Mayhem in the Garden

Ginny had already went back upstairs. Harry wasn't sure when she got up. Ron looked like he was going to fall back asleep. "Ron, would you go finish the fence?" Harry turned to Ron and mouthed the words, "finish the fence?" Ron frowned, "Yea, I started painting the fence yesterday….I haven't quite finished…" Mrs. Weasley's voice rose, "he hasn't even started yet. And he is going to finish it today." "Oh, can I help then?" Ron looked like he thought it was a great idea. "No. Ron can handle it." Ron looked like a kid who just had his lollipop stolen. He shuffled through the door and went out back to get the paint. Harry didn't quite know where to go… "Harry, dear. Could you help Fred and George in the garden?"

Fred and George both grabbed a shoulder each and led Harry to the garden. "Harry mate, you should never volunteer to help." George smiled, "But we're glad you did. Mum wants us to depipsquittle the garden." Harry wasn't sure he heard him right. "She wants us to do what to the garden?" "Oh, you don't know what a Pipsquittle is? Come over here, we know where they are." Harry followed the twins over to the bushes. "Is that blue stuff…" "Yea, that's them. Careful not to get too close. They are a bit rambunctious." Upon closer inspection, Harry discovered they were a lot more than blue specks. They looked like tiny little blue fairies.

"What are we supposed to do with them?" Fred walked over with a jar and scooped one of the Pipsquittles inside and closed the lid. There were about ten jars laying on the ground. "So we just have to catch them?" "It's a little more complica…" Harry had already got a jar and was about to close the lid on it when about six more of them came after him. They started pulling at his clothes and making a horrible squealing sound. "Drop the jar Harry!" Harry dropped it, and as soon as it was empty they all left him alone. "They are very protective over each other…" "Yea, I can see that." "It's okay, we will immobilize the rest of them…"

Things went much smoother after that. Harry just had to scoop them up out of the air. After a while they decided that they had the lot of them. "What do we do with them now?" "We have to move their nest to another area." Their nest turned out to be a rather impressive mound of twigs. It looked just like a tiny doll house. George picked up the house and put it in a box. The jars were split up into two boxes for Fred and Harry to carry. Harry heard a buzzing sound and spotted one they missed near the fence. "Um…" The Pipsquittle flew over and knocked a can of paint off of one of the fence posts. "Get out of here you stupid thing!" Ron was obviously nearby.

George quickly added it to the rest and skimmed the area for any others. "Right, I think we have them all now. Best move them before they get too angry." "Yea…" They walked quite a ways before they decided they could stop. "We don't want them to remember where the garden is. They should stay here now. They don't like to rebuild their homes." They all got bit a few times trying to let the things out. Instead of turning red like a mosquito bite, the area turned blue. "Oh, don't worry about that. It will clear up in a day or so. Fred and I have been bitten too many times to count." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. At least now he knew that his arm was not going to fall off or anything.

Fred looked around to see if anyone was there. "Listen Harry, we have something for you." "Something that might help you out." Harry couldn't help but be a little skeptical. "Don't worry, it's safe." George pulled something out of his pocket and placed it in Harry's hand. "It's a necklace?" "Harry, Harry, Harry. Do you honestly think we would give you something so ordinary as a necklace?" "It's a truth necklace. It glows green if someone is lying." "Allow us to demonstrate." Together they said, "We never quit school." The necklace immediately glowed bright green. "We still haven't worked out all the kinks in it. It will pick up even the smallest lies…" "Oh wow, this is great you guys." "We know." "Thanks…"

It was a plain looking necklace. There was a small green stone hanging from a chain with small links. "Let's go back to the house before mom starts worrying." Yea, that's probably a good idea. Everyone tends to worry if I'm not right in front of them. Even then, it's like they are afraid to let me do anything. Like I'm going to accidentally blow myself up or something. Is the blue supposed to spread so much? The twins are nearly covered in it. I'm probably just as bad. Sure enough Mrs. Weasley was waiting on them. "Come on inside. We need to wash those bites off quickly." "I thought you guys said it was harmless?" "Well…they are at first…we didn't want to worry you. It will be okay once it's all cleaned up." Mrs. Weasley took out a large blue bottle. "Here you go. Now go upstairs and wash up really good."

"What happens if we don't?" The twins looked at Harry and said, "Dad knows more about it then us. He has treated a few cases. It's nothing permanent. It will go away. Just kind of awkward in social situations." "Come on Harry." Okay, I guess they know what they are doing. I hope they know what they are doing. Harry followed the twins upstairs to the bathroom. "Harry…erm since it's been kind of while since the bites we should probably all do this at once…" Do what? "What's the stuff in the bottle?" "Oh, that. That's just body wash. It's not really important. We just really need to get rinsed off." Before Harry could say another word the twins dragged him over to the shower. They turned the water on and huddled together so everyone got wet. Okay, this is a little odd. I can't see the bites…I need to take my jacket off for a while. The twins already thought about that for him though. They were working on getting his arms out of the jacket. It really would have been an odd scene for someone to walk in on. It was surprisingly comfortable though.

George got out for a minute and grabbed the body wash. It was not an ordinary bottle that Harry thought he saw earlier. It was set up to attach to the shower head. Kind of like the fertilizer bottles his aunt would buy that attached to the garden hose. Fred turned the water off long enough for George to attach the bottle and the water was back on once again. Now the water turned blue. This isn't like any body wash I've ever seen before….It's got a tingly feeling to it. Maybe this will get rid of the…well whatever the things did to me. Harry tugged at his jeans that were weighted down from the water. It felt like they weighed a ton now. "Do you think it's better now?" George and Fred didn't look blue anymore. At least he didn't think they did. It was hard to tell with the blue water coming out of the shower head.

"The directions say you have to wait for the whole bottle to be used. It's almost done." "Oh, okay." Harry closed his eyes and imagined he was out in the rain. It was a really good feeling. There was a wonderful feeling of warmth too. George whispered, "Harry are you alright? You've got a really good grip." Harry opened his eyes to discover that somewhere in his daydreaming he wrapped his arms around George. Just as he was about to move his arms back over to his own space, he noticed Ginny standing at the door. She just started laughing and headed off to her room. "Probably should have closed the door all the way…" "It's been a long day, Harry. Let's all get dried off and go outside for a while." The twins dragged Harry out of the shower. People seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Instead of letting him just walk around on his own. What was I thinking about in the shower? I can't remember. Well whatever happened he guessed he could blame it on just being tired.

Harry took off his shirt that was now blue and threw it on the floor. His skin looked normal though. The body wash must have just attached to the fibers in his clothes. He grabbed a towel and walked to Ron's room to get some clothes and change. He didn't think Ron would mind if he borrowed some clothes for today. Ron was still outside working on the fence. Overall Harry thought that it was a pretty good day. A day filled with adventure that didn't involve danger…unless you count turning blue. It was starting to get dark already. By the time Harry was in the kitchen, Ron walked in splattered with paint. "Hey Ron." "Can you believe that? I had to paint that whole fence without any help. And a Pipsquittle spilled a bucket of the paint." Harry had a feeling that about half of that bucket hit Ron.

Harry walked outside to where the twins had set up a picnic. There were a few blankets scattered out. Ginny was sitting with Mrs. Weasley on one. The twins gestured Harry over to theirs. "Are you feeling better now? Pipsquittles have a funny effect on people." "Yea. I'm fine." So the Pipsquittles caused that whole scene? That's good. I hope Ginny knows that. Ginny was talking to Mrs. Weasley about what Neville had told her on the phone. She seemed to be avoiding the gaze of Harry and the twins. "Maybe I should go find Ron." "Nah, he is probably too busy getting ready. Mom just told him that Hermione called and said she was going to be here a little early. He was furious with Ginny for being on the phone so long with Neville." "Yea, okay. It will be nice to see Hermione again though."

Harry sat down on the blanket and took out a sandwich. Sure enough Ron walked out just as soon as Hermione arrived. His skin looked a little red in places where he scrubbed the paint off. Harry turned his head just as Ron and Hermione hugged. "So are you guys going back to the store tonight?" "No. We're going to go see Percy tonight. We think he just needs a little persuasion. He is still our brother even if he doesn't want to recognize that the whole wizarding community is in trouble." "What are you guys going to do?" Fred and George smiled, "Nothing too major. Just don't let mum know that we are going to do something." He hoped that they could make some progress with him. Percy would be a bad person to have as an enemy. He figured that the twins knew that too. "Well, it's been nice seeing you Harry. We have to go work on that thing now." The twins said bye leaving everyone else to pack up the picnic things.