𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 | 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

Harboured Feelings & Secrets Revealing

Charlie could only imagine, "Now I bet that was a sight."

"It was wicked!" said Ron. "Fred gave him some Ton-Tongue Toffee, you should've seen how long the great bullying git's tongue got!"

Harry laughed, "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

"What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Charlie asked with a furrowed brow.

The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter.

"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," explained Ron quietly, being mindful of whether his mother would reappear. "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..."

"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny as she joined the conversation. "We thought they just liked the noise."

"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."

"And then there was this big row," Ginny explained further, "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."

Just then footsteps were heard descending the the stairs, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.

"'Ello Percy, you alright?" said Charlie as he turned.

"Oh hello, Charlie," 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 yelling down here."

"We're not yelling," said Ron irritably. "We're talking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic."

Charlie gritted his teeth slightly, "What's my dear, old dad got you working on this time?"

"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 —"

"That'll change the world, that report will," said Ron, sarcastically. "Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect — cauldron leaks."

Percy went slightly pink.

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

"Yeah, yeah, all right," said Ron, and he pulled Harry and Charlie towards the stairs; Ginny following quickly behind them to which Percy scoffed.

As they ascended the stairs, they walked all the way up to the top of the house where Ron slept, and Harry was staying.

The room looked exactly the same as it had during last summer; the same posters of Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, were whirling and waving on the walls and sloping ceiling, and the cage on the windowsill, which had previously held a traitor in disguise, now contained the tiny gray owl that, Charlie recognized, as the owl the had brought him Ron's invite to The Burrow. Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, was hopping up and down in a small cage and twittering madly, and next to him was Hedwig, Harry's owl, who seemed to be sleeping soundly.