(A/N: Ok, y'all, just so you know, I'm not a total fan of Harry Potter. I've read all of the books 'cept the 6th once and I've seen the movies… but that's about as far as it goes. So… when writing this, I realized "Oh shit! I don't know exactly where Fred and George's Joke Shop is!" So, I wondered if it was in Diagon Alley or HogsMeed (or however the hell you spell it) So… I decided on Diagon Alley. Feel free to correct me nicely by e-mailing me… and I'll fix it -.-. Besides that, enjoy, everybody!)

Fred sauntered down the stairs, a huge box in his hands. It was filled to the rim with brightly colored balls that were the size of a tennis ball. Ron was sitting at the kitchen table, foot tapping restlessly. "I thought we were leaving soon." Ron said nonchalantly.

Fred frowned, Ron was still mad. "Patience, little Ronny, Patience." He grabbed a bag off of the mantle over the fireplace and threw it to Ron. "I'll meet you there." He said as he pulled his wand out with some difficulty and shifted the box over to his left hand. "Hurry now." He said with a grin before waving his wand and vanishing with a resolute crack.

Ron caught the bag as Fred pulled out his wand and walked towards the fireplace. He threw a handful of the flew powder in the bag into the fire and stepped into the blue flames as he shouted, "Diagon Alley!" Ron pulled his arms close to him and closed his eyes as he felt himself spin swiftly around. Suddenly, Ron found himself standing in a fireplace in a small room to the side of Diagon Alley. He stepped out and walked down the street, in search of Fred and George's Joke Shop.

Ron found the Joke Shop fairly easily, considering the street was packed and he had only been to the shop a couple of times. Mostly, he was busy with school work and helping out around the house. With Fred and George staying at the Joke Shop, Percy gone, and Bill and Charley out working for the Order, it left only Ginny and Ron to work around the house. They had so many people coming in and out of the house, Ginny and Ron hardly ever got a chance to just relax. Ron walked to the Joke Shop as he realized how much his mom was willing to invite any friends to stay at the house. Sure, they had the room, but that didn't make taking care of five or six different people any easier.

Ron walked into the Joke Shop to find it not only open, but booming with business and mock explosives that read "Try Me"; which many people were willing to obey. George looked over at Ron and grinned, "I see you've decided to join us." George moved to the side so Ron could walk behind the counter. "Think you can run the cash register? It's pretty hard with just me."

Ron looked around the small room, "Where's Fred? Doesn't he help?"

George took an order and went behind the counter to grab one of their rare items for Ron to ring up as he replied, "He does, usually, but he's working on fixing one of our newer products."

"Is that why you have a 'Hiring' sign outside?" Ron inquired, gesturing to the window as he gave the product and change to the customer.

George shook his head, "Nope, those are for the taste testers. We can't keep testing all of our products ourselves, we've got too many ideas and not enough time to invent and taste."

Ron let that be the end of the conversation and continued to serve the customers as they kept coming in. Some of them Ron recognized to go to Hogwarts, and got a chance to talk to some of his more distant friends. All in all, the day was a success in getting Ron to forget about the still rapidly spreading rumor of Harry and Hermione sneaking off together in private. But when his mind returned to the subject, he realized that while he had held his concentration on Hermione, he had never even thought of Harry and how he was feeling now… if he even knew about the rumors…

Harry sat on his bed, legs crossed, arms resting on his knees, deep in thought. Now that everybody knew Harry had been right about Voldemort coming back, they had moved from making fun of him to pushing into his personal life. It wasn't like Hermione actually did run off to see Harry. Hell, he hadn't even seen her or Ron all break. The little paper had appeared on his bedside in the middle of the night. He had no idea who had sent it to him or how it had gotten into his room without him noticing in the morning, but that wasn't the point. He didn't know how many people had received this little message claiming Harry had a 'thing' going on with Hermione.

He could only think of how miserable she must be if she had gotten one, too. The paper seemed immune to all abuse he could think of and had been written with the hint of more people besides Harry reading it. His head rested softly in his hands as he continued to think. If only he could get out of this hell hole and go back to the Wizarding community. Things would be so much simpler for him. He wanted to see Ron, wanted to know how Hermione was, wanted to figure out how many people knew about the rumor, and most of all talk to Dumbledore about Voldemort and the Order of the Phoenix.

He felt so out of the loop in the muggle world. Not to mention how horribly he had been treated by the Dursleys. They had seemed perfectly content with treating Harry even worse than they ever had. They had noticed how unwilling he was to fight back lately; mostly because of Voldemort's return and the death of his godfather, Serious. Vernon had taken to shouting at Harry through his locked door whenever he passed. Dudley would bang on Harry's door and try to get his friends to bother Harry whenever they got the chance. Petunia had resolved to only feed Harry if he would come out of his room -which wasn't often-, resulting in more jabbing and jeering from the family.

Harry sighed and collapsed backwards, his head hanging off the side of his bed. His life was a living hell. Now, not only was the muggle world against him, but most of the wizarding world was, too. It was because of gossipers that had no life. But he assumed he had it easier than his friends in the wizarding world. He couldn't help but wonder if Hermione had gone to the Weasleys yet, or was she still at home with her parents? It didn't matter much to him. It wasn't like he could do anything either way. Maybe if he had gotten her phone number… but it had never crossed his mind. He would be sure to get it the next time he saw her.

(A/N: uneventful, ya, I know. I'm getting there.)