Disclaimer: Not mine.
As the hands on the small clock reached half-past twelve, a pair of bright green eyes snapped open in the darkness. Harry pushed the blankets back and got out of bed, fully clothed. He stepped softly across the room to Ron and shook him awake, his hand ready to jump over his best friend’s mouth if he made too much noise by accident. But Ron just scrunched up his face in tiredness as he awoke and silently pushed himself out of bed, glancing at the clock. He was also fully dressed. The two boys bent down and took their broomsticks and rucksacks out from under their respective beds, and, as Harry opened the window, Ron went to the door and looked out into the hallway. Hermione and Ginny were half-way down the corridor, treading carefully on the old floor boards to make as little noise as possible. Five minutes later, they were ready to go.
The house was silent as Ginny hugged each of them goodbye. When she got to Harry, she didn’t let go immediately but held him close for a moment, whispering “Good luck!” before stepping back. The trio were silhouetted against the dim light coming through the window, but Ginny could still see the expressions of grim determination on each of their faces. Ron raised his hand on a mock salute which Ginny jokingly returned. The three of them turned, Ron and Harry with their broomsticks and Hermione with Ginny’s, and Hermione cast Disillusionment Charms before they climbed one by one out of the window and flew away.
Ginny watched the almost invisible figures disappear into the night sky for a few moments before tip-toeing back to her room, wondering how she was going to explain this to her mother in the morning.
*
Ginny woke up early the next morning, unable to stay asleep. She waited patiently until she heard her mother clattering around the kitchen before coming downstairs. She was surprised to see when she entered the underground kitchen that her father had not yet left for work and was having a very serious-sounding conversation with Bill and Charlie. They looked around when Ginny walked in.
“Morning,” she said sleepily, moving over to the cupboard for a glass and some orange juice.
“Morning, Ginny.” Bill sounded uncharacteristically uncomfortable, and Ginny looked up from pouring her juice.
“What’s going on?” she asked, but he avoided her eyes. Charlie and her father glanced at each other, and Bill ran a hand through his hair.
“It’s really nothing for you to worry about…”
Ginny raised her eyebrows and Bill visibly gave in.
“The outer wards on the house were breached last night “ from the inside,” he explained. “It was only for a couple of seconds, but it would’ve been enough for someone to leave.”
“Oh,” she breathed, suddenly realising what must have happened. Her father looked at her.
“Do you know anything about this, Ginny?” he asked. She shrugged, thinking carefully.
“What time last night?”
“About a quarter to one,” said Charlie slowly, “why?” Ginny didn’t look up, but busied herself making toast.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, then,” she said quietly, “it was probably just Harry, Ron and Hermione. That’s about the time they left.” All movement in the kitchen ceased. Ginny knew that everyone was looking at her, but she resolutely ignored them until her father spoke again.
“What do you mean, they left?” Ginny sighed.
“Exactly what I said.” She turned around in her seat. Fred and George, who had been eating porridge at the table were staring at her, their eyes wide.
“Come on, you don’t mean you didn’t guess?” She looked at their stunned faces and raised her eyebrows. “Harry has things to do. And you know Ron and Hermione would never let him go alone.” The words stuck slightly in her throat, but she pushed them out all the same. Ron and Hermione had not let him go alone “ but she had.
*
It was drizzling in Greater Hangleton, the sun just beginning to push its light through the clouds to shine dimly on the three cloaked figures making their way down the wide country lane. They approached the village slowly and wearily, and looked around. One of the larger, timber-framed buildings had a sign on the door: The Forest Inn “ Rooms Available. They made their way towards it. It wasn’t long before the three of them were dropping their bags on the beds of a small upstairs room. Ron looked around sceptically.
“Well. This is going to be fun.”
*
The rest of the day passed slowly in Grimmauld Place. The twins were due to meet officially with the Order in the evening, and they spent the entire day at the shop, only coming through the floo to eat lunch in near silence before returning almost immediately. Ginny spent most of her time in the library, researching the four founders of Hogwarts until, at around seven o’clock, Mrs Weasley sent her to her room and various members of the Order began to arrive. In the kitchen, Bill sat with his father and Charlie, one eye on the twins and another on the door.
There were two slim black cases on the table, each about a hand-span across. Fred and George were leaning against the table, their eyes flicking from the Order members trickling in to the cases on the table, and then to each other. Although it wasn’t immediately obvious, Bill knew his brothers well enough to tell that they were very nervous. Slowly the room was filled and he shut the door, waving his wand in a brief imitation of an Imperturbable Charm. This looked to be an interesting meeting indeed, and he owed his sister a favour. As the door closed, there was a slight scuffling noise on the stairs and on the other side of the door, Ginny shifted position to get a better look through the keyhole. She would have used Extendable Ears, but knew that if she was caught with them it wouldn’t just be her she was getting in trouble. Back in the kitchen, the talking settled down, and the air was full of sceptical anticipation. Ginny smiled to herself. This had better be good.
*
It was dark again by the time Harry, Ron and Hermione left the room. They had spent the day eating the food they had brought with them, and planning how best to approach the problem. Their first place to look would be the Riddle House, but they had decided to wait until nightfall before making their way there.
They walked cautiously up the gravel drive, surrounded on all sides by overgrown hedges and unkempt weeds. The house itself was tall, grey and forbidding, with half-boarded up windows and ivy growing wildly across its walls. The front door was locked so Hermione took out her wand.
“Alohomora!” she whispered, and Ron pushed the creaking door so that it swung open. As they entered, Harry half-expected the door to slam shut behind them, but it did not.
*
“Friends, welcome. And may I also welcome Messrs Fred and George Weasley, owners and founders of Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, who come before us with a proposal.”
McGonagall nodded at Fred and George and sat down. The twins looked at each other, and Fred began to speak.
“Thank you. We know that most of you are probably pretty unconvinced that the owners of a joke shop would have anything of interest.” There were several titters from the Order members. George picked up where his brother had left off.
“However…a year or so ago we began to think seriously about what we could do to help in the war. We’re not fighters; we’re rubbish duellists except against each other “” there were a few smiles ““ but when it comes to making things, we know what we’re doing.”
“We started thinking about what would be useful, and how we could change methods we already use to make something of value.”
Bill could tell that they had spent some time rehearsing this speech, but it didn’t make it any less effective.
“We came up with two main ideas.” Fred gestured to the two cases. “We’d like to point out that neither of these have been patented “”
“ “ and nor are there any written instructions on how to make them,” finished George.
“So that means that the only way to find out how to make them…?” asked Kingsley slowly, leaning forwards.
“Is through us,” Fred confirmed.
George slid the first case gently across to the centre of the table and pressed his thumb to the lid, which opened smoothly. Inside, lying gently on some kind of black foam was a bracelet. It gave a whole new meaning to the word shining; it seemed to glow slightly with an inward light, a smooth circle of silver with enough of a gap to push it onto the wrist. Appreciative murmurs swept the room, and Bill swore softly under his breath.
“Is that…”
“Fovio Argentum.” Fred nodded. He and George both looked very serious. Bill was still staring at the bracelet as he said, “But that’s not…don’t you have to…”
Fred and George looked at each other.
“Register it, yeah,” said Fred, and George continued, “but that’s only if you want the recognition.”
“So to keep this nice and confidential “”
“- we didn’t.” Bill surveyed his twin brothers curiously, aware that he was possibly the only other person in the room who understood this fully.
“You won’t get the patent for it though “ and isn’t there a fair bit of prize money?” he asked. George nodded.
“We don’t need it. The shop’s doing well enough on its own,” he said.
“And anyway, this is much more important,” Fred added. Bill was impressed. His younger brothers had changed a lot from when they had begun their business. A voice spoke up from across the table.
“Fovio Argentum “ isn’t that a precious metal? I though it wasn’t made anymore…”
Bill glanced across to see the Order’s newest recruit looking at him and the twins questioningly. Cariss French was a friend of Tonks’ who worked on the fringes of the Department of Mysteries, as a courier “ delivering confidential messages between the various Unspeakables by hand. Fred nodded, and explained.
“It’s one of the materials made only in the wizarding world, because of its properties.”
Bill dragged his eyes away from the bracelet to help.
“Think of all the magical materials on a scale of one to twenty. The Philosopher’s Stone is about twenty, and one would be…I don’t know, a charmed brick, something anyone could make. That stuff,” he gestured to the bracelet, “is about a thirteen.” Charlie whistled softly and the room broke into whispers. Tonks looked at the twins.
“So how did you get it?”
“We made it.”
*
The inside of the house was covered in inch-thick dust and cobwebs that could have come, Harry thought, from a bad-quality horror film. It took them ten minutes to explore the lower levels, but upon finding nothing they moved up to the second floor.
They walked along and around extensive lengths of dusty corridor for what felt like hours, but in reality was a mere twenty minutes, before arriving back at the central stairwell. Harry’s frustration was growing. He had been so sure that they would find a Horcrux here; but the whole house seemed to be empty. He looked up at the other two.
“Well?” he whispered. “What do you want to do?”
Hermione bit her lip and shrugged.
“If it’s not here…” she trailed off. If the Horcrux wasn’t here, they would have to start again. Harry looked at Ron. His best friend was gazing at the corridors around them, frowning.
“This isn’t right.”
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked. In response, Ron knelt down and began to draw something in the dust on the floor. Harry and Hermione leant over to see a rough plan of the building. Ron pointed to where they were.
“This is us. And this,” he drew a line that curved around and through the corridors and rooms, “is where we’ve walked. But if you look “”
“There’s a missing room!” It seemed obvious; looking at the plan, they had missed a room on the east side of the house.
“But how did we miss it? We walked all around that bit!” Hermione said. Harry shrugged and re-adjusted the strap of his bag.
“Come on, then.”
They retraced their steps until they reached the stretch of wall separating them from the ‘missing’ room. Ron made another plan in the dust, and they walked around three sides of the room, but could find no door.
“Great,” Harry said, “now what do we do?”
“Give me a minute.”
Hermione paced up and down, muttering to herself. Finally she took out her wand, and with it drew a strange symbol “ Harry supposed it was some kind of rune “ on the wall in purple light. The rune sank into the wall, which seemed to shimmer before their eyes and transform into a door. Hermione smiled. Ron and Harry just stared at her.
“How did you “”
“When we were looking for “Destruction of Destruction,” I found a few other books. I’ve been studying them since I found them,” Hermione explained distractedly. She was now running the tip of her wand along the sides of the door, little blue sparks tracing the outlines of more runes. Eventually she nodded to herself and put her hand on the handle, looking at Ron and Harry, who were still staring her in astonishment. She grinned.
“I’ve been telling you for years “ it’s amazing what you can learn from a book.”
*
“How long does it take you to make one of those?” Tonks asked curiously.
“Each one takes about a month to make; but it’s possible to make more than one at a time,” said George.
“So, depending on circumstances, we could have fifteen ready for use by November,” Fred said. Charlie nodded in understanding, but asked,
“What circumstances?”
“Well,” George began, “Both of us are normally in the shop if it’s busy, so it’s a matter of getting the work done when we’re not going to be interrupted or asked why we’re not out front.”
“And then the process itself isn’t perfect. Everything has to be done very precisely “ and if it’s not then we have to start all over again,” Fred finished.
“So,” said a grey-haired witch at the back of the room, “what do they actually do?”
The twins glanced at each other, and George started to explain.
“They do a few things, but their main purpose is to identify.”
“These bracelets,” continued Fred, lifting one out of the case to reveal another just underneath it, “once activated, cannot be taken from their owner and still work. Take them off of their original owner’s wrist and they stop working completely. Even if they are put back on again, it doesn’t matter “ they’re one use only.”
“So it’s proof that a person is who they say they are,” Tonks realised.
“Yes. Also, the tag on this one,” Fred indicated a small disc that dangled from the bracelet, “is blank. But put it on and it will change to represent your Patronus...”
“…which means that even if someone else managed to make it work on them, the shape of the Patronus would change.” George completed. Cariss French spoke up again.
“But couldn’t the person who’d stolen it just use Polyjuice?”
Bill answered for the twins.
“No. Even if a person uses Polyjuice Potion, their Patronus would remain the same.” There were a few more questions before the talk died down.
“No more questions?” Fred checked. There were none. “Good.” Someone from the back called,
“What’s in the other box?”
*
The trio stepped carefully into the darkened room. It was an almost perfect square, and in the middle of one wall was a large window that had been roughly boarded up. There were several wooden chairs in one corner, and the whole room smelt old and dead. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the three of them jumped around; this time the door had shut behind them, with a thud that shook the room. Hermione raised her wand and muttered a spell, causing the rune on the door to relight and another to appear on the floor in the centre of the room. Harry walked towards it and kneeled down, Ron and Hermione behind him. He reached warily forward, glad to see that his hand was still mercifully steady, and cautiously tugged up the centremost floorboard. It peeled slowly upwards.
“Brilliant, Harry,” Ron whispered from behind him. The three of them leaned carefully in to see what was revealed: a grimy case, like that for holding a wand, only shorter and wider. But that wasn’t what really caught their attention. What did was the deathly pale, unmoving hand that the box was resting in. Harry glanced around at his two friends; Ron was white and Hermione’s eyes were wide.
“Inferi,” he mouthed, and they nodded. Ron kept his mouth tightly closed in a way that suggested he might be sick if he opened it, and Harry understood his feelings. The hand was joined to an arm which reached back under the floor where they knelt, and now Harry’s eyes were adjusting to the darkness beneath the floorboards he was fairly certain he could see other things under there: dim curves in the shadows that bore a resemblance to limbs and once, as he moved his head to see better, a chink of light from the badly-boarded-up window reflecting in a pair of dead yet open eyes.
*
Fred opened the second case, within which seemed to be “
“Jelly beans?” someone asked, and quiet laughter rippled across the room. George grinned, and Fred picked out a red one, popping it in his mouth. He stood back from the table and George took out his wand, pointing it at his twin.
“Stupefy.” A beam of strong red light shot from George’s wand and hit Fred squarely in the chest “ but nothing happened. Fred stood there, unaffected by the spell, and grinning at all the stunned faces. George turned back to the rest of the table.
“Yep. Jelly beans.”
*
“Fire spells at the ready, then?” Harry suggested grimly, and felt Ron and Hermione shift behind him until they were to his left and right, their wands pointing directly at the hole in the floor.
Harry gritted his teeth, and reached his left hand down between the floorboards until it was hovering above the box.
“After three,” he whispered. Hermione and Ron nodded.
“One…” Harry could feel the sweat prickling across his palm. “…two…” “ he flexed his fingers, ready to grab and get away as quickly as possible “ “…three…NOW!”
Harry snatched the box out and leapt back as Ron and Hermione cast their fire spells. The floorboards creaked violently and then jerked up as pale hands and skull-like faces clawed their way out of the space beneath the boards.
“RUN!” Harry shouted. He turned to the door, but there were too many Inferi blocking their path.
“Harry, the window!” Harry spun around to see Ron and Hermione already at the ledge. He charged across the room, leaping over the clutching white hands, throwing fire spells at the cold bodies reaching for him. Ron was tugging at the boards on the window; Harry started to help him but they wouldn’t move.
“Move back!” Hermione called. Harry and Ron jumped backwards as Hermione pointed her wand at the window and a stream of red light punched a hole through the wood and glass.
“GO!” Harry shouted. Hermione climbed out and called back to them,
“There’s a tree out here, I should be able to “” But Ron and Harry were too busy fending off the Inferi to continue listening.
“Harry, move!” Ron hollered. Harry paused for a split second, not wanting to leave Ron there alone, but Ron shoved him towards the window and he gave in. He clambered up onto the ledge and looked out. There was a tree there, a huge, ancient yew, and Hermione was balanced carefully on one of the bigger branches.
“Hermione, catch!” She looked around as he threw the Horcrux across the gap, before jumping himself. He caught hold of the nearest branch with both hands and swung himself around until he was next to Hermione. He looked back at the window. Ron was scrambling out onto the window ledge, his wand still sending flames back into the room.
“Ron!” Hermione shouted. He looked around.
Ron pushed himself onto the ledge. He heard Hermione call his name, and couldn’t help it “ he looked down. The ground seemed further away than it technically should have been; as did the tree branch.
“Come on, Ron! Just jump!”
Ron closed his eyes and launched himself out of the window.
“RON!”
*
Charlie recovered from his shock enough to ask,
“So what do the other colours do?” George grinned, and Fred came back to the table.
“What, not impressed, oh brother mine?” he said, trying not to laugh. George took pity on them.
“Each of the three colours has a different effect. The red ones shield the eater from minor to moderate spells, hexes and jinxes.”
“Like Shield Hats that you can eat,” Fred joined and the twins began to alternate their explanations.
“The orange ones will fix all bumps and bruises and give you a short-term energy burst “ hopefully enough to get yourself out of danger if possible.”
“The purple is a Blood-Replenishing Potion in a compact, jelly form. Takes longer to go off, and has the same effect as an average spoonful of the potion.”
“I think I can tell you that we’re impressed,” said Mr Weasley weakly, and several people nodded. “How long have you two been working on this?” Fred shrugged.
“Since we left school. The bracelets, anyway. The sweets weren’t too hard; it’s the same principle as prank sweets, just with different properties.”
“You’ll have to excuse me; I’m not saying that you’re not generous, but what do you get in return?” Kingsley asked. George turned to him.
“We get to prove they work; and if we’re manufacturing bigger numbers of them, we’ll need help making it secure to store them.”
“And we get to help. We’ve always wanted to be able to do something…and now we have hopefully got the ability to make a difference.” Kingsley nodded, leaning back in his chair. As with the bracelets, there were a few more questions before Professor McGonagall stood once more.
“I think that you have certainly given us much to discuss,” she said, nodding politely to the twins. “Thank you very much for coming in; we will contact you with a decision within the next week or two.” The twins nodded their thanks as the members of the Order applauded appreciatively.
*
Ron saw Harry and Hermione’s panicked faces get quickly further away and was about to yell when what felt like a hook caught the back of his ankle and all the movement jerked to a stop.
“Ron! Ron, are you ok?” Ron opened his eyes slowly to see that yes, he was upside-down. He moved his head back to look down and almost passed out when he saw that the unkempt lawn was only a few inches away from his face. He closed his eyes again and groaned. Suddenly there were hands on his back, helping him hit the ground slowly as the spell was countered. He groaned again.
“Ron? Ron, say something!”
“Ron, are you ok?” He nodded slowly, and pushed himself upright, feeling a burst of pain in his right knee. He swore and grabbed it. Hermione had both her hands over her mouth, and Harry was white.
“Is it broken?” Hermione asked nervously.
“I don’t think so,” said Ron. He looked at them. “Who caught me?”
“I did,” said Harry.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.” The three of them sat there, unmoving for a moment of two. Harry ran a hand through his hair absent-mindedly, oblivious to the mess it was already in.
“How am I going to explain this to mum?” Ron asked, gingerly stretching his leg and wincing.
“Just tell her you fell out of a tree,” suggested Hermione.
“He didn’t fall out of the tree. He missed the tree,” Harry said, and then they started to laugh. It couldn’t have been further from amusing, Harry knew this, but all the tension that had been building inside him was released as they lay back in the grass and laughed until their sides ached. Finally, they pulled themselves together, and helped Ron upright.
It took them several minutes to get into the little enclosed field that Hermione had spotted earlier that day, Ron supported under each arm by Harry and Hermione. When they reached it, Hermione pulled the box out of her pocket and the three of them sat down on the soft grass to see. The dust that had covered it had been brushed off, and they could see some sort of emblem on the lid. Hermione rubbed it with her sleeve and gasped. It was a beautifully ornate ‘R’, on which perched a raven.
“Ravenclaw’s mark,” Hermione whispered. Ron and Harry looked at her, and she cleared her throat.
“Sorry. I keep forgetting that we don’t have to whisper out here,” she said. She lifted the lid. Inside, on a cushion of pure blue velvet, lay a delicate bronze feather “ no, not a feather, a quill. The trio just looked at it for a moment. Harry broke the silence.
“Come on.”
They stood up and raised their wands, angling them so that the tips were just touching. ‘Destruction of Destruction’ had recommended a combination of power as the best way to cast the destructive spell without having it rebound.
“Ready?” asked Harry.
“Yes.”
“Yeah.”
Harry shifted his grip on his wand and nodded. The three of them spoke at once.
“Finio Inanis!” A beam of pure white fire blasted out from their joined wand tips, focused, and then hit the quill with such force Harry was sure it would crumple “ but it didn’t. The light was absorbed into the quill, and for a moment, nothing happened. Harry just had time to exchange a puzzled look with Ron before there was an explosion of dazzling white light and all three of them were thrown backwards several metres. After a minute or two of coloured spots racing across his vision, Harry risked opening his eyes again and lifted his head of the ground. Ron and Hermione were in similar situations, but Hermione was already sitting up. She stood up as Harry did, and they each took one of Ron’s arms and helped him to his feet. Hermione went over to the quill; it lay on the ground quite innocently, as though it had done nothing at all, but when she ran her wand over it she looked up.
“It’s empty,” she said. Harry grinned and felt the thrill of achievement grow inside him as Hermione carefully replaced the lid onto the box.
“We need to be more careful,” she said. “That spell took a lot of power, and most of that went straight back out again. That’s why we were thrown backwards.”
“That’s twice today,” grumbled Ron. Harry couldn’t help it; he snorted with laughter and Hermione giggled. Ron looked at them.
“What’s so funny?”
*
“Nice one,” Bill complimented as people began to leave. “Even if they don’t accept, they’ll be talking about that one for ages.” The twins, who had been quietly packing the cases into a small bag, looked around.
“Seriously?” Fred asked, glancing at George. Bill smiled at his younger brothers.
“Seriously.”
*
Reviews are, as always, deeply appreciated. Thank you!
Hazel