Nose to the Wind // tomarry

Chapter 26: Burn Out the Stain

To their credit, Fred and George hadn't taken too long to recover, and they quickly set about kicking all of the customers, other than Cedric, out and closing up shop for the day, then ushered Harry and Cedric back into their attached flat.

Harry went to the kettle sat on the hob to start tea, figuring everyone could do with some, while the other three all dropped into the mismatched chairs around the tiny table.

"How," George asked after the kettle had whistled and Harry started pouring the water into the mugs he'd pulled down, "are we not dead yet? Fred and I?"

Harry winced; it was never a good sign when the twins actually referred to themselves by their proper names. "Well, you're my friends, good as family, so I won't let him?" he offered as he set the kettle back on the hob. "Anyway," he added as he started bringing cups over to the table, "I'm fairly certain the pair of you amuse him."

"But it's You Know Who," Fred stressed.

"Who, contrary to everyone else's belief, does actually have a sense of humour," Harry insisted.

"I need something stronger than tea," Cedric decided.

"There's firewhiskey in the top right," George said.

"You're going to regret that when you have to go back to the ministry," Harry warned, even as Fred helpfully summoned the bottle and set it in the centre of the table.

When all three older wizards vanished their tea, then shared around the bottle to refill their cups, Harry just sighed and turned to attempting to find something edible in the kitchen, since he was feeling a bit peckish.

"So, quick question," George said after a bit.

"Why is he so ridiculously hot?" Fred asked.

Cedric choked.

Harry sighed. "That's what he really looks like."

"Okay, so, follow-up question."

"Why bother with the spooky face?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Maybe because it's easier to terrify an entire community of wand-waving sheep into subjugation when you don't look bangable as fuck?"

"Fair point," George allowed.

"He can subjugate me any day," Fred decided.

"Oiy!" Harry complained. "That's my slightly temperamental and very homicidal partner you're talking about!"

"I'm not drunk enough for this," Cedric decided.

Fred and George's chorus of slightly manic laughter was, honestly, utterly predictable.

-0-

The explosion turned out to be an experiment gone wrong, and while a number of ministry personnel ended up reporting to St Mungo's for treatment, and there were two fatalities, no Potters, Weasleys, Blacks, or Diggorys were among them.

Harry didn't end up going past Tom's that night, partially because it sounded like his partner had his hands full, between the ministry and the ICW, but also because he'd had to help Fred and George to their beds, set Cedric up in the spare room, clean up the shop, and send out an owl to the Diggorys letting them know where their son was before he got to go home. None of which he could do with magic, because there were charms all over the place that kept non-employees from using magic on the shelves and fixtures, and Harry wasn't keyed in on account of him being a squib. So, by the time he made it home, he had about enough energy to greet his parents and check they were both okay, then fall into bed.