Chapter 7: Gred and Forge

Harry's night was plagued with the usual nightmares. It was getting so serious Harry felt that there wasn't much point sleeping at all, considering that he didn't get any rest all night. He woke up just after dawn and sat up in his bed. Sirius' death had replayed in his head that night. Although, as Harry tugged on his sheets absent-mindedly he realised that it had been more of a traumatic, tragic, blood shedding, painful event and less of a truthful replay. In his dream Harry's hands had been coated in Sirius' blood and to his bewilderment Bellatrix's blood also. Harry shook his head, frustrated that he had to dream of his godfather on top of thinking about him most of the day.

He swung his legs out of bed and pulled open his curtains. The room was bathed in a pale light and the curtains belonging to the other 4 beds were swaying gently. Harry walked slowly out of the dorm, closing the door quietly and walked down to the common room. He was so preoccupied he didn't notice Ginny's figure curled up on the easy chair by the fire. He lay himself down on the sofa and pushed his hands to his forehead, as though he could squeeze all the pain away. He rolled over and stared at the flickering gold embers left in the fireplace. He yawned, rubbed his eyes and stretched out more to fill the entire couch.

"Can't sleep Harry?"

Harry gave a yelp of shock and sat up swearing in fright.

Ginny looked at him with her large puppy dog eyes and smiled.

Harry put a trembling hand to his heart and took a few moments to regain his breath. "No," he answered.

Ginny rested her head on her hand and looked at him from her sideways position. "What's bothering you?" she asked.

Harry shook his head, "Nothing," he replied as he lay back down on his back and stared at the ceiling.

"You're lying."

Harry nodded, "I know."

Ginny sighed, "Ok let's try again: Don't lie."

Harry folded his arms up behind his head, "Ok so something's bothering me," he said.

"That's better. What is it?"

Harry looked determinedly up for a few seconds and then answered, "Never mind."

Ginny sat up, "But I do mind."

What? Harry thought. 'Never mind' … 'But I do mind.' Had she really just said that? -  or was it his lack-of-sleep playing tricks  on him?

Harry opened his mouth but closed it when he realised he couldn't think of a decent reply to this. He ran his hand through his hair and said, "I don't want to talk about it. How come you're down here?"

"I slept down here," said Ginny.

Harry turned to face her, "Why?" he asked perplexed.

Ginny shrugged, "Well I was down here all by myself and I was just thinking about stuff and I got tired."

"What were you thinking about?"

" 'I don't want to talk about it' " she answered smirking.

Harry smirked back and raised his eyebrows, "Fair enough."

An hour later, most of the dorm had woken up and a few sleepy eyed people were stumbling around the common room. Ginny had fallen asleep again and Harry decided not to wake her. He returned back to the dorm upstairs, showered and got changed. By the time he'd finished Ron was ready too. They found Hermione sitting in the common room talking to Lavender. Lavender looked very annoyed when the two boys came and interrupted their conversation to invite Hermione to breakfast.

Half way through their meals the usual flock of owls swarmed in and circled the hall looking for the people their letters were addressed to. A large black owl dropped the Daily Prophet onto Hermione's lap and Harry ducked as he heard the swooping of wings behind him belonging to the owl who delivered a small white envelope to Ron. Ron ripped it open and pulled out a square piece of parchment.

"It's from Fred and George," he said. "Listen," He raised his voice over the background chatter of hundreds of students and read:

"Hi Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny (We know it was addressed to you little bro but it's for them too),

"Happy Halloween! How's Hogwarts going? Mum's made a really cool cake in the shape of a cauldron! It tastes excellent. But we're not supposed to know that yet. George says it's my fault because I suggested he taste some but I reckon he's all to blame... I'm not the one who stuck my finger in the icing am I? The house-elves are good and all but Mum is fantastic! We've decided we're going to stay here for as long as we can (we haven't been kicked out yet) mainly for the food of course.

"Just thought we'd tell you that we've placed an ad in the Daily Prophet for our store so if you've got the paper handy you can take a peek our fantastic artwork and amazing persuasive language! It's supposed to be at the bottom of page 6 but they might have moved it-"

At this Hermione interrupted and started reading out the advertisement. "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Ever wanted to get revenge on your enemy? We can help you! Ever wanted to get out of class? We can help you! Ever wanted to cause trouble just for the sake of it? We can definitely help you! Canary Creams, Ton Tongue Toffees, Fake Wands, Skiving Snackboxes, Portable Swamps – the list goes on! For all tricks, jokes or pranks visit The Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, 93 Diagon Alley! Order forms available by owl, discounts for Hogwarts students."

Harry laughed, "Filch is going to go mad! I bet there'll be a fair few order forms going in and out this owlery pretty soon," he grinned.

"Yea!" Ron laughed. He looked down at the letter and finished reading aloud, "Mum's invited Harry and Hermione around for Christmas. We know it's ages away but you know Mum ... she told us to mention it so there you go.

"Have fun trusty siblings (and the other 2),

Love, Gred and Forge."

Hermione smiled, "As much trouble as those two caused ... it's still a shame they're not here anymore. It's so quiet."

Ron nodded as he shoved some toast into his mouth.