Mia Potter was the other Potter. Looking almost identical to her mother, she was a force to be reckoned with. But there was only one person who could reckon with her, and his name was Draco Malfoy.
In which the youngest Potter twin finds herself fa...
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It was packed withcustomers, Mia could not get near the shelves. She stared around, looking up at the boxes piled to the ceiling.
Here were the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts; Mia noticed that the Nosebleed Nougatwas most popular, with only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands, the cheapest merely turninginto rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the unwary user around the head and neck, and boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, andSmart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and Mia pushed her way toward the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds was watching a tiny little wooden man slowly ascending the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a boxthat read: reusable hangman — spell it or he'll swing!
Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box bearing a highly coloured picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship.
"One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the averageschool lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacantexpression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens."
"Love potions," Mia said chuckling as she looked at them.
"You know," said Hermione, looking up at Harry, "that really is extraordinary magic!"
"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "you can have one for free."
A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magentarobes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.
"How are you, Mia?" Fred gave her a quick hug as she smiled.
"This is incredible," she said grinning as Hermione joined Ginny in the corner.
"Come on, I'll give you a tour."
Mia left Hermione and followed Fred toward the back of the shop, where she saw a stand ofcard and rope tricks.
"Muggle magic tricks!" said Fred happily, pointing them out. "For freaks like Dad, you know, who love Muggle stuff. It's not abig earner, but we do fairly steady business, they're great novelties.. . . Oh, here's George. . . ."
Fred's twin grinned and hugged Mia.
"Giving her the tour? Come through the back, Mia, that'swhere we're making the real money! Pocket anything, you, and you'll pay in more than Galleons!" he added warningly to a small boy who hastily whipped his hand out of the tub labeled 'edible darkmarks - they'll make anyone sick!'
George pushed back a curtain beside the Muggle tricks andMia saw a darker, less crowded room. The packaging on theproducts lining these shelves was more subdued.
"We've just developed this more serious line," said Fred. "Funny how it happened. . . ."
"You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm," said George. "Course, they didn't have you teaching them, Mia."
"That's right. . . . Well, we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh, you know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"
"So we've expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves. . . ."
". . . .I mean, they wouldn't help much against the Unforgivable Curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes. . . ."
"And then we thought we'd get into the whole area of Defence Against the Dark Arts, because it's such a money spinner," continued George enthusiastically. "This is cool. Look!"
"Instant Darkness Powder," Mia said as she read it out.
"We're importing it from Peru. Handy if you want to makea quick escape."
"And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves,look," said Fred, pointing at a number of weird-looking blackhorn-type objects that were indeed attempting to scurry out of sight. "You just drop one surreptitiously and it'll run off and makea nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you needone.
"Handy," said Mia, impressed.
"Here," said George, catching a couple and throwing them toHarry.
"Guys, this is incredible," Mia said.
"All thanks to you," the twins said as Mia shrugged.
"Mia, you help yourself to anything you want, all right?" George said. "No charge."
"I can't do that!" said Mia, who had already pulled out her money bag to pay for the Decoy Detonators.
"You don't pay here," said Fred firmly, waving away Mia's gold.
"But. . . ."
"You gave us our start-up loan, we haven't forgotten," said George sternly. "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it, if they ask."
Fred and George led Mia back into the main part of the shop to find Hermione and Ginny still poring over the Patented DaydreamCharms.
"Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere."Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically as Mia joined them.
"Do they work?" she asked.
"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question. . . ."
". . . .and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," headded, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've. . . ."
"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly.
"But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?" Fred asked. Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Mia was surprised Fred didn't recoil.
"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you," she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"
"How much for this?" Ron asked, looking at his brother.
"Five galleons," the twins said.
"How much for me?" Ron asked.
"Five galleons," the twins repeated.
"But I'm your brother," Ron said as Fred and George looked at each other and shrugged.
"Ten galleons," they said as Ron scoffed.
"Come on, let's go," he said to the Potter twins and Hermione. Leading the way, Mia walked past the crowds of people and out into the empty street of Diagon Alley.
"How're Fred and George doing it?" Hermione asked as Mia looked around. "Half the alley's closed down."
"I'd reckon people need a laugh these days," Mia said as she looked at her friends. The group of four walked down the alleyway and came to Ollivanders.
"Oh, no," Hermione said, disappointed. "Everyone got their wands from Olivander's."
"Mia, Harry," Ron said as the ginger girl looked at him. "Is it me or do Draco and mummy look like two people who don't want to be followed?
