Harry, The Twins, and the Wait Chapter 25

Harry, the Twins and the Wait

The next morning was relatively cheerful, as Sirius surprised me quite a bit, when he was waiting for me in his dog animagus form at the house entrance. I was astonished about the big black dog with his expressive, human-looking eyes.

"Do you want to accompany me? Since when do you know that I'm awake this early? Oh, don't say anything, I know, you've been watching me. Bad dog!" I felt as if I were talking to myself, while I stroked the shaggy fur of the dog. I must say, it cheered me up immensely, because the thought of someone spying on me was too funny.

"Well then, come. Let's go," I lured him cheerfully and got a low growl that made me giggle.

I wanted to see how good his stamina was and whether he could compete with me during my rounds in the park. Let me say, it was funny to see the long, big, pink tongue sticking out of his mouth, and he was panting, trying not to give up. One had to grant him that, he’d been a prisoner in this house for almost a year, without being able to get out, which had to have a lasting effect. Not to mention the twelve years in Azkaban, in a cell that offered even less movement than his current imprisonment. Eventually, he laid deathlike in the grass, which made me laugh out loud.

I managed to wear him out and not just through last night with our bed sport. Did he enjoy that? I guess not, I'm sure I'll be hearing something when we're back. Likewise for the conversation I avoided yesterday. I assumed that his morning appearance meant the conversation would still be held. Well, we would see.

"Come on, you lame doggy..." I scoffed, which got me an astonishingly distempered look from the dog’s brown eyes. As we walked up the stairwell of Black House, I said goodbye in front of my room.

"Tomorrow again, dear Sirius. A little practice and you'll be better than me with your four paws," I teased the dog with a giggle, who flattened his ears in response, and vanished in the room to prepare for the day. The rest of the day went as usual, except that Harry involved me in a conversation. He came bravely to the library, which was shunned by Ginny and Ron as a great danger.

"Harry, nice to see you. Do you want to join me? This is extremely exciting," I offered kindly, and I meant it seriously, but his face told me that he saw it a bit differently than me. Yet he came to me with a smile on his face.

"I'm here to talk to you. What's going on? Since last night I've been here and I've only seen you like in fast-forward... What are you doing all the time? You weren't even at lunch, and when I ask the others, they tell me it's like this all the time... why, Hermione?" He looked at me with big innocent eyes and sat down on the chair.

"Oh Harry, don't exaggerate. Yeah, I know I haven't lived up to Ron's and Ginny's expectations since I've been in Black House, but I don't mean to be rude. See... I don't care about tidying up the artifacts and cleaning up. Look around you," My eyes gleamed as I glanced around the room and underlined it with an all-embracing gesture. "This is really special for me. Honestly, why should I kneel on all fours and clean, just because those two have to? Not really, Harry!" The words came out as slightly astringent from me. Don’t even get me started about it.

"Calm down, Hermione, please!" Harry laid his hand on my shoulder. "It wasn’t meant like that. They just don't understand that you isolate yourself so much from them. They also said that you have only spent an evening with them so far. Is it true that you’re dancing? I mean, for real. They said you leave the house every afternoon."

Oh man, didn't I always say that with friends like this, you don't need enemies anymore! I mean, hello, did they want an exact schedule of when, how and where I went to the toilet? I took a deep breath so that I wouldn't burst.

"Harry, do you want to know all this, or do they?" I still felt angry, but he just looked calmly at me. If he wanted, Harry was really good at dealing with people. "...to answer your questions: Yes, I dance as a distraction. I didn't want to remind you, but I find it shocking that Cedric is dead and I’ll tell you one thing: it distracts me, yes, from the fact that he's back. Can you understand that?" I asked fervently. Harry stared at me as if I had slapped him, which I had probably done. Sorry, Harry, I didn't want to, but you left me no choice. For fuck's sake, I couldn't deal with any more stupid questions and I only escaped this by skillfully breeding guilt. I could be such a bitch. I almost despised myself when Harry looked very, very sad and then turned his eyes away.

"Harry, don't! Don't look like that, you can't help it. You just wanted to know why I do all this, but that shouldn't make you sad," I comforted him and put my arms around his hips.

"Oh Hermione, I didn't want that, I'm so sorry. I should have remembered that not only I… ! That was so selfish of me! But I thought that you all didn't know him well - me neither, as there wasn’t enough time for that!" he whispered, trying to stop his tears. I thought if only Harry knew what Cedric really had been for me some time ago, then he would be very surprised.

"Shh, Harry, don't say that. Nothing's your fault, really, but I just wanted to enjoy a little distance, enjoy the holidays. Why can't anyone understand?" I explained gently and calmly, but in the end sounding a little annoyed.

"Oh, Hermione, I understand you, really. How could I just think that only I... but you must understand Ron, in such things like feelings he isn't really... but I can understand you. Also, Cedric's death is still new. I also know that his death isn’t really my fault, but deep inside, I still have some self-doubt. Why is he dead and not me?" he declared brokenly, faltering, seeming unhappy.

"Oh, please don't believe that! This is fate, you can do nothing. Build yourself up on the fact that Cedric won't have died for nothing. One day you will get your revenge on Pettigrew, believe me, please. And for Ron: that's because he has the emotional range of a teaspoon," I said seriously and bitterly. I stroked his back with one hand and still held him tightly.
"But you and I, we understand each other, don't we?"

"Yes, Hermione, always. Just take care of yourself when you're out there!" Harry asked timidly, squeezing me even more firmly as he thought of the Dementors who had been waiting for him while he smiled at me shyly.

"Don't worry, Harry! I'm not interesting enough, I don't think anyone is waiting for me, I'm not important enough!" I summed up his unspoken fears as he took a deep breath. I straightened myself now and let Harry out of my embrace. "You help the others with the cleaning?" I asked him trying to distract, perhaps hoping a bit, he would stay here and join me, but he nodded affirmatively.

"Are you nervous about the trial tomorrow? Is Fudge at odds with you and Dumbledore?" I asked apprehensively, keeping Harry in direct view, trying to see his reaction.

"Yeah, a little, but I trust Dumbledore and let myself be surprised and Fudge is an idiot!" Harry replied sharply and seemed really confident.

"You're right. I have briefly researched here. You performed magic in self-defense against a deadly threat, that's why they can't get you. If it would come to complications and Dumbledore can't get you out of this as hoped, I would have a proposal, but first answer me a question," I requested and looked attentively in his face, a look which he ingenuously reciprocated. "What is the last spell you did with your wand?"

"The Patronus! Why? I only summoned my stag once, and nothing else," he replied, slightly irritated but without hesitation. I released the breath I had held, for that was good, very good.

"This is fantastic Harry. I don't know how Dumbledore plans your defense, but if all else fails, tell them to perform a Prior Incantato on your wand. This is a spell to make the last spoken spell visible from your wand, and as you say, that would be the Patronus, and what reasons would you have had to use it if not to protect your life, both your lifes?" I explained busily.

"Whaaaat ... What ...?" he exclaimed surprised. Harry stared at me with his mouth open and stuttered, "... you ... you're incredible, how ...?"

"Think, Harry! Look around you, from the books! Since I know what's approaching you, I'm researching!" I said seriously and rolled my eyes.

"But I thought you said the professor was going to fix it," he remarked, tilting his head to the side. He seemed to be perplexed by my confusing thoughts, my habit of making assurances double and triple sure.

"Well, it's better if we have something up our sleeves, right? You should never rely on just one person!" I replied and tilted my head to the side in the same manner, grinning briefly. Since I knew so much about Dumbledore's past from Rita's book, I didn't want to trust the man blindly and naively. Harry nodded, still a little speechless.

"Can you remember the spell, Harry? If not, write it down somewhere!" I advised him, worried that he wasn't careful.

"No, no, I still know, Prior incantato, I can remember that," he repeated dutifully, giving me a reproachful look, as if he were offended that I could consider him to be so dimwitted.

"And one more thing, tell them if they don't believe you, they should invite Big D. As a family member the wizarding world is neither forbidden nor alien to him!" I advised him further.

"That's awesome, Hermione, how you list all these things. Now I don't need to be afraid about tomorrow," he said, quite excited and it seemed as if a burden was lifted from his shoulders.

"Harry calm down, please, these are only the last resorts, should everything fall apart. Don't forget it and don't tell the others!", I tried to make it clear to him that my suggestions were only backup plans.

"Got it. You're the best, Hermione. I'm going to the others, thank you!" He jumped up like a young dog and rushed out of the room. It seemed as if he was bursting with joy that the situation wasn't as bad as thought, causing a smile to spread across my lips. Oh man, to be so young and naive once again. I just felt ancient. What would Harry think of me if he knew what I had done so far. And I didn't run around with blinders, it would get worse, much worse and as I always said I was ready to do a lot, maybe anything? Oh, don't think about it, that couldn't help me now. When it was time, I would take it from there.

Hush, back to work. I still had things to do. Sirius didn't come to distract me from my work. The good, clueless Harry probably kept him busy, but that was alright. They should enjoy their time together.

The evening was a tense matter, because everyone’s mind seemed to be somewhere else, focused on Harry or more precisely Harry's trial. This omnipresent nervousness had been transferred to me as well, so the Twins kept me company in Ginny’s and my room that night. Ron, Harry and Ginny were in the boys' room and as I’ve stated before, Harry knew how to entertain the two siblings.

"So how does it look? How was the quality of the ingredients?" I asked the Twins curiously.

"Top-Notch, apparently he didn't dare to pull us over the barrel. Here, we have something for you ... tadaa ... drum roll!" Fred goofed around childishly and pulled out a bag with many colorful sweets. He handed me this bag like it was the Holy Grail, causing me to look at them questioningly.

"This is now the final product, with everything you wanted, and before you ask, we tested it on ourselves last night. I sent Fred into Dreamland and then I tried it on myself. I kept my eyes open for almost five minutes. You'll be satisfied, since Lav and Pav are no longer an obstacle for you," the Red Devils said, grinning wickedly and not without pride. I broke out in loud laughter, the two came up with such mean things against Lavender and Parvati, as one thing was clear, the two girls wouldn't get rid of their nicknames ever again.

"I'm so incredibly proud of you!" I said seriously, after I had got hold of myself again after all that laughter. "Thanks, but what did you tell Harry regarding Dung and will the latter continue to supply you?"

"You are always so incredibly structured. Come to think of it, that is probably the secret of your success," George mused to himself. "But yes, we agreed with him to become our permanent dealer and Harry was very interested in our business idea and equally pleased that he could help us with the money. We explained the deal with Dung by saying that those aren't really "clean" ingredients, but that’s only because they are rare. He believed us, dear little one!" Fred grinned broadly, and George nodded approvingly at his brother's explanations.

"Nice that it worked so well," I rose and went to my suitcase. The two of them watched me from Ginny's bed. "I have something here for you, but first I want to tell you that we have an appointment on the 18th, so the day after tomorrow, the day after Harry's hearing. We have to get out of here by 8.30 pm at the latest, so let's think about something. I'll send Ginny to sleep and I will magically copy myself with a Geminio. Can you do that as well? Do you know the spell?" I asked offhandedly, because I had what I'd wanted now in my hand and risen up again.

"Sure we can!" Fred replied irritably. Fred, who was clearly the more daring twin, jumped up from the bed and aimed at my empty bed. He made the movement with his wand with the incantation, and I raised my proverbial hat to him. The Twins and their magical abilities should really never be underestimated, because in front of me was an exact copy of Fred, blissfully slumbering in my bed.

Both sneered. "My respect, not bad," and with a flick, gone was the sleeping Fred.

"Thank you, thank you!", he performed exaggerated bows, which was accompanied by George’s applause. "We'll take care of Harry and Ron, don't worry, they'll sleep like babies," Fred added. "Also, there won't be a problem that everyone will retreat early. We are going through the first trial of our new bestsellers in the evening, it will be so cool," the redhead rejoiced, clapping excitedly in his hands, as if he couldn't wait to get started. George grinned mischievously. "Those are the Skiving Snackboxes. You shouldn't drink pumpkin juice, but pretend that you suffer from the symptoms like the others, so we can all retreat quickly," they instructed me foresightfully.

"Perfect. Thank you, that is one problem less, very good," I praised, deeply contented.

I sat down next to George on the bed and patted the space beside me, so Fred would also sit down next to us. "As you know, I want to fulfill a wish for you. We will, as I said, apparate from here. To “Rose Cottage” in Wiltshire, which belongs to me. It is protected with blood protection. I consider to put a Fidelius on it as well. We will arrive at the old oak in front of the house. I want to include you into the protection of the house, as I plan to make something like a base for us, where no one will find us since nobody knows about it," I told the Twins the facts and they listened to me, their eyes growing bigger.

"Erm Hermione, we feel honored and ... but what ... what, you own a house? But isn't it careless to talk about such things here?" George asked flustered.

I smirked, "No, the door is secured with a Colloportus and the room is protected by a Muffliato. I always think ahead. And you should feel honored. I inherited the house from my grandmother and aunt from my father's side." I noticed that I had made both of them speechless, which was extremely rare.

"You, you really own a house ... so cool ...", they spoke in turns: "Wow, how badass is that? But what you always pull out of the hat, absolutely wicked!", I could hear disbelief, but also admiration for me.

"Your wish fit nicely into my concept because firstly I wanted to show you the cottage and secondly it inspired me to think about a means of communication and to invent one with which we can communicate," I explained grinning slyly. Two pairs of eyes beamed at me, filled with awe and anticipation.

"Hermione, we've never met anyone who has as much ingenuity as you, well except our own humble selves, admirable!" They bounced more on the bed than they were sitting. "Have we already told you that we love you?", they grinned mischievously.

"No, but I thought so. I love you too, Red Devils and you know that I can't compete with your genius and unusual ideas. But back on the subject, here, they're for you, I made them in the last few days!", I stretched out my hands, a golden galleon in each one. Both looked at the money in their hands perplexed and turned the pieces of gold around curiously.

"Wow, a galleon, thanks Hermione, but how do we communicate with it?" George said.

I giggled happily. "I think I figured out something ingenious, but it took me a while to get this idea. So, it works like this: When we want to send a message, we just need to change the digits and numbers, which show what time and place we want to meet at. RC is short for "Rose Cottage", or H for somewhere at Hogwarts, or SS short for the Shrieking Shack! Very easy. We'll notice it, as the gold coins become hot. I've used a Protean charm on the Galleons, a very difficult spell, especially since I've got the idea from the Dark Mark. It works almost the same way, but I don't have to tattoo you," I said ponderously, a bit proud of myself. Yes, I was really proud of the fake galleons, so I was bursting with happiness. The Twins looked between themselves, me and the gold back and forth, only to gaze at me again before they started.

"That ... Wow ... the Proteus ... aharrr .... You're soo ... I don't have any words ... from the Dark Mark ... are we mental ... ", they were losing it, their voices increasing to a loud shriek.

"Calm down, please. I'm blushing!" I looked ashamed to the side and waved their excitement away with a lapidary hand gesture.

"You can't blush anymore, but you should go as red as a beetroot about this lie and look, you don't. I have to agree with Sirius, you're the smartest witch I ever knew, I ... no, we're adoring you!" Fred said enthusiastically, broadly grinning, while George nodded again approvingly and grinned devilishly as well.

"Ahrr, alright. We'll knock out the whole house here tomorrow and you'll have your fun from nine o'clock. Now my condition: you contact me over the coins when you're done, because I plan to do something then and I'll bring her back afterwards, is that okay?" I asked.

"Sure, I'm so happy ... it'll be fun!" Fred spluttered excitedly. George tilted his head, thinking, "I'm already excited, and we will do everything the way you want. I just got an idea. Wouldn't it be better if we three were to carry our coins with us every time, then we would always know when one of us changed something ... mhm ... I suggest we make a hole somewhere and carry it like a pendant around the neck, like a talisman, then nobody will ask stupid questions."

"My brother," Fred exclaimed dramatically, as he leaned over and planted a smacking kiss on the mouth of the other redhead. "Good idea!"

I nodded and took my coin out of my suitcase. "Really good idea, George," I praised, then I focused my wand on the coin. "Aboredefodio", a spell that pierced a hole in the galleon, which worked wonderfully. Another little charm, and I had three thin, black silk ribbons in my hand, threaded mine, and wanted to hang it around my neck when Fred stopped me.

"You allow me?" He took the ribbon out of my hand, brushed my hair out of my neck and now put on my talisman.

"Looks great on you," said George, as Fred breathed a small kiss on my shoulder. We three smiled conspiratorially at each other. A short time later, the two wore their coins around their necks, and were joking about how good they looked with the jewelery, typically Twins.

"But before we say good night today, you're a bad girl, simply imitating the Dark Mark, to come up with it in the first place. Sometimes, but only sometimes one could get really scared of you. Just as well that you are our best friend," George said seriously and Fred nodded excitedly.

"I am going to take it as a compliment and now off with you. I have to go over to get Ginny, because it can't get too late for Harry, after all, there's a lot going on tomorrow!" The jesters agreed and accompanied me to get the others to bed.