Chapter 3

Hermione glared disapprovingly at Ron and Harry as she sipped her tenth mug of pumpkin juice, the only known remedy to the effects of the Scorching Sweets. The two boys presently had a huge stack of the stuff before them, the potent candies disguised as peppermints, toffees, chocolates, lollipops, and even gummies. Wincing, Hermione swore never to accept so much as a treacle tart from anyone ever again.

"Hey 'Mione!" Ron called. "Take some. Millicent Bulstrode could use a few doses."

"And you could toss her a butterbeer while you're at it," Harry added, grinning.

Hermione's scowl deepened. Gulping the butterbeer was the worst thing she could possibly have done. Butterbeer was designed to warm the body, and it had only fueled theheat of the Scorching Sweet more. After realizing how impressive were its effects, however, Harry and Ron had each bought a dozen (Harry paid for part of Ron's half) to feed to the Slytherins and any annoying teacher to come their way.

"Harry, if you feed any of those sweets to anyone, I will confiscate them!"

"Oh come on, Hermione. I deserve to live a little." Harry put a wounded expression on his face (something he was terribly good at).

"Ronald, for heaven's sake, you're a prefect! Show a little restraint and responsibility, would you? You could be very well removed from the post the way you're going!" Hermione turned to Ron.

"Oh golly gee, 'Mione, that really scares me." Ron stretched his arms out to the sides. "Don't worry, I'll only use these on the Slytherins if they're being total gits—which is pretty much all the time." He winked at Harry.

Ginny entered the room. "Oh, candy! Can I have one?" Her hand stretched out towards a toffee.

Harry caught Ginny's wrist. "I think best not, Gin."

"He's not wrong," Hermione muttered. "They're your brothers' latest products."

"Would you like some? To feed to—you know, anyone you like." Harry offered.

"What do they do?" Ginny's eyes glinted with interest as she picked up a lollipop. "Engulf the eater in flames or something?"

"No, it just burns the eater's tongue and makes the eater feel like she's just landed in the earth's core," Hermione replied, her tone still clipped.

"Hermione and Malfoy were Fred and George's test subjects," Ron added, sniggering.

"Ooh. How red did they turn?" Ginny asked.

"Let's just say that it was the first time I realized Malfoy had blood flowing in his veins."

Ginny rose. "Where're those two?"

"Here, you can have some of mine." Harry pushed some of the sweets into Ginny's hand. "Besides, you won't find them now."

"They're hiding," Ron explained. "After all, they did choose to feed the candy to people who could turn them into rats and all."

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For the first time, Mrs. Weasley liked one of the twins' inventions. After they came out of hiding, the twins decided to try their new creation on the gnomes.

The gnomes ran like the wind…away from Grimmauld Place.

Mrs. Weasley, upon finding out what happened, crushed her two sons to her chest so tightly they could scarcely breathe.

"They finally got those gnomes to leave! Oh, I'm so proud!"

Lupin and Bill Weasley, who'd been looking over some parchment, grinned at each other.

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Dumbledore and the other Order members returned to Grimmauld Place that evening. After congratulating Fred and George on a job well done, he informed everyone that there was to be an important meeting. Everyone, that is, except for Harry.

"Miss Weasley, I need you to distract Harry while this meeting is ongoing," Dumbledore told Ginny, the only other person who was not going to be present there. "He cannot notice that we are holding it, alright?"

Ginny nodded vigorously. She wasn't worried. Hermione always filled her in anyway.

Immediately after dinner, Ginny cornered Harry and asked him if he would be so kind as to review some of the jinxes they'd learned last term in the D.A.

Harry gave her an odd look. "You don't need reviewing. You're very good, Gin. You do them all perfectly."

Ginny thought quickly. "I think I've forgotten how some of them go." She widened her eyes. "Please?"

Finally Harry relented. "Okay."

As soon as the Order members heard an upstairs door shut, they sprung into action. Chairs were pulled into place. Draco (whose mouth had sufficiently cooled down after about fifty swigs of pumpkin juice) seated himself a respectable distance from Hermione and the Weasleys.

The chatter died down as Dumbledore spoke.

"It is as we feared. Voldemort's influence is spreading most rapidly now."

Everyone did not look surprised, just grim and resigned.

"There is little or no doubt at all that Voldemort will have informants from inside the school. And as we had seen two years ago, I cannot necessarily tell who is working for him and who is not," Dumbledore intoned gravely. "Harry is no longer safe in Hogwarts."

"He hasn't been for the past five years, if the many times he's been in the hospital wing is any indication," Fred muttered.

"It's not like it was before," Lupin explained. "Believe me, Voldemort will show no mercy this time."

"What do we do?" Tonks, whose hair was long, sky-blue, and wavy and whose face had whiskers and a catlike nose, asked.

"My plan is to have someone follow him around and protect him."

Draco snorted as he imagined Harry with a couple of Crabbe-and-Goyle-lookalikes behind him.

"Harry won't have it, Albus," Mr. Weasley countered. "Having to drag a bodyguard around—the students will talk."

"I did think of that. Which is why we have to do it in a way that is absolutely inconspicuous. A way that involves using Hogwarts students." Dumbledore looked directly at Draco. "Congratulations; you have yourself your first job, Mr. Malfoy."

The entire room was struck dumb.

XXXXX

A/N: GLORY BE TO GOD!

And of course, to my reviewers:

FoolishlyBraveDarkStar- Thanks! I'm glad you guys liked the new product… :)

American-born-confused-desi- Thanks! :)

AAandACFOREVER- Thanks! :) And well, while Hermione had the best intentions (haha) she did still curse Fred, and we can't expect him to take that lying down. Especially when it gives him an excuse to try out the Scorching Sweet on her…

Delayed Action Ninja- Thanks! :)

T.A.F.FYRox92287- Thanks! :) I'm very sorry I ruined chocolate for you, though. Weirdly enough, I'd like the sweets since I've always liked dipping my chocolates in hot sauce…but that's just me, I guess. I'm a real fan of spice…

La Suede- Thanks! :)

DK Lili- Thanks! :) And yes, Draco should still have an attitude going no matter whose side he's on. If not, for me he's either unbalanced or weak.

Alcapacien- Thanks! :)

Gryffxchick- Thanks! :)

KenKao4eva- Thanks! :) Btw, I love Rurouni Kenshin too…

Crimson Girl- Thanks! :) And as for what color Fred was, he's not exactly bright red, his fur is just the color of his hair.

Snaped- Thanks! :)

Flavagurl- Thanks! :)

Jynxie Queen- Thanks! :) Yeah, I know that the Draco/Hermione pairing will never happen (J.K.'s said so herself) but hey, I can always dream. Yes, the romance will be happening gradually; there'll still be a lot of hexing and fighting and insulting before they're ready to start a family. And yes, the question of why Draco turned to the light is something that will be tackled later in the story. :)

Avadne- Thanks! :) And yeah, Hermione was darn easy to fool there…