Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

When Mrs. Weasley had me helping the twins clean out the shed, we finished rather quickly and didn’t have time to talk. Fred and George were then cornered by their mother and told to rake, but I was able to sneak away unnoticed. I decided I would talk to them later tonight and went quickly up to Ron’s room where I found Harry and Hermione as well. I walked in just as The Monster Book of Monsters fell from Hermione’s hands and attacked Ron’s leg.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hermione cried.

It actually looked as if she had been crying. I sat down next to her behind the piles of books we had started sorting through a few days ago. Harry grabbed the book and latched it.

“Hey Caroline” he said, smiling wearily and setting the book down.

“Hey guys, looks like I missed out on all the fun.”

“Oh yeah” Ron said sarcastically, then asked “What are you doing with all those books anyway?”

“Just trying to decide which ones to take with us when we’re looking for the Horcruxes” answered Hermione.

“Oh, of course, I forgot we’ll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library,” said Ron.

I chuckled but Hermione shot me a look. I don't know what her problem is, Ron is actually quite funny.

Hermione picked up another book, “I wonder…will we need to translate runes?”

“Well I sure hope not” I muttered.

“It’s possible…I think we’d better take it, to be safe.” She said, ignoring me.

“Listen” said Harry.

We looked at him, knowing what was coming.

“I know you said after Dumbledore’s funeral that you wanted to come with me”

“Here he goes” Ron said, rolling his eyes.

“As we knew he would” she sighed, going back to her books “You know, I think I will take Hogwarts, A History.”

“Oh really? That’s a brilliant idea, mind if I bring along my Encyclopedia of the World? It’s got 1,430 pages. With pictures!” I exclaimed sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes then said “Even if we’re not going back there, I don’t think I’d feel right if I didn’t have it with-“

“Listen!” Harry said again.

“No, Harry, you listen,” said Hermione. “We’re coming with you. That was decided months ago- years, really.”

“But-“

“Shut up” Ron advised him.

“- are you sure you’ve thought this through?” Harry persisted.

“Let’s see” Hermione said with a fierce look “I’ve been packing for days so we’re ready to leave at a moment’s notice, which for your information has included doing some pretty difficult magic – “

“It’s true, she tried to teach some of it to me, and I still have a headache” I piped up.

“ - not to mention smuggling Mad-Eye’s whole stock of Polyjuice Potion right under Ron’s mum’s nose.

“I’ve also modified my parents’ memories so that they’re convinced they’re really called Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and that their life’s ambition is to move to Australia, which they have now done. That’s to make it more difficult for Voldemort to track them down and interrogate them about me- or you, because unfortunately, I’ve told them quite a bit about you.”

“And Laurie Newman is in New Zealand. She’s always liked living around muggles and working muggle jobs. She stopped doing magic after my dad…yeah, and now, she has no recollection of magic whatsoever.” I said.

“Assuming we survive our hunt for the Horcruxes, we’ll find them and lift the enchantment. If we don’t- well I think we’ve cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy. The Wilkins and Mrs. Newman don’t know they’ve got daughters, you see.”

Hermione looked about to cry again and Ron put his arm around her once more, frowning at Harry.

“I- Hermione, I’m sorry- I didn’t- “

“Didn’t realize that Ron, Caroline, and I know perfectly well what might happen if we come with you? Well, we do. Ron, show Harry what you’ve done.”

“Nah, he’s just eaten” said Ron.

“Go on, he needs to know!”

We went into the hallway and Ron pulled down the hatch to the very topmost attic room. A most horrible smell wafted down to us. Inside the room was Ron’s ghoul in pajamas that would take his place in case any Death Eaters came to his house after we had left. It was supposed to convince people that he was deathly ill with spattergroit. His family couldn’t exactly go into hiding, there were too many of them. The ghoul was the ugliest version of Ron I’d ever seen, but I doubted anyone would want to get close enough to check anyways.

When we got back to Ron’s room, we started discussing where we should go to look for the Horcruxes and where we wanted to go first. Then, Herms showed us the book she had gotten from Dumbledore’s office after his funeral. It was all about dark magic, including how to create and destroy a Horcrux. I must say, that girl is quite resourceful. Our meeting was broken up when Mrs. Weasley came in screeching about guests arriving tomorrow and so much work still left to do. Mostly, I think she just didn’t want us to have time to plan anything.

It was late when I snuck into their room, but both Fred and George were still up, talking quietly. They stopped when I came in and George just looked at me sadly. I sat down on his bed next to him.

“I’m sorry,” was all I said at first.

“When are you leaving?” Fred asked.

I sighed “As soon as possible, Harry really wants to go right after the wedding.”

I noticed George flinch slightly “That soon?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of really important to get going. There’s a lot he still has to do. I don’t even fully understand all of it, but I’ve been helping Hermione do research on what we’ll have to do.”

“Can you tell us?” asked Fred curiously.

“No, I can’t. It’s not my place to, and it would be really dangerous for you guys to have that type of information after we left.”

“Why didn’t we know you were going too?” Fred said.

“We knew all about Harry’s plan, we even helped Ron with his ghoul.” George added.

“I know. After we decided at Dumbledore’s funeral, I told them that I wanted to tell you guys myself, and then I was waiting for the right time, but there were so many things going on, and I’m just terrible with this kind of stuff.” I said, looking at the floor.

“We’ve realized” Fred said.

“I really am sorry” I said, looking at George.

“It’s alright, we understand why you want to help and everything, I just wish you weren’t leaving”

I hugged him, putting my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me tightly and kissed the top of my head.

“Group hug!” Fred suddenly yelled, tackling us.

We all started laughing and Fred said, “Don’t get all mopey on me guys, you still have a few days, make the best of it”