Harry had been at the Burrow with them for a few weeks. It would have been a happy, peaceful holiday had it not been for the stories of disappearances, odd accidents, even of deaths now appearing almost daily in the Prophet. Sometimes Bill and Mr. Weasley brought home news before it even reached the paper. To Mrs. Weasley's displeasure, Harry's sixteenth birthday celebrations were marred by grisly tidings brought to the party by Remus, who was looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked liberally with grey, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever.
"There have been another couple of dementor attacks," he announced, as Mrs. Weasley passed him a large slice of birthday cake as Rory sat next to him resting her head on his shoulder. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark had been set over it well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters; Sirius's brother, Regulus, only managed a few days as far as I can remember."
"Yes, well," Mrs. Weasley said, frowning, "perhaps we should talk about something diff"
"Did you hear about Florean Fortescue, Remus?" Bill asked. "The man who ran —"
"— the ice-cream place in Diagon Alley?" Harry interrupted. "He used to give me free ice creams. What's happened to him?"
"Dragged off, by the look of his place."
"Why?" Ron asked as Rory looked at Bill, while Mrs. Weasley pointedly glared at him.
"Who knows? He must've upset them somehow. He was a good man, Florean."
"Talking of Diagon Alley," Mr. Weasley said, "looks like Ollivander's gone too."
"The wandmaker?" Ginny said, looking startled.
"That's the one. Shop's empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped."
"But wands what'll people do for wands?"
"They'll make do with other makers," Remus said. "But Ollivander was the best, and if the other side have got him it's not so good for us." The day after this rather gloomy birthday tea, the letters and booklists arrived from Hogwarts. Harry's included a surprise: He had been made Quidditch Captain.
"That gives you equal status with prefects!" cried Hermione happily. "You can use our special bathroom now and everything!"
"Wow, I remember when Charlie wore one of these," Ron said, examining the badge with glee.
"So do I" Rory smiled at the thought of Charlie.
"Harry, this is so cool, you're my Captain if you let me back on the team, I suppose, ha ha"
"Well, I don't suppose we can put off a trip to Diagon Alley much longer now you've got these," sighed Mrs. Weasley, looking down Ron's booklist. "We'll go on Saturday as long as your father doesn't have to go into work again. I'm not going there without him."
"Mum, d'you honestly think You-Know-Who's going to be hiding behind a bookshelf in Flourish and Blotts?" sniggered Ron.
"Fortescue and Ollivander went on holiday, did they?" Mrs. Weasley said, firing up at once. "If you think security's a laughing matter you can stay behind and I'll get your things myself"
"No, I wanna come, I want to see Fred and George's shop!" Ron said hastily.
"Then you just buck up your ideas, young man, before I decide you're too immature to come with us!" Mrs. Weasley said angrily, snatching up her clock, all nine hands of which were still pointing at "mortal peril," and balancing it on top of a pile of just-laundered towels. "And that goes for returning to Hogwarts as well!" Ron turned to stare incredulously at Harry as his mother hoisted the laundry basket and the teetering clock into her arms and stormed out of the room.
"Blimey you can't even make a joke round here anymore." But Ron was careful not to be flippant about Voldemort over the next few days. Saturday dawned without any more outbursts from Mrs. Weasley, though she seemed very tense at breakfast. Bill passed a full money bag across the table to Harry. "Where's mine?" demanded Ron at once, his eyes wide as Rory shook her head at him.
"That's already Harry's, idiot," Bill said. "I got it out of your vault for you, Harry, because it's taking about five hours for the public to get to their gold at the moment, the goblins have tightened security so much. Two days ago Arkie Philpott had a Probity Probe stuck up his . Well, trust me, this way's easier."
"Thanks, Bill," Harry said, pocketing his gold. It was an overcast, murky day. One of the special Ministry of Magic cars was awaiting them in the front yard when they emerged from the house, the rest of them pulling on their cloaks whilst Rory just did up her leather jacket that had once belonged to Sirius.
"It's good Dad can get us these again," Ron said appreciatively, stretching luxuriously as the car moved smoothly away from the Burrow. Rory, him, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting in roomy comfort in the wide backseat.
"Don't get used to it, it's only because of Harry," Mr. Weasley said over his shoulder. He and Mrs. Weasley were in front with the Ministry driver; the front passenger seat had obligingly stretched into what resembled a two-seater sofa. "He's been given top-grade security status. And we'll be joining up with additional security at the Leaky Cauldron too."
"Here you are, then," said the driver, a surprisingly short while later, speaking for the first time as he slowed in Charing Cross Road and stopped outside the Leaky Cauldron. "I'm to wait for you, any idea how long you'll be?"
"A couple of hours, I expect," Mr. Weasley said. "Ah, good, he's here!" There were no Aurors waiting outside the inn, but instead the gigantic, black-bearded form of Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, wearing a long beaver skin coat, beaming.
"Harry!" he boomed, sweeping Harry into a bone-crushing hug the moment Harry had stepped out of the car. "Buckbeak Witherwings, I mean yeh should see him, Harry, he's so happy ter be back in the open air"
"Glad he's pleased," Harry said, grinning as he massaged his ribs. "We didn't know 'security' meant you!"
"I know, jus' like old times, innit? See, the Ministry wanted ter send a bunch o' Aurors, but Dumbledore said I'd do," Hagrid said proudly, throwing out his chest and tucking his thumbs into his pockets.
"Hey Hagrid" Rory greeted him.
"ello there Aurora, how are ya?"
"I'm good thanks Hagrid"
"Right let's get goin' then after yeh, Molly, Arthur" The Leaky Cauldron was completely empty. Only Tom the landlord, wizened and toothless, remained of the old crowd. He looked up hopefully as they entered, but before he could speak, Hagrid said importantly, "Jus' passin' through today, Tom, sure yeh understand, Hogwarts business, yeh know." Tom nodded gloomily and returned to wiping glasses; Rory, Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, and the Weasleys walked through the bar and out into the chilly little courtyard at the back where the dustbins stood. Hagrid raised his pink umbrella and rapped a certain brick in the wall, which opened at once to form an archway onto a winding cobbled street. They stepped through the entrance and paused, looking around. Diagon Alley had changed. The colourful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients, and cauldrons were lost to view, hidden behind the large Ministry of Magic posters that had been pasted over them. Most of these somber purple posters carried blown-up versions of the security advice on the Ministry pamphlets that had been sent out over the summer, but others bore moving black-and-white photographs of Death Eaters known to be on the loose. Bellatrix Lestrange was sneering from the front of the nearest apothecary. A few windows were boarded up, including those of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. On the other hand, a number of shabby-looking stalls had sprung up along the street. The nearest one, which had been erected outside Flourish and Blotts, under a striped, stained awning, had a cardboard sign pinned to its front: AMULETS Effective Against Werewolves, Dementors, and Inferi A seedy-looking little wizard was rattling armfuls of silver symbols on chains at passersby.
"One for your little girl, madam?" he called at Mrs. Weasley as they passed, leering at Ginny. "Protect her pretty neck?"
"If I were on duty" Mr. Weasley said, glaring angrily at the amulet seller.
"Yes, but don't go arresting anyone now, dear, we're in a hurry," Mrs. Weasley said, nervously consulting a list. "I think we'd better do Madam Malkin's first, Hermione wants new dress robes, and Ron's showing much too much ankle in his school robes, and you must need new ones too, Harry, you've grown so much come on, everyone "
"Molly, it doesn't make sense for all of us to go to Madam Malkin's," Mr. Weasley said. "Why don't those three go with Hagrid, and we can go to Flourish and Blotts and get everyone's schoolbooks?"
"I don't know," Mrs. Weasley said anxiously, clearly torn between a desire to finish the shopping quickly and the wish to stick together in a pack. "Hagrid, do you think ?"
"Don' fret, they'll be fine with me, Molly," Hagrid said soothingly, waving an airy hand the size of a dustbin lid. Mrs. Weasley did not look entirely convinced, but allowed the separation, as they walked off toward Flourish and Blotts while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid set off for Madam Malkin's. Mrs Weasley quickly grabbed all the books with Rory and Ginny's help before they headed back to find the others.
"Everyone all right?" Mrs. Weasley said. "Got your robes? Right then, we can pop in at the Apothecary and Eeylops on the way to Fred and George's stick close, now." Neither Harry nor Ron bought any ingredients at the Apothecary, seeing that they were no longer studying Potions, but both bought large boxes of owl nuts for Hedwig and Pigwidgeon at Eeylops Owl Emporium. Then, with Mrs. Weasley checking her watch every minute or so, they headed farther along the street following Rory to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop run by Fred and George. "We really haven't got too long," Mrs. Weasley said. "So we'll just have a quick look around and then back to the car."
"Whoa," Ron said, stopping in his tracks. Set against the dull, poster-muffled shop fronts around them, Fred and George's windows hit the eye like a firework display. Casual passersby were looking back over their shoulders at the windows, and a few rather stunned-looking people had actually come to a halt, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked. The righthand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters: WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO? YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO —THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION! Mrs. Weasley was gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name "U-No-Poo."
"They'll be murdered in their beds!" she whispered.
"No they won't!" Ron said laughing. "This is brilliant!" And he and Harry led the way into the shop. It was packed with customers, boxes were piled to the ceiling: Here were the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts, the Nosebleed Nougat seemed to be the most popular, with only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands, the cheapest merely turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the unwary user around the head and neck, and boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and Harry pushed his way toward the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds was watching a tiny little wooden man slowly ascending the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a box that read: reusable hangman spell it or he'll swing!
" 'Patented Daydream Charms ' " Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box bearing a highly coloured picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship. " 'One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens.' You know," Hermione said, looking up at Harry, "that really is extraordinary magic!"
"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "you can have one for free." A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.
"Freddie" Rory nearly shouted his name as he wrapped her in a hug.
"Hello my beautiful best friend" He said before turning to Harry. "How are you, Harry?" They shook hands. "And what's happened to your eye, Hermione?"
"Your punching telescope," she said ruefully.
"Oh blimey, I forgot I sent those to Rory," Fred said. "Here" He pulled a tub out of his pocket and handed it to her; she unscrewed it gingerly to reveal a thick yellow paste. "Just dab it on, that bruise'll be gone within the hour, We had to find a decent bruise remover. We're testing most of our products on ourselves." Hermione looked nervous.
"It is safe, isn't it?" she asked.
" 'Course it is," Fred said bracingly. "Come on, Harry, I'll give you a tour." Harry left Hermione dabbing her black eye with paste and followed Fred toward the back of the shop, where he saw a stand of card and rope tricks. "Muggle magic tricks!" Fred said happily, pointing them out. "For freaks like Dad, you know, who love Muggle stuff. It's not a big earner, but we do fairly steady business, they're great novelties. Oh, here's George." Rory turned to see George who shook Harry's hand energetically before pulling Rory in for a hug.
"Giving him the tour? Come through the back, Harry, that's where we're making the real money pocket anything, you, and you'll pay in more than Galleons!" he added warningly to a small boy who hastily whipped his hand out of the tub labelled edible dark marks they'll make anyone sick! George pushed back a curtain beside the Muggle tricks to reveal a darker, less crowded room. The packaging on the products lining these shelves was more subdued.
"We've just developed this more serious line," Fred said. "Funny how it happened."
"You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm," George said an arm around Rory's shoulder. " 'Course, they didn't have you teaching them, Harry."
"That's right. Well, we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh, you know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"
"So we've expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves"
"I mean, they wouldn't help much against the Unforgivable Curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes"
"And then we thought we'd get into the whole area of Defence Against the Dark Arts, because it's such a money spinner," continued George enthusiastically. "This is cool. Look, Instant Darkness Powder, we're importing it from Peru. Handy if you want to make a quick escape."
"And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves, look," Fred said, pointing at a number of weird-looking black horn-type objects that were indeed attempting to scurry out of sight. "You just drop one surreptitiously and it'll run off and make a nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you need one."
"Handy," Harry said, impressed.
"Here," George said releasing Rory and catching a couple and throwing them to Harry. A young witch with short blonde hair poked her head around the curtain she too was wearing magenta staff robes.
"There's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley," she said. Rory laughed slightly at Fred and George being called "Mr. Weasley," but they took it in their stride.
"Right you are, Verity, I'm coming," George said promptly. "Harry, you help yourself to anything you want, all right? No charge."
"I can't do that!" Harry said, he had already pulled out his money bag to pay for the Decoy Detonators.
"You don't pay here," Fred said firmly, waving away Harry's gold.
"But"
"You gave us our start-up loan, we haven't forgotten," George said sternly. "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it, if they ask." George swept off through the curtain to help with the customers, and Rory followed Fred as he led Harry back into the main part of the shop to find Hermione and Ginny still poring over the Patented Daydream Charms.
"Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" asked Fred. "Follow me, ladies." Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary. "There you go," Fred said proudly. "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere." Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Do they work?" she asked.
"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question"
"and the attractiveness of the girl, we tested them on Rory" George said reappearing suddenly at their side as Rory glared at him the memory of being in infatuated with the twins making her groan thankfully Charlie had appeared about an hour later causing the potion to stop working. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've"
"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," Ginny said calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"
"Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," Fred said. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"
"Yes, I am," Ginny said. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?" She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.
"Pygmy Puffs," George said. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"
"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," Ginny said, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"
"They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?" Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face.
"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you," she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"
"That's three Galleons, nine Sickles, and a Knut," Fred said, examining the many boxes in Ron's arms. "Cough up."
"I'm your brother!"
"And that's our stuff you're nicking. Three Galleons, nine Sickles. I'll knock off the Knut."
"But I haven't got three Galleons, nine Sickles!"
"You'd better put it back then, and mind you put it on the right shelves." Ron dropped several boxes, swore, and made a rude hand gesture at Fred that was unfortunately spotted by Mrs. Weasley, who had chosen that moment to appear.
"If I see you do that again I'll jinx your fingers together," she said sharply.
"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" Ginny said at once.
"A what?" Mrs. Weasley said warily. "Look, they're so sweet." Mrs. Weasley moved aside to look at the Pygmy Puffs. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were bending over the Pygmy Puffs. Mr. Weasley was delightedly examining a pack of Muggle marked playing cards. Fred and George were both helping customers so Rory went to see if they needed any help.
"Need any help"
"Nah you're alright Ror, you've helped loads as it is but you can keep me company though" George says looking at her. Rory looked around noticing that Harry, Ron and Hermione had disappeared. They suddenly showed up a little while later claiming to have been in the back room which Rory knew was a lie.