Unsure of what to do while he waited for the twins, Harry began to clean. If he was to be leaving any day now, he might as well be ready when they came for him.
After only five minutes of cleaning, however, he became rather bored. Deciding to go for a walk, he slipped out the front door, and proceeded to the park. No need to tell the Dursleys: they were just glad he was not there.
Halfway to the park, something made him stop. He had had this feeling before on his long walks last summer: of someone watching him. Last summer it was Mundungus Fletcher who followed him, and Harry wondered if it was Dung again.
As he walked down a back alley, he crossed through an unavoidable puddle. He went a ways out of the water trap before he stopped, turned round, and saw two pairs of footprints leading out of the puddle.
"Wotcher," Harry said out loud, "you've been found out. Now let me see who you are."
"Nobody said you'd find me out," said a familiar voice out of the darkness. "Do you see any muggles looking?"
"No, you can uncover yourself."
And Bill Weasley appeared as he pulled off the invisibility cloak he had been wearing.
"Why were you following me?" Harry asked, as they made their way down the alley.
"Well," said Bill, "according to Mad Eye, you seem to need watching over now that You-Know-Who is obviously after you, and I fancied a walk, so I volunteered."
"I heard Fred and George were going to pop in on me sometime," Harry commented as they walked.
"Yeah, they've been saying that for a while now," laughed Bill.
"So, do you know when I'm coming to London?"
"Well, Mum can't wait for you to come, and same goes for Lupin," the oldest Weasley said slowly.
Harry knew what was coming. "But?"
"Mad Eye doesn't seem to think now is the right time for you to come," he frowned.
"Tonks said –"
"I know. We all want you there by the end of the week. But there's no way to hide from Moody and his eye."
"Yeah," Harry said, disgruntled. They walked in silence for a while before Harry asked, "so, when you're not doing stuff for the, you know, what do you do?"
"Well, I think you might remember her from the tri–"
"Fleur Delacour?" Harry interrupted, "you're –?"
"Seeing her, yes," Bill said, and Harry could see a dull red flush creep up Bill's neck.
He decided not to take the subject any farther, and in no time, they had reached Number Four's walk.
"Hopefully Mad Eye will give in," said Bill, "and we'll see you soon."
"Here's hoping," said Harry, and walked to the front door as Bill disapparated.
The next morning, Harry awoke to find a note on his desk.
We were here. Meet you at noon in your living room to get ready for your departure. Bill says hi.
Harry smiled. The twins. He should have known. Ready now to face the day ahead, Harry began to dress.
The morning sped by, and at five to twelve, Harry decided to explain to his uncle what would soon happen.
"I'm having some of my friends from school over for a little while," Harry announced.
"Excuse me?" his uncle said, his face turning red.
"I said I'm having –"
"I know what you said," his uncle spat, "what will they be doing here?"
"They're going to help me prepare the fireplace," said Harry simply.
"Help – fireplace – prepare –?" his uncle spluttered.
"Yes, so that I can leave this dump."
"You're packed?" his uncle asked, his indignant tone replaced by something like excitement.
"Not yet. I might have to wait 'til tomorrow to leave. I don't know how long it will take to remove the –" Harry began, but he never finished. Two loud pops issued from the living room. Abandoning his explanation, he bounded across the hall to greet the twins.
"Harry, mate," said Fred, a huge grin spread across his face, "how are you?"
"Great," Harry replied. "I heard you were planning to come."
"Of course," said George, "how could we not want to come and see you, mate?"
"Yeah," Fred said, "and besides, mum thought you might need help –"
"– Opening up your fireplace –"
"– For floo usage."
"You do want to come to London, don't you?" asked George, an expression of mock concern on his face.
"Of course, dad reckons you shouldn't come –"
"– Until tomorrow," George finished.
Harry smiled. "I still need to pack, so tomorrow –"
"Would be good?" George said. Harry nodded.
"Excellent," Fred said.
"How did you want to take this apart?" Harry asked, moving towards the fireplace.
The twins grinned.
"The easy way," said Fred.
"Stand back, Harry," said George, as they both drew out their wands.
A gasp issued from the doorway. The three boys turned round to find Aunt Petunia and Dudley standing at the door.
"Just ignore them," Harry told the twins, turning back around.
"Shall we get on with it then?" George asked his twin.
"Of course, my brother," Fred replied.
It was over in a matter of minutes. The electric fireplace lay in a heap of rubble on the living room floor, and Fred was taking out a small tin from his pocket.
"We just have to give it a test run before we go," George explained. He threw a pinch of the glittering powder into the fire. As the emerald flames rose higher and higher, another audible gasp issued from Aunt Petunia, still standing in the doorway.
"The Burrow!" George shouted, as he stepped into the flames. He disappeared with a roar of the fire, and an uttered "cool!" from Dudley issued from behind his mother's bony structure.
"I thought you guys were staying in London?" Harry asked Fred.
"Oh, we are," he replied, turning away from the fireplace, "we're just making sure we can get to and from your fireplace, via different fireplaces than ours."
"Oh, okay."
"Ron said that you knew something about Hermione," Fred inquired. "What was it?"
"Well, apparently Malfoy contacted her after school was out," Harry began, and by the time he was done telling Fred what Hermione said, George was back. Both twins wore identical looks of worry and suspicion.
"Never heard that one before," George said.
"And she's not one to make something up like that, is she?" Fred said.
"But most of its hearsay," George said.
"Would Moody believe it?" asked Harry "would any of the aurors? Because if we could –"
"Hold on there, mate," Fred interrupted. "Let's give it till tomorrow before we do anything."
"But –"
"We need to get you to London before you go on anymore rescue missions," George said.
Harry looked extremely put off. "Fine," he said.
"Hey, don't get mad at us," Fred said, holding up his hands in defeat.
"Yeah, we're just the messengers."
"Sorry," said Harry, "so who's –?"
"Who else?" Fred asked, an ugly look shadowing his freckled face.
"Moody?"
"Of course," said George wearing a slightly softer look than his identical twin. "He keeps going on and on –"
"– And on about how you need to –"
"Keep my nose clean?" Harry said, disgruntled.
"Yeah, something like that," Fred said.
"Well, it's been good, Harry," said George, "but we'd better get back to our shop."
Harry smiled. He was the one who had put the money in their pocket to help the twins live their dreams of running their own joke shop. "Okay," said Harry, "but how will I know –"
"Be packed and ready to go by lunch tomorrow," George said.
"Someone will come for you then," Fred finished.
"See you then," Harry said.
"Until tomorrow," said Fred with a wink.