(A.N: Haha! sorry for the delay in getting this out. :D To my faithful 3: Skittish, Liulover, and Miss Piratess, I dedicate this chapter to you guys. Thanks for reading and reviewing.)
Chapter 5: Secrets Surprise
Hermione just looked up into those smiling eyes and her face blanched and then turned a dark red.
"Honestly, Fred... George... whichever..." She said scrambling off. She straightened out her jean skirt, not offering her hand to help the twin up. Help him? After that comment, he should consider himself lucky she hadn't slapped him senseless. Ginny and Fred or George erupted into laughter. Hermione just scowled as she stomped off to the kitchen.
"Hey Fred," some how Ginny could tell them apart. She hugged her older brother. She hadn't seen a lot of them since they ran off last school year, and she missed the constant explosions from above her room. "Why aren't you at the shop?" Ginny asked as she followed after Hermione to the kitchen. Fred did the same.
"Actually, we have something to tell everyone about the shop... but you'll have to wait until dad gets home from work." Fred teased as he walked through the kitchen, aggrivated his mother's dishing spells sending suds flying, and scooted out the door, narrowly missing his mothers spatula she had sent flying after him.
"FRED WEASLEY!" She yelled, slamming the door shut. Hermione whom was rummaging through the pantry for something to snack on, peeked out the kitchen window. She looked on perplexed as the twins were constructing a makeshift garage, storage thing in the backyard.
"Um...Mrs. Weasley? What are they doing?" Hermione asked. At the Mrs. Weasley jerked her head to the window, expecting her sons to have set the grass on fire. She smiled sweetly and looked back to her dishes.
"You'll just have to wait and see. They told me part of their 'secret', but not the whole story. I'm curious too... sure is good to have everyone together once again..." she mused. Suddenly she dropped her steel wool scrub and brought a hand to her mouth to conceal a quiet gasp. Hermione looked downcasted as she understood what was going on through Mrs. Weasley's mind.
"He'll come back to you. Just give him more time. Its all relatively difficult for him, with work and voldemort and..." She was almost tempted to say Mr. Weasley as a cause of stress for the red-headed assistant, but refrained. Mrs. Weasley, missing that, smiled reassuredly at Hermione and embraced her in a hug.
"I swear, sometimes, you are a mind reader. Did you unpack, Mione?" She asked, releasing her and returning to her dishes.
"Some what. I just need to get my schoolbag back from Ron. You don't know where he might have put it do you?" Hermione asked, forgetting her snack and looking around the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley stopped what she was doing, to ponder that thought.
"Hermione... did you finish all your schoolwork, early, again?" Hermione paused her search at that thought. Ginny sitting at the kitchen table, just looked on in curiosity.
"Yes...why?..." Hermione's mind trailed off as she realized what that meant. The boys were alone with her bag. Her bag stuffed full of all the answers for the next school year. She ran from the room, Ginny after her once more as they both fumbled up the flights of stairs. Hermione skid to a stop in front of Ron's door. She pounded on it and shook it nearly off its hinges.
The boys had returned from their failed quidditch game, moments before. Fred and George had set up their camp right on the field. "Stupid gits," Was all Ron said before he flopped on the bed. And it was at this that Hermione was found pounding on the door.
Ron had been in deep thought on his bed. This was all a big mess. He had hoped that Hermione coming to stay with them would ease the uneasiness he had been feeling. But it was just the opposite. Now it was him worrying about this new mysterious man in her life, which left him even more uneasy. Don't get him wrong, he was glad his friend was there. She was healthy, she was obviously lively--more like deathly--and she looked great. Ron was about to delve more into that, to his horror, when a pounding sounded at the door.
Harry whom had been crouched over something in the corner, shoved it under the bed, and jumped on his own cot. He signaled Ron to get the door, as he pulled a comic from the floor and pretended to be indulged. Ron lazily got up and went to the door. He opened it a crack, and audibly moaned as he realized whom was on the other side.
"Back so soon?" He asked Hermione, none-to-thrilled. He let the door drift open as he went back to his bed grabbing a similar comic and reading it. He could feel his face had become flushed from his previous thoughts, and hoped she wouldn't play off that.
"Ron..." Hermione started threateningly. Ron's shoulders cringed. He had know idea how she had known, but she had and now she was gonna call him on it. She was going to let the world know that Ron had been thinking illy of her and her body, and her clothes.. or lack there of. Ron visibly smacked his face with the comic. What the hell was the matter with him.
Hermione watched this silent mono-exchange, with some curiosity. Harry and Ginny grinned at each other knowingly and preoccupied themselves. Whatever was up with Ron, it had nothing to do with his comic nor Hermione's missing school bag.
"Ron. I gave you my school bag. Where did you put it?" At that Ron's head peaked up from behind the buff wizard on the cover of his comic. Blushing furiously and grinning like an idiot, he rose slightly off the bed. He looked down at Harry, who's face had turned a ghostly white, he slowly shook his head. Ron wondered at that.
"I... um.. I think I left it in the den?" He offered, Harry inaudibly sighed as he grinned back at Ron.
Hermione gave a quick nod and ran from the room in search of her school work. Ginny smiled knowingly and followed none to quickly after her. Ron swore he heard her mutter something along the lines of 'stalling her.' Ron whipped his attention back to Harry. "Tell me you don't have her bag. I really don't need this from her right now." Ron admitted, hopping from his bed. Harry rose slowly and sheepishly.
"I needed to see her essay for Snape's potions class. You know that highly advanced one we stupidly signed up for. Boy this year's gonna be chaotic." Harry predicted. He reached under Ron's bed and pulled the bag from underneath it. Harry was looking around frantically as what to do with it. He looked around the small confines and his gaze finally fell on the small window. He ran to it.
He smiled at the sight. He had never been happier to see the twins. He swung the window open and yelled down to them. "Fred! George! Come on up!" The twins smiled and waved before a distinct crack was heard.
"Ronnikins! Harry!" They cried out, flopping simultaneously onto the bed. Ron was flabberghasted. They were both dressed in matching puffskein furlined pants and ruffled collared shirts. They had begun to let their hair grow out so it now grazed past their shoulders. Mrs. Weasley, was most likely none-to-keen on that feature.
"No time, guys. We need a favor." Harry pulled up the heavy bag and shoved at them. "You hide that for me?" He asked. The twins smiled. Harry Potter up to mischief? This was great. Their financial backer was following closely in their footsteps. Fred stood up first and sloppily saluted Harry.
"It would be our honor!" George followed suit before grabbing the bag and aparating from the room. Not a moment to soon as Hermione burst in once more. Harry smiled at Ron as she began to tear about his room.
"Ron its not there. That had all of my homework in it! I will never forgive you if you've lost it." At that thought another crack was heard in the now overcrowded room. Fred and George emerged. Fred winked at Hermione and she blushed furiously.
"I thought you hadn't forgiven me since earlier..." Ron reminded him, feeling deja vu. At this rate, Hermione would never forgive him. Hermione just growled at that as she dropped to her knees and rummaged around under the bed.
"Oh! A Bag!" Fred proclaimed, George picked up as well.
"We thought you were looking for a hag-"
"-which didn't make any sense mind you." Fred finished making their way to the door.
Hermione was making like she was going to pounce on them. Harry, Ron and Ginny, just looked on in pure horror. This could not be good.
"Fred... George.. Where is my bag?" She seethed motioning after them.
"Well Hermione it works like this."
"We have your bag, we're gonna be here for the rest of the summer-"
"So you won't get it back-"
"-until we leave, but that won't be until you do." A twin added thoughtfully.
"We've had it up to here-" Both twins made a motion to put there palms to their chests.
"-with all your studying. So we've taken a hold of the situation." Hermione just looked like she wanted to kill them.
"This isn't funny! I need to finish my assignments." They just grinned at her, knowing she had already done them all. She probably wanted to proofread 'just in case.' Hermione scowled and then thought up a ploy that might work. She walked up to the boys who just stood there, trying not to show any fear to her advances. Although, Hermione saw them visibly suck in their chests. But she walked right past them, out the room and proceeded down the stairs.
"er... Herms?" Fred called out coming to the banister. Harry, Ginny, Ron and George followed him to the bar as well. Hermione was already making her way to the second floor.
"Yes, Gred?" She asked sweetly, using a petname of his.
"What're you doing?" The other twin asked. Both twins began following after her, a bit slowly in case she tried anything.
Hermione had reached the first floor and made a beeline for the kitchen. She never answered the twins. "Mrs. Weasley..." Hermione called out audibly. Fred and George gave each other a terrified look as they bolted down the stairs and stumbled into the kitchen.
"Mum! We can explain everything...." He trailed off to see that Hermione was alone in the kitchen, resting against the counter. Harry, Ron and Ginny stumbled down the stairs as well.
"Now that's just a taste of the terror i can invoke. Give me my bag, or i will tell her when she gets back." Hermione said looking up at the clock. It simply said that Mrs. Weasley was "out". Fred smiled at George.
"You strike up a hard bargain."
"We like your style kid."
"But alas-"
"-Yes, alas-"
"We mailed your bag off to Charlie-"
"-We figure he needed to catch up on a few studies himself-"
"-Being in Romania and all, doubt he has anything good to read."
"We were only looking out for the wellbeing of our brother."
"But, to our misfortune-"
"-Meaning your misfortune as well-"
"It'll take days to get there-"
"-Days to get back-"
"-and of course he has to read them all-"
"-and he reads very-"
"-very-"
"-slow. So you see we're in a dilemma."
"And that means you're in it with us."
Fred and George finished. Harry was tempted to give them an applause, but didn't want to anger Hermione, that much more. Hermione had sat through it all, and at some point had brought her hands to her head. Now she was proceeding to rub her temples.
"No this means, you're in trouble. If I don't get that bag back, by the time school starts, I risk failing all of my courses." She cried out in horror. She looked near tears. "And if i fail all of my courses, I get expelled from Hogwarts. And if that happens, I have a lot of free time on my hands to go down to your shop and burn it down to the ground!" She screamed threateningly. Fred and George looked at each other. Their spirits dropped a bit. Surely they weren't taking her threat seriously.
"Well, we'll see you then." Fred said before they both disapparated from the kitchen. Hermione's mouth dropped open. What was that about? Never had the twins given up so easily. She looked back to her friends and shrugged, her temper gone, she went to the den and sulked. Having nothing at all to do. Harry and Ron smiled. Fred and George were their idols now. They had gotten Hermione to agree, using that term loosely, to doing no schoolwork for the rest of the summer. They ran back upstairs to do what wizarding boys do. Read comics and play wizarding chess.
The rest of the afternoon was very uneventful. When Mrs. Weasley returned from being 'out' she began to fix dinner. Remarkably, Hermione said nothing about Fred and George's escapade with her bag, and helped with dinner in silence alongside Ginny. Mr. Weasley arrived home shortly before dinner was to begin.
"Hello, Hermione." He said smiling as he dropped his bag by the door. He kissed Ginny and Molly on their heads and walked out of the kitchen and into the den. "Oy, Molly, whats that mess out there near the lawn?" He called out making himself comfortable. Molly snorted at that thought.
"Your sons are back, that's what." And at that Mr. Weasley sputtered from the other room and hurriedly made his way back to the kitchen.
"Which sons?" He asked paling. Molly snorted at that and stopped stirring her stew.
"You know which ones. Here for the rest of the summer. They're telling everyone tonight." She finished none-to-thrilled. Mr. Weasley just scratched his head at the thought and sat down at the table.
"HARRY! RON!" Mrs. Weasley yelled up the stairs. The two boys appeared a shorttime later.
"Listen Harry, you need to watch your bishops, you can't just leave them out in the open. My rook will take them everytime." Ron advised slapping Harry on the back. Mrs. Weasley smiled to herself, she enjoyed seeing Harry having a good time. Especially after everything he had been through last year. And the year before that... and the year before that... actually it was a wonder he could even still smile after everything he had been through his entire life. Tears threatened to spring from her eyes as she began dictating chores. "Ginny go get your brothers. Harry and Ron set the table please." She said silently sniffling. Everyone obeyed and after a few moments the table was set and the dinner was set upon the table. After everyone began to dig in and serve themselves, Hermione noticed the twins hadn't touched their food. She looked at them curiously.
"Not hungry boys? Guilty Conscience, maybe?" She hinted giving them a furious glare. They just smiled at that.
"We've actually been debating when to make our announcement." Fred said grabbing a roll and picking at it.
Mrs. Weasley's ears perked up at this. All the boys had told them was that the business was having some trouble and they needed a place to stay. She had assumed that their products weren't selling and they were sour about their failed ventures. Spite of the frown her face showed on the outside, on the inside she was smiling at the prospects of having her sons working alongside their father at the ministry. She urged them on. "Just make it now, we're all listening."
Fred looked to George and he just shrugged.
"Well as you all know, we're here for the rest of the summer." George said.
"But its not by choice." Fred added, Mrs. weasley snorted at that.
"No offense mother, but this was very unplanned." They both nodded at that.
"See the truth is, the business isn't doing well." Harry and Ron gasped at that.
"That's not possible! Everyone buys your products at school. Skiving Snackboxes were purchased by everyone taking their OWLS last year." Harry said in their defense receiving another snort from Mrs. Weasley.
The twins beamed at their praise.
"That's not what we mean."
"You see our products are selling."
"Making a fortune actually"
"The problem is our business."
"It was burned down last night." Everyone at their table gasped and became wide eyed.
"We originally thought it was a Flaming Fancy that went sour and exploded the place."
"That is until our Hogsmeade business burned down as well."
"So after sifting through the ashes we discovered that we're being targeted by an individual."
They were silent as their blood began to boil.
"Zonko is trying to destroy our business."