Yes, it was a busy day and all seven boys knew they'd sleep like the dead that night, but come the next day they had plans to hit the muggle stores in Edinburgh and stock up as best they could, before returning to Hogwarts for the next term.
The return journey to Hogwarts saw a steady stream of students through the boys' compartment, there seemed to be no difference in who was asking for bruise balms, fountain pens or wand holsters. Purebloods, halfbloods and muggleborns, it made no difference. A couple of seventh years asked if they could rent a library, after all, they only had six months before they were finished their schooling and while they had taken subject as electives, they had little intention of progressing any further with some subjects. Remy offered to put together subject libraries that that could be rented and returned, he would have them ready by the end of the weekend.
Charlie waited patiently for the influx of students to diminish and was slightly surprised when it didn't. He and the boys barely had time to pack their trunks away and change into their robes before the Express pulled into Hogsmeade station. He managed to shoo away anyone that wanted their attention and be the only non-Horde member in their carriage.
"Alright, I want some bloody answers." His voice was calm, but slightly confused.
"What do you wanna know?" Fred asked. Titan had quietly clued his brothers in, on how to tell Fred and George apart.
"Where the hell did you get the money to buy all this stuff? Did you steal it? Did you borrow it? Mum and dad won't like that, either way."
"We didn't." George answered. "Not really. Did you know there was a lost property Room in Hogwarts? We approached the elves about getting a couple of things for class, you know dad doesn't make much money and with four of us here and having to pay Bill's apprentice fees, money's hard to find. We had great-Uncle Tristan and Uncle Gideon's wands, you know that, right? They didn't really fit us, but we didn't know that until these holidays."
"Anyway…" Fred took over. "Titan, Remy and Pads all had holsters and that made it so much easier for them to carry stuff, so we decided to ask the elves if we could look through the lost property."
"Right…" Charlies said.
"So, the head elf, Gallip, said that lost property was divided up and stored in two different places, one was all the stuff that had belonged to anyone was still at school or had left but not been gone for more than two years. The second Room, had everything else." George explained.
"And Gallip said we could take anything we wanted from that Room. We asked about emptying the Room and were told, basically, 'you want it, you take it, just don't bring it back'. So, we emptied the Room, cleaned what we could, sent some to the trips' Grampy for curse-breaking, repaired other stuff and sorted through centuries of crap." Fred said. The twins, Lee and Ken, all called the triplets the 'trips', when speaking about the three of them together.
"And that what you're selling to the other students?" Charlie squawked indignantly.
"No, not really." George answered. "Oh, yeah some of it, but most of the stuff was sold privately."
"Have you any idea how much stuff was there, Charlie?" Fred asked. "It took us until just a few days before the Express home to finish sorting through it. Four months, Charlie, four months it took."
"And that's why the no pranking?" Charlie frowned.
"Nope." Fred grinned.
"Pads showed us their Prank Rules. We didn't have any rules. They did." George said.
"Their absolute first rule was…" Fred started.
"All homework and classwork must be done to EE level." The six other boys joined in.
"… or no pranks." Fred finished.
"And we weren't at that level, not in all subjects. If we wanted their help in pulling off a prank, we had to get there, first."
"Ah…" Charlie nodded. "That's why the prank on the staff was on the last day."
"Nooo…" Fred giggled.
"It took us that long to find the ruddy spells and be sure we had them right." George sighed.
"Oh… So… Can we expect more pranks, now?"
"Unless someone pranks us and we're looking at revenge, trying to teach someone a lesson or getting back at a bully… not really." Fred replied.
"There'll be some, but not a lot and not often." Lee added.
"Our next prank is on a random selection of students and staff, from all houses and won't happen until the day before the Easter hols." Remy said.
"What are you going to do…?" Charlie groaned.
"No spoilers…" Fred grinned.
"But no targeting, either." George said.
"Light-hearted stuff, even those that are hit, will laugh." Titan assured the sixth-year student.
"Oh, hell…" Charlie whined.
"No harm, no foul." Remy said.
"We might even get a smile out of McGonagall and Snape." Titan added.
"Yeah, and don't think I didn't see you lot sneaking off to the dungeons a couple of times a week. What's with that?" Charlie squinted at them. "Remedial lessons?"
"Oh, hell no…" Pads grimaced.
"We're partway through the second-year stuff and the trips are well into third." George told his brother.
"Excuse me…?" Charlie gaped at them.
"Ken and me are three months into second year, the twins are six months in and the trips are onto the third year stuff." Lee turned to Titan. "How far in are you guys?"
"Pads and me are three months in and Remy's almost finished third year." Titan shrugged.
"Oh, crap…" Charlie sighed. "Why? What's the deal?"
"We take our OWLs in fifth year, our NEWTs that summer, drop out of Snape's class and take on the mentoring of the first and second year Gryffs, in our sixth and seventh years." Paddrick answered.
"Oh…" Charlie seemed lost for words.
"Oh, that reminds me." Titan reached into this satchel and pulled out a shrunken trunk. "Hold this, Pads." He said, as he enlarged the trunk to be about the size of a small suitcase and dumped it on his brother's lap, opened it and pulled himself down into its depths.
"What the hell…?" Charlie exclaimed.
"Wait for it…" Paddrick said from behind the trunk's lid.
A few seconds later and Titan half-emerged from the trunk. "Gimme a hand here, guys, the trunk's on its side." Fred and Lee grasped Ty's hands and pulled him out, he shrunk the trunk and tucked it away, back in his satchel. "Right, these are only available to fifth-years and up, Charlie." He tossed over a tiny box. "That's a trunk, its got a bathroom, library and because you're doing herbology and potions, it's got a greenhouse and lab, too."
"What the… Oh… It's… Talbot told me about these, showed me his library and potions lab, he was absolutely rapt in the thing. Said it was ʛ1000… Oh… Oh, hell, no! I can't afford that!" Charlie almost screeched.
"Not asking you to. We're renting it to you." Fred said.
"The cost?" Charlie narrowed his eyes as he studied the boys.
"Keeping your mouth closed and convincing Percy to keep his closed about our… let's call them 'shops'. We're not ready for mum and dad to know, not yet." Fred said.
"By the time Ronnie and Ginny get to Hogwarts, we might be." George added.
"We'd better be, you know damn well Ronnie can't keep her mouth shut about anything." Fred grumbled.
"True." George sighed.
"And if mum finds out about the trunk? Or the business?"
"If she finds out about the trunk, tell her it's only a loan, just until you finish your NEWTs." Titan said.
"And that they're only available to those in fifth year and up." Remy added.
"And the business?"
"Tell her Grampy's trying to instil some business smarts in them." Paddrick pointed at the twins, Lee and Ken. "Part of the sponsorship deal is to prepare them for 'the real world', as Grampy calls it."
Charlie snorted and fell silent for a few minutes. As the carriage pulled up to the castle steps, he spoke again. "I want more information, guys, I'll come down to your dorm after curfew. Okay?"
"Yes, Charlie." A chorus of voices answered him.
The months passed quietly, the boys spending their time diligently working on their schoolwork, but in between classes the boys worked on a list of products and ideas for their shops. They planned on having the ultimate, one-stop Hogwarts shop, for muggleborns and muggle-raised halfblood, while at the same time catering to the muggle-curious purebloods.
But that didn't mean the Horde ignored pranks.
Oh, no, it definitely didn't.
One Ravenclaw that was overly aggressive to a first year 'puff found herself strung with ribbons that read 'bully' and flashed a bright white. Another group of Slytherins that tried to attack the triplets, as a revenge/payback for the boys' grandfather putting various members of their families in Azkaban, discovered that Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody had trained his grandsons well. Too well for the Slytherins' wellbeing. The four seventh years and two sixth years, were found hanging from the dungeon's ceiling by their robes. Remove the robe and they could get down, the problem being that height of the ceiling meant that doing so would force them to drop a good fifteen feet, and their wands were carefully tied in a bundle and hanging over a cauldron of wood-dissolving acid. Move the bundle, even fractionally, the wrong way and watch the wands fall.
And while the attackers had complained to their head of house, Snape had spent a lot of time watching the triplets and their Horde pack-mates, he was reluctantly forced to admire the brats and knew there was little chance of the triplets being found responsible. He scanned the dungeon scene, but the only magical signatures present were those of the attackers, not the triplets. Nor was there any indication of their wands having been used since charms the afternoon before, as Snape did a subtle scan of the castle's wards for their wand-signatures and the last place it showed was the charms classroom and was nothing less than eighteen hours old. If only Snape had known that the Horde all had backup wands, things might have been different, but he didn't and so he was only scanning for their Ministry registered wand-signatures, which deliberately hadn't been used outside of their classes.
After his scans, Snape questioned the attackers on what their plans had been and finding out that the sixth and seventh years had planned to attack and injure, if not kill, three first years did not sit well with the potions master, regardless of the animosity between the two houses. As punishment, the attackers found themselves stripped of all privileges. Be it, prefect badges, trunks (of which Snape was the only Professor who knew about), Hogsmeade visiting rights, library passes, or lab passes. Messages had also been sent home, bemoaning the Gryffindor-ish actions of the attackers and their complete failure to possess any Slytherin-valued attributes, at all.
Then there were their school-wide pranks. After very careful consideration, the Horde had decided that school-wide pranks had to be harmless fun. And because there was no way for them to be absolutely certain that a student wouldn't be allergic to an ingredient used in any of potions they liked, potions were ruled out, too. That left charms, runes and transfig, as their components. At least there, they could control the prank's actions.
The Easter prank had a random selection of students, acquiring a companion. As they passed through the doors of the Great Hall, every third student from each house had a toy version of their house mascot appear; running, flying or slithering in the air at the student's shoulder height. And the toys were clearly just that. Toys. The lions were plushies made from velvet or faux fur, in the full range of red tones, from pale pink through to a crimson so dark it appeared almost black. The eagles had tiny strips of leather or fabric in place of feathers and were in various different shades of blue from baby blue down to a deep rich navy. The badgers were in black and white and grey faux fur, but each one had a black and yellow scarf around its neck, the yellows going from a pale buttery colour to a bright and fiery orange/yellow. The snakes were made up of tiny interconnecting pieces of wood, glass or clay, each with minute engravings to mimic a snake's scales and their eyes were glittering buttons, while strips of red leather appeared and disappeared just like a true snake's tongue would. And each toy was in a completely separate shade, from its counterparts.
The end of year prank was a little simpler and didn't happen until the last day. As each student, or staff member passed through the doors, both in and out of the Grand Tower, they were coated in glitter, all in their house colours. Students packed and boarded the carriages to the station, glitter sparkling in the morning sunlight. The sun, peeking through the clouds of early summer rainstorms, hit the glittering students and made the Express light up like a chapel with stained glass windows. As the train pulled into the station, the parents found themselves greeting their brightly coloured children, only to have said children head back towards the Express in search of the Horde.
The boys were laughing as they were dragged down the platform.
"How long is this going to last?" That year's Head girl, Trinity, demanded, even as she smiled. Her smile was echoed by almost every student on the platform.
"The moment you leave the platform, it disappears." Titan laughed.
"Doesn't matter whether you apparate, portkey, floo or leave through the muggle exit." Remy added.
"The platform is the catalyst, once you've set foot on it, the charm-sequence is complete and will end, once you step off of the platform." Paddrick went on.
"That's why Clarence and Juniper have already lost theirs…" Fred said, pointing at Clarence, the Head Boy, and Juniper Green, the Ravenclaw seventh year prefect who was Clarence's girlfriend.
"… 'cause they went back onto the train to find us." George said.
"Oh, you lot..." Juniper laughed at them.
"I am so going to miss you cubs." Clarence Boulder ruffled their hair.
"It's not like you're going far, Clarence." Lee huffed.
"Yeah." Ken laughed. "Your family owns The Neep."
"You can come see us on weekends." Titan said.
"Guys, I can't come into the school, unless I'm on school business." Clarence reminded.
"You don't have to, we can meet you at the gates." Paddrick said.
"But you can't go to Hogsmeade until third year." Clarence argued.
"So? We can sit on one side of the gate and you on the other." Remy said.
"As long as we don't cross the ward boarders, you or us, we're fine." Titan said.
"We meet up with Grampy every weekend." Paddrick said as Moody joined them.
"The boys'll show ya were we meet, they've got a row of white pebbles on each side of the ward-boundary, don't cross them and you're fine." Moody told the graduating Head Boy.
"O-ka-ay…" Clarence replied cautiously.
"Don't worry about it, Clarence, we won't let you stuff up." Paddrick grinned, cheekily.
"Oh, get out of here… Before I decide to take points." Clarence huffed and turned to Moody. "Sir." He nodded and headed for the nearest of the apparition points.
"Come on, boys." Moody said. "Lee? You're with us, your dad said there was talk of deployment in the next six to twelve months and that's increased their training schedules. He's got a week off in mid-July and the weekends in August, so you're with us 'til then."
"Yes, Grampy." Lee answered, happily enough, he had enjoyed staying with Moody and the triplets.
"George, Fred. Your parents are waiting, but you'll still join us in a week or two. Ken? You mother's got a surprise for you and it should keep you busy for a few days. Catch the knight bus over when you're ready or send an owl and I'll come fetch you." Moody spoke to the other boys.
"Yes, Grampy." The three replied.
The triplets' summer was busy, but profitable. After sitting down and discussing it with Moody, Mr Jordan and Mr Towler, who was Ken's surprise, the man being back on his feet… sort of. After discussing the matter with the three men, the Horde decided that the safest way forward for The Lion's Den businesses was to get them registered and lease or buy a small shopfront to use during the holidays. The downside to this was that the Hogwarts' staff had to be told what they were selling to students. The upside was that they had plenty of space and no longer had to hide their transactions with students in other houses, in addition to this, the graduated seventh years now had a clearly determined point to return rented trunks to, to get their deposits back.
Pranks were fun and made most of the school laugh, they boys had taken on the challenge of making Snape and McGonagall laugh. So far, they'd succeeded with Snape twice and McGonagall once. Floating feathers, buttons that changed to beetles, balls of different coloured lumos lights, a random selection of dancing fruit, feathers enlarged and given feet, goblets on the staff table suddenly reverting back to being birds. And most surprisingly, they had a small selection of potions, the list having been given to them by Snape of all people, that no one in the school, was allergic to the ingredients of. Potions like… a colour change potion that changed the colour of someone's hair for an hour, the lightning potion that decreased someone's weight for a few minutes, the fangs-for-all potion that gave someone fangs for two minutes and a second colour change potion but this one randomly changed the colour of someone's skin for a few minutes. Knowing that no one was allergic to the ingredients and that none of the staff or students would be hurt or injured, went a long way but still, the Horde preferred to have two large pranks for the year, that affected the entire school, rather than a dozen small ones that might be mistaken as bullying if one student or house got caught more often. Hence the potions pranks being held back for the payback pranks.
And, as per their Prank Rules, the Horde retained an EE ranking in class, but all of them achieved an O in their exams. Mrs Weasley has rumoured to have been rendered silent in shock, but no proof was provided by the twins or their older brothers, so it was considered to be exaggeration on the twins' part. The twins argued and swore that next year they'd have proof.
August before their third year, saw 'The Lion's Den; A One Stop Student Shop' opening, a tiny shop that was open to the public. It was barely ten-foot wide and twenty-foot deep, but it was big enough for to have wiz-space doors on the walls, one for each boy and one for Tribus, that and a counter with a register in the middle of the room. The triplets had approached Florish and Blotts and bought the books to make up packs for the various years, for the core subjects and introduction packs for the muggleborn or raised. Thanks to their housemates, they were provided the stock lists for all seven years and were able to sort through the Room-acquired stock and pull out anything that was suitable. The twins bought a larger wiz-space from the Den, to enable them to have separate areas for wizard products, muggle products and Hogwarts products. Ken set up a number of ready-to-go fish aquariums and plant terrariums, in addition to his existing range of products.
And each of them had hired a couple of the older students, and not only lions, to help out, as even having extended their hours from 10an-1pm to 10am-3pm, they were still running flat out. Without having underage magic exemptions, they'd have never managed it, being able to 'officially' use magic in public, even if limited to the shop premises, was truly a godsend.
Far away in a different world, a pair of young women and a young man stood in front of a familiar archway, the chamber lit only by a small ball of bluebell flames, that floated above one of the women.
"Are you sure?" She asked her companions.
"My family are gone. Gran died last winter and mum and dad in the Dragonpox epidemic. There's nothing for me, here." The young man answered.
"Did you convert everything to ʛalleons?" The woman asked.
"All but the family heirlooms and the stuff that was found in the Lestranges' manor." He replied.
"Good, Neville. Luna? What about you? Going to change your mind?" The woman asked the third person.
"No, like Neville, there's nothing here for me. Daddy's gone, mummy's gone, my friend Harry is gone, and my friends Neville and Hermione are going too." Luna answered.
"What about you, Hermione? Your parents are still alive, you don't have to go." Neville told Hermione.
"My parents are muggles, Neville, and I obliviated them, it's irreversible. They might be alive, but they'll never know who I am. And losing Ginny, Ron, George and Molly to the second wave of the epidemic? I don't get along with Percy all that well, Bill's retreated to France with Fleur and Arthur's burying himself in his work. I doubt he'll even notice that I'm gone." Hermione whispered.
"Are you three going to talk all night?" A fourth voice cut into their conversation.
The three spun, wands at the ready, to see a ruined face.
"Malfoy?" Hermione gasped. "Crap, you scared the doxie-dung out of me." She stood up straight and let the tension fall from her shoulders.
"You didn't answer, Granger." The blonde man commented.
"We're following Harry." Luna answered, completely unconcerned about talking to the badly scarred Slytherin.
"The Dragonpox epidemic took so much and left us with so little, that we're getting out, Malfoy." Neville said.
"Following Potter? You do realise that the chances of you ending up in the same place are miniscule? Right?" Malfoy warned.
"It's still a better option than staying here." Hermione sighed.
"Yes, I am well aware of that." Malfoy drawled. "Which is why… I can't believe I'm saying this…" He shook his head. "I never thought such words would come from my mouth, Granger, not directed at you, of all people."
"Malfoy?" Hermione asked, beginning to get worried.
"I'm coming with you." He said. "Gryffindors are the only ones that can even look at me, without cringing and you two are the only ones to not sneer at me, while Lovegood doesn't even see the scars."
"Why would we? You're still Malfoy, under those scars." Neville huffed.
"The Dragonpox took so many people and left so many so badly scarred, worse than me. I know I should be grateful just to survive… and thank you for that, Granger, your combining of the muggle-based treatments with magical potions saved my life. But all I see, is what was taken from me. My mother, my father, my godfather and my home, and it's always there, right in front of me." Malfoy whispered.
"And you think that following us… and Harry, will change that?" Hermione asked.
"Maybe, maybe not, but it's unlikely to be any worse than here." Malfoy shrugged. "I spoke to that Indian wizard you brought over, the one that was a parselmouth. I didn't ask him what you had him translate, but I did ask if it confirmed Potter's hypotheses about the veil and while he didn't verbally answer, he nodded. That was enough for me. I couldn't work out when you were going to do this, there were a number of dates that he would have considered important, so I made sure I was prepared."
"What did you do?" Neville asked, a frown on his face.
"I asked Gringotts to inform me when you started to sell off assets. Then I did the same. Potter left Granger the Potter estate and when Madam Tonks and Professor Lupin's son died, she also got the Black estates. I emptied all the Lestrange Family vaults of anything worth keeping and a selection of the Malfoy heirlooms into a wizard-space within a trunk and converted everything else to ʛalleons and gems."
"Same here." Neville nodded. "With the Longbottom and Rossi estates."
"I brought the Lovegood and Rathdowney estates." Luna said.
"I have the… Potter, Black, Granger, Dagworth-Granger and Wilton estates." Hermione sighed.
"Dagworth-Granger?" Malfoy blinked.
"Yeah, apparently, my Great-grandfather was Hector Dagworth-Granger's squib son, and Hector had no other children, so…?" Hermione grimaced.
"You are his magical heir." Malfoy nodded in understanding.
"Yes."
"Might I make a suggestion?" Malfoy nodded towards the veil. "We have limited time, before the next security sweep comes by. So… I would suggest we make a move. However, I would also suggest, that as we have no way of knowing where we shall emerge, that disillusionment charms might be a wise choice. That and to ensure that we arrive in the same place, we enter the veil, in contact with each other."
"We had planned on holding hands…" Neville said.
"…but the disillusionment charms are a good idea." Hermione nodded. "If one person casts them after we hold hands, we'll still be able to see each other. How are you at them?"
"Not great. I preferred to be seen, not overlooked… at least until the Dragonpox and…" Malfoy gestured to his face.
"Fair enough. I'm pretty good. Neville? Luna?" Hermione asked.
"Nope, not me." Neville shook his head. "I never got the hang of the illusion and disillusion type charms."
"Oh, yes, I'm excellent at them, we used them all the time, when we went looking for daddy's creatures. They were the first things I learnt." Luna answered.
"Great. Malfoy? Where's your stuff?" Hermione asked.
"Here." Malfoy held up a dragonhide rucksack, in the style that was favoured by many muggleborns.
"Good, if you're coming with us, come on." She held out a hand, knowing that this could be the tipping point, if Malfoy pulled out, they would only have a few seconds to act before he could call for help, but if he was genuine…?
Malfoy looked at Hermione steadily before crossing the chamber and stopping beside her, his fingers twitching as they closed around hers.
"Lovegood? Ready when you are." He said.
"Call me Luna, please. Being called Lovegood reminds me too much of your Aunt." Luna pulled out her wand.
"Wait!" Two more voices called. Turning to the chamber's door, the four saw Arthur and Percy Weasley.
"Wait. Please, wait." Percy called, but other than stepping into the camber with his father, he made no move to approach them.
"Why should we?" Luna said.
"We have nothing to stay for." Neville added.
Arthur slowly reached into his pocket with one hand, the other holding his wand by the tip, rather than the hilt. He pulled out a shrunken trunk.
"Take this? Please?" He begged.
"What is it?" Hermione frowned.
"The twins' shop." Arthur answered.
"Not exactly the shop, but a copy of all their records, a listing of all their products and all their notes on designing, making, manufacturing and advertising." Percy corrected. "And samples of each product. Plus, Harry's share of their profits, they kept a trunk which they put his ʛalleons in."
"Lee was going through George's office and found the twins' journals, apparently Harry was their partner. He gave them the start-up ʛalleons, so the twins made him their silent partner and gave him a percentage of the shop's profits." Arthur added.
"Fred and George are both gone, now, and George left the shop to Lee and Angelina. It was McGonagall that warned Angelina what she thought you were going to do, and Angelina and Lee put the trunk together for Harry. Take it. If you find Harry, give it to him? Please?" Percy begged.
The four in front of the veil exchanged looks and shrugged. Malfoy released Hermione's hand and crossed to stand in front of the Weasley men, he studied them carefully before heaving a sigh.
"Give it here." He opened a pocket on his rucksack and taking the shrunken trunk from Arthur, dropped it into the pocket, then he swung the rucksack by the straps, up over his shoulder and onto his back. He made his way back to Hermione's side and stood ready.
"If I may?" Arthur asked. "You don't know what you're going into. You need all the strength you can get. If Miss Lovegood casts the disillusionment charms over four adults, that will lower her core levels significantly, particularly as she's only been out of the hospital for a week. Percy's been working with me for the last month and we've got quite good a co-casting. Let us cast the disillusion charms, we can set them to not dissipate without a password."
Another shared look and Hermione nodded.
"Thank you, Arthur." She said. "Password is to be 'Potter', please."
"A facie cecidimus. Stricta ad finem… Potter." The two redheads chanted as they pointed their wands and waved them over the four young people before turning and heading for the door.
"Oh, and the access password for the trunk is the same as the map. Lee said, you'd know what he meant." Arthur half turned and spoke to a seemingly empty chamber.
"Good luck." Percy let a single tear run down his cheek, but he never looked back, his shoulders rigid.
The chamber door swung closed, silently.
"Shall we?" Hermione held up her hands, a wand in one, Malfoy sighed but took the other, Luna stepped over and unhesitatingly took Malfoy's other hand and Neville held Luna's.
"Let's." Malfoy answered and nodded to Hermione.
As one the four took a deep breath and followed Hermione as she led them into the so-called Veil of Death and into its darkness.
Neville opened his eyes and looked around. "Oh, crap." He whispered.
Luna opened her eyes and looked around. "Oh, dear." She whispered.
Draco opened his eyes and looked around. "Oh, you have got to be joking." He whispered.
Hermione opened her eyes and looked around. "Oh, bollocks." She swore.