The Love of a Lion

Chapter 1

Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes

A storm of urgency swarmed around Diagon Alley. The school term started the day after tomorrow, and everyone was trying to get their last minute shopping in. An air of gloom was also surrounding the area, as the return of Voldemort left everyone dumbfounded. Of course the Ministry's reaction was to slander Harry and Dumbledore in the paper, not helping anything. Only two people seemed to be unperturbed by this rush and gloom. One of them was Fred Weasley. Fred poked around the Alley, looking for nothing in particular. He was a tall gangly young man, fresh out of Hogwarts. He had messy red hair and a mass of freckles splattered around his face. He looked to be in his late teens. Spotting a shop Fred sighed. His complete circle had brought him back home. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, the store he and his twin brother owned. As he walked inside, his twin caught his eye.

"See any good competition?" George, practically the exact clone of Fred stuck his head out of the storage room. Fred grinned, waving at his twin. Their job had gone swimmingly.

"Not really." Fred removed his sweater, a big purple one with a giant G on it. The good old Weasley sweater, or at least his brothers. The sweater-swap was guaranteed to make people confused. "God it was cold. Very odd for summer." he thought nonchalantly. "Could you pick up the post? That's the one thing I forgot."

"You always make me do the hard stuff." George joked. Putting on his sweater, emblazoned with a giant F, he walked outside, them disappeared around the corner.

Fred smiled. Tilting his chair back, he looked around out the windows. "A whole rush of people, all serious and hurried. Why didn't they just relax? Why didn't they just lean back and smell the love potions? On second thought, smelling the love potions would be a bad idea." He yawned, then started to whistle aimlessly. "They're all hurried because of You-Know-Who. Everybody's thinking he'll jump out from behind a street sign and hex the first person he sees. Voldemort is a touchy subject, but..." A young girl caught his eye. She was blonde, and aimlessly wandering toward Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Her pale eyes were constantly scanning the area, maybe hopes of someone she knew. She looked oddly out of place, like she had just stepped out of some weird fairytale. Maybe it was because she was wearing a butterbeer bottle cap necklace, with a matching bracelet. A copy of The Quibbler peeked out of her tote. She sauntered into Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes smiling happily. She was the other person unperturbed by the hustle and bustle, Luna Lovegood.

"'Ello." Fred said grinning. A customer! Finally! "My name's-"

"I know who you are," Luna interrupted, in a dreamy voice. "You're either Fred or George Weasley, George I think, by the G on your sweater." She looked around the shop. "By the way, is it true that you dive-bombed Umbridge, pelted her with Dungbombs, and then blew a hole in the roof, flying away?"

Fred was taken aback. "Erm, we just summoned our brooms and flew away. And by the way, I'm Fred." Fred leaned back a bit, eying the girl carefully. "And, I don't know who you are."

"Luna Lovegood. In case you're wondering, I was in my dormitory at the time. The Portable Swamp or whatever it was smelled awful."

"It's supposed to." Fred grinned, then squinted a bit. "I know you. You were in the D.A. meetings. And you were in the fight in the Ministry."

"Yes, that's me." She picked up a telescope, narrowly dodging it as it tried to punch her in the eye. Fred laughed with mirth. "You may think it's funny. But has this telescope been checked for Gineyevitus?"

"Gineye what?" Fred had been caught completely off guard. Okay, this girl was seriously damaged in the brain area or something. "There's no such thing as Gineyevitus! It was pronounced fake years ago!" The only reason Fred knew this was it was on his final exam for Binns.

"Oh, but the Ministry of Magic just lied to cover it up. It's still around, and you almost infected me!" Luna snorted haughtily. "Very nice." Suddenly, she returned to her normal dreamy demeanor.

"Okay...do you want to buy anything?" Fred grinned as he showed Luna around. "We have Portable Swamps, Fainting Fancies, a wide array of love potions-" Luna's eyes lit up. "Shield hats, cloaks, and-"

"I'd like to see a shield hat." Luna said, carefully inspecting a love potion. Fred rummaged in the back for a bit, then pulled out a shield hat. It was a small ugly thing, the color of vomit. With a flick of her wand, she turned the hat pink and fuzzy. It now was about the size of a top hat. Little puffballs and beads dangled from the front. "Try selling this."

"Pretty good. What charm did you use?" Fred looked at the hat admiringly.

"Just a small Transfiguration charm."

"Pretty good! Now change it back." Copyright reasons.

"I think it looks better than those dead Blibblerschnotzes."

"I don't care what you think! You practically ruined the hat! You-"

"Hey." A new voice. Both Luna's and Fred's head turned.

"What?" they both yelled.

"I'd like to buy this." An obnoxious surly voice popped up. Zacharias Smith. He leaned against the window, scowling.

"Not you!" Fred sighed, putting a hand up to his face. "First Luna, then Zacharias!" he thought, annoyed. "It seemed like someone was trying to kill him, by sending all the people he disliked, or in Luna's case, couldn't understand to his shop! Where the heck was George anyway? Oh yeah, at the post. Well, what about that intern girl we hired? At her aunties. Damn." Fred swore again, under his breath as he turned to Zacharias. "Whaddya want?"

"This hat." He held up the pink fuzzy hat, Luna transfigured a few minutes before. "It's the only one that doesn't look like a deflated balloon." He was right. Oddly, all the hats looked like someone Dudley Dursley's size had sat on it. "How much?"

"Seventeen Sickles," Fred said, clenching his fist. "How come only her hat sold? The other ones are okay! We're just...still modifying them." "Hey Smith, why're you buying a Shield Hat? Don't tell me you forgot the D.A. spells already? Are you that dense?"

"It's for a friend." Zacharias said, in forced restraint.

"A lady friend?" Luna said, in mild interest.

"O-of course not! Mind your own business Looney!" And with that, he sped off from the shop.

"Call me Luna," Luna sighed, then returned to browsing. Gesturing to an orang Pygmy Puff, she said "I think I want that one."

"Okay." Fred unlocked the cage, giving the Puff to Luna. "Ten Sickles and 13 Knuts." The transaction of money and Pygmy Puff occurred, and Luna looked throughly happy.

"I'll name you Ronald," Luna said to no one in particular as she left the shop.