Among Other Things

Disclaimer: I do not own HP!

Chapter 11

It was a pleasant evening at the Burrow, the night before the twins were due to meet Hermione and Harry at Diagon Alley.

In the summer twilight, the trees were swaying in a gentle wind, the crickets were chirping, and the ramshackle house was alive with lights.

After having consumed a large amount of hearty stew, the Weasley clan had settled down for the evening.

Molly and Arthur, the head of household and spouse respectively, had claimed the larger of two couches in the parlor, and were comfortably listening to Celestina Warbeck on the Wizarding Wireless Network.

Molly leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder as she listened. It was difficult to believe that she had another Prefect in the family.

She had thought that Percy was the last one, what with the twins’ penchant for mischief, and Ron and Ginny’s temper tantrums. Thankfully, Ron had finally shown some potential and had been granted the Prefect badge

. In addition to that, he had been given a special task by Dumbledore himself. Every time she thought about it, she nearly went into a tizzy.

It was so unbelievable!

Maybe this would have an impact on Arthur’s career as well.

Goodness knows that he was getting nowhere in that job of his. She sighed happily and closed her eyes.

Who would have believed that the Weasley family would ever have been able to crawl out of the hole that they dug themselves into so many years ago?

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Arthur Weasley was a rather nice person, most people would say. He never spoke out in anger, followed all Ministry regulations to the tee, and helped anyone he could.

At that moment, however, Arthur felt anything but nice.

He loved his children, he really did, but what Ron had done to Harry was unforgivable. Pretending to be that boy’s friend was one thing, but spying on him for Dumbledore was another.

As early as Ron’s first year he had attempted to convince him to be a good friend, a good person, but his youngest son had been quickly swayed by Dumbledore’s ideals.

“For the greater good.”

That was Dumbledore’s motto, and it had driven Arthur completely out of the old man’s camp before Percy had gone to Hogwarts.

Naturally, his wife was still firmly on the Headmaster’s side, and was all too happy to surrender their children to that man’s machinations.

Arthur turned his gaze to his wife’s sleeping face, beautiful in its’ contentment. If only she would listen to him for once…

However, she was too focused on regaining the family glory, which had been lost over a century ago in a famous duel between his ancestor and Lucius Malfoy’s ancestor.

Following the loss of honor, when his ancestor had attempted to hex Malfoy in the back, had been the loss of money when the family had lost its entire fortune in a futile desire to protect itself from the Malfoy family.

Since then the Weasleys had been cursed with poverty and low social standing. Not that he minded, of course, since his low level Ministry job kept him from notice, and let him pursue the things that he loved.

Molly wanted more, had always wanted more, and would not let herself, or the rest of the family relax until she had gotten what she wanted.

He looked at the flickering flames in the fireplace and wished that he could burn all the misery away.

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Nearby in the parlor, Ginny was engaged in the newest edition of Witch Weekly. The main article was of Harry Potter, and Ginny couldn’t be any happier.

Ever since she had first caught sight of him, she had been in love, and time and distance hadn’t been able to change that.

It had been a thrill, halfway through her first year, when she had been invited up to the headmaster’s office.

It was during their conversation that Professor Dumbledore had promised her Harry Potter, if she did a few things for him in return.

It was now almost two years later, and Ginny knew that she was closer to gaining what was hers.

All she had to do was stick by Harry’s side once he returned to Hogwarts, and wait for him to turn to her in his time of need.

Ginny grinned and hugged the magazine close.

She couldn’t wait.

Think of all the beautiful children they would have.

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Ron lay in his shabby, creaking bed and stared at the ceiling.

He couldn’t believe it.

For the first time in his life he had gained the attention of his parents as he did something that none of his brothers had done.

Although Percy had already been a Prefect, along with Bill, neither one of them had been given such an important task.

He felt himself swell with pride as he thought of what he would gain. A straight ticket to the Auror Academy if he wanted, or a chance at professional Quidditch.

It all depended on whether or not he succeeded.

And he would.

His mother would make sure of that.

Since his return from school she had spent the days tutoring him. Ron was sure that by the time he returned to school he would be ahead of his classmates.

Well, except for Hermione.

At the thought of Hermione, he sighed and burrowed his head into his pillow.

He’d tried to get her to notice him, but she had spent all her time on Harry, and then later, Viktor Krum.

He knew that he’d lost his chance to have a relationship, especially after the incident with the professor. However, maybe he might still have a chance.

Lavender Brown was still available, and she was more than a little easy.

Maybe he’d be able to force Hermione’s hand and get her to realize her love for him.

Yes, that would do perfectly.

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Late that night, Fred and George grinned mischievously as they crept towards Ron’s room.

They had spent the entire evening perfecting their prank and were now ready to unleash it on their unsuspecting git of a brother.

Opening the door to his room, they crept in silently planted their prank item and crept out again.

Snickering to themselves, they snuck back into their beds and eagerly waited for the morning to arrive.

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At precisely seven o’clock the next morning Ron’s alarm went off.

Yawning, he forced himself out of bed and into the bathroom.

Oddly enough, he encountered no one on his trip to the only bathroom on the floor, which should have sparked a good amount of worry in his brain if he were awake enough to realize it.

Sadly enough, clarity did not come to him until he looked into the mirror.

At five after seven, Ron’s scream echoed through the house at such a volume and pitch, that every window was shattered, including those spelled to be unbreakable.

Ron had discovered, in that early hour of the morning, that he had been transformed into a female.

And a quite unattractive one, at that.

Curled up in their beds, Fred and George snickered almost silently, and congratulated themselves on a job well done.

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Lord Voldemort’s manor was highly secure, unplottable, and surrounded by various wards and charms.

His manor was so difficult to find that his Death Eaters could only find it if he called them. This might have resulted in a lonely existence, if it were not for his right hand man (and best friend) Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius was the only one of his followers that knew the location of his manor and stayed there a few days a week.

Aside from Lucius, however, his location was highly secure.

This was why it was such a surprise when he woke up this morning to find a snowy white owl preening herself on his oak dresser.

Tom blinked and stared at the presumptious owl.

“How in the bloody hell…” he muttered.

Crimson eyes glancing at the owl, Tom quickly threw on a black work robe over a pair of muggle pants and a dress shirt.

“Who are you from?” he asked, reaching out to grab the offending letter.

“…”

Tom gazed at the letter and his eyes widened in shock.

“Merlin…Why has Potter, of all people, sent me a letter?”

He hadn’t thought that Potter had figured out anything, but maybe he at least suspected…

Voldemort,

We need to talk.

I know you have answers and I want them.

Send your reply through Hedwig. HP

Tom smirked at the letter. Well, it looked as if the Golden Boy was finally seeing past Dumbledore’s rose-tinted glasses.

Slowly the smirk faded. But…what should he tell the boy? If he told him too much or too little he would run straight back into the old fool’s arms without thinking.

And he had waited too long for anything to mess up his plans.

Wandlessly conjuring some parchment and ink, he strode over to his desk to write out a brief reply.

Potter,

I can’t give you all the answers, but the ones I have will make you think.

Do you really want to know?

In the meantime, here’s some food for thought: I didn’t kill your parents, but I know who did.

Lord Voldemort

Seconds after he finished writing the owl landed on the desk and sharply pecked him on the hand.

“Ow! Bloody bird!” Hedwig hooted imperiously and then stuck out her leg. Tom glared at the offending owl, but quickly tied the roll of parchment and then jumped out of the way as she jumped in the air and flew out the window.

From his perch on the floor, Tom gazed at the window for several moments, wondering how on earth his grandson would take the news and what exactly he would do with the information.

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Diagon Alley…

Hermione bit her lip nervously as she stared at the remnants of her fudge sundae from Fortescue’s Ice Cream Shop.

She’d been here for ten minutes and Harry still had not shown up. In a way, she almost didn’t want him to.

It would be easier if Dumbledore didn’t have a single chance to grab him.

“Well, what do we have here? No one here with you today?” Hermione’s head shot up and saw Fred and George Weasley standing less a few feet away from her, their arms around each other and grinning from ear to ear.

Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Well, it’s about time you two showed up!”

If possible, their grins widened even further and Hermione couldn’t help matching them. As they took their seats at the table, almost knocking an elderly witch over in the process, she kept a sharp eye out for Harry, who was expected to arrive at any minute.

“So, how’s the family been?” Fred asked, as he popped out a piece of parchment littered with symbols and numbers.

Craning her neck, Hermione could almost make out what looked to be a rune.

“Fine,” she answered. “We had a great vacation in Bulgaria.”

George snickered as he scratched out a few notes. “Poor little Ronniekins was more than a little upset by your decision to spend the summer with Krum.”

“Heartbroken he was,” Fred continued.

“Naturally,” George said. “We took advantage of his distraction and managed to torture him all summer long.”

Hermione smiled and tilted her head to read the writing, however each time she tried they tilted the parchment in such a way that she could not read a thing.

Eventually, she gave up and sighed.

“What are you two working on?”

Both twins looked up and her and gave secret little smiles. “We have ideas for a business venture,” Fred stated, absently scratching his chin as he circled a number.

“And with help from our backer, we’ll be ready to open within the year,” George finished as he drew a line from one end of the parchment to another.

Hermione blinked, surprised at the twins entrepreneurship. “You do know that most small businesses fail their first year?”

“Ah,” Fred smirked. “We don’t plan to be a small business.”

“Yes, we plan to make quite a profit and open at least two stores within the next five years,” George stated calmly.

“But,” she protested, worried that they hadn’t thought everything completely through. “It’s a big step and it takes so much commitment…”

“Hey, what’s going on?” a voice interrupted, causing Hermione to scowl in irritation.

Abruptly she turned, glaring at the intruder for interrupting her lecture. Immediately it softened into a smile.

“Harry,” she squealed, jumping up to give him a hug. “How are you? You are all right, aren’t you!? I know you said you were, but I still worried, and…”

She trailed off when she noticed that she was nagging him again. Hermione blushed and stepped back a bit.

“Sorry,” she muttered, absently brushing dust off her jeans in embarrassment.

“It’s all right,” Harry stated. “Sorry for the wait, though, I got delayed at Flourish and Blotts. They had a few new books on charms I wanted to get.”

“S’alright, mate,” Fred said, reaching out to give Harry a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Anyway, we’ve got so many ideas, the wizarding world won’t know what hit them,” George said, pocketing the parchment as they stood.

“We can’t wait to fill you in, mate.”

Harry smiled warily, but said nothing. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what they had created.

The twins’ minds were dangerous after all. Deciding to change the subject, Harry reached into his robes and withdrew the Portkey specially made for the visit.

“Are you guys ready to go? I really don’t want to be here any longer than necessary.”

The other three nodded. Grabbing her bag, Hermione followed the others to a shadowed corner in a narrow side street. A few moments later she was spinning, watching colors flash around her as she traveled through space.

Finally, she landed with a thump in a small, tastefully decorated sitting room.

“Well,” Harry coughed, slowly standing up from his sprawled out position on the floor. “Welcome to Moon’s Paw for as long as you want to stay.”

Hermione smiled. Well, here she was. Her new home until all this mess was finished.

End of Chapter 11! Please review!!