Disclaimer: The world of the Harry Potter stories is in no way owned by me and belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Part 1
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes had become a huge success in the wizarding world. Many people baulked that two Hogwarts dropouts could have made so much for themselves in little more than a year's time. While some might say they would have been better served by completing their educations, the Weasley brothers couldn't have been more pleased with the way things were going for them. Their business was bringing in the cash, and they were doing what they loved. What could be better?
And no one could say they hadn't done things right. With the money they received from a patron whose identity only the two brothers knew, they had bought a building, fixed it up, stocked it, and even hired a few employees. With their instant success, due to good timing, what with the grim turn the world had taken with the rise of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, they quickly expanded the stock of merchandise and hired more help.
By the end of their second summer, they had approximately nine employees, a far cry from their original two. One of these originals had remained with them: Gwendolyn Partle. Gwen, as she was sometimes called, had been a year behind Fred and George at Hogwarts, before they left, that is, and had graduated only a few months earlier with high marks in Charms. At eighteen years old, fresh out of school, she was eager to start her career as, well, she wasn't quite sure what. This is why she was worried. As fun as working at Wizard Wheezes could be, she didn't want to spend her life there. She didn't want to work in an office. That narrowed down a lot of things, like a job at the ministry. She also didn't want to work in a shop. The monotony would drive her mad! No, Gwen's current setup was only temporary, while she figured out what to do with her life.
These very thoughts went through her mind as she restocked the Giggling Gargles display in the back of the store. Every time her thoughts strayed too far from her work, she would accidentally squeeze one of the Gargles, and an odd, wet sounding chuckle would emanate from it. She wasn't even sure what they were supposed to do, but then, they weren't one of the Weasley twins' specialties.
She turned her head and saw her reflection in the glass display of Periwinkle Potions (whoever drank one would turn a very pretty shade of blue). She scrutinized herself briefly and shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't beautiful, but she wasn't ugly either. She had a good face. An interesting face. That was all she needed. She had always liked her hair though, even though she was never sure why. The brownish-blonde color and curls weren't anything amazing, but she took pleasure in them. Her hazel eyes matched them well, too, she thought.
She shook herself out of her vain thoughts and turned back to her work. As soon as she had done, Fred and George appeared on either side of her with a loud pop. "We need someone to man the register," said George. "Isabella went to lunch without telling anyone again," Fred elaborated.
"No problem," Gwen nodded.
"Excellent," they said in unison. That had always made Gwen chuckle to herself. She wondered if they practiced or if it came naturally. Swarms of people blocked her path to the register, but that was how it usually was in the store. Never a day went by when people of all ages weren't crowded in the building.
Having elbowed her way to the counter, she situated herself behind it and waited. Register duty held the most dull prospect for whomever was lucky enough to be assigned it, but Gwen prided herself on her work ethic, though this often meant comparing herself to the other workers with the end result of making her feel superior to them in some way. But Fred and George couldn't complain.
After thirty minutes of ringing up people's purchases and aiding others in finding what they needed, the door opened and a figure in black appeared in stark contrast to his colorful surroundings. Gwen recognized the platinum-blonde youth as Draco Malfoy, who had been somewhat of a joke to many Ravenclaw students. His immature antics had made a negative impression, but when they had heard about the role he played in aiding You-Know-Who in Gwen's seventh year, there was no more laughing at his expense. Still, seeing him brought a grin to the side of Gwen's mouth, remembering his original ridiculous reputation.
As the door closed behind him, he surveyed his surrounding with disdain, yet he continued further in, though the atmosphere obviously repulsed him. He made his way to Gwen's counter. To her discomfort, the reality of his new, far less funny reputation pushed itself to the front of her mind, but she smiled at him and asked, "can I help you with anything?"
"Yes," he replied arrogantly. "I want to know if you have something that will make it so that someone can't hear what I'm saying when I'm right in front of them."
Gwen thought for a moment. She hated it when people asked her questions like this. Very vague. And in her earlier days, they ended up making her look like an idiot, until she learned to talk in circles. That way the person she was talking to thought she was saying something intelligent and didn't realize they hadn't learned anything until after they had left. She decided not to push her luck with this one.
"So, you want to be able to talk to someone without them know it?"
"Sort of," he said impatiently. "Let's say there are three people in a room: myself and two other people. I want to talk to person A without person B knowing what I'm saying to person A."
Gwen thought for a moment while Malfoy crossed his arms and searched the shelves behind the counter with his eyes, scowling. "Ah!" she cried after a moment. "I know just the thing. It's called a Nonsense Nugget."
"A what?" Malfoy's eyes crinkled in a do-you-know-what-you-sound-like-right-now kind of way.
"A Nonsense Nugget. It's a malleable substance that dissolves in liquid. Any person who ingests it will only hear nonsense coming out of people's mouths. Of course it's most effective if you can stick two pieces of the nugget inside the person's ears, but…"
"So, if I can get this inside someone's drink, and they drink it, then they would only hear me and whoever else was in the room say gibberish, no matter what we were actually saying?"
"That's correct."
Malfoy thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. A sneer slowly appeared on his face, and he said, "excellent. Get if for me."
Gwen ignored his rude tone and looked around for someone who could take over the register for her temporarily. Having done so, she began to make her way to a shelf currently surrounded by a group of eleven year olds. She had half hoped that Malfoy would wait at the counter for her to return, but instead he had followed her. She looked up at the shelves, searching for the Nuggets. They were higher up than she could reach, so she rapped purposefully on the wood of one of the shelf ledges twice. A second later, a ladder was speeding along its track that lined the upper wall at top speed. Having successfully scattered the eleven year olds, which caused Malfoy to snicker, the ladder came to rest in front of Gwen. Rolling it slightly more to the left, she began to climb. After twenty rungs, she stopped, searching with her fingers along the many colored boxes that held different practical joke goods: Baboon Bouncers, Lacing Hickles, Inked Marbles, aha! Nonsense Nuggets. "How many do you want," she yelled down at him.
He thought for a moment. "How long does one last?" Gwen looked at the plastic-wrapped, walnut sized blob in her hand.
"You can pull one Nugget into several pieces, but as with any potion or spell, the larger the dose, the more effective it is, you follow me?"
"Five, then," he yelled over the crowd and the distance between them.
She pulled out three and put them in one of the pockets of her magenta work robes, then pulled two more out of the box, put one in each hand, and made her way back down the ladder.
"Here you are, Mr. Malfoy." She handed him the five Nuggets. He didn't seem to think it was odd that she knew his name (must be used to special attention at shops, she thought), and grabbed them from her hand without a word. "Was there anything else you needed?" Gwen asked politely.
"No," he said. "This will do." He followed her back to the register, where Gwen relieved Jonathon of his temporary duty. Having paid for his purchase, Malfoy left without so much as a thank you.
For the remainder of her work hour, curiosity gnawed at Gwen. Why had Draco Malfoy, of all people, come into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Surely he wasn't going to play a prank on someone, unless You-Know-Who had suddenly developed a sense of humor. The thought made her grin. And didn't the Malfoy's hate the Weasleys? Didn't he know he had just given them business? She tried not to think about it. After all, it was none of her business. But there was no denying, it was strange.
