Disclaimer:This story line belongs to Im Reading. Harry Potter and such do not belong to me.
A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the universe, "the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
-Stephen Crane
1. Harry 'Solo' Potter
Harry tapped his fingers on his desk. Behind him, George was tinkering with some new invention behind him at the work counter. His desk was covered with files and notes, pens and parchment. In the center of his desk were several leather bags of varying sizes.
"George, what are you working on?" Harry leaned back in his chair, placing his feet on the desk. The room they were in was organized chaos. Unfinished and untested inventions were placed periodically on the shelves around the room, the ingredients used in the making listed over the side compartment where the actual ingredients were stored.
On the other side of the room were boxes and rows of finished products, ready to be sent out to correspondents. Their labels were obscure, such as Refuge Ropes and Wild Fire Wackers.
George looked up when Harry spoke to him, a smile on his face. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Harry smirked, rising from his seat to make his way over to the counter where the red-head was working. George shielded his work, slapping one of Harry's hands that had attempted to take the work. Harry took the offended limb to his body, gasping in false pain. "George, couldn't you at least let me see what it is? Just a little peek?"
George grinned and shook his head. "Harry, Harry. You should know better now. When I work on an invention of the such, you only get to see the finished product." He reached out and ruffled Harry's black hair playfully. "Maybe I finally found a way to tame your hair."
Harry ducked out of the way of George's hand. "Then you have to let me see it. I have been waiting for you to invent something that would actually work on my hair for ages."
George grinned, tauntingly. "You will just have to wait. In the meantime, who is this pretty lady who I heard you had a date with?"
Harry pulled a chair around and sat in it, leaning back so only two legs were on the floor. "Wouldn't you like to know?" George placed what ever he was working on in a cubby, only this one had a door that only opened to George's magical signature.
"Come on Solo, you know you can tell me. It's not like it is my sister or anything." Harry chuckled softly. "Who else, my beautiful wife, Loria"
George huffed. "So what did she look like?" Harry looked at George darkly. It was a long standing joke between the two ever cense Harry had started dating Loria. She wasn't quite as good at shifting features as Tonks was, but she liked to play with Harry by going out with the raven-haired man as a different looking woman on each date.
"She was beautiful of course. Long blonde hair and deep blue eyes, but she was easy to pick out this time, seeing as how she is with child." George grinned darkly.
Harry groaned at the look on his friend's face. "Yes George, I know that you will corrupt my child to the fullest. You are going to be the godfather after all."
"Why Harry, it sounds like you doubt my abilities to teach the young everything and anything they need to know to live life to its fullest."
Harry shook his head. "Never George, I could never doubt you. After all, you corrupted innocent me with the Marauders Map."
George sighed at the memory. "That was one of our proudest moments when you started to join the ranks of the Weasley Twins."
Harry crossed his legs as he put his feet on the counter. "Ah, the old times when all we had to worry about were Voldieshorts and Umbridge. You know that they kept a small piece of your portable swamp underneath one of the windows. I repeat, Flitwick said it was 'an amazing piece of magic.'"
George walked around the counter and pushed Harry's chest, sending him sprawling to the floor with a loud crash.
"Bloody Hell!" Harry glared daggers at the red-head, who was smirking quite evilly. Harry groaned as he stood up. "Fuckwit, what was that for? After all I have done for you?"
"Solo, what have I told you?" George questioned the raven-haired man. Harry scowled darkly. "Never get on the bad side of a prankster, they prank you worse than when you are on their good side."
George grinned widely, clapping his hands together. "Very good Solo, very good. You have finally started to remember the first few lessons that Forge and Gred have taught you."
Harry grumbled softly under his breath. He brushed down his jeans before tying three of the bags onto his belt. "So, what exactly have you finished?" He ran his hand through his hair softly as George danced around the work room, taking a few products off the shelves.
"Here you go, special, Harry Hair Gel." George handed him a rather large white jar. When Harry opened it up, the gel was a sparkling black colour. "Not an original name, but it should work. The jar is charmed so that you never run out."
"By George, George you are brilliant!" George only nodded proudly in acceptance. Harry took a dab of the gel and ran it through his dark hair. It began to mold and shape his hair. George conjured a mirror up and showed Harry his reflection. "Just think about the hair style you want and it will make it the best it can. Rather nifty invention if I don't say so me self."
"Damn George, if I didn't love the Weasley family already I think I would have fallen in love again." George puckered his lips making irritating kissing noises.
"Oh stop it George. What else do you have?" George placed two more items before Harry, who was currently putting his jar of gel in a pocket. Pointing to the first one, George began to tell what they were.
"This one is a new addition to the candies. Hiccup bars. The other is a rather descript form of alcohol, giving the chewer just the right amount of alcohol without a crash or hangover, in ten delightful types of alcohol." Harry picked up a piece of the gum and tested it, nodding after the first chew. "These are brilliant George."
"You should consider doing a butterbeer variety for those not of age. I would have killed for some during school." George nodded and continued.
"So past the Hiccup Bars and UTI gum, we have a form of vanishing cream, for vanishing the undesirable wrinkle or gray hair. It works like a charm. I tested it on an old dog, turned black as a hat without looking stupidly gaudy."
Harry studied the canister carefully. "What have you decided to call it?" George looked over at Harry slyly. "Should I really tell you?" Harry paused for a minute before shaking his head. George chuckled. "Smart young one."
Harry tapped his head, grinning. George pulled out a necklace. "Save the best for last. Dream Catcher. It allows you to go back in time to view your most precious and happiest memories and dreams. I managed to get some of the sand used in time turners for it actually."
Harry took the charm from George, holding it up in the light. "How do you use it?"
"You touch the charm and whisper a word that the buyer sets and it takes you into your past. I had to modify the sands so that you wouldn't interfere with the proceeds of the past, but you are just a passerby, they can't see you, but you can see them."
Harry stared in wonder. He fingered the charm, a silver wolf outlined in black. "Can I test it?" George looked slightly offended. "Who do you think I am a robber?"
Harry shrugged before twirling it around his wrist. "Thanks George."
George huffed, before rolling his eyes. "What can I say?"
They walked out into the front of the store where employees were beginning to stock up for the day. "So Solo, what are you going to name the kid?"
Harry smiled. George referred to him as Solo anywhere in public so as to not cause screaming mobs of Harry Potter fans. "If the baby is a boy, Adrian Alexander, if not, then Elizabeth Lillian."
George smiled as he took a few boxes of merchandise from the boxes and put them in an expandable bag. He handed the bag to Harry, slung it over his shoulder in fact.
"George, what are you doing?" Harry eyed the Weasley closely. George smiled and shook his head. "I just feel that you might need them."
Harry widened his eyes and fingered his newest wand, Brazilian Cherry, 10 ¾ inches with the shared core of an Ice phoenix and the blood of a thestral. Instead of repairing his old wand, he opted to visit a small shopee that created custom wands. He felt much more comfortable with this wand than with the other wand from Ollivander's.
"George I think you might be getting along to well with Luna." Luna Lovegood was a rather eccentric personality, but she had toned down quiet a lot since school. George shook his head. "No, she told me you might need a few things. I have no idea why."
In truth, Harry felt that she was a rather occult Seer, but because of some of the things she had said, most people tended to push off her words. George had taken an immediate liking to blonde and had even gone on a few dates with the Ravenclaw.
Harry was just about to remark to the words when an explosion pushed him to the floor. Harry caught himself with his hands, but noticed the shards of silver-black glass of the wolf dream catcher. The sand coated his hand and Harry saw George scrambling for his wand. He tried to mutter an 'its ok', the world around him became disturbingly dizzy, and all was dark.
Notes:
1) Ron is dead. I do not particularly like Ron in the least. That is why George is the Godfather.
2) Harry works with George. He runs several stores in different countries, but George is the inventor.
3) Never do I like Ginny and Harry together. From the original storyline, I decided with some similarities to his daughter, but that is about all. Loria is a french woman who is rather in-between in her magics, rather like a buffer zone for dark and light.
4) Harry's nickname is Solo.
5) If anyone can figure out what the nickname refers to I will give you a cookie. (virtually of course.)
-Hand Steroids