Tragedy avoided

Dumbledore floated the book to himself as he announced, “One more chapter, then I think lunch is in order.”

Harri spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to her sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past her, until she started to feel sick and closed her eyes. Then, when at last she felt herself slowing down, she threw out her hands and came to a halt in time to prevent herself from falling face forward out of the Weasleys’ kitchen fire.

Harri made a face at the description. She doubted she would ever enjoy any other method of magical travel that wasn’t a broom.

“Did he eat it?” said Fred excitedly, holding out a hand to pull Harri to her feet.

“Yeah,” said Harri straightening up. “What was it?”

“Ton-Tongue Toffee,” said Fred brightly. “George and I invented them, and we’ve been looking for someone to test them on all summer....”

Harri pulled Fred down by the collar of his shirt and planted an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek. “Brilliant. You’re both absolutely brilliant,” she exclaimed, looking for George to give him the same treatment. Nobody had ever messed with Dudley for her before unless you counted the pigtail Hagrid had given him, but Harri felt that was more for the insult thrown at Dumbledore than for her. She couldn’t begin to explain how giddy she felt over the silly prank the twins had pulled.

Harri flushed as she hid her face in her hands.

“Tell us how you really feel,” George sang teasingly as he leaned into Harri’s space.

“Stopppp,” Harri moaned, her face turning brighter. She was sure that if she looked up, everyone would know she had kissed Fred for real. Merlin, she wished the couch would swallow her whole.

“Aww, come on, don’t be that way,” Fred joined George in his harmless fun.

“We really wouldn’t mind-”

“If you wanted to..”

“If you finish that sentence, I’ll’ hex the both of you into next week,” Harri hissed like an angry cat, her beat red face doing nothing to deter the twin’s mischief.

“Boys, that’s enough. Leave the poor girl alone,” Molly scolded, and Harri looked over at her as if she was the answer to her prayers when the twins relented.

The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter; Harri looked around and saw that Ron and George were sitting at the scrubbed wooden table with two red-haired people Harri had never seen before, though she knew immediately who they must be: Bill and Charlie, the two eldest Weasley brothers.

Charlie and Bill cheered as they were finally introduced in the books properly. It was about time. They wondered what part they would play in Harri’s future. Surely they were here for a reason other than they were the Weasley’s eldest children.

“How’re you doing, Harri?” said the nearer of the two, grinning at her and holding out a large hand, which Harri shook, feeling calluses and blisters under his fingers. This had to be Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania. Charlie was built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long and lanky. He had a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it.

Charlie grinned wolfishly over at Harri, pleased with the description of himself through her eyes. Though put off, he had not been giving anything to tease Fred over with her description. It would have been fun to rile his younger brother up in good fun. He hadn’t missed how red Harri seemed to get lately when Fred was near. While none of his business, he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to mess with either of them; it was what big brothers did.

Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook Harri’s hand. Bill came as something of a surprise. Harri knew that he worked for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, and that Bill had been Head Boy at Hogwarts; Harri had always imagined Bill to be an older version of Percy: fussy about rule-breaking and fond of bossing everyone around.

“Excuse you,” Bill huffed playfully. “There isn’t anything wrong with being Head Boy. While Percy tends to take it a little too seriously at times, it is a rather large honour to hold the position. Being Head Boy doesn’t have to be your entire personality.”

Percy flushed. While Bill wasn’t actually offended at being compared to him, Bill still felt the need to defend himself from the comparison. Was he really that bad? Did Harri and his siblings really think he enjoyed bossing them around? It wasn’t like he didn’t know making any of them follow the rules pushed them away, but honestly, who else was going to look out for their futures? He shuddered to think where the twins would wind up without rules and structure to temper some of their more destructive impulses.

However, Bill was - there was no other word for it - cool. He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill’s clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Harri recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide.

“Now that’s more like it,” Bill laughed as he threw a triumphant grin toward Charlie, who had not been described as cool by any means. Bill’s laughter was only intensified by the rude gesture Charlie retaliated with.

Fred and Cedric both eyed Bill curiously. Was that what Harri really thought was cool? Neither boy looked much like Bill in that regard. Though they supposed nobody here looked much like Bill. Bill was unique in the way he dressed and presented himself.

Before any of them could say anything else, there was a faint popping noise, and Mr. Weasley appeared out of thin air at George’s shoulder. He was looking angrier than Harri had ever seen him.

“As he should be,” Molly said hotly. “What you boys did was wrong and goes against everything your father has spent his career trying to accomplish.”

The twins barely restrained themselves from snapping back at their mother. They didn’t care about Dudley being a muggle. That’s not why they would have done it. Their mother should know them well enough by now. Should have known they’d never attack a muggle or muggle bait just for the hell of it. Sure their morals were loose, but they still had them.

“I didn’t give him anything,” said Fred, with another evil grin. I just dropped it...It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to.”

“Twisting the situation isn’t going to do you any favours here,” Percy pointed out. “Dad always knows you did it. I don’t see why you don’t just accept any punishment he gives you. You never take responsibility for any of your actions!”

“Oh, sod off, Percy-”

“Sorry, not all of us can be-”

“Perfect Percy,” the twins sneered.

“Besides, one should always at least attempt to get out of trouble.”

“Honestly, mate, who do you think we are?”

“It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!”

Harri and the Weasleys roared with laughter again.

“Brutes the lot of you,” snapped Molly. While she was sure Dudley deserved the small prank, that did not make it right. “I raised you better than that. Attacking a muggle, no matter why, isn’t funny. Your Uncles died fighting for muggles and muggle-borns, and this is what you do with yourselves?”

The Weasley children, other than Percy, all looked down. It wasn’t fair when their mother dragged their uncles into things. A large part of them still found the twin’s actions justified. Their mother had raised them to stand up for others, and that’s all the twins were doing. The adults in Harri’s life had clearly failed her up to this point. The Twins had seen that and faced Harri’s tormentor in their own way.

“It isn’t funny!” Mr. Weasley shouted. “That sort of behaviour seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons

The twins couldn’t hold their tongues anymore. Both of their parents really thought them capable of stooping so low. When had they ever shown themselves to be the sort? They teased Percy, and sure they probably took things too far every now and then, and they played harmless pranks, but when had they ever done anything to deserve this level of doubt?

“We don’t care he’s a muggle,” Fred stated, arms crossed defiantly.

“We wouldn’t have done it just because he’s a muggle,” George agreed hotly.

“We only would have targeted the fat, pig-faced prat-”

“Because of the way he treated Harri.”

“Just because you lot all wanted to turn a blind eye to the way Harri was being treated-”

“Despite being told otherwise-”

“Or, I don’t know, having eyes and ears-”

“Doesn’t mean we will or would have.”

“We’re not apologizing for messing with her cousin. He deserved what he got. Hell, he deserved more than what we gave him. Because we promise you an enlargement charm would have been the least of poor Diddly Dums problems had we known he put his hands on her.”

Harri again was reminded of the Voice and their conversation about having those around her who would support her as the twins defended their actions on her behalf unapologetically. Reaching out, she twined her fingers through both Fred and George’s hands and brought their joint hands into her lap.

“I know you wouldn’t muggle bait just for the hell of it. I never thought you would. And I appreciate that you went out of your way to enact justice on my behalf,” she said softly as she gave their hands a soft squeeze. “I am going to ask you don’t get arrested for me in the future, though. I’m a big girl. I can fight my own battles, or at the very least, let me in on the plan if you’re going to defend my honour.”

“We make no promises. But we suppose we could try for you.”

“Oh, hello, Harri, dear,” she said, spotting her and smiling. Then her eyes snapped back to her husband. “Tell me what, Arthur?”

“Oh no,” the twins moaned together. Their book-selves were in for it now. Not that they particularly cared. They stood by what they had done to Dudley.

Mr. Weasley hesitated. Harry could tell that, however angry he was with Fred and George, he hadn’t really intended to tell Mrs. Weasley what had happened.

Both Fred and George beamed at their father. He was always willing to cover for them with their mother when he could. He at least knew the Ministry would never be for them.

“Tell me what, Arthur?” Mrs. Weasley repeated, in a dangerous sort of Voice.

“It’s nothing, Molly,” mumbled Mr. Weasley, “Fred and George just - but I’ve had words with them -”

Molly shot her husband a nasty look. This was why the twins acted the way they did. They needed to present a united front regarding the terrors that were their children, or they would never behave.

The twin’s grins only grew. Their dad really was awesome.

“What have they done this time?” said Mrs. Weasley. “If it’s got anything to do with Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes -”

Fred’s and George’s good moods vanished. It shouldn’t have surprised them that their mother disapproved, but it still hurt. While she had not approved of Bill or Charlie’s career choice, she had never discouraged either of them. She had begrudgingly accepted her oldest would not be following their father’s path. She had slipped in passive-aggressive comments about the danger and how far they would be from home. This did not seem to be going in that direction in the book or now.

“Why don’t you show Harri where she’s sleeping, Ron?” said Hermione from the doorway.

“She knows where she’s sleeping,” said Ron, “in Ginny’s room, she slept there last -”

“Traitor,” Fred cried while pretending Hermione had inflicted him with a mortal wound. “Just leave us to our fate like that.”

“How did you miss such a clear-out?” George moaned. Lee never had such clean getaways when they pulled pranks and were on the verge of getting caught. Harri and Ron were lucky to have Hermione when they needed her. The mayhem he and Fred could cause if they had someone like Hermione on their side.

“We can all go,” said Hermione pointedly.

“Oh,” said Ron, cottoning on. “Right.”

“Yeah, we’ll come too,” said George.

“That’s how you do it,” George exclaimed, flapping his hand at the book. “Never pass up an out when you have it.”

“What are Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes?” Harri asked as they climbed.

Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn’t.

“Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George’s room,” said Ron quietly. “Great long price lists for stuff they’ve invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they’d been inventing all that...”

Fred and George shared an excited look over Harri’s head. They really had done it, then? This summer, they were going to be ready to sell their products. All their hard work was finally paying off.

“You guys really invent stuff?” Harri asked, not all that surprised. “Why am I just now hearing of this?” She thought she knew the twins reasonably well, yet they had never mentioned this before.

“Just like you tell us about all your life-threatening adventures?”

“Only, most of the stuff - well, all of it, really - was a bit dangerous,” said Ron, “and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren’t allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms... She’s furious at them anyway. They didn’t get as many O.W.L.s as she expected.”

“You can’t just destroy our stuff,” Fred snapped as anger overtook his features.

“I wasn’t aware not getting enough O.W.L.s gave you the right to burn our property,” George agreed, just as angry.

“The both of you should be studying for your N.E.W.T.s, not goofing off with your silly joke products,” Molly harped, unimpressed with either twin. “You’re both minors under my roof, and you’ll do well to listen to your mother.”

“We’ll be seventeen in April!”

“Won’t be under your roof much longer.”

“Boys!”

“And then there was this big row,” Ginny said, “because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop.”

Fred and George were sure there was a massive row. No matter how much she pushed, they would not be joining the Ministry. They’d go homeless before they worked there. Their mother would have to get over it before they took drastic measures. They had ways of getting around their mother’s prying eyes and had been for years now.

Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.

“Hi, Percy,” said Harri.

“Oh hello, Harri,” said Percy. “I was wondering who was making all the noise. I’m trying to work in here, you know I’ve got a report to finish for the office - and it’s rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs.”

“We couldn’t have been that loud,” Ron argued. “The book didn’t say we were sprinting up the stairs! We were just walking and talking!”

“The walls at the Burrow are thin! And it did say I was trying to work,” Percy tried to argue.

“The twins have been making things explode for years now! You should be used to a little noise!”

“We’re not thundering, “said Ron irritably. “We’re walking. Sorry if we’ve disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic.”

“What are you working on?” said Harri.

Percy sent Harri a smile of gratitude. Unlike his siblings, she had at least seemed to care what he had been working on.

“A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation,” said Percy smugly. “We’re trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin - leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year -”

“Fascinating,” Fred snorted.

“Really sorry to interrupt such important work,” Ron scoffed. No wonder he seemed so annoyed with Percy in the book. He bet Percy was miserable to live with this summer.

Percy winced. Even Harri thought he was smug. After an explanation like that, he doubted Harri would want to further discuss his work with him. Did he always sound like that? Like a smug know it all? He just didn’t get it. Bill was a Prefect, Headboy and intelligent, yet all his siblings looked up to him. Percy was all of those things, and they mocked him for it. What did Bill have that he didn’t? He knew their Mom didn’t help matters by constantly using him as a measuring stick, but she used Bill and Charlie too! Was it because he was the only one still in the house?

Draco sneered in disgust. This was who he was supposed to learn from? Their house was in disorder. One couldn’t even tell who was in charge, parent or child. Honestly, what was his mother thinking? There had to be a way to undo this.

Cassandra frowned at the evident discord in the Weasley home. How was Harri to fair in such chaos? She had to wonder if the Weasleys could handle another child at this rate. With Percy’s alienation, Ron’s fear of being forgettable, the twin’s fight to keep their individuality and Molly’s need for control, where would Harri fit? How would the attention given to Harri affect the already fractured family dynamic, let alone the Malfoy heir? This looked like a recipe for disaster.

“You might sneer, Ron,” he said heatedly, “but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger -”

“It is important,” Hermione agreed, ignoring the scoff she got from Ron. “It is. Could you imagine how dangerous Potion Class would be if everyone’s cauldrons exploded randomly?”

“Mr. Longbottom seems to manage to explode his cauldron just fine. One could only speculate how disastrous it would be should he get his hands on an ill-equipped cauldron,” Snape drawled.

Severus was curious now. Were flimsy cauldron’s already going around? Would he have to check each year’s supplies before allowing them to brew? Merlin knew most of the children he taught were too stupid to know any better.

As Harri, Hermione, and Ginny followed Ron up three more flights of stairs, shouts from the kitchen below echoed up to them. It sounded as though Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Weasley about the toffees.

“Sell out,” the twins grumbled under their breath.

Harri covered her mouth with her hand at their sullen faces. What did they really expect? She was betting the car was brought up, and Mr. Weasley caved to save his own skin.

“Shut up, Pig,” said Ron, edging his way between two of the four beds that had been squeezed into the room. “Fred and George are in here with me, because Bill and Charlie are in their room,” he told Harri. “Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he’s got to work.”

“Or writing to his girlfriend,” Fred snickered, causing Percy to flush.

He wouldn’t have lied about something important, Percy thought to himself. Not that he would have told any of his siblings if he was writing Penelope. They’d all have a go at him. Well, probably not Bill or Charlie.

“Er - why are you calling that owl Pig?” Harri asked Ron.

“Because he’s being stupid,” said Ginny, “Its proper name is Pigwidgeon.”

“Yeah, and that’s not a stupid name at all,” said Ron sarcastically. “Ginny named him,” he explained to Harri. “She reckons it’s sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won’t answer to anything else. So now he’s Pig. I’ve got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that.

“You named my owl,” Ron cried in outrage. “You had no right!”

“It’s a good name,” Ginny defended stubbornly. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“He was my owl! One thing that was just mine and you went and ruined in. What kind of stupid name is Pigwidgeon anyway?”

“It’s not stupid!”

“It is. You can’t just go around naming other people’s pets without their permission.”

“Enough,” Molly demanded, arms crossed. “Ron, apologize to your sister. And Ginny apologize to Ron. While Pigwidgeon is a fine name, Ron’s right. It’s his owl, and it’s only right he gets to name it. It’s his right as the owl’s owner, and naming him without Ron’s permission was rude and uncalled for, young lady.”

“Sorry.”

Pigwidgeon zoomed happily around his cage, hooting shrilly. Harri knew Ron too well to take him seriously. He had moaned continually about his old rat, Scabbers, but had been most upset when Hermione’s cat, Crookshanks, appeared to have eaten him.

Ron’s ears tinged red. Before he knew what Scabbers really was, he was rather upset with Hermione over him, but to be fair, he didn’t have very many things that were well his. Pig was supposed to be his, and Ginny went and ruined that. Scabbers was his, and it felt as if Hermione didn’t care. She had overtly destroyed one of the few things he got to call his own. His family didn’t have the money to buy a new pet like Hermione’s did.

Cassandra had to wonder how much of Ron’s complaining was genuine and how much of it was for attention. From what she had heard and personally seen, Ron wasn’t given much from his family. It was no wonder the boy put no real effort into most things unless Harri was involved. Any grades he would have gotten would have just been expected of him with older siblings like his own. The poor boy might even think Harri was the only one who saw him. It was relatively clear Harri preferred Ron’s company to Hermione’s, and it must have felt nice to be genuinely wanted over the rest of his siblings. As if he was winning when not even Hermione’s impressive feats held any sway over Harri’s friendship and attention.

“Enjoying it?” said Ron darkly. “I don’t reckon he’d come home if Dad didn’t make him. He’s obsessed. Just don’t get him onto the subject of his boss. According to Mr. Crouch...as I was saying to Mr. Crouch... Mr. Crouch is of the opinion...Mr. Crouch was telling me... They’ll be announcing their engagement any day now.”

“What will poor Penelope think about talking like that? It might make a girl jealous,” George teased mercilessly, even had Percy turned an ugly shade of purple.

“Wouldn’t want to give her the wrong impression,” Fred joined in.

“Enough,” Bill demanded. “Leave him alone already.”

“We’re just having a bit of fun,” George shrugged.

“That was more than just fun, and you know it. Lay off already. You wouldn’t like it if Percy teased you that way,” Bill stated, having none of it.

“Percy doesn’t have it in him,” Fred snickered.

Percy raised one challenging brow as his eyes flickered over to Harri. Fred’s eyes widened before they narrowed, almost daring Percy. Usually, that would have been enough to get Percy to back down. He was above such childish acts, but he had had enough.

Without giving himself time to second guess himself, Percy opened his mouth and blurted out, “Hey Harri did you know Fred used to swear he was going to marry our mother when we were children? It was the cutest thing. Would go on and on about it, really.”

“I… That’s…” Fred stuttered for once a loss for words. He was still processing the fact Percy had done it.

George’s gruffing laugh echoed throughout the room as he laughed so hard he fell out of his seat.

Bill tried to be a good example for his siblings and not laugh, but the second he caught sight of Fred’s face stuck in horror, he lost it.

“Really?” Harri asked, amusement clear in her tone.

“From the age of four to six,” Percy confirmed without missing a beat, feeling validated. It was HIS turn to humiliate them.

Bill really should have seen it coming when Fred lunged for Percy. He would have if he were in Fred’s shoes. It had taken their mother to pull both boys apart. Bill was pleasantly surprised to see Percy unrepentantly wrestling Fred on the ground. Bill was pretty sure he saw Percy throw some nasty elbows too. As their mother physically pulled both boys apart, Bill groaned at the sight of Percy’s guilty expression. He would have to pull him aside and talk to  Percy about letting loose like this and giving it just as good as he got before their mothers chastising could get to him. It was clear to anyone looking at this act alone Percy had forcibly gained respect from the twins. He would lose it if he went right back to following the rules as if they came straight from Merlin’s mouth.

Sirius clenched his teeth together. Why did the book have to speak about him? Crouch had taken everything from him. Everything from Harri. Another example of why the Ministry of Magic was utterly useless. Power-hungry fools, the lot of them.

“And have you heard from -?” Ron began, but at a look from Hermione he fell silent. Harri knew Ron had been about to ask about Sirius. Ron and Hermione had been so deeply involved in helping Sirius escape from the Ministry of Magic that they were almost as concerned about Harri’s godfather as she was. However, discussing him in front of Ginny was a bad idea. Nobody but themselves and Professor Dumbledore knew about how Sirius had escaped, or believed in his innocence.

“I think they’ve stopped arguing,” said Hermione, to cover the awkward moment, because Ginny was looking curiously from Ron to Harri. “Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?”

Ginny scowled at Ron and his friends. They could have told her. She wouldn’t have told anyone. She could keep a secret! She had been the heir to Slytherin for a year without anyone knowing. All of her brothers excluded her. It was as if they all thought she was fragile. They never let her fly with them because Quidditch was for “boys”, even though several of the twin’s teammates were female. Even Percy carefully selected “delicate” topics for them to discuss. It wasn’t fair. And they all wondered why she had written in the stupid diary, to begin with. Even with six siblings, she had always been incredibly lonely. The only girl. The outsider.

“Oh for heaven’s sake,” she snapped, now directing her wand at a dustpan, which hopped off the sideboard and started skating across the floor, scooping up the potatoes. “Those two!” she burst out savagely, now pulling pots and pans out of a cupboard, and Harri knew she meant Fred and George. I don’t know what’s going to happen to them, I really don’t. No ambition, unless you count making as much trouble as they possibly can....”

“We have ambition,” George protested loudly.

“You just refuse to see it!” Fred seconded, still sore about losing his row with Percy.

“Why does our ambition mean so little to you-”

“Just because we don’t want to work at the Ministry?”

“We put a lot of effort into our products-”

“And if you just stopped and looked at them-”

“Really looked not just cast them off as junk-”

“Because you don’t agree with what we want-”

“Then you’d see we use magic in a way nobody else ever has.”

“You can’t really think you’ll make any real money running a joke shop,” Molly retorted with less heat than she previously had. “I want you boys to do well. Have proper jobs. Have a better life than your father and I can afford to give you.”

“What’s you and dad have anything to do with this?” Fred asked, genuinely confused.

“You give us plenty,” George agreed, not seeing his mother’s point here.

“We made it as far as we have with our products with what you’ve given us when you can. We saved and never spent it all at once. We made every knut count. You taught us that-”

“And even if we never make it big, you’ve always taught us being rich doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy. That’s why dad hasn’t moved up in the Ministry.”

Molly was genuinely lost for words. She didn’t have a reply to that. Arthur had spent the children’s entire lives encouraging them to follow their dreams despite the cost, and she had stood behind her husband as he followed his, even if it left them without more often than not.

“It’s not as though they haven’t got brains, she continued irritably, taking the saucepan over to the stove and lighting it with a further poke of her wand, “but they’re wasting them, and unless they pull themselves together soon, they’ll be in real trouble. I’ve had more owls from Hogwarts about them than the rest put together. If they carry on the way they’re going, they’ll end up in front of the Improper Use of Magic Office.”

“How am I supposed to trust the two of you to make the right decisions when you show me time and time again neither of you is mature enough to run a business,” Molly pointed out, agreeing with her counterpart. The twins had never shown they had the discipline for such things.

“We were just having a bit of fun, Mum,” George shrugged. It wasn’t as if their mother had ever given them a reason to want to make her proud. Once she had realized they were nothing like their three oldest siblings, she had done her damndest to try and shove them into this perfect little mold of Percy. She had never embraced them as they were.

“I don’t know where we went wrong with them,” said Mrs. Weasley, putting down her wand and starting to pull out still more saucepans. “It’s been the same for years, one thing after another, and they won’t listen to - OH NOT AGAIN!”

She had picked up her wand from the table, and it had emitted a loud squeak and turned into a giant rubber mouse.

“One of their fake wands again!” she shouted. “How many times have I told them not to leave them lying around?”

“There’s nothing wrong with us,” Fred snapped, already done with hearing his mother talk about them in such a manner.

Harri slid her hand into Fred’s. She had to agree. She didn’t see anything inherently wrong with the twins. She honestly thought Molly did a fine job raising them. Sure they liked to cause a little mayhem, but they had never actually hurt anyone with their fun.

“I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it.”

Fred and George shared a knowing look. How else was she supposed to mean it? How were they supposed to take their mother ranting at Harri? Despite their mother’s words, one thing stuck out to them. Their fake wands had looked real enough to trick her. They had finally gotten them right, it seemed.

The source of the commotion was revealed as they entered the garden, and saw that Bill and Charlie both had their wands out, and were making two battered old tables fly high above the lawn, smashing into each other, each attempting to knock the other’s out of the air. Fred and George were cheering, Ginny was laughing, and Hermione was hovering near the hedge, apparently torn between amusement and anxiety.

“Really, you two,” Molly frowned. “You’re supposed to set a better example for your brothers.”

Bill and Charlie smiled sheepishly at their mother in return. They weren’t particularly sorry, but it wasn’t a hill worth dying on.

“You have to show me how to do that,” Harri pleaded, eager to try it with Ron.

“Absolutely not,” Molly cut it.

Bill waited until she had turned away again before sending Harri a thumbs up. It was harmless, and the girl needed all the fun in her life she could get.

“Sorry, Perce,” said Bill, grinning. “How’re the cauldron bottoms coming on?”

“Very badly,” said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the window shut. Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattached the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere.

Bill sent pointed looks to his siblings, daring any of them to have another go at Percy.

Percy sighed to himself. Yet another person he had shut out. He was sure Bill would have listened to him talk about his work if only to be polite.

“Oh Bagman’s likeable enough, of course,” said Percy dismissively, “but how he ever got to be Head of Department...when I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can’t see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what’s happened to them.

“You don’t know your boss as well as you think you do,” Sirius inserted bitterly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Percy asked hotly. He wouldn’t have praised someone without cause.

“You’re too young to know,” Sirius waved him away. His grievance with Crouch was his own. He didn’t owe anyone an explanation. If Percy didn’t want to take his word for it, that was on him. He could find out what kind of person Crouch was himself.

“Oh, Bertha’s hopeless, all right,” said Percy. “I hear she’s been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she’s worth...but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her -

Moody squinted at the books suspiciously. Why would Crouch care about Bertha? As long as Moody had known Crouch, the man had never cared about anything other than his own image. What had changed? What did Bertha know to make Crouch notice her disappearance?

Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked down toward the end of the table where Harri, Ron, and Hermione were sitting. “You know the one I’m talking about, Father.” He raised his voice slightly. “The top-secret one.”

Bill and Charlie fought against their own amusement. Percy had a lot to work on if he wanted to look cool. There were better ways of getting troublesome little siblings to ask you questions about potentially secret things they probably shouldn’t know

Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to Harri and Hermione, “He’s been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work. Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons.”

“I think you’ll find out soon your brother did indeed know something worth knowing,” Madam Bones said knowingly.

“It’s got to be Ireland,” said Charlie thickly, through a mouthful of potato. “They flattened Peru in the semifinals.”

“Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though,” said Fred.

“Krum’s one decent player, Ireland has got seven,” said Charlie shortly. “I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was.”

As much as Krum wanted to deny the elder Weasley’s words, he couldn’t. Ireland was going to be a formidable opponent, but he and his team would do their best to take the win.

Ron looked carefully up the table to check that the rest of the family were all busy talking, then he said very quietly to Harri, “So - have you heard from Sirius lately?”

“That is not secure!” Moody scolded. He knew what he was teaching the little brats next. They were going to get someone killed that way.

She suddenly remembered the reason she had written to Sirius, and for a moment was on the verge of telling Ron and Hermione about her scar hurting again, and about the dream that had awoken her..but she really didn’t want to worry them just now, not when sheherself was feeling so happy and peaceful.

Hermione bit her lip to keep her comments to herself. They had agreed they were all allowed their secrets, but she felt this was something Harri should have shared. You-Know-Who was connected to that scar, and any sign of it hurting could mean Harri’s well-being was at risk. Should she maybe bring up an amendment to the secret agreement? She didn’t think things should be kept a secret if one of their lives could be endangered. The other two should at least know that.

“Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?” said Fred.

“That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!” said Percy, going very red in the face. “It was nothing personal!”

“It was,” Fred whispered to Harri as they got up from the table. “We sent it.”

Fred and George laughed, leaning against Harri for support. What a shame they wouldn’t be able to do it again.

Percy fumed as their mother started in on the twins. Why couldn’t they take him seriously or even support him? It wasn’t as if he was doing any harm to them.