There were nine of them in all-Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, and Mrs. Weasley, all led by a very excited Mr. Weasley, who seemed perhaps too confident that he could navigate the Muggle world for a day.
"Okay, everyone, wands away," he ordered, sounding very much like a teacher, "We're doing this right. No magic whatsoever until five o'clock this afternoon."
Moody pulled his hat further down over his electric blue eye. "Gotcha," he growled.
There was a street fair happening only a few blocks away. As they entered it, a teenage boy's shouts caught their attention.
"See the great master of magic at work! Harold Bongini, magician extraordinaire begins in just five minutes, in this tent! It's a great show, and at just a pound each, kids free, why not bring the whole family?"
"This is what I had planned," said Mr. Weasley.
Hermione was in charge of the stack of bills Mr. Weasley had managed to scrounge from the Department of Muggle Artifacts. She handed the teenage boy a small piece of paper marked "10," and was given one back with a "1" on it. The nine of them piled into the tent. Moody, Lupin, and the Weasley parents managed to get seats in the back, but the rest of them, including Tonks, were forced to sit up front with the little kids.
"Aren't Muggle children cute?" she cooed, as a little girl with a lollypop sneezed a massive trail of snot down her shirt.
"Really cute," answered Ron.
The magic show was a hit, especially with Mr. Weasley.
"Fascinating!" he kept calling from the back. "It really looks like that ferret came out of your shoe!"
The magician juggled, pulled handkerchiefs out of people's ears, and "transfigured" a plate of cookies into a dove. All was going well until he uttered the magic words.
"Abracadabra," he announced with a swish of the black plastic stick he called a wand.
"Aarrgh!" boomed Moody, who leapt to his feet (not an easy task for him), and began to lurch toward the front. "HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME, WITH ALL THESE CHILDREN AROUND? IF YOU WANT TO KILL ME, DARK WIZARD, DO IT IN A SAFER PLACE, BY MERLIN'S PARTS!"
Lupin was now also on his feet. He grabbed the collar of Moody's cloak and began to drag him backwards out of the tent.
"Sorry!" he shouted. "My father's a bit paranoid, easily frightened."
But Lupin was also shaking after the close shave with the incantation that had sounded suspiciously like a Muggle perversion of the killing curse. Mrs. Weasley was near hysterics as they attempted to recover outside.
"No magic!" she was hurling at her husband. "Someone could have gotten killed in there! You heard what that man said!"
"He said, 'abracadabra,'" said a small voice.
"Hermione!"
"It's not the same thing," Harry added.
"And he's a Muggle," wheedled Mr. Weasley.
Mad-Eye Moody was trudging about, the hand that wasn't holding his walking staff still hovering very close to the pocket that contained his wand.
"Look, you've upset Alastor. He doesn't need this kind of stress after all he's been through."
"I'm fine," he growled, waving Molly off. "What's for lunch?"