I had come to the conclusion that this Molly Weasley had a far larger temper than the one in my world, which was saying something.

"GEORGE FABIAN WEASLEY!" she roared, brandishing her wand at me (a rather foolish idea. It would be so easy to summon it with her waving it around like a baton). "HOW DARE YOU?!"

"Working on your Howler voice, are you?" I ruffled Harry's hair as I walked by, and received a steely glare for my efforts.

Mum turned even redder. "You—how—what—George! Why did you let Skeeter interview you? Look at all these lies!"

"Mum, she had me edit. Everything in there is the absolute truth—especially the parts about me being deviously handsome and clever."

Bill snorted.

"You—you!" Mum looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "I raised you better than this, George!"

I tapped my wand on the couch, checking for spells or spilt potions, and sat down between Remus and Tonks—perhaps not my best idea, but sure to be amusing if played correctly. "Actually, Mum, you didn't raise me at all. That was my mum, see. And really, woman, I don't see what's got you so riled up. Skeeter and I have worked together several times. She's excellent company if you want to find a scandal—and believe it or not, most of them do have quite a bit of truth. Say, Tonks, you are looking simply marvelous this morning."

Tonks blinked at the sudden change of subject. "Oh. Er—thanks, George." Her hair turned strawberry pink, which looked surprisingly different from her usual bubblegum.

Remus shifted in his seat next to me, uncomfortable.

"I just can't believe you'd lie like that!" Mum said, apparently not hearing me. "And the things you did say—Dumbledore is a great man! How dare you?! I can't believe we trusted our sons with you—Arthur? Arthur!"

Dad was fiddling with a rubber ducky (painted like a ninja) that I had slipped to him. He pocketed it guiltily and looked up at Mum. "Yes, Molly?"

Mum scoffed at the duck, and put her hands on her hips. "Arthur, cancel the contract."

There was sudden silence.

Sirius frowned into his pumpkin juice. "Molly, you can't just 'cancel the contract'. First off, it's magically impossible. Second, George would be well within his rights to disappear with the twins if you tried. Third, it's just plain rude."

"And he's your son!" Tonks burst out. Her hair turned teal blue in confusion, reminding me of Teddy.

I sunk down into the couch a bit more. Something in my chest felt constricted at Mum's words, but I wasn't sure why. There was something wrong with the entire situation here. My mother would trust her children, no matter their world of origin or not—once she knew it was really them, of course. This one, though…this Molly Weasley put bossy, irritating, and dangerously foolish to a new level.

I didn't like it.

Ah, well. At least Dad, Bill, and the twins seemed the same. I'd figure out the other Weasleys later; I hadn't spent too much time with them yet, barring the impromptu training class with Fawkes.

I jumped to my feet, ignoring the tightness in my chest. "Right! I wanted to see the twins. And the other ickle kiddies, of course. And the rest of you darling folks. All the same, I think I'll head upstairs now. Delightful talk we had here, Mum."

I apparated to the twins' room. They were passed out in their beds, which made me rather jealous. I didn't like mornings, and the chance to sleep in had been lost today due to me actually falling asleep at a reasonable time.

I woke them both with stinging hexes on their conveniently upturned bottoms. They woke with girlish squeals (goodness. Fred and I had never gone that squeaky, although Ron could on occasion).

"What the bloody hell was that for?" Fred asked, rubbing his tender wounds.

"That bloody hurt!"

"Language," I reprimanded absentmindedly. "Listen, we've got to talk." I paused for a moment, and, after thinking it over, set up a silencing ward.

Mini-Me yawned. "What on Earth was so important you had to wake us up at—what time is it, anyway?"

Fred looked at his watch, but didn't answer. George seemed to be ok with that, so I didn't bother answering either.

I tossed Fred the Prophet. "Here. I'm guessing you haven't read it yet."

George apparated to his brother's bed, and the two made quick work of it.

"That was seriously funny," Fred said with a grin.

"But why'd you do it?"

"Skeeter's known for stretching the truth—"

"And that's putting it mildly."

"I know. But I've worked with her before. I know her ways. And trust me, every word of that is the truth."

Fred rubbed his eyes. "Ok. So you're from another world and all, but we know—"

"Wait!" Mini-Me grabbed the paper and frantically reread through it. "Two faraway kids?! You're a dad? A dad?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"With kids?"

I was getting annoyed now. "What, you don't think I can do it?"

"We—ell…" Fred drawled.

"Shut it. Well, Junior? Don't think you can be a dad?"

Mini-Me looked far too tired to be doing any actual thinking, if his cross-eyed gaze was anything to go by. "I didn't say that. What are their names? How old are they? Who's—who's the mom?"

I inhaled sharply, accidentally drawing both of their attentions. "Yeah…about that. It's complicated."

"Complicated how?" Fred demanded.

"Freddie's older—he's eight. Roxanne's a year younger."

They both stared at me. "The mom?"

I frowned. "Like I said, there's a lot I need to talk to you about, but I need to know that no one else can find it."

Now it was the twins' turn to frown.

"We won't tell," Fred promised.

"I know. I'm more worried about someone breaking into your minds."

The twins blinked, looked at each other, and turned back to me.

"Yeah?" Mini-Me said. "So?'

I froze. "What do you mean….so?"

"I mean, people have poked at our minds before, but we've held them off."

My left eye started twitching like a toddler with sugar. "Who?"

"Uh…Snape, twice. Dumbledore's done it a few times. There was one old guy at the Ministry, and Malfoy Senior's done it once."

"And you know it? You can feel it?"

Fred answered this time. "We don't let them in. It really surprised them all the first time, and Snape quit pretty fast. Dumbledore gives us a random once-over every time he enters a room, but it's just a brush, like he's not even trying."

"We figured he did it to everyone, to check for eavesdroppers and doppelgangers."

That was strange. I hadn't felt Dumbledore do that to me. A thought—a rather paranoid one at that—started forming in my head. "Like Crouch and Moody?"

Both teens tensed up. They didn't move for a few moments.

"We never thought of that," Mini-Me said slowly.

"He should've known."

"So what was he doing, then?"

I rechecked my silencing ward, and sat on the empty bed. "Mind if I check your Occlumency?"

They stared at me. "Our Occu-whatsits?"

That brought a frown to my face. If they could feel people poking around in their heads, how could they not know what Occlumency was? Who'd taught them? "Your Occlumency skills. Magics of the mind. Legilimency is used to enter someone's mind, and Occlumency is used to defend and organize a mind. You two say you've been using Occlumency without knowing what it was?"

They nodded.

"Any other strange things I should know about?"

Mini-Me titled his head thoughtfully. "What was the other one? Legil-mandy?"

"Legilimency. Why?" There was a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Fred and I can talk to each other in our heads. We've always been able to do it—we thought it was a twin thing." Both of them were watching me closely. "You two couldn't, could you?"

I sagged back against the wall. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. Twin telepathy? Natural Occlumency and Legilimency? I didn't think that was possible in my world. "No. No, we couldn't."

The twins didn't say anything.

Would it have made a difference if we could have? Fred would've known about my ear, and I would've known—

It didn't matter. I couldn't have helped him. No one could have.

"Right." I sat up straight and clapped my hands together, faking cheerfulness. "I'll just check your mind barriers then, see how secure they are. It's one thing to tell when someone's there, and another to hold your own against the likes of a master."

"Like Dumbledore."

"Whom you seem fairly not fond of."

"Dumbledore's a manipulative bastard," I snarled. "And you two are to remember that at all times."

They glanced at each other. It dawned on me that they were probably speaking, and a sharp pang shot through my stomach. Was that jealousy? Couldn't be. I closed my eyes and tightened my Occlumency walls, just in case there were a few emotions slipping through. I didn't need a breakdown—especially not here.

Someone poked at my walls.

I rolled off the bed and onto the floor, both wands in my hands, and my barriers fully up. It took me a moment to realize it was the twins.

"Paranoid, are we?" Fred asked with a lazy grin.

"You two do that again and I'll feed you to the jellyfish," I hissed.

"What jellyfish?" Mini-Me narrowed his eyes.

"Consider it payback for the doxies yesterday morning."

"We didn't even do anything!"

"Next time," I slowly straightened, and put my wands away. "Let me know before you do something stupid like that."

"What, or you'll feed us to the jellyfish?"

"I'll seriously consider it." I narrowed my eyes, and tried for a sudden attack. If the twins did have natural Occlumency, I didn't know how strong it would be. I didn't care, anyhow—if Dumbledore or Snape truly wanted to break into their minds, they wouldn't go soft. So I didn't.

They both yelped, and collapsed back on the bed. I did, too. My head felt like it had just run into the platform wall at King's Cross after Dobby froze it. This was just one of them? Merlin's purple beard, this was impossible! I'd spent years building my walls; I was known worldwide for being a master at mind-magics. Now?

I had clearly met my match.

"What…" I gasped. "The hell was that?"

Mini-Me shook his head and sat up, seemingly unfazed. Fred rolled over and stuck his head back under the pillow. "That," Junior said lightly. "Was you hitting our walls. And bouncing off them, it felt like."

"What, you share the same mind?" Impossible. I'd never heard of that happening. Of course, I doubt anyone but twins could, or even would, do it, anyway…the sheer idea of spending the rest of my life in someone else's head, and that same someone in mine, was certainly terrifying unless I thought of Fred. Maybe even then.

Junior nodded. "We think so."

I glared at him enviously. "You were born with those walls? It took me years to get mine, and I just bounced right—you know, forget this. Fred, get up. We need to talk."

"What, we're capable of keeping the secrets? Think we're ready to be all knowing Weasleys now?" Fred flopped over onto Junior's lap, making the bed bounce. I expected one of them to move or fall off, but they seemed just fine with the close contact. I swallowed. I had a headache, and I wasn't sure whether it was from the failed Legilimency attack or an upcoming breakdown.

"There's a lot of things we need to go over." None of which I was any longer in the mood to explain.

Fred put his arms behind his head, still laying across Junior's lap. The position didn't look comfortable, and the Ravenclaw in me wanted my own questions answered, possible emotional breakdown or not.

"How exactly are you comfortable like that?" I asked, eyeing the teens.

"Comfortable like what?"

"If Mum saw you now, she'd have fits," I said.

They laughed.

"Oh, she's used to it."

"Said we've done it ever since we were little."

"Apparently it's a twin thing."

"Our uncles used to do it, too."

"You know, the Prewetts."

I rubbed my temples. This was going to take longer than I had thought. "Right. Natural mind magic, need for close contact. Any other 'twin things' I should know about?"

They looked at each other.

"I don't think so," Fred answered slowly. "Can we get back to you on that?"

I sighed. "Sure. Anyway, I've got a house. I'm not done with the wards yet, but I figured it would be good for you two to learn how."

"Wards?"

"Like Hogwarts?"

I nodded. "Mine are a bit more secure than Hogwarts, but the theory's the same—or was, before Dumbledore took control of them."

"Can you explain your dislike of Dumbledore?"

My headache grew worse. "Yeah…I suppose. He was alright in the beginning, but he grew a big head after defeating Grindelwald—who's still alive, by the way."

Their eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah, that was a shocker for me, too. Anyway, he got it in his head that he was always right, that he could literally do no wrong. He made a bunch of mistakes for the 'greater good' which started both wars. He made one which led to his own death, and that, at least, I can be grateful for."

Fred tilted his head, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You blame him for my death, don't you?"

The curtains tore off the rods and slammed into the opposite wall, making the twins dive for cover.

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that, then?" Mini-Me asked tentatively.

I glared at him.

"O-kay," he said meekly.

"Like I was saying, I've got a house and some elves, and we'll be leaving tonight."

Their eyebrows shot up again.

Fred asked, "I thought you said we weren't leaving until the end of the week?"

I snorted. "What, you thought I meant that? No, that was to fool Mum into thinking she has more time to try and fool me out of the contract. You're all packed, right?"

They looked at each other, and did a sort of nod, sort of shake with their heads.

"All right, fine. Is everything here at least?"

Mini-Me pushed Fred out of the way and reached under the bed. He pulled out a school trunk. "All we need is our notes, and they're all in here."

"I have all of my old notes, you know. They're probably exactly the same."

"They probably are," Fred agreed. "But we'd like our copies around all the same, to hide them from Mum if nothing else."

I pursed my lips. Fred's comment had reminded me of something. "Can you tell me about your family?"

They both blinked.

Fred frowned. "They're yours too."

"I know. I thought things were almost exactly the same here, but I've been noticing differences—small ones, but I'm worried there's some big ones too. So...care to explain?"

"What exactly is different?"

"Mostly Mum. Mine had a temper, but a much longer fuse and a somewhat smaller explosion."

Mini-Me grimaced. "That sounds…kind of quiet, actually. I don't know what we'd do if Mum didn't send Howlers once a week."

"Oh, she certainly did that. Worked herself up into quite a fit. She didn't want to acknowledge us growing up, either, but she wasn't quite so…smothering, I guess. I mean, she was, but not the way she is here. We had some breathing room."

Fred nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. You are in a different world. Things are bound to be different."

He was right, actually. I'd been thinking the only difference was Dumbles doing the summoning. "Well, if you're all packed, I can get talking. I—"

"Just a moment!" Fred held up a hand, interrupting me. "Sorry, mate, but we just woke up. Give us five minutes?"

I stared at them for a moment. It would make sense to let them freshen up first, but I was getting impatient—and my headache was steadily growing worse. I wanted to be home and secure before anything happened. "Yeah, sure. Be quick, though, or I'll start without you."

"How can he start without us?" Junior muttered as they apparated away.

They reappeared in two minutes, both looking exceptionally frazzled.

"Quick, strengthen your wards!" Fred wheezed. "Mum and Dumbledore teamed up!"

Oh dear.

"Fawkes!" I jumped to my feet, and the phoenix flamed in. "Great. Can you distract Mum and Dumbledore for a bit while I talk to the twins?"

Fawkes gave me a petulant look.

"Oh, don't even try it," I warned him. "You wanna set something on fire, make sure it's Dumbledore's beard and not my shirt."

The bird perked up at the permission to set something on fire, and flamed out.

The twins collapsed on the other bed.

"Feeling better?" I asked.

"A bit. Hungry, though."

"That can wait. Now, we've covered some of Dumbledore, and part of the warding. Let's finish the house." I clapped my hands together. "It's a rather large mansion in the middle of the countryside—and before you ask, no, I don't know exactly where it is. I wasn't paying that close attention, I just wanted a sizable house with a large property."

They stared at me.

"You don't even know where it is?" Junior seemed skeptical.

"Makes it harder for anyone else to find it," I snapped. "It's a basic ward system right now: something Bill and I invented. It's called the Triple-Ward System, because there's three interlocking wards."

Both teens perked up.

"Interlocking wards?"

"How'd you manage that?"

"A Mastery in Runes and some solid ward stones helped," I retorted. "You two aren't quite to that level yet. It's made up of a Keep-Away, both Muggle and wizard, an Awareness Ward, and a Control Ward. Know what those are?"

"I thought you said you'd teach us when we got there." Fred was shooting me a rebellious look I knew all too well. I'd worn it myself plenty of times. So had my Fred.

"I said I'd teach you how to put in the extras," I said sharply. "I'm telling you about these because it's stupid to live in a place and not know the ward set-up."

I didn't get an apology, but I wasn't really expecting one.

"An Awareness Ward monitors everything inside the wards that's either alive or has a magical signature. That includes people, pets, magical plants, all trees, most books, potion ingredients, and pretty much everything else you two have ever been exposed to. The Control Ward is tied to my head, and lets me know if something new entered or something left that wasn't supposed to. Mine also lets me have complete control over everything inside the ward lines, so I can move them around."

"Wouldn't that make you, er, a bit mad?" Junior asked tentatively.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "That's a risk. It never bothered me, so I do it anyway."

"Right."

I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them. Yes, I was more than a bit off in the head, but that was no reason for them to say so. It was rude. "Behind each ward is a set of interlocking defenses. Behind each of those is a set of backup defenses."

"He's worse than Moody," Fred muttered.

I ignored him. "I'm not telling you what the defensive wards do exactly, but I will tell you they have different functions depending on whether someone is trying to get out or in."

"How so?" Junior asked.

"If the outsides are hit, the wards will react much stronger and less friendly than they would someone trying to get out from the inside. If someone tries to esca—leave without my say-so, the wards will immediately transport them to a certain room in the house." I glared at them. "You are two are not to test those under any circumstances. The side effects are not pleasant."

They paled slightly.

"We're going to be warding each individual room," I said. "Some rooms are already done. You two are going to be doing the rest."

"How many are there?" Junior asked, his tone reluctant.

I had to think for a moment. "The kitchen, the dining room, the training room—that's going to need extra warding—about five bedrooms, three bathrooms, your workroom, the library, my storeroom, your storeroom, a greenhouse, an outside pavilion, a small balcony, and a wrap-around porch."

Their eyes grew wider with each room.

"You've never taken runes class. You better believe you're going to learn."

"We can self-teach!" Fred complained. "It's what we've always done!"

"Yes, and it's what you're doing now," I replied, giving them my I-am-fierce-as-a-dragon-and-will-eat-you smile. "Deal with it. You won't have to do much cleaning, but I still expect you to make sure everything's organized—that's your job, not just the elves'. If you need ingredients, you ask me. If you want to make potions, fine, but I want to know if they're above NEWT level or experimental. If you two are experimenting at all, let me know in case something goes wrong."

"Will you give us your notes on products you've made?" Junior asked. "We can get a head start that way."

I thought about it. The shop was incredibly profitable, and I certainly wanted the twins to eventually open it. I had made hundreds of potions, charms, spells, and wards which they could and should certainly use.

"All right," I said. "But if I choose to sell something first, you have to deal with it. I want to give Bill the ward plans; I'm not sure about anything else yet."

The twins seemed to be having an animated private discussion. They kept frowning at each other, then looking thoughtful.

I coughed. "You might want to know about the rest of the security."

"What security?" They both sounded suspicious. Good.

"I'll be getting some full-time guards stationed in certain areas. I'll ward those places myself, and I don't want you going there without me."

"What security?" Junior demanded.

I grinned. "Dragons, grims, and a giant squid or two."

They blanched.

"Dragons?!"

"Grims?!"

"Are you—?"

"Mad?" I interrupted. "Quite. I'm also kidding about most of it, but I would like a dragon around for reasons you'll find out. Now, I have six elves. You may have heard of Dobby? He's my personal elf. Dibbley will stay mostly in my workroom, but if you need help with potions and I'm not around, he'll help. Winky's job is to cook and clean, Flinky's working on the greenhouse, Notty will handle the beasts, and Sippy's your own personal elf." I glared at the two of them. "You are not to abuse or overwork them. They listen to me over you, and they will disobey your orders to follow mine. Got it?"

"Six elves?!" Fred squeaked. "Blimey, mate!"

"I set up your room, but you can decorate it how you wish." Was there anything else I needed to tell them? Oh, yeah. Dumbledore. Me. Everything else. "I'm not going into Dumbledore's entire history, but I want you both to listen to me closely."

They leaned forward, watching me intently.

"What can you tell me about Harry's life at the Dursleys?"

They didn't say anything for a moment—or maybe they were talking to each other.

Fred spoke up. "When we saved him fourth year, there were bars on his windows, and his things were locked in a closet downstairs. They were barely feeding him."

"The entire time we've known him he's been nothing but skin and bones," Junior cut in.

"He's one of the smartest kids we know—"

"But he has terrible grades—"

"Ron and Hermione run all over him—"

"He doesn't seem to know or care—"

"He's brave, but a good guy—"

"Refuses to say anything about himself, especially when it has to do with—"

"The Dursleys, and Tonks spent all summer complaining—"

"How it was so boring to watch him because—"

"All he did was chores—"

"Which doesn't make sense, because he'd just seen Diggory be killed."

I waited for them to finish.

After a minute, Fred said quietly, "He's mentioned 'his cupboard' a few times. You don't think he actually lived in that little cupboard, do you?"

"I know so," I said.

The twins looked upset, but not surprised. Fred and I had known, somewhere in our heads, that Harry was neglected, but had never pieced it together until the entire truth came out—although that was too late for Fred.

I sighed wearily. "Harry's not abused, but he was heavily neglected, basically treated like a House elf, and bullied by his whale of a cousin. Did you two give him the Tongue-Ton Toffee here, too?"

The teens grinned at that.

"Yeah. Mum and Dad were livid."

That they had been. I couldn't remember another time when Dad yelled so badly. We had probably deserved it, but Dudley did too.

"So we're going to do something about Harry?" Junior asked.

"I want to free Sirius and get Harry to live with him," I said. "But that's not my point. Who placed Harry at the Dursleys?"

Fred sighed. "Let me guess—Dumbledore."

"I'd give a point to Gryffindor if I was a teacher," I told him (somewhat proudly, but he didn't have to know that).

"So…your point is Dumbledore's the one who placed him at the Dursleys…"

I could practically see their minds (mind?) turning. Smart kids, those two. Real geniuses. Handsome, too.

"Because of the blood wards—"

"Which are illegal," I cut in.

"Right. He's being kept in an abusive—"

"Neglected."

"Neglected situation because of illegal blood wards—" Fred's eyes widened at Junior's words. He stared at me.

"No way," he said. "Riddle was resurrected with Harry's blood! Those wards don't work, do they?"

I grimaced. "It's worse than that. There are no blood wards."

"WHAT?!"

"Not protective ones, at least. The ones that are there let Dumbledore know exactly when Harry's inside them, or if he's left the Dursleys."

The twins stared at me in utter horror.

"It gets worse," I said. "Riddle made horcruxes—he split his soul into pieces and scattered them."

The twins' gazes turned from horrified to nauseated.

"He made seven of them. One was the diary which controlled Ginny. Harry destroyed that with the basilisk fang, one of the few things that can actually destroy a horcrux. One's in Hogwarts. Another is Riddle's pet snake, one is a cup given to Bellatrix in her Gringotts vault, one is an old family heirloom of his mother's, one is in this house right now, and one's inside Harry's scar."

Their gazes became horrified again.

"Harry's connection with him," Fred said almost reverently. "That's—oh Merlin—that's disgusting! Can you get rid of it?"

I frowned. "Probably. I'll have to look into that. Dumbledore knows about it—"

"Of course he does," Junior muttered darkly.

"—but he plans for Harry to die fighting Riddle, therefore destroying the horcrux and giving Dumbles a chance to step in and play hero. It's a win-win situation for him."

The twins frowned in sync. "But he summoned you."

My frown turned into a scowl. "I know. I just don't know—" I froze. My thoughts were racing too fast to keep up, so all I could do was let the paranoia work them out itself. It clicked. "I know why he did it."

They leaned closer.

"Well?" Fred demanded. "Tell us!"

"Patience, little grasshopper. Dumbles wanted—oh no. That's bad. Dumbles wants—wanted—Harry—older Harry—to come and take out the death eaters. He would have arranged an 'accident', leaving younger Harry to fight Riddle. Harry would die, Dumbles would step in, and everything would be right once more."

"That bloody */—/*!"

I was rather impressed with the amount of curse words the twins knew. They weren't afraid to use them, either.

"I quite agree with you," I said amiably, after they had calmed down. "That's why his plans can't succeed. But I'm here, so they're not going to."

Junior took a deep breath. His ears hadn't cooled down yet from their cherry red color. "So he wanted Harry to die—I mean wants. Right. But that obviously didn't happen in your world."

"No," I agreed. There was a strong sour taste in my mouth which unfortunately reminded me of lemon drops. "Dumbledore made one mistake too many and he accidentally killed himself. By that time the war was so bad hundreds were already dead. His death just sped things up a bit. We're alright now…at least, we're getting better."

Fred flopped backwards on the bed. His stomach released a large growl. I supposed I should let them eat soon, but there was just so much to go over. Besides, it felt kind of nice to be able to talk things through like this—even it was to myself and an alternate version of my dead twin. Good Merlin. It was a good thing I wasn't planning to ever take therapy.

Junior stood and started pacing. "We need to do more to throw off his plans—his and Riddle's. If everything you're saying is true, the only reason the wizarding world is getting better, or advancing, is because so many are dead. You—we—had no choice but to start over."

I nodded.

"Riddle wants the werewolves," Fred recalled. "Dumbledore does, too. He's been thinking of sending Lupin."

"You mean Moony?" I couldn't resist. Fred and I had been very surprised to learn about our heroes. Of course, we'd only found out after Sirius was dead, but still.

Fred snorted. "Yeah, we grilled them earlier. I still can't believe Sirius and Lupin are Marauders."

"That's actually a good idea." Junior was only paying half a mind to the conversation—probably Fred's half. "Werewolves. Let's see. They want rights, right? We can't give them that. But…we could give them places to stay. Places to change, and not be hunted." He turned to me, eyes wild with ideas. "You said you're rich, right? You could buy houses and—"

"Whoa!" I was startled at this unexpected turn of events. I'd only really planned on housing the twins. "Hold your hippogriffs, Junior! That's not—I mean…" That would be very, very expensive. Depending on the amount of werewolves, too expensive.

"That's a good idea," Fred agreed with his brother.

"You would say that," I snipped.

"Hey, he's your alternate."

"Shut it!" Junior snapped. "I mean it. We wouldn't make them fight for us, either—and George—I mean, Mr. Weasley—seems to have a pretty good handle on taking out the death eaters. But we'd get them away from both sides, and they'd owe us. That's a good thing, right?"

Both twins were looking at me like lost bunnies. "Uh, I'm not sure you're on the right track there…"

"Why not?"

That question threw me for a score. I hadn't thought about it; I'd just heard a teenager come up with a large, crazy plan and then I'd ignored it. I really was mad.

If the twins could make enough products to keep their Owl Order business going, we'd have an income. We wouldn't even need it. I could easily buy up abandoned houses (or make the Muggles mysteriously win the lottery) and ward them for the werewolves. I'd doubt feral ones would join, but the only ones I knew of were Greyback's, and his pack was tiny. If I could get the werewolves to trust me, not only would they be better off, I wouldn't need to worry about them in the long run.

And that, that was important. So many people had been attacked or changed in the war...

"George," I said. "That's genius. Got any more ideas?"

If I was going to be outsmarted by a teenager, I would much rather it was myself when I was about to suffer an emotional breakdown than anyone else at another time.

He sat back down on the bed, and his stomach started protesting right along with Fred's. "Um…they're both trying the giants, too, but I'm not sure what you could about that. Maybe just buy up some land way up north and hand it over on the promise they'll behave? I dunno."

I nodded slowly. "No, that's good. Expensive, but good."

"You could get more elves that are familiar with potions, and they could make already-invented products for the shop. That we'd have an income. Or you could try looking for wizards and witches who might be interested, but it won't be easy finding people with good enough potions skill."

Brilliant minds think alike. Especially if they're the same mind.

"I think we need to do something about Hogwarts too." Junior was getting worked up now, and I could tell (through my own experience of being, well, me, and Fred's warning looks) that he wasn't going to stop any time soon.

"Junior!" I shot a quick stinging hex at him.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"One thing at a time," I said. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we can't tackle Hogwarts. Not yet. Although…" I grinned, a large, feral one that felt like it split my face in half. "I want you two to figure out how to drive someone insane. I mean really, truly insane. You can use whatever pranks you want, but Umbridge better end up in St. Mungo's permanent ward—if she survives."

The twins' faces went blank.

"Uh…" Fred said. "Not to sound like an idiot, but who's Umbridge?"

"An ugly pink toad who plays undersecretary to the Minister."

Junior fished out the newspaper from somewhere. "You mean, an odd lower-down who's also a useless, nasty, toad-like simpleton?"

"That's her."

"You want us to kill her?" He sounded incredulous.

I paused. "No. No, don't do that. Just make her wish you did."

"Are you going to kill her?"

~!~

By the time we came down, Mum was in the middle of a glaring contest with a flaming Fawkes. Dumbledore, Harry, and a few others were watching on the sidelines. I'm pretty sure the phoenix was losing, although he'll deny it to his grave.

"George." Mum snapped the word out the way she would a kitchen towel. "Get your bird out of my way."

I leisurely strolled down the stairs with the twins following me. "Fawkes, you're good now."

The bird flamed out. I'm pretty sure he winked at me on the way, which probably meant he was up to no good.

Mum turned to glare at me. It would have been pretty terrifying (everyone else cowered back, including the twins), but it's one thing to be scared of your angry mother when you've seen her single-handedly duel, kill, and disintegrate the darkest witch of all time, and another to be frightened of your mother when she just has a large temper and little experience actually fighting.

"Bill!" I ignored Mum's glare and strolled over to my brother. I clapped an arm around his shoulders. "Got a gift for you."

He didn't look comforted at that. "Really. I suppose it's going to blow up?"

"Of course not," I said, pretending to be affronted. "That's childish and immature. Why, only I would do such a thing. No, actually, this is something you and I invented a while back. Thought you could fine tune it a bit more and sell it. Made a fortune last time, let me tell you."

I dug through my pockets, trying to find the ward notes. They had to be there somewhere…ah-ah!

"Got 'em!" I cried jubilantly, brandishing aforementioned notes. The stack of parchments were old, yellowish, and covered in barely legible handwriting (a mixture of mine and Bill's). They didn't look like they were worth a fortune, that's for sure.

"What, that's worth a fortune?" Ron asked dubiously. "I thought you had something really cool!"

I tossed him a puking pastille. "Try that, Ronald. That's really cool."

The twins, having already made the candy, snickered. Ron, knowing to be cautious whenever the twins snickered, turned pale and threw it in Harry's lap.

Bill took the papers and started breezing through them. He stopped, went back to the beginning, and completely drowned in two seconds.

"Like them?" I clapped him on the shoulder. "Lot of work, that was."

"These are…these are brilliant!" he gasped.

"Mm-hmm." Never let it be said I don't acknowledge my own genius.

"The ward schemes—the runic arrays—the very idea! This is—this is revolutionary!"

"Yep. Good for security, too."

Bill flipped through it some more. "George—you can't give this to me. This is—"

"Priceless?" I said. "Yeah. I already know it. Keep it."

"You'll let me study it?"

"I want you to sell it."

Dumbledore, his beard slightly singed, frowned. His Twinkle™ dimmed. My eyes narrowed. He said, "William, my boy, perhaps I should see those first. Just because they are popular in George's world doesn't mean—"

I cut him off. "Hold it. You want Bill to turn down an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study a ward that even Death Eaters can't get through easily, just because it worked in my world and you're afraid it may be 'dark'?"

Dumbledore's Twinkle™ reappeared. "Not at all, my dear—"

"You call me your 'boy' and I'll string you up to the Quidditch posts, you hear?" I snarled, my hands subconsciously clenching into fists.

Everyone (except Bill, who still had his nose buried, and Dumbledore, who obviously had no idea what I could do) backed away. I threw up a silencing ward around Mum, just in case she deemed it appropriate to interrupt.

The Twinkle™ dimmed again. "George, I must object. We don't know for sure whether it is safe—"

"What, you think we just spent a few hours patching up a half-done ward scheme and sold it to the highest bidder?" A window shattered, sending droplets of glass raining down. "We spent five years working on that thing, and it's passed every safety test it's been through. A dozen Unspeakables couldn't get through it." Not to mention we had charmed the parchment so only Bill, me, or people we gave permission to could read it.

The Twinkle™ came back. Did it have a life of its own or something? "Really? I'm sorry, George, I had no idea. Please forgive me; it appears I forgot you have matured since your teenage years."

"Like hell you," I snapped; although whether it was to his apology or his assuming I'd matured, even I didn't know. "Try asking next time. And it's Mr. Weasley to you."

Dumbledore's eyes glittered darkly with excitement. I didn't like it. "Perhaps I could see those wards schemes, and implement them into Hogwarts?"

I pretended to think about it. "I don't really see how the Hogwarts' wards need updating, Headmaster. A troll and possessed teacher, then a fraud and a horcrux—" Dumbledore tensed. "A basilisk, a werewolf—no offense, Remus—a polyjuiced death eater, and then this year? Hmm…"

"What do you mean 'this year'?" McGonagall frowned.

"Aren't you supposed to be grading summer homework?" I growled.

Her face turned pink, and she scowled darkly, but didn't say anything.

Bill, not looking up, poked me. "What size ward stones did you use? It doesn't say here."

"Hmm? Oh, we used 2 ft. square ones and shrunk them to about five inches once the runes were applied."

His eyes widened in appreciation. "Brilliant," he breathed.

There was a loud bang. Everyone, even Bill, jumped. Moody and I had our wands up and out, pointed towards—Mum had apparently tried to Finite my silencing charm and discovered the…ah…side effects of trying to do so.

"Get if OFF me!" She mouthed furiously, struggling amidst a pile of blue sticky feathers.

"What was that, Mum?" I asked. "Couldn't hear you."

Her face was a perfect apple. Round, shiny, and red.

Dumbledore coughed, although it sounded suspiciously like a snicker. "Just a moment, Molly." He flicked his wand up—

—f*ck! The wand! I had forgotten the wand! How on Earth could I have been so stupid?! I forgot the bloody elder wand!

Bill poked me, and whispered quietly, "Why are you cursing?"

I froze. "Did anyone hear me?"

"Only me. What's wrong?"

I opened my mouth. Then I closed it. I knew for a fact I hadn't been charmed—I was making it routine to check every minute with Dumbledore in the room—but there was a small part of me that suddenly wanted to open up and tell Bill everything.

Out of the entire family, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, and Harry were the only ones I had known I could rely on. Everyone else still had trouble looking me in the face even now—even Mum and Dad. Especially Mum. One of the many downfalls of having your identical twin die, I suppose. All the same, it had hurt then—back before I started using Occlumency the way everyone said you shouldn't.

Charlie had visited home only once, and I'd only gone to his reserve twice in the past twelve years. Harry was busy all the time, what with dating and marrying Ginny—the nerve of the brat!—having the kids, and working so hard. It had been Bill and Fleur I'd relied on when I needed time to grieve. Now things were different, and my options were very limited.

Could I trust this Bill—my big brother—the same way?

"Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow at dawn," I told him. "I need to talk to you—but don't let anyone else know, especially Dumbledore."

His eyes grew dark, and he frowned. "Why not?"

"Don't want to say it here. I'll tell you tomorrow. And if I act paranoid, don't be surprised."

"You mean more than you have been?"

"That wasn't paranoia," I said. "That was normal."

His frown deepened. "All right."

"And if the twins mysteriously disappear tonight, don't be surprised about that either."

"I figured you wouldn't be taking them at the end of the week."

I blinked. "That obvious?"

"To me and Moody. I didn't tell anyone, though, and Moody seems to agree with your caution. Besides, he thinks Dumbledore's not anywhere near paranoid enough to be trusted with anything important." Bill rolled his eyes. "That's why he didn't guard Harry this summer—he refused to report to Dumbledore."

That was news to me. Of course, Moody had often argued with Dumbles back in my world for being so 'goddamn reckless'. It was more than likely it was just his paranoia making him act the same in both worlds.

"Right," I said. "Never underestimate the power of paranoia. Enjoy those wards, Bill. I'll see you tomorrow."

"And in the meantime? It's not even ten—you can't mean to take the twins yet, do you?"

"No. Not yet. I'm going to have some fun first." I gave him a grin. "Word of warning: if anyone sees those papers without your or my permission, it'll look like some of Charlie's special sketches."

Bill looked confused. "Which ones?"

"The special ones."

He turned red. "Oh."

"Sorry to say you won't see them as that, though."

"Shame. Charlie's got a good hand." I grinned at the implied meaning, and Bill turned even redder. "That's not what I mean and you know it," he hissed. "Besides, I'm dating a quarter Veela. I've got plenty of action."

That caught my attention. "Fleur? Fleur Delacour?"

"Yeah. You know her?"

Yes, she's your future wife, but I can't tell you that. "She was Beauxbatons' champion in the TriWizard. Forgot she worked at Gringotts. How long have you two…?"

"Just a few weeks." Bill sheepishly scratched the top of his head, still redder than Fawkes on a burning day. "I mean, it's not serious, but I'm kind of hoping it will be." His gaze turned hopeful. "I don't suppose…?"

"Not a chance in hell," I said, clapping him on the back. "I'm not messing up your love life through a slipup. Don't even try."

He grinned, but it quickly faded. "George, I—I mean—I want—"

Hell's bells. He wanted to talk about Fred. Figures the twins wouldn't want to be the only ones to know. "Not now," I begged. "Seriously, Bill, I'll tell you later, but if I think about him anymore now I'm liable to lose control again and have the entire house blow up."

Bill touched my arm gently, but didn't keep it there. "I know you're technically older than me now, but I'm still your big brother. If you need anything—I know when we first met, you said—"

"Bill. Not here."

He blinked, suddenly seeming to notice we were standing in the middle of a silently screaming Mum and a somewhat panicking though highly amused Order. "Right. Tomorrow."

I nodded, and walked up to Mum. "I'll fix it if you stop screaming at me," I promised. "Not just now, but for the rest of the summer. At least."

She shut her mouth and glared at me. It would've looked a tad more impressive without the blue feathers, but I suppose a mother has to try.

"Well?" I prompted.

The Order quieted to a buzz. They seemed to be forming in an unofficial circle around me and Mum. Dumbledore, the sneaky bastard, was standing directly over my shoulder, and I didn't like it. Bill, however, was standing directly behind me. That made me feel a little safer.

Moody was also standing in the corner of the room. If anyone drew a wand, even Dumbles, I figured he would see it and throw a fit.

Mum's face was still red as a cherry. She nodded stiffly.

I undid the silencing charm. "Use soap," I told her. "Stuff'll come right out with a bit of scrubbing."

"Wh—why, you—"

If I could keep making her this speechless, I wouldn't have to worry about silencing charms.

I Apparated out of the room again. Seeing Mum covered in feathers reminded me of something I needed to do, and I'd need the twins help for it.

AN: Things are heating up now-though around George, they never cool down.

To anyone who is disappointed if this chapter seemed to end abruptly, that's because it was getting a little long and I decided I needed to stop sooner rather than later. Next chapter will be coming soon.