Chapter two, peeps, chapter two. S'all I have to say. Oh, and the part of the summary that was cut off is meant to say that anyone who can think of a better title for the story gets a cameo.
Heero: That's a first. The death in Book Five must really have her downtrodden. She usually talks a mile a minute in author notes.
Harry Potter and the Mystery of the Veil
Year 6 at Hogwarts
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
Harry couldn't help staring with his mouth agape as Professor Snape got out of the fireplace, getting dust all over the floor and gave the shaking Aunt Petunia a sneer. Professor Lupin walked out of the fireplace as well, apologizing politely for getting the floor dirty. Uncle Vernon, upon hearing Aunt Petunia's shriek came rushing down the stairs with an antique rifle.
"What is it Petunia, dear?! Is that freak here?!" he asked, head turning wildly in all directions before his vision finally rested on Lupin and Snape. But instead of interrogating them, he turned quickly to glare at Harry, as though concerned he may catch a disease if he looked at the two professors too long, "Boy! I thought you said only one…of those…p-p-peo-" he seemed to be having great difficulty getting out the word 'people'.
"Do you have a stuttering problem, muggle?" asked Snape snidely. Harry felt the first impulse to try and like Snape that he'd ever had in his years at Hogwarts. He saw Lupin trying to hide a snicker by pretending he needed to cough.
Uncle Vernon shook slightly, but seemed determined not to look at Snape, "Well boy?!" he demanded, "Answer me when I'm speaking to you!"
"I didn't know Professor Snape was coming," said Harry shrugging.
"It's my fault," said Lupin stepping forward, "a few days ago, the Order decided that it would be safer if it were two people instead of one in case someone messed with the floo network and we ended up somewhere…undesirable. I didn't think it would be too big a deal."
Uncle Vernon seemed to take the hint that out of Lupin and Snape, Lupin was far more passive, so he turned on the werewolf, "Well next time you'll know! In fact, I'd rather have you just take him right now and keep him with you next summer! I am sick and tired of freaks like him always coming out of fireplaces and parading around like they own the place! It's too much!" now that he was in rant-mode, Uncle Vernon seemed much surer of himself.
"What do you mean 'always'?" snapped Harry, wishing the affair could be wrapped up, and he could leave, "The only other time anyone's done this is when the Weasleys came to pick me up for the Quidditch World Cup two years ago!"
"Shut up boy! If I ever want a fact on you or your freak world, I'll ask you!"
"V-Vernon…" muttered Aunt Petunia in a warning tone, because Snape looked quite outraged. Harry dearly hoped he would turn his aunt and uncle into slugs. But despite Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon plowed along on his rant about 'stupid magic' and 'robe-wearing freaks'. It seemed to Harry that he'd come up with this rant long ago, memorized it, and was eager to finally be using it.
"I assure you muggle," Snape said silkily (with what seemed like barely contained anger), interrupting Uncle Vernon, "we wizards and witches don't think of you as too normal yourselves. But at least it's only psycho extremists among us who would hold the exact opinion about muggles as you hold about us. It IS, after all, true that people of all kinds fear what they don't understand," he finished softly, with a look of grim satisfaction at Uncle Vernon's outraged expression.
"Fear you?! You honestly think I would fear you?! I'll show you who's to be feared!" roared Uncle Vernon. And then he actually fired his rifle right at Snape, and then another bullet right at Lupin. Harry felt horrified, then relieved when both men preformed Shield Charms and the bullets rolled away on the floor, useless. Aunt Petunia was backing away from Lupin, as though afraid that he might hex her, and Uncle Vernon had gone rather pale.
"That's your stuff there, isn't it Harry?" asked Lupin softly, pointing at Harry's trunk and Hedwig in her cage, which Harry had brought when he heard Aunt Petunia scream. Harry nodded, "We'd better go then. Don't want Snape to kill your relatives," he said winking.
"I might prefer it if he did," replied Harry with a grin in a low voice, so only Lupin could hear. Lupin grinned right back.
"We should be going then, Severus," Lupin said loudly enough so the other man could hear.
"Good. It'd really be too bad if I completely shattered these muggles' thoughts of superiority over wizard kind," said Snape sarcastically, his lip curling, "I'll go first, then Potter, then you come Lupin."
Lupin nodded as Snape disappeared into the flames, and handed Harry a handful of floo powder. Harry got into the fireplace, throwing the floo powder down as he did so, saying a loud, clear voice, "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place!"
Harry nearly tripped as he got out of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place, just managing to catch himself before he did so. Snape had walked off somewhere, apparently satisfied that the floo network hadn't been tampered with, and Lupin stepped out of the fireplace soon after Harry.
"Alright, Harry?" asked Lupin, since Harry was still dawdling around the library near the fireplace instead of going to see Hermione, Ron, and the other Weasleys.
"Eh…yeah, I'm fine. I was just…remembering, away from everyone," Harry looked around sadly at the library thinking about how it had just been last March that he'd snuck into Umbridge's office and been able to speak to Sirius and Lupin about his father's behavior in Snape's Pensieve, 'And I was supposed to as Snape for Occlumency lessons again…but I never did. And that's why Sirius is dead,' thought Harry with pang, starting to feel a familiar sinking feeling in his stomach again.
Lupin seemed to realize what Harry was thinking because he put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, "Sirius's death isn't your fault."
"You guys said I should ask Snape for Occlumency lessons again, but I never did. Hermione pestered me about it too, but I've barely looked at Snape since I said-since when I said in Umbridge's office and I gave him the message that I had th-that dream."
Lupin nodded, "You should have pursued Occlumency, but that doesn't make it entirely your fault."
"Well who else did anything?!" snapped Harry.
"For one, Snape shouldn't have been so rash about refusing to give you anymore Occlumency lessons. Kreacher the house elf gave away information to the Malfoys. The Ministry of Magic as a whole wouldn't have taken any evidence of Sirius's innocence, even if we'd given it to them, they were having a rocky enough time without acknowledging they'd put an innocent man in Azkaban for twelve years. They wouldn't have even cleared him today if a guard who'd heard the Death Eaters' confession hadn't threatened to spill the beans himself. It's also the fault of myself and the other members of the Order," Lupin suddenly looked very weary, "I think if we would have done more to keep him occupied and not just expected him to lay around doing nothing…" he trailed off.
Harry put his hands to his face, and deciding that the topic of Sirius would only make for an awkward conversation pursued a related topic, "I hate the Ministry of Magic. They should've done so much more."
"I believe they got too complacent in the time that we had peace. Things were easy and all they needed to worry about was something as insignificant as cauldron bottoms. And then when this started happening, they didn't want to believe it was true, because they were in no way prepared."
"Well that was stupid of them. We could've already weakened Voldemort a lot if they'd have stopped pretending he didn't exist until only recently."
"Yes, it could have. But unfortunately," Lupin gave a shadow of a smile, "history has a nasty way of pulling the human race as a whole in the direction entirely opposite of where we want to go."
Harry groaned, "Don't I know it."
And, to his amazement, Lupin started to laugh, and so did he.
After that, Harry met Mrs. Weasley in one of the corridors and she told him that Hermione and Ron were upstairs with Ginny in the room where the girls slept. He hurried up to talk to them.
"Hiya Harry!" said Ron excitedly when he opened the room's oak door.
"Hi Ron," and looking into the room, he saw Hermione and Ginny having a conversation about fifth year O.W.L.s ("Don't worry, they're really easy if you study hard for them!" Hermione assured Ginny).
"Oh, there you are Harry!" cried Hermione getting up with Ginny, "Snape was walking past here awhile ago, where were you?"
"I was talking to Lupin."
"He's going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher again, isn't he?" asked Ginny.
"Yep. I'm glad because it looks like we'll finally have a good teacher again," replied Ron.
"How many O.W.L.s did you get Harry?" Hermione asked promptly, "I got all of mine, but I still only got an Exceeds Expectations in Astronomy," she said frowning.
"I got seven of them, I missed Divination and History of Magic," responded Harry in an off-handed way.
"I got six," Ron informed them, "I missed Divination, History of Magic, and Potions. Barely scraped one for Astronomy, though. They shouldn't have counted that huge disruption against our time."
"You should have worked harder before the distraction," said Hermione pursing her lips. Harry saw that Ron seemed to want to inform her that she'd only gotten Exceeds Expectations in Astronomy instead of Outstanding, but apparently thought better of it.
Ginny sidled up to Harry and whispered in his ear, "Ron and Hermione just decided to start going out," she giggled. Harry let a large smile come onto his face.
"Ginny!" Ron groaned.
"Well you couldn't exactly hide it forever," she said defensively, "Besides, Harry should know what you're doing. He's your friend too." Harry felt immensely grateful that Ginny had told him, yet was slightly angry.
"So you just weren't going to tell me? You were just going to disappear together whenever you felt like it and expect me to be fine not even knowing what you were doing for certain? I told YOU guys last year when I was going to go out with Cho" he said, raising his eyebrows at his friends, trying to keep his temper in check.
Hermione sighed, "Oh Harry, don't make it sound so incriminating. We just wanted to keep it as much to ourselves as we could."
"Yeah. Mum doesn't even know yet. I reckon she'd hyperventilate while she was shaking with excitement trying to get a word in. We'd kind of like to see if it works out first before my entire family swarms on her," said Ron with half a smile, "So it's nothing personal."
Harry felt slightly better, but remembered that they hadn't kept it entirely to themselves, "If you were keeping it to yourselves, why did Ginny know?" It came out much more accusatory than Harry would have liked.
"I guessed," said Ginny simply, "and I've been sworn to secrecy."
Harry knew that he'd lost his case, but felt better knowing that it wasn't like his two best friends had rushed around to everyone saying, "We're going out, but don't tell Harry because his tiny mind couldn't possibly handle it." and smiled at his friends, "Well, good luck then."
"Ron will be studying much harder this year," Hermione said proudly. Ron groaned.
"But we don't have anything major this year. N.E.W.T.s isn't until next year," he complained.
"Yes, but it's really so much harder than O.W.L.s or at least that's what Ron's brothers have told me, so we should probably start studying this year if we want the best marks," Hermione informed them.
Harry was tiring of the subject of school and studying and didn't want Hermione and Ron to have a row about it, "I think since Umbridge is gone, I should be able to play Quidditch again, shouldn't I?" he said loudly.
"Oh yeah, that's right!" said Ron, brightening up considerably, "You will. And Ginny's going to be a chaser or the team this fall!"
"But we'll still need two more chasers," Ginny reminded him, "and I really wouldn't mind getting rid of our beaters and trying to kind better ones…but unless they resign..." she muttered sighing.
"Yeah, but we'll train them," Ron said waving her off, "and you know what? McGonagall owled me and said I'm going to be our new captain!"
"Ron, that's great!" said Harry, sincerely meaning it.
"Yeah. McGonagall said she heard about how I was the one to get past her giant chess set in first year, which I think impressed her because she says I must have a good sense of strategy," Ron said proudly.
"Too bad he hasn't got a studying strategy half as good," said Hermione mournfully.
Later in the evening, Mrs. Weasley called them down to let them know that dinner was ready. When Harry got to the table, he saw the entire Weasley family (minus Percy, who was apparently still sore about last year's affairs), Fleur Delacour, Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonk's sister, Rhonda, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Snape, Mundungus Fletcher, and some people Harry was sure hadn't been in the Order last year and seemed to have brought along their young children with them. Harry noted silently that a seat where Sirius had usually sat remained respectfully empty.
"Mum, who are these people?" asked Ginny, pointing to the people Harry didn't know either.
"They're new members of the Order, and I'll introduce you when we're all settled down," she said absentmindedly as she grabbed dishes of food sitting on the cupboard and moved them onto the table.
Harry sat down on the right of Lupin, Ron sat by him, and Hermione and Ginny sat on Tonk's left side. Mrs. Weasley finally brought the last food dish (A cherry pie) onto the table and sat down. She encouraged everyone to start eating and began to do so herself.
"Mum!" said Ginny loudly over all the clanging forks and spoons, "You said you'd introduce the new people to us!"
"Ah yes, I think your father knows more of them than I do, so Arthur, if you'd please introduce them to everyone…"
"You don't need to do that," said a grinning man whose teeth were straight and very white who also had hair that seemed almost bluish, "We can introduce ourselves, Molly. I'm Calix Zondermann, that's my wife, Leona, and our daughter, Ava who'll be starting Hogwarts this year," as he looked at them, Harry noticed that Ava was blushing heavily and seemed to be sinking down in her seat as everyone introduced themselves to her smiling parents.
Harry decided to eat his food before it got cold, but listened enough to learn the names of the other people who'd joined the Order: Valencia Ivy, a woman in her late twenties who studied the human mind, Mikhail Purge and his eight year old son, Ivan (Whose mother had been killed by Death Eaters when she was visiting another family), a seventeen year old witch who had been away on travel when her family was killed named Calypso Juniper, Braggart Stonen, a man about Snape's and Lupin's age who had spied against Voldemort in the first war and would tell anyone who listened about his brave resistance to give information when the Cruciatus Curse was used against him after he was discovered (Though Snape put in softly that he could have sworn he remembered the event in a far less glorious light), and Aradia Malrose, along with her twelve year old son, Kenna (A Ravenclaw) and her eleven year old daughter, Neona who would start Hogwarts this year with Ava. Mrs. Malrose's husband worked in the Ministry of Magic and didn't like the idea of the Order of the Phoenix, so she and her children had taken off while he was at work and tried to make it look like there had been a struggle at the house and as though they had been forcibly taken somewhere.
When Harry felt as though he'd burst if he ate any more food, he looked around at everyone else. It seemed like he hadn't been the only one eating while the others were talking. Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, Tonks, Lupin, Mundungus, and Snape also seemed to be finished, but Hermione at least, had given the speakers rapt attention and was now frowning at her cold food. And then Harry saw a familiar looking house elf limp in. His heart swelled with hate at the house elf before him. It was Kreacher, the Black family's old house elf, whom was partly responsible for Sirius's death. Harry felt a strong impulse to punt the elf out one of the windows.
Kreacher made a slight coughing noise, "Was Mrs. Blood-Traitor Weasley wanting help cleaning up the dishes, or making tomorrow's breakfast? Kreacher may help with that," and then under his breath, he muttered, "Kreacher will poison the food…Kreacher will leave the dishes dirty…Kreacher doesn't need to serve these people now that heir is dead and all that's left are heir's half blood second cousins, he can go serve the Malfoys…but Kreacher should kill these people for mistress…yes, Kreacher will kill them for mistress and laugh at foolish dead heir…" Kreacher chuckled to himself.
Harry looked down and realized he had had his hands clenched in fists so hard that his knuckles were rather white. Before he thought about it, he shifted in his chair, was half way standing up, and would've lunged at Kreacher if Ron hadn't grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down, "Easy mate, he does this every night. I know he's an annoying little creep, but Dumbledore says we should try to show him respect," Ron muttered into Harry's ear.
"I'll respect his wish to have his head on a plaque next to his mum's if he doesn't shut up," grumbled Harry through gritted teeth.
Kreacher seemed to notice Harry's infuriated expression, as he commenced muttering to himself again, oblivious to the fact that anyone with half an ear could hear him, "Potter boy is angry at Kreacher…but one of the blood traitors is making him sit down…Kreacher hopes Potter boy gets to see dead heir again in afterlife very soon as much as Potter boy hopes Kreacher will get his head on a plaque…Kreacher hopes that all blood traitors, the mudblood, and the half-breed see dead heir soon, too…Kreacher will help them if he may poison their food…Mistress would be very proud of Kreacher…" these thoughts made Kreacher rather eerily giddy, and he showed them all a toothless smile.
"I think I can handle it myself, Kreacher," said Mrs. Weasley loudly, interrupting his monologue.
"Yes, and if she can't I will help her," said Tonks firmly, "So you just go to that so-called room of yours and be a good elf. DO NOT leave the premises, or go near the fireplaces!" she ordered him.
Kreacher scowled at her, "Yes, New Mistress," and then once again under his breath he mumbled, "Little missy thinks herself so mighty to order Kreacher around…But Kreacher must listen to her because she is related to Kreacher's beloved Mistress and her foolish dead heir…Kreacher will kill her as well…Then Kreacher needs to serve no one in this house and he can truly go to the Malfoys…" he hobbled off to his room, probably still mumbling about how he could kill Tonks.
"Ugh, that house elf," muttered Tonks, "I swear, it'll be much less trouble if we just kill it," Harry couldn't have agreed more. He'd have volunteered to man the axe if anyone had asked.
Lupin frowned, "As much as I'd like to…"
But he was cut off by Hermione, "I know Kreacher has done some rather awful things," Harry gave a snort, and noted that he wasn't the only one, "but we should give him love, care and respect. I'm sure he'd be much nicer if we did that."
"We've been trying," griped George, "and he's as bad as ever, if not worse!"
"Now he just thinks we're gullible!" whined Fred.
"You call contributing to Sirius's death and giving away information on the Order just 'rather awful'?" snapped Harry.
"That thing is someone else's death waiting to happen!" agreed Mundungus Fletcher grimly.
"When's it ever done us a favor?" asked Ron.
"With that kind of attitude, why would it?" Charlie asked them sternly. Harry knew Charlie was rather attached to magical creatures, dragon in particular, so he wasn't especially surprised that he was sticking up for Kreacher.
"You're missing the point, Charlie," said Fred.
"The point is that when we do that, he's exactly the same, except he thinks we're stupid and mumbles louder than usual," George said folding his arms.
"Now we can't just murder him in cold blood…" Mr. Weasley said in such a way that gave everyone the impression that he was more on the twins' side of the argument then he would have them believe.
"We'll just tell him he can be with his dear mum," said George glaring at anyone who opposed his view of the subject, "He won't object to it, I bet."
"Enough. Dumbledore has told us to be kind to Kreacher and that's what we'll do. Now let's discuss something else, like O.W.L.s, how many did you get Harry, dear?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
A few days after the event, Harry found that the pain of waking up and knowing where he was lessened every day. He even had a pretty good birthday there, with what had to be more presents than he'd ever received before. When Harry woke up on this particular morning, he felt like he was back at Privet Drive because of some unceasing pecking on the window, 'I don't really want another letter from some person pretending to be upset about everything that happened to Sirius,' thought Harry, lounging back on his pillow. He was very close to falling asleep again, when he realized with a jolt that he wasn't at Privet Drive, but at Grimmauld Place where none of his rabid admirers could track him, so he hurried to open the window for the agitated owl. The owl hooted angrily and dropped several letters right on Harry's head before flying out the window and leaving without another sound.
Harry saw that the letters appeared to be his, Ron's, Ginny's, Hermione's, and Kenna's list of school supplies and the Hogwarts acceptance letters for Ava and Neona. He ripped his open and found that he needed more new books this year than he had ever needed before in any year except, of course, first.
He shook Ron and said, "Hey Ron, our Hogwarts letters are here!"
Ron mumbled something, but didn't wake up. Harry shook him harder until his eyes finally snapped open, "Blimey Harry…is the house on fire or something?" he murmured, still half asleep.
Harry was beginning to feel as agitated as that post owl, "No Ron, our Hogwarts letters are here! Look at all the new books we're gonna need!"
"Ugh…school? So soon? It's only August first. They just can't have sent the letters already…"
Harry waved the letter addressed to 'Ronald Weasley' in Ron's face before the red-headed boy could fall asleep again, and was rather satisfied when his friend snapped to attention seeing that he needed seven new course books, "Wow. We might have a hard time affording this stuff. Fred and George didn't have this many, I'm sure of it."
Harry checked his list again, "I've got eight new ones. It must depend on how many O.W.L.s you got, because that's how many subjects you'll take this year."
"Yeah. You need one for every N.E.W.T. subject you take, and then there's that new "Standard Book of Spells" for year 6. I don't see the point in those anymore, we barely use them. Anyway, we should get Hermione's, Ginny's, and Kenna's supply lists to them and give these Hogwarts acceptance letters to those kids' parents. Woah…Hermione's got eleven new books, hope her parents have given her plenty of money."
"Let's go to Diagon Alley and get this shopping done with," said Mrs. Weasley when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny showed her their letters, "I'd hate to have a scenario where we forgot until the last minute," she said nervously.
"Kreacher could come with you to help," offered Kreacher in what he seemed to be hoping was a helpful, enthusiastic, cheery voice. To Harry it sounded more like he was hyperventilating and breathing in helium while trying to speak. Of course, he once again to mutter darkly under his breath, "Kreacher is going to cause havoc and blame the mudblood…Maybe Kreacher will do something to injure or kill someone and blame the mudblood so she goes to Azkaban…The mudblood is greatly annoying Kreacher…"
"And you're greatly annoying everyone else!" growled Ron, "Don't you call her that name again!"
"The blood traitor thinks he can order Kreacher around…Kreacher finds this amusing…Kreacher will find it even more amusing when the blood traitors are all dead…" Kreacher muttered lowly.
"We should be able to get all of it alright, Kreacher," Mrs. Weasley responded, looking as though she wanted very much to be able to mouth off to the house elf as easily as Ron could. Kreacher gave her a glare, but saw Tonks stopping her conversation with Lupin across the room to give him an even stronger one, and scuttled off into the shadows.
As they were about to leave by way of floo powder, Leona Zondermann suddenly rushed up with Ava, Kenna, and Neona, "Could we come with you Molly? They need to get their supplies and Aradia thinks it'd be less conspicuous if her husband is looking for her if we brought Kenna and Neona along with us instead."
"Hey mum, we need to get to work too!" yelled Fred with George at his side.
Mrs. Weasley gave them a disapproving look, "Your joke shop is supposed to be open at eight o' clock. It's nine thirty, boys. After your breakfast at seven, you said you were leaving."
"Yeah, but we had a great new idea and we were planning it!" insisted George.
"And our employees have keys!" Fred said, and then in a tone of voice that wasn't at all embarrassed, he added, "They're kind of used to this."
Mrs. Weasley shook her head, "Oh honestly…well then, you should go in first boys," Fred went in first, then George. Once they were out of sight Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry, "I don't want you to feel bad Harry dear, but it might have been better if you'd used your money from the Triwizard Tournament to something like your school books instead of giving it to Fred and George. They don't seem entirely serious about this joke shop of theirs."
"It's a joke shop, they aren't supposed to be serious," Ginny said in defense of Fred and George.
Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips in the same way Hermione had a tendency to, and didn't comment any further on the joke shop, "Well then, why don't you go first Leona? Then you Ava, after that Kenna, Neona, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and myself in that order."
After Ginny left for Diagon Alley, Harry took a handful of floo powder and directed a nervous look at the fireplace. He didn't really mind traveling by floo powder, except the last time he'd tried to go to Diagon Alley by it, he'd ended up in the sinister Knockturn Alley instead. He shook his head, knowing that it wouldn't be good to get jitters now, "Diagon Alley!" he yelled stepping into the fireplace, being very careful to enunciate every syllable.
Harry was relieved to find himself safely in Diagon Alley when he came out of the fireplace. He saw everyone that'd gone in before standing together waiting and walked over to join them. It wasn't long before Hermione, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley appeared as well.
"We're all here safely then?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who began to count heads. Once satisfied, she collected everyone's supplies list and looked down at them, "Ok, I can get the books for everyone in Flourish and Blotts because I had a new book to pick up there anyway, and Harry and Hermione will need some fresh supplies for N.E.W.T. Potions, but it says you can just ask the man at the counter of a store called 'Boiling Cauldrons' for sixth year supplies and he should know what you mean. Other than those things, you're all set," she gave Ginny about fifteen silver sickles for pocket change, in case they wanted to buy something else. Mrs. Zondermann took Ava and Neona to "Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions" and was then planning to take them to Ollivander's for their wands, which left Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny alone with Kenna.
"I've heard about that 'Boiling Cauldrons' place," Kenna piped up, eager to start a conversation, "Mum told me last year not to go near it because some real shifty people come through there!"
"Well, it's Snape. I'd worry if he told you guys to get it from some spick-and-span perfect place," Ron said reassuringly to Hermione, who looked like she had also heard of "Boiling Cauldrons" and wouldn't have touched its door with a five-foot pole if she were being paid ten thousand gold galleons to do so.
"It's in Knockturn Alley!" cried Ginny, sounding outraged.
"How would you know if it's in Knockturn Alley?" asked Kenna with an interested expression on his face.
Harry smiled at Ginny, "Yeah…you know, you weren't the one who accidentally fell there on her first trip with floo powder," he finished good-naturedly, noting Ron getting into 'protective brother' mode.
"Gin, Knockturn Alley is a dangerous place," Ron said warningly, making it sound as though if he ever heard something that gave a clue to the fact that she'd been in Knockturn Alley again, he'd be far more dangerous than it.
"Oh it was only once!" she snapped.
"When?!" demanded Ron.
"For me to know and you to find out," Ginny responded curtly.
"Well," said Harry loudly over the noise of passing wizards, "we should probably go to get the experience over with."
Hermione nodded, "It's more light out now anyway, the later it is when we go there, the more packed it'll be," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Good point," agreed Ron.
"I can't wait!" said Kenna grinning excitedly as though he was about to have the time of his life.
"We aren't sticking around, though," said Harry to calm the over-eager boy.
"It really is pretty creepy," Ginny admitted.
Kenna frowned as they walked closer to its entrance, "Oh come on! Harry, you faced You-Know-Who! How much worse can Knockturn Alley be?"
"The point isn't that I could do it, the point is that I won't," grumbled Harry. Since this didn't seem to have much of an effect on Kenna, he decided to elaborate, "If everyone went around doing things just because they could, the world would be full of gits, and you'd likely be hexed by one every two steps."
"I was hexed once! Draco Malfoy put the Impedimentia curse on me when I was walking toward this spot along the shore of the lake where he wanted to sit with that Pansy Parkinson girl," Kenna made a face.
Hermione made a 'tsk' sound, "How did such a bully get to be prefect?"
"Well, looking at the likes of Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode Malfoy seems like a bloody genius, and a semi-saint," Harry replied, a vision of Malfoy kneeling in prayer flooding his mind and making him snicker a bit.
"Pretty much. Pansy Parkinson though, she's a scarlet woman if I've ever seen one," Ron muttered. Ginny, Hermione, and Harry laughed out loud, and Kenna gave a loud guffaw, which got the attention of quite a few wizards and witches around them. Ron frowned, "What?"
"S-scarlet woman!" cried Ginny through her laughter, "You can just say it outright you know, Ron. Mum isn't around!"
Ron's frown grew deeper, "I'm beginning to worry about what you do when mum isn't around, Ginny," he said seriously.
"Fred and George are very proud of me," Ginny replied, just as seriously.
"They would be," Ron snorted.
"I think Ginny can take of herself, Ron, and so can I," Hermione said to her boyfriend, raising both eyebrows. When they had entered Knockturn Alley, Ron had taken a firm grip on both their hands and glared at anyone who gave the group a passing glance.
"I bet Harry can hold onto Ginny's hand and neither one would mind!" chirped Kenna brightly, with a mischievous grin on his face.
Harry was about to protest the young boy's allegation, but Ginny spoke up quicker, "Harry and I are just friends, and however I acted when I was your age doesn't matter," she said, with a slight blush creeping onto her face as she seemed to be thinking about herself at twelve, sending Harry singing get well cards while he was in the hospital wing after a Quidditch match. Harry remembered distinctly that he'd needed to put the card under a bowl of fruit to make it shut up.
"Well this is it," said Hermione nervously. Harry looked up at what appeared, on first impression to be a large, misshapen black glob. Upon closer inspection, Harry realized it was supposed to be a large cauldron. A sign in simple print that said 'Boiling Cauldrons' that hung in place at the building's east corner promptly fell off.
"Welcoming," said Kenna sarcastically, looking, for the first time, slightly fearful.
When the group walked inside, Harry glanced at the floor, only to see a cockroach emerge from one of the many cracks in a wall that had once been painted a bright blue color checkered with white, but now resembled the scribbling of a four-year-old who'd used every color in his crayons box. The floor appeared to have once had the same pattern as the wall, but now appeared to be covered in substances of all kinds, including what looked a bit like blood. Harry's heart beat a little faster. Trust Professor Snape to want them to get supplies from somewhere like this.
"Excuse me," said Hermione sweetly to a man at a cheap wooden counter, appearing determined not to look around her at the store's state of disrepair, "we need some sixth year supplies. For Hogwarts," she elaborated.
The man gave her a confused look, "Well, what sort of supplies do you need?"
Ron pointed to Harry and Hermione, "They were told that all they needed to do was ask for sixth year supplies and you'd know what they meant."
The man groaned, "I'll ask my boss what I can do for you," and he disappeared into a door behind the counter.
Kenna started moving his head in all directions, his eyes twinkling, as though he couldn't get enough of the store, "This is so cool! Or…I think 'cool' is what the muggles call something amazing."
Ginny pointed to the spot on the floor Harry had noticed earlier, "Is that blood?!" she asked, her voice getting slightly panicky.
Ron turned a bit pale, "It could just be some sort of ingredient that looks red…"
"No, no…this is definitely blood," said Hermione, leaning down to give it a closer look.
Kenna's grin only got wider, "This place is so interesting!" and then he glanced down at the blood himself, "I wonder how that blood got there, though," he finished in an undertone.
"Fancy finding out first hand about the way blood splatters on a floor?" came a drawling voice behind them.
Harry froze immediately. He knew the person behind them was Draco Malfoy, who had threatened at the end of last year to kill him. He knew that Knockturn Alley was a dodgy place…it was the perfect place, in fact, to attack someone without being stopped. But Harry wasn't really that concerned about Malfoy, "Keep an eye on him, but just ignore him," he whispered to the others.
"Hellooooo Potter, have you gone deaf? You too, mudblood, weasels? Or maybe you're all just stupid!" Malfoy said with laughter in his voice.
"What'd they do to you?!" asked Kenna furiously, turning on Malfoy. Harry could've smacked the twelve-year-old.
"Oh, so one of you can hear!" he said triumphantly, "Well, make sign language or whatever to your hearing impaired buddies and tell them Malfoy isn't happy with them. Then say that Malfoy's going to kill you if they don't face me, the shameless cowards. Oh, and add that Malfoy says the weasels' mother is a bloated pig, and their father is a muggle-loving nutcase."
This caused Ginny to twitch a bit and Ron to turn around immediately and, before Malfoy could react, punch him in the stomach, "At least my family is decent! You don't find any Death Eaters locked in Azkaban when you look at my family! Yours, however-"
"Ok kids, here you go, two sixth year supplies packs," came the man at the counter's annoyed voice.
Hermione quickly grabbed Ron's arm, took one of the supply packs and handed the other one to Harry. She then quickly ushered them all out the door. Kenna was looking around Knockturn Alley some more and seemed to want to dawdle, however Hermione would have none of that, and put him immediately ahead of her so she could push him whenever he stopped to look at something. They walked in silence all the way out of Knockturn Alley, but this was probably good, Harry reflected, because silent people were much less likely to attract unwanted attention.
As soon as they were safely back in Diagon Alley, Ron burst, "That Malfoy! I swear, I wouldn't care if I got locked in Azkaban for a while if I could just use the Cruciatus Curse on him! He's been begging for it forever!"
"I wish we could. At least our mum isn't a stuck-up, evil, snobby woman!" grumbled Ginny.
"He's a complete moron," Hermione agreed, "but if you look at it closely, you learn that he should be pitied. He's nothing but a pathetic product of his environment."
"Are you comparing him to Kreacher? Because I'd rather spend two years alone with Kreacher as opposed to inviting Malfoy over for tea and biscuits," Ron said darkly.
"I wouldn't pity Malfoy if a two-ton anvil fell on him," said Harry folding his arms, "I'd start celebrating."
Hermione chewed her lip, "I just wish sometimes that he'd wake up and see that he's only his father's shadow and start looking at things from our point of view."
Ron snorted, "The day Malfoy turns into a good guy will be the day Percy finally apologizes everyone and dad's made Minister of Magic on top of it."
"If dad was made Minister of Magic of course Percy would apologize," Ginny muttered, "He wouldn't want to be out of good graces with the Minister."
"Who's Percy? Who's Percy?" asked Kenna.
"Percy is Ron and Ginny's older brother," Harry explained lamely.
"And he's a right turncoat, he is," snapped Ron, "You'd think after he knew it was really true that V-Vo-Voldemort had returned, he'd apologize to all of us, but no! Now he's probably just sulking because he was wrong and we were right all along!"
"Oh," said Kenna, who now seemed clearly uninterested in Percy's identity, "So where are we going to go now?"
"Let's go to Fred and George's joke shop!" said Harry suddenly, "I've never seen it before."
Ginny and Ron brightened up considerably, "Yeah! I wanna see if they have anything new in!" said Ron excitedly.
"I haven't seen it either," Hermione explained to Harry as they quickly followed Ron and Ginny toward Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Harry stopped next to his friends at a medium-sized, red, orange, and gold painted shop with a sign that proudly said "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" and changed colors and fonts every thirty seconds.
"It's even bigger inside than it looks out here!" Ginny said breathlessly.
"Let's go in then!" cried Kenna stamping his right foot on the ground impatiently, as though he'd been waiting millenniums to go inside.
When they walked inside, Harry suddenly felt rather overwhelmed by the bustle of activity and the large array of products he saw around him. There were Skiving Snackboxs, Extendable Ears, Fake Wands, Canary Creams, Ton Tongue Toffee (Which they had once used on Harry's cousin, Dudley), and basically every invention of Fred and George's that Harry had ever seen and more.
"Hey Angelina!" Harry heard Ginny suddenly yell, and sure enough, glancing over to his right, in the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes uniform was Angelina Johnson, who had been a Gryffindor student in Fred and George's class and the captain of the Quidditch team last year.
"Oh, hello guys! Are you looking for Fred and George?" she asked good-naturedly.
"We were showing Harry, Hermione, and that kid there," Ron gestured to Kenna, who sputtered indignantly at being called 'that kid', "the joke shop, since they've never seen it before."
"I bet Fred or George could give you a tour better than me or anyone else, since they built the place, if you're looking for a tour of course. They're in their laboratory making something new. But be warned, they aren't in the best of moods," she said cautiously.
"Why not?" asked Ginny.
"Well, Percy was walking by here with some of his Ministry friends, and his wife, Penelope Clearwater-Weasley and-"
"Hold up! Since when is Penelope Clearwater Percy's wife?" asked Harry, knowing he probably looked as confused as he felt.
"I have no clue, and neither did the twins," said Angelina in a sort of pacifying voice before Harry could throw the assumption that everyone had known they'd been married and not told him.
"Of course, why would Percy tell us a little thing like that?" mumbled Ginny sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Anyway…" Angelina continued, "he was walking by with them and he was making snide remarks about the shop, saying he was glad he cut himself off from his 'ridiculous' family, then slandering Fred and George, and saying he 'pitied' me and a Alicia Spinnet because we were their girlfriends," she had on a rather sour face by the time she finished, "and he made sure to stop right in front of this place and enunciate every word so we could hear perfectly from in here when he spoke," she had a vicious scowl on her face now, "My relationship with Fred is none of that pompous freak's business!"
"I'm glad none of the rest of us are like Percy. I have a feeling the world can only handle one of him," Ron grumbled under his breath.
"Why is he even doing this?" Hermione demanded more of thin air than anything else, "Can he just get over the fact that he wasn't right and help us?"
"God forbid the 'Great Percy Weasley' admit he made a mistake," Ginny said frowning, "In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't changed his last name to 'Weatherby', that's what Mr. Crouch liked to call him, wasn't it?"
"You better not say that, he'll no doubt think of it if you do," Harry remarked sarcastically, "And we all know how horrible that'd be."
"Are we going or not?" moaned Kenna impatiently.
"You're in a joke shop, look around!" snapped Ginny.
"We probably should though, if anyone says the employees are inattentive to their duties, that'll just give Percy something else to laugh about, won't it?" asked Hermione, looking at Angelina.
"Yeah, I'd better get back to…oh no, some kid opened and ate a Canary Cream," Angelina muttered as she saw a small canary flying above an open wrapper and went to reverse it.
In the room called the 'laboratory' Fred and George were busy laboring over a new creation.
"This one will change the world!" said Fred proudly.
"What is it?" asked Hermione.
"Top secret," George responded, patting her shoulder reassuringly, "but you can test it out for free when we're done."
"How will it change the world?" asked Ginny.
"You'll need to wait until we're done to find out," Fred said with an air of obviousness in his voice.
"I think we should plant some around Percy's work area when we're done," said George with an evil grin on his face.
"Then wait around for the look on his face! Brilliant!" cried Fred.
"We've heard Percy's being a bigger jerk than before," said Harry casually.
"Yeah, you wouldn't think it'd be possible for his head to swell anymore, but somehow he managed it without getting brain gunk all over everyone," George said glaring at the figure of Percy in a family photo he had on his desk that'd been taken with one of Mr. Weasley's muggle cameras.
"Unfortunately, he can't run out in this one," said Fred, prodding Percy in the muggle-camera taken picture.
"So d'you want a tour then?" asked George abruptly.
"Well, Gin and I could just take them on the main levels if it'll make you get done with that 'top secret' thing any faster," said Ron, trying to get a look at what his brothers had concealed when the Harry, Ron, and the others had walked through the door.
"No, no…" said Fred, his eyes sparkling.
"…We should give the one who funded most of this a special tour," finished George, his eyes locked on Harry.
"Where?" asked Ginny.
"Our secret rooms," said Fred George together solemnly.
"What do you use them for?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Oh nothing really, we just use them to scare people who trespass up here," said Fred grinning wildly.
"They contain things that went wrong in production, or that we decided not to use," said George, grinning just as wildly as Fred.
Hermione gave them a stern look, "What if they injured someone?"
"Well no one is supposed to be up here unless they're us, our family, our friends, or they work here," George said with a shrug.
"So anyone who falls into one is up to no good," said Fred seriously.
"And then we hire them for it if they need a job!" the twins said together.
"Could I work here when I get older?" asked Kenna, looking, in Harry's opinion, even more excited then he had been in Knockturn Alley.
"If you're still interested, sure. You seem to a valiant young troublemaker," George responded.
"I never knew Ravenclaws did stuff like that, though," Fred said, scratching his head, "Most of them seemed 'too good' for it."
"Not me! I'm just too smart for my own good!" said Kenna proudly.
"I like this kid," Harry heard Fred whisper to George, who nodded sagely.
About an hour later, Harry was sure he'd never seen so many trap doors in his life. Fred and George had shown them doors in the floor that brought the unlucky person to a dungeon-like basement room if the person dwelled on them for too long (The dungeons contained a product called 'Mini Gits' that Fred and George had decided not to use for fear of a lawsuit. The Mini Gits pointed to people and insulted them feverously, assigned detentions and homework and poured cauldrons full of samples of different potions on anyone who insulted them back. They bore a strong resemblance to Professor Snape, which Fred had explained was the general idea), doors on certain spots in the wall, and even doors in mirrors. Harry didn't know how long they'd been touring the trap rooms when Lee Jordan, the twins' best friend ran upstairs saying that Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Zondermann were out of their minds with fear that something had happened to Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Kenna.
"And they look ready to tear you all apart," Lee warned them, "So be ready to just bow your heads meekly and says 'yes, M'am' whenever they pause in their rant."
