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// Chapter 22 
// Story: On the Implications of Parallel Worlds 
// by computerneek 
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Fred and George Weasley were never nervous, worried, or anything like that.
If ever something interrupted them, or messed up their plans, they would improvise.  They would find a way.  And they had the full confidence that, no matter what happened to their plans, they could continue to do that, and accomplish whatever it was they were trying to do, no matter the opposition.
But George and Fred Weasley were nervous.
Voldemort was the one and only exception to that confidence.  Plus, it wasn’t even their plan.
And now, that entire plan hinged on Ron making friendly contact with Harry.
They’d been able to learn enough, from chatting with Harry and his friend Hermione (who was most vehemently not his girlfriend, even though they looked so much like a girlfriend/boyfriend pair), that they were reasonably sure Harry was following close enough to Dumbledore’s plan that it could still be salvaged.  They’d told Dumbledore that in a direct letter, and the response they’d gotten back had been nothing if not relieved.  Though there had been a note of alarm, regarding Harry’s position as a student instructor- apparently, the Headmaster had not heard that.
But they could not guide the boy the way Ron could, without drawing attention to their doing so.  They weren’t in his year.
Even so, Ron wouldn’t be able to guide him as well as the plan had called for; they didn’t share any classes.
They were worried that he would screw up the greeting, and permanently alienate himself from Harry.  If he did that, it was more than likely that Harry would depart from the planned path…  and never return to it.
They weren’t allowing any of that worry to show.
“Ahh,” George said, snagging a passing Ron’s hand, and pulling him in towards them.  “This is Ron, our brother.”
“Leave me alone,” Ron grumbled.  “I’m looking for Harry.”
Fred didn’t miss the way Hermione’s eyes narrowed, or how Harry’s eyes closed exasperatedly.  Ron was clearly already on the wrong foot.  He suppressed a sigh.  “Ron, meet Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.”
His statement got no response from the duo, but Ron froze completely for a second.
“Did-?” Ron began, before turning to face them.  “H-Harry?  Then-!”  He took a deep breath, and looked towards Harry.  “There you are, Harry!  I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Both twins facepalmed in perfect unison.
“We’ve heard,” Hermione barked.
George’s hand fell with his jaw.  Fred wasn’t much better- his jaw didn’t fall quite as far.  How could they have known Ron was looking for Harry?
“Why?” Harry asked Ron.
“Why?” Ron repeated back, surprised.  “Because…  Because I…”
George glanced sideways, to where a blue-and-white haired Equestrian had just stepped out of the crowd, arms folded and an expression of guarded curiosity on her face.
“Because you were looking for Famous Harry Potter, and hoping he’d have gold and jewels?” Harry suggested sarcastically.
“Ah- No, I-!”
Harry gave him a level look.  “Because you wanted to be my friend?”
Ron seemed to give up on words, and just nodded.
“Well get in line,” Harry instructed.  “You’re the…  what?”  He looked at Hermione.  “Four thousandth?”
Hermione checked her notebook.  “Yeah.  Forty eight seventy third.”
Harry nodded.  “You’re the four thousand eight hundred and seventy third person to say hi with the express purpose of making friends.  Get in line, and don’t bother talking to me again.”  He leaned back in the seat, letting out a sigh.
Hermione leaned back as well, as Ron- looking confused- was shoved away by Fred.  “You know, I kinda wonder how it took him so long to do that.  I mean, he sleeps in the same room as you, doesn’t he?”
Harry nodded.  “As a matter of fact, he sleeps in the bed right next to mine.”  He wrinkled his nose.  “I wonder if the Equestrians have an empty room somewhere?”
Fred winced.  “I’m…  sorry about that.”
“We,” George corrected.  “We are sorry about that.  He’s usually not so…”  He trailed off, shaking his head.
Fred shook his head as well.  “But that’s what happens when you give him an important task.  After all, he’s not, ahh…”
“The brightest crayon in the box?” Hermione suggested.
“Y-yeah,” Fred said slowly.  “I…  I hate to admit it, but yes, that fits.  Doesn’t it, Fred?”
George nodded- and didn’t miss Harry’s- or that blue-and-white-haired Equestrian’s- amused smiles.  “Wish it didn’t, but it does, George.”
“So,” Hermione began, leaning forward.  “What important task?”
The twins blinked in unison.  “Ahh…”
Harry raised his eyebrows questioningly at them.
“Err…”  They averted their gazes…  and met the blue-and-white-haired Equestrian’s gaze.
“What important task?” the girl repeated- wait, no, that wasn’t just any Equestrian, it was that girl from the Leaky Cauldron- what was her name…  Lyra?  She folded her arms, tilting her head inquisitively.  The rest of her body language informed them that she would not give up.
They looked the other way.
“Um…”
Hermione sighed.  “It’s secret, isn’t it?”
“Y-Yeah,” George muttered, looking at the floor in front of him.  “Though…  if…”
Lyra tilted her head the other way.  “How about if we find an empty classroom to talk in?  Could you tell us there?”
They looked at each other, sighed, and looked back forward.  “Might as well.”
Harry and Hermione snapped their books shut in perfect unison.  “Right then, let’s go,” Hermione stated, as they both stood.
Lyra blinked.  “Okay.  Um…  Classroom E-17 should be empty right now.”
“Lead the way,” Harry instructed her.
The twins nodded mutely, and followed.
They could hope that Harry would understand…  and follow the path.
Or that Lyra knew the right people in the Equestrian circles to make that path unnecessary.
Nothing else they could think of would work.





“So,” Lyra began.  “You’re telling us that Dumbledore has this elaborate plan to defeat this world’s local Big Bad, and in order to do so, he has to manipulate hundreds of people, including controlling every aspect of Harry’s life, so Harry can become a martyr?”
Fred nodded.  They’d just explained the plan, and Dumbledore’s planned path for Harry.
“Even though he has to have known that the unpredictable nature of the new-DADA-instructor-every-year thing is going to screw with any plans he makes?”
George nodded.
“And he decided to push those plans anyways, even after enough Equestrians entered Hogwarts to outnumber Wizarding Britain?”
Fred nodded.  “That did seem a bit strange to us, but…”
Lyra folded her arms.  “Huh.  I wonder…”  She turned to Harry and Hermione, who both had hands on their foreheads- from facepalming.  “Something tells me they didn’t find you right away.”
George shook his head.  “No.”
“Actually,” Hermione said, the corner of her mouth bending in a grin as she lowered her hand.  “You did, on the train.  You just didn’t know you did, because we said no.”
“...  Oh.”
“I wonder how you found them here?” Lyra asked.
“Ahh…  Dumbledore took forever to look up his class schedule, and sent it to us.  I think it was, what, three weeks?”  Fred looked at his brother.  “Four?”
George shrugged.  “Thereabouts, yes.”
Lyra snorted.  “Shoulda asked Professor McGonagall.  We gave her six copies of each student’s schedule, all nice and sorted, from the moment we built them.  But that does suggest he hasn’t been thinking very straight, doesn’t it?”  She looked at Harry.  “Perhaps he’s still at the point of trying to cobble together the remains of a plan that has already been blown to smithereens, and hasn’t yet realized he needs to accept that new variables have entered play?”  She folded her arms.  “Because if anything else, we are not going to surrender anyone.  We’ve faced a couple Big Bads over in Equestria, and beat every one of them without losing anyone.  Any less is unacceptable.”
Lyra looked between Harry, Hermione, Fred, and George, who were all looking at her.
She shrugged.  “Well, it’s unacceptable in Equestria.  I see no reason why it should be acceptable here either.  In any case, dooming someone to be surrendered is unacceptable.”





By the time they left that classroom as empty as they had found it fully three hours prior, both Fred and George had stopped worrying.
Lyra knew the right people in the Equestrian circles.