Chapter 3- Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Inc.
Ron's mouth practically fell to the floor, along with his wand. Harry as well felt a wave of disbelief and shock come over him. There was another Weasley girl? How could this possibly be?
"But…" stuttered Ron, "I thought there was just me, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny. Who else is there?"
"First off," said Mrs. Weasley with a great sigh, "will you please take this ridiculous curse off of me?"
"Yeah yeah, sure," said Ron. Wide-eyed, he bent over for his wand, and removed the Leg-Locker curse from his mother. She rubbed her legs and sat down in the red chair by the library.
"So who is my other sister?" asked Ron, walking over to her. Harry followed.
"That," said Mrs. Weasley, "is a long and not very pleasant tale."
"We've got a few months until we have to return to Hogwarts," said Ron, crossing his arms. "I'm sure that will be enough time to tell it."
"Very well," sighed Mrs. Weasley, slapping her legs. She took a deep breath, and began. "Well, I guess it all starts in the year 1970. That was the year your father and I got married, Ron. It was a lovely ceremony, held in the North Pole, something your father wanted to do. For the next two years, we contemplated having children, what with the state that the wizarding world was in at the time, but decided to go for it anyway. So, in 1973, Jamie was born."
"Jamie? Is that my long-lost sister?"
"Yes, Jamie was her name. Now we, that is your father and I, were perfectly happy with only one child. However, the area in which we lived was not very populated, and except for a few teenagers, Jamie was the only kid. We decided the best way for her to have a playmate was to have another child. So, in 1975, Bill was born, and the two of them were as happy as could be.
"Now, around this time, dark activity was slowing down, and we were actually doing pretty well, financially wise. So, we decided that if we could afford another kid, why not? It would be nice for Jamie and Bill to have another playmate. So, in 1977, Charlie was born, adding to the happiness.
"However, I'm sure as you two know, in a group of three, there is always one that gets left out."
Harry and Ron looked at each other. In their group of three, the two of the and Hermione, it always seemed as though each was getting his or her equal share of attention… right?
"Well, in this case, that was Bill. He was the middle child, and didn't have the glamour of being the oldest, nor the cuteness of the youngest. The only solution we saw for this was to bring yet another child into the world, Percy.
"Now, at this time, Hogwarts was accepting young wizards and witches at the age of ten, if they showed enough talent. Jamie was the most talented witch of her time, and Hogwarts couldn't wait to have her. In 1983, she started at school, and we were left with only three children, and now Percy was the one being left out.
"This is where things all started going wrong… no offense. Arthur and I decided than one more child would be perfect. However, neither of us were prepared for twins. You-Know-Who's rise to power started, and your father had to work extra long hours. It was terrible: Charlie and Bill always asking me for the latest Quidditch supplies, and Percy demanding higher quality books, he could read at that age, all the while, Fred and George were screaming their eyeballs out. I thought nothing else could go wrong… until the day of the fieldtrip.
"Back then, all students at the school could go, not just the upper class wizards and witches. In fact, I think this incident is why they changed that rule."
"Why? What happened? Where did they go?" demanded Ron.
"It was a field trip to the Egyptian pyramids," continued Mrs. Weasley. "We were so happy that Jamie was going, and we even came to Hogwarts the day she left. And today we are so thankful that we did, that was the last time anyone one of us ever saw her."
"What happened? Did she die?"
"Perhaps…" trailed Mrs. Weasley. "No one is positive today. All we know for sure is that she was walking along with her group one second, and then suddenly, she was gone."
"Gone?" gasped Ron.
"Yes. She completely disappeared without a trace. We regret so much only taking that one picture of her, and the other one which had her in the corner. That's why we have so many pictures of you other kids… in case anything ever happened to one of you."
There was another very awkward silence.
"So… why haven't you told any us, mom?" asked Ron slowly and quietly.
"Well, once we found out about Jamie, your father and I were at first heartbroken, and we stayed in that state of complete shock that one can only receive after losing a child for an entire year.
"However, after that yearlong depression, we decided it was time to move on, and the best way to do that, we figured, was to have another daughter. So, two years later, we had another child."
"Yeah, you had me," said Ron. "But wait… I'm not a girl!"
Mrs. Weasley gave a small chuckle.
"I know that, Ron, and that's the reason why we didn't want to tell you. We didn't want you to think that you were a failure to us: that you should have been a girl, but you weren't. Now, since you didn't know, we decided it would be best if the others didn't either, so they didn't go about flaunting their superior knowledge to you. Right now is the first time I have told any one of you kids about Jamie."
"But what about Bill, Charlie, and Percy," said Ron, sounding almost a little annoyed. "Shouldn't they have some memory of Jamie?"
"Oh, they remember her alright," said Mrs. Weasley, rocking in her chair. "But, they don't remember her as their sister. After just a few talks, and whenever the question came up, I convinced them that she was simply a childhood friend who moved away while they were little.
"Ah, how I wish I had old you all this before!" she exclaimed once again. "But, I just didn't want you or even Ginny for that matter to think you were merely replacements, and inferior to the first child…. I'm sorry!"
Ron looked at his mother for a second, she appeared to be ready to burst into tears: both from telling the story, reminding herself of the heartbreak, and for love of her son. Then, Ron just walked up to his mother, and gave her a massive hug, all the way around her.
"It's okay mom," he said. "Just… don't ever do it again!"
"Oh believe me, I won't," she said, standing up after their hug was over. "Now, if you'll please, don't tell the story to any of your brothers or sisters just yet. I want to be the one to tell them if it ever comes up again, not you."
"Alright mom," said Ron, watching her walk back to the kitchen and return to her cooking work.
"Well," said Harry, breaking his silence, "that was a very dramatic moment."
"Extremely," said Ron, returning to the shelves full of albums.
"So… somewhere… out there… you have a sister," said Harry.
"Eh, I doubt it. I mean, what are the odds that she's still alive? Slim to none I'd say."
"Perhaps…" said Harry, reaching up for another book. Then, when he opened this one, hundreds of small cards fell out all over the floor, creating a small, paper pool. "Hey Ron! I think I found your dad's stash of cards!" Ron looked down at the ever growing pile on the floor and grinned.
"Good job there Harry!" he said, tapping the pile of cards with his wand, and making them all teleport inside a small sac. "Now we can really start to have some fun!"
Harry stayed at the Weasley residence for most of the summer, even celebrated his birthday there. Even though it was just Ron, himself, and Mrs. Weasley there the entire time during the day, all of that changed at night when dinner was ready. All of the Weasleys, except for sometimes Charlie, and occasionally Bill, came home at night to partake in the massive feasts that Mrs. Weasley always had ready. All eight of them, Harry, Ron, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Bill, and Ginny, crowded the table and laughed the entire time, due to Fred and George's wacky inventions.
It was during those few funny moments that Harry saw Ginny, for the only time during the entire meal, say something (though he wasn't sure if laughing would be considered talking). She kept to herself most of the time, and Harry wondered if that was because she still had a small crush on him, or if it was because of her new boyfriend: Draco.
Either way, Harry enjoyed spending time there, and his only low point throughout the rest of his summer was when Dumbledore sent him an owl in reply to his letter:
Dear Harry,
I would have to say, I am fine as well. I always love summer, don't you? Even the worst days are the best… I'm so happy I decided to lengthen it a week.
As for your question, I am sorry to say no. Dudley cannot come to Hogwarts. Despite the fact that he has the talent and the desire, he simply is unable to come. I'm not sure if you have learned about it in school yet, but there is such a thing called 'magical ripeness'. That is, the longer a wizard or witch waits to perform his or her first actual spell with a wand, and the more powerful the first spell that is used, the greater that wizard or witch will be.
Now, Dudley has never performed any magic with a wand, and he is five years over the usually starting age for school. This means, he will be at least five times as powerful as an average wizard. We cannot take the chance of having this extremely powerful wizard go over to Voldemort's side. He would be especially easily corrupted and tempted, having had so little experience in the wizarding world.
Once again, I am deeply sorry, but in this day and age, we cannot take the chance.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster
Harry let the letter droop down. So… Dudley wouldn't be coming to Hogwarts with him, Ron and Hermione…. He had been so sure that he would be able to! He shouldn't have gotten his and Dudley's hopes up so high.
"Hey Harry!" called Ron from the other end of the room. "Want to play a game?" He held up two decks of cards and shook them with a smile on his face.
"Sure," said Harry, trying to cheer up. He walked over to Ron, and grabbed one of the decks right out of his hand. "Let's go!"
Harry had gotten extremely good at the card game, which he learned was called Wizard Duel, and had even beaten Ron a few times. Fred, George, Charlie or Bill sometimes even joined in on the fun, creating multiplayer games which were even more exciting than one on one. The only bad part about the game, as Harry was concerned, was that the cards just… stayed cards. If only they could become real….
"Hey you two!" said Fred, during one of those such games. "You still haven't seen the business yet!"
"Yeah, you have to see it," said George, drawing his card.
"What business?" asked Harry, playing a Killing Curse on Bill's dragon.
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes of course!" said Fred, countering Harry's curse.
"Oh yeah…" groaned Ron, having his elf attacked by the dragon.
"Well, we'll see it when we go to Diagon Alley for supplies for this year," said Harry, using a Pin Spell on Fred's Balloon-Beast.
"Hey! You popped him!" laughed Fred, throwing his beaten card into the air.
Before Harry knew it, his summer was practically over. There was only a week left of school, and Harry was feeling a little guilty for not visiting Dudley again. He had broken the sad news to him that he would not be coming to Hogwarts through a letter, and he had taken it fairly well. Though slightly disappointed, Dudley had not ever really known much about the wizarding world, so he didn't have much to not look forward to.
Even though Dudley didn't, Harry and Ron needed new school supplies, and the only place to go for them was Diagon Alley. Harry especially needed them, seeing as he had left them all at the Dursley's, and did not feel like seeing Dudley right now. So, the day before the beginning of the new year, the two of them headed there with lists in their hands of what they would need.
"Let's see here…" said Ron, taking out his supply list. Harry looked at his.
Sixth-Year Students Will Require:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6
By Miranda Goshawk
Creatures. Creatures! CREATURES!
By Ilike Topet
What Makes Good Wizards Go Bad
By Gulden Armur II
Changing Others: How To Not Jump Back In Surprise
By Shanjez Toncorps
Magical Origins
By Ekstremle Uld
"Hmm, there's not as many books on this year's list as there were on last year's," observed Harry, eyeing it again. "Looks like I'll be making up for that by buying a new cauldron, quills, parchment…"
"Yeah, well, this year we mostly use the same ones we used last year," said Ron, folding up his list and putting it in his pocket. Harry trusted him, he had already had five other brothers go through the system. If anyone knew more about what to expect at Hogwarts, it was Ron.
The two of them purchased their books as fast as they could, wanting to try and get to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes as soon as possible. Even Ron looked a little excited at the thought of it.
Since the two of them had been to Diagon Alley so many times before, it only took them a few minutes to acquire everything they needed: books, quills, ink, parchment, and some new dress robes, just slightly larger sizes of what they already had. They stuffed all of their purchases into magical bags that stayed their same, small size no matter how much stuff you put inside it, and ran over to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"Um… Ron…" said Harry. "Where exactly is it?"
"I'm not really sure," said Ron, looking around. "Fred and George said 'you couldn't miss it', so it has to be around here somewhere." The two of them, hands over their eyes, scanned the area, looking for any sign of the place. All Harry could see, though, were several small shops, and one rather distinct yellow building….
"Hey Ron!" yelled Harry, pointing at the very tall yellow building. "Is that it?" "Let's go see," he said. The two of them ran over to the building, and looked up at it in awe. It was the tallest structure Harry had ever seen, and it was entirely yellow. It looked so fluffy and nice too, it was like a massive marshmallow. And, right above the giant glass door at the bottom of the cylindrical building, there were the words: "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Inc." in bright, multicolored letters. Through the windows that were all around the building, Harry saw many people inside, purchasing and trying out the items. It looked extremely busy.
Harry and Ron walked up to the front door, and it opened for them, just like a Muggle store's would. But, after that, something happened that definitely did not occur at Muggle shops. Below Harry and Ron's feet, there was a sudden burst of air that shot them right up to the ceiling.
"AAAHHH!" both of them yelled. They were now hovering with their heads touching the ceiling. Then, by some invisible force, the two of them were turned one hundred and eighty degrees so that their feet were on the ceiling now, or what was previously the ceiling anyway. Harry expected to fell all the blood rushing to his head, but he felt perfectly fine, as if he was standing right-side up.
"Whoa, what's going on?" asked Ron, rubbing his head.
"I think that… this room is upside down," said Harry, looking around. However, the room looked perfectly normal. In fact, there were others in the room in the same position that Harry and Ron were, buying or testing products, and acting as if it was perfectly normal to be upside down.
"This must be just another one of Fred and George's little tricks, to try and enhance their customer's experience at their shop," said Ron, looking around. "Man, look at all this stuff!"
Now that Harry had gotten over the initial shock of begin flipped, he took a look at all the items available. The walls were covered in hundreds of colored boxes, ranging from the size of a small nut to the size of cars! Scattered among those boxes were also tricks and toys that were not packages, just out for people to sample, and many were doing just that. Among them, Harry saw a red-haired young man with a clipboard, checking off and writing many things. Harry immediately recognized him as Percy.
"Hello there Percy!" yelled Harry, waving his hand. Percy looked up from his work, and waved to the two of them.
"Hey there Harry! Ron, you've finally come to see it! Isn't this place great? Though I don't quite agree with some of Fred and George's little ideas, like flipping the customers upside down when they enter, a few compromises makes everything worth it."
"Makes it all worth what?" asked Harry.
"Makes it all worth having the biggest business in all of Diagon Alley!" exclaimed Percy, throwing his arms into the air, and giving a giant grin. "Just this past week, we've quadrupled our sales, and in the past month, we've made more money than the rest of Diagon Alley put together!" He had a superior-looking expression on his face, and was breathing a little hard too.
"Um… that's great Percy…" said Harry. "But… where are Fred and George?"
"Oh, they're working the cash register," said Percy, returning to his work. Harry and Ron slowly backed away from Percy, and bumped right into the check-out desk. The two of them turned around, and saw Fred and George, working tirelessly, taking transactions. The line for the check-out was so long it went up to the next floor, and money, receipts, and even a few items were flying everywhere. Fred and George, however, looked happier than Harry had ever seen them.
"Hey there Fred! George!" yelled Harry above the excited talk of all the customers. The twins turned and smiled at Harry for a second, and then immediately went back to their work of checking people out.
"Can't you two take a break for a second?" asked Ron.
"We are taking a break," came a voice from behind them. Harry and Ron turned around, and saw the two of them standing right there, drinking some sort of wizard soda.
Harry felt extremely confused.
"But- you were just… the cash register," he mumbled out, pointing in random directions. Fred and George looked at him for a second, then suddenly appeared as though they understood what he was trying to say.
"Oh them?" asked George, pointing to the people that looked exactly like themselves behind the desk. "Yeah, they're our clones. We alternate shifts… it works out well."
"Clones?" asked Harry, sounding very surprised. Last year, he, Ron, and Hermione had had some very nasty incidents with clones. "Isn't that a little… bad?"
Fred shook his head.
"Nah, not really. They're just like regular workers, only they look like us. We pay them, give them a place to live… it works out well."
"Heh, you're lucky that it worked out good for you because when me and Harry here tried to clone-" said Ron, before Harry jabbed him in the side with his elbow, signaling to him to stop.
"That's quite enough, Ron," he said through gritted teeth.
"Hey, how would you like to have the grand tour of this place?" asked George. "It's really all quite amazing!"
"Sure!" said Harry and Ron together, eager to see what inventions the two of them had cooked up.
Fred and George showed them the entire store, and it was even more amazing than Harry had imagined it would be. Each room, like the upside-down entrance, had some sort of special feature. Once of them had a floor mad out of a bouncy, jell-o like substance; another one's ground was like that of a game board, and you could only move certain spaces depending on the roll of a dice, and occasionally even had to go backwards due to landing on certain areas; another room had fluffy balls shoot out in every conceivable direction every few seconds, and yet another was a zero-gravity room, one that people floated around in. The last room on the agenda was the dormitory. Inside it, there were six beds (one for Fred and George, their clones, Ginny, and Percy). However, the beds liked to changed places, colors, and stuffings every day, so you never slept in the same one twice.
And, of course, each room was packed with goodies. There were some of the things that Harry had seen Fred and George use last year, but there were also an almost uncountable number of new inventions. There was Giant Gum, a candy that made you grow as high as the ceiling of a room, and the opposite, Shrink Sugar, that made you become the size of an ant. There were Ants-In-Your-Pants-Plants, vegetables that when eaten gave that very unpleasant sensation to the consumer. There was some Gassy Guzzler, a soda that made you float about for several minutes, and Harry's favorite, Itchy Exploders: little bombs that created a gas when set off that made everyone who breathed it in feel itchy all over, and make them scratch for up to ten hours. There were hundreds of other items to see, but Fred and George didn't have time to show everything.
"Yeah, we've got a pretty good system going on here," said Fred, returning to the first floor. "Me and George run the register and come up with ideas for new stuff when it's not our shift, and Percy finds ways to market the new inventions and keeps inventory. He also takes polls to see what items are popular and which aren't."
"Sounds like you guys have it pretty easy," said Ron. "Run the register for a few hours, then come up with jokes for the rest of the day."
"It's actually a little harder than that," said George. "We have to constantly be coming up with new ideas, people can't be playing the same jokes on each other forever, and we can't simply improve on old ideas anymore, we need completely new inventions. It's very difficult."
"Yeah, I'm sure…" said Ron sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Just then, Fred and George's exhausted clones came up to them and told them it was time for their shift.
"Alright, we'll see you later you two," said Fred, heading to the register.
"Yeah," said George, "but remember Harry! All of this… none of it would be here if it wasn't for you!"
"Well… I'm happy to see you have put the money to good use… very good use," said Harry, taking another look at the place. "It's doing much more here than it would have ever done sitting in my account."
"Thanks again Harry!" the two of them yelled, returning to their work. Harry suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and saw Ron behind him, eyes-wide, and mouth open.
"What is it?" asked Harry. Ron didn't say anything, just merely pointed to the wall right in front of them. Harry looked at it and fell into just as much shock as Ron did. Before them, there was an entire wall… full of packs of Wizard Duel cards. Literally, the entire wall was filled with small packs of cards that glittered in the sunlight as if they were gold. Each wrapper had a different image on it, depicting one of the millions of cards. It was truly a sight to behold.
Harry and Ron flew over to that almost-sacred wall, and immediately grabbed several packs off of it as if they were treasure. On the cover of each pack, it said that there were sixteen additional cards: one rare, five uncommons, and ten commons. After taking about ten packs (he would have bought more, but they were seven sickles each, and Harry didn't have too much money with him) Harry quickly ran up to the above floor and bought a few Itchy Exploders… he just couldn't resist the thought of using one on Malfoy.
The two of them, hands bulging with goods, got in the quickly-moving line, and it was soon their turn.
"Hey! Didn't expect to see you this soon!" said Fred, grabbing their packs.
"I didn't know you guys sold cards here!" exclaimed Ron.
"Oh yeah, they're our best selling items," said George, adding up their total. "We have to get new shipments every night… they go like crazy!"
"Well, I'm proud to say that we're part of those crazy people," smiled Ron, handing Fred exact change for his cards. Harry did the same. The both of them grabbed their stuff, and headed to the exit door.
"Hey!" yelled George. "You two can just use Floo Powder to get out of here! The fireplace is right to your left!"
"Yeah, that'd be a good idea," said Ron, stuffing his packs into his Never-Growing Bag. "Even those these bags don't get bigger, they certainly get heavier, and I don't want to have to carry them all the way back home." Harry agreed, and put the packs into his bag and the Itchy Exploders into his pocket.
The two of them walked over to the fireplace, Ron reached into his pocket, took out some Floo Powder, and threw it in, causing the flames to turn from a dark red to a bright green. He stepped right up to the fire.
"The Burrow!" he yelled, right before disappearing into the flames. Now it was Harry's turn. He stepped up, and reached into his pocket for some powder. But, just as he reached in, he accidentally took out one of the Itchy Exploders, and it fell to the floor, causing a large, green cloud of pure itchiness to appear. The effect was instant, and Harry felt as though mosquitoes were biting him all over… he couldn't stop scratching!
But, he had to concentrate on getting the Floo Powder. While he scratched himself with one arm, he reached into his pocket with the other, and grabbed out some powder. He quickly threw it into the flames.
"Th- the bur… ack! It itches! Oh man… the b- Burrow!" gasped Harry, jumping right into the fire. The entire world around Harry turned black, and began spinning rapidly. Faster and faster… until Harry shot right out of the remote fireplace.
"Ron!" groaned Harry, still itching all over. "Where are you?" Harry took a closer look around, and saw that he was definitely not in the Burrow. Everywhere surrounding him, there were dark and decrepit shelves, contained some of the most horrific items that Harry had ever seen: skulls with the eyes still in them, hands that had hands, and many assorted items in jars of water… or at least what Harry thought was water. Harry assumed he must have accidentally arrived at some sort of store, but it looked much more like a tomb.
Suddenly, Harry heard a footstep and a loud creak in the floor. He immediately tried to forget about his itchiness and took out his wand. Who else could be here? Could this be a trap? Another creak in the floor echoed throughout the room.
"Who's there?" asked Harry, walking around one of the dusty shelves. A few feet in from of him, there were a figure, hidden in the dark shadows of the store.
"Who are you?" demanded Harry.
"Finally…" hissed the figure. His voice was deep and dark, just like the store.
"Finally? Finally what?" asked Harry. This had to be one of Voldemort's traps! How could he have been so stupid as to let an Itchy Exploder fall on the floor?
"FINALLY!" yelled the figure. Harry had no time to react, the figure just jumped right at him, and pinned him to the floor.