Resorted

Chapter Thirty Eight

Looking at the outside of the shop, its vibrant oranges stick out like a sore thumb. A statue version of the twins is moulded with the main window, its hand moving with a hat as a formal greeting. Opening the door is like staring face-to-face with a rainbow. Colour is splashed all over the shelves, walls and bright, humorous faces. It looked like carnival stalls laid in rows with some popping up randomly in the open. There was so much, the place had a second floor. On the bottom was the counter, coloured in the same cherry red as the wooden floor. There were separate stalls for the pranks. A light blue one was filled with multiple coloured skiving Snackboxes, orange with yellow stripes had Basic Blaze Boxes that were the twin’s fireworks- several exploding in the shop. Edible Dark Marks were in a liquor black section and had a bucket to the side. One kid had just ate something, he inflated twice the size, another floated a meter off the ground, one girl went to take a bite of the dark mark while another swatted it out of his hand. Joining the walkway with the stairs was a figure of the worst professor Hogwarts had received: Umbridge. It wheeled on a tightrope chanting “I will have order! I will have order!” 

“Harry!” someone exclaimed, giving him a bone crushing hug. All Harry saw was the mess of brown hair and hugged her just as fiercely back.
“Hi! How are the Weasley’s? How are you?” He asked when they pulled away from the hug.
“They’re good! I stayed for a week, but then Fred and George moved here so I went back to my parents.” She explained, walking around with Harry, “I'm doing good, been a bit weird not staying with the Weasley’s though. I suppose you heard about what happened?”
Puzzled look, Harry replied, “you’ve got to be more specific, because there’s been quite a bit.”
“Well Ginny leaving for starters. They spent quite a while looking for her, about a week or two. They asked the Lovegood's, Neville, Susan, Dean, Rose Coldwell, Lillian Barnes, basically all her friends. They didn’t want it in the Prophet for obvious reasons really.”
“And those are?”
Hermione sighed, “Harry Potter you are so dense sometimes, you know that?”
“Yes, yes, I know, now the reasons?”
“Well it was in the Prophet about Ron’s death... and they wouldn’t want their family to have much attention after that so they can grieve. If the Prophet found out, no doubt they would twist the story to make out they were an unfit family which they are not! Then there’s the fact of Voldemort’s return too, so it would draw their attention that the lights most trusted family is ‘fragile' emotionally right now.”
Shaking his head to try and sink it all in, Harry reverted to simpler questions, “How can people not think it’s safe to go back to Hogwarts? I mean, Dumbledore’s there! It’s- he's Dumbledore!”
“Well there’s been talk.”
“Of what?”
“That Dumbledore, well that he's getting a bit old...”
“Rubbish!” Harry defended flinging his arms in the air, narrowly missing a firework, “He isn’t that old, he’s,” Harry thought for a moment, “Actually how old is he?”
“... a hundred and five? Give or take a few years?” They talked for an extra twenty minutes until Hermione walked to a bright pink stand, emitting a rose glow.

“Well hello there our secret investor!” Harry jumped around to see Fred and George with shorter hair and in suites but not regular ones, more like circus conductors. “Good to see you Harry.” They hugged him loosely.
“What would you like?”  Fred began.
“We’ve got Puking Pastilles-"
“One of the customers favourites"
“Quills that can spell-check, smart-answer and self-ink"
“Take some of those anyway, you’ll need them.”
“Our personal favourite,” George nudged Harry
“Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.”
  “A real money spinner that one.”
  “Handy if you need to make a quick getaway.” They both finished and tossed Harry one.

Dazed expression, he walked over to Draco who was scanning the Muggle Magic Tricks. “What do you even do with Muggle stuff anyway! This is not magic.” Draco scoffed but picked up a deck of cards anyway.
Smiling at his boyfriend, Harry opened his bag for Draco to put the deck in, “I'll show you some Muggle card games and tricks back at Grimmauld Place.”
Amused, Draco peered into the bag seeing the quills, “They'll be useful, you’re rubbish at writing essays.”
Harry pushed him playfully on the shoulder, “Oi! I am not! Ok, maybe I am, but at least I can do Defence, unlike some people.”

“Git. Oh hi Granger!” Draco joyously exclaimed, wrapping her in a hug too. Concerned, cautious, coyly, Harry almost tip toed over to his best friend and boyfriend.
“Can one of you tell me where in Merlin that came from?” Hermione and Draco burst out laughing making Harry even more confused.
“Granger and I have more in common than I ever thought. And she is the second best in classes.” He teased her.
“That was only this year and third! I have beaten you academically every year despite those three.”
“Get on a broom, then we'll see who can beat the other.”
“Why else did you think I specified ‘academically’?”
“Touché.”
Hermione smiled warmly to Harry then Draco, “It was wonderful seeing you boys again, I will meet you on the platform.” She said walking off to the love potion section again where Pansy was.

The twins went over to the girls and Blaise walked to Draco and Harry wearing glasses Luna does. “Where did you get those?” Draco barked out, barely standing from laughter.
“Lovegood gave the Twins loads of them. Got dared into buying a pair by Hart, Roberts and King.” He huffed in annoyance.
Harry finally composed himself, “The ladies and Gentlemen will swoon for you in those. I can picture the dozens of them bowing to you.”
A strange expression on Blaise’s face, he started to fiddle with the glasses. He took them off and inspected them, rubbing them and put them back on to take them off once more, squinting into the glass. “Wrackspurts might just exist...” he mumbled, exiting the shop along with Harry and Draco.

Back in the shop, Hermione and Pansy were browsing the love potions. Hermione because she wanted to know how this was legal and Pansy because she was after the fourth looking guy in her year (Harry, Draco and Blaise are already taken).  “Hello Ladies.” Fred and George simultaneously purred, George leaning against a stand.
“Love potions,”
“They really do work.”
“But by the sounds of things you’re doing just fine on your own Hermione.”
A blush crept up her face but let out a shocked gasp, “And what is that supposed to mean?”
“Doesn’t McLaggen, Blaise Zabini and Susan Bones currently like you?” Fred gossiped, plenty aware that behind Hermione was in deed McLaggen.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Even if that is true, it is none of your business.” The boys threw their hands in the air as defence but walked off to a no doubt a new first year blowing to the size of a blimp. Just as Hermione was about to walk off, McLaggen called her, “Granger!” she turned around, face flushed with embarrassment because she knew he definitely heard their conversation, “I'll see you at Hogwarts.” To save her from even more embarrassment (Pansy was unsure why she did it), Pansy grabbed the girls elbow, dragging her up the stairs.