"Ready."

The twins exchanged a nod, knowing that now the only thing missing was their very first customer.

After Harry gave them his Triwizard Tournament winnings, the boys had known exactly what they wanted to do with the money. It hadn't taken them long to put together their first business, a joke shop. Through all these years, their numerous experiments had eventually resulted in quite a few products that they were excited to share with fellow pranksters and with the rest of the world. Now, after all this hardwork, they were waiting inside their brand new store, located in the heart of Diagon Alley, for a customer to walk through and explore through the aisles of their creations.

The excitement was keeping them on edge, and they couldn't help but wear identical grins on their faces. George was bouncing on his toes, while Fred was pacing back and forth behind the counter. It seemed as if energy was bursting through them. Any moment now…

Twenty minutes passed, and Fred let out a loud sigh. George sat down on the stool behind the counter, and ran a hand through his hair. He looked over at his brother, and wished the sinking feeling in his stomach would go away. The shop couldn't possibly fail; they had put too much effort into this.

After what seemed like eternity, Fred let out a shout, "someone's coming!"

George immediately got off the stool and even tried to flatten down his hair by patting his head, trying to get his hair to look a bit more professional. From the corner of his eye he noticed Fred doing the same.

He walked out from behind the counter, just as the door swung open and their first customer stepped into their shop.

A young boy, no older than a second year with dark brown hair and green eyes, peered inside, his eyes darting from Fred to George and then at the colorful items lining the aisles behind them. The twins noticed that his mother was with him, standing outside and reading one of the signs on the windows advertising their products. Their eyes however were fixated on the boy, waiting for him to fully step inside.

"Are - are you open?" the boy asked.

"YES!" Fred and George practically shouted in enthusiasm, leading the boy to jump about a foot in the air. They were both smiling broadly however, so it didn't take long for the boy to feel welcome as he came in and let the door shut behind him.

"Well what do you have?"

Half an hour later, Fred found himself behind the counter, ringing up the boy's purchases. They had given him a personal tour of the entire shop and were glad to see that he was fascinated with so many of their items. At the end of it all, the boy had decided on four items and had promised the twins to use them all at Hogwarts.

"That's the spirit!" George had nodded in approval. And Fred had asked him to come back later and tell them all about the chaos the items had caused. The boy had promised to do so, and waved back at the twins happily before leaving the shop.

They watched his retreating back, and then turned towards each other, the smile on their faces now even larger than before.

"Brilliant, George!"

"Brilliant indeed."

Just a little something that I had written a while ago and found on my computer. I think I had initially planned on it being a series of stories that take place in the shop, but for now I think I like it the way it is. Who knows, maybe someday it could turn into something more.

Leave me a review or a comment, as it's my first time back on FF after many years! xx