"Grab it Fred."
"I'm trying." The second red head swiped at the buzzing blacked furry ball swept passed.
His hand missed it by centimeters and the puff ball took off. It buzzed passed many new post Battle of Hogwarts items. The black fuzzy sphere crashed into the paper from seven years ago declaring Hermione new Secretary of Magical Creatures. The paper fell on to the headline of Ron and Harry's double engagement to their respective sweethearts. The ball flew off and paused for a moment, its tiny wing whirring kind of mechanically. A pale hand reached out with all the skills and swiftness of a seeker to close around the small creature. The Weasley twins sighed in relief.
"How is it that the one of us that is blind and mute can catch what the other two fully sensed cannot?" Fred sighed.
George picked up a clipboard with scrawls of work all over it. "Pygmy Puff with snitches's wings equals bad idea." He said out load while he wrote. He underlined it three times.
"No really, how did you catch that?" Fred sat down and lay back in the chair.
The blonde reached up with his gloved hand pygmy puff free and tapped his ear.
"Ahh." Fred nodded. "Hearing and the seeker's reflexes of course."
The silver eyes danced with laughter over the aristocratic face. George threw the clipboard on Fred's stomach who curled up with an Oomph sound. He picked up a tiny enchanted gold cage. The pale younger male gave him the creature to put away.
"Maybe we can sell it as a snitch replacement." Fred joked. "What do you think Drags?
Draco shrugged and turned back to the potion he was working with, the delicate vial filled to the brim with dark violet liquid. He ran his fingers over the raised words of the ancient text and mouthed hem to himself. George struggled to shove the puff into its gilded cage. It did not wish to back in. Fred tapped the table with the tip of the quill murmuring to himself about possible uses. Draco splashed a bit of bright blue powder into the potion and it changed color. He tapped the table with his ungloved hand.
"Black." The twin reported dutifully at the same time.
The blonde's brow crinkled in concentration and he reran his finger over the text. A tiny bit more blue powder and the tip of a flower were added. The potion turned a dazzling grey, quicksilver like the eyes of its creator who tapped the table again.
"Sparkling grey." Said George.
Fred nodded. "Like polished nickel."
Draco grinned obviously pleased and corked the potion into a larger bottle.
"What's that Dragon?" George grunted fighting with the puff. It knocked over one of the boxes around it and the room's temperature raise by about ten degrees. Draco handed Fred the book.
"Insta-Metal." Fred laughed. "That was a fun one. Turning someone's clothes to metal so they couldn't get you. Remember?"
"Yeah. I thought it kept turning the actual person too though."
Fred gave Draco a sideways glance. "Apparently not anymore."
Draco reclined in his chair proudly.
"Brilliant." George puffed slamming the cage shut. The angry black puff ball battered the unbreakable bars to its cage. "At least something worked today."
"Aww. Cheer up Georgie." Fred smirked. "Anyway, it's close enough to lunch to eat. Let's go."
The three males stood up shoving their work to the side for now and filing out the door. They walked the same way they always did, the twins sandwiching their blind counterpart in between. The one behind, George today, put a hand on Draco's back to guide him in the right direction. The pale lips moved carefully counting each step. There were five between the workroom door and the stairs. Fred navigated down the steps to avoid the stacks of clothes, test products, and letters. George moved his hand back and forth across the younger teen's back to steer him between the piles Fred was pushing a side. The trio reached the kitchen and immediately split. Each had their own set of wand waving and spoken words to put lunch together in a flash. Draco sat at the table after they had eaten sipping tea as the twins read the paper out loud. The news was trivial, werewolf laws, captured Death Eaters, the Potter column. Nothing exciting but warm and comforting to match their surroundings. It was perfect. The paper was read and Draco put his hand out to meet the twins'. The dishes spun away of their own accord.
"Well come on Freddie." George released his grip after a quick squeeze. "We do have a responsibility to check on the shop." Even after years of this he was still reluctant to leave the younger male here alone.
Fred stood up as well. "You gonna be alright?" He asked every day when they left.
Draco nodded like he did everyday as well. He stood and stretched after the twins had called their good byes and flooed out. He set his teacup in the sink and skimmed the wall counting steps to the living room with the fire place the twins had just flooed out of. He felt his way to the couch and laid down on it. Life was only sounds and sensations now but that was alright. Soft couch, warm fire, gentle breeze that carried the downy snowflakes. He had been nowhere but the house since the twins had found him after being beaten blind, mute and near death by his on parole father. It had been winter then too but that didn't matter now. It was so nice now that occasionally he woke thinking it was all a dream. Being sandwiched between two bodies in the morning help to remind him though. The blonde sighed and drifted off to sleep before the fireplace.
The floo went off waking Draco up. He smiled but it faded quickly. Something was wrong.