Harry and I spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to our sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past us, until we startedto feel sick and closed our eyes. Then, when at last we felt ourselves slowing down, we threw out our hands and came to a halt in time toprevent ourselves from falling face forward out of the Weasleys'kitchen fire.
"Did he eat it?" said Fred excitedly, holding out a hand to pull me to my feet.
"Yeah," said Harry, straightening up.
"What was it?" I asked grinning
"Ton-Tongue Toffee," said Fred brightly. "George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them onall summer. . . ."
The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter; I looked aroundand saw that Ron and George were sitting at the scrubbed woodentable with two red-haired people Harry and I had never seen before,though I knew immediately who they must be: Bill and Charlie,the two eldest Weasley brothers.
"How're you doing, Harry, Emma?" said the nearer of the two, grinningat us and holding out a large hand, which I shook, feelingcalluses and blisters under my fingers. This had to be Charlie, whoworked with dragons in Romania. Charlie was built like the twins,shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long andlanky. He had a broad, good-natured face, which was weatherbeaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms weremuscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it.
Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook Harry's and my hand. Billcame as something of a surprise. I knew that he worked forthe wizarding bank, Gringotts, and that Bill had been Head Boy atHogwarts; Harry had always imagined Bill to be an older version ofPercy: fussy about rule-breaking and fond of bossing everyonearound. 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 danglingfrom it. Bill's clothes would not have looked out of place at a rockconcert, except that I recognized his boots to be made, not ofleather, but of dragon hide.
Before any of us could say anything else, there was a faintpopping noise, and Mr. Weasley appeared out of thin air atGeorge's shoulder. He was looking angrier than Harry had everseen him."
That wasn't funny, Fred!" he shouted. "What on earth did yougive that Muggle boy?
""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 toldhim to."
"You dropped it on purpose!" roared Mr. Weasley. "You knewhe'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet —"
"How big did his tongue get?" I asked eagerly."It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!"
Me, Harry and the Weasleys roared with laughter again.
"It isn't funny!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard–Muggle relations! I spend half my lifecampaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my ownsons —"
"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" said Fredindignantly.
"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git," saidGeorge. "Isn't he, Emma?"
"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," I said earnestly.
"That's not the point!" raged Mr. Weasley. "You wait until I tellyour mother —"
"Tell me what?" said a voice behind them.Mrs. Weasley had just entered the kitchen. She was a short,plump woman with a very kind face, though her eyes werepresently narrowed with suspicion.
"Oh hello, Harry, Emma dear," she said, spotting us and smiling.Then her eyes snapped back to her husband. "Tell me what,Arthur?"
Mr. Weasley hesitated.I could tell that, however angry hewas with Fred and George, he hadn't really intended to tell Mrs.Weasley what had happened. There was a silence, while Mr. Weasley eyed his wife nervously.
Then two girls appeared in thekitchen doorway behind Mrs. Weasley. One, with very bushybrown hair and rather large front teeth, was Mine,Harry's and Ron'sfriend, Hermione Granger. The other, who was small and redhaired, was Ron's younger sister, Ginny. Both of them smiled atHarry and me, who grinned back, Harry's made Ginny go scarlet — she hadbeen very taken with Harry ever since our first visit to the Burrow.
"Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley repeated, in a dangeroussort of voice.
"It's nothing, Molly," mumbled Mr. Weasley, "Fred and Georgejust — but I've had words with them —"
"What have they done this time?" said Mrs. Weasley. "If it's gotanything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes —"
"Why don't you show Harry and Emma where they're sleeping, Ron?" saidHermione from the doorway
."He knows where he's sleeping," said Ron, "in my room, So does Emma she sleeps in Ginny's room with you. they sleptthere last —"
"We can all go," said Hermione pointedly.
"Oh," said Ron, cottoning on. "Right."
"Yeah, we'll come too," said George.
"You stay where you are!" snarled Mrs. Weasley.
Me, Harry and Ron edged out of the kitchen, and us, Hermione,and Ginny set off along the narrow hallway and up the ricketystaircase that zigzagged through the house to the upper stories.
"What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as theyclimbed.Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't.
"Fred and George's brilliant plan" I laughed. They had told me about it
"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," said Ron quietly. "Great long price listsfor stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands andtrick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd beeninventing all that . . ."
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, butwe never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny."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 atHogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Toldthem they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned allthe order forms. . . . She's furious at them anyway. They didn't getas many O.W.L.s as she expected."
O.W.L.s were Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the examinationsHogwarts students took at the age of fifteen.
"And then there was this big row," Ginny said, "because Mumwants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and theytold her all they want to do is open a joke shop."
Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face pokedout wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.
"Hi, Percy," said Harry.
"Oh hello, Harry,Emma" said Percy. "I was wondering who was makingall the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know — I've got areport to finish for the office — and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."
"We're not thundering," said Ron irritably. "We're walking. Sorryif we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic."
"What are you working on?" said Harry.
I muffled a groan.
"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," said Percy smugly. "We're trying to standardize cauldronthickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade toothin — leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year —"
"That'll change the world, that report will," said Ron. "Frontpage of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks."
Percy went slightly pink.
"You might sneer, Ron," he said heatedly, "but unless some sortof international law is imposed we might well find the marketflooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriouslyendanger —"
"Yeah, yeah, all right," said Ron, and he started off upstairsagain. Percy slammed his bedroom door shut. As Me,Harry, Hermione, and Ginny followed Ron up three more flights of stairs, shoutsfrom the kitchen below echoed up to them. It sounded as thoughMr. Weasley had told Mrs. Weasley about the toffees.
The room at the top of the house where Ron slept looked muchas it had the last time that Harry had come to stay: the same postersof Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, werewhirling and waving on the walls and sloping ceiling, and the fishtank on the windowsill, which had previously held frog spawn,now contained one extremely large frog. Ron's old rat, Scabbers,was here no more, but instead there was the tiny gray owl that haddelivered Ron's letter to Harry in Privet Drive. It was hopping upand down in a small cage and twittering madly.
"Shut up, Pig," said Ron, edging his way between two of thefour beds that had been squeezed into the room. "Fred and Georgeare in here with us, because Bill and Charlie are in their room," he said. "Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he'sgot to work."
"Er — why are you calling that owl Pig?" I asked Ron.
"Because he's being stupid," said Ginny. "Its proper name isPigwidgeon."
"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all," said Ron sarcastically."Ginny named him," he explained to Harry. "She reckons it'ssweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't answerto 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 tothat."
Pigwidgeon zoomed happily around his cage, hooting shrilly. I knew Ron too well to take him seriously. He had moanedcontinually about his old rat, Scabbers, but had been most upsetwhen Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, appeared to have eaten him.
"Where's Crookshanks?" Harry asked Hermione now.
"Out in the garden, I expect," she said. "He likes chasinggnomes. He's never seen any before."
"Percy's enjoying work, then?" said Harry, sitting down on oneof the beds and watching the Chudley Cannons zooming in andout of the posters on the ceiling.
"Enjoying it?" said Ron darkly. "I don't reckon he'd come homeif Dad didn't make him. He's obsessed. Just don't get him onto thesubject of his boss. According to Mr. Crouch . . . as I was saying to Mr.Crouch . . . Mr. Crouch is of the opinion . . . Mr. Crouch was tellingme . . . They'll be announcing their engagement any day now."
"Have you had a good summer, Harry, Emma?" said Hermione. "Didyou get our food parcels and everything?"
"Yeah, thanks a lot," said Harry. "They saved our lives, those cakes."
"Shame we can't say Zoe" Hermione said to me.
"Yeah.."
"And have you heard from — ?" Ron began, but at a look fromHermione he fell silent. I knew Ron had been about to askabout Sirius. Ron and Hermione had been so deeply involved inhelping Sirius escape from the Ministry of Magic that they werealmost as concerned about our godfather as we were. However,discussing him in front of Ginny was a bad idea. Nobody but ourselves and Professor Dumbledore knew about how Sirius hadescaped, or believed in his innocence. ]
"I think they've stopped arguing," said Hermione, to cover theawkward moment, because Ginny was looking curiously from me to Ronto Harry.
"Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"
"Yeah, all right," said Ron. The 5 of us left Ron's room andwent back downstairs to find Mrs. Weasley alone in the kitchen,looking extremely bad-tempered.
"We're eating out in the garden," she said when they came in."There's just not room for 12 people in here. Could you takethe plates outside, girls? Bill and Charlie are setting up the tables.Knives and forks, please, you two," she said to Ron and Harry,pointing her wand a little more vigorously than she had intendedat a pile of potatoes in the sink, which shot out of their skins so fastthat they ricocheted off the walls and ceiling.
"Oh for heaven's sake," she snapped, now directing her wand ata dustpan, which hopped off the sideboard and started skatingacross the floor, scooping up the potatoes. "Those two!" she burstout savagely, now pulling pots and pans out of a cupboard, andHarry knew she meant Fred and George. "I don't know what's going to happen to them, I really don't. No ambition, unless youcount making as much trouble as they possibly can. . . ."
Mrs. Weasley slammed a large copper saucepan down on the kitchen table and began to wave her wand around inside it. Acreamy sauce poured from the wand tip as she stirred.
"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 theypull themselves together soon, they'll be in real trouble. I've hadmore owls from Hogwarts about them than the rest put together. Ifthey carry on the way they're going, they'll end up in front of theImproper Use of Magic Office."
Mrs. Weasley jabbed her wand at the cutlery drawer, which shotopen. Me, Harry and Ron both jumped out of the way as several knivessoared out of it, flew across the kitchen, and began chopping thepotatoes, which had just been tipped back into the sink by thedustpan.
"I don't know where we went wrong with them," said Mrs.Weasley, putting down her wand and starting to pull out still moresaucepans. "It's been the same for years, one thing after another, andthey won't listen to — OH NOT AGAIN !"
She had picked up her wand from the table, and it had emitted aloud squeak and turned into a giant rubber mouse.
"One of their fake wands again!" she shouted. "How many timeshave I told them not to leave them lying around?"
She grabbed her real wand and turned around to find that thesauce on the stove was smoking."C'mon," Ron said hurriedly to Harry, seizing a handful of cutlery from the open drawer, "let's go and help Bill and Charlie."
I was about to put the plates down when Billand 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. Me, Fred andGeorge were cheering, Ginny was laughing, and Hermione washovering near the hedge, apparently torn between amusement andanxiety.
Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocked oneof its legs off. There was a clatter from overhead, and they alllooked up to see Percy's head poking out of a window on the second floor.
"Will you keep it down?!" he bellowed.
"Sorry, Perce," said Bill, grinning. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?"
"Very badly," said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the windowshut.
Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto thegrass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattachedthe table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere.By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes anddishes of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys,Me and Harry and Hermione were settling ourselves down to eat beneatha clear, deep-blue sky.
To somebody who had been living on mealsof increasingly stale cake all summer, this was paradise, and at first, I listened rather than talked as I helped myself to chickenand ham pie, boiled potatoes, and salad.At the far end of the table, Percy was telling his father all abouthis report on cauldron bottoms.
"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday," Percywas saying pompously. "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, butI like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done itin good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department justnow, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're justnot getting the support we need from the Department of MagicalGames and Sports. Ludo Bagman —"
"I like Ludo," said Mr. Weasley mildly. "He was the one who gotus such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favor: Hisbrother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble — a lawnmower with unnatural powers — I smoothed the whole thing over."
"Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course," said Percy dismissively, "but how he ever got to be Head of Department . . . when Icompare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happenedto them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over amonth now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?"
"Yes, I was asking Ludo about that," said Mr. Weasley, frowning."He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now — thoughI must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried. . . ."
"Oh Bertha's hopeless, all right," said Percy. "I hear she's beenshunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth . . . but all the same, Bagman ought to betrying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest,she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I thinkMr. Crouch was quite fond of her — but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However" — Percy heaved an impressivesigh and took a deep swig of elderflower wine — "we've got quiteenough on our plates at the Department of International MagicalCooperation without trying to find members of other departmentstoo. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup."
Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked down towardthe end of the table where Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting."You know the one I'm talking about, Father." He raised his voiceslightly. "The top-secret one."
Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to Me, Harry and Hermione, "He'sbeen trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he startedwork. Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons."
In the middle of the table, Mrs. Weasley was arguing with Billabout his earring, which seemed to be a recent acquisition.
". . . with a horrible great fang on it. Really, Bill, what do theysay at the bank?"
"Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as Ibring home plenty of treasure," said Bill patiently.
"And your hair's getting silly, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, fingeringher wand lovingly. "I wish you'd let me give it a trim. . . ."
"I like it," said Ginny, who was sitting beside Bill. "You're so old-fashioned, Mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as ProfessorDumbledore's. . . ."
Next to Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Charlie were all talkingspiritedly about the World Cup.
"It's got to be Ireland," said Charlie thickly, through a mouthfulof 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 Charlieshortly.
"I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing,that was."
"What happened?" said Harry eagerly..
"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten,"said Charlie gloomily. "Shocking performance. And Wales lost toUganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."
Mr. Weasley conjured up candles to light the darkening gardenbefore we had our homemade strawberry ice cream, and by thetime we had finished, moths were fluttering low over the table,and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle.
I was feeling extremely well fed and at peace withthe world as I watched several gnomes sprinting through the rosebushes, laughing madly and closely pursued by Crookshanks.
Ron looked carefully up the table to check that the rest of thefamily were all busy talking, then he said very quietly to me and Harry,"So — have you heard from Sirius lately?"
Hermione looked around, listening closely.
"Yeah," I said softly, "twice. He sounds okay. we wrote to himyesterday. He might write back while I'm here."
I suddenly remembered the reason we had written to Sirius,and for a moment was on the verge of telling Ron and Hermioneabout our scars hurting again, and about the dream that had awoken us . . . but we really didn't want to worry them just now, notwhen us ourselves was feeling so happy and peaceful.
"Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking herwristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you —you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry,Emma if youleave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow inDiagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be timeafter the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."
"Wow — hope it does this time!" said Harry enthusiastically.
"Well, I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudderto think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away fromwork for five days."
"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?"said Fred
."That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" said Percy, goingvery red in the face. "It was nothing personal!"
"It was," Fred whispered to me as we got up from the table."We sent it."
I erupted in laughter.