Chapter 2

Back to the Burrow

"It's gonna take us forever to get there, and once we do, it's going to be so awkward, I said I would have him stay months ago, he's probably fuming!" exclaimed Hermione, imitating Ron's voice with a smile on her face.

Ron turned a shade of scarlet and faced away from Harry, glaring at her with what seemed like fire in his eyes.

Harry turned to Ron, grinning for the first time in a while.

"No honestly, don't worry about it, I've been just about as good as I can possibly be in this house, but it's been kind of creepy ever since the Dursley's have been being nice to me, I sort of like dit better when they were mean!" said Harry jokingly. How are you guys?"

Harry walked over to Ron and gave him a high five and Hermione came to Harry and gave him a hug.

Ron still wasn't convinced, "Come on Harry, you know feel bad about you being stuck here, but..I just have had a lot of things to do, and there were so many easier ways to get you out of here, that I thought it was stupid to take a flying car again," he said angrily.

Harry looked slightly confused and turned to Hermione.

"Oh, his father wouldn't let him take a broomstick or use the floo channel, so now he's angry,"laughed Hermione.

Harry was totally bewildered. How could they have come by flying car with Mrs. Weasley's consent?

"We didn't," said Ron, seeing what Harry was thinking. Which is why we should hurry, so get you stuff and we'll be off, okay? I'll be getting the car started."

Harry nodded in agreement but said, "What about Uncle Vernon?"

"What about him?" asked Ron, his brows furrowed at the question as if he misunderstood it. I told him we were here to pick you up and go to my house, so that's that, right? Mind you, he didn't seem to upset about the prospect of you leaving, but he just smiled and nodded his head.

"Alright, Hermione can you help me pack while Ron get's the car started?"asked Harry as Ron left the room and went to the garage.

"Sure Harry, but...could I grab something to eat and meet you upstairs, I'm starving?" she asked politely. I came from my parents house and wasn't able to eat anything, because I wanted to get here first."

Harry pointed her to the kitchen and went upstairs to his room. He almost pulled out his wand in his back pocket to magic all his things in place, but then thought twice. He didn't need to get expelled from Hogwarts for something dumb like that.

So he started to put things away by hand, as Hermione came into the room with a muffin in her hand.

"Wow," she said with a wrinkled nose. Do you know what hygiene is?"

Harry laughed, but knew deep down that his room always smelled like this, because of Dudley living in it before him.

When they had finished packing, they both left together, and went outside to the new car, the Weasley's had, except for the fact that it wasn't that new, because it was the exact same model as before.

Hermione sat in the back, where Crookshanks was waiting for her, as fat and mischievous as ever. Harry patted the cat on the head, and took the front seat to the left of Ron, who was driving.

"Everyone in...okay lift off!" he declared.

Suddenly, there was this swirling sound that started comming from outside of the car and fog surrounded the car as it started spinning, and then Harry blacked out.

"Harry...Harry dear...are you alright?" asked the familiar voice of Mrs. Weasley.

Harry opened his eyes to see that he was lying down in Ron's room, at the Burrow.

"Sorry Harry I should've warned you, that we modified the car to go through a wormhole, and it got us here in less than a second," said Ron with a grin on his face, expressing that he had no intention of letting him know until Harry had experienced it himself.

"Well dear, I think that it's time for you to get up, you been sleeping for hours now, it's almost noon!" she said busily, as she left the room.

"Were's Hermione?" asked Harry as he got up from the bed groggily and put on his glasses that were on the night stand next to him.

Ron suddenly had a look of laughter on his face as he said, "Just follow me."

Harry, anxious to see what was so funny, got up from his bed and walked to the door.

"What's up Ron, where is she?" he asked.

"Just follow me!" he said smirking.

They moved down the steps and into Percy's room, where shouting could be heard. Most of them seemed to be comming from Hermione's mouth.

"-Gave them so much grief, now you lodged in back home, no apology and furthermore, you still believe your stupid policies on House Elves and Wizard ranking and nobility!" exclaimed Hermione as Harry and Ron walked into the room.

Harry could've bet a thousand Galleons that she was talking to Percy, the most disliked Weasley in the Weasley family, and as he turned the corner into Percy's room, his predication was correct. Percy was standing up facing Hermione with his fists clenched at his sides and fire in his eyes.

"Look Hermione!" exclaimed Percy with a tone of a superior talking to a small child. My family and me's business is none of your concern, and as for the House Elves and Wizards proper place, your theory is nonsense and childish, you'll never understand the system our government works in today!"

"You mean lies and deceit right?" said Hermione coldly. Where was the Ministry when Voldemort returned? When Harry was attacked by the Dementors? When Sirius Black died? Oh right, they were calling Harry and Dumbledore liars, denying the Ministry had lost control over Dementors, and still accusing Sirius Black of a crime he did not commit!"

After this remark, Percy looked at Harry and shut up immediately. He seemed almost frightened of Harry, and gave Hermione one last fleeting look, before marching out of the room, red in the face with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

Ron seemed to think the whole thing was hilarious though, as if he was waiting for someone to tell Percy off for a while.

"Hermione that was brilliant, I don't think I've ever seen someone tell Percy off like that, 'cept maybe Dad!" said Fred as he walked into the room with George and Lee Jordan at his side. If Percy ever bothers me again, remind me to call you and we'll have you argue for us."

Then Fred looked to the side and saw Harry grinning at them, his green eyes flashing behind his glasses.

"Oh marvelous, it's Harry Potter, don't think we can get a shot of him and put him our indorsement logo?" asked George jokingly. I can see it now, "All the Harry's say it's Verys good to eat Purple Perries."

"Purple Perries?" asked Harry, brow furrowed.

"It's a new concept really, nobody knows about it yet but the Great Creators, a.k.a. us," said Lee Jordan. But we've been having trouble getting it out on the market you see, because of a few...erm...side effects it has."

Fred and George laughed.

"Well, fine they're more of the main effects of the Perries," admitted Lee. They make you greedy, for 24 hours only," said Lee. Now you may ask what is so bad about greed? And we will answer, nothing...for us. But for the person who eats it, will immediately want more Perries, and will refuse to share any of theirs. This can sometimes lead to people taking... more drastic measures to obtain Perries, even by stealing them. Yet as long as they have money, they'll buy them before resorting to that, and by the time they're out of money, we're locked up with security guards at every door."

Harry laughed so hard tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Well anyway,"said George, adding on to the story. The Ministry doesn't want these things on the market, for obvious reasons, but they can't just quite make it illegal to sell. They have to find a certain ingredient that cannot be used in our mixture for the Perries, and if they do, we're toast.

"And guess who they've made in charge of that job?" said Fed, smirking.

Harry thought for a moment then in came to him, "Fred...it's not..no it can't be...Percy?"

They all nodded in unison, smiling from ear to ear.

Harry Ron and Hermione burst out laughing as they never had laughed before.

"But, that's not even his department, isn't he working directly for Fudge?" asked Harry, with a perplexed look on his face.

"That may be so my dear Harry," started Fred. But Fudge knows that Percy's related, so who better to spy on us than someone who lives in our home!"

"It's also a perfect test to see just how far Percy will go for Fudge," added George. I think Fudge wants to see if Percy's allegiance will stretch so far as involving family members, and I can assure you it does."

"And...and I suppose he'll break into your room and look for clues?" said Harry jestingly.

Then Fred and George laughed even harder.

"You won't believe it, but he tried!" he said, and Hermione stopped laughing and gasped. The night before Lee came, he tried to break in while we were sleeping, the rat. But don't worry, we were ready. Two steps into our room and we jinxed him so badly, he's still smarting. And that was just the beginning of it. When Mum and Dad found out what he had tried to do, Dad hit the roof. He told Percy that if he ever went into our rooms again, ever, he would call the Ministry Police.

Hermione gasped again, and Fred and George looked pretty serious. Lee looked angry, and Ron looked frightened, as if he could still hear his father's voice yelling at Percy.

"And he was damn serious too, Percy didn't dare argue," said Fred, jubilantly.

"Yeah, but Dad's been kinda moody ever since the election, he's been working his butt off and looking out for his job as well," advised George. He's been helping the man running against Fudge, while still working for Fudge at the same time. It's got to be rough at work."

"The elections are on for Minister of Magic?" asked Harry. Who's running against Fudge?"

"Well Harry, he's downstairs eating with Dad and Mum right now, would you like to see him?" said Lee, with a slight bow, as if he were a concierge.

"Do I know him?" asked Harry thoughtfully.

"Oh, I think you do Harry, I think you do."

As Harry walked down the stairs, he began to think about who the person working against Fudge was. Who did he know who was politically active? No one really. As a matter of fact, the only person Harry could think of was Dumbledore, and he was sure that it wasn't him. So who could it be?

Harry stopped for a moment, and thought. Was there anyone else? Anyone else who he knew who would do this sort of thing...?

"Harry?" said Hermione, as Harry's thought rushed back down to Earth.

Harry realized that he had been standing in the middle of the stairway for a minute now, and everyone was looking at him.

"Not Dad being attacked, is it?" joked George as he brushed by Harry.

Harry grinned and continued down the stairs, towards the kitchen. As he got closer, he could hear Mr. Weasley's voice comming from the kitchen. It didn't sound very happy, but slightly tired. Yet there was that wisplike note of giddiness in his voice that was impossible to get rid of, and Harry could hear it all the way from the stairs. Harry turned the corner to see Mr. Weasley sitting down next to Mrs. Weasley, and next to her...he couldn't believe it! Yet, it all suddenly dawned upon him, and made sense immediately.

It was Lupin!