"Molly, dear! I'm home!" Arthur shouted cheerfully, stepping inside the door. He was laden with bags, all with logos on them reading 'Staples. That was Easy.' "Where are you, love? Come and see what I've bought! Muggles have such odd necessities!"

"Goodness, Arthur, I told you not to go about bothering muggles all day…" Mrs. Weasley, Molly, came hurrying down the stairs with Ron and Harry on her tail. "All right then, show me what you've got."

"Yeah, Dad! Show us what you've got!" Ron added.

"Happily!" Arthur chirped. Reaching into the first bag, he pulled out a stack of CDs. "These are for putting music or words on that muggles type using a compyerator! They put one in a slot on the side, and then they've got a copy of whatever mumbo-jumbo they were working on! They're called disketties or something like that, I think."

Harry looked amused. "Actually, it's called a computer, not a compyerator. And these," Harry held up the CDs, "are called CDs or disks, not disketties. Dudley used them on his laptop, before he crushed it."

"Fascinating! These are called Post-it notes, and this is a roll of masking tape!" Arthur removed a large block of neon pink Post-its and a roll of blue masking tape from the hordes of items. "Maybe the masking tape is to make a disguise or something…"

Harry fought down a smile. "Actually, masking tape is used when muggles paint their houses, to makes sure paint doesn't get in the wrong spots. Sometimes, they use it to hang things on walls temporarily."

Now Ron was having trouble not laughing. "Dad, you've got everything wrong! The poor sales clerk! She must've been terrified!"

"Now Ronald… That wasn't very nice. I'm sure Arthur was perfectly pleasant to the employees, weren't you, Arthur?" Molly punctuated the last few words with a stern look in her husband's direction.

"Of course, my dear, of course! Wouldn't want muggles to think I was weird, now would I? After I show you one more thing, I'll tell you what happened." Arthur then withdrew a package of multicolored pens. "These," he said in a tone that couldn't be anything but complete excitement, "are called permanent markers. They turn anything you draw on with them to the color of the pen! It's incredible!"

Now Harry looked a bit concerned. "Mr. Weasley, that's right. These ones are called Sharpies. Aunt Petunia used them sometimes for all kinds of things. Once you use permanent markers on something, the color never comes out. Be careful with those. Don't draw on anyth-" Harry was cut off by Arthur beginning his account of the goings-on at Staples.

"Hello, there! I'm Arthur Weasley! What's your name, my dear?"

"Umm… I'm Angie…" said a frightened-looking cashier. "Welcome to Staples… I guess…"

"Why thank you! I've not been to many real muggle shops in my time. What do you sell here?" Arthur said with glee.

"Office supplies, mostly. Y'know… staplers, pens, paper, all that kind of stuff…" Angie said, popping a piece of gum into her mouth. "What, haven't you been to an office supplies store before? And what's a muggle?"

"Oh don't you worry about it, dear. I'll back in a jiffy!" Arthur hurried off to explore the rest of the store.

"The paper section was a bore. Lots of colored paper, but it was all one size. Very odd, really. I moved on to 'computer supplies.' There were lots of muggle technical gizmos and knickknacks, but a different section looked like lots of fun. Pens and Pencils. Red ones, blue ones, pink ones, green ones, fat tip, thin tip, high-lighters, something called Wite-out, the list goes on! I settled on Sharpies, though. They had the most colors. I was about to head back up to chat with Angie again, but I couldn't resist. I had to grab more things. Before I knew it, a young man named Brian was following me around towing an extra shopping trolley filled with items!

"Wow… you really like pens…" Angie stated with a bit of a smirk.

"Yes, I suppose I do!" Arthur laughed.

"Umm… do you want to sign up for a Staples card? You can save 15 on your first purchase… That'd be this one… I think…" said Angie, handing Arthur an application form to fill out.

"Certainly! That sounds like fun!" Arthur smiled, tearing open a package of his new pens to fill out the form.

"M'kay… Let's see… Your total comes to £1876.27. You want to put it on your new credit card?" Angie sighed, extending her hand to take the card.

"Yessiree! Here you are, miss!" Arthur surveyed his purchases, beginning to wonder what Molly would think when he arrived home.

sigh "Thank you for shopping at Staples. We hope to see you soon…" Angie looked bored, once again, and spoke as if reading from a script.

"Have a marvelous day, miss!" Arthur, followed by a sales clerk carrying bags of items, skipped out the door.

"Arthur!! How do you expect to pay £1876.27?! We don't have any muggle money!!" Molly yelled.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, love. I've a marvelous idea, and in no time these wonderful rainbow pens will pay for themselves!" Arthur stated in a low voice, the nuance assuring Molly that everything would be alright.

"Oh, Arthur, sometimes I just don't know what to do with you…" Molly sighed. "Now what is this brilliant idea of yours?"

"Now hold on there, sweet, just go on upstairs. I think Ginny's calling you. I'll take care of everything" stated Arthur with a mischievous smile, an expression that did not occur very often, at least on Arthur's face. This was punctuated by Fred and George walking in the door with an enthusiastic, "What's Dad gotten himself into this time?"

"Hello there Fred, George! You're just in time to help me carry out my plan!" Arthur returned their greeting. "Interested?"

"Of course! We wouldn't miss one of your plans for the world! Harry? Ron? You in, too?" the twins said in unison.

"I guess…" mumbled Harry.

"Sure. It'll keep my mind off… her…" sighed Ron. It was obvious he was thinking of Hermione.

"Fantastic! So here's the plan…"