Intent on not being pulled on in the scuffle that ensued in the hallway Harry hastily made his way back to the room he shared with Ron.
“Better get a move on,” Ron told him, “we’re late, mum’s in a real temper.”
Harry hurriedly made his way to his trunk dropping the marauders memoirs in while pulling out clean clothes.
“Where were you?” Ron asked him.
As they dressed and headed down to the fireplace in the kitchen Harry filled Ron in on Dobby, Lupin, and the news about the dementors. He left out the marauders memoirs wanting to explore it further before sharing.
“Knew they’d go back to him once they got word that he was back,” Ron shuddered when he mentioned Voldemort.
As they arrived at the Burrow a hassled looking Mrs. Weasley greeted them with bacon, egg and toast sandwiches.
“Hurry boys! No time to waste…Eat up!” she shoved a sandwich into each of their mouth.
Hermione entered the kitchen after them looking quite frustrated.
“Oh no, Crookshanks has gone missing again!”
“No time to look for him dear, just have some breakfast and we’ll find him when we get back,” Mrs. Weasley reassured her as she shoved a sandwich into her hand.
“I’m just worried Fred and George will find him first,” Hermione whispered to Harry looking gloomy at the prospect.
“GINNY! Now where has that girl gotten to?”
“I’m right here,” Ginny joined them, a half-eaten sandwich in one hand and Crookshanks in the other.
“You found him!” a delighted Hermione cried as she took Crookshanks from Ginny.
A loud cracking sound signaled the arrival of the twins who were shortly followed by Gabrielle. Everyone sat still to watch the comical scene that unfolded before them. Fred, still fuming at George, did not notice until it was too late that Gabrielle had pulled her seat right up next to his. Slowly he slid his seat away from hers. As though an invisible slinky bound their chairs together she followed. Clearly perturbed, Fred firmly grabbed the bottom of his seat and bounced several feet away from Gabrielle and the kitchen table. A determined Gabrielle resolutely followed suit. Once their seats were once again touching she leaned incredibly close to him. He in turn leaned slowly away from her and, misjudging the width of his seat, went tumbling to the floor. Rancorous laughter escaped the captivated audience muffling the sound of another little POP! It was not until Gabrielle shouted “BILL!” and hurled herself into his arms that they noticed Ron’s eldest brother had arrived.
“How are you doing beautiful?” Bill asked her playfully.
“I got a new boyfriend!” she told him excitedly.
He gasped, “You did? I hope he’s better than your last one!”
“Oh he is! Fred’s beautiful!”
An evil grin spread across Bill’s face, “Fred? Which Fred would that be?”
“That one!” she shouted pointing to the floor where Fred was still sprawled.
Bill clapped his hands together, “That settles it! I’ll just go tell Fleur that we’re going to have a double wedding!”
The entire kitchen burst into laughter.
“No, no, I’m still too little to get married,” Gabrielle said shifting her eyes to Fred, “Maybe in a month…”
“Aren’t we running late?” Fred pointedly reminded his mother, he had clearly had enough.
“Oh no we’re late!” Mrs. Weasley began to grab random children and push them into the living room. “Go now!” she yelled at Fred and George who were in the process of pursuing the leftover sandwiches. They heard three tiny pops in the kitchen as Bill, Fred, and George apparated.
“Gabrielle dear, now remember its Diagon Alley! Ginny you first…”
Ginny disappeared, followed by Gabrielle, Hermione, and Ron…
“Alright, Harry, in you go.”
He closed his eyes tightly so that the spinning would not make him sick, said, “Diagon Alley” and had soon joined the rest of his party.
With Ginny in the lead they left the Leaky Cauldron and made their way to Madam Malkin’s Robes for Every Occasion. As Ginny opened the door Harry could hear Mrs. Weasley saying, “…and here they come.”
Two witches descended upon them, separating the boys from the girls, and led them to separate dressing rooms where Fred and George were already being measured by an ancient looking wizard and his assistant.
“Almost done…” he said spotting them as dressmaker pins flew at Fred’s cobalt robes strategically binding them into a fashionable style.
“Right,” said Fred eyeing himself in the full-length mirror standing next to him, “…maybe the green one would have been better…”
“Trying to look nice for Gabrielle,” George who was bedecked in Jade robes commented to them with a conspiring wink.
“You boys are done,” the old man wheezed at them turning to Harry and Ron, “You’re next.”
As Ron and Harry stood on the stools the old mans measuring tape shot out of his pocket and began to take their measurements. Different fabrics appeared out of thin air and draped themselves around Ron now that his measurements had been completed.
“No…no…no…” the old man said with each fabric, “ah ha…that the ticket,” he snapped his fingers.
“Not maroon!” Ron whined loudly.
“Young man, this is the most suitable color for you! In the proper style,” at the word style all the pins dived at Ron, “…you will look quite handsome.”
He turned his back on a doubtful looking Ron and faced Harry. Fabric began all at once to bind him, disappear, and bind him again. He went through many more colors than Ron when the old man finally proclaimed “yes”. Harry looked down to see a jade green fabric draping him, he signed with relief. The old man was now muttering something about styles but before Harry could ask him to repeat it dressmaker pins flew towards him.
“Stand still now and let them go about their work!” the old man chastised him.
Holding still he could feel the pins whipping around him. Giggles from the girls section floated over the barrier separating them. If they can manage it, he thought to himself, than so can I. They not only seemed to be managing it, but rather enjoying themselves as well.
“All done,” the assistant was now helping him off the stool.
Done? Harry thought to himself as he stepped off the stool. He looked towards the mirror Ron was admiring himself in.
“Not too shabby...” Ron looked relieved.
As he stepped away from the mirror Harry was comforted by the image that greeted him. He looked rather handsome in his robes. He wondered if Ginny would notice.
“Right,” with another snap the robes he had been wearing disappeared, “you boys can pick them up in an hour,” the old man informed them disappearing with his assistant behind some curtains that Harry had not noticed before.
With the prospect of a free hour in Diagon Alley to look forward to, they set off to Fred and George’s joke shop.
“Should be next to Ollivanders,” Ron told him.
Ollivanders was the shop that Harry had bought his wand in five years prior. They turned the corner and Ollivanders came into view. A clumsy boy walked out of the store holding a long thin box.
“Neville?”
He waved to them upon hearing his name and made his way over.
“Hello, just getting a new wand,” he pointed to his parcel.
“What kind?” Harry was curious which wand had chosen Neville as his old wand had belonged to his father.
“Willow, 9 ¾ with a dragon heartstring core,” he replied promptly opening his box to give them a peek.
“Neville!” his grandmother bellowed as she came out of the wand shop.
“Got to get going,” Neville told them as he closed his box back up, “Ron I was going to send an owl to you, I was just wondering, would it be alright if I brought a date to the wedding?”
Ron looked astonished by the change in topic, “Who’s your date?” he asked Neville in disbelief.
“Susan Bones…Coming Gran! Well?” he looked hopefully at Ron.
“Sure,” Ron nodded at him still looking highly confused.
“Thanks!” Neville yelled at them while he ran off to join his grandmother, “See you there!”
Ron looked over at Harry awestruck, “Susan Bones?”
Harry shrugged. Susan had been a member of Dumbledore’s Army where she and Neville had presumably gotten to know each other.
“Off to the joke shop than?” Harry reminded Ron of their initial destination.
As the entered Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes they were assailed by a hundred or so purple, heart-shaped bubbles that each yelled out an endearment once they popped. Listening intently, Harry distinctly heard “Marry Me”, “Hot Stuff”, and “Love Me Tender.” Almost in response to the purple hearts, blue ones shot out from behind a curtain screaming “Dream On”, “Trés Chic”, and “Bite Me.”
Gabrielle, looking put out, waved at them dejectedly. “I think Fred doesn’t like me,” she told them in confidence.
“Don’t be silly,” George interjected, “He’s waiting for you behind that red curtain, and you know that’s the color of love…”
Gabrielle gave a little squeal and ran off towards the curtain George had indicated. George leaned against the counter with a dreamy look on his face and when the sound of breaking glass, crashing boxes, and what seemed to be a marching band came from behind the red curtain he said, “Ahhh, young love.”
About twenty minutes passed, during which Fred managed to subdue Gabrielle with a Mondo-Mango ice cream and chase George around the store with broom, before things settled down. They spent the rest of the time testing Fred and George’s many inventions such as the crude cushion that insulted whoever tried to sit on it (‘full moon tonight!’) and made rude sounds to embarrass the courageous few that ignored the insults and sat down. As they were locking up the store and placing the ‘Out to Lunch’ sign on the door George leaned over to Harry and whispered, “Wait till you see what we’ve got planned for the wedding!”
“What is it?” Ron asked, clearly worried.
“If we told you it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” Fred said smacking George across the back of his head, “Don’t tell Ickle-Prefect Ronnie-kins, he’ll go running off to his mummy to tattle-tale on us.”
“I will not!” Ron insisted, but Harry thought it was rather smart of Fred and George to keep it a secret from Ron, if only to keep it a secret from Hermione who most assuredly would tell Mrs. Weasley.
Making their way back to Madam Malkin’s was no small feat as Gabrielle wanted to go into every shop they passed.
“Wish mum didn’t tell the Delacour’s that we’d watch her while Fleur got fitted for her dress robes,” Fred grumbled and Harry silently concurred.
“Here they come mum!” Ginny stood at the door of Madam Malkin’s shop yelling in. Ginny looked rather flushed and excited. He supposed it was because girls enjoyed dressing up and that sort of thing.
“Boys!” Mrs. Weasley’s voice carried out of the shop, “Come try your robes on to make sure they fit!”
After everyone had tried their robes on and were ensured a perfect fit they made their way to the leaky cauldron so that they could get back to the burrow. Hermione and Ginny had made a pact not to disclose any information about the various odd-shaped parcels they carried with them.
“I’ve only got a bag for my dress robes,” Ron was saying, “Why do they need five boxes each?”
Harry snuck a glance at Ginny who was talking animatedly with Gabrielle about the wedding. This is going to be an interesting summer; he thought to himself, for the first time the scenes from the department of mysteries that normally plagued him were far from his mind.