After he robotically brushed his teeth, Harry walked out of the restroom to find Ron standing in the hall.
"You know, I think Fred and George got the wrong idea about you." He informed.
"Tell me about it." Harry sighed.
"Don't worry. George and Fred will." Ron replied. There was a moment of silence then Ron spoke again. "Hermione told me… do you really think it's that serious?"
Wormtail should try to... if he could make contact with… his most valuable infiltrator… Percy's voice surfaced again in Harry's mind. "Actually, Ron, I'm afraid it's worse."
"There you are, Harry. You're not trying to seduce Ron are you?" Fred grinned.
"No he's not!" It was Ginny, her face was turning red.
"Ahhh… my poor, naive sister." George said while shaking his head sympathetically.
"George, Fred! You've got mail!" Charlie's voice came from below.
"Not more mail." Ron whined. "We spent all night last night sorting piles of old postage."
"Its from the Minstery of Magic." Hermione's voice established.
"I hope you two aren't in trouble." Mrs. Weasley's voice added.
"Awww… Come on, mum don't you trust us?" replied Fred.
Harry followed the bouncing George and Fred down the spiral staircase. Charlie handed a rather thick envelope to Fred, who tore it open. Then after examining a piece of parchment the twins shouted in glee.
"We got it, we got it!!!!" They were literally beside themselves.
Mrs. Weasley took the letter and read.
"Dear Mr. George and Fred Weasley. We are pleased to inform you, from the Department of Magical Games and Sports, the Committee on Experimental Charms, and the Department of Magical Corporation, that your request for the license of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes has been reviewed and passed by the ministry. The license is enclosed along with the copyright seals and forms as requested."
"Now mum, we know that you aren't with us a hundred percent."
"O' you two, I can't tell you how proud I am!"
"You are?" Everyone said with a puzzled expression. This was obviously not what anyone expected to hear, but thought better than to argue a good thing.
Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry volunteered to help the twins put their business in order. Hermione placed a charm on the copyright seal to stamp whichever products passed and the forms were enchanted to fill themselves. This was good because between the Tongue Tying Tootsie Pops, and the Exploding Ink Quills, there were quite a lot of forms to fill.
"Who'd have thought that testing toys was that tiring!?" Hermione said, rubbing her wrist, as she had just finished with a stack of exploding wands. Not a single one was malfunctioning.
"Anyone willing to try the last of the Loony Lollypop?" Harry offered feeling a little queasy himself. The pops tasted good, though it made the person temporarily wacky and tend to bounce around the room. Though the eater wouldn't feel a thing when bouncing, Ron was unfortunate enough as to have eaten one that wore off during mid-bounce, causing him to fall on his head.
"My head is still pounding from the last one."
"I'll take it," offered Ginny. "This is the last of the lot right?"
"Yep!" Said George, who placed a check mark on the long list of items.
Just as he handed Ginny the cursed sweet, the portrait of Hogwarts opened and Sirius stepped through.
"Hi Sirius!"
"Care for a lollypop?" George asked.
"No thanks, I think I'll pass." Said Sirius looking suspiciously at the innocent looking candy. "Harry, could I borrow your map for a moment?"
"Sure, but why?" Harry handed the map over to Sirius.
"I need to find out where everybody is." Sirius explained. "Speaking of which, where is Mr. Weasley?"
"Bill, Charlie, and Dad went to the ministry's office. They won't be back till late." Ron answered.
"Alright, I want all of you to stay in the house tonight." Sirius instructed. "And don't go through that portrait."
"Why?" Fred asked.
"It's a full moon tonight, and Lupin will be changing soon." with that, Sirius grabbed a broom from the closet and left the lot by the fire.
"I almost forgot, today is when they'll try out the potion." Harry reminded.
"Do you think it will work?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know."
"I was hoping I'd get my ancient ruins homework redone." Hermione sighed.
"You can always help us make our catalog!" The twins advised hopefully.
"I think that I'll eat this later." Ginny said as she put down the lollypop.
It wasn't until eight o'clock when they heard anything from the outside, but it only turned out to be Dido with their dinner. Fred offered Ginny's lollypop to Dido. With the argument to Ginny "We need to test it out and you weren't going to eat it!" Dido accepted the treat reluctantly. Just when they were beginning to eat dinner, they heard a scream coming from upstairs.
"What was that?"
"Don't you mean. Who was that, Ron?" Hermione corrected.
"It sounded like..." Ginny began.
"MUM!" The twins were already on their feet as they raced to Percy's room.
But evidently, it was Percy who screamed.
"Gees Percy, you nearly gave us a heart attack." Ron stated. "We thought mum was in danger."
"If we knew it was you we would have finished our dinner before coming up here." George and Fred agreed.
"Where am I?" Percy asked.
"We are at Corra's house." Mrs. Weasley explained.
"I... they...Harry...Hermione." Percy stuttered.
"They've gone to a better place." George told Percy solemnly.
It looked as though Percy was about to cry.
"George! That's horrible!" Ginny scowled.
"Percy, we're fine." Hermione and Harry said.
Another scream came from down stairs. This time it was Dido, and she had good reason to. It seemed that Dido was bouncing off the walls and ceiling, and from the look on her face she was horrified of heights.
"O' my." Mrs. Weasley gasped. But before anyone could think of a way to stop Dido from bouncing, she bounced up from the carpet and out the door.
"We have to go and get her!" Hermione was the first to reach the door
"It's dangerous outside!" Ron yelled after her.
"All the more reason that we need to find Dido."
"We're going with you." Harry stated.
"And just where do you think all of you are going?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking suspiciously at the three.
"We have to go and find Dido. We never tried the lollypop outside before, she might get lost in the forest." Hermione replied in a hurried voice.
"You can't, there is a were-" Ginny began but stopped when she saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron furiously shaking their heads.
"A what … Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Nothing mum."
"Ginny…" Mrs. Weasley pressed.
"She just asked where would they find Dido." Fred explained.
"Mum, I think that you need some rest." George suggested leading Mrs. Weasley back upstairs, followed by Fred.
"How high do you think werewolves can jump?" Harry whispered to Hermione.
"They can jump pretty high… why do you ask?"
But Harry didn't need to answer. He handed brooms to both Hermione and Ron. If they were going to be chased by a hungry werewolf the least they could do was to make it harder for it to catch them.
"Will you at least be careful?" Ginny asked shyly.
"Don't worry." Hermione replied.
"Hermione, I don't think that Ginny meant for us to be careful. Maybe just a certain one of us. Right little sister?" Ron suggested looking from Ginny to Harry.
"Ron!" Ginny's face was scarlet.
"Come on, Ron, we can't waste much time. Dido could be anywhere." Hermione redirected.
The three took off through the door. The night air was cool and calm; there was no wind to speak of. The sky was clear with the full moon hanging over the land, giving everything an eerie glow.
"Lumos," Harry whispered his wand now beaming with bright light. He heard Ron and Hermione do the same. The three wands now looked like searchlights flying thought the air.
"Harry, maybe you should use your map." Ron suggested.
Harry took his map out and saw that Dido was just a few feet from him, and thankfully, Lupin and Corra were still in the house.
"She's over there!" Harry pointed, sending a ray of light around the place where Dido might be. Suddenly, a high-pitched sound disturbed the quiet atmosphere. It was more ear-piercing than a whistle and louder than a flute.
"Harry, Ron we've got to hurry! We don't have much time!" Hermione's voice sounded urgent as the three hovered over the spot where Dido should've been.
"Why? What was that noise?" Harry asked, his eyes searching for the origin of the sound.
"That was a werewolf whistle, it is usually used by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to summon a werewolf. It works like a dog whistle. A werewolf is probably nearby, and someone is calling it."
With a look at the map, Harry could tell that Dido was close, and more importantly Lupin was still in the house.
"Hermione, Lupin is still inside." Harry informed
"Then let's hope that there's no other werewolf out here." Hermione replied.
After three tense minutes Harry was able to shine his light on Dido, lying unconscious on the forest floor. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone.
