Hey all. Here I am again. I thank all those who took the time to review. I appreciate it a lot. Even those who just say they want more. :)

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A Different Path

Chapter 8

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Weasley Wizard Wheezes. That was the name of the newest shop in Diagon Alley. It was pretty successful too, as the items they sold were new and innovative, compared to the products of the other joke shop in the Alley, Zonko's. Run by fun-loving and friendly redheaded twins, it had rapidly become a success. The twins, Fred and George Weasley, of a financially poor family, were making money hand over fist with their sales.

A stroke of luck had them starting up the shop sooner than they would have expected. While Harry's money had been enough to get started, it wouldn't have been enough to cover all expenses once the shop had opened. But, the infamous Ludo Bagman had been arrested some time ago, and the twins had been able to get the money back that they had bet on the Quidditch World Cup championship. And a fair amount of their winnings too, though they hadn't managed to get the entire sum from him. So, with this additional money in their pockets, they could open the shop earlier than anticipated.

And, to top things off, they had managed to snag a very good employee. A notorious prankster in his day, for those who knew it. While initially it was a bit strange that the elder Remus Lupin was working for the much younger twin brothers, the three of them soon had everything running smoothly. The brothers had heard Remus address the notorious Sirius Black as 'Padfoot' and had cornered the both of them and pried the story from them. They knew of Remus' difficulty in keeping a job for any length of time due to his 'monthly problem', a.k.a his lycanthropy, and had promised him a job once they could open the shop. Of course the proud werewolf tried to decline, wanting no pity from anyone, but the twins had been most persuasive. In the end, he had accepted the job and had come to find that they hadn't given it to him out of pity, but that they really expected him to do what they paid him for. He had always enjoyed thinking up pranks in his schooldays. And now he could do it again, and get paid for it. Life was good now, or as good as it got with most of those he cared about dead.

The twins had also taken the death of their young friend Harry quite hard. After all, he had been the one to provide the original investment money needed to open their shop, believing they could succeed where others thought they couldn't. Not even their own mother had had faith that they would succeed. Having seen all the money they made, she had of course been made to review her opinion, but that didn't take away the fact that Harry had believed in them more than she had. They had wanted to make something to remember him by, but they also knew he didn't like his fame so they decided not to use his image or name in some sort of product. In fact, they were trying to get the rights on his image and name, if only to prevent it being abused. So instead, they went to Hogwarts resident photographer, and bought a picture of Harry with all his friends together, framed it, and hung it in their shop. Underneath it they wrote, 'In memory of absent friends'. Once, the youngest Malfoy had come in the shop, to laugh at the efforts the twins and their pet werewolf were doing. They'd let the insults slide, paying little to no attention to the brat, until he decided that it would be a good idea to insult Harry. The young aristocrat had ended up outside the shop, hexed into a state that had taken the best in St. Mungos 6 hours to undo the effects of. Charges had been tried to be pressed, but with the elder Malfoy a proven Death Eater the credibility of the younger had been much doubted. In the end all the shop had gotten was a warning not to do it again.

Present day though, school had started and business had slowed down because of it. Remus had left for an Order meeting, but the twins declined to attend, having a business to take care off. And besides, it wasn't as if anything of importance would be talked about, or achieved. The twins had begun to see that the Order was nothing more than wishful thinking of those wanting to do something. For all the Headmaster's words and speeches, they had nothing to show for their efforts. At the moment the shop was empty, but the twins were busy anyway. Fred was checking the inventory while George was tinkering with unfinished new inventions, so they filled their time quite well. The doorbell tingled, alerting Fred to an arrival in the shop. Looking up, he saw a person with his, or at least he thought it was a him, back to him. Long black spiky hair pulled in a ponytail, a muggle headcap, one he knew to be associated with a sport, but like many things muggle he couldn't remember the name of the sport. About 5ft 8-5ft 9 if he had to guess. It looked like he was just browsing, so Fred let him. The twins had learned early on that being too eager to sell something wasn't all that good. You had to give the clients time to look for a few minutes before asking if they needed help. As such, Fred went back to his inventory and missed the newcomer looking at the photograph and the scripture under it. Nor did he see the smile that came to his face when the stranger read the phrase. Finishing with the shelf he was doing, he put away his list and turned to the potential customer.

"Hello sir. Can I help you?" He asked.

Said potential customer turned around when Fred spoke and used a finger to lift the flap of his cap, revealing piercing emerald eyes.

"Why yes, I do believe you can help me." Harry said, much enjoying the shocked look on the single twin's face.

"Ha...Harry?" Fred stammered out, feeling faint. When Harry nodded, Fred did the only think he could. He bellowed for his brother.

"GEORGE!"

For a few moments it remained silent, then running footsteps could be heard from the backroom. The door swung open forcefully and George came out with his wand drawn, ready to defend his brother from whomever or whatever made him yell for him. Seeing a smiling Harry Potter near his brother however, was not something he had counted on. Unable to keep his wand up due to shock, his arm dropped down limply.

"Ha...Harry?" He managed to stutter, unknowingly echoing his brother. In response, Harry grinned and opened his arms as if to show it really was him.

"The one and only." Harry was enjoying this very much. "As always, reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated." And he continued to grin like a lunatic as he was bear hugged by the overjoyed twin brothers. The hugging only lasted a few seconds though, before they let go and started dancing an abundant jig together, much to the continued amusement of Harry. Then, as if someone threw a switch, both twins sharply waved their wands at the door, one brother closing it, the other flipping the 'open' sign around. Then, they grabbed a still amused Harry under the armpits and physically dragged him to the chamber in the back, where they dumped him in a chair, quickly provided him with a big pint of butterbeer, took a pint for themselves and sat down across from him with expectant looks in their eyes.

Snickering, Harry looked at them. "Yes, I'm alive, and no, I'm not gonna tell you the story just yet. I'll tell it when everyone can hear it all at once. But," he interrupted, "I did come here for a reason."

Waving his hands over the table, he brought out the second Nexus he had created.

"Gentlemen. Meet the future."

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Hermione couldn't concentrate. Her mind kept drifting back to Harry and his return. And to how the Headmaster had been acting. He certainly hadn't been acting like he should. It seemed there was at least some truth about what Harry had been saying about him. And Harry...How he had changed. So much stronger, and more knowledgeable. It might be wrong to say wiser, as he still wasn't that old, but he sure seemed to think more than he did before.

She hadn't really realised how much she had missed him, until she saw him again. In truth, she had been attracted to both Harry and Ron for some time, but when she was with Ron for that short period of time she knew it was only a physical attraction to him. She still felt the same, but now she knew that it would never be more than that. She wasn't sure if she wanted to try and find out if the attraction she felt for Harry could be more than the physical kind, but at least she had a chance again if she wanted to find out.

She briefly wondered why he wore the glove on his right hand though. He hadn't done so even when he had the scar from that horrible Umbridge woman. She didn't know why he would wear a glove, unless it was to hide something. But if he hadn't hidden the Blood-Quill scar, which he had hated with a passion, then what could be bad enough that he chose to block it from view.

Most of all, she was just glad he was back with them. He had been one of the very first people she could truly call a friend. In primary school she had been seen as boring, because she honestly liked to read and learn things. Then, when she started at Hogwarts, she wanted so much to be a good witch, because she came from a non-magical family, that she became even more studious, even if she didn't always like the subject very much. A lot of people only saw her studying hard, and didn't consider that even she didn't like every subject there was. That studious-ness shifted into overdrive to compensate for the lack of knowledge of magic she had compared to those of magical descent, and made her unpopular with the others who just wanted to learn a bit of magic, and not do too much work. Then Ron's comment about her having no friends, while true, broke her resolve to ignore the whispers. The rest, as they say, is history. So Harry became one of her first, if not the very first, friend. Ron had been something of a friend by default, as he was Harry's friend at the time.

She sighed. Could this hour go any slower? The minutes seemed to crawl by, keeping lunchtime at bay. She had no doubt that Harry would join them for lunch, or perhaps they would join him in his room. It would certainly be a lot more private that way. She wanted to get to know this Harry more. No doubt that he could teach them all a lot, given what he'd shown and told already. And still sixteen of these long minutes to go. It wasn't as if she didn't understand this part of Arithmancy yet anyway. Hermione prided herself on the fact that she always kept a chapter, at the least, ahead of the level in class. But at times like these, she wished she didn't already know what they were seeing. It made for such a boring wait. And could they really not have found a better temporary substitute than the old man that was wheezing his way through his explanation? It sounded as if the poor man could drop dead at any given moment. Still fifteen minutes left before lunch...

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Suddenly the door leading from the shop area to the private slammed open to admit a stormy looking Remus Lupin. It smashed against the wall behind so forcefully that the glass in the door shattered, crashing to the floor loudly.

Remus made a sound that may or may not have been an actual growl, but was in any case definitely very frustrated, as he turned to administer a quick reparo without even glancing at the occupants of the room.

"Sorry about that." He said with enforced calm, turning to properly look at the room. Harry watched with a neutral mask on his face as his ex-professor first noticed the presence of someone other than the twins, and then almost instantly recognised who he was. He was on guard and had braced himself mentally for anything, as he really wasn't sure how his godfather's best friend would react to him. He couldn't forget that the man was an Order member, and had served under Dumbledore in the first war as well as now.

"Harry…" It was breathed more than spoken, and although not an actual question Harry gave a small nod to dispel any lingering doubt in the man's mind. It was at that moment hard to remember that for his friends it had only been two months since he'd left, for Lupin looked so…washed out perhaps, as though years had passed for him too.

Remus closed his eyes briefly, and gave a short laugh that probably came out darker than he'd intended, as he ran a hand through his hair before clearing his throat and speaking again. "Harry, it's good to see you. How have you been?"

"Fine. And yourself?" He answered politely, still waiting for some indication as to what camp Remus would be in- for him, or against him. He relaxed somewhat as the man gave him an ironic smile, raised eyebrows indicating his doubt as to the accuracy of that answer.

"About the same, perhaps." He replied, closing the repaired door gently. It only now penetrated his conscious mind that the shop area had been empty, though to be honest he hadn't noticed that detail when he'd first made his entrance.

With a meaningful glance at Harry, George (or was it Fred?) asked, "How was the meeting?"

Remus gave a soft snort. "You mean the Very Urgent Meeting of the Most Esteemed and Very Important Order of the Flaming Big Bird? That meeting?"

The twins shared a surprised look at their associate's uncommonly sarcastic and mocking tone, while Harry allowed himself to show his confusion. Remus rummaged through a cupboard under a counter until he found where he'd shoved his hastily abandoned lunch, then leant back against the shelving beside it.

"Great, it went great." He sighed.

Instantaneously George hopped up to sit facing Remus on the table between them, while Fred switched to sit on the vacated chair, closer to Remus and the latest Order gossip. "Spill." They commanded. "What happened?" Fred added.

Remus' lips twitched, though he kept his eyes on unwrapping his half-sandwich and casting a general detection charm for magical tampering on it. Harry had to grin at that, as it obviously had to become a habit second to breathing for anyone who spent considerable amounts of time around the twins.

Satisfied his food wasn't going to suddenly try to eat him instead, he took a bite, swallowed, and answered. "Well, first off we were informed of your return Harry."

"Who's we?" Harry cut in, determined to get as much information as he could during this opportunity.

"Your parents," Remus gestured with his free hand towards the twins, "Kingsley, Nymphadora, Moody, and Snape." He took another bite before continuing, "Then Albus continued to recount to us your very rude refusal to have lemon drops and tea with him."

"And what did you think of me for that?" Harry asked him, deliberately keeping his tone light so as to not show how important the answer would be to his future relations with the man.

Remus however was not fooled, and looked up to make eye contact for the first time. "I told him I wasn't surprised."

Harry's eyes widened perceptibly in surprise. He didn't need legilimancy to see the concern Remus had for him. Not concern for the weapon to defeat Voldemort, or concern of his growing power, but concern for himself, just Harry, and his welfare.

He grinned and finally fully relaxed his guard. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Remus replied with a soft smile.

"That's so beautiful." Fred 'sniffled'.

"Heart warming." His twin agreed, wiping away an imaginary tear.

"Touches you deep inside."

"So tender and moving."

"Shut it you two." Harry laughed, before they could get truly carried away. "What did Dumbledore say then?"

"He brushed me off when I raised concerns about his treatment of you these past years. I'm afraid harsh words were exchanged with your mother boys."

The twins shrugged, knowing that Remus would never have been unforgivingly rude. "It happens."

"She'll come around."

Remus pulled a face, doubtful of his chances at being invited to dinner any time in the near future, then continued his summary of the meeting. "Chewed out Snape while I was at it."

"Ew." George immediately piped up.

"Gross." Fred agreed.

"I thought you didn't-"

"Like greasy food-"

"Moony."

"That's why I spat him out again." Remus replied drolly, with a roll of his eyes. Harry stuck out his tongue in disgust at the mental images. "And then, Albus started to insist that it was imperative that we now keep you under lock and key, regulating what you know and do. My protest was overridden, and so I did the only thing that seemed right. I left."

"You left?" Harry repeated, hoping for further clarification.

"I quit the Order."

"No way!" Fred and George exclaimed in unison. Remus chose to finish the last bite of his lunch rather than answer. Harry frowned, considering this new information.

"We knew you weren't exactly happy with the Order."

"But we didn't think you'd actually have the guts to leave."

"And I didn't think you two would have the guts to tamper with my food after the tights and underwear incident, but obviously I was wrong too." Remus answered without missing a beat. "Now kindly remove the cow horns from my head."

"It's not our fault!" Fred grinned, not bothering to hide the mischievousness of it.

"They warn us all the time." George added with an identical grin.

"You are what you eat!" They chorused together.

Harry groaned, and with a wave of his hand dispelled the horns.

"Right. Guys, tell Remus about the nexus and what it does, I'm going back to Hogwarts to have a nice lunch with my friends before the old man tries to accost them again. I swear, he's dumb enough to keep trying." Harry said to the sniggering twins, and with a final wave goodbye, he shimmered out.

Remus looked at the spot Harry had been standing just moments before, then at the twins, who were looking very impressed. Shaking his head at the general weirdness that seemed to surround Harry Potter, he started to question them about whatever that pyramid-thingy was till late in the night, which eventually ended with a very annoyed m-mail from Ginny, telling the three of them to finally leave her alone so she could sleep. It seemed she had yet to find the 'off' command...

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Done for this chapter. Hope you liked it and if you did, please leave a review.