Lumos

Chapter Six: "Insurgo"

George

August 1995

George peered over the bubbling caldron. Fred had managed to nick it during their jaunt to Diagon Alley earlier that month. His mum and dad would hardly approve the trip for this cause, but they were seventeen now. Although they weren't permitted to join the Order, they'd find other ways to help.

He flipped back a couple pages in Magic in the Mind: Legillimency, Occlumency, and the Magical Internal Life, frowning over a set of runes. On the surface, they were developing their most complicated product yet—Daydream Charms. Boxes that users could carry and open to experience a living dream. It was a novel idea and one that involved a tricky combination of spell and charm work, transfiguration, and potions expertise. With luck, the product would be adaptable in situations where a witch or wizard's internal life was in danger due to magical trauma. The idea was based on the theory that legillimency could be used to plant visions in the participant's mind, but what if the charm left a shield or some sort of protection instead? Fred had said that the idea was brilliant. That was three weeks ago.

Now, none of it was working. All this effort and all those galleons with absolutely nothing to show for it. They'd be looking at an extended development cycle with this one. Probably at least a year for the simpler form of the charm alone. Definitely more for the defensive capabilities they hoped to imbue it with.

They'd split up the duties. George was taking the head on the spell work—developing his Occluding and Legillimency abilities, and Fred was working on the charms and potions. Luckily, this wasn't completely uncharted territory.

The twins had been fascinated with the concept as children and had managed to practice a bit at school. They'd convinced Flitwick and Lupin to help them through the basics their fifth year (should the infamous Sirius Black try to enter their minds to discover Harry's whereabouts), but the current project was far and beyond anything they'd tried with the spells before.

The caldron's contents belched out a puff of purple smoke smelling of burnt rubber.

"Not again—no, no, no—" George spoke through his teeth, ripping his wand from behind his ear to give the mixture a counter-clockwise stir. He dropped the book on the table and covered his nose with his shirt collar.

Crack. Fred apparated into their room, arms laden with smuggled goods.

"Smells delicious," Fred said, leaning over George's shoulder and peering into the caldron.

"Yeah. Fancy a taste?" George offered up a spoon, making as though to shove it into Fred's mouth.

"Come off it," Fred smacked his hand down and shouldered George away from the caldron. "Who knows. This may be salvageable." George rolled his eyes and retreated back to his cot, where he flopped onto his back and continued to flip through the heavy tome. With a flick of his wand, the book hovered above his face, its leaves spread open to page he'd marked.

They worked in silence for a while, until a soft knock cut through the room. They paused. Fred looked at George. George looked at Fred. Fred caste a rapid concealment charm over the table, but it didn't reach the full shape of the caldron, which poked out at the top. George dashed across the room, leaving the book to hover in midair.

"Who is it?" George called, struggling to keep his tone even while he helped Fred hoist and levitate the heavy, steaming caldron behind their trunk.

"Hermione," the voice said.

Oh.

The twins stopped, the caldron hovering in midair, then they reversed their movements, letting it rest firmly back in its place on the table.