelling that went on. One thing they agreed on was that being able to silently cast spells that were as powerful as their verbally casted spells was a priority. Dolohov had, to their detriment, been good at non-verbal spells, so they needed to be as good or better than he was at it.
Harry also had discussed his apparent reclusive tendencies with Ginny. He had admitted that he had been thinking about her words and that he had concluded that she was right. He had never realized how the friendship between Ron, Hermione and him had looked from the outside. But even if he had considered it, he was still appalled with some of the characterizations that made the rounds through the Hogwarts populace. Sure, they had been a trio, but they for sure hadn't been a trio. Ginny had laughed as she told him that rumour. He also didn't know what to think about the idea of Hermione and Ron protecting or shielding him at Hogwarts or keeping him for themselves, as the more negative view of that characterization had been.
It did strengthen his conviction that he needed to increase his relations with his peers. Sure, they had turned on Harry multiple times, but Harry realized he couldn't see his situation from their point of view. He was far better informed than his peers were, and they also had to contend with parents influencing them. Moreover, he would probably need all the help he could get in the future. This had also made him question why Lily and Sophie hadn't been part of the DA. He had asked Ron about this, and he guessed that Hermione hadn't asked them because they seemed to be the types that didn't want to get in trouble and the DA had always been kind of shady. Ginny had agreed but had encouraged both of them to speak with the girls as she thought they both were fun. She said Lily reminded her of Luna, and apparently, Sophie had an interesting background, which she wouldn't tell them about. Harry saw this as the challenge it was meant to be. He'd have to ask her himself.
Today was August 9th, Harry would be going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, as it was a Saturday and Mrs Weasley didn't want to go without Mr Weasley. That meant, that the conversation that he wanted to have with them concerning his money would have to take place tonight after dinner. He'd been dreading this conversation this whole week and considered talking to Remus about it. However, he knew that Remus also wasn't very financially stable, although he wasn't sure whether Sirius had left him anything.
It was for this reason that Harry was still in the kitchen after dinner had ended and most of the other dinner guests had left for the sitting room. Mr Weasley sat in his chair at the head of the table, while Mrs Weasley was busy herself with the dishes. Before he could say anything, Mr Weasley spoke up.
"Are you going to tell us what's been bothering you, Harry?" he said, looking over his paper, an evening edition of the Daily Prophet. He folded it in half and put it on the table. Molly was still tending to the dishes but had decreased the amount of noise she made, probably so she could listen to the conversation.
"Was I that obvious?" he asked Mr Weasley, who chuckled and shook his head. "Molly and I have raised seven children, Harry, we can almost always read their behaviour. Now, granted, we haven't spent as much time with you, but I think our parental instincts are good enough to know when something is bothering you."
Harry smiled. "Well, it's true, I wanted to talk to you about something but…" he didn't finish his sentence.
"Are you afraid of what we might say? Or aren't you sure we are the right people to talk to this about?" Mrs Weasley asked, turning around and leaning against the kitchen counter.
"If you have a question about girls, I'd be willing to talk to you about them again," Mr Weasley said teasingly before ducking Mrs Weasley's swipe with the dishcloth.
Harry laughed, a bit embarrassedly and having flashbacks to "the talk" Mr Weasley had given him and Ron.
"No, that's not it," he said. "Do you remember me asking Bill to ask Gringotts to give me an inventory of my vaults?" he asked them.
"Yes," Mr Weasley asked curiously, while understanding showed on Mrs Weasley's face.
"I'm guessing you were shocked by the results?" she guessed.
Harry nodded, his cheeks turning red.
"I see. And what did you want to talk to us about?" Mr Weasley asked.
"It's just…" Harry sighed but felt a determination come over him. "I have quite a bit more than I had ever thought. You have been so incredibly good to me." His gaze switched from the tabletop to Mrs Weasley. "After… the ministry… I just realize that I need to thank you before it's too late" He choked up, he hadn't thought about saying this at all but he realized it was true. He would never have the opportunity to tell Hermione what she meant to him. He would never have the opportunity to spend years with Sirius as he had with the Weasley parents. And according to the prophecy, he needed to get a move on before it was too late for him to say anything at all. Mrs Weasley came over to him and hugged him, still gripping the dishcloth.
After a while, Harry regained his composure. "It's just, I have all this money, and I could probably live off it for the rest of my life if I was careful, but I'd rather spend it on my friends… and family. Christmas presents and… for example, Ginny's birthday is on Sunday. I want to buy her something a bit more expensive than I previously might have, something nice. But I'm not sure if that'd be okay."
Mr and Mrs Weasley looked at each other. Harry wondered whether he should assuage their fears about charity and that this wasn't like that. Instead, he marvelled at the sight of the married couple having an entire conversation with slight head nods and facial expressions. He wondered if that could ever be him one day. He hoped so.
The door to the kitchen suddenly opened. Entering the kitchen, Ginny stilled as she saw the scene in front of her. "Oops," she murmured, pulling an apologetic face.
"Just gives us a minute, would you, dear?" Mrs Weasley said. Ginny nodded, turned around and backed out of the kitchen.
Mrs Weasley looked at Harry. "Harry, dear, don't you think you've done enough already? With Ginny and Arthur…" she trailed off, the emotion written on her face. She started washing the dishes again.
"Harry, we appreciate you coming to us about this," Mr Weasley began. "I think you are smart enough to consider what kind of gifts are appropriate and which might be considered too much to give to friends. Keep in mind that you are giving them presents because they are your friends, and not because they are children of Molly and me." He reached out and put his hand on Harry's right shoulder. "But we appreciate that you are trying to keep us in mind, especially since… certain accusations have been made in the past towards me." Mr Weasley frowned and Mrs Weasley turned red. The presence of a certain, unmentioned Weasley child, hung heavy in the room.
Mr Weasley sighed, retracting his hand. "If you are not sure whether something is okay, you can always ask us or Bill. I'd just suggest you keep it to birthdays and Christmas gifts." He smiled. "If you ever come across a book on aeroplanes, my birthday is on February 6th" he joked, winking at Harry as he dodges Mrs Weasley's swipe with the dishcloth again.
Harry laughed and stood up, "I'll keep it in mind, Mr Weasley". He left the kitchen and joined Ron and Ginny in the sitting room where they were playing chess.
-In Her Memory-
The next morning Ron and Harry woke up at roughly the same time. The plan was to head into Diagon Alley after breakfast, so they had time enough to explore Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ginny had tried to convince Mrs Weasley to let her meet up with Dean for lunch but Mrs Weasley didn't like the idea of anyone going off alone. She hadn't listened to Ginny when she argued that she wouldn't be alone. Mr Weasley explained there would be security following them around and they couldn't split up.
Harry lay in bed, making a mental list of things he needed to buy.
"Hey, Ron. What are you giving Ginny for her birthday?" he asked his friend, who was currently in the process of dressing.
"Chocolate frogs, why?" he asked with his back turned towards Harry.
"Chocolate frogs, huh? Did you ever manage to complete your collection?" Harry asked, thinking this might be something he could give his friend at some point.
"I found Agrippa back in … er…" Ron had stood up and scratched his cheek, where a couple of red hairs had grown, reminding Harry that he should buy a shaving set for himself in Diagon Alley. "I think it was the summer before third year. Yeah, I remember, I wanted to tell you but I forgot completely because of all the news about Sirius escaping from Azkaban."
"So you're only missing one, right?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yeah, just Ptomely left" Ron answered. "Why you asking?" he said through a huge yawn.
"Does Ginny collect the cards?"
"No."
"Is that why you give her chocolate frogs, so you can have the cards?" Harry teased.
Ron scowled at Harry and hit him with a pillow. Harry laughed as he defended himself. "Shut up, Harry, if you don't watch it I'll kick you out of my room!" Ron threatened good-naturedly.
Harry stopped laughing and looked at his friend earnestly. "I've been wondering actually. Are you still not fed up with sharing your room with me?"
"Why do you think I get up so early every morning?" Ron answered, clearly only half-joking.
"To spare your mother the arduous task of having to cook breakfast for you and your hollow legs?" Harry shot back. Ron was still helping with and learning to cook breakfast.
"Well, yes" Ron agreed, laughing. "I actually like cooking, never would have guessed."
"Who would have thought," Harry said, the sarcasm as think as the layer of marmalade Ron put on his toast every morning.
Ron threw another pillow.
"No, but seriously, Ron," Harry said, "I've been thinking about moving to the Twins' old room anyway"
Ron walked over to Harry and put his hand on his shoulder. "Harry, mate, as much as you're my friend, I would honestly not be upset if you did just that." Harry pushed him, but Ron just laughed.
Ron made to walk out of the room but stopped before he was out of the door. He turned around to look at Harry. "Why did you ask about my birthday gift for Ginny?" he asked.
Harry pulled on a sock. "Oh, I was just thinking about buying her a present, wanted some advice from you if you had some."
Ron walked back into the room and sat on his bed again. He wore a slight frown. "Okay, Harry, spill. What's been going on with you and my sister?"
Harry looked up. "What do you mean? We're just friends," he said.
"Since when are you friends, though? You never paid much attention to her until now."
Harry didn't completely agree with that sentiment, as she'd always be one of the people he noticed first in the Great Hall. Probably because of her hair, he supposed. Sure, he hadn't talked to her much, but he did notice her.
Before he could answer, however, Ron continued. "It's just, you know how she was when she was younger, and, erm, I hope you are not, you know, feeling guilty about the Ministry, and talking to her because of that." He said this very hesitantly.
"I mean, yeah I am doing it because of that," Harry said seriously. "I feel like the least I can do for her and Luna and Neville is to talk with them after what happened. I'd be a right git if I would just ignore them now, wouldn't I?" he demanded.
"I guess" Ron agreed reluctantly. "But don't you think being friends with someone because you feel you owe them is a bad place to start a friendship from?"
Harry caught on to what he meant, so he was quick to assuage Ron's fears. "Oh, I think Ginny is cool. She's funny, smart, cheeky—"
"- and still my sister, and I don't want to hear anymore." Ron interrupted putting his hands over his ears. "Isn't it bad enough I have to share our dormitory with Dean next year?" He scowled at Harry as if it was his fault.
Harry shook his head, laughing at his friend's antics. He could always go into Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy something Quidditch related for Ginny. She had proven to be quite the talent after all. He put it on the list for Diagon Alley.
As they walked down to breakfast, Harry remembered he still had to ask Dobby and Kreacher about the Animagus books, so before he ate breakfast, he went to the sitting room and hesitantly called "Dobby?"
A soft pop could be heard, as Dobby materialized in front of Harry. "Harry Potter has called for Dobby!" he said as a greeting, his high pitched voice travelling far enough for the others to hear in the kitchen. Ron and Ginny came into the sitting room looking curiously. Ron grinned as he spotted Dobby.
"Hello, Dobby, wicked trainers!" he greeted, as Dobby had indeed begun wearing what looked to be Nike shoes. Harry wondered where he had gotten them from.
"Harry Potter's Wheezy!" Dobby greeted Ron back, then he looked at Ginny. "Miss Ginny!" he squeaked excitedly.
"How do you two know each other?" Harry asked both bemused and amused.
"Dobby always makes me my hot cocoa when I go for a late-night run to the kitchens," Ginny said with a smile, high-fiving Dobby. She looked over her shoulder at the kitchen to see if Mrs Weasley was listening in. As she wasn't, she lowered her voice and whispered "He may or may not have helped me with a few pranks" she said winking at a nodding Dobby.
"What can Dobby do for Harry Potter, sir?" Dobby asked Harry eagerly.
"Ah, yes, I was wondering whether you finished cleaning up Potter House?" Harry asked.
"Yes, should I have informed Harry Potter?" Dobby suddenly looked horrified, and he jumped off the table. Harry, having experience with Dobby's self-harming antics, intervened before he could start hitting his head on the table leg.
"No, no that's all right, Dobby," he said quickly. "Thank you. I was just wondering whether you'd come across books on Animagus transformations in the library?"
"Dobby is not sure, sir, Dobby will go check!" With that, he popped away. Harry was just about to summon Kreacher when Ginny spoke up.
"Harry, I have several questions right now, but most importantly didn't you say you and Professor Dumbledore put your house under the Fidelius Charm?" she asked.
"Yes, we did, why?" Harry asked.
"Did you tell Dobby the secret?" she asked.
Harry felt a cold grip on his heart. He had not, of course, so how had Dumbledore managed to summon Dobby?
"No, I haven't! Dumbledore summoned him there the first time, even though he isn't the secret keeper!" Was the Fidelius that easy to circumvent? This was clearly a huge security risk, something he'd have to rectify somehow.
"Well, House Elf magic is other than ours right?" Ron said, "Maybe the Fidelius doesn't work on elves?"
"Wait, I know someone who might know. Kreacher!" Harry called.
The once filthy looking House Elf popped into existence. He wore a clean Hogwarts uniform but without the Hogwarts crest. Even though Kreacher himself looked a bit cleaner since the last time Harry had seen him, he still wore a dirty look as he looked up at Harry.
"Master called?" he said with his croaky voice, before muttering, "and the blood traitors brats are here too, Kreacher wonders where he is, oh if his Mistress had seen him now…"
"Kreacher," Harry said warningly. Ron and Ginny looked on with narrowed eyes.
"Kreacher, I have a question for you. Do you know what a Fidelius Charm is?"
He nodded, scowling nevertheless.
"Great. How do they affect House Elves?"
Kreacher was silent for a moment. "Kreacher doesn't understand, master," he said eventually.
"If I was somewhere protected by a Fidelius Charm, would you be able to come to me if I called you?"
"A good House Elf always comes when his master calls," Kreacher croaked.
"I think that's a 'yes', Harry," Ron said. Kreacher shot him a dirty look.
"Okay, and if I asked you to go to a place that is under the Fidelius, but I don't know the secret, could you go?" Harry continued his questioning.
"Kreacher cannot go somewhere his Master doesn't know," Kreacher answered looking like he was going to start muttering but stopping abruptly.
"So, you could go if I was let in on the secret?"
Kreacher nodded.
"So, to review. You can break through a Fidelius if I called you, but only if I was there, right? You cannot break through a Fidelius if told you to go because I couldn't tell you where to go."
"Kreacher thinks so."
"Think so or know so?" Ron questioned.
"Kreacher thinks so", he repeated, shooting another dirty look at Ron.
"What are you thinking, Harry?" Ginny questioned.
"Just wondering whether I need to make the house …er… House Elf proof, like ensure that only Dobby and Kreacher can enter it," he explained.
Kreacher's ears perked up and a glint in his eyes made it seem like he knew something. But he immediately looked down and started muttering under his breath again.
"Kreacher? What do you know?" Harry immediately asked.
Kreacher shook his head frantically and muttered faster.
"Kreacher, tell me what you know about warding a location against House Elves," Harry demanded.
Kreacher sighed deeply, giving in to the inevitable. "Kreacher knows of certain wards," He said carefully. "The Ancient and Noble House of Black has always demanded only Black family-elves can step foot in The Ancient and Noble House." Here he stopped abruptly. He looked at Harry with loathing and then froze.
Harry, Ginny and Ron stared at him. Kreacher shook his head vigorously and said as if in a trance: "Master has demanded Kreacher tell him but Kreacher cannot tell anyone who is not an elf directly related to the Noble and Ancient House of Black but he has to tell Master but he cannot…" he continued muttering this way.
The three exchanged glances. Kreacher seemed to be stuck in a loop. Before Harry could say anything, Dobby popped into the Weasley's sitting rooms with two books floating next to him. This snapped Kreacher out of his loop, but he still looked with loathing at Harry.
"Dobby has brought the books Harry Potter has asked for!" Dobby squeaked. He looked from Harry to Kreacher and back.
"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said with a smile. "You can put them on the table there," which Dobby did with a snap of his fingers.
"Does Harry Potter have anything else he would like Dobby to do, sir?" Dobby asked, casting wary glances at Kreacher.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Harry said. "I just asked Kreacher to tell me about ways to shield a location from House Elves, but he doesn't seem to be able to tell me." Dobby looked warily at Harry. It seemed like this was a difficult topic for some reason.
"May Dobby and Kreacher be excused for a moment, sir?" Dobby said.
'Sure, Harry said surprised. Both elves popped away, a loud bang showing Kreacher's reluctance to do so.
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on," Ron remarked.
"Me neither," Ginny admitted.
Harry laughed, "Yeah, I am clueless as well"
"Why is that any different than usual, Potter?" Ginny interjected quickly causing Harry to laugh again and give her a light, playful shove to the shoulders.
Strictly holding to the definition of a "moment", the two House Elves popped back into the sitting room. They looked at each other, Kreacher sneering at Dobby.
"Dobby will explain, Harry Potter, sir!" The younger elf piped up. "Harry Potter gave Kreacher a demand that goes against certain House Elf Laws. House Elves may not, should not and cannot explain Elf magic to Wizards and Witches." He shivered. "Dobby is already telling you too much," and with that, he jumped towards the table leg.
"Okay, okay," Harry said quickly, catching Dobby again, "so you cannot tell me how?" Kreacher stiffened, while Dobby nodded. It seems the older elf wanted to ignore the issue completely, while the younger one could say at least say something about it. Harry wondered whether that was because Dobby was a Free Elf.
He looked at Kreacher. "If I ask you to go to Potter House and make sure the only elves that can go there are you and Dobby, regardless of whether the masters of other House Elves are there, can you do that?" Kreacher remained silent but was obviously struggling with something.
Dobby spoke up again. "Dobby thinks it would be better if Harry Potter demanded rather than asked."
"Why?" Ginny asked curiously.
"Maybe because they cannot tell you whether they can, but if you say they have to do it, they don't have to tell you that they can?" Ron suggested. Dobby nodded, "It is also to do with the power of demands over asking," he supplied.
"Okay, Kreacher, I want you to go to Potter House and prevent entry for all House Elves except for yourself and –"
"Only for Kreacher" Ginny interjected, "that way you can ask Dobby to check whether it has worked," she explained as Harry looked at her curiously. He nodded appreciatively.
"Right. Kreacher, go to Potter House and make sure no Elves except for yourself can enter it!" he said to Kreacher, who looked both relieved and annoyed as he popped away.
"Dobby can you wait for a little while?" Harry asked. Dobby nodded.
"While we wait for Kreacher to come back," Ginny said. "I have another question for you, Harry. Are you going to try to become an Animagus?"
"Ron and me, yeah," Harry said, walking to the table to get the books Dobby had taken from the library at… er… from his library. There were two books. The first, Becoming the Beast Within: an Astute Analysis of Active Animagi by Deryn Pugh, seemed to be a collection of private observations from different animagi, whose names were redacted. The book had come out in the 19th century. The second seemed to be part of a collection called "Transformative Transfiguration Themes", this specific issue being about Animagi. It seemed to be a basic how-to guide.
He handed the books to Ron, "These seem helpful!" Ron nodded as he read the back cover of the two books before he handed them off to Ginny, who looked interested as well.
"Isn't it really really difficult to become an animagus?" she questioned.
"Probably, we'll find out I guess?" Harry scratched the back of his head, "but Sirius and my father managed it when they were fifteen, so it should be doable at our age. Remus said the timing is great, we're focusing on human transfiguration in NEWT transfiguration anyway."
Ginny handed him the books back. "Do you think those are all the books we need, Harry?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head. "I want to ask Kreacher if he can look in the library at Grimmauld Place too, and I want to see if Flourish and Blots have any books on it. I should have written McGonagall actually, she'd know which books to get. Oh well."
They stood around for a while, waiting for Kreacher and making small talk until Mrs Weasley came into the sitting room, demanding they eat breakfast right now as they had planned to leave in about 20 minutes. Harry looked at Dobby, who was still standing in the same place.
"Er, Dobby? Do you know how long it's going to take Kreacher to do what I asked of him?"
Dobby nodded. "It will take Kreacher two to three days, Harry Potter, sir," he answered.
Harry looked at him non-plussed. He had never heard of magic that took so long to cast or implement. "Oh," he said embarrassedly, "in that case I'll call for you if he returns, is that okay? I'm sorry to make you wait like this."
"Dobby will come if you call, sir!" With that, Dobby popped away and Harry went into the kitchen to eat breakfast.
-In Her Memory-
About four hours later Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hagrid, who they had been glad to find out was their "security" for that day, were finishing lunch in the Leaky Cauldron. They had spent the hours before lunch buying all their necessities. Harry, Ron and Ginny had both needed new robes. They had a small run-in with Draco Malfoy at Madam Malkin's. The pale, blonde boy was just leaving with his mother. Draco had looked like he had wanted to say something but he was dragged away by his mother, leaving him no time but to sneer at their group.
After getting new robes, they had made their way over to Flourish and Blots and they had spent quite some time browsing the aisles and shelves. Besides the books he'd need for his normal classes, for the first time since Harry started Hogwarts he bought some additional reading material. He found A Rudimentary Guide to Potion Ingredients by Brigid Brauwer, the book that the Twins had recommended. Books on animagi were rare and the only one they sold was the one by Deryn Pugh that Harry already had. He did find a nice book on Quidditch Chaser Formations that he bought as a birthday gift for Ginny. He wouldn't admit this to Ron or Ginny, but he was quite sure that Ginny was guaranteed a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, even more so than Ron.
While they had walked from store to store, it had proven quite impossible to ignore Fred and George's store. It hit the eye like a fireworks display. The large U-No-Poo advert had Mrs Weasley doubting whether to stick to the original plan or to march into the store to give her sons a piece of her mind. Harry, Ron and Ginny were openly laughing. Harry thought his investment seemed to be paying off, as every time they passed the store it had been jam-packed with laughing children and annoyed parents.
After finishing their lunch, it was finally time to head to the store. Harry was excited. He was curious about the sort of stuff Fred and George had come up with without the limitations of being at Hogwarts or the Burrow. He also needed to ask them for an update on their research into Sirius' mirror.
Fred and George were too busy to both give them a tour of the store, so Fred did the honours by himself. It was a sign of how loud, both in sound and in colour, the store was, that Harry didn't even notice George walking back and forth between customers in the background, even with his magenta robe. Ron and Ginny had walked off to explore the store on their own, as did Mr and Mrs Weasley looking both proud and stunned. Hagrid decided to wait outside.
Fred showed Harry around the store, even taking him into a small side chamber where they sold Muggle Magic tricks.
"They're not bestsellers, by any standard," Fred said, "but there'll always be people like Dad." He laughed. "Come on through to the back, Harry, there's something I want to show you."
His interest piqued, Harry followed Fred, walking past a bright pink stall selling love potions, where George and Ginny were having a disagreement. At least, the way Ginny had her hands on her hips was so reminiscent of Mrs Weasley that it indicated George had done something to annoy her.
Fred took him into the back. "I have two things to show you," he said while rummaging through the shelves. "Ah!" he grabbed two pieces of parchment. "These are our prototype Instant-Letters." He handed put them on a table for Harry to inspect.
"Instant letters?" Harry asked curiously, looking at the blank piece of parchment.
"Well, we're still working on the name," Fred explained, grinning. "We got the idea from you actually, well sort of anyway. Remember what Dad said about being able to communicate more easily, without having to rely on a Patronus? And Lupin suggested two-way mirrors, and you gave us some shards?"
Harry nodded.
"Well, we did our best to try to figure out how the mirror worked, but alas!" He said the last bit in a poor impression of Dumbledore. "Considering we never could figure out how they made the Map, we're not surprised we can't figure out the mirror either. However, our instant-letters are some sort of combination between the two." He took out his wand from his magenta coloured robes, put it on one of the instant-letters and said "This is a prototype".
Like the Map, inked dwelled up from the parchment and formed letters, which read "This is Prototype 1". He repeated the process for the other parchment, which he gave to Harry. He grabbed a quill and scribbled something on the parchment. Then, he pointed at Harry's parchment. Harry looked at it and saw it now also featured a small cartoon-like drawing of an owl.
Harry was intrigued. "So you drew it on your piece, and it copied it onto this one?"
Fred nodded. "Yes, we hope it can feature as some sort of silent communication. There are still many problems, though. For example, after the parchment is full you have to remove all the ink, which means you can't send messages that are longer than what fits on the parchment, and we haven't yet figured out a way to read previous messages."
"Have you thought about using a scroll of parchment instead of just a single sheet?" Harry suggested.
"Yes, but at some point, the scroll will be full as well. Although…" Fred said trailing off. He looked pensive for a moment. "Maybe we could somehow use the rolling function of a scroll of parchment, or use an expansion charm of some sort." He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"A full scroll of parchment can be read in its entirety by rolling it from the top and bottom." Harry thought out loud.
"So maybe an expansion charm on the top scroll, making sure there is always more parchment ready?" Fred sighed "but then you'll end up with a lot of parchment on the bottom scroll." He shook his head. "But there's something there, I think."
"What was the other thing you wanted to show me?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes, remember those Headless Hats we made? We took that idea and ran with it, resulting in a whole assortment of Charmed clothing. For example," he said, taking a black robe from a box and draping it on a chair. He grabbed his wand again, pointed it at the robe and cast a weak Fire-Making Charm at it. The robe caught fire immediately.
Before Harry could ask what was supposed to be happening, Fred had already cast an aguamenti to douse the flames. "Oops", he said, laughing, "I grabbed the wrong box." He grabbed the ruined robes and laughed again, shaking his head. Harry chuckled. "So, what was supposed to happen?"
"Well, we managed to make robes with certain defensive Charms woven into the fabric. So, robes with a weak shield charm, robes with fire-suppressing charms, those kinds of charms. Well, I say charms, but they're actually a combination of runes and charms."
"You know runes?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Well", George said, coming into the back as well, "we kind of screwed up not taking Ancient Runes seriously, never knew there was so much prank potential in runes!"
"We asked Bill for help," Fred admitted, "and are now trying to study them on our own," George added. Fred looked over at his twin. "What did Ginny say?"
"Ah, our sweet little Ginnykins politely asked us to refrain from sticking our sniffing devices into her affairs, and if we were to do so anyway, we would be introduced to our boogers, in flying form," George said, "although not quite in the same dulcet tones," he added wryly.
The twins turned to look at Harry.
"Harry, you room with Dean, is he a good bloke?" they asked.
"…Er…" Harry said eloquently. "I guess? I mean, he is nice and at all, but I've never really talked with him about girls or anything like that," he admitted. "I think he took Lisa Turpin to the Yule Ball, they dated for a while after I believe, so he must've been nice enough."
The twins both made thoughtful noises.
"Anyway," George said, "You can head out into the store and take whatever you want. You'll find there are some very useful items you could use."
The Twins accompanied Harry back into the store, where he spent a good half hour reviewing the store's products with Ron and Ginny and asking the Twins about what they thought their best products were. Ginny, remembering the Twins had given Harry a gift voucher, had in whispers persuaded Harry to get certain products so she could use them. Harry had done so, but only after Ginny promised she wouldn't use the prank items again him. Having done their shopping, they all returned to the Burrow, where Harry and Ron began reading some of their books.