Chapter Six: A Foreign Profit

The next morning, Harry had woken up much earlier than he had planned to. All the excitement of going to a foreign country and school had gone to his head, and apparently Ron had the same idea.

"Psst, Harry!" Ron whispered.

"Yeah?" Harry responded back in a quiet voice. He had just started getting out of bed and getting his clothes on.

"How do you suppose we're traveling to Beauxbatons today?" said Ron in a louder voice, also getting out of bed. Harry heard Mr. Weasley give a loud snore from the next room.

"Hey, keep it down in here!" said a voice from the doorway, not giving Harry a chance to reply. It was Fred and George, who were fully dressed. Fred was sporting a mucus green suit and flannel pants, and he had a pin with three distinct W's on it. George was wearing the same, except he had parted his hair in two and wore a bow tie. Each of them were carrying 2 large black briefcases that looked like they came from Uncle Vernon's drilling company.

"What's the occasion?" Ron snorted. Harry couldn't keep himself from laughing. He hadn't seen something this bad since old Archie had put on a flowered dress like Mrs. Figg's at the World Cup the previous year.

"Well," said the twins in unison, smiling. Harry and Ron exchanged looks, and turned back towards the two.

"You know how Mum destroyed Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Fred began.

"And how you," said George, pointing at Harry. "Gave us those Triwizard winnings?" Harry grinned.

"Well, we started it up again, and…"

"And?" said Ron, leaning forward. Fred and George walked towards each of their beds, dropped the briefcase, and opened it. Inside were hundreds of different wizard candies that the Weasley twins had developed. Harry saw the Ton-Tongue Toffees that Dudley had eaten, as well as some new treats such as the strangely-colored Shrinking Bats, the strong smelling Marshmallow Merlins, and the putrid red Valentine Ghosts.

"Mum's going to kill you when she finds out!" shouted Ron.

"But who said she'll find out?" grinned Fred. He pulled out his wand, whispered "Reducio!", and the four briefcases were suddenly reduced to the size of a normal Pumpkin Pastie.

"Sorry," said Harry. "But who do you expect to sell these two?"

"That's all the reason we're doing it!" said George excitedly. "Everyone at Hogwarts in our year already knows about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but the kids at Beauxbatons don't."

Harry could sense trouble. He knew that, though a good plan, it would backfire in some way, just like the rest of their tactics. Just then, Harry heard a voice in the hallway.

"Everybody up!" It was Mrs. Weasley, calling from the hall to give them a warning before she came in. "We're going to be late unless you-" She was surprised when she had reached Ron's door and saw all four of them up and dressed. "Well, I guess we aren't going to be late!"

The five of them picked up Ginny from her room and walked down to the kitchen where a groggy Percy and Arthur Weasley sat eating breakfast.

"Up, shoo!" said a hurried Mrs. Weasley. "They have to eat their breakfast and get to King's Cross soon!" After they all sat down for a quick meal of two pancakes each, they were rushed into three Muggle taxis that had been ordered by Mrs. Weasley. The drivers had already loaded their strange belonging into the trunks (which Mr. Weasley had secretly made bigger earlier that day) and were raring to leave the Burrow.

It was a tall house with various stories. At first, it seemed a bit normal to the Muggles, but once they had spotted little gnomes running around, they were terrified to stay any longer. After everyone crowded into the cars, they were off to King's Cross Station.

* * *

As usual, everyone stared at the Weasleys and Harry as they pushed their carts and owls (Ron, Harry, Fred, and George had broomsticks) through the barrier of Platform Nine and Ten. And, as usual, they blended between the two platforms and found themselves at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"Huh?" questioned Ron loudly. Where the Hogwarts Express should have been (though they knew it wouldn't have been) there was nothing. He turned to Harry, who shrugged. "How're we to get to Beauxbatons?" Everyone, except Ginny, who was still looking at the empty space, turned to Mrs. Weasley, who had an awkward look on her face.

"Look!" shouted Ginny suddenly. Everyone wheeled around to see something starting to materialize out of the thin air.

"Do you think-?" started Ron.

"It couldn't be-!" exclaimed Harry.

"That'd be awesome-!" yelled Fred.

"I think it is," finished George. As the whole shape materialized, they all nodded, agreeing. So, thought Harry. THIS was how he would get to Beauxbatons…