The Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes

Chapter 22

Saturday, August 24

Sirius and Harry were heading back to Flourish and Blotts when Harry was pleasantly surprised to see a group of people with the tell-tale red hair moving towards them. Harry raised his hand in greeting as Ron hurried forwards, grinning and clapped him on the back. "How are you, mate? And you, Sirius?"

Sirius smiled in greeting when Harry said, "We're good. Where's Hermione?"

Just then, Hermione appeared from behind the Weasleys along with her mother, beaming. "Harry! It's so good to see you!"

She hugged him enthusiastically, then turned to greet Sirius.

"Harry dear! How lovely to see you!" said Mrs. Weasley as she too hugged him. After pleasant exchanges of greeting with Mr. Weasley and Ginny, Ron was saying, "We really must visit Fred and George's new joke shop! I heard its brilliant and they're raking in the galleons!"

Mrs. Weasley said, "We'll leave that for last. It's best we be off to Madam Malkin's first–"

Mr. Weasley interrupted, "That will take too much time, Molly. Let's just divide into groups. The kids can go together to get their robes and we can get their books from Flourish and Blotts."

"I've already got my robes," said Harry, then indicated Sirius. "We're going to Flourish and Blotts too."

"Oh, okay then," amended Mr. Weasley. "Molly, you can go with the kids to Madam Malkin's and I'll get the books…"

Sirius added, "Tonks can go with them too."

Tonks nodded as she and Mrs. Weasley ushered Ron, Hermione and Ginny who promised to meet up at the joke shop.

Sirius offered to wait outside the crowded bookshop as Harry and Mr. Weasley purchased the new books. After they had finished, Mr. Weasley lead them to a building at the end of the Alley which turned out to be the wacky shop of Fred and George.

Harry and Ron led the way inside as they took in the shelves piled high with joke shop products. He noted Sirius looked somewhat awed and he shook his head. "They really mean business, don't they?"

Hermione was reading the information on the back of a box bearing a highly-coloured picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship labelled 'Patented Daydream Charms'. "You know, that really is extraordinary magic."

"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "you can have one for free."

A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming red hair.

"How are you, Harry?" They shook hands. "And you, Sirius, mate."

"This is amazing, Fred," said Sirius warmly, a youthful smile lighting up his face.

"Thanks," said Fred, grinning. "Come on, I'll give you the tour."

oOo

After the quick tour, Sirius turned to Harry. "I'll be waiting outside, Harry. I have some things to discuss with Tonks. Don't wander off."

Harry nodded and Sirius set off outside the bustling shop.

It wasn't that he was not interested in seeing the twins' shop – it was like his thirteen-year old self's dream come true to look around the place with its dizzying variety of joke products. But Sirius was painfully aware that he wasn't as interested in buying it, as he was when he was a kid. Merlin's saggy Y-fronts, was he getting old?

The meeting with Narcissa was still running in the back of his mind as he went to the door. He nearly froze when Narcissa's boy walked alone past the shop, surreptitiously glancing behind him.

His eyes narrowed. Everything about his body language screamed 'suspicious'.

Sirius checked around for Tonks, but she was not there. She had probably gone off in disguise to look around Fortescue's, which was why she had come to Diagon Alley in the first place.

Making a split-second decision, he hid behind the shop and cast the Disillusionment charm on himself. He walked in the shadows following the Malfoy boy, who turned into Knockturn Alley.

Sirius almost rolled his eyes. That boy had to learn how to not come off as suspicious. Going into Knockturn Alley in the current climate was equivalent to practically yelling you were working for the Death Eaters.

Knockturn Alley was almost empty which gave Sirius the courage to walk forward faster with his Disillusionment charm. It worked amazingly when you were still but while moving, it was better to be in the shadows.

He saw the Malfoy boy entering Borgin & Burke's. Sirius waited outside and watched the boy standing near a large black cabinet and talking animatedly to the proprietor, Mr. Borgin, who was looking at the boy with mingled fear and resentment.

Sirius wanted to listen to what was being said and drew out his wand to perform the Sound Amplifiying charm when he nearly jumped seeing a flash of white about ten feet away from him.

He forgot about what he was doing there as he stood stock-still searching for whatever had caught his eye. He waited and waited, looking around frantically and after almost a minute, he saw it. It was a pair of trainers, which were oddly both right-footed. And what was more. One was instantly recognisable to him as Harry's new ones, with that glimmering strip of blue on white.

He immediately realised that Harry and probably his friend, Ron, were under the invisibility cloak and if he was quite right in assuming so, had followed Malfoy just like him.

The next moment, the bell tinkled loudly and Malfoy stalked off the shop, looking very pleased with himself. Sirius nearly swore when the cloak fluttered around their knees. He was certain that even Hermione was with them now.

Before he could even think of yelling at Harry for coming out to Knockturn Alley, Hermione swept out of the cloak, looking harried.

Sirius marched straight up to her as she checked her reflection on the glass of the empty store nearby. He cast a Silencing charm on her and grabbed her by her shoulders, dragging her behind the building.

Hermione screamed in horror, but no sound came out. Sirius quickly took off his Disillusionment charm and watched Hermione's eyes widen in realisation. He looked meaningfully at the space behind her, where he knew Harry and Ron were standing hidden.

He led them to the back of the shop as Harry took off the cloak, looking slightly alarmed.

"What the bloody hell were you three doing here?" hissed Sirius angrily, as he took off the Silencing charms. "I thought I told you to not wander off the shop, Harry!"

Ron and Hermione looked chagrined, but Harry retorted half-heartedly. "It was Malfoy! We wanted to know what he was doing down here all by himself."

"So you decided to simply take off on your own? You should have alerted me!" said Sirius in an angry whisper.

"But you weren't there!" said Ron.

"And you, Hermione. Did you think you could just have a friendly conversation with Borgin and find out what Malfoy was doing there?"

Hermione was upset and mortified in equal measure, so Sirius said quite kindly. "You're lucky I was there. Borgin has been dealing with the Malfoys and the Death Eaters for years! You do not want to make yourselves suspicious for him."

Harry looked apologetic. "Sirius, I didn't mean—"

"It's fine," said Sirius abruptly. He would be the worst hypocrite in the world if he made Harry apologise for something he himself would have done. Bloody hell, he had done it now too.

"Come on, we need to get back quick! Molly will be looking for you," said Sirius and jerked his head meaningfully at the cloak.

All three of them put it on and followed Sirius out of Knockturn Alley. An old hag and a warlock who were passing by, scurried past them hurriedly on seeing Sirius, who led the way to the twins' shop.

Molly was waiting by the entrance, looking around anxiously.

"Sirius! Where have you been?" said Molly, with slight accusation. "Ron, Hermione and Harry have been missing for a while!"

"Missing? Since when? I was here till five minutes ago when I left to check something. They can't have gone past me," said Sirius, frowning.

After their last meeting, Sirius and Molly kept their conversation to a minimum and almost always in the presence of someone else, like Arthur. Though Sirius was offended by Molly's accusations, he did not want to create problems between them as Harry liked and respected his friend's mother. He didn't think he could bear it if Harry was caught between them and somehow became disappointed in Sirius.

"Oh!" said Molly, looking puzzled. "But, they're not inside…"

"You mustn't have checked properly, Molly," said Sirius, bracingly. "They're probably in the back room."

Predictably, all three of them were in the back room just as he had said so and Molly was questioning them thoroughly. They built up on Sirius' alibi and Molly let it go, still a tad suspicious. Sirius was slightly amused when all three of them had the tell-tale expression of the figurative 'tail between their legs' as they left the shop, casting apologetic glances at him. He shook his head. They really needed to work on their guilty faces.

oOo

Shoutout to an amazing piece of fanfiction that I read recently, 'The Black Letters' by evadnekapaneos. It's a letter-exchange story between Sirius and Regulus that is utterly canon compliant and perfectly encapsulates both of their characters. I liked the idea of the author so much, that I decided to mention it here. You can find it in my Favorite Stories list.