A/N: I return, with only 1 review by Lameth Mornefea (and for all the hits I see a few more reviews would be nice... or at least more than just one). Anyway I do thank you for your review and I'm not sure how Draco will turn out after his time with the Dursley's... Really I'll have to think about that, when I started getting new ideas I didn't plan out everything (like this). Well on with the chapter now!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter (the series and the character) do not belong to me.
Chapter 5: Banging Bounces
Hermione smiled as she awoke to another wonderful day in The Burrow. She ran over to her trunk while tugging off her nightgown and then pulled on a pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt. She also grabbed a fair sized package from her trunk that was wrapped in red and gold stripped paper.
She walked over to Ginny's bed and gently shook the younger girl until she woke.
"Ginny, I've got a present for you," she said, her excitement for the girl's reaction showing in her voice.
Ginny rolled over sleepily in her bed before opening her eyes, squinting against the sunlight coming in through the window.
"Mmm? What is it?" she asked while yawning. "Did something happen? Has Ron disappeared overnight? Am I free of him?"
"Not yet, Ginny, not yet..." Hermione answered while smiling. "Actually I've got a present for you that I hope you'll like."
Ginny's eyes opened up quickly as she bolted out of bed while trying to pull off her second-hand nightgown and pull on her clothes for the day. Finally, after she was dressed and had her hair brushed moderately, she ran back to Hermione.
Hermione grinned and thrust the wrapped package into Ginny's arms. Ginny tore off the paper excitedly and smiled when she saw what was inside.
"They're not brand new, I've worn them already but I've kept them in good condition and they should be preferable to the robes that you have now. And they should fit, too," Hermione said.
"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Ginny with glee as she threw her arms around Hermione and then preceded to try them on.
"Mum, Mum, look what Hermione gave me!" she shouted while running down the stairs with one of the robes on and the other three in her arms.
Mrs. Weasley smiled as she watched Ginny come down the stairs. "Oh you shouldn't have," she said to Hermione, who in turn smiled.
"It really wasn't much, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, "they don't fit me any more, but they should still be in perfect condition and fit Ginny perfectly."
"Mrs. Weasley, where are Fred and George?" asked Ginny suddenly, realizing that the twins weren't there.
"They're at their shop working, mentioned wanting to go in for the day and sell some stuff and check-up on business," said the plump woman.
"Mum, could we, that is, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I go to Diagon Alley to Fred and George's shop today?" asked Ron. "Please, we'd promise to be good and all."
"What do you need from their shop that you can't get later once we go for all of your supplies?" asked Mrs. Weasley, somehow she sensed that her son was going in order to get into some sort of trouble...
"Well I was thinking of getting a few more of the spell-checking quills and perhaps write a few letters to classmates... like Neville! Or Lavender!"
"Mrs. Weasley, if you'd let us go, I'd also like to try and find a store that sells parchment, ink and pens, I'd like to write another letter to Viktor, but I'm kinda low on ink and parchment," said Hermione, though she really had no clue up until then that Ron was going to ask if they could go and say that she'd like to go to Fred and George's shop.
"Well I guess that that can't wait," said Mrs. Weasley with a certain bit of anxiety in her voice. "But you four will have to stick together and promise to come back here if anything should start to happen. And you have to eat breakfast first!"
Ron grinned and began to quickly wolf down his breakfast. Once he finished he ran up to his room and grabbed the small bit of money that he had. A half hour later everyone else had finished eating and getting their money.
"Fred! George!" exclaimed Ginny as she landed in the fireplace in their shop, "it's so good to see you, guess what, Hermione gave me her old robes so I now have robes that fit me and look new! The Slytherines won't be able to laugh at me over my robes now!"
"Brilliant!" said George.
"Wonderful! So do you want to buy anything to hex the Slytherines that ever dare to make fun of you?" asked Fred.
"You know, that'd be pretty nice," interrupted Ron.
"He was talking to me, Ron," said a frustrated Ginny. "I'd love something to make him disappear!"
Behind Ron, Ginny, Fred and George stood Hermione and Harry, who were now watching as they watched the brother and sister argue.
"Really we should stop them before Ginny hexes him," said Hermione between giggles.
"Nah, let them be for this once. With Voldemort risen there won't be many more moments like this, Hogwarts will probably be really serious and such now. We'll always have to be working extra hard."
"You mean that you don't already? I always work extra hard, you really should too," said Hermione matter-of-factly.
"Honestly, Hermione, how many people at Hogwarts actually work their hardest? Almost nobody puts in as much work as you do, with exception of some of the Ravenclaws," said Ron, suddenly turning from Ginny to her.
"Now then, let's start looking around," said Harry quickly to break-up the impending fight. Hermione sighed and Ron looked cross but neither said anything to the other and both looked content after the looked around for a bit. Soon the four were laughing together as Fred and George showed them many new things that they'd invented.
"We would've told you all about our new stuff yesterday, but that didn't seem like such a good time... Today's the perfect day, really, and it's great that you came," said Fred while George nodded.
"Yeah, it is great that we came," agreed Ron, his mind seeming to be concentrating on something else. "I'd like to get some of these," he said pointing to a box labeled "Banging Bounces".
"What do those do?" asked Ginny.
"They're little balls that bounce around and make a loud noise every time that they hit into something," said Fred while grinning. "I suspect that they'd drive Filch mad, pity we never got to try them in the halls at Hogwarts."
"And I'd also like another spell-checking quill," added Ron quickly, almost too quickly, like as if he'd forgotten that that was the reason why he came to the joke shop in the first place.
"Really, Ron, you could just learn to spell already," scolded Hermione while Ginny giggled.
"So how many of our Banging Bounces would you like?" asked George. "Three little balls come in each box."
"I'd like three boxes and one quill," said Ron, a look of pure glee written across his face.
"Right that comes to two Galleons," Fred said while grinning (he was very surprised when Ron actually had two Galleons to give him).
"Okay, anything that the rest of you would like?" asked George looking at Hermione, Ginny and Harry.
"Actually I did have an idea of something that you could try to make," said Hermione suddenly. "You made hats that made your head invisible, correct?" Not waiting for an answer she continued, "so could you make something that would make someone's whole body invisible? Something similar to an invisibility cloak, only something different than a cloak, so it couldn't accidently slip and reveal the person beneath. Perhaps invisibility clothes of some sort."
Fred and George looked astonished as they stared at the brunette.
"Why didn't we think of that?" asked the twins at the same time.
"Want something so that you can get into trouble and start having fun, Hermione?" suggested Fred.
"No, I just thought that it would be convenient. Though you would have to monitor who you sell them to and make sure that almost nobody finds out about them so that they don't become common."
"Also know as perfect Hermione Granger wants her own invisibility... Though you're right, it would be a real catastrophe if everyone started running around in them... We'll see what we can do for you," said George while his twin stood behind him nodding.
"Well then, we be off to find a store that sells calligraphy stuff," said Hermione in a business-like tone and then turned to walk out the door as Ron tried to sound out the word "calligraphy".
"There's a great shop for that sort of stuff!" called out Fred as Hermione walked out the door. "It's brand new and just opened a few days ago!"
"It's just a bit down the alley to the left," added George.
"Thanks," Hermione said as she began to walk down the alley with her friends following her.
Harry was impressed as they entered into the store. Lining the walls where were shelves and shelves full of different types of ink, which Hermione began to inspect instantly. There were also shelves full of different types of parchment and quills. A glass case near the clerk's desk was full of sets that came with parchment, ink and quills that worked together nicely.
"Oh look at all of this!" exclaimed Hermione. "Colored ink, disappearing ink, color changing ink, thick ink, thick ink, ink sticks, ink that never runs out, ink to be used on different types of parchment, ink that won't stain clothing, ink that won't get onto your hands-"
Hermione was cut off as Ron showed her a bottle of ink.
"And ink that changes the text of your papers! Imagine what that could do!" exclaimed the red-head. Farther off Harry smiled slightly, Fred and George had mentioned the ink like that to him when they had distracted the girls and Ron with their stuff. They said that they were going to use it to try to make something similar to the Marauder's Map, only they wanted to make one that showed much more than Hogwarts (and that had insults equal to that of the original and perhaps a few compliments for certain individuals that they thought worthy). They said that they'd only make a few copies, perhaps a few for aurors if they worked right, but that they didn't want to make enough that they'd fall into unworthy hands like that of "U Know Poo's".
"Oh and look at the parchment!" exclaimed Hermione excitedly. "They've got stuff that looks old and stuff that looks new for forever and stuff that's dark and light and different textures! It's so wonderful!"
The woman standing behind the counter smiled. "We also have parchment that has special enchantments on it. Some of it makes what's written only visible to the writer and others make everything written disappear. Two young men with a joke shop not far from here took a special interest in that. Told me that it would be wonderful to switch with a professor's parchment. And that stuff over there is very special. It's used for communication over distances. You and a friend rip it in half. Then no matter where you are you write into one end and the person that ripped the other half is able to read what you wrote. Only the two people exchanging messages are able to read them, making it good for secrecy. The Ministry's aurors had taken a special liking to them."
"Could you rip it into three or more pieces?" inquired Hermione curiously.
"Why yes!" said the woman. "Many auror's rip it into many pieces so that they can communicate easier and share leads without having to personally meet one another."
"Wow..." muttered Harry.
"We also have quills with never-ending ink supplies so that you don't have to worry about running out of ink or constantly dipping your quill into an inkwell."
Hermione left the store with both of her arms full. She had gotten some colored ink, a bottle of ink that never ran out, a quill made for quick writers, a quill made for neater calligraphy, a quill that had the never ending ink in it, and then quite a few different types of parchment. Some of it was stuff that'd look brand new for forever, some was textured differently, some had a slightly faded look and she also got some of the parchment that was for communication with a friend that only the people who ripped it could read.
Harry had gotten a few new quills, parchment and ink as had Ginny and Ron (though neither got as much stuff as Hermione had... though Ron had gotten a few more spell-checking quills that would work better than Fred and George's).
"Mum, we've got all the parchment and quills that we'll need for the year," said Ginny as she landed in Mrs. Weasley's fireplace.
"There's a wonderful store for Calligraphy stuff, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione excitedly. "They've got all sorts of writing stuff there, it's so amazing!"
"Fred and George's shop was cool also, they'd gotten all sorts of new stuff made!" exclaimed Ron.
"Well I'd assume that you lot found all sorts of stuff seeing as how late it is, you've been out past lunch and it's now almost time for supper!" scolded the woman. "Really you must be starving!"
Harry noticed, as she said that, exactly how hungry he really was. He watched as Mrs. Weasley magically set four places on the table and floated food onto the plates.
"Eat up," she ordered. "Then you can go up to your rooms and talk amongst yourselves about what you've found while the rest of us eat."
Ron sped through his meal and hurried up to his room. He quickly began writing a letter and throwing in six of the little balls that he had gotten. His owl was just flying out of his room when Hermione, Harry, and Ginny walked in.
"Ron, might I ask what you intend to use those Banging Bounces for?" asked Hermione. "And who were you writing a letter to? You can't have been serious when you said that you wanted to write a letter to Neville or Lavender earlier, especially after your fight with her last year!"
"Well if you must know I sent a letter to Malfoy with six of the little balls in them, imagine his surprise when they bounce out and the Dursley's reactions!" said Ron in an excited rush.
"Ron! That's horrible!" exclaimed a shocked Hermione. "That's so cruel!"
"Yeah, well he's mean to us!" fired back Ron.
"You're just as bad as he is! Worse!" shouted Hermione as she glared at him. "He's already going through enough with being at the Dursley's and with Voldemort after his life!"
Harry covered Hermione's mouth with his hand before she could continue.
"Listen, I know it's wrong and that you're mad, but we don't need Mrs. Weasley hearing!" he explained in a hushed tone.
Ginny walked up to her brother and did the only thing that occurred to her to do; she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.
"You're rather lucky that Mum's outside and not in here to hear Hermione's screaming, she'd be furious with you," she scolded in a harsh voice. Then, in a gentler voice, she said, "Come on, Hermione, we'll go back to my room now."
Hermione followed the girl, still furious at Ron. "I'm never speaking to him again! I swear it!" she fumed.
"Harry..." muttered Ron, hoping that his best friend wouldn't also yell at him.
"It was as Hermione said, Ron, really horrid."
Ron laid down on his bed, not caring that it wasn't bedtime yet and fell asleep feeling dejected.
Ten o'clock P.M. that night Draco Malfoy lay awake on his bed. He had awoken from another nightmare.
He was standing somewhere, and Voldemort was in front of him, the piercing gaze of his eyes flowing fear into Draco, paralyzing him, making his body go numb, making him scared. The man whispered a word and Draco fell to the ground, going through the painful Cruciatus Curse again and again. And then he awoke screaming and breathing heavy with beads of sweat rolling down his face and neck.
He looked over as he heard something tapping on the window. He got up and let the owl that was making the tapping in. He instantly recognized it as Ronald Weasley's owl, with another letter coming to insult him from the incompetent idiot.
He untied the letter and opened it up. Instantly six little balls flew out and started bouncing off of everything in the room, every time the hit something they let out a loud noise.
"D it!" thought Draco as he quickly tried to catch the balls before their noise would wake the Dursley's. Too late. He could hear Uncle Vernon's footsteps as he walked through the hallway.
A/N: Heh heh heh... looks to me like Draco's gonna be in trouble. And like Hermione and Ron are in another one of their infamous fights. Well I do hope that you liked this chapter even if it was a bit dull... Well I'll update soon hopefully, until then I expect a few more reviews! And after 306 hits it's kinda sad that I've only got 9 reviews in total... (Band camp meeting tonight and band camp starts tomorrow, yay!) Review!
Nanie-san