Diagon alley revisited.
After Marus had left Harry went back into the house, and had lunch with Ron. He finished the conversation they where having in the backyard. The whole (except for Bill and Charlie who weren't home) Weasley family were stunned by the story about the death eaters. He did leave Marus' name out of the part where he was saved from the fake mark. And then, after lunch Mr. Weasley went back to the ministry, and Mrs. Weasley continued with cleaning the house. Ron and Harry both dragged Harry's stuff to Ron's room. Once up there Harry felt he should tell Ron the rest.
'Ron, that story I just told you. I didn't tell you who the man was that saved me.' With a hard push they shoved the trunk into a corner.
'Well, who was it then?' Ron asked, as he sat down on his bed.
'It was Marus.' Harry said softly.
'Are you sure? Surely you don't mean, that rookie security guard?' Ron gave him a disbelieving stare.
'I don't think that's who he really is. He told me that he was a mercenary and you heard him lie about his background.' Harry explained.
'Yeah, what was up with that anyway? When I wanted to say I had never seen him before, I suddenly couldn't.'
'A silence compulsion, I heard Hermione talk about them once. Really advanced magic. We wont get to those until our seventh year.' Harry said and he sat down next to Ron.
'Hmmm. Didn't you say he gave you a book?' Ron asked. 'Perhaps we could find out more about him from that.'
'Not a bad idea.' Harry replied. He got up, opened his trunk and heaved the book onto the bed.
'History of the Order. Hmm. No writer or publisher.' Ron remarked. As they opened it they found that it resembled 'A history of magic'. A very fine print, few illustrations and practically unreadable for the average person, because all the letters were so close together that it seemed like the person writing it had forgotten to use spaces.
'This is no good. We need Hermoine to make sense out of this.' Harry said.
'You're right. Still I wonder what Order they are referring too.' Ron said as he leafed through the pages. 'Do you think it's about the Order of the Phoenix?'
'No… I think they would have mentioned it in the title. Or put a phoenix on the cover.'
'I guess your right.' Ron closed the book and picked it up to put it back in the trunk. Just then he noticed something. 'Hey, there something on the back.' He flipped it over exposing the back of the book, revealing a golden lion figure. 'Definitely not a phoenix.'
Since the both of them were unable to make any sense out of the book or recognize the lion figure on the back, they decided to leave it and move on to more pressing matters. Harry still had to go get his school supplies.
They went downstairs to ask Mrs. Weasley to take them to Diagon alley.
'I'm sorry boys. I'm just too busy getting this household into shape. You'll just have to wait till Arthur gets home.' She said while magically removing a scorch mark from the wall.
'That's alright. We're old enough to go by ourselves. Where is the floo-powder?' Ron asked, but his mother turned around giving him an angry look.
'You're not going there without adult supervision.' She exclaimed angrily with her hands in her sides.
'Mooom. We're 15. We're not little kids anymore.' Ron practically whined.
'You are still my child and as long as you live here you'll do as I say.' Mrs. Weasley stated and went to remove another scorch mark. 'Maybe you can ask Percy to take you.' She added.
'I'd rather not.' Ron muttered under his breath.
'What did you say?' His mother asked still a bit upset.
'You missed a spot.' Ron said quickly, pointing his finger to the wall.
Then Fred and George came out of the living room both carrying a bucket and a mop.
'We could take them.' Fred said. 'Together we would substitute an adult.' George added. They both put their mob in their respective bucket and began to scrub the floor while awaiting their mother's answer.
'No you don't. It's because of you that the house is in this shape.' Mrs. Weasley answered.
'Consider this mother. If we take them then we wont be able to do anymore experiments here. Thus we wont be making anymore mess.' Fred began. 'And what makes you think we wont do any experiments while cleaning.' George finished.
Mrs. Weasley seemed to see the logic in this argument and allowed them to take Harry to Diagon alley. Ron however had to stay behind to help cleaning.
'Ready Harry?' Fred asked holding out the flowerpot with floo-powder.
'As ready as I'll ever be.' Harry replied taking a handful of powder.
'Just remember to get out at the right fireplace this time.' George remarked as he got into position.
'And where is that?' Harry asked slightly cross.
George jumped into the green flames and Fred stepped into place putting the flowerpot on the floor.
'The fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron Harry. That's where you need to get out. See ya there.' Fred answered and jumped in. Harry stepped into place, threw the floo-powder in the flames and yelled 'Diagon Alley'. There I go again. Harry thought as he stepped into flames.
The familiar spinning ended before he lost his lunch and he braced for impact. As Harry expected his face to meet floor again, he was quite surprised to land softly. The twins had been waiting for him and caught him as he came out.
'Thanks.' Harry said to his saviors.
'All in a days work.' One of the twins said, Harry's glasses were still too covered with soot for him to distinguish which one was talking.
The inn was quite cramped with a lot of people, Harry and escort were barely able to get through the crowd and they sort of had to shimmy their way through. Just when they were almost at the entrance to the alley Harry noticed a figure in a familiar worn brown cloak.
Marus was sitting in a dark corner, opposite from where Harry was standing, drinking something. As Harry saw him he raised his mug in recognition. He's everywhere.
As he was thinking this the front door slammed open and the entire inn went silent. Harry couldn't see clearly what was going on but he did get a glance at people at the door. Two, very tall, Ministry agents were standing in the doorway. They were wearing very formal black robes which could pass for a three piece suit, if they were wearing sunglasses and an earphone they would have been undistinguishable from muggle (FBI) agents. They were holding out their wands and a piece of paper.
'LISTEN EVERYONE!' The first one yelled. This would've made sense if everybody wasn't already quiet. 'WE'RE looking for a criminal' He continued. Somewhere in the back somebody said "duh". 'We're expecting everyone here to cooperate. If you can provide us with any information on this man's whereabouts you will be rewarded. NO ONE is leaving before they have had a look at this picture.' He held up his parchment.
'What if we don't wanna talk to ye?' A tall bearded man at the front asked.
'All exits are being guarded, the fireplace has been disconnected and an anti-dissapparating shield has been erected around this structure.' The agent stopped to breathe. 'No one will leave before they have seen this picture and answered our questions.' He repeated.
'FINE. Lemme see that.' The bearded man snatched the parchment out of the agents hands glanced at it and said. 'Nope never seen him before in me life. Can I go know?'
'For now that will be enough. Sir' The agent replied coolly.
Slowly the entire inn filed past the agents to look at the picture. Harry had been watching the scene for a while. Then he turned around to see the corner were Marus had been a few moments ago. Not that surprisingly Harry didn't see him there anymore.
Fred tapped Harry on the shoulder. 'Let's get in the line Harry.' Harry looked him straight into the eye.
'Why?' Harry asked.
'Because those agents at the entrance wont let us through until we've seen the picture.' George answered.
They entered line in the following sequence, Harry, George and Fred was closing the line. After slowly moving forward for about 5 minutes it was Harry's turn to take a look. The agent immediately recognized Harry.
'Mr. Potter. What are you doing here? You're not alone, are you?' The agent asked with mild concern in his voice.
'I am here to get my school supplies, and no I not alone. I have two first class quidditch beaters to protect me.' Harry replied. Fred and George began to glow at the remark Harry made.
'So I see. Well I don't suppose the three of you have seen this man but I have to ask anyway.' He showed them the parchment. 'Have you seen him?' He asked casually.
'No, I can't say that I have.' Fred said. 'Neither have I, I would have remembered a person looking like that.' George added, giving the agent a quizzical look.
'Yes, I would have to agree. He's got a very distinctive look.' The agent said as he was expecting a negative reply. He started to roll up the parchment.
Harry intervened by saying. 'Sir, you misunderstand. There isn't a picture of anybody on that parchment, just a big blur.'
'WHAT?!' The agent exclaimed. He turned the parchment around so he could see it for himself. A big blur of mixed colors was visible on it. 'Okay. Which of you jokers put a disillusionment charm on this?' He asked angrily. It remained eerily silent. 'I asked you a question.' The agent looked around to see if anyone was getting cold feet. Then the silence was broken by a soft chuckling which was coming from… everywhere.
'Looking for me?' Marus's voice said in a way like he was enjoying this little cat and mouse game. 'You really shouldn't bother these nice people.' The sound of his voice shifted randomly from corners to somewhere amongst a group of people near the door to right behind the agent's back. 'Hurry up and catch me.' Marus said in a teasing voice which now seemed to come from behind the counter.
The agents clustered together in the center of the room to discuss a plan of action. 'We should spread out. He probably hiding amongst the crowds.' The leader of group suggested. 'How is that possible?' Another one asked. 'He has made himself invisible, if we can confine him here long enough it'll wear off.' The leader replied.
Marus had been listening to this. 'Fine idea, but your anti-dissapparating field will wear of before I become visible.' The voice was coming from the fireplace. 'But how do you even know I am still in the building?' His voice came out of one agents mouths who immediately covered it with hands.
'Because you have to be close to throw your voice like this.' The leader said in a confident tone of voice.
Marus laughed out loud. 'Is that what you think? I've been playing this game for four years now, so I should know how to throw you off.' His voice now came from near the entrance to diagon alley. 'Hey, look at that.' Marus suddenly said. 'The Nimbus 2000 is on sale, let's see. Phew, 200 galleons, way to steep for me.' The voice had shifted to the ceiling.
While this had been going on Harry had been listening where the voice was actually coming from. Then he noticed that a shadow without an owner was slowly edging it's way towards the entrance.
'He's in the alley.' One of agents yelled. 'Let's get him.'
'No, wait!' The leader said.
'Oops. I just apparated into muggle London.' Marus' voice said from one of the mugs on a table near Harry. 'Looks like a circular square, with a big fountain in the middle.'
'He's on Piccadilly Circus.' One of the agents exclaimed.
'Hmm, there's one hot muggle. I do believe I have practice some enchantment spells on that one.' Marus' voice said in the far corner away from Harry.
In the meantime the shadow had reached the corner near the entrance.
'Sir, this is pointless. We need help.' The agent to left of the leader said.
'Your right. Let's call in some specialists.' The leader said and he motioned the others to follow him.
'Good boy. You do that. Here is something to remember me by.' Marus' voice said behind the leaders back. There was a gust of wind and the leader toppled over like he had been hit square in the face.
'Jason!! Are you alright?' One of the agents asked while he crouched down to help his leader. Jason felt his nose and noticed it was bleeding. A general sense of elation began to rise in the inn.
'Bad punch, but it felt good.' Marus' voice was now hovering over the squad leader. The agent next to him began to flail his arms around desperately trying to find an invisible man.
'Carl, stop it. He trying to tick us off. Do not give him a chance to ridicule you.' The leader said while holding his nose with his hand.
'Too late for that I'm afraid. My task is done. You no longer need me to make you look like fools.' Marus' voice moved back towards the fireplace.
'We'll be back for you.' Carl said.
'Weren't you listening. I'm on Piccadilly Circus, enchanting a muggle woman. By the time you get back, you wont find me anywhere.' His voice moved to the center of room.
The agents left, the fireplace activated itself and a crackle of static energy signaled the end of the anti-dissapparating field.
As the last remnants of the ministry's presence vanished the mood in the pub began to return, save for the fact that Marus' voice still floated around.
'That takes care of that.' Marus' voiced said while floating over towards the counter. Tom had been hiding behind it the moment Marus began to pull his pranks on the agents.
'GET UP TOM!' Marus yelled, his voice now hovering in front the counter. The innkeeper slowly stood up but tried to slip away to the back room. 'STOP. Turn around and face me.' The voice said, after which Marus tried hard to stifle a laugh as he realized what he had said.
'Tom, you are the only person who knew I was here. Did you tip them off?' The voice sounded calm with a hint of threat laced through it.
'N-no, sir I didn't.' Tom responded, shaking his arse off.
'DON'T LIE TO ME!!' Marus' voice exploded. Tom dropped to his knees holding up his hands towards where the voice was coming from.
'Sir please, I beg you. I didn't tell anyone. They always come here to ask questions because so many people come here. I swear I didn't tell anyone.' The innkeepers voice quivered with fear as he said this. There was an ominous silence before Marus spoke again.
'Very well, I believe you…' Tom fear dropped. 'For now…' He looked up in despair again. 'Rest easy Tom, you're not my enemy. But I can't stand people who lie to me. I may be back someday, you'd better never have lied to me or I will find out.' Marus' voice faded away.
Harry had moved towards the entrance never taking his eye of the spot where he had seen that rogue shadow. He was sure he had seen it but as he looked into the dark corner again he couldn't find now. Harry gave up the search for the shadow and walked over towards the twins who were gazing into infinity. As he got close he could see that they were grinning from ear-to-ear. During the show they had been taking mental notes (they didn't have parchment with them) of what had been happening.
'What are you two up to?' Harry asked, although he knew the answer to that already.
'Oh, nothing. Just making some plans for our final year.' Fred said and got, if it were possible, an even bigger grin on his face.
'Yeah. Whoever this chap is. He would've made a great addition to us mischief makers.' George said, his smile matching Fred's in every detail.
'Come on you two we don't have all day.' Harry wanted to put the situation behind him and get on with the matter at hand.
At the entrance Harry tapped his wands on the bricks and lead the way into Diagon Alley. As he stepped through he got the distinct impression that he was being followed, but when he looked behind him he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Until he looked at the ground, the shadow he had seen in the Leaky Cauldron was there a few feet behind him. Harry wanted to investigate this but as soon as he approached it the shadow moved quickly into a back alley.
'Something wrong Harry?' George asked, while he was still trying to get his grin under control.
'Nothing.' Harry said. 'Just my mind playing tricks on me. Let's go.'
They walked towards Gringotts Bank, where Harry made a quick withdrawal. At Harry's vault, Fred couldn't suppress to make a comment on the sizeable amount of wizarding money in there.
'Jesus, Harry. No wonder you gave us that money you won.'
'You GAVE them money?' Griphook asked, because he didn't understand the concept of charity.
After that they went down all the shops for the stuff Harry needed. They also stopped by Quality Quidditch Supplies to see if there was anything interesting. There were no new brooms but many slightly older brooms were on sale, including a Nimbus 2000. The memories of his own Nimbus came flooding back to him, followed by the memory of seeing it broken and defeated in a little box. Harry shrugged it off. Even though there were no new brooms a rumor that an ultimate racing broom was being developed by the creators of the Firebolt and the Nimbus racing broom company was hanging heavily in the air.
As soon as they were done shopping the twins insisted on showing Harry what they he had done with the money he had given them. They stopped at a stuffy old abandoned shop which windows were so dirty that you couldn't see inside. Harry was starting to have doubts that this was the best investment they could have made with that money. It didn't get any better when they started to praise the building.
'This Harry, is the foundation of The Wizarding Twins Joking empire.' Fred began with as straight a face as he could manage.
'Well empire might be a little exaggerated.' Harry countered, trying very hard not to laugh.
'All empires begin small.' George added. 'Let's take a look inside.' The three of them stepped inside. The interior was even worse than the outside. Most of the shelves had fallen down and everything was covered in dust and cobwebs. Generally the building looked like one good sneeze could bring it down.
'Atchoo.' Harry sneezed because the dust they were kicking up had began to sting his nose. A few creaks could be heard as the noise bounced around the building but fortunately it remained standing.
'What do you think of our little treasure?' Fred asked with a straight face.
'Well it's definitely a fix-um-upper.' Harry replied, while scratching his nose to prevent him from sneezing again.
'Well a little paint, a little cleaning and a little magic will turn this place into gold mine.' Fred continued.
Harry just couldn't wrap his brain around the idea that this place held value, even an unemployed amateur architect would sentence this place to be condemned. Then it hit him.
'This was the only building within you're price range, wasn't it?' Harry asked with a smirk on his face.
'Exacto Mundo.' George answered.
The twins continued to make defensive arguments for the shop even though most of them they didn't believe themselves. Not until Harry finally admitted that the place had something special about it did they stop and began to walk back towards the Leaky Cauldron.
They were just about halfway that Harry saw a particular shop he wanted to visit ever since he got his birthday present from Sirius and Prof. Lupin.
A small sign above the door said : Magical Muggle Supplies. The shop didn't look very well kept from the outside but the most remarkable thing about it was that everyone who went past it quickened their step and looked the other way.
'Hang on, guys.' Harry stopped and turned towards the shop. 'I want to take a look in there.'
The twins stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him seriously, not something you would see on them every day.
'I'm not sure that is such a good idea, Harry.' Fred said with a nervous tremble in his voice.
'Yeah, we'd better get home.' George said, and motioned Harry to follow them.,p> 'Why?' Harry asked.
'Because it's late.' George said uncomfortably stern.
'That's not what I meant. Why are you so afraid to go in there? It's not even on Knockturn Alley.' Harry stood his ground and turned towards the shop again.
'It should be there. That place has danger written all over it.' Fred said.
'Since when does danger stop you? Unless you give me a better reason I'm going in.' Harry's argument sliced into the twins pride and they walked up to the shop with him just to show that they feared nothing.
Harry wanted to open door when he noticed a sign placed on it. In big red letters it said:
THIS SHOP IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY WEREWOLVES.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
'Is that why you're so afraid?' Harry asked the twins. They looked at each other and then back at Harry.
'You can't be too careful now-a-days.' George said. 'They cannot be trusted.' Fred added.
'Professor Lupin is a werewolf!! Do you trust him?' Harry bit at them.
'Well, yes. But it's different with him. He's …' Fred wanted to say harmless but the look on Harry's face told him he'd better shut up.
'If you two cowards want you can stay outside but I'm going in.' Harry sneered. The twins hesitated so Harry stepped in.
The inside of the shop was unusual, compared to the other wizard shops. The path to the counter was divided into three aisles, with the separations between them coming to shoulder height so you could look over them. As for the merchandise, the shop was crammed full with Muggle appliances and gadgets which all have had a magical makeover. TV-sets, microwaves, scuba-gear, watches and computers was just some of the stuff that was there. Harry noticed that most things weren't top-notch models but the diversity made up for that.
'Hello dear, can I help you?' A cheerful looking young woman standing behind the counter said to Harry. She was average height with long, dark blond hair which came down to her shoulders. Harry walked over to her passing a display filled with watches, he recognized one on the left as the same as his. When Harry approached her he noticed that the grassy green dress she was wearing was covered with flowers ranging from tulips to daisies which seemed to move in the wind every time she moved.
Just as he wanted to reply to her, the twins stumbled into the shop.
'Don't worry Harry. We're right behind you.' Fred said closely followed by his brother who was gazing at all the stuff in the shop.
'Who's worried?' Harry asked casually. 'So far I have seen nothing dangerous.'
'Thank you dear. It's not everyday such a caring gentleman enters this place. Mostly we get stubborn bureaucrats from the registry.' The woman behind the counter said.
'Look at this place.' George was still gazing around. 'Dad would have a field day on this place.'
'Afraid not boys.' The woman said with a smile. 'You're father is Arthur Weasley, right?'
The twins just nodded.
'This shop has been sanctioned by the misuse of muggle artifacts department, for four years in a row.' She finished.
'How did you know who our father was?' Fred asked dumbly.
'The family resemblance.' She pointed to their hair.
'You've met him?' George asked.
'Either your father or his colleague comes down here every year to personally inspect the merchandise. As long as all of it is safe, they give us a green card.' She explained in a friendly voice with a tone which implied she had to tell everyone who came into the shop why it was still operational.
'That's funny, dad has never mentioned coming here.' Fred finally started to relax but the shopkeeper was getting annoyed with the pointless need for explaining.
'He has a good reason. Mum would have a heart attack if she knew he had to come in here.' George said to his brother.
'I hear your father's politeness hasn't rubbed off on you.' The shopkeeper said calmly but definitely less friendly than before.
The twins stress level shot up again.
Harry tried to diffuse the situation. 'Guys, she not going to change this instant. It's daytime and the full moon is three weeks away.'
'Actually it's two-and-a-half weeks away. A self-respecting werewolf should always keep the time accurately.' She corrected.
George and Fred were positively shaking at this statement.
'There's no need to fear me. I'm not going to bite you.'
'We… We're not afraid.' Fred said in a trembling voice.
'Don't bother lying about fear to a werewolf. I can smell it.' A grin appeared on her face. She was enjoying this.
Harry, tired of the conversation, stepped in front of her between her and the twins and coughed to get her attention.
'I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this.' Harry held up his watch. She took a good look at and seemed to sniff for additional information.
'Ah, yes. A time-comic watch. Bought here quite recently.' She leafed through some parchments near the cash register. 'Ah, here it is.' She pulled one of the parchments in front of her and read it. 'One time-comic watch. Bought by R.J. Lupin. Race: Werewolf. Intend of use : Birthday present for H. Potter.'
'You have to keep such a record for everything you sell?' Harry asked stunned by the amount of info on the sheet.
'Yes, It's required. In case anything goes wrong with the product they can always point the blame to us.' She replied. 'I can remember when he came to buy it. It's always good to see such an excellent member of our species. Anyway he came here with a big black dog, and before he entered he said, "Sirius, this is the stupidest idea you've had in years.".'
Harry's eyes widened when he heard his godfather's first name. Then he turned around and looked at the door. It was quite a distance away from where he was, at least 10 feet.
'You heard that all the way from here?' Harry asked.
'That's one of the perks for being what I am. I could also hear your discussion with them outside the door. I'm relieved that the greatest hope for wizards isn't as prejudiced against my kind like most others.' She gave Harry the friendliest smile she had. 'There was something funny about that dog though. He didn't seem to be anxious around Mr. Lupin or me. Most dogs get edgy because their not sure what to make of us.'
'I'm familiar with that dog. He's been a good friend to Mr. Lupin for years.' Harry said before he realized it.
'Well, it was a really smart pooch. The dog chose that watch for you.' She recalled. 'As for the watch, well. It's been designed to tell time accurately under all circumstances. It has it's own inbuilt humor that adapts to it's owner. Which it displays on its wizard part.' She explained. Harry looked at it. It said : "In no real danger at this time."
She put the parchment back on the pile, as she did Harry noticed a big signet ring on her right hand as well as golden wedding band. The signet ring had a golden lion figure on it, on a light blue background, underneath the lion figure was a small silver wolf-head figure. Also, the nail on her right hand index finger was pitch-black.
Harry wanted to ask a question about the ring when suddenly the door burst open and a man with which Harry was already irritatingly familiar stood in the doorway.
'Marus.' Harry muttered under his breath. It was Marus although he had changed his appearance again, he still had blond hair but it was combed backwards (Draco Malfoy style), his eyes were both green and he was wearing a brown leather glove on his right hand. He was still wearing his brown cloak but had it slung behind him with it's hood down.
The shopkeeper was the first to speak. 'Le…' Marus shot her a harsh glare. 'Sir. Can I help you?' She said politely.
'Yes, I need to use your telepho…ireplace.' Marus said. Immediately the shopkeeper broke into laughter. 'Kimma, please.' Marus pleaded.
'Sorry, hrm, Sir, What did you say you need?' She said, suppressing her laugh.
'I need to use your fireplace.'
'It's in the back office. I trust you can find it yourself, as you can see I have customers.' She said while pointing at a door behind her.
'Thanks, by the way, where's Angelo? Isn't he supposed to be here as well?' Marus asked as he walked towards the back office.
'He is. But he is on a little errand.' She replied with an obvious wink.
'OH. Well then I wish him good luck.' Marus walked into the office leaving the door ajar.
Harry turned his attention back to the shopkeeper. 'You know him?' He asked, hoping he could pry more info from her.
'In a way. He's the son of the owner of this place.' She replied.
'I thought this shop was owned by you.' Harry stated.
'If only that was true. But our kind isn't allowed to own buildings bigger than a 3 by 3 meter shack, preferably somewhere in the countryside.' Her voice shook with a hint of anger as she said this.
'Oh.' Harry said. 'But I was wondering. Could you tell me more about Marus?' Harry gave her a hopeful smile.
'Who? Oh, him. I'm sorry Harry. I have an agreement with them that prevents me from divulging information about them.' She replied in a polite tone of voice.
Harry wanted to ask about the signet ring when another man came into the store. He had fairly long, flat, black hair and dark brown eyes. His robes looked filthy like he just kissed the dirt. He was holding his right hand over his right eye. He too was wearing a signet ring. His had a black background and a bronze wolf-head under the lion figure. The nail on his right hand index finger was black as well.
'I told you not to push too hard. You're gonna get yourself badly hurt if you keep this up.' The shopkeeper said in a motherly voice although they were clearly not related.
'Whatever. I'm going to put some ice on this.' The man responded with a slightly hoarse voice.
The man walked towards the back office but was blocked by the shopkeeper.
'You can't go in there.' She said to him in a hushed voice. The man stared at her for a moment.
'Why not?'
'Just do as I say.' She said.
'I just want to put some ice on my eye. Give me a reason why I can't go in there.' He tried to push her out of the way but she stood her ground.
'Do I have to pull rank on this?' She sneered and bared her teeth.
'Just tell me why and I'll obey.' The man took a step back.
The shopkeeper thought for a moment about what to say. 'We've got a lion in there.' She whispered.
Why would she say that. Only Marus went in there. Harry thought.
The man on the other hand had his answer ready. 'Really?! Which one?'
'The cub.' The shopkeeper replied softly.
The man shoved the shopkeeper aside and leapt towards the door. The shopkeeper grabbed his arm and yelled 'DON'T!!!'
The man yanked his arm loose and said. 'I have got a bone to pick to with him.' And he went inside. There was a brief silence followed by muffled shouting, then a crash, a few moments later the man came out covering his left eye.
'Angelo! When will you learn not to bite of more then you can chew?' The shopkeeper asked slightly pissed off.
'Alright already, this hurts. Just tell me what I should do.' Angelo replied with a whine.
'Go clean something. Use you're brain next time, not you're pride.' The shopkeeper told him and waved him off. Angelo picked up some rags from below the counter and started dusting. 'Stupid omega.' The shopkeeper muttered under her breath but still loud enough that he could hear it. Angelo stared at her angrily but turned away when she looked his way.
'How much for this?' Fred said as he dropped a wireless radio on the counter. He and George had been surveying the merchandise during all of this.
'Let's see. Hmmm. A standard Dual way Wireless radio, needs minimal eleccisentry to operate, will work within an magic rich environment. Our price is 10 galleons.' She recited from memory.
'What does Dual way mean?' George asked.
'See this button here?' She pointed to a button on the back. 'With this you can switch between muggle and magical radio stations.' She explained.
'Cool!' The twins said in unison.
'So will you buy it, or shall I have it put back in the display?' The shopkeeper asked politely.
'George, how much do you have on you?' Fred and George began to dig in their pockets.
They emptied their pockets and put the contents on the counter. The following came out: A handful of dungbombs, 2 packages of firecrackers, a little box which read smog-flashers on the side, a couple of self-made cookies and their last money.
'Why do you carry cookies on you?' Harry asked.
'The last remnants of our latest experiment.' Fred said with a smile. 'And the reason our house was in such shape.' George added with a matching smile.
'I'm afraid to ask, but what did you do?' Harry gave them a questioning stare. The twins were looking almost pleased at the question.
'Well, you see we had the idea of putting a little bang in the tea snacks.' George began. 'And when we did that we asked Ginny if she'd try one.' Fred continued. 'We learned that one should never throw those cookies back on the pile.' George added. 'Because that causes a chain reaction.' Fred finished. In the meantime the shopkeeper had been counting the money, keeping a healthy distance from the sickles, and came to a bad conclusion.
'If I counted correctly, you only have eight galleons, ten sickles and fourteen knuts. Is that all you have?' She asked in nice way but with concern in her voice.
'No we're broke. We don't get our allowance until the end of next month.' Fred replied in a gloomy voice. 'I don't suppose we can beat the price down a bit.' George added hopefully.
'Boys, We don't live on air, but tell you what. Since I like you're company,' She pointed towards Harry. 'I let you have it for this money and everything else you dug out of you're pockets.'
'Really? We'll do it!' The twins said in unison.
The transaction was made and the trio made their way out of the shop back towards The Leaky Cauldron. The twins just kept admiring their new toy, pushing buttons and changing channels to listen if it worked properly. When they decided that it did Fred put it in his pocket and looked at George with a face that read : "Don't tell mom we have this"
Back at the Cauldron there was a little disturbance , because as it appeared the ministry's reinforcements had arrived. Several agents were skimming the room looking for clues while to huge ones were guarding the fireplace.
'HALT. Identify yourselves!' The one on the left said.
'I'm Harry Potter and these are Fred and George Weasley.' Harry explained. The two agents looked to one another and then resumed their stance, this time the one on the right asked a question.
'Were you present at the assault on our colleague earlier today?'
'Yes. But we didn't see the assailant if that's what you are aiming at.' Harry said plainly, getting fed up by the superior attitude of these two agents.
'What is your destination?' The one on the left said loudly.
'The Burrow.' Harry, Fred and George said at the same time. The agent threw some floo-powder into the fireplace and then looked back into their faces.
'You may go! Have a nice day.' He said in a cold voice and resumed his guard stance.
Harry and the twins yelled their destination into the fireplace and jumped in. Upon returning the Burrow they fell into Ron who was cleaning the floor in front of the fireplace and didn't have enough time to jump out of the way.
'Hey! Gerrof!' Ron yelled, being uncomfortably crushed at the bottom.
'Sorry, about that.' Fred said
They untangled themselves and got up. After some hostilities and apologies, Harry, occasionally helped by Fred or George, told Ron about what happened during their little outing. By the time they were finished the afternoon was coming to an end and the smell of Mrs. Weasley's cooking was drifting into the living room.
'Hmm. I'm starving.' Harry thought out loud.
They walked into the kitchen, as they were walking Harry glanced out of the front window and noticed that the ruddy car he had arrived in was still standing in front of the house.
'Oh, Harry you're back already!' Mrs. Weasley commented, she had been so busy she never heard them come back.
'Yeah, I got all the things I need. I'll go put them in my trunk.' Harry replied, and went upstairs closely followed by Ron.
'So those werewolves had rings with that lion-figure on it.' Ron asked when they passed the second floor, outside his mother's hearing range.
'Yes, I wonder I've there's a connection but I don't think they would have told us.' Harry responded.
They walked into Ron's room. Harry dumped his school stuff into his trunk and took another look at the lion-figure on the back of the book.
Exactly the same.
'You know we could ask dad if he knows something about that. He has more knowledge about those symbols then we do.' Ron explained.
Just then a yell came from downstairs telling them that dinner was ready. Harry and Ron went downstairs and sat down at the table. Mr. Weasley wasn't there.
'Mum! Where is dad?' Ron asked.
'He is working late again. Oh, Harry this letter just arrived for you, it's labeled for your eyes only.' Mrs. Weasley handed Harry the letter. It had the Hogwarts crest on it, on the front there was a stamp label saying "eyes only".
'Who is it from?' Ron asked. Harry checked the envelope but couldn't find a sender.
'Dunno. It doesn't say.
Harry opened the envelope and pulled the letter out, being slightly dumbstruck by the message. The only thing that could be read was "Dear Harry," on top and "Yours sincerely, Albus Dumbledore" on the bottom, the rest was just gibberish.
'A letter from Dumbledore, eh?' Ron commented as he looked at the letter as well. 'What does it say?'
'I don't know it's all garbled.' Harry said still trying to make sense of the letter.
'Of course it's all garbled.' Mrs. Weasley said in a matter-of-factly way. 'When a wizard sends out a letter that is meant for your eyes only, then that is meant literally. Harry can only read that when he is the only one looking at it.'
Harry looked at her and said. 'Then I'll read it in the living room. Back in a moment.' Harry stood and walked into the living room. When he got he could still see the dead car standing in front of the house.
The ministry sure is slow if they haven't located it yet.
Then Harry looked back at the letter.
Dear Harry,
Sorry it took so long to reply to your letter, but I had to check some sources before I could write a proper response.
First: The Death Eater attack on you is most disturbing. I didn't expect Voldemort to be so brazen in his moves. We're all very lucky that you were unharmed, so to speak.
Second: Your encounter with this Marus was a most surprising development in this skirmish. It's because of him that I had to check those sources. From what I have learned I can tell you this. You can trust him to protect you, he is very dedicated. However be careful around him and don't ask him for any favors, he and his associates take debts very seriously.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore.
Needless to say Harry was slightly unnerved by this letter, but since there was nothing to be done about it now. He went back to the kitchen and finished his dinner.
Approximately a half hour after they had finished dinner, Mr. Weasley came home in a quite uplifted mood.
'Molly dear. I'm home!' He yelled through the house.
'Hello Arthur, how was work?' Molly yelled back from the kitchen. After a brief adult smooching Mr. Weasley answered his wife's question.
'It was madness at the office. Apparently someone in the enforcement department had a lead on some elusive crook. They wanted every available body to participate on a wild goose chase.'
'Did they catch anything?' Mrs. Weasley asked.
'I don't think so. The squad leader, ehm… Jason… something, did have a run-in with someone but all they did was waste time, money and manpower.' Mr. Weasley replied. He went to the kitchen to re-heat his dinner. He quickly munched it away and then returned to the living room to relax after the stressful day.
Even though no-one asked he continued to tell about his day at work.
'You know another funny thing happened. Down at the ministry parking lot a car was stolen.'
'Really? What was so funny about that?' Mrs. Weasley asked, feigning interest.
'Well, it went like this. This guy goes there pretends to be working at the ministry, then he signs for a car under a false name and takes the oldest wreck they had there.' He started chuckling as he was telling this.
'Uhhuh. So what's the punch line Arthur?' Mrs. Weasley asked getting a bit bored with the story.
'That's not even the funniest part, you see he signed for the car under the of "Cornelius Fudge" and the supervisor didn't even notice it.' Mr. Weasley was cracking himself up as he told this, but he was the only one that laughed. As he noticed this he immediately stopped laughing. 'Erhm. Well I suppose you've had to have heard it at the office.'
'Be that as it may. You shouldn't take such criminality so lightly.' Mrs. Weasley stood up and went to the kitchen.
'I always take Ministry affairs seriously Molly. You know that.' Mr. Weasley called to her.
'So dad, do they have a description of the car-thief?' Fred asked his father.
'Why, yes. He was average height. He had blond hair and eyes were both a different color. He was wearing a white shirt and jeans.'
'Doesn't sound like anyone we know.' Fred said and looked over to George who also had guessed who the thief was.
'That's another thing I'm sure I've seen such a person before. I just don't remember where.'
'Hang in there dad it'll come to you.' Fred said while trying to hide a smirk.
Mr. Weasley averted his gaze and stared out of the window, there he saw the car in which Harry had arrived.
'Hey, Marus forgot to take his car with him.'
'The car died before we got here. He couldn't get it started again.' Harry said to him.
'Well that figures. They waste money on a wild goose chase but they try to save it by letting an intern drive a wreck…' Just then the spark of memory flew, Mr. Weasley turned pale and turned to face Harry. 'H-harry, are you alright? I should've seen through it… I should've known it was a lie… I-I-I need to make a call. You kids go to the kitchen for a moment.' He was on the edge of panicking.
'Sure dad.' George said, they quickly stepped into the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was pouring drinks.
'What are the four of you doing here? I was just about to call Ginny downstairs.' Mrs. Weasley asked confused.
'Dad remembered he had some work laying around.' Fred answered. From the living room came some loud yelling.
'…I DON'T CARE HOW BUSY HE IS!!! I NEED TO TALK TO HIM NOW…'
'…THIS CAN'T WAIT. NO! I CAN'T CALL BACK LATER. IT'S ABOUT THAT CAR-THIEF…'
'…IT IS IMPORTANT. I FOUND THE CAR. IT'S IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE…'
'…MR. SHELL. You know that car that was stolen? It's here. I saw the thief myself…'
The conversation carried on although somewhat softer than before. A few moments later there were several loud pops coming from the living room. Mr. Weasley walked into the kitchen, his face was red from the yelling.
'A couple of ministry agents are here to conduct an investigation. This will be over in a few minutes.' He explained and then walked back into the living room.
Everybody in the kitchen walked into the living room. Harry didn't recognize any of the ministry agents there except for one, who had a band-aid on his nose.
'Ah, mister Potter. It seems you were in a dangerous situation today.' Jason was talking in a very Malfoy way. 'Could you tell me what happened between you and eh.. what's-his-name?' Jason conjured up a notepad.
'He said his name was Marus Clammens, I'm not sure if that's his real name though. As for what happened. Well he picked me up at my Aunt and Uncle's house and brought me here in that car over there.' Harry pointed at the car outside, several of the agents were already examining it. Harry wasn't sure he wanted to tell Jason that much but he figured that if he answered his questions it would probably get rid of him faster.
'You're a lucky boy, Mister Potter.' Jason continued. 'Not many came close to such a dangerous man and lived to tell about it. Tell me, did he use magic on you? Did he harm you in any way? Did he threaten to kill you?'
'NO! He didn't do any of those things. He was even nicer to me then you are now.' Harry said angrily.
'You don't understand mister Potter. This is a very dangerous criminal, the fact that you're still here is amazing. I have to find him before he comes back to finish the job.' Jason said rather Snape like.
'Sod off. He was assigned to protect me, not to kill me. I don't want to talk about it anymore.' Harry was getting dangerously pissed by Jason's insistence.
'We are just trying to keep you safe. Which reminds me we should take you back to your Aunt and Uncle.'
'WHAT!!!' Harry exclaimed.
'It's safer there. We can keep a better watch on you as well.' Jason said calmly with a practiced smile.
'I AM NOT going back there. I am perfectly safe here.' Harry yelled angrily.
'Oh please don't make it so hard on yourself. I'm sure it's not that bad.'
'I'm not going back there. Not you, not even the Minister could convince me to go back there.' Harry moved his hand towards his wand.
Jason dropped his smile. 'Very well if you're positively refusing to go then I can't make you. Just don't blame us if you get killed.' Jason tucked the notepad in his robes. Then his colleagues came back in.
'Did you find anything?' Jason asked.
The agent shook his head. ' No sir, just a few magic traces and another sample of his handwriting. But nothing that can lead us to him.' He handed Jason a piece of parchment.
'That insolent freak. I swear I'm gonna get him someday and when I do, I will see to it personally that he gets the dementor's kiss.' Jason turned towards his men. 'Okay men, There's nothing more we can get from this place. Time to move out.' He turned to Mr. Weasley. 'Thanks for the tip, the car will be removed tomorrow. I bid you all a good night.' And with that they all dissapparated, leaving the Burrow at peace once more.
The evening progressed nicely after the ministry agents had left. It was getting fairly dark outside. The conversation switched subject frequently while they were enjoying the last vacation days together. But as the evening was drawing to a close Harry still hadn't asked about the symbol on the book.
Now is as good a time as any.
'Mr. Weasley?' Harry began.
'Yes, Harry?'
'Ron told me you know things about symbols.'
'Well sometimes we come across items that have a certain family crest on them, it's always convenient to be able to trace an object back to a owner.'
'Do you know of an order which uses a golden lion as a symbol?' Harry inquired. The question had struck a nerve in Mr. Weasley. He dropped his mug which Mrs. Weasley was barely in time able to levitate before it hit the ground.
'W-Why do you want to know?' Mr. Weasley asked with a trembling voice.
'There's a mention of one in our history books.' Harry quickly made up.
'Well there was an order with that symbol but it disappeared over a decade ago.' Mr. Weasley said slightly more relaxed.
'Disappeared? You mean destroyed or disbanded. Right?' Harry asked.
'There was no evidence of either of those things. All we know is that all trace of them disappeared during the height of You-know-who's first reign. Some believe that they turned and went into hiding, I don't know about that, but I do know they were dangerous. If you ever come across anything related to it you should take a with berth around it and let the ministry know where and what it is.' Mr. Weasley concluded his story and picked up his mug. 'I think we've had enough excitement for one day. Time for bed.'
Everybody got up and went upstairs. Later in Ron's room.
'Do you think we should tell dad about the book?' Ron asked Harry sleepily.
'Not yet. I want to know more about this order.' Harry responded, while putting his glasses on Ron's desk.
'Goodnight, Ron.'
'Goodnight, Harry'
Shortly after Harry fell asleep and began to dream. He dreamt of Hogwarts, he was walking across the grounds, there was a small breeze and the sky was clear with small sheep clouds drifting lazily by. He stopped on a small hill and looked towards the horizon. A darkness like night was covering the hillside in the distance lit up occasionally by a lightning bolt, behind him Harry heard someone approaching, he turned around.
It was Marus, in his brown worn cloak enclosed around him and the hood pulled over his head, when Harry turned around he stopped.
'So. You're in my dreams as well.' Harry said sarcastically. Marus didn't answer but Harry could sense a smile on Marus' face.
'Do you know what's coming?' Harry asked as he turned around.
Behind him Marus spoke in a deep voice like on that first night they met. 'Darkness is coming, our fate will soon be decided. But I cannot see what it holds, secrets go far and treacheries run deep.'
'Will you protect me?' Harry asked.
'My life will be the shield for yours. You will survive.' Marus replied.
'I'm glad someone looks out for me for once.' Harry smiled. The darkness crept closer and the sun began to set, turning the horizon blood red.
Then suddenly lightning struck in front of Harry and a dark figure was standing where lightning had struck the ground. A surge of pain went through Harry's scar. A familiar cackling came from the figure.
'VOLDEMORT. You can't hurt me here. Go away.' Harry yelled.
'Really Potter, did you think you could hide from me? But you are right, this is just a dream and when you wake up in the morning you wont have any marks from this meeting.'
'Get lost. I don't come to haunt you're dreams, do I?'
'Ha ha ha. Please I am just a figment of you're imagination, you brought me here.'
'You wont find me so easy to kill, I have friends who can stop you.'
'Harry Potter, you may be out of my reach for now, but darkness is coming fast and your time is running out.'
'I have defeated you before, I will do so again.'
'Perhaps you should focus on someone else, sometimes your allies can be more dangerous then your enemies.' Voldemort pointed to somewhere behind Harry. Harry turned around, Marus was still standing there but two blazing red eyes were visible within the hood.
Marus pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry, even though Harry didn't hear the command words a bright green beam erupted from Marus' wand. Just as it should have hit Harry woke up, the cackling of Voldemort still in his ears.
Harry looked up through the window, the small crescent of the waning moon was visible.
'Only a dream. Only a dream.' Harry sighed to himself, and laid back down again, trying to get some sleep. Ron gave a loud snore.