Author's Notes: Well, I got more hits in the past week, but still no reviews yet. This story will probably pass 500 hits this week, which took my Zelda story something like two months to surpass. Again, feel free to give me your opinion on the story so far.

Well, the Monty Python reference in Chapter 1 was Geoff's quote of "What a silly bunt," when referring to Mrs. Black. This line comes from Episode 31 of Monty Python's Flying Circus from a sketch called "Travel Agent." As I stated last week, however, the BBC cut out the line from the recording of this episode because of the context of the quote. In this sketch, Eric Idle plays a man who replaces every "c" with a "b" due to a childhood experience. When the travel agency representative, played by Michael Palin, suggests replacing every "c" with a "k," Idle realizes how simple a solution it is and remarks "What a silly bunt." You can see what he actually is saying and the BBC didn't like it.

I'm not exactly sure that this week's Monty Python reference counts as one, but it's there anyway.

Well, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: What Must Be Done

Harry walked down Diagon Alley just before lunchtime on August 2. He had planned on doing what he was going to do now yesterday, but he ended up sleeping in until this time yesterday, then it took him six hours at Gringotts to get his finances in order. Five-and-a-half of those six hours were standing in line. Indeed, Bill Weasley was right; security at Gringotts had been stepped up by a huge amount. However, once he got to the front of the line, Harry didn't have a Probity Probe stuck into him in any way. But what would usually be a ten-minute long process had been turned into thirty by more security measures to make absolutely sure that Sirius's will was legitimate and to make sure Harry Potter was indeed Harry Potter, with Harry himself continuously looking over his shoulder to make sure no Death Eaters were on his trail. By the time Harry had finished this and had gotten some money out of his account, it was already close to night. He decided to call it a day and had returned to the Leaky Cauldron to settle in.

Now, he was going about some business he had meant to get to yesterday. The sky was still a gray overcast, as it had been for over a month now. And Harry was quite sure that until Voldemort was destroyed, the sky would pretty much remain that way for a while. But where Harry was going, there was always a bright mood. He walked past all the shops along Diagon Alley, which seemed to be in a very subdued mood now. Of course, Harry understood why that was. No matter how anyone looked at it, Voldemort was winning the war, and it seemed as if nothing could stop him, now that Professor Dumbledore was dead.

Snape, I am going to kill you if I ever see you again, Harry thought angrily as he clenched his fists. To Harry, Dumbledore was the closest thing he ever had to a father. And Snape took that away from him without remorse or a second thought. Dumbledore had said he trusted Snape with his life. Harry knew better, but there was no convincing Dumbledore otherwise. Harry knew it was his job to get vengeance for what Snape had done. For killing the father who had trusted him as if he were his son.

Harry forgot about Snape as he approached the most colorful shop on Diagon Alley, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Established with the help of the thousand Galleons that Harry won from the Tri-Wizard Tournament almost three years ago, the shop was the most popular one on Diagon Alley hands down. As Harry approached the shop, he saw that there were about ten customers already in the shop, along with Fred and George Weasley in their magenta robes, clashing with their flaming red hair.

"Two Patented Daydream Charms and a set of Love Potions," Harry heard either Fred or George say to a witch in purple robes, "That will be nine Galleons, four Sickles, and eleven Knuts, all worth it."

The witch handed some coins to the Weasley twin and left the store, passing by Harry with a huge grin on her face as she failed to notice him at all. The twins didn't seem to notice Harry either as they serviced the remaining customers while Harry took a look around at the wares the Weasley twins had created in the past year. Surprisingly, he didn't find much new. He found that the Nosebleed Nougats were sold out and the trick wands were almost all gone as well. However, the edible Dark Marks were gone completely, barrel and all. Harry could imagine why that was, and it wasn't due to their popularity.

"And have a very nice day," one of the twins said to the last customer at the front counter as Harry walked over to the shelf with the Patented Daydream Charms.

"Oi! Harry!" one of the Weasley twins called as they walked over to their most favored customer, "Good to see you again!"

"Hey Fred," Harry greeted, "Hey George. How's business?"

"It's pretty slow since Dumbledore died, unfortunately," George answered with his head bowed in respect, "It seems like everyone has submitted to the fate of being ruled by You-Know-Who."

"I just hope he lets us keep our shop open," Fred said.

"I doubt he would, but Voldemort still has to deal with me before he wins everything," Harry replied defiantly.

"Hello, fellow Gryffindors!" a voice familiar to Harry called from the door of the shop.

Harry turned and saw those red-and-gold robes again. "Geoff! What are you doing here?"

"To do business with these two fine young men," Geoffrey Gryffindor responded to Harry's question as Harry saw another man about Geoff's height walk up behind him. He was wearing a black trench coat and dark sunglasses, but his skin tone was about the same as Geoff's.

"Oh, Harry, this is my younger brother, Gary Gryffindor, and he is an interesting person," Geoff answered Harry's question as both Gryffindors walked into the shop, "He is a special kind of Squib. He has plenty of magic powers, but he can't use them in a normal way. Instead, he taps his magic powers through the use of Muggle technology."

"Yeah, that would be about right," Gary commented as he took off his sunglasses, revealing his brown eyes that had no trace of the hazel that his brother's had, they were just brown. And Gary Gryffindor's eyes seemed to suggest that something had happened to him to make him a hardened man, as they looked very dull and glassy compared to his brother's very vibrant eyes that almost had the same twinkle Dumbledore's eyes once had. His voice was also a bit deeper than his brother's. In most other respects, though, the two Gryffindor brothers were very much alike. Both were about 6-foot-3 and both had brown hair, although Gary's was cut much shorter than Geoff's. The hair and their clothes were the only ways Harry could tell them apart.

"So, Fred, George," Geoff said looking at the twins, "Lets get down to business. The more serious stuff is behind that curtain, I believe."

"That would be correct, Mr. Gryffindor," George responded as the two led Geoff toward the back room.

"Please, call me Geoff," Geoffrey told the twins as they walked behind the curtain, leaving Harry and Gary behind in the main part of the joke shop.

Harry watched as Geoffrey's brother leaned up against the wall close to the door and folded his arms. It looked to Harry like Gary was something of a bodyguard for his older brother. In his black clothing and with his blank stare, he looked very dangerous. After a few seconds, Gary looked right at Harry. His stare was extremely intimidating. "So, you are the famous Harry Potter?" he asked.

"That would be me, yes," Harry responded as he nodded, "What's it to you?"

"Not much, really," Gary replied, "I was just wondering what it's like to be as famous as you. You must have young witches crawling all over you," he added with a chuckle.

Harry laughed as well. "Not really, though I would be willing to bet I have a bit of a cult following that I don't know about, but I don't exactly have girls going after me all the time," Harry corrected, "Although there was that Romilda Vane who tried to poison me with a love potion."

Both Harry and Gary shared a laugh about that. "So, what is it that you do for a living?" Harry asked.

"Odd jobs here and there," Gary replied, "I've been helping my brother for the past few years, though."

"I see," Harry said as he walked over to the Patented Daydream Charms which Hermione first noticed last summer, "So I'm guessing you'll be staying at my house."

"That would be right," Gary replied, "If you don't mind, that is."

"I really don't care about it," Harry responded as he picked up one of the small boxes with the colorful picture of the handsome young man and the swooning young woman on the deck of a pirate ship, "As long as you don't start living off of my money."

Gary laughed and said, "Don't worry, my brother has funds completely under control. You won't have to pay for anything. Well, you may have to pay for that thing there, but that's a different story."

Harry snickered as he heard Geoff, Fred, and George coming back from the back room of the shop. "So, five Shield Cloaks, ten packets of Instant Darkness Powder, fifty Decoy Detonators, and two Pygmy Puffs, but you'll have to go elsewhere for a lovely bunch of coconuts, I'm afraid," George Weasley said, "That will be forty-four Galleons, four Sickles, and twenty Knuts."

Geoffrey reached into the sash around his waist and pulled out a small sack that jingled with coins. "Let me see here," Geoff said as he reached into the bag, grabbing a large handful of coins and putting them on the counter and began separating the coins out, "There's four Sickles, and there's ten Knuts and Galleons . . . "

"Harry, you don't have to pay for that, you know," Fred called out to Harry, who he saw was holding a Daydream Charm.

Gary looked at Harry. "Why is it free to you?" he asked with some interest.

"I provided the seed money for this shop," Harry explained, "I won the Tri-Wizard Tournament three years ago and . . . "

"Ah, yes, Cedric Diggory's death was a grave tragedy," Geoff recalled as he finished counting out the money to pay for his supplies, "His murder showed the utter contempt that beast Voldemort really has for life of any kind. It disgusts me that the Ministry showed the utter lack of concern it did about that incident. I am glad that Fudge was sacked, but they really are all a bunch of bureaucrats now. The entire Ministry needs to be shaken up from the top down."

"Why don't you run for Minister of Magic yourself?" George asked, "You could win the position."

"I'm simply not interested in that position," Geoff responded as he put all his supplies in a different sack, "I have my interests somewhere else."

"Like where?" Fred asked.

"That will remain my little secret for now," Geoff said as he smiled at the Weasley twins and turned around, "Oh, Harry, your owl turned up last night. Hedwig is one smart owl, one of the smartest I have ever come across."

"That's high praise from you, Geoff, considering what your job used to be," Gary commented as he grabbed his sunglasses out of a pocket on the inside of the trench coat, "Before Voldemort came back again."

"Yes, well, we all must sacrifice for what must be done," Geoff replied as Gary put on his sunglasses, "Will you two be at your brother's wedding?"

"Of course," George replied with a sly smile, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Geoff smiled as he turned toward Harry and said, "I'll see you in Ottery St. Catchpole on August 13 as well, Harry. We'll have some very important things to go over."

And with that, Geoffrey Gryffindor bowed to the three young wizards, and then left the store with his brother right behind him.

"So Harry, need anything else?" Fred asked slyly, "Maybe a fake wand for Hermione or . . . "

"I'm not going back to Hogwarts," Harry interrupted, "I have something else to attend to that is much more important than that."

Harry saw the look of shock on both Fred and George's faces and Harry knew that they didn't think he was joking. "But how are you going to finish school?" George asked quickly.

Harry shrugged. "There is just something I have to do," Harry responded, "I have to destroy Voldemort once and for all."

"Well, good luck with that," Fred said as he and George shook Harry's hand, knowing that they should be the last ones talking about finishing an education at Hogwarts, "And have fun with that product."

Harry nodded his head and left the shop. He looked at all the dreary shops along Diagon Alley, all the depressed faces of the witches and wizards as they tried to go about their lives as much as possible. All had seemed to resign to the fate of being ruled by Lord Voldemort until the end of time.

But there was still one hope for the forces of the light. And that hope now had a very powerful ally who had not only a reason, but also a destiny, to help him do what must be done.

--

Author's Notes: And there it is. I know it doesn't seem like good writing right now, but you'll see the writing improve with time. I assure you of that.

I really don't have anything else to say at this point, so please read, review, watch for the reference, and enjoy.