The Magic Of Fluffnifflers
Cap'n Coree
The bells strapped to the brightly lit door jingled. Fred drew his attention away from his latest experiment and hurried out of the back room. It was a slow day, well, more of a slow month, actually, so he had dismissed the hired help, and since George was busy explaining the new Shield Cloacks to the Ministry of Defense, Fred was all alone in the shop. A tiny blonde head was bobbing between aisles of product, barely visable.
" 'Ello?" Fred asked, "Can I help you with anything?"
"I'd like that." replied a dreamy voice as a vaugley famillair girl rounded the corner. She had straggley, waist length hair and very pale eyebrows over larger round blue eyes. She had a necklace of butterbeer caps, and her wand tucked behind her ear.
"Well," Fred said, trying to recall her name. "Eh, what can I help you find?"
She stared around the room, as if she hadn't heard him.
"Eh, um, Ma'am, what can I help you find?"
"You're one of those twins aren't you?" the girl said dreamily, "Related to Ronald Weasly?"
"Eh, yes, are you a friend of Rons?"
"He says a lot of funny things doesn't he?"
"Well, I guess so." Fred said, never knowing Ron to be funny.
"Where's your twin? I was under the impression that you two were attached some how." Fred was unsure if this was a serious statement or not, so he decided to ignore it.
"Well, what are you looking for?"
"Do you have any Fluffniffler repelent?" she asked, examining a row of joke wands.
"Fluffniffler...repelent?"
"Yes, Fluffniffler, they're very tiny and move quickly so it's hard to see them. They're bright pink and fluffy and take to orbiting around people. The funny thing about Fluffniffler's is that they cause whoever they orbit around to become excessivley giddy." She said, shaking a wand.
"Eh, no, we don't have any Fluffniffler repelent." Fred said.
"Well, I could have sworn I'd seen Fluffniffler's swooping in here so you better get some before they take to orbiting around you. I think it may be too late for me." She sighed.
"But you don't seem very giddy." Fred pointed out.
"Well, I wouldn't want the Fluffnifflers to know they've won. It's very tiring walking around frowning when inside I feel like laughing, but when you laugh it encourages them. Joke shops are a breeding ground for Fluffnifflers you know, and when you were at Hogwarts, well, it was filled with Fluffnifflers too." She looked at Fred in an accusing manner.
"Well, I've never heard of a Fluffniffler." Fred said, "Nor have I seen one."
"Well they're all over you, you're like a Fluffniffler breeding ground."
"Why's that?" Fred said.
"Well, I suppose it's because you make people happy." she replied, her face flushing slightly, "and in times like these, what with Dumbledore gone.."
Fred grimiced slightly, and her voice trailed off slightly.
"not many people are happy anymore at all."
"Yeah, I guess not.." Fred replied. After all, buisness wasn't doing as well as it had before. People just didn't want to laugh anymore.
"But you, you're covered in Fluffnifflers. I bet if someone were to merely brush your hand," her large blue eyes fell onto Fred's hand, which was laying atop the counter casually, "they'd burst into giggles for days." Fred shifted akwardly and promptly withdrew his hand.
A moment of akward silence while she examined the display of Love Potions.
"I thought you were very funny when you were at Hogwarts. Not the way Ronald is funny. It just.. It made me laugh to watch you. You two." She was looking away. "People just don't laugh enough anymore.."
"Well then, why don't you let the Fluffniffler's win then? I mean, why not give 'em a laugh?"
"Well, it hurts to laugh. At least, it hurts to laugh when theres nothing to laugh about. So I figure .. I better get rid of the Fluffnifflers. I don't have much to laugh about." Fred frowned slightly. "And if I don't laugh though, they'll die.There aren't enough Fluffnifflers about anymore."
"Thats why I came in here.. I'm- well, I'm looking for something to laugh about."
"No better place to be." Fred replied dryly.
"Exactly." Her eyes once again fell on Fred. He couldn't help but notice how large they were.
"Well, I can show you some of our top notch products." Fred said, leaving the counter and motioning for her to follow him. "Here," he said, picking up a colorful box, "is one of our new products." He opened the cardbox and popped a tablet in his mouth. "They change the color of your skin with your mood. Very convinent if you with a fickle girl on a date and you need to know how it's going." His face turned maroon, and she flipped over the box.
"Maroon, nervous, akward." she read.
Fred's skin turned a dark shade of pink.
"Pink, embaressed." She let out a tiny squeek of a laugh and covered her mouth, looking at Fred in awe. "It didn't hurt!"
Fred smilled, the pink hue lessening slightly to be replaced with splotches of light blue, and patted her on the shoulder.
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Fred asked. She shook her head, examining the hand placed on her shoulder. Fred removed his hand, his face a mix of maroon and pink. "Why don't I show you.. uh.. over here we have.."
Fred spent the rest of the afternoon showing her their best products, from fake wands to exploding toliet paper, and each time her laugh grew bolder, from a squeak to roar.
"So there are four theives," Fred said, showing her three jacks, holding a deck of cards in the other hand. "They land on top of a Gringotts. One goes to the basement, one to the first floor, one to the second, the other waits on the roof. Then they hear the Ministry come.." Fred tapped the deck of cards "And they all apparated to the roof." Fred produced the jacks from the top of the pile.
"Magic?"
"A muggle trick."
"How'd you do it then?" she asked, staring at the cards in awe.
"Can't tell, sorry." Fred said. He looked out the window. "It's getting awfully late." He looke up at the clock. "Shit, we closed a half hour ago." She laughed again, watching Fred's hands as he put the cards back into their case.
"Tell you what," he said, placing the case in her hands. "Take these home and see if you can't figure it out and come back tomorrow." She nodded, holding the cards to her chest as she made her way to the door. The bells jingled again as she opened the door.
"Wait," Fred called. She turned around, staring at him dreamily. "I ah.." Had the tablet not worn off he would have been a vibrant pink. "I didn't catch your name."
"It's Luna. Luna Lovegood." She smilled, "G'night Fred." The door closed, causing the bells to jingle.
"Loony Lovegood." Fred muttered under his breath. He should have known.
He didn't know if it was the cause of fluffnifflers or not, but he felt like laughing.
A.N. Well, when I started writing this I intended it to be a oneshot, but now I'm not sure. I'll leave it up to you, the readers.