Hello, thank you all for your patience :)
I hoped the break between those chapters won't be so long, but alas... I apologize for that :(

(zeynel) Yeah, poor Sherlock... John definitely has better time

(Guest) :/ too bad, he is so stubborn

(Sarah) Yup, we're back to John now.

CHAPTER 24

Surprisingly, the small bottle didn't turn out to be extremely dangerous. At least that was what John thought after George said that it was practically a liquid form of sweets that were used by students to skip classes – they were improved, he swore, and this supposed improvement was to be a delayed effect thanks to the liquid form, so the students would have time to discard the evidence, because some teachers searched pockets first and sent to hospital wing later, George finished his explanation with tragic expression, after lamenting that he was unable to delay the reaction in the form of sweets.

Of course, the doctor changed his mind as soon as Ron hesitatingly took the offered bottle and after downing it, promptly hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.

George looked flabbergasted. "Well… this was… unexpected," he said slowly as he peered at his unconscious brother. "Not even the original Fainting Fancies have a reaction this fast. It took at least a few seconds to kick in. Umm… interesting, when I tried it on myself and then Verity it worked just fine… I thought I got all the bugs out," he mused.

Not that he needed to bother with that explanation. John wasn't listening to his babbling, instead he was checking the unresponsive man on the floor.

Before John started a lecture on such carelessness (he honestly never thought he would need to do that with someone else, except for Sherlock), George crouched down and put some kind of bonbon into his brother's mouth, carelessly throwing the colourful wrapper on the floor.

John was about to indignantly question if he wanted his brother to choke, but George caught his look and explained, "That's an antidote. Didn't think those needed a change, so they will still be made in this form, though of course they look a bit different from the original Skiving Snackbox Sweets, which contain both the cause of illness and antidote in one piece."

Both let out a sigh of relief when Ron's eyes snapped open. Though his movements were slightly sluggish, he still managed to throw quite impressive glare at his brother.

"How do you feel?" asked George, a touch of concern noticeable in his voice.

"Dizzy," grumbled Ron as he sat up. "Thanks a lot."

"Well, I didn't plan it," replied his brother defensively. "I'll need to have a look at it though. Do you think Hermione would agree to help? I really have no idea what went wrong."

Ron blinked at him, "You know… I was the one who hit my head; shouldn't I be the one sprouting nonsense? Or do you honestly think, that you can go and ask Hermione to help you with this?!"

"Not really," sighed George. "But she might… umm… simply for knowledge's sake?" he offered feebly. "It wasn't supposed to have this effect. You know… she might form a new theory or something… and I really want this to work by next school year. It's just a few months away."

"Good luck with that," shrugged Ron carelessly. "If you want to bring it to her, you're on your own."

"Isn't this dangerous?" interrupted John glancing at the box that contained other bottles.

"Don't think so," said George absentmindedly, sniffing the bottle he held in hand delicately. "But the reaction was far too strong. I suppose if we don't figure out what happened, the old line of sweets will remain unchallenged."

"I mean the sweets too," insisted John. "It can be hazardous to someone's health!"

"Oh, no," the shop owner shook his head. "No lasting effects whatsoever. Trust me, there are people who would have my head if I was selling something they would deem even a slightest danger – the fact that they're unhappy with it and can't find a fault (except for slacking students) is most telling."

"Seriously, don't worry, John, it's fine," said Ron as he finally stood up, testing his equilibrium. He seemed to be okay and John would have never guessed that few moments ago he looked like he needed hospital. "Next time, show him something better please – you haven't made the best impression with this one," he turned to his brother.

George took one look at John, who was still frowning at the box, and took it as a challenge to convince the man that his shop was the best place in the entire magical world. It simply wouldn't do to have one of the few Muggles that visited to think badly about Weasley Wizarding Wheezes.

"Hmm," he wondered what to show him now and suddenly got splendid idea.

"What's he doing?" questioned John watching as the wizard disappeared murmuring something about 'serious work'.

"I have an inkling," replied Ron, leaning lazily on the wall, "and if it's true then prepare to see the unofficial line of merchandise."

"Huh?" John was bewildered. What was that supposed to mean? He just hoped it wasn't something illegal – finding out that such people as the Weasleys dealt with something shady (especially Ron, who was an Auror) would put a serious damper on his otherwise great opinion of them. But then, if it was really something like that, would they be showing him?

They didn't need to wait long, George soon returned with a box with a haphazard assortment of items. John couldn't see any link they could share – they seemed so random.

"Most of these things were developed and sold during the war," George started explaining. "Most of those are no longer produced, though we occasional still make small amounts at Ministry request," he pointed at the clothing items, "The shielding hats and gloves are no longer needed, people got a lot better at Defence since they were no longer hindered by having mostly incompetent teachers year after year." He picked up a small satchel next and took the tiniest bit of powder out of it and threw it around. Suddenly they were engulfed in total darkness, but before John could properly panic it was gone. "Some of the items are still sold, but there are restrictions – it means that mostly only Aurors and Hit wizards can get their hands on those and their use is monitored. Trust me, this was one hard learnt lesson. It's because those things, like Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, are easily abused."

"Me, Hermione and Harry used Decoy Detonators to infiltrate the Ministry back then," Ron added his two cents as he pointed at the weird black objects in the box. "Those are still sold freely, aren't they?" he asked his brother with smirk.

"Well," shrugged George, "who am I to deny students the means to cause a disturbance in class?" He took one out and dropped it on the floor, where it immediately ran away smoking and wailing loudly.

Even though it was all startling, John was listening with rapt attention to every single word. This was amazing. Those small bits of information certainly weren't something he would be able to learn otherwise. He doubted any book would be so detailed… and speaking of books. "I… know a bit about that," he frowned trying to recall the words he read this early morning. "You disappeared for a short time only to reappear and liberate the falsely accused Muggle-born witches and wizards. Many escaped that day. Then you disappeared again for a long time until the break-in to Gringotts and the final battle."

"That's the shortest, which also makes it the truest version of events I heard from a stranger in a long time," admitted Ron impressed. "I take it Harry did a good job of removing all the 'true' retellings of events from your vicinity."

"Well, yeah, he picked almost all the books we got, the history one was among them," replied John. "Why? Are others really that bad?"

"Oh, yeah," nodded George shuddering. "I contemplated gouging my eyes out after my curiosity got better of me and I looked at Skeeter's book."

Ron rolled his eyes. "You know how the hag is. And by the time the book was published you already knew what happened to us that year. So why did you even bother? "

"Still, it was Skeeter. I was curious," repeated his older brother.

John understood curiosity rather well. He was dying to ask more about the Ministry infiltration and consequently about the Gringotts break-in which followed, but he wondered if it would make him a hypocrite, since he chewed out Sherlock for wanting to ask out the same questions to Harry. He decided to ask the question that should be the least troubling to answer and maybe he would figure out if it was okay to talk about the rest.

"Are there really dragons in Gringotts?" As both brothers gave him the same amused look, he elaborated a bit further. "It's just that Harry said he broke into the bank and set free a dragon who damaged the building and that's why Goblins don't like him much and then I read that you really did it, I mean broke into the bank and I just wondered if the dragon part wasn't exaggerated…"

"Nope," Ron stopped his blabbering, "I would say if anything it was toned down… a lot. I mean, the beak-in is always described as dully and shortly as possible so you would think nothing happened at all. That was to avoid angering the Goblins further by painting it as some exciting impossible feat. You can say that the books have Goblin-approved versions of events. And quite honestly, there is nothing more to say about it, unless we go into details why exactly it was necessary to break-in there. And that's not common knowledge. But I assure you the dragon was very much real. But Harry was mostly joking when he said the Goblins are still angry at him. Trust me, if they were, Gringotts would be the last place he would want to show up. He might not be their favourite person in the world; hell me and Hermione aren't either, but thankfully, they are not entirely unreasonable."

"But if it was necessary then surely it couldn't have been such a problem to get them to forgive you, right?"

George snorted and John looked at him questioningly. "Sorry," he said sounding far from being apologetic, "I just tried to imagine a forgiving Goblin."

"See, they have a different set of rules than humans do, so it was not so easy," offered Ron as an explanation. "And honestly," his ears reddened, "when they listed our offences, they sort of had a point. It was a hurriedly made plan on our part. But time was of essence and I think that even if we had months to prepare we would still need to do it this way – maybe with less chaos though."

"Well, time is of the essence now too. It's afternoon and almost nothing was done here. Ron you disappoint me so," deadpanned George clapping his hands, effectively getting rid of the heavy mood that threatened to settle in if the conversation continued in the intended line.

John widened his eyes. They had a work to do and here he was, hogging their time. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just slowing you down. I should be going. I expect Sherlock to be in the Leaky Cauldron already anyway…"

Ron just shook his head at his brother. "He didn't mean anything against you -" he started.

"Well, of course not," agreed his brother. "It was meant just for you, brother."

"Though I still better go," said John. "If Sherlock hates anything, it's waiting." And I can't believe I practically forgot about him, he lamented silently as he bid farewell to both Weasleys.

"Wait!" ordered George taking a bag out of nowhere. John froze mid-turn and waited to find out what the man wanted. The shop owner walked along a few barrels, taking a few things from each, same with some of the shelves and when he was done, he offered John a bag full of sweets. "Some of them are ordinary ones like Chocolate Frogs or Every Flavour Beans – well ordinary for us; I think you might like them as well as the not-so-ordinary ones. Every WWW joke bonbon has a set of instructions on the wrapper, so you will know what to expect – hope you have a magnifying glass, they are rather small, but no one can say we don't warn our customers…"

"I can't take that," protested the doctor, trying to hand the bag back.

"I insist. I can just add it on Harry's tab – he has a free reign here, but rarely takes anything. He is just stubborn that way, but I win this time," grinned George clasping his hands behind his back, forcing John to reluctantly take the bag with the mix of sweets. "Have fun! And don't forget to stop by when it's opened – you need the atmosphere to fully enjoy the shop's appeal," he cried after him as John left the shop after thanking him enthusiastically.

"You just can't help but sing praises to this place, can you?" chuckled Ron as soon as the bell stopped tinkling. "And how come I never get things for free?"

"Shush, you have the employee discount," said George smirking. "Besides I wonder what he will do with the pranking ones. He knows he can't offer them to any of his Muggle friends, but he is too curious for his own good to just leave them or throw them away. And honestly the only people he can try them on is that Holmes guy or himself… Don't worry, I didn't include anything that would require magic to reverse it."

"How very thoughtful of you," commented Ron drily.

"I know. Though I do hope he will try some on Holmes and that he will pick one of the chocolate teacakes," finished the man.

"Why? What's wrong with those?" asked Ron, concerned just the tiniest bit – mostly for John. He might freak out if it was something too outlandish.

"Well, do you remember what the canary cream did…?" trailed off the older ginger as Ron nodded. Of course he knew. He knew all the stuff in this shop, except for the newest creations. His brother just loved to keep them secret until they were ready for selling. "It's a continuation of that line. Offers a wider variety of animals – other birds… a few mammals, something like that – even I don't know which is which, the chocolate teacakes are indistinguishable. And yes, ferrets are included; I know you're partial to those."

"Prat," murmured Ron, though he didn't seem at all angered. On the contrary, there was the largest grin on his face, as he was imagining ferrety Sherlock Holmes squeaking at John in indignation. "If there is a need for Dad's office to get involved, I wasn't here when you gave it to him!"

"You're a real Gryffindor, Ronniekins," drawled his brother as they set back to work.