1995

A piercing whistle sounded across Platform 9 ¾, signalling that the train was about to leave. Hurried goodbyes were made, tears were shed, and regular letters were promised to parents, before all the students climbed aboard and begun to look for somewhere to sit. Moody, Lupin, Tonks and Mr and Mrs Weasley stood on the platform and waved their farewells while a large, shaggy black dog bounded along, chasing the train as it departed.

"Well," said Fred as he clapped his hands together, "we must be off," and he and George disappeared down the corridor of the train, leaving Harry and the others behind as they commenced their search for Lee Jordan.

The Hogwarts express was rapidly gaining speed as it raced down the tracks towards the school. Swaying carriages combined with an abundance of students made it difficult to move in a straight line, and more than once a diminutive second-year got accidentally pushed to the side as the twins searched for their friend.

"Oi! You two, over here!" called the very familiar voice of Lee Jordan, and the twins grinned and followed him into the compartment that he had been reserving towards the end of the train.

"You should see what we came up with over the summer!" George whispered excitedly as his brother slid the door shut behind them all with a click! to ensure privacy for their 'business dealings'. A piece of parchment, that had evidently been folded and unfolded many times, got whipped out of Fred's sleeve, and three heads gathered around it to read the list; two with flaming red hair, the other with dreadlocks.

"I can see why you didn't want to write any of this down in a letter," Lee sniggered as his dark brown eyes trailed down the list, which had greatly improved since last year when one of the only things on it hand been fake wands. "How are nose-lengthening sweets going then?"

George stifled a chuckle and shot a side-long glance at the boy standing beside him, "They're sort of not."

"The potion exploded on us on the first day of the hols' and singed both my eyebrows off!" Fred appeared to believe this was something to be proud of, judging from the pleased expression on his freckled face. "Lucky enough, Mum bought the story about the Exploding Snap game gone wrong…"

"What are…" a finger traced down the list of inventions and rested on a certain name that was under the title of 'Still in Development'. Lee looked up curiously at the twins and struggled to maintain a business-like manner, "Canary Creams?"

Twenty-four minutes later, the discussion was over and Angelina Johnson and Patricia Stimpson had their conversation interrupted by the three boys, who walked into their carriage looking extremely pleased with themselves.

"Where have you lot been then?" Angelina demanded in a faintly irritated tone, but she never the less accepted the kiss that Fred planted on her cheek as he sat down.

"Oh you know, the usual mischief and mayhem-"

"-ickle Ronnikins has been made a prefect though, so we've had to be more careful than usual."

The twins snickered and Lee grinned as he removed a box with holes in it from deep in a pocket in his school robes. "Oh Lee, do you have to let that thing out in here?" Patricia muttered while shooting apprehensive looks at the box, from which a faint rustling sound could be heard.

"Eddie has been in the box all day, he needs to stretch his legs," the last word of the sentence got drawn out and emphasised, as Lee grinned mischievously. One hand slipped into the box, and a sizeable lump was seen immediately scurrying up the inside of his sleeve, where it came to rest on his shoulder. One long, hairy leg got extended up to nudge Lee's earlobe as if in greeting, and Patricia shuddered. The raucous laughter of Fred, George and Lee didn't seem to have any effect on Patricia, as she had started staring out of the window and nervously chewing on her bottom lip as she watched the brilliant green country-side flashing by.

Lee's elbow nudged her in the ribs and broke Patricia out of her reverie. "Come on, Eddie's not going to touch you. How was your summer?" he asked pointedly as the girl gingerly rubbed her side.

Patricia dragged her pale fingers through her mousy brown hair, and had to tug a few times to release herself from the grip her curls had seized on the ring she was wearing. "It was okay I suppose…" she muttered.

"Come on; tell them what you told me!"

Reluctantly, Patricia looked up and grinned at Angelina, who returned it with a smile of her own. "Well Dad was having a bonfire in the backyard and I was out there with him to make sure that it was kept under control while he was de-gnoming the garden. I…err…left my wand outside on the lawn while we went inside to get drinks and one of the gnomes tossed it into the flames, Merlin only knows why."

Four pairs of eyes were focussed on her now and were obviously eager to hear the rest of the story.

"So anyway, once the fire got at the core of my wand, there was this massive explosion that scorched the whole lawn and a few of the trees. The good thing about it was that it wiped out all the gnomes because the silly sods were all still out above ground from when Dad was going for them. Mum was so happy to be rid of them that she wasn't even cross about the burnt begonias," Patricia giggled.

"So you had to go and buy a new wand?" the other girl asked, because she hadn't heard any more of the story.

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say as the apprehensive expression flickered back onto Patricia's face, and her dark brown eyes drifted subconsciously to the pocket of her school robes. "No…"

Fred sniggered as he recalled the nervous wreak his fellow Gryffindor had been in back in fifth year when they had to take their O.W.L tests. "Come on Stimpson, we've got N.E.W.Ts this year and while George and I would be able to get away with not having a wand, you are surely going to need one."

Angelina elbowed him hard as Patricia sent him a withering look. "I know that. What I was going to say - before you interrupted me - was that I got given my Aunt's wand. It's in near-perfect condition and has Erumpent tail hair in it, so at least I know it's powerful. The thing is, how am I expected to do well at all when this wand isn't really mine? Everyone says that you don't do half as well with someone else's wand, even Ollivander said so and he's an expert!"

Patricia took a deep, steadying breath to try and gain some control over her emotions. "I just know I'm going to do terribly!" she wailed hopelessly. Evidently, she should have taken a few more calming breaths.

Lee would normally be alarmed to see a girl in such a state, but he had known Patricia for years and had become accustomed to her agonising about school work. "Come on Patty, you know you're good enough to pass everything," he said consolingly as he clapped her on the shoulder.

Patricia sighed and sat there fidgeting in an extremely nervous manner before she looked up and bit her lip, which was already bright red from all the abuse it had been receiving before. "I have to go to the restroom," she hissed in an undertone to Angelina, before she got up and dashed out of the compartment without even closing the door behind her.

Silence descended on the group, but it was destroyed a moment later when the twins dissolved into a fit of laughter. Angelina looked a little disapproving, but she didn't say anything because quite frankly, she didn't see why her friend had to get so worked up over it all. There was Quidditch to take her mind off things, after all.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" The voice floated from the front of the train and reached the ears of Lee and Angelina. They each grabbed a few coins from their trunks and stopped uncertainly at the door.

"Are you coming?" Lee asked as he looked back at the twins.

Fred fished around in one of his pockets and produced a couple of Galleons, then promptly tossed them to Lee. "Get us some Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs?"

Angelina and Lee nodded, then left, shutting the door behind them. George immediately hopped up and grabbed two sacks from his (or was it Fred's?) trunk, and proceeded to open the first to make sure the precious contents were still safe and intact. Meanwhile, his brother had found the wand Patricia had left abandoned on her seat in her mad rush to get out of the compartment.

He stood in the middle of the compartment and twirled the sleek, dark wood between his fingers as he gazed down at it with a look that clearly showed he was thinking hard. George had gone to join Fred and stood in front of him, clutching one sack of their inventions in each hand.

"Do you think…?"

"It'd be hard to get our hands on any of it…"

"Erumpent hair, horn or Exploding Fluid is a Class B Tradeable Material."

"Which just means we might have to pay Dung a bit more to get it," George concluded with a manic sort of grin.

This was mirrored exactly by Fred as the twins simultaneously envisioned how the ingredients could be used to create bigger and better fireworks. "That's a brilliant point, dear brother of mine!" he exclaimed as he lifted a hand and clapped George on the shoulder. Unfortunately, by doing so, Fred allowed a small firecracker to fall from the bag clasped in his outstretched hand, and the little scarlet pyrotechnist's toy tumbled down and struck the tip of Patricia's wand.

If only the twins hadn't invented that particular firecracker to ignite when thrown, everything that followed could have been avoided. There was a loud bang and a shower of yellow and orange sparks, and the wand clattered to the floor. Sooty black smoke swirled around the compartment, and it when it finally settled, the Weasley twins were gone.