Harry Potter and The Long Strange Journey

Chapter Nine: Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

The next few weeks passed by quickly. Harry didn't tell Ron or Hermione about the note Iris had left for him. He felt like keeping it to himself for the time being, for some reason. He did ask Ron what he'd been doing upstairs with Hermione at the party for so long. Ron had blushed furiously, and insisted they had just been talking. Hermione spent the most time fretting over whether she'd received good O.W.L marks or not, and trying to decide what she wanted to do for her career, making Harry and Ron thoroughly nervous about the whole thing. Soon it was nearly the end of summer, with only about two weeks left until it was time to head back to Hogwarts. At breakfast one morning, Errol cam shooting through the window, and skidded down the length of the table as she often did.

"ERROL!" Ron moaned, picking scrambled egg out of his hair.

"What do you have for us today, Errol?" Mrs. Weasley chirupped as she took the letter from Errol's leg and opened it. Errol hopped off the table and went to drink some water.

"Oh! It's from Fred and George!" The letter spoke briefly of the Weasley's shop sales rising steadily and then invited Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny to come stay with them in their loft in Diagon Alley for the rest of the summer.

"Well, I suppose you'd all better pack your things tonight and then you can take the Knight bus out to the leaky cauldron in the morning. Arthur and I will come and see you all off to Hogwarts on the 1^st. Then you can tell us how you did on your O.W.L's Ronald." Ron looked highly anxious and said nothing.

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The next morning Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting outside the Burrow on top of their trunks. They were speaking excitedly about seeing Fred and George's shop and their loft right above it. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came outside and said goodbye to them all, then Mrs. Weasley took out her wand and did an upward slashing movement with it. A violently purple bus came screeching to a halt in front of them moments later. They boarded the bus and waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley before shooting off down the un-paved road. After a few minutes of catching up with Ernie and Stan, they had already arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. When they got off the bus and walked inside, Tom the innkeeper was right there, fervently greeting Harry in particular. Harry paid for a round of butter beers for the group, and they sat down and relaxed for a few moments before heading off down the road to find Fred and George's place.

The paved street was bustling busily with witches and wizards from all walks of life, as it always was, no matter the time of day or weather. They passed by Flourish and Blotts and Ollivanders as well as Quality Quidditch Supplies. A firebolt was sparkling in the window along side the newest edition of racing brooms, the 'Aurora Spark.' Harry and Ron stood motionless before the window, mouths open, admiring the beauty of the new broom. Its handle was made of a very light, almost white wood, and the twigs at the end of the broom were a red colored wood that grew increasingly darker as it reached the end of the broom. Hermione and Ginny finally pulled them away and they began to walk down the block again, Ron now discussing money making schemes to buy an Aurora Spark. After several blocks, they noticed a small crowd gathered in the distance. As they got nearer, they could see a gold sign hanging from the front of the shop, which had a picture of two red headed wizards on it, whose heads were alternately disappearing and reappearing. Below this, in dark blue letters that were bouncing about, was:

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

In the store window, was a sign that boasted "original makers of headless hats and ton-tongue toffees." As they drew nearer, they understood why there was such a crowd outside. The inside of the shop was completely packed with people, who were watching a demonstration of a new product by Fred and George Weasley themselves. They all stood on tip-toes, trying to see what was happening inside the shop. Eventually, Ron started to push through the crowd, and they followed closely behind him in a tight line. Several people turned to tell them off, but Ron just kept blurting out "Excuse me! I'm a Weasley!!" When they saw his red hair they seemed not to question it. When they'd finally entered the shop, all of their jaws dropped. It was more brilliant than any of them could have guessed. There were bright sparkling colors in every direction you could turn your head. The walls were covered completely to the ceiling with boxes and cartons of every shape and size imaginable. A sign above each product described what the product did, and even displayed a picture of the effects on the Weasley twins themselves. Harry was eyeing a stack of purple boxes that had yellow lightening bolts across them. They were called "Shocking Sugar Cubes." In the picture, Fred repeatedly ate a normal looking sugar cube, then a moment later all his hair stood on end, and he was able to shoot different colored sparks out of his fingertips. At the moment, Fred and George were continuing their demonstration of a new product called "Torch Taffy."

"A normal piece of taffy you say?" Fred grinned mischievously, then he and George pulled the hunk of blue taffy between them, until it finally snapped in two pieces. They each put their piece into their mouths and chewed. A moment later they both grinned, then breathed fire loudly. Everyone clapped and cheered in delight. Harry laughed out loud as the red headed twins reminded him of the Chinese Fireball he had once battled. Harry's laughed carried to the twins' ears, and George noticed Harry and the gang first.

"Oi! Harry! You'd better look out, or next time I'll be breathing in your general direction!" The crowd laughed and some of the attention shifted onto Harry's presence. Fred turned back to the crowd and said loudly,

"Alright, folks! That's it for today! Have a look around! 50% off Ton-tongue toffees! A personal favorite of Mr. Harry Potter here!" The group laughed, and soon most of the crowd had dispersed. Fred and George made their way over to the group.

"Hello you lot!" Fred and George both hugged Ginny and took turns messing up Ron's hair.

"So, how do you like it, then?" George asked, motioning around the shop. They all agreed that it was brilliant and that they couldn't wait to see the loft upstairs. Fred and George introduced them to one of the store clerks first. He was an old man named Chadwick Pennington. He had a funny appearance, wearing brightly colored mismatched green pants and yellow robe, and he wore large magnifying blue glasses. Harry saw a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that reminded him all too well of Fred and George. The Weasley brothers began to lead the group upstairs to their loft. George took a large key out of his pocket and opened the door. The group stepped inside and the sight they saw completely blew them away.

Chapter Ten: Fearing Future Fates

"Wicked!" Ron almost yelled.

"Yeah, brilliant." Harry added.

All the walls were painted a bright shimmering dark blue that also looked green or yellow, depending on how the light was hitting them. The ceiling was the deepest of blues, and there were little white stars in it that sparkled and glowed like real ones. Harry even spotted several constellations, which were glowing brighter than the other stars. The first to catch his eye was the dog star, Sirius. His heart gave a funny little squeeze, and he fought the sadness that threatened to fill it with all his might.

"I love the ceiling!" Ginny squealed.

"Oh yeah, we had Modern Warlock Homes come in and do most of the place. The constellations even change occasionally. A lot of fun to look at and it reminds us of good 'ol Hogwarts." Harry gazed around the flat some more as Ginny talked with the twins. Harry suspected the shop was doing very well, because they seemed to be living in splendor. There was a huge furry black couch that stretched all the way around the room. Two gigantic pillars, that looked like humongous lava lamps stood at the end of each end of the couch from the floor to the ceiling. A coffee table in front of the couch was actually a large aquarium, containing several magical creatures, including what looked like hinky punks, and two-headed seahorses. Fred led them all into his room. The walls were painted green and the ceiling had star nebulas radiating upon it. George's room had a gorgeous sunny sky scene on the ceiling, fully equipped with moving puffy white clouds. Overall, the flat was incredible, but very messy as well. Harry though Mrs. Weasley would have been disgusted and Aunt Petunia probably would've died after one look at it, if not from the décor alone. Fred and George surprised everyone when they said they were thinking about coming back to school this year to finish their studies and get their degrees. This caused a lot of excitement in the group. Having Fred and George back at school would be excellent, Harry thought. Fred explained that Mr. Pennington would watch over the shop while they were away if they decided to come back, and that Dumbledore was the one who had convinced them they ought to think it over. Harry thought this was perhaps the most mature thing Fred and George had ever agreed to do, and hoped that they would decide to come back. The rest of the week was spent mainly outdoors, in Diagon alley, which never got boring. Often as Harry was falling asleep he would began to think about Iris, and take out her note and reread it carefully, analyzing each line, particularly the part about her thinking he was brave. He liked that part very much. Although he found himself thinking and dreaming of her, he tried very hard not to think about her. He didn't want to get his hopes up about the coming year, or about their relationship, as he had already experienced the result of one relationship gone bad.

Finally, it was Sunday afternoon, and the whole lot of them would be heading back to Hogwarts the next morning at 11 am sharp. Harry, Ron and Hermione had stayed up very late the previous night, discussing school, their O.W.L's and Voldemort. While they all sleepily at their breakfast, Hedwig and Pigwidgeon came in through the window and delivered their school letters. Each of them received an extra letter today. They were large brown envelopes. And felt heavier than the normal school letters. Harry looked at the return address in the corner, and sure enough it read:

"HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

OFFICIAL ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS."

Harry's heart started palpitating and he put down the envelope with shaky hands. His future was sitting right in front of him, inside this envelope. Hermione gasped as she picked up hers, as did Ron. Fred smiled then said,

"Owl results, eh? Well, go on, open 'em. We'll give you lot some privacy..." Fred, George and Ginny walked out of the room.

"I...don't...want to know." Ron said quietly in a sort of strangled voice.

"Oh, honestly, Ronald! I'm sure you did fine! Come on, let's just open them and get it over with!" Hermione however, sounded quite breathless herself. Harry and Ron shook their heads in agreement, and picked up their envelopes. Hermione counted,

"One...two...three!" And they each ripped the top of the envelopes off. A piece of parchment fell out of Harry's onto his lap. He picked it up and read:

Mr. Harry Potter,

I believe you voiced interest in an occupation as an Auror last year. All your O.W.L scores were high enough to pursue this career, except your potions marks. Professor Snape did not wish to allow you to join his N.E.W.T potions class next year. He stated that your potions marks had been repeatedly abysmal, and although your final potions exam was marked acceptable by the professor who conducted it, Professor Snape did not believe this was enough of a redemption to justify your continuance in his classes. With this in mind, I expect you'll be very grateful to know that Professor Dumbledore put in a personal plea on your behalf to allow you to continue on into Professor Snape's N.E.W.T course. Prof. Snape has accepted, with a personal guarantee from yours truly, that you will not let professor Snape, Professor Dumbledore, myself, and most importantly, yourself, down in this matter. To begin your training as an Auror, you should take the classes I have listed below.

Congratulations, Harry.

Signed, Professor Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress