Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling nor do I own any part of Harry Potter.
A/N: Thanks again for all the reads and, as always, I need more reviews! Thanks also to Mudblood428 for another excruciatingly good beta job!
"Whatzagoinon?" exclaimed Harry, clutching his wand from the bedside table as he rolled off the bed. When he hit the ground he spun around, pointing his wand at the familiar pair of ginger-haired twins that had just Apparated onto his bed.
"Going to jinx us into oblivion, Harry?" asked George smirking.
"Geez, let's remember to never get on Harry's bad side," remarked Fred who looked quite awake for three o'clock in the morning.
"What are you doing here this early?"
"Did we not give you a note announcing that we would be blessing you with our company tonight?" replied Fred.
"Oh…yeah. Do you always have to Apparate onto my bed?"
"Yes," George answered simply.
"So, what is it you two wanted to give me?" Harry asked warily.
"Patience, patience young Harry."
"Yes, all will be revealed in good time. Kids these days are getting too impatient, don't you think, George?"
"I quite agree"
"As you know, for about two years we have had a small line of self-defense items. What you don't know is that lately we have been working our bloody brains out to expand our line. And now we've perfected our first addition to the Weasley Wizard's Wheezes new Powerful Protection Products line."
"So…What was the invention?" inquired Harry after a short moment of silence.
"Oh, yeah. Well, one day I had an idea and I asked Fred, 'What is it that every watchful wizard needs?' and he replies, 'A really good shield charm?' and he said, 'No, well yes, but that's not what I'm thinking of.' And this is where my genius kicks in Harry."
"Genius, George? Really?" Fred replied.
"Yes Fred, genius. Anyways, Harry, I came up with a transporter. It's like Apparating, but many Wizards find that when they are fighting they can't pause and concentrate enough to Apparate. So I have the Transporting Token. It isn't technically Apparition, so it can take you in and out of places that have anti-Apparition enchantments on them."
As George finished speaking he pulled out an orange disk about the size of a Galleon and passed it to Harry.
"See, all you have to do is point your wand at it and say, 'Apparitus', and it will transport you to wherever you programmed it to take you."
"And, how do you program it?" asked Harry.
"Oh yeah, all you have to do is point your wand at it and think about where you want it to take you while either thinking or saying aloud, 'Locarius'."
"Isn't this just like a Portkey?"
"No, not exactly like one, although we had to do a lot of work with Portkeys to get this to work. See, with a Portkey you have to make contact with it and anyone can use it. But with Transporter Token, you only have to be able to see it. It could be on the other side of the room and all you would have to do is point your wand at it and say the magic word. Also, it only works for the person who programmed it. The only way to take someone with you is to touch them. So lets say that you left your Transporter Token somewhere and some Death Eater stumbles upon it and happened to know the spell to use it. When he tried it wouldn't let him use it. Finally, and this comes in real handy if your doing a bit of sneaking, it's completely silent! No infuriating 'crack' giving you way," finished Fred excitedly.
"How did you not get caught working with all those Portkeys? Doesn't the Ministry closely monitor that?"
"Well, at first, we had to be really careful. We only did our research at Hogwarts. The ministry didn't catch onto us because anyone could have been making them; heck, it could have been Dumbledore. But now we don't have to worry about it at all. The part of the Department of Transportation that monitored Illegal Portkey Use has been reassigned to other tasks while You - Know - Who is on the loose."
"Well, thanks guys! This will come in handy."
"Hold on, we're not just giving you one. We have a bag with ten or fifteen of these things in it."
"Wow, that's really brilliant guys. Thanks again for all of these"
"No problem. We haven't forgotten who got us started," replied Fred before he took a disk out of his pocket, placed it on Harry's bed, and gripped George's hand muttering, 'Apparitus'. He and George then disappeared without a sound.
Harry woke up the morning of Bill's and Fluer's wedding with a pang of dread in his stomach. He did not know what he was supposed to do when they called for the rest of the Weasley family to join the newly-wed couple on the dance floor; he had originally planned to dance with Ginny, but now, with Ginny not even looking at him, how could she stand to dance with him?
Some people had already arrived for the wedding. Fleur's family had arrived the night before and stayed in the twins' room with plenty sighs and scoffs. Harry had to move over to Ron's room to accommodate them. Katie and Angelina had not arrived until this morning; they were to be escorted down the isle by the twins. He walked down stairs for an early breakfast before the final preparations were finished. Mrs. Weasley was running around the kitchen, caught between finishing breakfast, frosting an enormous wedding cake, and starting a meal for about thirty people to be served later that evening. Ron and Hermione were sitting at the table wolfing down some toast and eggs before getting to work themselves. Ginny was nowhere to be seen.
"Good morning, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley greeted, a little out of breath. "Have some breakfast and then I have a few chores for you before we go through a quick rehearsal and then we get dressed for the wedding!"
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, but I'm not really that hungry," he responded, having felt sick to his stomach ever since hearing the words 'quick rehearsal'.
"Nonsense, you have to eat."
Knowing it was no use to resist food from Mrs. Weasley, Harry grabbed a piece of toast and munched on it a little. Hermione gave him an examining look, noticing that something wasn't quite right. Ron, however, was completely oblivious to Harry's change in demeanor, trying to eat as much toast as possible before having to get to work.
Harry had finished his few chores distractedly, barely noticing that he had the fewest of the lot. He was now heading to the garden where a pavilion had been erected. When he arrived the Weasleys were all in a back room separated from the main hall. Mrs. Weasley was grouping everybody in order of how they would walk down the isle.
Ron and Hermione were together in front. Then Harry was paired with Ginny, whose head was down, though she didn't have her usual blank expression. Rather, she looked thoughtful and uncomfortable. Harry studied her for a moment before looking down himself and caught her glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. The music started and they walked down the aisle at a slow march arm and arm. The entire rehearsal Harry and Ginny did not look at each other.
Harry was up in Ron's room getting ready with Bill, Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley. The girls were getting dressed in Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's room as well as Ginny's. Harry stayed silent, receiving help every now and then from Mr. Weasley, while listening to the constant stream of banter between the twins and Bill.
"Honestly, Bill, I don't see why you're getting tied down in your prime. I mean, I know you aren't the ladies man like Fred and me, but honestly this is early."
"Well, of course it's a good thing you had it planned before the accident - no woman would have you now…" Fred stopped early because, at that moment, Bill had chucked a shoe at him that he was just able duck under. Harry stopped paying attention to them after a while and when he was done he went down and greeted guests as Mrs. Weasley had asked him to.
At a quarter till five Harry headed back down to the pavilion. Through the crack in the curtain Harry could see that Bill and Mr. Weasley were already before the minister awaiting the start of the service. Suddenly music began and Harry felt an arm run through his. He looked over and saw before him the most beautiful thing he had ever seen: Ginny Weasley with her hair in a intricate knot and her face framed by two ginger curls. She had on a strapless baby blue dress and strapped shoes. Harry looked on in astonishment before he noticed that Ginny still had the same extremely uncomfortable look on her face and was pointedly looking away from him.
It was after the wedding, and the reception was nearing its end. There were only a few people still around besides the Weasley and Delacour families, which on their own made up a good number of people. Harry was in the middle of a conversation with Fred, George, and Ron, though not really contributing to it much, when he felt a tug on his sleeve.
"May I have a word?" asked Ginny. After noticing that the others were listening intently Ginny added, "In private."
"Sure." Harry answered his breath hitching in his throat.
Ginny led them to the room at the back of the pavilion. Harry was starring at his feet but Ginny grabbed his chin and pulled his gaze into her eyes. "That's better." she said, as a smile spread across her face.
"Harry, now don't get me wrong, I am still upset with you about leaving me in the dark about the prophecy and your plans with Ron and Hermione, but I reckon I overreacted. I shouldn't nave blocked you out completely. I guess I should have expected something like this from you as noble and stupidly brave as you are, but we need to talk and sort some things out. I just wanted you to know I am still your girlfriend."
He had thought that it was all over for him and Ginny. Grinning ear to ear he leaned in and gave Ginny a kiss on the lips that she quickly deepened. Finally, breaking apart, they joined the rest of the people in the pavilion.
Harry looked over at her as they walked through the crowd and said what he had wanted to all night, "You look beautiful tonight, Gin."