Disclaimer:
The characters and situations of Harry Potter depicted in this story are the legal property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and AOL Time Warner, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made off this story. It is for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter Fifteen

"Snakes and Rats"

"We wanted you to know that we put the spell on the house, Harry, in case you were wondering," Fred said when he and George entered the kitchen.

"From the looks of things here, though," George commented, "I don't think he was concerned about that, Fred."

They both crossed their arms and surveyed Harry and Ginny critically. Harry's face wore the tell-tale signs of embarrassment at having been caught doing something with their sister that they probably wouldn't have approved of, while Ginny's face was angry at having been interrupted.

"What do you want?" she asked irritably. "I'm sure you didn't come all the way in here just to tell us that."

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, little sister," Fred said. "We don't care what you and Harry get up to, as long as it stays nice and innocent. Snog all you want for all we care. But, now that you mention it, we did have something we wanted to run by you."

"Well… go on," Ginny told them, the edge of irritation still evident in her voice.

"We think you may have a serious problem on your hands with the Muggles," George said seriously.

"What now?" Harry asked tiredly. It didn't surprise him in the least that Dudley and his friends were being a problem.

"Mind you, we don't have a problem with tipping back a few ourselves," George told them. "But we think the fat git and his friends have taken it a bit far, even by our standards."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the group that went outside is acting very strangely," Fred said. "They're all giggly and happy." He made a sour face.

"So?" Ginny asked. "What's wrong with that?"

Fred looked pointedly at Harry. "Have you ever seen your cousin happy?"

"No," Harry answered truthfully.

"It's not pretty," George said ruefully. "And that girl, Claire, is hitting on every guy out there. I wouldn't go near there if I were you, Harry."

Harry glanced at Ginny, who was frowning. "Thanks, I won't," he said gratefully. "I thought I could test everyone on their Patronus Charm in here anyway, if you can keep everyone else entertained out there."

Fred and George grinned at each other conspiratorially. "We can do that," they said in unison.

"Okay then," Harry said. "Let's see what you've got." He pointed his wand at the door and muttered a locking spell.

Fred and George were each able to produce, in turn, identical tigers that—while not corporeal like Harry's stag—looked incredibly real. They exchanged supercilious looks and bowed deeply to Ginny's applause. Harry was impressed by the fact that the twins had obviously practiced, thinking that if they had only put as much effort into their schoolwork their mother would have been much happier.

The twins left and, one by one, the others entered the kitchen. Hermione came in to help, since she had already produced a perfect Patronusinthe DA months before.Ron also came in to watch, but Harry suspected it had more to do with Hermione than casting spells. Together the four of them took the others through their paces.

Harry was proud to see Angelina produce something that very much resembled a panther, while Lee's Patronus took on the slightly recognizable form of a bird. Alicia, surprisingly, produced a perfect silvery hawk Patronus that soared through the air over the heads of the teens gathered in the room. She seemed as stunned as Harry.

"That's the first time I've been able to get it to look like anything!" she exclaimed. "Before, it just looked like a blob of mist."

Katie, however, had the most trouble. Her Patronus had no form at all, although she did manage to produce silvery mist. She laughingly said it was a big improvement over nothing and seemed pleased enough with her progress.

"Okay," Harry said, clapping his hands excitedly after Katie left. "That just leaves the three of you."

Ron volunteered to go first. Harry knew that he'd had trouble with this spell last time they had practiced and wondered if his friend would be too disappointed if he couldn't do it.

To his surprise Ron seemed to exude confidence. He held his wand at the ready, closed his eyes, and broke out into a rather goofy grin before bellowing the incantation. Out popped a small Jack Russell terrier that Harry thought suited him perfectly. He seemed exceptionally pleased with himself and even directed it to chase its own tail, which earned him a hearty laugh from Ginny and Hermione. Blushing, he ended the spell and stepped back to allow Hermione her turn.

Stepping up next to Harry, Hermione took a moment to produce a happy thought before saying clearly, "Expecto Patronum." Immediately, Hermione's silver otter shot out of the tip of her wand and began to dance through the air, guided by her delicate wrist movements. She extinguished the spell and smiled happily at Ron, who blushed even harder. Harry had the impression her happy thought might have included his best friend, but he wasn't certain.

Finally, it was Ginny's turn. Harry held his breath waiting to see what would happen. He didn't understand why he was so nervous for her—none of the others had affected him like this. He just wanted Ginny to succeed so badly that he found himself with butterflies in his stomach. He knew she had managed mist last year, but there had not been much of an opportunity to practice since then.

She hesitated and Harry could imagine the thoughts she was sifting through to find her happiest memory. He hoped it had something to do with their first kiss upstairs in his bedroom.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The thing that shot out of her wand shocked not only Harry, but everyone in the room. A massive snake slithered on the floor, rearing its enormous head and looking around menacingly. It was about 15 feet in length and—most surprising of all—was as solid as Harry's stag. Ginny Weasley had produced a corporeal Patronus.

Harry looked at the great reptile with wide eyes. It was the most impressive bit of magic he had seen from a student yet, and he was absolutely stunned that Ginny had done it. The fact that it was a snake did not bother him in the least. Ron and Hermione, however, gasped and moved away quickly. Hermione let out a small scream when the giant snake looked her way—flicking its tongue and hissing softly.

Because he was able to understand snake language, Harry interpreted the snake's actions as confusion and was not in the least concerned that it might attack anyone. His panicked friends, however, were making matters worse by increasing its confusion and agitating it further. Harry was bewildered to see Ginny doing absolutely nothing to control the snake. She was just standing there staring at the snake, her body tense and rigid. She looked petrified.

Slowly the snake turned towards her and looked at her questioningly. "Wwhattwwouldyouuhaavemeedoomisssstresss?" Harry heard the snake hiss.

To his surprise, she replied in a timid voice, "Nothing. Just go away."

Obediently, the beast dissolved into mist and disappeared.

Once the snake was gone Ginny looked around the silent room, as if expecting to be congratulated like everyone. "What?" she managed to ask shakily. "Wasn't that good enough?"

"That—that was… perfect," he managed to say. "But Ginny… I think we need to talk." he said firmly, striding over to her purposefully.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding very much like a little girl being reprimanded by her mother. "What'd I do?"

"You're a Parselmouth," he stated calmly.

Looking aghast, Ginny said, "I'm not!"

"Yes," Harry said, sympathetically, "you are."

Ginny opened her mouth, most likely to protest, but no sound came out.

Harry continued looking at Ginny patiently. "What did it say?" he asked.

"It asked me what I wanted it to do," she replied, "and I answered 'nothing, just go away'."

"That's right," Harry said. "That's what I heard, too." He glanced at Ron and Hermione who had decided to remain mute and let Harry handle this. Hermione shook her head slightly to indicate they had heard nothing, her eyes wide. "I think Ron and Hermione heard it hissing and then you speaking Parseltongue, right?" Both shook their heads affirmatively.

"But—but, that's not possible," Ginny stuttered lamely. "I can't speak Parseltongue."

"Has this ever happened before?" he asked. "Before tonight, I mean?"

"Of course not," she bristled. "Do you think I make it a habit of going around and talking to bloody snakes?"

"Haven't you, before?" he answered curtly.

She managed one word. "Tom." She sunk to the floor, stunned.

To Harry, that word said everything he needed to know. His heart ached for her. Voldemort had stripped her of her innocence and left her scarred, just as he had Harry. Ginny's scars may not have been as visible as his lightening bolt, but she had been affected by him in some ways more deeply than even Harry had. He kicked himself for not seeing it sooner. For no other reason than this, Harry wanted to kill the monster that had taken away her childhood.

Harry bent down and reached out a comforting hand, placing it on her shoulder. Ginny jerked away from him. "Don't," she said bitterly.

"Ginny…" he said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Why would you be sorry?" she spit out bitterly. "You didn't set a monster loose on the school. I did that all on my own."

"Ginny," Harry said passionately, "you didn't do that. Voldemort—" Here he paused because Ginny flinched for the first time that evening at the sound of the Dark Lord's name, her bravery apparently gone. Realizing this, Harry said quickly, "—I mean, Tom did those things."

"No, Harry," Ginny sobbed, "I did t-that. Yes, he was using me, but it was still me t-that allowed him! I was just t-too weak to resist. Do you have any idea what's its like t-to know that something so evil has been inside you?" she yelled. "To know that you're responsible for something so hideous… t-that some of Him will remain in you forever, n-no matter what you do to try to forget or move on?" She sniffled and didn't even seem to notice Hermione and Ron slipping out quietly, leaving them alone.

"Y-you h-hate me now, d-don't y-you?" she stuttered through her tears.

"If I hated you, Gin," Harry said tightly, "then I'd have to hate myself. Everything you said about Voldemort being inside you… that applies to me as well."

"I-I haven't told anyone this," he whispered, still not exactly 'seeing' her. "Dumbledore is the only one who knows because he was there."

He paused and took a deep breath, pushing a few stray hairs out of his eyes. Harry felt as if the weight of it would break him but somehow he knew if he just said the words, his load would lessen. Where to begin?

'Just tell her, Harry!' his mind screamed. 'She'll understand.'

Another small part of his brain, however, was whispering, 'What if she doesn't understand? What if she hates you or thinks you weak? What then?'

Silently he stared at her lightly freckled face and hopeful eyes, and suddenly he had no qualms about sharing this with her. He knew she'd understand that perhaps she was the only one who really could understand.

"You see, Ginny… I know what it's like to have Voldemort inside me because he tried to possess me, too. At the Ministry of Magic." Even though he had tripped all over his words, he felt proud of himself for getting that far.

Ginny gasped, "Oh, Harry! I knew something… but I had no idea!"

Harry heard the pity in her voice but, strangely it did not anger him. Instinctively he knew that Ginny did not judge him or feel sorry for him; she sympathized with him. It was like they were kindred spirits and understood exactly what the other had experienced without either of them having to actually voice it aloud.

"Do—do you want to talk about it?" she asked hesitantly.

"Not really," he confided, sighing with relief that he even had gotten that far. "But—but maybe I should. Hermione says I hold too much in."

"Hermione is very wise," Ginny said, a twisted smile playing on her lips. She moved beside him and leaned up against him.

They scooted together across the floor so that their backs could rest on the back of the cupboard and Ginny snuggled into Harry's warm arms like she had been doing it her whole life. Harry marvelled at how nice it felt to hold her and how right it seemed. The close, intimate contact was very soothing and helped to calm both of them.

It wasn't long before Harry had confessed everything; how he had run after Bellatrix after she killed Sirius, how he had tried to the Cruciatus Curse on her. She didn't seem shocked or angry that he had used an Unforgivable, but listened with rapt attention.

"Then what happened, Harry?" she asked.

"Well, we fought," he said matter-of-factly. Pulling a face, he clarified. "Well… mostly she fought and I ducked, but I did manage to get a few good ones in," he said proudly. "She wanted me to give her the Prophecy—she didn't know that it had already smashed. I told her that it was gone, and that—that's when Voldemort showed up. He was very angry that it had been smashed. He'd been trying to get it for months."

Ginny gasped. "Were you frightened?"

"Honestly, I didn't have time to be frightened. I guess I was too much in shock at actually seeing him there in the Ministry of Magic. It—it was like my nightmares come true."

There was a tense silence during which Ginny became pensive. "What does he look like now, Harry? What's he like?"

"He's terrible, Ginny—not even human." He felt her tension and looked down at her questioningly. "Are you sure you want to know all this?"

She met his gaze bravely—probably more bravely than she actually felt. "I need to know," she stated simply.

"Well," Harry began timidly, "if you're sure…." Taking a breath, he began to describe the face of his enemy. "He's very snake-like. You see, he went through all kinds of dark magic to try to make himself immortal and it changed him. He doesn't look anything like the Tom that you and I knew." Harry felt her shudder at the sound of his name and drew her in even closer. "His skin is sort of greyish and stretched and he only has slits for nostrils. But it's his eyes that are the scariest," Harry told her, suppressing his own shudder. "They're so snake-like—red. They seem to look right through you, but they see everything." His voice was hushed… quiet. "I don't know which is worse… his eyes or his laugh," he whispered so softly that Ginny had to strain to hear.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I dream about his laugh," he said. "It's what I hear when the Dementors get too close. I hear him laughing as he kills my Mum, just like he did last year when he came back."

Wanting to get back to the events in June and not lost in the past, Ginny asked, "So what happened after he showed up at the Ministry?"

"He tried to kill me," Harry said without emotion.

"What!" she cried in outrage, pulling away to face him. "How?"

"He told me I'd been a thorn in his side for too long," Harry told her, "and then he pointed his wand at me and started to cast the Killing Curse. That's when Dumbledore showed up."

"Oh, Harry! That must have been awful!"

"Tell you the truth, Gin I was so much in shock I wasn't feeling much at the time except grief over Sirius. Part of me just gave up," he said ruefully.

"So what happened after Dumbledore showed up?" she asked.

"They fought—Voldemort and Dumbledore," he said, excited at the memory of the fantastic duel. "You should have seen Dumbledore, Ginny! There's a reason they say he is the only one Voldemort ever feared. He was brilliant! He transfigured the statues in the fountain to deflect curses and get help—that's how Fudge and the others ended up showing up. Kept calling him Tom, which really infuriated him!" Harry chuckled wryly at the memory.

Drawing himself back into his dark memories, he frowned. "Anyway, one of the statues shielded me and it was hard to see everything, but for a minute it looked as if Dumbledore had won. I was trying to come out from behind the statue when it happened. I-I felt him enter my body and… and—he possessed me." He stopped suddenly, not knowing what else to tell her.

"What do you remember?" she asked quietly.

He thought hard, trying to recall the experience. It took a minute before he spoke because he had tried so hard to forget the memories that they were buried deep in his subconscious and he had to find them.

"I remember a lot of pain. It felt as if a giant snake was squeezing me to death and I couldn't think properly. But I remember it felt as if we were one person, like we were two halves of a whole. I remember he used my mouth to taunt Dumbledore to kill me and at that moment part of me wanted him to do it. I don't know what I said aloud but my mind was begging Dumbledore to put me out of my misery. The pain was so intense. It was worse than the Cruciatus, if you can imagine…."

"I can't imagine," she admitted, shivering.

Harry pulled her closer. "I remember thinking that if only Dumbledore would kill us, it would all be over and I would be with Sirius. I'd be happy."

"So what happened next?"

"Nothing," he answered. "All of a sudden, he was gone and I was left shaking on the floor, totally spent. That's when everyone showed up, and then Dumbledore conjured a Portkey to take me back to his office at Hogwarts. I waited there while he sorted things out at the Ministry and you know the rest.

"So, anyway," Harry said, sitting up to look at her properly, "If you hate yourself, then you have to hate me as well. He's a part of me, Ginny. We're connected by this," he told her, tapping his scar. "I'll never be free of him until one of us is dead."

"No, Harry," Ginny said confidently. "You'll be free of him one day, I'm sure of it. You beat him once and you can beat him again."

Wanting to get back to her predicament, Harry brought the focus back around to why they were discussing this in the first place.

"The point is, having a part of him in you is terrible," he told her. "But if you spend time blaming yourself then he wins. So what if your Patronus is a snake and you can talk to it? Patronus Charms are meant to protect; that one you cast earlier was a damn fine Patronus, Ginny – one of the best I've ever seen. Don't let him take that away from you. I know how you feel about the Parseltongue thing… I felt the same way when I found out. But it turned out to be a good thing. It helped me save you, and I'd sooner quit playing Quidditch altogether than spend time regretting that," he teased.

"So, you're equating my life to the game of Quidditch, are you?" she bantered playfully.

"Best game there is," he laughed, poking her in the ribs.

"Absolutely," she agreed. Growing solemn, she caught his hand. "Thanks, Harry."

He flashed Ginny a lopsided grin. "No problem, Red," he said teasingly as he fondly ruffled her long mane of ginger hair.

"You'll pay for that, Potter! Or should I start calling you Raven?" she cried as she lunged for him.

"Raven?" he laughed as she dove on top of him, trying to tickle him senseless. "Where'd you get that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Harry. It's another word for black… as in your hair colour."

Harry tried unsuccessfully to look up. "Oh," he said stupidly.

"I suppose I could start calling you Toad instead then," she mused.

He raised his eyebrow questioningly. Raven he got, but Toad?

"You know," she grinned. "'His eyes are as green as fresh pickled toad…'"

"Don't you even—" Harry warned. "Ron would have me for breakfast if he heard you call me that!"

"In that case Toad—" she began before Harry was on top of her tickling her mercilessly. They spent a few carefree moments laughing and having a few minutes of carefree fun before they sobered up enough to face the others.

"What'd you say we go back out there and reassure Ron and Hermione that you're not going to turn into the next Dark Lord?" Harry joked between breaths.

"And who says I'm not?" Ginny shot back, raising an eyebrow indignantly.

"I wouldn't put anything past you," Harry admitted, holding up his hands in surrender, a happy grin on his face.

"Too bad we need to go…." she said, wiggling her finger at him, "…or I'd show you exactly how evil I can be!" She moved in closer, a hard, blazing look on her pretty face.

Harry smiled widely and leaned closer, capturing her mouth with his and abandoning all thoughts of leaving.

Without warning the door swung open and a flustered Hermione tumbled in looking as if she had just seen a ghost.

"Hermione," Harry exclaimed, jumping back. "What's wrong?"

"Ron…" Hermione gasped, trying unsuccessfully to catch her breath, and pointed towards the side hallway where she had come from. "In there—him! Help!" she said very fast.

"Hermione," Ginny said, "you have to slow down. We can't understand you!"

"Harry!" Hermione yelled frantically between breaths, clutching his shirt. "You… have… to… help… Ron… catch… him!"

"Him?" Harry asked anxiously. He was at her side in a flash. "Him who?"

She pointed madly towards his old cupboard where Ron's frenzied yelling and the sounds of mops and brooms banging could be heard inside the cupboard.

"S-Scabbers, Harry…" she panted, gulping, swaying a bit from the effort. "Wormtail… is in there!"

"Pettigrew's here?" Harry almost yelled, grabbing hold of Hermione to steady her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," a relieved Hermione said. "We both saw him. He's here. Harry, I'd swear on my life it's him. Ron thinks so too, and he lived with him for years. He even had a silvery-looking front paw, just like the one you said V-Voldemort gave him." She looked at Harry, silently pleading with him to believe her.

Harry squared his shoulders and grabbed his wand, thrusting it in front of him determinedly. If Wormtail was in the house, then they were all in danger.

Wand at the ready, he moved cautiously towards the partially open door but jumped back in surprise as it was thrown open violently. A large red-headed object tumbled out, tackling him. Both boys fell to the ground in a tangled, ungraceful heap.

Panting heavily, Ron reached up on instinct and grabbed Harry violently, raising his fist to fight him off. Harry immediately tried to pull away. He had never seen his best friend so utterly enraged and it almost frightened him. Harry had never known Ron could look so intimidating. Even Draco Malfoy had not elicited this level of rage from Ronald Weasley.

"Gerroff me!" Ron yelled wildly.

"Ron!" Harry yelled back, refraining from slapping him silly. "Sod off! It's only me."

"Harry?" Ron asked, confused. Then, as if it had just occurred to him that this was Harry's house, he shouted in relief and pointed towards the open cupboard door. "Harry! Help me… Scabbers is here! We have to find him!"

"Where'd you see him last?" Harry asked quickly, jumping up and grabbing his fallen wand. His instincts told him there was no time to waste.

"He was hiding behind the boxes in the cupboard. I tried to catch him but he was too quick," Ron said jumping to his feet as well. Every fibre of his being seemed to be burning for a fight.

"Dirty rat! Just wait till I get my hands on that bloody traitor! I'll make him wish he had been blown to bits by Sirius' curse!" Ron muttered angrily. Harry had no idea that Ron harboured such ill feelings towards Pettigrew. Then again, Pettigrew as Scabbers did use the generosity of the Weasley family - Ron in particular - to escape detection and hide out for a number of years. They had never discussed it, but Harry reasoned that it was perfectly understandable Ron felt so personally affronted by his former pet's behaviour.

Both Harry and Ron started for the door but were stopped by Hermione's and Ginny's sharp squeals of protest.

"Just what do you two think you're going to do?" Hermione screeched as she tried to restrain them.

Ron pushed her aside gently. "I don't know about Harry, but I have a rat to catch," he answered firmly, leaving no room for discussion.

"Harry," Ginny began protesting weakly. She was abruptly cut off with one angry look of warning.

"Stay here and cover our backs," Harry said evenly. "Better yet… go tell the others what's going on and stay out of the way."

"Harry James Potter!" Ginny yelled angrily, stamping her foot. "Do not treat me like an imbecile! I thought we covered this already!"

Harry found himself irritated by Ginny's outburst. Didn't she realise the danger they were in? If Pettigrew was in the house, then they were all in jeopardy. Harry hated to even think what other surprises Voldemort had in store for them.

"Just go, Ginny!" he growled warningly.

"I'm going with you," Hermione said stubbornly.

Harry and Ron both exchanged meaningful looks. Harry was certain that Ron wanted to keep Hermione out of danger as much as he wanted to protect Ginny. However, neither could forget the many times that Hermione had saved their arses over the years. Hermione's quick thinking and knowledge of spells was definitely good to have handy in a pinch.

"Fine," Harry said definitively. "You can go, Hermione, but Ginny can't."

Noticing the crestfallen look on the Ginny's face, Harry tried to soften his voice. "Listen Ginny, this isn't about you. Someone needs to tell the others what's going on, and Ron, Hermione, and I are used to working together. But if Pettigrew is really in the house, then we're all going to have to pull together to get out of here safely. I don't know what else Voldemort has up his sleeve but I'd bet money we're in for more surprises tonight."

Seeing that she wasn't buying it, he reached out a hand and touched her arm imploringly. "Please do this for me."

That seemed to do the trick. Ginny immediately turned on her heel furiously and ran off down the hallway.

Looking around at his two best friends, Harry raised an eyebrow. "Ready?"

"Let's get to it," Ron said resolutely. Hermione nodded her head in agreement.

As one they made their way inside the cramped quarters, Harry slightly in the lead followed by Ron and then Hermione. Harry half expected to see the fully human form of his father's former best friend pointing a wand at him threateningly. Instead, all he saw was a shambles of what had once been a very orderly cupboard.

Mops and brooms were strewn precariously all over the floor and the boxes in the corner were overturned, their contents spilling all over the floor. To Harry's chagrin, the vacuum cleaner looked to be broken. A ridiculous thought popped into his mind and he almost laughed; how was he to do the vacuuming, number 14 on his list of jobs, if it could not be repaired?

Harry forced himself not to think of that and focus on the problem at hand. "Where did you last see him?" he asked Ron again.

"O-over there, under those upturned boxes," Ron said slightly wobbly because he had just caught sight of a rather large spider.

"I'll take that corner," Harry said. "You take the area over by the brooms and mops, Ron. Hermione… you cover the door and see that the rat doesn't escape." They both nodded their agreement.

Harry cautiously tiptoed over to the back of the cupboard, silently thanking his Aunt Petunia for her freakish neatness. Had the room been in the state of a normally messy and packed cupboard, he doubted they would be able to draw the rat out into the open.

Gripping his wand in his hand tightly, Harry used it to poke and prod through the mess that had come from the boxes. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron had drawn his wand and was doing the same thing. Harry supposed he had been so shocked to see Wormtail earlier that he had not thought to use his wand.

Hermione continued to guard the door and keep a keen eye on the situation. Harry trusted her implicitly to watch their backs.

After about five minutes of searching, both boys became frustrated. Neither had turned up anything. Ron looked at Harry, his eyes wide and pleading. "I swear, Harry, he's here."

"I believe you, Ron," Harry assured him. He saw Ron's features relax slightly at his assurance and trust.

"Maybe he got away while we were talking in the entranceway," Hermione suggested. "He could have transformed and then Disapparated," she reasoned as all three backed out of the room and shut the door.

"'Fraid not Hermione," Fred said from behind them, startling all three.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as she spun around.

"Remember that little spell you asked us to perform?" George answered. "Not only does it effectively lock down an area, but it also makes it impossible to Apparate or Disapparate inside the radius of the spell. No one gets in, and no one gets out."

"I never thought of that," Ron said. "Otherwise Mum could have just Apparated right into your room last summer. Brilliant of you, really…." he mused.

"Why thank you, dear brother," George said appreciatively.

"It's good to know our superior intelligence is not going unappreciated," Fred stated with pride.

"Yes, yes," Hermione said impatiently. "But how is the spell reversed? Is it possible that Pettigrew was able to reverse the spell and escape?"

"It's possible," Fred said doubtfully.

"But not probable," George said, shaking his head. "You see, we used a combination of spells to create this one. We were tired of Mum interrupting us while we were in the throes of creation. We needed a spell that would allow us some time and we didn't want it to be easily broken. Mum knows all the existing locking spells and their counter-spells, so we had to get creative."

"This particular spell hasn't been patented yet, so we don't want to say too much…" Fred explained. "But it's sort of like a timed release spell. Once you set it off it has to run its course. While it's in operation, no one gets in but no one can get out either."

"What would happen if something went wrong and one of you needed medical attention?" Harry asked curiously.

"Hmm…" Fred said, exchanging a worried look with his twin. "We never thought of that."

"Good point," George said, looking equally concerned.

"So, just to be clear. What you're saying is that not only can Pettigrew not get out, but neither can we," Hermione said worriedly.

"Ummm, yes?" Fred answered uncertainly.

"Wonderful!" Harry exclaimed, highly annoyed. "And just when did you plan on telling us this?"

"You never asked, did you?" George answered indignantly. "You wanted a locking spell and we provided you with one. How were we to know that a dirty, traitorous rat would go loose in the house?"

"Never mind that," Ron said, cutting him off before he could build himself into a tirade. He knew Fred and George better than anyone except Ginny. When they felt attacked they would defend themselves or each other to the death. "The question is," he asked calmly, "how long will it last?"

"Well," Fred said slowly. "The thing is…."

Harry shook his head wearily. "Do I even want to hear this?" he said in exasperation. He reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses. Vaguely he was aware that another massive headache was coming on fast.

"The spell, it's…" George paused, "shall we say… unpredictable. It could last two hours or all night."

"You never thought to mention that either," Hermione said angrily. It was a statement laced with sarcasm.

"Again," Fred said defensively, "you never asked."

"Let's go back to the beginning," Harry said as calmly as he could. "We asked you to put a locking spell on the house and you did."

"Correct," Fred said.

"You used an experimental spell that is time released. It covers the whole house for an unspecified amount of time and is very effective against all forms of penetration, including Apparating and Disapparating," he continued.

"Also correct," George said.

"However, what you failed to mention is that there is no counter spell. It must wear off on its own. Furthermore, you have no idea how long it will last," he clarified. "In the meantime, we are stuck inside the house with a murderer on the loose and with no way to escape."

Fred and George exchanged worried looks. "Yep," they said together. "That about covers it."

"One more thing," Harry said, perfectly serious. "Is there anymore Firewhiskey left? I think I need a drink."

A/N: Thank you Arnel for your fast and excellent beta services.