Harry Potter The Final Straw

They were all getting ready to head back up to the castle after spending the afternoon together, talking about their lives. The sun had started to set, bathing the grounds in an orange hue that Ron would have loved had he been outside.

"Fred, George, can you wait a second before you two head back up?" Harry asked politely.

Hermione had a suspicion about what Harry was about to do so she deftly steered Ginny and Neville back up to Gryffindor Tower. Looking back over her shoulder, she smiled at Harry and mouthed silently, 'I love you.'

Harry returned the gesture then turned his attention to the curious but smiling twins. Gathering his thoughts, he asked them in a formal tone, "Are you two still serious about opening a joke shop?"

The twins turned to face each other, an entire silent conversation taking place between them in the span of a couple of seconds, before Fred finally spoke up, with a hint of curiosity in his voice when he said, "We do. At first we are probably going to have to be a mail order catalogue until we can save up enough gold to rent a shop in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade."

"How much do you think that you two will need to get started?" Harry asked them.

After cocking his head to the side slightly while he did some quick math in his head, George said, "Umm… somewhere around five hundred galleons give or take a hundred. That should allow us to rent a place for a year and still have enough to buy supplies to make our products."

Harry knew that the twins were brilliant; they just hid it behind their facades as pranksters. Looking at each one in turn, he said seriously, "I want in. I'll invest nine hundred galleons in your business providing that you make me an equal partner. Deal?"

Two identical grins broke out on the twin's faces as they chirped in unison, "It's a deal!"

Fred added, "We'll draw something up to make it official and get it to you as soon as possible."

Seriously, George said, "Thank you, Harry. This means a lot to us."

In a quiet whisper, Harry said, "I know what it's like to have dreams and I'm glad I can help."

Fred clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder in a gesture of friendship and understanding while George and Harry shook hands.

Turning as one, the three teens headed back up to the Gryffindor Tower with smiles on their faces and thoughts of the new joke shop running through their heads.

Upon stepping into the Gryffindor Common Room, the hue of red on the furniture and carpets caused Hermione to have a flashback to the carnage in the Great Hall.

Desperately trying to keep her composure, Hermione retreated to the Girl's dormitory to wash off the nonexistent blood. Even though she had used a spell to remove the dried blood and had scrubbed her hands and arms, it still felt like she couldn't get it off her.

Practically ripping off her jumper, she stepped into the shower stall, turned on the water, and grabbed a bar of soap and began frantically washing her arms. After scrubbing for five minutes, her arms and hands were an angry shade of red but she still didn't feel like the blood had been washed away.

Sinking to the floor of the shower stall, she hugged her knees to her chest and wept silently as she let the scalding hot water rain down on her head and shoulders.

Harry was just entering the Gryffindor Common Room when he felt Hermione's despair flooding their bond. Looking up in the direction of where he knew she was, a frown marred his face before he quickly strode over to the steps to the Girl's Dormitories.

Remembering that the stairs would turn into a slide if he tried to walk up them, Harry whipped out his wand, silently conjured a set of wooden stairs. He made sure that they didn't touch the stone steps before vaulting up them to find Hermione.

Using their bond to guide him, Harry quietly slipped into the fourth year girl's dorm and headed towards the showers and his distraught wife.

Fred and George stood there, slack jawed, when Harry conjured a wooden set of stairs and practically ran all the way up. Thankfully, no one else was in the Common Room but them when Harry pulled his little trick. With a nod to each other, they vanished the set of stairs before anyone saw them and could think to duplicate the feat.

George leaned over and whispered in awe, "I can't believe that we never thought of that. The alarm didn't go off either."

Fred nodded before replying slowly, "Yeah. Me neither. I wonder what Harry was so concerned about? Did you see his face?"

"I did." George replied softly while looking back up the steps. "Keep a watch in case a professor shows up. I'm going to send him a note."

While Fred moved over to guard the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower, George hastily scribbled a note to Harry and tapped it with his wand while muttering an incantation. The piece of parchment folded itself into a paper airplane and headed off towards Harry.

Rejoining his twin, Fred said, "I'm glad that we learned that spell from dad. Do you think that we should keep an eye out for a professor until he gets back?"

Furrowing his brow, George said, "Yeah. We probably should. You want to hit the showers first?"

"Nah." said Fred as he flopped down into the couch that faced the portrait hole. "I'll keep watch."

Giving his twin a nod, George hurried off to get cleaned up before the Leaving Feast.

Just as Harry was about to push open the door to the girl's showers, George's memo hit him in the back of the head. Leaning down, he picked up the note and quickly read through it before placing it in his pocket.

....

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