Chapter Twenty-Two: The New Members of the Order
"Yes!" said Fred triumphantly.
"Excellent," said George.
"Twin, I think we've finally got it," said Fred, staring down at the hastily scrawled message, in vivid blue ink, on the piece of parchment he was holding. Three weeks had passed since Fred and George had visited Hogwarts. The visit had exhausted them and depleted a good bit of their earnings, but it had also spurred in them both a manic sort of creative energy, which they focused on the product they knew would make them rich.
Now they sat in the study in their flat, gazing at their latest triumph.
"Weasley's Wily Writer," said George, grinning. "We could make a fortune."
Fred stared in wonder at their latest achievement. An invisible ink that was impervious to every charm and spell they could think of. More than this, they had invented a "decoy" ink. The writer of a secret message could write the message in the invisible ink, vanish it, then write an innocuous message in decoy ink. Nobody but the recipient could read the hidden message; the recipient merely had to tap the message with a wand for the decoy ink to vanish and the real message to appear.
"We'll sell it as a set," said George. "The invisible ink and the decoy ink."
"We'll have to test it," said Fred. "You know, it's times like these I'm glad we have such a huge family."
George chuckled, then yawned and stretched.
"I'm dog tired," he said. "Let's clean this stuff up and get back to it tomorrow, yeah?"
Fred yawned as well. "Good idea."
They both stood.
"We'd recoup our losses from that Hogsmeade weekend in a day with this stuff," said George. "Not that I'm going to ever complain again about you blowing all those Galleons on that trip."
"I should think not," said Fred archly.
"Shagging does make for mental clarity, doesn't it?" said George. "Gets the old creative gears ticking."
"When Angie and Alicia get back," said Fred, "my god, we'll come up with so much great stuff--"
"We'll be millionaires in a month," said George happily. "Well, good night, Twin."
"G'night," said Fred. He started toward his bedroom when suddenly a loud crack! penetrated the air.
"What the--" George began.
The sound came from the living room; the twins pulled out their wands and burst into the living room to see their mother in the middle of the room. Her face was streaked with tears.
"Mum!" said Fred, and he and George were at her side in an instant, towering over her and gazing at her with concern. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"Ron," said Mrs. Weasley tearfully, "and Ginny. And--Harry and Hermione."
Fred's stomach plummeted.
"What about them?" he said, his throat constricting.
"They were hurt," she sniffed. "They--they went to the Ministry and--and-- Sirius--You-Know-Who was there--Death Eaters--"
She was making no sense but everything she said sounded horrible.
"Mum," said George, his voice shaking. "Slow down. Here, sit. Tell us what happened."
Mrs. Weasley sank gratefully onto the sofa and the twins sat on either side of her.
"They went to the Ministry," she began.
"Ron and the rest," said Fred, feeling sick.
She nodded. "They--they were going to rescue Sirius Black."
"Sirius?" said George, his face screwing up in confusion. "Sirius Black got taken or something?"
"N-no," said Mrs. Weasley, dabbing at her eyes with a soaked handkerchief. "That's just it. Sirius didn't get captured at all. It was a trick. A trap. Vol--You-Know-Who tricked Harry and made him thick he'd t-taken Sirius. Harry'd been having all these visions. You know that, he had that one about Arthur. Harry thought You-Know-Who had Sirius, so Harry went after--after-- "
"Harry went after You-Know-Who," said Fred, horrified. "My god. And he dragged Ron and Ginny with him?"
"What the bloody hell was he thinking?" said George angrily.
"George," said Mrs. Weasley desperately, "don't be angry with Harry. You don't know what happened."
"Bugger that!" said George furiously. "Mum, I like the kid but dammit, he pulled Ron and Ginny into this--"
"George!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, her tearful voice shifting into her usual harsh, scolding tone. George shut up.
"Mum, what happened?" Fred asked gently.
"They went to the Ministry," Mrs. Weasley said. "They thought they'd get Sirius out and get out of there, but it was a trap. Death Eaters were there, they attacked--"
"My god," said George, his voice strangled.
"They're okay," said Mrs. Weasley in a rush. "They're going to be okay. Ginny broke her ankle and Ron--Ron was hurt, I don't know exactly what happened to him but he has burns on his arms and--and he was unconscious when they found him but he'll be all right."
Fred sank weakly against the sofa. "Jesus," he muttered.
"Hermione," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice going teary again. "Poor girl, she- -she almost died. And Neville--"
"Whoa," said George, "NEVILLE was there? As in Neville Longbottom?"
Mrs. Weasley nodded. "He went with them, too. His nose was broken but he didn't get hurt otherwise."
"And Harry?" said Fred.
"Unhurt," said Mrs. Weasley. "Physically unhurt."
"What do you--" George began.
"Sirius Black is dead," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice now flat and hard. As if this was the only way she could get the news out.
"Black?" said Fred. "D-dead?"
Mrs. Weasley began to weep softly.
"How?"
Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "I don't know what happened, except that he died in battle. He--he turned up at the Ministry with some other Aurors, and Remus, and they--they fought with the Death Eaters, and Sirius--was killed."
Fred felt his body go limp, and his head, which felt very heavy all of a sudden, flopped forward into his hands.
Sirius Black was dead. Harry's godfather. The only father figure in the kid's life was dead.
"Shit," Fred said, as a lump rose in his throat and threatened to strangle him. "Mum."
"Where's Harry now?" said George slowly.
"Back at school," said Mrs. Weasley. "They're all back at school. It happened last night. Ron and Hermione are in hospital; Madam Pomfrey's taking good care of them."
George shook his head. "Poor kid," he said. "Harry, I mean."
"He'll need us, George," said Mrs. Weasley. "I know it was wrong of him to go there, he shouldn't have involved Ron and Ginny, but he'll need us. And you know how Ron is; he would have followed Harry anyway."
Fred vaguely heard George and their mother talking, but his mind was racing, his heart hurting. Although the last time he'd seen Sirius, they'd parted on friendly enough terms, Fred couldn't help but remember that awful night when Mr. Weasley had been attacked, and Fred and his siblings had been yanked out of bed and sent via Portkey to Order headquarters. When they had tried to go to St. Mungo's to visit their father and Sirius had stopped them, told them they couldn't risk the Order's plans, that the cause of the Order was bigger than all of them, that some things were worth dying for. Fred had lashed out, practically called Sirius a coward, had done it in a moment of fury but with enough comprehension that he knew the words would bite Sirius where they hurt him most. Sirius had looked at Fred like he wanted to hit him, but he hadn't.
Fred now wished he had.
"The only good part of this whole mess," Mrs. Weasley was saying, "is that most of the Death Eaters were caught. And Fudge is finally admitting that You-Know-Who is back, and Dumbledore is back at Hogwarts. Umbridge is out, too."
"When can we see Ron and Ginny?" said George.
"When they come home next week," said Mrs. Weasley firmly.
"Mum--" George began.
"No, George," said Mrs. Weasley. "Dumbledore has enough on his plate dealing with getting the school back in order and Ron needs his rest."
Fred looked at his mother, who seemed to have stopped crying and looked surprising businesslike all of a sudden. She stood up.
"I'm off," she announced.
"Where?" Fred said.
"A meeting with the Order," said Mrs. Weasley briskly. "I'll get in touch-- "
"We're coming," Fred said abruptly.
"What?" said Mrs. Weasley.
"What?" said George.
"We're coming," Fred repeated. "Right now."
"Fred, it's for members only," said Mrs. Weasley.
"So make us members," said Fred. "We're old enough, we're not in school anymore. We qualify."
"Fred--"
"I mean it, Mum," said Fred. "You're always nagging us to do something useful. Well, we want to be in the Order and do something useful."
"Uh, yeah," said George, gaping at his twin but clearly going along with it.
"Fred, it's not that simple--"
"I don't care, Mum!" said Fred. "Bloody hell, our brother and sister almost got killed by Death Eaters. We can't do nothing. We can help. We're going."
Mrs. Weasley started to protest, but now both of her sons were standing and looking down at her with stubborn expressions. She sighed.
"Fine," she said. "Let's go."
"Right," said Fred. "Uh, just let me get something first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRACK! Fred opened his eyes and he was in the front foyer of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. The velvet curtains were drawn over the portraits of Sirius's family members; the corridor was as dim and dreary as ever, but now the pall was even more pronounced. Sirius was dead.
"All right then," said Mrs. Weasley. "You two wait here for a minute. I have to check with Remus and Arthur. I'll come and fetch you soon."
"Mum," said Fred warningly, "if we don't see you again in five minutes we're coming down."
Mrs. Weasley threw up her hands and headed downstairs to the basement kitchen, leaving Fred and George alone in the foyer.
"Do you plan to do a product demonstration, then?" George hissed, as Fred pulled the small box of Weasley's Wily Writer materials from his robes.
"Yup," said Fred. "Here's our chance, Twin. To be useful."
"If the Order even lets us in," said George. "How much should we charge for that stuff?"
"Nothing," Fred said at once.
"Nothing?" said George. "You're not serious."
"I'm totally serious," Fred whispered.
George gave Fred a long look, and seemed to understand.
"All right," he said slowly. "We don't charge for it. We donate it for the cause, and make up the overhead with sales to the public."
"I don't want to sell it to the public," said Fred.
"What are you on about?" said George, now looking thoroughly exasperated. "How are we supposed to afford making this stuff if we don't sell it to the public?"
"We sell it to the public and anyone can buy it," said Fred. "Including You- Know-Who's followers. Why give them an advantage? This way the Order has it and they're the only ones that know about it. And if you're worried about profits, we take in plenty from our other stuff."
There was a long silence as George studied his twin.
"When did you decide this?" said George.
"Just now. When I heard about Sirius," said Fred.
Their eyes met, and George, again, understood. The curse and blessing of being a twin. Some things simply didn't need to be said.
"All right," said George. "As of now all future Weasley's Wily Writers go to members of the Order. Free of charge. Now shake my hand and make it official."
Fred took George's right hand in his and shook it vigorously. "Agreed," he said.
"Fred, George."
They turned to see their mother at the top of the stairs leading to the kitchen.
"Mum?" said Fred nervously.
"The meeting's about to start," she said. "Come with me. You'll want seats."
"Yes!" said Fred triumphantly.
"Excellent," said George.
"Twin, I think we've finally got it," said Fred, staring down at the hastily scrawled message, in vivid blue ink, on the piece of parchment he was holding. Three weeks had passed since Fred and George had visited Hogwarts. The visit had exhausted them and depleted a good bit of their earnings, but it had also spurred in them both a manic sort of creative energy, which they focused on the product they knew would make them rich.
Now they sat in the study in their flat, gazing at their latest triumph.
"Weasley's Wily Writer," said George, grinning. "We could make a fortune."
Fred stared in wonder at their latest achievement. An invisible ink that was impervious to every charm and spell they could think of. More than this, they had invented a "decoy" ink. The writer of a secret message could write the message in the invisible ink, vanish it, then write an innocuous message in decoy ink. Nobody but the recipient could read the hidden message; the recipient merely had to tap the message with a wand for the decoy ink to vanish and the real message to appear.
"We'll sell it as a set," said George. "The invisible ink and the decoy ink."
"We'll have to test it," said Fred. "You know, it's times like these I'm glad we have such a huge family."
George chuckled, then yawned and stretched.
"I'm dog tired," he said. "Let's clean this stuff up and get back to it tomorrow, yeah?"
Fred yawned as well. "Good idea."
They both stood.
"We'd recoup our losses from that Hogsmeade weekend in a day with this stuff," said George. "Not that I'm going to ever complain again about you blowing all those Galleons on that trip."
"I should think not," said Fred archly.
"Shagging does make for mental clarity, doesn't it?" said George. "Gets the old creative gears ticking."
"When Angie and Alicia get back," said Fred, "my god, we'll come up with so much great stuff--"
"We'll be millionaires in a month," said George happily. "Well, good night, Twin."
"G'night," said Fred. He started toward his bedroom when suddenly a loud crack! penetrated the air.
"What the--" George began.
The sound came from the living room; the twins pulled out their wands and burst into the living room to see their mother in the middle of the room. Her face was streaked with tears.
"Mum!" said Fred, and he and George were at her side in an instant, towering over her and gazing at her with concern. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"Ron," said Mrs. Weasley tearfully, "and Ginny. And--Harry and Hermione."
Fred's stomach plummeted.
"What about them?" he said, his throat constricting.
"They were hurt," she sniffed. "They--they went to the Ministry and--and-- Sirius--You-Know-Who was there--Death Eaters--"
She was making no sense but everything she said sounded horrible.
"Mum," said George, his voice shaking. "Slow down. Here, sit. Tell us what happened."
Mrs. Weasley sank gratefully onto the sofa and the twins sat on either side of her.
"They went to the Ministry," she began.
"Ron and the rest," said Fred, feeling sick.
She nodded. "They--they were going to rescue Sirius Black."
"Sirius?" said George, his face screwing up in confusion. "Sirius Black got taken or something?"
"N-no," said Mrs. Weasley, dabbing at her eyes with a soaked handkerchief. "That's just it. Sirius didn't get captured at all. It was a trick. A trap. Vol--You-Know-Who tricked Harry and made him thick he'd t-taken Sirius. Harry'd been having all these visions. You know that, he had that one about Arthur. Harry thought You-Know-Who had Sirius, so Harry went after--after-- "
"Harry went after You-Know-Who," said Fred, horrified. "My god. And he dragged Ron and Ginny with him?"
"What the bloody hell was he thinking?" said George angrily.
"George," said Mrs. Weasley desperately, "don't be angry with Harry. You don't know what happened."
"Bugger that!" said George furiously. "Mum, I like the kid but dammit, he pulled Ron and Ginny into this--"
"George!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, her tearful voice shifting into her usual harsh, scolding tone. George shut up.
"Mum, what happened?" Fred asked gently.
"They went to the Ministry," Mrs. Weasley said. "They thought they'd get Sirius out and get out of there, but it was a trap. Death Eaters were there, they attacked--"
"My god," said George, his voice strangled.
"They're okay," said Mrs. Weasley in a rush. "They're going to be okay. Ginny broke her ankle and Ron--Ron was hurt, I don't know exactly what happened to him but he has burns on his arms and--and he was unconscious when they found him but he'll be all right."
Fred sank weakly against the sofa. "Jesus," he muttered.
"Hermione," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice going teary again. "Poor girl, she- -she almost died. And Neville--"
"Whoa," said George, "NEVILLE was there? As in Neville Longbottom?"
Mrs. Weasley nodded. "He went with them, too. His nose was broken but he didn't get hurt otherwise."
"And Harry?" said Fred.
"Unhurt," said Mrs. Weasley. "Physically unhurt."
"What do you--" George began.
"Sirius Black is dead," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice now flat and hard. As if this was the only way she could get the news out.
"Black?" said Fred. "D-dead?"
Mrs. Weasley began to weep softly.
"How?"
Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "I don't know what happened, except that he died in battle. He--he turned up at the Ministry with some other Aurors, and Remus, and they--they fought with the Death Eaters, and Sirius--was killed."
Fred felt his body go limp, and his head, which felt very heavy all of a sudden, flopped forward into his hands.
Sirius Black was dead. Harry's godfather. The only father figure in the kid's life was dead.
"Shit," Fred said, as a lump rose in his throat and threatened to strangle him. "Mum."
"Where's Harry now?" said George slowly.
"Back at school," said Mrs. Weasley. "They're all back at school. It happened last night. Ron and Hermione are in hospital; Madam Pomfrey's taking good care of them."
George shook his head. "Poor kid," he said. "Harry, I mean."
"He'll need us, George," said Mrs. Weasley. "I know it was wrong of him to go there, he shouldn't have involved Ron and Ginny, but he'll need us. And you know how Ron is; he would have followed Harry anyway."
Fred vaguely heard George and their mother talking, but his mind was racing, his heart hurting. Although the last time he'd seen Sirius, they'd parted on friendly enough terms, Fred couldn't help but remember that awful night when Mr. Weasley had been attacked, and Fred and his siblings had been yanked out of bed and sent via Portkey to Order headquarters. When they had tried to go to St. Mungo's to visit their father and Sirius had stopped them, told them they couldn't risk the Order's plans, that the cause of the Order was bigger than all of them, that some things were worth dying for. Fred had lashed out, practically called Sirius a coward, had done it in a moment of fury but with enough comprehension that he knew the words would bite Sirius where they hurt him most. Sirius had looked at Fred like he wanted to hit him, but he hadn't.
Fred now wished he had.
"The only good part of this whole mess," Mrs. Weasley was saying, "is that most of the Death Eaters were caught. And Fudge is finally admitting that You-Know-Who is back, and Dumbledore is back at Hogwarts. Umbridge is out, too."
"When can we see Ron and Ginny?" said George.
"When they come home next week," said Mrs. Weasley firmly.
"Mum--" George began.
"No, George," said Mrs. Weasley. "Dumbledore has enough on his plate dealing with getting the school back in order and Ron needs his rest."
Fred looked at his mother, who seemed to have stopped crying and looked surprising businesslike all of a sudden. She stood up.
"I'm off," she announced.
"Where?" Fred said.
"A meeting with the Order," said Mrs. Weasley briskly. "I'll get in touch-- "
"We're coming," Fred said abruptly.
"What?" said Mrs. Weasley.
"What?" said George.
"We're coming," Fred repeated. "Right now."
"Fred, it's for members only," said Mrs. Weasley.
"So make us members," said Fred. "We're old enough, we're not in school anymore. We qualify."
"Fred--"
"I mean it, Mum," said Fred. "You're always nagging us to do something useful. Well, we want to be in the Order and do something useful."
"Uh, yeah," said George, gaping at his twin but clearly going along with it.
"Fred, it's not that simple--"
"I don't care, Mum!" said Fred. "Bloody hell, our brother and sister almost got killed by Death Eaters. We can't do nothing. We can help. We're going."
Mrs. Weasley started to protest, but now both of her sons were standing and looking down at her with stubborn expressions. She sighed.
"Fine," she said. "Let's go."
"Right," said Fred. "Uh, just let me get something first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRACK! Fred opened his eyes and he was in the front foyer of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. The velvet curtains were drawn over the portraits of Sirius's family members; the corridor was as dim and dreary as ever, but now the pall was even more pronounced. Sirius was dead.
"All right then," said Mrs. Weasley. "You two wait here for a minute. I have to check with Remus and Arthur. I'll come and fetch you soon."
"Mum," said Fred warningly, "if we don't see you again in five minutes we're coming down."
Mrs. Weasley threw up her hands and headed downstairs to the basement kitchen, leaving Fred and George alone in the foyer.
"Do you plan to do a product demonstration, then?" George hissed, as Fred pulled the small box of Weasley's Wily Writer materials from his robes.
"Yup," said Fred. "Here's our chance, Twin. To be useful."
"If the Order even lets us in," said George. "How much should we charge for that stuff?"
"Nothing," Fred said at once.
"Nothing?" said George. "You're not serious."
"I'm totally serious," Fred whispered.
George gave Fred a long look, and seemed to understand.
"All right," he said slowly. "We don't charge for it. We donate it for the cause, and make up the overhead with sales to the public."
"I don't want to sell it to the public," said Fred.
"What are you on about?" said George, now looking thoroughly exasperated. "How are we supposed to afford making this stuff if we don't sell it to the public?"
"We sell it to the public and anyone can buy it," said Fred. "Including You- Know-Who's followers. Why give them an advantage? This way the Order has it and they're the only ones that know about it. And if you're worried about profits, we take in plenty from our other stuff."
There was a long silence as George studied his twin.
"When did you decide this?" said George.
"Just now. When I heard about Sirius," said Fred.
Their eyes met, and George, again, understood. The curse and blessing of being a twin. Some things simply didn't need to be said.
"All right," said George. "As of now all future Weasley's Wily Writers go to members of the Order. Free of charge. Now shake my hand and make it official."
Fred took George's right hand in his and shook it vigorously. "Agreed," he said.
"Fred, George."
They turned to see their mother at the top of the stairs leading to the kitchen.
"Mum?" said Fred nervously.
"The meeting's about to start," she said. "Come with me. You'll want seats."