Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, no (though it would be nice)-
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Once again, Harry Potter awoke with a start as his scar seared with pain. As was also usual, it was caused by one of the two extremely realistic dreams: reliving the death of his godfather, Sirius, or the time right after when Voldemort had possessed and controlled him. Tonight, it had been the possession, and, like it had really just happened, Harry felt as though he had just endured about ten Crutacious curses put together. His bed sheets had been soaked through, and he was freezing.
Though Harry had been dreading the thought of another dream, he was relieved to find that it wasn't about his godfather. He still felt as though he had a blank spot that would never be filled again, but he had accepted the fact that it really did happen. Even so, he didn't think that reliving his worst memory would help him in any sort of way.
Maybe Voldemort's trying to make me crack under the pressure, and's sending the dreams to me, thought Harry.
By now Harry was used to seeing things out of Voldemort's eyes, though it was much different from seeing pre-decided things. Both still made him wake up with his scar paining, but a slight less than it used to. What had also improved was the fact that Harry's emotions didn't fluctuate with Voldemort's nearly as often anymore.
As long as he was awake, Harry thought that he might as well be working on some of his summer homework. Hermione seemed to have taken the liberty of (obviously while Harry wasn't around) putting the Ershium Charm on almost all of his parchment. If he was to write something that had to do with one of his assignments on the parchment, the charm would then be canceled. If Harry didn't do it, then Hermione would somehow find out and pester him with what seemed like at least a hundred owls at a time. This, of course, turned Uncle Vernon's face a deeper shade of violet per owl. He was not about to stop Harry's connection to the wizarding world; it could lead to the appearance to those freaks that had threatened his family at the train station.
Harry suspected the reason for Hermione's behavior was because of his, and Ron's, abysmal average on their homework in the past couple of the years. Harry secretly hoped that Ron was getting the same treatment as him, but didn't dare owl him with fear that he wasn't. It would cause immediate laughter on Ron's end, even if he couldn't hear it.
"Maybe if I donate to spew or something, Hermione'll stop," Harry muttered to his only companion at Number Four, Privet Drive, Hedwig, as he went across the room to gather his homework stuff. She was a snowy owl whom was adored by most of the girls in his year.
As it was only two weeks into the most horrible and long lasting summer vacation ever, Harry didn't expect to be allowed to leave for the Burrow yet: Dumbledore had said that his mother's blood still protected him here. He couldn't help but wonder when the time would come when he would be free of the wrath of the Dursley's.
At least he didn't seem to be discluded in anything this summer. He was also getting a lot more informative mail than last summer. He was glad to have an excuse to send regular owls to the Order (though Harry wondered what would happen if he "forgot" to send one every three days) to keep his mind off things.
Being bored gave Harry a chance to wonder what he should do if he didn't get to go to the Weasley's soon enough. He tried to plan it out on parchment:
1.Launch plan in three more weeks if nothing happens soon
2.Don't send any owls for as long as necessary
3. In case Dursley's aren't already mad, make them mad by: a. "accidentally" break/knock something over
b. threaten them with magic in front of other muggles
4. Hopefully aunt petunia and uncle Vernon will forget about Moody's threat and do something to me
Given that Harry was bored most of the time, it didn't seem that odd that he was already plotting an escape route. Actually, he could barely think of any thing but getting away from the Dursley's. This summer they seemed to take a liking to make his life as annoying and miserable as possible. For example, Dudley had began enjoying bumping into Harry while he was holding stuff. If it was Harry's, it usually broke, which made the whole family in an unusually even menacing mood. If it was theirs, then they enjoyed yelling at Harry to the fullest extent, and then punish him with as many chores that would keep him working until well past midnight. Harry didn't bother letting anyone know what was happening, in case he was thought to be a baby that couldn't take something as small as chores. What was worse was that the Dursley's seemed to know this.
As all of this had managed to get Harry's temper up in only the past two weeks, he didn't want to know what the Dursley's had in store for him later.
So Harry looked down at his assignments: he found what seemed to be a never-ending list sitting before him. He decided to get started on his review essay on Vanishing spells for Mcgonical first, and then the one on Switching spells…
But even before quill touched parchment, Harry heard a sound so similar to the one last summer that it made his hair stood on end: someone apparating.
It couldn't be Dung, could it? thought Harry. Last I heard he's still at headquarters hiding and selling more stuff. It couldn't be Mrs. Figg, unless Squibs can apparate. Then it must be somebody else…
Harry stood still with his quill poised for what seemed like at least half an hour. It was really about only thirty seconds until he heard a bang that sounded suspiciously like the sound of something wet falling to the floor, and then of two to three sets of legs going up the stairs. Harry scrambled to his feet and half sprinted to his dresser for his wand.
Unless Harry wanted to risk expulsion and attend another hearing, he couldn't open the door with magic, and it was impossible without it.
But wait…, Harry thought, I know those voices.
He then went hurriedly to the door and waited for it to open. When it did, he saw more than he had expected.
Fred and George were standing before him, not very much different from the last time he saw them. Identical as they were, they both still had on the unique dragon skin jackets, but Fred, as he suspected it was, had a large "F" imprinted on his hand. George of course had a "G."
What was unusual was that there was somebody else with them, too. A girl who seemed to be about three to four years younger than him was standing next to the twins and was looking up at him expectantly, as if she thought that something should be happening but wasn't. She had buoyant short black hair, large, wide eyes, and to top it all off she was dressed very oddly.
At least her eyes don't pop like Luna's, thought Harry.
"Uhh," Harry said, for he couldn't think of anything to say at the moment.
"Hi Harry!" said Fred. "We thought you might want some company."
"Uhh, what are you guys doing here?" asked Harry.
"Just like he said we thought you might like some company," replied George.
"And," pressed Harry.
"And to see if you wanted some freedom," said Fred, a bit hopefully.
"Of course I do! What'd you think? That I wanted to stay in a Dursley infested house? No way! But who's she?" said Harry, eyeing the twins suspiciously.
"Oh yeah!" said Fred.
"She's Orla, Orla Quirke," added George.
"Why's she here?" Harry continued.
"Well, you know how we left an' all last year, right? How everyone was trying to take the position of troublemakers? Well, we wanted to make sure that not just anyone got the position. We wanted someone who would continue our famed success," explained Fred.
"So we decided to surveyed many willing candidates. Nobody seemed to fit our requirements, though we didn't expect anyone to be perfect," added George.
"But then we came across Orla, here, and found that she would do her best in upholding the reputation of the position. She hadn't come to us, but miraculously, we found her," said Fred, beaming at her in a kidding way.
"Actually, Fred, I don't think we even knew that she was a metamorphigus, did we?"
"No I don't think we did,"answered Fred, almost frowning at the wall.
"Orla agreed to take the post, and now we're training her over this summer! We've been telling her about a lot of our past experiences, like how we did them and how they turned out. We also tell her about what the best secrets in the castle are, and how to get to them. Oh yeah, we might need to show her the map Harry, do you mind?" Fred said.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," replied Harry, curious to where this was leading.
"Anyway, what we really came for was to ask if you wanted Orla to take your place sometimes this summer so she can get some training done," said George simply.
"Wait, what'd you just say?" asked Harry, startled by this abrupt idea.
"Uhh, we wanted to know if you're willing to let Orla take your place and get a chance to play tricks on people we don't mind experimenting on," Fred repeated.
"How on earth would you do that? And wouldn't someone notice that there's two Harry's?"
"Now that's the tricky part," said George. "Well, not that tricky, but a little."
"We've been working on a new creation called the Self Apparator. It can
transport anyone almost anywhere once, and then back again. We made it to look like either a book or a rock- don't ask, we don't know why," Fred answered, as though it were a simple matter. We thought that you would wonder how Orla got here, but you didn't seem to notice. You each'll get one. Of course, they both can apparate twenty-five sets times each, so you don't need so many. And if you need more, just give us an owl."
"Who else knows about this?" he asked.
"Only us, Ron, and… nobody else, right George?" asked Fred.
"Nope, not that I know of."
"Can I tell Hermione," Harry asked.
"As long as you don't let anyone else know, and especially not our mum. She'd kill us," answered Fred, half grinning.
"So what you're saying is that I can use those to get away? How long at a time?" asked Harry in disbelief.
"Pretty much," half answered Fred.
"About a day to four, depending on how Orla feels. Oh, and she's staying
at our house, mostly with Ginny when we're not training, so her parents won't miss her," added George.
"When do you guys want to start," Fred asked Harry and Orla.
"Well, what are you planning to do to them, Orla," asked Harry, talking to her for the first time.
"I dunno. Maybe use a couple of their old pranks first," motioning towards the twins. "Then I think I'll try something of my own. You might need to leave a list of things you do when they get mad at you, so I don't seem suspicious," replied Orla.
She seems sensible enough, thought Harry.
"Would tomorrow night be okay with you guys, around twelve to one P.M.? That's when the Dursleys are completely asleep," he said.
All three of his visitors agreed.
"Okay," said Harry. " Is there anything else you need Orla?"
"No, not really. But do your relatives mind puffskins? If they do, I could just tell them that it's a gift for somebody else, but I don't really want to leave Badger at home. I'd miss him too much."
Surprised by all of this talking (he had thought that she seemed shyish) Harry just answered, "Sounds okay to me."
"So everything's settled, then?" asked Fred. "If you want to arrange times with anybody, just use owls, 'kay?
"Or when you're switching back," added George.
"Oh, and if your folks ask how something got in the sink, don't answer," said Fred.
"Oh yeah, before we forget, here's your Self Apparator," said George. "Thanks, Harry!"
And with that, all three were gone, with a loud crack leftover that reverberated around the room. All that was left was the book in Harry's hands.