After all those promise responses wanting me to continue. I am! Thank you everyone! (It might be a slow chapter because I'm trying to settle back into the style of writing Harry Potter.) I've also got a Marauder's Era story in the making, but I really ought to curb my ideas!
Chapter 9There was a large crowd of wizards and witches stood in front of the violently purple shop. As Mrs. Weasley stormed through, the crowd parted from her as if they knew she was ready to explode. And as the crowd moved away, Fred and George were revealed. They were both wearing shocking pink coats that looked like they were made out of some soft skin. They were also wearing bright friendly smiles for their customers. But together, the smiles dropped as their mother strode up to them.
"Hi, mum," said Fred in a forced cheerful voice, hiding a pair of glasses behind his back. Not that it made much use, there were boxes of them outside the shop, and posters in the window advertising them.
"Didn't know you'd be coming to Diagon Alley so soon," continued George in the same tone.
"Don't play innocent with me," shrieked Mrs. Weasley as she stared wide-eyed at the twins, "What on earth do you think you are doing, what is this?" She quickly looked up, staring at the shop title, "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes! I thought I told you to stop your experiments!"
Fred and George looked at each other uncomfortably, "Sorry, mum.. but we really wanted to do this. It's not like our business hasn't been a success!"
George nodded eagerly, adding, "Yeah, we've been flourishing!"
Mrs Weasley mouthed wordlessly for a moment, "But, but, where did you get the money from to buy this place?"
Then slowly, from behind Mrs. Weasley, Harry stepped out, "I gave it them," he said quietly. He noticed that Mrs. Weasley's eyes had snapped upon him, "My Tri-Wizard winnings. I thought that it would be a good investment." He continued, gaining confidence in his words, "And I think we've been proven that it was."
"But Harry," said Mrs Weasley gently as she watched him, "All that money.. it was supposed to be for you."
Harry sighed quietly, "I have enough to keep me going. I believed their cause was better than mine."
Mrs Weasley slowly looked over to her twins, spreading a watery smile, "I'm sorry I've been given you such a hard time, boys."
Fred strode up to her, placing his arm around her shoulders, "It's alright mum. We knew everything would be alright in the end."
"Do you want to come and look round?" asked George, propping on a pair of the No-Eye Glasses. The glasses disappeared, as well as his eyes and just left smooth skin under his eyebrows.
Mrs. Weasley smiled as she kissed Fred's cheek, "I do, but not today, dears. We need to be in and out as quickly as possible. You know how bad it has been lately. I want you to promise me you are taking precautions out here, there could be Dark Wizards everywhere."
"Don't worry, mum," said George as he pulled off the glasses to reveal his eyes again, "We're find. Got some good spells set up around the place recommended by Dumbledore himself."
A slow nod came from Mrs. Weasley, "Well, we are still staying at Grimmauld place, a lot safer. You can still come round when the others are school so don't forget to visit, understand?"
"Of course, mum," said the twins together brightly.
As the end of the weekend dawned, it was time to return back to Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were scrambling onto the Hogwarts Expression whilst Mrs. Weasley shouted order and good wishes up at the windows. Slowly, the train began to pull away and the teenagers moved away from the door to find themselves a compartment. Ron and Hermione had sympathetic expressions as they hurried off to join the other Prefects. Harry turned, intending to ask Ginny if she wanted to find a compartment, but all he saw was a flash of bright red hair disappear into a compartment amongst a group of fifth year girls.
With a sigh, Harry ambled into his own compartment, one that was sparse from any other students. He sat down quietly against the window, looking out morosely for a moment before he pulled his copy of the Daily Prophet out of a bag. He had yet read it. He unfolded it across his lap and looked across the front page slowly. There was a face of a portly looking wizard who was surveying Harry from behind a pair of round spectacles. He was shaking his baldhead slowly and issuing sighs that ruffled his large moustache. Whilst a sub heading titled him as the new minister of magic, the report was not of his recent arrival, but of a series of strange robberies at Gringotts. The article explained that money was being stolen from the Ministry of Magic's underground vault. And at the same time, a vault that has been untouched for fifteen years has been getting a steadily income, just as steadily as the Ministry's vault had been declining.
As Harry began to read on the next page, the compartment doors open and Ron and Hermione entered.
"Not a lot happened," explained Hermione as she moved to sit opposite him, "Oh, but Malfoy's not a Prefect anymore!"
Ron was grinning insanely, "That's definitely one improvement to the year, and we haven't even got to school yet. Oh, I am so going to dock points off that slimy little git."
"Ron.." murmured Hermione disapprovingly as she glanced over to him.
But Ron just talked over at her, "Anything happened?" he asked, watching Harry holding the newspaper.
"Yeah," said Harry as he folded the paper closed and showed them the front cover, "Someone is stealing from the Ministry and it's going into another vault." He leaned forward, eyes squinting as he read the number of the vault. "Vault 777."
It was a sign of Harry's poor contact with the wizarding world when Hermione gasped and Ron blanched a deathly white.
"What?" he asked, quickly looking between the pair, "Who owns 777?"
"Voldemort," whispered Hermione quietly, making Ron give an involuntary twitch. "If the information is true, it sounds like Voldemort is somehow stealing money from the Ministry. But, he's never needed money for power, that's why his vault has been untouched even after he rose again. Why does he want money now?"
"Maybe he's got a new tactic," murmured Harry quietly as he glanced back down at the paper. "Surely the Ministry know that it's Voldemort's vault?" Ron twitched again.
"It sounds like they are trying to keep it mysterious. After the news of him being back in power, the last thing they will want is information that will scare the public when they have been trying to keep everyone safe and calm."
"It says they are upping security on the bank even tighter than before. They are bringing in a lot of staff from abroad too."
"Yeah, Bill's coming home," said Ron suddenly as he looked up, "He said he didn't know why. He's probably going to find out when he goes to work today."
"He might be monitoring Vault 777. No doubt the Ministry are going to want to know where their money is being spent. But I can't see You-Know-Who managing any more money from the Ministry now."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "If the security gets that tight, then there is only one way for Voldemort to get into the Vault. And it sounds like his style." Harry glanced worriedly at the front page of the Daily Prophet before he looked to Ron.
Ron had leaned back in his seat, staring worriedly at the opposite wall, "The Curse Breakers.."
Please review! The plot is getting started now!