Harry Potter and the Ancient Secret of War

Chapter Eight

Hogwarts At Long Last

About an hour and a half later, Harry and Hermione made their way towards Number 92, Diagon Alley. They had spent the better part of their time wandering about various stores in the alley. They had visited the stationer’s, and ‘Quality Quidditch Supplies’ (which was Harry’s personal favourite). They had even visited a wizarding departmental store which was named ‘Wizard-Mart’. ‘Not very original!’ Harry thought. He had heard a few mentions of ‘Wal-Mart’ on television during his times with the Dursleys and the name of this store was only too clearly influenced by that. ‘Maybe it’s run by a Muggle-born!’ he thought.

Hermione had to buy material for her, well, project for S.P.E.W. Harry still hadn't told her that all the hats and socks she’d made last year were now the exclusive property of Dobby. At the Wizard-Mart, Hermione also forced Harry to buy a shaving machine for himself.

“You really should buy that,” she’d said, “Your appearance looks nearly hideous in all that.” She was only too clearly referring to the visible portions of facial hair on Harry.

“But it won’t work at Hogwarts, it looks like it is electronic,” Harry reasoned. He knew that Uncle Vernon had a similar machine, although he rarely used it.

“No, it works on magic. You have to hold it in your wand hand and it uses a very small portion of your magical powers to work itself,” she explained.

“How do you know?” Harry had asked curiously.

“It’s written on this manual,” she had said, rolling her eyes. Harry could really be dumb sometimes.

Now, after all their purchases had been made they were on their way to Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes.

They reached the store and looked at it from the outside. It seemed normal enough. They stepped inside and even as they heard a bell going off somewhere, the world seemed to turn upside down and Harry was finding himself hanging down from the floor and looking down at the ceiling. If it hadn't been for the fact that he had encountered a similar situation (albeit in a far more tense situation) during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, he’d very well have shrieked, just in the way Hermione had.

By his calculations, they had been hanging upside down like that for about a minute, and Harry was beginning to start thinking of a way to cure them of this dilemma when he felt the world righting itself and he landed on the ground on his feet. He heard the same thing happen to Hermione by his side.

Harry looked around everywhere as he reached the ground. The whole store was painted bright red – all the shelves, the walls, the billing counter, everything – so much so that it was almost hurtful to the eyes. And above all this, suspended from the ceiling was a huge blue banner that proclaimed in fiery, yellow letter –

We come to turn your world upside down

WEASLEYS’ WIZARDING WHEEZES

We help you paint the whole town red

To top it all off, there was a photo of each of the twins on either corner of the banner. Of course, if you were an outsider, you could hardly tell who was who, yet since Harry knew the two pranksters well, he had an idea as to what was the answer to that.

Harry noticed that the store was almost jam-packed. It was filled with children of all ages, and even some young adults. However, Harry’s eyes nearly fell open out of their sockets (not unlike Mad-Eye) when he saw that a sea of middle-aged women, not unlike Mrs Weasley, was gathered around one particular corner of the store.

Just as he planned to go towards the crowd and see what they could possibly be up to, he heard George’s voice over the din, “Ten Galleons to the one who guesses correctly which photo is mine and which is Fred’s.”

George made his way through the crowd and came upon Harry and Hermione.

“Hello Harry! Hi, Hermione!” he said, “Nice to see both of you and that too, together, you know.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Harry.

“Stuff it, George,” Harry replied as Hermione blushed a deep crimson, “Anyway, where is Fred?”

“Down there somewhere,” George replied, making a vague gesture in the direction of one particular group of teenagers that was assembled (in a conspiratorial way) beneath a shelf that read ‘Skiving Snackboxes’ (‘Stacking up for term!’ Harry thought.)

Harry turned back to George to find that Hermione was asking him, “Nice trick there,” she motioned towards the entrance as she said this. Clearly, she was talking about ‘the-world-turning-upside-down-trick’. “That was the Reversal Charm wasn’t it?” George nodded. “But I think you really shouldn’t use that at the entrance. That could give any poor customer a heart attack.” Hermione’s voice had assumed her know-it-all tone now.

“Do hell with it!” George exclaimed irritatingly, “They might as well know that they are risking a heart attack even venturing near this place.”

Hermione snorted but regaining her usual brisk manner, she said, “So, did I hear you say that it’s ten galleons for the one who recognises which is your photo and which is Fred’s?”

George nodded.

“All right then,” she rubbed her hands together and said, “You might as well keep those galleons ready.”

She looked closely at the photos and then looking at George, she said, “You are the one on the topmost corner and Fred in the bottom-right corner.”

George waited a moment and said in his sweetest voice, “As much as you think you are correct Hermione, I am afraid I must disappoint you with the news that you are wrong.”

Hermione was about to open her mouth to argue but instead she changed her mind, and looked at the banner once more and at the photos in each corner. But whoa! The photos had seemingly shifted their positions and were now occupying the same flank of the banner.

Hermione looked indignant. “What the...” she began, but was cut off by George.

“Relax sis,” George said (he and Fred as well as all the Weasley siblings, with the exception of Ron regarded Hermione as a sister, just as they regarded Harry as one of their brothers.)

Hermione’s face was contorted with what Harry recognised as a mix of amusement and disapproval. Both he and George burst out laughing, while Hermione looked on, mollified.

George said, “Come, I’ll show you around. After all, we owe you for this.”

“Don’t mention it,” Harry began.

They spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the joke shop. Harry was impressed. He bought a liberal supply of everything, determined to test them out when they got back to Hogwarts. What a pity he wouldn’t meet Dudley till the next summer! Otherwise some of the joke shop items like Flowering Pasties and Role Reversal Jelly would have been worth trying on his cousin. Even though he wanted to pay for everything, George refused to accept even a single knut from him. (They had seen Fred here and there, but he hardly had time to say anything beyond ‘Hello’. Clearly, the shop was moving.)

“You know, Harry,” George had told him as he piled all his purchases on to the counter, “You still remain our financial backer and in case you didn’t notice, you are trying to pay for the very things that are made using the capital you supplied.”

As for Hermione, she’d seen the products on display and realized all too well that it was all the ‘showy’ sort of magic, as she put it. Okay, maybe with a few slight modifications here and there, it could really prove useful but it was still flashy stuff. However, she couldn’t deny that she wasn’t impressed.

However, she wasn’t in the least bit interested when Fred (he’d suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now leading them on while George attended to the wails of a little girl who’d just swallowed a ‘Banshee Treat’) offered her a Squawking Toffee. This made Hermione squawk loudly every time a sound escaped her lips. She’d taken the toffee without question and realised only too late that it was one of the Weasley twins who’d offered her the same. She’d opened her mouth only to find a weird squawk emitting from her throat. Fred had whooped loudly at this while Harry had snorted in a bid to control his laughter.

However, the spell wore off after a minute and Hermione treated Fred to a long lecture about not giving such ‘dangerous’ things to people who don’t have the least idea about the same. However, one couldn’t deny that Fred and George’s abilities of timing their magic had improved since all the effects of their products wore off in precisely the same time as they claimed. (“Of course,” Fred had told Harry, “we accept special orders for making stronger doses, but don’t tell Hermione that.”)

“Come, since the store part is now over, let’s just hang out at the back,” George said.

“Yeah, I presume that’s were Ginny and Neville are, aren’t they?” Harry asked.

George nodded. “So what are they doing there?” Harry asked George.

“There are more things in a shop than only making and selling goods, Harry,” Hermione interjected, making it distinctly clear that she had a very good idea as to what job Ginny and Neville did, albeit she was explaining everything to Harry in a very motherly tone, as if he was a small boy of about four or five years. “You have to fill out mailing orders, address the feedback of customers, give orders for the raw material and all those things. Ginny is working in those departments.”

“And so is Neville-” Fred picked up from where Hermione had left off.

“-Although we think that he might be here for reasons other than earning a few extra galleons and so, he needs to be watched for,” George had come up to them by now and finished what Fred had wanted to say.

Suddenly, it dawned upon Harry as to why Neville was there. Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley! Together! Didn’t sound all that bad! But there certainly was the impending problem of Dean Thomas, Ginny’s current boyfriend.

As if he had read his mind, Fred told him almost gleefully, “They broke up a week ago. Apparently, he was eager to-”

“I think you should stop at that,” Hermione interrupted, “or I’ll tell your Mum that you have been using the Extendable Ears again.”

“What?” Harry asked, apparently unaware of everything that was going on around him.

“Sorry Harry,” George said, “but I don’t think we can tell you anything about this, not with the twin threats of Miss Granger and our Mum hanging over our heads.”

They had by now reached a particularly crowded area of the shop and since they had to go to the back of the store, it meant that their only way onward was to dissect the narrow gaps that the people standing their provided.

“All right, buckle up everybody!” Fred shouted over the din. Harry smiled to himself. Without doubt, the Weasley twins had no comparison in theatrics. Fred shouted again, “Let’s get through this crowd.” He signalled towards the crowd of middle-aged women gathered near a particular product.

“What are they doing here?” Hermione shouted into Harry’s ear (unfortunately, that was the only way to speak otherwise audibility would have been hampered considerably, considering the noise that emanated from the talk of those women) “I mean, aren’t they mature enough for this?”

They had by now reached the door that led to the back of the store. “This is something that happens when you spill a simple sleeping draught on our Ton Tongue Toffees,” George explained, with a wide flourish of his arms towards the shelves. He had somehow inexplicably, managed to hear Hermione even amidst the din, and was answering her, now that they had the time and the space to catch some breath.

Fred joined in and said, “This, my friends, is the latest and the most effective tool for de-gnoming gardens. This is the future of de-gnoming,” He joined George with similar flourishes of his arms and it would have appeared to an outsider as if the twins had given up their pranks and taken up dancing.

“This is the revolution that the world of de-gnoming always needed,” George finished off.

Harry snorted as the twins continued their charade (albeit in very loud tones) as Hermione reached for the door and yanked it open.

“So how does it work?” Hermione looked mildly interested as they walked into a quite spacious and well-ventilated working area.

“Well, the gnomes swell to many times their size and then drop off into a deep sleep, from which it takes them about a month to wake up,” Fred answered.

“-by which time you can banish them to pretty much anywhere that you may wish,” George finished.

“That’s interesting, but how did...well, hi Ginny!” Hermione waved at the redheaded girl who’d just walked into the office with a stack of envelopes under her arms and a small package in her hands.

“Hi Hermione! Hi Harry!” she greeted as her eyes landed on her friends. “Will be back here in a moment!”

Hermione waved the younger girl off. She then turned back to the twins and said, “So, how did you find all this out?”

“Actually, we’ve got to give credit to Mum for that,” George replied.

“How?” Harry asked, wondering if he was really imagining this or Mrs Weasley had really helped Fred and George make one of their products and the most popular one at that.

“When we apparated into our kitchen at the Burrow that fine evening with our brooms clutched into our hands and recuperating after a severe bout of Umbridgitis, she got really worked up and started ranting off at us-” Fred said.

“-we told her that our future had outgrown that of our NEWTs, and that we’d got our resources together for opening the store. However, believe it or not, she got even angrier than usual, and waved her wand at the shelf a little too vigorously as she tried to summon a jar. However as it happened, a bottle of sleeping potion fell onto a pile of chocolates that we later saw actually were the Ton Tongue Toffees. And the rest as they say is wizarding history,” George ended from where his twin had left off and Harry was faced to snort.

“But where do the gnomes come in all this,” Fred said, as he put what Harry had been thinking into words (if Harry didn’t know better, he would have thought that the twins had learnt Leglimens), “As it happened, we asked Mum what our toffees were doing out there, normally, she wouldn’t stand the sight of them. But she ignored us and just banished them to the garden. The next day, we saw the gnomes and well, the conclusions weren’t very difficult to reach to.”

“Anyway, when Mum found that this stuff was really useful for de-gnoming the garden,” George took up the narration, “she thought that we were really doing something useful (The other twin snickered at this) and we’ve been pretty much flooded with these customers since we formally introduced this product about a month ago.”

“Not that we are complaining though,” George continued, “Business is perfect.” He gave a contented sigh as Ginny came down and sank down into one of the chairs near them.

“It wouldn’t be perfect, if it weren’t for me and Neville. I am the one who does all this office work and Neville sits at the billing counter,” Ginny said dully.

“Yeah, yeah, as if you would be working here if our business was not here!” Fred exclaimed. “Well Harry, we’d better be off. There might be customers out there who need help.” He said this with a sly grin and Harry couldn’t help but think that whatever happened, no one in their right mind would try to ask the Weasley twins for help.

"I think I'll go meet Neville," Harry said.

"But you just met him," Hermione interjected.

"Well, I want to meet him again. Some reason, you know," Harry said and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but come back soon," her voice assumed a softer tone as she said this.

"Hermione, I'm not even going out of the store. What do you think can happen?" Harry said exasperatedly.

"Okay," Hermione said a bit sheepishly as Harry gave her a peck on the cheek before going out to search for Neville. This surprised Hermione, since Harry had never kissed her in public before.

Ginny was watching this exchange between her friends with great interest. Immediately after Harry left the room, she asked Hermione, "So what was all that about? Spill the beans quickly."

"What?" Hermione asked her in return trying to sound innocent and nonchalant.

"About you and Harry?" the younger girl asked her again.

"Nothing." Hermione said quickly, too quickly, perhaps, but if it did not betray her attempts at concealment, the fact that her cheeks turned a bright crimson gave her away.

"Is that so?" Ginny asked, a wicked smile playing at the corner of her lips.

"Yes," Hermione nodded.

"I don't believe it," she replied simply. She now had a very good idea as to what was going on and was wickedly enjoying the sight of Hermione fidgeting about in her chair, clearly embarassed.

She said, "All right then, let me take a wild guess. You and Harry got together, didn't you?"

Hermione looked shyly at her friend and nodded.

"Whoa!" Ginny squealed loudly, "This is some news. I knew this happened."

"Why? Are we that obvious together?" Hermione asked quickly.

"No," Ginny replied, "But they don't call me Miss Observant for nothing...Now, tell me everything."

So, Hermione told her everything that had transpired between her and Harry that summer. Of course, there weren't any lurid details, so she could afford to do that.

"Wow!" Ginny exclaimed as Hermione finished. However, her voice took a serious tone as she spoke again, "Does Ron know?"

Hermione nodded again.

"I guessed so," Ginny said, then seeing the questioning look on Hermione's face, she explained, "Ever since he came back from your house, he's been, well, just not Ron. Even his appetite has lessened, if you can believe that." Hermione smiled weakly at this joke.

"So Ron knows..." Ginny began again, "And...?"

"And what?" Hermione responded.

"And how did he respond to your revelation?" Ginny asked patiently.

"Hermione hesitated a bit before speaking. She was not sure if telling Ginny of Ron's behaviour would be a good idea. Yet she couldn't deny that she needed to talk to someone about all this. Normally, she would have talked to her mother, but that wasn't a good idea considering the circumstances. Harry didn't help either. He kept going completely rigid and silent, like a stone, every time Ron's name was mentioned. However, she couldn't blame him either. Ron had been a prat and deserved the silent treatment that they were giving him.

All these thoughts raced through Hermione's mind as she dwelled upon whether and how much to reveal to Ginny. Finally, she decided to tell her the complete truth. Maybe, she could help in making Ron see sense regarding her and Harry.

So, Hermione began after a few moments' silence, "He did not take it well at all," She shook her head at this.

"Why? What did he do?" Ginny asked.

"He said a lot of nasty things, he and Harry had a huge blow-up and then...and he hit me."

"Whoa, the git! How dare he do that?" Ginny's eyes shone angrily as she said, "No wonder Mum was so hacked off at him and shouted at him for hours together!"

"What?" Hermione asked faintly.

"After they reached Headquarters," Ginny replied, "Mum asked Ron to accompany her to the kitchen. They were there for an hour at the least and when the door opened Ron was really red in the face and Mum seemed too angry for words. I did not know about what though, she'd cast an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door. But she has hardly spoken to Ron since. We reckoned it was because of how recklessly he'd gone to your home, but I know now, that it was indeed, something else."

"But how could Mrs Weasley possibly have known? Okay, so it was she who healed me, but I told her that I'd just had a fall, nothing more."

"Do you think she'd have bought that? She must've heard the shouting match that you told me of," Ginny said quietly, "Were they loud?"

"Yeah, I could hear them down in the living room pretty much as if they were in the same room. So I don't think that their voices would not have reached the kitchen," Hermione replied thoughtfully, "But then it's just not like Mrs Weasley! Sorry to say that, but I would have thought that she'd have gone up to stop the shouting, had she heard."

"I don't know," Ginny replied, "But Mum has somehow changed over the summer, if you can believe it."

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since Fred and George joined the Order - you know about that, don't you?" Ginny glanced at the window-sill as she said this. An owl had just appeared on the window-sill and she got up to untie the letter that it held up for him. She took the letter and the owl flew off with a flutter of its wings.

Ginny scanned the letter and sighed, "Letter from Dean! Honestly! (she rolled her eyes) Apparently, he's sorry and wants us to get back together! The git! When will he realize that I am ready to move on and will not reconsider anything even if he sends apologies daily?"

She went over to the desk and scribbled a note and tied it to the leg of one of the office delivery owls and told it to deliver the letter to her ex-boyfriend.

"So when did the twins join the Order?" Hermione asked Ginny, as the younger girl was packing up the writing material that was on the desk.

"About two months ago. Mum had a big blow-up on the issue. She did not want them to join, but they were adamant and prevailed over her in the end. Ever since, Mum has been less bossy than usual. She's let us do whatever we want. She's given us more freedom. That's one of the reasons why I was allowed to take this summer job. Of course, it doesn't help that Dad refuses to forgive Percy," Ginny shook her head as she reached the last part of her reply, "Percy has done practically everything but beg for forgiveness on his knees, but still, Dad did not forgive him. I never believed that I would ever see Dad being so unbecoming and unforgiving."

Hermione nodded, to convey that she understood what Ginny was implying. She thought inwardly about this 'Second War'. Already before the war had begun in earnest, it was bringing about great changes in the people that she'd come to know over the years. She shuddered to think about what could happen if things went further.

Hermione spent the remaining part of the afternoon talking to Ginny about more pleasant things, like the OWLs and Ginny's appointment as a fifth-year prefect. Finally, after a hour and a half, Harry appeared with Neville. Harry, especially, looked very pleased with himself.

As they made ready to leave, Hermione whispered to Ginny, "Ginny, please, everything I told you about Harry and me, please don't tell anyone. I...we want to keep it a secret."

Ginny looked sceptical but nodded nevertheless. "Okay, if you want that, I promise I won't tell anyone."

With that Harry and Hermione made their way back down Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron. They were relieved to find that Lupin was talking to Tom, the landlord, waiting for them with a portkey. They thankfully took hold of their purchases and safely reached the Granger home.

---

Hermione’s parents were discharged from the hospital the evening before the teenagers were to return to Hogwarts (Ironically, their doctor had succeeded in delaying their return by three days under the pretext of awaiting a blood report). The night they came home, there was a big celebration in the house. Lupin and Nick were the Order members present as Hermione (she was helped by Harry) made all the arrangements for her parents homecoming. There was lots of food that Hermione had cooked up. (Harry had found out over the summer that Hermione was a brilliant cook, something that he had never expected from this studious witch). Like everything else, except maybe for flying, Harry thought this facet of her persona very wonderful. However, the one thing that really irked him about all this was that he had had to carry the tonnes of food behind Hermione as they made their way from the supermarket to the Granger home. Evidently, she had planned on packing the refrigerator and the larder with all that she could.

It was not a very complicated course or anything remotely like the feasts that Harry was used to at Hogwarts. For one, Hermione had done all this alone, (she had insisted firmly on not being disturbed in the kitchen as she cooked) and secondly, the condition of Hermione’s parents did not allow for them to eat anything exotic for sometime to come. Nick had informed them that certain spices could interfere with the working of the Healing Potions that they were still being administered.

The beauty of the dinner was in its simplicity and in the gay atmosphere that prevailed. Everyone talked nineteen to the dozen, especially Bob and Julia (They had made Harry call them that instead of Mr and Mrs Granger). Hermione had used her limited resources well to churn out something as fantastic as what she’d done. Even as they sat down to eat, Lupin proposed a toast to Hermione’s parents.

“For the health of Bob and Julia Granger, two wonderful people and parents to the most brilliant witch I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting,” Lupin said.

Hermione’s parents looked very pleased with this toast. Hermione blushed pink at this declaration. Everyone lifted their glasses (which were filled with water) and took a sip. Any form of fluid except for water (and the Healing Potions) was a strict no-no for the Grangers for some days, and everyone else had decided to follow the same menu for the night. Harry smiled to himself as he remembered Lupin’s seemingly serious yet playful smile while he proposed the toast. Clearly, once a Marauder, always a Marauder.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. It was filled with food, merry-making and lots of light talk. As Harry went up to bed and kissed Hermione before he went to his own room (they had decided to sleep in different rooms that night, even though what they had been doing was nothing beyond snuggling together), he couldn’t help thinking, Tomorrow, he’d going to Hogwarts. Tomorrow, he’d be back where he belonged. Yet he could not deny that despite all the things that had happened over this summer, it had been simply, the most amazing summer of his life.

---

Author's Note:

Here's the first half of chapter eight. Sorry about the delay, but I had a virus problem, Netsky or something like that. I tried to correct it myself so I don't know how long the rectified problem will last. I have already written the second half of the chapter on paper and only have to type it on the comp. So hopefully, the next update will be within the next three-four days. Till then read, enjoy and review. And thanks a million to William for betaing. You rock, man!! You do!